International Institute of Not Doing Much
slowdownnow.org
slowdownnow.org
* Put your phone away
* Read a silly book for pleasure
* Watch children playing, and play with them if you can
* Take a long walk, try not to retrace your steps
* Get some sun (maybe on a walk), and then take a nap
* Appreciate something mundane
Puppies, kittens, and baby goats work too; and are less likely to spark misunderstandings that can lead to legal difficulties.
If you tend to look at things like that, better be careful with those baby goats.
It's so weird in America sometimes. In other countries no one even notices you.
Sad times for men, in this regard.
My wife absolutely loves kids. Being with them and working with them is her career and passion. She will frequently say things about kids to which I respond "another thing I can't say, as a man." It's all in jest, but there's also truth to it. She says something inoccuous that really can't be misconstrued, but if I said the exact same thing, I would at least get interesting looks if not downright condescending glares of "stay away from my baby."
It doesn't bother me, but it is an amusing and also unfortunate double standard.
But it is true that it is sad times for men. We are automatically classified as pedo if we interact with children, noone trust us.
I feel like I would be wary about someone watching children play, but I don't know if that's rational.
But the creator, Mike Judge, (of Beavis and Butthead fame) worked in early-mid Silicon Valley - he understood the culture he was skewering.
Until I got a job in a mid-size financial services company. It was all that and a whole lot worse. It was literally forbidden to pin Dilbert comic strips to your cubicle wall. Not _any_ comic strips, only Dilbert ones weren't allowed. Up all night fixing an issue in prod caused by someone else? Tough, better be in your chair at 8:00 a.m. like any other day.
I lasted 10 months. It was horrible, but I don't actually regret it because it made me appreciate the value of a _good_ workplace run by and staffed by intelligent well-meaning people. Which still isn't as common as it should be, but definitely exist.
That was years ago, now both Dad and the cat have found a way to do even less, and it's too late arrange an award from the Institute.
One of the more unusual and interesting early 20th century physicists was Leo Szilard, whose daily 'work' routine involved soaking in the bathtub from perhaps 9am-noon, during which time he would think about nuclear physics among other things.
Likely as a result of all this pondering, he realized that nuclear chain reactions were possible, if an element could be found that released two or more neutrons when bombarded with one neutron... six years before the discovery of fission.
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/the-curious-wavefunctio...
This is a useful anecdote to relate whenever anyone tells you to get out of the bathtub and get back to work.
Although, quick tools enable human procrastination.
> 1. It’s a practice of only doing those things that are necessary or enjoyable.
> 2. Do fewer things and do them slowly.
> 3. Sadly, we’ve forgotten what number three is, but we know it’s important. Please contact us if you remember
1 seems related to Hommo Ludens [1]
HN readers should slow down a bit and not do so much.
I'm already a member of the reowned "International Institute of Doing One Thing in the Morning and the Opposite in the Afternoon".
Sorry!
Eh, I'll read it later. No rush.