Sevrene

I do agree with what you've said, but I don't agree with the conclusion, so I want to provide a counterpoint and I hope I don't come across as unconstructive in doing so.

Just because doctors and nurses have a desire to help, doesn't mean that anything they do is therefore the right thing to do. Like you said, we know that sleep is critical to healing so doesn't that go against nurses and doctors having a desire to prevent harm? I would think that something preventing healing or causing emotional stress is de-facto harm.

Yes, hospitals can be understaffed and underfunded, but that's hardly an excuse when we know some of their practises can cause harm. You wouldn't let a nurse do something harmful and let them say "Sorry we don't have the budget". We can sit here and say that yes, here's the reason but that doesn't actually mean that's what they ought to be doing.

There seems to be quite a lot of bias for doctors and nurses because they do work that is seen as very important and good. While that is true, it can often cloud judgement when deciding what we ought to do in a prescriptive medical sense. There's been many occassions where doctors or nurses were holding back advancement of their own field because they're just people and like all people they have their own faults and their own bias. I don't say this to say that doctors are bad, or cause harm, but rather that some are bad and some do cause harm, even if they're trying their best to stop you dying.

The legal definition of rape is one that is restricted by the law, but the moral definition is not. If I say a biscuit is a cake and legally it is made so, does that mean it is actually a cake?

I'm sure North Korea or China say some people are criminals and must be executed. As an outsider should we just agree because 'the situation in your own jurisdiction is irrelevant here'? I think not, morality and truth should not be restricted to the definition of the law where it presides. It's possible what Assange allegedly did was in fact rape, but illegal or not shouldn't be the defining factor when assessing the truth of that claim.

Different people view being a piece of shit differently. It's good to codify standards no?

My cat acts a bit strange and erratic in my kitchen, the strangest of which is insisting (via clawing the door and meowing) that I open up a pantry door where it will look inside and then leave, only to continue the behaviour soon after.

I've heard certain cleaning products can mimic cat pheromones (not sure how true that is, though), or at the very least affect the cats sense of smell which would affect a cat more than a human. My cat seems uninterested in cat nip.

I'm no expert but I don't believe those diving jets are going to help in such an environment because A) takes up space of which they most likely don't have and B) it kicks up a lot of silt and dirt, making visibility conditions terrible. This can make or break such a rescue attempt and be really dangerous even for a seasoned cave diver.

Aboriginals passed down their history and culture orally, so you can't really expect them to provide evidence other than their retelling. I don't think anyone is saying that the Dreamtime stories are 100% true, but it was probably influenced by something. The question is how much is story, and how much is fact?

The tree sisters story [1] (which was actually taught in schools) is apparently completely fake and the modern highway network apparently resembles the way aboriginals navigated Australia too [2]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sisters_(Australia)#Abor...

[2] https://theconversation.com/how-ancient-aboriginal-star-maps...

I saw this recently here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16892211

The amount of people contracting diseases from bites can increase, but it doesn't actually mean you're more likely to contract diseases from bites.

For instance here in Australia there has been a rise of shark attacks recently. The reason isn't necessarily because sharks were attacking more people or acting more aggressively, it was because more people were in the water.

It's interesting how statistics can point you in the wrong direction.

Am I the only one that thought you were saying Qatar pissed off GNU Compiler Collection? I should learn more history / geopolitics.

I really want to love Krita, and I sort of do. The only thing preventing me from doing so is the absurd amount of crashes on my macOS machine. Is this just a Mac problem? Has this been addressed in this update? Am I doing something wrong?

I hadn't checked in a long time, I have 13 now. Wow.

Primary radar[1] is only mostly used in larger airports or military installations. Secondary radar like ADS-B[2] has become really popular and requires the transponder on the plane to be on and working. If you switch that off, for a lot of people you do disappear.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_radar

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_dependent_surveillan...

I've seen far more game engines implement Lua as their scripting language compared to python, so I would hardly say it's 'lost' against python, at least for video games.

When I used to use Google reader (RIP) almost every site that posted content weekly had RSS. I personally haven't experienced any indication of a resurgence of using RSS besides some obviously niche technical communities or applications that are using it. Hardly a resurgence from my perspective, though.

RSS is great when people need it and use it, but most 'normal' people don't use it these days from what I can tell. Prove me wrong :)

Interesting point! I admit that spending a lot of time worrying about equipment with little or no direct effect on the work or how you produce it is over the top — but worrying about equipment makes a lot of sense for any creator and especially in photography. Different lenses and different cameras will have a huge impact on your final photograph. Changing your tools affects your work flow and your final photograph as a result. Swapping cameras or lens will obviously affect your final image much more so than changing PC but it's still there and it is worth thinking about.

Research for those interested: https://arxiv.org/abs/1712.05627

Kubernetes can have automatic reverse proxying and let's encrypt via an Ingress controller. I don't doubt Dokku has some nice plugins that Kubernetes doesn't though, especially for developers.

Moderation is the important thing here. It's easier to avoid consuming drugs every day compared to eating a high fructose diet.

> Who is making these decisions to rewrite?

Anecdotal evidence incoming: For any rewrite it's always the developer. Every time. It might sometimes be the manager's decision to do it, but it's always instigated by a developer.

I've only read headlines and heard from friends working in larger cities for larger companies experiencing this, so obviously it's not something which is happening all the time everywhere, and based on my quick research it seems like a lot of news came out around 2012 about this issue: https://www.aclu.org/blog/privacy-technology/your-facebook-p...

I would act the in the same manner you would as well, it's not worth working for a company if they don't have some very basic principles and it's a huge red flag. If they don't respect your privacy in the interview, they probably wont respect it in day to day business. But just like you explained we have to be careful because there's a lot of people who don't really have a choice, especially in today's job market here in Australia; a lot of people would have to decide between privacy and their ability to pay the power, rent, food, etc.

That's an interesting way of thinking about it. I'm not very assertive, so perhaps If I stood up to management a bit more everyone would be better for it anyway. Although it's easier to stand up to your boss when it falls under your domain (technology), but when it's their domain (managing people) it's harder to be assertive.

Also what happens when it just becomes a self fulfilling prophecy? Regardless, if you experience terrible management you should probably be finding another job anyway.

You're being playful about this, but I'm legitimately worried about a future where job candidates are rejected purely because they didn't offer their social media identities or passwords.

I know this does happen sometimes now. What happens when saying "I don't have a facebook account" becomes a significant enough indicator that your're hiding your past?

I've heard stories of people at airport customs attempting to enter a country and having to try explain to the customs officers their lack of web presence or social media posts that they would otherwise use to corroborate and back up their intent for travel.

Depends on whom you're trying to hide from, no?

Friends and family might have a hard time tracking your discrete secondary identities, but your ISP or facebook might see it very transparently.

That's very true (depending on the partner's pattern, I guess), and not all contract work allows you to be asleep during the day, some still require phone meetings and the such.

Even working remotely from home, I still have occasional logistical problems because sometimes there are appointments at 9am, or social events in the late morning and this will always be the case.

Just going to have to work with what you've got and work around it to the best of your ability. Although I should probably point out that it is important to find out before hand if there's anything else going on that could be causing this and potentially be resolvable before you stop expending energy fixing something you can't solve.

Although, if you are still having troubles sleeping and waking naturally feeling refreshed do your own research and maybe ask your GP if Melatonin[1] would suit you. Using flux[2] is also a great tool to help get to bed earlier too as that actually increases your melatonin naturally. Melatonin is not really similar to any other sleeping pills and it seems to be quite safe and has a great return on investment[3].

You probably already know about it so sorry if this was an unrequested information dump :)

[1] Wikipedia: Melatonin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melatonin

[2] Flux: https://justgetflux.com/

[3] Gwern on Melatonin http://www.gwern.net/Melatonin

I believe I understand what you mean now, although it's possible we might be conflating the environment having a large impact on ones behaviour (which I agree you are correct on), and; someone's innate personality developed due to genetics and their collected experiences in different environments and as such behaving better, worse, or different in those environments. Essentially we are arguing Nurture vs Nature, or Environment vs Genetics, right? I believe they both have a large impact and can cancel each other out.

For instance in your first example, a very charismatic person might not get a reputation for being a dickhead because everyone loves him due to his loveable personality, yet he's in the same environment and situation as the person who is known as a dickhead.

> I can give you a much simpler example. Put 10 people in an arena and give them a sword, gladiator style. The last standing gets to stay alive.

> Congratulations, you just discovered that any human can be turned into a murderer in 10 minutes! They adapted to their environment.

Have you ever been in a disaster or life threatening situation? There's a fight or flight response and that response can be different depending what sort of personality you have, right? I imagine not everyone would fight in your hyperbolic example if we simulated it thousands of times. I guarantee there are many people out there that would drop to the ground crying in a ball rather than fight to the death.

Not sure if you're joking. So you sleep 10 hours a day?

1) Taking Modafinil[1][2] semi-regularly. I've always had problems focusing and being productive. Honestly I've always wondered if I have some form of ADD or something. I used to drink large amounts of caffeine but the effects after long term use declines dramatically due to tolerance and I found out I was lactose intolerant. So I tried Modafinil after hearing a lot about it. I personally find it to be an extremely useful tool for my productivity and even my social life. It's also a much better drug in comparison to caffeine (disclaimer: individual results may vary, do your research, I'm not a doctor, etc).

2) Write things down. Make a list, write a journal, what ever feels right and works for you; just dump thoughts or ideas from your mind onto paper. Make it as structured or unstructured as you desire. It might be projects, things you want to watch or buy or upgrade around the house, etc. My 'notes' are literally completely random things I've thought or been told immediately and want to remember later. Most of them I'll never see again, but I know they are there. Eventually some of these might make it into the next step.

3) Get some productivity/task software or devise your own system for tasks and reminders and actually stick with it. I use OmniFocus2[3] but use what ever works for you. A simple calendar and notes system would work for most people. I work from home and found myself just reverting to reddit or hacker news when bored, where as now I see if there's any tasks assigned for today and what needs doing and do those before I allow myself to relax for the day. Having my day already planned makes me so much more relaxed when I wake up. The alarm can go off and I don't have to worry that I forgot to email my client, or the tax statements need to be mailed today. It's already sorted out for me to do and I don't have to think about it. It frees the mind to think about what you're focusing on, or a problem that requires devoted attention.

4) Every few weeks or so, spend some of your down time reflecting and thinking about what you can automate to save time, or what you can change so that you're more productive. Automate and iterate upon your productivity systems like you would as if practising agile. You wont get it perfect the first time around. I identified tracking the time spent on different clients was taking a lot of my time by hand, so I automated my timesheets into a CSV format which is imported into Google Sheets and used in my books for invoices. Later I automated the invoice email too. I used to do that by hand. I also created a filter that forwards my client's emails into my OmniFocus inbox and I can set the tasks for a date which appears in my calendar with alerts. You can do a lot, even with out the expensive productivity apps.

5) Don't work against your own unique circumstances or biology, work with them. I have a sleep disorder[4] (unrelated to the Modafinil, I assure you) and had a really bad time working full time normal office hours. I lasted two years full time waking up at 7am but I was getting 3-5 hours sleep and as a result I got burnt out, depressed and anxious. I quit and currently contract remotely earning a lot less money than I could otherwise, but now I get to work during my own sleeping hours and I feel a lot more happy. I tried changing my sleeping pattern and tried a bunch of band aid solutions but I never had any success, where as I've had great success adapting my life around my biological abnormality.

6) Reduce friction. It's really obvious when you think of it. I learnt this when I was playing guitar. If I have a guitar sitting next to my desk already tuned and ready to play, it results in me playing guitar more regularly. If it's untuned and in a case, I'd play it much less regularly. Reduce friction required for you to get started.

7) Don't believe anyone who tells you they have the solution™. You are a unique individual with unique problems which require unique solutions. This applies to self help too. No one has the 'real' answer. You need to try, experiment, think, and decide for yourself. Modafinil might kill you. Notes might waste your time. You might spend $80 on a productivity app and never use it after the first week. You might be suited to orderly enforced sleeping patterns.

EDIT: Formatting, added #6, and added some references

[1] Wikipedia Modafinil: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modafinil

[2] Very informative write up about Modafinil from the lovely Gwern: http://www.gwern.net/Modafinil

[3] OmniFocus2: https://www.omnigroup.com/omnifocus

[4] Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_sleep_phase_disorder

I'm not sure I follow, maybe I'm not understanding you correctly. Are you actually saying personality is only a result of environment?

Take for instance introverts vs extraverts. Introverts might be forced to be more social in an open office, but they would still work better in a private space and management has the ability prioritise their worker's personality and provide both open and private spaces for them.

Working overtime without some sort of commiseration should be illegal, yet it is typically expected in a lot of salaried work. Even my local groceries makes their workers spend 10 minutes cleaning up before close, 'off the clock'. Game studios are notorious for the crunch at the end of a projects life cycle because of the random off the cuff date a publisher needs to fill up a void in their yearly lineup or quarter.

The thing is they don't explicitly say 'work over time' they say 'this feature needs to be complete and working by Monday or else' What does management think the developer will do, pull it out of our behind? Reminds me of Steve Jobs, actually.

I once had my boss explain to me if these features don't get completed before the end of the month, he will lose his house. I had already previously told him that it's impossible and had to explain we will need to compromise to reach that date. We released 1 month late but the software has a lot of issues and I'm now blamed for this as the lead developer of only two programmers. I worked 12 hour days 6 days a week for 1 month and he wanted me to work more. He still has his house.

It's a zero sum game. Developers only have so much time in a week and the more you chip at sleep and rest/play time, the more it's going to cost the developer's health and the project's cost.

It's frustrating because I'm just a developer (mostly contractor to boot) and yet I feel like I have valuable constructive criticism that would benefit management and the productivity of the project on the whole if they adapted it. You can rarely pull that off tastefully. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe these things exist for a good reason and I'm seeing this differently because I'm not in management so I have some confirmation bias. That's possible, but I've experienced the exact same scenario as you and it always seems harmful for the developer and harmful for the project.

Some spend their entire lives working at a company to figure out how little they actually value them in the end. I know I've worked for people for far too long knowing this and always regret not leaving sooner. Glad you saw the light and had an opportunity to get out, some don't always get that sadly.

I've turned down contracts because the stress of working with certain businesses just isn't worth the money they are offering and they are a constant revolving door of people. Hiring a contractor, burning them out with insane expectations and micromanagement and firing them when they miss those deadlines or slip up. It seems like it might work in the short term but long term it has to be costing these companies. They always have the worst codebases too, funny that.