brookside

When was this earlier genteel era, exactly?

I do ok.

That is an amazing personal experience. I had similar when younger on Christian-organized "Medial Missions". Reflecting on these trips now however, I must say I am ashamed to have participated in the spreading of...to put it the most bluntly...superstitious nonsense. It's becoming even more evident to me recently how non-harmless the mystical beliefs I was condoning are and the role large role they play in the social climate and political outcomes in both our and other countries (for example: Trump and the first FARC peace initiative failing in Colombia). It was hard to reconcile the life-changing nature of those trips for me with what I now see as their counterproductive aims.

Was in the middle of posting a longer comment, but the reason I submitted this article was disappointment at seeing this kind of pseudoscience coming from anybody associated with Yale.

"Dangerousness" as a psychiatric condition??

I detest Trump as is right and true, but would hope to see even stronger condemnation of this sort of false-academia political involvement from Yale and NYU. People associated with this organization "Duty to Warn" should no longer have jobs.

Because not everywhere is NYC. I've found the economics and potential extra hassle of booking of airbnb work our best for slightly longer stays. The premium of two weeks of hotel over two weeks of airbnb is often significant.

Isn't it generally best get get money from an ATM using a debit card? (Money withdrawal being charged as an immediate cash advance with a high interest rate)

Only somewhat relatedly, The content of the constant ASAA ads during sporting events on TV strikes me as indirect but blatant military propaganda.

First of all, that is amazing. But you are obviously the extreme exception (at least from my observations of other humans in America).

I've said said elsewhere in this thread, but the cost is about a dollar a pill at Costco. (Costco is amazing.)

FYI - It's about a dollar a dose at Costco.

I'm definitely of the Mr. Money Mustache school of thought on commuting- there should be a fairly strong reason that you aren't dwelling in place from which you can bike to work.

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/10/06/the-true-cost-of-c...

Both are bad non-medical constructs so they have that in common.

This is what a pseudoscientist looks like (self-described forensic and clinical psychologist quoted in article): http://www.kelownapsychologists.com/our-professionals/dr-mic...

"people like you". ok guy.

We value rational discourse here. At least I do. You radiate anger and I won't guess the cause, but I'm sure it has little to do with anything Banthum has said.

The causes of individuals' poverty can be complex and varied. Large factors are often oppression and disenfranchisement. People also make bad choices, sometimes copying actions they witness in others. I acknowledge both facets, and I've made my own poor economic choices. It's not always 100% the system's fault.

I walk through public housing on the way to subway every day, have not observed older than an iPhone 6 in the past couple years, including schoolkids.

Not a political judgement, just a data point. I don't think poor folks buying older or used iPhones is prevalent, in NYC at least.

Came here to say this. An argument could be made several years ago that an iPhone was a savvy purchase as they truely worked significantly both better and for longer, than the competition.

Now it is quite possible to get a quality smartphone for $200 ( http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-budget-android-phone/ ) instead of almost 1k.

Agree to grandparent's points about smartphones being almost indispensable tools for those without computers and landlines.

As somebody who takes Adderall. Yes, it does count as a crutch in my book.

*(2015)

Making money selling a book isn't proof that the content of the book contains good advice for making money.

When the author started suggesting that the woman he had an affair with was planted by the government to temp him, my hackles went up a bit.

The US policy he talks about is real enough, but autobiographical points struck me as questionable.

Don't use scare quotes it's rude.

We can be responsible for our depressions though. The CBT paradigm is that thoughts cause emotions, and if we change our thoughts (which we can have control over) our mood will shift. So there is some self-determination, I don't think the typical comparison with cancer is a good one. (Obviously you can give yourself cancer with behaviors like smoking, but once you have cancer you have little internal control to make it go away. Not so with depression.)

Absolutely, but I can almost guarantee you the person who presents as anxious/tortured wreck is not secretly beaming with contentment inside.

But a depressed person often is a negative person, and moods can spread. Think about working for a boss who is miserable and passes that feeling down onto people who work for her. If that boss goes to to a psychiatrist/therapist because she is having trouble getting along with the people in her life, that psychiatrist/therapist will likely say she depressed, never diagnose her as being a "negative person" which is also a true assessment, and how people working with her would describe her.

I'm happy to be open about mental health issues. I have had enough negative experiences with, and read broadly enough about the theory behind psychotherapy to have come to my own conclusion that it makes about as sense as most dogmatic religions (very little).

I gleefully deleted my music collection after being back in the USA and able to use Spotify. Having access to a astounding quantity of music without having to maintain a library is so, so freeing.

Exactly, some people here start melting down when a lightly paywalled WSJ link is posted.

Never finishing songs I was writing while in the perfect position to pitch them to pop artists I was working with.

I switched to coding purely for monetary/pragmatic reasons. I'm doing ok professionally now, but feels like a sad half-existence. (Lot of other opportunities with things I cared about personally I squandered too.)

And you wonder why your father was so resigned. Now you don't wonder any more. - Ben Folds Lyric that comes to mind

You think the time off would be more frowned upon today?

I use icomoon and it is definitely helpful but I must say the UX for creating icon sets is quite scary to use. Clicking on an icon by default removes or adds it to the icon set, so its incredibly easy to exclude an icon you are using already (meaning next time you publish your font, that icon will no longer render on your page)