catarina

catarina , 4 months ago

What are they to do?
Shrinking discretionary budget, more and more responsibilities at work (multiple roles condensed into one), and a looming sense you are easily replaceable with layoffs and AI tools.
On the other, if you are taught your only worth is your job, there is no point in exploring outside of that, and spending your energy on things that won't make you a good worker.

catarina , 4 months ago

I took one month off on unpaid leave. Not only did it confirm that I didn't miss a thing from my bullshit software dev job, those were 4 busy and productive weeks, with many projects I had left on hold. Plus, I felt much better in terms of health. It allowed me to taper off an SSRI. And I lost weight too!

catarina , 4 months ago

I had been trying to go off my antidepressants for a while, and tapering it off is the recommended way to do it. However, there are still side effects, and dealing with the side effects while having to stay on my normal work routine and stress was too much for me.

catarina , 4 months ago

I get the argument for getting a job, though. Here is my perspective: I would find something I could do part te, and that I felt was really useful. I have consideredany times working in a nursing home with elderly people - being able to help them and hopefully even bring them some joy would benefit me, because my personal sense of purpose is tied to collaborating and giving back to the community around me. Plus, it's the type of job no one wants to do; if money weren't an issue, and I didn't have to put in 40+ hours a week, I would be happy to pick it up.

catarina , 4 months ago

That's a common misconception about mindfulness that I fell - and sometimes still fall - for. It's not about knowing a tool or framework, and using it when you think you need it. It is not debugging a one off. It is a practice. You do it as a routine, and it slowly shifts how you face the world and yourself. It's not the answer we are looking for, especially in a crisis, it's not a fix. It's a change, it takes the rest of your life, and it's not a linear system of inputs and outputs.

catarina , 4 months ago (edited 4 months ago)

I don't know you or your mind, but from that, it sounds busy AF.
That's not what a mindfulness practice is like at all. To be clear, I wasn't referring to a dictionary definition of mindfulness, but to the Buddhist meditation kind. In mindfulness meditation you would be working to get to a completely different state, where you simply observe, instead of analyzing.
I could be projecting, and I apologize for that, but I see myself a little in what you described: I used to scan myself all the time, and think of things to fix and improve, dwell on what I did wrong and what I am going to do better tomorrow, think through many moral scenarios and arguments so I would act in a sound and correct way. That's fine and very valuable.
It is also why mindfulness was hard for me to get into - because I couldn't be inside my head like that all the time. It is almost the opposite of that. It's hard to step aside from that torrent of thoughts, especially if you are an introvert and used to tapping into that rich inner world. Mindfulness meditation is training your mind to reach a sort of silent tranquility, a blank slate where you can draw your true intentions on and then maybe reach deeper insights. It helped a lot when I accepted that we are not entirely rational, even when we think we are acting purely on logical thoughts. We need to connect somehow to that latent emotional side, to recognize it more often. And this only clicked on my late twenties, until then I thought I could just think myself into any desired outcome (spoiler alert: it didn't work).
I am sure there are many resources out there that explain this better than I can. My point is introspection != mindfulness.

catarina , 4 months ago

This is so alien to me, do other Europeans struggle with cursive? Is it a geography or an age thing?
Personally, it feels like a natural way to write and link letters quickly. I think it's taught in a backwards way, and a lot of people never develop their calligraphy skills because of that, but once you understand the point of cursive, it makes sense. And it's one more way to express yourself. It can be as legible/ambiguous as you want to make it. You can add fancy ligatures, or keep it clean.

catarina , 4 months ago

Damn, that's a terrible experience, I am truly sorry you went through all that. Those teachers are the dregs, fuck them.

catarina , 4 months ago

Thanks for the explanation! That's exactly what I was wondering about, especially after reading some more comments in this thread. Sounds like it is an unfortunate consequence of how cursive is taught :(

catarina , 4 months ago

Cool article, I feel like I learned more about linked lists in a 5 minute read than over a few classes in college.

Plus, I love that it references Vera Molnar - hand executed algorithm art is not that widely known, and people always look at me as if I have two heads the first time I bring up the topic.

catarina , 4 months ago

It would be beneficial for all here if you could learn to not take things so personally, and take in some fair criticism about this particular post. But please stick around, the topic of the article is definitely interesting, thanks for that!

catarina , 5 months ago

I love the sentiment: "just don't die because it's awkward AF". If "joie de vivre" doesn't make you cling to life, there's always social anxiety even after death 🤣

catarina , 5 months ago

Nice misogyny you got there

catarina , 7 months ago

ew

catarina , 7 months ago

I would love to ditch WhatsApp, but then I wouldn't be in touch with my family half as much, and it would be a lot more difficult to get anything done.
I am in Spain where people simply assume you have WA, and the majority of small business use it extensively.

catarina , 8 months ago

Yeah, they would be making decisions under too much pressure.

catarina , 8 months ago

I don't disagree with the sentiment of your comment, but I feel it lacks some nuance.
First of all, where are those empty houses located? A lot of the pressure is in larger urban areas: Lisboa, Porto, Braga, Coimbra. If the houses are away from an urban centre, they might as well not exist.
Portugal also has a huge emigrant community, and it's common for emigrants to have a house back in the home country, usually in more rural areas, but not always. These houses are a little retirement plan, and tend to stay unoccupied for months or years, only used when that owner goes to Portugal on holidays, or when/if they decide to return.

catarina , 8 months ago

Exactly! Remote work available to more people would also help.
Cities are starting to feel all the same now, so I love staying rural, no food delivery, enjoying what each season brings, and buying less stuff. Cities are hot, full of cars and noise.

catarina , 8 months ago

I look the hotel up in Booking, and then call it directly. I am usually offered better rates for the same room over the phone.

catarina , 9 months ago

Disgusting, they shot a kid and made sure he couldn't be saved:

One Israeli soldier chased Rafat and shot him in the abdomen from a distance of 10 meters [33 feet],” DCIP said.

The Israeli forces shot at Rafat again when a Palestinian man came to his aid, said the group, the only rights organisation specifically focused on children in Palestine.

“The Palestinian man threw himself on top of Rafat and rolled him toward his house, less than five meters [16 feet] away. The man and his family sheltered Rafat for about an hour and a half as the Israeli military prevented ambulances from accessing Jenin refugee camp.

catarina , 9 months ago

Pff, weak.

catarina , 9 months ago

An Irish mad lad

catarina , 9 months ago

😮 I want to believe your explanation, but it sounds too good to be true.

catarina , 10 months ago

From the article:

It is a temperature anomaly of almost 15 degrees above typical values.

37-15= 22ºC

catarina , 10 months ago

Spotify pays very very little to artists per stream. Tidal is a better streaming platform to send money their way.

catarina , 11 months ago

Or maybe, hear me out, he has enough time and money to dedicate to taking care of his body. This article is a super petty attack.

catarina , 11 months ago

Jokes aside, what was the motive here? She was pretty young for a VP, so it sounds like she was well liked/connected. In other cases of "mysterious window affliction" the victims were known critics of the regime.
Maybe it was an accident, she could be very drunk. Or a crime -- she had a friend over, maybe there was a fight?
One thing is clear, Russian windows should come with a warning label ☠️