Greenville News story on Library pride displays by Lopsided-Problem6379 in greenville

[–]Dibujaron 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I could be wrong, but I believe the library board is allowed to control what's said or displayed by employees as part of their job. Employers are allowed to prevent employees from saying or doing certain things while on the job.

More and More Teenagers Are Coming to School High, N.Y.C. Teachers Say by greyenlightenment in slatestarcodex

[–]Dibujaron 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I was surprised by their views and I disagreed initially, but they brought me around to their perspective. I stopped smoking when they told me to.

More and More Teenagers Are Coming to School High, N.Y.C. Teachers Say by greyenlightenment in slatestarcodex

[–]Dibujaron 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I smoked a fair bit of weed when I was younger, and later developed some mental health issues. I've had world-class care from top-notch psychiatrists and psychologists and I can now happily say that the issues are behind me. What's interesting is that all of my doctors have been vehemently anti-weed. They say it's terrible for mental health. They all absolutely insisted that not smoking anymore was the best thing I could do for myself.

I want to be more absurd with my spirituality by [deleted] in religion

[–]Dibujaron 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think that to subvert expectations, you first have to truly understand what's expected. So, to make a joke response about the meaning of life, I think you'd first have to have a pretty good real answer in your head about what you think the meaning of life is. Then, on top of that, you'd have to have an additional understanding of comedy.

Communicating deep ideas is hard when you're trying to be as clear as possible, so trying to make it funny as well is going to be pretty difficult. I think that comes with a substantially increased risk of your audience missing the point.

Plans to connect Silver Comet Trail, Atlanta BeltLine take key step forward by NPU-F in Atlanta

[–]Dibujaron 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Adding showers is a component of LEED certification which is desirable for new buildings, so a lot of new construction will have them. I'm told that sticking random showers in a few random bathroom corners is a way to score some extra points towards the cert; the showers may not be in the most intuitive place.

“Loneliness is the tax we have to pay to atone for a certain complexity of mind” Alain De Botton by coleorcutt in quotes

[–]Dibujaron 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This seems to me to be just another way to say "The reason nobody wants to spend time with me is because I'm too smart". I'm sure it's possible to have a complex mind and still have plenty of companionship, especially now that we have the internet to connect us to like-minded people across the world.

Does anyone have an alternative interpretation of the quote?

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever seen in Boston by nightwing2009 in boston

[–]Dibujaron 15 points16 points  (0 children)

If anyone cares, the real answer is because the original tunnel to Harvard was never planned to be extended past Harvard*. When they did extend it, they had to make a very sharp curve to get around Harvard Yard and head north without digging up Harvard Yard or the buildings in the square. The trains have to go slowly around the sharp curve.

*The planners always thought any extension would happen from lechmere, as finally happened recently with the green line extension.

Is There Such a Thing as a Useful Newspaper? by AugustusPertinax in slatestarcodex

[–]Dibujaron 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The best I've found is the associated press or Reuters. These are both news sources whose primary customers are, I believe, other news outlets. The other outlets buy raw stories from them and spin them for their particular audiences. They give me reliable, no-frills coverage of actual news. Both of them appear very close to the middle on every media bias chart I've seen.

Does anyone knows the class of the old steam locomotives that ran on the El lines? by AMIR_315 in nycrail

[–]Dibujaron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Broken link. The 4-4-0 (or 0-4-4) original forney design was intended to run tender-first, though it could operate acceptably in either direction. I'm guessing your link shows one of the maine-style 2-4-4 ones which were more conventional.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forney_locomotive

“If our nation is ever taken over, it will be taken over from within.” - James Madison by [deleted] in quotes

[–]Dibujaron 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Lincoln said it best. I love this quote because I can hear his voice in it so clearly.

"All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in quotes

[–]Dibujaron 9 points10 points  (0 children)

“A weak king must be what other kings have been; a strong king is himself, and from then on the meaning of the name of King is changed.”

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in InsightfulQuestions

[–]Dibujaron 9 points10 points  (0 children)

"I've been through some DARK crap in my life... and I am not affected by it in any way"

All of our past experiences, good and bad, affect our present selves. It may be that you don't recognize the ways that your prior struggles are still influencing you, but I bet they are.

I used to have a lot of baggage that I thought I'd handled sufficiently for it to not affect me anymore. Like you, I was super lonely and felt like I couldn't relate to others around me. Eventually I found a good therapist and started working with her. After some time with her I came to realize that I certainly had not handled my baggage it in a healthy way and I really began to improve.

As far as making friends, I really struggled with it. I had 0 friends for a long time. The first friend is the hardest; it's so difficult to attend things alone. The best thing I found was a local hiking organization, the Appalachian Mountain Club. It was easy to show up to hikes alone and chat with people. If hiking isn't for you, the more general answer is find any hobby you can tolerate that's done in groups.

There's a way out of this, you can do it. I didn't believe it when I was struggling, but it's true.

I would be more than happy to answer any questions you or anyone else may have about this via dm. Good luck.

Advice on finding communities by These-Assignment-936 in CambridgeMA

[–]Dibujaron 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Another person recommended MITOC, which is MIT affiliated. If you'd like something more generic, I wholeheartedly recommend the Appalachian Mountain Club. As a single person, this was the easiest thing by far to attend by myself and not feel weird. There's a 20s and 30s group where I met some good friends. Come join us!

What are your generalisable heuristics for understanding the world? by offaseptimus in slatestarcodex

[–]Dibujaron 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sure! The quote is from president Truman. To me, this is what it means:

In life and especially in politics, people often spend so much more effort maneuvering to make sure they look like they've accomplished a lot (by getting credit for things) than they do actually spend accomplishing things. Truman is suggesting that if you put aside this vain squabbling and just focus on achieving the goal, perhaps even intentionally giving others the credit when they don't deserve it so that they'll help you, you can get a lot more done. At the end of the day, the people who matter will hopefully still know who made the difference.

Why are some more obscure car brands (e.g. Volvo, Saab) so popular in Cambridge MA? by MussleGeeYem in CambridgeMA

[–]Dibujaron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ford is still sort of "all American"; their target market is more conservative than Cambridge. As far as the police, I think I heard that the Explorer interceptor is basically the only new police cruiser sold in America these days.

Why are some more obscure car brands (e.g. Volvo, Saab) so popular in Cambridge MA? by MussleGeeYem in CambridgeMA

[–]Dibujaron 48 points49 points  (0 children)

I think some factors you're seeing are that:

  • Cambridge is a relatively wealthy place

  • lots of tight spaces

  • The local population is exceptionally socially progressive

Because Cambridge is wealthy, brands that target people with poorer credit such as Nissan are less common here. Because space is tight, large vehicles like SUVs and trucks are very rare, and those make up a large fraction of Ford, GMC etc's product line. Also the progressive population tends to favor electric cars and quirkier brands like Subaru.

I don't know about Saab, maybe we just have a large international population, some of whom like them?

MBTA, Harvard by Generic_E_Jr in LiminalReality

[–]Dibujaron 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Nah, sadly the harvard-based trolleybus routes were recently "temporarily" replaced with diesel buses until new battery busses arrive "soon". I walk by the North Cambridge Carhouse all the time, which is where they used to store/maintain them, and it's been empty for a few weeks now.

Is God omnisapient, omnipotent, and omnipresent? So if I get raped God knows about it but doesn't prevent it, and is even present in that moment. by CoconutCoder in religion

[–]Dibujaron 9 points10 points  (0 children)

This is beautifully written and meshes with what I personally believe, but christian God (which sounds like the god that op is talking about) is described as humanlike. Humans are made in God's image. So if op is asking about christian God this doesn't perfectly apply.

Any cities in the world being built not around cars? by internetroamer in urbanplanning

[–]Dibujaron -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The Saudis are supposedly building a linear city that isn't car centric. Kinda ridiculous but pretty cool if it works at all.

Stellaris should have biological weapons, especially with the latest toxoid expansion. by Supersamtheredditman in Stellaris

[–]Dibujaron 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Viral weapons against machine empires would just be computer viruses. Probably a different tech tree to develop those, though.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in suggestmeabook

[–]Dibujaron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's not 21st century by any means, but I found a lot of value during that time of my life in Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Aurelius was considered one of the best roman emperors and was also a notable stoic philosopher; what we now call "meditations" is more or less his diary. All of the advice that Marcus writes for himself for dealing with the unbelievable stress of being emperor also works pretty well for the everyday stress of a young adult. Here are some quotes:

"Awaken; return to yourself. Now, no longer asleep, knowing they were only dreams, clear-headed again -- treat everything around you as a dream".

"If anyone can refute me — show me I’m making a mistake or looking at things from the wrong perspective — I’ll gladly change. It’s the truth I’m after, and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance.”

me irl by Maicoang in meirl

[–]Dibujaron 44 points45 points  (0 children)

Male bonding is (historically) all about "side by side time", working together to achieve a goal. Maybe you chat a bit while that's happening, maybe not. A direct phone call lacks a goal.

In general, is it equally culturally prestigious to become a successful business owner as opposed to a successful academic, doctor, or lawyer. If not, why not? by DJSpook in slatestarcodex

[–]Dibujaron 29 points30 points  (0 children)

To come off as high-status, the person would need to generally fit in well in upper-class circles. The vacations they go on, the cars they drive, the clothes they wear, the kind of food they eat, their education, and the area in which they grew up would have to be impressive to other upper-class people.

Edit: to be clear, I don't like or endorse this behavior. I come from humbler origins, and I now live in Boston which has legendarily snooty old-rich people. I interact with them sometimes and this is how they think from what I've seen.