More great points, I agree.

Also…it might just be me, but I find that I subconsciously have more respect for a person, both as a person and as a reliable source of information, if they present things with qualification, as you suggest. To me, it’s a sign of humility and an indication of an appreciation for the complexity of any given subject if someone is knowledgeable enough to both field questions and demonstrate proficiency while also being careful to qualify and delineate between what’s fact, what’s generally accepted, what’s their understanding, and what’s their opinion or guess.

I listened to a podcast last year about TOP GUN instructors and the grueling process they go through to become subject matter experts in their specific subject, and one of the things that stuck out to me was that they’re less worried about being right all the time and more worried about three qualities: being knowledgeable, approachable, and humble…with the understanding that with those three qualities, you’re going to eventually get to the point where you’re almost always right, with the added benefit that you’ve trained yourself to remove ego from the equation, so you’re less likely to fall prey to the trap of clinging to bad information/belief/assumption just because you want to look correct.

I’m glad you addressed the aversion to being wrong because I think that’s part of the core of what’s causing so many problems in America today (and maybe other places, but I can only speak to my own familiarity).

I feel like as a society we have created an environment where we demonstrate and reinforce to children from like kindergarten onward that the worst thing you can possibly do is be wrong. Someone who is always right is seen as smart, capable…in short, a winner.

Conversely, if you’re ever wrong, that completely and permanently undoes your entire argument/position and not only that, but you’re branded as unreliable/untrustworthy, uninformed, stupid, dishonest, or naive.

We expect perfection in correctness, and while being right is the expectation, being wrong is a permanent black mark that is treated as a more serious negative than being right is considered as a positive. Nobody just assumes that if you’re right about one thing that you’ll be right about all things, but if you get something wrong, there’s a very real shift toward double-checking or verifying anything else that comes after.

We even tease friends, family, and children for mispronouncing words or singing incorrect lyrics. Basically, being incorrect is so stigmatized that we reinforce to everyone, children and adults alike, that it’s better to not even try…not even make an attempt or join into a conversation…than to risk being wrong. When someone is wrong we use words like “admit” like it’s a crime, or admit defeat…and that just creates an environment where nobody is ever encouraged to speak up about anything for fear of (gasp!) being wrong.

And now we’re coming full circle on this at the highest levels, with our leaders being blatantly and objectively wrong…and absolutely dead set on avoiding having to admit that at all costs, setting a precedent that has oozed into even casual discourse among regular people. It seems like it used to be that being wrong was bad enough, but to dig in and refuse to admit it was even worse…lately it seems that admitting you were wrong is now even worse than doubling down on it…so now we have a situation where we can’t even agree on basic facts because one or more sides will be wrong but would rather insist on their position than just acknowledge​ they were incorrect.

For both.

I mean…why would you want to?

No reason it can’t be both!

Maybe not the absolutely most, but in strict terms of “tastiness divided by work”, I have made crock pot pork chops that have got to be in the top 5% for that ratio.

Basically get small boneless pork chops when they’re on sale, and put however many you want (I usually do 4-6) in the crock pot with two cans of Cream of Chicken soup and a packet of dry ranch seasoning.

Stir that shit all together and turn it on low, then go to work.

When you get home enjoy your delicious, savory, juicy pork chops.

Really the only way you can get lower effort than that is something that’s pre-made (like a boxed oven meal or something that is microwaved) or something that requires no prep at all, like just eating an apple or something.

How is doing…that…to a potato less work than cutting a few into large chunks, boiling in salt water, then mashing with some butter, milk, salt, pepper, garlic, and sour cream?

I feel like in terms of strict effort, doing the slicing on one potato, not even counting the cooking, is more of a bother than the entire process of making a big batch of mashed potatoes.

Exactly! Very well said!

Don’t make a new interest a “don’t do what interests you, do what interests me” thing.

I’m big into fishing and while people are generally pretty good to newbies, people can get ridiculously preachy over catch and release vs keeping fish, as well as safe and ethical fish handling practices.

I’m all about educating, but A) you need to do it with positivity and not guilt, B) a lot of times people get super, super anal about it…like… we’re all jamming a hook in a fish’s mouth and dragging it out of the water…in that context, laying it on some wet grass to quickly unhook it and get a picture is not the worst part of its day, and C) just because their fish handling may not be perfect doesn’t mean it’s cruel either…newbies gotta learn, and they’re going to learn better from gentle suggestion and explanation than coming at them telling them how wrong they are.

At this point, seeing behavior and responses like this in so many communities of my interests, I feel like even that gentle of an approach is still too much agenda-pushing.

Not that the agenda in question lacks for value, ethics, or good intentions, but at the end of the day, based on the newbies inquiry, it’s still some version of, “You’re wrong for wanting to explore your interest. You should do what I tell you to do instead.”

In the communities for my interests that I participate in, I try (and sometimes fail, we’re all human), to explicitly steer clear of doing anything to diminish their enthusiasm, curiosity, and desire to learn. That’s the little ember that they need to really get going, so for me, the priority is not to put that out.

Especially in a case like this where, sure, maybe a native garden is ideal…but the alternative if they get overwhelmed or shut down or forcibly redirected by the community is probably just going to be grass and weeds, or no plants at all.

I think it’s great to offer up the natives as an alternative (while explaining the benefits to both the local ecosystem as well as to the gardener), but I would also say that if you’re going to do that, one should also encourage them to get into their new interest regardless of whether they follow that suggestion or not.

If OP wants to plant tulips, fantastic, and I’ll give you any tips I can on how to do that. I may suggest natives and why they’re also a great choice, but under no circumstances will I go into negative territory in telling them they shouldn’t follow up on their interest, unless of course it’s illegal, dangerous, harmful, etc.

WEG’s Star Wars D6 is fantastic.

I’m not seeing that option anywhere.

The last time I looked into it, there was no way to disable it. I’ll check again though.

Edit: I managed to find it in the third settings menu I found for the app, so thanks for getting me to check again!

Can we please have an option to completely disable the hovering mini pop-up Maps when switching apps?

However, we need to account for

a) unemployed people that are not able to work

Not sure how it works there, but I believe in the US, the Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn’t count people unable to work in their “unemployed persons” numbers.

Like…a 3 month old infant isn’t considered “unemployed” for statistical purposes, for example.

If while acting in your own self-interest you knowingly, through action or inaction, allow others to come to harm, even indirectly, that is evil.

I think most Americans buy products made via unethical labor practices, and which damage the environment, harming everyone.

Are you really making the argument that the vast majority of Americans are evil?

This is my baseline.

If I have them, I’ll add 1oz mezcal and 1/2oz agave nectar.

My wording was intentional.

Also backward.

One doesn’t need to “make money in order to justify ones existence”.

Rather, one must justify one’s existence in order to make money.

And while I won’t argue the rather merciless nature of that system, I would add the perspective that this isn’t a trait unique to capitalism, but rather any system of finite resources.

I’ve had this happen to me, and even said to the person, “No nevermind! My train of thought is already derailed. Say whatever you were going to say now.”

I’ve got one engineer, only one in the two teams of like ten each that I work with, who doesn’t understand the concept of sending out a short email or IM to ask, “Hey, I’d like to give you a call about XYZ. When would be a good time for you?”

I mean, email is by far the best. It doesn’t demand real time attention and ALSO gives a body of text and attachments to refer back to whenever.

IM also offers these but not as easily organized and searchable.

Phone is worst: there’s no lasting record, no attachments, and you have to drop what you’re doing to participate.

Most of my team realizes these things and prefers email. There are a few who still rely on calls but they at least set up a time for calls.

Only this one guy (a young guy too) thinks it’s perfectly acceptable to call without any announcement or warning, then take up 30-90 minutes of your time with a call to convey information that could have been in a short email or taken care of in literally 5-10 minutes.

He always wants to chat about random shit before getting to the point, then give you a bunch of extra info you don’t even need.

Thus, I’ve started just ignoring his calls when it’s not a good time for me.

If he feels it’s okay to just randomly interrupt, I feel I’m just as justified in refusing to allow said interruption.

Yup.

A few years ago I needed to print something for a job I was applying for and I had three inkjets, none of which worked. Replacement ink wasn’t even a guaranteed solution and was going to cost three figures anyway…so I started looking into whether there was a better option.

Ended up buying a Brother color laser printer. A bit spendy, but now when I need to print something after not printing for months, I just literally tell it to print and it gets it exactly right, first try, every time.

Zero regrets.

For real?!

TIL! Thanks for explaining.