baller_w
@baller_w@lemmy.zip
- Comment on PC Games like Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 1 week ago:
It’s on sale for like $2. I’m giving it a shot.
- Comment on [deleted] 1 week ago:
I didn’t truly enjoy reading until my early adulthood. Now I love it, even though I read for a living (working in fintech). My rules that lead to being a book lover:
- Read 20 min a night before bed. It’s relaxing and makes me tired. I leverage that.
- Read what you like. Read the first third of as many different genres as possible. Libraries help with this, but used books are also dirt cheap. I prefer “hard sci fi”, where physics is obeyed. Also, I love a good “dude with amnesia” story because it puts you in the same place as the narrator.
- Don’t guilt yourself for not completing a book. Who cares? Learn to enjoy the process, not the payoff. Bored of the book? Put it down. Move on.
- There’s no test at the end. Don’t read like you need to know everything. Just try to absorb the story.
These work for me. I finish about 3-7 books a year but start many more.
Benefits I’ve noticed:
- Better attention span. As others have said here, books demand more commitment than other media.
- Extensive vocabulary.
- Gets me away from screens. Working in tech means I use a screen 8-12hrs/day. Going home to use screens for entertainment is a bummer to me.
- I connect with wisdom imparted by books. IMO, “The Daily Stoic” wouldn’t connect as deeply for me if it wasn’t presented in that packaging.
- The social aspect. I promise sharing the books you love with others will kindle relationships, and sometimes life long. That benefit exists whether or not you like the same genres as them.
- Related: books are never lent; they’re given, and ideally have a long lineage of owners.
These are my opinions, not statements of fact.
Like most things in life, there’s no “right” answer. It just needs to be right for you at that time. Be patient and try to not judge yourself harshly for the things you do or don’t like, but do try as much as you have appetite for.
I recommend Andy Wier (The Martian, Project Hail Mary) and Blake Crouch (Dark Matter, Recursion) to anyone looking to read more engaging fiction.
- Comment on Why have we as a society just accepted the increasingly blinding bright lights of cars? 3 weeks ago:
There’s another way. Adaptive headlights can fix this: youtube.com/shorts/AgxVuXC0T44
You’re not wrong though. Even crappy headlights on taller vehicles seem much brighter to observers. My buddy’s 2005 RAM is proof. When we’re in it, I’d have better luck seeing with a flashlight, but when he’s driving behind my car, it’s like someone’s shining the bat signal into my rear window.
Also, don’t get me started on people who replace their bulbs with HID or LED bulbs but don’t spend the money on projector headlights. It’s infuriating.
- Comment on WTF is this??? 5 weeks ago:
Best “car guy” trope I’ve ever heard is that BMW signals work fine and the drivers use them. They just emit a spectrum of light that the poors can’t see.
As a BMW driver myself, I’m on the opposite end of that spectrum. I signal my intent to an obnoxious degree. If I get into an accident, the other motorist can’t claim they didn’t know where I was going.
- Comment on Recent conversations between Dawkins and sentient chat-bot Claudia (Claude) 5 weeks ago:
Literally reading it now. I hit that section last night. I put the book down immediately and started reading about the Chinese Room.
- Comment on Recent conversations between Dawkins and sentient chat-bot Claudia (Claude) 5 weeks ago:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_room
Worth a read for anyone who thinks AI may be sentient, or for those trying to pop the psychosis bubble of an buddy.
- Comment on Why are people like my grandpa so against seeing the whole world and learning a different language? 3 months ago:
Travel. Ignore him. I’ve had the pleasure visiting 7 countries, 5 non English native. Top of the list are Italy, Sweden, Czech Republic, England, Ireland, Canada (Montreal). I’d travel more if I had more money and time to. It’s been one of the most impactful things on me as a human.
The US has no national language by design. We’re a melting pot; a country of immigrants. That is our greatest strength. Taking the often humble, mixing it, mutating it, and making it our own.
I don’t speak any other languages, but I try. Only on very rare occasions was language a barrier. I understand I’m a guest in other people’s countries so I mind my p’s & q’s. You’re representing your country, so be kind. Approach other cultures with genuine curiosity. At least learn basic phrases like hello, goodbye, please, thank you, and anything else you can manage, but you don’t need to fluent.
IMO, US born tourist are the worst. Loud, entitled, obnoxious, ignorant. They expect everywhere to be just perfect for them and how they like to live, like it’s Disney World. Those people won’t get a whole lot out of travel and just make us look worse than we already do on the international stage. Oh and the “influencers”… In Venice, they were like locusts.
I’ve also traveled all over the US and it can be beautiful, but you live here; you’ll get much more of a perspective shift going somewhere completely different. Also, by comparison of other countries, the US is pretty mid. Traveling help you see the US for what it is, not for what we’re told it is.
Definitely go with your instinct here. Foster that curiosity. I promise it will pay dividends you can’t imagine now.
- Comment on Been putting a lot of thought into this 4 months ago:
Removing my gross socks after a long day on my feet. The dressier the socks, the better the feeling.
- Comment on This is crazy. Why don't you just take their car ? 4 months ago:
Completely agree. I live in central NY and public transit is so gutted it’s basically nonexistent. I think there’s a way to increase demand though…
- Comment on This is crazy. Why don't you just take their car ? 4 months ago:
Is this even that big of a problem?
If so, take away their license and plates. Bus pass or bike from now on.
- Comment on Can anyone explain why? 4 months ago:
Elder millennial here.
…that just about sums it up. Well done.
- Comment on Good night sweet prince 5 months ago:
I have the same model