Brand, thing, behavior, method, advice, mantra, etc.
I swear by Blackwing pencils.
Also, the ‘two minute rule’, which has really improved my life: “if it takes two minutes or less to do, just do it now; if it takes longer, schedule it.” I’ve got untreated attention issues and it’s very easy for me to notice something needing done, and overlook or procrastinate it because it seems inconvenient in the moment. Having a totally painless rule that forces me to acknowledge that thing I should pick up, that trash bag I should change, etc, or, to at least put on my calendar anything I mustn’t forget in the long run has been great for me.
uBlock Origin forever and always. I’ve recently reinstalled Windows within the last 30 days and thus have a fresh installation of my browser and uBlock Origin – I have already blocked 609,521 ads, wild.
https://ublockorigin.com/ (Platform links at the bottom)
Make sure you use it with Firefox. It works better.
Fountain pens, good inks, and good paper.
The cost difference is so small, and the output is significantly better than anything I’ve ever written with a ballpoint.
Not to mention the enjoyment around the rituals and processes that go with.
Why are there so many writing utensil suggestions in this thread? I haven’t written anything down physically in years, I don’t even know why you’d need a pencil or paper anymore.
because I can write something down, right now, without trying to boot up a device, find an app, open a word processor, or anything.
and it stays, exactly as is. interuptions dont risk losing it. power outages wont make it disappear. dead batteries wont render it inaccessable. Software update wont render it corrupt.
Musicians need pencils and erasers to work with sheet music. The music itself is printed, but you still need to write down fingering, dynamics markings, tempo markings, highlight ideas/themes/passages, etc…
Three is a certain quality to writing things down. It is a nice break from screens, makes you contemplate and elaborate on your thoughts. It works that way for me.
Pilot G2 pens. Not expensive and write well, use them at work and not be too upset if s customer walks off with one.
SAS shoes. Made in Texas, hella comfortable. You can’t buy them online, you have to go to a shoe store and get properly fitted. They also fit the saying about not skimping on things that come between you and the ground.
You cannot pay people or companies to care. Do/Build it yourself whenever possible. And use this rule to fake unnecessarily expensive things like furniture or clothing. In most cases your worst service will still be better than hiring someone or buying a product from a company.
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Slowly transitioning myself into more FOSS and self hosting. Linux is tough because I’m fairly dependent on software that, to the best of my knowledge, wouldn’t work on it. Dual booting doesn’t sound fun
I dual boot win10 and Garuda Arch(I use Arch BTW) and it’s pretty painless. Garuda is a gaming centric distro, it plays almost every game I throw at it with no fuss. The only reason I still use windows at all is because my music production programs refuse to run on Linux, regardless of what settings I use in wine or Proton.
“You are under no obligation to be the same person you were 5 minutes ago” - Alan Watts
This one is a bit hard-won for me. You see I used to be an asshole. It was my brand. I thought “it’s just in my nature”.
Fortunately, I was also a student of religion (mostly because I was a militant atheist. Know your enemy and all that). Studying Buddhism, I began to observe the nature of self. I found enough distance from it to see its transient nature.
I realized being an asshole was a choice and I could just as easily choose otherwise. Soon I began to discover this was true of most character traits.
I’m not saying you don’t have consistent patterns of behavior. I’ll hopefully always be curious and analytical. But for the most part, the way you conduct yourself and where you focus your attention is a choice.
So, if you’re not happy with who you are maybe don’t be so attached to the idea of 'who you are". And if that seems hard, observe what you pay your attention to and try to find the distance between observation and behavior. In that gap lies the choice you make, consciously or not, to be “you”.
No offense, brother, but this is a great example of my swear-by.
Don’t write a “wall of text.” Even if a reader is interested, it’s hard to read the whole thing.
Separate your wall into smaller sections, use bullet points (esp at work) if it helps.
Use small sentences. Forget what they told you about keeping similar ideas in one paragraph. You’re not Salinger, and no one is expecting you to be.
This is a digital age, and our job as not-salinger is to convey information.
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No offense taken
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These are salient points
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I edited my post
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I hope it’s easier to digest now
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Thank you for the constructive criticism
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Otterbox phone cases are legit.
If you cook, invest in good knives and keep them sharp.
Aye!
I bought some stupid expensive Japanese cooking knives and a grinding stone and I am never ever going back to the cheap stuff.
Learn to be curious. Don’t know that word, define it. Never heard of that person. Wikipedia. Ever wonder how a combustion engine works. Look it up. I grew up when I had to write things down and go the library. We live in an age of wonder with unlimited knowledge at your fingertips. There is no excuse for ignorance today. You’re just being indolent. Learn to be curious 🧐
Also. Admit when you are wrong and apologize.
There is no excuse for ignorance today. Your just being indolent
Fucksake 😂
Autocorrect. I should’ve added not to be pedantic because you’re insecure about your intelligence.
Edit: That was mean. I’m sorry.
I say a variation of this to my kids almost every week. It boggles the mind how, with such an easy access to all the information in the world, they don’t know something and just shrug it off instead of searching for information (90% of times a simple google search would do). I imagine myself at their age with such resources at my disposal: I’d have been a much happier (and knowledgeable) kid!
Yes, yes. This is me. I also love a quote adjacent to curiousity.
Be curious, not judgemental - From Ted Lasso, originally by Walt Whitman
Compeed Blister Plasters. They are the best and excellent to have on hand after a long walk or breaking in new boots. No other brand or non-name brand comes even close.
Jailbreaking my iPhone because stock iOS is boring and there are so many QOL features I’m used to, I can’t imagine using iOS without them
I can’t imagine using iOS…
With Apple making jailbreaks harder to achieve by beefing up security in 16 (there’s progress on a potential <= 16.5 JB) & even 17, I can’t imagine using iOS for much longer either lol
My very first smartphone was a hand me down iPhone 3G. I ended up modding the piss out of it with jailbreak stuff. Eventually used a friend’s Android phone, which I hadn’t really interacted with at that point and realized I had essentially turned my iPhone into an Android. My next phone was an Android and all of them have been since. If you’re the type of person who likes (and gets value out of) doing tweaking, you probably should just get an Android. Many of the things you listed are doable with apps downloaded straight from the Google Play store.
I’ve been keeping my eye on the Galaxy line of phones, my last Android phone was a rooted S6. The fact that nearly-every iPhone out there is the same (OS-wise) makes it that much more valuable to me vs switching, since most Androids have easy root capabilities/customization so it’s overlooked. Going out in public and watching confused eyes watch my phone because it looks & acts different from what they’re used to is the beauty and value of it, from my perspective. Not to mention the resale market for iPhones on a jailbreakable version.
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Damn. I left ios after iPhone 4 or 5, one of the reasons was that jail breaking was becoming nearly impossible and Android felt kind of like it was already jailbroken. I assumed it was a dead art by now. Is it still easy to do or a constant game of complex catchup?
Not as easy as it once was. Security was beefed up with every iteration after iOS 10, in the hardware (post-iPhone X) and the software. 10 was the last good time of jailbreaking ease, where a jailbreak.me type of exploit was released. It’s pure luck now. Most talented developers have either left the scene due to ungrateful people, sadly, or joined Apple’s Bounty program. You can’t tell what version a brand-new boxed iPhone is on because Apple obfuscated the serial numbers. iOS 15 introduced SSV (Sealed System Volume) meaning no touching root, forcing a halt which was eventually solved with “rootless” jailbreaks. They made it harder to downgrade to a jailbreakable version due to SEP (Secure Enclave Processor), and Blobs are useless now because of cryptex1, introduced in iOS 16. This means no downgrades to unsigned firmwares at all except within patch versions (like 16.3 and 16.3.1). iOS 17 could be even worse, time will tell.
Try leave everyone and everything better than you find it.
Brew your own coffee. I used to drink instant coffee (think nescafe but with lots of sugar) or just buy from coffesshops. Now I just buy the beans I love, grind some and make it the way I want (how strong or milky etc). I no longer have acid reflux from goddamn instant coffee powder and stay fit since I don’t put any sugar in it. Also saves some money from buying in coffeeshop everyday.
I have a buddy that puts hundreds of dollars into the fanciest coffee machines he can buy. He buys bags of beans from all over the world.
I have a $20 grinder, a $11 coffee pot from Kroger purchased in 2013, and while I do buy nice bags of coffee several times a a year, my typical bag is store brand who bean for $7 and I’ll splurge on a nice $15 bag from time to time.
I can’t tell the difference in taste when I am at his place. However, instant coffee is disgusting and I cannot sip it without a shit load of creamer to dilute the awfulness.
Don’t ever, for any reason, do anything to anyone for any reason ever, no matter what, no matter where, or who, or who you are with, or where you are going, or where you’ve been… ever, for any reason whatsoever…
What say we order in some pasta?
Just a copy for me, thanks.
Invest in anything that comes between you and the ground; shoes, mattress, and tires.
You beat me to it by a minute or two!
Don’t forget office chairs if you have a desk job!
and lover!
Nice
