Well meaning question: is it true for you as well that socializing in places where clear rules are established is easier? I have friends that enjoy both dancing classes and board game clubs for this reason: the behavioral rules are clear ahead of times. On the other hand, I often find that type of socializing limiting.

One would hope…

Can confirm. Socializing (in particular with known people, not necessarily friends) is a great way for me to recharge. If I am on my own for too long (24h), I start feeling demotivated and sad. Same if overall I don’t socialize enough over the week. As far as I understand, that doesn’t have only to do with being NT, because I know a friend with autism with the same interest in constant socialization (they just have a stricter “balance” to keep between socializing as recharging and socializing while masking as tiring)

That feels quite sad, honestly… I wish you all to find fulfillment and happiness without the need for sugar supplements

I agree: a university is a workplace for a lot of people, and work is expected to take place during working hours, by definition in our society that means 9-5. I never even heard this discussion being brought up, honestly

Care to elaborate?

Somehow, I agree to ravioli=dumpling but can’t go as far as saying that pop-tart equals anything in that category

Somebody really not understanding what free means…

Social protections are not free, we all pay into them. Europe has much higher tax rates than US. These tax rates are there to pay for healthcare, public services, education, and a host of employee protections (infinite sick leave, significant maternal leave, various forms of care leave, protections from exploitation and unfair dismissals…)

Our grandfathers fought for it, so we can live a healthy work life next to a healthy personal life. And every day we fight to find the correct balance to maintain this system.

Unless… are taxes the trap??

Coming in from a European perspective. During my first real job, I wanted to impress my supervisor. I was working some overtime (much less than I did as a student). My supervisor started passing by my office between 4pm and 5pm, letting me know it was time to go home, there was no need to overdo it. He was great… often telling me how I was exceeding expectations, and that was great as long as I was keeping a good work life balance.

Socialised protections are amazing… I still work overtime at times, but only when I feel like it (and I still never report it), I only taken on the amount of work I feel I can reasonably do. I strive for efficiency, not overburdening myself.

So the respect option is the most likely

That’s not the time travel I like because it doesn’t create any fun paradoxes!

I support the “unique universe” idea, with all the paradoxes that that can generate. So, you send the ball back to 1969. Has the ball then been bouncing up and down the room since then? You should have seen it when you threw your “new” ball, then!

Or the same ball cannot exist twice at the same time, then somehow the 1969 ball stopped existing when the now-ball got created. And you will never get your ball back because it disappeared in the past.

Or the universe fixes itself, then when your ball disappeared in the time portal, the 1969 version somehow reappeared in the room, but that is the paradox that needs the most “fixing”, so I don’t prefer it

I wonder: was it a sign of respect towards the uncle or was it an insult? Or neither, just cool?

So proud of you! Every step in the right direction is an incredible achievement, well done!

Since February! Congratulations! That’s an impressive achievement!

Some weeks are rougher than others and while I can’t complain, I still feel like complaining a lot… working week over, at least!

Art and its enjoyment are a Grand Purpose.

I have some national pride, usually about small things that I know my country cares overly much about and some cultural quirks I care about (how to serve coffee, the structure of a conversation, obscure literary references and so on).

I have some patriotism, as in: I want my country to be the best version of itself it can be. Keeping the good parts (not many) and evolving the rest.

Then, I am very cynical, so the little patriotism is submerge by a distant distaste and expectation of everything to fuck up.

(European here)

It always shocks me how the whole plot of Star Wars original trilogy (and now Andor) is “how the young people get radicalized into terroristic organization”. But somehow the clash with our international politics is never noticed, how we create exactly the same scenarios…

(Sorry, messy comment, I hope it makes sense)

Indeed very interesting. Honestly, it still seems that the reason for inflation is “not backed by real good and something else we don’t quite understand”, in particular considering the examples of bills of credit in North America

The assumed reason for inflation, as I understand it, is that on one hand things devalue over time and on the other we build our system around infinite growth and rewarding innovation (many asterisks here…)

During the Middle Ages, neither statements were considered true, the world was considered stagnant and there was virtually no inflation. That was before the banking system - so with 0% inflation i would expect the banks to collapse…

And then… I don’t know! Stuff is hard and economics harder…