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todayilearned	Remember writing a paper about the rape of Nanjing. My history teacher thought it was BS because he never heard about it, but he looked it up and apologized. Crazy how so much of the barbarity Japan has been part of is basically unheard of in the West. Edit: He doubted me when I explained what I was going to write about, asked me about sources and if they were valid and not too biased because he had not heard of this. Did not throw a tantrum, tearing papers, flipping tables and called me a big stinky lying weiner. Dunno if I blame him, we did not have any requirement to be taught about any intricate conflict in Asia during my years.
todayilearned	This is one of my favorite useless facts to tell people I'm with at the MoA. I admire efficiency in engineering (for example, I always found it absurd the idea that there are server rooms requiring A/C in the winter while the rest of the building is being heated) and this is beautiful. That said, the idea is sorta gross if you think about it too much. We all know the (divisive) feeling of sitting in a warm seat, but imagine walking through an atmosphere of people's body heat. It's like indirectly cuddling thousands of other people.
todayilearned	Haha it's surprising the difference a few bodies will make. It doesn't matter how hot it is outside, almost every wedding in a small church will quickly become miserable as the 100+ people radiate into a typically poorly ventilated space for an hour. The transition to Minnesota cold is brutal even for us. It's this season of fall where we have our thermometers set to dual mode, furnace running in the morning, A/C in the afternoon. I much prefer when I can leave only the furnace on and be able to adapt the colder temperatures.
todayilearned	What? Noooooooo! Nah, I love people! I just don't like feeling, smelling, hearing, seeing, and especially not tasting them. They're perfect on the internet! Except all the trolls, edgy children, politically biased bigots, self-deprecating attention seekers, and salty gamers. (nah, I'm just an introverted geek that appreciates friends but has a large bubble and doesn't know how to deal with extremely extroverted people. Unique person of the year award contender right here /s)
todayilearned	I'm a picky, spoiled inhabitant. My insulation probably isn't so good either. I tried to deal with the temp getting to 65 and I was uncomfortable, so I reluctantly turned it on. But the way the weather is looking, I can probably turn off and cover the A/C, it hasn't actually been used since I set the heat. And maybe not necessarily in a single day, but over the course of two days, it's not uncommon in the fall for a really cold night and a really hot afternoon.
todayilearned	If you let unconditioned winter air into the server room you'd no longer be able to effectively control the humidity or temperature. Too cold? Condensation appears inside and outside the server. Too hot? Major component failures. Too dry? Static electricity will build up. Too moist? Condensation again. I have worked in server rooms for the last 3 years and you'd be amazed how careful we are with our airflow. Also keep in mind that during the winter it is much much less expensive to keep an A/C running. Basically the ac unit draws air from outside that's like 32F, conditions it to like 50F with 10% humidity, and sends it through our floors which only have slanted openings to direct the air directly to the server intakes. From there the heat rises into the roof exhaust grates and is recycled into usable heating and energy.
todayilearned	How well this works relies on how one's house was built and insulated. Inefficient, south-facing windows coupled with low ceilings and shoddy insulation is overwhelming in 80 degree heat, and a fan doesn't help much. &#x200B; I have lived in a great old house with 10' ceilings and a north-facing bedroom and I spent that whole summer without AC in my room (with summers getting in the 100s) and I was only mildly uncomfortable during the peak. Just to give an example of how important architecture/interior design can be in these respects.
todayilearned	I’ll be honest. I live in a mobile home. It’s newer (hence why I have central ac) but it’s also small. And 1 story with no basement. It does get hot quickly since there’s nowhere for hot air to go, also small space with a fair amount of windows in every direction. So while my friends places with basements and attics tend to stay more neutral where I live changes temps quickly. On the plus side central ac and heat do not require much to get it to a normal temperature.
todayilearned	My apartment, and a couple of past residences I've had, were built in the mid-century era, where insulating properly is not a common feature and landlords usually don't GAF about adding that sort of thing when fixing up houses and apartment buildings. Other places where I've lived were in buildings 100 years old or older, with all of the pros and cons that go along with those old buildings, like leaky windows, unheated common spaces (in apartments), uninsulated wood floors over crawlspaces and unheated basements, etc. (but tall ceilings and thick walls to keep the summer heat moderated with the help of blackout curtains). &#x200B; I hold off as long as I can before turning the heat on at night, for me the night temps are usually in the 40s instead of 50s though. Air conditioning though, my husband and I tolerate heat badly.
todayilearned	They're eggs made out of jade that, when inserted into and left inside a vagina for extended periods of time, supposedly had all manner of health benefits (the description was full of words like "cleanse" and "detox" and "feminine energy"). The problem is that jade is actually fairly porous, so even if you thoroughly cleaned it between uses you'd still have trouble actually sanitizing it. Bacteria would build up in it, and could result in bacterial vaginosis or toxic shock.
todayilearned	I think he holds a special place in so many kids hearts because of home alone and what that movie means to so many of us. It’s a staple at Christmas. It’s a cult classic. I want to see him to succeed so bad. I am so thrilled when he does the amas because he’s real and awesome and shows that yeah we can all have bad moments in life and then turn ourselves around into awesomeness.
todayilearned	This isn't true. This would mean many storm troopers were excellent actors, and willing to suddenly play a role perfectly even if it meant their life (like it did in the security office scene where they should have been shot, but aren't). But even more telling, when Obi Wan is stealthily creeping around to shut down the tractor beam, he overhears a conversation between two Storm Troopers. One basically says to the other, you know wtf is going on? Is this a drill? So they're clueless, haven't been given any special instructions.
todayilearned	> I know we be animals. I also know animals want to live. I know this doesn't stop carnivores from eating other animals that want to live. We are no different. I face this truth with the understanding that we ARE animals and so are they and this is an animal eat animal world we live in. > > Maybe you need to face the hard truth? &nbsp; Wild animals kill to survive. They must kill to eat, otherwise they would die. Whether they kill on instinct or are aware of their predicament is irrelevant, we are not in their situation. If you live in modern society and have access to crops, vegetables, fruit, grains etc, then you have no obligation or need for animal products. Also, wild animals exhibit all kinds of behaviour that you would seek to avoid, wild animals don't make for good ethical role models.
todayilearned	Hmm given the suicide rates before and after gender reassignment therapy it’s pretty clear cut psychological illness. You’d probably be shocked that the larger part of the well educated portion of the population takes stock of the raw data rather then this wild political ideology. I’m all for men dressing like woman vice versa, surgery to what ever gender you’re feeling what ever you need to be happy so long as ur not hurting someone else is kinda my motto. I say go for it. That doesn’t mean these people aren’t generally severely clinically depressed and it goes deeper then feeling like you’re in the wrong body.
todayilearned	There is proof of correlation between higher rates of chronic depression, marginalization and poverty among a lot of different people groups, and also a close connection between social exclusion and higher rates of suicide though. You may have been thinking of causation, which is a little harder to proof, but correlation between marginalization and mental health issues has definitely been proven before. This has been proven multiple times on studies of racialized subjects in Canada (for example http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/race-policy-dialogue-papers/racial-discrimination-and-mental-health-racialized-and-aboriginal-communities), institutional and structral discrimination or otherwise antagonistic legal actions have been shown to increase the rate of suicide and depression among LGB people as well (https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2009.168815) , and it has been proven that transgender teens are often subject of bullying and harassment which often has an impact on mental health and may cause more issues later in life as well (Harsh Realities, The Experiences of Transgender Youth In Our Nation’s Schools), we can also see that there's close correlation between physical/verbal harassment or abuse and self harming/suicidality, and that the mental health of transgender individuals seems to be impacted by the social isolation and exclusion that comes with outwardly expressing a gender other than the one assigned at birth (Mental health disorders, psychological distress, and suicidality in a diverse sample of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youths. American Journal of Public Health.). Minority stress theory (which at the end of the day is the central concept here), while previously cricticized for the point that you seemingly want to bring up about correlation not implying causation, seems to be widely accepted by the general population of mental health professionals on topics relating to the higher rates of mental health issues and suicide rates of marginalized groups, I did indeed find a study that looks for a causal relationship between discrimination and mental health (and physical health too) (here https://www.researchgate.net/publication/10756618_Does_Perceived_Discrimination_Affect_Health_Longitudinal_Relationships_between_Work_Discrimination_and_Women%27s_Physical_and_Emotional_Health), but even if most of the proof was correlational, to quickly dismiss it right away specially on something that's quite a new field and on something that is widely accepted as the most correct assertion to make a point about how trans people are just mentally unhealthy because they're trans when there's no causational proof for that assumption either and most psychologists would probably go against that line of thinking is sort of just being contrarian and to an extent also seeing the idea of someone being transgender in absolutely negative lens for no reason at all.
todayilearned	You’re right, I was thinking of causation. Point by point. I agree that there is a definite connection between social isolation and suicide, but I’m dubious of your claim that poverty is connected as well. Again, poverty itself has never been demonstrated to raise suicide rates. Perhaps there are factors that cause someone to be less likely to be financially successful while also raising suicide rates. Now, your links aren’t working for me, so I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and say that what you linked supports what you say. http://www.sprc.org/racial-ethnic-disparities This is data on suicide rates by race. If marginalized people are more prone to depression or suicide, why is it that the ones who are nearly universally agreed to be marginalized, like blacks and Hispanics, commit suicide far less than say, white people? https://afsp.org/about-suicide/suicide-statistics/ White males, often touted as the least marginalized group, accounted for 70% of all suicides in the US in 2016, despite making up less than 31% of the population. It’s not as simple as you’re making it out to be. The role that marginalization plays in suicide rates is clearly extremely complicated and not a direct correlation.
todayilearned	Still blows me away with some of the blatant “don’t give a fuck, I’m not using the product” that some Chinese businesses seem to do (not saying the west doesn’t do it, but at least they’re not as blatant about it or at least target demographics other than infants every once in a while). Like the low quality vaccines for infants or faking rabies vaccine test data, or in days gone past, padding baby formula with friggin plastic. Like no wonder baby formula from countries outside of china is flying off the shelves. If it were my kids I too would be paying extra to ensure my kids aren’t gonna have a dose of plastic in their next bottle of formula.
todayilearned	Just FYI, fraud in medicine happens every where, [including USA](https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/5/17822680/theranos-shutdown-elizabeth-holmes-blood-test-health-science). It's not really any China special. If that actually causing lives, it should be considered severity felony in any country. Also it's corruption/bride that involves millions. Only that alone could be enough to get death sentence in China. The only China special on this case is the severest punishment of crime in China is death sentence, which is commonly known, I believe?
todayilearned	Unfortunately, Reddit isn’t like that anymore. It’s been taken over by a much dumber hive mind in the last four years or so. Back in the day, any post or comment with a spelling error, emojis, grammatical issues, or shortened words was downvoted to oblivion. I still think Reddit is great, but it certainly has changed for the worse. There’s too much 4-Chan and Facebook overflow nowadays. But it is less pretentious now, for better or for worse.
todayilearned	Are you being facetious? I've been on Reddit around two yrs, and, grammar-wise, the only thing I've really noticed is an uptick "cute" talk - doggo, pupper, smol. . .I definitely find that obnoxious, but general spelling and syntax errors don't vex me terribly. Many folks on here aren't native English speakers, spelling isn't many people's forte. . .one of my degrees is in English, and I'm a pretty shit speller. Also, I Reddit exclusively on my mobile, I am pretty careless with typing/have chubby toddler hands - that makes for plenty of errors. I mean Reddit is just a time-waster for me - I don't "craft" or proofread my posts. I write extensively for work (psych nurse practitioner), and I definitely put more care into my writing IRL. That being said, I did have a mini-stroke the first time I read "smol" ; that shit is seven different kinds of retarded. I pay more attention to the cohesiveness/tone of some
todayilearned	Well I've got my 6 year club badge so I have to say that while you may or may not be one of the idiots you didn't get on board during the golden age. Things are different now. It's more laid back but also more hollow. Also the constant political maneuvering in ever fucking subreddit is tiresome. It's just not as fun to be involved and it really did start about 4 years ago.
todayilearned	No, but I don’t think they’d form a sustainable ecosystem in a plastic compost pile. In a normal backyard compost pile you have compost worms which live in there and turn vegetable matter into castings/compost. They live their entire life cycle in the compost pile and regenerate themselves by breeding. But if the wax caterpillars grow up and fly away you’d have to keep on replacing them with new caterpillars, and at the same time you’d be releasing massive waves (I don’t know how many caterpillars it would take to dispose of a household worth of plastic but quite possibly plague-like proportions) of wax moths onto the local bee populations, which would likely wipe out a lot of beehives.
todayilearned	I always wondered when my cake day was. Don't think this date coincides with anything significant but maybe learning I can get to the porn easily. It's weird to think the changes I have seen in them years. No "Quarantining" of subs, a link to /r/SpaceDick linked right to there so you could trick the uninitiated to see a man cutting a "paper" doll chain of his scrotum. More shit I'm too drunk and lazy to mention. 6 years and all a waste.
todayilearned	Good food for bearded dragons and other pet reptiles. Also not hard to breed them if you have patience. Mealworms go into a kinda suspended animation when they get cold but Superworms just die. Between the two, I prefer Superworms but my favorite feeder bug is Dubias. If you have any exotic pet questions, feel free to ask! I've owned, cared for, or rescued about every "common" exotic pet you can think of :)
todayilearned	Nah i'm good on those reptiles. I find them very fascinating, but i would not let them into my home. I have some strange fear of snakes as in my body shivers, when i think about them. I was bitten once as a kid by a snake that was thinner than a straw. It didn't even penetrate the skin. I'm better with mammals. They tend to show you signs before they bite.
todayilearned	It’s too bad our Congress today already have made-up their minds on so many stances and just plow ahead with whatever agenda they’ve had their hearts on from the beginning. It’s no longer about listening or being empathetic to someone’s story. It’s no longer about what the people or their constituents want. Can you imagine our Congress now-a-days hearing Mr. Rogers testimony? Can you imagine the vileness and dirt they’d be clamoring to dig up on him in hopes to embarrass him on a national stage to make him go away? I’m almost thankful Fred Rogers is gone because I don’t think I could stand to have him so disappointed in our actions as a country today. At the same time, I wish he were here now because I know he’d absolutely be that ray of sunshine and positivity we desperately need in our discourse today.
todayilearned	> I’m almost thankful Fred Rogers is gone because I don’t think I could stand to have him so disappointed in our actions Just had that thought. That man was too wholesome for where were at. It makes me cry that if he were here he’d tell us we were special just the way we are and that he cares. I don’t think he could muster a bad word about anyone, even trump.
todayilearned	I feel like this is is the result of how connected everyone is now. Back then, you went to the hearing to find out the information you needed to make a decision upon. That's what the hearing was for. They didn't have news alerts, emails, Twitter, Reddit. I'd imagine they often walked into these hearing blind. Now everyone knows everything before they walk in and it just reaffirms what they already decided upon. Then it's used as a formality to ensure their agenda comes through as expected.
todayilearned	I'm not religious, but the people who said that can rot in hell if there is one. Mr. Rogers helped me deal with my parent's divorce when I was a kid. I don't remember a lot, but I remember it was really hard and Mr. Rogers helped me deal with my feelings. Teaching little boys and girls that their feelings are entitlement is what causes mental health issues. This seriously made me sick. Stone cold bastards
todayilearned	I was thinking about the Kavanaugh hearing personally. Just make up some story from 40 years ago with no evidence. Or even the Russia-Trump collusion story, which also has zero evidence yet is still eaten up by some people. There's a good chunk of the population that doesn't care at all if something is true, they just want to believe it if it hurts people they disagree with. Pretty sad. edit: As a third party voter, it is genuinely amusing to see just how biased main subreddits have become. You can't even see how ridiculous and partisan you look.
todayilearned	>Post on T_D but not a Trump supporter. If you actually looked at my post history, you'd see that half of my comments on TD get heavily downvoted. I'm not a mindless drone who only talks to people that agree with me. I also post on r/politics and other vehemently anti-Trump subs (such as this one, apparently). In fact, I spend very little time on any subs with which I heavily do agree, because it's a waste of time. >Does Manafort count as evidence? Flynn? The Trump Tower Meeting where Jnr admitted they were looking for Clinton dirt? Trump’s bending over backwards for Putin at the G8 summit, then siding with Putin over US intelligence at his and Putin’s joint press conference? Yeah, none of that is evidence of collusion, even a little bit. Imagine if this were Obama we were talking about. 0% chance you'd think there's collusion. You literally only think that because you were told to think it. You know it's possible to actually look at the primary evidence yourself instead of just reading partisan opinion pieces, right? If you did that maybe you'd be a bit more skeptical. Instead you believe everything you're told, no matter how ridiculous it is.
todayilearned	I’m not a huge Obama fan, I hate how he normalised drone strikes and his charisma dragged the left into a more centrist position. Also, Jnr admitting freely that he was seeking Clinton dirt is literally what collusion is. It doesn’t need to be that Trump and Putin met and devised an evil plan, or that they planted false memories in him like the Manchurian candidate. People from the Trump campaign met with Russian nationals for dirt on a political opponent. And admitted it. That is collusion. Or rather, it’s conspiracy, which is the actual criminal offence. There’s technically no collusion because collusion isn’t the legal word for it. And Manafort was arrested and tried, how is that not enough evidence? More projection, every time Trump defenders come out. Either it’s Hillary’s fault or circle back to Obama or ‘you’ve been told to think this!’
todayilearned	But they were taken seriously by voters who acted on it. Words have power- everyone’s words have power, whether it’s taken seriously by certain circles or not. I disagree with your opinion on the Kavanaugh situation tbh, but I appreciate you recognizing that your side has flaws just as much as mine. Obama was slandered and insulted by the right for 8 years, and is still to this day. I can’t let you downplay the accusations thrown against him simply because they weren’t taken seriously by the MSM..if you won’t hold your own party accountable, who will you hold accountable?
todayilearned	You can say this, but in the Mr. Rogers documentary "Won't you be my neighbor" they made a clear point about how shaken he was from 9/11. It make him reconsider if what he was doing was right, and worth it. If you haven't seen it, please do. Here in America, it's not always a straightforward path. The righteous are not always appreciated. Sometimes the people standing up for what is correct and what should be said are heavily discriminated against as you've implied. I think people are losing sight of this. It's detrimental to us all to be so close minded and hateful. I wish I knew a solution but I really have no idea what could bring people together now.
todayilearned	> It’s too bad our Congress today already have made-up their minds on so many stances and just plow ahead with whatever agenda they’ve had their hearts on from the beginning. They have to. This goes back to the 90's. If a Politician DARED to go back on their word, they were a flip flopper. "Oh, he keeps changing his mind!" Like that was a bad thing. So now, to not be labeled a flip flopper, they have to stick to whatever stupid ass thing they were doing to begin with.
todayilearned	Oh no he has great points. Things like law, finance and taxes, CPR and political awareness should be taught and put more emphasis on or be part of related subject's curriculum. However these things often use those abstract things from maths, history and so on. So basically schools give you breadcrumbs with no actual goal so you blunder around. It's also my opinion (as a maintenance employee at school - sysadmin) that just like work should stay in the office (I get it, sometimes it does not), teaching should stay at school. Stop giving out stupid homeworks. If a kid spends 30 hours in school already and then you toss them hour or two of homework for each subject every week and you want them to learn for quizzes and do a prep work for your class, you end up with a kid that is doing 40-50 hours of work a week. This then results in people that burn out in a job that does not pay overtime. No, fuck that. Do post school clubs instead where the teacher is present and able to explain shit but kids who have literally zero interest in the manner can focus on what they want to be instead of what school requires to get better financing.
todayilearned	I've been to many schools across Europe... Now I am in the UK but I started (as a student) in Czech Republic, went to Denmark and Holland, Italy, Greece and Poland. Not in single school across these countries have I met a teacher who would not think their subject and the school is the most important thing ever. I guess there are burned out broken teachers but I never met any of them.
todayilearned	Ok but the subject of this thread is the American education system, and let me tell you I don't have enough time to even begin to scratch the surface of how fucked up that system is. I've had teachers who had abusive incidents toward students while the rest of the class watched, teachers who would rub teenage girls' shoulders and play with their hair, principals who would rather their school make more money than students being taught well (our system is actually geared to reward removing students who don't perform well on tests with increased funding which is potentially what happened with Depp.) I've seen teachers who spent time in a public school lecturing about Jesus in their math class, teachers who haven't cared about their job in a decade, administrators who out up religious posters in the school walls, search students weekly with drug dogs. I've seen a lot of teachers who didn't think education was even an important part of their job. I've never seen a teacher fired for any of this. I'm glad it's not that way in a lot of other places but that doesn't mean there isn't a tragedy of a system in place in the US
todayilearned	Renewable energy in Costa Rica has shot utilities through the roof while the country’s infrastructure is collapsing. The country didn't have energy problems before that, so they fixed something that wasnt broke. While its good for PR, the average joe is paying more for electricity and his commute is significantly dangerous because of deteriorating infrastructure. Oh, and energy in Costa Rica is Extremely unreliable. Power outtages are insanely common. Wrote a paper on this a while back.
todayilearned	As it stands, nuclear does seem more feasible to implement into every state rather than trying to control hydrology to that extent. We haven't had much luck with altering river hydrology long-term. France has definitely seen solid results since their issues during and pre 1980s. Nuclear tends to get bogged down with bureaucracy and various groups trying to minimize costs. It is a real shame because several major issues that have set back long-term nuclear development could have been avoided.
todayilearned	Please no dams. Hydroelectric generates a shit ton of power, but they're actually as much of an ecological nightmare as coal plants. Disruption of fish movements, large scale habitat destruction, displacement of entire communities, freshwater habitat fragmentation, large scale sediment regime disruption... I could go on. If we want to get away from fossil fuels, wind and nuclear is the way to go. Solar is decent, but has a long way to go still.
todayilearned	Voting should be enough. Nothing wrong with being pissed at the US government for being blindingly selfish and intentionally obtuse. There's no good reason for us to be so far behind. What do you expect people to do, exactly, other than vote and bitch? It's not like the average American is just sitting on a stockpile of Novichok, fully capable of overthrowing the world's most powerful country but they decide against it because, well, it's Tuesday and they're just not really feeling the extra effort today. Or maybe each one of us is supposed buy our own solar and wind powered generators. Maybe each person is supposed to have enough land and cash to just pull themselves up by their bootstraps and just get it dun already? Or is it a free market thing? Like, you think green energy hasn't taken over because it's not profitable enough or it isn't an effective business plan and you personally believe that literally everything people do needs to make maximum profit or it's the wrong thing to do, naturally, because Capitalism? Or maybe you think people should quit their jobs, move out into the wilderness and live off the land, casting aside all worldly possessions for a simpler life that has no need for "electricity" or "hygiene." Honestly, other than vote and bitch, please please give us all something to do.
todayilearned	Absolutely! Thank you for bringing this up. Depending on the type of dam, they can have very serious impacts on local ecology. We have been making significant improvements to some types of dams, but none are perfect. Fish aren't the only species that suffer when you alter the local hydrology in a region. Microorganisms, insects, crops, plants, and so many other organisms are impacted by changing hydrological conditions. Dams absolutely have their place in some regions, but it would be a mistake to recreate the dam fever that spread through the U.S. some 50-60+ years ago. We still need to figure out how we will maintain, replace, or remove the dams that are reaching their expected end of life.
todayilearned	Dams are ecologically destructive, but on a local scale. Coal plants pollute our air and will eventually cause extinctions due to climate change worldwide. It is oversimplifying to say hydro is as bad as coal. I agree with you 100% that we should not be focused on installing more hydro (on the US we are basicallly at saturation on that anyway). Nuclear is a great transitional source. Solar has improved by leaps and bounds recently and is already a competitive source in sunny parts of the country
todayilearned	I’m hopeful for the TerraPower nuclear plant that’s currently in prototype. It’s 600MW, 1200MW if it works well, that runs on the depleted uranium we currently use. What this means it that were using the 99% of the uranium that isn’t used in our current methods. This means that a single fuel rod can run for 60 years before it’s used up. This means two big things: Were using the nuclear waste that everyone worries about (which is a non trivial issue, but one that is much less of worry than fossil fuel). And secondly, since the fuel burns for 60 years, there are is a lot less that can go wrong as the human interaction is much less frequent. Also with amount of fuel we have sitting around for, we would have thousands of years worth of fuel. I’m sure there are issues that will crop up, but I think that will be a huge key in getting to 0 carbon emissions in the next 40 years.
todayilearned	I mean that we consistently fail in our attempts to control river hydrology and we often make conditions worse for the local ecosystems and we occasionally make things worse for the humans living in the immediate area of river alteration programs. Yea, we've put dams in a lot of rivers. Yes, some of these dams are engineering marvels and contribute a huge amount of energy or water resources. These are all short-term wins. River systems are dynamic and they are subject to change over time. Native species suffer drastically from the implementation of dams. Also, there are plenty of examples of hydrological alterations that have failed. The great flood of 1993 is just one example of human induced hydrological disaster in the U.S. This stuff happens frequently because there are almost always too many factors at work to anticipate them all.
todayilearned	Hi there! I actually might be able to help answer this question for you. I'm an electrical engineer who has a couple years experience commissioning power plants and has recently been working in transmission. Apologies in advance for the wall of text. Nuclear is costly and difficult to build. There is a ton of risk involved in a nuclear project. If you want proof of this, look up the Virgil C Summer plant in South Carolina. They undertook a 9 billion dollar project several years ago to add two nuclear units to their plant. Westinghouse took the project on and it actually managed to bankrupt their nuclear division (Westinghouse is one of those oldest names in the power industry). Toshiba then tried to salvage it and has sustained massive losses as a result. Currently the project is on hold because it is almost $5billion overbudget and no one else wants to try and turn it around. Now, for some cost analysis, one of these units being built supplies roughly 1000 MW to the grid (slightly less but make numbers easier). That means if the project right now were to be complete without any additional spending (impossible) it would be approximately $14b spent to produce 2000MW. Thats ignoring the costs of running. A natural gas plant? The last one I was on had about a $600m budget and produced just under 500MW. Construction from start to finish took less than 3 years. That means in terms of cost per Megawatt, this plant was about $1.2mill per MW compared to the $7m per Megawatt of a finish V.C Summer Plant. Even if the plant never went over budget, its still over triple the cost and a much longer turnaround time. Now, all of this is before you even get to running the plant. Nuclear plants are a nightmare for two reasons. The first is the huge impact they have on the grid when a unit "trips" offline. NERC is a federal organization that was put in place after the 2003 blackout to prevent an incident like that from reoccuring. They place strict regulations on any equipment that connects to our transmission grid. Performing work in a nuclear site is a nightmare because of this. Second major reason is the potential for a major accident. Everyone has heard of Chernobyl, a plant in Russia that went critical in the 1980s and left a whole city uninhabitable to this day. The estimate fatality count of this disaster was roughly 4000 lives. But Chernobyl has not been the only incident. Fukushima and Three Mile Island are two other major disasters that you can read into if you are interested. Technology has gotten better in recent times and these plants have gotten a lot safer, but these are just factors to consider. I personally think we are headed in the right direction with nuclear, but we don't want to over extend ourselves trying to go 100% nuclear in a country this big too quickly.
todayilearned	Then the sun sets and we gotta burn, baby, burn! Planet Money had a podcast recently about how they want to use the excess solar power during the day to pump water uphill into reseveroirs, then let the water flow back down to produce hydro power during the night. Apparently they have turbines now that can act both as pumps for getting the water uphill, and as hydro turbines as it goes back down, so that's cool.
todayilearned	Hey I'm all for voting and bitching to our heart's content. I will continue to do that, and I will continue to expect the current level of progress. As a society, there's one thing I could recommend. If anyone want to make a difference, consider getting seriously educated in the issues. I'm not saying everyone should become a solar engineer, but knowing more than "global warming is bad, oil is bad, solar is good, wind is good" would be a start. Ever see someone study cancer inside and out after a family member falls ill? You know, that once completely medically ignorant person that can now walk into an oncologist's office and speak intelligently about the progression of the disease, spot drug contraindications, analyze treatments, etc. Of course, not everyone has this ability. But there's so much untapped genius out there. And so many people that care about these issues but not care enough to take it beyond voting and bitching.
todayilearned	Most states already have at least one. [https://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/map-power-reactors.html](https://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/map-power-reactors.html) France also, from what I have read, has more regulations on nuclear power... Something that does terrify me since where I live in the US has so damn many. Fallout series in the making. Edit: Though I must admit, I am not sure how many of those are used for electric energy, versus the other potential uses of a nuclear power plant, such as a research reactor.
todayilearned	True, but the testing could be much faster if someone just poured some money into it. There was an askreddit post the other day, "instead of the USA spending $1,000,000,000,000 on an 11 year war, what else could have been done with that money?" and I seriously believe that we would be using fission, if not fusion, had that kind of money been spent on new types of energy instead of fighting for oil.
todayilearned	I guess I'm not understanding your argument. I am not arguing whether or not it is good that we modify/regulate most(all) of the major rivers in the US, just that we do. I guess I may have interpreted "good luck" (a very subjective term) incorrectly. &#x200B; I understood it as we have been unable to control large scale river hydrology/hydraulics, which we absolutely have. There are some outliers, and our dam-reservoir system is designed to handle up to a certain amount of flow depending on the dam. I am not at all arguing that this is good environmentally or ecologically, or that it always works. But we do have a huge impact on how our rivers behave. There would be far more flooding without our dam-reservoir system. Honestly though the real solution is for people living in floodplains to move, i fully support re-integrating floodplains (levee removal) and dam removal on rivers to restore them to their natural state. However in the US that would be extremely costly for major rivers and will likely not happen in our or our children's lifetimes.
todayilearned	There are a few reasons, here’s what I can remember: The investment was high. Costa Rican law requires environmental studies and in this case they had to be done a few times over because of politics and because they wanted to get renewables from hydroelectric plants(Dams) that use flowing rivers to spin turbines. (This ultimately did cause environmental damage). Costa Rica is very humid and mountainous and so it was not an easy or inexpensive task to carry out the project. Another reason for the high cost is that the power grid in general is outdated and deteriorating, so maintenance and repairs drive costs up. Most populated areas get priority over rural areas, rural areas are more expensive to fix. Lastly, energy is provided by a public institution that absolutely sucks. They have had many scandals of corruption and misuse of funds. Theyre also unionized and in a country as small as Costa Rica, this has given them a good amount of political power and so they have caused significant political problems, often resulting in increased salaries beyond reason and budget increases
todayilearned	I definitely appreciate your approach to this discussion and I totally agree there seems to be a misunderstanding between us. Many of our dams throughout the U.S.A. have been very successful in terms of what they were initially designed for (irrigation supply, hydropower, floodplain alteration, etc.). Yes, we have definitely been able to alter and in some cases control river hydraulics. In some cases, these changes are still in place an there doesn't appear to be any indication that our systems are failing. There are several major dam projects that serve as prime examples of these accomplishments. The problems I was referencing aren't exclusively related to dams, but there are some examples that can be related to various dams. Just last year the Oroville dam failed. I'll admit that this dam was underfunded and in need of repairs/design alteration, but that is part of the challenge associated with controlling our rivers. We need to maintain the river control structures or they fail and we no long maintain control. I guess I should have better emphasized my interpretation of "long-term." You are absolutely right that we have been able to alter the hydrology of various river systems. The issue is that altering is easier than controlling. There is often, but not always, too much change carried through a river system for our designs to hold longterm. Just about any alteration to a river system is going to change how the water flows through the channel bed. Over time, these changes will cause erosion in various areas that can cause the river to jump/change channels from the original flow path. Before satellite imagery it was a lot harder to track these changes, but now we can easily map the divergence of river systems over 100s of years. Some of these changes are intentional and some of them occur opposite to what we had hoped for. We definitely have a massive impact on the behavior of our river systems, but we haven't always been in control of the changes we've caused. One of the major issues we face today is that many of our dams have reached the end our their expected "safe operational period." If we don't decide what to do with these dams, they could very well remove themselves (in some cases). Didn't mean to come off as if I was criticizing your opinion or denying that we have done a hell of a job building dams on most of our rivers. I believe we both have similar opinions on potential solutions to our current situation. Thanks for the opportunity to discuss. Best wishes!
todayilearned	It’s not free, you still pay for the energy like you are now. But it’s coming from your solar panels instead of a fossil-fuel plant elsewhere. And if the panels produce more energy than you use that month, you can sell it back to the grid, which shaves down your out-of-pocket costs. We have SunNation but that looks like a local company to us. Google for what’s available in your area.
todayilearned	Why are you assuming most of industry is made up of these specialized heating scenarios? Here is an excerpt from the explanation about the "industry" category: > The Industry sector produces the goods and raw materials we use every day. The greenhouse gases emitted during industrial production are split into two categories: direct emissions that are produced at the facility, and indirect emissions that occur off site, but are associated with the facility's use of energy. > Direct emissions are produced by burning fuel for power or heat, through chemical reactions, and from leaks from industrial processes or equipment. Most direct emissions come from the consumption of fossil fuels for energy. A smaller amount, roughly a third, come from leaks from natural gas and petroleum systems, the use of fuels in production (e.g., petroleum products used to make plastics), and chemical reactions during the production of chemicals, iron and steel, and cement. > Indirect emissions are produced by burning fossil fuel at a power plant to make electricity, which is then used by an industrial facility to power industrial buildings and machinery.
todayilearned	What I am saying is that you can't reduce those emission to near zero by assuming everybody converts to electric heat. Even here, roughly a third comes from things that aren't even related to producing heat. Your argument was, basically, that once we convert production of electricity to renewable, we can just easily convert everything that today doesn't use electricity, and that doesn't make any sense. Not only is it not technically feasible, it would require something like 50% more electricity even if the application was as energy-efficient, and it isn't. You could have as easily said "let's assume that all cars are electric, too." It's not a very good thing to assume in the next couple of decades.
todayilearned	> you can't reduce those emission to near zero by assuming everybody converts to electric heat. Even here, roughly a third comes from things that aren't even related to producing heat. It says roughly a third of the direct emissions category comes from those other sources. That means it is one third of like 12% or something...so 4% out of the 22% total for industry. > Your argument was, basically, that once we convert production of electricity to renewable, we can just easily convert everything that today doesn't use electricity No, my argument was just that most emissions come from generating electricity or buring fuel for things that we could easily use electricity for. By "easily" I mean it is already common for people to use electricity for them, it just isn't universal. Electric cars are not commonplace yet, electric stoves, electric ovens, electric furnaces, etc... are all common, just not universal.
todayilearned	Almost all industry emission are direct, though. One third of industry direct emission is going to be a lot of emissions. > No You said no, then stated that your argument was exactly what I said it was. I'm sorry, but I'm not really finding this discussion to be useful. I have to keep trying to correct bad information, and that's not good use of my time. Have a good life.
todayilearned	I can't continue. I don't see how you could think what I said is the same as what you said. What I said: > "most emissions come from generating electricity or buring fuel for things that we could easily use electricity for. By "easily" I mean it is already common for people to use electricity for them, it just isn't universal. Electric cars are not commonplace yet, electric stoves, electric ovens, electric furnaces, etc... are all common, just not universal." Your "summary" of what I said: > once we convert production of electricity to renewable, we can just easily convert everything that today doesn't use electricity I did not say we can "just easily convert everything that today doesn't use electricity". If you still think those two statements are the same, we're at an impasse.
LifeProTips	There's nothing worse than being a member of an 8 person social event and being stuck on one end of a row. You never get to speak with the people at the other end. Buying 4 seats in front of 4 seats for example, makes it easier for everyone to talk to each other. Edit: Okay, yes. It should be a large number of people, not large amount of people. I know it was completely unintelligible before.
LifeProTips	Seriously, microwaves only do a shit job if you're impatient. Dial the power back, cook it for longer, and go choose your show on Netflix or whatevs while it cooks - you know you're just gonna let it go cold while you choose a show anyway, so get on top of your shit, flip it and reverse it, choose the show first and enjoy your hot leftovers rather than choking down a cold soggy mess. For example: a lean cuisine green curry & rice says on the box "COOK ON HIGH FOR 3 MINUTES LET STAND AND SERVE" - but it only says that because they know you're an impatient little shit and won't buy the box that says "COOK ON 1/4 POWER FOR 12 MINUTES" because if you're not going to cook your own calorie controlled curry, you're also not going to stand around waiting TWELVE WHOLE MINUTES for this one when the other brand says it's done in three. EDIT BECAUSE YOU PEOPLE NEVER STOP POSTING THE SAME 'SUCH TIME YUCK MICROWAVE 20 MINS IN OVEN INSTEAD AM SMART' COMMENT A MILLION TIMES OVER: I'm a chef. You all have high hopes for how quickly your oven pre heats, and how easily you can remove a frozen meal from plastic Tupperware to change into an oven safe dish. You all also seem to be the type of person who would blast their shit in the microwave anyway, because s frozen curry being cooked through in the oven in 20 mins from turning the oven on would mean using a blast furnace. Also, did the title say "if you're choosing how to reheat something...?" No. It doesn't. Because I'm SPECIFICALLY addressing Microwave usage, so outta here with your faux superiority, go make your own thread about ovens and toaster ovens and airfryers. Not everyone has those things - dorm students may have a cooktop and convection microwave. I certainly don't have space for a toaster oven to sit around on my bench like a jerk all day (that's what the microwave is for). Also for those asking about fries: skip the microwave and go straight to the sandwich press. You're welcome.
LifeProTips	Both professionally and in my personal life, I know a bunch of people that refuse to admit to having made a mistake. When I mess up (and we all do at some point,) I just own up to it right away. By accepting responsibility, apologizing, and saying what I'll do to keep it from happening again, I not only avoid getting a lecture about whatever I did wrong, I also get thanked by my boss/friend/whoever.
LifeProTips	I’m from New Orleans where flooding is common. Rising water in sewers offen moves manhole covers(openings to the sewer) creating a very dangerous situation especially when water is being pumped through the sewers (as in during a flood). It creates underground rivers and people fall in and drown. Use a boat whenever possible while crossing flooded urban areas and use extreme caution when walking. Another thing to consider are keeping food, water and an axe with you if forced to move to a higher level of your home. Many people got stuck and even drowned in their attics during katrina but the people who brought axes could cut through to their roofs.
LifeProTips	Wow didnt think this would blow up over night, thanks for all the advice anyone. I personally graduated an electrical apprenticeship at a shipyard after failing out of college twice. I wish I found the apprenticeship straight out of high school, but my school, and I'm sure many others, really pushed you to get a degree. I now work for a military contractor making a pretty good wage. I encourage anyone looking to get into an apprenticeship to reach out to their local trade union. Not only will they provide quality OJT, but most places will provide a free college degree like mine did.
LifeProTips	This post in particular is referencing job recruiters at staffing firms, who are recruiting for companies other than their own. A few years ago I worked as a technical recruiter. We would receive job requisitions which detailed the position, these requisitions came from large tech companies. Then as a recruiter it was my job to go on job boards such as Indeed, Monster, etc and look through resumes and find someone who would be a good fit for the position. We would call and email any and all potential candidates to get them to apply for the position through the staffing firm. That sounds good right? Well this is where all good thoughts are thrown out the window. If one of the recruits gets the job, then their salary comes through the staffing firm, not the company they are working at. This might differ between staffing firms but they have what are known as pay rates and base rates. The pay rate is what is listed on the job requisition form. This is what the company would roughly pay the recruit if they worked for the company directly (maybe a little lower). The base rate is the salary the recruiter tells you. The base rate is always lower than then pay rate due to other fees and costs. That is standard. However recruiters are encouraged by their companies to get people into jobs are the lowest possible rate. Furthermore the actual pay rate is never disclosed to the recruit. This is because the staffing firm and the recruiter earn the difference between the pay rate and base rate. The final straw for me was when one of my co-workers successfully recruited a veteran to a high paying position with a pay rate of $65 an hour. The recruiter convinced the recruit to take the job at $25 an hour. So for every hour the veteran worked the staffing agency would earn roughly $30. Instead of reprimanding the recruiter for taking such blatant advantage of someone, the recruiter was paraded around the office in celebration. I'm sure that their are staffing firms that encourage more ethical practices but their are also ones like what I described above. In conclusion, if you are ever contacted by a recruiter be very cautious and don't get drawn into their sweet talk. They will talk you up and make you think that they are your friend, but they just want you for money. So if you do take a job from a recruiter push for a higher salary and then do it a few more times. Tl;dnr: when working with recruiters be very careful as they will manipulate you and take advantage of you.
LifeProTips	I’ve noticed this from personal experience. Sometimes when I’m feeling happy, I would act a little bit hyper and energized. When people view this they always ask why I am acting “out” which makes me feel immediately insecure and it will often ruin my mood. Now, when I notice someone is acting like that, I usually mention that they seem happy and they usually are. Edit: maybe my wording was a little too vague. I didn’t mean crazy as in clinically insane. I meant if someone feels energized or has a skip in their step. Obviously don’t say that someone seems happy if they’re ripping stuff apart and “shitting in boxes”. Most of the time it is easy to tell when someone is acting out in a positive way. Edit 2: im sorry this was “trending”. I don’t really decide if my post shows up in your notifications. If you go in settings, you can turn them off. I forgot specifically where in settings but you can probably google it. Edit 3: Guys... am I manic?
LifeProTips	(EDIT: Adding an example as one was asked for further down in the comments.) What does such a derailed career look like? Let's take the example of a software developer who is hired on with that title, but is handed a phone and told to take IT help calls. Let's say this developer trusts the company knows what it's doing and stays on for two years before realizing that the company had no intention of actually fitting them into a role where they actually develop any software. The developer is now two years out of practice AND two years behind the times in the development world. Even trying to switch jobs back into software development at that point is going to be a significant hurdle to overcome. Talking to your company about this is a great first step and may help to correct your situation, but be wary of company promises about something in the future; that's basically the situation you're already in! Two years out of practice is better than five, though. Don't get discouraged, persistence and studying on your own time pays off! Lots of great comments below with advice from success stories, hope to add mine soon!
LifeProTips	Social lies are the cause of that problem, not the solution to it. In my view they're things people use to try to be an asshole without feeling bad about it. Acting nice rather than actually being nice. Basically, I'm only interested in what you mean, rather than how you say it, so on that note I prefer it if people are just straight with me instead of e.g. trying for some daft reason to disguise a reminder as a belated thanks. That said, that's a personal preference thing, I doubt we'll ever agree. And we don't have to, either. I just felt compelled to explain myself a bit better? You seem to have the impression that I get pissed off at everything.
LifeProTips	The time, however, is compounded when at the wash. Adding 1 second to right your shirt/pants (or even less if you remove it in a different way) before tossing it in the hamper each day could save you minutes when you are putting all of your clothes in the laundry. It’s technically not much time saved, but it is perceived as a lot of time saved in the moment. I do appreciate your tenacity on attempting to discredit this tip, though. Keep it up.
LifeProTips	It is a LPT because the repetitive action of righting clothing before putting it in the wash is arduous and annoying and occupies more time in the moment, while doing it on a daily basis when discarding your sullied clothing is and does not. Your analogy is not at all relevant to what I have advised, as my LPT is not simply a function of perceived speed, and it does save time, despite it being possibly a minimal amount. I never stated that it was equivalent.
LifeProTips	Also, it sounds obvious but when getting the router set up in a new apartment, DON'T agree to put the router in anyone's bedroom. I was a stupid 20-year-old and learned that one the hard way. It was in the far corner of his room and I once had to hike over a toxic wasteland of dirty dishes with rotting food and piles of festering old socks to reset the router.
LifeProTips	Every Saturday and Sunday morning we’re both home, he gets up, makes coffee, makes breakfast, and comes in to the bedroom with coffee when breakfast is ten minutes from done. For his birthday I secretly got up an hour early and made him eggs benedict with crispy pancetta and mushrooms, homemade hollandaise, coffee, and grapes. He woke up when I burned myself with pancetta grease like 20 min in but still appreciated it.
LifeProTips	I’ve worked in a few areas in petroleum refining and one of the things I’ve observed is that people aren’t disgruntled, they’re passionate. Their frustration comes with sharing their observations and feeling like they’re not being respected or valued, because they feel like they’re not being listened to. This causes the workforce to become distant and withdraw from healthy discussion and positive contribution. There’s a breakdown in communication and it creates “perception vs reality” issues across the organizations. Edit: These are some great replies! Thank you for keeping the conversation going!
LifeProTips	rainbow six siege is one of my fave games. sometimes it’s the only game i play when i’m really in the mood for it. i always have something to complain about in that game if i play long enough, but i still genuinely enjoy it 99% of the time. i never spend too long harping on something stupid that happened, such as a headshot that registered but didn’t kill. a lot of games are made to frustrate the player at some point or another, but it contributes to the above mentioned passion. i love r6. it could use work on some things but it’s still plenty fun. anyways, that’s my ted talk
LifeProTips	I've done my fair share of requirements gathering and actually talking to someone about what they do, day in, day out, why they do it that way and not other ways, and thier idea's is a great way to get someone to light-up. Alot of guys would of tried to have this very same convo with their manager who just isn't interested (at that time at least) The best guys to talk to are usally the complainers because these guys are passionate about doing a good job. They complain because it could be done better.
LifeProTips	That isn't true though. This perspective on it can be really self deprecating. I had a problem where I took on everyone else's issues because I wanted to be 'that friend', and my therapist asked me who I can rely on and I burst into tears. People genuinely like to help (like me) and it's not throwing garbage on us since we know it can help and mean something to the person venting. I began to vent little by little to my roommate (about non roommate things), and we became so much closer as friends. Yeah, no problems get solved. But venting exists because we feel better when other humans listen and understand us. All that to say there's definitely a balance. I went too far to the 'not venting' side, but of course someone could only vent and never listen. Screw those friends haha. Balance is key.
LifeProTips	I'm no saint but generally try and listen to people "rant" about their life. It helps to see 1) where they are coming from and 2) understanding that they're pained, in some shape or form. The best way, I've found, is to always be non judgemental in your expressions and words. When I combine listening nonjudgementally with expressing gratitude for the small things in my life, I've noticed people stop complaining to me and try to emulate my behavior / happiness. I've done this a few times at work and the atmosphere changes pretty dramatically. To build some tolerance to external stressors, meditation helps.
LifeProTips	Just the difference between days and nights creates two different working environments. Dividing the work groups even further allows for more opportunities of miscommunication. In just about every workplace, “safety” thrown around a lot. To me it gets overused but loses its meaning after a while because it gets misunderstood. Every time I see or hear the word I replace it with “communication” because that’s what it is... a cone communicates a hazard, an email or procedure communicates intent, purpose and potential hazards and mitigations... or so it should. I see the frustration with projecting the image or illusion of safety and feeling that it’s hypocritical. There’s a lot of fancy posters but that means nothing when people are getting hurt and hiding it because they don’t want to upset their safety record. And that’s where it has to get down to understanding limitations. If a workforce of 400 has one “safety guy”, maybe that guy isn’t the guy we should be going to. That person is only capable of so much. One person trying to help 400 is like trying to drink water out of a fire hydrant. And that’s also how it feels one-on-one, going into a conversation to try and fix a “disgruntled” person. So, I try to look at a person as a subject matter expert in their own life that’s willing to give me first-hand knowledge, listen, and then connect them with a closer resource, like an immediate supervisor or head of a workgroup. There’s likely to be more of an understanding than to try and recreate a scenario to someone who isn’t familiar with the “way things get done” vs “the way we’re supposed to be doing it”. That supervisor should be taking those things to their peers, working collectively, and then bringing it to their leader... but when it doesn’t happen, that’s where we get frustrated and lose trust. And that’s where I chose to try a different approach. I joined an employee-led safety committee. No special perks, no extra pay, no red hat. Just the ability to sit in a room and bypass all the levels above me, straight to the top. At first I was nervous, then I became confident. I brought all the issues to it and laid them out there, but it was ineffective because all I was doing was bringing low level issues to high level people. I wasn’t connecting a concern with the department responsible. The best takeaway from it was after I “saw the man behind the curtain” I saw where the communication stopped, and I spent time understanding who was responsible for what, and connecting the issues with the right people through email or electronic write ups. Digital “paper trails” go a long way— they’re a receipt and a reminder that anyone involved can go back to if they’re unclear and a way to follow up. And they’re an effective form of communication that show you’re listening and making the attempt to do something about it. I usually include the person with the concern, a direct supervisor and the person who may be able to resolve the issue. Having three or more people seems to get more effective replies and often, those two may continue the conversation to work the issue.
LifeProTips	>I personally only bring home a couple big ticket gripes a month due to me not wanting to think about work unless I’m on the clock. Right? I always felt that I am not paid enough for work to occupy my mind off off the clock. I also feel that I will be happy at work. A coworker asked me why. I asked "Are they going to pay me more if I have a bad attitude? No? Then I will be happy instead."
LifeProTips	You found a commonality and gained trust, opened up and communicated. The act of helping others without expecting anything in return is a selfless act, but without reciprocation or feeling respected or listened to is tiring. Once we find that person that really listens, I mean just observes us, it feels good man. We want that to continue. At that point the hardest thing to do is allow for feedback and to be a good listener in return. For me, I cut people off out of excitement. I talk in circles. But my wife, my coworker, those two are great listeners and give me feedback on my inability to be an effective listener because of it. Those two have a great deal of patience and in return, I want to correct those behaviors, because it feels so great to have those rewarding conversations. But not once did they try to fix me, I had to be willing to want to improve, so I try to pay it forward with patience and open ears. I should mention that I wanted to help everyone also, but I wasn’t because I wasn’t listening, just trying to fix them with talking. Over time I’ve learned to be comfortable with narrowing my energy to those who matter to me, those who really care, those who really listen.
LifeProTips	I completely agree. I have a sister-in-law and she complains continuously about how she’s soooo busy (she doesn’t work), she has no money & can’t afford her mortgage payments (she shows me her next holiday itinerary on her new iPhone), her husband doesn’t help out as much as he should around the house (he’s awesome), her kids are driving her crazy (they both study & work full-time). I’m a widowed mother of 4 young kids, working full-time running a business to try & pay the bills. I have no help & no money/time for a holiday. Listening to her I want to punch her in the face.
LifeProTips	I used to be such a negative drain on people's emotions at work. It didn't matter that I was right, 'cause I would just stoke the fire and wanted others to feel as crappy as I did. I'm so happy to have realized that my own demeanor and the way I respond or react at work really can bring the atmosphere at work down or up, and have been more on the up these last few years.
LifeProTips	Exactly this right here. It led me into a deep depression after my last job and I wasn’t even able to get out and get another job for a year. It’s hard when you work your ass off and then try to improve a department and everybody just turns their back on you and nobody listens. Then you go home frustrated and nobody at home wants to listen to your problems about work and then it gets to the point where you’re stressed and then you lose friends over it because now your friends don’t want to hear your bitching. Work sucks but it Sucks even more when you give so much to a company and then they just shit on you. It’s why I’ll never be loyal to another employer again. All they are there to do is steal your productivity and increase their profits. I’m sorry if you guys have had a lot better experiences with jobs and I have but I quite frankly don’t think half of them are worth a shit anymore. We’re constantly told that were valuable and that the company can’t run without us but then on the other hand they don’t ever want to pay people enough money to live off of. It’s saying one thing and doing another. The workforce at least in America anyways needs a serious overhaul.
LifeProTips	Thats a great point to bring up. I think most people tend to see those who vent as disgruntled people and decide to not care about what they say. But, in reality, they're passionate people who have great ideas on how to solve the problems at hand but their ideas aren't being listened to. I feel like this is very relatable to any type of job where the company hired the person to do as they're told and it feels like anyone else could've done this job because its essentially telling you to not have an opinion.
LifeProTips	I think being valued for the work you do is really high on the job satisfaction meter. Of course everyone needs to make enough to keep a place to live and food on the table and so on, but once that bare minimum is met, or on the way to getting it met, being respected is of true value. I work in a hospital and have seen the disrespect that some of the workforce gets because of their job title. People don't even acknowledge others at times. However, I know that the patient are not going to get well as fast (or at all) if housekeeping isn't working. Surgery is safer because of the guy who cleans up the suites after an operation. The woman who takes the trays off the cart and the meals to the patients rooms, is at least as important to them as someone with a license in healthcare bringing them their antibiotics. Attitude of gratitude for all that everyone does, and showing people they are valued by "Thank you"s and friendly greetings - helps everybody.
LifeProTips	This is the dumbest thing I've ever seen. Moving lines is likely to be seen as suspicious behavior. Assuming the new hires will be what, slower? How do you think they learn? I absolutely get the preference for more experienced personnel, and everyone is entitled to their level of comfort, but I get so frustrated when people think they've "hacked life" by denying younger people experience they need to get better. Like people that refuse to receive care from Medical Students and Residents. How do you think your old doctor got to be so experienced? By practicing under the close tutelage of a more experienced person.
LifeProTips	Woah, holy shit man talk about an over reaction. The people who will switch lines because of this tip make up the smallest teeny tiny minute portion of the total number of people going through security. I'm sure Billy is getting plenty of practice. Have you ever seen one TSA line completely empty because they guy had a white shirt on? No, because a shorter line is a shorter line and most people don't know that shirt color even makes a difference so they would choose that line anyway.
LifeProTips	He/she was reacting based off of the comments, I presume. I’m sure this is not how he/she reacts in day to day life. But I do understand your point. I didn’t know the color shirt difference today, and tomorrow if I’m in an airport I won’t skip lines because of experience level. However, I know from experience when people comment on here, it kind of triggers me in a way for certain things that I reply in much greater detail. In person, we either lack time, open minds, courage, or creativity to have a conversation like this. So again, I’m not speaking for he/she, but it’s a comment that would not happen in person because too many people cannot debate/argue on a topic without negative feelings associated with it.
LifeProTips	Because you're not covering the interest the loan is accruing on a monthly basis with a low 115 income based payment. This is called perma-debt. The goal of the loan company is to keep you on this for 20 years when the loan will be forgiven and written off, but for now they have a guaranteed monthly payment. The longer this goes on the loan amount increases due to compounding interest and subsequently higher interest amounts on the now higher total. Every penny should be going into this loan to get it back on the rails.
LifeProTips	Well, it's still accruing interest. Your monthly payments arent enough to cover interest and principal (at least not enough to make a difference). You should look into other payment plan options. If the other plans all require payments higher than you can afford, look into refinancing. If that isnt an option or doesn't give you low enough monthly payments, you might just have to deal with the increasing interest until you make more money. Last September I applied for an IDRP and paid $0 on 4 loans and $14 on another. I'm still earning interest on those loans (although i think the interest rate may have been reduced for this period -- I honestly didnt look into the details much when I signed up for it because I was desperate), but without this plan, I would've been paying $500/month on those 5 loans and I couldnt afford that at the time. So this plan let me pay rent and eat while I continued making payments on other loans. I've since paid off 2 of those loans and found a better-paying job, so now that my year is up, I can afford that $500/month. Loans are a long term game, unfortunately. They suck one way or the other. If you do stick with the IDRP, put any extra money you have on your loans. Your lender may let you pay the extra directly to the principal, which would be beneficial in the long run.
LifeProTips	Thanks for the tips! I honestly can’t pay more than what I’m paying. I’m in a real bad situation until I find a full-time gig honestly. I have rent, car insurance, a car payment and whatever the heck else to pay a month with the money I make from my 28-hour a week gig right now. It pays decently, but my other bills are through the roof, so I need every penny I can get to go toward that stuff. I had no one to teach me about this stuff, sorry to sound dumb, but can you explain the “in 20 years it gets written off” part?
LifeProTips	That is a great idea. Thank you! Honestly, I really may just have to stick it out until I get something full-time. My interest is $3 a day I believe on this one. That’s so amazing! It’s great to hear there was some relief for you. It stinks because in my head I’m just like “yeah, that dinner you need, that money needs to go toward this massive student loan.” (Well, massive to me at least. I know there is way worse, since I went to a public and not a private college). That’s exactly the problem. I don’t have any extra money. The extra money, if anything, that I have is for gas and food. It’s the worst feeling. I hate doing something in life and not seeing any progress. I’m really relieved I’m not alone. Obviously I knew that, but I’m super glad to be talking about it.
LifeProTips	I hear you. I was at least that bad-- I was so overwhelmed by my debt I wasn't even sure I should try to pay it off. But now I finally have expendable income and I don't even know what it is or what to do with it. You'll get there. Soon you'll be making extra payments, and saving money, and still having a nice night out every so often. I'm no expert by any means, but feel free to message me if you want help with a budget or I have a spreadsheet for my loans to help me visualize paying them off that I can send you or anything like that! Or if you just need some encouragement one random day. :)
LifeProTips	That’s so awesome to hear! I keep thinking to myself “just hang in there, just enjoy your job now, and something even more will come eventually.” In my head it’s like “I’ll be stuck in this debt forever.” I sure hope so! I don’t even do anything else but pay bills and rent. When a friend asks to hang out, I feel guilty. That should never be. I really appreciate that a lot and will definitely keep that in mind! That means a ton! :)
LifeProTips	I was on income based repayment for a few months and went back to regular payment. She said I was the only person to ever do that, and I said why? This payment doesn't cover the interest and the loan just gets bigger. She said they know, but people just stay on that plan for the required 20 years and they forgive the loan. In business speak, they write off the loss to not have paid the full amount borrowed and count it as a loss of income and get a tax credit. Funny story, 20 years at a lower amount is still the same amount originally loaned so it's not actually a loss but I digress. TL;DR you will pay 2x the amount borrowed if you repay the min/month. If a low income payment doesn't even cover intrest accrued per month it's permadebt and it will never go away
LifeProTips	There's plenty to do with your friends that's free! Play board games or video games or hang out in a park. See if your area does free outdoor concerts or movies during the summer. Tons of free options to keep yourself going and to be happier :) you could also set aside just a few dollars a week or a month so you can have some fun -- that's important too. Look on groupon for deals on activities or events or food and get coupons for a dinner out with your friends. Your debt doesn't have to rule your life entirely, even now.
LifeProTips	My experience only revolves around fed loans, but income based repayment is forgiven (written off) after 20 years, gone. You can increase your income in that time, and one would hope you do, but the loan payment will increase as well. During the time that you're paying under minimum the loan accumulates interest on a monthly and daily basis based on the total amount. Like I said, if your payment doesn't cover at least the interest every month, your loan total will go up and accumulate even more interest on the new higher total and so on. It's entirely possible to have a 50k loan turn into 75 or more in just a few years by not covering the interest every month.
LifeProTips	Show me where I said they shouldn't have the right to express themselves? By all means, if they want to burn their jockey shorts to prove whatever point it is they think they're proving, have at it! Don't hurt anyone and don't burn your house down in the process... have fun! &#x200B; Just bear in mind that right of expression also covers the right to tell someone they look, collectively, ridiculous. Which, they really kinda do.
LifeProTips	Negative, ghost rider. You're reading what you want to see there. There is not a drop of imperative language in my original statement. I'm not telling anyone to do anything. At most, it might be construed as a suggestion, though hardly a forceful one. I get that you're really trying to find some indicia that a particular viewpoint is being suppressed and not finding it, you're grasping at straws here. It's completely compatible to support someone's right to express themselves while simultaneously pointing out they look like a little kid having a temper tantrum. Respecting your right to have and express an opinion does not mean one has to respect the opinion itself, something the "anti-kap" crowd seems to largely miss.

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