I don't think I'm ever going to enjoy gifts.
I can get why people would give them to children. After all, children don't have their own budget. However, I'm talking about occasional gifts, not a new toy every second week, because "we must outcompete the other grandparents". But to adults?
Once I've heard that you should gift people with what they won't buy themselves. Well, that's won't work for me. I'm a minimalist. If I don't need something, I don't want to have it. Unnecessary junk is only emotional burden to me.
I can get why you'd enjoy something handmade. But something people bought? If I need something, I can buy it myself, when I need it. And I definitely don't need people to prove to me that they never cared to learn who I am, and just buy whatever they like or whatever is "fashionable"; which usually means exactly the opposite of what I'd prefer (i.e. something minimalistic). Or even worse, I don't need people manipulating me through gifts.
Sweets? Besides my diabetes, I don't really enjoy expensive shit that people generally buy because it's what's advertised. For the money they waste on it, I'd buy three times as much sweets I'd actually enjoy.
Gift cards? Oh yes, "you aren't supposed to give money, so let's just give the equivalent of money that's actually worth less than money". Actual money? And here we reach the true nonsense; we exchange the same amount of money, so it's just pointless gesture. Unless one of us gives less money…
What I'd really like, as a gift? Maybe that people would finally bother accepting me as who I am. The absolute minimum of caring that I hate consumerism, and not fueling it "for me".
#AntiCapitalism #minimalism #ActuallyAutistic
"Climate change links Tibetan lakes to Yangtze River, fueling flood risks"
#Tibetan #Climate #ClimateChange
Conservatives want schools to teach this strict life path they say avoids poverty
The steps are simple: Graduate from high school. Find a full-time job. Get married before having kids.
The three-pronged framework is currently taught in just a handful of classrooms.
But soon, students across the country may be told that following those steps could keep them out of poverty as adults.
The approach is getting a boost from conservatives seeking to bring it to America’s middl…
CDash experiments update: Provisioned a VM (not yet reachable from the outside world) to tinker with it since it's been 10 years since I last used the platform.
How it's going so far: ran into https://github.com/Kitware/CDash/issues/3122
They're using npm and a who…
Medical device firm UFP says backup data systems deployed following cyberattack https://therecord.media/ufp-technologies-medical-devices-sec-filing-cyberattack
Weekend #Plankton Factoid 🦠🦐
The polar vortex has caused a cold snap here, and the Great Lakes are rapidly forming ice. Under this thick ice, algae are growing. These are normal diatom phytoplankton, which change to form thick chains, attaching to the underside of the ice where light is optimal. We clearly see this brown ice and water in the wake of our icebreakers. This occurs near the pole…
„Nach einem Bericht der „Bild"–Zeitung ist für Weimer aber nicht nur die Preisverleihung ein Problem. Die 56-jährige Tuttle habe mit der Filmcrew eine Woche zuvor bereits mit Palästinenserfahne und -tüchern posiert.“
Ah ja. Und?
https://www.de…
Wooo, the new computer chair should be delivered day-after-tomorrow and I'm pretty stoked. The old chair is kinda falling apart, but for a cheap chair it did a great job...however, the "new" Aeron should be a significant upgrade. Also, the rollerblade wheels will be moving from the old Office Depot chair to the new one...
Sources: AI chipmaker Cerebras confidentially files for a US IPO after withdrawing a previous IPO last year, and a listing could take place as soon as April (The Information)
https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/exclusive-cerebras-files-confidenti…
RE: https://mastodon.nl/@bert_hubert/115950515667611524
Filling level of Dutch gas storages now down to 32%, with a fair chunk of the heating season to go. That's not a lot.