Even to fighting zombies
We’re always hearing about the importance of good communication, but we almost never get an explanation of what good communication is. For all we do to champion the idea that “communication is key,” we do little to teach one another what effective communication looks like, or how to be better at it. It’s as though the topic of communication itself suffers from a classic communication problem; everyone has their own idea of what “good communication” is, and assumes that everyone else is working off of that same definition. But someone once taught me a simple communication technique that I’ve thought…
Not everyone is a perfect parent. Or a great one. Or even “kinda okay.”
Parenting is hard. No matter how much you try, you will still make mistakes. That’s why I’ve decided to not try, and that’s okay. So stop shaming me for not getting everything exactly right, or even attempting to get the slightest bit better. I’m done pretending like doing the absolute bare minimum somehow isn’t enough.
Yeah, my child doesn’t bring the most nutritious food in his school lunch. But you can’t judge me for that, because you don’t know my situation. Sure, I have enough money to buy better food, and time to fix it for him, but maybe I…
There’s a lot of fluff that you don’t really need.
There are several reasons why you might want to clear extra space on your computer’s hard drive. Maybe it’s getting a bit full, and you need space to install a program. Or maybe the computer has slowed to a crawl, which in some cases can be due to an overfull drive (see the notes in the next section about when this is and isn’t the case). Or maybe you’re just a bit obsessive about keeping things tidy. No matter what your reason, there are some simple ways to clear lots of space without touching the things you actually need to…
And no one would admit that they secretly longed for the sea
Sea shanties are “in” right now. The harmonious sailing tunes have made an unlikely comeback, thanks to the video app TikTok, where a stirring rendition of “Soon May the Wellerman Come,” a 160-year-old New Zealand song, went viral weeks ago. But the question is why sea shanties, of all things, and why now? To find out, we interviewed a range of regular people, none of whom would admit the truth: that their hearts ached to toss away these drab little lives and set out for a life on the ocean.
“I think it’s just a fad,” said Jeremy Rider, 34…
Some advice never goes out of date.
Technology moves fast, and new devices come out all the time, so getting a new laptop often involves digging through a wealth of reviews for everything on the shelf. But some guidelines for laptop shopping never go out of date.
I’ve been working in Information Technology for twenty years, and much of my job is recommending purchases and assisting people who are using laptops and desktops. These are the rules I go by, based on all the real-world feedback I’ve received from people who are using computers for their daily work.
- The more you’re going to use it, the more…
Excerpt from a more perfect world
“Are you willing, tonight, to condemn white supremacists, and militia groups, and to say that they need to stand down, and not add to the violence that we’ve seen in these cities, as we saw in Kenosha, and as we’ve seen in Portland?”
“Sure, I’m willing to do that.”
“Then do it.”
“White supremacy, and any other ideology that believes one race of human beings is better than another, or that one race is corrupted or inherently lesser, is an abomination before God, an abomination before the United States of America, and an insult to everything this great nation has…
Why your loyalty should stop at your paycheck
At some point during your career, you’ll almost certainly listen to a demoralized coworker complain about their job. They’ll lament the extra effort they put in, the lack of recognition from the higher-ups, and how pointless and inefficient the policies are. When this happens, I hope you respond by validating their feelings, and being empathetic and supportive. And then I hope you give them one single piece of advice:
Stop caring about your job.
Which isn’t to say “stop caring about your work.” You should care about the work that you do. You should take pride in doing good work…
If we can’t create fair maps, then let’s ditch the maps.
Gerrymandering is simultaneously one of the most maligned and most abused tactics in US government. It allows parties to secure power. It often suppresses minority influence. It frustrates voters who see their towns sliced up with surgical precision, diluting their vote and forcing their preferred candidate into an uphill battle. Everyone hates it. So why can’t we seem to fix it?
The problem is that any set of rules can be manipulated, and the people who win or lose by those rules have plenty of incentive to bend them to their benefit. As much as we may hate gerrymandering, we…
P-R-A, I-S-E, our D-E-I-T-Y
An excerpt from “The Interglactic Guide to Planetary Religions,”:
In most respects, the religions of Sol-3 are altogether typical. Most are deity-based, and among them we see common archetypes, such as sky gods, divine prophets, and elemental spirits. But the planet deserves special attention for one particular religion which, in addition to being highly unusual, is also by far the planet’s most successful. I’m speaking, of course, about the great mouse god, Mickey.
The dominance of the mouse religion on Sol-3 is truly incredible. The centralized church commands a vast wealth. It has large religious sites across the planet, where…
And how you can usually fix it
In 1999, the movie Office Space immortalized one of the most common frustrations in all of consumer technology with one simple line: “Why does it say there is a paper jam when there is no paper jam?” It’s a moment that resonates because we’ve all been there; the printer reports a paper jam, you check it and find no paper jam, and then it reports a paper jam again. It’s baffling and annoying. But in my years working in IT, I’ve found that this issue usually has a simple cause, and an easy solution that takes seconds to perform.
Now…
Samuel Cook
Former writer for Tested.com and Geek.com, currently a technology professional, teacher, and father. I write about whatever is on my mind.
