• 0 Posts
  • 225 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
Cake day: July 9th, 2023
  • Septimaeus@infosec.pubtoAsk Lemmy@lemmy.world•Can you teach or inspire self awareness?
    1·
    2 hours ago

    Important caveats:

    (1) Measure expectations

    To know oneself is a personal journey one must travel themselves. You can accompany them to a nearby milestone and/or encourage them to find the next, but ultimately you can’t fight their intellectual battles on their behalf. Expecting to will lead only to frustration.

    (2) Be forewarned

    Note that even in the best case, proceeding will almost certainly alter the dynamics of your relationship, and perhaps end it altogether.

    (3) Consider the safest approach

    If you’re interested in maintaining the relationship, it would be far better if they were supported in this long journey by a professional (a cognitive behavioral therapist / social worker) rather than a friend/peer. This is especially true for anything so extensive as what you’re describing.

    With these caveats carefully considered…

    I have found that most people are receptive to a method of periodic open-ended questioning, a common technique of active listening.

    I don’t mean confrontational interrogation or leading questions (to which there are “correct” answers). I mean precisely the kinds of unassuming questions someone with more developed introspection might ask themselves internally. Questions of clarification or contemplation, for example, and general curiosity regarding others’ motivations, as well as one’s own.

    This method, used carefully, seems to work by temporarily donating perspective to someone, via simple demonstration, which aids them in cultivating their own.

    Over time, you may find that they begin to anticipate your questions (perhaps with friendly exasperation) which is the first sign that it’s working.

    Best of luck.

  • Septimaeus@infosec.pubtopolitics @lemmy.world•How Amy Coney Barrett Is Confounding the Right and the Left
    2·
    3 hours ago

    IME this sort of error is often related to the aggregation of traffic through a single IP address. (Commonly: VPNs, public WiFi hotspots, large commercial networks, and so forth.)

    The safest workaround is to temporarily change your server location (if using a VPN, which is advisable).

    Another easy solution is a different connection, such as switching to mobile data (less safe due to ISP fingerprinting).

    Also, since this error is often generated by simple time-based access quotas (throttling), you can confirm the root cause by refreshing once the next hour or day ticks over. (If due to throttling, the error will suddenly disappear.)

  • Septimaeus@infosec.pubtoAsk Lemmy@lemmy.world•What are you best decluttering tips?
    6·
    5 hours ago

    Focus on maximizing empty horizontal surface space.

    Explanation

    Have you ever noticed that restaurants and bars often decorate their walls with stuff that would easily be considered clutter on the floor?

    Apparently “clutter” is a highly relative descriptor, and the visual-spatial bias behind it privileges horizontal surface space.

    You can leverage that knowledge to quickly de-clutter spaces without investing in lots of new storage furniture and organization systems.

    It’s by far the cheapest trick I know.

    How (basic)

    Move and reorient items from horizontal surfaces to vertical ones.

    Horizontal surfaces include table tops, floors, chair seats, and so forth.

    Vertical surfaces are everything else: shelves, hanging storage, stackable cubes, upright bins, baskets that can sit on top of cabinets, boxes that slide under beds, wall-mounted anything, shelving beneath any horizontal surface, any storage above eye level, etc.

    Even just stacking things can make a space look less cluttered.

    How (advanced)

    Once you start getting creative with this concept, you can build it into the planning of your living space.

    For example, you might figure out what stuff can live in wall-mounted dispensers instead of occupying the space of a counter/vanity/floor.

    Similarly, you might find visually appealing ways to store “clutter” out in the open, such as a ceiling-mounted pot rack or a stainless steel prep table used as kitchen island storage.

    One of my favorite side-effects of this technique is that once you’ve minimized the footprint of items lying on horizontal surfaces, cleaning becomes a snap.

    For example, fewer obstructions on the floor lets you use cheap sweeper bots on a schedule that keep interior dust levels low.

    Likewise, wiping off counter tops and bathroom vanities takes mere seconds when you don’t have to move anything.

    ETA: tldr — “picking up,” interpreted literally, is an endlessly useful principle of housekeeping.

  • Septimaeus@infosec.pubtopolitics @lemmy.world•Newsom Hits Back After Trump Endorses His Arrest: ‘Unmistakable Step Towards Authoritarianism’
    14·
    6 days ago

    Can someone explain to me these little self-flagellation parties (edit: meaning the replies below, not the root level comment I’m replying to) that seem to appear with every other dystopian headline in this community?

    I mean like this mopey circlejerk right here, with Americans unironically declaring “no one is doing anything!” when literally every day brings more news from the hundreds of large active US protests which lately have been maturing as the fash behaves predictably. Even if that weren’t the case, isn’t the obvious solution to “be the change” or are we not doing basic grassroots work anymore?

    This shit is really persistent on lemmy, like some kind of self-affirming narrative to excuse inaction, or maybe doomerist/accelerationist propaganda, or some other internet koolaid I’m too offline to understand.

    But I want to know how to get the disillusioned circlejerkers plugged into local efforts. The boots on the ground reality of the work being done, not to mention all the preparation leading up to this phase, seems like it’s right in front of them yet they can’t/won’t see it. We really need all the help we can get.

    And on a personal level, it’s getting hard to watch them on here whining that no one is doing anything, high-fiving each other for admitting they’re also not doing anything, and other one-downsman-ship type behaviors, because a bunch of people have been busting ass out here for a while and like, if you don’t want to or can’t help, fine. But then you don’t get to complain on the internet that we’re not doing enough.

  • Septimaeus@infosec.pubtopolitics @lemmy.world•Newsom requests Trump admin return National Guard control to California
    19·
    7 days ago

    I’m torn.

    On the one hand, CA has no military, so attempting diplomacy and formal protocol is logical, even responsible. By “responsible,” I simply mean that picking a fight you know you can’t win, and doing so on behalf of the people you represent, is usually irresponsible, since they will be the ones who suffer.

    On the other hand, the closest thing to diplomacy Trump understands is some combination of posturing and quid pro quo. Historically, formal correspondence of rival leaders tends to have a varnish of politeness like this, even in the midst of bloody wars. (Indeed this “formal request” does convey a demand, an accusation, and a veiled threat.) But is someone with a demonstrably facile notion of power capable of understanding such subtext, or will they see only weakness?

    Most importantly, I think there comes a time to commit to the inevitable conclusion. If you know the authoritarian will continue to threaten brutality against your people to ensure their compliance, it becomes your duty to say “do your worst or pound sand,” since you know compliance only delays and worsens their suffering, and a threat to the will of a people is always greater.