Agreed - working as intended, and it's not just LDS. I'm in FL and churches here have been opposing publicly funded safety nets for my whole life, in favor of voluntary, often church-led, donations.
I have a 10 year old CPU and I think Baldur's Gate 3 has better performance than Battletech sometimes.
Witcher 3 doesnt need leveled enemies or loot. There is already a wide enough variety of monsters and equipment to convey player progression, and the leveling only exists to make sure that Geralt is as vulnerable to human enemies at the end of the game as the beginning. That's great! That's the kind of world it is. I just don't think you need constantly increasing hitpoints & a loot treadmill to keep it that way.
...just in case you were on the fence on whether the 'quiet quitting' articles and viral 'nobody wants to work anymore' pieces were just employer temper-tantrums, here's CNBC trial-ballooning some fresh derogatory shorthand for workers who know what their labor is worth.
The only way I get the equipment or maintenence time that I need to do my job efficiently is if I make my immediate superiors strategically miserable on occasion. If I did what the article insists is the ideal, I'd be doomed to silently perform the same temporary, time-wasting fixes every week forever.
You can't count on your work to 'speak for itself' if the company isn't specifically examining your contributions in the first place. They will happily presume that your work is exactly interchangeable with everyone else's because most middle managers aren't experts at data collection and analysis and don't spend 8 hours a day seeing what floor workers do.
It's even worse if they're an outside hire, with potentially no relevant experience to compare it to. I swear companies do this on purpose to avoid elevating people with institutional knowledge and any sense of ownership in their area of expertise: they might end up accidentally paying someone what they're worth.
MacroFactor - I really like its rolling expenditure calculation, specifically that it doesn't nag you if you miss your targets, it just adjusts your goal slightly for next time to keep you at pace. And as per the name, your personal diet plan can be adjusted for protein, fat, and carb preferences. I find its low carb (by %) to be quite tolerable, for instance.
The database isn't as thorough as MFP, so sometimes you have to manually add or double-check the math, but otherwise it's been my favorite so far.
It's subscription-only, but has a free trial. No ads or upsetting and the fee is reasonable, with an additional discount for 6-month or yearly.
For context, I'm 35/M/5'11": Wanted to share without dropping my whole life story....sorry there's no before/after, but I'm not done yet! I can just taste my ticket to the century club, and it tastes like almonds and monkfruit powder!
Hit 299 today. Knew it was coming but it was such a morale boost anyway! Have been on the journey for just under two years, but accelerated progress after an off-the-charts A1C and liver enzyme result: The visceral fat around my organs was hobbling my ability to produce insulin, and the weight and excess tissue around my neck and chest was giving me sleep apnea, making it even harder to lose weight and have steady blood sugar levels. I was also in near constant back and joint pain and would regularly be exhausted by everyday tasks.
Since March I've lost 55lbs, using low carb* and Metformin ER, along with daily walking. That makes 85lbs since last year, and I finally feel like I can make it stick.
Fringe benefits!
-sleeping much better, waking up more rested and not anxious.
-Not constantly sweating at work while doing almost nothing.
-not uncomfortable to the point of exhaustion by prolonged standing, walking, hot afternoons, or nights out with friends.
-free of several weight-and-nutrition related maladies: random leg cramps, knee and foot pain, acid reflux, swollen digits.
-no longer intimidated by stairs or restaurant booths.
Unexpected side effects!
-body image issues magnified like a second round of puberty: my body is changing faster than my perception of it, so the mirror is, for now, unpleasant. I feel like a melting candle!
-posture is actually worse than before. Weight isn't being shed evenly, so my gait is all wrong now.
-to-the-gram food tracking is its own source of stress, causes meal planning to consume a lot of time and effort, while reducing flexibility. Higher protein and dietary fat requirements also expensive compared to a majority-carb diet.
-recipe book is a mess (was already a home cook with a drastically different set of cooking habits) and dining out can be a chore
-clothes. Just...man...clothes you guys wtf
I've got a ways to go, trying to reach 225 or so, so I'm not sweating the discomfort too much. I wish I was happier with how I look, but I know that will pay off when I hit a goal and stay there. I can't pretend this journey isn't up-ending my life compared to the ease of ignoring my health from day to day, but I'm starting to see real tangible benefits, and that's made a huge difference in my dedication to the task. Thanks for reading and for all the positivity and helpful conversation over the years!
*[for those interested: under 100 grams/day for the first 90 days with NO starches or other than vegetables, now around 125 carbs and reintroduced rice, wheat, potatoes, fruits in sensible amounts. Virtually no soda, candy, syrups, etc. Gave up the stuff that was easiest for me, and carefully portioning or finding healthier versions of the stuff I couldn't do without]
Unfortunately the Brandenburg test ("imminent lawless action") isn't too far from that. His actual speech was unethical and selfish, but unlikely to be deemed illegal.
Moto x rocked. Last phone I ever really liked owning. My galaxy phone is just a tool, comparatively.
This was super handy, but these days you have to carefully prune your notification permissions, or it would go off all the time
Smaller, narrower phones generally. Blackberry keyboards (and slideout keyboards) in particular.
Loved the various hardware oddities of the moto Z line: a rear fingerprint scanner that was easy to use while holding the phone, and of course the magnetic attachments. Used to carry two batteries that could hot-swap, and a game controller in my bag.
Didn't want to make a full post, since I'm on a new account vs reddit, but got good news this week: officially in remission from obesity-induced diabetes: in February, weighed 380, had a fasting BG of 175 and an a1C of over 11. Was having frank symptoms of high blood sugar, which started soon after a nasty bout of COVID.
As of this week 6 months into low carb, down to 305, a1C of 5.2, and postprandial BG of under 100 in less than an hour, even with potato stew!
Going to stick with it, as low carb and metformin has really helped curb hunger vs the ignoring of macronutrients I used to do, but very proud of results so far and feeling like I dodged a real crisis. Unclear how much being sick moved me from pre-diabetic to diabetic, but either way I'm grateful to have had a say in its (lack of) progression.
Swapped to SmartTubeNext. Has all the expected features plus better browsing and an 'auto-skip sponsors' mode.
I've found a new reason to use the subscribed page - it shows more videos per screen than the home screen, now that YouTube on Android TV has massively increased the preview panel to an absurd degree. There's barely any room for identifiers, just two or three video previews taking up the entire screen, like I've blown up a phone app on my TV. Wtf YouTube?
For a moment there, it looked like predictors of twitters final demise were going to be proven wrong - or would at least have trouble making a clear distinction in light of how durable twitter has been. Instead Musk is about to toss brand loyalty in the trash and paint a clear line for before-musk, after-musk. No version that succeeds twitter will ever be the twitter that rose to success, but now even a layperson will know the difference . May as well be an obituary.
Wait, there's a company that owns the company that owns Ars?
Consolidation is a curse.
Indeed. I'm glad to see a headline pouring cold water on the "no really THIS time a spoiler candidate matters!" Frenzy, but this far out from elections, I'm not sure it's worth participating in the horse race coverage by clicking it.
"So, we’ve all had a... time on Reddit lately," Go_JasonWaterfalls wrote. "And I’m here to recognize it, acknowledge that our relationship has been tested, and begin the 'now what?' conversation."
If I was part of the organization responsible for making unilateral changes that only benefitted itself, I'd be embarrassed to start a message this way.
"Now that I've slapped you around a little, let's talk about what YOU can do to repair our relationship" is what it sounds like to me.
Wanted to clarify that, while colors and spacing are customizable, I didn't create or extensively modify the launcher apps, only the layout. It's not rainmeter levels of remixing or anything. In particular, I don't have as much control of the widgets as I'd like, and would probably tone down the calendar or picture gallery if I could.
Though its not to diminish your read of it, I'm happy to explain my particular choices! You're right that this layout is not visitor-friendly, but like you said, it's a phone. Not really for sharing. That said, there IS a hierarchy of sorts, just not an obvious one - I'm left-handed, so anything I use with quick, one-handed input is in an arc from the bottom left (calculator, macronutrient tracker, checkbook). From there, apps in frequent or varied use, or with inline notifications, are larger. This way I can read a summary of a message or alert without opening the app or Notification Shade. From there, web browsing and social media is at the bottom for lots of thumb typing, while the morning routine (news, weather, traffic) is at the top for use on a desk.
With a UI for general use, having to explain in such detail would be a sign of failure - I would indeed settle on a simpler rubric if it was a company tablet. But I love the little eccentric choices I can make with this launcher to make it just for me. Hope that proves interesting!
If it helps, I'm left-handed, so it's grouped in a sort of arc from the bottom left corner - apps for quick one-handed use are inside the arc, and the rest is either informational or the start point for a more involved activity like web browsing. It looks 'cluttered' because I didn't really lay it out as a generic or intuitive interface, but specifically to match my needs and habits. I think a home screen should be utilitarian - 'pretty' is for lock screens. Hope I didn't send you down too deep a rabbit hole - Although sometimes that can be fun, so good luck!
Despite its failure to capture a significant market share, I really enjoyed the metro UI on windows phone and tablet. One UI on my Samsung was getting stale and has a nearly unusable apps drawer, and standard Android notifications are nagging and ungainly.
So I went looking for launchers and icons to get my live tiles back, and what do you know, these are available and they rule. Sharing here so others can try, plus a killer home screen background for good measure.
Apps: SquareHome and WHicons
Squarehome is surprisingly thorough in replicating live tile functions - all apps which are capable of image notifications will display on the home screen with a pic and summary/text right on the icon. You can dismiss with a long press, and exclude any apps from notifications that you prefer.
The consequence of this is that you don't need to use the android notification list at all if you don't want, and by getting selective you can avoid the bombarding nature of android style alerts. I actually find myself checking the apps LESS, and I consider it a good thing.
The launcher also gives you some interesting options for hiding the ever-present android interface: you can hide the top bar while on the home screen(s), as well as the nav buttons. You can enable scrolling instead of paging for your home. There are built-in shortcuts to storage, settings pages and configurables (silent mode, wifi etc).
Tile sizes are fully customizable. Included widgets are compatible with the major productivity suites. (Switched to outlook as you might imagine). Most users suggest using WHicons for the right look, which has a few thousand icons that automatically apply to the appropriate app.
App drawer has a list function if you hate the Samsung UI app moshpit. And I do. It also has a full suite of software and hardware shortcuts for things like 'activate flashlight' or 'load a file using this application'.
Spent a few days fiddling, but I couldn't be happier with it now.
The background is by u/jmlan
