manablr

[manablr]

I think a truth I could benefit from internalizing better is that the reason procrastination is bad isn't just cos of "practical" stuff such as "if you leave the task too late you might not have enough time to finish it" or whatever (although, that too), it's that having an uncompleted task in the queue just unavoidably takes a non-trivial mental toll, you have to hold that task in your medium-term memory, your thinking about the near future always has to account for the fact that you need to slot this task in somewhere... even if this kind of stuff is being processed mostly unconsciously it's still mental resources being devoted to this thing, mental resources that could be doing something else! Even if it makes literally no practical difference what time of day the thing gets done, the day where you do it at 9am is just automatically much better than the day where you do it at 9pm. It's very seductive to put something off because "it doesn't really matter when this gets done" but I think that's almost always a fake idea.

[manablr]

I get to be more free as an adult than I ever did as a child and I think more kids need to know that. as a high schooler part of what made my depression so bad was being told over and over again that it was the most carefree time of my life. while I was trapped in an abusive home + amongst bullies at school + in a body that wasn’t right for me. opportunities to be carefree don’t end when you turn 18. you can be more you than ever as an adult and that’s such a gift. I know ‘it can get better’ is an annoying thing to see over and over when you’re as trapped as I was back then. and I know that if you’re still a kid you deserve to be free right this second. but it can and will get better and this is not where life stops being interesting. promise

[manablr]

Those who do not move do not notice their chains. _ Rosa Luxemburg

[manablr]

honestly i think the most effective way to lead people away from this digitally-induced culture of self pity, and helplessness, and refusal to take responsibility, is the realization that this hurts no one but them and serves others

and also no one is coming to save you

like if you want to look at short form video or etc all day and deny that it's a problem or deny that you have any hand in it, that's fine. you have free will. if you want to respond to every problem in your life with "someone should intervene" that is your right. but the more you do that, the more you shift your locus of control outward and the more you undercut your own innate ability to change your circumstances

and you are going to fall behind people who aren't doing that. they are going to get ahead of you. they are going to date each other and get married. they are going to take your dream job and your dream opportunities. they are going to make the friends you would have otherwise made. while you lie there they are working to get the things you want and they are going to take your place in the real world. time is passing

the billionaires who have gotten you addicted to this shit are going to suck the life out of you for a little bit of money and you are helping them. they don't care if they waste 10 of the most important years of your life. they don't care if they steal your time. they're making money off of it. if anyone comes to stop them they're going to come too late. and you will pay. no one else is paying your specific price. if we killed them all tomorrow it wouldn't give you years of your life back. only you can do this

[manablr]

i’ll say it a hundred times because some of you need to hear it a hundred times but the trick to liking yourself again is learning new skills and hobbies or returning to ones you had. it makes you so confident learning new shit all the time.

[manablr]

(x) id lose my fucking mind. imagine climbing nearly 10k ft of elevation thinking you're the first to ever do it n turns out someone beat you to it a millennium ago

[manablr]

Armenian medical manuscript on Horse Healing 13th century

[manablr]

[manablr]

You need to be looking for sewing and drawing tutorials in Spanish, to watch baking tutorials in Russian or read the wikipedia article about the insect you've just discovered on your balcony in German ! You cannot watch Peppa pig in your target language forever.

Will knowing how to say "aiguille à tricoter" in French be useful for your exam ? Probably not, but who cares ? You're listening to spoken French AND you're learning a manual skill !

Youtube is full of wonderful tutorials in many languages, everything is there just waiting for you ...

And why stop at manual skills ? Philosophy ? History ? Astrology ? Hop hop hop, in your target language ! Want to learn something about Egypt ? The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona has a coursera course on it.

"But I won't understand anything" I personally prefer to understand 20% of a lecture about a sacred temple in the middle of the desert than understand 60% of the most boring standard "what do you like to eat for breakfast" textbook learning material.

[manablr]

Monument to the Uprising of the Residents of Kordun and Banidja. Petrovac, Petrova Gora, Croatia

Architect: Vojin Bakić, 1981

[manablr]

📢📢📢

[manablr]

-Anaïs Nin, 1939

[manablr]

If you use Duolingo, maybe don't anymore? The company is moving to be "AI-first" and is using AI to generate their content. Meaning, AI is now generating your language lessons.

They announced that they were going to use AI for this a while back but now they're annoucing that they're getting rid of the contractors reviewing the AI generated content. So, very soon Duolingo is just going to be AI generated slop that might not even be correct.

For alternatives, I'd recommend checking with your local library. For instance, mine offers Rosetta Stone for free if you have a library card.

[manablr]

Messes me up that they say "上り電車" (upbound train) to talk about trains going south and "下り電車" (downbound train) when going north here.

[manablr]

Analemma. The sun’s position in the sky, photographed from the same location at the same time of day throughout a year, forms an analemma. This shows the sun’s apparent swinging from its northernmost position, at the analemma’s uppermost point, at summer solstice, to its southernmost position/lowest point, at winter solstice.

[manablr]

hi, a lot of you need a perspective reset

the average human lifespan globally is 70+ years

taking the threshold of adulthood as 18, you are likely to spend at least 52 years as a fully grown adult

at the age of 30 you have lived less than one quarter of your adult life (12/52 years)

'middle age' is typically considered to be between 45-65

it is extremely common to switch careers, start new relationships, emigrate, go to college for the first or second time, or make other life-changing decisions in middle age

it's wild that I even have to spell it out, but older adults (60+) still have social lives and hobbies and interests.

you can still date when you get old. you can still fuck. you can still learn new skills, be fashionable, be competitive. you can still gossip, you can still travel, you can still read. you can still transition. you can still come out.

young doesn't mean peaked. you're inexperienced in your 20s! you're still learning and practicing! you're developing social skills and muscle memory that will last decades!

there are a million things to do in the world, and they don't vanish overnight because an imaginary number gets too big

[manablr]

bride of the bear

bear worship was something practiced before the spread of christianity in finland (and other places as well!) and once a bear was hunted it was important to honor it with a memorial feast and help appease the bear’s soul lest it stay angry at you….some of these feasts included either a bride or a groom to be married to the bear and the skull to be mounted on a tree from where the bear’s soul could climb up back to the stars, where bears were believed to originate from ✨