GarfieldOfficial

joined 3 years ago
[–] GarfieldOfficial@hexbear.net 14 points 4 months ago

Hell YEAH. Care to sign our petition to DEPORT third party COMMIES?

http://lnkiy.in/KamalaIsGreat

[–] GarfieldOfficial@hexbear.net 2 points 4 months ago

Appreciate it! That’s great advice. At least other offices have CBAs so it’s not as hostile of a starting point as it could be, and a couple of coworkers were previously at those offices and are checking with their old colleagues about lessons learned, etc.

 

My office realized that while other offices have a CBA, we do not (despite eligibility). From what I could find, union contracts are with IFPTE (International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers).

Just wondering if anyone has had experience with IFPTE or similar?

I read through some of the other CBA’s, and while most of the articles are addressed in actions management already takes, I like the articles around legal representation and protections about how work is contracted externally.

It seems like a good idea, I have at least a few colleagues bought in within my discipline, and am going to start floating it to others. Then hopefully get the ball rolling!

I’m quite uninformed on this topic. I’ve (technically) been in unions before as a subcontractor working for a unionized prime contractor, but never actually had this opportunity before. One of my friends helped lead their coffee shop unionization effort, so I have some personal resources too at least.

Thanks!

[–] GarfieldOfficial@hexbear.net 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Bober 🦫 I just wanna chill in a lodge. (Plus the other beav-post put them on my brain)

[–] GarfieldOfficial@hexbear.net 8 points 4 months ago

Field-fit engineering stays winning

[–] GarfieldOfficial@hexbear.net 13 points 4 months ago

They didn’t have to go back to beaver congress to ask for funding, or make sure the correct beaver-reps’ fail children get the construction contract. Or they didn’t have to spend 80 beaver-hrs building a more profitable beaver-project before they could do something that actually benefits their beaver-community. Or sit around arguing if climate change is too scawey for some beavers to engage with. Maybe it’s because there’s no beaver-bourgeoisie 🤔

[–] GarfieldOfficial@hexbear.net 14 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Yes haha yes! One of my personal interests is “engineering WITHIN nature” (ie mostly what can we “unfuck” to an improved state of balance) and that can involve lots of beavers! 🦫 anyway enjoy some of my favorite beav-sites! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver_drop https://yewtu.be/watch?v=rrOE-m7sX9E

https://qcnr.usu.edu/beaver-restoration/partnering-with-beaver https://yewtu.be/watch?v=2_cml_cXPmE

https://www.wlfw.org/natures-engineers-how-beavers-boost-streamflows-and-restore-habitat/

[–] GarfieldOfficial@hexbear.net 15 points 5 months ago

I already was China-pilled before xhs, but you’re 100% correct. My interactions on it have been sharing pictures of our cats with people around the world who have cats with similar colors, and realizing a shared love of “harlequin ducks” with people from countries all throughout its migratory footprint. It’s like the internet I'm used to but without the toxicity clouding everything lol.

[–] GarfieldOfficial@hexbear.net 1 points 5 months ago

Oh helllllll yeah. Gonna download that for sure

[–] GarfieldOfficial@hexbear.net 10 points 5 months ago

Also I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the work finally getting the attention it deserves, which is practitioners with backgrounds in traditional ecological knowledge re-examining the ways we look at systems.

https://ecologyandsociety.org/vol27/iss1/art14/

And I phrased it so weirdly because I’m still learning it, and haven’t dove into the topic enough to know more than the fact that I still need to listen to others. Anyway- this is the most fascinating part of systems engineering in the western field imo

[–] GarfieldOfficial@hexbear.net 10 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Environment, Power, and Society by H.T. Odum is my number one favorite book for environmental systems engineering and looks at society through the same lens of power structures built around control of power flow. It’s literally the book that made my brain understand the basis of power and how it’s utilized. It has plenty of citations, and Odum and his colleague William Mitsch have a wealth of papers l, largely related to energy flow in wetland systems, but they worked on some of the foundational writing on the topic. It’s somewhat hard to track down a copy, so if you’re interested, but unable to find info, I’ll try and scan my copy to a pdf. I’ll try and dig up some papers today too if I can.

[–] GarfieldOfficial@hexbear.net 8 points 5 months ago

Awesome work getting an assessment. I was affirmatively assessed last year, have been going through focused counseling on what that actually means, and after a year I’ve almost fully controlled my biggest stress tics of nail chewing, and pulling out hair (eyebrows specifically lol). My nail chewing was very bad to the point of basically having open wounds constantly. What’s been working for me is a number of things.

  1. In counseling, acknowledging that it’s a harmful behavior and understanding why- for me that was hearing that it’s an easy way to get infections and to spread germs into your mouth. I’ve chewed my nails my whole life and recall as an undiagnosed child only ever hearing it framed as if it were some sort of moral failing of willpower. If it were explained logically that it’s a behavior that, although temporarily soothing, can actively hurt you and therefore is something to avoid, I would have been able to internalize that over time, rather than the shame surrounding it.

  2. Looking at it from the lens of the root causes. Hand to mouth is a big stress relief for me- that includes smoking, vaping, drinking, nail chewing etc. Stepping back and recognizing that was an important common thread. This was where, when under duress, I start acknowledging those impulses (because I’m a huge dork literally saying “I recognize that you’re an impulse and you have no control over me” either in my head or out loud if I’m alone lol) and in turn taking away the “mindless” portion of the behavior.

  3. Now to your actual question of stims! Sometimes it’s not enough, when the background brain-screaming is particularly draining, I need something to do with my hands. a. Travel nail kit. Unfortunately growing up as a poor, undiagnosed, cishet male in the us i was not ever taught about the importance of keeping your nails healthy. Fortunately it’s relatively inexpensive to get a pack of emery boards, fingernail trimmers, etc. I keep them at all of my work areas in addition to the bathroom. Having hang nails or irregular portions of my nail was something that would nag me, until I chewed it off, but all this was doing was continuing the cycle. By trimming and filing my nails such that I don’t notice them, I literally simply forget about something that was a major tic for decades. b. Pick pads and putty. I bought a silicone pick pad on Etsy where you pick out beads from silicone, then you can melt the silicone pour it on the beads and do it again. Loved the picking, loved the beads, not a chance in hell I’m gonna have the mental availability to remelt the silicone lol so it gathers dust. But I dumped the beads into my favorite stim- silly putty! There are brands that come with things in them, but I found that getting cheap putty and putting fun beads (or dry rice) in it is my favorite. You can pick the beads out, squish it like a stress ball, throw it, etc. For me this was the winner. c. My partner busted me for smoking, and on top of being a bit pissed, she got me one of these: ( https://pranavida.co/en-ch/products/the-breath-vessel ). It’s nice! I can do the soothing hand to mouth movement of smoking, but redirected into a breath control practice instead. It works like a charm for snapping me out of stress fixation. d. I’ve also tried: various grip trainers (my favorite is a silicone rubber ring). Stress balls (I tend to get too stressed and destroy these). Kneaded erasers. Silent-clicking pens. Bitter nail polish ( don’t). Beaded bracelets (I REALLY like these, but I have massive hands and the stretch cord always breaks :/ ). I’ve also had good luck with 3d printed fidget rings (but again fidget too hard and break them). A “Simpl Dimpl” key chain. “Worry” stones

TLDR- My key experiences are:

  • exploring the “why” behind the behavior, understanding the impulse, acknowledging the impulse is normal but doesn’t need to be acted upon or can be redirected
  • General nail care. Over this past year I’ve grown nails for the first time in my memory. I enjoy the stimulation of cleaning, filing, and trimming and the feedback loop is that I literally forget they exist most of the time. Also cuticle oil feels incredible.
  • Try different combinations of stim toys until you find what speaks to you. I’ve mentioned a number of typical options, but it can be literally anything to keeps you stimulated. Like I said, my favorite is putty with beads in it.

And FINALLY since you’re in the process of being assessed for things, I assume that means you’ve spent at least some part of life trying to painfully cram into the NT box. And while I’ve always felt a disconnect from the NT community, I’ve experienced nothing but compassion from ND folks on this site and irl. So bear in mind this is the start of a journey to better understand and love yourself, and know we’ve all got your and each others backs.

 

Anyone into philosophy/ethics/theology?

I’ve only studied technical fields, but I love trying (and typically failing) to engage with philosophical material. One of my old roommates studied philosophy, and we’d stay up late discussing it so I’d get tangential exposure and a good dialogue on ideas (I credit them with helping me “discover” actual theory). Anyway, they’ve been dead for a while now and while every day I wish it weren’t the case, so is my only connection to engaging with philosophical topics.

Anyway - I wanted to pick up more background info of ethical philosophy, and have been wading into Kant (like literally getting started with reviewing overview pages like this: https://iep.utm.edu/kantview ) and the page author’s summary stood out to me:

Kant’s ethics are organized around the notion of a “categorical imperative,” which is a universal ethical principle stating that one should always respect the humanity in others, and that one should only act in accordance with rules that could hold for everyone. Kant argued that the moral law is a truth of reason, and hence that all rational creatures are bound by the same moral law. Thus in answer to the question, “What should I do?” Kant replies that we should act rationally, in accordance with a universal moral law.

Kant also argued that his ethical theory requires belief in free will, God, and the immortality of the soul. Although we cannot have knowledge of these things, reflection on the moral law leads to a justified belief in them, which amounts to a kind rational faith. Thus in answer to the question, “What may I hope?” Kant replies that we may hope that our souls are immortal and that there really is a God who designed the world in accordance with principles of justice.

Maybe I’ll have my own understanding when I engage with Kant’s actual writing, but I find the mentioned notion of a “categorical imperative” interesting. I guess when I’ve heard disagreements framed as “philosophical differences”, I never took it literally (ironically), but it seems like differences in worldview stem from a disregard of the

universal ethical principle stating that one should always respect the humanity in others, and that one should only act in accordance with rules that could hold for everyone.

and it makes sense then that common ground cannot be found when opposing viewpoints are rooted in incompatible principles. (Assuming that all parties have principles of sorts).

Idk where I’m going with any of this post, but I don’t have anyone to engage in my philosophical dumbassery with, so you’re all the lucky recipients.

Also can one hop around between authors? Or is there a benefit to interacting with older material? I was interested in reading some Kierkegaard, but thought I should go through Kant and Hegel first… but should one go further back to idk… Plato?

 

Alright I’m gonna check out from news now and focus on something less obscene

 

Why can’t we just get along like the heckin West Wingerino :/

 

spoilerKeeping the full text, but as I was writing it occurred to me that this probably means I should engage in community building locally. I thought I could do this through a career focused on climate, but like all technical fields in the US I’m seeing that it's just a way to say “we’re working on this” rather than actually doing anything. ___

How do you deal with mornings? I’ve long struggled with morning emotional dysregulation. Most days I try and get out of the house as quickly as possible (if I have to) so I don’t get caught in a spiral of disdain. As long as I can remember I’ve had an extremely low tolerance for social interaction, and even more in the morning.

I thought getting a stimulant would help (I’ve been prescribed for less than a year, so still very green on the topic) but idk if it actually does. I’ve stopped taking them for the past few weeks since I haven’t hoisted up my bootstraps enough to jump through the hoops to have the doctor resend the prescription (THAT THEY HAVE TO DO EVERY FUCKING TIME). Plus what’s the point idk if the efficacy is even there.

I thought I could trick my brain by bribing it with dopamine for getting out of bed with substances.

spoilerSmoking weed daily and vaping, but that hardly seems sustainable either for respiratory health reasons. Plus nicotine has always lost its efficacy very quickly for me, fortunately including withdrawal too, at least. ___

Idk per previous therapists I’ve tried all of the cbt, mindfulness, etc. and I feel like I have a good handle on those. The issue is that when I’m “in touch with my emotions, body, etc.” it’s resolutely pissed at the state of things. I’m obviously very happy and grateful for the life I have in the imperial core (/s) on top of the mountain of corpses of comrades and those I’d be with if I were a less “useful” ND or had a darker complexion.

Maybe this is just another vent post. But I’d love to hear if any of you have good ways of making it through the day.

spoilerI’m 100% cool with smoking enough weed daily to numb myself to everything around me, but that gets expensive, and hardly feels fair to the people I love. ___

 

Vent - After spending yesterday in a depressive episode from burnout I’ve decided that I’m too old to be anything but aggressively ND. Literally every day is systemic violence against ND folks to force us into their boxes- so fuck it. Maybe this is the year I’ll file an EEO complaint for forcing me to be in the office. I’m sick of it all. Or maybe it’s just working in the climate/water field and internalizing how fucked we are- or how little anyone cares. Idk. I usually rely heavily on dissociation as a coping strategy for making it through days of inane bullshit while the world burns, but am giving sobriety a try (5 days and I hate it!). Any way- I hope your years are off to a good start, and hope you all find peace and happiness :)

 

I absolutely bodied my nephew in “hi-ho cherry-o” the other day (his first loss I think) and he lost it. Anyway I’m getting a bunch of cooperative board games for various niblings and it’s awesome how many options there are; the old board games (eg hi-ho cherry-o) are just random, no wonder they’re frustrating for a kid. Plus how much better is it to learn that you can cooperate with others! Going to check out my local shop for recommendations but was thinking of getting them started with something like 5-minute dungeon, forbidden island, or castle panic. V excited

 

👼

 
 

Main. I think the rule is this post needs to say main? Or be accompanied by a materialist analysis of yesterday’s events? I usually stick to badposting so idk. Has anyone read the book “Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues”? It seems a bit lib in parts, but is an interesting lens to look at history through. Essentially, that Earths development (historic and prehistoric) is largely driven by microcosms rather than people.

I’m in the chapter right now talking about the Roman empires rapid transition from Paganism to Christianity after a plague which their gods “failed to protect them from”. At which point they disposed of their gods, metaphorically and physically (temples, statues, etc). This seems similar to a potential trajectory for a certain country/world once enough people decide that the gods (billionaires, ceos, etc) of the religion (capitalism) will not save them from the blights to come (literal blights, climate change and its effects, etc. ), and decide to abandon them metaphorically and physically (pew pew), and move on to the next god (not sure on this- perhaps an exceedingly charismatic council of furries?).

Anyway I feel like there’s a strange current with the attempted trump assassinations, pelosi hammering, yesterdays whoopsy daisy where a legally concealed firearm accidentally discharged at which point the projectiles reportedly entered a ceo who didn’t have supplemental projectile coverage (his fault really) and then he rode off on a bike (carbon neutral, and partly subsidized by Citibank (accomplice much?)).

Idk I just overheard two strangers (to each other and me) talking about absurd healthcare costs for family members and their insurances failure to cover them.

 

To work unfortunately 🤮 but at least I’m cozy in my parka and a little stoned comfy-cool

 

That’s it, that’s the entire bit

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