What the fuck did we just read?

I find it interesting how many pieces of media have been inspired by the book Killer Angels. Firefly joins Gettysburg (perhaps that one is obvious), and even Ken Burns sprawling Civil War Documentary.

Yes! That is so annoying. Then again, I do think it’s better that more people from the small towns have the opportunity for public transportation, not just city to city. In Europe they manage to serve lots of locations and keep travel times short. It’s possible, just an expensive commitment.

TIL. Wow, that is even more aggravating.

I listen to music the exact same way. I will maybe pay attention to the chorus or catchy line, but a lot of lyrics are lost on me.

I was looking into visiting a friend in Cleveland from Philadelphia. Basically, it’s a straight shot West with hardly anything between. 6 hour drive, but I prefer the train when possible. 16 hours of travel time by train. Our system is so screwed.

I know that the lines are owned by freight companies, so they have the right of way. It’s just so frustrating to know that the infrastructure was there 100 years ago, but today, it is crippled by private interests and greed.

I think they have been putting something like that up for a while. Traditionally, college students from GW, Georgetown, American and Catholic descend on the White House once the race is called to celebrate. I’m sure plenty of other people are there too, but it was overwhelmingly harmless undergrads when I was there.

Plotnick, an associate professor of cinema and media studies at Indiana University in Bloomington, is the leading expert on buttons and how people interact with them.

I like that being a leading expert on buttons is a profession that exists in this world. You go Rachel Plotnick.

Yeah, it is definitely dependent on region and lots of other factors. Plus, I fully admit it is a small sample size. But I just wanted to say my part because suggesting the trades certainly isn’t as universal as advising kids to go to college was a generation ago.

Also, I agree with the elite schools for grad programs. But so few kids get to that point and would have to get through undergrad (and likely crippling students loans) to even apply to for the good grad schools.

I hear this from some of the kids that I coach. I remind them that they have to do something worth watching. I know that some lucky content creators make money with low effort posts, but in a world where everyone wants views, you need to be good enough at something to catch peoples attention.

I haven’t met any parents telling their kids to go into the trades aside from one dad who is already in the trades and knows the life.

Most of the parents of high/middle schoolers I speak to are pushing STEM and entrepreneurship. I coach this age group, and the parents still want their kid to go on to higher education. They just are more aggressive about it being a meaningful degree.

There is also more discussion of the cost of schools. A degree from a local school with in state tuition or a community college transfer is looked upon more favorably now. Frankly, a lot of the elite schools are bullshit and the general public is waking up to that now. The work a student is willing to put into learning is much more important than if the school has a high rank.

deleted by creator

The chance to see a future or sitting president and shake their hand is pretty incredible. Depends if you like their politics, obviously.

deleted by creator

I also found that watching ‘video essays’ on Youtube helped me develop and understand communication skills after years of math education. Depending on what you are interested in, Youtubers like Tom Scott, Every Frame of Painting, Miniminuteman, and Ask a Mortician are fantastic places to start.

I was just talking about how commenting has made me reflect on how effectively I communicate in everyday life. I only ever lurked on Reddit because it seemed like everyone had already said what was worth commenting on. But on Lemmy, there is an opportunity to give it a shot and see what happens.

The worst case is someone picks apart what you were trying to articulate (rare), or no one responds (common). In the best case, you have an engaging conversation (also rare).

The TLDR is great if people include it. But sometimes it is hard to be that concise.

I agree. I usually like to hear people out if they are knowledgeable. Depends on the topic, though.

When someone points out something I deleted or only alluded to for the sake of brevity, it kills me. I want to respond “…yes, I know I actually wanted to write that, but wasn’t sure anyone would care or even read it.”

But knowing everything doesn’t get you any extra credit on Lemmy or in real life. Speaking as a recovering teachers pet my entire academic life, I find it’s best to just remember that it is just a conversation. Especially on Lemmy, responses to comments are pretty rare, so any thoughtful response is welcome.

I find myself having to delete tangents as well! I feel that my writing begins conversational, with brief asides for nuance or comedy. That style does work well for presentations. But if I am trying to be as concise and informative as possible, I find that I need to trim a lot.

It is an interesting excersice in observing how your brain relays information naturally and how you need to ‘translate’ that into effective communication with others.