Aristetul's recent activity
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Comment on Why do you like your job? in ~life
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Comment on Survey results on books that people identify as shaping their life/personality after reading them in high school in ~books
Aristetul Link ParentSame! And I grew up in a Muslim household! The Chronicles of Narnia were the first "big boy" books I ever read, and it's cause my 1st Grade Teacher gave it to me to read cause I was past the...Same! And I grew up in a Muslim household! The Chronicles of Narnia were the first "big boy" books I ever read, and it's cause my 1st Grade Teacher gave it to me to read cause I was past the reading levels of my classmates. I devoured those books and I think it formed the foundation of my ethics growing up and even though it had a lot of religious/Christian symbolism I felt like it taught me to question religion too.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
Aristetul LinkFinished Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott yesterday and started re-reading George Saunder's Civilwarland in Bad Decline again today. Bird by Bird is a great book for (aspiring) writers, especially if...Finished Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott yesterday and started re-reading George Saunder's Civilwarland in Bad Decline again today.
Bird by Bird is a great book for (aspiring) writers, especially if you're of the neurodivergent kind. Unlike other craft books, it's actually funny and real. Ms. Lamott has a real way for comforting neurotic, anxious writers and inspiring them and if you're someone who's trying to write, I highly suggest it. More so than something like Stephen King's "On Writing" (not that there's anything wrong with that one).
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Comment on Revisiting Facebook in ~tech
Aristetul LinkFor the past year I've stopped going to the feed. Not on computer, phone app, or phone browser. I would delete my account outright, but unfortunately I'll need to keep it around for Messenger. My...For the past year I've stopped going to the feed. Not on computer, phone app, or phone browser. I would delete my account outright, but unfortunately I'll need to keep it around for Messenger. My whole country basically runs on Meta between Facebook and Whatsapp. It's real sorry state of affairs when Facebook was the primary way the internet was introduced to the masses in my country.
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Comment on Mark Zuckerberg statement suggests that Meta could create ads for businesses directly, eliminating role of ad agencies in ~tech
Aristetul Link ParentIt's only slowly dying in the West. In many parts of the world where widespread internet adoption happened Post-Facebook and social media, Facebook is essentially the internet. And most of these...It's only slowly dying in the West. In many parts of the world where widespread internet adoption happened Post-Facebook and social media, Facebook is essentially the internet. And most of these places vastly outweigh the population of the West/Global North.
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Comment on How many languages do you speak? in ~humanities.languages
Aristetul LinkEnglish: Fluent Bengali: Fluent Hindi & Urdu: I can understand enough to to know 80% of what is being said, but my brain freezes when I try to speak. American: FluentEnglish: Fluent
Bengali: Fluent
Hindi & Urdu: I can understand enough to to know 80% of what is being said, but my brain freezes when I try to speak.
American: Fluent -
Comment on The elite college students who can’t read books in ~life
Aristetul Link ParentAnother reason why Cambridge/GCSE's are so broad and just generally more "profit-motivated" is that the curriculum is also used by previous British colonies/Commonwealth countries for education on...Another reason why Cambridge/GCSE's are so broad and just generally more "profit-motivated" is that the curriculum is also used by previous British colonies/Commonwealth countries for education on English. Where I'm from, increasingly families of a middle class-upper class income will opt for Cambridge over the national curriculum in the local language because ultimately they want to send their kids to the West for higher education at least, if not long term immigration and white collar jobs. Even though kids from the national curriculum are consistently the ones who end up getting full rides at Ivy League schools and similar around the world, society at large is more interested in GTFO out of here and go somewhere in the West, so they believe this gives them the best chance at doing that. At least in my corner of South Asia, Cambridge doesn't seem too bothered with the quality of education and the international curriculum of Cambridge is the same everywhere except in the UK. But I'd be surprised if this also doesn't have an effect on British education somewhere down the line.
I did my undergrad in a liberal arts college in the US and I fully agree that the American kids seemed way more well-rounded in their education compared to the rest of us internationals who largely came from a Cambridge background. Where at freshman year I already had junior year level knowledge of Economics, I knew very little about Physics and Chemistry outside of a 6th grade level. Whereas Americans knew much more about a wide range of topics they didn't possess "advanced" knowledge. It seems to me that the US curriculum promotes a far more holistic approach than Cambridge which has you start specialising from much younger. That being said, for us internationals across American universities, unanimously, the first year of US college seemed entirely redundant and we had gone over all those things since 7th grade. Because of this early committment to specialization, very few, if any, internationals come to university with an "undecided" major. Which is nearly never the case for those outside of the Western world. Asian attitudes to education are very different from the West, so it's almost as if this specialization is doubled down on from a young age. It almost seems insidious the way Cambridge doubles down and exploits these sentiments for profit.
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Comment on Cost of internet connection (monthly average) in various countries in ~tech
Aristetul LinkIn Bangladesh, the vast majority of people pay around BDT 500 so around USD $5. The graph shows $18. That's not to say the service is stellar, but definitely acceptable given the state of things....In Bangladesh, the vast majority of people pay around BDT 500 so around USD $5. The graph shows $18. That's not to say the service is stellar, but definitely acceptable given the state of things. Living in the capital, I pay around $14/month. Most ISPs around the country are splintered off of other larger ISPs, and these ISPs essentially act as landlords renting out bandwidth. The poorer people in the capital pay around $2/month and that gets them by. But Mobile Data is a different beast. Data is sold as marked-up packages with expiration dates. This might factor into the $18/month on the site.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~creative
Aristetul LinkYou have to show up. Everyday. Some days will be brutal, some will have you deluded into thinking you're a master genius. It doesn't matter. Just show up. 1 page everyday adds up faster than you'd...You have to show up. Everyday. Some days will be brutal, some will have you deluded into thinking you're a master genius. It doesn't matter. Just show up. 1 page everyday adds up faster than you'd expect.
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Comment on US movie-theater behavior has gone off the reels in ~movies
Aristetul Link ParentShaming people in movie theaters for being disruptive is legit cinema history. It's how the first theaters in the US taught the movie-going public movie-going manners. And if you were found to be...Shaming people in movie theaters for being disruptive is legit cinema history. It's how the first theaters in the US taught the movie-going public movie-going manners. And if you were found to be the annoying, the house spotlight would be on you in the dark theater and everyone had a free go at roasting you. So glad to hear it still exists in Alamo Drafthouse.
Well, it took me a while to get to where I am, but the last two years have made it pay off. I primarily work in film and media and have worn all sorts of different hats when it comes to that. I spent the first couple of years after graduating working for a national daily newspaper, but working in the news gets pretty depressing real quick and when COVID hit I decided to quit and go into film full time. Ever since then I've been freelance. At first, work was few and far between and I'm not the most extroverted person (neurodivergent af), so I just don't have that hustle or patience in me to network with people I just genuinely don't like. But after some slow years, things really picked up. I went from doing more gigs for little pay to fewer gigs for more pay. This year so far I've already made more money than the last two years combined, and I've only spent 5 months working this year, with 4 months total in between gigs of down time, focusing on my own projects. But when I do have work, it's greulling. 16 hour days on the regular, 3 hours of sleep, that kind of deal. But the time down time in between makes it much better. I'd rather grind for 30 days straight with no weekends and then have a while month to myself to recharge. At least for me, this is pretty good balance. I also get to travel to interesting places for work so that's a nice bonus too!