RoyalHenOil's recent activity
-
Comment on Exposing AdFection - how Discover-Tech turned targeted ads into a pipeline for zero-click mercenary spyware in ~tech
-
Comment on Looking for advice: How do I find out what stocks to invest into? in ~finance
RoyalHenOil (edited )Link ParentThe safest ETFs, where you should invest the bulk of your savings, are the ones that are not industry-specific and instead follow very broad markets, such as the world market (like VT). Depending...The safest ETFs, where you should invest the bulk of your savings, are the ones that are not industry-specific and instead follow very broad markets, such as the world market (like VT).
Depending on your preferences, you might decide to invest in two or three broad-market ETFs so that you can weight your investments the way you want them. For example, if you want to weight the USA more heavily or less heavily than VT weights it, you might decide to skip VT altogether and instead invest in VTI (the US market) and VEU (the world market excluding the US) at the ratio you desire.
Most people weight their investments fairly heavily toward the country or the region where they live, but it depends. For example, I live in Australia, but I have weighted my investments heavily toward Europe because I hope/expect Australia to become more deeply enmeshed with the EU over the next couple of decades. I also wanted to reduce my exposure to the US market because it's too risky for my tastes right now (too much Nvidia). In practice, this means I've invested some in VT (the general world market), some in VEU (the world market excluding the US), and some in VGK (the European market). These three are the great bulk of my investments, about 75% taken together.
It's also not a bad idea to invest some (maybe 10%?) of your portfolio in ETFs for something that isn't the stock market, as a hedge against certain kinds of economic upheaval. Bonds and gold are very popular options. For example, when Trump took office, I invested in a gold ETF (GLDM) as a hedge against inflation.
If you feel like playing the stock market a little, you can invest in more specialized ETFs that are focused on specific markets or that track a smaller number of companies (such as the S&P 500). But this is completely optional, and I suggest making it only a portion of your total investments, since it can be more risky.
How large or small that portion should be depends on your age. As a general rule, if you're a long way off from retirement, you can make more high-risk-high-reward investments. As you get closer to retirement, you want to move toward steadier investments. Personally, I decided not to invest more than 10-15% this way, and I'll wind that down to 0% as I near retirement. I'll also increase the percentage of funds I put into gold and bonds, since they don't really make much money, but they usually do a very good job of protecting the money you do invest.
However, plenty of people happily invest everything in just a single broad-market ETF like VT for their entire lives, and they do very well for themselves.
-
Comment on Why is there no word for please in the Nordic languages – are their speakers simply more direct, or is politeness expressed in ways outsiders may not immediately recognise in ~humanities.languages
RoyalHenOil (edited )Link ParentIn my experience, Australians don't care too much for the standard American accent, but they go nuts for more obscure accents — especially Southern accents. To Americans, even the general...In my experience, Australians don't care too much for the standard American accent, but they go nuts for more obscure accents — especially Southern accents.
To Americans, even the general Australian accent is pretty obscure. But Americans do seem to go nuts for the more rare broad (rural) accents in particular. Every American who's visited me here loves the accents they hear in the city, but they really grin ear to ear when they visit the tiny farming hamlet where I live (and the feeling is mutual when my visitors have Southern accents).
-
Comment on Why is there no word for please in the Nordic languages – are their speakers simply more direct, or is politeness expressed in ways outsiders may not immediately recognise in ~humanities.languages
RoyalHenOil Link ParentIn my experience, Australians are quite a bit more outgoing with strangers than, say, people from London or people from New York. But people from the southern US (and especially people from the...In my experience, Australians are quite a bit more outgoing with strangers than, say, people from London or people from New York. But people from the southern US (and especially people from the majority Black and Hispanic neighborhoods where I grew up) are much more chatty with strangers still.
Where I grew up, I'm considered abnormally reserved and untalkative around strangers. But at least around Melbourne, and even in the tiny Victorian town where I live now, people have noted that I interact with strangers way more than they're used to (and that's with me actively suppressing that cultural instinct).
All that being said, I've found Australians universally receptive to being chatted with this way. They just won't be the one to make the first move in most cases.
I wouldn't describe Australians as "unpolished" so much as "refreshingly casual" — which I suspect is a facet being highly egalitarian and anti-hierarchical. Where I grew up, there's a lot more social ranking and bigotry, more standardized etiquette, and more code switching (where the etiquette you follow depends heavily on context), which is difficult to navigate and pretty oppressive feeling.
Here, it feels a lot closer to just having one mode you talk to everybody in, and that mode is very close and familiar — lots of banter, casual swearing, and so on thrown around, even if you're talking to your grandma or to your coworkers. There are some downsides to it (like being unpracticed reining that in and adapting to local standards of etiquette while traveling), but for the most part, I love it. It's what we call "folksy" back home.
-
Comment on Why is there no word for please in the Nordic languages – are their speakers simply more direct, or is politeness expressed in ways outsiders may not immediately recognise in ~humanities.languages
RoyalHenOil Link ParentThank you, that was very interesting! I've lived in Australia for over a decade now, and I somehow haven't noticed what the norm is here, which makes me think it must be similar to US norms. I...Thank you, that was very interesting!
I've lived in Australia for over a decade now, and I somehow haven't noticed what the norm is here, which makes me think it must be similar to US norms. I don't think people read me as rude here. Instead, they tend to read me as friendly/outgoing (I'm actually supremely introverted, but I grew up in the South), and I read them as shy/reserved.
-
Comment on 1 in 8 Billion - Browser game, free, life sim with real statistics from 172 countries in ~games
RoyalHenOil LinkI was a man born on a farm in rural northern Côte d'Ivoire. I never knew my father, and my mother and teachers beat me for being forgetful (undiagnosed ADHD). I was forced to drop out of school at...I was a man born on a farm in rural northern Côte d'Ivoire. I never knew my father, and my mother and teachers beat me for being forgetful (undiagnosed ADHD). I was forced to drop out of school at age 12 due to mediocre grades (even though I prioritized knowledge) and my mother's death.
I had a great love of football/soccer, and I worked as a driver for a few years. I tried to get a better job, but ultimately ended up as a farmer because I couldn't find anything better (despite trying very, very hard to).
My first girlfriend dumped me. I dumped my second girlfriend (due to her student debt). I ended up in an arranged marriage with a street vendor with no debt and a modest income, and we were extremely close/in love my whole life. I turned down the option to marry a second wife because she didn't want me to.
We bought a house and had five children (most of them were even planned!), and I made a decision to never hit them like I'd been hit. I went into debt to pay for their education, and they all five completed high school and went on to get good, stable jobs (e.g., factory work). I was extremely close to all of them, especially my third daughter.
I never owned a vehicle of any type, but when my children were old enough to send me money, I acquired a refrigerator in my home for the first time. Two of my daughters started families before I died, and I had four grandchildren.
I died at 69 of typhoid fever at maximum happiness and relationships, very high health (other than the fever), and reasonable knowledge (around 55) given I never made it past primary school.
-
Comment on Why is there no word for please in the Nordic languages – are their speakers simply more direct, or is politeness expressed in ways outsiders may not immediately recognise in ~humanities.languages
RoyalHenOil (edited )Link ParentI feel similar about politeness in English. If I went to a restaurant and said to the waiter, "Can I have the toast?" I would feel suitably polite. But if I said, "Can I please have the toast?" I...I feel similar about politeness in English. If I went to a restaurant and said to the waiter, "Can I have the toast?" I would feel suitably polite.
But if I said, "Can I please have the toast?" I would feel overly insistent, and maybe even outright rude depending on how much emphasis I put into the word 'please' (more emphasis = more rude).
But it depends on context. In a scenario where I'm asking for something that isn't expected (like if I'm visiting my parents and get a sudden hankering for some toast), I'd feel fine saying, "Could you make me some toast please?" so long as I'm not emphasizing 'please' too hard (unless I do it in a jokey way, like, "Please oh please, could you make me some toast? I'm dying.").
-
Comment on Someone ‘torturing’ LLMs in a robot prison has triggered the dumbest debate in AI yet in ~tech
RoyalHenOil Link ParentAgreed. We don't know how to identify consciousness effectively (e.g., see debates on which animals are conscious, and even which of our own brain processes are conscious), or even exactly what...Agreed. We don't know how to identify consciousness effectively (e.g., see debates on which animals are conscious, and even which of our own brain processes are conscious), or even exactly what consciousness is. I don't think we can make any definitive claims at this point, and I'd prefer to err on the side of caution.
That being said, if LLMs do experience anything that could potentially be classified as consciousness, I think it's highly likely that it's very unlike our own consciousness, and I'd be deeply surprised if things that make us feel good or hurt our feelings would have the same effect on an LLM, since they don't share our brain chemistry in any way, shape, or form. They are truly alien.
Even if someone could definitely prove that LLMs aren't conscious, I do think it's still good policy to require people to interact with LLMs politely, just to discourage harmful communication habits. These things have a way of bleeding out into real life.
-
Comment on Given everything we know about AI so far, what do you think it can or cannot be good for? in ~tech
RoyalHenOil Link ParentI wouldn't even necessarily be opposed to seeing a movie, listening to a song, or reading a book that was AI-generated — if any of them were actually interesting. I'm not even asking for them to...I wouldn't even necessarily be opposed to seeing a movie, listening to a song, or reading a book that was AI-generated — if any of them were actually interesting. I'm not even asking for them to be good.
In the past, I have enjoyed some AI-generated things that were unintentionally funny, like Will Smith eating spaghetti, but those were the early days of gen AI when it wasn't so great at replicating its training data. That poor replication gave it some semblance of creativity. Now it's gotten so "good" that everything it makes is dull.
I guess its creations could be interesting from an anthropological or historical standpoint — like, here is the most generic example of this genre at this exact point in time, which might be a useful way to compare different genres or to study AI technology itself — but nothing I've seen gen AI create in the last couple of years has been very interesting for its own sake.
I think if gen AI were developed to be truly inventive, and not simply an attempted simulation of human creativity (which it will never be able to do as well as humans because it doesn't have human experiences to inform these choices), there might actually be some cool stuff it could do. Other kinds of AI, such as genetic algorithms, come up with some incredibly unique solutions to problems because they're not boxed in by trying to design the way a human designs — and so I find myself much more intrigued by what they create, despite being far older and far simpler than modern gen AI.
-
Comment on The return of phones with physical keyboards? in ~tech
RoyalHenOil Link ParentI find phone swiping to make a lot of mistakes. For example, it almost never wants to write "staring" (it thinks I want "starting", or occasionally "staying") even if I swipe very slowly and...I find phone swiping to make a lot of mistakes. For example, it almost never wants to write "staring" (it thinks I want "starting", or occasionally "staying") even if I swipe very slowly and carefully. I have to select the right word out of a list, which slows me down, or go back later and correct words like this, which is even slower.
Swiping with my phone also irritates my hand and wrist if I do it for too long. I have some kind of tendinitis that seems to be triggered specifically by typing with a phone or using a trackpad.
I'm not sure how I'd do with a physical phone keyboard. I've never used one. But if it fixed the tendinitis issue, it would be worth it for me.
-
Comment on Amazon uses its tracking data to guess whether shoppers have a flat butt and no friends in ~tech
RoyalHenOil (edited )Link ParentIt's not a feature in Australia, either, and we don't have an equivalent to GDPR. I do have an American Amazon account that I use for eBook purchases, but that account doesn't list any information...It's not a feature in Australia, either, and we don't have an equivalent to GDPR.
I do have an American Amazon account that I use for eBook purchases, but that account doesn't list any information about me whatsoever, so I guess they're ignoring Kindle data:
We haven't saved anything yet. As you shop on Amazon or chat with Alexa, we'll save helpful information to personalize your experience.
A bit of a shame because I'd actually like book recommendations based on what I like to read.
-
Comment on Anyone else have Inattentive ADHD? in ~health.mental
RoyalHenOil Link ParentI have made repeated attempts to get diagnosed since ~2017, though I admittedly gave up over a year ago. I live in Australia, which for the most part has a pretty smooth healthcare system, but...I have made repeated attempts to get diagnosed since ~2017, though I admittedly gave up over a year ago.
I live in Australia, which for the most part has a pretty smooth healthcare system, but ADHD is a weirdly stark exception.
Here, you have to get a referral from a GP before you can see a psychologist. My experiences pre-COVID were that GPs were extremely reluctant to give out these referrals and insisted that I couldn't have ADHD because I was able to focus on the conversation with them. I did finally manage to get one referral after trying several times with different GPs, but the psychologist he sent me to refused to do an assessment because, in her words, "I don't believe in labeling people". She just wanted to do talk therapy.
Then COVID happened, we went into lockdown, and I stopped making unnecessary trips to medical facilities.
After the lockdowns, I started trying again, and I suddenly (for reasons I still don't entirely understand) had much more success finding GPs willing to give me a referral. In fact, every single GP I went to basically said, "Yep, you obviously have ADHD." The problem was that none of them knew who to refer me to. Every referral I got ended up being to a psychologist who was not accepting any new patients, even just for a one-time assessment, so I kept having to go back to the GP to try a new referral.
Finally, I got a GP who said to call around and find a psychologist with an opening, and then call her immediately on her personal mobile after so she could get me a referral ASAP before the opening closed. But I called and I called every psychologist I could find listed (I live rural, so not a lot of options unfortunately, but I was willing to drive 3+ hours to see one), but none had any openings and weren't willing to book me more than 6 months ahead. After months of trying to find anybody willing to see me, I finally gave up and decided to devote my free time to other endeavors (including, unfortunately, a more pressing medical issue that came up).
My partner had more success (he found a psychologist willing to book him an appointment a year ahead), but the whole process of getting diagnosed still took him quite a bit longer than that because the assessment required multiple appointments. The heart tests were quick, at least (Australia's good at heart stuff). But ultimately, as I already described, he found that the benefits of the medication proved not worth the ongoing effort of managing renewals and refills, frequently missing doses due to shortages, and having it interfere with travel. He's much (and I mean much) better at dealing with that particular flavor of hoop-jumping than I am.
As I mentioned, Australia's healthcare system is usually much more responsive and easy to work with. For every other medical concern I've had, I've never had any issues booking appointments, getting referrals, getting assessments, refilling prescriptions, renewing prescriptions, etc. I can almost always book appointments within 24 hours, get a referral to see a specialist within a few days, get my prescriptions overlapped so I don't run out, etc.
But for some reason, ADHD seems to be uniquely difficult to navigate. Even immigrating (from my first backpacker's visa all the way to full dual citizenship) was easier and faster.
-
Comment on Anyone else have Inattentive ADHD? in ~health.mental
RoyalHenOil (edited )Link ParentUnfortunately, even after assessment (which where I live is pretty extensive, including assorted heart tests that require multiple hospital visits), you do have to test out different strength...Unfortunately, even after assessment (which where I live is pretty extensive, including assorted heart tests that require multiple hospital visits), you do have to test out different strength levels (unless you luck out and they get it right the first time), which means repeatedly bouncing back and forth between the doctor and the pharmacist for each prescription update. Then once you settle on a final strength, you have to keep refilling it forever and getting the prescription regularly renewed — and that's on top of navigating medication shortages, planning trips around your prescription refill/renewal schedule, combing through assorted local laws around possession of controlled substances whenever you travel, etc.
It's a big pain. I know it is because my partner (who is diagnosed with inattentive ADHD, although his symptoms are not nearly as severe as mine) has been navigating the system for years. He finally went off his medication because it was too much work to keep his prescription filled. I get that the medication itself makes work like that easier to tolerate, but even on a very strong dosage of Vyvanse, he was really struggling to juggle doctor's appointments, prescription refills, etc., and he often had to take days off work (very hard for him to do as a teacher) because the windows for refilling prescriptions for controlled substances are so tight. I think for someone with milder ADHD or who doesn't work full-time, or for someone who lives in a place with lax drug laws, it's probably a pretty navigable system, but I can't see how to make it work for myself.
-
Comment on Anyone else have Inattentive ADHD? in ~health.mental
RoyalHenOil Link ParentI find I'm generally pretty good at jotting things down, as long as it's very easy to. I keep whiteboard markers on my fridge (in a little magnetic holder) and write quick notes and lists directly...I find I'm generally pretty good at jotting things down, as long as it's very easy to. I keep whiteboard markers on my fridge (in a little magnetic holder) and write quick notes and lists directly on the fridge. Then later, I take a photo of those notes on my phone to keep as a to-do list.
The tricky part, for me, isn't finishing tasks. That's easy. Once I get started, nothing will stop me — not even finishing the task. I'll over-polish it just to keep going. (People think I'm perfectionistic for this reason, but actually I just can't stop thinking about whatever it is I've been working on.)
What's hard is actually getting started on new tasks. I do have some thoughts on how to do that, at least for certain kinds of tasks, but this is definitely my biggest weakness.
-
Comment on Anyone else have Inattentive ADHD? in ~health.mental
RoyalHenOil Link ParentThis is 1000% me (and my dad, who I no doubt get it from), and I think everyone who knows me would agree intensely. I've never been diagnosed. I've made several attempts to, but it's just too hard...This is 1000% me (and my dad, who I no doubt get it from), and I think everyone who knows me would agree intensely.
I've never been diagnosed. I've made several attempts to, but it's just too hard to follow through all the hoops to actually get an assessment — and testing out different medications and keeping up with prescriptions sounds exactly like the kind of wagon I constantly fall off of.
-
Comment on Approved for altruistic kidney donation in ~health
RoyalHenOil Link ParentHow was your own recovery?How was your own recovery?
-
Comment on When do you know that you've found "the one"? in ~life
RoyalHenOil (edited )LinkA big question to ask yourself is why you want to get married in the first place. Is it because that's what people are expected to do, or it feels like you'll be missing out on a major life step...- Exemplary
A big question to ask yourself is why you want to get married in the first place.
Is it because that's what people are expected to do, or it feels like you'll be missing out on a major life step if you don't, or you hope it will fix the ache in your soul, or you've always dreamed of your wedding day? If the answer is yes, you might not be ready to get married.
Is it because marriage has practical benefits (e.g., immigration, children, health insurance)? These are valid reasons to seek a legal partnership, but ask yourself: would you still want to spend the rest of your life with your partner even if legal marriage weren't an option, or would you prefer to cut your losses and find someone else to marry in that case? If the answer is that you'd want to stay, you might be ready to get married and to your partner, but if the answer is that you'd rather move on, you might be ready to get married but possibly not to this person.
Is it because you love your partner so deeply that you feel almost like you have to marry them? If the answer is yes, I'd take that as a good sign, but I'd caution against getting married just yet. In my opinion, you should get married only after the novelty of the relationship has worn off and you can think soberly about what exactly marriage to this person would look like — and, not to put a downer on things, but what divorce with this person might look like, too. If you can't think of any potential risks or downsides to spending your lives together, you might be too twitterpated to get married (yet).
Your partner should ask themselves the same questions, and you should make sure that you're generally aligned: both of you want to get married and specifically to each other, both of you are hoping to get the same (or at least compatible) things out of marriage, and your relationship has matured sufficiently that you can talk productively about issues you might run into (like differing ideas about housework, budgeting, raising kids, illness, in-laws, infidelity, recovering from lost passion, etc.).
Apart from all that, how much do you and your partner just plain like each other? Are you best friends? If one of you ended up in an accident and you couldn't have sex anymore or do any of your favorite romantic activities anymore, would you still love hanging out together? Would your relationship still be fun and interesting?
How's your compatibility? Does your relationship energize you or exhaust you? If something bad is going on in your life, does telling your partner make you feel better or worse? If you have to work on a project together or organize an activity together, does it leave you feeling closer or further apart? If your partner became depressed or ill or lost their income, do you like the idea of taking care of them, or does that sound awful?
If both of you can answer these questions to your mutual satisfaction and there's no glaring reason why you shouldn't get married, but you still have cold feet, think about where those cold feet could be coming from. Do you often get cold feet before making large or lifelong decisions, or are you getting uniquely bad feelings about this relationship? Are you (and/or your partner) someone who tends to jump into big decisions and then regret them later, or are you (and/or your partner) someone who routinely gets anxious before big decisions even when they're the right decision and you're ultimately happy you made them? Do any of your friends or family share your reservations, and if so, what are their concerns?
-
Comment on How to get better at academic writing quickly? in ~humanities
RoyalHenOil LinkOne thing that can help is learning how to write to extremely tight word counts. When I went from high school to university, this was the biggest change for me — going from essays with a (large)...One thing that can help is learning how to write to extremely tight word counts. When I went from high school to university, this was the biggest change for me — going from essays with a (large) minimum word count to essays with a (tiny) maximum word count — and I had to unlearn some very bad habits.
If you intend to publish in academia, this skill will be particularly relevant. The publisher (especially at a top tier journal) will give you word or character counts that sometimes feel impossible to meet (especially when combined with assorted other requirements, like writing out the full names of organic compounds — ugh!).
A good way to practice is, any time you write something, challenge yourself to edit/rewrite it to 50% of your original word count. And after you've done that, do it again.
It will force you to expand your vocabulary substantially and learn how to hone in on your central thesis.
-
Comment on Societal type of question in ~life
RoyalHenOil LinkI barely know anybody in my field — really just my current coworkers and a few former coworkers, which totals to under ten people. I'd say three of us are tied for being the most successful (in...I barely know anybody in my field — really just my current coworkers and a few former coworkers, which totals to under ten people. I'd say three of us are tied for being the most successful (in terms of things like promotions and how much we 'own' the projects that the rest of the team puts out).
The other two are firmly A, while I'm probably mostly D, since this job just kind of fell into my lap when my partner idly mentioned to a friend (one of the two A people) that I was thinking about a career change. She got me the job and taught me everything she knew, and then I got promoted into her role when she left.
-
Comment on Does the dryer shrink your clothes? in ~life
RoyalHenOil Link ParentWhere I live, in one of Australia's coolest regions, hanging thicker items (such as towels, jeans, and blankets) in the winter tends to cause them to become moldy before they finish drying. Our...Where I live, in one of Australia's coolest regions, hanging thicker items (such as towels, jeans, and blankets) in the winter tends to cause them to become moldy before they finish drying. Our winters are very humid and rainy, and even a thin T-shirt usually takes three days to dry. I do hang thinner items, like T-shirts, but it takes them so long and I have such limited space under cover (protected from rain) that I usually can't hang them all. (Pro tip: You can fit more clothes on a line by using coat hangers! I recommend the kind with clips.)
In the summer, however, hanging clothes to dry works extremely well. Our summers are very dry, so even just draping clothes over a chair indoors will usually dry them within a couple hours (and boost the indoor humidity, which is always welcome that time of year).
"Candiru" is the first thing that jumped out at me! A semi-parasitic fish that burrows into the gills of other fish to siphon the blood directly from their arteries (and, according to urban legend, might mistake your urethra for gills if you pee in the water, since fish release urea through their gills).
So they're not even trying to pretend they aren't evil.