plasmon's recent activity
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Comment on The era of the business idiot in ~tech
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Comment on What is the best way to discover and listen to music? in ~music
plasmon LinkNTS has a ton of good stuff for finding music both new and old—I'd highly suggest you go on their Youtube channel, click a video that looks cool, and then just listen for a while. You could also...NTS has a ton of good stuff for finding music both new and old—I'd highly suggest you go on their Youtube channel, click a video that looks cool, and then just listen for a while.
You could also go on Bandcamp, click on a genre that interests you, and just listen to some albums at random. That method has never failed me when I'm bored.
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Comment on I dont want Windows 11, how easy is it to use Linux? in ~tech
plasmon LinkLucky for you, there's never been a simpler time to get into Linux. Honestly, the best distro for you would probably be Linux Mint. Mint is based off of Ubuntu, and very easy to use, while also...Lucky for you, there's never been a simpler time to get into Linux.
Honestly, the best distro for you would probably be Linux Mint. Mint is based off of Ubuntu, and very easy to use, while also not being managed by Canonical, which has a history of making bad decisions that nobody likes. Linux Mint's default desktop environment, Cinnamon, is supposed to be very easy to use (I haven't used it in ages, but I remember it being very good around 2015–2016). You will need to update Mint occasionally, but updates are simple to do and it won't nag you like Windows or MacOS—you do not need to reinstall the OS in order to update.
Mint comes pre-installed with Firefox, Thunderbird, and LibreOffice. You will have some trouble with TurboTax and COREL, but you could download Steam and use Proton to run them; you could also download VirtualBox and run Windows, with TurboTax and COREL, through that.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
plasmon LinkI've been playing Armored Core 6 and Mirror's Edge. AC6 is really good so far, but I'm thinking of ditching it—I'm at a point in the game that I feel like I need to grind, and I just can't stand...I've been playing Armored Core 6 and Mirror's Edge. AC6 is really good so far, but I'm thinking of ditching it—I'm at a point in the game that I feel like I need to grind, and I just can't stand grinding at all. Mirror's Edge is Mirror's Edge: I'm expecting to completely ignore the story and have fun until the last 3/4 of the game.
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Comment on Does anyone have experience working as an independent researcher? in ~science
plasmon LinkI work in a university lab as an undergrad researcher, so my knowledge here isn't complete by any stretch. This comment will apply mostly for physics, though it could be applicable elsewhere. As...I work in a university lab as an undergrad researcher, so my knowledge here isn't complete by any stretch. This comment will apply mostly for physics, though it could be applicable elsewhere.
As other people commented, working independently really depends on what field you're going into—theoretical/computational research is generally free as long as you have a computer and something to do calculations with, while experimental work requires you to spend a lot of money. There's always shed science, like the kind that Explosions and Fire and Styropyro do, but that comes with its own set of caveats—namely that your own safety practices will determine how long you live, or at the very least live without a debilitating injury—and getting payed to do that is a completely different story.
That said, you could get a job as an independent scientific consultant. One of the developers for a package Mathematica package I (unfortunately) had to use a year or so ago, Simon Rochester, has been an independent researcher for a while, doing both academic work and scientific consulting—getting the best of both worlds as it were. You would still need to work for other people, attend meetings, and do all kinds of stuff like that—you know, a bit like your current corporate job—but you would be able to do things at your discretion. Of course, you would probably need some academic collaborators and the like—hypothetically, you could reach out to some old professors and see what they're up to, and then work from there. (I'm considering working as a consultant and faculty researcher somewhere, but I'm not totally sure how I'd do it.)
Working as a theorist independently is a bit iffy. You could do it, sure, but there are some caveats—reaching out to academics is really iffy if you're doing theoretical research, mostly because a lot of so-called "indepdent theoretical physicists" are just crackpots. All I can say to that end is to just not be a crackpot: don't claim to solve all of physics, or disprove x well substantiated theory, or anything like that.
That's the best I can offer at the moment.
This essay shares a lot of ideas in common with Connor O'Malley's Standup Solutions special. The particular type of dude portrayed in the special was pretty much just a Business Idiot.