Asklemmy

Proof-read your writing; even when writing titles.

One that sticks with me from chemistry classes: "Hot glass looks exactly the same as cold glass."

Read the entire error message very carefully before asking for help, or even searching for a solution.

For folks in tech this means reading and understanding the stack trace, too.

You don't have to have an opinion about everything.

When driving don't be nice, be predictable.

Eg.: If you are on the priority road, drive - don't be nice and slow down to let someone in from a side road. That's how you get rear-ended.

It’s okay to be bored sometimes.

If you find yourself compelled to do something that’s not destructive to society or yourself, pay attention. Not wearing headphones I brought to disc golf led me to meeting my wife. I just had a feeling not to wear them. Then I met some cool friends. Yada yada yada, life is better.

Get out of your own way. Let things play out and act when you’re able. Try being more passive about small things and see if you’re not less stressed.

Every interaction I have I try to think “how can this go more smoothly”. Life is easy mode if you make people want to be around you.

You can say no and not give a reason and people will respect it more. Give an excuse and watch them act like it’s a puzzle to be solved.

You can’t fix everything at once. You have finite willpower. Do not stack ambitious goals or habit changes.

Understand the only way to ever be good is to fail a lot. This applies to everything. Thinking, conversation, athletics, math, baking, everything.

Garbage in, garbage out. Applies to coding, your entertainment consumption, and food.

In direct contradiction to the above rule I personally believe you MUST have some garbage guilty pleasures. How could you know what’s great otherwise?

Things are not gonna stop happening ever, prioritize.

Try to be kind. People are usually just doing their best.

Relating to relationships: You can say 'no' to anything, but you can't say 'no' to everything.

"don't attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity" is good advice for friends and family.

It's bad advice for salesmen, politicians, corporations, etc. They are more sophisticated than you and will take advantage of your willingness to extend trust after bad behavior.

Learn how to change your own brakes and filters, and save hundreds of dollars.

Buying second hand is underrated. I’ll often try buy something second hand first and just give it a good clean, I’ve saved loads like that.

"Measure twice, cut once."

Don’t be your family computer savy guy, you just found yourself a bunch payless jobs…

Disagree, while my family didn't pay me in cash, they made me food and such. They took care of me.

Unless you make a scene, nobody pays any attention to you ever, or will remember you later. You are invisible and anonymous in public.

It is absolutely okay to say, “I don’t know.”

I’d argue this is true even in instances where you should know as it will save time, damages, and/or misinformation.

Assume the best of people and the worst of circumstances. It just makes my life a little bit happier giving my friends and family, and even strangers, the benefit of the doubt.

Hit Cancel instead of Reply after typing a response to that moron. 9/10 it's not worth the effort and your life will be better for having moved on.

Refurbished is not second hand. It’s an item that has been returned to the retailer for one reason or another and gone through thorough diagnosis for any existing issues and repaired. You can save money over “new” to buy something that you now know has been scrutinized. Sometimes there may be blemishes, but depending on the product that matters very little.

Be mindful that a soldering iron cable can pull a soldering iron from your hand, so don't have too loose of a grip. Learned that one the hard way :(

Rice is a cereal and therefore a valid breakfast food. Fry last night's rice with some chopped veg and garlic salt for a nutritious and easy breakfast.

Assume positive intent. Amazing how much lower stress your stress levels will be if you don't feel attacked (on the road, on social media, in conversations, etc).

Oh yeah, and buy a bidet. Your bum will thank you.

invisible ink uses heat (friction) to turn invisible. so dont leave an invisible ink pen in the sun, if you want to use it again.

Frozen veggies have all the nutrients of fresh, and will still have them when you finally get around to cooking them.

You can just change careers whenever. No one cares. When I was younger it seemed so set in stone like you learn a trade you're a plumber for life. Go to college your major is what you're doing for life. It's not true I knew a philosophy major that was working as an elevator engineer. Do HVAC for 20 years then do something else. It's fine

Don't Panic

If you find blood on someone who is incapable of verbalizing if they're injured or in pain, consider if they had a dark red jello with lunch before you carefully inspect their entire body looking for the injury.

You may not be the smartest person in the room, but if you are well prepared you can certainly look like you are.

When you feel out of control in life, identify where you have agency and focus your efforts there.

Most "rules of thumb" become awful advice when used indiscriminately.

People assign slightly different meanings to the same words. You need to acknowledge this to understand what they say.

Words also change meaning depending on the context.

When you still don't get what someone else said, it's often more useful to think that you're lacking a key piece of info than to assume that the other person does.

Hell is paved with good intentions. This piece of advice is popular, but still not heard enough.

Related to the above: if someone in your life is consistently rushing towards conclusions, based on little to no information, minimise the impact of that person in your life.

Have at least one recipe using leftovers of other recipes. It'll reduce waste.

Alcohol vinegar is bland, boring, and awful for cooking. But it's a great cleaning agent.

Identify what you need to keep vs. throw away. Don't "default" this indiscriminately, analyse it on a per case basis.

The world does not revolve around your belly button and nature won't "magically" change because of your feelings.

You can cultivate herbs in a backyard. No backyard? Flower pots. No flower pots? Old margarine pot. (Check which herbs grow well where you live.)

If something breaks and there is no warranty and cost of repairs are to much. Repair it yourself. You don't know how? What you gonna do break it again?

I think my favorite allegory is the "We'll See Farmer".

Once upon a time, there was an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically, “you must be so sad.” “We’ll see,” the farmer replied. The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it two other wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed. “Not only did your horse return, but you received two more. What great fortune you have!” “We’ll see,” answered the farmer. The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. “Now your son cannot help you with your farming,” they said. “What terrible luck you have!” “We’ll see,” replied the old farmer. The following week, military officials came to the village to conscript young men into the army. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. “Such great news. You must be so happy!” The man smiled to himself and said once again. “We’ll see.”

Only time can yield the ramifications of an event. There is no luck, good or bad. Things happen. On balance, they are neither good nor bad, just events to be dealt with. Be patient and continue doing the best you are able to with any given circumstances. I have always tried to keep a goal in mind and move through life's circumstances in the vague direction of those goals. Things have happened that have ended up having positive impacts, and things have had negative. None of them were clear at the time and only in hindsight can I see which were which.

“proofread before submitting”

Read books to your toddlers

You can't change people

It's all class struggle.