mbubb

those are good articles (the top 25) but the site has a left liberal bias which shows only censorship from the right. I have followed https://ground.news/ for a while which shows stories missed in what are classified as right, left and center media...

yes - usually larger caliber and often a revolver, ie: https://blog.cheaperthandirt.com/best-6-handguns-bear-countr...

good luck - I really feel for you and know others who have struggled with similar job search frustrations...

I lost a position over a year ago and found myself scrambling for a new role as an older person in tech. I thought of a few things that might help.

In my case I was trying to move into medical tech software infra role in NYC. I needed to find ways of talking to people in the target field in a low pressure way - I got an invite to https://lunchclub.com/ and started having chats with people who worked in tech with a medical focus. I met someone who worked for the CDC and another person who was a nurse who developed a new kind of injection needle, etc

I could ask them lots of questions about their work and get comfort in talking about related topics. It helped in my case as it helped me relax - I am not extroverted and I needed to develop fluidity in this way. I am not recommending lunchclub over any other such service - it is the one I used. I would guess there are more option in this space... In my case I found a job in a nonmedical field but the company is a pretty amazing fit and I feel lucky. I feel like the ability to relax in the interview process really helped.

Another thing I thought about with your post is - consider not applying for junior positions - the ugly language in the response letter you got is telling you that I think. It requires bravery and squelching the 'impostor syndrome' feelings but you are not a junior employee. You have life experience. Look for employers that seem to signal that they will hire based upon your aptitude rather than "x years in such a position".

Another question - are you contacting companies directly? YMMV but I get much better interactions with internal recruiters than head hunters. Try targetting companies even if they don't list exactly the job you are looking for.

Very best of luck

Are these devices (Free Style Libre) safe for contact sports? I wanted to wear one and even got a scrip for one as i am pre-diabetic. I do BJJ 4x a week and am concerned about the device on the arm getting dislodged or broken. I thought about neoprene arm sleeve, etc.

Anyone have experience with contact sports and such devices?

Really beautiful site. Made my morning. I wear mechanical watches on a daily basis (I rotate between a few Maratec/CountyComm models) I like the size, weight and the sound and the feeling of the counter weight moving around. And the feedback of the bezel as I time an egg or a load in the dryer...

I really like the correspondence between the respect for the ingenuity of this technology and the "handcrafted" WebGL.

Last line:

"With creative use of miniature gears, levers, and springs, a mechanical watch rises from its dormant components to become truly alive."

yeah - I have bought a fair amount from them over the years - good lights and decent watches and pens

I will never look at it quite the same…

(I don't work for these companies...)

This is a cool tape to make handles and such - it sticks to itself but you can peel it off easily:

https://countycomm.com/products/self-vulcanizing-grip-silico...

Also for a different application - this Coban medical tape is very useful: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/v000095067/

It has a stiffness that holds its position without being tacky or sticky. doesnt slip like an ace bandage might. great for covering bandages or wrapping ankles, etc

And "Kinaesthetic tape" (KT) also nice when recouping from twists and sprains...

came here looking for this comment as its one of those minor peeves - duck tape is from WWII era and is a water resistant cotton tape - modern home depot duct tape is a plasticky, sticky all, purpose fastening tape (not so good for sealing ducts, btw).

There is something called gaffer's tape which I feel like might be more similar to the original duck tape.

Fascinating how words drift over time

https://www.chicagotribune.com/redeye/redeye-is-it-duck-or-d...

There is a chess training program called "Dr Wolf" which has a learning mode where you play the computer. At certain points it asks you to switch positions to see the weakness in your previous move - it is striking how effective that is to seeing the weaknesses in one's defense.

I am not particularly skilled in chess but the LiChess puzzles are a daily practice on the subway... I think it is my favorite. I really like the puzzle scenarios where you are down material but the correct series of moves leads ot a win. This insight is a confluence with BJJ where sometimes you can be in a bad position and reverse out of it...

that is a very memorable incident - not least for the number of lives lost. I am not sure if it was deference as much as reverting to a native speech pattern in a critical moment.

"We are at takeoff" is what the pilot said and a native English speaker would have said something more like "We are taking off". A subtle difference - I grok what he was saying after the fact but in the moment the other's understanding was something like 'the KLM plane is currently at the starting point for takeoff'.

All these are just guesses on my part - I think of this incident often, particularly in terms of clarity and 'closed loop' comms under stress.

https://tailstrike.com/database/27-march-1977-klm-4805/

some years back I worked on a project with Korean Air on exactly that topic, cockpit communication and honorifics... A compounding factor was that pilots and crew often came from military backgrounds.

I learned about a number of air disasters and PanAm/KLM crash[1] in Tenerife 1977 really stuck with me. In the transcript a Dutch pilot says something like "We are now at take off" when he was indicating that the plane was in the process of taking off. (an idiomatic way of expression)

There was already much stress on the situation as an incident at another airport caused massive traffic rearrangement across Europe. Under stress we revert to native ways of expression. I tried to keep this incident in the back of my mind throughout the project, and since...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster

edit - include the transcrpt: https://tailstrike.com/database/27-march-1977-klm-4805/

“this is my rifle/ this is my gun/ this one’s for fighting/ this one’s for fun”

so funny you mention the vaseline impregnated gauze. I have had more than one instructor say the best thing to use as a chest seal is the wrapper itself. Vaseline sucks to try and tape down. The metallic shiny wrapper it comes in makes a nice seal though.

The civilian version of this class us called TECC (in the US) i took it last october- quite good. It is an adaptation of the military TCCC “combat casualty“ class. Thus class was specifically for EMTs and Paramedics but there us a more general class called “stop the bleed” intended fir more general audience. I think everyone should take a cpr/bls class and stop the bleed if they can. Good skills!

NJ EMT here and the guidance we are given is to not run AED while driving as the vibrations can make the analyzer misread. There are probably different types of AEDs to account for this

expected an AED - wonder if inflight vibration makes it unusable

destination was Delhi - mmaybe no good medical option en route?

3 spontaneous pneumathoraces…

I remember from EMT school the informal advice that spontaneous pneumo is a predisposition for certain body types and something as trivial as a burp or hiccups can cause. Tall and thin body type. But this is anecdotal- is there an underlying cause in your case?

Have you tried asking any of the jobs that rejected you're getting rejected?

Great point. I interviewed at Bridgewater and they gave a good post mortem on why I didnt get the job. It is something that I now ask for after every interview process that matters to me.

Doesn't always work but has changed my approach in a positive way. For me it takes 12 - 15 attempts to get a job. I am an (old)Infra/Cloud Engineer coming from a sysadmin background and need to constantly improve programming skills.

Asking for post-rejection feedback with humility and in the spirit of self improvement has led to me making connections and leaving interviews with the feeling of an open door for future attempts.

Beautiful.

I think about this living on the Hudson across from NYC. Not only the Statue but other riverside details like the vent systems for the tunnels and the Hoboken train station are copper covered and thus verdigris colored. In the general mishmash of buildings and activity I unconsciously navigate to the green accents on the river.

Another green is in the serpentinite(sp?) rock which dominates the Palisades which runs on the Jersey side south of the George Washington Bridge and then eventually crosses the New York border heading north. The rude, jagged eruptions of rock provide just about the only places for wild growth of trees and other vegetation in the most densely populated corridor of the US - the soccer and baseball fields in front of my apartment have long given over to an artificial turf. But the green on the NYC waterfront is like a vein of ore in otherwise gray world.

sax and violins on tv...

yes - bad joke in the vein of "male sex" - the categories are sloppily generated in the WHO example. But you are right - the sinks are in short supply...

There is a lot of confusion about PPE and disinfecting. People wear surgical masks thinking they are making themselves safe - which they arent. I think also people use magical thinking with disinfectants.

I remember one EMT call where my partner got blood on her arm. She impulsively reached for the handsantizer but I told her to wait. Took her back to the hospital (we just left) and let her wash with soap.

I felt in the moment like an alcohol based wash would just irritate her skin and open pores or perhaps breakdown the skin . When the alcohol evaporates much of the crud would still be there whereas washing with soap feels like you will better handle the issue with surfactant. Might have been wrong.

thought the same thing - men not washing hands after nookie? And whats this about sinks being too short? Distractingly crappy data categories.

I would be really interested in reading a article on "why doctors don't wash their hands" but this ain't it. Interesting stuff on Seimmelweis but otherwise fluff.

I am an EMT and was on a particularly bloody call and noted the paramedic was not wearing gloves... Part of it might be related to the joke that ALS stands for "Aint lifting shite" but if I had more time on the call I might have asked him...

The use of PPE and washing hands are interesting topics and am often interested in things I see wrt this.

exactly

BJJ and a Wim Hof demonstration have taught me a lot about stress management and breathing. I do some of the exercises daily like hot to cold shower (wakes up the parasympathetic response). Interesting topic - a bit of a gloss by NPR though

really well put. "People have a deep need to relate as full human beings to their work." And those relationships can be very important - even though they might not outlast the time working together.

I think though that "meaningful work" is different from deeper meaning in life. Confusing the two causes suffering. I have worked at an adtech company with really good people. I helped start a nonprofit publication in Brooklyn full of college friends, artists and academics- which ended up being the sleaziest group of backstabbing grubs imaginable.

I have a manager right now whom I respect. He (CTO) gives good project guidance and makes clear decisions based on rational business reasons... I like him but have no illusions that he would fire me in a second if it were in the interests of the company. Keeping this in the back of my mind helps me modulate my response when I am frustrated or really almost any emotion to the excess.

Its possible to do very meaningful work without being friends. You can even be friendly and go out and drink together from time to time ... but always remember what you are there for.

You can find meaningful experiences out of work. They can even be "worklike". I am an EMT on weekends and I end up thinking about it during the week. The relationships at the corps are important but in the back of my mind I can understand that this activity is not exactly work. It could be but at the moment it is not. I am a systems engineer.

There is a lot to unpack in this. I strongly agree with you that work is about as central to our identity as can be.

I've been miserable at NYC tech companies with unlimited vacation and catered lunches... And a crappy attitude was at least 50% of that misery. (2 months of covid-19 and I find myself missing the commute at times)

When I was in school I worked for the university for free tuition. I was a groundskeeper and mowed and planted. I was outside. I occasionally drove a dumptruck to get loads of gravel or dirt. I worked with a guy who dropped out of highschool and played heavy metal in our truck as we drove around campus. When it rained we would hide out and play chess. He was an interesting dude full of contradictions.

I hated the job because I felt humiliated as a student working a menial job on campus. In hindsight I can see how important a job it was. It enabled me to get through school and afford a place to live. There were fun moments and good experiences (driving a full dumptruck down route18 is its own thrill...)

I was limited mostly by my attitude and a posture - who I thought I was. Dreaming about being somewhere else and avoiding people I knew.

I still catch myself engaging in that kind of behavior.

We do need to relate to each other as humans though work. This requires lots of re-calibration.

You have been though trauma - whether or not it was self inflicted or your fault or anyone else's fault is nto the issue here at the moment. You are still in the midst of it (gathered from your writing) and it will pass (hopefully).

Look around and see if there is something you can do that involves service to your community (however you define that). For me volunteering as an EMT on weekends has helped me a lot.

Finding something where you feel like what you are doing is meaningful - even if in a very local small way - gets you grounded.

Good luck!