• 11 Posts
  • 915 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
cake
Cake day: October 19th, 2023

help-circle







  • And now, since you are the father of writing, your affection for it has made you describe its effects as the opposite of what they really are. In fact, [writing] will introduce forgetfulness into the soul of those who learn it: they will not practice using their memory because they will put their trust in writing, which is external and depends on signs that belong to others, instead of trying to remember from the inside, completely on their own. You have not discovered a potion for remembering, but for reminding; you provide your students with the appearance of wisdom, not with its reality. Your invention will enable them to hear many things without being properly taught, and they will imagine that they have come to know much while for the most part they will know nothing. And they will be difficult to get along with, since they will merely appear to be wise instead of really being so.

    —a story told by Socrates, according to his student Plato





  • Words become more acceptable over time. In centuries past calling someone a devil or saying that they should go to hell would have been deeply offensive. Today these insults are so mild that even schoolchildren say them to each other. Even twenty years ago the word “fuck” was viewed with nearly as much taboo as racial slurs. Now, it’s a very common word that people will throw around in a casual context.

    Even the word n****r (means “black person”) and its non-hard-R variant are starting to lose their offensiveness. In African-American Vernacular it has taken on a variety of inoffensive meanings. It is now only offensive in certain contexts while fifty years ago it was pretty much offensive in all contents.

    At the same time, new words emerge and get labelled profane. For example, the word t****y (means “transgender”) would not have meant anything twenty years ago, and now it’s one of the most offensive words in the English dictionary. Similar story with the word f****t (means “homosexual”).


  • While it does sound unfair, eBay policy requires you to upload a tracking number by policy. If there is no tracking number eBay will treat it as having never been shipped. This is laid out in their policy pages. You can only satisfy the shipping requirement by using a tracked service and the one indicated by the buyer.

    It’s a strict logical operation. eBay sides with the buyer unless all of the following are satisfied:

    • A tracking number is uploaded within the specified turnaround time on your listing (I believe it defaults to 2 or 3 working days)
    • The tracking number corresponds with the buyer’s indicated shipping service (ex. using USPS Ground Advantage when the buyer indicated Priority Mail will fail this requirement)
    • The package was shipped to the exact address given to you by eBay
    • The tracking status indicates “delivered” or “available for pickup”
    • If the order total exceeds $750, you required a signature for the package

    If you fail any of the requirements, you are at the buyer’s mercy. It’s strict but it’s fair.





  • NateNate60@lemmy.worldtomemes@lemmy.worldDevastating
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 month ago

    If counted by European standards, the US has a 35-hour work week. Americans are counting their five one-hour lunch breaks to arrive at the “office worker” schedule of 40 hours a week, 09:00 to 17:00 Monday to Friday with a lunch break at 12:00 to 13:00


  • NateNate60@lemmy.worldtomemes@lemmy.worldDevastating
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    1 month ago

    Americans count their lunch breaks as hours worked. The typical “office worker” schedule is 09:00 to 17:00 Monday to Friday with a one hour lunch break from 12:00 to 13:00. This is 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week, but if you are not counting lunch breaks then it is 35 hours a week of actual “work”.

    Or this comment is made by a European who wants to just diss Americans without realising this situation is largely the same in both places… 😇

    Edit: Since there appears to be some confusion here, if a worker had a working schedule of 09:00 to 17:00 Monday to Friday with a one hour lunch break from 12:00 to 13:00, and you asked a European and an American how many hours a week this person works, the American would say 40 but the European would say 35.


  • You can do that in the US as well, but it will cost more because you wouldn’t be agreeing to a fixed term. For example, my ISP charges $25 a month for 200 mb/s if you agree to a one-year term, but it’s $40 a month if you do not agree to a one-year term. And there’s also the added inconvenience of having to go to one of the ISP’s physical stores every month and put cash into their kiosk.

    They will ask for your name here when signing up, but nothing prevents you from lying about your name if you’re going to be paying in cash. They ask for an e-mail address as well, but you can say you haven’t got one, and they’ll create one for you using their own e-mail service and assign it to you. You don’t actually have to use it, but it is for receiving their bills and notices.