From Epictetus, a father of Stoicism
>1. Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions.
>The things in our control are by nature free, unrestrained, unhindered; but those not in our control are weak, slavish, restrained, belonging to others. Remember, then, that if you suppose that things which are slavish by nature are also free, and that what belongs to others is your own, then you will be hindered. You will lament, you will be disturbed, and you will find fault both with gods and men. But if you suppose that only to be your own which is your own, and what belongs to others such as it really is, then no one will ever compel you or restrain you.
>23. If you ever happen to turn your attention to externals, so as to wish to please anyone, be assured that you have ruined your scheme of life.
In that context, I think it makes sense to include body in the list of things not under your control (you can only control the actions you ask your body to do, not what your body actually does or the per-muscle detail of how it does it).
But to his point more generally: if you can control it, do so. If you cannot, don't pretend that you can.
What trend? I haven't noticed this at all
Nassim Taleb talks about this concept in his books.[0]
Edit: Here it is – https://medium.com/incerto/surgeons-should-notlook-like-surg...
OTOH, if I want to get by based on actual technical merits instead of outward attractiveness, then best to optimize technical and communication skills. Physical appearance comes and goes, but the latter have more staying power.
OTOH, the actual engineers see through all the external signaling, which I've also discovered :) :P Or rather, the external signaling can work in the opposite direction with engineers.
At any rate, the big take away is it's ultimately about signaling one way or another, and knowledge about social signaling is probably most valuable for career advancement. Which can make a person cynical about the whole thing if one don't take such insight with moderation.
I think it's important to disambiguate the two. People often believe themselves to be the former, when they have frequently fallen into the trap of the latter. Adopting counter-cultural signaling is not the same as being above signaling, but it's an easy thing to confuse.
Especially when confusing the two is a sop to the ego.
We waste an absurd amount of time fretting over image collectively for one reason: to satisfy each others need to judge things by their covers --IOW, to satisfy each others need to make flawed judgements.
It's wise for one person to care about their image, but not for a whole group of people to gatekeep the way we do based on aesthetics. The relevance of a suit and tie is self perpetuating, something like "I got hazed when I joined this fraternity, so the new recruits should get hazed, too."
It also signals consideration for other human beings, not expecting them to jump through a bunch of expertise evaluating hoops, but instead allowing them to rely a commonly agreed upon and decently useful signal. Consideration for others is yet one more important thing to signal.
You can apply the same logic to an obese person as chronically under-dressed/fashion-averse one: They ought to be considerate enough to show their attention to detail through managing their health better and careful calorie intake.
I stand by my point that it's a shortcoming of our culture that we give those signals (i.e. "t-shirts aren't very professional!") any weight at all.
I won't claim an inverse trend but I've worked with enough relatively-useless and very well dressed people that it's basically noise.
If you don't believe me, consult with some of your more attractive friends, and have yourself a makeover day to try it out. You can look like a million bucks for the cost of a haircut and a new outfit. Even if you're out of shape, you can present yourself just fine.
If you're feeling really brave, doll yourself up as nicely as you can, and consult a forum (not HN) on your appearance. Reddit has a few communities that do this sort of thing. You can dial yourself in to what most people would considered "beautiful" pretty quickly if you want to do it.
- Plastic surgery: ~$18B in the US in 2019
- Cosmetics: ~$55B in the US in 2019
Go figure..people would spend more for perfume than for their food. Why? Because. Markets.
It’s ok. If you work with pigs, you have to roll in pig poop. It’s already established what we do the minute we start selling..it’s only a matter of branding and marketing.
I am a little lucky in that I still get to work amidst plants and nature that is my secret pleasure. It’s the selling part that I abhor. But..needs must..etc..
Is that the kind of thing you could do in your backyard for a side business, or do you have to have acres of property?
Not sure if it's a farm->wholesaler or backyard->ebay or maybe backyard->shopify.
For me, it wasn’t worth selling kale and lettuce(need a cooler) and find people to work. I paid more than minimum wage (15-25/hour), but that’s not a liveable wage and even that was eating into my margins. And food is plentiful and cheaper at super markets. So what’s the point? Consider this: insurance is same if you are one acre or 20 acres. CCOF certification costs the same. Machinery and capital costs are fixed. Even if farmers markets are profitable, you have two people working 8 hours at minimum wage and need set up equipment and fees etc.
Yes, it can be done in the backyard etc if you have enough space and you have to operate as a farm. Mostly to make sure you follow food safety rules(it is important), but it becomes too much when you are selling wholesale(less than at csa and farmers market) but at volume. You need different set of certifications and audits.
All in all, due to economies of scale, I think you’d need at least 20-40 acres for economies of scale to kick in and you want to do it in an environmentally safe way. Better if you own as you build equity and have land security.
But I also feel like it’s only worth it if you can automate labour ..at least partially. That’s why I feel farm automation and robotics should focus on small acreage farms where they need it and not in commercial large corporate owned farms or commodity crop producing farms that are already hyper optimized and scaled to capture every marginal gain.
Again. Where you are matters. Whether you own the property matters. Markets matter. Even if I had 40 acres, I won’t grow for market if I can’t automate. The numbers don’t add up. I am too old to be romantic about farming as rolling in the hay and yodeling to cows. Also, I studied to be an accountant. I am brutal with numbers crunching. It killed all the farm romance before it even sprouted.
There is a lot we take for granted when young. And things we don’t notice. Like gravity, for example..
[..] Some men and a few women are getting plastic surgery to lengthen their limbs and grow up to six inches taller.
Dr. Kevin Debiparshad, founding surgeon at The LimbplastX Institute in Las Vegas, Nevada, has performed this procedure on more than 30 people since opening his practice in 2018.
The two-hour, $76,000 procedure involves minor breaks in the leg bones, nails and screws, and physical therapy. It takes a full year to see the end results.
Some patients may lose some athletic ability, and a psychologist previously told Insider "cosmetic procedures don't have a lasting effect on people's positive body images nor their general well-being." [..]
I have a genetic condition that puts me at a higher risk for DVT. It’s a not uncommon mutation called Factor V Leiden. I saw it in my 23 and me report that I ordered when 23andMe just got started. We are talking over a decade ago. There were a lot more reports than what’s given out now.
I had to stop my doctors from prescribing meds and procedures because of the genetic report. I also took a definitive test that mentions the mutation in my permanent record so it is considered in the future prescriptions and I suspect this would be useful as I get older.
This is where genetic tests like 23andMe can be useful. It’s not definitive but it would help to determine how to steer your health future.
Having said that, privacy trumps. I do not approve of sharing personal information by companies like 23andMe and esp to drug companies and insurance companies.
Also. These reports are not infallible. They keep trying to connect me with fifth cousins with whom I have less in common than I do with fruit flies. They also seem to think that I have Finnish ancestors when I can trace back my ancestry to south India for the past few centuries. It can be an imperfect ‘science’.
Circling back, this young man probably could have benefitted from a genetic screening.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&obj...
I’ve been practicing a Chinese martial art for half a decade, and in the last few years I’ve gotten incredulous looks a handful of times when I tell someone my height. I do not stand rail straight anymore, I hate shoes with lifts in them because they throw off my balance. I am in effect shorter than I was, which puts me at the high end of average in the eyes of people who are below average height (who do stand up, and don’t mind 1 inch heels).
How where they disfigured, since the legs are as far apart as can be from the face?
If it's the leg that looks ugly afterwards, can't the leg be fixed? Was there a bone problem? An infection ??
I don't think I would go that fact personally, but if there was something possible for the chest, I would seriously consider it.
Pumping iron can only take you so far. The bones underneath set the actual limit.
> Each leg now bears eight circular scars, each half an inch in diameter, from the screws that were removed. But now, three inches taller than before, Susan says she would not hesitate to recommend the procedure to her friends.
That is all I need to know. Patient satisfied, and would recommend the procedure.
The reality is that you're going to have an easier time making connections and getting access to opportunities if you're well-mannered, sociable, and attractive.