Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?
This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.
Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.
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Notes -
Can someone who’s good with economics explain to me, as you would a child, is “global GDP” a useful measure of human productivity, or of anything at all for that matter?
My understanding GDP is a measure of productivity (via total value goods/services), but it’s measured in dollars, which are a self-referential measure of people’s willingness to work or pay for a service. All of these goods and services also have differing values to consumers based on their circumstances. If I’m trying to conceptualize a “fundamental unit of productivity” I feel like no matter how I do it I end up in a recursion loop. What am I missing?
Secondarily, I was recently in a fast food place and realized what I thought was a police officer taking a break was actually a full-time security guard employed by the restaurant. This guard is presumably paid some amount X per year, which is rolled into the national GDP. If we compare to another country where low crime rates mean they don’t need a security guard at every McDonald’s, it seems in this instance that GDP has captured a societal drag on productivity and is treating it as a gain. True, the guard is producing a service, but the fact that the service is needed at all when in other countries it is not seems like there should also be some factor captured as a negative that is being missed. Are similar warping effects (e.g., make-work projects or services that are created to compensate for a societal failure) a major contributor to variations in GDP values?
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Any good stories about people getting fed up with the mess created by occupational licensing and just getting a license/certificate/whatever on their own, not even planning on making it a full-time occupation?
I saw a reddit post this week from someone who became a real estate agent just to sell their own house, with a, "Maybe it'll be helpful in future situations, too." Requirements differ by state, but it's typical that a basic requirement would be a relative short, relatively easy, relatively cheap course plus a relatively cheap, relatively easy test. I think they still had to "attach" themselves to a broker, but there is apparently a little industry of brokers who will pretty much just accept a small fee and otherwise let you pretty much do what you want. Looks like in some states, you can just do a small amount of additional coursework to upgreyyyed to being able to ignore even that and just do it under your own name (or and LLC or whatever).
I know a small-time landlord who got fed up with finding good HVAC guys. He just went to a community college to do the learning (not sure if this is even strictly required) and took the EPA's test. He's not contracting out to do work for other people, so he doesn't have to do the insane number of hours/full-time work to get contractor certified.
I'm sure there's a wide range of possibilities, with a range of ridiculous regulatory barriers. My guess is that the worst (to industry-protectionists, "most effective") barriers are ones that require a bunch of hours/years of full-time work underneath someone else who has already paid in to the cartel. What's surprisingly feasible... or maybe even a good idea/valuable? Any good examples of people doing seemingly-infeasible things just as a middle finger to the BS? Like, someone out there has probably gotten a law license just to not have to deal with any of that shit (my sense is that in a lot of places, yes, you'll have to pay a bunch of money to the cheapest online school you can find, but then, you pretty much just have to pass a test, no BS about needing to further work full-time for a long time under another licensed attorney or anything)... but even I can't imagine climbing the utterly insane walls that are set up to protect doctors.
Minor counterpoint- the EPA’s test is not intended as an occupational licensing regulation. It’s intended to enforce an environmental regulation.
Now most HVAC techs will tell you that that regulation is stupid. But what he did is entirely in line with the EPA’s regulation, which does not really care very much about having a contractor supervising the work- just about not venting Freon. You do not have to take classes at community college for the test- there’s study guides you can order online and take the test at a supply house, and honestly not using the study guide might get a passing score- but community college classes are certainly a way to get it.
Contractors licenses are mostly about insurance responsibility and code compliance. Now the lower grade(s) of licensing is straightforwardly a poll tax, but outside of unionized blue states no more than that.
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Do you think it was friendly fire or the Houthi leveling up and the pentagon wants to cover it up? Iran do needs wins after Syria.
The pentagon really isn’t very watertight when it comes to leaks, if it was the Houthis I imagine that they‘d both claim it and that the NYT/WaPost/Reuters/AP/etc would have the leak relatively soon.
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Why would they want to cover it up if the Houthis did it? I'd have thought that the US military would be happy to glass Yemen and Iran, but are worried that popular and muggle politician sentiment isn't behind it and they'll be dinged for warmongering - a case of Iran/proxies hurting American national pride and almost killing one of its finest would be just what they need. More likely that they'd cover up such an incident if it were Russia/China/NK, where popular enthusiasm for a military adventure could easily pull ahead of how beneficial the military thinks it would be.
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Any tips on dealing with injuries whilst lifting? I got a partial tear and minor back tweaks while doing super light rdls but with an extreme ROM without bracing. I will keep working out but how do you deal with injuries psychologically and not be afraid of having a much bigger one in the future? I got my tear this June and have been using super light weights so that I slowly get back and started PT but I am sometimes afraid mentally even if there is no pain. My back tweak did go away after sleeping for 8 hours, i usually get 5, got 3 the day i fucked my back up.
Your injuries will heal . . .eventually. I'm certain I tore some kind of CL (mcl/acl/whatever) chasing a 500lb DL. I got stress fractures in my wrists chasing a 400lb BP. This was a 14 years ago when there was less info easily available. I scaled way back for like 2 years, then got back into it and got some kind of cramps in my back that put a sideways curve in my spine (visible to random strangers). That eventually went away when I scaled way back. I got back into it and hit the 500lb DL. Then I got tendonitis so bad that when I was playing music at a jam session, my biceps tendon popped back into place and the audience heard the crack over the music. Then I scaled way back. Then I got back into it and hit a 600lb DL. Then a 405 BP. Then I felt something tear in my lower back/upper glutes while doing . . . .super light rdls with an extreme range of motion and couldn't walk for like a week. It was the worst gym injury of them all. The fear of the pain hung like the barbell of Damocles over every workout, and I eventually tore it again. That was about 2 years ago. Now I'm all better, do a ton of cardio and pretty-boy machine work. I'm not as strong as I once was, but I'm in overall the best shape of my life.
I don't recommend my kamikaze approach to training, but I racked up enough injuries to be able to say that the fear that an injury won't heal is totally understandable and almost certainly unfounded. Play the long game; just keep doing something and you'll bounce back. Unless you're like 60.
PS: PT is only a half-step removed from chiro and aromatherapy. Kin tape is fake. Electric acupuncture is fake. Acoustic accupuncture is fake. Laser therapy to "break up the scar tissue" is fake. 5lb curls while standing on a wobbly board are fake. Massage for anything other than hedonistic purposes is fake. Strength and flexibility are real, but that's what the gym is for.
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Has anybody here founds success with hypnotherapy? I've been toying with the idea of trying a couple sessions, but the one hypnotherapist I contacted priced at £100 per hour-long session, which seems very high. I wonder if CBT might be the better way to start with therapy.
Paging @self_made_human to field this one.
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