@nerdman @fluffy
Not sure where you're from, but in here, primary schools have fixed curriculum, High schools have a fixed curriculum and Universities have 80 percent fixed curriculum, so where the fuck am I supposed to choose?

@LukeAlmighty @fluffy

Oh, I was thinking universities, since the screenshot was about universities, and my understanding from universities is you basically have classes wortth points and once you have enough you graduate.

I went to university when I was young but dropped out because I wanted to work instead, don't remember a whole lot.

@nerdman @LukeAlmighty @fluffy Cool. My university experience was "here's the curriculum, faggots, and you better like it or you're not graduating. BTW, you must also choose one extra class per year out of this list of unrelated courses". It was kinda based to be called a faggot by the dean, though.

@rasterman @nerdman @LukeAlmighty @fluffy my degree was 120 hours, 30 of which were elective. About 50 hours were set for us. The choice is an illusion. I was in creative writing. Naturally, you'd think you would get to take screenwriting or fantasy literature. NOPE. Here's a list of 5 classes, you can choose 3. 'But, they're all pozzed lit classes...I don't want to read nigger or ungrateful whore poetry.' Too bad. 'At least, I can take it as an elective...' lol no. Can't take electives in your major subject. So, literally every single writing and literature class I actually wanted to take wouldn't go towards my degree. This was in 2010. I left that university. They're all fairly set in stone these days. Even general/interdisciplinary studies is fairly set in stone. It's a terrible system. It needs to burn.

@Svantovit @LukeAlmighty @fluffy @nerdman Relatable.

@LukeAlmighty @fluffy

Other than that... Primary school should be hardcore math, reading and writing. So that by grade 7 or 8 you can do basic calculus. After that, everything elective.

@nerdman @fluffy
100 percent agree about the primary school.

About the universities, in here, we do have to gather enough points, but 80 percent of the subjects are selected for us, so if we do not care about the diversity corporatism classes, we can just quit outright.

@nerdman @fluffy
(and don't worry, we aren'toffered exactly adwanced programming in the remaining 20 percent...)

@LukeAlmighty @fluffy

Ew. TF are you having stuff without math in engineering universities.

@nerdman @fluffy
No wander my company offers to pay for my "personal growth". They know universities teach shit, so at least they offer me to learn now...

@LukeAlmighty @nerdman @fluffy It's crazy how you get points for attending a lecture on diversity tbh. They probably know that is the only way people will attend them at university.

@sim

Meanwhile, I'll happily listen to hours of Milton Friedman and Thomas Sowell for free in my spare time. I'll choose them over purpose-made entertainment much of the time. Take that how you will.

@LukeAlmighty @fluffy @nerdman

@leyonhjelm @LukeAlmighty @fluffy @nerdman Ahh, but will it give you points for university credits? I didn't think so!

@sim

Why would I want university credits when I could get educated instead?

@LukeAlmighty @fluffy @nerdman

@leyonhjelm @nerdman @sim @fluffy
I was at 2 universities.

on one to get fired in one year, but learned enough shit to ensure a good life

And a second one where I've wasted 5 years for 1 paper

I got a job even without that paper, so take that for what you will...

@LukeAlmighty

I went back for a paper almost a decade ago, it hasn't been a factor in any job. If the economy had been decent at the time I would not have bothered.

@nerdman @sim @fluffy

@leyonhjelm @LukeAlmighty @fluffy @nerdman Touche. But uni credits are how you get a career these days. Lmao.

@sim @leyonhjelm @nerdman @fluffy
No, it isn't
A good handshake and a wide smile is how you get a career. I learned that the hard and expensive way.

@LukeAlmighty @leyonhjelm @nerdman @fluffy Do you mean all those job requirements on job ads lied to me??

@sim

Yes, I do mean exactly that.

Job reqs are almost universally written by someone who either doesn't know the job, or someone who is assuming the person who will send them candidates has no idea how to screen candidates.

@LukeAlmighty @fluffy @nerdman

@LukeAlmighty

Getting the initial experience and learning soft skills are key. Any good job I've ever had, I didn't apply for. I got invited right in because of exactly what you describe.

Of course, Some certificate-based fields like architecture do have an educational requirement in most cases (though there ought to be other paths). The good handshake and wide smile are still what will get you the job.

@sim @nerdman @fluffy

@leyonhjelm @nerdman @sim @fluffy
I asked for the job I am in twice. And the first time, they outright told me, that I acted weird.

So, I spend one year in bookshop "mastering the art of a good smile"... The second interview went smoothly as fuck.

@LukeAlmighty @sim @nerdman @leyonhjelm @fluffy I feel like everyone here has mastered the art of the scowl or of disinterest.

@Locksmith

Most people who can handle those can handle other signals when needed.

@LukeAlmighty @fluffy @nerdman @sim

@sim @LukeAlmighty @leyonhjelm @fluffy @nerdman are handshakes still legal?

@Locksmith @LukeAlmighty @fluffy @leyonhjelm @nerdman Need to master the elbow touch now.

@sim @Locksmith @LukeAlmighty @fluffy @nerdman
cc5eb43b966712110b23a2d47e0e24c9bef018bf1ea3f9f81595fe617a471a5c.png

@leyonhjelm @Locksmith @LukeAlmighty @fluffy @nerdman Yeah... doing this with someone was really bizarre. Makes more sense to just do nothing or shake hands and then wash them.

@sim

Personally I'd rather just shake hands and get exposed to viruses without worrying about it. I like to consistently challenge my immune system, I think that's vital to health.

@Locksmith @LukeAlmighty @fluffy @nerdman

@leyonhjelm @Locksmith @LukeAlmighty @fluffy @nerdman Sometimes I wonder if that is vital to health. But you can't really escape them... in an ideal world there wouldn't be viruses attacking the immune system but that is unrealistic. Certainly, there are things I don't want to get to 'challenge my immune system'. Other things aren't too bad. Common cold doesn't seem too bad, for example. But catching something like the black death as a big historical example? No thanks.

@sim

People warned about this when the "social distancing" and masks started, but nobody took it seriously. I think it's entirely possible - even likely - that in extended absence of something to fight, the immune system stands down and increases vulnerability.

@Locksmith @LukeAlmighty @fluffy @nerdman

@fluffy @LukeAlmighty @sim @leyonhjelm @nerdman humans on a whole have been doing serious damage to our natural immune systems for sure over the past year.

@leyonhjelm @Locksmith @LukeAlmighty @fluffy @nerdman To be honest, it's very hard for me to think that the immune system has been standing down during social distancing. Around the home, there are still so many things for it to fight even if you don't leave the house. I imagine you'd have to be really OCD for cleaning to prevent that. Or live on your own. Most people don't clean what they bring into the house. Also, a lot of the masks that people wear don't fit them right. I really don't think that is a concern.

@sim @leyonhjelm @Locksmith @nerdman @fluffy
It's not about standing down as much as changing the things it is fighting.
Imune system is not one dimensional, but in case a mother never eats peanuts, kid has a higher chance of peanut alergy. That does not mean, the rest of his imunity system will be bad. It just means, it doesn't know how to react to something so new.

@fluffy @nerdman @sim @leyonhjelm @LukeAlmighty I’m thinking more about the over-sanitization going on. And the general reduction of going out into the world.

@sim

The masks are horseshit, but the shit people rebreathe because of them is like attacking a fortress the same way over and over. Sooner or later, the guards stop looking for other attacks because they're just not coming. When one does, defenses collapse.

@Locksmith @LukeAlmighty @fluffy @nerdman

@nerdman @LukeAlmighty @leyonhjelm @fluffy @sim I think it’s a good filter personally. If they don’t wanna shake hands, I don’t wanna work with em.

@Locksmith

Yes, this. There are a lot of jobs that I've avoided or only begrudgingly accepted due to circumstances due to red flags during the hiring process. This has always borne out as the correct instinct..

@sim @LukeAlmighty @fluffy @nerdman

@Locksmith @leyonhjelm @nerdman @sim @fluffy
Even better question. Do you want to risk being awkward at job interview? If you catch something, but get the job, you will be sick for money, but if it spared you of sickness, but didn't get the job, are you realy better off?

@Locksmith @LukeAlmighty @fluffy @leyonhjelm @nerdman Why would anyone want to shake hands with someone else? It's just a formality.

@LukeAlmighty @nerdman @leyonhjelm @sim @fluffy it’s not a specific want, it’s like you said, a formality. And if someone can’t perform that basic formality, I don’t wanna work with em.

@sim @leyonhjelm @Locksmith @nerdman @fluffy
It is not "just a formality".

That is a HUGE trap noone is talking about. A proper touch is one of evolutionary signs of friendlyness. You do not casually touch a predator and a predator never casually touches a pray. (At least not when hungry)

Our brains are chemical machines, that do react to a ton of different things, and touch is a powerful signal. A true proof of trust.

That is why modern society is falling apart BTW. We deconstructed social norms to such a point, we don't know what we are even communicating to our brains anymore.

@leyonhjelm @fluffy @nerdman @LukeAlmighty @sim looking at it from this angle, I would assume like 70% of them are just hungry :p

@Locksmith

I like lunches with a work team as a primary form of team building when possible. And not discussing work during that lunch.

@LukeAlmighty @fluffy @nerdman @sim

@LukeAlmighty

I firmly believe touch is vital to well-being.
I also think hugs are vital to a healthy human, but that people have been starved of this for a long time thanks to artificial barriers to this normal part of human interaction in society.

@sim @Locksmith @nerdman @fluffy

@LukeAlmighty @leyonhjelm @Locksmith @nerdman @fluffy Yeah, I sort of realised a while back that it does display that you are a friend. That you can use body language in this way. Tricking the brain. Probably partly why I don't just want to go around touching people or have them touch me, even as a formality. It is dishonest, just what is expected of people without the commitment to actually being friendly with them.

@sim

If they are dishonest in their handshake there is usually plenty to warn you about them in the rest of the process. And possibly during the handshake, there's a lot you can read about a person during a handshake.

@LukeAlmighty @Locksmith @fluffy @nerdman

@fluffy @leyonhjelm @sim @nerdman @LukeAlmighty they don’t have to be a friend like you are going to be drinking buddies now or anything, it’s more like a recognition of non-hostility and more importantly, cooperation.

@sim

The formality is a demonstration of an understanding. People worth working for understand these simple protocols are an assurance to each other. Some may not hold up their bargain, but the ones that won't even offer the handshake are bad news.

Neal Stephenson wrote in Cryptonomicon:

“This "sir, yes sir" business, which would probably sound like horseshit to any civilian in his right mind, makes sense to Shaftoe and to the officers in a deep and important way. Like a lot of others, Shaftoe had trouble with military etiquette at first. He soaked up quite a bit of it growing up in a military family, but living the life was a different matter. Having now experienced all the phases of military existence except for the terminal ones (violent death, court-martial, retirement), he has come to understand the culture for what it is: a system of etiquette within which it becomes possible for groups of men to live together for years, travel to the ends of the earth, and do all kinds of incredibly weird shit without killing each other or completely losing their minds in the process. The extreme formality with which he addresses these officers carries an important subtext: your problem, sir, is deciding what you want me to do, and my problem, sir, is doing it. My gung-ho posture says that once you give the order I'm not going to bother you with any of the details--and your half of the bargain is you had better stay on your side of the line, sir, and not bother me with any of the chickenshit politics that you have to deal with for a living. The implied responsibility placed upon the officer's shoulders by the subordinate's unhesitating willingness to follow orders is a withering burden to any officer with half a brain, and Shaftoe has more than once seen seasoned noncoms reduce green lieutenants to quivering blobs simply by standing before them and agreeing, cheerfully, to carry out their orders.”

It may not be military protocol involved, but this gives an idea of how working etiquette has implications beyond just the action itself.
Shaking hands with a firm grip and a confident eye is an indication to them that you're going to play with the team and get your stuff done and that you expect them to do theirs.

Whether they're honest enough to hold up their end of the bargain has other ways of being ascertained, but if this isn't present it's a bad sign.

@Locksmith @LukeAlmighty @fluffy @nerdman

@sim @fluffy @LukeAlmighty @nerdman @leyonhjelm fuck. That.

@sim

Sort of. Knowing someone to get your foot in that first door is the key. The degree is a second tier substitute. But may be helpful for some promotions.

@LukeAlmighty @fluffy @nerdman

@leyonhjelm @nerdman @sim @fluffy
Knowing someone is the cheezy way, but even on the interview. If you are unable to look them in the eyes, they will disect the CV to find a way to not accept you. If you are charismatic, they will be looking for an excuse to hire you.

That is how we humans work. Most skills will take 2 weeks to get to the same point anyway.

@LukeAlmighty

Knowing someone is how I got the one out of high school, and even that I didn't do intentionally. One offhanded comment was enough to convince him that his son's friend was right for a job, and he took us out to a civil war reenactment that day where he discussed bringing me on at work a couple of months later after I'd graduated. I wasn't even planning to change jobs at that time.

@nerdman @sim @fluffy

@leyonhjelm @LukeAlmighty @fluffy @nerdman Yeah, sort of depends on what it is I think. Uni is still somewhat helpful for some careers... especially with the sciences or medical ones. Other than that, it becomes less useful. Just something to show off to potential employers.