The very many questions-not-worth-their-own-thread question thread XXVII

[Farm Boy]

Consumery in the sense that you consume a product then have no further use for it save disposal. Minimalist living conditions work quite nicely with consumption. My grandparents that farmed through the Great Depression saved everything. You'd think hoarding could be associated with consumerism, but it was really rather the opposite. You never know what when you'll have a use for that that rusty spooled metal in the barn. Or that old cast iron sledge, etc. My dad still scoops fertilizer with a shovel with a shaped wooden handle. You just don't find those anymore much, it's ridiculously cool and I'm convinced I'm going to break it one of these years when I drop it. It's gotta be a minimum of 75 years old.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

How do you deal with a depressed friend if you're not mentally well yourself and that kind of stuff sort of drags you down?

 

[Zelig]

Consumery in the sense that you consume a product then have no further use for it save disposal. Minimalist living conditions work quite nicely with consumption. My grandparents that farmed through the Great Depression saved everything. You'd think hoarding could be associated with consumerism, but it was really rather the opposite. You never know what when you'll have a use for that that rusty spooled metal in the barn. Or that old cast iron sledge, etc. My dad still scoops fertilizer with a shovel with a shaped wooden handle. You just don't find those anymore much, it's ridiculously cool and I'm convinced I'm going to break it one of these years when I drop it. It's gotta be a minimum of 75 years old.

That works if you live somewhere where additional storage space has a low marginal cost. If I were to move locally to somewhere with enough additional space for my former book collection, I'd need to consume hundreds of dollars per month worth of additional storage.

 

[Farm Boy]

Yes, that matters(mostly in expense to you, but perhaps nominally in energy efficiency as well). But the solution to that conundrum would be to not purchase things you don't have durable use for. Such as checking books out from an available library as opposed to tearing through them digitally. But that's an inconvenience for marginal gains in efficiency that most people aren't going to futz with. One that's probably undone if you need to travel significantly out of your way to get to the library in the first place. Hence why the e-collections of libraries are expanding fairly rapidly. I'm fortunate. My library in podunksville is tremendously easy to access. It's either a not very far walk or literally on the way to almost everywhere else by car.

 

[timtofly]

How do you deal with a depressed friend if you're not mentally well yourself and that kind of stuff sort of drags you down?

Talking and social interaction is proper "help" for depression, even if the topic may be depressing. Once the point is talked about move on to another one, don't just dwell on the depressing topic. The point is to keep talking and interacting.

 

[Yeekim]

You never know what when you'll have a use for that that rusty spooled metal in the barn.

You are never going to need it. Except if you finally decide to get rid of it. Then you are going to need it in a week.

 

[Flying Pig]

How do you deal with a depressed friend if you're not mentally well yourself and that kind of stuff sort of drags you down?

Don't feel like you have to be the solution to everything; look after yourself and try to encourage your friend to seek professional help - depression is a full-blown illness, remember, not just a bad mood - but don't feel like you're letting them down if talking to them is putting you in a bad place. Be friendly and civil, but don't damage your own health in trying to help somebody else: most of the time, what people with mental illnesses need is proper treatment, and just talking to one friend probably won't have a major impact on their recovery.

 

[Farm Boy]

You are never going to need it. Except if you finally decide to get rid of it. Then you are going to need it in a week.

Aint that the truth.

 

[Borachio]

I agree.

Another related phenomenon is forgetting you've got something, going out and buying another one, and then immediately finding the thing you'd forgotten you'd got.

This has happened to me several times. And I now have 4 or 5 collections of multiply duplicated things. And I can't remember where any of them is.

 

[Gori the Grey]

Not a question, just an observation not worth its own thread:

I just misread the Ask an Anarchist thread title as Ask an Antichrist. That got my attention!

 

[GinandTonic]

Consumery in the sense that you consume a product then have no further use for it save disposal. Minimalist living conditions work quite nicely with consumption. My grandparents that farmed through the Great Depression saved everything. You'd think hoarding could be associated with consumerism, but it was really rather the opposite. You never know what when you'll have a use for that that rusty spooled metal in the barn. Or that old cast iron sledge, etc. My dad still scoops fertilizer with a shovel with a shaped wooden handle. You just don't find those anymore much, it's ridiculously cool and I'm convinced I'm going to break it one of these years when I drop it. It's gotta be a minimum of 75 years old.

Hoarding is a fairly normal reaction to a sudden reduction in living standards. When you are up against it keeping anything that may be useful is a healthy outlook. When times improve and there is a lot more stuff sloshing about it can become a problem.

Getting mad old ladies to clear out total junk is something I've spent more time at than I would wish.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Talking and social interaction is proper "help" for depression, even if the topic may be depressing. Once the point is talked about move on to another one, don't just dwell on the depressing topic. The point is to keep talking and interacting.

Don't feel like you have to be the solution to everything; look after yourself and try to encourage your friend to seek professional help - depression is a full-blown illness, remember, not just a bad mood - but don't feel like you're letting them down if talking to them is putting you in a bad place. Be friendly and civil, but don't damage your own health in trying to help somebody else: most of the time, what people with mental illnesses need is proper treatment, and just talking to one friend probably won't have a major impact on their recovery.

Yeah I've been putting my own mental health at top priority. At some point I decided that making myself feel like rubbish trying to cheer everyone else up was just making a martyr of myself and not worth it.

 

[brennan]

Don't try to cheer them up. Act normal, just... give them space when they are on a downer.

 

[Takhisis]

Not a question, just an observation not worth its own thread:

I just misread the Ask an Anarchist thread title as Ask an Antichrist. That got my attention!

Well, Traitorfish does know what he wants but doesn't know how to get there…

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

Is it inevitable that ebola will mutate and become airborne in the near-ish future?

 

[Arakhor]

Why on earth would it be inevitable??

 

[Takhisis]

It'd be an excellent reason for me to stay in the pervert bunker all year long.

 

[Borachio]

Is it inevitable that ebola will mutate and become airborne in the near-ish future?

Is this wishful thinking on your part, Mr Empire?

I seem to remember you've a hankering after catastrophes of all types.

 

[madviking]

who's more famous: corey hart the musician or corey hart the baseball player?

 

[bhsup]

TIL there is a baseball player named Corey Hart. Hope that helps answer your question