a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
_Shipwreck's comments
activity:
_Shipwreck  ·  3417 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski, what's your wallpaper?

So how do you manage to use them as wallpapers? Can you do it on a mac?

_Shipwreck  ·  3417 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski, what's your wallpaper?

I have a bunch of paintings that rotate daily. I wish I had more though, but it's not so easy to find good ones.

http://imgur.com/a/p0btw#13

_Shipwreck  ·  3427 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What are the movies or books that show a story rather than tell it?

Also, great music.

_Shipwreck  ·  3426 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: How can I begin the self study of Philosophy?

Philosophy is an incredibly technical subject. If you grab a book from Heidegger, for example, you won't understand anything; or worse, you'll think you understand and it will seem "deep", but really you won't understand anything.

The main thing to figure out is if you want to do this technical study, or you're more interested in -as you said- expanding your ideas. To read direct, I agree that Nietzsche and Sartre are good options (not so sure about Descartes). Greek classics like Plato or Aristotle are also good reads. I would also add books not written by philosophers, such as Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, pretty much a personal diary collecting thoughts, highly influenced by stoic philosophy.

But for Heidegger, for Hegel, for Kant, for Husserl, get a contemporary book about their philosophy. Or at least a version of their works including good commentary by a contemporary author.

Also, there is a bunch of modern philosophers that are less cryptic, usually focused on more specific topics such as philosophy of science or philosophy of language. Daniel Denett is a good example. These are also great books to read direct, but I don't think they will prepare you much to tackle the rest of philosophy.

If you want to learn about philosophy as an academic discipline, and you haven't read many introductory books before, definitely start there. It will give you an overview from which you can then choose more specific topics or authors to follow. I tend to dislike university textbooks for this; those that have the "key" concepts in bold letters with a short explanation on the side, and are currently in the 16th edition...

Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy by Simon Blackburn looks good, but I haven't read it. It doesn't follow the history of philosophy, but rather focuses on the ideas, which I think its a very good way to do it and looks like what you wanted. Hope it helps!

_Shipwreck  ·  3427 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Reddit user finds mom was paying for AOL since 1994...

This should go in #personalfinance as well.

_Shipwreck  ·  3427 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What are the movies or books that show a story rather than tell it?

How can you do this in a book? I've been trying to think of examples and the best I can come up with are books that are told from the perspective and the style of the protagonist. A recent example is The slow regard of silent things. Rather than trying to explain what's going on in Auri's head -which is probably impossible- it is written like Auri would write it, using the words Auri would use, and not bothering with explanations for the names or the logic behind her worries or decisions. All the while maintaining a traditional third person narrator.

_Shipwreck  ·  3428 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Some good background info on telegram.org. Do you use it? Why or why not?

I've been fairly successful getting the people I interact with to install it, it's not like they have to uninstall the other things. The option to use the same chat on the computer and the phone has been my main selling point (though Facebook messenger does that too I guess).

_Shipwreck  ·  3428 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski, have you noticed change in your argumentation sinice joining Hubski?

I think its self-indulgent and a bit much for people here to say that. There are some really great discussions on reddit, for example. But there are a couple of things that work well with this system in my opinion. 1. The focus on users and the small size makes me care more about what I write, because I feel I'm building relationships somewhat. And 2. The lack of "downvotes" (and probably also the smaller size of the site) makes me care less if people don't like what I'm writing (i.e. it's less risky for my self-esteem), or feel that it's not worth posting my thoughts.

_Shipwreck  ·  3428 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Cord Cutters of Hubski; How do you do it?

Short answer: I have a kindle. Seriously though, I'm amazed at how complicated some of these systems are. For me, the main thing has been to simply stop watching tv! Most of it is crap anyway. Besides reading, I do have an apple tv where I watch movies and series once in a while. For sports, I just don't follow everything anymore. If there is an important game, well that's a great opportunity to go to someone else's house :) I also have spotify and sometimes I just put on some music when previously I would have watched tv.

_Shipwreck  ·  3429 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Can Wikipedia Survive? - The New York Times

I don't see how this is such a threat to the existence of Wikipedia. The decline in editors is most likely based on the difficulties involved in editing, both technical and procedural, but this is an enciclopedia. Most of the important content is already there.

These problems can be solved, but the challenge and constant threat is how to deal with the governance of such an organisation. I think both Wikipedia and Linux are pioneers in this issue, and what they do will determine the development of the internet we want.

_Shipwreck  ·  3429 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Who are you blocking out ?

Source? reverse image search only gives an imgur link :/

_Shipwreck  ·  3429 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What was the latest book you read?

I finished The Three-Body Problem a few days ago, it was pretty good! (but it's a best-seller, so not really a very brave recommendation).

Also, I had to look up the three-body problem in wikipedia, it's fascinating that such a basic system can be so complicated.

    In 1887, mathematicians Heinrich Bruns and Henri Poincaré showed that there is no general analytical solution for the three-body problem given by algebraic expressions and integrals. The motion of three bodies is generally non-repeating, except in special cases.
_Shipwreck  ·  3429 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What album has had the most influence in your life?

Not sure I can say just one. But I listened to No Code, by Pearl Jam a millions times walking by the beach after getting my first walkman. Good old days.

_Shipwreck  ·  3429 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski, meet Lichess. You should be friends.

I know what you mean, but people take chess way too seriously. It's just a fun board game, or it should be.

_Shipwreck  ·  3429 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What are your favorite cheap and simple healthy meals to make?

Easy can also be slow. One meal I love to make is chicken with baked potatoes, which is great if you're looking for proteins and calories :)

The potatoes take a bit longer (45-60 minutes) than the chicken (30 min). So you put the potatoes in the oven first, wait about 15 min. put the chicken, wait 30 min, and then you're done! No need to peel the potatoes - to complicated - and you can cut them in half and put some butter in them.

If you put some oil and salt on the potatoes they get crispy like this: http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-bake-a-potato-in-the-oven-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-165615 Oh I'm hungry now.

_Shipwreck  ·  3430 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Book Recommendations for my First Kindle

Two recommendations for science fiction then. Hyperion, because it's far-future over the top science fiction, with a metal-made teleporting time traveling monster and a poet that likes to swear a lot. And the Vorkosigan Saga (start with the Warrior's Apprentice) because Miles its one of the wittiest heroes ever written.

But yeah, use samples!

--

What do you like to read? That's pretty important for making recommendations!

In any case, one of the very best things about a kindle is that you can get a sample before buying the book. I would say they usually include about three chapters, plenty enough to figure out if you want to keep reading. Unless you're reading an author you are very familiar with, it makes sense to read the sample first.

The system is great because when you get to the end of the sample, a dialog shows up where you can buy the book and just keep reading from where you left off.