[Garet Jax]

I am interested in gathering "Life Hacks".

http://cdn.smokingmeatforums.com/3/30/640x508px-303eb702_Beerpaperclip.jpeg

Above is a link to a picture of one of my favorites...

Please feel free to provide links and descriptions of your favorite Life Hacks or otherwise completely disregard this post.

Cheers!

[Madness]

Lol - not going to be disregarded. But as I have few things, necessitating fewer life hacks, I'll probably be more of an academic participant than offering anything practical; I rarely look these things up, after all - you need stuff for that. Aside from a few more books and a handful of electronics, and less guns, I'm comparably close to living like Cohle from TD .

[locke]

you know, I don't believe anything the life hackers say about their own lives, like not-even-thirty Tim Ferris, for example.  It sounds too much like boys own adventure fantasy, both his "when I was living in Chile... when I was spending years meditating in the Himalayas... when I lived only on grubs and tree leaves for six years in darkest heart of africa... when I lived in paris... when I was living in Moscow... when I learned japanese in a month, when I learned swedish in two weeks, when I learned russian in three days...).  And mysteriously this doubt hasn't really led me wrong, virtually every life hack page I've ever seen always ends with a sales pitch to buy their fake supplement or shoddy self-published book, or buy a subscription to their newsletter.

It's nonsense, meant to flatter people's elevated ideas of themselves, "YEAH! I really COULD be that Awesome, I just have to put in the effort like he did!"  Reality check is author in question never put in the effort other than writing their fictitious fantasy of how awesome they are.

[Royce]

Lol - not going to be disregarded. But as I have few things, necessitating fewer life hacks, I'll probably be more of an academic participant than offering anything practical; I rarely look these things up, after all - you need stuff for that. Aside from a few more books and a handful of electronics, and less guns, I'm comparably close to living like Cohle from TD .

An ascetic with wi-fi I love it!

When I read Lockes post I was reminded of a discussion I was having with myself the other day(completely of topic though). Is it even possible to express yourself whether it is through music, writing, life hacking etc without ending up as a salesperson?. This need to get "likes" (which is very human of course), and the need to eat, seem to be the two main reasons people "get themselves out there". There is always a transaction involved. This is so fundamental in our culture that it is hardly recognized anymore. It is a shame that people have to sell their ideas, and not just share them. You have to become a salesperson, and how can that not influence the process of writing, composing music etc?.

I mean if you really love the capitalist way of doing things, there is no problem If not, what can be just as rewarding as a huge bank account. Can we even imagine?

[Madness]

lockesnow, I'm not entirely sure you looked at GJ's picture. In a sense, what GJ made the thread about is almost the antithesis to ideas for sale, isn't it ?

An ascetic with wi-fi I love it!

Lol.

[Wilshire]

lol this:

lockesnow, I'm not entirely sure you looked at GJ's picture. In a sense, what GJ made the thread about is almost the antithesis to ideas for sale, isn't it ?

I'm 100% sure the guy who made this picture wasn't selling anything.... unless he's the heir to the book binder empire... so mark me down at 99.9% and round up.

Anyway Madness, I'm sure you've got a 6 pack somewhere, even you could use this lifehack

[dragharrow]

Lol - not going to be disregarded. But as I have few things, necessitating fewer life hacks, I'll probably be more of an academic participant than offering anything practical; I rarely look these things up, after all - you need stuff for that. Aside from a few more books and a handful of electronics, and less guns, I'm comparably close to living like Cohle from TD .

That's my jam. Possessions just don't get me hard. I'm not a big fan of food even. Cigs and coffee - breakfast of champions.

I actually have a pretty healthy diet but I tend to eat things in their component form. My usual breakfast is dry, uncooked oatmeal straight from the tube. Consuming food in a way that makes it obvious that it's just fuel puts me in the mindset of thinking of my body like a car or a finely tuned machine. And that seems to lead to me making better choices. Not that that's a life hack just my internal monologue.

This year I live with a kid who's more into stuff so our apartment is actually decorated which is kind of nice. Last year though I lived with two girls far off campus and both tended towards the ascetic as well. The place was monastic. Spotless and totally without decorations. No wifi either. It was great. We just sat around reading and talking and getting drunk.

[Alia]

dragharrow, I think we would get along just fine. I also do not care much about things, my flat has empty white walls and books all over the place. The only decoration are my plants, really. I buy books (now in electronic form), comics and music. And that's about it. I've heard people complain that my flat is so ascetic, so unfashionable, that white walls are not trendy, colours are not in. Well, those people do not get invited to my place anymore  And fashionable/trendy are probably words that I hate the most.
I've also been accused by someone in my family that I am "wild" (as in "wild animal"). Because I did not feel like buying a china dinner set for 12 people. As if I would ever invite that many people over for dinner. Well, that's older generation for you. Status symbols are everything. And for me they mean nothing.

[Madness]

Anyway Madness, I'm sure you've got a 6 pack somewhere, even you could use this lifehack

I generally only drink import tall-cans when I actually buy beer for home now. They don't stack like bottles . It's been a year or so since I was drinking enough to buy two-fours (Canadian idiom?).

Lol - not going to be disregarded. But as I have few things, necessitating fewer life hacks, I'll probably be more of an academic participant than offering anything practical; I rarely look these things up, after all - you need stuff for that. Aside from a few more books and a handful of electronics, and less guns, I'm comparably close to living like Cohle from TD .

That's my jam. Possessions just don't get me hard. I'm not a big fan of food even. Cigs and coffee - breakfast of champions.

I actually have a pretty healthy diet but I tend to eat things in their component form. My usual breakfast is dry, uncooked oatmeal straight from the tube. Consuming food in a way that makes it obvious that it's just fuel puts me in the mindset of thinking of my body like a car or a finely tuned machine. And that seems to lead to me making better choices. Not that that's a life hack just my internal monologue.

Lol, I remember before I started working in kitchens I used to be diet ignorant. Now I cook good food at home all the time. I'm actually very with Socrates on the "damn, I have to eat to live - what a waste of time" track but I do love cooking and I like making people happy with my food. I also enjoy eating healthily (I try to cook from scratch as much as possible).

To the bold, we should start "Habit Hacks." I got lots of those.

dragharrow, I think we would get along just fine. I also do not care much about things, my flat has empty white walls and books all over the place. The only decoration are my plants, really. I buy books (now in electronic form), comics and music. And that's about it. I've heard people complain that my flat is so ascetic, so unfashionable, that white walls are not trendy, colours are not in. Well, those people do not get invited to my place anymore  And fashionable/trendy are probably words that I hate the most.
I've also been accused by someone in my family that I am "wild" (as in "wild animal"). Because I did not feel like buying a china dinner set for 12 people. As if I would ever invite that many people over for dinner. Well, that's older generation for you. Status symbols are everything. And for me they mean nothing.

I am... deeply saddened by such a perspective. While I love sharing big meals with family and friends... really... the dishes?

[Alia]

It's a long story, Madness. This part of my family is very much aspiring middle-class. Which means status symbols are everything and the flat must look "nice". And nice means pseudo-Persian carpets in every room (pseudo, because they cannot afford a real one), plush curtains, figurines and knick knacks everywhere, paintings on the walls. And of course, a rug in the bathroom. Because, you know, it's not a proper house if you do not have a rug in the bathroom. And I don't have one, so I once got it as a gift.
And then, there are other status symbols, a new car every three years, a summer house outside the city - and debts. Because they really cannot afford all this with their salaries.
Gosh, how I hate all this stuff. Limiting contact with this kind of people is really the only way to keep sane, but sometimes, with family, it's impossible.

[Royce]

Limiting contact with this kind of people is really the only way to keep sane, but sometimes, with family, it's impossible.

Do you enjoy being who you are? If yes, I would suggest that you created that persona through observing the actions of those "kind of people". So by observing, you saw what you absolutely did not want to be like, so you created a persona you actually like. You should be thankful for that, for who knows what your persona would be like if those people were not around to be observed. Think of all the great literature, movies, music etc that came into existence because of the observer effect. I am thankful for every idiot I come across out there, I want to kiss their feet.

[Madness]

Gosh, how I hate all this stuff. Limiting contact with this kind of people is really the only way to keep sane, but sometimes, with family, it's impossible.

I have this conversation often. We cannot turn our backs.

Limiting contact with this kind of people is really the only way to keep sane, but sometimes, with family, it's impossible.

Do you enjoy being who you are? If yes, I would suggest that you created that persona through observing the actions of those "kind of people". So by observing, you saw what you absolutely did not want to be like, so you created a persona you actually like. You should be thankful for that, for who knows what your persona would be like if those people were not around to be observed. Think of all the great literature, movies, music etc that came into existence because of the observer effect. I am thankful for every idiot I come across out there, I want to kiss their feet.

Lol. Wow.

Again, I don't think we can simply reject society, regardless of the stellar thoughts that have arisen for doing so.

[Royce]

That previous post was not 100% serious though   I would never kiss anyones feet(unless seriously threatened).

That being said I do think that you build your character through the observer effect, and in that case "idiots" might come in handy

If you are being serious about rejecting society, you would have cut yourself out of every societal grid that exists.

[Madness]

Lol - I'm not advocating it, Royce, and especially not today. Sorry, I should have said something like "regardless of the historically stellar thoughts that have arisen for doing so" for many have anachronistically given us profound ruminations for isolating themselves from society in the past.

[Madness]

Back on topic .