Kongbap says nah, it’s all you need to survive.

Blue collar and skilled aren’t mutually exclusive terms.

It’s skilled or unskilled (takes advanced training or not)

And blue collar or white collar (manual labor or office/desk work)

E.g., a welder is both skilled and blue collar

It was before Trump ran the first time, but my folks were precursor to MAGA. I was not. I didn’t like having to sit and listen to their hateful opinions of people not like them. So once I had an education and job that made me fully financially independent, I left.

Note the name of OP’s instance and engage at your own risk.

I directly saved a kid’s life once, so while I wouldn’t expect him to remember my name decades for now, it would kinda be nice if he shares positive stories of my daring rescue with his kids and grandkids someday.

My name is on patents from several jobs ago. Some nerd reading obscure patents decades from now may note the only lady on the patents is always last in the list despite all the men’s names being in alphabetical order and will wonder if it was sexism. It was.

I still get hits and comments to a travel blog I wrote in the 00’s. It doesn’t have my real name but will probably last longer than most of my other online presences. I appreciate the comments that indicate the reader found valuable travel info in my posts or the comments that say I’m funny.

I’m not going to have kids so I expect to be forgotten from most live humans’ memories within a generation.

I go through phases of collecting/trialing hobbies as a hobby. I develop a list of things I’m interested in, what about them is drawing my interest, how much it would cost to jump into entry-level projects, and a target I want to hit to understand if it’s a hobby I want to keep one not. Also how I’ll learn.

So for me that looks something like:

1. leatherworking, I really want a customized notebook holder that fits exactly what I’m looking for. That’s $20 in basic tools, $50 in leather including enough for simpler projects as I develop skills. Target is to try something simple, like a baggage tag or simple bifold wallet to see if I like it before spending more time and money on it. Plenty of YouTube videos available, local Tandy store has classes, my sister also knows the basics.

2. digitizing the parents’ photo negatives. I want a brain dead project to do while watching movies during cold winter evenings when I’m not going outside. Cost is negligible, I have the stuff I need. Time needed to develop a good workflow and file naming and tagging system. Maybe some YouTube videos if needed, brother is a photographer and willing to consult on workflow. Longer term: buy external hard drives and gift to siblings or talk to brother about his Immich server. Branch off into new project to self-host Immich myself?

I have six more items on the “do I want to turn these into hobbies” list. It’s a hobby in itself to learn about and plan potential hobbies.

Money. If I can’t use it directly, it still frees me up from labor to use my time as I see fit.

More by extension. My dad was a huge Joe Paterno / Penn State football fan. He thought very highly of Paterno as a coach, and leader. I was baffled when it broke just how much he had ignored. Just so cowardly and evil, allowing that man to rape and abuse so many kids so his football team wouldn’t look bad in a headline or two.

Yeah, mostly K-12 STEM stuff. The girl scout council in my area knows me through various volunteering events and call me up a few times a year to help with something. Also a middle school that I helped develop a “music in science” couple day-long summer camp curriculum. I have a decent sized set of work colleagues I’ll draft for help too.

I don’t think I have the skills for door knocking or asking people to sign petitions. Or the right perspective. Like, I’d sign a petition to defund ICE right now, but fuck anyone I would have to argue with to get them to sign it. And I don’t like either major party here (US) so not even for the bad-but-not-tyrannical one would I do work phones or doors for.

I stretched the truth a bit to ensure I wouldn’t be listed as a “critical to be onsite” employee. My sports-induced asthma that I manage just fine was enough for me to check “respiratory illnesses”. So I worked from home and avoided the shit tasks that landed on all the people who wanted to go onsite. They did get prioritized for vaccines months before I got mine, so some pros for them as least. Barely any of the work actually required we be physically present though, it was a pile of crap.

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Yeah, this is a super common theme from queer people in small rural and/or religious communities. Online may be the only interaction they have for information and support.

At a minimum, someone with really bad judgement, who cares more about making headlines than doing high-quality research, and who shouldn’t be trusted to treat the subjects of this study with respect.

Bailey was the Northwestern professor who had a live demo of a reciprocating sex toy, put on by a volunteer and her partner. It was optional to attend the demo, students were over 18 and allegedly informed on what they were going to see.

He’s also been repeatedly called out for not properly informing participants in his studies. One accusation of sleeping with one of his research subjects. And toed the ethics line on writing evaluation letters for candidates of sex assignment surgery when he didn’t hold a license.

His wikipedia article links to sources.

This is one of those starter date vetting things, like whether your date treats restaurant and bar staff well, and tips (when culturally appropriate).

Is it illegal to not stack your cart neatly? No. Do I want to date someone who puts minimal effort in and pushes simple tasks they deem beneath them onto low-wage workers? Also no.

My condolences. Where is this “competition breeds excellence” outcome that capitalism promised me?

Within the past year I shopped around for a new home internet provider. The legacy companies encouraged if not required talking to a human being to find out anything about service availability and rates and then be subject to a hard sales pitch. Appointment availability for the install was 2+ weeks out. The new fiber companies had all the info I could want clearly online, appointments available within 2 days, with minimal fuss. The legacy company humans were also often incorrect about their own product, potentially lying to make a sale.

If they act like a company from the 90s, they aren’t going to capture customers who came into adulthood after that.

That’s not even touching on the speeds they offer are slower than their competitors for a steeper price.

I like your answer.

I was thinking of some of my favorite movies. Some I like that subvert their genre’s tropes. Others I like are examples of excelling at the genre; being the ideal of that genre. And even “bad” can be good if it’s interesting in its badness. I think of Nicolas Cage movies, his “nouveau shamanic” acting style is over the top and ridiculous at times but his movies still entertain and call for discussion.

When my brother’s brother-in-law passed, he gave all that to my brother. Both on the high end of tech/self-hosting capabilities. I’ve come to the conclusion much of it wasn’t worth it.

I’ll be focusing on ensuring access to financial accounts is passed on cleanly. And I’m working on digitizing all remaining physical photo negatives, then planning how to share all digitally with family while still alive. Since I don’t expect any to be interested in maintaining a server after I’m gone, I’m thinking I’ll keep it simple and just give everyone an external hard drive with all the photos. It’s up to them to do what they want with the drive. A copy to each sibling is increases odds it’s survives for a generation.

I’ll make project notes and plans available to anyone interested, but no hard feelings if no one is interested. And my music and movies can disappear for all I care. My tastes are pretty mainstream so I’m not thinking about archival value.

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