Specifically thinking of stuff that make your life better in the long run but all kinds of answers are welcome!

I've recently learnt about lifetraps and it's made a huge positive impact on how I view myself and my relationships

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[–] 220 points 2 years ago (10 children)

The HR department at your company is the company's advocate they are not your advocate.

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  • [–] 56 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    It's important to remember that - unless you work directly for the owner or an executive appointed by the board - they're not your boss' advocate either.

    If the company is worth a shit, they don't want bosses that abuse their power or make their subordinates miserable. Happy employees are productive employees.

    We've rid ourselves of a few problem bosses that way. Of course, this only applies to legitimate issues. If a boss is causing people to quit, you've got a good case.

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  • [–] 47 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    This is the part everyone misses. I worked in HR for a number of years and 90% of my job was telling low/middle level managers "you can't do that to your employee." (I wasnt high up enough to be dealing with c-suite level complaintants), 9% was recruiting and paperwork, and 1% was telling an employee "You did something potentially terminable."

    Most people only seem to recall that 1% and then keep talking about how "HR isn't your friend/on your side theyre on the company's side." Which is true! But they also didn't see the 1000 times I slapped their managers hand because I was on the companies side not the managers. Unless your really high up your manager is someone's employee too. HR isn't siding with you manager for shits and giggles, there is a reason management won a complaint against you and it isn't "HR likes management better." It's that they framed your problematic behavior better than you framed theirs. Frame everything you report to HR as "this is why it's a liability for the company" not "I don't like x,y,z. So-and-so is mean."

    Also remeber just being a bad manager (not doing something immediately terminable) isn't a firable offense. Yelling/being a low level dick for example may not be something deemed firable. One complaint isn't gonna e enough and ideally multiple people will complain as well.

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  • [–] 37 points 2 years ago*

    The trick is knowing how to phrase it so it's clear it's a problem for the company. They usually love SBIN (situation behavior impact next steps) so it's good format to use:

    Dear HR,

    On the meeting XYZ

    My boss Bully McIdiot was screaming like a toddler at everyone that disagreed with him

    This is preventing the free flow of ideas and Innovation and creating an »»hostile work environment««

    So he should be fired. Preferably from a cannon.

    kisses and hugs,

    the employee of the year

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    [–] 181 points 2 years ago (7 children)

    Everyone should know that, very often, they are just wrong. And that’s ok. We all are.

    The more ready you are to really accept that you could be wrong about anything, and admit when you are wrong about something, the better you will make your own life, as well as the lives of those around you.

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  • [–] 31 points 2 years ago

    And not only will you make everyone's lives better - seemingly ironically, by simply accepting the fact that you're often wrong, you actually make it more likely that you'll be right.

    That's the part that I think people especially need to understand, since a refusal to admit that you're wrong is generally rooted in an ego-driven need to be right, and refusing to admit that you're wrong guarantees that right is the one thing that you won't be. You'll just keep clinging to the same wrong idea and keep failing to fulfill that need to be right.

    If, on the other hand, you just freely admit that you're wrong, then you're instantly free to move on to another, and better, position, making it that much more likely that you'll actually be right. And if you don't get it that time, that's fine - just freely admit that you're wrong again and move on again. Keep doing that and sooner or later you actually will be right, instead of just pretending to be.

    So you'll not only make everyone's lives more pleasant - you'll actually better serve your desire to be right. What more could you want?

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    [–] 135 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    Control + Backspace deletes entire words rather than individual characters

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    [–] 117 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    You can only help people who want to be helped. That goes for yourself, too. You can't help yourself until you actually have the desire to improve.

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    [–] 112 points 2 years ago (10 children)

    The ducks at the park are free. Like you can just take them.

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  • [–] 57 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

    I had a conversation with ChatGPT on that subject. It could not stress enough how terrible it would be for the duck if I brought it home with me, and that was despite me informing the AI that the duck in question was special, that it could talk and had specifically requested to come home with me.

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    [–] 109 points 2 years ago (14 children)
    • Exercise grows your hippocampus
    • So do antidepressants according to recent research
    • Small hippocampal volume is an excellent predictor of depression and anxiety
    • Exercise grows your hippocampus, in a dose-dependent way
    • Exercise grows your hippocampus
    • Exercise grows your hippocampus

    This is the most important fact I have ever learned.

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    [–] 103 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    That "coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19, can have lasting effects on nearly every organ and organ system of the body weeks, months, and potentially years after infection (11,12). Documented serious post-COVID-19 conditions include cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurological, renal, endocrine, hematological, and gastrointestinal complications (8), as well as death.".

    This is true regardless of symptom severity or health status, every person is at risk. I think most people really aren't aware of this, they absorbed the narrative that it's gone, mild, only kills/harms the vulnerable, etc. This isn't really their fault, there are a lot of factors that have led people to that belief, but people should know their lives and livelihoods are much more at risk now than 4 years ago.

    And that this isn't inevitable, there are simple methods of disrupting transmission and protecting yourself and others. COVID-19 is here to stay (unless we do something about that) and it has impacts on every person infected and on society at large. That shouldn't mean folks accept illness and worse quality of life. We adapt and adopt precautions in our life to reduce long-term health impacts, like we've done before with many other illnesses that plague humanity.

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    [–] 95 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    The gas gauge tells you which side the filler is at on a vehicle.

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    [–] 94 points 2 years ago (8 children)

    Drowning is very fast, seconds not minutes like in the movies. People in distress can take minutes before they are actively drowning. Active drowning is silent, they will not be yelling for help. It looks like the person is "climbing" or pushing down at the water. They will be vertical in the water and may be "bobbing", going underwater and resurfacing. They will have their head tilted back parallel to the surface of the water.

    If you see someone go under in open water keep looking at where they went under while calling for help, don't take your eyes off it. If you are the only one who saw them go under, your job is to direct others to where they went down. In open water it's very hard to find people because the bottom isn't visible.

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  • [–] 26 points 2 years ago

    Also drowning can happen after inhalation of water. All incidents involving children being rescued from water may require medical intervention, even if they seem fine initially. "Dry drowning"

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    [–] 73 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Bleach + vinegar = toxic chlorine gas that can be lethal.

    Not sure how many people know this but I was in my mid-20s when I found this out, luckily not the hard way.

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  • [–] 73 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Something that applies when you get a little older - if you’re in a relatively specific job field, don’t burn your bridges at a job you’re going to leave. You never know who will be sitting across the table from you at the interview, at the meeting table, on the job site. People in the same field tend to move around in the same jobs as you. If it’s someone you burned, you may not get the job, or if you do, it could be pretty miserable.

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    [–] 70 points 2 years ago* (4 children)

    Unless you are wealthy, if you think life is to expensive you should ask for more taxes, not less.

    The issue is not your net income, but wealth redistribution and solidarity.

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    [–] 62 points 2 years ago (11 children)

    Magnetic USB connectors are a thing and can save your cables/devices not just from wear and tear (unplugging/replugging constantly) but also from cables being tripped over or otherwise pulled. Highly recommended if you're using VR! Sadly there are no standards to these.

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    [–] 52 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    Keyboard shortcuts and basic computer knowledge. I'm in college and just existing with tech illiterate people is maddening.

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    [–] 52 points 2 years ago (14 children)

    The cable is the weakest link of Earbuds for durability.

    IEM's with replaceable cables are readily available and getting very cheap & good these days (e.g. Moondrop Chu 2, Truthear Hola, etc)

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    [–] 50 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    One for people in the US:

    You aren't taxed at the higher rate for all of your income when you get a raise that puts you in a higher tax bracket, only the part that is in the range of that bracket specifically. The rest of your income below the bracket is taxed the same as before.

    I've seen a lot of people decline promotions and raises over this, and bosses are very happy to let you continue thinking that's how it works.

    Not sure if that counts as not common knowledge, but a lot of people I know didn't know it before.

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    [–] 48 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    When you're about to face a high risk, high reward situation, you should willfully, willingly start to hyperventilate, as this helps your brain ...

    NEVER take any stranger's advice on the internet as credible without checking it with a specialist. This is especially true when said advice relates to your health and/or safety.

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  • [–] 44 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    Most microwaves can be muted so the button pushes are all silent. You will have to look up how to on each microwave model but almost all models have a mute option.

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    [–] 43 points 2 years ago

    What wasn’t reasoned in, can’t be reasoned out. Many people who suffer from conspiratorial thinking need help and support more than evidence and debate.

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  • [–] 41 points 2 years ago* (9 children)

    In Windows 10 & 11, window+shift+S then draw a box to grab a quick, pre-cropped screenshot. It goes to your clipboard for easy paste and you get a notification you can click to view and save to file.

    Bonus: use window+L at work to lock your desktop, preventing shenanigans.

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    [–] 41 points 2 years ago* (9 children)

    Cement is highly alkaline. If wet cement comes in contact with your skin, it can cause third degree chemical burns. So don't write your name in wet cement like Bart Simpson.

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    [–] 39 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    Tires can get damaged internally and the only real way to tell is to dismount them from the rim. If there is internal damage they can potentially explode while being filled with air.

    I see a lot of people filling up their tires while sitting straight infront of them and if they do explode it explodes straight outward. My tip is to connect the air gauge and then stand of to the side while filling, just in case.

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    [–] 34 points 2 years ago (11 children)

    Mitochondria (the famous powerhouse of the cell) is a symbiotic bacteria that became so entangled with our cell that neither can now live without the other. Sorry to everyone who knows, in some regions this is not common knowledge. Knowing this makes your life immensely better because it's such a cool fact.

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    [–] 32 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    Use windows + p to change the presentation settings on a laptop when connecting to a monitor or audio / video system. This lets you quickly change between laptop, dual display, and extended desktop.

    Windows + x and then b brings up a menu where you can turn on "presention" mode, preventing the laptop from going to sleep during a presentation.

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    [–] 29 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

    Cars are way more expensive than you think, and getting rid of it will make you happier and way wealthier.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztHZj6QNlkM

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    [+] 28 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (4 children)
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    [–] 27 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (8 children)

    Lithium batteries are happiest between 20 and 80% state of charge. You should not store them outside of that range. Charging a little often also doesn't hurt your battery like many seem to believe.

    Charging while cold is bad, but storing in cold is good.

    Also, NiMh and NiCd batteries are different tha Lithium based ones. Check what type of battery you have. Phones and EVs are almost always lithium though.

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