All posts tagged: purpose

Tim Friede: I have been bitten by more than 200 snakes – on purpose

Tim Friede: I have been bitten by more than 200 snakes – on purpose

Published by skeptic

Tim Friede with a water cobra Centivax I know what it feels like to almost die from a snake bite. You can’t move. You can’t breathe. Your diaphragm’s frozen. But you can hear everything. So when I was in the ICU, I could hear the doctors talking about me. “Why did he do it? Was it a suicide attempt?” And I’m like: no, it wasn’t. I just screwed up. I began injecting myself with snake venom in 2001, in an effort to develop a treatment. If you look at the numbers, 5 million people are bitten every year. There are 138,000 deaths every year and 400,000-plus amputations and other complications. Those are pretty big numbers. There are organisations that want to help, like the Strike Out Snakebite global initiative, which is looking to raise awareness of the impact of snake-bite envenoming. And there is snake antivenom, first invented 125 years ago by Albert Calmette. But these haven’t changed much in that time, and they aren’t perfect. They’re made by injecting horses with venom, then collecting the …

10 Expert Habits From Arthur C. Brooks to Live Life With Purpose

10 Expert Habits From Arthur C. Brooks to Live Life With Purpose

Published by Jenni Sidey

Arthur C. Brooks has made a living by studying the myriad mysteries and meanings of life. Writing weekly columns about happiness for The Atlantic, penning three books about how to craft a better life, and teaching a class at the Harvard Business School literally called “Leadership and Happiness” all make Brooks well-equipped to handle the rigors of modern existence. “I’ll spend the rest of my life writing, speaking, and teaching about the science of happiness,” Brooks said in a recent video chat. His latest venture, a book titled The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose In An Age of Emptiness, is out today. Per the book’s description, its purpose is to use science and evidence-based approaches to help you, dear reader, “find the meaning you need to live a happy, fulfilling life.” Now 61, the man with an eclectic background—he is also an accomplished French hornist, and in the ’90s, he did military research on a special project for the Air Force—shares his expert habits that can turn your life from unfulfilling to unstoppable. Become …

20+ pocket-sized tech gadgets packed with purpose (and they’re on sale)

20+ pocket-sized tech gadgets packed with purpose (and they’re on sale)

Published by skeptic

This gadget isn’t for your pockets, but it is pocket-sized. The She’s Birdie is a personal safety alarm with a wildly loud siren built-in. I’ve carried this on my keychain for almost 7 years, and it’s a great investment for college students, parents with small children, older adults, and more, but for less than $30, I recommend everyone scoop one up.  When the top pin of the Birdie is pulled out, a 130db siren sounds and a strobe light flashes for up to 40 minutes. To put that in perspective, a 130db sound is equivalent to a jackhammer and nearly equal to the sound of a jet engine in the distance, according to the Hearing Health Foundation.  Also: My favorite personal safety alarm is as loud as a jackhammer Source link

We quit jobs to travel and find purpose – now we’re facing a ‘job-apocalypse’

We quit jobs to travel and find purpose – now we’re facing a ‘job-apocalypse’

Published by Daniella Wilson

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Two years ago. Joe Wilson, a 27-year-old engineer from Bristol, quit his mechanical engineering job. After spending 10 months travelling around Latin America – which he’d saved for a year and a half to afford – he’s now hoping to make a long-term move to Mexico City to live with his girlfriend, whom he met while travelling. Unfortunately for Joe, he finds himself bearing the brunt of a job market that’s in deepening trouble: “I’m back home as finding work in Mexico has been difficult; back here I can earn money doing odd jobs and bar work,” he tells me. “It’s a tricky time, and especially when you’re trying to look for something specific, especially if you’re looking for something remote. I’ve got friends …

Experts Say The Happiest People After 70 Aren’t The Ones Who Chased Purpose — They Focused On These 3 Things Instead

Experts Say The Happiest People After 70 Aren’t The Ones Who Chased Purpose — They Focused On These 3 Things Instead

Published by Jenni Sidey

Living a meaningful life begins and ends with the individual, but the way someone lives tends to ripple outward. Some people spend their lives chasing money or status, others focus on spiritual growth, and many land somewhere in between, just trying to get through without causing too much damage to themselves or the people around them. There are endless ways to define meaning, but certain life lessons tend to show up again and again in people who feel genuinely satisfied by the time they reach old age. Instead of chasing purpose, if you focus on a few things after 70, chances are you’re living a more meaningful life than most people ever will — one rooted in self-knowledge and intention rather than comparison or outside approval. Experts say the happiest people after 70 aren’t the ones who chased purpose — they focused on these things instead: 1. The happiest people after 70 have learned to live their own lives You can’t live someone else’s life, as life coach Susan Allan knows so well. It is …

Drivers only just learning purpose of ‘Baby on Board’ signs | UK | News

Drivers only just learning purpose of ‘Baby on Board’ signs | UK | News

Published by Sam Flores

People are amazed after discovering the real purpose of Baby on Board car signs (Image: Getty) A social media post has prompted a heated debate about the real purpose of ‘baby on board’ signs and stickers. They’re a common sight in the rear windscreens of cars and other vehicles on roads in the UK and around the world, but many people have their own views on what they are actually for. Some claim they are intended to alert other motorists to drive especially carefully around the vehicle, while others have different views. The mystery was even lampooned in a 1993 episode of The Simpsons, in which Marge Simpson presents her husband Homer with a baby on board sign, saying: “Now people will stop intentionally ramming our car”, providing him the inspiration to write a hit song for his short-lived barbershop quartet. Now a social media post has re-ignited the debate. READ MORE: UK drivers could face £10,000 fine and 12 penalty points – take 20p test now READ MORE: Squeaking and grinding noises that mean …

I broke my Linux system on purpose and recovered it without reinstalling

I broke my Linux system on purpose and recovered it without reinstalling

Published by skeptic

One of the biggest reasons people hesitate to use Linux has nothing to do with terminals, commands, or configuration files. It is the fear that one wrong move will leave them staring at a broken system with no way back except a full reinstall. That fear turns experimentation into risk management and curiosity into hesitation. I wanted to remove that fear entirely, so I did something deliberately uncomfortable. I broke my own Linux system on purpose and forced myself to recover it without reinstalling anything, but as a realistic test of how Linux actually behaves when things go wrong and whether recovery is as intimidating as people assume. Breaking Linux is as easy as people think What usually goes wrong and why it is rarely catastrophic Screenshot by Roine Bertelson One of the first things I broke was Cinnamon itself, and I did it in a very ordinary way. While cleaning up what I thought were unused dependencies, I removed cinnamon-session along with a handful of related packages pulled in by apt autoremove. On the …

This tiny cylinder on HDMI cables actually serves a purpose

This tiny cylinder on HDMI cables actually serves a purpose

Published by skeptic

You’ve probably noticed it before—that small cylindrical bulge wrapping around the connector end of your HDMI cable. Most people would ignore it and use the cable for its intended purpose, but that little cylinder is genuinely trying to solve a real engineering problem. It isn’t always necessary for modern cables, and you should stop using old HDMI cables if you haven’t upgraded yet. However, understanding what it does will help you appreciate why manufacturers still include it and when it actually matters. That weird HDMI cable bump has a name Meet the ferrite core you’ve been ignoring Levent Konuk / ShutterstockCredit: Levent Konuk / Shutterstock That tiny cylinder you see on your HDMI cable is called a ferrite core, but it goes by many names, including ferrite bead, ferrite choke, EMI filter, and more. It’s constructed from a ceramic material made from iron, nickel, and zinc oxides compressed into shape. It’s designed to act as a magnetic inductor wrapped around your cable. The magic isn’t in fancy materials or exotic engineering. It’s in the physics of …