Libb

I keep an eye on it, from time to time (I really enjoyed testing it) ;)

You did very well to check and to share the info back with us. Thx.

I should have known better than to use the word ‘daemon’, knowing its etymology and knowing what I meant to say. My poor choice of spelling was mainly caused both by my lacking English (and by me taking a lazy shortcut in my head), and by me not reaching for the Webster or the Collins dictionaries that constantly sit on my desk at arm’s reach, for that very purpose, right next to my French dictionaries. I’m really too lazy.

what do you folks generally do to optimize beddy-bye time?

Most of the time, I don’t look at any screen.

Instead, I read (paper book, a journal or a magazine), chat with my spouse, sketch and journal. Earlier in the evening, we may decide to watch a DVD together, but that’s not everyday. No coffee and seldom any tea late in the evening (or something herbal, then).

And almost without exception, the moment I put my head on the pillow I fall asleep. There have been many exceptions to that rule, mind you. That was back in those days where I was trying to escape my own personal daemons instead of facing them (like not getting rid of my own addictions and bad habits).

Like already suggested in the comments, if you have hard time sleeping melatonin is an option but on the short-term only. Don’t make it a long-term habit. I also consider the extra sleep it may give you not the best sleep, no surprise you may feel groggy.

To the insomniacs, what are some things you do in the wee hours/early morning for a relaxing start to your day?

Since I don’t need much sleep and I do my best work early in the morning, most of the days I wake up very early, around 3-4 AM and… I don’t look at any screen either. Imho, it’s even truer to realize that screens and online content are pure poison to the mind and to the soul early in the morning, like they’re in the evening.

I drink a large glass of water and appreciate the quietness for a few minutes. I may flip some pages of a book but most often I just sit or stand still breathing slowly. It probably is the closest thing to meditation, for me.

After I shower and dress, I’ll sit at my desk and start writing longhand—no screen remember, and no music either. Nothing but the still sleeping city around me with its otherworldly quietness, and me slowly scratching some paper with my fountain pen. (In summer, I’ll open the window next to my desk or even go sit on our balcony so I can better appreciate that magical quietness, and a little later start enjoying the company of the earlier-riser of the few remaining birds, the ones that start singing their songs well before car/bus/motorcycle engines overrun their voice for the rest of the day.)

I will write up until we’re getting close to the time my spouse usually wakes up @ 7-8AM (btw, we both work from home) at which time I’ll prepare breakfast and, while she is getting ready, I often will go grab some fresh pastry for her at the local bakery (they’re handmade and she loves them). We have a quiet but also chatty breakfast together. When she’s ready to start working I will go out for my first walk of the day, in order to get my body moving.

Now, the normal day is allowed to start, with its constant noise and its unexpected and very often less than pleasant events. I’m ready ;)

Why are we expected to keep up with the news on a daily basis?

If it is not faster? What’s the lifespan of any buzz news, nowadays? 15, 30 minutes? 1h?

That being said, we may be expected to do that and many people may even be willing to do it, aka gobbing news all day long, but we’re not supposed to do that. At least, not if we want

to have some understanding on what’s going on in one’s local area, one’s country and in the world.

Understanding takes times (to read more, to hear various point of views) and effort (to conciliate those various view points we hear/read, and to try to understand it (aka make up our own personal opinion) instead of merely reacting emotionally to it.

Time and efforts are two things media certainly don’t want us to practice because it will cost them a lot of money and probably, for a majority of them, their job too. Because:

• Readers/listeners/viewers that are used to do efforts on their own (instead of being spoon-fed) will also expect better quality news (instead of the actual trash that’s falsely labelled as news) in order to be satisfied. It happens that better content does cost more money to produce than trash content (it requires more work, more time and smarter people, none of those being free or AI-replaceable).
• In depth understanding of better content also requires more time to understand it. Which mean people will consume less news articles/videos/whatever and that news outlets will sell less ads.

Too bad, those medias and the army of people working there need to sell as many ads as they can in order to pay for their salaries, they need us to be as stupid as we can be so we will swallow whatever cheap turd they can produce without even blinking an eye. We may even ask for more.

It’s all about choice.

Our choice as individuals, to waste our time on such shit content or to spend it on better content, and our choice as a society, deciding what we value more between a better education and information (which takes a lot of work, takes time, and cost more) or being raised as braindead morons that will happily clap hands everytime they’re fed whatever the latest buzz-turd is so dumb that even the stupidest AI can write it in mere seconds?

Most news are clickbait focused on the negative, making us feel depressed and feeds our negative emotions. I wouldn’t be surprised if the news actively contributes to the mental health crisis.

Most news can also not be that. It’s a choice. Not an easy choice, but a choice nonetheless.

The news I read (I have quit watching TV in the early 00s when I realized what a trash can it was morphing into) are not like that, or barely are. But it does cost me money and time to make them not be clickbait trash. Which is sad since many people can’t afford one or the other, if not both. While other people simply don’t want to be bothered.

What are your thoughts?

There are still great news papers out there, and websites, coming from all political ‘trends’… Which incidentally is another of our serious weaknesses, one that is also over-exploited by trash media: our allergy to anything that would not perfectly reflect our ‘values’, aka if a news outlet is not blue, red, green, grey, pink, whatever our ‘color’ is then it’s worthless. It is not. But, here again, realizing that there a re great news outlet even in the ‘facing camp’ will take time and efforts (to read them and to spot the few that aren’t trash).

A simplified system settings?

I’m an older (in my 50s) macOS and Mint/Cinnamon user but I also know after testing it I would love to use KDE (it’s a great DE) if it was not for its billion of settings one needs to navigate through in order to turn off the many visual effects and whatever I don’t need that are activated by default, and the few things I need to activate that aren’t ;)

Preparing food at home isn’t “fast food,” either.

It certainly is not, and that’s my whole point. You don’t need to go to a fast food to eat a burger. That said, it’s not that long and it can also be a lot of fun doing it with your spouse, like we do, our with friends. A lot more fun ;)

And if’s because of time constraints one goes fast food, one can easily prepare something (much better) at home for their next day lunch. My mom used to that for me when I was a kid, like most moms would do back then, and I have done that countless times when I used to work normal office hours and had a very busy job.

Thx a lot for sharing. I don’t know the guy but he sure is very talented. It’s also one of the greatest love declaration I’ve seen in a while. And he is quite spot on on so many points!

Most certainly, but I would also not call that a fast food, not one that serves handmade burgers. Those are true restaurants.

We had one a few block block from us, it was real excellent. When they bring the plates to our table (we don’t have to queue, and the place was nice and quiet, and comfy) it’s almost like looking at a wonderful mix of poetry and painting that’s made out of bread, with those little sesame seeds, overflowing salad, the pickles, onions, juicy and thick meat (they have true vegan alternatives) and fries that don’t look like fat squishy toothpicks. Their burgers tasted good just by looking at them, and they’re even better when you would take a bite :)

But they’re also not that fast to prepare the burger, and a tad more expensive than the nearby McDo or whatever.

Idolizing the past (and long gone) ‘grandeur’ of some European countries is not the best way to prepare for the future.

edit: as a disclaimer, I’m European from one of those once important countries.

We have not gone to a fast food in the last fifteen or twenty years, if not more. Why would we? It’s not welcoming, the food taste like… cardboard, it’s rarely a pleasant place to eat, and people are often noisy. When we want to eat a burger, we cook it ourselves with fresh food. Yep, when we want to have some, even the fries are handmade. There is just no comparison.

I really need something fun to do that I enjoy.

You won’t know if something is fun if you don’t give it a chance. Have you tried anything already and how did it went?

so please recommend something inside my comfort zone

I don’t think you told us what was your comfort zone?

As an alternative, I can tell you what I enjoy or have enjoyed doing. For years, I was into making scale models. That was fun… because I liked that a lot (always was into war planes since I was a child). I’m very much interested in playing chess and DIY (fixing stuff, even electronics, woodworking,…). I’m also much into taking long walks (a few years ago I was barely able to walk at all. So, yeah, some activities can have life-changing effects). Learning foreign languages too (that’s how I learn(ed) English).

Above all, I’m a reader. I have been one most my life and will be one till the day I die. Do you like reading? Have you tried reading?

To put that question into perspective, I don’t think I ever really experienced real boredom in my life. It’s just alien to me. As a reader, I always have something interesting, exciting, or at the very least something fun to read with me. Like I told you, I love to take long walks but even when I go out for a walk you will never see me without a pocket book, just in case I need to wait and have time to waste. I also carry a notebook (I write) and often, I will also carry a sketchbook (I’m no artist, I just enjoy sketching stuff).

Have you checked where is located your closest public library and got your card to start borrowing books? In my country, France, they’re free for book borrowing (one needs to pay for borrowing movies and music only).

What books could you read? Well, are there some kind of stories or type of content you’re more interested in? Say, science-fiction or fantasy? Love stories? Historical or war novels maybe? Or would you find more interest in reading essays, history, sociology, or reading biographies? Whatever. If you really have no idea what light interest you, well, that’s one reason more to get your library card: most librarians are nice people who will welcome you and help you make your first reading steps, no matter if you’re a little kid that just started to read or an older dude like I’m ;)

Don’t want to go to the library and meet real people? No big deal, use their ebook borrowing service instead, you just need an account and a computer.

Robin Williams as the Bicentennial Man. The movie was okay; his performance was amazing.

+1.

the good old notepad,

That’s my preference.

Is it like complicated things or simple ones?

It is both. I take very detailed and heavily linked notes (through my own PKMS based on index cards) and I also use notebooks for quick notes on the go notes. Have been doing so for years. BTW, there is a community related to Note-taking/Personal Knowledge Management: !pkms@lemmy.blahaj.zone

I don’t use it to remember things (well, yes it helps with that too, but it’s not the main purpose) I use it to help me think and create new ideas/associations between existing ideas, infos, whatever.

More info on ‘my’ note-taking system (it’s not mine by any mean): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zettelkasten

Edit: published too early an unfinished post, sorry ;)