Transitional step: Reducing work hours (without reducing income)

 I came across this article while researching for my current assignment:

https://www-proquest-com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/docview/2454188717?accountid=32521

I'm doubtful that it's accessible to the public, so here's the transcript:

Grassroots: Ecosia and Sunrise Movement

I was browsing through the guilds and challenges in Habitica (http://habitica.com/), when I saw two separate mentions of Ecosia (https://info.ecosia.org/mobile). It seems to be a replacement browser/search engine- it does all the same things that Google does, except it uses the ad revenue to plant trees. So I downloaded it.

Then, while poking around the Ecosia blog (https://blog.ecosia.org/how-you-can-save-the-green-new-deals/), I saw mention of the Sunrise Movement (https://www.sunrisemovement.org/?ms=SunriseMovement). There were Sunrise reps present at the rally at the statehouse on 11/07/20, and I was impressed by them enough that I'd intended to look into it more later on.

On Sunrise Movement https://mobilize.us/s/FIvCTV

So that's cool! It's looking like Sunrise is a bit of a double-sided approach, though I have a lot more reading to do. For Top Down solutions, they are utilizing methods used in the abolition era to get policymakers to listen and act. For Bottom Up solutions, I'm not sure yet. More to come later.

Last updated 11/09/20

An important concept: Determine the property's potential value

 https://hbr.org/2020/07/what-should-we-do-with-45000-half-empty-public-buildings

I'm neck-deep in research for a school assignment. The course? Scientific and Technical Writing. The final project? A formal Recommendation Report. My chosen topic? Telecommuting. There's a lot to say, and strange as it may sound, here's one idea that didn't occur to me until I stumbled across this article, written by Sheila Botting, the Americas President of Professional Services at Canadian commercial real estate firm Avison Young. 

Botting writes that many Canadian governments have cut loose the buildings no longer in use during the pandemic, choosing instead to sell them to the private sector for affordable housing purposes to help with government budget deficits. She proposes that American governments could easily benefit from following in these footsteps. And while the passing of property from public hands to private ones seems (to me) to be a step in the wrong direction, based in desperation and entrenched in late-stage corporate capitalism and corruption, the initiative to turn underutilized properties and facilities into much-needed resources for housing the homeless and the underpaid 99% is the trend we need to emphasize.

Think about it. All those sprawling shopping malls, movie theaters, corporate offices, and other non-residential buildings, now sitting empty and abandoned? Most of them already equipped with climate control, plumbing, high-speed internet, and varying levels of division into sub-units? How easily could those be turned into residential units for families and households in need?

Determining the potential value of these properties is one of many steps needed for the distribution of this particular resource- land/real estate/property/living space. This is going to be one of the muddiest and most hotly-contested topics, folks, as it likely skirts very close to actual scarcity... Moreso than almost any other resource out there. More development to come on that later.

Don't go to college for Art

 Here's a bit of a discussion I had with some friends on a discord server.

Kai is Tired10/02/2020

i may not be in this major any more but the chair for computer science is very nice and helpful in his emails to the entire major so i wont tell him

Neubauje10/02/2020

Chair?

[10:55 AM]

You were in computer science? I'm in computer science right now!

Alexmexcaramel10/02/2020

Y'all are still studying?:0

[10:56 AM]

I'm @ dentist and I feel like I'll fall over because I'm sleepy....it's early(edited)

Kai is Tired10/02/2020

i am but a small child and am still in college

Neubauje10/02/2020

I have one Bachelor's degree already but it's functionally useless, so I'm going for a second one

[11:11 AM]

Using employer's money, hell yeah

Kai is Tired10/02/2020

niceeeeeee thats how to do it

difinity1 (a mystery!)10/02/2020

@Neubauje yes it was!

Alexmexcaramel10/02/2020

OH!I see

[11:29 AM]

I graduated last year

Kai is Tired10/02/2020

congrats!!

Alexmexcaramel10/02/2020

I'ld like to get ah uHHHH second???bachelor???degree?I suppose

[11:30 AM]

I'm still constantly studying but it's mostly general and technical knowledge

[11:30 AM]

Don't really get a paper for that

[11:31 AM]

Thanks!!!!

[11:31 AM]

I get confused over what anything american regarding education means,,,,

[11:32 AM]

Yesterday my boss made my job sound really fancy but I can't recall the exact wording he used

[11:33 AM]

Anything related to food is profitable and worth constantly studying and improving for tho

[11:33 AM]

I think

Kai is Tired10/02/2020

thats fair, i'm currently being told that one of the degrees im currently studying for is useless unless you have a shit ton of certificates/internships to go with it which is like hard rn

Alexmexcaramel10/02/2020

Why tho?

[11:38 AM]

Ah yes,,, the thought of getting opportunities to do all that are a little limited atm

Kai is Tired10/02/2020

hell if i know....to show that you're willing to learn?

Alexmexcaramel10/02/2020

Computer science, was it?

[11:39 AM]

What does it entitle?

Kai is Tired10/02/2020

i was in computer science i switched to like computer information systems.....its like the more data entry side i think i just switched

Alexmexcaramel10/02/2020

I see words but I'm still a little confused,,,,,

[11:40 AM]

So coding?ish?

Kai is Tired10/02/2020

not really? its like taking the programs that programmers make and like applying them to businesses

[11:41 AM]

there's some coding but not as much

[11:41 AM]

which is a fucking relief

Alexmexcaramel10/02/2020

Ahhh I think I sort of get it now

[11:42 AM]

Coding sounds hard

Kai is Tired10/02/2020

it definitely is for me

Neubauje10/02/2020

I am hoping to be a wiz at coding

[12:21 PM]

But I will likely have to lean heavily on my coder friends, if the first sample was any indication

[12:23 PM]

For context, @Alexmexcaramel - a Bachelor's degree (at least in America) represents at least 4 years of college, and is supposed to indicate that you have a very good foundational knowledge of a somewhat broad field of study, plus general knowledge like math, writing, history, philosophy, etc.

[12:23 PM]

However, some degrees are more useful than others.

[12:25 PM]

STEM degrees (science, technology, engineering, and... math??) Are supposed to be the most useful- lots of relevant jobs out there that need a degree like that

[12:26 PM]

Other types of degrees are less useful, because they qualify you for very specific jobs that are in low supply, high demand. Folks with these degrees sadly joke that they usually wind up with a job teaching that particular subject matter to other poor schmucks

[12:26 PM]

And then... there's Art.

[12:33 PM]

A lot of people like to put an A in STEM for Art, making it STEAM - and I love the interdisciplinary inclusion and respect, but unfortunately it doesn't really apply in the context of Bachelor's degrees

[12:34 PM]

If you are looking to hire someone as an artist, in any sense of the word, you don't need them to show you a degree in order to prove that they have the knowledge they'll need...

[12:35 PM]

You just need their portfolio. In fact, if someone has a degree in Art, but no portfolio? You're not going to hire that person.

[12:35 PM]

And you can make a very respectable portfolio without ever paying a dime to a college institution.

[12:40 PM]

So a Bachelor's in Art is basically just a generic Bachelor's, meaning... you've learned how to jump through the hoops necessary to get the degree. But you got pretty much duped out of your money in the process. Maybe you're not very smart or mature. Maybe you're aimless. Maybe you will make for an excellent cog in the corporate machine. ...I have a Bachelor's degree in Art. I work for a bank, as a glorified phone-based secretary, doing various things that are not much different than customer service

Neubauje10/02/2020

My Bachelor's of Art cost me 5 and a half years of my life, and thousands of dollars

[12:53 PM]

And this is what I have to show for it

Neubauje10/02/2020

Just uh... bit of context there. Not bitter about it or anything.