Except it wouldn't evenly distribute the value and most of it would go to rich people.

I gathered release dates a few weeks ago because I was curious. There aren't that many data points, but 150 days might be a good guess

Being, and therefore appearing, genuinely interested in what the other person is saying about themselves creates the best feelings in the world for the other person, and you won't run out of things to talk about.

"You just got a new dog? Cool!"

Then you can ask any follow up question you like.

What kind? What's their name? Where'd you get them from? Do you feed them "people food"?.. etc.

One question at a time of course, and avoid queuing them up in your head. When the other person is talking, try very hard not to think of the next thing you're going to say. If you do that, you'll miss what they're actually saying and eventually say something that makes it clear you weren't listening. Similarly, you'll miss out on each new bit of the conversation, and those new bits are the basis of new, honest, follow up questions.

You don't have to be interested in dogs generally, to be interested in them temporarily. "Being interested, intentionally" is a skill you can improve.

Don't try to direct the flow of the conversation too much either. Go into your next conversation with friends, family, coworkers, or strangers with a truly open mind about what you're going to talk about, with no agenda, and be happy knowing it could change at any time.

Your job is to listen and ask more.

A lot of supposed "conversations" are just two people looking at each other, waiting for their turn to talk. If you're going to do that you might as well each write your sentences down beforehand, exchange them, and then throw them away without reading them.

The truth is, nobody wants to hear what you have to say. They don't want to hear what I have to say. They want to tell you about what's going on in their lives and what's important to them.

Which parts of it aren't true for you?

Have you found that making extra effort to be interested in the other person's ideas / topics / interests, listening carefully, etc. isn't well received?

Or is "nobody wants to hear what you have to say" not true, because you do care what other people have to say, for example? (Obviously that's great if so)

Or something else?

I ask because I started making that kind of effort a couple years ago, slowly but surely, getting better as I went. I didn't tell anybody, but after about a year one friend was like, "you know, you're interested in what we do and you really care. Nobody else does that." And another friend chimed in and agreed. (And I really do care! Sure it's intentional, but it's like eating healthy food, and then you grow to like it)

They were being serious. So if you believe me when I'm telling you this, it has been true for me and those friends.

I also think it's true that most people are oblivious to the extra mental effort that goes into approaching conversations this way, and just leave thinking "finally, someone who gives my ideas the credit and attention they are due. Now if I could just get everyone else to act that way"

And that's fine with me

I find are two types of people - talkers and non-talkers. There is significant but not complete overlap with introverts and extroverts, but some introverts are talkers if they can get someone who will actually listen - others won't really talk regardless, and really prefer to let the other person carry the conversation (or companionable silence, or end the conversation).

Conversation skills differ depending on the pairing - but everyone appreciates someone who listens to understand, not just waits while thinking about what they will say next.

Talker with another talker - listen, ask occasional questions, and give the other person lots of chances to talk. Reduce how much you share.

Talker with a non-talker: Also listen, ask occasional questions, but don't expect too much response - but keep trying to draw out more & find things the other person wants to talk about. Be willing to carry more than your half of the conversation, but that comes naturally, so be careful not to dominate.

Non-talker with a talker: The talkers will love you if you listen! Be attentive, follow along, give verbal and non-verbal acknowledgements and reactions, ask questions, push yourself to share more and "hold up your end of the conversation".

Non-talker with another non-talker. This is rough. You have to pretend you're a talker and carry more than half the conversation. Share more. Work harder to get questions and listen, consider, and ask follow-up questions. It can be really helpful to have questions and topics prepared in advance (good conversation doesn't have to be extemporaneous).

Personally I don’t think I’ve ever really failed when I use this approach. You can go in with something as direct as, “so, what topic would you like to talk about?” And more often than not have a good conversation.

If both of you dislike talking about yourselves then try to explain something about a subject that you find interesting.

Edit: I want to add that not liking something does not mean you can't be good at it.

I have a beard. A surgical mask fits only lightly over it, floating a half inch away from my face. That's better than nothing I suppose, but it really is only filtering big droplets. All the air is going in and out that half inch.

An N95, with it's rigid faceplate and strong rubber bands pressing it against my face, crushes the beard and makes breathing more difficult so I can tell some air is being filtered. I'm not getting anywhere near the protection the n95 is designed to provide, it's still much better than what the surgical mask does, which is almost nothing. And I don't use the valve kind, so any filtering the n95 is doing, it's doing it in both directions.

The surgical mask with a beard is kind of like walking around with my hand held a half inch away from my face.

Yeah, but that'd still be better than nothing, too. (As would be a face-shield worn without a mask.) In both cases, the main goal of getting regular people to wear masks isn't to contain exhaled droplets, but to lower the forward velocity of exhaled droplets, so they don't slam right into other people's mucous membranes, but rather have time to get caught in HVAC systems or dispersed into outdoor air.

The faster the droplets are moving when they exit your mouth/nose (e.g. a sneeze or a cough), the less they're going to be able to "turn" to get out the sides of your mask. Masks are very good at stopping sneezes/coughs from contaminating the air, even when badly fit.

That, and masks/face-shields/your own hand/etc. also protect you when someone sneezes or coughs directly "at" your face. Like the sneeze-guard at a buffet. It's not complete protection — the particles, once airborne, can drift "around" the barrier and come in — but it does appreciably lower contamination compared to having nothing there (presuming that people will be sneezing/coughing/breathing directly "at" your face/the buffet. Not a concern for most people; but this is why people in hospitality are wearing the face-shields.)

> All the air is going in and out that half inch.

Out, almost certainly (except for forceful expulsions, as above), but if you're breathing through your nose — and the mask is shaped to surround your nose — then even if it's a half-inch from your nose, at least some of your inhaled air will be coming in through the mask. Even if it feels like all of it's coming in through the gap in the mask. So there will be some fractional protection from that.

Also, I believe high-grade masks are somewhat adsorbant — airborne droplets just like sticking to them if they rub up against them, rather than staying airborne. So a good mask can "passively" scrub the air you're breathing in, even if that air is coming in "around" the mask instead of "through" it! (This is only a small effect, though, and shouldn't be relied on. I'm trying to list the reasons mask-wearing is better than nothing, not trying to justify intentionally wearing your mask less-well-fitted than you could.)

I have an FFP3 (~N99) one from some DIY pre-pandemic (so cheap, good luck even finding it now! I do wonder what tradesmen who need them for workplace safety, but their work isn't medical, are doing at the moment) - it isn't rigid and fits well.

It is used and 'not reusable', but I'm hanging on to it. If I 'have to' travel or something at some point I figure used FFP3 beats piece of loose-fitting cloth.

You have to think several turns ahead, in a chess sort of way. But your "best" move may be a low probability move, so you have to weigh that. Same for thinking about what your opponent may do in return.

It all feels like quite the specimen - something that should be preserved for study by future generations. For what not to do, but also because sometimes its nice to have a prototypical example of unethical, tone deaf, short sighted trickery and how it can destroy a company. All in one self-contained package.

So maybe that's the gift Triplebyte leaves us with.

Couldn't figure out a way to set it to covid.