IoHL Community Coffee Shop

[Johnson]

To the person who said black people cant write good lyrics:

In hip hop artists like Common, Talib Kweli, and Mos Def all write thoughtful and complex lyrics.

In other genres you have the likes of Prince, Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder.

[Exodus]

To the person who said black people cant write good lyrics:

In hip hop artists like Common, Talib Kweli, and Mos Def all write thoughtful and complex lyrics.

In other genres you have the likes of Prince, Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder.

true. i like prince and alicia keys. i just meant by and large.

you still in Vietnam pounding out asian puss?

[Johnson]

true. i like prince and alicia keys. i just meant by and large.

you still in Vietnam pounding out asian puss?

I've curtailed my dating and just seeing one woman for a while now. It probably wont work out though as my rough plan is to work a year in Colombia before going back to my home country.

I actually never hooked up with many Asian people as I found the cultures too different; so I just continued to date westerners here.

[Guest-3]

What classic art have come from Korea, the middle east, India or Africa? Lol I also mean more than just a few exceptions.

Google it. You will find out.

Added in 19 minutes 51 seconds:

But really, I'd like to see @pjhair's description of some of the better Indian art. We might as well learn something.

India has it's own classical music and dance tradition going back thousands of years. Music in Indian tradition is deeply entwined with every day life, even with religion. Vedas are one of the oldest religious scriptures in the world(some argue that they are the oldest, especially rig veda). There are four vedas, Rig Veda, SamVeda, Yajur Veda and Atharva veda. Samveda is dedicated just to music.

In addition to music, there are beautiful old sculptors, architectures(such as Tajmahal and khajuraho) and temples.

Game of thrones is by far best tv series I have ever watched. However, the deepest and most philosophical tv series I have ever watched is Mahabharat made in 1980. It's based on the Hindu scripture Mahabharat. Tv series and the book both are tell a very beautiful story. I was amazed by the wisdom contained in them.

Lets also not forget that some prominent religious traditions such as Buddhism, Janism, Sikhims, etc originated in India.


These are just a few things I can think of right now.

[Admin]

Afro_first.jpg (15.04 KiB) Viewed 1228 times

[Guest-4]

Afro_first.jpg

It's because you have more of a life.
Also, for a long time, I resisted giving out +2 and +3's, whereas you gave me countless +3's. My resistance was irrational. I now give out + whatever when I see a good post.

Added in 12 minutes 45 seconds:

Google it. You will find out.

Added in 19 minutes 51 seconds:


India has it's own classical music and dance tradition going back thousands of years. Music in Indian tradition is deeply entwined with every day life, even with religion. Vedas are one of the oldest religious scriptures in the world(some argue that they are the oldest, especially rig veda). There are four vedas, Rig Veda, SamVeda, Yajur Veda and Atharva veda. Samveda is dedicated just to music.

In addition to music, there are beautiful old sculptors, architectures(such as Tajmahal and khajuraho) and temples.

Game of thrones is by far best tv series I have ever watched. However, the deepest and most philosophical tv series I have ever watched is Mahabharat made in 1980. It's based on the Hindu scripture Mahabharat. Tv series and the book both are tell a very beautiful story. I was amazed by the wisdom contained in them.

Lets also not forget that some prominent religious traditions such as Buddhism, Janism, Sikhims, etc originated in India.


These are just a few things I can think of right now.

Thank you for that. I don't know much about Indian culture but I like the little bit that I know. In general, I think that people should go for simpler explanations. For example, if one cannot name great pieces of Indian art, one can compare the two following hypothetical explanations:
- Indians have not produced great art, because the people there are genetically inferior
- India has a billion people and its civilization goes back thousands of years. Of course it's produced great art, I'm just not familiar with it.
Occam's razor suggests the second explanation.

India is perhaps the foreign country that I most want to travel to, after Italy and Israel. I'll mention a few other pertinent things that I know about Indian society, other than the stereotypical (yoga feels good, Indian food tastes good, Taj Mahal looks good):
- Bollywood is the largest film industry. We did watch a few Bollywood films in our college literature classes, and I kind of wish that I remembered the names of the films, as they were great and I'd like to revisit them. The films can also run much longer than Western films, past the 3-hour mark.
- A disproportionate amount of the intellectuals from India are Bengali, or at least that's what my Bengali friends claim. They have very high cultural pride.
- They're actually doing quite well in the more theoretical sciences, math, physics, computer science, etc, in contrast to China which is building more of an applied science infrastructure. I've met a lot of very skilled scientists from the subcontinent, who do very technically challenging work. They continue a good tradition, as several of the top intellectuals of the 20th century come from the subcontinent: Bose, Chandrasekhar, Saha, Ramanujan. Relative to Western scientists, I find that Chinese scientists to do more applied work, and the Indian scientists do more theoretical work. But that may be a fluke of my own experiences.
- The current head of state, Modi, is pushing Hindu pride. I don't have an opinion on whether this is good or bad.
- It might have the most internal diversity of any major country.
- The country's long-term prospects might be hampered by its internal inequality. The government has a lot of trouble controlling society in the more isolated regions, and the Naxalites have a lot of support. Without unity, the country will not be able to push its weight like a society of 1 billion people might.
- Given its borders, India might be the most interesting country on purely geopolitical grounds.
- I like the story of how Tata became rich. He told the British that he could build trains, and they laughed at him. He then built trains.

[Admin]

It's because you have more of a life.

Not as true for the past week, as I quit my job, with a good severance package though. It leaves me a couple of months to breathe before I start my next job.

I finally have some time to dedicate to my music, more time at time at the gym and enjoying some entertainment. And then there is my wedding and honeymoon in October, lots of things to be prepare :p, but I'm incredibly grateful.

Thank you for your great contributions to this forum by the way, that first position is well-deserved .

[Johnson]

Not as true for the past week, as I quit my job, with a good severance package though. It leaves me a couple of months to breathe before I start my next job.

I finally have some time to dedicate to my music, more time at time at the gym and enjoying some entertainment. And then there is my wedding and honeymoon in October, lots of things to be prepare :p, but I'm incredibly grateful.

Thank you for your great contributions to this forum by the way, that first position is well-deserved .

Congratulations on the wedding!

What made you decide on the career/job change?

[Admin]

What made you decide on the career/job change?

A toxic work environment.

Last year, they closed down my department and downsized the company quite substantially. After that everything changed, some good and professional people who contributed to the company's overall stability left and the result on the other side bore little resemblance to the company I fell in love with 3 years ago. It ended up with sometimes one person doing the job of 2.5 people. I saw many burnouts happen, but thank God, I was spared.

I knew something was wrong from the start. All the trust I had built for the past 2.5 years was instantly broken, my privileges (like working from home) were taken away under the guise that I had to "prove myself" first and mistakes were simply not tolerated anymore, well only for me somehow. They held me to impossible standards. There was no feedback, no encouragement and I was micromanaged.

I cannot put that much blame on my manager as it was her first experience managing a team. She exhibited a lot of empathy, a lot of warmth and these qualities were part of the reason I blindly and eagerly integrated her team. Sadly those qualities don't predict your performance as a manager. It was like 1984:

"Why are you on your phone now? Why do you type on your keyboard so much? I don't think you have that many mails to send! You sometimes disappear for 10 minutes! You can't have your headphones on, you should be aware of your surroundings at all times! You made a couple of mistakes (I had to analyze gigantic amounts of data), how come? I really don't like your attitude!" I soon lived in a constant state of fear, checking my emails before coming to work, wondering if the Inquisition would come for me that day.

Still, naive and loyal as I am, I decided to push through despite the multiple red flags. Funnily enough, my manager was on holiday for 2 weeks when I had the chance to accomplish a very difficult and dreaded part of the job I took over. I did it, it was a success and I got praised by other teams in front of my general manager. 2 days after my manager came back from her holiday, I get this long email from her saying there was no improvement in my work and it was unacceptable. That's when I decided: "alright, I'm out!".

That episode reminded me of Jordan Peterson's following statement:



One of the top comments on that video:

top-comment-managers.jpg (14.76 KiB) Viewed 1152 times

It's sad because I liked the job and many people at that company. But ultimately, it was imperative that I protected my health. A few breakdowns happened and my friends and family were worried about me, they kept telling me I should leave all along, but I was in denial: "You'll see, it will get better!" To anyone (who think they're) stuck in a toxic workplace: It never, ever does. Get the hell out of there!

[yettee]

Google it. You will find out.

Added in 19 minutes 51 seconds:


India has it's own classical music and dance tradition going back thousands of years. Music in Indian tradition is deeply entwined with every day life, even with religion. Vedas are one of the oldest religious scriptures in the world(some argue that they are the oldest, especially rig veda). There are four vedas, Rig Veda, SamVeda, Yajur Veda and Atharva veda. Samveda is dedicated just to music.

In addition to music, there are beautiful old sculptors, architectures(such as Tajmahal and khajuraho) and temples.

Game of thrones is by far best tv series I have ever watched. However, the deepest and most philosophical tv series I have ever watched is Mahabharat made in 1980. It's based on the Hindu scripture Mahabharat. Tv series and the book both are tell a very beautiful story. I was amazed by the wisdom contained in them.

Lets also not forget that some prominent religious traditions such as Buddhism, Janism, Sikhims, etc originated in India.


These are just a few things I can think of right now.

I love Asha Bhosle... and in particular her duets with Kishore Kumar... like this

[Guest-3]

I love Asha Bhosle... and in particular her duets with Kishore Kumar... like this

I am surprised you know about them!

- A disproportionate amount of the intellectuals from India are Bengali, or at least that's what my Bengali friends claim. They have very high cultural pride.

I am not sure I agree with it, especially if you take the entire history of India into account. For example, almost all Hindu philosophers and theologians in the past came from the Norther or Southern India.In fact Vedic civilization was born in Northern India. Almost all of the holiest places in Hinduism(and Buddhism) lie in North such as Kashi, Gaya, Mathura, Prayag, etc. But then again, I don't keep an account of things such as who contributed the most, or who is the most intelligent, or who is the most beautiful. I am more interested in what someone has accomplished as an individual, not what his people have accomplished.

The current head of state, Modi, is pushing Hindu pride. I don't have an opinion on whether this is good or bad.

I actually like Modi. He is demonized a lot by left leaning media, similar to how conservative politicians are sometimes needlessly demonized by media in the US. Yes, he is a proud Hindu. I don't really see anything wrong with that. I am an atheist so I don't share his beliefs but if someone is practicing his religion without infringing on my(or anyone's) rights, then I don't have a problem. His opponents blame him for not controlling 2001 Godhra riots between Hindus and Muslims, but Supreme court of India has exonerated him. To be honest, i have lost respect for NYT and Times for spreading Indian lefts false propaganda about him.

Added in 8 minutes 32 seconds:

"Why are you on your phone now? Why do you type on your keyboard so much? I don't think you have that many mails to send! You sometimes disappear for 10 minutes! You can't have your headphones on, you should be aware of your surroundings at all times! You made a couple of mistakes (I had to analyze gigantic amounts of data), how come? I really don't like your attitude!" I soon lived in a constant state of fear, checking my emails before coming to work, wondering if the Inquisition would come for me that day.

Still, naive and loyal as I am, I decided to push through despite the multiple red flags. Funnily enough, my manager was on holiday for 2 weeks when I had the chance to accomplish a very difficult and dreaded part of the job I took over. I did it, it was a success and I got praised by other teams in front of my general manager. 2 days after my manager came back from her holiday, I get this long email from her saying there was no improvement in my work and it was unacceptable. That's when I decided: "alright, I'm out!".

That sounds horrible! I probably wouldn't last even a day in such a toxic environment.

[yettee]

I am surprised you know about them!

Ha, yeah... I used to live and work near an Indian grocery that sold a lot of Indian products, including cassette tapes of music. I think I asked an employee to recommend one of the tapes, and it was a Kumar/Bhosle duets tape. From there, I found that many of their songs are downloadable. I know many come from soundtracks to old Bollywood movies, Like Yaadon Ki Baaraat, which includes this great duet... and also Lekar Hum, which is a masterpiece

[Guest-3]

Ha, yeah... I used to live and work near an Indian grocery that sold a lot of Indian products, including cassette tapes of music. I think I asked an employee to recommend one of the tapes, and it was a Kumar/Bhosle duets tape. From there, I found that many of their songs are downloadable. I know many come from soundtracks to old Bollywood movies, Like Yaadon Ki Baaraat, which includes this great duet... and also Lekar Hum, which is a masterpiece

It seems like you enjoy Indian music a lot more than I do . But I am not really that into music in general. The only time listen I listen to it is when I am in a club or jogging.

[Johnson]

A toxic work environment.

Last year, they closed down my department and downsized the company quite substantially. After that everything changed, some good and professional people who contributed to the company's overall stability left and the result on the other side bore little resemblance to the company I fell in love with 3 years ago. It ended up with sometimes one person doing the job of 2.5 people. I saw many burnouts happen, but thank God, I was spared.

I knew something was wrong from the start. All the trust I had built for the past 2.5 years was instantly broken, my privileges (like working from home) were taken away under the guise that I had to "prove myself" first and mistakes were simply not tolerated anymore, well only for me somehow. They held me to impossible standards. There was no feedback, no encouragement and I was micromanaged.

I cannot put that much blame on my manager as it was her first experience managing a team. She exhibited a lot of empathy, a lot of warmth and these qualities were part of the reason I blindly and eagerly integrated her team. Sadly those qualities don't predict your performance as a manager. It was like 1984:

"Why are you on your phone now? Why do you type on your keyboard so much? I don't think you have that many mails to send! You sometimes disappear for 10 minutes! You can't have your headphones on, you should be aware of your surroundings at all times! You made a couple of mistakes (I had to analyze gigantic amounts of data), how come? I really don't like your attitude!" I soon lived in a constant state of fear, checking my emails before coming to work, wondering if the Inquisition would come for me that day.

Still, naive and loyal as I am, I decided to push through despite the multiple red flags. Funnily enough, my manager was on holiday for 2 weeks when I had the chance to accomplish a very difficult and dreaded part of the job I took over. I did it, it was a success and I got praised by other teams in front of my general manager. 2 days after my manager comes back from her holiday, I get this long email from her saying there was no improvement in my work and it was unacceptable. That's when I decided: "alright, I'm out!".

That episode reminded me of Jordan Peterson's following statement:



One of the top comments on that video:


top-comment-managers.jpg


It's sad because I liked the job and many people at that company. But ultimately, it was imperative that I protected my health. A few breakdowns happened and my friends and family were worried about me, they kept telling me I should leave all along, but I was in denial: "You'll see, it will get better!" To anyone (who think they're) stuck in a toxic workplace: It never, ever does. Get the hell out of there!

Well it sounds like you have made the right choice. Big decisions over career become more and more difficult the older we get and its especially hard when we've been in the same job for a number of years.

Is it easy to find work in your career?

[yettee]

It seems like you enjoy Indian music a lot more than I do . But I am not really that into music in general. The only time listen I listen to it is when I am in a club or jogging.

LOL I guess I do. To be honest I also enjoy certain bhangra music a whole lot.

Added in 2 minutes 3 seconds:

A toxic work environment.

Saw this today and thought of you. I guess it means you're young
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/17/styl ... lance.html