CurlyParakeet

@CurlyParakeet@mastodon.online
581 Followers
460 Following
4.3K Posts

I’m a hobby collector and generally into anything creative. I’m also a software development manager working in the science arena.

Trying to be a kind person.

🧶🪡🎨🧬👩🏻‍💻🧵🧫

PronounsShe/Her
LocationUK
Show threadCurlyParakeet9h ago

@TheBreadmonkey

I’m conflicted too. Haven’t decided what to do yet.

CurlyParakeet17h ago
acb1d ago
Are the Americans OK?
Show threadCurlyParakeet1d ago

@TheBreadmonkey @MiniMia

It’s very good isn’t it!

CurlyParakeet1d ago

I have a partially formed thought wandering around my mind which is trying to make a link between oral tradition and the Internet - something around impermanence and collective knowledge.

It’s trying to link several even less well formed thoughts into something coherent. I’m not sure if this path will go anywhere, but I’m letting a few spare cycle explore it.

#randomThought #internet

Show threadCurlyParakeet1d ago

@suearcher @Steampunk_Prof

It’s not a ridiculous dream.

Show threadCurlyParakeet1d ago

@suearcher

A walled garden is definitely on my wish list. There’s a beautiful one at Audley End House.

Show threadCurlyParakeet1d ago
@suearcher I love it. It’s on the other side of a lake/pond/drainage ditch and it’s an old walled garden for a big country house. Now it’s an orchard.
CurlyParakeet1d ago
#SilentSunday
CurlyParakeet1d ago
enargeia2d ago
ive once again been exposed to the video of that professor SHOCKING gen z students by speaking fluent zoomer, and i must now publicly state that he'll never come close to the delightful energy of this gentleman
Show threadCurlyParakeet2d ago

@TheBreadmonkey

Mr CP concurs that cleaning the coffee machine with a toothbrush is indeed the habit of a normal person. 🪥

×
acb1d ago
Are the Americans OK?
Show threadacb1d ago

I’m in Sweden. About ⅔ of the office is micro-retired for the next month or so. (The consensus-minded Swedes do like taking July and/or the first half of August off.) I’m not, but I did a 1½-week micro-retirement in March, and have a shorter one coming up later this summer. Last year, I took most of a month (so, a mini-retirement) to go to Australia.

Framing a week every 1-2 years as a “micro-retirement” sounds like giving the Overton window a further push to normalising servitude.

Show threadMalcolm Herbert1d ago
@acb that was my thinking also - you should not be expected to _return_to_work_ after retiring ...
Show threadChristof Damian 💙💛21h ago
@acb France and Spain are usually retired in August.
Show thread@ NovaNaturalist🇨🇦🇩🇰🇬🇱🇵🇦🇲🇽🇱🇸🇳🇫🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈 #FBPE20h ago
@cdamian @acb The French also micro-retire for 2 hours every lunch time.
Show threadSimon Lepuissant17h ago
@NovaNaturalist @cdamian @acb we call it nano retirement
Show thread@ NovaNaturalist🇨🇦🇩🇰🇬🇱🇵🇦🇲🇽🇱🇸🇳🇫🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈 #FBPE16h ago
@simon_lepuissant @cdamian @acb I read your toot during a pico-retirement.
Show threadJuan Per¢ent,🇲🇽 🍉16h ago
@NovaNaturalist @simon_lepuissant @cdamian @acb I like to take one breath in my femtoretirements.
Show thread@ NovaNaturalist🇨🇦🇩🇰🇬🇱🇵🇦🇲🇽🇱🇸🇳🇫🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈 #FBPE16h ago
@dacig @simon_lepuissant @cdamian @acb that's good. I close my eyes during my atto-retirements but at the end they are open again ready to work.
Show threadMattChippytea13h ago
@cdamian @acb @simon_lepuissant @NovaNaturalist @dacig taking a demi-semi retirement for a coffee
Show threadMario Guerra12h ago
@NovaNaturalist @cdamian @acb Spaniards too. And, if I'm not wrong, Czechs.
Show threadChristof Damian 💙💛12h ago
@mguerra
Your really arrived in Spain if your lunch retirement goes into your dinner retirement.
@NovaNaturalist @acb
Show thread@ NovaNaturalist🇨🇦🇩🇰🇬🇱🇵🇦🇲🇽🇱🇸🇳🇫🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈 #FBPE12h ago
@cdamian @mguerra @acb But do the Spaniards and Czechs get abducted by aliens every lunchtime? I mean, walk anywhere around France at 1pm and it will be eerily deserted.
Show thread0xf11h ago
@NovaNaturalist @cdamian @acb We nano-retire regularly for 5 - 10 Minutes to the toilet
Show threadJulien W.13m ago

@NovaNaturalist
This saves us from burning out very much indeed

@cdamian @acb

Show threadOkuna17h ago
@cdamian @acb based on this, Germany has 3-9 retirements in the time period. Does this mean the Americans have to work longer and start official retirement after death?
Show threadEdelruth In The Wrong Timeline13h ago

@Okuna @cdamian @acb

I believe that is the Trump-Kennedy plan, yes.

Show threadOkuna10h ago
@Edelruth @cdamian @acb but doesnt it hit mostly their own voters?
Show threadJacobo Da Riva Muñoz 🇪🇺20h ago
@acb in Europe this micro-retirements are payed by the company/employer
Show threadDave Sanderson 🇨🇦🍁19h ago

@acb

Before taking full time retirement, my collective agreement gave me six week micro-retirements every year. That started at 25 years of employment with the same organisation. In my first year I only had three weeks a year.

Show thread@ NovaNaturalist🇨🇦🇩🇰🇬🇱🇵🇦🇲🇽🇱🇸🇳🇫🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈 #FBPE19h ago
@Sanderde @acb this is yet another reason why Canada needs to get closer ties with Europe, and fewer ties with the US. 3 weeks micro-retirement a year is not enough to prevent burnout. I don't know of any country in Europe - not even the UK - with such paltry annual micro-retirement. This how the fascist state to our south poisons Canada.
Show threadDave Sanderson 🇨🇦🍁18h ago

@NovaNaturalist

And the three weeks to start was through the union, which also provided 15 days per year paid sick leave and two days additional paid Personal and Volunteer leave.

@acb

Show thread@ NovaNaturalist🇨🇦🇩🇰🇬🇱🇵🇦🇲🇽🇱🇸🇳🇫🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈 #FBPE16h ago
@Sanderde @acb Yes - all across the world, our employment rights were achieved through unionised efforts, against concerted opposition from the powerful and wealthy gangsters.
Show threadMike Fraser  16h ago
@Sanderde @NovaNaturalist @acb I've never been entitled to more than two weeks vacation in my entire life. I've never actually taken more than a week in twenty years. In that time I've never taken time off where I haven't been on call. Articles like that are for maybe 15 percent of the workforce. The rest of us don't get that kind of flexibility and never will.
Show threadDave Sanderson 🇨🇦🍁16h ago

@mike

It’s no surprise that many European countries top the lists of the happiest places in the world.

It shouldn’t take unions to ensure proper holiday breaks for workers.

@NovaNaturalist @acb

Show threadMike Fraser  16h ago
@Sanderde @NovaNaturalist @acb Agreed! I just hate articles like that, it comes from a very entitled place.
Show thread@ NovaNaturalist🇨🇦🇩🇰🇬🇱🇵🇦🇲🇽🇱🇸🇳🇫🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈 #FBPE16h ago

@mike @Sanderde @acb Sorry if I have misunderstood you, but there is nothing "entitled" about recharging your batteries. What is entitled is the expectation from some employers that they can work you without recharging your batteries.

Getting sufficient vacation, like securing the 40 hour / 5 day week is a key success of the labour movement, but there is more work to be done. Canadians are entitled to use Europe as our model and not the US.

Show threadMike Fraser  14h ago
@NovaNaturalist @Sanderde @acb I think you're misunderstanding where I'm coming from. I completely agree 100 percent, people should get sufficient vacation time. The entitlement I'm speaking to is that the author doesn't seem to understand that this option is simply not available for most people. So to describe micro-retirement as a generational phenomenon is coming from an entitled head space.
Show thread@ NovaNaturalist🇨🇦🇩🇰🇬🇱🇵🇦🇲🇽🇱🇸🇳🇫🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈 #FBPE14h ago
@mike @Sanderde @acb I'm with you now! Sorry for being slow
Show threadBadgardener12h ago

@NovaNaturalist @mike @Sanderde @acb

Quite so: thinking that ridiculously small holiday entitlement is somehow a hard fact of life is pure Stockholm syndrome.

(Lest I'm given the hair shirt of entitlement to wear in shame, I worked in just such a field for years, where the dial for assistants was set firmly at Masochist. About halfway through, I went freelance and took mahoosive holidays - up to six months - until I decided to stop being on call altogether and switched jobs. I have a low opinion of the argument that it's a necessary reality to do this. Horseshit.)

Show threadJ. Blake13h ago
@mike @Sanderde @NovaNaturalist @acb This article feels made up.
Show threadAl13h ago

@jblake @mike @Sanderde @NovaNaturalist @acb

I think we are feeding the AI monster with micro-retirement vibe. Its called a vacation.
Although I get a chuckle out the micro, nano, pico series of replays:-) well done.

Show threadDave Sanderson 🇨🇦🍁12h ago

@jblake

“Micro-retirements offer an opportunity to recharge. Gabrielle Siegel, a wealth management advisor at Northwestern Mutual, notes that this is valuable. ‘It’s taking time to focus on what’s bringing you the most happiness, recharging, mentally avoiding burnout, and realigning with your personal goals. Gen Z is looking at the workplace a bit differently, and happiness is an important factor,’ she says.”

https://www.fastcompany.com/91357784/what-is-a-micro-retirement-inside-the-latest-gen-z-trend

Seems legit.

@mike @NovaNaturalist @acb

What is a micro-retirement? Inside the latest Gen Z trend

Burned out and ladened with debt Gen-Z is getting a jump on retirement by going on short unpaid breaks from work: "micro-retirements."

Fast Company
Show threadschrotthaufen12h ago
@Sanderde @NovaNaturalist @acb Food for thought for your union: In Germany, we have six weeks of fully compensated sick leave payed by the employer, and then the insurance takes over at 60% salary. (If you get declared permanently unfit for work you’re basically screwed, though.) The minimum days for PTO are 24 working days, and you _have_ to take two consecutive weeks off at least once per year. (This is law.)
Show threadDave Sanderson 🇨🇦🍁12h ago

@schrotthaufen

With my union, unused annual sick days were carried over (I retired with 275). If used up, insurance paid 70% if you’re unable to work or be reassigned, with medical certification.

In Canada the federal government sets the working standards for federally regulated companies, ie banks. The provinces are responsible for their own regulations.

One fairly recent addition is shared paid maternity/paternity leave for one year, or 18 months on reduced pay.

@NovaNaturalist @acb

Show threadschrotthaufen12h ago
@Sanderde Damn, your union must have some real knives out negotiators! @NovaNaturalist @acb
Show threadDave Sanderson 🇨🇦🍁11h ago

@schrotthaufen

Federal government, with dozens of bargaining units. Usually when one negotiates a nice benefit, the rest tag along on their next contracts.

One useful benefit was converting overtime into time off in lieu which I used a lot (they can’t tax time off). That had to be used up each year or paid out, but the regular vacation leave could be carried over year after year.

Show threadschrotthaufen11h ago
@Sanderde Converting overtime into time off is possible in many German companies, too. Very handy, since overtime pay is usually taxed in the highest bracket. PTO carries over, but has to be used in Q1 or you lose it, unfortunately :(
Show threadDave Sanderson 🇨🇦🍁11h ago

@schrotthaufen

Some companies require the PTO must be used or it’s lost. The Executives in the federal government had that where it had to be used by the end of the fiscal year (Q4) which resulted in many taking it just as the next year’s budgets were being drawn up. 🤦🏻‍♂️

The German way of making it in Q1 makes much more sense, like so many things do.

Show threadgroff12h ago
@NovaNaturalist @Sanderde @acb
UK allowance is a minimum of 5.6 weeks paid holiday. It applies to all workers including people on zero-hours contracts, with the paid holiday based on the average hours they work per week.
Show threadHaelwenn /элвэн/ 14h ago
@acb micro-retirement to me should sound more like "Oh yeah, I'm taking 6 months / a year off from career stuff"
Show threadMicke13h ago
@acb yeah I micro-retired for most of April, but since I have some micro-retirement days saved up, I will micro-retire again for most of August.
Show threadschrotthaufen12h ago
@acb Oh absolutely. They’re just trying to shame young Americans into the grindset the capitalist class so mind bogglingly successful imposed since generations. They realized that young people saw through the hollow promise of the American dream, and so they try shaming, and guilt trips. And of course they know exhausted workers have less energy to organize. Can’t let the strangling grip of control slip now, can they?
Show threadJP22h ago
@acb No. No they are not.
Show threadSally Strange13h ago
@daedalus @acb not even a little bit
Show thread64 Islands Aroha Cooperative22h ago
@acb "i took a micro-sabbatical to go to the dentist the other day, and i'm still trying to catch up!"
Show threadBob LeFridge  21h ago

I took a nano-retirement to use the loo this morning, but I don't think anyone noticed.

@airshipper @acb

Show thread64 Islands Aroha Cooperative21h ago
@BobLefridge @acb oh heck, i retire to the loo every day 🤷
Show threadSimon 🐮21h ago
@airshipper @BobLefridge @acb I just finished an involuntary 5-week retirement
Show threadfluffy moth cassie17h ago

Dystopian as it is, where i work we do actually have to clock out for restroom breaks

@airshipper @BobLefridge @acb

Show threadfraggLe!21h ago
@acb This shit is why I've been telling my kid that the most important skill their generation can learn is the proper operation of a guillotine
Show thread@ NovaNaturalist🇨🇦🇩🇰🇬🇱🇵🇦🇲🇽🇱🇸🇳🇫🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈 #FBPE20h ago
@fwaggle @acb 💯
Show threadculpaplex19h ago
@fwaggle @acb A growth industry that's curiously also a shrinking industry.
Show threadDigital Mark λ ☕️ 🕹 🙄21h ago

@acb FastCompany has never been OK.

Most of us know what vacations are, and take them more often than FC thinks. You've fallen for clickbait.

Show threadMaddler  21h ago
@acb they're definitely not! Clearly.
Show threadOliver D. Reithmaier21h ago
@acb they haven't been for some time methinks
Show threadjustin20h ago
@acb It would be interesting to know what hangs off the colon in "However, it's not just Gen-Z:" (At a guess it's GPT''s standard "That's a rare insight" and a "Keep asking me stuff" chaser
Show threadKeira (She/Her)20h ago

@acb surely this is just something the writers are doing (making up silly new names for things) to generate engagement?

I'm imagining a pool in the office to see who can come up with the silliest re-naming.

Like when tech bros pretended they'd invented eating, exercise and sleep with "biohacking"

Show threadAsozialesNetzwerk Sektion Köln19h ago
@keira_reckons Yes, but the fact that you can even generate engagement by giving a name to taking a week or two off every 12-18 months still says a lot about the state of work in the US... @acb