CONLOQVIVM

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Joonas Ilmavirta

08:29

@Adam The scope of 'always' is indeed a bit vague...

@cmw That's a great way of putting it! Feynman was quite a miracle in his ability to explain. That was the best non-answer I have heard in a while.

@SebastianKoppehel To me these 'why' questions behave the same in natural science and linguistics. The nature does what it happens to do and owes us no explanation. Our attempts to make sense of it are secondary.

Neil deGrasse Tyson often says that the universe is under no obligation to make sense to us. Accepting that should be step one of scientific literacy.

@Adam Sounds interesting! Did you see this transition coming from afar, or is there an element of surprise?

The US vacations are tiny compared to Europe, but at least my efficiency goes way down if breaks are dropped. I wish you guys had more time off.

4 hours later…

Canned Man

12:43

Quick question: I see that several translator translate ‘Mē ipse cōnsōlor’ with something like ‘I console myself’, ‘I comfort myself’. Why is it not ‘Mē ipsum cōnsōlor’?

The only explanation I could find:

Ipse is often in nominative as an apposition to the subject of the sentence when this is doing an act upon itself.

Is this a correct interpretation? Ipse is referencing the subject of the verb, not the object (mē) of the verb.

cmw

13:23

@CannedMan I don't know what translators you're looking at, but if this isn't a mistake, then ipse here is denoting the subject: I myself console myself.

@CannedMan You are correct. Ipse cannot be the object, because it's nominative. It is a weird phrase, though, but maybe more context would help clarify the meaning.

Canned Man

13:42

It is from Cicero’s Dē amīcitiā 10.

Sed nōn egeō medicīnā: Mē ipse cōnsōlor, et maximē illō sōlāciō, quod eō errōre careō quō amīcōrum dēcessū plērīque angī solent.

Adam

@JoonasIlmavirta It's fairly natural as I started taking on that type of work after joining the team.

@JoonasIlmavirta How many days of vacation is average per year there? As salary employees, we get "unlimited" PTO. I don't really like that term because nothing is truly unlimited, but it's much more generous than most jobs here.

I think I average around 12 - 15 days of PTO scattered across the whole year, but I don't take a lot of days off compared to others.

Canned Man

@cmw I think I would rather read it as ‘I console myself.’

Joonas Ilmavirta

14:37

@Adam Growing into a position does indeed sound much better than being thrown into one.

Adam

@JoonasIlmavirta Definitely! Mostly I just want to be doing something valuable that is engaging and a good use of whatever skills I have.

Joonas Ilmavirta

@Adam About six weeks, so maybe 30 days per year. And there are some national holidays that fall on any which day that are free for all. Perhaps 35 in total would be a fair guess.

@Adam That's a good driving force to have, as opposed to mere career goals or money or status.

Adam

@JoonasIlmavirta I have some coworkers who have already taken about 30 PTO days so far in the year; I think they will end up with something nearer to 45 or more by the close of the year. They're definitely the exception and not the rule, though.

Joonas Ilmavirta

@CannedMan Perhaps even "it is I who consoles me".

@Adam At least three full consecutive weeks off work every year does refresh you quite a bit. I require that of those who work for me, whether they formally have the days or not.

Adam

15:34

@JoonasIlmavirta I don't like taking too many days off in a row because I have a hard time adjusting to my return. I actually prefer to take off small amounts of time with greater frequency.

Joonas Ilmavirta

16:14

@Adam Suum cuique! As long as you feel refreshed and not a slave to your work, it's good. I have colleagues with different preferences, but everyone seems to agree that maximizing hours doesn't maximize results.

Adam

@JoonasIlmavirta One of the best things to happen in our org was the introduction of "flexible work weeks", aka "four day work weeks"

Huge impact for work-life balance.

2 hours later…

Joonas Ilmavirta

18:10

@Adam That's great! I got the impression that that's far more common in the technology industry than elsewhere, though. Perhaps they've learnt not to measure results in hours.

Adam

@JoonasIlmavirta Maybe? It does make work days a little busier and more hectic, but that's a tradeoff I would make any day.

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