Definitions of new words and concepts I learned with them.
magnitude of an organism’s response, as a function of exposure (or doses) to something after a certain exposure time (also called exposure-response relationship)
a chemical that binds to a receptor and activates the receptor to produce a biological response
offered or consecrated in fulfillment of a vow
From an excellent article on urban design, good and bad.
https://twitter.com/digitalcitizen/status/1214724474236547073
(read “so Showboating”)
Authentic showboating on social media, as in flaunting achievements, rather than just wealth or just showing yourself in a favourable light online (social peacocking) with some mundane effort.
I coined this term for the pun of it, mixing social media, showboating, and just an expression that’s “so showboating” in terms of a response fairly expected from some others. I created it to inspire people to rise above “social peacocking” and flaunt about things really worth flaunting, which are achievements. That’s what I’ll be doing this year on my Facebook posts, which will be far fewer than before because it’s not easy to be achieving everyday or even every second day!
The achievements don’t have to be huge. Maybe I’ll just finish a painting (challenging to a newbie), or finish sewing (and designing) a garment, run a marathon or shorter race, etc. But I’ll be proud of it and flaunt that pride in socialboating on Facebook and other social media.
https://twitter.com/digitalcitizen/status/1214712305184858112
For the sake of fewer individual posts to share all the new vocabulary I am learning, I’ll post out of order to group similar terms for more cohesive posts. I’m keeping track of it all that I’ll share at the end of the year, though, so no worries about me cheating in my counting! 🙂
In fact, I sometimes post the wrong count and only find out upon entering in a spreadsheet that I did, like with “stele” (read sh-TEE-lee, plural Stela) that was tweeted as 014 when it was really 016. You can also check the post counts to verify I am not cheating. 🙂
These terms are from ancient Mesopotamia, though some are still in use today, just not in the same form, obviously.
https://twitter.com/digitalcitizen/status/1214673136827981824
https://twitter.com/digitalcitizen/status/1214715927113162752
I’ve long wondered studying history whether there was a word for this concept where priests ruled. Now I know there is!
https://twitter.com/digitalcitizen/status/1214380458756186114
A pretty cool looking ancient structure, the ziggurat!
https://twitter.com/digitalcitizen/status/1214383117756194818
I haven’t spent a cent yet in this decade, though it’s only been six days. I expect to go at least 9 before I choose to pay for a sewing class at the latest date possible. When that cheque might be cashed may mean I can go longer without spending any money because I intend for that to be the first amount of money I spend this decade.
I’m currently on one of my “spendfast” periods, where I deliberately don’t spend any money. I don’t have a spending problem, but it just makes me slow down the natural tendency most of us have to spend a little money here or there on stuff that we didn’t need to, or wasn’t the greatest value for the money. To prolong the impact of this effect, though, in my customizable daily activities tracker that I shared for others to use a week ago, one thing I’m tracking is % of days when I spend money (outside rent and bills that have to be paid regularly). Spending money on a day rent or a bill is paid counts as a day I spent money, though. It’s only if I don’t spend that day, like the first of the month when I have rent automatically withdrawn, that I can get credit for it.
Meaningful measures are still of only limited impact if they don’t have a target. So what’s my target?
Under 50%.
You might wonder how I came up with that target. Answer is both rational and emotional. Last year, when I didn’t have this goal, I ended up spending money on 73% of days, with it being a pretty average year for spending for me in the past decade. I have filled out finance logs like the one I have on this site for 2 decades to know.
First instinct is easy, beat 73% by going lower. However, I thought that was too easy so came the emotional aspect to aim for less than half the days. Really, I don’t have much I need in life aside from some life sustaining things like food, which I can bundle shop better, and the occasional luxury like said sewing class I am signing up for, with which I can maintain an enjoyable and meaningful life. So the gut reaction was then to have more days where I don’t spend money, than days when I do. Hence, the less than 50% target.
After some consideration, and review of my spending records last year and the year before, I concluded that was realistic with some effort, which is my goal, not to make this some walkover. However, to make it easier, I figure I’d set a ridiculously low average to start via one of my “spendfast” periods I did occasionally, rather than do the first one later, when I might be in trouble with the stats. For example, if I don’t spend anything for 10 days to start, if I then spent at a clip of roughly 75% close to what I did last year, I could do that for a month and still have my average at 50%.
Let’s hope I won’t have to end up there and do another fast out of “necessity” for this goal, rather than optionally on my own terms. I have a feeling with the daily tracker, though, because I’ll be seeing that rate updated everyday, if I start out low, it’s going to stay low out of pride… or at least bragging rights lol.
More seriously, I hope that on the days I do spend, I won’t be going big a lot that would negate the more frequent little spending I engaged in last year. Come back at the end of 2020 and see! 🙂
Would you consider taking up such a challenge with me? For yourself, not necessarily trying to beat me or anyone else? Use your own tracking system or customize the one I shared here.
https://twitter.com/digitalcitizen/status/1214349676008427520
Digital Citizen 