Ways I've avoided studying for finals

Wow, I am totally a guesser, but didn’t know that’s what it was called.  This explains a lot!

bobulate:

Andre Donderi introduced terminology that shows we’re raised in one of two cultures:

In Ask culture, people grow up believing they can ask for anything — a favour, a pay rise — fully realising the answer may be no. In Guess culture, by contrast, you avoid “putting a request into words unless you’re pretty sure the answer will be yes… A key skill is putting out delicate feelers. If you do this with enough subtlety, you won’t have to make the request directly; you’ll get an offer. Even then, the offer may be genuine or pro forma; it takes yet more skill and delicacy to discern whether you should accept.”

Here’s where it gets interesting:

See also:
Peter Drucker compares readers and listeners among others in “Managing Oneself”, 1999

Neither’s “wrong”, but when an Asker meets a Guesser, unpleasantness results. An Asker won’t think it’s rude to request two weeks in your spare room, but a Guess culture person will hear it as presumptuous and resent the agony involved in saying no. Your boss, asking for a project to be finished early, may be an overdemanding boor — or just an Asker, who’s assuming you might decline. If you’re a Guesser, you’ll hear it as an expectation. This is a spectrum, not a dichotomy, and it explains cross-cultural awkwardnesses, too: Brits and Americans get discombobulated doing business in Japan, because it’s a Guess culture, yet experience Russians as rude, because they’re diehard Askers.

Recount some of the stalled questions in your inbox, slow-moving relationships, and confounding exchanges over the past few weeks. There may be Asker and Guesser theory at work.

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roomthily: clint:

The theory behind cul-de-sacs was that they lessened traffic, since they change the primary function of local streets — rather than offering a way to get anywhere, now they simply provide access to private residences.

Sounds great, right? Wrong!

…this design inherently encourages car use, even for the shortest trips. It also limits the growth of communities and transportation options.

They contrast two 1km walks in two neighborhoods in Seattle, Woodingville (cul-de-sacs) and Ballard (typical grid):

The argument that cul-de-sacs increase safety because they limit traffic is also misguided — the more empty and desolate a suburban (and often affluent) street is, the more likely crime is to occur. Also, it’s much harder for emergency vehicles to reach these homes if they’re sequestered in the belly of a web of disconnected dead-ends.

Cul-de-sacs also make your fatter, increase the amount of cars on the road and decrease the amount of people walking and biking!

recent studies by Frank and others show that the higher a neighborhood’s overall walkability, the greater the amount of walking and biking— which means a drop in per capita air pollution, fuel use, and body mass index.