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Green Building Bible, Fourth Edition
Green Building Bible, fourth edition (both books)
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  1.  
    I'm looking to reduce my hours in work from 37 over 5 days to 30 over 4 days in order to spend extra time with my 7 month old baby while the partner sets up her bridal shop.

    Out of interest, anybody else do something similar and what do you find works/is optimal for a good work life balance?
    • CommentAuthorGarethC
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2016
     
    I'm always extremely jealous of colleagues working 4 day weeks. A 50% increase in weekend for only a 20% decrease in working week. Seems an amazing deal and much better balance if you can do it.
    •  
      CommentAuthorfostertom
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2016
     
    Nice way of putting it.

    What kind of work do you do, VE? Makes a big difference to the answer.
  2.  
    Assistant Maintenance officer in the Council, housing inspections and deal with community centres, libraries etc.

    But in my part time I do what is know as 'matched betting', this is actually more profitable than my work when I have time to do it which was the catch 22. Job security is also worth a fair bit hence why I haven't left the Council with 2 young children, the flexi time, holiday pay, minimal stressload etc is worth more to me than outright salary right now.
    •  
      CommentAuthorSteamyTea
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2016
     
    One meeting at the Job Centre, once a fortnight.

    when I ran a factory, I introduced a 4 day week, cut the hours to 37.5 from 40. Pointed out that they only had to pay for 4 days travel, 4 lunches (most used the sandwich van) and they get an extra day off (Friday).
    There was terrible reluctance at first.
    • CommentAuthorEd Davies
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2016
     
    I've heard baboons work 15 hours a week (collecting food, making nests, and so on). Seems about right to me - until we get back to about that level we're doing it wrong.

    Trouble is, baboons spend most of the rest of their waking time making each other miserable establishing dominance and what have you. So, not that much different from us, really.
    •  
      CommentAuthorfostertom
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2016 edited
     
    When things were (or still are) going well (i.e the ecosystem they're embedded in is functioning without catastrophic disturbance, i.e. most of the time), hunter-gatherers would 'work' (i.e. do the necesary to sustain life) about 1 day in 8.

    Anthropological research shows that humans in such situation are extremely egalitarian/cooperative, not competitive/egoistic as baboons sound like. Ritual (religion?) is an ever-present part of doing everything, due to universal, unavoidable awarenes of being part of nature.
    •  
      CommentAuthordjh
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2016
     
    Posted By: Ed DaviesI've heard baboons work 15 hours a week (collecting food, making nests, and so on). Seems about right to me - until we get back to about that level we're doing it wrong.

    I read an article yesterday that said some professor believes that our large brain size is due to our invention of cooking. Apparently a gorilla has a brain 1/3 the size of ours (in terms of neuron count) and has to spend 8 hours a day eating to fuel its body and brain. Cooking allows us to radically reduce the time we spend eating and so allowed us to develop larger brains.

    Given that context, I'm surprised baboons spend as little as 2 hours a day.

    (see e.g. http://www.livescience.com/24875-meat-human-brain.html )
    •  
      CommentAuthorfostertom
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2016
     
    Why should cooking compress the time needed for eating? Heating above 40C destroys much nutrient, so you need lots more, to get enough.
    • CommentAuthorEd Davies
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2016
     
    Somewhat higher numbers but in the same general area:

    http://news.stanford.edu/news/2007/march7/sapolskysr-030707.html

    "The reason baboons are such good models is, like us, they don't have real stressors," he said. "If you live in a baboon troop in the Serengeti, you only have to work three hours a day for your calories, and predators don't mess with you much. What that means is you've got nine hours of free time every day to devote to generating psychological stress toward other animals in your troop. So the baboon is a wonderful model for living well enough and long enough to pay the price for all the social-stressor nonsense that they create for each other. They're just like us: They're not getting done in by predators and famines, they're getting done in by each other."
    •  
      CommentAuthordjh
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2016
     
    Posted By: fostertomWhy should cooking compress the time needed for eating? Heating above 40C destroys much nutrient, so you need lots more, to get enough.

    You didn't read the link I posted, did you?
    •  
      CommentAuthordjh
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2016 edited
     
    Posted By: Ed DaviesThe reason baboons are such good models

    Ah, according to http://www.indiana.edu/~brainevo/publications/dissertation/Dissertationch2.htm a human has a brain mass of 1300-1400 g, a gorilla ~500 g, and an olive baboon ~ 200 g

    So if a gorilla needs 8 hours of eating, then the baboon would likely need about 3 hours if it was vegetarian, which fits your source, and apparently baboons are 'opportunistic omnivores', which I suppose would slightly reduce their time spent eating.

    edit - actually my calcs are too simplistic. You need to separate out the mass of the animal and calculate tme spent eating for that separately from the time spent eating for the brain, so you can't do a simple ratio in the way that I did. I don't care enough to redo all the calcs though!
    •  
      CommentAuthordjh
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2016
     
    PS but baboons don't have TVs, or cars, or houses to pay for.
    •  
      CommentAuthorfostertom
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2016 edited
     
    Posted By: djhYou didn't read the link I posted, did you?
    True, sorry. I prob accept
    "it is certainly possible to survive on an exclusively raw diet in our modern day, but it was most likely impossible to survive on an exclusively raw diet when our species appeared"
    but "Cooking ... releases more nutrients and calories from both vegetables and meat" is v dubious.
    • CommentAuthormarktime
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2016
     
    What's this? You've been working 37 hours a week, picked our brains for the last two years, refurbed a kitchen, allowed us to part-build a bridal shop and now you want sit back, take time off and earn money by GAMBLING! The horrors! You'll never get to heaven that way.

    "......in order to spend extra time with my 7 month old baby while the partner sets up her bridal shop".

    Ah! All is forgiven. Go for it my son.
    •  
      CommentAuthordjh
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2016
     
    Posted By: fostertombut "Cooking ... releases more nutrients and calories from both vegetables and meat" is v dubious.

    So when I read that comment, I typed 'available calories in raw and cooked food' into google.
    It's a strange world you live in, Tom.

    e.g. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2013/02/have-we-been-miscounting-calories
    • CommentAuthorowlman
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2016 edited
     
    • CommentAuthorgyrogear
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2016
     
    Posted By: djhPS but baboons don't have TVs, or cars, or houses to pay for.


    yes, and most of them are too busy monkeying around to gorilla themselves a chimp hand, see...

    gg

    :shamed:
  3.  
    <blockquote><cite>Posted By: marktime</cite>What's this? You've been working 37 hours a week, picked our brains for the last two years, refurbed a kitchen, allowed us to part-build a bridal shop and now you want sit back, take time off and earn money by GAMBLING! The horrors! You'll never get to heaven that way.

    "......in order to spend extra time with my 7 month old baby while the partner sets up her bridal shop".

    Ah! All is forgiven. Go for it my son.</blockquote>

    not just a kitchen, whole house ;)
    • CommentAuthorJSC
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2016
     
    I work 3-days a week in order to spend 2 of the days with my kids.

    I would not change it for the world.

    They are only young once, and you only get to see it once.

    Best decision I ever made.

    No mention of a baboon, either ???.....
  4.  
    Is that 3 days of normal hours or compressed hours?

    I'm trying to figure out what would be best
    • CommentAuthorJSC
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2016
     
    Its 3 days, working 9-5:30.

    I am careful about managing work, to avoid 5 days of work work being crammed into 3.

    Cramming is not the point in my view, you should have 3 'normal' days of work and then 2 days with the children guilt free; Not on the phone every 50mins answering 'important' queries (that in reality are not important, and could quite happily wait). Everyone knows I work part time (its on all my emails) and 99% of the time it works fine...

    Once your kids are older, and can do 'stuff', its great. My 3yr old loves to cycle and we can easily be out for 3 - 4 hours. You only get this opportunity once
    •  
      CommentAuthorfostertom
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2016
     
    Posted By: djhIt's a strange world you live in, Tom.
    e.g. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2013/02/have-we-been-miscounting-calories
    Well, that looks extremely inconclusive. Anyway it's about a lot mote than raw calories. Numerous important enzymes and mineral compounds are destroyed by heating above 40C. These are needed, so the body asks for more food to make up the deficit.

    owlman, gotta go, but I'll read your interesting 'take' asap.
    •  
      CommentAuthordjh
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2016
     
    Posted By: fostertomNumerous important enzymes and mineral compounds are destroyed by heating above 40C. These are needed, so the body asks for more food to make up the deficit.

    Link to a peer-reviewed paper please, if you want me to stop laughing.
  5.  
    Hmmm I retired at age 43, work harder now than I ever did and have less holidays. Seem's like a good deal from where I sit.
  6.  
    I'm with Gotanewlife except that he made it 2 years earlier than I did. (Grrrr) and like him work harder now than I ever did and have less holidays......or is that really one long holiday cos I'm doing what I want.
    You won't find many self employed working 3 or 4 day weeks when they have their own pensions to fund
    •  
      CommentAuthorSteamyTea
    • CommentTimeAug 13th 2016
     
    "The Devil makes work for idle hands"
    • CommentAuthorGotanewlife
    • CommentTimeAug 13th 2016 edited
     
    Posted By: SteamyTea"The Devil makes work for idle hands"
    Funny, that's what I think every time I see you post :wink:
    • CommentAuthorcjard
    • CommentTimeAug 13th 2016
     
    "less holidays"

    -> fewer holidays

    Fewer is for things you count, less is for things you measure. If I drank less beer, I'd have fewer hangovers


    (Actually don't drink at all - no space in my life for it, doing 40 hours over 4 days, 2 days building and a day with the family. Hoping to get the house finished before child reaches an age where memories stick)
    •  
      CommentAuthorSteamyTea
    • CommentTimeAug 13th 2016
     
    Posted By: cjardchild reaches an age where
    they can buy you a pint :bigsmile:
   
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