Covid-19 hurts the most vulnerable – but so does lockdown. We need more nuanced debate.
But you wanna kill Grammmmmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaa!
Day: May 16, 2020, 11:53 PM
Way Bye
It’s nice in a way that we’ve having a preview of the “progressive” future of living in the pod, never traveling, and other ascetic horseshit.
Turns out, it’s terrible. Remote video-only conferences suck, not leaving the house is terrible, and their whole desired future is obviously a huge bust. Once this is done a lot of those ideas will have disappeared, never to be heard from again.
Good riddance.
Warmer
Coronavirus Cases in Georgia, Florida Continue to Decline Despite Business Openings.
Weather is warming up. This is not surprising. Maybe to “experts.” About what I expected to happen.
Second wave will start in October-November, depending on latitude.
Disconnect
I was thinking about this great tweet by George and, paradoxically, how one of (many) barriers to people understanding econ/finance is that most people explaining it have a natural acuity for it. It’s easier to explain stuff clearly when you can relate to not understanding it. https://t.co/NKiFAliI6C
— Victoria Guida (@vtg2) May 16, 2020
This is true of math people as well. Most don’t realize they have a natural talent for it, pre-existing ability, and that something that takes them a day to understand might take someone like me months, years, or never.
This disconnect is odd, because math people think basically telling us to “try harder” will somehow make our comprehension coalesce.
Natural talent is not everything, but it can take you a long, long way.
For instance, can you learn to read a foreign language to a fairly ok level in a month? I can! I know because I’ve done it at least 10 times in my life. To most people that’s a fucking superpower but to me it’s just what I do. Seems easy.
So why can’t you do it? Just not trying hard enough, right? Try harder! Just, like, do it! Read that Norwegian, it’s easy! That’s what math people sound like to non-math folks.
The reason I can do it is because I just have a lot of natural capability and talent in that area by chance and accident. And I do not in math. And math people never seem able to understand this.
Pottery
Harry Potter became the best-selling book series of all time by spinning up a world where children belonged, developed skills useful in collaboration with and/or against adults, often knew better than superiors & weren't afraid to try. IMO this subgenre remains largely untapped
— Mason 💦👏 + 😷 + 🏃♂️✂️ (@webdevMason) May 16, 2020
I agree, and I think this largely explains the current “progressive” pushback to the series, not any supposed lack of diversity. That’s just an excuse. What they really hate is its anti-authoritarianism and actual (instead of the current pretend) meritocracy. When I was a kid, I certainly knew better than most of the adults around me. Most of them were actively or passively harming me.
So I know these kids exist because I was one of them. Right now, we keep — well, used to keep — kids in what are essentially prisons, where they do nothing useful, are mostly tortured, learn little of note (or little at all), and contribute nothing to society.
Many people — including most progressives — want it to be this way. Harry Potter pushed back against that. That’s why kids loved it, even if they couldn’t fully articulate the appeal.
Corona Gonna
Interesting mask perspective on being autistic. I feared I would have sensory issues with the mask, but didn’t realize it would be mentally relaxing to not constantly worry about how to compose my face in public. I don’t have to smile or worry I look angry. pic.twitter.com/l13Q8lj9i6
— Janie Larson (@RedQueenCoder) May 15, 2020
I fucking HATE wearing the mask. HATE it. I reliably do it but it decreases my mental acuity and cognitive abilities greatly. I literally cannot make decisions while wearing one. The CO2 buildup must be massive because I cannot think at all while wearing one.
For instance, I stood in front of some products in Publix for about 10 minutes and could not make any decision at all because of the mask. I ended up buying nothing because I could not even think about it.
If mask-wearing continues, that means I will not be able to participate in society at all. I am not the only one who has this problem, either.