The first ten on today’s playlist:

One of the main reasons I knew what was going to happen with the pandemic before everyone else, other than my sparkling brilliance, is because I was reading Zeynep Tufekci long before the disease struck. And I like that she’s calling coup now that she was proven completely correct:

In large part thanks to her wisdom, I was buying supplies and readying for bad times when the people in my office were literally making fun of me for preparing.

Later, they asked me, “But how did you know?” How do you answer such a question? As a rule, people don’t get smarter, and if they do it’s very very slowly. Trying to explain the precautionary principle, risk assessment in dynamic stochastic systems, how exponentials work and all that is going to be impossible. Even 1/10 of that is far beyond the capabilities of most people due to our poor education system and terrible information environment.

At some point we should probably work out why random nerds on the internet seem to have consistently been months ahead of prevailing public health advice in this pandemic.

— Russ Garrett (@russss) January 21, 2021

Because random nerds on the internet like me do things like:

1) Read textbooks for fun. Starting decades ago.

2) Read the actual scientific papers and relevant research, and don’t rely directly on “experts.”

3) Understand the precautionary principle.

4) Understand systems and how to do credible systems thinking.

5) Don’t wait to be told what to do; we just do it.

Biden’s LGBTQ rights executive order and the transphobic backlash, explained.

There are some genuine bigots as part of the trans backlash, sure, but both trans ideology and many liberal’s takes on it is just absurd and obviously false to anyone with half a brain. Most people rightfully don’t buy the idea that biology and sex don’t exist and don’t matter.

Unfortunately, here in the real world, biology is an actual thing and sex differences are also real. Just because 1 out of 2000 people are intersex doesn’t invalidate the truth that there are distinct sexes, just as as the statistic that approximately 1 out of 2000 people are amputees doesn’t nullify the fact most humans have four limbs.

Wishful thinking is just no way to go through life. And that most people are observing trans ideology destroy women’s sports is going to cause the backlash to increase, not lessen.

You seriously believe the difference between this athlete and the others is down to 10,000hours? https://t.co/SjE0eJGWYQ

— GuruAnaerobic (@GuruAnaerobic) January 21, 2021

Goddamn she is fast. I know, and I understand why, libs don’t want to believe in the primacy of genetics in such feats and undertakings, but there are no conditions that someone with sub-optimal genetics could train to be that fast.

This is true to various degrees in all areas, including the intellectual. It’s just how the universe is. Another unfortunate but true feature of this one.

When someone says you are difficult, I think that means they wanted something from you and you said no.

Exactly. The many times in my life I have been called “difficult,” it’s been because I wouldn’t do some harebrained thing that some dipshit thought I should do to help him/her out, or follow some bad advice that would lead to calamity.

But to quote the philosopher dev09, “If I followed your advice, I’d be where you’re at.”

me, in 2000: man, i wish people wouldn't break the back button

me, in 2021: man, i wish the ad-driven corporate surveillance firms weren't so complicit in war crimes

— tef (@tef_ebooks) January 18, 2021

We all thought the future would be cooler.

In that way, I miss the 90s. We were all so hopeful, about so many things.