reader_x

Love this story.

On this read, I noticed Multivac answers 7x adding a few more words, maybe to imply progress toward its final answer:

INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER.

INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER.

THERE IS INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER.

THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER. (4x)

LET THERE BE LIGHT!

The librarians I know are adamant about keeping private the records of what patrons have checked out or searched. I don’t know the history you refer to, where library records were used to identify certain sections of society. Where can I read more about that?

I lived and worked in Oregon in the early 90s, and this is huge news. I’ll admit I’d gradually let cynicism overtake hope this outcome was possible. Now on East Coast, interesting to me that I’m first reading about this from BBC News and not US east coast media, which I believe has never appreciated the scale or importance of these land use decisions.

Last month while cleaning out a relative’s house, I made my first trip to a metal scrap yard. I had fishing weights (lead), old copper pipes, rolls of electrical wire, broken aluminum chairs - and street signs. I assumed the scrap yard would reject the street sign since, if they would accept it, why wouldn’t people steal them routinely? To my surprise they accepted everything, asked no questions nor asked for ID, and paid cash. The incentives here are clear. Maybe it’s the point of sale that needs closer scrutiny since police can’t guard all the light poles 24/7.

If tugboats had been attending Dali, would they have had enough thrust to correct Dali’s course when it lost power?

The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service could use his skills immediately and his peers there would appreciate and enjoy his skills.

I hope the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service hires Surdy asap.

How much plastic in the ocean gyres might be our supposedly recycled plastic?

Has anyone audited this by putting a few GPS-tracked plastic bottles into the recycling stream to see how many went to landfills or incinerators vs. being dumped in the ocean on the way to alleged recycling?

A cartography professor of mine once advised me to take another career path because cartography was dying; he added, “Google Maps has terrible maps- but no one seems to care.” It heartens me to see in HN comments that some are noticing. A pet peeve of mine is when water bodies go unlabeled. An old-fashioned paper map like the kind inserted in National Geographic mags when I was wee included a breathtaking amount of information, but that requires careful design so element labels don’t overlap etc.

A municipality is run by a group of individuals elected by other individuals, whereas you have framed your housing policy proposal as if pitching to a dictator.

Imagining how we might govern unfettered by frustrating negotiations with others is fun but dangerous.

How? Say more please!

I love the resume itself: the non-fussy font, wording, and layout is refreshingly straightforward. It makes me want to take your dad to lunch and hear all his stories. My grandfather piloted a B-29 in 1945, and his brother was an early computer scientist; maybe their paths overlapped. Warm regards to your dad!

If I could take you all to the pub, I would, because you are fun to talk to and listen to. But I can’t.

I go to the pub with other people and enjoy their company, but many of them don’t find interesting the kinds of things discussed on HN. At times, that makes me feel lonely in a crowd, Which is why I also come to HN.

Yes we are friends, but if I did not also have the pub friends I would feel lonely.

While post leads with “the White House is pushing…” in fact the report was requested by Congress:

“In the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy […] was directed by Congress to develop a five-year – “scientific assessment of solar and other rapid climate interventions in the context of near-term climate risks and hazards.” /1

1/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/legal/

I point this out so those with concerns can direct letters to all relevant actors.

In my experience two hurdles thwart honest conversations on this topic: 1.) Euphemisms- A social worker once told me that incontinence is frequently when families feel they can no longer keep an elderly person at home. It’s rough to talk about and to deal with. 2.) Guilt- Barring dementia, old people get to make choices, including bad ones, but adult children often take away those choices because they will feel guilty “if something happens.” Use the Golden Rule: it WILL be us soon.

Having said that, I have no answers and try never to judge. Every situation is unique.

Excellent article and interview.

Jack London helped me see how those in control (here the New Orleans owners of enslaved people, the merchants, and/or the politicians—author says many were all 3) would likely respond to an event (including disease) so as to preserve their own position and then claim that as moral and scientific:

In The Iron Heel, referring to owners of northern factories with child labor and other ghastly working conditions, Jack London wrote,

“When they want to do a thing, in business of course, they must wait till there arises in their brains, somehow, a religious, or ethical, or scientific, or philosophic, concept that the thing is right. And then they go ahead and do it, unwitting that one of the weaknesses of the human mind is that the wish is parent to the thought.“

I try to stay personally vigilant in remembering how my mind can trick me this way. The trick works in so very many contexts.

Maybe regret (about the past) and worry (about the future) are similar because they serve to deflect one’s attention from the here and now.

Trust that your past self chose as best they could then, and have compassion for that past self. Those experiences gave you skills and perspective you can use now.

I have found that big changes can be good, but never underestimate the power of marginal changes too. Walk instead of drive, go out a different exit, ask someone to lunch, try the random thing on menu, stay up later or get up earlier, try the book on the Librarian’s Choice table.

Re:long term costs for maintenance, seems like there should be a secondary market for 3D-printing replacement knobs, buttons, and related parts. No inventory needed. Especially if the knob designers had that in mind at the outset.

I second EconTalk, hosted by Russ Roberts. I especially like his episodes with Michael Munger (a regular guest, like 42x).

From a vegetarian perspective, turning meat into sausage, paste (pate) and other goo is also pretty weird. So weird, in fact, that it gets compared to legislating and the trope is: no one needs to see either made because it’s just too unsettling.

Some meat-eaters get bored of meat in its original form so process it into something else tasty - and likewise some vegetarians.

Anecdote here, but my friend who is an anesthesiologist (MD) says:(1) anesthesiologists know exactly who the good and bad surgeons are (they see the outcomes and also must manage fluid loss), and (2) bedside manner by surgeons has no correlation to good surgical technique so patients have no idea.

They also say, "Each of our drones can plant over 40,000 seed pods per day“ - so putting these numbers together, does this mean they’ve so far done <2 days of work?

The book Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke imagined a world where technological advances allowed more free time — and for a few centuries humans became artists, poets, etc.

The book fascinated me as a kid; as an adult I notice I tend to keep working when I objectively know I could log off and sculpt or paint instead. On a personal level, it’s hard to switch mental gears. Inertia happens in society too.

I suspect we generally undervalue our finite actual and potential free time. Unlike in Childhood’s End, though, long term stability is not yet assured for us. It would probably take centuries (as Clarke implied) of stable abundance for societies to adjust and establish new norms based on it.

The article left me wondering, how many of these endemic pathogens are treatable? If they aren’t treatable, it makes sense for doctors not to routinely test for them. (Basic research to find new treatments is another matter.)

My 14yo daughter came home from binging 80s movies with friends and wistfully told me, “I wish I’d grown up in the 80s.” I said, “Why??” She said, “Because everything was a lot like it is now, but no smartphones.”

As a consumer, I find string light packaging almost useless to estimate (1) lifespan until it breaks, or (2) possibility I can repair it when it does —therefore I hesitate to spend more than I have to on the theory that at any price I’m lucky if string lasts more than 2-3 seasons.

Surely they can be repurposed? I’m thinking something architectural, like half-buried on the diagonal to create shade; Or handrails on a pedestrian bridge.

This is a beautifully written piece, appreciate the post.

A friend who recently moved out of NYC after decades just told me the city is becoming “like Dubai.” This article’s comparison of new buildings to the Empire State Bldg and WTC, which suggests lack of shared iconography, are I think what he meant.

I haven’t been to NYC for >8 years now, wondering if others agree with his assessment? Is it just that the new skyline is new and over time will become part of the New York iconography? Or is there something else keeping them from being loved by New Yorkers?

I agree, there was the adrenaline at first.

Plus, pandemic made my work suddenly WFH on a project already underway, with coworkers I already knew, so we went into it with momentum, perhaps even greased by being suddenly free of meetings, brown bags, time taken forever birthday celebrations down the hall, etc.

Gradually, however, those projects finished and new began. Yet, those new projects lacked the momentum. The toll of zero socializing crept up.

Then, 8 months into pandemic, I started a new job at new company. Onboarding 100% remote. Have never met new coworkers in person. I definitely feel I’m flying blind, that coworkers don’t really understand what the others work on. But the corrosion is subtly happening at just about the speed of rust.

I miss the meetings, the brown bags, the casual chats in the hall, the conversation at lunch that make unexpected connections or spark ideas.

My takeaways: 1. WFH isn’t static; effect changes over time as projects turn over and new employees onboard. 2. The organizational effect of the difference between 100% vs. 75% WfH, as compared to 75% vs 50% WFH is NOT = 25%; some other logarithmic scale of corrosiveness is resulting as we move to higher % WFH. Personally, I think I’d be most productive at 50% WFH (2-3 days per week).

(PS-none of above relates to trying to WFH with kids; that’s just impossible and a completely different topic.)

Remote work productivity mid-pandemic won’t necessarily translate post-pandemic because in the pandemic the other ways we could spend our time were so limited. In contrast, right mow I could be at the gym, having a long lunch with a friend, doing errands… The new freedom and temptation to do those things will gradually undermine the remote option, until bosses finally tire of the cat and mouse and everyone must go back to their cubicles.