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goDel

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Posts posted by goDel

  1. 8 hours ago, apriorion said:

    Man, people are so predictable. I told all my friends about two months ago that this is exactly how things would play out. Level-headed medical professionals would urge us to "flatten the curve", people will collectively give it a shot, conspiracy theories about the man-madeness of the thing would rise (to the point where cabinet officials would promote that stupidity on national television--Pompeo, e.g.), people would get restless and many of them would direct their anxieties on governments/medical professionals/intellectuals, large groups would go out in protests and public gatherings in parks and beaches, they would start demanding reopening. This will continue to get stupider. People have no patience, and cause-and-effect reasoning is difficult when you don't immediately see the cause of the effect. Not being able to see the virus, its airborne qualities, the slight delay of the incubation period: all of these things make it hard for people to be patient. Also, we're talking about something--while 10x or so more dangerous than the flu--is still relatively low on the deadliness scale for the average fuck to care about. These factors taken together make the whole scenario rather predictable. If the death rates were higher, or if the infection were instantaneous and uniform in its symptoms, I would expect more patience for the lockdowns (although I would expect the conspiracy nuts would ramp up their efforts). But with this, it's just nebulous enough to confound the simple-minded public. Putting things in perspective, these people don't represent the majority, sure. But they represent a sizable enough minority (in the U.S. at least) to elect the most ridiculous living embodiment of that '80s businessman from Futurama as president. 

    My point is, if I wanted an easy win in a game of Go, I'd just play against the collective stupidity of these people. 

    Well, yeah. If the bell curve is real, and it is, half of the population is more stupid than the average of stupidity. (Thats me saying that the average is an affront in itself, btw)

    The thing which is new however, is that the people responsible for running the country are basically being lead by these people because they depend on their votes. (And there's a tiny group of rich rightwing fucks who make money by moving the country towards stupidity) I don't think that the people responsible for running things have been following stupid to this extent in the past. Normally, the political process aggregates all kinds of interests using some magical wisdom of the crowd formula. And you'd end up with some ethically and morally sound compromise. Regardless of political color, or ideology.

    The moment when competence is thrown out the window and stupid takes over however...

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  2. yeah. worse even. this time he took a photo of lynch and put his own mouth on top of it. only one time though. right at the end of the first youtube. when he pretends to be lynch being in a creative discussion with frost. it's a bit silly. but if you were able to survive the 4 hour vid, this is a walk in the park

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  3. In case people missed the 4 hour explainer earlier posted in the thread, here's the follow-up. Or rather, two follow uppers. This time a lot shorter though. First one is close to half an hour. And the second one 80 mins or so. Doable. 

    If you were critical, the first one is recommended. ?

     

     

     

    • Like 1
  4. 15 hours ago, sidewinder said:

    Clearly many of us desk jockeys will be working from home for some time longer. But I think a lot of companies are or will be re-evaluating the need for some staff to actually work in the office. Mine included! We just had an extended version of our Monday morning stand-up in which this was announced. We already knew there would be a phased approach to getting folks back in the office, they did a survey asking employees for thoughts and concerns about going back to the office, they've looked at space planning and have been talking to experts, etc. But this morning they specifically said they're re-evaluating WFH policies and may go as far as to suggest that some employees don't come back to the office full time. While fully acknowledging that people will need to get together occasionally as being face to face is beneficial for planning, brainstorming, etc. and some work just requires that along with whiteboards and such. Seems I, along with everyone else on my team, will at least be WFH full time through the summer and then maybe getting some office time in the fall. 

    I have enjoyed the flexibility of being able to WFH when I need or want to with my last 3 jobs over the last 7 years. In the job I left last December, I was WFH too much because our local staff had dwindled to 3-4 and we often found ourselves alone in the office so it was pointless unless we coordinated to go in on the same days. I got tired of WFH so much and not really collaborating with people. So despite the longer commute I had with my new/current job, I enjoyed being back in an office environment. My ass is tired of sitting at home and not moving around as much. I think it's harder to manage anxiety too, with the reduced movement. I'm getting a little claustrophobic. But anyway, I totally understand why we're doing this and why we need to keep doing this. Times is weird and what are you gonna do?

    I think a lot of people are gonna have to buy portable or window AC units in Seattle this summer. Glad I already have one, just haven't set it up in this house yet. 

    I think WFH has changed with this crisis though. The way I read your post, the old WFH was a lonely thing. Which was also my experience. The Corona-WFH is much more collaborative though. Video conferencing has become the norm. Much more than before. And in my experience this can work even better, compared to sitting together in a room.

    For one thing, it's way more easier (or physically possible even) to look at all people in a meeting at the same time. Non-verbal communication in this sense can be way better. You can clearly see whether people are paying attention and whether they agree or not. And the structure of meetings is more clear. It depends a lot on everyone involved though, in terms of discipline. But when done right, a video conference can be way more effective.

    Also, it has brought people closer together, strangely. As you can literally see people in their personal, private space. Without all the nonsense of suits and all that. Physical distance might be bigger, but emotionally I'd argue contact is closer. Another example of this is that I've noticed a lot of women stopped putting on make-up after a while. Don't want to turn this into some sexist rant. Just an observation. I consider this another example of a "professional" shield being dropped, which improves intimacy in an unexpected way, imo. You're looking at a real human being instead of a wall of facial paint.

    Before Corona, when working with people who worked from home, video-conferencing was never an option. We didn't even think about it. We just tried to plan around people being unavailable. Nowadays, people are available. And yes, that makes collaborating an entirely different thing.

    This new WFH though, is basically people trying to reinvent how to keep on collaborating. And it's way more effective than I would have thought before. It's different. But def not worse.

  5. Yeah + i've read the thread psn posted in the meantime.

    I will say though that there's a lot of incompetence in the pictures of those protesters. Even terrorists require to be competent.

    Talking about competence, btw, did the white house create their own excel model to predict the development of the corona virus? Flol

     

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  6. 4 hours ago, zkom said:

    Well, people outside US don't usually actually remember this, maybe because of all the other terrorism that overshadowed it in the 2000s. But I'd guess most people in watmm do.

    Not sure why this is comparable to those fruitcakes protesting with guns for their freedom. Was Timothy McVeigh a regular protester before he decided to blow stuff up? I'm under the impression he wasn't, btw. Happy to be corrected.

    And I'm not saying those people don't exist, right? All I'm saying is that terrorists are probably not the people you'd see at those protests we are talking about. You know, Venndiagrams and logic and such.

     

  7. Sure. No argument there. But gullible people are a danger to themselves. I'm not going to blame him for that. He's not the president of the US of A. He doesn't represent any formal institute.

    It's just his opinion. Or a bit more than that as his techniques have actually been studied in the past. Obviously not for Corona though. 

  8. 17 minutes ago, rhmilo said:

    No one has ever drowned from taking an aspirin though :shrug:

    You sure?

    Seriously though, I kinda like Wim Hof and I actually do think there is value in his breathing methods. But he's a bit goofy. Probably too much oxygen in his brain. ?

  9. 11 hours ago, sweepstakes said:

    Can't hold it anymore, I just have to say - the protestors are consistently well-above-average in ugliness. This "movement" really needs to work on getting some non-inbred-looking people in front of the cameras because they are really enforcing the stereotype.

    White trash. Even white people don't care about white trash.

    I'm tempted to think that the reason they are allowed to protest armed is that they are so fucking incompetent and pathetic. They look like they would hurt themselves first before they can be a danger toward society. 

    They are the saddest kind of terrorist. The incompetent kind you almost feel sorry for. ?

  10. This accusation is going nowhere. I think the comparison with Al Franken is an interesting one.

    To refresh peoples memories: 

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Franken#Sexual_misconduct_allegations

    Quote

    After resigning from the Senate, Franken canceled appointments with close friends and ignored phone calls from others. "It got pretty dark, I became clinically depressed. I wasn't a hundred per cent cognitively. I needed medication", he said.[142]

    Subsequent reporting in 2019 by New Yorker journalist Jane Mayer revealed inaccuracies in Tweeden's allegations. Seven former or current senators who called for Franken's resignation in 2017 told Mayer they now regret doing so. Patrick Leahy said calling for Franken’s resignation without having all the facts was "one of the biggest mistakes I’ve made" as a senator. New Mexico senator Tom Udall said, "I made a mistake. I started having second thoughts shortly after he stepped down. He had the right to be heard by an independent investigative body. I’ve heard from people around my state, and around the country, saying that they think he got railroaded. It doesn’t seem fair. I’m a lawyer. I really believe in due process." Former Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said, “It’s terrible what happened to him. It was unfair. It took the legs out from under him. He was a very fine senator.”[142] Accusations that the forced resignation was unfair were described as a liability to Kirsten Gillibrand's presidential campaign in mid 2019.[143] Gillibrand was accused of doing the damage that the Republicans could not have, given Franken's effectiveness in the Senate. Susie Tompkins Buell, a prominent Democratic fundraiser said that the episode “stained [Gillibrand’s] reputation as a fair player. I do hear people refer to Kirsten Gillibrand as ‘opportunistic’ and shrewd at the expense of others to advance herself, and it seems to have been demonstrated in her rapid treatment of her colleague Al Franken. I heard her referred to as ‘She would eat her own,’ and she seems to have demonstrated that. I know [Gillibrand] thought she was doing the right thing, but I think she will be remembered by this rush to judgment. I have heard [that] some of her women colleagues regret joining her.”[144]

    Looking back on the accusations and his subsequent resignation, Franken has said that he is deeply sorry that he made some women feel uncomfortable and that while he is still trying to understand what he did wrong, he feels that differentiating different kinds of behavior is important. "The idea that anybody who accuses someone of something is always right—that’s not the case. That isn’t reality”, he said.[142]

    In September 2019, a ninth accuser told New York magazine that in 2006 Franken groped her buttock in a photo line at an event for Patty Murray. The unnamed woman, described as a "former staffer who served on Democratic campaigns and works at a large progressive organization", said she hadn't come forward because she feared it would be held against her in her career.[145] In response, Franken told New York, "Two years ago, I would have sworn that I’d never done anything to make anyone feel uncomfortable, but it’s clear that I must have been doing something. As I’ve said before, I feel terrible that anyone came away from an interaction with me feeling bad."[146]

     

    • Like 1
  11. Yeah, you seem fairly critical all right. Again, it's fucking social media. Everything is and can be distorted. Especially clips. We've been here plenty times before. Seeing is believing is a thing of the past on social media. Should be.

    @Mesh Gear Fox

  12. Just keep an open mind, dickhead. Don't jump to conclusions and take things seriously. Nothing wrong with being suspicious. We're not in a direct relationship with the potential victim and basically outsiders dependent on whats in social media. Which is enough to be sceptical. Not about her, but about the messenger itself. 

  13. Belgium is also an interesting example btw. But the assumption is they count their number of deaths more rigorously than others. At least, that's what they say.

    I wasn't aware of the Swedish healthcare system being worse than other Nordics, btw. Generally speaking that is. (ignoring the corona thing) In terms of research and data-collection it's ahead of many countries. So perhaps, there's a Belgian-effect present in their numbers as well.

    Was told that Sweden compared to Denmark is that the Danes are a bit more unhealthy than the Swedes. More smoking and alcohol. And therefore, generally speaking, worse outcomes/higher costs. At least, that's what the Danes told me when I visited them a couple years ago.

  14. 1 hour ago, Mesh Gear Fox said:

    but most people protesting just think the entire thing is a hoax and don't seem to show any concern for the thousands of people losing their lives every day.

    they protest for various reasons. I don't pretend to know which. The idiots on the street are a tiny minority. There's always a group of people who think different is better. We should know ?

    And Elon Musk...is high as a kite. Take that guy with a grain of salt. It's social media...

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