[Cyphon]

Woop woop go Apt.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Congratulations! Glad you could air the concerns and get feedback on them in the process.

[Slow Ben]

Attaboy Apt.

[Slow Ben]

Chaperoning my kids Chris party at school today. Wish me luck.

[Malankazooie]

I've always found the shift in routine and normal activity around the two weeks over Christmas and New Year's to a slower pace (and in some cases a halt to normal activity) off putting. It just seems weird to me. But it also is a nice breather and provides some time for recharge and personal stock taking.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

'Around 1970, he turned his attention to the acquisition of reading. In Philadelphia — as in many American cities — there was a problem with kids’ learning to read. Eager to discover why, Rozin parked himself in elementary-school classes and observed something strange: [...] Compared with the vast dictionary of words filed neatly in their brains, mastering an alphabet of 26 letters would seem to be a piece of cake. Instead, it was a crisis. With a collaborator, Rozin devised an experimental curriculum that moved children through degrees of linguistic abstraction by teaching them Chinese logographs followed by a Japanese syllabary, and only then applying the same logic to English. Rozin says the system worked like a dream, but the school’s response was tepid.


“The bureaucracy, the politics — I was overwhelmed,” he said. Nothing about the process of pitching and marketing and lobbying appealed to him. He calculated that it would take years to sell administrators on the curriculum and train teachers to deliver it. Instead, he and a colleague wrote several papers with the findings and walked away. “It’s the right way to teach reading,” he said nearly 50 years later, with a shrug. “As far as I know, nothing happened with it.” At the time, he wondered if maybe some other researchers would run with the idea. But Rozin was done. His mind was elsewhere, percolating on the subject he would become best known for.'

How Disgust Explains Everything - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

If those results hold up, of course there's still time (time enough, perhaps, but too much world)... but I doubt Biden or Trump would be in favor of teaching young children any Chinese.

[Puck]

I am now fully moved in at my new place and finally have internets! It is glorious! Really enjoying the apartment and the area and the landlady is nice, too (and thankfully does not live in the building)

But also: the dude in the apartment above me HAS SHIT TASTE IN MUSIC! How do I know? I can sing along it's so loud. Good thing the bastard only lives here on weekends.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

New law has been proposed: 'Under the bill no person could, “create, cause, or permit the creation of sound emanating from a motor vehicle at a level of five decibels above background level measured from a distance of 25 or more feet.”


That would basically mean if someone 25 feet away can hear noise coming from your car, you would be in violation of the ordinance.


The bill would also create an enforcement procedure using sound-measuring devices coupled with cameras to catch drivers whose cars are radiating excessive noise.


[...] “loud noise emanating from vehicles is a quality-of-life issue that affects the quality of life in neighborhoods.”


Healy added that by using sound meters combined with cameras, the process would be “consistent without direct police involvement.” He added, “This bill strikes the right balance between issuing violations affecting the quality of life in our city, while reducing physical interactions with motorists.”'


[...] The technology exists already, it’s just a matter of awarding a contract once the bill is approved.


[...] they are hoping to expand the use of the cameras to capture vehicles riding on sidewalks or in the wrong direction.'


https://whyy.org/art...cket-in-philly/


Still hasn't gone through yet. In the meantime, some asshole has been parked behind my couch blasting heavy bass music for more than fifteen minutes. Guess they can't play it that loudly wherever they live (assuming they don't live in their car) without getting evicted. Couldn't they find an empty lot or something though?...

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Social media:

'People out here professing love to a Satanist and they don't even realize it... Do your research people ...I loved sweet Old Betty White..til I realized what she is and seen who stands for...GOD IS real..Wake Up

- What did I miss on this one? The only thing I saw her say was drinking the blood of children which was clearly satire.

she was the Head of Deep State... she handled Hollywood

- well I have zero concerns about the deep state now if all they could find was a 99 yr old! At that age, they can't control their bladder much less anything else

it goes so deep

- that's what she screamed'

[Aptorian]

Are you quoting something or did you finally snap?

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Aptorian, on 05 January 2022 - 07:41 PM, said:

Are you quoting something or did you finally snap?

Quoting social media. I was neither interlocutor....

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

'Sales of Maus Soar After a Tennessee School Board Banned the Book

[...] Art Spiegelman's graphic novel about the Holocaust[...] rise in sales came after the [...] School Board [...] voted to remove Maus from its eight-grade curriculum, citing its "inappropriate language" and the inclusion of an illustration of a nude woman. [...] Spiegelman said the ban should be seen as a warning for the future. "It's part of a continuum, and just a harbinger of things to come," [...]"at least one part of our political spectrum [...] seems to be very enthusiastic about" banning books. "This is a red alert. It's not just: 'How dare they deny the Holocaust?'" he added. "They'll deny anything." [...]

[...] A comic book store in Tennessee[...] said it would hand the book for free to every student in the county.'

https://slate.com/ne...an.html?via=rss

As I thought:

'The nude woman is drawn as a mouse. In the graphic novel, Jews are drawn as mice and the Nazis are drawn as cats.'

https://ktla.com/new...chool-district/

The ghost of my cat does object (a little)....

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 31 January 2022 - 12:25 AM

[Tsundoku]

Funny how extreme elements of the left and right sound more and more like each other. And the more they go on about "freedom" the more they want to go all authoritarian and restrict everyone else's.

This post has been edited by Tsundoku: 31 January 2022 - 08:22 AM

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Tsundoku, on 31 January 2022 - 08:22 AM, said:

Funny how extreme elements of the left and right sound more and more like each other. And the more they go on about "freedom" the more they want to go all authoritarian and restrict everyone else's.

'Book challenges really are soaring—and they're not only coming from the right.

The American Library Association office for Intellectual Freedom say they've never had this many people challenging books. This is more than any other time. I feel it's a symptom of the shock that we're going through as society. [...] Social media has exacerbated the problem a lot. [...]

[...] it's not a right-left phenomena. There are many ways the left challenges books, but some don't see challenges the same way. There was a TERF [trans exclusionary] book that showed up, and I watched people argue that libraries shouldn't buy it, saying it spread lies. [...] all sides see certain knowledge as lies. There's one side I agree with more than the other, but the idea that people are unaware of what they're saying, I just don't find that to be true.

What I worry about is that before this new kerfuffle happened, there was a lot of talk in progressive circles about banning hate speech from online platforms. What we see with Maus is why those are such dangerous positions to take. When you say this person shouldn't be allowed to speak because I find their rhetoric hateful or harmful, there's no saying that won't turn back around on you. Of course, you might see your position as rational, but that's just not where we are in our society. Our society is based on white supremacy; do you really want the current Supreme Court to decide what is hate speech or not? And that's what could happen. This Maus thing is very bizarre because are we getting into holocaust denial territory? How do we want stories of the holocaust to be told? But the stand we should take is, what do we want citizens to know? What does it mean to be knowledgeable, to be educated? These are the questions we need to ask. It's bigger than freedom of expression.'

Revealing:

'One [Tennessee school board] member[...] said: "It shows people hanging. It shows them killing kids. Why does the educational system promote this kind of stuff?"

[...] Americans are true believers that education should take place in the home, and that handing children over to strangers for education is somewhat problematic. So giving your children over to strangers, and strangers are teaching about a society rife with white supremacy, you think, "Well, I'm a white person. What is this teacher saying about me?"'

Maus banned: The real reason to be worried about the Tennessee decision. (slate.com)

Not a focus on gas chambers, starvation, or mass executions, but on hangings and killing kids... not the most salient atrocities of the Holocaust, but of (post-emancipation) white supremacy in the US.

Fwiw the past few years have definitely inclined me more towards virtuous / benign authoritarianism (grounded in empirical rationality) and the restriction of freedom of speech. (In theory, a return to the Kantian ideal of freedom of speech combined with regulation of physical action might seem to be enough to foil anti-vaxxers etc., but in practice that speech is going to inspire people to break the law, especially insofar as they think they won't be caught or will consider themselves martyrs. A more complete surveillance state that could also immediately deploy AI smart home systems / robotics / remote electric shocks to curtail behavior might actually allow for more freedom of thought and critique while stopping negative physical behaviors. Robots to restrain people and deliver their vaccinations.) Unfortunately those in political power (whether in democracies or in authoritarian states) tend to privilege partisanship and ideology over empirical rationality---with arguable partial exceptions.

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 31 January 2022 - 07:54 PM

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Moving to Mr Not a Blacksmith's tomorrow.

It's overall completely positive and I'm really excited - but had a huge wobble tonight while doing a big chunk of the packing. It's not as if I'm emptying my flat (we still need to do some work on it before it can go on the market) and will be nipping back regularly, but I guess it's hit me all at once that I won't be living here any more. It's where I came when I got out of the abusive relationship so I've got all sorts of complicated emotions tied up with living here. It was the first place I lived alone and it's become very much "mine" in the last five years. Suspect I'll be fine once we've finished the moving bit, just feels rather emotional at the moment.

[Tiste Simeon]

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 10 February 2022 - 09:04 PM, said:

Moving to Mr Not a Blacksmith's tomorrow.

It's overall completely positive and I'm really excited - but had a huge wobble tonight while doing a big chunk of the packing. It's not as if I'm emptying my flat (we still need to do some work on it before it can go on the market) and will be nipping back regularly, but I guess it's hit me all at once that I won't be living here any more. It's where I came when I got out of the abusive relationship so I've got all sorts of complicated emotions tied up with living here. It was the first place I lived alone and it's become very much "mine" in the last five years. Suspect I'll be fine once we've finished the moving bit, just feels rather emotional at the moment.

And the worst part is that there is no forge at the new place.

[Morgoth]

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 10 February 2022 - 09:04 PM, said:

Moving to Mr Not a Blacksmith's tomorrow.

It's overall completely positive and I'm really excited - but had a huge wobble tonight while doing a big chunk of the packing. It's not as if I'm emptying my flat (we still need to do some work on it before it can go on the market) and will be nipping back regularly, but I guess it's hit me all at once that I won't be living here any more. It's where I came when I got out of the abusive relationship so I've got all sorts of complicated emotions tied up with living here. It was the first place I lived alone and it's become very much "mine" in the last five years. Suspect I'll be fine once we've finished the moving bit, just feels rather emotional at the moment.

I remember that feeling too, from moving from my old apartment. I bought it just after my divorce and it felt like the first step in starting a new life. It was painful to move, but it was also a bit of a joy to know I had found my way past that point to something new.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Some (potentially) good news for the near-term acceleration of automation in the US:

'[...] the Fed wants corporate America to have a hiring freeze[...]

The chorus of those wanting a weaker labor market is getting louder and louder.

[...] As higher wages contribute to inflation, the Federal Reserve appears to agree.

[...] it's the labor market that appears hardest to vanquish.

While supply-chain problems and big price shocks have been easing, "we see no such let-up when it comes to labor cost pressure," [...]

Powell has been focused on the ratio between job openings versus unemployed workers and [...] inflation[...]

[...] job postings need to drop from 11.5 million to around 8 million to get to normalcy.

The only way to get there would be some sort of freeze from companies.'

Why the Fed wants corporate America to have a hiring freeze

Don't fight the Fed,
Automate instead!

OTOH... some of those unable to find jobs will suffer. But in the long run workers will (hopefully) be better off, since the vast majority of jobs are de facto forced labor. Better if people focus on directly improving their lives, their health, and their abilities, rather than working for money and then trying to use that money to improve their lives. The lack of sufficient social safety nets in the US remains a large part of the tragedy....

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 12 May 2022 - 05:25 PM

[Messremb]

Tiste Simeon, on 08 October 2021 - 06:00 PM, said:

Bought a new car that will fit twins & toddler better than our old one would have done (because it wouldn't have fit them really)

This is undoubtedly good and the car is lovely but we've had to take finance out and this isn't long after we finished paying the finance on the last one. We can afford it but it felt nice to have the extra money...

Twins rule, congratulations! We went with a big 7-seater Zafira to fit buggy and assorted baby junk and I downsized to a little efficient bug for my commute. No finance thank goodness.

[Tiste Simeon]

Messremb, on 07 September 2022 - 09:34 AM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 08 October 2021 - 06:00 PM, said:

Bought a new car that will fit twins & toddler better than our old one would have done (because it wouldn't have fit them really)

This is undoubtedly good and the car is lovely but we've had to take finance out and this isn't long after we finished paying the finance on the last one. We can afford it but it felt nice to have the extra money...

Twins rule, congratulations! We went with a big 7-seater Zafira to fit buggy and assorted baby junk and I downsized to a little efficient bug for my commute. No finance thank goodness.

Yes it's a lifesaver tbh we went for the Seat Alhambra and it's really good for dumping all sorts of junk that come with having kids haha