tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14511648210264629942024-03-14T18:57:05.015+09:00yellowdoorknobMasyhurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120142510202386489noreply@blogger.comBlogger284125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1451164821026462994.post-29337715886362568382024-02-27T12:28:00.000+09:002024-02-27T12:28:12.510+09:00We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"My story from birth?" Odette Nyiramilimo said.<br />"Do you really have time for that?"<br />I said I had time. (p63)</blockquote>
Odette was talking to Philip Gourevitch, an American journalist who was traveling around the world doing different stories. This book is what comes out of his travels to Rwanda over the course of three years. At almost 400 pages long, it is laden with harrowing accounts of the 1994 genocide. I knew I would need time to digest this book. I had time.<br />
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Gourevitch opened the book with his visit to Nyarubuye, asking himself why he would want to do that. I realized he was preempting my question; I was asking myself whether my decision to read this book meant that I was objectifying the genocide victims for my voyeurism.<br />
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"I stepped up into the open doorway of a classroom. At least fifty mostly decomposed cadavers covered the floor. Macheted skulls had rolled here and there. The dead looked like pictures of the dead. They did not smell. They had been killed thirteen months earlier, and they hadn't been moved. </blockquote>
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I had never been among the dead before. What to do? Look? Yes. I wanted to see them, I suppose. I didn't need to see them. I already knew, and believed what had happened in Rwanda.</blockquote>
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I presume that you are reading this because you desire a closer look, and that you, too, are properly disturbed by your curiosity. Perhaps you hope for some understanding—a moral, or a lesson. But when it comes to genocide, you already know right from wrong. The best reason I have come up with for looking closely into Rwanda's stories is that ignoring them makes me even more uncomfortable about existence and my place in it. The horror, as horror, interests me only insofar as a precise memory of the offense is necessary to understand its legacy." (p15-16, 19, abridged.)</blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442723264i/11472.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442723264i/11472.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><b>Drivers and Powers</b><div><br /></div><div>But what drove Rwanda to genocide? Scholars tend to agree that Hutus and Tutsis cannot be properly called distinct ethnic groups. Hutus and Tutsis spoke the same language, followed the same religion, intermarried, intermingled (p47).<br />
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Still, there was an old difference between the two groups: Hutus farm and Tutsis herd cattle. Cattle are more valuable, so Tutsi became synonymous with the elite class. When a Tutsi chief (Rwabugiri) ruled precolonial Rwanda in the 19th century, this stratification accelerated. Hutus began to be defined by whatever Tutsis were not, even if no one can really tell the two apart.<br />
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Then came the Europeans. This being the heyday of eugenics, "scientists" were too ready to propound baseless hypothesis that exaggerate minutiae physical differences as a divine ordinance towards class structures. One of them was John Speke, who propounded the biblical myth that the Tutsis descended from Ham-son-of-Noah who came from Abyssinia/Ethiopia, and this made them "the superior race" to the native Negroid.<br />
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When Germany set up its administrative posts in Rwanda after the death of Rwabugiri, the feuding Tutsi elites used their support to pursue their interests and further subjugates the Hutus. Then when Belgium won Rwanda as a spoil of World War I from the German, the Belgians made the Hutu-Tutsi polarization the basis of their colonial rule. The Hamitic myth served them well. In 1934 the Belgians issued identity cards that label Rwandan as either Hutu (85%) or Tutsi (14%). This allowed them to administer an apartheid state that shuts out Hutus' opportunities for advancement.<br />
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When Rwanda gained independence, the overthrow of colonialism also brought down the Tutsis. The Hutu intellectuals "argued for democracy not by rejecting the myth but by embracing it. If Tutsis were foreign invaders, then Rwanda was by rights a nation of the Hutu majority." (p58) This led to a bloody revolution in 1959, which was a precursor to the 1994 genocide.<br />
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In discussions of us-against-them scenarios of popular violence, the fashion these days is to speak of mass hatred. But while hatred can be animating, it appeals to weakness. The "authors” of the genocide, as Rwandans call them, understood that in order to move a huge number of weak people to do wrong, it is necessary to appeal to their desire of strength—and the gray force that really drives people is power. Hatred and power are both, in their different ways, passions. The difference is that hatred is purely negative, while power is essentially positive: you surrender to hatred, but you aspire to power. (p 128)</blockquote>
Link to the book on Goodreads: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11472.We_Wish_to_Inform_You_That_Tomorrow_We_Will_Be_Killed_with_Our_Families">here</a>. This note was originally written in 2018.</div>Masyhurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120142510202386489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1451164821026462994.post-73176279809182999222023-10-27T01:01:00.007+09:002023-10-27T01:01:59.601+09:00Internet Reading Q2-Q3 20231. Environment, Nature, and Human Biology <div><br /></div><div>Look, I get it. <a href="https://dynomight.net/aspartame/">Aspartame is a weird synthetic molecule</a> that’s 200 times sweeter than sucrose. It’s normal to have a prior that aspartame might be bad for you. The thing is, the alternative to aspartame often isn’t no aspartame but rather sugar or corn syrup or even perhaps even alcohol.</div><div><br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://birdhistory.substack.com/p/how-robins-got-their-name">How Robins Got Their Name</a> </li><li><a href="https://nintil.com/telomeres/">Telomeres</a>: everything you always wanted to know </li><li>Overview - <a href="https://exfatloss.substack.com/p/overview">experimental fat loss</a> substack </li><ul><li>Strictly speaking <a href="https://exfatloss.substack.com/p/a-tale-of-two-caloric-deficits">CICO is a tautology</a> </li><li>and: Running a <a href="https://exfatloss.substack.com/p/losing-43lbs-in-144-days-on-ex150-diet">series of experiments</a> to arrive at a "magical" fat loss diet </li></ul><li>Can we <a href="https://www.freethink.com/energy/burning-iron">burn metal</a> for heat, instead of fossil fuels? </li><li>The world's infrastructure was built for a <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/08/11/climate-change-critical-infrastructure-heat-flood-energy-transportation-housing/">climate that no longer exists</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.currentaffairs.org/2023/07/climate-optimism-is-dangerous-and-irrational">‘Climate Optimism’ Is Dangerous and Irrational</a> </li><li>How Many Dinosaurs <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-many-dinosaurs-remain-undiscovered-180982560/">Remain Undiscovered</a>? </li><li>How <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/jun/05/yvette-yaa-konadu-tetteh-how-ghana-became-fast-fashions-dumping-ground">T-shirts donated to charity</a> are causing pollution in Ghana </li><li>When Nate Johnson — a former Grist journalist — felt his passion for writing start to wane, he found a new direction. Now, instead of writing about the need to electrify everything, <a href="https://grist.org/temperature-check/nate-johnson-journalist-electrician/">Nate is doing that work himself</a>. </li><li>The <a href="https://nautil.us/the-paradox-of-the-radioactive-boars-376225/">wild boars of Bavaria</a> are too dangerous to eat. They are radioactive. </li><li>The world’s <a href="https://nautil.us/save-this-stinking-flower-405271/">largest and smelliest flower</a> teeters on extinction. </li><li>Fiberglass revolutionized boating, but decades later, discarded and degraded vessels are adding to marine pollution [<a href="https://hakaimagazine.com/features/the-problem-with-boatings-high-fiberglass-diet/">Hakai Magazine</a>] </li><li>Bishop Tutai Pere said in a speech at the <a href="https://hakaimagazine.com/features/when-deep-sea-miners-come-a-courting/">seabed exploration license</a> award ceremony that it would be a sin to leave the nodules on the seabed. </li><li>Make carbon-free electricity cheaper, by any means necessary. When it comes to <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/10/10/20904213/climate-change-steel-cement-industrial-heat-hydrogen-ccs">industrial heat</a>, which is so complicated — where CCS may be the best short-term expedient — it still remains true that falling clean power costs make everything easier in the long term. </li><li><a href="https://scottlocklin.wordpress.com/2023/10/09/paleontology-and-fungi/">Fungi are weird</a>. One of the more interesting theories about fungi are that they ended the carboniferous period. </li><li>Fossil Fuel Power Plants <a href="https://www.distilled.earth/p/fossil-fuel-power-plants-kill-35x">Kill 35x More Birds Than Wind Turbines</a> - One of the most effective ways to protect birds is to transition away from fossil fuels </li></ul>
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2. Tech and the Internet <br /><br /><a href="https://erinkissane.com/meta-in-myanmar-full-series">Meta in Myanmar</a> (full series): Erin Kissane did a lot of reading and writing about the role of Meta and Facebook in the genocide of the Rohingya people in Myanmar. These are what emerged from that work. </div><div><br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/04/isim-vs-esim-vs-sim-the-constantly-shrinking-ways-carriers-id-your-phone">iSIM vs eSIM vs SIM</a>: The constantly shrinking ways carriers ID your phone </li><li>The Internet Isn’t Meant To Be <a href="https://defector.com/the-internet-isnt-meant-to-be-so-small">So Small</a> (the way Instagram promotes reels, and reposted tweets and TikToks.) </li><li><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/science/annals-of-artificial-intelligence/will-ai-become-the-new-mckinsey">Will A.I. Become the New McKinsey?</a> As it’s currently imagined, the technology promises to concentrate wealth and disempower workers. Is an alternative possible? By Ted Chiang </li><li><a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/20/23689570/activitypub-protocol-standard-social-network">Can ActivityPub save the internet</a>? </li><li>Our communities are defined by the worst things that we permit to happen. What we allow tells the world who we are. <a href="https://medium.com/humane-tech/the-immortal-myths-about-online-abuse-a156e3370aee">Eight Myths about Online Abuse</a> by Anil Dash </li><li>We need to <a href="https://rachelcoldicutt.medium.com/on-understanding-power-and-technology-1345dc57a1a">stop normalising credulity when people with power and money and fancy titles say extraordinary things</a>. When I went to Hinton’s Q&A, he spoke with ease and expertise about neural nets, but admitted he knows little about politics or regulation or people beyond computer labs. These last points garnered several laughs from the audience, but they weren’t really funny. </li><li><a href="https://medium.com/@emilymenonbender/thought-experiment-in-the-national-library-of-thailand-f2bf761a8a83">Thought experiment in the National Library of Thailand</a> </li><li>Everything Must Be <a href="https://www.raptitude.com/2022/01/everything-must-be-paid-for-twice/">Paid for Twice</a>. The first price is usually paid in dollars. The second price is the effort and initiative required to gain its benefits. </li><li>Mastodon is easy and fun <a href="https://erinkissane.com/mastodon-is-easy-and-fun-except-when-it-isnt">except when it isn’t</a> by Erin Kissane </li><li><a href="https://erinkissane.com/the-affordance-loop">The affordance loop</a> by Erin Kissane </li><li><a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/22/23803538/google-facebook-myspace-internet-culture-web-dot-com-crash">What would the internet of people look like now?</a> by Elizabeth Lopatto </li><li><a href="https://www.theverge.com/c/23558791/goodnight-phone-comic-interactive-gina-wynbrandt">Goodnight Phone</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.theverge.com/23802382/search-engine-google-neeva-android">Neeva</a>: The little search engine that couldn’t </li><li>Musk has gone from dreaming very, very big to seeming very, very small. <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/1/23895069/walter-isaacson-biography-musk-review">In the hands of a talented biographer, this kind of tragic story would provide rich material</a>. </li><li>These days, I don’t travel much <a href="https://one.compost.digital/sacred-servers/">to sacred wells in distant places. Instead, I spend a lot of time online</a>. Too much time. It’s a place profoundly unquiet, a pummeling noise and a rush of information that leaves me feeling both hyped up and melancholy. I don’t enjoy it as much as I used to, but it’s a place that is hard to stop visiting. </li><li>When the pandemic erupted, the world shifted to remote work. As a precaution, some Internet providers scaled back service, although that probably wasn’t necessary as they were generally able to cope with the surge caused by teleworking (and binge-watching Netflix). That’s because most of their networks were overprovisioned, with more capacity than they usually need. But is overprovisioning the only way to ensure resilience? -- <a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/peer-to-peer-network">Why the Internet needs the Interplanetary File System (IPFS)</a>. Building on the principles of peer-to-peer networking and content-based addressing, IPFS allows for a decentralized and distributed network for data storage and delivery. </li><li>Exploring the Decentralized Web - <a href="https://getdweb.net/dweb-webinar-series/">DWeb webinar</a> </li><li>Behind the painstaking process of <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/05/31/1025599/history-first-chinese-digital-computer-fonts/">creating Chinese computer fonts</a> </li><li><a href="https://medium.com/newco/what-has-internet-done-to-media-becbb610006b">What Has the Internet Done to Media?</a> by Aleks Jakulin </li><li>The <a href="https://www.theverge.com/23846048/google-search-memes-images-pagerank-altavista-seo-keywords">End of the Googleverse</a></li><li><a href="https://ploum.net/2023-07-06-stop-trying-to-make-social-networks-succeed.html">Stop Trying to Make Social Networks Succeed</a> by Ploum </li></ul>
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3. Poems and Short Stories <br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://poets.org/poem/night-migrations">The Night Migrations</a> - Louise Glück </li><li>Carl Phillips: <a href="https://www.carlphillipspoet.com/about">https://www.carlphillipspoet.com/about</a> </li><ul><li><a href="https://www.recoveringwords.com/site/a-look-inside-the-surprising-heart-and-mind-of-american-poet-carl-phillips-a-poem-from-his-2018-collection-wild-is-the-wind-and-one-from-his-2020-collection-pale-colours-in-a-tall-field">What I see is the light falling all around us</a> by Carl Phillips. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/01/t-magazine/howard-hodgkin-carl-phillips-art-poem.html?unlocked_article_code=9y1Dky0gvJyPKvxP7cgiTYCyXFQXAL04MNPuMhhtUi98V6ZktE9Tq0__ccUeOTHqR81yn_n_mRt2WkBmOf7iiWT0YWEKfMG9bQ5IxtrKJAZMZxNHlxESasxja2FKaXD_gOtnsC7YZPgo5sSmgglrCpCUWGiM2rm5Fx70ylI862ZVHpg_wQ1pSLIMklYfp2gJ3u8zy9KqZt8So25xQy3HLQnJ-vff8HOvWIA3msb59Q1RLgny_r1l6JMBkOm0jG2ckT6AGMC2--vI8kuqJZ2gW6sjWreByNeoT97EI2yH1rMxrrCwokHaocjPuoBKCC1DTYlv9x3It-h7EkkhFcEYJLzXIrsfWtBK__uSkdZzktZo5w&smid=url-share">Also at NYT</a> </li></ul></ul><blockquote>To have understood some small piece of the world <br />more deeply doesn't have to mean we're not as lost <br />as before, or so it seems this morning, random bees <br />stirring among the dogwood blossoms, a few here <br />and there stirring differently somehow, more like <br />resisting stillness...Should it come to winnowing <br />my addictions, I'd hold on hardest, I'm pretty sure, <br />to mystery </blockquote><ul style="text-align: left;"><ul><li><a href="https://emergencemagazine.org/essay/among-the-trees/">Among the Trees</a> by Carl Phillips </li></ul></ul><blockquote>WHAT HAPPENED BACK there, among the trees, is only as untenable as you allow yourself or just decide to believe it is. It happened, and now it’s over. And the end feels—to you, at least—both like the end of a long pilgrimage and like the end of a well-reasoned, irrefutable argument, which is its own form of pilgrimage: don’t both depend on stamina and faith, in the right proportions? Wasn’t the point, at the end, persuasion?</blockquote><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, <a href="https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/if-you-find-yourself-speaking-to-god-address-god-with-the-informal-you/">Address God with the Informal You</a> </li><li><a href="https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritzer_05_23/">Better Living Through Algorithms</a> by Naomi Kritzer </li></ul><div>4. Sexuality, LGBTQIA+</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div><a href="https://asteriskmag.com/issues/04/half-a-million-kinksters-can-t-be-wrong">Half A Million Kinksters</a> Can’t Be Wrong by Aella </div><div><br /></div> <div>
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<ul style="text-align: left;"><li>In 2023, it seems that the Muslim boogeyman in the America of my adolescence and young adulthood has been replaced with the <a href="https://magdagrams.substack.com/p/muslim-preachers-and-the-new-american">queer/trans boogeyman</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.them.us/story/charlie-jane-anders-trans-characters-subtext-metaphors">Trans Subtext Can Be Powerful. Trans Characters Are Even Better</a> by Charlie Jane Anders </li><li>Heartstopper's Alice Oseman on <a href="https://www.hellomagazine.com/film/494758/heartstopper-alice-oseman-asexuality-aromanticism-young-fame-social-media/">asexuality, young fame and surviving social media</a> </li><li>The Ultimate <a href="https://zacharyzane.substack.com/p/boyslut-bisexual-awareness-week-2021">Reading List for Bisexual Awareness Week</a> 2023 by Zachary Zane </li><ul><li>Interview with Dr. Pallotta-Chiarolli about <a href="https://bi.org/en/articles/women-report-that-bisexual-men-make-better-lovers-fathers-and-partners">Women in Relationships with Bisexual Men</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.menshealth.com/sex-women/a28980779/bisexual-men/">9 Men Share What Helped Them Come Out as Bisexual</a></li><li>I Had a Complete Stranger Pick Me up From the Airport. <a href="https://zacharyzane.substack.com/p/boyslut-sex-with-uber-driver">To Thank Him, I Fucked His Brains Out</a>. </li></ul><li><a href="https://www.thetrevorproject.org/resources/guide/how-to-support-bisexual-youth/">How to Support Bisexual Youth</a> - The Trevor Project </li><li><a href="https://youtu.be/7HngEriN-wc">hankschannel</a> Apr 19, 2013 </li><li><a href="https://bipanlibrary.com/2022/10/28/black-bisexual-writers">Black writers</a> on bisexuality and fluid sexuality </li><li><a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/06/03/geraldo-outed-me-on-national-television/">Geraldo outed me on national television</a> by Jim Berg </li><li>Pride is the rare holiday where how you’re supposed to feel about it is right there in the name. This time of year, we are supposed to be proud: proud of our LGBTQ+ identities, proud of our history of protest and progress, proud of our diverse and paradigm-shifting contributions to culture and the arts. But this year, I’m having trouble getting into the spirit of the season. <a href="https://slate.com/human-interest/2023/06/not-quite-pride-2023.html">Not Quite Pride</a> </li><li>Bisexual Married Men <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdNmZXTobLHjNZ1ccIhbLe62mU43Kgh13cbTbyjnioCPu7SHg/viewform">Oral History Project</a></li><li>Queer Books Database - <a href="https://qbdatabase.wordpress.com/category/queer-rep/mga/bisexual/">bisexual</a> </li><li>Hinge <a href="https://hinge.nfaq.co">Not-so_FAQ</a>: Queer dating advice</li></ul></details> </div></div>
<div><br /></div><div>5. International</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Yesterday, I was in Times Square for a rally in support of the endangered citizens of Palestine. Most of the people there were young. But there were also quite a few elderly people, some hobbling on canes. Because they knew it was important. <a href="https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/young-morality-and-old-morality">They were not there to compete with the young, to mutter snide takedowns of the speakers. They had perspective. They had wisdom</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>
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<ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Notes on <a href="https://mattlakeman.org/2023/07/10/notes-on-the-gambia/">The Gambia</a> </li><li>In a salon, I chatted about life in <a href="https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/who-does-saudi-arabia-better-google-reddit-katherine-dee">Riyadh</a> with a hairdresser in her early 30s for three hours. She told me, “It’s our New York.” </li><li>In <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/23/magazine/vienna-social-housing.html?unlocked_article_code=9JExuQHnwXeTP9gScC0gzvEyJRoxXVs9TXtcb7VwHt-5gqZAQus9j4B9_EpVjoGuZvaskfWAzK9paWEk7ywohUn25-02I5AEbJpB_nUu4XkIaXKROOM3JINVHI1Vx_SqPhvn9h29F9XwUgiXYjiU00as2_0zTfzNl4g5aStcaUCF8U4rzwDhgKy2cqIa2YddctSxUEC-T62pVtE642t6V6gvF5Jm77RTKdSQqwBHwukXDMAEHC8i6e77ul-m9TPyv1eo6camZjKSlZyd0rhIf6B7_6r_BH6zw1pNdkEAGiZAIliLYTOp16UnLK0ohQak26ikJ1AtvDJEngfRlWYkXQ&smid=url-share">Vienna</a>, a whopping 80 percent of residents qualify for public housing, and once you have a contract, it never expires, even if you get richer. </li><li>Subway Miracle: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/28833065">New York</a> </li><li>Memory and Migration, <a href="https://nick-underwood.com/thesis">Guatemala</a> and the US </li><li>Visiting <a href="https://cromwell-intl.com/travel/japan/nikko/">Nikkō</a> </li><li>A 2,800-mile Greyhound <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2023/jul/26/america-roadtrip-greyhound-bus">bus ride from Detroit to LA</a> by Joanna Pocock </li><li>Clive Thompson cycled 4,150 miles from <a href="https://www.bkmag.com/2023/08/21/from-brooklyn-to-astoria-oregon-what-its-like-to-bike-4k-miles-across-the-country/">Brooklyn to Oregon</a> for his book on 'micromobility' </li><li><a href="https://www.davidrumsey.com">David Rumsey</a> maps collection </li><li><a href="https://revolutionarygis.wordpress.com/2023/09/18/bangladesh-2022-census-gis-data/">Bangladesh</a> 2022 Census GIS Data </li><li>Where is <a href="https://www.zedzha.com/blog/where-is-home">home</a>? </li><ul><li>40 years after Jerry Rawlings, <a href="https://mattlakeman.org/2023/10/09/notes-on-ghana">Ghana</a> is considered the “success story” of Africa. Is it really? In some regards – stability, political order, even economically to a small degree – yes, but it still has a long way to go before it becomes a success story by non-West African standards. </li></ul><li>List of war crimes and <a href="https://www.yanisvaroufakis.eu/2023/10/15/list-of-war-crimes-and-crimes-qualifying-as-genocide-committed-by-israel-in-gaza-since-7th-october-2023/">crimes qualifying as genocide committed by Israel</a> in Gaza since 7th October 2023 by Yanis Varouvakis </li><li>From university disciplinary hearings to death threats, supporters of Palestinian rights are facing a wave of reprisals by Alex Kane [<a href="https://jewishcurrents.org/a-mccarthyite-backlash-against-pro-palestine-speech">Jewish Currents</a>] </li><li>Have We Learned Nothing? In the current discursive climate, it seems mandatory to dwell on these horrors before I say anything else, to establish that I’m a decent human being who neither endorses nor averts my eyes from Hamas’s depravities.. <a href="https://www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/have-we-learned-nothing/">Regardless, now I could pivot to talking</a> about how two million Palestinian civilians are trapped in Gaza. </li><li>The dread Israelis are feeling after today's assault, myself included, has been <a href="https://www.972mag.com/gaza-attack-context-israelis/">the daily experience of millions of Palestinians for far too long</a>. </li><li><a href="https://archive.ph/rqePw">No to Collective Punishment Against Gaza</a> </li><li>Gun Violence Is Actually Worse in Red States. <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/04/23/surprising-geography-of-gun-violence-00092413">It’s Not Even Close</a>. </li><li></li><li>Indonesia’s <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/2023/10/05/indonesia-s-2024-presidential-election-could-be-last-battle-of-titans-pub-90711">2024 Presidential Election</a> Could Be the Last Battle of the Titans </li><li>When I was 21 years old, I found myself working at one of America’s most notorious jails. <a href="Lovely https://www.thenation.com/article/society/mckinsey-whistleblower-confessions/">I was interning for McKinsey</a> by Garrison </li><li><a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/matthew-desmond-poverty-by-america-interview-1234724208/">We Can End Poverty Now</a>. Do We Want To? </li><li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/28/us/bend-oregon-mayor-homeless.html?unlocked_article_code=QfDQs-tjp40C9qr06Bn1ShaUhSmddFueXxQWVO_CrJWNNppsb-juxni1BChcZEhdmHmAlNC1UgFRn6CCkxTAoVtOIZF-lHOqz8159m1ZZtZwDiu8F5OACGlRwc6OeSeaV7_5r7-QtOalc9NW8kleU57fEUacyYCMZwEJVPX7k8FuWO8RI7mTqnFo0eedYXAfkOuFiNnOnHePOIiFTxbgswrGMgP9UNqWAT18kBswFHjbQ8hCRxBDRl0NiiPSAtHFUKF6iJXK3ejF-DTn8iKEZcf9pSHeWGT8UdCtq4lX6MwaWnfo1NjKPugJvzD-mWKRnM-tPvMySryW4rxriyaw&giftCopy=1_CurrentCopy&smid=url-share">Homeless in the City Where He Was Once Mayor</a> </li><li>The Drug-Fueled Protest in <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/05/11/dear-white-staffers-dianne-feinstein-00096238">Dianne Feinstein’s Office</a> You Haven’t Heard About </li><li>Listening to <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/listening-to-taylor-swift-in-prison">Taylor Swift</a> in Prison </li></ul></details></div></div><div><br /></div><div>
6. Economics and causal inference</div><div><br /></div><div>
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<ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Literature on Recent Advances in Applied Micro Methods <a href="https://christinecai.github.io/PublicGoods/applied_micro_methods.pdf">by Christine Cai</a> </li><li>Claudia Goldin: Nobel by <a href="https://draliceevans.substack.com/p/claudia-goldin-nobel">Alice Evans</a>; by <a href="https://afinetheorem.wordpress.com/2023/10/09/who-got-what-and-why-a-nobel-for-claudia-goldin/">A Fine Theorem</a> </li><li>Centaurs and Cyborgs on the <a href="https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/centaurs-and-cyborgs-on-the-jagged">Jagged Frontier of AI</a> and Work by Ethan Mollick </li><li><a href="https://book.declaredesign.org">Declare Design</a> by Graeme Blair, Alexander Coppock, Macartan Humphreys </li><li>https://arielrubinstein.tau.ac.il </li><li><a href="http://Jobeffekter.dk">Jobeffekter.dk</a> is a knowledge bank gathering and disseminating relevant research results on the labour market </li><li><a href="https://edworkingpapers.com/sites/default/files/ai23-829.pdf">Multiply by 37</a>: A Surprisingly Accurate Rule of Thumb for Converting Effect Sizes from Standard Deviations to Percentile Points </li><li><a href="https://github.com/Mixtape-Sessions/Shift-Share">https://github.com/Mixtape-Sessions/Shift-Share</a></li><li><a href="http://causality.cs.ucla.edu/blog/index.php/2014/11/09/causal-inference-without-graphs/">Causal inference without graphs</a> - Judea Pearl</li><li>A User’s <a href="https://mattblackwell.github.io/gov2002-book/">Guide to Statistical Inference and Regression</a> by Matthew Blackwell. This is a set of notes for Quantitative Social Science Methods II at Harvard--intended for 1st year PhD in poli sci.</li><li><a href="https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/economic-development-is-doing-ok">Poor countries aren't catching up as fast as we'd like, but they're catching up faster than before</a>.</li><li><a href="https://ingridhk.files.wordpress.com/2023/10/6yyd0034-handbook_2023-24_final-version.pdf">Decolonising Economics</a> syllabus at KCL </li></ul>
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</div><div><br /></div><div>7. Writing</div><div><br /></div><div>Get your work recognized: <a href="https://jvns.ca/blog/brag-documents/">write a brag document</a> </div><div><br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://everythingchanges.us/blog/writers-and-talkers-and-leaders/">If you, a writer, report to a talker, but you insist on communicating primarily through documents</a>, you are—and I say this with affection, because lo, I have been there—fucked. </li><li>A writing culture is a reading culture and a feedback-giving culture, which requires time to think, process, and respond. <a href="https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-952-writing-culture-challenges">Writing isn't the end goal: thinking and improving is the goal</a>. </li><li><a href="https://jvns.ca/blog/2023/08/07/tactics-for-writing-in-public/">Some tactics for writing in public</a> </li><li><a href="https://garthgreenwell.substack.com/p/a-brilliant-hauntedness-on-darrel">How does one write from one’s own intimate experience while respecting (or protecting) others who share that experience</a>, and who necessarily figure in any account of it? </li><li>An Essay about <a href="https://www.havehashad.com/web_features/an-essay-about-watching-brad-pitt-eat-that-is-really-about-my-own-shit">Watching Brad Pitt Eat</a> That Is Really about My Own Shit by Lucas Mann </li><li><a href="https://anotherangrywoman.com/2023/01/18/how-to-give-advice-on-the-internet-without-being-an-utter-menace/">How to give advice on the internet</a> without being an utter menace </li><li>How to <a href="https://cupofjo.com/2023/10/24/how-to-officiate-a-wedding/">Officiate a Wedding</a></li><li><a href="https://3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2023/10/artists-and-craftsmen-in-science-writing.html">Artists And Craftsmen In Science Writing</a> by Ashutosh Jogalekar </li></ul>
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</div><div><br /></div><div>8. Miscellanea I</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Ever since I left that remote Prairie home and chose the city, I have had the sense that my “real life,” the place where I belong and where there is no loneliness, is somewhere else out there in the world, although I can’t name or find it. <a href="https://thewalrus.ca/on-aging-alone/">I’m eighty now and I live alone</a>. </li><ul><li>“Loneliness is made as well as given, and at a very early age. Deprive us of the attention of a loving, reliable parent, and, if nothing happens to make up for that lack, we’ll tend toward loneliness for the rest of our lives." </li><li>I have heard old people say, in a puzzled, sad way, something like, “I have outlived my life.” I suddenly remembered a teaching from many years ago, when I was wandering alone on the prairie one day, immensely sad, full of self-pity, and trying to understand where my dismal feelings came from. There really was no one thing that I could pinpoint: I was sad because I was alive and did not have every single thing I had ever wanted, did not even know all the things I wanted, and I believe now that it was the latter that made me saddest. I was alive and I was a human being and wanting is the condition of the human. </li></ul><li>“I feel anxious,” I recite dutifully at the start of each <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/may/11/anger-management-classes-society-emotion">anger management class session</a>, wondering whether “anxious” truly encapsulates the heady mix of shame, hope, dread, and fear that taking such a course produces in me. Shame because enrolling in an anger management course isn’t a high point in anyone’s life, and hope because I thought, in retrospect naively, that taking such a step really could be the beginning of something life-changing. </li><ul><li>Here’s what anger management classes get wrong about the world: The course focuses on taming a ubiquitous emotion. But what about addressing its root causes?</li></ul><li>There are so many things that art can’t do. It can’t bring the dead back to life, it can’t mend arguments between friends, or cure AIDS, or halt the pace of climate change. All the same, it does have some extraordinary functions. <a href="https://fs.blog/being-alone/">It does have a capacity to create intimacy; it does have a way of healing wounds</a>, and better yet of making it apparent that not all wounds need healing and not all scars are ugly. </li><li><a href="https://www.ask-polly.com/p/mistakes-will-be-made">Mistakes Will Be Made</a> by Heather Havrilesky </li><li><a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-loneliness-reshapes-the-brain-20230228/">An idea [to reduce loneliness] is to encourage synchrony</a>. Lonely people struggle to synchronize with others, and that this discordance causes the regions of their brain responsible for observing actions to go into overdrive. This synchrony between individuals can be as simple as reciprocating a smile or mirroring body language during conversation, or as elaborate as singing in a choir or being part of a rowing team. </li></ul></div><div>9. Miscellanea II</div><div><br /></div><div><div><a href="https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/your-book-review-the-educated-mind">Kieran Egan</a> says that there are three potential jobs we can give to schools: Socialization, Academics, Development. Alone, each of these jobs is terrible; together, they’re worse. And what we’ve done is given schools all three jobs. </div><div><br /></div><div>
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<ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The average atheist is about <a href="https://www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/no-one-participates-in-politics-more">65% more politically engaged</a> than the average American. </li><li>Sirik ke Atas, Jijik ke Bawah: Sudah <a href="https://jurno.id/sirik-ke-atas-jijik-ke-bawah-sudah-saatnya-kita-merubuhkan-mitos-meritokrasi">Saatnya Kita Merubuhkan Mitos Meritokrasi</a> oleh Ann Putri </li><li>Once you’ve made your challenge smaller, you can apply a couple of Lazy Genius principles to that problem, and for something like taking care of yourself as the world opens up, I think there are two heavy hitters to use. The first is <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5570490fe4b072434a9da70b/t/61083fa032c9d257a807eee2/1627930528278/%23222+-+Taking+Care+of+Yourself+As+the+World+Opens+Up.pdf">Decide Once</a>. Another principle you can apply is to go in the right order. For general life things, there is a right order that can help almost any situation. That is 1) name what matters, 2) calm the crazy, and 3) trust yourself with what comes next. </li><li>The global CTX mosaic is a 5.7 trillion pixel <a href="https://murray-lab.caltech.edu/CTX/">image of the surface of Mars</a>, rendered at 5.0 m/px. </li><li>Good News! Our Steel is <a href="https://medium.com/a-microbiome-scientist-at-large/good-news-our-steel-is-no-longer-radioactive-47d70124c531">No Longer Radioactive</a>! </li><li><a href="https://buynothingproject.org/find-a-group/">https://buynothingproject.org/find-a-group/</a> </li><li>The 'Barbie' Movie Is <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/barbie-movie-breakup_l_64c3052ce4b044bf98f44379 ">Ending Relationships Left And Right</a> </li><li><a href="https://scottlocklin.wordpress.com/2023/08/09/standards-a-ratchet-of-progress/">Standards</a>: a ratchet of progress </li><li>An explanation of why most “cognitive biases,” and <a href="https://carcinisation.com/2023/08/22/against-automaticity/">any field with “behavioral” in its name are not real</a> </li><li><a href="https://meltingasphalt.com/ads-dont-work-that-way/">Ads Don't Work That Way</a> by Kevin Simler </li><li>“Kansas man upset he can’t buy <a href="https://www.blackbirdspyplane.com/p/the-end-of-cool-small-cars">mini Toyotas ‘like the Taliban and ISIS</a>.’” How did we get here?? </li><li><a href="https://everythingchanges.us/blog/energy-makes-time/">Energy makes time</a> by Mandy Brown </li><li><a href="https://guzey.com/morale/ ">You are a morale-driven machine</a> by Alexey Guzey </li><li><a href="https://warfantasy.wordpress.com/2023/08/20/why-fantasy-avoids-gunpowder/">Why (High) Fantasy Avoids Gunpowder</a> </li><li>‘At first I tried to be polite, not to hurt his feelings’: how <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/sep/16/laura-barton-stalker-nfbntw">a regular ‘liker’ on social media became my stalker</a> </li><li><a href="https://langitselatan.com/2012/04/17/perjuangan-pak-the-mengarungi-masa-sulit-observatorium-bosscha/">Perjuangan Pak Thé</a> mengarungi masa sulit Observatorium Bosscha </li><li><a href="https://www.pictureboxblue.com">Free vintage images</a> from the Public Domain </li><li>Jared Diamond: <a href="https://blog.daviskedrosky.com/p/jared-diamond-a-reply-to-his-critics#footnote-anchor-7-112061103">A reply to his critics</a> by Davis Kedrosky </li><li><a href="https://acoup.blog/2020/07/24/collections-bread-how-did-they-make-it-part-i-farmers/">Bread, How Did They Make It</a>? Part I: Farmers! </li><ul><li><a href="https://acoup.blog/resources-for-teachers/">A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry</a> by Bret Devereaux </li></ul><li><a href="https://dumbcuneiform.com">Dumb Cuneiform</a>: You send us your most ephemeral and worthless communications, and we'll carefully transcribe them into the most long-lasting medium known to man - a clay tablet. </li><li>It is likely that the number of followers of the <a href="https://resobscura.substack.com/p/kikkuli">Ea-nāṣir subreddit</a> (31,000+) is higher than the combined enrollment of every university class on ancient Sumeria... ever. </li><li>Consisting of 25 million pages, the archives of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) offer a unique view on the 18th-19th centuries. The <a href="https://globalise.huygens.knaw.nl">Globalise</a> project. </li><li><a href="https://thinkandelsewhere.medium.com/the-prayer-of-the-ganzer-egg-df655e57b73a">It is very easy to be unkind</a>, you just look away one time and do it again. And again, until the necktie of guilt loosens, until it becomes second nature. </li><li>There’s a theory I like that suggests why the nineteenth century is so rich in ghost stories and hauntings. <a href="https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2023/10/23/the-future-of-ghosts/">Carbon monoxide poisoning from gas lamps</a>. </li><li><a href="https://brightthemag.com/the-reductive-seduction-of-other-people-s-problems-3c07b307732d">The reductive seduction of other people’s problems</a>. If you’re young, privileged, and interested in creating a life of meaning, of course you’d be attracted to solving problems that seem urgent and readily solvable. Of course you’d want to apply for prestigious fellowships that mark you as an ambitious altruist among your peers. Of course you’d want to fly on planes to exotic locations with, importantly, exotic problems.</li><li>The Mystery of the Bloomfield Bridge: <a href="https://tylervigen.com/the-mystery-of-the-bloomfield-bridge">Why is this bridge here</a>? </li><li><a href="https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/07/16/the-crane-wife/">The Crane Wife</a> By CJ Hauser </li><li><a href="https://nonprofitaf.com/2023/04/philanthropys-equivalent-of-all-lives-matter/">Philanthropy’s equivalent of “All Lives Matter”</a> </li></ul></details></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Masyhurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120142510202386489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1451164821026462994.post-15581357747976595812023-04-20T04:07:00.004+09:002023-04-20T04:07:53.929+09:00Internet Reading Q3-4 2022 - Q1 2023<p>Three quarters' worth of internet readings! Obviously this is going to be a massive pile of links. Let's get started:</p><p>1. LGBTQIA+</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.imfineimfine.com/p/nate">Nate</a> - by ND Stevenson </li><li>Adam found a thread for gay Muslims who want to repent. He joined the Facebook group and thanked the person who had posted the information. The person did not wait to shoot him a message. “I saw your post, and <a href="https://www.otherwisemag.com/ordinary">I wonder if it’s okay for us to be friends? To remind each other about leaving this sinful path?</a>” </li><li>Why Some Queer Men Lead <a href="https://www.them.us/story/queer-gay-men-hypersexual-online-social-media-pressure-sexuality">Hypersexual Double Lives Online</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/hugo-marcus">German, Jew, Muslim, Gay</a>: The Life and Times of Hugo Marcus -- This was a roller-coaster read. See also <a href="https://notchesblog.com/2021/05/06/german-jew-muslim-gay-the-life-and-times-of-hugo-marcus/">here</a>. </li><li>With the benefit of hindsight, <a href="https://nonicoclolasos.com/my-personal-story-growing-up-gay/">I realize how easy it is to build up an unsubstantiated idea that being honest about who one is could result in quite horrible reactions</a>. </li><li><a href="https://tinyview.com/thenib/2022/11/08/i-came-out-late-in-life-and-thats-okay">I Came Out Late in Life. And That’s Okay</a>: On mourning the versions of ourselves that will never exist by Benjamin Alison Wilgus. </li><li>Actor <a href="https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/9-1-1-lone-star-ronen-rubinstein-bisexual-ryan-murphy-1234945646/">Ronen Rubinstein Comes Out as Bisexual</a>, Inspired by His Work on Fox Series. </li><ul><li>His relationship with Kennedy hasn’t changed since coming out as bi. “She’s actually one of the first people that sort of respectfully called me out on it,” Rubinstein says of Kennedy. “She’s like, ‘Is there something we need to talk about?’ And I said, ‘Maybe.’ I didn’t know how that conversation would go. And it went probably as good as it can go.”</li></ul><li><a href="https://www.gq.com/story/stephanie-beatriz-is-bi-and-proud-as-hell">Stephanie Beatriz Is Bi</a> and Proud as Hell: I’m bi, and I'm getting married this fall. I’m choosing to get married because this particular person brings out the best in me. This person happens to be a man. I’m still bi. </li><ul><li>To be bi is a continual series of coming-out moments. When does it end? When do you get to stop telling people you're bi? When do people start to grasp that this is your truth? When do you get to slide easily through life with everyone assuming your sexuality correctly? When do you start seeing yourself reflected positively in all (hey, even any?) of the media you consume?</li><li>A lot of stuff rolls around in your head: If I pass as straight, why should I have that possibly uncomfortable and maybe dangerous “I’m bi” talk with my family, friends, community? If I’m in a same-sex relationship, shouldn't I “stay gay” and not upset the status quo? How much detail should I give people about myself and my sexuality?</li></ul><li>I'm the mom of a trans kid in Texas. <a href="https://www.insider.com/mom-trans-kid-in-texas-explains-why-they-wont-move-2022-12 ">Stop asking me why we don't move to a 'safer' state</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.eroscoaching.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/WANT-WILL-WONT-LIST.pdf">Want, Will, Won't</a>: a map to your most sexual desires </li><li>Freya Marske: I want my books to heal the central wound of EM Forster's Maurice, by allowing people existing within Maurice's time to find a queer community. So I gave my characters self-acceptance and then put them on a path to being surrounded by people like themselves: a family formed by danger and adventure, but most of all by liking and by love. I'm writing for the times when we want to stretch our own hand back into the past and say: I'm sorry you were alone. <a href="https://www.oxmag.co.uk/articles/freya-marske-a-dream-for-all-of-usandnbsp/">Here's a dream for you. </a></li><li>As a gay man, I am politely asking the r/fantasy community to consider additional alternative suggestions when asked for <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/w9o5hw/as_a_gay_man_im_a_little_tired_of_people_here/?sort=top">recommendations besides "go read Sanderson."</a> </li><li>Why Is the New York Times So <a href="https://popula.com/2023/01/29/the-worst-thing-we-read-this-week-why-is-the-new-york-times-so-obsessed-with-trans-kids/">Obsessed With Trans Kids</a>? </li><li>Plenty of reporters at the Times cover trans issues fairly. <a href="https://nytletter.com">Their work is eclipsed, however, by what one journalist has calculated as over 15,000 words of front-page Times coverage debating the propriety of medical care for trans children published in the last eight months alone</a>. </li><li>Locations from Daniel Cabot Puts Down <a href="https://catsebastian.com/danielcabotmap/">Roots</a> </li><li>Trans Stories Are So Much <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/trans-books-joy-adventure">More Than Transition, Transphobia and Tragedy</a> by Charlie Jane Anders </li></ul><div>2. Technology and software</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>How Did We Get So <a href="https://annehelen.substack.com/p/how-did-we-get-so-obsessed-with-streaks">Obsessed with Streaks</a>?</li><li><a href="https://www.uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_076769_1380">A Bear on Mars</a>? </li><li><a href="https://idlewords.com/2023/1/why_not_mars.htm">Why Not Mars</a> </li><li><a href="https://logicmag.io/clouds/agile-and-the-long-crisis-of-software/">Agile and the Long Crisis of Software</a> by Miriam Posner </li><li>The Petty Pleasures of <a href="https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/galaxy-brain/62ba500cbcbd490021aaef70/web3-crypto-movement-uses-marc-andreessen/">Watching Crypto Profiteers Flounder</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/02/internet-web3-future-fomo/621481/">Beware the FOMO Bullies of Technology</a>. Are we living through a replay of the ’90s, when most people just didn’t get “this internet thing”?</li><li><a href="https://www.freethink.com/technology/crypto-argentina-black-market-cash">Argentina’s black market for cash is embracing crypto</a> — but it's not what crypto proponents expected </li><li><a href="https://waxy.org/2022/08/opening-the-pandoras-box-of-ai-art/">Is it ethical to train an AI on a huge corpus of copyrighted creative work</a>, without permission or attribution? </li><li>Common Tech Jobs Described as <a href="https://etiennefd.substack.com/p/common-tech-jobs-described-as-cabals">Cabals of Mesoamerican Wizards</a> by Étienne Fortier-Dubois </li><li>Spatial technologies of the future: <a href="http://zackchiang.com/spatial-technologies-of-the-future/">cellular cartography</a> by Zack Chiang </li><li><a href="https://ldeming.posthaven.com/sequencing-is-the-new-microscope">Sequencing</a> is the new microscope </li><li><a href="https://medium.com/@enryu9000/lookism-in-tiktok-3def0f20cf78">The appearance/face of the content creator is very predictive</a> of their subscriber count in TikTok. </li><li>How Palantir will <a href="https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/01/the-palantir-will-see-you-now/">steal the NHS</a> </li><li>Inside the <a href="https://www.platformer.news/p/inside-the-twitter-meltdown">Twitter meltdown</a></li><li>I was fired from Shopify after the big layoff. <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/video/fired-shopify-big-layoff-felt-103000434.html">I felt disposable and overworked</a> </li><li><a href="https://bam.kalzumeus.com/archive/credit-cards-as-a-legacy-system/">Credit cards as a legacy system</a> </li><li>The Enigma of Peter Thiel: There Is No Enigma — <a href="https://johnganz.substack.com/p/the-enigma-of-peter-thiel">He's a Fascist</a> </li><li><a href="https://bigthink.com/the-future/cryonics-horror-stories/">Horror stories of cryonics</a>: The gruesome fates of futurists hoping for immortality </li><li>The Case for <a href="https://austinvernon.site/blog/decentralizeatoms.html">Less Centralized Atoms</a> by Austin Vernon</li><li>Why are there so many tech layoffs? <a href="https://news.stanford.edu/2022/12/05/explains-recent-tech-layoffs-worried/">Social contagion</a> </li><li><a href="https://medium.com/tisanelabs/trolling-as-a-service-91cb893e880">Trolling as a Service</a>: A cyber-bullying campaign in Indonesia will set you back 20K IDR (~US$1.33) on Instagram, 15K IDR (US$1) on Ask.fm, or 10K IDR (US$0.67) on Twitter / Facebook. </li><li>How did <a href="https://qz.com/how-an-msg-seasoning-company-became-a-serious-player-in-1849876931">Ajinomoto</a> start making materials for computers? </li><li>Alexander Graham Bell, <a href="https://diariesofnote.com/2023/03/10/mr-watson-come-here-i-want-to-see-you/">10th March 1876</a>: Mr. Watson – come here – I want to see you </li><li>Wikipedia has a <a href="https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/climate-crisis/wikipedia-has-a-climatetech-problem">climatetech problem</a>: on climate topics its entries can be outdated or incomplete -- and that’s where you come in. </li><li>Design notes on the <a href="https://alexhollender.com/wikipedia-2023-redesign ">2023 Wikipedia redesign</a></li><li>ChatGPT Is <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/chatgpt-is-a-blurry-jpeg-of-the-web">a Blurry JPEG of the Web</a> by Ted Chiang </li><li><a href="https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2023/02/what-is-chatgpt-doing-and-why-does-it-work/">What Is ChatGPT Doing</a> … and Why Does It Work? by Stephen Wolfram</li><li><a href="https://alperovitch.sais.jhu.edu/five-days-in-class-with-chatgpt/">Five Days in Class with ChatGPT</a> </li><li>Why do so many modern cars <a href="https://www.alexmurrell.co.uk/articles/the-age-of-average">look the same</a>? The age of average </li><li>Instead of “software eats biotech”, the reality of drug discovery today is that <a href="https://lifescivc.com/2017/04/four-decades-hacking-biotech-yet-biology-still-consumes-everything/">biology consumes everything</a>. </li></ul><div>3. Environment, Biology, Science</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The Mystery of the <a href="https://nautil.us/the-mystery-of-the-healthy-coral-reef-258494/">Healthy Coral Reef</a>: A reef off the coast of Honduras should be a disaster. Instead it’s thriving. </li><li>In 2020, recyclers collected 27.1% of the PET bottles and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-06-08/plastic-recycling-is-working-so-ignore-the-cynics.">28.8% of HDPE bottles used in the US</a>. In Norway, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/12/can-norway-help-us-solve-the-plastic-crisis-one-bottle-at-a-time">97% of all plastic drinks bottles</a> are recycled. </li><li>Chevron is accused of polluting the Amazon for 26 years. The only people who’ve paid the price are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/08/chevron-amazon-ecuador-steven-donziger-erin-brockovich">a human rights lawyer and those whose land was poisoned</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.wired.com/story/carbon-offsets-alone-wont-make-flying-climate-friendly/">Carbon Offsets Alone Won’t Make Flying Climate-Friendly</a> </li><li>How does the demand for AC due to extreme heat open up <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1705220/who-is-profiting-from-the-extreme-heat-in-urban-pakistan">profit-making opportunities in Pakistan</a>? </li><li>The Boomtown That Shouldn’t Exist: One big storm could wipe <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/10/20/fastest-growing-city-america-florida-cape-coral-215724/">Cape Coral</a> off the map. Oh, and it’s also the fastest-growing city in the US. </li><li>Why did we wait so long for <a href="https://constructionphysics.substack.com/p/why-did-we-wait-so-long-for-wind-498">wind power</a>? </li><li>I come bringing good news about <a href="https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/i-come-bringing-good-news-about-hydrogen">hydrogen</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/society/florida-hurricane-ian/">Florida will try to kill you</a>. This is the Florida Rule, and it governs one of the most capricious landscapes on earth. </li><li>Yes, <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/yes-bears-were-everywhere-new-england-year">Bears Were Everywhere</a> in New England This Year</li><li>The <a href="https://www.currentaffairs.org/2022/11/the-1-are-many-times-worse-than-the-rainforest-wreckers/ ">1 Percent Are Many Times Worse</a> Than the Rainforest Wreckers</li><li>Almost half of what we move around the seas is not finished products (cars) nor even the raw materials to make them (steel), but simply the stuff that we burn to power those transformations, and to keep ourselves warmed, cooled, and lit. <a href="https://billmckibben.substack.com/p/the-happiest-number-ive-heard-in">Which is great news</a>. Because it means that if and when we make the transition to solar power and windpower, we will not just stop pouring carbon into the atmosphere, and not just save money—we will also reduce the number of ships sailing back and forth by almost half. So if you’re worried about almost anything at all that’s going wrong on the high seas—piracy, say, or the hideous sonic effects of all those ships on whales—then you can cut that in half as well. </li><li>The Precarious Future of <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-south/the-precarious-future-of-sanibel-island">Sanibel Island</a> </li><li>Electric vehicle batteries would have cost as much as a million dollars in the 1990s. The cost of lithium-ion batteries has fallen by <a href="https://hannahritchie.substack.com/p/ev-battery-costs">more than 98%</a>. </li><li><a href="https://granta.com/what-feathers-know/">What Feathers Know</a> by Stephen Rutt </li><li>Why is progress in biology <a href="https://www.sam-rodriques.com/post/why-is-progress-in-biology-so-slow">so slow</a>? </li><li>More than 90% of rainforest <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/18/revealed-forest-carbon-offsets-biggest-provider-worthless-verra-aoe">carbon offsets are worthless</a></li><li>The Story of <a href="https://jacobin.com/2023/01/palm-oil-grease-of-empire-max-haiven-review">Palm Oil</a> Is a Story About Capitalism</li><li>Despite their soaring rhetoric about getting to “net-zero,” <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/170442/oil-companies-wind-energy-looney">oil and gas companies will be in the oil and gas business for as long as they can make money in it, whatever the climate costs</a>. No one should have expected the biggest losers of the energy transition to drive it forward. At least now they’re being honest about that.</li><li>How Indonesia Is <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/indonesia-silencing-orangutan-research">Censoring Wildlife Research</a></li><li><a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/asteroid-and-fern-not-too-late-climate-anthology-excerpt">The Asteroid and the Fern</a>: A paleoecologist on what the past can teach us about climate change </li><li>Mark Deeble</li><ul><li>What drew me to the ‘756’ paragraph was the ‘big picture’ it depicted – East Africa at its wildest and finest. <a href="https://markdeeble.wordpress.com/2014/05/18/haunted-by-a-photograph/">Haunted by a photograph</a> </li><li>Elephants – <a href="https://markdeeble.wordpress.com/2014/05/04/elephants-why-bother/">why bother</a>? </li><li><a href="https://markdeeble.wordpress.com/2016/04/28/the-story-of-a-tusk-kg-voi-river-30514/">The story of a tusk</a> – 28KG / VOI RIVER / 30/5/14</li></ul><li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/24/science/physics-cosmology-astronomy.html?unlocked_article_code=GcmAcr0DfeN1MaZCEjSOaEvmAI4v4mhvsU_bqXY6embuEMpgNLy-luTXDq6MTN4JVlNydnKpSl3ua2VjIXXcwqOHcNpHr8uC64vto9O1apWZ5CnlnvMqMLS0ltP-HIufGVsHXn_BQ4GE_G5y-1bmIBqoQih3hA3IJVMI6ntaBgyIN_WT9KRA-B6wHXC8qbtJp9hYTR_fh8rmLHbupacDeF6XsU7j0EIE26lT_tHa4bCGliClB0qQ0Y189OBAfO3LRzEFh1eSRyRlPMkONtRTXkFzaLNSrVRPIrFGvUKxXNERIl42TuPwSnX-XCkxKjxIWI8_9S4gKUmmU__7rBqQyFl4pf-h&smid=share-url">If unification is the wrong question, what is the right one?</a></li><li>The oldest falling <a href="https://skullsinthestars.com/2022/07/02/the-oldest-falling-cat-explanation/">cat</a> explanation </li><li>Catching lightning in <a href="https://www.engadget.com/2017-11-27-volcano-lightning-dirty-storm-francisco-negroni.html ">a volcanic bottle</a></li><li><a href="https://fiftytwo.in/story/man-of-culture/">Man of Culture</a> </li></ul><div><div>4. International</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Suketu Mehta: ‘<a href="https://scroll.in/article/1030219/suketu-mehta-as-goes-india-so-goes-democracy">As goes India, so goes democracy</a>’ </li><li>China-Taiwan: a serious chance of World War III in <a href="https://chrisblattman.com/blog/2022/10/26/the-prospects-for-war-with-china-why-i-see-a-serious-chance-of-world-war-iii-in-the-next-decade/">the next decade</a> by Chris Blattman </li><li>Megalopolis: how <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/27/megalopolis-how-coastal-west-africa-will-shape-the-coming-century">coastal west Africa</a> will shape the coming century </li><li>Imaduddin Ahmed: The troubled future of <a href="https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/droughts-and-dams/">World Bank-funded hydropower in Zambia</a> </li><li>Journey to the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/11/28/journey-to-the-doomsday-glacier">Doomsday Glacier</a> By David W. Brown </li><li>Kamil on Nukes and Civil War in <a href="https://www.chinatalk.media/p/kamil-on-nukes-and-civil-war-in-russia">Russia</a> </li><li><a href="https://asteriskmag.com/issues/1/china-s-silicon-future">China’s Silicon Future</a> by Karson Elmgren </li><li>Documenting <a href="https://www.classic-kyoto-photography.com/post/documenting-covid-kyoto">Covid Kyoto</a></li><li>How to <a href="https://thecritic.co.uk/how-to-walk-around-london/">walk around London</a> </li><li><a href="https://3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2022/11/beginning-hindi-with-a-beginners-mind.html">Beginning Hindi</a> With A Beginner’s Mind </li><li><a href="https://tafc.space/qna/the-topologists-world-map/">The topologist’s world map</a></li><li>Why is Java So <a href="https://unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com/p/why-is-java-so-weird">Weird</a>?! </li><li>The idea of a ‘precolonial’ Africa is theoretically vacuous, racist and plain wrong about the continent’s actual history: <a href="https://aeon.co/essays/the-idea-of-precolonial-africa-is-vacuous-and-wrong">It never existed</a> </li><li>Ken Opalo</li><ul><li>On why I remain <a href="https://kenopalo.substack.com/p/on-why-i-remain-bullish-on-nigeria">bullish on Nigeria</a> </li><li><a href="https://kenopalo.substack.com/p/natural-resources-and-economic-underdevelopment">Natural resources</a> and economic (under)development in Africa </li><li><a href="https://kenopalo.substack.com/p/three-billion-africans">Three Billion Africans</a>: How demographics will shape African states' economic and political futures </li><li>Is <a href="https://kenopalo.substack.com/p/is-somalia-turning-the-corner">Somalia</a> turning the corner? </li></ul><li>Many West African countries have disparities between their northern and southern regions, coastal and hinterland: <a href="https://republic.com.ng/february-march-2023/the-malformation-of-west-africa">The Malformation of West Africa</a> </li><li>Two Harvard Grads Saw Big Profits in African Education. <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/03/23/bridge-schools-africa-kenya-education/">Children Paid the Price</a>. </li><li><a href="https://craigmod.com/roden/077/">The Morioka Experience</a>: I went to Morioka and all I got was this life-affirming metaphysical hug by Craig Mod</li><li>Across the world, doctors may have no idea if they are prescribing poor-quality asparaginase: how a useless, <a href="https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2023-01-25/the-drug-was-meant-to-save-childrens-lives-instead-theyre-dying">dangerous childhood cancer treatment flooded the world</a></li><li><a href="https://www.idrlabs.com/cultural-dimensions/test.php">Cultural Dimensions Test</a>: This test will give you your scores on all six cultural dimensions and match you with the country that has the culture most similar to your answers. </li><li>Pronouncing Chinese Names <a href="https://oluxiwen.github.io/pronouncing-chinese-names-guide/">Guide</a> </li><li>Sakita : Ibukota Kerajaan Bungku yang Dilupakan https://kamputo.com/sakita-ibukota-kerajaan-bungku-yang-dilupakan/ </li></ul><div>5. Development and econ</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Stefan Dercon on <a href="https://devpolicy.org/stefan-dercon-on-development-bargains-20220628/">development bargains</a> </li><li><a href="https://lantpritchett.org/development-work-versus-charity-work/">Development work versus charity work</a> - Lant Pritchett</li><li>Causal Inference <a href="https://matheusfacure.github.io/python-causality-handbook/landing-page.html">for The Brave and True</a> </li><li>Many methods of <a href="https://tailcalled.substack.com/p/many-methods-of-causal-inference">causal inference try to identify a "safe" subset of variation</a> </li><li>OCW MIT courses: <a href="https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/14-73-the-challenge-of-world-poverty-spring-2011/pages/lecture-notes/">Challenge of World Poverty</a> (2011) <a href="https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/14-74-foundations-of-development-policy-spring-2009/pages/lecture-notes/">Foundations of Development Policy</a> (2009) <a href="https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/14-75-political-economy-and-economic-development-fall-2012/pages/lecture-notes/">Political Economy and Economic Development</a> (2012)</li><li>Four reasons why <a href="https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/four-reasons-why-gdp-is-a-useful?sd=pf">GDP is a useful number</a> </li><li>Materials for a <a href="https://growthecon.com/StudyGuide/">course in economic growth</a> based loosely on Jones and Vollrath’s “Introduction to Economic Growth” </li><li>A researcher posts a scatterplot. Twitter users descend, saying things like: “lol, lmao”. <a href="https://stuartritchie.substack.com/p/pseudocritics">Pseudocritics, and how not to be one</a> </li><li>The Table 2 Fallacy: <a href="http://dagitty.net/learn/graphs/table2-fallacy.html">causal interpretation of multiple regression</a> </li><li><a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/10/08/fertilizer-war-climate-shortage-food-agriculture-africa-europe/">Africa needs more fertilizer</a> to boost their yields, even if that conflicts with climate goals. </li><li><a href="https://conversableeconomist.com/2022/10/24/eight-billion-and-counting/">Eight billion and counting</a></li><li>Marc Bellemare's <a href="http://marcfbellemare.com/wordpress/dei-statement">DEI statement</a> </li><li><a href="https://theundercoverhistorian.substack.com/p/hierarchies-in-the-economics-profession">Hierarchies in the economics</a> profession: how did we get there? </li><li>Advice on <a href="https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2009/07/30/advice_on_writi/">writing research articles</a> by Andrew Gelman </li><li>The <a href="https://andypreston.substack.com/p/the-disconnect-between-economists">Disconnect</a> Between Economists and Popular Personal Finance Gurus </li><li><a href="https://erikhoel.substack.com/p/goodbye-academia-hello-substack">Goodbye academia</a>, hello Substack </li><li>When the Apple iPhone launched in 2007, <a href="https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/nokia-risk/">Nokia’s handset market collapsed, exports fell by half</a>, Finland’s current account swung into deficit, and a decade plus of economic stagnation began. </li><li><a href="https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2023/04/14/4-different-meanings-of-p-value-and-how-my-thinking-has-changed/">4 different meanings of p-value</a>: Definition 1. p-value(y) = Pr(TestStat[y_replication] >= TestStat[y] | Hypothesis)</li><li>As a Ph.D. student, it is hard to come by reliable information about how to go about being a scholar. By sheer luck, I stumbled upon this book by Michael S. Weisbach: <a href="https://www.danielrnathan.com/blog/the-economists-craft/">The Economist's Craft </a></li><li>How to keep cakes moist and cause the greatest tragedies of the 20th century: Lessons from Sir Francis Galton, psychology's <a href="https://experimentalhistory.substack.com/p/how-to-keep-cakes-moist-and-cause">original bad dude</a> </li><li>“I believe that science is more akin to a hunter-gatherer society than it is to an industry.” – Marc Kirschner. <a href="https://moalquraishi.wordpress.com/2018/12/09/alphafold-casp13-what-just-happened/">I wholeheartedly agree with this</a>. The problem occurs when we take this analogy to mean that each small unit of hunter gatherers must defend its turf at all costs, as if the acquisition of scientific knowledge is akin to the hording of food. </li><li>Andrea Bazzoli's <a href="https://www.andreabazzoli.com/resources">job market materials</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.ideasuntrapped.com/p/lant-pritchett-on-everything-part#details">I think one reason brain drain gets so much attention is the two words rhyme</a>, which is not a good reason for an argument to have credibility. (Lant Pritchett) </li><li>Generating meaningful insights <a href="https://www.idinsight.org/article/generating-meaningful-insights-when-your-rct-design-is-upended/">when your RCT design is upended</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.cgdev.org/blog/teacher-professional-development-where-and-what-are-we-learning">Teacher Professional Development</a>: Where and What Are We Learning? (CGD blog)</li><li>NBER's <a href="https://www.nber.org/reporter/2023number1/program-report-political-economy">Program Report: Political Economy</a> </li></ul><div>6. Effective altruism</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://michaelnotebook.com/eanotes/">Michael Nielsen's notes on EA</a> </li><ul><li>Highlights: EA as a source of moral invention; EA judo--strong critique of any particular "most good" strategy improves EA, it doesn't discredit it; miscellanea (penumbral activity, EA is a cult, longtermism)</li></ul><li>EA has an <a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/jhCGX8Gwq44TmyPJv/ea-s-culture-and-thinking-are-severely-limiting-its">embarrassment of riches</a>. It could easily be squandered in the sense that its realized impact falls far far short of what is possible. </li><li>How effective altruism went from a niche movement to a <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/8/8/23150496/effective-altruism-sam-bankman-fried-dustin-moskovitz-billionaire-philanthropy-crytocurrency">billion-dollar force</a> </li><li>Where is the <a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/h8n8z9GroLHdgrJcZ/where-is-the-social-justice-in-ea">Social Justice in EA</a>? </li><li>Effective Altruism should <a href="https://precedents.substack.com/p/ea-is-not-religious-enough">emulate Quakerism</a> </li><li>Effective altruism, air pollution in Delhi, Supreme Court of India, and <a href="https://srajagopalan.substack.com/p/altruism-and-development-its-complicated">trade off between legibility and complexity in evaluating philanthropic efforts</a>. </li><li>Kelsey Piper's <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/KelseyTuoc/status/1557582468676550656">227-tweet</a> hottakes thread on EA</li><ul><li>(6) Effective altruists are doing way more shit that is not getting lifesaving medical care to people, but the movement is growing faster than it's expanding focus, so every year of growth so far has also been growth in lifesaving medical care provided to people.</li><li>(43) Another critique: that effective altruism wants to create a bunch of people who are all identical instead of distinct and individual. (44) One person I heard this from felt, herself, pressured to be more like other people, to pick the Impactful career without regard for her strengths. THIS IS VERY BAD DON'T DO IT. (45) Impact can be an input into career choice, but dear god, your strengths should be a PRIMARY input into career choice! Do the things you're good at! Do the things you have the potential to be exceptionally good at!</li><li>(211) Aaaaand we're back with a very important take, which is that "existential risk is so bad that even a very tiny chance of it is worth taking huge measures" is a terrible explanation of how to make decisions, you should never make decisions like that.</li></ul></ul></div><div>7. US Society</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>A man in a truck ran down two peaceful protesters at the pro-abortion rally in Cedar Rapids. Since the incident, I’ve had people tell me we should have been more polite and better behaved. Was I sure, they ask, that the people injured didn’t somehow incite it? As if anyone deserves to be hit by a car. As if anyone can be good enough to protect them from the violence of our country. <a href="https://lyz.substack.com/p/this-is-how-we-fight">I witnessed a man try to kill people and in response, people told me I should be nicer</a>. </li><li>I Caught Two Men <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/06/oregon-property-crime-addiction-opioid-epidemic-home-invasion-theft.html">Stealing From My Home</a> in Eugene, Oregon </li><li><a href="https://www.currentaffairs.org/2022/07/run-hide-fight">Run. Hide. Fight</a>. by Arjun Byju </li><li>How Your Stanford Classmate Became <a href="https://stanfordsphere.com/2020/01/30/how-your-classmate-became-a-con-artist/">a Con Artist</a> </li><li>The Humiliating <a href="https://www.theverge.com/c/23311333/tsa-history-airport-security-theater-homeland">History of the TSA</a> </li><li><a href="https://medium.com/@newyorkteacher/guessing-c-for-every-answer-is-now-enough-to-pass-the-new-york-state-algebra-exam-93bac55b3e24">Guessing C For Every Answer</a> Is Now Enough To Pass The New York State Algebra Exam </li><li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/09/sports/basketball/brittney-griner-return-letter.html?unlocked_article_code=RK35rBXJSBxX6tjB7kBchUJ7lR0avj6mhmGxa8qmyxjZolYb0G_8hbjV3jwV5k9lT0W8miNm8VgD0o3w12oacgFFlasbub0sJBb8d6JQ6v0JHSXDDCQhfv40Ozc_-SnzNR1fDEeBeqwo2Ia7rZeSGW5PUq5prQ-6qlVgz5tMwKccRbVYl1tLDNy13sj03AU0FHZxj0kGfCR8Hp2In_trO16jJ55g2Cf5xllFe-ikJed6MlwtkJjECzrSC1aoa6KEpDCsHWUmEZD3sAUh0dAJ-X4msUqtrUlPaOT0FyIQ79UvU9UjwHnLl_EZpKC2kMA_HxS7YXrt_CnOXhkcJdy4oo-yfGSgs7y3tH8SctgLhRBb&smid=share-url">Letters Helped Brittney Griner Survive</a>. Here’s One for Her Future. </li><li><a href="https://www.1001mathproblems.com/2015/11/topologists-map-of-united-states-to.html">Topologist's Map</a> of the United States </li><li>Thanksgiving thoughts: On Americas <a href="https://walkingtheworld.substack.com/p/happy-thanksgiving">homelessness and loneliness</a> </li><li>If the US put fewer people in prison, would crime go up? <a href="https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/david-roodman-becoming-a-world-class-researcher/">Not at all</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.movemap.io/explore/us">Movemap</a></li><li>In the 1960s, <a href="https://www.theamericanconservative.com/a-darkness-revealed/">my father Ray was involved in the Klan</a>. I can't remember precisely how I came to suspect this about him, but I know it goes back to my childhood. </li><li>If a reporter can't recognize propaganda and call it out when he sees it, then <a href="https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a43337271/axios-ben-montgomery-desantis/">what's even the point</a>? </li><li>The Quest for the <a href="https://espiers.medium.com/the-quest-for-the-perfect-coke-dealer-577aa95f942">Perfect Coke Dealer</a></li><li>Why the Right <a href="https://compactmag.com/article/why-the-right-can-t-beat-esg">Can’t Beat ESG</a> by Julius Krein </li><li><a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/70035310?pr=true">Gwoss Dispways of Power</a>: Four years ago I jotted down some thoughts concerning moral puritanism’s hold on our relationship to art, interrogating the desire to punish others for their artistic preferences. For watching the wrong shows, for writing the wrong kind of fanfiction, for enjoying the wrong kind of pornography. But what happens when those same people find themselves up against real, tangible moral wrongdoing? Mardoll, 40, a self-published YA author, spent the better part of two decades debating the minutiae of queer micro-identities and raising loud moral concerns over everything from cutesy dating sim Boyfriend Dungeon to Isabel Fall’s story ‘I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter’. It came to light that Mardoll was in fact a longtime engineer at arms manufacturer Lockheed-Martin, a position secured for him fifteen years ago by family members already installed at the corporation. Mardoll offered a half-apology, stating that his disabilities made finding any other employment with equivalent health insurance impossible, a claim somewhat undercut by his ownership and recent sale of a house valued at just over four hundred thousand dollars.</li></ul><div><div>8. Community, connections, conversations</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Before Robbie got sick, if you had asked me if community mattered, I would have said yes. But <a href="https://qz.com/1570179/how-to-make-friends-build-a-community-and-create-the-life-you-want/">I wouldn’t have thought about it much</a>. Nor would I have spent much time working out what it meant. </li><li><a href="https://sashachapin.substack.com/p/making-normal-conversations-better">Making Normal Conversations Better</a> by Sasha Chapin </li><li>Good conversations have <a href="https://experimentalhistory.substack.com/p/good-conversations-have-lots-of-doorknobs">lots of doorknobs</a> by Adam Mastroianni </li><li>Don’t just invest in ammo and electric fences, invest in people and relationships. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/sep/04/super-rich-prepper-bunkers-apocalypse-survival-richest-rushkoff">The billionaires rolled their eyes</a> </li><li><a href="https://skullsinthestars.com/2022/11/15/my-moment-of-glory-on-twitter/">HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHAT THE BACK OF YOUR KNEE LOOKS LIKE</a>? </li><li>Be Like Pete. He has made an interesting habit of going on Fox News and willingly submitting himself to what his interlocutors clearly anticipate to be difficult “gotcha” questions that will leave their liberal target squirming on camera. Secretary Buttigieg seems to always come out the clear winner and I think there is something to be learned from it. <a href="https://economistwritingeveryday.com/2022/07/11/be-like-pete/">Be nice, until it’s time to not be nice</a>.</li><li>How Do You Serve <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/09/opinion/despair-friendship-suicide.html?unlocked_article_code=0AsalIwTf_1UlYH2k7mv0m7k4LBP3mbROFpH1QWAmIcRvKzyRT5fEZakr-DcpAdg4UFmEBWb1Ey1rygUS64J2s4-TzYe6cynGLSgs0qFb05lVDQxl9bvTmw8lkz3gj0eaLKyYkV5vHsyQGttP7Mt9YkmyyDrCm6VCcw82fBABhNiU5I3NQtsAemR7A2XSAmNZRo_z0360UYu2Jb6WTBIEGLdZ5er7I8xeb4KsxXesYVZi4YoATpIJ1-VPinpMLpZhjOYFQdxl_GSvWEUah6QqpIX8M4ASwg_Uh0eWSUVKIB0Rlk3wkD4rzy11sNy5eN9zMUMMTGXnRopO_CC8ROAoxUf2JU&smid=url-share ">a Friend in Despair</a>? </li><li>Your next step is to ask very simple questions about what you can do. Some suggestions: Do you want me to talk to you? Do you want me to stay close to you right now? Do you need space? Do you want to hold my hand? https://www.thecut.com/2023/04/panic-attack-how-to-help.html</li><li>“<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/gobenyan/essay">How to Grow Old</a>” by Bertrand Russell </li><li><a href="https://www.currentaffairs.org/2023/01/sociopathy-as-a-lifestyle-brand">Sociopathy</a> as a Lifestyle Brand by Nathan J. Robinson </li></ul>9. Trauma and Relationship<div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://psyche.co/ideas/trees-dont-rush-to-heal-from-trauma-and-neither-should-we">Trees don’t rush</a> to heal from trauma and neither should we </li><li><a href="https://www.theliftedbrow.com/liftedbrow/2018/7/6/i-choose-elena-on-trauma-recovery-and-the-true-cost-of-male-violence-by-lucia-osborne-crowley">I choose Elena</a>: on trauma, recovery, and the true cost of sexual violence by Lucia Osborne-Crowley </li><li>Psychodynamic therapy helped me <a href="https://psyche.co/ideas/psychodynamic-therapy-helped-me-overcome-trauma-when-cbt-couldnt">overcome trauma</a> when CBT couldn’t by Lucia Osborne-Crowley </li><ul><li>Anger says: This isn’t working for me. Expressing anger requires being willing to be seen, which is why you can express it only when you feel confident that a relationship can contain its emotion and move forward. Since I’d always assumed that my relationships were fragile and weak, and that any moment the other person saw me clearly, they’d leave, I couldn’t risk expressing anger. So I dissociated.</li></ul><li><a href="https://psyche.co/guides/resilience-is-like-a-muscle-build-it-up-when-life-pulls-down">How to be resilient</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.tor.com/series/never-say-you-cant-survive-by-charlie-jane-anders/">Never Say You Can’t Survive</a> by Charlie Jane Anders </li><li>The first line came to me quickly — “Life is short, though I keep this from my children.” My Marriage Was <a href="https://www.thecut.com/article/book-excerpt-you-could-make-this-place-beautiful-maggie-smith.html">Never the Same After That</a>. </li><li><a href="https://www.themarginalian.org/2015/04/21/love-after-love-derek-walcott/">LOVE AFTER LOVE</a> by Derek Walcott </li><li>How Relationships <a href="https://aella.substack.com/p/how-relationships-change-over-time">Change Over Time</a> by Aella </li><li><a href="https://www.thecut.com/2023/04/outsourcing-my-orgasm.html">Outsourcing My Orgasm</a></li><li>I was pissed. I felt myself wanting him to see me upset so he’d feel bad and apologize. Just to make sure we’re all following — I am now playing insecure mind games with a 567 day old child. I think my son hates me. <a href="https://botharetrue.substack.com/p/i-think-my-son-hates-me ">I am not handling it well</a>.</li><li>My mentor John Hughes taught me how to write. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/commentisfree/2023/jan/30/my-mentor-john-hughes-taught-me-how-to-write-then-he-plagiarised-my-work">Then he plagiarised my work</a>. by Joseph Earp </li><li>Although it felt more like bereavement for a person than the loss of a thing, the <a href="https://aeon.co/essays/what-i-think-about-when-i-say-goodbye-to-my-beloved-dying-pet">death of a pet</a> isn’t exactly like either </li></ul></div><div>10. Career</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Job interviews are a nightmare — and only <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2023/1/12/23546379/job-interviewing-applying-exhausting-tests-employment">getting worse</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.thecut.com/2022/03/post-pandemic-loss-of-ambition.html">Losing My Ambition</a> by Amil Niazi </li><li>I’d love to tell you I had a glittering career before my three boys came along. But I can’t, because <a href="https://womenreturners.com/story/katherines-story/">I was an actor</a>. </li><li><a href="https://write.as/formerly-known-as-a-philosopher/confession-of-an-ex-philosopher">Confessions of an Ex Philosopher</a> </li><li><a href="https://musgrave.substack.com/p/marshmallow-phd">Marshmallow, Ph.D.</a>: How Delayed Gratification is a Recipe for Career Dissatisfaction </li><li>Not everybody wants to be the main <a href="https://blog.sbensu.com/posts/everybody-is-the-main-character/">character</a>. Pragmatists thinks they want to be one, does not actually want it. Reluctant hero does not think they want to be main, actually want it. Leaders and Divas think they want to be main, and actually want to be main. </li><li><a href=" https://woodfromeden.substack.com/p/on-the-experience-of-being-dirt-poorish">Not having a modern phone</a> is a very visible sign of poverty. Being known as poor is generally seen as shameful.</li><ul><li>Despite my somewhat destitute upbringing I am not disappointed in my parents. My vertiginous fall in social class does not feel very vertiginous at all. My mother, who always had high expectations of me, probably rues this fact, but she did prepare me very well for a future on the very bottom of society.</li></ul><li>Staring into <a href="https://www.benkuhn.net/abyss/">the abyss</a> as a core life skill by Ben Kuhn</li><li>Noah Reid on Switching Gears and <a href="https://nuvomagazine.com/magazine/autumn-2022/noah-reid-on-switching-gears-and-making-adjustments">Making Adjustments</a></li><li>A theory on the <a href="https://www.currentaffairs.org/2022/09/why-you-hate-your-job">function of bullshit jobs</a>: to maintain the illusion of meritocracy and to provide status and prestige for elites by Aravind "Vinny" Byju</li><li>EJMR Job Market despair threads</li><ul><li><a href="https://www.econjobrumors.com/topic/job-market-finally-broke-me">Job market finally broke me</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.econjobrumors.com/topic/job-market-is-over">Job market is over</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.econjobrumors.com/topic/feeling-destroyed">Feeling Destroyed</a> </li></ul><li><a href="https://etiennefd.substack.com/p/remaining-ambitious">On dealing with rejection, both as an applicant and as a gatekeeper</a> </li><li><a href="https://askpolly.substack.com/p/how-to-handle-regrets">How to Handle Regrets</a>: ‘I’m Broke and Mostly Friendless, and I’ve Wasted My Whole Life’</li><li>The Seven <a href="https://randsinrepose.com/archives/the-seven-levels-of-busy/">Levels of Busy</a> </li></ul></div><div><div>10. Writing and Words</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The <a href="https://theloosecravat.substack.com/p/not-your-grandmas-romance-novel">stigma against romance novels</a> is not just because romance novels are seen as something women enjoy, but because it’s seen as something *older* women enjoy.</li><li>What <a href="https://pudding.cool/2023/01/lit-canon/">90s literature</a> is most assigned on English college syllabus? </li><li>Blunt-force <a href="https://astra-mag.com/articles/blunt-force-ethnic-credibility/">ethnic credibility</a> by Som-Mai Nguyen</li><li>What We Wear: <a href="https://longreads.com/2022/03/10/fashion-clothing-reading-list/">A Reading List on Fashion</a> and Our Complex Relationship to Clothes </li><li><a href="https://blog.ayjay.org/and-then/">And then what</a>? The whole attitude seems to be: Let me get through this thing I don’t especially enjoy so I can do another thing just like it, which I won’t enjoy either. </li><li>Brandon Sanderson: I don’t write for plot twists, or dragons, or clever turns of phrase—though I enjoy all of these. <a href="https://www.brandonsanderson.com/outside/">I write because stories bring people inside</a>. And I sincerely, genuinely believe that is what the world needs. </li><li>How the ring <a href="https://www.robinsloan.com/newsletters/ring-got-good/">got good</a></li><li>Word games: <a href="https://wafflegame.net">Waffle Game</a>, <a href="https://www.wordi.app">Wordi</a>, <a href="https://www.wordiply.com">Wordiply</a> </li><li><a href="https://medium.com/@wordi/the-wordi-backstory-a7f8e295aea6">The Wordi backstory</a></li><li><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/dec/22/i-was-asked-to-invent-the-next-wordle-how-hard-could-it-be">I was asked to invent the next Wordle</a></li><li><a href="https://portal.konjer.xyz">Bots</a> for various books, including the Case Against Education.</li></ul></div></div><div>11. Miscellanea</div><div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.worksinprogress.co/issue/the-maintenance-race/">The maintenance race</a> by Stewart Brand </li><li>We could have universal COVID vaccines very soon — if we <a href="https://www.slowboring.com/p/we-could-have-universal-covid-vaccines">urgently reform the process</a> </li><li>Updated <a href="https://www.deplatformdisease.com/blog/updated-covid-19-boosters-faq">COVID-19 Boosters FAQ</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.redpenreviews.org/reviews/the-salt-fix/">The Salt Fix</a> recommends that people eat as much salt as they crave. Red Pen reviews it and decides it doesn’t make a convincing case that eating salt to our heart’s content is healthier than cutting back on it. </li><li>Duolinguists: <a href="https://duolinguists.wordpress.com">Articles</a> written or selected by Duolingo moderators to help you learn multiple languages.</li><li>Why <a href="https://scilogs.spektrum.de/hlf/why-a4-the-mathematical-beauty-of-paper-size/">A4</a>? </li><li><a href="https://www.templeton.org/news/making-space-for-silence">Making Space For Silence</a> </li><li>Who Gets <a href="https://annehelen.substack.com/p/who-gets-quality-leisure">"Quality" Leisure</a>? </li><li>Becoming <a href="https://clivethompson.medium.com/becoming-athletic-in-my-50s-a8181ee403d">Athletic</a> In My 50s by Clive Thompson</li><li>Move <a href="https://www.funnyhowtheknightmoves.com">the knight</a> to every square in order, except don’t land anywhere the queen can take you.</li><li>The <a href="https://www.uctaa.com/join/choir.html">Apathetic Agnostic Tabernacle Choir</a> membership entitles you to access our online hymnal and to participate in regular Thursday Choir practice (in the shower.) Invite a friend or two so you can practice your harmonies. </li><li>On <a href="https://buttondown.email/danbouk/archive/on-walking-to-the-museum-musing-on-beauty-and/">Walking to the Museum</a>, Musing on Beauty </li><li>In Defence of <a href="https://thewalrus.ca/garlic-in-a-jar/">Garlic in a Jar</a> </li><li><a href="https://senyapsuara.wordpress.com/2021/11/21/insom-mer/">Rasanya dulu jiwaku bernas!</a>/Penuh pilu, tapi sesekali tahu caranya bergembira/Kenapa sekarang aku lupa? </li><li>Engaging with the new generation and <a href="https://musgrave.substack.com/p/what-the-kids-are-reading">its media consumption</a> </li><li><a href="https://craigmod.com/roden/075/">Archetypes Revisited</a>: Who makes us who we are? The people nearby. by Craig Mod</li><li>The ebb and flow of <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-ebb-and-flow-of-life-on-a-houseboat/">life on a houseboat</a> by Dan <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/writer/dan-hitchens/">Hitchens</a> </li><li>Overcoming <a href="https://woodfromeden.substack.com/p/overcoming-male-reproductive-greed">male reproductive greed</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.liarsleague.com/liars_league/2011/10/something-wicked-by-richard-smyth.html">Something Wicked</a> by Richard Smyth </li><li><a href="http://www.andreasharsono.net/2022/12/belajar-radikalisme-dari-george-j.html">Belajar "Radikalisme" dari George J. Aditjondro</a> </li><li>John Wesley’s Sermon 50: gain all you can, save all you can, give all you can. “<a href="https://conversableeconomist.com/2022/12/15/john-wesley-and-the-origins-of-earn-to-give/">we ought not to gain money at the expense of life</a>, nor (which is in effect the same thing) at the expense of our health; without hurting our neighbour. But this we may not, cannot do, if we love our neighbour as ourselves.” </li><li>I don't have a <a href="https://www.inthemargins.ca/i-need-a-hobby">hobby</a>: Flashing Palely in the Margins Nov 2021 links </li></ul></div></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Masyhurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120142510202386489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1451164821026462994.post-56984282884121075662022-06-23T03:46:00.009+09:002022-06-23T04:16:55.645+09:00Internet reading Q2 2022<p> New batches of links!</p>
<p>1. Let me put “reading” as queerly as I can. <a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/reading-kissing-sex-ideas-lesbian-barebacking/">In the act of reading, we are being penetrated by an author’s sequencing of sensuous dildos we call words, which we kiss, which then open us up to viral growth</a>. The word is a dildo? A dildo we kiss? Kissing leads to penetration? Penetration spreads a virus?</p>
<details><summary>More LGBTQIA+ stuff, relationship</summary><ul><li>Possibly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/apr/22/heartstopper-review-alice-oseman-netflix-tv-drama">the loveliest show on TV</a> </li><li>Reid says, “<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/noah-reid-on-the-power-of-schitts-creek-his-broadway-debut-in-the-minutes-and-anti-lgbtq-laws">When I was approaching the character, I thought it would be mistake to ‘play gay.’ I thought, ‘What I can play is a man who falls in love with another man, and build that connection into the character.’</a> Dan made that very easy. It was incredible to have such a front-row seat to the sculpting of that relationship and the way it impacted people. It was handled with a lot of care and a lot of love. It wasn’t an accident that that relationship meant so much to so many. It was crafted that way. Some of the storylines—like Patrick coming out to his parents and even that first kiss moment—were very carefully constructed with a lot of love and tenderness. It was intended to be, and ended up being, a ray of light for people." </li><li><a href="https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/the-future-of-the-ally">How many times can a person write an article about biphobia or bi-erasure before readers and publishers demand something new</a>? The competitive marketplace of ideas incentivizes people to embrace increasingly radical positions. This race to stay relevant is a dangerous game. </li><li>Angel Maxine - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJOnOfUakcA">Wo Fie</a> feat Wanlov the Kubolor & Sister Deborah </li><li>Schitt's Creek Captures <a href="https://www.tvguide.com/news/features/schitts-creek-no-homophobia-dan-levy-pride/">the Unexpected Joy of Being Seen</a></li><li><a href="https://www.thecut.com/article/brock-colyar-pronouns-nonbinary-essay.html">Brock Colyar on Pronouns, Identifying as Nonbinary</a></li><li>The reason my marriage fell apart seems absurd when I describe it: <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/04/marriage-problems-fight-dishes/629526/">My wife left me because sometimes I leave dishes by the sink</a>. It makes her seem ridiculous and makes me seem like a victim of unfair expectations. But it wasn’t the dishes, not really—it was what they represented. </li></ul></details>
<p>2. <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gassing-satartia-mississippi-co2-pipeline_n_60ddea9fe4b0ddef8b0ddc8f">The Gassing Of Satartia</a>: A CO2 pipeline in Mississippi ruptured last year, sickening dozens of people.</p>
<details><summary>More on global warming, climate change, and the environment</summary><ul><li>The Democrats Really Are That <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2022/05/nancy-pelosi-democrats-climate-change-bill/629822/">Dense About Climate Change</a> </li><li>Forget your carbon footprint. Let's talk about your <a href="https://www.mic.com/impact/forget-your-carbon-footprint-lets-talk-about-your-climate-shadow">climate shadow</a> </li><li><a href="https://earthjournalism.net/stories/coal-fever-in-indonesia">Coal Fever</a> in Indonesia </li><li><a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/as-tide-rises-indonesia-struggles-to-save-living-and-dead">As the tide rises, Indonesia struggles to save the living—and the dead</a> </li><li>Rethinking Solar Farm Design: <a href="https://austinvernon.site/blog/solaronground.html">Can we just lay these panels on the ground</a>? </li><li><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/18/ten-ways-confront-climate-crisis-without-losing-hope-rebecca-solnit-reconstruction-after-covid">Ten ways to confront the climate crisis without losing hope</a> by Rebecca Solnit </li><li>Why does my county want to ask me <a href="https://buttondown.email/theplanetyousave/archive/why-does-my-county-want-to-ask-me-what-to-do/">what to do about sea level rise</a>? from The Planet You Save Could Be Your Own newsletter </li><li><a href="https://thebulletin.org/2022/05/this-gas-would-have-stayed-in-the-ground-if-it-wasnt-for-bitcoin/">This gas would have stayed in the ground</a> if it wasn’t for bitcoin </li><li><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/07/light-noise-pollution-animal-sensory-impact/638446/">Sensory pollution is the pollution of disconnection.</a> In making the planet brighter and louder, we have endangered sensory environments for countless species in ways that are less viscerally galling than clear-cut rain forests and bleached coral reefs but no less tragic. </li><li><a href="https://www.theverge.com/c/23138305/ebird-cornell-lab-birding-climate-change-research">A Once-in-a-lifetime Bird</a></li><li>Can outdoor recreation really support conservation for the long-term health of the land, not just human access? <a href="https://www.hcn.org/issues/50.8/recreation-your-stoke-wont-save-us">I suspect the answer is a hollow no</a>. </li></ul>
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<p>3. Afterparties, <a href="https://expendablemudge.blogspot.com/2021/08/afterparties-stories-collected-just-in.html">stories collected just in time, too late, and from a source gone too soon</a></p>
<details><summary>More poems, short stories, and writing</summary><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/sooner-or-later-everything-falls-into-the-sea/">Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea</a> by Sarah Pinsker </li><li><a href="https://whatever.scalzi.com/2022/04/05/a-new-story-for-you-grizzly-bear-conflict-manager/">Grizzly Bear Conflict Manager</a></li><li><a href="https://poets.org/poem/o-small-sad-ecstasy-love">O Small Sad Ecstasy of Love</a> by Anne Carson </li><li><a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57673/to-be-of-use">To be of use</a> by Marge Piercy </li><li><a href="https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/proof-by-induction/">Proof by Induction</a> by José Pablo Iriarte</li><li>The "Pity Me" personal essays bring us a whole lot of dramatics and zero perspective. The tone is pure misery; in place of honesty we have melodrama; instead of empathy this writing seeks acclaim for its author’s courage in the face of <a href="https://www.gawker.com/culture/the-pity-me-personal-essay">quite surmountable obstacles</a>. </li><li><a href="https://allpoetry.com/Full-Moon-and-Little-Frieda">Full Moon and Little Frieda</a> by Ted Hughes</li><li><a href="https://hazlitt.net/feature/street-meat-stories">Writing and whoring</a>—selling a body or a body of work—what’s the difference? </li><li><a href="https://www.diabolicalplots.com/dp-fiction-74b-for-lack-of-a-bed-by-john-wiswell/">“For Lack of a Bed”</a> by John Wiswell </li><li>Who Is <a href="https://catapult.co/dont-write-alone/stories/jess-zimmerman-personal-braided-essay-steven-hotdog-extended-metaphor">Steven Hotdog</a>? Or, Untangling the “Braided Essay” </li><li><a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-people-downstairs/">The People Downstairs</a> By Diana Fuss - A review of Atul Gawande's Being Mortal </li></ul></details>
<p>4. When women were hired to operate the calutrons, the supervisors ultimately found that <a href="https://exploreoakridge.com/who-were-the-calutron-girls-of-oak-ridge/">the women were better than the highly educated men</a>. If something went wrong, male scientists would try to figure out the cause of the problem, while women saved time by simply alerting a supervisor. Additionally, scientists were guilty of fiddling with the dials too much, while women only adjusted them when necessary.</p>
<details><summary>More science, technology, and the sociology of internet</summary><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://scottlocklin.wordpress.com/2021/04/08/the-physicists-a-history-of-a-scientific-community-in-modern-america/">A history of the physicists community</a> in modern America </li><li><a href="https://www.worksinprogress.co/issue/why-innovation-prizes-fail/">Why innovation prizes fail</a></li><li><a href="https://www.worksinprogress.co/issue/how-polyester-bounced-back/">How polyester bounced back</a></li><li>The World That Venture Capital Made: on The Power Law, Mallaby's book on VC. In the end, this book is really a lesson not in the power law, but in the <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/166330/world-venture-capital-made">law of power</a>. </li><li><a href="https://www.robinsloan.com/lab/lost-thread/">Wishful descriptions of Twitter as “the de facto public town square” sound, to me, like Peter Pan begging the audience to clap and raise a swooning Tinkerbell</a>. You don’t have to clap. </li><li>Why <a href="https://aeon.co/essays/why-the-hidden-internet-can-t-be-a-libertarian-paradise">the hidden internet can't be a libertarian paradise</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.gawker.com/culture/i-should-be-able-to-mute-america">The rest of the world should not have to know the name Bari Weiss</a></li><li><a href="https://www.ft.com/content/9e787670-6aa7-4479-934f-f4a9fedf4829">Inside the cult of crypto</a></li><li>Slobbing out and giving up: going ‘<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/mar/14/slobbing-out-and-giving-up-why-are-so-many-people-going-goblin-mode">goblin mode</a>’? </li><li><a href="https://mashable.com/article/how-tumblr-lost-its-way">Where does Tumblr go from here</a>?</li><li><a href="https://contrachrome.com">Contra Google Chrome</a> </li><li>What TikTok’s obsession with <a href="https://theface.com/culture/nepotism-babies-tiktok-class-gen-z-maude-apatow-billie-eilish-kendall-jenner-privilege">nepotism babies</a> says about class </li><li>The ‘successful failures’ of <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2022/04/11/successful-failures-apollo-13-covid-19-vaccination/">Apollo 13 and Covid-19 vaccination</a> </li></ul></div>
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<p>5. <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/~drd28/Thesis%20Research.pdf">If you want to write applied theory, read empirics. If you want to write empirics, read theory</a>. You would like to have your empirical work place some intellectual capital on the line. What views of the world will we affirm or abandon on the basis of your empirical work? If you do not have an answer to this, then the empirical work will not be very exciting. </p>
<details><summary>More econ</summary><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Things Keith Head hates: Precise (but wrong) and vague (but useless) <a href="http://blogs.ubc.ca/khead/research/research-advice/things-i-hate">reports of robustness</a>.</li><li>If we were somehow able to create sustainable resource use (and that’s a big if), then in the future we could get “infinite” growth: as long as people want things, you will get “growth”. This is what economists are thinking of when they say “<a href="https://davidchivers.blogspot.com/2021/11/infinite-growth-on-finite-planet.html">yes, we can get infinite growth on a finite planet</a>”. </li><li><a href="https://patrickjuli.us/2021/06/06/when-to-give-up/">When to Give Up</a>, from <a href="https://500queerscientists.com/patrick-julius/">Patrick Julius</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.gwern.net/Fake-Journal-Club">Fake Journal Club</a>: Teaching Critical Reading of research papers </li><li>Pritchett: how is a paper based on the treatment of 13 villages in Afghanistan sufficiently interesting and important to justify publication in a top journal when its findings confirm what everyone already believes? <a href="https://lantpritchett.org/why-feigned-ignorance-is-not-good-economics-or-science-generally/">Why “feigned ignorance” is not good economics</a> </li></ul></div></details>
<p>6. <a href="https://placesjournal.org/article/architecture-power-and-nationalism-in-india/">The remaking of New Delhi’s Central Vista</a> provokes troubling questions about the already fraught relationship between architecture and power.</p><details><summary>More from Japan, Sri Lanka, Maine, Myanmar</summary>
<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://craigmod.com/ridgeline/143/">Walking the Cotswolds, Walking Japan</a> </li><li>The YIMBYest City in America: <a href="https://www.discoursemagazine.com/politics/2022/05/18/the-yimbyest-city-in-america/">Auburn, Maine</a></li><li><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/25/race-east-jackson-ohio-appalachia-white-black">They look white but say they're black</a> </li><li>How hubris and Covid transformed <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/14cf5157-b798-44b6-a2dd-6c5a2ff011a0">Sri Lanka from ‘donor darling’ to default</a> </li><li>My Husband Died With Dignity. <a href="https://jacobin.com/2022/05/canadian-medical-assistance-in-dying-maid-frank-cunningham">Everyone Should Have That Right</a>. </li><li><a href="https://kite-tales.org/en/article/hot-summer-days-full-anger-and-tears">Hot, summer days full of anger and tears</a>: a former journalist from Myanmar's diary </li><li>Jeff Mermelstein’s <a href="https://www.lensculture.com/articles/jeff-mermelstein-nyc">photobook #nyc</a> is a series of photographs of the text messages from the streets </li></ul></details>
<p>7. <a href="https://theconnector.substack.com/p/and-we-are-not-saved">Gun control activism: It's as if we’re living in the 1950s and the only groups leading the charge for civil rights are the NAACP and the Urban League, and the only strategy they’re willing to try is polite protest and lobbying</a>. One theory: they has been rolled up under one roof, Everytown for Gun Safety, with deep backing from Bloomberg. </p><details><summary>More on thinking, activism, rationality, and other miscellanea</summary><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://medium.com/arc-digital/dont-lecture-on-respectful-disagreement-if-you-don-t-practice-it-4f2ec310a0f6">Don’t Lecture On Respectful Disagreement If You Don’t Practice It</a>: Don’t be like James Lindsay </li><li>Did Giordano Bruno die for his astronomical discoveries or his atheism? False dichotomy: you can’t have a mind that questions the stars but never thinks to question the Bible. The best you can do is have a Bruno who questions both, but is savvy enough to know which questions he can get away with saying out loud. And the real Bruno wasn’t that savvy. [<a href="https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/10/23/kolmogorov-complicity-and-the-parable-of-lightning/">Kolmogorov's Complicity</a>] </li><li><a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/olufemi-taiwo-identity-politics-elite-capture.html">What’s Wrong With Identity Politics</a>? On Olúfemi O. Táíwò’s new book, Elite Capture </li><li>Unmoored from religion, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/11/t-magazine/sacred-food-offerings.html">we seek new forms of exaltation</a>. We turn ordinary objects into holy grails, making pilgrimages to restaurants ranked among the world’s best (and helmed by chefs not so jokingly compared to gods). </li><li>EA’s Talent Bottleneck is a <a href="https://legal-longtermist.ghost.io/why-eas-talent-bottleneck-is-a-barrier-of-its-own-making/">Barrier of its own Making</a></li><li><a href="https://thepavlovictoday.com/the-life-cycle-of-a-youth-activist/">The Life Cycle Of A Youth Activist</a></li><li><a href="https://edwest.substack.com/p/why-men-dont-age-like-wine?s=r">You’re not going to become George Clooney</a>: men don’t age like wine</li><li><a href="https://parpa.substack.com/p/cartographic-questions">The questions to map an area</a> (What are your “white whales?” What projects didn’t quite work out but are still nagging you?) are not how you should ask them </li></ul></details>
<p>8. Writings from Andy Matuschak and Dynomight</p><details><ul><li><a href="https://andymatuschak.org/2021">2021 reflections on creative work, the field, crowdfunding</a></li><li><a href="https://andymatuschak.org/2020/">Reflections on 2020 as an independent researcher</a></li><li>When you look for someone to marry, you’ll care about many things. And are they, like, wicked hot? But your parents probably care about it less than you do. So, <a href="https://dynomight.net/hotness/">why do you want to marry someone hot?</a> </li><li>Diet Coke tastes sweet because it has aspartame in it. <a href="https://dynomight.net/aspartame/">Is it bad for you?</a> </li><li>New meth might be chemically different in a way that caused people to go crazy, starting around 2017. But the main thing about P2P meth is that <a href="https://dynomight.net/p2p-meth/">there's so much of it</a> </li></ul><p></p></details>Masyhurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120142510202386489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1451164821026462994.post-69497488960149876622022-04-14T01:02:00.002+09:002022-04-14T01:02:53.299+09:00Fragmentatie<p> Eksperimen personal saya untuk menulis lebih sering kurang sukses: page ‘now’ yang saya taruh di sidebar updatenya berhenti tiga bulan lalu. Mungkin memang saya kini ada di fase berbeda: tidak lagi harus lapor mingguan ke seorang manajer lagi ngerjain apa aja, tinggal serumah dengan pasangan yang mau tidak mau mengamati gerak-gerik saya sehingga tidak perlu berwarta, dan kawan-kawan saya tercerai-berai lintas benua.</p><p>Plus ada medsos. Daftar bacaan hiburan saya ada di Goodreads. Fitur sosial Duolingo kini posisinya sentral. Twitter. Instagram. Tiktok. Platform-platform ini menyerap perhatian saya. Belakangan saya sadar kalau ini adalah bagian hidup yang ini benar-benar menguras energi. </p><p>Energi saya yang terkuras ini bukan semata-mata tentang media sosialnya—tentang ini sudah banyak yang mengulas. Pencerahan yang baru-baru saja muncul buat saya lebih ke fragmentasi atensi saya bahkan untuk satu jenis aktivitas saja. </p><p>Ketika saya mencari hiburan dengan membaca, saya secara simultan membaca beberapa buku di saat yang bersamaan, dengan laju yang berbeda-beda. Di Kindle saya ada The Rent Collector (Cameron Wright) novel tentang kehidupan pemulung sampah di TPA Bantargebangnya Kamboja, kumpulan esai-blognya Eliezer Yudkowski, dan baru semalam saya unduh novellanya Adrian Tchaikovsky. Di meja makan tergeletak Brotherhood, novel debutnya Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, dan nonfiksi It’s Our Time to Eat tentang skandal korupsi di Kenya. Lima buku. </p><p>Tahun lalu saya menambah kursus baru di Duolingo: bahasa Belanda. Dengan streak setahun lebih belajar bahasa Perancis, saya jadi bolak-balik dua kursus dan berulang kali tertukar je yang berarti saya di bahasa Perancis dengan je di bahasa Belanda yang berarti kamu (dilafalkan ‘ye’). Ketika tangkapan layar saya tentang modul sejarah di kursus bahasa Belanda ini meleduk di twitter dan Nils membalas bahwa di kursus bahasa Spanyol Duolingo tidak ada pelajaran serupa saya jadi penasaran bagaimana dengan bahasa Jepang. Maka selama tiga minggu saya jadi bolak-balik berlatih di kursus Jepang dan Belanda. Dua-tiga bahasa. </p><p>Bulan lalu saya presentasi tentang temuan awal riset SMK. Di saat yang sama memulai proses survei telepon proyek riset dana desa. Plus dikejar tenggat revisi paper IM dan dibayang-bayangi tenggat revisi paper inpres. Kerja kolaborasi pendidikan antikorupsi sementara berjalan, dan demi siklus job market tahun depan saya sadar tidak boleh membiarkan riset remitansi dijeda terlalu lama. Supaya tidak teronggok seperti riset altruisme saya. Tujuh proyek riset. </p><p>Belum lagi dua hal administratif besar lainnya: keimigrasian dan perpajakan. </p><p>Perhitungan kasar saya menghasilkan rerata alokasi waktu (hanya!) tujuh jam per aktivitas per minggu. Tapi ini bukan kisaran yang realistis. Per proyek riset sering perlu waktu lebih dari tiga hari kerja. Asumsi lainnya untuk memenuhi panjang “hari kerja” tujuh belas jam sehari tujuh hari seminggu adalah saya tidak perlu rehat, olahraga, mandi, atau makan! Atau punya hubungan personal sama sekali. Ini jelas tidak sehat dalam jangka panjang, dan dengan serta merta menjelaskan kenapa pikiran saya enggan beranjak dari perasaan-perasaan suram bahkan di hari-hari dengan cakrawala yang terbentang cemerlang. Tentu saja ini lebih parah ketika cuaca muram. </p><p>Maka saya mengeksklusifkan kursus bahasa Belanda saja di Duolingo. Pelaporan perpajakan syukurnya sudah selesai (dan kami menebus kurang bayar pajak dua ribu lima ratus dolar dengan sedikit rasa tidak ikhlas). Selesai baca Tchaikovsky dan Brotherhood saya hanya mulai satu buku baru (tentang detektif/ahli bahasa mesir kuno m/m di Massachusetts fiktif abad ke-19). Saya tidak yakin apa yang bisa saya kurangi di pekerjaan tapi paling tidak saya sudah kirim balik manuskrip IM dan benar benar merehatkan draf riset altruisme saya untuk sementara. </p><p>Dengan harapan kewarasan terjaga. </p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">I’m doing the history unit in Duolingo’s Dutch course and 😶😶 <a href="https://t.co/10iPT4qjh5">pic.twitter.com/10iPT4qjh5</a></p>— Masyhur (@masyhurh) <a href="https://twitter.com/masyhurh/status/1503531098181095424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 15, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>Masyhurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120142510202386489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1451164821026462994.post-30324452045361692562022-04-03T11:05:00.006+09:002022-04-07T22:42:55.476+09:00Internet reading Q1 20221. I'm tired all the time. You're tired. We're all tired. How could living at the junction of the third year of a global pandemic and the threat of World War III be anything but <a href="https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/a39429041/what-is-normal-after-pandemic/">completely, thoroughly, absolutely exhausting?</a>
<details><summary>Pandemic reading</summary>
<div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/long-reads/2022/02/the-end-of-mental-illness ">Are you mentally ill, or very unhappy?</a> Are we experiencing a parallel pandemic, or having a rational response to a traumatic world?</li><li><a href="https://unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com/p/the-omicron-question">The Omicron Question</a> by Tomas Pueyo </li><li><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/12/america-omicron-variant-surge-booster/621027/">America Is Not Ready for Omicron</a> by Ed Yong </li><li>Much of our Omicron problem can be traced back to a false binary: <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2022/01/omicron-mild-severity-immunity/621238/">That the variant is less of a danger too often gets misconstrued as the variant is not a danger at all</a>. </li><li><a href="https://www.archpaper.com/2020/06/opinion-no-pr-chitecture-wont-save-us-from-the-pandemic/">‘PR-chitecture’ won’t save us</a> from the pandemic </li><li><a href="https://restofworld.org/2021/samsung-worker-factories-pandemic/">Workers in Vietnam lived inside factories</a> to keep Samsung’s products on shelves during the pandemic </li><li>The Pandemic Made the Rich <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/economy/pandemic-rich-richer/">$1.7 Trillion Richer</a> </li></ul></div></details>
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2. <a href="https://www.tor.com/2022/01/24/our-country-c-s-lewis-calormen-and-how-fans-are-reclaiming-the-fictionalized-east/ ">How do you love a book that hates you?</a> On CS Lewis' Narnia</div>
<details><summary>Media, Languages, and Short stories</summary>
<div><ul><li>For three years running there have been precisely zero white men nominated for the Best Novel Hugo, and the last one to actually win was John Scalzi all the way back in 2013. This suggests a <a href="https://www.eruditorumpress.com/blog/four-tiny-essays-on-sf-f">clear aesthetic shift</a> in how sci-fi works. Also: two competing tendencies in queer fiction, Hugboxing vs Scab Picking</li><li><a href="https://nusantaranaga.wordpress.com/2021/03/06/going-south-by-southeast-a-film-review-of-raya-and-the-last-dragon/">Raya is doomed from the start</a> on the representation front. Southeast Asia has about the same population as Europe—imagine if Disney announced that they are going to make a movie representing ALL of Europe’s cultures. </li><li><a href="https://nusantaranaga.wordpress.com/2021/09/12/close-encounters-of-the-nerd-kind-a-review-of-andy-weirs-project-hail-mary/">I love that Rocky and Grace would naturally start to collaborate on their shared science problem</a> because even on Earth, civilian scientists would happily fraternise even when their nations of origin are hostile to one another because being nerdy about a shared interest is a glue that can bind all of us. This is a direct rebuke to the cosmic sociology in Three-Body Problem where all sentient, technologically-advanced life in the universe are maximally hostile to one another. </li><li><a href="http://bild-lida.ca/blog/uncategorized/the-more-you-know-the-more-you-need-to-know-learning-gaelic-and-ojibwe-online-during-the-pandemic-by-paul-meighan-chiblow/">Learning Gaelic and Ojibwe </a>online during the pandemic (by Paul Meighan-Chiblow)</li><li>Duolingo <a href="https://drive-thru.duolingo.com/">Data Vault</a>. See also: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/duolingo/comments/obtt2o/comparing_all_courses_for_english_speakers_with/">Comparing all Courses for English Speakers</a></li><li><a href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-revolution-will-not-be-served-with-fries/">The Revolution Will Not Be Served with Fries</a> </li><li><a href="https://owen-booth.com/2013/05/15/the-love-song-of-the-predator-drone/">The Love Song of the Predator Drone </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25233650-200-mary-robinette-kowal-an-exclusive-short-story-for-new-scientist/">By the Pricking of My Robotic Thumbs</a> by Mary Robinette Kowal </li><li><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/an-app-called-libby-and-the-surprisingly-big-business-of-library-e-books">The Surprisingly Big Business of Library E-books</a>: In January 2021, NYPL had purchased 310 perpetual audiobook licenses for Obama's memoir A Promised Land at $95 each, for a total of $29,450, and had bought 600 and 39 one- and two-year licenses for the e-book, for a total of $22,512. Taken together, these cost about as much as 3,000 copies of the consumer e-book, which sells for about $18 per copy. As of August 2021, the library has spent less than $10,000 on the 226 hardcover copies.</li><li>John Scalzi interview at <a href="https://www.galaxysedge.com/#editorWord">Galaxy's Edge</a></li><li><a href="https://www.sfwa.org/2021/12/14/oghenechovwe-donald-ekpeki-african-names/">Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.tor.com/2010/01/18/sf-reading-protocols/">SF reading protocols</a> by Jo Walton </li><li><a href="https://laurenhough.substack.com/p/a-question-for-lambda-literary?s=r">A question for Lambda Literary</a> </li><li>It's just <a href="https://www.garbageday.email/p/its-just-oscars-takes-all-the-way?s=r">Oscars takes all the way down</a> </li><li><a href="https://fallows.substack.com/p/this-months-speeches-part-1-schwarzenegger?s=r">Schwarzenegger's speech was a demonstration of high rhetorical art</a>.</li><li><a href="https://bebrayanbasalanaksarajawa.blogspot.com/2019/08/ngenani-about-mengenai.html?m=1">Ngênani About Mengenai</a></li></ul></div></details><br /><div>
3. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/17/opinion/bisexuals-coming-out-anna-paquin.html">I Don’t Know Who Needs to Hear This, but You Are Bi Enough</a> by Zachary Zane </div>
<details><summary>Sexuality/LGBTQIA, Friendship, Relationship</summary>
<div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://novaramedia.com/2022/02/14/there-is-no-sexual-liberation-without-bisexuals/">There Is No Sexual Liberation Without Bisexuals</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.out.com/film/2020/12/08/heres-why-cis-het-actors-should-not-play-lgbtq-roles-now">Cis-Het Actors Should Not Play LGBTQ+ Roles</a> "In the case of Schitt's Creek, Noah was playing a character who was not aware of his sexuality. I also knew that I was there to authenticate the experience and ground that experience and it was a choice that I made as a gay person for the story," </li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu77cxYtSO0">We need to talk about romantic love and why it's so horrible</a></li><li>Men in Netherlands with older brothers are <a href="https://theconversation.com/research-confirms-men-with-older-brothers-are-more-likely-to-be-gay-suggesting-same-sex-attraction-has-a-biological-basis-172396 ">more likely to be enter a same-sex union</a> </li><li><a href="https://bookriot.com/100-must-read-bisexual-books/">100 Bisexual Books</a> </li><li>'Heartstopper being a graphic novel certainly <a href="https://www.thebookseller.com/profile/alice-oseman-adapting-her-graphic-novels-screen-1263672">helps the filmmaking process</a>' and 'It’s more of an episodic story, so I decided <a href="https://www.thebookseller.com/profile/alice-oseman-it-s-more-episodic-story-so-i-decided-comic-would-be-better-format-1236168">a comic would be a better format</a>.' Also: 'I began with the desire to write a story about the <a href="https://www.thebookseller.com/feature/alice-oseman-i-began-desire-write-story-about-power-platonic-love-1249114">power of platonic love</a>.' </li><li>The older we get, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/03/why-we-lose-friends-aging-happiness/621305/">the more we need our friends—and the harder it is to keep them</a> </li><li><a href="https://yalereview.org/article/there-i-almost-am">There I Almost Am: On envy and twinship</a> by Jean Garnett</li><li>What’s R(ace) Got To Do With It?: <a href="https://mediadiversified.org/2014/05/03/whats-race-got-to-do-with-it-white-privilege-asexuality/">White Privilege & (A)sexuality</a> </li><li>Surveillance in a Little <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/05/lgbtq-discrimination-union-university-christian-campuses-lawsuit-title-ix">Fortress of LGBTQ Oppression</a> </li><li><a href="https://medium.com/prismnpen/an-secret-asexual-traitor-to-her-country-12602ffe7e68">A Secret Asexual Traitor to Her Country</a> </li></ul><p></p></div></details><div><br /></div>
<div>4a. The rightful outpouring of support for Ukraine teaches us that <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/world/ukraine-palestine-occupation/ ">the West can condemn occupation when it wants to</a>. By Yousef Munayyer </div><div>4b. I saw a TikTok recently in which a blue-haired teen declared their commitment to “BLM” and Jewish “return” and “decolonization” by occupying Palestine. If you’re thinking that something about this whole thing feels weird, well, <a href="https://www.gawker.com/politics/the-new-social-justice-zionism">you’re not wrong</a>. </div><div>4c. <a href="https://granta.com/hallelujah-brief-history-bombing-people/">Hallelujah! A Brief History of Bombing People</a> by Ben Mauk </div>
<details><summary>Race, Politics, and International: Ukraine, Panama, and Xinjiang</summary>
<br /><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://edwest.substack.com/p/children-of-men-is-really-happening ">The incomprehensible thing about this war is that Russia is not a belligerent young nation in need of expansion</a>; it is not filled with frustrated young men hoping to assert themselves in conflict, as with Syria, Afghanistan or the world’s other conflict zones; it is already elderly, ageing quickly and in some parts heading for oblivion. </li><li><a href="https://indonesiaatmelbourne.unimelb.edu.au/why-do-so-many-indonesians-back-russias-invasion-of-ukraine/">Why do so many Indonesians back Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?</a> </li><li>Devon Zuegel's Field notes: <a href="https://devonzuegel.com/post/field-notes-panama-sezs-biotech">Panamá, SEZs, & biotech</a> </li><li>In 2015, the E.U. created the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, which has since spent nearly six billion dollars. Much of its work involves pressuring African nations to adopt tougher immigration restrictions. “<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/12/06/the-secretive-libyan-prisons-that-keep-migrants-out-of-europe">Make Libya the bad guy</a>. Make Libya the disguise for their policies while the good humans of Europe say they are offering money to help make this hellish system safer.” </li><li><a href="https://adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-68-putins-challenge-to">What makes Ukraine into the object of Russian power is not just it geography, but the division of its politics, the factional quality of its elite and its economic failure</a>, by Adam Tooze </li><li><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/sep/08/how-philanthropy-benefits-the-super-rich ">Philanthropy benefits the super-rich</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/03/magazine/rashida-tlaib.html">What Rashida Tlaib Represents</a> </li><li><a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/03/how-asset-managers-have-upended-how-modern-capitalism-works.html">Modern Capitalism Is Weirder Than You Think</a>. It also no longer works as advertised. </li><li><a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2012/07/chumbawambas-long-voyage/">Chumbawamba’s Long Voyage</a> </li><li>The BLM Mystery: <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/01/black-lives-matter-finances.html">Where did the money go?</a> </li><li>How to Argue With a Racist -- <a href="https://pluralistic.net/2020/08/16/combat-wheelchairs/#race-realism">review</a> </li><li>A fortuneteller in Saigon told me that in my darkest hours of life, <a href="https://hippocampusmagazine.com/2021/11/the-gradual-extinction-of-softness-by-chantha-nguon-with-kim-green/">cooking and sewing would carry me.</a> That prediction proved true in unexpected ways: I have worked as a cook for a brothel and a suture-nurse in a refugee camp, a tofu-maker and a silk-weaver. I have been through poverty and back out again.</li><li><a href="https://www.pv-magazine.com/magazine-archive/polysilicon-from-xinjiang-a-balanced-view/">Polysilicon from Xinjiang</a></li><li></li><li><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/03/20/intergenerational-wealth-middle-class-spiral/">The death spiral of an American family</a> </li><li>The homevoters and <a href="https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/the-homevoters-and-the-haut-precariat?s=w">the haut precariat</a> </li><li><a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/adam-tooze-profile.html">The Cult of Adam Tooze</a></li> </ul></div></details><div><br />
5. <a href="https://michaelnotebook.com/scienceplusplus/what_is_sos.html">In what sense is the science of science a science?</a> </div>
<details><summary>Science and Technology</summary>
<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.planetary.org/articles/the-two-faced-moon">Why is our Moon's farside so different from its nearside</a>? </li><li><a href="https://www.scq.ubc.ca/physics-envy-among-biologists-fact-or-fiction-2/">Physics envy among Biologists</a> (a really hilarious read) </li><li>Mobolaji Williams's syllabus for Harvard Physics 95 -- an attempt to answer the question: <a href="http://mowillia.github.io/documents/phys95_notes_2017.pdf">What does it mean when people say they are a physicist</a>? </li><li>The creation of <a href="https://medium.com/soulver/the-creation-of-soulver-454dee1e2fd1">Soulver</a> </li><li><a href="https://numbr.dev">https://numbr.dev</a> </li><li>Interactive <a href="http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/SolarEclipsesGoogleMaps.html">maps of solar eclipse paths</a> </li><li>A potential hangup for quantum computing: <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/12/cosmic-rays-can-swamp-error-correction-on-quantum-processors/">Cosmic rays</a> </li><li><a href="https://newscience.org/how-software-in-the-life-sciences-actually-works-and-doesnt-work/">How Software in the Life Sciences Actually Works</a> (And Doesn’t Work) </li><li>For three decades, <a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/crisis-in-particle-physics-forces-a-rethink-of-what-is-natural-20220301">researchers hunted in vain for new elementary particles</a> that would have explained why nature looks the way it does. As physicists confront that failure, they’re reexamining a longstanding assumption: that big stuff consists of smaller stuff </li><li>Researchers are discovering that <a href="https://knowablemagazine.org/article/living-world/2022/life-soil-was-thought-be-silent-what-if-it-isnt">the soil is full of noise produced by the many life forms</a> that spend time underground, from bacteria to insects to moles, mice and rabbits. </li><li><a href="https://jaydaigle.net/blog/replication-crisis-math/">Why Isn't There a Replication Crisis in Math</a>? </li><li><a href="https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2017/01/11/why-are-mathematicians-so-bad-at-arithmetic/">Why Are Mathematicians So Bad at Arithmetic</a>?</li><li><a href="https://undark.org/2022/03/25/the-parable-of-the-worlds-largest-bee/">The rediscovery of Wallace’s giant bee in Halmahera uncovers disheartening truths</a> about the tenuous fate of hidden insect species </li><li>Total energy use of continuous hot water bottles use for a household is almost <a href="https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2022/01/the-revenge-of-the-hot-water-bottle.html">30 times less</a> than the heating energy consumed by the average Belgian household. </li><li><a href="https://austinvernon.site/blog/nuclear.html">Why is the Nuclear Power Industry Stagnant</a>? by Austin Vernon</li><li><a href="https://austinvernon.site/blog/solar.html">Solar PV's Path to Dominance</a> (also by Austin Vernon) </li><li><a href="https://tidbits.com/2021/12/03/usbefuddled-untangling-the-rats-nest-of-usb-c-standards-and-cables/">USBefuddled</a>: Untangling the Rat’s Nest of USB-C Standards and Cables </li><li><a href="https://nautil.us/issue/112/inspiration/the-attack-of-zombie-science">Zombie science goes through the motions of scientific research without a real research question to answer</a>, it follows all the correct methodology, but it doesn’t aspire to contribute to advance knowledge in the field. </li><li><a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/scientist-busts-myths-about-how-humans-burn-calories-and-why">The Calorie Counter</a> </li><li><a href="https://omar.website/posts/skew/">Why are computers so complicated</a>? 'Skew' in the history of computer systems </li><li>Will there be a day when we can engineer a medication or gadget that causes brains to get rapturous pleasure from virtue and feel nothing from vice? <a href="https://jasonpargin.substack.com/p/is-success-a-matter-of-getting-addicted?s=r">To create geniuses for whom studying physics gives them the feeling of cumming day and night?</a></li><li>A Google Replacement <a href="https://re-search.xyz/writing/mapping-the-new-world-towards-a-new-information-engine">Will Not Look Like Google</a> </li></ul></details><br />
6. I know a lot about my “friends,” but not because I’ve spoken to them, but because I’ve seen them. <a href="https://www.currentaffairs.org/2022/01/a-world-of-pictures">I swim daily through this cybersea of pictures, devoid of language save for the sparsest of captions, images haunted by splendor or sadness, but always laden with meaning</a>. Most of social media is not literate, but visual: pictures, videos, gifs, memes. (by Arjun S. Byju) <br />Also: When I was young and visited my grandmother in India, I often marveled at how long it took her to look at photographs. My grandmother came of age during a time in which photographs were at once posed, momentous, and infrequent. Now, I scroll past more pictures than she might have taken in her entire life while I wait for the subway. My grandmother savored pictures. I burn through—genuinely consume—them.
<details><summary>Internet, Crypto</summary><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://blog.mollywhite.net/blockchains-are-not-what-they-say/">Blockchain-based systems are not what they say they are</a>. Their claims to decentralization and immutability fall apart under scrutiny </li><li><a href="https://blog.dshr.org/2022/02/ee380-talk.html">David Rosenthal's Stanford EE380 Talk</a> on cryptocurrency and blockchain </li><li>In our cashless society, <a href="https://thehub.ca/2022-02-22/howard-anglin-in-our-cashless-society-we-need-to-take-digital-jail-seriously/">we need to take digital jail seriously</a> </li><li>The Wire investigates claims behind the use of ‘<a href="https://thewire.in/tekfog/en/1.html">Tek Fog</a>’, a highly sophisticated app used by online operatives to hijack major social media and encrypted messaging platforms and amplify right-wing propaganda to a domestic audience. </li><li><a href="https://www.inputmag.com/culture/ukraine-russia-war-pages-instagram-meme-scams">Scammy Instagram ‘war pages’ are capitalizing on Ukraine conflict</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/02/magazine/matt-damon-crypto.html">Why Is Matt Damon Shilling for Crypto</a>? In the ad, his words are high-flown but they amount to a macho taunt: If you’re a real man, you’ll buy crypto. The bleakness of that pitch is startling. </li><li><a href="https://digiconomist.net/dogecoin-energy-consumption/">A single Dogecoin transaction uses the equivalent to the power consumption of an average U.S. household over 18.32 days</a>. (Bitcoin's is equivalent to 2.5 months of power) </li><li>Your attention didn’t collapse. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jan/02/attention-span-focus-screens-apps-smartphones-social-media">It was stolen</a>. (by Johann Hari) </li><li><a href="https://www.psl.com/feed-posts/web3-engineer-take">An Engineer's Hype-Free Observations on Web3</a> (and its Possibilities) </li><li>Roxane Gay - <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/03/opinion/culture/joe-rogan-spotify-roxane-gay.html">Why I’ve Decided to Take My Podcast Off Spotify </a> </li><li>Moxie Marlinspike's <a href="https://moxie.org/2022/01/07/web3-first-impressions.html">impressions of web3</a> </li><li>Every sentence of this <a href="https://2d.laboratorium.net/post/667980886748299265/i-do-not-think-that-nft-means-what-you-think-it">“explanation” of blockchain-based non-fungible tokens</a> (NFTs) from the Harvard Business Review is false </li><li>Tech giants like Google and Facebook appear to be aiding and abetting a vicious <a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/02/27/india-climate-activists-twitter-google-facebook/">government campaign against Indian climate activists</a>. </li></ul> </details> <br />
7. <a href="https://www.benkuhn.net/grad/">Grad school is worse for public health than STDs </a> (by Ben Kuhn)
<details><summary>(Development) Economics</summary> <div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.ideasforindia.in/topics/miscellany/on-the-perils-of-embedded-experiments.html">Unrolling the new MNREGA system in a tearing hurry in Bihar might lead to a jam in wage payments. Indeed, the additional delays were huge ... dwarfed other treatment effects throughout the intervention period</a>. The academic account of the experiment (Banerjee et al. 2020) is very thorough, precise, and nuanced. However, in the “dissemination accounts”, the delays in wage payments are not mentioned. </li><li>Pritchett: to sustain growth and to initiate growth, you need to <a href="https://www.discoursemagazine.com/economics/2022/03/17/ideas-of-india-where-did-development-economics-go-wrong/">identify at least a set of binding constraints</a>, which are what the obstacles truly are to your economy </li><li><a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2021/12/28/who-earned-phds-in-economics-in-2020/">Who earned PhDs in economics in 2020</a>? </li><li><a href="https://economistwritingeveryday.com/2022/02/21/fame-isnt-human-capital/">Fame makes for poor human capital</a> </li><li><a href="https://github.com/ArthurSpirling/Rejection/blob/master/essay.md">Rejection</a> by Arthur Spirling </li><li><a href="https://nintil.com/is-war-necessary-for-economic-growth-a-review-and-some-aviation-history-love">Is war necessary for economic growth</a>? A review, and some aviation history by Nintil</li><li>Precolonial Legacies in Postcolonial Politics examines <a href="https://broadstreet.blog/2022/01/21/studying-precolonial-legacies-in-the-present-insights-from-fieldwork/">the long-run effects of precolonial statehood in rural Senegal</a>. When our theories pertain to ongoing socio-political dynamics, we gain insight by taking our questions into the field. Precolonial legacies are spatially dependent. The effects of the precolonial past on contemporary development outcomes has been intermittent over time.</li><li><a href="http://www.worldwater.org/conflict/list/">Water Conflict Chronology Timeline</a> list </li><li><a href="https://medium.com/the-stata-guide/the-stata-frames-guide-1149b50864e3">The Stata Frames Guide</a> </li><li><a href="http://www.haghish.com/packages/markdoc/example.do">Markdoc</a></li><li>Alex Albright's <a href="https://thelittledataset.com/2022/03/21/job-mkt/">So you want to go on the job market</a></li><li>Mostly Harmless Big Data: <a href="https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/14-387-applied-econometrics-mostly-harmless-big-data-fall-2014/pages/lecture-and-recitation-notes/">MIT OCW lecture notes</a> </li></ul> </div></details> <br />
8a. <a href="https://sashachapin.substack.com/p/if-you-have-writers-block-maybe-you">If You Have Writer's Block, Maybe You Should Stop Lying</a> by Sasha Chapin <div>8b. No one reads your paper. But <a href="https://clauswilke.com/blog/2013/11/03/no-one-reads-your-paper-either/">you should publish nonetheless</a>. And: No one reads your blog: <a href="https://downwithtime.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/no-one-reads-your-blog-reflections-on-the-middling-bottom/">Reflections on the middling bottom</a>.
<details><summary>
Learning and Thinking </summary><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>When you’re taking notes, handwriting is good for absorbing knowledge. But when you’re trying to produce knowledge — to develop and express thoughts of your own? Then <a href="https://medium.com/message/the-joy-of-typing-fd8d091ab8ef">the winner is often typing</a>. </li><li><a href="https://nintil.com/bloom-sigma/">On Bloom's two sigma problem</a>: A systematic review of the effectiveness of mastery learning, tutoring, and direct instruction by Nintil </li><li>The Learning System - <a href="https://escapingflatland.substack.com/p/learningsystem">Decentralized Knowledge Transfer as Alternative to Education</a> </li><li>The unreasonable effectiveness of <a href="https://www.benkuhn.net/11/">one-on-ones</a> (by Ben Kuhn) </li><li><a href="https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/heuristics-that-almost-always-work?s=r">Heuristics That Almost Always Work</a> (astralcodexten)</li><li><a href="https://milan.cvitkovic.net/writing/things_youre_allowed_to_do/">Things you're allowed to do</a> </li><li>Multitasking Isn't Progress—<a href="https://tedgioia.substack.com/p/multitasking-isnt-progressits-what">It's What Wild Animals Do for Survival</a> </li><li>Phil Torres response to a critique of his essays against long-termism: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20211222164407/https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/7WxH7fAq76Mvkx5YC/a-harmful-idea">archived lesswrong</a>, <a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/kageSSDLSMpuwkPKK/response-to-recent-criticisms-of-longtermism-1">EA forum</a> </li><li>We could have apprenticeships, which were effective but didn’t scale, or we could have schools, which were ineffective but scaleable. <a href="https://escapingflatland.substack.com/p/apprenticeship-online">We couldn’t have both</a>. This was the trade-off we faced. We choose school. </li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGwiyyZhNpM">Twitter and Anti-intellectualism</a> </li><li>The dangers of <a href="https://economistwritingeveryday.com/2022/02/07/the-dangers-of-high-status-low-wage-jobs/">high status, low wage jobs</a> </li><li><a href="https://interconnected.org/home/2021/04/23/star_wars">What wipes in Star Wars teach us about the brain and also interface design</a> </li><li>What is an '<a href="https://ckarchive.com/b/4zuvheh7vpzp">interruption</a>', anyway? </li><li><a href="https://sashachapin.substack.com/p/a-strangely-powerful-question-that">Try Asking People Why Things Matter to Them</a>: It can make your conversations weirder and more interesting </li><li>Every Argument We're Having Is Secretly About One Thing: <a href="https://jasonpargin.substack.com/p/every-argument-were-having-is-secretly">the fear that we were never really alive at all</a> </li></ul></details><br />
9. <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/alice-fraser-trilogy/">Alice Fraser</a> Trilogy </div>
<details><summary>
Miscellanea</summary><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://theprepared.org/features-feed/montreal-snow">Déneigement Montreal</a></li><li><a href="https://3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2022/02/its-hailing-calligraphy.html">It’s Hailing Calligraphy</a> by Leanne Ogasawara </li><li><a href="https://francescalawson.com/five-questions-to-ask-before-posting-on-international-womens-day/">Five questions to ask before posting on International Women’s Day</a> -- by the creator of Gender Pay Gap Bot </li><li><a href="https://tinyprojects.dev/projects/mailoji">I bought 300 emoji domain names from Kazakhstan</a> and built an email service </li><li>I started a business that lets you build <a href="https://daily.tinyprojects.dev/paper_website">websites using pen & paper</a> </li><li><a href="https://longreads.com/2021/03/02/smile-happiness-motherhood-disability-heather-lanier/">Out There I Have to Smile</a> -- Heather Lanier explores the pressure to perform happiness. </li><li><a href="https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/ancient-plagues">Ancient Plagues</a> </li><li><a href="https://harpers.org/archive/2021/10/to-be-a-field-of-poppies-natural-organic-reduction-composting-corpse/">To Be a Field of Poppies</a> by Lisa Wells </li><li><a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/society/parents-collecting-cans-bottles/">My Parents Collect Cans for a Living</a> By Jessica Yauri </li><li><a href="https://www.overcomingbias.com/2021/12/we-dont-have-to-die.html">We Don’t Have To Die</a> by Robin Hanson and <a href="https://www.overcomingbias.com/2010/07/modern-male-sati.html">Modern Male Sati</a> </li><li>I Tried the <a href="https://www.wellandgood.com/fall-asleep-fast-4-7-8-technique/">4-7-8 Sleep Technique</a> and My God, It Worked Like a Dream </li><li>Bernard Rollin was a pioneer in animal rights. He left us with <a href="https://nautil.us/issue/109/excavation/he-did-right-by-animals-and-didnt-take-bull-from-anyone">this scalding interview.</a> </li><li>The life of a <a href="https://www.aneclecticmind.com/2009/06/13/the-life-of-a-cherry-drying-pilot/">cherry-drying pilot</a> </li><li>The kitchen of 2020 looks mostly the same as that of 1960. But what we do in it has changed dramatically due to <a href="https://www.worksinprogress.co/issue/better-eats/">a culture of culinary innovation.</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.gawker.com/culture/the-future-is-useless-expensive">The future is not only useless, it's expensive</a> </li><li><a href="https://interconnected.org/home/2022/01/03/batman">Superheroes create cultural acceptance for popular oligarchy</a> </li><li><a href="https://grahamduncan.blog/whats-going-on-here/">What’s going on here, with this human</a>? by Graham Duncan </li><li><a href="https://zine.zora.co/speculation-is-a-superpower">Speculation is a Superpower</a>--And with great power comes great responsibility </li><li>Should I Stay or Should I Go? <a href="https://tnsr.org/2021/10/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go-the-dilemma-of-a-conflicted-civil-servant/">The Dilemma of a Conflicted Civil Servant</a> by Alexandra Hall Hall </li><li>I envy religious people. I assume they get to just say “We’re getting married because God commands it, any objections, no, good, let’s eat cake.” But <a href="https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/theres-a-time-for-everyone">secular weddings have to navel-gaze about whether traditions are still relevant, then come to the predetermined conclusion that it’s a tough question but in some sense they definitely are, and only then eat cake</a>. </li><li><a href="https://online.fliphtml5.com/aqsqp/fzba/#p=1">Here to Help You</a>: Mo, a disabled Londoner is struggling. It all seems hopeless until she meets a worker from her local Deaf and Disabled People's Organization. (short comic)</li><li>What is EMDR (<a href="https://www.emdr.com/what-is-emdr/">Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing</a>)? </li><li><a href="https://valentine-wiggin.medium.com/the-vatican-is-selling-relics-and-artifacts-on-ebay-dcbedbd9e86">The Vatican is Selling Relics and Artifacts on eBay</a> </li></ul></div></details><div><br /></div>Masyhurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120142510202386489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1451164821026462994.post-2666641611937339732022-01-14T06:18:00.004+09:002022-04-03T11:08:17.137+09:00NGC 17<p>Hello, here's a picture of NGC 17 (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_17">also known as NGC 34</a> due to a very slight discrepancy when it was listed in the New General Catalogue). </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgjLcny1dMhfOlUldNxHjUtowfF7bk1vt5TOwick6VYTx5w1p36vgrUPOrfvYZgbHRR-N42dP5ZrqSAXIXDRymAXqfThLw7YS9WUOTeKZQQFAnI9S-86Tm01qEZzVuDz8MlvJ9ZVPTyZHxqE-tRDg9MZDs6oSNB1kITtvLEkCOIIOo9ulU9D8V-r8w8Xw=s1676" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1676" data-original-width="1670" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgjLcny1dMhfOlUldNxHjUtowfF7bk1vt5TOwick6VYTx5w1p36vgrUPOrfvYZgbHRR-N42dP5ZrqSAXIXDRymAXqfThLw7YS9WUOTeKZQQFAnI9S-86Tm01qEZzVuDz8MlvJ9ZVPTyZHxqE-tRDg9MZDs6oSNB1kITtvLEkCOIIOo9ulU9D8V-r8w8Xw=s320" width="319" /></a></div><br /><p>This picture was taken from the Hubble in 2002. I have forgotten what little I managed to learn about infrared astronomy so I have absolutely no clue if this object at some point will be an observation target for the newly launched JWST, but wouldn't it be so dang cool to learn new astronomy from a merging galaxy. JWST itself is also very cool:</p><p><br />
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="300" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aICaAEXDJQQ" title="YouTube video player" width="500"></iframe>
</p><p><br /></p><p>NGC 17 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation of Cetus/the whale. And you know what else took place in that constellation? Andy Weir's excellent new novel Project Hail Mary. This book reminds me of bits that I liked from the Martian, Ted Chiang's Arrival, Scalzi's the Collapsing Empire, and Ludlum's the Bourne Identity (with a bonus from TL's Anak-anak Mamak series). An excellent romp all around.</p>Masyhurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120142510202386489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1451164821026462994.post-59913954885411783482022-01-08T01:42:00.004+09:002022-01-08T01:45:28.731+09:00Altruisme EfektifHere's something from two years ago. I was wondering if there is an EA/effective altruism community in Indonesia, didn't find any, but a few people replied to <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/masyhurh/status/1216352479614386176">my tweet</a>. I wrote them a note, but it didn't lead anywhere. Maybe dumping this here will turn it into a breadcrumb for the next person who's interested in it.<div><br /></div><div>These days my interest is less on that--it has been pointed out to me that the space is very white, too white (this is adjacent to my wariness of the existential risk <a href="https://vmasrani.github.io/blog/2020/against_longtermism/">longtermism</a> movements), and the people can fall victim to bad <a href="https://sashachapin.substack.com/p/your-intelligent-conscientious-in">social norms</a> too--but I still think the fundamental idea is connected to an interesting space. Anyway, below was the note I sent.</div><div><br /></div><div>----</div><div><div>Salam kenal, dan terima kasih buat responnya.</div><div><br /></div><div>Alasan gw cari tahu tentang komunitas EA/altruisme efektif di Indonesia awalnya adalah interest profesional/pribadi: gw beberapa hari setelahnya menjadwalkan pitching kolaborasi dengan salah satu NGO yang ada di Jakarta, dan rencana pitch gw ke mereka adalah: "Kalau program kalian terbukti efektif, kalian bisa menggalang dana lebih banyak lagi yang bakal melipatgandakan dampak positif kalian. Gerakan EA global di tahun-tahun belakangan ini berhasil menggalang dana ratusan (!) juta(!) dolar(!) untuk inisitatif macam Against Malaria Foundation, GiveWell, Deworm the World, dll., jadi kalau kalian terbukti efektif, makin terpercayalah kalian di mata masyarakat Indonesia yang sepaham dengan aliran EA yang bisa menggalang dana ini."</div><div><br /></div><div>Menurut gw sih pitch gw ini mayan bagus ya, cuman gw ga tau sebenernya: </div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Apakah masyarakat Indonesia sepaham sama EA atau justru masyarakat Indonesia prinsipnya berbeda buat berderma? (misal, yang penting seagama) </li><li>Kalau ada yang sepaham, seberapa banyak? Seberapa banyak dari golongan ini yang biasa berderma/berdonasi/bersedekah? </li><li>Sebaliknya, dari golongan yang berderma ini seberapa banyak yang sepaham sama EA/tertarik sama visi EA?</li></ol></div><div>Pertanyaan di atas adalah hal-hal yang ga gw tahu jawabnya. Gw sempat baca (entah di mana) bahwa sektor filantropi Indonesia itu gede BUANGET, apalagi kalau dihitungnya dari berapa besar uang yang berputar dari infaq tiap sholat jumat (jumlah masjid di indonesia X jumlah kapasitas X nominal rata rata infaq Jumatan X 52 minggu/tahun)—atau mungkin persepuluhan di gereja-gereja Indonesia. </div><div><br /></div><div>Nah pertanyaan-pertanyaan di atas menurut gw adalah pertanyaan yang pasti digeluti sama komunitas EA—yang ternyata belum ada. Makanya jadi menarik buat gw ketika ada gayung bersambut atas pertanyaan gw di twitter. </div><div><br /></div><div>Jadi, yang gw penasaran dari kalian adalah: Apa sih yang bikin kalian tertarik sama visi EA? Apakah kalian pernah bahas tentang EA atau prinsip bersedekah sama temen sehari-hari ataupun keluarga? Kalau iya, siapa dan apa saja yang kalian bahas? (gw sih pernah sama istri dan satu mantan kolega) Apa pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang menggelitik kalian dalam konteks EA? (punya gw tentu saja adalah tiga di atas.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Lebih lanjut lagi, apa sih ekspektasi kalian buat obrolan kita di sini? Apa sih yang pengen kalian bahas? Menurut kalian, siapa yang seharusnya membahas ini atau tertarik tentang hal ini?</div></div>Masyhurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120142510202386489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1451164821026462994.post-56122140995480147852021-12-25T02:14:00.146+09:002021-12-27T02:41:21.071+09:00Internet Reading Q4 2021<p>This collection of links are solid proof that I dicked around the Internet more this quarter.</p><p>1. <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-walking-through-doorway-makes-you-forget/">Walking through doorways causes forgetting</a></p>
<details><summary>Thinking, rationality, altruism, and longtermism</summary>
<p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://sashachapin.substack.com/p/your-intelligent-conscientious-in">Your Intelligent, Conscientious In-group Has Bad Social Norms Too</a> by Sasha Chapin</li><li>QALY thinking frees us from considering the specificity of whom we are helping; marginal and counterfactual thinking frees us from the specificity of ourselves. What matters isn’t who does the good, only that good is done. <a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v37/n18/amia-srinivasan/stop-the-robot-apocalypse">Stop the Robot Apocalypse</a>--a review of MacAskill's book. </li><li>Also from the same review: Effective Altruism has been a conservative movement, calling us back to where we already are: the world as it is, our institutions as they are. EA doesn’t try to understand how power works, except to better align itself with it. This is no doubt comforting to those who enjoy the status quo – and may in part account for the movement’s success.</li><li><a href="https://vmasrani.github.io/blog/2020/against_longtermism/">A Case Against Strong Longtermism</a> by Vaden Masrani</li><li><a href="https://vmasrani.github.io/blog/2021/poverty/">The Poverty of Longtermism</a></li><li><a href="https://aeon.co/essays/why-longtermism-is-the-worlds-most-dangerous-secular-credo">Against Longtermism</a> by Phil Torres</li><li><a href="https://www.theverge.com/22684730/students-file-folder-directory-structure-education-gen-z">Kids who grew up with search engines</a> could change STEM education forever</li><li>Willingness to <a href="https://danluu.com/look-stupid/">look stupid</a>.</li><li>High quality audio makes you <a href="https://tips.ariyh.com/p/good-sound-quality-smarter">sound smarter</a></li></ul>
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<p>2. <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/2021/09/10640493/what-is-productivity-dysmorphia">Do I Have Productivity Dysmorphia?</a></p>
<details><summary>Modern life and Social Media</summary><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://gabrielteodros.substack.com/p/theres-no-money-in-streaming">There's no money in streaming</a></li><li><a href="https://nadiaeghbal.com/creator-economy">The creator economy</a> by Nadia Eghbal. "Like nonprofits or the news, I think the reification of creators suffers from a rhetorical bait-and-switch. We believe on a surface level that “creating” is a divine form of self-expression that carries intrinsic public value. We should work harder to imbue it with something more."</li><li><a href="http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2021/12/08/does-social-media-sell-books-a-vital-inquisition/">Does Social Media Sell Books?</a> by Chuck Wendig--in which I found the term "artisanal data, by which I mean, my anecdotal experience and observations.". </li><li>Also: "It’s not that social media cannot have value. And it’s not that you can’t still try to get blood from that rock. But to my mind it’s a place you go because you want to be there, not because it is a necessary or even useful channel."</li><li>I have started volunteering once a week at a local farm stand — but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t mostly because it’s reminding me how to exist as a person in the world. <a href="https://buttondown.email/dylanthyme/archive/the-humble-vegetable/">The Humble Vegetable</a></li><li><a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/richard-seymour-twittering-machine/">Can We Live Without Twitter?</a></li><li><a href="https://3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2021/11/whos-ashamed-of-the-work-they-do.html">Who’s Ashamed Of The Work They Do?</a></li><li><a href="https://medium.com/@fondalee/twitter-is-the-worst-reader-2ac343c41874">Twitter Is The Worst Reader</a> by Fonda Lee</li><li><a href="https://every.to/divinations/the-inner-ring-of-the-internet">The Inner Ring of The Internet</a> by Ali Montag</li><li>Do you have dozens of tabs open like we do? <a href="https://www.one-tab.com/">OneTab</a> takes your tabs and turns them into a list of clickable links h/t <a href="https://www.insanelyusefulwebsites.com">Insanely Useful Websites</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-40/the-intellectual-situation/critical-attrition/">The main problem is that the contemporary American book review</a> is first and foremost an audition — for another job, another opportunity, another day in the content mine, hopefully with better lighting and tools, but at the very least with better pay.</li><li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/17/opinion/culture/social-media-cancel-culture-roxane-gay.html">Why People Are So Awful Online</a> by Roxane Gay</li></ul>
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<p>3. <a href="https://blog.cbs.dk/inframethodology/?page_id=599">Rule no 1</a>: Always decide the day before what you will write and when you will write, one key sentence and 27 minutes at a time. Rule no 2: Never write about something you just learned this week. Always write about something you knew last week at the latest. Also, <a href="https://blog.cbs.dk/inframethodology/?p=1006">why is this so hard?</a></p>
<details><summary>Poems, puns, writing</summary><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://poems.poetrysociety.org.uk/poems/daniel-craig-the-screensaver/">Daniel Craig: The Screensaver</a> by Richard Goodson--and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQCMUXN-ufo">live reading</a> of the poem.</li><li><a href="https://poetryarchive.org/poem/wordview-2021-the-benefits-of-education-during-lockdown/">The Benefits of Education during Lockdown</a></li><li><a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/89897/good-bones">Good Bones</a> by Maggie Smith</li><li><a href="https://www.aprweb.org/poems/anthropocene-pastoral">Anthropocene Pastoral</a> by Catherine Pierce</li><li><a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/154804/love-in-a-time-of-climate-change">Love in a Time of Climate Change</a> by Craig Santoz Perez</li><li><a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49236/one-hundred-love-sonnets-xvii">One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII</a> by Pablo Neruda</li><li><a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/154658/fuck-your-lecture-on-craft-my-people-are-dying">Fuck Your Lecture on Craft, My People Are Dying</a> by Noor Hindi (h/t <a href="https://www.inthemargins.ca/i-have-nothing-to-say">inthemargins</a>)</li><li><a href="http://crossedgenres.com/archives/018-2/growing-up-by-joyce-chng/">Like a rebel in a secret war, I wrote.</a></li><li>"Obsessive world building is [a] common cause of crap books." Complaints about depicting a detailed world in fantasy have potential sexist, colonialist, and racist implications. Why? Because <a href="https://www.tor.com/2013/11/05/the-status-quo-does-not-need-world-building/">the status quo does not need world building</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.tor.com/2015/08/12/milagroso-isabel-yap/">Milagroso</a> by Isabel Yap</li><li>44th Pun-Off World Championship Winners: Robin <a href="https://www.punoff2021.com/the-contest?wix-vod-video-id=f73f83626da24d66803cd504928a274d&wix-vod-comp-id=comp-kesrlper">Roper</a>, Katy <a href="https://www.punoff2021.com/the-contest?wix-vod-video-id=9f5a7c0593be492aa29efed5eff45b75&wix-vod-comp-id=comp-kesrlper">Stevens</a>, Martha <a href="https://www.punoff2021.com/the-contest?wix-vod-video-id=3632deb4201d4dbb9ff379ce5fb4abe1&wix-vod-comp-id=comp-kesrlper">Louise</a>.</li><li><a href="https://storythings.com/s10/">What will the world look like in 2031?</a></li><li><a href="http://www.fangsforthefantasy.com/2015/02/the-use-of-atrocities-in-fantasy.html">The Use of Atrocities in Fantasy</a></li><li><a href="https://emergencemagazine.org/essay/against-nature-writing/">Against Nature Writing</a></li><li><a href="https://loveforbeginners.com/i-told-sunset-about-you/">I told the sunset about you</a> and the sunset was curious. How did I hold on to such a good man, such a wonderful person? I could be glib and say I’m a good man too, a most wonderful person – who wouldn’t be lucky to have me too? But the truth is, and I know this, I am the one who got lucky. I am the one who is blessed. <i>Well done</i>, the sunset says. <i>Excellent choice</i>.</li></ul><p></p>
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<p>4. <a href="https://causalinf.substack.com/p/the-much-quieter-revolution-of-synthetic">The Much Quieter Revolution of Synthetic Control</a></p>
<details><summary>Economics and Development</summary>
<p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://datacolada.org/99">The Most Cited 2019 QJE Paper Relied on an Outdated Stata Default to Conclude Regression p-values Are Inadequate</a></li><li><a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/impactevaluations/im-not-fan-leave-one-outspatial-instruments">I’m not a fan of leave-one-out/spatial instruments</a></li><li><a href="https://jasonkerwin.com/nonparibus/2021/11/03/nothing-scales/">Nothing scales</a> by Jason Kerwin</li><li><a href="https://sites.google.com/view/ejm-mentalhealth/">How to Mentally Prepare for the Job Market</a></li><li><a href="https://aeon.co/essays/there-are-six-main-narratives-of-globalisation-all-flawed">No wonder we cannot agree on how globalisation works and whether it’s a good thing. All the stories we have are flawed</a></li><li><a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/wWGi4jTNNMhz2pHhJ/persistence-a-critical-review-abridged">Persistence papers - A critical review</a></li><li><a href="http://scorreia.com/software/reghdfe/faq.html">What does “fixed effect nested within cluster” means?</a> from reghdfe FAQ</li><li><a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/impactevaluations/what-makes-paper-development-economics-and-making-clear-general-journal-audience">What makes a paper “development economics”</a> and making this clear for a general journal audience</li><li><a href="https://upworthy.natematias.com">The Upworthy research archive</a></li><li>Chloe East's <a href="https://www.chloeneast.com/metrics-discussions.html">Metrics Discussions</a></li></ul><p>
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<p>5. Gay marriage was a victory, we’re told—but a victory for what? <a href="https://www.currentaffairs.org/2021/08/where-the-gay-things-are">We could have dreamed bigger dreams, but we chose marriage instead</a>. (Yasmin Nair)</p>
<details><summary>More on LGBTQIA</summary><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://sexedforbiguys.tumblr.com/post/184319645377/am-i-bi-sex-ed-for-bi-guys">Gay Marriage, as a movement struggle, has often been criticised as assimilation. But that critique allows us to forget that Gay Marriage functions as well as it does because it is a naked tool of capitalism. How Gay Money Became Gay Wealth: A Fable</a></li><li><a href="https://qiarchive.notion.site/qiarchive/Mencari-lagi-yang-Terindah-09fa500aa827455982c2f0ee9aa96e85">The Collaborative Queer Indonesian Literature List</a></li><li><a href="https://medium.com/nurdiyansah-dalidjo/ngobrol-bareng-kawan-yang-aseksual-87227003361d">Ngobrol Bareng Kawan yang Aseksual</a></li><li><a href="https://evimariani.medium.com/aktivis-ham-pelaku-kekerasan-seksual-sebuah-pelajaran-tentang-sexual-consent-5cfd9ad23a8c">Aktivis HAM pelaku kekerasan seksual? Selama seseorang dibesarkan dalam budaya patriarki, ya dia harus belajar apa itu “sexual consent”.</a></li><li><a href="https://thenib.com/toxic-masculinity/">What Do We Mean When We Say “Toxic Masculinity?” by Luke Humphris</a></li><li><a href="https://medium.com/@sbearbergman/please-come-and-be-fat-cc04ed4d8772">Please Come And Be Fat</a></li><li><a href="https://sexedforbiguys.tumblr.com/post/184319645377/am-i-bi-sex-ed-for-bi-guys">"Am I bi?"</a> - SexEd for Bi Guys and basically their <a href="https://sexedforbiguys.tumblr.com/tagged/sex%20ed%20for%20bi%20guys">entire series</a></li></ul><p></p>
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<p>6. If a fixation on personal behavior distracts from the political changes we need, dismissing the value of personal behaviors detracts from the political movement for climate justice. It may just be that encouraging personal behavior change doesn’t shrink or weaken the climate movement—it can expand, strengthen, and deepen it. <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/yes-actually-individual-responsibility-essential-solving-climate-crisis">Yes, Actually, Individual Responsibility Is Essential to Solving the Climate Crisis</a></p>
<details><summary>More on Climate</summary><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The climate crisis is worse than you can imagine. <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/the-climate-crisis-is-worse-than-you-can-imagine-heres-what-happens-if-you-try">Here’s what happens if you try</a> - a profile piece of Peter Kalmus, ex-NASA turned climate scientist.</li><li><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/28/world-bank-failing-humanity-climate-crisis-fossil-fuels-cop26">Working at the World Bank, I can see how it is failing humanity</a> on the climate crisis by Jake Hess</li><li><a href="https://grist.org/climate/do-we-need-more-scary-climate-change-articles-maybe/">Do we need more scary climate change articles?</a> Maybe.</li><li><a href="https://journal.neilgaiman.com/2021/11/art-and-climate.html">Art and Climate</a> by Neil Gaiman</li><li><a href="https://www.currentaffairs.org/2021/08/taming-the-greedocracy">Taming the Greedocracy</a> by Jag Bhalla</li><li>What happens when we do something—<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/11/how-bad-will-climate-change-get/620605/">but not enough</a>—to stop climate change?</li><li><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/10/11/can-nuclear-fusion-put-the-brakes-on-climate-change">Can Nuclear Fusion Put the Brakes on Climate Change?</a> by Rivka Galchen</li><li><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/10/first-climatologist-win-nobel-prize-physics/620431/">The first climatologist to win a Nobel prize in physics</a></li><li>You’re probably blowing way past your <a href="https://www.vox.com/22291568/climate-change-carbon-footprint-greta-thunberg-un-emissions-gap-report">“fair share” of carbon emissions</a></li></ul><p></p>
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<p>7. My father was afraid for me to come to Australia. He mostly made jokes about it. But I know my father, and I know when the jokes have a serious undercurrent. And now that I’m here I know now that Dad was right to worry. This is not a safe country for people of color. Now. Before you tar and feather me, let me tell you something else I’ve come to understand in the past three days. Australia may not be the safest place for someone who looks like me… but it’s trying to become safer. You’re trying. I want you to understand that what you’ve done makes me want to <a href="https://nkjemisin.com/2013/06/continuum-goh-speech/">weep with envy, and bitterness, and hope.</a> After all: what is hatred, really, but supreme indifference to the suffering of another? (N. K. Jemisin)</p>
<details><summary>More from around the world</summary><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://pipewrenchmag.com/black-grief-pandemic-loss-george-floyd/">Seeing in the Dark</a> by Breai Mason-Campbell - a secular sermon on race, grief, accountability and change at the Pipe Wrench magazine</li><li><a href="https://vodoueconomics.substack.com/p/how-did-30000-haitians-get-to-texas">How did 30,000 Haitians get to Texas?</a></li><li>Afghanistan 2021: <a href="https://lantpritchett.org/afghanistan-2021-a-quickly-made-long-tragedy/">A quickly made long tragedy</a> by Lant Pritchett</li><li>How to Destroy a Country: <a href="https://www.cgdev.org/blog/how-destroy-country-does-ethiopia-have-future">Does Ethiopia Have a Future?</a></li><li><a href="https://www.currentaffairs.org/2021/07/dreams-and-despair-in-gaza">Dreams and Despair in Gaza</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/11/05/magazine/sushi-us.html">The Untold Story of Sushi in America</a></li><li><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2021/brazil-indigenous-tik-tok-star/">Cunhaporanga Tatuyo became a TikTok star</a> by sharing glimpses of her life in a remote indigenous community in the Amazon</li><li><a href="https://getpocket.com/collections/the-top-feel-good-stories-of-2021">The Top Feel-Good Stories of 2021</a></li><li>Roach infestations. Mold problems. Overflowing dumpsters. <a href="https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2021/11/17/alpha-management/">Residents of Alpha Management’s Boston-area apartment buildings have suffered all kinds of horrors over the years.</a></li><li><a href="https://mojok.co/liputan/susul/makam-banyusumurup-kisah-kelam-yang-disembunyikan-mataram-islam/">Makam Banyusumurup</a> yang terletak di lembah terpencil di kawasan Imogiri jadi pemakaman bagi orang-orang yang dianggap musuh negara oleh Amangkurat I.</li><li>Has <a href="https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2021/10/22/salem-witches/">Witch City</a> lost its way?</li><li><a href="https://siddhesh.substack.com/p/culture-shock">Culture Shock</a></li></ul><p></p>
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<p>8. Is Sucking Carbon Out of the Air the Solution to Our Climate Crisis? <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2021/10/sucking-carbon-engineering-global-thermostat-co2-direct-air-capture-climeworks-solution-climate-crisis-big-oil-boondoggle-ipcc/">Or just another Big Oil boondoggle?</a></p>
<details><summary>Other writings by Clive Thompson</summary><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Does a new technology pose serious dangers — or are we just overreacting? Philosopher Evan Selinger has some ideas on <a href="https://onezero.medium.com/how-to-recognize-when-tech-is-leading-us-down-a-slippery-slope-747116da2de">how to tell the two apart:</a> Strong affordances--what frictions the new technology diminish (think Internet and complaining)--and clear incentives to abuse the new tech (how this lines up with desire of people/govt/corp).</li><li><a href="https://www.garbageday.email/p/we-were-the-unpaid-janitors-of-a">We were the unpaid janitors of a bloated tech monopoly</a></li><li><a href="https://uxdesign.cc/rewilding-your-attention-d518ede18855">Rewilding your attention</a>: To find truly interesting ideas, step away from the algorithmic feeds of Big Tech.</li><li><a href="https://clivethompson.medium.com/get-ready-for-the-kessler-syndrome-to-wreck-outer-space-7f29cfe62c3e">Space junk in orbit</a> is looking to become our next ecological mess</li><li><a href="https://www.wealthsimple.com/en-ca/magazine/cobol-controls-your-money">The code that controls your money</a></li><li><a href="https://onezero.medium.com/the-long-nose-theory-of-tech-innovation-de9227f98ddf">The ‘Long Nose’ Theory of Tech Innovation</a>: Anything that’s going to have an impact over the next decade has always already been around for 10 years</li></ul><p></p>
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<p>9. Scott Alexander reviews <a href="https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/book-review-lifespan">Lifespan</a>. Also, <a href="https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/ivermectin-much-more-than-you-wanted">Ivermectin</a>.</p>
<details><summary>Science and technology</summary><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/11/whaling-whales-food-krill-iron/620604">The mass slaughter of whales destroyed far more than the creatures themselves</a> by Ed Yong</li><li><a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/dy8by7/why-channel-37-doesnt-exist-and-what-it-has-to-do-with-aliens">Why Channel 37 Doesn’t Exist</a>: it would have interfered with a radio telescope in Danville, Ill.</li><li>‘<a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/distant-cosmic-explosion-was-actually-russian-space-junk-new-studies-argue">Distant cosmic explosion’ was actually Russian space junk</a>, new studies argue</li><li><a href="https://kk.org/thetechnium/class-1-class-2-problems/">There are two classes of problems caused by new technology</a>. Class 1 problems are due to it not working perfectly. Class 2 problems are due to it working perfectly.</li><li><a href="https://www.emilydamstra.com/please-enough-dead-butterflies/">Please, enough with the dead butterflies</a>! by Emily Damstra</li><li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/07/12/magazine/jane-goodall-interview.html">Jane Goodall Still Has Hope for Us Humans</a></li></ul><p></p>
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<p>10. [One thing] separated the people who have a strong sense of love and belonging and the people who really struggle for it. They believe they're worthy. What do these people have in common? The courage to be imperfect, the compassion to be kind to themselves, and connection as a result of authenticity. They fully <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_the_power_of_vulnerability/">embraced vulnerability</a>.</p>
<details><summary>Being Human, Culture, and Miscellanea (and two writings by Yasmin Nair)</summary><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://simonsarris.substack.com/p/that-which-is-unique-breaks">That which is unique, breaks</a></li><li>It's precisely because 98% of the American built environment is so blah that the 2% of places that are really well-designed quickly get bid up by the rich and become inaccessible to the rest of us. The solution to this isn't to stop creating such places, but to create vastly more of them. <a href="https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2021/11/3/our-self-imposed-scarcity-of-nice-places">Our Self-Imposed Scarcity of Nice Places</a></li><li><a href="https://audacity.substack.com/p/who-gets-to-be-dirty">Who Gets to Be Dirty</a> by Roxane Gay</li><li><a href="https://palladiummag.com/2021/07/15/the-myth-of-panic/">The Myth of Panic</a>: Acute fear of the mass of common men by the elites who govern them is not novel. </li><li>For years now, panicked headlines have warned Americans about the threat of illiberal left. I have (God help me) read a huge amount of this coverage and the thing that strikes me, over and over again, is the sheer sameness of it. <a href="https://michaelhobbes.substack.com/p/moral-panic-journalism">The Methods of Moral Panic Journalism</a></li><li><a href="https://yasminnair.com/the-irony-of-writing-about-poverty-on-medium/">The Irony of Writing about Poverty on Medium</a> by Yasmin Nair</li><li><a href="https://yasminnair.com/how-to-be-poor/">How to Be Poor</a> by Yasmin Nair</li><li><a href="https://www.themarginalian.org/2021/11/11/when-your-parents-are-dying-mary-gaitskill/">When Your Parents Are Dying</a></li><li><a href="https://longreads.com/2021/11/17/the-professor/">The Professor</a> - Irina Dumitrescu</li></ul><p></p>
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Masyhurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120142510202386489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1451164821026462994.post-90486420593353353842021-11-10T05:55:00.003+09:002021-11-10T05:55:42.465+09:00NEUDC 2021 roundup - Indonesia papers<p>Gedeon presented our paper on Bagirata on Saturday at the NEUDC. This year's conference was also virtual so even though BU was the host it didn't feel like there's much difference from last year. From Dave Evan and Almedina Music's excellent <a href="https://www.cgdev.org/blog/whats-latest-research-development-economics-roundup-neudc-2021">roundups</a> I learned there were a couple of other Indonesia papers that I missed (there are six papers in total, two fewer from last year). </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;">On a COVID-19 mutual aid platform in Indonesia, donors are more likely to give a donation when given a smaller choice set of potential beneficiaries, and they prefer to donate to self-reported breadwinners and females. (Hilmy, Lim, and Riyanto)</p><p style="text-align: left;">In Mexico and Indonesia, as average heat and precipitation rise, people's aversion to risk falls. But as variation in heat and precipitation rise, aversion to risk rises. (Higher risk aversion correlates with fewer risky behaviors like smoking or migrating.) (<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/o7eh085yxl3ip8y/Risk_Preference_Adaptation_to_Climate_Change.pdf?dl=0">Howden and Levin</a>) #FE </p><p style="text-align: left;">Unconditional cash transfers in Indonesia led recipients to be “2 to 3 percent less likely to be employed and, among those employed, 3 to 6 percent less likely to be in formal work following receipt of the transfer.” (<a href="https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/conference/download.cgi?db_name=NEUDC2021&paper_id=332">Pritadrajati</a>) #DID </p><p style="text-align: left;">Despite large post-disaster reconstruction programs after the 2004 tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia, the economic status of those living in heavily damaged areas did not keep up. This is partly driven by much higher inflation rates in those areas. (<a href="https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/conference/download.cgi?db_name=NEUDC2021&paper_id=249">Lawton et al.</a>) #FE </p><p style="text-align: left;">In Indonesia, performance appraisals of teachers reduce generosity (as proxied by willingness to make a donation to their own school) at the workplace and increase dishonest behavior, especially when appraisals are linked to financial sanctions. (<a href="https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/conference/download.cgi?db_name=NEUDC2021&paper_id=46">Ibanez Priebe Riener Susanti</a>) #FE </p><p style="text-align: left;">What information do community members have and use for social benefits targeting? In Purworejo, Central Java, community members use longer-term wealth information to predict dynamic welfare and to target social benefits. This may be useful in identifying long-term poverty but less so to identify short-term distress. (<a href="https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/conference/download.cgi?db_name=NEUDC2021&paper_id=59">Trachtman, Permana, and Sahadewo</a>) #LIF </p></blockquote><p>Bonus: microsummaries for papers from BU folks:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>In Malawi, women who received targeted counseling were 15.6 percent less likely to use their stated ideal contraceptive method. With husbands present at the counselling session, women were 13.5 percent less likely to change their stated ideal method. (<a href="https://sites.bu.edu/mvkarra/files/2021/10/MBBS-LaTeX-Draft-MVK-10-31-21.pdf">Karra and Zhang</a>) #RCT </p><p>Buildings constructed when the county officials had connections to their superiors at the prefecture level (in terms of having the same hometown) were 83 percent more likely to collapse during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake relative to the no-connection benchmark. (<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/n6qsd43a9uz9eh3/earthquake2.pdf?dl=0">Cao</a>) #DID </p></blockquote>Masyhurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120142510202386489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1451164821026462994.post-54181354449148176612021-10-08T05:02:00.002+09:002021-10-08T05:02:24.043+09:00Internet Reading Q2-Q3 2021Things I have been reading this past half year, collected in a smorgasbord of links:<br /><br />1. What is taught in today’s graduate programs as macroeconomics is <a href="http://jwmason.org/slackwire/a-new-macroeconomics/">entirely useless for the kinds of questions we are interested in.</a>
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More on economics</summary><br /> <ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.cold-takes.com/does-x-cause-y-an-in-depth-evidence-review/">Does X cause Y? An in-depth evidence review</a></li><li><a href="https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/is-economics-an-excuse-for-inaction">Is economics an excuse for inaction? No, it is not. But there's a reason people think it is.</a></li><li><a href="https://pricetheory.substack.com/p/biases-in-economic-theory">Biases in Economic Theory</a>: Simplicity bias, Look How Clever I Am bias, Second Singer bias.</li><li>The American Economic Journal: Microeconomics managed to go an entire year without accepting a paper! <a href="https://economistwritingeveryday.com/2021/05/31/academic-publishing-how-i-think-we-got-here/">Academic Publishing: How I think we got here</a></li><li><a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/impactevaluations/zero-effect-may-not-mean-what-you-think-it-means-and-other-lessons-recent-educational-research">That zero effect may not mean what you think it means</a></li><li><a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/impactevaluations/what-do-you-need-do-make-matching-estimator-convincing-rhetorical-vs-statistical">What do you need to do to make a matching estimator convincing? Rhetorical vs statistical checks</a></li><li><a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/impactevaluations/how-big-data-helped-us-estimate-impact-intervention-08-take">Big data helped us estimate the impact of an intervention with 0.8% take-up</a></li><li><a href="https://github.com/paulgp/applied-methods-phd/blob/main/lectures/10_discrete_choice_2.pdf">Multiple Discrete Choices - Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham's slides</a></li><li>Least squares as springs: <a href="https://joshualoftus.com/posts/2020-11-23-least-squares-as-springs/">physics intuition for regression and other methods that minimize squared error. We can imagine springs pulling the model toward the data.</a></li><li><a href="https://arbesman.net/overedge/">The Overedge Catalog: New Types of Research Organizations</a></li><li><a href="https://www.iadb.org/en/research-and-data/dpi2020">Database of Political Institutions 2020</a></li><li>The Strategy of Economic Development is a classic of offbeat Hirschmanian insight. His main idea is simple: that the “ability to make development decisions”–not capital, or labor, or any other material factor—is the limited resource constraining economic development. <a href="http://oliverwkim.com/Hirschman-Strategy/">The Real Development Was The Friends We Made Along The Way</a></li><li><a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/impactevaluations/when-should-you-cluster-standard-errors-new-wisdom-econometrics-oracle">When should you cluster standard errors? New wisdom from the econometrics oracle</a></li><li><a href="https://kevinmunger.substack.com/p/wither-economics">The economics discipline is hoarding resources and preventing social science reform</a></li><li><a href="https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2021/05/12/against-mathematical-proof">Against mathematical proof</a></li><li><a href="https://jasonkerwin.com/nonparibus/2014/07/04/odds-ratios-are-a-catastrophe/">Odds ratios are a catastrophe</a></li><li><a href="https://causalinf.substack.com/p/matrix-completion-for-causal-models">Matrix Completion for Causal Models</a></li><li><a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/impactevaluations/adversarial-or-long-and-squiggly-test-plausibility-parallel-trends-difference">A “Long and Squiggly” Test of Parallel Trends in Difference-in-Differences</a></li><li><a href="https://samenright.com/2021/07/19/notes-on-persistence-and-economic-development/">Notes on Persistence and Economic Development</a></li><li><a href="https://badmomgoodmom.blogspot.com/2009/11/what-is-p-value-of-bullshit-part-two.html">What Is the P-value of Bullshit?</a></li><li><a href="https://www.exploring-economics.org/en/">Exploring Economics</a></li><li><a href="https://jzmazlish.substack.com/p/why-is-the-labor-share-of-income">Why us the labor share of income declining?</a></li><li><a href="https://stayathomemacro.substack.com/p/good-writing-matters-in-economics">Good writing matters in economics!</a> by Claudia Sahm</li><li><a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56ec62678a65e20b89da5f33/t/604f8d673cb579281d32f7ee/1615826279305/Frank.pdf">The Heart of Teaching Economics:</a> interview with Robert Frank, Cornell University, 2009.</li><li><a href="https://causalinf.substack.com/p/not-waving-but-drowning">Not Waving but Drowning: Depression, Anxiety and Suicidality among Economics PhD students</a></li></ul>
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2. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=ovYsq7NoRcI">Allston and Brighton are for Drinkin' and Fightin'</a>
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More from the U.S.</summary><br />
<ul style="text-align: left;"><li>When it’s time to scrutinize the South, people make sweeping statements as if suddenly the only people who live here are white supremacists. <a href="https://wearyourvoicemag.com/your-disdain-for-the-south-is-just-anti-blackness/">Your disdain for the South is just anti-Blackness</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/20/opinion/home-value-race-taxes.html">Your Home’s Value Is Based on Racism</a></li><li><a href="https://hyperallergic.com/470795/pseudoarchaeology-and-the-racism-behind-ancient-aliens/">Pseudoarchaeology and the Racism Behind Ancient Aliens</a></li><li><a href="https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2021/06/18/celebrating-juneteenth-in-galveston/">Celebrating Juneteenth in Galveston</a></li><li><a href="https://medium.com/@roblemusse/white-tech-startup-founders-are-50-000-more-likely-to-get-funded-in-kenya-than-the-usa-3eff9f87d2b4">White Tech Startup Founders Are 50,000% More Likely to Get Funded in Kenya Than The USA</a></li><li><a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/charles-mills-radical-generosity/">The Radical Generosity of Charles Mills</a></li><li><a href="https://www.publicbooks.org/the-manifest-destiny-of-computing">The Manifest Destiny of Computing</a></li><li><a href="https://www.fstopmagazine.com/blog/2020/12/book-review-the-ameriguns-by-gabriele-galimberti/">Book Review: The Ameriguns by Gabriele Galimberti</a></li><li><a href="https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/keep-mckinsey-away-from-bidens-infrastructure">Keep McKinsey Away from Biden's Infrastructure Push</a></li><li><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/05/return-the-national-parks-to-the-tribes/618395/">National Parks Should Belong to Native Americans</a></li><li><a href="https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/book-review-fussell-on-class">Astral Codex Ten's summary and commentary on Paul Fussell's "Class: A Guide Through The American Status System"</a></li><li><a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/161801/plutocrats-offshore-tax-havens-inequality">An underfunded and overworked IRS has enabled a handful of plutocratic tax cheats to live large at the expense of everyone else.</a></li><li>We all hate Facebook, and Facebook (the corporation) is, admittedly, terrible. But to a large extent, we hate Facebook because <a href="https://kevinmunger.substack.com/p/facebook-is-other-people">Facebook is other people.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.thecut.com/2019/03/class-rage-anger-wealthy-rich-friends.html">What Class Rage Feels Like</a></li><li><a href="https://davidepstein.com/getting-over-gold-athletes-and-mental-health-2/">Athletes and Mental Health</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/08/22/upshot/hospital-prices.html">Hospitals and Insurers Didn’t Want You to See Their Prices</a></li></ul>
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3. <a href="https://bloodknife.com/everyone-beautiful-no-one-horny/">Everyone is beautiful and no one is horny</a>: superhero films fetishize the body, even as they desexualize it
<details><summary>Schitt's Creek, LGBTQIA+ contents, and more on sexuality</summary><br />
<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://telescoper.wordpress.com/2013/09/13/where-are-all-the-lgbt-astrophysicists/">Where are all the LGBT astrophysicists?</a></li><li><a href="http://avidly.lareviewofbooks.org/2020/12/14/my-queer-life-according-to-schitts-creek/">My Queer Life According to Schitt’s Creek by Martha Schoolman</a></li><li><a href="https://pridesource.com/article/sweet-sweet-fantasy-come-true-schitts-creek-creator-dan-levy-on-writing-a-queer-love-story-season-5s-coming-out-episode/">Dan Levy Talks Season 5’s Coming Out Episode</a></li><li>Noah Reid: “I really wanted to do that justice, and as a straight guy, I was concerned that I wasn’t going to be able to. And on the day, I was just so struck by the feeling of fear. I felt I was putting myself in the shoes of this man I’ve been playing for two years, and he was having to explain to the people closest to him something about himself that was integral, that he was worried that they might not accept, the people that are supposed to know you the best and love you the most, that they might think of you differently, or turn on you or disregard you.” <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/schitts-creek-season-6-finale-netflix-uk-dan-levy-annie-murphy-a9512601.html">Farewell Schitt’s Creek, the hit sitcom with a heart of gold</a></li><li>"As a straight male, how would u feel about your child having a homosexual school teacher?!" "As a straight male, the best teacher I ever had was a gay man. Among many other things, he taught me the difference between “there,” “their” and “they’re.” I would have been absolutely delighted for my daughter to have known him. I sang at his funeral." <a href="https://whatever.scalzi.com/2018/01/29/meet-keith-johnson">Meet Keith Johnson</a></li><li><a href="https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/islamic-homophobia-is-empowered-by-leftist-silence">Islamic homophobia is empowered by leftist silence</a></li><li><a href="https://humanemag.com/2020/07/09/serial-conq/">Kita Butuh Lebih Banyak Serial Seperti “CONQ”</a></li><li><a href="https://www.viddsee.com/video/conq-episode-4-the-test/">CONQ</a></li><li>People have been asking me about Jasnah’s sexuality. Gay, Bi, Straight, other? I usually answer with some variation of the following: <a href="https://wob.coppermind.net/events/437-rhythm-of-war-annotations/#e14288">“Jasnah would prefer you focus on other aspects of her identity, rather than her sexuality.”</a> Jasnah is asexual, and currently heteroromantic.</li><li><a href="https://humanemag.com/2020/07/03/queer-dan-budaya-pop/">Mengenang Jejak Queer dalam Budaya Pop Kita</a></li><li><a href="https://www.rainn.org/articles/tips-talking-survivors-sexual-assault">Tips for Talking with Survivors of Sexual Assault</a></li><li><a href="https://reverberasi.wordpress.com/2021/06/04/lgbt-tidur-bersama-negara">Merayakan Pride dengan “Main” Bersama Negara</a></li><li><a href="https://aseansogiecaucus.org/news/asc-news/160-asean-queer-imaginings-collection-of-writings-by-lgbtiq-thinkers">ASEAN Queer Imaginings: Collection of Writings</a></li><li><a href="https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/culture/story/bachelor-star-colton-underwood-gay-77057551">Former 'Bachelor' star Colton Underwood exclusive interview with Robin Roberts on "Good Morning America"</a></li><li><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/07/porn-education-totally-unprepared-modern-porn/619464/">Porn Education Is Totally Unprepared for Modern Porn</a></li><li><a href="https://sites.bu.edu/outlist/">BU Out List</a> and <a href="https://www.bu.edu/diversity/our-communities/fscn/lgbtqia-faculty-staff-community-network/">BU LGBTQIA+ Faculty & Staff Community Network</a></li><li><a href="https://econspeakerdiversity.shinyapps.io/EconSpeakerDiversity/">LGBTQ Economists, Women Economists, and URM Economists list to diversify econ seminars</a></li><li><a href="https://www.books4yourkids.com/2019/06/bloom-by-kevin-panetta-and-savanna.html">Bloom by Kevin Panetta and Savanna Ganucheau</a></li><li><a href="https://anotasi.com/mengarsipkan-memori-qia/">Mengarsipkan memori di Queer Indonesia Archive</a></li></ul></details><br />
4. Fujianese brought China to the world, carried their provincialism identity to the Nanyang (Southeast Asia), and bless us with dishes like lumpia (潤餅), bakmie (肉麵,) bakut (肉骨茶), terang bulan or martabak manis (曼煎粿), and <a href="https://vizal.medium.com/on-fujianese-chinese-diaspora-88ca11d5d1fd">many more</a>.
<details><summary>More on/from Indonesia</summary><br />
<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://projectmultatuli.org/e-commerce-tumbuh-kurir-sekrup-kecil/">E-Commerce Indonesia Tumbuh Besar di Atas Punggung Para Kurir</a></li><li><a href="https://restofworld.org/2021/indonesias-invisible-people-face-discrimination-and-sometimes-death-by-database/">Indonesia’s invisible people face discrimination, and sometimes death, by database</a></li><li><a href="http://repositori.kemdikbud.go.id/view/subjects/PED007=2E5.html">Repositori cerita rakyat</a></li><li><a href="https://laolao-papua.com/2021/01/14/desing-pesawat-di-tengah-konflik-adat-studi-atas-pembangunan-bandara-stevanus-rumbewas-kampung-kamanap-kabupaten-kepulauan-yapen-provinsi-papua/">Desing Pesawat di Tengah Konflik Adat: Studi Atas Pembangunan Bandara Stevanus Rumbewas, Kampung Kamanap, Kabupaten Kepulauan Yapen, Provinsi Papua</a></li><li>Vietnam is achieving OECD levels of learning. When we asked why, they told us: 'because they wanted it'. India and Indonesia both illustrate ways you can go wrong. India never changed their mind about having a selection system rather than an education system. Indonesia was different, most kids learned some basics. Many people think of India as doing better, but India does worse for the average person while also producing a smart elite whose members sometime win a Nobel Prize. Indonesia did far better at covering the basics, but they never really provoked themselves to go further. Now they're stuck at this low-level equilibirium of mediocrity. <a href="https://www.cde.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Lant-Pritchett-in-conversation-with-Ann-Bernstein.pdf">Lant Pritchett in conversation with Ann Bernstein</a></li><li>Ketika mba mengatakan ikan kuah kuning [di Tanimbar] itu ga enak, yang mba hujat dan hina bukan cuma sepiring ikan kuah kuning itu saja. Mba menghujat, menghina, merendahkan ikan, kunyit, laut, tanah, manusia Tanimbar. Mba merendahkan ibu dan tangan yang memasak dan menghidangkan ikan kuah kuning itu. Mba, di sini Mba Ade membawa logika kolonial soal rasa. <a href="https://potretmaluku.id/talucu-lidah-di-ikan-kuah-kuning/">Talucu Lidah di Ikan Kuah Kuning</a></li><li><a href="https://projectmultatuli.org/kami-sesak-napas-hilang-nafkah-hilang-nyawa-di-kampung-kota-jakarta-saat-wabah-covid-19/">Kami Sesak Napas: Hilang Nafkah, Hilang Nyawa di Kampung Kota Jakarta Saat Wabah Covid-19</a></li><li><a href="https://leminhkhai.blog/was-there-a-srivijaya-im-not-sure-but-there-was-definitely-a-sri-budhjeta/">Was there a Sriwijaya?</a></li><li>Photos from early 1900s Java: <a href="https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/285272">"A Javanese man with white spots on his upper body"</a>, <a href="https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/285318">"Three men at a home undergoing improvement, protection against plague, Java."</a>, <a href="https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/285266">"Procession in Java with a woman with 'bedak' [powder] on her face, customary at weddings"</a>, <a href="https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/285268">"Group of people with a Javanese married couple in the middle"</a></li><li><a href="https://waskitojati.com/the-aceh-project/">The Aceh Project</a></li></ul><br /></details><br />
5. <a href="https://alltrades.substack.com/p/mushrooms-global-warming-and-the">Have you ever stopped to wonder why our bodies settle at 37deg C?</a>
<details><summary>More on the environment and climate change</summary><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/05/07/california-fires-chico-housing-real-estate/">A Climate Dystopia in Northern California</a></li><li>Economists could have helped in the fight against climate change. So far, they haven't. <a href="https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/why-has-climate-economics-failed">Why has climate economics failed us?</a></li><li>Being the Change: Live Well and Spark a Climate Revolution by Peter Kalmus. <a href="https://peterkalmus.net/books/read-by-chapter-being-the-change/being-the-change-1-waking-up/">Chapter 1. Waking Up</a></li><li><a href="https://knowablemagazine.org/article/physical-world/2020/southern-ocean-carbon-sink">Out of Antarctica, churnings of climate change</a></li><li><a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-11-nitrogen-fertilizers-incredibly-efficient-climate.amp">Nitrogen fertilizers are incredibly efficient, but they make climate change a lot worse</a></li><li><a href="https://gizmodo.com/a-record-breaking-and-dangerous-heat-wave-is-about-to-h-1847157954">A 'Record-Breaking and Dangerous' Heat Wave Is About to Hit the West Coast</a></li><li>Two long years ago, I wrote about Miami. <a href="https://therealsarahmiller.substack.com/p/all-the-right-words-on-climate-have">All The Right Words On Climate Have Already Been Said</a></li><li><a href="https://heated.world/p/the-nyt-stopped-shilling-for-cigarettes">The NYT stopped shilling for cigarettes. Why won't it stop shilling for fossil fuels?</a></li></ul></details><br />
6. I’ll be excellent, even though I’m exhausted. And I am excellent. I am owed more, and I am full of spite, and I will be exceptional. <a href="https://uncannymagazine.com/article/life-liberty-and-the-pursuit-of-excellence/">But gods, wouldn’t it be nice if I didn’t have to be?</a>
<details><summary>
Writings, short stories, and poems</summary><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://mnml.blog/2020/05/to-love-someone-longterm-a-poem-by-heidi-priebe/">To Love Someone Long-Term Is to Attend a Thousand Funerals of the People They Used to Be</a> by Heidi Priebe</li><li><a href="https://arcadiabooksspringgreen.wordpress.com/2017/05/25/mary-gaitskill-george-saunders-william-maxwell-and-the-last-influence-of-anton-chekhovs-gooseberries/">The last influence of Anton Chekhov’s “Gooseberries"</a></li><li><a href="https://tanaudel.wordpress.com/2021/06/22/observation-journal-variations-on-descriptions">I wanted to write some descriptions of light. But I keyed the descriptions to the way I might ordinarily describe (a) water and (b) tin cans.</a></li><li>“The best arguments in the world won’t change a single person’s mind. The only thing that can do that is a good story.” <a href="https://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/story/">Best Story Wins</a></li><li><a href="https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/10/21/ursula-le-guin-dogs-cats-dancers-beauty/">Ursula K. Le Guin on Growing Older and What Beauty Really Means</a></li><li><a href="https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/06/04/t-s-eliot-reads-t-s-eliot-the-ad-dressing-of-cats-1947/">T.S. Eliot reads The Ad-dressing of Cats, 1947</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/30/podcasts/ezra-klein-podcast-ted-chiang-transcript.html">Ezra Klein Interviews Ted Chiang</a></li><li>With <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/streaming/amp/Ted-Lasso-Jason-Sudeikis-Apple-TV-Plus-16007633.php">“Ted Lasso,”</a> I’ve found myself running it back on specific episodes to elicit a feeling I very specifically associate with that episode — one that somehow isn’t lessened even when I know exactly what’s going to happen. </li><li><a href="https://thehypothesis.substack.com/p/heres-why-substacks-scam-worked-so">Here's why Substack's scam worked so well: they paid a secret group of writers to make newsletter authorship seem lucrative</a></li><li>"Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment." <a href="http://www.structuredprocrastination.com/">Structured Procrastination</a></li><li><a href="https://uncannymagazine.com/article/the-protagonist-problem/">The Protagonist Problem</a> by Ada Palmer and Jo Walton</li><li>Why is speculative “Young Adult” fiction the most popular genre of 21st century America? 21st century Americans are a people who feel stripped of agency. Speculative YA fiction are fairy tales custom-made to express the frustrations of this age. <a href="https://scholars-stage.org/myths-of-the-over-managed/">Myths of the Over-managed</a></li><li><a href="https://omong-omong.com/jose-kecil-dalam-dirimu">Jose Kecil dalam Dirimu</a>, cerpen oleh Kaisar Deem</li><li>The sensation of doing anything just because it felt good had been nearly lost in the all-consuming project of shaping a version of myself that other people might see from the outside and admire, and, through admiring, love. <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/the-author-the-work-and-the-no-1-fan">The one exception to this was reading, which I did only for myself</a>, because I liked it, and because when I read I stopped thinking for one goddam second about what was wrong with me, why nobody liked me. </li><li><a href="https://orionmagazine.org/article/hummingbirds-and-the-ecstatic-moment/">Hummingbirds and the Ecstatic Moment by Jeff Vandermeer</a></li><li><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/2j3nxz/radio_silence/">Radio Silence</a></li><li><a href="https://uncannymagazine.com/article/my-country-is-a-ghost/">My Country Is a Ghost</a></li><li><a href="https://go.xprize.org/oceanstories/sturdy-lanterns-and-ladders/">Sturdy Lanterns and Ladders</a></li><li><a href="http://www.multiversitycomics.com/interviews/6th-gun-retro-6/">“The Sixth Gun” Retrospective</a>: Interview with Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt</li><li><a href="https://www.cbr.com/bunn-hurtt-crabtree-celebrate-the-sixth-guns-50th-and-final-issue/">Bunn, Hurtt & Crabtree Celebrate "The Sixth Gun's" Final Issue</a></li><li><a href="https://catapult.co/stories/do-not-want-to-write-today-comic-by-shing-yin-khor">I do not want to write today</a></li></ul></details><br />
7. <a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#">Ideas of India: Coming Out as Dalit</a><br />
<details>
<summary>More from the Pacific, Israel, China, and Africa </summary>
<ul><li>In some industries, Pacific communities see less than 12% of the final value of the resources being extracted, with little paid in royalties or reinvested in the countries which own the resources. <a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#">Pacific Plunder</a></li><li><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#">Nauru: riches to rags to riches</a></li></ul><ul><li><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#">Joe Biden’s Alarming Record on Israel</a></li><li>If Israel Eliminated Hamas, <a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#">Nothing Fundamental Would Change</a></li><li><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#">End the Nakba Now</a></li><li><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#">Backlash to Ben & Jerry’s decision</a> to distinguish between Israel and the territories it occupies has shown that, for many Israelis, the distinction no longer exists.</li></ul><ul><li><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#">Secrecy and Abuse Claims Haunt China’s Solar Factories in Xinjiang</a></li><li><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#">Surviving the Crackdown in Xinjiang</a></li><li><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#">One by One, My Friends Were Sent to the Camps</a></li><li>Beijing forced an Uyghur Australian woman to break the silence after <a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#">sentencing her husband to 25 years in jail</a></li><li><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#">Qin Hui on Sent-Down Youth</a></li><li><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#">How I taught the Iliad to Chinese teenagers</a></li><li><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#">A tale from Communist China</a></li><li>China's 2020 census has revealed that the three northeastern provinces have seen their combined <a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#">population decline by 11 million people, or roughly 10%, since the 2010 census.</a></li></ul><ul><li><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#">“I Have Blood On My Hands”</a>: A Whistleblower Says Facebook Ignored Global Political Manipulation</li><li><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#">Five Scenarios of State Collapse in Ethiopia</a></li><li>What is ethnofederalism? What are its consequences for violence, the ‘hardening’ of ethnic identities, and secession? <a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#">Ethiopia’s ethnofederalism</a></li><li><a href="https://africanarguments.org/2021/05/somaliland-at-30-still-unrecognised-but-alive-and-well/">Somaliland at 30</a>: Still unrecognised, but alive and well</li></ul><ul><li><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#">Oh, how hard it is to speak Spanish!</a></li><li>Before the availability of the tape recorder and during the 1950s, when vinyl was scarce, people in the Soviet Union began making records of banned Western music on discarded x-rays calling it <a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#">‘bone music’</a></li></ul></details><br />
8. But no matter the medicinal virtues of being a true friend of sustaining a long close relationship with another, the ultimate touchstone of friendship is not improvement, neither of the other nor of the self, the ultimate touchstone is witness, the privilege of having been seen by someone and the equal privilege of being granted the sight of the essence of another, to have walked with them and to have believed in them, and sometimes just to have accompanied them for however brief a span, on a journey impossible to accomplish alone. <a href="https://thevalueofsparrows.wordpress.com/2018/10/22/words-friendship-by-david-whyte/">Friendship</a><details>
<summary>More on relationships</summary><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2021/04/deep-friendships-aristotle">How to Make Your Friendships Deeper</a> by Arthur C. Brooks</li><li><a href="https://www.thestranger.com/savage-love/2021/04/27/57027422/savage-love">"I would send my regrets along with a broken toaster and the wrong receipt."</a></li><li><a href="https://www.ohjoysextoy.com/ive-got-a-friend-in-me/">I've got a friend in me</a></li></ul></details><br />
9. For three years, I studied HIV replication in T-cells under researchers Drew Weissman and Katalin Karikó. She was a dynamo, with a passion for science that rubbed off on those around her. Seeing Karikó get so excited about scientific findings that weren’t even related to her research, I got a sense about her: she couldn’t not be a scientist. It was baked into her bones. Luckily for us, now. <a href="https://www.wbur.org/commonhealth/2021/02/12/brutal-science-system-mrna-pioneer">How Our Brutal Science System Almost Cost Us A Pioneer Of mRNA Vaccines</a><br /><details>
<summary>More on Covid-19</summary><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKCN2DF0ZM">COVID-19 far more widespread in Indonesia than official data show - studies</a></li><li><a href="https://www.covid-datascience.com/post/israeli-data-how-can-efficacy-vs-severe-disease-be-strong-when-60-of-hospitalized-are-vaccinated">Israeli data: How can efficacy vs. severe disease be strong when 60% of hospitalized are vaccinated?</a></li><li><a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/05/what-really-happened-with-that-weird-yankees-covid-outbreak.html">What Really Happened With that Weird Yankees COVID Outbreak</a></li><li><a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-kids-are-using-soft-drinks-to-fake-positive-tests-ive-worked-out-the-science-and-how-to-spot-it-163739">Kids are using soft drinks to fake Covid-19 positive tests</a></li><li><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/07/what-coronavirus-can-teach-us-about-hope-rebecca-solnit">'The impossible has already happened': what coronavirus can teach us about hope</a> by Rebecca Solnit</li><li><a href="http://yankes.kemkes.go.id/app/siranap/">Siranap</a></li><li><a href="https://defector.com/private-choices-have-public-consequences/">Private Choices Have Public Consequences</a> If you have ever spoken to an anti-vaxx person, you truly will not ever convince these people that this is Still About A Virus, because they never once believed that anything is ever about more than their own sour selves, and a jealous world’s conspiracy against their comfort.</li></ul></details><br />
10. You would think apostates from an ideology or religion would often be the most sophisticated critics of the old ideas, but they are usually the dumbest. <a href="https://200proofliberals.blogspot.com/2021/02/why-are-apostates-so-often-dumb.html">Why is that?</a>
<details>
<summary>More on science, research, and rationality</summary> <br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://medium.com/multiple-views-visualization-research-explained/a-personal-visualization-research-story-213a95b1830c">A visualization research story</a> by Jessica Hullman</li><li><a href="https://undark.org/2021/04/07/getting-sick-for-medical-research/">Getting Sick for the Sake of Advancing Medical Research</a></li><li><a href="https://neal.fun/deep-sea/">The Deep Sea by Neal Agarwal</a></li><li><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/02/mars-is-no-earth/618133/">Mars Is a Hellhole</a></li><li><a href="https://joshdata.me/iceberger.html">Draw an iceberg and see how it will float.</a></li><li><a href="https://unherd.com/thepost/meet-aella-the-intellectual-porn-star/">Meet Aella: the intellectual porn star</a></li><li><a href="https://constancecrozier.com/2020/04/16/forecasting-s-curves-is-hard">Forecasting s-curves is hard</a></li><li><a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-new-map-of-the-standard-model-of-particle-physics-20201022/">A New Map of All the Particles and Forces</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com//2021/05/14/podcasts/ezra-klein-podcast-agnes-callard-transcript.html">Agnes Callard on the Ezra Klein podcast</a></li><li><a href="https://www.gleech.org/psych">Psychology has in recent years been racking up reversals</a>: in fact only 40-65% of its classic social results were replicated.</li><li><a href="https://www.science.org/careers/2021/08/thoughts-work-invaded-my-life-until-i-learned-how-unplug">Thoughts of work invaded my life—until I learned how to unplug</a></li><li><a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/bering-in-mind/being-suicidal-what-it-feels-like-to-want-to-kill-yourself/">Being Suicidal: What It Feels Like to Want to Kill Yourself</a></li><li><a href="https://missing.csail.mit.edu/">The Missing Semester of Your CS Education</a></li></ul></details><br />
11. <a href="https://blog.duolingo.com/ending-honoring-our-volunteer-contributor-program-2/">Ending & honoring Duolingo's volunteer Contributor program</a><details>
<summary>Miscellanea</summary>
<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://duolingomoderators-5intf.getguru.com/articles/T6EGrznc/Overview-">Duolingo Moderator Knowledge Base</a></li><li>It’s everywhere on the Internet right now—NFT this, Rarible that. Tokens, tokens, come get your tokens! <a href="https://jackrusher.com/journal/what-does-it-mean-to-buy-a-gif.html">What does it mean to buy a GIF?</a></li><li>Therapy exists where the placebo effect meets self-help meets a confession booth. Where would I be without therapy? I can’t know. Has it helped? I hope so. <a href="https://www.thecut.com/article/mental-health-therapy-apps.html">The Therapy-App Fantasy</a></li><li><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2020/09/15/exclusive-the-billionaire-who-wanted-to-die-brokeis-now-officially-broke/">The Billionaire Who Wanted To Die Broke . . . Is Now Officially Broke</a></li><li><a href="https://mackenzie-scott.medium.com/seeding-by-ceding-ea6de642bf">Seeding by Ceding</a></li><li><a href="https://www.niemanlab.org/2021/05/someone-wrong-on-the-internet-correcting-them-publicly-may-make-them-act-like-a-bigger-jerk/">Someone wrong on the internet? Correcting them publicly may make them act like a bigger jerk</a></li><li><a href="https://placesjournal.org/article/the-filing-cabinet-and-20th-century-information-infrastructure/">The Filing Cabinet</a></li><li>After three hours of a pelvis-shaking Gummy Bear assault, I was spongy and weak, surprised that I had any bones left. <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/michaelrusch/haribo-gummy-bear-reviews-on-amazon-are-the-most-insane-thin">I cursed Haribo with the little strength I could muster.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/jul/06/caffeine-coffee-tea-invisible-addiction-is-it-time-to-give-up">The invisible addiction: is it time to give up caffeine? by Michael Pollan</a></li><li><a href="https://qz.com/quartzy/1261050/white-peoples-unseasoned-food-isnt-just-an-internet-meme-its-centuries-long-obsession/">Why do white people eat bland food?</a></li><li><a href="https://residentcontrarian.substack.com/p/on-the-experience-of-being-poor-ish">On The Experience of Being Poor-ish, For People Who Aren't</a></li><li><a href="https://behavioralscientist.org/how-social-penumbras-explain-shifts-in-attitudes-toward-different-social-groups/">How “Social Penumbras” Explain Shifts in Attitudes Toward Different Social Groups</a><a href="https://behavioralscientist.org/how-social-penumbras-explain-shifts-in-attitudes-toward-different-social-groups/">https://behavioralscientist.org/how-social-penumbras-explain-shifts-in-attitudes-toward-different-social-groups/</a>)</li><li><a href="https://www.currentaffairs.org/2021/07/the-dangerous-ideas-of-longtermism-and-existential-risk">The Dangerous Ideas of “Longtermism” and “Existential Risk”</a></li><li>A contestant in Great British Bake Off Season 3 blogged about her experiences: <a href="https://bakingastherapy.wordpress.com/2012/10/21/bake-off-confidential-bittersweet-adventures-in-a-tv-show/">Bake Off Confidential – bittersweet adventures</a> and <a href="https://bakingastherapy.wordpress.com/2012/10/10/tears-of-despair-before-the-gbbo-semi-final-tears-of-relief-after/">Tears of despair before the GBBO semi final – tears of relief after</a>.</li><li><a href="http://www.campusactivism.org/server-new/uploads/bostonuniversity-2010-disorientation-guide1.pdf">BU 2010 Disorientation Guide</a></li><li>The way people talk about non-dairy milk, you’d think it was a fad dreamed up by vegans in the ’90s. Unfortunately for people who’d like to simplify all narratives around not using animal products, almond milk dates back to at least 1226. <a href="https://www.aliciakennedy.news/p/on-milk">On Milk</a></li><li>What desires does the use of this technology generate? How does this technology empower me? At whose expense? Does using this technology require me to think more or less? Can I be held responsible for the actions which this tech empowers? Would I feel better if I couldn't? <a href="https://theconvivialsociety.substack.com/p/the-questions-concerning-technology">41 questions concerning technology</a></li></details><br /></ul>Masyhurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120142510202386489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1451164821026462994.post-40203614379868323292021-10-01T10:04:00.003+09:002021-10-01T10:04:41.448+09:00Melela[/hkan]<p>Ujarku ke psikologku pagi tadi, "I have a lot going on." </p><p>Dan timpalnya, "You have a lot going on."</p><p>Kadang-kadang terapi ini kayak yang, hm, macam apa dah.</p>Masyhurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120142510202386489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1451164821026462994.post-53188247976095978022021-09-22T23:50:00.001+09:002021-09-22T23:52:01.361+09:00Selusin RAs(ul)<p style="text-align: left;"><span>Musim panas kemarin adalah musim panas yang melelahkan. Seandainya tidak, mungkin aku tidak juga tuliskan di sini. Tapi waktu berlalu, musim berganti baru, dan… kesibukan kok tetap memburu jadi kelelahan ini tak kunjung luruh.</span><span> </span></p><p style="text-align: left;">Yang ada justru makin berasa dipacu. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Di awal musim panas, aku bertolak ke Indonesia. Aku dapat vaksin dari uji coba AstraZeneca di Amerika dan vaksin reguler Pfizer untuk semua warga. Maka aku pulang dengan penuh harapan memajukan pekerjaan, bertatap muka dengan keluarga, kawan dan handai taulan, dan mungkin menyisihkan sebagian liburan untuk melancong dan berpelesir. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Yang ada aku justru terkungkung gelombang kedua korona di Jakarta. Ini memang peristiwa dahsyat: Iis kena. Danti. Ada satu kawan meninggal dunia. Sepupu-sepupu kena juga. Pun Freida, yang sudah lengkap vaksinnya, sehari sebelum jadwal keberangkatannya jadi harus diisolasi karena hasil tes PCRnya positif. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Maka mau tidak mau aku pupuskan rencana pesiar ke Biak ataupun Bengkulu. Dari rencana semula membonceng agenda kerja Mbak Yanti, semua kami urungkan. Dan kami kembali berpaku—terpaku—berjibaku dengan layar-layar persegi sebagai tempat koordinasi pengganti. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Aku bercerita pada Mbak Yanti bahwa urungnya pesiar kami lazimnya berarti aku kembalikan dana tunjangan yang aku anggarkan untuk perjalanan ke si donor asal. Timpalnya, “Kenapa ngga kamu cari orang daerah Syhur? Anggap sebagai kunjungan virtual.”</p><p style="text-align: left;">Aku menimbang saran ini, dan seperti beberapa saran sebelumnya darinya, ini sangat masuk akal. Yang aku belum tahu saat itu, ini ternyata jadi salah satu sumber utama kerepotanku.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Pasalnya, aku jadi merekrut, menyaring, dan harus mengelola orang-orang yang aku jaring. Jaringnya kusebar luas, yang berujung pada musim panas ini aku membawahkan banyak nian orang.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Tiga paket, RP-CW, TP-CS, HS-TM, memang sudah terkait proyek lama dan baru di J-PAL SEA. Dua paket untuk bersih-bersih narasi permintaan donasi, AI dan JA. Tiga paket di berbagai penjuru Indonesia: RN, RC, dan FM. Paket AN dibiayai BU aku kelola jarak jauh untuk mendigitalkan data sekolah lama. Terakhir, ada tiga paket untuk pembacaan sumber sejarah era Belanda: JN, BG, dan RM. Total jenderal ada dua belas paketan RA. Masing-masing menjadi perpanjangan tangan beragam kegiatanku bersama berbagai kolega. Mereka macam rasul namun mewartakan kabar dan pertanyaan keilmuan—meski ini hanya tepat kalau aku punya delusi bersetara mesias. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Tidak semua paket ini mudah dikelola. Ada yang tahu-tahu lenyap tidak berjejak. Ada yang terkendala sinyal. Terakhir, ada yang lapor terkena corona. Sebagian bisa dimitigasi dan dipandu. Sebagian memang sudah mandiri atau dapat dukungan terstandar. Sebagian… mau tidak mau harus direlakan, dengan usaha yang terbuang percuma dan sia-sia.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Apakah aku terbayang ketika mulai melanjutkan studi aku akan harus mengelola orang lebih banyak dari posisiku sebelumnya sebagai penyelia? Tentu tidak. Apakah ini hal yang aku sambut dengan gembira? Tanggung jawab pelaporan yang datang setelahnya jelas tidak membuat hari-hariku bahagia. Hatiku akan lebih ringan ketika tetek-bengek administrasi ini tuntas diterima oleh semua pihak pendana yang memintanya.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Satu hal yang jelas: aku perlu liburan. Yang betulan. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ERnto5wnLt0/YUtCJHG4nBI/AAAAAAAACVA/W8Yopzy8lK034XtRDj3blGm8OsfOaEpgQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/64268B0B-C469-4DCF-8A9A-138D9EE0E6D0.heic" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ERnto5wnLt0/YUtCJHG4nBI/AAAAAAAACVA/W8Yopzy8lK034XtRDj3blGm8OsfOaEpgQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/64268B0B-C469-4DCF-8A9A-138D9EE0E6D0.heic" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cape euy.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>Masyhurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120142510202386489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1451164821026462994.post-1225632366144165952021-07-27T01:32:00.003+09:002021-07-27T01:32:47.539+09:00Essays in Trespassing<p></p><blockquote><p>Only a few [economists] were so troubled to probe whether it was the quest for economic development that had wrought political disasters. My own reaction was to withdraw into the history of ideas. The most surprising idea I came across was the speculation that the expansion of the market economy would serve to restrain the “passions” of the sovereign and would therefore result in less arbitrary and more humane government. Economic growth would bring constraints that would put an end to despotism.</p><p>For Montesquieu, a more complex economy is a delicate mechanism that must not be tampered with. In [his] mind, this tampering could emanate only from the government of its head, the capricious sovereign. But the argument cuts several ways. If it is true that the economy must be deferred to, then there is a case not only for constraining the imprudent actions of the prince but for repressing those of the people, for limiting participation, in short, for crushing anything that could be interpreted by some economist-king as a threat to the proper functioning of the ‘delicate watch’. </p><p>The principal “economic” explanations of authoritarian rule in Latin America today run along those same lines.</p></blockquote><p></p><p>-- Hirschman in Essays in Trespassing (1981), p99-103.</p><p>Who'd have thought that what Hirschman wrote forty years ago (!) would resonate with the goings-on of one country half the world away from the countries that he initially wrote about?</p>Masyhurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120142510202386489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1451164821026462994.post-37295687194464813002021-04-01T05:55:00.003+09:002021-04-02T09:26:38.459+09:00Internet Reading Q4 2020 + Q1 2021<p>
1. “There’s this false image that I’m an angry, depressed teenager. But why would I be depressed when I’m trying to do my best to change things?” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/11/02/magazine/greta-thunberg-interview.html">Greta Thunberg Hears Your Excuses. She Is Not Impressed.</a></p>
<details><summary>More climate change articles</summary>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.arctictoday.com/the-arctic-hasnt-been-this-warm-for-3-million-years-and-that-foreshadows-big-changes-for-the-rest-of-the-planet/">The Arctic hasn’t been this warm for 3 million years – and that foreshadows big changes for the rest of the planet</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/three-scenarios-for-the-future-of-climate-change">Three Scenarios for the Future of Climate Change</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/the-big-thaw-how-russia-could-dominate-a-warming-world">The Big Thaw: How Russia Could Dominate a Warming World</a></li>
<li><a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/climate-change-after-pandemic.html">The Pandemic Year Marked a Turning Point in Climate Change by David Wallace-Wells</a></li>
</ul>
</details>
<p>2. We want sexuality to be biological because we want sexuality to be instinctual and natural and out of our control, because choice isn’t nearly as romantic as surrender. Love is about the absence of choice — the irresistible pull of another body. We don’t have faith in the rest of it because we doubt the permanence of anything we are capable of changing with our minds. I was scared, like maybe many of you are now, that in some unpredictable future I’d pick the wrong gender and then flee my husband/wife for another man/woman, leaving everybody’s soul shattered. <a href="https://www.autostraddle.com/my-sexual-orientation-90206/">Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About My Sexual Orientation And Were(n’t) Afraid To Ask</a></p>
<p>And: Daring to step into oneself is the bravest, most terrifying thing a person can do, because when you cease to wrap yourself in artifice you are naked, and when you are naked you are vulnerable. And while the word “bisexual” was technically correct, it would take many years before the word “bisexual” would roll off my tongue and not get stuck in my throat. Few people would be open to the idea of men like me even existing. Many could conceive of bisexuality only in the way it existed for most people willing to admit to it: as a transitory identity — a pit stop or a hiding place — and not a permanent one. I wouldn’t always find the courage to tell people the whole truth about myself, or do so before their love had already reached through my secret and touched my shame, but at least I learned to move in the right direction. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/21/opinion/sunday/charles-blow-up-from-pain.html">Up From Pain by Charles M. Blow.</a></p>
<details><summary>More LGBTQ+ articles</summary>
<ul>
<li>At this point I feel like I am describing the life of a completely separate person; albeit someone that shaped who I am today, for better or worse. I don’t think describing my experiences in this way is something I am obliged to do, but rather, I feel like it is something I should do, on the off chance it will help someone who finds themselves in a similar position. <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-union/my-own-death-felt-preferable-to-anyone-discovering-i-was-gay-20201029-p569os.html">'My own death felt preferable to anyone discovering I was gay'</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.papermag.com/passion-pit-bisexual-pride-2638954172.html">Passion Pit's Michael Angelakos on Being Bisexual</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/01/20/mary-oliver-molly-malone-cook-our-world/">Attention without feeling, I began to learn, is only a report.</a> An openness — an empathy — was necessary if the attention was to matter. Such openness and empathy M. had in abundance, and gave away freely.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/schitt-s-creek/how-schitts-creek-built-tvs-most-relatable-romance/">How Schitt's Creek Built TV's Most Relatable Romance</a></li>
<li><a href="https://norasamaran.com/2016/02/11/the-opposite-of-rape-culture-is-nurturance-culture-2/">The opposite of rape culture is nurturance culture</a></li>
<li><a href="https://slate.com/human-interest/2020/03/asexuality-history-internet-identity-queer-archive.html">Asexuality history goes back way further than an "internet identity"</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.vice.com/amp/en_uk/article/7xnx5z/growing-up-lgbtqia-rural-britain-wales-valleys">What It’s Like to Grow Up LGBTQ+ in Rural Britain</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/blairbraverman/what-its-like-to-have-a-trans-partner">What I've Learned From Having A Trans Partner</a></li>
<li><a href="https://msmagazine.com/2020/12/15/happiest-season-queer-lesbian-black-biracial-representation/">What “Happiest Season” Is, What It Isn’t, and What It Could Be</a></li>
<li><a href="http://imfromdriftwood.com/mike_szymanski/">“[If You’re Bisexual] Why Don’t You Choose To Be With A Woman And Be Like You’re Normal?”</a></li>
<li><a href="https://newnaratif.com/comic/one-day-out/">One Day Out</a></li>
<li><a href="https://going-medieval.com/2019/08/16/thats-not-what-sodomy-is-but-ok">That’s not what sodomy is, but OK</a></li>
<li><a href="https://heyepiphora.com/2017/08/your-genitals-deserve-better-the-case-against-toxic-sex-toys/">Your genitals deserve better: the case against toxic sex toys</a></li>
</ul>
</details>
<p>3. <a href="https://www.microcovid.org/">microCOVID project</a>: a calculator that lets you estimate the risk of getting COVID from an activity or relationship in your daily life, using the best research available.</p>
<details><summary>More on the pandemic</summary>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://forge.medium.com/amp/p/aca1e9cb08ed">Do You Have ‘Zoom Fatigue’ or Is It Existentially Crushing to Pretend Life Is Normal as the World Burns?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/coronavirus-pandemic-wall-mental-health_l_601b3c9dc5b6c0af54d09ccb/">It's Not Just You. A Lot Of Us Are Hitting A Pandemic Wall Right Now.</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/11/10-simple-rules-surviving-pandemic-holidays/617122/">The Pandemic Safety Rule That Really Matters: Don’t spend time indoors with people outside your household.</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/11/10/the-story-of-mrna-how-a-once-dismissed-idea-became-a-leading-technology-in-the-covid-vaccine-race">The story of mRNA: How a once-dismissed idea became a leading technology in the Covid vaccine race</a></li>
<li><a href="https://story.californiasunday.com/covid-life-care-center-kirkland-washington">What Happened in Room 10 of The Life Care Center of Kirkland, Washington--The first COVID hot spot in the U.S.</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/01/covid-19-business-work-public-health">Coronavirus Is an Occupational Disease That Spreads at Work</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/the-students-left-behind-by-remote-learning">The Students Left Behind by Remote Learning</a></li>
<li>Tjipto Mangoenkoesoemo marah karena permohonannya tidak dikabulkan [pemerintah Hindia Belanda], dia mengembalikan bintang penghargaan Orde van Oranje Nassau [itu]. Namun, “selama jalan kaki menuju di kantor, dia menaruh bintang itu di pantat,” ujarnya. “Jadi siapa pun yang melihat pantatnya, akan menghormat.” <a href="https://nationalgeographic.grid.id/read/132090830/karut-marut-pagebluk-pes-pertama-di-hindia-belanda">Karut-Marut Pagebluk Pes Pertama di Hindia Belanda</a></li>
</ul>
</details>
<p>4. The ethical is not halfway between white supremacists and human rights activists. Who the hell wants unity with Nazis until and unless they stop being Nazis? <a href="https://lithub.com/rebecca-solnit-on-not-meeting-nazis-halfway/">by Rebecca Solnit</a></p>
<details><summary>More on race and US politics</summary>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2020/08/breonna-taylor">The Life Breonna Taylor Lived, in the Words of Her Mother by Ta-Nehisi Coates</a></li>
<li><a href="https://the.ink/p/kamala-versus-daenerys">Kamala versus Daenerys: Names, Mayflower mouth, and the politics of mispronunciation and dispronunciation</a></li>
<li><a href="https://slate.com/human-interest/2020/10/cup-foods-george-floyd-store-911-history.html">The Store That Called the Cops on George Floyd</a></li>
<li>At some point you learn to speak clearly and slowly, to widen your eyes a bit, perhaps to smile, in situations where the underlying danger of everyday existence races to the surface like an air bubble in murky water. You learn that there will be moments, random and unbidden, where to save your life you must convince a stranger that you are in some amorphous way good. <a href="https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a32712287/cnn-omar-jimenez-arrest-response/">It Does Not Matter If You Are Good</a></li>
<li><a href="https://features.propublica.org/diabetes-amputations/black-american-amputation-epidemic/">The Black American Amputation Epidemic:</a> Black patients were losing limbs at triple the rate of others.</li>
<li><a href="http://bostonreview.net/race/melissa-phruksachart-literature-white-liberalism">The Literature of White Liberalism</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/10/19/t-magazine/angela-davis.html">Angela Davis</a></li>
<li>Western Beauty Supply sells products like wigs, hair extensions and combs mostly to Black women. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/15/business/beauty-store-race-protests.html">Most of the employees, like Ms. Holmes, are also Black, but the owner is a Korean-American man, Yong Sup Na.</a></li>
<li><a href="https://georgefloydstreetart.omeka.net/items/map">George Floyd & Anti-Racist Street Art</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/13/magazine/rental-housing-crisis-minneapolis.html">The Tenants Who Evicted Their Landlord</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/10/becoming-aoc-cover-story-2020">AOC’S Next Four Years</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/10/26/how-to-spot-a-military-impostor">How to Spot a Military Impostor</a></li>
<li><a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/amp/2018/05/poor-people-often-dont-survive-to-become-seniors-who-vote.html">Seniors Are More Conservative Because the Poor Don’t Survive to Become Seniors</a></li>
<li><a href="https://onezero.medium.com/the-future-of-decent-work-depends-on-the-failure-of-prop-22-9678e3031717">The Future of Decent Work Depends on the Failure of Prop 22</a></li>
</ul>
</details>
<p>5. <a href="https://andotherpoems.com/2021/01/16/please-do-not-touch-the-walrus-or-sit-on-the-iceberg-by-caleb-parkin">‘Please Do Not Touch the Walrus or Sit on the Iceberg’ by Caleb Parkin</a></p>
<details><summary>More poetry and stories</summary>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://poetryarchive.org/poem/fundamentals/">Fundamentals by Ian Duhig</a></li>
<li><a href="https://poets.org/poem/vows-gay-wedding">Vows (for a gay wedding) by Joseph O. Legaspi</a></li>
<li><a href="https://poets.org/poem/we-who-are-your-closest-friends">We Who Are Your Closest Friends</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.tor.com/2020/06/17/two-truths-and-a-lie-sarah-pinsker/">Two Truths and a Lie by Sarah Pinsker</a></li>
<li><a href="https://retriever.plotter.cc">Retriever by Stephen Kearse</a></li>
</ul>
</details>
<p>6. <a href="https://www.btselem.org/publications/fulltext/202101_this_is_apartheid">A regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea: This is apartheid</a></p>
<details><summary>Articles from Nigeria, Georgia, Hiroshima, Cambodia, and more</summary>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://brunomacaes.substack.com/p/islam-and-europe">Islam and Europe: A review of Douglas Murray's The Strange Death of Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="https://story.californiasunday.com/below-deck">Filipinos make up nearly a third of all cruise ship workers. It’s a good job. Until it isn’t.</a></li>
<li><a href="https://jewishcurrents.org/yavne-a-jewish-case-for-equality-in-israel-palestine/">Yavne: A Jewish Case for Equality in Israel-Palestine by Peter Beinart</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gq.com/story/fela-kuti-endsars-police-protests-nigeria">Nigeria’s Millennials Are Battling a Gerontocracy</a></li>
<li><a href="https://hyperallergic.com/591628/why-are-the-noses-broken-on-egyptian-statues/">Why Are the Noses Broken on Egyptian Statues?</a> Harming the inscription and symbols that identified the deity or the individual cut off the source of the image’s power by disassociating it from that specific deity or person.</li>
<li>The falsehoods of the “tribute system” model infiltrate the maps in Making China Modern, which appallingly label Kazakhstan, Nepal, Bhutan, all of mainland Southeast Asia and Korea as “Chinese vassals”. This is worse than DreamWorks film Abominable that shows the PRC “nine-dash line” claiming most of the South China Sea. <a href="https://medium.com/@millwarj/we-need-a-new-approach-to-teaching-modern-chinese-history-we-have-lazily-repeated-false-d24983bd7ef2">We need a new approach to teaching modern Chinese history: we have lazily repeated false narratives for too long.</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/sudan-land-kush-meroe-ancient-civilization-overlooked-180975498/">Why Sudan's Remarkable Ancient Civilization Has Been Overlooked by History</a></li>
<li><a href="https://roadsandkingdoms.com/2015/hiroshima">The Second Most Famous Thing to Happen to Hiroshima</a></li>
<li><a href="https://mishasaul.com/conversations/georgian-language-culture">Georgian Language and History</a></li>
<li><a href="https://warontherocks.com/2020/06/the-chip-wars-of-the-21st-century/">The Chip Wars of the 21st Century</a></li>
<li><a href="https://tirto.id/raja-jawa-ambil-kuasa-buang-lawan-politik-ke-afrika-sri-lanka-eczE">Raja Jawa Ambil Kuasa: Buang Lawan Politik ke Afrika & Sri Lanka</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/18/magazine/border-crossing.html">How U.S. Policy Turned the Sonoran Desert Into a Graveyard for Migrants</a></li>
<li><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-indonesias-omnibus-bill-will-not-create-jobs-and-only-strengthen-the-oligarchy-147997">Why Indonesia’s omnibus bill will not create jobs and only strengthen the oligarchy</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.newmandala.org/indonesian-protests-point-to-old-patterns/">Indonesian protests point to old patterns</a></li>
<li><a href="https://danwang.co/2020-letter/">Dan Wang's 2020 letter</a></li>
<li>Some undercover officials naively believed that methods like using potato chip bags would mask cellphone signals, and operatives were generally “freewheeling,” according to one former senior intelligence official. <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/shattered-inside-the-secret-battle-to-save-americas-undercover-spies-in-the-digital-age-100029026.html">Inside the secret battle to save America's undercover spies in the digital age</a></li>
<li><a href="https://palladiummag.com/2021/01/20/the-forgotten-un-intervention-to-build-democracy-in-cambodia/">The Forgotten UN Intervention to Build Democracy in Cambodia</a></li>
</ul>
</details>
<p>7. <a href="https://jsomers.net/i-should-have-loved-biology/">I should have loved biology By James Somers</a></p>
<details><summary>More on science</summary>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://orion2020v5b.spaceforeverybody.com">Project Orion</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/how-we-discovered-water-on-the-moon">How We Discovered Water on the Moon</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.supercluster.com/editorial/europa-clipper-inches-forward-shackled-to-the-earth">Europa Clipper Inches Forward, Shackled to the Earth</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.wired.com/story/oysters-that-knew-what-time-it-was/">Scientists were convinced that biological clocks are predominantly driven by internal rhythms. There was just one problem—involving some mollusks and the moon.</a></li>
<li><a href="https://community.macmillanlearning.com/t5/talk-psych-blog/psychological-science-full-of-surprises/ba-p/3205">Psychological Science: Full of Surprises?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://applieddivinitystudies.com/2020/09/05/rationality-winning/">Where are All the Successful Rationalists?</a> Maybe all the rationalists with PhDs and lucrative tech jobs in 2019 were totally devoid of any hope for the future in 2009, and it is only thanks to these blogs that they’ve achieved the success they have.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/BHqzGLNyQHjDXhEc8/is-stupidity-expanding-some-hypotheses">Is Stupidity Expanding? Some Hypotheses.</a></li>
<li>Can you make yourself more independent-minded? I think so. This quality may be largely inborn, but there seem to be ways to magnify it, or at least not to suppress it. <a href="http://paulgraham.com/think.html">How to Think for Yourself by Paul Graham</a></li>
</ul>
</details>
<p>8. <a href="http://deryugina.com/some-tips-for-robustness-checks-and-empirical-analysis-in-general/">Tips For Robustness Checks And Empirical Analysis In General by Tatyana Deryugina</a></p>
<details><summary>More on economics and research</summary>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://medium.com/@UnlearningEcon/empirical-techniques-in-economics-much-ado-about-nothing-97cfcd78abea">Empirical Techniques in Economics: Much Ado About Nothing</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.mortenjerven.com/the-fiscal-state-in-africa-evidence-from-a-century-of-growth/">The database on taxation for African countries that covers the whole 20th century is finally ready.</a></li>
<li><a href="https://promarket.org/2020/09/28/difference-between-research-academic-lobbying-hidden-funding/">“Doubt is Their Product”: The Difference Between Research and Academic Lobbying</a></li>
<li>Panel on Non-Academic Development Economics Research Jobs at OSU on <a href="https://leahbevis.com/panel-on-non-academic-development-economics-research/">Leah Bevis' website</a></li>
<li><a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/impactevaluations/overview-multiple-hypothesis-testing-commands-stata">Multiple hypothesis testing in Stata: -mhtexp-, -rwolf-, -wyoung-, -mhtreg-</a></li>
<li><a href="https://lindeloev.github.io/tests-as-linear/">Common statistical tests are linear models (or: how to teach stats)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.econlib.org/call-it-sour-grapes/">With rare exceptions, I don’t admire researchers at top schools. And in all sincerity, I am not jealous.</a></li>
<li><a href="https://psmag.com/economics/trickle-down-economics-is-indeed-a-joke">"Trickle-down" economics is, indeed, a joke</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.khstats.com/blog/tmle/tutorial/">An Illustrated Guide to TMLE/Targeted Maximum Likelihood Estimation</a></li>
<li><a href="http://blogs.ubc.ca/khead/research/research-advice/formula">The Introduction Formula</a></li>
<li><a href="https://michaelwiebe.com/blog/2021/02/replications">Replicating the literature on meritocratic promotion in China</a></li>
<li>Despite the abundance of quit-lit out there, the genre is almost universally written by those leaving, not those left behind. Those left behind don’t often write about what it means to lose friends and colleagues. To do so would be to acknowledge not only the magnitude of the loss but also that it was a loss at all. If we don’t see the loss of all of these scholars as an actual loss to the field, let alone as the loss of so many years of people’s lives, <a href="http://erinbartram.com/uncategorized/the-sublimated-grief-of-the-left-behind/">is it any wonder I felt I had no right to grieve?</a></li>
</ul>
</details>
<p>9. <a href="https://medium.com/better-humans/quit-your-phone-addiction-using-methods-that-work-for-smokers-cdb44ce840">When checking my messages got out of control, I sought the advice of experts on addiction: smokers. It worked.</a></p>
<details><summary>Miscellannea</summary>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2019/2/19/status-as-a-service">Social Media Sites are Status as a Service (StaaS)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://wondermark.com/garfield-color/">On the bonkers color palette of Garfield comics</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.vulture.com/2020/02/spread-of-corporate-speak.html">Garbage Language: Why do corporations speak the way they do?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2020-jealousy-list/">Bloomberg Businessweek 2020 Jealousy List</a> The task to the magazine’s staff and our many contributors: Swallow your pride and acknowledge a job well done, begrudgingly if need be, by someone else.</li>
<li><a href="https://moosenuggets.substack.com/p/chapter-2-how-neutering-became-the">How Neutering Became the Norm</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-insufferable-hubris-of-the-well-credentialed">The Insufferable Hubris of the Well-Credentialed</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.reaktor.com/blog/why-ive-tracked-every-single-piece-of-clothing-ive-worn-for-three-years/">Why I’ve tracked every single piece of clothing I’ve worn for three years</a></li>
<li><a href="https://psyche.co/amp/guides/anger-is-a-potent-beneficial-force-if-used-in-the-right-way">How to be angry</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/grapefruit-history-and-drug-interactions">Grapefruit Is One of the Weirdest Fruits on the Planet</a></li>
<li><a href="https://ssir.org/articles/entry/nowhere_to_grow">The systematic scale-up of social entrepreneurs’ solutions by Big International NGOs is simply not a thing. That's alarming.</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/10/17/opinion/just-give-poor-people-money/">Just give poor people money</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.lewissociety.org/innerring/">The Inner Ring by C. S. Lewis</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2005/06/09/on-the-mysteries-of-pittsburgh/">On ‘The Mysteries of Pittsburgh’ by Michael Chabon</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.notion.so/e873b52e0cc54f2981acc430417ba61d?v=05acdd40b0564920be69f5347f619bc3">Google Fonts</a></li>
<li><a href="https://blog.longnow.org/02020/10/21/the-data-of-long-lived-institutions/">The Data of Long-lived Institutions</a></li>
<li><a href="https://wrd.as.uky.edu/sites/default/files/1-Shitty%20First%20Drafts.pdf">Shitty first draft</a></li>
</ul>
</details>Masyhurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120142510202386489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1451164821026462994.post-31766956731684316532021-03-23T04:03:00.004+09:002021-10-11T11:18:54.174+09:00Teeth<p>One of my favorite scenes from Schitt’s Creek is from the sixth season, when David brought Patrick home from the dentist after his wisdom tooth extraction. Patrick, high-as-kite on anesthetics, declared that he was a “hungry hungry hippo~~” and now that I am facing a similar situation, everything makes sense so much better. The dentist told me that I can’t have any food or liquid when the clock hits midnight on the day of the tooth extraction surgery.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IbRoPDTq2wQ" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><p>I have a big hole in my upper left wisdom tooth, which had grown outwardly at an odd angle. That needs to go—I sent a couple of pictures to Monica, our non-practicing dentist friend-cum-Covid-public-health expert, and she said as much. But an awkward oral x-ray session and $350 later at a dentist here revealed to me that I have two more impacted wisdom teeth in my lower jaw that grow horizontally. I might have had this told to me some years ago before I left for Japan but had absolutely forgotten about this.</p><p>I had also never interacted so much with the medical service sector since I was involved in the JKN research. And between this teeth problem, me participating in the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine trial since December, and semi-regularly going to a psychologist, maybe not even then. At the very least, my interactions were not ones where I had to pay for their services rendered. This time, I am looking to possibly spend at least $2,500 in total, and boy this is going to hurt in more ways than one. Here is the breakdown: $350 for initial comprehensive examination, $650 to remove each wisdom tooth in the lower jaw (so x2), $350 for the wisdom tooth in the upper jaw, $350 for put in fillings in two other different teeth, and $140 for the routine cleaning appointment. </p><p>I had also been told that I grind my teeth, which now made me anxious. You grind your teeth when you are tense, and doing a PhD could definitely do that to you, more so in a pandemic year. But now that I was made aware about the severity of my grinding, this made me even more tense, because every time my upper and lower teeth make contact my mind immediately goes straight to think, I shouldn’t do that. (Then I think again that the cost estimate can go up and I tense up again, etc. etc. ad nauseam.)</p><p>Now I’m waiting to hear if my insurance will cover at least some of the cost. I hope they will. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9292TFdF5Gc/YFjpm3_VEuI/AAAAAAAACP8/B-EVzCyDVWIzbDOJrR96p-x13P_gwqohwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_1213.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9292TFdF5Gc/YFjpm3_VEuI/AAAAAAAACP8/B-EVzCyDVWIzbDOJrR96p-x13P_gwqohwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_1213.JPG" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Masyhurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120142510202386489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1451164821026462994.post-62629157970185752672021-02-15T00:41:00.001+09:002021-02-15T00:41:23.681+09:00Some Sameness<p>Here’s something crazy: this week last year I spent something like 48 hours straight in a series of airports and airplanes. I flew from Logan Boston to Doha on a Saturday, missed my connecting flight to Jakarta so I spent like an extra 8 hours inside the airport, arriving to Jakarta far too late to join a meeting in Sudirman before flying to Yogyakarta in the evening which made it nonsensical for me to brave the traffic out of Cengkareng just to head back in an hour—and so it was Monday 11 pm when I finally, properly, arrived someplace. I can hardly imagine traveling like this again in the past half-year. </p><p>The world was so different a year ago, and in the year that followed this almost didn’t feel like a year at all because all I see is the sameness of the inside of my apartment.</p><p>I see and read and write and watch different things on my laptop screen, phones, iPad, and monitor screens, but they are all confined in the house. I have been seeing very few people in person—but this is not news. </p><p>I turned thirty three and I thought this is really neat—it’s a palindrome. The last time I had a palindrome age I was twenty two and really not enjoying myself. It was my first winter in Japan and everything was cold and bleak and the future looked grim. Now I have a cat. </p><p>Not like he snuggles up to me, though. He does that to Freida—with me he more often gives me a wary look. In the rare time that he does though, it’s pretty neat. Pengingat supaya saya mengerahkan daya agar kehidupan saya tidak seluruhnya terhisap kerja.</p><p>Selamat tahun baru. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IXxIVf_dBrg/YClEg6ZRRiI/AAAAAAAACOY/sW1ggEdhrlUeLNV578H-48KQDD0jMBooQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1455/IMG_1078.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1455" data-original-width="828" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IXxIVf_dBrg/YClEg6ZRRiI/AAAAAAAACOY/sW1ggEdhrlUeLNV578H-48KQDD0jMBooQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_1078.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Masyhurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120142510202386489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1451164821026462994.post-41444316704947477052020-12-02T03:27:00.001+09:002020-12-02T03:27:02.917+09:00NEUDC 2020 roundup - Indonesia papers <p>This year's NEUDC was fully online--so not only I was able to watch Ben presented our paper succinctly in 15 minutes, it was super convenient to catch up on some of the other interesting panels, too. All from the comfort of my (really cold) apartment. David Evans and Almedina Music wrote a <a href="https://www.cgdev.org/blog/whats-latest-research-development-economics-round-neudc-2020">helpful summary</a> of the papers from the conference, and the summary for all Indonesia-related papers are below:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>When one child is born smaller than another, do parents compensate for those differences with health and nutrition investments, or do they reinforce them? Evidence from Indonesia suggests that in early childhood, parents reinforce differences. Data from 50 countries suggest parents are more likely to “reinforce initial inequalities in poorer countries.” (<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/11agpJEBA_Fkv3ToQKKBi73kEXqKqdWp7/view">Banerjee and Majid</a>) #FE</p><p>If you took the Indonesian secondary school entrance exam on a particularly hot day, it not only affects your math and science score, it also has “compounding negative effects on a wide range of long-term achievements such as adult educational attainment, labor market returns and entry to the marriage market.” (<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/vtcqm7pvqau1avc/paper_146.pdf?dl=0">Das</a>) #IV</p><p>Palm-oil price shocks in Indonesia benefit producing districts with higher per capita expenditure, while price shocks on rice do not. Districts exposed to palm-oil price shocks and those surrounding them receive more migration resulting in an overall welfare increase of 0.39 percent, with one third due to internal migration. (<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/tdu2iukp011wkvp/paper_520.pdf?dl=0">Siregar</a>)</p><p>Indonesian firm-level data shows that democratization increases firm productivity, a critical determinant of economic growth. (<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/jdsshqy6npwe9um/paper_395.pdf?dl=0">Abeberese et al.</a>) #DID</p><p>Massive public-school construction in Indonesia in the 70s decreased attendance in primary Islamic schools in favor of public schools but increased enrolment in religious schools at secondary level—absorbing the higher demand that resulted from mass public primary schooling. (<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/1h9p2un3hoadv4g/paper_187.pdf?dl=0">Bazzi, Hilmy, and Marx</a>)</p><p>Natural disasters in Indonesia increase risk aversion among exposed individuals, with variation by severity, type and time frame of the disasters. (<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/pjqe8k3sz0o9vzr/paper_544.pdf?dl=0">Purcell</a>)</p><p>Grassroots monitoring leads to a decrease in the share of missing expenditures of 8–10 percentage points in non-audit villages in Indonesia. However, “in government audit villages, individuals are less likely to attend, talk, and actively participate in accountability meetings.” (<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/7nkayz0if1e4veb/paper_142.pdf?dl=0">Gonzales, Harvey and Tzachrista</a>)</p><p>OLS estimates of relative income mobility based on household data in Indonesia show higher mobility than the preferred IV estimates. Absolute mobility in income and consumption expenditure also suggests lower upward mobility. (<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/1dio3dgsnpot3dy/abstract.368.pdf?dl=0">Zafar</a>) #IV</p></blockquote><p>One of the papers tagged as a paper from Indonesia is actually about India's MNREGA, so I do not include it here.</p><p>Bonus: summary of three papers from other BU Econ PhD students, below.</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>Switching from appointed to randomly assigned municipal auditors in Italy increased municipality’s surplus by 9 percent and debt repayments by 8 percent, with improvements coming from those that ran deficits before the reform and where the mayor did not face re-election pressure. (<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/31xjj23qec66l2d/abstract.455.pdf?dl=0">Vannutelli</a>) #DID</p><p>“Refugees who have access to a larger co-refugee network tend to have more interactions with the local population” among Syrian refugees in Turkey. This is likely because “immigrant networks share experiences and information on the local population, therefore making it easier for refugees to interact with locals.” (<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/j0vybea5z136vcc/paper_431.pdf?dl=0">Gautier</a>) #IV</p><p>What happens when your local school closes in China due to a school consolidation program? Delayed enrollment, but no change in lifetime education attainment. Later in life, it may have led to later marriage and more off-farm work. (<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/tczcultdl1nntcn/paper_352.pdf?dl=0">Zhao</a>) #DID</p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Masyhurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120142510202386489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1451164821026462994.post-87028058993416080872020-11-30T05:05:00.000+09:002020-11-30T05:05:14.367+09:00Thanksgiving five<p>This Thanksgiving, here are five things that I am grateful for:</p><p>1. Good health. We've avoided COVID-19 so far and fingers crossed we'll stay that way.</p><p>2. Companionship with the obvious suspects: Freida and Sammy the cat.</p><p>3. Schitt's Creek. Watching the Roses, Stevie, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuPVKa9h3YDimIctK9qZBuDx0f1nr-2gN">Patrick</a> has been an absolute joy.</p><p>4. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2020/147920">Libraries</a>: BPL, Mugar, CPL/Minuteman, NOBLE, Old Colony Library Network, SAILS.</p><p>5. Youtube cooking videos: we have been trying out so many things. New staples in our household: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_eQ1sieEyE">galettes</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKtx18itdwQ">seitan</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOLafpzjJSk">soy sauce egg</a>.</p>Masyhurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120142510202386489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1451164821026462994.post-83014692345371401312020-10-03T06:41:00.003+09:002021-03-23T04:03:58.223+09:00Internet Reading Q3 2020 <div>Here we go, three fourth of the very strange year is behind us. So it's time for another round-ups of links:</div>
<p>1. This post is for you if you’ve been wondering whether Black Death => Renaissance means COVID => Golden Age, and you want a more robust answer than, <a href="https://www.exurbe.com/black-death-covid-and-why-we-keep-telling-the-myth-of-a-renaissance-golden-age-and-bad-middle-ages/">“No no no no no!”</a></p><p>And: The bubonic plague did not go away, it remained endemic, like influenza or chickenpox today. Losing a friend or sibling to plague was a universal experience from 1348 to the 1720s, when plague finally diminished in Europe, not because of any advance in medicine, but because fourteen generations of exposure gave natural selection time to work.</p>
<p></p><details><summary>More about the pandemic:</summary><p></p><ul>
<li>
Before I become your doctor, you have been intubated for weeks.
Your name is a poem I’m required to keep to myself. Who were you before the virus, before you were this — this list of failing organs run in despair by a repurposed trainee neurologist? <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2016293">The New Stability</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/09/k-overlooked-variable-driving-pandemic/616548/#2">This Overlooked Variable Is the Key to the Pandemic</a>: k is a way of asking whether a virus spreads in a steady manner or in big bursts, whereby one person infects many, all at once. After nine months, we know that this is an overdispersed pathogen.</li><li>
<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/09/herd-immunity-is-not-a-strategy/615967/">Herd Immunity Is Not a Strategy</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/09/pandemic-broke-online-shopping/616353/">Why Everything Is Sold Out: The pandemic broke online shopping.</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/07/why-arent-we-talking-more-about-airborne-transmission/614737/">We Need to Talk About Ventilation: How is it that six months into a respiratory pandemic, we are still doing so little to mitigate airborne transmission?</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/11/magazine/covid-cytokine-storms.html">How Covid Sends Some Bodies to War With Themselves</a></li><li>
Bureaucrats defer to the policy decisions from the president and his ministers and implement them without asking any questions – no matter how good or bad these policies are. <a href="https://duckofminerva.com/2020/08/indonesias-half-hearted-response-to-covid-19-the-role-of-politics-and-historical-legacies.html">Indonesia’s Half-hearted Response to COVID-19</a></li><li>
<a href="https://wolfstreet.com/2020/08/03/rents-swoon-in-san-francisco-other-expensive-cities-and-tx-ok-oil-patch-y-y-but-23-cities-with-red-hot-double-digit-rent-increases/">Rents Swoon in San Francisco, Other Expensive Cities Y/Y.</a></li><li>
<a href="https://news.northeastern.edu/2020/07/17/another-unintended-consequence-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-a-national-coin-shortage/">An Unexpected Consequence of the Covid-19 Pandemic? A National Coin Shortage</a></li><li>
Despite its epochal effects, COVID‑19 is merely a harbinger of worse plagues to come. The U.S. cannot prepare for these inevitable crises if it returns to normal, as many of its people ache to do. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/09/coronavirus-american-failure/614191/">Normal led to this. Normal was a world ever more prone to a pandemic but ever less ready for one.</a></li><li>
<a href="https://tinyurl.com/FAQ-aerosols">FAQs on Protecting Yourself from COVID-19 Aerosol Transmission</a>
</li></ul></details><p>
</p>2. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/23/magazine/climate-migration.html">The Great Climate Migration Has Begun</a><br /><ol start="2">
</ol>
<p></p><details><summary>More about the environment and natural sciences:</summary><p></p><ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2020/09/the-desperate-fight-to-save-his-family-ends-in-tragedy.html">The desperate fight to save his family ends in tragedy</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled">How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.wired.com/story/this-cobalt-free-battery-is-good-for-the-planet-and-it-actually-works/">Reducing the cobalt content in lithium-ion batteries is good for the environment, human rights, and maybe even the performance of the battery itself.</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.currentaffairs.org/2020/05/a-private-city-the-rise-of-eko-atlantic">The Rise of Eko Atlantic</a></li><li>
The scariest thing about global warming (and Covid-19): "Shifting baselines syndrome" means <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2020/7/7/21311027/covid-19-climate-change-global-warming-shifting-baselines">we could quickly get used to climate chaos</a></li><li>
How do trees find their sense of direction as they grow? <a href="https://www.knowablemagazine.org/article/living-world/2020/bent-shape-rules-tree-form">Bent into shape: The rules of tree form</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/how-to-plan-a-space-mission">How to Plan a Space Mission</a></li><li>
Mathematicians and physicists are also lazy - or rather, they want to be efficient, so that if they see something similar happening again and again in different places they want one unified way of understanding it so that they don't have to start from scratch every time. <a href="http://eugeniacheng.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/gracie-twitter.pdf">Eugenia Cheng's answers to Gracie Cunningham's questions</a>
</li></ul></details><p>
</p>3. I’ve been deeply interested in personal knowledge management for almost 10 years now. V1 of my interest was a private wiki I created in college to help organize the notes I started taking from non-fiction books I was reading. Roam is V4. <a href="https://www.nateliason.com/blog/roam">Roam: Why I Love It and How I Use It</a><br /><ol start="3">
</ol>
<p></p><details><summary>More about thinking and knowledge:</summary><p></p><ul>
<li>
How might one create timeful texts--texts which continue the conversation with the reader as they slowly integrate those ideas into their lives? <a href="https://numinous.productions/timeful/">Timeful Texts</a></li><li>
I’ve worked in around Cambridge, and yet I can report that basically nobody has a schedule resembling the same rigor as that of a professional athlete. This is not to say that researchers don’t work hard—they absolutely do. It’s that information is gathered inconsistently, and that there is very rarely an organized process for testing recall/understanding of new facts. <a href="https://deaexmachinus.substack.com/p/machines-society-11-tools-for-our">Let’s Take Our Brains More Seriously When Learning</a></li><li>
AskReddit asked recently: If you could only give an alien one thing to help them understand the human race, what would you give them? I would give them Charlotte Lennox’s write-up of how MsScribe took over Harry Potter fandom. <a href="https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/12/23/we-are-all-msscribe/">We Are All MsScribe</a></li><li>
I’ve increasingly been seeing people outright reject the idea that they ever were anywhere but where they are now, and anyone who isn’t here already is lost forever. We need to remember the directions we followed. <a href="https://www.itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/articles/remember-how-you-got-here">Remember How You Got Here</a></li><li>
The diversity of perspective is typically correlated with diversity of goals – someone who disagrees with how you see the world is also likely to want different things from it. But you should still push towards the margins of diversity as best as you can. <a href="https://crookedtimber.org/2020/07/24/in-praise-of-negativity/">In praise of negativity</a></li><li>
<a href="https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2020/07/22/is-it-better-to-be-more-positive/">Negativity (when applied with rigor) requires more care than positivity.</a></li><li>
Views on politics reflect a lot about people. For instance, they show your first-hand knowledge, your courage and insight, how much you’ve read, your ability to think and distinguish right from wrong, how much you care for others and feel a sense of social responsibility, how well you can resist swindlers, whether you feel part of a national mission and love your compatriots, whether you especially love your homeland or other things, and so on. These things all distinguish people’s fundamental judgment. <a href="https://chinatalk.substack.com/p/thanks-to-coronavirus-i-realized">'Thanks to Coronavirus, I Realized My Spouse's Brain is Broken'</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/5/25/desai-commencement-ed/">I’ve lost count of the number of students who, when describing their career goals, talk about their desire to “maximize optionality.”</a> The Yale undergraduate goes to work at McKinsey for two years, then comes to Harvard Business School, then graduates and goes to work Goldman Sachs and leaves after several years to work at Blackstone. Optionality abounds! This individual has merely acquired stamps of approval and has acquired safety net upon safety net. These safety nets don’t end up enabling big risk-taking--individuals just become habitual acquirers of safety nets.</li><li>
My own production function, in some ways, of continuing current projects is fine. I can do that. But I do feel that if this carries on for another year, the US economy is going to suffer a little bit in terms of struggling to come up with new ideas. I’m not randomly meeting people. I can easily Zoom current people I know, but it’s much harder to come up with random people at seminars you would’ve gone to, but clearly aren’t. <a href="https://medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/nicholas-bloom-tyler-cowen-productivity-economics-b5714b05fc2b">Nicholas Bloom on Management, Productivity, and Scientific Progress</a>
</li></ul></details><p>
</p>4. <a href="http://macromomblog.com/2020/07/29/economics-is-a-disgrace/">Economics is a disgrace</a><br /><ol start="4">
</ol>
<p></p><details><summary>More about economics and research sausage making:</summary><p></p><ul>
<li>
The stock market does not reflect the US economy. The stock market, for example — right now it’s 30 percent high tech, which has only 7 percent of US jobs. Also, when interest rates drop because the economy slows, it makes the stock market go up because it’s suddenly a relatively better investment. I think the stock market and the state of the US economy are only weakly linked. <a href="https://medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/nicholas-bloom-tyler-cowen-productivity-economics-b5714b05fc2b">Nicholas Bloom on Management, Productivity, and Scientific Progress</a></li><li>
<a href="https://github.com/danielmangrum/jobmarkethacker">A tool to create application packets for the academic Economics Job Market.</a> With this code, you can create multiple templates for your cover letters, research statements, teaching statements, and diversity statements and inject wild cards into each letter or statement to customize them to a specific job</li><li>
<a href="https://www.brown.edu/Research/Shapiro/pdfs/foursteps.pdf">Four Steps to an Applied Micro Paper by Jesse Shapiro</a></li><li>
<a href="https://boris.unibe.ch/48527/1/jann-2013-coefplot.pdf">Plotting regression coefficients and other estimates in Stata</a></li><li>
<a href="https://mathewanalytics.com/best-practices-for-code-review-r-edition/">Best Practices for Code Review: R Edition</a></li><li>
<a href="https://blogs.cofc.edu/owensks/2013/06/18/digital-grading-follow-up/">Digital Exam Grading</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.cgdev.org/publication/manifesto-globalization">A Manifesto for Globalization</a></li><li>
<a href="http://www.hargaden.com/enda/blog/long-or-mutliple-line-notes-in-esttab-with-automatic-wrapping/">Long or mutliple-line notes in esttab with automatic wrapping</a></li><li>
<a href="https://broadstreet.blog/2020/09/21/on-the-frontier-thesis/">On the Frontier Thesis</a></li><li>
<a href="https://catapult.co/stories/do-you-want-to-be-known-for-your-writing-or-for-your-swift-email-responses">Do You Want to Be Known For Your Writing, or For Your Swift Email Responses?</a></li><li>
Economics is obviously an important subject, and economists know a lot of good and useful things. But in academia, you are rewarded for pushing the frontiers, for having the edgiest idea out there. But you don’t really want to base policy recommendations on something like that, right? One promising line of research that some hot shots have two new papers on is not what you want to bet the future on. To talk about policy, I think you want to know the basics, but the basics are relatively easy to learn. <a href="https://medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/matt-yglesias-tyler-cowen-economics-one-million-americans-e5d298329048">Matt Yglesias on Why the Population is Too Damn Low</a>
</li></ul></details><p>
</p>5. <a href="https://medium.com/@jamesheathers/the-450-movement-1f86132a29bd">The 450 Movement: I do peer review and I want you to pay me four hundred and fifty dollars. I’ll even say please.</a><br /><ol start="5">
</ol>
<p></p><details><summary>More about social science:</summary><p></p><ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.currentaffairs.org/2020/08/the-truth-is-paywalled-but-the-lies-are-free/">The Truth Is Paywalled But The Lies Are Free</a></li><li>
<a href="http://blog.pshares.org/index.php/the-value-of-the-third-person-perspective-in-evicted/">The Value of the Third-Person Perspective in Evicted</a></li><li>
<a href="https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2018/11/14/robustness-checks-joke/">Robustness checks are a joke</a></li><li>
<a href="https://fantasticanachronism.com/2020/09/11/whats-wrong-with-social-science-and-how-to-fix-it/">What's Wrong with Social Science and How to Fix It: Reflections After Reading 2578 Papers</a></li><li>
When a manuscript with 20+ authors have grammatical errors, typos, and/or no page numbers, you wonder how many authors actually read it. <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/researchers-wrestle-with-co-authorship-1.18881">Researchers wrestle with co-authorship</a></li><li>
<a href="https://oir.nih.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/sourcebook/documents/ethical_conduct/guidelines-authorship_contributions.pdf">NIH General Guidelines for Authorship Contributions</a></li><li>
<a href="https://casrai.org/credit/">CRediT – Contributor Roles Taxonomy</a>
</li></ul></details><p>
</p>6. Seen in the best light, a wealthy person excited by stoicism is seeking a philosophy that helps the mind resist greed and the capitalist rat race and offers a wiser perspective and inner happiness; seen in the worst light it can be <a href="https://www.exurbe.com/stoicisms-appeal-to-the-rich-and-powerful/">a tool for justifying keeping one’s wealth and power and not trying to help others.</a><br /><ol start="6">
</ol>
<p></p><details><summary>More about social justice and racism:</summary><p></p><ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/01/magazine/isabel-wilkerson-caste.html">Like other old houses, America has an unseen skeleton: its caste system.</a></li><li>
While I agree with people who say no one is born racist, it remains a powerful system that we’re immediately born into. It’s like being born into air: you take it in as soon as you breathe. It is a thing you have to keep scooping out of the boat of your life to keep from drowning in it. I know it’s hard work, but it’s the price you pay for owning everything. <a href="https://www.columbusalive.com/news/20200603/other-columbus-anti-racism-work-is-supposed-to-be-hard">Anti-racism work is supposed to be hard</a></li><li>
<a href="https://thebolditalic.com/vcs-have-a-well-known-black-founder-problem-but-really-they-have-just-forgotten-about-people-2e8452029793">VC Firms Promised to Help Black Founders. My Experience Shows a Different Reality.</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/articles/why-we-wont-defund-police/">Why We Won't Defund the Police (in two graphs)</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.essence.com/feature/breonna-taylor-justice-abolition/">We Want More Justice For Breonna Taylor Than The System That Killed Her Can Deliver</a></li><li>
When I assigned Abbott in May, I had no idea how timely it would be. Students started the series the week after George Floyd was killed and completed it the day after protestors in Minneapolis occupied and burned down the local police precinct. While students were quick to locate parallels between the series’ depiction of 1970s Detroit and our contemporary moment in terms of police brutality, they also interrogated how news stories get told in Abbott—and by whom. <a href="https://themiddlespaces.com/2020/08/04/burn-his-words-abbott/">“Burn His Words”: Abbott and the Illumination of Whitestream Culture</a></li><li>
<a href="https://theappeal.org/10-ways-to-reduce-our-reliance-on-policing-and-make-our-communities-safer-for-everyone/">10 Ways to Reduce Our Reliance on Policing</a></li><li>
<a href="https://the.ink/p/the-revolt-of-your-children">In a gerontocracy, equality feels like oppression</a></li><li>
<a href="http://renieddolodge.co.uk/why-im-no-longer-talking-to-white-people-about-race/">Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/an-interactive-guide-to-ambiguous-grammar">An Interactive Guide to Ambiguous Grammar</a></li><li>
<a href="https://next.currentaffairs.org/2020/08/work-hard-and-get-rich-or-more-likely-die-trying">If ever there were a well-respected class of rodent, it would have to be the beaver.</a> They’re notoriously hardworking, acting as tree-cutters, masons, and engineers. Given this impressive resume, beavers seem like the perfect animal mascot for the Republican conception of Personal Responsibility. But not only is it impossible for many humans to work like beavers, but that people who do work like beavers are exhausted and frequently desperate.</li><li>
<a href="https://meanjin.com.au/essays/the-labour-movement-my-part-in-its-downfall/">The Labour Movement: My Part in its Downfall</a></li><li>
Throughout my years in Wilkes-Barre, I believed the area had no culture. But I was mistaken. What I didn’t realize was that drinking alcohol is culture. <a href="https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/drinking-alone">Drinking Alone</a>
</li></ul></details><p>
</p>7. <a href="https://neddonovan.substack.com/p/why-does-monaco-exist">Why Does Monaco Exist?</a><br /><ol start="7">
</ol>
<p></p><details><summary>More readings about the US politics, Australia, China, Africa, Indonesia, UK:</summary><p></p><ul>
<li>
<a href="https://mango.pdf.zone/finding-former-australian-prime-minister-tony-abbotts-passport-number-on-instagram">When you browse Instagram and find former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's passport number</a></li><li>
<a href="https://medium.com/indica/i-lived-through-collapse-america-is-already-there-ba1e4b54c5fc">I Lived Through Collapse. America Is Already There.</a> If you’re trying to carry on while people around you die, your society is not collapsing. It’s already fallen down.</li><li>
<a href="https://scholars-stage.blogspot.com/2020/09/yes-we-are-in-ideological-competition.html">Yes, We Are in an Ideological Competition With China</a></li><li>
<a href="https://interactives.lowyinstitute.org/features/china-rules-based-order/">China and the Rules‑Based Order</a></li><li>
<a href="https://scholars-stage.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-world-that-china-wants-iii-taking.html">The World That China Wants (III): Taking Chinese Communism Seriously</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2020/08/19/indonesias-harmful-restrictions-on-foreign-journalists-academics.html">Indonesia's harmful restrictions on foreign journalists, academics</a></li><li>
In the US, around 163 million cats and dogs consume as much dietary energy as all of Canada’s humans. <a href="https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/food/pet-food">The Naturalistic Fallacy Has Pet Owners Barking up the Wrong Tree</a></li><li>
Coronavirus pandemic will serve the same historic function as major wars in recent history. Yuan compares current Sino-American relations, in geopolitical terms, to relations between Great Britain and the United States at the end of WWI. Britain’s historical moment was waning but while America was on the rise, she was not ready to take Britain’s place. Today’s America is thoroughly dysfunctional, but China is not yet ready to lead.<a href="https://www.readingthechinadream.com/yuan-peng-coronavirus-pandemic.html">The Coronavirus Pandemic and a Once-in-a-Century Change</a></li><li>
Why Do Republican Leaders Continue to Enable Trump? <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/07/trumps-collaborators/612250/">History Will Judge the Complicit</a></li><li>
<a href="https://medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/nathan-nunn-tyler-cowen-economics-africa-a82378ac41ff">What can Africa do to overcome the limitations of having so many landlocked countries?</a> The obvious thing would be a transportation network that’s improved beyond what they currently have, particularly railways, so that landlocked countries can transport their goods to the sea. And we know that sea transport is much, much cheaper, much more effective.</li><li>
Multinational baby formula companies, such as Nestlé and Danone, are <a href="https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2020-07-30/the-baby-brands-turning-indonesian-instagram-into-free-formula-milk-ads">turning Indonesian Instagram into free formula ads</a></li><li>
It’s so hard to find good help: Chinese broadcasters are making inroads in Russia, but <a href="https://meduza.io/en/feature/2020/07/28/it-s-so-hard-to-find-good-help">Beijing has stumbled due to a shortage of capable propagandists</a></li><li>
A long trip through Malaysia, Indonesia and China leaves me more convinced than ever that east Asia has two distinct destinies in economic development terms, and that the <a href="https://joestudwell.com/2013/10/31/sounds-like-my-book/">south-east Asian states are on the wrong side of the tracks.</a></li><li>
<a href="https://joestudwell.com/2013/08/02/is-indonesia-different/">a critique of How Asia Works with specific reference to Indonesia.</a></li><li>
From 2022, all students in Inner Mongolia will be taking classes solely in Chinese. Previously, in many schools in Inner Mongolia, these subjects were taught in Mongolian through high school. The message in a Chinese developmental context is clear: Mongolian is backward and cannot be developed. [https://madeinchinajournal.com/2020/08/30/bilingual-education-in-inner-mongolia-an-explainer/]</li><li>
The scaly sweet was too valuable to eat - a single fruit was worth thousands of pounds and often the same pineapple would be paraded from event to event until it eventually went rotten. <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-53432877">The rise, fall, and rise of the status pineapple</a> Once the pineapple was on the menu for ordinary people, did the upper classes learn their lesson from the short-lived status and money-sucking nature of the pineapple? No, they didn't. They set their caps at another luxury and difficult-to-grow food: celery.</li><li>
<a href="https://indoprogress.com/2017/08/indonesia-merdeka-karena-peraih-beasiswanya-rajin-plesir-dan-kena-paham-radikal/">Indonesia Merdeka Karena Peraih Beasiswanya Rajin Plesir dan Kena Paham Radikal</a></li><li>
When your name is Osama and you’re living in post-9/11 America, you always know The Question is coming. <a href="https://longreads.com/2020/08/13/do-you-get-shit-for-your-name/">“Do You Get Shit for Your Name?”</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/72339/qanon-is-a-nazi-cult-rebranded/">QAnon is a Nazi Cult, Rebranded</a></li><li>
<a href="https://davidmschell.com/conservatives-pedophilia/">Why Are Conservatives Obsessed with Pedophilia Right Now?</a></li><li>
<a href="https://idlewords.com/2020/09/effective_political_giving.htm">Effective Political Giving</a>
<a href="https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/09/03/what-ails-america/">What Ails America</a></li><li>
<a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/K638s9L2wCEW78DEF/informational-lobbying-theory-and-effectiveness">Informational Lobbying: Theory and Effectiveness</a>
</li></ul></details><p>
</p>8. During this [Radical Honesty] experiment, a freelance writer asked me if I would go to coffee with him, and I said, <a href="https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/aj-jacobs-on-writing-reframing-problems-as-puzzles/">“I just got to be honest. The thought of it gives me dread”.</a> And I was terrified to send it, but he wrote back, “You know what, I am not very social either. It gives me dread. But I felt I had to do it for my career”. And then we came to a compromise that we would talk on Skype.<br /><ol start="8">
</ol>
<p>And: Of course it’s ridiculous and cartoonish, but also I liked it. And so I do say to my wife, half-jokingly every Valentine’s day, “The benefits of being married to you outweigh the cost”. But I say, “I love you, but there are things that annoy me. But overall I love you very much”. And I think that might not work for everyone, but it works for our relationship so far, at least.</p>
<p></p><details><summary>More about relationships and queerness:</summary><p></p><ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/queer-japanese/">A queer take on gendered Japanese</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/poland-lgbtq-steep-price/">Polish towns pay a steep price for anti-LGBTQ views</a></li><li>
<a href="https://1followernodad.substack.com/p/heres-the-thing-stop-cheating">Here's the Thing: Stop Cheating</a>
</li></ul></details><p>
</p>9. Anduin is Indus River, Mordor is Pamir/Himalaya/Tian-shan. <a href="https://arda.ir/the-tale-of-the-annotated-map-and-tolkien-hidden-riddles/">The Tale of the annotated map and Tolkien’s hidden riddles</a><br /><ol start="9">
</ol>
<p></p><details><summary>More about books, writing, and other miscellanea:</summary><p></p><ul>
<li>
<a href="https://pudding.cool/2020/07/gendered-descriptions/">This all started with a particularly sexy fairy.</a></li><li>
<a href="https://uncannymagazine.com/article/still-loves-dragon/">She Still Loves the Dragon BY ELIZABETH BEAR</a></li><li>
Muggeridge’s description of World War II is actually super hilarious. I was not expecting this. When you take one of the darkest and most pessimistic writers of the twentieth century and put him in the middle of one of the twentieth century’s greatest horrors, you might expect the result to have at least a touch of grimness about it, or at least not to leave you rolling on the floor laughing. You would be wrong. <a href="https://slatestarcodex.com/2015/08/11/book-review-chronicles-of-wasted-time/">Book Review: Chronicles Of Wasted Time</a></li><li>
<a href="https://mailchi.mp/2fb6103ff120/memberships">Everything I've Learned: Reader Funding and Memberships</a></li><li>
In retrospect, I mistook hard work and unusual data for an interesting article. <a href="https://pudding.cool/process/pitching-gendered-descriptions/">The Courage (and Disappointment) of Pitching a Visual Essay</a></li><li>
<a href="https://github.andrewt.net/mines/">Pure Skill Minesweeper</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/28/business/remote-work-spiritual-consultants.html">Divinity consultants are designing sacred rituals for corporations and their spiritually depleted employees</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.wired.com/story/how-work-became-an-inescapable-hellhole/">How Work Became an Inescapable Hellhole</a></li><li>
It is easy to fall into self-orientalism — taking aspects of one’s culture or background and allowing oneself to fetishize it for the comfort of late-stage capitalism. However, it is problematic when we allow some members of victims of orientalism to speak over others. - This becomes even more problematic when they not only speak over others, but use others’ cultures to create profit and to exemplify cosmpolitanism. <a href="https://medium.com/@lina.abh/self-orientalism-amongst-muslim-content-creators-7efd8a72f6bc">Self-Orientalism Amongst Muslim Content Creators</a>
</li></ul></details><p>
</p>Masyhurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120142510202386489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1451164821026462994.post-30939511744907942772020-09-07T22:09:00.002+09:002020-09-07T22:09:23.450+09:00Lumer<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Ini awal tahun ajaran baru, tapi tahun ini sudah berasa panjang sekali. Aku rasa selain tahun 2020 ini adalah tahun yang sangat-sangat melelahkan, bagiku 2019 dan 2020 seakan lumer menjadi satu; penanda khatamnya sebuah dasawarsa. Rasanya aku siap beralih ke periode baru.<p></p><p></p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="in">10 Plonga-plongo di Kyoto<br />11 Bebersih di Tohoku<br />12 Bau-bau -> Wangi-wangi<br />13 Ngajar di Banggai<br />14 Disangka dokter di Salemba<br />15 AKDP Kb Sirih, Cempaka Putih, Pedurenan<br />16 Berharap-harap beasiswa (yang lalu gagal) <br />17 Bertolak ke Boston<br />18 Lulus qualifier, Duolingo ID lulus beta</p>— Masyhur Hilmy (@masyhurh) <a href="https://twitter.com/masyhurh/status/1209769112253034502?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 25, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><p>Di dua tahun yang sedang berlalu, ada enam perubahan besar dalam hidupku: menikah, mudik, riset, pindah, kucing, dan pandemi. Keenam hal ini bergumul menyatu dalam kegundahanku melihat digerendelnya gerbang ke Nickerson Field BU minggu lalu. </p><p><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gQWKhSb7LR0/X1YwTJv5x2I/AAAAAAAACKQ/jnp4ynIaW8AzNqpiTwdNRl94gnxtKGUgwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_0958.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gQWKhSb7LR0/X1YwTJv5x2I/AAAAAAAACKQ/jnp4ynIaW8AzNqpiTwdNRl94gnxtKGUgwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_0958.JPG" /></a>Aku mulai berolahraga lari lagi, dan di akhir musim panas ini aku mulai pergi ke Nickerson Field. Lapangan ini hanya berjarak lima belas menit dari rumah dan kalau aku pergi cukup pagi, lintasan larinya tidak ramai. Ini satu-satunya aktivitas fisik semi-rutinku karena sasana gimnasium kampus ditutup ketika pandemi, sementara Chestnut Hill Reservoir menjadi jauh ketika aku pindah apartemen. Ada Charles River Reservation yang jadi lebih dekat, tapi untuk mencapainya tetap perlu menyeberang jalan tol dan berjalan setengah jam. Aku sudah setengah tahun lebih tidak berenang. </p><p>Minggu lalu, aku pergi dengan niat berlari, tapi mendapati gerbang ke lintasannya terkunci. Ini sepertinya langkah kampus untuk membatasi penyebaran covid ketika mahasiswa S1 kembali masuk asrama: kampusku berkeras mengadakan kuliah tatap muka. Ini keputusan berbeda dengan Harvard dan MIT—dua universitas tetangga di seberang sungai. </p><p>Kebijakan kampusku dan dua kampus lain itu baru berbeda untuk semester baru ini. Semester lalu, semua pindah online. Freida lulus dari Harvard dan pandemi mengurungkan rencana perjalanan Ibu plus Abang, Kak Linda dan ponakan untuk merayakan kelulusan Freida. Wisuda Freida dialihkan online dan ijazahnya dikirim via pos. Aku dan Sammy si kucing ikut menonton wisudanya sambil tidur-tiduran. </p><p>Ini adalah persilangan tiga perubahan yang lain: riset, menikah, dan mudik. Wisuda Freida di akhir Mei hampir bertepatan dengan peringatan setahun pernikahan kami. Tapi karena aku sudah masuk tahap riset independen sejak semester musim semi aku fokus di situ... dan merasa mampet tidak banyak kemajuan selama satu semester. Ini adalah perasaan yang akan terus membayangi hingga akhir musim panas, terlebih jika aku ingat tahun 2019 aku mudik ke Indonesia (untuk menikah) dan membawa pulang dua set data. </p><p>Bayang-bayang kemampetan inilah yang membuatku agak sebal dengan ditutupnya akses ke Nickerson Field. Bertahun lalu aku belajar mengakali perasaan suram kemampetan dengan lari pagi di GOR Soemantri: kalau sudah mulai hari dengan suatu hal yang produktif/sehat mau sekacau apapun sisa hariku, suram bisa kuhalau. Sementara kini, lapangan ditutup justru ketika musim dingin mendekat. </p><p>Freida bertanya kenapa aku tidak lari di trotoar blok sekitar rumah saja. Aku jawab sulit berkonsentrasi di trotoar karena medannya naik turun tiap melintas persimpangan jalan. (Aku juga baru ingat terakhir aku melakukan ini di Kyoto, dan itu juga aku lebih pilih berlari di tepi Sungai Kamogawa.)</p><p>Lalu bagaimana (Pak RT)? Entahlah. Aku masih perlu menghalau suram, tapi tak tahulah bagaimana caranya. Yang jelas untuk semester baru ini aku masih perlu menimbang bagaimana aku mau bekerja: di kampus atau di rumah. Aku khawatir bekerja di kampus menggoda bencana dengan mengundang paparan virus corona. Di sisi lain, selama musim panas aku bekerja sepenuhnya dari rumah dan kekusutanku menggila. Untungnya ada Sammy dan Freida, tapi tetap saja ada minggu-minggu ketika semangatku lenyap entah ke mana. Di minggu-minggu itu, jenuh membekapku. Membuatku ingin beralih ke hal baru.</p><p>Aku tak sabar—sembari gentar—untuk beralih ke periode baru. </p><p></p>Masyhurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120142510202386489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1451164821026462994.post-57595331641080044952020-07-06T06:30:00.001+09:002021-03-23T04:04:15.851+09:00Internet Reading Q2 2020<br />
I had thought that this quarter my reading list will be dominated by covid-related writing. Boy was I wrong.
<ol>
<li>Recently I read, rather by accident than design, short lives of several contemporary economists. What struck me was their bareness.
I was wondering: how can people who had lived such boring lives, mostly in one or two countries, with the knowledge of at most two languages, having read only the literature in one language, having travelled only from one campus to another, and perhaps from one hiking resort to another, have meaningful things to say about social sciences with all their fights, corruption, struggles, wars, betrayals and cheating? (<a href="https://glineq.blogspot.com/2019/06/non-exemplary-lives.html">Non-exemplary lives</a>)</li>
</ol>
<p></p><details><summary>More about economists:</summary><p></p><ul>
<li>
<a href="https://unherd.com/2020/02/the-madness-of-mervyn-kings-uncertainty/">Mervyn King's new book insists that we shouldn't use numbers when forecasting. Are economists really this stupid?</a></li><li>
<a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/12/06/the-nobel-prize-for-climate-catastrophe/">The Nobel Prize for Climate Catastrophe</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/appallingly-bad-38048063">The Appallingly Bad Neoclassical Economics of Climate Change</a></li><li>
<a href="https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2020/06/18/can-the-world-get-along-without-natural-resources/">Can the World Get Along Without Natural Resources?</a></li><li>
<a href="https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/an-economists-guide-to-potty-training/">An Economist’s Guide to Potty Training</a>
</li></ul></details><p>
</p><ol start="2">
<li>
Short stories: <a href="http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/exhalation/">Exhalation by Ted Chiang</a></li>
</ol>
<p></p><details><summary>More short stories and Tor.com rereads:</summary><p></p><ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.tor.com/2019/07/24/blood-is-another-word-for-hunger-rivers-solomon/">Blood Is Another Word for Hunger</a></li><li>
<a href="http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/between-the-dark-and-the-dark/">Between the Dark and the Dark</a></li><li>
<a href="https://normaneriksonpasaribu.wordpress.com/2019/12/24/siapa-namamu-sandra/">Siapa Namamu, Sandra?</a></li><li>
How do we feel about Kaladin’s plan? Kaladin was literally wearing the skin of his enemies into battle. Are we okay with the fact that, if this setting had war crimes, our hero would be a war criminal? <a href="https://www.tor.com/2014/03/27/the-way-of-kings-reread-chapters-62-and-63/">Chapter 62-63</a></li><li>
Recap: Dalinar betrayed by Sadeas at the Tower, Kaladin speaking the Second Ideal. <a href="https://www.tor.com/2014/04/10/the-way-of-kings-reread-chapters-66-and-67/">Chapter 66-67</a>
</li></ul></details><p>
</p><ol start="3">
<li>
COVID-19: <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/amp/opinion/article-this-changes-everything-unless-it-doesnt/">This changes everything, unless it doesn’t</a></li>
</ol>
<p></p><details><summary>More on COVID-19:</summary><p></p><ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/what-happens-to-all-the-un-hugged-hugs">What Happens to All the Un-Hugged Hugs?</a></li><li>
<a href="https://bhekisisa.org/health-news-south-africa/2020-06-03-coronavirus-fact-check-does-the-recycled-air-on-planes-really-put-you-at-a-high-risk-of-infection/">Q1: Will breathing in recirculated air on a plane put me at a greater risk of contracting the new coronavirus?</a> A: The risk of contracting the new coronavirus via the air on planes is low if cabin air filters are well-maintained.
Q2: Are HEPA filters enough to protect me if someone with the virus near me sneezes or coughs? A: Not entirely.</li><li>
<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/06/covid-19-coronavirus-longterm-symptoms-months/612679/">COVID-19 Can Last for Several Months</a></li><li>
<a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/2020/04/29/coronavirus-blunders-in-indonesia-turn-crisis-into-catastrophe-pub-81684">Coronavirus Blunders in Indonesia Turn Crisis Into Catastrophe</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/14/mutual-aid-coronavirus-pandemic-rebecca-solnit">'The way we get through this is together': the rise of mutual aid under coronavirus</a></li><li>
<a href="https://marker.medium.com/inside-the-flour-company-supplying-americas-sudden-baking-obsession-623034583579">How King Arthur Flour found itself in the unlikely crosshairs of a pandemic</a></li><li>
<a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/157738/deranged-civic-religion-lockdown-protesters">The Deranged Civic Religion of the Lockdown Protesters</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/06/11/covid-19-is-real-virus-ravages-family-in-indonesias-second-largest-city.html">'COVID-19 is real': Virus ravages family in Indonesia's second-largest city</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/24/call-people-covid-19-positive-lessons-learned/">It was my job to call people whose Covid-19 tests were positive. That taught me a lot about medicine, the law, and society</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.gatesnotes.com/Health/Pandemic-Innovation">The first modern pandemic</a></li><li>
Like many New Yorkers, I was jaywalking and nearly walked into a Latino deliveryman whizzing by on his bicycle. “Chinese bitch!” he shouted as he rode by. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/12/magazine/asian-american-discrimination-coronavirus.html">I wasn’t filled with hot rage or a hurt that cut me to the bone. I was just rattled and then sad.</a></li><li>
<a href="https://thediplomat.com/2020/04/indonesia-and-covid-19-what-the-world-is-missing/">Indonesia and COVID-19: What the World Is Missing</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/23/magazine/closing-prune-restaurant-covid.html">My Restaurant Was My Life for 20 Years. Does the World Need It Anymore?</a></li><li>
The dire need for information should not mean rush to produce unreliable information quickly. This is what I am afraid is happening right now with hydroxychloroquine. (<a href="https://medium.com/@jamesheathers/hurry-dont-rush-e1aee626e733">Hurry, don’t rush</a>)
</li></ul></details><p>
</p><ol start="4">
<li>
Racism: The disparity between NKRI Harga Mati and Pro-Kemerdekaan created by the public can be destructive for the Papuan Lives Matter campaign. People should see the movement as a fulfilment of the common or basic needs of humanity first, not in a frame of who is taking benefit from this situation. If both Papuans and Indonesians come together to talk about racism and humanity, that’s how the movement can move forward. But the moral of the story is to <a href="https://voiceofpapua.substack.com/p/papuan-lives-matter">stop preaching to Papuans about how to run their own movement.</a></li>
</ol>
<p></p><details><summary>More reading on racism:</summary><p></p><ul>
<li>
<a href="https://tressiemc.com/uncategorized/the-logic-of-stupid-poor-people/">The Logic of Stupid Poor People</a></li><li>
<a href="https://medium.com/@nytpublicdata/we-need-to-talk-about-the-list-abe14270cad7">We need to talk about the [New York Times Bestseller] list.</a></li><li>
<a href="https://franklywrite.com/2020/06/01/a-white-woman-racism-and-a-poodle/">A white woman, racism, and a poodle</a></li><li>
<a href="https://theattic.jezebel.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-an-all-american-catchphrase-free-1729621311">“I'm free, white, and 21”</a></li><li>
<a href="https://annecbailey.net/the-day-i-met-james-baldwin-at-harvard/">The day I met James Baldwin at Harvard</a></li><li>
<a href="https://ajustchurch.blogspot.com/2020/06/statues-and-slavery.html">The debate about whether the removal of a statue is a violent act or not is dwarfed by the sheer evil and violence of slavery.</a> The lay out of a slave ship in the pictures below should be a help to those who are struggling to work out how they feel about all that has taken place. As should the picture of a slave, a person, being tossed into the ocean to drown.</li><li>
<a href="https://medium.com/@OfcrACab/confessions-of-a-former-bastard-cop-bb14d17bc759">Confessions of a Former Bastard Cop</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/commentary/2020-06-03-reflections-on-color-of-my-skin.php">Reflections on the Color of My Skin By Neil deGrasse Tyson</a></li><li>
<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/e/2PACX-1vQLRdhUcJGZ8CJzhZPwugVjAQVWlk24EjsZ-7a5QSLwWX1dn6DxSb9jRXIryzz1oMQ8POY67klwQHOt/pub">#boscops Boston residents organizing to challenge the power of the police!</a></li><li>
<a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/157949/fascism-america-trump-anti-police-george-floyd-protests">This Is Fascism</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.vulture.com/2020/06/anti-racist-reading-lists-what-are-they-for.html">What Is an Anti-Racist Reading List For?</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/06/29/juneteenth-and-the-meaning-of-freedom">Juneteenth and the Meaning of Freedom</a></li><li>
<a href="https://electricliterature.com/essential-workers-are-the-new-magical-negro/">Essential Workers Are the New “Magical Negro”</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/16/opinion/military-presence-dc-protests-was-disturbingly-familiar/">The military presence at D.C. protests was disturbingly familiar.</a> Being in the streets of Washington reminded me of the occupation I endured as a Palestinian.</li><li>
<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cover-story/cover-story-2020-06-22">Kadir Nelson’s “Say Their Names”</a></li><li>
<a href="https://suarapapua.com/2020/06/27/simon-p-morin-yamko-rambe-yamko-bukan-lagu-daerah-papua/">Yamko Rambe Yamko Bukan Lagu Daerah Papua</a>
</li></ul></details><p>
</p><ol start="5">
<li>
Climate Change: <a href="https://grist.org/climate/the-world-is-on-lockdown-so-where-are-all-the-carbon-emissions-coming-from/">The world is on lockdown. So where are all the carbon emissions coming from?</a></li>
</ol>
<p></p><details><summary>More reading on climate change:</summary><p></p><ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2018/01/bedazzled-by-energy-efficiency.html">Bedazzled by Energy Efficiency</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2011/02/body-insulation-thermal-underwear.html">Insulation: first the body, then the home</a></li><li>
<a href="https://undark.org/2020/04/28/fox-tunnel-permafrost-alaska-climate-change/">Lessons in the Impermanence of Permafrost</a></li><li>
<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25022019/plastics-hub-appalachian-fracking-ethane-cracker-climate-change-health-ohio-river">Plastics: The New Coal in Appalachia?</a></li><li>
<a href="https://energyathaas.wordpress.com/2020/05/01/international-trade-policies-subsidize-pollution/">International Trade Policies Subsidize Pollution</a>
</li></ul></details><p>
</p><ol start="6">
<li>
Capitalism: <a href="https://themargins.substack.com/p/doordash-and-pizza-arbitrage">Doordash and Pizza Arbitrage</a></li>
</ol>
<p></p><details><summary>More on capitalism:</summary><p></p><ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/26/magazine/stock-market-coronavirus-pandemic.html">What Is the Stock Market Even for Anymore?</a></li><li>
<a href="https://dormin.org/2020/04/27/explaining-blaming-and-being-very-slightly-sympathetic-toward-enron/">An Attempt at Explaining, Blaming, and Being Very Slightly Sympathetic Toward Enron</a></li><li>
<a href="https://themargins.substack.com/p/zirp-explains-the-world">Zero-Interest-Rate-Policy explains the world</a></li><li>
I may be certain that capitalism will eventually destroy Earth’s biosphere, but I can also recognize the danger of pinning hopes for the preservation of the latter on the end of the former. <a href="https://bostonreview.net/class-inequality-politics/alyssa-battistoni-when-will-capitalism-end">I am not convinced, however, that those who recognize that capitalism may not end soon must simply accept it.</a></li><li>
How might we get better at imagining new worlds? These are <a href="http://imaginingfuture.space">52 questions to help you think about what alternative worlds might look and feel like.</a></li><li>
<a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/tommchenry/status/942200139934035969">Tom McHenry mario</a></li><li>
<a href="https://roarmag.org/magazine/capitalist-catastrophism/">Capitalist Catastrophism</a>
</li></ul></details><p>
</p><ol start="7">
<li>
Econometrics: Thanks to multi-collinearity checks that automatically drop predictors in regression models, a two-way fixed effects model can produce sensible-looking results that are not just irrelevant to the question at hand, but practically nonsense. Instead, we would all be better served by using simpler 1-way fixed effects models (intercepts on time points or cases/subjects, but not both). (<a href="http://www.robertkubinec.com/post/fixed_effects/">What Panel Data Is Really All About</a>.)</li>
</ol>
<p></p><details><summary>More econometrics and other sausage-making:</summary><p></p><ul>
<li>
<a href="https://andrewcbaker.netlify.app/did#1">Difference-in-Differences: What it DiD? by Andrew Baker</a></li><li>
[Pre-analysis plans and Registered Reports: What the new opinion piece does and doesn’t imply(https://blogs.worldbank.org/impactevaluations/pre-analysis-plans-and-registered-reports-what-new-opinion-piece-does-and-doesnt)</li><li>
<a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/impactevaluations/overview-multiple-hypothesis-testing-commands-stata">An overview of multiple hypothesis testing commands in Stata</a></li><li>
<a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/impactevaluations/why-ex-post-power-using-estimated-effect-sizes-bad-ex-post-mde-not">Why ex-post power using estimated effect sizes is bad, but an ex-post MDE is not</a></li><li>
<a href="www.thegeneralizer.org">The Generalizer can help education researchers</a>: Define an inference population, Select important features of the population, and Develop a recruitment plan for a future experiment.</li><li>
<a href="https://promarket.org/2020/05/22/we-need-more-respectful-and-inclusive-experiments-in-development-economics-a-proposal">We Need More Respectful and Inclusive Experiments in Development Economics: A Proposal</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.cgdev.org/blog/migrant-remittances-will-plummet-here-what-means-global-development">Migrant Remittances Will Plummet. Here Is What That Means for Global Development</a></li><li>
<a href="https://reifjulian.github.io/guide/">Stata Coding Guide</a></li><li>
<a href="https://alvinalexander.com/text/how-put-multiple-lines-markdown-table-cell-multiline-table/">How to put multiple lines in a Markdown table cell (multiline table)</a>
</li></ul></details><p>
</p><ol start="8">
<li>
Languages and Writing: <a href="http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/64/mikanowski.php">The undecipherable rongorongo script of Easter Island</a></li>
</ol>
<p></p><details><summary>More on languages and writing:</summary><p></p><ul>
<li>
<a href="http://www.naraaksara.com/2016/10/antara-dubai-dan-yogyakarta-esai.html">Antara Dubai dan Yogyakarta: Esai Tentang Huruf yang Berkompromi</a></li><li>
<a href="https://komenkomik.wordpress.com/2020/05/18/lucunya-terjemahan-doraemon/">Nobita Lari Sampai Surabaya: Menilik Lucunya Terjemahan Doraemon</a></li><li>
<a href="https://askanauthor.substack.com/p/writing-failure-and-time">Over 80% of published authors quit within 3 books. Only about 10% of published authors make it to six books. And only 5% make it to twelve.</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.plainlanguage.gov/guidelines/">Federal plain language guidelines</a>
</li></ul></details><p>
</p><ol start="9">
<li>
Thinking: One of the most fundamental life skills is realizing when you are confused, and school actively destroys this ability. <a href="https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/48WeP7oTec3kBEada/two-more-things-to-unlearn-from-school">The most dangerous habit of thought taught in schools is that even if you don't really understand something, you should parrot it back anyway.</a></li>
</ol>
<p></p><details><summary>More on thinking:</summary><p></p><ul>
<li>
[Three Things to Unlearn from School: Attaching importance to personal opinions, solving given problems, and earning the approval of others.]
http://casnocha.com/2007/07/three-things-to.html</li><li>
<a href="https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/30/i-can-tolerate-anything-except-the-outgroup/">I can tolerate anything except the outgroup</a> (Of course Slate Star Codex is currently taken offline)</li><li>
<a href="https://blog.samaltman.com/idea-generation">Idea Generation</a></li><li>
I’m not saying that donating 10% of your money to charity makes you a great person who is therefore freed of every other moral obligation. I’m not saying that anyone who chooses not to do it is therefore a bad person. I’m just saying that if you feel a need to discharge some feeling of a moral demand upon you to help others, and you want to do it intelligently, it beats most of the alternatives. (<a href="https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/12/19/nobody-is-perfect-everything-is-commensurable/">Nobody is perfect, everything is commensurable</a>)
</li></ul></details><p>
</p><ol start="10">
<li>
Japan: <a href="https://www.kalzumeus.com/2014/11/07/doing-business-in-japan/">Learning to speak, read, and write Japanese is enormously fun. So is starting a company. I recommend not combining the two.</a></li>
</ol>
<p></p><details><summary>More from India, China, Japan, Peru, Yemen, Britain, Indonesia, US, and Tonga:</summary><p></p><ul>
<li>
Not long after Time’s article came out, an Indian news anchor at the leading channel CNN-IBN, hosted a segment on Modi. In her right hand, she held a copy of Caravan’s cover story, and in her left, a copy of Time’s profile, as she asked the cameras: <a href="https://www.vqronline.org/reporting-articles/2020/06/messengers">“Which Modi is the real Modi?”</a></li><li>
The Chinese Communist Party leadership believe they are in the midst of an ‘intense, ideological struggle’ for survival and that to win they must defeat the West. <a href="https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/china-plans-global-order">China’s Plans to Win Control of the Global Order</a></li><li>
<a href="http://www.greenshinto.com/wp/2020/05/30/animism-3-marie-kondo/">It can be seen that Marie Kondo is no kook, but heir to an ancient tradition that recognises the spirit in the sword, the anima in the inanimate.</a></li><li>
<a href="https://emergencemagazine.org/story/papas-nativas/">Potato Travelogue: A month-long journey into the flavors and traditions of Peru’s favorite food</a></li><li>
<a href="https://walkkumano.com/iseji/">Ise-ji: Walk With Me</a>, notes on the coastal pilgrimage route in Mie Prefecture, Japan</li><li>
<a href="http://jpkoning.blogspot.com/2020/05/one-country-two-monetary-systems.html">I often write about odd monetary phenomena on this blog. Here's a new contender, Yemen's dual banknote system.</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/miss-marple-and-the-problem-of-modern-identity">Miss Marple and the Problem of Modern Identity</a></li><li>
<a href="https://about1816.wordpress.com/2020/06/09/the-regency-and-its-offensive-smells/">The Regency And Its Offensive Smells</a></li><li>
<a href="https://tirto.id/indonesia-20-tahun-lalu-yang-mau-reformasi-ikut-kami-cKRl">Indonesia, 20 Tahun Lalu: Yang Mau Reformasi, Ikut Kami!</a></li><li>
<a href="https://indoprogress.com/2014/05/1998/">1998</a></li><li>
<a href="https://thenib.com/the-good-war/">How America’s infatuation with World War II has eroded our conscience</a></li><li>
[The real Lord of the Flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months]
(https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/may/09/the-real-lord-of-the-flies-what-happened-when-six-boys-were-shipwrecked-for-15-months)</li><li>
<a href="https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2020/05/15/indonesias-inconsistent-income-distribution-data/">Indonesia’s inconsistent income distribution data</a></li><li>
Malam harinya datanglah kapal patroli TNI-AL dan Polisi Air, mengeret mereka ke luar wilayah Indonesia menuju Malaysia selama satu hari satu malam. Sampai di sana, tambang diputus dan mereka ditinggal. <a href="https://garistepilapanghijau.wordpress.com/2015/06/09/berbagi-tiga-seri-cerita-nelangsa-pengungsi-rohingya/">Berbagi Tiga Seri Cerita Nelangsa Pengungsi Rohingya</a>
</li></ul></details><p>
</p><ol start="11">
<li>
<a href="https://www.tor.com/2020/04/20/asexuality-and-the-baggins-bachelors-finding-my-counterparts-in-middle-earth/">Asexuality and the Baggins Bachelors: Finding My Counterparts in Middle-earth</a></li>
</ol>
<p></p><details><summary>More on LGBTIAQ+, sexuality, and relationships:</summary><p></p><ul>
<li>
Sara Hegazy was gay. She was also an atheist. She did not hide the fact that she was either. And she paid for it in every horrible way possible. <a href="https://nadiaelawady.wordpress.com/2020/06/19/sara-hegazy-and-the-freedom-to-be-yourself/">A few days ago, she committed suicide in Canada.</a></li><li>
<a href="https://longbarrowblog.wordpress.com/2016/02/29/self-build-brian-lewis/">Self-Build</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.gq.com/story/jane-roe-anti-abortion-lies">The Anti-Abortion Movement Was Always Built on Lies</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.thecut.com/2020/05/theres-no-way-to-prepare-for-grief.html">I did not call my uncle, even though each Friday I resolved to. Then he passed away.</a></li><li>
<a href="https://medium.com/@ianmack/love-will-be-the-death-of-us-7baa690dcd0">Love Will Be the Death of Us</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.brainpickings.org/2020/04/14/philip-the-last-sweet-potato-sophie-blackall/">Philip, the Last Sweet Potato</a>
</li></ul></details><p>
</p><ol start="12">
<li>
Science: <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/a-word-about-those-ufo-videos/">I'm an astrophysicist, but that doesn't mean I have a motivation to debunk those UFO videos</a></li>
</ol>
<p></p><details><summary>More science writings:</summary><p></p><ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/why-sleep-deprivation-kills-20200604/">Why Sleep Deprivation Kills</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-gastronomy/how-apples-go-bad">How Apples Go Bad</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2009/07/27/2632463.htm">Australia's first astronomers</a>
</li></ul></details><p>
</p><ol start="13">
<li>
Build build build: <a href="https://scholars-stage.blogspot.com/2020/06/on-cultures-that-build.html">When the America of the 1910s faced a national crisis, America responded by creating and dozens of emergency response committees at the local level.</a> Today's children have learned instead to solve conflicts by appeal to authority.</li>
</ol>
<p></p><details><summary>Andreessen's essay and reactions to it:</summary><p></p><ul>
<li>
<a href="https://a16z.com/2020/04/18/its-time-to-build/">It's time to build by Marc Andreessen</a></li><li>
<a href="https://stratechery.com/2020/how-tech-can-build/">How Tech Can Build</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/4/22/21228469/marc-andreessen-build-government-coronavirus">Why we can’t build: America’s inability to act is killing people.</a></li><li>
<a href="https://pedestrianobservations.com/2020/06/11/managerialism-and-civil-service/">Managerialism and Civil Service</a>
</li></ul></details><p>
</p><ol start="14">
<li>
Miscellaneous: <a href="https://www.andreykurenkov.com/writing/life/lessons-learned-from-failures/">Lessons Learned the Hard Way in Grad School (so far)</a></li>
</ol>
<p></p><details><summary>More miscellanea:</summary><p></p><ul>
<li>
<a href="https://kk.org/thetechnium/68-bits-of-unsolicited-advice/">68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice</a></li><li>
<a href="https://dormin.org/2020/03/21/against-dog-ownership/">Against Dog Ownership</a></li><li>
<a href="https://gawker.com/on-smarm-1476594977">On Smarm</a></li><li>
<a href="https://morphmaker.tumblr.com/post/616290604523077632/the-triwizard-tournament-x-the-great-british-bake">Triwizard tournament X The Great British Bake Off</a></li><li>
<a href="https://luttig.substack.com/p/when-tailwinds-vanish">When Tailwinds Vanish: The Internet in the 2020s</a></li><li>
<a href="https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2020/04/29/Leaving-Amazon">Bye, Amazon</a></li><li>
Why is it that the people freaking out the most about taxes on the rich are the ones who don’t seem to know how the tax code works? <a href="https://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/09/26/tax-frenzies-and-how-to-hose-them-down">Tax Frenzies and How to Hose Them Down</a>
</li></ul></details>Masyhurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120142510202386489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1451164821026462994.post-57382685457979355072020-05-09T04:14:00.002+09:002021-03-23T04:04:27.324+09:00Islam dan Akar KesenjanganDi bulan Ramadan kali ini saya ingin mengulas tulisan ihwal persilangan Islam dan teori ekonomi. Bukan apa-apa, mumpung peringatan Nuzulul Quran dan saya baru saja membaca tulisan yang pas: <i>Islam, Inequality, and Pre-Industrial Comparative Development</i> yang terbit di <i>Journal of Development Economics</i> tahun 2016. Ini adalah tulisan Stelios Michalopoulos di Universitas Brown, Alireza Naghavi di Universitas Bologna, dan Giovanni Pralolo yang juga di Universitas Bologna.<br />
<br />
Studi ini adalah sebuah kajian teori yang membahas akar-akar ekonomi yang menghasilkan struktur doktrin Islam. Dengan kata lain, mereka mengajukan teori ini untuk merasionalisasikan prinsip ekonomi dalam doktrin Islam. Namun perlu dicatat bahwa mereka tidak berteori tentang teologi Islam di makalah ini. (Saya pun juga tidak mau berteori tentang hal itu.)<br />
<br />
Kajian mereka bersandar pada tiga komponen: perdagangan, kesenjangan, dan teori permainan (game theory).<br />
<br />
<i>Perdagangan</i>: Islam muncul dengan goyahnya jalur-jalur perdagangan lama di abad ke-7. Perang berkepanjangan antara Kekaisaran Romawi dan Kekaisaran Sasani di Persia mengganggu perdagangan di Jalur Sutera. Pun runtuhnya Kerajaan Ghassaniyah di Syam dan Kerajaan Lakhmid di Irak membuat rute yang biasa dilalui para saudagar tidak lagi aman dari serangan. Di selatan Jazirah Arab, Kerajaan Himyar di Yaman takluk pada Kerajaan Aksum. Sementara itu, menyusutnya kekuatan maritim Kekaisaran Romawi Timur membuat jalur perdagangan Laut Merah rawan perompakan.<br />
<br />
Ini mendorong terbukanya rute perdagangan baru di tengah jazirah, karena kaum saudagar mulai melintasi Gurun Arab.<br />
<br />
<i>Kesenjangan</i>: Gurun Arab adalah daerah penuh kesenjangan. Mayoritas tanah gurun tidak bisa dipakai bercocok tanam dan hanya kantung-kantung oasis terpencil yang mampu menyokong pertanian dan perdagangan. Para penulis mengkarakterisasikan masyarakat ini menjadi dua kelompok: kaum saudagar dari daerah subur yang kaya dan kaum badui dari daerah gersang yang miskin. Kaum saudagar berdagang, sementara kaum badui mencoleng.<br />
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<i>Teori</i>: Berdagang ada biayanya bagi kaum saudagar, pun mencoleng ada pula biayanya bagi kaum badui. Pencolengan belum tentu sukses, tapi jika dengan perhitungan probabilitas sukses itu ekspektasi imbalannya lebih besar maka kaum badui akan mencoleng. Begitu pula untuk kaum saudagar, jika dengan suatu probabilitas mereka bisa sukses mempertahankan dagangan mereka dari kaum badui untuk mendapat imbal yang besar, mereka akan berdagang.<br />
<br />
Kaum saudagar ini bisa juga bersedekah atau berzakat kepada kaum badui agar mereka tidak mencoleng. Dengan kata lain, kaum saudagar punya dua opsi: berzakat atau tidak berzakat sementara kaum badui juga punya dua opsi: mencoleng atau tidak mencoleng. Pasangan {zakat, tidak mencoleng} adalah pilihan yang paling memakmurkan kedua belah pihak, namun piilhan ini rentan diingkari karena zakat adalah konsep redistribusi satuwaktu (statis). Kaum badui akan mendapat imbalan yang lebih besar dari {zakat, mencoleng} maka mereka akan ingkar. Pun kaum saudagar akan jadi berstrategi untuk tidak berzakat. Ekulibrium Nash permainan ini maka akan berakhir di pasangan {tidak berzakat, mencoleng}.<br />
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Beranjak dari sistem statis yang buyar, Islam bisa dilihat sebagai suatu kesepakatan untuk mengubah sistem redistribusi satuwaktu menjadi redistribusi antargenerasi (dinamis). Menurut para penulis, inti dari redistribusi dinamis ini bisa mengambil bentuk friksi apa pun yang mencegah pemusatan aset. Dalam teori mereka, ini berbentuk zakat plus wakaf dan hukum anti-riba.<br />
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Skema teori permainan ini kini berubah dari permainan statis ke dinamis. Dari skema pohon permainan ini pasangan aksi {adopsi islam, tidak mencoleng} bisa langgeng dengan satu syarat: distribusi tanah gurun di sekeliling tanah oasis yang subur ada di atas suatu ambang kritis (lamda c-tilda-s). Dengan kata lain, dominasi tanah gurun yang menghambat kaum badui untuk memetik manfaat langsung dari terbukanya jalur perdagangan baru inilah yang lalu berujung pada sistem kelembagaan ekonomi Islam yang diadopsi bangsa Arab.<br />
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Para penulis menutup studi dengan menyitir kajian mereka yang lain yang terbit di Economic Journal tahun 2018 yang melihat jarak ke jalur perdagangan dan kesenjangan geografis bisa memprediksi adopsi Islam di kawasan Afro-Eurasia. Saya sarankan untuk membacanya jika tertarik.<br />
<br />
<b>Rujukan</b><br />
Michalopoulos, S., Naghavi, A., & Prarolo, G. (2016). Islam, inequality and pre-industrial comparative development. <i>Journal of Development Economics</i>, 120, 86-98.<br />
Michalopoulos, S., Naghavi, A., & Prarolo, G. (2018). Trade and Geography in the Spread of Islam. <i>The Economic Journal</i>, 128(616), 3210-3241.Masyhurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120142510202386489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1451164821026462994.post-47469483160252951492020-05-06T23:43:00.001+09:002020-05-07T00:02:23.637+09:00Growing Up Queer in Australia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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December last year Freida and I got to travel to Sydney and Brisbane. We skipped the kangaroos and (predictably) found ourselves in the NSW and QLD state libraries. In Sydney, though, I wanted a souvenir for myself and after checking what's not available at the Boston/Cambridge Public Library I bought Growing Up Queer in Australia. This is a collection of essays from multiple people curated by Benjamin Law, and it was an amazing read.
<br />
<br />
I picked out a number of quotes, and these span a number of important topics: on growing up; desire; backlash and bullying; isolation; religion; coming out; bi-erasure; race; relationships; conforming to queer stereotypes; and on growing older.<br />
<br />
Full quotes below.<br />
<br />
On growing up:<br />
<blockquote>
Few people grow up queer in Australia: we're not allowed to. Heterosexuality guards its supremacy. [114]</blockquote>
<br />
<details><summary>(More on growing up):</summary><blockquote>
Some things I wish I’d had, growing up queer in Australia: clothes that fit, less acne, wavy hair like the local hot white surfer boys, queer role models, stories that spoke to me, gay porn. Those last three things—queer people, stories and depictions of queer sex — proved much harder to find, and I craved them with a desperation that bordered on hunger. [i]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Growing up queer for me was fear: fear embedded so deeply it felt natural. It’s taken me years to peel back the scar tissue, to find out what was there in the first place. And I’m still scared. Do I get to belong now? [84]
</blockquote>
</details><br />
On desire:<br />
<blockquote>
Alone, words are dangerous, terrible things. [29]</blockquote>
<br />
<details><summary>(More on desire and media):</summary><blockquote>
<em>This is something I still struggle with as a 36-year old! Do I just wanna look like them or fuck them?</em> <br />
Honestly, I will say this: across the board, I’ve never felt like I fit in to one place, ever. That includes my bisexual identity. [157]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
It doesn’t start with a kiss. It starts with a look and your stomach going back flips. You don’t need to kiss someone to know that you are attracted to them. [269]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Call Me by Your Name is interesting in that it takes male queer desire and wanting, traditionally associated with violence, corruption, infection, and monstrousness (if it was depicted at all) and places it within the language of mainstream feminine desire. [279]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
I thought how nice it would be to talk to something, to be in conversation but not have someone talk back. [277]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Among other things, the Hays Code had decreed that homosexual relationships not be coveted as happy, healthy, or successful, so for decades there were only four ways for a gay relationship to end: murder, madness, (straight) marriage, or suicide. It took until the 1980s for a film about lesbians to have a happy ending. [270]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
There’s a scene of gay sex in that movie that formed—still forms—part of my sexual fantasizing. <br />
<em>Isn’t it so interesting how that stuff imprints?</em> <br />
Exactly. [160]
</blockquote>
</details><br />
On backlash:<br />
<blockquote>
<em>You don’t want to be the thing people tease you about.</em> <br />
Exactly. Over of the other things I was scared of was that friends of mine would say I told you so. The shame that other people knew this thing about me before I knew it. I hated that. [149]</blockquote>
<br />
<details><summary>(More on backlashes and bullying):</summary><blockquote>
One of the homo-police ground my hand into the asphalt with the heel of his shoe, another attempted to use the back of my neck as a lemon squeezer, kneading shattered glass into my nape. There was no fight. There was no flight. Only pure submission. <br />
Feelings on worthlessness and humiliation reigned supreme. The tone the bullies used when they inflicted that word on me made my heart tighten. I figured that if I felt like scum whenever they used that word on me, I must be scum. <br />
I am a fag. [265]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
If your body is different to other people’s, then by some weird logic they own it. They get the right to speak about it. I started school as a fat boy and that didn’t change. But in any other context than school, this would probably seem ridiculous. I look at photos of myself from high school and I don’t look fat at all. Just not athletic. [180]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
I remember driving down Stirling Highway in Perth and it clocked in my head, this sudden realization. And it felt like realizing I had cancer. I was driving and crying, because all of a sudden there was a thing inside me. I didn’t choose it, I couldn’t get rid of it, I couldn’t control it. [149]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
I have never heard the word queer. I have heard these words: gay, poofta, faggot, homo, lezzo, dyke. They are used to cut people. No one I know is queer. They must all live on the city, gathered by the coastline like shorebirds; winged creatures. [53]
</blockquote>
</details><br />
On isolation:<br />
<blockquote>
I had not a single clue that gays and lesbians even existed. I’m part of (hopefully) the last generation of kids to grow up thinking they were the first, or indeed the only ones to be attracted to the same gender. It was a profoundly lonely experience. [268]</blockquote>
<br />
<details><summary>(More on isolation):</summary><blockquote>
As a reader, I look for self recognition in other people’s stories. For queer people it’s especially important, because while other forms of prejudice — like racism —can make you feel just as alone and isolated, ethnic minorities like me go home to families and communities who share our backgrounds and experiences, and affirm who we are. Queer kids growing up typically don’t have that. I didn’t. [xi]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
As a child I had always wanted a friend. [300]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
By fifteen, I had become a textbook, first-generation academic overachiever. My world turned grey again. [64]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
I didn’t mind being nerdy. I avoided sports and the gym, because I told myself I could never be or have anything like that—glimpsed is bodies and snippets of locker run banter posed a threat I couldn’t yet name. [304]
</blockquote>
</details><br />
On religion:<br />
<blockquote>
The school chaplain had already been pursuing my soul for years, hammering on about sin and salvation. I wasn’t convinced. There didn’t seem anything worth forgiving, until sex came along. Uneasiness at thirteen was turning to shame at fourteen.</blockquote>
<br />
<details><summary>(More on religion):</summary><blockquote>
First shame then forgiveness. You don’t have to be a young queer for this to work. There’s a trace of self-disgust in most of us that can be worked up into shame. But a young homosexual is particularly easy pickings, fearful of himself, his family, and the disapproval of his world. <br />
Where does shame come from? I look back to my childhood and can’t remember anything being said. All I heard from the pulpit were grim hints. [7]
</blockquote>
</details><br />
On coming out:<br />
<blockquote>
I resented the idea of coming out. It wasn’t that I was introverted, or that i felt like my romances were shameful, but that I loathed the idea of being pigeonholed. The social narratives around homosexuality had always left me with the impression that coming out was more than a courtesy. It was an expectation: like taking a ticket to join a queue or picking up litter; it was the responsibility of every good citizen to keep things neat and tidy. [229]</blockquote>
<br />
<details><summary>(More on coming out):</summary><blockquote>
On a September morning three years ago, Appa called me, crying on the phone. Appa sobbed. He asked why I was choosing this. <br />
I choked on the silence and pain, unsure of where to take the conversation. No amount of YouTube videos and queer think pieces prepared me for this moment. But I was not naive enough to think they would. It does not get better. It just gets lost in communication. [128]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
But this white, western LGBTIQA+ discourse didn’t anticipate the reaction of a Catholic Vietnamese woman. It didn’t anticipate that, for some minorities, the closet might be the better place to be. That the closet is a safe space, a tactical move, and even a powerful, fluid space for some. That the imposition of western queer values on a person whose non-white culture left them unprepared for coming out ritual can cause pain rather than liberation. [67]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Movies and TV don’t much show what it’s like coming out to a non-white mum. There was no sympathy or an everything is going to be okay moment. There was shock, confusion, denial. [65]
</blockquote>
</details><br />
On bi-erasure:<br />
<blockquote>
To some gay people, being bi seems easy. We have the supposed luxury of being chameleons, the privilege of choosing from the entire buffet rather than being confined to a corner table, as if sex were simply a smorgasbord and falling in love a matter of calculated odds. <br />
The truth is, being bisexual means being invisible, especially if you are in a monogamous relationship, whether you paint yourself like a rainbow or a white picket fence. [230]</blockquote>
<br />
<details><summary>(More on erasure):</summary><blockquote>
Mum couldn’t understand why I bothered to tell her I was bi—I was in a relationship with a man, so why did it matter? At various points in the relationship, I alternated between thinking I was a lesbian and thinking I was asexual. [18]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
I soon realized that being queer is a full time job: having to correct people’s assumption that you had a boyfriend; being presumed to be straight; overhearing flip and degrading comments about you; having to censor affectionate behavior with your partner to avoid the leering off certain men; pulling up friends when they were thoughtlessly negative or dismissive. [318]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“I think who you end up with determines your sexuality.” Cue me opening a discussion on romantic, sexual, and gender spectrums. [68]
</blockquote>
</details><br />
On race:<br />
<blockquote>
Coming out to me was both coming out as being gay and coming out as being gay and Chinese. Those two things can’t be separated. They cannot be untangled from my experience of the gay world. It’s a complicated issue because nothing triggers gay men more than the accusation that they’re racist. [146]</blockquote>
<br />
<details><summary>(More on race):</summary><blockquote>
I dream of creating space and having a queer presence within the Tamil community. I am tired of resisting to be represented. <br />
However, I am nervous. To fully embrace my Tamil and queer identities, I need to make myself visible. I need to be visibly Tamil in queer spaces, and dare to be visibly queer in Tamil spaces. I don’t want other people to have authority over my Tamilness or my queerness. I know this community has not been made for me. <br />
But I am not going to apologize for being here. I am not going to apologize for existing. [130]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Racism only hurts when you actually want to be part of something. I remember going to this gay bar in Canberra... over two hours, no one would look at me, no one would talk to me. <br />
<em>Which makes you question your worth and attractiveness; all of that stuff.</em> <br />
You’re constantly second-guessing. [146]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
When I was growing up, even I had that feeling: I don’t find other Asian men attractive. But that changed when I went on this long trip to China and found myself surrounded by other Asian men. They stopped being Asian men and they started just being men. [147]
</blockquote>
</details><br />
On relationship and family:<br />
<blockquote>
Romance is a narrative of power. Falling in love with Paul meant that what I wanted (him, his attention, his affection) subsumed my own needs (agency, independence, self determination) so completely that I allowed a relationship to develop with the power differential skewed entirely in his favor. [231]</blockquote>
<br />
<details><summary>(More on relationship and family):</summary><blockquote>
A lifetime of hetero conditioning had set me up for relationships based almost entirely on conflict, yet this was pleasant, comfortable, easy, <em>nice</em>. I didn’t know what to do. [233]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
‘How do you know you love me?’ <br />
‘I don’t, I just do,’ <br />
‘And you’re okay with that? That not knowing?’<br />
‘Sure’ [281]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Despite my mother’s protestations that she had no idea I was a lesbian, she quite obviously had suspected something and had conspired with this other woman to throw their two ugly duckling queer kids together in the hope of creating the beautiful swan of heterosexual mariage. It failed. [271]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Until I started writing this essay, I had never reflected on how important queer people are to keeping families functioning. [20]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
It is possible to despise and fear the thing you pity. It is possible to understand that what my stepfather said and did to me as a child came from a place of utter weakness. [220]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Romance and baby-making for same sex couples are not necessarily connected. Less like hot sex, more like worming the cat. But it did get the job done. Twice. [107]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
It’s a long way to Madrid, and even there i won’t be home. There’s still so much more unpacking to do. But despite the uncertainties, we’re optimistic about our future. In either world, or in both. [298]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
‘You’re <em>not</em> special,’ my sister reminded me, ‘just because you have HIV. It’s an <em>epidemic</em>.’ [226]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Because I was afraid of HIV, I saw it everywhere, and engaged with it nowhere. [224]
</blockquote>
</details><br />
On conforming to queer stereotypes:<br />
<blockquote>
There are two main, acceptable versions of your story: 1. It is awful here; I’m really struggling; please help me get out of here because I obviously couldn’t do it without your incredible, glitter-shitting self. And 2. It was awful there. I really struggled. I’m so glad I am out now and that I’m allowed to shit glitter almost anytime I want. <br />
These stories are not necessarily lies. They’re just oversimplified. [111]</blockquote>
<br />
<details><summary>(More on queer-conforming):</summary><blockquote>
I didn’t want to dress in ways that announced queerness, and for that I suffered the judgement of some prouder queers. I was considered, in those circles, ‘not gay enough’, which was confusing. [3]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Ten years ago, I would probably have written this as a fairly standard growing up gay in the country story. Back then the emphases would have been identified in a more positive way, the non-normative aspects would have been presented as badges of being gay. As if I was struggling towards something recognizable, rather than being something that was in itself interesting. [177]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
So I hung around instead with the freaks and geeks, goths and punks and pixie and nerds, because with them I felt more often than not that my sexuality was just another dimension of me: not a flag to fly, or an aberration I had to justify, or something I had to think about all the time. [230]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
‘Look, I just don’t know,’ I said. ‘In a room full of gay people I feel straight. And in a room full of straight people...’ <br />
‘... you feel like vomiting?’ my friend finished helpfully. [86]
</blockquote>
</details><br />
<br />
<details><summary>On growing older:</summary><blockquote>
There’s a freedom in being able to enjoy yourself, unapologetically, regardless of your age. I too find myself becoming more playful the older I grow. Worrying about others’ expectations means less when you’ve already announced who you authentically are. [317]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
It’s the week after the plebiscite. Despite the confident lesbian life I am living now, I was still carrying around an 80s-kid view of Australia. Believing that outside my little protective bubble the great masses disapproved, thought I was abnormal, lesser, sinful, wrong. A perv and a lemon. I hadn’t dared hope that my country had moved on from homophobia to affirmation. [169]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
For queer people, adolescence often stretches beyond teenage years. Most of my queer friends, in their twenties, live life with the fervent excitement of delayed adolescence, of ascending to yourself long after puberty has passed; of needing to regress to progress, to go back to your adolescence in order to grow up, telling the story correctly this time. [39]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
It is one of the great oddities of life that as you grow older, you realize the past is not fixed, that ripples of various historic events are still moving through our culture. [270]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
I don’t believe, necessarily, that people are born queer, or that I was born trans. I think I was born free from anything and then the stories accumulated on me and some of them turned out to be incorrect. I made my own attempts to write convincing stories too. None of these stories was objectively true, then or now, but the more I learnt the more I had at my disposal to understand myself. [39]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
I always knew, but I didn’t have the words. Because when I was growing up, queer was not included in the acronym. It has not yet been reclaimed by the people against whom it had, for years, been leveled as an insult. I don’t remember when and how I first came across it, only how well the word seemed to fit: it was, and is, a word without expectations, with undiluted difference, a word the can be everything and every way. [186]</blockquote>
<blockquote>
A word can be a wonderful thing. It can be a container. A mirror. It can click everything into place. [186]
</blockquote>
</details>
<br />
<blockquote>
I want to tell people all the time: there is no deadline for growing up, no submission date for your life’s narrative. You can work it out now or later. You can reveal yourself in parts, or as a whole, and make revisions. For better or worse, sooner or later, life conspires to reveal you to yourself, and this is growing up. [37]</blockquote>
Masyhurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120142510202386489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1451164821026462994.post-23853619740652129072020-04-08T02:48:00.000+09:002021-03-23T04:04:36.759+09:00Internet Reading Q1 2020<br />
Between two round-trip flights to Jakarta from Boston and the order to shelter in place brought by COVID-19, I read ... a lot of stuff. Really I just spend so much of my time staring at various screens. If you need reading materials to while away your time, there are plenty of interesting stuff in the list.<br />
<ol>
<li><strong>COVID-19</strong>: In 2018, I wrote a story for <em>The Atlantic</em> arguing that America was not ready for the pandemic that would eventually come. And then one did. Hypotheticals became reality. So, now what? (<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/03/how-will-coronavirus-end/608719/">How the Pandemic Will End by Ed Yong</a>)</li>
</ol>
<br />
<details><summary>More on COVID-19: (click the triangle to reveal)</summary><ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/how-talk-about-coronavirus/609118/">How to Talk About the Coronavirus by Liz Neeley</a></li>
<li>
<a href="http://psandman.com/col/Corona12.htm">Strange COVID-19 Bedfellows: Gnawing Anxiety and Under-Reaction</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://virologydownunder.com/past-time-to-tell-the-public-it-will-probably-go-pandemic-and-we-should-all-prepare-now/">It Will Probably Go Pandemic, and We Should All Prepare Now</a>. Suggesting things people can do to prepare for a possible hard time to come doesn't just get them better prepared logistically. It also helps get them better prepared emotionally. It is better to get through this OMG moment now rather than later.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/03/coronavirus-tsa-liquid-purell-paid-leave-rules.html">America Is a Sham: Policy changes in reaction to the coronavirus reveal how absurd so many of our rules are to begin with.</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-not-human-made-in-lab.html">The coronavirus did not escape from a lab. Here's how we know.</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/coronavirus-wealth-tax-billionaires_n_5e7cc0cfc5b6256a7a260ebb">COVID-19 Is The Best Argument Yet For A Wealth Tax</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://viewfromthewing.com/13-cross-country-airfares-but-why-are-airlines-pricing-below-marginal-cost/">$13 Cross Country Airfares! But Why Are Airlines Pricing Below Marginal Cost?</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://medium.com/@noahhaber/flatten-the-curve-of-armchair-epidemiology-9aa8cf92d652">Flatten the Curve of Armchair Epidemiology</a></li>
<li>
<a href="http://hildabastian.net/index.php/8-secondary/87">Rebuttal to John Ioannidis' opinion piece about the coronavirus pandemic</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://danwang.co/covid-observations-from-beijing-march/">Covid Observations from Beijing, March 11</a></li>
</ul>
COVID-19 dashboards, trackers, aggregators:<br />
<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://corona.jatengprov.go.id/">JAWA TENGAH TANGGAP COVID-19</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.lesswrong.com/coronavirus-link-database">Less wrong coronavirus database</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://som.yale.edu/node/222278">Yale SOM 2020 Financial Intervention Tracker</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.covidnearyou.org/#!/">COVID near you</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://bfi.uchicago.edu/insight/blog/key-economic-facts-about-covid-19/">Key Economic Facts About COVID-19, Becker Friedman Institute at the University of Chicago</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1So1QwiqFRLUoLW7DJ0gElpbg8D507BtRUd3EnmBx9BY">COVID-19 Economic impact from ONE.org</a>
</li>
</ul>
</details><br />
<ol start="2">
<li>
<strong>Climate Change</strong>: It is, I promise, worse than you think. If your anxiety about global warming is dominated by fears of sea-level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible. Rising oceans are bad, in fact very bad; but fleeing the coastline will not be enough. Indeed, absent a significant adjustment, parts of the Earth will likely become close to uninhabitable, and other parts horrifically inhospitable, as soon as the end of this century. (<a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/07/climate-change-earth-too-hot-for-humans.html">The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells</a>)</li>
</ol>
<br />
<details><summary>More on the environment and science:</summary><ul>
<li>
<a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/01/18/bees-insecticides-pesticides-neonicotinoids-bayer-monsanto-syngenta">The pesticide industry’s playbook for poisoning the earth: a sophisticated information war</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/07/honeybees-deaths-almonds-hives-aoe">'Like sending bees to war': the deadly truth behind your almond-milk obsession</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://astrobites.org/2020/03/31/astrophysical-classics-what-did-newton-actually-discover-in-quarantine/">Astrophysical Classics: What did Newton actually discover in quarantine?</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/no-one-can-explain-why-planes-stay-in-the-air/">No One Can Explain Why Planes Stay In The Air</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/01/13/a-world-without-pain">A World Without Pain</a>: “I know the word 'pain,' and I know people are in pain, because you can see it. I've seen pain, what it does, but I'm talking about an abstract thing.” Cameron does not have neuropathy: she can feel all the sensations the rest of us do, except pain.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/when-were-wrong-its-our-responsibility-as-scientists-to-say-so/">When We're Wrong, It's Our Responsibility as Scientists to Say So.</a> We tried to reproduce our 2012 paper on how to make people report their income more honestly—and we ended up refuting it</li>
<li>
<a href="https://fs.blog/2015/12/e-o-wilson-how-science-works/">E.O. Wilson on Becoming a Great Scientist</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Physics/comments/frsd16/the_best_thing_you_can_do_to_fight_covid19_is/">The best thing you can do to fight COVID-19 is nothing. Stop writing that paper. Don't put it on the arxiv.</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://thediplomat.com/2020/01/the-unequal-impact-of-indonesias-new-year-flood/">The Unequal Impact of Indonesia's New Year Flood</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.crnugent.com/carbon-policy">the Nugent Lab Carbon Policy</a>
</li>
</ul>
</details><br />
<ol start="3">
<li>
<strong>India</strong> is not really a country. It is a continent. More complex and diverse, with more languages, more nationalities and sub-nationalities, more indigenous tribes and religions than all of Europe. Imagine this vast ocean, this fragile, fractious, social ecosystem, suddenly being commandeered by a Hindu supremacist organisation that believes in a doctrine of One Nation, One Language, One Religion, One Constitution. (<a href="https://caravanmagazine.in/politics/rise-and-rise-of-hindu-nation">Intimations of an Ending by Arundhati Roy</a>)</li>
</ol>
<br />
<details><summary>More from India, Afghanistan, Angola, Iran, Singapore, and Syria:</summary><ul>
<li>
<a href="https://caravanmagazine.in/conflict/delhi-violence-gokalpuri-mosque-fire">A mosque on fire, shops looted, people celebrating: My five hours in northeast Delhi</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/afghanistan-war-confidential-documents/">THE AFGHANISTAN PAPERS: AT WAR WITH THE TRUTH</a> U.S. officials constantly said they were making progress. They were not, and they knew it.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/19/isabel-dos-santos-revealed-africa-richest-woman-2bn-empire-luanda-leaks-angola">How Angolan ruler's daughter used her status to build $2bn empire</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.the-american-interest.com/2020/02/24/how-a-technocracy-is-overdoing-it/">Challenges and Pitfalls of the Technocratic Art by ADAM GARFINKLE</a>. Having succeeded beyond its expectations, Singapore doesn’t seem to know what to do next—except to keep on driving ahead, pedal to the metal.</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.synaps.network/syria-economic-battleground">War by other means: Syria’s economic struggle</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/suleimani-assassination-legally-ethically-unjustified-by-peter-singer-2020-01">Was Killing Suleimani Justified? by Peter Singer</a></li>
<li>
<a href="http://remotivi.or.id/amatan/570/kepulangan-wni-eks-isis-seberapa-jauh-media-membantu-publik-memahaminya">Kepulangan WNI Eks-ISIS: Seberapa Jauh Media Membantu Publik Memahaminya?</a>
</li>
</ul>
</details><br />
<ol start="4">
<li>
<strong>Conrad Bastable</strong>: <a href="https://www.conradbastable.com/essays/the-germany-shock-the-largest-economy-nobody-understands">Germany is a major outlier among high-GDP developed nations and nobody talks about it</a></li>
</ol>
<br />
<details><summary>More from Conrad Bastable, Agnes Callard, and on rationality:</summary>
Agnes Callard:<br />
<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://thepointmag.com/examined-life/the-problem-with-letters-of-recommendation-agnes-callard/">The Problem with Letters of Recommendation</a>: The kind of positive feedback sought at a letter request cannot mean much, precisely because it has been asked for; what matters has been freely given all along, and it has taken the form not only of approval and encouragement but, more importantly, of spontaneous reactions such as excitement, interest, curiosity, surprise, joy, amusement and, yes, pride.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://thepointmag.com/examined-life/who-wants-to-play-the-status-game-agnes-callard/">Who Wants to Play the Status Game?</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://thepointmag.com/examined-life/the-end-is-coming-agnes-callard/">The End is Coming</a></li>
</ul>
Conrad Bastable:<br />
<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.conradbastable.com/essays/the-full-stack-of-society-can-you-make-a-whole-society-wealthier-full-version">The Full Stack of Society: Can You Make A Whole Society Wealthier?</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.conradbastable.com/essays/steelmanning-free-speech-an-argument-for-unfettered-content">Steelmanning Free Speech: An Argument for Unfettered Content</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.conradbastable.com/essays/steelmanning-censorship-an-argument-for-the-removal-of-content">Steelmanning Censorship: An Argument for the Removal of Content</a></li>
</ul>
Rationality:<br />
<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://putanumonit.com/2020/02/27/seeing-the-smoke/">Seeing the Smoke</a>: COVID-19 could be pretty bad for you. But the worst thing that could happen is that you're seen doing something about the coronavirus before you're given permission to.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://putanumonit.com/2019/12/08/rationalist-self-improvement/">Is Rationalist Self-Improvement Real?</a> If Rationality made you 25% more successful it wouldn't be as obviously visible as Scott thinks it would be. In this 25% world, the most and least successful people would still be such for reasons other than Rationality. And in this world, Rationality would be one of the most effective self-improvement approaches ever devised. 25% is a lot!</li>
<li>
<a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/bsE5t6qhGC65fEpzN/growth-and-the-case-against-randomistas">Growth and the case against randomista development</a>
</li>
</ul>
</details><br />
<ol start="5">
<li>
<strong>Coding</strong>: My "refactoring" was a disaster in two ways: Firstly, I didn't talk to the person who wrote it. Rewriting your teammate's code without a discussion is a huge blow to your ability to effectively collaborate on a codebase together. Secondly, nothing is free. My code traded the ability to change requirements for reduced duplication, and it was not a good trade. (<a href="https://overreacted.io/goodbye-clean-code/">Goodbye, Clean Code</a>)</li>
</ol>
<br />
<details><summary>More on econometrics and coding:</summary><ul>
<li>
<a href="https://blog.supplysideliberal.com/post/2019/10/10/adding-a-variable-measured-with-error-to-a-regression-only-partially-controls-for-that-variable">Adding a Variable Measured with Error to a Regression Only Partially Controls for that Variable</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://marcfbellemare.com/wordpress/10484">“The Determinants of…”: How Not to Do Social Science</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/impactevaluations/revisiting-difference-differences-parallel-trends-assumption-part-i-pre-trend">Revisiting the Difference-in-Differences Parallel Trends Assumption: Part I Pre-Trend Testing</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/ethanbdm/status/1214941653062037504">Is IV unbiased/consistent?</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://raw.githack.com/uo-ec607/lectures/master/03-shell/03-shell.html">Learning to love the shell</a>
</li>
</ul>
</details><br />
<ol start="6">
<li>
<strong>Politics</strong>: I refresh my Twitter feed to keep up on the latest political crisis, then toggle over to Facebook to read clickbait news stories. What I'm doing, that isn't politics. (<a href="http://bostonreview.net/politics/eitan-hersh-politics-power-not-consumption">Politics is for Power, Not Consumption by Eitan Hersh</a>)</li>
</ol>
<br />
<details><summary>More on politics, sexuality, and history:</summary><ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/youre-a-bunch-of-dopes-and-babies-inside-trumps-stunning-tirade-against-generals/2020/01/16/d6dbb8a6-387e-11ea-bb7b-265f4554af6d_story.html">‘You're a bunch of dopes and babies’: Inside Trump's stunning tirade against generals</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/11/pete-buttigieg-gay-archetype-best-little-boy.html">Queer Like Pete</a>: For all the talk of diversity, LGBTQ equality, and representation of gays in the media, many Americans still have limited exposure to gay men. A subspecies they aren't as familiar with, however, are the Type A, politically driven, never-take-their-eye-off-the-ball gays—a group of which Pete Buttigieg is an extreme example.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/11/im-worried-my-boyfriend-is-gay/601231/">Dear Therapist: I'm Afraid My Boyfriend's Sexuality Will End Our Relationship</a>. He says he's bisexual, but I'm worried he's actually gay.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/11/no-one-knows-im-gay-should-i-tell-people-now/602500/">Dear Therapist: I Will Probably Take the Secret of My Sexuality to the Grave</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.newmandala.org/was-majapahit-really-an-empire/">Was Majapahit really an empire?</a></li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.mikoflohr.org/blog/2020/01/07/echoes-of-empire-1-the-ancient-world-through-post-colonial-eyes/">Global Romans (1). The classical world through post-colonial eyes</a> It is kind of ironical how we, in the Netherlands, and in larger parts of North-Western Europe (never mind North-America), have somehow decided, long ago, that our collective historical narratives start from Greece and Rome, far away in the Mediterranean. In a way, we have artificially appropriated a past that is wholly or partially unrelated to the land where our families come from and we have made it our own.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://historia.id/kuno/articles/perempuan-di-singgasana-majapahit-P4W1M">Perempuan di Singgasana Majapahit</a>
</li>
</ul>
</details><br />
<ol start="7">
<li>
<strong>Writing</strong>: I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and dog-gone it, people like me. (<a href="https://billwadge.wordpress.com/2020/02/10/im-good-enough-im-smart-enough-and-dog-gone-it-people-like-me-writing-grant-applications/">Writing grant applications</a>)</li>
</ol>
<br />
<details><summary>More on communication and writing, a fiction and a poem:</summary><ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.cgdev.org/blog/how-write-introduction-your-development-economics-paper">How to Write the Introduction of Your Development Economics Paper</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://basecamp.com/guides/how-we-communicate">Real-time sometimes, asynchronous most of the time.</a> Internal communication based on long-form writing, rather than a verbal tradition of meetings, speaking, and chatting, leads to a welcomed reduction in meetings, video conferences, calls, or other real-time opportunities to interrupt and be interrupted.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://uncannymagazine.com/article/and-all-the-trees-of-the-forest-shall-clap-their-hands/">And All the Trees of the Forest Shall Clap Their Hands BY SHARON HSU</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2020/mar/23/poem-of-the-week-antidotes-to-fear-of-death-by-rebecca-elson">Poem of the week: Antidotes to Fear of Death by Rebecca Elson</a>
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</ul>
</details><br />
<ol start="8">
<li>
<strong>Technology and Miscellaneous</strong>: On a social media platform in 2019, a message from a single human can fan out, unfiltered, and reach thousands of others in minutes. This is a very strange superpower!! It can be fun, but there's an edge of danger to it, too… a runaway train kind of feeling. Here's a simple solution: Cool it down. (<a href="https://platforms.fyi/">Rosegarden: A thread from a fictional social network.</a>)</li>
</ol>
<br />
<details><summary>More on tech and miscellaneous:</summary><ul>
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<a href="https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2015/10/how-to-build-a-low-tech-internet.html">How to Build a Low-tech Internet</a></li>
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<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/01/facebook-boz-memo/604639/">Facebook's Id Is Showing: An executive's leaked memo suggests that the company wants to return to the pre-Trump world.</a> "It reshapes people's behavior and companies' investments, and then is surprised when that changes the system. It's silly to say you can't change the way a river flows when you are the watershed."</li>
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<a href="https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/wework-and-counterfeit-capitalism">WeWork and Counterfeit Capitalism</a></li>
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<a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1DBE6v5nYliDCUl8IQR9b-KS9-wlkw9-Wp2K0pQqNg6o/htmlview">Survei Gaji IT (Tanggapan)</a></li>
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<a href="https://www.bonappetit.com/story/crispy">There's an Entire Industry Dedicated to Making Foods Crispy, and It Is WILD</a></li>
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<a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-is-a-saturation-diver">The Weird, Dangerous, Isolated Life of the Saturation Diver</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://kbbi.now.sh/">Daftar entri KBBI</a></li>
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<a href="https://itsonlychemo.wordpress.com/2020/02/17/a-list-of-ten-simple-ways-we-are-decadent-and-a-speculative-theory-about-why-it-might-not-matter/">A list of ten ways we are decadent and a (speculative) theory about why it might not matter</a></li>
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<a href="https://wearyourvoicemag.com/news-politics/humor-an-appropriate-response-to-turmoil">That idea [of dark humor] really only works if you are the one who is suffering from what is being joked about and you are taking ownership of that pain and suffering.</a>
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</ul>
</details>Masyhurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120142510202386489noreply@blogger.com0