I am getting over a cold that absolutely knocked me flat last weekend. I'm mostly better now, but decided to substitute a low key walk for my usual rollerblade. I almost went back to the same beach I walked on with the kids on Wednesday, but decided that I'd just go down to the bay instead. It was nice. Not as nice as a rollerblade, but I wanted to conserve energy because tomorrow we're probably going to drive out to Anza-Borrego to see the wildflowers, and since Mr. Snarky is also getting over the cold, and was not as wise as I was about resting and is therefore still feeling not so great... I'll probably do the driving.
Anyway, if I get some good wildflower photos, I'll post them.
In the meantime, how about some links to read? I don't have that many. I guess I mostly slept off my cold instead of reading things. But here's what I have:
Self-promo first: if you hurry, you can probably still snag the ebook version of Don't Call It Bollywood for just $0.99. The sale ends tonight.
For politics this week, I have a couple of posts about healthcare. Both are from left-leaning sites, but both are also pretty wonky. Healthcare isn't one of the issues I picked to do a deep dive on, so this is as wonky as I get on the topic.
First up, Josh Marshall with why repeal and replace is going badly.
Next, Matt Yglesias with an argument that Republicans are paying the price for years of lies about Obamacare.
I had a short Twitter thread about the latter of those articles. It starts here:
There are a couple of things I want to say about it but I am also making & eating my lunch so here comes a slow thread...— Wandering Scientist (@wandsci) March 9, 2017
Like I said, I didn't choose to do a deep dive on healthcare, so I am definitely not an expert on the issues. I do think we can get everyone at least basic coverage without going broke or falling into tyranny, because every other wealthy country in the world has found a way to do that. I also think that there are honest arguments against doing that, but (1) I'm not convinced by them, and (2) those are not the arguments Republicans chose to make against the ACA.
I also think that there are valid criticisms of the ACA, and I mention one of them in that thread. Of course, no one on the left ever said that the ACA is perfect, and I have not seen anyone on the left argue against fixing the problems some mid-income self-employed people had with rising premiums.
More politics on a topic on which I claim no expertise: Noah Smith about the impossibility of going back to an earlier industrial era. I should read more on this topic, because I'd like to know about the argument against what this piece is saying. I don't think we can go back to the jobs that white working class men are used to having, so I think we should be focusing on how to soften the transition to a different set of jobs. However, this is clearly not a universal opinion. I'd like to understand the counterargument (that we can bring back industrial jobs). I've had a couple of pointless twitter discussions with people on the subject, where we talk past each other. People are keen to argue to me about that we should help the men whose jobs are disappearing, but I already agree with that. I want to know why people think that the help can take the form of bringing back industrial jobs, because everything I've read so far implies that is folly to attempt.
Moving on... did you see the Twitter thread from the guy who swapped names with a female coworker in emails and was blown away by how much shittier people were to him? If so, you might like to read the woman's version of the story. (They are friends, there is no controversy, just a different focus.)
How about some fun stuff?
Laughing at this spelling bee comic feels like blasphemy, but I can't help it.
Grumpy bunny!
— うさぎ島の写真bot (@rabbit_isle_bot) March 7, 2017
That's all I have this week. Happy weekend, everyone!
Okay, that bridge was pretty cool. It would have been so easy to just build a 1 mile bridge but this proves that out of the box thinking IS possible.
ReplyDeleteInteresting article by Noah Smith- one thing that I keep returning to but rarely see suggested as a solution is to incentivize companies to allow more remote workers. Many ppl live in cities and sit at computers all day doing work that could (with honestly the smallest amount of creativity) be easily done from home or remote outposts in much lower cost of living environments- letting those multipliers spread out more evenly...
ReplyDelete