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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 14th, 2023

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  • The master of misinformation, sensationalism, and ragebait.

    It’s not even really that good. It’s just everywhere. Flip on your TV, turn on the radio, pop open a browser, and you’re hit with a legion of professional reactionaries screaming “Whitetopia Has Fallen! Brown Menace End Times Are Upon Us!”

    There is no longer anything resembling “normal” news. It’s just wall-to-wall cop worship, racism, and crime hysteria.











  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldtoMicroblog Memes@lemmy.worldMeals
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    17 hours ago

    Please explain.

    Sure, let me just dust off my notes from a decade ago.

    How does it relate to probability?

    It has to do with the available range of outputs given all available inputs. And the degree to which iterative actions can have a feedback effect.

    But the math on this kind of thing gets hairy fast.

    Zuckerberg/CZI are not EA, and SBF was disowned by EA.

    Zuckerberg hires from the community and its affiliates. Sarah Wynn-Williams being an excellent example.

    SBF being disowned after he went broke is hardly a point in the movement’s favor.

    AMF stopped 20 million cases of malaria in 2023.

    The impact of these nets is expected to be

    FFS, they printed this in November of 2023. Really getting out ahead of your skis, when you’re a data driven organization that’s making claims on total reduction in cases before the period is even closed.

    To date, I can find no evidence of a 10% drop in malaria cases in any of the targeted countries between '22 and '23.

    On the contrary, the WHO reports an 11M case rise from the prior year. Neither have we seen a plunge in cases in '24 or the Q1 & Q2 of '25.





  • Now, in fairness, if I was driving 90-120m, I’d kill myself. But at least I’d do so listening to the Wheel of Time audiobook.

    I’ve never had trouble listening to audiobooks on the train (assuming I knew the route well enough).

    And on those rare occasions I get dragged out of my home wearing a suit, I do so belligerently. I’m done showing up 20-30m early, I get there when I get there. And I gotta leave early now too.

    Which is fine.

    But I’ve found a lot of merit in the personal collaborations with coworkers that only really happen in an office setting. I’m in office hybrid - three days a week - and I mentor new hires, grab lunch with senior managers, get tipped off on problems from people I pass in the hallway, and occasionally just shoot the shit with people I’d never otherwise know existed if I wasn’t in the building.

    I value my Work from Home, but also get a lot of mileage from a communal office.


  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldtoMicroblog Memes@lemmy.worldMeals
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    19 hours ago

    I’m legitimately curious how Abstract Algebra relates here. I thought that was all about group theory and such.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_theory

    In abstract algebra, group theory studies the algebraic structures known as groups. The concept of a group is central to abstract algebra: other well-known algebraic structures, such as rings, fields, and vector spaces, can all be seen as groups endowed with additional operations and axioms.

    I got a degree in it, so I know a few things.

    this doesn’t mean math is wrong

    The application of a model to a set of data which fails to predict outcomes reliably is “Wrong Math”.

    The big problem with EAs is empirical. They don’t deliver on their promises.

    The misuse of mosquito nets for fishing is bad, yes – and depressingly ironic – but you should check out the Against Malaria Foundation’s response

    The distribution of nets had failed to yield the promised benefits. I site the misuse as a very prominent example of how EAs misjudge externalities, but its one data point in a much broader picture.

    If you really want to drop the hammer on EAs - particularly chronic fraudsters like SBF and the Zuckerberg CZI - it is that they’re fair more interested in self-enrichment than altruism in the basic sense.

    I cite the mosquito netting distribution effects as a very straightforward calculation error, because it is at least superficially a sincere effort with lackluster results. But once you get under the tip of the iceberg, EAs are as riddled with con-artists and bullshitters as any Clinton Foundation or UN Food for Oil initiative.

    That’s the wages of unilateralism in a nutshell.



  • The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Mothers and Fathers Are Going Broke

    The authors present quantitative data to demonstrate how American middle-class families have been left in a precarious financial position by increases in fixed living expenses, increased medical expenses, escalating real estate prices, lower employment security, and the relaxation of credit regulation.

    The result has been a reshaping of the American labor force, such that many families now rely on having two incomes in order to meet their expenses. This situation represents a greater level of financial risk than that faced by single-income households: the inability of either adult to work, even temporarily, may result in loss of employment, and concomitant loss of medical coverage and the ability to pay bills. This may lead to bankruptcy or being forced to move somewhere less expensive, with associated decreases in educational quality and economic opportunity

    Among the expenses driving the two-income trap are child care, housing in areas with good schools, and college tuition. Warren and Tyagi conclude that having children is the “single best predictor” that a woman will go bankrupt

    Warren and Tyagi call stay-at-home mothers of past generations “the most important part of the safety net”, as the non-working mother could step in to earn extra income or care for sick family members when needed. However, Warren and Tyagi dismiss the idea of return to stay-at-home parents, and instead propose policies to offset the loss of this form of insurance.

    Warren and Tyagi attempt to overturn the “overconsumption myth” that Americans’ financial instabilities are the result of frivolous spending – they note, for instance, that families are spending less on clothing, food (including meals out), and large appliances, when adjusted for inflation, than a generation prior.


  • I remember growing up as a kid, doing my time in Sunday School, and getting this story pitched as “Wise King Solomon ferret’s out the truth of maternity by determining which claimant truly cares about the life of the child”.

    It’s kinda crazy how the story has permuted into “Two women fight over a thing and both agree splitting it in half is the fair solution.”