Posts I haven't written in the past couple days.
Post:
Snarky post baiting libertarians, about this MR review. Considering that health care and construction are two of the largest industries in our country and both have terrible track records, I’m not sure why you cling to the idea that markets invariably perform well.
Reason for not writing:
Baiting libertarians now feels cheap and worse, predictable. Surely I have more range, and I won’t deliver on that until I stop using the easy techniques.
Post:
Non-snarky post on the same MR review. Combining that with this post by Mr. Yudkowsky, to suggest that the market/government divide is irrelevant. At some level of complexity, humans simply do not do large tasks well.
(Although I read his data differently; to me it suggests that ten percent of people plan well. (My family members are tremendous planners, and while it takes up an absurd amount of our processing, my parents are invariably on time, with the right tool to hand and every last ingredient neatly packed. It extends to most of our clan.) We should find that ten percent and have them plan big jobs.)
Then I was thinking I’d ask for a system for doing big things, designed around that model of human capacities. I was gonna forbid us from answering “the market” or “government” and see if we flushed any original thought.
Reason for not writing:
Takes too much tending and I was at a day-long conference.
Also, high likelihood of dogmatic comments and I am tired of dogmatic comments.
Post:
A mildly peeved rant about how if men are truly insatiable horndogs who sexualize every woman they ever see and would gladly unzip at the merest hint of breast and eyelash, well, then, they could freaking stand to ASK every now and then because they are missing encounters that would be entirely welcome and everyone loses in that sad event.
Reason for not writing:
Some very small chance that he’ll see this someday, recognize the timing and realize I’m talking about him. Except I should trust the impermeable “she can’t possibly mean me” force field, which is impenetrable by anything short of the Naked Dance with instructions written with Sharpies.
It will start another round of the “boys are oblivious and girls should ask” discussion, which we’ve had two or three times, so it is now boring.
Post:
Enthusiasm about lifting weights!
Tinge of fall sadness!
Good weekend planned!
Reason for not writing:
Eh.
I would really like to be able to paste tables into Blogger.
Snarky post baiting libertarians, about this MR review. Considering that health care and construction are two of the largest industries in our country and both have terrible track records, I’m not sure why you cling to the idea that markets invariably perform well.
Reason for not writing:
Baiting libertarians now feels cheap and worse, predictable. Surely I have more range, and I won’t deliver on that until I stop using the easy techniques.
Post:
Non-snarky post on the same MR review. Combining that with this post by Mr. Yudkowsky, to suggest that the market/government divide is irrelevant. At some level of complexity, humans simply do not do large tasks well.
(Although I read his data differently; to me it suggests that ten percent of people plan well. (My family members are tremendous planners, and while it takes up an absurd amount of our processing, my parents are invariably on time, with the right tool to hand and every last ingredient neatly packed. It extends to most of our clan.) We should find that ten percent and have them plan big jobs.)
Then I was thinking I’d ask for a system for doing big things, designed around that model of human capacities. I was gonna forbid us from answering “the market” or “government” and see if we flushed any original thought.
Reason for not writing:
Takes too much tending and I was at a day-long conference.
Also, high likelihood of dogmatic comments and I am tired of dogmatic comments.
Post:
A mildly peeved rant about how if men are truly insatiable horndogs who sexualize every woman they ever see and would gladly unzip at the merest hint of breast and eyelash, well, then, they could freaking stand to ASK every now and then because they are missing encounters that would be entirely welcome and everyone loses in that sad event.
Reason for not writing:
Some very small chance that he’ll see this someday, recognize the timing and realize I’m talking about him. Except I should trust the impermeable “she can’t possibly mean me” force field, which is impenetrable by anything short of the Naked Dance with instructions written with Sharpies.
It will start another round of the “boys are oblivious and girls should ask” discussion, which we’ve had two or three times, so it is now boring.
Post:
Enthusiasm about lifting weights!
Tinge of fall sadness!
Good weekend planned!
Reason for not writing:
Eh.
I would really like to be able to paste tables into Blogger.
posted by Megan at 10:56 AM
12 Comments:
Fall sadness? Really? I've been feeling quite the opposite.
Are you sure you have enough nuts hidden in tree trunks? It is going to be cold and dark, and then we will grow thick fur and retreat to caves and what if we aren't ready yet?
Wolves, you know. And Cossacks.
We're totally ready. It's going to be fine and green and wet and lovely. We'll get to rest up and restore all the energy that the blast furnace of summer stole from us.
You think you are prepared for a long grinding season of 75 degree days and nights in the 40's? Really? This will require two layers, one of them longsleeved. Sure, the hills will green up, but there will be mornings with frost on the ground. You're sounding kindof cocky, and Nature is merciless.
"At some level of complexity, humans simply do not do large tasks well." - M
yes. this. IMHO this is because people have a limit to the number of individual things they can imagine or hold in their minds... but there is MORE than that.
Even REALLY GOOD planners have biases and presuppositions, so IDEALLY you would have planners whose biases as a group cancel each other out... BUT! I have noticed that people who are interested in becomming planners often have the same biases, and are balanced by people who aren't planners.
The problems arrives bright and early with irritation that somebody is questioning your incredibly well thought out plan, when they don't even know how to plan themselves...
It's human nature. You can respect someone who knows what you know, even if they disagree. If someone doesn't know, then you think they are not worht listening too.
What kind of new clothes does the Emporer have?
I have also noticed that sometimes planners are totally gobsmacked when their plans come off the rails. This is not an issue when it's a weekend picnic, and you arive at the site to find that you can't open the wine because your corkscrew broke. And some lout thinks the whole valley really wants to listen to 50cent blasted from his car. And you didn't wear hiking boots because you weren't planning on going up the trail for the picnic...
and the guy with terrible organization skills says no problem, picks you up to give you a piggyback ride up the trail, and produces the swiss army knife with a corkscrew.
Planning is one thing. Reacting when the plan goes bad is something else. Nobody can know everything...
about that mildly peeved rant? Perhaps you should consider that "The Guy" in question is getting close to you, to find out if you are worth being insatiable with...
contrary to popular opinion, some guys have been wrecked often enough that they are wary. Maybe believe that nothing can be that easy, or instinctively believe that there's a catch. 'Cuz there always seems to be one.
Just think how it will be when he finally lets you in?
Be kind.
And use water based markers... Sharpies are so hard to get off the skin... Though it is fun to try.
Fall, when my head clears, and the light looks a certain way... The harvest moon rises, and warm thoughts fill the heart, and warm drinks fill the body...
I love layers. My sweaters have been looking at me all dejectedly for months now. "Is it our time yet?" "No, my darlings, but soon."
Their chance is just around the corner, and I defy Nature to take on a posse of enthusiastic overclothes, bent on maintaining maximum coziness.
Cocky? No. Confident - hell yes.
Those two are highly regulated industries so libertarians might go the opposite direction.
Except I should trust the impermeable “she can’t possibly mean me” force field, which is impenetrable by anything short of the Naked Dance with instructions written with Sharpies.
Clearly this boy is oblivious. So you can stand on your principles about not asking, or you can take a risk and ask. Certainly that exposes you to rejection, but no more so than it would expose him.
There's an important general social point here about communication. When subtle modes of communication fail, you have two choices - telepathically beaming your wishes into the other person's brain or direct communication. There are lots of things you're oblivious to, and I'm sure you appreciate it when those things are raised directly. Why should this be different?
Snark: Health care broken-ness seems to me more caused by overregulation than market failure. Construction doesn't seem broken to me - there's plenty of it happening around Seattle, at least. Big government construction projects may be broken, but it's hard to blame THAT on market freedom...
Unsnark: I find it very believable that most humans are bad at large-scale thinking (and worse at large-scale feeling).
I wonder if that means we should avoid large-scale projects unless they're agreed to and funded by people capable of doing so. I'm somewhat serious - in a lot of cases, it would be better to have people make lots of little decisions, like living somewhere else, than one big collective decision, like building a dam.
Horndog men: Definitely an oversimplified model. Most desirable people are aware enough to be shy, and humble enough to undervalue their attractiveness. Some recognize this and overcome the tendency, but most won't, especially without help. For most people (men and women), even on top of the significant risk of pain and rejection, there's a very real risk that reality won't be as good as the eyelash-and-breast-inspired fantasy.
The fact that girls should ask more often doesn't let guys off the hook. EVERYONE should be more transparent and ask more often. Though only a subset should try the Naked Sharpie dance...
Other topics: agreed with eh, but still nice to hear about. Enjoy the weights, weekend, and even the tinge of sadness!
To help you through your fall sadness:
'Memory of the sun seeps from the heart
Grass grows yellower.
Faintly if at all the early snowflakes
Hover, hover.
Water becoming ice is slowing in
The narrow channels.
Nothing at all will happen here again,
Will ever happen.
Memory of sun seeps from the heart.
What is it?-Dark?
Perhaps! Winter will have occupied us
In the night.
----
Why is that at this page
Alone the corner is turned down?
----
O my heart, how you yearn
For your dying hour.
----
No, I am only looking at the wall's
Reflections of the dying heavenly flames.
----
Do you forgive me these November days?
In canals around the Neva fires fragment.
Scant is tragic autumn's finery.
-----
Now mirrors learn not to expect smiles
-----
Westward the sun is dropping,
and the roofs of towns are shining in its light.
Already death is chalking doors with crosses
And calling the ravens and the ravens are in flight.
----Anna Akhmatova
Well, Megan's reluctance to post, snarkily or otherwise, made me miss my chance to join in that (to me) surreal thread at MR. There are some 3750 words on the topic of the relationship between owner and builder, and the word "architect" appears once, in passing. Gee, I wonder if there's anyone in the world who might moderate the asymmetrical information between owner and builder? Maybe some sort of trained professional whose job is to impartially mediate between the two parties?
Architects aren't central to the initial question, about restructuring contracts, but we're relevant to about half of the associated questions people were wrestling with, and it never occurred to anyone to think about it.
This is frustrating. And I'm complaining about it here, Megan, all because you restrained your snark. Do you see how you're only hurting yourself with this behavior?
...
Post:
Cunnilingus tips and tricks.
Reason for not writing:
None whatsoever.
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