Neo
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Posts posted by Neo
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14 hours ago, Indabuff said:
I'm trying to wrap my head around this response. If my mother-in-law who has a significant amount of underlying health issues is infected you think it would be okay if she was unable to get necessary medical attention here because people from 300 miles away were brought here to be treated for the infection? You would be okay with your own family member or friend not being able to receive medical treatment because of this scenario?
Bigger picture, you actually think ADDING infected people to an area that is just beginning to see an increase in infections is a good idea? Please explain to me the logic in that.
As a generalization and model for understanding my surroundings, only ...
I think pursuing the logic won’t be fruitful. I’ve tried that, and it was never fruitful for me. Frustrated, I pursued the source, instead.
There is a Schadenfreude of Les Misérables that is loose in the environment. This ethos is a pathogen as dangerous as any virus to the broader body. It’s been around since the dawn of human history, yet we are not immune and remain at risk. The infection rate ebbs and flows. There have been more cases than usual for the past sixty years and a spike in the last ten.
My advice is to fight it. It flees when confronted, crumbles when caught, and dies in the sunlight. I don’t think your mother in law or patient management was the subject of the post you’re questioning.
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2 hours ago, E4 ... Ke2 said:
Saw that. So, in chess, I dabble. I had a forty year break. Fischer - Spassky introduced me. Life and commerce interrupted. I’m a 1440/1500 ELO player at Lichess. Smack dab average. I am beginning to learn the stars and their backgrounds. Great human interest stories with global points of view. There is so much streaming and web content. The talk now is what do do before the world championship. The cancellation is not without controversy. Teimour Radjabov, who I didn't know from Adam a week ago, quit the tournament a few days ago because of the virus and the possibility that he’d be stuck in Russia if he didn’t leave fast. He pleaded for postponement, did not prevail, left and was disqualified. Days later, FIDE changed its position to his. Should he be reinstated? Everyone has a view.
I like the streams a lot. Because it’s global, chess is accomplished in streaming technology. You’ll typically get different ages, localities and genders all at once. Perspectives!
Lastly, I wrote hear months ago that I was still trying to figure out if chess was a game or a sport. My friends here said game. Web personalities in the chess world are unanimous in calling it a sport.
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1 hour ago, darksabre said:
We need reform somehow. I just want to find a way to strike a balance between education being about ROI and education being about curiosity, exploration, fun...
This idea of "useless" majors makes me crazy. Learning is good! Not everything has to be about financial gain!
We can do both, I believe.
For the record .... this liberal arts educated person is all against labeling anything a USELESS major. I am with you. My advice to my kids was “study what you love, commerce takes care of itself”. I would add, though ... “don’t borrow more than you can afford to do it”.
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@darksabre ... thoughtful reform. I prefer this to more resources without reform.
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28 minutes ago, Broken Ankles said:
#2 - your take is in line with one Carl Icahn. Amazing what Wall Street will create for investments.
Ol’ Carl. A hero, a villain. His is the face I saw when Michael Douglas said, “Greed, is good.”
https://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechwallstreet.html
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18 minutes ago, SwampD said:
Or, they thought past it and realized that not all students are able to go to a separate room in a big ole five bedroom house for their classes. They might be stuck at a kitchen table with two other siblings in a one room apartment with two parents that are stuck at home all in the same room and that that would be far less productive.
Not saying they did, but not all administrators are idiots.
I get what you’re saying, but I am far less likely to stop “nearly all” because of “not all”. One room and five bedrooms are different ends of a continuum. America lives in the middle. You can see something bad at McDonalds. This is a debate between common sense and “I can imagine something going wrong”. The ability to imagine something going wrong is limitless and the instinct to organize 300 million people to avoid it is ... up to each of you.
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5 minutes ago, ubkev said:
See, you say disturbingly. But my parents live just outside of Tampa and in all of my trips to Florida, that's just how I remember it always being. ?
I am as capable of rationalizing and compartmentalizing as anyone!
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1 hour ago, North Buffalo said:
We are testing like crazy and yeh i guess could be some flu, but symptoms more align with covid including granular infiltrated on chest xrays and CT. Also some we are seeing with dxs of multiple issues including the flu... wish I could post an example... hippa...
PS this comedian is hysterical tell me to delete and ill move to political thread
I mean ... this is "holy, schmoly" funny!
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7 minutes ago, SwampD said:
So, wait. We want cameras in our house now?
I can’t keep this stuff straight.
I am agnostic regarding cameras. They're pieces of plastic, metal and wiring. I am not agnostic regarding their use. That approach applies to any tool or implement I can think of. I'm afraid that school administrators stopped their thinking after your first question.
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1 minute ago, Fishtree said:
Assuming that Neo means post-secondary education, so lumping both of these together.
Honestly, this has done nothing so far to show that distance learning is in any way superior to in-person classes. I'm currently teaching out of my basement, recording lectures and assigning readings to be worked on asynchronously by the students. It's impossible to recreate the dynamic of having students in class to discuss what we're talking about; message boards don't allow for rapid conversation, student's home schedules don't allow for twice or three-times weekly in-person chats online. There's no way to go off on an interesting tangent after a student asks a thought-provoking question in the same way. Frankly, I'm doing my best, but it's nowhere near my usual standard. My juniors and seniors in my Cancer Biology course, I worry less about since they'll know to message me or email me and we can have some form of dialogue, albeit lesser; my first year students, who are still scared of even coming to office hours, I worry about them and how well what I am doing is preparing them for the more challenging 200-level class they will be taking in the fall (hopefully!). As for the teaching lab - not even close. The instructors are trying our best to put something together that makes a rough approximation of what the students would have been doing in lab, but it's not the same as hands-on experience. We just feel fortunate that they've had *most* of the experiences a little bit. But these are your future doctors, physical therapists, physician's assistants, pharmacists, medical technologists and science researchers; hands-on is kind of important for them.
Maybe it's different in different fields and different sized universities, but for a small/medium sized college in biology, there's no comparison: this is hugely sub-optimal and says nothing other than "let's get back to in-person as quickly as we can."
An informed insider! Let me be clear. I prefer face to face for any interaction. I think we are wired this way. My comments, and I do have my biases, are grounded in cost effectiveness, sustainability and common sense. We've built a system where the end users can't pay for the product. When I see this, I begin to trim the product at its edges until its critical elements remain. You've described critical elements. My criticism of the academy, my prediction that it's trajectory will change, doesn't lie in science classes, professors and TAs interacting, and gatherings for debate and dialogue. It certainly doesn't lie in "lab".
I am the last person to say "virtual anything" is better. I'm a salesman. My wife's a hero teacher, like you.
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On 3/23/2020 at 7:54 PM, Neo said:
“Sometimes there is so much beauty in the world .. I feel like I can’t take it ... and my heart is just .. going to cave in.” Ricky Fitts.
Mrs. Neo is a public school Kindergarten teacher. We have thirty years of memories of the goofy goober pants five year old she spends her day with. Oh, man, what a life. What changes over thirty years!
Last week, her school district trained teachers to begin online lessons for stay at home students. The teachers have IBM Think Pads, but almost none are remote presentation proficient. For a week, she’s been learning how to source material, upload it, stage it, adjust screen shares, audio and video. She’s a boomer who uses our Mac for email, FaceBook and FaceTime. In short, she’s a turn key end user, and not a tech savvy content provider. COVID19 is here and the world is different, now. Now! Imagine the trepidation she felt going live, today. No rehearsal, no practice. Just her, a bunch of five year olds, and their helicopter parents. Getting and keeping the attention of five year olds, in a goal oriented environment, is tough stuff even when the kids are in a familiar environment and you have the advantage of adult presence and room charisma. Today was the web and she was a neophyte host.
One by one, little smiling faces popped up on her screen. Wide excited eyes, giggles, dogs, brothers and sisters, and parents all appeared. “Hi, Zack, Sarah. Hello, Keri .. I love your bows!”. “Hi Mrs. Neo ... my cat got loose, I just had cereal, is this homeschooling, when are we coming back, is that your KITCHEN?” Eighteen of twenty five students arrived. It was time to start. She said, “Okayyyyy ... let’s start our day, just like we always do.”
My wife picked up one of those $1.29 American Flags you buy at Walmart to take to the cemetery and stick in the ground on Memorial Day, Veterans Day, or the Fourth of July. Holding it in her left hand, she placed her right hand over her heart.
”I pledge allegiance”, she said, alone. “To the flag”, she continued, accompanied by five or six voices. “Of the United States of America,” the choir growing.
”AND TO THE REPUBLIC ...”
She stopped. She had to. Her lips quivered as she tried a few words until tears rolled down her cheeks. Tears rolled down mine, too. I took a deep breath. The children went on, alone, and loud, “WITH LIBERTY, AND JUSTICE, FOR ALLLLLLLLL!”
She did it. She grabbed them at the ten second mark.
I fear no virus. Five year olds reminded me of family, community, country and God.
I can’t remember being prouder of her.
Well, that great success lasted three days. Somehow, in my first post, I missed the menace to life, liberty and happiness posed by the version of community schooling I described. I was blinded by tears and kindergarten shrieks of joy.
A parent pointed out to the school district that seeing into homes might lead to, well, something like inadvertently seeing other parents in pajamas, or something worse. Who knows, a bad dad might moon the camera. Thank HEAVENS someone stepped forward to identify a risk and alert the school district to a convolutedly imagined liability! Phewwww, a parent (who shouldn't be) spoke up and pointed out that subtle concept I ignored. That is ... "something could go wrong". Hold on, I need a moment. I'm shuddering.
So, a collection of really insightful bureaucrats got together, recognized there was an opportunity to further sanitize, protect, and shelter others from life, er, harm. They passed on the opportunity to respond to the parent with something along the lines of "life happens, get over it". Instead, they formulated rules and regulations. They announced how important the new rules were. They cascaded the new rules to teachers.
Virtual learning will now consist of my wife's camera being on, and no one else's camera being on. Five year olds will now see her, only. She'll see no one. There will be no community, no eye contact, no gleeful talking and giggling with one another.
Of course, human engagement, perseverance, and resiliency go to hell. The effectiveness of the education decreases immensely. BUT, new rules are in place that protect us. We are sanitized. We are not advanced.
If only these bureaucrats had more resources. They could identify every victim, spot any risk, and send out rules for ... well, I was going to say "living", but that doesn't seem like the right word. I am hoping the PTA takes up "pajama parties", which seem to carry a similar risk. Perhaps this is Town Board, and not PTA, jurisdiction.
Education doesn't need more resources. It needs a great purging and an enema.
I have to go. I'm boarding up my windows lest I see something offensive outside or lest someone outside sees something offensive inside. The latter is more likely than the former. You see, I am handicapped. I was born without an "easily offended" gland. Sigh, if only ...
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4 hours ago, E4 ... Ke2 said:
Old Sabres games.
Theory of several complex variables.
Math contests, applied math techniques.
FIDE Candidates Tournament
System networking and administration for new job.
Music analysis videos from different YouTube channels.
History, cultural, etc. YouTube channels.
Classic TV favourites.
Classic movies that I haven't seen in aeons.
FIDE Candidates ... I dig Agadmator. 6:40 - “an improved Bong Cloud”!
Music analysis on Youtube ... John Bonham getting in with Jimmy Page
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6 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:
chinesecheckers.com here.
Too soon?
Not for me, it isn’t!
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I am playing chess with hundreds of people of all races, creeds, ages, genders and nationalities from around the world on Lichess.org.
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6 hours ago, ubkev said:
Tiger King
....here we go
Oh, man .... wear a helmet. Mrs. Neo and I binged it at the suggestion of a NeoEtte. Disturbingly, much of it took place in Tampa.
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Pretty cool watch. Rogie Vachon and Bunny Larocque ... The end is interesting. There’s a panel discussion where Brodeur is selected over Hasek, followed by 5 or so minutes of highlights of each. The highlights would lead anyone unfamiliar with the pair worried about the mental health of the panelists who selected Brodeur.
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24 minutes ago, Eleven said:
He really wasn't that special. He had an incredible rookie year, and then he played with one of the best teams the NHL ever has seen. Everything in between was meh.
Gotta agree on your last sentence. Maybe the top 15 or 20, but at a certain point, it's just a battle of who is more famous and who played with better teams. Like if Richter is on this list, I'll know it's total BS.
Richter, Number 37.
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I think it was three years ago, tonight ... the second annual ... Modo came.
I sat with two NeoEttes and @qwksndmonster. i caught a tee shirt shot out of a gun, memorialized as follows by my son.
Anybody have old pics?
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On 3/24/2020 at 1:11 PM, dudacek said:
As someone who has worked from home for nearly 4 years now, my eyes have really been opened as to how unneeded and unhealthy commuting culture really is.
If there is good that comes out of the current situation, it might be how many eyes might be opened to this.
Megatrends ... this will accelerate great change. Much was already in the works.
1). China loses big.
2). Any brick and mortar is worth less. The acceleration of middle class mall decline is here.
3). Bloated secondary education is taking it right in the gut. Brick, mortar, dorms with spas, gyms and pools, and curricula that requires debt but can’t repay debt (a cocaine and hookers and meth party that’s nearly two generation old).
4) Bank branches, already on life support, go away (this is, ironically, good for banks and a consumer choice).
5) Automobile sales decline by a similar proportion to the drop in office workers.
I’d be interested in the thoughts or observations of others ...
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Memory lane .... Sabres fans chanting “Bernie, Bernie, Bernie” while Parent skated the Conn Smythe around the ice. Truly, Buffalo Fan iconic. Sixteen years later, that same group of fans would chant “Scotty, Scotty, Scotty” in the same rhythm in Niagara Square. Two years earlier, they’d chanted “Thank you, Sabres” in the waning seconds of a game six playoff elimination.
I always wondered what the likes of Bobby Clark, Moose Dupont, Big Bird Saleski, et al. thought while that was happening. They played in front of Philly fans, a species with different DNA.
Tampa has good fans, nice fans. Even they tilt their heads, much like dogs do when they hear a word they recognize in a context they don’t, when I tell these stories.
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Brodeur is the only goaltender I consider as Hasek’s peer. I give Dom the nod overall. Dom carried weaker teams and was less protected by system. I recall conversations about NJ and its LWL/ Trap and the depression of scoring chances. True, but Marty was great. Dom is GOAT.
I don’t get to Miller as top fifty. I considered him in the bottom half of the top third in the league (5th to 10th) in any given year. A very good goaltender for a long time. I wish he’d stopped Crosby for his sake. How special he was in that Olympics. How dramatic that moment was.
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1 hour ago, nfreeman said:
So his nickname is DDP, right?
I’m down with D.D.P., yeah, you know me.
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The Plan
in The Aud Club
Posted