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Fiat justitia ruat caelum

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Fiat justitia ruat caelum

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 September 05 01:56:25 UTC
				


				
					

					
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 6, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Most books are written by a single author and you get a look inside a specific person's head.  Most games are written by committee and you are less likely to get a coherent psychology and theme.  There are exceptions in both mediums.


Reading is a shared endeavor that the writer starts but is completed by the reader.  The words the author provides are the building block for the imaginative experience the reader creates in their own heads, supplying the sights, sounds, smells inside.


Gaming is also a shared endeavor, but different.  The game developers provide visuals and audio, the player makes decisions and solves challenges.


There is massive potential in both mediums, and I hesitate to say that one could be substituted for the other.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 6, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I read 15,539 pages last year, according to Goodreads.  There might be a handful of physical books, PDFs of books I read from my computer, and rereads left off there.  And all the kids books (we read Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe, Charlie and the Chocolate factory, and a whole host of small picture books I cannot remember the name of.  If those count then I beat the sheer number of books you read, though not page count.)


With four young kids, I seldom get an hour to myself before 8 PM, and even after 8 PM I am often interrupted.  Most of my reading happens in snippets on my phone.  Sometimes I'm able to read a physical book in the play area and the kids will leave me alone, sometimes the youngest ones want to sit on my lap and rip the pages up.  I think I will get back to reading more once the kids are older.


Edit: What I think is more important is how much you're taking away from the books you read.  Are you reading to spend the time on something or are you reading to pull something away from the book?  Are you getting a good mix of genres and styles or are you interested in a specific topic?


I follow https://closereads.substack.com/ and their Daily Poem podcast and read along with everything but the Monthly Mysteries (I just don't care about mystery novels.)   Having a group to discuss the novels with is great.  Outside of those books, I read Sci-Fi/Fantasy and Philosophy/Theology/Spirituality.  Occasionally I read a parenting book, though less so now that I have the hang of it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 6, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


There have also been allegations that homeless people were lighting fires, I haven't seen any proof of this. TBH fire-lighting seems like very low-risk, high-return terrorism, it's astonishing we haven't seen it become more common in certain vulnerable countries.




It's not exactly proof, but there is evidence that someone witnessed a group starting a fire and was willing to risk prosecution (for a false police report) to call it in: https://x.com/hubermanlab/status/1877236580676493784


They didn't video catching them in the act, just after it happened.


There also is video evidence of powerlines sparking on trees: https://x.com/kylezink/status/1876870818153828459


There is a lot of tinder, physically and metaphorically.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 30, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


down on the farm, labor costs are typically less than 20% or for specialty crops close to 40% of total operating costs, and the price from the farm is about one-third the price on the shelf...






Quadrupling those wages might cost the typical family $300 in a year.




From Oren Cass' "Jobs Americans Would Do"
https://americancompass.org/jobs-americans-would-do/


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 16, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Outbreeding and not killing their offspring. It seems to have been a numbers game.


https://youtube.com/watch?v=1kfnGJR59lk?si=6XCpXAJytPo_8HS4


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for December 18, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The Ritual multivitamin only has 50mcgs so maybe that is it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for December 18, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Blood vitamin d is usually on the lower end, I've taken supplements (Ritual multivitamin) for years without seeing a change. I don't get sick in the summer but am sick all winter long.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for December 18, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Is there an easy way to make vitamin d indoors? Something like a lizard lamp? I don't think vitamin d supplements are doing the job.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 16, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I wouldn't discount that possibility.  If people are violating Federal laws in hysteria then maybe something needs to be done.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 16, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
When people start pointing green lasers at commercial airplanes then maybe there is something worthy of a briefing.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
https://www.fox29.com/news/drone-mothership-claim-new-info-about-irans-drone-activity


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
You are welcome to do a big write up. I'm interested but too feverish right now to do original research.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 9, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Instead of arguing if we should change clocks maybe we should redo the time zone boundaries. Something like this.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
What's the deal with the drones?


Are there even any drones?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 9, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'm not SSCReader, but for a different example:


I have the low-deductible buy-up plan.  Deductible is 1500 per person or 4500 over the whole family, for in-network providers.  This is not the same as an Out of Pocket Maximum.  When the deductible is hit, insurance starts paying 50% of the costs until the Out of Pocket Maximum is hit.  Individual Out of Pocket maximum is $6,850, over the whole family it is 12,000.


I had the ill fortune of reaching my family's Out of Pocket Maximum a couple years back.  Three young kids hospitalized with complications from a bad combo of RSV and Parainfluenza.  Two of the kids spend 2 days in the ICU, the third spent 9 days in the ICU.  Each day in the ICU was $8,140.00 charged to insurance, and that is leaving out all other services that were provided while they were in the ICU.  In the end, about $300,000 was billed to insurance and I paid only $12,000 of that.  (That doesn't count the hundreds of dollars we spent on the Starbucks in the hospital over the three weeks we were swapping kids in and out, but you can only expect so much from insurance.)


Naturally, when I was sitting in the Emergency room with an unresponsive kid I had no way of knowing how much would get charged to insurance.  I think by the time I was bringing my second child we assumed we were hitting our Maximum.


Also, my husband has annual colonoscopies and SSCReader's experience is also our own.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Noah Smith: Insurance companies aren't the main villain of the U.S. health system
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Why isn't a vent cheap? Do they involve rare minerals?


To be on high flow requires an ICU and constant observation, I guess most of the cost is in personnel?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Noah Smith: Insurance companies aren't the main villain of the U.S. health system
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


If you get hit by a car and end up in the ICU for three weeks




I think this is something that would be covered under "insurance" as I said above.  Insurance works for cases where only a fraction of the people who pay into it every year have an event that requires it.  Random trauma like car crashes only happen to a small percentage of people every year, and so it's the kind of thing that insurance is good for.




rehab for five months




This is the point where someone might be able to shop around and find rehab center with less frills for less money.




Even if you are awake and say "take me to the cheaper hospital" the ambulance is going to take you to the place you are triaged to, because if you die your family will sue the shit out of them and win.




This is a choice we are making.  We could just as easily dismiss such cases as frivolous and instead have people sue ambulances for taking them to an undesired hospital.




Furthermore how do you want handle cost overruns.




Lots of industries have a way to handle this.  One way to handle it is the quote for the service can have the expected price (5k in your example), and then a Not To Exceed amount (15k, or whatever the most likely highest number is), and authorization (from a spouse, someone who will agree to be on the hook for the money) needs to authorize exceeding the NTE.  Another way is to just have a single price for the surgery that averages out complications.  No, that is not general insurance.  Most industries provide services for a set price that allows for some one-off situations and it isn't called insurance.


It's not quite clear to me that we should be spending millions of dollars to save a single person's life.  Unless it's really simple/easy to do, in which case why does it cost millions of dollars?


Also, do not discount how much money each person would have in their HSA, if they put as much into it as they pay insurance.  Average premium for family coverage is 25k a year.  Stash all that away into a HSA, accumulate interest, and there would be lots of ready money for emergencies.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Noah Smith: Insurance companies aren't the main villain of the U.S. health system
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think the ultimate US health system would be: Medicaid for those who need it, Medicare for purely palliative care, HSAs as common as 401ks, and insurance that only covers emergencies where the patient is unconscious or at risk of life and limb if a quick decision isn't made. Otherwise full price transparency and an easy way to look up prices for comparable services across all nearby providers.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 9, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Do you have studies to back that up?




Yes, the large body of work on how Permissive Parenting produces kids who have decreased emotional intelligence.  Baumrind followed a group of white kids from preschool to adulthood with an average IQ of 125, studying them in their homes, assessing the parenting styles and then checking back on the kids later to see what their outcomes are.




"Despite the unconditional acceptance, lenient
practices, and equalitarian values of their parents, adolescents from permissive fami-
lies were almost 1 SD less autonomous (individuation and self-efficacy) than their
peers "




You're other question:




So beating is optional? That is a bizarre position to take. It’s either necessary, as people used to believe, or it should be avoided, for obvious reasons.




Beating is optional, setting and enforcing limits is not.  Beating is one of several ways to enforce limits, but there are other ways to enforce limits that are equally good.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 9, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The language example is something that has happened several times in highly abusive situations, and has been studied in detail, for example, see Genie.  Not enforcing any rules at all may be a similar form of neglect, lesser in severity, but still with consequences.


Yes, people used to beat their kids.  As far as I can tell, that is ok, as long as the parent shows love at other times.


The experts have not turned the wheel, the experts have always said "Strictness and love," it's just interpreted through the popular self-help books differently through the generations.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 9, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
https://www.themotte.org/post/1277/culture-war-roundup-for-the-week/274693?context=8#context


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 9, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think you should look at this comment, but I thought it was pretty clear that I meant Liberalism as the political philosophy tradition begun by Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 9, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Think of it less as a parenting style, and more as a complete neglect of acculturating a child into society.  If a kid never learns a word is spoken before sometime between 6 and 12, they will never understand language syntax.  Never ever, no matter how smart their parents were or how dedicated their speech therapist is.


If a kid never has a single rule enforced by a grown up and is shielded from the consequences of their actions, are they capable of learning executive function and how to behave in a society which has authority over them? I'm really surprised if you think it doesn't matter, when it is clear from several fields that there are "critical periods" of brain development, and if certain stimuli are not provided during those periods that the window to learn certain skills closes.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 9, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
More than 50 years ago, Johns Hopkins sociologist James
Coleman asked American teenagers this question: "Let's say that
you had always wanted to belong to a particular club in school, and
then finally you were asked to join. But then you found out that
your parents didn't approve of the group. " Would you still join? In
that era, the majority of American teenagers responded No. They
would not join the club if their parents did not approve.


These figures are provided in Edwin Artmann's
doctoral dissertation, "A comparison of selected attitudes and values
of the adolescent society in 1957 and 1972," North Texas State University, 1973.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 9, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Genetics provide a high water mark that a human can aspire to, but there are obvious ways a bad parent could cut that short. Concussing the kid, starving the kid, locking up the kid so they never learn language before that critical period is passed.


There is a large body of work suggesting that not setting rules and limits for kids is one of these blunders that prevents a kid from reaching their full potential.