I took last week off on vacation and spent several days playing The Sims 3 and Stardew Valley, watching TV, and ignoring the news and social media, and I have to say, it was pretty awesome. 10/10, highly recommend.
Two quick stories I want to point out to you –
First one is this guest essay in the New York Times, “We Did the Research: Masks Work, and You Should Choose a High Quality Mask if Possible,” by a handful of professors from various schools, which covers research on why and how masks work and what kind of masks you should be wearing. The gist is that any mask is better than no mask; masks like KN95s and N95s are the best if worn properly; and if you have a choice opt for a surgical mask over a cloth mask, because the surgical masks work better than cloth masks. So, if you haven’t yet, probably now is a good time to head over to Amazon or wherever you go in the real world and pick up some surgical masks.
The second story is this one in the Washington Post, “Senate Republicans prepare to block measure to fund government, stave off U.S. default.” If you’re old enough you probably remember this song from the Obama years. Back in, I want to say early in Obama’s second term?, the GOP held the vote on the debt ceiling hostage long enough that we actually got our credit downranked, and it looks like they’re gonna go ahead and do that again this week.
Here’s a handful of other fun reads.
- The Verge: Revolt of the Delivery Workers
- Aeon: The mind does not exist
- Ars Technica: Leaked documents reveal the special rules Facebook uses for 5.8M VIPs
- Nieman Lab: A new NYU report finds that Facebook is part of the polarization problem, but not all of it
- Rolling Stone: Portland, Oregon, Is Ground Zero for Violent Culture-War Clashes. And It’s Spreading
- Lifehacker: Will Supply Chain Issues Really Sabotage 2021 Holiday Shopping?
Notes & Thoughts 