Favorites October 12th 2021

Benjy Sarlin @BenjySarlin

Big from Pelosi: “Overwhelmingly, the guidance I am receiving from Members is to do fewer things well so that we can still have a transformative impact on families in the workplace and responsibly address the climate crisis”

Hopefully by focusing it will be easier to spend more time talking about individual programs.

Patrick Collison @patrickc

Fun fact: the US decided to build "the world's first full-scale atomic electric power plant devoted exclusively to peacetime uses" in 1953 and it went live in 1957. That is, it took less time to invent nuclear power stations in the 50s than it takes to replicate them today.

Alec Stapp @AlecStapp

“In the face of its escalating energy crisis, Britain has just announced a crash program to build over dozen new nuclear reactors by 2035.” https://t.co/bsxNU7nXRe

For better or worse, everyone's bad at making nuclear power plants, not just the US. Solar + Batteries is such a clear winner over nuclear at this point.

Caleb Watney @calebwatney

New @DataProgress polling shows that creating a simpler pathway to permanent residence for high-skilled workers is very popular! A good reason to keep the green card cap exemptions in the House reconciliation bill.

I really hope this makes it into reconciliation bill, immigration is core to the success of the United States. (green card recapture would be great too)

Next door in Silicon Valley @nextdoorsv

Who is likely to move out of the Bay Area in the next few years? Young people. Who is definitely going to stay in the Bay Area? Retirees. jointventure.org/images/stories…

Speaking of the importance of immigration to a successful economy...

Alice @AliceFromQueens

Michael’s a noted physicist who felt the studies justifying recent changes in physics education smelled fishy. Because he’s not some Twitter/YouTube lightweight, he dove into the studies & published his findings in a peer-reviewed paper. They seem broadly relevant.

Michael Weissman @mbw61567742

1/n My paper on the garbage dump that passes for causal analysis in Physics Ed. Res. (and I think in other education) has just been posted. Kudos to the editor for publishing this critique of papers from his journal! https://t.co/AGy0eUwgfJ

And here we have Causal Inference techniques being applied to measuring physics education policies. His key finding was that "Big policy decisions, e.g. dropping standardized tests, are being made based on 'research' with comically bad errors leading to conclusions opposite of what the data imply."

John Scalzi @scalzi

Yes, I've seen it. Yes, that's a funny image.

newsthump.comBlue Origin crew concerned by new uniforms ahead of Shatner space flightNew uniforms issued to the crew of Amazon’s Blue Origin rocket have led to concerns being expressed about what Jeff Bezos thinks might be going to happen.

Don't worry, the real uniforms are blue. Also, they may be going to space, but as any KSP player will tell you, there's a massive difference between 'space' and 'orbit'.

Scalzi is the author of Redshirts.

Niagara-on-the-Lake, 2018

Not only did I spell Niagara correctly this time, but I put in the correct hyphens for this mouthfull of a city name.