Favorites October 3rd 2021

Kim-Mai Cutler @kimmaicutler

Huh, a world-class city that builds and zones for a lot of housing….

Hiroko Tabuchi @HirokoTabuchi

Non-climate post: Though we don't have plans to move back to Tokyo soon, I do still love getting my Ｒ不動産 #realtokyoestate email newsletter. And gawking at central Tokyo apartments going for $830/month. https://t.co/kpmi53cd6c

Almost like there's a connection between zoning and rents.

Noah Smith 🐇 @Noahpinion

This is an unbelievable scientific advance. We are literally giving sight to the blind. This is a Biblical-level miracle.

sciencealert.comBrain Implant Gives Blind Woman Artificial Vision in Scientific FirstA ‘visual prosthesis’ implanted directly into the brain has allowed a blind woman to perceive two-dimensional shapes and letters for the first time in 16 years.

It's unfortunately still only shapes and letters. When I first saw this, I thought it had already been done, but previous technology has been an implant in the patient's eye, but this is an implant in the patient's brain.

vaheder 🍞 @vaheder

Everything you think you know about the Winchester Mystery House probably isn't true

getpocket.comEverything you think you know about the Winchester Mystery House probably isn’t trueThe story is so famous most locals can recite it by heart: An eccentric widow, heir to an American rifle fortune, is tortured by the horrors wrought by the weapon.

All the stuff about her holding seiances to decide what to build next that they tell you ON THE TOUR OF THE HOUSE, appears to be fabricated, concocted after her death.

Colin McMillen @mcmillen

windows start menu auto-suggesting software piracy 😬

Windows gets right down to business.

Noah Smith 🐇 @Noahpinion

South Korea believes in us more than WE believe in us. Thanks, Korea! ❤️ We should do more to try to live up to Koreans' vision of America.

D'aww, that's nice of them.

Don Moynihan @donmoyn

New administrative burden paper: automatic enrollment into a default health plan significantly increases take-up by 35-50%. scholar.harvard.edu/files/mshepard…

I would almost prefer my company only offer one insurance plan option.

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

I feel like everyone has forgotten Politics 101, but the correct approach to this kind of thing is you pander to what the swing voters want and realize the other people will vote for you anyway.

Helaine Olen @helaineolen

The Democrats are facing a real dilemma when it comes to Covid. Post vaccines, most people want to resume a more or less normal life. But a not insignificant minority remain fairly scared. That latter group is disproportionately Democratic. This won't be easy to navigate. https://t.co/kNiD8mGoIb

Yea, this is where that whole thing about needing an off-ramp for the pandemic comes in.

Santa Cruz, March 2021