The Best of Web posts are much shorter in length with material that is a notch or two above what you see in the regular TBB posts. It also gives me a short break midweek because I need it. Here is another post with five links about how the virus will be with us for a very long time, how to be happier by not moving the goalposts, how the Silicon Valley idealists got it all so wrong, a fantastic podcast with President Obama and one of the most moving videos I have seen lately! TBB on and hi from Miami where we are really enjoying some time off in the Confidante Hotel!
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The Forever Virus
Must read, written by By Larry Brilliant, Lisa Danzig, Karen Oppenheimer, Agastya Mondal, Rick Bright, and W. Ian Lipkin. You should know what these scientists are saying! It starts out like this:
It is time to say it out loud: the virus behind the COVID-19 pandemic is not going away. SARS-CoV-2 cannot be eradicated, since it is already growing in more than a dozen different animal species. Among humans, global herd immunity, once promoted as a singular solution, is unreachable. Most countries simply don’t have enough vaccines to go around, and even in the lucky few with an ample supply, too many people are refusing to get the shot. As a result, the world will not reach the point where enough people are immune to stop the virus’s spread before the emergence of dangerous variants—ones that are more transmissible, vaccine resistant, and even able to evade current diagnostic tests. Such supervariants could bring the world back to square one. It might be 2020 all over again.
So go read the whole thing. And brace for a long war to defeat this virus…
Getting the Goalpost to Stop Moving
Wow!
There aren’t many iron laws of money. But here’s one, and perhaps the most important: If expectations grow faster than income you’ll never be happy with your money. One of the most important financial skills is getting the goalpost to stop moving. It’s also one of the hardest. [So so true!]
Going easy on excerpts today as I am at a beach in Miami enjoying some relaxing days in our first post Covid trip!
What the Silicon Valley idealists got wrong
The internet and social media were supposed to democratise knowledge and unite the world. Things didn’t quite turn out that way. Yeah…
The entire edifice of digital media has been constructed on two assumptions. The first conflates information and knowledge: if we give people more information more quickly, they will become smarter, better informed and broader minded. The second conflates communication and community: if we provide people with more ways to share their thoughts, they’ll become more understanding and empathetic, and society will end up more harmonious. Deeply idealistic, the two assumptions have been fundamental to the ideology and business strategy of Silicon Valley – they explain much about the way online experience has evolved – and by a sort of cultural osmosis, they have also come to be broadly held by the general public. The only problem is, both assumptions are false. We are now, as individuals and as societies, paying the price for being seduced by a pair of utopian myths.
The problem with Silicon Valley’s two formative myths goes beyond their denial of human nature. They reinforce the idea, particularly prevalent in American culture, that technological progress is sufficient to ensure social progress. If we get the engineering right, our better angels will triumph. That’s a pleasant thought, but it’s a fantasy. Progress toward a more amicable world and a more broad-minded populace will require not technological magic but concrete, painstaking, and altogether human measures: negotiation and compromise, a renewed emphasis on civics and reasoned debate, a citizenry able to appreciate contrary perspectives and to think deeply about complex challenges. It will require less selfexpression and more self-examination. Technology is an amplifier. It magnifies our best traits, and it magnifies our worst. What it doesn’t do is make us better people. That’s a job we can’t offload on machines or hand over to technologists. [Amen!]
Obama Explains How America Went From ‘Yes We Can’ to MAGA
Obama is interviewed, 1 hour podcast. Fantastic intellectual discussion how we got here. I am holding back using more colorful language because it is not constructive. Choose Kindness and Love instead!
Following the Footsteps of My Father
One of the most inspiring videos I have seen recently, I was in awe! I am not going to spoil it, just give this a click and you will thank me for it. Respect!
And I leave you with this…
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Housel makes some good points about financial expectations, but one big thing he leaves out is that 70 years ago wealth and income were distributed more equally. I’m currently reading “The Meritocracy Trap” by Daniel Markovits and it has a lot of interesting discussion about how much economic life has changed from then to now.
In other news, Jon Stewart has sided with Dan over George:
https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/558669-jon-stewart-backs-wuhan-lab-leak-theory
The solution is not necessarily to spend more on public and less on private education. Companies have to diversify their recruitment base. Facebook, Goldman Sachs et al shouldn’t be allowed to favor students from a very small set of universities. The universities are now gate keepers to wealth accumulation. And this is supported by our tax system given the tax status of “non-profit” organizations. Universities should be required to ~double their student population over then next 5-10 years or lost their favorable tax status. We need more medical doctors, educate many more and and as a result make them affordable! Competition is good!
Great video, missed Jon!
https://youtube.com/watch?v=sSfejgwbDQ8
Next Best of Web post will have an article to shut you up, be patient.
In the meantime, you still stand by your 3/10 Trump rating who killed so many people. #Preventable
Why so focused on Trump and not the other countries that did even worse per capita like Belgium, Italy, Poland, and the UK? The EU as a whole was also comparable to the US.
Never mind that Trump’s warp speed did more to ensure that we exited the pandemic than any other world leader.
Sure it was self serving, but so what?
The irony here is that I’m not a Trump fan at all. Can’t stand the guy and overall we are a more divided country thanks to him. And 3/10 is indeed a rotten score.
But I also am happy to admit when someone on either side does something right or wrong. Polarization is the source of most of our problems IMHO.
>>>>>>>>>> Polarization is the source of most of our problems IMHO.
Woot
I think you voted for him.
Give the article I will post sometime next week its due.
I need to go for round #2 in my Globalist breakfast in the Miami Confidante now, bye
Dan, you’re right, Bolsonaro did a worse job than Trump.
Trump’s polarizing legacy can still be seen with the low vaccination rates in parts of the country. We will continue to have pockets of large COVID cases as we enter the fall.
All,
Mailchimp closed my account for violating its policies. Thing is I have not logged into my account for years! Email went out to subscribers every time I had a new blog post at 8 am. For years!
After Amazon did this to me it is very clear that God is sending me a message here.
PHUUUUUCK!!!!!
Looking to resolve this issue. MC said it was automatic but after manual review I have been cleared. But I need to reactivate my account…I asked for detailed instructions as I have not logged into it for years!
Thanks for the link to the story of the hero Roddie Tanner. Very inspiring! I also like the “goalposts” essay. It’s fun to think of the Rockefeller comparisons.
Sorry about your MailChimp problems. Maybe the rule you broke was not logging into your account for years?
Email went out with this post today at 8 am so I think we are back. Still have not logged into my MC account lol!
Wow! I am so late. I guess I depended upon the 8am nudge!
U got it today instead of yesterday. Tech hiccups…it is amazing how I kept this baby going with my less than average tech knowhow!
Crappy yellow 5th place ribbon.
Thanks for the links Buzz and have a great time at the beach!
Thanks David, we are enjoying the relaxing time. Good to get the travel rustiness off….almost forgot what travel feels like.
The nudge came!
Yeah..sorry about that. Not sure what happened yesterday to get my mailchimp account automatically suspended. Tweeting at them got their attention, love Twitter! After manual review, they unsuspended me and apologized.