The Month That Was - May 2021

I'm on my final run-through of my next novel and have begun to refresh my memory about formatting for Kindle.  But, yeah, we're in the endgame now.  After that I start to think about my next project. 

I moved my tomato plant back outdoors and got the bikes lubed and broken in.  Summer is nigh.

The highlight of the month was a trip up to my beloved Mackinac Island; last year was the first year I missed visiting.  The island itself changes very little, which is as it should be.

Short shrift this month with just a couple of posts. I was preparing a guide to Mackinac Island and realized how long it needed to be and I just couldn't get it finished in a reasonable time frame.  So it'll have to wait until next month.

[Covid19] Coronatime, Month 15

[Rant] Smart Kids Find a Way

[Covid19] Coronatime, Month 15

Dear Lord, could we really be near the finish line?  As I write this I have spent two days mask free.  That includes going out to lunch, going to the gym, and grocery shopping.  And yes, it felt weird, but I'll get used to it really fast. I even did a live in-person five mile race.  The expectation in Michigan is now to remove all restrictions by July.  Sweet Fancy Moses!

My only fear now is that we get another spike and everybody freaks and we start backsliding.  I find that unlikely, not because we won't get another spike -- if anything this virus has dashed the best of expectations and rational analysis, see my previous comments on heterogeneity -- but simply because it will be politically and socially untenable to suddenly tell everyone "Sorry we have to go through it all again."

Here I am counting my chickens while juggling eggs. 

Covid-19 will be with us for a long time, probably like the flu is still with us.  It will mutate, wax and wane, and stagger on.  We will probably develop an annual vaccine regime like we have for flu, with a board of epidemiologists selecting what concoction of antivirals everyone gets this year.  People will continue to die from it, like people continue to die from flu, but we will have acclimated and these deaths won't be panic-worthy, or even news-worthy.

What will follow now is judgements in hindsight as data and information is processed outside of political positioning and apocalyptic screeching. It's already looking like opinion is shifting to the virus coming from a lab in Wuhan.  There is a lot of momentum behind the idea that the financial relief was Too Much, what with low end jobs going unfilled.  I wouldn't be surprised if sentiment turned against masks. Who knows what else we will recriminate ourselves for.  

Whatever the case, I just hope we can enjoy the summer without restrictions, riots, or any other evils.

[Rant] Smart Kids Find a Way

I recall a conversation some years ago with a friend who was decrying the state of public education, feeling that her daughter was not getting anything out of it. We also observed that we had similarly disappointing experiences in school and managed to find ways to pursue our intellectual interests on our own.  Our ultimate conclusion was "Smart kids find a way."

I was reminded of that conversation reading about "Study Web", a euphemism for the online world of support and connection for studying for school. This comes in many forms but if you want a taste for what it's like try the Strive Studies channel on YouTube. This is essentially just a video of a young woman studying for some number of hours.  Students find this motivational in some way, either as a challenge or as company in misery.  

What the author refers to as Study Web seems to have four prongs.  One is live feeds like the one above.  A second is study tips, such as using Pomodoro or Spaced Repetition or Cornell Note Taking.  A third is shared encouragement, usually in the form of a forum of some type.  A fourth is background music. That last one is especially interesting.  It seems something called Lo-fi is all the rage.  Back to YouTube for the premiere music resource: Lofi Girl. 

The entire article is fascinating.  What's most interesting to me, though, is how real these digital and virtual experiences seem to Gen-Z.  To me it is an odd idea to feel some kind of connection with a video of another person studying.  My reaction is "What good does that do?"  I think the problem is that experiences like that are still in the realm of unreality to me. It's existence is a distraction or a source of entertainment.  I am reacting as if someone suggested I watch a two-hour movie of someone quietly working at their desk.  I am existentially distant from it.  Not so for Gen-Z. They must get a much more visceral sensation from it -- the woman on the screen is not a construct designed to elicit a reaction, it's closer to being another actual person in the room and so has a stronger behavioral influence.

I think I can only appreciate this because I, like many, have had to adapt to Zoom meetings as standard, rather than exceptional, communication.  For Gen-Z this was always their default.

It makes me wonder whether, were I still a student, I could have benefitted from this sort of thing.  Lord knows, the distractions of video games and alcohol and girls were my ultimate downfall, or perhaps a congenitally short attention span that allowed those distractions was.  Maybe when I retire I will pick out something to study and be the oldest kid in the chat room, just to see if it works.  Hell, maybe I could adapt it to writing fiction.  Then you wouldn't have to read my constant griping about how little progress I make.

In any event, it's good to see the latest batch of smart kids has found a way.