In the beginning, we could have made a far stronger effort at containment, with a goal of Covid zero. Going forward, we need to monitor for cases of Long Covid and other post-infection complications. We also need to implement a social support system for those affected.
Shifting our framing of healthcare from a source of profit, to a vital part of our national security, might not be a horrible idea either.
Disclaimer so I don't sound like a troll: I figure I had what appeared to be "long COVID". I got COVID in March 2020 and within 24 hours, went from very highly cardio fit to perma-tired with what felt like half the lung capacity[1] that, long story short, lasted almost a year and required a significant amount of self-rehabilitation[2] efforts on my part to fix. I seem to be doing mostly fine now.
Now...
I try not to get into discussions about COVID with people, because it's so fraught with politics and misinformation, but when I do it seems like most people I engage with on the topic of COVID claim they have long COVID. Hell, I try not to mention my own "long COVID" experience, but when I do, people are dubious about my claims.
So, how do you quantify those who are affected versus those who've just been inactive during the pandemic and are really out of shape?
> Shifting our framing of healthcare from a source of profit, to a vital part of our national security, might not be a horrible idea either.
This. Yes. 1000%. Treat Climate Change as a national security problem, too. Because it is.
1. Fluid, apparently, because I kept coughing that up for the next 8 months or so. Eventually, it cleared.
2. Very gradual cardio starting with quarter mile walks, pathetically enough. Also, deep breathing and diaphragm exercises.
We are seeing a complete disintegration of the institutional structures that have kept everything together.
For many in my circle it is different things:
“life’s too short for this..”
“I’m quietly suffering in social isolation from the pandemic”
“I want more money”
“I feel hopeless I will ever get anywhere so why bother”
Conversely there are a cohort who have just dug their heels in and have almost gotten a promo/raise or both almost by default from the sheer volume of churn alone.
We're also in a weird economic state that despite all factors moving towards a recession, we are not and so there is high demand for engineers still and pay is as high as ever. So the industry is still incredibly transactional and rewards job hopping while disincentivizing loyalty.
Loyalty has go both ways. Let’s not forget that the tech industry not so recently conspired to hold down compensation by engaging in secret but pervasive “no poaching agreements.” Let’s not also forget that the tech industry has harnessed vast, unprecedented levels of profits on the strength of the work of engineers, the industry cannot exist without our work, and when profit growth dips below “Wall Street expectations,” management doesn’t hesitate to throw thousands to tens of thousands of loyal tech workers to the wolves. The industry also frowns on frontline engineers (ie non-executives) getting old. Actually, even executives aren’t safe in tech.
Don’t they do extensive user testing on these products ? Surprising some of the design decisions they make with the amount of resources at their disposal
Some of these are quite confrontational and still come across as unprofessional. This has a very boomer feel to it. I think Gen Z will just say the what they want instead of applying a professional filter.
I get paid a fair amount to basically write memos. My cycle is basically- put phone away, write some thoughts in a notebook, type them into word doc, rinse and repeat until memo is done.
The notebook helps because there aren’t 1,000 tabs / apps open. The phone is down so no social media bs. So this is really just a focusing exercise. And of course there is something pleasurable in touching the right pen to paper and feeling the pen move along the paper.
They removed emojis with human faces. Likely they were afraid of pushback of activists who would say the faces are now all white (on white background) and therefore racist.
Or¹ they started with the older Noto Emoji which already had the blobs because they were the Android default until ~2017. And some genuinely prefer the abstract/cutesy/less-human forms.
[1] far more likely unless you are determined to be offended if a white human isn't the default representation of everything everywhere everywhen.
