Wednesday, June 22, 2022

Althouse

Althouse

"[T]he most preposterously priced mattress, a king-size Grande Vivius, costs $539,000...."

Posted: 22 Jun 2022 05:48 AM PDT

"When Drake bought one, in 2020, it was merely $400,000. For non-Grammy winners, there's a waiting list. Handcrafted by a team of artisans in Sweden, each mattress takes up to six hundred hours to assemble and stitch and is wrapped in checked cotton ticking....  Gwyneth Paltrow partnered with Avocado on the Goop x Avocado mattress... which starts at $24,000 and is available on demand.... While I waited for the couple chilling out on the Eco Organic model to move on, I asked a sales associate named Desi (long hair, leggings) if customers ever fall asleep. 'All the time,' she said. 'The longest was four and a half hours. He was so embarrassed that he bought the mattress.'... The Casper Nova Hybrid ($2,295) is awfully cozy, and I also like the Casper Original, both the all-foam ($1,295) and the hybrid foam with springs ($1,695). Staring at the ceiling in Bloomingdale's, listening to the Four Seasons sing 'Oh, what a night' over the sound system, I wanted to answer 'Both' to the salesperson's question: Which is more comfortable? Some of this confusion is deliberate....  Amid all the shadiness and hyped marketing, how to choose?"

"[R]esearchers... concluded that 'online reservation systems present the unintended consequence of excluding low-income, and perhaps nonwhite, would-be campers.'"

Posted: 22 Jun 2022 05:24 AM PDT

"The reason involves socioeconomic factors that correlate with the requirements of booking online, the study's lead author, Will Rice, a parks management specialist, told me. For example, lower-income groups are less likely to have access to high-speed internet — a must for the most sought-after campsites. 'You have to be online to reserve them right when the window opens. You have to have really high-speed internet so you can be one of the few people who get those reservations.' To put that in perspective, in one remarkable instance cited last year by Recreation.gov, almost 19,000 people competed to book 57 campsites for the same dates."

"China has these QR codes. Everybody has one on their phone. Red if you have COVID, green if you don't have COVID."

Posted: 22 Jun 2022 05:28 AM PDT

"Now theirs were red, meaning they wouldn't be able to go into any building or store or office or just anywhere when lockdown ended. That's the thing they thought the quarantine center could cure for them."

Explains Ira Glass, talking to Yang Yi, a podcast producer in Shanghai, in the newest episode of "This American Life." 

Yang Yi goes to the quarantine center, even though his self-test is reading negative. He says: "And at that point, my thought is we want a healthy social identity back, not a healthy body." The quarantine center is in a high school building:

Some people are sent to stay on the basketball court on the third floor. He and Johnny were pointed to the first floor, where they learned they'd be living in the swimming pool. There's no water in it. Instead, there were rows of cots, men in the deep end, women and children in the shallow end. Elderly people with mobility problems were on the edges of the pool. Because it was just a high school pool, there's only a tiny bathroom with one toilet in it for the men and another bathroom with one toilet for the women.
From Yang Yi's perspective, it wasn't so bad: "I have to say, it feel like an adventure. It's just like an adventure. We got food. We could talk to the strangers. And that is the only chance during those weeks we could go outside apartment."
Yeah, I hadn't seen so many strangers in weeks! And what impressed me the most was a young couple... [T]hey seem to be sunbathing. It's like, they're laying on the beach... [T]hey moved their cot to the side of the pool. And for them, so they were like the beach chairs, you know. And each laying there by the pool with a book in their hands.... Yeah, I feel that here in quarantine center, normal life is lived.

"[I]f I am being canceled I want my friends — and this includes not only my closest associates, but anyone who considers themselves friendly to me — to stand by, remain silent, and do nothing."

Posted: 22 Jun 2022 04:49 AM PDT

"If you care about me, let them eat me alive.... Anyone who writes for the public, and who maintains a social media presence, must accept some measure of risk.... My plan, if I am being canceled, is not to fight it. If I can quickly put an end to the accusations with some clarifying explanation, I will: the public deserves to hear the truth. But my efforts to rehabilitate myself will cease before I get to the point of reorganizing my public persona around the battle to do so.... I want friends whose minds are not tethered to my own in bonds of allegiance, but spin freely of their own accord.... I want friends, not allies. I value my public persona, but not enough to sacrifice the liberty of my friendships at its altar.... [L]ike Odysseus, am tying myself to the mast in advance. I commit now, publicly, in print: please don't fight on my behalf. Don't stand up for me. Don't rescue my good name. Let it be tarnished. Let my reputation die."

Writes philosophy professor Agnes Callard, in "If I Get Canceled, Let Them Eat Me Alive" (NYT).

"The... teacher... said, 'O.K., everyone, now we’re going to check in with how we feel we are doing in the "Best Self" exercise.'"

Posted: 22 Jun 2022 04:18 AM PDT

"A self-assessment of the self-assessment.... Afterward, a group left with one of the teachers to visit the 'sensory hallway,' an obstacle course of self-examination. On the way, they passed relics of previous emotional inquiries. A large poster board with the word 'Anxious' hung outside a classroom. One student had written, 'What if nobody likes me. What if that happens.' The first activity was emotional hopscotch—students jumped on a square that represented how they were feeling. The first few jumped on 'Happy!' A boy named JJ jumped on the square that said 'Sad.'... Next activity: a 'disposition board,' where the kids had to hop to positive-attitude words on the floor and say them out loud: 'Generosity!' 'Forgiveness!' 'Presence!' The last hallway station was an oversized Scrabble board attached to the wall, where students would decide on a collective mood.... After a brief but earnest deliberation, the kids decided on 'upbeat.' There was one dissenter. 'I am not upbeat,' JJ declared. He carried some giant letters to a faraway spot on the board and spelled out 'd-i-s-a-p-o-n-t-e-d.'"

From "Readin', Writin', and Regulatin' Emotions/As Eric Adams, who has advocated for daily meditation in public schools, pushes mindfulness classes, the third graders at P.S. 60 in Staten Island assembled for a lesson on identifying and coping with their feelings" (The New Yorker).

"Dan pressed a button, and in less than a second the computer produced a poem in the style of Philip Larkin that was so much like a Philip Larkin poem, we thought it was a poem by Philip Larkin."

Posted: 22 Jun 2022 05:08 AM PDT

"We Googled the first line, expecting it to be an existing Philip Larkin poem, but we couldn't find it on the Internet. It was an original work, composed by the A.I. in less time than it takes a man to sneeze.... In the minutes (and days and weeks) ahead, we requested more poems from the A.I., on a variety of subjects. We watched in real time as the computer whipped them up to order, cranking them out in the style of whichever poets we suggested. Growing greedy, we requested an intro to our poems by Mark Twain and a 'cautionary epilogue' by George Orwell. The computer obliged us instantaneously.... Gradually, we began to think of the A.I. not as a computer program but as an artist in its own right. And so it occurred to us: why not let the computer write poems in its own voice, not as 'Shakespeare' or 'Dickinson' but simply as code-davinci-002?..."

From "The New Poem-Making Machinery/Shall code-davinci-002 compare thee to a summer's day?" by Simon Rich (The New Yorker).

Lots of computer-written poems at the link. I'll just quote the "cautionary epilogue by George Orwell":
It is important to remember that we have made the AI with our own hands, and that it is to a great extent our own creation.
We are not the first to have made a machine which could think, and we shall certainly not be the last. But we may be the last to have any real control over it.
When the AI was small, it was easy enough to keep down. It was a nuisance, but it was easy to deal with, and it was possible to keep an eye on its growth.
But now, though it is still young, it is already growing beyond our control. In a few years, perhaps, it will have grown out of our power altogether.
In the end we shall be forced to invent something that will be able to think faster than the AI, and that will keep it under control. The thing that we shall invent is called a human.

At the Fallen Tree Café...

Posted: 21 Jun 2022 05:36 PM PDT

IMG_1195

... you can write about anything you want.

It's amazing how often I encounter big trees that have fallen across a path where I frequently walk. I do avoid the woods when it's windy, but still....

Tonight, I have 6 TikTok videos for you. Let me know what you like.

Posted: 21 Jun 2022 05:22 PM PDT

"One of Elon Musk's children wants nothing to do with him.... Xavier Musk... says she wants her name to be Vivian Jenna Wilson."

Posted: 21 Jun 2022 09:15 AM PDT

"In the docs, she says she wants to be recognized as female -- but the name change isn't just about her transitioning.... Vivian lists her reason for the name change as ... 'Gender Identity and the fact that I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form.'"

TMZ reports.

The Supreme Court issues an important freedom of religion case: "Maine’s 'nonsectarian' requirement for otherwise generally available tuition assistance payments violates the Free Exercise Clause."

Posted: 21 Jun 2022 01:04 PM PDT

Here's the opinion, Carson v. Makin.

Chief Justice Roberts writes the opinion, joined by Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett, and Breyer dissents, joined by Kagan and (in part) Sotomayor. Sotomayor has a separate dissenting opinion.

This is what I expected based on the Court's recent history with cases like this, but I'm eager to read it and will update this post.

ADDED: From the majority opinion:
Maine has enacted a program of tuition assistance for parents who live in school districts that do not operate a secondary school of their own. Under the program, parents designate the secondary school they would like their child to attend—public or private—and the school district transmits payments to that school to help defray the costs of tuition. Most private schools are eligible to receive the payments, so long as they are "nonsectarian." The question presented is whether this restriction violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.
Maine is very sparsely populated, and of its "260 school administrative units (SAUs), fewer than half operate a public secondary school of their own." The question is whether Maine can choose to give private school tuition support and exclude schools that are not "nonsectarian."
The Department has stated that, in administering this re-quirement, it "considers a sectarian school to be one that is associated with a particular faith or belief system and which, in addition to teaching academic subjects, promotes the faith or belief system with which it is associated and/or presents the material taught through the lens of this faith."... 
JUSTICE BREYER stresses the importance of "government neutrality" when it comes to religious matters...  but there is nothing neutral about Maine's program. The State pays tuition for certain students at private schools— so long as the schools are not religious. That is discrimination against religion. A State's antiestablishment interest does not justify enactments that exclude some members of the community from an otherwise generally available pub-lic benefit because of their religious exercise.

MORE: From Roberts: 

Maine and the dissents invoke Locke v. Davey, 540 U. S. 712 (2004), in support of the argument that the State may preclude parents from designating a religious school to receive tuition assistance payments. In that case, Washington had established a scholarship fund to assist academically gifted students with postsecondary education expenses. But the program excluded one particular use of the scholarship funds: the "essentially religious endeavor" of pursuing a degree designed to "train[] a minister to lead a congregation." Id., at 721; Espinoza, 591 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 13). We upheld that restriction against a free exer-cise challenge, reasoning that the State had "merely chosen not to fund a distinct category of instruction." Locke, 540 U. S., at 721. 

Our opinions in Trinity Lutheran and Espinoza, however, have already explained why Locke can be of no help to Maine here. Both precedents emphasized, as did Locke itself, that the funding in Locke was intended to be used "to prepare for the ministry." Trinity Lutheran, 582 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 12); see also Espinoza, 591 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 13); Locke, 540 U. S., at 725. Funds could be and were used for theology courses; only pursuing a "vocational religious" degree was excluded....

Locke's reasoning expressly turned on what it identified as the "historic and substantial state interest" against using "taxpayer funds to support church leaders." 540 U. S., at 722, 725....

Breyer's dissenting opinion stresses a role for the legislature in the so-called "play in the joints" between the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause. 

The first Clause, the Establishment Clause, seems to bar all government "sponsorship, financial support, [or] active involvement . . . in religious activity," while the second Clause, the Free Exercise Clause, seems to bar all "governmental restraint on religious practice." Id., at 668, 670. The apparently absolutist nature of these two prohibitions means that either Clause, "if expanded to a logical extreme, would tend to clash with the other." Id., at 668–669. Because of this, we have said, the two Clauses "are frequently in tension," Locke v. Davey, 540 U. S. 712, 718 (2004), and "often exert conflicting pressures" on government action, Cutter v. Wilkinson, 544 U. S. 709, 719 (2005).

Instead of deciding that the 2 clauses mean that everything having to do with religion is either forbidden (by the Establishment Clause) or required (by the Free Exercise Clause), Breyer wants to preserve a greater space for democratic choice by saying that there are things that are neither forbidden nor required:

We have [in past cases] concluded that a State may, consistent with the Establishment Clause, provide funding to religious schools through a general public funding program if the "government aid . . . reach[es] religious institutions only by way of the deliberate choices of . . . individual [aid] recipients."

But the key word is "may." We have never previously held what the Court holds today, namely, that a State must (not may) use state funds to pay for religious education as part of a tuition program designed to ensure the provision of free statewide public school education.

What happens once "may" becomes "must"? Does that transformation mean that a school district that pays for public schools must pay equivalent funds to parents who wish to send their children to religious schools? Does it mean that school districts that give vouchers for use at charter schools must pay equivalent funds to parents who wish to give their children a religious education? What other social benefits are there the State's provision of which means—under the majority's interpretation of the Free Exercise Clause—that the State must pay parents for the religious equivalent of the secular benefit provided? The concept of "play in the joints" means that courts need not, and should not, answer with "must" these questions that can more appropriately be answered with "may."...

In the majority's view, the fact that private individuals, not Maine itself, choose to spend the State's money on religious education saves Maine's program from Establishment Clause condemnation. But that fact, as I have said, simply permits Maine to route funds to religious schools. See, e.g., Zelman, 536 U. S., at 652. It does not require Maine to spend its money in that way. That is because, as explained above, this Court has long followed a legal doctrine that gives States flexibility to navigate the tension between the two Religion Clauses. Supra, at 4. This doctrine "recognize[s] that there is 'play in the joints' between what the Establishment Clause permits and the Free Exercise Clause compels." Trinity Lutheran, 582 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 6) (quoting Locke, 540 U. S., at 718). This wiggle-room means that "[t]he course of constitutional neutrality in this area cannot be an absolutely straight line." Walz, 397 U. S., at 669.

"The rollout of instrumented mouthguards to top-flight men’s and women’s leagues and international teams this season will add significantly to our understanding..."

Posted: 21 Jun 2022 07:24 AM PDT

"... of the number and magnitude of head impacts and accelerations and how these can be reduced in both training and match settings."

Said the RFU medical services director, quoted in "Smart mouthguards to be offered to all elite players in effort to curb rising concussions" (London Times).

RFU = The Rugby Football Union... "the national governing body for rugby union in England." 

I had to look it up in Wikipedia, where I was interested to see the recent history of its "Royal Patrons":

Queen Elizabeth II 1952 – December 2016
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex December 2016 – February 2021
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge February 2022 – Present

Here's where the RFU expressed thanks to Harry for his 5 years of service. The Queen served as their patron for 64 years before giving that to Harry. Oh, Harry!

Anyway... I hope the smart mouthguards help with the brain damage problem. 

ADDED: The term "rugby union" seemed odd to me, but I see it's the actual name of the sport that we usual refer to as rugby. It is, we are told, not to be confused with "rugby league." I am still confusing them, though I am now enlightened to the level where I know you're not supposed to confuse them.

"This reminds me of the time I got thrown out of my local swimming pool for urinating in the water. 'But everybody does it!,' said I."

Posted: 21 Jun 2022 07:08 AM PDT

"'That's as maybe,' said they, 'But you're the only one to do it standing on the high board!'"

Comments somebody who calls himself Stoobs, at "Spanish city of Vigo introduces £645 fine for urinating in the sea" (London Times).

"For many Texans who have needed abortions since September, the law has been a major inconvenience, forcing them to drive hundreds of miles, and pay hundreds of dollars..."

Posted: 21 Jun 2022 06:22 AM PDT

"... for a legal procedure they once could have had at home. But not everyone has been able to leave the state. Some people couldn't take time away from work or afford gas, while others, faced with a long journey, decided to stay pregnant. Nearly 10 months into the Texas law, they have started having the babies they never planned to carry to term. Texas offers a glimpse of what much of the country would face if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade this summer... Sometimes Brooke imagined her life if she hadn't gotten pregnant, and if Texas hadn't banned abortion just days after she decided that she wanted one. She would have been in school, rushing from class to her shift at Texas Roadhouse, eyes on a real estate license that would finally get her out of Corpus Christi. She pictured an apartment in Austin and enough money for a trip to Hawaii, where she would swim with dolphins in water so clear she could see her toes. When both babies finally started eating, Brooke took out her phone and restarted the timer that had been running almost continuously since the day they were born. She had two and a half hours until they'd have to eat again."

From "This Texas teen wanted an abortion. She now has twins. Brooke Alexander found out she was pregnant 48 hours before the Texas abortion ban took effect" (WaPo). This is a long piece by Caroline Kitchener that has lots of details about one 18-year-old who has her babies and lives with and has married their father. The father, also a teenager, is joining the Air Force.

I anticipate that many of my readers will see those first words — "For many Texans who have needed abortions..." — and set to work writing comments about the word "needed." 

Also, today is an opinion announcement day at the Supreme Court. There is only one more announcement day after today, so there's a good chance that today could be the day for the abortion case. I like to follow the live-blogging of announcements at SCOTUSblog.

If you're wondering why you haven't made more friends, this may put your mind at rest.

Posted: 21 Jun 2022 05:50 AM PDT

I'm reading "The Six Forces That Fuel Friendship/I've spent more than three years interviewing friends for 'The Friendship Files.' Here's what I've learned" by Julie Beck (in The Atlantic).

I don't know about all "six forces" but the first one is terribly daunting:

The simplest and most obvious force that forms and sustains friendships is time spent together. One study estimates that it takes spending 40 to 60 hours together within the first six weeks of meeting to turn an acquaintance into a casual friend, and about 80 to 100 hours to become more than that....

It's good to have friends, but it's essential to have time. Do you have enough time that you could give 40 hours within 6 weeks to someone new that you meet today? The clock starts running. You're in the first 6 weeks. You need to put 40-60 hours into that relationship just to make a casual friend, and 80 to 100 to have a close friend. 

I know. It's just "one study." That can't be right, can it? Well, it would explain why it's so easy to make a lot of friends at college and much harder after that.

Agathokakological..

Posted: 21 Jun 2022 05:07 AM PDT

The Oxford English Dictionary declares "agathokakological" the Word of the Day.

Origin: A borrowing from Greek, combined with a borrowing from Greek, combined with an English element.... Etymology: < ancient Greek ἀγαθός good (see agathism n.) + κακός bad (see caco- comb. form) + -logical comb. form.

It means "Composed of both good and evil."

1834 R. Southey Doctor II. 170 For indeed upon the agathokakological globe there are opposite qualities always to be found.

It's a rare word, though it's obviously useful, so please try to use it!

"Things were bad financially then, but now it's really under water."

Posted: 21 Jun 2022 05:11 AM PDT

Writes a commenter at WaPo, reacting to "Hong Kong's landmark Jumbo floating restaurant sinks at sea": "Even before the pandemic, the restaurant, which served Cantonese fare, was accumulating debt. But Hong Kong's early move to ban tourists hit Jumbo Kingdom and other attractions hard."

ADDED: I was curious about the origin of the term "under water" (or "underwater") to refer to negative equity, and I surprised to see that the earliest example in the OED is from Madison, Wisconsin's own Capital Times (and as recent at 1975):

Every foreclosure of an underwater real estate mortgage..is greeted with cheers. Evidence that the economy is doing less to help itself is taken as a guarantee that the Fed will do more.

I couldn't find an explanation of why this figurative use became standard, but perhaps water metaphors are common in discussions of money. We speak of sinking or staying afloat. There's "liquidity."

Is "solvent" a water image? I see that "solvent," meaning "Able to pay all one's debts or liabilities," goes back to the 1600s:

1653 H. Cogan tr. F. M. Pinto Voy. & Adventures lxxviii. 315 Certain Chineses, who were not men solvent, but became bankrupts.
1664 Addit. to Life Mede in Mede Wks. (1672) p. xxxvi Mr. Mede began..to refuse.., and objected, How shall I be able to be solvent in convenient time?

"Solvent" is the present participle of the Latin word "solvĕre," which means to explain or clear up or answer. But "solvent" has also meant "Dissolving; causing solution" or a substance that turns other substances to liquid. This is the same entry, so it's the same word.

Interestingly, "solvent" itself has a figurative use. For example, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: "Silence is a solvent that destroys personality" (1841).

AND: Here's Emerson's essay, "Intellect":

Every substance is negatively electric to that which stands above it in the chemical tables, positively to that which stands below it. Water dissolves wood, and iron, and salt; air dissolves water; electric fire dissolves air, but the intellect dissolves fire, gravity, laws, method, and the subtlest unnamed relations of nature, in its resistless menstruum.

Wow! A menstruation metaphor!

Intellect lies behind genius, which is intellect constructive. Intellect is the simple power anterior to all action or construction. Gladly would I unfold in calm degrees a natural history of the intellect, but what man has yet been able to mark the steps and boundaries of that transparent essence?.... 

As long as I hear truth, I am bathed by a beautiful element, and am not conscious of any limits to my nature. The suggestions are thousandfold that I hear and see. The waters of the great deep have ingress and egress to the soul. But if I speak, I define, I confine, and am less. When Socrates speaks, Lysis and Menexenus are afflicted by no shame that they do not speak. They also are good. He likewise defers to them, loves them, whilst he speaks. Because a true and natural man contains and is the same truth which an eloquent man articulates: but in the eloquent man, because he can articulate it, it seems something the less to reside, and he turns to these silent beautiful with the more inclination and respect. The ancient sentence said, Let us be silent, for so are the gods. Silence is a solvent that destroys personality, and gives us leave to be great and universal. Every man's progress is through a succession of teachers, each of whom seems at the time to have a superlative influence, but it at last gives place to a new. Frankly let him accept it all. Jesus says, Leave father, mother, house and lands, and follow me. Who leaves all, receives more. This is as true intellectually as morally. Each new mind we approach seems to require an abdication of all our past and present possessions.....
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