Cylusthevirus

Oh it’s not, dead, it’s just changed shape so we don’t immediately recognize it. This, for example, is an ad for about 5 different games.

Notice how the brands were mentioned. Notice how much more palatable this is as a delivery system for that sweet brand awareness. They’re making statements we agree with! They’re demonstrating values that align with our own.

Now look it’s video games so I really don’t mind. This is certainly nicer than what we had in the 90s and 2000s (which were occasionally hilarious but I digress) , but I still want to raise awareness a bit. Larian isn’t the only company that rolls this way. Thing is, they’re probably not even lying, but an executive at a company does media like this for a reason.

This is them “speaking to you.”

The cool thing about it is that the core of it is really just one page.

There’s a page in there with a list of types of tests and their respective r values, which is a number between zero and one that explains how well a given type of test predicts job performance based on this gigantic meta analysis the researchers ran. Zero means there’s no relationship between the test and job performance and one means the test predicts job performance perfectly.

Generally you want something better than .3 for high stakes things like jobs. Education and experience sits at … .11 or so. It’s pretty bad. By contrast, skills tests do really well. Depending on the type they can go over .4. That’s a pretty big benefit if you’re hiring lots of people.

That said it can be very hard to convince people that “just having a conversation with someone” isn’t all that predictive at scale. Industry calls that an “unstructured interview” and they’re terrible vectors for unconscious or conscious bias. “Hey, you went to the same school as me…” and now that person is viewed favorably.

Seriously this stuff is WELL STUDIED but for some reason the MBA lizards never care. It’s maddening.

How do you write this article and not once reference I/O Psychology or the literature that examines how well various tests predict job performance? (e.g. Schmidt and Hunter, 1998)

I swear this isn’t witchcraft. You just analyze the job, determine the knowledge and skills that are important, required at entry, and can’t be obtained in a 15 minute orientation, and then hire based on those things. It takes a few hours worth of meetings. I’ve done it dozens of times.

But really what all that boils down to is get someone knowledgeable about the role and have them write any questions and design the exercises. Don’t let some dingleberry MBA ask people how to move Mt. Fuji or whatever dumb trendy thing they’re teaching in business school these days.

Sure. But it’s the dominant opinion in the GOP. It has to be; the majority of their policy positions are at odds with the academic community.

Their only response to that is to allege vague, unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about sweeping fraud and corruption. Of course fraud and corruption exist, but it’s a matter of scale. The kind of conspiracy they’re talking about would require absolute secrecy across millions of people all over the world. That simply does not happen.

This is one of the main reasons I left the party after 15+ years and being raised in it. It always bothered me that most of the smart people who’d done the hard work to understand their disciplines were not Republicans and it turns out there actually was a good reason for that.

That’s a referral to a series of specialists and probably an MRI or two at minimum. Cancer is a deeply shitty way to die, go talk to your doctor ASAP.

In Cyberpunk 2077, Judy’s icon is a ghost popping out of a clamshell. There’s two jokes in there.

Well … then 1.5k for the good battery and other options and like … another 5k for shipping related expenses. That blew my mind how expensive it was to import.

And you get a truck 3 dudes can pull backwards with a top speed of like 36mph. It’s basically a very robust power wheels.

Oh, Biden ordered the invasion did he? Or should the rest of the world have just let Russia do whatever without a word?

Complexity and additional maintenance. Anytime someone introduces stuff like this they should think about reliability. More doodads = more shit that can break.

Unless you parallel park constantly and can’t make the existing methods of doing that work, I suspect this may not be worth it.

Looking forward to I Died to Preventable Diseases Due to Lack of Healthcare Access and Reincarnated in Another World.

I had to look up what Manichean meant; interesting word.

Anyway, this has become a common malady these days. Psychologists call it splitting. It used to be associated with bipolar disorder, but we live in such a complex world that I think it’s become a sort of coping mechanism for many.

People want a simple world that makes sense with good guys and bad guys. If only this tendency wasn’t so exploitable.

“Before you dismiss me as a curmudgeonly millennial in nostalgia-colored glasses, realize that I am not implying that art that falls closer to the “challenging” side of the accessibility spectrum has gone away, or that it has a smaller market share (though it wouldn’t surprise me) only that it does not bleed into the mainstream as often as it once did.”

This appears to be the thesis statement of the piece, but considering you’ve not defined what constitutes “mainstream” in any meaningful way or offered any evidence that the content of creative works entering this hypothetical “mainstream” are fundamentally more “safe” (another questionably valid construct) now than before 2008, all this whole thing really boils down to is anxiety over social media algorithms.

In order for your thesis to work, you’re going to have to explain why “algorithms” (who’s, exactly?) are going to lead artists to make worse stuff than what was approved by the average MBA nepotism hire that used to be responsible for gatekeeping what made it onto TV in the 90s. Because uh … we’ve seen a lot of that guy and an algo’s taste could hardly be worse. At least the algo can be influenced by what I like.

Also this image? Yeesh dude. A lot to unpack here. But suffice to say, people don’t make deeply challenging art because they crave clicks. They make it because they have to. Because it speaks to their soul or gives voice to their trauma. That’s not going to stop because they’re aware that shitty hotel art made with goofy materials gets more views on the TikToks. The phrase “spiritual growth in society becomes stunted” isn’t just jumping to conclusions; it’s multi-stage rocket launching to conclusions.

Ps. AirBnB literally never existed to provide a “rich cultural experience.” Come on.

It’s all in the 3 ring binder.

Well they definitely get bigger when the rhythm is right. Do it enough and they can be your weapon of choice.

So true. And it makes for good TV, plus the ragebait drives engagement on the socials (writing that made me ill).

I see this sentiment expressed more often by tankies, enlightened centrists, and Krazy Konservative Kommenters than mainstream media sources. Usually in reference to economic policy (and in fairness, the differences there are pretty subtle if we’re looking at the mainstream).

What I’m seeing in media is an attempt to listen to “both sides.” It’s just that one side has grown more and more detached from reality, so airing their crazy unchallenged alongside a more normal perspective makes it look like the sides are on equal rhetorical footing. It’s like what you get in a debate with Donny T and Biden.

Biden: Normal liberal policy ideas, maybe we leave the queer folks alone, maybe we do a little something on climate, etc.

SmallHandsOrangeBoy: Incoherent frothing about the immigrants, the gays, the “woke mind virus”

Reporters: And here are the candidate’s positions, clearly no further comment or observation is required. Best not question the froth lest we be accused of bias!

Feels like a lot of reporters are either unused to dealing with a rising fascist bloc, hampered by corporate meddling, or complicit.

My local huge park, pool, and sports complex is .7 miles. I have multiple stores and restaurants .5 miles away. Our library is also about .7 miles away. My burb is relatively walkable and perfectly bike-able.

Our grid has its own problems and is completely unsafe for cyclists a lot of the time. I know; I work there. My city has removed lanes from streets to create space for bikes and people still get killed by idiots in cars. Still inadequate public transit. Only more walkable than my own burb in certain, hyper expensive neighborhoods. Cheaper areas have homeless problems (warmer climate) resulting in tons of property crimes (mostly stolen bikes and break-ins). Many encounters with bonk-shit crazy guys yelling at stop signs (and people). Some of them have large, aggressive dogs. Oh, and then there’s the fires they start by attempting to cook or warm themselves and then getting high or drunk.

Frankly I would be stoked to live in a townhouse or condo or something on the grid. All my favorite restaurants are down there, lots to do, etc. But it’s shit for kids and the schools are rough as fuck.

If we started now, we’d be ready in a couple decades in all but the most compact metro areas. And that’s after we build the requisite political will. The US fucked itself hard leaning into cars as transport.

But that’s reality for most of us living in the burbs where the schools are better and the neighborhoods are better for kid stuff.

If you’re being fiscally responsible there’s no way to buy most new cars. People are too used to living well above their means. How these Army recruits straight out of boot camp are dropping 80k on a truck that’ll never even see a sheet of plywood or drywall assuming the bed is even big enough is beyond me.

I haven’t paid more than 18k on a car and even that felt like too much. And I’m well above the median household income for my region.

Frankly I wish I didn’t need a car at all, but it’ll be decades before our infrastructure can support that lifestyle if ever. Unless you’re willing to give up an additional 2 to 3 hours per day on travel … and I’m not.

Tea. Just make tea. You’ve effectively ruled out almost everything else.