onfocus

"CAPTCHA images are never joyful vistas of human activity, full of Whitmanesque vigor. No, they’re blurry, anonymous landscapes that possess a positively Soviet anomie."

more like post-apocalyptchas, right?

"The Fox pipeline is pretty simple. Fox News stokes a constant sense of outrage among its base of viewers, largely by highlighting narratives of white resentment and threats to Christianity. This in turn forces Republican politicians to follow suit. It’s a positive feedback loop that has no obvious braking system, and it’s already radicalized the conservative base so much that most Republicans literally believe that elections are being stolen and democracy is all but dead if they don’t take extreme action."

Looking at the roots of polarization since 2000 there’s a certain cable TV elephant in the room.

"We’re seeing a wave of mandates for various kinds of public employees and health care workers to get vaccinated. We’re also seeing the federal government clear the way for private organizations to do the same. That is the proper path forward. We do not need to see it as punitive. It is simply placing the burden of non-vaccination on the voluntarily unvaccinated."

This is the rant I needed to read right now.

If you didn’t see the Capitol Police officers testify about the mob violence they fought on 1/6, this Twitter thread has clips that will give you a sense of their powerful stories.

See also: Officer Michael Fanone on CNN.

See also: Dan Rather says Enough.

"Certainly the severe consequences will fall mostly on the unvaccinated. But the dysfunction affects all Americans."

This update from Zeynep Tufekci mirrors my frustration with the CDC, FDA, and OSHA. These agencies seem to be acting slowly while cases rise quickly in the US.

"At the beginning of the pandemic, the CDC said that a close contact was somebody that you’re indoors with unmasked for 15 minutes or more. The equivalent of that with the Delta variant is not 15 minutes, it’s one second."

Grimacing emoji.

Can I (a vaccinated parent) transmit the virus to my (unvaccinated) kids?

Yes. During pre-Delta, vaccines reduced transmission by a lot (85-90%), but they’re not perfect (100%). So, yes you can give the virus to your kids, although it’s much less probable than an unvaccinated person. We do not know how Delta changes the game. Delta is stickier with a higher viral load, so Delta has the potential to transmit from vaccinated to unvaccinated higher than before. But we just don’t know yet.

An epidemiologist looks at the Delta variant's impact on kids who can't get vaccinated yet.

"Pinpoint the Tension: This is where we start finding those weird links. Look for the elements that don't fit together, that seem opposed. Find two contrasting elements and isolate them."

I enjoyed this description of a creative brainstorming technique that involves connecting previously unconnected dots.

"By late spring, well shortages and delayed recovery were being reported again, even though locals have water efficiency so ingrained in them that they easily meet 40% conservation mandates, he said."

Alarming story about how Mendocino, CA is faring in the California drought.