social media – Life of an old goat

Satirical Accounts: why I like them

I admit that I enjoy certain types of satire accounts.

My favorite is an academic one; one that openly lampoons the absurd aspects of higher education:

Such a great conversation with our donors over how to lift up marginalized voices in our communities. And the Bordeaux and Filet – medium rare of course – was the perfect complement!
— Associate Deans (@ass_deans) May 13, 2022

She has 121.2 K followers. Her posts are often met with “you MUST be at our university”; her posts are just so on point.

I like Titania McGrath who makes fun of excessive wokeness: (this thread is hilarious)

IMPORTANT THREAD 🧵👇

Brave social justice activists such as myself are working tirelessly to expose *all* the racist elements within our society.

Sometimes it is difficult to keep up, so I thought it would be helpful to curate a comprehensive list…
— Titania McGrath (@TitaniaMcGrath) July 9, 2020

“She” has 710.8 K followers.

Here is one that lampoons conservatives of a certain type:

Been thinking about burning the book’s that teach children to Read so we do not have to spend so much time burning all the Other one’s that are racist against White’s
— Walter(Owen's Grandp (@walterowensgrpa) April 5, 2022

Walter has 142 K followers.

And there is a way followers react to his post: we copy his diction and themes …and for the offended liberal that doesn’t get the joke but reacts with umbrage: we call that “being Waltered.”

Then there is 3yearletterman:

232 years ago today, the world said goodbye to a hero, a president, and the man who invented electricity, currency, and freedom. Thank you, President Franklin, for making America the oldest and greatest country on earth. We miss you. pic.twitter.com/cZDoy3CcZ1
— Three Year Letterman (@3YearLetterman) April 17, 2022

Hey plays the part of an ignorant person who peaked in high school and boasts about mundane things (“I have a 4 figure checking account” “so many youth football championship rings that I cannot turn door handles”)

But the best part: he spouts absolutely ridiculous gibberish…and sometimes even a genuine celebrity will play along! (e. g. Jim Palmer, former Oriole pitching great).

But the best part is when some clueless, sanctimonious scold will come in to tell us what a bunch of idiots we are…that is when we pounce with “bet you don’t have a reserved table at Beef O’Brady’s” etc. (these are things that “Coach” routinely brags about)

Sometimes, they eventually get the joke. But it is hilarious when they don’t; it is kind of fun to watch the sanctimonious know-it-alls work themselves into a froth over what should have been obvious to see.

He has 301K followers. And he has been quoted by Newsweek! (who eventually realized their error)

Blocking and social media

In what is now an unusual move for me: I blocked someone on Facebook. Normally, I just unfollow and put on my restricted list (so they don’t see “friends only” post). Ok, I tend to do that with people that were once active in my life that I now find annoying.

The issue: I was trying to explain to people that, yes, loans carry interest and that if your payment doesn’t cover the interest accrued during the period, the amount owed goes up.

Someone tried to argue that banks get “virtually free” loans from the Fed (true..to cover the reserve requirement, though they get even lower rates from other banks). And of course, administrative costs and risk costs must be covered as well.

But, this was one of those “why can’t you get that” remarks coming from a rather “dull but unaware of it” type person; someone I had no prior relationship with. So, “boom”, went the block. (on Twitter: I mute; I don’t mind their ranting into the Ether; I just don’t want to engage)

Yes, I have a double standard If I have a relationship with the person, especially one that goes back several years, AND if I like said person, I give a lot more leeway.

If that person has special knowledge that I can gain from I might put up with more.

But having dull people think that I am an idiot…I get enough of that at my job from some of the worst students. I am paid for that; I am not paid for social media.

And yes, like the old song; sometimes the one you love doesn’t love you back (as friends). Yes, there are a few that I like better than like me..I can deal with that. And yes, I give them more leeway too.

And, much to no one’s surprise, most I have blocked tend to be left wing. It is easy to see why (that is who I tend to associate with)

Come on Media: we really do not need this..

IMHO, one of the reasons we have less unity than I’d like with respect to social distancing measures is that there is a significant subset of the population that does not trust the media to tell the truth. This isn’t to say that there aren’t a fair number of Republicans on board; there are.

But dammit; the mainstream media doesn’t help things when it tries to sensationalize.

Oh FFS. 1/ https://t.co/FOim1xMHmg

— Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) May 16, 2020

People are having trouble with this, so let me explain. If a caseload in a state is constant, and you test more people, you're going to appear to get more cases. If it's declining and you test a *lot* more people, same effect. 7/6

— Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) May 16, 2020

Now none of this says that Texas made the right choice, but if you test more people, you WILL get a spike in the number of positives. The “positive rate” is important, of course, (and false positives aren’t as frequent if the true infection rate isn’t very small) but they are showing the number of confirmed positives.

That is just fuel for the MUH FREEDUMS morons.

There are still *way* too many stories about big spikes in cases when the cause of those spikes was a big increase in tests. And remember, it's a good thing when states start doing more tests! https://t.co/83EDe62YSs

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) May 16, 2020

And of course, it is important to know where the outbreaks are coming from: are they concentrated in a single location or in a type of place, or all over?

Yeah, there's too little focus on the places (meat-packing plans, prisons, nursing homes) where there are very bad outbreaks among vulnerable populations and seemingly few efforts to ameliorate them.

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) May 16, 2020

Bottom line: try to report with the nuance.

stuck on deadlift

I’ll have some other things to say as well:

workout notes: weights only. rotator cuff, pull ups (5 sets of 10, went ok), bench: 10 x 135, 3 x 185 (tough), incline: 10 x 135, decline: 8 x 165 (ran out of gas)
goblet squats: 6 x 25, 6 x 50 (good depth)
hex dead: 5 x 175, 1 x 225 (missed the first..2n’d attempt…OMG), 6 x 185..that getting 225 was long and painful. Yes, handles were turned down.

back stretch, then
military: standing, 10 x 50 dumbbell, 10 x 45, then 10 x 180 machine, rows: 3 sets of 10 x 110
2:30 plank..then went home.

Getting the deadlift..what a slog. I’ve allowed myself to become too weak.

Politics
Elizabeth Warren gave some details about her proposed health care plan:

Senator Elizabeth Warren vowed on Friday to pass major health care legislation in her first 100 days as president, unveiling a new, detailed plan to significantly expand public health insurance coverage as a first step, and promising to pass a “Medicare for all” system by the end of her third year in office that would cover all Americans.

The initial bill she would seek to pass if elected would be a step short of the broader Medicare for all plan she has championed. But it would substantially expand the reach and generosity of public health insurance, creating a government plan that would offer free coverage to all American children and people earning less than double the federal poverty rate, or about $50,000 for a family of four, and that could be purchased by other Americans who want it.

Yes. Warren is setting M4A as a goal, but trying to provide a lot of quick benefits that don't depend on getting M4A through. It's more of a stepping-stone plan than a transition plan — which is actually a very good idea 1/ https://t.co/Su4o7Lkjx1

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) November 15, 2019

She'll no doubt take some cheap shots from both left and right — Sanders supporters claiming that she's failed their purity test, Buttigieg et al claiming that somehow or other she's still too big-government. But it looks pretty smart to many who take this stuff seriously 2/

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) November 15, 2019

And yes, though Warren is not my candidate, I agree with this approach.

About the politics of it:

There were many "establishment warming to Warren!" stories, which indicated she was preferred to Sanders at a minimum (and maybe most others too). But the moment she (almost) catches Biden in polls, there's an outpouring of anxiety rather than, say, a bunch of endorsements.

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 15, 2019

We can debate the reasons for that backlash. Misogyny is always a potential ingredient.

But if she thought she could simultaneously seem like a populist to the left, and a wonky, left-but-not-TOO-far-left pragmatic Dem to moderates/the establishment, that's been challenging.

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 15, 2019

But here is the thing: my not backing her isn’t about her not being brilliant (she is) or her not understanding policy (she does…better than anyone else running).

It really is about her skill as a politician, or lack thereof. I think that her political instincts are not good and that she only appeals to a narrow band of the electorate.

Social media:

Ego…and leaving Gorilla Suits for Gorillas

So, when it comes to dealing with young people…well, the ones that have ambition actually (many..most? do not), at what point is it good to say “well, that is not your destiny; do something else?”

The reality is that few of us have the talent to be truly elite at anything; most of us have to work reasonably hard to be “good.” I remember seeing a case where a player who mostly rode the bench for a 2-10 Big Ten football team really thought he’d get a shot at the NFL. Seriously..and he was coached by someone who knows NFL talent when he sees it, and he had some playing time the year before. Sigh..

Which lead me to remember this:

I bought this book as an undergraduate when I wanted to get stronger. What I didn’t get is that most of these guys were on steroids (yes, Dr. Todd talked about that in the book) and that these guys were outliers; they had natural ability to work with…then they put in the work to become champions.

Most bodies, mine included, do not respond to training in that way. So about the title of this post: Todd talked about steroid abuse and then became a staunch opponent of it. He explained that he saw the damage its abuse caused in the lives of those who used them. And he once wrote (in a column for the Austin American Statesman, I believe) something to the effect “leave gorilla suits for gorillas.”

Of course both he and Jan actively supported the Texas powerlifting club..and Jan once got me to help spot someone doing a 700 lb. squat. (there were 5 of us). I was benching 310 at the time.
They also supported less formal contests, such as a “how many reps can you get with your body weight” (I got 11 reps with 230).

But, I suppose the bottom line is “don’t beat yourself up for not attaining the unattainable” and that applies in many areas of life.

Ego and social media
I’ve enjoyed social media. I like the discussions (at least, sometimes, when they don’t involve math). And yes, I do get ego boosts. When?

1. Sometimes it is fun to see people “meet through me” and go on to become friends…and yes, on occasion, they become friends and one of them blocks me! (LOL)

2. On twitter, I really don’t count “followers” nor do I care about the number. But the WHO follows me does tickle my ego a bit:

a) when someone who has a ton of followers but is somewhat selective on who THEY follow follows me…well…I get the happy face.

These two accounts are followed by a ton of people, but follow relatively fewer accounts themselves.

b) then there is the “famous people”: one is a US Senator and presidential candidate; the other is a former boxing contender who once came within 20 seconds of going the distance with the lineal champion Wladimir Klitchko in a title fight.