Baseball obscure stat: In modern era of Major League Baseball, no game has ever had an unassisted triple play in either the 3rd or 8th innings.
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Friday, September 11, 2020
So, I did it...I saw a movie in Covid-time [TENET]
Yup, it's true. I went to see a first-run movie during covid-time. Though, I'm not even considering movie theaters right now. That's not going to happen until COVID-19 vaccination is widely available. In the meantime, how should someone see a new movie? Well, there's streaming services. But, for some reason, paying $30 to watch a movie on my own device at home seems alien. So, let's go to the movie drive-in!
Yup, it's true. I went to see a first-run movie at the drive-in. Social distancing is super easy with two tons of steel and glass (and an additional 10 feet of parking distance) between you and others in outside world.
I saw TENET. It's an enjoyable, yet complex film that will take multiple viewings to completely understand.
So, here's the problem. Seeing a movie at the drive-in is an inferior experience, particularly for big films designed for modern theater screens. It's an acceptable experience, but not high quality. The main problem is that your own car fights against the experience, at least many modern cars do. Even just turning your car on to ACC for the radio (to hear the movie's sound on the drive-in's FM station) will start up all sorts of interior lights, including the status screen that is present many cars. Yeah, you can turn them down or cover them up, but that's just annoying.
Then, condensation forms on the windows in certain conditions. You'll have to open the windows from time to time. In most cars these days, power windows require the car to be on in the pre-start position. Guess what that does! Yup, it turns on even more interior lights!
Then, there's the weather. Fog, rain, and even dust or remnants of ash from fires in the nearby mountains can all detract from your experience. This weekend, I experienced rain, blown dust and fire ash.
The biggest problem of all? Most movie drive-ins do not play first-run movies. I literally had to drive 1 hour to see TENET on opening weekend.
Even still, seeing a movie on a big screen is better than not. Drive-in may be inferior, but it is preferable to the alternative: sitting for 3 hours in an enclosed space with a bunch of strangers around breathing the same air and touching the same surfaces, or queueing up to close at the snackbar or just walking too closely when exiting the theater.
Monday, September 07, 2020
Friday, August 28, 2020
Charities suck and you suck for supporting them?
Presentations that provide misinformation or misrepresentations regarding charities are common. Awhile back I ran into this seemingly well-meaning Youtube video (below) that attempts to expose the dirty underbelly of charities. Normally, I don't promote content I see as wildly or widely off-base. However, in this case, I feel it's important to see the earnest and confidence of the presentation and still be able to peer through the facade to come face-to-face with the video's deep flaws.
I've worked with funding of charities in the past. After viewing this video, something just feels off about its presentation. It's as though Thought2 (pronounce "42") is trying to promote an agenda of lowkey fearmongering rather than provide accurate information.
Yes, administrative costs exist and are typically a large amount of where the donations are used in a well-run organization. However, this video makes it sound like there are dozens if not hundreds of people on charity payrolls. The truth is that most locally managed charities are scraping by with just a few people, who are often volunteers, in makeshift or hand-me-down office spaces.
Yes, some charities are short-sighted in their march to achieve artificially important goals. However, the video's example of water pumps drastically misses the point: most communities that were helped do have working water pumps, even if many do not.
The video's example regarding clothes and electronic donations is also far off the mark. As stated by another Youtube commenter (Tripe):
"Blaming the entire collapse of the Kenyan textile market on imports isn't reality. He does state "domestic market" at one point, but that isn't the data he presents. He blames charity for the loss of 500000 jobs, but those people were serving the entire industry, not only the domestic market. The same issues that lead to the collapse of exports were still affecting the domestic market as well. They've had loads of problems including tariffs, labor prices, port prices, high energy costs, stiff competition from Asian countries, corruption, outdated machinery, credit problems, trade reforms and more. I think it would be more accurate to say imports are one of the factors that lead to the downfall of the domestic textile market and are currently retarding the resurgence of the domestic textile market in Kenya, (if they have the leadership for such a resurgence), not the main cause of the collapse and the loss of 500000 jobs."
Also, I found the video's focus on Africa-support charities produces a dramatically skewed story. IRL, many charities are for local benefit, so don't have same economic effects about which this video speaks. Thoughty2 seems to be heavily focused on big-picture and grand-gesture charities. The charity rating services that are mentioned in the video are heavily focused on these types of charities too. This video makes no mention of rape crisis centers, suicide hotlines, or local food banks.
Oh, United Way also locally audits the charities that they support using similar criteria as the organization that this video promotes. United Way audits charities within each community separately. This means that even national organizations are audited at a local level to justify their funding in that area. The problem with organizations that publish charities ratings is that the numbers are often misleading, with too much emphasis placed on making "administrative costs" out to be a bad thing. Due to the nature of some charities and the location of the people they help, costs are naturally higher for some charities over others. United Way funds charities without making the mistake of assuming administrative costs are somehow bad just because.
I'm not sure if this video is well-intended, or if it intentionally misleads. Either way, in my opinion, this video is completely unreliable for the topic of charities and should not be used as a reference in discussions regarding charities.
Saturday, August 15, 2020
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