Coronavirus (Covid-19) Discussion
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Bingo @Giles
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on a more conspiring thought, has anyone ever noticed how there's always wars towards the end or at the beginning of a new century? we're currently right around that time frame.. WW1 and 2, Napoleonic etc..
Or towards the end of a presidential term
Trade and commerce, often in the guise of religious dogma. If the middle east didn't first have valuable spices, and latterly 95% of the world's fossil fuel reserves, it might be quite a peaceful but dusty place now.
You're right in what you paraphrase too. It's why militaristic language was chosen to set the narrative for Covid-19…firstly it creates a common enemy, secondly it gives the state more power, and the public more willingness to hand any perceived authority and autonomy they have back to the state.
I think that the cleverest psychological warfare used by the state is by far the dumbing down of the masses, while simultaneously making them think that they have insight and intellect. People trust without reason, and with little capacity to intellectually challenge social and economic policy, because 'politics is boring' but 'celebrity and sport are interesting'.
Clap for the NHS and draw a rainbow is the new baseball and football, in the absence of those 2 distractions (read up on why a baseball league was created at the end of the Great depression... Distract a mobilised public).
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I went fishing with a mate last night. His GF works in procurement for a large aerospace company. Since the lock-down, she has been working from home. It is unlikely that she will ever go back into the office full time again. The company has calculated that the staff productivity of those workers now working from home has increased by 22%…..
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This issue has raised some uncomfortable questions in the education sector in Norway. At my level (16-19 yo) the Norwegian government has pushed through a very unpopular policy regarding attendance. If you miss more the 10% of scheduled teaching in a class you lose your grade completely. The students hated it, but it was extremely effective. It has helped massively in lowering the drop-out rate and improving the attainment of the bottom 50% of students.
When corona hit all that went out the window. While teachers were able to use net based tech to teach effectively the students who needed it the most vanished and we had no recourse to track absentee-ism, or routines for getting them assessed. The ability to audit the participation and engagement of weak or unmotivated students that you get from seeing them three times a week was suddenly gone.
Any move towards devolving schooling at this level to digital platforms and away from physical places of work is going to need a small revolution.
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I went fishing with a mate last night. His GF works in procurement for a large aerospace company. Since the lock-down, she has been working from home. It is unlikely that she will ever go back into the office full time again. The company has calculated that the staff productivity of those workers now working from home has increased by 22%…..
The dynamics behind working from home (WFH) in this case may be different. Nothing was opened, no where to go and you couldn't spend time doing other "errands". Fear of the unknown, workers may be afraid if they don’t step up, they could lose their jobs. Companies may also be focusing on just one or two key priorities at this time. Without multitasking and juggling many priorities, employee’s productivity might have gone up. Read something recently on something call “Ctrip Paradox”. It was an “experiment” where employees of a Chinese travel company were asked to WFH. The study shows home workers were more productive, but as a group, they were less content. Although employers are warming to the idea: logistically it works, real estate savings, productivity has gone up, WFH may have a long term impact on office morale. https://news.stanford.edu/2020/03/30/productivity-pitfalls-working-home-age-covid-19/
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This issue has raised some uncomfortable questions in the education sector in Norway. At my level (16-19 yo) the Norwegian government has pushed through a very unpopular policy regarding attendance. If you miss more the 10% of scheduled teaching in a class you lose your grade completely. The students hated it, but it was extremely effective. It has helped massively in lowering the drop-out rate and improving the attainment of the bottom 50% of students.
When corona hit all that went out the window. While teachers were able to use net based tech to teach effectively the students who needed it the most vanished and we had no recourse to track absentee-ism, or routines for getting them assessed. The ability to audit the participation and engagement of weak or unmotivated students that you get from seeing them three times a week was suddenly gone.
Any move towards devolving schooling at this level to digital platforms and away from physical places of work is going to need a small revolution.
We’re encountering the same problem in the govt training sector. We have limited mechanisms to measure engagement, the few we do have are questionable in effectiveness, and exam security is out the window.
On the flip side of that my productivity has gone through the roof (I work on the administrative side of our training organization). The fact I don’t have to deal with people wandering into my office complaining about random shit has opened up a lot of time in my day.
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Wish I had the power to decide who gets it and who doesn't….
were some of them wearing Confederate underwear? ::)
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This is old news. I don't know if I should laugh or cry ::)
https://twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1276503730184224768 -
:D@Omega:This is old news. I don't know if I should laugh or cry ::)
https://twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1276503730184224768 Floridaaah-too much sun has made their brains soft and runny. That's my theory. -
The professional social worker in me understands that just as wealth and the trappings of wealth are inherited, that poverty and the trappings of poverty are equally inherited. The 'Stuart' in me, however, sometimes thinks 'feed em to the lions'. It is a perpetual dichotomy I'm trapped in
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A slight dusting of "Thinning the herd" ?
