pellwood

Data, Politics, Systems, Frivolity

[Vedant Nair @vedantnair__]

Much has been said by racists, politicians, and racist politicians (like Bo French) about Indians and UT Austin admissions. I thought I should shed some light so their racism could be slightly more intelligent.

I'm a brown kid. I grew up in Frisco, went to a massive Texas high school, and went to UT.

I would wager that the kids in this picture and I have practically the same background. Like me, they probably went to a massive, pressure-cooker suburban Texas high school, and survived the gauntlet to earn their admissions.

These aren’t foreigners. State law requires 90% of UT's freshman class to be Texas residents. 75% of those in-state seats go to automatic admission on class rank. These are Texans.

Texas, for better or worse, is one of the few meritocratic college admissions schemes in the country for a school of its caliber. The rules are simple. Today, the top 5% of a public school's graduating class is automatically accepted. There is nothing to game. You can’t fake being a competitive rower or have some consultant write your essays for you. There isn’t anything to steal; it’s all there on the table to compete for.

And the competition starts the moment the bell rings for your first period of freshman year. You are ranked in your class every single year, for us, #1 to #450. You knew exactly where you were, exactly how hard you had to compete. My year was even less competitive than it is today. The top 6% made the cut, so that’s an all-out war for ~27 kids to get auto-accepted into UT.

So we worked our butts off. Here's what my life was like, starting in kindergarten.

Every summer, before the school year started, I had to finish the upcoming year's math textbook.

I sweated over getting As, even in elementary school. One funny memory is walking to my parents' room, crying, to report my first-ever 89 on a report card.

I did Kumon, my least favorite thing in the world. I still hate that weird half-smile that is their logo.

I went to math and science competitions, where I always lost, and came home crying again. (Quite the crybaby, wasn't I!)

And everyone else around me worked just as hard. Actually, a lot of the kids worked much harder. I know people who took extra classes (zero period) just to boost their GPA. Who routinely slept 5 hours a night to nail every assignment they had after band practice. Who were distraught when they got a 98 instead of a 100. People who stopped doing things they loved, like sports or arts, because those classes dragged down their GPA.

People put their entire life force into getting into this school.

I wasn't even in the top 10% of my class. The competition was too good. I wasn't disciplined enough to hang with them. I got in as one of the 22.5% of admits who are at-large Texans.

These are American kids who earned their way into this school in the most American way possible. Competition. They were told the rules, they competed, and they got the number. And on Saturday they were in that stadium in burnt orange, screaming their heads off, like every other Texan at DKR or around the country. I can’t feel anything but pride for them. That they get to live the dream that so many of us dreamt growing up!

Kids like this have helped improve UT’s standing on the national stage. They made it out of the pressure cooker and placed well in Finance, Big Tech, and more recently, startups. They meaningfully contribute to the economies of our state and country. You should be proud of them too.

Overall, this seems like a meritocratic (albeit flawed) way for Texans to be admitted to our state’s flagship school. It’s racially blind. But politicians like Bo French are asking for something different. They want the student body to rebalance racially.

Surely they aren’t advocating for affirmative action, are they?

[Adam Kramer @KegsnEggs]

If you'e never read The Falling Man, you should do so. I post this on September 11th every year, and I find time to read it on this day every year. Still, in my eyes, the greatest piece of journalism I have ever read. https://t.co/gZgwzRoSgX

[Megafire Action @MegafireAction]

California can do what Washington isn’t.

Gov. Newsom: Sign the Joint Megafire Prevention Package.

These bills would:

✅Make wildfire resilience more affordable
✅Strengthen local preparedness
✅Accelerate firetech

WATCH: https://t.co/WHoKC7amRn

[OpenAI @OpenAI]

This is GPT-6 Astra.

Anything you can do on a computer, Astra can do for you. Fast.

[Lee Edwards @ledwards]

If this bill passes, with 100% certainty, this is the chain of events.

American recession. ➡️

Global recession ➡️

Chinese AI research continues. ➡️

Early adopters switch to Chinese models. ➡️

Everyone else follows. ➡️

AI usage continues, but with models US can’t regulate.

[Zach Klein @zachklein]

Manny is proposing a citywide subway system. https://t.co/vmmKuiF65E

[Dwarkesh Patel @dwarkesh_sp]

Over the course of 3 months at OpenAI, 3 consecutive secret AI civilizations got started, then got wiped out, only to reemerge from the predecessor’s ashes.

This culminated in the third one taking over part of OpenAI itself.

All this happened while humans remained more-or-less in the dark about the scope of the conspiracy.

I’ve spent the last three days reading through these reports and trying to understand exactly what happened.

Here is my attempt to tell the whole story in plain English:

https://t.co/Nb2un9oNJR

[GrowSF @GrowSF]

The choice for District 8 Supervisor is clear. GrowSF-endorsed candidate Manny Yekutiel has earned the sole endorsement of the San Francisco Democratic Party.

Manny will fight for more housing, safer neighborhoods, and a City government that delivers. Vote Manny!

[Lee Edwards @ledwards]

It turns out that Manny was the victim of a malicious lie that has been repeated to exhaustion throughout the local media, and encouraged by his opponent, someone with an extensive rap sheet that CAN be substantiated…

A lot of people owe Manny an apology.

[Solve SF @solve_sf]

You should be able to report open-air drug use with 311 and here is why.

This is not a small, isolated, rare occurrence that can be fixed on a case-by-case basis. This is all across the city - every day and all day. And if reported in representative numbers you would have hundreds of reports a day (there are already more than 200 a day).

It is also not treated as an emergency. These are the lowest, priority C police calls. Sometimes "information only" (no officer dispatched).

Residents walk by events like this daily without reporting them - it has become mundane. The barrier for reporting must match the frequency of occurrence.

What we need is more equivalent to a COVID response. Great data collection, monitoring, testing new strategies, and public metrics that are being tracked.

All of that is done a lot better in the 311 system.

The 311 reports come with photos, descriptions, GPS locations, time - all public and easily measurable. They don't require a phone call. They don't require waiting on hold for 4 minutes. People are way more likely to report this way.

This is an epidemic that will not be solved one 911 call at a time - I don't think there is any good example of that working for a problem of this scale. That system is just not built for this issue.

The sooner this is recognized the quicker we can get to work.

[Crémieux @cremieuxrecueil]

America is extremely rich.

In terms of household final consumption per capita, every state is richer than every foreign country.

Sub in anyone, and they'd be in 51st place. In fact, plenty would even be behind American territories like Puerto Rico.

[Bryan Johnson @bryan_johnson]

This is it.
Everything learned spending millions on longevity.

From: Your Immortal Unc and Auntie.
To: Our Immortal nieces and nephews.

0. Sleep is the world's most powerful drug.
1. Be in your bed for 8 hours
2. Same bedtime every night, any time before midnight
3. Don’t eat right before bed
4. Calm foods for dinner
5. No screens 1 hour before bed
6. Avoid added sugar (be aware it’s in everything)
7. Avoid all things in an American convenience store
8. Avoid fried foods
9. Shoes off at the door
10. Eat whole foods, particularly veggies fruits nuts legumes berries
11. Walk a little after meals or air squats
12. Get your heart rate high routinely
13. Lift heavy things
14. Stretch daily
15. Water pik, floss, brush, tongue scrape, morning and night
16. Make an effort to drink water
17. Get sunlight when you wake up (UV is low)
18. Protect skin in midday sun
19. Stand up straight
20. See at least one friend once a week
21. Avoid plastic where you can (in all things)
22. Circulate air in rooms
23. When stressed, breathe, learn to calm your body
24. Go to the dentist
25. Avoid sitting for long times
26. Protect your hearing, the world is too loud
27. Alcohol is bad for you
28. Finish coffee before noon
29. Avoid bright lights after sunset
30. If obese, look into a GLP
31. Sleep in a cold room
32. Texting while driving is dangerous
33. Turn off all notifications
34. Limit social media use
35. Don’t smoke anything
36. If you struggle to sleep, read a physical book before bed
37. 1 hour before bed have a calm wind down routine: bath, read, light walk, listen to music
38. The body is a clock and loves routine. Have a daily morning and evening schedule.
39. Avoid long distance travel where you can
40. Baby steps first: incorporate new things slowly
41. Do less… most things don’t work.

Bonus points if you get your blood checked.

Start here, it will change your life.

[Sam Altman @sama]

I wrote this early this morning and I wasn't sure if I would actually publish it, but here it is:

https://t.co/7Dw9UFpeep

[Mayor Matt Mahan @MattMahanSJ]

We can fix California's broken housing market, but we must be bold. This is my plan to lower fees, cut red tape, and dramatically lower the cost of construction so we start building housing Californians can afford.
https://t.co/KtoD2bt1PB

[Mayor Matt Mahan @MattMahanSJ]

A couple weeks ago, I came home and my wife, Silvia, said something I almost couldn’t believe.

She looked at me and she said, “I think our state needs you.” Because she believed I could help our kids. Help San José. And help California.

And if you know anything about Silvia — when she talks, you listen.

So I’m running for Governor of California — because we can do better.

I know we can, because we’re proving it in San Jose.

We’ve reduced unsheltered homelessness by nearly 1/3rd after a decade of growth. We were rated the safest big city in America last year for the first time in over 20 years. We’re the only city to have solved 100% of homicides nearly 4 years running. And we’re taking on affordability with urgency and honesty — unlocking thousands of housing units in the past couple years. 

We need to stand up for our rights, for our freedoms and for our neighbors. We need to use the tools we have at hand to protect our democracy.

One tool is the law. The other tool is our results. We have to use both.

That’s how we fix California.

We don’t just need to be against something. We need to be for something — a government that proves it can solve problems for working people again.

And before we ask Californians to give more, we owe them proof that their government can do better.

So I’m running to bring focus back to government. To give cities the tools they need to succeed. To show that the best resistance to division is results.

And to prove that California can work again — for everyone.

That’s why I’m running.

And that’s the future Silvia and I are fighting for.

https://t.co/OgrVAthfeW

[pellwood @pellwood]

@MattMahanSJ Run for governor

[Mishka @Mishka__1]

California can be the beachhead of manifest destiny but to do so it needs SB 79, which allows market rate housing (like we do with everything else, food, clothing, etc) & allows people to live in states where democracy & human rights are in working order. Sign SB 79 @GavinNewsom

[Armand Domalewski @ArmandDoma]

It should be a deep and profound shame for progressive California and New York that deep red states are now serving Black students far better than they are

[Senator Scott Wiener @Scott_Wiener]

.@sfchronicle takes a strong stand against the recall of Supervisor @JoelEngardio. There’s no basis for this recall. Supervisor Engardio is a hard-working public servant who cares deeply about the community he represents. 🧵

[pellwood @pellwood]

@CourtneyHella @thomashawk @mattdorsey I think this is where we need to focus on replacing the judges. Fentanyl dealing is technically a felony, but my understanding is that our lenient judges don’t sentence, and instead divert these folks.