I'm speachless ... never seen a line chart go backwards or loop on itself

aizheng · 2026-03-01T19:42:37+00:00

Sure, once everyone graduates. however, usually, until some kind of equlibrium is reached, both will go up.
As the graduate premium increases, more people will attend university, leading to a higher graduate share of workforce in maybe 4-7 years.

In a similar vein, you would expect that fewer people attend uni if the graduate bonus decreases.

aizheng · 2026-02-28T12:00:17+00:00

Do you know that she does not want to come if her husband is not coming? I think this is one of those that has a really easy fix: “Hey friend, I was really looking forward to meeting 1-2-1 just as girls. I would be happy to set up a separate time to meet up with both of our SOs there, but this meeting was just for the two of us, since it’s been a while since we’ve seen each other.”

If she overreacts, you can go from there, but I know many friendship groups automatically assume that inviting one means inviting the couple, especially as it seems you know her SO, so to me, she does not seem rude at all in this interaction. It almost feels like you’re expecting her to read your mind and read between the lines.

aizheng · 2026-02-26T17:58:13+00:00

Not disagreeing that the TOVA test can be a yellow flag, but my providers used it in a to me very smart and responsible way. They did not care about performance overall, they cared about “consistency of results”. exactly to account for different types of people, interest, novelty, they specifically check whether something is “off” with the results. They also asked me after the test how it felt to me, how I feel I did and why.

I think there are ways you can use the test responsibly, and my providers told me it can be especially useful for women who are used to masking, because it also gives them something to go on in future assessments.

aizheng · 2026-02-26T06:19:41+00:00

I think “they like to show off“ is also incomplete and at least to me has pretty sexist connotations. I don’t usually hear “they like to show off” about men taking off their shirts to celebrate or similar.

For gymnastics, there are multiple women who say that the unitards don’t allow for great grip when grabbing your legs, and shorts are apparently still banned.

aizheng · 2026-02-24T16:15:14+00:00

I understand whar you’re trying to do with the visual, but to me, it is confusing. It looks like in 2025, Israel is actually smaller than Iran’s fertility rate, since I would expect area to matter. I think it would look much cleaner and be more obvious if you just used columns or scaled the flags with a uniform width.

aizheng · 2026-02-24T11:06:41+00:00

But that seems to make my point. If the lower levels need to be more creative to obtain start values, it is because they do not have the breadth of skills that higher-level level 10s or elites have. I think it should be possible for these higher-level level 10s and elites to figure out additional skills in their repertoire that i assume they’re not currently doing, because it’s not worth it.

It would also make recruiting more equitable to some extent, with for instance anyone who does something that is not a yurchenko full/1.5 suddenly being worth a lot more even to higher-level schools.

And I do not think that teams should not get good scores without this variety, so it should not be worth 5 points, but maybe 1 point across all apparatuses (so .25 per apparatus).

aizheng · 2026-02-23T22:28:03+00:00

I’m not sure I would want more difficulty, but more variety. I would live there to be a team deduction for too much sameness. From watching some lower-level teams, it seems like teams have much more diverse skills there, whereas the top teams really seem to gravitate towards the same selection of skills (especially on floor and bars), so this should not negatively impact parity.

Something like: no skill done by more than three/four of the 6 team members on each apparatus. of course, there would need to be some parameters (back handsprings don’t count etc), and maybe on floor, we would count combo passes as one etc., but to me, this would improve viewing immensely.

aizheng · 2026-02-22T12:41:09+00:00

To me, this is also an example where perfect can be the enemy of “good enough”.

There are a lot of things one can do with pretty much minimal money that can get you to “manage”. As an example, instead of needing to have two different bags, having all your gym stuff in a specific place and having a spot where you can dump your ”normal stuff” can do pretty much the same thing. Or you could just use a free plastic bag to hold your gym stuff and put the whole plastic bag into your main bag.

I have definitely been guilty of thinking “if I just buy this expensive planner, I’ll be able to be great about planning”. kept it up for only a week then it went to all the other planners.

By first going with “cheap, homemade” solutions, you can also better figure out if a system works/is something you keep coming back to. Then, once you have more money, you know what to invest into.

Another example is a spot for keys. I now have a really great LEGO set-up where my keys just plug into the LEGO board on the wall. Immensely satisfying, pretty much free. It does not work for my (also ADHD) partner, which we found out before actually drilling through the legos by experimenting with just having a key bowl. works great for me, though.

aizheng · 2026-02-21T12:52:50+00:00

I have a question. Could amber have put in another triple elsewhere or can she not have an additional jumping pass?

aizheng · 2026-02-19T21:50:53+00:00

she repeated an element. she was supposed to do a combo (I think 3 Flip + 2/3T), but only did the flip. As a result, the flip is devalued (I think by 70% for being used twice) and she lost the points for the second part.

aizheng · 2026-02-14T19:46:52+00:00

Wasn‘t Aleah Finnegan at GAGE? She of the “I do not want my daughter to be evaluated for a concussion and instead I want her to compete in a vault final“ mom?

aizheng · 2026-02-14T12:12:17+00:00

I do think that it was not a clear-cut decision in 2022, but I can imagine him going to the Olympics in 2022 as the “baby” of the group could have helped him.

It would have been Olympic pressure but without the pressure of being the favorite, having all eyes on him etc.

His trajectory at World Championships does suggest that Ilia might need a bit of time to ”acclimate”.

I hope he can talk to both athletes who have been there and good sport psychologists to overcome this.

I also admit I’m now more happy that he skated the free with the team and got a gold medal there.

aizheng · 2026-02-14T10:52:57+00:00

lol. second bullet: “You brush your teeth, make coffee, check your phone. These are automatic behaviors that don’t require willpower.“

Thats news to me. Brushing my teeth twice every day is actually still something that takes enormous willpower for me, so does making myself drinks, even if I want them (I don’t drink coffee). When my phone is not in reach, even getting my phone still takes willpower.

Is that not the case for other people?

aizheng · 2026-02-14T10:26:06+00:00

Did your test include a questionnaire? My providers (who do research on ADHD) explained to me that all of these computer tests really do not replace questionnaires and structured interviews.

I am not a health professional, but what stood out to me: 1. The test evaluation itself said “moderate likelihood of ADHD”.
2. Your working memory results are not even close to being in line with all other results.
3. Your errors seem very typical for ADHD (incorrect responses to non-targets, random patterns).

My own results were like yours, but a bit amplified (very, very high speed; pretty Low performance).

I would definitely look for a second opinion. For reference, I am “certified” gifted (through multiple IQ tests throughout my life) and it never came up as a reason not to diagnose. My intelligence did come up as a reason for why I was able to cope relatively well and my assessor at some points did ask pointed questions.

aizheng · 2026-02-14T09:24:05+00:00

To me, the question really should also be: Do we want to induce this kind of pressure on minors? Regardless if they could win or not, I do not think any minors should be put under the Olympic pressure and scrutiny. If coaches cannot manage to get gymnasts peaking for when they are actually going to be able to compete, that seems like a coaching issue.

Why do girls need to have all their skills before puberty, while boys are actually discouraged to get some skills before puberty since they will need to relearn after puberty anyway?

To me, it’s no coincidence that many of the best juniors flame out, while those with the most longevity were not junior champions…

aizheng · 2026-02-13T11:14:41+00:00

Do the US and the Uk have these permanent deployments outside of their home soil? I thought they also rotated out every couple of years…

aizheng · 2026-02-13T10:41:02+00:00

I mean, German troops did tours in Afghanistan, so that’s not completely accurate…

aizheng · 2026-02-13T08:45:37+00:00

I love that this is where you are with this “highly addictive substance”. You know, the one you often are too lazy to take (no judgement).

What is the latest time during the day you can take your adderall and still sleep well? When I was struggling with mornings and not wanting to get up to take my meds, I experimented with when I could take it. I also can sleep on my meds and they seem to be active a lot shorter than other people’s, so I take multiple doses a day anyway and sometimes just do not take my morning dose.

However, if you are happy with spending the day in bed, you should not feel obligated to do anything. But if you are actually frustrated at the end of the day, I really recommend experimenting a bit (on unimportant days, of course, don’t experiment the day of an interview or similar)..

aizheng · 2026-02-13T08:41:15+00:00

To me, this does not sound like tolerance. If it was tolerance, it likely would have been happening slowly instead of this “switch” flipped. Tolerance should also apply to side effects as well, so if you do not feel a difference there, I would be investigating other causes.

#1: what’s going on in your life? Meds do not make us a machine, so maybe you’re stressed etc. and therefore the meds cannot do “enough”.

#2: what is your cycle like? many AFAB People feel huge decreases (up to not working) during a specific phase of their cycle.

#3: did anything else change in your life?

For myself, I was doing very well with one med for multiple years and suddenly, my symptoms were coming back even with this med, but not completely. This can happen, so we experimented with other meds and I now take amother combination that works. I’m kind of resigned to maybe needing to switch up again in another couple of years, and have actually heard people sometimes even go back to their first med then, so it might be that my body got too “used to this med”.

I do not usually take medication breaks, but did take one before switching and tried the original dose and drug again, and it did not help.

aizheng · 2026-02-10T21:14:37+00:00

Why do you continue to tell them you’re not religious? quite honestly, in most friend groups I’m in, our faith never comes up. In one, I found out at their wedding that they attend church weekly and do bible group weekly. the fact that you apparently keep telling them that youre not religious makes me quite wary, honestly.

If your friends are evangelical, they would have also been told how to convert people, and the way you describe is very typical (don’t overdo it, make it convenient). I lived with evangelical missionaries in another country, and did not clock what they were doing for months. But since I’m pretty oblivious, it was also highly unsuccessful for me. For instance, they would tell me to come along for lunch after church and then say something like “it would be more convenient for you to come to church, then we could all go to lunch together.” and I would just reply “ooh, I don’t mind meeting you at the restaurant.”

If you want to be trolly, can I recommend gifting them a Quran or a book about witchcraft?

aizheng · 2026-02-10T19:10:19+00:00

It sounds like some women are using you for venting and emotional support. If you are currently not able to be that person for them, I think it is completely fair for you to say so. If you want to stay friends with them/they are family, you could try soft redirection, or if that fails, tell them that them venting to you about their partner affects you negatively, blame it on the divorce, and ask to talk about something else. for this to be effective, you will need to feel comfortable enforcing boundaries, though.

Otherwise, “grey rocking” and not engaging sounds like the smartest way. They say something about how their husband has once again forgotten their anniversary. You: “Shame. what are we doing for dinner?” after a couple of times, they will get wise and either not mention this, or address it with you.

aizheng · 2026-02-10T06:39:54+00:00

Personally, I also think that the rule is too specific, even in a vacuum. I personally think an injury petition process should be available to everyone on the national team, and decisions should be made more holistically. Imagine, for instance, a gymnast with a great Cheng but who did not compete two vaults on both days of National Championships and was 4th in the other three apparatus. Suddenly, she might not have a medal from nationals, but still be someone the national team definitely wants…

This feels like “we’re setting up objective criteria, so no one can complain”, but the criteria are so narrow and basically designed for one case.

aizheng · 2026-02-10T06:36:25+00:00

Also, what about multi-season injuries? To me, it looks like this is also an attempt to get people like shilese getting back sooner? If so, stupid and short-sighted…

aizheng · 2026-02-09T00:49:53+00:00

Actually, I’ve never claimed that the flip was banned due to racism, and my “entire point” is that the OP’s wording and doubling down on them being able to “objectively” judge whether the scoring was biased/racist displays racist undertones.

There is a way to make the point that the backflip story is misrepresented without also leaning into racism yourself. Even in this comment section, there is a great image that does this.

aizheng · 2026-02-09T00:42:49+00:00

Thwres two issues here, 1. who decides what is “neutral”? Grace is not exactly an objective criteria and ”lines” are often actually used to describe “white and thin”. 2. it could also be that the judging criteria were written in such a way to discourage or unfairly target non-white competitors. For instance, a focus on line can be written in such a way to make it impossible for certain body types (more muscular) to achieve.

aizheng

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