PLAYPEN: Covid-19 Everything Political

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

From my fellow business school alumnus:

THIS IS NOT INTENDED TO BE A POLITICAL POST ABOUT TRUMP SO PLEASE DON’T MAKE IT INTO ONE. I want to comment on how natural innovators solve problems. I made a living for 10 years as a consultant facilitating innovative problem solving sessions with teams of subject matter experts. I studied how naturally creative people come up with the kinds of creative problem solutions that make you shake your head and say, “Wow.” My studies produced the following insights. Naturally creative people can think about how a previous problem was solved and then think about that solution abstractly. Then they combine the abstract solution with resources available in the system that contains the new problem to form ideas. The natural innovator does this subconsciously This mental process leverages the subject matter expertise of the innovator to generate more and more new ideas. I used inventive principles from TRIZ (Russian acronym for theory of inventive problem solving) as questions for subject matter experts (SME) to get them to think abstractly about problem solutions.
The president asked about light and disinfectants after SMEs told him they were effective at killing the virus. Here is how I would have used this information as the facilitator in an innovative problem solving session.
Me: So disinfectants will quickly kill the virus. Could you use disinfectants on patients?
SME: No it would kill them.
Me: TRIZ principle – conversion: Consider ways to convert harm into benefit. Can we convert the disinfectant so it kills the virus but doesn’t harm people?
SME: Probably not.
Me: TRIZ principle – take out a part: Extract a part of the system or process. Could we remove the blood from a patient, treat the bold with disinfectant to kill the virus, remove the disinfectant from the blood, and then return the blood to the body?
SME: Hmmmmm. Maybe we could do something like that.
Me: So, light will also kill the virus. Could you expose the patient to light to kill the virus?
SME: The virus is inside the body so just exposure to light probably wouldn’t help.
Me: TRIZ principle – intensify: Intensify a function by concentrating resources. Could we use a very intense light to penetrate the body?
SME: That might be better but still not too effective and there could be side effects.
Me: TRIZ principle – Nesting: Use interior spaces by placing one object inside another. Could we use a fiber optic probe inside the lungs or insider arteries like an angiogram to get the light inside the body?
SME: Hmmmm... maybe something like that would work.
The point is to get SMEs to look at problems from different viewpoints because sometimes the principle behind a problem solution in a different area can be adapted for a creative solution to a new problem. Sometimes the questions I asked SMEs were just dumb but sometimes they got the creative juices flowing.

EDITED for clarity, by adding "fellow" in the first sentence.

[armand]

From my business school alumnus:

Lunch break and I come for entertainment, and Slobodan doesn't disappoint.
That quote is just stupid, pure and simple. You cannot solve a problem if you don't understand it. All other "genius" thoughts after are wasted if you start with the wrong premise.

The only thing that makes some sense but it's a huge departure from the disinfectant it's removal of the virus from the blood which is not a new idea, it's been tried in various forms for years. But it's not disinfected but filtered out.


And regarding your other jerk post with the vaccine. I think I overestimated your intelligence. You should delete it. You are not understanding basic concepts and yet you try to argue about bigger things.

[faberryman]

From my business school alumnus:

I am not even sure what "my business school alumnus" means.

[Alan Klein]

Lunch break and I come for entertainment, and Slobodan doesn't disappoint.
That quote is just stupid, pure and simple. You cannot solve a problem if you don't understand it. All other "genius" thoughts after are wasted if you start with the wrong premise.

The only thing that makes some sense but it's a huge departure from the disinfectant it's removal of the virus from the blood which is not a new idea, it's been tried in various forms for years. But it's not disinfected but filtered out.


And regarding your other jerk post with the vaccine. I think I overestimated your intelligence. You should delete it. You are not understanding basic concepts and yet you try to argue about bigger things.

No personal attacks, please.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

I am not even sure what "my business school alumnus" means.

Means a person who is alumnus of the same business school as I am. If someone knows a better way of expressing it, I'd be greateful to learn.

[faberryman]

Means a person who is alumnus of the same business school as I am. If someone knows a better way of expressing it, I'd be greateful to learn.

It would be clearer if you said "an alumnus of my business school".

[faberryman]

Trump should replace Mike Pence as Vice President on the 2020 ticket with Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman. They have a mutual interest in epidemiology and Trump could use a woman on the ticket. She recently stated:

“Although, it has not been clearly determined as to the effect that extreme warmth will have on the virus,” she said, “it is assumed that it will deter its ferocity. We certainly are looking forward to having our desert heat provide the required substantiation. Our hot summer coupled with our unique economy compel us to be at the forefront of America’s ‘reopening.'”

It has been reported that Las Vegas hotels and casinos have air conditioning.

[JoeKitchen]

I make my own wine. We should get together and throw a party. Which of your cheese varieties would go with red Cabernet Savignon?

Depends, how much acid & tannins?  Body?

[JoeKitchen]

If you can make your own Romano, aged cheddar, gorgonzola, brie, etc. then my hat is off to you  .

I can do all of those, but then only the last two suite my tastes.

[Alan Klein]

Trump should replace Mike Pence as Vice President on the 2020 ticket with Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman. They have a mutual interest in epidemiology and Trump could use a woman on the ticket. She recently stated:

“Although, it has not been clearly determined as to the effect that extreme warmth will have on the virus,” she said, “it is assumed that it will deter its ferocity. We certainly are looking forward to having our desert heat provide the required substantiation. Our hot summer coupled with our unique economy compel us to be at the forefront of America’s ‘reopening.'”

It has been reported that Las Vegas hotels and casinos have air conditioning.

They're going to shut the AC off and sweat the last dime out of you.

[John Camp]

The expression is ignore what he says and watch what he does.   He does a lot of brain dumps of his thoughts, which he shouldn't because some people are looking to hang him on them.

I can guarantee they're not brain dumps.

[John Camp]

Means a person who is alumnus of the same business school as I am. If someone knows a better way of expressing it, I'd be greateful to learn.

Glad to help out. What you meant was, "my fellow business school alumnus." What you said was, "my business school alumnus," which led many of us to assume you own a business school. You've now clarified that, so we need no further comment.

[John Camp]

I want to say something about the media. Alan and Joe complain about it incessantly, and they're wrong about much of it, but not all of it. I worked in the news media for 25 years or so, at one small and two major newspapers, and I was also a reporter in the Army in the 60s. First off, there is no one thing you can call "media." The "social media" is dominated politically by right-wingers -- I can't even think of a left-wing social media guy, although I'm sure there are some. TV is a fairly even break nationally -- Fox conservative, CNN and MSNBC liberal, though given the rankings, overall the viewership probably tips toward conservative, as Fox rankings are higher than either of the other two. In terms of newspapers, there are three national papers -- the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. MOST OF THE NEWS in all three papers is non-political and quite straight-forward. Politically, the NYT and WAPO are liberal, the WSJ is conservative. All three papers have people of opposite political viewpoints writing columns.
 
But, here is where it's hard to take either Alan or Joe seriously -- Trump lies, openly and outrageously. Even Fox sometimes will call him on it. The WSJ does. And of course, the NYT, WAPO, CNN and MSNBC call him on it. But because they're liberal, and call him on it, doesn't mean that they're wrong or lying. The fact is, Trump does it all the time -- he's on any number of videos saying things that he later denies ever saying. It's not just about the virus, it'd about everything. He lies about golf, and it's thoroughly documented.

Does Joe Biden lie? I don't know, probably, but I haven't even paid that much attention to him yet. I'm sure Obama lied, the Bushes lied, we know Bill and Hillary Clinton lied as a matter of routine. As a guy who is moderately (very moderately) liberal, I have no problem saying that about either Obama or the Clintons. What baffles some of us (if I can speak for them) is how apparently intelligent people can defend everything that Trump says, when it's so obvious that he's a pathological liar. He lies about things that he doesn't even have to lie about.

Then there's the quality of the argument. I say Trump lies, and the answer is, "Well, Biden lies." That's not an answer, that's an evasion. Biden's not the President. If I say "Trump lies," I'd like just one of those big Trump supporters to say either, "No, he doesn't, and here's where you're wrong," or "Sure, he's a pathological liar, but I like him on his cultural and economic policies."

But they don't say that. They turn away from the obvious fact that Trump is a buffoon, and most often defend him with "fake news" or "the mainstream media lies." How the mainstream media can be lying when they show a video in which Trump says X, and then another one where he denied ever saying X, simply doesn't compute. And they do it all the time.

I have no problem with serious conservatives, and even tend to agree with them on economic and financial issues, though not so much on cultural issues. Trump isn't a conservative, he's a con man. The media wouldn't be doing its job if they simply didn't point that out.

IMHO.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... "Sure, he's a pathological liar, but I like him on his cultural and economic policies."...

I am ok with that.

I said repeatedly that I consider him a jerk, on many levels. But precisely because he is a "pathological liar", and let's accept your diagnosis for the sake of the argument, we interpret his words differently, in context.

[chez]

I can guarantee they're not brain dumps.

Yeh...you'd need a brain for that.

[Peter McLennan]

The expression is ignore what he says and watch what he does.

And that's supposed to qualify as "leadership"?

Anyway, Alan, that's your conviction of what "the expression" is, not mine. You called him a "stand-up guy".  Horse poo.

 Mine is as before:

"Those who voted for him because he says what he means are now busy arguing that he didn't mean what he said."

Especially note the "he didn't mean what he said" part. That even includes trump himself!  ("I was being sarcastic", it was a joke", I was mis-quoted etc) How many times has he recanted and walked back the stuff he's said?

His estimation of the intelligence of his audience is appalling. How can he expect us to keep on swallowing this crap?

[Chris Kern]

How can [Trump] expect us to keep on swallowing this crap?

"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public."
       ―Attributed to H.L. Mencken, U.S. journalist and satirist (1880-1956)

[Alan Klein]

I want to say something about the media. Alan and Joe complain about it incessantly, and they're wrong about much of it, but not all of it. I worked in the news media for 25 years or so, at one small and two major newspapers, and I was also a reporter in the Army in the 60s. First off, there is no one thing you can call "media." The "social media" is dominated politically by right-wingers -- I can't even think of a left-wing social media guy, although I'm sure there are some. TV is a fairly even break nationally -- Fox conservative, CNN and MSNBC liberal, though given the rankings, overall the viewership probably tips toward conservative, as Fox rankings are higher than either of the other two. In terms of newspapers, there are three national papers -- the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. MOST OF THE NEWS in all three papers is non-political and quite straight-forward. Politically, the NYT and WAPO are liberal, the WSJ is conservative. All three papers have people of opposite political viewpoints writing columns.
 
But, here is where it's hard to take either Alan or Joe seriously -- Trump lies, openly and outrageously. Even Fox sometimes will call him on it. The WSJ does. And of course, the NYT, WAPO, CNN and MSNBC call him on it. But because they're liberal, and call him on it, doesn't mean that they're wrong or lying. The fact is, Trump does it all the time -- he's on any number of videos saying things that he later denies ever saying. It's not just about the virus, it'd about everything. He lies about golf, and it's thoroughly documented.

Does Joe Biden lie? I don't know, probably, but I haven't even paid that much attention to him yet. I'm sure Obama lied, the Bushes lied, we know Bill and Hillary Clinton lied as a matter of routine. As a guy who is moderately (very moderately) liberal, I have no problem saying that about either Obama or the Clintons. What baffles some of us (if I can speak for them) is how apparently intelligent people can defend everything that Trump says, when it's so obvious that he's a pathological liar. He lies about things that he doesn't even have to lie about.

Then there's the quality of the argument. I say Trump lies, and the answer is, "Well, Biden lies." That's not an answer, that's an evasion. Biden's not the President. If I say "Trump lies," I'd like just one of those big Trump supporters to say either, "No, he doesn't, and here's where you're wrong," or "Sure, he's a pathological liar, but I like him on his cultural and economic policies."

But they don't say that. They turn away from the obvious fact that Trump is a buffoon, and most often defend him with "fake news" or "the mainstream media lies." How the mainstream media can be lying when they show a video in which Trump says X, and then another one where he denied ever saying X, simply doesn't compute. And they do it all the time.

I have no problem with serious conservatives, and even tend to agree with them on economic and financial issues, though not so much on cultural issues. Trump isn't a conservative, he's a con man. The media wouldn't be doing its job if they simply didn't point that out.

IMHO.

John, we had a choice between Trump and Hillary.  The country picked Trump.  We now have a choice between Trump and Biden.  That's it.  The rest is conversation.

[chez]

And that's supposed to qualify as "leadership"?

Anyway, Alan, that's your conviction of what "the expression" is, not mine. You called him a "stand-up guy".  Horse poo.

 Mine is as before:

"Those who voted for him because he says what he means are now busy arguing that he didn't mean what he said."

Especially note the "he didn't mean what he said" part. That even includes trump himself!  ("I was being sarcastic", it was a joke", I was mis-quoted etc) How many times has he recanted and walked back the stuff he's said?

His estimation of the intelligence of his audience is appalling. How can he expect us to keep on swallowing this crap?

Plenty sheeple out there and even in here that lap up every word he says.

[Alan Klein]

Plenty sheeple out there and even in here that lap up every word he says.

Biden or Trump.