The Monday Read

Long time no write

This is the first Monday Read this month! Which is a pretty poor state of affairs. I apologise for depriving you of your weekly entertaining email/annoying inbox clutter.

We’ve also been remiss in terms of writing any actual content for the blog. Have a couple of posts lined up though, so that should get better soon.

I’ve even had some concerned emails from readers/members of our community, which was nice.

So what happened? Well, many things and nothing.

As you may know, mainly because of my wife’s business, I’ve been self-isolating and social distancing since late February. I stopped going to jiu-jitsu practice, stopped taking public transport, pretty much stopped eating out, stopped seeing people socially.

My workplace shut down quickly too, and we’ve been working from home since mid-March or so. Classes are online and we’re not supposed to go in if we don’t need to.

It’s been a weird few months. I’m an introvert, so you’d think I’d be good with the current situation, but it seems that I need a certain amount of interaction along with my me time. Absent that, I find myself spending too much time on Twitter reading about the situation in the US and the UK (none of which is really suitable for the Monday Read) and sleeping 2-3 hours more than usual each day.

I guess a lot of people are in the same boat. I’m lucky in that I don’t have any real problems (financial, family illnesses, or the like).

I’m going to try and rebuild my routine a bit, adding exercise, a waking up time, and trying to spend less time consuming stuff online and more time creating things. The output here on the blog will be one measure of whether that plan succeeds 😉

This week’s links

1. I love this list of SF ideas (you can click to see where they are from): Timeline of Science Fiction Ideas, Technology and Inventions (sorted by Publication Date)
2. Very off-topic, but I enjoyed this specialised discussion about something I know very little about: Stevey’s Google Platforms Rant
3. Worth thinking about: Why Remote Work Is So Hard—and How It Can Be Fixed
4. It’s one option: Consider a gap year
5. The comments on this are dreadful: Japan revises law to make more part-timers join pension program
6. Agree with this, will try to implement here on RJ: PROBLEMS WITH PAYWALLS
7. Off-topic but very inspiring video about kaizen: FastCap’s Best Improvements 2019
8. I’d love to see the end of Japan’s ‘slave labour’ program: just give people visas and treat them properly. Economy struggles to come to terms with shortfall of foreign workers
9. That’s higher than the figures for the government trial tests in Tokyo, Miyagi, etc. SoftBank conducts 44,000 antibody tests; 0.43% come back positive
10. Counter-intuitive but makes a lot of sense: Do things that don’t scale
11. Enjoyed this as usual: The Fischer Random Chess Stock Market
12. Some common sense housekeeping: Yes, Another Stock Market Crash Is Coming: How to Be Ready
13. I don’t hate this idea: Japan gov’t looks to link 1 bank account to ‘My Number’: minister
14. Nice beginners’ guide: Here’s how to make money in shares
15. I approve this message (was and remain shocked at the government’s decision to treat long-term residents the same as tourists this time): Re-entry ban makes mockery of Japan’s slogan of ‘coexistence’
16. Really interesting thesis: Don’t bet against post-pandemic Japan
17. Enjoy the blog and bought the book: Japanese Rule of 7, the Book
18. A slight improvement: Japanese immigration authorities announce conditions for re-entry of foreign residents
19. Really interesting interview with Dr. Oshitani: Infectious Disease Response — to see the forest, not just the trees: What differentiated Japan from the Western countries?

What do you think? Anything good in there? There is a lot of esoteric stuff in there I enjoyed this time -not surprising as it is more than three weeks’ worth of links!

Till the next time 🙂