Blog/2025-02-19/Twitter Coincidences
I had a pair of Twitter coincidences recently. The first was when I adamantly insisted to my friend Ben that I would waste all the food in Asia before I would risk food poisoning and then promptly getting food poisoning. The second was when I suggested a simple UI for disability insurance wage calculation and moments later was asked by Julie about why it was calculated for a certain period.
Food Poisoning[edit]
Ben Podgursky @bpodgursky If you never miss a flight, you're getting to the airport too early
If you never get food poisoning, you're throwing out leftovers too soon I’ve dumpster dived, table dived, eaten from trash cans, left food out for days… never gotten sick. There are vast unexplored regions of food safety which most people will never inch toward, having internalized purity myths from a young age x.com/selentelechia/…
Feb 14, 2025[1]
Roshan George @arjie Replying to @bpodgursky
I’ve done both and the truth is that the former is no big deal but I’d rather just spend an extra 20 min in the lounge.
The latter I will never repeat ever again. Not once. It was a nightmare and I would waste the grains of all Asia before I risk the sickness again.
Feb 15, 2025[2]
Roshan George @arjie Replying to @arjie
Well, @bpodgursky , the curse was cast and I’m lying sick with food poisoning in bed now.
Feb 17, 2025[3]
This was pretty awful and I'm not sure how I got it but so far a diet of Gatorlyte[4], water, and Egg Drop Soup has sustained me. I'm much better now though I can't eat very much more solid food than toast yet.
Disability Insurance Benefit Calculations[edit]
Matt Darling @besttrousers One thing to note about this - it's not something that can be done by working on the edges of these systems (ie, website redesign).
A lot of these systems are just complicated, and would need to be substantially changed to make them legible. Every government process that a normal person might have to interact with, including permitting, licensing, zoning, applying for benefits, and paying taxes, must pass the grandma test: you can explain it to a grandma on the phone and she can do it in under 30 minutes.
Feb 19, 2025[5]
Matt Darling @besttrousers Replying to @besttrousers
For example: your UI benefits are based on your earning in your "base period" - the “first four out of the last five completed calendar quarters prior to the time that your claim is filed.”
It's very hard to explain what that means to most people.
Feb 19, 2025[6]
Roshan George @arjie Replying to @besttrousers
Not to be facile but doesn't that seem like the best time for a website? It seems like an interactive tool would help with things like that.
Obviously 10 min with Claude+ChatGPT isn't going to give the best results but it seems like a matter of copywriting and visualization rather than an inherently impossible task.
Feb 19, 2025[7]
Visualization for ▼ ui-bp
And then moments later we received Julie's California maternity leave benefits:
What Can Be Next?[edit]
Unfortunately for us all, my next tweet referenced Taiwan being the next casualty in the same shape as Ukraine.
Roshan George @arjie People aren’t dumb. There is blood in the water. The US isn’t strong enough to push back against an old wasting foe, let alone win after Thucydides’s Trap. If you’re small, you get the atomic bomb or your days are numbered. The great powers are going to divide the world.
Feb 19, 2025[8]
Hope that one doesn't come true!
Notes[edit]
- ↑ Ben Podgursky [@bpodgursky] (Feb 14, 2025). "If you never miss a flight, you're getting to the airport too early If you never get food poisoning, you're throwing out leftovers too soon I've dumpster dived, table dived, eaten from trash cans, left food out for days… never gotten sick. There are vast unexplored regions of food safety which most people will never inch toward, having internalized purity myths from a young age x.com/selentelechia/…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ↑ Roshan George [@arjie] (Feb 15, 2025). "I've done both and the truth is that the former is no big deal but I'd rather just spend an extra 20 min in the lounge. The latter I will never repeat ever again. Not once. It was a nightmare and I would waste the grains of all Asia before I risk the sickness again" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ↑ Roshan George [@arjie] (Feb 17, 2025). "Well, @bpodgursky , the curse was cast and I'm lying sick with food poisoning in bed now" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ↑ Which is apparently an electrolyte-heavy version of Gatorade - which I did not check before I consumed
- ↑ Matt Darling [@besttrousers] (Feb 19, 2025). "One thing to note about this - it's not something that can be done by working on the edges of these systems (ie, website redesign). A lot of these systems are just complicated, and would need to be substantially changed to make them legible. Every government process that a normal person might have to interact with, including permitting, licensing, zoning, applying for benefits, and paying taxes, must pass the grandma test: you can explain it to a grandma on the phone and she can do it in under 30 minutes" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ↑ Matt Darling [@besttrousers] (Feb 19, 2025). "For example: your UI benefits are based on your earning in your "base period" - the "first four out of the last five completed calendar quarters prior to the time that your claim is filed." It's very hard to explain what that means to most people" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ↑ Roshan George [@arjie] (Feb 19, 2025). "Not to be facile but doesn't that seem like the best time for a website? It seems like an interactive tool would help with things like that. Obviously 10 min with Claude+ChatGPT isn't going to give the best results but it seems like a matter of copywriting and visualization rather than an inherently impossible task. https://viz.roshangeorge.dev/ui-bp/" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ↑ Roshan George [@arjie] (Feb 19, 2025). "People aren't dumb. There is blood in the water. The US isn't strong enough to push back against an old wasting foe, let alone win after Thucydides's Trap. If you're small, you get the atomic bomb or your days are numbered. The great powers are going to divide the world" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
