If you want an immutable mapping, why not use an enum?

But I disagree that he's deflecting his obligation to test more broadly -- it does sound like he's trying to get people together to do exactly that. It's easy to see this situation in black and white, and Linus's approach to the conversation is rather polarizing in that regard.

> You can do it out of mainline. You did it for a decade, and that didn't cause problems. I thought it would be better if it finally got mainlined, but by all your actions you seem to really want to just play in your own sandbox and not involve anybody else.

How is Kent not involving anybody else? It sounds to me like Linus is fed up with Kent, not Kent's software, and is ignoring evidence in favor of bcachefs.

Dancing is rather uniquely suited to meeting people. Dancing signals fitness and physical competency directly to the lizard brain. Of course, if you're bad at those things, you won't succeed in an environment of such honest signalling.

And of course, if you go to a dance class and ask somebody out after the first session, that's desperation. If you're there just to meet people, your dishonest intent will shine through. Note that I didn't say young people should dance just to meet people -- I said that they should be dancing more, and that meeting people is a side effect. Don't be sleazy.

The real trick to meeting people is that you can't try to make people like you. You need to relax and be yourself. It takes time to establish mutual fit, and the moment that's clear, you must act decisively. At that point, any effort you put towards that specific person will have a good chance of being received well. After you've been in and out of the arms of every other person in the room over the course of several months, you'll have much better perspective on how each feels about your presence. You won't flub it, you won't ask the wrong person, and your confidence will be well-earned.

The result seems bloody obvious to me as a dancer. Dance is exercise. And this wasn't just dance, they were learning moves and choreography. Like, no duh, teaching people new and complicated things increases neuroplasticity! According to the quote there, the activities were matched in physical intensity and one treatment added a significant mental component versus the control.

Compare dance to rowing, lifting, spinning etc. Those activities are regularly accomplished by a brainless motor. That such activities induce neuroplasticity is cool, but it's no shock that more enriching activities are better for the brain.

I think it's obvious that a younger person's brain would be more improved by this class than your ordinary seniors athletics program. I'd be more inclined to compare with other low-impact competitive sport: badminton, table tennis, etc. Like dance, those require full-body coordination, planning, reflexes, etc.