At the dinner table last night, we were discussing a text message that I received from a trustworthy-friend who said that one of the 4 demonstrators who died at the rally/riot in Washington DC this week had died by tasering his own testicles and thusly suffering a cardiac event. He also made mention that another participant had been trampled by the crowd after earlier being photographed wielding a “Don’t Tread On Me”-flag. “Bear in mind, this guy is usually reliable, but it fits his biases too much, so I would need to verify it,” I said to the family. Christine proceeded to say that she had seen the same thing on FB. As supporting evidence, she held up and shared the post of FB friend, who had shared a screen-grab of a post of a stranger, who had something to say about the subject. I refused to even read it. […]
I don’t know a lot about post-modernism. I know that I have been accused of espousing it without necessarily knowing what it is. I know that in political circles, the right throws around the term “post-modern” with the same disdain as “progressive,” “leftist,” and “socialism.” I know – as a reformed political conservative – that those are really powerful words because they lay opposed to one’s fundamental ideology. What I think I know about post-modernism is that it makes certain-types of people feel uncomfortable (e.g. people who need order and certainty in their lives, especially the religiously-inclined), but that is an anecdotal guess, nothing more. Briefly looking up a convenience sample of 3 sources on post-modernism: Wikipedia, Britannica, and PBS, because they were the first 3 items in my internet search results. According to Wikipedia: Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourse defined by an attitude of skepticism […]
2020 is over and there have been a few more casualties. I knew that I would lose touch with some folks when I started to remove myself from social media. I had an assortment of “friends” that I wanted to remain in touch with … many had been forged in person but some were exclusively online. The first year of my email-only experiment went fairly well and I received replies and positive feedback from almost all of the 20+ people that I tried to stay in touch with. This year, that number has reduced considerably. There were a couple of folks that I adore and usually see in person 2-3 times per year. COVID squashed my travels and busy-ness probably squashed any time that they might have had to reply to my emails. There were 2 other folks on other sides of world who I shared so, so much with […]
I am still thinking about it, and I think this is a placeholder for thoughts that are yet to be developed, but … I read a very under-whelming book about trying to value our time more; I don’t recommend it. Long story short: don’t spend too much time or waste too much effort saving money and organize your day in a disciplined manner (de-fragmented) so that you are doing what you value most. If you are able to do that, psychology research tells us that, on average, you are likely to be happier. #done #yourwelcome There is also an interview here, that (frankly) condenses the gist of her book into something palatable and equally digestible. This is the notion that I have been wrapping my mind around recently: I have to earn time off from work. Until last year, they called it “earned time off”. That means that the default […]
“What is essential as you become an adult is … you have to refine the ability to hold two contradictory ideas in your mind at the same time without it driving you crazy.” Bruce Springsteen I have always stressed to both Austin and Victoria that there is no such thing as an unhealthy food, only unhealthy behaviors. To say that something is good or bad is easy but usually wrong. Instead, much more has to be considered, because only very, very rarely in life is anything wholly good or bad. Most of what we engage with in life lies somewhere in the “in-between” … the proverbial gray area. But when powered by our biases, binary-thinking is tempting. It is easier. Dare I say it feels most natural? I wonder if it has something to do with evolution, heuristics, and the free energy principle, but if I think it might be […]
I should have expected there to be a confusion. A line out the door. Workers bustling. Visitors filled with expectation, excitement, and enthusiasm. After signing up to receive my vaccine for COVID-19, I knew better. When I received a notice that I could sign-up for the vaccine – only 2 days after the first vaccination in all of CNY – I was in the working in the field and needed to wait nearly 2.5 hours to sign-up. I was hoping that I would get a chance to register in time to be able to get a spot, much less one that would fit in my pre-holiday schedule. Imagine my surprise when I logged in and discovered that I could schedule for any and every time-slot that had been made available. Imagine my disappointment when I arrived to a near empty parking lot at 0800 and discovered that I was one […]
I knew it. The moment that I saw it, I knew what was happening and what was going to happen. It was transparently manipulative and disingenuous, and it was going to backfire. One week ago, Andrew Cuomo presented data at his press conference that indicated that 74% of COVID transmissions could be traced to ‘Household/Social Gatherings”. The only other known transmissions that featured data points above 2% were healthcare settings and higher education. It fit his narrative … the same narrative that he has been (rightly) repeating for months: Don’t congregate. There was a glaring problem, however: his data didn’t add up. Firstly, it was disingenuous to combine the transmissions of household spread and social gatherings. We already had data on household spread when the virus wasn’t at it’s peak: throughout the summer and early fall, Onondaga County consistently provided information about how the virus was being transmitted and 20-40% […]
I was considering what it would mean should I not be able to run 13.1 miles on October 11, as I had planned in the early summer, and I came across a question: Can there be failure in the presence of sincere effort? I don’t think so; certainly not in the way that we consider failure as a failing or shortcoming of the individual. I am of the mind to think that any specific objective that I set for myself lies somewhere on continuum of possibility. Sometimes I am aware of – and appreciate – the factors that impact the likelihood of my success, while at other times I do or can not. In the Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda famously says to Luke: “Do or do not. There is no try.” It sounds good, especially in the context of a culture that encourages and expects the […]
Since I was 21 years of age, I have been pulled over 6 times for speeding, yet not once have I received a ticket for a moving infraction. Here is how I do it: Step 1: Don’t get pulled over by a trooper. Step 2: (I happened upon this one by accident, the first time I was pulled over, and have continued since) Unbuckle my belt so I give them something to cite me for that won’t cost me points. Step 3: (If it is dark) Turn on the dome light of it is dark so they can see in my car as they approach Step 4: No surprises … open up the glove box so they can see what is (and isn’t inside). Step 5: Place my cards on the dash in clear site Step 6: Place my hands at 10 and 2. Step 7: I only move when […]