2021 archive
Game Day 0
I was in the ABC store yesterday and a couple of the customers and one of the staff were joshing with each other about Sunday’s football games.
I realized that I had no clue as to what they were joking about.
When I got to the checkout, the young lady at the register said, “This concludes the entertainment portion of your visit.”
I said, “I lost interest in football . . . because of the corruption. In the NFL, it’s the owners. In college, it’s the NCAA. It’s amazing how much more fun I have on Saturdays and Sundays now.”
I realized that I don’t miss football.
Not at all.
Vaccine Nation 0
The Portland, Maine, Press-Herald’s Bill Nemitz spots a flock of Does.
“A House Divided” 0
Chris Huston is less than optimistic.
The Lies of the Land, True Believers Dept. 0
Psychology professor Cortney Warren parses Aaron Rodgers the Dodger’s vaccination doublespeak (as you will recall, he said he was “immunized,” but avoided the word “vaccinated”) and probes the question of whether or not he believed his verbal dance would be seen as the lie that many others see it as. Here’s a bit (emphasis added):
Aside:
Methinks the sentence I emphasized sheds a spotlight on lots of what goes on in “social” media.
A Culture of Cry Babies 0
Noam Shpancer looks at dis coarse discourse and concludes that Americans need to grow the heck up.
Extra-Special Bonus QOTD 0
Thomas Paine:
Via Job’s Anger, which goes on to point out that the rich, though they benefit from society, did not create it and therefore by implication are morally constrained to contribute back to it.
Aside:
Such contributions, by the way, are commonly referred to as “taxes.”
(Missing link no longer missing.)
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Yet another random act of politeness . . . .
Nilo knew she had been shot.
(snip)
Nilo, 26, was shot in what officials believe was a random shooting . . . .
Geeking Out 0
Magiea v. 8 with the Fluxbox window manager. The right-click menu (I loves me the right-click menu) is open, Xclock is in the upper right, and GKrellM in the lower right. The wallpaper is from my collection.
The Crack Down Cracks Apart 0
Johns Hopkins University professors Susan Sherman and Saba Rouhani examine research that shows that “zero tolerance” policing not only doesn’t reduce crime, it can actually exacerbate it.
Follow the link for their evidence.
“He’s Never Wrong, He’s Always Right” 0
Psychologist Gustavo Razzetti takes a look at why persons, particularly persons in leadership positions, can’t admit that they are wrong (not that we’ve seen any examples of that in our public discourse in recent years). Here’s an excerpt:
This delusion gets amplified if you hold a powerful position.
Organizational psychologist Tasha Eurich coined the phrase “CEO’s Disease” to refer to this condition. It’s the result of low external self-awareness. As you work your way up the corporate ladder, you’ll start to receive less candid feedback. Your colleagues become afraid to disagree with you and start filtering what they say.
I commend the piece to your attention. It sheds a light on dis coarse discourse.
The Partisan Purist 0
Republicans no longer have a political party participating in the polity so as to perfect policy. They have become a cult of personality dedicated to disestablishing democracy and effectuating autocracy.
(Ask me nicely, and I’ll tell you what I really think.)
Image via Job’s Anger.