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Let’s Meet Again in Five Years
What a wonderful, romantic story Karen B. Kaplan shared in The New York Times Modern Love section. It is ripe to be snagged for a movie.
How to Disarm America
Jack Crosbie, writing in Splinter, has a thoughtful, well-researched piece about what to do about guns in these United States of America. I have no idea if any of his ideas or others will do any good, but it will likely save lives to at least try something.
Truth
Seth Godin, writing at his site, is wrong. It happens.
He conflates truth and the acceptance of truth. Truth is truth.
In every fourth-grade classroom, the statement, “9 is bigger than 7” is clearly true. We can count out nine marbles. We have a mutual understanding of what “bigger” means in this context. From this shared understanding of the axioms and vocabulary, we can build useful and complex outcomes.
On the other hand, “Cheryl is a better candidate than Tracy” might be true for some people, but it presents all sorts of trouble if we look at it through the same lens of “truth” as a term we learned in arithmetic. We know who Cheryl is and we know who Tracy is, but it’s not clear what “better” means in this case. Are we describing who will win an election in two weeks? That’s awfully hard to test in advance.
And ‘words as building blocks of truth’ gets even more complicated when the ideas intersect with both science and culture. The statement, “The theory of evolution is our best explanation for how we all got here,” is demonstrably true in the realm of science, but for people with a certain worldview who value cultural alignment more than verifiable and testable evidence, this statement isn’t true at all.
The words matter. It matters whether we’re talking about ‘arithmetic true’ or simply an accurate description of what works for part of our culture.
Ahem.
Truth doesn’t give a flying fuck about your certain worldview or cultural alignment. If your worldview is the Earth is flat, the truth doesn’t care. The Earth is not flat, and that’s the truth. If you choose not to believe the Earth is round, then you are being willfully ignorant. You are actively trying to keep the world as you see it and not as it is.
I find people like that repugnant. Reality is reality. Sure, science can change, and new truths are always being uncovered. However, worldview and cultural alignment are all bullshit.
Those values are meaningless to the truth.
Dungeons and Deceptions
Ceclia D’Anastasio, writing for Kotaku, has an in-depth story on the origins of Dungeons & Dragons. It is a fascinating read.
Of course, I played D&D as a kid and really enjoyed the game. The first time I played my character died in the first few minutes and I was apoplectic as much as a dumb 15 year old could be. I did, however, get better.
The Henry Dale and Betty Smith Football Center
In this video, University of Illinois Athletic Director Josh Whitman takes members of the media through the brand new Henry Dale and Betty Smith Football Center. It is quite impressive.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Teaser Poster
Check out the new poster for Star Wars: #TheRiseOfSkywalker that debuted at #D23Expo. See the film in theaters December 20. pic.twitter.com/FUSZaGQZE6
— Star Wars (@starwars) August 24, 2019
December can’t come fast enough.
Inside the Twisted, Worldwide Hunt for a $7 Million Stolen Car
Stayton Bonner, writing in Esquire, has a fun story about a private investigator who specializes in “a niche of a niche of a niche.” Joe specializes in recovering stolen cars, but not just any old cars. He finds rare, collectible cars worth upwards of millions of dollars.
Take a lazy Sunday and read it through.
Yadi Knew
Yep, this is the coolest thing you'll see tonight. Yadi knew Dex hit that out of the yard before he even swung the bat. #TimeToFly pic.twitter.com/mdiptBq46M
— Bally Sports Midwest (@BallySportsMW) August 23, 2019
Of course he did. Because Yadi is the GOAT.
If Trump Were an Airline Pilot
James Fallows, writing in The Atlantic, has an interesting take on Donald Trump’s interesting week of verbal vomit. He thinks “a flat ban on at-a-distance diagnosis doesn’t really meet the common-sense test.” Of course, he thinks any medical hypothesis would be futile. Although, these last few days have been more unhinged than previously.
But now we’ve had something we didn’t see so clearly during the campaign. These are episodes of what would be called outright lunacy, if they occurred in any other setting: An actually consequential rift with a small but important NATO ally, arising from the idea that the U.S. would “buy Greenland.” Trump’s self-description as “the Chosen One,” and his embrace of a supporter’s description of him as the “second coming of God” and the “King of Israel.” His logorrhea, drift, and fantastical claims in public rallies, and his flashes of belligerence at the slightest challenge in question sessions on the White House lawn. His utter lack of affect or empathy when personally meeting the most recent shooting victims, in Dayton and El Paso. His reduction of any event, whatsoever, into what people are saying about him.
Obviously I have no standing to say what medical pattern we are seeing, and where exactly it might lead. But just from life I know this:
• If an airline learned that a pilot was talking publicly about being “the Chosen One” or “the King of Israel” (or Scotland or whatever), the airline would be looking carefully into whether this person should be in the cockpit.
• If a hospital had a senior surgeon behaving as Trump now does, other doctors and nurses would be talking with administrators and lawyers before giving that surgeon the scalpel again.
• If a public company knew that a CEO was making costly strategic decisions on personal impulse or from personal vanity or slight, and was doing so more and more frequently, the board would be starting to act. (See: Uber, management history of.)
• If a university, museum, or other public institution had a leader who routinely insulted large parts of its constituency—racial or religious minorities, immigrants or international allies, women—the board would be starting to act.
• If the U.S. Navy knew that one of its commanders was routinely lying about important operational details, plus lashing out under criticism, plus talking in “Chosen One” terms, the Navy would not want that person in charge of, say, a nuclear-missile submarine. (See: The Queeg saga in The Caine Mutiny, which would make ideal late-summer reading or viewing for members of the White House staff.)
Yet now such a person is in charge not of one nuclear-missile submarine but all of them—and the bombers and ICBMs, and diplomatic military agreements, and the countless other ramifications of executive power.
If Donald Trump were in virtually any other position of responsibility, action would already be under way to remove him from that role. The board at a public company would have replaced him outright or arranged a discreet shift out of power. (Of course, he would never have gotten this far in a large public corporation.) The chain-of-command in the Navy or at an airline or in the hospital would at least call a time-out, and check his fitness, before putting him back on the bridge, or in the cockpit, or in the operating room. (Of course, he would never have gotten this far as a military officer, or a pilot, or a doctor.)
This is what keeps me up at night.
Absurd
Andrew Sullivan, writing in New York Magazine, writes poor Donald Trump’s trigger word, “absurd,” is emblematic of his entire presidency.
President Donald Trump is absurd. His presidency is absurd. His party is absurd. We have known this ever since that absurd journey down an escalator, and the surrealism has only intensified since. Perhaps it takes a sane foreigner, not subject to years of almost hourly Trump abuse, to point out the obvious. We have no Executive branch in any meaningful or serious sense. We have a joke that’s wearing thinner by the day. There is no institution or company in America, small or large, that would allow Donald Trump to run or represent it for more than a few days — because most sane institutions see immediately that a rape-y racist with no knowledge base or capacity to learn is an embarrassment, and a huge liability. If appointed the head of, say, a local library on January 20, 2017, Trump would have been fired by January 21.
His economic policy is absurd. In a time of intense economic inequality, he has made the rich far richer, at the expense of the nation’s fiscal balance, during a long recovery. The deficit has exploded; tax cuts did not add any real growth; and an unpredictable trade war with everyone is weighing down the economy. His climate policy is absurd: denying that a crisis exists and encouraging more fossil fuel use. His immigration policy is absurd: the deployment of cruelty as a substitute for legislation even as illegal immigration surges past the peak of his predecessor. His foreign policy is absurd: enabling North Korea, trashing NATO, blowing up summits.
His physical appearance is absurd: the fake orange tan, with the white circles around the eyes, the massive, hair-sprayed and dyed pompadour. How many people in public life look anything like that? His endless lies and contradictions are absurd. And his psychological disorder — the narcissism that guards against any hint of his own absurdity — is getting obviously worse. And it was always going to get worse.
…
The only reasonable response to this president’s words is to burst out laughing at the absurdity of it all.
Well, no. The reasonable response to all of this is to impeach him or invoke the 25th Amendment. Of course, neither of those two things are going to happen. So, the only thing left is to vote overwhelmingly for the Democrats in 2020 and beyond.
XFL
I was vaguely aware that WWE’s Vince McMahon and others were relaunching the XFL. Apparently, this “league” starts up in 2020 and they just announced the first eight teams in a borderline ridiculous video.
Barry Petchesky, writing in Deadspin, has the hottest take looking at the boringness and blandness of everything and then comparing it to the XFL first go around teams. It’s too bad they didn’t think to bring in some of the old names. Still, I actually kind of dig BattleHawks.
The best part is the copy introducing each team (read them here and here with choice highlighted areas). The copywriter had a good day that day.
By the way, whatever happened to the Alliance of American Football?
Uncomfortable Conversations
A person’s success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have.
- Tim Ferriss
The Greatest Baseball Card Ever
Who cares about the T-206 Wagner or the 1952 Topps Mantle? For my money, Keith Comstock has the greatest baseball card ever. Thirty years after his card’s release, Comstock told me the story. This was the funniest interview of my life. (via @ESPN) https://t.co/VPSz0dVVDy
— Robert Sanchez (@MileHighRobert) August 21, 2019
The Widespread Suspicion of Opposite-Sex Friendships
Ashley Fetters, writing in The Atlantic, talks about if it’s possible for men and women to be friends.
In 1989, When Harry Met Sally posed a question that other pop-cultural entities have been trying to answer ever since: Can straight men and women really be close friends without their partnership turning into something else? (According to The Office, no. According to Lost in Translation, yes. According to Friends … well, sometimes no and sometimes yes.) Screenwriters have been preoccupied with this question for a long time, and according to a new study published in the Journal of Relationships Research, the question is also likely to be on the minds of people whose romantic partners have best friends of the opposite sex.
Personally, I subscribe to the Friends answer. Three of my best friends in the world are girls. My wife, has no fear that I have romantic feelings for any of them.
The Subtle Politics of Graphic Design
Kate Wagner, writing in The New Republic, reminds us of Barack Obama’s iconic logo and then goes over the branding of the current Democrat candidates.
Personally, I’m partial to the Beto O’Rourke and Pete Buttigieg brands. Although, I think the Joe Biden campaign logo is pretty good too. I’m also rather partial to Kamala Harris’s approach with the “For the People” line.
The Popeye’s Chicken Sandwich is Here to Save America
Helen Rosner, writing in The New Yorker, has a strange story about fast food chicken sandwiches.
There are dozens of fast-food chains in America, débuting hundreds of new menu items each year. Of these, maybe two or three in a generation make significant inroads into our collective culinary consciousness: a McRib here, an Impossible Whopper there. Perhaps the stunt with Sweet Dixie Kitchen wasn’t even necessary: the Popeyes chicken sandwich has ascended to the pantheon in record time, not because of a catchy ad campaign or an irresistible pricing scheme but because it is, if Twitter, Instagram, and uncountable blog posts and off-the-cuff reviews are to be believed, the best goddam chicken sandwich in the world.
I must confess… I don’t really like Popeye’s Chicken.
Time
Michael Wade, writing on his site, asks a few questions regarding time.
Is time linear or circular, an hour-glass, or ocean waves? Can time be managed or should it be regarded as an investment? Once lost, can it ever be recovered? If it could, would we know where it went?
Is time a collection of actions and omissions, moves and dodges, diligence and neglect, where the assessment of winning and losing largely depends on where the deadline is drawn? [One coach noted that his team really didn’t lose the game, they just ran out of time.]
The only thing that is clear about time is the usual request is for more.
Structure
Leo Babauta, writing at his site Zen Habits, outlines why we should attempt to create structure in our lives. I agree with everything here and fail horribly at it.
I need to try again.
Make a Habit/Break a Habit
Seth Godin, writing on his site, has a few ideas about habits (but that isn’t anything new)
If you’re trying to help yourself (or those you serve), the most effective thing you can do is create long-term habits. They become unseen foundations of who we will become.
The goal of running a marathon in six weeks is audacious, but it’s not a habit. You might succeed, but with all that pressure, it’s more likely you’ll simply abandon the project.
On the other hand, the goal of running to the mailbox (at least) and back for 50 days in a row is the sort of habit that might stick.
The same goes for education (“we do flashcards every day” is very different from “I need to cram to learn quantum mechanics for the test.”)
And it goes double for our lifestyles. If you can replace a bad habit with a good one, you’ll live with the benefits for decades.
The challenge is to set up systems that are likely to create habits, not sprints that lead to failure.