I didn't want to be doing it, I didn't enjoy it at the time, and I wouldn't want to do it again:  My quarantine childcare experience

I think it's ok to look back at your past self and realize you were an idiot.

I watched that Lance Armstrong documentary on ESPN, and I gotta say, this guy does not come across as a sympathetic character.  I kept waiting for the moment when I would understand him or respect his actions, but he consistently acted cold, unemotional, and unlikable.  Even his apologies didn't really feel like apologies.  If news came out that Lance Armstrong was a brutal serial killer who dismembered his victims and ate their pieces, that would be the least surprising thing ever. 

Contrast that with the recent Michael Jordan documentary, where I sort of already liked the guy but ended up basically falling in love with him.  And even if the content was heavily influenced by Jordan himself, he comes across as a fallible human being, with believable intentions behind some of his less-than-positive actions, and actual human emotions. 

It's hard to dislike Michael Jordan.  Lance Armstrong, on the other hand, might be a sociopath. #sports

I think the main reason I don't play guitar anymore is because I want to be alone and unheard when I play.  Guitar has sort of always been a solitary pursuit for me, but it seems like a social instrument so people want to listen and request things of me which I don't feel like supplying.

I feel like other people always have something like "I started exercising" or "I stopped drinking alcohol" or "I started waking up at the same time every day" or "I stopped eating meat" that makes them say "and I've been feeling so much better".  I wish I could find that thing for me.

I don't know everything, so I sometimes have to rely on other people (partly sarcastic, 100% true).  One thing I keep running into at work is when I ask someone a question and get back a thoughtful, well-stated non-answer.  It has a bunch of words, and it's internally self-consistent, and it has the appearance of an answer, but it's completely devoid of content.  And not because they didn't understand the question or I didn't understand the answer.  There's simply an unwillingness to actually provide a concrete answer.  It could be that they don't want to take a stance on something, or they don't want to overstep their bounds.  Or sometimes it's that they don't want to say something wrong and suffer any consequences.  I don't know if this is because I work in engineering, where the men are sometimes ... unsure of themselves, or because I work in the government, where the people are often ... unsure of themselves, but there's a definite issue of people saying a lot of words and providing literally zero content. 

Related:  But-heads

This NY Times article (paywall workaround here) talks about why it's a good idea to teach kids the anatomic names for body parts instead of using nicknames. 

But while those safety issues can loom large for worried parents, she said, the most important reason to teach children the right words for body parts -- their own and those of others -- is more positive and more profound. "It helps children develop a healthy, more positive body image, instead of using nicknames that their genitals are something shameful or bad," she said. "It also gives children the correct language for understanding their bodies and asking questions about sexual development."

Somebody shared this John Stossel thing on Facebook recently, about how life is better now than it used to be.  I have a hard time understanding this point of view. 

Like, I get it:  Things are better now than they've ever been.  Measurably, statistically, actually better.  And that's awesome.  So I get that angle. 

But I can't help but feel like this line of reasoning is intentionally downplaying the other side of the story, where people don't make enough money to afford housing expenses or who'll go into unmanageable debt due to routine medical issues.  Yes, the world is a better place than it was 100 years ago.  But can we at least acknowledge that things aren't perfect yet?  And I know the response I'd get from people who subscribe to this worldview:  We're not downplaying people's current problems; we're just trying to focus on the positive.  I know they think that, but it doesn't come across that way.  Telling a person with $100 in their savings account "Hey, things used to be much worse" literally doesn't help anything.  It provides zero benefit.  It reminds me of that Tweet about Black Lives Matter, "#AllLivesMatter is like I go to the Dr for a broken arm and he says "All Bones Matter" ok but right now let's take care of this broken one".  It further reminds me of something I heard in a church sermon many years ago:  It's not always a good idea to say something simply because it's true; it helps if it's also necessary.

I think there's a fine line between preparation and panic, and it's sort of hard to tell when the former becomes the latter.  Preparation is buying groceries before a snow storm, when you might not get a chance to go shopping for a few days.  Preparation is having some non-perishable foods, water, and batteries in case of a power outage.  Preparation is not leaving dirty dishes in your sink when there's a storm inbound (lesson learned the hard way). 

Preparation is planned.  Panic is reactionary.  Panic is buying a bunch of toilet paper.  Panic is buying all the meat at the supermarket.  Panic happens when you see other people buying something and think, "Wait, maybe they know something I don't.  I should buy that too before there's none left."  Panic is irrational, and in a sense, unstoppable. 

Side note:  Honestly, what's with the people buying all the toilet paper during the coronavirus quarantine?  It's not even the right thing to panic-buy.  The right thing would be fresh food, but not more than you can eat before it goes bad.  Or canned food, or beans or rice or something.  But toilet paper?  Do they plan to spend a lot of time on the toilet?  Do they realize that's not even one of the symptoms of this viral infection?  It's a perfect example of an irrational panic-buy. #psychology

One of the disconcerting things about the brief period of pre-panic before the coronavirus quarantine was how unconcerned people were about basic preparation for emergencies.  I stocked up on a few essentials -- canned food, rice, water -- not in any crazy quantity, but enough to last us a few days in case something unexpected happened.  Everybody was like, "How could something crazy happen?"  I guess I've been on the receiving end of enough power outages from minor natural disasters (snow storms, hurricanes, etc.) to know that our society is held together by a very thin thread.  Hurricane Sandy was a real eye-opener in that respect.  When a bunch of people who live in the same area lose the same service at the same time, it suddenly puts a lot of pressure on stores and businesses in the area to provide.  And they obviously can't provide at that rate.  There were a few moments of almost-desperation -- "quick, get that gas container, they're almost all gone" -- where you realize there could've been an incident.  You get one particularly angry person who hasn't eaten or slept well for a couple days, and suddenly you have a spark that can ignite a fire.  It really wouldn't take much.  Add in some restrictions about when you're allowed to be out or how much you're allowed to buy, and suddenly you've got a full-blown panic. 

As much as we like to think we live in a well-run, organized, prepared, abundant society, all it would take to run this train off the tracks is for a store to run out of something -- meat, vegetables, toilet paper -- for some things to start going down.  Desperate people do desperate things to survive, and when scarcity looks threatening, desperation grows. #sociology