Today’s been me subtly avoiding preparing for an interview for weird, complicated reasons, and yet knowing that I’ll be cramming for it in the hours before it actually kicks off. The neuro’s real spicy today.
Inputs
1: The two big stories in Wisconsin sports today are the Bucks pulling the rip cord on their first year head coach with the third best record in basketball, and looking to replace him with Doc “And now we cut to the losing coach at the podium” Rivers, and the Packers firing of defensive coordinator and regular fan whipping boy Joe Brady.
Wisconsin, in my experience as a resident here, is a state that loves an incumbent head coach. The level of patience and acceptance of most leaders of teams is rather wide, with a non-affected “aw shucks, he tried his best” attitude allowed to cover for what, in more rabid media markets, would have people outside the building with signs and effigies. So it’s odd seeing this much change in a short period, especially after what one would have considered success in the aggregate. Best of luck to whoever’s here next, and have a good time with it. We’ll be rooting for you in earnest.
2: This interview with Penn Jillette hits on something I think that I and many of a similar mind ran into during their growth from simplistic to complex belief structures, in his journey out of big-L Libertarianism. I’ll quote it here:
For so long, you identified as Libertarian. What changed?
I completely have not used the word Libertarian in describing myself since I got an email during lockdown where a person from a Libertarian organization wrote to me and said, “We’re doing an anti-mask demonstration in Vegas, and obviously we’d like you to head it.” I looked at that email and I went, “The fact they sent me this email is something I need to be very ashamed of, and I need to change.”
https://www.cracked.com/article_40871_penn-jillette-wants-to-talk-it-all-out.html
It brings to mind the bit from the most recent season of Fargo:
Lorraine Lyon: “So you want freedom without responsibility? Son, there’s only one person on Earth who gets that deal.”
Sheriff Roy Tillman: “The President?”
Lorraine Lyon: “A Baby”
3: I’m wary of any story that essentially begins with “A new study says” due to so many things, from misreporting the actual findings of scientific work (sometimes intentionally, usually just through lack of rigorous knowledge about the vagaries of how science reports on itself) to the replication crisis to a general malaise at the faith we put in one study of questionable size and scope compared to the claims.
So when I see “How exercise increases brain volume — and may slow memory decline” I take it with a grain of salt (which also may or may not be bad for me depending on the latest stories about salt intake.)
However, I can say that I, personally and anecdotally, notice the difference on the days I get my 30 minutes of walking in vs the days I don’t, and while I hate that it helps, it definitely helps.