Digest, 3/12/2023: House in Hand
the eighty-fifth digest post
I went on Meghan Daum’s podcast and had a great time, check it out.
This Week’s Posts
Monday, March 6th - And Now I Will Again Ponderously Explain Why I Am Trans-Affirming
Explaining, again, some basic principles of mine, after being again accused of “ducking” the issue.
Tuesday, March 7th - Some Reasons Why Smartphones Might Make Adolescents Anxious and Depressed
Smartphones are looking more and more like the culprit for the depression and anxiety that’s wracking young people. But how?
Wednesday, March 8th - The Lamar Jackson Overcorrection
Lamar Jackson’s a great football player who deserves a big contract, and he’s also become overrated.
Friday, March 10th - I’m Addicted to the Gentle Pleasures of Kim’s Convenience (subscriber only)
A little endorsement of a show I love. Plus people in the comments politicizing it in exactly the way I didn’t want.
From the Archives
Song of the Week
Non-Garbage Online Reading
“The Oscars and the Pitfalls of Feel-Good Representation,” by Inkoo Kang
Book Recommendation
Take Your Eye Off the Ball 2.0, Pat Kirwan, 2015
All sports are complicated, once you get to the elite level, but it’s hard to imagine a more complex sport than American football. There’s 22 players to watch on any play, divided into more than a dozen potential categories, all of whom have a unique assignment. You pretty much can’t watch every player on every play, so the tendency is to simply follow the ball. This book teaches you to look elsewhere, and demonstrates the fun that can be had by doing so. Using accessible language, Take Your Eye Off the Ball will show you why offenses identify “the Mike,” how to tell a zone defense from a man defense and a power running scheme from a zone, the basics of defensive back coverage, and a lot more. Highly recommended for football fans who want to take their knowledge up a notch.
Comment of the Week
“When I was young, when you wanted to see people, to be social, you had to actually go and see people. You had to arrange a hangout.”
And often not even arrange. There were places where you to go and kids your age would be there. We didn't have a mall, but had the town park. There was also a game arcade back when pinball was two games for a quarter..
You'd chat with a dude. Then see him again a week later. Pretty soon you and some other new guy would be at his place helping replace the spark plugs on his hand-me-down '67 Impala. Then it's "I'm picking up tickets to see Tull next month. Wanna go?"
Even after everyone scattered for college, military or whatever, every return visit to home over the years would include stopping by his family's house to see if he was around. If so, off to the bar for a few games of pool while chatting about life.
Then wives and kids and careers made those reunions impossible. But after the kids were grown and social media came along it was possible to reconnect. But it's not the same, is it? - JKoz
That’s it. See you tomorrow.