What I’ve Been Reading
Inside Scientology, Janet Reitman
This was a fascinating expose of a very mysterious organization. My full book review here.
Tribalism Comes for Pandemic Science
This piece from The New Atlantis perfectly expresses how I feel about the state of affairs in regards to the pandemic.
Our polarized political culture has reflexively approached the pandemic as just another culture-war drama of this sort — demanding that we each prove our loyalty to our team and express exasperated outrage at the other.
Everyone wants to have a complete understanding of reality, we expect to know exactly how to deal with a new and unknown virus threat overnight. But that is not how things work. People make mistakes. There is new information and understanding constantly emerging. While there have certainly been failures and breakdowns in the system, many of the obstacles we face are simply due to not having perfect knowledge of what we’re dealing with. It is expected that experts will change their minds. In fact, I’d rather hear a leading scientist tell me that new findings have changed their thinking about the situation. This seems to be the very essence of science. I don’t want experts and leaders so firmly entrenched in their initial findings that they are unable to grapple with change. But unfortunately, that means we must accept the discomfort of living in an uncertain and fluid situation. And that can be difficult to accept.
What I’ve Been Watching
I broke down and purchased a monthly subscription to CBS All Access so that I could finally finish watching Criminal Minds. I know it has little artistic value, there’s nothing especially compelling about the character development or storyline, but it was the first crime drama I started watching, and so I feel a little sentimental about it. As expected, the last season felt very rushed and the ending wasn’t particularly satisfying. But at least now I can say I watched it all the way through.
What I’ve Been Doing
Last weekend we finally got some beautiful weather and took advantage of that to get outside. I had my first experience on a golf course. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for the commitment of actually playing, so I volunteered to navigate and drive the golf cart. We made it through all 18 holes, just in time though because it was after 8pm by the time we finished! I enjoyed being outside in the sun and entertained myself by taking pictures of all the flowers and trees on the course.
The next day we met up with some friends at a nearby state park and I got to go kayaking again. Although my first adventure with kayaking a couple years ago had some mishaps, I enjoyed it enough that it has been on my list to try again. And this time it was on a lake, as opposed to a river, so that was a very different experience. Pro: No worry about being pulled into a snag by the fast-moving current. Con: You actually have to work a lot harder to move around without any current! Overall, it was a lot of fun and I’m eager to keep exploring this activity. I love the idea of being out on the water, surrounded by nature. It is so peaceful and relaxing.
