Foxes My Kind of People

 Hedgehogs with one-track minds, self-consumed, are boring and dangerous with their one size fits all brains. Foxes like me with Ford and Chevrolet minds who know a little big about many things are much Renaissance-minded. Dr. Johnson is on our side.

Superficial World

 Despite all that's going on in this whirling world, why does this world seem so shallow and superficial? The reason is that most of what is "going on" is shallow and superficial. The most social interaction I see is someone shoving their cell phone in somebody else's face.

 Don't be so intent on trying to overcome mental blocks. They can serve a useful purpose in keeping you from doing something really foolish

 How do you screen-read online? The answer is you don't. You scan, moving as quickly as possible thru the words on the screen, fighting the distractions, the popups, the advertisements, the message & call alerts. There is no sustained focus. Someone, a doctor no less, told me he once read an entire book off of his smart phone. That was the last time I talked to him.

 Digital skim reading is the new normal, which is why I find most people today shallow and superficial.

 Studies show that simply having a cell phone in view is enough to make conversations shallow, which is why I avoid conversation in social settings, since I abhor vapid small talk, which wears me out. The cell phone is distracting even when not in use, though viisible, the darnedest repetitive thing I have ever seen, since we are used to staring at it, afraid we're missing something. We are distracted by what we are not actually not seeing. Quite amazing.

 There is a big difference between natural speculation and actual evidence, between speculation supported with some evidence and speculation without evidence. Then we could debate the evidence, which is what should be our focus. This thought comes from a just now discussion of the JFK assassination with a friend at Starbucks. My friend said Oswald was quoted as saying he was "just a patsy," which implies he has had accomplice(s). Well, maybe so, you can read this thought into Oswald's comment. But without ironclad evidence, his supposed comment by itself means nothing to me.