Touring the Valley

We Were Invited

In my neighborhood there is an extended "no parking" zone that is also labeled "fire lane". It is there for safety. Because the street is narrow, if people were to park in the fire lane, emergency vehicles wouldn't be able to get through. In other words, the rule exists for a good reason, even though it's not necessarily obvious.

Now imagine that my neighbor has a party and some of his guests decide to park in the fire lane. They are outraged when other neighbors complain, and they go ballistic when they get parking tickets. "We did nothing wrong!" one of them insists. "Bob invited us, so we can park anywhere on the street!" They just make faces when someone points out that Bob invited them to a private party, and his invitation does not cancel parking restrictions.

They could apologize, or they could say it was a misunderstanding, or they could just shut up and go away, but instead they start screaming that everyone who lives on this street is a liar and is treating them unfairly.

Random Thoughts

One thing I've learned from social media is that there are a lot of people who think jokes need fact-checking.

trump could go to Arlington, dig up JFK's grave, gnaw on the bones, and then post the video in an ad on Tik Tok, and his cult would argue that it was okay because nothing he does is ever wrong and their grandpa never really liked the Kennedys anyway.

I don't believe in ghosts, but I have met perfectly sane people who saw *something*

Mainstream news outlets declared Joe Biden unfit to run because he spoke complete sentences in a very soft voice. They do not question donald trump's fitness, even when he quite loudly speaks nonsense.

People who insist on talking to you through the bathroom door.

The "spoils system" was a corrupt tradition whereby government jobs were given to people loyal to the party in power. It led to incompetence, waste, damage and chaos. In the US, it ended after the Civil War. trump's Project 2025 plans to bring it back by firing thousands of civil service employees and replacing them with party loyalists.

Do you like having a device in your car that can tell you, turn by turn, exactly how to get where you're going, while keeping track of traffic incidents and offering alternate routes? Without educated people who took science classes, you'd still be using paper maps.

Certain politicians blame lax border security for a flood of fentanyl entering the country. They seem to have forgotten that most fentanyl is brought in by US citizens at legal ports of entry. People choose to take drugs. Without the demand, the supply would end. But addressing the causes of addiction is more complicated than just blaming the border, so it's beyond them.

Boys and Girls Together

I see a lot of people online who seem absolutely convinced that thousands of men are so desperate to spy on girls in locker rooms and restrooms that they will disrupt their entire lives, undergo cosmetic surgery, possibly even have their reproductive organs removed, take potentially dangerous hormones, lose all hope of ever having a "normal" dating life or marriage, subject themselves to being mocked and ostracized -- all for the fleeting gratification of peeking at females.

It's certainly true that some men enjoy the opportunity to get a glimpse of women in revealing circumstances. For example, the former owner of the Miss Teen USA pageant admitted to deliberately barging into the dressing room while the contestants were undressed. But even that guy probably wouldn't have gone so far as to undergo a sex change, just for the dubious thrill of hanging out with ladies in locker rooms.

We live in a world where almost anything is possible, so it is possible that there has been, or might be, a man or two who would go to such extremes for such a minor payoff. In any case, this isn't something that is happening everywhere all the time, as the alarmists would have us believe.

But the fear that this is a widespread phenomenon has caused problems for some girls, especially girls who compete in sports. Girls who are perceived as being not pretty enough, girls who are much taller than average or who have very low body fat and well-developed muscles are often accused of being men in disguise. These girls may have a natural ability to excel at sports, but find themselves denounced and vilified, forced to live under a cloud of suspicion simply because an ignorant mob doesn't like their looks.

Happy People Are Crazy

There is a kind of dour, emotionally-stunted, unimaginative personality that can't recognize or comprehend the full spectrum of human experience and, in particular, reacts to others' happiness, enthusiasm, and enjoyment of life as if witnessing the breakdown of civilization. These perpetually unhappy characters are quick to perceive any outward expression of excitement or happiness as pathological. They often react the same way when faced with other's grief or sadness. For them, the only acceptable emotion seems to be anger, and the only appropriate modes of expression are disdain and mockery. Few of us would wish to live such miserable, limited lives.