Briefly

Briefly: Wisdom is coming to understand how little I know

By David McElroy · March 30, 2019

The more mature I’ve gotten, the less inclined I am to believe that I know how to tell others how to live. As I’ve understood myself more, I’ve realized that all I can do is share what little wisdom I’ve come to feel through my own experiences. And as I do that, I realize that some things I experience are broadly true as objective reality (which I can’t prove) and that other things are far more murky and individual to every person. The irony is that as I understand things which are more universal in the human soul than I’ve understood in the past, I’m more aware than ever of how very much I still don’t understand.

Briefly: We need to learn to walk away from dangerous disputes

By David McElroy · March 29, 2019

If you’re annoyed with someone in a parking lot, it might be smarter to move to another parking place. A dispute over parking at a Birmingham-area Cracker Barrel restaurant Thursday night led to one man shooting another in the head after they argued. It’s hard to imagine that we humans are insane enough that we allow ourselves to get so upset about such trivial disputes that we’re ready to kill someone. I’ve been angry enough to do something stupid, too, so I know what it’s like to feel that way. Most of us need to learn better self-control.

Briefly: Routine tech today would have been black magic 200 years ago

By David McElroy · March 29, 2019

It’s funny how many things we take for granted today which would have seemed like black magic to people of a couple hundred years ago. I just unlocked my car door with the key fob — which almost everyone today does without thinking every day — and it occurred to me that simple action would have been incomprehensible to those people. It would have seemed like amazing magic at best and would have gotten us burned as sorcerers at worst. I find myself wondering (again) what things will be common and routine in a hundred years which are beyond my ability to even imagine.

Here’s another reason to appreciate the cats in your life: New research involving 93 countries found that places with more cats per person also tended to have happier people. The researchers say the finding fits with previous evidence that living with pets can reduce loneliness and stress while providing companionship, emotional attachment and social support. The study doesn’t prove that cats cause greater happiness, but it certainly adds to the evidence that sharing your home — and your life — with a cat might be good for you.

The company that owns Facebook and Instagram is heavily promoting its new AI-based software assistant called Muse, but people who are using it as it was designed are incredibly foolish. An early adopter of the software discovered that a few days ago when he advertised an item for sale on Facebook Marketplace — and he inadvertently gave Muse full authority to act on his behalf. The software agreed to a lowball offer made by another Facebook user and then gave that man the home address of the man for whom he was an agent. The software told the buyer that the seller was home and waiting for him. When the buyer showed up and waited angrily, the would-be buyer left an angry review for the man. And this angry man had the seller’s home address. It was only well after that that the software reported what it had done and admitted it had made a mistake. I won’t be putting that much power into the hands of any software. I think anyone who agrees to such terms is a fool. And the software’s user agreement says you’re responsible for purchases the software makes in your name. Nope.

Meet my new girlfriend. Her name is Meg. And she’s my little sweetheart. A couple of months ago, a neighbor across the street told me about a new stray in the neighborhood that she and I were both soon feeding. The cat had been very skittish about contact and she had a lot of scabs and parasites in her fur, but a trip to the vet last week revealed that she was otherwise in good health. The vet estimates her to be 1 to 2 years old. I named her for Meg Murry, the 13-year-old protagonist of Madeleine L’Engle’s wonderful book, “A Wrinkle in Time.” (Please read the book. Don’t watch the horrible movie.) Since we lost Lucy almost a year ago, it seems appropriate that we finally have a new little girl to join the household. She’s already captured my heart, but Alex, Oliver and Sam aren’t there quite yet.

There’s nothing socially acceptable that’s as dangerous as drinking alcohol. Most people grow up being told to “drink responsibly” — and all of us see people abusing this drug in one way or another — but the truth is that drinking alcohol is always a terrible risk. The alcohol in these drinks is toxic and the human liver has to work hard to filter the toxins out. What most people don’t realize is that alcohol is classified as a known carcinogen by the World Health Organization — because of the well-established connection between imbibing and various cancers. Many people have taken refuge behind the idea that light or moderate drinking might be safe, but a new study shows that drinking even one drink a day increases the risks of 10 types of cancer. When I was a teen-ager, I looked around and saw the negative effects that this behavior had on a lot of people and decided not to start drinking, so I’ve never even tried this poison. The evidence keeps piling up that I was lucky to have come to that conclusion early.

It turns out that the radical far left has been training “Antifa cats” to sabotage anything important to Donald Trump. Everything he did was perfect. Honest. It was all the cats’ fault. Arrest all the cats! This is the latest of my ridiculous satirical shorts. Please go watch it. Then “like” it and subscribe. Please. I’m begging you. (Too much?) Although a couple of the previous videos have had views in the hundreds, most have still been seen by fewer than 20 people. So I seem to be having trouble letting people know that page exists.