One thought becomes two,
two breed ten, then I forget—
what was thought number one?
You probably know this, but our brains wander, distractedly so…about 47% of the time. Some more, some less. My brain is not a restful place. And at 3:08AM, my brain is less a temple and more a yard sale, despite my holistic meditative breathing.
Basically, I’m a nerd at heart; and I’ve made peace with it. My wife and kids, not so much. But I like new words, interesting phrases and novel ideas. I write them down. Cognitive offloading.
Kind of fuzzy today, dog days of summer. Or was it the sake? Anyway, before I go too off-track and digress further into the void, please digest these thought-provoking numbers, ideas and concepts hanging around my desk on colorful Post-its. Call it a smorgasbord post. And please feel free to talk amongst yourselves while I lay my head down on my desk:
Decorative Pillow Syndrome (DPS) – Too many pillows. You know it when you see it in wealthy people’s Architectural Digest spreads, in overdone hotels, and in wannabe fashionistas’ abodes. The ratio of pillow-to-person is obscene. Honestly, I did not know it was a thing. Makes me wonder if a goose somewhere is filing a class-action lawsuit?
Lunar Nukes – Seems the US wants to put a nuclear power reactor on the moon by 2030. Great! But why? What will it power—signs? A golf club resort? SpaceX’s Mars shuttles? An intergalactic tanning salon? Because nothing says “giant leap for mankind” like Chernobyl-in-space.
Incentivized Tax Collectors – No, not the IRS—but maybe a good idea? Nope, the Haitian ruling elite hired Erik Prince’s Vectus Global mercenaries with snipers, helicopters and drones—to outsource the nation’s tax collecting for 10 years? With incentive kickers. Finally, tax season meets Call of Duty. What could possibly go wrong? BTW: Does TurboTax have a drone strike option now?
Life’s BIG Moments - Psychological studies reveal that on average, humans only have about 200 significant moments in their lives. (Feels like I already blew fifty trying to change streaming services to watch a Dodgers game.) We also make fewer than a dozen major decisions. Twelve! These basically add up to the sum of our lives.
Recidivism Revisited – The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) says 66% of released prisoners were rearrested within three years and 82% rearrested during a ten-year follow-up. In an unrelated story: a four-year degree from NYU costs $169,588 including full tuition, room and board, while the New York City Department of Corrections spends $447,337 per inmate a year! Hmm…Yep, cheaper to send all felons to Ivy League schools—at least then they’d be insufferable and employable.
Chinese Diplomacy - Beijing now tops the Foreign Affairs Index with 274 diplomatic posts globally, followed closely by Washington with 271. That’s okay, because the US military has 750 bases in at least 80 countries! The Chinese? One—in Djibouti. Look it up. Seems they’re playing chess, we’re playing Risk. Roll those dice.
Electoral Autocracy – It looks like a democracy, but looks, walks and quacks like autocracy. You don’t have any real choice anymore and independent institutions are emasculated. The game’s rigged, the books cooked, and the system wired. Stick a fork in it. It’s less ballot box, more suggestion box. Welcome to the USA, circa 2025.
Continental Mobility: Over the past few days here in Dénia, I've spotted license plates from Andorra, Ukraine, Poland, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Gibraltar, Portugal, Switzerland, the UK, Slovakia, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Iceland—an odd road/boat trip, I suspect. What does this tell me? Italians don't seem to leave Italy, and the Nordic peoples fly everywhere instead of driving. Sorry Greta.
Pizza, Pasta & Pane – Italy, Disneyland with carbs, reports that 70% of Italy’s 70 million annual visitors head to just 1% of its territory. In a word: Overtourism. Let me guess: Rome, Florence and Venice? Next, I’d say Amalfi, Lake Como and Portofino. Good I say, I usually visit elsewhere. (Unrelated: Does sightseeing the day after turn into a sightsaw?)
WTF? – Overheard give-and-take in a Spanish seaside café recently:
“We should help the poor, tired huddled masses yearning to be free.”
“No, we should help Americans first.”
“Okay then, let’s help Americans.”
“No, that’s socialism.”
Willful Ignorance - The share of Americans who read for pleasure has dropped 40% in recent decades—and that’s with an inflated definition of “reading” that now includes audio and anything in print. Listening counts? Really? The result: fewer connections, less empathy, more loneliness, cognitive decline…and, yes, we’re getting dumber. Worse still: only 2% of parents with kids under nine read with them daily. Generationally dumber, it seems.
Manufactured Consent – Good news: the robots can finally win arguments. Bad news: with you. The Age of Acquiescence upon us: AI bots are 64% more successful than humans at persuasion. Siri is now more convincing than your senator. I wonder how that will turn out? I’m sure, it’s nothing to worry about…
Success vs Failure: According to tennis legend Roger Federer says greatness is just being 4% better at success than failure. “The best in the world are not the best because they win every point,” he said. “It’s because they know they’ll lose again and again, and have learned how to deal with it.” His career point success rate? 54%. Proving you can be a legend on just a C- average.)
Healthcare Rationing - Despite incredible advances in medicine, many Americans avoid necessary healthcare because they fear financial bankruptcy more than the illness itself. Emergency-bound people now call an Uber instead of an ambulance…whose ride costs more than a luxury vacation. In America, you don’t check symptoms—you check your deductible.
Blank People – Seems that our phones have become such extensions of our identity that losing one now causes minor bouts of temporary amnesia, sponsored by AppleCare™. No phone? No life. What did I do? Welcome to witness protection.
Otroverts – Jung gave us introverts and extroverts. Omniverts blurred the binary. Now come otroverts—those who opt out entirely. They don’t join clubs, don’t crave connection, and avoid the social swarm. Think of it as the Bluetooth Phenomenon: always discoverable, rarely paired. They watch the hive but never enter it.
A few new words and phrases to consider adding to your vocabulary: enshittification, cougar puberty, retribution liens, mankeeping, delulu, topological qubit, horseshoe theory, roving patrols, microplastic rain, AI slop, child wasting, Phantom Vibration Syndrome, heatflation and phubbing.
Phrases I’m hearing a lot: “Are we really doing this?” “Who thought that was a good idea?” “How can they do that?” and “It seems feelings matter more than facts.” WTF!?
What say you? Anything odd to reveal?
Thanks for the privilege of your time, it is the most precious thing we have, and I appreciate it. Be well.
William D. Chalmers © 2025 All Rights Reserved.
5:34am: reading AI generated definitions of “Majorana bound states” as a result of querying “topological qubit.”
Now, return to a sleep soundtrack of the Raincoats’ “Don’t Be Mean.”