Eric Barker 10/9/2016 from his blog "Barking Up the Wrong Tree"
"I had to take geometry to graduate high school but knowing what a rhombus is has never helped me. Nobody thought it was important to teach me about meaning. Seriously, my air conditioner came with better instructions than anything that's important in life."
I say "you never know" whether knowing what a rhombus is has helped you or not. It might have without your realizing. It might have but you forgot. Gave you confidence. Humbled you since you can't recall. For instance, you forgot that time when that cute red-head asked you what a rhombus is and it led to your first marriage. So, that time and other times when knowing what a rhombus is have served you well got forgotten.
I am listening to "Why We Make Mistakes" by Joseph T. Hallinan. I bought it in print and audio format but it was a neighbor's nudge that got me to focus on the book. I like to play an audio book from beginning to end in my car while I drive around town. My car is about two years old and it has 12,500 miles on it, which probably tells you that I don't drive all that much. True, I don't, but keeping the iPod set to play as soon as I turn on the engine gives me many chances to listen, at least to a paragraph or two. Why We Make Mistakes makes clear over and over that the evidence is overwhelming that we forget, we distort, we misquote. Further, the distortions are often somehow in our own favor.
I am reminded of Tony DiNozzo on the CSI program. Tony went to a reunion determined to apologize to a former classmate for bullying him. When we meet the classmate, we find the man is about twice as big as DiNozzo. Tony bullied that guy? Before DiNozzo can speak, the man blurts out an apology for the bullying he inflicted on DiNozzo back in college. Like your blog author who completely reversed which one of the Kirbys had sliced a hand open on a blade in the suds, DiNozzo had mentally switched from a painful position to an alternate version of the story.
Later I will give a talk on having a blog. Blog or diary, better make a note. Partake of the 6000 year old insight and make a note. These days, it can be quick, inexpensive and easy to retain video and/or audio evidence of what went on. You might even want to invest in a body camera.
