D's Notebook

Tag: Misc (Page 1 of 11)

Weekend Notes

November 11, 2024 /

A busy weekend with more driving than normal, some big events I was not able to watch live, and the standard wide range of topics to discuss.

High School Hoops

L’s sophomore season kicked off Friday with a trip 90 minutes north to play Norwell, class 3A runners up last year. We played their varsity over the summer in a close, fun game we closed with a big run to win. NHS lost several seniors from a year ago, but are traditionally a very good program with a strong youth program, so we figured this would be a tough night.

JV was a disaster. It looked like our girls had never faced a trapping defense before. We trailed 17–8 after one quarter and that was as close as the game got. We scored one in the second quarter, four in the third, and three in the fourth to lose 58–16. L played most of the first three quarters, scoring just two on 1–4 from the field. As a bonus she had to run off the court and throw up in the second quarter. We’re hoping it was just something she ate before the game and not her body still trying to get the mono out of her system. We let a freshman score 22 on us. She was good, but she was not 22 points in a JV game good.

The dad I was sitting with and I guessed we had between 20–25 turnovers in the first half. L later confirmed that they turned it over 23 times in those 14 minutes, 50 for the entire game. That’s what happens when JV just serves as a scout team in practice.

Varsity was a little better. Our girls had an early lead then gave up a 30–10 run, but trailed by just 10 at halftime. Then they gave up nine-straight to open the second half and were in trouble. They made a great rally in the fourth quarter and cut it to four a couple times, but never got closer and lost by eight. We sat by some very nice Norwell people, which was a bonus.

L was officially on the varsity roster, but did not suit up for that game. She definitely had a lot of work to do to climb into that rotation. Two games this week.

HS Football

While L and her teammates were in action up near Ft. Wayne, CHS was playing #1 Lawrence North for the sectional football championship. None of us could not get a good signal in the gym, so could only get updates when someone ran outside for a few seconds. CHS threw a pick six early and trailed 7–0 at halftime. The CHS defense had three interceptions of their own in the first half but the offense could not turn them into points. The game got away from the Irish in the second half and they lost 24–7, ending their season at 6–4. It was their first loss in a sectional game in the five years they’ve played in 6A. If they lose in sectionals again next year I believe they’ll move down to 5A for L’s senior year. Unless the IHSAA changes the rules again to keep CHS from dropping a class.

KU Hoops

Also at the same time as L’s game was the big North Carolina – Kansas game in Lawrence.

College basketball on Friday nights is dumb. I know, I know, Saturdays and Sundays are for football this time of year. Doesn’t make this scheduling any dumber. Move this to December when weekend slots are a little easier to find. Still, you can’t criticize the schools too much since they agreed to play a home-and-home series rather than drop this in an NBA arena or attach it to some kind of special event on a neutral court. KU just finished with IU. They start a series this year with Duke that has two neutral court games and two on campus. Bill Self continues to check boxes on places he wants to take the Jayhawks in the final act of his career.

Try as I might, I could not get any score updates on my phone, although the occasional text from a friend came through. The other KU dad on the team got a running score update from Google, so we saw that KU jumped out to a big lead then blew it all after halftime. Just as the varsity game ended his wife was somehow able to get ESPN to stream on her phone, so we watched the last 90 seconds of KU’s win. We both felt a little bad about being pumped about the win while our girls were hanging their heads about their losses.

I watched the recording of the game Sunday and was pretty pleased. A great start from a super-balanced team. Obviously taking the foot off the gas in the second half was not good. It was like they just stopped playing defense. Zeke Mayo belongs at this level. Hunter Dickinson needs to get his stamina back. If Flory sticks around a few years he might be the best rebounder of the Self era. I like all the options this team has, and they should get better playing together as they get more comfortable.

I have a few broader thoughts about the team, but seems better to save those until I’ve seen them in a real game a few more times.

Hey, guess when KU plays next? Tuesday night at 6:30 Eastern. Guess what high school team will be playing at the same time again? I’m not enthused about how the schedules are lining up this season. At least we can get a signal in the CHS game so I can keep one eye on the Jayhawks vs Irish grad Xavier Booker.

Dude’s Day

L and I got home around 11:00 Friday night. I stayed up a little bit to have a snack, talk to S a little, then make sure my car was charging before setting my alarm for 7:00 AM and going to bed. Saturday was M’s sorority’s “Dude’s Day” and I needed to be back on the road around 8:00.

Why “Dude’s Day?” Because kids these days want to be inclusive and make the event open for any relatives who aren’t biological dads who join in the fun. That said, I think I only met actual dads.

Anyway, I got to campus around 10:00. M introduced me to a bunch of sisters and their dads, we ate some food, then she asked me if I wanted to go to a frat party. It would be dumb not to, right? She also told me the young man she’s been spending time with would be there and he was “excited to meet you!” Oh boy.

I’m not drinking much these days, for a few reasons. So I wasn’t looking to get smashed with my daughter or anything. Fortunately for me M admitted on the way to the party that she was hungover from the night before and didn’t feel like drinking. Made the day cheaper/easier for me!

Anyway, we got to this party and hung around for an hour or so. Her best buddy from St P’s/CHS found us. Unlike M she was drinking and was very excited to see me, which was funny. And I got to meet M’s young man friend. He was nervous and goofy. As long as he treats M well it’s all good.

We did not have tickets to the football game (UC was playing West Virginia) so we went to a restaurant/bar to watch and eat. I have one friend who lives in Cincinnati, O-Dog that some of you know. Guess whose daughter gave us the table as she and her friends headed to the game? Small world.

We spent an hour or so there before the group split up. It seemed like a lot of girls were hung over and some of them needed naps. M and I moved outside where we hung with some more of her sisters and dads for another hour or so. The apartment she will live in the next two years is a couple blocks away, so we cruised by it when we left. We ended up going downtown to walk around a bit and enjoy the nice day.

We met up with one of her roommates and her dad for dinner at this fun sushi place right off campus. For some reason the sushi is always half price. It even says that on the menu, “All sushi is always half off.” I’m not sure what the angle there is, but I like it. I spent just $25 on a sushi dinner for two! And the sushi wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad either.

I walked M back to her house and hopped into the car for the ride home, pulling into the garage at about 9:00. It was fun seeing M in her environment. I know she was excited to introduce me to her friends and the other dads. A couple of the dads were pretty cool so that was a bonus.

KU Football

Guess what I (mostly) missed while hanging with my daughter? The Jayhawks rolling over Iowa State in the game I had been dreading all year. I’ve only seen highlights so don’t know how much of Arrowhead was filled with ISU fans – the pics I saw showed the stadium was not very full of any fans, Clones or Jayhawks – but the important part was KU played extremely well on offense, made a couple big defensive plays, and finally got a few breaks. It was fun to get the updates as KU ran up the big lead early, then nervously watch as they bungled things a bit on the fourth quarter before Mello Dotson effectively ended things with a pick six as I walked to my car. Clearly the concerns about Jalen Daniels’ health early in the year were correct, as he has seemed more comfortable and like the old JD for the last month. If only he had been able to play like this in September and October…

Alas, we’ll have to settle for being the best 3–6 team in the country, with a visit to #9 BYU and #20 Colorado in KC the next two weeks.

Colts

Man, the Colts are a true disaster. Joe Flacco throws a pick six on his first pass of the game, before I could get the TV on after dropping L at practice. He throws another interception in the first quarter, and was lucky not to have thrown a third in the opening 15 minutes. Later he lost a fumble. The Colts dropped an easy touchdown pass. The defense made some nice plays then fell apart late. There’s just no consistency in this team. Shane Steichen seems committed to Flacco going forward, even with him looking terrible the past two weeks. There were boos aimed towards Flacco throughout the game Sunday. It makes no sense to stick with him, even if you have no faith that Anthony Richardson is the answer. At this point you play AR and allow him to try to figure things out while aiming for a high draft position next year to get some kind of impact player for a team that has very few of them.

Pacers

I also missed a Pacers loss to Charlotte Friday, but was able to watch them beat the Knicks Sunday despite being short five players. Tyrese Haliburton bounced back from his zero point, five assist performance against the Knicks two weeks ago with 35 points and 14 assists. Bennedict Mathurin scored a career-high 38. My man Johnny Furphy even got some first quarter minutes, although he did not score.

I am glad the Pacers only play the Knicks three times in the regular season. A truly maddening team to play against. I’ve said this before but it amazed me what those Villanova dudes got away with in college, between the constant bumps and shoves and not-so-subtle elbows the refs somehow always missed and then the constant bitching after every play as if they were the ones being pushed around. That they all still get away with it in the NBA is exponentially more maddening.

Other Shit

The weather is still unreasonably nice here. I probably wore shorts for the final time until spring break last week, although I’ve thought that a couple times and had to bust them out a few days later. Our lawn service is still coming, which is kind of crazy. Usually by now they have finished and I borrow my sister-in-law’s mower to do my one mow of the year to chop up any remaining leaves.

I’m obviously avoiding the biggest story of the past week. I don’t have the energy to get into it. I will just share that I took C to vote when she got home from school on Tuesday. S had voted the week before and waited nearly an hour. It took C and I longer to actually go through the ballot than to wait and get checked in. The lady running the door asked C if she was a first-time voter and everyone cheered for her when she said yes. Shame the day was all downhill from there.

Weekend Notes

November 4, 2024 /

This was a fairly quiet weekend thanks to a KU bye week and the girls being busy on their own.

Halloween

Our Halloween was relaxed. We decided to go hang with our old neighbors. It sure brought back memories to sit in their driveway and watch kids scamper through the cul-de-sac. That was where our girls did almost all of their trick-or-treating. As we at chili we reminisced about the various holidays we shared with our friends, including the one when it was sleeting sideways and our girls insisted on going out. We might have been the only people dumb enough to hit the streets that night, and folks were literally dumping their entire candy collections into our girls’ bags. They thought the misery was worth it.

We’ve left a bowl at our house a few times with a sign telling folks to help themselves. And we always come back to an almost-full bowl. It helps that we get very few trick-or-treaters. We did that again this year. C and L were home and said they didn’t hear a lot of kids come to our house. Yet when we got home the bowl was completely empty, robbing us of our post-Halloween candy to share as a family. I didn’t bother to check our front-door cam to see which little a-holes helped themselves to the entire bowl.

HS Football Playoffs

CHS won their opening playoff game against now 0–10 North Central 36–0. It was pretty sloppy with lots of penalties and wasted opportunities. L walked across the street to watch but I didn’t think it would be worth even that meager effort. I believe this is the first year since M was in seventh grade that I didn’t go to a single CHS game, although I still listened to each one and did walk over when our friends from Carmel played NC.

The Irish advance to play #1 Lawrence North, who after a slow first half looked really good beating their arch rivals Lawrence Central. I had that game on TV until the Pacers started. CHS has knocked LN out of the playoffs each of the last two years but this is a very different LN team. I will be watching basketball 80 miles north so likely won’t be able to follow the sectional championship game very well.

College Football

A KU bye week meant no heart-breaking, come-from-ahead loss. Which was a nice change from how this fall has gone.

I watched most of Ohio State – Penn State. I see Andy Kotelnicki’s kryptonite is still first and goal inside the 10. His offense always bogged down in those situations at KU. Even with better talent he still struggles when faced with a short field. It’s like all his creativity disappears and he just runs dives up the middle.

Clearly having either just played KU or having the Jayhawks next on your schedule takes a lot out of a team, with both Kansas State and Iowa State losing Saturday.

I was actually looking forward to watching IU play this week. I knew the game was on Peacock. We are Xfinity customers and I thought we got Peacock for free. Turns out we just get a limited part of Peacock free, and that tier does not include live sports. I was not going to pay $10 to see one game of a team I don’t really care about. But cool that IU is 9–0 for the first time in their history.

Colts

So much for Joe Flacco making a difference. I didn’t watch much of the Colts-Vikings game Sunday night but when I did, I saw an offense that was absolutely putrid. Yep, Chris Ballard and Shane Steichen are going to be looking for new jobs this winter.

Pacers

After beating the Celtics in overtime Wednesday to get their first win of the year, the Pacers blew multiple leads in New Orleans to lose another one Friday.

Worse, for the second time in a week they lost a backup center to a non-contact, achilles injury, this time second stringer Isaiah Jackson. For the moment Myles Turner is the Pacers only true big. I hope they are triple taping his calves and ankles, while also finding a way to move some of their wing depth to find another big body.

College Hoops Recruiting

It’s been a quiet recruiting season, so far, for KU. That was because Bill Self put all his recruiting eggs into one basket, and was waiting on a decision from Darryn Peterson, the #3 overall player in this year’s senior class. Peterson finally made his decision Friday night, picking KU. That’s been the assumption for months, mostly because he’s already signed a multi-year deal with Adidas and all the other schools recruiting him were Nike programs. Still, there were rumors that both Ohio State and USC were making big runs at him.

The Jayhawks got their man and can now, hopefully, start filling around him. KU will lose at least six players after this season, so there are opportunities for any young men who want to play in the greatest building in the game. DP, the highest rated recruit KU has signed since Josh Jackson, is a pretty good start.

Misc

I swear, October is the fastest month of the year. It just flies by no matter how old you or your kids are.

The sun setting at 5:40 is stupid.

Late summer keeps hanging on. We had two days around 80 last week. We are supposed to have a couple days in the 70s this week. It will flip eventually, but zero complaints about the weather at the moment.

The girls both went to parties Saturday. The cops showed up at the one L was at. But, she was quick to tell me, not because of the the actual party. One of her travel teammates had a bunch of people over. Naturally word got out, a hoarde of kids from other schools showed up and they were not allowed inside the house, so they first destroyed L’s friend’s basketball hoops (one of those movable ones) then started fighting in the street. The cops showed up to clear them out but never even knocked on the door where the actual party was. Glad we’ve trained our girls to understand they can have friends over, but can never, ever host a party. We’re not dealing with that shit.

Remember being in high school and hearing rumors that there was a party at so-and-so’s house, or in such-and-such neighborhood, and driving around hoping to find it and then talk your way in? I did plenty of that. But I never destroyed anyone’s basketball hoop. Or fought in the street.

D’s Notes

September 12, 2024 /

I’ve been doing some blog maintenance lately, going back and adding tags to all of my nearly 3500 posts. After two weeks of work, I’m about two-thirds of the way complete. I’m not really sure why I decided to do this. Tags are hard. I tried to use them years ago and gave up because I was never sure how to granular to get when categorizing posts. Even now, I don’t really understand their utility. Am I going to start searching old posts by tag? Probably not. But I got a bug that made me want to do it, so here I am.

Related, there is now a tag cloud in the right sidebar if you want to dive into any specific topics.

In addition to working backwards adding tags, I also continue my monthly review of what I posted exactly 20 years ago. This month’s entries included month two of fatherhood, and leaving my corporate job. While working through the archives, I realized I got away from the entries fill with small, random thoughts. Thus, today’s post!

L started getting letters from college basketball programs a year ago. I don’t know if it was her AAU program or CHS that shared her contact info, but she received about a letter a week from various small schools. They were always for camps and showcases, not actual recruiting letters.

Last month this was in the mailbox, and I got momentarily excited.

title

Then I realized it wasn’t THE UM, but rather a satellite campus. They are also the Wolverines, but play at the NAIA level. I guess all the IU campuses use the same logo as the main campus in Bloomington, so this isn’t unusual. It was kind of disappointing, at least to me. She didn’t seem to care.

L has pre-season practice on Tuesday and Thursday mornings starting at 6:00. We leave the house at 5:30, which means my alarm is set for 5:20. There is zero traffic so I’m usually back home right at 6:00. For some reason I can never fall back to sleep when I return home, and my attempt to catch about an hour of shuteye before I start the process of getting C out of bed is a failure. And then I’m a wreck the rest of the day, no matter how much caffeine I drink or if I can squeeze a nap in later.

I thought as you age getting up earlier in the morning was supposed to be easier. My mom’s dad would get up at like 4:30 and sit there smoking his pipe and drinking coffee until the TV stations in central Kansas came back on air at 6:00. Maybe I need a pipe…

I’m also hungry all day on Tuesdays/Thursdays. I’m only getting up 90 minutes earlier than normal. It shouldn’t be this destructive to my body.

S and I take walks once or twice a week as her schedule allows. We usually walk through the neighborhoods around us, but occasionally take the Monon Trail that runs near our home. When we do that, I like to be a grumpy old man and keep track of how many people riding bikes either ring a bell or announce themselves as they pass you. On our most recent trip down the Monon, just three of 14 bikers did the courteous thing. Also, a group of four bikers coming the opposite way rode four-across, forcing us to get out of their way even though two of them were well across the middle line.

WE ARE LIVING IN A SOCIETY, PEOPLE!

Another weird fact about me: I actually enjoy cleaning up after a gathering. As long as it can be the next day. Last Sunday morning, following the get-together we hosted the night before, I had no problem getting motivated to collect all the trash and recycling, clean the kitchen, put outdoor furniture away, etc. Same on holidays. As much as I enjoy Thanksgiving day, there’s something super satisfying about getting up the next morning, with the kids still in bed and S at work, and spending an hour or so working through the remaining dishes, getting things put back into their proper cabinets, and so on. Maybe it’s because there’s way less stress than when you are prepping and it serves as a mental bookend to the event.

A true sign that fall is arriving. I’ve had to wear a jacket to the gym a couple mornings. No need for pants over shorts yet. I can usually make my two minute walk there without too many layers until it truly gets cold. It’s the walk back, though, with sweaty clothes, when the added clothing is a must.

Those days were momentary exceptions, though. It looks like we are going to be in the mid–80s for at least the next two weeks. Summer lingers.

Another sign that fall is creeping up on us: I listened to my working list for favorite songs of the year for the first time yesterday. Just one pass through, enough to jot notes about a couple songs, but I won’t truly dive in for another 5–6 weeks. Still plenty of time for new songs to work their way in before I start whittling it down to its final order.

Protecting Your Mailbox

May 24, 2023 /

A very busy week around here, so not sure if I’ll get any more proper posts up until after the holiday weekend.

I did run across this article this morning and it’s how I’ve been spending the last 30 minutes or so. If you’re sick of your mailbox being filled up with credit card offers, insurance spiels, and other unsolicited mailings, following these suggestions can eliminate many of them.

I wish there was a way to also stop the local mailings. I hate those creepy solicitations that have a big picture of your house on the envelope. Although for us it is fun since so many use either pictures from when our home was being built, or the house that was on this property before it was built. That’s a great way to get my business, people!

I Get No Mail and It’s Glorious

Wednesday Quickie

March 22, 2023 /

It’s been a busy week. Our spring break begins on Friday and there is much to be done to prepare. Lots of errands, laundry, organizing, taking kids to appointments, prepping the house, etc.

Much of my free time has also been taken up by trying to finish a show I’ve been watching that will disappear from Hulu next week. It may well pop up somewhere else – Netflix, Prime, etc – on April 1, but I didn’t want to risk not finishing it. Especially since there is a new movie based on the show I’d like to throw on the iPad for our travels.

I also, accidentally, checked out a book for my Kindle that I wanted to read on our trip too early and I’m trying to rip through it before I have to return it to clear space for something else.

And I’ve been getting up early every day to prepare for Friday morning, when we will have alarms set for around 3:00 AM.

I was hoping to get a Reaching for the Stars entry either posted or queued up for next week. I just haven’t been able to devote the time to the two songs that were possibilities, so I doubt that will happen.

I considered doing a KU post-mortem/look ahead piece, but I wasn’t sure if anyone would want to read 3000 words about that right now. Three KU players are in the portal as of this moment. There will be more. By the time I get back from vacation we should have a better idea of KU’s roster for next year.

I will share a weekly playlist. Not sure if I’ll do it Thursday to ensure it gets posted or schedule something to appear on Friday. Either way, be looking for it.

Freak of the Week

March 23, 2022 /

It’s been awhile since I’ve had a run-in with a local freak, for lack of a better term. You know them: the random, semi-crazy appearing/acting people who engage you in conversation without an invitation.

My favorite such encounter was sometime in the mid–90s at a Dillons in Lawrence, KS with one of that city’s most notable weirdos. I was attempting to buy some anti-perspirant and this man sidled up to me, grabbed a container of Speed Stick or whatever, and started mumbling some nonsense that had to do with being a pawn in the desires of big business, or something along those lines. I kind of enjoyed it, as this dude just seemed out there rather than dangerous in any way. I tried to keep the conversation going but he was more interested in spouting his views rather than having a true dialogue. Somewhere I have a journal with the entire conversation written down. I probably should have looked for that before I started this post…

Anyway, Monday I popped into the local library to grab a book I had reserved. To get to the Holds section you must walk past two tables of public-use computers. As I passed one of the tables I heard someone say, “Are you doing ok, sir?”

I realized I was the only sir walking by, so this question must have been aimed at me. I looked around and saw an odd looking fellow sitting at one of the computers looking at me. Before I could say anything he continued, “It’s ok, sir. It’s just a library,” with a hint of both concern and ridicule in his voice.

I kind of half-chuckled, rolled my eyes, and continued.

I guess this triggered him. He threw his hands up in the air and shook his head in total disgust. I quickened my pace to get around the corner and beyond the safety of the stacks.

I grabbed my book and headed back to the check out area, which would take me by the computer table again. I decided to look casual and devote my total attention to picking through my keys for my mini library card

I should share at this moment another key detail: this guy had wild hair and a face tattoo. Not to stereotype, but I’m guessing someone who seems a little unhinged and has a face tattoo is not one you want to push.

I kept my peripheral vision alert just in case dude tried to rush me. I kept an ear open just in case there were any more comments, too.

Fortunately for me, but probably unfortunately for this story, I had no more interaction with this gentleman. Once I was safely in my locked car, I let out a breath and started laughing. You can get all kinds at public libraries, but between Covid and mask requirements they have seemed less interesting for the past two years. Glad to see things are getting back to normal.

Weekend Notes

August 9, 2021 /

Moving a little slow this Monday morning. We had several of S’s high school friends and their families over yesterday and the gathering ran rather late for a Sunday. Then I woke up at about 1:15 with one of those terrible, mid-summer “The AC is running but I’m still too hot to sleep” things that kept me restless for the better part of two hours. Hate those. I blame the beer and barbecue that was in my stomach.

I’ll get the final, extra-stuffed, Olympic Notebook of the year out likely tomorrow.

I’m behind on sharing links, too. We’ll see if I can get to those shortly or just save them for a long list this Friday.

Strange to wakeup, think ahead, and realize in two days I’ll have to add early alarms back to my phone and be getting two of the girls up for school. L gets to go drop her school supplies off and meet her homeroom teacher, who is new to St. P’s, later today, then she begins classes Wednesday. C has freshman schedule walkthrough Wednesday morning, starts classes Thursday, then has no class Friday but instead a seven-hour orientation session that lasts from mid-afternoon into the evening. M starts classes Friday. Weird, I know. CHS started staggering how grades start last year – freshmen and seniors one day, sophomores and juniors the next – and decided to stick with it this year. Thus we ease into the new school year before everyone is locked in a week from today.

RIP to Markie Post. A lot of guys who grew up in the 80s were sad when they heard the news.

Summer of Freedom

July 13, 2021 /

I realized yesterday that this has been, and should continue to be, a pretty boring summer.

Sure, we’ve had a few gatherings to take advantage of the pool and the new pool house. We’re trying to schedule a few more but as kids get older, it gets harder and harder to pin a group of families down to a single night when they are all available to join us.

C’s summer school meant no traveling in June, and limited what we were able to do on those days close to home.

We do have a trip on the calendar – actually three different trips, but two are just for S and I – but those will all be later this year and can’t be labeled as Summer Vacations.

The girls and I were hoping to go camping with our old neighbors, but we’ve had a very hard time finding any camp grounds with available spots.

The weather hasn’t been great. We’ve had a couple brief hot spells, and plenty of dry days. But it sure seems like it has been cloudy, cool, with periodic rain more days than not.

This nasty cold, or whatever it is, that I couldn’t kick for over a month eventually caught up with L and M, and C is now in the midst of her battle with it. I should have bought a family antibiotic plan back in May to save some trips to Walgreen’s.

Throw all of that together and the girls and I have all fallen into a weird rhythm where we don’t do a whole hell of a lot. If the sun is out, the pool is open. C sleeps until noon so we can’t run out and do anything before either the heat or afternoon showers kick in. We go to Target twice a week, since someone always needs something. M leaves to hang out with friends a couple afternoons/evenings a week. C and her closest friend get together at least once per week. L plays basketball one or two nights a week, depending on if her classmates are going and how her knees feel.

There’s nothing wrong with having a boring summer. Especially since, unlike a lot of people, we’ve been to Florida twice in the past year. It’s nice to have the calendar be wide open and not constantly be thinking about/preparing for the next big event.

Summer is passing by quickly, though. The girls just hit the one-month mark before they will return to school. It doesn’t feel like there are any big options open for us, but I need to put on my Good Dad hat and find us some small things that can break up the weeks and help to make some good memories for the summer of ’21.

Hoaxes and the Search for “Truth”

May 20, 2021 /

Remember the 2002 film Catch Me If You Can? Leonardo DiCaprio starred as Frank W. Abagnale Jr., a man who fooled people into thinking he was an airline pilot, among other things, to live a jet-setting, check-forging, stewardess-banging life.

The movie was wonderful, as I recall. It had just the right breezy tone to fit the times it was set in and dispensed with looking too deeply into the truth of Abagnale’s story in favor of a couple hours of enjoyable entertainment.

Turns out Abagnale’s story was, most likely, not true at all. And people were blowing it apart back in the late 1970s.

This revelation, the subject of a new book, demonstrates both how the world has both changed dramatically and stayed the same in the past 40 years. The reporters who dug into Abagnale’s past in the ‘70s couldn’t get in front of his story because they worked for small, local papers. Well before the Internet, their investigations could not find traction nationally.

And yet, as we see every single day, even with the Internet, it is getting harder and harder to pin down what the truth of any story is.

A prime example of that is what has been occurring in the halls of Congress the past few months, as Republicans continue to reframe the events of January 6 to deny and bury the truth of that day.

Repeat a story often enough, into the official record of the US Congress no less, and you can rewrite history before its first draft is even dry.

The Greatest Hoax on Earth

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