Many years ago, I got a Wacom drawing tablet.  Friends allege that I draw well, being a computer geek, I gravitated towards drawing digitally.  However, I found that I moved back and forth between my drawing tablet and mouse.  It became a bit of an irritant needing to move my mouse pad back and forth while I alternated between tasks on that computer.  I chose to address the problem in an unconventional way; I would start to do one such task with my non-dominant hand.

Given the two tasks, navigating a mouse or drawing, it made sense to do the former with my non-dominant hand.  I normally operate the mouse with my right hand, so I moved it to my left side.  In order to build the muscle memory, I’d need to do it consistently.  However, I used over half a dozen computers regularly at the time, so I needed to switch them all.  We intuitively click on the mouse button with our index finger; in order to continue to do this symmetrically, I’d need to reverse the mouse buttons.  The first week was a practice in frustration and futility; everything was awkward.

Continue reading “Diversity is not ‘woke’”

I learned to drive in my teens and have always owned a car since.  As such, I have had my share of flat tires.  Most of those flat tires were due to road debris puncturing my tire.  Once, it was due to a malfunctioning valve stem.  Though the most embarrassing instance was when I misjudged a turn and hit a median.  All, save that last one, were ones that I could not anticipate.

That said, flat tires are generally pretty rare.  Naturally, we won’t be able to avoid all flat tires, but we should not be getting them regularly.  If you are getting them routinely, then there’s something wrong.  You may be driving on surfaces that have a disproportionately high number of debris, like construction sites.  Vandals may be targeting your car and tampering with your tires.  You may have colossally poor driving habits.  Or you may routinely ignore those pesky “Danger extreme tire damage” signs.

Continue reading “The NBA and racial diversity”