Tuesday Tilt

I’m not a pinball player; to me, tilt means “warning, collapse imminent.” That is not an attempt to make light of the condo collapse in Florida. However, I would like someone to explain to me why so many people live there. (Sorry, Bob.) It’s always humid (in Miami, the average daily dewpoint is 70° or higher from April to October, that’s oppressively humid), there’s lots of lightning and the state is vulnerable to hurricanes. Florida is the sinkhole capital of the world. Miami receives an annual average of 62 inches of rain. People think Seattle is rainy, but it averages 38 inches of precipitation a year. Just sayin’…

The word “tilt” is relevant today because of a dream I had. I dreamt I was going grocery shopping at Wegmans, which is not possible, of course, because they have no stores in Arizona. “Tilt” comes into play because my transportation was one of those three-wheeled motorcycles. No, I neither have nor want one, at least I don’t think so. Anyway…I felt quite free driving this vehicle in part because I could tilt it some. I don’t really know if a three-wheeler can be tilted in a manner similar to a traditional motorcycle, but remember this was just a dream. However, I also felt somewhat afraid that I would tilt it too far and roll the bike over.

When I arrived at Wegmans I realized I wasn’t sure which set of stairs to take up to the store itself. The parking area was below street level. Also, the lack of practicality in where the groceries would fit on the three-wheeler was, apparently, not an issue. I almost walked up the first flight of stairs, but somehow knew that wasn’t the right one. I walked up the next flight and, sure enough, wound up in the store. That’s where the dream ended.

What does that dream mean? I refuse to believe it is just a random filtering of information never intended to be interpreted. Any amateur or professional psychologists out there are welcome to offer an interpretation.

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Speaking of psychology, this piece is titled, “Failure of replication in psychology.” One part of this was very interesting to me; it’s about science, in general, and not psychology, in particular.

 

“A list of “replication failures” does serve to remind us that science is fallible, an ongoing enterprise that is subject to revision. Nothing is “proven” in science; the concept of “proof” is for mathematics, where there’s no “replication crisis.” Science is a Bayesian enterprise, in which accumulating evidence combines to give us more or less confidence in a hypothesis.”

 

The author then writes,

 

“But remember, too, that many scientific “facts” are very unlikely to be overturned, and, using any reasonable layperson’s notion of “proof”, have been proved.  A molecule of normal water has two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, the normal form of DNA is a double helix, the speed of light in a vacuum is 299792458 meters per second (roughly 186,000 miles per second) and so on.”

 

I think some skepticism toward all human endeavors is good. Of course, when to drop the skepticism in light of overwhelming evidence is not always an easy call. What is overwhelming evidence? The average person has no idea about confidence intervals and Nate Silver argues that entire paradigm is flawed, anyway.

To quote André Gide again, “Trust those who seek truth but doubt those who say they have found it.”

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A picture from yesterday:

 

 

Yes, I am still quite smitten by the desert scenery. You have to remember I grew up in Baltimore, a place with little topography, but with the occasional tall tree that blocked views into the distance.

In the context of Arizona, the mountain closest to us is basically just a tall hill. It is, however, higher in elevation than any place in the entire state of Maryland.

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The longest-running car event in the country has resumed and it’s held in Scottsdale, Arizona. I believe the “official” title is the Pavilions Rock-n-Roll Car Show. It was on hiatus for over a year because of the damn virus, but has returned to its weekly schedule.

As I have written, virtually all of the people we meet at these events are friendly. We met a young man named Steven who arrived in his beautiful Honda S2000 and we spoke for 10-15 minutes. I also saw this car, one of my favorites although I think it will fall just short of inclusion in Ultimate Garage 3.0.

 

 

This is, of course, a 1987 Buick Grand National. Oh, the lack of cars around the Buick was, unfortunately, representative of attendance at the event. I think the word has not really gotten out that the Pavilions show is back.

Do any of you have a car, or cars, about which you have a similar feeling? By that I mean a car you really like and are always glad to see, but one that does not quite rise to the level of “Ultimate.”

 

#TuesdayTilt

#Wegmans

#WhatDoDreamsMean?

#NateSilver

#MountainsAndShadow

#ArizonaCarCulture

#1987BuickGrandNational

#somanycarsjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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