Things smart, reasonable people believe (or enjoy, or do) that seem totally nonsensical to me: - Professional sports - Paid professionals, hired from other cities, doing their job and making lots of money for the owners of the business that employs them—owners that frequently threaten to leave the city they're based in if they don't get massive public subsidies... how are they "our" team? - Expensive weddings - I understanding spending as much as you need to for the number of guests you want; what I don’t understand is *having the goal of making it expensive*. - Fireplaces - TVs mounted over fireplaces - They force you to crane your neck, plus can cause potential heat damage to the TV - TVs are designed to be viewed at eye level - Chopper motorcycles - Reclining bikes - Low riders - NASCAR racing - Enjoying the flavor of alcohol or coffee (I drink coffee for the effect of caffeine, not for the "flavor") - Saying "bless you" when someone sneezes - Being anti-science (anti-vax, flat Earth, climate change denial) - How can people say: I'm going to ignore the fact that multiple experts who dedicate their life to this have objectively tested it, repeatedly, and reproducibly, and consistently found it to be true (or false) and convinced other experts of what they found... but I'm going to ignore that and go with (whatever) because (fuzzy reasons)." - Drinking straws - The Nutcracker - Non-walkable neighborhoods (apparently, a lot of people prefer them?) - Tournament of Roses Parade (or NYC Thanksgiving Day Parade, or, for that matter, most parades) - Tattoos - Blockchain - “Expert systems” (1980s... but they died, so I guess no one else got them, either...) - “Fixed income” (e.g. "I can't afford that, I'm on a fixed income.") - AFAICT, no one's income is actually *fixed*—even Social Security gets annual COLA increases. - Sun bathing - The use of paper case files in police shows in the 21st century - Don't get me started about "evidence boards" with a spiders-web of strings connecting random photos and docs on a board... - Asking restaurant servers “*is this good?*” about menu items. Or in general, asking them for recommendations—everyone has different tastes, so why think you'll like the same things they like? - Asking people if they want a drink of water when they’re coughing (coughing is a windpipe/lungs problem, not an esophagus problem). - Being "offended" or "insulted" by something someone else says or does. - These are *your* emotions. Being "offended" or "insulted" is a choice *you* make, not something someone else does to you. Are you not in control of, and responsible for, your own emotions? Why give someone else that power over you? - Reflexively answering a phone when it rings, or opening a door when someone knocks. - Wax museums - Gambling (including lotteries) - I understand the attraction of level games of skill (e.g. poker) - I don't understand why people gamble where the expectation value of return is negative (e.g. anything in a casino, or any kind of lottery) - Classifying people in to "generations" (e.g. Boomers, Millennials, Gen Z, etc.) - There's an enormous difference between the life experience of Americans born at the beginning of any of these putative generations and one born at the end (e.g. 1946 vs. 1964). Likewise there virtually no difference between those born at the end of one generation and those born at the beginning of the next (e.g. 1964 vs. 1965... or for that matter, 1960 and 1968). - It's true there are general societal trends and shifts over time, but those changes happen at different times than each other, not in synchronization, plus the generational boxes are far too large/coarse to capture them accurately. - All this also ignores that any given *individual's* life experience will be different—sometimes wildly different—than other occupants lumped into their generational box, based on where they grew up, how they were raised, their family situation, etc. - It seems to me that using these generational boxes (like just about all boxes we lump people into) leads to false generalizations and sloppy thinking. In the business world: - When people say things like “*I won’t rest until…*”, “*no one goes home until…*”, “*I demand this thing no one controls, immediately…*”… I mean: do the people that say these things really think this will work? Or even help? - Setting specific numerical goals for things you have limited control over (you have no way to guarantee hitting the target, plus, why not shoot for higher?). - Creating artificial/forced/fake ROI analyses to justify strategic initiatives (or even a "real" ROI with guesses at important parameters).