Three Things #1

Time for our first multi-subject post.

When we started this journey, I mentioned that during slow weeks I would put out multi-subject pieces. Well, here’s the first one.

Where Do You Drive?

Americans are often mocked for our usage of imperial units. What does zero degrees mean in Fahrenheit? Pound is a unit of money, not of weight. How many feet in are in a mile anyway? And who drives on the right side of the road?

Actually, the United States is with the world on that last one—72% of countries drive on the right side of the road. The United Kingdom and its Commonwealth of Nations (former and otherwise) are largely responsible for the 54 countries that still drive on the left, like a bunch of out-of-step tea enthusiasts.

Not only this, but some countries have been so desperate to switch to the right that they were willing to undergo… this:

Sweden on the day in 1967 that it switched from the left side of the road to the right side. Photo: Wikimedia.

Pickling Balls (It’s Not What It Sounds Like)

First it was motorized scooters, now it’s pickleball: Something always seems to pop up in cosmopolitan areas overnight, leaving you wondering where in the heck it came from.

It’s become a trope that only nimby squares complain about pickleball. That said: I would like to complain about pickleball. Do I really have to hear it from a mile away? That’s far more literal than it should be. On a clear, cold night, I have heard it from more than a quarter-mile away. At other times, if I have my back window open, I can hear pickleball being played on the tennis court on the other side of my building at a distance of about 180 feet. I don’t know the physics of sound that well, but I don’t think it should carry like that.

I do understand why people play pickleball. If you’re older, ailing, or just not that quick, it’s much more playable than tennis. But it doesn’t help me be charitable when a pickleball player’s “solution” to the noise pollution is: have more people play pickleball.¹

What a cheap argument to not actually resolve anything. I would like this resolved, please! Just find a paddle-ball combination that doesn’t create the loudest, most obnoxious sound this side of nails on a chalkboard.

TV Rivalries

This last piece is just a dumb little list of top rivalries in television—across several genres, albeit ones I’m familiar with, so no soaps or primetime dramas—that I created quite a while ago. The list goes alphabetically by show title.

• Archer: Archer vs. Barry

• Blackadder Goes Forth: Blackadder vs. Darling

• Jeopardy! Ken Jennings vs. Brad Rutter vs. James Holzhauer

• NFL on CBS: Brady vs. Manning

• The Office: Michael vs. Toby

• Seinfeld: Seinfeld vs. Newman

• Simpsons: Homer vs. Ned

• South Park: Cartman vs. Kyle

• Star Trek: The Next Generation: Picard vs. Q²

Your Turn

Completely open thread on this one. You can react to any of the three topics, or just discuss what’s on your mind. Go ahead!

1. Please don’t give the author of that piece a click, by the way. I just put it there as evidence that I didn’t make it up. Trust me on this one.

2. Or the Borg—the list is consists only of individuals, but I suppose technically the Borg are one unit. Andy by the way, if you thought the original series, Khan Noonien Singh appeared in one Original Series episode but their rivalry didn’t blossom until The Wrath of Khan movie. I am not a crackpot.