August 29,2025
If you’ve been following along here, you know I like to dig into both the serious and the silly with my daily Thought of the Day and Question of the Day. Today is no different: we’re looking at how nonsense can sometimes be as effective as brilliance, and how stepping into someone else’s home can feel like stepping into an alternate universe. Let’s dive in.
Thought of the Day: Baffling people with nonsense can have the same effect as blinding people with brilliance.
It’s wild how often this proves true. We’ve all been in situations where someone rattles off a bunch of jargon or overcomplicates things, and everyone nods along because no one wants to be the one to say, “Wait… what?” It’s not brilliance at work—it’s bafflement.
Honestly, sometimes nonsense gets mistaken for genius simply because people don’t want to admit they don’t understand. I’ve seen it in meetings, in classrooms, even in conversations with my kids. My three-year-old once explained to me, with complete confidence, how a sandwich gets its “sand.” I had no comeback. I just nodded. That’s power.
The danger, of course, is when nonsense replaces actual substance. It’s one thing to joke around. It’s another when leaders, politicians, or influencers build entire platforms on smoke and mirrors. But it’s worth remembering that brilliance and nonsense both have one thing in common: they overwhelm. And sometimes, that’s all it takes.
If this strikes a chord, you might like my reflection in What Doesn’t Transmit Light Creates Its Own Darkness—a post about how clarity matters more than confusion.
Question of the Day: What’s the weirdest thing you’ve seen in someone else’s home?
Homes are like fingerprints—no two are alike, and some leave you scratching your head. I once visited a house where the bathroom was carpeted. Not a rug. Carpet. Wall-to-wall. My brain couldn’t process it. It felt like living inside a damp mystery.
Maybe you’ve seen taxidermy squirrels posed like they’re playing poker. Or a collection of porcelain dolls staring down at you from every shelf. Or maybe it’s the fridge that smells like a science experiment, but no one else seems to notice.
The weirdest part about stepping into someone else’s home is realizing how normal it feels to them. What’s bizarre to you is just background noise to them. It’s a reminder that we’re all walking contradictions: craving normal while living in our own brand of weird.
I touched on a similar theme in What Do You Think Octopuses Dream About?—because sometimes the questions that seem silly open up bigger truths about how we see the world.
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What about you? Share the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen in someone’s home in the comments below. And if you want a daily moment to pause, laugh, and reflect, sign up for the free email below—you’ll get the Thought of the Day and Question of the Day sent straight to your inbox.