April Fools day came and went, as did the gags. Many of the high-tech company ones were sadly facile – instantly recognized and thus earning only a snicker. I enjoy those that expend effort being plausible, drawing the reader in for some time before the punchline. Humble reader, have you seen any good ones this time around?

Pyper is now in the care of the Toronto Humane Society, who I hope will quickly match him up with someone who can share more time and space and affection with him. It wasn’t tough signing him over, but it was terribly sad.

UPDATE 2006-04-18. Pyper may have been adopted within days of his arrival. The people running the show are refusing to tell me either way, but will apparently tell an anonymous member of the public. Go figure?!

It has been a year or two since I last undertook a long drive. I did it again this past weekend, and for a good cause.

With the airplane down for its annual maintenance for one more week, and grandparents itchy to see the brat, we decided we better take the long drive down to WIndsor. Yeah, I know, poor Frank. But after sitting at home for the last few months (no longer going daily to the office), sitting in a car for four hours just to get to the same place we’ve flown to in one, well, offends.

After the first hour on the road, the sense of offense weakened and the sort of cyborg attentiveness needed to drive safely took its place. With driving pushed to a lower level of mental activity, the leftovers contemplated policy. Policy, like what speed to choose? The weather/road conditions were perfect, traffic was light, so the putative legal speed limits were more absurd than usual. And yet, the fact of unpredictable police enforcement is at the back of the mind, gnawing away at the sense of comfort.

But need it gnaw? A risk/reward assessment might be formulated. Risks: a ticket (fine + demerit points); a possible increase in crash hazard. Rewards: time saved; a possible ego boost (car makers often push this angle in their ads). Many people are at least slightly terrified of run-ins with government authorities, so hesitate to ponder how bad a ticket actually would be. If they did, they might find that for those who can afford the possible financial penalties (fines, increase of insurance premiums), there is little to fear at the first or second infraction. The theory: highway speeders tend to be wealthier than average.

In any case, it is a testament to our complex economy that we can cheaply and easily carry out such a trip. No permissions, no appointments, no urgency, no fixed plans. This degree of casual mobility is matched in only few spots around the planet. This day, it let us visit the grandfolks, and stop by a park on the way back to (almost) pet some swans.

This set of instructions on squat toilets is one of the smaller reasons I don’t wish to visit China. An excerpt:

Assume a squatting position like a competitive ski jumper. Stick your ass out like a whore in a 50 Cent video. This is a good time to pretend you’re not a miserable tourist with your pants around your ankles, squatting over a barbaric poo hole.

Presumption of goodwill is one of several names for a fragile attitude. “Giving benefit of doubt” is another name for the same.

This is the attitude that favours the best case interpretation of someone else’s behavior. Even if they appear mistaken or naive or evil, one might still presume that there is some extra information one lacks, some saving grace that justifies it all.

Is it fragile? Of course it is. This presumption is more rational than faith, and has limits. Be given unsatisfactory explanations or hostile attitude one too many times, your goodwill will disappear in a puff.

What happens once it is lost? Combat, just not on the physical plane. A sense of violated trust takes the place of the former goodwill. Tempers shorten. Assumptions of competence, professionalism are at risk, or worse, are replaced by the opposite. The offender’s claims henceforth require immediate convincing evidence. Little credit is given for good behaviour. The goodwill presumption may never be granted to that person again.

In electronic communication, even in normal times there is a tendency to intensify the language, to use sharper adjectives and unsubtle verbs. Maybe it is just a desire to infuse emotion into a physically detached relationship. In combat mode, carefully chosen words pierce through even a toughened ego. They sting, and in the heat of the moment, they are meant to. The political world is still a mystery to me, but combat mode here is easy to recognize: when leaders are assumed to lie, imagined to have no character and terrible ulterior motives. Where dislike grows into irrational hatred, name-calling, there is no goodwill left at all.

How to avoid losing goodwill? I can only imagine factors which may have avoided my own combat mode excursions in the past: rely less on “pulling rank”; don’t assume that goodwill from some set of associates automatically earns it within another; have and communicate solid basis for your decisions; be honest; express self-doubt occasionally; and perhaps most difficult: be willing to give a little more goodwill than you require in return.