Woke up this morning............................

Taj Mahal/Gregg Allman............................Statesboro Blues

Can I get an amen....................................?

Quite a lot of bother......................

Clarke & Dawe take another look at Iraq and war........

Vacations are like that.............................

via

Fifty years ago.......................................

Billy Mills's stunning Olympic victory in the 10,000 meter race

Let's just increase the demand...................

Ah, economics.  Has fracking and horizontal drilling created too much of a good thing?   The question gets asked here.

... the infinite meadows..........................

“Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven,
Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels.” 
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

thanks doug

On repetition................................

I was once asked, at a journalism conference, how I defined my job. I said: My job is to write the exact same thing between 50 and 100 times a year in such a way that neither my editors nor my readers will ever think I am repeating myself.

That’s because good advice rarely changes, while markets change constantly. The temptation to pander is almost irresistible. And while people need good advice, what they want is advice that sounds good.

-Jason Zweig, as quoted here

There have been more than........................

...........a few times I wish I had followed this bit of advice:

"If possible, move slowly on decisions which are hard or impossible to reverse and more quickly on those which can be easily reversed."

More wisdom can be found here.

The gypsy flies.......................................

Gregg Allman/Jackson Browne..............................Melissa

This explains a lot..........................

The blog head line reads:
This Is The Worst Thing Ever And We’re All Going To Die.
Life itsownself would be easier if more folks had been history majors in college.  The world of humanity has always been crazy.  Things have never been better, easier, or more comfortable for our species, but you would never know that by just watching the news.  If a wee bit of perspective interests you, read this blog post.  Conclusion here:
...though we may think very highly of ourselves, large groups of people are almost always won over by demagoguery. So it’s not surprising that Mencken’s hobgoblins are everywhere in politics. Or that the most vital election is the one you’re about to vote in and the most crucial movement ever is one you’ve adopted. History culminates right here. The arrogance of the times demands it.

thanks craig

Beauty...................................

On bitcoins and the future of money.............

My favorite optimist takes a peek and pens an essay.   I'm not afraid to say I enjoyed reading it while not understanding it;  perhaps not an uncommon occurrence.

"Governments get jealous of people who make them look irrelevant."

Golf as life......................................

     I'd play each hole in turn, visualising it minutely:  the great slopes of the 1st and 7th;  the abandoned coastguard station above our broken tidal swimming pool; the 5th a striking short hole, offering a choice between steep clinging gorse banks on the right, and straight ahead slopes and ridges running the ball down towards the rocks and sea - bonnie enough but it's not a fair hole because there is no real golfing solution to the terrain, just trusting to luck or fate.  Then again, some problems have no proper solution.  Sometimes you have to hit and see, then take it from there.
-Andrew Greig,  Preferred Lies:  A Journey to the Heart of Scottish Golf

Fifty years ago......................................

The Beach Boys........................Why Do Fools Fall In Love

Congratulations are in order....................

I suspect many of those hits are me, having fun rummaging through his archives.

Grading yourself on a forgiving curve.....

David Brooks give a speech on the tug-of-war between our material and spiritual selves.

"And so this is an achievement culture. A culture of people striving and trying to win success. The way I express this contrast, this hunger for success is by two sets of virtues, which you could call the résumé virtues and the eulogy virtues. And the résumé virtues are the things you bring to the marketplace which you put on a résumé. And the eulogy virtues are the things you get expressed in your eulogy. And these are non-overlapping categories. So the eulogy virtues are to give courage, to give honor, what kind of relationships do you build, did you love."

Transcript of speech is here.

Just wait................................................

thanks kurt

I turn on the radio...................................

Bruce Springsteen....................................................Fire

Lord willing...............................................

via

Anti-success..............................................

The thing is: failure almost always arrives in a whimper. It is almost always the result of missed opportunities, a series of bad choices and the rust that comes from things gradually getting worse.

Things don't usually explode. They melt.

-Seth Godin

In praise of experimentation.....................

“The Internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn’t understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had.” 
-Eric Schmidt

Thanks John E.

Fifty years ago.......................................

Political campaigns have always been messy things.  If you think 1964 was a better, cleaner, more honest time than today, watch this beauty from Lyndon Johnson's campaign.

On wars........................................

via

On American foreign policy....................

One political party or the other may blunder, but disasters on this scale can be achieved only by consensus.
-David P. Goldman, channeling Spengler

Still one of my most valued possessions.....

Please vote to renew the Library levy.   Thank thee kindly.

Imagine the practicing.................................

The kids are going to be just fine............

Unorganized Hancock...................................Minor Swing




A band of brothers.  Back story is here.

If you ever happen to go.........................

............to Allendale, South Carolina, please remember that, while the beers may be cold, the kitchen at old Lobster House is closed on Monday night.  Made my fourth pilgrimage to Allendale to meet with Doug Fine, the proprietor of Eclecticity and Eclecticity Light, and Ray Visotski, the not-so-simple-Village Undertaker.  Ray's business plans changed at the last moment so he was marked absent   Regardless, a fine time was had by all, although we adjourned the meeting for dinner at Hardee's.  I make the motion that we meet somewhere else next year.

Sign may be on the historic register

The boys may be seeking a new meeting room next year

In a pinch, Hardee's will do

Unfortunately, this is on Hardee's breakfast menu only

Golfing............................................

Actually, it didn't go 170 yards, but did go, on a line drive, from the
left side front bunker to the middle bunker on the back side of the green.

On reaching goals....................................

“To reach the goals of your life, you need discipline, you need luck and you need something as important as these two: Vacations!” 
-Mehmet Murat ildan

Fifty years ago.....................................

Ronald Reagan...................................A Time for Choosing
(a speech given in support of Barry Goldwater's candidacy)

Wood storks.........................................

Wood storks (mycteria americana) are a "threatened" species, which is actually good news.  Just this summer they were taken of the "endangered" list.  They seem to be doing quite well in coastal Carolina.

That's the goal........................................

Beauty......................................

There is just something about the play of sunlight on water.

The play of moonlight on water is pretty cool too

Gone golfing, shopping, visiting..................

Talk with you later...................................................

Fifty years ago.............................................

The Karl Denver Trio............................................Wimoweh




there is no explaining those Europeans.....................

From Cleveland, Ohio.....................................

The Outsiders.............................................Time Won't Let Me

One thing about economists........

But consider countries like Qatar and Switzerland.  The GDP of such places is not remarkable, but their GDP per capita is enormous - significantly higher than the likes of the United States, Japan and Germany, and multiples of the likes of Brazil, India and China.
     Per capita, by the way, means "per person."
Why don't economists just say "per person"?
     I think people make them nervous.

Tim Harford, The Undercover Economist Strikes Back:  How To Run - Or Ruin An Economy

Lessons learned....................................

     Clearly, economists don't understand everything about how to prevent an economy's growth from slowing or going in reverse.  If we did, it wouldn't happen, and you wouldn't be reading this book.  But we have learned some things about how to understand, prevent and cure recessions.  And it's in talking about how to deal with these problems that I want to spend the first two-thirds of this book.

Two-thirds of a book!  Sheesh.  Are your sure there isn't a much simpler solution that you are missing?

     The world is full of people who will tell you there is.  Tie your currency to gold!  Always balance your budget!  Protect manufacturing!  Eliminate red tape!  That kind of thing.  You can safely ignore these people.  Anyone who insists that running a modern economy is a matter of plain common sense frankly doesn't understand much about running a modern economy.

-Tim Harford,   The Undercover Economist Strikes Back:  How To Run - Or Ruin - An Economy
      

Fifty years ago..........................................

Dusty Springfield................Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow

Looks a lot like South Carolina...............

Let there be light...................................

Time to re-charge....................................

Scott gets quotable............................

Back story, and more new music (to me, anyway) than you can shake a stick at, can be found here.

A warm wind blowing...................................

England Dan & John Ford Coley/I'd Really Love to See You Tonight

Some perspective......................................

On sleeping on it.......................

"As my father told me back when I was first learning about handling money, 'Any decision about money that you can’t sleep on — or haven’t slept on — is one that you’re not ready to make.' ”
-Chuck Jaffe

Presence........................................

The sounds of engines leave the air.
The Sunday morning silence comes
at last.  At last I know the presence
of the world made without hands,
the creatures that have come to be
out of their absence.  Calls
of flicker and jay fill the clear
air.  Titmice and chickadees feed
among the green and the dying leaves.
Gratitude for the gifts of all the living
and the unliving, gratitude which is 
the greatest gift, quietest of all,
passes to me through the trees.

-Wendell Berry
Sabbaths, 2007 XI

Always.........................................................

How can the divine Oneness be seen?
In beautiful forms, breathtaking wonders,
awe-inspiring miracles?
The Tao is not obliged to present itself
this way.

It is always present and always available.
When speech is exhausted and mind
dissolved, it presents itself.
When clarity and purity are cultivated,
it reveals itself.
When sincerity is unconditional,
it unveils itself.

If you are willing to be lived by it,
you will see it everywhere, even
in the most ordinary things.

Chapter 22
Hua Hu Ching:  The Unknown Saying of Lao Tzu
Brian Browne Walker

Fifty years ago..............................................

Tom Jones.....................................................Chills and Fever

Toto, I don't think we're in Ohio anymore....

Good to remember...................................

The great goal.....................................

"What is a great goal? To be predictably good, regardless of challenges, desires, doubts, and convenience."
-Michael Wade