The wheel of heaven turns.............

Mark Knopfler..................................................Our Shangri La

We could talk for hours.........................

..............and not get to all the factors influencing these charts.

via

However, from recent experience.............

.........................if you subtract both soda pop and OJ from your diet and if you don't eat any bread after lunch, weight loss is almost a certainty.  Ice cream is another matter.

My point with my nutrition myth posts is that you should eat whatever you enjoy. If you have a weight problem or a health problem, that's another matter. Just don't pretend, for example, that an OJ is any "healthier" than a Pepsi, or brown bread is "healthier" than white bread. That is just marketing to the low-info shopper.
-as excerpted from here

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

The Olympics.......................................................Good Lovin'

As it should be...........................

 “We want to clean our air, our water, our energy, our environment,” he said, but noted that “[p]overty reduction is our top priority. Providing power in the next 2,000 days is our priority. We want faster development. My people have a right to grow.”
-as excerpted from this post suggesting India believes it should work for its people today rather than chase the green phantom.

With a little joie de vivre.......................

via

On our way...............................

Mark Knopfler.......................................Sailing To Philadelphia

The "modern man" controversy..............

..................The original proposition and first rebuttal are here

One wonders if the original was a satire, although since it was published in the NYT, probably not.  Real men respond to these sorts of things whenever they feel like it, which is not right now.

I'll show you how............................

Santana.......................................................Open Invitation

Good questions, all........................

Why is it that entrenched players, with all their resources, can’t seem to innovate?   Why do outsiders seem to respond better to disruption and changes?  How does one learn to spot transformative opportunities?
-as asked by Ryan Holiday in this post on " the story of a central truth of history: that strength often becomes a weakness and weakness can be transformed into strength. "

I don't remember it being this way.............

................................................way back in the early 1970's:

Student activists are now far too willing to pursue administrative means to address their complaints, failing to understand that administrative responses will always serve the needs of institutions, not of protesters. Indeed, by pursuing such complaints through the official channels, they are almost always going to be neutering their efforts, sacrificing them to red tape, bureaucratic procedure, and the self-protective instincts of large institutions.
-as taken from this interesting Fredrik deBoer essay

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

The Who..................................................The Kids Are Alright

Will it be different this time.......................?

Nate Silver gives us Donald Trump's Six Stages of Doom.  

Am I the only one who thinks that the World has become a vastly more interesting place here of late?

Am I vexing and annoying..................?

sorry Jess

Can we get an Amen.............................?

Great Wealth is Bad Only When It Comes from Cronyism Instead of Creating Consumer Value

-Reads the heading of this blog post

Just so you know, I belong to the school of thought that the gravest danger to capitalism comes not from socialism but from crony capitalism.   Crony capitalism is a corruption that, like termites, stealthily destroys the foundation of a great structure.   Just saying.

Where does Santa go in the summertime......?

Leading from the Heartland.................

So let’s talk about this “Reality” thing a little more.

Some people would say that only what you can tangibly sense is real … if you cannot see, smell, touch, hear, or taste something, it does not really exist.  Well, there goes most of the useful expressions of human emotion and existence.  Yes, you can hear an angry tone in someone’s voice or see their face get red, but you cannot tangibly sense the underlying emotion … you only get the symptoms.

KNOWING SOMEONE IS ANGRY IS NOT THE SAME AS UNDERSTANDING WHY THEY FEEL THAT ANGER …

Any approach which leaves out the emotional side of life seems incomplete.

-John E. Smith, as excerpted from here

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

The Animals......................................Bring It On Home To Me

Counter intuitive.....................................?

"Look at where the bullet holes are and put extra armor every place else."

During World War II, the statistician Abraham Wald tried to determine where one should add extra armor to airplanes.  Based on the pattern of bullet holes in returning airplanes, he suggested that the parts not hit should be protected with extra armor.  How could he reach such a conclusion?  Because he also considered planes that didn't return.  Assume that all planes had been hit more or less uniformly.  Some planes hit in marked areas were still able to return.  This means that planes that didn't return were most likely hit somewhere else - in unmarked places.  Those were the places that needed more armor.
-Peter Bevelin, as extracted from Seeking Wisdom:  From Darwin to Munger

Hate it when that happens...............

“Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.” 
-attributed to Henry Kissinger, as excerpted from this very positive book review.  It was enough for me to dial up Amazon.

On the unsettled science of weather..........

The computer models can't seem to agree about Joaquin's path.

One of these lucky contestants will surely earn bragging rights.  More on the story here.

via KPC

Be a friend to man........................

The House By The Side Of The Road

There are hermit
souls that live withdrawn
In the peace of their self-content;
There are souls, like stars, that dwell apart,
In a fellowless firmament;
There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths
Where highways never ran;-
But let me live by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

Let me live in a house
by the side of the road,
Where the race of men go by-
The men who are good and the men who are bad,
As good and as bad as I.
I would not sit in the scorner’s seat,
Or hurl the cynic’s ban;-
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

I see from my house
by the side of the road,
By the side of the highway of life,
The men who press with the ardor of hope,
The men who are faint with the strife.
But I turn not away from their smiles nor their tears-
Both parts of an infinite plan;-
Let me live in my house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

I know there are brook-gladdened
meadows ahead
And mountains of wearisome height;
That the road passes on through the long afternoon
And stretches away to the night.
But still I rejoice when the travelers rejoice,
And weep with the strangers that moan,
Nor live in my house by the side of the road
Like a man who dwells alone.

Let me live in my
house by the side of the road
Where the race of men go by-
They are good, they are bad, they are weak, they are strong,
Wise, foolish- so am I.
Then why should I sit in the scorner’s seat
Or hurl the cynic’s ban?-
Let me live in my house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

- Sam Walter Foss (1858-1911)

thanks nancy

Never forget, the higher purpose..........

thanks kurt

When have they ever....................?

“The economics have changed and there’s no promise things will come back to the way they were,”
-as extracted from this post about the looming "Oil-Sands" glut.

thanks craig

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

A montage of the #1 hits......................................................

Some people come for the fantasy.......

Bruce Hornsby........................................Walk In The Sun

Crucial..............................

"Some of the most crucial conversations you will ever have will be with yourself.   Slow down sufficiently to make this possible."
-as extracted from here

Opening paragraphs.................

When I die and people realize that I will not be resurrected in three days, they will forget me.   That is the way it should be.   For reasons known only to God, I was asked to write an autobiography.  Most people who knew me growing up didn't think I would ever read a book, let alone write one.  Anyway, here goes:   I was born January 6, 1937, eight years after Wall Street crashed, and two years before John Steinbeck published The Grapes of Wrath, his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about the plight of a family during the Great Depression.  How bad was it?  Well, we weren't Okies, in the sense that we weren't from Oklahoma, but in every other respect the Holtzes of West Virginia could easily have been mistaken for the Joads of the dust bowl South.

-Lou Holtz,  Wins, Losses, and Lessons:  An Autobiography

Not all progress is really progress......

      You couldn't survive in our time and not learn somehow to focus on what was really important in life.  People's priorities were different two or three generations ago.  Not a news cycle goes by today when someone isn't in front of a camera or behind a microphone complaining about a violation of his or her rights.  Spill coffee in your lap?  Sue the restaurant that served you.  Want to prance around your high school in a headdress, disrupting the learning environment?  Plenty of lawyers are ready to take your case - free expression and all.  These were not issues fifty or sixty years ago.  People my age and older weren't concerned about their rights and privileges;  we were conscious of our obligations and responsibilities.   I learned early that I had an obligation to contribute to the family, and any income I earned would go straight to the family budget.  Sure, it might not have been "fair" for a nine-year-old to carry that kind of burden, but that was simply the way life was.  If you contributed nothing to society, you were not entitled to the rewards.  Work hard and you earned certain perks.  Do nothing and you got nothing.  I learned that before I could write my name (and trust me, L-O-U wasn't that tough).  The nebulous concept of "rights" never entered my mind until much later, and any thoughts that I might actually have rights didn't dawn on me until young adulthood.

-Lou Holtz,  Wins, Losses, and Lessons:  An Autobiography

On rungs and ladders..................

"The ladder of success is best climbed by stepping on the rungs of opportunity."
-attributed to Ayn Rand

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

The Beatles.........................................................Nowhere Man

This may be the only....................

.................................thing I ever post concerning Hillary Clinton.

I'm guessing that...................

...............George Will will not be climbing on the Trump bandwagon:

"Trump believes he should be president because of his business savvy. But he has, in effect, shrunk the large inheritance he received from his father. In 1982, Forbes reported Trump's net worth at $200 million. Vox calculates that if he had put that in an index fund "at a 0.15 percent fee, he'd have $6.3 billion today after dividend taxes, almost certainly more than he actually does." And an Associated Press analysis showed that if in 1988 he had put his money in an index fund he would have $13 billion. (He has not really revealed his net worth, but any Trump reticence is as welcome as it is rare.)"
-as excerpted from here

Yes, it does.................................

via

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

Long John Baldry...........................I've Got My Mojo Working
(with The Beatles doing background vocals)

Self-knowledge.................................

"The most effective way to genuinely reduce risk is to know what you are doing."
-Tren Griffen, Charlie Munger:  The Complete Investor

Some strategy............................

"Three things ruin people:  drugs, liquor, and leverage."
-Charlie Munger

On rational thinking...................

"Rationality is the best antidote to making psychological and emotional errors....Being rational is neither simple nor easy."
-Tren Griffin,  Charlie Munger:  The Complete Investor

Along the journey.............................

"Tendency is not always destiny, and knowing the tendencies and their antidotes can often help  prevent trouble that would otherwise occur."
-Charlie Munger

cartoon via

Legacies..............................

"If you want to get rich, you'll need a few decent ideas where you really know what you're doing.  Then you've got to have the courage to stick with them and take the ups and downs.  Not very complicated, and it's very old-fashioned."
-Charlie Munger


cartoon via

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

The Supremes............a longish version of Nothing But Heartaches

At six thought a minute.............

"If something is too hard, we move on to something else.  What could be simpler than that?"

"You don't have to hire out your thinking if you keep it simple"

"People calculate too much and think too little.

-Charlie Munger, quotes from here

Extent...................................

"Confucius said that real knowledge is knowing the extent of one's ignorance."
-Charlie Munger

Change.....................................

"Munger likes to say that a year in which you do not change your mind on some big idea that is important to you is a wasted year."
-Tren Griffin,  Charlie Munger:  The Complete Investor

Contravening a breach of the peace.....

Long John Baldry.............Don't Try To Lay No Boogie Woogie
                                                   On The King Of Rock & Roll