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

The Friends of Distincton...........................Grazing In The Grass

I've noticed the cool guys.............................

..............................................................always sit in the back.

From her lips to God's ears......................

      Your brain's health may be the most powerful indicator of how long you will live.  It is crucial to whether that life will be rich and satisfying from youth into old age, or something substantially less rewarding, and for less time.
      A car driven wisely, fueled with high-quality gasoline, given regular oil changes, and repaired with new parts as old ones wear out is likely to last longer than one that's abused or neglected.  Likewise, the easiest way to have a healthy brain in middle age and beyond is to start with one as a youth and to follow good physical and mental habits.  Exercise it.  Feed it.  Challenge it.  Then enjoy the rewards.
      But what of the person who comes late to the repairs, like the owner of a car that rusts for years on blocks or runs too long on dirty oil?   The car owner can always swap out the engine.  You, on the other hand, have only one brain, basically composed of the same neurons you were born with, plus a few added to some narrowly specific areas.  Once they've begun to deteriorate, can they be saved—or even made stronger?
      Brain researcher Marian Diamond is certain they can.

-Michael S. Sweeney,  Your Best Brain Ever:  A Complete Guide & Workout

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

Jackie DeShannon.......................Put A Little Love In Your Heart

Don't hear this very often.............

.........................................................on the local radio stations.

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

Young-Holt Unlimited...........................................Soulful Strut

Perspective...........................

The Master was in a mellow mood and the disciples were inquisitive.  Did he ever feel depressed? they asked.

He did.

Wasn't it also true that he was in a continual state of happiness? they persisted.

It was.

What was the secret? they wanted to know.

Said the Master,  "This:  Everything is as good or as bad as one's opinion makes it."

-Anthony de Mello,  One Minute Wisdom

A well worn pathway to..................

....………………………………………….to Liszt and so much more.

Something to look forward to.....................

     Biological engineering starts with the insight that we are far from realizing the full potential of organic bodies.  For 4 billion years natural selection has been tweaking and tinkering with these bodies, so that we have gone from amoeba to reptiles to mammals to Sapiens.  Yet there is no reason to think that Sapiens is the last station.  Relatively small changes in genes, hormones and neurons were enough to transform Homo erectus -  who could produce nothing more impressive than flint knives - into Homo sapiens, who produce spaceships and computers.  Who knows what might be the outcome of a few more changes to our DNA, hormonal systems or brain structure.  Bioengineering is not going to wait patiently for natural selection to work its magic.  Instead, bioengineers will take the old Sapiens body, and intentionally rewrite its genetic code, rewire its brain circuits, alter its biochemical balance, and even grow entirely new limbs.  They will thereby create new godlings who might be as different from us Sapiens as we are different from Homo erectus.

-Yuval Noah Harari,  Homo Deus:  A Brief History of Tomorrow

On making the cut...........................

........................................................a very important hiring tip.

via

Adam..................................

......................................................hits a home run.

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

B. J. Thomas...............................................Hooked On A Feeling

Re-framing the pursuit of happiness.........

     The biological pursuit of happiness is also the number one cause of crime in the world. . . .

It is far from certain that humankind should invest so much effort into the biological pursuit of happiness.  Some would argue that happiness simply isn't important enough, and that it is misguided to regard individual satisfaction as the highest aim of human society.  Others may agree that happiness is indeed the supreme good, yet would take issue with the biological definition of happiness as the experience of pleasant sensation.
     Some 2,300 years ago Epicurus warned his disciples that immoderate pursuit of pleasure is likely to make them miserable rather than happy.  A couple of centuries earlier Buddha had made an even more radical claim, teaching that the pursuit of pleasant sensations is in fact the very root of suffering.  Such sensations are just ephemeral and meaningless vibrations.  Even when we experience them we don't react to them with contentment; rather, we just crave more.  Hence no matter how many blissful or exciting sensations I may experience, they will never satisfy me.

-Yuval Noah Harari,  Homo Deus:  A Brief History of Tomorrow

Asking the important questions..............

Civic duty...........................

Almost did not vote in the primary election today.  Only one contested race.  But, duty called.  Ohio (at least Licking County) has new voting machines.  They are high tech but seem very cool, and they create a piece of paper, which I like.  Still, not sure it is an improvement over the old punch card system.  Regardless, duty performed.

Talking about the one unbreakable law...

……..The Law of Unintended Consequences.   Be careful what you wish for.  Interesting reading.  Follow the links.


Two talents of  great economists are to recognize that averages hide big differences among people, and to imagine all the avenues of substitution and unintended effects of a regulation.
-John Cochrane


But good intentions are no substitute for good policy.
-Jonathan Meer

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

The Brooklyn Bridge............................Worst That Could Happen

Painting with too broad a brush............

................................or as they used to say in the old 12-step group,  be careful of "shoulding all over yourself":

     Our society had become a conspiracy against joy,  It has put too much emphasis on the individuating part of our consciousness—individual reason—and too little emphasis on the bonding parts of our consciousness, the heart and soul.   We've seen a shocking rise of mental illness, suicide, and distrust.  We have become too cognitive when we should be more emotional;  too utilitarian when we should be using a moral lens;  too individualistic when we should be more communal.

-David Brooks, from the Introduction to The Second Mountain:  The Quest for a Moral Life

"It's not the errors that I do see that bother me.....

......................................................It's the errors that I don't see.

With 2.5 billion GB of information being created each day, we have to continually ask ourselves, “What information can I trust?” 

via

The thing................................

What do you want out of life?  You might answer this question by saying that you want a caring spouse, a good job, and a nice house, but these are really just some of the things you want in life.  In asking what you want out of life, I am asking the question in its broadest sense.  I am asking not for the goals you form as you go about your daily activities but for your grand goal in living.  In other words, of the things in life you might pursue, which is the thing you believe to be the most valuable?

-William B. Irving,  A Guide To The Good Life (the ancient art of stoic joy)

Advantage..........................

The achievement of the self-taught man remains wonderful, but, if he surmounts his difficulties at all, some of his limitations may turn to sheer advantage.  There is some advantage merely in being driven to make the most of his few books; great advantage in having one's choice restricted by circumstances to good books; a great advantage too in the consciousness of untrained faculty which leaves a man capable in mature life of deliberately undertaking mental discipline.

-Lord Charnwood,   Abraham Lincoln:  A Complete Biography

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

Smith..................................................................Baby It's You

Now for the hard part..........................

"Success is completely unavoidable if we express the right set of attitudes."

-David R. Hawkins,  Success Is For You

Inside out..........................

"Why is everyone here so happy except me?"

"Because they have learned to see goodness and beauty everywhere," said the Master.

"Why don't I see goodness and beauty everywhere?"

"Because you cannot see outside of you what you fail to see inside."

-Anthony de Mello,  One Minute Wisdom

Learning lessons.................

     I paid my tuition to the market and experienced some losses, but it was worth it because I came to the realization that I didn't have to become an extraordinary investor to be successful.  And by trying to become an extraordinary investor it only made things worse.  The harder you try to become the world's best investor, the easier it is to become on of the worst. . . .
     The interesting thing about very intelligent and successful people is that they're usually the ones who have figured out the making things simple is the correct path to success.

-Ben Carlson,  A Wealth of Common Sense

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

The Guess Who.......................................................These Eyes