Saturday, April 25, 2015

One of the great ones..............................

The Allman Brothers Band............In Memory of Elizabeth Reed

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

On a cold December afternoon in 1979, Steve Jobs pulled into the parking lot of the Garden of Allah, a retreat and conference center on the shoulder of Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, north of San Francisco.  He was tired, frustrated, angry, and late.  The traffic on 280 and 101 had been at a standstill much of the way up from Cupertino, way down south in Silicon Valley, where the company he founded, Apple Computer, had its headquarters, and where he had just suffered through a meeting of Apple's board of directors, which was chaired by the venerable Arthur Rock.  He and Rock didn't see eye-to-eye on much of anything.  Rock treated him like a child.  Rock loved order, he loved processes, he believed that tech companies grew in certain ways according to certain rules, and he subscribed to these beliefs because he'd seen them work before, most notably at Intel, the great Santa Clara chipmaker that he had backed early on.  Rock was perhaps the most notable tech investor of his time, but he in fact had been reluctant to back Apple at first, largely because he'd found Steve Jobs and his partner Steve Wozniak unpalatable.  He didn't see Apple the way Jobs saw it - as an extraordinary company that would humanize computing and o so with a defiantly unhierarchical organization.  Rock simply viewed it as another investment.  Steve found board meetings with Rock enervating, not invigorating;  he had looked forward to the long, fast drive to Marin with the top down to get rid of the stale stench of seemingly endless discussion.

-Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli,  Becoming Steve Jobs:  The Evolution Of A Reckless Upstart Into A Visionary Leader

Investing truths.........................................

There’s no such thing as “smart money.”
"I know many individual investors that perform far better than most of the large institutional funds because those individuals are able to admit their limitations, while the smart money rarely does."

Source of quote and more truths here.

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

The Vogues.....................................................You're The One

Let us celebrate one of the great....................

......................................................accomplishments of our time:   The 25th Anniversary of the Hubble Telescope.  Faithful readers of this blog can attest to my fascination with the APOD site.  The Hubble Telescope is a major contributor.  If you share my awe and wonder, please check this out.

Wonder how this worked out....................?






















via

Well, yeah............................................























courtesy of

Friday, April 24, 2015

Thursday, April 23, 2015

A little night music....................................

George Shearing................................The Shadow of Your Smile

Happy inside........................................

The Beatles....................................I Want To Hold Your Hand

Life its ownself.............................

"Six impossible things become believable before breakfast"

My favorite optimist has been reading up on the history, and science, of energy systems, i. e. life.

Well, yeah........................................

"The investment industry needs to acknowledge that it has made investment unduly complicated, largely in an attempt to justify the existence of advisers."
-John Authers

via

Too soon to tell....................................


"Many of the facts we have are not facts."

-Michael Wade, discussing the wisdom of waiting

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

The Animals......................................................Boom Boom

And us 63-year-olds just say "Amen"...............

"it is such a brilliant and beautiful ride and keeps on getting better."

-full quote from here

More different faster................................

................................Jeff sets us wondering about the future.

Causeless.............................................






















from The Highlights of My Day blog.  Do visit regularly.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Chill............................................

Stan Getz and friends...........................................Corcovado

Just as a public service......................a re-play

Hot Butter................................................................Pop Corn

You are missing out....................................

...................on some great stuff if you are not checking in with The Hammock Papers on a regular basis.

"True happiness comes from the joy of deeds well done, the zest of creating things new."

Celebrate Earth Day.............................

...........................................................with George Carlin

For the easily offended.....................


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

Spencer David Group...................................Keep On Running

Steer.........................................................
















"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go."
-Dr. Seuss

Just another addition................................


..................................to the collection of blog headers from the wide and wondrous world of Eclecticity.   The full effect may be felt here.













































Monday, April 20, 2015

The essential Sanborn.......................

David Sanborn...............................................................Pearls



more essential Sanborn can be found here.

Sometimes the words are so powerful........

...............................................they don't need to be spoken.

Wonder how that's working.....................


Over the years.....................................

........this blog has posted a number of fortune cookie fortunes.  Since I favor the Lucky Bamboo restaurant down the street, it is not difficult finding new ones.  But, sometimes a different perspective is useful:















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

The Righteous Brothers............................................Ebb Tide

So I picked up this book............................

..............titled, On Lincoln, at the Licking County Library the other day.  It is a collection of essays about Lincoln.  The list of books waiting to be read is daunting, but a collection of essays ... well, one can usually find time just to take a brief dip.  And so, a brief dip was taken.  Allow me to share part of it with you:

On January 27, 1838, Abraham Lincoln delivered an address to the Young Men's Lyceum at Springfield, Illinois, entitled "The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions."  Less than a year earlier, on March 4, 1837, President Martin Van Buren dealt with the same matter in his Inaugural Address.  Both expressed concerns widely shared at the time and the ambiguous nature of these concerns:  they proudly claimed success for the "republican experiment" begun by the fathers, yet warned that it might fail if the present age proved false.  "It impresses on my mind a firm belief," the president observed, "that the perpetuation of our institutions depends upon ourselves."  To the sons had fallen the solemn duty of preserving the work of the founding fathers.
      While both expressed a common concern with preserving the republic, Lincoln and Van Buren differed in their assessment of the specific dangers facing it.  One was the widespread incidence of mob action.  Deploring "the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country,"  Lincoln feared the long-run effect of the "mobocratic spirit" would be to erode "the attachment of the People" and destroy the basis of self government.  "Let reverence for the laws," he urged, "become the political religion of the nation."  Van Buren likewise saw how the "ardor of public sentiment" often outran "the regular progress of the judicial tribunals."   By wounding "the majesty of the law," moreover, mob action might eventually provide the occasion "for abridging the liberties of the people."  On balance, however, Van Buren was far less concerned about mob violence than Lincoln.  Reaffirming at this point a Jeffersonian trust in the "generous patriotism" and "sound common sense" of the people, he believed they would soon return to the "landmarks of social order."    On two other dangers to the republic the differences were much clearer and sharper.  Lincoln devoted only two sentences to the rising voice of abolitionist agitation and expressed no personal opinion on the matter.  In a lengthy passage, Van Buren condemned abolitionism as the greatest threat to the republic.  Regarding the menace of Caesarism Van Buren made no explicit references at all, whereas Lincoln placed central emphasis on it in his address.

-the opening two paragraphs from Major L. Wilson's essay, "Lincoln and Van Buren in the Steps of the Fathers:  Another Look at the Lyceum Address"

On January 27, 1838.......................................

...... the 29 year old Abraham Lincoln, then a Representative in the Illinois House of Representatives, gave a speech titled "The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions.  The full speech is here.  An interesting excerpt here:

The question then, is, can that gratification be found in supporting and maintaining an edifice that has been erected by others? Most certainly it cannot. Many great and good men sufficiently qualified for any task they should undertake, may ever be found, whose ambition would inspire to nothing beyond a seat in Congress, a gubernatorial or a presidential chair; but such belong not to the family of the lion, or the tribe of the eagle. What! think you these places would satisfy an Alexander, a Caesar, or a Napoleon?--Never! Towering genius distains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored.--It sees no distinction in adding story to story, upon the monuments of fame, erected to the memory of others. It denies that it is glory enough to serve under any chief. It scorns to tread in the footsteps of any predecessor, however illustrious. It thirsts and burns for distinction; and, if possible, it will have it, whether at the expense of emancipating slaves, or enslaving freemen. Is it unreasonable then to expect, that some man possessed of the loftiest genius, coupled with ambition sufficient to push it to its utmost stretch, will at some time, spring up among us? And when such a one does, it will require the people to be united with each other, attached to the government and laws, and generally intelligent, to successfully frustrate his designs.

Shades of John Henry................................
















Doc Watson's Ballad of John Henry is here.   Folklore story here.   Modern version of man versus the machine is here.

Eulogy virtues...............................

............................David Brooks pens his moral bucket list.

Sunday, April 19, 2015

All hail....................................

X Ambassadors..................................................Renegades

Reasons why I like living in living in Newark and Licking County..................................

 Reason #53:  The magnolias.  They are in wondrous form, again!









































................................and the daffodils are mighty pretty to:

















Verse.....................................

10   Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
11    Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.
12   Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
13   And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14   If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
15   If ye love me, keep my commandments.
-The Holy Bible, King James Version
John 14:10-15

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

Dick and Dee Dee.......................................Thou Shall Not Steal

Sound advice......................................



Starting the day..................................

.............................................................with a healthy breakfast!


































courtesy of

Holy speeding ticket, Batman.......................

























baby carriage via