Saturday, December 28, 2024

On problem solving..................


Walking, on its own, is already great for your brain. It gets the blood flowing, lowers stress hormones, and makes you look like one of those mysterious, deep thinkers who stride purposefully through parks. But when you pair walking with my powerful “What If” hack, your perambulations transform into something far more powerful.

Here’s how it works:

1.   Start walking. This is the easy part.

2.   Instead of spiraling into despair about your unsolvable problem, introduce a single, magical question: “What if?”

That’s it. Those two words are the key.

-Hugh Gallagher, from here


Truth......................

 

. . . rejecting negative nationalism doesn’t require us to abandon positive patriotism. You can love your people without hating others.

-Adam Grant, from here


Giotto.......................

 

Annunciation: The Virgin Receiving the Message
Giotto      fresco    1306


Adoration of the Magi
Giotto       fresco    c 1311 - c 1320
St. Francis Mourned by St. Clare
Giotto     fresco      c 1330
















That very obligation which the craftsmen of painting owe to nature, who serves continually as model to those who are ever wresting the good from her best and most beautiful features and striving to counterfeit and to imitate her, should be owed, in my belief to Giotto, painter of Florence, for the reason that, after the methods of good paintings and their outlines had lain buried for so many years under the ruins of the wars, he alone, although born among inept craftsmen, by the gift of God revived that art, which had come to a grievous pass, and brought it to such a form as could be called good.

-Giorgio Vasari, The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects


Wednesday, December 25, 2024

first light...................

 



By the infinite flood of evils which had laid prostrate and submerged poor Italy there had not only been ruined everything that could truly claim the name of building, but there had been blotted out (and this was of graver import) the whole body of the craftsmen, when, by the will of God, in the city of Florence, in the year 1240, w\there was born, to give the first light to the art of painting, Giovanni, surnamed Cimabue, of the family, noble in those times, of Cimabue.

-Giorgio Vasari, The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects

art work via


knots.................


O Time, thou must untangle this, not I;

It is too hard a knot for me t' untie.

-Viola

-William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, or, What You Will:  Act II, Scene II

Merry Christmas all.........................



















































Monday, December 23, 2024

Unorganized Hancock's.............................

 

......................................gift of Christmas music.


In praise of construction................

 

That’s shadowed by less irksome regulations, something that unsurprisingly meant more construction. Drive around any of the big Texas metros, particularly the suburbs, you’ll see new buildings everywhere. Permissive zoning laws mean that what, until recently, were rural pathways are now packed with cars and fast-food joints. 

-Joel Kotkin, from here


Some good questions.................

 

How do I know if I’m being patient (a skill) or stubborn (a flaw)? They’re hard to tell apart without hindsight.

-more here


When elites aren't........................


 There’s a radical dissatisfaction with the social and political status quo across the democratic world. The people in charge are distrusted and despised by the public: They are thought to be in business for themselves and indifferent to the concerns of ordinary people. From government agencies to the scientific establishment, the institutions that buttress modern society have been tainted by the corruption and poor performance of the ruling elites. The public has come to view these institutions as cash cows for the haves—and an oppressive machinery for bleeding the have-nots.

-Martin Gurri, from here


rare fabric....................

 



What can be more foolish than to think that all this rare fabric of heaven and earth could come by chance?

-Anatole France

enlargeable image, with description, via


Sunday, December 22, 2024

Sing, choir of angels.......................


Carrie Underwood.....................O Come All Ye Faithful

 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas........







 

confine........................



 

Maria.   Ay, but you must confine* yourself within the modest limits of order.

Toby.    Confine?  I'll confine myself no finer that I am.  These clothes are good enough to drink in, and so be these boots too.  And they be not, let them hang themselves by their own straps.

-William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, or, What You Will:  Act 1, Scene III

*i.e., clothe

image via


One can hope..................

 



       more fun here


When uncertainty stalks...................

 

Control what you can. Walk, meditate and read the classics.

-more here from Nicholas Bate