Wishing you the happiest New Year possible....

 

currency...............

 

History worth looking at...........

 

 Franklin’s central point was that everyone needed to adjust their expectations, that neither political perfection nor moral purity was ever in the cards at the Constitutional Convention.

-Joseph Ellis, The Great Contradiction: The Tragic Side of the American Founding

via

About those free lunches...........

 

Improved confidence in the future is a good thing in and of itself, since it surely promotes greater saving and investment, which ultimately translate into more and better-paying jobs and higher living standards. On the other hand, finding good values in a period of tranquility becomes harder, and the market becomes more susceptible to disappointments. There's no free lunch, but things could certainly be a lot worse than they are today.

-Scott Grannis, from this post

blessed...................

 

We bless this year for all we learned,

For all we loved and lost

And for the quiet way it brought us

Nearer to our invisible destination.

-John O'Donohue

the free efforts..............

 

The recognition of the insuperable limits to his knowledge ought indeed to teach the student of society a lesson of humility which should guard him against becoming an accomplice in men's fatal striving to control society—a striving which makes him not only a tyrant over his fellows, but which may well make him the destroyer of a civilization which no brain has designed but which has grown from the free efforts of millions of individuals.

-F. A. Hayek, as he concludes this "The Pretense of Knowledge" lecture

Crystal ball time........................

 

Bull markets can last longer than you think but we can’t have above-average returns forever.

Therein lies the biggest risk in 2026…or 2027 or 2028 or some undetermined year in the future.

Eventually, above-average returns lead to below-average returns. Sometimes the biggest reason for bad returns is because good returns lasted for so long.

Predictions are hard.

Inching our way.......................

 

The customer is always right...........?

 

more fun here

a difference maker..........

 

     The way you do anything is the way you do everything, and we found, over and over, that precision in the smallest of details translated into precision in bigger ones.

----------------

Remember: there's often a brilliant idea right behind a bad one.

----------------

     He discovered that when he gave the teams responsibility, they became more responsible; elevated by his trust in them, they stepped up into the role.

----------------

     I've made it my mission to help the people who work for me see what's important about what they do.  Even at MoMA, we didn't see our guests as a bunch of customers looking for lunch; we saw them as museumgoers—people on an adventure, realizing their dream of being inspired at one of the greatest modern art museums on earth.  That simple shift had an automatic and profound impact on how our teams acted, and on the hospitality our guests received. . . .It's the difference between coming to work to do your job and coming to work to be a part of something bigger than yourself.

     Without exception, no matter what you do, you can make a difference in someone's life.  You must be able to name for yourself why your work matters.  And if you are a leader, you need to encourage everyone on your team to do the same.

-Will Guidara, a few excerpts from Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect

Not much improved....................

 

     Technology is fine, but the scientists and engineers only partially think through their problems.  They solve certain aspects but not the total, and as a consequence it is slapping us back in the face very hard.

-Evelyn Fox Keller, A Feeling for the Organism: The Life and Work of Barbara McClintock, 1983

hard enough to control your own.................

 

      The fact is, it is impossible to control someone else's thoughts.  Therefore, fearing what other people think, or trying to control their thoughts, is a complete waste of your time.

     You will never feel in control of your life, your feelings, your thoughts, or your actions until you stop being consumed with or trying to control what other people think about you.

-Mel Robbins, The Let Them Theory

Alexander.......................

 

The boy-emperor, barbarian though he remained after all of Aristotle's tutoring, had yet learned to revere the rich culture of Greece, and had dreamed of spreading that culture through the Orient in the wake of his victorious armies. . . .But he had underrated the inertia and resistance of the Oriental mind, and the mass and depth of Oriental culture.  It was only a youthful fancy, after all, to suppose that so immature and unstable a civilization as that of Greece could be imposed upon a civilization immeasurable more widespread, and rooted in the most venerable traditions.  The quantity of Asia proved too much for the quality of Greece.  Alexander himself, in the hour of his triumph, was conquered by the soul of the East; he married (among several ladies) the daughter of Darius; he adopted the Persian diadem and robe of state; he introduced into Europe the Oriental notion of the divine right of kings; and at last he astonished a sceptic Greece by announcing, in magnificent Eastern style, that he was a god.  Greece laughed; and Alexander drank himself to death.

-Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy

This is just.............................

 

..............................................bananas.

Our guiding star....................

 

...............................has turned twenty!

Santa delivered..............

 

................a new (and much needed) computer.  Handing both new and old off to the Geek Squad at Best Buy later this afternoon.  Apparently they need a day or three to work their magic.  Please keep the Intertunnel alive and well until I return.

Truly blessed this Christmas..........

 

be merry and bright...............

Eric Clapton....................White Christmas

 

Lift up your voice and sing..........

Keb' Mo'...............Merry Merry Christmas

 

Closely joined as flute and drum.............

Mannheim Steamroller....................Pat A Pan

 

Fear not, come rejoice..................

The Band.....................Christmas Must Be Tonight

 

Let your road be clear.......................

I Believe in Father Christmas.............Greg Lake

   

 They said there'll be snow at Christmas 

They said there'll be peace on Earth 

But instead it just kept on raining 

A veil of tears for the Virgin birth 

I remember one Christmas morning 

A winter's light and a distant choir 

And the peal of a bell and that Christmas tree smell 

And their eyes full of tinsel and fire 

They sold me a dream of Christmas

 They sold me a Silent Night 

And they told me a fairy story 

Till I believed in the Israelite 

And I believed in Father Christmas 

And I looked to the sky with excited eyes 

Then I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn 

And I saw him and through his disguise 

I wish you a hopeful Christmas 

I wish you a brave New Year 

All anguish, pain and sadness 

Leave your heart and let your road be clear 

They said there'd be snow at Christmas 

They said there'd be peace on Earth 

Hallelujah, Noël, be it Heaven or Hell

The Christmas we get, we deserve

O tidings of comfort and joy..........

Ian Anderson & Band...God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

 

Following yonder star................

We Three Kings of Orient Are....................

 

Likely not much better..........

 

     What is it about the study of philosophy that tends to make brilliant minds stupid when it comes down to what are known as actual cases?  Consider Martin Heidegger, Bertrand Russell, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, the four great names in twentieth-century philosophy: the first was a Nazi, the second died certain that America was responsible for all the world's evil, the third was a Stalinist long after any justification for being so could be adduced, and the fourth lived on the borders of madness most of his life.  Contemplation of the lives of the philosophers is enough to drive one to the study of sociology.

-Joseph Epstein, Essays in Biography

Imperfection...............

 

     To deny imperfection is to disown oneself, for to be human is to be imperfect.  Spirituality, which is rooted in and revealed by uncertainties, inadequacies, helplessness, the lack and the failure of control, supplies a context and suggest a way of living in which our imperfections can be endured.  Spiritual sensibilities begin to flower when the soil is fertilized with the understanding that "something is awry."  There is, after all, something "wrong" with us.

-Kurtz and Ketcham, The Spirituality of Imperfection

Working on a philosophy..............

 

As good a time as any...............

 

Five things...................

 

change is difficult..................

 

When intellectuals discover that the world does not behave according to their theories, the conclusion they invariably draw is that the world must be changed. It must be awfully hard to change theories.

-Thomas Sowell

via

dogmas.....................

 

Truths turn into dogmas the instant that they are disputed.  Thus every man who utters a doubt defines a religion.  And the skepticism of our time does not really destroy beliefs, rather it creates them; gives them their limits and their plain and defiant shape.

-Gilbert Keith Chesterton, Collected Works, Volume 1

Let it be.....................

 

When the spent sun throws up its rays on cloud
And goes down burning into the gulf below,
No voice in nature is heard to cry aloud
At what has happened. Birds, at least, must know
It is the change to darkness in the sky.
Murmuring something quiet in its breast,
One bird begins to close a faded eye;
Or overtaken too far from its nest,
Hurrying low above the grove, some waif
Swoops just in time to his remembered tree.
At most he thinks or twitters softly, “Safe!
Now let the night be dark for all of me.
Let the night be too dark for me to see
Into the future. Let what will be, be."

-Robert Frost, Acceptance

mastery...........................

     Self-discipline begins with the mastery of one's thoughts.  Without control over thoughts there can be no control over deeds!  Let us say, therefore, that self-discipline inspires one to think first and act afterward.  The usual procedure is just the reverse.  Most people act first and think afterward (if and when they think at all).

-Andrew Carnegie, as he answers questions from Napoleon Hill

All mixed up......................

Straight No Chaser.........The Christmas Can-Can

 

tough job.................

 

One secret to being a successful prognosticator? Never mention a number and a date in the same sentence.

-Spencer Jakab

a curious inversion.................

 

The populations of wealthy democratic societies expect to have total choice over their satellite TV package, yet think it perfectly normal to allow the state to make all the choices in respect of their health care. It’s a curious inversion of citizenship to demand control over peripheral leisure activities but to contract out the big life-changing stuff to the government. 

-Mark Steyn

via

participation...................

 

Rootedness is perhaps the most important and least know human spiritual need.  It is one of the hardest to define.  A human being is rooted through their real, active and natural participation in the life of a collectivity that keeps alive treasures of the past and has aspirations for the future. This participation is natural in that it sems automatically from place, birth, occupation and those around them.  Every human being needs to have multiple roots and to derive almost all their moral, intellectual and spiritual life from the environment to which they naturally belong.

-Simone Weil, The Need for Roots

Joyful.....................

O Come, All Ye Faithful......................

 

Happy First Day of Winter.................

 

Nine hours, twenty-two minutes, and twenty-six seconds of sunlight today.  For what it is worth, on New Year's Eve we will have nine hours, twenty-five minutes, forty-six seconds of sunlight.  Sunlight chart here.

content with silence...................

 

When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.

-Ansel Adams

speaking in silence.................

 

No matter how sophisticated you may be, a large granite mountain cannot be denied — it speaks in silence to the very core of your being.

-Ansel Adams

Good answer....................

 

I would never apologize for photographing rocks. Rocks can be very beautiful. But, yes, people have asked why I don’t put people into my pictures of the natural scene. I respond, “There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.” That usually doesn’t go over at all.

-Ansel Adams

Just because....................

Vince Guaraldi Trio....Charlie Brown Christmas album

 

On the importance of sensing problems...

 

Silent acquiescence is the enemy. The key is to get people talking.
Once that happens, you may be surprised at how things can turn around.

-Michael Wade, from this edition

I remember........................

 

more fun here

And he's cruisin' every pad with a little surprise...

The Beach Boys.........................Little Saint Nick

 

Going boldly........................

 

..................................into the future.

Pausation........................

 

Reflection requires stillness.

One cost of rushing from thing to thing is that you lose the space to think. Hard work matters, but nonstop motion often hides a quiet truth: you could have used your time better.

If you never pause, you confuse activity with effectiveness. Make time to think. Walk outside. Sit quietly. Create space. Then move again, but this time on purpose.

-James Clear, from this episode

Humilitism.................

 

.........................Can I get an Amen?

Humilitism says that an elite should consist of people who are aware of the limits of our ability to comprehend complex social systems.

reformation....................

 

As Tolstoy put it: “Everyone thinks of changing the world. But no one thinks of changing himself.” Kierkegaard said it more sharply: “It has often been said that a reformation should begin with each man reforming himself.”

-from today's edition of the Daily Stoic

Ouch.......................

 Capitalism seems to have moved into an actively misanthropic stage. Corporations don’t just hate their workers. They hate their customers.

-Matt Feeney

The deadening effect...............................

 

..............................of managerialism:

Managerialism is a form of political economy in which the middle-man steps in with a claim that he has some special competence, through the exercise of which new efficiencies can be realized, or some process of production or distribution can be optimized through quantitative rigor. But a funny thing then happens. His metrics easily come detached from the underlying things they are meant to track, no doubt because the incentives of the manager are tied to metrics, rather than directly to the thing. The latter orientation is characteristic of the craftsman, via the “internal rewards” and satisfactions that are intrinsic to some skilled practice (such as making good television), as opposed to the “external rewards” of money, or social position, or other goods that may be a second-order consequence of getting to be really good at something. But you can’t get good at something while focused on external rewards. You have to go deep into the practice itself.

-Matthew B. Crawford

Checking it twice...........

Springsteen et al.....Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town

 

wavelets in a ceaseless surf..........

 

     Now Aristotle understands Plato to have held that the universals have objective existence, and indeed Plato had said that the universal is incomparably more lasting and important than the individual,—the latter being but a little wavelet in a ceaseless surf; men come and go, but man goes on forever.  Aristotle's is a matter-of-fact mind; as William James would say, a tough, not tender, mind; he sees the root of endless mysticism and scholarly nonsense in the Platonic "realism"; and he attacks it with all the vigor of a first polemic.  As Brutus loved not Caesar less but Rome more, so Aristotle says, Amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas—"Dear Plato, but dearer still is truth."

-Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy

On particulars and generalities......

 

     A hostile commentator might remark that Aristotle (like Nietzsche) criticizes Plato so keenly because he is conscious of having borrowed from him generously; no man is a hero to his debtors.  But Aristotle has a healthy attitude, nevertheless; he is a realist almost in the modern sense; he is resolved to concern himself with the objective present, while Plato is absorbed in the subjective future.  There was, in the Socratic-Platonic demand for definitions, a tendency away from things and facts to theories and ideas, from particulars to generalities, from science to scholasticism; at last Plato became so devoted to generalities that they began to determine his particulars, so devoted to ideas that they began to define or select his facts.  Aristotle preaches a return to things, to the "unwithered face of nature" and reality; he had a lusty preference for the concrete particular, for the flesh and blood individual.  But Plato so loved the general and universal that in The Republic he destroyed the individual to make a perfect state.

-Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy

A challenge..................

 

     Thus it can be seen that mental health is based on a certain degree of tension, the tension between what one has already achieved and what one still ought to accomplish, or the gap between what one is and what one should become.  Such a tension is inherent in the human being and therefore is indispensable to mental well-being.  We should not, then, be hesitant about challenging man with a potential meaning for him to fulfill.

-Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

Aging like a fine wine...........

 

     From the inside, old age is not so simple.  We may be more concerned about time as death approaches, but older folks are also more capable of appreciating that time.  The fewer moments we have to look forward to in life, the more valuable they become.  Past grievances and preoccupations often dissipate, and what's left is what we have before us.  The beauty of a snowy day, the pride we have in our children or in the work we've done, the relationships we cherish.  Despite the perception that old people are grumpy and cantankerous, research has shown that human beings are never so happy as in the late years of their lives.  We get better at maximizing highs and minimizing lows.  We feel less hassled by the little things that go wrong, and we are better at knowing when something is important and when it's not.  The value of positive experiences far outweighs the cost of negative experiences, and we prioritize things that bring us joy.  In short, we're emotionally wiser, and that wisdom helps us thrive.

-Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz, The Good Life: Lessons From the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness

outshine................

 

In this life, in our mind, through our eyes, and on each day,

doubt is logical and reasonable.

Faith is not.

Faith does not rid doubt, rather it carries us through it.

May our faith outshine our doubt.

-Matthew McConaughey, Poems & Prayers

Kindness: costless and priceless...........

 

One perhaps self-serving observation. I’m happy to say I feel better about the second half of my life than the first. My advice: Don’t beat yourself up over past mistakes – learn at least a little from them and move on. It is never too late to improve. Get the right heroes and copy them. You can start with Tom Murphy; he was the best.

 Remember Alfred Nobel, later of Nobel Prize fame, who – reportedly – read his own obituary that was mistakenly printed when his brother died and a newspaper got mixed up. He was horrified at what he read and realized he should change his behavior.

 Don’t count on a newsroom mix-up: Decide what you would like your obituary to say and live the life to deserve it.

 Greatness does not come about through accumulating great amounts of money, great amounts of publicity or great power in government. When you help someone in any of thousands of ways, you help the world. Kindness is costless but also priceless. Whether you are religious or not, it’s hard to beat The Golden Rule as a guide to behavior.

 I write this as one who has been thoughtless countless times and made many mistakes but also became very lucky in learning from some wonderful friends how to behave better (still a long way from perfect, however). Keep in mind that the cleaning lady is as much a human being as the Chairman.  

-Warren Buffett, from this Thanksgiving letter

The super power......................

 

.................................of reading:

Becoming a lifelong learner is the best career decision I have ever made.  But I had no other choice.

-Ben Carlson

Let's sing it again........

Alvin & the Chipmunks - Christmas Time is Here

 

cognitive misers...............

 

Nowhere in the modern world do we see the effects of our emotional behavior more clearly than in markets.  Our emotions lead us to be overconfident when we should be humble, panicked when we should be circumspect, and deeply engaged in seeking information that conforms (rather than disconfirms) our preexisting beliefs. . . .

According to Bernstein, humans are "cognitive misers," relying on simple narratives instead of using complex analytical thinking. The more compelling the narrative is, the more corrosive it becomes to our analytical abilities.

-Barry Ritholz, How Not To Invest: The Ideas, Numbers, and Behaviors That Destroy Wealth—And How to Avoid Them

On the art of breaking rules...............

 

Commenting on the behavior of the Bank of England in the crisis of 1825, Thomas Joplin said, "There are times when rules and precedents cannot be broken; others, when they cannot be adhered to with safety."  Of course.  But breaking the rule establishes a precedent and a new rule, which should be adhered to or broken as occasion demands.  In these circumstances, intervention is an art, not a science.  General rules that the state should always intervene or that is should never intervene are both wrong, . . .

-Charles P. Kindleberger, Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises

the madness of the people................

 

Not everyone was convinced by the rise in the South Sea share price. . . . Sir Isaac Newton, the Master of the Mint, began selling his £7,000 holding of South Sea shares (when asked about the direction of the market, he is reported to have replied, "I can calculate the motions of the heavenly bodies, but not the madness of the people").

-Edward Chancellor, Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation

two "races" of man..............

 

     From all this we may learn that there are two races of men in this world, but only these two—the "race" of the decent man and the "race" of the indecent man.  Both are found everywhere; they penetrated into all groups of society.  No group consists entirely of decent or indecent people.  In this sense, no group is of "pure race"—and therefore one occasionally found a decent fellow among the camp guards.

     Life in a concentration camp tore open the human soul and exposed its depths.

-Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

The peace........................

 

..................................of vulnerability.

Christmas bells, those Christmas bells........

The Royal Guardsmen............Snoopy's Christmas

 

Boosting.....................

 

.................the United States Postal Service.

El Fuego......................

   

WAIT FOR IT! Time Lapse Video from Twilight to Sunrise. 1 hour in 22 seconds, 6:20 am to 7:20 am. 23° F, feels like 16° F. Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT.

   I had always loved sunrise: was always renewed in spirit.  For all my life I'd felt cheated if I'd ever slept through dawn.  The primeval winter solstice on bitter Salisbury Plan had raised my childhood's goose pimples long before I understood why, and it had long seemed to me that dawn-worship was the most logical of primitive beliefs.

-Dick Francis, as excerpted from Wild Horses

Francis Albert Sinatra..................

Frank Sinatra/Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

 

do the work.............

 

The universe does not offer financing.

This is hard to accept because modern life trains us to expect the opposite. We are addicted to "Buy Now, Pay Later." You live in the house before you pay off the mortgage. You get the degree before you pay off the loan. You eat the meal before you ask for the check.

We are conditioned to enjoy the benefit today and pay the cost tomorrow.

Achievement reverses the transaction. It requires full payment in advance (and regular payments forever). If you want a fit body, a calm mind, a healthy relationship, or financial independence, the cost is non-negotiable. You must do the work before you get the result.

This is why most people quit. They pay a little, see nothing, and stop. They never make it far enough to see the first return arrive.

-Shane Parrish via Farnum Street, from this edition

Never surrender.........................

 

     Gibran's bitter denunciation of both religious and political injustice prevailing at the time, brought about his anticipated exile from the country and his excommunication from the church, although his parents were staunch Maronites.  It was the story, Khalil the Heretic, in particular which drove the Sultan and his Emirs into trepidation and cause nervous authorities in the entire Middle and Near East to examine their governments.

    Gibran was quietly pursuing painting with his friend Rodin in Paris when he learned of the ceremonial destruction of his book, and he merely expressed the thought that it was excellent cause for the issuance of a second edition.

-Martin L. Wolf, from the Preface to Gibran's Spirits Rebellious

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

 

     How long will it be before we discover we cannot dazzle God with our accomplishments?

     When will we acknowledge that we need not and cannot buy God's favor?

     When will we acknowledge that we don't have it all together and happily accept the gift of grace?

-Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel

Might as well enjoy it....................

Dean Martin............................Let It Snow

 

reinvention.........................

 

The older I get, the more I realize nothing changes if nothing changes. The new life you want doesn’t magically appear. It’s built through action. New habits. New mindsets. New standards. New boundaries. Reinvention has a cost of entry. Pay it with pride.

-Sahil Bloom

Rudolph.......

 

more fun here

Make everything OK

 

Have been missing the wonderful world of the Eclecticity blog.  Stumbled across this post of his while rooting through the archives.  Hope all is well with you Doug.

Ouch....................

 

Ladies and gentlemen of the class of 2005 at Emory, real life is not college; real life is not high school. Here is a secret that no one has told you: Real life is junior high. The world that you’re about to enter is filled with junior high adolescent pettiness, pubescent rivalries, the insecurities of 13-year-olds, and the false bravado of 14-year-olds.

-Tom Brokaw, Emory University Commencement Address (2005) 

as found in this week's edition of Tim Ferriss's Five-Bullet Friday

Raise, raise a song on high...........

Johnny Mathis.............What Child Is This?

 

The 95/5 rule................

 

     It was a step in the right direction, if not the perfect solution; I did miss the orderly abundance of a fully replenished case.  But the experience showed me that creativity was going to be the main ingredient in striking a true balance between restaurant-smart and corporate-smart. . . . 

      We threw ourselves into the project.  Jon proved to be an extremely dangerous co-conspirator.  For example, he found a company in Italy making amazing, tiny blue spoons.  How amazing could a plastic spoon possibly be?  You are going to have to trust me on this: they were paddle-shaped, extraordinarily well designed, and completely unique.  They were also preposterously, heartbreakingly expensive.

     But I had to have them; the Sculpture Garden deserved them.  Nothing else would do.

     The first time my boss saw one of those spoons, she narrowed her eyes and asked me what they had cost.  I told her, and her eyes got even narrower: "We'll talk about this later."  But a month later, we sat down to review the first P & L for the cart, and I never heard another word about those spoons.

     I'd managed 95 percent of my budget aggressively, leveraging MoMA's brand to get excelled gelato at a steep discount, and a beautiful cart for free.  I'd earned the right to splurge on those spoons, the one small detail I believed would dramatically transform the experience of getting an ice cream at the cart.

     This is what I would later call the Rule of 95/5.  Manage 95 percent of your business down to the penny; spend the last 5 percent "foolishly."  It sounds irresponsible; in fact, it's anything but.  Because that last 5 percent has an outsized impact on the guest experience, it's some of the smartest money you'll ever spend.

-Will Guidara, Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect

Art........................

 

Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.  All I want is the best of everything and there’s very little of that left . . .

-Cecil Beaton

Cecil Beaton....................

 

more photos here

Science......................?

 

     Throughout history, there have always been those who would manipulate others in order to gain sex, money, or power.  We have not yet put that era behind us.

-Richard Brodie, Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme

the other side......................

 

When things don't go well it's easy to wonder, "Why me?" It's easy to point fingers. It's easy to wallow in frustration or defeat.

But it is also easy to ask, "What is this teaching me?"

You can't remove the frustrations from life, but you can always try to come out a little wiser on the other side.

-James Clear, from this edition