Saturday, December 13, 2025
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.
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
Friday, December 12, 2025
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 . . .
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
Thursday, December 11, 2025
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
quality of life......................
Tip generously. You go around only once, and tipping generously is a meaningful way to improve your own quality of life.
hell......................
Religion is for people who are afraid of going to hell; spirituality is for those who have been there.
The art is in the question............?
Computers are useless; they can only give you answers.
-attributed to Pablo Picasso (perhaps modified a bit)
the odd idea.................
Now, I am faced with another illusion. It is no longer a question of particular privileges, but of transforming privilege into a common right. The entire nation has conceived the odd idea that it could increase production indefinitely by handing it over to the State in the form of taxes in order for the State to give it back a portion in the form of work, profit, and pay. The state is being requested to ensure the well-being of every citizen; and a long and sorry procession, in which every sector of the workforce is represented, from the severe banker to the humble laundress, is parading before the organizer in chief in order to ask for financial assistance.
-Frédéric Bastiat, Economic Sophisms and "What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen" (March 1848)
Wednesday, December 10, 2025
Too present to imagine...................
Age saw two quiet children
Go loving by at twilight,
He knew not whether homeward,
On outward from the village,
Or (chimes were ringing) churchward.
He waited (they were strangers)
Till they were out of hearing
To bid them both be happy.
"Be happy, happy, happy,
And seize the day of pleasure."
The age-long theme is Age's.
'Twas age imposed on poems
Their gather-roses burden
To warn against the danger
That overtaken lovers
From being overflooded
With happiness should have it
And yet not know they have it.
But bid life seize the present?
It lives less in the present
Then in the future always,
And less in both together
Than in the past. The present
Is too much for the senses,
Too crowding, too confusing—
Too present to imagine.
-Robert Frost, Carpe Diem
Arnold Kling.........................
....................and Conservatism 101:
. . . many conservatives are fed up with important institutions, including higher education and mainstream media. This has turned many conservatives into “brokenists.” They are not disposed to protect the authority and legitimacy of existing institutions.
Seems like the distrust of all "isms" has been well earned.
Incentives matter...................
We should also heed the general lesson implicit in the injunction of Ben Franklin in Poor Richard’s Almanack: “If you would persuade, appeal to interest and not to reason.” This maxim is a wise guide to a great and simple precaution in life: Never, ever, think about something else when you should be thinking about the power of incentives.
-Charlie Munger, from his The Psychology of Human Misjudgment
On the importance of value................
If time=money, your earning potential is limited. If value=money, your earning potential is unlimited.
-Nicholas Bate, from Rule 4 of 7 about money
On the power of beauty...........
Neuroscientists tell us that awareness of beauty in one’s environment for a long time, reduces stress, can have physiological benefits, perhaps even longevity, . . .
-as lifted from this David Kanigan post
Tuesday, December 9, 2025
Winter................
I walked abroad in a snowy day
I asked the soft snow with me to play
She playd & she melted in all her prime
And the winter called it a dreadful crime
I asked the soft snow with me to play
She playd & she melted in all her prime
And the winter called it a dreadful crime
irremediable.......................
The guiding notion of the Enlightenment, and later of Marx and Lenin's "scientific" socialism, was that henceforth the alliance between happiness and justice would no longer come about through the individual quest for wisdom, but through the rebuilding of society as a whole. And before building a new society, the old one first had to be completely destroyed. It was at the end of the eighteenth century that the idea of revolution took on its modern meaning. Personal salvation was from then on subordinate to collective salvation. . . . suffice it to say that somewhere between 1965 and 1970 I thought I'd seen the irremediable bankruptcy of this illusion, the progenitor of the great totalitarian movements that have ravaged the twentieth century.
Smile..................
Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.
-Dr. Seuss, as channeled by Theodor Seuss Geisel
Logic.....................
Logic means, simply, the art and method of correct thinking. It is the logy or method of every science, of every discipline and every art; and even music harbors it. It is a science because to a considerable extent the processes of correct thinking can be reduced to rules like physics and geometry, and taught to any normal mind; it is an art because by practice it gives to thought, at last, that unconscious and immediate accuracy which guides the fingers of the pianist over his instrument to effortless harmonies. Nothing is so dull as logic, and nothing is so important.
-Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, from the chapter on Aristotle, the world's first logician
Lucky......................
You gotta try your luck at least once a day, because you could be going around lucky all day and not even know it.
-attributed to Jimmy Dean
Monday, December 8, 2025
Retirement.......................?
No thank you. But if it is soon to be part of your future, Eric Barker has some valuable, and free, advice.
Turns out, “endless free time” is only fun when you’re supposed to be doing something else.
fences.....................
The first man who having enclosed in a piece of land, bethought himself of saying, "This is mine," and found people simple enough to believe him, was the true founder of civil society.
-attributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau
in conspiracy...................
Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson, from his essay, Self-Reliance
obstinate notions................
He dwelt in himself
like a rook in an unroofed tower.
To get close I had to maintain
a climb up deserted ramparts
and not flinch, not raise an eye
to search for an eye on the watch
from his coign of seclusion.
Deliberately he would unclasp
his book of withholding
a page at a time, and it was nothing
arcane, just the old rules
we all had inscribed on our slates.
Each character blocked on the parchment secure
in its volume and measure.
Each maxim given its space.
Tell the truth. Do not be afraid.
Durable, obstinate notions,
like quarrymen's hammers and wedges
proofed by intransigent service.
Like coping stones where you rest
in the balm of the wellspring.
How flimsy I felt climbing down
the unrailed stairs on the wall,
hearing the purpose and venture
in a wingflap above me.
-Seamus Heaney, The Master
On calculated risks........................
Most of us cannot hide from the world. We have responsibilities that require engagement and personal skills that will be lost without frequent connection to other people.
If
everything we do requires that we have an iron-clad assurance of safety, we’ll
be on our way to becoming hermits. No great civilization was ever built and
maintained by hermits
-Michael Wade, from this episode
Sunday, December 7, 2025
Let the games begin.................
..............................Will be very surprised if there aren't a few first round blow outs.
return.........................
The solar system has no anxiety about its reputation, and the credit of truth and honesty is as safe; nor have I any fear that a skeptical bias can be given by leaning hard on the sides of fate, of practical power, or of trade, which the doctrine of Faith cannot down-weigh. The strength of that principle is not measured in ounces and pounds: it tyrannizes at the centre of Nature. We may well give skepticism as much line as we can. The spirit will return, and fill us. It drives the drivers. It counterbalances any accumulations of power.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson, as culled from his essay, Worship
with keener avarice..........
For Emerson as for Thoreau, economy means how to live. Failure to understand that means missing Emerson's main point. "The true thrift," he concludes, "is always to spend on the higher plane, to invest and spend, with keener avarice, that he may spend in spiritual creation, and not in augmenting animal existence."
-Robert D. Richardson, Jr., Emerson: The Mind on Fire
peculiar............
Back in 1975 the musician Brian Eno and the artist Peter Schmidt created a curious artifact, a set of cards containing peculiar instructions: "Honour thy error as a hidden intention." "Ask your body." "Work at a different speed." These were meant to help artists, especially musicians, who had come to an impasse in their work. Eno and Schmidt call the card deck Oblique Strategies because they knew that when an artist is blocked, direct approaches meant to fix the problem invariably make it worse. In a similar way, sometimes you can get better at thinking only by turning your attention to matters other than thinking.
-Alan Jacobs, How To Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds
asking......................
Asking leads to answers, and answers lead to more questions. From not knowing, we get to knowing, and eventually to the truth. This is why we must understand that there is no such thing as a dumb question. In fact, a person becomes smart only by asking questions. The more impertinent and relentless the better.
-Ryan Holiday, Wisdom Takes Work
cornerstone.....................
The cornerstone of the company's culture was a philosophy Danny called Enlightened Hospitality, which upended traditional hierarchies by prioritizing the people who worked there over everything else, including the guests and investors. This didn't mean the customer suffered; in fact, the opposite. Danny's big idea was to hire great people, treat them well, and invest deeply into their personal and professional growth, and they would take great care of the customers—which is exactly what they did.
-Will Guidara, Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect
When "elites" aren't very elite..........
Out of disorder and discontent come leaders who have strong personalities, are anti-elitist, and claim to fight for the common man. They are called populists. Populism is a political and social phenomenon that appeals to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are not being addressed by the elites. It typically develops when there are wealth and opportunity gaps, perceived cultural threats from those with different values both inside and outside the country, and "establishment elites" in positions of power who are not working effectively for most people.
-Ray Dalio, Principles for Dealing with The Changing World Order
this bifurcation of perception.............
In the wake of the scientific revolution and certain deadening forms of modernist presumption, the trend has been to sever the bond between objectivity and subjectivity. Consciousness in the modern West has been informed by trends the follow this severance. Subjectivity and objectivity are commonly viewed as opposites, even at odds, rather than being component parts of an already reconciled whole. The hard sciences have sided with objectivity against subjectivity. The human sciences have done the opposite. Errors of all kinds follow from this bifurcation of perception and being into two seemingly incompatible worlds of meaning, especially when one side of the dichotomy is elected over the other for arbitrary reasons. But this is not how Chesterton experienced the world. Arguably, this is not how anyone experiences the world, despite rationalizations to the contrary.
-Duncan Reyburn, The Roots of the World: The Remarkable Prescience of G. K. Chesterton
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