Friday, September 25, 2015
Fifty years ago......................
The Who...........................................................I Can't Explain
The state of the Union....................
Yes, America, perhaps the only country on earth that can be serially led by second- or third-rate presidents—and somehow always manage to come up trumps (so to speak). America, where half of college-age Americans can’t find New York state on a map — even as those same young Americans lead the world in innovation. America, where Cornel West is celebrated as an intellectual, Miley Cyrus as an artist, Jonathan Franzen as a novelist and Kim Kardashian as a beauty — and yet remains the cultural dynamo of the world.
-Bret Stephens, as quoted by Stuart Schneiderman, in this essay about Chinese Premier Xi Jinping's upcoming visit to our shores.
Simplicity trumps complexity..............
Every single great investor or business person I’ve read about over the years discusses the importance of simplifying in order to succeed. Yet the majority of investors are constantly looking for ways to make things more complex and complicated.
-Ben Carlson, as excerpted from here
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Burning in my heart...............
The Boss (2014) ..............................................Heat Wave
... penalties for enjoyment ...
Such then is the present state of the world, and of the countries, nations, more remarkable seas, islands, and cities which it contains. The nature of the animated beings which exist upon it, is hardly in any degree less worthy of our contemplation than its other features; if, indeed, the human mind is able to embrace the whole of so diversified a subject. Our first attention is justly due to Man, for whose sake all other things appear to have been produced by Nature; though, on the other hand, with so great and so severe penalties for the enjoyment of her bounteous gifts, that it is far from easy to determine, whether she has proved to him a kind parent, or a merciless step-mother.
-Pliny the Elder (AD 23 – August 25, AD 79), Natural History
Emotional intelligence................
Happily, the skills that help us cultivate emotional intelligence also help us identify and develop the inner factors that contribute to our deep sense of well-being. The same things that build emotional intelligence will also help us create conditions for our own happiness. Therefore, happiness may be an unavoidable side effect of cultivating emotional intelligence. Other side effects may include resilience, optimism, and kindness. (You may want to call your doctor to determine if happiness is right for you.)
-Chade-Meng Tan, Search Inside Yourself: The Unexpected Path to Achieving Success, Happiness (And World Peace)
Fifty years ago..........................
The Who...............................................................Heat Wave
Sand in the hourglass.....................
Our progress is fueled by a blend of dissatisfaction, achievement, and appreciation.
May we have a cup nearby every single day.
-Michael Wade, as extracted from here
Can't believe..............................
.................................................he thinks this is a good idea.
One day, perhaps, carrying cash will be as much a cause for suspicion as the possession of a jemmy or a knife.
-John Kay, as excerpted from this post titled "The move towards a cashless society is bad news for criminal activity."
Be careful what you wish for. The list of "criminal" activities seems to be ever expanding.
Fun with the language.................................
If a pope must resort to public speaking — and I see no reason why he should — it would, I suppose, be better if he stuck strictly to ecclesiastical Latin. That way, everyone would have an equal opportunity to misunderstand him. Or alternatively, we could all learn Latin, a language in which a wide range of post-modern abstractions and ambiguities are impossible to express.
-David Warren, as excerpted from here
It's over..............................A sad day.....................
Yogi Berra wasn’t a big guy – about 5′-8″ and 185 lbs in his prime – but he played the game with a fierce tenacity and workman’s diligence that won the respect of his opponents and teammates. He had a long and productive career with the Yankees and gave his all on the field.
-as excerpted from here
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Didn't see the plan...............
Jamie O'Neal...........................................On My Way To You
Suspecting this to be true........
... it's almost always dangerous to apply scientific principles rigidly to arenas dominated by human behavior...
-Gary Carmell, as excerpted from The Philosophical Investor
Realpolitik..........................
Spengler takes another look at Vladimir Putin:
There are a lot of reasons I don’t watch Republican political debates. One of them is that I might throw a whiskey glass at the television screen every time one of the contenders tries to show how tough he or she is by excoriating Vladimir Putin. Big talkers. My fellow Republicans oscillate between the view that Russia is about to implode and the view that Putin is about to make war on NATO. Both views are equally silly. Putin is playing a weak hand skillfully, trying to keep Russia in the game as a world power (if not a superpower). He also rules the one Christian country that has been fighting a war with Islamic terrorists for decades. After years of colossal American blunders in the Levant, there’s no way we can exclude Putin from a seat at the table. That’s a fact of life, and all the bloviating in the world won’t change it. It’s also a fact that Russia has interests which sometimes run counter to ours and sometimes coincide with ours. Where our interests coincide, we should work with Russia; where our interests diverge, we should foil Russia. That’s called Realpolitik and it’s what great powers do for a living.
If memory serves, Henry Kissinger, serving as Richard Nixon's Secretary of State, was the last practitioner of Realpolitik in the United States government. Here is how our friends at Wikipedia approach about the subject:
Realpolitik (from German: real "realistic", "practical", or "actual"; and Politik "politics", German pronunciation: [ʁeˈaːlpoliˌtɪk]) is politics or diplomacy based primarily on power and on practical and material factors and considerations, rather than explicit ideological notions or moral or ethical premises. In this respect, it shares aspects of its philosophical approach with those of realism and pragmatism; often, its simply referred to as "pragmatism" in politics, i.e. 'pursuing pragmatic policies' (Singapore). The term Realpolitik is sometimes used pejoratively to imply politics that are coercive, amoral, or Machiavellian.
Ahhh.............that rascal Machiavelli.
As a side note, I was wondering what Putin might think of Spengler's calling Russia a Christian country. Judging by this article, he would probably agree. We certainly live in interesting times.
Imagine.............................
Imagine whenever you meet anybody, your habitual, instinctive first thought is, I wish for this person to be happy. Having such habits change everything at work, because this sincere goodwill is picked up unconsciously by others, and you create the type of trust that leads to highly productive collaborations. Such habits can be volitionally trained.
-Chade-Meng Tan, Search Inside Yourself: The Unexpected Path To Achieving Success, Happiness (And World Peace)
The long run....................
Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas.
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