An attitude of equanimity...................

 Have you ever been on a cruise?  If so, you will know that when you are allowed ashore you may entertain yourself by looking around and doing some shopping, but you should always be aware of when the ship will depart, lest you end up stranded where you don't belong.

     The same goes with life.  It's fine to enjoy its pleasures and to entertain yourself a little.  But you should always keep in mind that at some time the voyage will be over, since it does not last forever.  When the time comes, be ready, and make sure you look back and do not find that you have misspent your shore leave.

     The best way to avoid this is to ask yourself from time to time what is important, and to act accordingly. . . . Cultivate, then, an attitude of equanimity toward externals.

-Massimo Pigliucci,  A Field Guide To A Happy Life:  58 Brief Lessons For Living

Beauty...............................

 ............................................Winslow Homer:

Every once in a while...................

Tony Orlando & Dawn...Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree

 

Yeah, but I sort of assumed..............................

 .......................that this was everyday.

The Law of Unintended Consequences.............

 ........................the one unbreakable law:

Interestingly, last year--2020--there were far fewer cars on the roads, because of social distancing, the shutdown of bars and restaurants, and the fact that many people did not commute to work at all. 

The result: MORE TRAFFIC DEATHS. People drove much more aggressively on the nearly empty roads. To be fair, the total number of accidents did in fact fall by quite a bit, as you would expect. But the severity of the accidents that did happen? That was up sharply, especially outside of cities. 

The point? Regulations have to take into account the likely response of citizens, based on expectations. You can't just twirl dials and pull levers when it comes to public policy. 

-Mike Munger, from this post

Well, it is certainly not your friend...............

 

         via 

Can we get an Amen......................................?

 

The fine tradition of government shopping......

At the time when the early Ming emperors were stifling China’s prosperity with centralised bureaucratic tyranny, backward Europe was transformed into the world’s most innovative and wealthy continent. It did so precisely by not being unified and centralised: by being a quilt of different countries so that entrepreneurs, inventors and artists could shop around for a congenial regime, as David Hume was the first to argue. . . .

 In harmonisation lies stagnation: innovation comes from variety. Britain must not be afraid to be different: to offer alternative opportunities, smarter regulation, divergent priorities. That is not a hostile act toward the European Union: it would be good for them too. In differentiation lies the chance to experiment and find opportunities for mutual gains, mutual recognition and mutual respect.

-Matthew Ridley, from this post

Been told I need them..........................

 

          via

Harbinger.........................................

 

It will be a long wait........................

 via

Beauty..................................

 ........................................through the eyes of Ansel Adams:

That's interesting...............................

      In a classic paper, sociologist Murray Davis argued that when ideas survive, it's not because they're true—it's because they're interesting.  What makes an idea interesting is that it challenges our weakly held opinions. . . .

       When a core belief is questioned, though, we tend to shut down rather than open up.  It's as if there's a miniature dictator living inside our heads, controlling the flow of facts to our minds . . .  The technical term for this in psychology is the totalitarian ego, and its job is to keep out threatening information.

-Adam Grant, Think Again:  The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

In contrast...........................

 

-Murry Davis, as literally cut-and-pasted from here

Every once in a while..........................

Jim Nabors channeling Gomer Pyle.........The Impossible Dream

                 his amazing singing starts around 3:30

 

Necessary................................

 These stories [mostly culled from Matthew and Luke] portray the existential dilemma that eternally characterizes human life:  it is necessary to conform, to be disciplined, and to follow the rules—to do humbly what others do;  but it is also necessary to use judgment, vision, and the truth that guides conscience to tell what is right, when the rules suggest otherwise.  It is the ability to manage this combination that truly characterizes the fully developed personality: the true hero.

-Jordan B. Peterson, Beyond Order:  12 More Rules For Life

Balanced...................................

      A certain amount of arbitrary rule-ness must be tolerated—or welcomed, depending on your point of view—to keep the world and its inhabitants together.  A certain amount of creativity and rebellion must be tolerated—or welcomed, depending on your point of view—to maintain the process of regeneration.  Every rule was once a creative act, breaking other rules.  Every creative act, genuine in its creativity, is likely to transform itself, with time, into a useful rule.  It is the living interaction between social institutions and creative achievement that keeps the world balanced on the narrow line between too much order and too much chaos.  This is a terrible conundrum, a true existential burden.  We must support and value the past, and we need to do that with an attitude of gratitude and respect.  At the same time, however, we must keep our eyes open—we, the visionary living—and repair the ancient mechanisms that stabilize and support us when we falter.  Thus, we need to bear the paradox that is involved in simultaneously respecting the walls that keep us safe and allowing in enough of what is new and changing so that our institutions remain alive and healthy.  The very world depends for its stability and its dynamism on the subsuming of all our endeavors under the perfection—the sacredness—of that dual ability.

      Do not carelessly denigrate social institutions or creative achievement.

-Jordan B. Peterson,  Beyond Order:  12 More Rules For Life

Wisdom................................

 

Beauty........................

 .......................................Claude Monet:

Every once in a while.....................

Abbott & Costello.................................................Who's On First