a processor.............................

 

. . . the human mind is a story processor, not a logic processor.

-Jonathan Haidt

Stories..........................

 

Stories that stir our emotions involve situations that feature both sides of a debate—the good and the bad, the positive and the negative, and the light and the dark sides of humanity.  Real-world conflict between positive and negative emotions brings up the issues of values, which make a story engaging.

-Kevin Ervin Kelley, Irreplaceable: How to Create Extraordinary Places That Bring People Together

On "appreciation"..................

 

Each day, we get to make a new decision about how to invest our time, our attention and our effort. If a community that used to appreciate our work doesn’t respond in a way we are hoping for, we can use that information to reallocate our work. “Thank you” is an appropriate response to a lack of appreciation, because we learned something useful. The audience didn’t owe us anything, but if they don’t want to dance with us in the way we hope, we can choose to find a new partner.

-Seth Godin

Opening paragraphs...................

 

     I was leaning against the bar in a speakeasy on Fifty-second Street, waiting for Nora to finish her Christmas shopping, when a girl got up from the table where she had been sitting with three other people and came over to me.   She was small and blond, and whether you looked at her face or at her body in powder-blue sports clothes, the result was satisfactory.  "Aren't you Nick Charles?" she asked.

-Dashiell Hammett, The Thin Man

"Cautious".............................

 

     Franklin, however, was no Malthusian pessimist.  He believed that, at least in America, increased productivity would keep ahead of population growth, thus making everyone better off as the country grew.  In fact, he predicted (also correctly) that what would restrain American population growth in the future was likely to be wealth rather than poverty, because richer people tended to be more "cautious" about getting married and having children.

-Walter Isaacson, Benjamin Franklin, An American Life

I suspect it will take.....................

 

........................more than a summer, but this is a mighty fine reading list.  Read half, looking forward to the other half.

Extra security.....................

 

................two hawks guarding my Sweetie's car:

Crack my head up..........................

Mamdani has also said that he’s intent on “seizing the means of production,” which sounds alarmingly like he wants to invade China.

-Martin Gurri,  It's Gurri, read the whole thing

Intangibles.....................

 

Economists in the 19th century described production as using tangible resources, notably land, unskilled labor, factories, and business equipment. But by the 21st century, it was evident that intangibles increasingly matter. Human skill level, business strategy, innovation, and the institutional environment determine how wealth gets created.

-Arnold Kling, from this episode

On building gardens..........................

    Lukas Nelson...........................Turn Off The News

 

autonomy...........................

 

Compensation follows autonomy.

When you need to be managed, there’s a cap on what you can earn. When you know how to create value and do it without being told, there’s no cap. This is structural, not personal.

The compensation gap isn’t about performance; it’s about autonomy.

-from this week's Farnum Street newsletter

One of the few valuable comparisons.........

 

All intelligent people should think primarily in terms of opportunity cost. When deciding whether to do something compare it with the best opportunity you have.

-Charlie Munger, from here

Seems true....................

 

humble supplication.................

 

Having thus imparted to you my sentiments as they have been awakened by the occasion which brings us together, I shall take my present leave; but not without resorting once more to the benign Parent of the Human Race in humble supplication that, since He has been pleased to favor the American people with opportunities for deliberating in perfect tranquility, and dispositions for deciding with unparalleled unanimity on a form of government for the security of their union and the advancement of their happiness, so His divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations, and the wise measures on which the success of this Government must depend.

-George Washington, as he concludes his inaugural inaugural address

image via

indistinguishable..................

 

The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it.

-Mark Weiser, from here

Twenty-two.........................

 

............................essentials.

Declaring..............................

 

..................................a hot streak.

specific opportunity..............

 

One should not search for an abstract meaning of life.  Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment which demands fulfillment.  Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated.  Thus, everyone's task is as unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it.

-Viktor Frankl

remembrance.................

30.  Look down from above on the numberless herds of mankind, with their mysterious ceremonies, their diverse voyagings in storm and calm, and all the chequered pattern of their comings and gatherings and goings.  Go on to consider the life of bygone generations; and then the life of all those who are yet to come; and even at the present day, the life of the hordes of far-off savages.  In short, reflect what multitudes there are who are ignorant of your very name; how many more will have speedily forgotten it; how many, perhaps praising you now, who will soon enough be abusing you; and that therefore remembrance, glory, and all else together are things of no worth. 

-Marcus Aurelius. Meditations, Book Nine

Pretty good teammates..................

 

Inspiration is great.  Discipline is better.  

-Joe Rogan