Sixty years ago........................

The Beach Boys...............................Help Me Rhonda 

              (Live on The Andy Williams Show, 1965)

 

Eric Barker..........................

 

...................embraces Albert Camus.

Camus defines “The Absurd” as the tension between the human desire for meaning and the universe’s refusal to provide any. Meaning is not waiting for you like an unclaimed bag at a sad regional airport. It’s not included in your welcome kit at birth. The universe just shrugs and says, “lol, no.”

utmost clear-sightedness...............

The evil that is in the world always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence, if they lack understanding. On the whole men are more good than bad; that, however, isn't the real point. But they are more or less ignorant, and it is this that we call vice or virtue; the most incorrigible vice being that of an ignorance which fancies it knows everything and therefore claims for itself the right to kill. There can be no true goodness, nor true love, without the utmost clear-sightedness.

-Albert Camus

the health of self-forgetfulness....

 

I know for a while again
the health of self-forgetfulness,
looking out at the sky through
a notch in the valley side,
the black woods wintry on
the hills, small clouds at sunset
passing across.  And I know
that this is one of the thresholds
between Earth and Heaven,
from which even I may step
forth from my self and be free.

-Wendell Berry

One can dream..................

 

. . . those societies that draw on the widest range of people and give them responsibilities based on their merits rather than privileges are the most sustainably successful because 1) they find the best talent to do their jobs well, 2) they have diversity of perspectives, and 3) they are perceived as the fairest, which fosters social stability.

-Ray Dalio, Principles for Dealing with The Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail

Fifty years ago......................

Jefferson Starship.........................Miracles

    

My hero, regardless...........

 

He advocated no sure cure for all the sorrows of the world, and doubted that such a panacea existed.

-Mencken on Washington

About overnight.....................

 

........................................success.

Ten maxims.................

 

1. Complexity kills more companies than competition.
2. Long-term greedy, not short-term stupid.
3. Commitment owns you. You don’t own it.
4. The best seek out the details.
5. Failing fast works in software, not restaurants.
6. There is no balance. You make choices.
7. Obsession isn’t a problem. It’s an advantage.
8. People want to feel special in a world where they don’t.
9. The greatest risk is underinvesting in what works.
10. Build something worthy of those who believed in you.

-as culled from here

Or hero.......................

 

Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.

-Nora Ephron

More proof (as if we needed any)............

 

.............that God loves us and wants us to be happy.

Enjoy your NFL Sunday. Mother nature has cooperated and the leaves are all to wet to rake! Hooray!

not sure they are opposites............

 

     So much of what people call "conviction" is actually a willful disregard for facts that might change their minds.  It's dangerous because conviction feels like a good attribute, while its opposite—being wishy-washy—makes you feel and sound like you don't know what's going on.

     The strategy of having strong beliefs, weakly held, is often helpful.

-Morgan Housel

on connection and graciousness................

 

     When I was young, my dad gave me a paperweight that read, "What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?"  That's what I was thinking about when Daniel and I wrote, "We will be Number One in the world," on a cocktail napkin. . . .

     Most of the chefs on the 50 Best list had made their impact by focusing on innovation, on what needed to change.  But as I thought about the impact I wanted to make, I focused on the one thing that wouldn't.  Fads fade and cycle, but the human desire to be taken care of never goes away.

     Daniel's food was extraordinary; he was undeniably one of the best chefs in the world.  So if we could become a restaurant focused passionately, intentionally, wholeheartedly, on connection and graciousness—on giving both the people on our team and the people we served a sense of belonging—then we'd have a real shot at greatness.

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

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

 

The concept of obligations takes precedence over that of rights, which are subordinate and relative to it.  A right is not effective on its own, but solely in relation to the obligation to which it corresponds.  The successful fulfilment of a right comes not from the person who possesses it, but from others who recognize that they have an obligation towards that person.  The obligation takes effect once it is recognized.  If an obligation is not recognized by anyone, it loses nothing of the plentitude of its being.  But a right that is not recognized by anyone amounts to very little.

-Simone Weil, The Need for Roots

This should be interesting.

Sixty years ago.................

Roger Miller..............................King of the Road

 

The fifty year mortgage..................

 

Been reading that the idea of a 50-year mortgage is being bandied about.  Lots of commentary about why this is a horrible idea.  The amount of extra interest the home buyer would pay—if they kept the mortgage for all fifty years—over a more traditional loan is staggering.  But, while it is not for everyone, it could have its uses.  It is essentially an interest-only loan.  If your intent is to only live in a place for a few years, and you believe housing prices will still be inflating, then it could be a very viable option.  Just be careful to avoid any pre-payment penalties.  It is certainly not a panacea for the affordability problems we are currently facing.

Choose...........................

 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.

 I wish all who read this a very happy Thanksgiving. Yes, even the jerks; it’s never too late to change. Remember to thank America for maximizing your opportunities. But it is – inevitably – capricious and sometimes venal in distributing its rewards.

Choose your heroes very carefully and then emulate them. You will never be perfect, but you can always be better.

Warren Buffett, from his last annual letter

thanks Chris

Think he might be referring to us developers.......

 

They cannot see that growth for the sake of growth is a cancerous madness, that Phoenix and Albuquerque will not be better cities to live in when their populations are doubled again and again. They would never understand that an economic system which can only expand or expire must be false to all that is human.

-Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness

Only......................

 

Transporting..................

Billie Holiday...........................I´ll Be Seeing You

 

Recorded music is a miracle. Not sort of like a miracle, but an actual miracle. Transporting human voices across time and space. Bringing people long gone back into the room. Giving us a chance to hear music that we’d never experience otherwise.

-Seth Godin, from here