Electric Vehicles About to Become Much More Expensive

Surging price of battery materials complicates car makers' electric plans. Ya think?

The price of these three metals [nickel, lithium, and cobalt] required in a 60KWh battery, enough for a large family sport utility vehicle, has risen from $1,395 a year ago to more than $7,400 in early March, according to battery group Farasis Energy.

The war in Ukraine, supply chain issues, inflation, the kitchen sink - all going to make EV's more expensive. Strangely Tesla is not even mentioned in the article.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"There are few cheerier things than buying a bunch of used books and taking them to a cafe to read." - Paul Graham

"Of course, there will always be more that you could do, but you have to remind yourself that perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor." - Anne Lamott

"The most luxurious possession, the richest treasure anybody has, is his personal dignity." - Jackie Robinson

"The people with the weakest opinions need the most censorship to keep their worldview intact. Social media protects the weakest opinions until that's the only kind there are." - Scott Adams

Buddhist Five Remembrances

Watching the NFL Freak Show Draft from Vegas

We're Having a Party - Southside Johnny

 

Before there was a Springsteen - there was a Southside Johnny. We don't hear enough Southside Johnny anymore

Savor the Great Musk Panic

Matt Taibbi on "drinking the delicious tears of blue-check hypocrites, who've suddenly discovered the perils of a privatized speech landscape."

You have to hand it to Taibbi - he was one of the few voices against the deplatforming of  Alex Jones as if Taibbi knew full well it was a censorship slippery slope. 

If the truth does come out about the depths of sanctioned censorship at Twitter I'm sure we'll hear the defense that they were only doing it for "the Greater Good."

Bill Burr

Interesting Bill Burr interview.

There's two types of people in the world - people who think Bill Burr is awesome and people who don't have a sense of humor.

Excellent Point from Marc Andreessen

China and Russia are both undergoing dramatic internal crackdowns on freedom, and we and the Europeans have picked the same moment to double down on censorship. Shouldn't we try doing the opposite of what the bad regimes are doing instead? - Marc Andreessen

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"The significant problems cannot be solved by the same thinking that created them." - Albert Einstein

"Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world." - Voltaire

"You can see the underlying essence only when you strip away the busyness, and then some surprising connections appear." - Anne Lamott

"I don't know who needs to hear this, but buying books and reading books are two separate hobbies." - Tommy Collison

The Alchemist

 "My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer," the boy told the alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky.

"Tell you heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity."

Paulo Coelho The Alchemist

Thursday Flotsam and Jetsam

Have a new miscellaneous thoughts and observations post up on Substack.

Big hitter the lama, flowing robes, the grace, striking. Looked a lot like Peter O'Toole. As always please subscribe, hit the Like button, and share with others. If you like my miscellaneous thoughts maybe your friends will too. 

The Rich and the Wealthy

Morgan Housel uses the Vanderbilt's as examples to explain his difference between being rich and being wealthy. Personally, I've always liked this definition of being rich from the author of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire:

"I am indeed rich, since my income is superior to my expenses, and my expense is equal to my wishes." - Edward Gibbon

NFL Chickens Coming Home to Roost

Have long said that the NFL's "handling" of the Jon Gruden's emails was going to come back to bite them in the ass. Between sending the clear message to the Raiders that the league won't tolerate racist coaches and the NFL's sham racial fairness process of hiring those same coaches we're going to have the NFL front office under Roger Goodell exposed as hypocrites for all to see.  

Why the need for the two orders Colonel Commissioner? 

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Schools are quick to blame everyone and everything but themselves for the failures of American education. To them, every bad teacher is the exception and every bad parent is the rule." - Thomas Sowell

"Misinformation (noun): Anything I don't like. Conspiracy theorist (noun): Anyone who disagrees with me." - Marc Andreessen 

"Learn how to learn from those you disagree with, or even offend you. See if you can find the truth in what they believe." - Kevin Kelly

"The future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed." - William Gibson

Just a Reminder

The Alchemist

"Hunches," his mother used to call them. The boy was beginning to understand that intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life, where the histories of all people are connected, and we are able to know everything, because it's all written there.

Paulo Coelho The Alchemist 

Farnam Street Knowledge

 Active Listening: The Master Key to Effective Communications.

"Listening is difficult because it involves suppressing your ego long enough to consider what is being said before you respond." Listening is a superpower but perhaps the only one that needs to be practiced. 

Twitter on Tuesday

Was funny watching people on Twitter on Tuesday acting as if everything was different now that Elon Musk's offer to purchase the platform was accepted. People were Tweeting things like, "Boys have a penis, girls have a vagina" and "Learn to code." Testing their "new" free speech like 3rd graders testing a substitute teacher. 

The funny thing was that Elon Musk is not in charge yet which would mean that people seeing their follower count increase by thousands and other changes were not due to anything Elon was doing. It was Twitter employees changing things and covering their tracks. There were many things they were doing they knew to be wrong and they are trying to fix them before the new school principal takes over.

When a close inspection is made it will turn out that Twitter was a bigger cesspool of woke vigilantism than anyone thought. 

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech." - Benjamin Franklin

"I do not think it is an exaggeration to say history is largely a history of inflation, usually inflations engineered by governments for the gain of governments." - Friedrich Hayek

"There is no limit on better. Talent is distributed unfairly, but there is no limit on how much we can improve what we start with." - Kevin Kelly

"Hope is the power of being cheerful in circumstances that we know to be desperate." - G.K. Chesterton

Sometimes You Just Need Someone To Vent To

Tuesday Flotsam and Jetsam

Have a new miscellaneous thoughts and observations post up on Substack.  

I'm hooked on a feeling and I'm high on believing (that Elon Musk buying Twitter is good for free speech). As always please click the link, subscribe, hit the Like button and share with others.

The Alchemist

"Because I don't live in either my past or my future. I'm interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man. You'll see that there is life in the desert, that there are stars in the heavens, and that tribesmen fight because they are part of the human race. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we're living right now."

Paulo Coelho The Alchemist 

Elon Buys Twitter - Now What?

Peter Kafka looks at different ways Elon Musk could make Twitter a profitable business.

I think the question is mostly moot. Musk could run the company at a loss and simply take the write-off. Nobody asks how Jeff Bezos can turn a profit with the Washington Post (hint - he can't). Having a free speech haven would be reward enough for Musk.

Having said the above, here's three suggestions for improving Twitter's bottom line:

1. Get into the web hosting business. Twitter requires a tremendous number of servers and cloud services to stay up and running. Beef up those data centers and start charging the other Musk companies for hosting services. This would be a bit of the left hand paying the right but it could also open up Twitter hosting to other major clients and create a new revenue stream for Twitter.

2. Make creating and posting short videos on Twitter easier. Maybe eat into some of TikTok's business. The tech should be easy enough and the selling point would be better security and privacy. Does anyone really want the Chinese having access to their private data and phones?

3. Make creating and posting pictures on Twitter easier. Same premise as above but this time it would be an attack on Instagram's bottom line. Same selling points would apply - do you really want Mark Zuckerberg having access to all your data?

Basically Musk can make Twitter a financial success by making Twitter the social media platform that adheres to Net Neutrality. Twitter won't favor one political party over another, won't sell your private data to third parties, and respects your privacy and right to free speech. Doesn't have to be any more complicated than that.

Elon Musk Buys Twitter But Jeff Bezos is Not Complaining

EDIT: Or maybe Bezos is complaining

Our Spanish Civil War?

VDH with the history lesson for the day. "Deep and brutal strife in 1930's Spain was a prelude to the barbarity of World War II. Now with the war in Ukraine, we're reminded that the veneer of civilization is very thin." 

Human nature is constant, despite radical changes in technology, social systems, and physical landscapes. That bleak reality should remind us that the veneer of civilization is always very thin, while the innate barbarity of humankind is forever very deep.

Professor Hanson also draws the parallel of how impotent the League of Nations was to the Spanish Civil War just as the United Nations is completely impotent today regarding the war in Ukraine.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"In fairness to Jesus, 'One of you will betray me' is a great dinner party conversation opener." - Richy Craven

"Two kinds of fools - those that take religion literally, and those who think it has no value." - Naval Ravikant

"If you deconstruct what people mean when they say they want to be happy, they really mean they don't want to be miserable. - Jordan Peterson

"The act of writing turns out to be its own reward." - Anne Lamott

Faith Over Fear

Via

Jay Wright's Culture

The Daily Coach has four quotes from Jay Wright that help explain the culture he built at Villanova that bred so much success on the court.

Wright's sudden retirement last week after 21-years at Villanova and at just 61-years of age - took many by surprise. I wish him nothing but the best. Have my fingers crossed that no story emerges that may sully his retirement announcement and accomplishments. 

How America Became La La Land

VDH on the problems that have plagued America these past fourteen months and how those problems "did not exist until Biden birthed them for ideological or political reasons." 

The bottom line; "Biden knows that he inherited a stable, prosperous America and has nearly ruined it.... And he knows the American people know that too."

Van Gogh Down By a River

I may not know great art - but I know what I like. (Via)

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Start by doing what's necessary, then do what's possible, and suddenly you're doing the impossible." - St. Francis of Assisi

"The tranquility that comes when you stop caring what they say. Or think, or do. Only what YOU do." - Marcus Aurelius

"In the short term, you are as good as your intensity. In the long term, you are only as good as your consistency." - Shane Parrish

"Karma is just you, repeating your patterns, virtues, and flaws until you finally get what you deserve." - Naval Ravikant

Happy April 25th

Sunday Flotsam and Jetsam

Have a new miscellaneous thoughts and observations post up on Substack. 

Welcome to Flotsam and Jetsam. Welcome. The only limit is yourself. Remember to subscribe, hit the like button  and share with others. Welcome to Flotsam and Jetsam. This is Flotsam and Jetsam. Welcome to you who have come to Flotsam and Jetsam. 

I Miss The Far Side

Quotes for Today

 Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Leave other people's mistakes where they lie." - Marcus Aurelius

"Happiness, as it's said, is just results minus expectations. The hardest financial skill is getting the goalposts to stop moving. Social comparison is the battle that can never be won." - Morgan Housel

"The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom is courage." - Thucydides

"Governments create nothing and have nothing to give but what they have first taken away." - Winston Churchill

10 Rules for Life by Marcus Aurelius

Thought for the Day

The Alchemist

 "What's the world's greatest lie?" the boy asked, completely surprised.

"It's this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie."

Paulo Coelho The Alchemist

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"The truth - that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which a man can aspire." - Viktor Frankl

"Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life." - Jerzy Gregorek

"Humankind cannot bear very much reality." - TS Eliot

"Risk comes from not knowing what your doing." - Warren Buffett

Reminder

Charlie Munger's 10 Rules for Success

Guy LaFleur RIP

Even though I'm a Bruins fan - growing up Guy LaFleur was one of my favorite players. Damn - only 70-years old. RIP.

Tesla's Amazing Advertising Strategy

Tesla hasn't spent a dime on paid advertising yet outperforms every car maker in the world. The prime exhibit for their success is the above graph where they saw orders for their cars spike the day after the Super Bowl. A Super Bowl that saw a number of competing EV manufacturers touting their products only to have viewers say, "Nah - gonna buy a Tesla instead." Amazing!

Chart via.

Friday Flotsam and Jetsam

Have a new miscellaneous thoughts and observations post up on Substack.

A fool and their money are soon parted (of course I'm talking about CNN+ subscribers). Please subscribe (its FREE), hit the Like button (also FREE), and share with others. Thanks in advance.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Treat yourself like someone you're responsible for helping." - Jordan Peterson

"But if someone has a gun and is trying to kill you... it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun." - Tenzin Gyatso, The 14th Dalai Lama

"Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how.'" - Viktor Frankl

"My only measure of success is how much time you have to kill." - Nassim Taleb

Find Something Beautiful Today

Sunset over the Sphynx and Great Pyramid (photo via). Headline stolen borrowed from Execupundit.

Farnam Street Knowledge

Understanding Your Circle of Competence: How Warren Buffett Avoids Problems. 

Good advice.

Still Funny

Top 5 - Underrated Movies of the 1980's

There were many great and iconic movies from the 1980's but in my opinion, for whatever reason, a number of really good movies just don't seem to get their due. Your list may differ, Movies ranked by year they came out (not on how underrated they are):

1. Hopscotch (1980) - Walter Matthau as a CIA agent forced to retire by incompetent bosses. He gets his revenge by writing a tell-all book that the CIA and the KGB want to stop from getting published. The very definition of underrated.

2. Excalibur (1981) - stylized retelling of the story of King Arthur and Merlin. 

3. Witness (1985) - Harrison Ford as Philadelphia detective forced to go undercover and on the run in Amish country. 

4. Silverado (1985) - A Western loaded with actors who turned into stars (Kevin Costner, Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Danny Glover plus a brief role by John Cleese). No idea why this movie hasn't gotten more attention over the years.

5. A Fish Called Wanda (1988) - A star studded comedy (Michael Palin, John Cleese, Kevin Kline and Jamie Lee Curtis). This movie did eventually spawn a sequel but I still think the original doesn't get the love it deserves.

As an aside the reason for this list came from two things; one I saw a list of the Top 20 movies of the 1980's and 90% of them were movies I wouldn't watch a second time and I was also thinking of the underrated Steve Martin movie LA Story (which I thought came out in the 80's but actually was released in 1991). 

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Life, like architecture, is a verb. If designed well, it works, its beautiful, and it needs no directions. It needs maintenance." - Matthew McConaughey

 "You want to be free, but accountable." - Naval Ravikant

"That which is against communism is for humanity." - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

"There are just two rules of governance in a free society. Mind your own business. Keep your hands to yourself." - P.J. O'Rourke

Heh Heh

Via

In Defense of Elon Musk's Managerial Excellence

Bloomberg on Elon Musk - the Tesla CEO's track record proves he's a pre-eminent builder of businesses and maximizer of shareholder value. 

Not just a maximizer of shareholder value but a "pre-eminent maximizer of shareholder value." Reading between the lines I'd say Bloomberg is very much in favor of Musk's purchase of Twitter.

Find Something Beautiful Today

Milky Way over Devil's Tower (photo via). Headline stolen borrowed from Execupundit.

Wednesday Flotsam and Jetsam

Have a new miscellaneous thoughts and observations post up on Substack.

I love the smell of napalm Substack in the morning. Please subscribe, hit the Like button and share with friends.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"The closer you are to the truth, the more silent you become inside." - Naval Ravikant

"These people don't see that if you encourage totalitarian methods, the time may come when they will be used against you and not for you." - George Orwell

"When someone emphatically claims 'I bear the sole responsibility for...' a fiasco, she or he are hinting that someone else is the true responsible." - Nassim Taleb

"If at first you don't succeed, try and try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it." - W.C. Fields

Heh Heh

Via

Heh Heh

The Case for American Seriousness

"We don't need aging institutions to pave the way for 21st century dynamism. What we need is will and audacity."

American Dynamism - Amen to that!

Heh Heh

A letter from the condo association to Mr. and Mrs. Macbeth.

 From the archives.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." - Benjamin Franklin

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion." - Albert Camus

"The greatest productivity hack is the willingness to turn people down." - Mark Manson

"Common sense is like money and health, once you have it, you have to work to keep it." - Matthew McConaughey

The Day the American Revolution Began

On this day in 1775, the American Revolution began with "the shot heard round the world." Sadly the Battle of Lexington and Concord is barely taught in school anymore and only Massachusetts celebrates the event as a holiday. However, even in Massachusetts Patriots Day is known more as Marathon Monday than the celebration of one of the most consequential days in world history.

Can Paternal Metformin Use Cause Birth Defects?

Peter Attia on a recent study that shows paternal metformin usage may cause birth defects:

Collectively, these results indicate an alarming association between paternal metformin exposure and birth defects, particularly in male offspring...

Adult males diagnosed with type 2 diabetes keep getting younger and younger which leads to more and more males reproducing while on metformin. To me this stresses two things - we really don't know the long-term effects of many of the prescription drugs being handed out like candy. Second and more importantly it stresses the need for our healthcare industry and culture at large to highlight proper diet and exercise. 

You want to be a dad? Start by joining a gym and stop drinking soda.

Want This Made into a Painting for Christmas

Via

Monday Flotsam and Jetsam

Have a new miscellaneous thoughts and observations post up on Substack.

Suck it Kyrie! As always please subscribe, hit the Like button, and share with others. Thanks in advance. 

How Kyiv was Saved by Ukrainian Ingenuity (and Russian Blunders)

Gym matts and mobile phone apps helped Ukraine forces win the battle for the capital.

Love the idea of yoga mats being useful defensive weapons. 

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be." - Lao Tzu

"If you can't measure it, it can't improve it." - Peter Drucker

"This is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules." - Walter Sobchak

"If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter." - George Washington

Life Advice from Naval

Good (Celtics) vs Evil (Nets)

Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai is the face of the NBA's "uneasy" China relationship. 

"Tsai has publicly defended some of China's most controversial policies. He described the government's brutal crackdown on dissent as necessary to promote economic growth; defended a law used to imprison scores of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong as necessary to squelch separatism; and, when questioned about human rights, asserted that most of China's 1.4 billion citizens are 'happy about where they are.'"

Not saying rooting for the Brooklyn Nets and Joe Tsai is like rooting for genocide but...

Go Celtics!

Happy Easter / Passover

Via

George Carlin Tried to Warn Us Decades Ago

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Optimists are dismissed as fools, pessimists as sages, by a media that likes to be spoon-fed on scary press releases." - Matt Ridley

"[O]f course God exists. Even if God turns out to be just science in fancy pyjamas." - Ian Martin

"Early in life, I had noticed that no event is ever correctly reported in a newspaper." - George Orwell

"If something is important enough, even if the odds are stacked against you, you should still do it." - Elon Musk

Reasons to Believe in the Historically Risen Jesus

Eight reasons to believe in the historically risen Jesus.

Paul on the road to Damascus has always been the thing that gave my logical mind pause.

Heh Heh

Via

Niall Ferguson and David Petraeus on Ukraine

Interesting Q&A between historian Niall Ferguson and General David Petraeus on the war in Ukraine. 

Many interesting points were raised but this was one I think was overlooked by most:

By contrast, it's a mystery to me [Petraeus] as to what the Russians accomplished in all the training, manoeuvres and exercises that they conducted for months on the border just east of Ukraine and in Belarus. It's very clear to me that they were camping not training.

The Moskva

Interesting look at what effect the loss of the missile cruiser Moskva may have on both sides. Just on morale alone - this is a big win for Ukraine.

The article also raises an interesting question - when was Putin informed of the loss and what was he told? And is the messenger still alive?

Here's another worthwhile article on what the loss of the Moskva means.

(Photo via)

Loose Nuke Talk

VDH on the recent bluster of Russian nuclear threats.

Two thoughts; first Ukrainian President Zelenskyy recently talked about his country becoming more like Israel once this is over. Israel is a nuclear power though they don't advertise the fact. Ukraine once had nuclear weapons and probably will be once more.

Second - if Putin's actions in Ukraine don't end Russia being an intermediary for a new Iran Deal then the corruption involved here is greater than potentially anything in US history.

Happy 70th Birthday Coach Belichick

15 Life Lessons from Coach Belichick in honor of this 70th birthday. Many happy returns! This was one of my favorite bits:

Be multi-dimensional in your knowledge and skills, BUT NEVER multi-task. Focus with intense concentration on the task at hand.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Behind it all is surely an idea so simple, so beautiful, that when we grasp it - in a decade, a century, or a millennium - we will all say to each other, how could it have been otherwise?" - John Archibald Wheeler

"But speak up you must. There is strength in numbers and I assure you, the numbers are there." - Bari Weiss

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." - Abraham Lincoln

 "I think the meaning of life is to do things for their own sake. Ironically, when you do things for their own sake, you create your best work." - Naval Ravikant

Truth

Twitter's Chickens Come Home to Roost

Matt Taibbi with a look at the rampant hypocrisy from the Left in the wake of Elon Musk's bid to buy Twitter. Liked this description, "Bullet-headed neoconservative fussbudget Max Boot." Taibbi can really lay down the verbal smack on people he doesn't like.

The desire of the rich and powerful to continue to control the narrative is obvious and so is the knee-jerk reaction of the ditto-heads and lackeys on the Left. What may not be obvious is the Twitter employees truly scared that their fat paychecks may be coming to an end - especially anyone in marketing. Tesla doesn't have a marketing department and if Elon is successful - neither will Twitter.

It should also be noted that a more successful Twitter under Musk would suck even more advertising revenue from existing outlets. 

Of course they're scared of Musk's bid to buy Twitter. Just as parasitic fleas would be afraid of flea powder if they were sentient and had social media.

This is Our F*cking City!

Nine-years ago today. Never forget!

Friday Flotsam and Jetsam

Have a new miscellaneous thoughts and observations post up on Substack.

Tomorrow Bill Belichick turns 70-years old and all he wants for his birthday is for you to click the link, subscribe (it's FREE!), hit the Like button, and share with others. Even if you're not a Patriots fan - do it for the coach. 

Censorship is Free Speech

Glenn Reynolds on the reaction from the Left to Elon Musk's offer to buy Twitter. 

As an aside - every time I read Robert Reich's name or see him on TV - the Randy Newman song Short People starts playing in my head.

Top Reactions to Elon Musk Offering to Buy Twitter

"Elon Musk has also offered to buy CNN+ for twenty-eight bucks." - Frank J. Fleming

"If you buy Twitter can you delete the combine photo?" - Tom Brady 

"It is amazing how much panic one honest man can spread among a multitude of hypocrites." - Thomas Sowell

"Show me on the little blue bird logo where @elonmusk hurt you." - Robert J. O'Neill

"Hearing some WH junior staffers brought up Elon and Twitter with Biden and he had no idea what they were talking about." - Jack Posobiec (sad that I'm not sure if this was even said in jest)

"Elon is owning the libs with the money they gave him buying their Tesla's." - Jordan

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

 "Liberty without learning is always in peril and learning without liberty is always in vain." - John F. Kennedy

"Your real education begins when you realize it wasn't school." - Shane Parrish

"History teaches us that it is not the lies that are censored." - Nick Hudson

"No matter where or what, there are makers, takers, and fakers." - Robert Heinlein

Find Something Beautiful Today

Photo of Scripps Pier in San Diego - the Moon, Venus and bio-luminescence from plankton (photo via). Headline stolen borrowed from Execupundit.

How the Ancient Romans Built Roads

 

Fascinated by this type of history stuff (HT Digg).

Elon's Ultimatum

Elon Musk has offered to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 a share.

The subtext is clear - accept this offer or I will sell all my Twitter stock (causing the price to plummet) and I will build my own platform (causing the stock to plummet further).

Rooting for Elon big time on this!

Farnam Street Knowledge

 F. Scott Fitzgerald: A List of Thing to Worry About and Things to Not Worry About

Good life advice from an unexpected source (wouldn't have guessed at Fitzgerald being a decent parent).

Finland and Sweden : Reinforcing NATO's Northern Flank

Finland and Sweden are seemingly fast-tracking potential membership into NATO. I don't like that idea at all!

To me it isn't reinforcing NATO's northern flank - instead it would be an unforced error of escalating tensions unnecessarily.  Putin claimed Ukraine's potential of joining NATO putting NATO troops on Russia's doorstep as one of his justifications for invasion. Having Finland and Sweden join NATO would allow Putin, with some truth, to tell the Russian people, "See I was right! NATO is trying to surround us!"

Don't like this idea at all.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that's waiting for us. The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come." - Joseph Campbell

"None of my inventions came by accident. I see a worthwhile need to be met and I make trial after trial until it comes. What it boils down to is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration."  - Thomas Edison

"Never trust a big butt and a smile." - Bell Biv Devoe

"We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves, otherwise, we harden." - Goethe 

Lynda Carter

I had such a crush on Wonder Woman when I was young and to be honest - still do. (Photo via)

Very Cool!

 

Drone tour of the clubhouse at Augusta National. Very Cool!

First Fake News but Now Fake Music?

"Fake" artists and music are more widespread and insidious on streaming platforms than I ever imagined.

Seems just like in diet where real food where you select the ingredients is much more healthy for you - curated playlists on streaming platforms are like processed foods filled with empty calories. Just in this case the empty calories are fake artists and music.

It's all about who the algorithm awards the royalty dollars to. 

Bidenflation

I get nauseous just looking at that graph. It doesn't help my sickness in that I also hear the voices of the Biden Administration blaming everyone else for it. (Chart via)

Resistance Thrives in Darkness

Steven Pressfield on that negative, self-sabotaging voice you hear in your head that he calls resistance.

I really have to put his book The War of Art on my stack of books to read.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn." - Gore Vidal

"Engage with yourself. Then engage with the world." - Matthew McConaughey

 "A healthy person has a thousand wishes, but a sick person has only one." - Indian Proverb

"Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again." - Nelson Mandela

Farnam Street Knowledge

 

"In the short term, you are as good as your intensity. In the long term, you are only as good as your consistency." - Shane Parrish

Via

Spare the Rod, Spoil the Country

Nice piece on the state of the Fourth Estate in this country. "There seems to be no journalistic curiosity anymore and the news outlets only care about fluff pieces or the surface layer of a story." 

Growing up the mantra for journalists was "follow the money" but not anymore because the truth of where the money comes from may damage a sacred cow politician or narrative. This couldn't be any more evident than in the Hunter Biden laptop story.

Agree 100% with the conclusions of the post. As an Independent voter who tends to vote D in local elections and R in national ones - I feel this bias from the corporate media and coddling of Democratic politicians leads to much weaker candidates who cannot hold up against any sort of pushback or scrutiny.

This is how you wind up with Kamala Harris as Vice President.

Truth

Reacher

Watched the Amazon series Reacher over the weekend and I enjoyed it very much.  I've read a few of Lee Child's Jack Reacher books and I enjoy them for what they are - brain candy. This series was true to the books and true to the aim of the books - simple entertainment. If you are looking for more than that then this may not be the series for you.

The first season (the show has been renewed for a second season) was based on the book The Killing Floor which was also the first Jack Reacher book and one of those that I'd read. The plot of the series stayed true to that of the book so there wasn't any surprise twists for me which, again, I didn't mind. The characters were also true to the book which means Reacher was a 6'5" monster of a man (played by Alan Ritchson) although I don't recall Reacher being blonde.

I didn't mind Tom Cruise as Reacher and enjoyed his first movie in the role very much (did not see the second movie). However, Alan Ritchson pretty much embodies the way Reacher was written on the page and how most people probably imagined the character. 

I'll probably read another Reacher book or two this summer at the beach - where brain candy books are best enjoyed. Looking forward to Season Two.

68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice

Kevin Kelly with 68 bits on unsolicited advice from a couple years ago.  

This one was among may favorites; "Being enthusiastic is worth 25 IQ points." And it costs nothing to be enthusiastic!

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"If you eat, invest, and think according to what the 'news' advocates, you'll end up nutritionally, financially and morally bankrupt." - Naval Ravikant

"Why, Johnny Ringo. You look like somebody just walked over your grave." - Doc Holliday

"Virtually no idea is too ridiculous to be accepted, even by very intelligent and highly educated people, if it provides a way for them to feel special and important. Some confuse that feeling with idealism." - Thomas Sowell

"It's not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste most of it." - Seneca

Sad But True

Via

Monday Flotsam and Jetsam

Have a new miscellaneous thoughts and observations post up on Substack. 

Looks like someone's got a case of the Monday's (Flotsam and Jetsam). Please subscribe, hit the like button, and share with others.  

Find Something Beautiful Today

Solar eclipse as seen from space (photo via). Headline stolen borrowed from Execupundit.