Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Shelby Foote was an American treasure. Never realized Foote never graduated college. Guessing he had more knowledge of the Civil War than any PhD.

- Peter Attia on the relationship between health anxiety and mortality. Hypochondriacs were found to have a 69% chance of all-cause mortality. Being a hypochondriac is literally bad for your health.

- 25 blogs guaranteed to make you smarter. Following these blogs is really worthwhile.

- Joe Biden never considered the "specifics" of the 1,500 people he commuted. Some of these people are considered "monsters" by their victims and its rumored that the only "specifics" he considered was how much cash they were giving to "the big guy."

Blog Anniversary

Just another day to me but I know some people celebrate these anniversaries - especially as they get up there in years. Today is the date that my blog turns 20-years old. Hard to digest that I'm been doing this for so long.

A brief story on the number 20. A longtime goal of mine has been to drive Route 20 from Fenway Park to the Kingdom in Seattle. Route 20 is, I believe, the longest route in the country with the only break in its cross-country trek briefly in Yellowstone Park. Always wanted to do that drive. Closest I've come is once on a nice fall Sunday I drove a rented convertible from Auburn, MA to Auburn, NY all on Route 20. That was fun!

Attention

Morgan Housel on being a writer in the short attention span theater world we live in.  This was a good point, "Communicating is a two-party transaction: The writer supplies content and the reader invests their precious time and attention."

I also can't help but be reminded of the Naval Ravikant quote, "If they wrote it to make money, don't read it." One of the reasons I love blogs so much. People who write blogs, for the most part, do it because they feel the need to write and to share. The ROI on the time a blogger invests in their blog is almost never break even but the pull to write is so strong.

They Talking About My Blog?

Blog Anniversary

So 18-years ago today I started this silly blog as a place to jot down my thoughts. Back then about half my posts were about sports (baseball in particular).  

Sports has taken up less and less of my time and attention but old habits die hard and I'm still a fan of my Boston teams.

The photo to the left is of Dave Cowens who was one of my favorite players gowning up (along with Freddie Lynn). Felt it right to use his photo in this post.

Normally I don't mark or even notice when the anniversary comes around but it's not every day your blog turns old enough to vote.

25 Blogs Guaranteed to Make You Smarter

It is once again an honor to be included on this list.

I would say, however, it really is 26 blogs because Cultural Offering is one of the best blogs out there and needs to be included. 

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Dreading seeing either a pumpkin spice coffee or beer being advertised. You know it's coming any day now. It makes me sad because pumpkin spice products normally signal the end of summer but by the same token also usually means the start of football... Amusing to see Tim Tebow referred to as "former outfielder for the Birmingham Rumble Ponies, Tim Tebow"... The book I'd like to read is a fictional autobiography of Huggy Bear from Starsky and Hutch. First person style just like the book Grendel by John Gardner... Thinking of adopting the phrase "Pax et bonum" as my all-purpose greeting. It translated as "Peace and all good" and I think it could be used the same way Hawaiians use "Aloha"... Four Dimensional Symmetry would be a good name for a blog... Richard Feynman, one of the top 5 minds of the 20th century, was tested in high school as having an IQ of 125. Goes to show you what IQ tests are worth... 

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Found myself worrying about the "Don't trust China! China is asshole!" guy. With the crackdown in Hong Kong I wouldn't be surprised if he was taken into custody a long time ago. I hope he's OK... The Great Certainty would be a good name for a blog (or social media app)... If lab grown meat technology is perfected - will that allow McDonald's to offer the McRib year-round?... True story - before picking Dan Quayle to be his VP - George H.W. Bush briefly considered picking Clint Eastwood to be his running mate. One of the great "What if's" of history...  You learn something new every day: the power symbol on your device, laptop, PC, etc. - that circle and line it's actually a binary 1 and a 0 with 1 being "on" and 0 being "off"... So when does Nintendo get cancelled for having a GameBoy and not a non-binary game console?... Predicting right now that no matter who is in the NBA Finals it will get the lowest TV ratings in history... Apropos of nothing - checked GameStop stock yesterday and it was at $313.75 per share! Yowza!... Bumper sticker suggestion: "Trump 2024 - Burdened with Glorious Purpose" (a little Loki humor)... 

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

The question I'm curious about but nobody seems to bothered to ask is "Has Elijah Cummings' house been broken into before?" And if so - how many times before? The Congressman certainly acted like someone who was prepared by prior experience... I'm an awful person for laughing at this... "Flying by the seat of your pants precedes crashing by the seat of your pants." - Bill Walsh... Clemson may have the top ranked team in college football but according to Phil Steele the Tigers don't have a special teams unit ranked in the top 50. Wonder if that could come back and bite them in a close game (like say against Alabama)... Four Dimensional Symmetry would be a great name for a blog... I think Lesley Gore's You Don't Own Me would be a good candidate for a cover re-make BY A MAN. Would put a twist on the classic song...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Is it ironic that the worst drivers can normally be found in the RMV parking lot circling for an open parking spot?... Victor Davis Hanson has a good summary of the 2-years of the Mueller Investigation... Sex Melon - band name or hipster cocktail? Fire Grilled Turtles - band name or hipster entree?... "The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands, but in seeing with new eyes." - Marcel Proust... Men in Belted Sweaters - bad idea from the 70's or hipster band name?... Johannes Factorum would be a good name for a blog (roughly translated from the Latin it means "Jack of all trades")... The Cleveland Spiders supposedly changed the team name to the Indians in hs honor after his early, untimely death...

Thank You

Cultural Offering kindly listed A Large Regular among 25 Blogs Guaranteed to Make You Smarter. Thank you for that honor.

It's really a list of 26 Blogs Guaranteed to Make You Smarter because Cultural Offering should also be included in any such list.

Only a couple of blogs listed that I follow regularly which means I know what I'll be perusing over the normally slow holiday week.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Boston sports primer - people who complain about Tuukka Rask taking time off for personal reasons are not Bruins fans, people who complain about Al Horford's contract or play are not Celtics fans, people who bitch about losing to the Titans Sunday are not true Patriots fans and finally people who sing Sweet Caroline at Red Sox games molest collies... Interesting - A bubbling pool of mud is on the move and nobody knows why. Also Bubbling Pool of Mud would be a good name for a Primus cover band or a euphemism for a loose bowel movement... And speaking of bowel movements - sorry but the Chic-fil-A "tonight is nugget night" promotion sounds more like something Danny Thomas or John McAffee would tell their mistress than something geared to make me hungry... Love this photo... Words in a Cunning Order would be a good name for a blog or a publishing company... Don't find someone who looks at you the way Trump looks at the President of Morocco...