Important to Remember

 Especially this time of year it is important to remember that almost all setbacks are temporary. Let "This too shall pass" be your mantra.

Depression is a serious issue and if you or someone you know is struggling make sure they know there is help.

Suicide hotline (800) 273-8255. Please ask for help.

SNL on Inflation

Dan Ackroyd as Jimmy Carter with his novel solution to inflation.

Back when SNL was funny and would takes shots at both sides of the aisle. Do you think the SNL of today would tackle Biden's inflation (or Alec Baldwin's killing spree for that matter).

HT Newmark's Door

What I Told the Students of Princeton

"The further a society drifts from the truth, the more they will hate those that speak it." - George Orwell

That's the quote that was going through my head as I read this essay by Abigail Shier. I salute Abigail in being standfast in the face of all the abuse she has faced simply for telling the truth. The malleable minds of children today are facing a problem of gender uncertainty being foisted on them by others with their own agendas. Abigail deserves much credit for speaking out and refusing to back down against these threats to our children.

I do disagree with her assertion, "If we were not entirely free before, in other words - we are less so now." I would argue that society has always had "scripts" that they wanted people to read from and conform to. The Internet has just made us more aware that these scripts exist - and has given us a look behind the curtain at who is writing them. 

I'll end this with another quote that occurred to me as I read her essay:

"I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do." - Robert Heinlein 

Life Lessons from Richard Feynman

 The importance and meaning behind three of Richard Feynman's quotes.

Always a sucker for anything Richard Feynman related.

Belichick and the 3 Principles of Adjustment

Successful leaders like Bill Belichick know how to adjust, not abandon, the overarching strategy.

"Belichick has long believed that in order to win, you must first avoid losing." Similar to Charlie Munger's oft quoted belief that in order to be smart, you must first avoid being stupid.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day." - Jim Rohn 

"Your library is your paradise." - Desiderius Erasmus

"No man is a failure who has friends. Unless he has no money. Then he's a miserable failure." - Henry F. Potter

"I've been doing a lot of abstract painting lately, extremely abstract. No brush, no paint, no canvas, I just think about it." - Steven Wright

Darth by Darthwest

Heh Heh

Remembrances of Days Gone Past

Snagging, Skitching and Bumper Riding When I was a kid we called it snagging. 

On a day when snow was packed onto a street, you would wait for a car to slow down at a stop sign and then you would crouch down and sneak behind the car, put your hands underneath the bumper of the car, and squat in a catcher's position with feet parallel about shoulder's width apart. The car would speed up and you would "ride" away. It was great! I lived for snagging. In college I continued to "snag rides" and I learned that it was common in other parts of the country but it was called by different names. Some called it "skitching" and some called it "bumper riding" others "bumper skiing." Everyone who grew up doing it - loved it. I probably started snagging about 3rd grade. I would snag with the older kids. It was great. You have to understand that I was a city kid. My parents weren't rich. Snagging is something kids did that got us outside (we had no cable TV back then - circa 1975).

Snagging died out both because chrome bumpers were replaced with plastic ones which were tough to grab hold of and because dangerous pursuits like this became verbotten for kids. I miss snagging.

Reminder

Friday Flotsam and Jetsam

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

As always - if anything you read makes you smile or think please subscribe, hit the Like button, or share the post with others. Thanks in advance. 

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"The truth is like a lion; you don't have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself." - Saint Augustine

"People who live far below their means enjoy a freedom that people busy upgrading their lifestyles can't fathom." - Naval Ravikant

"The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away." - Pablo Picasso

"Oh God, the heathen have come into your inheritance. Your holy temple they have defiled." - Psalm 79  

Teddy Roosevelt

Some Teddy Roosevelt fan art.

A Very Touching Version

Great Point - Great Punchline

 

HT American Digest

The Turn

Fantastic article in The Tablet describing one person's "gnawing discomfort" and "sense of panic" over what the Democratic Party and "the Left" has become. 

Have a feeling that there are many Democrats feeling this way as if they have in reality become politically homeless. The words, beliefs and actions of the politicians they voted for, the newspapers they've read their whole life, and the schools they've attended are almost unrecognizable. And unsupportable. Looting is not social justice. Censorship and the silencing of voices is not the idea of free speech previously held sacred. "My body - my choice" has Orwellianly been turned on its head. There's a silent epidemic of a crisis of belief in the Democratic Party.

When "'the left' becomes the party of wealthy elites, and state security agencies who preach racial division, state censorship, contempt for ordinary citizens and for the US Constitution, and telling people what to do and think at every turn" it is a crisis of conscience in the very fabric of many whose very identity was tied into being a liberal Democrat.

The question becomes - what do these people do? Are they self-aware enough to make "The Turn?" Do they silently soldier on unenthusiastically keeping up appearances? Do they abandon the Party and become Independents? None of the answers to these questions seems like good omens for the Democrats. 

Why Does Time Seem to Flow in Only One Direction?

A look at "Space-Time" and the "Arrow of Time" in an attempt to demystify the "fourth dimension." 

I have a problem both with "time" and in particular "Space-Time." In my mind the physical universe is made up of entanglements - two things tied up together at the quantum level. It is these entanglements which make up what's known as "Space-Time." Once things are entangled they cannot be "untangled" - thus the Arrow of Time (and entropy) pointing in only one direction. Entropy and gravity are intertwined at the quantum level. Exactly how and why is where the mystery lays. Once we fully understand this - then we will finally know what "time" actually is.

At some point I want to put down my thoughts on the physics Holy Trinity of Space, Time and Reality.

Lessons from The Killer Angels

 

Steven Pressfield is looking at Michael Shaara's great work The Killer Angels for lessons on dialog and exposition. 

The Killer Angels is one of my favorite books and something I try to read every year around the 4th of July (to coincide with the action as it happened during the Battle of Gettysburg). Highly recommend the book if you haven't read it.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Outrage-generating clickbait is the natural resource extraction of journalism." - Paul Graham

"I like the libertarian view, which is to leave everyone alone. Even as a kid, I was annoyed by people who wanted to tell everyone how to live." - Clint Eastwood

"The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts." - Marcus Aurelius

"This is a wonderful day. I've never seen this one before." - Maya Angelou

Remember