Metal Detector Guy

A guy with a metal detector on the beach gets lots of people curious enough to greet him with the same question, over and over. "Do you ever find anything good?" The metal detector guy (sometimes its a woman) is always friendly. "Sometimes." "Every once in a while." And if the metal detector guy is extra friendly or if he just craves some sort of human contact he may launch into a list of some of his best finds.

I'm suspicious of the metal detector guy.

I would think that if the metal detector guy was as successful as he tries to make it sound - he would be less willing to share. I imagine if metal detector guy was finding valuables on a regular basis he'd be more likely to tell people he never finds anything - just to keep others from poaching on his metal detecting beaches and special places. If I saw a guy intently using a metal detector and when asked if he ever finds anything good - answers "Never!" I might be tempted to go out and buy a metal detector because that guy is on to something.

I'm suspicious of the metal detector guy.

Michael Crichton

...The greatest challenge facing mankind is the challenge of distinguishing reality from fantasy, truth from propaganda. Perceiving the truth has always been a challenge to mankind, but in the information age (or as I think of it, the disinformation age) it takes on a special urgency and importance. 
We must daily decide whether the threats we face are real, whether the solutions we are offered will do any good, whether the problems we're told exist are in fact real problems, or non-problems.... Michael Crichton (from a 2003 speech)

Go Pats!

Linky Links

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

- Interesting interview of General Petraeus on Soleimani's killing

- I'm fascinated by The Dyatlov Pass Mystery AKA The Dyatlov Incident. Something straight out of an episode of The X-Files but true!

- Strategy Page's annual update on the wars of the world. Probably going to have to update to account for the death of Soleimani but the world is much more peaceful today than perhaps any time in history. Long read but worth it.

- I somehow missed JRR Tolkien's birthday

- VDH on why Trump will win again in 2020

Cool

Good Advice

CA and NY

In recent reports both California and New York have lost significant amounts of population. Enough so that each State will be losing seats in Congress.

One common sense explanation that seems missing from most reports of the exoduses is the anti-business and high costs of doing business in those States (especially energy costs). These States are driving businesses away. The people are simply following the jobs. Usually to States that are business friendly - like Texas.

Linky Links

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

- The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas a short story by Ursula Le Guin. Russ Roberts highly recommended the story which was enough for me.

- David Stern, one of the greatest sports commissioners in history, passed away Wednesday at age 77. This was a good recap of some of the issues Stern had to deal with during his 30-years of running the NBA.

- A perfect example of how government could screw up a wet dream

- Life's Work: An Interview with Sugar Ray Leonard

- Truth vs Lies

- The Top 5 Episodes of The Knowledge Project podcast 2019

The Bad in Each Other - Feist

Love this song!

Linky Links

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

- Cool - what the Northern Lights look like from a U2 spy-plane

- Jordan Peterson - Fix Yourself (a Prager U video). Excellent advice.

- Analysis true!

- I love videos like this. Trajectories of stars orbiting the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way

- Who's in your headset?

- National Geographic's top photographs of the decade

- Steven Pressfield 2 notes for the New Year. We all know what's right - be the one who actually practices it!

Business Lessons from a Crime Boss

Interesting quick read article on the business start-up lessons to be learned from a crime boss. Lessons include

- Don't sell rocks when you can sell mountains
- Cut out the middleman
- Don't shit where you eat
- If it don't make dollars, it don't make sense
- Closed mouths don't get fed
- Be a badass

All common sense lessons but voiced in a manner you may not have seen before.

A New Decade is Coming Up

File under Calvin & Hobbes being timeless or under "the more things change the more they remain the same."

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I predict in 2020 at least one person will attempt to name their child "Baby Yoda"... Superstitious Pigeons would be a good name for a band... Good advice... When people ask me if I've seen Rise of Skywalker I respond, "No - how does it compare to the original Spy Kids?" just to confuse them... I have really taken this advice to heart... Would have loved to have a collection of Tommy Makem & the Clancy Brothers doing covers of Beatles songs. Especially Norwegian Wood... "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." - African proverb... Happy New Year!...

Farnam Street Knowledge

- Charlie Munger: The Psychology of Human Misjudgment. A transcript (and audio recording) of a 1995 speech. A (very) long read but well worth the time.

- The Self-Education of Louis L'Amour. Or why you should always carry a book.

- Eight Thing Learned from Peter Thiel's Zero to One. I recently read this book and may add some of my own thoughts at a later time.

Joe Foss

It was 17 years ago today that American hero Joe Foss passed away. Joe Foss lived one of the fullest lives of almost anyone I can think of. He was a military hero - he was awarded the Medal of Honor. He was a politician - he served as Governor of South Dakota. He was a businessman - he served as the first commissioner of the American Football League (stepping aside just 2 months before the merger with the NFL). He was an activist - serving as President of the National Rifle Association. He was also quite literally The American Sportsman.

Joe Foss was also the leading American fighter ace in World War II shooting down 26 enemy aircraft in total.

Its a shame to me that a man like Joe Foss could accomplish so much but be known and remembered by so few.

EDIT: It was correctly pointed out that Medal of Honor winner Richard Bong with 40 confirmed kills was the leading American Ace of WWII. Joe Foss was the leading surviving Ace. As in most wars the true heroes were the ones who did not come back. Mea Culpa.

New Year's Day

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." Wayne Gretzky

"You regret 100% of the New Year's Eve shots you take on New Year's Day." Chris Lynch

A New Year's Carol

Linky Links

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

- Interesting - Congress mandates cable TV pricing disclosures. Good first step towards full transparency of what subscribers are actually paying for.

- Very Cool

- Definitely going to hell for laughing at this

- US Coast Guard says Ryuk ransomware took down maritime facility. HT Stephen Landry

- Concussion lawsuit against Pop Warner Football is dismissed

- Star Wars humor

- How to live a creative life

Classic - Don Knotts as Frank Sinatra

Happy New Year's Eve and tonight feel free to party like Frank Sinatra Don Knotts.

58 Books That Will Make You Better

A list of 58 Books That Will Make You Better, No Matter Who You Are.

I love book lists. On this list of 58 books I've only read 5, I have 2 of the books on my bookshelves but as of yet unread and I have 4 of the books on my Amazon Wish List.

Probably going to add some of these recommended books to my Wish List as well.

HT Cultural Offerings.