Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Heh Heh
- 50 ways to start boosting your productivity in 2021 (HT Execupundit)
- Really would like to make this road trip some day.
- Cool
- David Lander, who played Squiggy on Laverne & Shirley, passed away from complications from MS aged 73. What the article doesn't note is that Lander in his later years also reinvented himself as a baseball scout for the Mariners and Angels
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
Would be the ultimate troll move if President Trump nominated Elizabeth Warren to be the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs before he left office. Would absolutely love and support the move... Empathy Tent would be a good name for an Enya cover band... Funny how you don't hear about closing Guantanamo Bay as a political issue any more isn't it?... Louis CK's Erotic Handshake would be a good name for a band (or his next comedy special)... Before he leaves office it would also be great if President Trump nominated the Iron Sheik to be the Ambassador to Iran. That would break the Internet... Especially at this time of year I don't think we say "Hark!" enough. Wouldn't you like to hear someone calling attention to something by shouting "Hark! Hark!" Or maybe it's just me...
Everyone has trouble talking about sex with their kids. I don't care how cool or hip or how with it you think you are - you are still going to have trouble talking to your kids about sex.
Even God had trouble talking about sex. Seriously. If you read between the lines in the story of the Garden of Eden - you see how uncomfortable God was in talking about sex.Some quotes that I hope may resonate with you.
"It would jar us if we knew how many of the assumptions we hold about others are just flat-out wrong." - Michael Wade
"We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of disciple or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons." - Jim Rohn
"Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life." - Immanuel Kant
"Intuition is a very powerful thing, more powerful than intellect, in my opinion." - Steve Jobs
"Knowledge is a skyscraper.You can take a shortcut with a fragile foundation of memorization, or building upon the steel frame of understanding." - Naval Ravikant
"We don't beat the Reaper by living longer. We beat the Reaper by living well." - Randy Pausch
"Many times an old man has no other evidence besides his age to prove he lived a long time." - Seneca
Kim Jong Un's great-grandmother was Kim Song Ju who was active in the Presbyterian Church. His great-grandfather was Kim Hyong Jik who was educated in schools founded by American missionaries. Kim Jong Un's great-grandparents were introduced to each other by Nelson Bell, who is probably best known as the father-in-law of the famous evangelist Billy Graham.
Billy Graham twice visited North Korea and met with then leader Kim Il Song (Kim Jong Un's father) in 1992 and 1994.
I'm fascinated by these little wrinkles in history. (Info via The Hermit King: The Dangerous Game of Kim Jong Un)
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Ghislaine Maxwell is reportedly not having a good time in prison
- Life is Short. Amen.
- I could actually see myself joining the Church of the 400 Rabbits.
- Holy crap - this is why the Verranzzano bridge was closed Monday
- Storm clouds are brewing and people are people are choosing sides
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
Think it would have been hilarious if the scientists and doctors of the world got together and said that the biggest risk for catching COVID is picking your nose... Peeve of mine - why is it every time you're in a restaurant or a bar reading a book as soon as you get a few pages in they always seem to dim the lights "for atmosphere." Like they were waiting around for you to come in and crack a book. Good thing I can read in the dark... Foul Grunting would be a good name for a Pogues cover band (I kid)... One of my weaknesses is I can't pass up a local library that's having a book sale. Just bought a new bookcase and already its full... Something I didn't think I'd see - a guy hitchhiking in the cold of a December Vermont day - during a pandemic. Guessing he was counting on someone he knew picking him up... I need to think more about the word Exquisite - also want to make more things in my life match the definition(s) of that word...
...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....
Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.
"A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well." - Georg Grey
"If you have everything under control, you're not moving fast enough." - Mario Andretti
"A happy person isn't someone who's happy all the time. It's someone who effortlessly interprets events in such a way that they don't lose their innate peace." - Naval Ravikant
"Every high civilization decays by forgetting obvious things." - G.K. Chesterton
"Many times an old man has no other evidence besides his age to prove he has lived a long time." - Seneca
"I wish I were dumber so I could be more certain about my opinions. It looks fun." - Scott Adams
"People often overestimate what they can accomplish in one year. But they greatly underestimate what they could accomplish in five years." - Peter Drucker
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Why is all COVID "news" bad? Because the MSM is hot garbage?
- With Neera Tanden choice, Democrats stick it to Bernie Sanders supporters.
- Reasons to be thankful (couple years old but the points still stand)
- Pretty good summation of Danny Ainge and the Celtic's offseason
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
COVID-19 and the lockdowns couldn't get Bitcoin prices to spike but the potential for a Biden Presidency certainly has. Bitcoin record price levels almost daily... I'm disappointed that this is just satire. I sincerely believe that you should be able to throw darts at anyone who plays The Christmas Shoes on a bar's jukebox... December 1st was World AIDS Day. Were you aware of that? That's how far we've come in making the disease "livable." When's the last time you saw anyone wearing one of those AIDS red ribbons?... In the near future the word "distaff" will be replaced by the word "nodick" because people in the not-so-distant future will be morons... I'm going to try to mix in the phrase "it's like trying to take blood from a penguin" today in conversation. No idea what that even means but I do like the way it sounds... FACT: Donald Trump has not been defeated in the Octagon by any other President living or dead. You can't argue with facts!...
Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos, comes off as a pure sociopath who was aided in evil by her second in command and boyfriend Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani. But it wasn't just those two - company counsel and Board of Directors member David Boies also comes off like a cartoon villain. Boies was knee-deep in crushing anyone who was unfavorable in their word or deed when it came to the company - no matter how correct that person was - that you can only assume he had to know the company was an out-and-out fraud. He had to know.
Boies you may recall was the lead attorney for Al Gore in his lawsuit over the 2000 Presidential election.
Perhaps it was reading this book at the same time the 2020 Presidential election is being contested that added to my anger. If you wanted proof that some in Silicon Valley would do absolutely anything to get what they wanted - this book is Exhibit A.
Another character in this tale that really took a beating, in my estimation, was General James Mattis who was also on the Theranos Board of Directors. "She [Elizabeth Holmes] has probably one of the most mature and well-honed sense of ethics - personal ethics, managerial ethics, business ethics, medical ethics that I ever heard articulated." Really General? You are either a fool or a fraud if you actually believed what you said.
Elizabeth Holmes' trial in federal court is set for March 2021. She faces up to 20-years in prison. I hope she serves every single day.
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
America's sustained competitive advantage stems from our vast natural resources and our freedoms. Of the two our freedoms are by far the most important and irreplaceable. And we are chipping away at the bedrock of our freedoms - sometimes it seems with sledgehammers... No need to call me Lord... Peter Gabriel's first choice for the female lead on the song Don't Give Up wasn't Kate Bush - it was Dolly Parton! Just another example of how legendary Dolly is... Sadly this is true!... Time to dust off my Ben Ben Theory. I have a theory that if you substituted Ben Stiller for Ben Affleck and vice versa in any of their movies - the movie would automatically become much more interesting to watch... You may be cool but you'll never be as cool as Debbie Harry lounging in her New York apartment under an Andy Warhol portrait of herself...
“We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library, whose walls are covered to the ceiling with books in many different languages. The child knows that someone must have written those books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the the languages in which they are written. The child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books, a mysterious order, which it does not comprehend but only dimly suspects.” - Albert Einstein
1. Donald Trump will announce he's running in 2024. There's certain protections and financial benefits to being a candidate for federal office and the Donald will avail himself of them. Trump will hold massive rallies around the country and build a massive campaign war-chest while doing so. Don't be surprised if most of these rallies are in places with weak Democratic Congressmen or States Trump carried with Democratic Senators up for re-election in 2022. This will greatly effect the balance of power in Congress as many vulnerable Democrats will tilt their votes center/right in order to get re-elected. This at the same time will stifle any Progressive Democratic agenda for at least the next two-years.
2. Trump will not actually run in 2024. He will be up there in age and I'm not even sure if he likes the job. The Republican nominee will be Mike Pence.because that's who Trump will throw his weight behind. Nobody gets to be the Republican nominee in 2024 without Trump's endorsement. My guess is Mike Pence's running mate will be either Nikki Haley, Richard Grenell, or Ted Cruz.
3. Trump will create a media empire. He will make Oprah look like a piker. A TV channel, perhaps exclusive streaming rights to his rallies, podcasts, radio, and other media. Trump may even put in a bid to buy CNN. And the anger about what has happened during this election will feed the interest. And Trump will be sure to keep that anger stoked (rightly so).
4. Trump in conjunction with Senator Lindsey Graham will not leave a single Federal judgeship unfilled prior to Inauguration Day. In fact you may actually see them convince some older judges to resign in order to install younger judges in their place. The Federal Judiciary will be Trump's biggest legacy.
5. Once Biden is in office you'll surely see a stream of commercials from different vendors on how gold is a great investment and hedge against a downturn in the economy. It will be a barrage of commercials and advertisements.
