A Large Regular

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

- Heh Heh

- If Covid-19 vaccinations can cause heart inflammation, caution should be warranted from those at risk. Written by some cardiologists. Problem is the drug companies are immune from getting sued because of any negative side effects from the vaccines. 

- Paul Graham: How to Work Hard. Excellent essay that is not only a must read but something that probably should be revisited periodically to get the full import.

- Excellent look at Ivermectin by Dr. John Campbell 

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"The trouble is, you think you have time." - Buddha

"Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The only end of writing is to enable readers better to enjoy life, or better to endure it." - Samuel Johnson

"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." - Albert Einstein

 "Reading for curiosity is better than reading for self improvement." - Shane Parrish 

"What we know is a drop, what we don't know is an ocean." - Isaac Newton

"A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds back." - Proverbs 29:11

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

If I were a billionaire I'd create a Journal of Boring but Verified Science. This article by Matt Clancy put the idea in my head. In no time the Journal of Boring but Verified Science would be the most trusted name in science... Heh Heh... I'd love to get on the 2024 Presidential election Democratic primary ballots in a number of  states as "Mr. Biggles" just to see how many votes I'd get. Given the choices that will probably be offered in that upcoming election - who wouldn't opt for cute Mr. Biggles?... Would it surprise anyone if the next Olympic cycle the USOC decides to defund the hammer throw completely thanks to the negative publicity brought by Gwen Berry turning her back on the national anthem? I mean the hammer thow has to be the least appealing of all the Olympic events anyway - who'd miss it?... Would it surprise anyone if Putin or China accused the Biden Administration of war crimes for their bombing of Syria? Putin is a master troll so I'd expect that to come from him (except he just got paid off with the Nordstream pipeline)... 

More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- EB White on "The Meaning of Democracy"

- VDH: The Cruel Progressive Creed Undoing Civilization

- How Roger Federer became the first $1 billion tennis player

- Glenn Greenwald on Biden's bombing of Syria

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

- Bari Weiss: Amazon's Woke Smokescreen. 

- This would be perfect! 

- Haven't bought any Nike products in a couple years and don't see that changing. Fuck Nike!

- Good Advice

- Noah Smith on the wealth of (Asian) nations

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

The English call French Toast "Eggy Bread." I think that term is vastly superior to French Toast... Hill I'll die on - the hardest thing to do in baseball is to bunt for the cycle...  Road test review of the new Ford Bronco. While the Bronco looks cool - two words missing from the article "Tesla Cybertruck." Cynic in me wondered if Ford is advertising in the print or online versions of Outside... The phrase "the number one movie in America" has never meant so little... Books make me horny... Did you know that Adam Smith planned to have two follow up books after The Wealth of Nations? The first was to be on literature and philosophy while the second was to be on law and government... 

Some quotes that I hope may resonate with you.

"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards." - Soren Kierkegard

"Early to bed and early to rise makes a man stupid and blind in the eyes." - Orson Scott Card

"I support anyone's right to be who they want to be. My question is; to what extent do I have to participate in your self image." - Dave Chappelle

"Be a free thinker and don't accept everything you hear as truth. Be critical and evaluate what you believe in." - Aristotle

"'Experts' said rising seas from climate change would leave the Maldive Islands underwater in 30 years. It's 32 years later. The Maldives are larger!" - Matt Ridley 

"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself." - George Bernard Shaw

Casablanca

The Quiet Man

Princess Bride

Godfather 1 and 2

Slapshot

Wizard of Oz

You've Got Mail

Shawshank Redemption

The Thin Man

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

There's probably more such as The Ten Commandments which was on TV every Easter growing up. Perhaps Gladiator has been seen 10 times. The Harry Potter films and the Marvel Universe movies have to be getting close.

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

- The Joys of Being a Lifelong Noob

- Interesting table. It's almost as if science is saying that women and men have different physiologies.  

- FDA Adds Warning About Heart Inflammation to Covid-19 mRNA Vaccines

- Milton Friedman's Smashing Success. (HT Newmark's Door)

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations. 

So if half the new Covid infections in Israel are among fully vaccinated adults - does that make having a vaccination a coinflip on whether you are protected or not? Serious risk assessment question... Think a good campaign slogan for Trump 2024 would be "Trump because at least then you'll know who is in charge"...  Heh Heh... "Standing outside the Cracker Barrel having a smoke" - if I ever write a country music song that'll be the first line... Say what you want about Lance Armstrong but without him the Tour de France basically needs a giant fan-caused crash in order to make the news in the US. Seriously did anyone realize that the Tour De France was going on before hearing that news?... 

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"No soldier outlives a thousand chances. But every soldier believes in Chance and trusts his luck." - Erich Maria Remarque

"Be orderly in your work life so you can be disorderly in your creative life." - Flaubert

"I have seen the rise and fall of Nazi tyranny, the subsequent cold war and the nuclear nightmare that for fifty years haunted the dreams of children everywhere. During that time my generation defeated totalitarianism. As a result, your world is poised for a better tomorrow. What will you do on your journey?" - Ronald Reagan

"The ultimate purpose of education is to change an empty mind into an open one." - Malcolm Forbes

"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it." - Howard Thurman

"Whatever else history may say about me when I'm gone, I hope that it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears." - Ronald Reagan

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

- The straw that cures the hiccups.

- Do Cannabis users have lower BMI and less risk of obesity than non-users?

- Bari Weiss: When a Free Society becomes a Police State. The closing of Apple Daily in Hong Kong was the biggest news of last week. And it happened with very little coverage from the MSM.

- Pretty cool

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

- Interesting potential wrinkle to the Aaron Rodgers saga in Green Bay

- Very Cool

- Marc Andreessen: Technology Saves the World

- Personally I think the fear of the "Great Resignation" may be a tad overblown

- Matt Taibbi: Ivermectin - Can a Drug be "Right-Wing"?

- Strange times we live in

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

"Solomon Grundy sober on Monday. Drunk on Tuesday." Hi Solomon... Who knew? Erwin Schrodinger didn't even own a cat... Do Jewish vampires avoid Stars of David the way goy vampires avoid crosses?... Still say that James Joyce's Ulysses should be renamed Fear and Loathing in Dublin... In AC/DC's classic song Whole Lotta Rosie released in 1977 Rosie weighed 19 stone which is 266 pounds. Rosie was probably fairly unique for her weight back then but today - not so much. That isn't progress... Wouldn't Billy Gates Gruff be a good title for the story of Microsoft's rise to power?... 

Here are some of my favorite Orwell quotes which are sadly still relevant today:

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

"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

"That rifle on the wall of the labourer's cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see it stays there." - George Orwell

"Autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful. A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats." - George Orwell

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

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." - George Orwell

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

- DNA testing found ZERO tuna DNA in Subway tuna sandwiches.

- Emperor Palpatine urges citizens to give up their blasters since they'd need a Death Star to beat the Empire.

- Steven Pressfield: The Understory in "Lawrence of Arabia"

- Noah Smith's Marc Andreessen interview.

Sideshow Bob, "But wait, if you saved Selma, why did the room explode?"

Chief Wiggum: "Me and the boys were celebrating a job well done," [cut to Wiggum, Homer, and a few cops smoking cigars] "When I threw my match in the vicinity of the crime scene."

The police start to take Sideshow Bob away, and he yells, "I'll be back. You can't keep the Democrats out of the White House forever. And when they get in, I'm back on the streets, with all my criminal buddies!" (Maniacal laughter).

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

WTF? China is our enemy and should be a pariah among all civilized nations. And why do I have to read about this in a foreign newspaper?... Prediction; the winner of the 2024 Presidential election will be the candidate (Democrat or Republican) that pushes the harshest tariffs or punishments on China for creating the Wuhan virus. I think that's an issue that will resonate with so much of the country as to be overwhelming... Think an added benefit to the Celtics hiring Ime Udoka as their new head coach is it actually weakens the New Jersey Nets at the same time. Doubtful if Brooklyn will be able to easily replace Udoka's presence and contributions... Would like to see Owen Wilson as the new James Bond. "Bond, Jim Bond. Wow!"... Is Elon Musk really living in a tiny house?  Boxabl looks like an interesting company... 

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

- Interesting - Tesla Model Y taxi fleet successfully blocked by NY commission. I thought the Green Nude Eel was being led by NY politicians? 

- Morgan Housel: Little Stories. Good stuff.

- That fans in Montreal may actually care about this is just another reason to root against the Canadiens.

- Michael McCann: Now that the Supreme Court has ruled 9-0 against them - what's next for the NCAA?

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Do I want the present moment to be my friend or enemy? The present moment is inseparable from life, so you are really deciding what kind of relationship you want to have with life." - Eckhart Tolle

"The NCAA's business model would be flatly illegal in almost any other industry in America." - Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh

"A year from now, you will wish you had started today." - Karen Lamb

"In the end, winning is sleeping better." - Jodie Foster

"Life would be tragic if it weren't so funny." - Stephen Hawking

"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." - Marcus Aurelius

"When art critics get together they talk about Form and Structure and Meaning. When artists get together they talk about where you can buy cheap turpentine." - Picasso

More stuff I've found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- And this is without inflation (HT American Digest) 

- Glenn Greenwald: Valid questions about the FBI's involvement in 1/6 exist. Why aren't they being answered? Not a conspiracy theorist but Occam's Razor says that the FBI was involved.

- This is scary! US nuclear weapon bunker security secrets spill from online flashcards since 2013. (HT Borepatch)

- Mike Lombardi: The Plight of "The Process." I actually feel bad for 76er fans.

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations. 

Wonder what Division 1 AA football college teams (I refuse the call it FCS) will advertise that they will schedule games against Power 5 teams just for the big paydays of a million dollars plus but that they would split the payday with the players on the roster the day of the game. That would certainly help with recruiting for that team, "Sure we may get humiliated by Alabama but you walk away with $17K in your pocket." You know that day is shortly coming... Another example of why I'm such a big fan of Justice Clarence Thomas... Tom Brady is about to enter his 21st pro season. I wonder if Larry Bird, who played 13 seasons, was able to stretch things to 21 seasons (like Vince Carter) if he too would have changed teams?... Good for GameStop... Was thinking about this act of kindness and class the other day. In 1982 Red Auerbach used the Boston Celtics 10th round selection to pick Indiana's Landon Turner who was paralyzed shortly after Indiana won the NCAA title in 1981. Auerbach made the pick both as a favor to his friend Bobby Knight but also because it was a nice thing to do for a player who was sure to have been a first round selection before tragedy struck...  

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

- Bari Weiss: The Books are Already Burning. I support Abigail Shrier.  

- VDH: The Biden No-Go Zones

- Enjoy the Perks of Private Flying - Without the Price Tag

- Matt Ridley: Flawed Modeling is Condemning Britain to Lockdown 

The above quote reminds me of the quote from Samuel Johnson, "I hate mankind, for I think of myself one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am."

I do not agree with the premise of either quote. The authors of such quotes were no doubt too hard on themselves or too cynical about mankind. I believe that most people are good and those who are not are the exceptions or normal people who have been placed in circumstances that have warped their natures.

Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization by Edward Slingerland. This just arrived and I haven't had a chance to crack it open yet. 

The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War by Malcolm Gladwell. 

Quick read, glad I read it but I can't recommend it. Surprised that Dan Carlin (of Hardcore History) enjoyed it so much.

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

- Noah Smith: Losing sight of the Future. Noah misses the mark - the main reason for the apparent pessimism about the future is the media who only pushes negative story lines. "Doom scrolling" as Tim Ferriss puts it. AOC says the world will end in 12-years because of climate change and she gets max play in the news. CRT pushes that everything in America is racist and if you disagree you're a racists and also banned on the social media platforms. Etc, etc.

- In October 2020 the Great Barrington Declaration was released. Over 50,000 scientists and healthcare professionals signed it (listen to the science - remember) yet the Declaration and signers were mocked by the media (not refuted - mocked). Read it today and it's just common sense - just as it was in October 2020.. 

- Cool - The Louvre's entire collection is now online. I added the link to my sidebar so I can check the Louvre on a regular basis. (HT Steven Landry)

- Good review of the Supreme Court's ruling against the NCAA and what it may mean.

 Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"I don't plan to wear a mask for anything after July 4th. If your business requires it, don't expect my money." - Scott Adams

"Let us not postpone anything, let us engage in combats with life each day." - Seneca

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein

"Black holes are where God divided by zero." - Steven Wright

"My body is not a temple, it is a Catholic church. Full of wine, bread and guilt." - Helen Ingram

"When they say trust the science. What they mean is don't ask questions." - Oliver Cantin

"There is no such thing as work-life balance. There is only your life. Spend it on things you care about and find meaningful." - Max Hodak

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

- Very cool bank heist story. (HT Daddy Pundit) 

- Fantastic form (but please do not try this at home or at your gym - at least the part with the chocolate milk)

- The older I get the more this is my attitude.

- Matt Taibbi: Why has "Ivermectin" become a dirty word?

- Think I found what I'm putting on my tombstone

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"You're going to die one day, and none of this is going to matter. So enjoy yourself. Do something positive. Project some love. Make someone happy. Laugh a little bit. Appreciate the moment. And do your work." - Naval Ravikant

"To break sharply with the past is to court the madness that may follow the shock of sudden blows or mutilations." - Will and Ariel Durant

"If you have a problem that can be fixed, there is no use in worrying. If you have a problem that cannot be fixed, there is no use in worrying." - Buddhist proverb

"It's almost impossible to predict the future. But it's also unnecessary, because 'most people are living in the past.' All you have to do is see the present before everyone else does." - Jason Crawford

"I was raised to honor my flag and my country." - General Chuck Yeager

"The middle class, as well as the rich, began to distrust democracy as empowered envy, and the poor distrusted it as a sham equality of votes nullified by gaping inequality of wealth." - Will and Ariel Durant

Some Venn Diagrams I found amusing:

- Things that killed Roman emperors

- Your Grandfather

- Literature

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

- Some physics humor

- Scientific journals and scientists not exactly covering themselves in glory

- Pretty clever 

- How to spend less time on email. Don't agree with all the suggestions but overall helpful.

- Has the "doom" of California been overblown? An opinion piece that reads like propaganda from the California Chamber of Commerce.  

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Perhaps Donald Trump's greatest historical achievement is that he took Hillary Clinton completely out of the political equation. Think about it - when's the last time you heard mentioned Hillary's name about anything. Thank you Mister President!... I admit to being e-Bike curious... The soap opera-like implosion of the Dallas Mavericks is mesmerizing. The firing of the long-time GM. The resigning of the long-time coach. The influence of the former gambler know-it-all who is portrayed as the Rasputin to Cuban's Czar. Fascinating. So much going on that the sexual harassment organizational dumpster fire that existed under Cuban has largely been forgotten (but not by everyone)... Are we getting close to the point where Impeachment becomes a big campaign issue in the 2022 Congressional races? At what point did it become a big issue in the 2018 Congressional races? There's a lot more to go on than there was in 2018 such as Hunter Biden's influence peddling with payouts to the "Big Guy" than there were back then too. How soon before we get sitting Democrat Congressmen being asked if they would vote to impeach?..   

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Violent revolutions do not so much redistribute wealth as destroy it." - Will and Ariel Durant

"History reports that the men who can manage men manage the men who can manage only things, and the men who can manage money manage all." - Will Durant

"The only real revolution is in the enlightenment of the mind and the improvement of character, the only real emancipation is individual, and the only real revolutionists are philosophers and saints." - Will and Ariel Durant  

"If Rationalism wishes to govern the world without regard to the religious needs of the soul, the experience of the French Revolution is there to teach us the consequences of such a blunder." - Renan

"The responsibility is all yours; no one can stop you from being honest or straightforward." - Marcus Aurelius 

"Focus is not something you aspire to... or something you do on Monday. It's something you do every minute." - Jony Ivy 

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

- You have to admit he has a point

- VDH: A Chinese Lab Virus? So Now What?  And saying, "C'mon man" is not a proper response to the question.

- Interesting look at why the new 12-team college football playoff actually benefits Notre Dame

- I found this funnier than I should have

- Morgan Housel: Harder than it looks, not as fun as it seems

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I can see the trend for some companies trying to inject new life into old franchises by simply adding the word Plus or symbol + to the name. So look forward to the re-branding of a bunch of companies like Sears Plus or Barnes and Noble+ in the near future... This is true... A decade ago this month the Los Angeles Dodgers filed for bankruptcy. Now the Dodgers are worth an estimated $3.57 billion (back in 2011 they were worth "just" $800 million)... Cthulhu doesn't play dice with the universe (is that how the quote goes?)... Did a dingo eat your baby?... Journalists are so ego-centric that they called the White House Correspondents Dinner the "nerd prom" but Comic Con was the true nerd prom all along. And nerds will be happy to know that after a year away - the prom is back on this summer... 

More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Glenn Reynolds on how to fix voting in the US. Agree 100%.

- Excellent book review of Malcolm Gladwell's The Bomber Mafia. The review provides the history, background and details that gives flesh to the misgivings I had when reading the book.

- Holy crap - I bet this works!  (Via)

- This made me laugh

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

- FDA approves "Game Changer" weight loss drug. This was also recently discussed on a recent Tim Ferriss podcast with Dr. Peter Attia. Fascinating development. 

- 10 Global Trends every smart person should know

- 1964 letter from Campbell Soup to Andy Warhol

- Today's MUST read. From Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie taken from this essay. Give 'em hell Chimamanda! "I just tell them the truth and they think it's hell."

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Did I miss a memo from about a year ago when it was decided all waitstaff will respond "Of course" to any request or you saying "Thank you?" Did this come from Canada like a couple of decades ago when people all started saying "Thanks so much?"... For the record - I did not order the Code Red. You're goddamn right I didn't!... Who knew? Tim Burton's first choice to play the title role in the movie Beetlejuice was Sammy Davis Jr... This joke would be funnier if it wasn't so accurate; "You can always tell a guy who masturbates a lot by looking at his hands. If you look closely - you'll see a wedding ring"... With summer upon us here's a handy tip. In the wilderness dusk with crickets chirping in harmony - if you count the number of chirps in in 15 seconds and then add 40 you'll get the air temperature in degrees Fahrenheit... My two word response to people who ask me why I support the death penalty - Jerry Sandusky... 

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

- VDH: Anatomy of Woke Madness

- Always makes me chuckle.

- This also made me chuckle

- Noah Smith: Covid doom predictions that never happened 

- Habits vs. Goals: A Look at the Benefits of a Systematic Approach to Life

- How to Write Creative Fiction: Umberto Eco's Four Rules

- Seizing the Middle: Chess Strategy in Business

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

- Batman played by Joe Pesci

- The facts even according to the CDC 

- Life expectancy 1900 to 2019

- Not that there's anything wrong with that

- Noah Smith: The terrific triviality of Twitter. I'm a bit bemused by those who have major issues with Twitter. If someone is a meathead - don't follow them. If an idiot annoys you - mute them. Simple.

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Sadly, many new nursing homes will have to be built to house the growing number of obese elderly. These new nursing homes will have extra wide hallways and rooms to accommodate all the Rascal-type personal mobility vehicles people are becoming dependent on... Jacob DeGrom of the Mets has been having a historic season. His ERA is a microscopic 0.56 and incredibly he has more RBI (5) than earned runs allowed (4)... Delicious Baby Seals would be a good name for something - just not sure what. .. Jack Dempsey said the only man he ducked fighting when he was heavyweight champ was Ernest Hemingway. He didn't want to hurt the writer who was intent on sparring with him... MMA Jesus would be a good name for a Christian rock band... 

"If everyone puts their problems out on the table, you'll pick yours back up real quick." - Chris Bosh

The above quote reminds me of some of the best advice I ever received. My first job out of college was selling business phone systems and one day I was having a particularly difficult time with my cold calling. My sales manager was Bob Campbell who saw I was having a rough time so he asked me to join him outside while he had a smoke. "Chris," he said as he lit up his Marlboro, "I want you to take a close look at the next 20 people who walk past. Now ask yourself if you'd want to swap lives with any of those people." The answer of course was "No" and the exercise help me gain perspective. I've never forgotten that little lesson.

Thought I'd share. 

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

- David Simon's original pitch to HBO for The Wire

- Noah Smith with an interesting look at innovation and employment

- 15 things you may not know about Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man

- The "experts" on inflation.

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"I've been a rebel all my life, against tyranny and arrogant authority, which is what we have now." - Eric Clapton

"Determination mixed with resourcefulness is nearly unstoppable." - Shane Parrish

"You always own the option of having no opinion." - Marcus Aurelius

"Patience is a competitive advantage. In a surprising number of fields, you can find success if you are simply willing to do the reasonable thing longer than most people." - James Clear

"Bitter are the roots of study, but how sweet their fruit." - Cato

"The odds of an academic "researcher" producing anything eventually used by society is of the order of .00001%. That includes scientists. The odds for a baker: 100%." - Nassim Taleb 

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

- Cool - I want one! 

- US Senate pledges diplomatic boycott of Beijing Olympics. It's bi-partisan and I support this 100%.

- Noah Smith with some interesting social statistics.

- Top 10 Media Lies

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Generations of men establish a growing mastery over the earth, but are destined to become fossils in its soil." - Will and Ariel Durant

"Only six people in the Galaxy knew that the job of the Galactic President was not to wield power but to attract attention away from it." - Douglas Adams

"In the end China went her own way as if the Americans had never come." - Barbara Tuchman

"Animals eat one another without qualm; civilized men consume one another by due process of law." - Will and Ariel Durant

"The duty of a foreign service officer is to report the truth as he sees it without adjusting it to American domestic considerations." - Raymond Ludden (1945)

"'Aspiring' is not a word you want in your obituary." - Aaron Haspel

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

- Iran is evil. We should not be doing any deals with them.

- It Can't Be Transitory. Interesting take on compensation.

- Traffic fatalities up 7.2% last year even as Americans drove 13% fewer miles because of lockdowns.

-  40 million will have to resume making student loan payments October 1st. Many of these folks will enjoy the summer but then be broke come Christmas as the loan payments crush their new budgets.

- Great Point!

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"If you give someone a program, you will frustrate them for a day; if you teach them how to program, you will frustrate them for a lifetime." - David Leinweber

"The world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel." - Horace Walpole

"Remember there's no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end." - Scott Adams

"Very smart people tend to be weird since they insist on thinking everything through for themselves." - Naval Ravikant

"Devote the rest of your life to making progress." - Epictetus

"The present is the past rolled up for action, and the past is the present unrolled for understanding." - Ariel Durant

"When the universe has crushed him man will still be nobler than that which kills him, because he knows that he is dying, and of its victory the universe knows nothing." - Pascal

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

- My new favorite custom jersey (and yes I have the sense of humor of a 12-year old boy)

- Matt Taibbi: Let the Apes have Wall Street

- Heh Heh

- Borepatch: Why Voting No Longer Matters. A pretty dark perspective (but not without merit) 

- Some The Wire humor

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I'm still surprised that Donald Trump wigs never became a fad or an ironic fashion trend... Zaphod Beeblebrox for President 2024: A Name You Know... If you think about it - shoplifting food is both hunting and gathering... Fame is fleeting. Twenty-years ago most American college students' views on current affairs were shaped by Jon Stewart and The Daily Show. Today if you polled current college student's I'm guessing Jon Stewart's name recognition may be about 10%. Too bad the damage is already done... China claims that nobody from the Wuhan lab ever even caught the virus and Iran claims that there are no homosexuals in their entire country. Not sure which claim is more unbelievable... 

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

- Tyler Cowen - DeFi is Crypto's Killer App

- Is it bad that I really want these windshield wipers?

- For the beginner birdwatcher in your life

- VDH: This Isn't Your Father's Left-Wing Revolution 

Last night the Boston Bruins were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs after a lackluster 6-2 loss to the New York Islanders. I feel so unsatisfied. 

I really felt this Bruins team had the capability to compete for the Cup. I was wrong.

There were countless missed scoring chances (including multiple whiffs at open nets). Countless defensive miscues that led to Islander goals. And most of the goals against the Bruins were soft.

This series has brought me to the conclusion that it is time for Boston to move on from Tuukka Rask. Yes Tuukka is the franchise's greatest goalie in its storied history but the time has come. Let's see what the kid Jeremy Swayman can do.  

This morning I will dutifully shave my playoff beard and next week I will be paying my bookie. I feel so unsatisfied.

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)... 

The book parallels the careers of General Haywood S. Hansell and General Curtis LeMay. Hansell is admired by Gladwell while LeMay clearly is not. Gladwell tries to remain objective but cannot hide his disdain of the death and destruction that rained down on the population centers of Japan under LeMay. The fire-bombing of Tokyo and the estimated 100,000 deaths that resulted clearly bothers him. 

Sorry Malcolm but war is hell.

I kept thinking about how amusing a debate between Gladwell and Victor Davis Hanson (who is very pro Curtis LeMay) on the subject would be.

I enjoyed the read but doubt if I'd pick the book up again to re-read.

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

- Heh Heh

- Steven Pressfield: What Business are We In?

- Matt Taibbi and the Liberal Apostates of the Left. I'm comfortable reading writers from the Left like Matt Taibbi and writers from the Right like Victor Davis Hanson because they have earned my confidence that they are presenting intelligent, honest opinions on things. That honesty and intelligence are increasingly in short supply.

- Cool tidbit of history.

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"We are pleased, not only with praise, but with having done what is praise worthy." - Adam Smith

"As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do." - Andrew Carnegie

"If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking." - Haruki Murakami

"The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek." - Joseph Campbell

"The purpose of learning isn't to affirm our beliefs; it's to evolve our beliefs." - Adam Grant

"You cannot live a free life without having your own thoughts." - Justice Clarence Thomas

"Those that are easily offended should be offended more often." - Mae West

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Interesting that some people seem so surprised that Jeff Bezos and his brother are going into space on the rockets Bezos' company Blue Origin makes. A guy who is so fascinated by space that he builds a rocket company wants to go to space is surprising or is news? Really?...  Under the Biden Administration is it OK to pay your taxes in primal screams? Seems like that should be an option... Good question: Why was Dr. Fauci put in charge of the Covid-19 pandemic after his disastrous HIV epidemic performance? I have to imagine that now that Fauci has little political benefit to Democrats - they are going to let him burn at the stake when the pitchforks come for him... So do you remember all those awful predictions that were supposed to come be be if the English passed Brexit? Yeah those who made those predictions weren't held accountable either... 

More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Actually does make a lot of sense

- Morgan Housel: Getting the Goalpost to Stop Moving. The power of expectations! 

- Naval Ravikant: Rational Optimism is the way out

- Paul Graham: A Project of One's Own

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

- Was mask wearing pointless? Fauci should be made to answer

- Why Body building at age 93 is a great idea.

- VDH: The Lethal Wages of Trump Derangement Madness

- A closer look at the Dunbar number

- Are petards also made from petroleum products because North Face just got hoisted by their own.

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Curious to see if the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation retains its name after the divorce or if we get a separate  Bill Gates Foundation and Melinda Gates Foundation's going forward. It would be interesting to follow which foundation supports which charities...  Love this photo. In my mind I call it "Meanwhile in Biden's America" or alternatively "The Looming National Debt." Either one fits... Maybe it's still early or could be the pandemic or maybe a major switch to clear carbonated alcohol has significantly impacted the supply of summer shandy beers. I've yet to see a bar or restaurant carrying any and normally by now I'd be swimming in Del's Summer Shandy or Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy... Not for nothing but we still don't know specifically who ordered Gina Carano fired at Disney. That nobody has taken "credit" by now is a real indication that somebody messed up...  

Work hard.

Don't spend too much.
Save the difference.
Invest.
Low costs. 
Long term.

Really isn't more complicated than that.

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

- A picture is worth one thousand words

- "The Democratic Party has become the party not of science, but of fealty to the clerics of science." 

- Scott Adams on Ivermectin

- James Watt - hero of progress

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life." - Eckhart Tolle

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." - Theodore Roosevelt

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started." - Mark Twain

"Isn't it funny that day by day, nothing changes but when you look back, everything is different." C.S. Lewis

"To be completely cured of newspapers, spend a year reading the previous week's newspapers." - Nassim Taleb

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." - Charles Darwin

"It is by will alone that I set my mind in motion." - Dune

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

- Why environmentalists cause climate change. Beware anyone who believes in an apocalyptic climate change future but is also against nuclear power. They are either a moron or running a con game. 

- Heh Heh

- Heh Heh - LeBron "Me and my team have decided to boycott the playoffs in the name of social justice."

- The mRNA vaccine revolution is just beginning.

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Sometimes success is 3% brains and 97% not getting distracted by the Internet." - Shane Parrish

"Can you remember who you were, before the world told you who you should be?" - Charles Bukowski

"Every high civilization decays by forgetting obvious things." - G.K. Chesterton

"It is not enough to have great qualities, we should also have the management of them." - Francois de La Rochefoucauld

"You go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time." - Donald Rumsfeld

"Everyone seems to think the censorship movement won't come for them. If you think for yourself, it eventually will." - Matt Taibbi

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I consider myself a realist. I was never afraid of a virus that could make me sick but was 99.9% non-lethal for people in my demographic. However, being realistic the lack of current Covid cases in the US probably has a lot to do with the warm weather and people getting outside. You never see many cases of the flu in late spring early summer either. That said I also won't be panicking if there's an uptick in cases once cold and flu season rolls around... Someday we'll learn that the woke virus Ghostbusters 2016 was accidently released from a lab... As an aside - any national sportswriter who refers to Boston as "Beantown" I automatically dismiss as not knowing jack shit... I remember they announced a female Dr. Who and then I never heard about Dr. Who again... Clickbait Hobgoblins would be a good name for a band or a blog that focused on nothing but Fake News...  

- Karl Popper on the Line Between Science and Pseudoscience

- Why You Should Stop Reading the News

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

More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Glenn Greenwald: FBI's strange anthrax investigation sheds light on COVID lab leak theory and Fauci's emails.

- Heh Heh

- VDH: Living in Our Kingdom of Lies

- Heh Heh

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"There was never any lockdown - there were just middle class people hiding while working class people brought them things." - JJ Charlesworth

"Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom." - George S. Patton

"Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else." - Judy Garland

"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

"The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking." - Albert Einstein

"I'm old enough to remember life pre-Internet. There were only three largely identical television networks (plus PBS if you lived near enough communists, which I didn't)." - Marc Andreessen

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

- Matt Taibbi: Congratulations Elitists - Liberals and Conservatives do have common interests now. Put another way - people with brains on the Left and Right are fed up with the morons. 

- Captain Billy's Wiz Bang. A cool bit of Americana.

- What excuse can you possibly have?

- Glenn Greenwald: The new domestic War on Terror has already begun. Reading this article this song kept playing in my head.

- Visualizing the Snowball of Government Debt. This scares me.

Today marks the 79th anniversary of the Battle of Midway - a battle sited by most historians as the turning point in the Pacific in World War II. Below is a good article on the history of the Battle of Midway and its significance.