Sunday, July 31, 2016

how old are you?


"How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?"
- Satchel Paige on breaking records when peers had long since retired

if you don't know someone ...


“If one does not understand a person, one tends to regard him as a fool.”

Friday, July 29, 2016

cousins


"This man used to the limit the powers granted to him by God."
- Eleanor Roosevelt

never make the first move


A strategy embraced by FDR and Steve Jobs.

Thursday, July 28, 2016

as common as a unicorn


"I never try to blow out someone else's candle to make mine brighter."
- Chelsea Handler

oddity


"They say life is too short, but I think it's eennnddleeesss."
- Amy Sedaris

Monday, July 25, 2016

on the impossible


"Stand under Niagara Falls and spit the water back."
-  Boss Platt

positive psychology


"By acting not afraid, I cease to be afraid."
- Theodore Roosevelt

eruption


A common belief was that chimps would be produced by inter-racial relationships.

Photograph by Garry Winogrand.

on the strenuous life


"Get action (to be) sane."
- Theodore Roosevelt

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

actions have consequences


"I fear we have awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve."
- Attributed perhaps incorrectly to Naval Marshal Yamamoto on the implications of attacking Pearl Harbor

on forgiving and forgetting


"Let bye-byes be bye-byes."
- Rickey Henderson

prescient



Howard Zinn here.

Monday, July 18, 2016

bambino



Reporter: How do you hit the long ball?

Babe Ruth: I don't know. I just swing at it.

Sunday, July 17, 2016

entertainment truism


"If our characters were perfect, there would be no show."

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

sounds like something he would say


"I against my brother, my brother and I against my cousin, and my cousin and I against the stranger."

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

what historians do


George W Bush left a bust of Churchill near his desk in the White House, in an attempt to associate himself with the war leader's heroic stand against fascism. Barack Obama had it returned to Britain. It's not hard to guess why: his Kenyan grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama, was imprisoned without trial for two years and was tortured on Churchill's watch, for resisting Churchill's empire.
Full article here.

The article says that Churchill's point of view wasn't common, but that was the foundation of George Orwell's work - it was pervasive.

Monday, July 11, 2016

denied


"You're not thinking. You're reacting."
- Carey Price goalie for the Montreal Canadiens

Sunday, July 10, 2016

on going second


"Don't ever be the first person to try anything."
- David Bowie as recalled by Gwyneth Paltrow

Saturday, July 9, 2016

The Art of War


"Bring down your opponent by any means. Bring him down by deception, by craft, through uncertainty, through insecurity - better to bring him down than to bring yourself down. Be mysterious rather than obvious. Pretend to be here when you are there. Be close when he thinks you're far, and far when he thinks you are close."

  • Be unpredictable
  • Be frightening
  • Be daring

Excerpted for Sun Tzu's 5th Century BC, The Art of War

Friday, July 8, 2016

courageous


"Courage is the ability to let go of something that makes you comfortable for something completely new. That's what's exciting about life."
- Luis Ortiz 

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

proceed with caution


"If you're gonna cross a one way street in New Orleans, look both ways."

how to make a dirty martini


If you are in the USA, watch video here.

Otherwise, combine these ingredients:
  • 1 ounce dry vermouth
  • 3 ounces vodka
  • 1-2 ounces olive juice
  • 3 blue cheese-stuffed green olives (optional)
  • ice (to serve)




Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Flaws


"An entirely virtuous person is not interesting."
- David McCullough

mouse house


"If you want to accelerate your chances of success, you've got to double your failure rate."
- Michael Eisner

Monday, July 4, 2016

as a jockey examines a horse


"In the American south, only 4% of slaves lived to be 60."
- Ken Burns

Friday, July 1, 2016

debatable


"The history of ideas is pretty much the history of people being wrong."
- Chuck Klosterman