Some Common Sense, and Federer's "Liquid Whip"
Thomas Paine, our political activist, philosopher, political theorist, and revolutionary, joined us on this day in 1737. He wrote the endlessly quotable, Common Sense.
Rep. Jamie Raskin- “Tom Paine, luminary patriot of the Enlightenment and the American Revolution, inspired people in the colonies not only to overthrow the tyranny of faraway kings but to launch a nation founded on principles of democratic self-government, the rights of men and of women, and reason and science. Despite his catalytic role in founding America and our constitutional republic based on common sense, Paine remains too often an overlooked and underappreciated figure in our history."
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I could watch the best of Federer/Nadal for hours. Waking up at 530 tomorrow morning to hopefully see Nadal beat Medvedev at the Australian Open. (Figuring I can miss the first two sets vs waking up at 330.)
https://fb.watch/ima_VGf5Ac/?mibextid=NnVzG8
January 29, 2022
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So Dershowitz wants the world to know that we can't remove a president from office, even if they abuse their power to help themselves win reelection. If that is a proven fact, he says it is not impeachable. You know, like all non-banana republics.
Now let's take a step back... Trump is a US citizen, and he has the right to hire a lawyer to defend him. But if THAT is the best defense his lawyer can come up with, he's guilty on the surface!
It's as if I rob a bank and have my lawyer say, "my client bought a gun, walked into a bank, pointed the gun at the teller, demanded all the money, took the money, and killed everyone. And that's non-imprisonable."
That's precisely what prisons are for! And impeachments. I mean Dershowitz has to say something, and I guess this just might be the best possible defense- he did it!
January 29, 2020
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On Sam Harris's podcast David Frum says he's reluctant to make political predictions. It resigns you to the role of the spectator. Instead of trying to figure out what will happen, instead try to figure out how you will make something happen.
January 29, 2018
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Trump has orange skin, yellow hair, a blue suit, a red tie, and his pockets are full of green. That's 5/6 of the rainbow. Trump's underpants are purple- I believe it, so it's true.
January 29, 2017
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Chris Christie on Trump- "...a lonely, self-consumed, self-serving mirror hog.”
Pity him, dreaming of himself all day.
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Saw an idiot on crutches slip on some ice and fall down flat on the sidewalk. I laughed. Then I got up, and kept walking, and kept hurting.
January 29, 2011
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On this day in 1839, Charles Darwin married Emma Wedgwood. Here's his pro and con list for getting married from earlier in his life.
This is the Question [circled in pencil]
Marry
Children — (if it Please God) — Constant companion, (& friend in old age) who will feel interested in one, — object to be beloved & played with. — better than a dog anyhow.– Home, & someone to take care of house — Charms of music & female chit-chat. — These things good for one’s health. — but terrible loss of time. —
My God, it is intolerable to think of spending one’s whole life, like a neuter bee, working, working, & nothing after all. — No, no won’t do. — Imagine living all one’s day solitarily in smoky dirty London House. — Only picture to yourself a nice soft wife on a sofa with good fire, & books & music perhaps — Compare this vision with the dingy reality of Grt. Marlbro’ St.
Not Marry
Freedom to go where one liked — choice of Society & little of it. — Conversation of clever men at clubs — Not forced to visit relatives, & to bend in every trifle. — to have the expense & anxiety of children — perhaps quarelling — Loss of time. — cannot read in the Evenings — fatness & idleness — Anxiety & responsibility — less money for books &c — if many children forced to gain one’s bread. — (But then it is very bad for ones health[19] to work too much)
Perhaps my wife wont like London; then the sentence is banishment & degradation into indolent, idle fool —
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"The Raven" was first published on this day in 1945 in The Evening Mirror in New York.
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The Bear River Massacre took place on this day in 1863 when a detachment of California Volunteers killed hundreds of Shoshone men, women and children at Bear River in present-day Washington.
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Karl Benz patented the first successful gasoline-driven automobile on this day in 1886.
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The Baseball Hall of Fame's first inductees were announced on this day in 1936, including Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, Cy Young, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, Tris Speaker, and more. Quite a lineup!
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Dr. Strangelove was released on this day in 1964.
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On this day in 2002, in his State of the Union address, President George W. Bush described "regimes that sponsor terror" as an Axis of evil, in which he includes Iraq, Iran and North Korea. Thanks a lot Frum!
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The cheery Russian playwright and short story writer, Anton Chekhov, joined us on this day in 1860.
"What a fine weather today! Can’t choose whether to drink tea or to hang myself."
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They even cheerier actor, comedian, and screenwriter, W. C. Fields, join us on this day in 1880.
"Start every day off with a smile and get it over with."
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Edward Abbey joined us on this day in 1927.
"Better a cruel truth than a comfortable delusion."
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Yips victim Steve Sax was born on this day in 1960.
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Roller Girl Heather Graham joined us on this day in 1970.
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Total loser Paul Ryan was born the same day, one of the few guys who had the opportunity to move the needle against Trump, chose to do nothing, and was then forced out.
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William McKinley (1843), Ernst Lubitsch (1892), Victor Mature (1913), Paddy Chayefsky (1923), Katharine Ross (1940), Tommy Ramone (1949), Oprah Winfrey (1954)
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Political journalist and critic, H. L. Mencken, left us on this day in 1956.
"A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin."
His last words were, "Remember me to my friends, tell them I'm a hell of a mess."
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The poet Robert Frost left us on this day in 1963.
"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on."
Hmmm.
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Alan Ladd left us on this day in 1964. Here are his unfortunate last words:
"I'm working myself to death."
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Comedian Freddie Prinze did what he said he was going to do on this day in 1977, and ended it all. I remember strolling through one of the Hollywood graveyards one time and finding his grave.
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Steven Wayne Anderson was executed on this day in 2002, at San Quentin. He murdered Elizabeth Lyman and admitted to the killings of at least eight other people, including a fellow inmate and at least seven contract killings.
His last meal- two grilled cheese sandwiches, a pint of cottage cheese, a Hominy/corn mixture, peach pie, chocolate-chip ice cream, and radishes.
No last words are recorded.
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The earth and moon in a single frame, at a distance of 3 million miles.
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US Uncut- Top psychologist just diagnosed Trump's mental disorder.
They say they've seen enough of him in public to make their determination indisputably.
"Malignant Narcissists will go to great lengths to achieve their aim. They can be intelligent, high functioning (hold an important job for example) soft-spoken, charming, tearful/seemingly emotional, gracious, well mannered, kind and have the ability to form relationships. They may lie, falsely accuse, dramatize, smear, cheat, steal, manipulate, accuse, blame or twist to get what they want and feel justified in doing so. Because they are entitled, egocentric and desperate, they do not experience it as wrong. They are determined to gratify their wishes and furious if thwarted. Their desire can be so consuming that there is little comprehension of, respect for or ability to empathize with the other. They lack guilt or remorse and tend to feel or pronounce that it is they who have been mistreated."
http://usuncut.com/politics/top-psychologist-just-diagnosed-trump-mental-disorder/
January 29, 2017
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H.L. Mencken again- "As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
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“Trump will shorten the time it takes for us to achieve our goals." -ISIS fighter
Of course it will, he ran on killing the terrorists' families and torture. Blueprint for radicalism.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/mikegiglio/we-talked-to-people-who-fought-for-isis-this-is-how-they-pla
January 29, 2017
Postscript- ISIS was eradicated under Trump, but I still can't say that advocating killing terrorists' families, and torture, justifies the ends.
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The Independent- China military official: War with US under Donald Trump 'becoming practical reality'
Somehow I think this has something to do specifically with Trump...maybe because he's so successful, rich and smart.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-donald-trump-war-us-military-official-practical-reality-president-latest-a7550601.html
January 29, 2017
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Oh these guys. The stuff of nightmares. Flying through a 2 meter gap in a rock in a wingsuit
http://www.slate.com/articles/video/video/2015/07/man_base_jumps_through_narrow_hole_in_alpine_mountainside_in_wingsuit_video.html
https://youtu.be/jY-UrrfNCR0
January 29, 2017
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The Atlantic- A Clarifying Moment in American History
A hopeful take on things, not sure how it will reflect reality.
"In the end, however, he will fail. He will fail because however shrewd his tactics are, his strategy is terrible—The New York Times, the CIA, Mexican Americans, and all the others he has attacked are not going away. With every act he makes new enemies for himself and strengthens their commitment; he has his followers, but he gains no new friends. He will fail because he cannot corrupt the courts, and because even the most timid senator sooner or later will say “enough.” He will fail most of all because at the end of the day most Americans, including most of those who voted for him, are decent people who have no desire to live in an American version of Tayyip Erdogan’s Turkey, or Viktor Orban’s Hungary, or Vladimir Putin’s Russia."
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/a-clarifying-moment-in-american-history/514868/
January 29, 2017
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I'm waking up at 4am to watch Federer play Djokovic. I re-read this 2006 article every so often.
New York Times- Roger Federer as Religious Experience by David Foster Wallace
"The metaphysical explanation [for his ascendency] is that Roger Federer is one of those rare, preternatural athletes who appear to be exempt, at least in part, from certain physical laws. Good analogues here include Michael Jordan,(7) who could not only jump inhumanly high but actually hang there a beat or two longer than gravity allows, and Muhammad Ali, who really could “float” across the canvas and land two or three jabs in the clock-time required for one. There are probably a half-dozen other examples since 1960. And Federer is of this type — a type that one could call genius, or mutant, or avatar. He is never hurried or off-balance. The approaching ball hangs, for him, a split-second longer than it ought to. His movements are lithe rather than athletic. Like Ali, Jordan, Maradona, and Gretzky, he seems both less and more substantial than the men he faces. Particularly in the all-white that Wimbledon enjoys getting away with still requiring, he looks like what he may well (I think) be: a creature whose body is both flesh and, somehow, light."
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/sports/playmagazine/20federer.html
January 29, 2020
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Ben Franklin's Guide to Making Difficult Decisions- make a plus/minus chart, stew on them, weigh them, cross out equals, come to a determination weighing those left. I remember learning about this in middle school and I've done it my whole life. See the addendum for Ben Franklin's actual words.
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Free Think- 3 rules to express your thoughts so that everyone will understand you
-Never make more than 3 points
-Explain difficult ideas 3 ways
-Make important points 3 times
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TED Talk- How to live to be 100+, by Dan Buettner
1. Natural physical activity
2. Right Outlook- downshift, purpose within their vocabulary... "ikigai" i.e. your purpose for being alive
3. Eat wisely- wine at 5, plant based, don't overeat
4. Connect- family including aging parents, church-type thing once a week, right tribe
https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_buettner_how_to_live_to_be_100
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Norm MacDonald- “Comedy is surprises, so if you’re intending to make somebody laugh and they don’t laugh, that’s funny.”
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Mark Twain- "I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened."
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Gavin de Becker, The Gift of Fear:
Let’s go one step deeper in this exploration
of fear: In the 1960’s there was a study done
that sought to determine which single word
has the greatest psychological impact on
people. Researchers tested reactions to
words like spider, snake, death, rape, incest,
murder. It was the word shark that elicited
the greatest fear response. But why do
sharks, which human beings come in contact
with so rarely, frighten us so profoundly?
The seeming randomness of their strike is
part of it. So is the lack of warning, the fact
that such a large creature can approach si¬
lently and separate body from soul so dispas¬
sionately. To the shark, we are without iden¬
tity, we are no more than meat, and to hu¬
man beings the loss of identity is a type of
death all by itself. In his book Great White
Shark, Jean-Michel Cousteau calls the shark
“the most frightening animal on earth,” but
there is, of course, an animal far more
dangerous.
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Edward Gorey:
The Suicide, as she is falling,
Illuminated by the moon,
Regrets her act, and finds appalling
The thought she will be dead so soon.
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Edgar Allan Poe- "And being so young and dipped in folly, I fell in love with melancholy."
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William Morris- "The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life."
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Annie Dillard- “An Inuit hunter asked the local missionary priest: ‘If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?’ ‘No, said the priest,’ ‘not if you did not know.’ ‘Then why,’ asked the Inuit earnestly, ‘did you tell me?’"
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Ricky Gervais- "Remember, when you are dead, you do not know you are dead. It is only painful for others. The same applies when you are stupid."
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Paracelsus- "The beginning of wisdom is the beginning of supernatural power."
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Kurt Cobain- "Dreaming of the person you want to be is wasting the person you already are."
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Alexandre Dumas-fils- “All generalizations are dangerous, even this one.”
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Dorothy Parker- "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy."
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Robert Asprin- "I am not a slow writer, I am not a fast writer . . . I am a half-fast writer."
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Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club- "It took my whole life to buy this stuff."
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Zbigniew Brzezinski- "History is much more the product of chaos than of conspiracy."
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Orwell- "Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them."
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Patton Oswalt- "On the Star Wars prequels: “I don’t give a shit where the stuff I love comes from! I just love the stuff I love! Hey, do you like Angelina Jolie? Does she give you a big boner? Well, here’s Jon Voight’s ball sack!”"
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Pete Seeger- "The world will be solved by millions of small things."
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Howard Zinn- "The cry of the poor is not always just, but if you don't listen to it, you will never know what justice is."
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Thomas Paine- "My own mind is my church."
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Seinfeld- "Proof that we don't understand death is that we give dead people a pillow."
Addendum
Ben Franklin:
In the Affair of so much Importance to you, wherein you ask my Advice, I cannot for want of sufficient Premises, advise you what to determine, but if you please I will tell you how.
When these difficult Cases occur, they are difficult chiefly because while we have them under Consideration all the Reasons pro and con are not present to the Mind at the same time; but sometimes one Set present themselves, and at other times another, the first being out of Sight. Hence the various Purposes or Inclinations that alternately prevail, and the Uncertainty that perplexes us.
To get over this, my Way is, to divide half a Sheet of Paper by a Line into two Columns, writing over the one Pro, and over the other Con. Then during three or four Days Consideration I put down under the different Heads short Hints of the different Motives that at different Times occur to me for or against the Measure. When I have thus got them all together in one View, I endeavour to estimate their respective Weights; and where I find two, one on each side, that seem equal, I strike them both out: If I find a Reason pro equal to some two Reasons con, I strike out the three. If I judge some two Reasons con equal to some three Reasons pro, I strike out the five; and thus proceeding I find at length where the Ballance lies; and if after a Day or two of farther Consideration nothing new that is of Importance occurs on either side, I come to a Determination accordingly.
And tho’ the Weight of Reasons cannot be taken with the Precision of Algebraic Quantities, yet when each is thus considered separately and comparatively, and the whole lies before me, I think I can judge better, and am less likely to take a rash Step; and in fact I have found great Advantage from this kind of Equation, in what may be called Moral or Prudential Algebra.
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