“History is never altered you see, it just fits together like a jigsaw. Funny old thing, life, isn’t it?” - Douglas Adams, “Restaurant at the End of the Universe"While history cannot be changed; it’s definition evolves as more puzzles get discovered assembled and (in some cases - for good, bad, or otherwise) re-assembled. Therefore, look at history not as fact but as a forming image – never quite complete and yet still unchangeable in nature.
Another from “The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.”“Your God person pouts an apple tree in the middle of a garden and says, do what you like guys, oh but don’t eat the apple. Surprise surprise, they eat it and he leaps out from behind a bush shouting ‘Gotcha.’ It wouldn’t have made any difference if they hadn’t eaten it… If you’re dealing with somebody who has the sort of mentality which likes leaving hats on the pavement with bricks under them you know perfectly well they won’t give up. They’ll get you in the end.” - Douglas Adams, “The Restaurant at the End of the Universe"You could read this quote and think it’s a satire on religion. I read the quote and see a satire on life.Life can be the person with the mentality of leaving a hat on the street with bricks under it. Someone who kids the hat soon discovers the painful surprise. If I had a quarter for every time life planted a nice hat on the pavement for me to kick…
Douglas Adams touches on the problems of leadership of everykind. “The major problem — one of the major problems, for there are several — one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them. To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem.” — Douglas Adams, “The Restaurant at the End of the Universe”
I read “Why Kids Should Read Obituaries” and I now believe that everyone can derive value from reading obituaries. Insights learned in one session reading:Libby Titus died - see yesterday’s post. What all can we learn from taste makers?Ward Christensen may have invented the world’s first computerized bullet board — imagine Facebook, but it’s a computer. Why aren’t we dreaming up crazy ideas like that now?Toni Vaz, stuntwoman pioneer and founder of the NAACP Image Awards. Who are our pioneers now? As I read, I ask my questions like:What challenges might they have faced? How did they overcome?What inputs did they use to make their outputs? What did they discount and disregard? What did they value? What bites of ageless wisdom am I able to extract and apply to my life? Fascinating all around. Give it a try.H/T Tyler Cowen for sharing the Common Wealth Beacon piece via his blog.
It’s possible you never heard of Libby Titus; however, you might have experienced her influence. She wrote for Dr. John, Burt Bacharach, Donald Fagen (of Steely Dan), and her music has been covered by Linda Ronstadt and Bonnie Raitt. Libby wrote Linda’s popular song, “Love Has No Pride.” Read Libby’s NYT Obituary here.I love people like Libby. They are understated, undervalued by the mainstream, but they act like a hidden influence on the mainstream. Check out her music — “Can This Be My Love Affair” sounds torchy, Americana’y, jazz’y, and country’y. “Fool That I Am” sounds like an R&B tune from that era yet it has something a bit different to it — a unique touch. Outside of music, there are people like Libby. People who are behind the scenes making things happen — influencing the culture. These are people with taste and an eye/ear for form, genre, and finishing. They are not flashy. They are not “high status”. I love seeking out and finding these people — trying to understand the inputs they use to output the influence that is their product. I wonder if can become a person like a Libby. I bet it’s possible. And I bet the key is to develop our noticing skills and our desire to consume culture in all its forms. People like Libby aren’t the way they are because they have a special hidden and inaccessible talent. They are that way because they spent the time listening, understanding, engaging with, and attempting to influence the culture in their own persistent and consistent way. Piece by piece.Part by part.
Narrated by Orson Welles back in 1971.
It’s good for leaders to be honest as honesty is kind. However, a utopia of unfiltered or considered honesty can destroy relationships and undermine a desire to collaborate. The law of moderation applies to honesty as much as it does anything else in life.
Dan and James both shared this quote from Friedrich Nietzsche’s “Human, All Too Human.” The quote resonated with me. It’s useful not just for artists, but for anyone who produces a body of work — that’s you. “Artists have an interest in … so-called inspirations; as if the idea of a work of art, of poetry, the fundamental thought of a philosophy shines down like a merciful light from heaven. In truth, the good artist’s or thinker’s imagination is continually producing things good, mediocre, and bad, but his power of judgment, highly sharpened and practiced, rejects, selects, joins together; thus we now see from Beethoven’s notebooks that he gradually assembled the most glorious melodies and, to a degree, selected them out of disparate beginnings. The artist who separates less rigorously, liking to rely on his imitative memory, can in some circumstances become a great improviser; but artistic improvisation stands low in relation to artistic thoughts earnestly and laboriously chosen. All great men were great workers, untiring not only in invention but also in rejecting, sifting, reforming, arranging.”
Classic example of a violation of John Brady’s law of the 6Ps — Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.
Failing to prepare for a timezone shift.
I suck (for now) at preparing for leisure travel. I pack at the last minute. I plan activities in the moment. I’m an agent of chaos. However, my body is telling me that needs to change. Enter “Jet Lag”.
Philippines is 13 hours ahead of Wisconsin. Literally a night-and-day difference. I arrived home in Wisconsin last night and this morning, at 1am, I am up and ready to go. I can’t understand why the rest of the world isn’t up with me!
At this point I am in the Philippines. I’m vistiing for a week. I hope I had a boring flight.I hope I arrived in one piece.I hope people were happy to see me.I hope the weather is good. I hope I got some sleep.I hope I made a plan to appreciate the moment.A letter from my past self as I prepare to fly. I’ll let you know how it actually turned out.