MarkFord
The Resistance Banker (Netflix) .- Set in Amsterdam during the German occupation, this film follows the brave work of Wally van Hall in establishing and running a secret underground bank to fund the resistance. Like Schindler’s List and Sophie’s Choice, it conveys the horror of the Nazi movement in a way that feels real. Not as the robotic, one-dimensional evil that’s so easy to reject, but in a subtler and more complicated way that has you asking yourself: “What would I do?” This is a good movie. It was nominated for an unprecedented 11 Golden Calvesat the 2018 Netherlands Film Festival and won four of them, including Best Feature Film and Best Actor.
“Seattle Is Dying”.- When I was in my 20s, New York City was a shit hole. Except for a few uptown neighborhoods, you couldn’t walk for 10 minutes without stepping over a bum or being accosted by someone demanding money. Alleys smelled like urine. Eventually, the voters got tired of it and elected a mayor that hired a team of people that got tough on misdemeanors. Lots of tenderhearted people objected. You can’t arrest people for being crazy or homeless, they argued. Live and let be. Tough love was administered and the city gradually pulled itself out of its trough. Nowadays, NYC has one of the lowest crime rates per capita of any big city in the USA.
San Francisco used to be a beautiful city. About 15 years ago, things started to change. The last time I went there was about 5 years ago. It was such a dangerous place, I vowed I’d never go back again.
Next to San Francisco, Seattle is the city with the highest crime rate per capita, the filthiest streets, and the most homeless. And like San Francisco, Seattle’s policy of compassion towards the homeless is the principal cause. LINK
What Do You Think? What Would You Do?
So Mike Weirsky, divorced and for 15 years unemployed, wins the $273 million Mega Millions jackpot. And the first thing he does is buy a Ford Raptor.
But how much is he going to pay the person that found his ticket and selflessly and heroically turned it in to the store so Weirsky could claim it?
And why did Weirsky leave it in the store? Because he “was distracted by a phone call.”
Had the person not turned in the ticket, Weirsky would have been out of luck. “I was just very happy that there was an honest person out there, because I figured it was gone,” he said at a press conference.
“I’m looking for the guy that handed it in and I want to thank him,” he said. “I’m going to give him something, but I’m going to keep that private.”
Get this: “The guy,” had he kept the ticket, would have been able to claim the $273 million himself.
So what should he be given by Weirsky?
Cupidity (noun) – Cupidity (kyoo-PID-ih-tee) is greed or avarice; eager or excessive desire. As used by Théodore Guérin: “[The Americans’] cupidity renders them daring and indifferent to everything else.”
To burn off the calories in one M&M, you’d have to run the equivalent of a football field.
“Well done is better than well said.” – Benjamin Franklin
The 5 AM Club: OwnYour Morning/ Elevate Your Life by Robin Sharma.-Deserted gas station. Three in the morning. I said something about virtue to the clerk in the little glass box. She said, “You know what the greatest virtue is?” “Tell me,” I replied. “Getting up early,” she said. And then she shut off her microphone and turned away from me.
A year later, I started Early to Rise, a blog about – among other things – personal productivity. I wrote many essays about the importance of getting up early and getting to work before the rest of the world. Some of my readers weren’t happy with my stance. “Everyone has their own time clock, they argued. Mind your own business.”
I’m still an advocate for getting up early, even for people who, like me, consider themselves to be “night people.” So I was happy to come across The 5 AM Clubby Robin Sharma. I was hoping it would validate my personal experience with lots of science and terrific stories about all the people who attribute their success to early rising.
Alas, it is one of those parabolic books – in this case, a parable in which the guru is a billionaire. Ugh! Why did he have to be a billionaire?
I skimmed the book, looking for something new and/or insightful. Didn’t find it.
“Entrepreneur vs. Employee: How to Make the Best of Both”.- A very smart discussion between James Altucher and Steve Cohen…
10 Things I Would Like to Become…
- A better teacher
- My strengths are insight and caring. I need to be better at giving examples.
- A more articulate arguer
- I like to argue. I’m always surprised that I’m not very good at it. The problem is that I don’t have my arguments worked out. I don’t have a bank of facts to support my positions. And that’s because I am not in the habit of remembering facts. My habit is to remember my conclusions. (Because I think my interest in learning is philosophical, not rhetorical.) I have to identify my key positions and memorize supporting facts. I have to become a quicker learner.
- A subtler writer
- I’ve always wanted to be both a writer and also a teacher. My teaching desire penetrates my writing style. I tend to over-explain, which is sometime forgivable in essays and non-fiction books but is deadly in fiction. It makes me realize that my desire to be a good teacher – to have my student understand – is actually stronger than my desire to be a good teacher. I treat my readers like students. I’m more concerned that they get the point than that they enjoy the story.
- Less sensitive to criticism
- I’m generally good at criticism because I’m generally comfortable being less than great at almost everything I do. But I could be better when it comes to criticism of my character. I’m sensitive to that – perhaps because I’m not as good a person as I’d like to be.
- More accepting of other views on social and political issues
- Conservatives think leftists have no brains. Leftists think conservatives have no heart. I agree with both of them. And I let this infect my feelings. I actually get angry. Even at friends and family members.
- More aware of my surroundings
- When you are as practiced in the art of self-absorption as I am, you have little attention left to give to your surroundings. I believe that living in the here and nowwill improve my experience of life. But I can’t get out of my head.
- Less conscious of my approaching death
- When you reach a certain age, the mantle of death looms. That’s not a good thing for several reasons, not the least of which it makes you more self-absorbed. (See #6.) I’ve got to get out from underneath it.
- Kinder
- There is a sign at a fork in the road that one comes to later in life. It appears every time you wake up and a dozen times during the day. One arrow points to Good Humor. The other to Grouchiness. I am well aware that I should walk in the direction of Good Humor. But Grouchiness beckons.
- More stoic
- When someone asks me how I’m doing these days, I answer, “No complaints.” I do that not because I’m feeling good, but because I realize that complaining about whatever ails me will do neither the questioner nor I any good. This is one small area in life where I’ve learned to be more stoic. I’d like to expand the range of my stoicism.
- Thinner
- There’s no point in denying it. I cannot delude myself any longer with clichés like, “I have to love me as I am.” Thinner is better.
Demarcate (verb) – To demarcate (dih-MAR-kate) is to define the boundaries or limits of something. As used by Christopher Morley in Pipefuls: “Out at Hillside the stones that demarcate the territory of an old-fashioned house are new and snowily whitewashed.”