Notes From My Journal
560 articles filed under Notes From My Journal.
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Notes From My Journal
LA's Wildfire Haze and Urban Decay Scenes
I’m in LA now, visiting the kids. I came up to the rooftop terrace to work, thinking I’d have a nice view of the hills and the valley. But there’s no view. Just a gray landscape beset by smog. “No, it’s not…
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Notes From My Journal
Eight Common English Words With Irish Origins
“Many nations use language simply to convey information, but it’s different in Ireland. With most conversational exchanges you get an ‘added extra’ like the free little biscuit you sometimes get with a…
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Notes From My Journal
Twenty Quotations On Living A Rewarding Life
“Experience, contrary to common belief, is mostly imagination.” – Ruth Benedict 20 Maxims for Life When I first began collecting beer bottles, a friend of mine warned me that the experience of collecting…
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Notes From My Journal
When Traffic Lights Disappeared, Civility Took Over
“Progress is exactly that which rules and regulations do not see.” – Ludwig von Mises Is the Traffic Light a Menace to Society? Traffic was heavy when the traffic lights went out. With hundreds of cars on…
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Notes From My Journal
Ten Books That Made Me Feel Smarter
“There is creative reading as well as creative writing.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson 10 Books That Made Me Feel Smarter (They Might Make You Feel Smarter, Too) Some books make you wiser. Some books make you kinder…
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Notes From My Journal
Searching For COVID Facts Beyond Political Spin
“I believe in innovation, and the way you get innovation is you fund research and you learn the basic facts.” – Bill Gates Even Less Positive JM is negative. So are PR, RT, and SC. K is positive. So is PB, my…
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Notes From My Journal
Not So Positive
“Just as despair can come to one only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings.” – Elie Wiesel In Friday’s blog post, I told you that I had contracted COVID-19 from…
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Notes From My Journal
Getting COVID-19 Changed My Perspective Entirely
“Accept the terrible responsibility of life with eyes wide open.” – Jordan Peterson I’m Positive I’ve written at least a half-dozen essays on the coronavirus and COVID-19 since the beginning of April. I was…
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Notes From My Journal
A Found Poem From OK Cigars Basement
I’ve been writing poems for years. Hundreds and hundreds of them. A small percentage get into print. And most of those, when I reread them after a year or two, are disappointing. This one was not. I like it as…
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Notes From My Journal
How Hormones Shape Our Competitive Instincts
“Testosterone is a rare poison.” – Germaine Greer Do Sex Hormones Determine Our Thoughts? Let’s talk about hormones. I have just come up with a theory. But before I present it, you should know this: It’s well…
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Notes From My Journal
Fear and Hope for Young People Today
"'Hope’ is the thing with feathers / That perches in the soul / And sings the tune without the words / And never stops – at all” – Emily Dickinson Fear and Hope for Young People Today “I feel sorry for young…
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Notes From My Journal
The Questions Nobody Is Asking
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.” – Albert Einstein The Questions Nobody Is Asking I meant to write today about the economic impact of…
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Notes From My Journal
Corona Crisis: Business Survival Tactics
“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” – Winston Churchill Corona Crisis: Business Survival Tactics I’m reading a lot about how to stay…
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Notes From My Journal
Coronavirus Statistics: Why The Media Math Doesn't Add Up
“Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable.” – Mark Twain Coronavirus Update: Bad Math, Dumb Reporting, Unthinking Citizens I had planned to publish an essay today about business strategies for…
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Notes From My Journal
Coronavirus Pandemic: Hope and Progress
“Every glittering ounce of [good news] should be cherished and hoarded and worshipped and fondled like a priceless diamond.”– Hunter S. Thompson Coronavirus Pandemic: Hope and Progress Today, we are going to…
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Notes From My Journal
Coronavirus Update: New Estimates and Answers
“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” – John Adams Coronavirus Update: New Estimates…
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Notes From My Journal
When I’m Going to Get Back Into Stocks
“Every step of life shows much caution is required.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe When I’m Going to Get Back Into Stocks The Dow has fallen. A reader asks: Is it time to get back into stocks? I’m not an…
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Notes From My Journal
Protect Yourself From Corona Scams (and All Scams, for That Matter)
“A scam is a scam. A fraud is a fraud.” – Emily Thornberry Protect Yourself From Corona Scams (and All Scams, for That Matter) Those damn scammers. On Wednesday, I listed some of the cyber scams out there…
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Notes From My Journal
Tough Decisions
“Quick decisions are unsafe decisions.” – Sophocles Tough Decisions Most of my coevals are retired. In the past several weeks, the e-chatting among them has increased. It’s clear that they, like so many…
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Notes From My Journal
Fear Of The Unknown During Crisis Times
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” – H.P. Lovecraft Like so many bloggers, I’ve been reading lots about the coronavirus…
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Notes From My Journal
Why Gold Prices Fell During Market Crash
“O Gold! I still prefer thee unto paper, which makes bank credit like a bark of vapour.” – Lord Byron What’s Going On With Gold Prices? When the stock market crashes, gold prices skyrocket. That, at least, is…
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Notes From My Journal
The Stock Market Collapse, and What We Can Learn About Economics
“Taxes are not paid on profits not made on sales of products never produced by workers not working, truckers not trucking, and buyers not buying. And we are just at the beginning.” – Bill Bonner The Stock…
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Notes From My Journal
A Challenge That Every Business Owner in the World Is Facing Right Now
JS has a dilemma. “Right now,” she writes, “I strongly believe in self-isolation... which brings me to a question about the young woman who cleans my apartment. I want to tell her to stay home. And I want to…
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Notes From My Journal
Managing Business Through Economic Crisis Uncertainty
“Pain is important: how we evade it, how we succumb to it, how we deal with it, how we transcend it.” – Audrey Lord What I’m Telling My Business Partners Sitting on the front porch, looking at the many people…
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Notes From My Journal
What I’m Doing (and Not Doing) to Safeguard My Wealth
“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.” – Rosa Parks What I’m Doing (and Not Doing) to Safeguard My Wealth It’s a…
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Notes From My Journal
A Reluctant Climber's Unexpected Mountain Friendship
Kevin, one of the men who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with me 10 years ago, sent me this photo: It was taken at Horombo Hut, the night before we were going to make the final ascent. After barely surviving the…
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Notes From My Journal
Five-Star Hotels Banish Smokers To Dingy Corners
“The best work is done with the heart breaking or overflowing.” – Mignon McLaughlin I’m sitting on the edge of a dirty planter box at the back of the five-star London hotel in West Hollywood. I have to sit…
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Notes From My Journal
Contrarians And Mainstream Thinkers In Eternal Debate
“There are things I can’t force. I must adjust. There are times when the greatest change needed is a change of my viewpoint.”– Denis Diderot In a recent post, I talked about the growing “demonization” of…
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Notes From My Journal
Idea for a New Book
“Human energy is a limited resource. It’s better spent laser-like on important things you can change than diffused on unimportant things you cannot.” – Michael Masterson Idea for a New Book What Do You Think?…
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Notes From My Journal
Why I’m Giving Away My Money
“If you're going to live, leave a legacy. Make a mark on the world that can't be erased.”– Maya Angelou Financial planning is a serious business. What you do and how you do it very much depends on your…
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Notes From My Journal
Voluntary Sharing Versus Forced Redistribution Of Wealth
“The demonization of wealth in this country is mind-blowing. A country built on both freedoms and commerce.”– Alec Baldwin I believe in redistributing my wealth. I feel a moral obligation to share what I have…
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Notes From My Journal
Spotting The Warning Signs Of A Terrible Idea
“An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself.” – Charles Dickens I began writing an essay this morning tentatively titled “Early Warning Signs You’re Writing a Bad Essay.”…
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Notes From My Journal
Remembering Harriet Zinnes (1919-2019)
“In the end, there is no end.”– Robert Lowell Remembering Harriet Zinnes (1919-2019) The person one becomes is the result of innumerable factors, including hundreds if not thousands of personal relationships…
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Notes From My Journal
The Age of Descent: A Short History of the 21st Century (So Far)” by Bill Bonner
In response to Donald Trump’s latest demonstration of his version of foreign policy – i.e, coming out into the center of the ring very aggressively and then backing away before his opponent figures out what…
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Notes From My Journal
The Language Police Are At It Again!
“Be careful that what you write does not offend anybody or cause problems…. The safest approach is to remove all useful information.” – Scott Adams The Language Police Are At It Again! Last year, according to…
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Notes From My Journal
James Altucher's Essential Writing Tips And Books
“I hate writing. I love having written.” – Dorothy Parker In a very good and very readable recent essay – titled “Ruin Your Life” – James Altucher chronicles his journey as a writer. His advice to wannabe…
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Notes From My Journal
Mark's Unconventional Approach To Setting 2020 Goals
“A sense of purpose is both the fuel and the compass one needs to move through confusion.” – Michael Masterson Not every successful person sets yearly goals at the New Year. Just 90% do. If you are among the…
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Notes From My Journal
Twenty-Two Books That Shaped My Year
“A man’s mind is known by the company it keeps.” – James Russell Lowell I try to read a book a week. In 2019, I read more than that – some for the second or third (or more) time. Here are the 22 of the best…
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Notes From My Journal
The Robot Babysitter Revolution Arrives By 2040
Santa gave Francis, our four-year-old grandson, a toy named Cosmo. From a distance, Cosmo looked like a cheap plastic stocking stuffer shaped like a tractor. But it moved in what seemed to be a purposeful way…
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Notes From My Journal
Reviewing 2019 Goals Before Setting 2020 Targets
“The beginning is the most important part of any work.” – Plato HAPPY NEW YEAR! This is exactly the right day for thinking about what you want to accomplish in 2020. You can’t do that seriously, however…
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Notes From My Journal
Toasts for the New Year
It’s always good to be prepared. In greeting 2020 with colleagues, friends, and family, the following sentiments may come in handy: Toasts for the New Year In all this world, why I do think There are four…
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Notes From My Journal
The Hidden Religious Meaning Of Christmas Carol
The history of the Christmas carol, “The 12 Days of Christmas,” isn’t entirely clear. The earliest known version dates back to 1780 in a children’s book titled Mirth With-out Mischief, but it had almost…
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Notes From My Journal
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
“Christmas time! That man must be a misanthrope indeed, in whose breast something like a jovial feeling is not roused – in whose mind some pleasant associations are not awakened – by the recurrence of…
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Notes From My Journal
Twelve Favorite Monty Python Moments From Holy Grail
Chris said: “Setting up the tree… decorating the house. I always feel compelled to come up with something new. Not my best work this year, but sufficient enough. Sufficient enough... is that redundant?” I…
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Notes From My Journal
Kurt Vonnegut On Living At The Edge
“I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you can see all kinds of things you can’t see from the center.”– Kurt Vonnegut My friend Tom Dyson has just returned from his…
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Notes From My Journal
Why Raising The Minimum Wage Backfires
“It is not easy for men to rise whose qualities are thwarted by poverty.” – Juvenal For as long as I can remember, raising the federal minimum wage has been an issue. After all, the federal minimum wage is $7…
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Notes From My Journal
The Mirror's Flattering Angle On Self-Deception
“O, wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us! It would frae monie a blunder free us, An’ foolish notion.” – Robert Burns When I look at myself in the mirror, it is always from the same…
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Notes From My Journal
Art and Science, Beauty and Truth, Straining and Relaxation, Aristotle and Plato, Iris Murdoch and Music… in One Lesson
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty, that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” – John Keats Art and Science, Beauty and Truth, Straining and Relaxation, Aristotle and Plato, Iris Murdoch and Music… in…
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Notes From My Journal
Is This Very Smart Funny? I Have No Idea…
“From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.” – Dr. Seuss Is This Very Smart Funny? I Have No Idea… There’s funny and there’s very smart funny. That’s what I call it. Maybe it’s not…
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Notes From My Journal
7 Reasons to Believe Things Are Getting Better
1. Innovations in Prosthetics: People that have above-the-knee leg amputations can now walk more easily, thanks to new technologies developed by researchers from ETH Zurich and the Universities of Belgrade and…
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