June 2019
77 articles published this month.
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Notes From My Journal
Conversation Overheard at Breakfast at the Four Seasons in Amman
“He said I should cover up. That I was showing too much skin or something, and it was like distracting!” An American teenager, having breakfast with her parents at the table next to ours. Her parents were…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
7 Politically Incorrect Questions I’m Afraid to Ask
We know that money doesn’t buy happiness. So why do we assume that increasing the income of poor people will make them happier? We know that if someone doesn’t want to learn, it’s impossible to teach them…
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Worth Quoting
Michael Masterson on Experience and Ideology
“Experience and Ideology are enemies.” – Michael Masterson
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A Word to the Wise
flâneur (noun)
A flâneur (flah-NUR) is an idle man-about-town; a casual wanderer and observer of street life. Example from the Norton Museum of Art website: “From the 19th-century flâneur… to today’s social media networkers…
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Fun and/or Interesting
A Few Financial Facts to Think About
* After-tax income of the rich: Between 1979 and 2005, the average after-tax income of the top 1% increased by 176%, compared with an increase of only 6% for the bottom 20%. * Inflation effects on the working…
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Worth Reading
The I Hate to Cook Book
Bracken made her living as a copywriter. She wrote this, her first book, in 1960 when she was 70 years old. I’m reading it for the maturity of her wit, not the recipes. Examples: * “Add flour, salt, paprika…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Hillary Klug: The Fiddle Player Breaking Viral Barriers
One good thing about social media is that it has made it easier to discover talent and performance outside of the main media. Hillary Klug is one such discovery for me.
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
Is Poverty Necessary?
I hadn’t read Harper’s in years. Like 20 or 30 years. I remembered it as a magazine of intelligently written essays about meaningful subjects. Reading it, I felt like I was using my time wisely. In the Fort…
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Worth Quoting
Michael Masterson On The Paradox Of Perfect Security
“Some believe the perfect society would be one where everyone was guaranteed employment, free comprehensive healthcare, free education, free food, free housing, free clothing, free utilities, and only law…
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A Word to the Wise
vertiginous (adjective)
Something that’s vertiginous (ver-TIH-jih-nus) is unstable – marked by change that is so quick and/or frequent that it gives one the feeling of being disoriented, dizzy. As used by Rebecca Makkai in a NYT…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Welfare Usage Among Non-Citizens Remains Persistently High
In a new analysis of the latest numbers (from 2014), 63% of non-citizens are using a welfare program, and it grows to 70% for those here 10 years or more, confirming the concern that once immigrants tap into…
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Worth Watching
Deadwood
You either loved the series or you didn’t care for it at all. I loved it. I loved the story and the cinematography and the characters and the language. I was a sucker for the psuedo-Shakespearean English that…
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Readers Write
How Ready, Fire, Aim Helped Scale A Million-Dollar Startup
An email from CO: Hey Mark, just wanted to drop you a quick note saying thanks for writing Ready, Fire, Aim. I started a new business that did around $1 million in revenue last year, and your book really laid…
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Fun and/or Interesting
A Culture's True Measure: Women and Life
I sometimes feel that the best way to judge the elevation of a culture is by the value it gives to human life and the respect it accords women.
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Notes From My Journal
A Trick I’ve Been Playing on Myself Since I Had to Make My First Business Speech
Last week Agora had its global publishers meeting in Dubai. We chose Dubai because it was a compromise location for our publishers that travel from Europe, the Americas, and the Far East. And also because it…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Interesting Facts About Dubai
* In 1968, there were only 13 cars registered in Dubai. Today, there are nearly 2 million. * Robot jockeys are replacing children in camel racing. * 39% of the luxury Burj Al Arab hotel (the fifth-tallest…
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Worth Quoting
Gustave Flaubert On Travel's Humbling Effect
“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” Gustave Flaubert
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A Word to the Wise
audacious (adjective)
Audacious (aw-DAY-shus) means bold, daring, fearless. As I used it today: “I pick an audacious title – one that is likely to attract attention. Then I challenge myself to write something that measures up to it…
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Worth Reading
The Land Where the Internet Ends” in The New York Times
The range of the Internet is fast expanding. Very soon it will cover just about every square inch of the world. But some people would like the government to preserve areas where cell phones cannot operate. The…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Six Surprising Uses For Windex Beyond Windows
Is Windex safe? I don't know. But here are six ways - aside from windows - to use it.
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
An Argument in Favor of College… or Not
Many of my Libertarian colleagues, who are among my smartest friends, don’t believe in going to college. A recent essay by James Altucher on his blog – titled “Seven Reasons Not to Go to College (and a…
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A Word to the Wise
sine qua non
Sine qua non (sih-NAY kwah NOWN) is Latin for “without which, not.” We use the term for something that is absolutely indispensable or essential. As I used it today: “The first of [life’s three essential…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Pythagoras Invented The Word Philosopher For Himself
Pythagoras coined the word philosopher to describe himself as a “lover of wisdom.”
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Worth Quoting
J.D. Salinger on Inconvenient Truths
“No one wants the truth if it is inconvenient.” – J.D. Salinger
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Worth Reading
The Day the Music Burned” in The New York Times
In June 2008, a fire erupted on the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot. Universal Music Group, the world’s largest record company, told reporters that nothing much of importance was lost. But the blaze had…
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Fun and/or Interesting
An Amazing Street Drummer
I love watching street musicians, acrobats, and other such performers. And if I can see, at a glance, that they are doing something special or that they have attracted a responsive audience, I cannot resist…
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Notes From My Journal
My Very Anal Daily Routine – Just in Case You’re Interested
Every so often I get a letter asking about my daily routine. As if, I suppose, it would be useful to others. Everyone must find his own routine, but I do understand why someone would ask. I love reading about…
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Worth Quoting
Ernest Hemingway On The Brutal Art Of Writing
“There is nothing to it [writing]. All you have to do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” – Ernest Hemingway
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Worth Reading
The Papa Connection” in Taki’s Magazine
Taki’s Magazine is a regular of mine. It’s extreme in some ways… racist and misogynist. But its writers are smart and its editor, Taki, could be the most interesting man in the world. When he writes, I’m…
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A Word to the Wise
galumph (verb)
To galumph (guh-LUMF) – may be a blend of “gallop” and “triumph” – is to prance about in a clumsy, self-satisfied manner. This is one of many words coined by Lewis Carroll in the nonsense poem “Jabberwocky.”…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Five Hundred Meteorites Strike Earth Annually
More than 500 meteorites hit the earth every year.
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Fun and/or Interesting
The Art Of Competitive Dog Grooming
Some good stuff here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN6kI78MaxQ&feature=youtu.be
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
How to Get Rich as an Employee
It’s too often said – and I’ve been guilty of contributing to this myth – that the only realistic way to become wealthy is to go into business for yourself. While it’s true that reaching billionaire status is…
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A Word to the Wise
feculent (adjective)
Something that’s feculent (FEK-yuh-lunt) is disgusting, full of fetid, rotting, or putrid matter. As used in The New York Times to describe the play Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus: “Taylor Mac’s filthy…
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Worth Quoting
Helen Gurley Brown On Ambition And Success
“You can have your titular recognition. I’ll take the money and power.” – Helen Gurley Brown
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Worth Watching
The Island Murder
The Island Murder (Netflix/American Experience) In 1931, Honolulu’s tropical tranquility is shattered when a young Navy wife makes an allegation of rape against five islanders. This sets in motion a series of…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Hawaii Joins The Union As Fiftieth State
Hawaii became a state on August 21, 1959 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a proclamation admitting the US Protectorate (since 1894) into the union and ordered a new US flag with 50 stars in staggered…
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Readers Write
An email from SL
[At the age of 51] I decided to make a real change in my life by not having a TV or internet/computer. For once in my life I could stop being a news junkie and open up a book. I grabbed The Pledge and it fell…
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Fun and/or Interesting
The Universe's Surprising Intelligence Revealed
This is the sort of story that makes you believe there is a sort of intelligence in the universe.
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
A Good Example of Bad “Science
I recently read about a study, carried out by researchers at Yale and Oxford and published in The Lancet, that discovered that “exercise is more important to your mental health than economic status.” It took…
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Worth Quoting
Michael Masterson On Finding Happiness Through Giving
"Happiness is not a product of getting. It’s a byproduct of giving – giving your mind, your heart, and your sweat to something you value.” – Michael Masterson
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A Word to the Wise
wellspring (noun)
A wellspring (WEL-spring) is a source or supply of anything, especially when it is inexhaustible. As used by Nikos Kazantzakis: “My principal anguish, and the wellspring of all my joys and sorrows, has been…
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Fun and/or Interesting
How Medieval Cities Battled The Black Death
During the Black Death pandemic – which peaked in Europe from 1347 to 1351 – half of the 100,000 population of Florence died in a four-month period. In Milan, the news from Florence terrified the population so…
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Worth Reading
Million-Dollar Writing System Rewards Consistent Effort
The Latest Issue of AWAI’s Barefoot Writer Including: * The Million-Dollar Writing System that Awards Effort Above All Else * Why Most Copywriters Never Make Big Money * This Global Obsession Can Bring Writing…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Why Dumb Ideas Sometimes Win Out
One problem with dumb ideas...
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Notes From My Journal
I Finally Did it… I Picked Up the Phone!
I am phonophobic. No, that’s probably not right. I’m phone-o-phobic. Like many writers, I am scared shitless of speaking on the telephone. When email became ubiquitous 25 years ago, I felt like it had been…
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Worth Quoting
Paulo Coelho On Living With Anxiety
“Anxiety was born in the very same moment as mankind. And since we will never be able to master it, we will have to learn to live with it – just as we have learned to live with storms.” ― Paulo Coelho
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Worth Reading
You Can’t Buy a Starbucks franchise. Here’s Why and What You Can Do About It
“You Can’t Buy a Starbucks franchise. Here’s Why and What You Can Do About It” I’ve had some experience with franchising. Just enough to know that it’s an industry best approached if you have money to lose and…
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A Word to the Wise
decoct (verb)
To decoct (dih-KAHKT) is to extract the essence of something by boiling it down, concentrating it. As used by William F. Buckley, Jr.: “Norman Mailer decocts matters of the first philosophical magnitude from…
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Fun and/or Interesting
The Octothorpe: Eight-Pointed Symbol With Hidden History
The # sign – commonly known as the “pound sign” or the “number sign” – has a technical name: octothorpe. The “octo” part refers to the sign’s 8 points.
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