December 2020

3 Facts, 3 Numbers, 3 Thoughts — December 31, 2020

THE FACTS * The song typically sung on New Year’s Eve/Day, Auld Lang Syne, was written by the Scottish poet Robert Burns and published in 1796. The literal translation of the Scottish Gaelic title is “old long…

Friend Shares Critical COVID Safety Guidelines Update

Old friend PW sent me this important announcement re new rules to reduce the spread of COVID…

Ten Timeless Holiday Movies From Hollywood's Golden Age

I meant to recommend a new holiday-themed movie for you this week – but when I looked at what has come out this year, I couldn’t find anything promising. And so, I made a list of my 10 all-time favorites… and…

Electro Swing Reimagines Holiday Classic

Electro Swing Dancing to “Jingle Bells”…

Christmas Eve

It’s been our tradition to have an extended family holiday dinner on Christmas Eve at a local fish restaurant. This year, because of COVID, we’re having it at home. To make it special, though, K hired a…

3 Facts, 3 Numbers, 3 Thoughts — December 24, 2020

THE FACTS * Have you heard that the stress of the holidays causes suicide rates to surge during Christmastime? It’s not true. According to years of CDC data, suicides are usually at their lowest levels in…

Christmas Song's Beauty Turns Unsettling Midway Through

This Christmas song was recommended as “the most beautiful” ever recorded. I found it beautiful and inspiring until about halfway through. Then it got a little creepy toward the end.

Letting Go Of Two International Publishing Ventures

“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” – Lao Tzu Another Year of Letting Go 2020 was – for me – a year of letting go. Some things happily. Some not. Some voluntarily. Some not. Today, I’d like…

Young Pianist's Remarkable Talent Impresses With Humble Parenting

We’re all familiar with child prodigies – Asian kids and musical instruments, in particular. But this one still impressed me… and I liked the attitude of his parents.

Love!

K and I were awakened this morning by a ferocious assault by a small herd of galloping, thumping, tumbling, and shrieking creatures that, after my head cleared, I recognized as our grandchildren. Oh yes, and…

The Things That Make Life Meaningful

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.” – Cicero Typically, we take our biggest blessings – our health, our freedom, our friendships, and the miracle of our very…

Essays of E.B. White

Essays of E.B. White 384 pages Published 1977 by Harper Perennial/Modern Classics It was the third book in a small stack of old books that sat on the corner of my writing desk. I have three writing surfaces…

How Green Was My Valley (1941)

How Green Was My Valley (1941) Directed by John Ford Starring Walter Pidgeon and Maureen O’Hara If you are in the mood for something nostalgically uplifting, I’d recommend How Green Was My Valley. I saw it…

Why I Finally Quit Golf After Twelve Years

After a dozen years of trying to love the game, I quit playing golf a few years and have never looked back. This is why:

Stock Stories Can Seduce Even Skeptical Investors

“A good story is always more dazzling than a broken piece of truth.” – Diane Setterfield When Considering Stock Investments, Don’t Trust the Stories Forty-five years ago, my partner came into my office…

Postscript — December 18, 2020

3 Facts, 3 Numbers, 3 Thoughts — December 17, 2020

THE FACTS * New Mexico is testing a unique way to encourage drivers to slow down: A stretch of Route 66 – the “Musical Highway” – contains rumble strips that play “America the Beautiful” when a car passes over…

WWII Soldiers' Ingenious Plan For Airborne Beer

A WWII story about “airborne” beer…

I’m on cloud nine today…

I’m on cloud nine today. As you know, I got the COVID bug about 5 months ago. Since then, I’ve tested negative for the virus twice and positive for antibodies twice. On our way to the Miami airport to fly to…

New Dance Craze Blends Breakdancing With Charleston

I am infatuated with this new dance craze. It’s sort of a marriage between break dancing and the Charleston. A friend of mine – a dance teacher – says he could teach it to me, but it would probably take more…

Work, Hunger, Give

I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was duty. I worked – and behold, duty was joy. – Rabindranath Tagore Work, Hunger, Give How to Enjoy Life in the Real World For some time now in…

Beethoven Reimagined Through Modern Production

Beethoven like you’ve never heard him before…

Suggestion…

If you enjoy film, fiction, and casual philosophical conversations, I have a suggestion for you and some of your like-minded friends. (This is something I did recently with The Mules, my book club.) First…

Blow-Up: And Other Stories

Blow-Up: And Other Stories By Julio Cortázar 288 Pages Published 1985 by Pantheon Books Interesting Fact: In addition to his stories, poetry, and novels, Cortázar published a graphic novel in 1975 titled…

Blow-Up

Blow-Up (1966) Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni Starring David Hemmings, Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles, and Jane Birkin From Roger Ebert: “A hypnotic conjuring act, in which a character is awakened briefly…

I can’t stop!

When I retired 10 years ago (for the fourth time), I promised myself (and swore to K) that I would desist from starting any new business ventures. I did my best. Since then, I’ve started only about 10 – one…

3 Facts, 3 Numbers, 3 Thoughts — December 11, 2020

THE FACTS * In Thailand, texters use 555 the way we use LOL. The number 5 is pronounced “ha” – which makes 555 “hahaha.” * When an actor is in character, his brain patterns change. A study by Canada’s McMaster…

I’m Smiling!

For the past few weeks, our family’s charitable foundation in Nicaragua (run by Number Three Son Michael) has been focused almost exclusively on hurricane relief programs. Meanwhile, great progress has been…

What Favorite Movies Can Tell You About Other People

When the lights came on I noticed that my partner and his wife were seated just two rows behind us. They were both laughing. “So, you liked it?” I asked. “No!” he shouted, still laughing. “We hated it!" The…

Happy Tuesday!

I’m feeling good right now because I just finished a meeting about moving forward with Rancho Santana: Then and Now. This is a book project I’ve been working on for at least 10 years. The idea was to document…

Czech Sumo Wrestler Defeats Larger Japanese Opponents

You may be wondering why I’m wasting your time on full-grown men having a shoving contest in diapers. Like many, my first impression of this sport was something between astonishment and disgust. But as a…

Conceptual Art?

Hey there. Happy Monday. I have some thoughts for you today about the way I approach investing in stocks. But before we get to that, I want to show you something I came across in one of the online art…

A Simple Formula For Buying Dividend Stocks

“Investing should be more like watching paint dry or watching grass grow. If you want excitement, take $800 and go to Las Vegas.” – Paul Samuelson My Simple System for Knowing When to Buy a Stock A reader…

A Century Of Global Economic Expansion And Retreat

Today is book and movie review day. And I’m happy to be recommending one of my favorites – a classic in noir film and fiction: The Maltese Falcon. But before we jump into that, I want to pass along a noir…

The Maltese Falcon

The Maltese Falcon By Dashiell Hammett 224 pages Published 1929 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. I read this as a book club selection about a dozen years ago and returned to it this weekend because it is so damned…

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

The Maltese Falcon (1941) Directed by John Huston Starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, and Peter Lorre Produced 12 years after the book, The Maltese Falcon, directed by the great John Huston and starring the…

Refreshing Creative Wells Beyond Your Comfort Zone

On November 18, I talked about moments that I love. One of them is when my boys call me for advice. AF, one of my brilliant nieces, must have read that, because a few days later she called to “ask for my…

3 Facts, 3 Numbers, 3 Thoughts

THE FACTS * To look up at stars in the night sky is to look back in time. Space is incredibly vast and stars are very far away – which means that it takes a long time for their light to reach us. It’s very…

Returning To Paradise Palms After Time Away

Glad to be back home in Florida. On the way back from the airport I stopped at Paradise Palms & Sculpture Gardens (or the Swamp House, as K once dubbed it) to see how things were doing. I was happy to see that…

Three Personal Secrets From My Journal

“Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets.” – Arthur Miller 20 Things You Don’t Know About Me (That I May Regret Telling You) I’m not going to tell you all 20 today. I don’t have time and…

The Aftermath of Hurricane Iota in Limon Uno y Dos

Today, I was planning to show you some footage of a Sumo wrestler that I admire. But when I saw this photo of a man carrying a baby to safety in a tub on her head, I thought I’d make this issue a little photo…