Articles from 2021
442 articles · browse by month or scroll through the year.
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Notes From My Journal
Life at Rancho Santana
More than 20 years ago, my partners and I bought a cattle ranch on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua. After making every imaginable development mistake in the book, we gradually built it into a world-class resort…
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Notes From My Journal
Gentrification Threatens Beloved Neighborhood Cigar Club
Stranger Arrives; Cigar Club Jeopardized “All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward.” – Ellen Glasgow I heard about Mr. R first from my real estate brokers. “He’s bought up the entire block…
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Worth Considering
Living Rich: Great Cigars for Less Than $10
At my private Cigar Club, we serve our guests a variety of cigar sizes, strengths, and flavors – ranging from as little as $4 a stick to more than $16. I want my guests to have the best smoking experience they…
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Postscript
The Stella Awards Urban Legend Gets Debunked
I was heart crushed to learn from my brother-in-law (of all people) that the “Stella Awards” that I passed on to you last week are… well… fake news. Though the Stella Liebeck case that they are based on is…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
Want to Be a Good Writer? It Isn’t Easy, but This Is the First Step
Want to Be a Good Writer? It Isn’t Easy, but This Is the First Step “Every discourse, even a poetic or oracular sentence, carries with it a system of rules for producing analogous things and thus an outline of…
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Worth Reading
My Writing Time Is Sacred, but Please Don’t Ask Me What I Did All Day
Brevity is a “non-fiction blog” that profits from giving wannabe writers a platform to write about how they wannabe writers. It irks me (as an entrepreneur) because it’s such a clever idea. “For a modest…
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Postscript
Painted Stairs Transform Cities Into Colorful Art
There’s no end to human creativity. JM sent these images of a new trend in street art: painted stairs. In Philadelphia… In Tokyo, Japan… In Poznan, Poland… In Seoul, South Korea...
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Worth Reading
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine By Gail Honeyman 352 pages Published in 2017 by Penguin Books The plot of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is almost a cliché of romance novels and high school movies –…
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Worth Watching
Operation Finale
Operation Finale (2018) on Netflix Directed by Chris Weitz Starring Ben Kingsley, Oscar Isaac, and Lior Raz Operation Finale – considered to be a remake of the 1979 film The House on Garibaldi Street – is…
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Postscript
Homeless Ex-Marine's Surprising Piano Talent
This homeless ex-marine can still tickle the ivories…
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Notes From My Journal
Living With Florida's Thousand Iguanas And Beyond
Paradise Palms, my botanical garden in Delray Beach, must be home to a thousand iguanas. They are not particularly good-looking creatures. Some can be downright weird. And big. They can grow to four feet. But…
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Worth Considering
The Not-So-Free Press
I’ve been in the business of selling newsletters by subscription since my Peace Corps days. The subscription business was always bigger than the general advertising business, but nobody knew it. When the…
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Notes From My Journal
Have you heard of the Stella Awards?
I hadn’t… until one of my high school buddies clued me in. They are named in honor of Stella Liebeck, the 79-year-old woman that sued McDonald’s after she spilled hot coffee on herself and suffered…
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Postscript
Good Old Boy Masters The Art Of Beatboxing
I am not a connoisseur of beat boxing, but this good old boy seems to have the knack… Same guy, this time as someone’s grandfather performing in the hood… From Wikipedia: Beatboxing (also beat boxing or…
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Notes From My Journal
Damned If I Do, Damned If I Don’t
“Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.” – Pope John Paul II My reverence for personal freedom above almost every other social value prompts me to be…
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Worth Considering
To Buy or Not to Buy: Suzanne and I Compare Notes on 7 Paintings by Denis Nunez
One of the fun things I like about collecting art with a partner is that you get to know one another’s preferences – generally and with respect to particular artists. When Suzanne Snider and I are buying…
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Postscript
Competitive Basketball And The Sore Loser Problem
Is this racism? If you’ve played competitive half-court basketball, you’ll know, as this guy does, that it is not. The problem is that some guys are wimps and sore losers.
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Worth Reading
You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation
You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation By Deborah Tannen, PhD Originally published in 1995 by Virago The book’s thesis is that, from childhood, boys and girls learn different approaches to…
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Notes From My Journal
The Geriatric Language of Lov
“We are born crying, live complaining, and die disappointed.” – Thomas Fuller You Just Don’t Understand was considered groundbreaking in its day. It was on the NYT bestseller list for nearly four years, eight…
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Postscript
Cognitive Performance Breakthrough Claims Require Scruticism
Amazing new discovery for improving cognitive performance…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
My Million-Dollar Minimum Fee
My Million-Dollar Minimum Fee “You get what you pay for.” When Early to Rise was at its peak, I was regularly petitioned by readers asking me to mentor them. I was always flattered by such requests and wrote…
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Worth Considering
Famous Writers Begging For Money Throughout History
From Letters of Note – “a reassuring reminder that 99.9% of people have at some point worried about, needed more of, and sometimes written awkward, angry, or amusing letters about, money.” John O’Hara, letter…
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Postscript
Interesting Maps: #4
The biggest non-government employer in each state…
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Notes From My Journal
3 Surprising Facts About the Border Crisis
3 Surprising Facts About the Border Crisis * US Customs and Border Protection agents apprehended 172,000 illegal aliens along the border in March, the largest surge ever. (National Border Patrol Council) * Of…
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Notes From My Journal
A.S. On This Year's Oscar Disappointments
After reading my comments about this year’s Oscar winners, my friend A.S. wrote to say: Your blog today motivated me to give you my opinion of the movies this year. I am so sick of movies that make me want to…
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Worth Watching
Better Days
Better Days (2019) Directed by Derek Kwok-Cheung Tsang Starring Zhou Dongyu and Jackson Yee K and I watched Better Days. It was one of the foreign movies on her list of Oscar nominations. From the get-go, I…
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Worth Reading
Interviewing Matisse, or The Woman Who Died Standing Up
Interviewing Matisse, or The Woman Who Died Standing Up By Lily Tuck 148 pages Published in 2006 by Harper Perennial I decided to read Interviewing Matisse because it was a thin book, just 148 pages, and…
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Postscript
The Art Of Rhythmic Hand Percussion
I get into clapping along with the music now and then, but this man brings that kind of clapping to a whole, new level…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
Customer Service Made Easy… and Profitable
“We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little better.” – Jeff Bezos Customer Service Made…
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Worth Watching
Trapped: A Gripping Short Film Worth Your Time
“Trapped” – a good short film.
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Postscript
Phenomenal Photos I Wish I'd Taken: #3
Phenomenal Photos I Wish I’d Taken: #3
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Notes From My Journal
After the Shutdown Ends
With Biden and Harris in the White House and the Democrats fast on their way to controlling politics for the foreseeable future, the mainstream media has abandoned its narrative of fear and is pushing hope and…
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Worth Considering
How good are you at identifying common flowers?
I’ve spent 5 years and a small fortune developing a botanical garden. That experience has taught me a good deal about trees and plants – so I foolishly thought, when I took this test, that I would do better…
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Postscript
Funny!
Funny!
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Notes From My Journal
Before You Start Your Academy Award “To-Watch” List…
“Every great film should seem new every time you see it.” – Roger Ebert Before You Start Your Academy Award “To-Watch” List… Nomadland (2020) Directed by Chloé Zhao Starring Frances McDormand and David…
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Worth Reading
Dalrymple On Cellular Humility And Human Limits
“Humility on a Cellular Level” – another fun essay from Dalrymple. Click here to read it.
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Postscript
Why Cute Animals Still Rule Social Media
Cute animals are the biggest cliché on social media. Still…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
Georgia’s Controversial New Voting Law
“Voting is as much an emotional act as it is an intellectual one.” – Monica Crowley Georgia’s Controversial New Voting Law So, is this new law racist? Is it some new version of Jim Crow? It’s no longer…
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Worth Considering
8 Worthy Thoughts About First Love
I have a special home in the city of my heart where my first love resides. I didn’t build it. At least, not consciously. I found it many years later. My first love was not my greatest love. Or my most enduring…
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Postscript
Louisiana Woman's Million-Dollar Bank Error Dilemma
I’m not sure why I clicked on this video. I guess I do. It was the headline: “Louisiana woman accused of refusing to return $1.2M after bank error.” It’s like an elevator pitch for the opening of a movie…
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Notes From My Journal
America's Hidden Hunger Crisis Demands Urgent Attention
The US is experiencing a hunger crisis, the NYT tells us, and the Biden administration is addressing this by “accelerating a vast campaign of hunger relief that will temporarily increase assistance by tens of…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
Does the US Really Have a Hunger Crisis?
“The rich swell up with pride, the poor from hunger.” – Sholom Aleichem Does the US Really Have a Hunger Crisis? If you google “hunger in the US,” you’ll get a plethora of articles about something called food…
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Worth Watching
Medieval Craftsmanship Reveals Hidden Artistic Brilliance
Medieval art bores you. I get that. But this slightly boring tour of the history and the craft of two astonishingly detailed medieval pieces will give you an idea about how amazing these pieces often are.
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Postscript
Fox News Host's Questionable Fashion Choices During Segment
This is a Fox News bit about the “border crisis.” I tried to pay attention to it, to cull some useful data from it. But I couldn’t stop thinking, “Why is this woman dressed up like she is?”
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Worth Watching
Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)
Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) Starring Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield I watched Judas and the Black Messiah last night. I wasn’t going to. Something about the title repelled me. I don’t know what I…
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Worth Reading
Solstice
Solstice By Joyce Carol Oates 249 pages Originally published in 1985; reissued in 2019 by Ecco Joyce Carol Oates is nothing if not a prolific writer. She published her first book in 1963 at age 25, and has…
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Postscript
Bill's Insight On Madoff's Broader Implications
Last week, I wrote a short piece about Bernie Madoff. I mentioned it to Bill at a partners meeting, and he sent this out… which takes my observation to a different level.
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Notes From My Journal
I was surprised by the Chauvin verdict
As I said on April 1, I thought there was a good chance that he would not be convicted of all three, if any, of the charges against him. I don’t know what was in Chauvin’s heart when he put his knee down on…
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Worth Considering
Charges, No Charges – You Decide
Charges: An officer involved in a fatal shooting in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, will face charges of second-degree manslaughter, prosecutors announced. Twenty-year-old Daunte Wright, a Black resident of the…
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Notes From My Journal
What I Believe — April 22, 2021
* It’s not easy to succeed. That’s because success is defined as achieving that which is difficult for most people to do. * Some people fail despite great effort. But most people fail to succeed simply because…
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