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"I want to be left alone. I want to sit in the grass. I want to ride
my horse. I want to lay a woman naked in the grass on the
mountainside. I want to think. I want to pray. I want to sleep. I want
to look at the stars. I want what I want. I want to get and prepare my
own food, with my own hands, and live that way. I want to roll my own.
I want to smoke some deer meat and pack it in my saddlebag, and go
away over the bluff. I want to read books. I want to write books. I’ll
write books in the woods. Thoreau was was right; Jesus was right. It’s
all wrong and I denounce it and it can all go to hell. I don’t believe
in this society, but I believe in man, like Mann. So roll your own
bones, I say." - - Jack Kerouac
RELATED INFORMATION
Questionnarie by Wendell Berry
- How much poison are you willing to eat for the success of the free market and global trade? Please name your preferred poisons.
- For the sake of goodness, how much evil are you willing to do? Fill in the following blanks with the names of your favorite evils and acts of hatred.
- What sacrifices are you prepared to make for culture and civilization? Please list the monuments, shrines, and works of art you would most willingly destroy.
- In the name of patriotism and the flag, how much of our beloved land are you willing to desecrate? List in the following spaces the mountains, rivers, towns, farms you could most readily do without.
- State briefly the ideas, ideals, or hopes, the energy sources, the kinds of security, for which you would kill a child. Name, please, the children whom you would be willing to kill.
Reprinted with permission. Published by Counterpoint
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure -- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. - Steve Jobs
Boston Red Sox slugger Ted Williams missed almost five full baseball seasons (1943, 1944, 1945, 1952 and 1953) fighting as a fighter pilot in World War II and the Korean War and still managed to hit 521 home runs. This is pretty mind blowing in the context of today's pampered diva athletes like Lebron James. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted... http://www.baseball-reference.co...
"Draw a crazy picture,
Write a nutty poem,
Sing a mumble-gumble song,
Whistle through your comb.
Do a loony-goony dance
'Cross the kitchen floor,
Put something silly in the world
That ain't been there before."
— Shel Silverstein
Wealth is not the things we own–
A stately house upon a hill,
Paintings, rugs and tapestries,
Or servants taught to do one’s will.
In luxury, a man may dwell,
As lonely as in a prison cell.
Wealth is not a plenteous purse,
The bonds that one has stored away,
A boastful balance in a bank,
Or jewelled baubles that fools display.
The things that really gratify
Are things that money cannot buy.
Wealth is health, and a cheerful heart,
An ear that hears the robin’s song,
A mind content, some treasured friends,
And fragrant memories lingering on.
Living is an inward art–
All lasting wealth is in the heart!
-Alfred Grant Walton
The Orange Peel House was a portable plywood structure made in Germany that took about 15 minutes to assemble. In 1955 you could buy it for about $150. Perfect for a glamorous camping trip. I want one for Burning Man.
Source: Popular Mechanics, reposted by Modern Mechanix.
Let us start with a brief history of Medicine and Nutrition -
Patient "I am sick".
Physicians responses:
3500 years ago - "Here eat this root"
2500 year ago - "That root is heathen - say this prayer"
150 years ago - "That is superstition - drink this potion"
50 years ago - "That potion is snake oil - take this pill"
15 years ago - "That pill is no good, take this antibiotic"
Today - "that is not natures way - here eat this root"
via: kokitom/Shutterstock
Clemente's middle daughter, Grace, is eighteen and has a diamond nose stud and wants to be an FBI profiler like Tim's older brother, Jim, who retired in 2009 after twenty-two years with the Bureau. As she dries the dishes, she asks Amira how she and Omar met.
"He saved my life," Amira says quietly. "It was very romantic."
Omar leans against the counter. "I got shot twice in the leg."
Amira, an electrical engineer, had done some work for the Americans in the Green Zone when she started getting threats. She was living with her parents, and her family took the threats seriously because her sister, who was also working with the Americans, had already been shot in the chest three times by militants at a roadblock. Army doctors worked fifteen hours and saved her life.
"Friends in the FBI asked me to check up on Amira," Omar says. "So I went to see her..."
He gave Amira his cell number — and told her to call anytime, day or night.
"I'm on night shift when she calls," Omar says. "She's terrified, whispering that men with guns are in her house looking for her."
Amira had locked herself in the bathroom. The gunmen were ransacking the house and yelling, Which one works for the Americans?
Omar grabbed a vest and an AK-47 and raced to the house in his SUV, lights flashing. There were two cars parked at her front gate, and an armed lookout. Omar crashed straight into the first car.
"My SUV landed right on top of it, killing the getaway driver inside. And then I shot the lookout."
Clemente's youngest son asks, "You killed him?"
Omar looks to Tim, who nods, It's okay.
"Yes, I killed him," Omar says softly. "The gang was shooting at me from inside the house. I kept firing, killing two of them, and I saw a third go down. I ran inside the gate, trying to get to the house. That's when I felt the first bullets hit me."
As Omar was falling, he returned fire, killing the last gunman. By that point his backup had arrived.
"So you know what he does?" Amira says. "He tells his guys to carry him inside. So they do, and he knocks on the bathroom door."
"I wanted her to hear my voice," Omar says. "So she'll know she's safe."
"I opened the door," Amira says, "and saw him, leg bleeding and shattered, being held up by his men."
"She squeezed my breath out," Omar laughs, "and we fell to the ground."
"I waited at the hospital all night outside his room."
"In the morning she kissed me. And three months later we got married! That's Baghdad romance."
via http://www.esquire.com/print-this/iraq-terrorist-hunter-0311?page=all
Your time off is a measure of the quality of your life
“Your time off is a measure of the quality of your life. Setting yourself the goal of more personal freedom is as valid as — and ultimately more practical than — a goal of financial riches and material abundance. Today, our society provides more opportunities than ever before for survival with style, for living well without having to become a cultural robot. Living on the fringe of society is easier and much more rewarding than living in the pressurized statistical middle, where all the rules are. But beware, a taste of freedom almost inevitably leads to a craving for it. It hooks you, and it’s wonderful. Most people can’t understand this, because they’ve forgotten what it was like to be free. They think it’s impossible, whereas the truth is that freedom is right in front of you; you simply have to want it enough to take it. People fear the struggle for freedom, but never credit the rewards.”
–Ed Buryn, Vagabonding in the USA (1980)
via @rolfpotts
In 1974, Medtronic, the world’s leading manufacturer of cardiac pacemakers, then and now, released the Laurens-Alcatel Model 9000 pacemaker.18 It was a nuclear powered device that used a tiny thermopile powered by 2 to 4 curies of plutonium-238 (with an 88 year half-life). As the term “thermopile” implies, heat from the decaying plutonium was used to generate the electricity that powered the device. There are an estimated 40-50 people in the US still alive with an implanted Laurens pacemaker. Thirty years later, these devices continue to operate flawlessly in those patients who remain alive with them. No doubt, those few of the devices that have escaped destruction will outlast their owners by many decades, if not a century or more.[3] A prototype power supply for a total artificial heart, containing 50 grams of plutonium, was also demonstrated at around this time.20
Updates
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'No Regrets' tattoo in Olde English. I'll bet you regret that tattoo, buddy.
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If Apple traded at Facebook's current P/E, it would be $3,830/share.
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Wanna buy Apple at a 13 P/E or Facebook at a 25? Cooka, please!
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Bicycle for your mind? How about a 'Jump to Conclusions Mat' for your mind. The Rocky IV of puns.
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If 'Solutions' is in the title of your business, you're probably an unimaginative dolt.
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Insurance salesmen aren't actuaries. #gametheory
