Doing the most, in the best way.
– Nathan Zed
Hype music yo.
Category: ideas
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there’s the sheer beauty of it for athet, you know know all the sports have great athletes but for sheer grace and speed, for for, the combination of power and grace there’s nothing like what happens say in the infield when a beautiful double play is turned to see Ozzie Smith made plays at short stop that that were balletic in a way that nothing, and I mean nothing that happens in those other games matches
– David Bentley Hart
No one. And I mean no one, speaks baseball the way David Bentley Hart does. The details, the passion, the reverence.
All in time for Spring Training.
That from the new documentary DBH: Cutting Forms from Mystery:
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I am a biography nut myself. And I think when you’re trying to teach the great concepts that work, it helps to tie them into the lives and personalities of the people who developed them. I think you learn economics better if you make Adam Smith your friend.
– Charlie Munger
Second time this week an Adam Smith reference has found it’s way to me.
I need to make him my friend. First up The Theory of Moral Sentiments.
Munger, Charles T.. Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Essential Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger. N.p., Stripe Matter Incorporated. pp37
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Brett McKay: Do you keep a commonplace book?
Roland Allen: Do you know what? Literally two weeks ago, I thought I’m going to have to do this. I started one and what I did was I went and got a little Moleskine address book. I’m holding it in my hand now. You know, the sort which has the tabbed pages.
Brett McKay: Yeah.
Roland Allen: Because what I wanted to avoid was having to go through and if I would need to write down the Alphabet and all the head words hundreds of times. So, yeah, so I’ve got those little tab pages down the side and I’ve made a few entries, but really, I should be making more. You’ve reminded me. But like I say, keeping a commonplace book is hard work.
It is hard.
Worth it.
As heard on the latest Art of Manliness podcast: The Power of the Notebook — The History and Practice of Thinking on Paper
McKay, Brett. “Podcast #1057: The Power of the Notebook—The History and Practice of Thinking on Paper.” Art of Manliness, [Date of Publication]. https://www.artofmanliness.com/living/reading/podcast-1057-the-power-of-the-notebook-the-history-and-practice-of-thinking-on-paper/.
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Never show up empty-handed after a trip. “I am a big fan of the Japanese custom of buying local food and drink when travelling, otherwise known as omiyage,” Clark says. “I’ve adopted this custom on a more personal scale, seeking out things to bring home to support local producers whenever I travel, like yuzu kosho from Japan, chilli peanut butter from the Netherlands (it’s a big thing there), or a bottle of Wye Valley mead from a trip to Wales.”
As read from the article, 33 Ways To Improve Your Life, Japanese Style
H/T Recomendo
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Newton observed that if others would think as hard as he did, then they would be able to do the same things. Edison said genius was 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. It is hard work, applied for long years, which leads to the creative act, and it is rarely just handed to you without any serious effort on your part. Yes, sometimes it just happens, and then it is pure luck. It seems to me to be folly for you to depend solely on luck for the outcome of this one life you have to lead.
– Richard Hamming
As read from the transcript You and Your Research.
H/T Gwern
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Presents are unwrapped. Chocolates munched. A giant turkey dinner with all the trimmings devoured. The queen’s Christmas address is watched, and the national anthem emotionally hummed to. Then I usher the kids out to get some fresh air, which none of them want, but they are nicer for it. They all have to do some jobs every day and Christmas is no different. This way they learn about duties and responsibilities. Working makes the food and family times later in the day more meaningful: we have earned the rest through work, not idleness. I’d hate not to work at Christmas.
Part of savoring Christmas is learning about other people’s Christmas traditions, whether at the dinner table or through a book.
Rebanks, James. The Shepherd’s Life: Modern Dispatches from an Ancient Landscape. United States, Flatiron Books, 2015. pg 228, 229
How many blogs make it to 900 posts? Thank you dear readers.
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At Christmas the cheese and fish which the L’Estranges often dined on were set aside and instead roast beef and turkey, venison and goose were served in quantities, enriched with capers and olives, sugar and spices. New Year’s gifts were given, haunches of venison and cuts of veal were dispatched in the hands of retainers to gentry neighbours and civic worthies. At home Sir Hamon presented seasonal tips to his servants, several pounds each to his older grandsons and a few shillings to the littlest boys. The old man might have been ageing, and his health had not been good, but he was still beautifully dressed.
As read from Anna Keay’s The Restless Republic.
A little Boxing Day entry to keep the Christmas spirits flowing.
Keay, A. (2022). The Restless Republic: Britain Without a Crown. United Kingdom: HarperCollins Publishers. pg 181 & 182
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Before the Carol was published, Christmas Day was not a public holiday in Britain. By 1846 the newspapers were reporting that ‘Experienced salesmen at Leadenhall-market state that the demand for Christmas geese this year exceeded that of any previous season, and that the establishment of clubs has, within the last few days, brought upwards of 20,000 geese into the market. In some parts of the metropolis, “plum pudding clubs” have been established.’
Strange to think there was a time where Christmas was not a public holiday in Britain.
The power of Dickens.
Also Leadenhall Market still exists.
Wilson, A.N.. The Mystery of Charles Dickens. United States, HarperCollins, 2020. pg 158, 159
Floodlights and Goalposts 