shorts, fragments, travel notes, culture, books, stray observations
one distinction between what Taleb writes in Fooled by Randomness and what Wittgenstein gets at in Tractatus is that the former deals with the practicalities (and sarcasm) of daily life, whereas Tractatus is onto the ontological, epistemological, and linguistic.
when they debate some topic, they do not attempt to follow the reasoning of that which they are debating, but simply try to have the audience concur with what they are presenting.
raising a child is perhaps the most complex journey of all, but success is likely governed by few principles. And this is one of them.
"Maximus was my model for self-control, fixity of purpose, and cheerfulness under ill-health or other misfortunes. "
the sea engulfed a sailor in its depths. Unaware, his mother goes and lights a tall candle before the ikon of our Lady
this quote from Christopher Hitchens resurfaced today (thanks to readwise). What an elegant way to sum up one's moral compass.
but if we reorient our view from the survival machine's to that of the gene, then it makes perfect sense that some molecules do not code for anything.
give it first to Homer and then, 2600 years later, to Kavafis and you get something that rises above all of us.
when you realize that all your grand problems are imaginary
i recently read a post by Jason Fried of 37signals.com about ascribing depth to flatness and generating irrelevant data. “… I can’t help but think it’s generating data
the lesson is: when going places for or with Kai, don’t attempt to sabotage the trip before reaching our destination.
our bodies weaken, our minds become more contemplative. At first, we try to reverse the makings of time. We then hope to avoid them, but it's a futile enterprise. Our running pace declines no matter what we change in our training regime
