Tag: living

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Living Quotations

Happy New Year: On Toughness, Unfairness, and Gratitude

Happy New Year!

Charlie Munger once said something that’s been rattling around in my head lately: “Life is tough, life is unfair. Things could be worse.” Today is Charlie’s birthday too.

Charlie’s commentary is not exactly the kind of sentiment you’d find on a greeting card or some inspirational Instagram post. There’s no call to “manifest your dreams” or promise that “this is your year.” And yet, as we stand at the beginning of 2026, I’m reminded yet comforted by Munger’s blunt assessment.

Because here’s the thing: life is tough. It doesn’t distribute its blessings evenly. It’s often unfair.

Some of us start the year nursing wounds from the last one. Some of us are grieving, struggling, or simply exhausted.

To those with those feelings the New Year’s promise of a fresh start can feel pretty hollow when you’re dragging the same problems across an arbitrary calendar line.

I don’t think that final phrase—“things could be worse”—is Charlie being pessimistic. It’s perspective. Even when life is tough or unfair, there’s still something worth holding onto.

As we step into this new year, maybe our resolution should be simple: to face life’s toughness with honesty, to acknowledge its unfairness without being consumed by it, and to remember, on our hardest days, that we’re still here. That things certainly could be worse—and because they’re not, there’s room for gratitude, for effort, for hope.

So here’s to a 2026 full of clear eyes and full hearts, to being smart and honest enough to recognize what’s unfair, but having the wisdom to appreciate what remains.

To really savor moments of joy whenever and wherever we find them. And to keep perspective.

Happy New Year.

Categories
Writing

Too Late

“Doesn’t it always happen that as soon as you’ve sent it, suddenly you notice something you want to change? You read your own work differently once you’ve shared it because you are—in that moment after you’ve hit the send button, or stuffed that envelope into the mail slot—rereading your work as the person to whom you’ve just sent it. The circle around your work suddenly grows wider. But now that you have a little more room in which to read it clearly, you’ve sent it out. It’s too late.” (Dani Shapiro, Still Writing)

Indeed.

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Living

Remembering

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Friends Living

Home Team

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Living

Demons hate fresh air!

Demons hate fresh air!

“The demons hate it when you get out of bed. Demons hate fresh air.” (Austin Kleon, Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad)

This morning in early May brought to mind one of my favorite quotes from Austin Kleon.

Clear, crisp morning air and beautiful morning skies!

On my morning walks I’m also often reminded of the title of one of Gregory Bateson’s books: Steps to an Ecology of Mind. Each step in my walk is a step toward fresh thinking and new insights!

For fun, I asked Google Gemini Flash 2.0 to generate ten more examples of things demons might also hate:

  • The sound of wind chimes in a gentle breeze: Imagine their infernal plotting being constantly disrupted by the delicate tinkling.
  • Perfectly ripe, in-season strawberries: The sheer, unadulterated sweetness and natural vibrancy could be anathema to their corrupted palates.
  • A well-organized spice rack: The order and clarity might offend their chaotic nature.
  • The feeling of bare feet on cool grass on a sunny morning: The simple, grounding sensation could disrupt their connection to darker realms.
  • A perfectly brewed cup of chamomile tea: Its soothing and calming properties would be the antithesis of their inner turmoil.
  • The sight of two people holding hands without any ulterior motive: Pure, unselfish affection could be a truly repulsive sight.
  • The smell of old books in a quiet library: The accumulation of knowledge and stories, especially those of hope and wisdom, might be unbearable.
  • A cat purring contentedly in a sunbeam: The epitome of simple joy and peace.
  • The moment when a tangled ball of yarn is finally unraveled: The resolution of chaos into order could be deeply unsettling.
  • A child’s innocent question about the stars: The vastness and wonder of the universe, untainted by cynicism, might be too much for them to handle.
Categories
Living

The Linotype

“Sometimes when I went to fetch proofs in the composing room I would scoot up the metal stairs through the hole in the newsroom ceiling a few minutes early and stand by one of the Linotype operators and, fascinated, watch him work. The operator, seated at a keyboard and working from single-take segments of newsroom copy, transformed the words letter by letter into pieces of metal type fashioned from hot lead. When he struck the key, the lead was in a molten state, and then the machine would magically spit out single lines of solidified hard-set type in word form. Each line stacked itself upon the previous one, the whole stack of type exactly a newspaper column wide. It was this miracle machine, invented in the late nineteenth century, that had upended the basic system of movable type going back to Gutenberg.” (Carl Bernstein, Chasing History)

This quotation from Chasing History by Carl Bernstein brought back memories of my dad who spend many hours in front of the keyboard of various Linotype machines over the years.

My earliest memories of him doing that were at Dayton Typographic Service in Dayton, Ohio where we lived during the 1950’s. Dad was one of the foremen there and he’d sometimes go in on Saturdays to catch up on work – and often take me along. Those excursions were always fun for me – so much for a young boy to explore in the shop on those quiet Saturday mornings.

I’ve been thinking recently about how certain smells are part of our memories – and this is another one of those. I’m remembering the smell of the pots of molten lead on the row of Linotype machines where Dad worked. Unlike any other smell I’ve come across in my life. Not a bad smell, just very unique. Bernstein’s quotation brought it back to life for me this morning!

Carl Loftesness – Linotype at Dayton Typographic Service
Categories
Creativity Inspiration Living Quotations

The Conveyer Belt of Life

Lovely highlight this morning from Rick Rubin: “You might imagine that the outside world is a conveyor belt with a stream of small packages on it, always going by. The first step is to notice the conveyor belt is there. And then, any time you want, you can pick up one of those packages, unwrap it, and see what’s inside.” (Rick Rubin, The Creative Act)

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AI AI: Large Language Models Living Reading

Human vs Machine: The Art of Rereading

Ann Patchett’s observation about the transformative nature of rereading strikes at the heart of what makes literature an endlessly renewable resource.

Like walking through a familiar neighborhood at different times of day or in different seasons, returning to a book seems to reveal new shadows, fresh angles, and unexpected details that were there all along, waiting for us to discover them.

The words on the page haven’t changed, but we bring new perspectives shaped by our own encounters as we live each day. Each major life transition – education, career shifts, parenthood, loss – adds another lens through which we view the world. These experiences accumulate and enrich our capacity to recognize nuance and complexity in what we read. Our changing interpretations become a kind of dialogue between our past and present selves.

This distinctly human rereading experience stands in stark contrast to AI models that process the same text identically each time, unchanged by the passage of time or accumulation of experience. While AI can analyze text with impressive sophistication, it cannot bring the lived experience that makes each human rereading unique and meaningful.

Our ability to find new meaning in old pages is a testament to our capacity for growth, emotional development, and the continuous evolution of our consciousness. Humans FTW!

Categories
AI Living Work

Avalanche: The AI Revolution

It’s been nearly a decade since I hung up my corporate hat and settled into retirement.

Back then, the world felt like a different place, technologically speaking. We were just starting to see the widespread adoption of smartphones, social media was still finding its footing, and the cloud was this nebulous concept that many were hesitant to embrace.

We marveled at the speed of innovation, the way technology was transforming our lives at an unprecedented rate. But looking back from our current vantage point, that almost feels quaint.

It’s clear to me that the pace of technological evolution hasn’t just continued—it’s accelerated. Almost exponentially. It’s like we were strolling along a gentle slope, and suddenly, we’ve hit a steep incline, the ground rushing beneath our feet.

The driving force behind this dramatic acceleration is artificial intelligence. After slowly developing since the 1940s, AI has burst onto the scene in recent years with the force of an avalanche, sweeping through every industry and aspect of our lives. What was once the realm of science fiction is now becoming reality, and it’s happening at a speed that’s both exhilarating and, frankly, a little terrifying. Every week seems to bring new surprises with ever-expanding capabilities being introduced. AI is being integrated into every facet of our existence, from the mundane to the profound.

This rapid advancement brings with it a whirlwind of emotions. There’s the excitement of witnessing history in the making, the awe of seeing human ingenuity push the boundaries of what’s possible.

But there’s also a sense of unease, a fear of the unknown. How will AI displace human workers? And how quickly? Will it exacerbate existing inequalities? Will it be used for good or for evil?

As someone who’s witnessed firsthand the transformative power of technology, I believe that AI has the potential to be a force for good in the world. It can help us address some of the most pressing challenges facing humanity, from climate change and poverty to disease and hunger. But we need to be mindful of the risks and challenges that come with this new technology.

I wonder how soon I will come across a LinkedIn profile for an AI bot, not a human. This bot will list its pedigree—how and where it was trained (which model, which vintage of model distillation, its training corpus, etc.)—along with its relevant experience. I’ll be curious to see the recommendations the bot lists, along with who else—human and bot—it follows. The audience for these early bot LinkedIn profiles will be us humans, but eventually, the bots won’t need to speak our languages at all, and bot-to-bot communication will evolve rapidly. The bots won’t pay any attention to advertising either.

Clearly, the avalanche is here, and it’s not slowing down. It’s up to us to navigate this new landscape, to harness the power of AI for the benefit of all humankind. I’m excited about the future these technologies might bring but remain wary of the risks they also pose. Life in our time is speeding up very quickly!

Categories
Financial Planning Inspiration Living

Being Serious

One of my favorite podcasts is William Green’s Richer, Wiser, Happier podcast on The Investor’s Podcast network. Green’s book came out a couple of years ago and has been one of my favorites. His ability to profile a great group of investors is superb and the book is very enjoyable reading.

On his latest podcast episode he’s interviewing one of my favorite financial writers, Jason Zweig, about his about to be published updated 75th anniversary edition of Benjamin Graham’s The Intelligent Investor. The book comes out on Tuesday. For many years Zweig has written The Intelligent Investor column in the Wall Street Journal – one of my favorite reads every Friday morning.

Late in this podcast conversation there’s the following exchange between Green and Zweig – two colleagues who have worked together and apart for many years in the arena of financial journalism:

William Green: And you sent me this lovely quote from Philip Roth, the great novelist who both of us love, who said, “Sheer playfulness and deadly seriousness are my closest friends.”

That’s the formula to describe the concoction that energizes virtually any writer worth his or her salt. I thought that was just so interesting that it’s like you somehow want to go about these pursuits, whether it’s writing or investing, with deadly seriousness and at the same time sheer playfulness.

Jason Zweig: Yeah, I mean, I guess one way I have described this now that you mention it is, is that I take my work incredibly seriously, so I don’t take myself seriously at all. And another way to put that is I have ego in my work, and I have no ego for my work. So I, I throw everything I’ve got into it, I leave nothing on the field but when I’m done, if you ask me, it’s great, right? I’ll say probably not. It’s probably, it’s probably somewhere between terrible and okay. And I’m not really faking it either.

That’s such a great way to approach life – being serious about your work (and family and friends, etc) while not taking yourself seriously at all.

Loved hearing Zweig talk about this on this podcast! And I’m really looking forward to reading his updated commentaries in the new edition of The Intelligent Investor.