scaling......................

 

The way to do really big things seems to be to start with decep­tively small things.

-Paul Graham, as quoted here

re-boot.....................?

 

10-4...........................

 

Try differently................

 You’re more likely to unlock a big leap in performance by trying differently than by trying harder. You might be able to work 10% harder, but a different approach might work 10x better. Remain focused on the core problem, but explore a new line of attack. Persistence is not just about effort, but also strategy. Don’t merely try harder, try differently.

-James Clear

Is the Big Bang Theory in trouble................?

 It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong.

-Richard Feynman

Pictures from the James Webb Space Telescope don't seem to be supporting it.  Story here.

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Any Major Dude................

 .......With Half A Heart wishes us "pleasant surprises" in 2022 and offers up this play list to help ring in the New Year.  Enjoy!

Unfortunately, it requires being kind yourself...

 

                 via

Forward.......................

There were all these pieces split and broker on the floor, and she spent days on end trying to put the pieces back together again.  But if she only realized that life is meant not to restore what was but rather to create something new and move forward.

-Courtney Peppernell, from Pillow Thoughts III: Mending the Mind

Engage........................

Lose this day loitering—twill be the same story
To-morrow—and the next more dilatory;
Each indecision brings its own delays,
And days are lost lamenting o'er lost days,

Are you in earnest? sieze this very minute—
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
Only engage, and then the mind grows heated—
Begin it, and then the work will be completed!

-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,  Lose This Day Loitering

The beginning of western philosophy........

     In 490-470 B.C. Sparta and Athens, forgetting their jealousies and joining forces, fought off the effort of the Persians under Darius and Xerxes to turn Greece into a colony of an Asiatic empire.  In this struggle of youthful Europe against the senile East, Sparta provided the army and Athens the navy.  The war over, Sparta demobilized her troops, and suffered the economic disturbances natural to that process, while Athens turned her navy into a merchant fleet, and became one of the greatest trading cities of the ancient world.  Sparta relapsed into agricultural seclusion and stagnation, while Athens became a busy mart and port, the meeting place of many races of men and of diverse cults and customs, whose contact and rivalry begot comparison, analysis and thought.
      Traditions and dogmas rub one another down to a minimum in such centers of varied intercourse; where there are a thousand faiths we are apt to become sceptical of them all.  Probably the traders were the first sceptics; they has seen too much to believe too much;  and the general disposition of merchants to classify all men as either fools or knaves inclined them to question every creed.  Gradually, too, they were developing science; mathematics grew with the increasing complexity of exchange, astronomy with the increasing audacity of navigation.  The growth of wealth brought the leisure and security which are prerequisite of research and speculation;  men now asked the stars not only for guidance on the seas but as well for an answer to the riddles of the universe;  the first Greek philosophers were astronomers.  "Proud of their achievements," says Aristotle, "men pushed farther afield after the Persian wars; they took all knowledge for their province, and sought ever wider studies."  Men grew bold enough to attempt natural explanations of processes and events before attributed to supernatural agencies and powers;  magic and ritual slowly gave way to science and control; and philosophy began.

-Will Durant,  The Story of Philosophy

Wisdom..........................

10.  Days exist to give us endless fresh starts

-the rest of the list is here

A reminder...............................

7.  Start. Everything gets easier after that. 

-Nicholas Bate, lifted from here

From our house to yours.....................

more new year's cartoons may be found here

Counting on this being true........

"Twelve years from now, your future self is going to thank you for something you did today, for an asset you began to build, a habit you formed, a seed you planted."

-Seth Godin, from here

Color me doubtful...........

     In the beginning, nearly fourteen billion years ago, all the space and all the matter and all the energy of the known universe was contained in a volume less than one-trillionth the size of the period that ends this sentence.

-Neil deGrasse Tyson, from the opening paragraph to Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

This is mostly true.........................

There are no bad jobs when you’re just starting out. Most young people starting out in the workforce are miserable because they’re not working for their dream company or doing exactly what they’d like with their career. Sometimes this stage in your career is where you learn what you don’t want to do or the types of people you don’t want to work with. The process of elimination can be useful early on in your career.

-Ben Carlson, as copied from here

The heading says "mostly" because of the second sentence.  My first three jobs in the three years after I graduated from college were house painter, grill cook and sandwich maker, and a newspaper deliverer.   I don't remember ever being miserable.

Pretty good advice................

     via

Set your house in perfect order before.......

............you criticize the world.   A few excerpts from Rule 6:

Consider your circumstances.  Start small.  Have you taken full advantage of the opportunities offered to you?  Are you working hard on your career, or even your job, or are you letting bitterness and resentment hold you back and drag you down?  Have you made peace with your brother?  Are you treating your spouse and your children with dignity and respect?  Do you have habits that are destroying your health and well-being?  Are you truly shouldering your responsibilities?  Have you said what you need to say to your friends and family members?  Are there things that you could do, that you know you could do, that would make things around you better?
     Have you cleaned up your life?
     If the answer is no, here's something to try:  Start to stop doing what you know to be wrong.  Start stopping today. 

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Life is short, and you don't have tome to figure out everything on your own.  The wisdom of the past was hard-earned, and your dead ancestors may have something useful to tell you.

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Have some humility.  If you cannot bring peace to your household, how dare you try to rule a city?


-Jordan B. Peterson,  12 Rules For Life:  An Antidote To Chaos

Responsibility................................

      If you are suffering - well, that's the norm.  People are limited and life is tragic.   If your suffering is unbearable, however, and your are starting to become corrupted, here's something to think about.

      Consider your circumstances.  Start small.  Have you taken full advantage of the opportunities offered to you?  Are you working hard on your career, or even your job, or are you letting bitterness and resentment hold you back and drag you down?  Have you made peace with your brother?  Are you treating your spouse and your children with dignity and respect?  Do you have habits that are destroying your health and well-being?  Are you truly shouldering your responsibilities?  Have you said what you need to say to your friends and family members?   Are there things that you could do, that you know you could do, that would make things around you better?
      Have you cleaned up your life?
      If the answer is no, here's something to try:  Start to stop doing what you know to be wrong.  Start stopping today.  Don't waste time questioning how you know what you're doing is wrong, if you are certain that it is.  Inopportune questioning can confuse, without enlightening, as well as deflecting you from action.  You can know that something is wrong or right without knowing why.  Your entire Being can tell you something that you can neither explain nor articulate.  Every person is too complex to know themselves completely, and we all contain wisdom that we cannot comprehend.

-Jordan Peterson,  12 Rules For Life:  An Antidote To Chaos

Happy New Year................

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