view
Empty spaces
We put thirty spokes to make a wheel but it is on the hole in the centre that the use of the cart hinges
We make a vessel from a lump of clay but it is the empty space within the vessel that makes it useful
We make doors and windows for a room but it is the empty spaces that make the room livable
Thus while existence has advantages, it is the void that makes it useful
Tao Te Ching (Dao De Jing), by Lao Tzu (Lao Zi) Translator unknown
view
Better than absolutely boring
“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it is better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”
~ Marilyn Monroe
—
I am not sure about being ridiculous, but this is a good reminder not to be “absolutely boring” either. Even if there is nothing wrong with being “absolutely boring”, where is the fun in that?
view
Invest in yourself
“There's one investment that supersedes all others: Invest in yourself. ... Nobody can take away what you've got in yourself—and everybody has potential they haven't used yet. If you can increase your potential 10%, 20% or 30% by enhancing your talents, they can't tax it away. Inflation can't take it from you. You have it the rest of your life.”
~ Warren Buffett
Source: Forbes
view
Confidence
“Confidence isn't something you start with when you sit down to do something new.
Confidence is the result of doing something enough times to shift from feeling uncertain, to feeling like you know at least kinda what to expect (even without certainty).
...
Remember that confidence isn't binary. It's not something you have or you don't; it's a spectrum or a range that you move along with more practice.”
view
Turning off the email subscription
When I moved to this platform, I turned on its email subscription feature. When I posted something, a subscriber would get an email from a @writeasletters.com address. A regular email address, instead of a “no-reply” address.
However, I just found out that, as of current platform capability, if a subscriber reply to the email, then the reply actually never reaches me. And both the subscriber and I would not know.
And supposedly this was by design.
I think this is counter-intuitive. At the very least, they could have sent an email bounce.
This is not the user experience I like, so I am turning off the email subscription. If you subscribed in the past, my apologies for the inconvenience.
If they improve this someday, maybe I will turn it back on.
view
Saving up for old age
“You know, they say that success is getting what you want and happiness is wanting what you get. Well, I don't know which one applies in this case. But I do know that I wouldn't be doing anything else.
I always worry about people who say, 'You know, I'm going to do this for ten years. I really don't like it very well, but I'll do ten more years and ...'
To me, that's like saving up sex for your old age. Not a very good idea.
The reward for the doing must be the doing.”
~ Warren Buffett
view
Shop Class as Soulcraft
“Those who work in an office often feel that, despite the proliferation of contrived metrics they must meet, their job lacks objective standards of the sort provided by, for example, a carpenter's level, and that as a result there is something arbitrary in the dispensing of credit and blame.”
“Corporations portray themselves as results-based and performance-oriented. But where there isn't anything material being produced, objective standards for job performance are hard to come by.”
“Failures often force you to ask a favor of someone else ... Such an experience of dependence makes you humble, and grateful.”
~ Matthew B. Crawford
Note: “Shop Class as Soulcraft” was Matthew's first book. He also wrote other books.
view
Life is like a game of chess
“Life is like a game of chess. There are many moves possible, but each move determines your next move. Where you wind up is the sum of all your past moves.
But first you have to make some kind of move!”
Sarge speaking to Beetle, from Beetle Bailey Comics by Mort Walker