Perfection is not when there is no more to add, but no more to take away.
– Antione de Saint Exupéry, author of The Little Prince and a pioneer in aviation.
larger original – flickr – annia316 ღ
related post: Voluntary Simplicity
Category: philosophy
Tim Ferriss – The 4-Hour Workweek
You’re the right track, Tim. Keep going.
Timothy Ferriss, nominated as one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Business People of 2007,” is author of the #1 New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and BusinessWeek bestseller, The 4-Hour Workweek.
He has been featured by dozens of media, including The New York Times, The Economist, TIME, National Geographic Traveler, CNN, CBS, and MAXIM. …
Check his blog: Four Hour Work Week
What the Bleep!?
Rich urged me to see this 2006 film. And I finally have.
It’s a unique, thought provoking, unusual film. I’m glad I saw it — though it didn’t change my life.
The quantum physics is interesting. More emphatic is the concept that what you think affects you at the cellular level. True, I understand.
Deaf actress Marlee Matlin is the lead, and very good.
That’s it. None of the ideas in the film were new to me. Likely I’ll not remember this film after a week or two.
What the Bleep Do We Know!? – Wikipedia
Battlestar Galactica: Razor – strong women
The only two TV shows I follow religiously are The Colbert Show and Battlestar Galactica.
A 2hr flashback special called Razor aired recently. It goes on sale (somewhere) on DVD on the 6th.
I have some criticisms of Battlestar. (It’s “Hollywood” enough to have explosions make noise in the vacuum of space.)
But there’s no other TV show in history that has such strong, complex female characters. Women completely overpower the male actors.
Razor is the best yet. They should study it at film school.
Michelle Forbes plays unforgettable military psychotic Admiral Helena Cain:
Cain later made a name for herself as a smart and ambitious officer in the Colonial Fleet. She was something of a rising star: Commander William Adama later remarks that she was promoted “to Rear Admiral over half the Commanders on the list”.
Prior to the destruction of the Twelve Colonies, Cain’s flagship, the Battlestar Pegasus, was docked at the Scorpion Fleet Shipyards for a major refit. The refit team included a civilian network analyst, Gina Inviere, with whom Cain initiated a lesbian relationship. At the time of the attack, Admiral Cain, like many of her crew, was preparing to leave the ship on shore leave. The initial Cylon strike destroyed five Colonial vessels in Pegasus’ immediate vicinity and severely damaged the Pegasus herself, killing 700 crew members. In a desperate gamble, Admiral Cain ordered a “blind jump” that took the Pegasus out of the combat zone. The stress of losing so many crew members appears to have contributed to Admiral Cain’s later extreme behaviour and possible alcoholism.
Even more fascinating is Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen, a Portuguese Chinese Norwegian English Aussie, born in Hong Kong. She has degrees in philosophy and English literature.
She plays Kendra Shaw, a smart, tough warrior ethically torn by the commands given by Cain. But who obeys. And who rises rapidly in the military hierarchy.
She numbs her pain with drugs.
OK, I want to buy this special as a download. …
Oops — NBC yanked it off iTunes in a pricing dispute. Oops — it’s not available on NBC.com …
Ah, NBC will make it available from Hulu.com … Oops — Hulu is in Beta, AND not available for Mac.
Oh, well. I don’t want to, but I can buy the DVD from NBC. Mail it as a Christmas gift to my empowered women friends.
Oops —
Never mind, if NBC doesn’t want my business, I know how to get their product. Without all the roadblocks to commerce.
Do you see why I am so critical of old media?
my friends hate me
Not YOU.
Not those friends who keep track of my latest rants and raves via this blog.
Not friends who keep tabs on my travels via my Facebook page.
The friends irked are those who never hear from me by phone. Or snail mail. And too rarely even by email.
Why does that happen?
I’m tempted to get an iPhone, then call everyone I’ve ever known. (Dave Green used to ring in the middle of the night just to make the unexpected call more memorable.)
As I’ve grown older my interests have narrowed. I spend almost all my time on circus/gymnastics, the internet, fitness and travel. A long dinner party with friends at a restaurant is much less appealing than a quick drink or coffee.
(Though I successfully dodged an “Awards Banquet” last weekend, the fantastic meal I had recently at Adlard’s Candle in the Woods is the exception that proves the rule.)
I’m blathering.
Jay Mafukidze (who should know) circulated a poem which says it much better than can I:
Around the corner I have a friend,
In this great city that has no end,Yet the days go by and weeks rush on,
And before I know it, a year is gone.And I never see my old friends face,
For life is a swift and terrible race,He knows I like him just as well,
As in the days when I rang his bell.And he rang mine but we were younger then,
And now we are busy, tired men.Tired of playing a foolish game,
Tired of trying to make a name.“Tomorrow” I say! “I will call on Jim
Just to show that I’m thinking of him.”But tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes,
And distance between us grows and grows.Around the corner, yet miles away,
“Here’s a telegram sir,” “Jim died today.”And that’s what we get and deserve in the end.
Around the corner, a vanished friend.
Poem by Henson Towne
27.85 left to go – what to do?
Based on one life expectancy table, odds are I have 30 years left (with good behaviour).
What to do next?
I can’t retire, I’m already retired.
S’pose I’ll have to keep on keeping on. Waking up each morning and doing exactly as I wish.
book – Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude
My Microsoft pal (God protect his immortal soul) Andy recommended one of those self-help business philosophy books that I’ve avoided ever since I kicked Tony Robbins‘ butt in poker. (He cried like a little girl.)
But this book really looks good. And useful.
Andy likes it as light travel reading.
Author Jeffrey Gitomer (who Andy has met) has a series of recommended “Little Books” for busy people.
do ANYTHING: 3 Steps for Success
… Success in any endeavor can be yours as long as you keep these three things in the front of your mind.
1. Be Happy
A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes. — Hugh Downs
2. Know What is Important
… focus on what is important to achieving your goal and ignore all else.
3. Be Disciplined
Rick McCharles 