Sometimes you want to accentuate the contrasts between light and dark. Photographers like to take black and white photographs in scenes where light plays with the shadows. Traditional artists can capture the same effects without a camera using charcoal. Charcoal on newsprint is a favorite medium for quickly sketching black and white scenes. Charcoal […]
The Best Way to Get Rid of Unwanted Guests at Your Doorstep
In 2014, I had three small children. The youngest was an infant. As you probably know, young children sleep a lot. Now imagine that your baby is ready to nap. You put the kid down to sleep, then carefully tip-toe out of the room and shut the door. At that moment, the doorbell rings. The […]
Poetry
I’ve never been a big fan of poetry. I think it’s because poems tend to be abstract, and people tend to read too deeply into lousy poetry to find deep meanings the author never intended. Good poetry, however, can be helpful in introspection. Poetry is abstract enough that it forces you to interpret. That […]
Barbell 2: Take the Barbell Approach to Beer and Movies
In my first post about applying Nassim Taleb’s barbell strategy, I proposed selecting books and technologies that are either very old or very new. In the world of entertainment, we can take a different type of barbell approach. For entertainment items, I suggest trying the best and the worst. You can safely ignore everything […]
Barbell 1: Take the Barbell Approach to Books and Technology
I read Anti-Fragile, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. In it, he describes an approach to things called the “barbell.” That means doing the opposing extremes of things to mitigate risk, yet still have a large upside potential. An example of this would be to invest 90% of your money in extremely safe investments while investing […]
Bulletproof Coffee
Inspired by yak-butter tea consumed in Tibet, Bulletproof Coffee is a concoction of butter, oil, and coffee designed to boost mental performance. It was developed by Dave Asprey (a.k.a. The Bulletproof Executive) in 2009. The recipe is as follows: Ingredients: Bulletproof® Coffee Beans 1-2 tbsp Brain Octane™ oil 1-2 tbsp grass-fed, unsalted butter […]