Articles

  It’s the new things that matter most.  All knowledge builds upon past knowledge.  You can either build on old knowledge and stay low, or you can build upon the new knowledge and soar to new heights. Think of it like building pyramids in the desert.  You can start building upon a foundation.  Without the […]

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 […]

  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 […]

  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 […]

  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 […]

Everyone knows that someone who is tall and lanky has a unique advantage in basketball.  Someone who is big, muscular, and quick on his feet would have an advantage in football.  Baseball pitchers tend to be tall with long arms, while good hitters have excellent coordination.  Elite swimmers have a disproportionately long upper torso, while […]