Category: Unsolicited Advice

  • Dealing with People On the Internet

    This issue of The Discourse has some great advice on dealing with people online. Reward your “enemies” when they agree with you, exhibit good behavior, or come around on an issue. Otherwise they have no incentive to ever meet you halfway. Accept it when people apologize. People should be allowed to work through ideas and…

  • Vonnegut’s 7 Commandments

    Reduce and stabilize your population. Stop poisoning the air, the water, and the topsoil. Stop preparing for war and start dealing with your real problems. Teach your kids, and yourselves, too, while you’re at it, how to inhabit a small planet without helping to kill it. Stop thinking science can fix anything if you give…

  • The MFIC

    Luke, it was great meeting you and hanging out, although we could have spent more time together. I was planning on working on my enigma persona, but you were too much fun. MFIC, RM. That was the first of thousands of emails from my then “new boss” (MFIC stood for “Mother Fucker in Charge,” borrowed…

  • I’ve noticed something.

    On any site where you can ask questions and crowdsource answers (this extends to social media), people will respond regardless of whether or not they have anything to offer. Even if they are wrong. It seems people just want to converse. Don’t ask questions on the Internet. Look for answers, or people you trust that…

  • June 25, 1956 – June 8, 2018

    Bourdain was a hero to me. Today is a reminder. To travel more. To eat more good food. To have more sex. To really listen to others. To try my best to never lose hope.

  • Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.

    Be kind. Always. – Kate Spade. Rest in peace.

  • Rules for a Knight

    Just finished Ethan Hawke’s epistolary novel written as a letter from a knight going into battle, to their children, imparting knowledge and what they assume will be their last words. The book is brief and contains simple, effective language and great advice, mostly collected from various sources (credited at the end). A few rules that…

  • Principles & Values

    Friends of mine own a pair of remarkable BBQ restaurants. The food is great. They are great. Their principles and values are worth a read. Many (all?) can be adapted not only to any business, but life in general: Be the best restaurant we can be, not just the best BBQ restaurant. Produce the highest quality…

  • Tired of not doing the things I want to do.

    That includes being tired of missing the things I used to do. In the past year or so I’ve built and discarded about five or six skateboards online. I finally pulled the trigger. Mark Gonzales deck, Spitfire wheels, Independent trucks. Life is too short to be missing out. To fear other’s perceptions. If you get any…

  • On Reading

    Still deleting/sorting old bookmarks. Found several related to reading. Which is something I need to do more of.  One day I’ll read books and not just buy them.  Farnam Street recommends trying to get through 25 pages per day. They see this as a clear path to completing works that might otherwise seem daunting: Then I thought…

  • Unsolicited Advice

    Been slowly making my way through old bookmarks. Here’s a good one: John Perry Barlow’s list of twenty-five principles of adult behavior. From the recently deceased Silicon visionary/occasional Grateful Dead lyricist’s mouth: “I don’t expect the perfect attainment of these principles. However, I post them as a standard for my conduct as an adult. Should…