Introducing a new model: Passion and Attraction

on August 5, 2013 in Awareness, Blog

I’m starting a new series today on a new model, this time on passion and attraction. Everyone I showed it to told me it gave them useful insights, so I expect you’ll find value in it too. I’ll apply the model mainly to intimate relationships, but you can also apply it to anything that evokes passion, attraction, or both, like hobbies, jobs, sports, and so on. So what does a[…] Keep reading →

Hidden assumptions in “Jobs Americans won’t do” and systems thinking

on July 15, 2013 in Blog, Nature

I keep reading the phrase “jobs Americans wont’ do,” as in “illegal immigrants do work in jobs Americans won’t do.” Search on the phrases in quotes and you’ll find plenty of articles on the topic. Economists, politicians, and pundits use the tools they use to analyze jobs — labor supply and demand, wages, competition, and so on — to understand the situation. These articles never seem to question the existence[…] Keep reading →

A model to make sense of complexity

on June 1, 2013 in Awareness, Exercises, Models, Nature, Perception

[This post is part of a series on “Mental models and beliefs: an exercise to identify yours.” If you don’t see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you’ll get more value than reading just this post.] If you believe everything that happens has a cause, when something happens you want to change you look for the cause and change it. You might[…] Keep reading →

A model to help create the life and relationships you want

on May 5, 2013 in Exercises, Models, Tips

[This post is part of a series on “Mental models and beliefs: an exercise to identify yours.” If you don’t see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you’ll get more value than reading just this post.] Do you want an awesome life filled with things you love or do you want a crappy life filled with things you dislike and hate? I’d[…] Keep reading →

“I am a freedom junky” — David Allen’s inspiring words that simplified my life

on March 14, 2013 in Blog, Entrepreneurship, Freedom, Tips

Do you feel stress from too much stuff to do or lose track of things? Many entrepreneurial and management types I know read Getting Things Done and put it into practice. I recommend it. I read the book and like the philosophy — in particular, his observation that if your mind has to remember something, it will allocate resources that distract you from everything else. The more you have to[…] Keep reading →

Video: North Korea’s incredibly talented and rehearsed children performers — and comparison with some Americans

on March 1, 2013 in Art, Creativity, NorthKorea

Our guides took us to see the children’s performance palace (I forget its official title), where they put on display groups of children whose performances were incredible. I wrote and posted images of them before. Who knows what training they’ve had or what motivates them to get to this level. I think the usual first guess of people who are critical of North Korea is that the government coerces them[…] Keep reading →

Martin Luther King, copyright, and the content of his children’s character

on January 23, 2013 in Blog, Freedom

Last August, many reported on the fiftieth anniversary of Martin Luther King’s I Have A Dream speech. One of my favorite sites which concerns itself with copyright, started a conversation, “The copyright nightmare of ‘I Have A Dream“, on how the speech, which was broadcast in a way that would seemingly make it part of the public domain, ended up copyrighted. Please read that conversation for many views on how[…] Keep reading →

Schopenhauer on the consistency and reliability of our emotional systems

on December 5, 2012 in Blog, Leadership

I haven’t read anything by Arthur Schopenhauer and hardly know anything about him, but I agree with this quote from him: Mensch kann tun was er will; er kann aber nicht wollen was er will. One can choose what to do, but not what to want. People contrast emotions with reason, see they differ, and conclude emotions are irrational, unpredictable, and follow no system. I agree they are hard to[…] Keep reading →

Science is a long way from helping diet

on September 27, 2012 in Blog, Fitness, Nature

I wrote the following in response to this New York Times article, “Eating for Health, Not Weight” in a discussion on Hacker News. With an Ivy League PhD in physics, I’m a big fan of science. I have not observed a scientific approach to diet effective in promoting health. In my albeit limited observation, I observe no correlation between knowing a lot about food, digestion, etc and fitness or healthiness.[…] Keep reading →

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