Find Something Beautiful Today

[Photo by Eileen Wong at Unsplash]

Abbey

From Flag to Winslow to Holbrook; and then through strange, sad, desolate little places called Adamana and Navajo and Chambers and Sanders and Houck and Lupton - all the way to Albuquerque, which we reached at sundown. I left the train when two rough-looking customers came aboard my boxcar; one of them began paring his fingernails with a switchblade knife while the other stared at me with somber interest. I had forty dollars hidden in my shoe. Not to mention other treasures. I slipped out of there quick. Suddenly homesick I went the rest of the way by bus, nonstop, about twenty-five hundred miles, the ideal ordeal of travel, second only to a seasick troopship.

- From "How It Was" in Beyond the Wall by Edward Abbey

Count Me In

The trailer for "Star Trek: Picard."

Simplicity

You have to work hard to get your thinking clear to make it simple. But it is worth it in the end because once you get there you can move mountains.

- Steve Jobs

Law Latte on Boards

Many thanks to Miriam Robeson at Law Latte for the kind comments about my post on the value of having a board historian.

I'll be posting on some related board-management topics over the next few weeks.

Navigating the Italian Justice System

The trailer for "Amanda Knox."

Tuition: Onward and Upward

City Journal: Scott Yenor on "How to Guarantee Higher College Tuition Costs."


[Photo by Jody Hong Films at Unsplash]

The Good Old Days

The trailer for "Andrei Rublev."

Skills, Tools & Knowledge for 2020

Here are a few reasons why so many of us read Nicholas Bate every day.

Steeling Yourself

The trouble with steeling yourself against the harshness of reality is that the same steel that secures your life against being destroyed secures your life also against being opened up and transformed by the holy power that life itself comes from. You can survive on your own. You can grow strong on your own. You can even prevail on your own. But you cannot become human on your own.

- Frederick Buechner 

Some Novels You May Not Have Read But Should

You already have a sizable reading stack so let me just say this: I believe the following novels deserve a far greater readership.

• The Fortunate Pilgrim by Mario Puzo
• The Wonderful Country by Tom Lea
• The Last Man in Europe by Dennis Glover
• Middle Passage by Charles R. Johnson
• Memoir from an Antproof Case by Mark Helprin
• A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin
• Mendelssohn is On the Roof by Jiri Weil
• Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa
• The Centurions by Jean Larteguy
• The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning
• Eagle in the Snow by Wallace Breem
• I Was Dancing by Edwin O'Connor

[Photo by 2Photo Pots at Unsplash]

Powerful

This ad for the re-election of Taiwan's President Tsai.



[HT: A Large Regular]


[Photo by Mihaly Koles at Unsplash]

Quick Looks

The trailers for:

• "Mr. Klein"
• "Russian Ark"
• "Miss Fisher & The Crypt of Tears"

[Photo by JESHOOTS.COM at Unsplash]

Let's Make the Morning an Upbeat One

The trailer for "How It Ends."

Slow Down

Three committees approved the report. People debated it, at least superficially. 

All efforts were praised. Bows were taken.

There was only one problem.

No one had read the background information.

But every deadline was met.

Reading and Enjoying

Quick Look

The trailer for the new "War of the Worlds."

Probably Accurate

Listening and Reading

Much is made of the problems that can arise when people don't listen but what about the problems that arise when people listen but don't read?

Most Checked-Out

Check out the New York Public Library's list of its most-checked-out books of all time.

[Photo by Erol Ahmed at Unsplash]

Avast!

Wally Bock's review hits just below the torpedo line. 

Among his observations he notes what has become a common problem in the publishing world: the absence of good editing.

Three Questions to Lead the Self

Tanmay Vora has a great story of a priest and a soldier.

Quick Looks

The trailers for:

• "Little Monsters"
• "Celine and Julie Go Boating"
• "Alone"

"Poems for Lovers"

Rick Georges, The FutureLawyer, is a man of many talents: lawyer, techie, blogger, parrot advocate, smartwatch collector, and poet.

His new book of poems is now available at Amazon. I've placed my order and am planning dramatic readings. 

Because all poetry should be read aloud.

Have Two Exit Interviews

Organizations that conduct exit interviews usually do so just before or right after a person leaves an organization. 

I understand the timing. People scatter to the winds and if there is anything urgent that needs to be corrected, you want to catch it as soon as possible.

The drawback is the person is busy, perspective is skewed, and there may be a tendency to say whatever the interviewer wants to hear.

That's why I suggest conducting a second exit interview three or four months after the person has left. If it simply repeats what the first interview noted, fine. There is a chance, however, that you'll get insights produced by some time away from the organization. 

Sir Roger Scruton, RIP

Note the words at Cultural Offering.

And note these.


[Photo by Jack Bassingthweighte at Unsplash]