Here’s the opening paragraph from a New York Times magazine article published in May of this year, about monk seals. What a great way to open the piece: The Hawaiian monk seal has wiry whiskers and the deep, round eyes of an apologetic child. The animals will eat a variety of fish and selfish, or…
During a particularly miserable World War II battle, a military analyst estimated that it cost $25,000 in artillery shells for each enemy soldier killed. That caused one soldier to ask: “Why wouldn’t it be better to just offer the Germans $25,000 to surrender?” If only the world were so rational! (Click here to view comments)
I thought I would share this paragraph with you: “They tramped through a land as exotic as North Africa, a land of village witches and exorcists, where the sick swallowed powdered amber or drank the dust of St. Peter’s bones. Big-wheeled carts clattered on iron rims over the cobblestones; the scenes painted on their sides…
WWII Gen. Terry de la Mesa Allen on military strategy: “Tactics are nine tenths audacity.”
In World War II, soldiers were reminded regularly to take their anti-malaria pills. One soldier summarized this practice as follows: “Like fat cattle who are pampered to the very doors of the slaughterhouse, it was important that if and when we died we should be in good health.” Gulp. (Click here to view comments)
In a recent post, I give you a flavor for Rich Cohen’s wonderful book The Fish That Ate the Whale. One of the things that struck me in reading his book was the psychology of entrepreneurial success. It is often difficult to be a superstar entrepreneur if you are realistic. Often the biggest successes in…
Speaking of time of day, here is George C. Marshall opining on originality: “No one ever had an original idea after 3 o’clock in the afternoon.” A totally false statement, of course. But I don’t think that was his point!
Recently I had the pleasure of reading Rich Cohen’s wonderful book: The Fish That Ate the Whale – the Life and Times of America’s Banana King. The book tells the story of Samuel Zemurray, a true rags to riches story, a man who started by spending his entire life savings – all $150 – to…
I don’t read much war history. I’m fascinated by what causes humans to end up in a state of war, but not so interested in the bloody details of how they fight their battles. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed The Day of Battle, a book by Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson. The book covers the war…
In a recent post, I wrote about the fact that many physicians in the US do not accept new appointments with Medicaid enrollees. I was surprised to see it quickly garnered over 25,000 views. I guess it’s good to write posts that people read. But I fear that many people read it because it was…