So, in it all comes.
Notice the beets… I grew cylindrical beets this year. I hate peeling beets; the more spherical and small, the more I hate it. These were awesomely easy to peel. I could peel all day 😉
Book Corner
21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari
Sapiens being the best book I have read in recent memory, and Homo Deus coming close behind, this had a lot to live up to. It had strong and weak parts. It could get repetitive. The structure was very good – one “lesson” leading into another, each one feeling complete and there for a reason. When it was good, it was very good. I have no fewer than eight little sticky notes sticking out of it pointing to excellent quotes. Here are some:
“Panic is a form of hubris. It comes from the smug feeling that one knows exactly where the world is heading: down.”
“We are now creating tame humans that produce enormous amounts of data and function as very efficient chips in a huge data-processing mechanism, but these data cows hardly maximize the human potential.”
“[Facebook] and the other online giants tend to view humans as audio-visual animals – a pair of eyes and a pair of ears connected to ten fingers, a screen, and a credit card.”
“We must realize that nothing the terrorists do can defeat us. We are the only ones who can defeat ourselves, if we overreact in a misguided way to their provocations.”
“Apparently ape leaders developed the tendency to help the poor, the needy, and the fatherless millions of years before the Bible instructed ancient Israelites that they should [do the same]…”
He ends with a chapter on meditation on a slightly more personal note. Serious talk about meditation always leaves me with three questions: What motivates Buddhists to get up in the morning? Why shouldn’t I work with the nature of my mind rather than against it? If many fictions are useful, why not use them?
Stitch Fix Fall 2018: Item 5 of 5
Plaid shirt. Snaps. Me all over. I needed one of these.
Stitch Fix Fall 2018: Item 4 of 5
Infinity scarf. I’m not wearing it according to package directions here, but it’s a loop scarf that you can loop around twice. I have too many scarfs but this one feels so warm, I think it could fill a niche in my dresser.
Stitch Fix Fall 2018: Item 3 of 5
Cargo vest. I never wear vests either. This is also comfy, the right shade of khaki for me, and why not? Though last shipment, I accepted some questionable white jeans, although I never thought I’d wear white jeans – and I don’t.
Stitch Fix Fall 2018: Items 1 and 2 of 5
It’s another hippie-dippie top! And basic black leggings. I never wear leggings. But they sure are comfortable. And as long as my top of covering my hips… why not?
Celebrity Chef Sara Moulton!
At the Essex Resort & Spa this weekend. We had a dinner chef’ed by her last night, and saw a cooking demo by her today. She is loads of fun!
Pretty Though
Spinning wasn’t my priority this year, so I only made five skeins of yarn. Pretty though!
In Progress
“Panic is a form of hubris. It comes from the smug feeling that one knows exactly where the world is heading: down. Bewilderment is more humble and therefore more clear-sighted. Do you feel like running down the street crying ‘The apocalypse is upon us’? Try telling yourself, ‘No, it’s not that. Truth is, I just don’t understand what’s going on in the world.'”
“We are now creating tame humans that produce enormous amounts of data and function as very efficient chips in a huge data-processing mechanism, but these data-cows hardly maximize the human potential. Indeed, we have no idea what our full human potential is, because we know so little about the human mind.”
Yuri Noah Harari, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century
Book Corner
SCRUM: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time
by Jeff & J. J. Sutherland
There are surely better SCRUM books to buy (but this one was recommended by me by my pal and co-worker James). The author, CEO of Scrum, Inc. (it’s his story, co-authored with his son), is a bit self-congratulatory, and his cheerleading for SCRUM often comes across like he’s plugging a miracle weight loss regimen. That said, it did get me excited about some scrummy ideas, and inspire me to try to put some into practice. My job is allegedly going to try to tackle its next project in an “agile” manner. Ha. We’ll see how that goes.
Tytania 