Recent
March 26, 2021
We cannot just reopen the shipyards, coal mines and mass car factories. We cannot create more university towns and public sector back offices. That was the playbook of the 20th century. The solutions for the 21st century run much deeper than that. We must ask ourselves the hard questions.
March 25, 2021
Change the source of information entering your life. Honestly, it just changes everything. You don't even have to quit social media. In fact, I've started using Twitter so much more since I started Staying Curious. You just have to treat these rich wells of content with respect. When I pick up my phone now, I'm basically learning by default. A little bit more. Every single day. That is how I built websites from scratch with zero formal education. It is what gave me courage to write these words.
March 23, 2021
Our money is distorted, and thus our environment is distorted. The construction industry is highly motivated by margins, and I totally get that, especially in this era of currency debasement. But it drives the high time preference I frequently see in design decisions. It is a tragedy, and I do firmly believe that Bitcoin can realign our motivations to create beautiful, healthy spaces.
March 22, 2021
You want the spaces you inhabit to recharge you. Not to provide a low hum of anxiety. By releasing your attention from minor items, you can refocus on those activities that you really enjoy. For me, that is time with my gang, my websites, my writing and my guitars.
March 19, 2021
More importantly, and perhaps my real point here, I commit myself to betterment every bloody day. It can come in all shapes and sizes; writing, organising, chilling with my favourite person and my favourite dog, reflecting. Pushing the needle is perhaps the reason for being. Am I learning? Am I discovering? Do I satisfy my curiosity?
Another Vervaeke inspired musing, folks. This time over four Greek words I have been introduced to, thanks to his series; Agape, Logos, Gnosis and Anagoge. The best way for me to explore these terms (or concepts even) is to relate them to my own investing and writing efforts. And before we begin, I must admit to borrowing heavily from other sources to help with the explanations (a big hat tip to Mark Mulvey and Andrew Seeney). So please bear with the heavy quoting. On that bombshell, let's roll.
All is not what it seems, especially when you develop a strange fascination with assets, Nixon and monetary history. Jack attempts to settle his bill with a dollar from 1980 (when the film was released). But the barman, a figment of the 1920s, does not equate Jack's money with his own. How so? The clue is in the name; The Gold Room. The barman cannot accept 1980 dollars because they are a very different beast to 1920s dollars; they are no longer redeemable in gold.
In its purest form, commerce acts as the great motivator, the ultimate mentor. We conduct our commercial affairs against a backdrop of economic and trading uncertainty. Our decisions and behaviour are constantly pitted against known unknowns and unknown unknowns. We are drawn to ingenuity and innovation through the actions and presence of our competitors. We observe, learn from, and adapt to ever shifting risks and opportunities.