📖 What I’m Reading:

​Some Things I Think – Morgan Housel​

• “The best measure of wealth is what you have minus what you want. (By this measure, some billionaires are broke.)”

​Botanist Stefano Mancuso: ‘You can anaesthetise all plants. This is extremely fascinating’ – The Guardian​

• Interview with a botanist. We know plants communicate a lot. Cooperation is important to survival, especially if you are rooted in place. Turns out if you give plants the same anesthesia we give humans, they stop communicating. But plants don’t have brains. What does that say about consciousness?

​What Your Country Can Do for You – Rob Henderson​

• I think about the future of military recruiting a lot. This article points out that recruiting strategies have shifted from what you can do for your country (e.g., ”Fight For Us,” “I Want YOU…”) to what your country can do for you (e.g., ”Be All You Can Be,” “Build Your Future,” etc.) I don’t blame recruiters for highlighting the perks—education opportunities, healthcare, etc. But the issue extends beyond recruitment. Very few leaders at any level appeal to a sense of American unity anymore.

☝️ Word of the Week:

sinecure (n) SY-ni-kyoor

A position in which one is paid for little or no work.

From Latin beneficium sine cura (a church position not involving caring for the souls of the parishioners), from sine (without) + cura (care).

“Some 200,000 civil servants have been enlisted. Half are fairly useless: former guerrillas given sinecures to keep the peace. This cannot last. Some 75% of the budget is spent on wages.”

💬 Quote of the Week:

“Everyone could have been pre-eminent in something, if they had been aware of their best quality. Identify your key attribute, and redouble its use. Most people misuse their capabilities, and so achieve superiority in nothing.”

-Baltasar Gracián

ps: venn triagram​

pps: napalm grandma​