Majicman Notes

The Battle of Stalingrad was the largest battle in history. With it came equally superlative stories of how people dealt with risk. One came in late 1942, when a German tank unit sat in reserve… Read more

My favorite business picture is there’s just this picture of the bottom of Manhattan during Hurricane Sandy at night, and all the buildings, I think everything below the park lost power, but there’s this one… Read more

In general, survival is the only road to riches. Let me say that again: Survival is the only road to riches. You should try to maximize return only if losses would not threaten your survival… Read more

Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think. Jean De La Bruyére https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-de-La-Bruyere Read more

And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.  The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Read more

The root word in liberal is liber, the Latin adjective denoting a free person, as opposed to a slave. Liberalism is not a precise philosophy, it is an attitude. All liberals share a belief in… Read more

A house divided against itself cannot stand.  I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved—I do not expect the house to fall—but… Read more

“What is a game?” Marx said. “It’s tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. It’s the possibility of infinite rebirth, infinite redemption. The idea that if you keep playing, you could win. No loss is permanent, because… Read more

I have no words to offer which may comfort the reader who is also a castaway, except that rescue may come at any time but not necessarily when you expect it; and that even if… Read more

“I think it’s a mistake to think you can keep the world from changing,” muses Marks. He learnt the Japanese concept of mujō, a word originating in Buddhism, meaning impermanence and the inevitability of change.… Read more