Richard Halliburton's Personality

"I'm very grateful, because I wouldn't take $1,000,000 for it." Richard Halliburton

In the human scheme of things, some are born lucky, some less lucky, and some unlucky.  None of us chose to be born nor did we choose the circumstances of our birth.  Among many possibilities, we could have come into the world as American, Canadian, Scottish, French, Mexican, Afghan, Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, African, or Mongolian.  We could have had wealthy, middle-class, or poor parents.

We are born into chance.

Richard Halliburton, Pancho Barnes and John Wayne

In his life Richard met many unusual people but maybe the most remarkable was Pancho Barnes and she is worthy of note because of her personality and character.  She had two precepts in life: When you have a choice, choose happy, and Nothing exceeds like excess.  She lived on her own terms and cussed like a test pilot. Unable to get a divorce from her minister husband, each Sunday she climbed into her plane, took off, and dove down over his church, buzzing it with the engine’s roar drowning-out morning services.

He Found Freedom His Way

More than a decade ago, Daniel Suelo closed his bank account and walked away from the economic system that made him a wage slave.  He offers a subversive version of living,

On Finding Work You Love

~Follow your bliss. (Joseph Campbell)

~You’ve got to find what you love. (Steve Jobs)

~Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for the love of it.  (Henry David Thoreau.)

~The above statements are bullshit. (Me)

What's Wrong with TED Talks

~I, and many people, think it's way past time to take a step back and ask some serious questions about the intellectual viability of things like TED.

~My TED talk is not about my work or my new book – the usual spiel – but about TED itself, what it is and why it doesn't work.

The first reason is over-simplification.

~Let me tell you a story. I was at a presentation that a friend, an astrophysicist, gave to a potential donor. I thought the presentation was lucid and compelling (and I'm a professor of visual arts here at UC San Diego so at the end of the day, I know really nothing about astrophysics). After the talk the sponsor said to him, "you know what, I'm gonna pass because I just don't feel inspired ...you should be more like Malcolm Gladwell."

At this point I kind of lost it. Can you imagine?

I'm Away

Click on the dice, upper right, for a random read until I get back.

Dennett on Breaking the Spell

Daniel Dennett says there isn't anything spiritual about religion that science cannot explain. Forget about religion as being hands-off for scientists. Prayer, the need for God, belief in an afterlife, religious faith: science says it can explain them all very well, thank you.

My Materialism is Bigger than Your Consciousness

"I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness." (Max Planck, who originated the quantum revolution.)

Philip Kapleau Left the Rat Race Behind

In 1953, at age 46, Philip Kapleau was a New York businessman making good money but tired of the rat race. There had to be an answer to it all and peace, he thought, so he decided to go to Japan to study Zen but, about to embark, his friends warned him he was making a huge mistake. He began to think so himself. His journal entries recorded his thoughts.

Turtles All the Way Down: "Nothing" Is the Most Important Question in the World

Why does this blog article exist? Because its author poured himself a cup of coffee the other morning and sat down in front of the computer to read a book review. Where did the book review come from? From the reviewer who wrote it, silly. Where did the book come from? Its author wrote it. This is becoming tedious.

Okay, how about this?