I first became aware of Mercedes Benz as a vehicle in 1965 when I moved to Maine. The daughter-in-law of the owner of the Poland Spring Resort, Tudi Feldman, drove a classic Mercedes sedan around the rural hilltop in mid-Central Maine. I’m not sure in those days anyone knew what to make of it. Most locals were still engaged in the Ford v Chevy wars and foreign imports were still a small part of the…
Napoleon was indeed a dictator, though he came to power during a period of political chaos and initially enjoyed significant popular support. Sound familiar? Napoleon seized power through the coup of 18 Brumaire in 1799, overthrowing the Directory government (a lot like the January 6 insurrection attempt). He quickly consolidated authority. By 1802, he became Consul for Life, and in 1804, he crowned himself Emperor of the French (Trump probably has his playbook on his…
One of the news feeds I subscribe to is called Puck. Puck is an American digital media company founded in 2021 that focuses on “the inside news and conversation at the nexus of Wall Street, Washington, Silicon Valley & Hollywood.” Puck is described as a platform for “smart, engaging (and, yes, occasionally dishy) journalism owned and operated by the journalists themselves.” It covers what it considers to be the “four centers of power” in the…
It is said that the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” That is widely misattributed to Einstein, but he never actually said or wrote this. This misattribution has become so pervasive that it’s one of the most common “fake Einstein quotes” circulating online. Einstein scholars and institutions that manage his archives have repeatedly confirmed that there’s no record of him ever making this statement. The…
I’ve had an unusual year of birds and bees this year and I’m not 100% sure what to make of it. I’m not speaking figuratively about reproduction or any such thing, but rather the members of the animal kingdom we cal birds and bees. Birds and bees occupy very different positions in the taxonomic hierarchy of the animal kingdom. Birds are of the Class Aves and bees are of the Order Hymenoptera. In the taxonomic…
I’m not sure why, but I have always thought about routine menial labor. Gardening has some aspects of that, for instance if you are raking a large leaf-strewn lawn or spreading large amounts of mulch around the property, but the common aspect of what I am talking about is repetitive work that almost sends you into a trance by virtue of its numbing sameness. Strangely enough, I have always felt that this sort of activity…
This fine Sunday morning, Kim has told me to sit down to discuss the upcoming week. I am long since past thinking that I have the dominant schedule in our household like I did during my working days. Kim and I have been together for twenty years now as of this month. When we first got together I was Chairman and CEO of Bear Stearns Asset Management, living in the South Street Seaport and commuting…
Last night we were invited over to some new friend’s house for a dinner party. These are newcomers to the neighborhood and they live about a mile away from us as the turkey vulture flies (they are aficionados of the turkey vulture for reasons I will explain), across a ravine to the North. We lacked the availability of any neighborhood kids to watch Buddy and we have gotten in the habit of not leaving him…
When I started riding motorcycles in high school, I don’t remember hanging out in a motorcycle shop…ever. I’ll bet they existed in Rome in those days, but it’s just not something we did. When I got back into motorcycles in my suburban days, things were different, I had settled into my career and home and was looking to add some spice to mainstream life. A motorcycle dealership showroom was just the ticket. Unlike shopping, hanging…
Why are some people risk takers and others not so much? Why am I even thinking about risk in the middle of the night, might be an even better question? But risk is a funny two-edged sword that we all confront on a daily basis whether we realize it or not. Risk tolerance varies dramatically between people due to a fascinating interplay of biological, psychological, and environmental factors. Biological influences play a significant role. Some…