The Lettered Sloth

this was scott adams’s favorite dilbert comic you shall live on forever in your body of work, sir 🫡

— Franz Kafka, 1912

“There is a place called ‘heaven’ where the good here unfinished is completed; and where the stories unwritten, and the hopes unfulfilled, are continued. We may laugh together yet…” - J.R.R. Tolkien to Michael Tolkien, Letter 45

Arthur Schopenhauer on avoiding the Current Thing:

@BillyM2k Also good to keep in mind when asking for a favor: x.com/balajis/status…

don’t ask strangers to do you large favors for no reason give them a compelling, mutually beneficial reason to do so otherwise it’s super weird bro

Unfortunately I also miss 100% of the shots I do take No response

normlize not responding to texts for hours or even days we are too reachable nowadays and its driving everyone insane people shouldnt expect responses in 15 minutes

Grow up and bet on corporate earnings like an adult

If you are pinging someone who’s busier than you, you should have a single well-thought-out specific ask. Only ask for something you truly cannot do on your own, and where you have done everything you possibly can by yourself. For example, if you’re asking someone to send an email on your behalf, you should have a draft message ready. If you’re asking them to sign something, you should prepare a docusign beforehand with the signature blocks indicated. Or if you’re asking for an appointment, you should do it at their convenience. Asking for time is like asking for capital, so be efficient with your asks.

i opened up my crypto wallet app and it gave me an ad for gold so i think we’re in the bear market

"It’s just as though one’s second self were standing beside one; one is sensible and rational oneself, but the other self is impelled to do something perfectly senseless, and sometimes very funny; and suddenly you notice that you are longing to do that amusing thing, goodness knows why; that is, you want to, as it were, against your will; though you fight against it with all of your might, you want to." - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

It’s totally natural to lose faith in humanity, it’s your job to make that loss as momentary as possible

'The love of libraries, like most loves, must be learned. I have no feelings of guilt regarding the books I have not read and perhaps will never read; I know that my books have unlimited patience. They will wait for me till the end of my days.' Alberto Manguel

@MiddleearthMixr There's also the letter where he mentions Gollum as being close to redemption and it being prevented by Sam's attitude towards him: tolkienestate.com/letters/letter…

Actually Bilbo and Frodo’s pity is used by Eru for the benefit of the world despite Gollum’s moral failure

There's a letter from Tolkien dealing with this, you might find it interesting, basically he thinks gollum's redemption was prevented by Sam: "Sam was cocksure, and deep down a little conceited; but his conceit had been transformed by his devotion to Frodo. He did not think of himself as heroic or even brave, or in any way admirable — except in his service and loyalty to his master. That had an ingredient (probably inevitable) of pride and possessiveness: it is difficult to exclude it from the devotion of those who perform such service. In any case it prevented him from fully understanding the master that he loved, and from following him in his gradual education to the nobility of service to the unlovable and of perception of damaged good in the corrupt. He plainly did not fully understand Frodo’s motives or his distress in the incident of the Forbidden Pool. If he had understood better what was going on between Frodo and Gollum, things might have turned out differently in the end. For me perhaps the most tragic moment in the Tale comes in Book IV, ch. 8 ff. when Sam fails to note the complete change in Gollum’s tone and aspect. ‘Nothing, nothing’, said Gollum softly. ‘Nice master!’. His repentance is blighted and all Frodo’s pity is (in a sense) wasted.***** Shelob’s lair became inevitable. This is due of course to the ‘logic of the story’. Sam could hardly have acted differently. (He did reach the point of pity at last (Book VI, ch. 3) but for the good of Gollum too late.) If he had, what could then have happened? The course of the entry into Mordor and the struggle to reach Mount Doom would have shifted to Gollum, I think, and the battle that would have gone on between his repentance and his new love on one side and the Ring. Though the love would have been strengthened daily it could not have wrested the mastery from the Ring. I think that in some queer twisted and pitiable way Gollum would have tried (not maybe with conscious design) to satisfy both. Certainly at some point not long before the end he would have stolen the Ring or taken it by violence (as he does in the actual Tale). But ‘possession’ satisfied, I think he would then have sacrificed himself for Frodo’s sake and have voluntarily cast himself into the fiery abyss. I think that an effect of his partial regeneration by love would have been a clearer vision when he claimed the Ring. He would have perceived the evil of Sauron, and suddenly realized that he could not use the Ring and had not the strength or stature to keep it in Sauron’s despite: the only way to keep it and hurt Sauron was to destroy it and himself together — and in a flash he may have seen that this would also be the greatest service to Frodo." Here's the full letter: tolkienestate.com/letters/letter…

I don't know who needs to hear this, but it's okay to: -Write in books that you own. -Buy more books than you'll ever read. -Read whatever books that interest you. -Quit bad books to make room for brilliant ones. -Read books in all formats (print, ebook, audiobook).

I completely agree. I used to buy into the ‘renting over owning’ mindset until I bought my first house. That decision completely changed my perspective. For me, homeownership isn’t about investment potential (even though I definitely overpaid for my 2022 build) but about creating a space for lifelong memories. One often-overlooked aspect of buying vs. renting is the sense of community. Living in a neighborhood with kids the same age as mine means they get to grow up together, forming lifelong friendships. Neighborhoods also tend to offer more stability compared to the high traffic and turnover typical of apartment complexes.

"A wise man once told me that, in order to win an argument, it wasn’t enough just to have the correct position, you must also give your opponent a face-saving way of accepting that position...It is important to give one’s opponent the option of honorable defeat."

Pleasure never lives up to the idea of pleasure