Ben Wilson

🚨New Episode: Andrew Carnegie (Part 1): The rise of Andrew Carnegie from a poor Scottish weaver's boy to becoming an American millionaire. 00:00 Introduction 03:00 Carnegie's Early Life and Inspirations 07:50 Coming to America 12:00 The Power of Self-Education 28:15 Becoming a Capitalist: The Adams Express Investment 36:30 Rapid Rise in the Railroad Industry 42:15 Carnegie's Role in the Civil War 50:30 Carnegie's Business Philosophy and Networking 56:15 Final Reflections and Takeaways Links are in the comments below

21 Principles for Mastery according to the Greatest Samurai (Miyamoto Musashi): 1. Accept everything just the way it is. 2. Do not seek pleasure for its own sake. 3. Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling. 4. Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world. 5. Be detached from desire your whole life long. 6. Do not regret what you have done. 7. Never be jealous. 8. Never let yourself be saddened by a separation. 9. Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for oneself or others. 10. Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love. 11. In all things have no preferences. 12. Be indifferent to where you live. 13. Do not pursue the taste of good food. 14. Do not hold on to possessions you no longer need. 15. Do not act following customary beliefs 16. Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful. 17. Do not fear death. 18. Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age. 19. Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help. 20. You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honour. 21. Never stray from the Way.

You can check out the episode here: takeoverpod.supercast.com/subscriber_v2/…

🚨New Premium Episode🚨 The Undefeated Samurai: Miyamoto Musashi

@levelsio In my experience TripAdvisor has more reliable reviews than Google Maps.

After this post my Google Maps has now also been banned from reviewing places No wonder every place is now a 4.7/5, they all converge to that rating if you just remove all the bad ratings Interestingly, my account has been banned because of my reviews in Dubai from ages ago, I know UAE has strict defamation laws, so I think businesses use that to remove reviews there I don't know why the Google Maps team is allowing this though, a review or rating is not defamation, it's just an opinion, and Google needs that opinion for people to know where to go What Google should be doing I think is defending the people who review and rate places in court wherever they live, because by just allowing any business to remove bad ratings/reviews, they make Google Maps completely non-credible! Long term people will just use other apps to find good places and I don't think you want that @sundarpichai Maybe we need @X Maps with real reviews @elonmusk?

@SelectivBreeder @VittelMax Comparing pursuit of women to the hunt is Lindy. From Ovid:

Soylennials are applying the phrase "thrill of the hunt" not to stalking helots through Laconia at night and silently slicing their jugular veins, but to plying stupid hole with overpriced drinks while deafening Negermusik blasts in the background

"No state shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws" What if we just put every city that is a statistical outlier for crime rate under federal control on 14A grounds

@RISHIBEHL6 I really like the Broers biography series. Andrew Roberts' biography is also quite good, but not quite as in depth or as swash-buckling.

@BenWilsonTweets any good recommendations for the books? i mainly want to know about (1) his childhood and (2) the psychological makeup that made him a great warrior.

Napoleon on the Art of Victory: “There is the advance, with its various combinations, the battle is joined, the struggle goes on a certain time, the decisive moment presents itself, a spark of genius discloses it, and the smallest body of reserves accomplish victory.”

"Audacity succeeds as often as it fails; in life it has an even chance." - Napoleon Bonaparte

“The military principles of Caesar were those of Hannibal, and those of Hannibal were those of Alexander — to hold his forces in hand, not to be vulnerable at any point, to throw all his forces with rapidity on any given point.” - Napoleon Bonaparte

“Neither love nor fire can subsist without perpetual motion; both cease to live so soon as they cease to hope, or to fear.” - François de La Rochefoucauld

“Passion often renders the most clever man a fool, and even sometimes renders the most foolish man clever.” - François de La Rochefoucauld

If that addict on your street were your own son, what would you do? That is the defining question that guides my 5 step plan to fix the homelessness problem in LA. We *must* end this evil racket of corrupt politicians and NGOs who profit off the misery of these poor souls. They launder money and feed them more drugs, so they can keep their customers locked in this hell on our streets. We have a moral obligation from God to help them and make our city safe and clean for everyone. Karen Bass and Nithya Raman have forsaken this city. Time for real leadership. Time for real compassion.

I found a whole pile of buried axeheads in our backyard. I'm finally telling the story, 20 years later. One day when I was about 9, I decided to dig a mine. I grabbed a shovel, found a spot in our backyard that felt right, and started digging. About 5 minutes later, I heard a “clink.” Our house was about a mile from a known Comanche crossing on the Brazos river, and we’d found all manner of flint shards and even a few good arrowheads around our place. I dropped to my hands and knees and clawed out a few handfuls of soft sandy soil. And there was the biggest arrowhead I’d ever seen. Bigger than arrowheads could even be, I thought. Then I found another, and another. Twenty minutes or so later, I’d unearthed 24 unique pieces: axes, spearheads, knives, and scrapers - some fully formed, others preform. The cache had been piled right there together, maybe 12 inches directly beneath where my shovel had punctured the earth. I was pleased. After all, this is what mines are for, right? My older brothers, upon seeing my treasure, excavated a massive hole, but to their dismay, nothing more than red sandy dirt and a few tree roots was found. One Monday after family dinner, we took the basket of treasure down to the archaeological society meeting at Baylor University. I remember waiting patiently through all the formal discussion, led by a group of bespectacled and important-looking folks. When the meeting finally dismissed, we approached a few members and presented our case. More soon gathered round. The room moved from delight that a boy of my age cared about archaeology, to skepticism as I told the story, to sudden shock when the evidence appeared, and then, talking all over each other, into a commotion of claims and questions. This cache was “almost certainly in the top five largest ever found in the US…” “worth up to $$......" Then they asked for exact coordinates where it was discovered. When someone uttered the word “dig,” I remember my dad and grandfather glance at each other. A few moments later, my dad politely excused us, and we drove home. I get it now - he didn't want a massive archaeological site in our backyard :) We never returned to the archaeological society meeting, but I kept the prize sealed in a giant Ziploc bag among the many hunting rifles in my dad’s fire safe. Gradually, the novelty wore off, and I pretty much forgot about them. Until a few years ago when I found them in a cabinet in my folks’ home in Idaho and moved them across the country to mine, where they are sitting in a cubby under my desk, safe and sealed, still in the ziploc. Waiting, maybe, for me to show another group of experts someday - perhaps this time with my own boys. Was it pure coincidence that I happened to dig my mine at this exact spot? Maybe so, but I still wonder...

@JoshuaLisec @AvalonCircle

Who should I write a book for (or with) next?

@extradeadjcb @JoshuaLisec @AvalonCircle Seconded.

@JoshuaLisec @AvalonCircle

I was listening to a podcast yesterday about Hitler (Really well done, from the channel @HTTOTW). I don’t know much about the life of Hitler, but I’ve heard him being portrayed as a charismatic speaker able to move the crowd. Where did he get that ability from? Because of the podcast, I learned that, in his youth, Hitler spent a lot of times inside hostels. From the outside it looked like he was wasting time not being very productive. It seems like he was a bohemian, going nowhere. He spent his time reading. Arguing politics. Debating his views with anyone who would listen. While it might seem like that was a lazy period, I think that’s part of where he sharpened his axe. I can imagine he got a lot of reps when it came to learning to speak about his political beliefs in a persuasive manner. Getting real-time feedback on what resonated and what didn't. It’s weird to learn this lesson from such an evil person, but if you want to become a great speaker, you have to speak, a lot.

Ben Wilson @HTTOTW said it well You're trying to build a car, they're trying to pull the car apart If you're both working incrementally they're going to win & it won't be close

@PerryALPHA @QuetzalPhoenix He was also the last man to use the name of Caesar (tsar) to legitimate his rule.

The last King of Bulgaria who got deposed by the Communists after World War II when he was 9 years old came back after the fall of communism and was elected Prime Minister from 2001-2005

"Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice.” - Steve Jobs