Quirky thoughts from an old man.
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”
R.L. Stevenson
Photo is of an ad postcard I received last month. Robert Willan has almost no presence on the internet and if you’re interested you will have to research it yourself.
“The human race builds too many walls and not enough bridges.”
This postcard arrived from China with a postmark from Beijing. I didn’t have the courage to scan the QR code. It looks like the kind of building Wright would build in cooperation with MC Escher and modern materials. And the quote has an immigration feel to it. Hi Larry.
“Leadership consists of nothing, but taking responsibility for everything that goes wrong and giving your subordinates credit for everything that goes well.”
This is a great quote from Eisenhower. The picture is of a postcard I received from Berlin but it is an English scene. The sender bought it in England when he was on an extended bike trip. Why ask why.
“As you get older three things happen. The first is your memory goes, and I can’t remember the other two.”
“It is common to over react.”
“Like the tourists who cancel holidays in Greece because a bomb has gone off in Cairo.”
Theodore Dalrymple, Mass Lysteria 1988
Subtitle “The Meaning of Health Scares”
Irony
Ironically it’s not the study of iron.
The postcard is of one of the famous McCullough bridges on the Oregon Coast. It is available free at the visitor center in Waldport, OR where ironically there was a beautiful McCullough bridge that was replaced.
The general perception is that wealthy people are charitable because they can afford to be. Let me propose another possible cause effect relationship between wealth and charity. It may be that people who have the instinct to help others without thinking about themselves first are in the margin more likely to accumulate assets. So that it is not only that some people are poor so they can’t be charitable. Some people are not charitable and as a result they are poor.
It is not always true of course. There are plenty of examples of greedy bastards who accumulated lots of wealth and they don’t have a charitable bone in their bodies. But it is not the only way that people accrue wealth.
This is a rethink of an idea from ten years ago. The photo is of the Iron Bridge in the UK it was the first ever iron bridge constructed and is an icon of the industrial revolution that did so much to change the world.
“Slow Change is Not No Change”
Photo is from my 2018 trip down the Grand Canyon with Western River Expeditions taken with my iPhone7. This is the Navajo Bridge (now two bridges). I wonder if we have to change its name? Or tear it down?
One of the benefits of living in a relatively prosperous society is public art. In the USA, federal law requires that a small percentage of the money spent on any construction project that is financed by federal money be invested in public art.
This bridge on the 51 Freeway in Phoenix is an example. The jagged chain link top of the fence simulates the mountains to the south. I had seen the bridge many times but didn’t appreciate its significance until I got the postcard above at City Hall on Friday.
This might be the beginning of an ASG about public art in Phoenix.
