Blog Archives
Happy Monday!
For those of us who want to change in subtle (or drastic) ways this week, just remember that it is possible to complete such a transformation to be cooler and get the girl.
Even without an elixir.
But a little liquid courage helps.
Have a Better Week Than Last Week.
Command-D(iscovery)
Why was the symbol below chosen for the command key on Apple computer keyboards?
(Engadget)
We better call fictional Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon for guidance.
Inspiration for a quest of symbolic proportions is set!
According to a ShortList’s article titled “The story of the Mac command key symbol is way more fascinating than you’d expect,” the moment of truth for the mysterious command key symbol is as follows:
“Our bitmap artist Susan Kare had a comprehensive international symbol dictionary and she leafed through it, looking for an appropriate symbol that was distinctive, attractive and had at least something to do with the concept of a menu command.
“Finally she came across a floral symbol that was used in Sweden to indicate an interesting feature or attraction in a campground… Twenty years later, even in OS X, the Macintosh still has a little bit of a Swedish campground in it.”
This symbol, as the article details, is revealed to be the layout of a 13th-century castle in Sweden from a bird’s-eye view. And while not a quest for divine revelation and consequence like ‘The DaVinci Code,’ it sure was interesting to learn about the symbol at the command of Apple’s keyboard.
And why does this matter?
As the clip above showcases, symbols are in front of us in countless forms and shapes. Most of the time, these symbols go unnoticed. As Ferries Bueller attested, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Truth, courtesy of John Hughes.
Our personal perception impacts our moment-moment thinking, contributing clarity and sometimes cloudiness in various situations. Our mind will see what it wants to see.
The question is what will you want to see tomorrow?
Happy Monday
So, very long (and frustrating) story short, airport cancellations aren’t fun.
Now that you, like me, have audibly said, “duh,” let me explain just a little bit of what I mean.
After a fun weekend in the heart of D.C. and the suburb of Potomac, MD, the plan was to fly out with family late today. Then the flight got delayed 10 minutes…20 minutes…2 hours…2 1/2 hours…3 hours…
and then, the airline finally declared the obvious:
The flight was officially cancelled, along with many, many others.
The issue wasn’t restricted to D.C. airports, however, as construction fumes in an aviation building in Virginia caused flight cancellations across the country. After hours of running through Plans A-Z, that one hotel room was finally discovered late into the night. And this experience (and others like it) provide us with few good options. However, in these cases, realizing the frustrating odds against us can be the first step towards realizing the best approach to the situation.
Tom Hanks for the win in The Terminal.
Have a Better Week Than Last Week.
Before Making a Move, Check for a Mate to Help
Aside from a chalkboard with Chinese algebra, chess may be the hardest board to read.
Like most kids in 1993, Searching for Bobby Fischer had a profound effect on me in terms of how gritty films could translate into cinematic works of art. Then there was this new game called chess. And chess is a wonderful game. At the exact moment you think you’ve mastered it, you quickly realize there’s an entirely new playbook to be learned. Unlike other games, chess requires a relentless mind in ways that equally generates adrenaline and emotional bursts of insanity. The case study for this type of intoxicating paranoia is, fittingly enough, the legendary Bobby Fischer.
See the 2014 film Pawn Sacrifice starring Tobey Maguire as the aforementioned Mr. Fischer.
In the spirit of attempting to climb into the mindset of a brilliant, world-class chess player, the easiest path may be for a brilliant, world-class chess player to climb into our head.
The following video will explain.
Seeing myriad moves that lead to success that few people in the world can envision is truly a gift.
What’s his hourly rate?
Jimmy's Daily Planet 