The Monday Morning Quote #423

Posted on June 12, 2017 by Alun Rees

On this day in 1964 Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment, during the Rivonia Trial Mr Mandela chose, instead of testifying, to make a speech from the dock and proceeded to hold the court spellbound for more than four hours. His speech, which was made at the beginning of the defence case, ended with the words:

“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

 

Winnie Mandela, wife of African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela, escorts his mother Nosekeni Fanny through a police cordon outside the court in Pretoria, South Africa, June 11, 1964, where he was a defendant in the treason trial. Mandela was found guilty on all four counts and together with six others, was sentenced to life imprisonment.

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The Monday Morning Quote #422

Posted on June 5, 2017 by Alun Rees

As The British & Irish Lions start their tour of New Zealand…..

“Rugby has always been a game for all shapes and sizes.

You have the superstars and the fast guys who score the tries, but you also need the workhorses and the people who play all the other roles.

Unless they all work together as a team then it’s really going to affect the performance. Everyone’s got to rely on everyone else.”

Warren Gatland

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No car….

Posted on May 25, 2017 by Alun Rees

Living at Rees Acres I/we would be stuck without car/s. This week I have been in Manchester seeing clients and attending the BDA Conference in my role as Branch President, I have stayed in Hulme in some excellent accommodation arranged via Airbnb, and either walked or “Ubered” – (with apologies to you sensitive souls who shudder at the turning of a noun into a verb). 

I have often wondered about the point of car ownership, especially in the urban environment, and this posting from Bob Lefsetz made me realise how much city life is changing/has changed. OK, I know he’s talking about LA but how soon might these changes arrive?

……

And that’s when I ask her, DO YOU OWN A CAR?

SHE’S NEVER OWNED A CAR!

She’s got a driver’s license, but no, she sees no need for  car, she’s got an Uber package. She pays ten bucks for a month of rides, twenty to be exact, and then it’s $6 if she takes UberX and $3 if she takes Uber Pool.

Huh? HOW COME I DON’T KNOW ABOUT THIS?

I dove deeper. She’s not committed to twenty rides, she’s just got to pay the ten bucks. And then she has the option of twenty rides, which she pays for as she goes.

WHAT IF YOU WANT TO GO TO THE BEACH?

No problem, she can go to the beach, she said she could go anywhere for $6.

And then I wondered why it paid to have an automobile at all.

WHAT ABOUT GROCERIES?

There’s a market on the corner.

And she has a bicycle, and…

Continues ….or read the full piece here..

You can fight the old wars or jump into the pool. You can complain about recording revenue, you can talk about piracy, bitch about Ticketmaster, or you can realize those issues are all in the rearview mirror, because today’s generations don’t care about them. They’ll pay for convenience, they’ll overpay if they desire something, they’re about building their lives as opposed to accumulating goods.

This is not only a sea change for generations…

This is a sea change for America.

First they came for our CDs.

Then they came for our retail stores.

Now they’re coming for all our assets, all the stuff we thought immutable and desirable, that we had to have. You might build a shrine to yourself online, but in the real world?

Forget about it.

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The Monday Morning Quote #417

Posted on May 1, 2017 by Alun Rees

“Every nation gets the politicians it deserves.”

Joseph de Maistre

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The Weekend Read – Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig

Posted on April 29, 2017 by Alun Rees

A great work of the genre known as “popular philosophy” I believe. I read this many years ago and it left its mark on me, if only for a desire to ride a motorcycle through Montana. The author died this week at the age of 88, coincidentally I had been searching without success for my copy of the book last weekend.

The lasting impression was the author’s pursuit of the meaning of “quality”. Bought during my impressionable “hippy” days in the mid 70s, I thoroughly enjoyed the tale of  the author and his son who together with a couple of friends make a 17 day motorcycle journey from Minnesota to Northern California. There is a great contrast between the author’s approach to motorcycles and that of his friend John. The author drives an old bike and maintains it himself whilst John has a newer cycle and doesn’t want to learn how to look after itself instead he relies on paying mechanics to keep it going.

It took me until I was an experienced dentist and practice owner to better understand the differences between the classical and romantic approaches to life as explored and explained by Pirsig.

Worth a read, unfortunately I wasn’t able to get along with his next book Lila – I’ll try again.

Available from The Book Depository HERE.

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You have to build for the reality we live in, not the one we hope to create.

Posted on April 21, 2017 by Alun Rees

I have been travelling and choosing to ignore Facebook for a few days, I am starting (probably too late) to actively resent its insidious ubiquity. For someone who is known as, a “hail fellow well met, first to the bar, last to leave, loves a party” person I enjoy my own company, my books, silence & contemplation and try to choose with whom I spend my time. So when read this piece via Dave Pell’s Newsletter  I thought it had enough in it to be worth sharing.

“The problem with connecting everyone on the planet is that a lot of people are assholes. The issue with giving just anyone the ability to live broadcast to a billion people is that someone will use it to shoot up a school. You have to plan for these things. You have to build for the reality we live in, not the one we hope to create.”

Climbing Out Of Facebook’s Reality Hole

With its new camera platform, Facebook is busy augmenting reality. Perhaps it should pay a bit more attention to the hard truths of the world in which we currently live.

Full article HERE

 

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The second life begins…when the drill is hung up.

Posted on April 14, 2017 by Alun Rees

 

I encountered this quote from Confucius in the FT, coincidentally in the week where I was reading The Path an interesting book on Chinese Philosophy and whilst still coming to terms with the fact that since March 18th I can no longer sing the Beatles’ song which starts, “When I get older losing my hair” in the future tense.

“A man has two lives. The second life begins when he realises he only has one.”

The article in the FT was about Charles Eugster who forsook his ” middle aged, self satisfied lump of lard” and took up competitive rowing at 63. Dissatisfied with falling muscle tone and wanting a beach body he started body building aged 87.  The next challenge was competition needing coordination and performance, this led to an interest in sprinting and long jumping and his setting world records for his age group at 97.

Read the whole piece HERE it’s fascinating and inspiring if one retired dentist can do it why not others? I wonder when he’ll consider golf?

 

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