“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed, is more important than any other one thing.”
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We have essentially no patents in SpaceX. Our primary long-term competition is in China. If we published patents, it would be farcical, because the Chinese would just use them as a recipe book.
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Social mobility in America, contrary to conventional wisdom, is lower than in most European countries.
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(Source: mansplainingryan, via felixsalmon)
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The Economist: "By all accounts Columbus was an over-ambitious jerk."
After completing an exhaustive compilation of Columbus-era documents, UCLA issued a press release saying, “While giving the brilliant mariner his due, the collection portrays Columbus as an unrelenting social climber and self-promoter who stopped at nothing—not even exploitation, slavery or twisting biblical scripture—to advance his ambitions.”
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It’s always a joke until it’s not.
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NYT: Two Presidents, Smoking and Scheming
BARTLET (calling out) Don’t even get out of the car!
BARACK OBAMA (opening the door of his limo) Five minutes, that’s all I want.
BARTLET Were you sleepy?
OBAMA Jed —
BARTLET Was that the problem? Had you just taken allergy medication? General anesthesia?
OBAMA I had an off night. -
Randy, we have to hide the Porsches.
— Steve Jobs to software engineer Randy Adams upon learning that Ross Perot was coming to visit to decide whether or not to invest in NeXT. (via parislemon) -
New Yorker: Amanda Palmer’s Accidental Experiment With Real Communism
In general, there is the boom in such practices that seems tied to the digital era; you can’t spell Internet without intern. As the argument goes, you are paid in access to a desirable milieu, or the chance to do good. Work for nada at an N.G.O.: you are being paid in justice itself. Oh, you might also get the vague promise that such valuable experience will pay off later. This promise is packaged with the threat that if you don’t take the gig, you will be closed out of the disastrous job market altogether. You had better be happy about it.
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The American Conservative: The Time for Defining Moments Has Passed
No one has tried to fake authenticity more than Romney, and everyone expects whatever he does to be contrived and put-on for their benefit. Romney has already had his defining moment or moments, and they have defined him variously as an international bungler, a cynical opportunist, and a living caricature of a Republican candidate.
