Luxury, rather than necessity, is the mother of invention...

From The Evolution of Useful Things by Henry Petrosk

Think about it:

...whereas the shortcomings of an existing thing may be expressed in terms of a need for improvement, it is really want rather than need that drives the process of technological evolution. Thus we may need air and water, but generally we do not require air conditioning or ice water in any fundamental way... 

Rock ovens built 1913 during construction of the Kettle Valley railroad

Thus:

Luxury, rather than necessity, is the mother of invention. Every artifact is somewhat wanting in its function, and this is what drives its evolution....

It’s my stock and I love it

A Mathematician Plays The Stock Market by John Allen Paulos ; a must read if you're going to dabble (don't dabble!) in the stock market. 

Sheep on the dike by Dagebüll
Avoid behaving like sheep when investing

The “endowment effect,” ... is an inclination to endow one’s holdings with more value than they have simply because one holds them. “It’s my stock and I love it.”

and

If enough people suddenly wake up believing in a stock, it will, for that reason alone, go up in price and justify their beliefs further...

Barbara Tuchman on the Renaissance

A nice summation of the Renaissance by Barbara Tuchman in The March of Folly:

Christopher Columbus statue at 
downtown Seattle's 
Waterfront Park

At about the time Columbus discovered America, the Renaissance—which is to say the period when the values of this world replaced those of the thereafter—was in full flower in Italy. Under its impulse the individual found in himself, rather than in God, the designer and captain of his fate.

Key point: ...the individual found in himself, rather than in God, the designer and captain of his fate...

Which brings to mind the words of the poet William Ernest Henley in his poem Invictus: 

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

From Economyths by David Orrell

A fascinating read; Economyths by David Orrell: 

Bank in Leipzig

The economy is unfair. Economic theory is supposed to be about optimising the allocation of resources. However, the reality is that the rich really do get richer. (Economyths by David Orrell)

Mencken on religion

A while back I decided to actually read HL Mencken, rather than just browse through publications of his pithy points. 

St. Laurentius Kirche - Ahrweiler

For example, in H.L. Mencken on Religion, this short bit of wisdom:

The common view of science is that it is a sort of machine for increasing the race’s store of dependable facts. It is that only in part; in even larger part it is a machine for upsetting undependable facts.

Very good. But let's focus the the really relevant part:

...science... is a machine for upsetting undependable facts.

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First post... testing...

Testing. Testing. Testing. Testing.