Edition 151 - notebook vs textbook

One of my favourite things to do is write something down when it strikes me and then occasionally see if someone else has had the same thought. I love Morgan Housel’s writing in part because of the Sohne Breit font which is so easy on the eye. Of course he writes very memorable lines.

I was rolling around a thought in my head today about how life doesn’t have a script. So it is more like an empty notebook that you fill rather than a textbook you follow. As above, I went and checked if someone else has had the same thought, beyond the Kierkegaard quote, “Life can only be understood by looking backward; but it must be lived looking forward.” Only a stray quote by some unknown young woman turned up. So I doubt its origins although I am convinced someone famous must have said it.

The most interesting thing I learnt this week was (no surprise: from the Museum of Curiosity audiobook that I have been bingeing on) why hammer throwers don’t get dizzy while discus throwers do. The research behind this won an Ignobel. Additionally, I learnt that the founder of the Ignobel awards is a mathematician and all round funny and smart guy.

Finally, I am reading a lovely book (In it for the long run) by the stud runner & ultramarathoner, Damian Hall. His sense of humour is so close to mine and I haven’t enjoyed a book so much in a while. Unsurprisingly, it is the first book in the last 10+ I have started that I will finish (hope to before this weekend). Ultrarunners are incredibly self-aware. So it was quite amusing to know that even Damian had his doubts about his dark brown urine during his first UTMB only to realize that he had been drinking cola earlier! The things that can scare us sometimes…