Wednesday, December 25, 2024

Christmas-Carol, AI translated & illustrated

12 Christmas-Carol Lyrics That Make No Sense: What They Mean

Lyric: “God rest ye merry, gentlemen.”

...The meaning of the phrase, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is
“may God grant you peace and happiness.”

The comma is placed after merry and before gentlemen, which means
God is wishing the gentlemen merriment,
not that they are “merry gentlemen” being addressed.


Original & AI translation to simplified modern English

God rest ye merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember Christ our Saviour
Was born upon this day
To save us all from Satan's power
When we were gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

From God our heavenly Father
This blessed angel came
And unto certain shepherds
Brought tidings of the same
How that in Bethlehem was born
The Son of God by name
O tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

O, star of wonder, star of night
Star with royal beauty bright
Westward leading, still proceeding
Guide us to thy perfect light
Born a king on Bethlehem's plain
Gold I bring to crown Him again
King forever, ceasing never
Over us all to reign
O, star of wonder, star of night
Star with royal beauty bright
Westward leading, still proceeding
Guide us to thy perfect light
Glorious now behold Him arise
King and God and sacrifice
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Worshipping God most high
O, star of wonder, star of night
Star with royal beauty bright
Westward leading, still proceeding
Guide us to thy perfect light

God rest ye merry, gentlemen, 
let nothing you dismay
God rest ye merry, gentlemen, 
let nothing you dismay
God rest ye merry, gentlemen, 
let nothing you dismay
God rest ye merry, gentlemen, 
let nothing you dismay  
	
May God bring you peace and happiness,
Let nothing make you worry.
Remember, Christ our Savior
Was born on this very day,
To save us all from evil's grip
When we had lost our way.
Oh, news of hope and happiness,
Hope and happiness,
Oh, news of hope and happiness.

From God, our loving Father,
An angel came to share
The news with humble shepherds,
To tell them not to fear.
In Bethlehem, God's Son was born,
A gift beyond compare.
Oh, news of hope and happiness,
Hope and happiness,
Oh, news of hope and happiness.

Oh, star of wonder in the night,
With beauty shining bright,
Leading westward, still you guide us
To your perfect light.
A king was born in Bethlehem's town;
With gold, I crown Him now.
King forever, ruling always,
Over us to bow.
Oh, star of wonder in the night,
With beauty shining bright,
Leading westward, still you guide us
To your perfect light.

Now see Him rise in glorious light,
King, our God, and sacrifice.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
We worship Him most high.
Oh, star of wonder in the night,
With beauty shining bright,
Leading westward, still you guide us
To your perfect light.

May God bring you peace and happiness,
Let nothing make you worry.
May God bring you peace and happiness,
Let nothing make you worry.
May God bring you peace and happiness,
Let nothing make you worry.
May God bring you peace and happiness,
Let nothing make you worry.  
	

AI illustration



Saturday, December 14, 2024

book: The Gene

very well written and informative;
combining history and science of modern biology

Amazon.com: The Gene: An Intimate History eBook : Mukherjee, Siddhartha: Books

From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies—a fascinating history of the gene and “a magisterial account of how human minds have laboriously, ingeniously picked apart what makes us tick” (Elle).

“Sid Mukherjee has the uncanny ability to bring together science, history, and the future in a way that is understandable and riveting, guiding us through both time and the mystery of life itself.” —Ken Burns

Siddhartha Mukherjee - Wikipedia

Saturday, December 7, 2024

book: The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness - Kindle edition by Haidt, Jonathan. Health, Fitness & Dieting Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the “play-based childhood” began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the “phone-based childhood” in the early 2010s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this “great rewiring of childhood” has interfered with children’s social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies.


Saturday, November 30, 2024

book: Public Speaking for Success by Dale Carnegie

 Public Speaking for Success: The Complete Program, Revised and Updated: Carnegie, Dale: 9781585424924: Amazon.com: Books

"This 2006 revision - edited by a longtime consultant to Dale Carnegie & Associates, Inc., and the editor in charge of updating How to Win Friends and Influence People - is the definitive one for our era. While up to date in its language and points of reference, Public Speaking for Success preserves the full range of ideas and methods that appeared in the original, including Carnegie's complete speech and diction exercises, which follow each chapter, as the author originally designated them.

This edition restores Carnegie's original appendix of the three complete self-help classics: Acres of Diamonds by Russell H. Conwell, As a Man Thinketh by James Allen, and A Message to Garcia by Elbert Hubbard. Carnegie included these essays in his original edition because, although they do not directly relate to public speaking, he felt they would be of great value to listeners. Here is the definitive update of the best-loved public-speaking book of all time."


Is this "edited original" or a "clone"? Does Amazon verifies book's origin?
Public Speaking For Success: Dale Carnegie: 9789394679887: Amazon.com: Books


Dale Carnegie - Wikipedia (1888-1955)

an American writer and lecturer, and the developer of courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking, and interpersonal skills

author of How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936), a bestseller that remains popular today. He also wrote How to Stop Worrying and Start Living (1948), Lincoln the Unknown (1932), and several other book


The Art of Public Speaking by J. Berg Esenwein and Dale Carnegie | Project Gutenberg

The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Art Of Public Speaking, by J. Berg Esenwein and Dale Carnagey.

"
Public domain in the USA."

is it?

Are Dale Carnegie books still protected by copyright? - Quora
find out the year of his passing away and to that add 70 years. 
1955+70=2025


Dale Carnegie has very high regard for Lincoln speaking. 

Example: Lincoln did a few weeks of preparation
for "a few appropriate remarks" for this famous and short speech: 

"DEDICATION OF GETTYSBURG CEMETERY

Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation—or any nation so conceived and so dedicated—can long endure.

We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We are met to dedicate a portion of it as the final resting-place of those who have given their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our power to add or to detract. The world will very little note nor long remember what we say here; but it can never forget what they did here.

It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work they have thus far so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us: that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Abraham Lincoln."

Translated to modern English by AI Copilot:

"Eighty-seven years ago, our ancestors founded a new nation on this continent, built on the idea of freedom and the belief that all people are created equal. Now, we are in the midst of a great civil war, testing whether this nation, or any nation founded on such principles, can survive.

We have come to a significant battlefield of that war to dedicate a part of it as a final resting place for those who gave their lives so that this nation might live. It is entirely appropriate and proper for us to do this.

However, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot make this ground holy. The brave men, both living and dead, who fought here have already made it sacred, far beyond our ability to add or take away. The world will not remember much of what we say here, but it will never forget what they did here.

It is for us, the living, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they have so far advanced. It is for us to be dedicated to the great task remaining before us: that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to the cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."


Public Speaking for Success by Dale Carnegie: 9781585424924 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

Table Of Contents

Public Speaking for SuccessDale Carnegie
Introduction to the Updated Edition
One. Developing Courage and Self-Confidence
Two. Self-Confidence Through Preparation
Three. How Famous Speakers Prepared Their Addresses
Four. The Improvement of Memory
Five. Keeping the Audience Awake
Six. Essential Elements in Successful Speaking
Seven. The Secret of Good Delivery
Eight. Platform Presence and Personality
Nine. How to Open a Talk
Ten. Capturing Your Audience at Once
Eleven. How to Close a Talk
Twelve. How to Make Your Meaning Clear
Thirteen. How to Be Impressive and Convincing
Fourteen. How to Interest Your Audience
Fifteen. How to Get Action
Sixteen. Improving Your Diction
Appendix
Introduction to Appendix
Acres of Diamonds, by Russell H. Conwell
A Message to Garcia, by Elbert Hubbard
As a Man Thinketh, by James Allen

Sunday, November 24, 2024

Top 10+1 Philosophers Notes @ Heroic

free summaries of 10 important books, from Brian Johnson of Heroic, author of book Arete

Top 10 (+1!) Philosophers Notes | Heroic

  1. Lessons for Living: What Only Adversity Can Teach You
    by Phil Stutz.
  2. Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
    by Cal Newport.
  3. Happy Together: Using the Science of Positive Psychology to Build Love that Lasts
    by Suzie and James Pawelski.
  4. Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones
    by James Clear.
  5. Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
    by Angela Duckworth.
  6. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
    by Carol Dweck.
  7. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
    by Steven Covey.
  8. The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
    by Ryan Holiday & Stephen Hanselman.
  9. Building a Life Worth Living: A Memoir
    by Marsha Linehan.
  10. Rethinking Positive Thinking: Inside the New Science of Motivation
    by Gabrielle Oettingen.
  11. (+1) Arete: Activate Your Heroic Potential
    by Brian Johnson.

Optimal Living 101 | Heroic (video training, free access)

Chapters


Hero Training 101 Event Replay 
ten-hour, live-recorded, in-person workshop (2017)

Sunday, November 17, 2024

How Your Brain Works & Changes @Huberman Lab Essentials

 Essentials: How Your Brain Works & Changes - Huberman Lab

This Essentials episode introduces how the nervous system creates sensations, perceptions, emotions, thoughts, and behaviors, as well as how we can change our nervous system — a phenomenon known as neuroplasticity.

Saturday, November 16, 2024

book: Homo Prospectus by Martin E. P. Seligman

 Homo Prospectus: 9780199374472: Medicine & Health Science Books @ Amazon.com

by Martin E. P. Seligman 

Our species is misnamed. Though sapiens defines human beings as "wise" what humans do especially well is to prospect the future. We are homo prospectus.

In this book, Martin E. P. Seligman, Peter Railton, Roy F. Baumeister, and Chandra Sripada argue it is anticipating and evaluating future possibilities for the guidance of thought and action that is the cornerstone of human success.


mentioned here

Ari Wallach: Create Your Ideal Future Using Science-Based Protocols - Huberman Lab

Saturday, November 9, 2024

book: Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari

Nexus:
A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI
- Kindle edition
by Harari, Yuval Noah. 

Politics & Social Sciences Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Amazon.com: Yuval Noah Harari: books, biography, latest update

"For the last 100,000 years, we Sapiens have accumulated enormous power. But despite allour discoveries, inventions, and conquests, we now find ourselves in an existential crisis. The world is on the verge of ecological collapse. Misinformation abounds. And we are rushing headlong into the age of AI—a new information network that threatens to annihilate us. For all that we have accomplished, why are we so self-destructive?

Nexus looks through the long lens of human history to consider how the flow of information has shaped us, and our world. Taking us from the Stone Age, through the canonization of the Bible, early modern witch-hunts, Stalinism, Nazism, and the resurgence of populism today, Yuval Noah Harari asks us to consider the complex relationship between information and truth, bureaucracy and mythology, wisdom and power. He explores how different societies and political systems throughout history have wielded information to achieve their goals, for good and ill. And he addresses the urgent choices we face as non-human intelligence threatens our very existence."




reviews / summaries



critical review


videos





Saturday, November 2, 2024

book: Longpath by Ari Wallach (+TV: A Brief History of the Future)

 Longpath: Becoming the Great Ancestors Our Future Needs – An Antidote for Short-Termism: Wallach, Ari: 9780063068735: Amazon.com: Books

Many of the problems we face today, from climate change to work anxiety, are the result of short-term thinking. We are constantly bombarded by notifications and “Breaking News” that are overwhelming our central nervous systems, forcing us to react in the moment and ultimately disconnecting us from what truly matters. But there is a solution.

Futurist Ari Wallach offers a radical new way forward called “longpath,” a mantra and mindset to help us focus on the long view. Drawing on history, theology, neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, and social technologies, Longpath teaches us to:

  • Strengthen our ability to look ahead
  • Relieve reactions to stressful events
  • Increase capacity for cooperation
  • Boost creativity





Ari Wallach, most recently an adjunct associate professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and host of a new TV series titled A Brief History of the Future. We discuss the importance of learning to project our understanding of ourselves and our goals into the future, both for our own sake and for future generations. We also explore how this fosters a sense of unity and community within our species.

Ari Wallach: Create Your Ideal Future Using Science-Based Protocols - YouTube


Ari Wallach | Longpath


A Brief History of the Future | PBS


The World’s Largest Concentrated Solar Power Plant | A Brief History of the Future | PBS - YouTube

Saturday, October 19, 2024

book: Hackers & Painters by Paul Graham

Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age: Graham, Paul: 9781449389550: Amazon.com: Books

Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age, by Paul Graham, explains this world and the motivations of the people who occupy it. In clear, thoughtful prose that draws on illuminating historical examples, Graham takes readers on an unflinching exploration into what he calls "an intellectual Wild West."

Hackers & Painters - Wikipedia

is a collection of essays from Paul Graham discussing hacking, programming languages, start-up companies, and many other technological issues.



ANSI Common Lisp free online

On Lisp free download


Saturday, October 5, 2024

book: The Silva Mind Control Method

Amazon.com: The Silva Mind Control Method: 9780671739898: Silva, Jose: Books


The technique aims to reach and sustain a state of mental functioning, called alpha state, where brainwave frequency is seven to fourteen Hz.[8]:p19-20 Daydreaming and the transition to sleeping are alpha states.

Can anyone give me a step-by-step guide to the Silva method? : r/silvaultramindsystem @reddit

the point of the Silva Method is to get you to do one simple thing:
learn to go to "Alpha state" and function in it 24/7




(Table of Contents)

The Silva Mind Control Method by José Silva | Goodreads

video reviews




Saturday, September 28, 2024

book: Ikigai

 Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life - Kindle edition by García, Héctor, Miralles, Francesc. Politics & Social Sciences Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

"According to the Japanese, everyone has an ikigai—a reason for living.

And according to the residents of the Japanese village with the world’s longest-living people, finding it is the key to a happier and longer life.

Having a strong sense of ikigai—where
  • what you love, 
  • what you’re good at, 
  • what you can get paid forand 
  • what the world needs 
all overlap —means that each day is infused with meaning.

It’s the reason we get up in the morning.

It’s also the reason many Japanese never really retire (in fact there’s no word in Japanese that means retire in the sense it does in English): They remain active and work at what they enjoy, because they’ve found a real purpose in life—the happiness of always being busy.

Ikigai - Wikipedia

The term compounds two Japanese words: iki (生き, meaning 'life; alive') and kai (甲斐, meaning '(an) effect; (a) result; (a) fruit; (a) worth; (a) use; (a) benefit; (no, little) avail') (sequentially voiced as gai), to arrive at 'a reason for living [being alive]; a meaning for [to] life; what [something that] makes life worth living; a 'raison d'être'.




Saturday, September 7, 2024

Optimal Studying & Learning, by Andrew Huberman Ph.D.

Optimal Protocols for Studying & Learning - YouTube

In a "nutshell": 
- study (read, listen, watch) once
- self-test immediately after study
- repeat testing multiple times, instead of re-reading/watch/listen

Optimal Protocols for Studying & Learning - Huberman Lab

00:00:00 Improve Studying & Learning
00:06:45 Offsetting Forgetting
00:08:22 Learning & Neuroplasticity
00:13:06 Periodic Testing
00:16:09 Focus & Alertness, Sleep, Tool: Active Engagement
00:21:37 Tool: Improve Focus, Mindfulness Meditation, Perception Exercise
00:24:38 Sleep & Neuroplasticity, Tool: Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR)
00:28:29 Tools: Study Habits of Successful Students
00:37:33 Studying & Aspiration Goals; Challenging Material
00:42:54 Tool: Testing as a Learning Tool
00:48:23 Self-Testing, Repeated Testing
00:55:29 Testing Yourself & Knowledge Gaps
01:02:23 New Material & Self-Test Timing
01:07:21 Familiarity vs Mastery
01:10:55 Self-Testing & Offsetting Forgetting
01:15:53 Best Type of Self-Tests; Phone & Post-Learning Distractions
01:22:03 Tool: Gap Effects; Testing as Studying vs. Evaluation
01:25:40 Tool: Emotion & Learning, PTSD, Deliberate Cold Exposure, Caffeine
01:33:28 Tool: Interleaving Information; Unskilled, Mastery & Virtuosity





Saturday, August 31, 2024

Motivation: Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose

Autonomy, mastery, purpose: three forces that motivate us all




Your images are a virus. They are EVERYWHERE on the Internet - Scott Hanselman's Blog




"a great place to work" is where a person can 
  • do useful things, for organization (purpose)
  • that she or he can do really well (mastery)
  • that she or he also likes to do on its own (autonomy)
a sustainable "good feeling" comes from (personal) growth,
meaning learning new useful skills, 
and then being able to use them for creating value




“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.’”

Be the best of whatever you are.

Sunday, August 25, 2024

First Principles: scientific thinking

 First Principles: Elon Musk on the Power of Thinking for Yourself by James Clear, author of 

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones: Clear, James: 9780735211292: Amazon.com: Books

reasoning from first principles,
is one of the most effective strategies you can employ for
  • breaking down complicated problems and
  • generating original solutions.
It also might be the single best approach
to learn how to think for yourself.


example: rockets for SpaceX, and batteries for Tesla electric cars:
the cost of materials was much smaller than the cost of final components;
this means that if production process was re-organizes, it is possible to make them much cheaper.

“Physics teaches you to reason from first principles rather than by analogy."
Musk said in an interview.

What is a rocket made of? Aerospace-grade aluminum alloys, plus some titanium, copper, and carbon fiber. Then I asked, what is the value of those materials on the commodity market? It turned out that the materials cost of a rocket was around two percent of the typical price.”


A first principle is a basic assumption that cannot be deduced any further.
Over two thousand years ago, Aristotle defined a first principle as
“the first basis from which a thing is known.”

First principles thinking is a fancy way of saying “think like a scientist.”
Scientists don’t assume anything. They start with questions like,
What are we absolutely sure is true? What has been proven?


Rene Descartes, the French philosopher and scientist, embraced this approach
with a method now called Cartesian Doubt in which he would
“systematically doubt everything he could possibly doubt
until he was left with what he saw as purely indubitable truths.”

First principle - Wikipedia
In philosophy and science, a first principle
is a basic proposition or assumption that cannot be deduced
from any other proposition or assumption.


Scientific inquiry includes creating a hypothesis through inductive reasoning,
testing it through experiments and statistical analysis,
and adjusting or discarding the hypothesis based on the results.



Saturday, August 3, 2024

book: Reinvention: by Brian Tracy

 Reinvention: How to Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life: Tracy, Brian: 9780814413463: Amazon.com: Books

"If you knew you couldn't fail, what is the greatest thing you would dare to dream? Is the job you now have the one you've always wanted? Do you work with the kind of people you'd like to work with? As personal success expert Brian Tracy can attest, it's not until you deal with the dissatisfactions of the present that you can move onward and upward to create the wonderful future that is possible for you. And it is possible. In Reinvention, Brian Tracy reveals how every one of us is engineered for success, and with the right focus, can remake ourselves and put an end to the chronic stress, unhappiness, and dissatisfaction we might feel in our careers and lives."

Introduction – Your World in Transition
1 You Are Remarkable
2 Who Are You?
3 What Do You Want?
4 What Are You Worth?
5 How to You Get the Job You Want--In Any Economy
6 How Do You Get Ahead?
7 How Do You Get the Most out of Yourself?
Summary: What Do You Do Now?


We are living in the greatest time in all of human history. There are no limits to what you can accomplish except for the limits that you place on yourself. Your job is to become one of the most productive people in your field. Your goal is to develop the reputation for being the person who, when anyone wants or needs something done, gets the job done.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

1. Why are you on the payroll? Of all the things you’ve been hired to do, which one is most important?

2. What one skill, if you were absolutely excellent at it, would help you the most in your career?

3. What are some of the activities or tasks in your life that you should delegate, downsize, or eliminate?

4. If you could reinvent yourself today, with no limitations, what would you do differently?

5. What are the most important projects that you should get finished as soon as possible?

6. What are the things that only you can do that, if done well, can make a real difference in your work and personal life?

7. What are you going to start doing, or stop doing, immediately as the result of what you have learned in this book?


THE ABCDE METHOD TO SET PRIORITIES

1. An A item is something that is very important. This is a task that you must do, something that has serious consequences for either doing it or not doing it. Put an A next to the top tasks on your list.

2. A B item is something that you should do but it is not as important as an A item. There are only mild consequences associated with doing it or not doing it. Returning a phone call or checking your e-mail would fall into this category. Put a B next to these items on your list.

3. A C item is something that would be nice to do, but for which there are no consequences at all. Phoning a friend, going for coffee, or chatting with a co-worker are all things that are nice to do but they have absolutely no consequences for your career or your success.

The rule is that you should never do a B item when there is an A item left undone. You should never do a C item when there is a B item left undone. You must be very disciplined about this.

4. A D item is an item that you delegate or outsource to someone else. The rule is that you should delegate everything that you possibly can to free up more time for you to concentrate on your A activities.

5. The letter E stands for eliminate. These are items that are of such low value that you could eliminate them completely and they would make no difference to your success at your job.

The discipline of eliminating low-value tasks can simplify your life and free up more time for you to accomplish those tasks that can have the greatest possible consequences for you.

THE 80/20 RULE

The 80/20 Rule, the Pareto principle, is one of the most important and powerful of all time-management principles. This rule divides all activities into what Pareto called “the vital few” and “the trivial many.” This law says that 20 percent of the things you do, the vital few, will account for fully 80 percent of the value of everything you do.

SINGLE-HANDLING WITH KEY TASKS

Make a list of everything you have to do. Select the most important item on your list, the highest-value use of your time. Then, start work on that most important task and discipline yourself to stay at it until it is 100 percent complete.


Quote

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams,
and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined,
he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
—HENRY DAVID THOREAU