Gangsters To Bankers The Medici family started out in the Middle Ages in Florence as a gangster family. A couple of them were hanged for their misdeeds. Within a couple of generations later they had become the most powerful banking families in Europe. One of the best prototypical rags to riches story of wealth […]
Eternal Battles And Your Soul
Protestant Reformation One of the biggest challenges that came to the Catholic Church came in the Middle Ages with the Protestant Reformation. This represented a huge market share challenge to the Catholic Church because up until that point the Catholic Church was the most powerful entity in Europe. They had a lot of power […]
Curiosity Of Knowledge
Science Test There’s a very famous psychological test that was done shortly after World War II. They wanted to find out why an entire country had gone crazy and done such crazy things. They organized this test with three people. The Authority figure, The Teacher and The Learner. The Authority figure told the Teacher […]
Brothels And Assassins
New Neighbors I noticed recently that I have some squatters living next door to me. I have mixed feelings about it. They’re very quiet, and I can tell they’re squatters because they burn candles at night. They don’t use any electricity. They’re not loud. I don’t feel in danger. I don’t ever see any […]
Cycles Of Corruption
Three Periods Of Japan You can separate Japanese history into roughly three very broad categories. The period before the first military ruler took over all of Japan, the period during that time, and the period after that. The period before that is commonly referred to as the “warring states.” If you’re a fan of […]
Poison Snakes And Unintended Outcomes
Funeral For A Friend I saw friend a couple of days ago and he was just coming back from a funeral. I asked him who died. He told me, and it happened in an accident that was in the news a few weeks ago about a building that had collapsed. When I first saw […]
Time Value Of Money
Time Preference Derivation There is an idea and economics that involves thinking about money in two different ways. If you thought about having $1 million now versus having $1 million plus a little bit more in the future, there’s a point where the money that you imagine now versus that same amount of money plus […]
Banned Sexual Secrets
Outlet Mall Trip A couple of weeks ago there was an outlet mall that opened up near my apartment. I’m always very interested in checking it out one of the reasons I like going to places like outlet malls is because they have lots of places to sit and think and write. I like […]
Queen Of A Lesser Kingdom
New Lady at Toastmasters A new woman came to my Toastmasters recently. She’s a very interesting combination or she has a very interesting combination of both confidence and anxiety. When she talks about normal things she’s very very confident, in fact she’s the most confident person I’ve seen in a very very long time. […]
Modern Human Sacrifices
Downtown Psychic Shop There’s this very interesting psychic shop downtown. It’s not a stereoypical psychic shop. When I think of a stereotypical psychic shop, I think of something with maybe a hand on the front with an eyeball painted in the palm. Maybe a picture of a crystal ball. Maybe some tarot cards. Maybe a […]