Off Topic Friday -- not exactly lulzy, but good...

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

The Takeaway has been playing interviews today in their series "In My Experience" which is aimed at offering some wisdom from people who have had fascinating or unusual lives. On Monday, they interviewed TV and movie star Betty White. Listening to this, I realize that when Betty White does die (hopefully many years from now) they will need to hold a state funeral because 1 million people or more will show up:

On Wednesday, I had to stop my car and listen while feeling a little bit teared up listening to Cary Grant's daughter talk about her experience being raised by her father who stopped making movies when she was born so he could dedicate his time and energy to raising her:

Now, seriously, listen to that without feeling a little tear in your eye, I dare you.

The challenge to listeners is to think about the best advice you ever got from anyone who has earned the right to give you advice. I immediately thought about my grandfather, which isn't hard -- I think about him every day even though he died in 1993. He was a carpenter who "retired" to teach woodworking to disabled students -- something he did until the day he died. He was about 5 feet and 1 inch tall. Barrel chested. Glasses. Mustache. Smoked cigars and drank whiskey. I spend too much of my life thinking about academic ideas that amount to very little probably, but he's the part of me that kicks my ass when I forget about doing things that are useful. And I miss him every damn day.

Two of his sayings are imprinted on me pretty heavily. The first is "Measure twice. Cut once." That's been pretty damned good advice first as a teacher and now as an academic. The other is a piece of paper that he had over his drafting table and which is sitting over my desk now: "Those who don't attempt the ridiculous never achieve the impossible" which has been my inspiration for a lot of lesson with future teachers who are tempted to think they have to accept that some kids will never be interested in their classes.

For discussion: What's the best advice you've ever gotten?

Comments

[pastorlenny.livejournal.com]

My Uncle Leon taught me to always get paid up front.

[root-fu.livejournal.com]

?

[rasilio.livejournal.com]

Lol mine came from a Comic Book character.

Scrooge McDuck.

His life's motto was "Work smarter, not harder".

That idea literally got me to where I am in my career today.

[geezer-also.livejournal.com]

I liked that too. Unfortunately, it was easier for me to work harder, as I was too intellectually lazy to work smarter.(I had a near complete run of Uncle Scrooge comics once)

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Been working on Up With the Star. Brought World War II into a full-scale coalition war pitting Imperial Germany, Imperial Japan, the Kingdom of Austria, the Republic of Hungary, the United Kingdom, and Pahlavi Dynasty Persia against the Republic of China, Imperial Russia, the Kingdom of Korea, the Viet Minh, Sukarto's movement, and the Kingdom of Italy. The former are the Central Powers, their WWI bloc name, the others are the Eastern Alliance.

The Imperial Russian regime is kind of a hybrid of fascist Italy (authoritarian but no real hatred of Jews taken into the factor) with the Soviet Union (in the sense of T-34s, KV-1s and KV-2s as main battle tanks, and Soviet generals who started in the Tsarist Army still in the Tsarist army and still generals). They start the war with a fully modern army equipped with some of the best equipment of WWII and due to the different political history of the late Victorian and interwar era have far more manpower to throw around than the USSR did (they could lose 10 million soldiers and start where the USSR did) while having a desire to seek and gain Russian hegemony.

Thus far Russia, moving from the province of Finland has taken all of Sweden in a sweeping combined-arms attack known as Operation Narva, the Republic of China's overwhelmed British and Imperial Japanese forces, Russia's also overtaken Korea in Operation Ugra, setting up a puppet Joseon Emperor Manchukuo style, and the Kingdom of Italy's thrown in with the guys it thinks are going to win to expand further at Austrian and Hungarian expense, the latter two deciding Russia's the bigger evil than Germany and joining the Central Powers which brings Italy into the Eastern Alliance.

Currently I'm rather amused at the thought that in this case Europe depends on the same bunch that lost OTL WWII to save it from Russia-on-steroids. While Russia, due to how many Soviet generals started in the Imperial Russian Army, can still have the same army that did what it did IRL, with much more resources to use and much less handicapping it. Essentially in the alternate history at present 1/6th the world has been armed to the teeth to go conquer Europe and it has to depend on Kaiser Wilhelm III to hold the line and even with the USA involved it's not exactly going to be simple to outright defeat this Russia on the battlefield.

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

You're welcome to the Friday lulz thread (http://talk-politics.livejournal.com/1001811.html) to tell us MOAR.

D'oh:

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

I thought this was the Friday LULZ thread, my bad.

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

I miss my dad every day. Best advice? There were many. The first thing that comes to mind: Value your friends. One day you'll need them. / Related: Real friends are not there to agree with you on every instant and applaud you for every stupid thing you do or say; real friends are there to tell you the unpleasant truths in your face; so listen to them. He also taught me the art of argument (http://community.livejournal.com/talk_politics/437151.html), prolly the most precious lesson so far. Also how to appreciate life, every single minute of it. And he taught me to value critical thinking, and to always test the established "truths", etc etc etc. Lots of things he taught me, really. I could safely say he was the number one person who formed ME as a person.

I could speak for hours but i'm afraid i'll bore you.

[johnny9fingers.livejournal.com]

Well before it became a cliche about practice, a guitarist whom I admired said to me, when I couldn't get a difficult piece sounding right, that the mountain wears away only a pebble at a time.

Holdsworth was approachable to teenage kids with guitar on the brain in the days when he used to play at the Half Moon in Putney. (Mid-to-late '70s, for those that want to know.)

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

Don't drink Kool-Aid.
Question everything, don't just accept what you're told.
You are responsible for the outcome of the choices you make.

[raven-blue.livejournal.com]

First best advice is actually a quote... "That which you happy, makes you wise".

The second and probably the very best advice was from my grandfather. Though I never knew it was advice when he was alive. When something bothered him he would walk, sometimes around the yard, sometimes across the street into the woods but his walks were always quite and introspective. Even as a chile when I walked with him I felt as if I was supposed to be quiet.

Today when things weigh on my mind I find myself just walking and it always seems to help.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Don't tell someone "I know what you're going through" unless you really do know.

[politikitty.livejournal.com]

Reading Mother Night: "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be."

[geezer-also.livejournal.com]

If there is time enough to do it over, there is time enough to do it right the first time.

[blorky.livejournal.com]

Meditate.

[geezer-also.livejournal.com]

Being old and a grampa I feel empowered to give MY advice (;D)

"If you are going to be held responsible for the results, make darn sure you have the authority to do it your way"!!!!!

(responsibility without authority sucks!)

The mottos of my life:

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

Good enough for government work.

Good enough always is.

[onefatmusicnerd.livejournal.com]

I remember my first day of graduate school. I was a brand new political science phd student. I was a high school drop out and had spent the last ten years working on political campaigns in the fall and restaurants and school in the spring. I called my mother.

"I think I am in way over my head!"
Mom-"Well, you have to fake it until you make it."
"But mom, in my media and politics class there are four of us. One had been covering the Louisiana legislature for twenty years, one has a Pulitzer Prize and one was the former online editor for the New York Times, and then there is me."
Mom-"Just remember, they are still faking it."

She was wrong, but it worked.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

"Remember son, the Truth is out There."