Influential Reads – November 2020

Reading Time: 2 minutes

”And then…depression set in” – John Winger, Stripes.

Oh man.  What a month.  I am worn out.  Will you just go away, man?

Finally finished Arguing with Zombies; a few thoughts forthcoming…

Updated stats through November:

Here are my most influential reads – in no particular order:

  1. How To Be Positive, Part 2 – “Skepticism: OK Cynicism: Not OK”
  2. Trump challenges cement Biden triumph – “History shows that any leader who constructs a major myth, that is later shown to be false, will eventually fall,” says Harvard science historian and “Merchants of Doubt” author Naomi Oreskes. “The risk is that he takes his country down with him.”
  3. Candidates Share of 2018 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by County – “The less-than-500 counties won by Joe Biden generated 70 percent of America’s GDP in 2018.  The more-than-2400 counties won by Donald Trump generated 29 percent of America’s GDP in 2018.”
  4. How to Simplify Your Financial Life – “Being cognizant of what you’re paying for a monthly basis can really add up over time.  Saving a few bucks here and there can give you the ability to better allocate those dollars to things you truly care about.”
  5. How to cover a coup — or whatever it is Trump is attempting – “The trickiest part: “Figuring out whether these bogus accusations are actually dangerous to the republic or just the last, lame gasps of a doomed administration.””
  6. How we can be confident that Trump’s voter fraud claims are baloney – “All three states’ results indicate what was to blame for Trump’s defeat: suburban vote slippage.”
  7. The Real Hunter Biden Story Everyone is Missing – “The media is still under some illusion that fairness and balance means devoting equal attention to allegations about, and stories potentially damaging to, both candidates–rather than devoting proportional attention to allegations and stories according to their credibility, scale, scope and importance.”
  8. Make America Boring Again, Fix Its Dated Electoral System – “The Constitution now governs a nation that would be both geographically and demographically unrecognizable to Thomas Jefferson.”  Stephen here: if enough Californians move to Texas, this will be a moot point.
  9. Do you have a one-page plan? – “Humans don’t like to be asked what their goals are, so just guess. Just think about three years from now.”
  10. The Habit Dip – “This dip is something everyone faces when changing habits: we lose motivation, we get discouraged, we encounter difficulty, we lose focus because other things get in the way, we get sidetracked by life.” Stephen here: well, that pretty well sums up November.

Note: This is based on when I read the article, not necessarily when it was first published.  Unfortunately, my backlog of things I would like to read always seems to dwarf the amount of time I can devote to reading.