I admire Michel de Montaigne for his artistic daring, his command of the written word, and the substantial insight he had into his own mind. Julius Ceasar, I admire for his energy, universal effectiveness, and daring. Emperor Marcus Aurelius, I admire for his courage, his devotion to virtue, and his succinct writing style. I admire… Continue reading Exemplars

The knowledge that you can knock a man out with one punch, that however far behind you fall in the fight you can pull it out with one shot, can be dangerous in a fighter. It can lead to passivity in the early rounds and letting a match slip away.  The Jab is different.  The… Continue reading The Jab

Primitive Man utilized magic as a childish approximation of science. Magicians, sorcerers, shamans and the like, used people’s intuitive understanding of cause and effect, and simple incredulity, to claim control over the workings of the world with charms, spells, invocations, potions, and the like.  Eventually, even savages realized that the magician’s trick didn’t work. However,… Continue reading Thoughts While Learning to Code

Physical courage is performing an action despite the fear of physical pain or death.  Intellectual courage is overcoming the fear of complication and the natural aversion to feeling confused.  Moral courage is doing what you know to be right regardless of the potential negative personal consequences. It’s possible to have physical courage and be neither… Continue reading A Taxonomy of Courage

Don’t give up.  This doesn’t mean charging blindly into destruction or courting hardship just to prove how tough you are, but always recognizing your authentic will instead of your animal appetites and developing the first unfailingly as a means to master the other. Use everything you have, commit, and don’t hold back. Choose wisely what… Continue reading MMA Paranaesis