Author: Anne Z
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Day 313 of 1000: Aspiration as an Alternative to Ambition
Philosopher Agnes Callard contrasts ambition and aspiration. Ambition seeks understood goals. Aspiration seeks new values.
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Day 312 of 1000: Aspiring to Be Someone Different
Philosophers Agnes Callard and L.A. Paul write of personal transformation. How it applies to my reinvention.
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Day 310 of 1000: Reviewing my Old Website
Considering my other reinvention blog which is no longer active. Should I renew its hosting or decommission?
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Day 309 of 1000: Inefficient Preparation & Accepting Incompetence in Midlife Reinvention
Ideas from Henry Oliver’s book Second Act about midlife reinvention. On not having goals and objectives and accepting a lack of expertise when you start.
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Day 307 of 1000: My Interests this Week
In Sunday planning, I review the week ahead. In today’s post, I also report on the current state of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.
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Day 306 of 1000: A Different Approach to Leash Reactivity
From a video by dog behaviorist Dr. Melanie Uhde, using “dynamic interactive engagement” when a dog spots another dog while on leash.
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Day 305 of 1000: Spiraling Back, Spiraling Forward
I’ve agreed to foster a big dog who needs help. Is this moving backwards or forwards in my life?
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Day 304 of 1000: Why the U.S. Needs NATO, but Trump Does Not
Michael McFaul of Stanford and the Hoover Institution says the U.S. still needs NATO. Unfortunately, the current U.S. President does not.
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Day 303 of 1000: Writing About History, in Pseudoscientific Ways
While academics may call the theory of the four turnings pseudoscientific, I find it an enlightening way to consider current events.
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Day 302 of 1000: Modelski’s Long Cycles Theory
George Modelski proposed that world leadership plays out in long cycles of roughly 100 years each, divided into four phases. We’re in the last phase.
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Day 301 of 1000: Hope and the Other
Imagining resolutions to our current fourth turning crisis. Calling on hope, faith, and love.
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Day 299 of 1000: Fundamental Tiredness
Byung-Chul Han and Peter Handke on tiredness — the divisive kind and the uniting kind. The kind I am feeling today.
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Day 298 of 1000: Crossing a Threshold
Reflecting on my life, and the support I have from my family, at a crossroads.
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DAy 297 of 1000: The U.S. is Not Immune to the Effects of the Strait of Hormuz Closure
The United States is not immune to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz just because we are net energy exporters. Consider plastics and food.
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DAy 296 of 1000: Writing about Investing
I’m early in my journey of figuring out who I am as a trader. It’s so idiosyncratic and personal that I don’t want to write about it.
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Day 295 of 1000: Everydayness vs. Festiveness
Byung-Chul Han on Heidegger’s concept of everydayness, and how it should be complemented with festiveness.
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Day 294 of 1000: The 2022 Analog
In 2022, we faced an energy shock and runaway inflation. In 2026, we face an energy shock and a possible growth slowdown. How they are the same and different.
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Day 293 of 1000: Surgery Week Arrives
As I approach major surgery and its aftermath at the same time I’m learning to trade, pondering the Hermit and his wisdom.
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Day 292 of 1000: Is The Dollar’s Reserve Currency Status at Risk?
If we are in a fourth turning, will we see a new world reserve currency emerge?
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Day 291 of 1000: What I Want to Do
It feels almost wrong to be able to spend my days investing and trading. But that’s what I want to do.
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Day 290 of 1000: The Theory of the Four Turnings
Howe and Strauss’ theory of the four turnings suggests we are in a crisis phase. What role will the U.S. play in the new world order?
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Day 288 of 1000: Time to Be Defensive with Investments
In Mastering the Market Cycle, Howard Marks writes that calibrating between aggressiveness and defensiveness is a key decision for investors.
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Day 287 of 1000: An Alternative to Buy-and-Hold Investing
As the Middle Eastern conflict continues, equity markets around the world are looking weak. What to do instead of holding on as they fall?
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DAy 286 of 1000: Global Trade and the Fourth Turning
The current closure of the Hormuz Strait is putting pressure on the petrodollar system. If the U.S. loses it, they’ve lost their economic power too.
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Day 285 of 1000: In This alone
As I move towards committing to living a life by myself, I reflect on the Nine of Pentacles Tarot card and ideas from Kingma’s Coming Apart.
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Day 284 of 1000: Expecting Lower Stock Market Returns
There are good reasons to expect that the stock market is not going to just bounce back from the Middle East conflict.
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Day 283 of 1000: Is the Market Too Complacent?
“Widespread risk tolerance… is the greatest harbinger of subsequent market declines,” says Howard Marks. Are investors too comfortable with risk right now?
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Day 281 of 1000: Identifying a Stock Market Top… or bottom
How to identify a stock market top, from William O’Neil’s How to Make Money in Stocks. Also, how to know when to get back in.
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Day 277 of 1000: Central Banks and the Mideast Crisis
The war in the Middle East means that every country around the world faces complicated supply chain impacts and difficult interest rate decisions.
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Day 274 of 1000: Cultivating the Excluding Instinct
Learning to exclude crowding and intrusive stimuli so as to live the vita contemplativa. Ideas from Han and Nietzsche.
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Day 273 of 1000: The Can-Do Society and Depression
Considering philosopher Byung-Chul Han’s diagnosis of the cause of depression and other mental illnesses, from The Burnout Society.
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Day 272 of 1000: The Inspiration Society
Instead of the achievement society, how about participating in the inspiration society? How The Fool Tarot card got me thinking of a different way of living.
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Day 270 of 1000: Problems vs Mysteries
French playwright and philosopher Gabriel Marcel distinguished between problems and mysteries. The problem of war deaths, vs the mystery.
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Day 269 of 1000: Creating In-Situ Photos for Original Art
Creating in-situ room photos to show how my original art might look in someone’s house. A quick comparison of Artplacer vs Canvy.
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Day 266 of 1000: Planning the First Week of March
Planning my portfolio buy/sell day in the shadow of war, getting paintings ready for sale, solving an insomnia problem.
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Day 264 of 1000: The Must-Do Myth
An art business expert said “you must show your original art in person,” but I’m leaning into a digital gallery, and getting people there via my philosophical writing.
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Day 263 of 1000: Hope, Truth, and Art
Adorno and Han on the relationship between reality, hope, truth, and art. Art as an autonomous sphere that provides an alternative to bad reality.
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Day 262 of 1000: Setting Up an Art Storefront
Making plans for refreshing my Saatchi Art storefront with new Motion Memory paintings. Many details to learn about.
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Day 261 of 1000: Hopefulness and concrete Goals
Nietzsche and Han on how hope turns our thoughts to concrete goals as a way of composing the story of the future.
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Day 260 of 1000: An Easy Way to Hedge Against Dollar Weakness
Hedge against continued dollar weakness by tilting your portfolio towards international equities and away from U.S.
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Day 259 of 1000: In the Wintertime of a Transition
It’s wintertime and I’m in the neutral zone of reinvention. But spring is coming, and I’m going to paint with springy colors, in an energetic style.
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Day 258 of 1000: Still Here
Making it to age 57 is an achievement. I grieve for the people in my past who didn’t get the chance.