You can have all the best ingredients, but you need to know when to pull the cake out of the oven. - Bill Maris
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Life Scholar • World Philosopher
Music Curator • Tech Strategist
Arts Reviewer • Sports Analyst
Keep Smiling And Stop Fighting
I hate to break it to people who enjoy mythical fantasy and a good story, I think there's a good chance we are god ourselves, and living beings on any planet shape its way, and from that perspective humans may be doing awesome as dinosaurs likely fought way more and never smiled.
Munro's Short Law
Prefer labelling items using short or abbreviated words with 4-6 letters and 1-2 syllables.
Munro's 2-4-6 Law
Organize items into groups of exactly 2, 4, or 6 objects using separators or space.
Use The Talents You Possess
Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best. - Henry Van Dyke
People Value Connection Over Truth?
I wonder if one reason becoming enlightened may be difficult is most people may value connection to others over truth, and as one may see things in their true light, most other people may resist change and cling to any current system or fictional beliefs they learned for harmony.
Realize That Enough Is Enough
He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough. - Lao Tzu
Make Draft Lottery Rules Simpler
I wonder if simplest NBA Draft Lottery rule change to quickly try would be to eliminate play-in tournament, and give equal odds to all 14 picks for all 14 non-playoff teams, even though I'm not sure it's fair to bottom teams or a great long-term solution.
Munro's Intelligence Rule
Beings of lesser intelligence may often mistakenly think they are more intelligent than or as intelligent as beings of much greater intelligence.
Lift Up People's Spirits
Strong people don't put others down. They lift them up. - Michael P. Watson
Want What You Get
Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get. - Dale Carnegie
Be Careful What You Swish For
I wonder if more NBA rules created to discourage rebuilding and tanking results in "perverse incentives", and that reversing course to completely remove both the draft lottery and play-in tournament might be the simplest, best, or most natural order.
Draft
- Flagg 1 (12th Last)
- Risacher 1 (10th Last)
- Wemby 1, Harper 2, Castle 4
- Cade 1, Ausar 5, Ivey 5
- Tatum 3, Brown 3, Smart 6
- Wade 5, *James 1, *Bosh 4
- Jordan 3, Pippen 5, Grant 10
- Magic 1, Worthy 1, *Kareem 1
While the current NBA rule changes with the draft lottery and play-in tournament, as well as any further flattening of the draft lottery odds or other rule changes, are an attempt to combat a team rebuilding with homegrown talent and tanking or losing some games some years, it's possible the effects of these changes are worse and with other unexpected and negative consequences and natural reactions by teams that we have seen. It may be that great teams of the present and past had often naturally rebuilt to get one or two high draft picks or the possibility of a star player, and then they would go on to win or try to win for many years, including many of the top ranked, successful, and championship level teams of the past.
When you reward higher ranking and mid-level teams with an opportunity to both make the playoffs with the play-in tournament going to 10 teams and only 6 teams making it for sure, or get the number 1 pick in the draft with the randomized lottery draft odds, you may have incentivized even those mid-level teams to want to lose games, sit top players, trade franchise players like Doncic, miss the playoffs or play-in tournament on purpose, or make other decisions if they could get a #1 or top pick, or improve their odds for themselves by finishing 14th, or 12th, or 10th, or 8th last in the standings. If you take this even further and create more rules, other unforeseen perverse incentives may result, such as the current rich teams getting even richer or teams not having an opportunity to rebuild naturally, or other unforeseen future consequences from any new rules creating potentially perverse incentives.
Instead, before you had the possibly unfair lottery draft and the possibly unfair play-in tournament, the very bottom teams might try to lose some games to improve their draft position and likelihood of getting a great player and that has always naturally been the case, and that doesn't appear to have changed. Also, it was clear that the teams with the best records over 82 games made the playoffs and teams knew if they made the top 8 they were a playoff team, instead of a much worse team who could have even more than 10 more losses than another team. On top of this, the mid-level teams who just missed the playoffs or who were trying to get better weren't as obsessed at losing some games because the odds of getting a franchise player with the 8th pick isn't much better than the 10th pick, like is the case if you could possibly get the 1st, 3rd, or 5th pick.
Furthermore, I have to add that I suspect it's quite possible that the NBA and its executives and owners might be particularly more upset today in 2026 at teams who might try to lose some games when they are at the bottom of the league or aren't a playoff team, which has likely been going on forever and with successful results since the 1950s, because of their recent decision to make money from gambling and betting, and the consequences lower and mid-level teams trying to lose some games or sit out players has for that. While a separate topic, I will briefly say that I at least hope and meditate for the current and future health and wellbeing of all of the referees, players, and coaches who may be very negatively affected by betting in the game as well as the countless people being negatively affected or becoming addicted to gambling which may ruin many people's lives and their children's lives, instead of enjoying the sport for the love of the game, because of the NBA's decision to allow rampant and pervasive betting to make even more excessive amounts of money, and the government's resistance to stop widespread legalized gambling by businesses such as the NBA up to this point.
Do What You Love Doing
"I guess you really like poetry then?" "I breathe poetry." - Paterson Movie
Smart Display Design Ideas
- Portable with battery to place anywhere
- Thin screen with hinge style thin stand
- Folds like laptop to move or travel in bag
- Adequate speakers/camera in thin design
- Screen defaults to display analog clock
- Turns screen on when you look at it
February 27, 2026
Think About Serving People
Stop thinking about making a million dollars and start thinking about serving a million people. - Dharmesh Shah
Make Dreams For The Whole Team
I think we might need to make a world where everyone on the team building houses, nursing people, digging ditches, teaching children, or doing any other work reaches the dreams too, not just rich individual entertainers, athletes, technologists, entrepreneurs, and capitalists.
Famous Buddha Paradox
If Buddha was content doing nothing, then "Why is Buddha so famous?"
- If Buddha thought that living a life in which you don't need to do anything, make any improvements, or strive for any purpose was most rewarding or the best way to live, then why is he so famous and how did he produce many teachings which are so well-known?
- Could it be because he followed his passions, sometimes strived to make things better with his ideas, found ways to potentially be of service for others, spent time doing and working on things he enjoyed, and even gained recognition from others for his work?
- If Buddha was truly happy and content with just existing, meditating, and sitting in nature all of the time, then I wonder if we would not know him at all, let alone recognize him as such a famous and great writer, teacher, and philosopher.
- I wonder if he may have really enjoyed his purpose or role as a teacher and philosopher, and spent a good deal of time learning and teaching how to live a better life, which resulted in him creating and writing many teachings on enlightenment and other ideas.
- I admit my ignorance that I am not a master scholar of Buddha's teachings. Of course I understand he taught many different ideas including the Middle Way of finding a balance, and I know that he didn't actually teach everyone to just "sit in nature all day".
- This was simply inspired by my ignorant image of him sitting in nature all day being content, and wondering if he might not be so famous if he did not follow his own passions and get some enjoyment from or even attachment to the purposes, roles, practices, or habits he did in his life.
February 18th, 2026
Do What You're Afraid To Do
Always do what you are afraid to do. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Cheer Someone Else Up
The best way to cheer yourself is to try to cheer someone else up. - Mark Twain
Raptors Need PG Upgrade?
Hey Raptors Report.
Thanks a lot for replying to me and others, and sharing your thoughts and evaluation on Quickley and everything else, it's so enjoyable to listen to such an intelligent and well researched person like you talk about Raptors and basketball! Again, I admit I didn't even watch this particular video so I'm not debating specific things you said in it, and for instance upgrading to prime Curry straight up from Quickley might be worth it.
While I'm nitpicking words a bit, one thing I have learned to try and do is to not assume what others are thinking or that everyone sees things the same as I do or the current consensus does. As an example, there may be people that might not even recognize Quickley as struggling much this year, and might evaluate the situation differently. Because of adding Ingram he is the 4th option on the team and is playing unselfish, he's shooting a career high 52% 2PT, a respectable 36% 3PT the same as LaMelo Ball, an excellent and career high 3.7/1 AST/TO, a career high 1.3 STL, he plays much harder on defense and makes less money than many PG who one might consider upgrades, and he has a solid 17 PPG, which is lower because of him being the 4th option and not taking way more shots or steal the ball away from RJ more like VanVleet would have done.
Beyond that, as you know, some people put less value into smaller or recent sample sizes and would evaluate players much more over the 3 previous seasons than the first 20 or 40 games of a current season, and his trajectory at the same age has been so much better than Lowry, even though it probably won't continue with him becoming the #2 option next year like Lowry did in his age 27 season. Thanks again for doing an amazing job, it's always great to hear your thoughts on everything!
Lowry vs. Quickley Ages 24-26
- AGE - PT/36 - 3P% - 2P%
- 24 - 14.2 - 38% - 46% - Lowry
- 25 - 16.0 - 37% - 43% - Lowry
- 26 - 14.1 - 36% - 43% - Lowry
- 24 - 21.0 - 40% - 47% - Quickley
- 25 - 22.1 - 38% - 47% - Quickley
- 26 - 18.2 - 36% - 51% - Quickley
"He had an excellent game, no doubt. I’m sure even a fan of his would recognize his struggles this season, however. I will sing his praises from the rooftops if he continues to play well! I’d like to see more than a game before I turn around completely."
"Hold my beer." - Immanuel Quickley
Don't worry, I'm just an ignorant commenter who just read the title and I haven't even watched the video yet, and might not and instead just wait for the devil's advocate video about Quickley's ridiculously amazing game and how he's a pretty good player for a 4th or 5th option, like Lowry was in 2012/13 when he averaged only 11.6 PTS before Bargnani and Gay were both traded the next year opening up a unique opportunity for him, which may not ever happen for Quickley but that's OK too.