Aesops Fables

And learning to pace myself — My daughter folded me a small green origami tortoise this summer. He sits on my desk, at the base of my lamp. His job is simple: remind me that in the fable of the tortoise and the hare, the tortoise wins. I’ve always liked that fable. When I was younger…

“Some pigeons had long lived in fear of a hawk, but since they had always kept on the alert and stayed near their dovecote, they had consistently managed to escape their enemy’s attacks. Finding his sallies unsuccessful, the hawk now sought to use cunning to trick the pigeons. “Why,” he…

Wise words that are still applicable today — In the fall of 2001, the Oakland Athletics baseball team was a mess. They had just lost three of their star players and needed to rebuild. Team management was under pressure and at a crossroads. Most teams would have gone the traditional rebuilding route and signed the “best” and most…

by Bruce Piasecki, author of 2040 PREMISE IN THE FIRST PARAGRAPH: Style makes the man, and those transparent women of substance in plastic dresses Bob Dylan sings about in his latest collection of songs near age 80. Style makes the song, as Bob Dylan knows, and the Counting Crows, and the…

From Firenze University Book: Poggio Bracciolini and the Re(dis)covery of Antiquity: Textual and Material Traditions — David Marsh, Rutgers University, United States The careers of the Curial secretaries Poggio Bracciolini (1380–1459) and Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472) reveal many parallels. In 1437–1438 the Este court of Ferrara, where Eugenius IV convoked a church council, provided a focal point for their friendship. It was to the Ferrarese canon…

New learnings from the fables as applied to 2K20 The hare and the tortoise The fables say that when the hare and tortoise raced together the tortoise won. He won because he was consistent — and the hare lost because he was arrogant and had taken a nap. So who…