On Ethical Living, the Taco Bell Art Heist, A Recipe for Life, etc.

In which even the most intelligent of folk can make the worst decisions.

🎭 In her interview with Bill Moyers, philosopher Martha Nussbaum discusses how ancient Greek tragedies reveal the vulnerability inherent in ethical living, arguing that being good requires openness to uncertainty and trust in a fragile world. “It’s based on being more like a plant than like a jewel, something rather fragile, but whose very particular beauty is inseparable from its fragility.”

🧠 Richard Feynman “explains why intelligent people make the worst decisions.”

“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about that. After you’ve not fooled yourself, it’s easy not to fool other scientists. You just have to be honest in a conventional way after that.”

🚪 From Architectural Digest, an exploration of the extensive and transformative career of Frank Lloyd Wright, highlighting his adaptability and enduring influence on American architecture. “No matter which period of Wright’s career you examine, you can find evidence for his belief in the inspiration of place, in organic aesthetics, in structural expressiveness, and even in indirect moral instruction.”

🔐 A crypto founder faked his own death. “We found him alive at his dad’s house.”

🌮 A video detailing the Taco Bell art heist: In the early 2000s, the chain commissioned vibrant, graffiti-inspired artwork by Mark T. Smith to hang in thousands of its restaurants. Over time, as locations remodeled, these prints were discarded or stolen—sparking a bizarre underground market.

🧳 From Atlas Obscura, a guide to permitted food you can bring inside the United States.

🎤 Eminem’s “Lose Yourself,” taken from clips of over 300 movies.

🎧 (16/50) Violent Femmes (self-titled): Rough and ragged busking applied to angsty teenage punk. It’s awkward, desperate, funny, stupid and unforgettable— an album that feels very much alive over 40 years after its release.

⏲️ A recipe for life from Muhammad Ali.

“I would like for them to say, he took a few cups of love. He took one tablespoon of patience, one tablespoon of generosity, one pint of kindness; he took one quart of laughter, one piece of concern, and then he mixed willingness with happiness. He added lots of faith, and he stirred it up well. Then he spread it and expanded it over a lifetime. And he served each and every deserving person he met.”

✌️ Keep the Hoping Machine running.

Love,

Luke