3OT: Fame, Intensity, & Iowa

"The ability to play chess is the sign of a gentleman. The ability to play chess well is the sign of a wasted life." - Paul Morphy

Ben Stevenson
July 25, 2024

Hey friends,

Happy Thursday!

"The ability to play chess is the sign of a gentleman. The ability to play chess well is the sign of a wasted life." - Paul Morphy

Someone else will always be able to push you harder than you can push yourself. This is why people show up to their job even when they’re sick or hungover, but can’t stick to a their self prescribed diet plan more than a week. Don’t underestimate the value of having a coach or friend or partner who can push you.
I don’t want to be famous. A lot of people accept the idea of fame as a good thing subconsciously. But this past week I’ve been reading Mike Tyson’s autobiography (once one of the most famous people in the world) and the fame sounds awful. At the height of his fame he was constantly in lawsuits with people trying anything they could to take money from him. One woman ran up to him on the street, lifted up her dress and threw herself onto him, then filed a police report saying he sexually assaulted her. (luckily there were plenty of eye witnesses, and the case was dropped). I once heard the quote “you want everyone to know your name and no one to know your face” and I think that’s the way to go.
TIL the founders of Iowa divided up the counties into 100 even (ish) squares, but then one county annexed its neighbor, resulting in 99 counties and the big red county highlighted below.

(post from David Senra (creator of the Founders podcast) quoting Henry Ford)

Cheers,

Ben

P.S. Olympics start this week. Take some time to watch the best in the world perform at the highest level.