Welcome to the Time Capsule — a weekly newsletter that discusses the practicalities of life and explores the wisdom, ideas, and events of the past to help you build a better future.
💭 Quote of the Week
I have offended God and mankind because my work didn't reach the quality it should have.
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519)
✏️ Untitled 01 | 06.01.2022
A candle can illuminate a room,
set the world on fire,
and be blown out of existence simultaneously.
But to try to anticipate the outcome
is to miss the moment
and the point of candles altogether.
Within each soul is a candle
that with the right nurturing,
with enough water and light,
can shine like a thousand suns;
But if one is not careful
that same candle can rage like Hades,
can become a source of destruction and fear,
can cause burns that may never heal.
To live well is to keep the flame alive,
to let it live without turning it into anything more or less
then it was made to be.
To share your light with another —
for all new fires are born from the old —
is why we have candles at all.
📸 Photo of the Week
📖 Book of the Week — The Story of a Nobody by Anton Chekhov
I do not know whether it was under the influence of the illness or a change that was already underway, as yet unnoticed, in my outlook, but I was increasingly possessed from day to day by a passionate, nagging desire for the ordinary life of an ordinary person.
One of my recent finds at a local used bookstore, The Story of a Nobody looks to be another masterpiece in fiction writing — I am still working through it, but it’s been good enough thus far to give it exceptional status for an early recommendation.
This short novel, written by Anton Chekhov — one of the greatest modern writers — is a captivating story of a revolutionary undercover. It is a story of moral integrity, and of terrorism and its motives.
💡 Food for Thought
None of you will enter paradise by your actions, but by the grace of God alone.
🔭 Sunday Best
Russia's First Revolutionaries: The Decembrists — an excellent documentary on the Decembrists, who sought to incite revolution after the death of Emperor Alexander I in 1825.
Why were we so wrong about Russia? — Before the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 the Russian Armed Forces were generally portrayed as a capable and competent force by many analysts — the question is why and how did most analysts get it wrong?
A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of the Integration of Robotic Spine Technology in Spine Surgery — an analysis of the economic impact of robotic image guidance technology in elective spine surgery cases. I included this article in my HTA of robotic spine systems for pedicle screw placement in the Ontario landscape, which I conducted for a grad school course.
Thank you,
AT