Poking through 11+ years of posts I find information that’s as useful now as when it was written.

Golden Oldies is a collection of the most relevant and timeless posts during that time.

Wouldn’t it be lovely if we humans could relegate all our foolishness and foibles, both word and deed, to this one day of the year. Instead we tend to spread them across the year and repeat them over and over and over…

All humans are fools at times; some more often than others. Those who claim otherwise are usually found in the ‘more often’ category.

Read other Golden Oldies here.

Can you believe? Q1 is over, done, gone and all we have to show for it is a day especially for fools. So on this day dedicated to fools and foolishness I offer you up some foolish words of wisdom.

Way back in 1894 Mark Twain wrote a book in which the main character, Pudd’nhead Wilson, says, “This is the day upon which we are reminded of what we are on the other three hundred and sixty-four.” A home truth if there ever was one.

If you plan on pulling any pranks today you might want to keep Will Shakespeare’s words in mind, “Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.”

Ben Franklin must have been thinking of politicians when he said “Wise men don’t need advice. Fools won’t take it.”

As usual, it’s Will Rogers who nails April Fool’s Day perfectly—not to mention the upcoming elections, “The trouble with practical jokes is that very often they get elected.”

Finally, we can all see the truth in this old Welsh Proverb, “If every fool wore a crown, we should all be kings;” all we have to do is look in the mirror.

I wish you a wonderful day full of pranks, silliness and friends.

Happy April Fools Day!

Flickr image credit: Jonny Hughes

I doubt that a week goes by that I don’t think of the line from one of Shakespeare’s least memorable characters, Dick the butcher in Henry VI (Part 2).

It was Dick who said, “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.”

While this rarely happens, it’s nice to see when legal greed gets its comeuppance as it did recently when a patent troll not only lost their case, but the judge shifted the cost to the plaintiff.

Lawyers can do a lot of good, too, especially when used creatively, the way Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center does.

In 2008, the hospital and the Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati set up a medical-legal partnership, the Cincinnati Child Health-Law Partnership or Child HeLP.

In 2008 the hospital identified NY Group, a landlord that owned 18 buildings and consistently refused to fix issues that were health problems.

That’s where the lawyers come in because penny-pinching landlords don’t listen to “do-gooders” like social workers.

Child HeLP lawyers went after NY Group, even suing on behalf of one disabled child, forcing the repairs to be done quickly.

But their efforts didn’t stop there.

At the same time, NY Group was walking away from the buildings — Fannie Mae foreclosed on all 19 by the end of July. Legal Aid helped tenants to organize and have a voice in the foreclosure process — among other things, they wanted to make sure that the buildings remain subsidized housing.

Ultimately that pressure resulted in widespread repairs, and helped persuade Fannie Mae to sell the buildings to Community Builders, a Boston-based nonprofit that develops and operates good low-income housing (which is maintaining the subsidies). Reconstruction is about to start.

And because the approach works so well it is spreading across the country.

Perhaps it’s time to modify Shakespeare’s words to “First, let’s kill most of the lawyers.”

Hat tip to KG Charles-Harris for alerting me to the troll story.

Image credit: Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

Tuesday is April 26^th, but more importantly it’s my birthday. There are some pretty cool people born on the 26^th and I chose a few to share.

Marcus Aurelius was a big believer in MAP, “Our life is what our thoughts make it.”

William Shakespeare provides a great description of my two best friends, I hope you have people like this in your life, “A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow.”

Bernard Malamud had great insight into how one learns, “Stay with it. . . ultimately you teach yourself something very important about yourself.”

Carol Burnett’s thoughts about life really refer to MAP, “Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me.”

I was surprised to find that John Audubon and I have more in common than our birthday—we see our lives similarly, but I’m tempted to substitute ‘weird’ for ‘curious’, “I cannot help but think a curious event is this life of mine.”

Finally, since I was generous enough to share my birthday with Marc Andreessen, I wish he would reciprocate by sharing some contacts with me. (Sorry, couldn’t’ find a good quote.)

Image credit: RampUp Solutions

Is Shakespeare still in fashion? I find his insights and commentary just as apropos today as when I first fell in love with his writing, wit and style back in high school.

No matter the subject, you can always find an elegant comment on it from the maestro.

“Neither a borrower nor a lender be,
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.” –Polonius, Hamlet (Back then the gentry were selling their estates bit by bit to maintain an ostentatious lifestyle in London. These days the gentry sell off our estates to support an ostentatious lifestyle globally. As is said, the more things change, the more they stay the same.)

“‘Tis better to be vile than vile esteemed,
When not to be receives reproach of being,
And the just pleasure lost, which is so deemed
Not by our feeling, but by others’ seeing.
For why should others’ false adulterate eyes
Give salutation to my sportive blood?” –Sonnet 121 (In Wall Street speak there’s not a lot of difference between sex and money when you get right down to it.)

“Lord, what fools these mortals be” –Puck, Mid-summer’s Night’s Dream (This says it all—somewhere the gods are laughing.)

Hat tip to eNotes quote help.

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Image credit: flickr

So ends the saga of George II as it parallels Shakespeare’s Richard III—not with a bang but a whimper. See all mY generation posts here.

Jim continues the saga of George II as it parallels Shakespeare’s Richard III. Be sure to return next week for the final act. See all mY generation posts here.

Jim Gordon continues the saga of George II as it parallels Shakespear’s Richard III. Join Jim over the next few weeks to see this saga play out. See all mY generation posts here.

Continuing the saga of George II as it parallels Shakespear’s Richard III. Come back every Sunday to see this saga play out. See all mY generation posts here.

Jim Gordon continues the saga of George II as it parallels Shakespear’s Richard III. Join Jim over the next few weeks to see this saga play out. See all mY generation posts here.

To mY generation author Jim Gordon, the saga of George II is a perfect parallel to Shakespear’s Richard III. Join Jim over the next few weeks to see this saga play out. See all mY generation posts here.