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Christian Science by Mark Twain, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . CHAPTER X here CHAPTER X There she stands-painted by herself. No witness but herself has been allowed to testify. She stands there painted by her acts, and decorated by her words. When she talks, she has only a decorative value as a witness, either for or against herself, for she deals mainly in unsupported assertion; and in the rare cases where she puts forward a verifiable fact she gets out of it a meaning which it refuses to furnish to anybody else. Also, when she talks, she is unstable, she wanders, she is incurably inconsistent; what she says to-day she contradicts tomorrow. But her acts are consistent. They are always faithful to her, they never misinterpret her, they are a mirror which always reflects her exactly, precisely, minutely, unerringly, and always the same, to date, with only those progressive little natural changes in stature, dress, complexion, mood, and carriage that mark—exteriorly—the march of the years and record the accumulations of experience, while—interiorly—through all this steady drift of evolution the one essential detail, the commanding detail, the master detail of the make-up remains as it was in the beginning, suffers no change and can suffer none; the basis of the character; the temperament, the disposition, that indestructible iron framework upon which the character is built, and whose shape it must take, and keep, throughout life. We call it a person's nature. The man who is born stingy can be taught to give liberally—with his hands; but not with his heart. The man born kind and compassionate can have that disposition crushed down out of sight by embittering experience; but if it were an organ the post-mortem would find it still in his corpse. The man born ambitious of power and glory may live long without finding it out, but when the opportunity comes he will know, will strike for the largest thing within the limit of his chances at the time-constable, perhaps—and will be glad and proud when he gets it, and will write home about it. But he will not stop with that start; his appetite will come again; and by-and-by again, and yet again; and when he has climbed to police commissioner it will at last begin to dawn upon him that what his Napoleon soul wants and was born for is something away higher up—he does not quite know what, but Circumstance and Opportunity will indicate the direction and he will cut a road through and find out. I think Mrs. Eddy was born with a far-seeing business-eye, but did not know it; and with a great organizing and executive talent, and did not know it; and with a large appetite for power and distinction, and did not know it. I think the reason that her make did not show up until middle life was that she had General Grant's luck—Circumstance and Opportunity did not come her way when she was younger. The qualities that were born in her had to wait for circumstance and opportunity—but they were there: they were there to stay, whether they ever got a chance to fructify or not. If they had come early, they would have found her ready and competent. And they—not she—would have determined what they would set her at and what they would make of her. If they had elected to commission her as second-assistant cook in a bankrupt boarding-house, I know the rest of it—I know what would have happened. She would have owned the boarding-house within six months; she would have had the late proprietor on salary and humping himself, as the worldly say; she would have had that boarding-house spewing money like a mint; she would have worked the servants and the late landlord up to the limit; she would have squeezed the boarders till they wailed, and by some mysterious quality born in her she would have kept the affections of certain of the lot whose love and esteem she valued, and flung the others down the back area; in two years she would own all the boarding-houses in the town, in five all the boarding-houses in the State, in twenty all the hotels in America, in forty all the hotels on the planet, and would sit at home with her finger on a button and govern the whole combination as easily as a bench-manager governs a dog-show. It would be a grand thing to see, and I feel a kind of disappointment—but never mind, a religion is better and larger; and there is more to it. And I have not been steeping myself in Christian Science all these weeks without finding out that the one sensible thing to do with a disappointment is to put it out of your mind and think of something cheerfuler. We outsiders cannot conceive of Mrs. Eddy's Christian Science Religion as being a sudden and miraculous birth, but only as a growth from a seed planted by circumstances, and developed stage by stage by command and compulsion of the same force. What the stages were we cannot know, but are privileged to guess. She may have gotten the mental-healing idea from Quimby—it had been experimented with for ages, and was no one's special property. [For the present, for convenience' sake, let us proceed upon the hypothesis that that was all she got of him, and that she put up the rest of the assets herself. This will strain us, but let us try it.] In each and all its forms and under all its many names, mental healing had had limits, always, and they were rather narrow ones—Mrs. Eddy, let us imagine, removed the fence, abolished the frontiers. Not by expanding mental-healing, but by absorbing its small bulk into the vaster bulk of Christian Science—Divine Science, The Holy Ghost, the Comforter—which was a quite different and sublimer force, and one which had long lain dormant and unemployed. The Christian Scientist believes that the Spirit of God (life and love) pervades the universe like an atmosphere; that whoso will study Science and Health can get from it the secret of how to inhale that transforming air; that to breathe it is to be made new; that from the new man all sorrow, all care, all miseries of the mind vanish away, for that only peace, contentment and measureless joy can live in that divine fluid; that it purifies the body from disease, which is a vicious creation of the gross human mind, and cannot continue to exist in the presence of the Immortal Mind, the renewing Spirit of God. The Scientist finds this reasonable, natural, and not harder to believe than that the disease germ, a creature of darkness, perishes when exposed to the light of the great sun—a new revelation of profane science which no one doubts. He reminds us that the actinic ray, shining upon lupus, cures it—a horrible disease which was incurable fifteen years ago, and had been incurable for ten million years before; that this wonder, unbelievable by the physicians at first, is believed by them now; and so he is tranquilly confident that the time is coming when the world will be educated up to a point where it will comprehend and grant that the light of the Spirit of God, shining unobstructed upon the soul, is an actinic ray which can purge both mind and body from disease and set them free and make them whole. It is apparent, then, that in Christian Science it is not one man's mind acting upon another man's mind that heals; that it is solely the Spirit of God that heals; that the healer's mind performs no office but to convey that force to the patient; that it is merely the wire which carries the electric fluid, so to speak, and delivers the message. Therefore, if these things be true, mental-healing and Science-healing are separate and distinct processes, and no kinship exists between them. To heal the body of its ills and pains is a mighty benefaction, but in our day our physicians and surgeons work a thousand miracles—prodigies which would have ranked as miracles fifty years ago—and they have so greatly extended their domination over disease that we feel so well protected that we are able to look with a good deal of composure and absence of hysterics upon the claims of new competitors in that field. But there is a mightier benefaction than the healing of the body, and that is the healing of the spirit—which is Christian Science's other claim. So far as I know, so far as I can find out, it makes it good. Personally I have not known a Scientist who did not seem serene, contented, unharassed. I have not found an outsider whose observation of Scientists furnished him a view that differed from my own. Buoyant spirits, comfort of mind, freedom from care these happinesses we all have, at intervals; but in the spaces between, dear me, the black hours! They have put a curse upon the life of every human being I have ever known, young or old. I concede not a single exception. Unless it might be those Scientists just referred to. They may have been playing a part with me; I hope they were not, and I believe they were not. Time will test the Science's claim. If time shall make it good; if time shall prove that the Science can heal the persecuted spirit of man and banish its troubles and keep it serene and sunny and content—why, then Mrs. Eddy will have a monument that will reach above the clouds. For if she did not hit upon that imperial idea and evolve it and deliver it, its discoverer can never be identified with certainty, now, I think. It is the giant feature, it is the sun that rides in the zenith of Christian Science, the auxiliary features are of minor consequence [Let us still leave the large “if” aside, for the present, and proceed as if it had no existence.] It is not supposable that Mrs. Eddy realized, at first, the size of her plunder. (No, find—that is the word; she did not realize the size of her find, at first.) It had to grow upon her, by degrees, in accordance with the inalterable custom of Circumstance, which works by stages, and by stages only, and never furnishes any mind with all the materials for a large idea at one time. In the beginning, Mrs. Eddy was probably interested merely in the mental-healing detail, and perhaps mainly interested in it pecuniary, for she was poor. She would succeed in anything she undertook. She would attract pupils, and her commerce would grow. She would inspire in patient and pupil confidence in her earnestness, her history is evidence that she would not fail of that. There probably came a time, in due course, when her students began to think there was something deeper in her teachings than they had been suspecting—a mystery beyond mental-healing, and higher. It is conceivable that by consequence their manner towards her changed little by little, and from respectful became reverent. It is conceivable that this would have an influence upon her; that it would incline her to wonder if their secret thought—that she was inspired—might not be a well-grounded guess. It is conceivable that as time went on the thought in their minds and its reflection in hers might solidify into conviction. She would remember, then, that as a child she had been called, more than once, by a mysterious voice—just as had happened to little Samuel. (Mentioned in her Autobiography.) She would be impressed by that ancient reminiscence, now, and it could have a prophetic meaning for her. It is conceivable that the persuasive influences around her and within her would give a new and powerful impulse to her philosophizings, and that from this, in time, would result that great birth, the healing of body and mind by the inpouring of the Spirit of God—the central and dominant idea of Christian Science—and that when this idea came she would not doubt that it was an inspiration direct from Heaven. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Mark Twain (2004). Christian Science. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/3187/pg3187-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

SHE STANDS-PAINTED BY HERSELF

MINOTAURUS TYPHŒUS: FIRST ATTEMPTS AT OBSERVATION

The Time Traders  by Andre Alice Norton, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 3 Ross stood cautiously against the wall of his darkened room, his head turned toward the slightly open door. A slight shuffling sound had awakened him, and he was now as ready as a cat before her spring. But he did not hurl himself at the figure now easing the door farther open. He waited until the visitor was approaching the bunk before he slid along the wall, closing the door and putting his shoulders against it. "What's the pitch?" Ross demanded in a whisper. There was a ragged breath, maybe two, then a little laugh out of the dark. "You are ready?" The visitor's accent left no doubt as to his identity. Kurt was paying him the promised visit. "Did you think that I wouldn't be?" "No." The dim figure sat without invitation on the edge of the bunk. "I would not be here otherwise, Murdock. You are plenty ... have plenty on the ball. You see, I have heard things about you. Like me, you were tricked into this game. Tell me, is it not true that you saw Hardy tonight." "You hear a lot, don't you?" Ross was noncommittal. "I hear, I see, I learn more than these big mouths, like the major with all his do's and don'ts. That I can tell you! You saw Hardy. Do you want to be a Hardy?" "Is there any danger of that?" "Danger!" Kurt snorted. "Danger—you have not yet known the meaning of danger, little man. Not until now. I ask you again, do you want to end like Hardy? They have not yet looped you in with all their big talk. That is why I came here tonight. If you know what is good for you, Murdock, you will make a break before they tape you——" "Tape me?" Kurt's laugh was full of anger, not amusement. "Oh, yes. They have many tricks here. They are big brains, eggheads, all of them with their favorite gadgets. They put you through a machine to get you registered on a tape. Then, my boy, you cannot get outside the base without ringing all the alarms! Neat, eh? So if you want to make a break, you must try it before they tape you." Ross did not trust Kurt, but he was listening to him attentively. The other's argument sounded convincing to one whose general ignorance of science led him to be as fearful of the whole field as his ancestors had been of black magic. As all his generation, he was conditioned to believe that all kinds of weird inventions were entirely possible and probable—usually to be produced in some dim future, but perhaps today. "They must have you taped," Ross pointed out. Kurt laughed again, but this time he was amused. "They believe that they have. Only they are not as smart as they believe, the major and the rest, including Millaird! No, I have a fighting chance to get out of this place, only I cannot do it alone. That is why I have been waiting for them to bring in a new guy I could get to before they had him pinned down for good. You are tough, Murdock. I saw your record, and I'm betting that you did not come here with the intention of staying. So—here is your chance to go along with one who knows the ropes. You will not have such a good one again." The longer Kurt talked, the more convincing he was. Ross lost a few of his suspicions. It was true that he had come prepared to run at the first possible opportunity, and if Kurt had everything planned, so much the better. Of course, it was possible that Kurt was a stool pigeon, leading him on as a test. But that was a chance Ross would have to take. "Look here, Murdock, maybe you think it's easy to break out of here. Do you know where we are, boy? We're near enough to the North Pole as makes no difference! Are you going to leg it back some hundreds of miles through thick ice and snow? A nice jaunt if you make it. I do not think that you can—not without plans and a partner who knows what he is about." "And how do we go? Steal one of those atomjets? I'm no pilot—are you?" "They have other things besides a-j's here. This place is strictly hush-hush. Even the a-j's do not set down too often for fear they will be tracked by radar. Where have you been, boy? Don't you know the Reds are circling around up here? These fellows watch for Red activity, and the Reds watch them. They play it under the table on both sides. We get our supplies overland by cats——" "Cats?" "Snow sleds, like tractors," the other answered impatiently. "Our stuff is dumped miles to the south, and the cats go down once a month to bring it back. There's no trick to driving a cat, and they tear off the miles——" "How many miles to the south?" inquired Ross skeptically. Granted Kurt was speaking the truth, travel over an arctic wil derness in a stolen machine was risky, to say the least. Ross had only a very vague idea of the polar regions, but he was sure that they could easily swallow up the unwary forever. "Maybe only a hundred or so, boy. But I have more than one plan, and I'm willing to risk my neck. Do you think I intend to start out blind?" There was that, of course. Ross had early sized up his visitor as one who was first of all interested in his own welfare. He wouldn't risk his neck without a definite plan in mind. "Well, what do you say, Murdock? Are you with me or not?" "I'll take some time to chew it over——" "Time is what you do not have, boy. Tomorrow they will tape you. Then—no over the wall for you." "Suppose you tell me your trick for fooling the tape," Ross countered. "That I cannot do, seeing as how it lies in the way my brain is put together. Do you think I can break open my skull and hand you a piece of what is inside? No, you jump with me tonight or else I must wait to grab the next one who lands here." Kurt stood up. His last words were spoken matter-of-factly, and Ross believed he meant exactly what he said. But Ross hesitated. He wanted to try for freedom, a desire fed by his suspicions of what was going on here. He neither liked nor trusted Kurt, but he thought he understood him—better than he understood Ashe or the others. Also, with Kurt he was sure he could hold his own; it would be the kind of struggle he had experienced before. "Tonight...." he repeated slowly. "Yes, tonight!" There was new eagerness in Kurt's voice, for he sensed that the other was wavering. "I have been preparing for a long time, but there must be two of us. We have to take turns driving the cat. There can be no rest until we are far to the south. I tell you it will be easy. There are food caches arranged along the route for emergencies. I have a map marked to show where they are. Are you coming?" When Ross did not answer at once the other moved closer to him. "Remember Hardy? He was not the first, and he will not be the last. They use us up fast here. That is why they brought you so quickly. I tell you, it is better to take your chance with me than on a run." "And what is a run?" "So they have not yet briefed you? Well, a run is a little jaunt back into history—not nice comfortable history such as you learned out of a book when you were a little kid. No, you are dropped back into some savage time before history——" "That's impossible!" "Yes? You saw those two big blond boys tonight, did you not? Why do you suppose they sport those braids? Because they are taking a little trip into the time when he-men wore braids, and carried axes big enough to crack a man open! And Hodaki and his partner.... Ever hear of the Tartars? Maybe you have not, but once they nearly overran most of Europe." Ross swallowed. He now knew where he had seen braids pictured on warriors—the Vikings! And Tartars, yes, that movie about someone named Khan, Genghis Khan! But to return into the past was impossible. Yet, he remembered the picture he had watched today with the wolf slayer and the shaggy-haired man who wore skins. Neither of these was of his own world! Could Kurt be telling the truth? Ross's vivid memory of the scene he had witnessed made Kurt's story more convincing. "Suppose you get sent back to a time where they do not like strangers," Kurt continued. "Then you are in for it. That is what happened to Hardy. And it is not good—not good at all!" "But why?" Kurt snorted. "That they do not tell you until just before you take your first run. I do not want to know why. But I do know that I am not going to be sent into any wilderness where a savage may run a spear through me just to prove something or other for Major John Kelgarries, or for Millaird either. I will try my plan first." The urgency in Kurt's protest carried Ross past the wavering point. He, too, would try the cat. He was only familiar with this time and world; he had no desire to be sent into another one. Once Ross had made his decision, Kurt hurried him into action. Kurt's knowledge of the secret procedures at the base proved excellent. Twice they were halted by locked doors, but only momentarily, for Kurt had a tiny gadget, concealed in the palm of his hand, which had only to be held over a latch to open a recalcitrant door. There was enough light in the corridors to give them easy passage, but the rooms were dark, and twice Kurt had to lead Ross by the hand, avoiding furniture or installations with the surety of one who had practiced that same route often. Murdock's opinion of his companion's ability underwent several upward revisions during that tour, and he began to believe that he was really in luck to have found such a partner. In the last room, Ross willingly followed Kurt's orders to put on the fur clothing Kurt passed to him. The fit was not exact, but he surmised that Kurt had chosen as well as possible. A final door opened, and they stepped out into the polar night of winter. Kurt's mittened hand grasped Ross's, pulling him along. Together, they pushed back the door of a hangar shed to get at their escape vehicle. The cat was a strange machine, but Ross was given no time to study it. He was shoved into the cockpit, a bubble covering settled down over them, closing them in, and the engine came to life under Kurt's urging. The cat must be traveling at its best pace, Ross thought. Yet the crawl which took them away from the mounded snow covering the base seemed hardly better than a man could make afoot. For a short time Kurt headed straight away from the starting point, but Ross soon heard him counting slowly to himself as if he were timing something. At the count of twenty the cat swung to the right and made a wide half circle which was copied at the next count of twenty by a similar sweep in the opposite direction. After this pattern had been repeated for six turns, Ross found it difficult to guess whether they had ever returned to their first course. When Kurt stopped counting he asked, "Why the dance pattern?" "Would you rather be scattered in little pieces all over the landscape?" the other snapped. "The base doesn't need fences two miles high to keep us in, or others out; they take other precautions. You should thank fortune we got through that first mine field without blowing...." Ross swallowed, but he refused to let Kurt know that he was rattled. "So it isn't as easy to get away as you said?" "Shut up!" Kurt began counting again, and Ross had some cold apprehensive moments in which to reflect upon the folly of quick decisions and wonder bleakly why he had not thought things through before he leaped. Again they sketched a weaving pattern in the snow, but this time the arcs formed acute angles. Ross glanced now and then at the intent man at the wheel. How had Kurt managed to memorize this route? His urge to escape the base must certainly be a strong one. Back and forth they crawled, gaining only a few yards in each of those angled strikes to right or left. "Good thing these cats are atomic powered," Kurt commented during one of the intervals between mine fields. "We'd run out of fuel otherwise." Ross fought down the impulse to move his feet away from any possible contact point with the engine. These machines must be safe to ride in, but the bogy of radiation was frightening. Luckily, Kurt was now back to a straight track, with no more weaving. "We are out!" Kurt said with exultation. But he added no more than just the reassurance of their escape. The cat crawled on. To Ross's eyes there was no trail to follow, no guideposts, yet Kurt steered ahead with confidence. A little later he pulled to a stop and said to Ross, "We have to drive turn and turn about—your turn." Ross was dubious. "Well, I can drive a car—but this——" "Is fool proof." Kurt caught him up. "The worst was getting through the mine fields, and we are out of that now. See here—" his hand made a shadow on the lighted instrument panel, "this will keep you straight. If you can steer a car, you can steer this. Watch!" He started up again and once more swung the cat to the left. A light on the panel began to blink at a rate which increased rapidly as they veered farther away from their original course. "See? You keep that light steady, and you are on course. If it begins to blink, you cast about until it steadies again. Simple enough for a baby. Take over and see." It was hard to change places in the sealed cabin of the cat, but they were successful, and Ross took the wheel gingerly. Following Kurt's directions, he started ahead, his eyes focused on the light rather than the white expanse before him. And after a few minutes of strain he caught the hang of it. As Kurt had promised, it was very simple. After watching him for a while, his instructor gave a grunt of satisfaction and settled down for a nap. Once the first excitement of driving the cat wore off, the operation tended to become monotonous. Ross caught himself yawning, but he kept at his post with dogged stubbornness. This had been Kurt's game all the way through—so far—and he was certainly not going to resign his first chance to show that he could be of use also. If there had only been some break in the eternal snow, some passing light or goal to be seen ahead, it would not have been so bad. Finally, every now and then, Ross had to jiggle off course just enough so that the warning blink of light would alert him and keep him from falling asleep. He was unaware that Kurt had awakened during one of those maneuvers until the other spoke. "Your own private alarm clock, Murdock? Okay, I do not quarrel with anyone who uses his head. But you had better get some shut-eye, or we will not keep rolling." Ross was too tired to protest. They changed places, and he curled up as best he could on his small share of seat. Only now that he was free to sleep, he realized he no longer wanted to. Kurt must have thought Ross had fallen asleep, for after perhaps two miles of steady grinding along, he moved cautiously behind the wheel. Ross saw by the trace of light from the instrument panel that his companion was digging into the breast of his parka to bring out a small object which he held against the wheel of the cat with one hand, while with the other he tapped out an irregular rhythm. To Ross the action made no sense. But he did not miss the other's sigh of relief as he restored his treasure to hiding once more, as if some difficult task was now behind him. Shortly afterward the cat ground to a stop, and Ross sat up, rubbing his eyes. "What's the matter? Engine trouble?" Kurt had folded his arms across the wheel. "No. It is just that we are to wait here——" "Wait? For what? Kelgarries to come along and pick us up?" Kurt laughed. "The major? How I wish that he would arrive presently. What a surprise he would receive! Not two little mice to be put back into their cages, but the tiger cat, all claws and fangs!" Ross sat up straighter. This now had the bad smell of a frame, a frame with himself planted right in the middle. He figured out the possibilities and came up with an answer which would smear Ross Murdock all over any map. If Kurt were waiting to meet friends out here, they could only be of one brand. For most of his short life Ross had been engaged in a private war against the restrictions imposed upon him by a set of legal rules to which something within him would not conform. And he had, during those same years filled with attacks, retreats, and strategic maneuvering, formulated a code of rules by which to play his dangerous game. He had not murdered, and he would never follow the path Kurt took. To one who was supremely impatient of restraint, the methods and aims of Kurt's employers were not only impossibly fantastic and illogical—they were to be opposed to the last ounce of any man's energy. "Your friends late?" He tried to sound casual. "Not yet, and if you now plan to play the hero, Murdock, think better of it!" Kurt's tone held the crack of an order—that note Ross had so much disliked in the major's voice. "This is an operation which has been most carefully planned and upon which a great deal depends. No one shall spoil it for us now——" "The Reds planted you on the project, eh?" Ross wanted to keep the other talking to give himself a chance to think. And this was one time he had to think, clearly and with speed. "There is no need for me to tell you the sad tale of my life, Murdock. And you would doubtless find much of it boring. If you wish to continue to live—for a while, at least—you will remain quiet and do as you are told." Kurt must be armed, for he would not be so confident unless he had a weapon he could now turn on Ross. On the other hand, if what Ross guessed were true, this was the time to play the hero—when there was only Kurt to handle. Better to be a dead hero than a live captive in the hands of Kurt's dear friends across the pole. Without warning, Ross threw his body to the left, striving to pin Kurt against the driver's side of the cabin, his hands clawing at the fur ruff bordering the other's hood, trying for a throat hold. Perhaps it was Kurt's over-confidence which betrayed him and left him open to a surprise attack. He struggled hard to bring up his arm, but both his weight and Ross's held him tight. Ross caught at his wrist, noticing a gleam of metal. They threshed about, the bulkiness of the fur clothing hampering them. Ross wondered fleetingly why the other had not made sure of him earlier. As it was he fought with all his vigor to keep Kurt immobile, to try and knock him out with a lucky blow. In the end Kurt aided in his own defeat. When Ross relaxed somewhat, the other pushed against him, only to have Ross flinch to one side. Kurt could not stop himself, and his head cracked against the wheel of the cat. He went limp. Ross made the most of the next few moments. He brought his belt from under his parka, twisting it around Kurt's wrists with no gentleness. Then he wriggled about, changing places with the unconscious man. He had no idea of where to go, but he was sure he was going to get away—at the cat's top speed—from that point. And with that in mind and only a limited knowledge of how to manage the machine, Ross started up and turned in a wide circle until he was sure the cat was headed in the opposite direction. The light which had guided them was still on. Would reversing its process take him back to the base? Lost in the immensity of the cold wilderness, he made the only choice possible and gunned the cat again. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Andre Alice Norton (2006). The Time Traders. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/19145/pg19145-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html.

CHAPTER 3 A SEARCHING OF SCHOOLMASTERS

Kant's Terminology and Doctrine 

For many years now, I have hated completely free time — time where I am doing nothing. Time that I could potentially be doing something with, but am doing nothing. Time away from work, time away from books, time away from interesting ideas, time away from talking to the people I care about, time away from exercise — I hate it. For many people, leisure is not having to do anything. For such people, work is the opposite of leisure. And anything they do can be classified as either work or leisure, depending on the motivation for doing it. Reading a book can be considered leisure, but reading the same book with a goal set for completing it in a week can be work. Traveling to a new place can be leisure. But traveling to a new place with the goal of visiting a new place every month can be work. Basically, leisure is when they do something voluntarily, unencumbered by anyone or anything, not against any timeline, with nothing else on their mind that is distracting them from it. This is indeed leisure to me. But it is also deep work at the same time. David Steindl-Rast, a Benedictine monk, wrote more than forty years ago now: “We think of leisure as the privilege of those who can afford to take time (this endless taking!) — when in reality it isn’t a privilege at all. Leisure is a virtue, and one that anyone can acquire. It is not a matter of taking but of giving time. Leisure is the virtue of those who give time to whatever it is that takes time — give as much time to it as it takes.” Leisure is the virtue of those who give time to whatever it is that takes time — give as much time to it as it takes. If reading a book takes twenty hours and I give it all of that time, not thinking about how I ought to finish it in ten in order to stay on track to reading fifty two books a year, then I’m in leisure. However, if that thought crosses my mind as I sit down to read, and I hurry up and read faster than usual to stay on track for my goal, then I’m not in leisure. Which is why I have long since moved away from wanting to achieve the goals I set for myself at any cost. Because achieving them means absolutely nothing if I’m not doing them in leisure. This thinking can be misconstrued in two ways. First, this doesn’t mean that setting goals is a bad thing. In fact, it is extremely good. Setting goals and prioritizing aspects of our lives helps us ensure that we are spending our time in leisure on the things that are really important to us. Second, doing things in leisure doesn’t mean that taking our own sweet time to do it. It just means that we give as much time as is needed to do that task without worrying about anything else that we might miss out on doing with that time. If we take forty hours to read a book that we can usually read in twenty, that is not leisure. That is slack. That is laziness. Our purpose in is to be happy. And doing everything we do in leisure is the best way to be happy. And the best way to manage to do that is to meticulously plan, set goals, and prioritize. life That’s the simple for happiness. recipe Before you go… If you liked this, support my work. All you need to do is clap. Discuss the intricacies of the good life with me. Read my book

The recipe for happiness

Dedicated to the University Bookstore at the University of Washington

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . ABOUT THE BOOKSTORE DEDICATIONS here ABOUT THE BOOKSTORE DEDICATIONS Every chapter of this file has been dedicated to a different bookstore, and in each case, it's a store that I love, a store that's helped me discover books that opened my mind, a store that's helped my career along. The stores didn't pay me anything for this -- I haven't even told them about it -- but it seems like the right thing to do. After all, I'm hoping that you'll read this ebook and decide to buy the paper book, so it only makes sense to suggest a few places you can pick it up! About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Cory Doctorow (2009). Little Brother. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/30142/pg30142-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

ABOUT THE BOOKSTORE DEDICATIONS

Amazon’s First Foray into Physical Retail — While Utilitarian — Takes Discovery to New Levels As a long time city dweller living in a neighborhood full of history, I had mixed feelings about the arrival of Amazon’s first bricks-and-mortar bookstore in a city neighborhood (the first four are located in malls). Like most of my neighbors around Chicago’s Southport Corridor, I prefer the charm of owner operated boutiques. Yet as a tech entrepreneur who holds Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in the highest esteem, I was excited to see how Amazon would reimagine the traditional bookstore given their customer obsession and their treasure trove of user data. Here’s what I discovered: Chicago’s Southport Corridor is home to the first bricks-and-mortar Amazon bookstore in a city neighborhood : While the Amazon Books on Southport features a locally owned coffee shop in the store — including tables on the sidewalk — it will never be the charming book store with coffee shop destination where writers, couples and friends relish spending hours marinating in its ambiance. Cities like Chicago are awash in classic architecture. Chicagoans cherish authenticity in all aspects of their bars, restaurants and coffee shops. Cookie-cutter retail has a hard time competing with the authentic and unique so I don’t see the coffee shop at Amazon Books ever being a magnet for the locals. The Design is as Utilitarian as Amazon.com With a coffee store in the front window, Amazon Books first appears to be competing in the coffee shop-bookstore genre. : While the coffee shop in the front of the bookstore gives the sense that Amazon is competing in the traditional book store with coffee shop category, this conclusion misses the point. The Amazon bricks-and-mortar bookstore is all about . We all understand that Amazon.com works hard to help you discover new books — and if you are looking for books like one that you’ve read, Amazon.com makes discovery easy through its “Customers who bought this item also bought…” feature. Yet as my annual Father’s Day shopping reminds me, beyond “like” recommendations, discovery on Amazon.com isn’t quick, easy or very productive. And this is where the Amazon physical bookstore excels, reinventing discovery by making it quick, easy and enjoyable to find great books. The Coffee Shop in the Window is a Red Herring discovery : How the Amazon Bookstore Reinvents Discovery : Because the store only stocks highly rated books you quickly find yourself on an unexpected Easter egg hunt. The store is generally organized like other book stores with sections such as “biographies”. But when you get to a section you are greeted by every book facing out — no more reading book spines — the covers and titles all compete head to head. You feel a sense of confidence knowing that the wisdom of crowds has ensured that you are only seeing the highest rated books in each category. Knowing the overall quality level is high, removes hesitation from the book discovery process and energizes the experience. If you like what you read on the cover and the book jacket, you can purchase with confidence knowing that you weren’t fooled by good cover art or clever marketing. Every Book is Rated a 4.5 or Higher Every book features its Amazon rating and an excerpt from a review rated as helpful by other customers : Amazon puts the most relevant information from the website with each book display. In person, the effect is more powerful because you can see all of the books, their cover art, their ratings and reviews in view, with no clicking around required to easily compare books. The simple fact that the books are all laid out side by side, making comparison effortless compared to the web. Every Book Display Highlights it’s Amazon Rating, Number of Reviewers and an Excerpt from a Popular Review The physical manifestation of the “if you like…then you’ll love…” While Amazon.com is well known for its “like recommendations”, even these are better in person. Even the “Customers who bought this also bought…” section is easier to navigate in person. : Amazon Books Builds on this Solid Foundation by Leveraging Their Data in Game Changing Ways My favorite — Page Turners: Books Kindle Readers Finished in 3 Days or Less : The consensus favorite was this Kindle insight based section that virtually guaranteed page turning induced insomnia. If the title, cover art and review fit your interests, you feel sure that you will embark on a great literary journey. The prospect of a rack of proven page turners builds excitement in everyone who sees it in ways that I’ve never experienced anyplace else. Page Turners — Books Kindle Readers Finish in 3 Days or Less You can see how popular this section is — they had trouble keeping the shelves stocked : A close second was the online wishes of crowds. Knowing what people yearned for was very compelling — in fact so compelling that they had trouble keeping the books on these shelves stocked. Most Wished For Books on Amazon.com The ultra metric combining insights from disparate sources seems more compelling than standard best seller lists : With so much high quality data to work from it’s easy to trust Amazon with its new and improved version of the best seller racks. With so much more relevant signal data its easy to see why crowds feel more confident in buying these books. The Ultra Metric — Combining Ratings, Pre-Orders, Sales and Popularity on Goodreads plus a Little Curation Select Amazon.com goods are featured as well : A portion of the store features relevant merchandise from Amazon.com with an emphasis on home tech and children. Curated Items from Amazon.com are Featured I will still go to Amazon.com for the job of ordering a book that I already know that I want (and to the local Barnes and Noble if I need it today). But when I need to discover a book for gifts (Father’s Day is coming up soon enough) or for my own interest, nothing that I have seen compares to Amazon Books. We had an amazing experience and discovered more books in 20 minutes than we had in the past month or two. The Bottom Line: It would be hard to get excited about going back to Barnes and Noble or even a local book store for Discovery after visiting Amazon Books. Not having the insights from consumers informing every stocking and buying decision introduces a great deal of risk to making purchases. While local book stores feature some hard earned curation, the taste of staff members who I do not know is hard to substitute for the wisdom of crowds. Judging from the crowds, which show no sign of dissipating, a lot of Chicagoans are having a similarly great experience.

Amazon’s New Bricks-and-Mortar Bookstore Nails What the Web Couldn’t

If you have ever worked on a Spring application using Hibernate 5, you probably encountered the challenge of dealing with duplicated entities. It is an odd scenario where your collection contains multiple entries referencing the same entity. This is a quite known issue, and there are ways to address it whether using the keyword, Sets, or JPA EntityGraph. DISTINCT However, I happened to have quite disturbing behavior using EntityGraph returning duplicated entities! We will be diving a bit under the hood of Hibernate 5 to understand what happened. A Simple Spring Boot Application To illustrate Hibernate 5 behavior, let’s start with a basic Spring Boot project connected to a database: https://github.com/Shaolans/HibernateEntityGraphDeduplicationIssue The database schema is a simple model as follows: The Hibernate entities are defined as follows: Our focus will be on the queries generated by this JPA repository: @Repository
public interface AuthorRepository extends JpaRepository<Author, Integer> {

    @Query("SELECT a FROM Author a LEFT JOIN FETCH a.books")
    List<Author> findAuthorsLeftJoinFetchNoEntityGraph();

    @EntityGraph(attributePaths = "books")
    @Query("FROM Author a LEFT JOIN a.books")
    List<Author> findAuthorsLeftJoinWithEntityGraph();

    @Query("FROM Author a LEFT JOIN a.books")
    List<Author> findAuthorsLeftJoinWithoutEntityGraph();

    @EntityGraph(attributePaths = "books")
    @Query("FROM Author a INNER JOIN a.agent WHERE a.agent.name like '%John%'")
    List<Author> findAuthorsWithJoinNotFetchedAndEntityGraph();

    @EntityGraph(attributePaths = "books")
    @Query("SELECT a FROM Author a INNER JOIN a.agent WHERE a.agent.name like '%John%'")
    List<Author> findAuthorsWithJoinNotFetchedAndEntityGraphAndSelect();
} Entity Duplication Why Does It Happen? To understand the occurrence of entity duplication, let’s consider a use case where the objective is to retrieve all authors and their respective books. In order to avoid the issue I include in my JPQL query the keyword . N+1 query FETCH It enables the retrieval of both authors and their associated books in a single SQL query, eliminating the necessity to individually fetch books for each author. @Query("SELECT a FROM Author a LEFT JOIN FETCH a.books")
List<Author> findAuthorsLeftJoinFetchNoEntityGraph(); Invoking this method will result in the compilation of an SQL query equivalent to the following: SELECT A, B FROM AUTHOR A LEFT JOIN BOOK B ON A.ID = B.BOOK_AUTHOR_ID; In a case where you have 2 authors that have respectively 2 and 3 books, the result of the SQL query will yield the following table: Depending on the type of used, the association between the and tables are established based on the provided condition. join Author Book This will produce for each that matched an , a new row containing the columns of the table but also the columns of the table. Book Author Book Author Hibernate, upon retrieving this result set, intelligently resolves the entity without duplication. In our case, we end up with only two instances of the entity. However, it handles resolution on a row-by-row basis and does not inherently deduplicate the rows by default. Author This explains why the , returned by calling , returns the following collection: List findAuthorsLeftJoinFetchNoEntityGraph [Author@5640, Author@5640, Author@5641, Author@5641, Author@5641] being the instance representing J.R.R Tolkien entity and representing the Isaac Asimov. Author@5640 Author Author@5641 Author This duplication is mostly observed on and relationships since joining with these types of relations might match multiple rows of the associated table. @OneToMany @ManyToMany On the contrary, and relationships match at most only 1 entry on the associated table and will not induce duplication. @OneToOne @ManyToOne How to Deduplicate Although this duplication issue is quite common and often occurs during the development of applications, there are ways to address and resolve this issue. Set A straightforward solution involves using the returning type instead of : Set<Author> List<Author> @Query("FROM Author a LEFT JOIN FETCH a.books")
Set<Author> findAuthorsLeftJoinFetchNoEntityGraph(); When the results are collected, duplicated entities will be filtered through the . Set DISTINCT keyword Another approach is to use the keyword: DISTINCT @Query("SELECT DISTINCT a FROM Author a LEFT JOIN FETCH a.books")
List<Author> findAuthorsLeftJoinFetchNoEntityGraph(); It should be noted that using as two semantic meanings: DISTINCT : The conventional SQL meaning involves filtering duplicate values in the selected columns. SQL : It indicates a desire to filter duplications in the parent entity. Hibernate When the keyword is used in a JPQL query, it leads to the generation of an SQL query featuring the keyword but also instructing Hibernate to filter duplicated entities. DISTINCT DISTINCT However, using in SQL induces an overhead when executed in the database, and in some cases, the goal is to only filter duplicate entities induced by the join. For such cases, the Hibernate hint can be employed to avoid the generation of in the SQL query: DISTINCT HINT_PASS_DISTINCT_THROUGH DISTINCT @QueryHints(@QueryHint(name = HINT_PASS_DISTINCT_THROUGH, value = "false"))
@Query("SELECT DISTINCT a FROM Author a LEFT JOIN FETCH a.books")
Set<Author> findDistinctAuthorsLeftJoinFetchNoEntityGraph(); EntityGraph In JPA 2.1, EntityGraph was introduced as a powerful feature allowing developers to define the loading strategies of entities. In our case, we can just use the annotation to load the books along with the , as illustrated below: @EntityGraph Author @EntityGraph(attributePaths = "books")
@Query("FROM Author a LEFT JOIN a.books WHERE a.books.size > 2")
List<Author> findAuthorsLeftJoinWithEntityGraph(); This JPQL query is designed to retrieve all authors, along with their respective books, who possess more than 2 books. Even without explicitly including the keyword in the SQL query, the EntityGraph ensures the books are loaded and the parent entity remains non-duplicated. FETCH Author : This is a simple example of using EntityGraph; a more complete and sophisticated way of using it exists, but this is not the scope of this section. Note EntityGraph and Entity Duplication While it is established that EntityGraph handles entity deduplication, let's look into a more complicated scenario. Consider the entity, which has a relation with . Suppose the objective is to retrieve all authors and their books where the author's agent has a name containing "John", yet we have no intention of loading the entity for an arbitrary reason. In this case, we can accomplish this by the following code: Author @ManyToOne Agent Agent @EntityGraph(attributePaths = "books")
@Query("FROM Author a INNER JOIN a.agent WHERE a.agent.name like '%John%'")
List<Author> findAuthorsWithJoinNotFetchedAndEntityGraph(); Since we are using EntityGraph, we expect to avoid duplicated , but upon executing the method, the outcome is unexpected: Author Duplicated entities are retrieved despite the use of EntityGraph. To understand the underlying reasons for this behavior, let’s dive a bit under the hood of Hibernate! How Hibernate Resolves Entity Duplication Hibernate is a quite complete and complex ORM, it can be hard to grasp entirely its fine details, but in our case, since we want to understand deduplication mechanisms, we will be focusing on the method of list . QueryTranslatorImpl For the sake of clarity, some portions of the code have been omitted in order to highlight the most crucial aspects. Upon invoking a method from the , the execution will eventually reach this code snippet. Here is a breakdown of its functionality: AuthorRepository It computes a boolean called , and as the name implies, it identifies whether the result set needs to be deduplicated. needsDistincting We can observe when we do use a keyword, EntityGraph, or limit the size of retrieval, there is a operation in the JPQL query; the distinction needs to be applied. DISTINCT AND FETCH In our issue, it can be observed that whenever EntityGraph is used, the distinction will be applied since EntityGraph will edit the source query to “ ” child entities given in the attribute paths. FETCH This method invocation executes the query in the database, retrieves the result set, and resolves the entities. This list might contain duplicated entities. This is the most interesting part here; when it does need to distinguish entities, Hibernate uses an to filter out the duplicated entity. IdentitySet At this point, it is established that using EntityGraph should filter duplicated entities, but what happened to cause the unexpected outcome previously discussed? Why EntityGraph Returns Duplicates in Some Cases Let’s Compare In order to have a better understanding of the situation, let’s compare the results of when invoking the following methods: queryLoader.list( session, queryParametersToUse ) (2) @EntityGraph(attributePaths = "books")
@Query("FROM Author a LEFT JOIN a.books")
List<Author> findAuthorsLeftJoinWithEntityGraph(); and @EntityGraph(attributePaths = "books")
@Query("FROM Author a INNER JOIN a.agent WHERE a.agent.name like '%John%'")
List<Author> findAuthorsWithJoinNotFetchedAndEntityGraph(); Upon calling , the returned results contains: findAuthorsLeftJoinWithEntityGraph Given the EntityGraph is used, the duplication will be resolved through the , and at the end, the method will return a consisting of 3 authors/instances. IdentitySet List<Author> However, upon calling , the returned results contains the following: findAuthorsWithJoinNotFetchedAndEntityGraph In this scenario, the result is not a List of instances but rather a of distinct array instances of Objects; each encapsulating duplicated and instances. The reason behind the presence of duplicate entities becomes evident. Author List Author Agent Each array ( , , ..., ), being a unique instance, is not filtered during the distinction process with the . Object[2]@13551 Object[2]@135512 Object[2]@13555 IdentitySet Consequently, all arrays are considered as distinct instances, leading to the observed duplication. Explaining the Difference In order to understand the difference between obtaining a List of instances in the former case and a list of arrays containing and instances in the latter case, we need to explore deeper; let’s take a look at the class and especially the method . Author Author Agent QueryLoader initialize This initialization code has interesting parts, particularly the one highlighted in red. It creates an array of boolean where it checks which entities should be selected and be returned. includeInSelect Let’s take for example: @Query("SELECT a, b FROM Author a LEFT JOIN FETCH a.books b") The initialize method checks the content one by one which is and ; if the selected entity originates from a in the clause, then it will be omitted since is used to load children entities (but not in the case of the parent entity). Otherwise, the entity should be selected. SELECT a b FETCH FROM FETCH In this example, the array contains . includeInSelect [true (Author), false (Book)] In our case, of entity duplication with EntityGraph: @EntityGraph(attributePaths = "books")
@Query("FROM Author a INNER JOIN a.agent WHERE a.agent.name like 'John'")
List<Author> findAuthorsWithJoinNotFetchedAndEntityGraph(); We did not specify the clause, so by default, it will select all the entities from all the tables specified in the clause. SELECT FROM The logic returns an array where and (2 elements) should be selected because only is subject to a operation due to the use of EntityGraph. includeInSelect [true (Author), false (Book), true (Agent)] Author Agent Book FETCH This explains the difference between and . findAuthorsLeftJoinWithEntityGraph findAuthorsWithJoinNotFetchedAndEntityGraph The former returns only one value per row because the clause contained only and entities (the select of was generated by EntityGraph), however, since was subject to a , it was not taken into account in the . SELECT Author Book Book Book FETCH includeInSelect The latter returns an array per row because and were in the clause and are not subject to a operation unlike . Thus, returning an array consisting of 2 elements per row. Author Agent SELECT FETCH Book In summary, Hibernate consistently returns an array, and the content of this array is determined by the entities specified in the clause that are not associated with operations. SELECT FETCH However, if we follow the preceding logic, should also return an array but an array of a single element. This is accurate; it does. However, upon examining the implementation at ** **lines and , when the array consists of a single element, the element is just unwrapped. findAuthorsLeftJoinWithEntityGraph QueryLoader 476 620 How to Fix It To ensure correct duplicate filtering when applying a distinction, the result set should be a list of entities rather than a list of entity arrays. This behavior is determined by the entities selected. A straightforward solution is to include the desired entities in the clause: SELECT @EntityGraph(attributePaths = "books")
@Query("SELECT a FROM Author a INNER JOIN a.agent WHERE a.agent.name like '%John%'")
List<Author> findAuthorsWithJoinNotFetchedAndEntityGraph(); The clause will only contain and (the select being generated by the EntityGraph): SELECT Author Book Book Since is a operation, the will only select one element ( ), and instead of returning an array, it will return directly the instance which then will pass through the to be deduplicated. Book FETCH includeInSelect Author Author IdentitySet Conclusion Entity duplication occurs when tables are joined, and multiple rows are matched. There are several methods to address this issue, including using , the keyword, or EntityGraph to deduplicate the result set. Set DISTINCT In the last two cases, deduplication is achieved through a Hibernate flag that accumulates results into an . IdentitySet However, it may not work in certain scenarios due to the fact that, depending on your clause, it could return newly instantiated arrays of your selected entities for each row. This could undermine deduplication through the . SELECT IdentitySet Therefore, it is advisable, when writing JPQL queries, to always specify the clause. If not supplied, all entities in the clause that are not subject to a operation will be selected by default. SELECT FROM FETCH The issue of duplicated parent entities is addressed in Hibernate 6 (shipped in Spring Boot 3), as it has introduced automatic handling of duplicated entities. However, considering that the release of Hibernate 6 is relatively recent, many applications still run on Hibernate 5 or earlier versions, and migration from Hibernate 5 to 6 might be challenging. Thus, understanding how Hibernate 5 handles these situations remains relevant for the considerable number of applications still using it. Also published here

Hibernate 5 and Entities Duplication: Let’s Dive Under the Hood

A term everyone has probably heard about is apparently widely misunderstood. Take Uber, for instance. Many believed it to be a perfect example of disruption when, in reality, Uber’s concept doesn’t really align with the core principles of the theory. As confusing as it may sound, not every business that somehow transforms the market can qualify as a disruption. . Disruptive innovation Before we get to the main idea of how disruptive innovation transformed the art market in particular, let’s start with the basics by figuring out the true meaning of the term in question. History of Disruptive Innovation is a term coined by Clayton Christensen, an American academic and business theorist, to describe a process by which a new product or service takes root initially in a low-end or new market and then gradually moves upmarket, eventually displacing established competitors. Disruptive innovation The concept of disruptive innovation has been widely applied to various industries, including technology, art, healthcare, education, manufacturing, etc. It has become an important framework for understanding how new technologies and business models can disrupt established industries and create new market opportunities. Disruptive Innovation in Tech Several businesses have been mislabeled as disruptive innovations, often due to their rapid growth or innovative products. One of such businesses is Uber. The definition we added above contains one of the reasons why Uber is not a disruptive innovation. As we mentioned, in order to be considered disruptive, new products or services should originate from a low-end or new market. Uber doesn’t originate from either. Uber was founded in 2009 in San Francisco. At that time, people were already used to calling cabs. Therefore, the market wasn’t new. On the other hand, it wasn’t a low-end opportunity since the cab service has not yet been as advanced. Another reason is Uber’s targeting a mainstream audience from the very beginning. One of the core principles of the theory is that disruptive innovations initially appeal to niche markets and only gain widespread adoption once they reach mainstream quality standards. So, was Uber a major breakthrough? Definitely. But is it really a disruptive innovation? Not really. Here are the core principles of the disruptive innovation theory: ocus on underserved segments; F implicity and affordability; S ncremental improvement; I oherent value network. C All the information above naturally raises a question: What can actually be considered disruptive innovation, and why does compliance with the theory actually matter? Well, some examples of the theory have affected our lives profoundly, like the Internet. This one must be obvious. Yet this disruption has led to creating even more disruptions. One of the classic examples is Amazon. You may be surprised, but the industry that’s been disrupted by the creation of the platform is bookselling. The reason for that is simple: Amazon doesn’t require physical stores to showcase and sell its products. Born from a humble garage business catering to online book enthusiasts, Amazon has turned into a digital titan, immeasurably impacting the physical retail landscape and securing an unrivaled market share. Its meteoric rise has cast a shadow over traditional bookstores, leading many to shut down. Today, Amazon's online shopping platform is well-known for a wide variety of products, from groceries to gadgets, all effortlessly accessible from one's doorstep. Another example of disruptive innovation is Netflix. This company hasn’t always been the way we know it. Netflix originally started as an online DVD and VHS rental with mail delivery. The company captured an opportunity to utilize the Internet and thus disrupted traditional DVD rentals, such as Blockbuster. As Netflix was expanding its service, having added streaming capabilities in 2007, the company gradually solidified its disruptive position. When the new service improved, and its content library grew, the company attracted more mainstream customers, leaving companies like Blockbuster behind. Disruptive Innovation in Art Perhaps the most revolutionizing disruptive innovations from the art world are and (Real World Assets). Let’s take a closer look at them and find out their working principles. art tokenization RWAs (RWAs) are a broad category of assets that exist outside of the blockchain but are represented by digital tokens on a blockchain. These assets can be anything from physical goods like real estate or commodities to intangible assets like intellectual property or financial instruments. Real-world assets The process of RWA tokenization involves creating a digital representation of the asset on a blockchain and issuing tokens that represent ownership of the asset. The tokens can then be traded on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) or used to access financial services. By the way, every image in this article was generated by AI – another major disruptive innovation that has already greatly affected modern art. Art can also be tokenized, and is actually a top-tier project in this sphere. Just as Netflix disrupted the traditional media landscape by making content accessible for many, 10101.art is democratizing art ownership by giving an opportunity for anyone to own a part of a physical masterpiece. 10101.art is the process of representing artwork as digital tokens on a blockchain. For instance, on 10101.art, we tokenize famous paintings by internationally renowned artists and ensure transparency of ownership and accessibility of masterpieces. The process of art tokenization can be broken down into the following steps: Art tokenization electing an artwork. This could be a physical artwork such as a painting or sculpture or a digital one such as a photograph or piece of graphic design. Tokenization of physical artworks can cause certain problems with authentication and insurance. Authentication requires having experienced dealers and curators on the team. Insurance, in turn, can be problematic because of the numerous anonymous owners. S reating a smart contract. A smart contract is a self-executing contract that is stored on a blockchain. It will define the terms of ownership of the artwork, such as the number of tokens that will be issued and the initial price. C ploading the artwork. The artwork will be uploaded to a decentralized file storage system. This ensures that the artwork is stored securely and can be easily accessed by anyone who owns a token. U inting the tokens. The tokens will be minted on the blockchain using the smart contract. This minting process will create a unique identifier for each token and associate it with the artwork. M isting the tokens for sale. The tokens will be listed for sale on an NFT marketplace – an online platform where people can buy and sell NFTs. L ransferring ownership. When a buyer purchases a token, they will be transferred ownership of the artwork. This ownership is recorded on the blockchain and is tamper-proof. T We have already tokenized and Warhol’s is next in line, and we are also preparing our and artworks for this process. And if you want to see the artwork live, we'll be waiting for you at our partner gallery opening at “The Ritz-Carlton” (DIFC) on . Follow our to learn more about the upcoming event. Banksy’s “Turf War” “Campbell's Soup Cans“ Dali Picasso April 15 social media Ready to begin your art journey powered by blockchain technologies? Explore platform, starting with the 'Turf War' collection by Banksy, and discover how you can be a part of art history in a new, tech-forward way! 10101.art

The Art of Technology: Disruptive Innovation

প্রযুক্তির শিল্প: বিঘ্নিত উদ্ভাবন

Die Kunst der Technologie: Disruptive Innovation

El arte de la tecnología: innovación disruptiva

L'art de la technologie : innovation de rupture

प्रौद्योगिकी की कला: विघटनकारी नवाचार

テクノロジーの芸術: 破壊的イノベーション

기술의 예술: 파괴적인 혁신

A Arte da Tecnologia: Inovação Disruptiva

Искусство технологий: прорывные инновации

Teknoloji Sanatı: Yıkıcı Yenilik

Nghệ thuật công nghệ: Đổi mới đột phá

技术的艺术：颠覆性创新

I've been on my entrepreneurial journey since I was 15, and I'm still going strong. According to the , 99% of companies are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). I believe the actual global figure could be even higher. European Union A while back in Finland, people thought if you owned a small business, it was because no one else wanted to hire you. Maybe it was because of your skills, maybe you were too proud, or maybe you just didn't work well with bosses. Fortunately, entrepreneurs are now often seen as heroes. Starting a business is cool again, and schools, universities, and even kindergartens encourage youngsters to become entrepreneurs. The Growth Illusion We can't ignore the fact that what we really need isn't more new entrepreneurs, but more entrepreneurs who are growing their businesses. When a new company starts, it often costs the country money, taking advantage of public grants, tax benefits, and other supportive incentives. Only when the company begins to make money can it start to pay this back. And if it can hire people, it can give back even more. That's why, from an economic perspective, it's better to have more growing companies rather than just more new entrepreneurs, self-employed individuals, and freelancers. Central banks have been known for injecting money into economies for over a decade. This prolonged period of financial easing has led to certain sectors overheating. For instance, we've seen significant growth in housing and industries operating on razor-thin margins, thanks to easy access to cheap capital. With the recent rise in interest rates, the cost of capital has increased, demanding higher profits and tighter control over expenses. Many companies that expanded during the cheap capital era have gone bankrupt. Scaling Up in a Tight Economy in this more restrictive monetary environment is challenging, especially as markets become less eager to buy your products. Creating growth Consider this: those 99% of small businesses, content in their local bubbles – be it a small-town diner, a downtown florist, a suburban gym, or a rural bookstore. They're not on track to become the next Facebook or Tesla. But should they even aspire to that? Here's where it gets interesting. What about the next generation, the entrepreneurs' kids? Are they destined to inherit these one-person ventures, trapped in an endless cycle of hard work with minimal rewards? Or could they revolutionize these small-scale businesses? Revolutionizing Small Business: The Path from Local to Global Imagine if these young minds started rethinking these businesses not just as a means to pay bills, but as potential franchises, systems that could be replicated and scaled. What if they turned into mentors, sharing their knowledge with other business owners? They likely have a wealth of 'silent wisdom' – efficient practices, energy-saving methods, resource management, and ways to achieve more in less time, perhaps even utilizing AI. To do this, they need to embrace two critical changes: Using English for communication, and Being bold enough to share their unique insights and experiences. This isn't just about small-scale growth but a potential revolution in how we view and expand local businesses. The question is, do they have the courage to break free from tradition and take the leap?

Small Business, Big Problem: Why 99% Aren't Growing

Back in 2019, I made a plea: “ .” In some circles, at least, the argument quickly caught on. This is because, for startup companies, an exit through an acquisition or public offering is the goal that all else points toward. It is the payoff for founders, investors, and early employees. I contended that the roots of the exit as we know it are rotten. Exits turn companies into commodities, and exits often turn those companies against the people who rely on them most. We need a different kind of exit that is just and accountable, an exit to community. Startups Need a New Option: Exit to Community As the E2C meme first spread, I heard from founders and others looking to do a community exit themselves. But I didn’t have a model or a blueprint to offer—just a vision and a story that I hoped we could learn to tell together. To develop the idea, I teamed up with my longtime collaborator . Years before, we had tried to turn Twitter toward community ownership, with that appeared on the company’s 2017 ballot and . (If we had won, perhaps Twitter would still exist.) In early 2020, we started and joined with to run a for founders interested in the idea. We published and , and E2C was featured in . Danny also co-founded the , a group of journalists, marketers, stakeholder engagement specialists, and academics working to advance E2C in practice. In the years since, we have quietly supported and learned from a variety of experiments, helping entrepreneurs push the limits of what is possible. Memes, we believe, will only take us as far as they are backed up by the hard work of courageous pioneers. Danny Spitzberg a provocative shareholder proposal made news worldwide an E2C webinar series Zebras Unite cohort program a zine a trailer video a special on PBS Exit to Community Collective Our “snapshots” are brief, structured case studies that give a taste of the many diverse ways that startups have been trying to grow into community ownership and governance, albeit with mixed results. As a new year arrives, I am thrilled to announce the release of a new library of E2C stories that the E2C Collective has created at . E2C.how The snapshots range from my Colorado neighbors and , which converted to employee ownership, to major open-source software projects like and , which are mini-democracies accountable to their developers. There is , a Chinese electric car company whose founder set aside a chunk of stock for car-buyers, and , a co-op founded by employees who quit their previous job in protest. There are also blockchain-based efforts, like and , that have tried to make good on a new technology’s often-betrayed promises for making a more inclusive economy. Namaste Solar Trident bookstore Debian Python NIO Defector Media Gitcoin SongADAO I have taken two main lessons from these snapshots so far. 1. Entrepreneurs, investors, users, and workers alike are all recognizing the need for a new approach, and they are trying lots of different ways to get it. They are relying on old technology and the latest innovations. They are using many different legal structures and techniques for empowering communities. The resourcefulness is pretty astonishing, really. 2. In just about every case, E2C attempts have faced profound challenges. They are often working at the very edge of what the law allows, because many of our laws were written to serve profit-seeking investors, not communities. Much of what communities wanted was simply not possible. Truly changing the landscape of exits will mean policy change that takes communities seriously as sources of innovation and accountability. There is widespread craving for a better kind of exit—and the creativity to back it up. Better exits need to be easier—and this will require structural change. I want to stress this second point. It first became clear to me when working with collaborators at Zebras Unite on the idea of . The founder wanted it. The business model made perfect sense—a rare platform whose users actually pay for it. The company was up for a fire sale. But we simply could not find investors or lenders prepared to back a deal like that. This is a problem I have seen with many other co-op efforts, over and over. Policy is the most powerful shaping force for where capital can aggregate, and there is no adequate policy to support capital for large-scale community ownership. This is also the reason we have lost many community-owned companies in recent years, from to —the most successful community-owned companies too often can’t access the capital they need to flourish. turning Meetup into a user-owned cooperative New Belgium Brewing Mountain Equipment Co-op I’ve seen the same pattern repeat itself with blockchains, where the E2C idea has taken hold more than anywhere. Blockchains can enable organizations that are collectively owned and governed by their users, and millions of people have been attracted by possibility. But what has happened in practice? Any time a new project started gaining traction, it would become drowned in investment from the same venture-capital firms that fueled earlier kinds of startups. The driving force became not the tech or the communities but the investors, once again. This pattern is not inevitable. History has demonstrated that, with the right policy in place, large-scale capital access for community ownership is possible. That’s what happened after 1936, when the US government passed the Rural Electrification Act; thanks to a (revenue positive!) loan program at the Department of Agriculture, cooperatives now operate nuclear power plants and deliver high-speed Internet in once-underserved areas. In 1974, a relatively small change to the federal tax code unleashed the employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP, which has enabled millions of workers to become co-owners of the companies where they work. Today, most policy that governs taxation and finance is built on the assumption that investor profits at all costs is the norm and the ideal. , this assumption is intolerable. We need to demand changes that reorder how capital is able to be organized and deployed. These changes can be relatively small to make a difference—tweaks to tax codes and securities laws, for instance—and they can win support from diverse constituencies. As Marjorie Kelly powerfully argues Too often, I have come to believe, advocates of cooperatives and community ownership have put their energy downstream of the real policy problems. They focus on gaining access to small loan funds and technical assistance for small companies. But they neglect the upstream challenge of exits—and other endgames for the most successful companies in the economy. Unless we change the options available at the highest levels, any gains that communities make for early-stage companies can be erased once companies grow and need capital at the highest levels. On the other hand, when community ownership flourishes at large scales, that’s an attractor — something the whole rest of the economy can start moving toward. Rather than fighting over crumbs, advocates of community ownership should be asking: What change will we win for community ownership that does for future generations what our predecessors won for us? Historically, major structural change for community ownership has involved a three-step process. First, the experiments: creative, path-breaking people demonstrate the need and the possibility of something better. This is where E2C is right now, and our snapshots portray that experimentation beautifully. Now we need to learn from those experiments, identifying what works and where the barriers lie. Second, the policy: Here’s when we build on the experiments, which hint at what is possible, and try to break down the biggest barriers in the way of unleashing economic justice. We assemble broad coalitions to advocate for achievable change, grounding our stories in the experiences of people who need change the most. And we win. Third, the practice: Policy is only the beginning. What matters more is what we do with it. Here, we need to grow our movements and our culture to use the new policy in the best ways, and we watch out for those who want to exploit our policy—as any policy can be exploited. We spread, and community ownership becomes a new normal. I have hunches about the kinds of policy E2C needs, but above all I am interested in learning from a shared conversation. What paths should we be organizing around? The tax code? Public loan guarantees? Securities exemptions? What would have the greatest effect for community ownership at the most achievable political cost? Four years after first calling for E2C, I have become more convinced than ever that focusing on the exit—the goals the economy sets, not just its entry-points—is the right place to be. I hope more people recognize how vital it is to rethink what startups aim for. Meanwhile, I am grateful for all those who have worked together to make this new phase possible through the E2C Collective. That includes, currently, Hazel Devjani, Adina Glickstein, Valentine Erokhin, Nanz Nair, Marisa Rando, Sheba Rivera, and Eli Zeger. Danny Spitzberg kept the Collective moving when no one else did and. The team is continuing to create resources and support teams exploring their own community exits. These people are weaving a fairer kind of economy into being. Please consider (which is also a company ). supporting their work through Open Collective pursuing an E2C I published my initial call to “exit to community” here because Hacker Noon is a Colorado-based, family-led company; it used an equity crowdfunding campaign to remain independent of conventional venture-capital pressures. Now it is one of our snapshots. Everyone doing E2C today has had to go against the grain of mainstream startup culture, facing unique challenges as a result. Someday, I hope that what Hacker Noon and others have struggled to do will be easier, that building with and for community will be the obvious thing to do. This, we now know, is possible. Artwork by Marcos Osorio, , a worker-owned co-op. via Stocksy

Now We Know: Exit to Community Is Possible

এখন আমরা জানি: কমিউনিটিতে প্রস্থান করা সম্ভব

Jetzt wissen wir: Der Austritt aus der Gemeinschaft ist möglich

Ahora lo sabemos: la salida a la comunidad es posible

Nous savons maintenant : la sortie vers la communauté est possible

अब हम जानते हैं: समुदाय से बाहर निकलना संभव है

今わかったこと: コミュニティへの退出は可能である

이제 우리는 알고 있습니다: 커뮤니티로의 이탈이 가능합니다

Agora sabemos: a saída para a comunidade é possível

Теперь мы знаем: выход в сообщество возможен

Artık Biliyoruz: Topluluğa Çıkış Mümkün

Bây giờ chúng tôi đã biết: Có thể thoát khỏi cộng đồng

现在我们知道：退出社区是可能的

178 Stories To Learn About Entrepreneurship

Hi All! Here is my weekly wrap-up email. If you love this content (please share it), but also… Check out my and connect with me on / . Podcast YouTube Twitter If you love this kind of content, please subscribe to my or newsletter. weekly daily What’s in today’s newsletter? Regret Minimization Framework Idea: Uncomfortable Truths Question: Expect Failure Quote: Podcast: Mike Mandell - Principal Attorney at Mandell Law Dr. Emily Bashah - Founder of Bashah Psychological Services Dr. Steven G. Rogelberg - Chancellor’s Professor at UNC Charlotte The Long View Article: Idea: Regret Minimization Framework Before Jeff Bezos founded Amazon, he faced a pivotal moment. He had a comfortable finance job but couldn't shake the idea of an online bookstore. He asked himself: "When I'm 80 years old, what will I regret more - trying this or not trying this?" This question led Bezos to create the Regret Minimization Framework, an invaluable tool for overcoming fear and making bold, long-term choices. Here's how it works: Imagine your 80-year-old self reflecting back on your life's trajectory. What pivotal decisions along the way make you most proud? Which ones do you wish you’d made differently? Use these insights to guide your choices right now. This simple yet profound framework helps pierce through short-term thinking. We often make choices chasing immediate gratification that leads to long-term regret. Think of the companies that failed to adapt - Kodak dismissing digital cameras or Blockbuster ignoring streaming. In retrospect, their choices seem comically short-sighted. But in the moment, steering into uncertainty feels daunting. Here's the key insight: regret often stems more from inaction than failure itself. Bezos knew trying to build Amazon carried risks, but he'd regret not pursuing his vision even more. Better to dare and fall short than die wondering, "what if?" The regret minimization framework builds on several powerful concepts: Second-order thinking - considering how today’s choices ripple into future outcomes Premortem analysis - envisioning your endeavors collapsed, then course-correcting anticipated failure points Surrogate regret - learning vicariously from others' regrets To apply it, reflect on your own past choices to extract timeless principles about yourself. What worked? What didn't? Why? Anticipate future opportunities and ask, "Will I one day regret not doing this?" Get clear on your goals and let possible regrets guide you. Channel your wiser future self - what would 80-year-old you advise doing right now? What bold vision or endeavor would they tell you to begin, even if success isn't guaranteed? Of course, minimizing all regret is likely impossible. But regularly reviewing decisions through this lens leads to bolder choices aligned with your long-term fulfillment. It helps balance risks and rewards instead of defaulting to safety. So simplify the complex by asking, "What will I regret more?" Let possible regrets guide you, not paralyze you. Make choices that your future self will high-five you for. Question: Uncomfortable Truths “What uncomfortable truths about myself am I avoiding?” This question stopped me in my tracks recently. It cuts through the layers of rationalization my ego hides behind. Forces me to confront aspects of myself I’d rather suppress. Parts that feel messy, undesirable, or incongruent with my ideal self-image. We all have inner demons. Behaviors rooted in childhood stories or past traumas. Fears that limit us. Outdated beliefs about who we are. Impulses are misaligned with our values. It’s easier to avoid facing them. But each time we look away, we grant these demons more power over our lives. By avoiding uncomfortable truths, I give these shadows control over my thoughts, emotions, and actions. I become a slave to their whims, acting in ways I know contradict my vision. Several psychological models reveal why we shy away from self-examination: Cognitive dissonance theory shows how we rationalize contradictions to reduce inner tension. Attachment theory traces avoidance to childhood bonding patterns. But the root cause is simple: it’s excruciatingly uncomfortable to admit we’re not who we want to be. Still, hiding from our inner demons only allows them to dictate our fate, as Jung put it. Great leaders know this. They skillfully excavate their own shadows. They courageously unearth limiting beliefs, unhealthy tendencies, and suppress traumatic memories from their subconscious. Only then can they nullify their demons’ control. As Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl wrote: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances.” So, how do we develop this level of fierce self-honesty? First, bluntly ask: What truth about myself have I been avoiding? What impulse doesn’t align with my values? Sit with these insights and unpack their roots. This kind of sincere self-inquiry rewrites neural pathways and transforms self-sabotaging behaviors. Of course, excavating our shadows is intense inner work, requiring ruthless courage and honesty. But once we confront buried aspects of ourselves, we unlock our full creative power. We stop unconsciously sabotaging ourselves. We step into radical self-responsibility. Bottom line: it’s not enough to perfectly analyze business models or market trends. Successful leaders also courageously confront their inner worlds - their self-deceptions, childhood stories, and contradictory impulses. Who are you, really? It’s time to dig deep and find out. Quote: Expect Failure "Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill Failure gets a bad rap. We're conditioned to avoid it at all costs. One F on a test, and your parents freak out. Mess up at work, and you get reprimanded. Strike out asking someone on a date, and your friends ruthlessly tease you. We're taught that failure is something to be ashamed of. The opposite of success. A dead end. But Churchill flips that notion on its head. Success isn't the absence of failure - it's the ability to fail again and again with undying zeal. Failure is fertile soil. An essential ingredient for growth. Each fumble and flop provides an invaluable chance to learn. To experiment. To expand the boundaries of what you're capable of. Failure forces you to get creative, determined, and scrappy. The most successful people fail more than anyone else. They plunge headfirst into the unknown, fall flat on their face, dust themselves off, and jump back in. Failure is the feedback that propels them forward. It's rocket fuel for reaching new heights. Next time you "fail," see it as one step closer to success. Let curiosity conquer fear. Reframe the situation into a captivating game and play to win. Study those who have gone from zero to hero and realize that failure paved their way. Wallowing in shame, doubt, and self-pity after a failure leads to decay. Continuing to act with enthusiasm leads to emerging skills, wealth, and fulfillment. Become addicted to progress, not perfection. Thrive off adversity. Let perseverance in the face of failure become an art form. The bigger the failure, the more meaningful the rebound Podcast: 1. Mike Mandell - Principal Attorney at Mandell Law | | YouTube Spotify Apple Mike Mandell is a lawyer, social media influencer, and founder of Mandell Law, a firm that transforms the process of legal advocacy. He is also known as the #1 Lawyer on TikTok, where he has amassed over 7 million followers by sharing legal advice and tips in an entertaining and informative way. He also has a strong presence on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, where he posts videos, podcasts, and testimonials about his work and life. He is on a mission to connect with a younger, internet-savvy audience and educate them about their legal rights and options. 2. Dr. Emily Bashah - Founder of Bashah Psychological Services | | YouTube Spotify Apple Dr. Emily Basha is a renowned psychologist, author, and podcast co-host who specializes in clinical and forensic psychology. She has a private practice in Scottsdale, Arizona, where she provides cutting-edge psychotherapy, psychological evaluations, and expert testimony for various legal cases. She has worked on high-profile cases involving domestic terrorism, capital offenses, and first-degree murder, as well as immigration, civil, and family law matters. She has testified in federal, state, and local courts and has consulted for the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Justice. 3. Dr. Steven G. Rogelberg - Chancellor’s Professor at UNC Charlotte | | YouTube Spotify Apple Dr. Steven G. Rogelberg is a Chancellor’s Professor at UNC Charlotte and a leading expert in Organizational Science, Management, and Psychology. He boasts a distinguished career with over 150 publications addressing topics from team effectiveness to leadership. He is also the author of the bestselling book The Surprising Science of Meetings, which has been featured on various media outlets such as CBS This Morning, NPR, BBC, and Forbes, as well as his latest book Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings. Dr. Rogelberg is a sought-after speaker and consultant who has worked with many Fortune 100 companies and served on multiple advisory boards. Article: The Long View I just discovered one of my new favorite writers. Vicki Tan. She was a product designer at companies like Spotify, Headspace, Lyft, and Google, and she’s currently taking a break to bless us with some writing on behavioral science/psychology. She wrote an article breaking down a (in her words) metaphysical design framework to help us design better possible past/present/futures that create the human experience we want for all time. Here are some of the questions she asks (and answers). How do we navigate decision-making processes more effectively? What guides our initial choices in determining what to build? What do we invest our time and resources in? How do we decide what to improve or get rid of? Read it here. Also published . here

On Regret Minimization, Uncomfortable Truths, and Embracing Failure

254 Stories To Learn About Amazon

Mark Twain's Speeches by Mark Twain, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . WHEN IN DOUBT, TELL THE TRUTH here WHEN IN DOUBT, TELL THE TRUTH Mark Twain’s speech at the dinner of the “Freundschaft
          Society,” March 9, 1906, had as a basis the words of
          introduction used by Toastmaster Frank, who, referring to
          Pudd’nhead Wilson, used the phrase, “When in doubt, tell the
          truth.” MR. CHAIRMAN, Mr. PUTZEL, AND GENTLEMEN OF THE FREUNDSCHAFT,—That maxim I did invent, but never expected it to be applied to me. I did say, “When you are in doubt,” but when I am in doubt myself I use more sagacity. Mr. Grout suggested that if I have anything to say against Mr. Putzel, or any criticism of his career or his character, I am the last person to come out on account of that maxim and tell the truth. That is altogether a mistake. I do think it is right for other people to be virtuous so that they can be happy hereafter, but if I knew every impropriety that even Mr. Putzel has committed in his life, I would not mention one of them. My judgment has been maturing for seventy years, and I have got to that point where I know better than that. Mr. Putzel stands related to me in a very tender way (through the tax office), and it does not behoove me to say anything which could by any possibility militate against that condition of things. Now, that word—taxes, taxes, taxes! I have heard it to-night. I have heard it all night. I wish somebody would change that subject; that is a very sore subject to me. I was so relieved when judge Leventritt did find something that was not taxable—when he said that the commissioner could not tax your patience. And that comforted me. We’ve got so much taxation. I don’t know of a single foreign product that enters this country untaxed except the answer to prayer. On an occasion like this the proprieties require that you merely pay compliments to the guest of the occasion, and I am merely here to pay compliments to the guest of the occasion, not to criticise him in any way, and I can say only complimentary things to him. When I went down to the tax office some time ago, for the first time in New York, I saw Mr. Putzel sitting in the “Seat of Perjury.” I recognized him right away. I warmed to him on the spot. I didn’t know that I had ever seen him before, but just as soon as I saw him I recognized him. I had met him twenty-five years before, and at that time had achieved a knowledge of his abilities and something more than that. I thought: “Now, this is the man whom I saw twenty-five years ago.” On that occasion I not only went free at his hands, but carried off something more than that. I hoped it would happen again. It was twenty-five years ago when I saw a young clerk in Putnam’s bookstore. I went in there and asked for George Haven Putnam, and handed him my card, and then the young man said Mr. Putnam was busy and I couldn’t see him. Well, I had merely called in a social way, and so it didn’t matter. I was going out when I saw a great big, fat, interesting-looking book lying there, and I took it up. It was an account of the invasion of England in the fourteenth century by the Preaching Friar, and it interested me. I asked him the price of it, and he said four dollars. “Well,” I said, “what discount do you allow to publishers?” He said: “Forty percent. off.” I said: “All right, I am a publisher.” He put down the figure, forty per cent. off, on a card. Then I said: “What discount do you allow to authors?” He said: “Forty per cent. off.” “Well,” I said, “set me down as an author.” “Now,” said I, “what discount do you allow to the clergy?” He said: “Forty per cent. off.” I said to him that I was only on the road, and that I was studying for the ministry. I asked him wouldn’t he knock off twenty per cent. for that. He set down the figure, and he never smiled once. I was working off these humorous brilliancies on him and getting no return—not a scintillation in his eye, not a spark of recognition of what I was doing there. I was almost in despair. I thought I might try him once more, so I said “Now, I am also a member of the human race. Will you let me have the ten per cent. off for that?” He set it down, and never smiled. Well, I gave it up. I said: “There is my card with my address on it, but I have not any money with me. Will you please send the bill to Hartford?” I took up the book and was going away. He said: “Wait a minute. There is forty cents coming to you.” When I met him in the tax office I thought maybe I could make something again, but I could not. But I had not any idea I could when I came, and as it turned out I did get off entirely free. I put up my hand and made a statement. It gave me a good deal of pain to do that. I was not used to it. I was born and reared in the higher circles of Missouri, and there we don’t do such things—didn’t in my time, but we have got that little matter settled—got a sort of tax levied on me. Then he touched me. Yes, he touched me this time, because he cried—cried! He was moved to tears to see that I, a virtuous person only a year before, after immersion for one year—during one year in the New York morals—had no more conscience than a millionaire. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Mark Twain (2004). Mark Twain's Speeches. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/3188/pg3188-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

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