# life lessons learned (blogs) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 2 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover life lessons learned. Page: Feed: --- ## [Taxation without representation](https://jerroldjohnson.substack.com/p/taxation-without-representation) _2026-08-14 · Jerrold Johnson · Zumbro Current_ And what we can do about it ## [We are not a democracy, we are a democratic republic](https://jerroldjohnson.substack.com/p/we-are-not-a-democracy-we-are-a-democratic) _2026-08-12 · Jerrold Johnson · Zumbro Current_ As we slog through the final 10 weeks of the midterm election campaigns touting candidates for national, state, and local offices, there is much braying of hot-button words throughout the political media: democracy, freedom, climate change disasters, water and air quality, socialism, communism, voter suppression, K-shaped economy, foreign wars, medical care, national debt, and the “pocketbook”… ## [47 life lessons I have learned](https://jerroldjohnson.substack.com/p/47-life-lessons-i-have-learned) _2026-08-08 · Jerrold Johnson · Zumbro Current_ As I approach the date that marks my 77th year as a wayfaring stranger on this planet, I look back on valuable life lessons I have learned, some of them with pain and suffering. ## [How to build a cigar box humidor](https://jerroldjohnson.substack.com/p/how-to-build-a-cigar-box-humidor) _2026-08-03 · Jerrold Johnson · Zumbro Current_ My long and rewarding life has been graced by family and friends who tolerate my passions for bird hunting, bird dogs, baseball, brew pub beers, and premium cigars. ## [A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants](https://jerroldjohnson.substack.com/p/a-little-song-a-little-dance-a-little) _2026-07-31 · Jerrold Johnson · Zumbro Current_ The latest vaudeville show being performed by President Orange is his “Communist Rant Song,” the calliope music blaring as he dances across the stage and screams “commie, commie, commie!” to his MAGA crowd while he sprays them with toxic water from his Truth Social seltzer bottle. ## [Military lessons in geography](https://jerroldjohnson.substack.com/p/military-lessons-in-geography) _2026-07-24 · Jerrold Johnson · Zumbro Current_ U.S. students learn countries' locations when we go to war ## [On Death Ground](https://jerroldjohnson.substack.com/p/on-death-ground) _2026-07-15 · Jerrold Johnson · Zumbro Current_ “Throw your soldiers into positions whence there is no escape, and they will prefer death to flight. ## [The Starry Messenger](https://jerroldjohnson.substack.com/p/the-starry-messenger) _2026-07-10 · Jerrold Johnson · Zumbro Current_ The Starry Messenger ## [Fourth of July](https://jerroldjohnson.substack.com/p/fourth-of-july) _2026-07-04 · Jerrold Johnson · Zumbro Current_ On this 250th anniversary celebration of the Declaration of Independence I am displaying in my front yard an Uncle Sam statuette holding aloft the flag as a statement of my good fortune and my pride to be a citizen of the United States. ## [AI Took My Excuses](https://tomaslau.com/blog/the-human-moat) _2026-06-28 · Tomas Laurinavicius · Tomas Laurinavicius_ I wrote that AI leaves you with zero excuses and meant it as good news. The darker half took me longer. If the excuse is gone and you still don't move, it was never the excuse stopping you. ## [CLI-first decentralized compute (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/pziCSPUKJI48) _2026-06-28 · **Sponsored**_ Run and pay spare GPUs from the CLI — transcode, coinpay (DID+escrow), infernet (AI). ## [Rope-A-Dope](https://jerroldjohnson.substack.com/p/rope-a-dope) _2026-06-25 · Jerrold Johnson · Zumbro Current_ In the college days of my misspent youth I read too much Hemingway and blundered into a short-lived amateur boxing passion that taught me several important lessons about life’s occasional testosterone fueled confrontations: ## [Honest Feedback Is a Fear Problem](https://tomaslau.com/blog/honest-feedback-is-a-fear-problem) _2026-06-14 · Tomas Laurinavicius · Tomas Laurinavicius_ Most communication problems on teams aren't communication problems. They're somebody being scared to tell somebody else the truth. ## [Fear Is the Compass](https://tomaslau.com/blog/fear-is-the-compass) _2026-06-02 · Tomas Laurinavicius · Tomas Laurinavicius_ Most advice treats fear as the thing in your way. I treat it as a compass. The bigger the fear, the more I know to work on it. ## [It's One Voice, Not a Hundred Fears](https://tomaslau.com/blog/one-voice-not-a-hundred-fears) _2026-04-11 · Tomas Laurinavicius · Tomas Laurinavicius_ The voice that tells you to stay safe is one voice in different costumes. You only have to win the argument once. ## [AI Is Just Infrastructure](https://tomaslau.com/blog/ai-is-just-infrastructure) _2026-03-10 · Tomas Laurinavicius · Tomas Laurinavicius_ AI is not a product. It's infrastructure. Like electricity and the internet before it, the real opportunity is in what you build on top. ## [Life Lessons I Learned in 2025](https://tomaslau.com/blog/life-lessons-2025) _2026-01-02 · Tomas Laurinavicius · Tomas Laurinavicius_ A year of extremes at 33: welcoming our puppy Pixel, Mediterranean adventures, getting comfortable with AI coding, and losing my dad unexpectedly. ## [If by Rudyard Kipling](https://tomaslau.com/blog/if-by-rudyard-kipling) _2025-12-28 · Tomas Laurinavicius · Tomas Laurinavicius_ Be humble. Do great things. Conquer. Improve. Build. Inspire. Stay humble. ## [Quotes](https://tomaslau.com/blog/quotes) _2025-12-28 · Tomas Laurinavicius · Tomas Laurinavicius_ Collecting wisdom. ## [Creative and Disorganized Productivity for Inevitable Success](https://tomaslau.com/blog/disorganized-productivity) _2025-07-06 · Tomas Laurinavicius · Tomas Laurinavicius_ You probably didn't expect disorganized and productive to be in the same sentence, but here it is. Most great work is a scribble that only looks like a straight line in hindsight. - Richard Feynman painted, \[cracked safes\](https://www.openculture.com/2013/04/learn\_how\_richard\_feynman\_cracked\_the\_safes\_with\_atomic\_secrets\_at\_los\_alamos.html) and rewrote quantum mechanics. - Christopher Nolan kept… ## [You Already Know What to Do](https://tomaslau.com/blog/you-already-know-what-to-do) _2025-07-06 · Tomas Laurinavicius · Tomas Laurinavicius_ You already know what to do, you just need to do it. Trust your instincts. ## [Find what they just said (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/46f4F9cqkt0W) _2025-07-05 · **Sponsored**_ Surface recent public signals so you can send policy-aware, relevant outreach ## [4 Quick Ways to Host an MCP Server in 2025](https://tomaslau.com/blog/how-to-host-mcp) _2025-06-10 · Tomas Laurinavicius · Tomas Laurinavicius_ LLM agents need an MCP endpoint, not a Swagger file. Below are four fast ways to wrap your API in MCP and put it online. ## [How to Delete ChatGPT History](https://tomaslau.com/blog/how-to-delete-chatgpt-history) _2025-05-31 · Tomas Laurinavicius · Tomas Laurinavicius_ Learn how to delete your ChatGPT history. Complete guide updated for 2025. ## [How to Turn Red Light on iPhone: A Detailed 1-Minute Tutorial](https://tomaslau.com/blog/how-to-turn-red-light-on-iphone) _2025-04-17 · Tomas Laurinavicius · Tomas Laurinavicius_ Turning your iPhone screen red is a practical solution to reduce eye strain, improve sleep quality, and preserve night vision. ## [Vibe Coding: Making Everyone a Software Creator](https://tomaslau.com/blog/vibe-coding) _2025-04-07 · Tomas Laurinavicius · Tomas Laurinavicius_ Vibe coding is a new approach using AI to generate code via natural language, making programming more accessible. ## [How to Wrap Long Code Lines in Windsurf and Cursor Editors](https://tomaslau.com/blog/visual-line-wrapping-cursor-windsurf) _2025-02-27 · Tomas Laurinavicius · Tomas Laurinavicius_ Here's how to wrap long code lines in VS Code powered IDEs like Windsurf and Cursor. ## [Barcelona Recommendations](https://tomaslau.com/blog/barcelona) _2025-01-23 · Tomas Laurinavicius · Tomas Laurinavicius_ I don't live in Barcelona but I've visited many times. My favorite things to do, see, and eat, published here in case you find it useful. ## [Digital Warm Up](https://tomaslau.com/blog/digital-warm-up) _2025-01-14 · Tomas Laurinavicius · Tomas Laurinavicius_ How I discovered the importance of a digital warm-up routine and how small tasks help me transition into focused coding sessions. ## [Life Lessons I Learned in 2024](https://tomaslau.com/blog/life-lessons-2024) _2025-01-01 · Tomas Laurinavicius · Tomas Laurinavicius_ Life at 33: returning to Chiang Mai, building a business with family, traveling Europe and Morocco, and lessons on productivity and wealth.