P.G. Wodehouse: Good for the Teeth

The last time I went to the dentist, I heard those three magic words: just a clean.

But it was not always this way. On the contrary, I was once told I needed no fewer than six fillings. And practically the first time I visited a dentist without needing fillings, it was time for… a root canal.

Appliquez l’anesthésie spéciale!! (Apply the special anesthesia!!)
Apply the special anaesthetic!
I credit P.G. Wodehouse with the change in my fortunes. (And flossing. Always floss.)

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Grow Fruit OR ELSE

To make a Barren Tree bear Fruit

Having girt and tucked up your clothes, and having taken an axe or hatchet, approach the tree with resentment, wishing to cut it down: but when any body comes to you, and deprecates the cutting of it, as if responsible for a future crop, seem to be persuaded, and to spare the tree, and it will fruit well in future.

Piero di Cosimo 051
Thomas Owen, Agricultural Pursuits (a translation of Geoponika, 1805-6)

quoted in Lost Crafts: Rediscovering Traditional Skills by Una McGovern

Grand Productivity Experiment: Conclusions

Time flies when you’re… experimenting on yourself.


It was nearly two and a half months ago that I wrote the introductory post of the Grand Productivity Experiment, resolving to Do Something about my general state of disorganization and unproductivity before it brought my grey hairs in sorrow to the grave.

(A note to those who haven’t been following this from the beginning: the introductory post outlines the first method tested. The Phase One post reports back on that and outlines the second method. And so forth.)

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