Fortune Cookies, December 2023

Got these fortunes the last time I picked up chinese food at the local strip mall.

Neither of these refers to the future, so neither is a “fortune” as such. They’re not even Asian-looking pseudo-mysticism, they’re merely trenchant observations.

Moreover, they’re cribbed.

Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm

attributed to Publilius Syrus, 1st century BCE. Sound familiar?

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

George Bernard Shaw, in Man and Superman

Fortunes just haven’t been the same since Donald Lau quit.