Country

The internet swell definitely heaved. Foam boards and novices not withstanding, everywhere was good. Tiburones for me, but there was ripping all over. A good friend sent me a picture for reference – a country spot. Look real hard and you can see the takers – and get some perspective. One of the best early south swell seasons I can remember. Many thanks!

A word or an act can seem like a mistake when it happens — and even shortly afterward. In years to come, though, you might look back on it and see that, though it created friction and even hurt at the time, it served a higher and more character-forming purpose in the long run. Supposed mistakes can lead you down paths that you never would have otherwise traveled. You end up discovering things about yourself and what makes you happy that may have otherwise never been found. Calling one’s boss “a raving buck-toothed lunatic, with the management skills of a deaf hyena and the talent of an oaf’s corpse” might get you fired — or even ostracized for a while. Yet the courage that might have taken could serve to bolster an otherwise compliant spirit and project you to higher goals and achievements. – Eric Schmidt, Chief Executive of Google spoke at the Hay Festival in the U.K.

Real wages fell 0.2% in 2012, down from $295.49 (1982-84 dollars) to $294.83 per week, according to the 2013 Economic Report of the President. Thus, a 1.9% increase in nominal wages was more than wiped out by inflation, marking the 40th consecutive year that real wages have remained below their 1972 peak.