Recently in society Category

Recently, as in yesterday, kottke linked to a story about a man who started his own personal challenge to widdle his possessions down until he had only 100 things remaining. The premise immediately intrigued me. As any regular reader knows, I struggle with the consumption obsessed nature of our country. Individuals such as the No Impact Man are very inspirational. But as much as I try to live with some of those 'minimalist' goals in my own life I feel most of the time I am really no different then most everyone else and the thought of actually only possessing 100 things seems exceedingly far fetched. We all have 'stuff' and as much as we would like to not be so cluttered at home, some of it, while seldom used, holds certain sentimental value. Else, why would we possess it? But is clutter, also known in some cases as sentimental 'stuff' really so bad?

First off, I don't speak like that.

I text full words and capitalize when need be. I actually write out, "In my honest opinion." But some people don't. Even the Freakonomics guys say, "IMHO." They are very smart, the Freakonomics guys. Very smart.
So, using Text-speak does not preclude anyone from being smart. That's first.

But what I'm here to do is defend the young bucks. They are not dumb.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

My girlfriend and I have decided to go organic. There are a variety of reasons for the decision, but mainly, we are doing it for our overall well-being. She and I are both pretty stingy about what we put into our bodies, and with recent discoveries about the statuses of our personal health in relation to our desired professions, the shift only made sense. Sure, the price tag is a little higher than we're used to, but the benefits we seek are worth the few extra bucks. And I have to tell you; it's been about one month since we made the decision, and both of us feel great about it. We've turned food shopping from a tiresome chore into an event, making every Sunday into a field trip with visits to Whole Foods and the local farmer's market.

Ira_, Nukes, and Britney Spears

Reading the news can be quite discouraging. It's not that it's all bad, but not much of it is good. It's hard to find good news.

This website, at its core, is a place to find good news. It is a place to find entertainment or information, but more importantly it should be a place to find inspiration. Not from the authors here, per se, but from our subjects. We talk about TED often on this site and here, for my part, is why: inspiration.

Spread out among different disciplines and engaged in various endeavors across the world, the people who fight the good fight are outnumbered. Or at least it seems so. For every two pieces of bad news, you might find one good one. But not at TED.

Seeing the Too-Big Picture

Tim’s article on Monday about Howard Rheingold's TED Conference video concerning cooperation got me thinking about the idea of an increasing global cooperative and how it may affect individual mind set and how exactly change is made. There are many cases in our society when a man or a woman may act in a manner that is the antitheses to productive cooperation and in doing so will use the crutch of, “What does it matter... I'm only one person, what difference can I make?” The individual choice to vote or not to vote in an election, discarding trash in a street side waste basket instead of the gutter, or buying a slightly more environmentally friendly car are all examples of instances when many people fall victim to seeing too grand of a big picture.

This TED video is, well, a prerequisite for today. Howard Rheingold's ability to sum the history and present state of collaboration - conveying theoretical games like the prisoner's dilemma, the ultimatum game, and the tragedy of the commons - in under 20 minutes is very impressive.

What America Is

Oil dependency. War on terror. Poor health care. Home foreclosures. The slumping stock market. Performance-enhancing drugs. Immigration reform. Corporate takeovers. No Child Left Behind. These are current issues that plague our once proud nation. As the current presidential candidates sling mud looking for an edge in the primaries, American citizens can only hope that the candidate that they choose will be the candidate that will best serve them for the next four years.

I think often about where we came from, where we are now, where we may advance to, and the decisions, either conscious or subconscious, that guide us along the way. The majority of our day to day life is dictated by our inertia. We compile pieces of ourselves, like a Russian nesting doll growing layer by layer, aggregating components from generations past to what comprises our daily lives. These pieces are typically seen as advancements, so called improvements, in how we live, work, and play. We use science, industry, technology, medicine, and religion – fostered by our inertia – to work toward the greater goal of growth.

Roots

Since the advent of language, people have been creating their own venues in order to tell their stories, whether the stories have a specific purpose or are strictly for entertainment value. Every ancient civilization has their legends, myths, and stories, just as every culture has their renowned storytellers. Primarily, storytelling was conducted in the oral tradition in combination with expressions and gestures. Another primitive form of storytelling was through art, as seen in cave drawings. In the oral tradition, the storyteller provides the audience with mental images through words, songs, and movements to get his message across. Audience would then, in turn, interpret the story through their own personal experiences. No two stories were ever told in the same manner, nor were the audiences’ interpretations of the story. The experiences of both the storyteller and the audience, and how they interact are what make storytelling special. Storytelling is, indeed, the first true art form.