December 2010
26 posts
“I think that when statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of...”
– Sir Thomas More
I used to be a pure populist, saying that if I were an elected representative I would do the will of my people regardless of if I disagreed. But on matters of conscience, I can’t anymore say I think this is a good idea. If we don’t want our leaders to use their sense of...
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How to Budget for an Irregular Income →
I could definitely have used this article when I started working as a freelance designer. It’s been 3 years since I went fulltime, but it has been a rough ride. Still learning.
If you’re just starting out at freelancing, or even if you’ve been at it for a while, go subscribe to A Better Freelancer.
“In actuality, however, your passion is not what makes you feel comfortable — the...”
– James Shelley, In Praise of Passion
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“It seems a tad melodramatic to declare a functioning piece of open source...”
– Garrick Van Buren, aka @kernest, on the slow demise of Quicksilver.
I’ve moved on myself, and as much as I am enjoying Launchbar, I hope you’re right, Garrick. I sincerely do.
On Usernames and Sabbatical
So, Patrick Rhone has challenged folks to post the story of their username. Here’s mine.
It was the summer of 2005. I was 22, and had just been nominated as the federal candidate for the Green Party of Canada for the Brant riding. It looked like an election was going to be called in the coming months. Media coverage and local organizing were picking up a strong hum, and I was getting...
Alexis Madrigal: SunChips and Supercapitalism →
I love it when an article on an industry development takes things to an entirely different level and connects the dots between the punch-drunk happenings of now and the aspirations and achievements of the past. Alexis Madrigal does exactly that in this piece in The Atlantic, juxtaposing the wondrous but failed (at least in the US) experiment of SunChips’ notoriously noisy biodegradable bag...
Beautiful Churches Around The World →
What an absolutely stunning and diverse collection of structures they’ve found for this photographic collection.
One fantastic thing about the architecture of churches and other places of worship is that generally the creators were not beholden to human utility (nor normal budgets, oftentimes.) The only restraints could be beauty, reverence, symbolism and creativity. That kind of freedom...
The Growth of Social Entrepreneurship →
Follow the link and you’ll find an impressive upswing of mentions of social entrepreneurship in literature over the last decades.
I truly believe that social entrepreneurship as an idea and a practice will be the most transformational idea of the twenty-first century. It can and will transform the potential of young people who previously felt like they had to make a dichotomous choice when...
“Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the...”
– Erica Jong
The New Inquiry - Confessions of a Mass Man →
This article (linked in the title) quotes a magnificent set of lines from José Ortega y Gasset’s 1930 book The Revolt of the Masses:
There might be a deceptive tendency to believe that a life born into a world of plenty should be better, more really a life than one which consists in a struggle against scarcity. Such is not the case…. The abundance of resources that he is obliged to make use of...
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Thick Places
The rich mingled with the poor. I have seen millionaires and captains of industry at one table while at the next table a person on welfare counted his coins to see if he could afford desert. Everyone was welcome at Tops.
This was how a Brantford Expositor article this morning described what most people would classify a “greasy spoon” diner — the 45-year-old Tops Restaurant. They...
“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time; for that’s the stuff life is...”
– Benjamin Franklin
“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the...”
– Helen Keller
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On Acknowledging Fear
I pride myself on a lack of fear. Ready to dash into the fray on the chance of success — with my relationship choices, recreational choices, work choices, business choices — and yet, I believe I’m discovering this to be a facade.
Today I’ve been reading Steve Pavlina on the value of courage over security. Steve made a point that really caught my attention:
Have you previously...
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you...”
– Mark Twain
What Steve Jobs sells is pricing. →
“Apple seems wondrously unique, until you consider aluminum is the same material you wrap leftover fish in.”