Conscious living
« Previous Entries Next Entries »Are you still living by the finger?
Monday, June 23rd, 2008
As I watched my 6-year old daughter update her blog this morning (yes, she has a blog, no, you can’t see it, it’s passworded for family only), I noticed her doing something pretty unusual.
Between each word, she’d hit the space bar four or five times.
I’d seen her doing this before and told her she only needed a single hit of the key between each letter, but, for some reason, it wasn’t sinking in. Until I finally realized what what happening.
She couldn’t get past the finger rule.
Ever Been Punished For Succeeding?
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008Ok, someone ’splain this to me.
My daughter goes to public school in New York City. And, while the Big Apple isn’t known for having a super-stellar system, she happens to go to one of the top-rated schools in all 5 boroughs. We love it, she loves it, everyone loves it. The parents are massively involved and care deeply about the school, its programming and the teachers.
So, why did the city just cut $250,000 from it’s budget for next year?
That’s 5% of the entire budget and the school already relied upon substantial fundraising from the parent association to keep it humming along.
Stumbling Over My Own Self-Righteousness
Friday, June 13th, 2008
Ever wonder whether the only person your sense of right and wrong is hurting is you?
Here’s the scenario. I’m driving through my neighborhood and I come up to a stop sign. Now, we don’t just have regular old stop signs, we have speed-bump stop signs. So, you really have to stop. Or risk losing your shocks.
But the bump only goes half way across the road. So, if you really wanted to blow off the stop sign and the speed bump, you could, theoretically, swerve out into the oncoming lane, go around the speed bump and blow through the stop sign.
Disclaim This! Would You Beta-Test Your Dentist?
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008
We just love to disclaim liability for everything…
This morning, I wandered over to JustAddMe.com, a website that promotes a widget to make following people across many social media platforms easier. It actually looked pretty cool, so decided to check it out. When I clicked on the page to sign up, I found the above disclaimer waiting.
Funny thing is, in the online/tech-world, especially social media, it’s become common to launch a product/service in the “we think this might work” stage, let early-adopters test it out (sometimes trashing computers along the way), then clean it up for the masses.
Never take “I don’t know” for an answer
Monday, May 19th, 2008
I knew it was bad the moment it happened…
Three months ago, I was running on a little trail in the woods nearby my apartment (yes, we DO have woods in NYC). I hit a muddy patch on the train with a steep downward slop, wiped out, rolled over my foot and heard a loud crunching sound, before being sent abruptly to the ground.
It hurt like hell, but I made my way back home.
Yoda comes clean: secret love child with Buddha
Thursday, May 8th, 2008
What makes it porn? [office safe]
Monday, April 21st, 2008
When I was in high-school, my Latin teacher smuggled in books of poetry to translate that the administration deemed too pornographic to include in the curriculum. There were no pictures or illegal acts. In fact, the content was downright tame, compared to what I and nearly every other teenage boy already had stashed around the house.
But, the powers that be deemed it too unsafe to read.
When I was in law school, we read about first amendment protection, then learned about it’s limitations when it comes to porn. And, again, we were given a standard by the United States Supreme Court…
Do smart people believe in God?
Monday, April 14th, 2008
I was always amazed at stories about Einstein’s belief in religion.
How could a man who lived after the quest for quantification and proof allow for something so nebulous as God? I didn’t really get it, especially since I am the type of person who needs to know the how and why behind everything.
It wasn’t really until I started to study, practice and teach yoga and other Eastern philosophies and practices, while also teaching a bit of anatomy and physiology that I began to discover that the more I knew, the more outliers I discovered. Moments or phenomenon that happen, but defy conventional explanation.
Can you really teach compassion? New study says yes.
Thursday, March 27th, 2008
How can you teach a kid compassion?
I’ve had this discussion with my wife many times. Is there some experience or exercise you can expose kids (and adults) to on a regular basis? Is there something we can do or see? Can we volunteer at a shelter, take a trip to help build a bridge somewhere or bring food to elderly neighbors?
All these seem live viable options, but is there something else we can do, some daily practice that can literally install or bump up compassion? Turns out, breaking research from researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison say yes!
Spend a day with Seth Godin
Thursday, March 20th, 2008
Okay, when was the last time you had a chance to spend a full-day with a guy who’s not only ridiculously smart and innovative, not only a prolific author, not only a next-gen marketer…but has his own action-figure?
He doesn’t do it very often, but Seth Godin is setting aside a full-day to spend with 50 lucky people in New York City on April 30th. And, like he says, because he doesn’t consult, this is as close as you’re going to get to one-on-one advice.
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