Weekend Roundup

Interesting articles and other specimens abound online this week; here's a taste of what caught my eye.
There's something for everyone here!

1. Trial of former Guatemalan president for genocide >> For the first time in history, a former head of state has been put on trial - and then convicted - of genocide by his own country's court system.  This op-ed in The Globalist was written by Laura Myers of Limitless Horizons Ixil. Laura was our guide and an ambassador from the Ixil community when I traveled to Guatemala with Belmont University in March 2012. Having lived for over a year and a half with the Ixil people in the remote highlands of central Guatemala, Laura's knowledge, experience, and empathy inform her unique perspective on this remarkable event in local, national, and world history.

photo credit: Eric Johansson

2.
Swedish Photoshop expert creates mind-bending images

3.
French-Namibian girl grows up napping with cheetahs, riding ostriches - incredible photos!

4. Finland's contribution to online shopping: Buy anything you see online! - Cool Helsinki-based company Kiosked makes advertising less annoying and more enjoyable for shoppers.  Read about it in the Huffington Post.


5. "Struggle is progress" - A young mother bares her heart as she chronicles the joys and challenges of raising her two small children.  The genuine emotion and thoughts she shares are a beautiful part of the human experience.

6. "The unbearable beauty of Finnish grammar".  Believe it or not, after living here for 8 months, I've actually started speaking Finnish - real conversations!  Even arguments.  I had to aggressively defend American cuisine the other day when some guy tried to blanket-statement American food is bad ... because he ate bad Mexican-style food from an "American" restaurant in Helsinki (where Finns manager and cook).  The parent company might actually have ties to America.  And I had all the words to set him straight in Finnish!

For all the warnings that you get about this being the most difficult language in the world, it's really not that bad.   I have found Russian most challenging so far.  

7. '13 Bankers', Financialization, and the Economy.  This was posted about 3 years ago, but the message is still incredibly relevant!  Let this be a foreshadowing of one of my newest and most exciting projects.  If you find this topic interesting, stay tuned!

photo: Cata Portin

8.  Philosophy of life: Insight & Inspiration with one of Finland's most loved philosophers. He also happens to be a researcher and lecturer at my university.  I had lunch with Esa one day; he's a brilliant and lovely man.  He's also my neighbor, and by some funny coincidence, I now live in the apartment he used to own - where he raised his kids.  Here's a paper on elevated reflection that serves as a great introduction to his work and passion!
If you've ever been to Finland, you understand how brilliantly Esa stands out!

9. What the World Eats in a Week. This is a super neat photograph collection of families around the world, surrounded by everything they eat in a typical week.  Highlights: I was astounded by the volume of what the German family drinks compared to all others.  I was also horrified by the minuscule 1/12th of the British table that contained unprocessed, fresh edibles.  Mexico appears to adore Coca-Cola; Guatemalans have insanely red tomatoes; bananas / plantains must be in every Ecuadorian dish.  Based on this table analysis, I should probably move to Turkey or Italy.  

Bhutan - photo: Peter Menzel

"The internet is where people are."

"One year ago I left the internet. I thought it was making me unproductive. I thought it lacked meaning. I thought it was 'corrupting my soul.' It's a been a year now since I "surfed the web" or "checked my email" or "liked" anything with a figurative rather than literal thumbs up. I've managed to stay disconnected, just like I planned. I'm internet free. And now I'm supposed to tell you how it solved all my problems. I'm supposed to be enlightened. I'm supposed to be more 'real,' now. More perfect.  But instead ..."  - Paul Miller

If you’re like me, you’ve found that constantly updated web content is the archenemy of productivity. You may have struggled through the past decade of an increasingly web-based lifestyle, trying to find the right balance between living in the real and virtual worlds.  As a perpetual traveler, I go through phases of intensive internet usage in an attempt to maintain relationships with family and friends on the other side of the globe.  At other times, I disappear from the net completely, leaving loved ones to ponder my e-footprints while I’m off cavorting with indigenous peoples in the depths of yet-to-be-networked hinterlands.

These profound changes of environment have turned me into an "all or nothing" internet user.  It's either completely absent and irrelevant to my lifestyle - or I'm constantly connected.  And I've been all too connected during my past eight months in grad school.

When I read Paul Miller’s story, a lot of his motivation to leave the internet resonated with me.  But by the end of his odyssey-like essay, I was convinced that my presence and interactions online are a largely positive force in my life and for others.  The internet is where people are.  I have a passion for encouraging people; if I hope to make the most of this gift, I need to be where people are.

Film: Of Mountains, Monks & Milk Tea

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to share my experience as a Lumos Student Traveler in Nepal with students and faculty at Belmont University. This was the first screening of my film documentary: "Of Mountains, Monks & Milk Tea" and I was able to provide an intro as well as respond to questions via Skype after the film.

You can watch it here on Vimeo in full HD.

Of Mountains, Monks, and Milk Tea from shirah-eden on Vimeo.
Explore Nepal with Belmont University graduate and Lumos Traveler Shirah Foy as she joins the Pema Chholing Monk Family to teach English to Sherpas in the Himalaya. Discover the beauty of a 500 year-old-monastery and the ancient rituals of the Nyingmapa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Meet the 19 little boy monks who captured Shirah's heart, and the lamas who bestowed their wisdom upon her. Follow her on a 10-day trek from her monastery home at 3,000 feet up to Mount Everest Base Camp - the very roof of the world - at an incredible elevation of 18,200 feet. This film based on HD footage captured on site in Nepal in summer 2012.

Now: Read my work in the Huffington Post

I am excited to share with you my first nationally syndicated work, an article published earlier this week in the Huffington Post - one of the most widely-read, linked to, and frequently-cited media brands on the internet (they claim).

The article first appeared on oikos Student Reporter, where I'm slated to have a series of 4-5 articles on social entrepreneurship published over the next few months.

Happy April Fool's Day!

Having followed lots of internet pranks today, including this list, here's my pick of the day...

Stay young! Don't forget to laugh a little. Or a lot :)

Top 10 Things You Should Know About Life

Well, this is one guy's take on it.
I ran across this post on Quora, and was intrigued by the question:


What are the top 10 things that we should be informed about, in life?
As ambiguous and ridiculous this question sounds, I hope you get the gist of what I mean. What main things should a person know about in life? Whether it be their government, types of awareness in any particular subject, anything would be great to hear!

The most popular answer received 1820 votes, and was written by Justin Freeman. I like his style.

1. 1. Realize that nobody cares, and if they do, you shouldn't care that they care. Got a new car? Nobody cares. You'll get some gawkers for a couple of weeks—they don't care. They're curious. Three weeks in it'll be just another shiny blob among all the thousands of others crawling down the freeway and sitting in garages and driveways up and down your street. People will care about your car just as much as you care about all of those. Got a new gewgaw? New wardrobe? Went to a swanky restaurant? Exotic vacation? Nobody cares. Don't base your happiness on people caring, because they won't. And if they do, they either want your stuff or hate you for it.
2. 2. Some rulebreakers will break rule number one. Occasionally, people in your life will defy the odds and actually care about you. Still not your stuff, sorry. But if they value you, they'll value that you value it, and they'll listen. When you talk about all of those things that nobody else cares about, they will look into your eyes and consume your words, and in that moment you will know that every part of them is there with you.
3. 3. Spend your life with rulebreakers. Marry them. Befriend them. Work with them. Spend weekends with them. No matter how much power you become possessed of, you'll never be able to make someone care—so gather close the caring.
4. 4. Money is cheap. I mean, there's a lot of it—trillions upon trillions of dollars floating around the world, largely made up of cash whose value is made up and ascribed to it, anyway. Don't engineer your life around getting a slightly less tiny portion of this pile, and make your spirit of generosity reflect this principle. I knew a man who became driven by the desire to amass six figures in savings, so he worked and scrimped and sacrificed to get there. And he did... right before he died of cancer. I'm sure his wife's new husband appreciated his diligence.
5. 5. Money is expensive. I mean, it's difficult to get your hands on sometimes—and you never know when someone's going to pull the floorboards out from under you—so don't be stupid with it. Avoid debt on depreciating assets, and never incur debt in order to assuage your vanity (see rule number one). Debt has become normative, but don't blithely accept it as a rite of passage into adulthood—debt represents imbalance and, in some sense, often a resignation of control. Student loan debt isn't always avoidable, but it isn't a given—my wife and I completed a combined ten years of college with zero debt between us. If you can't avoid it, though, make sure that your degree is an investment rather than a liability—I mourn a bit for all of the people going tens of thousands of dollars in debt in pursuit of vague liberal arts degrees with no idea of what they want out of life. If you're just dropping tuition dollars for lack of a better idea at the moment, just withdraw and go wander around Europe for a few weeks—I guarantee you'll spend less and learn more in the process.
6. 6. Learn the ancient art of rhetoric. The elements of rhetoric, in all of their forms, are what make the world go around—because they are what prompt the decisions people make. If you develop an understanding of how they work, while everyone else is frightened by flames and booming voices, you will be able to see behind veils of communication and see what levers little men are pulling. Not only will you develop immunity from all manner of commercials, marketing, hucksters and salesmen, to the beautiful speeches of liars and thieves, you'll also find yourself able to craft your speech in ways that influence people. When you know how to speak in order to change someone's mind, to instill confidence in someone, to quiet the fears of a child, then you will know this power firsthand. However, bear in mind as you use it that your opponent in any debate is not the other person, but ignorance.
7. 7. You are responsible to everyone, but you're responsible for yourself. I believe we're responsible to everyone for something, even if it's something as basic as an affirmation of their humanity. However, it should most often go far beyond that and manifest itself in service to others, to being a voice for the voiceless. If you're reading this, there are those around you who toil under burdens larger than yours, who stand in need of touch and respect and chances. Conversely, though, you're responsible for yourself. Nobody else is going to find success for you, and nobody else is going to instill happiness into you from the outside. That's on you.
8. 8. Learn to see reality in terms of systems. When you understand the world around you as a massive web of interconnected, largely interdependent systems, things get much less mystifying—and the less we either ascribe to magic or allow to exist behind a fog, the less susceptible we'll be to all manner of being taken advantage of. However:
9. 9. Account for the threat of black swan events. Sometimes chaos consumes the most meticulous of plans, and if you live life with no margins in a financial, emotional, or any other sense, you will be subject to its whims. Take risks, but backstop them with something—I strongly suspect these people who say having a Plan B is a sign of weak commitment aren't living hand to mouth. Do what you need to in order to keep your footing.
10. 10. You both need and don't need other people. You need others in a sense that you need to be part of a community—there's a reason we reflexively pity hermits. Regardless of your theory of anthropogenesis, it's hard to deny that we are built for community, and that 'we' is always more than 'me.' However, you don't need another person in order for your life to have meaning—this idea that Disney has shoved through our eyeballs, that there's someone out there for all of us if we'll just believe hard enough and never stop searching, is hokum... because of arithmetic, if nothing else. Establish your own life—then, if there's a particular person that you can't help but integrate, believe me, you'll know.
11. 11. Always give more than is required of you.

Have something you'd like to add?  Please do share in the comment box :)

What they don't teach in school

Schools are good at teaching how to start projects.  How to do research.
What they don't teach is when to stop.

I've been an academic overachiever my whole life.  If the assignment called for 5 sources, I'd reference 15.  If we had to include a photo or some kind of multimedia, I'd put together a 30-slide digital photo book complete with captions.  This past autumn, there was a student uprising in my master's program when the vague nature of one 3-credit course (estimated to require 27 total hours of lectures + coursework) ended up taking more like 60 or 70 hours of our time.  I was astounded that my classmates were ready to argue based on the amount of time it took them to complete a project.  I've never expected to spend the minimum suggested hours on an assignment and come out with a good grade ... I work on a project until it's excellent, by my own standards.

Recently, however, reality struck me. It wasn't until I started my own company that I realized: People aren't going to pay me to do this much research.  I'm still learning how to stop; how to say, "It's good enough for today.  This is appropriate for the task at hand."  I'm learning that every 'above and beyond' has to be justifiable.  It's not so much where I choose to go above and beyond, but rather why  I do it which should drive my efforts. What is the ultimate consequence of this over-performance for me? for my client?  How much does this tiny factor really matter in the short run? in the long run?

Sometimes people don't realize how instrumental certain things - like a clear vision and idea of what they do and what they offer to clients - will be for the future of their business.  And in these cases, I feel a duty to convince them that these really are important, and that they need someone {e.g. me} to help them develop these areas. But overall, I have to balance my own enthusiasm to go above and beyond with the reality of the market and what my clients are willing to pay for.  Otherwise, my own business goes under.

So, moral of the story?  

Overachievers: If you're going to survive in life, you must restrain your urges to go above and beyond in every direction.  First, prioritize. Then refocus your extraordinary drive on the things that matter most.


By the way, Pointe3 Design Communications is open for business. We were born global with 5 clients in the U.S. & Europe on day one. My latest resume tells a little about what we do.  Our website is still under construction; Coming Soon!