"Men are haunted by the vastness of
eternity. And so we ask ourselves: will our actions echo across the centuries?
Will strangers hear our names long after we are gone, and wonder who we were,
how bravely we fought, how fiercely we loved?"
-Iliad and Odyssey
Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, And learn, too late, they grieve it on its way, Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. by Dylan Thomas
Because when it comes to technology, to labor-saving devices; never was one invented that saved anyone a minute's work.
“The production of too many useful things results in too many useless people.” ― Karl Marx
"As increased industrial efficiency makes it possible to procure the means of livelihood with less labor, the energies of the industrious members of the community are bent to the compassing of a higher result in conspicuous expenditure, rather than slackened to a more comfortable pace.
...this want ...
is indefinitely expansible, after the manner commonly imputed in economic theory to higher or spiritual wants.
It is owing chiefly to the presence of this element in the standard of living that J. S. Mill was able to say that "hitherto it is questionable if all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the day's toil of any human being."
-Thorstein Veblen,The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions(1899).
“Anyway, I keep picturing all
these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all.
Thousands
of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me.
And I'm
standing on the edge of some crazy cliff.
What I have to do, I have to catch
everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and
they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch
them.
That's all I do all day.
I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all.
I
know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be.”
"When did we see each other face-to-face? Not until you saw into my cracks and I saw into yours. Before that, we were just looking at ideas of each other, like looking at your window shade but never seeing inside. But once the vessel cracks, the light can get in. The light can get out."
— John Green, Paper Towns
This TEDtalk takes a metaphor and turns it into something spectacular. A woman who is convinced that there is beauty, there is absolute and unadulterated beauty in all persons chases the essence of humanity and catches it's corner; what connects us, moves us, what makes us not only human, but humankind.
Christmas 2011. A four year old little girl Riley has made a staggering observation about toys. Riley is fed up with toy stores trying to market pink stuff to girls and "different color" stuff to boys. Listen to this tiny genius: “Some girls like superheroes, some girls like princesses. Some boys like superheroes, some boys like princesses. So why do all the girls have to buy pink stuff and all the boys have to buy different color stuff?”
Become who you say you always will. Keep moving. Don't stop. Start the revolution. Become a freedom fighter. Become a superhero. Just because everyone doesn't know your name doesn't mean you dont matter. Are you happy? Have you ever been happy? What have you done today to matter? Did you exist or did you live? How did you thrive? Become a chameleon-fit in anywhere. Be a rockstar-stand out everywhere. Do nothing, do everything. Forget everything, remember everyone. Care, don't just pretend to. Listen to everyone. Love everyone and nothing at the same time. Its impossible to be everything,but you can't stop trying to do it all. All I know is that I have no idea where I am right now. I feel like I am in training for something, making progress with every step I take. I fear standing still. It is my greatest weakness. I talk big, but often don't follow through. That's my biggest problem. I don't even know what to think right now. It's about time I start to take a jump. Fuck starting to take. Just jump-over everything. Leap. It's time to be aggressive. You've started to speak your mind, now keep going with it, but not with the intention of sparking controversy or picking a germane fight. Get your gloves on, it's time for rebirth. There IS no room for the nice guys in the history books. THIS IS THE START OF A REVOLUTION. THE REVOLUTION IS YOUR LIFE. THE GOAL IS IMMORTALITY. LET'S LIVE, BABY. LET'S FEEL ALIVE AT ALL TIMES. TAKE NO PRISONERS. HOLD NO SOUL UNACCOUNTABLE, ESPECIALLY NOT YOUR OWN. IF SOMETHING DOESN'T HAPPEN, IT'S YOUR FAULT. Make this moment your reckoning. Your head has been held under water for too long and now it is time to rise up and take your first true breath. Do everything with exact calculation, nothing without meaning. Do not make careful your words, but make no excuses for what you say. Fuck em' all. Set a goal for everyday and never be tired." — Brian Krans (A Constant Suicide)
Gravity, love, freedom, all the greatest forces are invisible.
And only those who have been deprived of freedom have the slightest inkling of what it is.
Inside North Korea, a documentary aired in April 2013. A reporter goes undercover into a place clothed in mystery and unanswered questions: North Korea. The dark spot on a map, the ultimate Orwellian state, the never-ending hunger crisis, the brainwash machine...Only guesses, each grimmer than the previous. What's the truth? Taking us just a few steps closer to really understanding the minds of North Korean leaders and most importantly, the minds of the people, BBC Panorama Documentary.
Another thrilling story to illustrate just how difficult it is to escape the authoritarian state, the story of Hyeonseo Lee "My Escape From North Korea", a TEDtalk:
"Fantasy. Lunacy. All revolutions are until they happen, then they are historical inevitabilities."
-David Mitchell
Take care of your body: it's the only place you have to live in.
And it's pretty freaking incredible. So use it to do something remarkable, that's what it's for.
“Naturally, for a person who finds his identity in something other than his full organism is less than half a man. He is cut off from complete participation in nature. Instead of being a body, he 'has' a body. Instead of living and loving he 'has' instincts for survival and copulation.” ― Alan Wilson Watts
"Hundreds of schoolchildren are heading to Downing Street this morning to put hunger on the agenda ahead of the Nutrition for Growth event.
They'll be handing in paper plates created by schools countrywide (these are just some of them in our office!) with messages asking the PM to act. Good luck team!"
The sexist male panel on FOX has gone viral in the past few days and sparked some well needed conversation on right wing gender ideology in the US. While initially I was rather offended and shocked, but willing to shrug it off as the typical kind of absurdity only the GOP extremists would articulate I decided to look deeper into the issue gender equality.
First, watch this all-male FOX panel have what I can only describe
as the new Greatest Freakout Ever over the "deeply disturbing"
statistics by PEW research centre on female breadwinners. The medieval universe
these misogynists live is one where the male hunts and female nurtures, aka one
which has not existed for some 60 000 years but that is, of course, irrelevant.
The deeply disconcerting fact is that there are educated American female voters
out there who agree with this bitchfest of a panel.
Nevertheless, for a moment let's take these Foxy men seriously,
if only for the sake of argument. Let's say the income of women increases to
the same level as that of men, or very close. I wonder what that would lead
to? Lucky for Fox, America doesn't have
to face this terrifying future without any previous empirical data. It just so
happens other states have already tested out the scenario and I will illustrate
the results as an extended case study to uncover the chaos resulting from women
leaving the kitchenette and joining the national workforce.
Ever been to Northern Europe? After spending 19 years there
and some in the United States and Great Britain I cannot quite sufficiently
emphasize the immense effect incorporating women into the labour force has on a
country's economy and standard of living. It is no coincidence that
Scandinavian and other Northern European countries such as Finland dominate the
charts on smallest income gap, least corrupted, highest student performance in
sciences, universally free education from kindergarten to PhD, highest rankings
on the Human Development Index and rated most democratic. Growing up I often
heard teachers and parents remarking how lucky I had been. How being born in
Finland was like winning the lottery. As children we would all laugh and
presume teachers across the world would have a similar narrative about their
state. Only after spending a considerable amount of time in the States and
later in Great Britain I came to see just how accurate my teachers had been in
their analysis. I never felt being a woman disadvantaged me growing up and
attending school in Finland, quite the opposite. My success in education was
celebrated, it was so extraordinarily obvious that men and women both would
join the workforce, pursue their dream profession and provide for a family
together, should they choose to have one. I felt my gender made no difference
whatsoever. Gender is quite literally, a non-issue in this particular part of
the world. However until I left the country I was naively unaware that outside
Northern Europe, I was in fact a second class citizen and ambition in a woman
was something to be looked down upon. This was an entirely new experience for
me and at times I still find it shocking that states so similar to my home,
developed and democratic countries would actively pursue the oppression of
women. It seems almost preposterous and certainly illogical. As articulated by
Bill Clinton; No country will ever achieve its greatest potential by disregarding
50% of its human capital. However, the issue of working mothers can't be fully
understood through partisan politics as most often or not, the vast majority of
Americans are guilty of supporting traditional gender dynamics to a much
greater extent than they care to admit.
Psychologists in the United States have revealed it over and
over again; success and likability are positively correlated for men and
negatively correlated for women. The mentality on successful women ought to be
dissected and reconstructed. Obviously the arguments of this FOX panel are outlandish
and ill-informed, however, these men are not the only ones to share this view.
Many subconsciously agree with certain aspects of the dominant male-ideology.
Even females. What most people will only reluctantly admit, powerful women make
us deeply uncomfortable. No, not me, you're thinking, "I'm evolved past
that". Chances are, you're not. Consider what Sheryl Sandberg sums up from
studies on the subject: when men are successful they are more liked by both
sexes but when women are successful they are less liked by not only men, but
women as well. Women are in many ways holding themselves back. I won’t deny
that these results couldn’t be replicated with the same results in Northern
Europe, in fact should I ever have the chance to test them out I’d be curious
to find out. The reaction to dominant females is perhaps not as visceral as in
the United States, but most likely still somewhat present. But fear not! By
recognizing this pattern of thinking we will eventually redefine what it means
to be a successful female and surround the definition with positive
connotations. Women have to redefine their mind set as well.
I'd also like to point to a debate which followed the
male-panel freakout, led by none other than Megyn Kelly from FOX news.
I'm not in general one to agree with Kelly on various disputes
but I have to hand it to her on this one. I'll admit it, I'm becoming a fan.
She's no Rachel Maddow, but she has some serious balls. She's really made an
effort to pave way to educated and intelligent Republican women recently and
aided in bit by bit steering the GOP into a direction where smart women aren't
forced into such cognitive dissonance over their right wing alignment. Overall,
the GOP and the US as a whole desperately needs more women like Kelly to rise
to the barricades and call out this lunacy, particularly considering how unwavering these WASPS remain in the face of scientific studies and facts. Watch
Kelly take on the sexism of the FOX panel and prepare to clap at her professionalism in the face of unscientific absurdity:
Act like a boss, become a boss. Sounds too simple? The science of body language begs to disagree. You've heard it before: by pretending we are something, we eventually become it. Now, I don't mean literally by pretending I'm the president I'll find myself in the Oval Office soon enough, that's called a schizophrenic delusion. However, if you are an introvert, by acting like an extrovert you actually become more like one and the same logic applies to a number of other dimensions of our personality. The intersection between biology and psychology is really interesting here and this is a prime example of just how intimately connected the our psychological experiences are with our biology. You can consciously change the way you think, but did you know you can also change the chemical composition of your brain? Without giving away the brilliant results Amy Cuddy, a social psychologist, will reveal in this TEDtalk, I will only note this: the way others perceive a person is not key, how that person perceives themselves is what makes a world of difference. Amy Cuddy is not only terrifically insightful, she is also someone you can relate to, the prefect person to give this talk.
"I was in the winter of my life, and the men I met along the road were my only summer.
At night I fell asleep with visions of myself, dancing and laughing and crying with them.
Three years down the line of being on an endless world tour, and my memories of them were the only things that sustained me, and my only real happy times.
I was a singer - not a very popular one,
I once had a dreams of becoming a beautiful poet, but upon an unfortunate series of events some of those dreams dashed and divided like a million stars in the night sky that I wished on over and over again, sparkling and broken.
But I didn't really mind because I knew that it takes getting everything you ever wanted, and then losing it to know what true freedom is.
When the people I used to know found out what I had been doing, how I'd been living, they asked me why - but there's no use in talking to people who have home.
They have no idea what it's like to seek safety in other people - for home to be wherever you lay your head.
I was always an unusual girl.
My mother told me I had a chameleon soul, no moral compass pointing due north, no fixed personality; just an inner indecisiveness that was as wide and as wavering as the ocean...
And if I said I didn't plan for it to turn out this way I'd be lying...
Because I was born to be the other woman.
I belonged to no one, who belonged to everyone.
Who had nothing, who wanted everything, with a fire for every experience and an obsession for freedom that terrified me to the point that I couldn't even talk about it, and pushed me to a nomadic point of madness that both dazzled and dizzied me."
Ever have one of those days you realize if you spend your
entire life worrying about your weight, you’re not going to achieve much more?
No? In that case why don’t you sit your skinny ass down and take notes. Let that day be
today. You are successfully wasting the potential of nature’s most intricate
and beautiful device. Every second you spend worrying about being fat: you’re
wasting your brain. The brain has the capacity to imagine things and the human body can make them
come true. A brain imagined flying. Now we fly. A brain imagined portable fire. Now we use matches. A brain imagined a telescope, the
iPhone, a space shuttle, ice cream. Freakin ice cream. A brain can imagine a
solution to any problem you have ever had. And you're using yours to come up with ways to become skinnier.
20,864.
That’s the total number of people who died of hunger today. 98% of them were born and died in developing countries. According to World Food Programme there are 870 million hungry people in the world who rarely make the headlines. This group mostly consists of women, children and orphans. These people are not dying to be thin, they are dying because they are too thin.
So start a revolution, instead hating your body: use it to do something worth remembering.
Make this world better.
Everyone lies. According to research, on any given day we are told a lie anywhere between 10 to 200 times. Now, some lies are harmless. White lies.
Some are significant and destructive.
How do we know when a person is lying? Not as challenging as one might expect. The above video features some nearly fool-proof and eye-opening lie spotting techniques that catch a lie accurately over 90 % of the time. Pamela Meyer, CEO of Simpatico, worked for several years with leading researchers of deception in the military, psychology, espionage and law-enforcement and is trained in interpreting behavior and body language, interrogation, microexpressions and statement analysis.
Technology is psychedelic and psychedelic = manifestation of the mind
Richard Dawkin's idea of memes, self replicating units of knowledge that have DNA-like abilities is one of the most fascinating cognitive philosophic ideas possibly ever articulated Essentially all information are memes. Why are memes important? Because of them we are on the fast track to becoming Gods. In this video Jason Silva explores in a conference titled "Dangerous Ideas" the evolution of humanity, existence and nature of information and the infinity of possibilities that can and have manifested from our minds. The ways in which we extend ourselves makes man a bridge and the latter to the skies, literally and metaphorically
Man can create life.
Everything man has created is the epiphenomenon of the human mind, the non-physical creating physical, virtually something out of nothing.
1. an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear,
etc., produced by that which is grand,sublime, extremely powerful, or the like:
in awe of God; in awe of great beauty.
2. Archaic. power to inspire fear or reverence.
3.Obsolete . fear or dread.
Youtube channel by Jason Silva: Shots of Awe. The above is the first video of a series which chases awe inducing experiences from complex systems of society, existential jazz to human existence, truth and beauty...
If you're having one of those days, when you just want to tuck in and stay home, this is for you. If you feel like you're dreams are just too far away. If you you're not sure you passed your semester exams. If you have a hangover. If you're lonely. If you don't know what to do with your life. This is for you.
This kid just passed away on May 20th. That was yesterday.
What he has left behind is something so beautiful and important my words can't do it justice.
His family has requested that anyone interested in helping change the future for those like Zach donate to the research fund set up on his behalf. Click here to donate or get more information about Children's Cancer Research.
We are all aware of the history of racism in America. However when it comes to present day racism, there is whole a different narrative. The following video is a study about race that will make your jaw drop:
Doll test originally by psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark: In the 21st century US, white skin is associated with a myriad of positive characteristics and adjectives. The halo effect of light skin tone is so bright and blatant that children as young as age four have internalized the connections. The halo effect is a kind of cognitive bias, where our overall impression, or what we perceive as the sum up of this impression (attractive / smart / agreeable / unintelligent) of a person influences how we judge their character. If we perceive a person to be attractive, ironically, we also assume them to be intelligent, kind and generally likable. When definitions of physical attractiveness are altered, consequently the definitions of the good, the bad and the ugly change as well. It is naturally impossible to clearly define the point at which the Western society decided that white is beautiful, as the issue is better understood as a long historical process of all encompassing politics of domination and persistent hierarchies. In the modern and past US, power, physical attractiveness and intelligence have always gone hand in hand and continue to do so. One need only possess one or two of the attributes, to be all three. While it may appear obvious that intelligent people can be unattractive and powerful people are not always intelligent, however, our social reality and the definitions of its aspects need not have anything to do with reality yet everything to do with our constructed social realities. It is heartbreaking to consider that even children believe this social reality to be unchangeable and take it for granted. What is crucial here is to be aware of the halo effect and to understand that it comes from our primitive emotional brain. Moreover, beauty, among other positive traits which create a halo, is nothing but what the general public believes it to be.
“Standing still is never an option so long as inequities remain embedded in the very fabric of the culture.” -Tim Wise
In the last half century more girls were discriminated to death than all the people killed in all the battle fields in the 20th century.
The issue that rarely makes the front page is gender inequality. The single most essential and linear way to lift up entire communities out of poverty is by educating women, a fact that is over and over again ignored. This TEDtalk held by Sheryl WuDunn, the author of "Half the Sky" raises some painful statistics about women's oppression across the globe and demonstrates the magnificent difference educating women particularly in developing countries makes. Only when women are educated and brought into the formal labor system, will we be using all of our human resources to defeat the intimate social and physical violence that marks female bodies, and to overcome global challenges regarding poverty and politics of oppression.
“For Attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For beautiful hair, let a child run their fingers through it once a day. For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone. People, more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself and the other for helping others.” ― Sam Levenson
A brilliant and insightful TED talk about why women't don't sit at the table or raise their hand and what are the consequences of these seemingly small differences.
"Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders" by Sheryl Sandberg
Upworthy: Anyone who has not yet come across this brilliant site is missing out. Upworthy shares photos, posts, videos, anything floating across cyber-space that is actually worth catching. Like Ted talks, Upworthy's content ranges from poverty, education, and global politics to grassroots issues bullying. This site is golden. The site describes itself as:
"a social-native, mission-driven media startup setting out to make important issues go as viral as a video of some idiot surfing off his roof."
They also happen to be hiring at the moment: click here to check out their recruitment.
A man sets out on a mission to destroy the image of A&F, the "cool kids" clothing line which doesn't hire ugly people. Whenever you're done ogling at the photo above;
