Posts tagged wisdom
“ There’s another advantage to having everyone devote two years of their lives to public service: It teaches and reminds us that we’re members of the same society, with obligations to one another. Citizenship, in my view, shouldn’t merely be a matter of paying taxes and doing jury duty once in a blue moon. It should be an active practice of civic engagement — and it can start early.”
“”Q. I went to a talk recently where the speaker suggested that either we need to reform capitalism — or find something to replace it. Is there anything that can be done to make capitalism “liveable” or should we be looking for the next best thing?
A. Making capitalism more “liveable” is an ongoing challenge. Look back on the last century and you’ll see three periods during which America took it particularly seriously — the progressive era from 1901 to 1914, the Depression decade of the 1930s, and the late 1960s and early 1970s. In each of these eras, the nation essentially saved capitalism from its own excesses. I believe we’re coming up to another such period.
The cure for this ill is not to sit still,
Or frowst with a book by the fire;
But to take a large hoe and a shovel also,
And dig till you gently perspire.
From “Just So Stories”, by Rudyard Kipling
1902, many years before Dr. Seuss.
A good reminder to those sedentary prone kiddies, like me.
Available in the Open Library. Thanks Caren!
“ Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
“ Many people use backpacks and messenger bags to carry their everyday goods with them when they ride. As a result, they often deal with sweat and a lack of comfort. They don’t realize that the rear of the bicycle frame is the most stable part of the bike and the most logical place to carry extra weight. Europeans have understood this for years, and this is why nearly all European urban bikes come with some form of a rear carrier rack as standard equipment.”
Exactly. One of the many truths I discovered this month that distinguish American and European bike riders.
“ Simple math tells us that it would be a miracle if no active MLB, NBA, or NFL player is a homosexual, but no current athlete has come out, and I would wager that most professional athletes don’t think they have any gay teammates. It’s in environments like that where casual homophobia can seem harmless.”
I’m no Kobe fan, so it may seem like I’m just piling on, but this isn’t about Kobe. The homophobic slur he shouted at a ref last night doesn’t reveal that he has a deep-seeded hatred of gay people. What’s important is that it’s not an isolated incident. This is likely a league-wide (even sports-wide) problem that happened to be caught on camera. Like Krolik says, I hope something good can come from it.
Bill Cunningham New York
I don’t think I’ve ever been so inspired by a film. I want to be more like Bill.
![“the [type]written word is amazing technology. an idea, made physical and portable.” — Bill Dunford](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_leh24klR8S1qz4sk0o1_500.jpg)
I’m starting a campaign today, and I’m calling it “Let’s give Sir Ken Robinson a million dollars and see what happens.”
And another bag of cash to Cognitive Media (the artists) for making this and other ideas so accessible.
“Isn’t it nice that people who prefer Los Angeles to San Francisco live there?”
Laura’s photo from the SF Public Library display on Herb Caen.
(via laureola)
“ I think a lot of the problems we’ve been experiencing come from the fact that no one embraces the miracle and amazement of the present. So many people—steampunks, fundamentalists, hippies, neocons, anti-immigration advocates—feel like there was a better time to live in. They think the present is degraded, faded, and drab. That our world has lost some sort of “spark” or “basic value system” that, if you so much as skim history, you’ll find was never there. Even during the time of the Greeks, there were masses of people lamenting the passing of some sort of “golden age.” But I’d never go back and live in any other time than teetering on tomorrow; this is the greatest time to be alive.”
Patton Oswalt (via Frank Chimero)
As much as I love to romanticize a certain era, he’s right. The best comedians know and speak the truth.
