An ongoing list of interesting internet stuff
This is going to become a list of cool, interesting stuff which I discover on the internet daily (although, I will be much slower until I get a steady flow of traffic to the site). For some time, I have shared these kinds of things with people at websites such as Reddit and Newsvine... however, I would prefer to give them to folks on my own website. I hope you find them as delicious as I have. Please note that the article links are in the black text below and to the left of each block. The large brown title text will lead you to a page where you can comment on the article, if you feel led to do that.
One of the people I have come to admire most on the interent is Paul Graham. I just relish reading his essays about anthropological and social things, as well as those about his experiences helping businesses come into being in the tech world.
He's what is known as an "angel investor" - or more formally - as a "venture capitalist." He made his own millions creating the software that would later become "Yahoo store." Today, he invites pairs and triplets of university students to Cambridge Massachusetts each summer to found new startup companies. He accepts applications throughout the year, and when folks' projects are accepted, he gives them enough money to live and eat for the summer, and buy the tools to begin creating their vision for a new company. Later, he gets his money back, when a successful business goes public in an IPO, or when it is sold to a larger company for a large sum of cash.
He's the quintessential "ethical investor" - and really likes to see cool trends come into being through the kinds of projects that he funds.
His latest invitation is for people to come up with business ideas that will "kill Hollywood." Read about it here.
I just recently discovered "The Japan Times." It's really a breath of fresh air, when compared to journalism in most Western countries. There aren't the same tired old patterns of thinking that you find in the West.
It's odd that it's taken me this long to discover the good things about the Far East. My family has a lot of ties with China and Japan... I always heard about how exotic these countries were, and I learned specifically about customs - but my family somehow never put it into perspective for me the ways in which these Asian countries are better the West. There's a profound maturity and inner beauty which you see in those countries, and this article is one which talks about a couple of these comparisons.
This is a wonderful talk by Michael Taussig, an anthropologist at Columbia University. Here, he is speaking at Monash University which is in Victoria, Australia. I have just recently come to realize that some of my favorite thinkers are anthropologists. The actual links to listen can be found on the webpage I linked you to, and over in a box to the right hand side of the page.
- This is a 24 hour internet stream of "Radio Australia" - from the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC)
This is a fascinating discussion which I found on an Australian public radio website about Bhutan. GNH (Gross National Happiness) is a very central concept in how the Bhutanese people choose to forge their society's future. And it's great to see that Australians are forward thinking enough to see the power of this idea.
While other countries pursue "Gross National Product" - the Bhutanese will be looking for "Gross National Happiness." I'll leave it to you to conclude who will be more successful at achieving fulfilled and happy lives.
This is a fascinating extended interview with Alan Alda on the Australian public broadcasting network - ABC - on their "Elders" series. This is a really thorough piece. I have come to appreciate the value in public broadcasting from different parts of the world. It's fascinating to me also to watch the interviewer's expressions. He's a great interviewer, but I can tell that he doesn't know how to personally connect with Alda - there's an unfair judgement about Alda's character and mindset which is pretty evident from the reticence in his expression.
I always have really admired Alan Alda. His ideas and approach to life really I see as insightful, and I see him as a great role model.
I was just chuckling tonight listening to this interview with a big name television morning show host in New Zealand - Oliver Driver.
You would never see a person who is as professional as this, hired for a morning show program in the Usa. This guy has a background of a theatre person. And here, he's talking about a project where he's talking about putting actors on salary.
You can watch Oliver Driver's morning show here.
This is a very interesting interview with a New Zealand educator in a secondary school who is talking about a way in which he deals with bullies in the classroom. Basically, he gets a team together which involves two of the worst bullies, and two of the more popular kids who hadn't been doing anything about the problem before that point. Those four people are an "undercover" team which is instituted to resolve the problem of bullying in the classroom.
He's had a 100% success rate with 27 teams which he has set up like this, over the years.
The reason this is something that's on the news in New Zealand, is because New Zealanders don't have this belief that is prevalent in the Usa where it's thought that there are a group of bad and irredeemable people out there, who are genetically predisposed to bad behavior.
New Zealand has a much tamer frame of reference which says that people may have bad character, but that character can change over time.
