Saturday, July 6, 2013

Measuring Your Dumbness With A Ruler in SLOW MOTION!

Here's a good way to mess with your kids! Hold up a $20 bill and ask them to catch it. Just be sure to set the rule that they must catch it with their one hand...before it touches the ground.

Love the Way You Move

The funky side of the Cold War that we never heard about:

Slightly Left Of Centre - Love The Way You Move from Oh Yeah Wow on Vimeo.

Teach Your Kids the Value of Money with a Job Board

Teach Your Kids the Value of Money with a Job Board: Giving your kids allowance is a great way to teach them about financial responsibility, but it doesn't necessarily instill the concept of trading work for money. A simple job board can teach them some valuable lessons, and also get some chores done around the house.

I've been struggling with keeping the kids on task with their responsibilities. We've tried calendaring, daily allowance, weekly tracking, picking chores out of a hat...and of course asking (begging?) them to assist with work around the house. Nothing seems to be working for me!

I like the idea of trading work for money around as it teaches them responsibility as well as the value of hard work (along with some life skills)....but I guess I just haven't found the sweet spot that makes the extra cash worth their while.

What do you do to get your little ones to pitch in? Leave a comment below!

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Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Instagram's new rights


Yesterday, Instagram updated is Terms of Use policy and users are abandoning the service in droves.

Rights

  1. Instagram does not claim ownership of any Content that you post on or through the Service. Instead, you hereby grant to Instagram a non-exclusive, fully paid and royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to use the Content that you post on or through the Service, except that you can control who can view certain of your Content and activities on the Service as described in the Service's Privacy Policy, available here: http://instagram.com/legal/privacy/.
  2. Some or all of the Service may be supported by advertising revenue. To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you. If you are under the age of eighteen (18), or under any other applicable age of majority, you represent that at least one of your parents or legal guardians has also agreed to this provision (and the use of your name, likeness, username, and/or photos (along with any associated metadata)) on your behalf.
Hmmm.. so I travel to [insert undefined geographic point], I take the pictures, I apply the filter of my choice, I upload them...using the phone data plan that I pay for...but Instagram can use the pictures for advertising revenue. The last time I checked, taking someone's creative work without their permission is copyright infringement. 

Note: the key words here are "without their permission." If you choose to use Instagram's services, you agree to their terms...which includes providing your permission for the company to do what they please with the pictures you took. Is that wrong? 

No. 

As consumers, we all have a choice in what stores to shop, what services to use and what terms we find amenable. If we don't like it, generally, we have a choice of other providers. Instagram has been hosting these millions of images with no cost to any of its user base. Someone's got to pay the bills for the storage space, electricity and internet connections. How else does any business maintain viability? 

I usually hate stating the obvious, but honestly:



That said, here are your choices:
  1. Keep on keeping on, i.e., suck it up and realize that privacy is dead.
  2. Keep on keeping on, but maybe reduce the number of self-portraits you post.
  3. Download your images and delete your account.
  4. Move to another social photo site like Flickr or Picasa.
What do you think about Instagram's move?

Update: In response to the backlash over yesterday's announcement of upcoming changes to Instagram's Terms of Service, co-founder Kevin Systrom wrote "I’m writing this today to let you know we’re listening and to commit to you that we will be doing more to answer your questions, fix any mistakes, and eliminate the confusion. As we review your feedback and stories in the press, we’re going to modify specific parts of the terms to make it more clear what will happen with your photos." Looks like they're listening!

Monday, December 17, 2012

Do You Really Need to Say Thank You?

How would you feel if you complimented someone in person and he just walked away from you without saying anything? Weird, right?
Saying "thank you"—sincerely and with heart—feels good. Not just to the person receiving it, but also to the person offering it. And that's part of work too. It's hard to remember, as we process our hundredth email, that behind each message is a person.
So many of us feel like we work at a thankless job and that people today have a sense of entitlement and don't appreciate anything. I know I've felt put off when a business doesn't thank me for my patronage...as if I'm doing them a favor by shopping/dining/visiting! People get so wrapped up in their own world--it's always "Me! Me! ME!" But the reality is that no one person can do everything. Relationships make the world go 'round...and when we forget to recognize the efforts of others it dehumanizes them, it makes them an object. It degrades from what the world could be.
What if you took the time to thank those with whom you interacted for one week? What would happen if everyone did? Do you think we'd get enough momentum going to change the world? 


Do You Really Need to Say Thank You? - Peter Bregman - Harvard Business Review:

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Who Wants to Play Memory with this Kid?



Yeah...me neither!

3 | Strangely Majestic Pictures Of Donated Clothes Show The Industrial Side Of Recycling



3 | Strangely Majestic Pictures Of Donated Clothes Show The Industrial Side Of Recycling | Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation: "What happens to the mountains of clothing that even a thrift store can’t sell--the rejects of the rejects? That was the question that fascinated photographer Wesley Law, whose friend was working as a sorter at a Goodwill in St. Louis.

The resulting photo series, Baled: Photographs of America’s Recyclables, documents compressed mounds of stuff--familiar objects from plastic toys to lingerie--suggesting a world of characters and stories that will never be told.

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