Kevin Kelly's "103 Bits of Advice I Wish I Had Known"

Kevin Kelly is an old-school geek of the highest order. He's the founding Executive Editor at Wired, former editor of the Whole Earth Catalogue, and co-founder of the legendary WELL virtual online community.

In celebration of his 70th birthdate, Kelly posted "103 Bits of Advice I Wish I Had Known" on his The Technium blog. Here are thirteen maxims that particularly resonate with me:

• "Whenever there is an argument between two sides, find the third side."

• "Efficiency is highly overrated; Goofing off is highly underrated. Regularly scheduled sabbaths, sabbaticals, vacations, breaks, aimless walks and time off are essential for top performance of any kind. The best work ethic requires a good rest ethic."

• "The biggest lie we tell ourselves is 'I don't need to write this down because I will remember it.'"

• "Your growth as a conscious being is measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations you are willing to have."

• "Ask anyone you admire: Their lucky breaks happened on a detour from their main goal. So embrace detours. Life is not a straight line for anyone."

• "Half the skill of being educated is learning what you can ignore."

• "A great way to understand yourself is to seriously reflect on everything you find irritating in others."

• "What you do on your bad days matters more than what you do on your good days."

• "Make stuff that is good for people to have."

• "90% of everything is crap. If you think you don't like opera, romance novels, TikTok, country music, vegan food, NFTs, keep trying to see if you can find the 10% that is not crap."

• "A wise man said, "Before you speak, let your words pass through three gates. At the first gate, ask yourself, 'Is it true?' At the second gate ask, 'Is it necessary?' At the third gate ask, 'Is it kind?'"

• "The only productive way to answer 'what should I do now?' is to first tackle the question of 'who should I become?'"

• "It's thrilling to be extremely polite to rude strangers."

And I'll add my own bit of advice: When someone has been on this whole earth for seventy years, they just might have picked up some wisdom. While some of his little proverbs lean into being a bit trite, his list is worth a read-through.

The War on Christmas

One of the many silly arguments that people spend their energy on instead of more important problems that deserve their attention.  Celebrate your family and friends, in whatever form you wish, whenever you wish.  Turning any time of year into a time of anger, outrage, and frustration misses the point of almost every belief system out there.

From http://www.slate.com

This American Life: See No Evil

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/play_full.php?play=431

Being a Humanist means trying to behave decently without expectation of rewards or punishment after you are dead.
- Kurt Vonnegut

A Learning Revolution

A great talk from Sir Ken Robinson about the need for a radical change in teaching.  This is a discussion that more people, in all walks of life, should be having.  We can be better learners and need to be better teachers.