You're viewing all posts tagged with inspiration

techspotlight:

In this rare clip from 1972, legendary psychiatrist and Holocaust-survivor Viktor Frankl delivers a powerful message about the human search for meaning — and the most important gift we can give others.

“
I always invented to obtain money to go on inventing.
Thomas Edison (via innonate)
“
Hold fast to your dreams, for without them life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.
Langston Hughes (via @nypl) & Happy Birthday, Mr. Hughes!~
“
Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.
Frederic Chopin (via dominilucy) (via ericmortensen) (via mikehudack)

Bunker Roy - Barefoot College (via emoedesign)

Was feeling a little down today, until I found (via @SkollFoundation) this heartwarming vid:  An interview with Barefoot College founder, Bunker Roy.  BC is a college “built by the poor for the poor” in rural India.

from their site:

The College believes that for any rural development activity to be successful and sustainable, it must be based in the village as well as managed and owned by those whom it serves. Therefore, all Barefoot initiatives whether social, political or economic, are planned and implemented by a network of rural men and women who are known as ‘Barefoot Professionals’.

Rural men and women irrespective of age, who are barely literate or not at all, and have no hope of getting even the lowest government job, are being trained to work as day and night school teachers, doctors, midwives, dentists, health workers, balsevikas, solar engineers, solar cooker engineers, water drillers, hand pump mechanics, architects, artisans, designers, masons, communicators, water testers, phone operators, blacksmiths, carpenters, computer instructors, accountants and kabaad-se-jugaad professionals.

Their YouTube channel here.

5th Pillar’s Zero Rupee Notes Combat Bribery and Corruption in India [P]eople knowing that they are not alone in the fight—seems to be the biggest hurdle when it comes to transforming norms vis-à-vis corruption. For people to speak up against corruption that has become institutionalized within society, they must know that there are others who are just as fed up and frustrated with the system. Once they realize that they are not alone, they also realize that this battle is not unbeatable. Photo Credit: 5th Pillar (via @AnnaCurran) Click for high-res photo

5th Pillar’s Zero Rupee Notes Combat Bribery and Corruption in India

[P]eople knowing that they are not alone in the fight—seems to be the biggest hurdle when it comes to transforming norms vis-à-vis corruption. For people to speak up against corruption that has become institutionalized within society, they must know that there are others who are just as fed up and frustrated with the system. Once they realize that they are not alone, they also realize that this battle is not unbeatable.

Photo Credit: 5th Pillar

(via @AnnaCurran)


http://tmblr.co/Zmb3byLB6It

B Corporation - Our Declaration of Interdependence

We envision a new sector of the economy which harnesses the power of private enterprise to create public benefit.

This sector is comprised of a new type of corporation, the B Corporation, which is purpose-driven and creates benefit for all stakeholders, not just shareholders.

As members of this emerging sector and as entrepreneurs and investors in B Corporations,

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

  • That we must be the change we seek in the world.
  • That all business ought to be conducted as if people and place mattered.
  • That, through their products, practices, and profits, businesses should aspire to do no harm and benefit all.
  • To do so requires that we act with the understanding that we are each dependent upon another and thus responsible for each other and future generations.

B Corps are about using the power of business to correct social and environmental ills.  Please check them out.

Also, they’re looking for more followers on twitter and fans on Facebook.  Go for it!  And please reblog.  Thanks!~

“
Only the gentle are ever really strong.
James Dean (via nakedwords) (via quote-book) (via hiten)

APOD: 2010 January 20 - The Known Universe
Credit & Copyright: American Museum of Natural History

Travel from the tips of the Himalayas to the edges of the known universe.

If we can just keep it together a bit longer, we’ll get there.

dunqn: Amazing treehouse Click for high-res photo

dunqn:

Amazing treehouse


http://tmblr.co/Zmb3byKc3x2
APOD: 2010 January 17 - Atlantis to Orbit Click for high-res photo

APOD: 2010 January 17 - Atlantis to Orbit


http://tmblr.co/Zmb3byKEGYN
sagatrope: jessny: the little prince

sagatrope:

jessny:

the little prince


http://tmblr.co/Zmb3byJ77vb
“

But most days, if you’re aware enough to give yourself a choice, you can choose to look differently at this fat, dead-eyed, over-made-up lady who just screamed at her kid in the checkout line. Maybe she’s not usually like this. Maybe she’s been up three straight nights holding the hand of a husband who is dying of bone cancer. Or maybe this very lady is the low-wage clerk at the motor vehicle department, who just yesterday helped your spouse resolve a horrific, infuriating, red-tape problem through some small act of bureaucratic kindness. Of course, none of this is likely, but it’s also not impossible. It just depends what you what to consider. If you’re automatically sure that you know what reality is, and you are operating on your default setting, then you, like me, probably won’t consider possibilities that aren’t annoying and miserable. But if you really learn how to pay attention, then you will know there are other options. It will actually be within your power to experience a crowded, hot, slow, consumer-hell type situation as not only meaningful, but sacred, on fire with the same force that made the stars: love, fellowship, the mystical oneness of all things deep down.

Not that that mystical stuff is necessarily true. The only thing that’s capital-T True is that you get to decide how you’re gonna try to see it.

David Foster Wallace - Commencement Speech at Kenyon University (via kevintwohy) (via charliepark)

charliepark:

“Modern convenience has dictated that most everything in our lives is store-bought. As a population, we’ve lost our skills to make things for everyday use — the sort of things that were handmade by our grandparents and great-grandparents and all those folks before that. With this modern convenience comes waste and, often, less-than-stellar manufacturing processes. Sew Weekly is about breaking out of the common practice of shopping and wasting.”

— Mena’s beautiful new side project: The Sew Weekly

hiten: User Experience Treasure Map (via brucesflickr)

hiten:

User Experience Treasure Map (via brucesflickr)


http://tmblr.co/Zmb3byIzkws