Transportation planner, father, adventure racer, connector. Unrelenting realist.
I met Greg Barton at the NJ Paddlesport Expo this weekend. He's the man behind Epic Kayaks and a former Olympian. Remember, the more obscure your heroes, the better. My sons were partial to the brightly colored poly whitewater boats, which is good, because it wasn't too hard to keep them away from the $3400 Kevlar Epic V10 or the gorgeous $5000 Wilderness Systems carbon+Kevlar Zephyr. Stop banging on the pretty boat, sweetie, I need to pay the mortgage this month.
Just as I avoid the term bitch, I also avoid the term hillbilly, since I understand some people find it offensive. However, it should be said that urban hipsters have adopted many aspects of the stereotypically rural aesthetic, such as bushy beards, old flannel shirts, affinity for cheap beer, and a professed appreciation for country and folk music. In fact, if you visit the trendy parts of Brooklyn now you will find lots of stylized dive bars decorated with taxidermy and patronized by young graphic designers dressed like Uncle Jesse.
Gold, Jerry. Pure gold.
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Prior to its inception, CloudRaker sat in the mind of Thane Calder, the agency’s co-president and co-founder, for years. He says, “A simple idea came to me years ago when I was climbing a big mountain out West. For whatever reason, and perhaps the lack of oxygen, I got thinking of how cool it must be for Steven Spielberg’s kids to go hang with their dad at work. And that was it. I decided right then that I wanted to create a workplace that my kids would find cool.”
Not that there aren't many, many necessary and important jobs that aren't cool, but this is a perspective I hadn't taken before. To think of it another way, would your child-self find your grown up job to be cool?
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The potential for technological improvements, renewable energy, carbon sequestration and, ultimately perhaps, a hydrogen-based economy has not been exhausted. But what politicians will not admit is that we have no idea if such a radical transformation is even possible, or if so what it would look like. Where will the investment and resources come from? Where will the wastes and the emissions go? What might it feel like to live in a world with 10 times as much economic activity as we have today?
Instead, they bombard us with adverts cajoling us to insulate our homes, turn down our thermostats, drive a little less, walk a little more. The one piece of advice you will not see on a government list is "buy less stuff". Buying an energy-efficient TV is to be applauded; not buying one at all is a crime against society.
"We're not LISTening! LA LA LA LA LA LA LA!"
Reality's a bitch, enit? Of course, you'll be dead by the time the shit really hits the fan and it's Road Warrior out there. Who cares, right? Unless you have kids.
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Years ago, before I even drank coffee regularly, my uncle gave me one of these as an "I don't know what to get you" Christmas present. Now I use it every day. It keeps coffee hot for hours and is absolutely leakproof, to the extent that I let my three year olds carry it around. (We have a morning ritual where they "help" me make coffee by scooping the beans and turning on the grinder.) The other day I left it at the office so I had to use a free plastic insulated mug we had lying around the house. By the time I got to work, my coffee was cold.
Things that just work are worth every penny. Especially when they're free.
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I introduced myself to Robin yesterday at a carsharing event. I had met her brother Mark years ago at conference, back when Zipcar was new, and amazingly he recognized my name on the guest list and told Robin to say hello. We chatted for a few minutes about driving costs, motivation, the future of carpooling, and John Geraci's DIY City, which had played with the idea of creating an open version of GoLoco. I had no idea she had spoken at TED. A true innovator.
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Technically, it's called "living proleptically" -- when a new possibility breaks into the present with such compelling power that we have no choice but to live out of that vision as if it's real. We adopt a new point of reference, and by living as if it has already happened, we make it real.
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Immediately after reading about this, I realized I had to research Swindon, since it is evidently going to be the scene of the Fixed-Gear Armageddon. So I shut down my computer, headed to the library, went straight to a computer, and visited Wikipedia.
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