The Dinghy

I am feeling ill today.

Sure: The muzak is clocked to twelve on the stereophonic. OK: Neighborhood waifs are gaily frolicking in cordovan shoes on the garbage-strewn streets. Yes: The dogs in their holiday sweaters are dancing on their hind legs.

But those dogs (or perhaps just a lone perpetrator) have also, for the past six days consecutively, done unspeakable things to my morning newspapers. And that fact, no matter how much I may otherwise be inclined to good cheer, dampens enthusiasm.

I need to schedule time to write prose such as this. More here →

#literatures

Biz Stone on the early days of Twitter: ‘You can be nice and successful at the same time’

Biz Stone was one of four co-founders of Twitter, building, in his words, “a moral compass and righteous soul into the company”. The 40-year-old has previously worked at Google and helped to pioneer blogging and podcasting, before being named GQ’s “Nerd of the Year” and one of Time’s most influential people in the world. He has written a book, Things A Little Bird Told Me, and is now CEO of a new venture, Jelly, a Q&A app that is “a complete reimagining of how we get answers to queries based on a more human approach”.

You seem to be quite a caring chap and are the only one of the four co-founders not to have fallen out with the others. Do you prove that nice guys can finish first?

Yeah, sure. “You can be successful and also be nice at the same time” is kind of the gist of my book. You don’t lose anything; you gain things. In my case, you gain notoriety, knowledge, friends. I decided one day that I was going to be nice all the time and see if that got me anywhere. And it was fantastic. It made me feel free to go up to teachers and say things like: “I have a no homework policy, here’s how it’s gonna go.”

One reviewer of your book wrote: “I wanted to hate this smug, obscenely-rich vegan do-gooder, but I concluded by thinking success couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.” Is that a difficult path to tread?

Most of my Twitter feed is full of people who are saying: “This book is inspirational.” And then there are some people who read it as I’m a jerk. What’s ridiculous is that, a year and a half ago, I was talking to an executive coach who shook my whole understanding of myself. He said: “Biz, you can’t really think that everybody likes you, can you?” And I said: “I’ve been operating under that assumption for a long time.”

I’ve been wanting to “operate under the assumption that everybody likes me” as an experiment to see what happens. It’d be interesting and if nothing else, I’d be a happier person.

#advancedsoul

“So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”

Christopher McCandless in a letter to Ron Franz, April 1992

#meanwhile #advancedsoul

#photos #homeimprovement #cats

For some reason, I can no longer function at optimal levels on six hours of sleep.

#confessional

The Laundry Quarters Delivery Startup Is Dead (And in Hell?)

Some things are too precious to last in this brutal world, and Washboard, a startup that mailed you quarters to do your laundry, is one of them. It is, against all odds and after only a week in business (“business”), shutting down.

The number of people willing to pay $27 for $20 was not exactly what Washboard’s founders predicted, I guess, although Washboard blames its payment processor for its demise:

Some business models are too good to be true.

#meanwhile

#photos #flowers

Katie the STAR WARS Girl Gives Her Stormtrooper Armor to Another Bullied Girl « Nerdist

Four years ago, Katie was in first grade and she was bullied because she used a Star Wars water bottle at lunch. Other kids told her Star Wars was only for boys, and Katie was so impacted by their taunts that she wanted to use a pink water bottle instead just so they’d leave her alone. Katie’s mother, Carrie Goldman, wrote about the incident in her column on Chicago Now, and the internet responded with support for Katie. She learned many other girls of all ages love Star Wars, and it helped restore her self confidence.

In 2012, Katie decided she wanted to be a Stormtrooper for Halloween to support the 501st Legion. Members of the charitable group had recently been targeted in a mean photo slideshow posted after Celebration VI (a Star Wars convention). Katie’s mom reached out to the local garrison to ask for advice on how to make a Stormtrooper costume, and the 501st Legion took it upon themselves to make a custom set of armor for Katie.

#meanwhile #starwars #advancedsoul

Now I don’t know what are weeds and what aren’t.

#flowers #photos

#photos #skateboards