Fostering Virtue
"How can we foster more virtue in our societies?" A question sparked for researcher Kentaro Toyama by a one-time interaction with a rickshaw driver in India. This reflective piece goes on to propose ideas for fostering virtue in three areas: Education, Measurement, and Mentoring. And of course, the question "How can I foster more virtue in myself?" comes up as well. There we're left with the intr... posted on Jul 18 2011, 12,547 reads

29 Lessons From Travelling the World
"Eight years. That's 416 weeks, or almost 3,000 days. This is the amount of time that I have not had a fixed home; moving to a new country, culture and language every few months and taking absolutely everything I own with me. In 2003, on the week of my 21st birthday, I left Ireland for good. I had graduated university a few days before, and knew that I'd only be coming back "home" for visits. But ... posted on Jul 17 2011, 62,258 reads

The Beauty in Each Grain of Sand
When you take a moonlit stroll on the beach, how often do you think about the tiny grains of sand creeping in between your toes? From above, sand seems like a bunch of tiny brown rocks, perhaps peppered with occasional shells or beach miscellany. But sand has a far more fascinating story to tell. Composed of the remnants of volcanic explosions, eroded mountains, dead organisms, and even degraded m... posted on Jul 16 2011, 9,061 reads

Global Trends in Social Good
There is a rising consciousness to do good in a world recovering from recession and facing global challenges. But what does social good mean? Traditionally, it is a good or service that benefits the largest number of people in the largest possible way. As more and more organizations and individuals wake up to the groundswell of social good, the realm is expanding. Many innovations are emerging, wh... posted on Jul 15 2011, 4,300 reads

Reading, Writing and Revelation
Whenever the stabbing pain in her knee becomes unbearable, 17-year-old Mackenzie Bearup picks up a book and starts to read. While previous treatments -- painkillers, physiotherapy, acupuncture, hyperbaric oxygen therapy -- have failed, a self-prescribed reading cure works. "So far, books have been my only medicine," Bearup says. Reading and healing have an age-old association. In ancient Egypt, li... posted on Jul 14 2011, 7,097 reads

9 Interviews with Creative Visionaries
"I love a good interview. To me, there's nothing so useful for demystifying the creative process as hearing an artist or entrepreneur speak from a very personal perspective about how, and why, they do what they do. This weekend, I combed through my archive of epic and inspiring interviews and came up with this shortlist. Straight talk from Ernest Hemingway, Dieter Rams, Patti Smith, Steve Jobs, An... posted on Jul 13 2011, 14,856 reads

A Creative Use of Plastic Bottles
When former Peace Corps volunteer Laura Kutner was asked to help find funding to finish constructing two classrooms in the elementary school where she worked in Guatemala, she decided to use -- or rather reuse -- a common piece of trash. Kutner used what was known in environment-friendly circles as "eco-blocks" -- plastic bottles stuffed with inorganic trash -- and encased them in chicken wire. On... posted on Jul 12 2011, 12,861 reads

Impossible: Breaking the Four-Minute Mile
In 1954, England's Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile. Today, of course, the it is routine among the top runners, but until Sir Roger (knighted in 1975) accomplished it, it was considered beyond the realm of human possibility -- like climbing Mount Everest or walking on the moon. Bannister though, being a medical student at Oxford at the time, recognized it more of a global, psycho... posted on Jul 11 2011, 3,434 reads

The Science of Self-Control
In the classic Stanford Marshmallow Experiment, researchers gave children a choice between one marshmallow right away, or two later. Most struggled to resist the treat and held out for less than three minutes. "A few kids ate the marshmallow right away," Walter Mischel, the Stanford professor in charge of the experiment, remembers. "They didn't even bother ringing the bell. Other kids would stare ... posted on Jul 10 2011, 11,890 reads

The Gift Economy
"Want to fix the economy? Next time you buy coffee, purchase a cup for the person behind you. Or as you grind your way through the morning commute, pick up the tollbooth charge for the driver behind you, draped over his steering wheel and ranting at the long delay. You've heard that famous Gandhian quote about being the change, well these are good measures to start with, packing more punch than yo... posted on Jul 09 2011, 31,322 reads