Why is this world racing at the speed of light – or so they tell us – yet strength lays in the calmness and endurance?

I read this post on swiss-miss this morning:

“Daddy, What’s a Brand?”

We live in The Age Of Everything. Why commit? There are 80 milllion Millennials aged 9-28 in the U.S. alone. Half are already in college or the workforce, and the women will be a tornado. They group around shared affinity more than shared nationality, they’re prosumers not consumers, and they care more about peer recommendation than corporate reputation. They grew up in a world where change is too fast to process, but they know one thing: if you wait a minute or two, something better is sure to be along. They live on an IV drip of real-time connection, and are fiercely interdependent. If you’re a company, failing to consider their preferences would be, in their own vernacular, WOMBAT–a waste of money, brains and time.

I don’t understand that things move so fast, but we generally don’t take the time off to renew ourselves, which truly lays in calmness and just letting time go by.

How do things like this time-piece fit in with the junkworld of Walmart products?

I was just skipping through the pages of Today’s Parent (a promo copy, I didn’t buy it), and there was a little article about research that had been done on kids who were able to play in the dirt and how they had much better immune systems as adults.

Did we not already know this? Seriously, is this news to you? I always feel so empty after reading these magazines. So many pages filled with stuff that is rarely ever new and does not inspire me in the least.

As the editor of these magazines, you have to come out with a full magazine every month and keep people interested, no matter what, even if there is nothing new happening.

We consume so much media today, but so little of it is necessary. I want quality not quantity. I might actually buy a bi-yearly parenting magazine, that had only the best stories, the best reports, that is inspiring and informative. But I guess there is no money in that for big business, probably enough money in it though for “small business” (or smart business).

I think it’s time we reevaluate our media consumption. Lets hang out with friends and our kids more instead of beeing filled up with junk non-sense repetitive media.

I found an article about a “Beef Bio-Diesel” Powered Train on mashable. I don’t think the economics really work. How many cows does it take to power the train? I assume this business model is fine, if we are using diesel trains anyways, and we can simply modify the trains to use less crude oil.

At which point does the meat become the by-product of bio-diesel though?

This brings me to another post published on ecouterre by Galahad Clark, the owner and director of Terra Plana. He talks about the fashion industry driving the cattle industry. Again, is meat the by-product of shoes and fashion?

I obviously am not an expert on this issue, but I encourage everyone to think about how everything ties in together.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you have any facts on this issue? Leave me a comment.

I found this post on the website of Shelton Group. To me it sounds like the equivalent of “green is just a by-product” just from a consumer point of view. If a company is concerned for its cashflow and for the health of their workers and makes changes to accommodate that, they will most likely become greener and create greener products. If consumers are concerned for their and their families health, they choose “green products accidentally”.

Do you buy green products not for the sake of the planet but because you are concerned for your health?

If someone was to ask you to build a car that is simple and extremely robust that has to have a ticket price of $2000 with no compromises of quality and features, would you just shake your head and walk away?

Exactly that was the task of Tata Motors of India (see the video at the end of this post). I think it is very remarkable that we (the humans) can put out such seemingly complicated tasks and achieve them. In this case, the car industry is trying to tap into the huge growth potential of the car market in India, but why can’t we use this same determination and set out for other goals? Provide shelter for the people, health care for the poorest, clean water. Should it not be possible to provide clean drinking water for every person on this earth within 5 years? What growth potential is that? Think about it?

This article at FastCompany sums up why I will not shop at Wal-Mart. It is literally backstabbing a business owner. Please take your time and read the article. It’s essential for us to know what is going on, in order to keep our jobs in the future.

Fast Company: The Wal-Mart You Don’t Know” by Charles Fishman

A friend of mine posted that on facebook. I thought it was interesting. He is a music teacher at Humber in Toronto and thinks that Banford is wrong.

This is what I had to say:
“Maybe that might be the case at Humber. But can you honestly say that you have never told a kid he is better than he actually was? I do agree with what Branford says (for the majority), because it is so tough to accept the fact that one might just be a mediocre person. It’s extremely tough to live up to what you pretend to be to yourself in your … Read Moreown head. I’m sure that I’m one of them, staying humble is very tough. I think it would do us good to accept the fact that we are mostly mediocre, we might be a little bit better in some things, but that’s it. There are very few Einsteins beneath us.”

Randy C.: “Mediocre??? according to who? sounds like a lot of judgement and limiting beliefs to me…”

Me Again: “But Randy, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. Bigger Better Greater, More Money, More Resources, More More More. Everyone is so friggen positived out all the time, it leaves no room for dissappointment when you find out that you are generally a good person with all good intentions, but maybe you are not going to be the next Phil Collins, Danika Patrick or Bill Clinton. What do you do then? Just slip into a crazy depression?

I started a company 18 months ago, and I’m still fighting to get it anywhere. I’ve started to notice that I’m really not that great at anything. The only thing great I have done is that I put up the courage to start it. Now I need to find good people and set them in motion within the company. But I certainly had to understand that I’m really not that good at a lot of things.”

What do you think? Leave a comment.