Clippings

Formula for Success

The last of five suggestions in a Fast Company post titled "Five Things to Do Every Day for Success":

Write a handwritten note to someone. Seriously. It is a lost art and makes quite an impression. There is always someone you can send a thank you note to--or you aren't doing things correctly. 

Though the other suggestions are good ones, too, this one really resonates with me. I've been in awe of the power of handwritten notes longer than I can remember.

Last Things

You don't find many designers working in the funeral business thinking about more creative ways for you to leave this world (and maybe they should be). However, Spanish designer Martin Azua has combined the romantic notion of life after death with an eco solution to the dirty business of the actual, you know, transition.

His Bios Urn is a biodegradable urn made from coconut shell, compacted peat and cellulose and inside it contains the seed of a tree. Once your remains have been placed into the urn, it can be planted and then the seed germinates and begins to grow. You even have the choice to pick the type of plant you would like to become, depending on what kind of planting space you prefer. 

I, personally, would much rather leave behind a tree than a tombstone. 

via bigthink.com

I find this a really appealing idea. Seems to make so much more sense than setting up a tombstone, buying an expensive casket, and all the rest. Reminds me of a quote I've treasured for years—"The true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit."

Doing Battle with the Luddites

More than once I've listened to friends and acquaintances scold me about how evil technology is and how it's destroying our social culture. I was glad the see the New York Times take up the theme today. After acknowledging the argument, they take it straight on.

THEN again, this is not the first time that the appearance of home media has caused an outcry — perhaps needlessly, in hindsight.

“If you go back 200 years, there were similar complaints about technological devices, but it was books at that time,” Dr. Koepnick said. “The family room filled with different people reading books created a lot of concerns and anxiety, particularly regarding women, because all of a sudden they were on their own, their minds were drifting into areas that could no longer be controlled.”

Likewise, the emergence of television led to decades of hand-wringing over the specter of American families transformed into sitcom-addicted zombies. Dr. Koepnick also points out that those evenings of family television usually involved a struggle over the channel knob, or later, the remote.

I have to admit I've spent a few too many evenings watching the people I'm with pore over their phones or laptops and leave me craving engagement. But maybe the long term effect isn't so bad.

Even before iPads, there was evidence that Web-centric home life might not, in fact, be eating away at family unity. Barry Wellman, a professor of sociology at the University of Toronto who studies the effect of technology on social communities, said that his research supports the findings of studies like a 2009 survey of 4,000 people by a Canadian market research company indicating that people believe technology is bringing the family together, not pulling it apart, by a substantial margin.

Wish we could lay this battle aside and just get on with our lives