• How changes on how people consume, because of the recession, may make them happier in the long run. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/business/08consume.html?_r=3&hpw :here

On the bright side, the practices that consumers have adopted in response to the economic crisis ultimately could — as a raft of new research suggests — make them happier. New studies of consumption and happiness show, for instance, that people are happier when they spend money on experiences instead of material objects, when they relish what they plan to buy long before they buy it, and when they stop trying to outdo the Joneses.

• A nice piece on the problems brought about by a prolonged stagnant economy on the youth  http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/careers/japans-economic-stagnation-is-creating-a-nation-of-lost-youths/19580780/ : here
  See full article from DailyFinance:http://srph.it/bTKbdr

• The story of the Graphing Calculator. A nice piece of skunkworks story of how it got shipped in the mac. http://www.nucalc.com/Story/ : here

Why did Greg and I do something so ludicrous as sneaking into an eight-billion-dollar corporation to do volunteer work? Apple was having financial troubles then, so we joked that we were volunteering for a nonprofit organization. In reality, our motivation was complex. Partly, the PowerPC was an awesome machine, and we wanted to show off what could be done with it; in the Spinal Tap idiom, we said, “OK, this one goes to eleven.” Partly, we were thinking of the storytelling value. Partly, it was a macho computer guy thing – we had never shipped a million copies of software before. Mostly, Greg and I felt that creating quality educational software was a public service. We were doing it to help kids learn math. Public schools are too poor to buy software, so the most effective way to deliver it is to install it at the factory.

Beyond this lies another set of questions, both psychological and political. Was I doing this out of bitterness that my project had been canceled? Was I subversively coopting the resources of a multinational corporation for my own ends? Or was I naive, manipulated by the system into working incredibly hard for its benefit? Was I a loose cannon, driven by arrogance and ego, or was I just devoted to furthering the cause of education?

I view the events as an experiment in subverting power structures. I had none of the traditional power over others that is inherent to the structure of corporations and bureaucracies. I had neither budget nor headcount. I answered to no one, and no one had to do anything I asked. Dozens of people collaborated spontaneously, motivated by loyalty, friendship, or the love of craftsmanship. We were hackers, creating something for the sheer joy of making it work.

• Inspiring piece on an unconventional green business http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/business/energy-environment/08sustain.html?src=un&feedurl=http://json8.nytimes.com/pages/business/index.jsonp&pagewanted=all

here :

Their business, started four years ago, bears all the markers that would seem to point toward collapse and extinction in a recessionary economy. It’s founded on idealism and emotion. It’s riddled with huge and unavoidable inefficiencies. And it tenders a high-end product that asks buyers to take risks and have faith.

This is the first time I’ve been sick two days straight since, probably high school. I’m feeling old.

I usually just have to sleep 8-10 hours straight and I”d be fine. What usually happens is I’m sick for half a day and I watch a movie in the evening. I had such a bad headache yesterday and earlier today that I wasn’t able to eat since breakfast yesterday. I’m still thinking of how I’m going to eat today. Still have a headache so scratch the watch Inception plan,might throw up. I’ve titled this feeling old when a title feeling sick would have been more apt.

• Was filling up OT form had 71 hours of overtime last month excluding those less than 2 hours.

• Enjoyed last Saturday’s wanderings with jayson and vince. Hope I can climb Mt Makiling (as far as I can) sometime soon.

• Enjoyed the Thai resto jayson took us near the entrance of UPLB’s campus.

• The Calamba/Laguna area need wider highways. The heavy traffic was irritating.

• Words/phrase for the day would have to be “Living at the edge of competence”. A phrase I take to heart. I’m currently in this position right now. Doing things I’ve never done before, having to force your tools to lots of hoops to accomodate what you have to do. If you had asked me even 2 months ago (this is my third month in my new job) why I had left my previous job I wouldn’t be able to explain it. I’d just have to make you understand through verbal acrobatics. I realize now that I wanted to live in the edge of my competence, this is the only way I can grow as fast as I want, and the ups and downs of learning/implementing/programming is so acute and depressing and exhilarating I haven’t felt this psyched in working.

• I’m alone in the office while typing this, the only reason I am able to is because I needed a break after grappling with jar dependency hell.

• I miss my friends. It’s fun seeing people grow, learn and change. What isn’t fun is trying to schedule something, anything. I know you probably know the feeling. Even trying to meet with 2 friends and it’s a given that one of you is going to have to adjust to the schedules of the other two.

• Part of me wants to make posts on some rudimentary stuff that made my past few days hellish, but it always seems to be a battle between standing still or moving forward.

Hope Fully Booked has this on the shelves.

“The problem wasn’t how much money we were spending, it was how we were spending our time. Did we really want to raise our kids in an environment of prepackaged diversions, theme-park rides, trips to the mall, freeway traffic, and incessant e-mails?” -from Made by Hand

From his unique vantage point as editor-in-chief of Make magazine, the hub of the newly invigorated do-it-yourself movement, Mark Frauenfelder takes readers on an inspiring and surprising tour of the vibrant world of DIY. The Internet has brought together large communities of people who share ideas, tips, and blueprints for making everything from unmanned aerial vehicles to pedal- powered iPhone chargers to an automatic cat feeder jury-rigged from a VCR.

DIY is a direct reflection of our basic human desire to invent and improve, long suppressed by the availability of cheap, mass-produced products that have drowned us in bland convenience and cultivated our most wasteful habits. Frauenfelder spent a year trying a variety of offbeat projects such as keeping chickens and bees, tricking out his espresso machine, whittling wooden spoons, making guitars out of cigar boxes, and doing citizen science with his daughters in the garage. His whole family found that DIY helped them take control of their lives, offering a path that was simple, direct, and clear. Working with their hands and minds helped them feel more engaged with the world around them.

Frauenfelder also reveals how DIY is changing our culture for the better. He profiles fascinating “alpha makers” leading various DIY movements and grills them for their best tips and insights.

Beginning his journey with hands as smooth as those of a typical geek, Frauenfelder offers a unique perspective on how earning a few calluses can be far more rewarding and satisfying than another trip to the mall.

via Amazon.com: Made by Hand: Searching for Meaning in a Throwaway World (9781591843320): Mark Frauenfelder: Books.

Nice question this post provokes. Should I delete my Facebook account?

Facebook’s identity lock-in

May 21, 2010

“You’re invisible now, you’ve got no secrets to conceal.” -Bob Dylan

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has a knack for making statements that are at once sweeping and stupid, but he outdoes himself with this one:

You have one identity … Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity.

via Rough Type: Nicholas Carr’s Blog: Facebook’s identity lock-in.

Was listening to this episode of This American Life and what hit me was how much these autoworkers were proud of their work. I hope we can all have this attitude towards what we do.

A car plant in Fremont California that might have saved the U.S. car industry. In 1984, General Motors and Toyota opened NUMMI as a joint venture. Toyota showed GM the secrets of its production system: how it made cars of much higher quality and much lower cost than GM achieved. Frank Langfitt explains why GM didn't learn the lessons – until it was too late.

via NUMMI | This American Life.

I have to admit a certain affinity towards how Ternovskiy feels. It is an impulse I try to fight against constantly.

By “the world,” of course, Ternovskiy means the Internet, which is also where most of his friends are. His closest confidant is a Russian immigrant named Kirill Gura, who lives in Charleston, West Virginia. Every night for the past five years, Ternovskiy has turned on his computer, found Kirill on MSN Messenger, and talked to him until one of them fell asleep. “He’s a real friend,” Ternovskiy says … Ternovskiy says that he sees the computer as “one hundred percent my window into the world.” He doesn’t seek much else. “I always believed that computer might be that thing that I only need, that I only need that thing to survive,” he says. “It might replace everything.”

via Rough Type: Nicholas Carr’s Blog: Not addiction; dependency.

The real tragedy lies with us Filipinos: if so many of us truly believe GIBO is the best candidate to navigate the Philippines through these very tough times and we don’t do what we can to make him president. If we believe he’ll make the best president and yet we don’t elect him because other candidates have more money, more machinery, more pedigree or a couple of very powerful media behind them, we’ve basically slammed the door on an opportunity that doesn’t come very often in the history of a country. Truly great presidential material is rare anywhere, but it’s perhaps rarer in countries like ours where real skills and capabilities take the backseat to sentimentalism, showbiz and media perceptions. Don’t we deserve and need the best qualified person as president, especially at this very crucial time for ourselves and the world?

via Travelife Magazine’s Suitcase Tales: Talking Travel with Gilbert Teodoro.

A wise friend once said to me about being judge. I don’t care to judge other people and thus I don’t worry how they judge me. Just let each other be.

We are free to feel as we feel. As long as we don’t hurt others, we may live as we prefer. But trouble starts when we pass judgment on each other’s choices and perceptions. One reason we see extrovert bashing on this blog is because a lot of introverts who have been harshly judged for their preferences feel free here to vent their perceptions for a change. It’s not always easy, in a world where extroverts seem to rule, to defend our quiet ways.

via Seeing Life Through Introvert Eyes | Psychology Today.

Found this nice.