npr:
If you want to see the strength of America’s beer industry, you may want to look past beverage giants like Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors. According to the Brewers Association, nearly 2,000 American brewers operated during 2011 — the most since the 1880s.
(via U.S. Craft Beer Brewers Thrive, Despite Small Share Of The Market : The Salt)
Photo: Bill Chappell / NPR
nice friday evening reading
npr:
What American Women Do For Work
Forty years ago, only one in three American workers a woman. Today, it’s one in two. What jobs did all those women get? And how did gender breakdowns change by industry? -Lam Thuy Vo
very interesting!
Derweze, also known as the door to hell, is a 70 meter wide hole in the middle of the Karakum desert in Turkmenistan. The hole was formed in 1971 when a team of soviet geologists had their drilling rig collapse when they hit a cavern filled with natural gas. In an attempt to avoid poisonous discharge, they decided to burn it off, thinking that the gas would be depleted in only a few days. Derweze is still burning today
wow!
(Source: goodnamesgone, via npr)
missed opportunity!
yesterday my nephews spent about 1/2 hour rolling down the hill behind my mom’s place. they reminded me that it’s the simple thinks in life that brings you joy!
today i’m kicking myself in the butt for not joining them! this will be the last time i miss out on the simple things in life!
peace,
The Dirty Little Secret Of Overnight Successes
Angry Birds, the incredibly popular game, was software maker Rovio’s 52nd attempt. They spent eight years and nearly went bankrupt before finally creating their massive hit.
Pinterest is one of the fastest-growing websites in history, but struggled for a long time. Pinterest’s CEO recently said that it had “catastrophically small numbers” in its first year after launch and that if he had listened to popular startup advice he probably would have quit.
James Dyson failed in 5,126 prototypes before perfecting his revolutionary vacuum cleaner. Groupon was put on life support and nearly shut down at one point in its meteoric rise.
When looking at the most successful people and organizations, we often imagine geniuses with a smooth journey straight to the promised land. But when you really examine nearly every success story, they are filled with crushing defeats, near-death experiences, and countless setbacks.
We often celebrate companies and individuals once they’ve achieved undeniable success, but shun their disruptive thinking before reaching such a pinnacle. Before Oprah was Oprah, before Jobs was Jobs, they were labeled as misguided dreamers rather than future captains of industry.
In your life, you’ve probably had a setback or two. When you stumble, it’s tempting the throw in the towel and accept defeat. There’s always an attractive excuse waiting eagerly, hoping you’ll take the easy way out. But the most successful people forge ahead. They realize that mistakes are simply data, providing new information to adjust your approach going forward.
The ubiquitous WD-40 lubricant got its name because the first 39 experiments failed. WD-40 literally stands for “Water Displacement—40th Attempt.” If they gave up early on like most of us do, we’d sure have a lot more squeaky hinges in the world.
You have a mission to accomplish and an enormous impact to make. You will inevitably endure some “failures” along your journey, but you must realize that persistence and determination have always been primary ingredients in accomplishment.
Don’t cave to your mistakes, embrace them. In fact, mistakes are simply to the portals of discovery. There’s an old saying that “every bull’s-eye is the result of a hundred misses.” So the next time you feel the sting of failure, just realize you’re likely one shot closer to hitting your target.
And who knows? Maybe after a few dozen failures and months or years of hard work, you might just be that next “overnight” success.
For more insight on creativity and innovation, visit joshlinkner.com.
why you need to keep grinding!
very cool… if you are on tumblr… you should follow npr
(Source: npr)
I was asked to speak at a rally for #TrayvonMartin today on the campus of U of L. This was very hard for me on so many different levels. I am the father of 3 black boys/men, I am the uncle to 11 black boys/men, I am the brother to two black men and I am connected to 100’s of other black boys/men. I wanted to make sure I was speaking for each and everyone of the black boys/men who are tied to me and to #TrayvonMartin. I wanted to make each of them proud and I wanted to hold each of them accountable to the black boys/men in their lives.
Below is the text to my speech:
Look at all this love and support for the memory of Trayvon Martin!
This is the kind of love and support that every child deserves to feel everyday of their lives! They need to know that WE GOT their backs and that we will always be there!
Thank each of you for sporting your hoodies today; it’s a great way to show the world that you are standing up for Trayvon Martin and standing with his family. It also says that you are demanding that JUSTICE be served!
But let me be clear, Trayvon was not murdered because he was sporting a hoody! Trayvon was not murdered because of what he has in his pockets. Trayvon was murdered because of the color of his skin and for the way that we have allow this country to define and view our black boys
We have done a terrible job at protecting our children, especially our black boys! We have allowed our country to create systems that discount their value and create a story that we are to be feared!
But today, we are creating some new laws! These new laws will be called “Stand Our Ground”; and we will stand our ground against the systems and people who have hurt our children for way too long!
Today: with 53% of black boys not graduating high school…
· We must stand our ground against the educational system that refuses to give our black boys the education they deserve!
Today: when a black boy has 1 and 3 chance of going to prison
· We must stand our ground against the juvenile system that house our young black boys for minor infractions that others get a slap on the wrist for!
Today: when majority of our black boys are being raised without their fathers in the home
· We must stand our ground against every black man, who for whatever reason, is not around to protect & encourage their children!
Today: when most stories we hearing about our black boys are negative
· We must stand our ground against the media that is determined to only show one side of our young black boy’s story!
o And lastly,
Today:
· We must stand our ground against the stereotypes that we allow to live in our own heads
Your presence here today tells the world that you are making a commitment to protect every child, especially our black boys! You will no longer allow anyone to discourage them, discount them, hurt them or forget about them! We will STAND OUR GROUND and create a better future for OUR CHILDREN!
A few weeks back I posted a picture of my 3 son’s shoes. I got the idea from the old tv show called “My Three Sons”. But the real reason I took the picture is because, I’ve been in deep reflection of how each of my sons have pushed me, encouraged me, educated me, inspired me and made me a better person, in their own & unique way.
My 3 sons are 24, 22 & 13 (14 on 3/9) and they are just as different as the shoes they have on in my last post. The difference between the 3 has been a blessing and the reason for a lot of my growth over the years.
When I started out on this journey, my goal was to treat them all the same (this was my version of equality), but my middle son stopped me one day, in the middle of one of our many conversations and said, “Daddy, I’m not my brothers and I have my own way of doing things.” It’s not that I didn’t know they were different, just thought that if I treated them different I would be acting unfairly.
What I’ve learned over the year is that by treating them the same I was treating them unfairly, it stops them from being who they were meant to be!
This lesson has helped me in all aspects of my life. The work that I do, demands & benefits from me seeing everyone as unique and different while treating them as creative, resourceful and whole.
So this post is a thank you to my 3 sons for teaching me a life lesson that will stay with me forever…..
My 3 Sons (post coming soon)
my love for the written word did not come from dr. seuss or any other childhood books my mom gave me. it didn’t come from an engaging teacher who tried to make stories come to life. and no matter how much i enjoyed groups like the blue apple players, who tried to get me and other students excited about reading with their plays, they were not able to get me hyped about reading.
so when and where did i find my love for reading? it was when i was 23 and living in baltimore, md. one of my favorite things to do when i’m in a new city is to visit the public library and baltimore was no different. after about a week or two in this new city, i found my way to the central branch (http://www.prattlibrary.org/locations/central/) of the pratt library system.
it was one of the biggest libraries that I had ever been in and right up front was a display that would change me forever. it was a display of about the Harlem Renaissance, there were books from great writers from that time, there were books about the renaissance, there were cds from some of the great jazz artist who played during that time and there were pictures of the people who were the Harlem Renaissance.
from that moment on, i’ve been a
lover of books and the written word. i continue to go back to the harlem renaissance for inspiration (http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmharlem1.html)
it is never to late to become a reader! share your favorite book with someone you care about, it could be just what they need to become a reader for life.
