Modern Thoreauvean Living

Here's another great video from faircompanies.com. Diana and Michael Lorence live a 12-foot-square home they built in the mountains on the coast of Northern California. Although they have running water, they eschew electricity. They are not hippie, back-to-the-landers. They just want to live a simpler life, less cluttered with the technological noise so prevalent in today's world.

Fun Time! Chaos or Order: Which Kind Muppet Are You?

This in from Slate: Which kind of Muppet are you? The concept is quite simple. There are two kinds of Muppets; chaos Muppets and order Muppets. Chaos Muppets are Gonzo, Cookie, Ernie Grover and of course, the poster child would be Animal.

Then you have the order Muppets, Kermit, Scooter, Sam the Eagle and all the way to full-blown OCD, Bert.

The article has some wonderful comparisions to the "real" world such as our Supreme Court (Scalia = chaos, Roberts = order) and if you're really honest about yourself, you can discover your own inner Muppet type.

Privacy Pop Bed

If you have kids packed into one or two rooms, this is an option that will give them the feeling of having their own space. The Privacy Pop is a pop-up tent designed to fit the confines of various standard size beds, on top of the mattress, It's also good for travel if you're staying in cramped places such as youth hostels. A little pricey (they start at $179 for a bunk size twin), but if you want to be alone in a crowd, this might just do the trick.

Lives and Forests Saved by Award-Winning Water Filter

This video from Reuters presents a simple water filter made from rice husks that is helping the poor of rural Cambodia improve their health and slow the deforestation that is destroying the nation's jungles.

Travel Photo of the Week

Buddha, Ayutthaya Historical Park, Thailand

Just In Time For The Political Season: Logical Fallacies

Because we are entering a particularly rancorous election season I thought I'd post a couple of links to sites that offer lists and explanations of logical fallacies. These are rhetorical tricks that speakers (read politicians) use to fool their listener into thinking that they've made an important point in a debate when in reality all they've done is crafted a falsehood that is designed to sway your opinion.

Here's one of my favorite - Argument By Laziness (also known as Argument By Uninformed Opinion): the arguer hasn't bothered to learn anything about the topic. He nevertheless has an opinion, and will be insulted if his opinion is not treated with respect.

Here are the two of the sites that I like the most. You might want to print them out and have them by your chair when the televised debates start and the half (or quarter!) baked ideas start to flow.

http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/fallacies_list.html
http://www.don-lindsay-archive.org/skeptic/arguments.html

Lehman's

When I was a teenager and was part of the "counterculture," I dreamed of my own small farm: off the grid, self sufficient and full of pure, organic, goodness. Well, that one never did come to pass, but I've still always been interested in the tools and practices that make that happen.

Enter Lehman's. At the time I leaned about them (early 1970s), they were a primary supplier to the Amish and Mennonite communities, people who were experts at not depending on modern tech to make whole, happy lives.

Lehman's is still here and although they have added some more contemporary items, they still have all the good old anachronistic items that were the foundation of their early business.

Hand plow anyone?

Five Business Lessons From The Banana Man

And as a follow up to Friday's entry I offer wisdom from the Banana Man, Samuel Zemurray. He made his fortune in "ripes," bananas deemed too mature to be sell-able by the time they reach the market. Starting in 1895, by 1903 he had $100,000 in the bank and by the time he died in 1961, he had been a hauler and a cowboy, a farmer, a trader, a political battler, a revolutionary, a philanthropist,a CEO and he lived in the grandest house in New Orleans.

Here are his rules for success.......

1. Go see for yourself.
2. Don't try to be smarter than the problem.
3. Don't trust the experts.
4. Money can be made again, but a lost reputation is gone forever.
5. When in doubt, do something!

If you have any doubts or need these simple rules explained, read the entire WSJ article on Mr. Zemurry. You just might learn something.

Fun Time - How To Open A Beer Bottle With Just About Anything

Just in time for Summer! This great video was a part of Adam Young's solo show at Common House Gallery.

Seven Principles of Admirable Business Ethics

We often ask ourselves, "Why is the world in such a state?"

One simple word explains it all: ethics. From Websters - ethics: a set of moral principles : a theory or system of moral values.

It's not that we don't know what ethical behavior is, we just don't pursue it. Especially in business, where today pretty much anything goes as long as you can get away with it.

Here is a little article from About.com that offers seven guidelines for engaging in good business. The article offers more fleshed out descriptions of each point for clarity, but I think just listing them makes it clear enough. Here they are:

1. Be Trustful
2. Keep An Open Mind
3. Meet Obligations
4. Have Clear Documents
5. Become Community Involved
6. Maintain Accounting Control
7. Be Respectful

Wouldn't things be different if we all followed these simple ideas? And for those that think these are too personally restrictive of their liberties and freedoms, well those are just the kind of folks and businesses you want to avoid.