thebox

On "Cities and Ambition"

Ok, those of you who know me, know that I've been trying out different cities for the last 3 years now. Most people looked at that with a mixture of awe ("New York? Wow, exciting!!"), puzzlement ("What's wrong with Toronto?"), fear ("Berlin? new culture, languge, social circle, ieee"). What was more compelling to me, than any of those emotions, was the prospect of not having seen the world or strived to free myself, developing my creative, intellectual and other human facilities. That to me would be horrendous. But only a few people I knew seemed to even understand those motivations, much less consider the pros and cons of acting on them.

So I nearly fell out of my seat, refreshed at reading Paul Graham's new essay "Cities and Ambition". "Finally someone understands!!!!" It confounded me for the longest time, how people I knew couldn't see any of this. When I decided to leave Toronto, I made a firm decision that I wanted to spend my life doing interesting work. But first, I needed to find an interesting place to "be" and I needed to own my own time. So places like Berlin and London had a level of civility, dynamism, discourse, etc that made me "feel" like I can "be" myself - intelligent, expressive, etc. I'm currently working on the "time" bit.

When I was deciding what to do, I knew I needed to do it while I was still young with a lot of energy. But I wasn't sure of the order all of this should take. As moving cities is very uprooting, I decided to tackle that first. Here's the steps I have mapped out. This may or may not be the best path as I didn't know how to start at the beginning:

1. [done] choose city to live
2. [in progress] own my own time [one] [two] [three]
   
3. [lifelong pursuit] interesting work / social network

Thank-you thank-you thank-you Paul.

Conversations with History: Wole Soyinka

"On this edition of Conversations with History, UC Berkeley's Harry Kreisler talks with Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka. In an extraordinarily prolific and rich body of work including plays, novels, poems, and essays, Professor Soyinka draws on both Yoruba and western culture to exquisitely weave a subtle understanding of the tragedy and comedy of the human condition."

The Office... Department

Ok, "The Office" format just won't quit. This is what "happens when a bunch of Harvard pol-sci grad students, with, in Dan Drezner’s words, too much time on their hands, decide to make their own version of ‘The Office’". Ricky Gervias' head must be going gangbusters.

Meme about Books about Life, the Universe and Most Other Things

Tim O'Reilly put out a blog on Sunday that I really identify with. Being in the technology field, we're expected to constantly be keeping up with technological and business trends in the field. While I do keep up with technology, I've stuck to some key books and fill my time with any writings, music, etc that help me connect the dots. O'Reilly said as much and listed a bunch of books, quotes, etc that he's found interesting. Cool. These are books and artists that changed the way I look at things. There's a so much more, but these are some things that come to mind.

Books
The Educated Imagination; Northrop Frye
Go Tell It On The Mountain; James Baldwin
Invisible Man ; Ralph Ellison
People's History of the United States; Howard Zinn
On Vision (an audio file of a lecture he did); Noam Chomsky
Fifth Business; Robertson Davies

Musicians
Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Nas, Sun Ra, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Kraftwerk, Fela Kuti, Isaac Hayes, Vangelis

Surprises on the Bookshelves of CEOs
C.E.O. Libraries Reveal Keys to Success

Discussions on Freedom, the State and Individual

This is a great video of Chomsky and Foucault discussing the nature of Justice and Freedom. The coercive power of the State is also discussed. Also, in "On Vision" Chomsky outlines 4 main forms of state organisation and their opportunities for human and individual freedom.

As I've been investigating human freedom and how to be free, I like coming back to these video and audio as great outlines on the subject. More input is greatly welcome.

1) Justice Vs. Power - Chomsky Vs. Foucault, Part 1

2) On Vision

The Real New York

I found a great site, Overheard in New York that just posts weird quotes overheard in the big apple. It's one of my new regular reads and the stuff in here is sooooooo rich. I spent a year in New York and people actually say these things. Once, I was getting my MacBook Pro fixed at the Soho Apple store, and the tech didn't know how to spell my last name, Washington. I thought he was joking at first.

... And Patronize Our Vendors

Better Save the 'Two Washingtons' Story for Tomorrow

Degrees Of Separation

Over the Christmas holidays, I was visiting my family in TO. So my father, brother and I were taking a walk, conversation, that sort of thing. So my Dad is talking about his University studies back in Kingston (Jamaica) and how he worked with Marcus Garvey's son. Whoooooooaa, sorry could you repeat that Dad. Yeah, he took a chemistry class (he's a chemist) at the University Of The West Indies, and one of his classmates was the son of Marcus Garvey. For those who don't know, Marcus Garvey is one of the Black world's most revered leader and revolutionary.

So here's to people who know famous people. Who knows,  the Queen is probably my second Aunt or something.

Dad - Marcus Garvey's son
Mom - Pierre Trudeau
Mikey  - Dalai Lama

Marijuana May Prevent Cancer

See points 2 to 5 of "Top 10 Pot Studies Government Wished it Had Never Funded".

Legalize It!!

Income Without a Job. Money With Little Time.

I've said before, that your relationship of your time to your money is possibly the most crucial in a capital system that we are living in. In 'On Work', I broke down the relationship of Work, Time and Capital. And in and 'Dollar and a Dream', I stated how important it is in this phase of my life to have Capital - I need to own my own time.

Well if you are of the same mind, then Steve Pavlina has an interesting podcast on 'How to Make Money Without a Job'. He did exactly what I want to do and outlines some interesting means of going about it; mostly through multiple streams of income.

Enjoy, and I hope it helps you with your goals. Tim.

These 'WOOORDS' Are Toooo Funny

Stephen Colbert is hilarious... using George W Bush's own Woooords
http://youtube.com/watch?v=IKtEqVVlVZs