The Future Belongs to the Curious
02 weeks ago
There couldn’t possibly be a more appropriate video for my blog than this one…
it doesn’t matter what you ask…just that you ask
An unlikely story of survival and collaboration
04 weeks ago
When she was just 22, Ramona Pierson went for a jog with her dog. Thanks to a drunk driver, that would be the last “normal” thing she’d do for over a decade.
Tangled in the wheels of the drunk’s car, her body mangled in multiple ways, bystanders were able to help Pierson hang on to a thin thread of life. She then spent the next 18 months in a coma, endured multiple surgeries to reconstruct nearly her entire body and emerged unable to see, eat, or speak. Discharged from the hospital to a senior center, a community of dedicated seniors invested themselves in her recovery.
Miraculously, Pierson regained the ability to eat, talk, walk, and thanks to the wonders of technology, ten years later she recovered sight in one eye due to an experimental surgery. Her story is remarkable in every conceivable way.
The only aspect of Pierson’s talk that disappoints is that she’s only given the typical 12 minutes of a TED talk. I would have greatly appreciated hearing much, much more of her remarkable story. [Videos after the jump.]
Two books show kids that they are special
03 months ago
by evercurious
in Books
Lately, I’ve been striking gold in the children’s section of our local library (if you haven’t been to your local library recently, I highly suggest you give it a try!). The following are two heartwarming stories that reinforce the valuable contributions every person has to offer, no matter how young.
Little Wolf’s Song. Anyone who has grown up trying to catch up to older siblings will feel the message in this story. Little Wolf would love to howl like the rest of his family, but he can’t. What’s worse, his siblings taunt him for it. Despite reassurance from his parents, it’s not until Little Wolf gets lost in the snowy woods at night that he finds his howl. This is a story about not giving up and waiting for the right opportunity to find your true talents.
Brewster the Rooster. Something is wrong with the family rooster and he’s creating havoc for the entire family. After little Julie realizes that he needs glasses, everything becomes much clearer! Told in hilarious poetic rhyme, this book combines vivid engaging illustrations with a message that sometimes answers come from the littlest family members and to not give up looking for solutions to a problem!
Three wonderful children’s books
1Jon Acuff recently recommended a couple of children’s books with encouraging messages, which I quickly added to my reading list (though unfortunately, our library doesn’t carry them yet). Coincidentally, I also recently came across some children’s books that stand out from the dozens we plow through monthly.
I often feel overwhelmed when I enter our local library to find new books that the kids will enjoy and that have a positive and meaningful message. Thankfully, our librarians regularly pluck out some of their favorites and place them on top of the low children’s bookshelves. I’ve taken to simply browsing these selections since it has resulted in many gems. Here are three that recently stood out.
moon rabbit (Natalie Russell). If you’ve ever experienced the desire to travel beyond your home, then had the conflicting desire to return to the comforts of home, you’ll appreciate this charming tale. Little Rabbit loves her city life, but longs to find her soul mate. One day she follows the sound of music to the country and finds Brown Rabbit, with whom she becomes fast friends. Hanging out in the countryside enjoying her new friend, Little Rabbit eventually longs for the familiar experiences of the city. The two new friends find a wonderful compromise in the final pages of the book.
Fletcher and the Falling Leaves (Julie Rawlinson). Fletcher is a young fox who loves his favorite tree. But something is terribly wrong as the tree begins to lose its leaves. Fletcher struggles as nature and other animals begin to prepare for Fall, but in the end finds that change isn’t so bad after all! You can hear the entire book read in this video.
You and Me, Little Bear (Martin Waddell). “Mommy, Daddy, play with me!” This is a refrain every parent hears countless times every day. Little Bear is no different and wants to play with his dad. But Big Bear has a busy day of chores that he can’t put off (sound familiar?). The two find out, however, that work and play do not have to be as different as we often make them out to be. Simple watercolor images make this a great anytime story.
Netflix couldn’t possibly screw up any more…oh wait, it just did
14 months ago
I want to like Netflix. I’ve been a loyal customer since 2002, but they’re making it hard to like them these days.
When the company announced the price hike earlier this year, I balked like every other customer. Not because I don’t want to pay more (I don’t) – I realize there are economic reasons behind the decision – but because the company no longer seems to care about its customers wants. The rate increase forced me to drop from three to two DVDs a month to maintain our budget; no big deal. But like so many others, it really forced me to consider staying with Netflix or finding alternatives.
Which is what Netflix still has going for it – viable alternatives simply don’t exist. Amazon streaming doesn’t have as mature a catalog and costs more. Redbox still requires you to leave the house and hope a movie you want is available.
And that’s where Netflix had the model nailed: The queue, by-mail-without-late-fees, and streaming features at its core are what made Netflix pure gold in a media-consumption service. I can set up a list of movies that I want to watch, wait for them to come in the mailbox, then hold on to them for as long as it took me to watch or re-watch them. In some cases, I could watch them instantly on my computer, TV, iPod, or Android devices. These features are starting to flag, however.
I remember years ago getting regular emails from Netflix happily announcing price decreases. Then came messages about the new streaming services, and Blu-ray disc availability. But every message I’ve gotten recently from (or about) Netflix has been bad news. Monthly rate increases. No more Starz streaming movies. Just today, I received an email from Netflix in which Reed Hastings announced that the DVD service would now be named “Quixster” (ugh) while “Netflix” would refer to the non-integrated streaming service. Two services. Two credit card charges. No integration.
Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to. It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies…A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated.
Apparently, the folks at Netflix don’t understand the mind of their customer. I don’t care if a movie is streaming or DVD, I just want to put on a managed list and watch it, sooner than later if possible. If I have to manage two separate queues, that simply requires too much of my time and it will no longer offer me the value it once did.
And at 14 years old, the Netflix DVD service hasn’t changed much; truthfully, it doesn’t really need to. With the focus on streaming, however, that service needs to mature in some very critical ways to convince customers like me to stay. And, with their unsurprising recent earning report that showed a huge dip in membership, I’m not alone.
For example:
- Let’s face it, the streaming library still sucks compared to the DVD availability.
- Streaming titles are often mediocre or poor quality on an HDTV.
- Licensing deals for streaming titles is flaky, causing titles to disappear and reappear like whack-a-moles.
- Netflix is opaque with its customers about which streaming titles are about to disappear; without warning, titles are just – poof! – gone. Services like Feedfliks helpfully fill in this gap, but shouldn’t have to.
- My instant queue is often reordered randomly – system bugs like this are inexcusable.
- The ability to add and remove specific seasons of a television show to my queue.
I’m interested to see what the two-website split will look like, but I’m increasingly preparing myself and my family to dump the service altogether. It’ll be a difficult transition, but I’m starting to doubt the company is going in the right direction with its customers.