Do you want to be someone or do something? →

Published December 16, 2014  ·  All posts on Dec 16

There comes a point in every man’s life where he must decide if he will strive to be somebody important, or if he will work to do something important. Sometimes these pursuits go hand-in-hand; often they do not.

Research has shown time and time again that kids of our modern age aspire for what’s perceived as a more glamorous life than one of service and lasting legacy. In fact, the top three career aspirations of today’s 5- to 11-year-olds are sports star, music star, and actor. Just 25 years ago, that same survey turned up teacher, doctor, and banker.

~ Brett McKay from, John Boyd’s Roll Call

Elsewhere, this is 4uaojo1. — slipbox

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Preemptive: About the movie Tracers →

Published December 14, 2014  ·  All posts on Dec 14  ·  

Preemptive: To all my friends. Yes, I know about the movie “Tracers”. No, I have nothing nice to say about it. Imagine Hollywood used a generic formula to paste your favorite thing onto the big screen; Do you think you would enjoy it? Right. It pretty much highlights all the negative aspects of Parkour, and casts Parkour in a bad light. (That’s just my opinion of course.)

Selling Out →

Published December 14, 2014  ·  All posts on Dec 14  ·  

If you think you can buy your way to individuality, well, you are not so smart.

Since the 1940s, when capitalism and marketing married psychology and public relations, the market has been getting much better and more efficient at offering you something to purchase no matter your taste.

~ David McRaney from, Selling Out

Elsewhere, this is 4uyose2. — slipbox

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Care less →

Published December 13, 2014  ·  All posts on Dec 13  ·  

The less you care about what others think, the better your life will become.

~ unknown

Elsewhere, this is 4a113. — slipbox

Infrastructure, suburbs, and the long descent to ferguson →

Published December 12, 2014  ·  All posts on Dec 12  ·  ,

The short version is that as the climate degrades and fossil fuels become simultaneously more expensive and less useable, each generation inherits from its more prosperous ancestors an infrastructure that it can’t afford to maintain. Society muddles through from year to year — sometimes even seeming to advance — until some part of that poorly maintained infrastructure snaps and causes major destruction. The destroyed area may get rebuilt, but not to its previous level. The resulting community has less infrastructure to maintain, but is also less prosperous, and so the cycle continues into the next generation.

~ Doug Muder from, Infrastructure, Suburbs, and the Long Descent to Ferguson

Elsewhere, this is 4uweia1. — slipbox

He draws heavily from John Michael Greer’s The Long Descent.

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How To Live on 24 Hours a Day →

Published December 11, 2014  ·  All posts on Dec 11  ·  , ,

This entry is part 9 of 72 in the series My Journey

As you look back on the year that has just past, do you feel as though you spent another 12 months merely existing instead of truly living? Do you often go to bed at night with an anxious, sinking feeling that you wasted away another precious day of your limited time here on earth? One of my all-time favorite old books addressed this very concern better than anything else I’ve ever read.

~ Brett McKay from, How to Live on 24 Hours a Day

Elsewhere, this is 4uaoho3. — slipbox

104 years old, still readable, and totally apropos of our lives today.

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great morning for a walk! →

Published December 11, 2014  ·  All posts on Dec 11  ·  

great morning for a walk!

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DevOps →

Published December 10, 2014  ·  All posts on Dec 10

It’s been said by a number of smart people that DevOps is largely founded in an organization’s skillful collaboration and communication, and the culture that results. I agree with that idea, and I also think that it’s one of the reasons why the term DevOps is sometimes difficult to explain, because these are ‘soft’ skills we’re talking about. These aren’t things you can graph or alert on, they only manifest in the resulting product and environment.

~ John Allspaw from, DevOps

Elsewhere, this is 4uaide2. — slipbox

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Getting ready for Québec in January! →

Published December 8, 2014  ·  All posts on Dec 8  ·  

Getting ready for Québec in January!

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What is Character? →

Published December 8, 2014  ·  All posts on Dec 8

Character. Like honor, it’s a word we take for granted and probably have an affinity for, but likely have never really had to define and may struggle to do so when pressed. It’s a word most men desire to have ascribed to them, and yet the standards of its attainment remain rather vague in our modern age.

~ Brett McKay from, What Is Character? Its 3 True Qualities and How to Develop It

Elsewhere, this is 4uaowa3. — slipbox

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