Y Change

I've been wanting to share the following two articles on Generation Y's tenacity for change for some time now; seems like the kids are doin' alright these days, and I'm inspired.

While both articles are related to "work," it fast becomes obvious that what is accomplished by/through "work" is about to change. And for the better too, I might add.


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Tod Maffin on Generation Y's desire to drive change
"[Generation Y] want their time working for an employer to be much more than helping to pay “the man’s” mortgage, or that of some shareholders. And by “world,” it could be that they want to change their community, or they want to change how the office runs, or they want to volunteer for a company-supported charity. But they want to have some direct impact." Read more...

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 Katya Andresen on why Gen Y is going to keep us on our toes

“[Generation Y] need to feel a connection with an organization, and they want opportunities for deeper involvement, such as opportunities to work with leadership and to help craft direction for the organization. Plus, they want to know specifically how their gifts will benefit the organization’s constituents.” Read more...

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Related:


Hear both sides full stereo
World full of pain got us waiting on a miracle
Waiting on the world to change
When we should wait on the world like a waiter
Serve the world man this world is strange
Bizarro, lovers of tomorrow to break under the weight of the wonder and the sorrow
~ Shad "Call Waiting"


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Not-quite-related-but-makes-a-good-pun-of-sorts:
The Y gets re-branded

Two on "Christian Identity"

"Here we do not lay down our identity only to pick up our new identity in Christ. Rather it is in laying down all our identities that we directly identify with Christ."
~ Pete Rollins on identifying with Christ

'We are all tempted to pick and choose our fellows, buffet-style. “I’m with Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, and Mother Teresa, but not the Southern Baptists.” No! We’re part of this body, with all its dazzling glory and all its tragic flaws, and cannot claim the former without the latter. Further, we are responsible for those parts presently misbehaving, and for its misdeeds through time—if we want credit for its virtues.'
~ Jason Bayassee with a hard-hitting commentary on the growing "Christian" vs "Christ Follower" trend

Park(ing) Day London shaping up

It's good to see London's participation in Park(ing) Day (Sept 17th)  gaining some wider exposure after an article in the LFP a few days ago.

Today, the fine folk behind our city's campaign have posted a sneak-peek into some of the submissions they're wading through right now. You can check 'em out here.

The submission deadline of Aug 13th is fast approaching, and while I've yet to decide whether I'll make an entry or not myself, I am looking forward to at least stealing out of work a bit early that day and heading downtown to check out the spaces...

(image c/o )

Godin's problem with the unlimited

"If you want your best users to do more, one way to do it is to announce the most they can do. While this may dissuade a few people from pushing ever farther, it will in fact motivate a large number of people to up their game."
~ Seth Godin from The problem with unlimited

Yet another radical post from Seth Godin arguing for a less-is-more approach to asking for help with your _______.

I'd love to opine further, but in the spirit of less-is-more, I'll merely direct you to the rest of Seth's post for now.

Tarp Surfing: Good clean fun for the whole family

"We're so addicted to hunting slabs, that when it's flat: we just improvise. We make our own slabs..."

Yet more proof of the fun we'd all be having if surfers ruled the world.

Related: Jan and Dean's "Sidewalk Surfing"

Fake Placards Drown Out Actual Protest

If you can't beat 'em, drown 'em out with even more ridiculous signs!

That's exactly what this group of counter-protesters did when the infamous Westboro Baptist crew made their way into town with their placards in tow. Read the full story here.

c/o Josh Brown

"Less" need is more help

"If you've got a small, fixable problem, people will rush to help, because people like to be on the winning side, take credit and do something that worked."

~ Seth Godin (with a great follow-up post by Katya Andresen here)

Related:
Kyle tweets about "the system."

I Share Therefore I Am

Watch Renny Gleeson on how technology may be rendering our current reality less interesting than the story we'll tell about it later....
While I'd argue that as humans we have always found our meaning in and through story, Gleeson's three minute presentation serves it's purpose to make one seriously question whether our current use of technology is making us less human in the process.

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Defining 'Friend'
There's an interesting study reported in the Globe and Mail stating that users of social-media are, in fact, more social than those who are online less. While I found the report an interesting read, I did have to stop and wonder how much more telling it would be if the researchers had set out to measure feelings of loneliness.

Case in point: here's another study that found students couldn't handle being offline for more than, say, a few hours.

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James Shelley follows this up with an excellent read on why following fewer people on sites like twitter actually shows greater care for them.

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Slate is running a series by James Sturm about his experiment in taking four months away from the internet.
I haven't personally been following the entire series as I've been online a lot less myself this summer, but I'm stoked Strum's adventure has been receiving the amount of attention it has as of late.

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Take a break to help you remember
I figured I should post this one last...

Eighth Letter Commercial

Nathan and co. have definitely hit it out of the park with this advert for their upcoming Eighth Letter conference.



Hil and I picked up our tix back in May when they were on a mad discount, but you can still pick up early bird tix at a steal of a deal for $75 each before August 15th. 

As a bonus to joining the two-day event, you'll be in Toronto for 2010's Nuit Blanche.

Related: Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues

Cabinology with Jordon Cooper

Providing perfect daydreaming/planning for those of us relegated to an office job during these hot and hazy days of summer, Jordon Cooper has been posting some great cabins over on the Cooper Cabin Weblog.

Some recent favorites of mine have included:
Swedish Summer Fun
The Crib... (pictured above)
Seaside Beach Huts
The Katrina Cottage
and
Pretty much everything tagged with Architecture

Bonus:
Garden Shed with Green Roof