Modern Living – Page 3 – Garrick van Buren

Disconnecting the Home Line

“We are happier. We exercise more and spend more time outside. We don’t feel guilty about wasting away a day staring at nonsense. We don’t overwork ourselves, yet we get much more done when working because we are less tempted by online distractions.” – Greg Skloot

Sam Muirhead Starts a Year of Living Open Source

“For one year I am trying to go as open source as possible, in all aspects of my life – the shoes I wear, the phone I use, even how I get around. I’m not buying any proprietary or traditionally copyrighted products unless all other options are exhausted. I’m looking for and switching to more open, transparent products which are replicable by others, trying to highlight the benefits of treating others as collaborators rather than competitors. I’ll be investigating how the open source philosophy might apply to different areas of life, where it fits well, and where it might not work.” – Sam Muirhead

more @ yearofopensource.net

Natural Forces

“Had I been responding to any of the number of alerts on my phone, I’d have missed the beauty around me for the digital existence that would, and will still be there for me when I’m ready to access it again.” – Lee-Ann Bigwood

Buy In / Sell Out

“Selling out is usually more a matter of buying in. Sell out, and you’re really buying into someone else’s system of values, rules and rewards.” – Bill Watterson

Enjoy your vacation – don’t document it.

“A growing number of hotels and resorts are offering sessions with photographers to chronicle guests’ vacations. Travelers want to record memorable moments without ruining them stressing about focus and flash. They want more sophisticated shots to share on social media. And vacationers realize that an iPhone may not catch that perfect surfing or skiing triumph.” – Andrea Petersen

The Good Fight

“So over the next two weeks I fought off the urge to login or participate. And when I say, ‘fought’, I mean it…When I left out the desire to share the moments we were together on Facebook or Twitter I found myself involved in it, present. I had no concern about how I would make someone laugh or if the post would be ‘Liked’.” – Kris Smith

Stop Shedding

“Your email is about to be sent to several hundred thousand people, who will have to spend at least 10 seconds reading it before they can decide if it is interesting. At least two man-weeks will be spent reading your email. Many of the recipients will have to pay to download your email. Are you absolutely sure that your email is of sufficient importance to bother all these people?” – Poul-Henning Kamp, circa 1999

Love is Attention

“Giving undivided attention is the first and most basic ingredient in any relationship. It is impossible to communicate, much less bond, with someone who can’t or won’t focus on you.” – Kare Anderson

John Cleese on Creativity

“…You have to create some space for yourself away from [your usual] demands. That means sealing yourself off…” – John Cleese

Everything Was Breakin’

Neal Conan: “You had solar panels (on your sailboat) for electricity.”

Matt Rutherford: “I did, but they broke.”

Neal: “They broke?”

Matt: “One by one.”

Neal: “I think you had a Kindle for reading books.”

Matt: “I did. It broke in a storm.”

If there’s a better betrayal of the weakness of our modern, connected, age – it is this story. The tools we are so entranced by are quite fragile and weak. A stark contrast to the relentlessness of our own will to survive.