Toluu : Awaken Your Superhero with Christopher S. Penn

Awaken Your Superhero with Christopher S. Penn

It’s Independence Day, the day in history when the United States declared independence from the Crown of England.

It’s a day steeped in patriotism, with a little nationalism and some jingoism mixed in.

There are some very lengthy debates about what patriotism is vs. nationalism (which is widely credited for things like Nazi Germany). I’m not a philosopher, so I’ll let that debate be, save for a couple of sage perspective:

“Loyalty to my country, always. Loyalty to the government, only when it deserves it.” – Mark Twain

This to me is the essence of patriotism.

We are supposed to disagree. We are supposed to think freely, to question authority, to debate. We are supposed to have similar common goals – the good of a people, of a nation – with different approaches as to the best way of getting there. Patriotism means wanting less of things like crime, poverty, and misery, wanting more safety, prosperity, and happiness for all, even the people you disagree with most, and working with them towards these common goals. Patriotism means when someone says, “This is the way it’s always been done” having the freedom to ask, “Yes, but it is the best way?” and the courage to abandon a position when you’ve been proven wrong.

On this Independence Day, ask yourself this: how can you declare your independence from the sleepwalking state of blind loyalty to consensus? How can you find true freedom to always think for you

A Week With A View: July 4thYesterday

In today’s A Week With A View, an abstract of sorts, ribbons of flags for the Fourth of July.

Flags by Hryck.

It’s interesting that so many of the July 4th holiday photos on Flickr have a ton of political commentary rabidly espousing a viewpoint with them. Independence Day at its core celebrates freedom from someone else’s tyranny. Have your viewpoint, of course, but have a willingness to find what’s right in someone else’s viewpoint as well, no matter how else you may disagree with them. The willingness to be able to see how others view the world with an understanding heart – that is freedom too.

Whatever your beliefs, I hope your holiday weekend is a happy, safe, and inspiring one.

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Will social media burn conferences to the ground?July 2

Every conference these days has a hashtag and attendees are (unless explicitly prohibited) tweeting, live-blogging, streaming audio and video. If you wanted to, from your desk, you could attend nearly every conference in the world, and for free as opposed to paying $50-$5000 to attend. In terms of content, you’d probably get anywhere from 80% – 99% of the content presented.

If you can attend 95% of the conference virtually and not pay, or attend 100% of the conference in person and pay, which will most people rationally choose? Which would you choose?

Right now, social media, for all its glamour and buzz, is still a relatively small space compared to the world of business as a whole. As it grows, how long will it be before conference organizers have to clamp down on usage to avoid completely devaluing their conferences?

Will social media, in other words, burn conferences to the ground? Yes – and it should.

My answer as co-founder of PodCamp and co-organizer of PodCamp Boston 4 is one we’ve been researching and looking at for years. Whether live or recorded, the talking head portion of the conference is something that is part of the old conference model.

While I love speaking publicly, I also recognize that it’s not terribly valuable in and of itself. I could convey the exact same information with a video camera and a YouTube account, and in fact I’

A Week With A View: FireJuly 2

Today’s A Week With a View showcases fire. This is a longtime favorite of mine.

Bonfire by Dominic.

This one is just… impressive.

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A Week With A View: CanadaJuly 1

It’s Canada Day (or Dominion Day) so I thought I’d pick something Canadian for today’s A Week With A View. The trouble is, there’s too much to pick from. Here’s a selection.

Clouds in Quebec by Michel Fillon:

Victoria Glacier in Alberta by Laszlo:

Vancouver Island by Zedzap:

And new media friend Angela Misri, shot at Podcasters Across Borders 2009:

5 most recent Financial Aid News articles:

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