I saw a cartoon earlier this week that showed a person and their dog. The person, not the dog, was wearing one of those translucent plastic “cones of shame” around their neck that dogs sometimes have to wear so they don’t lick a wound that needs to heal. The dog is looking at the person, […]
“You know what I’m sick of?” a friend asked me a few years ago as we sat down for coffee. Which is a rough way to start a conversation; nothing positive is going to come after a rhetorical question like that. And the answer could be almost anything: the political polarization in our society; those […]
In the world of social media, there are not just viral images or videos that are widely shared, but viral themes in which people participate. Last month, the big theme was the “#TenYearChallenge,” in which people celebrated the start of a new decade by posting photos of themselves from 2010 and 2020 side-by-side to show […]
There are a seemingly endless array of specialized kitchen appliances out there, entire devices that makes only one thing that you rarely actually make. You’ve got your waffle irons and pasta makers, sure, but I’m really talking about things like hot dog makers, which have slots for a single hot dog and bun to cook […]
For the last decade or so, Seth Godin has been one of the most influential thinkers on marketing and technology in the world. His blogs and podcasts are widely read by leaders in business, politics, and the nonprofit world, and he has written a small library of best-selling books. He’s so popular because he’s able […]
A couple of years ago, a thirty-something man in Bristol, England named Luke played the piano in a local park. That’s not exactly headline news, I’ll grant you, except that it was: first there was a story about him in the local paper, and then, as the article spread online, a furious debate erupted on […]
About two weeks ago, arguably the greatest rock drummer on the planet died. His name was Neil Peart, and for decades he was the beating heart of the Canadian rock band Rush, providing not only some of the most jaw-dropping drum parts and solos in rock history, but writing all the lyrics for their songs, […]
Of all the Christmas songs, either secular or sacred, that we tend to hear played during this season, I’ve always thought that John Lennon’s seems the least joyful. It’s called “So This is Christmas,” and the very title sounds like something you would say with a sigh as your shoulders slumped in resignation or even […]
“I’m with you through Christmas,” he said, leaning back in his chair. A friend of mine and I were sitting in the University pub while I was in college, and had gotten into a discussion about Christian faith. He was the son of an Episcopal priest, but from adolescence on had put considerable effort into […]
Television commercials are one of the most powerful mediums for communicating cultural values in our society. That doesn’t mean they are the best or most constructive; just very powerful. They have to be in order to be effective. It’s often thought that the point of advertising is to convince us of a need that the […]