Fire the Workaholics

"If your start-up can only succeed by being a sweatshop, your idea is simply not good enough. Go back to the drawing board and come up with something better that can be implemented by whole people, not cogs."

~A great post on the 37signals Blog.

Introducing

I'd like to introduce a site I just finished. It's a magazine website that used to be called South of Sweden, but has just been renamed The Scandinavian Insider. It's a Business and Lifestyle magazine focussed on Southern Scandinavia.

One of the biggest challenges was working with Expression Engine, a CMS that I've never used before. I've been very impressed with its ability to handle data, but there have been a few minor issues that took forever to solve.

The Fires of Red Hill

We spent today in Red Hill, a small township not far from where I'm living (in Cape Town) which has been devastated by fires over the weekend. 60 homes were completely destroyed. Our task for today was to clear away the rubble to make space for the new houses.

The task of rebuilding will be £400 per house. If you'd like to contribute, please let me know.

Feeds

At the moment I'm working on how to gather the content of this blog, my Flickr feed, Twitter, and any other places I post things on the web into one place. This would mean that you, dear reader, would be able to keep up to date by visiting just one site, or by subscribing to just one feed.

That will mean that you will be able to see my South African photos without checking Flickr.

The technology is called Tumble Logging, though you don't really need to worry about that.

I think I'll also make subscribing via email possible, so that those who don't have a clue what RSS is don't have to miss out.

Just saying, so you know why things are quiet here...

An interesting clock

Here's a clock that not only tells the time, but also shows stats on population, diseases and deaths (etc.) click here. (via Floyd)

Useful Tech/Design links

• Paul Stamatiou on How to configure your web host for Google Apps ~ paulstamatiou.com
• 37Signals on Processing credit cards ~ 37signals.com
• Smashing Magazine on Best Practices for Bullet Proof Email Delivery ~ smashingmagazine.com
• Darren Hoyt on Developing a magazine layout using Wordpress ~ darrenhoyt.com
• Molly E. Holzschlag on Grid based design ~ alistapart.com
  

Radiohead: Environmentally Conscious

"But at the moment we make money principally from touring. Which is hard for me to reconcile because I don't like all the energy consumption, the travel. It's an ecological disaster, traveling, touring...We did one of those carbon footprint things recently where they assessed the last period of touring we did and tried to work out where the biggest problems were. And it was obviously everybody traveling to the shows." read more
~ Wired via Jason

In the Press: Sydsvenskan

I ended up getting interviewed briefly by a Swedish Newspaper yesterday lunchtime. This morning, when Christopher's paper came through the door, there I was.

Here's a sketchy translation for you non-swedish speakers:

How much would you pay to download a song off the internet?
About 3 kronor (just over 30p)

Do you download music?
Yes, I recently downloaded the new Radiohead album for £2

For those of you who think I'm a skinflint for paying so little, I assure you that they received more from me this way than they would if they were signed to a big record label.

Check out downhillbattle.org for more on this.
Click here for the original article.

Inspired by Keywords

Recently someone found my blog by searching for:

i want out of the labels. i don’t want my life crammed into a single word. a story. i want to find something else, unknowable, some place to be that’s not on the map. a real adventure.

I had forgotten that I'd ever written that quote by Chuck Palahniuk here, and was inspired once more by its sentiment.

My Christmas Gift to You

This one is for my readers (I know there are a couple of you)...
Instead of sending a tacky E-Card, or some other fairly generic, and thoughtless, way of wasting your time I thought I would point you in the direction of the following MP3:

Joy ~ by Rob Bell (click here)

Kick back and enjoy. Happy Christmas!

25 Years

So I've just turned 25! A quarter of a century. So far I've:

• had breakfast with Sofia (including Gingerbread Yoghurt (or Pepparkaks fil for you Swedes))


• had Stevie Wonder's Happy Birthday played to me by Christopher as he dashed out to work.


• As well as: experiencing the Facebook Enigma (more to follow...), and


• Spoken to my Mum and Zoe on Skype.

Nice.

The Bible According to Google Earth

"Scenes from the Bible have been imagined by countless artists over the centuries, but never quite like this... (read more)
Via Creative Review
and Kottke

Ryan Adams

When we took the train to Copenhagen on Thursday afternoon, my expectations were high. We were to see the artist who, as a 14 year old said:

"I started writing short stories when I was really into Edgar Allan Poe. Then later, when I was a teenager, I got really hard into cult fiction: Hubert Selby, Jr., Henry Miller, Jack Kerouac." (via)

He has inspired the likes of Elton John, who credits Heartbreaker as an influence to his Songs from the West Coast album, not to mention the many who have covered his songs (including Bono).

We were excited as we ate Thai food in Fredricksberg, picked up some salty licorice, and joined a long queue that took us into the Falconer Hall.

And we weren't disappointed.

From the moment Adams and his Cardinals entered the stage we were delighted with the skills of not only a great songwriter, but a band of skilled musicians. They are a band who, for me, redeem a genre (country), which is oft filled with hype, commercialism and a sickly glitz.

We marveled as Adams, who reported that he was going deaf, delivered some of his greatest songs (highlights included Nightbirds, When the Stars Go Blue, Goodnight Rose...the list goes on.) with everything he had.

Yes, I would have liked to have seen him in a smaller venue, but this was still one of the best gigs I have watched.

Overheard in our apartment

Me: So, what time are you going?
D: I'm catching a bus at 7. Then I'm catching the train to Copenhagen Airport. Do you know how much it costs?
Me: No...(raises his voice and shouts into the next room) hey! do you remember how much it costs to go to Copenhagen?
C: I think it's something like 180
Me: For a single?
C: I don't think they care if you're married or not.

Gift Vouchers or Cash?

Last year, more than $8,000,000,000 was wasted on these cards. Not in the value spent, but in fees and breakage. When you give a card, if it doesn't get used, someone ends up keeping your money, and it's not the recipient. People spent more than eight billion dollars for nothing... buying a product that isn't as good as cash.

Along the way, we bought the story that giving someone a hundred dollar bill as a gift ("go buy what you want") is callous, insensitive, a crass shortcut. Buying them a $100 Best Buy card, on the other hand, is thoughtful. Even if they spend $92 and have to waste the rest. ~ Seth Godin

I don't have the figures, but logic dictates that this doesn't just apply to gift cards in the US.

Last night: Niklas Hegfalk

I recorded this on my phone. That's why the quality sucks!

A note on Ringtones

When choosing a ring tone be careful not to choose a track by a band you really like. For the past month I've had 'The Well and The Lighthouse' by Arcade Fire. Now I associate the track with stressful moments when time is demanded from me without prior warning.

In Småland

This weekend we're in Småland. We arrived this morning and it just started snowing!

Don't Worry!

Then, turning to his disciples, Jesus said, “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food to eat or enough clothes to wear. For life is more than food, and your body more than clothing. Look at the ravens. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds! Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And if worry can’t accomplish a little thing like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things?
“Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
“And don’t be concerned about what to eat and what to drink. Don’t worry about such things. These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers all over the world, but your Father already knows your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need.
“So don’t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom.
“Sell your possessions and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven! And the purses of heaven never get old or develop holes. Your treasure will be safe; no thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

Tonight we've been thinking about these words of Jesus. They sound so simple, but, as with most things Jesus said, they raise so many questions. Was Jesus serious? How do I "seek the Kingdom of God"? Where is my treasure at the moment? What would it look like to stop worrying?

The Great Firewall of China

Beijing has recently added a new weapon to its arsenal of surveillance technologies, a system it believes to be a modern marvel: the Golden Shield. It took eight years and $700 million to build, and its mission is to "purify" the Internet — an apparently urgent task. ~ Oliver August, Wired Magazine