Archive for the Filling the Void Category
SPRING 2005, PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
I had to bribe them. What other choice did I have?
My lecture at Princeton had just ended with smiles and enthusiastic questions.
At the same time, I knew that most students would go out and promptly do the opposite of what I preached. Most of them would be putting in 80-hour weeks as high-paid coffee fetchers unless I showed that the principles from class could actually be applied.
Hence the challenge.
I was offering a round-trip ticket anywhere in the world to anyone who could complete an undefined “challenge” in the most impressive fashion possible. Results plus style. I told them to meet me after class if interested, and here they were, nearly 20 out of 60 students.
The task was designed to test their comfort zones while forcing them to use some of the tactics I teach. It was simplicity itself: contact three seemingly impossible-to-reach people—J Lo., Warren Buffett, Bill Clinton, J.D. Salinger, I don’t care—and get at least one to reply to three questions… Read More
Gentle on nature, hard on Jedi. (More great Eco-Boba pics here.)
Boba Fett was always my favorite Star Wars character.
Here’s your chance to emulate him and become a bounty hunter. Prizes go to the bold.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), more than 125 million cell phones are thrown away each year, which amounts to about 65,000 tons of waste. That’s just in the US.
I have four old phones sitting in a drawer because I want to recycle them but… well, it’s damn inconvenient. Most people are green only when it is more convenient, cheaper, or faster than the alternatives, plain and simple.
But what if recycling a phone were as easy as “throwing it out” in a public mailbox?
The Solution – Hunt Them Down
How do we convince companies, like LG or AT&T, to make good behavior convenient, helping us and the planet? Simple. Call them on it. Literally.
Here are the steps and bounty… Read More
Napping after lunch at the new Vang Lam preschool in Vietnam. So cute a lumberjack would cry.
Remember LitLiberation, the social media educational experiment I ran with bloggers not long ago?
With zero financing or hard costs, this new model ended up raising more than $250,000 in less than a month, more than Stephen Colbert, TechCrunch, and Engadget combined during that same period.
Hundreds and thousands of you participated and spread the word, helping thousands of children in fundamental life-altering ways.
Here is one fun new example: our first school in Vietnam has been completed and is now full of pre-schoolers! … Read More
Bestselling author David Bach used to use Flonase, Alegra D, and Singulair. He used Advair for almost ten years before he made one change that eliminated all of these medications.
He moved into a The Solaire, a green-optimized building in NYC.
Going green is something we all know we should do, but somehow most of us never quite get around to it, unless an accident or experiment shows us clear personal benefits. David moved into The Solaire for the location, for example, not the green effect.
But what if you could help the world by being self-interested? Self-interest and contribution need not be mutually exclusive, after all.
It can be done… Read More
In Sonoma: Kevin Rose and my attempt at an artsy wine photo.
Thick legs, full body, good structure. Sounds to me like a bad Match.com description. But no, it’s a cabernet sauvignon. Huh?
Alas, maybe wine just isn’t for a lad who grew up on Long Island with a rat tail.
Then again, as the soon-to-be wine demigod Gary Vaynerchuk sayeth: “Most people in the wine business are douche bags.”
Sad but true. So how do you appreciate wine without turning up your polo collar and becoming someone worthy of a slap in the face? I just came back from a weekend in Sonoma, and here are 7 tips I learned to follow after bumbling through wine for a few years in Nor-Cal… Read More
The goal is NOT inactivity. (Photo: the super smart and sexy Pinar Ozger)
Perhaps the most common question I’m asked is “what do you do all day?”
I was recently interviewed by J.D. Roth on his popular personal finance blog, and one of his readers wrote in with the following:
“I would like to know as best he can give, what Tim’s average NON-mini-retirement day entails.”
Here was my answer:
My days almost never look the same. I ask my assistants to avoid phone calls on Mondays and Fridays, in case I want to take a long weekend on either end, and I almost always allocate Mondays for general preparation and prioritizing for the week, then any administrative tasks that I need to handle (paperwork for accountants, lawyers, etc.).
I put very few things in my calendar, as I do not believe most people can do more than four hours of productive work per day at maximum, and I loathe multi-tasking. For example, my day tomorrow [Tim: this was about 14 days ago] looks like this, with items in my calendar preceded by an asterisk (*):
Read More
Michael Ellsberg invented a singles event called Eye Gazing, which took off like an addiction in NYC (“NY’s hottest dating trend” according to Elle) and has been featured in media around the world, ranging from CNN to The Guardian and others.
It is similar to speed dating but different in one fundamental respect—no speaking is permitted.
It involves looking into the eyes of each partner for 2-3 minutes at a time. If you go to such an event, as I did for the first time last Tuesday night, it becomes clear how uncomfortable most people are doing this. I don’t think it’s necessarily the best way to meet your match (and it can attract some strange people, especially in SF), but it’s a very telling social experiment.
For the next two days, test gazing into the eyes of others—whether people you pass on the street or conversational partners—until they break contact.
Here are three tips… Read More
Theobroma–”Food of the Gods”
Two weeks ago, I decided I wanted to be the real Charlie in the Chocolate Factory.
Two reasons: 1) because it seemed like fun, like when I decided to play with monkeys not long ago, and 2) because I wanted to learn the little-known art of eating and choosing chocolate, which I could then share with you. It’s a simple way to seriously upgrade your Valentine’s experience.
Since I use Scharffen Berger gourmet chocolate for most of my truffle making (70% cacao), I tracked down their most famous chocolate maker, Brad Kintzer, and convinced him to take me behind the scenes for a tasting.
Below are four video clips that explore everything from pairing with scotch and the taste trail of dark chocolate to the importance of blending cocoa beans for the perfect chocolate… Read More
V-Day street cred.
No girl for Valentine’s Day? No worries. Problem solved.
Like millions, I’m enjoying National Singles Awareness Day as Lone Ranger this year, and it bothered me at one point. But then I realized…
V-Day isn’t about Y chromosomes. It’s all about sharing the love–period.
Why not show some Fight Club-style feelings for your homies with the testosterone-rich but heart-rending “I Man Crush You” T-shirt or Hoodie? 100% of profits for all products in February go to Camp Sunshine, a retreat for children with life-threatening illnesses… Read More
