Every week my friend UnCagedBaby makes an awesome mix of eclectic new school beats. He calls them Elevators.
Check out his website:
Check out Elevator 17:
https://soundcloud.com/elevators-to-heaven/elevator-17-2
Enjoy the ride.
If you are God then why does this all matter?
This interview gets great around 3:00….
A true follower of Hanuman, Krishna talks about his guru, Neem Karoli Baba who is also the guru of Ram Dass.
This was from about 3 weeks ago and I think David Brooks does a nice job of forecasting the future of education..
As an urban studies graduate I spent a lot of time in classes that discussed education. Its amazing how fast technology shifts perspective. As a 2011 graduate of Penn we rarely discussed the online classroom. The concept was not as exposed as its becoming today….
Here is my humble opinion that may get passionate at times…..In case you didn’t know, college education the way you used to think about it, is dead for the conscious learner. I think of a conscious learner as a person who truly wants to learn and process material. From ages 18-22 I was the farthest thing from a conscious learner. I could care less about going to class let alone what the teacher at the front of the room was saying (for the most part). I was ignorant. Today, I believe learning is one of the most fun processes to take on. It takes a lot of time and dedication to learn something….well without going too off topic….college the way our parents generation used to think of college is over.
Going across the country to pay 50k a year to attend a “great” school is a tough look. Most students end up with 200k of liabilities that will be a straight up-hill battle to pay back. If you have taken a look at the Fed’s balance sheet lately you understand how solid students are at paying back long term college debt. If you have not, please check out this link:
After looking at the forthcoming bubble, student debt, and understanding what is going on in terms of online education one can see where the future is headed.
To get an idea of where I think education is headed please check out:
www.edx.org
www.khanacademy.org
www.mruniversity.com
I will give you a scenario. I am in HR for goldman sachs (or whatever company college graduates think is great because it pays well) and I am looking at two job candidates fresh out of an undergraduate business program. One went to Wharton and one from the hypothetical Harvard Edx Business School.
In the first interview the Wharton grad comes in and gives me the same answer Wharton grads have given me for the past 50 years. “I went to the best business school (according to Businessweek) out there. I was taught by Jeremey Siegel and some of the other best business professors and economists at Penn. I got a 3.5 grade point average. During the summers for 8 weeks I interned on Wall Street. Did I mention I paid 200k to graduate from Penn?”
Then the Harvard EdX grad comes in the room. “I made the economical choice and went to college for free. I attended lectures at Harvard, MIT, Berkeley, Gerogetown, and Texas among other great institutions. I did interactive lessons with professors in all of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa). I got a 95% proficiency on all the written tests I completed. I have a receipt that I attended and listened proactively (asking questions) in every single class. I have a degree from the best online university. During that time instead of investing 200k in a private college education I invested 10k a year for four years and traveled for 3 months to Asia, South America, Africa, and Europe. I was able to communicate with people of different cultures and see the world. While in the states, I was also able to intern at a company on Wall Street while I was doing my online education.”
In my opinion, the above scenario is what will begin to take place in probably 10 years, maybe sooner. I hope it does. I hope the candidate who is more ambitious jumps out to you.
There are some major positives for conscious learners from the above scenario as well. I am excited to see the price of institutional private education fall back to a respectable level. It seems that universities inflate their tuition costs yearly. Demand of out of state private school learners should decrease and hopefully there will be a healthy correction in the price of education.
I talked earlier today about access and with more access the world can and will be happier. With more education and online resources for education the world can be a happier place.
Columbia, NYU, University of Chicago, Northwestern, Boston University and Vanderbilt all have a total annual cost of over 55k a year. I am sure they are all great, special schools to attend. I’m sure anyone who goes there will learn a lot about whatever they want to study. But I am excited for the day where people can access that same level of education for the cost of the time it takes to sit down and learn the material.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-21487993
Hyperlapse video travel has to be one of the more bad ass things Google has brought to the consumer to date. It allows anyone, anywhere, to travel from a specific point to another specific point in a hyper lapse video recorded by Google Maps and the Google street view teams.
I constantly find myself on Google Earth for hours looking at satellite images and pictures of places I want to travel to. This app now gets you on the ground and lets you journey through different countries and cities that you may potentially want to see in person one day.
-BL
http://www.tristudios.com/events/past
Every Wednesday night Bob Weir does a live broadcast from his world class studio in San Rafael, CA. One of the kings of rock and roll brings in different legends of the music game weekly to discuss and play music.
4 mantras explained with the help of Mandy Burstein
1) Mantra: om
Translation: The sound of the universe. It’s the first, original vibration, representing the birth, death and re-birth process.
Modern adaptation: Chanting the sound OM brings us into harmonic resonance with the universe – this is a scientific fact! OM is said to vibrate at 432 Hertz, which is the natural musical pitch of the Universe, as opposed to 440 Hertz, which is the frequency of most modern music.
Decreasing your frequency to coincide with that of the Universe stills the fluctuations of the mind, allowing you to practice yoga through sound. OM is an idyllic way to begin and end a yoga or meditation practice, and also comes in handy when you just need to chill out.
2) Mantra: Om Namah Shivaya
Translation: I bow to Shiva, the supreme deity of transformation who represents the truest, highest self.
Modern adaptation: “I honor the divinity within myself.” This is a great mantra to help build self confidence , reminding us that we are all made up of divine energy and should treat ourselves accordingly. Bow to shiva- the destroyer. He can take you at anytime.
3) Mantra: Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu
Translation: May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for all
Modern adaptation: Most commonly associated with the Jivamukti Yoga School, this mantra is a powerful way to dedicate yourself to living a life of non-harming and being of service to the greater good. This mantra encourages cooperation, compassion and living in harmony with the environment, animals and our fellow human beings.
4) Mantra: Shanti Mantra
Om Saha Naavavatu
Saha Nau Bhunaktu
Saha Veeryam Karavaavahai
Tejasvi Aavadheetamastu Maa Vidvishaavahai Om
Translation: May the Lord protect and bless us. May he nourish us, giving us strength to work together for the good of humanity. May our learning be brilliant and purposeful. May we never turn against one another.
Modern adaptation: A perfect mantra to start a yoga class, a new day, or even a new business with. It unites the participants and sets a tone of non-competitiveness, unity, and working together towards a common goal.
http://theumlaut.com/2013/04/24/conspicuous-frugality/
Dalibor Rohac presents a lot of interesting points about today’s world and being cheap.
Quotes that stand out:
“If one’s utility depends, say, on his earnings or consumption relative to his peers, then earning more or consuming more imposes a negative externality on other people”
“the modern economy enables people to maintain high standards of living while spending less.”
“In the present era, in contrast, they embrace frugality as something cool.”
“I don’t get the impression that swanky residences and Bentleys of Russian oligarchs and Saudi princes were buying them a lot of goodwill with local residents.”
“True, the embrace of frugality seems to be an elite phenomenon, and may not extend beyond large cities and folks with university degrees.”
“I am almost willing to bet that we are living in a world in which the social effects of status seeking—including status seeking through frugal and low-key consumption—are becoming increasingly beneficial.”
A wise man once told me “luxury conveys arrogance, simplicity conveys reliability.” I have taken this to heart. Of course there is nothing wrong with having great material possession- possessions are one of the reasons so many people push themselves so hard everyday to make money. But what is the opportunity cost of making so much money? Does it limit time away from your true family and friends? As a conscious being is it really the driving force behind your happiness? These are questions people have to consciously ask themselves daily. If what you are doing is making you happy all day long, God bless you. Don’t settle for being happy half the day.
1.4 billion people live off less than $1.50 a day. Many of those people, while living a tough life, can manifest happiness in their lives (if even for a second). In America, I have been exposed to many people who make over 100k a year and somehow “it’s not enough.” Think about that- some people are making less than 1k a year and still live a happy life while others are making 100k and are miserable.
Maybe being happy is cool and with so much access in today’s world (the internet) people of all classes are feeling happier. That is a post for another day.
-BL