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A Sandwich of Topics, Easy to DigestArchive for Inspirational
The Grasshoper and the Ant
-attributed to Aesop
In a field one summer’s day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart’s content. An Ant walked by, grunting as he carried a plump kernel of corn.
“Where are you off to with that heavy thing?” asked the Grasshopper.
Without stopping, the Ant replied, “To our ant hill. This is the third kernel I’ve delivered today.”
| “Why not come and sing with me,” said the Grasshopper, “instead of working so hard?” “I am helping to store food for the winter,” said the Ant, “and think you should do the same.”
“Why bother about winter?” said the Grasshopper; “we have plenty of food right now.” |
But the Ant went on its way and continued its work.
The weather soon turned cold. All the food lying in the field was covered with a thick white blanket of snow that even the grasshopper could not dig through. Soon the Grasshopper found itself dying of hunger.
He staggered to the ants’ hill and saw them handing out corn from the stores they had collected in the summer.
Moral of the story:
“Idleness brings want”
Tenacity vs Intellect: What Makes an Entrepreneur?
via ForaTV
As I read and watch videos about successful entrepreneurs, this same question pops up in my head. Was the cause of this persons success due more to to this person being an egghead, or them being passionate and driven? Leonard Brody eloquently answers this question by intelligence is a commodity- you hire smart people- but passion is the driving force. When I look at the Forbes Richest people list many of them were college drop outs and some never finished high school. I have no doubt this these people aren’t all intelligent, their success was due more to the fact that they had a passion to succeed or fear of failure.
There’s a good article on Street Capitalist which underscores this point. The author writes about Warren Buffet talking about Rose Blumkin who had a grade school education but was able to turn her investment of $500 into the biggest furniture store in North America.
Dan Senor, Author of Startup Nation on CNBC [video]
Dan Senor, the author of Startup Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle discusses key factors on why Israel is one of the fastest growing and most innovative economies on the planet despite being in a constant state of war.
Many countries could gain alot by studying Israel’s example and utilizing some of it’s policies- especially developing countries.
Mom Feeds Family on $4 a Week Using Coupons
via abc news
Kathy Spencer spends a couple of hours every week scanning newspapers, circulars and the Web.
Tip 1: Check Your Store’s Policy, See If You Can Use Multiple Coupons on the Same Order
Tip 2: Stockpile Store Credits
Tip 3: Ask Store About Doubled Coupons
Tip 4: Combine Store and Manufacturer Coupons
PBS- The Market Maker: Eleni Gabre Madhin Creates First Commodity Market in Ethiopia [Full Episode]
Trailer:
While in college future economist Eleni Gabre-Madhin watched the famine in her home country Ethiopia, where about a million people died of starvation. The most messed up part about it was that in the northern part of the country there was a surplus of food which was thrown away.
In the video we get to watch her as she goes back to Ethiopia to set up a commodity exchange so that Ethiopian farmers get access to the market all across Ethiopia- and with enough time, the world. This is an amazing documentary (and the only one I know of) showing a person developing a national commodities exchange from scratch.
If you want to see the whole video in full screen, go here:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/the-market-maker/full-episode/5293/
William Kamkwamba on Daily Show with Jon Stewart
After having to drop out of school to help his family due to famine in Malawi, William Kamkwamba went to the library and found a book called “Using Energy”. From this book, the 14 year old created his own windmill to harness energy in his small African Village.
During the interview, Jon Stewart calls him the closest real life version of MacGyver. The story William tells at the end had me cracking up.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
The book mentioned, “The Boy Who Harnessed Wind” is currently #10 on Amazon.
Quote of the Week:
“If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” -C.S. Lewis
Wow A Reality Show That’s Actually Good! – abc’s Shark Tank
I don’t watch a lot of T.V. But when I do its CNBC Fast Money, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Colbert Report, Fareed Zakaria’s GPS, and my NFL team (Eagles of course). And even with that being said, I can watch most of these online now.
This new show by Mark Burnett the creator of, well, a crapload of reality shows including Survivor and Apprentice has his best one yet. It’s called Shark Tank and it’s essentially The Apprentice meets American Idol. People pitch their business Ideas in front of would be investors (including Daymond John creator of FUBU) in an intimidating atmosphere. If you have a business idea and have plan to execute it, this show is a really good depiction of what you may encounter (without the dramatic background music).
(double click after commercial to enlarge)
Vodpod videos no longer available.
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