living_as_a_creative – Page 31 – ORGANIZING CREATIVITY

Essay Recommendation: “The Coddling of the American Mind” by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt

2015-08-11

A great essay by the president and CEO of FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) and a social psychologist who wrote an impressive book about moral psychology. If you are concerned about the state of (at the moment, mostly US) universities, it provides a very enlightening and well-founded view on it.
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Some comments on the tension between creativity and commerce

2015-08-09

Got an interesting question on Twitter and given that Twitter isn't suited to longer texts, I'll address it here.
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Windows 10, Cortana, and the Loyalty of Virtual Assistants

2015-08-06

Given the Windows 10 release, a few comments on virtual assistants (e.g., Apple's Siri or Microsoft's Cortana) and what they mean for us and our privacy. In short, loyalty becomes an issue.
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Another shout-out to “Zombies, Run!”

2015-07-29

Standing Desk/Workspace Update

2015-07-20

After trying out my standing desk for a year or so, it's time for an update.
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Loopholes

2015-07-20

I'm usually one to bypass problems. Why bang your head against a wall, when you can just walk around it. But ... woaw, this is a loophole that's ... creative. (NSFW, but very funny)
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Interesting talk by Jonathan Haidt and YourMorals.org

2015-07-17

An interesting talk about why some people dislike social justice and a great website to learn more about your values.
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Insightful (and helpful) reflection by Noah Bradley on his journey to become a professional artist

2015-07-09

A recommendation of two impressive postings about an artist's journey to become a professional, and why you shouldn't go to art school.
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A plan B for when your blog might vanish suddenly

2015-07-03

It's good to plan for worst cases, and if you have a blog on a paid server, you might want to consider what happens if you are no longer around.
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Safe Spaces at Universities

2015-05-09

A short comment about safe spaces at universities and a recommendation of a beautiful satirical video about them.
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This is a private blog showing my opinions. If you have an issue with what I write here, either don’t read it or talk to me directly. Don’t waste your time — or mine — dragging my employer into matters where they hold no authority.

The institution I work for, or rather the people officially representing it, have already distanced themselves from this blog. I find this unnecessary, as I’ve clearly stated in the «About this Blog» section that this is a personal blog.

Frankly, I have nothing but contempt for those who lack the backbone to address their concerns directly and instead resort to passive-aggressive tattling to others. Such behavior strikes me as not only cowardly, but also spineless, gutless, and wholly unprincipled. Moreover, these efforts are as pathetic as they are futile.

That said, I might listen if you present compelling arguments and evidence, as constructive feedback is always welcome. Who knows? We might even both gain something valuable from the interaction.

A comment for those seeking to use this site for personal gain: Given the increase in requests, let me be clear. I write on this blog because I want to. It’s my hobby, my playground. Sometimes people point me to interesting products/services and I write about them. But any request regarding ads or sponsored placements ends up the trash without a reply. And if you think something would be of interest, differentiate yourself from the spammers by referring to a posting — in an intelligent way. (I get enough auto-generated mails to identify them immediately.)

BTW, posts can get updated after I published them if I spot spelling errors (not a native speaker) or think a different wording might improve precision and clarity.

This blog is not focused on a single topic, or method. As long as it is relevant to improving creativity (or allowing it in the first place), it's fair game.
Some postings on this blog deal with freedom, as I think that we need freedom of thought, of speech, of association, etc. pp. to solve mankind's problems. Thus, some postings may seem a bit remote when it comes to organizing creativity. Freedom is, however, the bedrock of creativity.
The heterogeneity of the postings can make reading this blog a bit cumbersome, at least if you are only interested in one topic. You can either use the search function (above), or use the categories or the tags to narrow down the postings you see.