I think I may have posted at least one of these links before but here’s a collection of a few cool stories about how iDevices (iPhones & iPads) have out-of-the-box accessibility features and add-on apps that are changing the lives of visually impaired people in majorly significant ways (that second story about how a new iPhone allows a visually impaired man to “see” the sunset for the first time is particularly moving):
The fundamental difference between smart people and wise people. Smart people reach answers fast without much consideration of alternatives, and who have amazing ability to justify anything, using their big brains. Wise people who know they are often wrong, and so can admit and learn from their mistakes, take more time to make decisions when it is not an emergency, and generally come to better solutions if they are not working. Think of the difference between oh so smart Henry Kissinger and Cho En Lai who ran rings around him when Nixon went to China for example, or in business between the ever self justifying Alan Greenspan and Alan Mullaly who actually turned round Boeing and Ford. It is better to be wise than smart. Of course the wise people also have learned the sort of lessons Edmond Lau has posted, who sounds wise and I would only add admit and learn from mistakes as a specific tool to combine with his list
Saw this meme on Facebook and thought I’d share since June 25 is halfway to Christmas and since it fits with Music Monday, why not post a Christmas song today?
I’ve posted this one before but every time I listen to it, I just love it more and more. So sweet and funny and perfect. (Okay, found a different in-studio version – cool!)
I first came across Mick’s books when, as a young English major, I would go to Yorkton as part of my job as a door-to-door salesman with Image Cable Systems. I would spend the night at a co-worker’s parents’ house on Sunday night before spending a week on the road, moving from one small Saskatchewan town to another.
They put me in their spare bedroom which doubled as their library and that is where I came across a poetry book called “Dark Halo” which, unlike much of the “classic” poetry I was reading at University, blew me away with its immediacy, insight and emotional impact.
After University, I found work with the Saskatchewan Publishers Group and through them, got to know Mick personally. A man who fled the US to avoid the Vietnam war draft, I have probably never met a more gentle soul in my life. I was also fascinated by his choice (though I wasn’t sure if it was a choice or the reality of being a poet) to live like a starving artist, completely dedicated to his art, again, in a way I’d never seen before.
Later, Shea and I moved to Alberta and one of the highlights of my time at the Writers Guild of Alberta was when I got to host three of my favourite Saskatchewan poets to be part of the Word on the Street “Poet’s Corner” stage. They were Bruce Rice, Gary Hyland and Mick Burrs.
Mick moved to Toronto in 2005 and I was able to connect with him at BookExpo Canada in 2006 while spending the year in Ontario completing my MLIS. Other than that, I hadn’t talked to him until he showed up in the Outreach Unit a couple days ago, back to attend the League of Canadian Poets AGM.
As always, it was great to catch up with Mick, hear how his life was going and as always, receive a gift of one of his poems which he inscribed with the words “Enjoy & Share” so that’s what I’m doing…
Summer Haiku 2
roaming in summer heat
this dog
drinks the sidewalk
when I step past
he licks
my shadow
Mick said a Saskatchewan company was shooting a documentary about his life. It wasn’t finished but there was a preview online (with a cameo by Regina Public Library!):
