The ski bums who understood the bottom line; how two friends build the global brand Fat Face

January 20, 2014 5:57 pm

The ski bums who understood the bottom line

By Lina Saigol and Andrea Felsted

Being a ski bum isn’t always a slippery slope.

For Tim Slade and Jules Leaver, it led them to establish an active casual wear clothing company recognisable across the globe. It all began in 1988 in the French ski resort of Méribel, where the two self-confessed ski bums were hanging around on the slopes and avoiding real work. But, finding themselves in need of cash, the pair started printing sweatshirts and fleeces with the slogan ‘Méribel ‘88’, which they planned to sell out of their rucksacks, allowing them to fund their winter hobby. Read more of this post

What eating tells you about people around you

SoShiokMon, Jan 20 2014

What eating tells you about people around you

Do you know you can tell what a person is like just by having a meal with them? According to a report by Huffington Post, people’s eating habits say more about them than they voluntarily disclose. Like that person who needs to know what everyone else is ordering before deciding on what to eat for themselves. Sounds familiar? Read more of this post

30 Lessons For Living

30 Lessons For Living

by SHANE PARRISH on JUNE 18, 2013

Who are the wisest Americans and what can they teach us?

We’re all interested in finding the right partner, staying with them, and (maybe even) raising children who turn out well.

Karl Pillemer wrote 30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans to provide us with practical advice from the experts about how to make the most out of life. (I had the chance to interview Karl as well.) Read more of this post

Why do we have such a problem with being alone? Personal freedom has never been more celebrated, yet we are terrified of being alone, and regard those who choose to be so with suspicion. Sara Maitland on the joy of solitude

Why do we have such a problem with being alone?

Personal freedom has never been more celebrated, yet we are terrified of being alone, and regard those who choose to be so with suspicion. Sara Maitland on the joy of solitude

Sara Maitland

The Guardian, Saturday 11 January 2014

I live alone. I have lived alone for more than 20 years now. I do not just mean that I am single – I live in what might seem to many people to be “isolation” rather than simply “solitude”. My home is in a region of Scotland with one of the lowest population densities in Europe, and I live in one of the emptiest parts of it: the average population density of the UK is 674 people per sq mile (246 per sq km). In my valley, we have (on average) more than three sq miles each. The nearest shop is 10 miles away, and the nearest supermarket more than 20. There is no mobile-phone connection and very little through-traffic uses the single-track road that runs a quarter of a mile below my house. On occasion, I do not see another person all day. I love it. Read more of this post

4 Little-Known Reasons Martin Luther King Was An Amazing Leader, Human: He Was a Systems Thinker

4 LITTLE-KNOWN REASONS MARTIN LUTHER KING WAS AN AMAZING LEADER, HUMAN

YOU ALREADY KNEW THAT TODAY IS THE 85TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION OF MARTIN LUTHER KING. BUT YOU DIDN’T KNOW THE ANGER, HUMOR, AND DEPTH OF INSIGHT IN THE MAN HIMSELF.

BY DRAKE BAER

Martin Luther King Jr. seems more legend than man. But if we peer into Dr. King’s life, we can see that he was more and less than myth: a person with interior complexity and exterior grace beyond what a textbook can tell you. So let’s get to know his intense, hilarious, and prescient sides below. Read more of this post

Malaysia’s God problem erupts, tarnishing moderate image

Malaysia’s God problem erupts, tarnishing moderate image

Sun, Jan 19 2014

By Stuart Grudgings

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – The Sunday Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic church seems like a model for the multicultural, tolerant Malaysia that its government likes to present to the outside world. Read more of this post

From selling discarded golf balls and washing cars to online retail heavyweight: the story behind $315 million Ruslan Kogan

From selling discarded golf balls and washing cars to online retail heavyweight: the story behind $315 million Ruslan Kogan

January 20, 2014

Shane Green

An immigrants’ son done good, Ruslan Kogan has established himself as one of Australia’s top young business guns, writes Shane Green.

Ruslan Kogan remembers the challenge of the canal. As a child growing up in the public housing commission flats of Elsternwick in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs, the canal – or more precisely the ability to jump it – held the promise of a better, more efficient way. Bounding the canal meant a faster trip to primary school, compared to the longer, more routine journey via the bridge. “Your coming of age in the Elsternwick commission flats was when you were able to jump the canal,” says Kogan, “and nobody jumps it on their first go.” Read more of this post

How to Nurture a Child’s Special Abilities

How to Nurture a Child’s Special Abilities

It’s easy to turn athletic gifts into something negative

KATY MCLAUGHLIN

Updated Jan. 18, 2014 9:15 p.m. ET

I went into labor with my first child, Paul, during the 2006 World Cup. We watched two games as I waited to give birth, my husband, Alejandro, on the edge of my hospital bed, breathless with excitement. He was really looking forward to the baby, too. Read more of this post

MOE reminds schools to be vigilant about student safety during PE

MOE reminds schools to be vigilant about student safety during PE

By Ng Jing Yng
POSTED: 20 Jan 2014 07:54
The Ministry of Education (MOE) has issued a circular to schools reminding them to stay vigilant about student safety during Physical Education lessons and co-curricular activities (CCAs), after two students died last week during PE lessons.

SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Education (MOE) has issued a circular to schools reminding them to stay vigilant about student safety during Physical Education lessons and co-curricular activities (CCAs), after two students died last week during PE lessons. Read more of this post

Swindlers Use Telephones, With Internet’s Tactics

Swindlers Use Telephones, With Internet’s Tactics

By NICK WINGFIELDJAN. 20, 2014

SEATTLE — Phone swindles are practically as old as the telephone itself. But new technology has led to an onslaught of Internet-inspired fraud tactics that try to use telephone calls to dupe millions of people or to overwhelm switchboards for essential public services, causing deep concern among law enforcement and other groups. Read more of this post

Why You Need To Go Ahead And Ditch The Mantra ‘Do What You Love’

Why You Need To Go Ahead And Ditch The Mantra ‘Do What You Love’

MIYA TOKUMITSU, SLATE
JAN. 19, 2014, 4:31 PM 11,967 17

New college graduates often get told to “do what they love.”

“Do what you love. Love what you do.”

The command is framed and perched in a living room that can only be described as “well-curated.” A picture of this room appeared first on a popular design blog and has been pinned, tumbl’d, and liked thousands of times. Though it introduces exhortations to labor into a space of leisure, the “do what you love” living room is the place all those pinners and likers long to be. Read more of this post

Australian scientists microchip bees to map movements, halt diseases

Australian scientists microchip bees to map movements, halt diseases

Wed, Jan 15 2014

By Thuy Ong

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian scientists are gluing tiny sensors onto thousands of honey bees to track their movements in a trial aimed at halting the spread of diseases that have wiped out populations in the northern hemisphere. Read more of this post

Carpe diem and YTT

2014-01-20 17:35

Carpe diem and YTT

Lee Sun-ho
A common Latin saying is “carpe diem.”  The phrase means “seize the day” as an end-of-the-year slogan or a New Year’s life resolution aimed at achieving something like the dream for a galloping blue horse. It is used as a motto to enjoy the pleasures of the moment without much concern for the future.
Carpe diem is taken from a poem published in 23 B.C. by the Latin poet Horace (65~8 B.C.). In Horace, the phrase is part of a longer credo, which can be translated literally as, “Pluck the day and put little trust in tomorrow.”  The ode says that the future is unforeseen and that one should not leave to chance future happenings, but rather one should do all one can today to make their future better. Read more of this post

Road to redemption: How McDonald’s’ once down-and-out brand recaptured hearts and minds

Road to redemption: How McDonald’s’ once down-and-out brand recaptured hearts and minds

Dan Ovsey | January 21, 2014 7:00 AM ET
When John Betts took over McDonald’s Canada in 2008 after successfully refurbishing the chain’s breakfast markets in the U.S., the relevance of the fast-food brand to Canadians was rapidly dwindling. Since then, the company has seen a grand renaissance among breakfast patrons spurred by the introduction of McCafe. That success allowed the company to overhaul the operations of more than 1,000 Canadian restaurants, add a higher quality, premium line to its menu and remodel its dining rooms to attract younger consumers. Mr. Betts recently sat down with FP’s Dan Ovsey at the chain’s new two-story, 9,000 square foot restaurant on Toronto’s Yonge Street to discuss the evolution of the brand’s transformation and how it was achieved without runaway costs, Mr. Betts’ collaboration with owner-operators to make operational improvements, the chain’s nominally shifting consumer demographics, and the company’s move toward more transparent customer service. Following is an edited transcript of their conversation. Read more of this post