“The entrepreneur is our visionary, the creator in each of us.  We’re born with that quality and it defines our lives as we respond to what we see, hear, feel, and experience.  It is developed, nurtured, and given space to flourish or is squelched, thwarted, without air or stimulation, and dies.”

- fellow thinker
Michael Gerber

Doing some random afternoon reading, I came across this great by fellow thinker Alfred North Whitehead…

Q. What is morality in any given time or place?

A. It is what the majority then and there happen to like, and immorality is what they dislike.

Now be sure to tread lightly with this one my fellow thinkers…because this is just the type of thinking that can surely flip one’s belief system upside down!!!

“If we teach today as we were taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow.”

- Fellow thinker
John Dewey

written by Anthony Roberts, www.xxlmag.com

When Will Smith made the leap into having his own sitcom at the height of his rap popularity, the gamble paid off for Hollywood’s current leading man, as fans were able to accept the Fresh Prince in a new arena. When Eddie Murphy, at arguably the height of his acting career hit the world with his singing on Party All The Time, heads weren’t exactly hailing Murphy as the next pop sensation. Point being, it takes a lot for the public to see celebrities in a different light. Kanye West is undoubtedly well aware of it, and most likely doesn’t care whatsoever.

The 808’s & Heartbreak savant has earned his stripes in the music game, but now with help from author J. Sakiya Sandifer, decided to throw his hat into the literary world. More inspiring bits and pieces than War and Peace, West and Sandifer’s Thank You And You’re Welcome is an attempt to impart some of the truths that the MC/producer has used in his own life. In a candid chat with XXLMag.com, Kanye along with Sandifer breaks down why the book is so ill, why Ye refuses to swap verses with artists and how he’s using this format to become a better person.

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Barack Obama’s first job was at Baskin-Robbins, an ice cream parlour in Honolulu. 

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TONIGHT’S TOPICS: POWER…ultimately who has it? Is it the government, corporations or the people? Tune in and join the discussion. Tonight’s guest host will be “Kwesi” Ronald Harris of www.khepera.org.

First let me start off by saying that I freaking hate having to apologize.  When in situations when an apology is necessary, I believe in doing it on spot and getting it over with. This is why I always try my best to leave my (big) ego out of situations and just serve the greater good.

However depending on the offense that’s done to me, an apology is a cool and nice gesture when done immediately, but it truly doesn’t make much of a difference as times passes on…regardless of how genuine it is.

“It is very much easier to be intolerant, angry, jealous and resentful than it is to be generous, patient, kind and considerate.  Without question it takes far more thought, and far more work, to treat others from the standpoint of these virtues than from that of those vices, which is why the latter are so prevalent.”

- fellow thinker
A.C. Grayling

“If you would be a real seeker after truth, you must at least once in your life doubt, as far as possible, all things.”

- fellow thinker,
Rene Descartes

Allow me to introduce fellow thinker Harry O’Brien of Australia’s Collingwood Football Club.  Harry believes that there are 3 types of people in this world…those that make things happen, those that let things happen and those who wonder what the hell just happened.  If you were to ask him which one he is, he’ll quickly respond…”I make things happen!” (more…)

Achieving milestones in life are great because they produce great moments of reflection.  I thank and appreciate everyone who reached out to say their congratulations, although I must admit there were times when I thought that some were more excited about it than me…and of course that made me reflect even more.

It made me think about when one of my mentors told me toalways distinguish the difference between a bridge and the destination.  Fortunately my journey has taught me that others will often mistake my bridges as my destination and it’s best not to get too caught up in their perspectives.

I feel compelled to share this lesson learned with the many others who have decided to live out their dreams.

Minutes before going live, I noticed how calm I was…I mean really freaking calm!  It was almost as if it wasn’t happening in real life and was still just a figment of my imagination.  I was amazed by how the 4 minute segment felt more like 4 seconds.  But that’s normally what happens when you get really caught up in your moment.  (more…)

This is a snippet of me at the Publishing Prep’s Literatti Panel Discussion: Secrets to Self-Publishing Success.

Tune into CBS The Early Show tomorrow morning as Kanye and I discuss our book for the first time together on the same stage!!!

Check you local listings for time.

“When you don’t have confidence for your thoughts, you will always be under the control of others’ thoughts.”

Excerpt from 200 Thoughts 200 Million Meanings (Outside Looking In) written by fellow thinker Arto Tuncboyaciyan (ISBN 978-0-615-20626-4)

Thanks again V.

TONIGHT’S TOPICS: Tune in and join our discussion on “Race” — is it still a relevant issue that holds people back…and if so, what are some solutions???  The guest host for tonight’s show is fellow thinker, Preacher Moss of “The End of Racism Comedy & Lecture Tourâ€�.

Excerpt from As a Man Thinketh by fellow thinker James Allen

All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts.  In a justly ordered universe, where loss of equipoise would mean total destruction, individual responsibility must be absolute.  A man’s weakness and strength, purity and impurity are his own, and not another man’s: they are brought about himself, and not by another: and they can only be altered by himself, never by another.  His condition is also is own, and not another man’s.  His suffering and his happiness are envolved from within.  As he thinks, so he is: as he continues to think, so he remains.

A strong man cannot help a weaker unless that weaker is willing to be helped, and even then the weak man must become strong of himself; he must, by his own efforts, develop the strength which he admires in another.  None but himself can alter his condition.

It has been usual for mean to think and to say, “Many men are slaves because one is an oppressor; let us hate the oppressor.”  Now, however, there is amongst an increasing few a tendency to reverse this judgment, and to say, “One man is an oppressor because many are slaves; let us despise the slaves.”

Wednesday, May 20, 2009 
1290 Avenue of the Americas 
New York City
6pm – 9:30pm

Join Publishing Prep for an evening of honest dialogue where winning strategies to self-publishing success will be disclosed.  Get all your pressing questions answered by myself as well as other distinguished panelist of self-published all-stars!!!

For more info, visit www.publishingprep.com

“The prostitute is not, as feminists claim, the victim of men but rather their conqueror, an outlaw who controls the sexual channel between nature and culture.” – Camille Paglia

Whoa…heavy stuff!!!  What do you think???

Please feel free to share this image/message with any and all who you think is deserving!!!

Although I’m obviously bias, the principle isn’t any less true…LOL!!!

In the 18th and 19th centuries, sideshow carnivals known as misemono were a popular form of entertainment for the sophisticated residents of Edo (present-day Tokyo).  The sideshows featured a myriad of educational and entertaining attractions designed to evoke a sense of wonder and satisfy a deep curiosity for the mysteries of life. One popular attraction was the pregnant doll.  Although it is commonly believed that these dolls were created primarily to teach midwives how to deliver babies, evidence suggests they were also used for entertainment purposes.

As I found myself getting lost in the simple beauty of the form and function of an airplane wing, the following thought came crashing into my mind…I want my life to be like the wing of the plane!!!

Allow me explain… (more…)

The photographer who took this picture of a bicyclist being upended after hitting a pothole submerged in rainwater in Xiamen, China, came under fire. Critics say he was lying in wait to capture an unfortunate incident instead of warning people about the impending danger. The photographer defends himself by arguing that without his pictures, the government would have never noticed the pothole.

TONIGHT’S TOPICS: BODY IMAGE — How and/or does it affects men and women differently?  Why isn’t it discussed if body image issues are so prevalent?  What are possible ways to overcome a negative body image?  Tune in tonight to join in the discussion!!!

Unfortunately, most people live lives of quiet desperation…it’s up to you not to be one of them!!!

I’m really intrigued by how the solution came to this!!!

One of my good friends/fellow thinkers sent this to me based on a conversation that we had last week.  He’s convinced the only reason why he came across it was because of the energy of our conversation (he’s really big on energy).

“Energy comes from having a purpose. Creativity flows from having a purpose. When you are clear about ‘why’ you will figure out ‘how’.   Success is a function of the sincerity of the mission. Without a meaningful purpose, action leads to disappointment and frustration.  Yet when focused upon a compelling reason, action always results in achievement. (more…)

Members of the media record a statement by the protesters occupying an underground vault in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in protest against state plans to evict them from their house.

 

These words give me yet another reason to do what I am meant to do!!!

“Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking.  There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions.  Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

The millions of landmines planted in Angola during the bloody civil war has inspired a beauty contest.  Miss Landmine celebrates empowerment over physical perfection.  In this beauty contest 10 women competed for the title of most beautiful mutilated Angolan woman.

The Miss Landmine Manifesto (in no particular order) (more…)

“The life of man is the life of a moving being, and it would not be sufficient for him to develop body alone.  A plant is rooted: it stays in one place and cannot move.  It would be very surprising, therefore, to discover that a plant had a mind; or at least a mind in any sense which we could comprehend.  If a plant could foresee or project consequences, (more…)

TOPIC: Feminism!  What went wrong?  What went right?  And most importantly…where do we go from here?

This is a snippet of my radio appearance with a group of dynamic students at  the Piscataway High School in Piscataway, NJ.   (more…)

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“Stupid people like to mislead themselves that while they may not be clever, they were at least able to compensate with feelings and insights denied to the intellectual.  It was precisely this kind of false belief that made stupid people so stupid.  The truth was the clever people had infinitely more resources from which to make the leaps of connection that the world called intuition.  What was ‘intelligence’ after all, but the ability to read into things?”

- Stephen Fry

“What is possible would never have been achieved if, in this world, people had not repeatedly reached for the impossible.”

- fellow thinker, Max Weber

Less than one thousand  people worldwide have gotten swine flu and everybody wants to wear a mask.  Over 30 million people have HIV/AIDS and they are still a lot people who don’t want to use condoms.

I re-discovered this little gem while on my morning run.  This was one of my favorite pre-College Dropout tracks by Kanye.  I would often listen to it while working on my dreams.  Listening to it now, it really sounds like a prequel soundtrack for The Think Movement…uhmm…wait a minute, could this be a coincident???

In any case…ENJOY!!!  (more…)