fjords

fishingboatproceeds:

So I own or co-own a few businesses that have experienced varying degrees of success. I am in the educational video business, and the book-writing business, and the merchandise distribution business, and the conference running business, and the making YouTube videos with my brother business, among others. These businesses employ people and generate more jobs per dollar of revenue than Pepsi or Google or most other large corporations.

If small business is indeed the engine that drives job growth in America, then we are certainly trying to do our part. And so as a small business owner committed to job creation, let me just say:

IF I HEAR ONE MORE FREAKING PERSON TELL ME THAT I BUILT MY BUSINESS, I AM GOING TO VOMIT.

You know why there aren’t a lot of small online media companies emerging from Somalia these days? Because they don’t have a freaking government. They don’t have bookstores where I could sell books, or roads I could use to get t-shirts to your house. My businesses—like all American businesses—exist because we live in a successful and stable country, which is only successful and stable because for generations, we’ve paid taxes that have allowed us to build an infrastructure and make investments in innovation that allow for increased economic productivity and efficiency.

The free market has shown again and again: It can’t make such a world without government assistance. (Witness, for instance, how bad the free market is at developing new classes of antibiotics, even though such antibiotics would be very useful at keeping people healthy, which in turn increases our Gross Domestic Product.)

My work—like almost all work these days—depends upon the Internet, which wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for government investment. If I hadn’t received excellent free primary school education, I could never have written books. And if primary education weren’t free and compulsory in the United States, I’d have fewer readers, because fewer people could read. 

In his stump speech, Mitt Romney has said, “The other day, you know, I thought about a kid that works hard to get the honor roll. And she works real hard. I know that to get the honor roll she had to go on a school bus to get to school. But when she makes the honor roll, I credit the kid, not the bus driver.” 

Well, I credit the bus driver, for providing a safe and comfortable environment for that student. But drivers aren’t just collecting a paycheck: They’re performing a vital service, and one that involves tremendous responsibility. So yes, I credit them.

And I credit the kid’s teacher, who works tirelessly to get the kid excited about learning. I credit the kid’s parents, and I credit her peers. I credit the school’s cafeteria staff, who work to get the kid as nutritious a meal as budget cuts will allow. I credit the school librarian, if the school still has a librarian, who teaches the kid research skills that will serve her well throughout life. I credit the politicians who raise taxes to pay for better schools rather than cowardly arguing that taxes should always be lower, even if they’re already lower than they ever have been. I credit the school board and the people who repave the roads to school to keep them safe.

I credit the kid. But I also credit her community. They recognized the kid (like all kids) was worth investing in. They cared for her. They made it possible for her to succeed. 

Over the years, I’ve encountered a few successful people who believe they did it all themselves and achieved success because they are just better than their fellow human beings. Some were bankers; some were writers; some were lawyers. Some male, some female. Some rich, some not. Some were born into privilege, some weren’t. I guess they’re a pretty diverse crowd. They only have one thing in common, really: They’re all assholes.

jamesishollywood:

bestgesture hat auf dein Foto geantwortet: NE Minneapolis, corner of Winter and Ulysses.

Minneapolis has super-cool street names.

In Northeast, they are named after presidents, but the corresponding streets in Southeast are just numbered. The north-south streets are presidents, and the east-west ones are numbered, except for one weird little section, where there’s Winter, Spring and Summer.

Ulysses Street has the distinction of being the only one to be the president’s first name, Ulysses Grant. It goes Lincoln, Johnson, Ulysses, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur and so on. Though it does start with Washington. The last one is Delano, for FDR, because there was already a Roosevelt.

My friend Sarah used to live on Fillmore between Winter and Spring.

i like xerxes ave

richwhitelesbian:

8yrs:

there is no better feeling than touching the hand of someone you like for the first time

aha look this fuckers never been to a chinese buffet restaurant when they bring out a new thing of fried rice

hey arka ily and I might come visit you this fall and also hi

teryn you’re great you know that? hi

on the bright side, crappier dorm = more time outside bothering friends

someone should come here and cheer me up because atm i am super bummed out.

and it’s hot

and complicated

and everything else is going way better this year already

college is so hard

no one told me i would have a really crappy room

it costs like $9000 to live in this room that is probably less than 150 sq ft for an academic year

b.s.

i’m not even that mad that the dorm isn’t what it’s advertised to be, it’s just ridiculously small and the people next door pay the same and get a huge room, probably literally twice the size.

scam

plus like $4500 for a year’s worth of food?

ugh

i need to get an apartment soon

…

or maybe i’ll get distracted enough with classes and friends and booze to forget all my problems….

stuffing little shampoos and soaps into my bag thinking “haven’t i learned anything from that episode of friends where ross has a shampoo-related incident?”

my social calendar for the next few days is very stressful

Bacon pancakes have to kick it up a notch.

it would be a b otherwise

good pancakes

leaving in 4 hours

arriving in boston in 14 hours

classes start in like 6 days

finally, an organized and packaged structure to life again.

this summer’s been pretty good

i’d give it a b+

jamesishollywood:

queen-avery:

orangemuses:

purifyed:

do you ever feel like you’re the friend everybody secretly hates

constantly

always

Yup.

i’m too witty and hilarious to hate :))))))))))))))

lighthearted or just upbeat

no, i thought about it, but upbeat songs are different

this is more about casual, and some of the songs i had in mind aren’t upbeat

need to make a playlist called “lighthearted songs about murder and violence”

ondskefull:

did anybody else notice

that Mitt Romney’s logo looks like a man’s finely sculpted ass

alexhasa:

Perishables! Come Congregate in the Cold!

Little Hot Waves, Or, Let’s Get Brain Cancer While We Wait For The Popcorn

Mix Your Drinks! (Stir! Whip! Purée!)

A Configuration of Whisks Which, When Activated, Allow Sufjan Stevens to Cook a Fluffier Omelette

Toaster (For the Toastless)

i should quit tumblr for life because it is a breeding ground for pure evil, but i like the people there and the pretty pictures :(