modern life vs. human nature

**Thanks to thedigeratilife.com for the picture

Recently as I watched the last few stocks that I had fall below my purchase price from a high of about ten times that less than 12 months ago, I had an epiphany..or was it a meltdown…or a crying fit..or the feeling of being absolutely in no way in control of any of my finances..I’m not really sure at this point but I did realize one amazing problem with the stock market.  Call me stupid for not realizing this sooner but alas if I only profit from this one giant revelation during this economic mess then I will be better off for the rest of my life.  Here it is:  The stock market, and by default yours, mine and all our friends’ stocks, are always worth the most when we don’t need the money and inversely are worth the least when you most need the money. I feel like a fool and yet a wise fool now. I have been learned..schooled..and I feel smarter and more broke than ever in my life. Thank you Jesus!

So just to be clear you remember when your stock guy called you in the past all happy and talking about how your stocks went up this much…and then this much..and then he did this..and then this..and now they are worth this much..and so on.  Well, that’s because everyone’s stock guy was telling them the same thing.  The market was rising and everyone was happy that their “air money” was increasing.  This is all great but then you also remember when that inevitable moment came where he said this: “No, just let it ride..the market is going up..we’re going to try to get it to such and such a price..and then sell it”.  But the market never went up..or if it did he didn’t tell you because he was drooling over his own trading account. In the meantime, whil you were unconcerned and planning your tropical vacation the market did what it always does. It went down! Why? Because that’s what it does. The market always goes down whenever it is really high and whenever you are rolling in the dough and the economy is kicking so is the market. Who needs the money right? Well, you..because it’s going to go down and your stock broker is there to make sure you go down with it.  They coach you all the way down into losses and this statement: “Well, now you just have to wait until the market corrects itself”.  The only problem with this is that now you need the money because the bank cut off your line, your bills are adding up and the money coming in is drying up faster than your banker can say “Sorry, there’s nothing we can do..can I help you with anything else today?”.  (and to this statement I would like to say please stop asking this when you can’t do anything for me. It’s like pouring salt on our wounds.)

So my epiphany is this…Sell the stock when the market is high! I would say buy it when it’s low but this is also a really bad idea…hoard it under your mattress.  Your stock broker will think you are an idiot! Do not listen. Your spouse will complain because he/she can’t move into a 10,000 square ft. house next week. Buy them roses or a new ipod but don’t listen.

Lastly, your friends will most likely laugh at you. Suck it up.  Just remember that when they come asking to borrow money when the stock market crashes again….and then you’ll be the one laughing..well, not out loud or your friends will hate you..and with good reason you money hoarder!

Enjoy!

**this jacket above is made from 100% recycled pop bottles and is water reppellent. I designed it for the Ecopurna line.

So my latest project just hit the skids. The brand had to be shelved due to lack of funds from investors. It seems the economy has everyone packing up and leaving..umm..their investments behind. Not to be too melodramatic but it really is a little sad. I had spent years designing these jackets and finally I had an opportunity to bring them to market as a great combination of street, sport and technical environmentally friendliness all rolled into one concept. The entire line was made of recycled pop bottles and included water repellency treatments and stretch characteristics unheard of in the marketplace. I was so excited and now I’m bummed.  It was groundbreaking and now it is in the ground.  As for me, well they just sort turfed me.  Awesome.

Hmmm..makes me want to go out and start my own company again…just to show them how it really should have been done.

What do you think?

Say hello to the new 100% recycled pop bottle, water repellent jacket from Modernature! Well, not quite…

Enjoy.

**photo courtesy of Treehugger

With all the economic bad news that the media is ramming into our brains these days it’s nice to hear that people are actually doing something about it; changing.  Investors are now happily dumping money into renewable energy projects(solar, wind and geothermal) because they have realized that you don’t have to go to war, kill hundreds of thousands of people, ruin entire regions and destroy your country’s economy just to get enough energy to drive your fat ass a block to the 7-Eleven to get a slurpee.(a little harsh maybe but you get my point?)

This is a great article from the people at Treehugger about all the new projects being started in the United States. It gives me hope..though I’m wondering where Canada is in comparison?

**this is the prime minister of Canada with his best friend Oily.

Is Canada going to become the newest lameduck country to blame for destroying the environment?  Where are all the alternative energy projects in Canada, or are there any? It is sad to think that Canadians pride themselves on being smarter and healthier than their American cousins and yet we can’t even contain the stink that eminates from our backyard.  With Bush leaving soon the Prime Minister of Canada is going to start looking like a weasel among the chickens. After all, Stephen Harper has the foresight of a goat and this new president in the US is going to make him look like the “nerd turned evil power mongering money whore” that he is. (way too harsh I know!)

Ok, how do I end this on a positive note?

This last quote from the article was somehow inspiring and hopeful. Enjoy.

“this energy transition is being driven by an intense excitement from the realization that people are now tapping energy sources that can last as long as the earth itself. Oil wells go dry and coal seams run out, but for the first time since the industrial revolution we are investing in energy sources that can last forever. This is the legacy we can leave for future generations.”

**photo courtesy of Momentum

I just browsed through a great little photo spread featured at Momentum Planet (bike magazine). They seem to think that bike hats are going to be the next big fashion trend. I would most likely agree.  As biking is becoming more popular across North America so will all the bike lifestyle accessories.

However, the ridiculous amount of logos on most bicycle hats will most likely disappear replaced by subtle patterns and less obnoxious colorways. You might argue that a good green and red bike hat makes you stand out in a crowd!  One other unique aspect about the lightweight bike hat is that it can be easily rolled up and tucked away somewhere when you are biking (if you are wearing a helmet) and placed on your head once you exit the bicycle, thus hiding the inevitable “helmet head”.

Enjoy.

I think I am going to stop saying the word “consumer” when I talk about people, citizens or humans.  I think the word is limiting. It is far too simplistic a term to call humans.  Consumers do one thing: consume(ingests other organisms or organic matter in a food chain). Humans are not just here to consume. We are here to live, love, and fight sometimes but otherwise we are here to share a rewarding life with other humans on this planet.

The other reason I am going to stop saying consumer is because that is how corporations have come to view us. There was a time when humans were considered people by the business community, primarily when other people owned small businesses and dealt with people on a one to one basis.  Now corporations hire people to sit in offices and study people(consumers) like ants, cows or some kind of low functioning animals driven by base impulses; insert grunts here.  They study us where we live, what we eat and how we recreate in order to pitch us the latest thing to make whatever it is we are doing more convenient, easier or more technologically advanced; like an electric wine bottle opener? WTF? Here’s a hint; learn to open a bottle of wine or stick to beer.

Oops, where was I?

These people doing the studying are also typically removed from whatever it is they are making, probably don’t know who or how to make it themselves and for the most part are not concerned about more than getting it to the ants (us) as profitably for them and as cheaply for us so that we don’t complain too much.  Of course all of these people, the studied and the studying, are us.  But we have been conveniently relabelled “consumers” and lumped into a narrow category so that when we are the ones doing the studying we don’t personalize it and when we’re the ones being studied we can pretend that we are above the “consumer” moniker.  As such we are free to study ourselves to find out how to convince us to buy stuff that we don’t need.

Another problem with this label is that consumers have no rights unless they are consuming.  For example, if you’ve ever been phoned by a corporation only to be put on automatic hold thus eating away at your cell phone minutes until a customer service person can come on the line then you are being treated as a consumer. If you ever noticed your bank automatically billing you fees that you never requested or never heard of -you are being treated like a consumer. If you have ever gotten a call from a collection agency with threats about ruining your credit rating because of a bill that you never knew about –you are being treated like a consumer. Think of how many times you hear customer service agents refer to rules, manuals, agreements or other contracts of service that you didn’t read in order to not give you the service or charge you more for it…then you are being treated like a consumer.

Sometimes we like being treated as consumers because it makes us feel powerful…like returning merchandise to Home Depot because you broke it but you knew you could get around their return policy. I wonder if that is why they don’t have any employees on the floor. They most likely need to recoup the costs of such a return policy by not hiring that kid from the neighborhood or your neighbour’s daughter..or literally you if you lose your job as assistant manager at Home Hardware.

There I go again..Ok, back to my point…

You see consumers suck…literally..and that is all they do. Do humans suck?  I would like to think that humans do more than suck so I am disowning the term “consumer” and throwing it in the verbal garbage.

Stay tuned next week when I stick capitalism where it belongs.

enjoy!

I was distressed today as I pulled on my hair and leaned over my laptop.  I was depressed because I had just had another conversation with someone who thought in black and white terms. Not racial terms but monetary terms.

Money rules.

Forget race, this is the black and white that we have been faced with in the last 8 years.  I had my head down because in the eight years that I decided that money was not going to rule or ruin my life I had to deal with people who think that it should.

Regardless of my situation, I believe that this was the true context of this election. Greed had become king to the extent that some people had forgotten that hoarding wealth does not make for a better life or a better society. The reasons for democracy had slipped away under a president/prince that stole the last eight years and left all of North America with a bankrupt account… and soul.

This is where Obama comes in.  This talented, disciplined and ultimately honourable man has won because he has shown the american population that honour and integrity are colourless and that money should follow great ideas not control or limit them.

Above all, Obama’s campaign was about the american dream or really about the democratic dream; free people acting in accordance with humanitarian laws. Not to sound too religious, but the choice between the utter hell that McCain would have ushered in was an easy one.

So what does this mean?

I think it means that people are waking up to a few new realities. We face a new era with different challenges than our parents.  This is not the old world and we cannot walk around with ignorance and impudence.  I think we are all in this together on this planet. I think that aimlessly polluting and consuming are bad for humans and the planet. I think that we now have to think about consequences.

I am also hopeful that we may have an american president that we can all look up to as a real leader.

Enjoy.