This edition of Awesome Stories brings you humor, community farms, big wind, creativity and jatropha! #connect #inspire #thrive
Holiday Humor
This is the funniest things I’ve seen in a while. Read about Josh and his mistake from Amazon that became a Twitter tirade of the funniest kind. Embrace the burger with #HamburgerEarmuffs. Funny stuff! Thanks Josh Gates for your holiday humor and your upbeat attitude.
Image source: Josh Gates
Community Supported Farms
Subdivisions are getting a makeover thanks to inspired developers in places like Colorado. I love this idea. Instead of golf courses, some developers are now building subdivisions around a common farm to feed the families that live there. It’s a win for all; the residents get farm fresh food and the farmers get a built in customer base and distribution costs are kept low. What do you think? Are you ready to move back to the farm?
Buffett Bets Big on Wind
MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., just placed a $1 Billion order for wind turbines for its Iowa energy needs. This is the largest order ever for land-based wind turbines. As the price of wind generated energy comes down to almost par with coal-based electric, more and more wind projects are expected. This is a huge win for renewable energy. Thanks to Warren Buffet and Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Cycle Madness
These guys are great! Watch some amazing stunt biking!
Sleep Smart
Did you know that sleep makes you smart? According to research Matt Walker at UC Berkley, getting sufficient sleep is not only critical to our health, but our social functioning and learning. His studies suggest getting at least 7 hours of sleep a night. Sleep deprivation can actually contribute to emotional and psychological problems. Whereas, proper sleep can help us learn, retain info, solve problems and respond better socially. Who knew it was so important?
Beautiful Creativity
I’m amazed at these handcrafted wonders! I had never heard of Temari balls, but they are embroidered toy balls fashioned from the scraps of old silk kimonos. Making them is an ancient folkart started in China. This 92 year old Japanese woman has definitely mastered the craft. Beside creating hundreds of beautiful temari, she now teaches others to make them. Lovely!
Jatropha Jinx
Many biofuel ideas have come and gone, left high and dry after the big dreams didn’t pan out. This is especially true of our US corn- based biofuel, aka ethanol, which is not a very sustainable way to make fuel. Unfortunately, we still subsidize many corn growers to make ethanol. SGB of San Diego, believes they have figured out how to make biofuel efficiently from jatropha bushes. Normally these plants don’t produce enough seeds to be viable as a biofuel crop, but SGB has created hybrid plants that produce dramatically more seeds per bush, up to 40-60 versus the native 6-8 seed pods. They have created enough interest to attract a consortium of players like Airbus, BP and the Inter-American Development Bank to sign a deal with the company to plant 75,000 acres of jatropha in Brazil. Maybe this time will be the charm for biofuel in the United States.
writing to freedom 
wow, beautifull
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Thanks Andre, welcome to my blog. I’m glad to have stirred something in you. May I ask what in particular you found beautiful? Brad
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I remember giving my first speech on wind turbines and harnessing the power of wind nearly six years ago, There’a reason Buffett has accumulated vast wealth! He always does his homework before he commits gobs of money to any investment. His actions are telling and inspiring. Temari balls are painstakingly beautiful. Like many old Eastern arts, they will likely fade away. It’s sad to think that some giant textile maker can (or soon will) whip out thousands of them at a time. Kudos to the elderly Japanese woman for keeping the tradition alive. I’m happy for the stunt bikers; they seem to have found their niche and derive much enjoyment from it. As for sleep, it is a natural wonder drug. I am thankful that I rarely compromise my sleep time and feel little guilt about the amount I choose to get. I sleep like a baby so the value/benefits that Walker cites are pleasing and reinforcing.
Thanks for the continuous stream of interesting info, Brad! Fun stuff.
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You’re welcome Eric. Yes, I’d love to have Mr. Buffett’s wisdom for investing! I hope you’re wrong about the art of Temari balls disappearing, but it’s quite possible. I love to see others living their passion, yet seemingly can’t find mine! I too have the luxury of a self directed schedule, though that up may change depending on what work is next for me.
I appreciate your consistent feedback and would love to know what in general inspires you? And what kind of stories would you most like to read here in my blog? Any feedback would be great. Thanks, Brad
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