James Fallows: With bin Laden Dead, Will an Unending War Finally End?
The great significance of Osama bin Laden’s death, according to James Fallows, is that “it holds the potential of marking an end to the otherwise un-endable ‘Global War on Terror.’” Blogging at the Atlantic.com just after President Obama announced bin Laden’s death, Fallows, the author of Blind Into... Continue Reading →
Adria Vasil: Marketers Can Label Virtually Any Product "Organic"
Bestselling author Adria Vasil recently appeared on Marketplace to discuss the aggravating lack of regulation over green marketing. Vasil told the consumer watchdog show that labels like “non-toxic,” “bio-friendly,” and—most dubiously—“organic” are not held to any standards in Canada. They are... Continue Reading →
Wikipedia Director Sue Gardner Attempts to Curate Everything We Know
In a recent Fast Company profile, Wikipedia Director Sue Gardner—who is one of only two women to run a top-10 website—talked about her ambition to have Wikipedia contain the “sum of everything that we know” and to increase the number of its users to one billion in the next five years. As she points... Continue Reading →
Destroying Returns: Retail Speaker Doug Stephens on PR Disasters
For years now, retail speaker Doug Stephens has explored the complex relationship between companies and their customers, and is often asked by the media to weigh in on breaking retail news. This week, the news that Victoria's Secret destroys some of its returned clothing—even when that clothing is... Continue Reading →
What Modern Work Looks Like: Jeremy Gutsche's Trendhunter Office
What could be even cooler than Trendhunter.com—Jeremy Gutsche’s crowdsourced innovation website that just passed half a billion views? Well, their new office space comes close. The Wall Street Journal recently featured Trendhunter’s Toronto office in an article called "An Office as Hip as its... Continue Reading →
Patti Smith, the Godmother of Punk, Makes the TIME 100
Patti Smith, one of the most singular American artists of our generation, has been named to the TIME 100, an annual list of the most influential people in the world. Patti first captured — or, more accurately, demanded — the world’s attention with 1975’s Horses, an emotionally raw, visceral, and... Continue Reading →
Nathan Wolfe, Our Best Hope to Stop the Next Epidemic, Makes the TIME 100
Nathan Wolfe, a sort of Indiana Jones of virus hunting, has been named to the TIME 100, an annual list of the world’s most influential people. A scientist and TED speaker, Wolfe finds, tracks, and helps contain the next viral outbreak—the next AIDS—before it tips over from the animal to human... Continue Reading →
David Eaves: Open Government, A Great Idea Under Attack
David Eaves, one of the most articulate voices advocating for government transparency, has written a thought-provoking blog post about how fragile and tenuous the politics of transparency really is. Many of Eaves’ colleaguesargue that a transparent government, once established, would be permanent.... Continue Reading →