Saving the world one-on-one
By connecting people across the planet, mentoring programs can break down the barriers between rich and poor, North and South. Jay Walljasper | Jan/Feb 2006 issue Once there was a kid who seemed to have everything going against him. He was poor, blind and black, living in the backwoods of the Read More...
One last thing...
"boredom is an important stage in the creative process" Marco Visscher | November 2004 issue How can boredom contribute to anything? “Boredom is a mechanism that can clear your mind and help you refocus. If I’m bored, I am doing nothing, I am being mindless. Or I go walking, do the dishes, Read More...
Relaxed revelation
Fast knowledge is about solving problems, slow knowledge is about preventing them. Marco Visscher | July 2004 issue Knowledge is being applied faster and on a larger scale than ever before – with consequences that are sometimes disastrous. Farmers can use the latest chemical pesticides to protect Read More...
Pioneer of Urdu rock
Pakistan's leading rock star writes songs about love and reconciliation. His embrace of social causes has invited comparisons with Bono. But many mullahs want to ban his music. Marco Visscher meets up with Salman Ahmad, the first rock legend in the Muslim world. Will he show that music can be more Read More...
...t-i-c-k...
High-tech gurus invent ultra slow clock to stimulate long-term thinking. Marco Visscher | July 2004 issue Our civilisation has shifted into an unnaturally high gear. Nothing gets the unhurried attention it deserves. So a handful of key high-tech thinkers in the San Francisco Bay area decided Read More...
Sting & his guitar
'I will reapply the needle of the record player again and again to the bars of music that seem beyond my analysis, like a safecracker picking a lock, until the prize is mine.' Sting's personal story on the making of a musical legend. Sting | September 2004 issue Music has always been my refuge Read More...
Why faster is not better
Speedy transport means you spend more, not less, time in your car. Tijn Touber | July 2004 issue In a time when cars, trains and airplanes move faster than ever, you would expect we would reach all of our destinations more quickly. Strangely enough, that’s usually not the case, according to Read More...
If games had come before books...
In his book Everything Bad Is Good For You, Steven Johnson contends that video games and television programs are making us increasingly intelligent. What if video and computer games had been invented first, he wonders, and books had come later? | September 2006 issue “Reading books chronically Read More...
One last thing...
Marco Visscher | October 2006 issue “It’s important to be lazy” I don’t have time to be lazy! Al Gini: “You’re not alone. We work 50 to 60 hours a week. We have been seduced by the idea that all work is good and leads to success. This work ethic is an invention of factory owners and Read More...
Think like a magician
You can reach a place of infinite potential by finding your own pathTijn Touber | December 2004 issue People sometimes tell me they have a hard time finding Ode on the newsstand. Should they search among the news magazines or in the health section? Politics? Ecology, psychology, spirituality, Read More...