#venti

[Americans] were, for one thing, so smitten with the idea of progress that they invented things without having any idea whether those things would be of any use. ↗

— Bill Bryson

#invention #progress #home

[...] there is one inexorable law of technology, and it is this: when revolutionary inventions become widely accessible, they cease to be accessible. Technology is inherently democratic, because it promises the same services to all; but it works only if the rich are alone using it. When the poor also adopt technology, it stops working. A train used to take two hours to go from A to B; then the motor car arrived, which could cover the same distance in one hour. For this reason cars were very expensive. But as soon as the masses could afford to buy them, the roads became jammed, and the trains started to move faster. Consider how absurd it is for the authorities constantly to urge people to use public transport, in the age of the automobile; but with public transport, by consenting not to belong to the elite, you get where you're going before members of the elite do. ↗

— Umberto Eco

#inventions #technology #transport #age

(The subjects of What Should I Do With The Rest Of My Life) "have convinced me that past failing can as easily prove preparatory as predictive. Age does not of itself limit on enable us. The choice is ours. ↗

— Bruce Frankel

#inspirational #motivational #reinvention #retirement #successful-aging

..Critically intervene in a way that challenges and changes. ↗

— Bell Hooks

#change

The more important question, of course, was what the new Lucy would do, and even though I was pretty sure the old Lucy wouldn't be around much anymore, I was a little bit afraid the new Lucy hadn't yet shown up. ↗

— Pam Houston

#fear #growth #inertia #self-invention #change

Well we are nothing if not re-inventive. With every life experience we learn what to not do ever again and how to adapt to our current situations. We are always learning about ourselves and changing. I seriously don’t know anyone that has it all figured out, and if there is I want to punch them in the face. ↗

— Allison B. Levine

#inventive #learning #change

Royal Young has accomplished a rare feat in his fresh and riveting debut: he manages to recount his fascinating youth and unconventional family with a mixture of humor, scathing honesty and tenderness. Much more than simply a book about a kid who dreams of stardom, Fame Shark is a thoughtful, hilarious and moving love letter to his family and the Lower East Side of New York City. ↗

— Kristen Johnston

#celebrity #family-relationships #memoir #nyc #stardom

life is a continous journey of transformation ↗

— Sukant Ratnakar

#invention #life #success #life

Community colleges are one of America's great social inventions a gateway to the future for first time students looking for an affordable college education, and for mid-career students looking to get ahead in the workplace. ↗

— Barbara Mikulski

#ahead #america #college #college education #colleges

The most important lesson of New Labour is this: Every time we made progress we did it by challenging the conventional wisdom. ↗

— Ed Miliband

#conventional #conventional wisdom #did #every #every time