Month: August 2010

Day in brief

Validation

Here is an excellent short film – “Validation“.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbk980jV7Ao]

Firstly, we do need to smile more.  And enjoy life.  Secondly, we need to remember that our words and actions, no matter how small and insignificant we think they are, have the power to affect other people’s lives in deepest of ways.

Ask, don’t punish

We are all very familiar with how authorities like to punish citizens for any kind of wrong-doing.  Fines, tow trucks, arrests, warnings, police reports – you name it.  Different means of punishment are so widely used that it’s almost a norm.  Like there is no other way.  But here is an excellent example from the city of Copenhagen in Denmark.

If you park your bicycle illegally, the City will move it over to the bike racks. Instead of finger-wagging, they will then oil your chain, pump your tires and leave a little note on your bicycle asking to kindly use the bike racks in the future.

Brilliant!  And the best part is that the idea worked.

When the project started in April they were moving around 150 bicycles a day. Today that number has dropped to between 30 and 50.