ideas tips

Knowing Healthcare Costs Before Incurring Them

Healthcare costs have become insane since the Affordable Care Act became law. I don’t blame the law itself. I blame the fact that the law is based on a market system that allows health insurance companies to set rates and rake Americans over the coals in terms of premiums, deductibles and out-of-pocket costs. The system is broken because it is based on a false premise: That healthcare should be attached to profit and that insurance…

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Being a Creator in a World of Too Much Stuff

While I was at the Twin Cities Book Festival, I picked up a few books at the used book sale. “The Plenitude: Creativity, Innovation, and Making Stuff” by Rich Gold was one of those books. It’s a slim volume, so it only took a couple of days to read. It expressed in written form a number of ideas I’ve had about being a creator in a world of too much stuff. Rich Gold was an…

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ideas thought fodder

9 Ideas for Revamping U.S. Elections

If the current election season teaches us nothing else, it’s gob-smackingly obvious that we need to revamp our election system. With a polarized electorate caused by having only two major political parties and a wholly unqualified presidential candidate running on behalf of one of those parties, Dr. Phil’s perennial question comes to mind: “How’s that workin’ for you?” It ain’t working for us, Dr. Phil. It’s ain’t working. We’re feeling disenfranchised, disconnected from the political…

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design ideas process tips

Bring Focus to Your Organization

I work for a nonprofit and co-own a business with my husband. When it comes to either type of organization, there are always far more ideas than we can put into practice. It’s also easy to be sidetracked … taken down a path that isn’t particularly good for your organization. How do you pick the most appropriate path? How do you decide what to do among hundreds of competing good ideas? Here’s a tool I…

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Ideas from the LRAC Arts Resouce Fair

Hubby and I had an opportunity to attend the Lake Region Arts Council‘s Arts Resource Fair this past Saturday in Fergus Falls, MN. We live in Region 5, which is covered by the Five Wings Arts Council (FWAC). FWAC provided artists within its five counties (Cass, Crow Wing, Morrison, Todd & Wadena) the chance to attend the Arts Resource Fair, which is how we came to attend. The Arts Resource Fair allowed artists in Greater…

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