The point you make about commenting and twitterizing things not itself being the problem is important. I wrote some of my sort-of-related thoughts on that in Blogging Is a Ponzi Scheme. I love the information and tools that are available. There's some great stuff out there. But… yeah… certain motives result in the propagation of less than stellar content.

Maybe I'm just propagating the idea of bringing in new ideas from books because I don't have the bandwidth to process all that info. …then hoping I'll find it on your blogs. Oooh! Stealth outsourcing via propaganda model. Get content you want to read generated by encouraging others to generate better content… Crowdoutsourcing? Trademarked.

One big indicator of the problems with the formal education system is that even the teachers hate it. I'm not even talking about the income level part of it. Teachers tend to be very critical of the methods they're required to employ. When there's recognition of failures that early in the process, how can the results be anything but compromised?

Whoa! I almost got stuck in an endless loop there for a second.

Great to hear from you!

Congrats on the pitch success! I love that you've joined the entrepreneur world.

Re: "My Business" After reading this post I will start using that. I'm still trying to reprogram my mind after six years of being an employee/freelancer/contrater

Oh, and my business gave its first pitch yesterday. Killed it.

When we're only exposing ourselves to the same ideas regurgitated in different ways and reading that day after day we become convinced that it's 'true reality.' This can cause great problems, in my opinion. So, as you recommend, get out there and read other stuff. Disconnect for awhile or maybe read stuff that has nothing to do with the niche you're in, but you're interested in. And of course, always question your motives. Are you doing something because you really want to truly do it or is it coming from some un-authentic place?
My recent post Why Are We So Miserable With Our Jobs?

When we're only exposing ourselves to the same ideas regurgitated in different ways and reading that day after day we become convinced that it's 'true reality.' This can cause great problems, in my opinion. So, as you recommend, get out there and read other stuff. Disconnect for awhile or maybe read stuff that has nothing to do with the niche you're in, but you're interested in. And of course, always question your motives. Are you doing something because you really want to truly do it or is it coming from some un-authentic place?
My recent post Why Are We So Miserable With Our Jobs?

We are the way we present ourselves. For years I resisted calling myself a writer because I hadn't yet published. Funny thing, the minute I started telling people I'm a writer, people began asking me to write for them. Funny little catch-22 there.

As for education. That's a tough one for me. I consider myself the eternal student and am also an educator (note: not a teacher). I have never fit well in the American education system, because I do things differently. I tend to approach the classroom as a give and take. Students have as much to teach as instructors, and that giving a person the tools to learn for themselves is the greatest gift you can give.

I also very much appreciate your advice to look beyond the surface before deciding who to trust for advice and information. It is easy to fall back on standards such as position, title and supposed-experience as guidelines. Instead, you encourage people to think for themselves.

As it should be! Thanks for another great post, Andrew.

The only name I can remember is Saussure who wrote about the 'signifier' and the 'signified' and how the signifier can be arbitrary and bear no relationship to the signified.
My recent post New Year’s Values