Chris Guillebeau's Blog, page 90

Talking About Suicide Attempts

Approximately 3% of the adult population has seriously attempted to end their lives, but most of those who do never speak of it.

“The nation’s oldest suicide prevention organization, the American Association of Suicidology, decided in a vote by its board last week to recognize a vast but historically invisible portion of its membership: people who tried to kill themselves but survived.

About a million American adults a year make a failed attempt at suicide, surveys suggest, far outnumbering th...

Announcing The Happiness of Pursuit (and please, join us!)

Greetings, all!

Big news today. I’d like to officially unveil my new book, The Happiness of Pursuit. In this post you can learn more about it, read a FREE excerpt, sign up to help with the launch (if you want…), and get FREE tickets to your choice of 40+ events.

It’s a long post.

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A Long Time Ago

More than twelve years ago, I fell in love with world travel. I loved being out and about,

I didn’t love everything about travel. I often became frustrated with myself and circumstances as I continuall...

Scholarships for Real Life: ADHD Community Support For Kids, By Kids

Last year we started a foundation, making an initial investment of $100,000 and pledging to support “Scholarships for Real Life,” a program to enable people to pursue a dream of their own while also addressing a problem that affects others.

In this short series, we’ll highlight our initial grantees.

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“My life sometimes has been a living hell because I have ADHD—mostly because people don’t understand me. They think I’m bad, but I’m not. They think I’m stupid, but I’m not. They think I’m going...

Where Is Home for the Transitory?

I stumbled upon an essay by an anthropologist who had a diverse background before settling in Michigan.

But where is she actually from?

When I travel and a stranger asks if I’m from Michigan, I immediately reply: ‘I live there, but I’m not from there.’ I feel compelled to tell everyone about my immigrant past: ‘I was born in Cuba, my ancestors were Jews who spoke Yiddish and Judeo-Espanyol, and I grew up in New York. I live in Michigan because it’s where I work.’

Home for me is a similarly flu...

Mini City Guide: Santiago, Chile

I love big cities, and always enjoy returning to Hong Kong, New York, and Sydney—among many others. But what about those unknown gems that are off the beaten tourist path… those obscure places that are just waiting to be explored by real travelers?

Our new “Mini City Guides” are here to uncover those gems, and we’re looking to our favorite explorers—AONC readers—to give us the inside scoop.

Tell us if there’s a city you’d like to nominate. This city was nominated by reader Jon Poritz.

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Which acc...

6 Discoveries From Near and Far, Volume V

I. Around the World

Things I found on long walks in foreign cities, or perhaps when someone posted them on Twitter.

Interview with David Foster Wallace — “Somehow we’ve allowed the culture to teach us that the point of living is to get as much as you can and experience as much pleasure as you can, and the implicit promise is that will make you happy”

Learning the Law without Law School — For the aspiring lawyers who’d prefer to skip the whole school thing

A goat hitching a ride on a bicycle in Et...

Giveaway: $100 Gift Certificate from Hello Holiday

Every Friday is giveaway day. Comment to win!

I first wrote about Megan Hunt in The $100 Startup. Since then she’s continued to inspire, working on various projects, raising her daughter, and co-founding a new fashion company called Hello Holiday.

Hello Holiday features fun women’s clothing (in great colors!) from emerging designers. In a true “Made in America” enterprise, Megan and her partner ship everything from their small space in Omaha, Nebraska. They’ve agreed to donate a $100 gift cert...

Scholarships for Real Life: The WDS Foundation

Two years ago at WDS we gave everyone $100 and sent them off with a charge to do something fun and meaningful.

Throughout the next year we heard a lot of great stories about what happened with the money. We shared many of those stories at the following year’s event.

Also that year, we announced our new “Scholarships for Real Life” foundation, which promised to provide micro grants to people pursuing interesting projects guided by the three values of WDS: Community, Adventure, and Service.

We...

Playing It Safe Is Riskier Than You Think

From a Harvard Business Review article cited by Tom Fishburne:

“Executives and entrepreneurs face two very different sorts of risks. One is that their organization will make a bold move that failed — a risk they call ‘sinking the ship.’ The other is that their organization will fail to make a bold move that would have succeeded — a risk they call ‘missing the boat.’

“Naturally, most executives worry more about sinking the boat than missing the boat, which is why so many organizations, even in f...

Limited Time: 50,000 Point Bonus on United Explorer Card

Link: 50,000 Points for United MileagePlus Explorer Card

After increasing the signup bonus for the Marriott card, Chase bank has done the same for the United MileagePlus Explorer Card. This card now offers 50,000 MileagePlus miles (formerly 30,000) upon completion of a $2,000 minimum spend.

In addition to the improved signup bonus, the card also offers the following benefits:

Get a free checked bag every time you fly as long as you keep the card

Enjoy priority boarding privileges and visit the...