Danny Brown's Blog, page 16

Hope Comes From the Inside

When I was 28, my childhood friend and former roommate died from a drugs overdose. He was just 27.

It didn’t surprise me that he was gone. Perhaps, subconsciously, I was surprised he’d lasted so long.

Doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt like hell. It did. It broke me.

We always think that being prepared for someone’s death makes it a little easier. That the suddenness feels less sudden.

Whoever came up with that piece of wisdom was a fucking liar.

Or idiot. Maybe both.

When Jamie died, knowing that...

Excuses and Explanations

Excuses are what you offer when you do wrong but don’t really care.

Excuses are the shoulders of the junior on your team.

Excuses are the lame attempts to cover your tracks.

Excuses are the charlatan’s way to pull the wool over our faces.

Explanations, however, are the truths behind the excuses and the steps you’re going to take to avoid having to make excuses in the future.

Which one do you think we prefer?

Source

Excuses and Explanations originally appeared on Danny Brown - - all rights re...

A Revolution Against Dickheads

While commuting this morning, I saw a post over on Medium from Mike McGrail, entitled Humans Have Lost the Plot (and thanks for sharing it this morning, Steven Sefton).

In it, Mike bemoans where we’ve come (or not) as human beings.

It’s a post we can all relate to in some form or another. From it,

When did manners become the exception? Disregard for the people around us is at staggering levels. Is it poor-parenting? A generational issue? The subjects above span many age ranges though. The min...

When You Strip Everything Away

Recently, I gave this blog a bit of a design makeover, and moved to a much more minimal look and feel.

In fairness, my previous theme – Myth, from MeanThemes – had a pretty stripped back look, with a simple hero image for the header area, and single column design for the content.

But, while I was more than happy with the design (it lasted almost a year before my recent makeover, which is a record around here!), I still got a little restless.

Hence the makeover.

As you can see, it’s a really...

The Mindset of Appreciation

When I was eight years old, my aunt used to take me on weekly train rides in the summer to Burntisland, across the Forth Rail Bridge that connected Edinburgh to the Kingdom of Fife.

It was always something I looked forward to. From the train ride itself, to traversing the majestic rustic bridge, to the little cobbled path that took you from the train station to the main street, and then down to the seafront where the annual fairground would reside.

It was moments like that that made my otherw...

The Emotional Punch of a Child’s Lost Tooth

A little before Christmas last year, our five year old son Ewan lost his first tooth.

My wife noticed it being loose at first, and our son got super excited. One of his favourite shows is Paw Patrol, and there was an episode where one of the dogs – Chase – had a loose tooth.

Ewan kept imitating Chase, wobbling his tooth, rolling his tongue around it, and it was fun to watch.

However, we didn’t want it to come out while sleeping, so my wife did her magic and got it out.

Like every other kid,...

Do You Worry, Or Smile, When You Lose Blog Subscribers?

Yes. No. Maybe. It depends. I know – crappy answer, right? But each one can be applied to the question of losing blog subscribers and if you should care or not.

After all, as bloggers, we’re more often than not told that “it’s all about the list”. This usually refers to an email list, and why building one is important for your blog’s growth.

I’m not going to get into the “do I need a list or not?” question – there are plenty of other blog posts dedicated to that topic already.

No, for this po...

It’s Your Own Fault If You Get Pregnant By Having Sex in the Ear

Back when I still had cable, before cutting the cord and moving to Netflix, one of the shows I watched every week was Family Guy.

Before moving to Canada in 2006, I’d never heard of it. But my wife-to-be (who was in Canada) kept raving about this show.

When I eventually moved countries, we had a mini-marathon of Family Guy watching, and I was hooked.

Of many funny episodes, one of the ones that made me chuckle through the sheer ridiculousness of it all was one from Season 6 where the kids at...

The Non-Original Approach to Originality

People are hungry creatures by nature.Hungry to be liked; hungry to be loved; hungry to be respected; hungry to be successful.

That’s good. Without hunger, we have no drive. Without drive, we have no goals. Without goals, we have no yardstick to base our success on. And so the circle comes back around.

The problem is, people are more often than not getting speed hungry. They want the like, the love, the respect and the success yesterday.

So they buy the success books; the audio tapes; the DVD...

Postmatic 2.0 Just Changed Blog Email Subscriptions and Comments Completely

Long-time readers and subscribers here will know the love I have for email and commenting solution Postmatic.

From encouraging more thoughtful engagement around blog posts, to making subscribing to email updates frictionless, Postmatic has continued to impress me with each new update.

But as much as I’ve loved what they’ve done so far, the best really is yet to come, as shown by the imminent release of their latest (and most major) update to Postmatic yet.

When a One Stop Solution Really Is

C...