mature

THIS THING REALLY WORKS?The truth behind ‘As seen on tv’

#THROWBACK CULTUREAre we getting too old for this?

DON’T DRINK THE WATER IN PERUEverything you never needed to know about the Global Water Crisis

ISSUE 202/16

LETTER FROM THE

EDITORTo our loyal readers, new

time subscribers and

even passer-buyers, this

magazine was made with

you in mind.

This issue focuses on all

of life’s little questions,

big or small. We don’t

necessarily provide you

with any answers though,

because that part is

entirely up to you.

If you want answers or

sound logical advice, flip

the magazine over. There

you will find content for

your professional mind,

but here, we like to think

of ourselves as wonderers,

wanderers, and a little

immature.

But that’s not to say that

you can’t be both.

We recognize that everyone

is unique. And we definitely

believe in duality.

Not everyone is just messy,

or just organized. Some

people are both. You like

to color in the lines, but

somedays you just want to

throw paint on everything.

So when you have those

days where you can’t quite

make up your mind, we have

your back. Because I know

sometimes I’m mature,

and embrace adulthood like

everyone else. But other

days, I just say “to heck

with it!” I’ll be Mature

later.

Warmly,

Leah Frye

WHAT YOU’LL FIND

INSIDE

4 8

20

54

4812

30 34

4440

OUR COLUMN

WRITERSJAMES PALLEN BETH NOVECK

SHLOMO BENARTZI

LIFE PROOF

LOOSING MY HOME

THERE’S ALWAYS PLAN B

BACKPACK EUROPE

I HATE BUREAUCRACY

CHANGE ADDICTS

MIKE ROWE

KIRAN SETHI

CESAR KURIYAMA

Life ProofWITH SHLOMO BENARTZI

3

Become A Personal Assistant: Get paid to help busy

professionals with crucial chores like walking their

dogs. Put up flyers, offer to lend a hand to neighbors, or

find personal assistant jobs at agentanything.com (you’ll

need a college e-mail address).

Turn Your Car Into An Ad: Earn back your gas money by

using your car as a moving billboard! Myfreecar.com

sends you stick ons from sponsors—a small decal gets you

$50 a month, while ads that wrap the whole car equal up

to $400! Sell Your Skills: Got a biz idea but aren’t ready to

launch it on your own? Promote yourself at fiver com,

where you can charge $5 to $500 for specialized talents,

like designing jewelry or creating company Facebook

pages. The site e-mails you when someone wants your

product. Ka-ching! Be A Tutor: Cash in your 4.0 with

What’s that green thing that makes the world go round? Oh right, money.

Money can be a real hassle but here are ways to save everyday so you can

stop sending S.O.S. texts to dear old mom and dad.

Save $1 More Each Day : On the first day of

your part-time job, save $1. Then every

day after that, save one more dollar. After

two months, you’ll have saved up almost a

thousand bucks already! Give Yourself An

Allowance: If you have two jobs, set up a

direct deposit to your savings account for

one of your paychecks. That way, you never

even see the money, which makes it easier

to forget about and save until you really need

it! Give Your Opinion: If you’re always telling

friends what’s hot (or not), speak up and get

paid! Join a focus group at findfocusgroups.

com. They’ll send you a new product, like

a snack mix or nail polish, and ask you a

making an unnecessary purchase, wait thirty

days and then ask yourself if you still want that

item.

vQuite often, you’ll find that the urge to buy

has passed and you’ll have saved yourself some

money by simply waiting. If you want, you can

even keep a “thirty day list” where you write

down the item and the day you’ll reconsider it,

but I prefer just to keep this one in my head,

since I often just forget.

Keep your hands clean. This one’s simple – just

wash your hands thoroughly each time you use

the bathroom or handle raw foods. You’ll keep

yourself from acquiring all kinds of viruses

and bacteria, saving you on medical bills and

medicine costs and lost productivity. Clean your

car’s air filter. A clean air filter can improve gas

mileage by up to 7%. Saving you more than $100

for every 10,000 miles you drive in an average

vehicle. Brown bag your lunch. Instead of going

out to eat at work, take your own lunch. People

think that this means “nasty lunch,” but it

doesn’t.

Be A Tutor: Cash in your 4.0 with wyzant.com! Tutor kids

in school subjects and test prep over e-mail or Skype,

and you’ll net $18 to $48 a session—the more hours you

log, the more you’ll earn. Be Smart About Your ATM Card:

you think you won’t spend money if you don’t have it

on you, but then you end up hitting the ATM again and

again. That could zap more than $150 in fees from your

bank accounts. Stick to once-a-week withdrawals at

your regular bank instead. Save With Your Student ID:

that embarrassing photo card isn’t just good during

school hours—flash it at J.Crew, Charlotte Russe, and

Urban Outfitters and you could knock 10 percent or more

off your totally purchase. (Pssst: It can’t hurt to ask

everywhere else!) Get Big Rewards. If you’re going to use

credit, pick a card that rewards you, like BankAmericard

or Chase Freedom. (Under 21? Cosign with Mom and Dad.)

You can earn anywhere from 1 to 10 percent back—so ask

your parents to put big important purchases like that new

MacBook for school on your tab to rake in points.

Take Surveys On Your Receipts. Customer-satisfaction

surveys sound boring, but if you fill out a quick online

survey for your fave store (the link is usually at the

bottom of your receipt), you can snag real discounts.

Victoria’s Secret PINK offers $10 off $50 on select receipts

and Express offers 15 percent off every time you fill one

out!

Sell Your Old Clothes.t Turning last year’s looks into cash

quickly is easy if you know how to make them look great!

Shoot your photos against a plain background so a buyer’s

focus goes straight to the awesome item. Try Tradesy.com,

Poshmark.com, and copious.com for more fashionable

e-selling alternatives! Simply calculating how much

you spend each month on your debts will illustrate that

eliminating debt is the fastest way to free up money.

Master the 30 day rule. Whenever you’re considering

4

photo courtesy

thenextweb.com

5

“ Today I had tea with my 5 year old neice, willingly, because I suggested it.”

“ I just asked the subway sandwich lady if she could cut the crust off my sandwich.”

HANNA PALMER

CHRIS FAIRBANKS

I’M CHOOSING TO BE

d you’ll net $18 to $48 a session. the more hours you log,

the more you’ll earn. Be Smart About Your ATM Card: You

think you won’t spend money if you don’t have it on you,

But then you end up hitting the ATM again and again.

That could zap more than $150 in fees from your bank

accounts. Stick to once-a-week withdrawals at your

regular bank instead.

Save With Your Student ID: That embarrassing photo card

isn’t just good during school hours—flash it at J.Crew,

Charlotte Russe, and Urban Outfitters and you could

knock 10 percent or more off your totally purchase.

(Pssst: It can’t hurt to ask everywhere else!)

Get Big Rewards: If you’re going to use credit, pick a card

that rewards you, like BankAmericard or Chase Freedom.

(Under 21? Cosign with Mom and Dad.) You can earn

anywhere from 1 to 10 percent back—so ask your parents

to put big important purchases like that new MacBook for

school on your tab to rake in points. Take Surveys On Your

Receipts: Customer-satisfaction surveys sound boring,

but if you fill out a quick online survey for your fave store

(the link is usually at the bottom of your receipt), you can

snag real discounts. Victoria’s Secret PINK offers $10 off

$50 on select receipts and Express offers 15 percent off

every time you fill one out!

Sell Your Old Clothes: Turning last year’s looks into cash

quickly is easy if you know how to make them look great!

Shoot your photos against a plain background so a buyer’s

focus goes straight to the awesome item. Try Tradesy.com,

Poshmark.com, and copious.com for more fashionable

e-selling alternatives! Use every free customer rewards

program. Even if you rarely shop at that place, having a

rewards card for that place will eventually net you some

coupons and discounts.

reconsider it, but I prefer just to keep this

one in my head – that way, I often just forget

Keep your hands clean. This one’s simple

– just wash your hands thoroughly each

time you use the bathroom or handle raw

foods. You’ll keep yourself from acquiring

all kinds of viruses and bacteria, saving you

on medical bills and medicine costs and lost

productivity. Clean your car’s air filter. A

clean air filter can improve your gas mileage

by up to 7%,Brown bag your lunch. Instead

of going out to eat at work, take your own

lunch. People think that this means

“nasty lunch,” but it doesn’t.

collect every card you can, and then check

that account for extra coupons whenever

you’re ready to shop. Master the 30 day rule.

Whenever you’re considering making an

unnecessary purchase, wait thirty days and

then ask yourself if you still want that item.

Quite often, you’ll find that the urge to buy

has passed and you’ll have saved yourself

some money by simply waiting. If you want,

you can even keep a “thirty day list” where

6

“ I had the opportunity to get a coffee and a doughnut at our Finals Relief Table today. I choose a juice

“ I still dip my fried shrimp and chicken fingers in ketchup like I’m eight.”

KARINA FAISON

MELISSA CHAMBLISS

There are always pros and cons when you begin living on your own. A steady

stream of new expenses and lessons to discover the first few years which

may be daunting but will prepare you for the rest of your life.

those doctor’s appointments, they haven’t been made

for you. Anticipate the fact that you will begin to dread

the day of the month when your bank emails you a

“friendly reminder” to pay your credit card bill. And

a dishwasher will save you hours of time and energy.

Never buy groceries alone. They will go bad quicker than

you anticipate. A light bulb blew out? Not going to turn

on again until you call the super or install it yourself.

You’ll beg your parents to stay on their Verizon family

plan. If you don’t, watching the data rack up is torture.

And Internet? Internet is faulty, being on hold with

Comcast/Time Warner/Verizon/AT&T will be the bane of

your existence. What’s that rancid smell coming from the

kitchen? Oh, it’s the trash that’s been full to the brim

that you haven’t taken out for two weeks. Start to think

Though the learning part isn’t so fun,

acknowledging challenges is the first step

into adulthood. Sometimes you need to

realize that just because you get clean in

the shower doesn’t mean your shower is

clean. The shower is a dirty, disgusting place

unless you scrub it yourself.

When the items in your refrigerator get

low, they don’t refill themselves. Someone

has to go out and buy them. If you leave

your laundry in the dryer for too long,

the wrinkles will remain there until you

wash those clothes again. Oh, you have

the flu? Need to fix a toothache? Need a

check up? You’re going to have to make

Losing My Home

7

WITH KIRAN SETHI

life crisis. When all your years are designed

as a preparation for entering the real world,

the real world will disappoint, she said, “Not

because your expectations have been dashed

or the world has been misrepresented, but

because suddenly, there’s nothing to prepare

for anymore. You’re done looking forward; now

you have to look down.”

As you begin building your future, remember

that life’s best memories will not revolve

around the hours you spend at work. Knowing

yourself, surrounding yourself with loved

ones, learning from life experiences, and

giving back to others will be the moments that

ultimately fill your eulogy -- not your job title

nor the size of your paycheck. Despite what

professors, advisors and parents may say, the

grades you make throughout your four years in

college do not determine the level of success

you’re capable of achieving in the future. It

will ultimately be your passion and work ethic.

that drive you forward, your current college

in terms of hours you work. That new sweater you want?

Not worth eight hours at your desk. I guess you could

say independent living is the best and worst thing to

happen to a person. But overall, the pros outweigh the

cons right? Think of it like this…College is only four

years of your life. Why not live somewhere new? Leave

the nest and begin to see what it’s all about. Because one

of the best parts? Mom and Dad only visit on the holidays.

When you move out of your parents’ home, you don’t

have to worry about any restrictions and can set your

own rules as you see fit. This doesn’t mean not arguing

ever, you may argue with your friends or even strangers.

The thing here is that as a single person if you fall out

with a friend, unless you share an apartment then you

don’t have to go home to hear more about it. Now is a time

for self-discovery. So many people are afraid of being

totally alone. But you’ve just shown them all up by being

an independent…in living that is, or maybe that’s your

political view too. We all remember that seminal “Sex

and the City” episode where Carrie explains the concept

of secret single behavior -- those little things we do

when we’re all alone that we’d never do around someone

else. When the door is closes, and shades drawn.

For me, it’s a running back-and-forth chatter with

myself. Sometimes I find myself walking out into the

hall toward the elevator, still talking. But now that

you’re living on your own, you can let your freak flag

fly! Well, maybe only at half-mast for those of you who

have roommates. But you get the idea. Leaving your

friends and family behind to embark on your post-grad

path solo can make you feel incredibly alone, and you

might find yourself questioning every decision you face.

New Voices Magazine associate editor Simi Lichtman

explains this reaction as a part of the infamous quarter

8

photo courtesy

thenextweb.com

9

“on the Disney college program my roommates and I all had Duffy bears so we set them up and they

played Uno with us. ”

“I still ask for lollipops when i go to my bank.”

KARA WALTERS

ALANNA WITMAN


10

“ I stole mints from my school cafeteria and one day a war broke out between my best friend and I, which lasted all of ten minutes.”

“ I still ask my grandma to go business clothes shopping with me.”

SAMANTHA TALLEY

JACOB STARNES

While the campy, late-night infomercials may

give a good laugh, “As Seen On TV” products are

hotter than ever. The cost-effective and consumer friendly

products, ranging from super lint rollers to foot cream, have

helped turn TeleBrands, into a billion dollar direct-marketing

company. Check out the top 10 “As Seen On TV” products right now.

AS SEEN ON TV

THE TRUTH

BEHIND

BY ALICIA CICCONE

12

2 Nuwave Pro: $150 plus $30 S&H The Pitch: “Enjoy healthy and delicious

food in just minutes.” The Truth: We

broiled, roasted, steamed, and more. This infrared

oven did best on baking cookies, air-cooking

frozen fries, and dehydrating beef jerky. On

average, it was 50 percent faster than an oven if

what we were cooking required preheating. But

our “waved” burgers lost more juice and released

less fat than broiled ones. And forget about using

it to reheat. Unless you like luke warm meals,

we recommend you prepare food fresh with the

Nuwave. Lets just say leftovers just don’t take so

great the second day already, and the Nuwave

doesn’t exactly help that either. The Bottom Line:

Only worth it if you don’t have an oven. otherwise,

4 Hot Booties $15 + $15.90 S&HThe Pitch: “Long-lasting, soothing heat to

treat your feet!” The Truth: These slippers,

filled with natural linseed, claim to keep warm for

up to an hour (after being placed in a “bootie bag”

and microwaved for one minute). Testers noted

that the footwear stayed toasty about 45 minutes.

The slippers offered warmth, but little foot relief;

testers reported too-tight fit and discomfort while

standing and moving. Some noted seed leakage.

(FYI: As the instructions state, overheating could

cause the booties’ cover to ignite, and the booties

should not be used by those with circulatory or

foot issues or certain other health problems.) The

Bottom Line: Give these the slip. “Not enough of an

advantage over regular slippers,” said one tester.

1Shake Weight: $20 plus $10 S&H The Pitch: “Get strong, sexy, sculpted

arms...in just six minutes a day!” The Truth:

Testers who used 2.5-pound dumbbells for half

an hour a day, 3 days a week, achieved slightly

better toning results than those who used the

Shake Weight with its instructional DVD - which

actually clocked in at nearly 9 minutes, not the

promised 6. Many women found the convenience

of a shorter routine appealing, particularly those

who hadn’t done upper-body exercises in the past.

The exercise physiologists we spoke to seriously

doubted that the Shake Weight could increase

muscle activity by 300 percent over regular

weights, as claimed. The Bottom Line: Arm-workout

newbies may see results, but veteran exercisers

3 Ninja 1100: $159.80 Free S&HThe Pitch: “Create all of your favorite

recipes with just one touch of a button!”

The Truth: We tested the Ninja for its ability to

replace a blender, food processor, mixer, and

juicer, and to make “creamy” ice cream. It crushed

ice well, ground coffee beans and chopped onions

evenly, and made a consistently smooth smoothie

and margarita. It blended frozen fruit, ice, and

cream, making a soft frozen mixture, but not ice

cream. Also under par: Our attempt at salsa resulted

in barely chopped onions and pulverized tomatoes,

and we found juicing fruit made fruit puree instead

of juice.

Bottom Line: The Ninja 1100 is a good stand-in for a

blender or mini-chopper.

Above ( l eft ) Shake We ight

Bottom ( left ) Nuwave cooker

Above ( r i ght ) N in ja K i tchen System 1100

Bottom ( r ight ) Hot Boot ies

14

Above ( l eft ) Shake We ight

Bottom ( left ) L i nt L i za rd

Above ( r i ght ) Easy Feet

Bottom ( r ight ) F ix i t PRO repa i r pen

16

5 Edge of Glory: $11 + $7 S&HThe Pitch: “The best knife sharpener

money can buy!” The Truth: More like one

of the worst. The sharpener broke away from the

suction cup before we could even test it, making

its use potentially dangerous. Paring, chef’s,

and utility knives honed on the tiny contraption

became only marginally sharper. An electric

sharpener did the best job, though we even saw

significant improvement with a standard manual

handheld sharpener. The product’s claim to turn

a credit card into a razor-edged tomato slicer just

didn’t cut it. The Bottom Line: Edge of Glory is

anything but sharp. It’s probably more of a hazard

than a help. Unless of course you want to get your

6 Lint Lizard: $11 + $7 S&HThe Pitch: “Removes dryer lint in hard-

to-reach places!” The Truth: To keep your

dryer running efficiently and to help prevent

a fire, it’s critical to get rid of lint from inside

the filter chamber and the exhaust vent. Lint

Lizard does exactly that: Its long plastic tube and

attachments slip onto almost any vacuum cleaner

hose, sucking out dust and getting into crevices

better than the vacuum can alone. Though corners

and tight spots proved a challenge, Lint Lizard left

us impressed. (Remember to thoroughly rid the

dryer and vent of lint several times a year and to

clean the lint screen after every load.) The Bottom

Line: The best infomercial product we’ve tested —

it really works! This is one lizard we like to have.

8 Fix it Pro Repair Pen: $10 + S&HThe Pitch: “Repairs car dings, scratches

and nicks on contact.” The Truth: We used

the penlike applicator to put a clean sealant on

car-finish scratches of varying depths. We found it

was able to camouflage the most superficial marks

— but if the scratch removed the paint (not just the

top gloss), the sealant did little to hide it. And if

you aren’t careful to wife off excess before it dries,

you could be left with an even more obvious line,

like clear nail polish, over the scratch. The Bottom

Line: If you’re really bothered by light scratches,

it’s worth a try. As for a deeper ding or a

nick — this pen won’t “fix it.”

7 Easy Feet: Two for $15 + $16 S&HThe Pitch: “Cleans and massages feet from

heel to toe. It’s like a pedicure every day.”

The Truth: We tested Easy Feet in the lab with

consumers. While feet could be washed without

bending down (a main product claim), a user

had to lean over to apply shower gel and again to

remove the bulky product from the tub floor. It

also slipped a lot when suction-cupped to bath

surfaces both in the lab and in the testers’ homes.

Some testers thought the bristles felt nice, but

others complained that they’d banged their feet

on the plastic arch. A few worried that they might

loose their balance when using it standing up. The

Bottom Line: Only 30 percent of testers said they’d

17

9 Groutinator: $10 + $7 S&HThe Pitch: “Stains vanish instantly!”

The Truth: The Groutinator is an abrasive

block that claims to restore the look of grout and

concrete stained by dirt, mildew or hard water. A

few testers liked that they could skip chemicals or

tools and clean even the thinnest grout lines. In

the lab and in testers’ homes, Groutinator proved

great at removing nail polish, good on coffee

stains, and just OK on dirt, mildew, and rust; it

didn’t do much for driveways or garage floors. It

needed to be resharpened every several times to

clean an entire shower, leaving a mess of blue

dusk in its wake. The Bottom Line: The cleaning

process isn’t as effortless as it my seem — it

10 Total Pillow: $20 + $16 P&H The Pitch: “The amazing versatile

pillow that cradles you in comfort? The Truth:

Review from consumers and Jordan Metzl, M.D.,

a sports medicine specialist at The Hospital for

Special Surgery in New York City, were mixed.

While some testers liked how “soft” and “compact”

the pillow was, others commented that it was

“too small” and “tricky to twist.” One pillow split

down the seam, releasing microbeads, a potential

choking hazard. Dr. Metzl rated the pillow average

for next and lumbar support but below average for

aligning the neck and spine. The Bottom Line: If

conventional pillows have let you down, Total

Pillow might be worth a try. But it’s not as dreamy

as the infomercials claim.

Above ( l eft ) G rout inator

Bottom ( left ) Tota l P i l l ow

18

The marketing power of the products is strong

-- it’s hard to deny that. The “As Seen On TV’’

product line is a multi-billion dollar business.

Infomercials are constantly on tv and now several

stores have aisles dedicated to the much-hyped

products.

Flint Communications Direct Response Strategist,

Eric Piela talked on The Valley Today about the

science behind marketing these products. He says

there are a number of strategies that draw people

in.

Piela says the excitement of the pitch man, the

possibility of the product running out (operators

are standing by) and the on-air demonstrations

create the perfect marketing recipe. He says

people often feel connected to the pitch men and

obligated to buy after watching an infomercial.

It is easy to spot the red “As Seen on TV” logo on

the shelves of many retail giants, including Bed,

Bath & Beyond, Walgreens, Target and Walmart.

The man behind the iconic symbol is A.J. Khubani,

a self-made man born in New Jersey to Indian

immigrants. And although his infomercial empire

is fast approaching a billion-dollar value, he told

“20/20,” his climb to the top wasn’t easy.

Khubani, 51, said that inventions have always

interested him. He recalled watching his father --

whom he called a “tinkerer” -- in their workshop

as he created electronic gadgets.

Inventing “is like any other talent -- you have got

to have a real desire and interest in something to

do it,” Khubani said.

So, why do we feel compelled to buy “As Seen On TV’’ products?

More than 3.4 million people die each year from water, sanitation,

and hygiene-related causes. Nearly all deaths, 99 percent, occur

in the developing world. From the Rio Grande to Patagonia, climate change

has begun to grip Latin America. Some of the damage, such as melting glaciers and

rising sea level, can already be seen — but scientists warn there’s worse to come. The

toll could be devastating for countries struggling to lift their populations out of poverty.

Lack of access to clean water and sanitation kills children at a rate equivalent of a jumbo jet

crashing every four hours. But the real question is can we really let a metropolis die from thirst?

GLOBALWATERCRISIS

BY PAUL GILDING

20

not be more deceiving. The only water at Santa

Rosita is that brought in buckets

by the parents of the 30 toddlers, ages 3 to

5, enrolled here . They use i t to drink, wash their

hands and flush the toilet in the outhouse behind their classroom, a glorified shack with wooden planks for walls and a corrugated metal roof .Some of the water is treated, brought by parents with running water at home. But some is not . No wonder then that many of the youngsters here are underweight, suffering from malnutrition caused by parasites in their digestive tracts preventing them from absorbing the nutrients they eat .

One also has tuberculosis, and another came down with Hepatitis A two weeks before my v isit, says t eacher Elisa Ribero Guia. Both conditions are related to unhygienic conditions . Every three months, the kids have to be t ested for parasites and anemia. “SEDAPAL [Lima’s

s tate-owned municipal water authority]

A Santa Rosita

kindergarten appears like an

oasis of color amid the grays and browns

of Huaycan, a grim Lima shantytown sprawling upwards into the dusty

Andean foothills.Yet appearances

could

21

How can it be that these kids

are not given

treated running

water as a priority?

The answer has much to do with the history of Huaycan, population 200,000, whose first

residents, mainly migrants from the Andes, squatted the land here in the 1980s.

22

“How

are we supposed to

afford that? Is it not enough that there are children here falling ill. Our hands are tied, we

have to consider our options.”

Ever since, the Peruvian

state, including SEDAPAL,

has been scrambling to

catch up and provide basic

services to the community.

But it also has to do with the

arid conditions along Peru’s

coast, one of the driest deserts

in the world. Lima receives less than

a third of an inch of rain per year. Water is a

scarce resource here and it is the poorest, such as

the residents of Huaycan, who are at the back of

the queue as demand outstrips supply. Now, Lima

is facing a perfect storm of rising consumption,

just as Andean precipitation and glacier melt,

apparently impacted by climate change, begin to

dwindle. With 9 million inhabitants — 1 million

of whom have no treated, running water — Lima

is the second-most populous desert city in the

world, after Cairo. Yet while the Nile flows at 2,830

cubic meters per second, Peru’s heavily polluted

Rimac river, which provides Lima with 80 percent

of its water, averages around 30 cubic meters per

second. Meanwhile, annual precipitation in the

natural watershed no

that supplies the Rimac

has been falling by 4.4

mm per year since 1970.

On current trends it will

run dry toward the end of

the century. “It could be a

natural cycle,” hydrologist Waldo

Lavado, of Peru’s national weather

service, told GlobalPost. “But climate change

is, of course, one of the main hypotheses that we

are looking at.” Yet Lima’s current water demand,

of 23.45 cubic meters per second, according to

the municipal authorities, is expected to rise to

47.43 cubic meters per second by 2040 thanks to

economic and population growth. “Climate change

is a very important aspect which we must take

into account,” says SEDAPAL’s head of production,

Yolanda Andia. “We don’t have the ‘nevados’

[snow-capped mountains] that we had before,

which helped maintain [water] supply during

the dry season.” As a result, SEDAPAL is investing

about $2 billion in new projects. These include a

giant new reservoir, Huascacocha, some 12,000

24

feet up in the Andes that will increase Lima’s

chances at restoring its entire watershed. Lima’s

progressive mayor, Susana Villaran, has seen her

attempts to name two of SEDAPAL’s five-member

board thwarted in congress by the right-wing

Fujimorista grouping. As a result, Gunter Merzhal,

of the mayor’s environment department, insists

there is little Villaran can do to speed up water

connections in places like Huaycan, saying:

“Our hands are tied.”

The result is that while wealthy Lima residents

squander their treated tap water, those in

shantytowns without connections end up paying

up to 20 times more — as much as $10 per cubic

meter — for untreated water delivered by a fleet of

unregulated, private water trucks. And at the back

of the queue is Santa Rosita, a supposedly state-run

kindergarten that’s part of Peru’s PRONOEI program

for youngsters in extreme poverty. Yet the reality

is that almost everything in the kindergarten,

including the building itself, has been supplied or

created by the parents. Teacher Ribero Guia earns

a monthly salary of just 332 soles ($125) — or, as she

prefers to call it, “a tip.”

President Ollanta Humala swept to power last year

vowing to end the Peruvian state’s abandonment

of its poorest citizens. Yet in Huaycan, just 90

minutes from downtown Lima, few are holding

their breath. Ribero Guia has attempted several

times to get a water main connection for Santa

Rosita. Without a land title, the local authorities

require proof of occupancy — a bureaucratic fudge

acknowledging the reality that thousands of Lima’s

25

residents squatted the land where they now live.

Yet even that would require architectural plans

that Ribero Guia says cost roughly $600, an

astronomical sum for most residents of Huaycan.

“How are we supposed to afford that?” she asks.

“Is it not enough that there are children here

falling ill unnecessarily?” Meanwhile, newcomers

from the Andes continue to arrive in Huaycan,

occupying land higher and higher up the hill, and

further and further away from the water system.

As Lima’s water sources dwindle and with SEDAPAL

already struggling to meet pent up demand, there

is little chance of them — or their children —

having treated water on tap any time soon. Climate

change is perhaps the most inherently global issue

because it affects everyone.

Peru’s river crisis foreshadows comparable climate

crises throughout the world. Water security

should be one of the most pressing items on the

international agenda now. But because the issue

is often merely perceived as a distant threat, it is

difficult to get the world as excited about melting

glaciers and reservoirs as they would be, say, about

a bloody civil war. The country happens to be the

first severely affected by climate change-related

water shortages, but other major cities could soon

follow. In Peru, the Rimac River has a critical

function.The river flows through villages and

small farms that line the lush Andean foothills,

providing peasants and farmers with drinking and

irrigation water. Then it feeds the many copper

and silver mines that provide Peru with its main

exports and the hydroelectric plants that power

the country. Sixteen thousand feet down and o

26

and Lima to supply the city’s nine million

residents with four-fifths of their water before

spilling into the ocean. One would think that the

Rimac does more than enough of its share. It’s not

nearly enough.

The issue is at the river’s source – glaciers. By

now, it’s common knowledge that they’re melting

fast. And Peru’s glaciers are melting fastest of all.

Peru is home to seventy percent of the world’s

“tropical glaciers” – glaciers that sit at lower

altitudes and hover constantly at melting point.

Glaciologists predict that in the next 10 years, all

glaciers below five thousand feet of altitude will

become puddles. Those soon-to-be-puddles are

the Rimac’s source. In a few decades Peru’s tap

will run dry. As of now, there’s no backup plan.

Peru is a classic example of a country that is at

high risk of climate disaster but doesn’t have the

necessary economic capabilities or infrastructure

to respond. According to the International

Development Research Center, it’s the third most

vulnerable country to climate change hazards,

following only Honduras and Bangladesh.

There isn’t much Peru can do about the melting

glaciers, but it can revamp an inefficient water

management system by introducing water rations,

installing reservoirs and efficient distribution

systems and recycling wastewater.

These reforms will be difficult to realize due

to Peru’s limited budget, less-than-adequate

infrastructure and flawed governance, but Peru

will have to lead the way in preparing for a

water crisis that could easily become a reality

unlike

Cairo,

it is a city

of divisive

inequalities. On

average, people in

Lima consume far more

water than in most other big

South American cities. At the

same time, almost a quarter of Lima’s

population live in slums surrounding

the city, and one million people don’t have

treated running water.

elsewhere. Right now, Peru’s water management

is still leagues behind Los Angeles’ and is very

inefficient. 40 percent of the Rimac’s flow

dumps right into the ocean – that is

water that could be used by millions

of thirsty people in Lima. A

sprawling metropolis of nine

million, Lima is the

second most populous

desert city in the

world after

Cairo, and

not

“ yesterday my husband had to pick bazooka bubble gum out of my hair.”

LIA DALPINI

“I played dress up with my sister and had a better time with her unlike my last date.”

LOLA HAMEL

27

I ’M CHOOSING TO BE

“ I’m on my school’s Quidditch team. we are currently undefeated!”

EMILY GILMER

“I played dress up with my sister and had a better time with her unlike my last date.”

LOLA HAMEL

28

There’s Always

Maybe you’ve always have been artistic or interested in body art. But maybe

mom and dad wanted you to go to college to pursue business or something

more “practical.” And now, maybe you’re tired of it.

apprenticeship, you’ll need to show your shop of choice

a solid portfolio of fifty to two hundred really good

drawings. Yes, as a tattoo artist you will be creating

indelible artwork on your customers’ bodies and those

clients want that permanent fixture to suit their

individual tastes and look amazing. Often, clients

want to know what drawing skills their tattoo artists

have and request original work. Sometimes, clients

request a tattoo of a pre-created design but even those

prefabricated pieces need to be successfully transferred

in an attractive and flattering way. Your mentor

will be considering your artistic skill as the most

important factor in deciding whether to take you on

as an apprentice at their parlor. If your artwork looks

bad, they will look bad. The best way to generate a great

Well it’s not too late, there’s always Plan

B. If you feel like you can relate, perhaps

becoming a tattoo artist is the right move for

you. Let’s face it, theres always plan B.

The trick to learning how to become a tattoo

artist is that tattooists can’t usually attend a

formal school for training since few formal

schools exist. Since tattooing is an art that

is traditionally handed down, tattooers

learn their trade by becoming an apprentice

for an already established and experienced

mentor. So, the first step to becoming a

tattoo artist is obtaining an apprenticeship.

Actually, let’s take a few steps back.

To prove that you deserve that awesome

Plan B

29

WITH MIKE ROWE

the beginning are really what makes all the

difference. No matter how long you apprentice

or how long you tattoo, you never know it all.

There is always more to learn, new techniques

to adopt, new ways to enhance what has

already been done. Never be satisfied with

mediocrity, and never allow yourself to become

egotistical. Make sure that you Always do your

best, always keep learning, respect the trade

and your hard work will pay off. Tattoos aren’t

just for sailors and criminals anymore, people

from all walks of life commission tattoo artists

to create works of art for them to display on

their skin. Clients may seek the services of a

good tattoo artist to help them commemorate

the loss of a loved one; to express a deeply

held belief or commitment to a person, group,

portfolio of drawings, and develop and hone your skills

as an artist, is by going to school and majoring in art.

Art schooling will give you the opportunity to focus on

the basic skills needed in order to learn how to become

a tattoo artist. Some advantages to schooling are the

art history classes that offer you a chance to study a

variety of styles and artworks. Taking art classes will

offer you a chance to see what it’s like to work within

a set of guidelines as set by your teachers. Eventually,

these experiences will be helpful when you start to work

with clients on personalized and custom tattoos. If you

complete your assignments with the goal of becoming a

tattoo artist in mind, you will be able to use many of your

assignments to build your tattooing portfolio and land a

great apprenticeship.

On your apprenticeship, you will basically be making a

trade. Your time and money, for the opportunity to learn

how to become a tattoo artist from someone proficient in

the craft. You will probably play the part of shop ‘gofer,’

running errands and completing tasks your superiors are

too busy to deal with. You will need to perform about a

hundred free tattoos during this time to prepare to take

the test to become a certified tattoo artist. All your work

as an apprentice will lead up to your test for becoming a

certified tattooist. It is only after you have successfully

passed this test and received your tattooing license

that you can begin charging for your services. Hourly

wages for beginners can start around fifty dollars and,

with time, building a good reputation and portfolio, and

continued learning of techniques and skills, the most

prestigious tattoo artists can charge from three hundred

to four-hundred dollars per hour for their masterful

creations. Your success in this business is up to you

but the effort you put into developing your talents from

30

Miami Ink Tattoo

artist: Kat Von D

photo courtesy:

tlc.com/miamiink

31

team, country or ideal; or solely for the purpose of using

their body to display artwork. Whatever the client’s goals

and motivations, the artist is entrusted with creating

a piece that the client will be proud to display on their

body for the rest of their life. Because these designs are

permanent in nature, the artist must work with the

client to ensure they are deeply satisfied with a proof of

the design, prior to inserting the tattoo into the client’s

skin. If the artist is caring and skilled, the client is

likely to be highly pleased with the tattoo. However if the

artist is sloppy and under-skilled, the client may look

upon their tattoo with regret for the rest of their life.

Many people get into the career because they thinks it’s

glamorous, only to find out that it’s simply hard work.

Highly refined artistic ability is crucial for success as

a tattoo artist. The apprenticeship period can be very

challenging financially, mentally and emotionally.

Patience is required – to finish a piece can take hours of

stressful concentration. Creating a piece that a client is

very pleased with can be highly rewarding and result in a

great sense of achievement. Dealing with an unsatisfied

client can be extremely challenging. Dealing with

customers who aren’t sure of what they want when they

enter the studio can be very challenging, and may cause

the artist to turn the customer away. Tattooing isn’t

a job that is simply handed to you. As you can see, it’s

something that really has to be earned. One of the traits

that separates those who make it from those who don’t is

the ability to be persistent. Whether a person is taking

art classes at the local community college, practicing

on fake skins before getting the go-ahead to tattoo on

others, or seeking out an apprenticeship, there is a big

need to stick with it.

Even once a person is a well-established tattoo artist,

perseverance is still necessary. He or she will always

be learning about new advances and techniques and

should always be striving to become better at the craft.

There’s also an ongoing need to bring in new customers

while continuing to please tattoo collectors so they will

become repeat clients.

There are a ton of details surrounding professional

tattooing, and a successful artist is one who keeps them

all in mind. The most obvious types of detail that come

to mind are those in the artwork itself, but there’s much

more to it than that. The artist needs to plan the design

out in advance so that colors are applied in the right

order to avoid smudging and ruining the lighter colors.

His or her drawers need to contain tons of extra little

pieces and parts in case a band snaps or a washer wears

out on the tattoo machine in the middle of a session.

There are recipes to follow for making inks, hygiene

procedures to protect customers, licensing and

certification to keep up with, and a whole lot more.

From the early days of learning as much as possible

about tattooing to the later period in which the artist

has a steady stream of clients, there never ceases to be a

million little details to keep in mind.

Detail-oriented people will have an advantage when it

comes to succeeding in tattooing. Many of the activities

of a tattoo artist do become habit, but early on, there is

a need for concentration and a willingness to learn the

best procedures for just about every aspect of the work.


32


“ I still buy coloring books, and fill all the pages. And I’m talking hello kitty stuff. ”

ANNA MEYER

“on my vacation, my friends and I wore capes around the amusement park, pretending to save the world.”

ASHLEY GUERRA

“ I kiss my own boo-boos sometimes. Is that weird?”

SHALYAH EVANS

“I asked my fiance when he last picked his nose. He said yesterday. That’s when I knew we’d make it.”

JAYME CAMPBELL

33

EuropeWITH CESAR KURIYAMA

Backpack

34

Students always have this desire to travel, but often no money or resources to

do so. However, one way to satisfy your wanderer soul and college kid budget

is to consider a gap year.

A gap year is a year spent taking time off

between life stages. An increasingly popular

option, it provides time for traveling,

volunteering, learning a new language, or

experiencing any number of other activities

for personal growth. Typically, students take

a gap year after graduating from high school

and before attending college.

While there are many compelling reasons

to take a gap year, one of the most common

is the opportunity to explore interests and

develop a purpose for your future. Students

especially can take a break from intense

coursework and focus on enriching life

experiences. There are no rules when it

comes to taking a gap year, so the possibilities are truly

endless. Luckily, there are organizations that specialize

in helping those interested organize their adventures.

For example, some companies assist with everything

from finding a host family, to setting up the volunteer

project, to taking care of meals and travel insurance.

The gap year isn’t always for everyone though. Even

though it’s a year to travel somewhere new, it’s not

necessarily a vacation. Taking a gap year is a big step and

a big commitment. Anyone who has been on one will have

quickly realized that it is nothing like a normal holiday,

when you just dip your toes into a place and jet back

home a week later. It becomes your life, and there is a lot

to take in and learn.

35

the only question is: when?

There are plenty of projects and destinations to consider.

A popular tour sponsored by the official gap year site is

one to Thailand. But there are plenty of tours that are

even in states, or based on certain causes. For instance,

check out this cause related gap year tour about

protecting elephants in the Udzungwa Mountain:

10,000 elephants were poached in the last year – and

5,000 in one national park. To prevent human/animal

conflict we will be building fences using natural

deterrents - chillies and beehives! Not only does this

keep the elephants away and on track, the honey from

the bees will also provide the community with a source of

income. This is a hugely rewarding project, working with

a remote Tanzanian community and project partners in

the stunning Udzungwa Mountains, a lush green area of

Tanzania. The project will be based around assisting a

local researcher to study elephants, analyze their food

migration paths and damage, as well as helping with the

deterrent fences. Your role: You’ll need enthusiasm,

a positive attitude and lots of energy to work on this

project! By joining a Raleigh expedition you could be

working on this project as part of a 10 week expedition, 7

week expedition or 5 week expedition! How does it work?

An expedition is a diverse and challenging combination

of projects. As a volunteer on a Raleigh expedition

you have the opportunity to take part in community,

environment and adventure projects. Our expeditions

are challenging and conditions will be basic so don’t

expect home comforts or luxuries! You’ll be living and

working in teams of around 12-14 and supported by at

least 2 volunteer managers. You could be living in a camp

in a national park, staying with a local family or in a

community center. 5 week expeditions: On our unique 5

When planning your gap year, consider how taking this

time to learn more about yourself and the world can

help you grow as a person and prepare to take on further

challenges. Going into the year with personal goals will

help you stay focused and work toward success, both

during your gap year and when you return. From an

advocate of the gap year to any potential traveler, realize

that taking time off work or away from your studies can

seem like a massive and uncertain step but in the grand

perspective of things, a year is nothing. You’ll spend

about 55 years of your life working so a couple of months

or years out won’t have a negative effect on your career

so you’ve really got nothing to lose. If you’re nervous

about travelling, book a flexible RTW ticket so if you

really want to come home you can. I can guarantee that

you won’t want to cut your trip short but it will give you

a safety net and the confidence to jump on a plane and

explore the world! I promise you won’t regret it.

While travel is life-changing, it’s also, at times,

challenging. Do you feel confident in making your own

decisions? Are you OK being alone? Are you financially

able to support yourself and budget? Do you feel able to

adapt and cope with a variety of cultures completely

different to your own?

If the answer to any of these is no, maybe now is not the

right time for you - but it doesn’t mean it’s not on the

cards for the future. If the answer is yes, and the thought

of freedom and independence excites you, then you are

certainly ready to embrace a grand adventure.

Whether this becomes a one-off trip or kick starts a

lifelong passion for the nomadic lifestyle, a gap year will

change you, challenge your pre-conceptions, and open

your eyes to a world outside of the one you know. Now,

36

Students who have been accepted to a college, but want

to take a gap year before attending, should defer their

admittance, says Kristin White, director of Darien

Academic Advisors and author of The Complete Guide to

the Gap Year. Students wishing to defer college should

send a letter to their college’s director of admissions

and outline what they plan to do for their gap year. The

admissions committee will evaluate the letter and, in

most cases, grant the deferral, she says. White advises

students to send their deferral letters between April and

mid-June. At the very latest, students should send their

requests before their first fall tuition payments are due,

which is usually July 1 or August 1.

If a student has qualified for federal financial aid but

has deferred college for a year, he or she will have

to re-apply the following year by filling out the Free

Application for Federal Student Aid. If their family’s

financial circumstances haven’t changed significantly,

the student will likely receive aid again, says Bull of the

Center for Interim Projects. Some scholarships offered

by colleges can be held for the student until they attend

the next year. “Scholarships vary by school, but if

you’ve been offered it once, you have a good shot of being

offered it again,” Bull says. Cheryl Brown, the director

of undergraduate admissions at Binghamton University,

reassures students and parents about scholarships

from her school, saying, “If the student is accepted

for any scholarship, depending on the parameters of

the scholarship, we try to hold it for them when they

return.” “Students who are going to college after a gap

year are going into it more mature and better prepared

than others,” says White, of Darien Academic Advisors.

week gap year expedition you’ll combine either a 3 week

community or environment project with an adventure

challenge. This is an intense, adrenalin-fuelled 7 day

experience of trekking, survival challenges and water-

based activities.

One of the most fun parts of starting to plan a gap year is

actually researching and plotting your trip. Gapyear.com

is the world’s biggest gap year resource and what they

don’t know about trip planning just isn’t worth knowing.

they understand that planning your gap year can actually

be quite overwhelming though, especially for first time

gappers, so make the most of your knowledge and passion

within the site and use it. vThe first step of planning

your trip is to get a rough idea of when you want to go.

Then reassess it and plan when you actually think you’ll

be able to afford to go, and for how long. No use spunking

a grand on a flight to Japan and hoping to stay for a year if

you only have £2k for the trip.

photo courtesy:

gapyyear.com

37

DON’T YOU EVER

GET THE FEELING THAT ALL

YOUR LIFE

DON’T YOU EVER

GET THE FEELING THAT ALL

YOUR LIFE

DD

38

IS GOING BY AND YOU’RE NOT TAKINGADVANTAGE OF IT?

IS GOING BY AND YOU’RE NOT TAKINGADVANTAGE OF IT?

39

it is almost impossible to comprehend or calculate

that figure, yet it is easy to read and easy to say. I just

wonder how many 10-hour days at $4 a day it would take

to reach that number? If you will allow me to use this

personal example to place things in context, I want to

talk with you about something that affects our lives

each and every day, this being the power of the unseen

government. There is another word or term we use

frequently to describe the unseen government, and that

word is bureaucracy. It’s been said that office holders

come and go, but the bureaucracy goes on forever. When

you consider that there are almost three million federal

employees who earn an average of $76,000 a year, you

begin to get the picture.

The going rate was $4 per day. I lasted four days. When

I got paid and had those 16 brand new one dollar bills I

thought I was rich, which sounds better than died and

gone to Heaven. At the time, 1947, I was 9 years of age and

I can still remember how long those days were and how

hot I got before quitting time.

I share this simply to make a point. When you work hard

for your money and get paid for doing a job, you know

the value of that money. In between the time when I

write these columns, I do a great deal of reading and

research, and when you see large numbers on paper that

represents money, you don’t have the same perspective

as when you earn it by the sweat of your brow. When you

think about our national debt being almost $17 trillion,

Can you remember your first real job and how much you were paid for doing it?

Well, I can, almost as though it was yesterday. It was chopping cotton for 10

hours a day in a little community called Olyphant, Jackson County.

WITH BETH NOVECK

I Hate Bureaucracy [b-roke-you-see]

40

These people and their programs have to be paid from

taxes, borrowed money from other governments or from

fiat money that is generated by the printing press. I want

to give you some numbers from a fantastic book I am

reading for the third time titled, “A Time for Truth” by

William E. Simon, secretary of the United States Treasury

from 1974 to 1977.

If you think the numbers were staggering back then in

terms of the costs of running the government, just think

about what they are today. Now, believe it or not, it is

not the cost of running the government that is doing the

most harm but rather the massive costs of government

regulations that is doing us in. Of course, these costs

are always passed on to the consumer, which makes us

uncompetitive in the world marketplace. In 1975, the

interest on the federal debt was $38 billion. Interest on

the debt had nearly tripled in just one decade and had

become the third largest item in the federal budget after

transfer payments -- redistribution of wealth programs

-- and defense. A good example of the cost of government

regulations can be seen in the construction of a

nuclear power plant. Because of excessive regulations,

construction in the United States has been slowed to 11

years as compared to four and a half years in Europe and

Japan.

Now, fast forward to 2011 when regulatory rules cover

169,000 pages and more than 10 new ones are added every

day, seven days a week and 365 days a year. This year,

Congress passed 81 new laws while government agencies

issued 3,807 new regulations. The Competitive Enterprise

Institute, a Washington think-tank made this statement:

If there ever was an example of government without the

consent of anyone -- this is it.

One of the great misperceptions about rebels at work is

that we are trying to change everything. Not so. Most of

us focus on the things that get in the way of achieving

things that matter, and suggest better ways. We are not

anarchists or people who want to reinvent every wheel.

We’re much too practical to change what’s working well.

We do, however, put a lot of effort against eliminating

bureaucratic rules and widely accepted business

practices that slow down progress without adding any

value. Bureaucracy creeps in slowly.

Consensus bloats processes. The “need to know” inflates

what needs to be included in standard reports. Legal and

quality control “extra safeguards” minimize risk and

maximize time to completion, often putting companies

at competitive risk. Insecure or inexperienced people

add more layers instead of revising what exists. Some

duplicitous types create bureaucracy to confuse and

hide unscrupulous business practices. After a while few

people inside the organization can see what’s dragging

things down or maybe can’t even understand what the

regulation or rule means. Or, they don’t know how to

fix it. That’s where the value of rebels comes in. Unlike

troublemakers who rail and rant about how screwed

41

up things are, we are often bureaucratic fixers. Create

clarity from complexity. Love order, hate bureaucracy.

As a lifelong rebel, one of my personal mantras has been,

“Create clarity from complexity.” With clarity you can

better see what matters, clear away the extraneous

bureaucracy and useless processes, and get to valued

outcomes faster. When I look back over my career as a

rebel at work this is the thing I do best: creating clarity.

A couple of years ago I had the pleasure to spend a couple

of hours talking about rebels with Lars Bjork, the CEO of

QlikTech. (FYI: Lars considers himself a rebel and is a CEO

who values rebels.) His mantra: “Love order,

hate bureaucracy.” “Order is where you put a process

into place because you want to scale the business to a

different level,” he says. “Bureaucracy is where nobody

understands why you do it.” Order is necessary for

organizations and systems to function. But what we need

is provisional order. In other words, the order works

for now but will be changed as circumstances evolve

and change as they always do. One role of rebels is of

simplicity analyst, diagnosing how the order — rules,

processes, regulations, systems, cultural norms — needs

to change to serve the organization’s desired outcomes,

and recommending new types of order that can help

rather than hinder desired outcomes.

reconsider it, but I prefer just to keep this

one in my head – that way, I often just forget

Keep your hands clean. This one’s simple

– just wash your hands thoroughly each

time you use the bathroom or handle raw

foods. You’ll keep yourself from acquiring

all kinds of viruses and bacteria, saving you

on medical bills and medicine costs and lost

productivity. Clean your car’s air filter. A

clean air filter can improve your gas mileage

by up to 7%,Brown bag your lunch. Instead

of going out to eat at work, take your own

lunch. People think that this means

“nasty lunch,” but it doesn’t.

These mindless expressions of bureaucratic rule didn’t

stem from any mandate from Washington DC. These

idiocies were self-generated at the local level. Ask

a businessperson or entrepreneur where the most

significant regulatory hurdles come from today: most will

say local or state government rather than Washington DC.

It’s bureaucratic turtles all the way down. Conservative

orthodoxy, going back through Tocqueville to the

American Founding, championed local administration

over centralized administration, on the sensible ground

that the government units close to the people, usually

run by citizens governing in a part-time capacity on city

councils and county commissions, would be the most

responsive and sensible. A key principle of federalism

is that state and local government would resist the

centralization of power in Washington, and defend

the principle of ruling with and by the consent of

the governed. It is time to recognize that this kind of

government no longer exists; the culture of bureaucracy

now permeates all levels of government in the U.S. Today

local governments in the U.S. are just as careerist, self-

seeking, and mindlessly bureaucratic as any remote

bureau in Washington.

42

43

jobs for people and working at a sailing centre, scrubbing

boats and cleaning the yards. He used that money at

auction acquiring rare head-mounted displays

- expensive relics - at a fraction of their original price.

The road Palmer Luckey was on led directly to Oculus

Rift, although the then 18-year-old still had no idea

nor expectation of the extraordinary success that await

him. “I wasn’t actually aiming all that big,” he confides.

All he wanted to do was share his VR headset with what

he describes as the “vanishingly small” enthusiast VR

community of the time.

“My plan was to do a Kickstarter for about 100 of these

things - basically, to get money to buy all of the

components required on a slightly larger scale and then

While friends and fellow students filled their spare

time with social activities, Palmer Luckey was in his

parents’ garage, collecting and modifying head-mounted

displays. “This was my thing,” he says on the phone with

me. “This is what I did.” The seed was sown not all that

many years ago by the pages of science fiction novels

showcasing impossible technology, gadgets and gizmos.

The internet then provided the infinitesimal how-tos

he would need for his tinkering to progress. The path to

Oculus Rift inadvertently began in 2009 when Luckey was

only 16. “My goal actually wasn’t to make something,”

he explains. “It was actually just to buy something - I

assumed there must be something out there that was

really good that I could use for gaming.” He made money

by buying, fixing and selling mobile phones, doing odd

Palmer Luckey, the 20-year-old inventor of Oculus Rift, an affordable virtual

reality headset that’s taking over the world. Palmer Luckey’s no gibbering

genius, no stereotypically geeky inventor or recluse.

Change Addicts

WITH JAMES PATTEN

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send these out to people as kits so they could assemble

them themselves using my instructions so they could

have the same thing as I had. I figured it would be a really

cool thing to have a couple of VR nerds toying around

with.” His modest ambitions would be turned on their

head, however, when one of those interested “VR nerds”

turned out to be none other than legendary id Software

programmer John Carmack.

“But he ended up seeing my head-mounted display work

and asked me, ‘Hey, what you have looks interesting - is

there any chance I could buy one?’ He’s John Carmack,”

Luckey snorts, “I just gave him one instead - you can’t

turn him down.”

What Carmack did next was announce Oculus Rift to the

world by demoing Doom 3 BFG Edition on the prototype

device at E3 2012. “That’s really when it started to get

a lot of attention,” says Luckey, “and it went from

being maybe 40 or 50 people who were interested in

the Kickstarter to thousands of people who were very

interested.” That’s when Palmer Luckey dropped out of

college and decided to pursue his passion full time. In

the space of four short years, Palmer Luckey has gone

from being a regular Joe in his parents’ garage, tinkering

with head-mounted displays, to being the head of a

30-person team and the face of virtual reality in gaming.

Unsurprisingly he says it’s all been a bit of a blur.

But what a reality he’s created; he’s brought science

fiction to life in a gaming world that was looking all too

understandable, all too sensible. In not reveling, this

unassuming self-taught engineer, hacker, maker and

electronics enthusiast has produced a thing that will

capture more than just my imagination, and will do for

many years to come.

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I ask him if he’s a millionaire now and he laughs. “I

mean I’m a millionaire in hypothetical dollars...” he

trails off. “No I don’t have a ton of money; I have equity

in the company. But we’re not planning on selling the

company or doing anything to liquidate that - we’re

trying to remain independent and build what we’re

building.” In the space of four short years, Palmer

Luckey has gone from being a regular Joe in his parents’

garage, tinkering with head-mounted displays, to being

the head of a 30-person team and the face of virtual

reality in gaming. Unsurprisingly he says it’s all been

a bit of a blur. “Most of the things I would point out as

being really exciting or standing out to me are things

that wouldn’t sound very exciting or standing out to

normal people.” I try him and he’s right: figuring out

aspheric optics is a highlight that doesn’t capture my

journalistic imagination. There is a tragedy that sticks

out like a sore thumb - the sudden death of Oculus VR

co-founder Andrew Scott Reisse - but Palmer Luckey isn’t

ready to talk to me about it. “There’s no Facebook-style

story,” he adds. “No tales of parties and crazy stuff going

on that was really a highlight. It was just kind of a slow

plod towards making this thing a reality.”

He started the company, Oculus VR, at around the

same time because he needed one to be able to run a

Kickstarter campaign. It was still only him, and still

his expectations of success were low. His original

Kickstarter pitch, he tells me, was pinned on a different

video “much inferior” to the one up there now, but the

world would never see it because those ripples Carmack

had created at E3 had stirred more than just curious

journalists. Seasoned tech professionals Brendan Iribe

and Mike Antonov, from Gaikai and Scaleform, were

interested. One meeting led to another and soon they

were on board, Iribe as CEO and Antonov as chief software

architect. “They helped make it into something that

was much bigger than a few kits,” Luckey says. A proper

company had been born. Iribe and Antonov encouraged

Luckey to take Oculus Rift on the road and show it to

some big names in the hope of endorsement. Luckey had

a relationship with Valve that stretched back to before

that milestone E3 - “they were also planning on buying

a few of my prototypes, just a few early ones” - so he

started there.

That consumer version of Oculus Rift will be better than

the dev kits are now. There’s a broad plan to improve the

hardware incrementally after it comes out, but whether

that’s a yearly cycle depends on the pace of technology

improvements and, of course, how well the consumer

Rift does. It doesn’t sound like there’s much of a plan

beyond that, and if there is, he’s not sharing it. The

only other thing in development at Oculus VR besides the

consumer Rift is a latency testing device.

46

“ Woke up this morning to get dressed for class, put on a cute outfit, then decided I’m over it. I’m now wearing pjs.”

“Playing with my kids, I decided to lick the playdoh out on the table. It’s not as bad as i remember.”

ROB STONE

ROB STONE

3

CAN WE REALLY

LIVE LIFE TO

THE FULLEST?

48

49

#YOLO 17% OF PEOPLE

WHO SAY YOLO, DIE BEFORE THE AGE OF 35.

TRUE STORY BRO.

BY AMY PURDY - As I was walking back to my

apartment on a cold and rainy night last December,

I had no idea my life was about to change forever. I

reached the parking lot and was confused to see my

Dad walk out of an SUV. When he reached me on the

sidewalk, he wordlessly handed me my mother’s

wedding ring with tears in his eyes. My mom, my

best friend in the entire world, was hit by a car on

the walk she took everyday.

Just like that, she was gone forever. When

tragedies like this occur, the most common

question asked always ends up being, “Why do bad

things happen to good people?” It’s a question that

has been asked for hundreds of years, and it will

never stop being asked in the future. But after

having a couple of months to reflect, I realized it’s

a question no one should ever ask.

Why do bad things happen to anyone? Whether you

wear a white hat like Olivia Pope or you’re as shady

as Cyrus, no one deserves to feel the pain of losing

the person they love the most. Eventually, you

have to face the reality that you will never know

why these things happen, and losing the most

important thing to you causes you to ask the most

important questions.

How do I really live my life to the fullest? This

is what we should be asking when something

happens that makes us realize life is fragile.

We read quotes about living on Pinterest, watch

inspirational movies and listen to motivational

songs, but we often forget to find meaning in our

own lives.

As college students, it becomes so easy to get

tunnel vision. We are stuck in a bubble where

we’re between just being kids and turning into

adults. Instead of seeing the big picture, we get

caught seeing only what is right in front of us.

Of course, we should have fun, enjoy our college

years and live in the moment. Go ahead and stay

out till 4:00 a.m. on a Tuesday, have that extra beer

and take the time to enjoy the things you’ll only

get to experience within these four (or five) short

years.

However, it’s also essential to remember we have

many years after college that are going to turn out

to be just as important. In that sense, we need to

distinguish between the moments that will impact

us forever and the ones that we’ll never remember.

Twenty years from now, you will remember the

friends who were there for you during the worst

moments of your life. That frat guy you met at

the bar who didn’t text you back the next day

won’t matter. You’ll remember the crazy nights of

partying, but staying in occasionally to ace that

final and subsequently landing your dream job will

turn out to be even more important.

As cliché as it sounds, we all really do take so

many parts of our lives for granted. As much as

we’ve heard it, we need to remember to appreciate

the little things. Whether it’s as simple as eating

that delicious burrito bowl from Chipotle or

something as critical as family, there is so much

to be thankful for everyday.

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51

Losing my mom is an obstacle I have to conquer

everyday of my life, and the only way I get through

it is by making the experience something I need

to live for. My mom knew how to live life to the

fullest. She accomplished more in 49 years than

most people accomplish in a lifetime, and she did

it all while remembering to have as much fun as

possible. I live for my mom everyday; I live to make

her proud. I live to be the woman she wanted me to

become, and I live to carry on her legacy.

Find that thing that makes you want to live, find

that person that makes you want to become a

better version of yourself and most importantly

remember how lucky you are to be a part of this

amazing thing called life. Too many people

fail to dream. They fail to live life. They fail to

accomplish things they dream about doing, and

they settle. They settle for the fact that they don’t

currently have the money and they turn their

answer into, “It’ll never happen.”

They stay in one spot and never experience life

and never see the world. And it’s so much to see.

They limit their dream as to being just that, a

dream. That’s the first step to failure, believing

you can’t! I don’t know about other people, but my

biggest fear is failure. Because failure is my biggest

fear, I strive and give it my all to not fail. For me,

failure is not an option, and the words, “I can’t!”

are not in my vocabulary. I firmly believe in the

cliche that I can do whatever I put my mind to.

You may be asking, what’s the point of me writing

this? Why am I talking to you about my dreams

and my fears? Thanks for asking! This is not just

me talking. This is me telling

you to shoot for the stars. I

want you to believe nothing is

impossible and never to say you

can’t because of your current

financial circumstances. Get to

the point where you can say, “I

can, and I will.” I want you to

believe failure is not an option

and that you can accomplish and

do everything you’ve ever said

you’ve wanted to do.

Be spontaneous and go on that

trip you’ve always wanted to

go on even if it takes years of

preparation. The more you sit and

wait and say you can’t, the more

life passes you by and the more

you wish you would have at least

tried. Before you know it, it’ll be

too late. Live your life while you

can, and create a legacy! As for

me, I will get to that point where

at any given moment, I can order

my plane ticket to the next spot

and have the time of my life.

I’m planning my next trip now,

because “It’s better to look back

on life and say: ‘I can’t believe I

did that.’ Than to look back and

say: ‘I wish I did that’.”

52

IS LIFE GOOD?

YES NO

YAY! FIX IT.

Often referred to by the abbreviated hashtag #tbt, Throwback

Thursday is a playful exercise — one in which the notion of

“throwback” varies widely among participants. Some people post baby

photos, while others might share pictures from a vacation of only a year ago.

Others contribute pictures featuring dated fashions — say, hippie bell-bottoms from

the ’70s or permed hair from the ’80s. And still others post historical shots, including

many black-and-white depictions of eras gone by. This trend most notably started on

Instagram, a social media site that allows people to share photos and videos, apply filters to them,

and share them on other social networking sites, including Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Flickr.

#throwback

cultureBY ALLISON WARD

54

AREN’T WE GETTING

TOO OLD FOR ALL OF THIS?

Most pictures are accompanied by a bit of information — often humorous — that helps put them in context . The online s ite Digital Trends traces the first

#tbt (or #throwbackthursday) Instagram picture to late 2011. J e sse Fox, a social-media professor at Ohio State University, credits the growing popularity of such postings in part to t echnological advances . “We can share things we couldn’t share before online,” Fox said . “Everyone has a s canner and can scan in their old childhood photos . I t ’ s fun because i t integrates the old with the new. You can share an older version of yourself that ’s not on social media.”

Plus, she said, such photos nowadays are l ess l ikely to e voke discomfort from their subjects, who often use them to make light of their awkward years . “You can kind of ameliorate your wounds,” Fox said . “It ’ s an opportunity to poke fun at yourself, your friends .” Stacia Momany, 33, acknowledged that her favorite posts are the “embarrassing” ones from high school and college .

55

#

“People who don’t even use any other social media besides Facebook are doing it,” she said.

Julie Lorenz began sharing Throwback Thursday photos on Facebook during the summer — and

has since made it a weekly habit.

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57

sparks more conversation and interaction on his

pages,” she said. The personal nature of the posts

— the mayor recounts memories in the captions

accompanying the photos — give people a glimpse

of the nonpolitical side of Coleman — which

the public doesn’t often see, Harden said. For

central Ohio businesses and

organizations, Throwback

Thursday provides a way to

people liked the photo, and

it got 20 comments — which

The 53-year-old Worthington resident might choose

a photo from a particular stage of her life — her

childhood, her college days at Ashland University,

her early years of motherhood — or follow a seasonal

theme. “At Halloween, I might post an old picture of

the kids in their costumes,” said the mother of two

college-age sons and a daughter in high school. The

postings allow her to reflect and to stay connected

with friends or relatives who live in far-flung

places. Most of her #tbt updates, she said, draw

many comments.

“I went to Florida twice with friends in college. It’s

fun to think back to that time.” The “good old days”

seem to be a common motivator for older Throwback

Thursday participants, said Beverley Golden, author

of Confessions of a Middle-Aged Hippie. “There’s

always a nostalgia for an earlier time,” said Golden,

who lives in Toronto. “Maybe it’s a simpler time, an

easier time.” In recent months, Columbus Mayor

Michael B. Coleman has joined the social-media

users who are re-connecting to the past. Throwback

Thursday became the perfect outlet for him to share

some of the old photos given to him during the

holidays by his mother, said Tyneisha Harden, who

manages the mayor’s social media. “It’s a glimpse

into his personal life, his past and how he got to

where he is,” Harden said.

Coleman’s #tbt contributions include shots of

him on his first trip to Washington; as a teenager

lifting weights; and from his college days at the

University of Cincinnati. His ’70s aviator glasses

and Afro-style hair, Harden said, have elicited

comments, as has his participation in general. “It

for a dental office is kind

of rare,” Momany said.

About a year ago, Pfeifer —

who manages social media

for the Ohio Department

of Transportation — began

posting historical photos

on the department’s Twitter and

Facebook pages. Recently, the

department has shared photos

of 1948 snowplows and highway

crews at work in 1935. Although

sifting through all the old photos

can be laborious, she said, the

connect with consumers.

Each week, Ohio State

University posts vintage

photos of the campus

back in the day and

Jim Keim Ford shares

snapshots of antique cars.

Grandview Dental Care,

where Momany works in

58

This trend has spread from

Instagram to all of the most

popular social media outlets,

and has even infiltrated

everyday language among

teenagers, as we now refer to

anything in the past as “TBT.”

It’s understandable why my

parents and their generation

have jumped on the #TBT bandwagon; they

have a long past of old and dear memories

to look back on. They even have to actually

scan a physical snapshot into their computer

before they can upload their #TBT photos to

Facebook. But why do my high school friends

and I have such an appetite for nostalgia? We

have more memories to be made ahead of us

task has a notable upside.

“It allows people to see the

department as more — that

there really are people behind

what we do,” Pfeifer said.

“They’re hardworking,

and we’re able to

show that way back in

time.” Every Thursday,

my Instagram feed gets

flooded with pictures

of my classmates when

they were younger,

leading to endless

comments from friends

along the lines of “omg

you were so cute.”

than any amount of history we can conjure up from

even the oldest #TBT photos we post today. Perhaps

Throwback Thursday is a source of relief from the

increasing responsibility and pressures we feel from

homework to college admissions to finding a date

for the prom. But is high school really so difficult

that we have to escape once a week to the carefree

days of our early childhood? Are we yearning for the

good old days of elementary school?

No doubt, nostalgia can raise overwhelming feelings

of longing for the past, but it can also make us feel

good. It’s not like we peaked in middle school. We

weren’t born teenagers; we grew up. We had happy

childhood experiences that we want to share with

our friends. And it’s fun. We can laugh at ourselves

and joke with our friends. It brings us together.

So, it may be that Throwback Thursday is just

another trend manufactured by the media to keep

us “engaged” on their sites, but we own it now as a

part of our collective teen experience. And that will

make for some very dear memories down the road.

Every Thursday, my Instagram feed gets flooded with

pictures of my classmates when they were younger,

leading to endless comments from friends along

the lines of “omg you were so cute.” This trend has

spread from Instagram to all of the most popular

social media outlets, and has even infiltrated

everyday language among teenagers, as we now

refer to anything in the past as “TBT.” Whether you

post a #tbt every week or only on occasion, we’ve all

seen them and have laughed at them and liked them

– they’re a part of our social world. Which begs the

questions, Is it getting old or are we.