Baldo Minaudo’s Blog

This story was forwarded to me by a friend and I have no idea its original source:

Another case of truth being stranger than fiction… TORONTO, ONTARIO (CP)
A seven-year-old Toronto, Ontario boy was at the center of a Toronto city courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him.

The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents & the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with child custody law & regulations requiring that family unity be maintained to the degree possible.

The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents & he adamantly refused to live with her. When the judge then suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy alleged they had also beat him.

After considering the remainder of the immediate family & learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him.
 

After two recesses to check legal references & confer with child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the Toronto Maple Leafs, whom the boy firmly believes are not capable of beating anyone.

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This is a good one and I wish I knew who came up with it.  By the way, I’m a Toronto Maple Leafs Fan and wait for the day they can win the Stanley Cup again.

Enjoy your day!

Baldo 

The setting is the Washington, DC Metro Station.  It is a cold morning in January of 2007.  A man with a violin plays six pieces of Bach for about 45 minutes.  During that time about 2,000 people walk through the station.  Most of them are on their way to work.

Some believe inventing is a skill, others believe its a talent and then there are those who believe it is a process. I believe it is all three combined with inspiration and sometimes divine intervention. Some of the greatest inventions have arisen from solving a problem, meeting a challenge or fulfilling a necessity. These inventions are typically approached more in a systematic way.

Then there are the inventions that arise by accident. It may be a researcher working on a product who suddenly discovers other properties and realizes they can be used for something else. An example of this is the inventor of post-it notes.

My friend Otto Schmidt has been teaching a workshop and camp on inventing for years. He’s taught to schoolboards in Canada and to individuals. He assures me that he can turn anyone into an inventor through his program.

Most of the ideas for inventions I have come up with have been from solving a problem.  Often the solutions come to me in the middle of the night or as I’m awakening from sleep.

Regardless of what others may think about inventing, it comes down to you coming up with an innovative idea.  It doesn’t really matter how you do it, as long as you do it.  Leave the explanation to the academics - that’s what they do.

Here is a facebook group that is designed to help inventors invent and take their product to market:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=172431744840

What you waiting for - go and invent!

Thanksgiving is one of the most significant days of the year.

As we run around caught up in our little world we sometimes forget just how fortunate we are.  Last year many, many people saw a big part of their retirement savings wiped out and they’ve been in a state of shock since. As a result they’ve taken their focus away from what they have to what they don’t have.  And away from feeling happy to feeling sorrow.

The act of giving thanks is discussed in many personal development books as a tool by which to shift one’s consciousness.  Something happens when we give thanks.  It’s like we focus on what we like and appreciate and open the gateway to the universe giving us more of it. 

So, lets take this opportunity to be thankful and focus on everything great in our lives. 

Here’s my contribution and in no specific order:

I’m thankful for my mother, sister and her family and the rest of my family.

I’m thankful for my health.

I’m thankful for the woman in my life.

I’m thankful for baby Maria.

I’m’ thankful for having travelled across the world last year.

I’m thankful for all the new friends I’ve made and all of my long-time friends too.

I’m thankful for my creativity.

I’m thankful for the country I live in.

I’m thankful for where I live and the fact that I can walk to most places I need to.

I’m thankful for my book which I plan to publish in the next few months.

I’m thankful for the lifestyle I live and things I can do.

I’m thankful I can contribute to the world.

Having been the President of MetroActive Lifestyle Network, one of Canada’s largest and premier business networking organization has allowed me to develop relationships with all sorts of people.  Often, I cross paths with MetroActive’s members in the most unexpected places.

Two weeks ago I was at the Toronto Investment Conference.  It’s a forum by which mostly exploration, mining and resource companies promote their projects.  As I’m walking along one of the isles I bump into non other than one of MetroActive’s members and well-known author.  She took me a little by surprise, especially since I didn’t realize she had any interest at all in resource investing.

You just never know who you’re going to meet and where.