“Nudity is ok, But Don’t Tell Me About the Value of a Life”

This is in response to peoples’ response to the Superbowl ads yesterday.  There’s been a lot of buzz about the pro-life ad featuring Tim Tebow and his mother for weeks.  The question is, why?  The ad was so light that anyone who was offended is obviously extremely convicted, otherwise they wouldn’t be on the defensive.  Other commercials were so much more offensive, like the fact that the most scantily clad people were men running around in their underwear, the Go Daddy Girls had more clothes on this year.  Come on people.  Which one is really more detrimental to our society, people talking about the value of life, or people running around in their underwear? We need to reestablish our values as a country.  Aristotle said “tolerance and apathy are the last virtues of a dying society.”  That is our problem, we are so tolerant about what is blatantly wrong, and completely apathetic when people attack what is right.  We’re already losing our country, and this is where it starts, in the little things.

The iPad, Stop Whining People

Many people know about Apple’s new product: the iPad.  There’s been a lot of buzz around this new product, including a lot of negative press about it.  Well, here’s my two cents about the problems people keep citing with the iPad.

1. Multitasking.  A lot of people are complaining that you can’t multitask with the iPad.  Here’s the problem: you’re not supposed too.  How many of us still don’t have enough RAM on our computer because we’re running 5 different programs and have 37 different websites open at one time?  The idea of limiting the multitasking capability is, in my humble opinion, a good thing: you will be better able to focus on what you’re doing, and won’t sacrifice the speed of the device.  “But I can’t listen to Pandora and write my essay at the same time,” some people whine.  Then use the iPod feature and load some music, not that hard, and that is what it’s designed for. For me, simplicity is a plus.

2. No Flash.  This is a good point.  This has been one of the biggest annoyances with my iPhone.  At least half my writing is done through websites that use Flash which means I can’t use my phone to write if I need to.  And there aren’t usually app’s for me to use instead.

3. Not light?  It only weigh’s about a pound and a half, and it’s far lighter than any other computer. How weak are you?  Go do some curls with your Barbi and Ken weights.

4. Not easy on the eyes.  This is also a valid point.  The screen is not meant to be looked at for too long, as your eyes may quickly fatigue.  Here’s the quick fix, don’t stare at it for too long.  Look away every couple of minutes at something farther away.

5. The keyboard gives no visual cue (I kid you not).  I actually read this one.  Someone was stating that they missed the visual cue that the iPhone/iTouch gives when you type a letter (it gets bigger above where you touch when you hit a letter).  Unlike a keyboard where you can feel the keys move, or the iPhone, the iPad doesn’t give you any cue that you typed a letter.  Here’s my quick fix, look at the space where you are typing, not at your fingers.  That is what you’re supposed to do anyways.  You don’t look at your fingers when you type on your computer do you?  I hope you’ve broken yourself of that habit.

6. No camera.  Seriously, do you really want a 10 inch camera?

7. No USB, or DVD drive.  This is something that Apple should have handled immediately.  I anticipate there will be external versions, but it should have been handled properly to begin with.

and last, but not least:

8. The name, another valid point.  It is obvious the kind of comedy that is going to come out of this name, Apple could have done better, but odds are we’d have made fun of whatever name they chose, that’s just how we are.

Overall I think it’s going to be a great product (I’m saving for mine right now).  The question you have to ask is: what do you want it to do?  If you want something to run your 25 different applications simultaneously, sorry.  But if you’re wanting something for internet, writing, a portable computer for taking to classes, etc. I think it’ll work for most people.  And here’s something to consider: if the people want it, then Apple will deliver.  When the people screamed for cut and paste on their iPhone, Apple delivered.  Apple has given us portable video on our iPods, the best phone on the market, great computers, and if there’s something that the people want, Apple will make it happen.

Is the iPad the perfect product?  No, course none of the Apple products are.  Will it be an effective new tool for our world?  In my opinion, yes.  God bless.

What are you really afraid of?

The above is a short lecture from Tim Ferriss called Practical Pessimism.  It gives you a couple practical tools to help you face your fears, and most often you realize that you’ve been making a mountain out of a mole-hill.  I would recommend that you watch the video, and attempt the tools that it puts forth.  The quality of your life can depend on it. 5 minutes of your time, what’s the worst that could happen?

I have a question for readers:

I’ve taken this blog in a couple different directions.  It has essentially become a place for me to rant about things that frustrate me in the world. 

However I do want to serve the people who are interested in reading.  So I have a simple request: please make a comment below, and tell me the top 1-3 things you like about the blog, and the top 1-3 changes you think I should make.  I would greatly appreciate you helping me learn how I can serve you better. 

Please be specific, don’t use generalized phrases like ‘better content’, but rather things like ‘more content about nutrition’ or ‘more resources’ or ‘less about this’, etc.  Thank you very much.

Speedreading for More Time and Knowledge

Speedreading is a skill than many seek, but few acquire.  The ability to consume large amounts of information very quickly is something I’ve striven for for years.  I have made some good progress too.  When I was about 14 I started researching speedreading and found my current speed was about 120 words per minute (wpm).  After now 8 years and a number of different programs and books I have made some good progress.  I’m no where near the 1000+wpm that many programs claim, but I have gone from 120 wpm, to about 300 wpm.  Now it takes me about 20-25 minutes to read 20 pages of a book, instead of an hour+.  I call that a win.

I recently downloaded another program for my iPhone that I believe is the most effective method I’ve tried to date.  It’s called Quickreader.  In the last week I’ve gone from about 300 wpm to 380 wpm.  For one week that’s pretty good.  It only cost me $4.99 and came with 28 complete books.  This is how I have made it most effective for me.

Compiling some of what I’ve read in other books on speed reading, I came up with a drills that takes ten minutes per day and is extremely effective.  After you’ve established your starting speed, subtract about 20-30 and that is the starting speed of your training.  So if you tested yourself and were clocked at 250 wpm, then you will start your training at about 220 wpm.  Use some sort of timer, and use the guided reading for one minute.  Once your minute is up, take one minute to rest your eyes, and increase your speed by 10% of your clocked speed, rounded down to the nearest 5, in this case 25 wpm.  So your second round speed will be 245 wpm.  Go through another reading session of one minute, starting at the same starting point as round one.  Starting at the same point and reading the same text over and over helps your body build confidence in reading faster.  You will repeat for a total of five, one minute sessions.  So if you start with 220 wpm, you will finish with 320 wpm.

What also makes this particular resource even better is the tracer that it uses to train your eyes.  It offers a variety of different options (see right), but the best option, in my humble opinion, is the short overline.  My reasoning is that it keeps your focus on the space above the text, which allows you to use your peripheral vision better, and ultimately absorb more text at one time.  The second reason is that when using three stops per line or less, it forces you to start reading a line two to three words in and finish two to three words before the end.  This helps minimize eye fixations, and maximize your words per minute.

By setting my QuickReader up this way, and using it for ten minutes per day I’ve added 80 wpm in less than a week.  I hope it helps you as it has helped me.  God Bless.

Additional Resources for Speedreading:

Quickreader Website

Teach Yourself Speedreading by Tina Konstant

Triple Your Reading Speed by Wade Cutler

Remember Everything You Read: The Evelyn Wood 7-Day Speed Reading & Learning Program

Scientific Speed Reading from the 4-Hour Workweek Blog

Is Organic Really Better?

There are many people on both sides of the debate about whether ‘organic’ really makes a difference when buying groceries.  Some say that there aren’t enough chemicals in the food to make a difference, some say that it makes a big difference.  The question is: what does the science show? Below are the facts as shown by their corresponding study.

1. Organic Diets have been shown to increase the health of rats.  Source

2. “Animal studies showed better growth and reproduction in animals fed organically grown feed compared with those fed conventionally grown feed” Source

3. Organically grown produce has better nutrition Source

4. In organically grown produce “the risk of diseases caused by contaminated food is significantly reduced” and “it can be concluded that organically produced plant derived food products have a higher nutritional value” Source

5. Organic Grass-Fed beef has higher levels of CLA (a beneficial fat) Source

6. Grass-Fed beef has lower risk of E. Coli Source

This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to studies about organic produce, organic meats and dairy.  The fact is: God is smarter than us.  God didn’t make the food wrong, therefore we shouldn’t tamper with it.  When possible, eat organic.  My general rule for food is: given a choice, I pick the food that is more like how God made it, and less like what man has perverted it into.

Freaking TACO BELL DIET!?!?!?!?!?

I just saw this advertisement the other day. THE TACO BELL DIET??? Are you kidding me? The first thing to consider is the source: Taco Bell. Fast food is fast food, no matter what. That is never going to change. There are some fast food places that are better than others, but whenever you exchange quality for convenience, you always lose. They even say on the website that the results are “not typical”. That is because most people who go on a diet but “don’t want to give up their fast food” DON’T LOSE WEIGHT. Gee, wonder why. I’ll tell you this, if you want to lose weight, you’re going to have to give up the convenience. Fast food makes you fat, simple as that. Do I eat fast food? Yes, occasionally, but I don’t expect to get healthy, sometimes convenience is the only option. But that still limits me to a couple times per month, and I always try to make the best decision I can.

My second problem is the approach. Apparently Taco Bell has a couple things on the menu that aren’t as fattening. The items are lower in calories and lower in fat. Here’s the problem: drop the calories, drop the fat, drop your metabolism, and get fatter in the long run. Low calorie diets only work for the short term, and after you stop (which we all do) you end up even bigger than before. On top of that the low fat craze has never worked, take a look around, we tried it. Your diet is supposed to fuel you, and that can’t work on a low calorie diet. You end up putting more stress on your body. The idea isn’t to eat less, but to eat more of the right things, and less of the wrong things. This often is an overall increase in caloric intake for my clients.

The best example I have of this is a client that I had last summer. She had stopped losing weight, and I asked her if she’d been eating. She told me that because of the heat she hadn’t been very hungry (we’d just gone through our first heat wave). I told her to make sure she ate more PROTEIN, and the very next week she lost 3 lb. That’s the way the body is supposed to work.

Lastly lets take a closer look at her results. Over 2 years she lost 54 lb, a good achievement. But that is only about half a pound per week. It is unlikely that Taco Bell was the cause of that. Most of my clients will lose at least 10 pounds in the first month with me. There are lots of other things that could have caused that 1/2 pound loss per week. Maybe she started walking, or exercising, or eating more protein, or something else. It is most likely the fact that Taco Bell is capitalizing on something that they weren’t the cause of.

The fact is the Taco Bell diet is as much a quack as the Cookie Diet, or the South Beach Diet. If you want to lose weight you need to learn how to properly fuel your body, not deprive it. God bless, and good luck on everyone’s New Years Resolutions.

Taco Bell Diet

Thomas Pain is Encouraged About Americans

Last April Thomas Pain was encouraged with how the Americans responded.  Let us not forget this year the strength we began the last year with.  We need to build on it and be certain that we get our country back.  Listen to our brother’s words, and wake up to see what our country has become.  Then once you see the tragedy that has become America, do something to help us get it back.  God bless.

Automatic Text Message Reminders

Back from a difficult few weeks.  My dad passed away on December 22.  Back on the productivity trip that I was on before.  The tool I’m talking about today is called Text Reminders.  Text reminders is a free service that enables you to have preplanned text messages sent to you.  You can remind yourself to do anything you want: check the mail, get on task, call so-and-so, etc.  You basically write your reminder, tell it when you want to receive it, and it shows up at the appointed time.  Great service in general.  I have the following message sent to me: “Are you being productive, or just active?”.  Four times per day I get that message and it helps me stay on task and keeps me from procrastinating or wasting time.  Hope it helps you.  Enjoy.

http://www.textreminders.net/

Tim Ferriss 4-Hour Workweek

Save Time With YouMail

I guess I’m on a productivity trip right now.  Probably because I’m reading Tim Ferriss 4-Hour Workweek.  This time I learned about a great new application.  It’s called YouMail.  Among other great features, the best feature is the Voicemail to Text feature.  For only $3.99 a month you can get up to 50 voicemail messages sent to you through text.  I don’t know about you, but I hate listening to voicemail, most of the time they could have sent a text anyways.  Also, this way I can check voicemail in classes, or movies, or church, etc. without causing a disturbance.  Check it out and see if its for you.

http://www.youmail.com/