Tuesday, December 30, 2008

How Does Lust Affect Us

So I'm watching a program on the Discovery Channel dealing with the 7 Deadly Sins. There was one part that I found kinda interesting. When researchers looked at the brain at the time of arousal they noticed decision-making in the brain shutdown while the pleasure / reward parts became more active. So, what does this mean to society and the whole deal about going to hell? Well, that's the subject of this post.

So here's the deal, doesn't that scream the need for overcoming the "Natural Man"? Think of all that AIDS that runs rampant in Africa, and before that oh so many other places. What about the legions of Women that find out they can't have babies because their reproductive health was compromised by an STD as common as Chlamydia.

Caused by the bacterium chlamydia trachomatis, chlamydia is the most-reported bacterial sexually transmitted disease (STD) in America. Despite this statistic, chlamydia is referred to as a “silent” STD, since, due to a lack of symptoms, three-quarters of women and one-half of men who are infected are not aware they have it. Unfortunately, it is these mild or absent symptoms that allows chlamydia to silently damage a woman’s reproductive system. Since the damage is irreversible and can lead to infertility, every sexually active person should be aware of the subtle symptoms of this destructive STD.


So, why is abstinence such a bad idea? Why is sexual promiscuity such an accepted norm? When decision-making is impaired, shouldn't you be in a safe place? (read marriage) It's a thought.

Sure it feels good and all that, and it might not appear harmless, but it isn't.

I have a friend that once said he had a measure for some issues that he'd apply: "What if everyone did it?" That's seems kinda brilliant because it dramatizes the action to a greater impact. It makes a kinda sense as a measure.

Anyhow, comment away. I think the issue's kinda simple. We are to hold ourselves to a measure and be a better and higher self. The kind that others trust and are perhaps edified by.

Monday, November 03, 2008

18 Rules to Live By - Dalai Lama


  1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

  2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.

  3. Follow the three Rs:
    • Respect for self

    • Respect for others

    • Responsibility for all your actions

  4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.

  5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.

  6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

  7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

  8. Spend some time alone every day.

  9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.

  10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

  11. Live a good, honourable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.

  12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.

  13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.

  14. Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.

  15. Be gentle with the earth.

  16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.

  17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

  18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

More Chi Gong Video - beautiful motions and explanation

This is a great preview of what Chi Gong is.

     Chi: the body's energy / life force (not electrical, acts electrical)
     Gong: something worked at over time like "Craft"

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Why Bad Things Happen to Good People - a reply to a comment made in an email to me

Hey, you said,
"I kept asking for God to look out for me and
things didn't stop...so I had to ask myself
why should I believe when he wasn't listening."

When I committed to improving my relationship with God I my life got better AND worse. But I learned by asking and receiving that the hard stuff is put there for my own benefit and learning. You have kids, have you ever taught them something that was hard for them to learn or do you try and protect them by keeping them at the same age and level of understanding? (I can't imagine that's even possible without locking them in their room forever.)

I've been amazed of all the times I've found out that he's listening. However, it seems that if you don't know who we are or why we're here then it's hard to put the things that happen to people in context. That is, we're all here in this life to learn and decide if we're going to choose good or evil in order to grow and mature and live up to our possibilities as Sons and Daughters of heavenly parents. That is, we're part of a family and we can grow up to be more like our parents and attain greater responsibility. But just like kids, our parents have to let us go out into the world and prove ourselves and experiment on our own.

God can't live your life for you and can only help you to get through your challenges and, if you're listening to Him, tailor make your circumstances for your learning and growth. Life can become harder if you're on his side but the rewards are enormous.

Again, hope I haven't overstepped here. I hardly know you and I'm talking to you like an old friend ... some people don't take kindly to that.

Now, mind you, anything I've said here I don't pretend to be the one with the answers. Anything I say I do with one condition, if you want to know if anything I've said is true, ask God. Don't take my word for it.

Of course, learning to recognize the subtle responses he gives us or recognizing that we have to ask the right questions is another topic entirely ... I'll just say that he can't meddle too much in our experiment or we can blame him at our trial later, the one that decides how much responsibility we get in the future and how well we've learned to serve and participate in a greater whole (that crazy 'Glory' concept that confuses everyone just like the atonement.

Why Everyone, Especially the Religiously Phobic, Should Read Scriptures, Especially the Book of Mormon.

So, I've started to write this rant a couple times but it's a much bigger topic than I first suspected. So, I'll give my foundational answer and then flesh out arguments and additional comments/rants that match with this using links that will go where I've made text bold. So, here goes:

First, if you want to try this experiment, and you're not a regular scripture reader, I recommend the clarity of the Book of Mormon as a starting point over other scriptures. There are a number of reasons which I'll probably link another rant to. Just trust I'm looking out for you.

So here's some possible affects of reading the Book of Mormon:

1. Rise and Fall of two civilizations written in Biblical English
    (for scifi/fantasy enthusiasts)
2. Alternate possibility of history to ponder
3. Understanding your fellow man (read Brother and Sister)
         a. To understand their beliefs
         b. By gaining insights to divinely inspired council for
             human development
4. Possible source of truth
5. To learn how to achieve a constant sense of peace
6. To learn about and experience true joy instead of mere pleasure
7. Practical Applicable Philosophies worth testing in the real world
    and not just mentally exercising with.


These are all useless arguments of course, because there's a visceral fear that comes across the spiritually desensitized when they try and read the Book of Mormon. It's like you have to be serious about it or you can't do it. I've already tried these arguments for reason's sake and it has never worked. You're either looking for further light and knowledge or you're not. You can't approach the secrets of the universe without being made responsible for the choice that you make ... and on some deep level your soul is aware of that even with the veil in place. I'm just trying to peak your curiosity to try.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Internet Marketing - Part Two

So, I figured out why it is that Internet Marketers are always trying to sell and resell their systems ... that are often just systems to sell their systems. It's encapsulated in this story:

He asks his students, ‘If you and I both owned a hamburger stand and we were in a contest to sell the most hamburgers, what advantages would you most like to have on your side?

The answers are predictable — the best meat, the best location, the lowest prices. Gary tells his students they can have all these advantages, but the advantage he wants will ensure that he whips the pants off them. What does he want? A starving crowd.

That's why the Internet Marketing business is like a snake devouring it's own tail, it is it's own starving market. Internet Marketers make a killing selling to Internet Market Wannabes. Awesome. And there's probably an endless supply of them. But it still seems like a burn to me.

More to come!

Monday, October 20, 2008

Take On Me - Literal Version

OK, this is pretty clever. I'm familiar with the old 80's video and when someone sent this to me I was wondering what they meant by "Literal Version". Well, watch and find out. It's worth the hoot and it's not long enough to drag out the stoopid!


Blogged with the Flock Browser

Friday, October 17, 2008

Google Gadgets - Sudoku

I just learned that Google has scripts and snippets of code you can use for many things. I was looking into their latest stuff at Google Labs to see what's interesting and they just keep adding the features don't they. Anyhow, I found a few things I like on a site of theirs called Lab Pixies, a home for widgets and such that say they're powered by Google.

Funniest Picture

So, I use Google Reader to keep up on various RSS feeds from all kinds of blogs I'm following. Every now and then I find something that's a gem and I have to re-share it on Facebook or on Twitter or something. But I have to say, this one's BLOG-worthy.

Holy Smokes! I finally truly understand what ROFLMAO really means. And, for your viewing pleasure and consideration:

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Internet Marketing - fact or fiction

So, I've been interested in a couple of business opportunities in my life more than any others. This is noteworthy to some who know me because I've had a wide spectrum of jobs since I was in High School. However, there are two that just keep me coming back for more. The first is Real Estate, since 1992 when I helped my dad with his 10 investment properties (that I inherited shortly thereafter,) and Internet Marketing, which I learned about from several different sources, one being my classes at the University of Phoenix, and the other being from an Internet Marketer named Derek Ghel.

What I want to address here is the latter, Internet Marketing.

So, why did I mention Real Estate at all? Well, because they both have a lot in common in one respect; they both have a bunch of Gurus and Hype. And while I've learned a bit from experience with my Father and some real-world experience building a couple of eCommerce websites for friends with products to sell, there aren't any clear and concise textbooks you can buy on this subject. It's all informational products without the whole story up front, and the closest you get is people telling you about what's wrong with the other guys as part of their sales copy so that you'll buy what works for them they say. Whew!

So, what do you do when you want to learn more? Do you just spend a lot of money and hope the "system" you buy pays off? Do you just assume you'll have to weed through a bunch of junk but know that your cleverness and persistence will pay off eventually? What do yo do?

Well, I've found that there are foundational technologies that everyone is using and that you can find out most of this information for free, which people are willing to sell to you for $27, $47, or $97 dollars (even though it's worth $197 they say). If you know the foundation you can get an idea of how you're going to work the system; because, after all, this is really a game with rules that allow you a range of creative options for application. But you have to know the basics first.

I picked up quite a bit step-by-step from:

  1. My classes in college that taught me a little about SEO and Adwords or PPC

  2. Derek Gehl, a guru with a lot of information and products designed to help automate your selling process

  3. Continued Internet research, usually signing up on Gurus' email lists and RSS feeds to gleen what I could

  4. Participating in Ed Dale's 30 Day Challenge, which is a great step-by-step free course



Again, start with the rules and the known gadgets and then dig a little deeper. All the while using your whiteboard (everyone should have one for brainstorming)to come up with ideas and track your research. Oh, and don't forget some sort of Journal, Blog, or Notebook to keep track of what you've discovered with your process.

Above all, I've seen a lot of people getting rich quick offering "Get Rich Quick" scams. (Funny how that works.) But since I'm looking for legitimacy, I'll let you know how it goes. I might even put the best of what I've learned up here so you don't have to repeat all that I've done ... you can flatten the learning curve.

Check back, I'm sure I'll have more here on all this and I'll let you know how it's going.

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Another Cool App

Ever want to blend a white board with a computer? It's been done before ... but not like this!



This Is A Cool Computer Program - video powered by Metacafe

Thirty Day Challenge

This is really interesting (click on title) if you're into Internet Marketing or just want to take a course in it for fun but don't want to pay for it. This course has taught me more than I learned in college and more than another course i bought for curiousity sake. So, check it out, it's amazing!
Blogged with the Flock Browser

Bump Top PC Desktop

This is an awesome desktop. I first heard of this when I worked at MIT. There's a different video I saw that walked you through the features like a documentary ... but this version of the guy's presentation is funnier and more lively.

I can't wait until this is a reality!

This is a link for the original Bump Top video


Blogged with the Flock Browser

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Favorite Chi Video of all Time

This video is from the first in a series by Bill Moyers about healing and the mind. Having felt Chi at the age of 15 and, having used it myself, find this a beautiful view of it.

There is another spot in this video (the original, not the embedded abridged version) that takes my breath away when a 90+ year old man does Tai Chi. He moves so effortlessly with speed and power that it reminds me of a quote:
"The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be." -Bruce Lee


Blogged with the Flock Browser

Excellent Show of Chi Energy

Embedded Video

Blogged with the Flock Browser

My Niece posted a few pics of me on Facebook.

I love social networking. It is more than just a way to keep in touch with folks. It is also a way to see what they see sometimes. I didn't own this picture ... but she put it up, and there I am. It's like a communal scrapbook.

Woohoo! Three cheers for Facebook ... or Stalker.net as a friend calls it!
Facebook | Sara Bowen's Photos - Friends and Family
Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Imagining the Tenth Dimension (1/2)

Imagining the Tenth Dimension
Blogged with the Flock Browser

:: e x i l e ::

If you want to see some bikes I love click on Russel Mitchell's Exile Cycles in the links section on the Right Sidebar. I can't afford one yet ... and may never. But Russel Mitchell is my favorite bike designer. Every time I look at his site I'm kinda sad about my Suzuki. But then again, I have a bike! That's good enough for me and I'm grateful for that.

This is about what my bike looks like. No studs on the bag and seat but I do have a light bar on the front ... with two smaller / brighter lights on either side of the headlamp.


2006 Suzuki Boulevard C50T

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Facebook; my feelings as wrote to and old friend, Angie Heiser

[Angie, Facebook] is pretty cool. I wish I had access to something like this when I was 15 ... I would have a thousand people on here and an incredible collage of people that I could have kept up with and been reminded of.

It's kinda sad how many people I've forgotten over the years. People that I've loved and lost. *sigh*

My experience has taught me to love everyone regardless of their own ability to return that love. Who knows, a person I've just met could be a person I've met before and loved under a different guise.
Blogged with the Flock Browser

A Quote to Inspire

"The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare."~Juma Ikangaa; Winner of the NYC Marathon

Blogged with the Flock Browser