maslow_compilation_haroldwashingtonNotes

In "Maslow on Management", Maslow talks about the necessity and importance of self-actualization, but realizes that frequently, "flakes and gurus" as he calls them, learn of a new trend and bank on that to earn capital. True, true, but we must also respect the passion of such "flakes and gurus". After all, while they may try to swindle money, they do connect with honest, healthy visions that people have to have a pre-existing, intrinsic interest towards in the first place. So they can exploit, but they exploit, in a way, something good and worthwhile and if it weren't for the money charge, it wouldn't be exploitation, but identification with intrinsic values!

Take vocabulary for example, Maslow wrote, "if one increased his vocabulary, he would also dramatically increase his learning by 10 to 100 percent" (Maslow 119). That's ginormous! He also pointed out that the increased vocabulary leads to an increased awareness of the world, and, in contrast, a lower vocabulary, sincerely increases paranoid behavior. Lowered vocabularies lower your awareness making you effectively somewhat "blind"! Now those socalled "New Age flakes and gurus" could surely bank a buck on this and have overly-expensive "vocabulary learning classes" . One could argue that such an exploitation inhibits a person's growth and steals their money, but the end result is the positive heightened awareness. Conclusively, it feels like the New Age exploiters utilize a manipulative process, but with a correspondingly energizing end result.

In the conclusive denouement of the correspondence between Andrew Kay, Maslow, and the editor of the book, the reached a correlation on the nature of "gypping" ideas. Maslow described that he would, for period, feel enraged at people stealing his ideas for papers or other various constructs, but now just finds it humorous and funny. He writes, "copying or stealing is a little like stealing the egg, instead of the hen that lays the eggs. In a word, money must be used; the mind must be used; creativeness must be used and one must spend it and be prodigal with it rather than to hoard it and be stingy with it and think that it can be used up or spent in decreased in quantity...The very process of talking about ideas helps the creativeness, and thereby makes it more likely taht there will be hundreds of ideas where there were only dozens before" (Maslow 120). In other words, unless you tackle it on your own, with your own process, your own voice, and apply your own creativeness, the outcome will have limitations. However, if you do apply your own creativity, the result becomes infinite.

And the infinte, unlike the finite, players have limitless outcomes. Take sexuality, for example. The finite seducer "proceeds largely by deception. Sexual desires are usually not directly announced but concealed under a series of feints, gestures , styles of dress, and showy behavior. Seductions are staged, scripted, costumed. Seductions are designed to come to an end" (Carse 82). See, in the finite game all the sexual interaction becomes imprisoning: "Moments once reached cannot be reached again...lovers often sustain vivid reminders of extraordinary moments, but they are reminded at the same time of their impotence in recreating them" (Carse 83). In infinite play, there lies no interest in "restricting the freedom of another to one's own boundaries of play. Infinite players recognize choice in all aspects of of sexuality," so because they always have choice, they never experience the confinements of a relationship. Infinite relationships always expand. Regarding sexual orientation, "sexuality is not a bounded phenomenon but a horizontal phenomenon for infinite players. One can never say, therefore, that an infinite player is homosexual, or heterosexual, or celibate, or adulterous, or faithful -- because each of these definitions has to do with boundaries" (Carse 83). In short, whenever you break into that seductive, staged, concealed feints , and pre-defined orientational style of play, you imprions yourself within an inhibiting inhibiting relationship arena that confines your soul and locks down your opportunities for spontaneity and creativity.

Even with an expanded vocabulary of which Maslow discussed and learning awareness heightened 10-100%, if you played your life finitely, your access to that profound awareness would function from a limitation, as though you could envision the most limitless expanse (with the vocabulary) but could only purview it through a miniscule viewing hole.

Money works for you Dad's Friend and Intellectual-Mind Works for Einstein Teaching
In Todd Temple's "Money: How to make it, spend it, nd keep lots of it", old Toddie gives some pretty hackneyed, pretty generic advice for getting work. All the material covered in the book is so easy and obvious, such as writing a resume, and channeling your money into savings, giving, and spending. A boatload of "duh!" if you ask me. However, when Temple says, again another cliche, "It's not what you know, but who you know", we can divide the professional world up, cleaving into to two distinct compartments. When you're out to make money, connections and people do, truly, make all the difference. However, what if you're trying to get job as physics professor at a prestigious university. Assuredly, you can have all the connections in the world, but if you don't know , for example, Einstein's major contributions: the special theory of relativity (that time and length could actuall change at speeds close to that of the speed of light), the photo-electric effect (Einstein proved that light is composed of quanta particles (quantum) withi na wave, proving light is both particle and wave, winning him the Nobel Piece Prize. The photoelectric effect lead to the existence of cd players, remotes, and other laser-guided technology), brownian motion (primarily dealing with proving that Brownian motion (the subatomic particle dance of molecules suspended in fluids) is caused by those subatomic particles, which proved the existence of those particles) , and e=mc2 (describing the algorithm of energy derived from mass and a cosntant), you won't make the cut.

Now Edison organized the construction of the first generating station in 1882 (Schwarz and Mcguinness 20). And then in 1916, only 34 years later, Einstein published his paper on general relativity. If anything, that functions as a telescoping presence of technology! We first build the generating station and then only 34 years later we're understanding the nature of the speed of light! What will happen in the next 34 years! That's like learning about cooking and then becoming Charlie trotter or Wolfgang puck in a few months with that pace of technological growth!

Maybe with technology we allow ourselves "error" so we get it right without pressure. "It's interesting to note that Wayne Gretsky, probably the greatest hockey player of all time, had a routine of purposely missing his first practice shot at the goal" (Secunda 79). He did this so he could experience taking the shot without pressure. If you don't aim to make the goal, pressure is removed and you can feel that performance and then apply it to have the same ease and grace, when other people might have pressure!

Buckminster Fuller talks about Tensigrity -- tension integrity, which is based on teh support structure for trees. Fuller says that "but only god can make a tree", commenting on its complex design. However, the tension integrity combines these supposedly contradiction flavors like wayne gretsky (the player who makes the most shots) missing a shot and like the expedited technological growth. We find tension integrity in nature and it truly works!

In regards to the telescoping of technology. Take the concept of the "gyro compass" versus the magnetic compass. You could find the magnetic compass on a variety of ships all throughout the world, but it had an offset and a navigator must make out a correction to make for its variation from true north. The gyro, on the other hand, automatically calculates for true north, so that calculation isn't even necessary. Technology changes the old practices, often eliminating them, but often the old practices serve a great purpose; like a navigator certainly would want to know how to do a variation check

Now, I really get a kick out of Ron Fry's great tips for interviews, they're right on! They will cause the telescoping nature of your job search to appear! In short, they are: "Think of the interview as an adventure; be polite; be enthusiastic; keep on smiling; make eye contact; be honest; be positive (always find the good reason why you did something, not what you didn't like about something)" and the best, most useful one is "don't let an unskilled interviewer torpedo your chances". I've had some terrible interviewers and you need to be able to convey your strengths, describe what you will be able to contribue to the company and float your own boat, so to speak (Fry 104). In short, as a skilled interviewee, you should know the typical interviwer questions, so if the interviewer doesn't ask them, then you can still share those responses and convey your strengths, confidence, and skills!

Now with those skills you can create image, but what about your own Journey? Johnson points out, "sometime it's important to let the dream be a mystery and jsut let it guide you, let it take you where it wants to go. Liek taking a trip--starting to drive somewhere without a planned destination -- just to see what happens" (Johnson 177). That, friends, creates a perfect resume scenario -- the road-trip adventure with no pre-defined destination other than the journey -- but you can still stay tethered to you core by trusting in yourself. We must understand our dreams as much as the adventure; the jewish talmud says "A dream which is not understood is like a letter which is not opened". We have to open those letters of our life!

Dave Pelzer, describes the most grotesque survival scenario imagineable in his childhood where, he "was banished downstairs to the garage. [His] was now an old army cot...[he] ran extra fast [to school] so [he] would have more time to hunt for food" (Pelzer 68-69). In addition to starvation, he also had soiled diapers wiped over his face, forced to drink clorox and ammonia, and was actually stabbed by his deranged mother. That, of course, is a journey we do not want to encounter, so when we trust ourselves we end up with a greater chance of avoiding horrendously frightening and crippling scenarios.

In Ignazio Siloneís ìBread and Wineî, thereís a moving scene between the main character, Don Paulo, and a girl where they stare at each other for some moments and then, ìDon Paulo was filled with great pity. ìWhy donít you believe me?î he said. Yes, now I believe you,î said the girl. ëIíve never believed anything so much. You have extraordinary eyes that donít lie. Iíve never seen eyes like yoursî (Silone 56). Was it the sensation of pity that made Don Pauloís eyes so believable? Many times when we show emotion in our eyes, others realize that we donít conceal anything. This does not suggest to go around wearing emotion in your eyes, but we must take the time to ìfeelî our emotions and live them, in addition to merely process and scrutinizing them. Living our emotions allows greater understanding, personal awareness, and, as shown from this excerpt, creates trust in others towards you.

Although the target age group is much younger with Robert Hawksí The Richest Kid in the World, he paints a scene of ìoverwhelmî quite well: ìFlashbulbs were popping and video cameras were whirring all around me. I felt as if I had just been tossed off the back of a boat without a life jacket: sink or swim, just donít say anythingî (Hawks 59). Here, the overwhelming amount of attention and hype caused the protagonist to feel panic and from that overwhelmed panic to fear communicating. Indeed, whenever we feel pressed into a new daunting situation with a lot of attention, the first instinct is to clam up. But, meanwhile, hundreds of people go about their lives competently talking to press in front of loads of cameras. We must focus on creating a positive intention with our life so we trust our words and have faith in our communicative abilities. From that faith combined with intelligence and practice and learning from our experiences, weíll always say the successful thing, never sink, and always swim!

In ìThe Strange Case of Dr. Henry Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,î when people refer to Hyde they say, ìHe is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing; something downright detestableî (Stevenson 11). And yet, they cannot put their finger on what precisely is so displeasing. Because of the duality between respectable Jekyll and abominable Hyde, people couldnít feel the ìright vibeî. However, ìHyde was indifferent to Jekyll, or but remembered him as the mountain bandit remembers the cavern in which he conceals himself from pursuitî (Stevenson 77). In short, Hyde ìinhabitedî Jekyllís personality. People pick that up. We must wholistically know our entire personality to ensure stability in our life and certainty in our future.


We need to have stability -- wholistic stability. Buckminster Fuller talks about how most houses have a clunky design. His geodesic, dome on the otherhand has this all-around stability, creating, as he calls it, "insideness and outsideness" (Snyder 38). So pressure and geometry and physics aligns a certain way to distribute the design and stability throughout the structure. That pervasive stability can arise by following our dreams and maintaing that good "interview posture".

This type of "tension integrity" tensigrity and "insideness-outsideness" wholisticism can occur with our identity and personal presence ,too. Frederick Persl talks about getting into our centeredness: "Of course, the optimum withdrawal is the withdrawal into your body. Get in touch with yourself. Turn your attention to your physical existence. Mobilize your inner resources. Even if you get in touch with a fantasy of being on an island or in a warm bathtub, or to any unfinished situation, this will give you a lot of support when you return to reality" (Perls 68). That type of groundedness in knowing our desires, knowing who we are, has tremendous importance in avoiding those horrendous circumstances and staying tethered, connected to our insideness and outsideness and wholistic center. Persl also writes about the elan vital, "the life force, energizes by seeing, by listening, by scouting, by describing the world -- how is the world there. Now this life force apparently mobilizes the center -- if you have a center." Acquire that center by tapping into who you are to get that tensigrity of personality and attuning to your physical existence and your desires to start the journey of success.

Ignazio Silone. Bread and Wine. New York: Signet Classic, 1986.
Robert Lousis Stevenson. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. New York: Barnes and Noble Classic, 1886.
Robert Hawks. The Richest Kid in the World. New York: Avon Camelot, 1991.
Perls, Frederick S. Gestalt Therapy Verbatim. Toronto: Bantam Books, 1969.
Pelzer, Dave. A Child called "It". FL: Health Communications Inc., 1995.
Johnson, Julie. The Thundering Years. Rodchester: Bindu Books, 2001.
Fry, Ron. Your First Interview. NJ: Career Press, 2002.
Snyder, Robert. Buckminster Fuller. New York: St. Martins Press, 1980.
Rosenkranz, Ze'ev. The Einstein Scrapbook. Baltimore and London: The John Hopkins University Press, 1998.
Maslow, Abraham. Maslow on Management. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1998.

Interesting Random Factoids -- Toothbrushes and Temperature

Everyone Loves some Good Ol' Factoids!!!

Toothbrushes
Originaly made in China by drilling holes in Ivory and inserting horse hair!
They can be made by hand with fine copper wire and looping that around pig’s bristles, forming a tuft.

Celcius to Farenheit Conversion Generalizations
Celcius TO Farenheit
-20-40C = -4-104 F (60 degrees of Celcius equals roughly 100 degrees of Farenheit)
-20—10 = (0-15) (-4-14)
-10-0 = (15-30)-(14-32)
0-10 =30-50 (32-50)
10-20=50-70 (50-68)
20-30=70-90 (68-86)
30-40=90-100 (86-104)

An Update of Acting, Comedy, NLP, Nature, Math Interests

I liked the days before all the massive spam bulk forwarding email freak fests...When an email was as rare as a letter from a friend or a postcard from a traveler...sigh.

In any case, I realized I'm very much like a kid. When I was a lot younger I never really dreamt of being a Superman or a super hero or a fireman or things that kids typically dream of an envision themselves as. So I realized in my young adulthood I've still acted as a dreamer but dreaming and pretending to be as epic as Paul Newman or as talented as Collin Farrel, Brad Pitt, or Tom Cruise or Gabriel Byrne or maybe as wise as Emerson or as clever as Einstein or as peaceful as the Dalai Lama. More recently have dreamt "play-pretending" of being as talented as the actors or comedians as witty as Jim Carrey or as fearless Robin Williams. But it's still the same as dreaming of being a superhero at age 4.

Being a constant lifelong learner, I always have to have something to study and with which to connect my mind. As of late (the past few months and years), I've been studying Neurolinguistic Programming (useful for communications, for general conversations with people, to giving performances such as comedy on stage, NLP is essential), some Jungian Psychology (for creativity and peace in aiming to understand the complex areas of life), rudimentary math (for clarity), as well as audition and standup comedy books to keep me aligned and focused on career.

"All that time, under the gorgeousness was this major actor waiting to get out....He was getting on, and, an actor has a choice about how much of himself he's going to reveal" (p.28).
This one made a LOT of sense. Because after all...some times actors play roles, characters VASTLY different from their core personality (take Michael Richards for example, a very philosophical personality in person, but plays a quite a contrary character). In many ways I feel I do that as well. It's difficult to distinguish what parts of me are character versus just "me" at times. Even when trying to recreationally entertain I approach it with a seriousness, so it can even be difficult for me to make a distinguishing characteristic!

I just know I've been type-casted a lot as the troubled person who doesnt' get a job and calls upon friends family or random "helpers" for their sound advice. I've been typecasted as that role (and as the "student") for many many many many many many years. I think it would be a refreshing change for me to play the advice-giver or the teacher for once. To do that I'll need to treat my exercise as medication. I live like 400m away from these amazing trails! I've got to get out on those atleast 2-3 times a week and surf like 1-2 times a week minimum. I paddled out at Point Dume at 7am last week and hit up the Santa Monica Trails a week ago too. Nature is that life source that refuels you, clarifies you, it's so easy just to paddle out in the ocean or walk on a trail but the effects of it are like getting a college degree or doing complex drug compatibility alignment medical healing or lifecoaching. Complexi in the simple; simplicty from the complex. Nature is both complex and highly mathematically intelligent and extremely simple in some lights.

Anyways, funny you mentioned your friend Jeremy who works for Disneyland. The jeremy I mentioned works for Katsuya which is apparently some really hip happening celebrity restaurant thing, I heard someone else say that Hollywood was like the "adult Disneyland", so in a way maybe the Jeremy I know works for Disneyland too haha!

Also that's funny you mentioned a friend who believes in all those "million dollars in your mailbox" internet scams. While I'm not guillible for those, I have had a HUGE number of times of getting duped and scammed by con artists --- from some guy saying he'll get me a job at a chevy dealership so I lend him $60 and give him a lift to some place only to find out they've never heard of him...to cab drivers double charging me...to getting sold generic speakers with the price jacked up...haha! I guess all hard-earned (literally) lessons. All of my 'spam bulk" emails are from casting companies and lifecoaching certification comapnies...which while they're still asking you to sign up for membership stuff atleast Hey it's more aligned with things I'm interested in in life!

I have no interest in fishing, but that's soooo cool and I sincerely admire and almost envy that ability you have to wake up and "go to work "and that "work that you go to" is what you love to do (the fishing thing). Recently it's been difficult to pinpoint what I love, but NLP, comedy, and Nature (surfing, hiking etc) are definitely all huge interests. If I could wake up and do NLP (and there's a lot of opportunity for NLP in comedy on a HUGE scale), I'd feel pretty happy or teaching. I guess any of those things would be validating because it'd be a meaningful (like with the purpose of teaching someone math or helping someone with a problem or helping someone laugh and ease their troubles) act.

As for Health, I'm much more interested in swimming than biking, the run is just always accessible. I have this kind of yoga like mini circuit with free weights and own body weight I can do in most any place which has accessibility as well.

The main reason why I contacted you when I was freaking out was because I was strongly considering going overseas to get work (Europe or Oceania). That seemed like a big endeavor so I felt I should tell someone I guess.

I think the biggest thing going on in my life these days is maybe for once I DO know what's best for me, and I'm encountering these people who smoke or who eat unhealthily or who have this maladaptive habits that I know (because I've experienced the bad habits personally) are weighing down their life. I feel like if I don't point out solutions to them, I'm doomed to adopt those patterns myself, to drift into the poor patterns if I just overlook the problems people have. But then again you truly cannot change anyone who doesn't want to change and I guess focusing on myself, on the Nature Hikes I need and fuck people. I came back from a Nature hike and these people having a pool party offered me a beer and then this guy comes over and says "his women are trying" implying that I should be making an effort to talk to the women at the party, but they're all married and then they present the vibe of "don't make them uncomfortable" and it's all just a gigantic scam. People are scam. Truly. A huge underlying theme I've noticed in LA is that it's all about being distracted or confused. I thought for awhile that was the agenda of LA to distract and/or confuse you. But it's not; people are just simply distracted and confused here!! haha!! The trick is that if I connected with Nature -- Surfing-Ocean, Hiking-Wilderness trails -- being confused or distracted in the throng of people confusion is just something laughable because there's always that true unwavering, authentic raw intelligence of Nature always there. I'm only lost when I don't connect with that.

And it DOES change you. After I came back from a two and a half hour hike, I was disgusted by bars (well, I've been disgusted by bars by strangely drawn back to them for the past 4-5 years now that I think about it) and just felt so clear in myself and saw how sloppily people had led their lives, marrying at odd ages, having kids, getting sucked into relationships because of obligations or illusions of limiting beliefs etc...Nature, Ocean, and Wilderness gives me the clarity to have peace to rise above that and ultimately make better decisions in my own life.

Math enables me to take that bit of Nature with me wherever I go when I can't connect with it. The most appealing bit of Nature, most certainly is the mathematical precision and intelligence inherent in it. So doing math problems, the universality of that universal langauge suffices to connect with that Universal source of Nature.

NLP is for connecting and interacting with people and doing performance. If I never interacted with people, or never had to perform, I wouldn't need NLP, but people exist, therefore I must study and use NLP.

Auditions, Comedy books, and dissolving limiting beliefs keep me going, prevent me from getting stuck; those resources maintain momentum and prevent blockages of doubt from arising. Blockages of doubt and uncertainty or insecurity will ALWAYS appear at any level of success, so it's important ot have a method of dealing with those and dissolving limiting beliefs does that.

Remembering the 90s...Music Videos

I first discovered MTV in the 90s. Once the 21st century hit, I had peeled off into other interests, and if I hit up the MTV Channel post-90s I usually get bombarded with some rapper I don't know decorated in "bling" or some odd band whose acoustics don't really tickle my fancy.

I'm not some geezer reminiscing on "Sonatra days" but I do have a repertoire of "Old School" music videos by which I felt utterly entranced by in the early 90s. In addition to watching a music video being something "somewhat rebellious", going back and revisiting them and understanding the underlying message of a lot of them has felt extremely rewarding.

Some of these I claim "utterly awesome" because of their visual story, or maybe I owned the album and liked seeing the band, or maybe I just liked the tune, but they all embody and quintessentially capture the 90s music scene. In any case, Here's my top ten list not in any specific order:

1. Men without Hats. The Safety Dance
   This is such a goofy (but appropriate) music video for this song. I had never heard of the band, nor the song, but this I definitely caught multiple times channel surfing in my teens as one of the weirdest (but still acceptable) videos of all time.
   
   
2. Blind Melon. No Rain.
   The first music item I ever purchased (as a tape cassette at the time!). This definitely had to make the cut. The bee girl on the album cover as well as the "hippie in the field" scene set, in addition to being just a great song, all were emblazoned on my mind.
   
   
3. Collective Soul. The World I Know.
   While these guys certainly aren't "boring", I did put on their album almost every night in highschool to fall asleep to. The actor in this music video kind of irritates you, but I knew the song and the video certainly has a moving quality to it.
   
   
4. Soundgarden. Black Hole Sun.
   Creepy? Yes. Disturbing? Fairly. On MTV about every other 5 videos during the 90s? Yep. Don't really like the Soundgarden band but if you ever watched the MTV channel, this definitely always seemed to be on the air.
   
   
5. Dave Matthews Band. Ants Marching.
   This isn't the original video, which wasn't that good in the first place. But still a great 90s song.
   
   
6. Green Day. Basket Case.
   If there existed one quintessential classic 90s song, I think it would have to be this song. Although many a great band exist, green Day might even be The quintessential 90s band. I just think of Green Day when I think of 90s music. Their unruly music and boisterous video definitely made you feel a bit "rebellious" watching it as a teen.
   
   
7. Prodigy. Breathe.
   . Almost an angry song, it definitely has the creepfest flavor to it like Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun", but the band put a huge amount of time into this video. It's well-choreographed and memorable.
   
   
8. Red Hot Chili Peppers. Love Roller-coaster.
   This definitely makes the cut for 2 key reasons: 1)Love rollercoast is an absolutely fantastic song and 2)Beavis and Butthead just "wreak" of 90s music. I remember first discovering the MTV Tv show with a great computer friend in California and it definitely fell in the category of one of those shows that if you're parents caught you watching it, they'd likely defenestrate the telly.
   
   
9. Joan Osborne. What if God was One of Us.
   . Hideously (and humorously) mocked by Austin Powers, this video definitely sparked a good interconnected vibe and captured a lot of 90s music videos.
   
   
10. Sugar Ray. Fly.
    This kind of reggae-ish pop music was completely novel to my ears.
    
    
11. Goo Goo Dolls. Iris.
    No, you never saw the actual movie this soundtrack covered, but the music video was on all the time!
    
    
12. Sheryl Crowe. All I Wanna Do.
    . Old School Sheryl Crowe before her unique musical creases and quirks got smoothed over (and dulled) by pop culture hype. Good stuff.
    
    
13. Run DMC. It's Like That.
    Just WATCH this video. I think I tried to record this the first time I saw this (probably 7th grade) and it inspired me to nearly break my neck a few times attempting gold-medal-like gymnastic break-dancing moves, but this takes the cake by far for best dancing in a music video ever.
    
    
14. Beastie Boys. Sabotage & Intergalactic.
    
    Along with Dave Matthews, maybe Bush, and Red Hot Chili Peppers, only a few of these bands I actually still follow today. Beastie Boys is one of those. I see them live at Northerly Island in Autumn of 2007 and they were incredible. Mike D, at 40, looks, sings, and performs as if he's about late 20s. This is one of their classics.
    
    A few more "definitely 90s" songs (that didn't have embedding enabled):
    
    
15. Tom Petty.Into the Great Wide Open. Don't Come Around Here No More Sure Tom Petty (and this video, specifically) was definitely before the 90s, but I SAW this in the 90s, so that's what counts! There also exist greater songs by Petty, but this one's epic with the pink hat and storytelling sing-mode.
    
16. Ace of Base. Don't Turn Around. You don't particularly like the song, but it was always played and always on.
    
17. Bush. Comedown. Amazing song. Love the band. The elastic guitar chords (and cords) were the coolest, craziest thing I had seen at the time. Man, if you could pick one video that warped space-time this would top the charts.
    
18. Jamiroquoi. Virtual Insanity. The classic "gallon magician's chapeau" made this video. Very cool
    

Okay, so I ran a little bit over the "10" videos list, but hey, I kept finding the golden ones later down the line. Additionally, you've gotten an unfiltered sampler of the eclectic style and musical taste's of Validate Your Life!

Well, that about wraps it up. I'll likely amend this if I come across an old and memorable 90s music video. You really feel like you've unlocked some quality cognitive nuggets of your personal history after making such musical medley. I encourage anyone else who has a "good ol' days of music" concept, to chronicle their tastes as well. I'm positive that I vicariously lived out my musical rockstar fantasies through watching many of these videos, so they mean a lot.

eReader iPhone App

Well, iPhone continues it's assault in knocking off numerous other electronic devices. Along with GPS devices, household-wide remotes, now it's the killer device for the Amazon Kindle Kindle.

Tying in The World of A Story with Modern Shipping

3:51 AM
June 29, 2008
I just recieved an RCA cable (a special tv part I needed) that sold for $6.47 on ebay (including shipping) and it was shipped from Hong Kong!

Why is that cool? Well, for one it's a hella long way to ship something so cheaply. Reflecting upon ancient roman roads which spanned an awe-inspiring 53,819 miles in 450 bc with the laws of Twelve Tables regulating road length and message telegrams, this is amazing. I remember tracking my sweet iPhone as it was shipped from Hong Kong (where it's manufactured) to Alaska and finally to California. Then I got another package from a neighbor on Van Nuys, roughly 20 miles away from me! The Hong Kong package traveled roughly 7,254 miles. The other package traveled about 20 miles. Both were less than $5 shipping fees. I mention this because 1)shipping is truly astonishing and 2)it has current relevance in literature.

The Hong Kong package even had a customs certificate!

Additionally, I'm in the midst of reading Jules Verne's epic "Around the World in 80 Days, and around Chapter 20 Fogg, Auoda (the Indian babe Fogg heroically rescued) and Passepartout, the wiry little frenchman arrive in the very same city of Hong Kong after voyaging from Calcutta, India on the "Rangoon", only to discover that they've missed the "Carnatic" ship and hire a small-time boater to make it to Yokohama in time. So this has some of that "world as a story" flavor to it. Reading about Hong Kong in a fictional classic and then coincidentally receiving a package from the same city (and the fact that cost less than $5 shipping) and the book is free just kind of sets the stage for a nice, little literary-relevance-making-the-world-smaller-but-more-magical ambiance to this serendipity. Just the fact the part was so cheap and the distance it traveled was so great has congruence with Phillias Fogg's character, and Verne's book is free on project Gutenberg, it's just kind of some everyday magic that arises for very cheap, without massive expenses, or with zero expenses.

Call me "easy to please" but these little serendipitous gems of reading a classic novel that travels the world and then receiving a package that has nearly traveled the same route as the characters in that novel?!! Well, that's just cool bizarro country 2000.

Alcohol Spirits

I Never Knew the Difference Between all these so here's the skinny on the spirits of the world.

Wine and beer are fermented, but All Hard Alcohol == Liquor == Spirits is DISTILLED, not fermented. Therefore, all the hard alcohol listed below are made through a distillation process. What is being distilled (potatoes, grains, corn, sugarcane, or plants) is what determines the hard alcohol.

Vodka comes from potatoes, grains, or sugar beets.

Whiskey is distilled from grain mash and aged in wooden casks (Irish and Scottish).

Brandy is like the distilled form of wine (but it has hard alcohol content of 40-60%). It comes from grapes, pomace, or fermented fruit.

Rum is distilled from sugarcane or sugarcane juice. Cool! Plays a large part in the west Indies and naval life and Buccaneers, Piarates . Horatio Nelson's body was preserved in a cask of rum, but drunken by sailors, and Stevenson's Treasure Island introduced rum to naval literature. In australia, Captain William Bligh (Mutiny on the Bounty) started a Rum Revolution as Governor of South Wales by banning it which caused a revolt. Spiced Rum.

Eau de Vie is a colorless French fruit brandy, fermented and then double-distilled; served cold. Sounds cool!.

Tequila is distilled from the Blue Agave plant.

Gin is distilled from a white grain and always flavored with Juniper Berries. Well used in london and if it's distilled very well, it will be "dry" meaning lacking a sweet taste.

Exciting Smogasbord of Random Trivia

I've had an ongoing list of various research trivia projects from Eucalyptus leaves to Cinco De Mayo.

I finally got around to research them, but some of the excerpts are almost too small for their own article, so I pooled the trivia research findings all here.

Here's the results.

Eucalyptus

Cinco De Mayo
"5th of May" || US version of "Yorkton Day" "October 17, 1781" ||. Surprisingly this doesn't celebrate Mexican Independence, So what famous event does the 5th of May recognize? Well, Mexican Indepndence was close, except it wasn't the Declaration independence day, which was September 15, 1810. Instead, May 5, 1862 marks the key military conquest where Mexico smashed the French army and traitor mexican soldiers at Puebla, 100 miles east of Mexico City! I made, if I do say so myself, I VERY clever analogy with the American independence. In 1781, Cornwallis officially surrended in Yorktown to George Washington. Our official declaration of independence occurred back in 1776 and the key military battle that clinched our independence, not unlike May 5, 1862 for Mexico, was October 17, 1781. Conclusively, Cinco de May is not Mexican Independence day, but rather the day Mexico "clinched" its independence, like a "17th of October Yorktown" day for the U.S.!

Neptune

• Neptune is 17x earth
• Windiest planet in solar system
• Named after roman god of the sea, his brother’s are Jupiter and Pluto.
• Methane makes it blue.
• And it’s moon is Triton (1 of 13 moons).
• Undergoes apparent retrograde every 367 days

Janus

• Janus is the Roman god of new beginnings and doors. Pray to Janus to get a golden audition.

Lost

• Lost is so successful and draws 15 million viewers because it ties in mythology (the island develops it’s own myths, legends, and culture amongst the pod of survivors).

Thunderstorms -- Meteorological Heat and Moisture
Thunderstorms, in short, need heat and moisture. Warm air can carry more molecules than colder air and the moisture condenses producing latent heat, also adding to the storm.

Storms usually occur with "high horizons" with those huge cumulus clouds.

Thunderstorms in winter DO occur but rare. They needs cloud air colder than surface air (difficult in winter b/c surface ground air is already pretty cold) and a lot of moisture (again hard. because winter is typically dry). But they do happen if the aloft air gets a lot colder than surface and some moisture is brought in from some source like gulf of mexico. If a huge cloud mass passes a body of water and picks up moisture, that could contribute to a winter storm.


Eucalyptus
Picked this up and ate it while hiking Hotsprings

Key Facts (Trigger Words)

• Australia!!
• Gum
• Leaf Oil =
• Natural Disinfectant!! (But toxic in high doses),
• Flammable!,
• Blue Haze -- Creates characteristic Blue Haze of australian landascape!
• Digeridoo
• Originated from CA Gold Rush
• Eucalyptus flora dominates Australia!
• 35 to 50 million years old!

Research
Australia!! also India, SoCal, Africa, Portugal, Spain, China
Gum trees, odd insect makes squiggle marks in the bark sap.
COOL! They're Evergreen!! (not decidious, but they look like that. such a COOL plant. Eucalyptus is my favorite plant by FAR nowadays!!) and Myrtle. leaves covered with oil glands (like a person's subcutaneous skin)!

Oil rises above the canopy to create the awesome horizon of the australian landscape!! Flammable oils brought about trees that were known to explode! Huge controeverys over their saftey because of flammabilyt, But the aroma makes it hte best flora for me!! Music branches digeridoo. COOL Introduced to CA by Aussies during CA Gold rush!! far out!! australians panned for gold and brought Eucalyptus! Awesome!! So useful, they're often economically imported!! (am I like an imported australian eucalyptus tree)? Frequently has stringy bark.


iPhone
71% of all web browsing mobile is done from Safari (iPhone)

iPhone has 28% of all mobile market and it's only been out for a year. RIM has like 41% but it's been out for decades! haha! Apple rocks!

Apple has created two music phones. The ROKR, made with Motorola in 2005, respected the traditional relationships between manufacturers and carriers. The iphone, released last summer, completely overturned them.

ROKR

This was me at CC when obeying timb_ezra!

* Won't hold more than 100 songs, even if there's memory left.
* iTunes Music Store purchases must be synced from a PC.
* Clunky interface is sluggish and hard to navigate.
* Design screams, "A committee made me."

iPhone

This is me now
* Can hold about 1,500 songs — as much as its 8-GB drive allows.
* iTunes Music Store purchases download wirelessly, directly to the phone.
* Just tap and go; no user manual required.
* C'mon. Look at it. It's gorgeous.

A cozy relationship with the maker of the iPod would bring sex appeal to the company's brand. And some other carrier was sure to sign with Jobs if Cingular turned him down — Jobs made it clear that he would shop his idea to anyone who would listen. But no carrier had ever given anyone the flexibility and control that Jobs wanted, and Sigman knew he'd have trouble persuading his fellow executives and board members to approve a deal like the one Jobs proposed.

Apple engineers bought nearly a dozen server-sized radio-frequency simulators for millions of dollars apiece. Even Apple's experience designing screens for iPods didn't help the company design the iPhone screen, as Jobs discovered while toting a prototype in his pocket: To minimize scratching, the touchscreen needed to be made of glass, not hard plastic like on the iPod. One insider estimates that Apple spent roughly $150 million building the iPhone.

In February, Jobs will release a developer's kit so that anyone can write programs for the device.

The iPhone cracked open the carrier-centric structure of the wireless industry and unlocked a host of benefits for consumers, developers, manufacturers — and potentially the carriers themselves.

It may appear that the carriers' nightmares have been realized, that the iPhone has given all the power to consumers, developers, and manufacturers, while turning wireless networks into dumb pipes.But by fostering more innovation, carriers' networks could get more valuable, not less. Consumers will spend more time on devices, and thus on networks, racking up bigger bills and generating more revenue for everyone. According to Paul Roth, AT&T's president of marketing, the carrier is exploring new products and services — like mobile banking — that take advantage of the iPhone's capabilities. "We're thinking about the market differently," Roth says. In other words, the very development that wireless carriers feared for so long may prove to be exactly what they need. It took Steve Jobs to show them that.
(Source NYT iPhone Article)