21st Century Mythology: The Best Hero is Flawed, 2-Sided

Recently read this great article and it sparked some interesting ideas. Superheros are only identifiably heroic when they can connect to other humans! Otherwise, they're just alien. The most secure way of making that connection, honestly, is flaws. Batman's troubles over his dead parents, Ironman's drinking problems, Maxwell Smart's stupidity and bumbling, all those flaws make their great deeds identifiably humanly heroic. Cool stuff. Otherwise they're just mythological!

Yeah, that's awesome. Superheroes who are perfect without flawed are just myth. The stories of Neptune and Jupiter from Ancient Rome helped Romans understand their mysterious world and answer some of the questions that could only be answered with scientific breakthroughs millenias to come. Same goes for the Zeus, Posieden, Athena stories from greece. Those mythologies embodied flawless, "inhuman heros". A star contrast from the very human and flawed, but exceptionally heroic characters in many of todays films.

Maybe we have re-invented mythology into a global flawed mythological superhuman superhero. The kind that is a little bit closer to us than Zeus on Mount Olympia, or Neptune beneath the sea. Modern culture has crafted "gods" (superheros) that blends the myth into our reality because we recognize elements of each of us in the our 21st century heroes.

Liberating Mind and Body with Performance

After thoroughly researching the horrors of pschiatry and medicine, it's clear that the conventional doctor imprisons the mind, but not the body. The mind gets imprisoned in a web of disorders, diagnostic drabble, and drastic symptoms with medicine.

Law works the body, but not the mind. After hearing about 17 recent exonerations by DNA of innocents serving decades, it's clear that the legal system let's the mind run free (you can believe whatever you want in prison), but imprisons the mind.

So the combination of law and medicine collectively imprison your body and mind.

My goal in life is to free the both. That's why you have to know thy enemy a bit. But music, acting, stand-up, and performance entertains and inspires and creates belief. Those performance, inspirational, belief-inspiring professions liberate body and mind. To that I have devotion!

Misc. Trivia Postings Research

Expresso-Based Drinks

For the longest time I couldn't figure out the difference between all those awesome Italian European coffee drinks.  Here's the basic distinctions of the drinks similar to each other.

Cappuccino -- Uses equal part milk and expresso milk:expresso = 1:1.  But the milk is "microfoamed" so it's 2x it's volume.  Making the milk volume:expresso = 2:1 even though the original quantities are equal.   If the milk is poured over the expresso you get a cappuccino, if the expresso is poured over the milk, apparently you get a totally different drink, a macchiato (ridiculous but one could say sophisticated).

Latte -- Milk:expresso = 2:1.  Twice the amount of milk as cappuccino.  Milk is heated instead of microfoamed.

Expresso -- Can use similar beans as coffee, but instead of just using gravity to drip hot water through the grind, expresso uses a much more pressurized production.  Near-boiling water is pressurized and forced through a packed "puck" of finely ground coffee.  I guess you could think of expresso brewing as coffee-drip brewing but at a much more concentrated, finer grind, pressurized, warp speed.  Add milk to any of these expressos and you have a latte (more milk) or cappuccino (less milk)

This site sorted out the discrepancies.

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 (TV)

• 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).

POST

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.


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)

Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps was offered $1 million by speedo if he got seven golds in the 2004, tying Spitz's 10972 record.  He fell one short, but he, at 15, was the youngest male swimmer at the olympics in over 60 years, and he was 2nd person ever to win 8 medals in one olympics.  8 medals in one olympics?!! That's a lot of hardware!  Phelps may not have beaten Spitz's 7-gold record (which is ridiculously off the charts) but his name just sets records of all kinds across the board.

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)

Teaching Myself Italian

I love this language. I love the way it sounds. The way it flows. Most vitally, I love the body language and gestures used with Italian. It's the perfect "animated language" for an actor!

That said, I don't care about spelling. I'm going all phonetic with phrases I learn

• Pee a cherrrray de • Conocherrr tee ( Piacere di conoscerti ) -- Pleased to Meet You.
• Mee keee ammmo John = My Name is John.

Ritalin Kills and ADHD is bogus!

The drug Ritalin has come under fire in the U.S. for a potential link to heart problems and deaths in children.

Health Canada issued a warning two years ago about rare heart-related risks for all attention deficit hyperactivity disorder drugs telling those with risk factors to avoid them.

Ritalin is commonly prescribed to children diagnosed with hyperactivity disorders and Tuesday the American Heart Association says before children get the drug they should get a thorough heart work-up including an electro-cardiogram.

In past nine years, as many as 30 child deaths have been linked to Ritalin and 2.5 million American kids take it.




----------------
Subject: ADHD Study is Misleading, Charges Watchdog Group


Stimulant Side Effects, Not "ADHD", May Be to Blame for Slow Brain Development

LOS ANGELES: A Nov 16 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on delayed brain development in children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is misleading, claims a psychiatric watchdog group. Researchers from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), examining a series of brain images of more than 400 children (half of them “ADHD”), concluded that some regions of the brain of children with ADHD matured several years later than normal. The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) says the researchers underplayed the fact that 66% of the ADHD subjects studied had been on powerful stimulants (as reported in the study), warned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to cause suppression of growth—which could logically include brain development. With stimulant “treatment” the only physical variable, and ADHD never validated as a real disease, it is likely that the stimulant drugs, not ADHD, are to blame for ! the slow brain maturation reported by study authors Philip Shaw, et al.

Earlier researchers have also ignored the probable connection between the drugs and problems with brain size and growth. At a 1998 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus Conference on ADHD, 14 MRI studies of people treated for ADHD were reviewed. The presenters reported on-average 10% brain atrophy (shrinkage) in ADHD subjects—however, pediatric neurologist Dr. Fred Baughman pointed out that the vast majority of the ADHD subjects had been treated long-term with stimulants—the only physical difference from the control group—suggesting that it was the drugs, not the so-called disorder, that was causing the brain atrophy. In the end, the NIH Panel concluded: “…there are no data to indicate that ADHD is due to a brain malfunction.”

In fact, researchers have repeatedly failed to prove any physical abnormality that can validate the existence of ADHD. In 2003, Jonathan Leo, Professor of Anatomy at the Western University of Health Sciences and Professor David Cohen of the School of Social Work at Florida International University, reviewed 33 brain-imaging studies of ADHD-diagnosed subjects. They confirmed that every study concerned medicated children, a major variable because stimulant drugs “cause very persistent changes in the brain.” They also reviewed a widely touted 2002 NIMH study that included unmedicated subjects and claimed that unmedicated ADHD children had significantly smaller brains. However, the comparison group was two years older and taller, so naturally the smaller children had smaller brains.

In 2000, a study published in The Lancet claimed ADHD was linked to an over-production of dopamine. This was passed off as “fact”, even though the study involved only six adult subjects diagnosed with ADHD—all of whom were most likely to have been on long-term drug treatment, particularly stimulants. Critical details as to precisely what drugs they had been on or for how long were not provided, but the authors stated that one month before the brain scanning commenced, the subjects were taken off any drug that may affect the dopamine system. Stimulant drugs administered for ADHD affect the dopamine system. Based on this alone, the scanning differences found between the ADHD subjects and the normal subjects were likely to have been caused by drug treatment.

Despite all the research done in an attempt to prove otherwise, there remain no physical tests that can validate the existence of ADHD. Even the American Psychiatric Association admits in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Edition IV, that there are “...no laboratory tests that have been established as diagnostic” for ADHD. Instead, the diagnosis is entirely subjective—based on a checklist of “symptoms” that sound a lot like normal childhood behavior: “Fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in chair,” “Difficulty engaging in activities quietly” and “Acts as if driven by a motor.” Even with this lack of scientific basis for the so-called disorder, vested interests such as CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder), which received more than $1 million in pharmaceutical funding in 2004-2005 alone, aggressively promote ADHD and the drugs used to “treat” it. Now, as many as 10% of children are a! lleged to have ADHD—many of whom are prescribed cocaine-like stimulants.

In addition to suppressed growth, the FDA warns that the drugs can cause psychosis, aggression, heart att


1. http://apps.facebook.com/causes/posts/39645?h=fbenap&m=eJyrVkotS80rUbJSUHLMy8svzUtOzQXyi%2FXDMhMVXHMTM3P0nXMyk7OLlWoB%0AS0YPOg%3D%3D%0A.

CA and Acting "Yes"!

Now in 2009, I realize so many reasons for neither! lol.

I reviewed this:

Reasons for "no" Chicago, "yes" CA v2.


1 Books – All of my Validate Your Life writing was done in CA. CA is the place for me, and I made some of the most meaningul life connections ever out there. I could not have done all of the awesome writing I've done without having a CA connection.
2 Energy – I've realized you MUST be incredibly firm and resolute about your time, otherwise, people cause you to drift back into things you don't like. I feel energized with LA energy; I feel depleted by chicago energy. I will never set foot in a chicago (hopefully, and most likely, any bar ever again).
3 Exercise – This one's easy. Biking 3-5 times/ week 20 miles at a time, then surfing for 2-3 hours.. Yeah, simple. I get exercise in CA. I do not get exercise in chicago and stay crumpled up, petrified in my little apartment bubble.
4 Career – The LA lifestyle has all the resources I need – film, ocean, mountains, entertainment, computers – that I want to connect with. Apple and Hollywood are in CA. CA is the place for me; chicago lacks all of those valuable and life career connections.
5 Environmental Connections --- Not unlike the lushious rural environment of Michigan, I actually have an interst in connecting with the ocean and landscaep of CA; the same is not true of chicago.
6 People – This is enormous. LA is full of GOOD relationships. Every problem you've ever had revolves around and stems from bad relationships. You put yourself around good relationships and good people and you experience success. In the past year in chicago, I've experienced probably more problems in 11 months than I've experience in 13-14 years of my life. Environment problems, technical, electrical problems, acceptance problems, social problems, psychologicaly problems, computer problems, girl problems -- all those problems stem from bad relationships in chicago. LA brings good relationship -- when I'm there, I don't have problems, I have fun experiences, healthy intercourse, out-door UV health and sunlight, nature interaction, computer situations that always function correctly, outdoor environments that are attractive and pleasurable, exciting social and accepting cultural space -- I get solutions in LA from those good relationship with good people. Does this mean chicago is all bad relationships and la all good relationships? No, I'm not that naive to think things are so polarized. However, their exist much more good relationships that I created in LA, than in chicago. I have the evidence to prove it -- tons of problems, overflowing problems, and tons of solutions in LA; it's empirally and ideally illustrated that LA creates more solutions with more good relationships. I can still find good relationships in chicago, but (for me, not necessarily for anyone else) in LA abundance, ease, and energy of good relationships and solutions goes unmatched and unrivaled by far. If I were to pick a place where I'm the least closed off, most open, most willing to email, connect with people via phone, and most especially in person, it's in LA. I like the people, the ideas, the very open culture out there. When I'm not around those like minds, I close myself off from the world. While I find connecting with the lifestyles of people in CA preferable to solitude, connecting with solitude feels more rewarding than connecting with people who I consider to have non-advanced destructive beliefs. In short, I vow to only live with two extremes in my life – total solitude, or connecting myself with people and energies I revere and actually like (chicago has neither of those: it does not have the solitude, nor the like minds).
7 8 Voice – I discover all kinds of intrapersonal awareness in CA that I cannot find elsewhere.
9 Living area – I lay crumpled up in a pathetic ball in Chicago, flustered by the neighbor's sounds and voices. It's not just unpleasant; chicago is remarkably unhealthy. In CA, I feel energized and can't help but be connected.

And realized how true even moreso ALL of those reasons for chicago no, CA YES ARE! All of my envisionments of success and happiness and solutions have totally emerged in ca! Moreso, my entire life has changed! What I do with my time has transformed. I'm convinced ALL of my writing -- the process of cognitively getting to know my brains' ins and outs -- and all my work and job career attempts of the past and even all my schooling all revolved around getting HERE, right here!! The travel and school made me see providied scope of what's out there (what's NOT out there) enabling me to respect acting corps even more and the writing created tremendous solid growth and certainty and "collecting of my experiences" a detailed eloquent and articulate inventory of my experiences. Everything can be challenging out here, but it's NEVER struggle. So many words like "problem, struggle, pain, annoying, etc." are completely nonexistent in my vocabulary out here! I only have words like "paradise, awesome, joy, heaven, nature, clean, hollywood, calabasas" now! Perfect, awesome!

But my days just seem so much more productive without having to "try" to be productive. In acting, we learned that a physical action on stage, among other things (like have it's test in the other person, be physically capable of being done, etc.) must "not be an errand". But out here, a simple "errand" feels like a great action! haha! (of course, true acting actions must not be "errands" in the typical sense of an activity that involves only oneself as a task). It's such an amazing feeling that whenever you go out and get some groceries or run some random little errand, you look forward to that mini-trip to being a journey because you want to get to know the place (LA, calabasas, hollywood, etc) better! You have no idea what it feels like moving from a place where I had ZERO interest in getting to know the environment (colorado and illionois) where everything is a task-burden to loving the mystery and excitement of getting to know and explore a place I love (california). It's made life really magical and alive and I feel more alert and focused than ever living here and taking acting classes!

Man, I DEFINITELY felt like I was part of something HUGE with BC 1 acting corps. someting big, fun, engaging, transformative, and awesome. Thanks again, you guys!