Forks over Knives & Sneakers over Recliners

Graduated to a vegetable based diet 5 weeks ago. The benefits are producing much more measurable and visible results now. Energy levels were increased within the first few days, but has taken a few more weeks to experience more profound results. (And yes, I do still cheat a bit; like weekend German pancakes at Ol'South, complete with cream in my coffee.)

The learning curve to changing your diet this dramatically can be a bit steep, but there were a few resources and inspirations which we heavily depended on to make this conversion relatively easy for us.

First I simply watched the "Forks over Knives" documentary via Netflix http://www.forksoverknives.com/ (The health benefits and long-term studies explained in this movie are exceptionally compelling.)

Once I was fully inspired, I turned to the "Engine 2 Diet", (Also discussed in the movie -http://engine2diet.com/) in order to get very specific information as to what I needed to get rid of and throw away, which was currently in the kitchen; and what list of groceries to now take to the store.

Meal plans are now typed out out each week while commuting to work on the train and saved via Google Spreadsheets.  Here is a link to one of the monthly plans:http://goo.gl/oTkwl

Loving it so far! Which is quite the surprise given my status as a BBQ loving, Native Texan! But it truly feels much better to be "plant based" for so many reasons!

Diet and exercise! That's all it takes! :-) But it sure is hard for some folks to change or apply this simple message.

Seems "simple and sedentary" is a determination for a growing number of Americans; rather than conscientious and active. It is so sad when you consider the time that may be lost and the quality of life sacrificed, by not changing habits! :-(

A matter of changing ones lifestyle or literally loosing the life to style. Seems like common sense would take over, but lifestyle addiction and the perceived comforts of "simple and sedentary" seem to be winning instead. :-(

So many need to let go of the "loyalties" they have to both bad ideas and harmful belief sets. I always say, pride is a sneaky sin. It is good to also be reminded that "not being open to change" may be the final, fast approaching legacy for many of those folks finding purpose in making such mantra's the one's they live by.  Not a very impressive thing to be known for...

Such revelations should perhaps also be applied to our economy our leaderships or stewardship our religion and our foreign policies. Smart review of policies have given way perhaps to this culture of consumption rather than production. But I digress, I should have kept it simple.

To much thinking might require new knowledge and action. Yuck!

Not only are daily reminders to stay active and, unlearn how to eat badly, valuable; but much more important, is taking actions towards both goals NOW and each week there after!
So go for it! :-)

Make time to exercise now, or time to be sick later!

Forks over Knives & Sneakers over Recliners

We Already Survived The End Of The World! :-)

This year sort of served as good, ironic reminder as to just how ridiculous any Mayan centered doomsday prediction are for December 2012, since 2012 is also a leap year!  :-)

The Mayans did not have leap years, since it is a solar calendar, and is 365 days long.  The Mayan calendar we often hear so much about actually would have ended well before the December 21st 2012 date most people associate with "the end". Additionally, the Mayans never believed the world would come to an end at that time. It was simply a very notable point in their calendar system, not a prediction for the end of the world.

The Mayans used a long-count calendar for extremely long periods of time. The concept of leap-years is irrelevant to this calendar system, because it's not based on solar years, simply on math.

You know how we use a base-10 counting system? (10, 100, 1000, 10,000 etc.) The Mayans used a modified base-20 counting system for keeping track of days - the second cycle went up to 18 rather than 20. So they tracked days in cycles of 20, 360, 7200, 144000, 2880000, etc.

We're coming to the end of one of the 144,000 day cycles. Today (March 6, 2012) can be expressed at 12.19.19.3.10 on the Mayan long-count calendar. This calendar will reach 12.19.19.17.19, on December 20, and then turn to 13.0.0.0.0 on December 21. This happens roughly every 400 years. No big deal.

We Already Survived The End Of The World! :-)

Controlling Privacy Within Your Googleverse

If news of Google privacy policy changes has made you even more paranoid about the internet and privacy (I would first argue, you probably never should have joined Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, etc., but that's a whole other topic.) ...simply go to the "Google Dashboard" -https://www.google.com/dashboard/ and login to your Google account to review and alter any aspect of Google's roll in your life on the internet.

(If you do not have any form of a personal Google account, a.k.a. YouTube, Picassa, Blogger, Gmail, Docs, Android, Voice, Google+, Latitudes, etc., then the recent News and policy changes, as to how Google is utilizing your info in a different or cumulative manner, is completely moot.)

For those who utilize Google's expansive ecosystems, (even in the cases where you forget a service is a part of Google's always expanding domain,) you will not only see an entire lineage of each and every Google asset you utilize, but you are offered full control over the mannor in which your information is utilized and/or search results and related add content (* the reason everything is FREE!!) are displayed and/or customized for you or NOT.

You will also see sections on:

• "Set up search alerts for your data"
• "How to manage your online identity"
• "How to remove unwanted content"

You can of course reject and/or control access to you data from any 3rd party group Google might have offered access. In sections such as, "Websites authorized to access the account".

Any of these 3rd party sites were only provided initial access to your data, due to some "accept" or "yes" you granted them upon registering to a service or site. But again, you can reject those original permission any time you wish.

The "Search Alerts" section, mentioned above, is particularly cool, since you can ask Google to alert you if your name or private info, (or any custom request) is ever placed on another site to email you immediately. Google is after all scouring every website in the world with an arsenal of more computer systems than any other company in the world possesses.

The "Social Connections and Content" section, does a rather unique job of showing you a few connections on the internet you have through Google you may not have otherwise considered.

I would say the Dashboard is also a great reminder of the exceptional "ecosystem" of tools and service Google offers all of it's users. The tools are in many cases, second to none. And productivity and efficiency is often the name of the game. (Refer to an education focused, blog entry I submitted last year, for more details on just how powerful and useful many of these FREE assets are: "Continued Education Via The Internet" - http://goo.gl/vmAfL )

Keep in mind "paranoia will destroy ya!", so try to worry a bit less about how your potentially being exploited, versus how you are challenging yourself and growing towards more productively exploiting the tools and services available to those willing to explore, learn and take control of technology.

Fear of the unknown is never a good catalyst for feeling the victim. In 99% of the cases involving today's web based services, the control is yours to take. And the opportunities for those who learn to exploit these revolutionary technologies and services is truly endless.

So try to refrain from a mind set of boycotting an exceptional set of tools and services, simply because you can't be trifled with things like knowledge or learning curves. When laziness and/or bad info, equal (=) fear, we all loose.

  Google Accounts
Google Dashboard offers a simple view into the data associated with your Google Account. Designed to offer you transparency and control; Summarizes the data associated with each product you use when s...

Controlling Privacy Within Your Googleverse

The Best In Off-Site / Cloud Based Backup

"CrashPlan" is incredible!
The very best way to backup your memories and data!

Keep in mind, all photos and family videos, as well as letters to friends and family, school work, medical records, important spreadsheet, financials, etc... have all gone digital these days. The years of scrap booking, big file cabinets, family slide show carousels or closet full of 8mm family movies have all evolved and gone digital!

We must therefor find effective, EASY, cost effective methods of backing up these all these irreplaceable memories and resources, or risk loosing them forever. Simply placing a copy in your own home, is not a great "backup" policy. Burned CD's and DVDs do not last the years and years which store bought DVD's provide, so cloud storage is a GREAT choice!

After testing for month the 1/2 a dozen leading, cloud based backup services; "CrashPlan" wins! ...hands down!
https://www.crashplan.com/consumer/crashplan-plus.html
For less than $5 a month you can back up an unlimited amount from one system (even a home server, including attached drives or mobile devices.) Mac or PC. Family plans for < $12 a month provide unlimited for 2-10 systems!

In addition you can use the same SIMPLE software for multi-destination backups! Across town, to and from another friends and family, or to addition mirrored local storage. There is no better value or technology offered by any another competitor at the moment!

Students can backup from school to home. Or the whole family can backup to the CrashPlan cloud! (All 448-bit encryption is done on your own machine, BEFORE it leaves your possession; so NO "unlocked" files are EVER stored or even visible on other 3rd party systems, without your password and authorization.)

The performance is also beyond comparison within the Dallas / Ft. Worth area. Maintaining 5+ Mbps uploads to their servers 24/7. (I'm sure this performance varies depending on which data center your are assigned and how close you reside.) This consistant high upload performance, allows my (HUGE) 1.6 Terra Byte, initial, seed backup to complete in just over 4 weeks time. (Most initial "seed" backups will only take days, with all subsequent incremental backups happening seamlessly and instantly.)

In addition, I love taking advantage of their "Backup Sets" prioritization options; in order to fully control which areas of my 1.6 Terra Byte, seed backup, are tackled first. This is particularly useful since I'm relocating my home server in less than 20 days, and wanted to assure certain irreplaceable family video and photo archives are the first to make it to "CrashPlan Central's" off-site data servers. :-)
(Many more impressive specifics on CrashPlan's backup priorities & efficiencies are discussed below in the "Detailed" info.)

• CrashPlan Video Explanation: http://youtu.be/vG_e2dyJ570 
• 3rd Party review: http://youtu.be/Ja1O04rV1pI
• And in-depth tour (7mins): http://youtu.be/O6qSJIkcWss
• Getting Started: http://youtu.be/fy62DxQGarM

More Details on CrashPlan's Unique Backup Methods:
"Like other online backup programs, CrashPlan compresses and encrypts your data before sending it over the Internet. And, like the others, it's constrained by the laws of physics; compression notwithstanding, online backups can in some cases take days or even weeks to complete. But CrashPlan does three unique and interesting things.

First, it gives precedence to files that have changed recently. So, if you're running your first full backup and it takes three days to finish, but in the meantime you make major changes to a document you're writing, CrashPlan almost immediately backs up the new document rather than waiting until the rest of the queue has been processed.

Second, it can store multiple versions of files that have changed, and can optionally do so right after a change takes place, rather than having to scan every file on your disk before each run; you can set the number of minutes that elapse between when the file is saved and when CrashPlan backs it up. This means that, from the moment you begin using CrashPlan, it can archive multiple versions of your most important and actively used files - somewhat like a version-control system - without waiting to run on a fixed schedule.

And third, if a file changes, CrashPlan doesn't make a new copy of the entire file, but copies only the bytes that have actually changed. This means that incremental backups run very quickly and that storage space is minimized - two attributes that are always welcome, but especially so with online backups. As a consequence, if you were to back up, say, the 10 GB disk image you use for Windows XP in Parallels Desktop, you could update it every day without worrying that you'll overwhelm your backup media. In fact, CrashPlan goes a big step further: if more than one computer in your home or office contains a file identical to one you've backed up already, CrashPlan stores just a pointer to the original backup file, not another copy. So you can effectively store much more data in a much smaller space than with other backup solutions."

(The "More Detailed" info above came from a, now out of date, blog article, at Tib Bits: http://tidbits.com/article/8882; However, the info I included above was still correct and relevant as of March, 2012. Crashplan has added several feature since the Feb., 2007 blog article; such as, "restore to folder" options and other features allowing for even more flexibility the original article was suggesting / requesting.)

  Flexible Remote Backup & Online Storage
CrashPlan+ gives you all the protection of CrashPlan, plus the added benefit of secure cloud storage to CrashPlan Central for your personal files.

The Best In Off-Site / Cloud Based Backup

Good, New, Tech Often Challenges Bad, Old, Policies!

A colleague of mine recently sent me an encouragement to consider my support for the "Marketplace Fairness Act, S. 1832". We both attend and support many of the efforts which go on within an organization known as ICSC, and this organizations has many incentives to support such bills; and has therefor begun to recently lobby it's organization members: http://www.capwiz.com/icsc/issues/alert/?alertid=60814826&type=TA

This Act is described as follows: "A bill to restore States' sovereign rights to enforce State and local sales and use tax laws." Sounds wonderful doesn't it!

There have been many groups lobbying both for and against this type of Bill for years now. Admittedly, I am much more interested in the general public of voters and consumers opinions and justification or testimonies on such matters; rather than just hearing from the rhetoric of a large interest group.

I think voters need to speak from a position of testimony rather than titillation. I am constantly encouraging this level of review and scrutiny within this blog site. commentary

• When Will Wisdom Win? (Encouraging a broader perspective of our world.)
• Real Men - Do's and Don'ts (More along the lines of ethical decision making.)
• Commentary Versus Testimony
• Independence of the spoiled
• Democracy or Dummies?
• Let's at least agree, there are no lemmings in Heaven

You should ask yourself, when encouraging the "sovereign rights to enforce more taxes", do you want this to be a federal tax or a state tax? Do you know which ICSC and its' members are wishing to have imposed? When encouraging any changes in policy which can effect vast amounts of commerce we must carefully consider our positions within a world wide, free market enterprise, and how each state or the U.S. as a whole will be impacted on an unavoidable world-wide scale.

ICSC would also ask that you take in to consideration all the ways in which new shopping centers and strip malls are currently marketed to, and developed within, cities and communities.  Huge tax abatement's are often expected, to promote huge arrangements for state and city based loans; which are then awarded to private developers through arrangements such as codes like, "Chapter 380": an example of a local government code established within Texas.

In other words, the state or city lends money to a private developer, on the basis that this money will then be paid back to the state, not from the private developers pockets, but rather form the pockets of all those shoppers who visit the proposed center over the next 5 years.  As taxes are collected on the sales generated within the center the debt for the loan to build the center is subsequently considered paid.

Such sponsored loan amounts are directly formulated based on the projected sales a developers claims will take place, given the perspective tenants the developer is attempting to attract to their center. A quite speculative, but quite effective incentive and arrangement between the private and public sector on behalf of the local tax payer's money.

As contrived as this may seem it has become standard practice in many large markets for incentivizing the constructing of any new, large center.  Groups like the ICSC fear that continuing to allow online distributors of merchandise, who have no local "brick and mortar" retail outlets, to sale good to the public without being taxed an equal amount to that of local retail stores, will diminish the potential for not only growth in this market, but also commerce within current established retail centers.  (Much like the impact e-mail has had on the U.S. Post Office, or the digital distribution of movie has had on Block Buster.)

As for the "Marketplace Fairness Act", any such endeavors to further tax U.S. commerce simply MUST be examined on a Federal level for it's known impact to hold any real relevance or merit. And in doing so, legislation (and the supporting voters) must carefully weigh how such changes in creating additional ways to tax Americans and products distributed within the U.S., will incentivize or discourage the margins of our already devastating trade deficits. (As the bill currently stands it is strictly encouraging additional taxes be handled on a State by State level.)

In other words, why pay several hundred dollars in additional taxes on that new TV sold in Texas, when you could order it directly from the country in which it was made? (Since we are after all, talking about a population of shoppers, whom have already learned to embrace Internet based shopping and shipping.) How hard will it then be for an Amazon, based overseas, to start taking orders and shipping directly from a country of manufacturing origin on big ticket items? I personally have bought numerous smaller items, such as phones and electronic accessories in this way over the years, directly from Europe and Asia. The transactions were no more difficult than anything other purchase I've ever made from Amazon or from an individual on eBay.

Bills like these typically fail due to their limited, short-sided understanding of either technology or the industries they are attempting to manipulate.  In this case I'm afraid the Bill is not only remiss in grasping the technologies and industries involved; it fails to even approach considerations of Macro effects it will have on the U.S.'s already struggling efforts to participate in world wide, fair trade.

Perhaps a more comprehensive Bill, addressing larger, broader, impacts to the numerous industries effected by such significant changes in current, long-standing, tax laws might be a worth consideration. However, to simply assume a new, additional, tax is the best way to regulate competition or "level the playing field" between old and new forms of commerce, fails to address aging problems already present in current tax laws.  Not to say something couldn't be written to cover each and all of these issues or loopholes, this bill is just not that offering.

Committee assignments for such bills, must be assigned to address countless factors; from those impacting the support and nature of all aspects of commerce and competition involving emerging markets; to how and why online consumerism is stimulated or captured beyond that of occasional tax savings; how manufactures stand to be impacted; as well as what impacts the shipping, comercial real-estate and warehouse industries will be expected to absorb and adjust; and how other emerging consumer conveniences and technology will be prevented from continually innovating faster than our tax codes in the foreseeable future.

Keeping in mind, even Amazon sell goods from individuals such as you and I.  You are free to post any old DVD, CD or Book you may wish to sell from you personal collection.  You can even ship it to Amazon ahead of any purchase and have them warehouse it until an order is placed for your item. At which time Amazon will simply drop ship it directly from their warehouse.  Do you think Amazon should start collecting taxes for such personal transactions?  If so, what next, Garage sales, flee markets, bake sales?

Of course any of these retailers are certainly required to collect taxes when they are serving as a virtual store front for a brand or retailer which also already has a "brick and mortar" presence within your state.  So attempts to balance "fairness" in this regard are already in place and are enforced!

We all know once an issue gets politicized their is very little you can trust or learn from either side, were related to their actual motivations. And while I understand the goal in this case is touted at assuring each outlet for trade and shipping (whether from a warehouse outside the state or intrastate) is penalized in the same or an equal manner to the old brick and mortar retailers; it also seems important to see how such "equalization" is actually encouraging progress, versus further stifling Free Enterprise opportunities?

We try to complain about the government when it is guilty of restraint and interference, regulation or subsidy versus allowing our markets to thrive or exist purely due to the laws of supply and demand; yet in this instance, we are asking new tech to follow suit with old methods in an effort to pay more taxes? All in the name of being fair towards old methods of trade. Doesn't sound like progress to me.

Bottom line is, what does the consumer want? Since they are the voters. Or is this yet another time that lobbyist can effectively mold, convince or dupe both congress and the consumer? Doubtful. The Internet and the social populations it serves, which are vast and very easily mobilized and unified when necessary, are proving to be a startling opportunity for review, organization and retaliation when it comes to further government involvement and control.
 i.e. The recent FAILED efforts in congress to pass SOPA and PIPA. (Here is a video link: http://youtu.be/9h2dF-IsH0I ...further explaining why this rejection was important to progress and freedom.)

The "Marketplace Fairness Act", will certainly effect 1000's of online retailers. And perhaps even more importantly, it might be one more way to pay more taxes. (Always best when consumers ignore the "double taxation" of paying taxes both when your earn your money and when you spend it.) 

So is this a bill likely to receive bi-partisan support?  Being that Republicans like to claim to be on the side of movements such as; "smaller government", "less taxes" and "fiscal conservative" approaches; which side of the coin is your party on? Are you conservative? If so, then I would hope it is defending an approach contrary to the one being defended by the commercial real-estate industry; even if you might feel you're even required to defend or align with this industry if you happen to be one of the many professionals in this country which depend on commercial restate.  (What a conundrum! Loyalty to a set of faux political persuasions and agendas or one's own chosen career path.  Finding an identity in the scheme of moral dilemmas can certainly get confusing!)

Perhaps it is an easy argument that our current tax code is out if date.  Just like our any thing else involving the government and technology, Internet, our educational systems across all 50 states, manufacturing & labor union laws, approaches to politicizing Research and Development on any thing from stem cell research to cancer prevention, drug pricing and approval, tobacco and firearms control, food subsidies, trade and labor deficits. ...you name it!

Quite frankly, you don't normally see any valid suggestions towards updating these types of dated government practices being lobbied by corporations or industries who stands to benefit by increasing taxes? ...or warding off a new technology or methods of trade and commerce.  Therefor, I would be extremely hesitant in suggesting something being lobbied by any one industry, organization or corporation, which is pitting itself against new types of trade or technology, is actually acting in the best interest of progress or an improvement of any other long term value which the U.S. voters should embrace as such?

It's not as intelligent of a prospect as is often claimed to simply follow a path of popular opinion, lobbied agendas or even least resistance. Each time an industry introduces a new set of options, it offer us, as a democratic society, an opportunity to review some of the very dated and possibly burdensome "rules" or regulation we have come to accept as standard business practice, or standard governing.  Thank goodness technology often challenges us to do this, since it seems our U.S. society has become to fat and lazy (metaphorically and literally) to care. 

Most popular opinions these days are garnered not though an educated review of what is fair, progressive, evolutionary, most beneficial or even a positive solution, so much as who paid who to side a particular way, or what sound bite makes for better return and loyal viewership on the network we choose to tune in to and have think for us after our long day at work.

Most average voters will not consider to many factors when weighing in on bills such as the "Marketplace Fairness Act". There will be those driven by industry loyalty and those driven eventually by party loyalty. But few really trying to understand progress or broader economic impacts and/or the inevitabilities we face from the challenges being presented to us by this very flat, small, earth we are all expected to compete within.

America simply can't continue to think as it has over the last 50-100 years. Or it will suffer the same fate all democracies do after 200-300 years of existence. We have to (and quite frankly, should easily be able to,) demonstrate to the world how a true World Wide, Free Market, society looks and thinks, or we won't even be asked to compete within and join it.

Giving up on thinking and true progress in order to further depend on and utilize the motivations of other's agendas is just simply not a solution.

UPDATE:
Related regulation: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s112-1832&tab=related

Good, New, Tech Often Challenges Bad, Old, Policies!

The NEX is the Next Best Thing In Photography

The new craze of mirrorless cameras, blow my mind!! 

(The iPhones of profesional cameras if you will !!  Assuming you're an iPhone fanboy?!)
All brand systems will eventually abandon the bulky, aging, DSLR style; since a large portion of the mass it is a dated, "hold over" form the days of 35mm film. Just a silly premiss, given the digital age.

The mirrorless solutions are already, lighter, cheeper, faster, more compact, easier to use and produce extremely advanced (in most cases, superior) results; with much MUCH less learning curve and expertise; plus, exceptional low light and HD video!

The only reason to go another, more "traditional" / mirrored route at this point, in the DSLR arena, is if you have an existing, extensive, past investment in old lenses and accessories. (Or you are shooting in a controlled environment, such as a studio or some other rare profesional demands.)

If not, the mirrorless, current tech (which avoids the old, film based, internal designs methods,) is the most exciting, exceptional option.  Less is more in the case of camera technology and eliminating the middle man, a mirror which use to be needed in order to reflect an intermediary version of what the lens is seeing while the light is on the way to the sensor or the film is simply no longer a required step.

Less parts, or NO MIRROR as it were, makes your camera faster, leaner, meaner! Makes the preview image you review, during each shoot more advanced, more accurate, more true to the settings and goals of the intended shot.  There is less chance for light leakage, additional cleaning and dust issues, and more chances for superior picture taking.

GREAT for an active folks! Folks that travel! Folks that love photography and videography. Much easier to pack and have handy. Much more shot reliable. And the BEST camera is the one you have with you! The one ready to take the shot.
(plus they really are the best, latest technology!)

Reviews, specs and Videos:
NEX7 - (Shot w/ the camera) http://goo.gl/MpMuh
NEX7 - Artsy Foreign Comercial: http://youtu.be/lbKrd2nchgU
Sony Site - http://goo.gl/sp13o

Sample Movie, shot with NEX5 (all lighting types):
http://youtu.be/FCpen_hjOFg

Very cool leather "half case": http://goo.gl/VJQWV

The NEX is the Next Best Thing In Photography

Part 4 - GOP "Conservative" -vs- Fiscal Conservative

Here's a quick visual for understanding of how "Fiscal Conservative" the GOP is!

http://visually.visually.netdna-cdn.com/AddingtothedeficitBushvsObama_4f2c2a360baf6.jpeg

The GOP is no longer able to effectively market to those believing in ironically postured "moral conservative" positions of evangelical friendly alignment, so continue to resort to equally ironic "Fiscal Conservative" marketing; hoping these continued fallacies will not only allow the wavering Christian votes to find a new, obscure reasons to follow them, but also Tea Party members. (Talk about diversity!)

For a scary notion of the INSANE, additional, future spending to be lead by the likely GOP candidate, Mitt Romney; view his speech from two weeks ago, aired on C-SPAN (Yes, like a complete nerd I was watching C-SPAN live last weekend when it aired.)  

At the 13 minute point he covers his INSANE desire to expand our Navy, etc! (Our navy is currently larger than the next 17 Navy's in the world COMBINED!)

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/CityFl/start/792/stop/935

Any truly, "Fiscal Conservative" thinking, simply MUST seriously adjust our militarized DUMPING of tax payer money towards the ENDLESS government funding of private, military contracts and programs!  No other spending programs hold a stick to the insanity of the one's the GOP is directly responsible for campaigning on, growing and supporting!

When viewing the speech you will also see where Romney directly criticizes the current administrations attempt to address 1/2 a TRILLION in cuts along these lines.

Additionally stating that any "Waste" in military spending he can find, will simply be redirected back into expanded military programs.

Standard fear tactics (pertaining to an idea that we will soon only be able to dominate by fighting just ONE war at a time! Wow!) maintained through extensive lobbied government spending from our favorite contractors, Raytheon, Halliburton, Lockheed, etc., of the world.

Part 4 - GOP "Conservative" -vs- Fiscal Conservative