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(Photo: RunningClouds)
Last-minute packing is an art form, and most of my trips allow me to pack less than 10 pounds for a world tour.
This time, 10 pounds was just the starting point. My packing list was straight out of a James Bond movie:
“Shovel?”
“Helmet?!”
“Avalanche kit?!?”
“Tracking beacon?!?!”
I was seeing it for the first time around 4pm in the afternoon. The next morning, I’d be departing for Chile for “cat” (snowcat) skiing in Patagonia, after six years of no snow sports. What the hell had I signed up for?
This post is based on my lessons and experimentation with the PowderQuest crew, with special thanks to Mo and David.
The first day was sheer terror. The second day was an improvement — just laughable. Then, around the third day…
Suddenly, I was skiing powder.
It wasn’t a gradual learning process. There were a few critical insights and lessons learned that immediately changed my ability to handle powder.
Here they are.
Positional tips and posture:
- Read a big newspaper. Keep your hands in front of you and downhill, as is reading a big open newspaper. Never read newspapers? Aim for about 6? outside of shoulder width. Look at the picture sequence at the top of this post and notice the arm positioning throughout.
Keep your hands further ahead than you think makes sense.
- From this newspaper position, plant wide with your poles before your turn, and only move your wrists. Keep your arms from moving and flying backward, which throws you off balance — maintain newspaper position.
- Narrow your stance a bit, but not so close that your skis are touching. This will help with the “one ski, one turn” turning mantra discussed below.
- It’s fine to squat down a bit, but don’t let your knees end up behind your ankles. If your weight is this far back, you will suffer. “Sit back more!” is common powder-skiing advice, but all it did was burn out my legs and unweight the front of the skis, which led to the tips crossing more easily. Crossing = face plant. If your hands are forward, your weight is forward; if you hands are back, you’re weight is back. Once again: keep them more forward than you think makes sense.
- Scrunch your toes occasionally to test excess back-lean. If you can’t scrunch your toes, you’re leaning too far back.
Turning:
- Imagine your turns as rounded zig-zags down a hill. Squat at the mid-point of the straight lines, then — without a pause at the bottom — stand up to near-straight legs, which will unweight you. This is when you turn. Don’t time turns for when you are moving slowest; time turns with when you’re naturally unweighted.
- [This was big for me] Don’t avoid bump-like contours in the snow — aim for them! Rather than navigate around these bumps, run up them to unweight. It actually makes turning easier. Be sure to speak with a guide or snow patroller who can teach you the different between safe snow bumps (all snow) and dangerous bumps covering submerged rocks.
- Make turns with your femur (thigh bone) instead off the edge of the ski. In other words, envision your thighs rotating in your pelvis, in the same direction, to turn the skis.
Don’t ski as you would on harder snow. If you catch your lower edge to turn (fine on groomed runs), the lower ski will just shoot under the snow, cross under your floating top ski, and you will then eat snow.
- “One ski, one turn” — a mantra for the preceding point. Make all of your turns as if you have one big ski, and rotate your thighs instead of catching edges. Try and maintain equal pressure on each ski for the entire run.
- Don’t rush it. Imagine taking nice, rounded turns — again, using your femur to slowly rotate the skis — as opposed to the hopping into ice-scaper-on-windshield zig-zag.
Notice the “S”-like curves after the straight-away traverses.
Gear:
- USE FAT SKIS. Once you go fat, you will never go back. Additionally, a little bit of rocker (reverse camber) goes a long way. This approach was originally tested by the renegade skiers who rigged waterskiing skis on snow.
- Drop some cash for boots if you can. I don’t ski often, so I wanted to rent skis, but damn: I was punished for renting boots. Particularly if you’ll be spending several days out-of-bounds or in the backcountry (“off piste” or fuera de pista in Spanish), particularly if you might be spending thousands on a trip, spend a few hundred on boots that will custom fit and last. Having foot pain while far away from ski lodges for 10-15 hours at a time sucks.
Find a good bootfitter at the resort, get a pair the first morning of a multi-day trip, and have the bootfitter adjust hot spots and customize to your foot that afternoon for pick up the following morning.
Falling and Yardsale Insurance:
It’s not a matter of if, but rather when, so learn how to get up the right way when you flip.
- X-factor: If you fall, don’t put your hands down to push yourself up, as you’ll simply fall through and get a snow sandwich. Cross your poles into an “X,” hold onto the intersection with one hand, place it uphill from you, and then push yourself up.
- The Sweeper: If you are a fall-prone novice, as I was, ask or hire someone to play “sweeper” and ski behind you, so that they can help you find skis if you eject out of them or “yard sale” (when you fall spectacularly and your gear shoots in all directions). Experienced skiers can still have fun while doing this for you, as they don’t need to ski slowly, but rather start their descent well after you.
- If you eat sh*t 10 times in a row, do two things. First, pause after each turn, or pause after getting up, and catch your breath for 20 seconds. No rush, brah. Second, when you’re ready to punch yourself in the face, or when your legs are totally shot, put your big girl pants on, head down to the ski lodge, and grab a hot chocolate or Hot Toddy by the fire. That will calm your inner animal, make you smile, and get you psyched to tackle it again in the morning.
Learning to ski powder can be immensely frustrating, but — like most things — it doesn’t have to be. If you’re looking for an incredible tour company for Argentina or Chile, take a peek at PowderQuest, who were simply awesome.
Enjoy the fresh tracks!
Have some additional tips? Please leave them in the comments!
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Odds and Ends:
Join me in Australia with Sir Richard Branson; Live Kindle Q&A
First, I’m finally making it to Melbourne, Australia!
Will you be near Australia Oct 21-22? If you can, join me, Sir Richard Branson, and others here. I’ve never been to Melbourne or this event, but I’m really looking forward to good company, good conversation, and good food.
Second, I will be doing a live Q&A soon for anyone who wants to submit questions via Kindle.
The questions can be about anything in The 4-Hour Workweek or The 4-Hour Body, but if you can tie your question — about tango, languages, Ewoks, etc. — to a passage, ask whatever you like.
Here’s how to send me a question, and early submissions get priority, so please submit sooner rather than later:
1. Using your Kindle (I suggest Kindle 3) or the Kindle App for iOS (iPhone & iPad), highlight a passage in either The 4-Hour Workweek or The 4-Hour Body. You will see options for: Note, Highlight, and Share. Choose Share. This won’t work in the desktop Kindle app.
2. You will see options to share via Twitter and Facebook. Choose Twitter.
3. Type the phrase “@author”, followed by your message to Tim Ferriss. Press the tweet button.
If you haven’t linked your Twitter account, you will see a dialogue that says “Set Up Account – You need to set up your Twitter account before Sharing.” If this pops up, press Okay.
4. Press the “Link Account” button on the screen to link your Twitter account.
5. Type your Twitter username and password, then press “Sign In”. You will be taken back to a screen where you will see your Twitter account linked. Press “Done.”
6. You will be taken back to the Kindle reading app and your message will be sent to the author.
Cory Silverberg discusses how historians of sex have been less than impressed with the idea and the issue has now become a hot topic because the book, written by author Rachel Maines, has been made into a film starring Maggie Gyllenhaal.
The Technology of Orgasm is a somewhat controversial book. Controversial in that the thesis of the book has been almost universally accepted and embraced by the mainstream press and the sex toy industry, while at the same time being quite seriously critiqued by historians of sexuality. In her book Maines contends that the vibrator was regularly used by doctors to treat “hysteria” which they had previously been treating by manually stimulating women to orgasm. Included in this argument is the idea that the women didn’t know they were having orgasms and the doctors didn’t seem to worry about the professional boundaries involved in essentially masturbating their patients.
Silverberg also notes a comprehensive page by historian Lesley Hall who has detailed difficulties with the ‘Victorian vibrator cure’ idea.
The page also has loads of other fascinating information about 19th century sex.
Don’t be put off by the page’s dreadful green background – as the title suggests, it is full of wonderful ‘Victorian sex factoids’, including why it is unlikely that Queen Victoria ever used cannabis to help alleviate period pains.
Link to Cory Silverberg’s coverage of the new film (via @DrPetra).
Link to Lesley Hall’s page on ‘Victorian Sex Factoids’.
Today, TED is thrilled to announce the 25 new members of 2012's TED Fellows class and 12 new Senior Fellows. A Lebanese open-source hardware inventor, a French computational architect and the founder of Skillshare.com are among 25 members of 2012's class of new TED Fellows. Twelve new Senior Fellows from seven countries, selected for two more years in the program, include a Yemeni anti-censorship software designer, an Ethiopian-American recording artist, a Venezuelan culture curator and a computer scientist creating self-assembling machines.
(The full list of TED Fellows and TED Senior Fellows follows after the jump.)
“We are tremendously proud to announce this year’s class of TED Fellows, which includes 25 amazing cross-disciplinary innovators from around the world,” said Tom Rielly, the director of the TED Fellows program. “The generous and collaborative spirit of the TED Fellows, and the global nature of much of their work, allow them to find surprising and ingenious solutions to many of the world’s biggest problems. From struggling to fight disease, to engineering a sustainable future or saving our environment, to expanding human potential, this group of Fellows promises to make an impact for generations to come.”
This year’s Fellows hail from eleven different countries, including Ireland, Lebanon, Korea, Kenya and Uganda. The group includes Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona state senator, human rights activist and LGBT political leader; it also includes Sarah Parcak, an archaeologist who uses high-resolution and NASA satellite imagery to discover new archaeological sites in Egypt; and Greg Gage, a DIY neuroscientist and co-founder of Backyard Brains, an organization teaching secondary school kids neuroscience through experiments with robotic control of ordinary cockroaches.
The full list:
TED2012 Fellows:
Ayah Bdeir (Lebanon | US) — Engineer + artist
Lebanese artist, inventor and founder of littleBits, an open-source system of pre-assembled circuits that snap together with magnets — making learning about electronics fun, easy and creative.
Gabriel Barcia-Colombo (US) — Video sculptor
American video artist creating living video installation pieces of “miniature people” encased inside ordinary objects such as suitcases, blenders and more.
Laurel Braitman (US) — Science historian + writer
American historian and anthropologist of science studying the mental health of animals and what it means about humans. Her research, subject of her upcoming book Animal Madness, posits that animals suffer from mental illness too.
Asha de Vos (Sri Lanka) — Blue whale scientist
Sri Lankan cetologist, oceanographer and Ph.D. student studying a unique population of non-migrating blue whales found only in the Northern Indian Ocean.
Zena el Khalil (Lebanon) — Artist + writer + cultural activist
Lebanese interdisciplinary artist building bridges through glitter, faith and compassion. A blogger and publisher, she is also the author of Beirut, I Love You: A Memoir.
Marc Fornes (France | US) — Computational architect
French computational architect experimenting with structure and form to produce wild, otherworldly forms for his objects, environments and buildings.
Greg Gage (US) — DIY neuroscientist
DIY neuroscientist and co-founder of Backyard Brains, an organization teaching kids neuroscience through experiments with robotic control of ordinary cockroaches.
Jeffrey Gibson (US) — Artist
Contemporary Native American visual and installation artist whose abstract artworks dazzle with color and form.
E Roon Kang (Korea | US) — Graphic designer
Korean graphic designer and researcher who often employs computational techniques in his iconoclastic design work.
Michael Karnjanaprakorn (US) — Entrepreneurial educator
Co-founder of Skillshare, a community marketplace to learn anything from anyone, leading to the democratization of teaching.
Jimmy Lin (US) — Computational geneticist
Geneticist and founder of the Rare Genomics Institute, an organization that allows patients to crowdsource funds and genomes to accelerate research of their rare genetic diseases.
Christine Marie (US) — Shadow artist
American artist specializing in creating, directing and choreographing performances inspired by the ancient form of Balinese shadow art, all with live cinematic and 3D stereoscopic effects.
Lucy McRae (Australia | Netherlands) — Body architect
Australian artist and “body architect” straddles the worlds of fashion, technology and the body to create unusual forms around the human body.
Oliver Medvedik (US) — Molecular biologist
Open-source synthetic biologist and co-founder of Genspace, a first-of-its-kind community biolab. He believes that synthetic biology and biotech education be made low-cost and accessible to all.
Jean-Baptiste Michel (France | Mauritius | US) — Cultural scientist
French Mauritian mathematician, biologist and co-founder of Culturomics, using millions of books and terabytes of historical data to quantify the evolution of human culture.
Sanga Moses (Uganda) — Biochar innovator
Ugandan biochar inventor and entrepreneur making and selling clean cooking fuel from agricultural waste. He uses the proceeds to plant trees to combat deforestation.
Alex Odundo (Kenya) — Agricultural machinist
Kenyan agricultural machinist and inventor of the Sisal Decorticator, a machine turning raw sisal into fiber, and the Sisal Twiner, a machine turning the fiber into rope, which customers sell for income.
Damian Palin (Ireland | Singapore) — Bio-mineralogist
Irish research engineer based in Singapore, developing a process that seeks to employ bacteria to biologically mine minerals out of the brine left over from the desalinization process.
Bre Pettis (US) — Maker
Inventor, maker and founder of MakerBot Industries, a company producing the Thing-O-Matic, the first affordable 3D printer.
Sarah Parcak (US) — Space archaeologist
Archaeologist who uses high-resolution and NASA satellite imagery to discover new archaeological sites and “long-lost” cities in the pyramid fields, Nile Valley and Delta of Egypt, most of which remain undetected and unexcavated.
Myshkin Ingawale (India) — Medical device innovator
Indian founder of BIosense Technologies, a low-cost medical device company that has created a device that tests for anemia in pregnant women without drawing blood, using only light.
Carl Schoonover (US | France) — Neuroscience PhD student + writer
Neuroscience PhD student, researcher, author of the amazing illustrated book Portraits of the Mind, and co-founder of a writing forum for neuroscientists and writers.
Kyrsten Sinema (US) — Human rights activist
Arizona state senator, human rights activist, LGBT political leader and political science PhD studying the Rwandan genocide.
Christina Warriner (US | Switzerland) — Archaeogeneticist
American archaeogeneticist studying the plaque on mummies’ teeth to determine how the human species evolved, including diet, diseases, environmental stressors and more.
Abigail Washburn (US | China) — Singer + banjo player + cultural activist
Singer, songwriter, clawhammer banjo player and recording artist who tours the world performing in both English and Chinese. Preparing to study law and settle in Beijing, she left to sing and play.
2012 TED Senior Fellows
Walid Al-Saqaf (Yemen | Sweden) — Anti-censorship activist
Yemeni programmer and founder of Yemen Portal, and creator of Alkasir, free software that gives individuals access to blocked websites.
Eric Berlow (US) — Ecological networks scientist
American ecologist and entrepreneur researching networks and environmental sustainability.
Jane Chen (US | India) — Infant health entrepreneur
American co-founder of Embrace, a social enterprise now shipping a low-cost infant warmer to Indian clinics.
Anthony Vipin Das (India) — Eye doctor + entrepreneur
Indian ophthalmologist and founder of REPOrT, Rural Education and Prevention of Ocular Trauma, focusing on preventing eye injuries.
Lope Gutiérrez-Ruiz (Venezuela | US) — Culture curator
Venezuelan editor, writer and co-founder of The Gopher Illustrated magazine and the Plantanoverde Foundation, a platform for emerging artists.
Meklit Hadero (Ethiopia | US) — Singer + songwriter
Ethopian American singer, songwriter and recording artist working on bridging the Ethiopian diaspora living in the United States with Ethiopians in Ethiopia, through her organization the Arba Minch Collective.
Marcin Jakubowski (Poland | US) — Open-source inventor
Polish-American developing the Global Village Construction Set, a DIY, low-cost, platform of the 50 industrial machines necessary to build from scratch a small, sustainable civilization.
Teru Kuwayama (US | Afghanistan) — Crisis photographer
American photojournalist covering humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir and Iraq, and founder of Basetrack, an open-source embedded media project that changes the relationship between war news and the families of soldiers.
Suzanne Lee (UK) — Fashion designer
British artist and fashion designer who “grows” clothing with bacteria.
Sey Min (Korea) — Media artist
Korean data visualization designer who works with live data to creatively and accurately visualize information from data sets that otherwise would be indecipherable.
Nina Tandon (US) — Tissue engineering researcher
American electrical engineer and research scientist who explores how electrical stimulation encourages tissue growth for generating tissue replacements and/or regeneration.
Skylar Tibbits (US) – Architect + computer scientist
American artist and computational architect working on “smart” components that can assemble themselves.
If you're jumping on the bandwagon, be sure to keep social media social. Image by Matt Hamm. Used under a Creative Commons License.While the virtues of social media have been exalted countless times before and should be obvious to anyone who’s even dabbled briefly with a Facebook account, most of those virtues can be summed up thusly:
Whether you want to market your business, promote your blog or appeal to potential employers in your industry, social media is a quick, easy and effective way to do just that.
In fact, it’s so quick and easy that you hardly have to do anything at all.
Using various tools, you can put most of your social media activities on autopilot, leaving your accounts to work by themselves and freeing you up to do other things.
Yet just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
Automating your social media may tick the quick and easy boxes, but it’s far less effective than giving your social media accounts real care and attention.
Truth is, people don’t sign up to social media sites to receive marketing messages from robots.
That’s not to say you can’t use those services for marketing, but by automating all your activities, the only real message you’re giving to potential customers is
“hey, we don’t care enough about you to talk to you personally.”
Automating your social media simply involves using tools to keep your social media accounts running with minimal effort.
This could be:
Linking your social networks (for example Facebook and Twitter) together so that posting on one updates them all.Automatically sending a direct message (DM) to new followers on TwitterHaving your activity on other websites posted on your social networksIf you manage several accounts across various social networks it might be tempting to use tools like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to update them all at once.
The problem here is that people use each social network differently.
To maximise the effectiveness of each post it pays to tailor your message to each audience. Otherwise, you end up with Facebook posts containing hashtags, @mentions and requests for retweets or, perhaps worse, tweets beginning with the words ‘Hello Facebook!’ At best, it makes you look silly, at worst it goes back to ‘hey, we don’t care enough about you to talk to you personally.’
Writing your posts directly to your followers/fans in any given medium is more likely to get their attention.
One of the biggest problems with automated social media is that it gives your audience little incentive to care about your posts. Take the way you can automatically inform your Twitter followers when you upload a new Youtube video.
“I uploaded a @Youtube video you.tube/1234abcd Automated Social Media”
Yeah, so what? Scores of people upload videos to Youtube all the time. You’re not special. Why should anybody care about this one? Having Youtube automatically update your Twitter may save you a few seconds of time, but is it really garnering you as much attention you’d receive if you manually posted something along the following lines?
“Interested in learning about why automated social media may be ineffective? You might like this new video – you.tube/1234abcd”
“Hi! Thanks for the follow. Check out my eBook – Why Automated DM’s are annoying”
The consensus amongst many Twitter users is that messages such as that are little more than spam, and it isn’t unheard of for people to quickly unfollow an account on receipt of such messages. If you really feel you must send somebody a DM, take the time to do it yourself. It only takes a second and you’ll develop an infinitely better relationship with your new Twitter friend.
Ultimately, it all boils down to this:
Keep social media social. Talk to people, engage, and be human. Chances are you’ll have much more success than letting robots do your social media for you.
Chris Skoyles holds various roles in journalism, marketing, digital media and events management. Throughout all these, his one constant obsession is using technology and creative ideas not simply to get things done, but to get them done well. Chris can be found on Twitter and he also blogs about his work, projects and passions at www.chrisskoyles.co.uk
‘A man grows most tired while standing still.’ ~Chinese proverb
It’s tough being tired all day. I’ve had days like this, when I’m struggling through the day and don’t have the energy to tackle anything that matters.
Hell, I’ve had years like this.
When you’re tired, not much seems appealing. Life is dulled, and you don’t get much accomplished. Worst, you don’t have the energy to change the situation.
These days I don’t have many days like this, but when I do, I rest. We have gotten good at ignoring our body’s signals — much of our lives is training our minds to pretend our bodies aren’t tired, so we can be more productive.
This is wrong. It ends up in burnout and less production, because we inevitably run out of energy. Listen to your body — your long-term health and sanity depend on it.
Mostly we’re tired because we don’t rest enough. Yeah, I know: duh, Leo. But if it’s so obvious, why do we ignore it?
The Spanish famously have siestas. When I get tired, so do I. It’s a luxury not everyone can afford, but even when I had a day job I would find ways to sneak into a back room and take a power nap of 20 minutes.
We don’t rest enough. It’s not as important as other things: waking early, getting stuff done, attending to a thousand meetings, being sucked into the world of online connections and reading, god-forsaken television.
So we cut rest in favor of these other things that are much more important, and then wonder why our energy levels are low.
But there’s more. If you’re like me, you drink coffee in the morning. You might drink more later in the morning, to keep yourself energized. By the time afternoon rolls around, you’re in caffeine withdrawal. This is often why people are sapped by mid-afternoon.
We also run ourselves too fast, like a sprint, when life is much longer than a sprint. Try it: go outside and sprint all-out for two minutes. Stop, breathe for a sec, then sprint again. See how long you can keep that up — most can’t go very long. Our days are like a series of sprints.
Note: Sometimes chronic fatigue can be a sign of deeper problems. For athletes, it’s often a sign of overtraining. For others, it could be a sign of depression or other medical issues. If it’s a continuing problem, I’d recommend getting checked out, just in case.
My first suggestion is to take a nap. If you’re too tired to take other steps, taking a nap is easy. If you can’t take a nap, at the very least disconnect from digital devices. Computers and smartphones are powerful tools, but being on them for too long tires us out.
Disconnect, get outside, take a walk. Cancel an appointment or two if you can. Stretch. Massage your shoulders. Close your eyes for a few minutes. Breathe.
These are small things you can do right away, and they will help you become more rested.
Once you’ve taken the first steps, you’ll be a bit more rested and can take a few more steps:
1. Sleep more at night. If you’re not getting at least 7 hours of sleep, you’re probably getting too little. Lots of people need a full 8 hours, and some need more. Go to bed earlier — the Internet will be fine without you. I like to read before bed (a book, not websites) as a ritual that helps me sleep. It takes awhile before your sleeping patterns change. If you have insomnia, try my simple cure.
2. Take stretch breaks. We sit for too long at the computer, sapping energy. Get up, stretch, every 20-25 minutes. Walk around for a minute or five. Move in any way you can — do pushups, squats, lunges, jump up and down, do a dance. Get the blood circulating.
3. Exercise regularly. You needed me to tell you to exercise, I’m sure. But it’s amazing how even a little exercise can help you to feel more energized throughout the day. A huge workout session can leave you exhausted — in which case you should rest — but shorter workouts leave you physically just a bit tired, but mentally you feel amazing.
4. Cut back the caffeine. If you go cold turkey with caffeine, you’ll really have no energy. But cutting back a little at a time, while doing some of the things mentioned here, won’t be bad. And you’ll skip the afternoon withdrawal, which can ruin half your day. If you feel tired from drinking less caffeine, take a short nap.
5. Be less busy. Seriously, we’re too busy these days. Cut back on commitments, put space between things, allow yourself to have a slower pace. Your energy levels will thank you.
6. Focus. While most people multitask, in truth that’s mental juggling. And there’s only so much you can do in a day. As most of you know, I advocate single-tasking — it’s basically doing one thing at a time, and being fully present while doing that task. This really transforms anything you do, from work tasks to conversations to chores like washing the dishes. It’s less tiring, mentally, and it can make anything you do more enjoyable. Life is less tiring when you single-task.
7. Hydrate. This is actually a huge factor that most people don’t realize is making them tired. Drink water throughout the day. You don’t really need 8 glasses of water (we get some in food and other drinks), but drinking more water doesn’t hurt. Your pee should be a light yellow if you’re well hydrated (not clear, definitely not dark yellow).
8. Freshen up. Sometimes a quick, cold shower in the afternoon or evening can be refreshing. Or change your socks. If you’re sweaty, a fresh outfit also helps. Wash your face. You’ll feel brand-new.
9. Work on something you’re excited about. If you’re passionate about something, you’ll feel energized. If you don’t really care about your work, you’ll be dragging. Read this if you need help.
10. Work with interesting people. If you work with other people who are passionate about something, you’ll feel more excited about the work you do. It’s incredible to work with a partner or group of people who care about what they’re doing, who are fired up. If you don’t have that, seek it out.
11. Learn what makes life effortless. We thrash about in the water all day, making the swim exhausting. Instead of working against the world, learn to glide. I write about this more in my new book, The Effortless Life, which comes out next week. More soon!
‘A lot of people are tired around here, but I’m not sure they’re ready to lie down, stretch out and fall asleep.’ ~Jim Jones
Note: This post was written publicly, with a little help from my friends. Thanks everyone!
How vegetarians are seen has shifted radically over time. During the Inquisition, the Roman Catholic Church declared vegetarians to be heretics, and a similar line of persecutions occurred in 12th century China (Kellman, 2000). In the earlier half of the twentieth century, the sentiment toward vegetarians remained distinctly negative, with the decision not to eat meat being framed as deviant and worthy of suspicion.
Major Hyman S. Barahal (1946), then head of the Psychiatry Section of Mason General Hospital, Brentwood, wrote openly that he considered vegetarians to be domineering and secretly sadistic, and that they “display little regard for the suffering of their fellow human beings” (p. 12). In this same era, it was proposed that vegetarianism was an underlying cause of stammering, the cure for which was a steady diet of beefsteak.
In contrast, research shows the general attitude to vegetarianism has generally shifted to be, shall we say, somewhat more positive.
Link to locked article. Forbidden fruit and all that.
Travel can offer more than just a getaway.Instead of just sitting on some tropical beach and sipping pina coladas during your vacations, it is very possible to get a ton of personal growth from your travels. But in order to do this, you will have to get off those all-inclusive beach resorts and five-star hotels. Although there might be some exceptions, most of these resorts will be too comfortable — unless there are some attractions nearby that offer some type of personal growth opportunities.
Even so, the reality is that the majority of tourists who stay at all-inclusive resorts will never go off site during their entire vacations. If you want to go to the most rewarding travel destinations offering the most personal growth, you have to steer clear of the places that are too “touristy” and aimed for the masses. You have to find less-traveled locations where you may not have the comforts and conveniences of luxury travel.
One of the best travel experiences comes from direct interaction with the locals. Many Canadians and Europeans have been vacationing in Cuba for years and despite the US travel embargo, there are American tourists who travel there with official special permission as well — and by using other indirect routes from time to time.
As expected, the vast majority of tourists stay at new all-inclusive beach resorts. The only Cubans they will see during their entire stay are the resort staff and those at the airport. These tourists will never leave the resorts to see the real lives of Cubans in their own local communities.
When I was down there, I chose to stay for part of my trip at a casa particular. These are rooms at homes that average Cubans rent out to travelers. I ended up getting a full apartment in Havana. Although it was not a five-star luxury suite, it was clean, safe and comfortable.
Instead of eating at tourist restaurants, the family who owned the casa particular prepared home-cooked meals for me. Through my rusty, basic Spanish, I got to interact with the family and see how average Cubans really live. They told me about Cuban life while I entertained them with some facts about life in my own country, Canada (especially our winters).
The personal growth I got out of this interaction with the family was priceless. One just cannot get this by staying at a five-star resort. Not to mention that staying at a casa particular with the home-cooked meals was actually less than 50% of the cost of staying at the resorts and hotels. I was providing some much needed income for the Cuban family as well, which made it even more worthwhile.
During this same trip, I also decided to venture out further. I got private transportation and traveled five hours west of Havana to a remote location that was a recognized biosphere called Maria La Gorda. Here, I scuba dived in pristine waters untouched by the tourist crowds. Sure, the transit was a bit rough, but going to places like this really broadened my horizons.
The trip along the way was also an experience in itself as I got to interact with my local Cuban taxi driver one-on-one for the entire ride. He pointed out interesting things along the way, told me about Cuban baseball, discussed classic American cars that are still running on the island and how his family dealt with hurricanes.
You just can’t get any of these experiences by staying at an all-inclusive resort.
Of course, instead of having everything catered to you as in an all-inclusive resort, you have to figure out where to stay, where to eat, where to travel and how to get around and some safety precautions. All of such information is available if you spend enough time doing advance travel research.
Fortunately, there is no shortage of information that you can access online via travel forums, travel reports and even social media including YouTube (I uploaded a few Cuban travel videos you can search there as my contribution). You can also get information from travel agencies that deal with adventure or specialized travel and from consulates from destination countries.
Travel away from the tourist resorts does take more planning and you may have to rough it out a bit. I have taken similar trips in Asia, Central America and Europe. But the direct interaction and connections you make with people from other cultures as well as experiencing special destinations that the tourist masses will never see, make such travel incredibly worthwhile.
If you have or plan to travel to special places to broaden your horizons as well, please feel free to share below.
Clint Cora is a motivational speaker, author & Karate World Champion based near Toronto, Canada. Get his FREE 3-part Personal Development Video Series on how to expand your comfort zone and finally conquer even your most daunting goals in life.
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I often get asked how I can do so much while having six kids.
My short answer, and all you really need to know, is my wife Eva is awesome. I couldn’t do half what I do without her.
She is the reason Zen Habits is able to exist. And so if you want parenting advice, you’d be smart to ask her.
She doesn’t, however, have a blog. And so I’ll share some things that we both do that make our jobs as parents easier.
These are Very Important Rules that must never be broken by any Serious Parent … until, of course, you want to break them. The first rule of Rules of Effortless Parenting is that you should always break rules.
There is really only one rule: Love Them. But you already knew that one, so let’s get into details:
1. Teach kids to be self-sufficient. Our kids started by learning how to pick up after themselves (as 1 and 2 year olds), and later learned how to feed themselves breakfast, brush their teeth and shower and dress themselves, wash dishes and clean up in the kitchen, clean their rooms, do laundry, etc. Our jobs as parents became tons easier, but it does take a little patient teaching in the beginning of each skill.
2. Teach older kids to help with the younger kids. If you have multiple kids, this rule is golden. Our teens can help the little kids with anything. That makes our jobs a lot easier, and the older kids learn responsibility.
3. Teach them to solve problems. This is really the main job of unschooling, which is the philosophy we follow as homeschoolers. Our kids don’t learn facts or even skills. They learn to solve problems on their own. If they know how to do this, they can learn any facts or skills they need to solve their problems. Want to learn how to write a computer program? That’s just another problem that you need to learn how to solve. Want to cook Thai food, or write a blog, or start a business, or build something? Problems that you can solve.
4. Show them how to be passionate. The other main thing you teach unschoolers, besides solving their own problems, is how to be passionate about something. If they know this, they will do work they’re passionate about as adults. How do you teach them this? By modeling it yourself. By doing projects with them where you’re passionate about something. Kids learn an amazing amount by watching and mimicking.
5. Play with them outside, and be active. Spending time with your kids is one of the best ways to show them you love them. Playing with them is one of the best ways to spend time with them. Playing outside shows them how to be active and have fun being active. I also stay active on my own, but I make sure they know what I’m doing, why, and how much fun it is. They have a role model who is healthy and fit, and that will help them for the rest of their lives.
6. Don’t overschedule. Most parents schedule too many classes, sports, parties, activities. We give our kids lots of unstructured, unscheduled time. They have to figure out what to do with that time. That’s an important skill to learn. It also means their lives are less stressed out, as are ours, and they learn a slower pace of life.
7. Don’t dote. I’ve seen lots of parents that dote on everything their kids do, who are worried about every little thing their kid might touch or that might cause a fall. Back off, and give them some space. They need attention, but they also need some time alone to explore, to fall and get back up, to scrape their knees, to figure stuff out on their own. Go do something on your own, and leave your kids alone sometimes.
8. Dance. Because life without dance is dull and not worth living. Play loud music. Go crazy.
9. Read with them, and read in front of them. Kids love books, especially if you read them with them. Here are some of my favorites. If you are a reader yourself, and they see that, this will teach them to love reading too. Reading is one of the best loves you can instill in kids.
10. Be inquisitive. Ask questions about everything, and encourage them to do the same. Kids are naturally inquisitive … they can ask a million questions, because everything is new to them. Learn to see the world through their eyes — it’s amazing. Why the hell IS the sky blue? Why do leaves change color? How does a bird fly? These are brilliant questions, and you should explore them with the kids — don’t just give them answers, but show them how to find out.
Artist and TED Fellow Nathalie Miebach takes weather data from massive storms and turns it into complex sculptures that embody the forces of nature and time. These sculptures then become musical scores for a string quartet to play. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2011, July 2011, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Duration: 4:19.)
Watch Nathalie Miebach’s talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 1,000+ TEDTalks.
I’ve been successfully self-employed for the past four years so I’m used to being my own boss, working on my own terms and being able to control – to a certain extent – the amount of money I bring in. So I have an extremely low tolerance when it comes to the type of work environments people want me to commit to. There are perfectly wise, legitimate reasons for turning down a job, even in a tough economy. Sometimes any job is not better than no job!
Before you even go on an interview, define what’s important to you in terms of the lifestyle you want to lead professionally and personally. For example, I’ve decided that working from home is extremely important to maintain the work/life balance I’m accustomed to. If a potential employer shows an unwillingness to compromise at all on this issue and wants me in the office at all times, that’s a red flag. I know many people who prefer going into an office – and I absolutely would, too, under the right (ie, flexible) circumstances – so this may not be an issue for you. But each person has their non- or slightly- negotiables. Figuring these out before you’re faced with making a decision about employment is imperative.
This sounds simple but if you’ve ever made it through a round of interviews without any talk of money or salary, you know that things can quickly get complicated. It’s a waste of time for you and a potential employer to get all the way through a series of interviews only to find out you’re not on the same page financially. Even figuring out the range in which the potential employer is operating can be helpful in determining if you want to move forward.
Again, don’t automatically assume that any job is better than no job. For example, I was recently recruited to interview for a position which payed three or four times LESS than what I make on my own! Yes, there’s the potential security of working for someone else (but even that can be a false sense of security!). But the reality was I would’ve had to maintain an intense client work load in addition to the job in order to bring in as much money as I wanted. This goes back to my point about priorities: That sacrifice of lifestyle (ie, working all the time!) just wasn’t worth it.
Maybe you know exactly where you want to be in your career. Maybe you’re just testing the waters and you’re not sure. These two situations can lead to very different decisions about what types of jobs to take or turn down. If you have a specific goal in mind and you’re offered a job that doesn’t really follow the trajectory of that goal you’ll have to decide what the best response is – the job may not be a good fit because it would get you off-track of your long-term goal. Or it may be that the future employer would be flexible in allowing you to integrate different tasks and duties into your daily responsibilities to make it closer in line with your goals.
If you’re not sure in what direction you’d like to head, accepting or rejecting a job can be less about long term goals and more about some of the other things mentioned above – lifestyle, work/life balance, salary, enjoyment and so forth. Even if you’re unemployed, it’s not always wise to take the first job that comes your way if you have specific standards and goals in mind.
Brynn is a social media evangelist for her clients, covering all things real estate and personal finance for MortgageSum.com. She's passionate about using real estate to move toward financial independence, and as both a home owner and renter, brings a unique variety of perspectives to the site. A journalist in her "former life," Brynn brings her professional training to the industry.
The Subjective Reality Workshop this past weekend was very rewarding. I smile when I think back on all the amazing people who came together to explore SR as a group. After doing 6 Conscious Growth Workshops in a row, it was a special experience to deliver a new workshop this time.
This was the first time I’ve talked about subjective reality in depth with more than a few people. I really loved the energy of this particular group. With about half of the attendees being alumni from previous CGWs, it felt like a big family reunion.
We officially ended at 4pm on Sunday, but I didn’t leave the meeting room until about 6:30. Many people hung around afterwards to ask more questions, share stories, and to offer feedback and suggestions. A few people told me afterwards that they were sad to see it end and would have loved to go for 4-5 days instead of just 3 days. I can see how SRW could be extended into a longer workshop. At present there are no specific plans to do another one, but I’m open to it happening sometime in 2012.
Personal growth workshops can provide intense transformational experiences for those who attend them, including the facilitator. It typically takes me about a week to make sense of how each workshop impacted me, but I’m already seeing how SRW’s lessons are unfolding, so I wanted to share some about that. This shouldn’t be a surprise to those who attended the workshop, since I already discussed this with the group on Sunday.
For quite a while I’ve been thinking about exploring music in some fashion, such as learning to play an instrument. This isn’t something I’ve really explored before, so I have very little experience. When it comes to music, I don’t even know what I don’t know, nor do I have a clear sense of what I’d enjoy, so I’m not in a position to set a crisp goal or to define a particular desired result.
The more I ponder it, the more my reality keeps affirming that this is a path worthy of exploration. In lieu of contemplating it for a few more years, I’ve decided to commit to a 30-day trial of exploring and learning about music for 1-2 hours per day.
My musical knowledge is so limited that I wouldn’t even know how to map out what to do each day, so I’ll simply follow the guidance that shows up as I go along, whether it comes in the form of inspiration, a seemingly logical next step, or help from others who are musically inclined.
The trial is already underway in fact. I started on Monday, so this is Day 2. So far I’ve spent some time sharing this intention, I read a little about music theory online and discussed it with some people, and I bookmarked some resources that people shared with me. I installed a couple of keyboard simulator apps on my iPad, and I ran Garage Band for the first time (pre-installed on my MacBook Pro) to poke around with it. I installed a 1.2 GB file of loops for it when the program prompted me to do so.
This is a totally exploratory trial. I have no set agenda or end goal in mind. I simply want to learn more about music, both mentally and experientially. I’m not attached to any particular outcome here.
Some people asked what kind of instrument I might like to learn, but I can’t answer that with any certainty. If I had to choose, I’d say that I feel most drawn to learning to create some kind of compositions with computer software. I don’t feel drawn to learn the guitar, piano, or any specific physical instrument.
My favorite style of music is electronic, so the computer seems like a logical choice for exploring that. Depeche Mode is by far my favorite band of all time, and I probably listen to their music more than all other groups combined. Some other favorites include New Order, Erasure, Duran Duran, Anything Box, Sting, The Smiths, Enya, Pet Shop Boys, REM, and The Cure.
If I were going to learn how to compose something on my own, electronic would be my preference.
Other than being able to play a few simple songs on a keyboard like Mary Had a Little Lamb and some basic recorder lessons in grammar school 30 years ago, I haven’t learned how to play any instruments.
I’m left-handed, so I’m not sure if that makes it much different to learn to play a keyboard or piano than it would be for a right-hander.
Several musicians have already shared some advice and tips on where to begin, so I imagine I may spend a few days just exploring various resources people have suggested — reading articles, learning some music theory, trying out software, and messing around a bit. I’ll see how it goes.
I probably won’t blog about this day by day, but I’m happy to share some updates along the way if I think I have something interesting to share.
One reason I’m doing this is to explore another way to express myself creatively. Music seems like a good choice for that.
For now I’m committing to a 30-day trial for education and exploration, so I can learn a little something about music and invite new learning experiences into my life. I expect that this will be an interesting path to explore regardless of what, if anything, I might be able to learn and accomplish in only 30 days.
Balloons are fun. Productivity can be too.Having “lived” in the productivity realm for several years now, I know exactly how dry a topic it can be. For those that adopt and stick with a productivity system, there are even more that don’t stick with (or never explore) a system. Finding a productivity system that works for you is hard work – often trial and error – and sticking with one is even harder. But it doesn’t have to be that way if you look at how adopting a productivity system can benefit you over the long haul, rather than judging the proverbial book by its cover.
I’ve been able to dissect the various aspects of how productivity systems can be a huge asset to your life if you stick with them because of how long I’ve been looking at them. The reason most people adopt a system is because they want to find more time in their lives to do the things that they are passionate about; the things that fulfill them. It’s not about crossing things off of a list on a daily basis – that’s just what appears to happen on the surface. You try to be more productive because you are mindful about what you want. The problem with adopting a system for so many of us is that we get caught up in the “doing” rather than realize it is a means towards the “being” – getting closer to what we really want. And when we get caught up in doing stuff, we’re “doing productive” and not “being productive”. Yet we abandon the system before we allow the long haul benefits to really kick in, which happens after we escape worrying about doing stuff. The system starts to take care of itself more than the other way around. You just have to trust it.
Trusting anything is something that takes time, but if you can make it fun along the way then the time passes much quicker. But how do you make something as “dry” as productivity…fun?
Change: it’s rarely fun. Human beings are averse to change, and throwing one into a productivity mindset is one of the biggest changes possible. So don’t do that.
Instead, tackle small items from within your newly-adopted system first. Things that seem as mundane as “take out the garbage” or “review phone messages” may be automatic to you at this point, but put them in your system. Check them off as you do them, and start to add other things in there as well that you would do almost without thinking. (Don’t worry, you’ll be able to rid yourself of those items from the system at some point if you choose, but by adding them you’re entering a mindset of using your productivity system in a manner that is as painless as possible.) As you see items get checked off, you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment as they start to add up. You’re rewarding yourself for things you used to do with no visual reward at all. Doing so will encourage you to build upon those successes and will create comfort inside the system. While it may not be incredibly fun for some, it definitely isn’t painful for most.
Are you a fan of gadgets? Then use one to manage your productivity, like an iPhone or even a LiveScribe notebook. More of a paper person? Grab yourself a Moleskine and a writing instrument that is a pleasure to use to keep you on track.
By using tools you enjoy using, you’ll find that you’ll be better equipped mentally (and physically) to become more productive within a system you’ve chosen. And you’ll have fun using those tools while you do.
Don’t just make up to do lists. Make up goals that you track. Create a “vision board” to give you a road map to what you want out of your life. Keep a journal of where you’re at each day and review it regularly.
The lists are there to ensure you have a record of what you decide to do and what you decide not to do. If you look at your to do lists, you’ll see that you accomplish some tasks and either put off or drop others. Essentially, you can use your lists as a reference for your journal of progress – in fact, it is that journal. The lists will evolve every day while the goals and visions will only do so as you and your circumstances evolve. Your lists can have a say in that evolution, so treat them as such. They can lead you to where you want to be or can lead you astray. Be mindful of that when you put them together and look at back at them.
Create some goals and some plans for the future – some things that go way beyond your usual lists. Don’t censor yourself. It’s not only a fun exercise, but it can be a real educational one as well.
Adopting a system that enables you to be more productive can be a fun adventure. It’s all in how you look at it and the steps you take along the way.
“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.” ? Wayne W. Dyer
Remember that by putting a system in place that creates a more productive you, you open the doors to channel the mindfulness that will bring you to where you want to be.
Once you’re there, that’s where the real fun begins.
Mike Vardy is an independent writer, speaker, podcaster and "productivity pundit" who also dishes the goods at Vardy.me. You can follow him daily on Twitter, listen to him weekly on ProductiVardy, and read more from him eventually at Eventualism.
Credit: TooleyIt’s really not that difficult to live an extraordinary life. Most people look at those who are having success around them, and desire the same thing, but end up tossing their dreams in the too-hard-basket.
They don’t understand that going from ordinary to extraordinary involves doing just a little bit extra.
It is how I managed to live and travel the world for 14 years, grow one of the most popular travel blogs online in just a year, land a partnership project with Qantas, and have very quick success with my Mummy blog.
All you need to concentrate on is doing 10% more than those around you- that little bit extra in the following areas.
Everything in life starts with a dream. Those who move on to the attainment of their goals understand how important doing that little bit extra is with dreaming.
You have to dream big. Your dreams should be so big that they scare you. Don’t allow thoughts of limitations and excuses as to why those dreams can’t come true enter your head. Just dream your wildest dream. Tell that genie exactly what it is you desire.
There are two very important steps you must undertake when dreaming
Say Yes to the DreamUnderstand that you deserve it.In saying yes to the dream, you are in fact saying that you deserve this to be a reality in your life. If you don’t stand up for your dreams then no one else will.
Whatever you are dreaming you are dreaming it because it is the life that was purely destined for you. Of course you deserve it. Why wouldn’t you?
Saying yes to the dream means that you commit yourself 110% to the attainment of it. You understand that the “yes” starts the wheels in motion to move the dream from absent minded wishing on the couch to full fledge participation in making it become a reality.
You cannot move into the realm of success without first learning how to get there. All successful people spend years learning how to perfect their craft and develop a mindset destined for success.
They don’t waste time filling their heads with gossip, reality TV shows, negative news, dis-empowering emotions or anything else that will interfere with them moving forward.
They find out who are the successful people in their niche and then they learn how they can follow in their footsteps.
There is rarely a spare moment that goes by where I do not have a book in my hand, a podcast in my ear, or I’m having conversation with someone who can help me move forward to achieving my goals.
Invest your time and money into learning and growing yourself.
Sitting on the couch dreaming will never be enough to make them your reality. You have to take action. Achieving success means playing full out.
Doing 10% more than everyone else will propel you out in front.
For every action you undertake, push yourself just that little bit more. Take on that extra hour work each day, write that one extra blog post, and talk to that one extra person who is where you want to be.
Taking Action will involve you having to undertake the following
Taking action means there are times when you are going to have to get uncomfortable. We only grow by stretching. By all means take baby steps if you need to.
Every day do at least one thing that makes you feel uncomfortable. You are entering a new world, it will scare you, but don’t let that fear prevent you from attaining the dream you deserve.
You cannot get without giving something in return. Understand that in order for you to go from ordinary to extraordinary, you will have to make sacrifices. This could be a sacrifice of time, money, relationships, comfort levels, character traits, or material possessions.
Work out what price you are willing to pay and then pay it. The rewards will be worth it.
The longer you are involved in the process of moving from ordinary to extraordinary the easier it will be for you to see the opportunities that float pass you daily.
I do not believe in luck. I believe opportunities are always showing up in your face, but often you aren’t prepared enough to see them yet. By following these steps the “luck” will show up when you are prepared for them.
When the opportunities arrive, don’t wait around with uncertainty, grab a hold of them. Part of the reason we secured a partnership deal with Qantas was because we took an opportunity that no one else did. We were able to see the potential rewards, so we made the sacrifice and said “Yes, please.”
So much of what I have achieved in my life is a direct result in my ability to interact with others. Just that little bit extra when interacting with others can go a very long way.
All you need to do is give a little bit of an extra smile, help them in a little extra way, use a little bit extra manners, take some time to get to know and understand them better.
You cannot have success in your life without helping and sharing with others along the way. Make your interactions a two way street.
Your focus should be on authentic relationship building and what can I do to help you rather than how can you help me. It is by helping and serving others first that you will be rewarded in return.
For me this is the extra nip of chili in your soup. The power kicker that will have your dreams coming towards you at rocket speed.
If you do all the others well but leave this off, your dreams will come crawling to you. Going from ordinary to extraordinary means you are living with passion.
You are spending your days excited about your life and your future. You are living from your higher emotive states of love, enthusiasm, and gratitude.
Celebrate every win that happens no matter how small and be extremely grateful for them.
You are living your dreams; there is much to be thankful for in that as there are many others that don’t get the same opportunities.
Yes, the opportunities are there for everyone, but many don’t take them as they are afraid of doing that little bit extra and they don’t believe they deserve it.
Be thankful that you were able to overcome those demons, and be enthusiastic in the fact that you can show others just how easy it can be. You can be the light that helps them find the way to their dreams becoming a reality.
It is just a little bit extra.
Caz Makepeace has been living and travelling around the world for 14 years. When not sipping mojitos around the world she is inspiring and empowering women to put the mojo back into their life at her blog Mojito Mother. She also writes about how to travel the world at y Travel Blog.
But a new study has hard data to show the hot hand really exists and may turn one of the most widely cited ‘cognitive illusions’ on its head.
A famous 1985 study by psychologist Thomas Gilovich and his colleagues looked at the ‘hot hand’ belief in basketball, finding that there was no evidence of any ‘scoring streak’ in thousands of basketball games beyond what you would expect from natural variation in play.
Think of it like tossing a weighted coin. Although the weighting, equivalent to the players skill, makes landing a ‘head’ more likely overall, every toss of the coin is independent. The last result doesn’t effect the next one.
Despite this, sometimes heads or tails will bunch together and this is what people erroneously interpret as the ‘hot hand’ or being on a roll, at least according to the theory. Due to the basketball research, that seemed to show the same effect, the ‘hot hand fallacy’ was born and the idea of ‘scoring streaks’ thought to be sports myth.
Some have suggested that while the ‘hot hand’ may be an illusion, in practical terms, in might be useful on the field.
Better players are more likely to have a higher overall scoring rate and so are more likely to have what seem like streaks. Passing to that guy works out, because the better players have the ball for longer.
But a new study led by Markus Raab suggests that the hot hand does indeed exist. Each shot is not independent and players that hit the mark may raise their chances of scoring the next time. They seem to draw inspiration from their successes.
Crucially, the researchers chose their sport carefully because one of the difficulties with basketball – from a numbers point of view – is that players on the opposing team react to success.
If someone scores, they may find themselves the subject of more defensive attention on the court, damping down any ‘hot hand’ effect if it did exist.
Because of this, the new study looked at volleyball where the players are separated by a net and play from different sides of the court. Additionally, players rotate position after every rally, meaning its more difficult to ‘clamp down’ on players from the opposing team if they seem to be doing well.
The research first established the belief in the ‘hot hand’ was common in volleyball players, coaches and fans, and then looked to see if scoring patterns support it – to see if scoring a point made a player more likely to score another.
It turns out that over half the players in Germany’s first-division volleyball league show the ‘hot hand’ effect – streaks of inspiration were common and points were not scored in an independent ‘coin toss’ manner.
What’s more, players were sensitive to who was on a roll and used the effect to the team’s advantage – more commonly passing to those on a scoring streak.
So it seems the ‘hot hand’ effect exists. But this opens up another, perhaps more interesting, question.
How does it work? Because if teams can understand the essence of on court inspiration, they’ve got a recipe for success.
Link to blocked study. Clearing a losing strategy.
Link to full text which has mysteriously appeared online.
Read this book and send your nonverbal intelligence soaring. Joe Navarro, a former FBI counterintelligence officer and a recognized expert on nonverbal behavior, explains how to "speed-read" people: decode sentiments and behaviors, avoid hidden pitfalls, and look for deceptive behaviors. You'll also learn how your body language can influence what your boss, family, friends, and strangers think of you. You will discover: Filled with examples from Navarro's professional experience, this definitive book offers a powerful new way to navigate your world...
He says that's his best offer. Is it? She says she agrees. Does she? The interview went greatâ??or did it? He said he'd never do it again. But he did.
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We feel instinctively that societies with huge income gaps are somehow going wrong. Richard Wilkinson charts the hard data on economic inequality, and shows what gets worse when rich and poor are too far apart: real effects on health, lifespan, even such basic values as trust. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2011, July 2011, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Duration: 16:55.)
Watch Richard Wilkinson’s talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 1,000+ TEDTalks.
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Psychological fascinating but also a beautiful piece of storytelling.
When Andy first met Kohn, he saw a college freshman in a wheelchair who moved slow and talked slow. But it only took one conversation for Andy to realize that Kohn was also witty and observant. They clicked so effortlessly over lunch one day that Andy went ahead and asked an audacious question: why was Kohn so slow? Kohn told him that when he was 8-years-old, he was hit by a car. He was in a coma for five months, and when he finally woke up, he everything about him was slowed down … except for his mind.
Do not miss.
Link to RadioLab short ‘Slow’.
This evaluation board showcases the LM3429 NFET controller used with a boost current regulator. It is designed to drive 9 to 12 LEDs at a maximum average LED current of 1A from a DC input voltage of 10 to 26V. The evaluation board showcases most features of the LM3429 including PWM dimming, overvoltage protection and input under-voltage lockout. It also has a right angle connector (J7) which can mate with an external LED load board allowing for the LEDs to be mounted close to the driver. Alternatively, the LED+ and LED- banana jacks can be used to connect the LED load. The LM3429 can be easily configured in buck, boost, buck-boost and SEPIC topologies. This flexibility, along with an input voltage rating of 75V, makes the LM3429 ideal for illuminating LEDs in a very diverse, large family of applications. Adjustable high-side current sense voltage allows for tight regulation of the LED current with the highest efficiency possible. The LM3429 uses Predictive Off-time (PRO) control, which is a combination of peak current-mode control and a predictive off-timer. This method of control eases the design of loop compensation while providing inherent input voltage feed-forward compensation. The LM3429 includes a high-voltage startup regulator that operates over a wide input range of 4.5V to 75V. The internal PWM controller is designed for adjustable switching frequencies of up to 2.0 MHz, thus enabling compact solutions. Additional features include analog dimming, PWM dimming, over-voltage protection, under-voltage lock-out, cycle-by-cycle current limit, and thermal shutdown. The LM3429 comes in a low profile, thermally efficient TSSOP EP 14-lead package. The LM3429Q1 is an Automotive Grade product that is AECQ100 grade 1 qualified. LM3429 Features: Programmable switching frequency; Thermal Shutdown.Price: $181.99
Well, today is iPhone 4S day and because of its immaculate pre-order sales, it’s a pretty safe bet that many consumers like the idea of a faster, better camera equipped, personal assistant toting iPhone. Not to mention all of the updates that come because of the newly upgraded iOS 5.
So, can the iPhone 4S and iOS 5 make one more productive? Can it help them save time with normal everyday things? Well, no tool can make you more productive, you make you more productive, but a tool can definitely save you time and augment your productivity.
Here are 5 things that iPhone 4S and iOS 5 will help you save time and boost your productivity.
Reminders is a new app that comes with iOS 5. It allows users to create simple lists of tasks that can contain a due date, a reminder (either a date/time or location), a name, and a note. Pretty simple. But for the masses of people that are GTD fanboys and girls like you, the reminder app will be more than enough to support their productivity.
Reminders also syncs with iCloud, so if you have any other iDevices you can get access to your todos from anywhere.
One of my favorite new features of iOS 5 is the quick access to the camera. I take a lot of pictures of things that I need to remember for later meetings or phone calls (not to mention awesome pictures of my puppies) and being able to get quick access is nice.
To get fast access, double click your home button at the lock screen and a camera icon will appear. Touch the camera icon and you are in. I’ve also noticed that when you access the camera this way on the iPhone 4, you won’t get the dreaded “shutter of death”. The shutter opens quickly and you can start snapping away.
Even though the iPhone’s keyboard is pretty darn easy to use, it can be a little annoying to type and re-type certain phrases over and over again. If you are a TextExpander nerd, then you have probably been using TextExpander Touch on your phone for some time. The only issue is that TE Touch can’t be used system-wide.
In iOS 5 under Settings > Keyboard you will notice a new ‘Shortcuts’ section that allows users to enter phrases and a shortcut to get to them. Once you’ve added a shortcut combo, you can type it anywhere on your iPhone and you will see the familiar auto-correct bar come up with your “expanded” shortcut. It isn’t as robust as TE Touch, but still will save you tons of time in the long run.
iCloud is Apple’s new cloud storage / syncing service that now ships with iOS 5. Signing up for an iCloud account gives you web access to a new email client, calendar, contacts, Find My iPhone, and documents in the cloud. Basically, MobileMe done right. You can then use this account to keep your iPhone in sync with the server, not to mention with all of your iCloud friendly devices.
This is one thing that the iPhone has been missing that other devices (I’m looking at you Android) have been giving users for a while now. The thing is, and this goes for almost all Apple products, iCloud tends to be more “polished” (not more feature rich, Android fanboys) than any other cloud/mobile service that I have encountered.
What does iCloud mean for productivity? Ubiquitous email, calendar, and contacts with web access. Not to mention daily “cloud backups” of your iDevice. Enough said.
Siri is the voice recognition/personal assistant that ships with the iPhone 4S. There is a really nice video that Jason Snell did from Macworld showing off the personal assistant. While it is still in “beta”, Siri seems to work pretty well and can definitely help out users who don’t have typing access to their phones.
Siri allows the user to listen to and reply to text messages with voice, search for local businesses and map them, search Wolfram Alpha for statistics and things, give themselves reminders, set timers and alarms, and also manipulate their calendar and email. Yes, Android phones have had speech recognition for a while, but once again Apple seems to have polished this and made it accessible to mere mortals.
Any productive iPhone user has had to have known that the notifications on iOS stink. They interrupt what you are currently doing and force your attention to them. You could turn them off, but that was really an all or nothing type of approach.
Apple has added the new Notification Center to iOS 5 that allows user to use a drop-down shade from the top of the iPhone, much like the Android notification bar. In Notification Center you can set up notifications for any app that supports it as well as include snazzy weather and stock widgets. I can’t begin to describe how much time this has saved me from having to “hunt and peck” for app badge icons to see the notifications I have missed.
Users can set up their notifications in Settings > Notifications and can choose just how they want them to show up.
This is just a taste of all of the new features of iOS 5 that can help boost your productivity and save you time. I’m sure we will find more of the small time-savers that Apple has included over the next several days and weeks, but for now these are the most obvious ones. So, if you are a lucky one getting your snazzy new iPhone 4S today, try these 5 (+1) features out to save some time.
Chris is a developer, writer, tech enthusiast, and husband. He holds a degree in MIS and CMPSC from Penn State Behrend. Chris is also interested in personal productivity and creativity and how to utilize technology to get more things done. Check out his tech writing at androinica.com where he writes about Android.
Siri is very much a beta product, but can give the user some handy ways to do things quickly while not interrupting their workflow. First we will outline some of the quick things that you can do with Siri to get things done.
“Here is your messages to Rutherford. It says, “I will be late for the party”. Ready to send it?”
From here you can do a number of things. You can respond by saying “modify it” or “change it” to wipe out the message portion and start over. You can say “no” or “cancel” to cancel the message entirely. Or you can simply reply “yes”, “send it”, or “confirm” to send the message.
To call a business or place that isn’t in your address book simply say, “Call Bid Daddy’s Steak House.” Siri will respond, “I don’t see Big Daddy’s steak house in your address book. Should I look for businesses by that name?”
Respond “yes” or “no”. If Siri finds it she will ask you if she should call the business. Simply respond “yes” or “no”.
You can also find businesses and places in different towns or cities (only in the US for now) by saying, “Call ‘some business name’ in Houston, Texas.”
Calling a number is as simple as dialing it out loud. “Call 8675309.”
To make a note with Siri simply say, “Note, this is a really important note!” A note will be created with that said text. To create a note with a “title” say, “Create a ‘inbox items’ note”. Siri will know that this is the “inbox items” note and then you can use that name to add to it with “Add, think about what to buy mom for her birthday to my ‘inbox items’ note”.
Siri will “tend to” add this to your note that has already been started. I’ve had trouble with this one but when it does work (I’d say 8 times out of 10) it is extremely useful.
If you have noticed yet, I love just how conversational Siri can be. With that, setting appointments, timers, alarms, and reminders is one of the easiest things you can do with Siri. In fact, you may not even need to know the exact “syntax” to these things as just saying something like, “set a timer for 4 minutes” will produce a running timer.
Say, “Set up an appointment (or meeting) at 6pm next Monday with my wife.” You can even say something like, “set up a meeting with Mike Vardy every Friday at 3:00am”. This will make a recurring appointment in your calendar as well as invite Mike Vardy (as long as he is in your address book) to the meeting when you confirm it.
I use these all the time at work because they are so easy to do. Say, “setup a timer for 25 minutes”. Done.
For alarms say, “set an alarm for tomorrow at 4:45AM”. You can even say something like “set an alarm for every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 6AM”.
We covered reminders in the last iOS 5 guide, and even though that Apple’s implementation of tasks is pretty great for a first stab, Reminders won’t be replacing my GTD system of choice any time soon. But, reminders gets much, much more useful now that I can create them with Siri.
Setting up reminders for when I leave my house or when I arrive at work feels like I’m living in the 2000’s finally.
To setup a reminder say something like, “set a reminder for when I leave home to remember to grag the TPS reports.” Or “set a reminder for 6PM tonight to stop and get my wife roses.”
OK, so all of the cool things you can do with Siri are awesome. But what about some things that aren’t supported out of the box? Take a look below for some of our favorites.
There are a bunch of web services that allow you to add items over email or even text message. Some of the ones that come to mind are Twitter, Toodledo, Evernote, OmniFocus, Remember the Milk, Springpad, etc.
Let’s take Evernote for example:
To send a note to Evernote from Siri setup a contact in your iPhone’s address book called Evernote. An even better thing to do is to setup two contacts. One with the First Name ‘Evernote’ and another with the first name ‘Ever’ and the last name ‘Note’. This will ensure that Siri won’t screw up recognizing when you say “Evernote”. Next, put your “send to Evernote” email into your Evernote’s contact info.
After this activate Siri and say “Tell Evernote that I have to rethink the way that we are going to launch the site”. Siri will read it back to you and then you can confirm the send.
This proves to be one of the most powerful things that I can get my iPhone 4S to do.
Bad Siri.
But there is a way to get around this. Make a contact called “Twitter” in your address book with the standard SMS number of ‘40404’. Also, you have to setup Tweeting by SMS on Twitter.com or over your phone by sending your password. After the initial setup, say, “tell Twitter that sending messages from Siri is awesome”. Siri should reply with her familiar “Here’s your message to Twitter. Ready to send it?”
Next, set up an OmniFocus contact like I outlined above for Evernote. For your email address, use one that is set up in your Mail.app but instead of the regular email address, add ‘+omnifocus’ before the ‘@’ symbol. For example:
Your email is “my_email@example.com”. Use the email “my_email+omnifocus@example.com” for your OmniFocus contact info.
Now use Siri by saying “tell OminFocus that I need to grab some coffee when I go to the store”. The next time you sync with your OF database you should see your new inbox item.
Since we have only had a limited time with Siri, there will of course be more and more neat tricks uncovered as time goes on. But, I can already tell just how important this way of interacting with your iPhone will change productivity in the coming years.
I had a huge realization the other day when I had my earbuds in listening to music and programming. Something came to mind that was totally unrelated. I always have paper next to me to jot quick notes and reminders down and then come back to them to process. Instead, I long held my headset button and said, “tell OmniFocus ‘such and such that I needed to remember’”. Then I went back to listening to music and working. Later, when I was processing my inbox I realized that I captured something into my system with the least amount of resistance that I have ever experienced.
Now, I’m not saying that Siri is perfect. Not by any means. I’m also not saying that Apple has invented voice recognition and we should blindly follow and worship them. What I am saying is that Apple has provided consumers with the first accessible voice recognition and, dare I say, artificial intelligence that normal people can use. There can be a bit of a learning curve to get Siri to do exactly what you want it to do, but for the most part it is intuitive and extremely useful.
Good productivity tools are the ones that are useful and can stay out of your way. Siri accomplishes this task and I can’t wait to use it more and more in my everyday workflows.
Chris is a developer, writer, tech enthusiast, and husband. He holds a degree in MIS and CMPSC from Penn State Behrend. Chris is also interested in personal productivity and creativity and how to utilize technology to get more things done. Check out his tech writing at androinica.com where he writes about Android.
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