Ha!

I have been itching to get myself a gun....and I'm not a gun-enthusiast by any stretch.

But THIS is funny!

Bubble Girl?

A student of mine the other day told me an almost incredible story.

But really, in this current *reign of inanity*, I guess it's really all too CREDIBLE.

She said there was a classmate of hers at the local high school who is, "allergic to deodorant and body spray."

And that the school tried to ban THE STUDENT BODY (no pun intended) from wearing deodorant and broad-repellents like Axe Body Spray.

Of course they couldn't do that...

So they put the girl in her own room - a *bubble* if you will.

And they bought a robot for her.

Yeah, a robot. She controls it remotely from her *bubble* and directs it into classrooms where she observes teachers via webcams on the effin' robot!

How much does this ridiculousness cost????!!!!

Although by itself it's probably a drop in the bucket given that my school district - or, the one I get assessed for - spends $27,000 PER PUPIL....PER YEAR now.

The Anti-Stork?

4 days on Youtube....28 million views!

Exhilarating Ad!

Watch it on full screen....try to guess the product.

Who couldn't figure out how to enlarge it?

I'll bet you have an AOL email acct...

Supporting Nappers!

Why didn't YOU think of this zillion dollar idea, Moron???!!!

What's a Napper?

It's what I used to call 'old coots' some years ago. The Forbes guys will reckon...

Nappers and Droolers!

Hilarious License Place

I saw a DC plate the other day, read the slogan, and nearly suffered a chortling injury!

Do you get it?

It's a bold complaint by DC people. They aren't a *State*.

But taken from another perspective, ironically, it may as well be the rest of America's complaint about WASHINGTON DC!

The Worst and Dimmest...

It was tempting....but I refrained from watching too much of it!

These videos put my kids in hysterics...

Insta-Funny

CollegeHumor's Favorite Funny Videos

Never used it, but I sort of have an idea what Instagram is...

Was pretty darn funny, I thought.

Thanks to the Ukrainian Fop for sending me this one!

Read My Lips - MORE NEW TAXES!

Omnipotent, Again!

It took over two weeks....but I've finally had all my *powers* restored.

The electric had been out essentially for the last 15 days due to the *storm of the century*.

Either due to that or to a gigantic union scam that has all the utility wires running through heavily treed BACKYARDS. (Union workers from all across the country are making double pay here....for 4 WEEKS.)

The pic above was just a pitching wedge from my house and the main culprit for the lost power....for the first week or so anyway.

You can't see it too clearly, but there are actually two trees that fell across the street - snapping the wires and poles.

Whatever. It went by fast. It wasn't that bad. But I may have been THE ONLY PERSON on Long Island (or NJ) who wasn't whining like a spoiled b*tch these past couple of weeks.

I got a ton of exercise in. I cleaned out my cupboards of canned goods that threatened to sit there for decades a la my/your parents!

Basically no one can amuse themselves today without a color TV or a color iPad.

I actually sort of enjoyed it all.

There are a few pics from my town - here.

And I wrote a bit about the experience on HomeschoolDad.com.

It truly has been a very educational time....about what is truly needed in the course of a day, etc.

Marginalizing Vote-Wasters

Did you vote for Romney or Obama today?

Well you WASTED your vote!

See what I did there?

I'm doing this to everyone in person too. I'm preempting their sophistry. I'm throwing it right back at them.

I voted for Gary Johnson today - I think - or whoever it was on the libertarian ballot. Someone I haven't a clue about.

The rest of y'all voted for someone who either admits to wanting to do very bad things or someone who promises to do good things....but most certainly won't get anything meaningful done.

Either way, if you voted for an organized political party again, you WASTED YOUR VOTE. I mean your vote didn't count one iota towards either changing the course of this sinking ship or towards changing the intellectual/moral bankruptcy of your political party.

When Kerry couldn't beat Bush in '04 it (I believe) marked the first time in many, many moons that an incumbent president wasn't ousted during a lethargic economy.

But it looks like Obama (73% odds of winning on those gambling sites at the moment) has a good chance to keep that winning streak going for recession-Presidents. Heck, FDR kept getting reelected during the Great Depression too...

Generally speaking, there are myriad reasons to vote nonetheless.

Though I can't stand these fools that delude themselves about how important their measly vote is. I mean this country is run by 'old coots', lawyers, and thugs for the benefit of 'old coots', lawyers, and thugs and it will be until some once-in-a-generation, sharp-as-hell, tough-as-nails President sneaks in there and starts throwing haymakers at them.

I heard recently something along the lines that *voting was the last/only refuge of the truly powerless*.

Indeed.

And I was reminded of that quote the other day...

While walking up 6th Ave in NYC I came across two obscenely disheveled, obese hippies prattling on and on about the election. I slowed my pace for purposes of self-amusement/eavesdropping and heard the 'old bag' say, "....my biggest fear is that he'll be SELLING Supreme Court judgeships..."

This halted the 'old coot' in his tracks, he grabbed her arm and proceeded to wax hysterical agreement!

I mean they might not have 10 years left between them - and I doubt very much they have kids and grandkids. Trust me - I'm an expert at this type of profiling.

Half the country is going to be crestfallen tomorrow...

Big Education = One Big Scam

Read - How Long Island Teachers benefit from Unusual Raise System.

It's not just another article on the *exploitable inefficiencies* of a government school system....some of the stuff is truly outrageous.

The last sentence in the story couldn't sum it up any better:

"When you talk about reform -- good luck," he said.

Wanna Bet?

It will blow out to sea, fizzle out to a Category 0 event...

And the Morons will never get back all that time they spent checking for updates, fretting, securing lawn furniture, the milk, and eggs will go bad, etc.

Who wants to bet?

As Bill Belichick Would Say...

The status is *quo*!

Now as you all know I don't pay hardly any attention to the news, er NOISE.

But every time I hear an excerpt from Obama, and I mean almost every single time(!), he's blaming *evil rich people* for everything. Or at least that's what he his handlers think most Americans want to hear.

For the record, I still think he'll get re-elected.  After all, I haven't seen an encouraging election result, well, since I've been watching elections.  (Although Romney hasn't the spine to cut anything, either.)

Thanks to PrivateCaller for this one!

Reality Counterargument

I wish people would read some books about what the Depression was like.

It wasn't just the commoners that suffered.

Many people that had been previously well-off experienced serious pain - pain that was probably on a relative basis far more excruciating.

See also:

Book Rec - The Grapes of Wrath

Book Rec - The Forgotten Man

Still Hard To Believe People Watch The News!

This is all very, very PARTIALLY TRUE.

But in a country where people could think for themselves....this would never happen.

Blame schools. Blame parents who cede their responsibilities to government agents.

I mean one can't get mad at an *industry*!

Thanks to LeagueIslander for sending me this link!

Sports Biography - Andre Agassi

I just enjoyed another can't-put-it-down biography - Open - tennis star Andre Agassi's autobiography.

It's a pretty amazing story. The guy is only a few years older than me and I remember vividly how he burst onto the scene with all sorts of hype - only to underachieve tremendously.

His lesser-touted peers Michael Chang, Jim Courier, and Pete Sampras all surpassed him.

Then, and I didn't even realize this because it happened in my later, self-orbital years when I had stopped following tennis, Andre finally turned the corner and won something like 8 Grand Slam events. (I had no idea! I thought he just won Wimbleton that once.)

Well it turns out that Andre suffered a lost childhood at the hands of his hard-charging father. And that he HATED TENNIS for many, many years.  His chronicles of depression and self-loathing will definitely shock readers.  I mean, how could he possible HATE tennis?

A hard-charging father myself I found this aspect of Andre's story to be of particular interest. I mean...his father was completely wacko in every regard.

Of course, ultimately, in Andre's climb to the top of the world rankings Mr. Agassi enjoyed the precise results he had been striving for.

Yeah there were some bumps and some *costs* along the way...

But there's plenty of downside to soft-charging parenting as well!

I'd bet anyone around the age of 40 and with a slight interest in sports will thoroughly enjoy this read.

ADDENDUM - Oh yeah, almost forgot. In one part of the book Agassi tells how he introduced Steffi Graf's hard-charging ESL father - his future father-in-law to his own ESL lunatic father.

Well, through broken English these two 'old coots' started fiercely arguing about the proper way to raise a tennis star - backhand techniques and whatnot - took their shirts off, challenged each other's manhood and just about came to blows!

C-Nut = DEAD!

Google/YouTube just cancelled my Youtube account!

Six+ years of videos are GONE.

I don't even know what videos I had preserved, quite honestly.

Why?

Because yesterday I uploaded a clip of an awesome new Sony docking station I bought.

Of course I had it playing music for purposes of demonstration.

And the Google robots must have detected it and flagged me - again, for freakin' background music.

I guess I should back up my blog before they cancel my entire account...

George Costanza - Occasionally Dead Right!

People in my *circles* know that pretty much all I wear is jeans and golf shirts - and have been doing so since 1992 when I was liberated from prison-school.

But after all these years I've decided to mix it up.

Yeah, I'm going with the *sweatpants* - actually with slightly more upscale *workout* pants these days as often as I can.

I was watching a guy in church the other day and contemplating how he had a t-shirt, a dress shirt, a tie, and a sport-coat on. I concluded that people only dress up in all those ridiculous *layers* if they want to fool someone (or God!) or sell someone something that they don't need.

Wearing workout clothes is also a good reminder....to workout more!

I also noticed that Tim Ferriss was always wearing workout clothes.

When in doubt, emulate him!

Customers Versus Friends And Family

My teaching and tutoring side business is finally gaining steam.

My clients are not actually the students. More accurately, my clients are the *parents*.

And this is a completely new experience for me - not teaching math, but having customers.

I must say I'm starting to really like it!

Consider this...

These parents:

•  Respect me
•  Are very much interested in my opinions
•  Do exactly what I tell them (sometimes)
•  They PAY ME!

Up until now my entire life's social interaction had been mostly with *friends and family*....and y'all know how much of a pain in the rump they can be!

I've always had very, very strong opinions and beliefs. So it's nice to finally find some people who are genuinely interested in them.

Again, this is one of the many reasons I knew we'd be better off amongst the 15 million people in the NYC area. It's just easier here to find the people and the lifestyle that suit you best.

Before Tim Ferriss....There Was Mark Cuban

And he was a whole lot more financially successful too!

I just read Mark's book on Kindle for something like $2 - How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It - and although a little short, I enjoyed reading about his feisty background.

Here's the money quote:

In sports, the only thing a player can truly control is effort. The same applies to business. The only thing any entrepreneur, salesperson or anyone in any position can control is their effort.

I had to kick myself in the ass and recommit to getting up early, staying up late and consuming everything I possibly could to get an edge. I had to commit to making the effort to be as productive as I possibly could. It meant making sure that every hour of the day that I could contact a customer was selling time, and when customers were sleeping, I was doing things that prepared me to make more sales and to make my company better.

And finally, I had to make sure I wasn’t lying to myself about how hard I was working. It would have been easy to judge effort by how many hours a day passed while I was at work. That’s the worst way to measure effort.

Effort is measured by setting goals and getting results. What did I need to do to close this account? What did I need to do to win this segment of business? What did I need to do to understand this technology or that business better than anyone? What did I need to do to find an edge? Where does that edge come from, and how was I going to get there?

The one requirement for success in our business lives is effort. Either you make the commitment to get results or you don't.

See also - Marginalizing Mark Cuban.

Obamacare - Teleprompter, Translated!

Read John Stossel's translation.

Skinny Jeans....Dang!

Funny GIFs - 4

The Rich Have Never Become Richer!

Just imagine the Big Media, eco-pagan socialist outcry if it wasn't *their guy* who was President!

It might not even be possible to imagine how loud and nasty the vitriol would be if it were a non-Democrat presiding over a massive (albeit manipulated), downtick-less stock market rally....while the plebes suffered double digit unemployment rates and gasoline was $4 a gallon.

Sometime between now and January I predict it will be the end, if not the very end.

Why?

Well another Obama term will be tough for the economy - what's left of it anyway - to overcome.

And because Romney won't/can't really take the drastic steps that need to be taken to deal with the trillions of debt.

Sell everything except ammo and canned goods!

Margin Call - Star-Studded BOMB!

Demi Moore, Jeremy Irons, and Kevin Spacey...

BUT it still sucked royally.

Watching 30 minutes of this will surely feel like an eternity.

It's only something I recommend, well, if you can't fall asleep!

Margin Call is so horrible it actually makes Boiler Room look *well-done*.

Forwarded Partisan Propaganda

You know the honeymoon is over, when the comedians start.

The liberals are asking us to give Obama time.

We agree...and think 25 to life would be 

appropriate. 

--Jay Leno

America needs Obama-care like Nancy 

Pelosi needs a Halloween mask. 

--Jay Leno

Q: Have you heard about McDonald's'

new Obama Value Meal?

A: Order anything you like and the guy behind you 

has to pay for it. 

--Conan O'Brien

Q: What does Barack Obama call 

lunch with a convicted felon?

A: A fund raiser. 

--Jay Leno

Q: What's the difference between

Obama's cabinet and a penitentiary?

A: One is filled with tax evaders, blackmailers,

and threats to society. The other is for housing 

prisoners. 

--David Letterman

Q: If Nancy Pelosi and Obama were 

on a boat in the middle of the ocean and it 

started to sink, who would be saved?

A: America ! 

--Jimmy Fallon

Q: What's the difference between

Obama and his dog, Bo?

A: Bo has papers. 

--Jimmy Kimmel

Q: What was the most positive result 

of the "Cash for Clunkers" program?

A: It took 95% of the Obama bumper 

stickers off the road. 

--David Letterman

Handicapped AND Lazy?

Armed 'Old Coot' Versus Dervish Hoods

This Used To Be Me!

Well, sort of.

At only 5'10.5 I could grab the rim with both hands going back a few years...

This Is Hilarious AND Wicked Awesome

You might have to do a little fast-forwarding:

Father Nature's Stairmaster

Up in Arctic Massachusetts this weekend...

My wife and I decided to tackle the *most climbed mountain in the world* yesterday morning.

It's only 3,166 feet, but ascending and descending Mt. Monadnock (in NH) at a brisk pace is quite the workout. It took about 3.5 hours of motoring on the popular White Dot trail.

My wife is still a little sore, but I feel energized and fantastic.

I wish I could figure out how to get that kind of quality vigorous exercise in more often. For some reason lifting weights, running, yoga, and other stale activities don't deliver the same uplifting results.

Maybe I need to start playing basketball or something again???

That pic is a little misleading...

The leaves have not changed up there, yet.

But just give it a week or so!

The kids, I left at my parents' house...and my wife is en route to Zurich on a work trip.

So I'm here alone in New York this week with my lengthy HomeschoolDad.com to-do list...

The Dog Days of Blogging

Check out that massive, amazing sunset. Pic was snapped in Ocean City, NJ during our little vacation there on one of those 97 degree days.

I've been very busy, of course, this summer. Teaching accelerated math in a classroom for the first time has required a little bit of work - but I think I've got a system in place now. Anyways my 6-week class ends next week and I will welcome the break.

It's been good. It's helped me *get out there* a little more; given me experience and $$$; it's helping to establish me as THE local accelerated-math guru, AND it's helping me produce the math content for HomeschoolDad.com.

I'm tentatively scheduled to continue teaching there on Saturdays during the school year (4.5 hours). Those POOR Asian kids....school all year long, 7-days a week!

Other stuff...

My father hit a casino jackpot for 180k this week.

But get this....it pays out over 20 years! So he only gets something like $8,600 per year and may not even live to see the ultimate payment.

I'm queuing up blog posts for September rather than publishing them presently. Traffic is dead in the summer anyways, and I can certainly use the break.

Y'all have seen the hideous Google Ads on my website by now. This *experiment* has yielded from $6-$11 per month. And that was what I was really interested in finding out - how profitable it would be. I will leave them up for the time being, though.

The summer has been great, as it always is here in *on the Island*. Several trips into Manhattan, the state parks, the beaches, etc. We were taken out in a Boston Whaler that could go 50 mph! It was positively awesome. Thank God I wasn't paying for it - OR for the gas. The guy told me he drove it along the North Shore (of Long Island) and down to the South Fork (The Hamptons)....and it cost $1,500 in gasoline!!! Yikes.

My wife is also in *work limbo* and has been able to spend a lot of time at home lately as well - actually since February her workload has been light. So she's been able to get a lot of her academic work (Charlotte Mason, The Story of the World, etc.) done with the kids - at least between summer camps and whatnot.

I've only played two rounds of golf in the past 2 months (albeit at fancy country clubs!) since my big Wildwood golf tournament in NJ....BUT I've been hitting a bazillion balls at the driving range and my game continues to take off. In fact, I finished the 40,000 range balls I bought two years ago and had to buy another 40,000!

See also - Loading Up On Inflation-Protected Assets

Kicking Above The Belt

Hah!

The internet is still ripping off that went-viral pic of my son when he was in my wife's *little* stomach.

See - You'd Never Remember - for the pic.  Bet you didn't know it was my son, didja?

Buffett - One BLIND Old Bat!

"For the last two years, I’ve seen everything except housing moving forward in the economy," Buffett, 81, told Betty Liu in a July 13 interview on Bloomberg Television. "In the last few months, the rest of the economy actually has flattened out. Housing is picking up."

Yeah, the economy has been *moving forward* the past 2 years.

What a freakin' Moron!

I guess by economy he means stock prices....but not food prices, energy prices, taxes, or debt.  And I guess he's not talking about jobs either.

This 'old coot' sees housing picking up too? Figures.  I guess he thinks mortgage rates will NEVER tick up or *extreme over-supply* simply doesn't matter.

I really do hope he's still alive when it all falls apart.

Video Games = Psychotic Drugs!

His mother cancelled his World of Warcraft *account* or something:

This is why I do everything I can to prevent my kids from playing video games...

I Did It - ONE MILLION HITS!

This morning my blog received its 1,000,000th hit, finally!

I thought it would happen sooner (1.5 years ago), but whatever.

Nothing is more unpopular than *the truth* (credit: Will Durant), I never tried to game the Google search results like everyone else did, and the competition for web eye-balls has gotten fierce over the past few years.

This blog has done wonders for me. It's been more educational and more rewarding than all my years of schooling. And through it I've met some terrific people - most of whom I've never met in person but still consider dear friends.

I'd like to buy each and every one of my readers a drink.....but just not in Manhattan - home of the $17 vodka tonic and $20 martini!

So thanks!

I do hope that sometime in the future I can post again with my old prolific regularity....

Teaching Science To Dumb Kids

I used to love this show:

Awesome!

Thanks to CaptiousNut for this one.

Al Gore DID NOT Invent The Internet!

Nor did any Commi agency.

It turns out Big Government HELD BACK the development of the web!

Read Stossel.

Pirate Golf

One Captious commment on YouTube (not mine!):

I know I'm gonna catch a lot of shit for this. But good golfers know this guy has an advantage over two legged golfers. The only thing he ever had to learn was swing plane. His center stays put because he cannot sway without falling over, and the low point of his swing arch is super consistent cuz he's anchored. This guy is the human equivalent to a belly putter. off the course he is at a disadvantage. But in golf...he kinda has the ideal anatomy.

Time Flies!

I should make my kids do this!

Heck, I should do this myself too.

The World Is ENDING!

And I'm not talking about the imminent crash of the stock and bond markets....or any other such trivialities.

I just now joined both Twitter AND Pinterest!

I actually only wanted to join Pinterest....but I needed a Twitter account in order to create an anonymous profile. Otherwise it syncs with your real name on MyFaceSpaceBook.

What can I say?

I'm experimenting with traffic generation for HomeschoolDad.com...

Moronic Pseudo-Science

"16 out of the last 17 years....we've had record temperatures..."

????

Okay.

The *record* is only 100 years or so long...

AND Earth (my least favorite planet), is allegedly 4 billion years old.

So, yeah, let's all go and extrapolate from this STATISTICALLY INSIGNIFICANT sample set!

One might euphemistically call this *intellectual arrogance* from a present-tense Moron...

But whatever you want to call it....it's not *science* by any stretch.

Who Is Da Biggest Moron?

It's a tough call!

Book Rec - The Talent Code

I just read The Talent Code (a mere 2 days)....and, well, it's not that bad.

If anything, it's got me hitting golf balls at the range M O R E S L O W L Y.

And it's also, from my perspective, yet another *homeschooling book in drag* - even if most of the people reading it (and the author!) don't realize it.

It's in the same mold as Outliers and Talent Is Overrated. So if you appreciated those...

Here are the links to those:

Book Rec - Talent Is Overrated

Outliers - A Must Read

Daniel Coyle also has a blog. Today's post has a neat little soccer video on it too (if you're into soccer anyway).

One For The 'Old Coots'

My own kids actually like this classic series. I bought a $5 DVD of the Rascals at Walmart and let them watch in the car a couple years ago on our long drives.

They laughed so much and so loudly....my wife and I kept yelling at them and threatening to turn it off!

I'm Shattered

Is that really MacGyver?

And, can he really not fix a horseless carriage???

In the old days he could handle thing with some duct tape and his Swiss army knife!

Career Reinvention Update

Long-time readers will recall that I used to trade the financial markets....and that I took a whooping shorting this insane bear market rally.

I've recovered from many an a$$-whooping in the trading account over the years (16+) but for variety of reasons it was time for a difficult career change.

Well I'm still in the process, HomeschoolDad.com is the main long-term business plan at the moment, but I've also been angling to break into the lucrative high-end tutoring market here in the NYC metro area.

Not in dire need of money, I've been holding out for precisely the kind of work I wanted.

And, finally, I'm starting to make some inroads.

Today I taught my first *competitive math* classes in a summer program here on Long Island.

Class is 4 straight hours and pays $320 cash....which while nothing like what I used to make selling a 100-lot of juicy puts back in the day, it still felt good. The thing is, I enjoy teaching math so much that I would almost do it for free. Almost.

The kids are young, 100% Asian, and well-behaved (so far).

In the future I hope to get my hourly rate north of $100 once my reputation as the *best math teacher on Earth* spreads...

And I'll also use this teaching position as an opportunity to build out my (math) info-products.

It's been a slow process, but things are finally looking up for me on many fronts.

Punching Dorks

Thanks to LeagueIslander for this gem!

Truth In Advertising?

I always wondered why say a restaurant didn't try to advertise itself as having *the most fattening cheeseburger* or something.


I guess if it did, it would ring like this:

Ineffective AND probably expensive to make on account of the *star power*. I'm sure someone in the marketing dept. of Hulu got fired over this one!

10,000 Hours - Golf Test Case Update

3,000 hours in....and he's down to a 6 handicap.

I myself am probably only a 7-handicap.

But I'm quite sure I'd easily psych him out/scare him in a head-to-head match!

What's going on here?

The dude has dropped everything and decided to test the the 10,000 Hours Hypothesis.

See also - Great, Another Golfing Wacko...

Weighing In

I'm tipping the scales at an all-time record of 173 lbs right now.

Only 6 months ago I was at my personal low of 161 and annoying family members were saying I looked *emaciated*.

I myself am shocked at this sudden reversal. My busy schedule has limited my short bursts (20 minutes of the elliptical) of aerobic exercise AND it has induced a lot of *eating out* for lunch and dinner (burritos and pizza)...

But still I am somewhat surprised and frustrated by the weight gain. I still do the kettlebells and 30 grams of early morning protein from The 4-Hour Body.

Added muscle? Maybe - but certainly not all of the bulge.

So right now I'm finishing up Day 2 of a serious diet (if I make it through bedtime!).

No pizza. No burritos. No ice cream. No candy. No soda. No bread. No pasta. And tons of fruits and vegetables.

My goal is to purge for 10 straight days.

I pretty much suck at avoiding sweets so these experiments never last long.

But this time I'm more motivated - not only by the *all-time* number, but also from reading about Tony Robbins and his ninja mental tricks. I'm really interested to see if I can pull this, a major behavioral change, off.

I'll weigh in again the morning of July 12th, shaved, naked, and post-defecation.

See also - Breaking My Vows.

Happy DEPENDENCE Day!

Big Government is a Hyrda-headed monster...

And I seriously doubt the capacity of today's Americans to slay it - not when our best entrepreneurs peddle socialism, not while the jurassic ruling class continues to feather its nests on the backs of future generations.

Robbing The Robbers!

So what's the difference between them stealing from you and vice versa?

Oh, yeah, they have the Big Government thugs on their side!

A plumber just left my house. He changed the *insides* of two toilets.

Guess how much?

With tax, $283.51.

And he wouldn't leave the house until I paid him, either. No more *billing* because people have been stiffing THEM, back.

I don't blame them even though the premium in my price no doubt is subsidizing those debtors.

$135 an hour for labor? That seems high to me - extraordinarily high actually.

And I love how they mark-up the *parts* which they certainly get for 50% of retail prices...

Self-Help, Health

Last year I discovered self-help guru Tony Robbins - a guy whom I like to describe as the *mind over matter* dude.

Many people no doubt scoff at Robbins, the *informercial* guy from the late 90s but I just read another of his books - Unlimited Power : The New Science Of Personal Achievement - and came across some fascinating heath/body stuff that I'd never read before.

Ever hear of *food combining"? I certainly hadn't.  It's a digestive theory that asserts certain foods (e.g. meat and potatoes) shouldn't be eaten at the same time because some necessitate a stomach acid for proper digestion....while some foods demand a stomach base (alkali?) for proper digestion.  For example, the American staple combo of meat and potatoes is to be avoided.

Why?  Because the acid and bases supposedly neutralize each other and make your body work harder to digest.....leading to bloating (ever felt that???) and other stomach issues (*out of your brains* farting!) In his book Robbins even said that eating a ton of incompatible sh*t food can even lead to a bad night's sleep if you eat late and your body is working overtime (several hours) to digest while you are sleeping.

I'm sure that those overweight doctors and the medical establishment have a study that debunks this....

BUT if anyone has stomach issues they'd be crazy not to experiment with separating their foods according to this *quack* theory.  I myself don't think I have but am willing to give it a whirl and see what happens.

There's also a snippet in the book about the lymph system, body cell waste products, and proper breathing.

Now I myself have been unable to stop shallow, mouth-breathing for quite a while now.  But Tony has a method that seems to be clicking with me.  Breathe in deeply, hold your breath for 4-times as long, and then breathe out slowly for twice as long as your inhaled.  When I do this....I can really feel the inhale get deep down into my stomach.

Okay we're still here on the beach (Ocean City, NJ)....and I just missed the sunrise writing this post. As my son would say, "WHAT AN EPIC FAIL!!!"

See also:

Moronic Respiration

Breathe-Right?

Hitler - Smiling At His Modern-Day American Counterparts

Story:

State lawmakers in Albany voted this week to make kindergarten mandatory for all 5-year-olds in New York City, lowering the required age for schooling by one year.


Proponents of the measure, which awaits the governor's approval, praised the move as a triumph for thousands of 5-year-olds who are from poor and minority families or have disabilities. Many of these children, they say, are often turned away each year by school officials on grounds of a lack of space and the lack of any requirement that they attend school.


"I think it is a real gain," Norm Fruchter, the senior policy analyst at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, a nonprofit educational research and policy group, said of the vote. "There is a ton of research about what early-childhood programs do for children, and I think there is a whole bunch of parents of children who, for a variety of reasons, don't register them when they should and then they lose out for a whole year."


Mr. Fruchter said children who miss kindergarten may never recover.


"You're entering behind a lot of the kids in terms of your skills and overall development," he said. "And it is particularly with things like familiarity with the alphabet and with letters and numbers and school routines."


In her State of the City address in February, the City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, trumpeted the idea of lowering the compulsory age of schooling to 5, from 6, as one of her prime educational initiatives.


If this becomes law, Ms. Quinn said, "the system could turn no child away."


"It stops the abuse of cherry-picking some 5-year-olds over other 5-year-olds," she said.


Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg backs the proposal. In a memo in support, his administration said that ensuring kindergarten for all 5-year-olds would "result in more students getting a strong start in their education."


There are 78,600 students enrolled in kindergarten in the city, a number that has steadily increased in recent years. But Ms. Quinn said that nearly 3,000 children enter first grade each year without having first gone to kindergarten, a figure her office said was based on an analysis of the city's Department of Education enrollment data for recent years.


The Democrat-led State Assembly passed the measure on June 4, and the Republican-led State Senate followed with a 59-to-1 vote on Thursday.


The bill now goes to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. He has 10 days, not counting Sundays, to sign or veto the bill before it automatically becomes law.

All that *reasoning* is complete bull$hit. The fact is....it's the young children who spend too much time AMONG OTHER CHILDREN in schools and in daycare are the ones who MAY NEVER RECOVER.

Why did the average 6 year old in 1950 have a 4,000 word vocabulary and yet today's average 6 year old only has a 1,000 word one???

Note how the reasoning is drenched in sympathy for the *poor*, i.e. class warfare. And note how even Republicans voted for this expansion of government.

Pre-school will be mandatory next. And the school year would be longer already if these government clowns weren't so fiscally irresponsible and beholden to the demands of lazy, unionized teachers.

"Give me the youth, and Germany will rule the World" - Adolf Hitler

Those 'Old Bags' Were Right?

99 degrees today in New York...

On days like this it's too hot to go to the (government) pool so I wait until the evening - which is generally pretty nice.

After an excruciating 30 minute wait to renew my membership (3rd attempt this week!) we finally got into the pool area.

Not 3 minutes later a *floater* was supposedly espied by the lifeguards and they evicted 200-300 people from the water!

Everyone left but we waited an hour for the *flush*, i.e. re-open.

Later on the story changed to a *puke situation* and was verified. (They sent the scatologist home.)

Obviously, whoever the Moron kid was, they DIDN'T WAIT 20 MINUTES after eating before jumping back in the pool!

Brutal Honesty, Oozing Out

I sort of put my foot in my mouth earlier tonight.

I was talking with a local *mom* who I just met through my daughter recently.

Making get-to-know small talk she asked me if I had ever been to (certain local establishment, catering to kids).

CaptiousNut - Yeah. Only once. When I saw the absolutely ridiculous prices....I walked right out.

Woman - Well, we own that.

Woops!

I apologized, a couple times. But I guess it wasn't that bad - what I said. It wasn't like I said, "The place is run by a$$holes" or anything, right?

She told me that she wants to raise the fees even higher but her husband is reluctant.

Why so expensive?

$6,000 a month in taxes, $5,000 a month in utilities, insurance, mortgage (they bought the building in 2005, ouch!)....all told, with employee salaries she told me that it costs 70k per month just to operate.

45 minute classes there cost $30. Like I said, ridiculous!

And who wants to take their kid(s) to a 45 minute class? It's so short, you can't even run to the grocery store in the meantime...

Mixing It Up

I don't understand these people that vacation at the same place every year.

Yeah if you have a *free* place to stay it makes sense in the short run. But it's a big world out there...

You have to fight turning into a *creature of habit* with all your might.

Last year we went on a mini vacation to Sandusky, Ohio - to a homeschool convention.

This year I really wanted to do the Jersey Shore....er, the South Jersey Shore which isn't to be confused with that show that I've still never seen. South Jersey is Philadelphia country, really.

I had such a great time, again, at my golf tournament in Wildwood three weeks ago I got to thinking about bringing the entire fam down.

Ocean City, pictured above, is where we are heading next week for 5 nights ($988 motel). I've never been there before. All I know is that it is a *dry* town, i.e. no alcohol, period. And that it's supposed to be terrific for young children.

My wife's family does have a house out in the Hamptons, but, again, I don't think it's healthy to spend all our vacations there, no matter how *cheap*.

Branch out a little, will youse?  The alternative is that you WILL TURN INTO YOUR PARENTS.

Another Help-Self Book

I just read The Charge: Activating the 10 Human Drives That Make You Feel Alive.

It was *okay*. I happened to get it directly from the author for $7 instead of the $16 it costs on Amazon now.

It's funny how at $7 I will definitely buy it, but would hesitate at $16. We all have our price points, I guess.

I had read his Millionaire Messenger previously - which was better and, really, sufficient as far as giving me the gist of his spiel. So I recommend reading that one first/instead.

Who is he?

He's a dorky little guy who's carved out quite a name/wage for himself in the high performance, personal coaching industry. Rich people pay him astronomical sums, e.g. 250k for a year of *coaching*, 50k to have him watch one guy speak,...

If this HJ can make it big, then so can we!

Making Guests Clean Your House?

Well, sort of.

Without incoming guests....I don't know that I'd EVER clean my house.

So by simply inviting them, my house somehow gets tidied up, and fast!

All that *limbo* junk, the stuff you have all over the place, guests force you to finally make a decision on it. (Hint - trash it)

All the self-help gurus like Tim Ferriss swear by creating a sense of urgency for you to-do list. I have to say, it's pretty darn good advice.

The only possible hitch, and we've experienced this lately,....is when the guests won't leave!

Pinewood Derby Car Displays

Better than rolling off the kids' bureaus, no?

My son and I assembled one of these the other day with the other Cub Scouts in his den.

It turns out, the kit was designed and marketed by one of the Scout leaders in our town.

If you want to buy one (or more)....contact him at DerbyGurus.com.

(I told him I'd give him some link-juice here.  Have to support anyone, especially neighbors, who's doing entrepreneurial side-work!)

Abandoning The Canoe?

A few years ago I was hiking up Mt. Monadnock in New Hampshire with a buddy of mine...

And we saw a gang of kids(?) that were climbing as well, only they were collectively carrying a canoe up the 3,000 ft peak!

My buddy tried to ask them what the bleep they were doing that for but was intentionally ignored for one reason or another. I confess that I myself have been known to ignore most of the things he says!

I just Googled for the picture above - which may or may not be the losers we walked past at the summit.

Anyways, I was lamenting to my first wife the other day how I haven't had even a spare second to put up some blog posts...

At that she invoked a reference the *story of the canoe*.

"What was that?", I inquired.

FirstWife - It's about the people who use the canoe to cross the river....but once on the other side they leave it behind. The canoe (my blog?) got them on the path they needed to be on, so it was now useless.

It is true that I've reaped untold non-monetary riches from my blogging. Heck, from blogging I came across the whole idea of homeschooling my kids. For that one thing alone it was a boon.

I get up at 4am most days....but I just don't have any time to post anymore - between getting my exercise in, taking care of household stuff, house guests, homeschooling, traveling, golf, and, most importantly, running around everywhere to educational events with my kids.

I'm so busy now that I don't even respond to emails - the ones I read/notice anyway.

After this week, my schedule should start to open up a bit - because ALL of our weekly organized activities will be over for the season...

And then come July my kids will be at camp each day until 12:45 or so!