Five Self-help Suggestions

1. Don't buy pop-self-help literature, it doesn't work.  If you must read self-help books, I'm willing to bet there's a public library somewhere near you.  I use two that are near my home and I can't imagine not having them.  This is the best kept secret in the book world.  A place you can go and find information on any subject you can imagine without being bombarded by advertizing, stupid people, unruly children and uneducated, uninformed employees.  The libraries in my area (and probably most) even have lots of DVD's of popular movies as well as educational subjects if you're just not in the mood to read.  Not to mention the books on tape/CD.  I haven't tried it but I have heard from numerous independent sources that listening to books on tape or CD while driving is one of the best ways to stay awake when driving. (Disclaimer: If you experience fatigue when driving, it's best to pull over in a safe, well lit area and get some rest.)  One could go on and on about the benefits of our public libraries but my main objective here was to steer you away from the junk toward the real value.  Self-help books are the written equivalent of the pet rock.
2. Read classic literature.  The insight and condensed wisdom found in the time-tested works of fiction over the past 2500 years cannot be overstated as to its value to your education.  You may have hated having to read "The Great Gatsby" in high school or "Emma" in your English lit class but look again.  High school and college are not only not the end of your education, they may not even have been the beginning.  If you've been paying attention the last three decades, many colleges and other higher learning institutions are "popularizing" just to pay the bills.  This fact leads me to number 3...
3. Take responsibility for your own as well as your children's education.  That doesn't mean quitting school/college and walking the earth or yanking your children out of public/private school and home schooling them.  It means turning off the TV, removing the ear buds and talking.  I have no data to back it up but I believe TV is on the decline in families that matter.  By that I mean families headed by adults who understand their real responsibilities toward themselves and their children.  It's been said that the children are our future.  This is backward and dangerous thinking (one could write a book on this idea alone).  We are our children's future.  Think about that.  I don't mean for a moment, I mean think about it all the time.  Let it permeate all your actions.  If you don't have children, no worries; this bit of advice may be the beginning of a direction that leads to a family of your choosing, with or without children.  The possibilities are yours.
4. Live YOUR life.  I don't have a PhD in psychology and I don't let anyone who does have one tell me what to do.  These (your superlative here)'s don't have any authority over you, nor do they have the answers you need.  For that matter, I don't either.  You do.  (Disclaimer: If you are currently under treatment for a mental disorder or psychological issue, please don't abandon it.  I wasn't talking to you.  Continue getting whatever help you may need to deal with any legitimate mental health issue.)  I'm talking to the Dr. Phil crowd.  I'm not saying Dr. Phil gives bad advice.  I'm saying you don't need him.  If you follow some of the things I've said above, you'll find yourself way ahead of the Dr. Phils and the phreemynds as well.  A good teacher only uses a handful of raw facts but guides each student to recognize and follow their own direction.
5. Write.  Almost without exception, people who achieve their goals and improve themselves continually will attribute part of their success to writing, whether it's a journal, a list of goals, to-do lists (which I personally hate), a blog or some combination of any or all and more.  I've always been fascinated by how many criminals and otherwise less than honorable characters were brought down/exposed by their personal diaries.  What were these low-lifes thinking?  They lied, cheated and stole their way to the furthest heights of low-lifery but they couldn't tell a few fibs in their diary just in case their luggage got lost.  Dirty accountants keep two sets of books; I wonder if they keep two diaries as well.  This should give you some idea how important writing is when people are willing to risk having their misdeeds exposed in order to gain the benefit writing about them yields.  Incidentally, it should also illustrate that writing won't cure arrogance or greed.

Top 10 Lists of Everything--listverse.com

Spent hours reading one list after another.  Very addictive.  This is how I remember the web before it became just digital noise.  A lot of contributors, excellent thorough posts and intelligent discussions.  When an idiot does inevitably creep in, it's either ignored or dealt with on the same civil and intelligent level.

For New Parents

First and foremost: Smile all the time. Never let them see you not smiling even when they are crying.

Talk to them. Start with simple sounds when they are born. They will want to imitate you. Throughout their childhood, remember how they were so keen to imitate you. Don't do anything you wouldn't want them to imitate. There's no such thing as too early. My oldest daughter started mimicking sounds at three weeks.

If you have the means, travel with them. Take them everywhere you go. It's your responsibility to let them see you living.

Make sure they learn at least one other language and continue to use it daily. You may have to learn a foreign language yourself to accomplish this but that won't hurt a thing, the more languages, the better, within reason and means. If means are limited, cut out something YOU don't need: cable TV, new car, new furniture, new appliances, new clothes, booze, cigarettes, and any other selfish indulgence of which you no longer have the luxury.

Don't over-indulge them.  The phrase "The children are our future" isn't quite right. This mindset causes what we see so often: selfish, disrespectful children who really believe the world revolves around them and their needs and desires. We are our children's future. We are not a lost cause. We need to lead by example, even when they aren't looking. Conduct yourself in all situations as if they were right next to you. If you wouldn't do it in front of them, don't do it at all. If you aren't there yet, make it your goal to get there. If you don't, the downward spiral continues with your assistance.

Great Quotes; Good Reading

Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence.
-- Richard Dawkins

Contemporary Authors on Anti-religious Topics

• Christopher Hitchens
• Richard Dawkins
• Sam Harris

These are links to Amazon where you'll find plenty more authors and links to pages about the authors themselves. And to be fair, there are books by opposing authors.

Thought Experiment

I've been carrying this idea around in my little brain for roughly 25 years.  Hopefully a particle physicist will visit this blog and answer my questions.  Of course this idea is not limited to thought alone.  If anyone would like to execute it, let me know; just don't be a thief. :-)

Suppose you have a hollow sphere, the inside surface of which is mirrored. Let's assume a vacuum exists inside as well. Then, introduce a light source inside which is held aloft by way of magnetic levitation and powered by battery.

What would be the result of this light being focused from every direction and re-reflected ad infinitum without being able to escape?

What if the light source had a two-way mirrored outer surface allowing light to emit but not re-enter? (Realizing that a two-way mirror is leaky by its very nature.)

What if the sphere itself had a two-way mirrored surface allowing an observer to see what was happening?

Introduce a "pill camera" inside, also held aloft and guided by maglev.

Suppose only a short burst of light were used; Would that light ever stop?

What if the sphere were very large? 1 parsec maybe.

Copyright 2009 Phreemynd All Rights Reserved

Truth…

There are none so adept at concealing the truth from the ignorant as themselves.

Bumper Sticker

Know Gods, Know Wars

Missionary Adaptation

F. Tupper Saussy writes in “Rulers of Evil: Useful Knowledge About Governing Bodies” ©1999, Harper Collins Publishers Inc., 10 E. 53rd St., New York, NY 10022

[December 25th was the birthday of many pagan gods: Saturn, Jupiter, Tammuz, Bacchus, Osiris, Mithras...]

[Saturnalia, the season of drunken merriment and gift giving evolved into Christmas.]

This is one of the few books I have ever read twice. Oddly enough, I ran accross it in a public library in a small southern town. It isn’t a particularly scholarly work but it contains plenty of intriguing facts to make it worth the time. It is, however, becoming dated now. One would have to work pretty hard to update the list of Roman Catholic senators, Supreme Court justices and government agency heads.

Since reading it, I have read many more books on the subject of religious influence in society and government and have adopted higher standards of scholarship but Mr. Saussy deserves credit for re-kindling a passion for the subject which I first became interested in while serving in the military at Fort Hood, TX.

The author I have to credit with sparking interest initially is Karen Armstrong. No lack of scholarship there.