Lifestyle & Culture

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The I Love Lucidity Show

[ Comments Off ]Posted on September 22, 2009 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

You think you’re reading this, but maybe you’re only DREAMING that you’re reading this. Lucid dreaming is a powerful tool. So powerful in fact, that I’m not sure I actually wrote this.


Don’t worry Lucy. It’s only
a dream. Take control of it!

As someone who entered their teens at the dawn of the New Age era, I was exposed to lots of crazy things like EST, Carlos Castaneda, and the sight of post-hippy nutjob entrepreneurs standing in bookstores’ newly-created self-help sections muttering “OM” to themselves. By the mid 80′s, although I had – for better or worse – integrated a lot of this stuff into my daily experience, I jokingly referred to myself as “Post New Age”. For a brief time I even opportunistically bought quartz crystals at about $5/lb and turned them over at a hefty $20 per crystal to people who believed they had magical powers. In spite of my original fascination with all these metaphysical meanderings, I ended up with a more cynical spirit for a long time, or at least a more pragmatic one. However, some of these crazy ideas ended up becoming scientifically documented, and amongst these was one of my favorites: Lucid Dreaming. I so completely integrated this concept into how I sleep, think and dream, that I forget that others have never even heard of it. Which is why I was surprised to run across the post Lucid Dreaming: A Beginner’s Guide on Tim Ferriss’ blog (he’s the guy that wrote The 4-Hour Workweek) that passionately extols the virtues of Lucid Dreaming. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Ferriss is into it, I guess if you only work four hours a week, you have plenty of time to dream and sleep. In any case, his post sent me on a refresher course; I had no idea that one of the first scientists to seriously study lucid dreaming – Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D. -went on to form the Lucidity Institute, and that the concept actually is a documented phenomena with such an extensive history. If you’re interested in learning more about LaBerge’s work with lucid dreams, check out his book Lucid Dreaming, or check out the very thorough Lucidity Institute FAQ. Me? I’m going back to sleep. If I’m not already. Sweet dreams!

Hyena Men of Nigeria – Why BUY Pet Food When You Can BE Pet Food

[ Comments Off ]Posted on September 17, 2009 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

Having a Hyena as a pet may sound like fun, but the Hyena will probably have the last laugh. If you really want an exotic pet, there’s always Photoshop.

When I first saw Pieter Hugo’s photos of the Hyena Men of Nigeria , I instantly knew what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to be a Hyena Man of Nigeria. The problem being, of course, that I was neither Nigerian, nor had a Hyena. Nor was I bad-ass enough to walk around with a Hyena on a heavy-duty chain, and convince a Baboon to wear a Beckham jersey every day. Still, as an animal lover I’ve always had a childish fantasy of having a few especially beastly animals as pets. In my beastmaster vision, I have a falcon on my shoulder while I walk my black panther and white wolf, who happen to all be best of pals. Alas, as anyone who’s watched Grizzly Man knows, these attempts at bridging the gap between man and the wilder members of the animal kingdom don’t always turn out so well. That doesn’t seem to stop a lot of people from making the absurd decision to try, leading to “tragedies” like the Siegfried and Roy mauling, the occasional Elephant rampage (that video’s not for the faint-of-heart), and the random nature show host’s death. I’ll probably never live out my little dream; the fact is that trying to turn wild animals into pets generally ends in either the tragic death or injury of a human, or the tragic neglect of the animal. If you really want an exotic pet, there’s always Read the rest of this entry »

Bugs. They’re What’s For Dinner.

[ Comments Off ]Posted on September 11, 2009 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture

Friday, September 11th, 2009

As the Filet o’ Fish becomes an endangered species, will insects become the next sushi?

On the rare occasion that I eat at McDonald’s or Burger King, I order a fish or chicken sandwich of some kind, not really believing my own rationalization that I’m making some kind of healthier choice on the menu. I was doing a pretty good job of not wondering exactly which fish I was eating until yesterday, when I read that the Filet o’ Fish was being put on the endangered species list. Which got me thinking about the United Nations’ suggestion last year that insects are the food of the future. I mean, like I often say: “Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, teach a man to fish, and he’ll starve in 50 years“. If the idea of an Entomophagic lifestyle bugs you, consider these two facts: 1.) In many parts of the the world (the word “parts” will take on a new meaning in fact 2!), insects are already a perfectly acceptable part of people’s diets, and 2:) You’re already eating them! If you’ve never looked at the FDA’s Food Defect Action Levels guide, give it a quick scan. A typical example of how many bugs you’re eating includes quantities like 150 or more insect fragments per 100 grams of Wheat flour. If you’re particularly microbe-phobic, just don’t, really, don’t review the guide; the glossary necessarily includes terms like “foreign matter”, “infestation”, “mold count”, “rancid”, “rot”, and “shrivel”. So if this hasn’t all turned you off to the idea of eating some bugs for dinner tonight, check out the insects-as-food enthusiasts’ web site InsectsAreFood.com, wherein Founder Marc Dennis points out that “Insects in cuisine today are what sushi was two decades ago” and advisor Jeff Stewart’s additional site CreepyCrawlyCooking.com asks reasonably, right on the home page: “Why eat insects?” Read the rest of this entry »

Do You Occupy More Space Than You Need?

[ 1 Comment ]Posted on September 6, 2009 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture

Sunday, September 6th, 2009

Maybe it’s time to downsize. Because as Bernie Madoff can tell you, if you’re obsessed with living large, you can indeed end up in the big house.

Do you take up more space than you need? I’ve always lived a fairly simple life, but some missteps in the last year forced me to really downsize, and at the end of it all, frankly, I was happier. One thing I noticed as I shed a lot of belongings was that I had only kept many of them simply because I had a place to put them. Another thing I noticed was that with every box of knickknacks or piece of extra furniture I let go of, a place seemed to lighten up in my head. I had a palpable feeling of liberation, which got me thinking about all of my values. That little house info-graphic lower on the page shows how much more space we all occupy today as compared to 50 years ago. Do we need that extra space? An obsessive longing for wealth and a big house can, as Bernie Madoff can tell you, lead to a life in the big house . And a life fueled by consumption of goods, in my opinion, also leads to people’s actual bodies taking up more space than they should. To me, the debate about higher airfares for obese people is a no-brainer. Sure. Charge more for heavy people. And less for skinny people. In fact, do it by the pound; that’s how they charge for other shipping, and especially with today’s quality of service on airlines, that’s all they’re doing is shipping people, right? If you have a problem with this, consider donating some of your fat for fuel. Maybe they’ll give you a credit for reducing your “Carbon Fatprint”. But I digress. Simplifying your life is gratifying, and easier than you think. There are hundreds of books out there on the topic, but I’d say it’s self-evident that buying and reading a book about simplifying your life kind of defeats the purpose. This quick article over at Zen Habits agrees, and distills the process down to four simple rules. Once you’ve committed to simplicity, there are some amazing ideas out there. I’ve always admired the Japanese approach to efficient use of space, and the Kenchikukagu series of modular furniture (pictured) doesn’t disappoint. As their site says: “Everywhere there is a Mobile Kitchen, there is a party!” and “If a guest suddenly come, no pronlem. Enjoy!” No pronlem indeed. Not to be outdone, the Russians have Read the rest of this entry »

Cool To Be Kind

[ 1 Comment ]Posted on August 31, 2009 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture

Monday, August 31st, 2009

I’m making a little investment in the Kindness Economy today.

You don’t know me, but if you did, you’d pretty quickly realize that I’m one of the more laid back people you’ll ever meet. The other day though, I caught myself being the kind of person I sometimes laugh at: the person who almost runs over pedestrians to get to the next red light, that visibly snorts when a register clerk takes longer than they’d like, that avoids eye contact when they cut you off slightly to be the next in line. I don’t remember exactly how it happened that I got in that frame of mind, but I pretty quickly decided to do something about it. Coincidentally, a friend had just loaned me a copy of The Power of Nice. I decided to breeze through it; it’s a pretty light read. I’m glad I did. It was a great set of inspiring reminders of something I’m always working on anyway, something I call the “Kindness Economy™”. Kindness is a powerful currency. There’s an almost limitless supply of it, and you find that when you spend it, you end up with more of it than before you started. It’s like every purchase you make is a winning lotto ticket. So with a little nudge from my own grumpiness and the book, I decided it was time to re-invest. I want to share my profits with you, so let’s see if in the next several days we can’t create a little Kindness Stimulus Package out there. Here are some ideas, feel free to share if you have any of your own. Read the rest of this entry »

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