Enchantment

I just finished reading Enchantment by Guy Kawasaki.  Great book. The first parts are how to grow your brand. The second (non-divided) part is on technology and how to leverage it to grow a personal or business brand. The last part is like a 48 Laws of Power for nice guys.

This book tells how branding works, and how to use it to become enchanting. I especially loved the checklist that tells how to make ethical decisions towards the back of the book. I have made an effort to engage relevant news articles for my Twitter and will soon do so for my personal Facebook.

Airpower on the wane?

I just read Martin Van Creveld's The Age of Airpower. It is an excellent history of airships, airplanes, and helicopters. It walks one from early manned airpower (from the Wrights) to today just after the Iraq surge. I am not ready to give Van Creveld the applause because he believes airpower is on the wane, partially due to David Petraeus' wishing to leave most airpower at home in insurgencies. I think they still have their purpose, especially planes such as the A10.

I am in Tucson, where the A10 has a mainstay, so that may influence it. I have also heard about the A10 being significant for close air support with the infantry. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn about the history of airpower.

Do you believe airpower is less necessary for waging warfare? Respond in the comments section or tweet me @jtarb1 on Twitter.

Freedman's Strategy: A History

I highly recommend Sir Lawrence Freedman's Strategy: A History. It debates what strategy is, exactly, by moving from game theory, business, and war studies. It does this in a lengthy 630 page treatise, but does not stay away from Foucault and Pareto's contributions. I feel like I knew a lot, as a student of strategy, but the book definitely treats it well. The book also starts with the Iliad and moves forward, so no student of history will be left with dissatisfaction.

It used rudimentary diagrams of the Prisoner's Dilemma and explained the Nash Equilibrium as well as I have understood it. I am not mathematician, of course. Yet, I highly recommend this book.

On The Republic

The Republic did its job tonight. Donald Trump may not be the best man for the job, yet it is the job of the electorate to decide that. The electorate, not always being perfect has an electoral college to make sure they are voting for the Republic.

The Electoral College system, mostly voting on party lines, is the broken system. The electors should vote for the needs of the country. Yet, they often go with whatever candidate they are associated with.

The Republic, with rights to vote for whoever, votes how the media cycle pushes them to. They do not always have the education to know the needs of the Republic, due to a broken educational system, that rewards the wealthy.

The real thing I am disgusted with is the people that are telling Americans to lie in the bed they've made. No one else made it. What else should they lie in?

On the Draft

I feel that the draft is for men. In fact, I feel the combat arms jobs are for men, but that ship has sailed.

When a nation can no longer raise enough military age males to defend itself through volunteer means, the country has already lost as a nation. The nation has lost its ability to continue as a nation due to loss of people who care enough about the nation's will to fight.

I am against any draft for women, and am against any draft at all in general. A nation has already rolled over when it cannot raise men to fight.

I pointed out on this opinion on the old Twitter account (the one I deleted) and had several military officers suggesting the US government would never quit without a draft. I concur, but the US government doesn't always act in a moral manner, either.

Feeling too comfortable

I almost took a break today. Yet, I decided that I should post something.

The moment I get into a comfort zone, I'll not push myself. That said, I am tired of writing because I just worked at a longer paper for school.

I cannot believe I still have a year or so. I am, quite frankly, tired of learning in a traditional sense.

I will continue learning long after April 2018, when I feel that I am probably going to be done.

The question is this: will I end with that EdD, or not?

One PIGs and Poor Customers

While reading Tim Ferriss' The Four Hour Work Week, I am amazed by the simplicity of his muses, or passive income generators. I know that they are not always easy to find. The elegance comes from not offering services and parting ways with the bottom 20%, who always cause the most hassle.

It would be nice if business worked this way. Let's say, you hassle the commissioned cellphone salesperson and they told you to get the hell out of their shop. The problem is, commissioned cellphone people do not own their shops. It would be seen as racist or just hateful, depending on the people involved.

Like the hoaxes with receipts that tell people to stop being gay, the employees should have more input into who can shop at their stores. Unfortunately, in the age of outrage journalism, this wouldn't end well for anyone.

Pomodoro work

I have done a lot this morning, by working with the Pomodoro Technique. I have read about it, yet I find it motivating to practice. I find myself chomping at the bit to get back to work. I also find that I take more breaks than I normally do, while monitoring excess work.

I am also using RescueTime starting today to keep track of what type of sites I visit. I'll regulate them better after getting a good picture of what I'll use by setting up budgets for each type of productivity or distraction.

Thanks for reading. If you have a productivity tip for me, or an app I have not mentioned thus far, let me know in the comments.

Proof racism and sexism are universal

Your grandma, your dentist, the people at the church, your high school friends: if they are voting for trump they are racist & sexist

— Tressie Mc (@tressiemcphd) November 2, 2016

If my Granny can be racist, sexist or friends I went to school with can be, just for voting for Trump, then we see that women can be sexist and non-whites can be racist.

Challenge accepted

I was recently challenged (via /r/KaizenBrotherhood to avoid candy and a vice of mine for three days. There were other challenges, such as tobacco and alcohol. I misinterpreted the challenge to believe all were in order. I was only actually challenged for one of them. Yet, I will avoid the two that I have the most trouble with for three days. Candy and my bad habit.

I am re-reading Tim Ferriss' Four Hour Workweek, and get more out of it every time I read it. I really should set up go to times for chekcing email (reminder to self).

Three days I changed the wordpress template to something. . . not so pink.

On being the worst

As a hirer, hire those better than you. You want to be the dumbest in the room. That goes doubly if you consider yourself smart. The smarter will help you to be the best.

As a subordinate, accept that your job is to get credit for those higher than you. If you are working for the right people, you are going to get either credit or some other benefit. If you are not working for the right person, you'll soon know it when credit does not trickle down.

Finally, in the words of Mattis, "Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet."

MAGA Mindset reading is up

I wanted to take this advantage to share a partial reading of Mike Cernovich's MAGA Mindset by Stefan Molyneux. I am not pushing a political party or person. I am sharing this as a State of the Union that only Cernovich can get.

Expansive and Contractive feelings

I recently heard of expansive vs. contractive feelings. I heard this on James Altucher's interview of Jewel.

The way I understand it, expansive feelings cause on to think of others. Contractive feelings cause on to close in on oneself.

From the scant sources that weren't from wild New Age-y sites, Love is expansive. Jewel said that excitement, on the other hand, is contractive.

I have not bought into all the premises, but think that this is excellent way of gauging feelings. One may temper feelings with meditation, by letting feelings simply pass without a reaction.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, in mind own experience, is noting a feeling cycle (thought, mood, actions=> which all impact each other in turn). It differs from traditional meditation, which seeks to separate feelings from action, by attempting to keep certain feelings over others.

I think CBT/ DBT (dialectical behavioral therapy) and meditation both build upon each other. Yet meditation is better.

Anti-Tech Revolution chapters 2+3

Kaczynski wrote, in Anti-Tech Revolution (Chapters 2+3), about self-propagating systems. These systems get more complex over time, rather than less complex. They also get more disorderly.

This apparent contradiction, plus the inability to predict the future of a world-system from inside of it, means that there will no Vingean Singularity. I wrote a blog a few years back, where I believed the Singularity was likely. I had not understood Roger Penrose or political philosophy well at the time.

I no longer believe that it will happen, either.

In the chapters (2+3), he also writes that poorly defined goals ruin societies. America had a clear goal for many years during the 20th Century, as the world was defined by the Communism vs. Capitalism struggle.

At the dawn of the Republic, the goal to establish a Republican government separate form Britain was prime. Republican, however, is not clearly defined. As more complexity entered the American government, so has more corruption.

The poor goals of governments doom them.

In America, I have argued before that the complexity of policing laws the Federal Government was to have little role in (according to the Constitution) ruined the viability of the US Government. It is not turned into the Nanny State, a la Snowden's leaks.

The only topic I strongly disagree with Kaczynski on is on page 93, where he asserts that "the Revolutionaries" formed a government which "has lasted until this day." The reason I disagree is that the first US Government (USG) was the Articles of Confederation. It has not lasted.

Kaczynski writes on the fact that Jesus' word has been interpreted differently by people who could not live to Jesus' ideals, such as the admonition against murder.

Feminism is a prime example, where it served a purpose, yet had no clear goals after suffrage. Feminism is falling.

Kaczynski also writes about Luther, Calvin, and the how it has brought us to today's events through the chapters. Today's events seem the logical conclusion of the Princeton Theology.

More updates will come as I read more chapters. I am enjoying the text. Keep in mind, that I received the book for free in exchange for an honest review.

The HIV Patient o

I was reading about the origin of the patient zero myth of HIV. Apparently, someone misinterpreted it to prove he was not patient zero. On Twitter, so many people wrote that he had been exonerated.

This is incredible. Almost 30 years after he was called "THE MAN WHO GAVE US AIDS," Gaétan Dugas's dignity has been restored https://t.co/GlyyA0oHKn

— David Mack (@davidmackau) October 26, 2016

Has it? I will not write for or against homosexuality. I am writing about the prevalence of myths after they have been disproven. Superstition is one way, but wive's tales are another. While peer review exonerated Dugas, the general public will not think too much of this story, because they heard it was true.

I wish there were a better way, as a doctoral student, to get stories from academic articles to the general public. Many discount the news today due to the clickbaity stuff. Thus, few believe why they say. Folklore is different than academic studies in that folklore is stronger.

Uncertainty in Societies

I am reading Ted Kaczynski's new book Anti-Tech Revolution: Why and How. Yes. That Ted Kaczynski.

I noticed in a Facebook post yesterday that few leaders are as powerful as they seem.

This was from an observation in the book. Another observation is that you cannot accurately predict our society while being part of it. This uses a different law, but has kinship with Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. An outside actor can more accurately predict a society's destiny, yet it is impossible because of globalization. So, I have only read the first chapter and preface. I'll share other insights as I get further along.

I am noting that I received this book in exchange for an honest review, and I will be posting the total review on Goodreads and Amazon later.

On 21st century politics

It has come to my attention that voting with the in-crowd has become more important than speaking one's own mind. I never thought about this before I heard that Kim Kardashian was "endorsing" Hillary. First, is she an example? I respect her ability to bring her sex appeal and her relation to Jenner to her own fame. I do not consider her someone to emulate. Second, why does anyone care about the endorsement of a reality TV star? She is not endorsing. She is voting for Hillary, and wants everyone to do the same.

On the other hand, Colin Powell made some serious mistakes during his tenure as SECSTATE. That does not mean that we should not follow his endorsements. He did a great job as CJCS (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs) and was rewarded by W. Just because he party flopped, does not mean anyone else will. The cult of personality is pushed for Kim K and Powell, mainly because they vote with liberal media. First, does anyone want to remember how Powell is called out by the left for his voice in the UN Security Council meetings against Iraq? No one will vote with him on the left. The Right is voting for Trump. The center sways, but besides Neocons, which vastly affected the GOP, no one would vote for Trump because of what Powell says. They use him as reinforcement for their own ideas.

The 43rd President, W, was a neocon. He was mostly a moderate with Hawkish beliefs. The Right are voting for Trump. The Libertarians are not voting for Trump. They are mostly voting for Gary Johnson or writing in Rand Paul. The moderates are going third party (Constitution, Green, Libertarian, McMullin).

Powell, while a great CJCS, won't sway the hard right to vote for Hillary. Kim K won't sway anyone except for people reinforcing their own ideas.

Vote your mind. Don't vote to follow Reality TV stars, which the left only heckles because Trump was one.

Possible accountability group

I have joined the KaizenBrotherhood subreddit. Mostly, it gives me someone to be accountable to because I said I would do it. Weekly, we do a bit of goal setting and comment it off to others on the subreddit.

We also use Slack to keep some of our conversations together. I am new to it, but it is a good start. I had no one to be accountable to before I found it that was also interested in productivity minded things.

Plans and goals, of course, need to be actionable where the can be met and measurable. This goes along with the SMART goal setting framework that I learned years ago. Obviously, if you cannot meet your goal, you'll get discouraged. If you cannot measure it, then how will you know if you've met it.

Feelings don't help to measure anything. Feelings are BS.

WoW raid yesterday

My brother-in-law led a raid in World of Warcraft yesterday. We did okay, considering the gear level of most of the raid. I think my healing numbers were greatly improved to normal.

I am working on school work when I am not spending time with family, such as the raid yesterday. It was mostly family at around 830 Average ilvl.

I am also trying to keep productive. I fell back on my tracking yesterday due to a terrible headache, which I still have.

I also set up a bundle of subreddits on Reddit. I set it up for all the productivity and philosophy subreddits. I get tired of having to wade through standard subreddits that are always on the front page. This will cut down on time spent on reddit, since I mostly only read.

Health numbers falling

Went to the VA Hospital for a check-up today. My health, even though I have focused on doing the right things, has changed, at least in numbers.

My goals due to this:
1: After today, ditch sugary beverages again. I got into this habit when my sugars were better. I had been out of it, mostly drinking diet soda or water. I need to go back to the diet soda and water routine.
2: 1800 calorie diet starting now. I estimate using MyFitnessPal that I eat about 2000. I need to cut back to 1800. 1400 calories, which was my last recommendation, was too low.
3: Continue to lose weight. I lost ten pounds since my last visit six months ago. I need to keep the trend going. Keep up the same exercises or add more.

I won't go into too many numbers for fear of boring you all, but the care that had been my routine in the past needs to return, while keeping new good habits going.

Habits being added too fast

I discovered that my new productivity habit of tracking various things is moving along too fast. I am tapering back a bit. For example, I was putting too many habits in a day where I would be bringing my daughter out. This made it difficult to keep everything completed.

I am slowly adding things, but was not careful of what I was tracking. I'll keep tracking, but it was necessary to slow down in order to keep a completed list. I need to keep the progress going in order to feel pressure, but as habits pass incomplete I will need to be more careful for what I allocate for each day.

Right now, I am have been keeping about two weeks with a day skipped. I should get closer to a month before I add extra tasks, but change habits from day to day.

I am experimenting with my tasks of adding some of Sebastian Marshall's great tasks. I will look over his site in the next few days to prepare for the next couple of weeks, when I add more items to my tracking list.

Habits are daily items that need to be done, to me. By tasks, I mean things on the tracking list.

By habits, I will change daily. By tasks, I will add monthly things to be tracked.

I currently track health, wealth, relationships, fitness, and productivity, yet some of these items are dual-tracked as habits under the tasks.

Quantification project

I have read that "Real Artists Ship." Probably it came from Seth Godin.

I agree, but do not have an exceptionally interesting life. I teach my daughter, love my wife, and keep a quiet family life. Yet, I agree with Godin.

I am trying to write, due to this.

This week has gone great, with quantification of certain projects going great. I have managed to stretch or exercise every day this week. I have also taken my medicine when necessary and added more brushing and flossing. I have never been great at daily tasks like this, but keeping track has helped.

This week, I have a doctor's appointment and will go to the Gaslight Theater with my family. We are seeing Frankenstein, but most likely a comedic version of it.

I will try to write as soon as I have more to say.

Lost weight and started keeping track

I lost weight recently. I mean, by lost weight, around 20-21 pounds. I am about 145 at last weight.

I am working on quantifying progress by calculating times and actions and writing down these items.

I have also written some goals down that I will continue to work towards. I do not plan on adding them all in one day, but slowly incorporating a few things every day.

The goals:

• My Ed.D
• Different personal hygiene actions
• And a daily goal for health, wealth, and relationships

So far, I have been doing these tasks for about a week, but hope to keep adding and tweaking these goals.

Let me know how you quantify your goals and actions. I would like to add more eventually.

Grading day

I am about to work on some heavy grading. That is true, despite the messed up wrist. These monsoons are driving pain into my wrist.

The monsoons are Tucson's humid season. They cause either my knee or wrist to hurt. This is wrist year, apparently. I am sitting here wearing a wrist brace.

I wanted to get in a blog post. I don't really have much to fuss about that I am not fussing about on Twitter. I am @jtarb1 there.

Remember, feeling as if you are persecuted shows a poor mindset.

Memberless movements

So, I am beginning to feel as if memberless movements (Black Lives Matter, Anonymous, other umbrella organizations) are a failure as an idea. Black Lives Matter is receiving flack because of the Dallas shootings where five policemen were killed and more injured. Anonymous also accepts blame for many things either right or left-wing. Al Qaeda even, and to a lesser extent ISIL accepts blame for nearly everything in order to pull Western nations to the fight.

Occupy was another one of these memberless leaderless movements. It quickly failed.

The Civil Rights Movement succeeded due to voting drives and somehow not alienating people enough to gather people into a majority. The Civil Rights Act passed (though probably as a method of winning the Democrat voters that were black).

The way to win is to become a majority, while getting attention. By having unofficial groups, there are no membership rolls to sign. There are simply petitions to gather.

One group I used to be associated with that is not memberless is the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. They limit the need to gather petitions by having large membership rolls. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference eliminated hangers on by keeping their membership official.

So, if anyone is contributing to Black Lives Matter or whatever, start making official memberships. Leadership movements quickly become associated with hangers on. Not that you care what I say.

UPDATE: I recently heard Caleb Carr's interview by James Altucher. He seemed to confirm my idea that ISIL will accept blame for anything that seems relevant. He said that the 2015 San Bernardino attackers were merely needing their future deaths to have meaning and swore allegiance to Al Baghdadi at the last moments before the attacks.

Sleep interrupted

My daughter was up at 3AM. I got a little nap, but she never fell back to sleep. It was a rough night for me, because I was up to 10PM.

I have managed to keep a happy face on even though I am tired. She'll probably be awake until she passes out tonight.

Keeping awake has been hard most of the day, so I just keep doing what I am supposed to be doing. Parenting and school grading. I am up to date on that.

I have a little more than 3 more classes before I am ABD. I am excited to get on with the process by getting my prospectus looked at.

How do you stay motivated when you are just exhausted? I normally exercise and just keep busy. Sometimes, I will even nap.

Not an aviator

I am not an airplane aficionado. Yet, something has my attention reading Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. It came to me somewhat by insight, and I am not sure it is true. Yet, it probably is.

WWI and WWII aviation probably allowed airplanes to become safer than they would be without WWI and WWII. Obviously, the wars were horrible. But without the many unsafe training flights and combat flights of the World Wars, we might not be able to fly safely today.

The military is constantly in forms of social experimentation. It allowed integrated military units before the nation integrated. It recently allowed transgendered people in, yet with some heavy stipulations.

The military may have allowed airlines to become safer than car travel. I know that plane crashes receive lots of TV coverage, but it is still safer than car travel I understand. I still cringe during takeoff and turbulence. And landing. Maybe, especially landing.

On other news, even though I have diverted from my diet, I am still 258 lbs. as of this morning. I think I can be satisfied with that.

More readers

Yesterday was a big day for the blog. I simply made the difference by scheduling a post telling people about my blog in the middle of the night.

I had not set up auto-tweets too much in the past due to people hacking my Twitters. I made my password super-secure by using all kinds of symbols. Through that, I'll try it again.

I hope this readership keeps on, but I don't have any followers or replies as of now. Not on this blog anyway.

I am sure that things are looking up.

Tomorrow is test day in class for my students. After that, we'll give a halfway point grade and be on our races for the end.

I am still walking regularly, even though the monsoon season is in Tucson. We had a big rainstorm from it yesterday. It is humid, but nothing compared to Georgia.

Have a good day.

Family visiting

So, I am getting to know my wife's family better. I am becoming more comfortable with them. This is not just the in-laws, but my wife's extended family that lives elsewhere.

I feel that I have to use principles normally associated with "Game" (dating stuff) to keep people interested. It is normally like me to keep to myself. To keep from being introverted to a terrible closed position, I have to use principles from books or podcasts on dating.

I am able to keep people interested in my conversations more this way. I obviously tweak each idea for non-sexual, no kino reasons.

I feel like this is working towards making my marriage better and making my relationships with her extended family better. This has been a fun week.

I am not being seen as much the outsider as I once was. I am now keeping the comfortable distance with my wife's family, which also helps with my wife. Of course, "game" principles help with my wife. I hope you guys are having a great week.

Feeling motivated

Last night, while teaching, I had some students telling me they liked the way I teach. Unfortunately, I am taking time off from teaching to complete the final part of my doctorate.

I enjoy teaching but feeling rather motivated right now.

The sale on my book goes until early July. Get it if you are interested, or try Red Teaming for Renegades, my other work.

They are pamplet length books, but might be of some value to you.

I am getting back to blogging and mTurk work regularly. I enjoy doing the surveys on Mechanical Turk to make a few more bucks every month.

Sale tomorrow

Starting tomorrow, my book Goals-based Homeschooling, will be on sale on Amazon.com. I'll include a banner at the bottom. If you are interested in what goals to start when homeschooling or homeschooling in general, it may be a good time to pick it up.

No news on the car-front. I'll be getting it worked on sometime around the first, but I have honestly been enjoying walking. That is true, even though it has been somewhere around 115 F where I live.

Well, grading to do. So, pick up that book tomorrow. Or grab it on Kindle Unlimited.

Without a car for a bit

I have been very busy since work Tuesday. My car is having battery or alternator troubles. I worked on it a bit on Wednesday, but don't think I have all the tools. That means I will have to wait until I can pay someone.

I have been walking. In fact, the entire family has, but primarily me. I am getting great exercise and building a habit that isn't dependent on the car.

I am working on quizzes for my class and trying to get back to a sense of normal. I have been busy, and tired. I am a bit out of shape, but a brisk walk doesn't wear me down. Neither does carrying pretty heavy loads during the mile walk back.

I could use the bus, but it would just be for a stop and the crossing (the dangerous part) remains even if I rode the bus. I should be able to get back to regular blogging soon, but for now I am trying to adjust to walking more.

Response.

Work is going steady. I am in my third week out of my ten-week (this term happens to have ten classes out of a normal 11-week term) term. My students and I normally grab more rapport over time.

I am having a very busy day. I have laundry, some shopping, homeschooling, blogging, and cooking all to do and most of it is done. I like busy. It gets hard if I hit snags, but I love to have a full schedule.

I am listening to Mike Cernovich's Thinking Big podcast (check out his excellent Gorilla Mindset). I have done some reading on Lt. Col. Poole's Afrique: A Warning for America. I am feeling like re-reading Taleb's Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (Incerto) as a response to the Orlando incident.

I try always to have a response to big events. Most of the time, it is double down on productivity or re-reading a book. What do you do to react to real events? I would recommend self-defense training. I would recommend more frequent exercise. Only your body can respond to events faster than you know they are happening.

End of week

I had a bad experience with the 1400 calorie diet that my GI doctor put me on. I was extremely tired and am trying to fix it a bit. I think 1800 may be more my speed.

I was put on it for fatty liver, but have overcompensated and put on a couple of pounds in the meantime. I hope to lose those again, but I need some way to get motivated.

How do you get motivated at the beginning of a self-imposed diet? It is easy enough when a physician tells me to start one. This is far more difficult.

In other news, this election cycle is just bad news. Every article on the internet talks about "sick burns" and other stuff when the candidates talk about each other. I will be glad when the cycle is over.

Visit from my Mother

So, after residency, blogging did not pick up because I had a week long visit from my mother.
I have been very busy trying to keep things up around the house, but now that she has gone back, I should be able to resume blogging.

I still need to get my new literature review up to par but got relatively good grades on my prospectus. Hopefully, there are not too many problems getting it and the proposal through.

Besides that, it has been pretty dull. I finished reading the kindle copy of Moldbug that I got. I'll be re-reading that often. It covers some of the best parts of his political philosophy.

Dissertation outline updated

I have been reading Thomas Carlyle today. It is not easy reading, but it is probably some of the most eye-opening I have read in a while.

I have been asked to recommend two books by their authors. This gives me opportunity to put pen-to-paper and give advice.

I have my 10-points document for my dissertation put together after comments. It'll take a bit of tweaking next week, but I believe my dissertation is better for it.

I have some additions to my prospectus and literature review for that dissertation. This is where the meat of work will come from the next few weeks.

The question to ask is what have I done for my dissertation today. I have done a bit, thanks.

On rights

I just finished watching an enlightening video by Sargon of Akkad. 

It points out that the legacy of traditional gender roles tend to favor women in something called Gynocentrism. As I dig into Women's History for my future class, I notice that traditional gender roles have favored women. In one case in my textbook, a man is forced to pay for his abuse (at the hands of his wife), because of the collective legal status of married couples. 

Women often receive spousal support while one man who received spousal support is heavily trolled for this.

Women at one time, to quote one professor of mine, were considered good simply because they were women.

When women began demanding equality, they lost rights to this. They began asking for equal pay and chance at jobs. Yet those are positions of opportunity. They are not granted to anyone, with the exception of minimum wage. That is a position of right. Everyone else has to negotiate and fight for pay.

Today (titles are hard)

Today, I have been a bit slow on Twitter.

I brought my daughter to the park for her twice-a-week "park day." She is homeschooled so we try to give her a chance out any time we can.

I am blogging and am not sure of the count this week. We may get another Saturday post.

The media attempts to both give Trump more publicity than ever and the left tries to throw everything at him that they can. He will only find more support unless he makes a major mistake. I can't wait to see him in a debate with Clinton.

I have not done much for school, but got a lot of non-school related reading done. I'll have to fix the school related reading.

Miscellany

I have turned in work for my doctoral residency. It is not for a couple of weeks.

I have got some work done on my notes for the class I'll be teaching.

What else? I have been doing well on Twitter. @jtarb1 is my handle.

It looks like the alt-right is finally making it somewhere. I don't exactly know where I fit in, but I have always been a right-leaning independent. I don't know how I feel about everything, but immigration privileges need to be slowed.

I don't feel that they are rights.

Mindset remains key. That must be done through proper habits, proper training and education, and reading good books. I have been reading a lot on burnout from academic journals later.

I'd like to get this doctorate finished as quickly as possible.

Feeling productive

I have a few projects coming up.

First is my doctoral residency: In the meantime, I am reading heavily into my dissertation topic (Burnout, if you wonder). So, I am reading anything and everything on burnout I can come by. I am paying attention to methodology in this social science topic.

Second, is my preparing for teaching a class (History of American Women). I have to stay on top of this topic in order to fill my classes up. I find it somewhat difficult to bring enough material for a 3.5 hour class. I'll be focusing on that.

Third, my mother is coming into town. That means that I cannot slack on chores, or I'll be considered a slob. My mother isn't the cleanest, but she'll appreciate a clean house.

Fourth, I am homeschooling my daughter and that is something that always weighs heavy on my mind.

Leave behind any tips that would include new projects. I need more to fill my time. Haha.

Falling behind

I am busy preparing for an upcoming doctoral residency. I'll still try to post, but it has been hard to keep up like I had before.

There is a lot of editing to do. It is harder to find time to cook, so I am at the point of quickly grabbing a meal and then back to work. Keeping on track has been difficult.

I am not sure what is different except for mindset. I need to think tougher.

One book that is relevant to that which I have not read in a while is Mike Cernovich's Gorilla Mindset.

I need to read it again. It is not Kindle Unlimited eligible.

What are some strategies you readers use to or books you read to get motivated?

I guess, besides diet, productivity is at an all time high for me.

On Mission

A lot of people are voting for Trump, because his mission is simple. If he can build a wall, he has succeeded. It is the major feature of his campaign. It is the reason other alt-right players are campaigning for someone on a major ticket.

I don't believe that the alt-right would be so united if Trump was not such an alpha.

Writing a personal mission statement by writing your goals down. In the next two years, mine is to finish my Ed.D at Grand Canyon University.

If I have it in two years, I will be a success on my two year mission statement.

If I do not, then I have failed. I don't believe that there will be an opportunity to do it after that point due to costs and deadlines I have set up.

Get the goal, succeed. Fall short, fail.

It is that simple.

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Trump/blogging

I failed in my efforts to blog last night. Just too much at one time.

That means that I am not going to post end of week until Saturday, I assume.

I'll get my fourth blog posts out even if it takes a weekend.

I have my upcoming doctoral residency coming up. I think I am as ready as I'll be for that.

Just a couple of computer maintenance tasks await that residency.

Diet is going okay. I am holding up at a stable weight. I probably plateaued for now.

Trump is kicking butt. For everyone that said Trump would not make it past Jeb Bush or Cruz, they were wrong. For everyone that called Jeb a frontrunner, Trump is proving them wrong.

Trump can win. He just needs the steamroll of good press to continue for him. He is just owning.

Hillary is making so many mistakes and she is still having to compete heavily against Sanders.

Sanders is probably one of the few honest men left in politics. I am sorry that he's probably not getting enough news coverage compared to a former First Lady.

Alt-Right as a political party

The effort to put a woman on the $20 where Andrew Jackson has been has been eye-opening. I took a Jefferson and Jackson class during my MA time.

Old Hickory (Jackson) threw the Democrats into a tailspin that they hadn't recovered from until the time of FDR. The Whig party of the 1800s was a reaction against Jackson by Democrats.

Jackson was a Democrat, but a conservative one. More Dems who hated Jackson moved to the Whigs.

Keep in mind that before Jackson, we were still having the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans.

Is it possible that we will see a reaction among the Right Wing that will turn the Alt-Right into a legitimate political party? The moderate conservatives would likely stay loyal to the Republicans.

I think this would be a good move. Where would you peg Trump? With the Alt-Right as an antiestablishment populist? Or with the GOP?

Finally, have the Democrats thought of forming a new name for their party. Jackson, who the Dems rally against for the Trail of Tears, was the first president of our (now) Liberal Democrats.

Busy yesterday, blogging today

I committed to four blog posts a week when I made this blog active again. I have kept to that. I didn't post yesterday which makes me responsible for four solid days of blogging.

I had an interview yesterday. I am hoping to hear back today or tomorrow. That is one reason why I didn't post yesterday. On top of that, I finished the first draft of my Prospectus. It is only about six pages, but I pulled the data from a few places and it made the work arduous.

I cannot wait until I have worked out enough that I am not sore after every time. I took a weight training class in high school and never got sore after a point, but those were controlled conditions and I am getting older. #Yourenot16anymore.

How can I make myself more valuable to you readers? Let me know if you read regularly. More book reviews? Less?
I'd be glad to hear back from you.

End of week recap

So, I am not down to 255 from 269 a month ago. I am keeping a record in my fitbook lite.


Drinking eight glasses of water is easy. Just pick up some cheap flavor enhancers. I like the Kool-aid Brand.
Kool-Aid, Liquid Drink Mix, Grape, 1.62oz Container (Pack of 4)

I have had good improvements on the blog and posted 4x/week.

How are you improving?

I can keep adding on because of my willpower. Fourteen pounds is just a start.

Cheers.

Thanks to you all

The past two or three days has stomped my three day average by a few. I wanted to thank you all.

I am back on Twitter after a hiatus. I am @jtarb1 there.

I am working on my prospectus pretty heavily at this time. That means you get a short post today.
I will post a link to one of my books, though.

Thanks to you all. Keep reading.

Teaching about American Women

As I work as a history instructor at a small, Christian university site, I was surprised by the class they had me teaching this term. It is History of American Women.

First, I thought that this was a class better-suited alongside those programs with copious history classes required. Most programs at the site where I teach only require two classes. I am finding my classes increasing in size.

Second, I think this would be better for a social history, which the class does not necessarily require on the syllabus. Women until the early suffrage movement were diverse and mostly worked at the home. They raised babies and families.

Third, I think similarly with my history and theology. Women are to be protected as helpmeets. I acknowledge that men appear the servant class in most of history. Men charged the enemy, while women stayed and protected the family. Women, in my view, should not be in the military. They certainly should not be on the front lines. Women are the front lines to Western civilization.

I am very honored to have the opportunity to teach history again. I am finishing my doctorate full-time, but that leaves a little time for building my Vitae. This is said to be a very popular class in most appearances. I will teach history as the book and syllabus require.

Discussing and debating history may come up during breaks when I am not teaching. I welcome them. I, however, always learn more than the students.

Results arriving from habits

So, I started a program of ditching donuts, and using my Fitlosophy Fitbook Lite 6-Week Weight-Loss Journal on April 4th. Today is the 25th, and I am down 14 lbs.

It has been hard work. I even pushed down to 1400 calories a day. This was part of an effort to combat fatty liver. The GI doctor either hates me or loves me.

I am not sure, but I think I can get much lower. I will keep working towards 1400 calories a day. I have committed to it for three months. It has not been that hard.

I blame willpower. I have read many books on willpower, such as Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength and I think I've finally got to a point where I can beat my gut anytime.

Buy your  Fitlosophy Fitbook Lite 6-Week Weight-Loss Journal at Amazon. You won't regret it.

Donovan is spot-on

Jack Donovan's Becoming a Barbarian is amazing.

I am not finished, but will be sharing more insights from this book in future posts.

He writes about our system of tolerance and how it has turned into moral universalism. Everything, according to this universalism, is okay as long as no one is offended.
We ignore signals put out by people's body language and dress because judging people by their looks is wrong.

Donovan disagrees.

We should build tribes that we invest in, which I've posted about elsewhere. This investment shows who we should care about, instead of outrage journalism. The news should not inform who we should care about. Faith and philosophy should dictate that.

Our tribes, including our families, are build to extend our legacy and way of thought and living.

I'll share more when I am further along. Pick it up on Amazon.

Going out

Tonight, I have been selected as part of a group with the Wounded Warrior Project to attend a show at the Gaslight Theater here in Tucson.

That means that I am putting out this post a bit early and scheduling it to post when I want.

So, I'll post links to the two of my short works. I hope you will take the time to pick them up off of Amazon.

They are on Kindle Unlimited if you have that. Or pick up a trial from the link! It allows you to read selected books for free, up to 10 at a time.

Join Amazon Kindle Unlimited 30-Day Free Trial

My two books are:
Goals-based Homeschooling: Lessons from a homeschooling Dad

Red Teaming for Renegades

Review for Ikigai

I wanted to recommend a book. I am not posting it on my Kindle page because I was not exactly sure the best way to recommend this.

Ikigai is an amazing book by Sebastian Marshall. He blogs at sebastianmarshall.com.

It takes history, strategy, and philosophy and blends it into a personal improvement site. At the time I was looking for it, it was not on Kindle Unlimited. Yes, that means you'll have to put up the money for it.

It was an amazing book telling how to begin setting up a personal ethical system and improve yourself. I was recommended to it by Tynan, who blogs at tynan.com. Tynan was "Herbal" in the Neil Strauss book, The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists.


I especially liked some of the recommendations in it. I'll be checking out some more of them myself. I'll let you know if any are especially illuminating.

Let me know if you decide to pick it up and exaclty what you think. Cheers.

Join Amazon Kindle Unlimited 30-Day Free Trial

On Leadership

Leadership is simply the successful way of working with people. That is one thing I have learned from getting past the half-way point of my doctorate in organizational leadership.

It doesn't matter if your leadership style is servant, transactional, transformational, or any other. If you work with a successful group, your example matters more than those in unsucessful organizations.

I don't mean that in a failing organization that you can't be a good leader.

I mean that the way self-improvement culture teaches is that successful businesses have good leaders and failing ones don't.

This is a mistaken thought.

Leadership is the more successful way of working with people. You can have an executive that is failing and still be a successful example-leader in the organization.

Leadership, simply, is what a leader does. It doesn't matter if authority is there or not.

Week's Progress

Progress is still underway on the Ditching Donuts project. I haven't had anything junky in a few days. My weight is still the same, but I know it takes time.

I got a lot done today, so I am taking my daughter to the park in a bit.

I've been reading a lot of Lesswrong's sequences and watching videos on Bayes theory. It sounds like a bunch of hooey if you go to far, but it is good regardless.
i.e.: It is more likely we can complain in a world in which we exist is a truism. I'd suggest the sequences for improving your thinking.

I am reading Harold Bloom's The Western Canon. I recommend it more than I can write.

Not much else going on except for playing the Mechanical Turk.

Ditching Donuts

The ditching donuts project is going well. I went another day eating extraordinarily clean. I avoided it if it was questionable. I know I cannot hold up for this forever. I'll break.

That's not the point.

I am on a streak right now. It is more important to keep the streak at this point than much else. I need to exercise my willpower. 

At some point, the rest of my family will go out for hot fudge sundaes. I'll join them.

The point is when I am alone, not to dip towards the donut, fried pie, or candy bar. Save it for social occasions. 

Quitting Gutbombs

So, I have been a junk food lover forever. I don't know many days that I haven't had a donut, fried pie, or candy bar.

I guess you could say I still am...

But today, I haven't had anything worse than nuts and a couple of oranges.

I feel like I have really achieved something. It's not a lot. It's a day.

But one day starts a few, and a few starts a month. I think that the thing harmful about carbs is something like addiction. We become addicted to the biochemical feel we get when we taste a donut. And that addiction can be slowly separated from the fried pie.

Bread has been something easy to part from. Yet, I know I can do this.

What are you trying to separate from?

Progress by fitbook

I've made some wonderful progress through a book the Wounded Warrior Project sent me. It is called fitbook lite.
It focuses on several goals.

1. Move 30 (exercise for 30 minutes a day).
2. Sip 8 (8 ounces of water a day).
3. Eat 5 (5 servings of fruits and vegetables).
4. Stop by 9 (Stop eating at 9 PM). 

I have only been at it for a week during the six week program, but we'll see how it goes. I have kept up with every goal for six days a week or better.

A week over...

So, last week was my seventh year wedding anniversary. My wife and I are going out this weekend. It'll be nice to have a little break again.

Marriage is nice. That does not mean that it is all fun and games. It is hard work.

Even a dream job (Hello, Google!) would suck most of the time. In fact, I heard it said somewhere (?) that most things suck most of the time. I try to scrape by with contentment.

I was good at that in the military, where almost everything sucked most of the time. One can apply "Embrace the suck to mostly everything." Especially when they get a satisfaction out of the feeling of our feet after a 25 mile ruck march.

Four Times a Week

So, I decided that blogging four times a week is just enough. It seems to work. Gives me one night to pursue other projects within the week but keep the streak going. I got four posts in last week. I want to blog, but I'll either increase as this gets easier or decrease as time gets scarce. 

I am happy that I came at the time of the internet. While it is annoying that people are on their phones all the time. Especially while driving. Yet, I am happy I did not come when there was little anesthetic for surgery. When children had to work all day just to keep the family going. 

I put another short read on Amazon.com this week. It is called Goals-based Homeschooling. It is on Kindle Unlimited, so feel free to give it a read if you have KU. 

I have one more post to make this week, and I'll have a goal for tomorrow. 

Too busy for exercise?

Exercise is the culprit to my productivity.

I seem to make time for journaling, meditation, and many other activities that help my productivity. I get plenty of sleep and am eating a diet with enough vegetables and fruits to keep my goals alive.

I do not make time to exercise.

I recognize that I am busy with my family and homeschooling, as well as being a doctoral student. I need to make more time for exercise.

I want to do it five days a week, but the shyness of being seen exercising seems to change that.

Oh, well. Time to get dressed for night and do some calisthenics.

Books and reading progress

I have been reading pretty widely. I finished about 10 books last week.

I have started participating in a goal planning group with Wounded Warrior Project. 

I am working on eating better and lifting weights when I can.

I have a few leads towards material that will get me closer to my goal.

Read of last week (though, I am still working on it): Ikigai by Sabastian Marshall. I highly recommend it.

On Barbarism

As the Hestia Society notes, morality is civilization.

But what if we abandon the Neoreactionary idea, as some groups cannot seem to adjust to civilization? What if tribalism is better, allowing each tribe to form mini-civilizations?

Jack Donovan seems to put forth great ideas. I have not read his new book, but got some great ideas from a podcast he was involved in.

• Everyone wants to be a viking until the vikings rape, pillage, and destroy your tribe.
• Men are about the tribe. Women are about altruism. With civilization comes feminism.
• The mainstream media attempts to make the outgroup into a group everyone should care about. Reject that and build your own tribes. Invest in members of those tribes. Divest in all else.
• Caring about everyone makes men weak.
• Globalization destroyed the tribe.

Moldbuggery, again?

Curtis Yarvin (AKA Mencius Moldbug of unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com) posted an AMA on reddit today. He also did a short post on Medium yesterday that answered why he should be allowed a spot at conferences speaking about his company instead of speaking about political philosophy.

I should note that he was speaking as the founder of Urbit and not as Moldbug.

On Red Teaming and my Book

I am visiting with family for a few more days.

I wanted to take this opportunity to promote a book I put on the Amazon.com Kindle store. It can be read through Kindle Unlimited and is 1.99. It is called Red Teaming for Renegades. It isn't very long, but the mindset principles are useful.

If you read it, good or bad, please leave a review.

On Good Friday

Today, I got a lot done. Despite that, I tried to keep my focus on Jesus. It is Good Friday. I admit I am not the perfect Christian. I have some beliefs that differ from the Orthodox while at the same time, I believe the essential might have been stripped from Christianity. Some of that is due to the fact that we do not have original manuscripts. Yes, I know that Dead Sea Scroll copies of early texts are a lot like modern Old Testament books. Yes, I know that translation does not destroy, but only changed meaning a little bit. Yes, I know that we have early copies of New Testament books.

I still believe that modern practice of Christianity has little similarity to early Christianity.

Yet, I refuse to believe I am lost due to this.

I am a Protestant, but I am not an ideal one.

This is a day I feel my religion closer than many others.

Playing Pandemic

Tonight, I went over for some family time. We sang worship songs, ate dinner, and played a board game. It was relaxing. The game is a cooperative board game instead of a competitive one. Pandemic if you must know.

We try to sing worship songs in an event called Praise and Pizza every Thursday. It seems to be pretty consistent, but dinner varies. Most nights, we have at least one pizza.

It's Maundy Thursday, if one follows Holy Week. A verse about the Last Supper was said, so I pointed out that it probably happened on Thursday of the Holy Week. It kinda struck, even though we are separated by 2k years give or take.

A relative of mine is having trouble. He is taking an M.Div and his professor said his beliefs were not consistent. I don't buy the argument. A professor is there to encourage growth, but it is difficult to grade a belief. It mostly regarded the entire Calvinism argument and whether my relative was consistent in his defense of it.

What do you think? Should a professor grade ideas and their consistency? Should a professor only grade a good argument?

It is difficult because it is a religious course. Let me know in the comments if you have an opinion.

Blogging

I really want to have a blog. I am not so good at putting in the effort at the keyboard.

I hope to change that. If you happen to read this and have any suggestions for a weekly blog (or something that way), let me know in the comments.

Habits that I am good at:
     Regular reading
     Getting up early
     Doing schoolwork for my Ed.D with plenty of time to spare
Habits that I am not good at:
     Brushing and flossing
     Blogging (!)
     Exercise

I just finished Brave New War by John Robb. A great read on open-source warfare.