Future Perfect

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2007-09-06T06:54:00.001-04:00

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Make Money Blog Writing

2007-09-06T06:48:00.000-04:00

Speaking of perfect futures, how about one in which you could make a living simply by posting to a blog such as this one? If that sounds appealing, you should check out Blogging To The Bank. I've devoted a whole web site to it here. Or, you can go directly to the source to find out more.

New Blog

2007-03-03T13:30:00.000-05:00

This new blog site presents original articles by outstanding writers. Subject matter is multitudinous. Check it out at solidgoldwriters.blogspot.com.

Timothy Leary dearie

2006-06-17T19:36:00.000-04:00

I got to see and hear Timothy Leary once, in 1988. It was at a "counter-convention" held during the Democrats' national convention in Atlanta. The venue was an open-air courtyard of a local club, where several countercultural and alternative political types, from libertarians to Marxists, got to take the stage for a few minutes of soap-boxing.

I was there to hear Russell Means, then running for the presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party. But I was capitvated by Leary. Not that I understood much of what he was saying. But hearing him, I felt I had been time-and-place-warped back to 1960s California. The "speech" consisted mainly of "far out, man" and "I can dig it. Can you dig it?" It was hypnotic, though, in a mantra-chanting sort of way. Maybe he was weaving a spell. Maybe that was the whole of his attraction to so many of his followers back in the day.

Although most people think of Leary in connection with LSD and hippies, he had a career through the '70s, '80s and into the 1990s as a writer, promoter and self-styled "intelligence agent" on behalf of human expansion in all its possibilities. He pushed freedom and self-actualization as the best drugs of all. Arguably, he was the first transhumanist and first extropian. I have no doubt he would have embraced and heartily approved the notion of living to 150 "with riches, romance and adventure" -- the theme of this site.

Now there's a new biography of the man, titled simply Timothy Leary, written by noted pop biographer Robert Greenfield.

Nick Gillespie of Reason magazine has written a review of Greenfield's book in the June 15 issue of The Washington Post. If you have any interest at all in the subject, I urge you to read it. (Note that you might have to register at the Post site in order to access it. Registration is free.)

Gillespie echoes my thoughts above about Leary's place at the leading edge of extropian thinking. He writes,

Leary's story reads like a glorious Day-Glo inversion of what we've come to expect of the Greatest Generation, that cohort of Americans who suffered through the Great Depression and braved World War II and are now revered for an implacable sense of civic responsibility and a casual stoicism. As his famous catchphrase -- "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out" -- attests, Leary, born in 1920, was no organization man, saying in his final interview, "My life work has been to empower individuals . . . to free herself and himself to grow and be more free."

But then Gillespie goes on to point out that, as elucidated in detail in Greenfield's book, Leary had many failings as a person and deep moral stains, for want of a better descriptor, on his life. Evidently it was anything but a deliriously trippy experience to be his spouse (he was married four times), or a child of his, or even a friend.

Read the review for more. And if that piques your interest, you can find Timothy Leary on sale at Amazon.

Tags: Washington Post, Timothy Leary, hippies, LSD, drugs, extropians, transhumanists, transhumanism, books, biography, reviews, Amazon, newspapers, 1960s, sixties, counterculture, culture, society, movements, Democrats, libertarians, Marxists, political conventions, 1980s, eighties

Search Stomper links: Washington Post, Timothy Leary, hippies, LSD, drugs, extropian, transhumanism, book reviews, biography, 1960s, counterculture, movements, Democrats, libertarians, libertarianism, freedom, human freedom, Marxism, political conventions, 1980s, Nick Gillespie, Reason magazine, Russell Means, Robert Greenfield

Qumana Test

2006-06-17T15:26:00.000-04:00

Qumana appears to be a neat little program for posting to blogs without going through one's individual blog interface. If I'm understanding the features correctly, it will allow me to write posts offline for uploading at my pleasure, to cross-post to multiple blogs if I want, and to insert Technorati and other tags more easily than heretofore. And maybe other cool tricks that I haven't yet discovered. Please bear with me as I run a few test posts. I'll try to keep them short.

Tags: Qumana, posting, auto posting, cross-posting, tagging, testing

Bookmark It!

2006-06-05T22:42:00.000-04:00

Social networking ... social bookmarks ... social tagging. Whatever. It's supposed to be the wave of the future, or at least the wave of the next few years (months?). Except for Technorati, whose tagging system and rationale I understand, I've mostly ignored the phenomenon. In the last few days, though, I've begun playing around with services such as del.icio.us and jots.

For what it's worth, here's my bookmarking page on del.icio.us: del.icio.us/stephensmith. And here's my similar page on jots: www.jots.com/users/stephensmith.

Technorati Tags:
tagging, social bookmarks, social networking, communities, tags, jots, delicious, networks, friends, circles, bookmarking, bookmarks

Search Stomper links:
social bookmarks
jots
myspace
technorati
social networks
friends
circles
social web sites
tags
commnity
networking
bookmarking
communities
furl
groups
internet phenomena

The Day My Mind Caught Fire

2006-06-04T14:24:00.000-04:00

Val Guest recently died at the age of 94. The British film director made many films over a long career, but for me his fame and glory rest on one particular one: The Day the Earth Caught Fire.

Premiering in 1961, The Day the Earth Caught Fire is a science fiction drama in which secret, simultaneous nuclear detonations by the United States and the Soviet Union knock Earth off its axis and send it hurtling toward the sun as the world's weather turns chaotic. The doomsday drama is told through the characters of two Fleet Street reporters.

The Day the Earth Caught Fire brought Guest and co-writer Wolf Mankowitz the best British screenplay awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. U.S. President Kennedy even asked for his own copy and showed it to 200 foreign correspondents in Washington.

This movie was one of the pivotal ones--along with tons of science fiction novels and short stories from the 1950s and 1960s--that led to my love for the genre and also helped expand my mind to encompass both the promises and the dangers that the future held. (Another notable SF movie from the same director's hand is The Quatermass Xperiment.)

Thanks, Val.

Related links, via Search Stomper:

science fiction
movies
SF movies
Val Guest
cinema
The Day the Earth Caught Fire
popular culture
JFK
1960s
Sixties

Technorati Tags:
science fiction, movies, Sixties, 1960s, cinema, SF movies, pop culture, JFK, Kennedy, awards, honors, future, futurism, atomic weapons, atomic bombs, nuclear age, doomsday
deaths, obituaries, celebrities

Stomp Your Searches

2006-06-04T12:43:00.000-04:00

Although Google, Yahoo and MSNSearch have nothing to fear from it, you might like to try out Search Stomper (www.SearchStomper.com), a new search engine with a nice look and an interesting way of presenting search results.

Technically, Search Stomper is a meta-search engine -- it draws upon the capabilities of existing search engines for its results. Nevertheless, you might like how it displays those results in a clean yet attractive manner, and especially the tabs -- one for web pages, one for images, one for local resources, one for products, one for news and even one for videos. (Personally, I find its ability to find videos and display them on their own results page to be one of the best features.)

For some examples of how it shows its results, take a look at how it handles several currently and recently hot search terms:

American Idol
Supermax Prison
Hubble Space Telescope
Stephen Colbert video
Jessica Alba
Karen Elson
Kentucky Derby
Larisa Oleynik
American Inventor
NBA
Osama Bin Laden
Cynthia Watros
Shakira
Kaavya Viswanathan
Chris Brown
Mother's Day
Ivanka Trump
Britney Spears
Axl Rose
Michelle Rodriguez
Pussycat Dolls
Hanso Foundation
America's Next Top Model
Hebrew Month
cute puppies
Paris Hilton
Stephen Colbert
Megan Fox
American Idol
soccer
Da Vinci Code
Jodie Marsh
Thefacebook
Survivor: Panama
Naruto
Pope Benedict XVI
Opus Dei
Oprah Winfrey

Technorati Tags for this post:
American Idol, prisons, Hubble Space Telescope, Stephen Colbert, impersonators, comics, comedians, comedy, celebrities, Jessica Alba, Karen Elson, Kentucky Derby, horses, horse racing, Larisa Oleynik, inventors, inventions, NBA, basketball, sports, Osama Bin Laden, Cynthia Watros, Shakira, Kaavya Viswanathan, Chris Brown, Ivanka Trump, Britney Spears, Axl Rose, Michelle Rodriguez, Pussycat Dolls, pop music, rock music, Hanso Foundation, America's Next Top Model, puppies, Paris Hilton, Megan Fox, soccer, Da Vinci Code, Jodie Marsh, Survivor, Naruto, Pope Benedict XVI, Opus Dei, Oprah Winfrey, reality tv, television, search engines

Technorati directory tags for this weblog:
futurism golf antiaging
life extension history literature gadgets
science Victorian
time travel predictions
prophecy books weird

Reminder: Celebrate Alexander J. Gibson Day(s) March 24-25, 2006

2006-03-22T23:33:00.000-05:00

Found on digg:

"Alexander J. Gibson is the fictional hero in a weird science fiction book from 1892. The book predicted television, digital watches and bullet trains decades before they came to be. This site has the entire novel online, and this story is the site owner's attempt to promote a new holiday based on science fiction and ... golf!"

Hmm .. it all sounds vaguely familiar.

read more | digg story

More Predictions of Dramatic Life Extension Breakthroughs

2006-03-22T23:30:00.000-05:00

In the 21st century, state-of-the-art anti-aging technologies may extend human lifespans at an unprecedented rate, bringing with them a host of social and economic challenges, says biologist Shripad Tuljapurkar of Stanford University.

Tuljapurkar estimates that between 2010 and 2030, the modal, or most common, age of death will increase by 20 years if anti-aging therapies come into widespread use. This projected increase reflects a lifespan growth rate that is five times faster than the current rate, increasing the modal age of death in industrialized countries such as the United States from roughly 80 years to 100.

read more | digg story

How to Make a 12 foot GPS wall clock

2006-03-22T23:24:00.000-05:00

"So here is the little project that grew to 12 feet. We added a GPS receiver so now we have a 12' clock that sets itself, displays hours/minutes/seconds, and is accurate to 100ns. Beats that bedside alarm!"

What's with all the clock building projects these days? Anyway, the photo alone is worth a visit to the web site.

read more | digg story

1000 Suns From Huge Concentrating Dish

2006-03-22T23:20:00.000-05:00

"The dish is 4,300 square feet, but the actual solar panel part is only 3 inches by 3 inches! This will soon be tested by the National Solar Energy Center in Israel."

Somehow this brings to mind that guy in Portland or Seattle I blogged about previously who built his own DIY death ray machine ... and array of little vanity-type mirrors that focused the sun's rays to melt plastic army men, Peeps, etc.

read more | digg story

Games Unleash Imagination

2006-03-22T22:52:00.000-05:00

Will Wright at Wired explains how games cultivate the player's mind through experimentation and trial and error. He argues that games are not always violent, addictive, and childish but they can inspire creativity, community, self-esteem, and problem-solving.

read more | digg story

How to Make a "Bob Clock"...uses 60 Multicolor LCDs

2006-03-22T22:45:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time, when I was 16 or so, I used to haunt the electronic component aisles of my local Radio Shack. This was back when almost all the had was electonic components ... transistors and capacitors and resistors, and solder and soldering irons with which to put them all together.

I also bought books full of schematics on how to make electronic burglar alarms, electronic rain monitors, airport control tower monitors, etc. ... but never actually managed to make anything.

Anyway, I continue to harbor envy for guys like Bob, who not only make their own schematics, but bring them to reality, as with this clock. (You have to see the web site to understand how the clock displays the time.)

To whet your appetite, I quote from the Bob Clock inventor's introduction:

"The inspiration came to me in a dream sometime (I think it was arround 1997). This is the only time ever that I have really gotten an idea from a dream, and actually carried it out..."

read more | digg story

Pac-Man: Restored and Reloaded!

2006-03-22T22:32:00.000-05:00

Remember when Pac-Man was state-of-the-art fun, even "futuristic?" Heck, I remember when Pong was all that. Here's an incredibly detailed (some might say obsessive) about one person who bought an old Pac-Man arcade made, broke it down, and proceeded to rewire and restore it to perfect working order.

read more | digg story

Yahoo Employees not Happy about Tom Cruise's Visit

2006-03-22T22:20:00.000-05:00

Yahoo's decision to invite Tom Cruise to speak today at company headquarters has generated some snide comments among employees, some of which are being aired in the blogosphere. The responses seem to highlight resentment among some in the rank and file toward the general perception that the company is trying to go Hollywood.

OK, so why did I blog this? It's just the story that happened to be handy when I wanted to test the blogging capability on the digg site. What is digg? Check it for yourself: www.digg.com.

And in the future (assuming this test is successful) I will stick with blogging items that fit under the loosely defined theme of Future Perfect.

read more | digg story

Happy Alexander J. Gibson Day(s), 2006!

2006-03-15T10:36:00.000-05:00

The second-annual joyous observance of Alexander J. Gibson Day(s) is fast approaching--on March 24 and 25, to be precise. What will you be doing to celebrate? What? You never heard of either Alexander J. Gibson or Alexander J. Gibson Day(s). Please do not allow yourself to remain in ignorance a moment longer. Learn the whole story right here.

A Word Processor for Writers

2006-03-09T12:37:00.000-05:00

Here's a great little program for aspiring authors, diarists, obsessive note takers and free-form listmakers: Page Four. It's not weighted down with all the secretarial/corporate-type features of Word and its clones. Instead it offers you a workspace to just jump right in and start writing. At the same time it gives you an elegantly simple means of saving, organizing and archiving your work. You can try it for 30 days for free and then if you want to own it, it costs 25 bucks. Check it out.

Learn Spanish

2006-03-03T14:04:00.000-05:00

Although I'm hard pressed to tie it in to either golfing or futurism, I did want to call attention to this new blog, Learn Spanish. As the (ahem) very well known author of the blog states, it is for "who wants to learn Spanish" with "lots of information on the best ways to learn Spanish, whether from a school, on a vacation in a Spanish speaking country, or on your own using language learning software, audio and video." Not so much a place to learn Spanish, actually, but rather a place to learn about learning it.

Technorati Tags:
spanish, learn spanish, spanish instruction, study spanish, spanish language, spanish schools, Spain, Guatemala, Mexico, education, tourism, travel, South America, Central America, study spanish, learning Spanish, language, Latin America

Golf Articles Library Added to Main Site

2006-02-27T08:15:00.000-05:00

I realize that to many of our readers, this site might seem to be having a permanent identity crisis. Is it a science fiction site, a self-improvement site, an anti-aging site, a Victorian literature site, or what? Well, the answer is ... yes. This blog in particular is a little bit of all of the above. The main site to which it is attached, though, has a bit more of a focus. A big part of that focus is definitely GOLF. To underscore this, and to make the site more useful to you golfers who happen to find your way here, I'm pleased to announce that I've added an entire library of golf articles -- 1,000+ articles, in fact, with more to come.

Technorati Tags:
golf, golfing, golf articles, golfer, golf news, golf instruction, golf news, golf courses, golf vacation, hobbies, games, sports, recreation, retirement, advice, instruction, learning, experts

New DHEA/Antiaging Blog

2005-11-17T12:40:00.000-05:00

I've begun a new blog specifically for anyone interested in DHEA supplements in relation to antiaging. It's viewable at www.dhea-youth.com/blog.html.

Technorati Tags:
anitaging, anti-aging, dhea, coQ10, supplements, vitamins, free articles, webmasters, essays, life extension, affirmations, longevity, aging, medicine, drugs, self-help, self-improvement, long life, live long, future, futurism, releasing

DARE-ME: The Live-to-150 Formula (Afterword)

2005-11-16T12:52:00.000-05:00

I hope this introduction to DARE-ME has excited you to explore the real possibility of living to 100, 120 or even more--in good health, in a youthful body, with a perpetually young mind.

Each of the six DARE-ME components would require its own book chapter to fully explain. That's why I'm working on a series of reports, due to be published soon and made available for the asking, on the complete DARE-ME antiaging program. As soon as they're ready they will be accessible through my various antiaging sites (starting with the DHEA for Antiaging site--see note below).

So, why not live to 150?

I dare you!

Note: This article is adapted and condensed from "Live to 150-I Dare You!" The full article is available at this link at the DHEA for Antiaging site.

DARE-ME: The Live-to-150 Formula (Part 6)

2005-11-16T10:17:00.000-05:00

ENHANCE -- This refers to things we can do to boost (enhance) our natural chemistry to raise the levels of youth hormones and other anti-aging substances in our bodies.

Science has discovered a handful of vitamins, nutrients and other substances that appear to have genuine anti-aging effects. Many are available as dietary supplements, which you can buy over the counter in pharmacies and grocery stores, and cheaply via the Internet.

Supplements I personally take for their anti-aging powers include coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), alpha lipoic acid, acetyl-l-carnitine, and pregnenolone. For each of these, there is strong evidence of their ability to slow some aspects of aging and, perhaps, extend life. Please look them up and decide for yourself whether or not there is anything to the claims made for them.

I also take supplements of DHEA. Because this one is a bit controversial, I want to say more about it.

DHEA--dehydroepiandrosterone--is a so-called “mother hormone,” which our bodies produce naturally. Our bodies convert it into sex hormones--testosterone and estrogen, primarily--as needed.

Our natural DHEA levels decline rapidly with age, eventually falling to a fraction of what they were at their height during our 20s. In fact, the level of DHEA in a person's body is one of the surest biomarkers for age.

Knowing this, researchers have experimented with DHEA supplementation as a treatment for everything from obesity to lack of energy to loss of libido. The news from these experiments has been mainly good. DHEA looks to be--potentially--one of the most powerful antiaging substances readily available to the average person.

Some experts worry, though, about the possible risks from people using a powerful hormone as a dietary supplement. For example, what if taking in DHEA from the outside signals the body to shut down production of its own natural supply?

Questions such as this underscore the need to do your own research and form your own conclusions before taking any supplement. This is so important in the case of DHEA that I created an entire web site to present all of the evidence for and against its use as an antiaging therapy.

For the record, I take one 25 milligram DHEA capsule every other day. This reflects my own comfort level as far as dosage and frequency. It seems to be enough to provide the benefits of DHEA that I hoped for when I started. (For one thing, I'm finally losing some stubborn belly fat. The ability to melt away adominal fat is one of the more recently documented benefits of taking DHEA.)

Taking the right vitamins and other supplements is an important part of making the DARE-ME formula work. They will greatly aid your own antiaging program. Learn as much as you can before starting them, though.

Note: This article is adapted and condensed from "Live to 150-I Dare You!" The full article is available at this link at the DHEA for Antiaging site.

DARE-ME: The Live-to-150 Formula (Part 5)

2005-11-16T10:01:00.000-05:00

MOVE -- It is well known that regular exercise keeps people looking and feeling young and wards off many of the illnesses associated with getting older.

Aerobic exercise such as walking or jogging is one of the best things you can do for your physical well-being. I have a confession, though. In this area, I don't exactly practice what I preach.

I have spurts of commitment when I get out every evening and walk two or three miles. But then I skip a couple of days, and soon whole months pass during which I never get out the door except to walk to the car.

Nevertheless, I do move. Every morning I run up the three flights of stairs to my office, to the amusement of others in the building who say they can always tell it's me because no one else ever does that.

Often, I'll pass by a particular building that has a flower bed lined with a low brick “wall.” I like to walk along the top of the bricks, performing a little balancing act as I do.

You frequently hear of older people falling and breaking bones because they lost their balance. So, start now to practice balancing whenever and wherever you spot on opportunity.

Certain Eastern exercises are said to confer long life and agelessness. Tai chi is one. I have practiced tai chi, and can report that it will leave you feeling mentally and emotionally centered as well as physically balanced.

Here's an amazing antiaging exercise you can start doing today: Spinning.

Don't laugh or dismiss this out of hand, and don't reject it because it might be uncomfortable at first. After all, you used to do it for fun as a kid!

Stand in the middle of the room, arms raised out to your sides, and begin turning clockwise (left to right). In the beginning you might only manage two or three slow turns before you get too dizzy to continue. Don't worry. Spin every day and in a short time you'll be able to do it rapidly, many times, with very little dizziness. Work up to 21 spins per daily session.

This spinning is one of five “secret” Tibetan yoga exercises said to have a miraculous ability to reverse aging when done every day. There are books and web sites describing all five in detail.

Some people say these exercises work by speeding up certain “vortexes” that reside within our bodies. These vortexes are energy centers, spinning rapidly when we are young but slowing down as we get older until they stop altogether at death. The Tibetan exercises get those vortexes spinning fast again.

Whether or not you accept the idea of vortexes spinning away inside your body, there are many reports that practicing this Tibetan yoga can actually de-age a person.

Note: This article is adapted and condensed from "Live to 150-I Dare You!" The full article is available at this link at the DHEA for Antiaging site.

DARE-ME: The Live-to-150 Formula (Part 4)

2005-11-16T01:44:00.000-05:00

EMBRACE -- By this, I mean “Embrace life.” It sounds airy or downright sappy, I know. What it means is to cultivate a love for the world and the people and things in it, or at least boundless curiosity about it.

Some people are natural-born “huggers,” whether of other people, or dogs, or trees. They embrace the world literally.

But even introverts and physically standoffish types--among whom I count myself--can embrace the world through a desire to keep on learning about it. People who know me say that I seem to be interested in more different things than anyone else they've met.

What does this have to do with antiaging?

Embracing life--loving it--sends a message to your body and mind that life is worth sticking around to enjoy. The converse also holds. Reject life, or decide you're bored with it or tired of it, and you set yourself on a downhill slide to emotional, mental and physical oblivion.

Embrace life and life will embrace you. Sappy? Maybe. But true? What do you think?

Note: This article is adapted and condensed from "Live to 150-I Dare You!" The full article is available at this link at the DHEA for Antiaging site.