There is a real reason why I don’t have a television, telephone nor miss them… I grew increasingly tired of the constant brainwashing of marketers trying to convert an unknown want into a NEED.

Want vs need

We NEED food, fire, shelter and in my case, Internet – everything else is bonus as far as I am concerned. What marketers do is convert wants, such as the latest packaged food, value meal item or health craze into a need to their profit and your detriment.

Marketing isn’t all bad

Marketing done to promote good habits, positivity and happiness I am all for, but those used to sell a product that doesn’t work, lie to their “captive audience” or promote what is incredibly unhealthy behaviors should be sent on way plane ticket to the front lines of the latest war zone.

Some marketing is good, like telling you it’s tax season but the vast majority (sadly) of promoted stuff is simply mindless junk that interferes directly with leading a productive lifestyle. Imagine how much you COULD accomplish in your life if, instead of spending a few hours a night watching your favorite shows, that you used this time more wisely improving your life and those around you. Well, this is what I realized a few years ago and have never looked back! Same goes with radio, magazines, commercial books etc… if you cut the crap, your left with gold if you are willing to allow your mind to think for itself.

Don’t believe me about the advertising out there?

Here is but a fractional glimpse at what you are being told without even knowing it, and this is just articles published in the last week from one news agency!

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/popup?id=3221225&contentIndex=1&page=1

Doctored magazine covers (they do this on inside pages as well as advertisers btw), where the image you see is trying to convey a necessary need that you didn’t know you had. For instance, famous people being “slimmed” or “bulked” based on what the magazine wishes to promote for their own gain or those of their advertisers.

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=3201973&page=1

Although completely non-scientific, I find it ironic that people who have way too much experience in alcohol and claim they can differentiate one brand from another ALL AGREE that the brand they love the most (with associated cost) they actually HATE when blindfolded. This shows how powerful marketing can be, overriding your own brains perception and senses. Now, extend this to other foods like McBarf (and other unhealthy fast foods), Cars etc… Powerful stuff huh?

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=3222527&page=1

“The CDC reports that nearly 71 percent of American men are overweight or obese. ” Huh? And the weight loss industry that does such a phenomenal job taking advantage of woman with their dis-information campaigns will now be responsible for doing the same to men? I still don’t understand why the government has done so little to stop this entire industry from essentially brainwashing the vast proportion of the populations they “invade” with their propaganda that the only way to loose weight is to buy their products that don’t work! If you are too “busy” to spend 10 minutes cooking your own meals, you need to review your life, not send up to 50$ a day eating mostly un-nutritious processed foods which will only increase the potential for you actually BECOMING what you are avoiding.

What is the solution?

Well, I have found it, drop out! I don’t care if xyz celebrity stubbed their toe this morning but I do care about what is going on in Sudan. I don’t care about my love handles (not that I have much of any) but I do care about how to cook a nutritious meal for my family and friends. I don’t care if I spent the last three hours working on myfoodcount.com but I do care that I was interrupted by a telemarketer. Does this make sense to you or is it just me? In either case, the less I participate with this, the more productive I become and the happier I am with what I do have. I have more time to learn about the world around me as well and cross-reference news to get all 3 sides of the story.

…but you have ads on your site!

Yes, myfoodcount.com also has a marketplace selling things that IMPROVE your life and many other features, these are used to continue supporting the site (ei: pay the bills). They are not blaring (if I find them to be so, I remove them). Amazon links are also double lined – so as to not confuse a valid link from one based on selling as well (I didn’t have to do this but I chose to). I also cannot choose what text ads show up on this site nor is spending my days filtering ad content a good use of time - I have higher priorities. They are mostly always placed in the same places so they are easily ignored if you so choose. Overall, the message behind myfoodcount.com is non-biased health information regardless of your social, economic or geographical situation so I try my best to keep things in this spirit. I can only hope that this spirit gets through to the users and visitors of this site.

The Bottom Line

Marketing that promotes detrimental products or services should be banned outright with incredibly high personal and business penalties to those who break them.

All animals that have made it this far on our planet have an innate reaction, one that instantly goes off even before a signal as to what to do reaches the brain, it’s called the “fight or flight” response.

Background

Last week I went up to Cape Tribulation (Australia) to get some camping done, admiring nature and swimming with the jellyfish/man-a-wars when the tide was high in the main bay. When it was low tide, remnants of ancient coral where exposed, long since dead but still as hard as iron. Walking along the exposed reef, I kept hearing a snapping sound all around me, I would then walk a little more, stop and again hear “snap, snap, snap”. Oddly enough, I never heard it “under me”, always a few meters AROUND me. This made no sense obviously, so I just crouched down until I could pinpoint one specific snap and followed it until I discovered what it was.

Fight, Flight or Hide

What I was experiencing on the ancient exposed reef was the reaction of thousands of little crabs, about the size of my fist that where incredibly well camouflaged - I can only guess it was either a mating call or a message to other that “this is my territory, stay out”. Their initial reaction to a HUGE 6ft tall, 160lbs white monster (I was wearing a bright white long sleeve t-shirt) was to stand absolutely still, not make a sound if I was within about a 3 meter radius from them, any further, they would either run off (flight) or cease all sounds/movement hoping I missed them.

Discovery: What to do?

Keep in mind, I had to spend several minutes to simply pinpoint one of these noble little creatures, they are incredibly difficult to find when they don’t move or make a sound - I saw only 5 of them during a 8 hour period, of which only one I was able to get close enough to take a picture. Their initial reaction once it became obvious I was ABOUT to find them was to run away like Armageddon was at their doorstep asking for their soul… they may be very small, but they can sure run/swim faster then I ever could.

Fighting me off

Below is a picture of a brave little crab trying to fight me off as best he/she could. This screams of bravery and this little guy should get a medal but alas, I was just playing with it, I don’t particularly like crab as food so I posed no danger to him. There where Dingos, birds and other marsupials along the beach when the reef was exposed and at night when it was high tide, who knows what lives in the ocean looking for a quick and easy snack. The ONLY way I could ever get a “fight” response from a crab was to corner it, otherwise, it was a futile effort of hide and seek with them having the upper hand. Keep in mind, these little guys are about 1/4 a pound soaking wet - they stand absolutely no chance against me even if I fought them with my eyes closed. Just think, what would your reaction be if a giant about the size of the Eiffel tower was trying to catch you and you get a small glimpse as to how they may have felt about me. Would you stand defiant against all odds, stand your ground and fight?

Also below is a picture I took as to the consequences that are very real to these little crabs on a daily basis, the cost of fighting to the death or hiding to the death. So as you can see, it’s totally logical that if you see a potential predator coming your way, running away is probably better then hiding or fighting them off. You can see this everyday in our own species and countless others.

Brave little soldier!

Life is TOUGH on the Ree

The Bottom Line

We have a lot yet to learn from nature, if we open our eyes and give it the time it needs to reveal itself.

I was working on myfoodcount.com when I “accidentally” found a reference to animutation, my curiosity was peaked and this is some weird stuff!

WARNING: IF YOU EPILEPTIC, DO NOT VIEW ANIMUTATIONS

Mixture of Media

Weird doesn’t mean awful, let me clarify that. I have seen many different animation styles in the past, from minimalistic to surreal and everything in between but this one is just plain interesting although the novelty does wear off rather quickly. Animutation is the logical result of what happens when you mix American 80s pop-culture with mostly J-Pop (Japanese Pop) music using the power of flash. You got clip-art, video, edited imagery and borderline seizure inducing color changes all thrown into what seem to be infinite layers to produce rather eye heavy media.

Inside Jokes

There seems to be many “inside jokes” within the media, more then you typically see in other animation styles although these are far more blatant. These include a must-have appearance by Colin Mochrie,Pee-Wee Herman, Carrot Top, boogie-eyes and of course, many appearances by Mario the Nintendo mascot. The creators also seem to rather enjoy lengthy credits. Many clips are pretty funny though if you can bear the eye strain of watching a few episodes in one shot.

Why is this on myfoodcount.com?

I believe in using multiple media to help show and spread non-biased health information is important. Although I don’t see Animutation being used on this site anytime soon, I wouldn’t rule it out (minus the seizure inducing effects). The way I see it, the internet is but one medium to spread health knowledge - in the past, people used bundles of paper often referred to as books - in the future, who knows. Besides, I have my own comic and have been in the production/3D industry for about half of my life I am not a one dimensional person anymore then you are (I hope).

The Bottom Line

Having fun with media and culture is part of the natural learning process.

Success is defined as the achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted. Here are a few guidelines I use to keep my life in check on the path towards ultimate freedom.

Learn to say NO

You can do anything you want on any given day, the freedom of time that citizens of the industrialized democratic world have is truly the most under-appreciated right we have yet instead of realizing its value, most of us are running around like chickens with our head chopped off. We have become a society that fears saying NO to people, we don’t want to hurt peoples feelings or worst yet, try to get our self-esteem by making other people happy at the expense of our time.

Your time is the most valuable commodity you will ever have, it is like a bank account only allows you to make withdraws from. Take control of your life and take pride in saying NO to things that are not compatible with your life plans.

Take ownership of your life

Nobody really cares about your life as much as you do. Ask the person who loves you the most in your life how much time they have planned into turning your life around into one overflowing with success… I bet the answer you get is “huh?”. Success can only happen when YOU take ownership of your life, YOU need to plan and YOU need to execute YOUR goals. YOU are the only person who can invest the amount of time and energy required to achieve YOUR goals.

Plan your life before life plans you

The typical lifespan of most people is between 60-100 years, I would easily say that 95% of the people go through their entire life like a tree in the wind… simply going in the direction of the wind. If you want to make something of yourself and turn your dreams into reality, you must be that one stubborn tree that ALWAYS points in one direction… the direction of success. No matter what comes at you, you must never loose sight of why you are doing what you are doing. Plans do change, sometimes just as erratic as a breeze but as long as your able to adapt, you will be fine.

Goal setting with established absolute benchmarks go a very long way.

Find your purpose

Success, no matter if for you it means becoming head janitor at the school you work at or to make your first billion before the age of 30… it must have a purpose for being. If you are unable to build a strong emotional link as to why you are getting up every morning and going “against the wind” then your wasting your time and fooling others. We are emotional animals and without that fire in the gut feeling pushing you, don’t expect to get very far. You must not only WANT to achieve something… you must ABSOLUTELY REQUIRE it for your survival.

TAKE ACTION!

Success only can be achieved by taking ACTION. Dreaming about what you “would” do will not get you towards what you want out of life… everyday, take at least 1 action towards achieving your goal, no matter how small. Momentum builds onto itself rather quickly once you have developed the habit of action.

Expect to make sacrifices

Success takes sacrifices, I can’t think of many people who have achieved success in absolutely every part of their life, often there is great success in one area of their life at the expense of another. I don’t think its possible from the onset to become successful all around, it takes so much focus and attention that something will else will suffer. Expect some pain and very tough decisions to come your way… but always remember to also enjoy the journey. Are you willing to make life long and life altering sacrifices to see a dream come to reality?

Even friendships are on the table of business

Haven recently gone though some very large business turnovers in the past few months, I can tell you that friends come and go - if there is no longer a reason to remain as close as you once where, don’t fight it - it’s simply the evolution of your life taking a leap (usually for the better). Life isn’t a popularity or “friend collection” contest, to be blunt, friends can sometime be dead weight on your life which you need to drop off at the next embankment of life, no matter the emotional/financial connections in order to get back your life and move onward with it in a positive way.

The Bottom Line

Success is how you define it but with enough intensity and attention, anybody can achieve what they want out of life.

Cancer has grown increasingly prominent among western cultures whose population live their lives surrounded by a toxic soup that is a byproduct of their lifestyle. As incidents of smoking, pollution, poor diet and lack of activity take their toll slowly on the body, more of our internal systems to keep cancer at bay are damaged. It is estimated that 50% of all cancer incidences in women and 30% in men are directly associated with environmental factors.

The Bottom Line

The best way to fight cancer is not to get it in the first place, there is no 100% effective way to avoid cancer, but anything that reduces the risk should be adopted as part of any healthy lifestyle.