LegendaryLife Blog

It has been a LONG road from start to finish but I’m proud to say that you can now purchase a digital copy of 2847AD, the science fiction book I wrote and researched for extensively and physical form of 2847 A.D.: Solar Horizons from Amazon! YAHOO!!! This has been a major accomplishment for me, I never knew publishing a science fiction novel could be so much work but now that it’s done, it feels wonderful to have achieved this major goal of mine.

If you wish to follow the journey pretty much from start to finish, I have chronicled it on my blog. I mention this in several other postings but these are the major ones.

• 2847: Going Science Fiction
• 2847AD: Writing Science Fiction is Hard!
• Getting through the home stretch
• 2847AD is finally done!
• Transforming your life from Blah to Legendary now available on Amazon!

What made the book especially challenging is that I tried to integrate almost everything I knew about science and then some, at the time. There is so much information out there, it’s really astounding and trying to condense it into a readable form, not only for me but for the general public takes a lot of effort.

I wanted to write a book that was scientifically accurate while at the same time, within the realm of possibility AND readable by somebody who has little to no scientific knowledge.

I believe I have accomplished this goal. I already started on a second volume of this book but had to put it on the back burner for several reasons, including but not limited to the amount of work I’ve been putting into my WoodMarvels.com company. I love design so much… it’s a true passion, as is writing but I think a long break is necessary to get most of the ideas fleshed-out. The further you jump into the future, the more difficult it becomes to imagine the unimaginable and this is really taxing mentally as I discovered. Exhausting even!

My delight: Hydrogen Sulfide

In the book, I describe in detail why I used this very toxic gas, hydrogen sulfide, as a mechanism for suspended animation during long space travels. Today, I watched a TED video and much to my delight, what I described and envisioned is actually coming true! Yes, they have human trials of this and the results are astoundingly positive. Watch the video to learn more about this important toxic gas

TEDTalks : Mark Roth: Suspended animation is within our grasp – Mark Roth (2010)

The Bottom Line

Research, hard work and tremendous passion can even bend even the most impossible of challenges into reality.

I just watched this and I can’t help but think of zombie movies. If a virulent form of the H1N1 flu strikes, buy lots of ammo and a shovel as the government will stick its head in the sand (protecting itself of course) and everybody else around you will freak-out and die in short order. Societies around the world fall one by one over the course of a year or two as wave after wave goes around the world. Masks don’t work against viruses unless you know how to put one one and take it off properly.

Not a nice picture is it, ah well, time for a trip to the local hardware store, I hear they have a big discount on shovels! Alternatively, you can build a log cabin in the bush and stay there the rest of your life, hoping the duck you eat doesn’t get infected and caught its last breath onto you.

Here is a possible solution to confirm your upcoming bout with mortality… It’s always nice to know ahead of time that you are about to die and there is nothing you can do about it right?

Before you pre-emptively go out there on a binge of population control, there is some hope.

Fell all better? Yes? No? Well, that’s life… it will end one day, it isn’t a choice. Time to live everyday as if it was your last and stop procrastinating!

The Bottom Line

Life is precious, appreciate it!

I never heard of this band or the song before but being a fan of both electronic music and 3D animation, I was very impressed by this video. What I like the most is the originality, the sync between the music and aspects within the animation and the use of a “comic filter”. I would be surprised if they used anything but 3DS Max to produce this entire project… great job guys!

Mortality or Death (which ever makes you feel better) isn’t something to be feared nor used as an excuse for not getting what you want out of your one and ONLY life.

This guy isn't wasting a second, he is singing and playing the flute at the same time!

Most people think that free time is just that, well, it isn’t!

What is free time?

From the moment you are conceived, you are in a speeding car heading straight for a brick wall, this brick wall is called death and the road you are on only goes one way. As such, we do not have an infinite amount of time, there are no breaks on this car and it will sadly, never run out of gas. So, most people consider free time as a pause or “break” in life but what most people don’t realize is that this isn’t the case… whether you are sleeping, eating, going to the bathroom or even in love, this car you are in never stops, if anything, it accelerates as you loose track of time.

How to ease off the gas

Now, I used the analogy of a car on purpose, a car can go either fast or slow, even if you are heading towards a brick wall, you an choose, through your lifestyle and decisions in life, to ease off the gas a little. How? Well, don’t smoke, don’t drink, exercise, develop healthy relationships etc… theses might sound like small things but when you consider your body is in a constant state of decay, if you can slow down this process, ever so slightly, the dividends pay off big time later in life. So, if you live an unhealthy lifestyle, including everyday stress that makes your blood pressure rise, time to make some serious changes as, that car, sure isn’t going to stop.

Out of mind doesn’t mean it stops!

Another way people try to fool themselves is that they think that not realizing their own mortality will somehow allow them to escape these mortal coils that bind all of us. More specifically, they somehow think that they will be able to jump-out of the speeding car right before it hits the brick wall. I am sure mankind has tried this since we evolved and so far, considering how many billions of people have died, this approach is doomed to failure. Others deal with their mortality by squeezing every inch of it (and then some) out of everyday by partaking in risky or downright dangerous activities… sure, drinking the devil’s water is fun sometimes but not something that should be done on a regular basis. Basically, whether you wish to admit it or not, your fate will be the same as everybody else’s, rich or poor, educated or otherwise.

So… DON’T WASTE YOUR FREE TIME!

When ever somebody says “time out, you have free time”, take this as meaning you can do as you wish so you might as well dedicated it towards one of three activities:

1) improving your life or the lives of those around you

2) self-reflect on what you can change in your lifestyle in order to “ease off the gas”

3) educate yourself about the world around you

I think if everybody did one of these three little things instead of plopping in front of a television and wasting away hours of their lives on a daily basis… this would wouldn’t not only be far better but people’s lives would be vastly more rewarding in general.

The Bottom Line

You have one life, don’t waste any of it.

For those who may not know who Randy Pausch is, he’s the university professor who was told he had only 6 months to live, as such, he decided to give one last lecture to his students. If you had only one last lecture to give, what would you speak about? This is great advice from somebody who has lived a very good life and some of these words may help you achieve your goals in the future.

Lecture’s Key Points

Aptly titled, his lecture is about achieving your dreams and allowing others to achieve theirs, here are the key points from his lecture:

• he grew up always being happy in his childhood, always dreaming about what could be, he was a child of the 60′s while people where landing on the moon when he was young
• dream specific dreams, they help to establish focus and make things happen
• get the fundamentals down otherwise the fancy stuff doesn’t work
• when people stop pointing out to you the things you are doing wrong, it means they have given up on you
• critics that carve you up are actually expressing their love for you
• experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted
• learning that is done indirectly is the most valuable type as they tend to stick with you through life and aren’t as easily forgotten
• you don’t have to be the smartest, most talented nor physically gifted person to succeed in life and lead others
• it’s cool to meet your boyhood idol but even better when they come to visit you because you have done something special
• brick walls are there not to keep you out but to provide a challenge to keep others out (how badly do you really want to achieve this goal?)
• it’s easy to sound smart when you study a subject intensely and ask others for advice
• wait long enough and people will surprise you
• it’s important to realize when you are in a pissing match and even more importantly to get out of it as quickly as possible
• there is a good way and a bad way to say “I don’t know”
• giving people a bar to strive for only does them a disservice, tell people they can always do better then they will, DO BETTER. People will always better themselves at a far faster pace then if you give them specific criteria to be met
• if you are going to be a pioneer in anything, you will get arrows in your back and experience many headaches but it will be all worth it when you look back
• find somebody better then you to give a project you hold dear
• self-reflection is the best give you can give anybody
• parents and mentors are vitally important to achieving a successful life
• being humble is a very difficult habit to build and maintain
• respect authority while questioning it
• never loose your childhood wonder, it’s what keeps your mind young and energy boundless
• it’s fun to do the impossible
• loyalty is a two way street
• actions speak louder then words
• never give up on achieving your goals
• you cannot get “there” alone, earnest people are worth more then any salesman could ever hope to be
• apologize when you screw up and focus on other people
• brick walls show us our dedication
• don’t bail out, the best gold is at the bottom of barrels of crap
• when you do the right thing, good things will come out of it
• get a feedback loop and LISTEN to it
• show gratitude
• don’t complain, just work harder
• be good at something that makes you valuable
• be prepared, luck is where preparation meets opportunity
• if you lead your life the right way, karma will make your dreams become reality

If you wish to watch this for yourself, here is the video of the entire lecture thanks to Google.

After the lecture

As some of you may know, this lecture became an international hit in 2007 after it was given. He appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss his situation and the lecture, spent a day with the Pittsburgh Steelers to accomplish his goal to play for the NFL and even better, Disney through it’s subsidiary, purchased the rights to his story for millions of dollars, providing his family with financial security long after he is gone. I think the only way to explain this is the last summary I wrote about his lecture, if you lead your life the right way, karma will make your dreams become reality.

The Bottom Line

Dreams are as important as breathing (hint hint).

PS: I wish everybody a very happy and prosperous 2008!

More information about:

• Randy Pausch himself at Carnegie Mellon
• Transcript of this lecture
• Alice Programming Project
• Entertainment Technology Center
• Randy Pausch on Wikipedia