past life regression sessions in Jacksonville

I am running a series of introductory seminars on the subject of past life regression in Jacksonville, FL over the next several days. You are all invited to attend. The details of the session can be found at:

http://www.meetup.com/Jacksonville-Past-Life-Regression/

I hope to see you there!

If you want to explore more about the power of Intension, I invite you to read my blog on the subject of Intentional Living here:

http://livingintentionallives.blogspot.com/.

If you are interested in these subjects, and would like to read more, I recommend the following:

• Exploration of the conscious mind.

• Exploration of the subconscious mind.

• Exploring hypnosis and hypnotherapy.he he he he he

goodbye Google video

Several years ago Google bought YouTube.com. YouTube set alongside Google video (video.google.com). Google video tended to be more educational, more thought-provoking, and frankly more serious. Yes, there were cats and dancing gerbils and people making funny faces, just like YouTube. But, they were few and far between when compared to the videos from Stephen Hawking, and the mere yet of the videos are science, politics, sociology and religion.

The good news is that many of the brilliant lectures of Stephen Hawking, as just one example, have made it to YouTube. I hope that more make it over and are preserved. It is such a valuable resource. It would be a shame for this vast storehouse of knowledge to disappear.

newsmax.com headline: Bishop Condemns 'Jesus as Islam Prophet' Ads in Australia

Is this allegedly pacifist bishop really trying to provoke a fight? Hasn't there been enough death and distraction in the name of God?

I am a supporter of the freedoms granted to us by the United States Constitution. Freedom of speech and freedom of religion are two of the tenets of that Constitution. Here in the United States, we take these freedoms for granted, like the air we breathe. Elsewhere in the world, that is not the case.

I was born a Roman Catholic. These days, I'm not sure how you would classify my religious beliefs. However, I strongly support each individual's right to believe what ever they want. That includes Islam. I also believe that the freedom to wave your fists in the air ends at the tip of my nose! I believe that, all in all, you can do whatever you want. However, in my home, I make the rules.

That said, fundamentalist Muslims can do whatever they want within the borders of their own country. However, when you're in my country, you play by my rules.

Christians firmly believes that Jesus is the son of God who became man, and died on the cross to save us from our sins. That's fine. That is the fundamental Christian belief. However, Islam believes that God/Allah is the divine being, creator of everything, and that Mohammed is the greatest of his prophets. However, a very large number of Muslims firmly believe that Jesus was also one of Allah's prophets.

Why not celebrate the fact that both religions believe that Jesus was great, and leave it at that. Christians can post whatever billboards they want, and so can Islam. . The billboard readers have the right to choose. Is it really that complicated?

I swear, some people just want to pick a fight.

You can read the full article here.

the voice

Okay, I never write about TV shows. I don't watch much TV. However, I have become hooked on a TV show called the voice. It is a singing competition. Mostly individual singers compete, except for a couple of duets. I have to tell you, this is a great talent show. Watch it on NBC.

Miller's magical number

George S. Miller wrote a paper in 1956 called "The magical number 7 ± 2: Some limits on our capacity to process information." I first came across this paper in the mid-1980s when I was the vice president of education services running the technical training division of a software company.

My associate, Vaughn Frick, and I devised a couple of experiments that we actually repeated many times over the course of a two year period. The experimental results not only confirmed Miller's original hypothesis, but allowed us to push the envelope on the concept even further.

The instigation.

Miller's original report resulted in the now famous American seven digit phone number preceded by a three digit area code. You can even repeat the original experiment yourself. Write down a series of numbers from three digits to 10 digits. it doesn't matter what the numbers are.

You can even use the list below, unless your friends are likely to read this blog and memorize the results! (Wishful thinking.)

you will inevitably find that when the string of digits reaches 10, there was a sharp drop-off in memory. You will find also that there is a much smaller drop-off between five and nine. The difference however in drop-off between the 5/9 range and the 10 and over rate is greater by a factor of five or more.

What this illustrates.

the human brain has a unique, but limited capacity for short-term storage of information. You can call information and remember up to three telephone numbers. Why? Because the telephone number itself is broken down into three smaller groups of numbers: the area code (three digits), the exchange (three digits) and the number (four digits). Some old folks like myself remember the vague and easiness when they first added new area codes. I tracked down that uneasiness to the pattern of numbers used. Originally, the area code and a zero or one as the middle digit. The exchange never had a zero or one.

What does this mean?

it means, basically, that we have an extraordinary capacity to remember information. Think about it. We can remember seven groups of things. Each group of things can have seven elements. Each of the seven elements can be up to seven digits long!

I had a stroke at the end of 2008. It took nearly a year to recover. Even at that, my recovery was not complete -- not back to my pre-stroke self. This knowledge of how the brain uses Miller's magic number in able to me to vastly improve my post stroke of memory.

example data

number list 1

847

2195

64723

539261

3984271

75143268

139624857

4382769150

82734061529

number list 2

203 . 561 . 8947

safety net for the disabled

I had a stroke in 2008. Initially, I was completely pear lies on my right side. I had serious memory problems. Perhaps worst of all, I lost my ability to read. I could spell a word out loud, and I could recognize a word spelled out loud to me. However, the part of my brain that translates visual signals of letters written down and seen with the eyes into words in the brain was broken.

In the 2 1/2 years since my stroke, I have recovered partial use of my right arm, partial use of my right leg and some of my memory. I still cannot write a computer program like I once did, read a book, button a shirt, tie a shoe, or hundreds of other things that I used to do before my stroke. I used to fly Cessna Skyhawk airplanes. I will never fly again. I used to ride bicycles and motorbikes. I will never do that again. There are literally hundreds of activities that I used to do before my stroke which I will never again be able to perform.

I typed this blog post by dictating it into my computer. I read by using a program called natural reader which reads the words from my computer screen.

When I had my stroke, I lost everything. I lost my income, my car, my house and even my wife left me when I could no longer provide.

It took me nearly a year, not working, not getting paid, to file for and receive my Social Security benefits, benefits for which I paid in every month. When I was not able to work I lost my health care. It was two years until I was eligible for Medicare.

Tell me, is it fair for the federal government to balance the budget on the backs of people like me? Is it fair to balance the federal budget on the backs of people who worked, paid taxes, and were contributors to society four or 30 years? I started paying taxes when I was 15 years old and became disabled at 54. I'm worried of our viability to support my self. I'm worried about my ability just to live on my Social Security. I was young. I started a business. I put every penny of my savings, including funds for retirement, into that business. When I had my stroke, I lost it all. Social Security is all I have left.

I paid in. I should continue to get my benefits. I prefer to work. I turned down my disability benefits the first time I was told I was eligible, in hopes of getting a job. The Department of vocational rehabilitation told me I was crazy. They told me that I wasn't thinking straight because of the damage to my brain. I'm glad they convinced me.

I don't want to be where I am... but I am... and I paid and to the Social Security system, and expect, in my disability, to get back what I received.

restaurant reviews get own blog

I have moved the restaurant reviews. You can now find them on their own blog at http://JacksonvilleRestaurants.blogspot.com.

All the restaurant reviews that used to be found here are now there.

green slime and you (thoughts on giving speeches)

I began my public speaking career in the early 1980s. I was an ACM National Lecturer, National Toastmaster, Chairman of the ACM-SIG/BDP (ACM Special Interest Group on Business DP) and gave speeches to a variety of business groups from lawyers to computer professionals. In my 11 years as a consultant and division president for Gartner Inc., I was consistently one of the highest rated speakers at their various international conferences.

Here are the lessons that I learn which helped me become successful as a public speaker.

• Keep it simple. Make only one or two points in your speech.
• 50% of the speech should relate your personal experiences.
• Use humor.
• MOST IMPORTANT: Use an analogy to help solidify your point.

This last point really made my speaking career successful!

Flashback.

Sometime in the 1970s I saw a movie about a spy, very much like James Bond. I just can't remember his name. The movie was pivotal in my success in communicating big business and technology ideas to average, non-technical people. This technique is, perhaps, something they can benefit you.

At one point in the movie, Evil Company CEO gets up to give a speech. What shows on the projector is a Chinese dragon eating his own tale. Evil CEO starts his speech, not by talking about a business topic, but about the dragon eating his tail -- and why. Needless to say, his already is, at first, perplexed.

After the tail eating story, Evil CEO starts talking about the business, and tying the business points, point by point, to the story of the tail eating dragon.

Brilliant. So brilliant, it's the only thing out of the movie that I can remember with any clarity. I adopted this technique for most of my public speaking engagements.

The "bucket of green slime".

For several years during the 1980s, I gave what became known as the "Green Slime Speech." At the beginning of the speech, I told the story of the volvox colony. Volvox are one-celled microorganisms that have a nasty habit of turning water into a brownish green sludge. However, given the right provocation, enough time, and the right temperature, the green sludge condenses itself into a multicellular colony of creatures in which the individual one celled animals take on particular roles based on where they end up living in the colony (such as living on the outer perimeter versus the central core of the colony).

The yucky, green water turned crystal clear with one clump of jellylike stuff in the corner.

What could a bucket of green slime possibly have to do with high-tech anything, particularly computer software? Nothing actually. It was an analogy.

Most projects, in that day and age, were late! Late projects are like a bucket of green slime. They are messy, smell pretty bad and generally leave a bad taste in your mouth, just like the green slimy water.

However, given some time, organization, and management principles, projects could be organized and controlled, much like the organized volvox colony that congealed with the right provocation, and left the water clear.

I actually used the green slime analogy in several different speeches, and was even written up in one trade magazine, praising up my green slime analogy.

My speeches, today, always feature an analogy (it's now my trademark) and they are always highly memorable. That's what you want! You want people to remember two things: 1) you; 2) what you said. Thought provoking analogies do that.

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Note: Since I began giving speeches featuring the volvox colony, the scientific classification for living organisms has changed. Volvox used to be an animal containing a chloroplast. Now, it appears to be a plant with a flagellum similar to microscopic animals. Oh well. The story still works and life goes on!

Osama Bin Laden dead (Video of President's speech at end of post)

I don't generally make very many political or world events commentaries in this blog. However, this is one time that I will.

It is never right to rejoice in the death of another human being. But, it is certainly right to rejoice in the fact that Osama Bin Laden will no longer be able to bomb our buildings, kill or injure our sons and daughters and, in general, wreak global havoc. This is certainly one death that I will not mourn.

Like so many others, I remember exactly where I was and exactly what I was doing when the airplanes plowed into New York's World Trade Center and Washington's Pentagon. I was getting dressed for work, watching the TV in Stamford, Connecticut. I could not believe what I was seeing. I was supposed to be in Manhattan the very next day. This was nuts. Insane.

My son, Christopher, was due to be sworn in as a United States Marine. His Marine recruiter picked him up at the house just the night before. He was eager to serve his country. His induction into the Marines was delayed by a week because of the catastrophe. we spend a terrible day worrying about him, knowing that he was flying. Was he on one of those planes? Needless to say, we were relieved when we heard from him.

My oldest daughter, Kimberly, was serving on the flight deck of USS Kittyhawk, based in Japan. She had entered the military one-year before my son. She was, in fact, in transit to the ship and head to rendezvous with it en route.

The world is a better place without Bin Laden. I won't mourn his death for a second.

But I will take the time to remember all the courageous young men and women who gave their lives, and to express my heartfelt gratitude to all the living who served to defend our country, our neighbors, and our freedoms.

God bless America.

how may I (not) help you?

I was in the biggest store in the world (no names...just guess). I was ready to check out. I had more stuff than was allowed in the express line, so I stood in the regular check out line. Some manager was standing there in a blue shirt (that's how I know she was a manager), holding a walkie-talkie that she wasn't using. My line ground to a halt. She just watched. And watched. And watched. And watched.

Meanwhile, there was an empty cash register in the next aisle. I happened to know there was a cash drawer in it because Walkie-talkie lady locked it when the cashier left.

Walkie-talkie lady watched, and watched. I think you get the picture. This went on for an interminable amount of time. People in line were fidgeting. Some of them were actually getting surly and making rude comments.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Walkie-talkie lady finally opened the other register and asked the next in line to come over to her. She was not particularly nice about it. I happen to be next in line, cane, limp and all. Fortunately, I named it over there. But not before nearly being run down by people from the end of my line practically trampling me. Clearly they saw I was in there. Clearly they knew I was in line. Clearly they saw I was disabled. Clearly they knew they were not next in line. The people behind me in the first line were cursing now! All walkie-talkie lady said to me, with my visible limp, was "Will you please move a little faster sir, or let those people behind you go."

I have this to say about that...

Stuff it walkie-talkie lady!

good food is heaven on earth.

I've decided to write about restaurants. I have decided to do so, not because I have any kind of expertise. In fact, my range of tastes is not all that wide. I am a meat and potatoes sort of guy. I just happen to like well prepared meat and a perfectly cooked potato.

I have another advantage. I have managed to eat in all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, most of the Caribbean, all of Western Europe (except Andorra, Spain and Portugal) and Japan. I hate sushi, love chicken teriyaki, hate most fish and think that Cracker Jacks are nutritional.

I had eaten in many places which are lost in my brain since my stroke; however, those memories return to me with the right stimulus. Have a favorite restaurant? Let me know. Maybe I have been there. Maybe I'll go there.

press 1 for a schmuck. press 2 for some other schmuck. press 3 to be ignored

April Fools' Day was four days ago! It's over! Or so one would think. For some companies, where customers are concerned, every day is April Fools' Day. This next, true life story is in the "you just can't believe it" department.

I have decided that I hate corporate America. Nobody answers the phone anymore. Only machines work in the billing department.

I had insurance on my van with one of those online-only insurance companies. my car was stolen, totaled, and the driver was killed. that sucks to begin with. I bought my mother's car because she doesn't drive anymore. it is already insured. so I cancel the insurance on the van in December 2010. They continued billing me. come on. It's April 2011!

I finally got my refund on April 2. Then they billed me again on April 3!

I have spent hours on the telephone and even had to drive to the bank (on my dime no less) to resolve this. we will see if they reimburse me -- and when.

automation is good for business, especially if you don't give a damn about people and don't want to talk to those pesky customers anymore!

welcome to my humble little blog

Hi. Well, welcome to my blog. I've decided to start this blog so that I can keep all my various and sundry projects all in one place. You see, three years ago I had a stroke on the left side of my brain and it really screwed me up... big time. Among many other things, it screwed with my memory. So partly, this is to make up for my crappy memory! Also, despite all the other myriad of things I have done, the one constant is, I have always been a writer. I've been published. Lots. But always business books or in the business press.

I have always harbored a secret passion. I have always wanted to write a novel! So one of my posts-stroke objectives is to do that. that is a work in progress at CyberionaEmpire.blogspot.com. right now, I'm kind of stuck on the major conflict for the first book of the series. If you're interested in science-fiction/fantasy, I invite you to look and chime in if you if you have any brilliant ideas or me ... please!

there are more projects and more blogs, but that's enough for now! You're probably bored reading this anyhow! See you later.