The Worst Kinds Of Jokes

Republicans are a joke. Democrats are a joke. Countries are a joke. Nationalism is a joke.

The humans of 100 years in the future are going to look back and wonder how the people of 2018 could be so dumb.

Advertisements

Spotify + YouTube Playlist For ALL!

No matter who you are or where you are at in life, my WAKE UP! playlist is for you!

Spotify | YouTube

After today’s update WAKE UP! is at 65 carefully selected songs, each with a different and important meaning sure to positively impact you, sometimes when you least expect it (and perhaps need it most!)

I enjoy listening to WAKE UP! in the morning and sometimes at random times of the day, often on shuffle. Be sure to subscribe so you can easily find the playlist and pass along to your friends and family and anyone who enjoys positive vibes! Enjoy!

The Daily Stoic

Be sure to check out https://dailystoic.com/ and bookmark it for regular visits! From here you can follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as well!

I also recommend their store at https://prints.dailystoic.com/ where you can find awesome coins and prints (Memento Mori, Amor Fati, The Obstacle Is The Way and more!)

Don’t Have Opinions. Or Feelings.

It is not uncommon to hear people talk about how much they absolutely hate some actor or musician or other celebrity or public figure.

Virtually 100% of the time the person who has such strong feelings of vitriol has never met the person they despise.

That sounds like a lot of wasted energy. I’d suggest a better approach is to stop having negative feelings and opinions about people you do not know intimately.

What about the people you do know on a very personal, intimate level? Chances are you don’t know them quite as well as you think you do.

Why do I say that? Because no one knows anyone better than themselves…and truthfully, none of us know anything. We are all just learning about ourselves and the world around us second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day. We are all doing our best, some of us better than others.

To quote the late, great, stoic genius Marcus Aurelius: “Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.” 

Who cares if this or that oppressive politician or junkie celebrity is a real life pos?! We are wasting time talking about it. We could instead be using that time to be a good human being and advance virtue across the planet.

Joe Rogan & Elon Musk

Strap in and enjoy three hours of two deep thinkers discussing some very cool subjects! Joe Rogan and Elon Musk (a fan of my essays!) are very interesting individuals and this discussion brings up many interesting questions.

To me the most interesting question is: why is Elon Musk getting shit for ever so briefly smoking cannabis, a non-toxic plant that can literally never kill him. and not getting any shit for drinking whiskey, a substance distilled from grain into alcohol that can literally kill any human in any given sitting?

Think about it…doesn’t that seem fucked up?! I don’t care if Elon took one small hit, a thousand bong rips or anything in between! Elon is free to do as he pleases with his body as there is no such thing as a crime against one’s self.

But if you’re going to criticize, don’t aim your mistaken critiques at the friendly flower. Cannabis is again the innocent victim, here only to help yet used as a scapegoat punching bag. Instead try to grow as a human being – take a step out of your shoes and let your previous beliefs about cannabis go. Now use your newly opened mind to educate yourself on the truth about the magic plant.

Socialism: A Flawed Ideology Often Touted By People Who Got Insanely Wealthy Thanks To Capitalism!

I can’t help but appreciate the irony that many of the men & women who advocate for Socialism are among the wealthiest people in society. Jim Carrey recently epitomized this flawed dichotomy when he spouted off about his belief that socialism cures all.

I don’t understand how Jim and others like him think it’s OK to spend my and your money while they sit on fortunes of $150m and more?! Hey Jim, why not give your money away before giving away mine?! I prefer to control how I spend my money including how I give back to society. By the way, Jim, it’s never OK to spend other people’s money. If you disagree, I have plenty of plans for your $150m, give me a call!

The government is only meant to be here to protect individual liberties, not to provide for its citizens. That’s the entire point of freedom: to be free to provide for ourselves free from outside interference as long as we aren’t negatively affecting another.

This doesn’t mean we cannot and will not choose to help those who cannot help themselves. We just should not be forced to do so by the government, Jim Carrey, or anyone else!

Socialism and freedom are mutually exclusive: they cannot both occur. Choose one. I choose freedom.

Blinkist: A Must Have App For Your #RequiredReading

I am a big fan of the Amazon Kindle app for all of my #requiredreading, which basically turns into required listening as I use the Audible companion to have Kindle read the books for me.

I have recently discovered and added a new weapon to my arsenal: Blinkist!

Blinkist is the Cliff’s Notes of book reading apps, breaking down the world’s best non-fiction books to their most important concepts and reading the entire book to me in under 20 minutes! Here is a link to sign up.

I don’t use Blinkist to replace Kindle, but rather to complement it. My #requiredreading books aren’t going anywhere and I will always enjoy them in their full versions. Blinkist helps me to discover new books and to get through their concepts quickly. Once I begin to take interest in a new concept I can choose to purchase the entire book and add it to my Kindle library, or I can simply keep the book in Blinkist and refer back to the summarized concepts!

Breakaway Columbus Music Festival!

Next weekend…August 24, 25, 26, 2018…Columbus, OH. If you aren’t at Breakaway Fest you’re doing it wrong! Click here to purchase tickets and click here to read more about the insane lineup (Kaskade! Odesza!)

#breakawayfest #cbus

Open Letter To City Of Columbus: Please Don’t Screw Up Scooters!

Sitting in my car at a downtown Columbus stoplight it recently hit me: we are in the future!

The energy was amazing with people everywhere… walking, talking and… scooting!

Yes, scooting!

Thanks to companies like Bird and Lime, there are now battery power scooters all over the downtown neighborhoods, available to rent with just the click of an app! [sidenote: using the links herein will get you and me free $ and free rides!]

I sincerely hope that the smart men and women who run the City of Columbus do not screw up this world-opening development! These scooters do way more for the logistics of Columbus citizens than the CoGo bikes and the City doesn’t have to subsidize scooters like CoGo! A win for the free market!

Until…the City decides to muck it all up by regulating and taxing these companies with no cause. Please do not do this! I highly doubt Columbus will win the love of companies like Amazon if the city sets a precedent of lots of regulations against (free market) tech companies. (or any company, period!)

City leaders: please keep an open mind and…do nothing!

 

The Definition Of Freedom

Freedom is, by definition, the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action. Freedom is defined as liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another.

Government, by definition, exercises continuous sovereign authority & control over its subjects.

Therefore, freedom can also be defined as absence of government.

The less government we have, the more freedom we have. These two things are directly related. (note, I didn’t say zero government, just less. Much, much less. See Peter Schiff for more on small government.)

Ask yourself, if you back the expansion of government, what are you really in favor of?