Reviews by Hubie Goode: Are We STILL Living With Darwin?

After all of our advances in science and medicine, Are We Still Living With Darwin?

What makes the world continue? Where did I come from? Why are things as they are? These are important questions. Questions asked by those for whom I think therefore I am is a closely held mantra. But not only that, it is also the patterned response of those for whom the mind is broad enough to survive in the current world of nations and men. The really significant thing about those questions is how they are answered by the so called intellectual elite of our day.

All too often such things as these, perhaps best described as an intellectual construct, ultimately move beyond their original purpose and platform and begin operating in the wider world. Darwin’s concept of evolution has left the confines of biology, botany and paleontology and is now used in the broader spectrum of social structure at large. The term for this construct is “Social Darwinism”, and it has become foundational in our culture.

What assumptions come from Social Darwinism? First of all, the idea that social structure is created and monitored by impersonal forces rather than by God is the beginning of the unconscious control that Social Darwinism has proffered upon us for a century or so. Until the emergence of SD (Social Darwinism) it was a generally held belief that the ever unfolding story of history constantly revealed that the Judeo-Christian God was behind all things. The founders of America firmly believed it, and they revealed it in saying, “There is a just God who presides above the destinies of nations”. The mind set of western culture at that time is crystallized in this statement. It was the biggest principle, largely undisputed, by which all other things were judged.

The concept of natural selection is meaningless gibberish unless Darwin is in fact referring to an impersonal force, a power that compels history and establishes it’s direction. Although Darwin had many Christian associates in his younger days, he became more and more of a hard head about natural selection and it’s so called importance and he traded God for a concept. The impersonal engine of natural selection became his new God, causing history and it’s inexorable move forward to drop into a depersonalized mode.

Our society, once correctly called Christian, has fallen into such a secularized mess that the Fathers of our country would have never believed it if they had been here to see it. Education, Government, business, the media, and in many cases, religion, have moved into successive stages from Christianity to atheism. God is now, ignored, resented, opposed and vilified at every turn. Jesus Christ is now considered in many parts to be persona non grata. If you don’t think so, then why isn’t there more outcry against public movie entertainment that constantly uses his name as a dirty exclamation? The arrogance is stomach turning. Concomitantly, the Bible has lost it’s final authority, the Christian religion has been pluralized, our standard family unit is disappearing, and immorality is now a an art form in sitcoms on TV. Those who insist that a secret force moves history now have the floor. What will they do when the castles they have built on sand are washed away?

The second assumption is that our society is moving forward and progressing toward a sort of Gene Roddenberry type vision. Supposedly we are improving from a mean past to an improving future. Evolutionist insist that life began in the primordial slime as it’s lowly providence. Then, the engine of culture worked form there, producing in our day and age the best that the world has ever been. This improvement will continue until we join the Vulcans in the Federation of Planets. (Heh)

Therefore, SD is utopian in it’s design and concept. It looks at the so called straight upward line of progress from the past until this moment and then extends that line into the future, implying of course, that evolution of progress cannot fail and will ultimately produce an unimpeachable society. Although the promise of perfect tomorrows and positive change is a consistent promise of politics, education commerce and religion, due to the influence of SD, we as a society have heard much more of this sort of thing than most any other society in history.

In fact, the concept has gone even further in it’s arrogant assertion by beguiling us to believe that we can even control our own evolution through intelligence and technical skill. Perhaps, WE are God? But those who put their faith in the societal improvements they put forth are hard pressed to represent any real evidence of such. As I have written in my series on education, the real facts are that we are living in a deteriorating society not an evolving one. Just ask the Euro dollar and the Chinese yen, if you can.

This comes alarmingly to the forefront when we consider the ultimate standard by which improvement or degeneration of a culture is ultimately measured, the moral standard. Technical and military prowess and improvement mean very little in the face of lack of moral improvement. You need only look to Nazi Germany as a prime example of this. Laugh all you want at Hogan’s Heroes, but this was a threat the world had never seen before, a power that had the greatest minds and bravest hearts of the entire Earth deeply concerned. Without moral improvement going hand and hand with technical abilities, the outcome can only be the greatest of human disasters. When we look at only surface tokens of improvement, as Social Darwinians do, then we are whistling past the graveyard, as it were.

A third assumption is that man himself, is nothing more than the most advanced animal on the planet. For a crystallization of this idea you need only refer to a book from 1980, written by Desmond Morris called the Naked Ape. Mankind is seen as little more than an intelligent orangutan. And if you say anything against this, the orangutan lobby will come and get you, citizen. And they will be wearing brown shirts. But seriously, The Naked Ape says such things as: women use lipstick to imitate the redness of an excited and engorged vagina and that cleavage is actually a mental cue to men to think of their buttocks, but in a more socially acceptable way. Do you know any women who use lipstick to imitate their blood engorged vaginas? I sure don’t.

But really, have these people spent any time in a zoo? In strict biological terms, the evolutionary connection between man and animal is unproven by any evidence, although it is continually shouted from the roof tops by Social Darwinism supporters. Not only this, but they can’t explain man’s innate tendency to think of things in terms of what Is and what ought to be. A difference that cannot possibly come from chemistry. Science can only deal with the observable, or it is NOT science. It cannot tell us what should have happened or what should have NOT happened.

The fourth assumption is that soul, spirit and eternal life are merely chemical actions of the brain. This kind of chemical determinism refuses to hold true the concept of “mind”, but holds that all things, even “thoughts” come from brain matter. The evolutionist must give credence to chance in ways that he perhaps would rather not. According to them, great works like Beethoven and Shakespeare are not gifts, or the revelation of higher things in man, but are instead the results of chemical reactions in the brain. So, therefore, Othello could have been great theater or just interracial porn depending on how the chemicals came together at that time.

You can see the cracks breaking on the idol of evolutionary theory at this point. If human thought and spirituality are nothing more than electrochemistry in the human brain, then we have a mechanistic universe. So why put anyone in prison? That robber shot your mother and killed her because of chemicals in the brain. Get over it. Existence is the same as non existence, up is down, logic is comedy, rationality is an inconvenience like an unplanned pregnancy. Nothing really matters, anyone can see, nothing really matters to me. Life is a Bohemian Rhapsody. If the mind is not a separate and distinct entity from he human body, something that is merely contained within, then the light of understanding goes out and nothing is understandable, all things just happen. Sorry Mr. Hitler, we just didn’t understand.

When incomprehensibility becomes the movement of any age, then subsequent generations come onto the field of play with the idea that this is just reality. Things have always been this way and why should they be different? Can God fit anywhere into a society that is wearing comfortable old shoes, shoes given to them by their fathers and grandfathers of corruptions, reprobate minds and vile affections? How blind can we be to have seen similar ideas played out in science fiction writings and not recognize the river we are all heading toward. Oh, it can’t happen to us, we say, but is there really anything new? Clothes and tastes change but the core of mankind has remained the same for as long as man has known himself. There’s a fine line between comedy and tragedy, and many lessons to learn from both, but when we ignore the truths of both in favor of today’s thrill of entertainment, we cheapen ourselves and the process. We’re people, not just commercial receptors who live from moment to moment. I don’t care what Big Brother tells you.

It’s unfortunate, but we’ve all bought into the intellectual cancer of Darwinism and it reveals itself in those things which we choose to spend time with and believe in. (Jerry Springer show anyone?) I hold the advertising world partially responsible for this and the consumer gets the other side of it. We can’t be irresponsible to our society of human beings, those creations who are more than just the latest monkey, they are a special creation on the Earth by the almighty God. To treat each other with such a lack of out right respect for our place in the grand scheme of things is to kill each other with thoughts and concepts and then to tread upon the dead bodies for our own desires. It’s a society that lives with a blade in it’s hand and thinks nothing of swinging that blade at the next person if they see fit to do so, and then wants protection and understanding for doing so.

You think that’s not the case? Go see some of these movies I have seen this summer for “adults”. The F-bomb is now the litmus for our communication. We are constantly shown people who are supposed to be either family or good friends hatefully turning on each other and saying, “F-You, man!!!” “NO! F-You!!!!” Slash slash slash! And as both characters lay dying and disemboweled on the ground they reach out to each other and say “I love you, man...” with their last breath. And the director says: Good scene! People will love to pay money to see this, because they are just like this. It’s insane.

Thank you Mr. Darwin.

We now know today that all things needed for life and survival come from the stars. We know that far off stars transmit light to the planet Earth and contain elements from the periodic table which are much needed by our biological bodies. Things such as iodine, calcium and phosphorus. In fact, the very dust of the ground, is space dust, the dust that man was created from. Yet Darwin knew nothing of the advances of Astrophysics, he knew nothing of what was out there beyond Earth and the enormous revelations that are coming to light which have great value to our understanding of Earth, it’s people and the connection to ALL things created. None of that fits into the model of evolution except as a retro-fit explanation. Yet we still live with Darwin, we still have these precepts, these “Old Shoes” from a few hundred years ago that we live by. Surely the Truths of scripture are older, and they have more weight and cache and have moved man further along in his history than any theory of evolution, if only for the Bible’s unwavering stance on morality and it’s imperative position in the heart of mankind. And yet... we still live with Darwin at every turn. It’s incomprehensible.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Beyond Your Child's Classroom

America’s students today suffer from a prevalent backward predisposition towards their own future success. Lulled into a false sense of security by their surrounding society and influences, plus a slackening of school requirements for excellence, students would rather stage a protest against additional time in school than for the possibility of adding to their own learning prowess. The overriding attitude toward time spent in school as that of “getting through it” instead of active strengthening of a students learning ability has led to an increasingly poor showing in academic performance. This drop in performance is a harbinger for the future of American business and its societal place among the rest of the global community.

Multifaceted in its make-up, the problem stems from several incorrect perspectives and conceptions of the reality of the student condition. The students’ lack of engagement is partially a response to the values and goals held by adult society as a whole. One example of this multi-tiered problem is that a clear message has been sent to America’s children that success in later life is not contingent on the tangible everyday work of the school day. Students have been led to believe, perhaps subconsciously, that luck, connections, and the like have as much to do, or more to do with success as any striving for academic superiority. All of society, even the students themselves, contributes to this and other problems surrounding today’s educational system, and it is an invisible cancer eating away at the nation’s future.

Since the mid-1960’s SAT test scores have dropped significantly. At first this was considered the result of an influx of lower performing students from diversely ethnic backgrounds; however, there was also an identical drop among the white majority in overall testing. Surprisingly, the deepest drop happened during periods of stagnant growth and is not limited to test taking. In measures of skills and talents of how students read, write and add and measures of what can be done with these talents, there has been significant decline since the early 1970’s. Poor academic performance is even apparent among top students. There has been no improvement whatsoever among all classes and strata of students and this leveling off of academic improvement is cause for alarming concern. America’s best and brightest do not fare well against other countries’ students who are considered average in their own country. America’s “A’s” do not equal other developed countries’ “C’s”.

Imagine if you will, America striving to stay atop the economic world while employing citizens who cannot even read or write in a competent manner. The economic costs of such a tragic waste of time and money on schooling and re-schooling just to formulate a competent workforce for the basics is akin to “whistling past the graveyard.” Capitalism has brought America to the top of the economic world. Will the relentless pursuit of economic positioning among America’s people and businesses at the expense of our own future slowly kill us internally?

Amazingly, America’s response includes a lessening of the requirements for successful SAT test taking. Those who have allowed students to produce less than other students had to produce 25 years ago have deluded America’s youth. Performance that received barely a passing grade a quarter of a century ago is now given a “well done” with a passing grade. There are many reasons for lessening these requirements and some people will tell you that it was a needed move for equality to all students, but these people are misguided and be fret of the facts. They do not understand the toll it has taken on Americas’ academic health by giving students an easier time of their work and thus resulting in a student community that has become painfully average.

But what, you may ask, is the nation’s major servant, the government, doing for today’s student? The political arena has certainly given its best shot at curtailing these alarming problems of school performance disintegration. Unfortunately, their efforts have resulted in a zero return on investment. When the fine points of schools are studied, such as teacher evaluation and program organization, it is found that schools can make at least a marginal difference.

The liberal view point, as always, is that more money must be spent to create better environments and opportunities for learning. This has given schools a many facetted look of academic and non-academic parts that give the student a wider range of influences beyond books and lectures.

Naturally, the conservative view is that this spending has only caused an erosion of student’s performance resulting in over distraction and the whole process must be returned to the basics. The fact, however, is that student work quality dropped off long before any of this spending happened and was the causality for it in the first place. Today’s problems are not only the schools themselves, but the entire social environment that students are growing up in.

There is an attitude that over half of all students in America have that has dropped overall performance. When one takes into account that students without this attitude, those who can “swim against the stream” of indifference succeed in American schools; it proves that outside influences have taken their toll on the rest of the student nation. Therefore, any government measures to shore up the educational system cannot solely concentrate upon the schools themselves. The entirety of a child’s life must be studied and the influences thereof reformed, if possible.

The level of engagement or disengagement of students is the number one precursor of success in school. Outside influences that direct these measures can cause a downward spiraling effect that the student is barely even aware of. For instance, students who work are given less responsibility in their school work. The student becomes increasingly bored and therefore works more hours outside of school, and the cycle continues. Too many students’ engagement problems also are the result of social attitudes. Class time is the “commercial”, as it were, to be sandwiched in between their real lives which is composed of their extra school network. Among this network it is believed that striving to succeed well in school and being involved in class activities is a waste of time and “uncool”. The majority of students feel that all one has to do is get through school and graduate, it isn’t necessary to do well or learn anything in order to succeed once school time is completed.

The concept of the brain being a muscle which must be exercised much like their physical bodies is anathema, if realized at all. Too many of these students, their parents, and the surrounding working world know all too well that no one is going to look at a students’ grades from grammar school and high school when considering employment. Therefore, due to this invisible work record, the level of engagement in class can be at whatever level will get you passed to the next grade.

Any study based on student ethnicity differences may at first be met with a politically incorrect label, but much can be learned by studying the effects that the American school system has had on immigrants’ children who come to this country. Alarmingly, it is a statistical fact that the longer a family remains in America, the more school success erodes with each generation. This is true for some ethnics more than others and points out some glaring problems which continue to be largely American in scope. Ethnic differences in achievement persist across a wide spectrum even if we take into account economic differences.

Pervasively, it is found that Asian students do far better than other ethnic groups across all strata and the strongest indicator was their degree of engagement in studies. Asian children find no shame in being good students. A more accurate gage of student success can be found in what those students believe to be their chances for success later in life. Asian students do a better job in school due to the fear of not getting a good job after school if they fail. They are also emotionally involved in the pride of their parents and join their Asian peers in striving for success, often mixing their socializing with school studies.

Children of other races, however, suffer from an undue optimism about their chances for success later in life. This perspective has a direct connection to how poorly they do in school. The students of African-American heritage and those of Hispanic dissent tend to believe that it won’t matter how they do anyway and subconsciously forgive themselves from striving for excellence. Sadly, in many cases they may have seen concrete evidence for these attitudes in the failure of the idealized American dream within their own families. Many of those families also seem to communicate to the child that there will be a loss of culturalism if one gets a good education in America and then begins to act “white”. Unfortunately there are too few examples of African-American and Hispanic intellectual success for these children to emulate. In the social group, Asian students don’t have this problem as they are often allowed to be, if not expected to be, a part of the “brain” crowd.

The nations “white” children themselves appear to be ambivalent as to their own futures, sharing the problems of both successful and poorly performing ethnic students. They fall into the majority of “B” students in most groups, but suffer from the outside influences that have made those “B’s” of today equal to the barley passing grades of yesteryear. The surprising minority of all ethnic and white students who do not fall into these negative attitudes presents further evidence that success in school is a matter of perspective and approach and not one of skin color or national background.

As stated already, the longer a student’s family remains in America, the less productive the student. Partially to blame is the concept that “grades make you what you are”. If a student relaxes himself in his efforts and then does less productive work, he usually gets lower grades. But today’s majority of students who don’t perform well believe that their lack of success is due to other factors surrounding them, be it luck, family problems, economic woes, et cetera. Therefore, when these students get “D’s” and “C’s”, it is perceived as a reflection of their identity.

The successful student, and there are many in today’s’ American schools, believes his own hard work and effort or lack thereof is a cause for success or failure. These students prove it everyday to themselves that it is not the American school system that has failed them if they get poor grades. Socially, however; they may suffer the scorn of their peers who do not do so well. Due to a prevailing attitude among students of a cavalier “marking time” in school, which results in lower grades, the psychological defense has been the blind agreement of “coolness” or being “with it” if school is given a casual glance of attention. It’s a dangerous psychological trap that has America’s students wasting away on the vine. This trend is not seen in other similarly developed countries and mirrors the internal American problem seen in the generational decline of immigrant students.

Problematically, the struggle is also found in the American home due to a prevalence of the wrong types of parenting styles that result in ineffective stances toward school. Whatever position parents take of themselves as, firm, accepting and autonomous is absorbed internally by their children. Parenting is often a balancing act of love and discipline, mercy and justice where one without the other will not produce correct results.

Out of the three styles: Authoritarian, Authoritative and Permissive, it is found that children with at least one authoritative parent were able to do much better than those with none.

Correct parenting styles are now a statistical fact and cannot continue to be ignored by parents when planning the raising of children.Authoritative parenting often creates students with good school and social skills, teaching them responsibility for their actions. Naturally, since these students feel more responsible for their own actions, the idea of outside influences having too much control over their success is minor. Authoritarian parents tend to create poor social skills but acceptable school skills. Permissive parents create high levels of social skills but negative attitudes toward school and adults. Either one of these last two creates a poor fit for the overall experience of the student in school. Authoritative parenting across all social and economic strata, show a marked improvement in school performance, due to the correct psychological “fit” of the child for success in school.

Parents who also show up at school and make themselves visible tend to “spike” the child’s interest and belief in the overall efficacy of school for their later lives. This not only involves the student, but the teachers and administration take notice of such involvement. This can work on several levels and for diverse reasons, such as either showing school employees the parents’ belief in the system or, additionally, leaving little room for teachers and administrators to hide their problems and mistakes within the crowd of parents and students.

But how many parents today can find the time and energy to be so involved in their student’s school? Schools themselves may create their own problems by not making themselves available to parents caught up in the double income working world of today. For many schools themselves, there just isn’t enough time in a day for parents, too many students, and not enough pay.

The collapse of the parent/teacher system under such economic and population stress can be seen all across the board as one of the major factors in student failure. Someone has to make the first move, however; and who would be better than parents that support the schools, through private funding or public taxes, taking a responsible stance and shearing down the size of their lives to make room for responsible scholastic participation.

Between the tenth and sixth grades a parent’s influence drops off significantly as the peer group takes over as primary director. By the time a child reaches high school it has been found that peer pressure is more important than any parental influence. This pressure can often happen without the child realizing he is being taken in one direction or another. Labels, such as “brains” or “jocks”, are often used by the student to define the society around them for easier access. The disturbing statistic is that less than 5% of any student body labels themselves or others as being in school for the main purpose of academic achievement. Among American students there is wide spread pressure not to do TOO well. To do well is often communicated covertly as “showing off”. The prevailing norm in high schools across the country is to “fly in under the radar” and graduate, otherwise, the student may find himself left out of the social climate. This pressure is often hard to prevent and, paradoxically, short lived, as the students’ future will always be with him but current social conditions will be short lived.

When considering the influences outside of the home that will mold and shape the child’s future, parents need to consider that neighborhoods and schools will be a primary source of the child’s social contacts. As with any public climate, like minded neighborhoods will have schools that are filled with future friends who also reflect parenting and teaching attitudes that may be beneficial or may be of concern to parents. Let us consider that there is a student who usually is expected to do well in school simply because of their race and assumed scholastic prowess that is placed in a school populated with students from other ethnic households. These households may indeed share attitudes and feelings toward school work that are not synergistic, if so; there will be an overwhelming social pressure for that student to be less productive. Whereas in a school filled with like minded offspring, the student may encounter other pupils who are oriented towards school. As a result, they will create bonds that combine socializing and studies and find themselves successful simply due to association.

Whether financially well off or monetarily poor, the students’ parents must consider that it is the parenting styles and social climate of other children’s rearing that will do more than they themselves will ever do for the future of the child reaching the high school years.

The ultimate source of achievement problems begins with how students spend their time out of school. The number of students who hold part time jobs after school has risen to 80% since the 1950’s. It’s no coincidence that this figure runs parallel to the decline of student achievement. National companies who hire teenagers are more concerned about thriving on cheap labor, for which they need not provide any benefits, than they are about the nation’s scholastic future. Complaints about students who can’t even make change without a calculator or computer should give national companies pause for thought about their involvement in creating and maintaining the problem themselves. The antiquated idea of the struggling student who must work to help out the family is out of touch with current statistics. It has been found that the overwhelming majority of students who work, earn money for the trivial things in their lives, such as CD’s and other luxury items. These students may work more than 20 hours a week, severely damaging their own ability to succeed in school while at the same time learning job skills that will not transfer into the working world in any meaningful way beyond the level of the job they have.

Working students often cheat more, skip class or perhaps take too many easy classes. Other involvements, such as after school activities, sports and clubs are usually only dabbled in for anywhere from 10-15 hours a week, if that much. Further studies show that socializing outside of school, added on top of socializing already done in school, can be as high as 20 hours a week or more. If all of these influences are added up together, it is painfully obvious that today’s student spends as little as 15% of their overall time on scholastic pursuits. Not coincidentally, Asian students score lowest in all categories of outside school activities. Their success is evidence of the correct social climate, parenting styles and attitudes toward school work that create a smooth road toward achievement. This happens in American schools despite the clamor of the school reform movement.

The lesson here is that school success is as much a product of the ways a student lives their lives as it is the school they attend. Far too many poor parenting styles, greedy and careless employers and the quick thrill media come in contact with today’s students and school is just one of a long list of things a child does every day. America should never be surprised at the level of disengagement of its student body due to the fact that school engagement has become a triviality in the national psyche.

Before this writer becomes chided for dwelling on all the negative things that have happened to the American educational experience, let’s take a look at those things that can be done to right the sinking ship.

1) The nation must realize that the problem is symptomatic of a complex network of social and private problems that must be addressed en-masse. School reform and restructure are not enough to solve the problems of the educational system and past attempts at reform have failed.
2) Parents must realize that the priority of childhood is doing well in school. All other influences must be sacrificed to the extent that scholastic achievement is primary in the students mind. It must be driven home in clear and uncensored language on a national level that doing well in school has ultimate benefits for the child’s mental, emotional and physical well being. Parents, too, must step up to the plate and become more physically involved in the rearing of their children if they are going to have them. Adult’s lack of engagement in the lives and scholastic achievement of their own children has become a pervasive health problem in this country that may become one day a major factor in the down fall of America as a whole.
3) Colleges today are too willing to accept any student who has been given a high school diploma regardless of how well they have done in their studies. This has resulted in students taking the low road to their later lives and creating a work force of questionable merit. When one considers that this includes professions such as doctors and lawyers and political leaders, the resultant society, perhaps less than four generations away, may have “Orwellian” overtones. It’s a science fact that advanced societies are the easiest to destroy, for how many among us can build an automobile or create a vaccine? Once these abilities are lost a society must be concerned with re-building the wheel, as it were, and in today’s world climate America can hardly take a break from its global position to heal its own internal wounds. Toughening standards for student advancement is no longer a debatable convenience, but must be enacted for the future of mankind.
4) Remedial classes at higher learning institutions have to be eliminated. The practice of providing schooling for skills that should be plat formed and ready to go to the next level has weakened the overall effect of both a high school and a college diploma. Any students who do not possess the readiness for higher education should be disallowed and sent back to secondary colleges or some alternative until these skills are achieved and provable.
5) All after school activities must be examined. Extracurricular activities involved with the school institution can often be beneficial for the student in limited amounts. Parents need to judge the effects of sports and clubs and such and then limit the child’s involvement in order to get the maximum benefit of education for that child. National records and statistics do not, however; show any need at all for students to work upwards of twenty hours a week on part time jobs. Studies have shown that it is more of a waste of time and an interference with school work that results only in lower performance. If a child must work, the hours a week should be concentrated to the weekend and less than 15 hours per week. Work time numbers above the 15 hours show nationally to be disastrously detrimental to the school experience.

Solving the problems of academic dementia among American students must be studied from the point of view that takes in to account their entire lives and the effects on their production that parents, friends, employers and the schools have on the struggling student. Until these things are accomplished, America’s future lies in the hands of lost generations.

Let’s Talk About Mental Leverage, Pt. 5

When I was a young’n in elementary school, I had a hard time remembering if the head of the school was the principal or principle. It was easy enough to remember that the head of the school was supposed to be our “pal”. Now you will never forget it.

Do you remember memorizing the names of the great lakes by filing them away in your memory with the word “HOMES”? (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior) Or even when you may have learned music, .....Every Good Boy Does Fine. Ring a bell? It’s the interesting association that makes these things so easy to remember.

Now you have a clue as to how to increase a rapidly expanding mental index to all of the written information you posses. You do it as Mental Leverage experts do it, by associating the information with it’s source in an interesting or perhaps, unusual way. Now, whenever you think of the information, and want to refer to it’s source, you’ll be instantly reminded of where to look.

So let’s say you like Tigers. Yes, the big cats. You have many books, or at least the library does and you want to remember the book sometime in the future for reference. But who was the author? Calvin Burger? Well, let’s make the association down right silly, and imagine a tiger eating a hamburger in a fast food joint. Keep driving that picture home in your mind and whenever you think of Tigers in the future you’ll think of burgers and the Author’s name.

So let’s say another Tiger book is written by Gloria Lincoln. Can you picture a Tiger, this time with lip stick, (and that’s all!) and she is counting five dollar bills? Who’s on the five dollar bill? Lincoln? Now what was the author’s name, a woman named Lincoln? I prefer not to make these things violent, but if you must place the tiger at the theater in the balcony, well, that’s up to you I suppose.

Now did you have to consciously remember anything? No, you didn’t have to.

So, you might ask, how do I remember numbers? Wouldn’t it be great to remember your license number, checking account number, credit cards, social security numbers, car license plates? You can’t picture digits the way you can picture words. So, therefore, you convert the numbers to words.

Which can you remember better? The number 32155846 or Mental Leverage? The words of course, but you would be surprised to find that they are the same thing. Remember that there are ten digits in the decimal system. Each of those ten digits is assigned a consonant sound or group of sounds. For instance, the digit 1 can have both “T” and “D” assigned as it’s letters. Sure they don’t sound exactly alike, but they are close enough for the audible reference to make sense.

Consider the consonant sounds in the phrase Mental Leverage. Here they are with the corresponding letters and numbers.

M N T L L V R G
3 2 1 5 5 8 4 6

We’ll talk more next time about assigning numbers and consonants and transposing back and forth between them, but for now, and I know this section may seem confusing and perhaps “too much work”, but hang in there and you’ll see how suddenly your brain can perform calisthenics you never considered possible.

And, just a note on this as far as the “password” ticks we discussed earlier. If you have a square of numbers on the right side of your key board, you can transform a letter into a group of numbers and only have to remember a letter for the password. Try this, working from bottom to top, left to right, spell out the letter “A” on the number key board. 148563. How about “C”? 3214789. “X” 159753. You don’t have to remember password numbers, just the corresponding letter. Easy? See ya next time.

How Can I Survive 2012 When The Earth Comes To An End?

December 21, 2012 is a date that has been predicted as the end of the world. The most widely known prophecy for this date is the Mayan calendar, which was constructed centuries ago, but mysteriously runs out on this precise date.

Scientists agree with this theory because on that day in the not so far off future, the earth and sun will line up with the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, something that only happens about once every 25,000 years. This could cause world wide disaster as the world shifts suddenly, and the North and South poles end up on the equator, causing earthquakes, flooding, storms, and volcanic action never known before in the history of the world.

If this isn’t frightening enough, other prophetic informants have pointed to the end of the world being sometime in the year 2012. While the Bible does not make straight forward citation to the year 2012, it does depict various analogous events that many believe are happening right now as we watch. Jesus’ disciples directed some weighty questions to him about when the end of the age would be. Jesus answered with this:

"Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Matthew 24:4-8

Is this time close at hand? Is time ticking away and if so, what can we do? Is it viable to survive 2012? The answer is ”Certainly”. The answer is God’s only Son. He is the only way for how to survive 2012.

More than 2000 years ago, the Heavenly Father sent His son, Jesus, to the world He created as a human to live with us, teach us, and experience life in the same ways we do. There was only one differentiation between Him and us. He never did anything wrong. We are all sinners deserving to be punished in hell

. . . . for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
Romans 3:23

Since we are all wrong doers, we have to suffer the consequences of sin . . . eternal separation for our holy God. Death.

For the wages of sin is death
Romans 6:23

Sin leads to eternal separation from God. We all face physical death, which is a result of sin. But a worse death is spiritual death that divides us from God, and will last for all eternity. The Bible teaches that there is a place called the Lake of Fire where lost people will be tormented endlessly. It is the place where people who are separated from God because they were not born again will stay.

but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23

When Jesus died on the cross He paid sin's penalty. He paid the price for all sin and when He took all the sins of the world on Himself on the cross. He bought us out of slavery to sin and death! The only condition is that we believe in Him and what He has done for us, understanding that we are now bonded with Him, and that He is our life. He did all this because He loved us and gave Himself for us! For

. . . whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.
Romans 10:13

. . . if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 10:9-10

The decision is now yours. If you accept Jesus Christ as your individual savior and get absolution for your sins, you will survive the trials that will come.

If you haven’t, I urge you to do so at this moment, even as you read this you can accept Jesus into your heart. Simply pray with me, “Lord Jesus. Thank you for loving me so much that you died in my place. I realize that I am a sinner, and I desire your forgiveness. Please come into my heart and rescue me from death. Amen!”

If you made this appeal to God, congratulations! You are now existing eternally. You will by no means die! Yes, your body will die, but you will live eternally. Even though God will destroy the world around us, you will not be destroyed. That is God’s promise.

A word of caution: just because you are saved from death doesn’t mean that life will be carefree. In fact, as the day of doomsday approaches, it just might get more difficult as the devil gains more power. We have to stand together and support each other in this difficult time. If you do not already attend a a fellowship that teaches God’s Word, find one! Dive into God’s word, and learn as much as you can. Pray daily. Constantly search out God’s purpose for your life, and He will see you through. Remember, 2012 is not the finish. It is a new start!

As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name!
John 1:12

About the Author

Mark Daniels, a dedicated Christian, has been involved in challenging himself and others to seek to be honest and open in the faith journey. He recently starting writing articles around the subject of 2012 and for the website {a href=" http://www.howtosurvive2012.org/" target="_blank"}How to survive 2012 after hearing about the 2012 movie to be released and reading many articles.

Let’s Talk About Mental Leverage, Pt. 4

Something called the Data Indexing Method

I think it was Einstein who said something like, “I may not know everything, but I do know where to go find it.” You really don’t need to be able to remember every single dot and point of all things, the where and how of gathering information is really all you’ll need. Even Einstein wouldn’t tell you how many feet there were in a mile, he refused to clutter his brain with impractical information.

There was a major newspaper some time ago that once printed an article on how Henry Ford was STUPID. Ford sued them over this. He forced the publisher to prove that he was as stupid as the printed article claimed. The lawyers surprisingly continued with this exercise and in court, they asked Ford many questions dealing with things that people are usually very familiar with, kinda like game show stuff, if you get my meaning.

Ford couldn’t answer many of the questions, President’s names, dates in American history, and the like. He told the court that although he couldn’t answer many of the questions, he DID have people who could look it up for him.

Ford and Einstein came to much the same conclusions and yet had very little in common (and there is a lot to say about that). But they did have one bit of intell that most people don’t, they were familiar with a rule of mental leverage:

It’s easier to remember where to get information when you need it rather than remembering that info yourself.

This is the basis for one of the most powerful memory systems ever devised. Most successful people use it, and conversely, most unsuccessful people do not.

In sales it is a common practice to jot down bits and pieces of information on each customer you deal with, so that next time you can pull out the info card just before you meet with them again and suddenly you remember little bits and pieces that make your customer feel wanted and familiar. It’s a nice idea and can be used also in educational ways.

If you are in say, college, and you have several difficult classes you are taking. It might be a good idea to make up little index cards with small bits and pieces of information from the notes you have taken each day and carry those cards around with you. That way, when you are stuck in traffic, or waiting in a bank line, you can pull out a few cards and bring ideas back into the front of your memory several times a day. Yes, this will result in lots of index cards, so perhaps a small pocket notebook would work just as well, but you’re a smart group out there, if you really want to do something like this you will figure it out. ;-)

But really, I am not trying to get you to use outside forces as much as the inside force of your own mind. I am mostly trying to show you how to use your brain as an index system. Think of it like the index of a text book. It can take up about three percent of the total amount of pages in a book. Thus, each page gives you access to about 33 pages of information. What would be easier, memorizing thirty three pages of information or one page of index? The index, of course. And that is why people who do great things in business, science and education, swear by the data indexing method.

What you really need, is not index cards, or a small notebook, but a realistic way to recall important information you pick up in your day to day travels. Used correctly, you should be able to recall information that is maybe two to three years old. You do this by giving information an interesting or unusual association.

More to come in part 5.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Government Run Healthcare

American health-care crisis... political watchwords used in countless situations in Washington to strike fear into the souls of man. The current healthcare system is in need of reform. Unfortunately, our left thinking friends seek a strategy for reform that cripples, rather than stimulates, the situation of the American healthcare system. By proposing a single-payer system shown over and over again as a threat to the well-being of American families, a potential obstruction to quality care, and stifling of American individualism against an ever-encroaching Federal government, the Democratic Party has succumbed to the conclusions that Europe made 40 years ago. The people of Europe were ahead with a more socialized medical system, and these countries are coming to grips with the astronomical failures of socialized medicine in their own lands.

Even as early as 1964, an aspiring Western politician named Ronald Wilson Reagan spoke out against “socialized medicine”, by any other names, including, “public options” and “single-payer systems”, as detrimental to American freedoms.

Included in the Democratic push for governmental intrusion into healthcare is Michael Bennet, our freshman senator. His speech given on the Senate floor mimicked Democratic sentiments on reform, citing the local example of Grand Junction’s healthcare program as visualization for a Federal system. The Western Slope community’s shift towards a centralized medical system was a local decision made by its citizens, not by Federal mandate. What makes our country great is the delegation of power from the Federal government to state and local authorities to maximize individual liberties. This difference allowed the citizens of Grand Junction to alter their system, successfully.

Ironically, the very successes cited by Senator Bennet come as a direct result of less Federal power, as opposed to an increase in Federal controls. Population in Mesa County hovers around 120,000. A similar system would probably not see success rates when mandated by bureaucrats in Washington D. C. Senator Bennet’s insistence that follow-up care does reduce overall long-term costs may be true, but the choice should remain in the hands of a free market where hospitals and insurance companies help determine how to merge this into business costs.

Senator Bennet raised concerns about whether American families will be able to keep their private healthcare if they wish to do so following the introduction of the public option. The public option will create incredible barriers to private care access. For instance, businesses offering insurance to their employees, given increased tax burdens and rising inflation, will be compelled to drastically reduce, or sever completely, insurance to workers, causing an increasing use of the “free” public system. According to Ed Feulner, President of the Heritage Foundation, as many as 119 million Americans will be left with the public option as the only option. Claiming the individual choice to retain private care is inconsistent with the outcome of the single-payer system, and will result in less freedom for families to make important decisions about their healthcare plans.

Socialized medicine, once limited to political organizations, has now filtered over into groups like the American Medical Association, who have expressed concern over President Obama’s plan for healthcare. I commend these doctors, who continue to stand against political sweet-talk and promote the valuable services they offer our nation. Their efforts reflect the American Medical Associations empathy for patients’ rights.

There are many countries where socialized medicine is the norm. However, I must point out that government run health is not effective. Examples from Canada include people that can afford American Health Care cross the border to get immediate care due to the long wait in Canada if people in countries with socialized medicine are in need of surgery or special care they are told that in order to see doctors they will have to wait for weeks and sometimes months. In Japan the care is slow and they are one of the most advanced countries in the world, but they have a single pay system that is not working. The government of Japan is now talking about an increase in the single pay system since the funds are not there to support the program. This is another problem with a government run program. The governments cut services to reduce the cost of running the program, have fewer doctors and raise fees as needed. The people of the country lose all choices and are totally at the mercy of the government.

I watched in Honduras as a friend’s daughter of 25 had stomach problems and went to the doctor. Because she was not wealthy and could notget ahead in the line she stood in line for two days, yes two days. Once there she was told she needed an x-ray. It was scheduled for weeks later. She died a few days later. This is not a rare case.

In Canada the death rate for cancer is much higher than the US due to one drug not being made available in Canada since it is too expensive. Therefore, unless people go to the US to obtain it their cancer is not stopped.

Another area in which Democrats and Republicans should easily be able to find common ground is in fighting healthcare fraud.

If you think this is just tinkering around the edges of healthcare reform, you’re wrong. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), a doctor, believes that fully one-third of all health spending is wasted on defensive medicine, red tape and outright fraud. In a system that will spend $2.5 trillion this year, that means that more than $800 billion will go to unnecessary, unproductive and fully preventable spending. I believe that America desperately needs a real change in health care that will never happen if we can’t get beyond this endless debate over government-run healthcare.

A good start are the suggested principles stated by Past House Speaker Newt Gingrich. The fact is, command-and-control from Washington doesn’t work. Competition, choice and individual control will produce the health system Americans want.

To truly bring down costs and expand coverage we must build a bipartisan agreement focused on four things:

1. Improving individual health by incentivizing prevention, wellness and early health.
2. Giving doctors and hospitals incentives to deliver high-quality care through fair and proper payments.
3. Reforming public programs like Medicare and Medicaid to root out fraud, cut waste and reward quality.
4. Empowering individuals with the information and financial resources they need to be better, more-informed consumers.

The Center for Health Transformation has developed an approach that will improve individual health, lower costs and deliver the best possible care. Tell your representative that any health reform bill must have these basic principles. Please Google Center for Health Transformation.

America can’t afford to let health care move to government control. Americans lives will change beyond anyone’s expectations and the downward spiral of the past America way of life will begin.

I urge you to contact your senators and representatives in Congress and say no to government run health care.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Let’s Talk About Mental Leverage, Pt. 3

You know what isometric exercises are, right? If you try these for physical fitness, you’ll find that pushing against an immovable object will actually make your muscles stronger. It helps to know this, because your brain is actually kind of like this. It, too, is a muscle. Kids in school often feel they will never use the things they learn in school, but they miss the important step of exercise which makes the capacity for thought “bigger” and therefore improves their chances for success in life.

The secret of isometrics is that you are using your own muscles to increase their strength. You are exerting those muscles past their limit and trying to move the immovable. This has a better rate of return than weight lifting for the same amount of time. With weights, they can be heavy but not immovable. Your muscles get more of a workout when they push against something that will not move with lots of practice.

The amazing thing is that with less time spent every day you can develop a musculature that would take more time from each day you use it. So it is with your mind. If you give a brief amount of time to isometric exercises with the mind, then over an accumulated amount of time, it is possible to develop way beyond where you are now. But another nice thing is that you can practice mental exercise while involved with other things. In the same way you use muscle to make muscles bigger, you use your mind to make your mind “bigger”.

So, let’s talk about memory. You probably believe that you were born with the world’s worst memory sometimes, I know it happens to me also. I have a problem with names, I see faces forever, but I can and often do, put the wrong names to the faces. I’ll correct the mistake, and then later on the mistake will come back to memory and I can’t remember the correction. Ack!

Or how about when you are searching for the right word to use, or the name of some movie, or, even where you put the car keys... and then it pops up in your mind a half hour later. Frustrating, I know. But don’t worry, your memory is a lot better than you think. It’s just a matter of learning how to use it efficiently.

For instance, how many of you have a roster of passwords and user names for internet sites and can’t keep them all straight? It can get pretty nuts. But if you use some memory techniques for this, you can do just fine. I’ll give you two right now before I go on.

Name two things you are familiar with. Your dog’s name, your favorite color. Okay, you like a website for growing tomatoes. Say, tomatoes.com. You are a member and have to input a password each time. So the dog’s name is Spot. You’re favorite color is blue. So your password is always in front of you at Tomatoes.com. Your password is spottomatoesblue. Or, you could use numbers in there. For instance even numbers twice, like 22. spottomatoes22.

If you were into race cars at racecars.com, it would be spotraceblue or spotrace22. And that system will work for you with all of the sites you visit, because you are attaching something old, planted in your memory with something new and the two link up to form one thought. Got it?

Or you can use the keyboard in front of you if you would like something a little harder to keep track of and even more effective. Look at your key board. See the letters QWAS? POLK? They are on each side of the board and they follow a key sequence, if you can remember the individual sequences of the keys as you see them, for instance, Q is 1, W is 2, A is 3, S is 4 and then P is 1, O is 2, L is 3. K is 4, then you’ll be able to mix and match combinations that are almost impossible to de-encrypt.

I’m trying to keep these as short as possible, so we’ll continue next time with more memory ideas.


More to come in part 4.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Funny People

Funny People

Adam Sandler, Eric Bana, Jason Schwartzman, RZA and newcomer Aubrey Plaza join a cast that reunites Judd Apatow with Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann and Jonah Hill in their third comedy together. --© Universal Pictures
Director: Judd Apatow
Screenwriter: Judd Apatow
Producer: Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel, Clayton Townsend
Composer: Jason Schwartzman
Studio: Universal Pictures


There’s a character in this movie who is the lead in a famous sitcom, a fake one made up for this movie. He likes to throw his 250,000 dollar paycheck in the face of his buddies, the very people he shares a house with. Then, later in the pic, Seth Rogen is sitting on a couch with two little girls and they are watching the same sitcom. He asks them, “Do you guys like this show?” And they both answer, “No, it’s the worst.” And yet they remain there, watching it, like trained zombies instead of changing the channel. A fitting spit in the eye to all of us.

This movie was an enormous chore to watch. By the last half hour I was on the edge of my seat, literally ready to get up and leave. I really have to wonder what Hollywood is thinking about some of the so called “adult” movies they put tons of money into. I mean, honestly, do the hundreds of people involved in such a project, from the producers, directors, and actors all the way to the key grip guy, actually believe they are doing something worth while when putting this kind of trash together?

Do they really believe that real people go around F-bombing each other into dust and yet still get along? Can you assault someone verbally and emotionally, someone who has no real attachment to you, like, say marriage for instance, and yet they are still there tomorrow? Don’t you believe it!!! They are lying to you folks.

Why anyone in Hollywood would make a movie that flatly states that the entertainment industry is a huge sham and we’re all brain dead for being involved at all, is way beyond me. What kills me, is that when this opened there were benefits like this one included.

The night will benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and 826LA. 826LA is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.

Now after you have been depressed by the utter waste of life that is presented to you on screen, and you have been F-bombed to death, let’s all help the kids.....

Something is seriously seriously wrong with our society.
1/5 Stars Don’t waste your money

Let’s Talk About Mental Leverage, Pt. 2

(If you missed part 1, you need to go back)

People who have achieved great things in business understand many of the underlying principals of Mental Leverage. They have seen how the power of leverage has worked in financing their enterprises, over and over they have been able to make one dollar do the work of ten or more.

When they were young they came to the realization that their success was limited only by their own creativity and problem solving ability.. and of course, some courage thrown in for good measure. They agreed with Daniel Webster, that the mind is the great lever of all things. This can be helpful as you multiply your mental powers in much the same way as they multiplied their financial leveraging.

You’ll need to realize, as we go through these, that your own individual talents and abilities will determine what you will concentrate on. Do you need to improve your memory, your reading speed, or perhaps you would benefit from opening up the creative flood gates? You’ll need to decide these things for yourself, and I hope you can find the impetus to actually implement some of the tips.

The law of averages says that if you were to sit down with a group of other people and take an intelligence test, some would obtain higher scores than you. But don’t let it get in the way of your success, because when it comes to real life situations, it’s possible to beat everyone. Why?

1) No one functions at a level anywhere near their mental capacity.

2) All you need to do is out perform someone. It doesn’t matter if they are smarter than you. You’ll need to increase your performance ratio.

Performance ratio is simply the percentage of your total mental capacity you are putting to use. You are probably using only something like 10% of your brain power, like most people. But applying mental leverage makes it seem as if your brain is using a much higher percentage of strength.

Let’s say for instance that your memory normally operates at about 10% capacity, Mental Leverage will make you perform way above this in ways you couldn’t imagine. When you increase your ability to recall facts and figures with a little leverage, you can operate at about 20%. Impossible? Au contraire mon fraire. The people who can beat you in an IQ test are still functioning at ten percent, but now you can outperform them hands down.

Let’s say that someone else has an IQ of 140, while yours is 120. In normal conditions that other person should be able to learn faster than you can. But these aren’t going to be normal conditions, because you are going to apply Mental Leverage to the equation. This will actually make you “smarter” than the other guy. When your learning power is above the smarter IQ, you can easily out perform them.

More to come in part 3.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: G. I . Joe, The Rise of Cobra

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Christopher Eccleston, Rex Gordon-Levitt, Byung-hun Lee, Sienna Miller, Rachel Nichols, Ray Park, Jonathan Pryce, Said Taghmaoui, Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans, Dennis Quaid

Paramount presents a film directed by Stephen Sommers. Screenplay by Stuart Beattie, David Elliot and Paul Lovett, based on toys by Hasbro. Running time: 118 minutes. MPAA rating: PG-13 for strong sequences of action violence and mayhem throughout.

I had an idea when I saw the previews for this movie that I might actually like it. Good thing too, because I actually did. It reminded me of a “Superbowl” type set-up. The best of ours versus the best of theirs in a contest over an item that they both want. Y’know kinda like a football. And this movie moves along in the mode pretty well. There’s some nasty nano-bot type tech that is just like the Borg from Star Trek, but it’s programmed to eat anything it contacts with. Not a bad idea really, and it comes off quite nicely in the CGI. I really did appreciate the efforts of the producers to try and take things that already exist in other places and make them at least seem to be germane to the creative energy of this movie and this movie only. So, nice work guys.

More explosions again this time, not so much like the Transformers movie, and I will say this movie was a bit better than that one. But really, could the Johnny Quest theme music be as great as it is without being able to aim a laser beam at an old deserted ship and have it explode? Really. If you’re a boy from 13-19 yrs old, you need explosions. (heh). Those explosions are as clean as a fight on Championship Wrestling, you know that show, everyone beats up on each other with moves that would cripple most people and next week the same wrestlers show up without a scratch or bruise? You know.

Really great CGI graces the flick and really, it’s the star of the show. The plot is not too bad, and there is some human interest story stuff, i.e.: old friends who are now enemies, old loves who are controlled by the bad guys, yadda yadda. Seems most everyone here has a back story, and in meeting each other they go over it in their minds briefly like you already know the story and are visiting it with them once again. But there are many, many fantastic scenes of CGI to delight the fan boy crowd, and it was kind of nice to see such a modern movie with old fashioned predilections. There are a few, very few cuss words, but nothing your kids aren’t hearing in their own school on a regular basis. If you took your kids to see this magnificent production, there really isn’t too much that would bother you I think. It all depends on your level of tolerance and that level doesn’t have to go very deep.

All in all a great action pic that concentrates on ACTION, and doesn’t take any wrong turns for a calculated swipe at more box office. I’d give it a 90-95% for decency, really nice to see.

3.5/5 Stars

Let’s Talk About Mental Leverage, Pt. 1

Inventors and scientists have done much with their own talents to improve our lives. They’ve given us machines for cooking and travel, some that can take us clear across the globe. But so far they haven’t been able to do anything to improve the mind of the common man.

Oh, for sure we have nifty computers these days that will play complex video games or even the more austere “chess” match, and calculators that will balance a checkbook correctly for you.... if indeed you are paying attention as you compute. But what have they done to help us in the every day work of learning, remembering and problem solving we all do each day? When you apply for employment, your interviewer is interested in the abilities YOU have, not those of your calculator or computer.

The nice thing to know is, that even without help from scientists, you yourself can do very well on your own. In fact, you can do much better than you are doing now, regardless of your present level of achievement.

What I am alluding to is something called Mental Leverage. With development of mental leverage you’ll be able to improve in many areas. You can sharpen your memory, learn things more rapidly, read faster and retain more, and you’ll be able to handle math much more easily. Most of all, and there are a few more benefits, but mostly, you’ll be able to become a much better informed person.

Mental leverage is exactly what you might think it is. Levers can move objects you would never be able to move otherwise. Financial leverage can help you to take one dollar and make ten. What really counts in these examples is not how much you have, but how that which you do have is applied.

It’s the same with mental leverage, it’s not about the amount of thinking or studying you do, but it’s about the way you go about it. People who don’t use mental leverage usually find it difficult to remember information on a regular basis, info they actually need regularly. And they tend to struggle to solve many different kinds of problems. They impose needless limitations on themselves, on their work, and their relationships with family and friends. They fail to realize just how great their God given mental potential really is. In short, they bury their talent in the ground.

This will be an ongoing subject for my blog, and I hope you’ll join me for the serialized posts I am planning. I’m hoping to give everyone of my readers tips for improving their brain power and finding more blessings in their lives. So stay tooned!

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Science Is The Revelation Of God

Does Science Make God Obsolete?

No, because Science and God are just different names for the same creative force. God and Science are the same force if they have the same attributes. Are they both Universal? - yes. Eternal? - yes. Unchanging? - yes. The source of right living; love and freedom? Etc. - Yes. So, if they have the same attributes, then, they are the same entity and to say one is obsolete is to say they are both obsolete.

Thank God that we don't have to choose between God and Reason as to which is supreme. To believe they are one and the same is to have beliefe both are supreme. Goodbye Science and Religion split. God and Reason are different names for the manifestation of the same force: the Law of Identity; the Universal Constant; the Fifth Force of the known five forces that construct and explain all existence. This Law is the source of logic, reason, science, art, music, philosophy, health and happiness -which means: God is the source of all this goodness.

God is Science - can be expressed as A=A, which is also known as the Law of Non-contradiction. A=A is the mother and father of all equations; the equations that explains the workings of the Universe and all within. Now, God, like Science, can be described by a mathematical equation. A=A, God, is necessary, universal, eternal, infinite and explains all matter and human action. A=A unifies all the forces and brings together all things in a single mathematical scheme that explains every fundamental process in nature. It is the "elegant simplicity underlying the diversity of the Universe," that Timothy Ferris writes about.

A short cut to the proof of this proposition is to ask how does the Law of Identity, A=A, explain the origin of the Universe and not make God obsolete in the process? And the answer is: The Law of Identity created this infinite Universe by creating an infinite list of laws by which the Universe constructed itself - an infinity of information informed the creation of an infinity of matter - by law.

The laws of Identity are: 1st law - Identity proceeds existence. What something is, is determined by its attributes. 2nd law - Every existent seeks to maintain its existence and resists change. This is the source of the Force. 3rd law - Two or more "things" may combine to create a new "thing". This the Law of Creation. 4th law - The creation of each new "something" creates the time to run the cycle of creation and the space that it moves into. 5th law - An entity emits energy as it changes what it is. This is the source of the Weak Force. 6th law - No two enties are identical. (The source of infinity.) 7th Law - Only one entity may occupy the same space in the same time. 8th Law - Energy equals mass, times the speed of light, squared. 9th Law - A=A creates an infinity of laws.

Creation of The Universe from the Void According to the Laws of Identity, or, How something come from nothing.

Obeying these Laws, the Universe came into existence. The first Law: Identity proceeds existence, and for the Void to exist it must have attributes. The attributes of the Void were: it is necessary and unique. Then, complying with the 2nd Law, a new existent was created: the Force of the void's presents, whose attribute is: An entity that seeks to maintain what it is. We now have two existents! The Void and the Force (of its Identity.) Next, according to the 2nd Law: Two or more existents may combine to make a third - and so, the Void and The Force combined to create a third existent - the Weak Force. And next the Void combined with the Force and the weak force, and created the fourth existent, the Strong Force. Then the Void combined with the Force of its existence, the Weak Force and the Strong Force and created a 5th existent: the Electro-Magnetic force. Finally, all five forces combined to create a sixth unique force: the Force of Gravity - then, these 6 combined to create a 7th unique existent and so, combining and creating, on and on, for a long, long time, creating an infinity of unique existents - existence is information. This is the mechanism of creation that spawned an infinity of unique existents. A vast universe was created by this continuous ribbon of information, unbroken and containing all the information of the five forces. Each new existent unique in the sense that a new existence was created at the end of each cycle of creation. At some time in space this unbroken ribbon of information reached a critical mass and collapsed in on its self condensing into a tiny ball before it exploded in a "Big Bang" and spewed fragmented bits of information containing all the forces in each bit of information back into space where these bits of information combined according to the laws of identity and became pre-matter: the building blocks of the Universe.

(Did you guys get all that?)

GOD is REASON, a novel by James Rushing, is a love and adventure story of struggle against oppression and the startling discovery that the evil ravaging their city is self-inflected. Please visit http://GODisREASON.com for more information.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Colleges That Change People's Lives

Today’s college scene is composed of an interesting dichotomy of experiences and learning environments that are proving one method highly successful while proving another, time worn method, to be more and more deficient. Ordinarily, high achieving students would focus on the brand names of education, with their prestige and instant name recognition which would provide many assumed benefits. However, many students are finding a more productive alternative to the Ivy League and big name colleges of America. Students, who are spending time at smaller, more involved colleges, are finding themselves getting better educations for the future than students who are in large, uninvolved institutions. The gap between the two methods of learning is widening and may be a foreshadowing of changes to come in future generations of college attendees.

Long term statistics and student experience are proving that the smaller schools are actually turning out the better students in the far stretch. Large, impersonal schools are providing too much opportunity for a student to hide within the crowd and earn a degree by simply being present and paying tuition. Smaller schools of about 2,000 students allow the student faculty ratio to be much closer and therefore students receive a higher percentage of attention at the learning level. At this closer ratio, students can ill afford to allow themselves to be a nameless faceless person in the crowd. Students around them are more involved and personally know the instructors, they also move in a direction that is obvious to all and therefore provide a social climate by which a student can excel and wants to excel.

Larger and more prestigious colleges have become “overstocked” as it were, with the student body and are little more than a spectator experience for many students within a 200-300 person classroom. Many of these classes are there for the sole purpose of filling up your notebooks, and then administering tests that are made out for a general audience, and then graded by teacher assistants. In a smaller college, the student may find themselves in classes of only twenty students, which with day after day of moving together in the same direction, can become a kind of “family” where everyone knows each other and the professor as well. In these smaller classes the instructors actively seek to expand the mind of the student and engage them in the process of learning right there in the classroom. Therefore, the student is always studying for the test three weeks away, from the beginning of classes. The learning process is always activated whether the student is in class, with his other classmates or alone in study hall. It would be very difficult for a student in such an environment of closely knit societies to wonder what will be on the test tomorrow.

Much to their own detriment, many aspiring students make their choices about future college based on their social climate they acquired in high school. Unfortunately, this herd mentality can be instrumental in continuing a spiral of non-success that will follow them to the college level. If none of the students a child knows in high school have done any research into colleges that will be personally fulfilling to the individual student, then the crowd that goes to the big state school together will have very few who actually benefit. The individual benefits from matching a student to the correct school will be lost in a major waste of time and money simply due to the herd mentality guiding the students as one and failing to benefit the individual students as parts. Students need to realize that friends today will more than likely be memories tomorrow as life moves on for all of them. An atmosphere of achievement must be maintained at the high school to college crossover age or else many years will be lost in a attempt to make up for missed time. Too often this kind of student finds themselves years after college cutting into today’s events in order to make up for the lost opportunity of education that was sacrificed for a social climate that will be, more times than not, ending.

Much of the time students who are given no guidance at all, or who fail to do the homework themselves, believe that all colleges will be the same. They mistakenly believe that it only matters that you go somewhere to school in much the same way they believed that it only matters that you graduate, not how well you do during high school. College for students must be seen not as a continuation of the time they had in high school but as a new kind of learning experience. Colleges are full of like minded students who are just starting out into their professional lives and also learning about who they are as individuals. I can’t remember how many times I have spoken with persons in their 40’s about who they were in their 20’s and had the same conversation about the level of awareness. Many of them tell me that in their 20’s they were totally deluded about who they were as people and the extent of their abilities and maturation. This is a critical time in a young person’s life and needs to have the benefit of parents, advisors and professors who understand the blind spot of the twenty something person for his future and what achievement will bring about in the realm of self discovery. Choosing a college is instrumental in this development and must consider the students needs personally as must also the college itself in educating the student. Smaller colleges facilitate this process with more intimate learning environments and a crowd mentality that is beneficial to the student.

Long term statistics have now proven that successful college careers rarely depend on the prestige of the college name a student attended. Their real success follows them in the form of what a student takes with them after leaving a college. The influence of smaller colleges with a hands on approach to learning and a smaller community to orbit the student is proving to be more beneficial than the large classes where the student sits all day in a sea of faces. Many graduates of these larger colleges are now revealing the ease with which large colleges graduate students. Many of these students tell tales of how they could have “mailed it in’ during their stay at the college they graduated from. Students who drop out of these large colleges and transfer to schools who are smaller and more intimate sing the praises of professors and student bodies who engaged them not only in learning but socially as well, contributing to a major improvement from the large college experience.

Statistically, these smaller colleges are also proving that a students high school grades were often not true indicators of a students performance capabilities. Many of the graduated students from these smaller institutions report having their minds challenged and improved by the attention they received from educators who where there to educate rather than gain tenure. These students found themselves a part of the honor society in these colleges for the first time in their lives. Afterward, they also found themselves out distancing the students from the larger colleges due to the personal growth and more intimate attention that enabled them to meet major challenges with the skill to learn how to learn and think through any situation they encountered. Though the subjects may have been text book oriented, the skills learned in unison with the lesson carried them farther and higher than those they would have gained simply by filling in notes in a book.

Due to the closer attention that the smaller college can afford the student, such administrations find they can concern themselves with those who have been mislabeled as learning deficient. It is being discovered that those who simply learn differently are developing further than the literary based student just as the two hit a certain level of personal maturity. These students, who represent a more complex entity than their counterparts, have a more creative and hypothetical - almost, intuitive - way of performing in life than the literal status quo of the intellectual. Colleges have recognized that this may be indeed the wave of the future as far as turning out students who access parts of the mind we today can only guess about. As in nature, the more complex entities take much longer to mature and perhaps, these colleges believe, there is an untapped resource lying beneath the surface of these students that needs to be cultivated and produced for the betterment of all mankind. As this new age of educational development takes flower, the universities of the future may look vastly different from those of today in both their attendees and those chosen for the higher place in economic life.

Smaller colleges are on the frontier of change for the educational needs of America. Today’s system from the pre-school to the highest levels may take on a whole new complexion due to the ability of smaller colleges to recognize the promise of students and implement proven techniques for their development, rather than simply churning out graduate numbers and paper degrees. Home schooling may take on a larger amount of students as it is proven to be a more beneficial and acceptable course of action than today’s overcrowded schools. The small college will be more ready to accept these students and produce an adult into working society who has experienced education from a much different perspective than the marginally successful student of today. What will these unusually trained students appear like in working society? What will the continued schooling and training of the gifted student once believed to be learning deficient produce for the next generation of America? The outlook is promising and the signs encouraging. Perhaps the answers to America’s educational needs and failing system are being found intuitively through an unconscious connection between us all. This connection will result in benefits that will surprise our conscious minds, but be of little shock to the deep inner workings of the unknown mind that pushed us as a nation toward the solution. Then, someday in the future, when a student says, “I don’t know how I knew the answer, I just did.” Professors will nod approval and reply, “Good ….very good.”