- Intermittent Fasting
- Paleo Diet,
- Strength Training 4x a week - Weighted Pull-ups,
Weighted Squats, Deadlifts, Bench Press, Leg Extentions,
Weighted Lunges, Weighted Dips
- Stand 50% of the time while I work.
- Minimal alcohol and caffeine
As a moderately anxious person I have a completely different internal experience on an American subway vs. one in Tokyo. I have almost no anxiety in Tokyo. Why? it is one of the safest big cities in the world. Theft, terrorism, assault, and general creepiness are almost non-existent and everyone knows it and behaves accordingly.
In contrast, you have to be much more aware on American mass transit to avoid problems. American mass transit is far more dangerous than in Tokyo and it is almost instantly apparent to anyone paying attention. You'd be a fool not have situational awareness on an American subway because there is a higher probability of personal harm.
My response to Hawking would be a question: Who or what is smart enough to decide how much wealth each person should have and design a efficient system to distribute it and what evidence do you have that the outcome would be better than a free market?
To one degree or another authority implies the threat of violence. For the person confronted with violence, subconscious automatic action is required for survival. Mistakes may be made, but trust in your training is essential. It is the same in sports (football, basketball, ice hockey, tennis), if you have to hesitate and consciously think, you are "in your head" and you'll be beaten. Some of us have been trained to react automatically by our environments. The best training ground for criminal behavior is juvenile detention and other forms of incarceration where hesitation will get you in trouble quickly. Our system is creating these kids who act on auto pilot. If they lose respect they have lost nearly everything they have.
When you show overt contempt for sports you are showing contempt for most everybody and that is problem with your social skills.
It's called being a snob. The disdain for working class culture among academics was part of the reason I choose not to pursue a formal higher education. I suspect this overt snootiness keeps many gifted working class kids from participating in higher education.
I grew up working class and was a boxer. I love Ice Hockey, Football, UFC, NASCAR, Motocross, and heavy metal, but I am also an academic and an intellectual. Many highly educated people have told me so, I just don't have the paper to prove it.
My oldest son is highly gifted earning math test scores putting him in the top tenth of one percent and placing 1st in regional Math Masters competitions. He also plays ice hockey so he interacts socially with the 'jocks' and the 'brains' preferring the company of the 'brains.'
Most of his 'smart' friends show contempt for sports which is a social problem since he is an athlete.
When a kids says, "Hockey. Meh. It is a bunch grown men with sticks chasing a black piece of rubber around a sheet of ice" he is saying in effect "What you love is obtuse and low brow and I don't care how that makes you feel." And that is just rude.
One other thing most people don't know about this: Free shipping actually costs the buyer more than actual shipping costs. The seller has to guesstimate what actual shipping costs are and add that to the margin. Most estimates will be higher than actual costs since estimating under costs will put you out of business fairly quickly. If they aren't over actual costs initially they will be adjusted to higher than actual costs over time.
eBay is doing the same thing. They are pushing sellers to offer free shipping which simply means don't line item your shipping costs. The sellers still need to pay for shipping. Amazon still needs to pay for shipping too. It is built into their model.
I mean really people, I hate to sound condescending, but... when you do a "buy one get one free" do you really think you got something for free?
Maybe one day we'll all get free healthcare and free schools and freeways too. Don't kid yourself, you're paying for them.
I think the obvious answer is that this isn't FREE shipping. Nothing is FREE. "Free" shipping is nothing but marketing speak, and if this is illegal so is "Buy one get one Free" or "Buy one get one half price" since the discount is built into the business model.
My wife is an Amazon seller and yes when she ships prime she must pay for shipping which would force her to lose money on each shipment so she builds the cost of shipping into the cost of the item. The cost of her taxes are in the item. The cost of her employees are in her item. The cost of software licenses are built into the item.
The only thing you get with FREE shipping is a receipt that doesn't include shipping as a line item. Someone has to pay the driver, buy the truck, and put fuel in it, pay for the insurance, etc, etc, etc. It can't possibly be free.
300 million Americans x $2,000 per month x 12 Months = 7.2 Trillion annual printing of new money. Total M2 Money Supply is currently 10.5 Trillion and the entire US GDP is only 15.6 Trillion. So adding approx 70% to the money supply every year or adding 50% of GDP as new cash to the economy every year will only result in 2% more inflation??? If you believe that, I've got a dot com to sell you...