SamAntics – The Antics of Sam

Columbine. Aurora. Newtown.

I’d be incredibly surprised if anyone reading this doesn’t recognize those names. Each was a tragedy, each involved guns, and each might have been preventable…but not by gun control.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand the feeling. When tragedy strikes, we look for someone to blame, and if that doesn’t feel like enough, we look for something else to blame. Casting blame, vilifying something or someone, helps us to feel better about things that are out of our control.

But casting blame doesn’t solve problems. Reacting instinctively, emotionally, without stepping back and thinking logically, doesn’t solve problems.

So, gun control…let’s look at this logically for a minute. Continue reading “Gun Control Won’t Prevent Anything…Here’s Why”

From its humble beginnings 36 years ago to its ascent to the most valuable company on earth, Apple has achieved truly incredible things. 23.9% profit margins, for a hardware company? Yup. Roughly $100 billion in cash, tucked away for a rainy day? Yup. 60% Y/Y growth after 35 years in business? Yup.

How exactly have they achieved such incredible success? Now that’s the trillion dollar question.

I’ve studied Apple for years; their business methods, their products, their stock fluctuations. I’ve read books and articles, watched videos, studied earnings reports, and watched product launch after product launch after product launch.

After all that observation, I think I’ve got it figured out…and perhaps it will help to put it in context of some recent Apple happenings. Continue reading “The Method Behind Apple’s Madness”

In the last 10 years, my weight has ranged from a high of 265 when body building to a low of 157 when doing endurance training. I’ve lost as much as 80 lbs in just 5 months, and at one point I could leg press over 1,000 lbs. Whenever I feel like making a change in my life, I usually begin with a round of body recomposition, either slimming down or muscling up, depending on my mood 🙂

Want to learn how I do it?

First, the standard disclaimer of “I’m not a doctor or medical professional, and anything I say is purely my opinion, and please consult with a real doctor before starting any diet or exercise regimen.”

OK, that’s out of the way…let’s get cracking!

#1 – Data

I measure data religiously, the more the merrier. Like the saying goes, what gets measured gets managed. What should you measure? Continue reading “The Art of Body Recomposition”

I live in Seattle, pretty close to downtown, and over the last couple of months I’ve had to endure the annoying as hell Occupy protesters on a regular basis. The more I see them, in-person and on TV, the more I think to myself “these people have no clue how to improve their lives.”

If the people involved in the occupy protests spent half of that effort on trying to get a job (or even better, creating their own jobs), they wouldn’t have anything to complain about. The 1% didn’t become the 1% by sitting around complaining about how unfair life happens to be (well, some might have, but most did not.) They busted their asses to get there. Continue reading “The 99 Percent and the Occupy Movement”

For the last few years, the seed of a book idea has been floating around in my mind. The core of it has come from my own life experiences, but the concept has grown and expanded and become more clear as I’ve read a variety of books (The 4-Hour Workweek, ReWork, Linchpin, The Education of Millionaires, Rich Dad Poor Dad, Brain Rules, Sway, and dozens of others), had additional experiences, and gained new insights into psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, sociology, and a dozen other fields I’ve been researching.

I’m only about 20% finished, but I feel like it’s coming along well. The concept is pretty clear, and the structure is well outlined…not releasing the title quite yet, but soon I hope. So far it’s been an absolute blast to write…very cathartic 🙂 Continue reading “Writing a Book”

I went to Seattle Pie Company today to buy a pie. I love their pie. But when I went to pay, I was greeted with “Sorry, we only accept cash or check.” WTF? I replied with “since when?”, and was told 2 days ago. Well, so sorry, but I don’t carry cash. Ever. And I don’t use checks, because the information contained on a check is enough to go online and drain an account.

As a business owner, how stupid can you be? If times are tough, do you really think you’re going to do MORE business by saying no to paying customers over a tiny fee? You are mistaken. The reality is you’ll just be going out of business sooner, rather than later. Continue reading “Cash or Check – No Cards”

I’m a very philosophical sort of guy, always thinking and pondering and questioning. One topic that I cogitate on frequently is time, what it is, what it means to us, and its value.

This may come as a shock to some people, but I don’t own a watch, and I never use an alarm clock to wake up. I wake up when I wake up.

But it wasn’t always so. Continue reading “Time”

So, being a fan of video games, I was excited to see that the Supreme Court issued a ruling today upholding the decision of a federal appeals court to prevent California from banning the sale or rental of violent video games to minors.

Yup, you heard me right. That ruling made me happy 🙂

Over the years, there have been tons of arguments on both sides regarding violent video games and kids, with the most common being “kids who play violent video games become more violent”.

I say that is absolute horse shit. Continue reading “Violent Video Game Controversy”

So I woke up this morning, skimmed over Twitter, and saw that, supposedly, Facebook paid to initiate a Google bashing campaign…WTF? Not too bright there Facebook. But it got me to thinking about another thing that Google and Facebook have in common…privacy issues.

And that just pisses me off.

No, the privacy issues themselves don’t piss me off 🙂 I’m perfectly capable of monitoring and enforcing my own privacy standards, thank you very much.

It’s the fact that anyone cares, or thinks they even have a right to care, about how Google and Facebook treat their “private” information. That pisses me off. Continue reading “Facebook and Google and Privacy, Oh My!”

This isn’t the first time I’ve blogged about freedom and free agency, and I seriously doubt it will be the last, but I believe quite strongly in the principle and spend a good amount of time pondering it and things related to it.

On that note, I was thinking about agency the other day, and about whether or not we really have agency, and to what degree we are truly free…and I came to a realization:

Without wealth, it is virtually impossible to be truly free.

Unless you want to become a hermit…which I must admit, sounds appealing some days 🙂

Continue reading “Freedom and Wealth”