Saturday, February 16, 2013

Fire in Your Belly: Calling vs. Job by Gary North

"Doubt is the great corrupter of callings. Doubt is legitimate when we are talking about a job."

Fire in Your Belly: Calling vs. Job
by Gary North at Specific Answers
February 15, 2013

If you do not have fire in your belly, you should not expect to achieve anything significant.
I know this sounds harsh, but I have found it to be true over half a century. A person who does not have a blazing fire in his belly to achieve something is not going to achieve very much.

If a project is significant, most of the people that an innovator counsels with will tell him that it cannot work. My favorite personal example of this is from Otto Scott. Scott and a couple of other men came up with an idea which has in fact revolutionized all retailing. They invented the idea of the credit card. They went to a specialized expert in marketing, who told them that it could not work. So, they dropped the idea. Diners Club picked it up, and the rest is history.

Scott got an idea for a series of books that was based on that experience. He wrote a three-volume set which he called the Sacred Fools. They were biographies of King James I, Robespierre, and John Brown. He never completed his fourth volume, which was a study of Woodrow Wilson. All of these men were in fact sacred fools. Scott was convinced that the experts really are not that wise.

An expert can tell you why something did not work in the past, but he is almost always incapable of telling you what is going to work in the future. He is looking to the past. He has his experiences from the past. He can tell you what he started in the past that did not work. He can also tell you what worked, but that by now has been imitated and absorbed in the general marketplace.

Here is the basic rule. If an expert tells you that something can be done, it probably can be. But if he tells you that something cannot be done, he is almost certainly wrong. He will throw cold water on a project that really should be attempted. It is a question of "not invented here." He assumes that if he did not invent it, it cannot work.

Committees are very good for warning you about pitfalls of specific plans. A committee is a combination of people's experience. They can tell you what to look out for. But they are almost always useless in telling you what you ought to do. A committee is not going to come up with a brilliant new idea that is going to change the world. In all likelihood, the committee is going to tell you that the idea that you came up with, which really might change the world, will not work.

If you have an idea about what needs to be done, then you need to pursue it. You may not want to pursue it, but you need to pursue it. If it is worth doing, it is worth doing by you. If no one else is doing it, then either it cannot be done or else no one else sees the opportunity. It does no good to ask an expert, because he is going to be on the side of those who tell you that it cannot be done. That is because he did not do it. He did not think about doing it.

If something is your calling, you must commit to it wholeheartedly. If something is the most important thing that you can do in which you would be most difficult to replace, you need to get busy, and you need to stick to your knitting. You need to pursue it without stepping to the right or to the left.

If you have fire in your belly, you can put it out in two ways. First, you can pursue your vision, and the fire will finally go out. Your pursuit will become routine. Second, you can forget about it, and the fire will go out. But if you take a halfway position, never knowing whether you should pursue it or not, or pursuing it halfheartedly, the fire is not going to go out. You are not going to get the vision consummated. This will nag at you for the rest your life.

My opinion is that you must begin to estimate the costs of the project. When you count the costs, either the fire goes out or does not. If it does not go out, then it is your responsibility to pursue the matter. That is because nobody else is likely to pursue it. If it is worth doing, it is likely that you are the only one to do it. Anyway, you are the only one that you know of who is likely to do it. You have to go by what is familiar in your own experience. You cannot second-guess the whole world.

If you do not think you can do it better than anybody else, do not do it. You can do a job on this basis, but you should not pursue your calling on this basis. If you are not the best person for the calling, then do not commit to it. Commit to something else.

People come to me wanting advice about whether they should do this or that. If it is a job, I am happy to help. If it is a calling, I am not happy to offer advice. Anyone who goes to another person to ask whether or not he should begin a calling is making a terrible mistake. The other person is not equipped to answer the question accurately. It is not a fire in his belly.

People who are insecure should not start major projects. People who have doubts should not start major projects.

Innovators and entrepreneurs are people with fire in their bellies. They are people who are convinced that a particular pathway is the best thing that they can do. They are not filled with doubt. Doubt is the great corrupter of callings. Doubt is legitimate when we are talking about a job. There are alternatives to this job or that job. But when it comes to a calling, an individual very rarely has alternatives. Maybe he does, and maybe it is a question of whether he should pursue one rather than another. He has fire in his belly for both of them. Then he probably should consult with somebody, not telling them what he ought to do, but telling him which fire he should pour water on.

There are not many innovators. There are not many people who have fire in their bellies regarding a particular calling. I wish this were not the case, but I think it is the case. Not many people have the sense that something of great importance hangs on their decision. They do not believe that anything they do, or fail to do, will make much difference for the world around them. So, they do not have fire in the belly.

I do not know of any technique which can be used to light a fire in your belly. I think those fires are self-generated by something outside: an unplanned perception of what needs to be done. I do know this, however: if you have a fire in your belly about something that you believe is crucial, not just for yourself but for the world around you, you had better give very careful attention to counting the cost of pursuing this calling. You need to put out the fire. You either need to pursue the vision, or you need to abandon entirely. Anything in between will not solve your problem.

Venezuela Inflation Sparks Food Crisis



Chavez's Keyensian economy imposes price controls because inflation is rising too fast.  Governments blame this rise in price on private companies, making them out to appear greedy.  The government hopes that its central banking money-printing and its consequences doesn't get revealed.  This way they can hide their role in causing inflation.  What causes inflation?  Governments printing money and dispersing it through the economy.  Prices would remain stable if government stayed out of the economy with the only tool they know--money manipulation.  Price controls lead to product shortages because the producers of those goods look for better markets than the poor ones created by governments.

According to Robert Wenzel at Economic Policy Journal, Hugo Chavez's central bank has increased that country's money supply by an astounding 57%.  No wonder prices are climbing.  He explains:

The Venezuelan government has put price controls into place in the country, as a result of climbing prices. But the cause of the soaring prices is out of control money printing by the Venezuelan central bank.Venezuelan M2 money supply has grown by 57% over the last year!

With that much new money chasing goods, it is not surprising that price inflation is soaring.  You can't fix the problem by decreeing less money should be spent on goods, when there is a lot more money in the system chasing those goods. It simply results in shortages. If a government, say, decrees that Rolls Royce automobiles must be sold for $100, Rolls Royce dealers will be sold out of cars within 15 minutes, the showrooms will be empty and Rolls Royce won't be supplying any more cars to that market.

Decree that farm prices should be below market prices and farm products will disappear from shelves, with farmers less willing to supply more product. Long lines ensue as the method of rationing what food does come to market.

Friday, February 15, 2013

I Hope that Intelligence, Peace, and Prosperity Win Out in Syria

We are lucky to have the internet, for without it we would never really grasp the extent of the horrors around the world.  Here is a slide show of cities in Syria.



 

Federal Reserve Bank is the US' Central Bank



Here is the transcript to the video above, All Wars Are Bankers' Wars

Alhambra Coin

If you're looking for a smart graduation gift or a precious coming-of-age, sweet-16 gift, consider some of the gifts from Alhambra Coin.  I've purchased gifts for friends and relatives here over the years, and the staff is always friendly and helpful.  They have an entire line of gift products, some more affordable than others.

Alhambra Coin Center
Local (626) 282-1151
Toll Free 1-800-932-2646
Fax (626) 282-4694
254 East Main Street
Alhambra CA 91801


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This is a spectacular prediction by Jim Sinclair:

Where Do You Stand on the 2nd Amendment?


For those interested, know that there is a firing range near San Gabriel in the city of Rosemead below the 60 Freeway in the County Park called Whittier Narrows.  Here is their website.  Their Winter Schedule is here:

WINTER SCHEDULE
Tuesday & Friday, 10am to 4pm ( last call @ 3pm)
Wednesday & Thursday, 10am to 8pm (last call @ 7pm)
Saturday & Sunday, 8am to 4pm (last call @ 3pm)
Closed Mondays

PHONE NUMBER
626-579-5201
 

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Asteroid 2012 DA14


Here is an animated version of Asteroid 2012 DA14's flight path.


Here is footage of what it felt and looked like from inside an office.
 

And here is what it looked like in the sky. In one of the following videos, the meteor sounds like a bomb going off as it passes overhead. Incredible.

Friday, February 8, 2013

WHAT'S IN THAT SPECIAL SAUCE? MSG.

BEWARE: DEADLY MSG IS THE SPECIAL SAUCE AT CHUNG KING
Friday, February 7, 2013
It is always a very dangerous enterprise when you go out to eat anywhere.  As Karen DeKoster states, you're dealing with the military industrial food complex that packages and sells junk food, not unlike street drugs.  I know that sounds extreme, but extreme reactions from these foods do occur.  Ever seen or heard an ambulance show up to a restaurant?  Well . . . .  Last night I was out with a friend at Chung King Restaurant in San Gabriel.

I picked the restaurant.  I'd never eaten here before.  It is often packed, so that told me that the place was good.  Maybe for some people.  It was not good for me and was not good to me.  The service was good enough.  The waitresses were kind.  Though they certainly could not care.  I wanted to stay away from meat.  The last time that I ate meat at a Chinese restaurant was at Newport Seafood (see above) and I almost died from MSG allergic shock.  There I ordered fried shrimp.  Well, the same thing happened tonight.  But all that I ordered was a cabbage dish, a spicy cabbage dish.  The description stated that the dish was made with a secret sauce.  Secret because they don't want to tell you that MSG is in the food.  The Chinese waiters and waitresses will tell you that there is no MSG.  They're lying.  Think about it.  There is no way that you're going to get a Chinese worker making a few dollars an hour, and lucky to have a job to stay in America, to tell you the truth about their business that will send business away.  No way.  This is not prejudice or bias.  This is unethical business practice.  Despite all of the eulogizing about how small businesses are what keep America running, let's rewrite that and say healthy businesses that provide a safe product or service.  Anyway, I got home from Chung King and almost died.  I felt that I lapsed into a kind of anaphylactic shock.  So I got online to see what Mike Adams recommends to treat MSG allergies.  Here is what I found.  He says that cream of tartar relieves the symptoms because of its alkalinity.  Well, I took some baking soda earlier to see if that could relieve my symptoms.  A little.  But I am still suffering from headaches and stiff and sore muscles.  I will write a letter to the owner tomorrow, telling him about my allergic shock from their food.  The friend that I was with ordered a fish soup.  I'd had fish soup before.  This tasted similarly.  Though I think that it was the sauce of the cabbage that caused my allergic shock, it may also have been due to the fish in the fish soup.  What's also important to know is that MSG comes in a variety of different names.  Bardot says that MSG comes in the following names:

Here are some of the names used to refer to MSG; there are others. Yeast nutrient, calcium caseinate, sodium caseinate, textured protein, monopotassium glutamate, autolyzed yeast, yeast extract, yeast food, hydrolyzed corn gluten, natrium glutamate, hydrolyzed protein, carrageenan, maltodextrin, natural beef flavoring, natural pork flavoring, whey protein protease, malt extract, malt flavoring, natural chicken flavoring, soy protein isolate, citric acid, ultra-pasteurized, anything that's enzyme modified, soy sauce, soy sauce extract, whey protein concentrate, stock, broth, bouillon, pectin, soy protein, soy protein concentrate, barley malt, whey protein isolate, protease enzymes, anything protein fortified, flavors and flavoring, natural flavor and flavoring, fermented foods, enzymes, seasonings.

So just because a packaged food isn't labeled MSG, doesn't mean it doesn't have any.  Like I said, pharmaceutical-military-industrial-complex.  Ugh!  They're trying to kill people.  They make you sick.  If you go to the hospital you get sicker.  A dear friend of mine had surgery recently to remove a tumor on one of her adrenal glands.  The doctors insisted that it should be removed.  She trusts her doctors.  They removed it and now she has lost a tremendous amount of energy.  She sleeps all day.  She's had to surrender her job.  They've got her on anti-nausea medication to keep her from vomiting.  I mean the healthcaresystem in this country is deadly.  And with Obamacare the federal government is forcing it on everybody?  And this isn't fascism?  Yes, I exercised bad judgment in selecting this place, but this business exercises bad judgment in administering poison in its food.  This guy has a different opinion.

Don't Get Stung by AppleBee's

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Don't Let Applebee's Sting You

You are literally taking your life into your own hands when you go out to eat in most of the chain restaurants across America.  But that statement has so little meaning since everything that we do is taking our lives into our own hands.  When do we ever transfer the responsibility of our life to someone else?  Don't do it.  So don't put your health at risk by eating out at a restaurant chain.  Honor your good health.  Your health is not a deep-pocket account.

Last night I met up with some friends, and they wanted to grab some dinner at Applebee's.  Not my favorite place, because the food and the atmosphere are so commercial, but not the worst either . . . or so I thought.  I ordered a sirloin steak with shrimp.  And a Newcastle beer.  I took only a few sips of the beer and left it.  I knew, too, that the shrimp would be farm raised; all of the shrimp in restaurants are farm raised.  One of the friends ordered a spinach cheese dip with tortillas.  All of the corn in the US is genetically modified, so I do not even touch the chips.  I look at them.  But my guest, friend wanted me to try the spinach cheese dip.  I thought cheese and spinach, what could go wrong?  But God knows what else is in that dish or what was used in its preparation.  I tasted it and it tasted like a lab . . . not a Labrador, but a laboratory.  It was so bland.  No flavor.  No pungent bite back from sharpness aged in the cheese or anti-oxidant aftertaste from the spinach the way that you might detect the smell and the tastes of the earth in a bottle of wine.  None of that.  So besides sabotaging my gastro-intestinal health, I got no enjoyment from the food.  But my guests went after it, mixed it, sampled it.  Ate it.

Then the dinners arrived.  My steak was plated with a few sliced rose potatoes and a broccoli and carrot mix.  It was prepackaged food.  Again, nothing fresh.  No flavor.  Flavor, and I know this, is an indication of nutrient dense, anti-oxidant rich foods.  No taste means no nutrition.  Will you get full?  Absolutely.  Quicker than you expect.  It's not food food: it's Frankenfood.  I finished my steak and the tiny shrimp that surrounded it.  Even before I got home I was beginning to feel the effects, the neurotoxic effects of the food.  I became a little light-headed.  My patience short-circuited a bit.  By the time I got home I went for the fish oils that I have in my freezer, ate an apple alternating it with peanut butter then cream cheese and drank some instant coffee.  I was revived.  I went to work on a small project.  Then called a friend.  It wasn't until 12am that I finally got to bed.  My dreams were harried.  Blurry, hurried.  Running from people shooting after me.  I woke at 4am.  Grabbed some coffee, an apple, and some coconut oil.  Tried going back to sleep at 5:30am.  Some guy was sifting   through the trash bin for cardboard boxes behind the local Shakey's.  He found a few and began flattening them.  The popping shattered the peace and quiet and the promise of more sleep.  I got up.  Got dressed.  And went out for a walk.

Here are a few pics of what I saw this morning.