The new Blackberry Storm

After many years of using a regular cell phone and adding a cellular modem about 18 months ago for my laptop, I decided recently to simplify my travelling gear a little and upgrade to a smartphone that could cover mobile web and e-mail while also doing double duty as a cellular modem for the lappy.

My wife and I decided recently to get our 12 year old daughter a cell phone (I travel and work away from home for months at a time), so I began looking at how to simplify our cell plan, get a phone for our daughter, and if possible reduce our monthly expenditure.

When it comes to smartphones that could fill my basic requirements (mobile email, mobile web, and cell modem duty) there are a few choices. I have been very pleased with Verizon over the years and decided to check out their selection.

In my review, I considered the Palm Centro, the new Samsung Omnia and the new Blackberry Storm.

After a quick review I found the Centro basically had the functionality I desired but I found the screen and keyboard to be a bit smallish.

Next I looked at the Samsung Omnia and was really impressed. If you are a Windows purist this is the device for you. It comes preloaded with Office Mobile and is a real powerhouse in terms of capability. There are a couple reasons I did not go with it, first is the screen size is small compared to the Storm, the second is the keyboard while normal Blackberry size, seemed small to me, and lastly, the setup and management seemed to favor the geeky side, and while I love tech I was concerned about my ability to set it up, synch it, and just manage the technology.

And that left the Blackberry Storm. OK, so here are my thoughts after about a day.

The screen is beautiful, fantastic, truly gorgeous. There are not enough adjectives to praise it enough, it is the best feature of the phone. Backlight brightness is of course adjustable, and I have it set to dim to just 10% when not active. Color and image quality is amazing.

The user interface took a little getting used to, the touch screen is one that requires skin contact, a stylus will not work.  The screen highlights the subject you are hovering over so you can be sure you are on what you want before ‘clicking’ it – with a little practice I am used to it but it was frustrating for about the first hour or two while I adjusted my typing speed to ensure I could see the highlight and know I was going to get what I expected.

One neat feature of the full size touchscreen is there is an internal accelerometer that detects how the unit is oriented and if you hold it sideways (either direction) it switches to a landscape mode which offers a full QWERTY keyboard. In portrait mode you get a standard phone pad keyboard and can choose between multi-tap or what they call ‘true-type’ which tries to guess what word you are typing. I prefer the multi-tap in portrait but find that I only use the landscape mode with the full keyboard.

The Blackberry browser is not quite IE but is definitely functional, it will navigate to most of my favorites but it looks like chat feature (like here on B-Prime) is not readily available. It keeps a favorite list, and a good history. Some sites render in very small font, in order to zoom in you just click on an area of the screen with no active text – this is surprisingly intuitive.

Because it is a Blackberry of course, standard IM platforms are preloaded (Windows Live, Yahoo, Google, AIM and Blackberry Messenger) and they function extremely well. The keyboard works well for that in either mode (portrait or landscape).

The phone works fine as handset, speaker or handsfree with bluetooth.  Sound quality is good in all uses.

Available applications are decent, it is preloaded with MSWord, MSExcel and MSPowerPoint viewers, the ‘premium’ software to create/manipulate those files is extra but is not believed to be highly priced (~$20-30).  I am not sure yet if I will invest in that only because the keyboard makes me slow compared to using the lappy.  That said, it would be great to be able to keep a generic project response template in the Storm and fill it in with key data and reply immediately for Guru.com project notifications and the like.  I am still noodling on this.

The data modem function works great.  Seems slightly faster than the old cell modem I had (18 months old).  When functioning as a modem incoming calls go straight to voicemail, when browsing using the phone itself, you can choose to interrupt the session and answer the call, or ignore the call – pretty cool.

E-mail setup was a snap, I set it up to check my aol, yahoo and business POP accounts, only took about a minute each. The Blackberry email application learns your incoming email pattern and will adjust its’ timing for checking your various email servers based on that. In other words, the more emails you get, the more often it checks.

I am not sure about the VZ Navigator function – it seems cool, for finding cheap gas, etc., but I am not sure I am willing to spend an extra $10/mo for it.  I am trying it out for a month free.  I might be able to get much of the same functionality via the Yahoo maps function.  The GPS function is neat, I am just not sure it is neat enough to pay for if yahoo maps will do what I need.

I installed the Blackberry desktop software, it lets me sync contacts, calendar and media files – it works very well and asks for confirmation before changing settings on either the Blackberry device or the lappy – I like that.

The Storm can function as a Napster to Go or i-Tunes device and is apparently, the only Verizon smartphone that can function with all i-tunes media for those who want to watch movies on the beautiful little screen.

I bought this device to allow me access to my personal and personal business e-mails without having to keep a window open on my machine at work – I don’t know what kind of internet cops they have but I figured it would be good to just not do that – add the browser ability to keep up with my favorite sites and it is a no-brainer.

This completes the ‘tools’ aspects of getting my ‘chit’ together, now it is up to me to put the grey matter behind my intent. Desire is to be able to respond quickly to e-mail requests for proposals, answer client questions right away for my own consulting practice.

Battery life seems very good so far but it requires a complete charge to last a long time.

All in all, I am very pleased. Full up monthly cost for 3 lines, basic shared family plan, and unlimited broadband access for the Blackberry is $159/mo, about the same as before only now our daughter gets a phone too.  Our plan is to use the cell as a carrot/stick for her – not giving her texting right away but might add it later.

I was very impressed with the product knowledge of the young man who helped me at the local Verizon store. I spoke with him for about 30 minutes over the phone at first, describing my objectives, he was quick with recommendations and had an answer at hand for every question (smart or dumb), then he gave me a quick rundown and demo on the capabilities of the Omnia and the Storm.

I have been thinking about this subject a lot recently, why do some people seem to live the life of their dreams, and why do others struggle in quiet desperation to paraphrase Pink Floyd?

It actually struck me like the proverbial load of bricks one evening as I was preparing to leave my shop and drive to my home 40 minutes away.

As I was shutting down the various computers and equipment in my shop, I was talking to myself as I sometimes do, envisioning a time in the not too distant future where I was being asked by someone, perhaps a friend or relative, perhaps a reporter (who is inconsequential), how I had achieved what I had achieved (also inconsequential).

My answer centered around the phrase you can have, do or be anything you want, all you have to do is whatever it takes. Now I may be crazy but that just seemed suddenly more true for me than ever before – it seemed zen, it seemed deep.

Whether you watch Golf or not, you have probably heard of Tiger Woods. Tiger ‘burst’ onto the scene a few years ago now, as the youngest person to ever win a Master’s. How did he get there? How did he get to ‘suddenly’ become the best in the world? Well, it wasn’t suddenly, he first swung a golf club under the watchful eye of his recently departed Father at age 18 months or something like that. 18 months.

What the gallery and the sportscasters and his agent and his endorsement sponsors did not see was the hours of practice each day. Every day, Every week, Every month. Every year. For the next 20 years.

What seemed to be a ‘sudden’ arrival was in fact the only logical result for a plan set in motion fully two decades before.

Tiger practiced each and every day, whether he wanted to or not, whether he felt like doing it or not, whether he could feel the minute improvements in his game or not. His ‘unparralleled natural skill’ was not the result of some genetic gift, not the result of happy coincidence. It was the undeniable effect of consistent dedication to improving on the mechanics of each element of his game, drives, chips, putts.

So how do we apply this little bit of zen-deep thought?

Simple. Tony Robbins gives us something he calls his Ultimate Success Formula, a simple strategy for achieving. 1 – Decide what you want. 2 – Identify what is keeping you from having it right now. 3 – Figure out how to achieve it (the best you know how at the time). 4 – Take massive action. 5 – Notice what is working and what is not working. and 6 – Change your approach as necessary but remain focused on your goal, your outcome.

The key IMO is in looking not at the big goal (be the best golfer on the planet, win the masters, get endorsements, buy a Gulfstream 5 business jet), but rather in focusing on what can be improved on, no matter how incrementally, each and every day; how can I improve my drives today, my short game tomorrow.

So don’t look to be an ‘overnight success’. The wreckage and stress that follows real overnight success such as lottery winners is a terrible lesson in why it is so important to struggle and work, time and time again, to get what want. It is the daily effort, no matter how small, that cumulatively creates meaning for us, that creates value in what we achieve.

By ‘whatever it takes’ I am not suggesting you abandon all morality and ethos. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Doing ‘whatever it takes’ takes real morality, real commitment, real ethics. Doing ’whatever it takes’ means lifting weights in the morning, even when you would rather be sleeping, it is discipline over short term comfort – not sometimes, but EVERY time. Lack of ethics, lack of morality is laziness, not commitment.

So now the challenge is up to you.

• What do you want to have, do or be?
• What is keeping you from having it right now?
• How can you achieve it (the best you know how right now)?
• Take massive action
• Notice what is working and what is not working
• Change your approach as necessary but remain focused on your goal, your outcome, and you WILL have, do and be anything you want

Have you noticed the increased call for tolerance over the last several years? I have. I am sure some of you out there are already saying to yourself, “Surely he’s not going to attack tolerance, he would never be that presumptuous” To you I have to ask, ” Have you not been paying attention?”

Yes! I am attacking this strange concept of tolerance that has pervaded society, where some demand others be tolerant. The great irony of this is this call of tolerance is launched when someone voices their opinion or a belief that contradicts someone else’s. They level the attack that you are being intolerant if you say that you object to any number of activities or beliefs that are floating around. Whether it is politics, religion, homosexuality, race, or nudism, the call demand is the same, you must adjust your thinking to accept that idea of someone else.

It is here that the trap is laid. If you fall for this little trick you are falling for the fallacy of appeal to the mob. Your silence is being elicited by use of a ploy backed by some threat of social ostracism. But you must realize that your very belief system is at stake. If you think this is hyperbole then read on and learn why it’s not.

In the brainwashing of Prisoners of War the captors learned if they ever wanted to gain cooperation they must first break down the belief system of the prisoner. They very cleverly exploited the fact that people not only like but require consistency. If you can distort or remove this consistency then you can manipulate the person. They knew that if they could get the prisoner to simply agree to a demand even if that demand did not seem to contradict their beliefs it would be used against them and lead to the their eventual capitulation. The process was elegant in a way and follows a process. First attack the person’s identity. Second make them guilty, then the get them to betray themselves. and then wait for them to break.

This call for tolerance is no different. People have been taught to be tolerant. It has been socially conditioned that tolerance is good, although it should be pointed out that this tolerance only applies to socially acceptable ideas or behaviors. So this call for tolerance is generally a gentle attack, usually it is implicit that the person of whom tolerance is being demanded is somehow intolerant. Have you noticed even the word intolerant has a negative connotation in your own mind? Sometimes the demand is prefaced with an explicit attack. Either way the person’s identity is under assault. This is where the consistency part beings to work. If the person views themselves as good (generally a societal construct) then they will not want to be perceived as intolerant. There is the crack that will shred their belief system. To bad they didn’t recognize the lie they were been fooled into accepting.

The next step is to create guilt. Whether this is to tell the Christan that Jesus promoted tolerance (a lie in itself but it doesn’t matter if the guilt is inspired by truth or a lie) or that you shouldn’t judge others, or simply because you don’t have the right to project your beliefs on to others. The how isn’t important it is the effect that matters. A logical and rational mind could stop this in it’s tracks but we will get to this later.

But they aren’t done here, there is another step they require. They need you to agree with them. Ayn Rand warned us when she said, “Evil requires the sanction of the victim.” If the person has fallen into the trap and accepted first that they are intolerant, and have been persuaded to feel guilt for their beliefs, this is where the fatal blow occurs. When they admit that they are guilty. Then their reality can be distorted. Their friends, and anyone like them can be twisted into being just as guilty as them.

Finally they reach the breaking point. You probably are already thinking, “what more can they do to the poor guy?” They have already broken him when they made him guilty. But they have one final trick up their sleeve. They now give the person a way out. They tell them in not so many words that he does not need to be guilty. He can simply change his beliefs and be free.

Ah the simplicity by which people are convinced to give up their rationally held beliefs. But those who are rational should see that this whole line of thinking was irrational from the very beginning.

First a rational person will have to question the very idea that intolerance is wrong or bad. Is being intolerant of criminals wrong? How about liars? How about deviants? How about those who misuse power? You see, intolerance isn’t bad, in fact, it is often the most reasonable reaction. At this first link in the chain the rational mind can give the person a way out by simply failing to fall for the inconsistency that the trap is based on. Without creating the inconsistency the trap will not work.

Now let’s say that the rational person has been fooled, they have allowed society to program them with this idea that intolerance is bad and they have accepted the inconsistency. It’s still not too late. They can still save themselves by using a bit of thought and logic. By simply seeing that there is a problem in their premise that intolerance was bad they could have saved themselves, and now they simply have to refuse to feel guilty for their beliefs. They can decide that their beliefs were based on logic and rational thought and thus there is no reason for guilt.

So you say, what about the Christian that you mentioned above, how can they escape guilt. Again I say check your premise. Even for the Christian they must accept the argument that seeks to convict them. Take the first premise “Jesus was tolerant” didn’t he throw people out of the temple according to the story. Strike one against tolerance. But you say, “what about not judging” here is a tricky one because it takes a bit of study. Not judging has nothing to do with determining if someone is doing a bad thing in the biblical sense. That was laid out in the teachings of the bible, the judgment is determining the consequences for those actions in a spiritual sense. A little bit of knowledge breaks the argument completely. So even a Christian can use rational thought to preserve their belief system as long as they have a firm basis for their understanding.

And even here if the rational person has fallen for the attack, they have accepted the guilt, they can stop the process cold by simply failing to give their consent to feel guilty. Because even if they have convicted themselves by guilt they can choose not to punish themselves. They can simply decide that they may need to check their premises, and until that point where a rational conclusion has been reached there is no need to change their beliefs.

No acceptance of the attack, no break, No guilt, no break, no incrimination, no break. No break, no sinister changing of beliefs by the other party.

So while they are going to attempt to change your beliefs, you never have to allow it because you will recognize their assault and the fallacy of their argument.

It seems today that fewer and fewer people are willing to stand up for their ideas. Today the spirit of compromise and getting along takes precedent over doing the right thing or of telling someone they are wrong. The argument starts because two people have opposing viewpoints, but what good is the argument if no one is right? The peace makers love to come out and say things like “well neither of you are wrong” but this is a lie. What they really mean is I am uncomfortable with one of you being wrong and one of you being right so I want you to agree that neither of you is wrong.

In Asia this can be called saving face, the idea that to expose someone for being wrong would embarrass them and therefore you should give them an out, a way that they can back down without having their error exposed. While this may seem appealing to you, realize that to say no one is wrong is at best a lie, and at worst an acceptance of irrationality.

Take two kids lost in the forest. As they walk along they come to a fork in the path. There is a sign post and on the ground are two arrows that have since fallen from the post. One of the arrows says Exit, the other says Dangerous Terrain. The problem is there is no way to tell which way the arrows pointed. So the two kids must choose. One chooses the left hand path, the other the right. They argue about which way to go for a long time and it is starting to get dark when a man comes up the path. He spots the two boys yelling at each other and goes to see what the problem is. Soon he learns the situation and tells the boys that neither of them is wrong and instead they should follow him. The man takes them to the left path and they walk for quite some time as the path winds up a rocky trail. The boy who wanted to go left protests but the adult silences him and refuses to listen to his argument. Soon the temperature begins dropping as night sets in and they can barely see. In desperation they march on. Finally after hours of walking and the weather getting worse they find they can no longer follow the path any further, even the ground they had recently covered had been treacherous. As hypothermia sets in the boy who wanted to go right say, “I knew I was right!” The man looks at the boy and says how could you have known? The boy then pulls out a piece of paper from his pocket and says “because the map said to go that way.”

While things are not always so cut and dried it is important to realize that when two people disagree about opposing viewpoints there are only three rational outcomes, either person A is right and person B is wrong. Or Person B is right and person A is wrong, or they both are wrong. But logic tells us that they both cannot be right. So to accept the idea that neither is wrong without evidence is irrational, and to accept that both are right is illogical.

The next time you are confronted with a peace maker trying to end the conflict, ask yourself, what information do I have that the person I am arguing with does not, and what information might they have that I do not. From there you can decide whether you should follow your conviction or concede to theirs’ but do not be fooled into believing that you both are right. In other words, “ Check your Premise.”

I have to admit something I am not proud off. I have done something in the past that I am ashamed of. I covered up something and denied something that I should not have. The stain of this is hard to erase. Someone accused me of being ego driven and I denied it. That’s right I did the unthinkable.

In fact I did it without thinking. When they charged me with being ego driven I took it as a criticism because society had conditioned me to think that way and by sheer indoctrination I denied something I should have proclaimed with virtue. I want you to stop and think about this for a minute. Achievers are often criticized for their ego, but it is the ego that drives people to achieve. Without ego what would you be but a passive bystander waiting to follow the crowd?

Your ego is what allows you to follow up on your perception of your worth. Without it you would think that everyone else’s ideas were as good as your own. While it is possible that others may have good ideas or even brilliant ideas one must also realize when to take a stand and tell someone else they are wrong.

Egoism is the idea that rational people do what is in their own best interest. In fact, it isn’t rational not to behave this way. The road to one’s happiness is enlightened self interest. But society doesn’t want you to learn this. They want you to believe that you have a duty to live for others, that other people’s happiness and welfare is important and your own is not. This is something you cannot allow to taint your thinking. This irrational thought is like a chain around your neck and it will weigh you down and place you in the position of slave to the whims of others.

I have no defense for my own moment of irrationality. When accused that I always thought I was right I denied it. But isn’t it rational that if you believe something that you would think you were right? If you didn’t why would you believe it in the first place? But you see this accusation isn’t simply to assign guilt, it is a clever ploy to get you to play by the rules that others lay down for you. If you accept their accusation by defending yourself you are trapped and you have given up your power.

Nothing would ever be created if someone had never said I think I have a better way, or I have an Idea. The key in this is I. The concept of I, is the concept of ego. It is the concept of individuality. When someone accuses you of acting superior they are attacking your ability to outshine them. The worst thing is for these people to face is that you might indeed be superior to them. But if you fall for their trick, you may end up denying reality itself. The reality being “I am better than you, for the simple fact that I decide to be”

So my penance for this crime against myself and against my self-worth is to share it with others so they will never fall for this insidious tactic used to try and shame those who have ability, those who have knowledge, and those who have ambition. If someone accuses you of acting superior to others do not deny it by social convention, prove it. If someone asks, “why do you think you are right”, know that your knowledge and experience, your dedication to rational thought and logic, have given you the right to say “Because I am!” And if anyone dares suggest you should be ashamed of your ego, ask yourself why you are even listening to that sniveling creature at your feet.

Check out Anthem by Ayn Rand to see the inspiration for this article.

Remember when you were a child and one day you decided to do something to help someone? If not think about it and it will come to you. For me I decided to help the local electric company by “painting” one of their electrical transformers. I decided that green was not a good color for the large box sitting in my neighbor’s yard. I went into our garage and found a can of “paint” a dark black paint that was amazing. It didn’t even need a lid. So off I went old paint brush and paint can to paint the ugly green box. I spent a good part of the day painting the box. The paint didn’t really get good coverage and after painting the box several times it was time to go home for dinner. After a few days I realized the paint still had not dried. So my plan backfired. I did not achieve what I set out to do, I know the electrical worker definitely did not sing my praises, and I know my parents would not have been happy with me had they found out what had transpired. Because you see, my premise was completely wrong. My first premise was that the electrical company would appreciate their newly painted black transformer. I am pretty sure they would not have liked it. My second error in my premise was that just because something is black and liquid in a paint can doesn’t mean it is paint, in this case it was used motor oil. Now I can go easy on myself I was probably about 4 or 5 at the time. However I am quite sure the person that ended up discovering the oil probably wouldn’t have gone easy on me.

This is a problem for a lot of people even in adulthood. They come up with plans and they execute them expecting to be rewarded for the efforts, but instead everything goes wrong. It happens every single day. The reason for this is simple someone did not check their premise. You see everyone comes up with a premise before they take action even if they don’t know it. In my MBA program one of my classmates worked for an entire semester on a major marketing project. She worked very hard at it and then presented it to the class. Now the idea was to come up with a marketing plan to grow a fitness center. Her idea was to market to obese people. At first glance you may think, “Well of course they are the people who need it.” Of course you would be correct. These people do need it, but at the same time you would fail the assignment. So why would a professor flunk you for your inspirational approach to fitness? Well for one because it would be highly unlikely to work. You see gyms are not full of obese people, sure there are obese people there, but one of the reasons why many people are obese is because they don’t work out enough. In marketing one of the rules is: Know Your Customer. Now my classmate was a gym member, she knew what the clientele looked like. So why did she decide on a project that pretty much assured a low grade? It’s simple; she failed to check her premise. She approached the project from the view point of getting people to do what they should do. The problem is her idea differed from reality. In reality people who are health conscious dominate the gyms of the country; there are others there who are overweight, who have decided to make a change in their lives. But the idea of a marketing campaign designed to get obese couch potatoes to come in and replace the traditional demographic represented in the gym is corporate suicide. By not questioning whether the people she was targeting would actually be interested in becoming members of a gym she failed the reality test. There is a reason why companies target a particular market segment. And while the customer having a need is a factor there is something that trumps it. They must be willing to take action on that need.
So when you find you are getting unexpected results it’s time to check your premise. Lives are ruined because people didn’t do it. Relationships end because people didn’t do it, businesses have failed because people didn’t do it, and people have died because people didn’t do it.

Don’t believe me? Perhaps you are thinking to yourself, “sure it’s common sense but people don’t do things without knowing the consequences of their plans.” Well then I ask you to check your premise. Your premise is people consider the ramifications of their actions with a full, honest and realistic evaluation. So I offer the vegan parents of a new baby. Convinced of their lifestyle and its impact on their health they concluded that their child should be raised the same way they lived. Now you may think this is their right as parents to decide what their child should eat and how they should be raised. The flaw in this thinking is believing what is tolerable for an adult is tolerable for a child. In this case it was not, the child died and the parents were arrested. The parents never thought when their child got sick that it was the diet that they were feeding their baby. They probably searched for causes, maybe they felt they were unlucky, or that the child was just born unhealthy. But had they checked their premise they might have learned that their choice of diet for their baby was not sufficient to sustain life.

It’s a sad story, but it plays out daily in people’s lives. A favorite quote of mine is “The truth is sometimes what you believe it to be, and other times what you decide it to be. My task is to make you decide to believe differently.” The first part of this quote is part of the problem. If people decide to believe something simply because it fits with their personal views and beliefs but does not reflect reality it is very likely that the conclusions they come to will be in error. Working from a flawed premise will create flawed and unpredictable results. So the next time you find that someone is not reacting the way you think they should, check your premise. The next time a plan goes awry, check your premise. And the next time someone disagrees with you or your plan, check your premise, because for sure one of you is wrong.

The Magic Jack

If you haven’t heard about these then you need to pay attention to this review. It could save you a lot of money. The Magic jack is a Voice Over Internet Protocol device. I know many people are familiar with VOIP, but for those of you who aren’t; it allows you to use your internet connect to make telephone calls. There are a lot of VOIP products out there, but to my knowledge Magic Jack is the cheapest anywhere.

I was really skeptical when I saw the infomercial on TV, so I started checking the internet to find out what was so special about this device. My initial thought was that it was just a cheap scam to get people to give up their hard earned money. Instead I found out that it was a new concept in VOIP that allowed for a good quality call for a few pennies a day.

What makes magic Jack different than competitive services is that it uses its own telephone network which allows it to generate income from other phone companies that use its transmission lines to make calls. What this means is that they don’t need to charge Magic Jack customers as much because they don’t just live off the revenue from selling Magic Jacks and its service. In the end it means you are going to get phone service cheap.

The low cost was enough for me to break down and try the product. I purchased mine early on in the promotion and paid $49.99 for one Magic Jack. It arrived within a few days and I was ready to try it out. The Magic Jack is actually a small USB device that contains some programming that allows audio information to be transferred over the internet to other phone lines. I first tried out the Magic Jack on an older laptop with mixed results. The calls were clear but I did at times get some distortion. At first I was ready to say that my experiment was a failure, but I got to thinking that my laptop runs off a wireless G network connection and with the amount of information my computer sends and receives it was possible I wasn’t getting enough band width for the Magic Jack to work properly.

So I hooked it up to a desktop that stays connected directly to my internet connection. With that the calls improved dramatically. No more distortions, or other static and noises I had noticed when it was hooked up to my laptop. The calls were clearer than making a call from a cell phone. I was really astonished because I couldn’t tell that there was any difference between the Magic Jack connection and a regular land line. I even called cell phones and the reception on both ends was fantastic. Finally an inexpensive device that worked as advertised. The only frustration I have had with it is the occasional automated system that appears not to like long series of button pushes, such as an account number. However I must note that it has not been all automated systems, all of my credit card companies for instance work just fine, but my local bank’s system is another story.

The really great thing about the Magic Jack is that you can use regular phones with it. I happen to have a Uniden 5Ghz cordless phone system, so I hooked it up directly to the Magic Jack and I then had 5 extension phones working throughout the house. That was great. The unique thing about the Magic Jack is that it must be plugged into a USB port on a computer to be used. While I was concerned with this at first, I have discovered that I can split the line and I now have a wireless transmitter that creates an extension jack for my Dish network STB (say goodbye to those pesky tack on fees), and I have my cordless and corded phones all working just fine. I have even been able to send faxes from my fax machine over the VOIP connection.

A view of the magic Jack software

So you are thinking great you just did what Vonage or Skype can do, and I would say your right. The difference is the cost. My land line ran me about $60 a month, and the other VOIP services run anywhere from $30-$50 a month. The Magic Jack beats them hands down. After purchasing the Jack for $49.99 I was given 1 year of service free with the purchase. After I connected and picked my phone number I was given the option to get up to five extra years for $10 a year. I jumped on it. I just got 6 years of unlimited local and long distance phone calls for a grand total of $100.

I cancelled my landline phone and with it one less irritating bill each month. Some other cool features are I can forward my calls to my cell phone or any landline phone; I have free voicemail with email notification. And the Magic Jack is completely portable. If you want to take it with you while traveling all you need is a computer and an internet connection and calls will go right to your location and you can make calls for free right from your hotel room.

As long as you have a good high speed internet connection and a modern computer I recommend getting a Magic Jack and ditching the phone company.

The Law of Attraction conceptualized by the people who brought you “The Secret” have created a worldwide trend. They purport that your intentions determine your destiny, that by right thinking and right intentions you will be given by “the Universe” that which you seek. Hailed by those in the personal development industry as a ground breaking concept, is really an assault on reason and treason to the very concept of self improvement.

The very notion that this concept is valid requires one to suspend rational thought. It also leads down the road to personal damnation. The concept of the law of attraction is flawed at its very core. The use of the teachings of others such as Napoleon Hill, and others are used to support the Law of Attraction, but this can only be accomplished with a great deal of intellectual dishonesty.
While the concept on its face may appeal to those who want something for nothing, those who look rationally at the premise know that it cannot stand. Even worse, when the “Law” fails to work it creates a backlash that faults the subject not the “law” This blaming of the Victim of LOA is the dark side that is insidious in this philosophy. Yet the proponents of LOA only speak of the “achievements” that come about through LOA. So if you get a promotion at work, it is because you had the right thoughts and the Universe has chosen to reward you. Now you may say, “what’s wrong with that?” and go on to believe that all is well. But consider the opposite, a two year old child drowns in a pool, now if we consider LOA then the child must have manifested his circumstances and thus died by his own thoughts. When brought up to a support of LOA they will reply this is not the case because it could have been the bad intentions of the parents, perhaps caused by fear of their child drowning. So they now feel they have cut off your argument at the knees. But in reality they have changed the circumstances completely. In fact they have added an element that creates and even larger issue. The law says you manifest your destiny, but by their very argument your destiny now can be determined by the intentions of others.

One must realize that following the Law of Attractions means you are personally responsible for your intentions and by rule also for all the good and bad that happens to you. You are taking full responsibility for everything, including things that are outside your immediate control. You must accept if you are hit by a drunk driver after work that your intentions caused this. It is not the fault of the drunk driver; it is your intentions that caused it to happen. If your house burns down, it isn’t the lightning strike that caused it or the bad wiring, it is your fear that your house would be lost. That is unless you follow the idea that your destiny can be manifest by others.

So if others can manifest our destiny then in reality we have no control over our own lives. We cannot control the intentions of others, and thus we do not control our own lives. Here is the main issue, the very idea that was to lead millions across the world into prosperity by proper intention in actuality robs them of their ability to act and shape their own destiny. These people have given up free will, of their own volition. They are seeking gain without price. A rational mind cannot accept the very premise.

This concept isn’t new, he Hebrew religion found itself in a similar quandary in its early days. At one point the idea was that if you were devoted to God and acted correctly you would be rewarded. So people took that one step further, if something bad happened to you then you were being punished. This leads to a dangerous type of thinking. Now, if your child dies by drowning in a pool, it is not because they did not know how to swim, but because you have committed some evil and are being punished. It is easy to accept that you are being rewarded by God when something good happens, but what about when your community is hit by a hurricane. Was New Orleans evil? Were the people of Galveston chosen by God to be punished, or was it just their intentions? The Hebrews realized what was happening and thus the story of Lot. Lot a man of outstanding moral character favored by God and yet made to suffer for the very reason he should have been rewarded by the old way of thinking. He was devoted to God. Unfortunately LOA cannot hope for an addendum to “cosmic law” there can be no reprieve from a law that is written among the stars.

LOA and “The Secret” were a great feat in marketing. Unfortunately it was merely the pitch of a conman if they did so with knowledge of the ethical and logical problems with their Law, or at best when they ignorantly led people down a path that leads to disappointment and damnation.
So cast off the abominable notions of a Law that gives reward for nothing, the very concept is against the laws of nature and common sense. Instead seek “The Real Secret” that very thing worth having requires effort to achieve. Those who are successful do not sit and wish or hope for a gift from the universe, the go out and create their destiny. They earn their rewards through effort and action.

The Prime Individual is the person who seeks to reach their full potential and takes control of their own success and achievement. The reason I started this site was to seek out these people. To give them a home and a place where they could find people of like mind. This web community is not for everyone, Just like Galt’s Gulch was for those who identified with John Galt’s philosophy so too the people who join our forum should be those who have the philosophy of achievement and success. Those who know that success is to “Be Prime”. The good thing is it is you who set the standards for your life. You have set goals and have sought out your own ideas of success and achievement If you have decided to be an excellent chef then you belong here, if you have worked to develop yourself in the academic arena you belong here, if you have chosen simply to make your life better, to strive to improve you belong here.

Do not come here to talk about how unfair the world is to you, we will not listen. Do not come here to make excuses why you cannot achieve what you set out to do, that is not our concern. The only thing that grants you the right to be a member of this community is your dedication to improving your condition. This place is a community of the mind and of action. Success can only come from the use of both. Achievement is the result of action and the application of your mind. If you believe that the universe will bow to your will simply because you wish for something then you do not belong here. We have no use for someone who can only wish for what they want. Those who corrupt the term “manifest” by believing it comes about through intention do not belong here. They have forsaken their abilities, they have forsaken their reason and motive power.

Our lives revolve around our actions not our intentions. Just like the saying “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” so too is the road to misery and mediocrity paved with inaction and wishful thinking. In all endeavors of their undertaking, the Prime Individual aspires to greatness, not for others, not for recognition of the masses but for himself. The Prime Individual knows that the way to make a better world is to make himself better. He sets his course not on a star but on a concrete and tangible goal that he has set by logical and rational thought. It is through his efforts that the goal is reached. He does not sit back and wait for the unthinking universe to create his destiny. He instead designs his destiny by right of his action and achieves what he sets out to do.

But the Prime Individual also knows that action without thought is useless. One does not seek success by looking busy, one does not rise from mediocrity by shuffling papers or cleaning ones desk. The Prime Individual rises to greatness by cleaning one’s mind. By organizing it to think rationally and logically. They know that for achievement to be attained one must know what they are setting out to achieve. They know that success is not achievement without effort, that very phrase is a contradiction in terms.

By using your mind, and harnessing your abilities you have earned the right to be here. We welcome you, we support you, we commit to help you in your struggle to achieve your desires. Do you want better relationships with your family? We will help you. Do you want greater financial success? We will offer our ideas and feedback. Do you want to overcome an obstacle in your path? We will help to devise a plan.

It is our goal to create the greatest collection of successful men and women anywhere. We ask not only for your participation but for your help. Not only for our sake but for those individuals who are struggling to be Prime. Those who have not found us, but desperately want to. Those who have searched in vain and found only groups who preach success but offer only motivation and small talk. Those who know that people should not be rewarded for what they say they are going to do, but that reward is reserved for those who actually are doing it.

It is my hope that you will share this site and this vision with those who have set their own path, who may feel that they alone are the only one around them with purpose and the drive to achieve. This site is for you and it is for them. It is for those who understand that The True Secret is ACTION!.