I just recently discovered TED Talks thanks to Kyle Reed. My world has been expanded! TED Talks is a non-profit that, since 1984, has been providing cool and innovative ”talks” where people to present their ideas in the fields of Technology, Entertainment and Design.

Some of the talks are just extremely entertaining!

Check out the 10 minute video below. This guy suggests that he can do what he calls “brain magic”. You be the judge.

If you don’t have time for the whole video, just watch the first 3 minutes where he gets the whole audience to participate in his first trick of “brain magic”. You can try it along with him.

I figured out how he does it (after I watched the video 5 times). Can you?

Discovered this from a link Michael Kelley posted on his blog.

Ever wonder if your writing style is similar to that of an established and well known author? You can find out!

Just paste some paragraphs of your own text at this site. I did!

Evidently, my writing style is like that of STEPHEN KING.

http://iwl.me/s/b3a26720

Check it out here!

DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES

Today a new thriller opens up in cinemas. Warner Bros. Pictures releases Inception today, a movie written and directed by Christopher Nolan (of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight fame).  IMDB.com describes the synopsis of Inception like this:

A sci-fi/thriller set within the “architecture of the mind,” and centered on a group of business people who can construct a dream world for an individual and then infiltrate that world to steal their subconscious.

I want to know what are your most memorable dreams…or most frightening nightmares.

Most recently, I had a dream that frightened my wife. “How is that”, you may ask? Well, I barely remember the dream except that I was an adventuring archeologist type person much like Indiana Jones. At some point in the dream, I had to read out loud from a “book of the dead” to exorcise some kind of demons. Well, according to my wife, she awoke in the dark to the sound of me chanting in my sleep, “Mancer, Mancer, his name is Mancer- on his hands, blood- in his heart, pain.”

She woke me and I tried to assure her that the dream was not as sinister as it sounded before I dozed back to sleep.

She didn’t sleep the rest of the night, poor girl.

Now that I’ve started it off…

What is you most memorable dream?

So, last week my brother and I sat down to watch the highly anticipated UFC 116 a pay-per-view fight with the main event deciding the Heavy Weight Champion between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin. Both men were 265 lbs BEASTS ready to pummel each other that night!

My brother and I watched with excitement, fear, and a little trembling as the sheer strength and athleticism of these two men came crashing together at full force. I mean, I’m pretty sure if BP employed these guys, they could just punch that little oil leak closed in the Gulf.  For you non-UFC fans out there, just imagine watching The Hulk fight The Thing from the Fantastic Four:

Now, I wanna ask you to weigh in on some pretty hot match-ups. Who would you call winning a fight if these contenders pictured below went toe to toe?

Count Chocula vs. The Count (Sesame Street)

Edward vs Jacob

James Bond vs Jason Bourne

Mr. T (old B.A. Baracus) vs Quinton ”Rampage” Jackson (new B.A. Baracus)

 Captain Crunch vs Captain Morgan

Now, don’t be shy. Let your opinion be heard! I wanna know who you think could put on the strongest show of fisticuffs and why!

My question for you, dear readers, is which member of the A-TEAM are you? This is childhood role-playing game every kid is familiar with. Decide which superhero you are? Which ninja turtle best fits your personality. Are you the pink Power Ranger or the green Power Ranger?

So which A-Team member best fits your style.

Are you like Hannibal, the man with the plan?

Are you full of attitude like B.A.?

Is you m.o. full of charm and class like “Faceman” ?

Or are you just nuts like our friend Murdock?

Let’s say you could occupy their body for a full day and everyone they interacted with on a daily basis thought you actually were the other person and treated you as such…what would you do? Hmmmmm…(sinister eyebrow raised) Who would you be for a day?

Popular options might be:

Steve Jobs

President Obama

The CEO of your company

Bill O’Reilly

Anderson Cooper

Miley Cyrus (nah…maybe not)

If you could trade lives with anyone for a day, who would you be and why?

Many of you readers know that my wife and I are expecting a baby boy to arrive in about 4 weeks…or, as a friend of mine recently said to me, “You’re EMINENTLY pregnant!”

This is our first child so I’m new to the parenthood experience. But I am fully on board with the Baby Train Express! In the past few months I have vigorously test-driven strollers at Babies-R-Us, attended doctors appointments with the mother-to-be, and read at least 3 different volumes on the subjects of labor & delivery, baby nutrition and digestion, discipline, new-born sleep schedules, new parent sleep schedules (that was a short read…hmm), …etc.

In short, I’m ALL IN!

However, this past week, Elaina and I did attend a class provided by our hospital on the subject of Lactation and Breastfeeding. Now, I ain’t scared. As a man, I didn’t have any problems being willing to attend this class with my wife. Once again, I’m ALL IN! But, during this class I discovered that I may have willingly wandered into territory that I was not prepared for.

Yes, I know that lactation and breastfeeding is all about mothers, babies, and…breasts. No shock there. I am an adult. Or, at least, I thought I was.

The class was in a comfortable  room with a bowl full of cereal bars and chips for snacks and about 6 or 7 other couples attending. As my wife and I found our seats and began to get comfortable, it happened.

Friends, before the sweet little 40 something lactation consultant could even begin her lecture, I snickered at lactation terms defined on the white board, gawked at visual aids, and wrote my own commentary out beside the pictures on the step-by-step pamphlet given to us at the door.

I couldn’t help it. Now, don’t get me wrong. I listened and took notes. I’m a concerned husband who has a desire to be well informed with all processes and techniques involving our baby’s nutrition and growth. But I had to literally bit my tongue when the lactation consultant held up the stuffed-plush boob in her hands as a visual aid and kept pinching the nipple REPEATEDLY to describe how the baby should NOT latch on to the mother’s breast. How can I not laugh at that?!?!

I won’t even discuss the video we watched.

Then there was the moment where the consultant was addressing a delicate matter involving first time mothers who may worry that their body is just not shaped right for their baby to latch on and feed properly. A delicate matter and a very serious concern for many women. So, she tells the classroom not to worry. She tells us that there is not a “perfect” shape and, “generally, when your baby is born, they’ve not ever seen another nipple…yours is the first.” To which I blurt out, “Generally?” in front of the whole class. This sends everybody into doubled-over laughter while the consultant tries to recover her natural skin-tone which has just grown 3 shades more red.

Elaina and I made it through the class. She is still married to me. And, we learned some helpful information.

But, I would recommend for any upcoming fathers-to-be: if you’re going to attend the lactation class …leave your 10-year-old-boy sense of humor at the door. It may get you into trouble.

Think about it: if you could learn ANY new skill, compete in ANY sport you had never participated in before, learn ANY new language…etc, and you had the time and money to do it; what would you do.

There are two things I’d really love to do.

The first would be to learn a new language. I’m not sure which language exactly. Maybe Welsh since it’s where my people supposedly come from. Or I might like to learn Hebrew…old Hebrew …and I could read the Old Testament to my son at night in the original language! (No need for “Bible nerd” jokes, thank you).

The second thing I would really love to do would be to learn to sword fight. Come on! It has no practical use in the modern world today (when I’m I going to go grocery shopping with a sword strapped to my side?) but you have to admit it’s an empowering skill to learn. I mean list  ”sword fighting” as a job skill on your resume and see if potential employers don’t give you a second interview just to ask if you’re serious.  And the cardio-muscular workout gained from hours of sword-training my be an added bonus too. u

These are my random hobbies I’d take up…if I could.

What about you?

If you could take up ANY random hobby, what would it be?

Today, I’m in a very epic/hero/ save-the-day mood!

What would be your special super-hero power? (Flight, razor sharp skin, laser-beam vision…etc)

Don’t answer too quickly. Remember, with great power comes great responsibility.

What would be your super power?

Think about it. If technology or the supernatural somehow provided a way for you to travel to any place at any point in history, … what would you do?

Who would you visit?

Where would you vacation?

What point in time would you travel to?

Items to consider:

*state of technology and medicine (pre-Civil War might be historic but a nasty scratch could mean amputation)

*political or civil unrest: The French Revolution …don’t lose you head…’nuff said.

Where and when would you go?