Here is a video I saw on youtube that I thought might be interesting. It is a bit one sided but I’ll admit that I do share SOME, not all, of the views in this video. It’s over an hour long and is more like a documentary talking about how formal education is a kind of brainwashing that is more expensive than it’s really worth. I think it makes some interesting points and it shows just how insanely expensive education in the US is getting for most people. I do realize that university can be important and necessary for many jobs, but it can also be a money making business based upon empty promises. Let me know what you think if you have time to watch it. Start it anyway and you’ll get the idea.

I was playing around on youtube and I found a Big Mac TV commercial from the 1970’s.

It’s pretty funny how they used to make commercials compared with now. The music is hilarious.

I’ve gotta admit though, I’m hungry after watching it!

Check it out and let me know what you think. I could share a lot of stuff if you guys enjoy my strange tastes.

Today I had one of those experiences where I was truly amazed at how ignorant I was about a very simple but common thing.

I was on a bike ride with a close friend and we started talking about photography. I never thought I was good at taking pictures, I just thought it was an easy thing to do. I actually hated hearing people talking about their “photo taking ability” because I thought it was such a joke.

Until today, I basically thought that all anyone had to do was buy a good brand of a digital camera for about $300 and and then just point and shoot. If it was dark, I used a flash (the light). If it was light, I didn’t. From a distance, many of my pictures looked not too bad so I didn’t realize there was a problem or that I had no idea of what I was doing. I knew they weren’t professional quality but I thought they were good enough and I never bothered to find out what the problem was.

My friend had an older 4.8 Megapixel camera and I had a pretty new Fuji 10.0 Megapixel camera. I thought that I could easily take clearer pictures without even trying because I had the better and more expensive camera. Wow. I was totally wrong. (We both were using the automatic “auto” setting). I thought that the auto setting meant that the camera did all the work for you and the person didn’t need to try.

We were taking “close ups” of the letters on business cards. It sounds like a boring and stupid picture to take but it’s actually quite fun and a great way to test the quality of a camera. A “close up” in camera language means a photo from a very close distance.

We put our photos on a large monitor (computer screen) and looked at them. His photos were WAY better and clearer than mine. I couldn’t figure it out. I didn’t realize that I needed to hold the button down half way and really look at the screen and make sure the letters were in perfect focus. I didn’t know that I needed to keep moving and adjusting the camera very slightly until I saw the letters perfectly.

When you take a photo from far away, it’s hard to see the quality. If you are taking photos of the letters of a magazine or business card, it’s easy. For my friend’s photos, we could “zoom in” on the computer and see the letters so clearly. “Zooming in” means to go really close and make a small part of the photo take up the whole computer screen.

On his photos, you could see each letter in very high detail. We could even see the glue that puts the ink on the card. For example, we could zoom in and see the letter “k” on the entire size of the computer screen. It just looked like a big “k” with little bits of glue. It was shocking.

Then we tried mine and they totally sucked. From a distance, the photo didn’t look too bad. It was just that up close, my picture was just terrible. It means that I didn’t really understand what Megapixels were and I just thought paying more money would make things better with no effort.

The truth is that having good eyes, still hands, and understanding how to use your camera is MUCH more important than the quality or price of the camera.

I don’t know this for a fact, but I believe that over 98% of the people who want to buy a digital camera for around $300 are just clueless. Most people know some of the top brand names and they know that the more expensive cameras are better. People buy cameras and don’t even learn how to use them. It’s weird. We do the same thing with computers too. We get a “good one” and then learn less than 1% about how to use it well. I’ve learned that I need to learn a lot more about the technology I am using if I want to really see the benefits. It’s not just about saving money, it’s about enjoying the benefits and not being a total fool.

I need to know more about cameras anyway because Add and I are working for Pivothead, which is the best mini hands free video camera ever. Click on the link and you’ll see what I mean. It’s really exciting. I love the logo of the guy in the backwards baseball hat too. I wish I could draw…

Anyway, I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences regarding this or a similar story you may have. Who knows, maybe it’s just me who is completely clueless.

Andy

The news is often ridiculous but sometimes it can be interesting if you think about it.

For example, I just read that India got 60 million new cell phone subscribers during the past 90 days.

The whole country of Canada has about 34 million people to give you an idea of how huge that number is.

Some people might think, “I don’t really care” or “That’s not very interesting”.

Well, it should be. Sure, I understand, a number of phones doesn’t sound interesting at first. But just think about what it means in terms of possible future opportunities and how quickly the world is changing. 90 days! That’s pretty amazing.

I really believe that the university someone goes to is getting less and less important because the world is changing so fast and everyone needs to keep on learning anyway. The real money and cool opportunities of tomorrow are going to go to the people who understand and do something about all of these amazing changes that are happening all over the world. Understanding the world is more important than ever before and most people are clueless about what’s going on.

Now is a perfect time to use your brain and be creative. Most people don’t think much or travel much. Every day for them is similar to the one before. This is great news if you want to do something important. It’s also great news if English isn’t your first language. Why???

People from the English speaking world, (Canada, USA, Australia, UK…) are kind of like a bunch of little kids with really rich parents. (Life was too easy for them and they got everything they wanted!) Until now, it didn’t really matter what people from those countries did. If you were “normal” your life would be pretty good. You could have 2 cars, 2 kids, a house, a dog, and a nice comfortable life. You had to work, but not very hard and you didn’t need to think much.

That type of situation made the English speaking world very weak and lazy. That is great news for English learners because you know you have to work hard and that’s a great thing. Hard working people (and of course smart working people) from all over the world are getting more opportunities to get great jobs if they work hard and THINK. It’s no surprise that people from the English countries start to cry like little babies because it means they have to stop eating ice cream and pizza all day and maybe try to do something with their lives. Things aren’t as easy for them as they were before.

Speaking 2 languages and knowing what’s going on in a few different places in the world will be more valuable than an MBA from Harvard.

The idea is that learning real English and thinking about the topics we discuss here on the 232 is going to make your whole life a lot better, even if it is already pretty sweet now. I know it’s not going to be easy but that’s ok. It’s going to be fun and it’s going to work!

Love to hear your thoughts guys.

Andy

Hey guys,

Please let me use you as my little “Guinea Pigs”.  A “Guinea Pig” is a slang term meaning “person taking part in an experiment”.

Here is an example.  “I don’t want to be a guinea pig for that new heart medicine.  I don’t care how much money they give me.”

Continue reading…