In the modern world, whether or not it’s okay to download music without paying for it is a common and controversial issue. Some people think that you’re not actually taking anything that would leave someone with less, and thus it’s not actually stealing, but this thinking is wrong. When you download music illegally, you are stealing from a lot of people. You’re stealing the money that those people would have had if you’d paid for the album.

A lot of people put a lot of hard work into making an album. It’s not just the band or singer; there are song writers, engineers, producers, advertisers, executives, and managers who are not getting the full pay they deserve. If everyone stole music, there wouldn’t be any. If some people steal music, there will be less.

Some people try to justify stealing music by convincing themselves that they wouldn’t actually have bought the album anyway if they hadn’t downloaded it, so really they’re not doing anything wrong. But think about this: if you hadn’t downloaded that album, you’d desire something new to listen to. If it were suddenly impossible to download music illegally, you wouldn’t just stop listening. You’d need to buy something. Maybe it would be a different CD; more likely you actually would have paid for that CD but just don’t realize it. In either case, you are still cheating people out of their money by downloading music illegally.

Just as much effort goes into producing music as goes into televisions, computers, cell phones, and iPods (all of which I hope you wouldn’t steal), and everyone who works on them deserves compensation for their labor.

What’s your opinion on music sharing? Do you think it’s ethical? Give your opinion in the comments.

Everyone hates spam emails. Stop spammers dead in their tracks with these simple techniques.

1. Before typing your email address into a website, think about why they need it. If it doesn’t seem like there’s a necessary reason, you can bet they’ll spam you.

2. If a website looks suspicious, but it seems they might have a valid reason for needing your email address, give them a secondary one. This is an email address that you actually do have access to, but that isn’t the main email address you give to family and friends.

3. If it promises a free screensaver/iPod/smiley-face, they will spam you. Don’t ever enter your email address into a website promising free anything. In most cases free screensavers and smiley-faces will also contain spyware.

4. Keep a separate email address for mailing lists and newsletters. Mailing lists and newsletters can be a great way to get information, but having them on a separate address will make sure they don’t spam you.

What are some other good ways to stop spam email? Do you get spam email? If so, how do you stop it?

Lucid dreaming can often be achieved easily and quickly, depending on how often you hope to do it and how much control you desire. But is it worth the effort? Yes. Here’s why.

1. Lucid dreaming is fun! You control everything. You can do whatever you want. You can feel emotions far more intense than in the real world. Lucid dreaming may just be one of the most exciting things a human can experience.

2. You find out about yourself. If you have unanswered questions about your subconscious, lucid dreaming allows you to answer these questions. Lucid dreaming is one of the best ways to truly “find yourself.”

3. You can practice for real life situations.

4. You can solve daunting problems. Have a problem that you need to work out? Let lucid dreaming solve it for you! Your subconscious just might hold the solution.

So, how do you use lucid dreaming? What changes has it made in your life?

Imagine being able to control everything around you instantly and effortlessly. Shaping events and doing whatever feels good without societal pressures or consequences. Lucid dreaming is just that: when you become conscious that you’re dreaming, you can control your dream in any way you want. Here’s how to lucid dream without (much) effort.

1. Do constant reality checks during the day. The only one that truly doesn’t require effort: Look at your hands and count your fingers; if you’re dreaming you’ll likely have too few or too many.

2. Tape record your dreams. Writing your dreams down takes effort, which this guide is to help you avoid. Instead, tape record them. Just put a tape recorder next to your pillow and hit record. If you don’t remember your dreams, tell yourself before you go to bed, several times, “I will wake up after every dream and remember it in its entirety.”

3. When you do have a lucid dream, rub your hands together and spin around. This will help stop you from waking up, which is a serious problem for a lot of people when they first start lucid dreaming.

Sure, you can lucid dream with little effort, but why should you? Is it really worth it? The benefits of lucid dreaming will be covered in the next post.

Ever since watching “The Secret” a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been fascinated with the existence of the Law of Attraction. Although it’s really much more complicated (the movie is an hour and a half), the basic idea is this: When you think and/or talk about things, you attract them to you, whether they are good or bad.

So far since watching the movie, I’ve used the law of attraction to find things. Whenever I’m about to look for something, I imagine myself finding it in a very specific location. Though I’ve only done this four times so far, all four of them worked. I was a bit freaked out, since without it I can never seem to find anything. I’ve also used the law of attraction to make people nicer to me (I’ve made people who are normally just pleasant actually go out of their way to be nice), though I really can’t know if they would have been nicer anyway.

This idea of creating your own reality is a continuation of something that shocked me a few months ago. I found that if I were in a room full of people, I could pick one person and make that person do something very specific, like touch his/her nose, fix his hair, touch his head, pick his teeth, pull his ear, etc, just by telling him to do it in my head. That’s right: just by asking him to do it in my head I could make him do it in real life! I did this far too many times with too many different people with actions too specific for it to be just coincidence. The realization that I had this sort of power over others was a big and scary one, especially because it meant others had this power over me as well, perhaps to a much further extent.

Though the concept of the law of attraction has been discredited by scientists, so far it’s been working really well for me (although, like I said, I haven’t gotten much of a chance to use it yet), and I’m definitely going to continue trying it until I can figure out for sure if this really works or not.

Have you ever heard about the law of attraction? How has it worked for you? What advice would you give to others who want to use the law of attraction in their lives? Do you think the law of attraction really works, or is it just a scam to sell movies and books?

Every day as I drive past the public trails, I see runners crossing the street in front of my car. All of these people have one thing in common: They are all the people who least need to run. I guess it would make sense that people who run a lot would be in shape for that very reason, but it seems like the people who should be running are those who are overweight or out of shape. This, my friends, is the irony of running: The only people who do it don’t need to, and the people who most need to don’t do it.

I think there are just some people who really like running, and they’re the ones that do it and reap the benefits. So, how can people who are like we are (who find it less enjoyable) motivate ourselves to run? Here are three short, simple tips.

1. Run outside. Running outside is way more fun than running on a treadmill. So, do it outside. The constantly changing atmosphere is fun and exciting. It’s important to make running enjoyable if you plan to stick with it.

2. Don’t use earphones when running. Sure, you can listen to music if you prefer, but without it, running can become a social activity. You’ll start seeing the same people on the trail (or in the gym) over and over, especially if you run at the same time every day. Seeing people you know will serve as further motivation to keep running.

3. Pick a time and stick to it. When you plan specific times and days that you will go running, it’s easier to actually do it rather than keep putting it off. Even if you’re busy and have a lot to do, make sure to always stick to the times you plan.

As you continue to see yourself improve and gaining higher and higher levels of endurance, running will get easier because you’ll enjoy seeing yourself get better and healthier. Do you run? If so, how do you motivate yourself to run? What advice would you give to people who are considering running?

Get Rich Quick schemes play on your desire for wealth and use it against you. Not only do these schemes not make you rich, they make you less rich by taking your money without giving anything back. To avoid becoming a victim yourself, use these common traits to identify Get Rich Quick schemes.

1. You join the program and sign up others, who sign up others. This is a pyramid scheme.

2. Even if you’ve fallen for other schemes, this one can work for you. The victims of Get Rich Quick schemes have usually been tricked in the past too.

3. Get paid for taking surveys after you pay a small membership fee. If they were really paying for people to take surveys, why would they require a membership fee? They’d just pay less per survey.

4. It’s so easy, anyone can do it. If anyone could easily get rich, we’d all be rich.

5. If the advertisement goes on and on without ever saying what it’s selling. A legitimate ebook will promise, “This ebook will tell you how to make money online using Google Adwords.” A scam will say, “Make money online easily,” without giving you any idea as to how said money will be made.

6. If the advertisement lists all the things it’s not but not what it is.

Also note that some ebooks actually do have good information but greatly exaggerate the quality of it on the hook page. Usually that same information is easily available online for free with a little searching.

How do you avoid Get Rich Quick schemes? Have you ever fallen or known someone who fell for one?

Welcome to my new blog. I had a blog for three years and finally closed it a couple years ago because I was too busy to maintain it. Now I’m starting again. This blog will provide tips for better living and a better life. It will also cover my personal life and opinions. Instead of preserving life, I’m observing it, and using these observations of life to improve my own.

I’m a vegan, supporter of animal and youth rights, writer, film maker, capitalist, and libertarian.