I know he is British, however, it is also Veteran’s Day Weekend and many of his points are steel on target…
Category Archives: Education
THE ARTICLES
The Most Interesting Science News Articles of the Week
Each week we uncover the most interesting and informative articles from around the world, here are 10 of the coolest stories in science this week.
Daring, Dangerous Rescue
Thai divers carry supplies as rescue operations continue for 12 boys and their coach trapped at Tham Luang cave on July 5, 2018.
Credit: YE AUNG THU/AFP/Getty Images
A massive operation is underway to rescue 12 boys and their 25-year-old soccer coach who have been trapped for nearly two weeks in the Tham Luang cave system, with rain expected Sunday (July 8).
Whether the team could wait out the monsoon season, remaining holed up in the cave for months, is not clear. [Read more about the risks.]
Saving the Day
A male and female lion stand over a lion cub in Eastern Cape, South Africa. This is where a pride of lions slaughtered at least three poachers who entered the Sibuya Game Reserve to hunt rhino horns.
Credit: iStock/Getty Images Plus
A pride of hungry lions in a South African reserve just saved the day, at least for a herd of rhinos. The poachers, who had illegally entered that reserve with a gun and axe to kill those rhinos, were not so lucky. [Read more about the event.]
Sad Results
Purple or blue? A new optical illusion study finds that your answer will change based on your expectations.
Credit: Morjachka/iStock/Getty
A new optical-illusion study in the journal Science asks whether a series colorful dots is purple, blue or proof that humans are doomed to a lifetime of sadness and poor decisions. [Read more about the illusion.]
Traces Found
The meteorite fragments were found off the coast of Washington state.
Credit: Mark Fries/NASA
The first mission designed to hunt a meteorite that crashed into the ocean has now discovered what may be tiny fragments of the meteorite’s crust, researchers say.
The details the scientists had regarding the fall suggested the meteorite was unusually strong, Fries said. This knowledge, in combination with the fact the meteorite landed on a soft seafloor as opposed to dry land, suggested this ocean fall might yield large, relatively intact meteorites for scientists to study. [Read more about the meteorite.]
Links to the Past
The Dikika foot is one part of a partial skeleton of a 3.32 million-year-old skeleton of an Australopithecus afarensis child.
Credit: Zeresenay Alemseged
More than 3 million years ago, our adult human ancestors were walking on two feet and didn’t have the option of a fashionable baby sling to carry their kids around in. Instead, Australopithecus afarensis toddlers had a special grasping toe that helped them hold on to their mothers and escape into the trees, reports a study published today (July 4) in Science Advances. [Read more about the digit.]
A Paradoxical Situation
A small galaxy called NGC1052-DF2 was previously thought to lack dark matter. A new paper suggests it might have dark matter after all.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and P. van Dokkum (Yale University)
A galaxy that is supposedly devoid of all dark matter might actually be full of it.
Scientists have suggested the existence of this bizarre matter to explain a just-as-bizarre phenomenon: Based on the light astronomers can see with their telescopes, the universe acts like there is much more mass, and therefore much more gravitational force, than Albert Einstein’s theories predict based on what we can see. [Read more about the galaxy.]
Poor Choice
Because apparently, it needs to be said: Don’t put your fingers anywhere near a nurse shark’s teeth.
Credit: Luca Oddone/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0
A woman who tried to hand-feed a shark is lucky she still has a hand. Yes, it bit her. IT’S A SHARK. [Read more about the dangers.]
Star Wars is Reality
Members of the People’s Liberation Army perform drills during a demonstration on June 30, 2018, in Hong Kong. China’s military may soon have laser guns in its arsenal.
Credit: Anthony Kwan/Getty, file
The laser blasters in “Star Wars” are no longer a thing of science fiction. Chinese researchers have developed an actual laser gun that can ignite a target on fire from a half mile (800 meters) away, the South China Morning Post reported.
Although the gun is classified as a nonlethal weapon, its laser shots can cause “‘instant carbonization’ of human skin and tissues,” according to the South China Morning Post, which means skin would burn and be reduced to carbon like the outside of a charred marshmallow. It can also fire through windows, burn through gas tanks and ignite anything that’s flammable. [Read more about the gun.]
Guilt-Free Cup’o Joe
Coffee lovers may not have to feel that familiar pang of guilt when pouring themselves yet another cup of joe for the day.
In the study, published July 2 in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, Loftfield and her team at the NCI analyzed data from nearly 500,000 people who took part in the U.K. Biobank study. That project gathered health information from more than 9 million people. [Read more about the possibilities.]
Hope on Enceladus
An artist’s depiction of Cassini flying over Enceladus and collecting samples of the enormous plumes erupting from the surface.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Large, carbon-rich organic molecules seem to be spewing from cracks on the surface of Saturn’s icy moon, Enceladus, according to a new study of data collected by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. The discovery means that Enceladus is the only place besides Earth known to satisfy all the requirements for life as we know it, space scientist and study co-author Christopher Glein said in a statement from the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in San Antonio. [Read more about life in space.]
Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+.
YOU’D ALSO LIKE
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Thai Cave Rescue Resumes After 4 Boys Safely Extracted
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Amazing Images: The Best Science Photos of the Week
LiveScience -
The Very Real Risks of Rescuing the Boys Trapped in a Thai Cave
LiveScience -
Poachers Tried to Kill Rhinos in South African Reserve. Instead, a Pride of Lions Killed Them.
LiveScience
(THE EXTROVERTED) SIGMA MALE
Whereas I don’t agree with every detail of this description I do agree that it is accurate to a large extent.
I have also personally discovered that the more and more I reengage with personal social activities (now that my children are finally in college) the less and less I care for social media.
I am becoming extremely extroverted again but I only really desire personal, real world social contacts and social media (on the other hand) more and more repulses me. (Though that has been building upon me for several years now.)
And I have little desire or interest in social media (I hesitate to call most of it truly social and much of it actual media) other than for purely professional reasons.
ANIMATED MOCK-UP
TRAPPISM
TRAPPIST IN SPACE
Astronomers discover 7 Earth-sized planets orbiting nearby star
Story highlights
- Seven Earth-sized planets have been found orbiting an ultracool dwarf star 40 light-years away
- The planets are temperate, meaning they could have liquid water
- The researchers believe this is the best place outside of our solar system to look for life
(CNN)Astronomers have found at least seven Earth-sized planets orbiting the same star 40 light-years away, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. The findings were also announced at a news conference at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
This discovery outside of our solar system is rare because the planets have the winning combination of being similar in size to Earth and being all temperate, meaning they could have water on their surfaces and potentially support life.
“This is the first time that so many planets of this kind are found around the same star,” said Michaël Gillon, lead study author and astronomer at the University of Liège in Belgium.
The seven exoplanets were all found in tight formation around an ultracool dwarf star called TRAPPIST-1. Estimates of their mass also indicate that they are rocky planets, rather than being gaseous like Jupiter. Three planets are in the habitable zone of the star, known as TRAPPIST-1e, f and g, and may even have oceans on the surface.
The TRAPPIST-1 star, an ultracool dwarf, has seven Earth-size planets orbiting it.
The researchers believe that TRAPPIST-1f in particular is the best candidate for supporting life. It’s a bit cooler than Earth, but could be suitable with the right atmosphere and enough greenhouse gases.
If TRAPPIST-1 sounds familiar, that’s because these researchers announced the discovery of three initial planets orbiting the same star in May. The new research increased that number to seven planets total.
“I think we’ve made a crucial step towards finding if there is life out there,” said Amaury Triaud, one of the study authors and an astronomer at the University of Cambridge. “I don’t think any time before we had the right planets to discover and find out if there was (life). Here, if life managed to thrive and releases gases similar to what we have on Earth, we will know.”
Life may begin and evolve differently on other planets, so finding the gases that indicate life is key, the researchers added.
“This discovery could be a significant piece in the puzzle of finding habitable environments, places that are conducive to life,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “Answering the question ‘are we alone?’ is a top science priority, and finding so many planets like these for the first time in the habitable zone is a remarkable step forward toward that goal.”
And as we’ve learned from studying and discovering exoplanets before, where there is one, there are more, said Sara Seager, professor of planetary science and physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Seager and other researchers are encouraged by the discovery of this system because it improves our chances of finding another habitable planet, like Earth, in the future, by knowing where to look.
What we know
The planets are so close to each other and the star that there are seven of them within a space five times smaller than the distance from Mercury to our sun. This proximity allows the researchers to study the planets in depth as well, gaining insight about planetary systems other than our own.
The seven planets of TRAPPIST-1 compared with Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
Starting closest to the star and moving out, the planets have respective orbits from one and a half to nearly 13 Earth days. The orbit of the farthest planet is still unknown.
Standing on the surface of one of the planets, you would receive 200 times less light than you get from the sun, but you would still receive just as much energy to keep you warm since the star is so close. It would also afford some picturesque views, as the other planets would appear in the sky as big as the moon (or even twice as big).
On TRAPPIST-1f, the star would appear three times as big as the sun in our sky. And because of the red nature of the star, the light would be a salmon hue, the researchers speculate.
The researchers believe the planets formed together further from the star. Then, they moved into their current lineup. This is incredibly similar Jupiter and its Galilean moons.
Like the moon, the researchers believe the planets closest to the star are tidally locked. This means that the planets always face one way to the star. One side of the planet is perpetually night, while the other is always day.
What the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system may look like.
Based on preliminary climate modeling, the researchers believe that the three planets closest to the star may be too warm to support liquid water, while the outermost planet, TRAPPIST-1h, is probably too distant and cold to support water on the surface. But further observation is needed to know for sure.
How the discovery was made
TRAPPIST-1 barely classifies as a star at half the temperature and a tenth the mass of the sun. It is red, dim and just a bit larger than Jupiter. But these tiny ultracool dwarf stars are common in our galaxy.
Photos: Weird and wonderful planets beyond our solar system
They were largely overlooked until Gillon decided to study the space around one of these dwarfs.
The researchers used a telescope called TRAPPIST (TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope) to observe its starlight and changes in brightness. The team saw shadows, like little eclipses, periodically interrupting the steady pattern of starlight. This is called transiting. The shadows indicated planets, and further observation confirmed them.
In July, the team was able to determine that two of the closest planets to the stars had atmospheres that were more compact and comparable to those of Earth, Venus and Mars by observing starlight through the planets’ atmosphere.
By using a global network ground-based telescopes like TRAPPIST and space-based telescopes like Spitzer, the researchers continued looking toward the TRAPPIST system and were able to determine the orbital periods, distances from their star, radius and and masses of the planets.
What’s next
Over the next decade, the researchers want to define the atmosphere of each planet, as well as to determine whether they truly do have liquid water on the surface and search for signs of life.
Although 40 light-years away doesn’t sound too far, it would take us millions of years to reach this star system. But from a research perspective, it’s a close opportunity and the best target to search for life beyond our solar system.
“If we learn something now, it can determine if we looked in the right place,” Gillon said.
In 2018, the James Webb Space Telescope will launch and be positioned 1 million miles from Earth with an unprecedented view of the universe. It can observe large exoplanets and detect starlight filtered through their atmosphere.
The researchers are also searching for similar star systems to conduct more atmospheric research. Four telescopes named SPECULOOS (Search for habitable Planets EClipsing ULtra-cOOl Stars) based in Chile will survey the southern sky for this purpose.
This star system will probably outlive us because this type of star evolves so slowly. When our sun dies, TRAPPIST-1 will still be a young star and will live for another trillion years, Gillon said. After we are gone, if there is another part of the universe for life to carry on, it may be in the TRAPPIST-1 system.
“This is the most exciting result I have seen in the 14 years of Spitzer operations,” said Sean Carey, manager of NASA’s Spitzer Science Center at Caltech/IPAC in Pasadena, California. “Spitzer will follow up in the fall to further refine our understanding of these planets so that the James Webb Space Telescope can follow up. More observations of the system are sure to reveal more secrets.”
UTOPIA IS NOT ONLY CREEPY, IT IS ENTIRELY UNTRUE
Personally I think the actual truth lies somewhere in the middle between the hyper-life of the modern technologist and the future will be bleak anti-technologist. It depends almost entirely on not only what man invents but how he chooses to actually employ his inventions/technology.
That being said I am a firm anti-Utopian. I do not believe in the human utopia (not socialistic, not economic, not technological or scientific, etc.) , either that it is possible, or desirable. It is a badly conceived, utterly juvenile and naive, and entirely impractical idea.
By the way, in listening to him, I can’t help but wonder if Nicholas Carr is not in some way related to Caleb Carr one of my favorite contemporary fiction writers.
| February 7, 2017
Personal Development & Philosophy, Podcast
Podcast #276: Utopia is Creepy
A few weeks ago, I had futurist Kevin Kelly on the podcast to discuss the technological trends that are shaping our future. From driverless cars to artificial intelligence that will make new scientific discoveries, Kevin paints a fairly rosy picture of what’s to come.
My guest today sees a different side of the coin, and argues that the future envisioned by many in Silicon Valley is, well, kind of creepy.
His name is Nicholas Carr, and he’s the author of several books that critique the wide-eyed utopianism of technologists. In his book The Shallows, he reported on the research that shows how Google is making us dumber; in The Glass Cage he explored the science on why outsourcing our work and chores to computers and robots might actually make us miserable and unsatisfied in life; and in his latest book, Utopia is Creepy, Carr pulls together all the essays he’s written over the years on how the rapid changes in technology we’ve seen in the past few decades might be robbing us of the very things that make us human.
Today on the show, Nicholas and I discuss why he thinks our utopian future is creepy, how the internet is making us dumber, and why doing mundane tasks that we otherwise would outsource to robots or computers is actually a source of satisfaction and human flourishing. We finish our discussion by outlining a middle path approach to technology — one that doesn’t reject it fully but simultaneously seeks to mitigate its potential downsides.
Show Highlights
- Why the ideology that Silicon Valley is promoting and selling is bad for human flourishing
- How the frictionless ideal of tech companies isn’t all it’s cracked up to be
- Why is the idea of utopia so creepy?
- Why don’t tech companies see that what they’re doing can be perceived as creepy?
- The illusion of freedom and autonomy on the internet
- What “digital sharecropping” is and why it exploits content creators
- The myth of participation and the pleasures of being an audience member
- Information gathering vs developing knowledge
- Why Nicholas doesn’t use social media
- The real danger that AI present humanity (and it’s not necessarily the singularity)
- Is virtual reality going to catch on? Does it present any problems for society?
- How can we opt out of the ideology that Silicon Valley is trying to sell?
- How to ask questions of our technology
Resources/People/Articles Mentioned in Podcast
- My podcast with Kevin Kelly about the technological forces shaping our world
- My podcast with Matthew Crawford
- The uncanny valley
- How to Quit Mindlessly Surfing the Internet
- How to Break Your Smartphone Habit
- My podcast with Bill Deresiewicz on solitude and friendship
- Digital Sharecropping
- How to Read a Book
- 4 Questions That Will Cruch FOMO
- My podcast with Christina Crook about the joy of missing out
- The singularity
- Idleness Kills Manliness
- 5 Reasons Google Glass Failed
If you’re a bit leery of technology like myself, then you’ll definitely enjoy all of Nicholas’ books. Utopia Is Creepy gives you a big picture look at all of Nick’s ideas on the often overlooked downsides of our unquestioned adoption of digital technology. Pick up a copy on Amazon.
Connect With Nicholas Carr
Listen to the Podcast! (And don’t forget to leave us a review!)
THE TACTICAL ATHLETE AND THE ROMAN WAY
Although I like and regularly follow the Art of Manhood this fit in so well with the new training program I’ve developed, The Roman Way, that I decided that this should definitely be shared here as well. This is exactly how I perceive The Roman Way, as being a tactical, personal, mission-oriented, and fully-functional form of athleticism for the average man and woman (and child).
My wife, by the way, who aside from my youngest daughter and myself happen to be the guinea pig(s) for my program has lost nine pounds (so far), regularly hikes and rucks now and every day after her workout and run she chops down two ten to twenty foot tall trees with her hatchet to help clear our land.
Soon I will teach her how to build things out of the trees she cuts down. Anyway enjoy the podcast and conversation. Later on I will return to The Roman Way and discuss it in more detail as I am now writing a book and training manual on the program.
A lot of really good things are happening nowadays in the fields of personal health and athleticism.
| January 17, 2017
Podcast #270: Becoming a Tactical Athlete
We don’t normally think of soldiers and first responders as “professional athletes,” but that’s exactly how my guest today argues they should see themselves. His name is Rob Shaul, and he’s the founder and president of the Mountain Tactical Institute — a research organization dedicated to creating fitness programming that takes workouts outside the gym and gives them a mission-centered focus. Rob believes that soldiers, police officers, and firefighters, as well as folks who participate in strenuous mountain activities like rock climbing and backcountry skiing, should view themselves as tactical athletes and train not just to train, but for a purpose outside the gym.
Today on the show, Rob and I discuss what makes the Mountain Tactical Institute’s mission-focused approach to fitness different from other organizations, why it is that soldiers and first responders should think of themselves as professional athletes, why soldiers in Afghanistan started following his fitness programming for mountain climbers, why there are so many out-of-shape first responders on active duty, and how to train to become a “tactical athlete,” even if you’re a civilian.
Show Highlights
- Rob’s background and how he got started in tactical training
- Why do mountain/adventure athletes even need specific programming?
- How MTI caught the eye and focus of active military members
- Why different missions and events require specific fitness programming
- The most important things listeners can know about fitness requirements for military service
- The fitness culture (or lack thereof) of first responders
- The safety issues that present themselves when first responders aren’t fit
- What happens in our society when fitness standards are implemented in police and fire departments
- How age impacts one’s role in the military, and in first responder departments
- Why first responders and military members should see themselves as athletes
- The philosophy behind becoming a tactical athlete
- Specific fitness benchmarks and goals for police officers, military members, etc.
- The importance of durability in any athlete
- Should civilians strive to be become tactical athletes?
- The next evolution of fitness, and how we’ll move on from gyms and obstacle races
- What to do when your programming and workouts get stale
- What Rob calls “the burden of constant fitness”
Resources/Studies/People Mentioned in Podcast
- X Games (winter games start soon!)
- The History of the Army’s PT Test
- Fitness on the Front Lines in Iraq and Afghanistan
- My podcast interview with J. C. Herz about CrossFit
- GORUCK Challenge
- CDC study about firefighters and obesity
- First Responders: Why Do You Tolerate Unfit Police and Firefighters?
- Colorado Springs police department fitness test
- Why Every Man Should Be Strong
- Every Man Should Be Able to Save His Own Life
- Functional Movement Screen (FMS)
- Train to Dominate an Obstacle Course Race
- Are You Combat Ready?
- Army Physical Fitness Test standards
If you’re looking for a fitness routine that’s mission-specific and designed for a purpose, be sure to check out the programs available at MTI. I’m thinking of trying one of them out myself.
Connect With Rob Shaul and Mountain Tactical Institute
Mountain Tactical Institute website
Tell Rob “Thanks” for being on the podcast via Twitter
Listen to the Podcast! (And don’t forget to leave us a review!)
FURCKAED UP – THE ROMAN WAY
FURCKAED UP
I am seriously considering inventing an improved and a modern version of this gear system for my adaptation of the Roman Way. Also I very much like the fact that if you have to go into combat you can immediately shed the weight as compared to a ruck or backpack. I will still use the weight vest to simulate armor but adapt this system for carrying additional weight and gear.
A GOOD SEX LIFE
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YOUR PRIMAL BODY
A few weeks back I bought a book by a woman named Mikki Reilly entitled Your Primal Body.
I got the book for only a dollar at the Dollah Tree! No, seriously, it was only a dollar. Because everything at the Dollah Tree is a dollar.
Although I have used training methods such as Fartlek and HIIT in my PT programs for some time now (these are promoted in the book) this was my first real introduction to the Paleo Diet and the so-called paleo-lifestyle.
I have been reading the book slowly, making notes in it, underlining and hi-lighting various ideas and concepts, but over the past two to three weeks I have also been applying the various principles espoused therein. The gains I have been making in my muscularity, in being pain-free in my joints, in my overall flexibility, in my energy levels, in general health, in memory, focus, and concentration, in the sheer physicality of my sex life (just ask my wife), and in weight loss have been tremendous in such a short period of time. I feel a great deal like I am in my 30s, but constantly and consistently.
Although the book was written by a chick primarily for chicks the principles are general and easily applicable to anyone at any age. I recommend the book.
Also in researching the book for this post I discovered she has a youtube interview:
MEATS, VEGETABLES, ETC…
Meats, vegetables, fruits, fats, dairy, oils (mainly olive oil), and honey. These are the only things I eat anymore and I feel infinitely better for it.
Also I drink a lot of water.
CHARACTER AND DUTY
Manvotional: The Character of a Soldier
Editor’s note: The following excerpt was included in FM 21-13, an Army field manual published in 1952. While it outlines the character of a good soldier, the qualities mentioned represent the kind of character all men should strive for.
FM 21-13
THE SOLDIER’S GUIDE
Section VII. THE CHARACTER OF A SOLDIER
The Things You Are
When we say that a man has “good character,” we mean that he has many strong qualities and virtues that, added together, make him a man whom we like, respect, and trust. One definition of character, therefore, is this: The sum of the qualities that make a person what he is.
It’s not easy to tell you exactly what qualities and virtues you must have to be a good soldier, but perhaps you can understand better what is meant by a “soldier’s character” if you consider some of the qualities that all of our good soldiers have had. These qualities include honesty, courage, self-control, decency, and conviction of purpose. This is by no means a complete list, but those are the qualities that most good soldiers possess. Let’s talk about them.
You must be honest because there is absolutely no room in our military world for dishonesty, half-truth, or any other shade in-between. When the outcome of a battle could rest on the truth of your report, your word must be your bond. In private life, one can avoid or make allowance for those who have trouble telling the truth. But in the Army, soldiers depend on each other too much to accept anything but complete honesty. All good soldiers understand the need for truthfulness and shun those who lie.
As a soldier, you may be called on to be courageous in many ways. In battle, you may have to keep moving forward in the face of heavy enemy fire. Lives of other men may depend on this kind of courage. Battle plans are based on it. Then, in addition to courage in battle, you need courage to admit your own failures. You may need still another kind of courage to ask your fellow soldiers to keep going when they have nearly reached the limit of their endurance.
In any talk of courage, however, it is important that you know the difference between real courage and foolhardiness. Taking unnecessary risks is stupid and often endangers the lives of others. Being courageous doesn’t mean that you won’t be afraid at the same time. Fear in battle is natural, and some of our best soldiers have been those who have been afraid, but who went ahead into battle, even with a shaking hand and pounding heart.
Soldiers who have displayed this kind of courage were able to do so because of another quality, self-control. As a soldier, you will be living and working closely with other soldiers. You will be leading a highly disciplined life. Good self-control makes this discipline easier. It will also help you avoid temptations that may plague you — temptations to dodge your duty, to indulge in immorality, or to use your power unfairly. Sometimes you may be the law itself, and only your sense of right and self-control will stand between you and your abuse of power as a soldier.
Self-control is “inner discipline.” You were not born with it, but all good soldiers have acquired it through the years by checking their tempers and desires, and by “counting 10” before they acted.
Another quality that all good soldiers have is decency. This means personal habits that make it easier for others to live and work with you. Your honesty, courage, and self-control will strongly affect your companions, but in addition, it is important that you give them the same consideration that you’d like them to give you. This means respecting their property and views, keeping yourself clean in body and speech, and accepting others for what they are – not for the color of their skins, or where they came from.
All these qualities are important parts of a good soldier’s character, but the quality that all of our great soldiers have had – the quality that gave meaning to all of their other virtues – is conviction of purpose. This means that these soldiers fought well and were able to endure the hardships of war because they were convinced that what they were doing was right.
Admittedly, this quality isn’t easy to have. Many combat veterans will tell you that they were never quite sure why they were fighting. Some say that they fought to save themselves. Others say that they fought for the men around them, or because they hated the enemy. There is never any single reason why men fight.
Our truly great soldiers, however, have fought for our country because they believed that our freedoms and way of life were worth the sacrifice. You probably know the story of Sergeant York. When he first entered the Army in World War I, he was troubled because his training and his conscience told him “Thou shalt not kill.” After a long struggle with his conscience, however, he realized that fighting the enemy was just, because that enemy would have enslaved the world if they could. When he realized this, he became one of our greatest heroes, because he was convinced that it was right for men to remain free.
These are some of the main qualities that make up the character of a good soldier. Nobody can give you these qualities. You have to get them yourself by hard work. But at least you know what the qualities are and if you don’t have all of them, you have a goal that is worth reaching.
MANLY MARRIAGE
Podcast #239: Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts
If you’re a man on the precipice of marriage or have marriage as a life goal, one worry you likely have is “Will my marriage last?”
While divorce rates have been decreasing since they reached their peak in the late 1970s and early ’80s, there’s still a perception out there that marriage is just a crapshoot — a game of Russian roulette — and that the odds favor you ending up in a family court, or at best in a sad and loveless relationship.
My guest today argues that doesn’t have to be your fate as long as you take a proactive approach to marriage. With some thought and intentionality, you can help ensure that you have a happy, loving, fulfilling relationship that lasts until death do you part. His name is Les Parrott and he’s a clinical psychologist specializing in marriage and family. He, along with his wife Leslie, who’s also a marriage therapist, have written a book to help couples prepare themselves for matrimonial commitment. It’s called Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts: Seven Questions to Ask Before — And After — You Marry.
Today on the show, Les and I discuss how a man can know if he’s personally ready for marriage, the myths people have about marriage that set them up for disappointment, and the conversations you should be having with your future spouse to help ensure you have a happy life together. While the conversation is geared towards soon-to-be-marrieds and newlyweds, even if you’ve been married for a couple decades, you’re going to find some useful advice and insights in this show.
Show Highlights
- How to know if you’re ready for marriage
- Why self-awareness is paramount for a successful relationship
- The five attitudes towards marriage Millennials have
- The effectiveness of pre-marital counseling in helping stave off divorce
- What happy marriages look like
- The expectations people have coming into marriage that can set them up for failure
- The unspoken rules and unconscious roles in a marriage
- The three factors that contribute to lasting love
- How love changes as a relationship progresses and how to nurture it through the years
- Why marriages are their strongest after 25+ years
- How to cultivate passion in a long-term relationship
- The saboteurs of marriage
- The different needs of men and women in a relationship
- Why conflict is good for a relationship and how to have a “good fight”
- What couples who have been married for awhile, but are experiencing marital problems, can do to solve them
Resources/Studies/People Mentioned in Podcast
- SYMBISassessment.com
- Neil Clark Warren
- How Do You Know She’s the One
- My podcast with Randy Paterson on How to be Miserable
- Half of Marriages No Longer End in Divorce
- My podcast with Duana Welch about love and marriage
- Robert Sternberg
- My podcast with Nancy Sherman about The Way of the Stoic Warrior
- The Good Fight: How Conflict Can Bring You Closer
Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts is filled with research-backed insights and actionable steps that about-to-be married or newlywed couples can use to make sure their marriage starts off on the right foot. Even if you’ve been married for a few years, you’re going to find the book useful. Also, consider taking the Parrotts’ SYMBIS Assessment with your spouse for further insights about your marriage.
Listen to the Podcast! (And don’t forget to leave us a review!)
HOMESCHOOLING CURRICULUM – FIRST SEMESTER
Today my youngest daughter starts her senior year homeschooling. (Although each child actually gets 13 years or grades of schooling before college – 12 normal grades and one year of advanced studies and special projects).
My oldest daughter is studying Marine Biology and she is minoring in Psychology but my youngest daughter wants to study Art and Media. Below are her homeschooling curriculum texts for the first semester of this year.
Science: The Biology Book plus the writings of Hippocrates
Religion: Dark Night of the Soul (Saint John of the Cross)
Philosophy: an excellent lecture series on Thomas Aquinas by Peter Kreeft (I took this lecture series myself.)
Literature: the short stories of Tolstoy and Chekhov
Business/Economics/Finance: The Road to Serfdom by Hayek
Mathematics: workbook plus the writings of Euclid
Art: she will be taking the FA Art and Painting Composition study course and reading from the book Stagecraft
She will also have her labs which will cover art, biology, chess, piano, and she has currently chosen to study Italian and Japanese. (She really likes Italian, and finds it easy, but Japanese she finds much harder than Korean. She says that so far Japanese is the hardest language she has studied or tried to master.)
She will also read one magazine per week and will watch a classic film about once every two weeks.
She will have her special projects for the year which we have yet to decide but will probably center around drama and theater.
Finally she is studying to take the SAT since the new state test hasn’t even returned her results yet and she took that test back in April I believe.
The Missal 