How Failure Breeds Success

How long did it take for humans to invent a controllable aircraft?

The first known drawing of a flying machine was done by Leonardo Da Vinci in around 1488,

but the first controlled flight of an airplane wasn't until 1903.

That's a span of 415 years.

So what happened in the meantime?  Didn't anyone try to make an airplane between the time of Da Vinci and the Wright brothers? 

Of course they did.  There were many, many attempts to build aircraft before the Wright brothers.  They just weren't successful.

So, how did the Wright brothers accomplish what other before them had not?  Did they suddenly awake one day with a breakthrough idea? 

No.

They learned from everybody else' failures.

Orville and Wilbur Wright took the knowledge gained from everyone who had gone before them, eliminated the things that didn't work, kept the things that did and added their own twist, "three axis control"; a system used to this day.  The result?  An airplane that could go up, down, left and right.

The Wright brothers themselves failed many times before they flew successfully.  But each failure taught them something.  By figuring out what went wrong, devising a solution and sticking to it, they were ultimately successful.

This is just one example of a process that has been repeated throughout history.

Everybody fails at some point.  It is how we handle failure that determines whether or not we will eventually succeed.

The two simple keys to succeeding from failure are:

1.  Don't give up.
2.  Learn from your mistakes.

It's not paying attention to this second key that causes people to fail repeatedly.  You see, in order to learn from your mistakes, you must first admit that you made one.  If you can't admit to yourself that you made an error, you can't learn from it because in your mind, you haven't done anything wrong.  Many people choose to blame others for their own errors and therefore never learn from them, dooming themselves to fail over and over again.

So try to remember that it's okay to make mistakes.  Admit them, learn from them and do better the next time.  That's how to be successful.

"Every failure brings you one step closer to success"

Password-stealing Virus Targets Facebook

Hackers have flooded the Internet with virus-tainted spam that targets Facebook's estimated 400 million users in an effort to steal banking passwords and gather other sensitive information.

The emails tell recipients that the passwords on their Facebook accounts have been reset, urging them to click on an attachment to obtain new login credentials, according to anti-virus software maker McAfee Inc.

If the attachment is opened, it downloads several types of malicious software, including a program that steals passwords, McAfee said on Wednesday.

Hackers have long targeted Facebook users, sending them tainted messages via the social networking company's own internal email system. With this new attack, they are using regular Internet email to spread their malicious software.

A Facebook spokesman said the company could not comment on the specific case, but pointed to a status update the company posted on its web site earlier on Wednesday warning users about the spoofed email and advising users to delete the email and to warn their friends.

McAfee estimates that hackers sent out tens of millions of spam across Europe, the United States and Asia since the campaign began on Tuesday.

Dave Marcus, McAfee's director of malware research and communications, said that he expects the hackers will succeed in infecting millions of computers.

"With Facebook as your lure, you potentially have 400 million people that can click on the attachment. If you get 10 percent success, that's 40 million," he said.

The email's subject line says "Facebook password reset confirmation customer support," according to Marcus.

Good Rule of Thumb: Don't open an emails from senders you don't know.....

The Evolution of Revolution Foods

To me, Revolution Foods is a company which has a noble goal: to bring fresh healthy meals to “as many students as possible”. Their first customers were schools in low income neighborhoods where, before Revolution Foods arrived, school lunches consisted of cheap meal made from simple carbohydrates, salt, fat and processed sugar. In other words, they weren’t very healthy.

The meals served by Revolution Foods are made almost entirely from organic ingredients. They include fresh vegetables, whole grains and meat raised in natural settings. They also use ingredients from local, sustainable sources.

Organic food is pesticide free. It is also free of hormones, antibiotics and isn’t genetically engineered.

Locally grown means the food hasn’t been transported 1000’s of miles to get here, which saves fuel and helps slow global warming.

I’ve always been impressed with what Revolution Foods is trying to do, which is nothing less than change the way all of us eat. By starting with school kids, they are hoping that good eating habits will filter up through each kid’s family at home.

There was only one problem. The food they made wasn’t very good. When Revolution Foods first started providing Park School with hot lunches, the food was more likely to end up in the trash than in a kid’s stomach.

Revolution Foods then did another remarkable thing. They listened to you. They sent representatives to all of the schools they served and took surveys. They offered taste tests. As a result, their meals got a lot better.

Today, I’m happy to say, the food is much improved. I personally enjoy the Chicken Teriyaki, Baked Ziti and Cheese Lasagna (the pizza still tastes like cardboard).

The kids seem to agree. The Green Team is no longer swamped with uneaten Revolution Foods meals.

When they first started, Revolution Foods provided lunches to schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. Today they provide lunches to schools all over Northern and Southern California, Colorado and Washington D.C.. They’ve truly begun a school lunch revolution.

In order to gain a better understanding of why organic food from local sustainable sources is better for you, to understand why the least healthy food which is also the least expensive and why this is the real cause of the nation’s obesity epidemic, try reading “Fast Food Nation” by Eric Schlosser,

“The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan

or see “Food, Inc.”

You'll never take your food for granted again.

Navigating a Blog

Hey Everyone:

Thanks for reading my blog and thanks for all of your comments. When reading your comments, it occurred to me that some of you may not understand how to use all of the things that are on the blog, so I decided to write this post to explain some of its features to you. This will help you fully enjoy anyone's blog and perhaps give you some ideas for your own.

One thing you should know is that there are many videos linked to the blog. There videos on Tinikling, juggling, rope jumping and a dunk by a girl. The latest video is linked to "The Ripple Effect". I think you'll like them.

To watch any of the videos, simply click on either of the play icons (the little triangles). Watch "The Ripple Effect" first, let me know what you think of J Mac's story.

Another useful little gadget is the BMI calculator. This can be found just below the Calvin & Hobbes cartoon. To understand what it is for and how to use it, read my post "Weight Obsession". BMI is something we will be talking about later this year.

Farther down the right hand side of the page is a Video Bar. This is a link to all the videos I've posted on YouTube. These are mostly dance routines created by Park School students. Just click on the bar to see them.

Below the video bar is a Label list. This is an easy way to find old posts. Click on the label that interests you and Blogger will open all posts related to that subject.

Enjoy!

Low Tech High Tech - Kids Stay a Step Ahead

I read this article about how teens and college kids were upset that more and more older adults were using technologies that the young people considered their own, things like IM's, texting, My Space and Facebook. The kids felt that when an adult they knew sent them a text or had a My Space page, their privacy had been invaded. The kids, however, stay ahead of the adults by learning how to use new techs before the adults do.

For example, a couple of years ago, kids at the high school at which I coach would carry on texting conversations with each other during class. The teachers didn't know what was going on at first, but after awhile they figured it out and now cel phones aren't allowed in class during tests because some students were texting each other the answers to the test questions.

The students responded with the use of a seemingly harmless, low tech toy: the Nintendo DS.

DS's are allowed in class because it can be used as a calculator. What the teachers don't know is that the DS also has a feature called "Pictochat". Pictochat allows up to 16 people with DS's to chat with each other at the same time.

The cheating, if anything, has gotten worse. What's more is that when the students are bored, they can play games with each other, for the DS is networkable for game play too.

Google Home Page

The Google home page is really cool. If you guys have your own home page, try Google. It's fully customizable from the way it looks to the content you want to see.

When you first set up your page you get a lot of basic choices as to content and theme, but after you set the page's basic look, you can further customize it by clicking on "add stuff", which takes you to Google "gadgets".

My home page has a mapping link, links to my groups, weather reports for 3 cities, calendar & more. I know that sounds boring to you, but you can customize your page your way. For example, you can add fun stuff like daily cartoons and games. Try it.