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How I Explored the Universe...
I grew up in the foothills overlooking the White Sands Missile Range in the 1950s and 1960s. Everything the USA produced that flew into the air or space -- and everything that DIDN'T -- was developed and tested before my eyes and ears during those years. It was all primarily for my own entertainment, I think.
Sunsets and Horny Toads...
I used to climb the mountains behind my house and watch the missiles with their chase-planes rocket into the setting sun. Sonic booms washed over me and the horny toad lizards sitting on the rocks at my feet. It was a dramatic time and an amazing place to be growing up.
During high school I became a tiny bit famous in our little town for public speaking and debate, winning a couple dozen tournaments and traveling around the Southwest. It was my 15 minutes of fame in New Mexico.
Eventually I went to college a few years on a speech and debate scholarship, then along came the Vietnam war. I know, that was 3 or 4 wars ago -- get over it. There came a time when the draft board sent me a greeting. Not wanting to fly helicopters for the Army, I decided to join the Navy.
They convinced me that my future was in nuclear power. Call me crazy, I went along with them. So I spent 9 years in the US Navy as a nuclear electronics technician and reactor operator, working on submarines mainly. Finally emerged with a few good conduct medals, an honorable discharge thank God, and a burning desire never to see another nuclear reactor again!
Ran my own advertising agency in a medium sized market for a few years, then moved to California. Guess I wanted to be around lots of fruit and nuts... but I digress.
"In California, you can make more money by accident than you can elsewhere on purpose!"
How I Destroyed the American Computer Industry...
Everyone who ever actually did anything in the real world -- creating advertising campaigns for real businesses -- is an "ad consultant" in Los Angeles. In L.A. it seems everyone either is or wants to be in show business, advertising, music or porn. Everyone has a movie script in the car's glove compartment. And, everyone is either a producer or consultant. After all, you don't have to KNOW anything to produce or consult. Get yourself a business card from Kinkos and you're an expert!
Of course nobody wants to be called a salesman, which is what it is all about. So, I consulted there for a few years, mainly working to help Asian companies sell computers in national magazine advertising. I helped my clients destroy dozens of famous domestic American computer brands, I guess. My two dozen client companies did sell a couple billion dollars' worth of the world's cheapest computers. Of course I wasn't the only guy doing this foul deed, but I played a part. Slowly the guilt built up, by the mid-1990s I was looking for another field to ply the trade.
How I Created the Internet...
When the Internet came along in 1995, my clients began to ask for web-site design work. I learned HTML, Perl and CGI scripting from books in a few weeks. Then came some basic design strategies from my years in print advertising. This lead to a fast production of dozens of early eCommerce online stores. In those days taking credit cards online was tough. Banks didn't want to take risks online. Of course that has changed now. My web marketing and web design site is IdeaPro.com, which was first established in 1997. It's a great resource for you if you own a site. Lots of free tips on how to write press releases, how to generate free backlinks, how to increase free traffic from search engines, and so on. Visit IdeaPro.com to get free help in promoting your own web-sites.
How I Saved the World...
After nearly dying from diabetes in early 2003, I spent a few thousand hours to learn something about what causes degenerative diseases that we're all suffering from here in America. Turns out that the enemy is us - or what we eat and our lifestyle. Okay, so I know I'm not the only one to figure that out. But after 3 years reading thousands of research studies at the National Institutes of Health web-sites, I became a health-nut and built a web-site about inflammatory health. The site supports my own model of health and my own flavor of an anti-inflammatory diet program. It now boasts over 1.5 million pages about inflammation, heart disease, cancer, diabetes and strokes, with free access to its huge searchable health study database. See my monster health site at Level1Diet.com.
Nowadays, I split my time between managing both the web marketing site and diet/health site... and feeding my high-maintenance cat, who claims to be "King Charles the First".