<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!--Generated by Squarespace V5 Site Server v5.13.166 (http://www.squarespace.com) on Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:40:19 GMT--><feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"><title>Blane Jackson Advice and Social Commentary</title><subtitle>Blane's Blog</subtitle><id>http://www.blanejackson.com/blane-blog/</id><link rel="alternate" type="application/xhtml+xml" href="http://www.blanejackson.com/blane-blog/"/><link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blanejackson.com/blane-blog/atom.xml"/><updated>2013-04-24T01:22:30Z</updated><generator uri="http://five.squarespace.com/" version="Squarespace V5 Site Server v5.13.166 (http://www.squarespace.com)">Squarespace</generator><entry><title>A Woman's Guide to Online Dating</title><category term="&quot;Womens guide to online dating&quot;"/><category term="&quot;online dating&quot;"/><category term="Social Comentary"/><category term="dating"/><category term="eHarmony"/><category term="match.com"/><id>http://www.blanejackson.com/blane-blog/2013/4/23/a-womans-guide-to-online-dating.html</id><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.blanejackson.com/blane-blog/2013/4/23/a-womans-guide-to-online-dating.html"/><author><name>Blane Jackson</name></author><published>2013-04-24T01:09:55Z</published><updated>2013-04-24T01:09:55Z</updated><summary type="html" xml:lang="en-US"><![CDATA[Online dating is a wonderful thing. It's much more efficient in terms of time and money than just about any other form of meet and greet. If done right, it can be a lot of fun and hopefully yield a new companion. Don't be afraid it really works if done right.]]></summary></entry><entry><title>Explaining the Thermostat</title><category term="Social Comentary"/><category term="Thermostat"/><category term="temperature"/><id>http://www.blanejackson.com/blane-blog/2013/4/18/explaining-the-thermostat.html</id><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.blanejackson.com/blane-blog/2013/4/18/explaining-the-thermostat.html"/><author><name>Blane Jackson</name></author><published>2013-04-18T21:15:50Z</published><updated>2013-04-18T21:15:50Z</updated><summary type="html" xml:lang="en-US"><![CDATA[It is incomprehensible to me the number of people who do not understand the concept of a thermostat. Even people who should know what it is and how it works don't understand it. I've witnessed first hand, architects, engineers, and scientists ride room thermostats like a volume knob.]]></summary></entry><entry><title>Wisdom is the Province of the Old</title><category term="&quot;Next computer&quot;"/><category term="&quot;Steve Jobs&quot;"/><category term="NeXT"/><category term="Social Comentary"/><category term="experience"/><category term="wisdom"/><id>http://www.blanejackson.com/blane-blog/2013/3/23/wisdom-is-the-province-of-the-old.html</id><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.blanejackson.com/blane-blog/2013/3/23/wisdom-is-the-province-of-the-old.html"/><author><name>Blane Jackson</name></author><published>2013-03-23T21:21:55Z</published><updated>2013-03-23T21:21:55Z</updated><summary type="html" xml:lang="en-US"><![CDATA[When you're young, you think you know everything. As you age you become unsure. As you grow old you become sure that you don't know anything for certain. Worse, you see the folly in those that are sure of everything. As Sophocles said, "How terrible is wisdom when it brings no profit to the wise." But wisdom is not necessarily about profit, it's about understanding. Sometimes understanding can translate into profit, sometimes it translates into frustration as you watch those around you, even those you love, making the same mistakes you have already made.]]></summary></entry><entry><title>Disillusioned in the Age of Aquarius</title><category term="&quot;the sixties&quot;"/><category term="60s"/><category term="JFK"/><category term="LBJ"/><category term="Social Comentary"/><id>http://www.blanejackson.com/blane-blog/2013/3/19/disillusioned-in-the-age-of-aquarius.html</id><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.blanejackson.com/blane-blog/2013/3/19/disillusioned-in-the-age-of-aquarius.html"/><author><name>Blane Jackson</name></author><published>2013-03-20T01:54:09Z</published><updated>2013-03-20T01:54:09Z</updated><summary type="html" xml:lang="en-US"><![CDATA[I fondly remember the 60s. As bad as the TV clips make it look, providing you didn't get killed or maimed in Vietnam, it was actually a pretty good time.]]></summary></entry><entry><title>The Bane of Unemployment</title><category term="&quot;finding a job:"/><category term="Social Comentary"/><category term="economy"/><category term="job"/><category term="jobs"/><category term="unemployed"/><category term="unemployment"/><id>http://www.blanejackson.com/blane-blog/2013/1/31/the-bane-of-unemployment.html</id><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.blanejackson.com/blane-blog/2013/1/31/the-bane-of-unemployment.html"/><author><name>Blane Jackson</name></author><published>2013-01-31T16:44:07Z</published><updated>2013-01-31T16:44:07Z</updated><summary type="html" xml:lang="en-US"><![CDATA[There's nothing more emasculating than losing your job. In a society where a man's value is increasingly measured by his earning power, losing your job is the equivalent of disappearing form the human race. You feel worthless and weak and no woman wants you.]]></summary></entry><entry><title>My Big Prediction for 2013</title><category term="&quot;New Year Prediction&quot;"/><category term="&quot;Scott Forstall&quot;"/><category term="&quot;Steve Balmer&quot;"/><category term="Apple"/><category term="Microsoft"/><category term="Technology Advice"/><id>http://www.blanejackson.com/blane-blog/2013/1/2/my-big-prediction-for-2013.html</id><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.blanejackson.com/blane-blog/2013/1/2/my-big-prediction-for-2013.html"/><author><name>Blane Jackson</name></author><published>2013-01-02T17:46:29Z</published><updated>2013-01-02T17:46:29Z</updated><summary type="html" xml:lang="en-US"><![CDATA[Anyway, it's customary for every self-respecting columnist to make at least one New Year prediction. Here's mine.]]></summary></entry><entry><title>The Joy of Fruit</title><category term="&quot;Joel Fuhrman&quot;"/><category term="&quot;eat to live&quot;"/><category term="&quot;refined carbohydrate&quot;"/><category term="Social Comentary"/><category term="Technology Advice"/><category term="diet"/><category term="dieting"/><category term="fruit"/><category term="sugar"/><id>http://www.blanejackson.com/blane-blog/2012/12/20/the-joy-of-fruit.html</id><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.blanejackson.com/blane-blog/2012/12/20/the-joy-of-fruit.html"/><author><name>Blane Jackson</name></author><published>2012-12-20T20:24:14Z</published><updated>2012-12-20T20:24:14Z</updated><summary type="html" xml:lang="en-US"><![CDATA[As I've mention in a previous post, my wife and I are dieting. The central focus of the diet is giving up refined sugar, starches, and flower - basically, removing any refined carbohydrate from your diet. That means, no white bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, cake, or sugar in all its myriad forms. What's left is green/yellow vegetables (preferable raw), legumes, beans, nuts, seeds, and small amounts of lean meat such as chicken, turkey, lean beaf, or fish. The diet was inspired by Joel Fuhrman's book: Eat to Live. I can honestly say that the diet works well and is relatively easy to sustain because you don't count calories and can eat as much as you want. The weight doesn't come off fast, but rather melts of slowly. My wife and I have each lost well over ten pounds in about two months.]]></summary></entry><entry><title>Apple's Next Big Thing</title><category term="&quot;Apple TV&quot;"/><category term="&quot;Apple stock&quot;"/><category term="&quot;Steve Jobs&quot;"/><category term="Apple"/><category term="Technology Advice"/><id>http://www.blanejackson.com/blane-blog/2012/12/18/apples-next-big-thing.html</id><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.blanejackson.com/blane-blog/2012/12/18/apples-next-big-thing.html"/><author><name>Blane Jackson</name></author><published>2012-12-18T19:57:15Z</published><updated>2012-12-18T19:57:15Z</updated><summary type="html" xml:lang="en-US"><![CDATA[Many of my friends and acquaintances, accused me of being an "Apple Fanboy" because of my unbridled zeal for their products. I would say, more accurately, I'm a "Steve Jobs Fanboy". Like many others that follow the tech world, I believe vehemently that the late Steve Jobs was a true genius and the "Edison" of our time. I have expounded on this position many times, to anyone who would listen, since 1984.]]></summary></entry><entry><title>One Year With My Ford Focus</title><category term="&quot;2012 Ford Focus Review&quot;"/><category term="&quot;2012 Ford Focus&quot;"/><category term="&quot;Focus Review&quot;"/><category term="&quot;Ford Focus&quot;"/><category term="&quot;My Touch&quot;"/><category term="&quot;MyFord Touch&quot;"/><category term="&quot;MyFord&quot;"/><category term="&quot;MyTouch&quot;"/><category term="Focus"/><category term="Ford"/><category term="Microsoft"/><category term="Technology Advice"/><category term="review"/><id>http://www.blanejackson.com/blane-blog/2012/12/10/one-year-with-my-ford-focus.html</id><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.blanejackson.com/blane-blog/2012/12/10/one-year-with-my-ford-focus.html"/><author><name>Blane Jackson</name></author><published>2012-12-10T22:04:54Z</published><updated>2012-12-10T22:04:54Z</updated><summary type="html" xml:lang="en-US"><![CDATA[It's been about a year since the transmission died on my ten year old Honda Odyssey and I was forced to buy a new car. After more than fifteen years of driving foreign cars I chose a new 2012 Ford Focus as my replacement vehicle. I chose the Focus after driving almost every care in the compact class and deemed it the best and most fun for the money. I wasn't alone in thinking so. Car and Driver, Motor Week, and a hose of other auto reviewers agreed that the Focus was a very competent little vehicle. Now that I've been driving it for about a year, I thought I'd share my impressions of my first American made car in over a decade.]]></summary></entry><entry><title>Suffering Through a Cold</title><category term="&quot;a head cold&quot;"/><category term="&quot;cold in head&quot;"/><category term="&quot;common cold&quot;"/><category term="Social Comentary"/><category term="cold"/><category term="flu"/><category term="sick"/><category term="suffering"/><id>http://www.blanejackson.com/blane-blog/2012/12/7/suffering-through-a-cold.html</id><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.blanejackson.com/blane-blog/2012/12/7/suffering-through-a-cold.html"/><author><name>Blane Jackson</name></author><published>2012-12-07T16:43:41Z</published><updated>2012-12-07T16:43:41Z</updated><summary type="html" xml:lang="en-US"><![CDATA[I've been sick with a cold. Nothing too terrible, just a bad head cold. But it was bad enough that I had to "dope" myself up on multi-symptom cold medicine for almost a week just to lurch through the day with a minimum of productivity. I also ate about half a bag of Halls cough drops because the cold medicine does too good a job "drying" me out and I begin to dry cough. Cough drops make your teeth feel grimy and forget about eating anything in conjunction with a eucalyptus lozenge.]]></summary></entry></feed>