Adam Cap

With 2012 winding down, it’s that time of year again when I get anxious about my future and feel the need to write about it in hopes of subconsciously wiring my brain for another productive chapter in my life.

As usual, I’ll take a look back at my previous goals first and see if I actually hit any of them. I actually don’t remember any of my previous resolutions off the top of my head, which may be good (in that I hit them and moved on) or bad (in that I lost focus and have loose ends to tie up).

Let’s see where I’m at…

Lingering Resolutions

1. Get my business in order

I was originally intending to incorporate all my internet endeavors in an LLC and also get an accountant, but decided against both those ideas, mainly because I had zero cash at the time for either service and then SixPrizes got hacked, yada yada…

I’m not sure if I really need either at this point, but it may still be wise to look into them again.

2. Pay taxes

I got a wrap on that and actually figured out how to pay quarterly taxes this time around. Boom shaka laka.

3. Spend money

I’ve saved way more than I’ve spent, but my motto is basically don’t make impulse purchases and abide by these two guidelines:

1. I’ll know when I need stuff. It will become obvious.
2. Get stuff that enables me to live better. Stuff that creates openings… freedom.

I know it sounds cheesy, but it’s worked really well for me the past year. I live my life mostly to keep options open because I’m terrified of commitment.

So by limiting my expenditures, I have more money to throw around on high quality items that actually do bring value and help enhance my life.

The past year I did buy stuff when it became obvious it would be a good purchase, and I’ve felt really good about my spending habits.

4. Keep a consistent journal

I’ve again bombed on this for the most part. I have kept a very consistent workout journal, but not so much as far as general everyday thoughts.

I think I’m going to accept that sometimes I have the inspiration/urge to write, and other times not. I won’t be forcing this one.

… and with that, I’ll move forward into 2013.

New Year’s Resolutions 2013

1. Figure out my living situation.

I was originally intending to migrate south for the winter to escape the cold, but decided to stick around in Pennsylvania, partly because my granny was getting old and I wasn’t sure if she’d make it through the winter (which she didn’t, unfortunately), so I wanted to stay around to visit her, partly because I was so focused on 6P stuff that I hadn’t put much 2nd thought into moving, and partly to save money.

For me, it’s quite the quandary because with my job, I could live practically anywhere. But when I have infinite options, I become terrible at picking one. It’s hard for me to pick somewhere out of anywhere.

If for example I had a “real” job, then I’d have to live somewhere near that job for the commute. That makes picking a place to live easier.

But when all you need is an internet connection, it’s a little more daunting. At least for me, because I haven’t travelled all that much and don’t know where would be an ideal place for me to live.

I do enjoy PA during the spring/summer/fall, but get cabin fever during the winter.

2. Get excited about something.

For the first time in a long while, I feel like I’ve actually caught up with all my projects and have my schedule massively freed up to pursue other ventures.

SixPrizes is easily the most organized it’s been. Ever. Last year was pretty rough with the site being hacked in May and then having to deal with that whole mess for a couple months, but I somehow got through it.

(The hack legitimately could have been the end of me. I won’t go into specifics, but it had the potential to be a lot worse.)

Following the hack, I was able to make headway into unfinished projects, and I’m content with the current state of the site.

I do want to explore options to increase revenue though, namely selling physical products like dice and possibly t-shirts. I do realize it’s best to put the most time into what’s making you money, so I will continue to put focus into 6P, but it’s going to be less than before. I’m a little burnt out from working on it for 3+ years straight and need change.

PkmnCards is more than likely going to remain at a standstill. To make it more like MagicCards.info would be above and beyond my current technical wherewithal, and I don’t think I would see enough return on my time investment.

I’m still at a point where I do need to convert my time into money instead of fooling around with ideas that may or may not work like I could while I was in college. If money was no object, then I might be more willing to put time into it though. We’ll see.

I do have a freelance opportunity out there, but I’m not sure how excited I am about it. And that’s the point I’m trying to make… I want to get excited about something!

I want to feel the exuberance I’ve experienced working on my projects of the past.

3. Get to 170 lbs.

Last I weighed myself I was about 157 lbs and I’m in fairly good shape, but I’d really like to try and put on maybe 10 lbs of muscle because I think it would help with tennis. And because I want to look good without a shirt on.

This is going to be a tough goal though because with my metabolism, I really have to make a concerted effort to eat enough calories. And the more I’m working on projects, I usually end up eating less because I delay eating meals to finish up with things (like I’m doing right now – I meant to eat dinner an hour ago but want to finish this entry).

So I have to balance working and eating better. I have little trouble motivating myself to exercise, but eating becomes tedious.

4. Keep learning.

In the past I would label this goal as “read books,” but really all I want to do is challenge myself and keep learning new things. If that means reading books, so be it, but the main objective is to learn.

5. Be more social.

I’ll admit I’m a bit of a hermit sometimes. Usually it’s because I’ve got my head sunk into a project I’m working on, I’m trying to stick to some weird diet, and other times I’m being anti-social.

But I’ll try to do better with this and be more spontaneous.

6. ROAD TRIP

Ever since I read On the Road I’ve really wanted to go on a road trip. And it hasn’t happened yet.

But this summer the early plans are that two of my friends with comedic aspirations will do open mic nights around the country and I’ll document their plight.

… and that wraps up my 2013 resolutions. I know I have relatively trite goals, but for me, the meaning of life is to maximize feeling good. That’s all I’m concerned about right now. Feeling good.

5:09 PM
50 degrees and sunny
(75+ degrees in front of my space heater)
Malvern, PA

Note: I started writing this article like 2 years ago and never finished it and now I’m posting whatever incomplete prose is here. Maybe I’ll complete it later. Enjoy.

Here it is… the “How to Sell Your Stuff on eBay” post. I know you’re stoked for this one… just think of the riches you’ll be swimming in after downing this article.

(Olive Garden – here I come baby…)

I’ll preface this article by saying that I’ve got a fair amount of experience selling stuff on eBay… the oldest transaction on my account is dated Aug-27-98 19:19 (which means I’ve been eBaying for almost 13 year now… damn I’m getting old) and my feedback rating is a perfect 100% from over 500 transactions.

My eBay account was actually my dad’s account at one point then I took it over after he passed, so that 1998 sale may have been his, but I do remember that the first thing I ever sold was a counterfeit royal blue Peanut the Elephant Beanie Baby.

If you were a part of you Beanie Baby craze of the 90’s, then you’d probably remember royal blue Peanut as being the Holy Grail of Beanie Babies. They were valued at like $5,000 back at their peak… pretty insane.

I was lucky enough to have an Uncle Pete that travelled to China for business… more specifically Hong Kong – aka the counterfeit capital of the world. Uncle Pete knew I was a Beanie Baby bonehead back then, so he brought back some of the pellet-filled plushies to add to my collection.

Now you have to picture me being like as stoked as humanly possible when as an 11 year old I’ve got my hands on not just 1 royal blue Peanut, but 3 of them plus other rare Beanies like a wingless Quackers that would be valued together at like $15,000… if they were real.

(I prayed so hard that they might be real… but coming from Hong Kong there was no chance.)

Anyway since we had a surplus of the Peanuts and eBay was this new thing at the time, I told my dad I wanted to try selling one. I knew it was fake, so we worded the item description to say it was a “reproduction,” which didn’t sound nearly as bad as calling it a “counterfeit” or “fake.”

We also offered free shipping because we thought that would help it sell for more. Genius.

So we threw the auction up, and I eagerly awaited some rich, crazed, Beanie Baby buffoons to have a bidding war over the fake toy. I remember it like it was yesterday…

It was such a rush seeing the auction price climb every few hours until it finally settled to a winning bid of over $200. It was just incredible… it required such little work on my part to make that much money at only 11 years old. Sweet victory, man.

Things didn’t work out so well though once the winning bidder said they lived in Nigeria and we’d have to pay like 100 dollars just to ship it there because of our “free shipping” clause.

And then I think somebody else reported us to eBay for selling a fake item. Bummer.

But it was still a great first sell because I learned a lot of the lessons!

1. How to Pick Something to Sell

This step is extremely important. You need to make sure it’s going to be worth your time to sell whatever it is you want to sell, otherwise you’re better off just throwing it out (or donating if you aren’t lazy like me).

First off, make sure you register an account on eBay. You’re then going to want to search for items similar to the one you have in mind that you want to sell. If you find a match, then awesome! You may need to play around with different search terms until you find the same item you’re planning on putting up for auction.

Now you are going to want to filter the search results to show only “completed auctions.” This will show you all the recent auctions that have sold already, so you can see what the final values were. This is a pretty good tell for how much your item will sell for in the marketplace.

My general rule of thumb is that the easier the item is to ship, the lower dollar value I’m willing to accept. If the item is a bitch to ship, then it needs to be worth more.

If you want some specific dollar values… then I usually won’t waste my time listing an item if I don’t think it will sell for at least $10, no matter how simple it is to ship. If an item takes extensive packaging, then I’m expecting it to sell for at least $50, if not $100 or more.

The reason for this is the old adage that time equals money. If I’m selling a $10 baseball card that I plop in a white envelope and throw in the mailbox, then that took me almost no time to ship. That $10 I made really only took me as long as the auction listing took to create.

However if the item you’re selling is big or fragile, you’re going to have to take considerably more time to dedicate to shipping preparation. That time gets factored into your hourly rate, so you need to keep that in mind.

It’s way more profitable to sell a baseball card for $10 than to sell a bicycle for $10 on eBay… you catch my drift?

(I don’t even know how to package a bicycle… but I’m guessing it sucks.)

Of course if you are desperate for cash, then you might choose to ignore these suggestions, but for normal people I’d say these guidelines are pretty solid. Craigslist is really your go-to marketplace for unwieldy items.

2. Take Lots of Pictures

After you’ve picked your sure-fire winner, take lots of pictures of it during a sunny day. “Sunny day” being the important keywords there… sunlight is important for capturing high quality pics with your digital camera.

You don’t even need an expensive camera… a cheapo will work fine if you take the pics in adequate lighting.

A bonus tip to snapping professional looking photos is to use a white bedsheet as the background behind/underneath your item. You don’t want the background behind your item to be your messy room or dirty floor… people WILL notice.

Make sure to get enough angles to encompass a 360 degree view of your item… when you’re selling something online, the buyer can’t touch it and pick it up themselves to inspect, so you need to do that for them.

And if you’re a real go-getter, you could even take a video of the item to complement the still pictures.

3. Describe The Condition Your Item

You can type this in Notepad or TextEdit (or write on a piece of paper if you’re old fashioned like me). Simply describe the CONDITION of the item to the prospective buyer…

… and here’s the key:

Be brutally honest.

I usually downplay the condition of my items because the buyer will not be a happy hombre if your widget has a dent or scratch and you didn’t tell them about it.

However, if the buyer receives your item and it’s in better condition then they were expecting, they will be super stoked and leave you great feedback.

I don’t care if you think you’ll make an extra couple bucks by playing up the condition of your item… it’s not worth it. It’s much better to ere on the side of caution here.

Another key is to be SPECIFIC.

Like when I used to sell Pokemon cards on eBay, here’s an example description I might use:

There are faint scratches on the holographic portion of the card which are visible only in bright light. The corner edges of the back of the card show some wear from play. The card has no bends or creases and is in perfectly acceptable condition for a player, but a collector may seek a card in more mint condition.

Notice how specific I was in grading the card… I didn’t just say it’s in “near-mint” condition. I described it in full detail, and that’s what you should do for all your items.

Act like you know what you’re talking about… pretend to be an expert on your item even if you aren’t.

Again… this goes in hand with taking a bunch of pictures: The online buyer can’t physical touch your items and inspect it for themselves, so you need to be theirs eyes and their ears.

(Pretend you’re selling to Helen Keller or something…)

4. Features of Your Item

You now want to describe the FEATURES of your item (we’ve covered the CONDITION in step 3). You should describe specific features, just like you described the condition very specifically.

Examples of features would include things like size, dimensions, weight, make or model, year it was produced, does it come with its box, color, etc… basically anything that could describe the item aside from its condition.

If you want to go the extra step, you could describe the benefits that go along with the features. For example, let’s say that you’re selling a pair of jeans. A feature would be the brand/company, so let’s say they are Levis 501s. A benefit you could mention is that chicks dig Levi 501s.

5. Package It!

At this point, you’ve basically gotten your item’s listing description completed! You can now package it up so we can give the bidders an accurate shipping estimate.

This is usually the step that throws most people off because they don’t know where to start, but thankfully it’s gotten easier over the years thanks to USPS.

USPS gives away free Priority Mail supplies, so either go to your local post office and pick up some boxes, or you can order them online. If you order online, they’ll deliver straight to your door which is pretty awesome, and you can order as many supplies as you want.

Their free boxes should house most items you’d typically sell on eBay… but you may have to get bigger boxes from a place like Staples on occasion. Or try looking in your attic or garage for old cardboard boxes you don’t need anymore.

I also recommend getting a scale so you can weigh your packages accurately. USPS does offer some flat rate Priority Mail boxes so you don’t need to weigh those, but sometimes you’ll want to use Priority Mail boxes that aren’t flat rate… and you’ll need a scale for those.

I’ve owned this scale for several years now and it does its job.

As far as packaging materials, a tape gun is indispensable. (Hah… get it?)

You might need bubble wrap if you’re shipping fragile items, but forget packaging peanuts… here’s my secret weapon:

Newspaper.

My basic strategy for packaging an item is to stick it in the smallest box it will fit in, then wrap and surround it with crumpled newspaper. You want the item to be really tight and secure… if you shake the package and you feel the item moving around, you need more newspaper!

I always plan for the worst case scenario… I assume that once I ship the package that it’ll probably be thrown half way across a mailroom and smack the concrete floor. I’ve never had a single issue with items being damaged (or lost) during shipping, so I really recommend following my methods.

(If you have bubble wrap or peanuts you could use those instead of newspaper, but I like old newspaper because you can get it for free. Old paper grocery bags work well too.)

And one advanced tip for packaging large items is that you can use the free USPS boxes to fill empty space in large boxes. Like take the USPS box and place it inside the large package to fill space, just like you would fill the space inside a smaller box with newspaper.

I’m sure USPS doesn’t intend for you to use their boxes that way, but I’ve done it in the past and they worked AWESOME. I felt so smart when I figured this method out.

To recap this section:

• Get free shipping boxes from the post office
• Use the smallest sized box that will fit your item
• Fill the empty space in the box really tightly with crumpled up newspaper or grocery bags

But don’t tape it up yet!

Wait to tape until after the auction is over so you can include a hand written note for the winner.

6. Weigh the Package

The package should be pretty much ready to be shipped at this point, so set her on the scale and see what she weighs…

If you’re shipping with a flat rate box, then you don’t need to weigh, but for all other packages here’s my tip for recording the weight:

USPS shipping rates go up in increments for every pound the package weighs. If your package is coming in around at X pounds and 13 to 15 ounces, then I’d round up to the next whole pound. Some weight will be added to the package after you include the invoice and tape up the package, so I like to play things safe and round up.

If you don’t round up and your packages ends up weighing in at the next whole pound, you will have not charged the winning bidder enough for shipping. Also, if you choose to purchase shipping online rather than the post office, you will have not purchased adequate shipping and USPS may mail the package back to you. Which would suck.

So always round up if it’s close… you might even make an extra buck from overcharging on shipping a little bit.

7. Fill Out the Item Listing

Now go to eBay and look for a link at the top to sell an item. I’ll trust you to figure this part out… go through all the fields and complete them. A few key things to take note of:

• Make sure to be very clear in your item description about your shipping methods and times.
• You may or may not want to ship internationally. I personally haven’t had any issues (aside from Peanut), but it might not be worth the hassle for you. The benefit of shipping worldwide is that you will attract more potential buyers and possibly receive a higher winning bid.
• I recommend offering a 7 day money-back guarantee (sans shipping). I think there is ample evidence showing buyers feel more confident when there is a friendly refund policy.
• If you took a lot of pictures and eBay won’t host all of them for free, you could upload them to Flickr and embed a slideshow album into your listing.
• Save your item template after you finish so that next time you have less stuff to fill out!

8. Schedule the Listing

I try to have my auctions end on Sunday evenings around 9 PM EST because on most other nights of the week I feel like people are busy. Sunday night is usually that one time where not much is going on besides huddling up for the new episode of The Simpsons (well, if you’re living in the 90’s).

eBay will let you schedule your listing (for a small fee), so you don’t have to sit around waiting until 9 PM to post your auction (unless you really want to save 10 cents, then go for it). You can either schedule a 7 day auction (Sunday to Sunday) or a 5 day auction (Tuesday to Sunday). I wouldn’t go any less or more than 5 to 7 days aside from extenuating circumstances.

9. Sit Back and Wait

After all your hard work, you deserve a cold beverage. I like room temperature water.

10. Get Paid and Ship

After the auction concludes, the winning bidder will usually know they’re supposed to pay you, but I will often send them a quick message through eBay as a reminder just incase.

Once you get the dough, print a packing receipt from PayPal and write a small thank you message to the buyer on it. Throw that in the package, seal it up with tape, then print the shipping label and bring the package to the post office.

Ta-da.

I know I’m totally butchering the use of the word prospectus, but it sounds cool, so don’t point it out…

Anyway, when I set my 2012 New Year’s resolutions, one of my goals was to set new intentions in March. The month is almost over, and I’ve yet to follow through with the task, so using the power of procrastination… LET’S DO THIS!!!

But first, before I get to my new resolutions, I’m going to take a look back at my old ones to see if I’ve stayed on track the past few months.

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New Year’s Resolutions 2012

1. Stop Looking for Approval

I’m still working on this, for sure. It’s difficult to secede the thought of approval from your life! With the way most of us are raised, we’re heavily conditioned to seek acceptance of others. I feel though, that when you can break free from that, it opens up a lot of doors and makes life more fun.

One idea I had to work on reversing the habit was to do affirmations every morning when I wake up. It sounds lame as hell and embarrassing to admit, but I think it could have a positive effect. I would do probably both written and verbal affirmations, as I feel a combo would be most effective.

2. Get My Student Loans Paid Off

My goal was to get them paid off by the end of January… but I didn’t get them paid until the first week of February. FAIL!

… nah, in all seriousness, I’m actually really stoked I was able to get them paid off by the time I intended. I’m now pretty much broke, but debt free! Sorta. More on that later.

3. Keep an Open Mind on New Projects

I’ve gotten both SixPrizes and PkmnCards under cruise control at the moment, with no definite plans to expand or improve either one. I’m pretty happy with how both have developed. I worked super hard the first 8-10 weeks of the new year getting them in peak condition to ride along for a while.

What this means is that I’m basically free to brainstorm new projects and pursue something else. I was offered a role in a potential upstart, but didn’t feel totally confident in it, so I declined. Still, I’m going to stay as receptive as possible for new ideas.

4. Read More

If you count skimming through the occasional article on Grantland reading, then yeah I read more. But what I intended was to read more books, which I haven’t (count: 0), so I still need to work on this. I’ve got a lot more free time as well, so I have no excuse. I waste way too much time watching pointless YouTube videos. Damn you, internet.

Even my friend Lee, who is rumored to have graduated high school without actually reading an entire book, has outdone me this year, which is embarrassing.

5. Make more phone calls

I made some phone calls, and I was able to get in touch with some people… others not. I at least made some effort though, which is good. Still, overall I’ve put forth a pretty weak effort here.

6. Get more serious about tennis

The past few months I haven’t really done much other than keep up my conditioning and get ahold of a couple backup racquets, but I guess that counts as something.

I still need to take more action, which will be one up my upcoming goals…

7. “Every day, do your best. Or at least try to.”

I admittedly forget this sometimes. One thing I was planning to do to remind myself of this saying was to set a photo of my dad working as the background on my laptop. That way I’ll have a daily visual reminder to do my best. My dad was an extremely hard worker, and I feel like for him, there was no alternative other than do to his best, every day.

8. Make new resolutions in March

… I’m going to do that right now!

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Quarter 2 Resolutions – 2012

1. Get my business in order

I feel like I’ve finally got all my money-making websites well-organized, but I’ve been slightly negligent about the business side of everything. Specifically, here’s what I need to do:

A. Incorporate to an LLC so that I have liability protection and will be less likely to get fucked over.

B. Get an accountant (and bookkeeper) since I get totally stressed about doing that stuff myself and would rather outsource it so I can have peace of mind.

Obviously it’s going to cost me some coin for those services, and paying off my loans in full has set me back a couple dimes, so I can only move forward with this once I’m sure I can budget it. First though, I need to do this…

2. Pay taxes

Everything from 2011 was entered into TurboTax, I just need to double-check the numbers, print some paperwork, and mail my checks. Also, I need to start paying quarterly taxes, so on April 1st I’ll be able to enter in my revenues thus far in 2012, and get that taken care of.

I’m skating a little thin by addressing my student loans before paying Uncle Sam, but I should be ok. If not, I’ve got savings bonds I can cash, and most likely will because I don’t want to sit around waiting to earn enough money to get stuff done. I want things done right now.

Seriously, after I get these first 2 things taken care of, I’ll feel so freaking good. I’m just trying to get back to a baseline with my finances.

3. Spend money

It sounds kind of silly to be thinking about hemorrhaging away even more money, but I’ve been holding off on buying some things that will grant me fun and freedom because I want to make sure I get my taxes and business straightened away first.

Mainly, I want to soup up my bike a bit since I’ve really grown to enjoy riding, and it’ll probably be my main method of transportation during the summer. Specifically, I need to get lights so that I’m more visible and cars can avoid me, and a lock so that my bike won’t get stolen.

I also want to get a YMCA membership so I can go there and play tennis. I’ve played pretty much exclusively with my friend Josh the past couple years, and I need to find new people to play. I may also get a USTA membership and play tournaments.

… oh and I could use a haircut too. Salons aren’t cheap.

4. Keep a consistent journal

I’ve found it extremely helpful to keep a diary of my thoughts every couple days. It seems to keep me focused and solve mental blocks or issues I might be having. I highly recommend anyone reading this to start keeping a journal yourself.

(That’s pretty much what I’m doing with these resolution posts, and if you noticed, my written goals seem to come to fruition more often than not. It’s like magic.)

I wrote in my journal fairly often to start the year, but haven’t touched it in about a month. I want to at least write in it once a week, if not more frequently.

5. Do better with all my previous goals

I’m not going to type them all out again, but basically any goal I haven’t completely fulfilled so far, I want to keep a priority. Reading and dropping approval are probably the main two I want to focus on.

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… and that wraps up my 2012 first quarter prospectus. Hopefully I’m able to knock off most these goals within the next few weeks so I can focus on enjoying the seasonal spring weather to come.

Though I feel making New Years Resolutions is somewhat trite and in reality I should be setting and revising my long and short-term goals every few months, I often get caught up with the hubbub of life (as do most all of us), so now is a better time than never to hammer out a few things I’d like to accomplish in the next three-hundred-something-odd days.

But first I want to take a look back at my resolutions from last year and see how I did with them…

Last Year’s Resolutions

1. Do something with this site

Ok… I didn’t really do much with this site. I kind of dropped the ball there (pun intended). I did move over to the adamcap.com domain so that was a success, but I didn’t write as much as I hoped I would. I actually do still want to make something more of this digital canvas, but more on that later.

2. Focus better

I got worse at this during 2011. Like Beavis and Butt-head bad. I used to go full days without checking my e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, and phone, and then at some point I fell into the pleasure trap all those devices try oh-so-hard to make you succumb to. The past few weeks I’ve been a lot more conscious of why I’ve been losing focus, and I’ll talk about that in a minute.

3. Get SixPrizes on autopilot

I’ve realized I’ll probably never get 6P on complete autopilot, but I got things pretty well organized over there. It takes less time to maintain then ever, unless I’m working on adding new features, in which it takes a lot of my mental focus.

4. Try a raw foods diet for a while and educate myself about nutrition

EDIT 9/30/2012: I’ve removed the information regarding raw foods I originally wrote here since I no longer believe all of it and don’t want to give people bad health advice. Do your own research and always keep an open mind. For the record, I am currently not eating a raw food diet, and never have been on one for more than a day (though I did eat predominantly raw for a while).

I also learned a lot about fitness, and I’m easily in the best shape of my life now. I’ve dropped fat and put on around 10 pounds of muscle. I train a lot smarter than I used to and I’ve actually reversed some nagging injuries I though I’d have to deal with my whole life.

(The saying “no pain, no gain” is completely idiotic by the way; “moderate and consistent” is the motto to train by.)

My left knee was bothering me for a while, and now it’s nearly 100%. My hips have nagged me for a few years, and they are getting better every day. My left elbow was messed up and I avoided doing push-ups for a few years in fear of making it worse, but now it’s a non-issue.

I did strain my neck pretty badly in the spring through an improper warm-up technique (which I’ve now corrected), but I’m confident it’ll be copacetic in due time. The only thing that legitimately gives me issues sometimes is my lower back, but I know that’s due to poor posture. I’ll have to work on that.

5. Read more

I got a Kindle last Christmas and was stoked… then realized you have to spend money to get new books on it. No thanks. I know how effective recurring revenue streams are, so I said sayonara to my Kindle a few months later and haven’t been reading at all the past 6 months. I have a new plan for this year though…

6. Make more phone calls

Eh, didn’t do too hot here. I texted more, but texting is weaksauce.

7. Get an apartment by the summer (May or June)

I’m still at home, but I will say my plans sort of changed half way through 2011. More on that with this year’s resolutions.

8. Minimize and simplify

I’ll probably always be working on this, but I did get rid of a ton of stuff the past year and it feels awesome. I’m hoping by next year I’ll be totally happy with my physical possessions, and then focus on organizing my digital “stuff” (or as I call it: “the last frontier”).

Overall I’m pretty happy with my progress the past year. Getting my health down was a pretty huge goal for me, and having that info in my back pocket will serve me well the next 80 years.

This Year’s Resolutions

1. Stop Looking for Approval

This is absolutely the number of reason I lost focus during 2011. I guess it was probably only a week ago that I realized this, but I am totally insane when it comes to seeking approval. I think a lot of other people are as well, and to give you an example, think about this:

Facebook is literally an approval DYNAMO. Any surprise that it’s the 2nd largest website in the world?

Somebody adds you as a friend; you’ve gained social approval. Friends like and comment on your witty status; you’re approved. You have more friends than me; you’ve got more approval and I feel jealous. Et cetera.

Seriously… think about why you probably check your Facebook a completely absurd number of times per day. You’re looking for approval! It’s like a drug, and Facebook the prime dealer.

I guess it’s a primordial instinct to actively seek approval from a group; otherwise survival in the wild would be unlikely on our own. In terms of a psychological approach to the matter, we’re looking to reinforce our sense of self; that we are who we think we are.

It’s not even just that seeking approval is distracting, but it also holds me back from moving forward with projects and bettering myself. You only get one shot at life, and it’s stupid to worry about whether people approve of you. As long as you approve of yourself and your desired action, THAT is all that matters. The outcome is irrelevant.

You’ve won if you follow through with that action. Plain and simple. If you don’t, that’s a total fail and you should feel awful about it. And vice versa.

Of course it’s going to take some time to get over this, but now that I’m conscious about it, I’m excited to forge ahead and work on it.

2. Get My Student Loans Paid Off

I pay about $300 a month in student loans right now, and I’ve got about $22,000 left to pay off. I have about $10,000 in bonds from my grandmom and I’ve saved umpteen-thousand the past year.

After I get my taxes in order, the first thing I want to do is get my loans paid in one fell swoop. I know the interest on those things will kill me in the long run, so the sooner I can get them paid, the better. I want to be totally debt free.

That is the reason I decided not to move out last summer; I decided it would be best to save as much money as possible so I could free myself from the red. Spending money when you owe money doesn’t make much sense.

As far as a timetable, I’m shooting for by the end of January.

3. Keep an Open Mind on New Projects

The way I work is that if something inspires me, I make it my job. It doesn’t really matter if it’s something that directly makes me money because when something is important to me, I know it’ll eventually pay off.

SixPrizes has been an inspiring project for me to work on, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. Yes, sometimes it can be challenging and stressful, but even if it made no money, I’d still be working on it.

PkmnCards is another project that really got me motivated to wake up in the morning, and though it took about 6 months from the conception to completion of the idea, it was a great experience building the site and I’m glad I went through with it.

At this point, I’m sorta taking it easy and trying to be receptive of new ideas. I am thinking about making this website a more forefront project and start developing it more. It’s really cool looking back at my old posts and seeing what I was doing/thinking at the time. If nothing else, it helps ease my sense of terror management.

I do have an idea for a new database website, but I’m not sure how inspired I am to work on it. I think I need to bounce the idea off a few people to see what they think of the concept. In my head, it’s just kind of an average idea, but if it gets other people stoked, then maybe there is something to it.

Regardless, my schedule is pretty open right now, so I’m trying to keep my antennae up incase any bright ideas are floating around.

4. Read More

Since I was so successful accomplishing this last year, I thought I’d try something different in 2012. Using the power of time constraints, I’ve decided the best way to get myself to read more is to take out books from the library.

ARTHUR | Having Fun Isn’t Hard When You’ve Got a Library Card | PBS KIDS
https://youtu.be/lg516PSgG5I?t=5s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE-b7GWngig

My Kindle idea was flawed since I don’t want to spend an extra $20 – $40 a month on books, plus there is no urgency to read them once I buy them. If I take a book out from the library, then I have to return it in 2 weeks, and it’s much more likely to be read.

I’m going to need to come up with some sort of schedule though. Like plan to go to the library every other Tuesday or something like that.

The reason I want to read more is because I always want to keep learning, and reading is a better use of my time than watching television.

5. Make more phone calls

I didn’t do so hot with this last year, so I’m adding it to my resolutions again. I’ve lost touch with a lot of people I used to talk to during high school and college, especially since I’ve been Facebook-less since the summer. Life is too short not to extend an olive branch to those people every once in a while.

Whether or not I actually get in touch with anyone is irrelevant; as long as I make an effort I’m happy with myself.

6. Get more serious about tennis

I really love playing tennis… I also hate it too. But since I do love it sometimes, I think I want to start playing more. Like maybe try playing a few tournaments, stuff like that. I haven’t played competitively since high school, so it would be fun to get at it again. I’d like to see where I’m ranked on the USTA scale.

7. “Every day, do your best. Or at least try to.”

I’ve made that my mantra the past few months now. I think it’s foolish to say “Every day, do your best” since it’s impossible to do your best ever single day.

My best mile time so far is 5:52, but there is no way I could run that time every single day; I would burn out. I’d be setting myself up for definite failure. But if I simply try my best and am intelligent about it, I will be training smartly and become even faster/better over time.

So every day I do my best. Or at least I try to. I feel there is no other option.

8. Make new resolutions in March

Since I mentioned earlier that I think a year is too long of a gap between re-analyzing and re-tooling my goals, I’ll plan to give them a once over in three months.

That concludes my 2012 New Year’s Resolutions… thanks for reading if you actually made it to this sentence, and now go and make your own goals. I’m a huge fan of writing stuff down – things magically seem to get done when I put them into writing – so jot down a few things you’d like to change or do better.

Rock on,

Adam

I haven’t written anything here in a while, but today I got inspiration to share some of the things that have inspired ME the past couple years. This is a collection of books, links, and some quotes that have in some way shaped who I am right now.

Consider this a list of things I wish someone else had told me about YEARS ago… so I’m telling you right now: go check this stuff out!

The best way for me to sum the benefit of these resources, is that they’ll enable you to make your life better than you ever thought possible.

Biz

• Four Hour Workweek
• John Carlton’s RANT
• The Gary Halbert Letter

Health

EDIT 9/30/2012: I’ve removed resources I had put here since I no longer believe in all them and don’t want to give people bad health advice. Do your own research and always keep an open mind.

Quotes

• “The greatest skill you can master is empathy.”
• “Don’t ask for permission, ask for forgiveness.”
• “Wherever you are, be there.”

Psychology

• The Self
• Curse of the Self
• Your Memory: How It Works and How to Improve It
• NLP: The New Technology of Achievement

Simplicity

• Mnmlist.com
• Zen-Habits.net

People

• Rod Brind’Amour

I had no intention of ever learning this much about Joy Division or pulsars, but because of my apt to be a law abiding citizen, I was forced to research the about the ubiquitous design made popular by the British band and artist Peter Saville for a t-shirt project I’m heading on SixPrizes.

In short, I thought it would be cool to make a spoof off this t-shirt:

AllPosters

However, I know from experience that you’ve got to be very careful when “borrowing” ideas from other people. In order to make sure the t-shirt parody project would get off without a hitch, I needed to make sure that I could get around the copyrights that Joy Division or Peter Saville may have on the design.

So I did the first thing anyone else would do… I checked ole trustworthy: Wikipedia. The free encyclopedia has a section about the packaging of the “Unknown Pleasures” album that gives the following information:

The front cover image comes from an edition of the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Astronomy, and was originally drawn with black lines on a white background.^[13] It presents successive pulses from the first pulsar discovered, PSR B1919+21—often referred to in the context of this album by its older name, CP 1919.^[13] The image was suggested by drummer Stephen Morris^[13] and the cover design is credited to Joy Division, Peter Saville and Chris Mathan.

From this description, I assumed that the Saville took diagrams from the book and superimposed them on top of one another to make the cool looking image.

But upon further research, this page from the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Astronomy surfaced:

Joy Division Central

He straight up used the exact image for their album cover! I guess you could say there is some artistic thought expressed by inverting the colors and choosing the positioning, but it’s the same exact image!

Wikipedia

I was dumbfounded when I discovered this. Here I was all stressing about copyright infringement… but now it looks like the image itself might have been infringed upon already!

I had to do some more research to find out more about the pulsar to find its true origin…

It turns out the diagram actually first appeared in a January 1971 issue of Scientific American, and is credited to Jerry Ostriker (thanks to this page for that info, though I’m not convinced Ostriker was the one that published the image).

Here’s what it looked like in that magazine:

hauntedGeographies

hauntedGeographies

The image then made a second cameo in Graphis Diagrams in 1974:

hauntedGeographies

And finally, it appeared in the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Astronomy in 1977, which is where Joy Division drummer Stephen Morris saw the design:

hauntedGeographies

This brings me back to my original purpose for doing this research, and that was to find out if the image is copyright protected.

I went straight to the source and tried e-mailing Peter Saville to see if he had any comment on the matter. I wasn’t really expecting to get a response, but to my surprise his assistant Alice sent a prompt reply:

Hi Adam,

I write on behalf of Peter.
We understand the image as copyright free.
So believe you are liberty to do as you wish.

My best,

Alice

Now we’re on to something… I don’t necessarily take their word that the famous peaks and valleys are in the public domain (as I’m sure he’s made quite a pretty penny of them), but here are the facts:

• The pulsar itself was first discovered in 1967 by Jocelyn Bell Burnell
• The image of its radio pulses first appeared in an American Scientific in 1971
• It’s not clear whether the research team that discovered the pulsar created the graph, or if Ostriker (or someone else) just pieced together the data

There is a 1968 research paper listed on the CP 1919 aka PSR B1919+21 Wiki page, but I’m unable to access it, and I don’t have the original Scientific American magazine to read the description.

That 1968 paper could potentially include the graph, and I am unsure about Ostriker being the one that published the image because the American Scientific article has no mention on his publications page.

[EDIT: I found the Scientific American reference on this page instead, so that story checks out. I’m still not sure if Ostriker created the diagram or not.]

What makes it most confusing legal-wise is that I can’t tell if an American or non-American created the diagram, as each of those scenarios would have a different boding on the copyright law.

I’m not even sure if the image itself is protectable… it’s essentially plotted data, but there could be a case made that it’s arranged in a unique matter.

Then if it qualifies for copyright there are a bunch of different scenarios that could be gone through depending on the year it was published, where it was published, if proper copyright formalities were taken, etc…

---

Overall though, I’d say it’s a pretty safe assumption to treat the image as if it’s in the public domain. It’s been on the cover of a fairly popular album that’s been selling for over 30 years now. If someone was going to drop the law hammer, it would have happened by now.

The only way I can see getting in trouble for using it is if you were marketing a product as a collaboration with Joy Division or Peter Saville. As long as you make it clear there’s no connection, you’re golden.

All that… for a spoof t-shirt. What time does the bar close?

EDIT: The story unravels…

I got in contact with Jeremiah P. Ostriker, who as far as I could tell was the first person to publish the image. Here’s what he had to say about it:

Dear Adam Capriola,

First, I doubt that I created the image but most likely obtained it from a published source.

I think it highly unlikely that I own copywrite to the image but if I do I am happy for it to be used in any way that would increase public education.

best wishes,

jpo

So Mr. Ostriker does not appear to have created it. After hearing this I took a closer look at the second picture above from Scientific American, and this is what I can depict in the caption:

EIGHTY SUCCESSIVE PERIODS of the first pulsar observed, CP1919 (Cambridge pulsar at 19 hours 19 minutes right ascension), are stacked on top of one another using the average period of 1.33730 seconds in this computer-generated illustration produced at the Arecibo Radio Observatory in Puerto Rico. Although the leading edges of the radio pulses… [can’t decipher the rest]

I can’t believe I missed that earlier. The image was computer generated at the Arecibo Radio Observatory in Puerto Rico. I wish I actually owned the issue of Scientific American so I could read the full caption and see if the article gives any credits, but that’s some information to work with.

(I’m actually somewhat tempted to buy the SA issue on this site for $17.95…)

Facts at this point:

• The pulsar itself was first discovered in July 1967 by Jocelyn Bell Burnell of Ireland
• The image first surfaced (as far as I know) in January 1971
• The image was produced at the Arecibo Radio Observator sometime between then

There is one article that was published in February 1968 that could contain the image, but it’s doubtful. That article is located here and gives the following abstract and note:

Unusual signals from pulsating radio sources have been recorded at the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory. The radiation seems to come from local objects within the galaxy, and may be associated with oscillations of white dwarf or neutron stars.

1. Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge

This makes it extremely unlikely the illustration appeared in that 1968 publication as there is no mention of Arecibo (which is where the image was produced), so its appearance in the January 1971 issue of Scientific American is in all likelihood the first place it appeared for public consumption.

However… the question still remains: who owns the rights to the image (if anyone)?

Assuming the image was produced at the Arecibo Radio Observatory, here are some facts about said establishment:

• It is currently operated by Cornell University under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation (meaning it receives substantial government funding).
  • The exact quote from the Arecibo website is “A Facility of the NSF operated by Cornell University” which seems to suggest that NSF owns it and contributes major funding.
• Arecibo received funding from the NSF as far back as 1967 according to this NASA article.
• The original plan for the observatory was proposed to ARPA (now DARPA) in 1958 and subsequently a contract for building arrangements was signed between Cornell University and the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratory (meaning it was government funded from the start).

With that in mind, copyright law does not protect works by government officers or employees as done part of their official duties (hat tip).

What is not clear to me is whether the persons working at Arecibo would be considered government workers… it seems like Cornell operates the facility, but most of it is paid for by the government.

More than likely, the people working there are considered contractors or grantees, and they ARE able to copyright their work.

Wrapping Things Up

I guess the last piece to the puzzle is whether or not whomever created the image formally copyrighted it. The image would have been produced between 1968 and 1970, and as per law at the time, it would have had to be published with a copyright notice to receive protection (unlike today where works are automatically protected).

The images above from Scientific American do not appear to have to have a © (copyright symbol), the word copyright, or date, which would have been required back then for protection.

Since image seems to have first been published in Scientific American and it’s missing those key elements, this leads me to be fairly confident the image is in the public domain.

I wish I had a copy of the January 1971 Scientific American, Graphis Diagrams, and Cambridge Encyclopedia of Astronomy to double check if they give any copyright credits for the image, but if they don’t list an author, then it’s pretty much fair game.

I’m uncertain that the image was for sure first published in SA, and without the actual magazine the only reference I have is that it was produced at the Arecibo Observatory. Ostriker had to have obtained the diagram from SOMEWHERE, and if it was previously unpublished before his article, I guess him publishing it without a copyright notice or date has to mean it is public domain.

Otherwise whomever actually first published the image would have likely pushed legal action. And even if they didn’t ever publish it, unpublished work is automatically copyright protected so again, the original author would have likely filed a suit.

In closing, it would be nice to have an original copy of those 3 aforementioned works in front of me to see if they list any copyright, but with the information I’ve been able to gather, that’s the most logical conclusion I can come up with.

tl;dr

The image was first published in the US without a copyright (as far as I can tell) in the year 1971, so therefore it is in the public domain for failure to comply with copyright formalities of the time.

If you ever want to use the image for your own personal benefit, just make sure it’s clear you have no connection with Joy Division, Peter Saville, et al.

Update – December 28, 2012

I’ve received a message from F.X. Timmes of Arizona State University with a theory about the possible origin of the image:

it was common in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s to show stacked
timing profiles of pulsars as a way to visually analyze the subpulse
structures for patterns. my bet is that in 1969 or 1970 a summer intern
pulled the software crank on the latest data coming off the telescope
to produce what was a run-of-the-mill plot. somehow it got picked up …

Case closed?

Update – January 25, 2015

Dr. Paul Abbott, physics professor of The University of Western Australia, has reached out with information regarding resources which were unavailable to me:

Hi Adam:

A friend, Simon Tyler, posted a link to your interesting blog post on the History of Joy Division’s “Unknown Pleasures” album art. As I have access to journal archives, I thought I’d check some things that you could not.

First, on the Scientific American January 1971 issue (not American Scientific as you had in two placed in your blog):

1. The rest of the missing Figure caption reads:

Although the leading edges of the radio pulses occur within a few thousandths of a second of the predicted times, the shape of the pulses is quite irregular. Some of this irregularity in radio reception is caused by the effects of transmission through the interstellar medium. The average pulse width is less than 50 thousandths of a second.

2. Unlike the hardcopy that you showed, and about which you wrote

The images above from Scientific American do not appear to have to have a © (copyright symbol), the word copyright, or date, which would have been required back then for protection.

and

The image was first published in the US without a copyright (as far as I can tell) in the year 1971, so therefore it is in the public domain for failure to comply with copyright formalities of the time.

the online archive has

© 1970 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC

printed on the bottom of page 53 (see attached).

3. The bibliography (page 122 of the same issue) lists the following references for Ostriker’s article

THE NATURE OF PULSATING STARS. Introductions by F. G. Smith and A. Hewish. Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 1968.

ON THE NATURE OF PULSARS, 1: THEORY. J. P. Ostriker and J. E. Gunn in The Astrophysical Joumal, Vol. 157, No. 3, Part 1, pages 1395-1417; Septem­ber, 1969.

ON THE NATURE OF PULSARS, III: ANAL­YSIS OF OBSERVATIONS. J. E. Gunn and J. P. Ostriker in The Astrophysical Joumal, Vol. 160,No. 3,Part 1, pages 979-1002; June, 1970.

However, our library doesn’t have a copy of Smith et al. (1968) and the 2 issues of The Astrophysical Joumal are not in the (online) journal archives, but both are by Ostriker, and he appears to not claim the image.

Regarding the 1968 Nature paper:

You wrote

That 1968 paper could potentially include the graph, and I am unsure about Ostriker being the one that published the image because the American Scientific article has no mention on his publications page.

I’ve checked the Nature paper and it does not include the graph.

Finally, a search for the images in Google Images does give the original source, but turns up some interesting examples of the use of this (copyrighted) artwork (appended below).

Cheers,
Paul

Update – February 19, 2015

It looks like F.X. Timmes was right: Jen Christiansen, art director of Scientific American, has completed the search and found (and interviewed!) the mystery man behind image the in this fantastic piece. Harold Craft, a Cornell graduate student working at Arecibo in 1970, captured what has since transcended into an iconic plot.

The Tip

If you haven’t used it in the past year, get rid of it.

Why This Works

If you haven’t used something in the past year, chances are you probably won’t use it this year, and the unlikeliness of utility will just compound year after year after year.

So… you can safely say “sayonara” to your stuff.