‘ Perhaps the ultimate act of freewill is to actively alter the course of your life by changing pre-programmedpatterns of behaviour and thinking. ‘

 Then I started thinking…

 Our present lives are a result of our choices and behaviour.

Behaviour and choices are derived only from our thinking. (Emotion is also dependent upon and derived from thought – a whole other conversation.) 

 How and what we think is rooted in past human influences and life experiences; from the reason not to touch a hot stove, right through to our concept of money, wealth, love, death, fun.

These interpretations we make about life experiences create a belief set, way of thinking, and thus a dramatic narrowing of possibilities for our life in the present. We see the world through a lens from the past, and virtually everything we experience and choose is as a result of that lens.

 My mothers phd discusses the roles of class and upbringing in determining the nature of this lens. It also theorises that decisions we make that may seem illogical or incongruent with our ‘lens’ are perhaps ones that are ‘inspired’ in some way as they tend to lead to large life changes.

 Perhaps this can go one step further. Perhaps changing our programmed thinking may be the ONLY true act of free will - because only changing our lens creates genuinely new behaviours, choices and then life results. 

 In changing the lens we probably don’t open up all possibilities, only different ones.  The human condition appears to need the constructs of personality in order to function effectively. Ie: who and what I AM is the basis for understanding what I shall BE and DO.  Changing my lens just changes what I AM.  But if the outcomes in life aren’t what I want, then I can’t see any reason I can’t just change my lens regularly throughout life. 

 Ideally guilt can be your ally,  and its role is to remind you to change a specific action for the good of all concerned.   

However, it’s only your ally if you understand it in yourself very, very well. 

Otherwise it is at best a distraction, and at worst an enemy to self esteem.

Don’t be deceived: Guilt is not pure nor truthful. The cliche of the angel sitting on your shoulder is a false one.

Guilt is more a mirror to belief about how one views one’s responsibilities, than it is a divine voice.

 A child may feel guilty for her parent separating for example, and carry a sense of guilt into many situations and relationships in her adult life. But that guilt she feels comes from a faulty understanding of her responsibility for the past, and is being overlaid and creating faulty understandings of responsibilities in the present.  

Being not about the present, it is a distraction and a barrier to the successful management of relationships, encouraging actions that are not for the best of all concerned.  

Therefore all guilt should be interrogated and understood BEFORE acting upon it.

I sometimes forget that not everyone has had the same exposure to health-conscious mentors that I had early in life.  So some lifestyle habits that I have been consciously practising for 10 or 15 years may be new news to someone else.

Despite all the hype, H1N1 virus is usually experienced by people as just a medium or severe flu. It’s not the Black Plague; we won’t be hearing the crier yelling “bring out your dead” and digging mass graves.

It’s also at this stage (June 09), and in this country, far less likely to hurt you than a traffic accident. So let’s not get too carried away with the hype, and just be grateful that it’s taking most of the media headlines, so the ‘news’ agencies quit yabbering on with pointless, repetitive and almost entirely unintelligent commentary about the global financial crisis.

That said, by all reports you don’t want to catch it, and you especially don’t want to spread it to your children and elderly family.

So how do you avoid swine flu?

 Firstly realise that your body is fantastically good at a thing called ‘homeostasis‘.  This means that so long as your body has the nutrients and conditions that it needs, it will, automatically, preserve or return your body to a state of health.

Secondly, realise that your body is successfully processing allergens, toxins, viruses and bacteria every single day. To avoid these things is impossible; it is a natural part of life. It’s no coincidence that our bodies are perfectly adapted to being able to cope with all these challenges.  But we’ve been getting bombarded with marketing for anti-bacterial products for so long now that our society has become brainwashed.

 Unless you have a degenerative disease, maintaining good health is mostly just about getting the hell out of the way of your immune system and letting it do it’s job. So all you have to do is give your body what it needs to maintain health.

The great news is that this is fantastically simple:

1. Drink plenty of water

- This is how your body flushes toxins.

- Aim for 2L per day

- Every cup of coffee and every alcoholic drink leeches water from your body. Drink an extra glass of water after every coffee or alcohol drink.  (You’ll be amazed what this does to prevent hangovers as well which are partially due to dehydration.)

2. Get your vitamins and minerals

- Do you know how much manganese or iodine your body needs each day?  Neither do I!  But I know it needs some and you get these trace minerals from vegetables & fruit.

- The easiest way to get all of your fresh food intake for a day is to have a freshly extracted mixed fruit & vege juice.  Way easier than counting your veges in my opinion.

 - Supplement if you wish with a quality multivitamin/mineral taken with other food.  If you’re pregnant or on prescription drugs read the labels, if you’re not, don’t be too worried about overdoing it a bit on the vitamins from time to time.  Whenever I get the very first symptoms of a cold (often sensitive skin or a vague head and tiredness) I will take 2-3 1000mg vitamin c tablets throughout the day. As long as I get them into me quick enough, I wont get sick.  If I miss that window by even 1 day, it’s usually too late and I’ll get the cold. Listen to your immune system because it speaks to you. There’s lots of anecdotal evidence about large doses of vitamin C helping the immune system and I’d tend to agree. Then again, if it’s only a placebo for me, who cares, it keeps me from getting sick.

3. Get enough sleep

 - Insufficient sleep will reduce your immune system’s effectiveness.

 - More and more research is showing that sleep deprivation creates effects similar to mental diseases, and impairs optimum decision making.

 - There are good reasons why sleep deprivation is often used as a form of torture; you get worn down physically, mentally and emotionally.

 - Sleep deprivation is compounded by depressants and stimulants. Have some caffeine-free days each week. Have some alcohol-free days each week. They interrupt your 4hr sleep cycles and can prevent you from going into the most restful deep sleep.

 -  How long has it been since you went without both for 2 weeks?  It’s hard to force yourself to do it sometimes, but your body will thank you for it.

 (Note: I am continually flabbergasted by the lack of government spending on sleep research.  Everything that science knows about this area suggests that it’s both incredibly important, and also that we only know the tip of the iceberg in regards to optimising human rest)  

A couple of final little big points:

 - wash your hands well before every meal.  There is no need to maximise the amount of bacteria and viruses that you are stuffing into your gob every time you eat or chew a finger nail.

 - Breathe through your nose; your mucus membranes play an important part in ‘disinfecting’ the air you breathe before it reaches your lungs and blood.  You don’t get this protection when breathing through your mouth.

It’s not complex; support your immune system and you wont need to wear the duck mask and live in fear.

15/6/09 Update:

A few people have commented to me that they already drink quite a bit of orange juice, which of course contains vitamin C.  A freshly squeezed orange contains between 40mg and 80mg of Vitamin C. Lets assume you have 2 fresh oranges in a servicing of juice, that’s at most 160mg of Vitamin C (and on average, half of that).  In reality much of that vitamin C is lost in the uneaten flesh of the fruit, and some more in the time taken to consume the drink.  And mostly people dont drink fresh juice either, they drink bottled juice which aften has a lot less again, or else is fortified by ascorbic acid which is the lowest absorbtion form of vitamin C.

Yes this is enough to stop you getting scurvy, and yes this satisfies the recommended minimum intake prescribed by the Australian government’s Therapeutic Goods Administration.  But no, it’s nowhere near the amount that some studies have identified can boost the immune system and reduce or avoid flu symptoms, which is the 1000mg to 3000mg range.(As always, do your own research)

( My other random thoughts are often posted on twitter: www.twitter.com/ITLeaders )

Server Virtualisation is getting a lot of press, but like most new technologies, this ‘IT gibberish’ takes some translation for business owners to see the benefits.IT Leaders recently completed virutalisation of its head office server rack, giving an easy to understand case study for you. 

What is Virtualisation and why is it good?

Traditionally a business will run a different server for every one or two server roles.  For example, a typical situation for a smaller SME would be to have one server running Microsoft Small Business Server, which gives the business file & print sharing, an email server, and domain controller.To this base they would then add another server for new roles. If they start running a database, this would be put on a new physical server.  If they have staff logging in remotely to work, then a new physical server would be used for staff to log into.There are good reasons to run different servers, such as:

• The speed of each IT business service can operate and be monitored independently - a speed issue in one service is isolated to that service only. 
• Some softwares don’t play nicely together on the one Windows installation 
• Some softwares will (by design) hog a lot of memory or processor, which can slow down other activities on the server 
• If one application or server role fails, it can be worked on and repaired without having to bring down other critical business facilities. (For example, if the database server has a problem it can be worked on without interrupting email, file access, internet access, etc etc

The thing about running lots of physical servers however, is that the more you have, the more they cost to buy (capital cost), run (electricity & cooling), and maintain (maintenance and repairs).With virtualisation, you can have multiple server environments running on a single physical server. In other words, you can have 3,4,5 or more installations of Windows server, running on the same server box.  Each installation works independently, but all share the one set of hardware.This reduces capital costs, running costs and maintenance costs. 

Case Study: Turning Six Servers into One

Before Virtualisation

Here are the physical servers we had when the project began:

1. Domain Controller and Email Server and File/Print Share
2. Terminal Server and File Share
3. Sharepoint Server
4. WSUS Server (controls software updates for our clients)
5. Performance Monitoring Server (monitors every computer device on all our clients networks)
6. Reporting Server (generates performance reports from the monitoring)

In addition we wanted to set up two additional servers:

7. Data Centre monitoring (dedicated server for our new data centre facilities)8. Backup Server (to offer our clients a backup service which runs over night across the internet, storing their data on our server.)Our power usage for the server rack was approximately 3500 VA, and would have gone over 4500 VA by adding two more servers.  Adding more servers was also going to require more cooling, further increasing capital and running costs.TIme to maintain 8 servers properly would normally be in the realm of 20-30 hours per month.

Considerations during virtualisation

So we went down the virtualisation path for our own equipment and were interested in experimenting with the boundaries of how many virtual servers will run effectively and safely on a reasonably priced single physical server.  Bear in mind that we have less than 20 staff at this point, so there is minimal load on several of the servers, a situation that will be different for each business. Not all servers are good to virtualise.  Our Performance Monitoring server does currently need its own physical server.  We also decided to leave the number one server as it was, which minimised the operational impact of the project.  Both of these servers are less than 12 months old and good quality Hewlett Packard hardware so we were already happy with them from those angles.  That left servers 2,3,4,6,7 and 8 as candidates for virtualisation.This required purchasing one new server with two dual-core processors, good hard drive speed, and plenty of drive space.  We started off with 3.5TB of drive space and 12 GB of RAM, with room to increase if required.Using Microsoft Server 2008 Hyper-V (VM Ware is another good option), we then installed the host operating system and six other operating systems.  We were able to cut each server over independently, resulting in a seamless transition. After each new server was brought on line we monitored server software performance and hardware utilisation.  With virtualisation you want to maximise the utilisation of your server hardware, but not overload the hardware. It is incredibly flexible and allows you to assign hardware resources dynamically.  For example, we could allocate to one Windows server environment, 2GB of RAM (out of the 12GB installed), 50GB of drive space and one ‘virtual processor’. Then we monitor performance of the server and then tweak up or down accordingly.  Allocating another 1GB of RAM is just a five minute tweak.   You also need to be aware that the more roles that one set of physical hardware is performing, the more important it is that this hardware is reliable and the downsides of hardware failure are catered for. You will definitely want fast-response warranties (eg 2hr onsite response form the hardware vendor). You also may wish to have new spare components on hand for immediate swap out, since a 2hr warranty response does not guarantee that specific parts are not requried that will take a week or more to arrive. In our case we will have a spare motherboard on hand as it will be slow to procure that model, and employ the extra protection of image-based backups that can be restored to any hardware.

After Virtualisation

Number of Physical Servers: 3Number of Operating System environments: 8Approximate power usage: 1800VATime to maintain: Around 11 hours per month.So in analysis we have better than halved our direct power usage, halved our maintenance costs, and removed the need to upgrade cooling.Our equipment at our data centre in Varsity Lakes, is designed from the ground up for virtualisation.  Using latest generation Hewlett Packard ‘blade’ technology, we can run hundreds of virtual environments on industrial-strength servers, with a range of redundancy options such as complete automated fail-over in the event of hardware failure.Talk to IT Leaders today about whether virtualisation can improve your business. 

As the current economic situation absorbs most of the headlines, the clock is ticking to the proposed date for introduction of Australia’s carbon trading system. Apparently big business and government departments are already making significant in-roads into quantifying their carbon footprint, and starting to solidify strategies to reduce it.

And guess what one of those strategies is likely to be?  To not deal with YOU anymore because your carbon footprint is bigger than your competition or you don’t have a ‘green’ focus in your business. It will still affect you even if you don’t sell to big business or government because the new (financially driven) requirements will have a trickle down effect and progressive levels of business will seek to buy from greener businesses in order to further reduce their own carbon footprint.  (more…)

That the political war mongering, propaganda and outright lies told in the aftermath of September 11, 2001 have never been put on trial and punished shows the trend towards western culture increasingly accepting these types of traits in its leaders.

That America went to war and Australia supported that war, without seriously demanding an answer as to why September 11 happened in the first place, is incomprehensible and symptomatic of introverted political regimes that cannot understand that the World is now shrinking on a daily basis; no nation can afford the luxury of viewing itself and its desires in isolation to the rest of humanity.

That Australia allowed terror suspect David Hicks to be incarcerated in an American facility without trial or legal representation for the best part of 5 years is utterly appalling (and scary) and underscores the gradual dilution of democratic values - supposedly in the cause of protecting democracy.

 So I have been thinking; why are we as a people so mute on these issues?  Why did we not oust the Howard government many years ago for encroaching on our hard won freedoms?   Or to put it another way, if it was YOUR son or daughter locked in Guantanamo Bay for years without even being charged with a crime that is recognised in this country, how would your actions then compare with your actions now when it wasn’t your son?  

When local, state or federal politicians are caught lying or any issue, why do you and I not insist that they be immediately removed from office?

In short, why are we so apathetic on issues that in previous generations we screamed about or shed blood for?

I know that my own personal answers to these questions do not measure up to what I believe they should be.

Former Australian Senator Don Chipp framed a possible answer in his book “Keep the Bastards Honest”.

“I sometimes wonder if the spin doctors and government machine..have dehumanised us to a state were our former values of decency, kindness and love, which we attribute to the example set by Jesus Christ, have been submerged into the fabric of apathy and selfishness.
I further wonder that these diminishing values can be attributed to the apparent lowering of standards set in the Parliament concerning ministerial responsibility and behaviour…major transgressions are currently overlooked.”

Yet if one subscribes any virtue at all to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, one would have to say that Australian society as a whole is firmly in the top tiers of the theoretical hierarchy. That is to say that our society has all the social and economic facilities required in order for the vast majority of people to have the ‘luxury’ of caring for others and tending to the evolution of the self.  Never has this country been as wealthy as it is today (or at least at was at the end of 2007 before the current financial hiccups .)

In contrast, year by year the majority of us seem to be becoming more apathetic towards developing our social fabric towards a more perfect result, doing the actual WORK involved in self actualisation, understanding other people and cultures, and protecting and helping those people who are less fortunate.

In short; the richer and safer we become as a nation, the less we seem to care about the systems that deliver that wealth and safety.

This is totally illogical of course, and the only way it makes any sense is to view it in the light of the dangers of Assumption and Comfort.

If we assume that the systems we have come to trust to deliver us wealth and safety are now absolutes; stable and unshakeable, then we no longer look for the enemies to the system.  We become somewhat blind to the erosion, or at the very least, the erosion we see is not of sufficient interest unless it impacts us directly.

And therein lies the second threat ; comfort.  The problem with the top tiers of Maslow’s theoretical hierarchy is that the major threats to life are already taken care of, and without threats to our safety and health as immediate concerns, we become too interested in looking up the ladder to notice when someone is sawing the leg off at the bottom rung.

A recent Rupert Murdoch lecture summed it up perfectly when he said:

“The cold truth is this: Australia is not preparing itself adequately for the challenges ahead.

The reason for this is also clear: we are too comfortable,
and when we are comfortable we are often willing to settle for less,
so long as we don’t have to change how we do things.

Will Australia take its place in this golden age, or will we settle for the bronze; just getting by. In this time in our History, the gravest threat to Australia’s freedom does not come from war or terrorism, it comes from the comfort that can make us content.”

2. An effective leader knows that a leader is not someone who is loved or admired. He or she is someone whose followers do

the right things.

3. An effective leader knows that leaders are highly visible.

4. An effective leader knows that leadership is not rank, privileges, titles or money. It is responsibility.

5. An effective leader asks, “what needs to be done?” rather than “what do you want?”

6. An effective leader asks, “what can and should I do to make a difference?”

7. An effective leader constantly asks, “what are the organisation’s mission and goals? What constitutes performance and

results in this organisation.”

8. An effective leader is extremely tolerant of diversity in people and does not look for carbon copies of themselves.

9. An effective leader is not afraid of strength in their associates.

10. An effective leader makes sure that the person they saw in the mirror in the morning is the kind of person they want to be,

respect and believe in.

Source: Peter Drucker – “Leader of the Future” publication

Peter Drucker

-Greg Anderson