It doesn’t take a lot of time, money, or sacrifice to do an incredible amount of good. Hence the name of this post (and potential series): Five Minutes on Friday. Even if it’s not Friday, this post might interest you…
Can you — and can I — take just five minutes each Friday (or Saturday, Sunday, etc.) to fix big problems and feel awesome in the process? Sure. It need not suck or feel like work. In fact, it can be like getting a Christmas present. Or perhaps like slaying bad guys as The Punisher.
Pretty sweet on both sides. Here are two quick options for your five minutes this week…
Listen to Music, Save Japan
Make a $10 or greater donation to Music for Relief for earthquake and tsunami relief in Japan and receive a kick-ass exclusive compilation of music from incredible musicians. To get people to take action, the offer is only good for a few days. Listen to the music (listed below) and make a donation here: http://japan.downloadtodonate.org/
Current Tracklisting:
Hoobastank — Running Away (acoustic)
Shinedown – Shed Some Light (acoustic live)
Sara Bareilles — Song For A Soldier
Flyleaf — How He Loves (live)
Staind —Right Here (live)
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus — 21 and Up
Angels & Airwaves — Hallucinations
Taking Back Sunday – Best Places To Be A Mom
Placebo – Bright Lights (live)
Black Cards – Dr. Jekkyl & Mr. Fame
B’z — Home
Surfer Blood – Take it Easy (Live)
Ben Folds – Sleazy
Slash featuring Myles Kennedy – Starlight (live)
Counting Crows – Colorblind (live)
R.E.M. – Man on the Moon (live from Tokyo)
Talib Kweli – GMB
Plain White T’s — Rhythm Of Love (live)
Elliott Yamin — Self Control
Pendulum – Witchcraft
Patrick Stump – Saturday Night Again
Linkin Park — Ishho Ni
Pretty sweet, right? Click here to download the tracks.
Email/Call a Company, Save 200,000 Sharks
More than 100 million sharks are now slaughtered annually to fuel the shark fin soup trade. The soup is non-nutritive, expensive, and doesn’t even taste particularly good (yes, I tried it in China in the 90’s). It is served mostly as a status symbol at Asian weddings, formal functions, and high-end restaurants.
How is this fine soup made?
Shark fins are cut-off the sharks in a process called “finning.” The practice is wasteful, unsustainable and ecologically unsound. Here’s how it works: sharks are caught on long-lines (miles of line floating in the oceans, affixed with hooks and bait), brought to the boat, and have their fins are hacked off. Next, since shark meat isn’t worth as much as shark fins, the mutilated but normally live animals are thrown back in to the water to sink and die.
Sharks cannot reproduce fast enough to keep up with mass-production shark finning. In the Atlantic ocean alone, shark populations in many species have decreased more than 90% percent in the last 15 years alone. It’s fucking disgusting.
I wanted to be a marine biologist for nearly 15 years, and if there is two things to remember about sharks, here they are:
– Most sharks don’t attack humans and have no interest in us whatsoever. I’ve dived with hundreds of sharks without incident.
– If you destroy apex predators (predators at the top of the food chain), the rest of the food chain topples soon thereafter.
If the oceans go to hell, so do we. To stick it to the bad guys and help the good guys, here are two five-minute options:
1. Boycott and Publicly Shame Restaurants That Serve Shark Fin Soup
Below is a list of Canadian and US restaurants that still serve shark fin soup. Boycott them, write to them, and — corporations hate bad PR — publicly shame them for inhumanely slaughtering sharks, using blogs, tweets, Facebook, e-mail, or whatever you have:
United States List of restaurant perpetrators
Canada’s list of restaurant perpetrators
2. Join Future Shark Adventures
The University of Miami offers year-round shark expeditions, including weekly tagging trips in the Florida Keys, Great White Shark expeditions in South Africa, and Diving and Tagging tiger shark adventures in the Bahamas. Click here for more information.
If you have other creative ideas on how to promote ocean conservation, please contact Dr. Neil Hammerschalg at nhammerschlag-at-rsmas.miami.edu. To learn more about shark protection, visit these sites:
Yes, I really love sharks. Here, I tag my first shark off of Miami as part of Summit Series: a beautiful female tiger shark. Truly gorgeous.
Have a fantastic weekend, all. Take the five minutes if you can. It will make you feel incredible, and it will have an impact.
The Tim Ferriss Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world with more than one billion downloads. It has been selected for "Best of Apple Podcasts" three times, it is often the #1 interview podcast across all of Apple Podcasts, and it's been ranked #1 out of 400,000+ podcasts on many occasions. To listen to any of the past episodes for free, check out this page.
Comment Rules: Remember what Fonzie was like? Cool. That’s how we’re gonna be — cool. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation! (Thanks to Brian Oberkirch for the inspiration.)
Wow, that is really eye opening and terrible.
I have no problems with eating animals, but this really is wasteful and pointless.
P.S. I hope nobody uses that list of restaurants to go try Shark Fin soup.
Better yet, do these things on a more dedicated scale. You can live comfortably doing something your passionate about, just as you can doing work you hate. You’ve never heard stories until you hear an old man talk about sinking whaling ships.
Will do for all of these. Can’t believe they throw the sharks back in, terrible.
What about a piece on the sex/slave trafficking that is so prevalent. I live in Atlanta, the #1 place in u.s. for this.
Hey Tim,
Thanks so much for putting this up. You have given a person like myself, who has very little money to contribute (yet who has already) MORE incentive to help. I am the founding member of our room to read chapter in this area, and we really appreciate what you are doing here to help prevent the destruction of ecological diversity – and to continue and foster the sustainability of the japanese people.
Much love from beaches of North Carolina,
– Dain
That’s a buff back!
This is such a horrible practice! Thanks Tim for bringing this up. When I make dinner reservations I now always ask if they serve shark fin (and as I live in Singapore and spend much time working in Shanghai this is often); if they do I tell them I no longer wish to make a reservation and why.
You should check out Misool Ecoresort in Raja Ampat in Indonesia. Three really visionary people (Andy, Marit and Torbin) have build this amazing dive resort all ecologically out of driftwood at a place that used to be a sharkfinning camp. They leased a large and growing amount of ocean surronding from local tribes and are enforcing a no fishing zone there. After a few years they now have baby sharks swimming around the bay all day long so close you can touch them. This is a fantastic project and everybody who goes to visit there will be blown away.
I have recently seen the Cove, so I am in …
Sharks swim around me all the time while surfing and nothing has happened.
I can’t wait to tackle that list and ridicule some fine eateries!
Surfs up,
Definitely downloading the tracks. Great post. It is good to take a second and reflect on the higher-level stuff that is going around us. Especially when a lot of us spend time glued to our computer, building muses, etc.
Thanks for posting these restaurants. I can’t wait to make their lives miserable. These poor sharks…
Great idea! If even 1% of the people that follow you make an effort, than things will change. Anything more than that and amazing things can happen.
Thanks for highlighting the shark finning. As an avid diver this is an issue that I have followed for years.
If for some strange reason you need ideas for other causes, mention genetically modified foods. This is an irresponsible experiment using the general public as guinea pigs. It is not something that we can take back. Responsibletechnology.org has good write ups on the whys and hows.
Thanks for all you do!
Tim and all-
Once again…Well played, sir. 5 minutes…sweet music…helped Japan out a bit. Music is downloading as I type.
Tomorrow am…off work and makin’ a video for the scholarship. Woot! Watch out…This should be entertaining.
Best,
Paul
Music for save Japan ,good idea. Thanks Tim for Nice post
Given that you seem to be a shark aficionado, I’m a little surprised you didn’t reference the documentary, “The Cove,” from a couple of years ago. I thought it was a great look into the brutal treatment of sharks in parts of Japan.
With Love and Gratitude,
Jeremiah
Dolphins… You mean…
Totally support. Thank you, Tim.
Wow, that was intense! Thank you for sharing this. It reminds me of a documentary I saw about Dolphins.
Great post Tim, I’m so glad you’re using your influence for something good. The shark finning is disgusting a has to stop.
Great post, Tim. You continue to inspire.
Great post Tim… depressing stuff, but critical for creating change.
Great job and resources raising awareness on shark finning – a documentary on the subject called Sharkwater may be of interest to some readers as well.
I was interested to read about the idea of shaming restaurants and others into adopting saner policies. Research on what creates successful social justice actions, including those related to environmental issues, actually suggests that the greatest success rate comes not from public shaming, but from working with people to create win-win solutions.
When we make people feel like adversaries they become defensive. When we show them a better alternative, and engage them as co-creators of a solution, they may well change not only their actions but their minds.
This research was conducted by Scott Sherman of the Transformative Action Institute. His idea to apply the scientific method to social change is an inspired one — and he is based in California, so easy to meet up with! Perhaps his work can help make the campaigns to save the oceans more successful — I think it is the most important environmental issue of our day.
Thanks for the great post!
Thanks for the info about finning and especially the list of restaurants that serve shark fin soup. I have already emailed the Fat family restaurants (Sacramento CA) and asked them to stop serving shark fin soup.
I’m disgusted.
I sent an email to the restaurant who serve shark fin soup in Mtl. Share your blog and the lists of restaurant through my network… Hope this help.
You wonder if there’s anything we can do to prevent an earthquake or tsunami. Nature can prove powerful.
But when we shoot ourselves in the foot by removing necessary blocks (sharks) in the ecosystem, it just pisses me off. The diversity of life is sustainable only with other life in the loop.
“Food Inc” and “Fresh” are great documentaries emphasizing that life needs to be circular.
Thank you for this post Tim. Already called Tao’s Wok & Restaurant in NJ. They don’t have shark fin soup?
How does killing the apex predator topple the whole pyramid?
It’s ecology 101… in nature, if something is working, it’s because everything is in balance and working together. Nature is an intricate net of relationships, and since humans think much more linear than nature operates, we often understand the consequences of removing a link years later.
For sharks it could look like this: Less sharks – more seals – less of the smaller fish they hunt – explosive growth of the small critters and plankton the small fishes used to eat – depletion of oxygen/nutrients etc.
You get the picture…
Thats what i think is needed, im definitly doing that, real big concern of mine
Perhaps we should have a ‘save the Canadian seals from annual slaughter’ movement too.
Tim,
Awesome idea, and a great way to accomlish the goal. And I am way ahead of you on publicly shaming restaurants that serve shark fin soup. 🙂 But that is a story for another time.
I am in, as I am sure lots of others will be too.
Thanks!
Darren Michaels
Except ‘the cove’ was about dophins, but still pretty sick!
I’m not a big fan of cruel and unusual punishment to anyone. People That eat shark fin soup need a consciousness upgrade.
This is an interesting post for me and I am listening to my new music now but the shark thing I was not aware of this and find it soooooooo inhumane to torture an animal like that… I have never had shark fin soup and now I am positive I never will…
Paul
A great idea for a weekly(?) series. Hope you keep these coming, Tim.
“- If you destroy apex predators (predators at the top of the food chain), the rest of the food chain topples soon thereafter.”
Could the same be said about “redistributing income” through higher taxation of the rich? Trickle down economics. Just wondering.
I had a very similar idea which I will be looking into starting soon. The idea is to coordinate pressure in strategic points.
I respect the work that organizations do in this area however i think sometimes we forget to take highly leveraged and focused actions.
I am in the very early stages but it would be great to hear your perspective. At some stage we will start looking for people with the right skills to help formulate strategy for individual campaigns. If you are interested just send me an email and i can give you (or anybody else) some more info.
Tim, you rock! Thanks for sharing this issue..
I’m glad to see that there are no restaurants on the boycott list here in Victoria, but I’m ashamed that there are so many other places in British Columbia that still serve shark fin soup.
Thanks for the link to the music
Tim,
Great expose’.
Thanks for taking the time to alert your readers to this horrible practice.
A few years back, my wife and I went to Ft. Myers Beach to protest a scheduled “Shark Rodeo”. They were actually going to bring in all the sharks caught and “hang” the biggest one by his tail for all to see and to rot in the sun. YUK!
Because of the international outrage that the campaign brought, people from all over the world said they would never-never-ever come to Ft Myers again.
We got the “Rodeo” to be changed to a catch-tag-release program.
Still not the best thing for the sharks, but at least God’s Creatures weren’t intentionally killed.
I think that not only should we contact the restaurants here in the US and Canada, but we should try to educate the people all over the world about a custom that has seen the end of it’s appeal.
We should also educate the younger people in these cultures.
How?
Well in this new world of social media where FaceBook and Twitter, etc have the attention of so many, I suggest all of us post this article on our sites and let this spread around the world.
Thanks again, Tim
-Dr. Rich Rotfort
Rob Stewart the guy behind Sharkwater is currently raising funds for another follow up docu on the ocean beyond sharks, maybe sth interesting for you Tim? 😉
I’d just heard about the Finning but wasn’t sure how best to apply pressure. Thanks for providing a “Lever” for us all to push against.
I wonder if ThePoint.com would be a good tool for this? (It’s the Tipping Point project from which Groupon arose). Great for organizing group activities (when X people do Y, some event happens)
Guys,
I admire your passion but I don’t agree with shaming/boycotting restaurants that serve this dish. The economy is bad and businesses need all the business they can get. This is irresponsible. This is like when PETA smashed windows of McDonalds. Just because you have a belief you can’t force it on others. There is no law prohibiting the sale of shark fin soup.
I have never eaten it and never will but this is America and if people want to eat it they can. Who are you to tell people what to do? Let’s keep toys out of Happy Meals too cause that makes kids want to eat Mcd’s and get fat. It has nothing to do with weak parenting from people who would rather surf the Internet and smoke weed than actually spend time with their kids.
You don’t have the right to interrupt US businesses just because you feel the way you do.
Agreed! Freedom is for everyone. You’d do more good by becoming vegan. They seem to have these extreme beliefs and the know how to push personal agendas, so you’d fit right in.
Tourist companies that offer shark dives make me sick. DON’T FEED THE ANIMALS, especially not to gratify your customers. Sharks especially in South Africa have become more aggressive towards humans because of this.
S
I absolutely have the right, as do you. I vote with my dollars and with my megaphone. I’m all for ethical businesses and helping said businesses grow. Helping the economy short-term to destroy ecosystems is a bad long-term bet, I believe.
Hope that helps,
Tim
Tim,
Great post. I love to dive and nothing beats seeing massive fish underwater. Documentaries like ‘The Cove’ and ‘Sharkwater’ have changed the way that I look at marine life as well as my seafood diet.
Tim! Glad to see you share my “hate” for this insane process.
You need to watch the documentary “Shark Water” if you haven’t yet.
http://www.sharkwater.com/
It’s one of the most amazing docs ever and all about what your talking about. It goes into Costa Rica where most of the sharks are caught and features the sea shepherd as well.
Anyways great post. I will be checking these restaurants out!
Actually, one of my first posts on my blog was about sharkwater: http://www.aworldofinspiration.com/blog/sharkwater-saving-these-innocent-creatures-from-extinction
PS: Isn’t “swimming” with the great whites bad for them. Being in a cage, tossing in tuna fish and having them try to eat you. I’v heard its making it more dangerous and disrupting the great whites.
This is a link to restaurants in the UK that are said to serve shark’s fin soup
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=140002562725570&topic=70
Couldn’t agree more! I think that we desperately need to address issues about our oceans. One problem I would like to point out is that shark finning, as Tim said, is virtually entirely an Asian practice and as such we have to realize that without legislation we will have limited impact without a “native solution.” What I mean by this is that the Chinese community, for example, feels culturally justified in using shark fins and “who are we” to tell them otherwise. I heard of an interesting organization out of Vancouver, Canada called Shark Truth http://www.sharktruth.com/ that is mostly made up of members of the Chinese community. They run a contest to encourage young couples to take the decision not to serve shark fin soup at their weddings. This is great since the solution comes from within the Chinese community. Similarly, the producers of the film SharkWater also had (or are in the process of having) their film translated into Mandarin for release in China since there is lack of knowledge of the impact of the practice on shark populations and on the oceans in general. I believe that these kinds of strategies that encourage solutions from within Asian communities are the way to go until we have the legal machinery to stop shark finning outright.
Just spent 10 minutes Yelp-ing the restaurants on the Ft. Lauderdale area with one star and the following post –
” They serve shark fin soup here. Someone needs to tell them that more than 100 million sharks are slaughtered every year just to serve this “traditional’ soup.
Sharks cannot reproduce fast enough to keep up with mass-production shark finning. In the Atlantic ocean alone, shark populations in many species have decreased more than 90% percent in the last 15 years alone.
Let them know this is NOT acceptable.”
Thanks Tim, a cause that’s been near and dear to my heart since I was a commercial fisherman out of Cape May, NJ and would find ‘finned’ sharks.
Thanks for bringing light to the issue.
This shark mutilation is so damn sick!
I like fish and meat but not from this kind of killing and mutilating. I’d rather pay twice the price for organic and properly treated animals.I hope everyone on here will forward the message of this post: Boycott and Publicly Shame Restaurants That Serve Shark Fin Soup and other products from mis-treated animals.
Great post! Thanks a lot!!!
I was really concerned about the situation there in Japan, but didn’t really know what to do. I donated to Japan. Without your post, I wouldn’t have done it.
Take care.
David
Sharks and music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=WK2LpUoqX6A&vq=medium
Amazing Tim. I support http://www.seashepherd.org/ but will definitely take a look at shark conservation as well.
Nick
Tim,
Didn’t realize the two major “dim sum” restaurants in Ottawa’s Chinatown are on the shit list!
Ottawa, Canada boycott going down Interweeb style…
Anthony
For Australian list of Shark Fin Soup offending restaurants…
http://www.stopsharkfinning.net/boycott-australia.htm
Nice work Tim!!
Thanks for bringing up the shark issue. I must admit, when I started diving, I was terrified of them, but knowledge reduces fear, and they truly are magnificent (though still slightly scary!) animals. It is disgusting what is happening in the oceans, from the mutilation of the sharks, to the farming of shrimp and salmon, which is contaminating the wild populations.
I’ve had shark fin soup too and it’s not all that great.
Now I will boycott restaurants that do.
I watched “The Cove” last year. Wow that was so sickening.
Thanks for sharing Tim and please do make this a regular thing! I would love to see Five Minute Fridays stay around for a very long time!
Thanks for shedding light on two major topics that needed some help – and I look forward to your continued support with your readership in bringing small changes to the world!
Thanks!
Kevin
Hey Tim,
Thanks for bringing these things to light. The playlist on Tsunami Relief is really great. And I feel great too now.
Have a very nice day,
Matt
Saw Tim on Dr. Oz and loved the bits of info, bought the book (like many others I assume) and have taken off 20.4 lbs and 15 inches in 7 weeks – wonderful. I think the day off each week is so important mentally as well as physically. Since I love to cook I did not do the rotation of the same four or so meals but developed receipes using the ok ingredients and in fact found many that could fit in with only minor modifications. Thanks Tim, I am a firm believer that this is the way we should be nourishing our body. I am also exercising 6 to 8 times per week (have a bit of an addictive nature), feel better and think I look better then I did at 40. I just turned 60. Thanks.
Man, I didn’t know that’s how they harvest for shark’s fin. I can’t imagine a shark without its fin although I don’t want to see it in real life for myself.. hmmm
I donated more than the minimum, but got an empty zip file. No problem for me, I would have given without the bribe, but if it is offered, they should deliver without a hassle. I know I could do this or that to make it right, that isn’t the point. Tell them they have a problem. It make YOU look bad.
Hmmm… I don’t know what happened there. I didn’t have an issue, but I’ll certainly let them know! I’ll pass them your email, Bruce.
Thanks for the feedback,
Tim
I’m slightly disturbed that nobody’s doing any math here.
One hundred million shark deaths a year means that three sharks are killed every second of the year. That’s a little improbable. While it’s nice to want to do right for the world and nature, etc, let’s all also keep our heads on about it, too.
Just because somebody says it’s true don’t make it so.
Has anyone actually researched this topic with a mind of their own? Tim says shark fin soup doesn’t taste good so I guess nO one else in the world likes it.
The shark that gets killed the most are mako sharks. Did you guys know that mako is eaten all over the world by many countries? It is wasteful to just cut the fin off and leave the shark to die. But if you truly want to help the shark population you’ll rally against ALL shark being used as cuisine instead of just the fins. Don’t you think that would be mOre useful since everyone is killing mako? The difference is that they use most of the shark and not the fin. The Chinese use the fin and that’s it but the point is the shark dies either way.
There’s an interesting thing about Jewish kosher cuisine. They believe in killing the animal humanely so it doesn’t suffer but this hospitality doesn’t go for fish. Why? Because fish are cannibalistic so they don’t count in Kosher cuisine.
The sharks that get thrown back in get eaten by other fish and help them to live longer and be healthier. That’s why fisherman throw unused fish waste back into the ocean. Lobsters love this which is why the price of lObster is going down. More dead fish in the water equals more lobster food which equals more lobsters.
I’m Asian and I totally agree that it’s cruel to farm for sharks fin but I don’t think we should publicly shame and destroy the reputation of restaurants that worked hard to build it. Perhaps these restaurants too have taken measures to reduce the sales of sharks fin and only reserved it for special requests. It would be unfair to these restaurants.
Tim,
I love your articles but I hate reading stuff at my computer since I work at a computer all day. Can you please allow Amazon to publish your blog on the Kindle? Even though it costs $0.99 a month I’d be willing to pay that to read your blog while in bed. I bet others might be willing to do so as well.
Hi Rodney,
Great idea! I’ll look into this.
All the best,
Tim
> Make a $10 or greater donation …
There’s something awfully powerful about blending feeling good with making impact and empowering social goodness in a friction-free way.
Five minutes is a good chunk of time. Edward de Bono regularly used Five Minute Thinks to rapidly tackle and solve many problems (in a structured way.)
you might want to look at this tim, its outside this topic but i m sure its something you would like to read about, its about someones quest to prove /disprove the 10,000hrs required to be an expert at something
http://thedanplan.com/
Tim, great post.
I knew this was bad, and not sure if you caught the Gordon Ramsay special about shark fin gathering. He was at the places that dry them, got on boats that hunted them, and went to restaurants and stores that sold them.
dont want to overload this with links, but more can be found google-ing
So thanks for spreading to your readers as well!
Stella here in New Orleans, which is prob the most expensive restaurant in town, briefly served shark fin soup but got shamed into dropping it off their menu, so speaking up against this practice does work.
Hey Tim,
I wanted to thank you, figured this was the most appropriate post to do so in. After reading your book in early March, the Japan quakes/tsunami’s hit. I’m a leather smith, and Japan was my inspiration for starting my company- I’ve been working for myself since I was in college 2 years ago. I wanted to help, and I thought back to the yoga rock climbing study in your book. I did some simple math to crunch numbers. I used the thought processes of 4HWW to figure out what I could sell, to a large enough demographic, simply and easily. I wanted to make everything by myself, this was important to me.
I designed and made the bracelet in 20 minutes after rolling out of bed, and I sent out 1 tweet advertising it. I used your email templates to generate blog buzz, and never paid a dime for a ton of advertising for it (because of what I learned in your book!)
Long story short, I raised and donated $20,000 out of my bedroom in the first week, and $32,000 total in 27 days with almost $45,000 in total sales of my products and the bracelets. I made every single one of the 1,950 bracelets I sold to raise this much, happily. Without your book, it wouldn’t have been possible for me.
I didn’t want to email you because I know you’re busy, but I hope you read this- it’s just as much your victory as mine and every person that bought a bracelet. If you want to read more about it my blog is here: http://www.corterleather.com and has the whole story/news interviews/donations I did!
Thanks Tim!
Thanks so much for this wonderful comment… and for your amazing contribution to humanity! This not only makes my day, it makes my week 🙂
All the best — I see big things ahead for you,
Tim
Hey Tim,
I just realized I never responded to you, so sorry! My business has quadrupled since that sale, it’s been super busy. I’m still a one man operation and plan to be one for a while, and I’m already planning next year’s charity sale. I continue using the thought processes of 4HWW every day and refer to the hard copy often. Thank you so much for the tweet and facebook mention, it brought a lot of interest to my site and business, and my story was able to reach others that wrote about it in circles I’ve never traveled before. I had a lot of emails asking for advice, which I tried to help and respond to as best as I could, and hopefully we inspired people to jump in and help others.
Personally I don’t get super gushy, but you wrote a book that’s changed my life beyond my wildest dreams. As bigger opportunities come along I don’t necessarily use the book’s formulas as they’re written, but the concepts behind them to make my business decisions. It was a college degree I paid $25 for. If you’re ever in Boston or New England and have some extra time, I’d love to buy you a beer or two – that’s how we makers usually say thanks.
Dude your Avatar bifold is so cool!
Tim,
My muse got written about in Entrpreneur Magazine yesterday! We are gathering steam… Thanks for the inspiration.
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/219559
Rusty
Hey Tim, I just bought both of your books and I think they’re great! I have an experiment I thought you’d be interested in.
I’ve taught private music lessons for a number of years. I honestly feel that a majority of perceived “talent” is muscle memory. Why else would you practice “Sweet Home Alabama” ten thousand times? Most people who believe they don’t have musical talent haven’t devoted the minimum time commitment to simply have this type of muscle memory.
What do you think? Four Hour Guitar Hero?
-Scott
How about the 10,000 week….http://www.squidoo.com/10000-hour-rule
I am a hunter and fisherman.
I only go after animal that make sense to eat. Those animals are capture and kill humanely. I only hunt and fish the animal that will not mess up the ecosystem. As matter of fact, my course is a contribution to preserve of conservation. In this circle is called a conservation paradox.
Finning is bad!
I am going to write the letters to restaurant to end this senseless practice.
Thank you, Joe. Hunting can absolutely help preserve ecosystems (e.g. deer overpopulation on Long Island), but finning is atrocious. Much appreciate the action!
Tim
If any of you find personal emails of some of the resteraunt owners post them on here forsure!!!! I want to mob them with angry emails!
Just my opinion on the Shark Fin soup …
I understand the the thought behind the shark fin and obviously the method of killing is not very humane. I haven’t read much on the current situation but from what I gather the rate of killing should also place sharks in endangerment. Shark fin soup has been with Asians and in particular the Chinese for a very long time and is also a strong part of its culture and values. The serving of shark fin soup at weddings is a traditional Chinese custom.
Boycotting the restaurants may seem sensible but it won’t change the problem. Sometimes it may also be taken as a racist attack. Coming from an Asian heritage and from experience in order make changes to the problem you need to educate the people that are consuming it. If restaurants stop serving the soup do you think we will stop drinking the soup… it would only place the demand for it on the higher scale..
This is a reminder that the true happiness found in a 4 hour workweek is not just in doing things for yourself but having the time to do things for others. Small things that can make a big difference. They are around us every minute of every day, and it is amazing how sometimes the “smallest” contributions can make the biggest difference. Thanks for this post Tim, you are spot on!
Hey Tim,
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I definitely think what happened in Japan is horrible and they need our support, but I was honestly more affected knowing about what’s going on with shark finning.
I’m going to shoot an email to some of those companies about this, as well as submit some free press releases to help raise awareness.
I don’t want the sharks to be thrown back in to drown and I agree that finning us atrocious. I don’t condone this in any way shape or form. All I’m saying is that the 100 million sharks a year is an exaggerated number used to rile people up like when it was said that polar bears were drowning in large numbers due to global warming melting glaciers. Look past the propaganda and make your own informed opinion. Protest if you like. It’s a free country.
Hi, Tim, thanks for doing this and especially for highlighting a way to help Japan. The international spotlight has moved away, but as you realize, there are still over 100,000 people in shelters and thousands more stuck in ruined homes without jobs, money, cars, power, gas or water. I hope you’ll consider featuring Quakebook as a way to help. It went from an idea on Twitter to a completed book in a week, and was available around the world on Amazon as an ebook one month after the quake and tsunami. It is a collection of essays, photos and illustrations reflecting people’s reactions to the disaster from both the hardest-hit areas and all around the world. In an unprecedented move, Amazon agreed to waive 100% of its fees so that every penny of the $9.99 cover price would go to the Japan Red Cross. Sony set up a unique page where the book can be downloaded for a pay-what-you-wish donation. All the info and links to some of the amazing media coverage this project has gotten are available on the website. Please contact me if I can provide any other info. Again, thank you from Tokyo for what you’re doing.
Hello Everyone…and Tim 🙂
Just saw this article posted on Huffpost about Sharkfins….
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/07/shark-fin-ban-san-francisco_n_858915.html
For some reason, I am sure you all had something to do with this…great job!!!
Tim – I love that you are shining your insightful light on these areas. I bought the music and made sure I don’t eat at those restaurants.
Speaking of conservation and sharks, you need to read The Devil’s Teeth about the great white sharks at the Farallon Islands and Blue Water Goldrush http://www.bluewatergoldrush.com. I think you are awesome. Thanks for making a difference.
Great idea Tim!
I think the best way to do item #1 (Publicly Shame the Restaurants) is not to call or email the restaurant. Ok, great 2 people call and complain. Don’t even waste time tweeting about a particular restaurant, as the restaurant will probably never even know it.
MUCH better is to go to the Restaurant’s own Facebook Page… I bet most of them have one, and then POST on their Facebook WALL. That will get their attention very quickly and effectively.
Better yet Tim, use your connection with the people that put the list together to actually add the Facebook webpage link on to the list to make it much easier for people to hit up 10, 20 or 100 pages in very little time.
Brantford pushes for Canada’s first shark fin ban
Birthplace of The Great One? Sure.
Tournament capital of Ontario? Um, fine.
How about the first jurisdiction in Canada to ban shark fin products?
Sleepy Brantford will surf to the edge of the sustainability debate next week as its city council debates enacting a bylaw to prohibit the possession, sale and consumption of all shark fin products, the first ban of its kind in the country.
“We’ve moved on it. Why don’t you do the same?” is the message to other Canadian cities, says former Brantford MPP Phil Gillies, who helped put the issue on council’s agenda.
Shark fin soup is considered a delicacy in China and in expatriate communities worldwide, and demand for the dish is increasing as the Chinese population grows wealthier. But the practice of shark finning has long drawn the outrage of environmental groups for being unsustainable and cruel.
Overfishing has led to a decline of all shark species in the Northwest Atlantic since the late 1980s, according to a 2003 report in Science, with some species dropping by as much as 75 per cent. Sharks have a low birth rate, leaving them particularly vulnerable to overfishing.
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/990588–brantford-pushes-for-canada-s-first-shark-fin-ban
Watching those sharks get chopped to pieces — while they were still alive!
Definitely one of the more disturbing things I’ve seen.
Thanks for voting with your megaphone Tim.
It is a so great idea Tim… Have a fantastic weekend, all. Take the five minutes if you can. It will make you feel incredible, and it will have an impact. That’s all I’ve got to say. Although, I agree with you — these musics were fantastic. Not only was it fun to have some “say” in who gets the scholarship, it was great to see all of these success stories — adding motivation and fanning the flames of those who may not have quite yet reached the goals. These were so fun to watch! I voted for my favorites. That took a long time to watch… but fun. Whoever gets to go, you better enjoy it, and thank the people who voted! Thank you, Joe. Hunting can absolutely help preserve ecosystems (e.g. deer overpopulation on Long Island), but finning is atrocious. Much appreciate the action!
Excellent! Thank you! : Thanks for sharing this post so much.
Now I just need like a 1000 more…!
FYI, the Washington state governor just signed legislation banning shark fin soup in this state.
Can’t help but think this blog and its readers helped make that happen!
Win!
Is this talk of a shark fin ban an attack on Asian culture?
An extremely thoughtful perspective from Salon here, well worth reading:
http://www.salon.com/food/francis_lam/2011/03/07/sharks_fin_soup_ban
Hmmmm… not any more than an attack on gas-guzzling cars would be an attack on American culture, methinks, but that’s just one opinion. Still, good to read the differing viewpoints.
Tim
I have been served shark fin soup at a friends wedding and I have to say it really was unappealing. My friends enjoy it and tease me when I lecture them and I was happy when you posted this video so I could send it to them to show them visually the cruelty. Something I am wondering about is lately in the stores I have noticed an increase in products selling shark cartilage from deep sea New Zealand sharks and shark liver oil supplements. Does anyone know how these supplements are derived and if they are made in humane ways? They are all made from well known companies.
Already bought this! Nevertheless it has never been easier for me to support a good cause and get some value back. Great music!
Hey Tim,
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I definitely think what happened in Japan is horrible and they need our support, but I was honestly more affected knowing about what’s going on with shark finning.
¡Japan is and will remain a beautiful country!
Tim,
I’ve read your book over a year ago and you have tied up so much of my life questions to opportunities i have pursed. I was over working myself and now i have the power of a full days work in 2hrs with so much more time for my dreams, ambitions and loved ones.
I am currently working on a deal that will sell 10000 units of my product.
(thanks to your techniques)
After a failed patent, $5000 vending machine robbery, hard work/overtime $24hr j.ob., started a side business, quit my job, self sufficient for 5 years now, my forever evolving business model equals puzzling questions your book answered to perfection.
I would like to endorse and promote your book as a promotional gift with my product. 10,000 for the start.
I am 27yrs old and I have never had a role model, it would mean the world if i could have a 5minute phone call to: 1. Meet an impossible celebrity for a question. 2. Ask question, absorb feedback. 3. Set price for volume book order.
Thanks for the blueprints, time, and everything you have done for us.
Jake
Hi Jake,
Thanks so much for the kind comment! You should have an email in your inbox.
All the best,
Tim
It is really amazing how people in different countries with different beliefs help each other and come up idea on solving a common and serious issue. This is a great idea.
I agree that the unnecessary slaughter of sharks is wrong, but so is the slaughter of cows, lamb, and chickens we Americans eat everyday.
This is definitely an attack on their culture and if the Asian community were to point out our flawed system of raising sick animals in horrid condtions just to slaughter them we would simply brush it off as them ‘not understanding’.
We need to reevaluate what bandwagon we jump on before becoming hypocrites. I am against the inhumane raising and slaughtering of animals. Study after study has shown that we don’t need meat to exist and we actually thrive without meat when we supplement with vegetarian protein sources.
Even if we reduced our meat intake to maybe one time a week only, we would be less of the hypocrites that we are compared to the average American that eats meat at least once a day for in one meal a day.
Please consider your own actions before pointing out the flaws of others.
Looks like our efforts were not in vain! Great job Tim:
“Shark fin soup disappearing from the menu at Chinese weddings”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/10/shark-fin-soup-off-chinese-menu
When I lived in Hong Kong it was common to eat Shark Fin Soup and nobody thought another thing about it. How clueless we were back then. So awful!
That’s a pretty nice Friday right there. Listening to some good tunes while helping to make the world a better place. Not bad at all…