Greg Johnson – Personal Update 201504

Personal Update 201504 | 30 April 2015 | Thursday

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Greetings,

I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for taking a moment to read my latest update.

Technology. A few weeks ago, I had a nice radio interview with Asa Crowe on KRUI for the Poli-Tech Tuesday show. We had a good talk about various technology related issues. The show is available online if you’re interested in listening.

Health. I created a video that describes the current version of my wellness program. It’s about 30 minutes long. I hope to create separate shorter videos that go into more depth about each aspect of the program.

Small Houses. This past weekend, on April 25, I gave a small house presentation at the Big Tiny House Event hosted by Luther College in Decorah. It was nice to see the campus and meet so many enthusiastic small house people. On April 14, I was able to be a guest speaker for a sustainability course at Virginia Tech. They were interested in how small houses can benefit the environment. A few weeks ago, I did a Skype interview with Fox News New York that was included in a nice news segment about small houses.

Architecture. In 1984, I traveled to Central and South America as part of the South American Urban Studies (SAUS) program offered through the Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs (HECUA). From that experience and others, my interest in architecture and urban planning have grown, and small houses are a part of that interest. To me ‘architecture’ encompasses all aspects of how we plan, build, and improve the spaces we live in. As a photographer, I’m drawn to the patterns, texture, and lighting of buildings. As the manager for the Iowa City Architecture website, I enjoy aggregating local planning and development news. I also contribute some articles. My most recent writing, from this past week, is “Population Growth: To Build Up, or to Build Out.” I also created a video on the topic of ambient lighting in urban areas.

Goat Rental Business. On April 7, I began offering goat rentals nationwide through my Amazon store. You might enjoy the artwork I did for the campaign. It shows a goat being delivered by Amazon drone. I don’t personally have a herd of goats. I’m actually a reseller for people who offer the services. When you have an Amazon store like I do, you can sell anything offered by Amazon and make a commission.

Consumer Advocacy. This past month, the KIND Snacks company received a stern warning letter from the FDA. Apparently the FDA decided nuts aren’t healthy, and KIND was the company they chose to make an example of. I decided to do a little research into this, and my findings might interest you. You can click here read my report. It bugs me when a good company is getting bullied, so I decided to award KIND Bars an award for Most Nutritious Healthy Snack and Transparency in Labeling. It’s frustrating when the FDA uses taxpayer resources to launch a smear campaign against what is possibly one of the best natural raw foods providers in the nation. This is really an important story because every major news media outlet in the nation got the story wrong (reporting that KIND bars aren’t healthy), except for Huffington Post which reported “Why The FDA Action Against KIND Bars Doesn’t Mean They’re Unhealthy.” That headline should have been everywhere, but wasn’t.

Reflections on Tolerance. It seems like there have been waves of news stories lately relating to intolerance in some form or another. On April 24, I wrote a short article on the topic of tolerance.

Advertising. Since I was young, I’ve had an interest in advertising. I continue to follow advertising news, and occasionally write about it. I like advertising that inspires and also ads that are funny. A few weeks ago I wrote about the latest Taco Bell ad campaign.  They created an elaborate video and launched two websites for the campaign.

Many thanks to all of you who keep in touch and provide support for the work I do.

~ Greg

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Origins. For those of you who are new to these monthly personal updates, they began over a decade ago out of a desire to share from my personal life about topics of lifeways, health, career, finances, relationships, effective living, and activism. This is based on the life map presented on the Resources For Life website.