Thinking Fast and Slow: Book Review (Monday Musings 84)

I heard about this book from one of my streamer friends after I mentioned how I don't think of myself as good at responding to unexpected things. I rarely think on my feet as well as I'd like. She'd heard about Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman and felt it might explain why some people can't respond quickly to surprises. Further, those types of people are more thoughtful, so I might not feel too bad about myself.

However, the book goes into different matters than what I hoped. Kahneman's thesis is that humans are not rational and how that was a huge breakthrough in the world of economics. This surprised me, because we all know that people do really stupid things, even the most rational among us...for example, we all know usually sensible people who don't wear helmets or seatbelts nor take other easy to implement safety precautionss.

Even so, the predominant tendency in economics for most of its existence as a science is to hold that people are rational and will do rational things. Kahneman proposes otherwise. He describes two systems that we use: System 1 is the immediate reaction we have to stimulus, our gut instinct. If we see an animal, we know right away that it's a dog, we don't have to think about it. Or, if we see smoke, we're know to try to put the fire out...or to flee.

While System 2 is your conscious mind, where you think things through. For instance, making a decision to buy one product rather than another. In a series of experiments, Kahneman shows that System 2 isn't always rational and thoughtful, but can be rather lazy. This can be very true, because we have to deal with a lot of issues in life, so that we can't spend that much energy carefully thinking through every decision and thought process. That would be too exhausting.

One experiment proving his thesis is the following problem: A ball and a bat costs $1.10, and the bat costs $1.00, how much does the ball cost?

I would immediately say "definitely not 10 cents" but only because I'm aware of these psychological experiments where the answer is often not what you think at first.

Even so, if I were a participant in this study, I would've answered, "Definitely not 10 cents, but I'm too tired to figure out the true cost of the ball". Most people answer 10 cents, because that's your impulse from System 1, and System 2 is too lazy to override the impulse.

As you can see from this example, your system 1 comes up immediately 10 cents, but your system 2 doesn't override this answer. The correct answer is 5 cents.

Kahneman also describes how system 2 is very biased - in one of many experiments he conducted, he showed how sentences in big bold letters are believed to be true more so than the same sentences in small lettering.

I found the first few chapters very interesting, and the experiments thought provoking. However, midway through the book, I couldn't get past the rest of the book because Kahneman gives so many thought experiments, it becomes tiring.

Indeed, the book appeared to be a monograph, where he would make a statement and then show examples to prove his theory. By answering all of the questions that he asks, I got fatigued.

As a result, I skipped the rest of the book to the conclusion. Because humans don't do things that are good for us, policies should allow for freedom of choice, but steer people toward the right thing to do.

For instance, employees are automatically opted in an IRA retirement savings plan at 10% of their salary. However, you can easily opt out of this plan if you want to.

Therefore, you have a choice to opt in or opt out. But with this policy, people may be too "lazy" to opt out, and unbeknownst to them, 10% goes into retirement fund. 10 years later, they will be surprised that it increased to a really nice sum.

Kahneman didn't mention this in his conclusion, but the conclusion I got from the book is to be open minded. We may think something is absolutely true, come to find out, we didn't realize that we were wrong all along, and never questioned it. By being open minded and nonjudgmental, your life will be more enriching. 

For instance, someone whom you had negative first impressions (System 1 making snap judgments), keep an open mind about that person, and you may find the person becoming your friend. Of course, if that person does awful things one after the other, then your first impressions were correct and System 2 will note to avoid that person. But this will be due to empirical evidence as opposed to a snap judgment.

It's easy to say people do dumb things all the time, but how do you explain why that's the case, and how do you prove it in a systematic way? In Thinking Fast and Slow, Kahneman does a superb job answering those questions, albeit in an eventually exhausting to read manner.

The How of Happiness Review

G Fuel Alternative (Monday Musings 83)

When I saw one of my friends stream, she mentioned that she was drinking G Fuel, and felt that it gave her very smooth energy, and no crashes after the effects wore off. She felt too jittery on the other energy drinks. Intrigued, I looked into G Fuel.

The ingredients aren't harmful because of the low dosages, but I hate the Sucralose and Acesulfame after taste, which G Fuel contains, and further, G Fuel is rather expensive at $35.99 for 40 servings, approximately $1 per serving, so I thought I can find a healthier and more cost-effective alternative to G Fuel.

After doing research, I found that the most effective way to improve energy and mental alertness is the tried and true, boring and effortful healthy ways such as:

1. Going to bed and getting up at the same time, i.e. good consistent sleep - most people need 8 hours
2. Exercising around 30 minutes between 55 to 85% (60% makes the most sense) of your max heart rate, at least 3 times/week, calculator here.
3. Fruits and vegetables - at least 5 servings - and whole grains
4. Reduce stress through meditation, problem-solving, and so forth
5. Smokers, QUIT!
6. Limit alcohol use 
7. Diaphragmatic breathing
8. Hydrate
9. Avoid sugars

However, there are going to be days when we can't get the 8 hours of solid sleep, eat nutritious foods, exercise, and smokers may slip due to increased stress and anxiety in their lives, and so on.

As streamers, should we then engage in performance drinks and pills, of which G Fuel is the most recently hyped, as marketing states that it was created by professional gamers? 

Reviewing the ingredients of G Fuel, the first part lists vitamins and minerals. However, it's much more cost-effective to take a generic multivitamin which is dirt cheap, and even free with some insurance plans. 

Even so, almost all research studies note that multivitamins don't really improve upon things and I recall my chemistry professor saying that multivitamins only lead to "expensive urine". So, unless you're literally not eating and at risk of scurvy, there's no need for multivitamins.

But, if you want to replicate G Fuel, you can take a cost-effective multivitamin for the first part of the ingredients.

The next ingredient of G-Fuel is the energy complex which consists of 140 to 150 mg of caffeine. Jet-alert caffeine at 100 mg is dirt cheap at $9.95 for 240 pills here at Amazon! You can take 1 and a half tablets (total 150 mg) for fraction of the G Fuel costs.

G-Fuel's other energy complex ingredients include, in addition to caffeine, Taurine, L-Citrulline Malate, Glucoronolactone, and N-Acetyl-Carnitine HCL. All these ingredients, including caffeine, are merely 1.7 grams.

Merely 1.7 grams, because to obtain the stimulating effects of Citrulline, you need on average 3 to 6 grams of L-Citrulline and 8 grams of Citrulline Malate! That's a lot! However, G-Fuel's concentration of Citrulline is well below the dosage needed for its effects (total of all ingredients at 1.7 grams).

Supplemental dosage of Glucoronolactone are between 500 to 3000 mg, so to be conservative, that's 0.5 grams minimum for this ingredient to be effective. Please note that G Fuel does not say how many mgs are included in their drinks, so I'm assuming they don't want to advertise the sub supplemental dosages. I'm assuming it'll be less than 0.5 grams.

Finally, N-Acetyl-Carnitine's recommended dosage to gain effects is 1500 to 2000 mg, and up to 4000 mg for depression.

Taking all these ingredients and breaking them down, the energy complex as to why G Fuel works is pure and simple Caffeine 140 to 150 mg. Again, Jet-alert is the cheaper and healthier alternative (i.e. no artificial sugars).

What can be said of the energy complex, the same can be said of G Fuel's focus complex. Again, total listed of the focus complex is a mere 1.2 grams. Like the energy complex, there's no breakdown of dosage of each ingredient in the focus complex. The ingredients here include L-Tyrosine, Choline Bitartrate, and ATP. ATP degrades through the digestion system, so ingesting ATP gets you nothing.

As for Choline Bitartrate, this study shows no acute benefits in healthy, young human adults - since we're using G Fuel for those immediate, acute effects, Choline Bitartrate does not appear to help in that situation. 

L-Tyrosine may be the only ingredient in G Fuel's energy complex that may have effects, even so L-Tyrosine had mixed results in reducing stress and improving focus. Some research showed benefits from taking L-Tyrosine, but at 500 to 2000 mg, but because there's no breakdown in G Fuel label, it's unclear if there's at least 500 mg of this ingredient in G Fuel, which I suspect is not the case. Again the total listed of all three ingredients is a mere 1.2 grams, and there's no breakdown for each ingredient!

Lastly, G Fuel notes the antioxidant complex, consisting of various fruit and vegetable powders and extracts, and given how many are listed, these might be in such small amounts that they don't have any effect. Indeed, they don't list how much of these powders are in the drink.

Let's pretend that G Fuel's combination does add up to having some antioxidant effects. You can quickly consume orange juice, or shove a handful of grapes or blueberries before stream, and have the same, or even higher antioxidant effects with less effort. No need to waste money and spend effort mixing your G Fuel powder and water!

Even so, the fact that G Fuel doesn't list how much powder and extract they use, most likely there's no antioxidant effects.

Therefore, after breaking down these ingredients, it appears that the effects of G Fuel on focus and mental energy are due to caffeine 150 mg and questionable multivitamin (per research studies). Again, you can get these extremely cheap or even free (multivitamin through insurance).

You may ask why my friend didn't feel jittery on G Fuel compared to other energy drinks? I'm suspecting it's because other energy drinks often include Guarana. G Fuel does not contain Guarana, and the other ingredients listed in G Fuel are such low dosages that you won't feel the effects except for caffeine. The combination of Guarana and caffeine in many energy drinks can make you feel jittery. I think in my case, it also caused heart racing.

The tried and true method in the above numbered list is the best way to improve energy and focus. However, if there's a day that you'll be streaming when you couldn't incorporate these healthy but boring strats, and you found G Fuel helpful, taking caffeine at 100 to 150 mg and a multivitamin will work the same. Not only that, this alternative is not only significantly cheaper than G Fuel, but healthier (no artificial sweeteners).

Conclusion: G Fuel is making a lot of money by brilliantly marketing popular Twitch streamers and professional gamers. However, you can get the same effects by taking cheap caffeine tablets (or drinking your favorite coffee beverage!) and any multivitamin. More effective yet, incorporate healthy life style changes. Don't believe the hype and save your dollars!

The How of Happiness Review

Shea Butter Variants (Monday Musings 82)

At the risk of sounding twee or like Maria Bamford's imitation of a high maintenance customer, nevertheless, I feel compelled to write about the various Shea butter types as it can help anyone with dry skin - though if you suffer from moderate to severe eczema, consult your dermatologist.

Growing up, I had extremely dry skin that during the winter months, my hands cracked with thin bleed lines. I wasn't surprised when I was diagnosed with eczema a couple of decades later.

My dermatologist recommended the extremely cost-effective petroleum jelly, i.e. Vaseline which works very well for my eczema, which is mild. I'm not sure how effective it is for those with more severe forms of eczema.

The only issue is that petroleum jelly feels horrible, so I dread taking a shower because it means putting on the Vaseline when I was initially compliant with my dermatologist's recommendation. Vaseline felt so bad that eventually I stopped using it. I'd rather deal with dry skin (only using Vaseline when I absolutely had to) then using it on a regular basis.

Because of my non-compliance with Vaseline, I had an eczema flair. Because I didn't want to use Vaseline for the rest of my life, I researched the alternatives. 100% raw and organic African Shea butter kept coming up as the best alternative, given the fact that it has antioxidants and known for its remarkable moisturizing powers - but it has to be raw to keep its healing properties, noted the many sources.

On Amazon, I was searching through raw organic Shea butters that are fair trade and has an expiration date, and I found two that met the description at the time. One of them, Amazon is no longer selling, so the second time, I bought the other brand.

The type of Shea Butter I initially bought was West African Shea butter, imported from Ghana. Because it's raw, therefore no processing, it's "clumpy" but if you warm it in your hands, it melts though there may be some smaller chunks as you apply, which is no big deal.

The feel is absolutely luxuriant, and my alligator skin felt almost like baby skin. My dermatologist even remarked how soft my skin was. In other words, the Western Shea butter works and feels better than Vaseline - not only does it feel better, but it feels wonderful. The only difference between the two is that after washing your hands 2 times you have to reapply the butter, whereas Vaseline, I only had to reapply after 4 hand washings, but that's not a problem at all.

African Shea butter is the clear winner over petroleum jelly, at least for dry to very dry/mild eczematous skin. I can't speak for moderate to severe eczema.

The issue with the West African Shea butter is that it has a rather strong odor, though once applied, the smell dissipates. However in time, it became unpleasant to me, that again, I was non-compliant. The first Shea butter expired (I probably only used it a dozen times), and same with the second Shea butter expiring, purely because of the smell. Albeit, after application, you don't smell it.

As this second Shea butter expired as well, as usual in Amazon searches, I stumbled upon an East African Shea butter (imported from Uganda) that is also 100% raw, organic and fair trade, with expiration date. This company noted that Eastern Shea butter has more nutrients than its Western counterpart, and also has a lighter smell and better absorption. Upon receiving this new Eastern variant, they were absolutely right about the much lighter smell. The smell was significantly more pleasant than the stronger smelling butter. 

This new Shea butter still has the smoky, buttery smell to it, but it's very mild, and didn't make me gag. I would say it's not pleasant but not unpleasant so I have no hesitation in slathering it on. Further, the fragrance disappears after application.

Upon application, the lovely East African Shea butter melted much easier with no clumps, and so much easier to apply as it absorbs much better than the Western variant. This is the first time that I no longer fear taking a shower (at risk of dry, itchy and painful skin) because this new Eastern Shea butter is so luxurious in feel and moisturizes phenomenally that I can take multiple showers a day and not be dry, as long as I apply this amazing butter.

However, I'm not sure about the claims that East African Shea butter is more nutrient-rich than the West African type. All I know is that experiencing both, the worse smelling one moisturizes equally well as the better smelling Shea butter. In other words, they both work equally well in moisturizing.

Both types are incredible, luxurious-feeling moisturizers - I just found the Eastern one more pleasant in smell and easier to apply.

Conclusion: You can't go wrong with either Shea Butters - though the East African Shea Butter originating from Uganda smells and applies better than the West African Shea Butter from Ghana.

The How of Happiness Review

Bimonthly Progress Report For My Twitch Channel, FuzzyJCats, July 2 to Sept 1

FuzzyJCats Twitch Channel

Now that I accomplished the most important improvement to my stream, not caring about numbers, I was able to focus on my goals listed in my last progress report during this period.  

I was getting better at talking and gaming at the same time, as it didn't quite take as much effort as before. I was able to stream without exercising just as well as before when I really had to exercise to perform.

Interestingly, as streaming seemed to be more and more natural (though not quite effortless which is where I want to end up at), I felt that near the end of the period, I actually fell into complacency, so I didn't really work on self-care issues, improving fluency, removing vocal tics and filler words, and the like.

I could tell that I was starting to become complacent around last week, because I didn't have that passion I have when I want to improve upon things. The good news is that this week, after realizing that I was almost going through the motions (albeit while streaming, I was having fun being with my community), I rediscovered that excitement and drive to work on improving my content.

I found one obvious area to improve is to have more purposeful gaming while chatting. My default strat of just moving the character around as I'm chatting just to provide some change in scenery is certainly better than nothing, i.e. having my character stand in one place. But clearly, we can do better than that!

Admittedly, the strat was a good crutch as I was getting acclimated to the multitasking, but since it's taking less effort to stream thanks to experience, I'd like to actually chat and purposefully move toward the boss, as boss fights are amongst the most exciting content.

The roadblock is that for some reason, I feel compelled to narrate what I'm doing in gaming, so if I'm moving toward a goal, I'd talk about that, as opposed to talking about more interesting subjects that my viewers present.

Therefore, I have to make a concerted effort to only talk about why I'm doing something if there's nothing else to address in chat, and I can't think of any other topics to talk about.

I feel by consciously gaming purposefully the entire stream, my streaming content will improve immensely. But by doing this, I do in fact have to exercise as that's going to take so much more mental energy than just going through the motions (that might explain why I was recently able to stream despite not exercising).

Fortunately, I exercised for the first time yesterday when my asthma was stable, and I have to make sure that I exercise regularly like I used to during the beginning of my streaming.

I also want to improve being more fluent. Due to being so excitable, my mind goes all over the place, leading to my speaking in fits and starts, and often not completing sentences. 

A great example of a streamer who is warm, friendly, constantly talks to chat, addresses and knows all of his viewers, and offers amazing gameplay the entirety of his stream is RichieTwoTeas. Although Richie's a professional streamer, and I'm a hobbyist, it helps to have a lofty goal to strive toward.

I believe that purposeful gaming and fluency are the two major improvements to focus on for my second year of streaming as achievable goals. The third improvement of community building does not appear to have concrete steps to take, but I can work on finding solutions this period. My first stream was on July 25, 2018.

Improving equipment to stream through PC using OBS greatly improves audio-visuals to a noticeable effect, so getting a decent PC and learning how to set up OBS is definitely something I'll be working on down the road.

Although I tend to do better with improving on one aspect rather than multiple, it appears that having good game content and fluency are intertwined, so it won't be "confusing" to work on both at the same time, as they are what you do when streaming.

An easy improvement I made is buying 4 season-specific sub badges through Own3D, which was rather cost-effective, and they often (always?) have 50% discounts. One set of sub badges costs $15 with the steep discounts - you get 3- 6- 9- and 12- month badges. So far, I featured the ice cream and pumpkin sub badges, and the other two will follow upon season change.

Responding to viewers have improved. I obtain logs through Chatty.

Goals Achieved:

• No longer caring about viewer numbers
• Incorporated 4 Sub Badges 
• Using Chatty

Improvement to focus on for next period:

• Purposeful gaming while chatting  and fluency = must do self-care

The How of Happiness Review

Why You Should Allow Backseat Gaming (Monday Musings 81)

FuzzyJCats Twitch Channel

Almost all streamers I've met and have immense respect are really against backseat gaming, so this post is to explore reasons why you should reconsider.

I invite backseat gaming enthusiastically because I do need help in games and I don't care if someone says to watch out for x and y even if I'm aware of those particular issues, as well as for other reasons as will be explored below.

Albeit, I don't like story spoilers because other viewers may not know what happens in the end and you really don't want to spoil things. Unfortunately, I've made mistakes during stream where I inadvertently divulged which I then have to apologize.

Of course, I'm not talking about allowing toxic backseat gaming where your viewers are saying that you're a complete loser and waste of space because you missed a secret in game, or other hateful statements. 

Rather, I'm talking about the kind of backseat gaming when your viewers are very excited and enthusiastic about the game and offer tips and suggestions, which then spark a discussion in the community about best weapons, best builds and other gaming matters. This may lead to much needed conversational threads and sense of camaraderie amongst your viewers, since dead air is a death knell.

When new viewers come in and see friendly exchanges about the game in chat, they see that the stream is active and "not dead", and might even join in the lively conversation because they may feel compelled to put in their own two cents.

Now, if you're streaming just for the hobby and you don't care at all about viewers or streaming income, and you absolutely can't stand back seating, by all means, do prohibit it in your streams and ban/timeout anyone who doesn't follow your rules.

However, if you're interested in growing your channel and wanting to get some pocket money from your streaming endeavors, I would consider not just allowing backseat gaming, but perhaps even encouraging.

The key objection to backseat gaming is that it spoils the experience for you as a streamer, but the point is, you're streaming for your audience, not for yourself! Recall that streaming is a form of entertainment.

Another reason is that subconsciously, the streamer wants to figure things out which will make them seem clever to the community to stroke your own ego, but who cares? I found by listening and understanding others (rather than trying to impress by seeming clever and accomplished), people have found me "fun".

I'm emphatically not being a home body, but because I spend hours asking questions about their favorite subjects, such as their children (even as my eyes glaze over, I hate to admit), they enjoy talking to me.

That's not to compliment myself, because the reality is, people want to be seen and heard, and if you give them the platform, they find you absolutely charming.

Next time at a party of strangers, just listen and ask pertinent questions, that person will find you riveting and will talk to you for hours if you let them - they will never make a questionable excuse that they have to go home and feed their cats. Don't be surprised if that person tells their friend that they would like to get to know you better.

Why do people backseat game? There are many reasons, but the main one is because they're very enthusiastic about the game and want to show how much they know, as people want to be seen as intelligent, knowledgeable and helpful, even as backseat gaming grates on almost everyone's nerves. People love to show off and/or share their knowledge and expertise.

Next, what is the purpose of entertaining an audience, of which streaming is a form? People engage in entertainment to have fun and feel good. What better way to do that by allowing your audience to actively participate, and hence feeling good about themselves for being smart, helpful and capable!

Often, when I ask my community what to do in a particular situation or how to get to a certain location due to my horrific sense of directions, they always give me superb advice which adds to chat content.

By telling your viewers how helpful and intelligent they are - and you're not lying because they are exceedingly astute since they also play these games, often spending hundreds to thousands of hours - they feel good about themselves and a sense of accomplishment. Though I think I exhausted some of my viewers when they were giving me directions, so perhaps something I have to dial down in the future. But in general, viewers do enjoy being seen as smart.

The exciting thing is that through the power of backseat gaming, my community literally pushed me through half of Borderlands 2, which is no small feat, given I never succeeded in any FPS! At that time, I could complete Borderlands 2 but it was too mentally exhausting for me to stream since I was inexperienced. Even so, I know I can beat the game off-stream (or even while streaming when I gain more experience) thanks to my lovely community.

The other good thing about allowing backseat gaming is that no one likes to follow rules - freedom here is the key - so if you have a long list of don'ts, it can led to a sense of suffocation. Then there's the inevitable backlash where they do exactly what you don't want them too.

So often, when you hear someone say "Whatever you do, don't touch that",  you're going to want to touch said offensive object, even if in one million years, you'd never think of touching it.

As for objections, I'm sure streamers feel that if they allow backseat gaming, everyone will tell the streamer what to do and the chat will be a chaotic mess. This is actually good since Twitch specifically looks for engaged and active chats! This is Partnership material!

However, don't get excited, because the reverse is true. There are times when I'm practically begging chat to help me find a way, but because they're used to the general etiquette of backseat gaming = bad, they only relent after quite a lengthy period of time, when I'm tearing out my hair.

The other objection I can see is that other viewers might be annoyed with the advice and tips, but at the same time, they can ignore reading the chat comments. They're not forced to be glued to their seats, eyes trained on your chat box.

However, if your community is reasonable, another one of your viewers (maybe a new one) will invariably chime in that there is yet another way to get there, as well as tease you for bad sense of directions. The dialogue tends to go into other intricacies of the game that foster further comments, which is a must if you want to obtain partnership.

Another reasonable objection is that by stumbling about and the community seeing you figure out things your own way could be entertaining, so backseat gaming will prevent that. Again, because the ethos is backseat gaming = bad, even as I'm encouraging my chat to tell me what to do, crickets are chirping until I flounder for up to 30 minutes, maybe for even longer.

Even so, you can thank the viewer and mention that's very smart, but then mention, you'll try it this other way. This is where you can be clever, by finding another solution then what is recommended, in effect showing off your creativity!

The last objection I can think of is what if your viewers are toxic about backseat gaming? Well, timeout or ban said viewer, exactly as you do for any other type of toxic comments on chat, whether it's bigoted remarks, insulting others, or what not.

I can't think of any further issues or problems in empowering your community to give out advice and tips, only positive ones.

What about you? Do you agree, or do you see pitfalls?

The How of Happiness Review