| Tuesday 17th April 2007 |
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Clearing Your Password from Internet Browsers Most web browsers allow to you to store your passwords for various websites logins. But there are times when you feel that somewhat you have compromised your security. Here are various tricks on how to clear your passwords, depending on the type of your web browsers; Internet Explorer 7 (latest version): Click Tools > Delete Browsing History > Delete Passwords. Click Yes if you’re absolutely sure that this is what you want to do. Internet Explorer (older versions): Click Tools > Internet Options. In the Content tab, click Auto Complete, then hit Clear Passwords button. Click OK if you’re absolutely sure that this is what you want to do. Firefox 2.0 and later: There are few ways you can do this, but I found the easiest is to hold down the Ctrl + Shift + Del keys together. From here you just choose whichever you wish to clear, including passwords. Click Clear Private Data Now when you’re absolutely sure that this is what you want to do. Firefox (older versions): Go to Tools > Options > Privacy, choose the Saved Passwords, then hit Clear button when you’re absolutely sure that this is what you want to do. From Alfa Computers. |
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Researchers Demonstrate ’Nano Generators’ Late last week, researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology demonstrated a new nanometer-scale generator that they claim can produce a continuous flow of electricity by harvesting energy from things like ultrasonic waves, mechanical vibrations, and even blood flow. More |
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Microsoft patches Vista bug that snuck through beta Microsoft Tuesday unveiled the second stage of its April security updates by releasing five security bulletins that patched eight vulnerabilities -- including one that was missed during the company’s Windows Vista beta testing and ended up in the final version of the new operating system. More |
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Disaster recovery worst practices: Don’t perform backups on a regular schedule More |
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Wikipedia ’broken beyond repair’ says co-founder The co-founder of Wikipedia has said the site is ‘broken beyond repair’ and criticised its supporters... More |
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The Google and Yahoo search bars can be used as a calculator! Also, in Google and Yahoo, just type in your phone number or your business phone number and you will find yourself or your business and address. Can save a lot of time when needing an address. Also, when typing in a web address, instead of typing “www....." just type it in and you get a search when you hit enter. If you type in the web address without the “www" and hit “CTRL ENTER", it fills in the www for you and you go to the web address instead of searching for those words. |
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New bug reported in Windows Help Files Microsoft is investigating a possible heap-overflow vulnerability that was recently disclosed, along with proof-of-concept code... More |
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Clear the Recently Run Programs List A reader writes: “How can I clear the list of recently run programs that appears when you click the Start button and then click Run? This is an important concern for me because I do not want the end users in my company to be able to access this list." answer |
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Microsoft’s Internet do or die Can Microsoft get its online services strategy right? To stay relevant, it has to. More |
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How to tell if your credit card information is being securely handled by a web site: here |
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3 Reasons to Go Organic By Jon Herring Most people who eat naturally raised meats and organic produce do so to avoid pesticides and antibiotics and because these foods are more nutrient-rich than conventional meat and produce. But there is another important reason: to avoid genetically modified organisms (GMO). If you eat processed food - particularly foods that contain corn, soy, canola, or their derivatives - you are almost certainly consuming genetically modified ingredients. Not surprisingly, the industry behind these products claims that the technology offers vast benefits, poses no health risk, and has never been shown to contaminate the environment. The record suggests anything but. In numerous cases, modified genes from genetically modified crops have mixed with wild plants and created herbicide-resistant “superweeds." But that’s not all. At least seven independent studies have shown that genetically engineered food can cause skin lesions, allergic reactions, cancers, altered blood chemistry, and diminished organ size. And in a recent animal study, published in the Archives of Environmental Contamination and Technology, rats developed liver and kidney toxicity when they were fed a genetically modified type of corn (one that has been approved for human consumption). There is certainly the potential for benefits to come from the scientific innovations associated with genetic modification. But there is also significant potential for risk. So don’t be a guinea pig. Whenever possible, choose whole foods, organic produce, naturally raised meats, and wild fish. From the http://www.earlytorise.com newsletter [Early to Rise Copyright ETR, LLC, 2007] If you’d like to subscribe to Early to Rise or suggest it to a friend, please visit: here |
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Sugar: Major Factor For Cancer A study of more than 60,000 people confirms that sugary foods increase your cancer risk. More |
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SODIUM BICARABONATE - part 2 of 2 Baking Soda and pH Levels Dr. Thomas P. Kennedy American Medical Association Because sodium bicarbonate has long been known and is widely used, it has many other names including sodium hydrogen carbonate, sodium bicarb, baking soda, bread soda, cooking soda, bicarb soda, saleratus or bicarbonate of soda. It is soluble in water. This white solid is crystalline but often appears as a fine powder. It has a slight alkaline taste resembling that of sodium carbonate. It is a component of the mineral natron and is found dissolved in many mineral springs. It is also produced artificially. World wide production is on the scale of 100,000 ton/year. Sodium bicarbonate is primarily used in cooking (baking) where it reacts with other components to release carbon dioxide, that helps dough “rise." It is commonly used to increase the pH and total alkalinity of the water for pools and spas. Sodium bicarbonate can be added as a simple solution for restoring the pH balance of water that has a high level of chlorine. It is sometimes used in septic tanks to control pH and bacteria. Sodium bicarbonate-rich mineral water in conjunction with a low-salt diet may have a beneficial effect on calcium homeostasis.[xiii] Distilled water is not safe, it lacks bicarbonates and minerals and yes, it is acid forming to the body. Yet it is an excellent aid in detoxification and chelation for its purity pulls on toxicities in the body. Part of the reason why our body is acid is that it lacks enough bicarbonate necessary to neutralize the acid. Whenever the water lacks the proper bicarbonates to neutralize the water in distilled water your body basically becomes a little more acid. But we can easily treat distilled or reverse osmosis water by adding bicarbonate and magnesium and perhaps even some sodium thiosulfate. (The art and science of water treatment will be covered in The Waters of Life, another IMVA publication due out later this year. The conscious use of water favorably increases medical outcomes, often it even determines the prognosis. You cannot separate out hydration from pH. Dehydration would certainly push the body toward acidity.) pH of the blood is the most important factor to determine the state of the microorganisms in the blood. The native chemical and physical properties of sodium bicarbonate account for its wide range of applications, including cleaning, deodorizing, buffering, and fire extinguishing. Sodium bicarbonate neutralizes odors chemically, rather than masking or absorbing them. Consequently, it is used in bath salts and deodorant body powders. Sodium bicarbonate tends to maintain a pH of 8.1 (7 is neutral) even when acids, which lower pH, or bases, which raise pH, are added to the solution. Its ability to tabletize makes it a good effervescent ingredient in antacids and denture cleaning products. Sodium bicarbonate is also found in some anti-plaque mouthwash products and toothpaste. Sodium bicarbonate also is indicated in severe diarrhea which is often accompanied by a significant loss of bicarbonate. Vigorous bicarbonate therapy is required in any form of metabolic acidosis where a rapid increase in plasma total CO2 content is crucial - e.g. cardiac arrest, circulatory insufficiency due to shock or severe dehydration, and in severe primary lactic acidosis or severe diabetic acidosis. Sodium Bicarbonate Injection, USP is administered by the intravenous route. In cardiac arrest, a rapid intravenous dose of one to two 50 mL vials (44.6 to 100 mEq) may be given initially and continued at a rate of 50 mL (44.6 to 50 mEq) every 5 to 10 minutes if necessary (as indicated by arterial pH and blood gas monitoring) to reverse the acidosis. Caution should be observed in emergencies where very rapid infusion of large quantities of bicarbonate is indicated. Bicarbonate solutions are hypertonic and may produce an undesirable rise in plasma sodium concentration in the process. of correcting the metabolic acidosis. In cardiac arrest, however, the risks from acidosis exceed those of hypernatremia. In the current system, if a promising compound can’t be patented, it is highly unlikely ever to make it to market - no matter how well it performs in the laboratory or in emergency room situations. The hormone melatonin,[xiv] sold as an inexpensive food supplement in the United States, has repeatedly been shown to slow the growth of various cancers when used in conjunction with conventional treatments. Dr. Paolo Lissoni, another Italian oncologist has written many articles about this hormone and conducted clinical trials. But he has despaired over the pharmaceutical industry’s total lack of interest in his treatment approach. We need a new approach to fight cancer, one that will work safely and effectively since the majority of us are now destined to have to suffer through cancer at one point or another in our lives. The situation in the field of oncology is horrendous and in the area of childhood oncology they have earned their place in the book The Terror of Pediatric Medicine, (which one can download as a free e-book.) Most people today cringe at the idea of finding a cancer then slashing, burning and poisoning it to smithereens. Most would agree that the mainstream cancer approach offers only marginal benefits at best, and providers push screening and aggressive treatment in part because they have nothing else to give, and also because it’s very profitable. If the body’s cellular metabolism and pH is balanced it is susceptible to little illness or disease. Since 1971, when President Nixon declared war on cancer, the budget of the National Cancer Institute has increased to $4.8 billion from half a billion and cancer rates are still going up. For most of the past half-century, medical treatment of invasive tumors like those of the breast and colon has relied mainly on drugs, radiation or both, in effect carpet-bombing the DNA of cancer cells. These highly toxic treatments do not address the root causes of cancer and are extremely dangerous medical approaches involving the highest risks. The great variety of cancers must reflect a fundamental mechanism by which the disease arises, one that has not been so clearly apparent until now. Though allopathic medicine already uses sodium bicarbonate it will not any day soon turn to its own arsenal of already available safe and inexpensive medications like sodium bicarbonate or magnesium chloride. The medical industrial complex seems unwilling to change its views on cancer so patients will need to quietly ask their doctors for intravenous bicarbonate without specifying it as a substance they want to use to cure their cancer. It will be easier to find someone if one approaches with a need to treat acidic conditions than the actual cancer. Few doctors are willing to risk their licenses so it is better not to put them in an uncomfortable situation that they cannot control. The closer the pH is to 7.35 - 7.45, the higher our level of health and well being and our ability to resist states of disease. Sadly this does not address the need for the use of catheters which target tumors more directly thus pushing us toward a more complete protocol that will target cancer in a more general and comprehensive way. This needs to be done anyway because killing the tumor with a rush of alkalinity that provokes an oxygen rush into the cells will not prevent the condition from reoccurring. Though we can think that acidity is a basic cause of cancer a more basic cause is addressed when we look at what leads to the acidic conditions that are so prevalent in our bodies today. Sodium bicarbonate is an anti-fungin substance that is very diffusible and thus very effective. Dr Tullio Simoncini says, “It is useful to consider the extreme sensitivity of fungi to saline and electrolytic solutions. These solutions, because of their extreme capacity for diffusion, are able to reach all the myceliar biological expressions, including the most infinitesimal ones. Salts and bicarbonates, by making the “terrain" completely inorganic, eliminates the slightest organic fonts that fungi could use for nourishment. In this context, sodium bicarbonate, which is currently used in children’s oral candidoses, appears to be a simple and handy weapon capable of uprooting, inhibiting, or attenuating any neoplastic formation wherever it is possible to easily apply it. Cancer is actually a four-letter word ACID, especially lactic acid as a waste product due to the low oxygen level and waste products of yeast and fungus. For centuries, medicated baths have been one of the first lines of treatment for psoriasis. Even today, with sophisticated immuno-suppressive treatments available, Dead Sea salts and spa waters are recognized to be beneficial in the management of psoriatic patients. To assess statistically the efficacy of sodium bicarbonate baths in psoriasis patients, thirty-one patients with mild-moderate psoriasis were studied. Almost all patients who used NaHCO3- reported a statistically valuable improvement. NaHCO3- baths reduced itchiness and irritation; in general, the patients themselves recognized a beneficial impact on their psoriasis, so much so that they have continued to bathe in NaHCO3- even after the end of the study. [xv] Sodium bicarbonate therapy is harmless, fast and effective because it is extremely diffusible. A therapy with bicarbonate for cancer should be set up with strong dosage, continuously, and with pauseless cycles in a destruction work which should proceed from the beginning to the end without interruption for at least 7-8 days. In general a mass of 2-3-4 centimetres will begin to consistently regress from the third to the fourth day, and collapses from the fourth to the fifth. Generally speaking, the maximum limit of the dosage that can be administered in a session gravitates around 500 cc of sodium bicarbonate at five per cent solution, with the possibility of increasing or decreasing the dosage by 20 per cent in function of the body mass of the individual to be treated and in the presence of multiple localisations upon which to apportion a greater quantity of salts, instructs Dr Simoncini. In the early stages of acidic pH in the body’s tissues, the warning symptoms are mild. These include such things as skin eruptions, headaches, allergies, colds, flu and sinus problems. These symptoms are frequently treated (manipulated) with antibiotic drugs and suppressive medications. The longer and the deeper we become acidic the more our illness takes hold so it’s best to fight acidic conditions early on and in every presenting clinical situation. Certainly a highly toxic drug like anti viral Tamiflu won’t do a fraction of the job sodium bicarbonate will do especially if it’s combined with magnesium chloride and iodine as well as high levels of vitamin C. In late stages of acidic pH we need to turn to the most alkaline minerals to increase our throw weight of alkalinity into cancer cells. Mass spectrographic and isotope studies have shown that potassium, rubidium, and especially cesium are most efficiently taken up by cancer cells. This uptake was enhanced by Vitamins A and C as well as salts of zinc and selenium. The quantity of cesium taken up was sufficient to raise the cell to the 8 pH range. [xvi] There seems little grace left in medicine and it is a disgrace that allopathic medicine does not even use its own emergency medicines, proven heavies like magnesium sulfate and chloride, sodium bicarbonate and iodine to anywhere near a thousandth of a percent of their real medical potentials. Combining pH shift with Heat In the opening paragraph of this chapter we mentioned killing cancer cells with lasers, with heat. "Give me a chance to create fever and I will cure any disease." Parmenides 2000 years ago Fever is one of the body’s own defensive and healing forces, created and sustained for the deliberate purpose of restoring health. The high temperature speeds up metabolism, inhibits the growth of the invading virus or bacteria, and literally burns the enemy with heat. Fever is an effective protective and healing measure not only against colds and simple infections, but against such serious diseases as polio and cancer. The idea of destroying cancer with heat is certainly not new and has been widely accepted for a very long time, but has had very limited applications because it was finally concluded that, in order to ensure destruction of the cancerous growth, it is necessary to reach a temperature deadly to healthy cells as well. Many attempts have been made to bypass this problem and some methodologies have been developed like: localized hyperthermia, laserthermia, radio-fractionated hyperthermia and TTT. But they all have limitations and cannot complete the job, because they cannot achieve total necrosis and, unless the entire mass of neoplastic tissue is destroyed, the cancer will continue to grow. But: Hyperthermia gives cancer a hard time: 1. removing accumulations of stored toxic chemicals that cause cancer 2. improving circulation so that tissues are both nourished with oxygen and flushed of acidic metabolic wastes 3. weakening or even killing cancer cells that have a lower tolerance for heat than healthy cells. Thus we should easily conclude that far-infrared sauna treatments are going to help a cancer sufferer no matter which way we slice the treatment protocol. But for a more targeted heat to kill cancer tumors we have Dr. Antonella Carpenter who has perfected the treatment of cancer cells with heat through her use of lasers. She generates the death of the cells by suffocation via heat. Dr Carpenter, a physicist with a clinic in Little Rock, says, “As long as the entire neoplastic mass is exposed to the laser light, for the correct amount of time, the success is complete and the results, as well as the healing stages, are always the same." Her cancer treatment is called Light Induced Enhanced Selective Hyperthermia, which in itself pretty much summarizes all the characteristics of this new therapy. With this form of treatment cancer cells reach a deadly temperature level quickly and are subject to irreversible damage and therefore die, either immediately or within 48 hours. In a separate chapter we will be talking about hyperthermia in another context, that of the hot bathtub which we will learn to fill with healing substances like sodium bicarbonate. We will be creating our own hot springs, healing pools that will do wonders for our health. Medical treatments of the first order can be had right inside your very own bathtub. Mark Sircus Ac., OMD Director International Medical Veritas Association http://www.imva.info http://www.magnesiumforlife.com director@imva.info International Medical Veritas Association Copyright 2007 All rights reserved. IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: The communication in this email is intended for informational purposes only. Nothing in this email is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. To unsubscribe write to director@imva.info [i] More [ii] Enhancement of chemotherapy by manipulation of tumour pH. Raghunand N, He X, van Sluis R, Mahoney B, Baggett B, Taylor CW, Paine-Murrieta G, Roe D, Bhujwalla ZM, Gillies RJ. Arizona Cancer Center, Tucson 85724-5024, USA. [iii] Enhancement of chemotherapy by manipulation of tumour pH. Raghunand N, He X, van Sluis R, Mahoney B, Baggett B, Taylor CW, Paine-Murrieta G, Roe D, Bhujwalla ZM, Gillies RJ. Arizona Cancer Center. [iv] Jerome B. Westin and Elihu Richter, “The Israeli Breast-Cancer Anomaly," in Devra Lee Davis and David Hoel, editors, TRENDS IN CANCER MORTALITY IN INDUSTRIAL COUNTRIES (New York: New York Academy of Sciences, 1990), pgs. 269-279. Following public outcry, Israel banned these chemicals from being used on feed for dairy cows and cattle. Over the next ten years, the rate of breast cancer deaths in Israel declined sharply, with a 30% drop in mortality for women under 44 years of age, and an 8% overall decline. At the same time, all other known cancer risks--alcohol consumption, fat intake, lack of fruits and vegetables in the diet--increased significantly. During this period, worldwide death rates from cancer increased by 4%. The only answer scientists could find to explain this was the reduced level of environmental toxins. [v] More [vi] Resuscitation outcome in emergency medical systems with increased usage of sodium bicarbonate during cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Bar, Joseph G et al; Acta Anaesthesiol Scand. 2005 Jan;49(1):6 Entrez PubMed [vii] With the aim to reach the maximum effect, sodium bicarbonate should be administered directly on the neoplastic masses which are susceptible of regression only by destroying the fungal colonies. This is possible by the selective arteriography (the visualisation through instrumentation of specific arteries) and by the positioning of the arterial port-a-cath (these devices are small basins used to join the catheter). These methods allow the positioning of a small catheter directly in the artery that nourishes the neoplastic mass, allowing the administration of high dosages of sodium bicarbonate in the deepest recesses of the organism. With this method, it is possible to reach almost all organs; they can be treated and can benefit from a therapy with bicarbonate salts which is harmless, fast, and effective - with only the exception of some bone areas such as vertebrae and ribs, where the scarce arterial irrigation does not allow sufficient dosage to reach the targets. Selective arteriography therefore represents a very powerful weapon against fungi that can always be used against neoplasias, firstly because it is painless and leaves no after effects, secondly because the risks are very low. [viii] Oncol Nurs Forum. 2002 Aug;29(7):1063-80. A research review of the current treatments for radiation-induced oral mucositis in patients with head and neck cancer. Shih A, Miaskowski C, Dodd MJ, Stotts NA, MacPhail [ix] These include, Benzotropines (valium) cyclic antidepressants (amytriptayine), organophosphates, methanol (Methyl alcohol is a cheap and potent adulterant of illicit liquors) Diphenhydramine (Benedryl), Beta blockers (propanalol) Barbiturates, and Salicylates (Aspirin). Poisoning by drugs that block voltage-gated sodium channels produces intraventricular conduction defects, myocardial depression, bradycardia, and ventricular arrhythmias. Human and animal reports suggest that hypertonic sodium bicarbonate may be effective therapy for numerous agents possessing sodium channel blocking properties, including cocaine, quinidine, procainamide, flecainide, mexiletine, bupivacaine, and others. [x] Patient safety incidents in U.S. hospitals increased by three percent overall from 2003 to 2005, and the error gap between the nation’s best and worst-performing hospitals remained wide. America’s top rated centers had 40 percent lower rates of medical errors than the poorest-performing hospitals, the study showed. The fourth annual HealthGrades Patient Safety in American Hospitals Study, put out by HealthGrades, an independent health care ratings company, examined over 40 million Medicare hospitalization records at almost 5,000 hospitals from 2003 to 2005. More [xi] A study of the acidosis, blood urea, and plasma chlorides in uranium nephritis in the dog, and the protective action of sodium bicarbonate. The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Vol 25, 693-719, Copyright, 1917, by The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research New York More [xii] JAMA 2004;291:2328-2334,2376-2377. More [xiii] Effect of sodium chloride- and sodium bicarbonate-rich mineral water on blood pressure and metabolic parameters in elderly normotensive individuals: a randomized double-blind crossover trial. J Hypertens. 1996 Jan;14(1):131-5. Department of Internal Medicine, Universitatsklinikum Benjamin Franklin, Free University of Berlin, Germany. [xiv] One of the most important supplements for the breast cancer patient is high doses of the hormone melatonin at bedtime. Melatonin blocks estrogen receptors somewhat similarly to the drug tamoxifen without the long-term side effects of tamoxifen. Further, when melatonin and tamoxifen are combined, synergistic benefits occur. Melatonin can be safely taken for an indefinite period of time. The suggested dose of melatonin for breast cancer patients is 3 mg to 50 mg at bedtime. Caution: Although melatonin is strongly recommended for breast cancer patients, interleukin-2 (IL-2), which often is combined with melatonin, should be avoided by breast cancer patients. IL-2 may promote breast cancer cell division. More [xv] Old fashioned sodium bicarbonate baths for the treatment of psoriasis in the era of futuristic biologics: An old ally to be rescued; Journal of Dermatological Treatment; Volume 16, Number 1/February 2005 [xvi] “A mass spectrographic analysis of cancer cells showed that the cell membrane readily attached cesium, rubidium and potassium, and transmitted these elements with their associated molecules into the cancer cell. In contrast cancer membranes did not transmit sodium, magnesium, and calcium into the cell: the amount of calcium within a cancer cell is only about 1% of that for normal cells. Potassium transports glucose into the cell. Calcium and magnesium transport oxygen into the cell. As a consequence of the above, oxygen cannot enter cancer cells so the glucose which is normally burned to carbon dioxide and water undergoes fermentation to form lactic acid within the cell. This anaerobic condition was pointed out by Warburg, as early as 1924. Potassium, and especially rubidium and cesium are the most basic of the elements. When they are taken up by the cancer cells they will thus raise the pH of the cells. Since they are very strong bases as compared to the weak lactic acid it is possible that the pH will be raised to values in the 8.5 to 9 range. In this range the life of the cancer cell is short, being a matter of days at the most. The dead cancer cells are then absorbed by the body fluids and eventually eliminated from the system." - Dr. Brewer More |
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"It is exercise alone that supports the spirits and keeps the mind in vigor." - Marcus Tullius Cicero Two Fitness Disasters That Are Threatening Your Health By Al Sears, MD Finally, The New York Times has turned critical of cardiovascular endurance exercise and aerobics, the two big fitness trends of the last three decades. But they’re still missing the big picture. Cardio will not protect your heart, and aerobics makes your lungs shrink. These are not your best exercise strategies to get lean, and both accelerate several negative consequences of aging and cause other health problems. "Whatever Happened to Jane Fonda in Tights?" was the title of one of two critical articles that recently ran in the Times. But instead of revealing the real problem with aerobics, it focused on aerobics instructors who developed joint injuries from too much jumping around. Though overuse injuries are a common side effect of aerobic workouts, the real problem with aerobics is that it’s designed to keep you in your “aerobic zone." And if you want to keep fat off without starving and extend your “healthspan" (the number of years you can remain active, vigorous, and self-reliant) by pumping up your heart and lungs, you have to exercise beyond your current aerobic capacity. Move Beyond Aerobics and Train Your “High-Energy Output System" Aerobic means “with oxygen." So your aerobic metabolism combines oxygen with carbohydrate or fat to make energy. Because walking is not a strenuous activity, you have plenty of oxygen available to make enough energy to do it. That is why you could walk for hours. But let’s say you start sprinting. You can’t sustain that high output of energy with oxygen alone. So that’s the point at which your anaerobic system kicks in. When you’re using both aerobic and anaerobic energy production, you’re training your high-energy output system. This is also known as “crossing your aerobic threshold." By exercising in your supra-aerobic zone and building your high-energy output system, you build your lung volume. When you push yourself to the point of needing to stop and pant, you’ve asked your lungs for more oxygen than they’re able to provide at that moment. That triggers your body to increase your lung volume to be better prepared for the next time it encounters that same challenge. As I told you in my ETR article “The Aerobics Craze - a Monumental Mistake," lung capacity is the best predictor of longevity - hands down. Simply stated, the bigger your lungs, the longer you live. Yet, unless we do something to prevent it, we all lose lung volume with age. By the time you’re 70, you’ve lost about 50 percent of your lung capacity. That is why training your high-energy output system and signaling your body to build lung capacity is so critical. If all you do is aerobic exercise, you’ll make that loss even worse. At the end of the day, you’ll have two forces working against you: time and aerobic training. For a Strong Heart, Heed This Lesson Aerobics is not the only fitness disaster threatening your health. Duration cardio like jogging and treadmill workouts are probably worse. There’s finally a body of clinical evidence to support what I’ve been telling my patients for two decades. Long-distance workouts - especially marathons - traumatize your heart and mimic the effects of heart disease. The New York Times took a step toward exposing this problem with an article called “Is Marathoning Too Much of a Good Thing for Your Heart?" But, as they did with their article on aerobics, they missed the big picture. I began to investigate the dangers of durational workouts 20 years ago. During a marathon race where I was working at an emergency aid station, I saw two runners drop to their knees in cardiac distress. In 2006 alone, at least six runners lost their lives in marathons in the U.S. In March, two police officers, one 53 years old and the other 60, died of heart attacks at the Los Angeles Marathon. Three runners in their early 40s all had fatal heart attacks during marathons in Chicago, San Francisco, and the Twin Cities. And at the October Marine Corps Marathon, a 56-year-old man collapsed at the 17-mile marker, never to recover. We’re Finally Catching On to the Problem With Marathon Running Dr. Arthur Siegel, director of internal medicine at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard University, has authored more than two dozen studies on runners of the Boston marathon. For one of those studies, published in October 2001 in the American Journal of Cardiology, he drew blood samples from 80 middle-aged male runners - one sample just before, one sample immediately following, and a third sample the day after the marathon. The results: Twenty-four hours after the race, the men - none of whom had any history of heart disease - exhibited early-stage signs of cardiac damage similar to the symptoms that appear during a heart attack. In a more recent study, published in the November issue of Circulation, Dr. Siegel and his colleagues from Massachusetts General Hospital tested 60 runners (41 men and 19 women) before and after the 2004 and 2005 Boston Marathons. Each runner had a cardiogram to look for abnormalities in heart rhythm. They were also checked for evidence of cardiac problems in their blood. Troponin, a protein found in cardiac muscle cells, was used as a marker of cardiac damage. If the heart is traumatized, troponin shows up in the blood. Its presence is also used to determine whether heart damage was sustained during a heart attack. The runners had normal cardiac function before the marathon, with no signs of troponin in their blood. Twenty minutes after finishing, 60 percent of the group had elevated troponin levels and 40 percent had levels high enough to indicate the destruction of heart muscle cells. In addition, most had noticeable changes in heart rhythm. Dr. Siegel said, “Their hearts appeared to have been stunned." Bingo! During long-duration exercise, your heart is under constant stress with no time to recover. If it goes on long enough, your heart is traumatized and your body reacts by triggering a wave of inflammation. Inflammation is a natural response by your body to initiate repairs. But if you trigger it recurrently and purposely as a result of exercise, you induce chronic inflammation of your heart and blood vessels - putting you on the fast track to heart disease. In fact, in The Doctor’s Heart Cure, I showed that inflammation, NOT cholesterol, is actually the leading mechanism of heart disease. Dr. Siegel concluded that running a marathon causes injury to the skeletal muscles, which, in his words, “sets off a cascade of inflammation in the body." In a related study at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, men who had completed at least five marathons were given an advanced type of heart screening called a spiral CT scan, which measures the amount of calcium plaque buildup in the arteries. The researchers found that about 35 percent of the marathon runners had significant buildup in their arteries - indicating they were at higher risk for a heart attack. Only 22 percent of non-marathon runners in a control group had the same amount of blockage. Sidestep This Trap and Exercise Naturally You may think that running a marathon is good for you because it gives your heart endurance training that will keep it going far into your old age. But don’t forget that your heart was designed by nature to beat for a lifetime. So what it needs is not endurance training but a signal to build and maintain capacity. It’s that reserve of extra power that will help get it through times of stress that challenge maximal output and cause heart attacks. You can build up your heart’s reserve capacity in as little as 10 minutes a day. By gradually increasing your exertion and following that with focused recovery - the basis of my PACE (Progressively Accelerating Cardiopulmonary Exertion) program - you build both your heart and your lung power. Here is a simple starting program to grow your cardiopulmonary power by using an elliptical trainer. (You can substitute any exercise that challenges your heart and lungs.) Set the trainer to manual and warm up for two minutes at 50 RPMs and a resistance level of 2. During your warm-up, gradually increase the speed to what feels like a 5 out of 10 exertion level. (For me, that’s about 75 RPMs.) Then increase the resistance by two levels every minute until you start to breathe hard or reach an 8 or 9 out of 10 exertion level. (For me, that means working up to a resistance level of about 14, which takes about five minutes. One minute at 4, one at 6, one at 8, one at 10, and one at 12.) Now decrease the resistance to a level of 2 and watch as your heart rate recovers. If you’ve entered your supra-aerobic zone, your heart rate will continue to climb a bit during the first few seconds of this recovery period. That tells you your heart is paying back the oxygen debt you created, signaling your lungs to grow in capacity. When you’ve recovered to a heart rate within 20 beats of the resting heart rate where you began, you’re done. Go hit the shower. Do this three times a week. Remember, if you have medical problems, check with your doctor before starting any new exercise. And don’t forget the first principle of PACE: “progressivity." Always start out easy and gradually increase your exertion, week by week. [Ed. Note: Pump up your energy and productivity, start burning more fat, and protect your heart against heart attacks with Dr. Sears’ PACE program. For more information, click here.] From the http://www.earlytorise.com newsletter [Early to Rise Copyright ETR, LLC, 2007] If you’d like to subscribe to Early to Rise or suggest it to a friend, please visit: here |
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Fifty Percent of World’s Languages Have Been Lost in Last Six Years In all, 3,000 languages are no longer being taught to children, and much of value is vanishing along with them. More |
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Top scientist debunks global warming By Simon Kirby April 11, 2007 12:00 Article from: AAP MANKIND is naive to think it can influence climate change, according to a prize-winning Australian geologist. Solar activity is a greater driver of climate change than man-made carbon dioxide, argues Ian Plimer, Professor of Mining Geology at the University of Adelaide and winner of several notable science prizes. "When meteorologists can change the weather then we can start to think about humans changing climate," Prof Plimer said. "I think we really are a little bit naive to think we can change astronomical and solar processes." Speaking tonight after presenting his theory for the first time, to the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy in Sydney, Prof Plimer said he had researched the history of the sun, solar and supernovae activity and had been able to correlate global climates with solar activity. "But correlations don’t mean anything, you really need a causation," Prof Plimer said. So he then examined how cosmic radiation builds up clouds. A very active sun blows away the cosmic radiation, while a less active sun allows radiation to build up, he said. "So you can very much tie in temperature, cloud formation, cosmic radiation and the sun," he said. The next part of Prof Plimer’s research was to examine the sources of carbon dioxide. He said he found that about 0.1 per cent of the atmospheric carbon dioxide was due to human activity and much of the rest due to little-understood geological phenomena. Prof Plimer also argued El Nino and La Nina were caused by major processes of earthquake activity and volcanic activity in the mid-ocean ridges, rather than any increase in greenhouse gases. Nor does the melting of polar ice have anything to do with man-made carbon dioxide, he said. "Great icebergs come off, not due to temperature change but due to the physics of ice and the flow of ice," Prof Plimer said. "There’s a lag, so that if temperature rises, carbon dioxide rises 800 years later. "If ice falls into the ocean in icebergs that’s due to processes thousands of years ago. On the same basis, changes to sea level and temperature are also unrelated to anything happening today, he said. "It is extraordinarily difficult to argue that human-induced carbon dioxide has any effect at all," he said. Prof Plimer added that as the planet was already at the maximum absorbance of energy of carbon dioxide, any more would have no greater effect. There had even been periods in history with hundreds of times more atmospheric carbon dioxide than now with “no problem", he said. The professor, a member of the Australian Skeptics, an organisation devoted to debunking pseudo-scientific claims, denied his was a minority view. "You’d be very hard pushed to find a geologist that would differ from my view," he said. He said bad news was more fashionable now than good and that people had an innate tendency to want to be a little frightened. But Prof Plimer conceded the politics of greenhouse gas emissions meant that attention was being given to energy efficiency, which he supported. The professor, who is writing a book on the subject, said he only used validated scientific data, published in reputable peer-reviewed refereed journals, as the basis of his theories. |
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Draft of a news article written following Bakhtiari’s assertion of peak oil in 2007 followed by a 33% decline by 2020: Economic Growth To End Soon - Forever Peak Oil is the idea that the world’s oil production will soon reach a peak and then begin to decline. This will have epoch-changing effects on a growing globalised world economy where over 60% of energy demand is met by burning oil and gas, and where 95% of transport is driven by oil. Over the last couple of years the status of the peak oil idea has been transformed from that of a Chicken Little conspiracy theory to one commanding the public attention of national governments. The weeks before Easter 2007 were a truly momentous period for the peak oil debate. Highly respected figures in the oil industry, such a energy investment banker Matt Simmons and legendary Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, abandoned their usually restrained commentary to declare that world oil production was now at its peak and would henceforth fail to meet future demand increases. Ali Samsam Bakhtiari, a retired vice president of the National Iranian Oil Company, reported that two differently formulated computer simulations of world oil production had given very similar predictions - peak oil production in 2007 followed by a decrease of 33% by 2020. As Bakhtiari wrote, "The similarity of the results obtained by two very different models - the WOCAP and the GBM - should help bring ’Peak Oil’ modeling to a close, as according to these models the peak of global oil production has now been reached. Furthermore, the two models’ similar forecast for a global oil supply of 55 mb/d by 2020 can now be considered as being the most accurate and reliable forecast for the future production of the international oil industry." The implications of this simple statement are staggering and yet unappreciated by the general public. What Bakhtiari is saying essentially is that, quite soon, world economic growth ends - forever. Of course, there will still be some parts of the world, such as those endowed with exportable amounts of the remaining oil, where sky-high oil prices will bolster foreign earnings and stimulate local economic activity. However, all “western" nations, (with the exception of Norway) are net oil importers. For these nations, decreasing energy levels in their economies will mean decreasing economic activity. This is not to say that the nominal value of stockmarkets will not continue to rise since reserve banks are currently busy increasing the money supply to ensure this. (Australia’s money supply increased by 14% in the past year while our economic growth was only around 4%.) But expensive oil energy will feed through to raise the cost of all food, transport and manufactured goods (including devices for harvesting renewable energy sources) so that each dollar will buy less. Is there a silver lining to the imminent decline in oil production and the world economy? A 33% decline in oil use by 2020 will mean 33% less carbon emissions from burning oil. The decline in economic activity will probably mean an overall reduction in the use of other fossil fuels too. Some might argue that the oil energy gap will be filled by the use of alternatives such as natural gas or coal. While some such substitution will undoubtedly occur, the steeply rising costs of such infrastructure projects will probably limit their implementation. We will simply have to learn to live with less energy. So, in 2007 with energy still cheap, we should seize the opportunity to prepare for an eventful ride on the slippery slope of energy decline. Buying a bicycle and growing some vegetables in the backyard would be a good start. Michael Lardelli |
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Dave Kimble writes about the problem of getting to large scale electricity production from PV (photovoltaics): PV scenario: Suppose you want to build enough solar PV flat panel power stations to replace 1% of Australia’s annual electricity consumption in 1 year. BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy (2006) shows Australia’s electricity consumption for 2005 was 243 TW.h and the trend is for an increase of 6.2 TW.h per year, so I forecast 2008 will use 262 TW.h. That amount of production (in 2008) is equivalent to 33.2 GW of generating capacity, assuming operating at 90% load factor (typical for coal). 1% of that amount is 2.62 TW.h per year or 1.19 GW operating at 25% load factor (6 KW.h / m² / day on a tilted panel, typical Australian location, see More). Assuming a thermodynamic efficiency of 14% ( for PV flat panels) and sunlight at 1,000 W/m² that will require 8.5 million square metres of collector and at current market prices, see More The most cost effective panels cost $1,145/m². So 8.5 million m² would cost $9.7 billion. And the price of solar panels is RISING, not falling as the spruikers will tell you, see the above link. Assuming the ERoEI of the system is 3 and the lifetime is 25 years, as reported in the ISA Report as part of the recent nuclear review, “Life Cycle Energy Balance and Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Nuclear Energy in Australia" More [2.75 MB], then it takes 25 / 3 = 8.3 years’ worth of generating to repay the energy expended in the manufacturing process. So 8.3 x 2.62 TW.h = 21.7 TW.h is needed to build 1% of Australia’s consumption in solar PV. This is equivalent to 2.75 GW at 90% load, or THREE VERY BIG POWER STATIONS’ WORTH. Now are you going to tell me that it makes sense to build 3 large coal-fired power stations to produce the energy needed to make 8.5 million m² of solar panels? No. And could we use the output from the first year’s solar production to fuel the next year’s production? No, its not enough by a factor of 8.3 . And of course the above calculations don’t allow anything for the energy and economic costs of control equipment, wiring, transport of materials, labour to build, labour to maintain, management, sales, advertising, insurance. The above demonstrates that it is impossible to grow a power generating industry quickly unless its ERoEI is at least 5, and maybe more. The sad fact is that greenies, including Bob Brown, Mark Diesendorf, and Ian Lowe are seriously over-selling solar energy. It can never scale up as well as they would like it to because of this initial energy barrier, and they are as guilty as the oil companies telling us that oil has a long-term rosy future or that coal will become clean and green. The Federal Government has made a big fuss about building “the biggest solar generating station in the world" - a paltry 154 MW. But the annual increase in electricity usage is equivalent to 708 MW per year. So this project would provide less than three months’ worth of electricity growth and can have absolutely no impact on replacing fossil fuels. Dave |
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Dave Kimble comments on the energy investment required for nuclear energy: The percentage of the lifetime EI due to uranium mining plus milling varies with the ore grade. Using the ISA nuclear spreadsheet More At 0.15% (Australia’s best ore) it is only 6.5% at 0.045% (Australia’s average ore) 20.3% at 0.02% ore 38.7% at 0.01% ore 58.5% If you include enrichment and fuel rod fabrication at 0.15% 44.6% at 0.045% 52.8% at 0.02% 63.6% at 0.01% 75.4% So I think it is fair to say that the cost of fuel is very significant. If you assume a much more energy intensive decommissioning phase than ISA chooses, and Storm and Smith would say it will be very much more, then the above percentages would go down, but the ERoEI of the whole process would go down also. With ore grade set to the Australian average 0.045%, and Load Factor set to the world average 72%, ERoEI for 1,300 MW light water reactor is 5. Such a reactor would generate 8.2 TW.h/year but it would also need Lifetime/ERoEI = 35/5 = 7 years’ worth of output to build it or 57.4 TW.h to build it. In other words, if we assume it takes 7 years to build, you need to have a 1300 MW power station running for 7 years just to produce the energy needed to build the nuclear power station. |
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On of the best thinkers in the area of peak oil writes about the psychological basis of our inability to find valid solutions to this problem. Brilliant stuff!: More Faustus and the monkey trap By John Michael Greer One of the factors that make the crisis of industrial society so difficult to deal with is the way that crisis unfolds out of the most basic assumptions we use to make sense of the world. Albert Einstein’s famous dictum about trying to solve a problem with the same sort of thinking that created it has rarely been so relevant. Notably, many of today’s attempts to do something about peak oil rely on the same logic that got us into our present predicament, and turn out “solutions" that promise to make our situation worse than it is already. Of the dozens of good examples in the daily news, the one that seems most worth noting right now is the economic blowback set in motion by the US government’s attempt to bolster its faltering petroleum-driven economy with ethanol. As corn and other grains get diverted from grocery stores to gas tanks, commodity prices spike, inflation ripples outward through the economic food chain, and the possibility of actual grain shortages looms on the middle-term horizon. More than twenty years ago, William Catton pointed out in his seminal classic Overshoot that the downslope of industrial society would force human beings to compete against their own machines for dwindling resource stocks. His prediction has become today’s reality. It’s all very reminiscent of an old metaphor in cognitive psychology. Many centuries ago in southeast Asia, some clever soul figured out how to use the thinking patterns of monkeys to make a highly effective monkey trap. The trap is a gourd with a hole in one end just big enough for a monkey’s hand to fit in, and a stout rope connected to the other end, fastened to a stake in the ground. Into the gourd goes a piece of some local food prized by monkeys, large and solid enough that it can’t be shaken out of the gourd. You set the trap in a place monkeys frequent, and wait. Sooner or later, a monkey comes along, scents the food, and puts a hand into the gourd to grab it. The hole is too small to allow the monkey to extract hand and food together, though, and the rope and stake keeps the monkey from hauling it away, so the monkey keeps trying to get the food out in its hand. Meanwhile you come out of hiding and head toward the monkey with a net, if there’s a market for live monkeys, or with something more deadly if there isn’t. Far more often than not, instead of dropping the food and scampering toward the safety of the nearest tree, the monkey will frantically keep trying to wrestle the food out of the gourd until the net snares it or the club comes whistling down. The trap works because monkeys, like the rest of us, tend to become so focused on pursuing immediate goals by familiar means that they lose track of the wider context of priorities that make those goals and means meaningful in the first place. Once the monkey scents the food in the gourd, it defines the problem as how to get the food out, and tries to solve the problem in a familiar way, by maipulating food and gourd. When the hunter appears, that simply adds a note of urgency, and makes the problem appear to be how to get the food out before the hunter arrives. Phrased in either of these terms, the problem is impossible to solve. Only if the monkey remembers that food is of no value to a dead monkey, and redefines the problem as primarily a matter of getting away from the hunter, will it let go of the food, get its hand out of the trap, and run for the nearest tree. The monkey trap may not look like a viable theme for great literature, but exactly the same dilemma forms the main plot engine of Christopher Marlowe’s classic play Doctor Faustus. In Marlowe’s vision, Faustus is an intellectual manqué who has mastered all the scholarship of his time and dismisses it as worthless because he can’t cash it in for power. So he conjures the devil Mephistopheles, who offers him twenty-four years of power over the world of appearances, in exchange for his immortal soul. Faustus gladly makes the bargain and proceeds to run riot for the better part of nine scenes, with the ever-obsequious Mephistopheles always ready to fulfill his every wish but one. Finally, the twenty-four years are up, and at the stroke of midnight a crew of devils swoops down on Faustus and haul him off to Hell. All this came to Marlowe out of the folk literature that gave him the raw materials for his play. What makes Marlowe’s version of the story one of Elizabethan England’s great dramas, though, is his insight into the psychology of Faustus’ damnation. Faustus spends nearly the entire play a heartbeat away from escaping the pact that ultimately drags him to his doom. All he has to do is renounce the pact and all the powers and pleasures it brings him, and salvation is his - but this is exactly what he cannot do. He becomes so focused on his sorcerer’s powers, so used to getting what he wants by ordering Mephistopheles around, that the possibility of getting anything any other way slips out of his grasp. Even at the very end, as the devils drag him away, the last words that burst from his lips are a cry for Mephistopheles to save him. The logic of the monkey trap underlies the entire scenario, because the monkey and Faustus trap themselves in essentially the same way. Both have a track record of solving problems using a specific method - the monkey, by manipulating things with its hands; Faustus, by summoning Mephistopheles and having him take care of it. Both encounter a problem that looks as though it can be solved in the same way, but can’t. Both keep on trying to use their familiar set of problem-solving tools even when they clearly don’t work. Even when the real shape of the problem becomes clear and breaking out of the old way of thinking becomes a question of immediate survival, they keep on struggling to make the problem fit their choice of solutions, rather than adjusting their solution to the actual problem. Mephistopheles and the monkey hunter have a crucial ally here, and its name is stress. It’s one thing to step back and take stock of a situation when there seems to be plenty of time and no sign of danger. It’s quite another to do it in the presence of an imminent threat to survival. Once the true shape of the situation appears, stress reactions hardwired into the nervous systems of men and monkeys alike cut in, and make it very difficult indeed to reassess the situation and consider alternative ways of dealing with it. The final scene of Marlowe’s drama, as Faustus waits for the stroke of midnight and tries every means of escape except the one that can actually save him, expresses this dilemma with shattering intensity. The same dilemma on a larger scale underlies current efforts to deal with the imminent decline of world oil production by finding something else to pour into our gas tanks: ethanol, biodiesel, hydrogen, you name it. Our petroleum-powered vehicles - not just cars, but the trucks, trains, ships, and aircraft that make our current way of life possible - are the food in the monkey’s hand and the pact that binds Mephistopheles to Faustus’ service. The problem of peak oil, as many people even in the peak oil community see it, is how to find some other way to keep the fuel tanks topped up. This seems like common sense, but that’s what the monkey thinks about getting the food out of the gourd, too. Approached as a question of finding something to fill our gluttonous appetite for highly concentrated energy, the problem of peak oil is just as insoluble as the monkey trap when that’s approached as a question of getting food. The discovery and exploitation of the earth’s petroleum reserves gave human beings a fantastic windfall of essentially free energy, and we proceeded to burn through it at an astonishing pace. Now that the supply of petroleum is beginning to falter, the question before us is not how to keep burning something else at the same pace, or how to find some other way to power a civilization of a sort that can only survive by burning extravagant amounts of energy, but how to scale back our expectations and our technology drastically enough to make them fit the much more modest energy supplies available to us from renewable sources. Expecting some other energy resource to provide energy on the same scale and level of concentration as petroleum, just because we happen to want one, is a little like responding to one huge lottery win by assuming that when that money starts running out, another equally large win can be had for the cost of a few more tickets. This is close enough to today’s consumer psychology that it’s easy to imagine somebody in this position pouring all the money he has left into lottery tickets, and throwing away his chances of avoiding bankruptcy because the only solution he can imagine is winning the lottery again. And this, again, is exactly the mentality of current attempts to fuel industrial society by pouring our food supply into our gas tanks. Faustus may be a better model than the monkey, too, because the predicament we face, like his, is precisely the result of what we’re best at. Faustus became so dependent on his attendant devils that he lost track of the possibility that he could do something without them. Change devils to machines and the parallel is exact. We have become so used to solving problems by throwing energy-intensive technologies at them that when technologies themselves become the crux of a predicament, we have no idea what to do. If any of the achievements of the last three hundred years are to be salvaged from the approaching spiral of crises, we need to rethink this now, before the social, economic and political stresses become so pressing that clear thought becomes impossible and our fossil-fueled familiar spirits appear, on schedule, to drag us off to a tolerably close equivalent of the Hell of Marlowe’s play. |
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New FDA guidelines threaten religious freedoms; Holy water could be regulated as “drugs" and rosaries as “medical devices" The FDA has a long history of attacking and suppressing health freedoms (see our article, Tyranny in the USA: The true history of FDA raids on healers, vitamin shops and supplement companies), but... More |
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One day a teacher asked her students to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down. It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed in the papers. That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper and listed what everyone else had said about that individual. On Monday she gave each student his or her list. Before long the entire class was smiling. Really?" she heard whispered. “I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!" and, “I didn’t know others liked me so much," were most of the comments. No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. The teacher never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn’t matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another. That group of students moved on. Several years later, one of the students was killed in Vietnam and his teacher attended the funeral of that special student. She had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. He looked so handsome, so mature. The church was packed with his friends. One by one those who loved him took a last walk by the coffin. The teacher was the last one to bless the coffin. As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to her. "Were you Mark’s math teacher?" he asked. She nodded: “yes." Then he said: “Mark talked about you a lot." After the funeral, most of Mark’s former classmates went together to a luncheon. Mark’s mother and father were there, obviously waiting to speak with his teacher. We want to show you something," his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket. “They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it." Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. The teacher knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which she had listed all the good things each of Mark’s classmates had said about him. Thank you so much for doing that,": Mark’s mother said. “As you can see, Mark treasured it." All of Mark’s former classmates started to gather around. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, ’I still have my list. It’s in the top drawer of my desk at home." Chuck’s wife said, “Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album." I have mine too," Marilyn said. “It’s in my diary," Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her purse, took out her wallet, and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. “I carry this with me at all times," Vicki said without batting an eyelash, she continued, “I think we all saved our lists." That’s when the teacher finally sat down and cried. She cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him again. The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life will end one day, and we don’t know when that one day will be. So please, tell the people you care for, that they are special and important. Tell them before it’s too late. One way to accomplish this is to forward this message on. If you don’t send it, you will have, once again, passed up the wonderful opportunity to do something nice and beautiful. If you’ve received this, it is because someone cares for you and it means there is probably at least someone for whom you care. If you’re “too busy" to take those few minutes right now to forward this message on, would this be the VERY first time you didn’t do that little thing that would make a difference in your friendship? Remember, you reap what you sow, what you put into the lives of others comes back into your own. MAY YOUR DAY BE AS SPECIAL AS YOU ARE !! |
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"What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger." - Albert Camus Are You Willing to Get Your Nose Bloodied? By Paul Lawrence If you want to win a boxing match, you must be willing to go after your opponent and risk getting your nose bloodied. I know from experience that this is true. I spent a couple of years boxing in a professional gym. (Although I could last three rounds with some of the guys, I wasn’t close to being ready to be a professional.) What I learned was that no matter how formidable your challenger seemed, if you weren’t willing to face him and take a chance that you’d get hit while throwing your own punches, you had NO CHANCE. Getting a bloody nose isn’t fun. But you know what’s worse? Letting life pass you by because you’re afraid. They say that some of the saddest words on earth are “what could’ve been." The world is filled with people who look back and are sorry they didn’t take a chance. It’s time to make sure you aren’t one of them. I’m not talking, here, about literally getting your nose bloodied. I’m talking about something I refer to in my Dare to Live Your Dreams program as “The Bloody Nose" principle, which works in almost every business or social situation. For example, if you are starting a new business and trying to find a supplier who will give you credit, you may encounter some who just tell you, flat out, “no." And a “no" can be just as discouraging as a punch in the face. Lots of people are afraid to put themselves out there - afraid to get that bloody nose. If you’re letting fear of that pain get in the way of achieving your dreams, remember this: Although a bloody nose initially hurts, the pain subsides. And before you know it, you’re ready to try again! Before I got married, the usual method my friends and I used to meet women was to go to nightclubs. Back then, we were all terrible at it - and I was the worst. When I saw someone I would like to meet, I would hover nearby for a long time, hoping to get a sign of encouragement from her. My guess is that, most of the time, the object of my interest was either completely unaware of me or not terribly impressed with my lack of assertiveness. Anyway, I would finally summon up enough courage to go over and blurt out some kind of opening line. Every now and then, I lucked into a positive response, but it was mostly all quick rejections. At one point, I had an epiphany of sorts: The major reason I had so much trouble in the dating department was that I wasn’t really trying. And I wasn’t really trying because I wasn’t willing to take the chance of rejection (a bloody nose). Once I realized that I could tolerate the pain of a rejection - that though it would sting for a few moments, I would soon feel okay and be ready to try again - I was no longer afraid of it. And from then on, I was able to commit myself 100 percent to each one of my attempts. I actually became very adept at meeting women in nightclubs. (In fact, that’s how I met my wife!) And my friends were mystified. Some of them were arguably better looking, yet they continued to strike out, night after night. The reason these guys were failing is simple. They were so afraid of getting bloodied that even when they did muster up the guts to approach a woman, they did it without any self-confidence. They’d make a half-hearted effort... and would get shot down. The fear of getting hurt, coupled with a lack of enthusiasm and commitment, was preventing them from meeting the woman of their dreams. Fear of getting rejected is common in the business world, too. And it’s the same story: You have to face up to that rejection in order to find success. Take me, for instance. When people hear that I’ve sold or optioned about half a dozen screenplays and that I’ve signed a deal to executive-produce a comedy television show with one of the largest producers in Los Angeles, it sounds like I’ve had a lot of success. And it’s true. I have been blessed with more success than many people see in a lifetime. But I’ve pitched my screenplays at least 800 times. And if I’ve had six successes out of 800 pitches, that means 794 people told me “no." Okay, I admit it. Even after hearing “no" 794 times, I still didn’t like it. But hearing “no" 794 times was most definitely worth the six times I heard “yes"! Every time someone passed on one of my scripts, it hurt. It didn’t matter to me if they said they liked my writing... or if they explained that they couldn’t produce my script because it was too much like something else they were doing. It felt the same as if I had approached a woman at a nightclub and she politely explained that she couldn’t dance with me because she had a boyfriend. The “no" never feels good. But to quote Arnold Schwarzenegger, “If you want to succeed, you must decide how much pain you are willing to endure to achieve that success." Because I will tell you this: Whenever I got a “yes" from a woman who agreed to dance with me, I forgot about every previous “no" I’d heard that night. And because of the handful of producers who signed contracts with me and paid me money for my screenplays, I don’t have the slightest bit of pain regarding my 794 rejections. So if you want to start moving ahead and living your dreams, here is what you have to do: 1. Create a schedule to execute your plan. For a plan to work, you need to break it down into specific actions. You also need to create a deadline for completing each one of those actions - and to mark those deadlines on a calendar. 2. Mentally prepare yourself for the “bloody noses" you may endure along the way. Just like all successful people in history - including Thomas Edison, who reportedly made 10,000 failed attempts before finally inventing the light bulb - you’ll likely have a few setbacks on your journey to living your dreams. By accepting in advance that those setbacks will come, you will be prepared to endure the emotional pain. When a boxer gets into the ring, no matter how sure he is that he’s going to win, he knows he’s going to take some punches. The reason he steps into that ring is that he wants the victory so much he doesn’t care if he gets hit a few times to get it. Regardless of what your dream is, you’ve got to feel the same way. 3. Have a recuperation strategy. When I get a pass on script, I take a few minutes to relax and congratulate myself for being one rejection closer to my next sale. By the time I’m finished with this little ritual, the sting is gone and I am more determined than ever to succeed. You can use any approach that works for you while you’re “licking your wounds." The important thing is to have a way to reinvigorate yourself and give you the strength to press on. Most important, get out there and do SOMETHING to achieve your goals. Don’t let fear of rejection or pain or failure stand in your way. By being willing to get your “nose bloodied," you’ll have the edge over those who want to live their dreams but aren’t ready to pay the price. And that edge is what will make you successful. [Ed. Note: Paul Lawrence truly is living his dreams. He is a produced screenwriter who has written a multimillion-dollar film. He’s signed a development deal with one of the entertainment industry’s largest producers to executive-produce a television show, has sold another feature film script slated for a 2007 theatrical release, and is the president of a successful direct-mail company. Learn about Paul’s “Dare to Live Your Dreams" program here.] From the http://www.earlytorise.com newsletter [Early to Rise Copyright ETR, LLC, 2007] If you’d like to subscribe to Early to Rise or suggest it to a friend, please visit: here |
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