| The
Weisbrod
Digest Of
Seminars - An E-Zine Written and Published by Carl Weisbrod, Ph.D. Vol. 9 No. 105 ~ ISSN 1537-2820 ~ (c) July 2006 |
|
From
Honolulu, I'm Carl Weisbrod and this is issue #105 of the original WDS
E-Zine. Goodheavens! Vol. 9
means this is the 9th year of publication!
. . Damn, tho', I've really neglected this ezine, not to mention the other five. My whining & sniveling excuse is I've gotten completely wrapped up in podcasting. Check out the Podcast Index webpage. Scroll down to this and other web locations: >FastScroll< . It feels good to be back to this familiar e-zine world. . Section ~ ~ ~ Topic ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I. Rantings & Ravings II. The Weisbrod Digest of Seminars III. AskCarl FAQs & Two-Value Tricks IV. Rasputin's Zap Chamber (hypnotism) V. Health in a Handbasket VI. Jokes 'n FunStuff {:^D VII. Medical Journal Review VIII. Bureaucratic Bamboozling {:-/ IX. Rip-off of the Week }:-() X. The WDS Bedtime Story XI. NetNotes & Tips & Tricks ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I. Rantings & Ravings (o) The key to success with the internet is to attract readers (or listeners). Of course, without eyes (and ears) you'll remain a "lonely voice crying out from the wilderness." It seems like, with nearly a billion people on-line, that wouldn't be a problem--but it is. The majority of on-line folks limit their internet use to sending email back and forth to friends and family and occasionally digging around in Google or Yahoo for specific articles. A large share of e-commerce is carved out by trusted giants such as Amazon.com and eBay. So, even when someone comes up with a terrific product or service, how would anyone know? Every day, on the web, there is tons of information of every type imaginable, but only to become the proverbial needle in the haystack. Of course, it would have been completely hopeless had it not been for the invention of digital search engines such as Yahoo and Google. If you come up with an interesting newsletter (e-zine) you can depend on it eventually being listed in dozens of directories and search engines. That's the good news. The bad news is it will be something like number seventeen-gazillion on webpage #1483749538. Most folks only search a couple of pages. So, rats! ...back to square one. For a while we could purchase so-called opt-in e-mail lists and accumulate subscribers or customers from that. Spam and viruses destroyed that possibility. For promotion, e-mail has become a shadow of its former self. Then there were strategically-placed banner ads. We soon learned to blank out them out in the same way we "don't hear" radio commercials. Banner ads are now virtually worthless. But there's more good news; on the internet, innovation reigns supreme. As fast as one set of promotional tools is corrupted by the digital jerks (or otherwise losses potency) a new set of tools is invented. Of course, the problem with that is one is always on the back-side of the learning curve learning new technology. For example, I'm in the process of learning Technorati, a kind of website-based search engine. If you're looking at the HTML version of this e-zine you'll see a Technorati link at the conclusion of this article. Previous to Technorati, I spend a great deal of time learning to use RSS/XML Feeds and aggregaters. If you're looking for on-line recognician for whatever reason, I invite you to join me in this quest by subscribing to this e-zine. I also have an edition within this e-zine series that is focused on e-commerce. Speaking of RSS/XML feeds, click the little box below and do a Ctrl+C on the URL that ends up on top of your browser. Then simply paste (Ctrl+V) that into the add-feed box of your reader.  If you don't have a FeedReader/Aggragator, here's a link to get one that's free... along with some basic instructions. http://www.wdslibrary.com/PodcastIndex.html ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ II. The Weisbrod Digest of Seminars (o) I developed my WDS label in the 1980s and I've stuck with it all these years. Originally it was the title for a cocktail of popular seminar topics (in digest form) offered to the corporate community as an Employee Assistance Program. EAPs and seminars were a big deal in the 1970s and 80s. Now, if I had to think of a new name for my more recent consulting work, it might be The Weisbrod Digest of Tutorials. Why Tutorials? How many times have you wished someone could just take you by the hand and lead you through the steps of a program that's driving you nets ...just to the point it could then fumble your way through the steps with the help of some kind of a cheat-sheet. I recently gave up far more time than necessary to develop my Technorati program. So, after I finally worked my way through the inadequate instructions offered by the Technorati developers, I built the tutorial program that would have saved me hours of frustration. A functional tutorial must leave nothing to chance. Omitting steps, no matter how obvious they seem, can destroy a tutorial's value. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ III. AskCarl FAQs & Two-Value Tricks (o) Question: Hey Carl. You don't seem to like the idea of using Webmasters. I can understand that line of reasoning, but what's wrong with using a template program? A.K., San Francisco. AskCarl: HI AK. In several podcast shows, I explain my position against the use of both webmasters and templates. Use this URL: http://www.askcarl.net/BlogWebsite.html The short answer is this: If your business is dependent on a website, and it probably will be, anything that removes the hands-on part of the process is dangerous. For example, If you get stuck, and you're using a template, likely you'll be dependent on the program's tech support. Have you had problems getting prompt attention from tech support? Need I say more? ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ IIIa. Two-Value Tricks (o) In my book, Obnoxious Two-Value Tricks, I talked about the use of two-value tricks as a way to unfairly win debates. This is a technique often used by radio talk-radio personalities. These guys can't afford to lose on-air debates. This eBook is available free at: http://www.wdslibrary.com When you get there, click the catalog link. It's easy to find from there. You won't even need to download anything. I design most of my eBooks to be read on-line. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ IV. Rasputin's Zap Chamber (o) Nowadays, when I think about hypnotism, my thoughts gravitate to ways of using this sometimes-powerful and always-useful technique right from the computer screen... perhaps in a podcast format that includes video, or better yet, within a SKYPE connection that includes a webcam on both ends of the conversation. You can find discussions on this concept in several podcast shows. Here's an example: http://www.wdslibrary.com/pc8h.mp3 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ V. Health in
a Handbasket (o)
I get really mad at the media when they address life-and-death health issues with confusing and misleading 60-second sound bytes. I wish a statistician would offer an estimate of lives lost as a result of this sloppy reporting. I'm positive it would be a substantial number. The internet is far from perfect as a provider of accurate information, but the quantity factor allows us to at least can make a judgment by using a comparison technique. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ VI.
Jokes
'n FunStuff {:^D (o)
A
last wish: At my death, I wish to be placed "in repose" in a
public
place for as long as possible. I'm requesting this because as I've
gotten older, children get on my nerves and since dead bodies tend to
give the little shits nightmares it seems a good way to get even!VII. Medical Journal Review (o) Trans fats in the news... again. The headlines blared: A New Look at Trans Fats or... FDA Labeling Spot Health Risks. There is a recent flap over the U.S. Food and Drug Administration mandating labeling trans fats in food. From this I suspect the general public might assume that trans fats are bad while other kinds of fats are okay. Nothing could be further from the truth. Saturated fats, for example, are as dangerous as trans fats. All fats, however, promote obesity because of their caloric concentration. At 9 calories per gram, that’s over twice that found in both protein and carbohydrates which both come in at 4 calories per gram. Beyond that, the human (and primate) metabolism uses fat for energy storage. Fats, if not metabolized right away as energy, will be quickly stored in our fat cells. |
Continued from the lower-left column The body is very efficient at converting
dietary fat into body-fat, or
adipose tissue. Contrasted with fat and protein, carbohydrates
are easily stored and converted into energy, and therefore result in a
lower production of body-fat.
When
you hear the term essential fatty acids, it simply refers to the length
of the molecular chain of a lipid. For humans, there are only two
essential fatty acids. They are Linoleic and Linolenic acid. Although
synthesized only in plants, there is little need for supplementation
since the very small requirements are easily met from dietary
vegetables and grains.
Fat is one of the three nutrients (along with protein and carbohydrates) that supply calories to the body. Plaques in the arteries, leading to atherosclerosis, are composed of saturated fat, cholesterol and arterial wall scar tissue. Homocysteine fits in there also. Athereosclerosis is the primary factor in strokes and heart attacks. Only rip-off artists and fools try to argue with this--the research is abundantly clear, and has been for decades. Paradoxically, the fear of heart attacks and strokes has been profitable for the makers of vegetable oils as they trumpet the fact that research has shown that serum cholesterol is lower in those who get their fat from polyunsaturated and monounsaturated sources. They fail, however, to mention that the lower cholesterol levels (especially HDLs) are still dangerously high. With a recommended fat minimum at only 10-15% of the total, the average American intake is far too high at 40% of the total. There is no doubt that this high fat diet is at the root of many chronic degenerative disorders. So adding any fat in an already high fat diet is usually a bad idea. Saturated fat is one of two major causes of atherosclerosis and high serum cholesterol blood levels. The other I already mentioned is from the amino acid Homocysteine. Saturated fats are found mainly in foods from animal sources; meat, poultry, fish, eggs and milk. This, of course includes cheese, butter and ice cream. Vegetable fat is usually referred to as an oil because of a usual liquid state at room temperature. A few vegetable oils, such as coconut and palm oils, are saturated. Of course, the lower the consumption of saturated fat the better. Most saturated fat is derived from animal and dairy sources. If there is anything more dangerous than saturated fat it’s trans fats. These are a man-altered vegetable oil that ends up with the consistency of lard. Trans fats would be more accurately referred to as hydrogenated oils. Along with margarine, hydroginated fat is found in many snack foods that boast on the label of having zero cholesterol. Trans fats extend the self life of candy, puddings, and baked goods. It’s caused by pumping hydrogen into vegetable oil until it becomes solid at room temperature. Even though trans-fat contains no cholesterol, it has been shown to lower HDL cholesterol, and this has the effect of raising LDL cholesterol. The end result is probably more harmful than lard or butter. Processed fats (unsaturated oils) are processed oils such as corn, olive, peanut, etc. They are processed by heat, pressure, and with chemicals added to extend shelf-life. Even with the process called "cold processing," the basic molecular structure of the original food has been altered. Refined oils only appeared within Egyptian society at about 2500 BC, and 4500 years is certainly not enough time for the metabolism to adapt--even 100 x 4500 years wouldn't be enough adaptation time. Remember, humans had no refined oils for the first 95% of (hominid) existence on the planet. Animal fats and refined oils are food sources that our metabolism was never designed to handle, especially in the huge amounts we have become accustomed. Here's a podcast during which I discussed this in more detail. http://www.wdslibrary.com/pc7wt.mp3 VIII. Bureaucratic Bamboozling (o) We live in a world with huge problems that are crying out for solutions. We have some serious environmental problems, there are cultural problems, we're in a war of questionable value...but in any case, a war we could in fact be losing. We have health problems, corporate corruption problems... the list goes on and on. The genius that created the United States was a result of brilliant men who drafted the US Constitution in 1787. Without this Constitution, the US would have likely become a number of squabbling countries rather than one great nation. Unfortunately as in all things bureaucratic, time has eroded--not the concept itself--but the implementation of the concept. Now, congressmen (most are men) compose a group of self-serving, power-hungry guys that fall into the realm of an Old-Boy Network. You wouldn't want most of these guys managing a family hot-dog stand. They're corrupt (many of them) and their primary goal is to be re-elected. To them to be an elected member of either house is the best job in the world. As good as it is, few with real problem-solving skills would want the job. I try to tune-out the congressional battles for such waste-of-time crap as flag-burning and same-sex marriage. These guys even admit the motivation for such silly bills is political...while ignoring real problems in which significant loss-of-life has been (or will be) the end result. This system is too entrenched to change...as the older Old-Boys die off, a new group (whose brains have been liquefied by the system) move up within the power structure--and thus becomes self-sustaining. My advice is focus on yourself and those you care about. I suggest you stay as isolated from all bureaucratic systems as you can.--don't fight the system, just avoid them. Then pay particular attention to the internet. It's a place where individual abilities and innovation reign supreme. The internet is certainly very rough around the edges, full of rip-offs and debauchery, but it appears to be self-policing and (for now) remains relatively free of bureaucratic meddling. We can't let the politicians get a foot-in-the-door to the internet through legislation...any legislation. If they do get some stuff passed, which could happen, it would probably be analogous of the dog that chased cars until one day he caught one. Nevertheless, this is my warning: Never support any bill, federal or state, that has anything to do with the internet, no matter how warm & fuzzy it may appear on the surface. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ IX. Rip-Off of the Week (o) I've thought about dumping this section--not because there are no longer any rip-offs any ...in fact, there are so many rip-offs it's difficult to chose the one to feature. Once in a while I do find one that needs to be brought to light. I don't have anything like that this time. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ X. The WDS
Bedtime Story - An
Allegory (o)
No story or allegory this time. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ XI. NetNotes & Tips & Tricks (o) Here's a tip I added to the Tutorial Section of my AskCarl.net website. The reason for the "#####" ...my old HTML editor doesn't number the lines of code. So this becomes a handy way to find a location when adding some external code. Adding Code to a WebPage - a tutorial - Open the webpage in your HTML Editor - Choose the location for the code - Add a horizontal line top and bottom and... * In between the horizontal lines put an invisible table/no color, border, spacing, etc.) - Inside the table, add some "#######" to pin-point the location in the source code. - Replace the "#######" with the code, save and close the code location. - Note: the code may not appear until the webpage is on-line. - FTP the revised file to your WebHost. - You may need to "Refresh" several times for the new code to show up. - To remove the code, simply delete the table (which will take the code with it). * I've developed a habit of always adding external code inside an invisible table. If the code doesn't function as advertised, I simply dump the table which takes the code with it. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Carl Weisbrod >email<
Here's
the RSS/XML link. if you aren't yet familiar with RSS feeds, there's a
helpful audio program in the PodcastIndex webpage >click<
To save a buncha work, this feed will
notify your reader of all 6 e-zines. The specific issue will be clearly
stated.
 http://www.askcarl.net/WDS_E-ZineOrig.html
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