Be Curious Always!

EZ Wealth Network News: EZ Wealth Network Review

2012-09-15T05:02:00.001-07:00

EZ Wealth Network News: EZ Wealth Network Review: By Mike Banacheck: I'm compelled to writing this review of EZ Wealth Network in response to many of the inquiries I have received over sev...

Be Curious Always!: EZ Wealth Network Review

2012-09-15T05:01:00.001-07:00

Be Curious Always!: EZ Wealth Network Review: By Mike Banacheck: I'm compelled to writing this review of EZ Wealth Network in response to many of the inquiries I have received over seve...

Be Curious Always!: EZ Wealth Network Review

2012-09-14T18:02:00.001-07:00

Be Curious Always!: EZ Wealth Network Review: By Mike Banacheck: I'm compelled to writing this review of EZ Wealth Network in response to many of the inquiries I have received over seve...

EZ Wealth Network Review

2012-09-14T17:59:00.003-07:00

By Mike Banacheck: I'm compelled to writing this review of EZ Wealth Network in response to many of the inquiries I have received over several months regarding the integrity...Being a successful online marketer for the better part of a decade I receive many requests regarding scores of online businesses as to the viability, integrity, legitimacy etc. The problem is that it's impossible to address all the concerns from the folks germane to online businesses cropping up by the millions, so it seems. Ergo, I must pick my spots (because time is money) in terms of breaking down an online business. Frankly, reviewing EZ Wealth Network is time well spent because indeed, there's quite a buzz surrounding it and I certainly believe in helping the folks make a wise decision in terms of moving forward with or without... Let me be clear on one thing I have absolutely no vested interest in this opportunity nor do I plan on having an interest, because I already have many irons in the fire insofar as my concerns go. But, by the same token there are millions of people who aren't successful online marketers or who are entertaining the idea of jumping in the deep end in terms of starting an online venture. What's more are in the dark in consonance with what's what on the internet in terms of having a fighting chance at creating an income that may turn into something that will liberate them in terms of their finances---namely "financial freedom". One of the central reasons I'm a successful online marketer is due to the fact that I'm a no nonsense guy that does not fall prey to all the bells and whistles in life let alone online business in all its manifestations. I'm a bottom line guy and all I ask of any online business? Is this a genuine opportunity that if I work it... I will have a real shot at seeing some solid results. Look, there are no guarantees of "get rich quick", "fire your boss", "quit your job in 30 days"---I think you get my drift...This is all marketing hype in order to hook you into the opportunity and separate you from your money---that's what advertising is for better or worse, and every business opportunity on the internet employs the same tactics in order to draw in potential customers. Don't let this kind of stuff excite you into making an emotional decision that you'll probably regret, and on the flip side don't let this stuff turn you off to the point of not making the correct decision in terms of moving forward with the opportunity. In the final anaylsis, what matters is the core concept and if it truly makes the grade, sales hype notwithstanding. The core concept of EZ Wealth Network is the question as to why you're here.... The answer is forthcoming posthaste. I like to keep my reviews short and sweet and to the heart of the matter, in other words no nonsense---I trust you'll appreciate my brevity. I spent a good deal of time over at the website and the first thing that struck me was the cogent and beneficial, but not wordy audio presentation that gave a brief overview of the program... That is to say, they did a good job captivating the potential customer into hanging around and taking the next step in terms of actually reading the website and becoming a customer---that's half the battle. Naturally, my next step was reading the website many times over and digesting the concept to the best of my ability. What I appreciate about the website in terms of presentation was that it was very clear and straightforward, just like the audio. What I appreciate even more and more importantly is that the fundamental concept is sound i.e., blog marketing---it's the wave of the future if it isn't already. A little secret that you may not be aware of; search engine algorithms are becoming more and more content driven which dovetails perfectly into blog marketing, therefore the people who are positioning themselves now will be rewarded...The people who are relying on the old SEO techniques will soon be kicked to the curb---pardon the expression. Eventually all roads will lead thru content driven marketing and this company has the foresight to understand this hard fact, and by virtue of this understanding are positioning themselves for major prosperity. Perhaps you are wondering the why and wherefores behind the mechanics of content driven marketing of which this company codifies? Well, I'm not going to bore you to tears with all the intricacies, but what I can submit to you is that this company is tapping into a massive and burgeoning traffic source that will lead to many sales conversions ---the name of the game! So long as they stay true to the seminal concept of content driven marketing this company will be successful and will certainly be a dynamite opportunity for one and all. Moreover, the genius and beauty of this opportunity is that they have made it extraordinarily easy to take advantage of...Meaning all you have to do is plug in as a sharer or as a blogger and let them and the content driven algorithms of the search engines take over from there... Remember, no online business can guarantee you riches (that's marketing hype) only the opportunity to gain riches, and for a modicum of money you can tap into this resource and have a great chance at making some darn good money and maybe even get rich---that's all you can ask of any legitimate online business opportunity. For those folks who are balking at the money that you'll have to invest to take advantage of this opportunity I frankly feel like you need to reconsider your reservations because it really doesn't get much better than this in terms investment on the internet---look around and do some research and you'll categorically see that I'm on solid ground. For those folks who are dug in, in terms of the "price too much" you really need to get off the internet and stay with your day job, because you're crazy if you don't think you'll have to spend some money to make money on the internet and that's a cold hard fact that you had better come to grips with for sure. Online marketing is a tough business and viable opportunities are few and far between in respect to making money online. When one comes along you've got to strike while the iron is hot because the internet moves at the speed of light nowadays. Therefore, if you are seriously considering this particular online money making opportunity I highly recommend this online business for the aforementioned reasons. The bottom line: Blog marketing, content driven marketing or however you want to say it is here to stay...Inasmuch as old SEO techniques are out; blog marketing techniques are that much in and are becoming more effective and salient by the pico second. The companies that embrace this notion will stand a great chance at being successful and EZ Wealth Network is one of the companies that will, and for those folks who are plugged into the network they'll have a great chance too. Click here to go to the website... Pingates

Be Curious Always!: Thoughts on assisted living, aging, Dad, and guilt...

2012-02-04T08:56:00.001-08:00

Be Curious Always!: Thoughts on assisted living, aging, Dad, and guilt...: by Dr. Jeffrey Lant Author’s program note. Here is the most important four-letter word in the entire English language: home. It conjures ...

Thoughts on assisted living, aging, Dad, and guilt.

2012-02-04T08:56:00.000-08:00

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Author’s program note. Here is the most important four-letter word in the entire English language: home. It conjures up and is connected to every element of the well-lived life: spouse, family, peace, comfort, security. Nothing can match its importance, nothing can duplicate its significance. Nothing is more powerful than our memories of home and their enduring pull, always tugging at our heart strings. Home and its rhythms, its well remembered aspects, its secrets, its traditions, its confidences, its ways so well known and carefully maintained… these have a power over us that never fails, never pales, never wavers, never diminishes, and are always clear, fresh, joyful, unforgettable, bittersweet, haunting, the sweetest memories of our entire life.
This is an article on the moment that comes to each of us… when this home, our very special, irreplaceable place, must be given up because its proprietors can no longer maintain it, now needing particular care themselves. This is an article about a moment poignant, sad, dreadful, irrevocable. It is about the people who take this step first, our parents… then about their children, us, who will trod the difficult road, too, but not yet… and what they must do today, a day of emotional turmoil, distress, a day for which all preparation is inadequate.
For this article I have selected the song “My Old Kentucky Home” (1852) by America’s first great composer, Stephen Foster. It is one of the most wistful, longing songs of our country… and whenever one hears it one thinks, and tearful too, of one’s own home, now gone, far away, never to be replaced, always to be remembered, the more so as the destination you are now going to can never be a home like the one left behind. Go now to any search engine. Find and play it at once. It is the perfect accompaniment to this article.
The call.
The call we all fear, cannot bear thinking about, but must think about — comes the day our aging parents first consider assisted living, whether outwardly calm and willing, or fighting the hopeless battle to avoid this fate, roiled by turbulent emotions deep within, so clearly visible without.
Assisted living.
The words “assisted living” are two of the most frightening and disturbing in our language. It is easy to see why. Assisted living is mostly the province of the retired, the ill, the aging, geriatric survivors of better times. As such it is a venue to be put off and avoided whenever possible, for as long as possible; as much so as if each assisted living facility had posted at its front door this immemorial admonition from Dante’s “Inferno”: “Abandon all hope ye who enter here.”
Such institutions are perceived as the final way station before cosmic extinction; the place one enters unhappy, angry, misunderstood, and which one leaves dead; the place for the irremediably old, those who are past it, marginal, unconsidered, beyond the care and concern of anyone other than those paid to care and be concerned; lonely people of the Eleanor Rigby variety.
All of life…
Assisted living, with its implied inadequacies and dependence, is always and often indignantly compared to the joy of independent living, where you do what you want, when you want, with whom you want, in just the way you want; in other words the kind of living each of us desires, insists upon, and does everything possible to maintain. Assisted living, of course, is widely perceived as the antithesis of the desired independent living.
But this is wrong.
ALL living is assisted living. For unless you are rabidly antisocial and determined to remain that way, alone, isolated, happy and contented in your aloneness, you are assisted — every single day — by people whose aim is to make you reasonably happy, reasonably content, and reasonably comfortable. Thus, in truth, when one moves from living regarded as independent to living regarded as assisted, one is evolving from one kind of care to another kind of care; one is tweaking circumstances the better to ensure the maximum continuation of your desired life style. One is not undergoing metamorphosis, but comparative and necessary improvement.
Sadly, most people undergoing this process are unable to see this, or at least to state it to guilt-ridden relatives who are thus distressed by the painful thought that Aunt Martha is being cast off rather than moved to an appropriate level of care, concern, and consideration. Most assisted living facilities these days resemble college campuses or resorts; they know the grief, anger, recriminations and distress which new residents bring and work hard to create an atmosphere that is at once attractive, even beautiful; livable, practical, and serene, factors which soothe the guilt of those recommending assisted living to those near and dear but are often dismissed as inadequate or unimportant by those being recommended into the facility.
Receiving the intelligence.
Twice in my life, so far, have I been a participant to greater or lesser degree, in conversations surrounding the movement of one near and beloved to assisted living. The first such conversations involved my mother; the second set involved my father. These conversations could hardly have been less similar — or more instructive about the principals involved and affected.
My mother, student of Dylan Thomas that she was, did not, nor could not, go gentle into this good night. She raged, raged against what she was sure was the dying of the light. Despite weakening health and the myriad of problems stemming therefrom my mother fought hard, strenuously, vociferously, painfully against the notion of “incarceration” in an assisted living facility, thereby branded as penal institution, not comfortable necessity. Her transition from living deemed independent to living deemed assisted was therefore protracted, painful, packed with imprecations, denigrations, accusations, maledictions which made Emile Zola’s famous declaration “J’accuse” look sniveling.
My father handled the matter entirely different… and I suspect this was partly because he will have with him his wife Ellie; to be alone at life’s end is painful; to be partnered with a loved mate lessons the pain while increasing the means to combat and to live with it.
Sad, wistful, practical, accepting.
When my father called yesterday to inform me that he and Ellie had made arrangements to share their dwindling, most precious days together in assisted living, I felt a lump in my throat. He extolled the grounds, their private apartment, the food, the friendly residents… but whether he believed all this as stated or was just trying out what would become the stock reason or their move, I cannot say… for I was reflecting on a few words that he had said.
Entering the dining room where they would find their daily meals, he was surprised to find it peopled with the old, feeble, and infirm. Could this be he at 86, Ellie at 87? Or had some mistake occurred? She, knowing how difficult it had to be for him to transform his independent life to one “assisted”, took his hand and reassured him that no mistake was made; they were in the right place, which he would soon know, if he did not know already. And thus these proud, fiercely independent souls, more used to assisting others than being assisted, move into the next phase of their lives, together, facts faced, practical decisions made, gently, calmly, with love and care. And I admired my father so, not merely as son to father, but as man to man. For he faced the difficult, the fearful, the unpalatable, with grace, quietude, reserve, with good judgement, good humor, and a good wife, well stocked and ready for the journey ahead… which they will travel similarly and with kindness, above all with kindless and the help of those glad to assist them, and with kindness too.
** We invite you to post your comments to this article.

Be Curious Always!: I accuse you of doing everything you can to sabota...

2012-02-03T09:04:00.000-08:00

Be Curious Always!: I accuse you of doing everything you can to sabota...: by Dr. Jeffrey Lant Author’s program note. In 1894 Captain Alfred Dreyfus, artillery captain for the General Staff of France, was charged...

I accuse you of doing everything you can to sabotage your online success…. and what you must do — at once — to change that and profit.

2012-02-03T09:03:00.000-08:00

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Author’s program note. In 1894 Captain Alfred Dreyfus, artillery captain for the General Staff of France, was charged with treason and espionage… thereby inaugurating one of the most outrageous and ignoble events in the entire history of France.
It was a story of lies… but not by Dreyfus.
It was the story of evidence made up… evidence tampered with… evidence destroyed… but not by Dreyfus.
It was the story of grave injustice… deliberately done and with malice… but not by Dreyfus.
It was the story of a man attacked, mauled, censored, imprisoned, humiliated, villified because of his religion… but not by Dreyfus.
And above all it is the story of how one man with brilliant, slashing language changed the entire debate… securing at long last freedom, restitution and justice for Dreyfus.
This man was celebrated novelist Emile Zola who took just two words and transformed them into the most powerful weapon on earth… two words that galvanized a nation, securing the attention and support of the good people of France who, because of Zola, were outraged by the terrible and enduring blot on the honor of France… and who joined their voices to his in the service of truth.
J’accuse!
These are the words — I accuse — which by making the outrages clear — began the healing process that saved France from ignominy and redeemed her. Now I intend to use the great model created by Zola and to save you from business ignominy… to redeem you… and enable you to profit online… for you have been doing everything possible to fail… and little or nothing to succeed.
To help you on your way I have selected the soaring 1937 score Max Steiner wrote for the Best Picture of the Year; “The Life of Emile Zola” starring Paul Muni. Such grand music must enable success… so go to any search engine now and play it. We are ready to begin the transforming process that starts with “I accuse…” and ends with “I salute…”, wafted on our way by the grandeur of Steiner’s composition.
I accuse you of not understanding what business is… of understanding that business is now and always will be about two things and two things only: the generation of prospect leads… and following up with each and every one of these leads to make offers and close business.
I accuse you of engaging in endless trivia every day, focusing on anything and everything instead of generating prospects… and calling these prospects, to work with them and begin the development of the business relationships necessary to secure success.
I accuse you of trying to run a business solely by email… trying that is to motivate people to buy without doing the most important thing to profit: picking up the phone, calling prospects, engaging prospects, building relations with prospects.
I accuse you of sloth, laziness, of sitting around and waiting for success, instead of doing what is necessary — everything that’s necessary — to build the business you say you want… but for which there is absolutely no evidence that you have ever done on its behalf any meaningful thing at all.
I accuse you of the sin of inertia… of waiting, waiting, waiting, for, what?, a sign from Heaven, an email from God? I accuse you of not knowing what needs to be done, of not educating yourself so that you know how to do it, and not doing the least thing to secure your success.
I accuse you of spending more time gossiping on the phone with people who cannot make you richer (your best friend, your bowling buddies, the chick you met bar hopping last week) instead of using the phone to do what it does so well… connecting with the people who can buy from you, buy now, and make you money every single day.
I accuse you of trying to build your online business alone, all by yourself, when all the evidence says this is not possible, is absolutely impossible, because there is too much to do…too many things to master… and insufficient time to learn them, then do them. You need a team… and you need it at once.
I accuse you of the sin of talking about success far more than doing the necessary deeds and actions that ensure success. You have become, thereby, a specialist in the endless rhetoric and bombastic language of success, while achieving nothing. It is time, therefore, past time, to cease and censure the flatulent babble and get on with the doing.
I accuse you of not staying at your post every day until you have achieved the financial objective you have set for yourself for this day, focusing, persisting until you have achieved this goal… every penny of this goal.
I accuse you of coddling yourself, of a too prompt tendency to forgive your inadequacies, overlook the negatives, whitewash your poor performances, rationalize your failings, pooh pooh each and every peccadillo, extol too greatly minor triumphs instead of pushing on to make the insignificant significant.
The words used by Zola to end his famous declamation to French president Felix Faure, January 13, 1898:
“I have but one passion: to enlighten those who have been kept in the dark, in the name of humanity which has suffered too much and is entitled to happiness. My fiery protest is simply the cry of my very soul.”
I couldn’t say it better myself, so won’t try. Zola’s letter changed the world… my hope is that this changes yours.
** We invite you to post your comments to this article below.

Be Curious Always!: ‘Without the help and support of the woman I love....

2012-02-01T09:40:00.001-08:00

Be Curious Always!: ‘Without the help and support of the woman I love....: by Dr. Jeffrey Lant Author’s program note. In 1936 the world was transfixed by a story so big, so engrossing, so incredible that only the...

‘Without the help and support of the woman I love.” Edward VIII and Mrs. Simpson, love and scandal.

2012-02-01T09:40:00.000-08:00

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Author’s program note. In 1936 the world was transfixed by a story so big, so engrossing, so incredible that only the Second Coming could have topped it. It was the story of Edward VIII, King of England, Emperor of India… and a twice- married American lady from Baltimore, Maryland — Mrs. Simpson. It was billed as history’s greatest love affair… but, as this article unfolds… you may very well draw a very different conclusion.
But let’s start by playing the tune I’ve selected to accompany this article…. “Exactly Like You”. Go to any search engine to find this number. It was written in 1930 by Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields. I swear by the rendition by Louis Armstrong. You won’t be able to get it out of your head; kind of like the king’s catastrophic obsession with his Wallis… for of all the women in the world who wanted him, he had to have her, the very worst choice imaginable.. to the consternation and disgust of the empire on which the sun never set.
The most important boy in the world.
When your great grandmother is Queen Victoria, ruler of half the world; when your grandfather is King Edward VII, called the Uncle of Europe, because his relations ruled over virtually everything; when your father is King George V and your mother is Queen Mary… your birth, life, and every single breath you take is an event… important, eagerly awaited, commented upon, chronicled. In short, it is life in the grandest fish bowl on Earth; for in return for unimaginable wealth, celestial status, and the adoration and veneration of untold millions… you give up any semblance of a personal life… any semblance of privacy. You belong not to yourself… but to your subjects, the people of England and of all the Dominions beyond the seas…
This was Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David, born in 1894, called David by his family and Your Royal Highness by everyone else. The world envied him… but his life was anything but enviable… his parents saw to that.
George (1865–1936) & Mary (1867-1953).
The argument for monarchy goes like this: in a turbulent, uncertain, unpredictable and therefore alarming world, a sovereign is eternal, stable, stalwart, an institution you can trust to be here tomorrow, because it was here yesterday and the day before that. A sovereign rises above the trivia of today, able to take the long view, high above the fray and the little concerns of little men. Having everything, wanting nothing, monarchs can be trusted with the concerns of the nation they exist to improve, to serve, to uplift and inspire.
This is all very well…. but where do you find such larger than life paragons? Certainly not in the lives of George and Mary, people frightened by their unceasing responsibilities and the constant burden of having to appear just so to a world which evaluated, and minutely too, every move they made, every action, every decision.
Most assuredly neither George nor Mary were such people… and therefore like so many people fearful of making a mistake (and being roundly criticized) they embraced rigid severity… and so sought to cover up their many inadequacies as people by a unceasingly stern and unapproachable demeanor. It looked good on ceremonial occasions… for then they were regal indeed… but life lived this way was tormenting to all concerned… especially for the two young princes Edward and Albert, future Edward VIII and George VI.
They were boys who needed love, tender care, affection… but were ignored by their colder than ice mother for whom a peck on the cheek was excessive… and constantly admonished by their father, a man who became king only because his elder brother died young thereby bequeathing the empire and his expected wife, Mary of Teck, to his younger brother Georgie, a man who rose far above his abilities, a man who knew nothing about human relations and thought that communication was nothing more than the business of barking orders and having them instantly complied with.
In such a world how could the little princes of Windsor emerge as anything other than flawed, wanting… and rebellious.
Prince of change.
All children go through a rebellious stage where “no!” is their favorite word. Do you want this? No! Do you want that? No! How about something else? No, again! But in the fullness of time even the most argumentative three year old comes out of this phase and starts growing up. But David of Windsor never did. Whatever was tried, true, traditional, standard… he wanted nothing to do with, wanted to change it, not slowly and unobtrusively but now in the most jarring and thoughtless of ways. He wanted what he wanted, when he wanted it… and as Prince of Wales from 1910… he was in a position to get it, especially as he came to understand how much the world loved and admired him.
Wobbly monarchy, high-flying adored prince.
World War I saw the demise of the great imperial dynasties of Europe, the Habsburgs of Austria, the Hohenzollerns of Germany, the Romanovs of Russia… all swept away. The only major dynasty left was in England, and it was headed by the uninspiring, unimaginative, fretful George V who was majesty in nothing but name. The dynasty needed youth… glamor… connection to the restive peoples of the empire. And for this role there was only one man available… David, now Prince of Wales… a man who shed glamor and allure on the Roaring Twenties. His world tours (from 1919) made him a world celebrity… and lonely.
He tried women, he tried booze, he tried drugs… but because he could have everything, nothing made him happy. Nothing that is except the thrills and freedoms of the Great Republic, particularly its greatest city, New York. Only there were there sufficient dissipations and indiscretions. Besides, just stepping foot in America enraged both his parents, and that made these trips delicious.
Then he met Wallis Warfield Simpson, a woman with a sordid past and two living husbands… a past that could outrage every convention and agitate the world he was destined to rule… a world that bored and annoyed him. Wallis offered him what he truly craved: submission for that was her secret… she gave the man everyone kow-towed to the gift of abasement…. the power to get the man to whom all knelt to kneel to her….
She, of course, despised him, but using him as he wanted her to use him would make her a world figure, maybe even Queen-Empress. She was ill-advised on this point, and so overplayed her cards. Instead of a boyish sovereign over whom she could rule, she got after his abdication in 1936 a semblance of a man whom she systematically and publicly humiliated for the rest of his life. He cried… he sobbed… he adored. It was the perfect relationship, exactly what he wanted. And, after all, isn’t that what love is for?
For as Louis Armstrong sings,
“I know why I’ve waited Know why I’ve been blue I’ve been waiting each day For someone exactly like you… You make me feel so grand I wanna give this world to you…”
… and he almost did.
Honi soit qui mal y pense.

Be Curious Always!: The personal ad you’d love to post… but don’t have...

2012-01-30T15:00:00.001-08:00

Be Curious Always!: The personal ad you’d love to post… but don’t have...: Author’s program note. As far as I can tell, everyone in the world has either run a personal ad (mostly online), is running one at this mo...

The personal ad you’d love to post… but don’t have the guts!

2012-01-30T15:00:00.000-08:00

Author’s program note. As far as I can tell, everyone in the world has either run a personal ad (mostly online), is running one at this moment… or will run one before you can say “Jack Robinson.” This means you. The question is not whether you will use personal ads… but whether they’ll deliver the exact person you are seeking. Sadly, the vast majority of personal ads cannot deliver the bacon (or the cheese cake or the beef cake). They just don’t provide enough detail and so are quite capable of delivering the Wrong Prospects. Witness the personal ad celebrated by Jimmy Buffet in the tune that made Pina Coladas mandatory Happy Hour fare as you bar hopped in pursuit of nirvana.
Start by going to any search engine and listen to Buffet’s anthem. It was written by Rupert Holmes and recorded in 1979. It’s official title is “Escape” but hardly anyone knows that except Buffet who became with each insouciant word the recognized master of la dolce far niente… or, since most of you know no Eye-talian, the art of doing absolutely nothing… and doing it with the utmost style and grace, but without ever breaking a sweat.
Buffet’s tune makes it clear why personals as currently structured are silly, pointless, absolutely certain to deliver people you wouldn’t be seen dead with. I mean, who doesn’t like getting caught in the rain (given the right person on your arm)… who doesn’t hate yoga…. and is hardly into health foods… but insists on champagne? Add long walks on a beach, making love at midnight in the dunes of the cape, and holding hands at the cinema… and you’ve got the personal ad in all its banal insipidity.
The wonder is not that they don’t work for most people investing hope, time and money in them; the wonder is that they work for anyone at all… but then there are people (one hopes not you) who can be fully described with a few generic phrases. Avoid them like the plague.
Time for rethinking the personal ad.
In the olden days when personals appeared solely in newspapers and a few progressive publications like the alumni magazine for Harvard and such finicky folk as insisted on making known their preference for classical composers, stock brokers, and obscure holiday destinations; in those days one paid by the word and through the nose. Publishers counted on your desperation and longing to fill their coffers. Even the august Times of London cleaned up with such ads, universally called the agony column and always run on Page 1: “Should the fine lady in the blue mantle with yellow sleeves exiting the horse cars at Grosvenor Square Thursday last at 10:59 a.m. desire the acquaintance of a gentleman of means…”, but you get the picture.
When writing such ads, where each word raised the cost, it was necessary to cultivate the virtues of laconic language, short, sweet, clipped. The objective was always to meet the person ardently desired but spend pennies, not pounds. As a result, it was understandable, even excusable when advertisers slashed words; robust clarity at all times was desirable… but unaffordable.
Enter the Internet.
The very first thing I learned about the ‘net was that it’s boundless, inexhaustible, absolutely unlimited. Thus, it can hold, maintain and preserve infinity. The implications of this fact are fathomless, too… not least on the matter of creating personal ads that get you the long-awaited apple of your eye. For now, since we have an infinity of space, there can be absolutely no excuse for writing and posting ads which are at once jejune, inadequate, and platitudinous in the extreme. They don’t work, can never work, and must be abandoned, jettisoned, abjured, forsaken and, in case you miss the point, tossed into the dustbin of history at once.
Now you can write this all-important ad without being hobbled and restricted. You are at last permitted, nay empowered and directed to write what must be written, the ad, the whole ad, and nothing but the ad.
… but this will take careful thought and planning, for it is doubtful ere now that even one personal advertiser has written the magnificent advertisement you are about to write, edit, post, and benefit from for a lifetime. As such the most scrupulous planning is de rigueur and cannot be stinted.
Two people, two parts.
A good personal ad, which is to say an ad that accomplishes the desired objective, must be divided into two parts: half about who you are; half about what you desire in the person you wish to present the key to your (probably much bruised) heart.
Brainstorming, musing, total honesty.
Now, we all know that everyone, absolutely everyone lies in their personal ads. Excess pounds disappear as if by magic; years are thrust in the dresser drawer; educational degrees are now cited from institutions which scorned the pleasure of your company; financial net worth up, all manner of imperfections down; spouses of decades unmentioned, and the eight darling children, too. This is the nature of the beast… until now. Now you have the space to tell everything… and complete details on the extenuating circumstances. Yes, you were flunked out of Alma Mater, but it was most assuredly not your fault… and you insist upon making the full dossier available right here and now. You have the space; honesty is desirable; and your bringing up the subject at all proves what a gem you are.
Thus instead of lying about the pounds you haven’t lost, cite the reasons why. Honestly own up to the fact that your dietary habits are lax; list all your favorite foods… and the rate you consume them. List your last month’s worth of dinner menus… and be scrupulous, entirely above board with everything you consumed, the kind of dishes on which you served the repast, and exactly what you did with the left-overs. You want your soon-to-be beloved to know you, fully, completely and so ardently; for after all, honesty is the bedrock of every meaningful relationship, don’t you agree?
The desired one.
Once you have gathered all the critical intelligence about yourself, proceed at once to Part 2 of your ad, the absolutely crucial verbiage about the person to whom you wish to extend the glorious honor of sharing bed and board. Your complete and total focus is required. Again, brainstorm every desirable point, giving equal attention to what you do not want and cannot abide, and what you must have, a deal killer if not readily available, and in the desired quantity, too.
Starting this list is easy, almost effortless. You either want a smoker… or you don’t. You either can accept pets (even the most exotic)… or you can’t. But make it a point to move beyond these obvious points. Consider such matters as the odor you desire in a mate; how many showers per day; the kind, frequency and intensity of bodily hygiene. Honesty is required, and so honesty there must be. And if the length of your ad grows long and weighty, what of it? What you are doing here impacts the curvature of two lives, so no apology is necessary.
Post at once, reap your reward.
First, you are to be congratulated. You are a pioneer, a model of integrity and rectitude. Now it’s time to reap the inevitable rewards which must come with posting. Mind, it may take a little time to get the single response this ad is meant to generate, for so thorough have you been that there can only be one response… from that extraordinary person daft enough to put up with you…and love you anyway.
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Be Curious Always!: They have this dance for the rest of their lives.

2012-01-28T10:06:00.001-08:00

Be Curious Always!: They have this dance for the rest of their lives.: Author’s program note. Remember your first crush? The heat! The intensity! The euphoric ups and despondent downs? Of course you do… becau...

They have this dance for the rest of their lives.

2012-01-28T10:06:00.000-08:00

Author’s program note.
Remember your first crush? The heat! The intensity! The euphoric ups and despondent downs? Of course you do… because while it lasted, we all felt vital! Alive! Complete…. for all that the parents told us, over and over again, that this was nothing but “puppy love” and wouldn’t last. But it did last, didn’t it, in your mind and heart… to the point where you must find this well remembered person and see how they turned out and whether they still remember you, too, and the special song that was your signature and which even today causes reverie and the sharp, bittersweet pangs of remembrance and a bad case of the “what ifs”…
And so, for the fortieth time, you sit down at the keyboard and search the ‘net and its social networks for intelligence… intelligence that will enable you to rediscover your lost love, your youth, and the life you might have had if only… if only…
“Goodnight, sweetheart”.
To put yourself in the mood, go to any search engine and find “Goodnight, sweetheart” written by Calvin Carter and James “Pookie” Hudson in 1953. I recommend the original version by The Spaniels (1954). It was bubble-gum music, a tune that signalled you’d better snuggle up fast and close since your evening and its possibilities were about to end…. Whatever you planned to do needed to be done and done now… You know its lyrics so well… you know just how much time you’ve got left… and you’ve got something important to say and do.
“Goodnight, sweetheart, well, it’s time to go…. I hate to leave you, I really must say, Oh Goodnight, sweet heart, goodnight.”
This is a moment that determines fate… for in this moment the ultimate words of destiny pour out… hot, fast, insistent…. every word of consequence, every word packed with meaning… words of love… desire…. commitment… eternity. You cannot say where these words originate; you didn’t even know they were in you… but they are present now, urgent, eloquent, raw, powerful motivating words delivered in a powerful motivating way.
“Mother oh and your father, Might hear if I stay here too long, One kiss and we’ll part, And I’ll be going You know I hate to go.”
And so, at last, reluctantly, you did part… only to hurry home and call the object of your affections … who might be someone entirely different …thereby continuing the night, its emotions, its possibilities.
It was all a game, an enticing, exhilarating marvel… and you loved every difficult, contorted, thwarted moment of it.
No one more than Doyle Taylor.
In 1955 and for many years to come, Doyle Taylor was a recognized “catch”. Cute, funny, charismatic, Doyle played the dating game with the same manic intensity he brought to the football game. His manifest personal advantages brought him followers, an entourage particularly of the female variety. He liked girls… girls liked him… and these two facts made for exciting, explosive, entirely thrilling times.
Doyle delighted in the messy contortions of his young life; scheduling multiple dates with multiple people; testing his skills, his powers of persuasion and of escape; seeing how far he could push the envelope. Being Doyle, he could always push it just a little bit more…. then a little bit more again. Life was good! Packed with possibilities that caused him to jump up of a brilliant California morning, glad to be alive.
Then he saw Casey… and he knows in the way one does (even if one has never known it before) that this is the person who offers you more in one complete, captivating package than all the others put together, no matter how attractive. And all of a sudden you experience a flood of emotions that weren’t there yesterday: tenderness, compassion, wonder… and in an instant this confusing life becomes more confusing still, more confusing and infinitely more important. Life is no longer just about you and what you can get; life is now about what you can give. And Casey was a girl you wanted to give to… without asking for anything but her love in return.
Blocked by Dad.
But as every novel reader knows, the path of true love is never smooth. And so it was with Casey, whose father was strict and knew the insinuating ways of boys. Doyle was not welcome in his house… and so school with all its limitations became the only place they could meet. Little did they suspect that its very restrictions were precisely what their love needed to flourish; from obstruction grew determination… enhanced at the Friday sock hops they never missed… and which ended with their anthem “Goodnight, sweetheart.”
But this wouldn’t be much of a story if it ended here, two young people captivated by each other who decide to venture forever together. What makes this story a tale worth the telling is what happened next… and what happened after that. Like millions of starry-eyed couples, they split up in high school and went their very separate ways…
… ways that led them to marry others, have children and lives which would only have been dislocated had they connected too early. And so these one-time fierce lovers grew old, apart, and lonely… existing, not living, without love or its magic. And this, too, is the fate of millions. And it might have been their fate, too… but for the fact that out of loneliness they began to think of each other and what had each, so long ago, been for the other. Thus, apart, they began the process of rediscovering each other, beholden to a fate benevolent to them.
One day Casey’s computer crashed; all her personal data obliterated. She called a friend to begin the recovery process and asked if this friend remembered Doyle and possibly knew how to find him. The friend did…. and within minutes Casey with excitement and trepidation had emailed Doyle… who answered her at once… and so two once kindred spirits connected… and found that the excitement they had shared so long ago existed still… this time forever.
They met, as so many long ago lovers have met, compliments of the Internet… and at once, in the very first moment, they knew their long ago destiny was at last to be fulfilled.
And so it was. Two people, now married, forever young in the eyes of their beloved, committed to just one thing: loving each other, everything else insignificant and insubstantial. No more “Goodnight, sweetheart” and separation, but “Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?” No need to ask…they know the answer only too well, and gladly.
To put this touching tune sung by Anne Murray in 1980 to work for you, go to any search engine. As you listen to what Wayland Holyfield and Bob House wrote, think… for isn’t there a very special person you’d like to dance with for the rest of your life? Go ahead… ask them now, before another day is lost forever.

Be Curious Always!: War with all its barbarity, cruelty and crudeness ...

2012-01-27T09:06:00.000-08:00

Be Curious Always!: War with all its barbarity, cruelty and crudeness ...: This is about an incident of war; an incident in which four U.S. Marines decided to outrage the vulnerable corpses of some of their tenacio...

War with all its barbarity, cruelty and crudeness comes to Main Street compliments of YouTube and the U.S. Marines…. what now?

2012-01-27T09:05:00.000-08:00

This is about an incident of war; an incident in which four U.S. Marines decided to outrage the vulnerable corpses of some of their tenacious Taliban foes, dead in the dust at their feet. Such incidents — and many worse — have always been a part of war… But such incidents nowadays are not merely rumored or surmised… now they can be seen in your office or home in all their disgusting detail. War, with all its coarseness, vulgarity and shock, is now a thing we cannot escape… for we have now reached the point where every war will take place not just on far-flung battlefields, but — as fast as a video clip can be posted — before your very eyes and in your very mind.
The facts.
On January 11, 2012 an undated video was posted by a YouTube user identified as “semperfi LoneVoice”. It shows four men in U.S. Marine combat gear standing in a semi-circle over 3 bodies. These men were urinating on the bodies.
The entire film clip took just about a minute.
It was not the worst outrage in the long saga of human warfare, where the desecration of corpses was a garden-variety barbarism. But this act of desecration went viral at once, a matter of instant and immediate concern to officials at the very highest reaches of government. In short, it instantly became a Problem that had to be dealt with, responded to, and contained before the next news cycle commenced.
Who would make such a video… and why would they do it?
I can surmise — but do not know — that this video was made for the same reason that 19th Century big game hunters were photographed before the bodies of elephants, tigers and lions… a form of bragging, to show their friends where they had been, what they had done, and, Tarzan-like, beat their breasts and release a primal scream of superiority and glee.
Thus did a fifth marine, perhaps the originator of “what seemed a good idea at the time”, egg on his buddies, “Ah, come on. Don’t be a wuss; the bastards had it coming.” Thus did the idea emerge, spontaneous, ill-considered of course, but an act that would bond the buddies while handing each something to show the admiring folks back home. And so the buddies were positioned just so; zippers opened, a crude video made with cruder remarks about giving the bodies a “shower”, ending with “Have a nice day, buddy” … the final result a video that showed in outrageous detail that these Marines, charged with service to the Great Republic, knew nothing about who we are, how we behave, what being an American is all about…
… Yes, in a minute, just 60 seconds, they had outraged their God, their family values, everything they had ever heard or thought about the shining city on a hill… they had lowered themselves; shown their “Semper Fi” motto to be mere words, not high ideal. And they did this willingly, happily, believing this was suitable for them, unexceptional, a thing right and appropriate to do… good for laughs, another beer, a clap on the back from an appreciative audience back home.
All this was bad enough. But then someone got the bright idea of posting this video. This person had one of two possible objectives in mind; either as a proud trophy…, or shrewder, to show us up as a nation of high words but debased realities and so besmirch the Great Republic, its solders, and the lofty ideals by which we live and for which we fight.
And so the video was posted… its unmistakable image of hubris instantly the property of a world which thereby gained another stick with which to beat us, a stick which our own soldiers had fashioned, completely clueless on what they had done and how destructive to our cause, themselves, and their own buddies, whom the Taliban, biding their time, would serve out worse than the outrage perpetrated upon the bodies of their comrades… for retaliation there must be… swift, sure, painful, revolting. It is as certain as anything can be in the uncertain business of war: some young American Marines, now vibrant and alive, will be captured, tortured, subjected to the most severe pain, killed, then outraged… an unspeakable, horrific end made inevitable by the unconsidered lark of 5 Marines who not just failed us but didn’t even know they were doing so.
High-level condemnation, inadequate response.
To their credit, the Marine Corps immediately named an investigative officer to decide whether charges would be brought. They have already identified two of the four who committed the outrage; they are believed to be members of the 3rd Batallion, 2nd Marines, based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. It served in Afghanistan from March to September 2011, presumably the time when the video was made.
Officials at the very highest level of government, Leon Panetta, Secretary of Defense; Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as well as other members of the Obama Administration stepped forward to condemn the desecration… and to limit the damage and repercussions.
But they were checkmated by a belief as old as war itself: that all the king’s horses and all the king’s men can never do wrong, whatever they do, so long as it is in defense of the realm; Texas Governor and (then) presidential candidate Rick Perry the case in point.
Perry’s worrisome reaction went like this: “These kids made a mistake. There’s not any doubt about it. They shouldn’t have done it. It’s bad. But to call it a criminal act, I think, is over the top.”
In other words, boys will be boys; they’re our boys so sacrosanct. Yes, the act’s bad… but slapping their wrists constitutes an appropriate punishment; enough said, let’s get back to America’s unending business, the business of war. Such remarks constituted the thin edge of the wedge; mild condemnation of the “kids” (Perry’s grossly inadequate word and description)… their action bad, yes, but not really so very bad… not least because other nations at other times have done far worse, including worse to us. And that, is that.
But it most assuredly is not…. for if we wish to derive a good result from this entirely avoidable incident a very different response is called for. For if we leave this now in this way we shall surely pay for our negligence with more such incidents, frequent and worse.
The curriculum of war as taught at our great military institutions must be enhanced to include tuition, instruction, and practical training on how to handle the urge to maim, murder, desecrate and outrage our opponents. For if you do not make the act reprehensible and make it clear what must be done and how it must be done, you are surely inviting its frequent occurrence. In other words, silence on this aspect of war, every war, is tantamount to condoning what you say is reprehensible. And so swift, positive action is necessary… so that America and the world need never wake up again to graphic, tangible evidence that we say one thing but do and accept another.
Too much brought to our attention, too little time for thoughtful consideration and response. Sadly, the very process that brought us the intelligence on this incidence will bury it and fast. For the shear amount of data on so many subjects of significance and importance acts to sweep this outrage away… replacing it — for just a minute — with others. We once thought that bringing outrages to wide attention would be sufficient to effect reform… but the very ease of disseminating and posting information, its shear volume, has submerged the desired goal. And so, as information explodes and its demands on us grow onerous, the urge neither to see nor to hear evil grows apace… evil proliferating, evil tolerated, evil condoned, thinly condemned, broadly ignored, a fact of life that dismays us but which we will not seriously confront, and less so every single day .
God help us.
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Be Curious Always!: Of earmuffs, sissies, bone-chilling cold, and warm...

2012-01-23T09:33:00.000-08:00

Be Curious Always!: Of earmuffs, sissies, bone-chilling cold, and warm...: Author’s program note. Winter. What a revoltin’ development this is. I often wonder on days so ridiculously cold like this one is why the ...

Of earmuffs, sissies, bone-chilling cold, and warm ears; thanks to young inventor Chester Greenwood.

2012-01-23T09:32:00.000-08:00

Author’s program note. Winter. What a revoltin’ development this is. I often wonder on days so ridiculously cold like this one is why the Puritans stayed here after arriving and sampling the depths of a Massachusetts winter. I suppose it had something to do with their land grants and, of course, their pertinacious natures and obstinacy. For they were of the variety of folks who say they’ll do a thing and then — do it, never mind that their friends and fellow Pilgrims are dropping like flies all around them.
I often think of such folks on days like this, in winters like this. Excuse me if I get too intimate too fast, but I wonder, yes and for long periods of time, too, for I like to be thorough in my cogitations and day dreams, I wonder… about the socks those Puritans wore, what undergarments and undies they fashioned, how they made vests and sweaters… scarves and hats, each and every item needed… and especially the focus of today’s ruminations, how they kept their godly ears from freezing and falling off, tangible victory tokens for Winter itself, who likes you to remember who is boss around these parts once the December solstice occurs.
Theocracies, autocracies, aristocracies, ideas on this and that, may all come and go but one fact of human history remains constant and insistent: if you live in a frigid climate, your ears will get plenty cold… and must be taken care of right away, whatever your other priorities for the day.
Meet the patron saint of warm ears…. Chester Greenwood.
For just such days, Chester Greenwood and his first epochal invention were born. And today we sing his praises…. while capering amidst snow and ice. Because of Master Greenwood we are safe and warm, ready for anything.
Because Chester Greenwood, whom I guarantee you never heard of until just this moment, is the man who invented earmuffs… and he hailed not so very far from where I’m writing you today, in Farmington in the State of Maine, where laconic residents know the answer to this ancient question, “Cold enough for you?” And then laugh their thin, silent laugh, the one that keeps their human heat within, not cast profligate like into the too brusque air. Mainers are like that, and we like them just that way, especially young Chester and his ear-saving invention.
Just 15.
Like everybody else in Farmington, Chester’s young ears got cold and turned all the colors of distress, first chalky white, then beet red, and finally the deep blue that signifies danger for the continued use, indeed existence of the ears he rightly prized and cherished. And being a practical lad, and caring, too, for the ears of his family and friends, he did what all folks of inventive disposition do… he began to dream up a solution, and fast, for his ears were big and therefore even colder than most.
As every true inventor knows, the solution to a pending problem — that “eureka!” moment — can occur anytime, anywhere. And you must always be ready when it happens. For that industrious young Greenwood boy it occurred one day when he was out having fun — or trying to –at Abbot Pond where he was breaking in a new pair of skates.
This was a very big deal for him, because he came from a poor family (as most Mainers did) with six kids… and new skates were like gold, for all that they had to be shared. Greenwood was anxious to try out those babies… but the wind whipping off the pond was just too much, even for this hardy lad. He raced home to his “Gram”, found in her proper place in the farmhouse kitchen and asked her to see what she could come up with to cover his ears. It was the kind of practical question every real Grammie expects, is glad to get, and can always do something about.
Chester didn’t just stand and watch as his Grammie worked; that was not his way, and so they worked together. Chester supplied the idea and the materials; Gram, proud of her inventive grandson, supplied the artistry and experience of her nimble fingers, and so they got on like a house afire.
Chester wanted beaver fur on the outside, black velvet on the inside to shield his ears. Wool would never do; too itchy.
Once the materials had been selected and approved, it was time to fashion the device that kept them secure and in place. To solve this problem, they chose a soft wire known as farm wire, a precursor of bailing wire. Some later accounts say the resulting device was then attached to a cap.
So readied for the elements, Chester returned to the pond where, with the warmest ears in the county, he astonished his shivering buddies with the joyous dexterity of unremitting youth.
Soon, this 15 year old whiz kid was in the business of crafting earmuffs for old and young alike; for Mainers know a good deal when they see it. And as Chester worked… he, like every inventor before him, made adjustments, improvements, corrections, never satisfied, always in pursuit of the perfect muff, which he called Greenwood’s ear protectors and which, like Henry Ford’s auto, you could have in any color so long as it was black.
In due course, in 1873, and just 18 mind, he was awarded U.S. patent number 188,292 thereby launching a business which kept 20 or so of his neighbors in Farmington gainfully employed for nearly 60 years. At its height in 1936, he produced some 400,000 muffs a year, doing well while doing good… which is or at least should be the objective of every inventor and entrepreneur.
Greenwood, by now a celebrity in the State of Maine and beyond, died in 1937, aged 79. He had lead the most beneficial of lives, finding needs and filling them, the time honored path to usefulness and wealth. Amongst his 130 patents are such devices as improvements on the spark plug; a decoy mouse trap called the Mechanical Cat; his own shock absorber, a hook for pulling doughnuts from boiling oil, the Rubberless Rubber Band, and the Greenwood Tempered Steel Rake.
But of all his many worthy and practical ideas, I still prefer his first achievement, those earmuffs in beaver and black velvet, for you see like Chester, and such great celebrities as Clark Gable, I have big ears, too; so big that in the Alphabet Poll in my high school year book, my ears were photographed after my discerning classmates had voted mine the most notable, and so they were. Delicious.
And thus, with ears like Greenwood’s, I had Greenwood’s problem; that is until I discovered Greenwood’s solution in a pair of Greenwood’s muffs, in black, of course. They were a statement, that I was a practical boy myself, always desirous of keeping these pristine ears in fine working order. Besides, I don’t mind tellling you, I looked killing in mine, arresting, handsome, cute to boot. Not like Christopher Ninnis, that wag, who made derisory comments about sissies in earmuffs, keeping his in a box. But then… look how he turned out.
Note: In 1977, Maine declared December 21st “Chester Greenwood Day” to honor the king of warm ears whilst the City of Farmington, Maine kept employed by Greenwood’s genius, throws him an annual birthday bash, complete with parade where police cruisers are decorated as giant earmuffs. It’s the first Saturday in December. He deserves it, all of it, don’t you think?
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EZ Wealth Network News: Making Money Online. What Frustration. Not Any Mor...

2012-01-21T05:48:00.000-08:00

EZ Wealth Network News: Making Money Online. What Frustration. Not Any Mor...: Making money online can be one of the hardest tasks to a newbie online marketer. You get your self a website with high hopes of making it b...

Be Curious Always!: New biography of Mitt Romney claims to deliver ‘Th...

2012-01-20T13:31:00.001-08:00

Be Curious Always!: New biography of Mitt Romney claims to deliver ‘Th...: Last night, January 19, 2012, The Boston Globe, the biggest and most influential newspaper in New England, pulled out all the stops for two...

New biography of Mitt Romney claims to deliver ‘The Real Romney’… but will anyone really care?

2012-01-20T13:31:00.000-08:00

Last night, January 19, 2012, The Boston Globe, the biggest and most influential newspaper in New England, pulled out all the stops for two of their best and brightest reporters; Michael Kranish, deputy chief of the Washington bureau of The Boston Globe and Scott Helman, staff writer at The Boston Globe. The occasion was the release of their new biography of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, the likely Republican presidential nominee.
First, my compliments to The Boston Globe. The special reception before a panel on der Mittster was nicely done and gave us all the opportunity to meet the authors and chat with them. The helpers were all efficient, polite, unobtrusive. Perfect.
It looked like a long evening until….
I sought out Michael Kranish first; he seemed like the senior member of the team and I try to get what I need for my article out of the way as soon as possible, so that I can sit back and enjoy the event. I told Kranish I had three brief questions for him.
First, would Romney ever be president? His unpromising answer: “It’s possible. It could happen.” This was not the incisive, insightful comment I was looking for… and suggested the possibility of a very long evening in the making, one to be ditched as soon as I’d eaten more of their fine brie.
Question 2: will Mormonism be an issue in the campaign? “In some places it could be,” he answered. OMG! It was indeed going to be a very long evening.
But I said I wanted to ask him three questions… and it wasn’t over until it was over. I ventured my third query. “What was the most unexpected thing about Romney you discovered in your research”? Then the intriguing answer, “What happened at Stanford University” when he was a student there during the Vietnam War, the war that derailed his father’s presidential campaign. Ok, this was something promising… at last.
Of father brainwashed and campaign imploded.
Mitt Romney (born 1947) had as his dad a human dynamo called George Romney, celebrated as the rescuer of American Motors (which gave me my push button Rambler in high school), governor of Michigan, member of the Nixon cabinet; a man who rightly thought he had a superb shot at being president of the Great Republic… until…
… he went to Vietnam, where he got star treatment and massive misinformation about how the war was going, how we’d win, how the people loved us, and enough manure to fertilize Connecticut. He came back to America feeling like a fool; then shot himself through the head when he claimed the military had “brainwashed” him. His presidential campaign ended the minute the words were out of his mouth. Nobody wanted as president a man who could be controlled by the military or anyone else. And so George Romney’s career ended… providing his son with a lifetime of lessons about what not to do… including the vital necessity to avoid the media whenever possible.
On his way back from Vietnam, Pere Romney stopped to visit Mitt at Stanford… where this devoted son got the opportunity to talk to his father about Life, War, God… of winning, losing, what’s important and what isn’t. It’s the kind of conversation one has with a parent once in a lifetime… and Mitt took it all in and to heart. He would, he vowed, revenge what had happened to his father… being sure to derive all the proper lessons from this seminal event, including the absolute need in his life for God, the God of the Mormons…
God.
To understand Mitt Romney, you must appreciate the importance and influence of his Mormon faith. It has provided the sinews of his life while isolating him from other people; people who often disdained his religion, calling it a “cult” and worse. Mitt learned to be private, very private, about his religion…letting very few people into that side of himself. Privacy, particularly privacy about his faith, became an obsession… something that may have connected him with God… but most assuredly estranged him from his fellow men, the people he’d need if he was ever to run for president.
Money.
What further separated him from the run of mankind was money… he made awesome amounts of it, largely through what are called leveraged buy-outs. This is a practice whereby investors buy a company, with the intention of doing everything they can to make it as profitable as possible, as quickly as possible; so they can sell the whole or its parts, often for staggering return on investment. This almost always involves the firing of employees in an attempt to decrease expenses and increase efficiency. Here Mitt Romney was king; a paragon who knew the delights that come when making only millions in a day was “bad” compared to the brilliant days, and plenty of them, when you made tens, even hundreds of millions lickety-split. Such days did absolutely nothing to connect him with mere mortals… and presented a problem he has still not been able to solve. Every time he got richer, Mitt got more disconnected… and less electable.
So, here we’ve got a candidate with a perfect marriage, 5 sons made by Disney, nary a scandal to be had… richer that God Himself… super bright… the hardest worker on the planet… but a loser for all that, because he just cannot connect with people and their everyday concerns to save his life.
Thus as I roamed the thin crowd talking with people, who were very keen to be asked their opinion about Mitt and his prospects, the temperature never rose above “tepid.” Yes, right smack dab in the middle of Boston, capital of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that Mitt had reigned over as governor (2003-2007), he couldn’t have thrown off less heat. And so, the people whom he needed so desperately to make him president evinced absolutely no excitement at all, much less any abiding glow.
And you could see this puzzled authors Kranish and Helman because their unauthorized biography (without a single interview with Mitt), into which they had poured time, life and commitment could only go as far as its subject, and not an inch more. If he sailed into the White House, their book (which I made sure they both autographed) would have the legs most political books never do, but if the world was as lukewarm as the folks in their audience, their $30 book (praised though it was by the usual East Coast media suspects) was DOA…
That’s why they came back to this point several times: awkward and disconnected as Mitt was in public, he was in private something of a cut-up (of the wonk variety), a man who could tell a story, give a hug, engage… even (and this arrested my attention for sure) moon walk while singing tunes from the Grateful Dead, tunes like “There’s Whiskey In The Jug”, an odd favorite for a tea-totalling Mormon:
“Mush-a ring dum-a do dum-a da Whack for my daddy-o. Whack for my daddy-o There’s whiskey in the jar.”
But this, though it made me smile and nod my head in wonderment was not the highlight of the evening. That was the rapt attention and joy in Aime Joseph. You see Mr. Joseph is my driver, a Haitian by birth, obsessed with American politics, always quizzing me about political people and their measures. He dressed up for this event, and imbibed every word with the utmost focus and concentration. “We have nothing like this in Haiti,” he said as I gave him the present of a lifetime, an autographed copy of the book. And when he saw me about to drop it, he grabbed it from my hand, the better to ensure it did not fall; chiding me for lack of care with this valuable artifact.
And I saw so clearly what was the best part of all: the fact that this kind of forum, this kind of book, this kind of open dialogue and honest conversation still was foreign to most of the world… and the thing we should be most proud of, our gift to the world and our collective future.
Now, go to any search engine and find “Whiskey in the jug,” and imagine Mitt moon walking to it… If there’s enough whiskey in the jug, that should be no problem.
*** What do you think? I invite you to post your comments below.

Be Curious Always!: What is | The Best Exercise | to Lose Weight?

2012-01-16T04:46:00.000-08:00

Be Curious Always!: What is | The Best Exercise | to Lose Weight?: Indeed ,we have a variety of valid reasons to get in shape. And with lots of different exercises around, it’s hard to determine which is t...

What is | The Best Exercise | to Lose Weight?

2012-01-16T04:37:00.000-08:00

Indeed, we have a variety of valid reasons to get in shape. And with lots of different exercises around, it’s hard to determine which is the best exercise to lose weight.
Of course, the general rule of thumb would be to choose the best exercise that will fit your need to ensure that you get the results that you desire. There are many options available, but the best exercise to lose weight is none other than yoga, in my humble opinion.
Yoga is a series of physical postures called asanas. It is a holistic science that believes that everything in our body is connected.
It doesn’t only focus on the physical aspect of the body; it also aims to achieve stillness of the mind. It links and synchronizes the power of both the mind and the body to create a sense of balance and stability.
Originally, yoga was created to prepare the body for meditation, which is probably one of the hardest things to do - especially in today’s very busy and demanding world. In meditation, you are expected to channel your senses within, without distraction.
Doing this will give you stamina and no longer make you feel that your body is separate from your mind. It makes you a ‘whole’ being, bound by a single energy from the mind, body and soul.
This balance among the aspects of yourself (mind, body, and soul) is what gives you the discipline to concentrate only on the things that are crucial and important.
This is what makes yoga the best exercise to lose weight. In terms of overall benefits, yoga is a better choice than other types of physical activities.
Unlike other exercises that only focus on specific areas of yourself, yoga gives an all-natural and far-reaching approach to help you achieve your goal.
Aside from being a great activity that the young and old can enjoy, yoga also has other positive effects. When burning fat for instance, it doesn’t target just one area of your body, but rather all over so you can slim down quickly.
What's more, yoga keeps the heart going and gets rid of the toxins, stress and negative feelings that can make you sick.
If you want to tone up, you might think that lifting weights is the best exercise to achieve that. Well, you’ll be surprised to know that yoga can also help you in this aspect.
By doing the various postures, you don’t only relax your body, but also tone your muscles and improve your stamina. Moreover, it can help you be a more positive and likeable person.
Through yoga, you will learn to treat your body well and keep a healthy mindset. It will alleviate your anxiety and help you get in the best shape of your life. Of course, it’s best to avoid food high in sugar and salt because it contributes to weight gain and makes you feel bloated and sick.
Yoga is truly the best exercise to lose weight. Many generations of practitioners swear by its extensive, life-prolonging effects. To learn more about yoga click here...

Be Curious Always!: Do You Want to | Put Pen to Paper |and Make Beaut...

2012-01-12T04:24:00.000-08:00

Be Curious Always!: Do You Want to | Put Pen to Paper |and Make Beaut...: Writing a novel begins with a simple idea. That story idea is what will lead you to your story plot, which is the core of what you need fo...

Do You Want to | Put Pen to Paper |and Make Beautiful "NOVEL" Music?

2012-01-12T04:17:00.000-08:00

Writing a novel begins with a simple idea. That story idea is what will lead you to your story plot, which is the core of what you need for writing a novel.
Plot is simply the plan of your story. It’s the movement of the people in your story through situations and through settings to get to certain goals.
Some novel ideas are about a situation. Some ideas about a character. No matter where your idea starts, you must turn the idea into a plot if you want enough story for writing a novel.
How do you do this?
By asking questions.
The two questions you want to ask to transform an idea into a plot are:
1. What if?
What if is the seed question to every novel plot. To get a full, complex plot, you must ask this question over and over and over and over.
For example, take the idea of an alternate universe where fat is considered beautiful. To transform this idea into a plot you might ask, What if a very obese woman from our universe ended up in this alternate universe? What would that be like for her? What if she suddenly was considered a drop-dead gorgeous in this alternate universe? What would that be like for her? What if she started losing weight? What if by losing weight, she ends up as unhappy in this universe as she was in the one she left behind?
Do you see how this works? You play with “what if.”
Once you’ve asked the what if questions several times, you’re ready to ask the next question.
2. Why?
The why question expands on your what if questions. You use why to flesh out the scenarios you came up with as a result of asking what if.
For example, one of the what if questions for the alternate universe idea could be, “What if the main character started losing weight?” To expand on this what if, you would ask, “Why?” Why would she lose weight? The why would take you back to what if. What if she lost weight because she was so happy that she no longer ate to cover her pain?
That what if would lead you to another why: Why, if she ate to cover pain, wouldn’t she just eat again once she started losing weight in the new reality? Wouldn’t that make her unhappy enough to binge again? Why wouldn’t she just go back to eating a lot?
That why, again, will take you to a what if: What if she no longer wants to eat to cover pain-something in her experience of this new universe has changed her. She just doesn’t know what it is.
What if?
Why?
Do you see the process?
You ask what if. That gives you information. Then you ask why. That gives you more information, which leads you back to what if.
It’s impossible to structure novel plotting much more than this. It’s a general brainstorming process that requires your mind to be free and full of possibility. This brainstorming is what will give you the foundation of what you need for writing a novel. Click here to learn more...