"That is SO High School!"

Finding Back Pain Relief Doesn't Need to Suck! Teeter Me This...

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rick Vogel) — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 17:24:53 PST

Okay, so we have all seen tons of totally stupid As Seen On TV Products. Hot Booties, Hot Buns, Lint Lizards, and Sticky Buddies…the Stupid List goes on and on. But wait a minute! Could there be a real gem out there that is genuinely effective and actually works? Well after personally witnessing my best friend's lower back issues practically disappear within just a few days, the answer is yes! For anyone who has ever suffered back pain, the Teeter Hang Ups, developed by fellow back pain sufferer Roger Teeter and found on TeeterTV .com, may provide the relief many have been seeking.

Although lots of the As Seen On TV Products are items that sound great during their ads or infomercials but don’t really turn out to be all they were cracked up to be; the Teeter Hang Ups have research and testing to back them up. Roger Teeter has been continually developing and refining the product since 1981, and the results are unparalleled, according to data found on the TeeterTV .com website. The Teeter Hang Ups seem to be easy to use, and in addition to relieving back pain, they have been shown to improve joint health, build and tone muscle, and increase flexibility. Someone as skeptical as I am can even try one out for a money-back 30-day in-home trial, just by visiting TeeterTV .com.

You probably remember the famous Forest Gump line, “Stupid is as stupid does.” This does not apply to the Teeter Hang Ups, because Roger Teeter has come up with a very smart way to relieve back pain and even get a good work out if you want. According to numerous consumer testimonials found on TeeterTV .com, the Teeter Hang Ups are amazing and wonderful life-changing products that are definitely not on the Stupid List. Roger Teeter offers a five year warranty for his #1 rated inversion tables.

After injuring my back in football as a teenager, I wish one of these were available in the High School gym!

Was Rick Perry a High School Dropout...or Was it Just Too Many Beers?!!

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rick Vogel) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:45:24 PST

Just saw this video on youtube from the Jimmy Kimmel show from last week. Boy, did Rick Perry make the rest of the Republican field seem a lot smarter, and a lot less drunk! I kind of miss the guy. Too bad he just couldn't get it together, but he definitely makes for a good laugh :)

3 cheers for the good ol' boy from Texas and thanks for the memories!

Top 3 Reasons Why Newt Gingrich Will Save the Republican Party

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rick Vogel) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:16:10 PST

Can this old crumudgeon really save the GOP? After all the Mitt Romney talk the past few months, with him being the steady force of the republican party and not wavering under under negative news like the rest of the candidate field, his rock solid facade is starting to crack.

Here's why the formerly-grumpy Newton Gingrich might just be the savior of the red, white and blue elephant and not the well coiffed Mitt:

1) Newt can squeeze every ounce of life out of a political debate. Look what just happened last week, as the fiery old former speaker came roaring out of the gates. Not even the master orator Obama can go toe to toe with that!

2) He's been around the block many many times already. Hey, this brash son of a gun even helped bring in the advent of the internet back in the 1990's as speaker of the house...or was that former VP Gore?!!

3) Even with all of his female filanderings in the past, he's got a steady girl now, and just maybe his wicked ways have been put on hold for the time being. With that, the social conservatives might just keeping backing him all the way to the white house.

10 more months of political high school fun to come! Stay tuned as it should be quite interesting...

Hey George Lucas, Will You Please Just Leave My Star Wars Alone!!

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rick Vogel) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:18:39 PST

For Star Wars fans, Lucasfilms is coming out with the most modern way of getting the group to shell out a fresh round of cash…by releasing the six films on Blu-ray.

For those keeping score, the movies have been released in pan-and-scan and widescreen versions, as both the original and re-released versions, and then on DVD.

Oh, and there was the theatrical re-release that proceeded the second video release. Kind of like Elvis and Marilyn Monroe and Tupac, the people in control of Star Wars keep managing to find ways to make money.

I don’t begrudge that. I might not like it, but I’m a capitalist. If you find a legal way to make money, and you want to make that money…well, good for you. Where I do have an issue with is the changes that the capo dei capi of the organization, George Lucas, continues to make with the property in order to make the fans want to buy whatever the most recent money grab is.

A director or studio deciding to add back in a deleted scene to a film is nothing new. Maybe there was time or enough money in the budget to fix something about it. Maybe the studio and director disagreed on the scene. Maybe there was a time or rating issue that doesn’t matter after the theatrical release. Whatever the reason, it’s a fairly accepted practice and Lucas has done some of that.

However, Lucas insists on taking it one step further and actually changing context. There was the famous controversy when the original film – which we all still call Star Wars, but that the Lucas people now call Episode IV – was re-released with a scene altered to show Han Solo not drawing first on a bounty hunter trying to take him in. Despite the fact that in some of the Westerns that had influenced the story this type of behavior would have been acceptable, Lucas decided in the intervening years that it was unseemly for his hero to do so.

Now, he has tinkered with the movies again prior to the Blu-ray release. From here forward, when Darth Vader rescues Luke by tossing the Emperor into the heart of the Death Star, we will hear a “Nooooooooooo!” emitting from the Dark Lord. If that sounds familiar, that’s because it seems eerily similar to the much mocked exclamation by noted thespian Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker upon being told that his love Padame had died in the last of the not really beloved prequels (OK, it does have a name…”Episode III: Revenge of the Sith,” which I’m acknowledging only for the damn search engines).

In addition – although slightly less distressing – Lucas has replaced the Henson puppet Yoda in the first prequel and replaced it with the CGI version that appeared in the other two films.

Lucas once campaigned against those – like Ted Turner – that wanted to use colorizing techniques on old black and white movies, complaining about compromising the artistic integrity of films. He was right then – colorizing, thankfully, never really caught on and was hideous on a number of levels – and he’s still right. Unfortunately, Lucas is now in the Howard Hughes stratosphere where he doesn’t listen to anyone and even if he asks for an opinion, people are too afraid to give him an honest one to his face.

There is also the little fact that while Lucas did direct the original Star Wars and the prequels, he actually did not direct The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Granted, that was just because he thought it was tedious and just hired people to do it that took their orders from him, but he’s still not the director of record. If someone else was doing this to a film, Lucas’s ‘70’s reared director brethren like Scorsese and Spielberg would go nuts about it. Yet, when Lucas decides to “tweak” the Star Wars films, including the ones that he didn’t direct everyone but the fans just shrug.

There’s sure to be more coming from Lucasfilms as well. Fans have already nervously joked about the possibility of the CGI Yoda somehow making his way into the three original films, but no one laughs that hard about it since no one would put it past Lucas to do exactly that. It’s just a shame that Lucas doesn’t trust his work enough to just leave it alone.

Have International Beauty Pageants Headed Down the Toilet?!

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rick Vogel) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 13:44:22 PST

Not that anyone would really notice it, but the Miss Universe competition is crowning a new winner on September 12^th. I’m not sure who actually watches such things, but someone must since they keep doing them. (I’m assuming that means that there is still a Miss America, since isn’t that who’s supposed to be in the Miss Universe thing…or am I mixing up my beauty pageant chain of succession?)

Anyway, there was just a news blurb about the event which is being hosted in Brazil. Apparently, the organizers had to have a conversation with the young women involved about remembering to wear panties.

That’s right; the people in charge had to point out to the women the need to wear underwear during something being broadcast internationally.

Maybe, since so many of the outfits that these women wear cannot be worn with a traditional bra (hello, double-sided tape!), they just thought that going commando was easier. Maybe, in a generation that seemingly can’t stop taking naked camera phone pictures of themselves, the closer to nude they remain the easier it is.

In reality, the discussion about making an effort to cover up va-jay-jays, came about after the current Miss Colombia – Catalina Robayo – was caught in an upskirt snafu by local photographers when the short skirt she was wearing rode up a little bit too much.

I’m not a prude. I have nothing against women not wearing underwear. An attractive woman not wanting to wear clothing is usually A-OK with me. Want to go out to the club not even sporting a thong? Fine with me.

However, it does seem like there needs to be a line someplace and I’m pretty sure that a pompous international beauty contest is probably it. After all, I’m going to guess that this is being aired on every country’s normal broadcast network, not the various equivalents of Cinemax. There has to be at least a little bit of decorum, doesn’t there?

I’m sure that the controversy – as much as they might protest – doesn’t really hurt the Miss Universe people all that much. Having anyone say anything about their event should be welcomed, since this is the first time that I’ve ever paid this much attention to the Miss Universe contest…ever. (Although, I do remember my older brother watching it when I was a kid and there were only three channels and no Cinemax.) And, this is at least something primarily for adults, so the level of outrage even if something happened would be somewhere well south of Britney Spears showing up at a Teen Choice Awards with her unencumbered nipples popping through her spandex top.

But, if our beauty contestants are really going to just start whoring around like the general population, what does that say about us? Shouldn’t the contestants – many of whom have been trained since childhood to be as fake as possible in order to impress judges – be able to at least fake some ladylike behavior?

If we can’t trust the beauty pageant group to show us the right way to behave, really, who can we trust?

Top 10 Most Famous Hollywood Child Star-Stage Parent Feuds

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rick Vogel) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 13:46:43 PST

Child star – stage parent feuds are not uncommon, especially in Hollywood. Here are the top 10 all time most famous child star- stage parent feuds.

10. Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino vs. Frank Sorrentino. Jersey Shore’s Mike The Situation filed suit against his father, Frank, in May 2011 for defamation after a series of public rantings by Frank against his Situation son. In July 2011, Mike The Situation filed to dismiss the suit, as long as his dad apologized and promised not to blast him in the press anymore. So high school!

9. Gary Coleman vs. Edmonia and W.G. Coleman. Gary Coleman became an instant child star in 1978 when he was cast as Arnold in the long-lasting TV series Diff’rent Strokes. In 1989, Gary sued his adoptive parents for stealing from his $3.8 million trust fund, and won. After Gary’s death in 2010, his funeral was scrapped due to ongoing feuding about his estate. What stupidity!

8. Tori Spelling vs. Candy and Aaron Spelling. Tori Spelling began acting in Beverly Hills, 90210 when dad Aaron was producing the show in the 1990s. Tori and her mother Candy always had a rocky relationship, but it came to a head after Aaron died in 2006 and only left Tori about $800,000 of his massive fortune. Tori and her mom are still feuding with no end in sight because Candy disapproves of Tori and husband Dean’s reality show. How idiotic!

7. Macauley Culkin vs. Kit Culkin and Patricia Brentup. Maccauley Culkin, the Home Alone star, battled his dad, Kit, from the time he started acting due to Kit’s arrogant and demanding attempts at controlling Maccauley’s career. When the never-married parents separated in 1995 and started their own battle over Maccauley’s acting fortune, Maccauley put his finances in the control of his accountant. Smart move!

6. Lindsay Lohan vs. Michael Lohan. Lindsay Lohan, child movie star made famous at age 11 by playing twins in the 1998 remake of Parent Trap, has had a lengthy and very public problem with alcohol and drugs. On the one hand, brainless dad Michael can’t keep his mouth shut about their problems and Lindsay is sick of him; on the other hand they kiss and make up on a regular basis. One of the dumbest ongoing feuds ever!

5. Aaron Carter vs. Jane Carter. Dancing with the Stars child celebrity 16-year-old Aaron Carter cut off ties with his mom and manager, Jane, and filed for emancipation in 2003 when Jane allegedly stole $100,000 from his bank account. Just when Aaron decided to try and reconcile in 2004, Jane was arrested for beating up Aaron’s dad’s / her estranged husband’s girlfriend. In 2006, their life’s soap opera became a reality show. So high school!

4. Drew Barrymore vs. John and Jaid Barrymore. Drew Barrymore became famous at age seven for her part in the 1981 movie E.T. Her parents divorced before she was born and dad John was not around. Feckless Jaid, a B-movie actress, took famous little Drew partying with her to lots of hot L.A. clubs, landing Drew in rehab at age 13, and emancipated at age 15. How moronic!

3. Tatum O’Neal vs. Ryan O’Neal. Tatum O’Neal became an Oscar winner in 1973 at age 10 for her role in Paper Moon with her father, Ryan. A 25-year estrangement followed after Tatum blamed Ryan for her teenage problems with alcohol and drugs, and accused family friends of molesting her. Currently, Tatum and Ryan are doing a reality show about their attempts at reconciliation. Another one of the dumbest!

2. Mackenzie Phillips vs. John and Michelle Phillips. Mackenzie Phillips, troubled child star of the TV series One Day at a Time, revealed that her dad John raped her, sexually abused and did drugs with her for 10 years beginning when she was a teen. Mackenzie’s stepmother, Michelle, says Mackenzie is lying. Yeah, right. How moronic!

1. Leighton Meester vs. Constance Meester. Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester sued her mom and ex-manager, Constance, for custody of her younger brother, and then Constance counter-sued for millions. Leighton’s younger brother has multiple medical problems, and Leighton was sending her mom $7,500 per month for his medical expenses. Idiotic Constance was using the dough instead for her own botox, hair extensions, and plastic surgery – and wanted even more. Definite stupidity!

Top 5 Reasons Why Phone Hacking is Totally Unacceptable

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rick Vogel) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 13:55:04 PST

What in the heck are News Corp (NASDAQ: NWS) employees thinking about any way? Have true morals been totally thrown out the window, and reporters/editors are willing to sell their souls and their mothers just for that next breaking story that will kill the competition and get them another news Emmy award? Here are the top 5 reasons why we need to stop this insanity and get back to real journalism…sheesh, so high school Rupert Murdoch!!

5) There’s enough misery in the world already to report on, so why illegally search it out. Our culture is so reliant on not only news, but totally mind-blowing horrific news that reporters try to seek it out at all costs. However, there are so many major events around us that are continually being blasted throughout the airwaves that grab our attention and keep us glued to our flat screen television sets all day every day. Reporters and researchers don’t need to keep illegally tapping into people’s private mailboxes and voicemails to get to the best stories. From Casey Anthony to Carmageddon to Debt Limits to Greek Economic Tragedies to Japanese Earthquakes news begets more news and it’s never ending. And not only that, because of Twitter, Facebook and other forms of social media we can get that news expediently and in real-time.

4) If all the newspapers do it maybe it makes it alright. Wrong!! If everyone goes out and robs a bank does it make it okay? NO, so why is it different in this case. A recent guest from England on Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO suggested that News of the World (published by News International which is owned by News Corporation) is one of a number of newspapers that practice the same type of shady investigative reporting, which not only includes phone hacking but also making payments to police officers and using improper influence to persuade politicians and the police.

3) Privacy laws are created for a reason. Luckily News Corp has not yet been charged with any wrongdoing here in the United States. The laws in England are a lot looser in regards to privacy than we have in our constitutionally protected country of ours. If there is any hint of this illicit behavior by this media conglomerate inside our strict borders, then they better get themselves a really good lawyer who specializes in privacy and compliance. Consumers and the average American citizen are very well protected in this country from the predators out there who eavesdrop online and in the mobile space looking for backdoor into our private information (social security numbers, credit card info, phone numbers, email, home addresses, etc. etc.)

2) Hard news is supposed to be gotten from credible sources and thorough research. What happened to great newsmen and newswomen such as Woodward and Bernstein, who broke the Watergate scandal in the 1970’s? These experts in news gathering used a cunning sense of drive and motivation to get to the heart of the most newsworthy event in American political history that drove a President out of the White House and caused a loss of respect and admiration for the highest office in the land for years to come. Did they use illegal phone hacking, bribes and improper influencing of political figures to get what they wanted? Were they driven by Emmy awards and sensationalism? No, what they wanted was the truth and ultimately they got it, and made a name for themselves with hard work and determination.

1) Yes, the global economy still sucks but newspapers are about news and not always about the bottom line dollar. Companies have to make money and must satisfy their boards of directors and ultimately their shareholders. And in this tough economic environment many of these corporations have transitioned their focus to getting leaner, making things more efficient, restructuring their labor force, and greatly raising their revenue at all costs. In addition, because of the incredible rise of the online world that has increased exponentially over the past few years, it has led to a huge decrease in readership for newspapers that have lost many of their tried and true customers to this digital juggernaut. Many publications have gone the way of the do-do bird because of this competitive landscape (paper vs. internet). And what has been the result? A loss of principles, ethics and an overall sense of right and wrong, that could lead to the making of a catastrophic meltdown for one of the big 5 media companies around the globe.

I just hope Newscorp Chairman Mr. Murdoch has stashed away enough of his billions so that his six children won’t have to deal with this mess for years to come. And to think that this is the same company that owns the Wall Street Journal, one of the most respected publications on the planet. I guess High School behavior can be had by anyone.

Why Are the French So Rude to Americans?

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rick Vogel) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 13:56:23 PST

While in Paris recently, I found myself briefly detained by authorities on suspicion of radicalism. What was the subversive behavior that I engaged in that raised the ire of the French?

I was appearing on a French television program – Le Noveau Journal – when at the end of the discussion I mentioned that viewers were welcome to get updated information on me from my Facebook page or my Twitter feed.

As it turns out that the French have recently banned the mention of both Facebook and Twitter by their broadcasters. While technically there was nothing in the rules about my talking about the websites, apparently, certain members of the French government thought that I had intentionally done so as a form of protest.

I had to explain to them that the rule was so idiotic that it had actually escaped my attention prior to my visit…and I have a blog devoted to idiotic behavior. In retrospect, I suppose that I did see a mention of it as I was perusing my normal sources for news, but I guess I just assumed that it was a post by The Onion.

I mean, how can a country tell its broadcasters that they can’t mention the names of social media outlets? Why would anyone even bother to do such a thing?

The explanation, in so much as there is one, is that the French have decided that talking about Facebook and Twitter is essentially providing free advertising to those companies. In their socialist view, that’s unfair to the other social networking businesses out there just trying to earn a euro. The fact that no one has the faintest ideas who the companies that they’re trying to protect are is seemingly irrelevant. Working on their premise, I’m assuming that you also can’t discuss Coca-Cola, McDonald’s or Starbucks.

There’s a possibility that a civilized country has done something more asinine, but I’m hard pressed to come up with something. Imagine if the United States tried to ban the use of any commercial name on the airwaves. How would you even attempt to enforce that? Even if we wanted to take up the banner of Facebook and Twitter as a country, we’d be hard-pressed to come up with a one-to-one scenario to get even with the French.

1) We could stop our TV and radio talents from saying the word Perrier, but who would even notice?

2) Certain circles might profess to love French wine, but it’s not like we have a ton of shows devoted to discussing it Maybe it would put a crimp in the Food Network’s style, but that would be it.

You can’t really do anything about:

3) French bread,

4) French fries or

5) French toast, since that’s just what we call that stuff for different odd reasons and doesn’t really have much to do with the real country.

The problem is that French culture isn’t really that relevant and it’s hard to tell when the last time that it actually was. Perhaps they believe that by limiting the talk of more American cultural exports, that it will somehow help to diminish the impact of that amongst their populace.

While I’m offended intellectually by the whole affair, I must say that the people detaining me were very nice. Served me a nice brie and a marvelous Alsace pinot blanc. Of course, that’s partially because I speak French. By comparison, I had to save one of my American brothers as they were stuffing his mouth full of French fries in an effort to recreate the “Super Size Me” movie poster.

Ah, vive la betise.

Top 25 Reasons Why the MTV Generation is Over the Hill

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rick Vogel) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 13:57:48 PST

Have you recently been driving in your car kicking a little Snoop Dogg on the old Kenwood, bobbing your head in the air like you just don’t care?

Yeah, I got news for you, Chief. You’re old.

Once upon a time, a generation used hip-hop culture to assert their coolness. That group is quickly sliding towards middle-age and I have a feeling that they honestly don’t realize it. So, here’s your wake up call…this fall, that self-same Snoop Dogg turns 40.

The tracks that made him famous, from Dr. Dre’s “The Chronic” will turn 20 next year. Dre himself is now 46-years-old. Ice Cube, he of the Coors Light commercials, is 42. NWA’s “Straight Outta Compton” was released 23 years ago.

Want to keep going? Maybe you were on the East Coast, so you weren’t paying that much attention to NWA.

OK, well, Chuck D. is just about to turn 51-years-old. I’m sure he’s still fighting the power…it just takes him a little longer to get up to do it now. Eric B. is 45. Rakim is 43 and Big Daddy Kane will hit that mark in about a month. LL Cool J celebrated his 43^rd while filming “NCIS: Los Angeles.” The Overweight Lover, Heavy D is 44. He’s now the Overweight Lover of Lipitor. Kool Moe Dee is getting ready to celebrate his 49^th birthday.

Still think you look good in those pictures with the high-top fade? Well, maybe you can look at them while you watch the DVD of “Do The Right Thing.” It came out long enough ago (1989) that it would qualify to be on a classic movie channel. “Boyz n the Hood” came out 20 years ago. “House Party” 21 years ago (Kid is 47, Play is 49 and Martin Lawrence is 46).

Now, I’m sure that there’s a group of people reading this that are thinking, “None of this applies to me.” Maybe you were wearing flannel in the 1990’s. Okee-doke then, you Pixies lover you….Pearl Jam’s “Ten” and Nirvana’s “Nevermind” both came out 20 years ago. Kurt Cobain has been dead for 17 years. His daughter will turn 18 this year.

Eddie Vedder is 47-years-old. So is Chris Cornell. Billy Corgan is 44. Speaking of The Pixies, Black Francis is 46 and Kim Deal is 50. Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon is 58.

OK, so you were listening to something a little heavier, perhaps? Rage Against the Machine’s Zach de la Rocha is 40. Slash is 46. Axel Rose is 49. Metallica’s James Hetfield will hit 48 this year, as will Lars Ulrich.

One last thing, for those who maybe weren't watching MTV for the videos…Eric Nies from the original cast of “The Real World” just turned 40. Puck is 42.

So, there you have it: you’re old. Don’t feel too bad, it happens to everyone sooner or later. Try to take it with as much dignity as you can muster, and if you want to break out the Kangol and dookie chain to relive the memories now and again, it’s fine.

Just make sure the shades are drawn before you do.

Top 5 Things That Continue to Make China RED HOT

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rick Vogel) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 14:00:37 PST

I’ve written about China a few times in the past 6 months, and deservingly so. They have become such a superpower that some experts believe they will surpass the United States in various categories regarding power and influence over the next 10-20 years or sooner. They educate their children extremely well, focus exhaustively on research and development and continually invest wisely in their plans to extend their reach well beyond their Asian borders. Here are the Top 5 things that continue to make China red hot around the world:

5) Shanghai has created 125,000 millionaires in a city of only 25 million. The Chinese economy is still booming, and has resulted in a slew of wealth across the country in many of its major cities. They are making huge strides in various industries and have motivated many different countries around the world to export their wares to this Asian mega conglomerate (e.g., thousands of tons of steel from Brazil are being shipped to them to support China’s ever growing housing and commercial development projects). Due to their strategic investments and wise spending habits, they are definitely the country to watch and this will continue as long as their housing market doesn’t transform into a bubble state and suddenly bursts in the near future.

4) China doesn’t try to expand its military influence too strongly into many different countries at one time. In contrast to the U.S., China believes in building their military dominance at specific points around the globe versus the widespread strategy that our holier than thou country does, and thus their budget is 1/6^th that of America’s. The leaders of our great country believe that our democratic way of life is good for the rest of the world and ultimately impose our will on some less powerful (and non-democratic) countries that must abide by our heavy hand. From Iraq to Afghanistan to Libya, we will spend hundreds of billions of dollars (that we don’t have) to create a worldwide democracy. China has a whole different military philosophy in place and has been spared financial demise because of it.

3) Kids in the U.S. are starting to view China as a global leader. “You are so Chinese” had a much different connotation just 15-20 years ago, and meant something very derogatory in the eyes of the person saying it. Today that same phrase has become a serious badge of respect out on the playgrounds throughout America because of what China represents to a whole new generation of millenials and younger who view the Chinese as extremely smart, technologically savvy and in charge of an extremely fast growing emerging nation. They have cheap labor, products that have thoroughly engrained themselves in our culture and are now leading the way in terms of economic superiority globally. Excluding they’re government censorship and horrible human rights record, what’s not to like?

2) Their technology presence has expanded into the lives of its average citizens. Can you believe the Chinese are now dating online like never before? Yes, internet dating has increased 100 fold in the past couple of years in this country, and is multiplying every single day. The traditional boy meets girl by parent interaction and set up is becoming a thing of the past, and technology is starting to pave the way to a whole new type of Asian courtship (Wall Street Journal July 2011). Wow, it sounds very American to me! You would think the Chinese government would ban this type of action because of the security threats that this could cause by lack of regulation and control. Maybe social reform is slowly creeping onto their radar screen. From its major search engine Baidu to its micro blogging leader Sina Weibo, and now online dating sites like Jiayuan (the biggest in China that recently went public and increased its revenue 150% in 2010) a social media transformation that cuts across all classes in the country is beginning to mirror our technology path here in the western world.

1) There are no signs of slowing down yet. Christmas has definitely come early in China and the Grinch is nowhere in sight. A revolution has started and we better make way for this new leader who has popped their head out of the sand. And again, as long as there are no major financial hiccups that put a stranglehold on the country, which is always a possibility (ask Greece, Portugal and

Ireland

), then the path to superiority is within clear view. This leading Asian country is continually mentioned in news, business and entertainment programs throughout the airwaves, and there's no wonder why it is so easy to write about them here on this blog constantly. For America to compete we need to take the hard lessons learned and put extra emphasis into infrastructure, education and innovation (and not just technology innovation which we already seem to be good at). And for gosh sakes, can we stop all the Washington, DC bickering and create more jobs!! Oh to make all my wishes come true…

Top 10 Most Infamous Political Sex Scandals of the Last Fifty Years

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rick Vogel) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 14:01:47 PST

Top 10 Most Infamous Political Sex Scandals of the Last Fifty Years...OMG Sooo High School!

10. Anthony Wiener and Twitter Pictures. The aptly-named married New York Democratic Congressman recently resigned his seat after it was disclosed that he sent sexual messages and pictures of his bulging crotch to women via Twitter. He also joined the list of dumbest actions by a politician.

9. Arnold Schwarzeneger and Mildred Baena. Also in 2011, the Terminator admitted to having a 10 year-old love child with the family housekeeper. With a divorce pending, former Mr. Universe’s idiocy caused his popularity to tank and dashed any hopes for a future Presidential run.

8. Ted Kennedy and Mary Jo Kopechne. Known as the Chappaquiddick incident, the Senator was driving from a late party with a lover in 1969 when he drove off a bridge into an island channel, causing Mary Jo’s drowning. Kennedy was never charged with her death, and the incident is a perfect example of how an influential political family can insulate one of their own from consequences of stupidity.

7. John. F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe. Back in 1961, the press had scruples even if the President did not, and the short-lived hot sexual affair between JFK and Marilyn Monroe was barely reported. If a similar affair happened now, it would be global media frenzy. Even so, it is idiotic for a president to have an affair with one of Hollywood’s hottest!

6. Eliot Spitzer and his Prostitutes. The former governor of New York, a self-described family man and corruption fighter, actually corrupted himself after spending over $80,000 in campaign funds for high-class prostitutes, which landed his career and personal life in ruins in 2008. How moronic!

5. Mark Foley and his Text Messages. In 2006 this Congressman was Chairman of the House Caucus of Missing and Exploited Children and had introduced legislation targeting online sexual predators. A closet sexual predator himself, Foley sent idiotic sexual messages to teenage male pages. Although he was never prosecuted, his career was ruined.

4. Mark Sanford and Maria Chapur. During a 2008 seven-day disappearing act, the South Carolina governor’s staffers claimed he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, while he was actually in Buenos Aires with Chapur, his Argentinean mistress. Afterward he was almost impeached but refused to resign, although his stupidity ruined his marriage and political career.

3. John Edwards and Rielle Hunter. This former North Carolina Senator was forced to drop out of the 2008 Presidential campaign after he was exposed as having an affair and a child with Hunter, a campaign staffer, while his wife, Elizabeth, was dying of cancer. The scandal has resulted in current criminal charges that Edwards used about a million dollars in campaign funds to cover up the affair.

2. Gary Hart and Donna Rice. In 1987 the married Colorado Senator was forced to drop out of the Presidential campaign after it was reported he was having an affair with a beautiful model in Bimini on a yacht named Monkey Business. The rising Democratic political star’s moronic affair crashed and burned any political aspirations he might have had.

1. Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. President Clinton was actually impeached in 1998 after White House aide Monica’s semen-stained dress disproved his denial of their sexual relations in the Oval Office. Clinton admitted to oral sex and using a Cuban cigar in her genital orifices. This is definitely the most infamous political sex scandal of the last 50 years, especially since it ultimately cost Vice President Al Gore the presidency in the 2000 election to a relatively unknown George W. Bush who had no clue about foreign policy at the time!

High School Behavior at the very highest levels of power and influence. Shame Shame Shame....

Why are Luxury Retailers Building Up their Online Sales Models?

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rick Vogel) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 14:04:18 PST

Discount online retailers are a dime and dozen in the web sphere, and the average consumer has been accustomed to searching for these cut rate sites and making numerous purchases from the day the lights were turned on in this virtual environment versus making a trip down to their local Sears or JC Penney’s. However, only a few large luxury brand name companies have ventured into this e-commerce retail arena with fear of having to compete with the seemingly endless array of heavily bargain basement priced product companies (e.g., Amazon.com, Wal-Mart.com, Zappos.com, etc.) that are so prevalent when surfing the internet on laptops, tablets or other mobile devices. But it seems as though the tide is beginning to really turn as witnessed by a few of these highly priced retail behemoths successfully building their online sales revenues and other curious (or maybe fearful of being left behind) retailers that are starting to follow their lead and take a leap of faith to the dark side digital world.

Due to the success of companies such as Net-a-Porter, an online e-tailer of luxury brand women’s wear based out of London (that had gross revenue of $400 Million ending in its most recent fiscal year in March of 2011, which was more than a 100% increase year over year), luxury brands such Burberry, Hermes, Neiman Marcus and Faberge have boosted up their web presence lately and others are sure to follow. Those fabulously posh brands such as Chanel and Rolex may now start to re-think their strategy of sitting on the internet sidelines and not joining the fray of discounters like Target.com, because of fear of tarnishing their highly respected names. But money talks and a big focus on customer service has really built up these virtual retail outlets to become big competitors in the war for new and repeat business, and a huge referral network to boot.

Think about how a great customer experience from one of these ecommerce companies could catch on like wildfire and go viral in mere minutes with mention on one of the social media sites with a few tweets on Twitter, a bunch of likes on Facebook or a number of stumbles on Stumbleupon. Although the reverse is true as well, so companies must be sure to create that positive retail buying experience, or else a negative one could spread throughout the digital space at light speed and cause a company to crash and burn rather quickly (ask Maytag about its negative customer experience with the globe’s most famous Mommy Blogger, Heather Armstrong, who literally built a blogging cottage industry by the viral success of her 10-day disastrous ordeal with her “new” Maytag washing machine).

With the advent of same day delivery (to feed our need to immediacy), money-back guarantees and 24/7 customer support, e-tailers are going the extra mile for their shoppers and that is especially important for the clientele that these luxury brands cater to. As more and more companies take the plunge into this wired world, they will need to keep quality customer service at the forefront while at the same time offering the same top notch product lines that have made them oh so famous throughout the fashion runways of Paris, Milan and New York. We may want the convenience of clickable shopping but we still want to walk down the street with that trendy new Louis Vuitton bag or Piaget watch on our arm…and of course purchased on that same day! Sooo High School!!

Is it Really Appropriate for your 9-year Old to be on Twitter and Facebook? Mark Zuckerberg and Others Think So!

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rick Vogel) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 14:13:07 PST

This question really has me thinking about how fast our technology focused culture has so drastically evolved in just the past two to three years. The social media aspect of our lives, both in our personal relationships and in the business environment, is becoming all encompassing and will get multiplied a hundred times over in the next five to seven years. Our relationship building skills have become so reliant on digital connections, that we feel lost when there is not some form of mobile communication (cell phone, tablet, laptop, etc.) on our person twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. We want everything here and now and won’t wait around for information to be fed to us, in what has been described as our new ADD society. From online dating to Skype meetings to purchasing an engagement ring on Blue Nile we have morphed into a supremely wired universe with no end in sight.

And this focus on the digital world is not just inherent in the adult (and young adult) population. What is now happening from even the biggest and baddest of the social media juggernauts, the all mighty Facebook, is the starting up of discussions regarding giving social media access to those in the tweener segment (9-12 year olds). I’m sure some if not many adults (including myself) are probably screaming “Hell NO” to this possibility, especially given the rash of predators being identified across the web sphere (does the name Representative Anthony Weiner come to mind, or maybe “To Catch a Predator” on CNBC a few years back). Why in the world would internet companies even fathom the idea of giving our youth below the age of thirteen any type of availability to the breeding grounds of such a perverse part of our sometimes sick society? It really seems like a ludicrous idea given how we try our hardest to protect our youngsters from the evils that lurk in front of us on the computer screens.

However, it begs the question: “If we don’t teach our kids how to survive in the digital landscape, then how will they be able to learn the necessary relationship building skills that they will need in the future?” And kids are feeding on this need by taking action themselves to gain this education. The numbers really don’t lie, as Consumer Reports states: over 7.5 million Facebook users are under the age of 13, with 5 million of those being 10 years old or younger (Time magazine). And because of this new consumer group popping up recently, companies are creating focused strategies to profit from this growing segment of the internet realm. REALLY?!! Yes, and to name a few that I’ve never heard of before but will probably be well known soon are: Togetherville, imbee, Everloop and WhatsWhat.me in addition to the more mainstream Twitter and Facebook.

These companies claim that there are serious safeguards against and background checks on those signing up for their websites, including ways to prevent the predators from gaining access to their young customer population. However, as an example of where Facebook lacks in this security, their 13-year old minimum requirement for gaining access can be bypassed by simply putting in a fake age on their application screen. What kind of security is that?! Nevertheless, everyone in our country is out there to make a grand buck for themselves so for the time being there really is no way to stop these entrepreneurial outfits to come out of the woodworks and lend our children another form of expression with others, but having exposure to a whole world of predatorial maniacs in the process. As this happens, it is up to us to guide our kids in how to navigate this place of social communication and how to spot the masked evildoers who are only there because of dangerously misplaced motivations.

When will this technology revolution ever stop?! I really do miss face to face conversations which seem very archaic these days. So High School!!

Top 10 Most Influential High School Movies (1960-2010)

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rick Vogel) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 17:24:03 PDT

Although anyone can think of tons of movies about high school or teens, there are a few from each decade that become historical classics for their ground breaking or influential impact on culture and society. Here’s my list of the top ten most influential movies from the last five decades:

1960's

Splendor in the Grass (1961). Starring: Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty. Director: Elia Kazan. A love story involving conflict between moralistic standards and following the heart, this unrequited romance drives the girl insane and the boy almost to ruin. This movie was ground breaking for portraying the first French kiss in Hollywood.

To Sir With Love (1967). Starring: Sidney Poitier. Director: James Clavell. One of the first films of the now-familiar genre featuring a misplaced but inspired teacher faced with a class of cynical teens. This excellent movie portrays the sexual infatuation of student towards teacher, before it was always the teacher’s fault.

1970's

American Graffiti (1973). Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, and others. Director: George Lucas. The story of two high school buddies, on their last night before leaving for college, cruising the strip and having all sorts of adventurous experiences, in an oh-so-accurate portrayal of teenage pop culture. Lots of off-camera drama with actors’ drunken antics, like when Harrison Ford got arrested in a bar fight and was kicked out of his hotel room.

Grease (1978). Starring: John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. Director: Randal Kleiser. This classic musical love story between good girl and bad boy is still popular with viewers of all ages. Marie Osmond turned down the lead female role because she didn’t like having to turn bad to get the boy. Sooo goody-goody!

1980's

Breakfast Club (1985). Starring: Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy. Director: John Hughes. Story of five high school students from different cliques who end up together at an all-day Saturday detention and find out that they are really deeper than the stereotypes they live. Judd Nelson, who stayed in character off-camera, was almost fired for bullying Molly Ringwald even when the camera wasn’t rolling. Sooo high school!

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986). Starring: Matthew Broderick. Director: John Hughes. This hilarious coming-of-age comedy about a street-wise teen who decides to take a day off school and drag his friends with him for a day of mishaps and adventures in Chicago will probably always be a classic. The hot red Ferrari used for most of the scenes was a remade fake, though.

1990's

Clueless (1995). Starring: Alicia Silverstone. Director: Amy Heckerling. Based loosely on Jane Austen’s 1815 novel, Emma, Clueless is a fresh and funny comedic portrayal of an ultra-rich and pampered high school student wading her way through her teenage angst as a chic diva. One of those movies you can watch over and over again, and giggle every time.

10 Things I Hate About You (1999). Starring: Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles. Director: Gil Junger. A modern version of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew”, this teenage love comedy about bittersweet romances sparked the TV series by the same name and holds the interest of viewers of all ages, partly due to the intelligent script and double entendres with, of course, a lot of sexual innuendoes.

2000's

Napoleon Dynamite (2004). Starring: Jon Heder. Director: Jared Hess. A cult classic, this wildly funny portrayal of high school life is so accurate that every character reminds you of someone you knew in high school. Being weird is the norm here, or in Napoleon Dynamite’s own words, “You guys are retarded.”

High School Musical (2006). Starring: Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgins. Director: Kenny Ortega. This world-famous Disney musical is the classic story of two high school students from rival cliques who fall in love. What makes this movie so spectacular – besides Ortega’s great chorographical directing – is that it makes it okay for teens to be themselves.

Top 4 Things That Could Be Leading us to Another Tech Bubble Bursting

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rick Vogel) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:48:55 PST

Here we go again. Don’t we ever learn from our huge mistakes from our past challenges in the technology space and finance industry? I guess not. Below are our top 4 reasons why we might be on the brink of another tech bubble, that could drive our fragile economy even further downstream. Do we really have to be so friggin greedy!

4) Our society of convenience is leading to an imbalanced focused on technology innovation, good or bad. As I’ve said in past articles, in our ADD culture we need and want things here and now or we move on. We don’t wait for information anymore, even if in means texting while behind the wheels of our cars, having access to Wi-Fi while sitting on a 2-hour plane ride from city to city, reading the latest book release on our Kindles before the hardcover is on the bookshelves at Barnes and Noble, or watching that night’s Bachelorette on our iPad 2 trying to get home to the suburbs after a 10-hour day at the office (instead of DVR’ing it and watching it at a later time). This has led to a huge influx of investment targeted to research and development from both companies in the private sector and from the government to help satiate our needs for immediacy in how we live our lives. This spotlight on technology being the end all be all for our culture to continue to survive has resulted in spotty innovation at times, less focus on education investment (which has caused and is causing a frightening drought of talented scientists and engineers) and an overall feeling that if we don’t somehow get in on the tech craze then we’ll never have any real success.

3) The number of technology IPO's in 2010 made up a significantly larger percentage of the total amount than it did in the last tech boom. Not only do we have a lover affair with technology, but again we are so tech dependent in all aspects of our lives these days that we really can’t escape the phenomenon. Going hand in hand with this relationship is the fact that those small start-up entrepreneurial companies that are so passionately focused on making the ultimate BIG score in business, have found that if they have a strong technology bent to their offerings then news travels quickly across the Wall Street wires and give them a significant leg up against their competitors in other non-tech industries. This has recently resulted in both investor interest and confidence some of which we haven’t really seen since the blow up we experienced before 9/11 hit. Why we haven’t learned from the past is really beyond my comprehension, but like Gordon Gekko said in the movie Wall Street “Greed is Good”.

2) Foreign company investments are also a lot higher than they were in the last tech bubble. Not only are we interested in investing in technology companies based here in the United States, but since we continually salivate for all things tech we are now open to opportunities for company investments that have their headquarters located in countries outside of our country. Case in point: Yandex. You probably have never even heard of this company. But the Russian search engine recently raised eyebrows by scooping up $1.3 BILLION in funding from its NASDAQ public offering. This staggering amount for a very little known company outside of the U.S. should cause us to pause for a moment and think about what represents. It is a microcosm of what we are all guilty of: speculation in an industry that we really don’t understand but are so amorous of due to the windfall of stash that could result.

1) Overvaluing everything and anything that feeds our need for community. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are the prime examples of this. Social media is now all encompassing, and every major business on the planet is putting together teams (including hiring a Social Media Manager formerly called Community Manager) and strategies to fill this void in their overall marketing/promotions, public relations and sales efforts. And because of this hurried focused on this area and seemingly over importance on it, valuations put on the companies that are leading the way are skyrocketing and resulting in multi-billions of dollars in net worth (on paper at least) for some of the CEO’s of these trailblazing technology pioneers. I believe at last count Facebook has been valued at over $50 Billion and possibly as high as $75 Billion with its wunderkind 26-year old co-founder Mark Zuckerberg having a net worth today of $13.5 Billion. And Facebook is just one of the many tech companies out there with inflated valuations that could be leading us down a very dangerous and all too familiar path. Skype’s acquisition at the hands of Microsoft is a strong example of a high growth emerging company that wet the appetites of one of the tech majors who most experts say paid more than twice than it should have paid ($8.5 Billion at the end of the day). It sounds a lot like 1999 all over again doesn’t it?!!

Again, we should have learned our lesson after we busted a nut back in the 90’s when Ebay, Amazon, Yahoo, Google, eToys (oh yeah they never made it) and a host of other companies were going to make us fabulously wealth. At least back then our economy was thriving and our unemployment rate was at a respectable level. With our extremely challenged marketplace today and unemployment north of 9% STILL, who knows how we’d be able to handle a tech crash with the recession still lingering in our minds. It’s time to focus on other things more important than just the hottest new technology gadget and falling in love with the company that creates it. We have a lot more important things to invest our hard earned tax dollars in. True and lasting innovation may actually be a result.

Top 5 Reasons Why Retail Magnates Love the Chinese

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rick Vogel) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:50:24 PST

There are people in Europe who are getting ridiculously wealthy by selling goods and services to the Far East. And of course, those in China are loving the fact that they can afford very expensive retail items that feed their desire to be like the West and show off their wares and new money. Below are our top 5 reasons why retail magnates love the Chinese.

5) Brand name whores live around the world and for the past 3-4 years specifically in the Far East. The one billion plus population of this proud and ever emerging country has naturally given rise to a subculture that has taken the economic advantages bestowed on to them from it’s economic surplus and rising housing market by purchasing a vast amount of brand name products and services that were once out of reach to the average Chinese citizen. And this includes brand names that extend well beyond the price range that seemed so far off the radar screen just a few years ago. Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Zara and Rolex are just a few of the brands that are now within the strike zone for so many of the retail buyers who would normally never even think enter these stores before. I suppose Wal-mart and Target brands are not welcome anymore?!!

Hong Kong Model Dada Chan

4) Like a Rolex for men, a purse is a reflection of a woman’s badge of honor for the ultimate style points and symbol of status. Yes, to men it seems like it makes no sense at all to be carrying something around that you couldn’t strap to your back, and eventually would just make your arm really sore. However, for women it carries such a different value proposition especially when observed by other women. For some odd reason, if you’re in possession of a very expensive handbag or purse and walking down the street, you are associated by other women as a person with style, money, sophistication and an awareness that you know what really counts when going out in public. Very strange, and you can add expensive shoes into this equation as well, since this is a strong indicator for some people of class for both women and men!

3) Even in the midst of a worldwide financial meltdown and economic recession, we are a global culture of hubris and need validation. In addition to style points, for those with new money and needing a sense of increased self worth and/or just to feed their ego even more, some people just aren’t willing to hold back and keep things in more perspective with what is going on in the world around us. It is so surprising how a nation could be on such as big spending spree as China, even though economies in other countries are falling apart as fast as you can blink an eye (think Greece, Portugal, Belgium and Ireland). It’s great that they are the darling of so many experts out there, and that most likely they will surpass the U.S. in the next few years as the most robust economy in the world, but really now can you put the brakes on for a few minutes and put your wallet back in your pants?

2) As seen by the Olympic Games in 2008, China always does things in a VERY BIG way. Okay yes, they want to impress the rest of the world with their show of great power and how much progress they’ve made in a relatively short period of time. They really look like what Japan was trying to be in the 80’s (but fell flat on their faces for awhile there after their bubble really burst). They’ve got a huge army, have their very cheap products engrained in the cultures of many different countries (especially here in the U.S.) and are a point of discussion for every major multi-national corporation throughout the global as to how their 1 billion base of consumers can be tapped into. Brazil alone has become a major Western hemisphere superpower because of their relationship with China, and its reliance on steel made in the Portuguese speaking nation that is the foundation of their housing construction boom. For the Chinese, size matters and it’s no wonder that their retail buying appetites are following suit.

1) The #1, #2 and #4 wealthiest billionaires in Europe (per Forbes Magazine) have three of the fastest growing empires in the world, mainly due to retail sales in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Bernard Arnault, the CEO of LVMH, was the main benefactor of this surge in retail sales as his net worth jumped nearly $25 BILLION (including $13.5 billion just in the last 12 months alone) in the past two years to $41 billion overall. I guess it really pays off to sell $1,500 Louis Vuitton bags and roller suitcases to the Chinese! Amancio Ortega of Zara ($31 Billion) and Stefan Persson of H&M ($24.5 Billion) also saw their immense fortunes rise with the economic windfall that has made China the place to be for new wealth and spending habits that are extremely well aligned with their uptick in paychecks and overshooting of profit goals. These three mega billionaires are hoping to god that the housing market in this leading Asian economic juggernaut doesn’t burst anytime soon. Only time will tell, but for now they seriously riding the wave.

For those looking to get into the high end retail industry and having a true business relationship with a contact in Hong Kong or Shanghai, maybe it’s time to dust off those handbag creating skills and get to work. You really never know, you just may be the next in line in creating your own Top 5 reasons why retail magnates love the Chinese.

The WORST Consequence of Being a Reality TV Star

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rick Vogel) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:51:57 PST

Yesterday, I was standing in a checkout line when I saw a magazine – which one doesn’t really matter – and the headline showed one of the women from Real Housewives of someplace or Desperately Real Housewives of somewhere with the headline, “Fame Destroyed My Family.”

I almost forgot to actually purchase my green tea because I was so distracted. It’s not often that I’ve actually been struck dumbfound, but that’s about as close as I come. All I could think was, “Fame didn’t destroy your family, stupidity did.”

Stupidity in the form of greed. Stupidity in the form of vanity. Reality television is nothing if not an excuse to encourage stupid behavior for the sake of entertainment. The easiest way to create a reality program is to just pick one of the Seven Deadly Sins and come up with a framework to entice participants into reveling in the vice.

Anyone that agrees to be a part of a reality show knows what the deal is. Perhaps in the very earliest days of the modern reality shows, people might have gotten away with saying that they didn’t realize what would happen. However, that went out the window many years ago, possibly as early as following MTV’s first season of “The Real World.” That was 1992.

Even by the time of the first “Survivor” in 2000 with attention whore Richard Hatch at the center, it was hard to believe that participants weren’t aware of what kind of attention might come their way.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

If you’re going into a reality show at this point – after gems like “The Anna Nicole Show” and “Growing Up Gotti” – and you want anyone to believe that you’re doing it for altruistic reasons…well, good luck with that. To want to expose yourself to the level required for producers to be able to put together a viable entertainment product requires a healthy dose of ego, which invariably leads down the path of stupidity.

So, there are no victims allowed any more in reality television. There are no secrets. Even wacked out quasi-celebrities like Gary Busey and Jeff Conway know exactly what they’re signing on for. Conway’s recent death, after his downward spiral was so lovingly documented on “Celebrity Rehab,” was a sad reminder of the scuzzy underbelly of the genre.

There’s nothing wrong necessarily with seeking fame and fortune. Mankind has been doing it for millennia. Just don’t try to pretend that anyone doesn’t know the risks that are entailed therein. Explorers and prospectors back in their generations knew what they were getting themselves into, and today’s reality show stars, professional athletes and pop singer wannabes are just as aware. If you chase the limelight, you run the risk of catching it. There is to be no bitching once it happens.

There is one way to keep stupidity from ruining a person’s life. That would be to actually not act in a stupid way. Of course, that wouldn’t make for good television. The Seven Deadly have nothing on the sin of not being entertaining in the modern world. It’s the worst – and deadliest – sin of all.

Why are Developers in the Mobile Application World Making Millions?

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rick Vogel) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:53:22 PST

According to the media hype, the new phone app market is like a modern gold rush days.

Titles such as 'Blade Infinity makes $1.6 million in five days', 'Make $100,000 a year selling Android applications' and 'Angry Birds makes $2 million per month' are enough to make a lot of hobbyist programmers sit and listen.

The developers of all walks of life are rushing into uncharted territory and staking their claim in the hope of finding their fortune in them there hills. So we should all be involved? Who is really making money here? App markets are really a level playing field?

Make no mistake, the mobile applications are a big business. The potential profits are now big enough for people to dedicate themselves to building-app as a career choice.

Apple App Store has only had 10 million applications downloaded since its creation. Add to that the millions more from Google, Android Market, Nokia Store, App World Research in Motion, Microsoft and Samsung Marketplace Apps, and you can see why this growing market is encouraging a hive of activity in the creation app.

The creation of the app phone is a revolution - is a whole new way to sell the software to advertise, to provide possible solutions to social networks and to inspire brand loyalty. Best of all, the app users to bring their phones with them 24 hours a day. No wonder so many brands now have their applications, and more professional clothes that are in competition with developers for an amateur site on mobile customers.

At present, however, is still a wide open market where anyone can become rich. All you need is a laptop and the desire to have a go at some programming. And people. Individuals, groups of small and large companies are all united in the rush to exploit this rapidly growing market, and has led to some unexpected and impressive success stories.

As Donald Mustard, the man behind the game app Infinity Blade, told us: "It 's really like the Wild West."

Bubbles vs. Birds

One of the most famous examples of the unpredictable nature of success in the app is the battle between the birds and Angry Bubble Ball in the standings to download the game. Angry Bird is the world's most popular game app: it has been downloaded more than 50 million times since its debut in 2009, it took eight months to make and cost a reported $100,000.

In December 2010 it was thrown from his first place in the App Store by Bubble Ball - a game of simple physics with very simple graphics, invented by a 14-year-old Robert Nay America with the help of his mother and some books from the library.

With four million downloads in a month, Robert is the latest success story App Store. Do not be fooled, though, there's a big difference here - paid-up capital for the birds are doing Angry Rovio million per month, the company that created it, free download Bubble Ball made his creative nothing. Well, nothing except a reputation around the world and the probability of its choice of programming jobs, she leaves the school, of course.

Competitive market: Cut the rope was very successful, but was overshadowed by Infinity Blade

And here's the crucial point - half of the applications that make the news to reach one million downloads in a few days are free. Yes, these people are 'millionaires app', but you will not see a penny from the sales.

Free ads

This is not a problem with vision. Rovio released a free version of angry birds for the market of Android, with a bar of advertising on it, and ads are now making the company more per month compared to paid version - millions of dollars.
This is not an option for every application, though. The revenue system is based on the amount of time people spend playing Angry Birds - and play a lot.

How Rovio spokesman Ville Heijari told us: "What was most impressive to us is about 200 million minutes in which our members spend on average each day with the game." And the equivalent of the viewing figures for a small TV channel.

This has not happened by chance - a great deal of research has gone to create Angry Bird. How Heijari said, "Rovio mobile games had produced 52 first bird Angry since 2003, so that the core team [already] had pretty solid experience in developing games."

Rovio specifically focused on conservation of users - people do not want to create an application is downloaded once and then forget. To contribute to this, every month, the Rovio team releases an update for the application (and 80 percent of people with the game to accept the fact that the update).

Strangely, this free update also lead to an increase in new downloads of the app, probably because, as updates to encourage people to play again so new people (friends of the people, for example) are exposed to it.

With all this experience and the development cycle of eight months, made the Rovio to expect success? "When we released the game," said Heijari, "we had a strong gut feeling that we had a very successful game in our hands, with a potential of at least 200,000 downloads. So we can honestly say that we did exceed our expectations."

Rovio cannot have expected the response it got, but soon turned to his advantage. Angry Bird is now a brand, and a wealth of Rovio is examining all possible for-profit spin-off - keep an eye out for the TV series Angry Birds, board games, soft toys and games for PC is your way to more soon.

Profits on a Small Scale

Do not be discouraged by the numbers of Angry Birds, though - there are developers out there making a handsome profit from advertising on free applications that are nowhere near that scale. One of them is Neil Inglis, the creator of beds at Christmas, who took time out of his busy schedule to talk to us. We asked him how he got in developing applications:

"I was a software engineer for six years, but always on a large system that took months to develop and even longer to deploy!" He said: "The idea of being able to produce a small standalone app that meets the needs of a user and allows you to see the results immediately, I really liked it."

Inglis has developed some applications, but what was his best creation so far? "Number of Christmas has been my most successful. It's a small, fun application that really caters to children and families. I've had more than 1.5 million downloads and [the application has] spent some time as the Application number one top free in the UK. The application is ad-supported revenue and leads to tens of thousands of pounds a year."

So, is the development of applications now its only source of income? "I'm at the point where I would have supported purely on development applications," he says, "but I'm a bit 'nervous about the stability of income, so I will not give up my day job yet -."

What kind does Inglis think works best - selling applications for free with advertising, publishing or simply pay for apps?

"It depends on the type of application," he said. "For applications in trade to the 'mass market', the advertising works really well, but you need to ship in large volumes. For specialized applications, you'll never make enough off of advertising, no matter how targeted, so pay is the way to go. There are still problems to convince users that it is worth paying the price of a cup of coffee for an app, but I hope that this changes in the future."

From Software News

Why it Won't Suck if Sarah Palin Runs for President in 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rick Vogel) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:53:33 PST

Okay, you may be saying to yourself “Doc Vogel you must be out of your f**king mind…what the heck are you thinking?!” And you probably share that view with millions of other Americans and probably with some people outside of our country as well. With what Sarah Palin has done over the past 3-4 years and what she represents to a fairly niche but passionate group of citizens in the U.S., then it is very understandable how a number of you have this viewpoint. However, there is some interest out there, and given the current field of Republican candidates, maybe she could be a shot in the arm for the whole party. So below, here’s what I think why it won’t suck if Sarah Palin runs for president in 2012:

4) America loves a competitive election and Sarah Palin may be the best person to go toe-to-toe with President Obama. This time four years ago, the field was getting extremely packed with a field of very reputable candidates to vie for the 2008 Democratic nomination, including Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, John Edwards and host of other senators and governors around the country who were extremely motivated to replace the eight-year contentious tenure of George W. Bush. Not only did they start campaigning as early as January of 2007, but some were having exploratory teams looking into the possibility of a presidential run even as far back as the beginning months of 2006. Fast forward to the present day, and the current crop of Republican presidential candidates is a thin field at best. The field actually seems to get thinner every other week (e.g., Mitch Daniels, Mike Huckabee and Donald Trump to name a few recently who’ve said they would not join the pack). Barring the Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, who would also add some oomph to the field, Palin could be the only one with enough moxie to stick it to Obama during the debates. Hopefully, this time around she knows the names of a few magazines that are sitting on the coffee table in her living room (think Katie Couric questions in the last election).

3) Sarah Palin’s star power could make for a very interesting next 17 months on the campaign trail. With the publicity she garnered this weekend on her bus tour of America, there’s no question that whatever step she takes the former Alaska governor creates grand headlines. Again, there is fairly large part of the country that thinks that the world would go to sh*t if Palin was elected, and Obama would win in a landslide victory anyway. But for some reason, whatever she does she attracts some serious attention. From her family reality television show, to guest appearances on Fox News or Saturday Day Night Live, to seeing her watch daughter Bristol on Dancing with the Stars, she seems to always be the center of attention. Yes, she’s a pretty lady, but there are a lot of good looking females out there. I guess since she’s a former governor and has good looks and is a woman, she gives us something different to consider outside of Hilary Clinton. Whatever the case, this lady has given political star power a whole new definition.

2) The Tea Party fanatics have a poster child other than Michelle Bachmann. Sarah Palin gives the ultra conservative family values focused faction of the Republican party someone to call their own. If she were to run, she definitely has more name recognition and the above described star power that Congresswoman and former Minnesota State Senator Bachmann currently doesn’t have (yet, although her star is also on the rise in the party). Palin would just neutralize any effect that Bachmann would have in a presidential campaign, and they actually might cancel each other out in the eyes of the voters (resulting in a split Tea Party vote). With this faction being such a strong force right now in the party, and giving full backing to a Palin presidential bid, then their voice can be heard around the country for months and could possibly help lead the former Governor to a strong showing come November 2012. And hasn’t she been categorized by some as the female Ronald Reagan, who as former Secretary of State James Baker has said would be leading the Tea Party if he were alive today?

1) In Sarah Palin, we would have the first female presidential candidate in the history of our country. Yes, she has many faults, clearly doesn’t have the book smarts that someone like Obama has, and seems to cherish the spotlight just as much as she wants to do some good for the country. Also, there has been a strong negative reaction over the past few months around the U.S. to anything associated with the words Sarah Palin (if you don’t believe me, then just check out Bill Mahrer’s weekly TV show on HBO and you’ll get the point). But what she does bring to the table is a sense of grass roots conservatism and anti-elitist sentiment that goes exactly counter to what the Democratic party stands for, and if packaged right could be a huge motivator to the Republicans boosted by the Tea Party express. Remember, our country seems to still be divided due to the unemployment rate in America continuing to be very high (including 17% in the African American and 12% in the Hispanic communities respectively), our national debt/deficit being way out of control but the government still spending like it’s black Friday every day, our educational system being vastly surpassed by seven of the developed countries around the world in math, science and reading, and now the U.S. taking a military backseat during recent international operations (e.g., Libya). At the very least, it will be a history making campaign, with I’m sure many twists and turns along the way.

So if her presidential aspirations do come to fruition, then pull up a chair and get ready for some fireworks folks, because this one is going to be a heck of a wild ride. And if she falls on her pretty little face then so be it, but to me it really won’t suck if Sarah Palin runs for president in 2012!

Top 5 Reasons Why L.A Lakers Season Ticket Holders are Shaking in Their Boots

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rick Vogel) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:54:47 PST

So Mike Brown is the new coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. Heard he’s a really great guy, a true family man and because of his personal attributes and style had a lot of success with the Cleveland Cavaliers coaching a basketball demigod. He’s also supremely famous for focusing his efforts building up his teams’ prowess on the defensive side of the ball. It all sounds like a really great recipe for a truly incredible partnership with the city of L.A., since we are such an NBA basketball crazy town. Okay, maybe not the whole year, but at least during the playoffs!

However, there has been a serious uproar since yesterday here in L.A. against this spectacular new hire. Here are the Top 5 Reasons Why L.A. Lakers Season Ticket Holders are Shaking in Their Boots.

5. Like ESPN/ABC announcer Mark Jackson says “A good offense beats a good defense every single time.” Brown’s defensive philosophy was a big success for the Cavaliers, and resulted in their team defense being ranked consistently in the top five or six in the league for his last couple of years he was there. Their defensive intensity led to many wins during the regular season, including the 2008-2009 campaign which culminated in Lebron James winning the first of two most valuable player awards and Brown hoisting up the coach of the year trophy. However, that team was very young on average (excluding the 37 year-old Shaquille O’Neal) and had the legs to play a suffocating defense night in and night out for the entire season. With the current aging Lakers roster, and a number of them well into their 30’s, Brown’s coaching prowess as a defense first coach may not be the best of fits for this proud but wobbly knee’d franchise.

4. This town is full of celebrities and needs a coach that has stars in his eyes. Phil Jackson and Pat Riley are both masters of how to play a room and especially a big one the size of Staples Center (although Riley actually did it in the Great Western Forum, where he helped create the Showtime Lakers in the 80’s). They are extremely versed in the fact that good entertainment is just as important as good basketball is in this La La land of Hollywood. As ESPN’s Colin Cowheard said this morning on his nationally broadcast radio show “In an L.A. supermarket you’ll regularly run into Jennifer Anniston, but in a Cleveland supermarket you’ll just bump into Joe Anniston” (no relation of course). Does Mr. Family Man, and generally good guy Mike Brown have the chops to handle the pressures and celebrity of Los Angeles? This is 50/50 right now, so we’ll just have to wait and see. However, those from smaller town markets haven’t really fared well here in the past (can you say Randy Pfund, Del Harris or Rudy T?)

3. Here in L.A. we end up getting divorces and shacking up with the next pretty young thing in town. When you think of Jerry Buss, you don’t usually picture strong family values (although half of his kids now work in the front office of the Lakers organization). Your snickering little mind probably associates him more with Hugh Heffner and floating in the infamous grotto at one of his Playboy mansion parties or him playing no-limit Texas holdem poker with Larry Flynt at the Hustler Casino, rather than him picnicking with the fam bam on a Sunday afternoon in Griffith Park next to the observatory. Will Brown really fit in to our culture here and adapt to our insensibilities about relationships and how we treat each other? The problem is that we just don’t know, and if the Lakers start hitting rough patches and suffer several losses in a row under a new coach bringing with him a totally new system, will the fans ultimately turn on him and the team?

2. This is still Kobe Bryant’s team (well at least for the next couple of years). No matter how much success you’ve had in the past and how well you’ve coached a superstar, you will have to mesh really well with Kobe or else your team will start piling up the losses and your Lakers coaching career will either be squashed by the owner or you’ll take yourself out (a la Rudy Tomjanovich a few years back, who couldn’t stomach the weight of our lofty expectations here in sunny California and just plain quit on us). Not only Rudy, but Kobe drove out both Shaq and Phil (who at the time had coached 9 NBA Championship teams for gosh sakes!!). Yes, coach Brown mentored Lebron for 5 years and built up an impressive winning percentage as the Cavaliers’ commander in chief, but this is a whole new animal out West. The black mamba better agree to be in your corner for the long term, or watch out. You may end up the way of the dodo bird.

1. Defense is great in the regular season, but complex offensive schemes win championships these days. You may have one of the best regular season records ever as coach, but as a master coach of playoff basketball your record really stinks. With the greatest player of his generation taking the ball up the court, outstanding speed and quickness with some of your younger players, and a few decent supporting players to take the pressure off the King on the wings, you still couldn’t get out of the second round of the playoffs last year. Who the heck cares what you did in the pre-playoff season. You couldn’t even get close to the promise land with a very good team. How does that bode with this current Lakers team, who were completely Punk’d a couple of weeks ago in the playoffs by a Dallas team that some predicted would lose in 5 games to this tired-looking two-time defending champion. The team doesn’t need a great regular season coach, but one that can make accurate strategic adjustments during the hard fought second season of basketball that starts in April. Coach Brown just doesn’t seem to fit what the Lakers really need.

Was his interview last Saturday with Jim Buss really that impressive, and enough to quickly discount Rick Adelman, Larry Brown, Jerry Sloan and Jeff Van Gundy, who all seem more capable than this very strange choice for the Lakers next band leader? Time will only tell, and maybe we won’t have to list out the Top 5 Reasons Why L.A Lakers Season Ticket Holders are Shaking in Their Boots!

Top 13 Ways to Deal with the End of the World: The Ultimate Survival Guide for the NEXT Rapture

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rick Vogel) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:55:57 PST

When I first heard about Harold Camping’s prediction that the Rapture would occur on May 21, 2011, I was skeptical just like anyone would be. For starters, there was the fact that Camping had tried his hand at predicting the End of Days back in the 1990’s and been wrong. That’s really one of those predictions where you kind of really need to be right the one time that you trot it out there. Plus, there are the centuries of biblical scholars that have come and gone trying to figure out what the Bible was trying to say about the Rapture, most getting no closer than the quote from Matthew that has been in the news a lot lately that no man can know the plan.

However, I like to keep an open mind about things, so just like the saying about if you have enough monkeys on word processors, eventually they’ll type out “Hamlet,” I was willing to give Camping at least a punchers chance. While I made no special arrangements to prepare for Judgment Day, I did decide to keep track of what was going on. Below is my log of the day and my Top 13 ways to deal with the end of the world:

6:15 a.m. - Woke up and checked my iPhone for a news alert update about the world coming to an end. Got slightly confused about the time zone issue, since I’m on Pacific time and Manhattan should have been gone three hours ago. Looked a little closer at the Wikipedia article on Camping’s prediction and found out that it was for 6 P.M. Went back to sleep.

9:00 a.m. – Enjoyed a nice three cheese omelet at FarmShop. Usually I would just go with the oatmeal and a cup of tea, but on the off-chance that we’re closing in on the end, the cholesterol won’t matter.

10:15 a.m. – Went for a run at the beach. If you’re possibly going to meet your maker, then it doesn’t hurt to be in shape. Plus, there was time to think about the world and all of that, while reflecting on the natural wonders around me. Then had impure thoughts about a brunette on rollerblades and probably blew whatever good I had done with the reflection stuff.

11:30 a.m. – Watched a little bit of the playoff hockey game that was on. I wanted to squeeze in some sports before all hell broke loose, and it was the only thing on. I’m more of a basketball fan, but the NBA insists on putting all of their games on in the evening…which would mean bad news for the Dallas-Oklahoma City game once the earthquakes start.

1 p.m. – Went to church to make right with my God. OK, actually, I went to church for the christening of a friend’s baby daughter – a happy coincidence – but I did light a candle while I was there.

2 p.m. – At the reception for the christening. Would’ve preferred some pita and hummus to the lunch meat tray that they brought in – the rolls are huge and I don’t really want that many carbs – but with only a handful of hours to go, I just go with it. They do have a very tasty fruit salad. I love it when they put some fresh coconut in there.

3:10 p.m. – Dawned on me that Manhattan should now, really be in trouble, if Camping is right. Tried to call a friend on the Lower East Side, but only got their voice mail. Maybe they’ve already ascended. Checked CNN and they seem to be reporting that there has been no Rapture. That could just be a media conspiracy though, of course, so I checked Fox News and no Rapture there either. But, now we’re back to the whole time zone thing. Since Camping lives in California, that’s the 6 p.m. that’s probably the one most pertinent to me, so I’ll press on.

4:30 p.m. – A friend just called to ask if I wanted to go to dinner tonight. Apparently, he had meant to invite me earlier and has 8 p.m. reservations at Crustacean. Not really sure how to respond to that. I’m kind of living pre-6 p.m., post-6 p.m. here. I decide that either way, I’m probably going to be in the mood for their Drunken Crab, so I accept the invitation.

5:15 p.m. – Down under one hour to go. You know how you often play that game of “What would I do if I had one hour to live?” Well, I can’t think of anything. I’m by myself, so that kills one idea. I guess I really should’ve planned that part out better.

5:55 p.m. – Never did come up with anything. If it is the end, then I just wasted my last good hour on earth trying to think of something good to do. Oh well, no sense crying over spilled milk at this point.

6:05 p.m. – Checking all the clocks in the house just to make sure, but we’re past the predicted time and there’s nothing. I kind of feel like Geraldo Rivera digging into Al Capone’s vault, only minus the moustache.

6:25 p.m. – OK, I’m over it. Good race at the Preakness. Glad I didn’t bet, because I probably wouldn’t have had Shackleford.

9:30 p.m. – The Drunken Crab was delicious.

So, obviously, everyone still seems to be here and life continues on. Still, I managed to have a good day even without the big payoff. That’s the beauty of it all though, isn’t it? Even the doomsday predictions of a misguided preacher can lead to someone else having a perfectly nice time, especially since; let’s face it, that omelet tasted a lot better than the oatmeal.

Okay, so probably not the most scientific method for survival, but definitely my top 13 ways to deal with the end of the world. Good thing I didn’t do anything crazy in anticipation, like put up a bunch of billboards or anything!

Top 4 Stupid Things About Pakistan and What We Should Do About Them

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rick Vogel) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:57:11 PST

I know that this subject has been overdone the past week or so since the Bin Laden killing, but I wanted to add my two cents. Here are my Top 4 Stupid Things about Pakistan that are so very High School. Time to take off the idiot hats:

4) Resting on their Laurels from the 80’s. Okay yes, they helped us immensely with the war against the Russians in the early 1980’s (did you ever catch Charlie Wilson’s War with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts?…if not, you should!) by brokering a deal between the U.S., Israel,

Afghanistan

and the Pakistani’s to provide arms and ammunition to the Afghans that resulted in a devastating loss for the all mighty Red Army. It was a huge victory for that region of world and tilted the balance of power towards the west. It was also a major impetus towards the ultimate disintegration of the USSR. But hey, that was 30 years ago, and the global environment has changed drastically since then. So get with it Pakistan and clean up your act!

3) Acting up when you’re caught red handed. Wow, do you really have to behave like a bunch of spoiled children after getting your hand swatted trying to reach into the cookie jar coming home from school?!! Waving your anti-American banners, cheering for reform against the policies of our country, and looking like you’re the ones who are the victims of some U.S. invasion into your domain is really not the way to keep up good relations with the oh so needed west. It just makes your people look like a gang of stupid chickens running around with your heads cut off. Get a clue and act your age already!

2) Being a safe haven for the most sought after terrorists since 2002. I’m surprised Expedia doesn’t have a dedicated page on their website focused on Pakistan as a major Al Qaeda vacation spot for the biggest and baddest terror suspects around the globe. Ramzi Yousef (the 1993 Word Trade Center bomber), Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (the 9/11 mastermind), Ramzi Binalshib (who sought to be 9/11’s 20th hijacker), and Abu Zubaydah (a 9/11 operative) were all found in luxury homes in posh neighborhoods in the country. And to top it off, Osama Bid Laden, who was shot and killed this month in another similar lavish household, was surprisingly located just 800 yards away from their military officer training facility. So I guess as a prize for murdering, torturing and antagonizing the whole western world your punishment is to get full immunity and comfortable living arrangements for you and your family, and military security to boot. Wow, maybe I should sign up too!

1) Freely accepting $3.4 Billion PER YEAR in aid from the U.S…to fight and find terrorists! Yes, I have to admit Pakistan has done a generally good job in the overall war on terror against Al Qaeda, and most specifically as an entry point for the U.S. into Afghanistan. But I say generally, and not nearly enough to warrant high marks on their scorecard after 9 years of safely harboring these zealot Jihadists and spitting in our faces when they are found to be caught in the act. A true partnership involves trust and transparency, and not two-faced back stabbing that you’d normally find on the Housewives of Orange County or Jersey Shore! You need to stop spending our hard earned tax money on creating your nuclear arsenal and put a greater emphasis on where these dollars are supposed to be focused on...terrorist abolishment!

So what should we do about this now? How about creating a Pakistani-U.S. task force that regularly reviews the situation there, and is made up of both military and non-military personnel, so that there is equal representation from those not so closely tied to the establishment most likely creating the protection for these terror suspects? Also, instead of giving a blanket $3.4 Billion every year, how about instituting some sort of incentivized plan for success in the region in stomping out terror? Lastly, since their nuclear build up has become so aggressive in recent years, how about penalizing them and taking away some of that scratch for not using our aid in ways that were supposed to be used.

Just some random thoughts and ideas from a curious doctor. Till next time…

Why 79 Russian Billionaires Think It Doesn't Suck to Deregulate

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rick Vogel) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:58:21 PST

Yuri Milner's $100 Million Mega Mansion

In Forbes recent list of global billionaires, three things really stuck out at me: 1) The founder of Louis Vuitton is now the fourth wealthiest person in the world, much of what was a result of two years of massive sales to the Asian market which helped bump up his net worth during those record years nearly $25 billion to a total of $41 billion overall 2) Bill Gates is still the second richest person in the world for two years running now with a net worth of $56 billion (although if he didn't give away $30 billion of his wealth to his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation he would still be number one...and Carlos Slim Selu from the drug war riddled Mexico would drop one notch from his current perch atop the list with a net worth of $74 billion), and 3) Russia now has 79 billionaires in one city alone (Moscow), which is more than any other metropolis around the world, and added 21 new ones just this past year.

This has resulted in a total of $375 billion in net worth for the city of Moscow which is equivalent to 29% of ALL of Europe's list wealth (300 billionaires with a fortune of $1.3 trillion). Wow, too bad I don't have any Russian friends!!

What's with all this new wealth anyways?? Are we here in the U.S. missing out on something seriously magical, while all eyes have been focused on how much we've languished in one of the worst economic downturns that our country has ever experienced in our history? Or maybe, there are really only limited ideas for massive riches in America, outside of the all technology fortunes springing up in Silicon Valley (can you say Facebook twenty something billionaires!), whereby if you're a geeky software developer with a Bachelor's degree in computer science from Stanford or Berkeley then you just might have a chance of creating the next big Internet thing.

What Russia has found and most specifically the city of Moscow, is that if you focus on Free Enterprise and Deregulation, then the average Joe on the street who has the right connections, can take advantage of opportunities that others in more socialist or communist nations (which they were so famously for many many years before the walls came crashing down in the late 80's) can really never do. Due to the privatization of various industries in the 1990's in Russia, including steel mining, oil refineries and car factories, a new industry resulted after the break up of their super regulated business environment...billionaire making factories. So it really is no surprise what has happened since then, as these ultra rich Russians started popping up all around the globe, and their new money began making its way west to the U.S. (e.g., Mikail Prokhorov who purchased the New Jersey Nets of the NBA last year for $200 million or Yuri Milner who made large investments in Facebook and Groupon and recently bought a $100 million mega mansion in Los Altos Hills in Northen California).

Although this sounds all well and good, since we are probably the most democratic non-communist country in the world, but we have a political party here in the U.S. headed up by our current president who believes that we need more regulation, big government control and spending, and higher taxes to get this country back on track. With what happened to the financial markets including the October crash of 2008, as a result of a suspicious lack of federal oversight of various financial instruments (e.g., derivatives), it may have been smart for some regulation afterwards. However, due to the kneejerk reaction of many on the democratic left that's lasted until today, we've been extremely restriced by these policies. It has also greatly hindered the opportunities that are so very open to those in countries such as Russia.

If we don't start thinking more creatively and begin to strategically explore opportunities for free enterprise, then we may not catch up to these more progressive countries. Our job growth and deficit reduction may count on it.

Top 5 Things About Mesothelioma That Make it Really Suck

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rick Vogel) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:02:07 PST

Cases of mesothelioma, a form of cancer, are on the rise. Although there are many causes of mesothelioma, it is directly related to exposure to asbestos. Anyone could have been exposed over a lifetime, because it is found everywhere from high schools, homes, and industries; where it was commonly placed in all sorts of products until the mid-1970s. No matter how a person got it, here are the top 5 reasons why it really sucks to have mesothelioma.

1. The disease itself. Cancer sucks, and mesothelioma is cancer. There are many types of mesothelioma; the most common being epithelioid mesothelioma. The disease attacks the organs or certain areas in the body, then spreads. Most people end up having surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Then they usually die anyway.

2. Controversy. It’s a well known fact that asbestos causes mesothelioma. The controversy is that the people that mined, produced, and marketed it probably knew its dangers – but did not warn anyone about them. Therefore, after years of exposure, people are dying. Many attorneys around the world are filing lawsuits as a result of mesothelioma death cases.

3. Exposure. If you have mesothelioma, chances are you were an unwitting victim of exposure. If you attended an older school, you were most likely exposed. And in certain hotspots, where there are many mesothelioma cases, you have an ongoing risk. An upcoming hotspot of mesothelioma causes New York is resulting from the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers. Everyone in the area, or downwind, is at risk due to the extreme amounts of dust and debris produced on that day, and afterward during cleanup.

4. Second-hand causes. You can get mesothelioma from second-hand exposure. If your significant other worked in certain industries, you could get the disease just from the dust and particles brought home on the person’s clothing and hair. Construction workers, electricians, auto mechanics, plumbers and pipe-fitters, power plant workers, chemical plant workers, and more are all at risk as well as their families.

5. Death Sentence. There is no cure for mesothelioma. There are treatments to extend the length of the disease process, but most people with the disease die within five years at the most.

It really sucks to have mesothelioma. What blows even more is the fact that we all might be at risk and not even know it. Mesothelioma lawyers have definite job security for a very long time to come.

Top 7 Reasons Why the U.S. Needs to Spotlight Distance Learning or Else

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rick Vogel) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:03:37 PST

Okay, yes we're falling behind...very badly! The following countries are looking back at us in their rear view mirrors and leaving us in their dust. And, things just keep getting worse and worse for our high school students from year to year:

1. China
2. South Korea
3. Finland
4. Canada
5. Japan
6. Switzerland
7. New Zealand

It begs these three questions: 1) How much more (at the federal, state and local government levels) do we need to focus on our kids' education programs, classes and courses? 2) What are we doing from both a holistic and tactical standpoint that is strategically incorrect to prepare these young adults for life after high school? and 3) Will we need to leverage distance learning (e.g., accredited online colleges and universities) in the future to try and stay competitive with these continually evolving countries?

In the latest scores from a global standardized test given to a sample size of students from developed countries in 2009, the U.S. finished well below other countries in the areas of math, science and reading. Most notably were the results from China, which blew away their competition in an amazing showing of technical abilities and is in line with the fact that the country is becoming an extreme world superpower and not surprisingly is predicted by many to take over the number one spot from the United States in terms of economic superiority over the next ten to twenty years.

What is really troubling is that the scores for our U.S. high schoolers are either slightly improving or staying neutral from 2003 to 2006 to 2009, while those in the aforementioned top seven are making great strides in areas that are the backbone of programs, courses and classes which are taken at levels through college and beyond. And the fact that we are now having to cut back on federal programs (including pay, benefits and pension to teachers) due to our huge debt/deficit crisis makes education an even bigger question mark for our country going forward.

And what about those that don't make it through high school or cannot attend college/university for various reasons? What type of careers and national impact will they have on the progression of our great country? As it stands now, these questions will become even more pronounced as the U.S. languishes in a state of high unemployment, stagnant job growth and general distrust of big federal government. What makes it worse is the constant bickering on both sides of the political aisle at these important cost cuts.

One saving grace could be distance learning, including the many online universities and online GED programs that are now so prevalent in our society, which at the very least give hope to those more underprivileged and impoverished people out there and a chance to attain that goal of a high school diploma or college degree. To some an online learning classrom may seem to lack the quality education that might be achieved at a brick and mortar institution, but to others in the masses accredited online programs can be a godsend and ultimately a path for our country as a whole to keep up with the advancing countries that are outdistancing us every year.

Let's keep an open mind and start focusing on what really matters for our young people: a great education and a chance to compete globally with the very best. Some may ask why distance learning, while others will ask why the heck not?!!