#i spend a serious amount of time thinking about the potential service tasks that could be offered by alien animals.

[leolaroot]

ferengi with a service slug. its shell is waist high with a brightly patterned harness and it helps with mobility and allergen detection tasks.

support sehlat in a Vulcan classroom used for emotional self-regulation in small children. you can bury your face in soft fur or get deep pressure therapy from a large paw pressing into the centre of your chest

an old bajoran farmer who was once a resistance fighter and is always accompanied by one of his livestock, who are untrained but eager to offer support when the pain of old injuries takes away control of his right leg

a blind starfleet officer lead by a guide dog through the halls of their starship to the laboratory where they work. the dog wears an official starfleet harness and their own combadge

a young bolian woman with paralyzed hands whose service bird has been trained to retrieve, carry, and manipulate objects, open doors, and get the attention of her support worker when they arent physically near

[hakurasakura]

hi new follower here and i absolutely love your blog! <3

i was wondering if you’re still talking about charts?? if so i’d be so grateful if you could do mine! thank you if so :)

hello and welcome! and im glad you love my blog!

im sorry that this took a while (and that it is super long). everything is under the read more (disclaimer: i only did the planets and their positions. im still learning about the asteroids and the degrees)

taurus sun (12 H): when taurus natives work, they work hard. they do it with a steadiness that may rarely be considered quick–rather it’s a dependable and steady effort that has its payoffs. security is immensely important to taurus. although hard-working, their comfort-loving nature sometimes makes them appear lazy. this is only because they separate work and leisure so well. when they work, they work hard, and when they play, they don’t really “play” as such…they relax. solar taureans like to own things (and sometimes people). a nice home, a piece of land (this can be modest), a paid-off car, a couple pets, maybe a solid business…in love and relationship, there is an earthy kind of possessiveness that may be considered jealousy by some, but there is actually quite a difference between being possessive and being jealous. taurus sun natives are rarely jealous and petty. they do, however, think of the people they love as theirs–it adds to their sense of security.

the sun in the twelfth house indicates a desire for perfection. these people usually do not get full recognition for their abilities and efforts, but they do not mind. they are satisfied with their simple, quiet life in solitude. if they become managers, they will do their job inconspicuously and with modesty. their services to other people are an area in which they are likely to achieve recognition and satisfaction. these people are usually interested in psychology and research of psychological phenomena. even though they may feel the need to interact with others, they often feel alienated even in the middle of a social event. it gives them the opportunity to observe, make sense of things and understand.

capricorn moon (9 H): people with this placement see safety in being useful to society and you look for justification in the outside world. they may underestimate what they want from themselves and for themselves. shyness may be accompanied by resentment of the fact that others ignore you. they shouldn't seek approval from the outside, it will not get rid of their doubt and it is harmful to them. they have to trust their inner values, otherwise, it may happen that they succumb to external pressures. the need to cope with adverse reality since childhood may give them the ability to "survive" difficult periods. their talent for business can bring them success but they may be missing some carefreeness.

the moon in the ninth house creates an understanding and imaginative mind. these people are great dreamers and thinkers who have novel ideas. their views are solid and sincere, but they change their minds easily. they have a variety of interests and hobbies; they like to lecture other people. the Moon gives these people inner self-determination, which gives them the energy to lead and direct those who lack the same degree of awareness.

gemini ascendent: very curious, very observant, and analytical. always looking to expand their social circles.  love asking questions and mingling with others. can appear as restless as gemini rising people have an air of impatience even though they do not mean it. gemini rising people often seek a certain amount of personal freedom and space. and they enjoy intellectual debates and exchanging ideas. from my personal observations, gemini rising people can either be 1. bubbly, changeable, talkative and a little quirky, or 2. quite witty and clever, cool and intellectual (presenting themselves in a less cheerful and changeable way).

taurus mercury (12 H): they may take their time to arrive at a decision, but they get there — they are actually quite decisive, even stubborn with their opinions. mercury in taurus may be slow to start a new project, but they see it through to the end. they may need to poke them to get them going, however. they have much common sense at their disposal. these people rely on their senses when it comes to processing information. smells, noises, and mood are all employed. their communication style may, at times, be slow and measured. they are quite deliberate in what they do. when it comes to learning, mercury in taurus natives prefer demonstrations, concrete answers, and basic concepts. these people learn best when they see real-world uses for the theories they’re trying to absorb. not that they wouldn’t be able to comprehend the abstract–they simply process information better when they can personalize it (what use is it to me?) and attach it to the practical world.

mercury in the twelfth house represents the subconscious mind. thinking of these people is influenced by their subconscious and past experiences. Their decisions are based on emotions instead of logical thinking. these people have a tendency to be secretive and they do not like to express their opinions, especially in the public. they lack self-confidence but they are good at hiding it. this position also suggests difficulties in learning new things and it is an obstacle to developing the potential of the person.

taurus venus (12 H): love for venus in taurus centers on the physical world and creature comforts — they revel in sensual surroundings. these people project themselves as solid and comfortable. they need a certain measure of predictability and dependability in their relationships. venus in taurus can be possessive in love, and they are threatened by fast-paced, high-energy situations in the context of relationships and love. these are sensual partners who require lots of “hands-on” expressions of love. their lovers may complain that venus in taurus can get a little too comfortable and settled. it’s true that they resist change in their relationships, but even when they seem stuck in a groove, however, they are constant partners.

venus in the twelfth house suggests secrecy and solitude. it points to the introspective aspect of character and the need to spend time alone. it creates socially withdrawn people who are a bit lonely and disappointed in their romantic relationships. they are very emotional but they can subconsciously control their emotions. this position usually creates a significant degree of compassion for oppressed people and all those who are in a bad position.

virgo mars (5 H): these people are productive, goal-oriented, practical people. although they can be a little scattered at times, simply because they are doing so many things at any give time, mars in virgo natives get things done, and quite well! they have a knack for handling a wide variety of tasks at once, and a tendency to take on perhaps too much at the same time. these natives are not particularly aggressive by nature. although they can be a little hard-nosed and critical at times, they rarely resort to pushing others around. these people are protective of their “system” of how to get things done. there is a perfectionist at the heart of all people with this position.

mars in fifth house natives are fun, romantic, active and creative. Also, courageous and always eager to take risks, they're often sure of themselves and look only to have as much fun as possible. Mars in this position suggests they love to love and pursue romantic relationships everywhere they go.

aquarius jupiter (10 H): jupiter in aquarius is most lucky when they’re allowed to break the rules. they need complete freedom to try out their creative ideas, for they often payout in the end. this placement isn’t afraid to take risks as they offer great rewards. they bring in good fortune through their inventive thought process. they are out to change the world for the better, and they reap the benefits of their humanitarian efforts.

jupiter in tenth house keeps luck on people’s side in most situations in life. it makes natives with this placement very lucky when it comes to their career. however, they can also count too much on their good fortune and end up reckless or too relaxed when the situation would require them to focus. these natives are usually very open to making new friends, self-confident, charming, and very convincing. people will love and honor them for all these traits. they give a lot of importance to social status and want to be as free as possible.

aries saturn (11 H): saturn in aries realizes there are times when even they are not ready to handle a situation with unknown consequences. it’s a struggle that causes conflict with other people, and they have a hard time controlling their temper. saturn in aries tends to look more closely at them and decide whether or not it is in their best interest to steamroll ahead. this person is not as much of a trailblazer as other planets in this sign, but that doesn’t mean they hold back all the time. the people tend to be more rational and thoughtful. this can be used to their advantage when they’re actively trying to get ahead in life. they can rely on their powers of persuasion to get their point across in a concise and effective manner to get what they want.

people born with saturn in the eleventh house in their birth chart have lots of acquaintances but no too many close friends and these are likely to be older than them. their oldest friendships will last a lifetime. they're drawn to people who are serious and have a purpose in life.

aquarius uranus (9 H): uranus in aquarius is in its own sign and it creates inventors and people who like to apply new, untested methods and procedures. they like to fight for moral values and they love freedom. they do not let their emotions and feelings to restrict them. they are open-minded and open to radical reforms. aquarius is known for its humanity, and uranus further strengthens these tendencies.

with uranus in the ninth house, these people believe in freedom of beliefs, religion, and liberty in your way of life. more than any other placement of uranus, this makes someone interested in the truth of the system. in fact, uranus revolutionizes and changes their worldview quite dramatically.

capricorn neptune (9 H): neptune in capricorn gets their drive and ambition. this helps them to come up with new ideas. for them, inspiration comes from logic, reason, and the practical uses of different theories to better society. as a conservative personality, neptune in capricorn doesn’t often get “struck” by creative thought. they develop their ideas more slowly and thoroughly, as they do everything else in their life. they would rather work on things at their own pace and in their way. they don’t like to work together with others when brainstorming. more times than not, they would rather sit by themselves in quiet reflection. they are often obsessed with status, so neptune in capricorn tends to focus on ways to increase their wealth and influence. they like power and are always thinking of new ways to acquire more.

a natal neptune in ninth house suggests a very strong faith in life. with neptune here, there is a strong connection with the divine. these people are strongly aligned with their higher self. many neptune in ninth house people are very religious.

sagittarius pluto (7 H): plutonian sagittarians are understanding and philosophical. personal transformation can occur especially through philosophical searching. pluto in this position strengthens their innate (not learned) religious consciousness and feeling. one can expect them to create a new spiritual or mystical direction, and attempts to merge existing religions and churches.

pluto in seventh house natives are connected to the concept of a good family, a close and loving atmosphere at home. relationships are especially emphasized here. after all, they want to fulfill their sense of belonging as well. if it’s affection and intense emotions that drive them, everything is good and the prospects for a long-standing relationship are blooming. this placement of pluto makes people crave deep emotions and display a sense of responsibility that is rarely seen, plus lead their lives by their own very specific values.

[rebelsofshield]

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker-Review

After two great but flawed films, the third trilogy of The Skywalker Saga comes to a sputtering dud of a close in a disappointing, if occasionally fun, film.

(Review contains minor spoilers)

A message has been sent out to the galaxy from the seemingly dead Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid). Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) anxiously searches for the potential rival to his rule while also planning to turn this new player to his benefit. However, in order to defeat Palpatine, he will need to officially complete his goal of turning Rey (Daisy Ridley) to the Dark Side of the Force. Meanwhile, Finn (John Boyega) and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) work desperately to lead the scattered remains of the Resistance to victory. As the threat of Palpatine and his new fleet of super powerful ships becomes clear, a team forms to desperately search out a way to locate and destroy this new Final Order before it is too late.

The Rise of Skywalker arguably had one of the most difficult tasks of any Star Wars film. Not only functioning as the end of this particular string of films, this final installment of The Skywalker Saga is also burdened with bringing some sense of closure to the succession of plot threads, character arcs, and themes that have been seeded, toyed with, and explored since the first film debuted in 1977. It’s an incredibly hard challenge and it is easy to understand the amount of pressure that must have been on writer and director JJ Abrams, co-writer Chris Terrio, and the whole cast and crew to stick the landing.

From the outside, Abrams seemed like a logical, if safe, pick for the job. The Force Awakens, while it relies heavily on familiar imagery, is a well-paced, very fun film that is buoyant with heart, humor and an incredible ensemble of characters. After Rian Johnson’s delightfully strange, esoteric, and daring The Last Jedi, offering another fun romp to round out the trilogy seemed like a comfortable, if not especially brave, way to end a series of movies that was mostly chugging with momentum and heart. A plan may not have been evident, but having had delivered two films that were still among the strongest in the saga, a road map may have not been needed.

The Rise of Skywalker, however, proves to be a long, loud, and fumbling film that somehow goes out of its way to highlight the weakest aspects of this trilogy in a sloppy and uneven package. There is fun throughout, and on a surface level, much of it is a perfectly serviceable experience, but it sits as one of the most crowded and confused Star Wars experiences in recent memory.

Much of this comes down to Abrams and Terrio’s cluster crash of a script. The decision to return Palpatine as a form of connective tissue, bringing the Dark Side threats of nine films under a single roof, is not an inherently bad one. Ian McDiarmid’s wonderfully campy master planner was easily one of the strongest parts of both previous trilogy cappers, Revenge of the Sith and Return of the Jedi, and returning once more to his grand schemes, cackles, and monologues felt like it could have been a smart move to creating closure and consequence. Palpatine ultimately becomes symbolic for many of the larger sins evident in The Rise of Skywalker. His much hyped return is revealed in as purely flippant a manner as possible and his galaxy destroying resources are hand waived in with just as much nonsense and confusion. He exists purely as a scary, familiar plot device and nothing much more.

It becomes representative of a larger film narrative that feels more and more hacked together and confused the more one thinks about it. The Rise of Skywalker’s first thirty minutes are a chaotic nightmare that feel edited together with little thought to cohesion or comprehension. The audience is given no time to linger on a single scene and we hop from location to location with little thought or understanding as to why or clarity of transition. It’s a film that begins at a sprint and wants you to hear everything it has to say while it hurtles forward at top speed. The beautifully orchestrated first third of The Force Awakens that lovingly introduced us to an incredible new cast of characters feels like a far gone thought and the emotional start to The Last Jedi’s own ensemble saga feels all the more impactful. The Rise of Skywalker barely gives the viewer time to breath until close to the end of its first act and by then it will have lightly already bludgeoned many into indifference.

Much of the first half of The Rise of Skywalker plays out in a series of fetch quest related set pieces that range from fun to nonsensical, but it’s ultimately this portion as we head into the film’s playful middle where it is at its strongest. After spending two films mostly apart, Rey, Poe, and Finn finally get to spend time adventuring together and despite the lack of context, this trio of adventurers really sing as a group. The banter, chemistry and cooperation between this makeshift team is the film’s clear highlight and is a testament to the groundwork done by both prior films and the strength of these performers. Anthony Daniels’s C-3PO also gets some of his meatiest and most emotional material to date and Abrams smartly plays the shiny protocol droid as a mix of heart and humor.

All things considered, the individual character arcs for each of our central three heroes are threadbare but populated with great individual moments and asides. Isaac gets to lean into Poe Dameron’s swaggering heroism to an even greater degree here while also building on, ever so slightly, the developments to his person experienced in The Last Jedi. His occasional butting heads with the far cooler minded Rey is a nice touch, but his chemistry with Finn is a forever highlight, even if a much teased romance between the two never manifests. A connection to Poe’s past, Zorii Bliss, is a great new inclusion and is played with gruff seriousness by Kerri Russell of Felicity and The Americans fame. Yes, there are hints of a romantic connection between the two, but nothing serious occurs and hopefully leaves room to keep our famous Resistance pilot among our potential queer characters.

Finn was maybe the one character who did not get to live up to his potential in The Last Jedi. After The Force Awakens turned him into a charismatic but engagingly flawed co-hero, his story of finding purpose couldn’t help but feel like a weak link in a strong chains of subplots and it certainly didn’t help that it included the much maligned Canto Bight sequence. While Finn doesn’t experience as much of a clear character arc here, John Boyega certainly gets much more to do. As the emotional heart of the team that keeps Poe and Rey connected, Finn becomes an important balancing act to the crew and is privy to many of the film’s emotional moments. A smart move sees Finn bonding with another newcomer, Jannah, played by Naomie Ackie, who shares a similar past. The conversations between these two make for some of the film’s best moments and Jannah, along with Zorii, escape the film as its two best additions. There is even a subtle but very interesting development for Finn in this film that doesn’t get highlighted as much as it should, but will delight fans of the character. I won’t say more than that.

It’s ultimately Rey where The Rise of Skywalker heads into murky water. Dasiy Ridley has always been a talented performer and this film easily marks her strongest performance in the saga. Ridley brings nuanced and complex emotion to her close ups and manages to oscillate between playful heroism and conflicted personal drama with great skill. After years of (incorrect) criticism that Rey was a character that was played too safe, The Rise of Skywalker takes great pains to push her into uncharted waters and uneasy futures. It is here that The Rise of Skywalker consistently makes its largest storytelling missteps. One significant reveal is likely to produce audience eye rolls and feels like a betrayal of some of its predecessors’ most thoughtful themes. Ridley does her best with these moments and they do lead to some beats of weighty character conflict, but they feel like an ultimately safe and simultaneously sloppy route to take her character and it ends up bringing much of the film down with it.  

The Rise of Skywalker leans even further into Rey and Kylo Ren being dyads of both ends of the Force, but it’s ultimately Kylo that ends up being the most disappointing of the central characters of this trilogy. After spending two films being an unpredictable and intriguingly unhinged antagonist bursting with moral confusion, Abrams saddles Adam Driver’s Dark Sider with a mostly clear plot trajectory that lacks a fair amount of the nuance that made the same character such a magnetic part of the past films. He is privy to much of the film’s best action beats and one sequence in particular that functions as a creative escalation of the Force bonds from the previous film is some of the most inventive stuff in the movie, but it isn’t enough to really sell the final steps of his character journey. That being said, there is one, potentially very pandering and indulgent moment that mirrors The Force Awakens that comes across with great emotional vulnerability due in large part to Driver and his co-star’s performances.

The old guard are given surprisingly little to do here. After spending much of the press tour discussing Carrie Fisher’s posthumous role in the film, the end results end up being something of a mixed bag. Having Leia be a central part of the narrative is welcome and it’s nice to get a proper goodbye to the character, but the artificiality of her inclusion is far from seamless and often times is more distracting than it is moving. Billy Dee Williams’s long awaited turn as Lando Calrissian proves fine, but doesn’t amount to much of consequence. He feels like a stand in for all of the original trilogy characters that are inaccessible to this film’s plot. Luke’s return is serviceable as well and is competently acted but is directly tied to some of the wonky storytelling choices made with Rey and is often peppered with disappointing bouts of misguided nostalgia and fan service.

The Rise of Skywalker is a very big movie. There’s quite a lot going on and many players, new and old, don’t get their fair share. It’s hard not to be a little angry that after the abuse hurdled at her for over two years, Kelly Marie Tran’s Rose is given such little to do that she might as well be a bit player. The same can be said for Maz Kanata or any of the other supporting characters of the trilogy. The elusive Knights of Ren finally appear to do little more than stand around and look cool and their one action sequence is a titanic disappointment. The always petulant General Hux is sidebarred as well, but has a rather fun bit of character development that lets him leave the trilogy as a strangely despicable but enjoyable secondary villain.

As an action spectacle, The Rise of Skywalker is occasionally fun but frequently hollow. The early and middle portions concerning our heroes out running and sneaking past First Order forces prove to be the most successful and fun. Abrams injects some of these bits with clever uses of mobile cinematography and an Indiana Jones-esque chase sequence on the sands of Pasana is pure fun. The large Return of the Jedi meets Avengers: Endgame finale feels empty and weightless though. Despite the massive scale demonstrated, it all feels mostly hollow and heavy on effects and explosions. Because it is so predicated on the earlier mentioned loose and bizarre plot choices, it’s unclear what we are supposed to be feeling as we head into this chaotic showdown. Strangely enough, Abrams skimps on the cameos for our big rallying cry. For a film that rarely shies away from fan service, the one moment that seems primed for it is barely utilized.

Even John Williams feels tired. While his score blends together themes from all eight films with mastery, there isn’t much new to really give the movie its own identity outside a briefly heard finale piece.

The Rise of Skywalker isn’t awful. It has moments that are quite strong and more often than not it opts for surface level fun rather than daring choices. However, it’s moments of sloppiness and baffling script choices make its safer moments all the more frustrating. It is not the worst of Star Wars franchise, but it is far, far from the best and it’s hard not to leave the film disheartened, not necessarily by the events of its story, but rather that after all the love and adventure, it ends on such a half-hearted stumble.

Score: C+

[stephenmccull]

As Schools Spend Millions on Air Purifiers, Experts Warn of Overblown Claims and Harm to Children

Last summer, Global Plasma Solutions wanted to test whether the company’s air-purifying devices could kill covid-19 virus particles but could find only a lab using a chamber the size of a shoebox for its trials. In the company-funded study, the virus was blasted with 27,000 ions per cubic centimeter.

This story also ran on CNN. It can be republished for free.

In September, the company’s founder incidentally mentioned that the devices being offered for sale actually deliver a lot less ion power — 13 times less — into a full-sized room.

The company nonetheless used the shoebox results — over 99% viral reduction — in marketing its device heavily to schools as something that could combat covid in classrooms far, far larger than a shoebox.

School officials desperate to calm worried parents bought these devices and others with a flood of federal funds, installing them in more than 2,000 schools across 44 states, a KHN investigation found. They use the same technology — ionization, plasma and dry hydrogen peroxide — that the Lancet COVID-19 Commission recently deemed “often unproven” and potential sources of pollution themselves.

In the frenzy, schools are buying technology that academic air-quality experts warn can lull them into a false sense of security or even potentially harm kids. And schools often overlook the fact that their trusted contractors — typically engineering, HVAC or consulting firms — stand to earn big money from the deals, KHN found.

Academic experts are encouraging schools to pump in more fresh air and use tried-and-true filters, like HEPA, to capture the virus. Yet every ion- or hydroxyl-blasting air purifier sale strengthens a firm’s next pitch: The device is doing a great job in the neighboring town.

“It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more people buy these technologies, the more they get legitimacy,” said Jeffrey Siegel, a civil engineering professor at the University of Toronto. “It’s really the complete wild west out there.”

Marwa Zaatari, a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers’ (ASHRAE) Epidemic Task Force, first compiled a list of schools and districts using such devices.

Schools have been “bombarded with persistent salespersons peddling the latest air and cleaning technologies, including those with minimal evidence to-date supporting safety and efficacy” according to a report released Thursday by the Center for Green Schools and ASHRAE.

Zaatari said she was particularly concerned that officials in New Jersey are buying thousands of devices made by another company that says they emit ozone, which can exacerbate asthma and harm developing lungs, according to decades of research.

“We’re going to live in a world where the air quality in schools is worse after the pandemic, after all of this money,” Zaatari said. “It’s really sickening.”

The sales race is fueled by roughly $193 billion in federal funds allocated to schools for teacher pay and safety upgrades — a giant fund that can be used to buy air cleaners. And Democrats are pushing for $100 billion more that could also be spent on air cleaners.

In April, Global Plasma Solutions said further tests show its devices inactivate covid in the air and on surfaces in larger chambers. The company studies still use about twice the level of ions than its leaders have publicly said the devices can deliver, KHN found.

There is virtually no federal oversight or enforcement of safe air-cleaning technology. Only California bans air cleaners that emit a certain amount of ozone.

U.S. Rep. Robert “Bobby” Scott (D-Va.), chair of the education and labor committee, said the federal government typically is not involved in local decisions of what products to buy, although he hopes for more federal guidance.

In the meantime, “these school systems are dealing with contractors providing all kinds of services,” he said, “so you just have to trust them to get the best expert advice on what to do.”

These go-between contractors — and the air cleaner companies themselves — have a stake in the sales. While their names might appear in school board records, their role in selling the device or commission from the deal is seldom made public, KHN found.

A LinkedIn job ad with the logo for one air purifier company, ActivePure Technology, which employs former Trump adviser Dr. Deborah Birx as its chief medical and science adviser, recruited salespeople this way: “Make Tons of Money with this COVID-killing Technology!!” The commission, the post said, is up to $900 per device.

“We have reps [who] made over 6-figures in 1 month selling to 1 school district,” the ad says. “This could be the biggest opportunity you have seen!”

‘A Tiny Bit of Ozone’

Schools in New Jersey have a particularly easy time buying air cleaners called Odorox: A state education agency lists them on their group-purchasing commodity list, with a large unit selling for more than $5,100. Originally used in home restoration and mold remediation, the devices have become popular in New Jersey schools as the company says its products can inactivate covid.

In Newark, administrators welcomed students back to class last month with more than 3,200 Odorox units, purchased with $7.5 million in federal funds, said Steven Morlino, executive director of Facilities Management for Newark Public Schools.

“I think parents feel pretty comfortable that their children are going to a safe environment,” he said. “And so did the staff.”

Environmental health and air-quality experts, though, are alarmed by the district’s plan.

The Pyure company’s Odorox devices are on California air-quality regulators’ list of “potentially hazardous ozone generators sold as air purifiers” and cannot be sold in the state.

The company’s own research shows that its Boss XL3 device pumps out as much as 77 parts per billion of ozone, a level that exceeds limits set by California lawmakers for the sale of indoor air cleaners and the EPA standard for ground-level ozone — a limit set to protect children from the well-documented harm of ozone to developing lungs.

That level exceeds the industry’s self-imposed limit by more than 10 times and is “unacceptable,” according to William Bahnfleth, an architectural engineering professor at Penn State who studies indoor air quality and leads the ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force.

Jean-Francois “JF” Huc, CEO of the Pyure company, pointed out that the company’s study was done in a space smaller than they would recommend for such a powerful Odorox device. He cautioned that it was done that way to prove that home-restoration workers could be in the room with the device without violating work-safety rules.

“We provide very stringent operating guidelines around the size of room that our different devices should be put in,” he said. But school staffers are often not warned about the problems they could face if a too-powerful device is used in a too-small room, he acknowledged.

You can’t see or smell ozone, but lungs treat it like a “foreign invader,” said Michael Jerrett, who has studied its health effects as director of the UCLA Center for Occupational and Environmental Health.

Lung cells mount an immune-like response, which can trigger asthma complications and divert energy from normal lung function, he said. Chronic exposure has been linked to more emergency room visits and can even cause premature death. Once harmed, Jerrett said, children’s lungs may not regain full function.

“Ozone is a very serious public health problem,” Jerrett said.

Newark has some of the highest childhood asthma rates in the state, affecting 1 in 4 kids. Scholars have linked outdoor ozone levels in Newark to elevated childhood ER visits and asthma is the leading cause of school absenteeism there.

Adding ozone into the classroom is “just nightmarish,” Siegel, of the University of Toronto, said.

Morlino said the district plans to monitor ozone levels in each classroom, based on the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration level for working adults, which is 100 parts per billion.

“In our research of the product,” he said, “we’ve determined it’s within the guidelines the federal government produces.”

While legal for healthy working adults, the work-safety standard should not apply to developing children, said Michael Kleinman, an air-quality researcher at the UC Irvine School of Medicine. “It’s not a good device to be using in the presence of children,” he said.

But the devices are going into schools throughout the state that will not be monitoring ozone levels, acknowledged Dave Matisoff, owner of Bio-Shine, a New Jersey-based distributor of Odorox. He said the main safeguard is informing schools about the appropriate-size room each device should be deployed to, a factor in ozone concentration.

Huc, the CEO, said his team has measured levels of ozone that are higher outdoors in Newark than inside — with his company’s units running.

“There is a tiny bit of ozone that is introduced, but it’s very, very low,” he said. “And you get the benefit of the antimicrobial effect, you get the benefit of reduction of pathogens, which we’ve demonstrated in a number of studies, and you get the reduction of VOC [volatile organic compounds].”

Meanwhile, despite expert concerns, the devices continue to pop up in classrooms and school nurses’ offices across the state, said Allen Barkkume, an industrial hygienist for the New Jersey teachers union.

He doesn’t blame schools for buying them, as they’re a lot less expensive than overhauling ventilation systems. Teachers often push for the devices in their classrooms, he said, as they see them in the nurses’ offices and think it’ll keep them safe. And superintendents are not well-versed in air quality’s complex scientific concepts.

“Nothing sounds better than something that’s cheap, quiet, small and easy to find, and we can stick them in every classroom,” Barkkume said.

Tested in Shoebox, Sold for Classrooms

While New York officials are “not permitting” the installation of ionization devices due to “potential negative health effects,” schools across the state of New Jersey are installing ionizing devices.

Ten miles away from Newark in Montclair, New Jersey, parents have been raising hell over the new Global Plasma Solutions’ ionizing devices in their children’s classrooms. The company website promises a product that emits ions like those “created with energy from rushing water, crashing waves and even sunlight.”

The devices emit positive and negative ions that are meant to help particles clump together, making them easier to filter out. The company says the ions can also reduce the viral particles that cause covid-19.

But Justin Klabin, a building developer with a background in indoor air quality and two sons in the district, was not convinced.

He spent hours compiling scientific evidence. He created painstaking YouTube videos picking apart the ionizers’ viability and helped organize a petition signed by dozens of parents warning the school board against the installation.

Even so, the district spent $635,900 on installing ionizers, which would go in classrooms serving more than 6,000 kids. The devices are often installed in ducts, an important consideration, the company founder Charles Waddell said, because the ions that are emitted lose their power after 60 seconds.

But the company’s shoebox study and inflated ion blast numbers that helped sell the product last year leave a potential customer with little sense of how the device would perform in a classroom, Zaatari said.

“It’s a high cost for nothing,” Zaatari said. The company has sued her and another air-quality consultant for criticizing their devices. Of the pending case, Zaatari said it is a David-versus-Goliath situation, but she will not be deterred from speaking on behalf of children.

“Size of the [test] chamber has proved not to play a role in efficacy results but rather ion density,” GPS spokesperson Kevin Boyle said in an email. The company notes by its covid-inactivating test results that they “may include … higher-than-average ion concentrations.”

He also said the company is proud to meet the ASHRAE “zero ozone” certification.

Glenn Morrison, a professor of environmental science and engineering at the University of North Carolina, reviewed a March GPS study on a device combating the covid virus in the air. The device appears to reduce virus concentrations, he said in an email, but noted it would not be very effective under normal building conditions, outside a test chamber. “A cheap portable HEPA filter would work many times better and have fewer side effects (possibly ozone or other unwanted chemistry),” he wrote.

Other parents joined Klabin’s campaign, including Melanie Robbins, the mom of a kindergartner and a child in pre-K. Armed with her background in nonprofit advocacy, she reached out to experts. She and other parents spoke at local government meetings about their concerns.

In April, the superintendent told parents the school would turn off the devices, but parents say they haven’t turned them all off.

“As far as I understand, the district has relied only on information from GPS, the manufacturer,” Robbins said during a Montclair Board of Education meeting via Zoom on April 19. “This is like only listening to advice from Philip Morris as to whether smoking is safe or not.”

Dan Daniello, of D&B Building Solutions, an HVAC contracting company, defended GPS products during the meeting. He said they are even in the White House, a selling point the company has made repeatedly.

The catch: A GPS contractor installed its ionization technology in the East Wing of the White House after it was purchased in 2018 — before covid emerged, according to GPS’ Boyle. But the company was still using the White House logo as a marketing image on its website when KHN asked the White House about the advertising in April. It was taken down shortly thereafter.

Boyle said GPS was “recently informed that the White House logo may not be used for marketing purposes, and promptly complied.”

The Montclair school district did not respond to requests for comment.

“I want to bang my head against the wall, it’s so black-and-white,” Robbins said. “Admit this is a poor purchase, the district got played.”

Selling ‘the Big Kahuna’

Academic air-quality experts agree on what’s best for schools: More outside air pumped into classes, MERV 13 filters in heating systems and portable HEPA filters. The solution is time-tested and effective, they say. Yet as common commodities, like a pair of khaki pants, these items are not widely flogged by a sales force chasing big commissions.

After covid hit, Tony Barron said the companies pitched air purifying technology nonstop to the Kansas district where he worked as a facility manager last fall.

Pressure came from inside the school as well. Teachers sent links for air cleaners they saw on the news. His superintendent had him meet with a friend who sold ionization products. He got constant calls, mail and email from mechanical engineering companies.

The hundreds of phone calls from air cleaner pitches were overwhelming, said Chris Crockett, director of facilities for Turner USD 202 in Kansas City, Kansas. While he wanted to trust the contractors he had worked with, he tested four products before deciding to spend several hundred thousands of dollars.

“Custodial supply companies see the writing on the wall, that there’s a lot of money out there,” he said. “And then a lot of money is going to be spent on HVAC systems.”

ActivePure says on its website that its air purifiers are in hundreds of schools. In a press release, the company said they were “sold through a nationwide network of several hundred franchises, 5,000 general contractors/HVAC specialists and thousands of individual distributors.”

Enviro Technology Pros, founded in January, is one company pitching ActivePure to HVAC contractors. In a YouTube video, the founders said contractors can make $950 for each air-cleaning device sold, and some dealers can make up to $30,000 a month. Citing the bounty of the billions in federal relief, another video touted ready-made campaigns to target school principals directly.

After KHN asked ActivePure for comment, the Enviro Technology Pros YouTube videos about ActivePure were no longer accessible publicly.

ActivePure did not respond to requests for comment but has said its devices are effective and one is validated by the Food and Drug Administration.

An Enviro Technology Pros founder, Rod Norman, told KHN the company was asked to take the posts down by Vollara, a company related to ActivePure. He called sales to schools “the big kahuna.”

Shortly after he spoke with KHN, the website for his own company was taken down.

In an Instagram post that also disappeared, the company had asked: “4000 classrooms protected why not your kids?”

Shoshana Dubnow contributed to this report.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

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As Schools Spend Millions on Air Purifiers, Experts Warn of Overblown Claims and Harm to Children published first on https://smartdrinkingweb.weebly.com/

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As Schools Spend Millions on Air Purifiers, Experts Warn of Overblown Claims and Harm to Children

Last summer, Global Plasma Solutions wanted to test whether the company’s air-purifying devices could kill covid-19 virus particles but could find only a lab using a chamber the size of a shoebox for its trials. In the company-funded study, the virus was blasted with 27,000 ions per cubic centimeter.

This story also ran on CNN. It can be republished for free.

In September, the company’s founder incidentally mentioned that the devices being offered for sale actually deliver a lot less ion power — 13 times less — into a full-sized room.

The company nonetheless used the shoebox results — over 99% viral reduction — in marketing its device heavily to schools as something that could combat covid in classrooms far, far larger than a shoebox.

School officials desperate to calm worried parents bought these devices and others with a flood of federal funds, installing them in more than 2,000 schools across 44 states, a KHN investigation found. They use the same technology — ionization, plasma and dry hydrogen peroxide — that the Lancet COVID-19 Commission recently deemed “often unproven” and potential sources of pollution themselves.

In the frenzy, schools are buying technology that academic air-quality experts warn can lull them into a false sense of security or even potentially harm kids. And schools often overlook the fact that their trusted contractors — typically engineering, HVAC or consulting firms — stand to earn big money from the deals, KHN found.

Academic experts are encouraging schools to pump in more fresh air and use tried-and-true filters, like HEPA, to capture the virus. Yet every ion- or hydroxyl-blasting air purifier sale strengthens a firm’s next pitch: The device is doing a great job in the neighboring town.

“It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more people buy these technologies, the more they get legitimacy,” said Jeffrey Siegel, a civil engineering professor at the University of Toronto. “It’s really the complete wild west out there.”

Marwa Zaatari, a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers’ (ASHRAE) Epidemic Task Force, first compiled a list of schools and districts using such devices.

Schools have been “bombarded with persistent salespersons peddling the latest air and cleaning technologies, including those with minimal evidence to-date supporting safety and efficacy” according to a report released Thursday by the Center for Green Schools and ASHRAE.

Zaatari said she was particularly concerned that officials in New Jersey are buying thousands of devices made by another company that says they emit ozone, which can exacerbate asthma and harm developing lungs, according to decades of research.

“We’re going to live in a world where the air quality in schools is worse after the pandemic, after all of this money,” Zaatari said. “It’s really sickening.”

The sales race is fueled by roughly $193 billion in federal funds allocated to schools for teacher pay and safety upgrades — a giant fund that can be used to buy air cleaners. And Democrats are pushing for $100 billion more that could also be spent on air cleaners.

In April, Global Plasma Solutions said further tests show its devices inactivate covid in the air and on surfaces in larger chambers. The company studies still use about twice the level of ions than its leaders have publicly said the devices can deliver, KHN found.

There is virtually no federal oversight or enforcement of safe air-cleaning technology. Only California bans air cleaners that emit a certain amount of ozone.

U.S. Rep. Robert “Bobby” Scott (D-Va.), chair of the education and labor committee, said the federal government typically is not involved in local decisions of what products to buy, although he hopes for more federal guidance.

In the meantime, “these school systems are dealing with contractors providing all kinds of services,” he said, “so you just have to trust them to get the best expert advice on what to do.”

These go-between contractors — and the air cleaner companies themselves — have a stake in the sales. While their names might appear in school board records, their role in selling the device or commission from the deal is seldom made public, KHN found.

A LinkedIn job ad with the logo for one air purifier company, ActivePure Technology, which employs former Trump adviser Dr. Deborah Birx as its chief medical and science adviser, recruited salespeople this way: “Make Tons of Money with this COVID-killing Technology!!” The commission, the post said, is up to $900 per device.

“We have reps [who] made over 6-figures in 1 month selling to 1 school district,” the ad says. “This could be the biggest opportunity you have seen!”

‘A Tiny Bit of Ozone’

Schools in New Jersey have a particularly easy time buying air cleaners called Odorox: A state education agency lists them on their group-purchasing commodity list, with a large unit selling for more than $5,100. Originally used in home restoration and mold remediation, the devices have become popular in New Jersey schools as the company says its products can inactivate covid.

In Newark, administrators welcomed students back to class last month with more than 3,200 Odorox units, purchased with $7.5 million in federal funds, said Steven Morlino, executive director of Facilities Management for Newark Public Schools.

“I think parents feel pretty comfortable that their children are going to a safe environment,” he said. “And so did the staff.”

Environmental health and air-quality experts, though, are alarmed by the district’s plan.

The Pyure company’s Odorox devices are on California air-quality regulators’ list of “potentially hazardous ozone generators sold as air purifiers” and cannot be sold in the state.

The company’s own research shows that its Boss XL3 device pumps out as much as 77 parts per billion of ozone, a level that exceeds limits set by California lawmakers for the sale of indoor air cleaners and the EPA standard for ground-level ozone — a limit set to protect children from the well-documented harm of ozone to developing lungs.

That level exceeds the industry’s self-imposed limit by more than 10 times and is “unacceptable,” according to William Bahnfleth, an architectural engineering professor at Penn State who studies indoor air quality and leads the ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force.

Jean-Francois “JF” Huc, CEO of the Pyure company, pointed out that the company’s study was done in a space smaller than they would recommend for such a powerful Odorox device. He cautioned that it was done that way to prove that home-restoration workers could be in the room with the device without violating work-safety rules.

“We provide very stringent operating guidelines around the size of room that our different devices should be put in,” he said. But school staffers are often not warned about the problems they could face if a too-powerful device is used in a too-small room, he acknowledged.

You can’t see or smell ozone, but lungs treat it like a “foreign invader,” said Michael Jerrett, who has studied its health effects as director of the UCLA Center for Occupational and Environmental Health.

Lung cells mount an immune-like response, which can trigger asthma complications and divert energy from normal lung function, he said. Chronic exposure has been linked to more emergency room visits and can even cause premature death. Once harmed, Jerrett said, children’s lungs may not regain full function.

“Ozone is a very serious public health problem,” Jerrett said.

Newark has some of the highest childhood asthma rates in the state, affecting 1 in 4 kids. Scholars have linked outdoor ozone levels in Newark to elevated childhood ER visits and asthma is the leading cause of school absenteeism there.

Adding ozone into the classroom is “just nightmarish,” Siegel, of the University of Toronto, said.

Morlino said the district plans to monitor ozone levels in each classroom, based on the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration level for working adults, which is 100 parts per billion.

“In our research of the product,” he said, “we’ve determined it’s within the guidelines the federal government produces.”

While legal for healthy working adults, the work-safety standard should not apply to developing children, said Michael Kleinman, an air-quality researcher at the UC Irvine School of Medicine. “It’s not a good device to be using in the presence of children,” he said.

But the devices are going into schools throughout the state that will not be monitoring ozone levels, acknowledged Dave Matisoff, owner of Bio-Shine, a New Jersey-based distributor of Odorox. He said the main safeguard is informing schools about the appropriate-size room each device should be deployed to, a factor in ozone concentration.

Huc, the CEO, said his team has measured levels of ozone that are higher outdoors in Newark than inside — with his company’s units running.

“There is a tiny bit of ozone that is introduced, but it’s very, very low,” he said. “And you get the benefit of the antimicrobial effect, you get the benefit of reduction of pathogens, which we’ve demonstrated in a number of studies, and you get the reduction of VOC [volatile organic compounds].”

Meanwhile, despite expert concerns, the devices continue to pop up in classrooms and school nurses’ offices across the state, said Allen Barkkume, an industrial hygienist for the New Jersey teachers union.

He doesn’t blame schools for buying them, as they’re a lot less expensive than overhauling ventilation systems. Teachers often push for the devices in their classrooms, he said, as they see them in the nurses’ offices and think it’ll keep them safe. And superintendents are not well-versed in air quality’s complex scientific concepts.

“Nothing sounds better than something that’s cheap, quiet, small and easy to find, and we can stick them in every classroom,” Barkkume said.

Tested in Shoebox, Sold for Classrooms

While New York officials are “not permitting” the installation of ionization devices due to “potential negative health effects,” schools across the state of New Jersey are installing ionizing devices.

Ten miles away from Newark in Montclair, New Jersey, parents have been raising hell over the new Global Plasma Solutions’ ionizing devices in their children’s classrooms. The company website promises a product that emits ions like those “created with energy from rushing water, crashing waves and even sunlight.”

The devices emit positive and negative ions that are meant to help particles clump together, making them easier to filter out. The company says the ions can also reduce the viral particles that cause covid-19.

But Justin Klabin, a building developer with a background in indoor air quality and two sons in the district, was not convinced.

He spent hours compiling scientific evidence. He created painstaking YouTube videos picking apart the ionizers’ viability and helped organize a petition signed by dozens of parents warning the school board against the installation.

Even so, the district spent $635,900 on installing ionizers, which would go in classrooms serving more than 6,000 kids. The devices are often installed in ducts, an important consideration, the company founder Charles Waddell said, because the ions that are emitted lose their power after 60 seconds.

But the company’s shoebox study and inflated ion blast numbers that helped sell the product last year leave a potential customer with little sense of how the device would perform in a classroom, Zaatari said.

“It’s a high cost for nothing,” Zaatari said. The company has sued her and another air-quality consultant for criticizing their devices. Of the pending case, Zaatari said it is a David-versus-Goliath situation, but she will not be deterred from speaking on behalf of children.

“Size of the [test] chamber has proved not to play a role in efficacy results but rather ion density,” GPS spokesperson Kevin Boyle said in an email. The company notes by its covid-inactivating test results that they “may include … higher-than-average ion concentrations.”

He also said the company is proud to meet the ASHRAE “zero ozone” certification.

Glenn Morrison, a professor of environmental science and engineering at the University of North Carolina, reviewed a March GPS study on a device combating the covid virus in the air. The device appears to reduce virus concentrations, he said in an email, but noted it would not be very effective under normal building conditions, outside a test chamber. “A cheap portable HEPA filter would work many times better and have fewer side effects (possibly ozone or other unwanted chemistry),” he wrote.

Other parents joined Klabin’s campaign, including Melanie Robbins, the mom of a kindergartner and a child in pre-K. Armed with her background in nonprofit advocacy, she reached out to experts. She and other parents spoke at local government meetings about their concerns.

In April, the superintendent told parents the school would turn off the devices, but parents say they haven’t turned them all off.

“As far as I understand, the district has relied only on information from GPS, the manufacturer,” Robbins said during a Montclair Board of Education meeting via Zoom on April 19. “This is like only listening to advice from Philip Morris as to whether smoking is safe or not.”

Dan Daniello, of D&B Building Solutions, an HVAC contracting company, defended GPS products during the meeting. He said they are even in the White House, a selling point the company has made repeatedly.

The catch: A GPS contractor installed its ionization technology in the East Wing of the White House after it was purchased in 2018 — before covid emerged, according to GPS’ Boyle. But the company was still using the White House logo as a marketing image on its website when KHN asked the White House about the advertising in April. It was taken down shortly thereafter.

Boyle said GPS was “recently informed that the White House logo may not be used for marketing purposes, and promptly complied.”

The Montclair school district did not respond to requests for comment.

“I want to bang my head against the wall, it’s so black-and-white,” Robbins said. “Admit this is a poor purchase, the district got played.”

Selling ‘the Big Kahuna’

Academic air-quality experts agree on what’s best for schools: More outside air pumped into classes, MERV 13 filters in heating systems and portable HEPA filters. The solution is time-tested and effective, they say. Yet as common commodities, like a pair of khaki pants, these items are not widely flogged by a sales force chasing big commissions.

After covid hit, Tony Barron said the companies pitched air purifying technology nonstop to the Kansas district where he worked as a facility manager last fall.

Pressure came from inside the school as well. Teachers sent links for air cleaners they saw on the news. His superintendent had him meet with a friend who sold ionization products. He got constant calls, mail and email from mechanical engineering companies.

The hundreds of phone calls from air cleaner pitches were overwhelming, said Chris Crockett, director of facilities for Turner USD 202 in Kansas City, Kansas. While he wanted to trust the contractors he had worked with, he tested four products before deciding to spend several hundred thousands of dollars.

“Custodial supply companies see the writing on the wall, that there’s a lot of money out there,” he said. “And then a lot of money is going to be spent on HVAC systems.”

ActivePure says on its website that its air purifiers are in hundreds of schools. In a press release, the company said they were “sold through a nationwide network of several hundred franchises, 5,000 general contractors/HVAC specialists and thousands of individual distributors.”

Enviro Technology Pros, founded in January, is one company pitching ActivePure to HVAC contractors. In a YouTube video, the founders said contractors can make $950 for each air-cleaning device sold, and some dealers can make up to $30,000 a month. Citing the bounty of the billions in federal relief, another video touted ready-made campaigns to target school principals directly.

After KHN asked ActivePure for comment, the Enviro Technology Pros YouTube videos about ActivePure were no longer accessible publicly.

ActivePure did not respond to requests for comment but has said its devices are effective and one is validated by the Food and Drug Administration.

An Enviro Technology Pros founder, Rod Norman, told KHN the company was asked to take the posts down by Vollara, a company related to ActivePure. He called sales to schools “the big kahuna.”

Shortly after he spoke with KHN, the website for his own company was taken down.

In an Instagram post that also disappeared, the company had asked: “4000 classrooms protected why not your kids?”

Shoshana Dubnow contributed to this report.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

As Schools Spend Millions on Air Purifiers, Experts Warn of Overblown Claims and Harm to Children published first on https://nootropicspowdersupplier.tumblr.com/

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Mergers and Acquisitions

Now, let’s talk about you: how to get you—and keep you—financially independent or wealthy, doing what you love to do, what you’re good at, and what you were put on this earth to do. (If you’re lucky, you know what they are and they’re the same thing.)

Your first step is to maximize the ‘merger’ of your education, credentials, experience, and skills in order to market yourself and your abilities. You merge these to the best of your ability in order to make the ‘acquisition’ of money easier and to make the possibility of making more money in the future more likely. Many times, at the start of this quest, you interview for and are offered a job. At this point, you may experience the pervasive gender gap that women around the world face every day. According to a 2017 report from the National Partnership for Women and Families, women of color earn 25-40% less than their white male counterparts. Caucasian women fair a little better, but the difference in pay for women when compared to men remains a serious problem.

The reality today is that women work longer hours to make the same pay as men. Women also do more ‘unpaid labor’: taking care of husbands, children, in-laws, and parents. I don’t know of any statistics that support this assertion. It’s just something I’ve seen my entire life, and it’s an experience that has never been denied by anyone— male or female—that I’ve spoken to in my entire life.

I’m uncertain about how to change family dynamics, but you as a woman can definitely change workplace dynamics. Go to your library, and your librarian, and find books and resources to help you negotiate more effectively for equal pay when you are offered a job or seek a promotion. You’ll also find resources online, but talk to other women (and men) when possible. Human interaction gives you the best chance to receive inside information that isn’t found in search results. It offers the opportunity to speak with someone who may become a mentor, ally, colleague, or friend. However, the truth is that the responsibility for earning and acquiring money rests mostly with you. To maximize your earning potential, consider the following:

Think like an entrepreneur, even if you work for a company;

Be willing to do the jobs your peers don’t want to do;

Search for a ‘niche market’, an under-serviced or specialty area within your chosen field that you can focus on, dominate, and be ‘the expert’ in;

Be willing to relocate—even to another country—if there are opportunities to earn more, do more, and be more;

Know your ‘pain centers’—points of dissatisfaction or discomfort—that motivate you and use them to find solutions that can be profitable to you and others;

Master the fundamentals of your chosen field and obtain any necessary certifications or training so you can always earn money and take care of yourself. In your current work position:

Be a problem solver for your company, as problem solvers are ‘golden nuggets’ for business owners who always face a myriad of daily challenges;

Come in a little early, leave a little later, and do a little more; Consistently go ‘above and beyond’ what your job requires as you look for opportunities to learn more;

As you do, keep a detailed list of the extra responsibilities you’ve voluntarily taken on, or have been given;

Consistently calendar your performance, so you can document—for yourself and your boss—that you’re doing these extra tasks on a regular basis;

After a period of time (6 months or so) of day in, day out competent performance of your assigned duties and handling of the ‘above and beyond’ responsibilities you’ve taken on, set at appointment to talk with your boss; Detail your performance modestly but evenly, and politely ask for a raise;

If you are given a raise, thank your boss and continue to do all of your work; If you are not, assess the reasons given for the refusal;

Begin a concerted effort to look for a new job;

Always be the hardest worker in the room;

Do not settle.

WILL POWER

Another way that you may acquire money or things of value is through a windfall or an inheritance. A windfall may be a winning lottery ticket (don’t bet on it), or a settlement from litigation in a civil case. An inheritance is far more likely.

I’ve discussed this important issue in The Old Money Book, and I suggest you read about it there. Nevertheless, I’ll cover it briefly here, as it presents an incredible opportunity to improve your life and move you toward financial independence.

Let’s say that you’re invited to a lawyer’s office for an important meeting. Dear me, what could this be about? Well, as it happens, your Uncle Chester has kicked the bucket. And? And…there’s the issue of the will. You throw on a respectable ensemble, give your hair a lick and a promise, and take the train into the city. Shortly thereafter, you’re sitting in a wood-paneled conference room that’s larger than your apartment. The courtly, aging lawyer is straight out of a Charles Dickens novel. In short order, he informs you that Uncle Chester, the old codger who lived in a two room cottage in Vermont, had actually socked away a tidy sum…and he’s left it all to you.

Gulp. As the blood returns to your head, Uncle Chester’s lawyer congratulates you in that very Great Expectations kind of way and asks you to sign on the dotted line. He then asks where you’d like to have the funds deposited, and wishes you the best of luck. At this point in time, you don’t need luck: you need to manage that money wisely. So, my suggestion would be to immediately contact a reputable certified public accountant (CPA) and assess any tax liability that the inheritance may present to you. (Pay your taxes fully and promptly. You want no issues with your Uncle Sam.)

The second thing you might want to do is buy a bottle of champagne and toast your good fortune. Alone. As I strongly suggest in The Old Money Book, I would keep the inheritance a secret. Note that a ‘secret’ is not something you tell one person at a time. You don’t need your inheritance affecting your relationships. Deal with the change privately. Then, later, decide how to share it with others, if at all.

Don’t do anything different with your daily routine or your life. Don’t quit your job, even if you don’t like your boss. Don’t purchase anything. Instead, make a list of everything you could purchase and do. Travel, paying off debt, new car, bigger apartment, fur coat, limousine rides for you and your friends, and shoes, shoes, shoes. Call that the Crazy List. The list with things on it that, once you hand over your money, you get nothing of value in return. That’s crazy, right?

Now make a Smart List. This is a list of everything you could invest in. This list is everything you could put money in that would, once you hand over your money, increase in value and pay you back over time. Start the list with income-producing real estate, dividend-paying stocks, annuities, tax-free bonds…things that produce that ‘passive income’ we spoke of earlier in the book. No, it’s not as much fun as renting a limousine, but it is more rewarding in the long run. You might also consider investing in yourself with education.

I’m not telling you what to invest in. I’m not telling you to invest. I am telling you not to spend. And only consider investing after a ‘cooling off period’ of 3 to 6 months after you inherit the money. Again: as the euphoria wears off, brew a cup of hot tea, curl up on the sofa, and assess how much this inheritance can help you achieve your goal of being financially independent. If you spend it all in a week, it doesn’t help you at all. If you spend it all in two years, it may help you a little. If you invest it and make it work for you—and pay you dividends or interest every month—it may benefit you for the rest of your life.

Consider the amount you’ve inherited, how you can best use it, and look at where you are. Is this going to give you Intermediate Independence? Optimum Independence? View this inheritance not as money, but as an opportunity. Then use it wisely. As you know, math has no opinion. Do the math when you get an inheritance. Make it work for you in the long term.

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3 Ways To Protect Your Retirement

The top 3 ways to protect your assets and family in retirement

I had a friend and colleague in the financial services industry that had a saying, “the unfortunate reality of life is, few people are ‘happy, happy, happy...dead.” That pretty much always caught people off guard! But it also got their attention, which is what is was meant to do. Put another way, very few people die without some period of time in which they need assistance going about the normal activities of daily life. According to a recent, and very well documented statistic, out of 100 people...100 will die. Shocking right?! But the bigger issue we are dealing with here is what happens between “happy” and “dead.” On a more serious note, the numbers on the realities surrounding long term care are pretty daunting: According to recent stats1, 7 out of every 10 people 65 and older will need long term care. According to one of the leading long term care insurance providers in the country, over 59% of long term care claims last more than one year, and of those, the average length of time care is needed is 4.2 years. The California median cost for home care is $57,204 per year. The average cost of nursing home care is $97,368 for a “semi-private room” and $116,436 for a private room.2 Few circumstances in life will utterly drain your assets like paying for good long term care. As the old saying goes, the question isn’t “can you afford to buy a policy or plan?”, because you can’t afford not to put a plan in effect. First of all, let’s set the record straight on some common myths. Doesn’t my medical insurance cover this stuff? Nope. It doesn’t. What about Medicare or Med-Cal? Well, they may provide 1 2017 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 10/10/2017. 2 Genworth cost of care survey, 2017 limited coverage, but only if you meet certain criteria...primarily involving impoverishing yourself. Another thing most people don’t realize is that federal law requires that states recover the money spent on people’s behalf for long term care from their estate after they pass away! Another thought some people entertain in order to put their mind at ease is that their family will take care of each other. Ok, let’s talk hard truth for a minute. Imagine your loved ones having to help you daily with dressing, washing, and using the restroom. Is that really what you would want?  If you, or anyone you know, has been through this scenario, you know how demoralizing it can be, and how much of a strain it puts on the family financially, and in just about every other way. One of the biggest reasons for planning right now how you will finance the costs of long term care is to preserve your dignity, and that of the ones you love, so that you are able to spend your final days interacting with your family in the best ways possible. So what are your options? Well, you may be surprised to find that you have more than you realize. Here’s a quick summary of the top options you should consider, along with some pros and cons to help you narrow down what makes the most sense for you: 1. Long term care insurance. This is the most straightforward method, and will usually give you the most value for your dollars in straight long term care benefits. You might also find this to be more affordable than you think. It is based on providing a set “cost per day” benefit, for a certain number of years. Another key factor that affects you premiums is your choice of “elimination period.” Think of it like a time deductible. You can typically choose from 30 days to 120 days, and sometimes more. As with all insurance, the higher the deductible, the lower the premiums. The primary downside that people see in this product is, if they die in their sleep without needing care, or of some sudden accident of extremely fast moving disease, then the money spent on this insurance is “wasted”. It has one purpose, and is purely protection, just like your auto insurance or home owner’s insurance. 2. Life insurance with an LTC rider. These days you have several life insurance carriers in California that offer a life insurance product with a “Chronic Illness Rider”, or something similar, that will allow you to use up to 100% of your death benefit to pay for long-term-caretype needs. The benefit is triggered by the same thing as long term care insurance - loss of 2 ADLs, (activities of daily living). This can be a very cost-efficient way to cover your bases, and get your dollars multi-tasking, which I strongly believe to be a key principle in wealth accumulation and protection. Some down sides would be that you may not get as great a benefit amount monthly as a straight LTC policy would provide. Also, you need to remember that if you use some or most of your breath benefit for long term care needs, this directly reduces the life insurance benefit paid to your beneficiaries. 3. Long term care annuities, or hybrid whole life policies. This is one of the newer options, and one of my personal favorites. You can typically fund a product like this will qualified or non- qualified funds. Meaning, you could roll money straight out of an IRA or 401k and into one of these without creating a taxable event. So if you have funds wasting away in a retirement account somewhere, this might be a really good option for some of those funds. Also, these products allow you to make sure that no matter what happens, be it the “happy, happy, happy...dead” scenario, or needing long term care, or needing some of the money you put into the policy for paying for life’s needs or wants, you get to “have it all”. Should you need long term care, like most people, the dollars spent on this product will buy far more in benefits than the dollars themselves would ever provide. Should to die suddenly, without needing care, the benefit pays out like life insurance to your beneficiaries. And, should you live longer and healthier than you expected, and need some of that money back out, the principle is liquid, guaranteed, and will also be credited with a typical 3-4% interest earnings annually. Pretty snazzy huh? Again, the main downside here would be that you will typically get more long term care benefits for your dollars when you purchase pure long term care insurance, as opposed to a hybrid like this. So there is some good food for thought, and hopefully, you can find renewed vigor and clarity to make up your mind to get this thing done like you have been meaning to for years. It will never be cheaper than it is today, and if you are already in your 50s, 60s, or older, chances are, you are also about as healthy as you will ever be. Waiting only costs you more, and potentially could cost you the ability to even have a choice, should an unexpected illness or injury render you uninsurable. Getting valuable protection like this can be much more affordable than you think, and you will rest much easier knowing it is in place - securing your future, protecting your loved ones and your assets - making sure you don’t end up broke in a nursing home wondering why.

Luke Kibler Vantage Insurance Solutions License #0E35140 luke@vantageinso.com vantageinso.com 909. 936. 7032   Key Words Business Insights, Business, Insights, Altek Media Group, Altek, Media, Video, video, film, near me, the Best, production, online, magazine, strategy, digital, marketing, blogging, social media, funnel, Brand, Content Management System, logistics, Lean, manufacturing, CEO, infograhics, instagram, facebook, linked in, google, Key Performance Indicator, Automation, Optimization, exit planning, Public relations, Advanced, Agile, oem, smart, supply chain, Net Neutrality, Big Data, Data Mining, Actionable Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Personalization, Voice Recognition, Chatbots, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Smart Factory, Industry 4.0, Quantum Computing, BlockChain, Technological Unemployment, Digital, benchmarking, flexable, Kaizen, prototyping, robotics, six sigma Read the full article

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6 Simple Job Search Tips People Always Forget - The Muse

A job search website cannot, of course, guarantee you a job--not even a paid subscription service like TheLadders, but they may help you get your foot into the door. Think of them as your back-up plan, and spend the majority of energy on the important building blocks of the career search process: career assessment, career research, and mapping out an effective job search. No online service can equal the results that are possible for a well-conducted networking campaign. But in today's wired world, no job search should proceed without them. They keep your resume in circulation 24/7. They publish a tremendous amount data, and offer a certain amount of guidance and support. The trick is knowing how to use them effectively. You should prefer sites that offer something of real value before you give them anything...including your email address. This could be a free report, a self-administered career assessment or list of sample job descriptions. Take a look at what they offer. If you like what you see, sign up for their email newsletter or register as a client. Usually, you can tell a bad job search website in seconds. If the pages are "link farms"--with little or no content and masses of links to other sites or product offerings--don't waste your time. Don't waste your money, and above all else, never trust a site like this with your personal and/or financial information!

Similar Sites:

whatresume.net

www.indeed.com

breakthroughresumes.com

www.resumeshelpservice.com

www.inforati.com.ph

thebalancecareers.com

With such business contact details in-hand, and having identified plenty of companies to research for the job you seek, begin to customize your resumes for each firm. Again - don't be shy. Use each resume as your professional billboard, so to speak, to highlight your skills and successful experiences in solving specific work-floor issues, and have statistics to confirm it. Then utilize the email addresses, fax numbers and other hiring-agent contact data to release your customized resumes - one at a time -- directly to the offices of each hiring authority (and/or to the closest contact to them), including HR; later, if things go well, let the hiring manager(s) guide you through HR processing. Prove it to yourself, when you impress the primary hiring-authority, and their associates, with know-how to repair their workplace issues - combined with a teamwork attitude -- they draw their own conclusions, without the candidate speaking a word; as workplace performance statistics, confirm your success with similar issues. As you can see, whether on your resume, or cited in a phone call, or in emails, wherever - workplace statistics illustrate your results as they lend authority to any claims of anticipated performance if hired. Find  6 Simple Job Search Tips People Always Forget - The Muse. The ability to search multiple job sites at once is important. Companies use a wide range of job posting services and websites. If you limit your search to only one or two, you miss out on valuable job opportunities and this can hinder your chances of landing a job. It is rare to find a job search app for smart phones that enables you to apply via an uploaded resume. That is why being able to email a job listing to yourself is advised. Most apps will direct you to the job ad and you may be able to apply for the job using the online job application, but you will have to type this document on your phone.

Currently Interviewing for:

Insurance Adjuster

Project Manager

It Director

Treasurer

Marketing Technologist

Accounts Receivable/Payable Specialist

Whatever you do, don't be intrusive with any inquiries you may make via these channels, this is not corporate espionage, just a job search, so remain professional at all times, maybe make comments in-reply to others' postings, re-tweet with comments, etc. - or, maybe -- wait till you have a good idea of whom you may want to contact or reply to first and exactly what you want to say and ask, all the while capturing names, job titles, email addresses, fax and phone numbers and desk-extension numbers, and user names from business groups, social networks and forums you haunt. Those details often lead to obvious decision-makers and other employees within the companies you pursue; and sometimes it leads to companies unfamiliar to you, who later become employer-prospects, too. Monster.com is arguably the best global platform for job seekers. It comes loaded with advice for the job hunter. Great content on the site includes a "how to" on putting together a resume that rocks the world, well-written job descriptions, interviewing tips, and lots of salary information. Reading newspapers and magazines to get leads: You can also get leads for your job search through reading of newspapers and magazines. You can uncover leads by (i) monitoring the business sections for companies signing new commercial and contracts which portends a good sign for increased capacity. (ii) search for companies receiving venture capital. Such companies are likely to have a viable business model and will inevitably need new employees.

Related Searches:

'Financial Planner Summary Cover Letter Writing'

'Compensation Manager Resume Examples'

'Treasury Cash Management Resume'

'Lead Budget Analyst Resume'

'List Of Budgeting Skills Resume'

'CTO Resume Cover Letter Writing'

Seem too intrusive? It's not. It's only about getting hired. Most folks who receive such phone calls, emails, chat or IM messages or those whom respond to tweets or comment on postings made previously on that or some other social-mobi system - most of us, worldwide, don't mind to help. So don't be afraid to ask for information. (TACTIC #2) It's easier than you think. Prior to constructing each custom resume, perform research about each company you choose to pursue - this is serious business so organize and get on with the work ASAP and stay focused or you may lose your nerve to complete the tasks - discover the actual names of decision-makers who would approve, or contribute to a decision to, hire for the department or job-title or vocational specialty that you intend to pursue with each employer-prospect. And in your research, as you discover each business' most urgent workplace hiring needs in your job specialty, you discover exactly which of your job skills and industry experiences to use to create a custom resume, and which related employment statistics may best impress each hiring manager. Are you looking for a job? Would you like to work in the retail industry? You can find a large selection of retail jobs hiring now with a simple internet search online. On that same note, there are some factors you should take into consideration when job searching for retail jobs online.

Reading a job listing is an important step because vital information is provided. In addition to determining if the job is something that you'd enjoy doing, you can determine if you are wasting your time by applying. For example, if Company A is hiring for a part-time overnight cashier and you cannot work overnights - you know not to bother applying for the job. Don't waste time on job listings with hours that you cannot work or jobs with requirements you do not come close to meeting; focus your attention on more promising leads. It is not all the job openings that are normally advertised. There are some hidden job markets. This is because some recruiters and employers sometimes recruit job seekers that are recommended to them by colleagues, friends and sometimes associates. I personally have once been employed through this means. You should therefore get acquainted with potential employers with a view to having a pre-knowledge of available jobs before they are advertised by developing your contact network. To advertise your availability in the job market, you need to get the names of the professionals in your field. You need to ask faculty, alumni and peers on how to contact such persons. Also, directories, association listings, professional bodies, alumni associations, job search clubs and telephone books are veritable source of such names. To get reliable information about any job listing in any organization the best person to contact is the supervisor or manager of the position you are interested in. Is the job search technique you presently use effective enough to land you the dream job you have always coveted? Are you sure you will get the desired interview invitations from using the conventional job search techniques? We hiring managers have realized that to get your dream job, you need to ditch the conventional job hunting techniques and utilize the unconventional job search tactics especially if you want your job seeking to be result oriented. This is because such tactics are more proactive because you the job seeker will set the pace of your search campaign. Further, they are highly targeted because they focus on specific industries, geographic areas, employers and positional types. They are also customized because they help in emphasizing your individuality by weaving your personality and career related values into your resume. Our objective here in this article is to identify such techniques you can use to land your dream job.

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Ask Ariely: On Casual Courtesy, Inconvenient Inheritance, and First-Hand Filing

Here’s my Q&A column from the WSJ this week — and if you have any questions for me, you can tweet them to @danariely with the hashtag #askariely, post a comment on my Ask Ariely Facebook page, or email them to AskAriely@wsj.com.

___________________________________________________

Hi Dan.

At a “fast casual” restaurant without table service, the payment screen offered me a “No Tip” option or tips of 15%, 18% and 20%. I felt these were too high, since I had stood in line and was carrying my own food. I gave the minimum 15%—still a lot more than I have ever tipped in a fast-food place. I felt manipulated by the screen and wonder if this system prods people to tip more.

—Robert 

Yes, such screens boost tips through a design principle called “active choice.” Many fast-food restaurants simply have an easily ignorable tip jar. But with the screen, neglecting to tip feels much worse, like a rejection of the staff. On the other hand, please remember that the people working at fast-food places work just as many hours as standard servers, for less money. Many may not be making a living wage. Helping them out a bit is a good thing to do.

___________________________________________________

Dear Dan,

To my surprise, I learned that my recently deceased grandfather owned mineral rights to some land highly coveted by an oil company. The acreage seems to be perfect for extracting oil from shale rock, or fracking. I’m named in my grandfather’s will, and when I heard that some of his other heirs had been negotiating with the oil people for a sale, I was giddy imagining profits that could change my life as well as my family’s. But that didn’t last long. I consider myself an environmentalist and have voted against fracking in my home state. Should I protest the sale right now, wait and see the size of my potential gains or commit to putting all or part of my share into a conservation charity?

—David 

It’s harder to be an environmentalist when it means that you really have to give up something. In your case, it’s admirable that you are serious about giving up something that is potentially of great value.

It makes sense to commit to a course of action before you have all the information, like how much money is at stake. Acting under what’s sometimes called “the veil of ignorance” is often a very good way to make such decisions. If your share of the proceeds really was enough to change your family’s life—say, $800,000—you would have a good reason to question your moral convictions. Here’s another strategy: Keep the money, estimate the dollar cost of the environmental damage from digging up the land, commit 110% of that amount to conservation efforts and try to persuade your relatives to do the same. Good luck.

___________________________________________________

Dear Dan,

My wife and I often argue about infrequent but time-intensive and complex administrative tasks like filing taxes. She’s very sensitive about money and thinks that since we save some by doing these tasks ourselves, I should spend a day or two on them. I think my time is worth some money and would rather pay an expert to take things off my plate. How can I convince her?

—Michael 

In general it’s easy for us to discount someone else’s annoyance. So, for the next few of these irritating administrative tasks, why not ask your wife to do them herself (or at least do them together with you). After experiencing the pain of these tasks first-hand, she will most likely change her mind and see the rationale of paying a professional.

See the original article in the Wall Street Journal here.

SHARE:

Source: http://danariely.com/2018/05/26/ask-ariely-on-casual-courtesy-inconvenient-inheritance-and-first-hand-filing/

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A lot of people are in search of new and thrilling hobbies each day, however have run out of ideas. If it is then you the next write-up is appropriate your alley. In it you may go through several superb advice in regards to what interests are fantastic to pursue in your house. Read on and acquire enlightened about hobbies!

Don t restriction your hobbies and interests as to what you ve investigated in past times. At times you have to drive oneself in new recommendations, and interests are perfect for doing that. The truth is, try out something out which you would have never ever regarded prior to. You might be surprised at how enjoyable a fresh activity could be.

In case you are pushed for time in your life, try out dealing with a pastime that acts more than one function. By way of example, combing the beachfront for shells you could potentially acquire will likely provide you with physical exercise and have you outside trekking will construct muscle tissue and boost your heart. Hobbies will help your life in so many techniques, and in case you re hectic, multi-tasking will continue to work out finest!

Hobbies are able to keep you in good condition when they are actually involved. Try trying to keep productive by taking up hobbies like cycling, operating, swimming, or coming to the health and fitness center. These types of physical activities not merely provide you with the chance to have fun, nonetheless they will help you stay healthy and appear much better.

If you enjoy to help make child booties for the friends and relations, why not look at turning your hobby into a part money-producing business. There are several online avenues where you could market your house-manufactured goods. The greater adorable this product is, the much more likely it will likely be snapped up by individuals who do not possess time for you to produce.

For everyone thinking about setting up a organization out of the activity, it is essential to pick a label. The name you end up picking will become your brand. This title ought to be extremely distinctive, but concurrently, very easy to bear in mind. Additionally, this name ought to have some relation to your company line.

Go driving your motorcycle. Individuals who cycle for enjoyment can perform lots of investigating of the local area. Bicycles may be ridden all through the year in the event you dress properly. This a hobby that has many health and fitness benefits, can boost your level of fitness, and is a lot of entertaining besides.

Seashell accumulating is a superb hobby that can provide fond recollections of seashore vacations. Seashells may be academic for kids and also are excellent decorative decorations to the house.

Through the article earlier mentioned you might be now mindful of countless exciting activities to do in your own home. Everyone can get exciting interests at home the family can take advantage of performing. It doesn t really need to be boring in your own home any further if you add the tips in this article to get that ideal hobby.

Online shopping from the biggest assortment of original t-shirt styles Nancy Pelosi she tore it up shirt. How can i spend less while online shopping? What can I really do to be certain I’m not spending an excessive amount of on what I purchase? The responses you seek out will be found in the report beneath which specifics tips on how to maintain more cash in your wallet whilst continue to buying online. Seem for the ideal periods to purchase on the web. Often the retailers that you just regular could have online product sales that adhere to a time design. Several, as an example, schedule income for the beginning of the four weeks or at the conclusion. If you notice there’s a pattern, maintain off on buying anything at all till the forthcoming product sales time period begins. Usually study merchandise info completely before making a purchase. On the internet images can end up being deceiving. The items will look much smaller or larger than they are. Reading the information will allow you to feel safe inside the object you happen to be buying. If you are creating any acquisitions on the internet and you have to come up with a consumer bank account, in no way use the very same security passwords which you use on other websites. Tend not to make use of e-snail mail or financial pass word to make a merchant account to buy footwear from the website store. If someone could check this out pass word, they may have accessibility to more than just your profile in the retailer’s retailer. Know about the hazards of online shopping with your mobile device. Although it’s handy for a number of factors, it can do place your personal information and facts with an increased danger for eavesdropping. General public wi-fi and abbreviated URLs are much easier to travel than standard computing from your home, so save your valuable shopping resolve for the most trusted circumstances. You can buy almost anything on the web. Getting read the info presented right here, you can now find fantastic online discounts on something your center wants. Get this information and initiate online shopping and saving cash as well.

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Funny Tees And Cool Tshirts For Men And Women Nancy Pelosi she tore it up shirt. Internet shopping provides wonderful comfort. Being able to buy anything you want whenever you like makes this store shopping market a hugely popular one particular. There are certain things that every on the internet shopper needs to know. This article will describe more. Before heading purchasing at any on the internet merchant, execute a speedy look for promotional regulations. Many of the big stores frequently have special offers running which are not promoted on the webpage. Performing a quick look for these rules will assist you to insert the code at check out to save cash. If you’re considering buying a item on the internet, browse the evaluations. The reviews from other people who have utilized the product are able to provide you with a wise decision concerning the item. You might be able to figure out the standard of the product, if this worked as explained, and if you need to make the purchase. Do more investigation on the online shop you are searching for well before buying a product from them. In case a retailer will not offer high quality services or products, you will most likely get some negative testimonials posted on other internet sites. It is advisable to stick to internet retailers having an outstanding standing. If you’re generating an internet based buy, don’t think twice to contact customer satisfaction for those who have an issue. By getting in touch with customer care before making your get, you’ll see how valuable customer support is and just how quickly they react. This can be valuable information and facts to obtain in cases where something goes wrong following you’ve made your acquire. Never forget your financial budget and credit restrictions while shopping on the internet. The digital world of internet shopping has become a lot of people in serious personal debt. You should take a look at internet shopping in the same way you appear at off the internet buying. In no way get things on the web that you don’t hold the cash to fund. Several shopping on the internet benefits are expecting you. Become accustomed to it now, due to the fact shopping online is definitely the coming trend. Use what you’ve just learned, and shop until you drop. A Cheap New T shirts Store Online – Nancy Pelosi she tore it up shirt Product. A Trend at TrendTshirtNew, we’re about more than t-shirts!

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6 Action Steps to a Successful Online Business

Will you have a successful online business in 2013?  Time and time again I keep hearing about this exceptionally high failure rate percentage for online marketers.  Usually 95% – 98% depending on who talk to.  I have no idea if this statistic is real or even where it came from but the hopeless feeling of overcoming this lopsided number can be a huge motivation killer for newbie marketers.  Assuming these numbers are accurate; why is the failure percentage so high?  More importantly, how can you prevent becoming part of it?

If we were to look at why most online businesses fail, many people might put the blame on factors like:

targeting the wrong niche

lack of traffic

low conversions

too much competition

lack of a good product to sell

It’s true, these are important to the success of most online businesses but the fact of the matter is most of these are things that can be tweaked and altered once the business is properly established.  The biggest problem often comes before all these factors and exists within the building blocks of the business itself.  Similar to the construction of a building, if your business doesn’t have a solid foundation from the start then how can you expect it to stay standing in the future?

Take a look at these 6 action steps that you absolutely cannot ignore if you want your online business to BOOM in 2013.

Action Step #1 – Stop trying to make money online

Huh?!  Isn’t that what we want?  Yes.  This is what I mean:  Don’t think of internet marketing just as a way to make money online.  Instead think of it as a real business because that’s what it should be.  Making money online should be no different than making money offline; it’s just a different platform.

If you started a traditional brick and mortar business without a good business plan, how long do you think you would stay in business?  If you’re like most people, it probably wouldn’t be very long.  Why should an online business be any different?

Action Step #2 – Set, record and follow good business goals

Setting and following goals are extremely important for the success of any business.  If done correctly, goals generate the motivation and direction needed to turn future visions into reality.

When you are actively following goals, your time, effort and attention will be focused on activities and tasks relevant to completing those goals rather than wasting time doing things that are not goal relevant.

Do you ever feel like there are not enough hours in a day?   According to research, people who have written goals are 80% more productive than those who don’t.

When setting goals, be S-M-A-R-T.  That is, set goals that are:

Specific

Measureable

Attainable

Relevant

Time-bound

Don’t forget to record your goals on paper and give them deadliness and due dates.   If you don’t record your goals then they are not goals at all, they are just thoughts and hopes and you will not hold yourself accountable if you fail to achieve them.

Be sure to keep your goals in a place where you will regularly see them.  Read and review them often and update them as necessary.

If you skip this step of setting and following goals then you don’t have a business, you have a hobby.  What’s wrong with having a hobby you ask?  Nothing, but hobbies don’t make money, they cost money.

Action Step #3 – Get your family on board with your business

Running an online business can be very rewarding but you could have a major roadblock if your spouse or family won’t buy-in to your decision to start a business.

Online businesses take considerable amount of time, especially during the planning and start-up phase.  Make sure your family understands why you will be spending countless hours on the computer and be sure they will support you for the long haul, even if the money doesn’t start flowing for several months.

It may help to show your spouse your business plan complete with your written goals and deadlines.  Explain your plan well and let your spouse know how you will be making money.  If you have a well written business plan it will prove to him or her that you are serious about this and your decision to start the business is not just based on a whim.

Most importantly, don’t neglect to include plenty of family time in your schedule.  If you cheat your family out of the time they deserve then it will be difficult to get their support for your business in the future.

Action Step #4 – Remove all distractions

Online business owners are constantly surrounded by distraction of all types.  Email, social networks, analytics, video games, etc can all contribute to a huge loss of productivity.

Be disciplined and keep focusing on your goals.  During work time, remove all possible distractions by turning off the TV and cell phone.  Set all instant messengers to “busy” and remove any other potential distraction that you can think of.

Also, schedule undisrupted work time with your family and make sure they know they are to leave you alone during this time.  If you have noisy kids and are unable to work in a quieter room, consider investing in a set of noise canceling headphones and listen to relaxing music while you work.

If you struggle with internet self-control, you may want to check out the Blockr extension for Google Chrome.  It lets you set writing goals and will block you from the internet until those goals have been completed.

Action Step #5 – Stay away from shiny objects

In other words:  Stop buying all that stuff you don’t need.  Online business owners are always tempted with everything from the next great software package or plugin to info products showing undiscovered traffic generation techniques.  These products are created to generate sales and many of them do that very well; so well in fact that many people become addicted to buying them.

Don’t get me wrong, many of these products are actually quite good and they can be beneficial if they align with what you are currently working on and action is taken with them.   The problem is if you are always buying these products and taking time to go through them, when are you actually going to work and be productive?

Many marketers may not like me for saying this but if you are stuck in “shiny object mode”, stay away from JVZoo and Warrior Special Offers.  Unsubscribe from the products of the day for both of these services.  Shiny objects can be very addicting and before you know it you have an empty bank account and a hard drive filled with info products and software collecting virtual dust.

Before investing in shiny objects, always ask yourself 3 things:

Can I financially afford this product?

Will I actually put this product into action?

Will this product help me achieve my goals faster or will it just lead me off course?

If you cannot confidently answer “Yes” to all three questions then close the sales page and move on.  You don’t need it.

Action Step #6 – Get in the right mindset

Never underestimate the power of your subconscious mind.  If you are struggling with staying focused on your goals or maybe you have a lack of self-confidence, you can overcome these obstacles yourself by acquiring the right mindset for success.

In addition to business goals, set personal goals for yourself.  Maybe you want that big house or fancy car.  Maybe you want to travel the world or maybe you just want to quit your job and work from home.  Whatever it is that motivates you, keep these thoughts in the back of your mind and don’t let anything stand in your way from making these dreams a reality.

If you are struggling to stay focused, consider writing a pledge or mantra for your business.  This mantra should be written as a positive self-confidence booster.  Include things like your work ethic, how you will accomplish your goals, how you will learn from mistakes etc.

Hang your manta on a wall in your office or work space and read it out loud in front of a mirror every morning before work and every evening when you are finished.  Repetition is key to controlling our subconscious mind, so don’t skip a day of reading.

Hopefully these 6 steps will persuade you to put a fair amount of effort toward strengthening the foundation of your online business.  Can I guarantee you success in 2013?  Heck no!  That my friend, is all up to you.  However, if you put every bit of this information into action then you will significantly decrease your chances of becoming part of that 98% statistic.

Now grab 2013 by the horns and go make some money!

What changes will you make to have a successful online business in 2013?  Leave a comment below, I would love to hear about it .

If you would like more information about how you can achieve success with your online business, just enter your email in the form below and I’ll send you my FREE guide titled “Beating the Failure Rate – An Internet Marketer’s Guide to Success”.  It’s filled with great tips, ideas and strategies to help you grow the successful online business you’ve always wanted.  If making money online has been difficult for you, this guide may just change your life.

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[j0shripley]

Opinion Series

Josh Ripley

Fish Burton

ENGL 2010

April 12, 2020

Opinion Series

For my Opinion Series paper, I decided to write off some of the articles I have already read. The first perspective I choose to write from is the point of view of a transgender individual, the next one is written from the perspective of a middle class family found in Utah, while the final one is written from the perspective of a homeless man addicted opiates.

The first perspective I am writing on with the transgender individual is based off of a study that was conducted in Minnesota back in 2016. The article talked about how transgender youth have a 10% higher chance than their peers to have experienced some homelessness before 11th grade. From the perspective of Transgender youth, one of two things can run through your mind. One side, depending on your support system, you could see running away and becoming homeless as a viable option. If you don’t feel love at home then why stay there? On the other hand, the other emotion they could experience is fear, fear that their choice is going to get them kicked out or become socially excluded. This fear could drive you to run from any potential danger or ill feelings that could come as a result of people's response to your personal decision. At first you might think, what’s the big deal? 10% isn’t that much, but when you start putting names to the faces you realize that for a group of people to have a higher chance of being on the streets because of their gender preference doesn’t seem right. For them, a scary part of being homeless is the illness that can follow, especially common in adolescence. “Homelessness is associated with adverse outcomes in youth, including poor mental and physical health, high risk health behaviors, poor cognitive and academic functioning, and emergency room visits and hospitalizations” (Eisenberg 1) This is found in the article I mentioned at the beginning titled “Homelessness experiences and gender identity in a population-based sample of adolescents.” When children leave home the last thing they are thinking about is the potential health risks that come with being out all the time. As I said before I believe there are 2 paths when it comes to a transgender individual thinking about homelessness, it is either an option for escape, or they are filled with the fear of being kicked out and being forced to live on their own in order to survive emotionally, while in fact, causing more harm to themselves then good.

The next perspective I am writing on is the middle class family in Utah looking at homelessness. You see it as something that could never really happen to you, you make enough money, have a strong enough family, and friends in the community to help when you need it. But of course there are many stories of people being struck with some random event that crippled them out of nowhere. It’s an issue that doesn’t seem possible, and at the same time, there’s a fair amount of people that think they did it to themselves. It’s easy to look from the outside in, being raised in a family that has never struggled too much financially with no serious health concerns and be like, “why don’t they just get a job?,”or “ They have to be addicted to drugs.” or “How does anybody get to that point? Just budget.” When the reality of the situation is that it isn’t always that easy. There are a lot of different things that can happen in order to end up on the streets. Utah’s homeless numbers aren’t too high or alarming and for the amount of judgmental people there are, there are also people wanting to help. It is not uncommon to run into people that care enough to either give food, money, or clothing to help those in need. Instinctively, most of us are filled with compassion when we see people in need. This was the cause of the original plan set forth in Utah that minimalized homelessness by 90%. “Utah and other states are discovering that by investing in people’s most basic needs, they are better able to address the other factors that lead to homelessness. And they are doing so with less money. Lloyd Pendleton, the director of Utah’s Homeless Task Force, was not always a believer in the state’s current method of addressing homelessness, initially saying the idea was “totally unrealistic.” But now he says that prioritizing a home for those without has drastically changed the way the state can deal with other factors, including unemployment.” This is from an article written about how Utah has successfully dropped their chronic homeless rate so drastically. When I asked my father about his views on homeless individuals he said, “You know, just the other week I saw a mother and son out in front of Walmart holding their cardboard sign. It was hard for me, as a father, to sit there and not picture your sister and her 1 year old. So i went inside and bought them food, diapers, and clothing.” To me this is proof of what most respectful citizens think of when they see a family struggling, despite what happens to get people to the point of being homeless, you instantly feel some sort of remorse and a desire to help.

The last point of view I am writing from is that of a homeless man addicted to opiates.  Looking from the outside in, it is easy to judge someone from the place they are at currently. It is easy to look at a mangled man on the road with a cardboard sign, long white hair, and gross teeth, and say “I’m helping him by not giving him money because he will only spend it on drugs.” When in reality we don’t know what they have been through in their lives, we don’t know how they were raised or what health issues they have faced, or the state of their mental health. You can’t look at someone and instantly know their life story. As I sat thinking about it, there were many things I didn’t initially consider when it came to being homeless. For instance, how are you going to find clean water or afford to keep looking clean if you don’t have toiletries? While trying to put myself in one of their shoes, I thought about how tough it would be to sit there and beg for help while people walked by and you know exactly what some people are thinking. You know some people will look at you and tell their kids “stay away from him.” or use you as an example of why they should stay in school. I wonder where your family would be at that point, how many bridges must’ve been affected by your use to ultimately not have anyone to turn to. Or maybe they are there for you but the amount of shame and disgust you feel in yourself keeps you from reaching out, not wanting someone to worry about you. I can’t imagine being in a situation where people won’t even consider giving you cash because they don’t think you have the sense to buy the basic necessities, toothpaste, water, food, and soap. It would be tough to be such a slave to a drug that you can’t accurately discern what your immediate purchase would be. The aches and craving you would feel would seem insurmountable. But you are addicted to the point where you think you could quit if you wanted to, or that quitting is impossible because when you hit your withdrawals you feel as if you will explode from the pressure in your body. I’d be wishing for any aid possible, but would feel hopeless that anyone would care enough to help me. Everyone has their own issues. In response to the rising opioid use in Boston, an article was written about some recent technology to help that says, “BHCHP delivers a full spectrum of primary care, mental health and addiction services. It recognizes that behavioral healthcare is an essential element of quality integrated care. The care model at BHCHP united behavioral health clinicians, case managers, physicians, nurse practitioners and nurses in close collaboration. They provide low-threshold engagement and constant care to individuals in a variety of settings, including on the streets, in shelter-based clinics, hospitals or supportive housing.” This would be the hope I was longing for and would finally give me a push to get my life on track and that the road back was possible.

Works Cited

Eisenberg, Marla E., et al. “Homelessness Experiences and Gender Identity in a Population-Based Sample of Adolescents.” Preventive Medicine Reports, vol. 16, Dec. 2019. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.pmedr.2019.100986.

Laine, Samantha. “How Utah Reduced Homelessness by More than 90 Percent.” The Christian Science Monitor, 2015. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsbro&AN=edsbro.A412252911&site=eds-live.

Netsmart. “Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program Partners with Netsmart to Address the Opioid Crisis.” Business Wire (English), 2019 May 11AD. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bwh&AN=bizwire.bw092956424&site=eds-live.

[timclymer]

The Personal Costs of Obesity

People who are overweight and obese face many difficulties their normal weight peers do not. Frequent doctor visits are a fact of life for overweight and obese people, due to the development of weight-related disorders such as diabetes and osteoarthritis. Along with the daily difficulties associated with these diseases, the overweight or obese person may be personally affected financially as a result of weight-related expenses and reduced income.

The personal consequences and costs of obesity are serious, and the personal financial cost great. Multiple studies have shown that obesity significantly negatively affects personal and working relations, wages, and advancement, particularly for females.

While the health problems as the overweight / obese age may ravage savings, an overweight / obese person may have difficulty accumulating those savings in the first place. One of the earliest sociological studies of the overweight, in 1966, found that the heaviest students had a harder time getting into top colleges. The obese, particularly white women, are paid less. A study by Cornell University found that a weight increase of 64 pounds above the average for white women was associated with 9 percent lower wages.

I can personally attest to the ceiling placed on the obese; the jobs that are available to you based on your talents and abilities are often not received; there can be pattern of coming in second in interviews. This is particularly so when the job involves social context or a large amount of meet and greet.

Overweight people may or may not spend more than normal-size people on food, but their life insurance premiums are two to four times as large. They can expect higher medical expenses, and they tend to make less money and accumulate less wealth in their lifetimes. They can have a harder time being hired, and then a harder time earning promotions. People carrying as little as 30 to 40 pounds extra can be seriously affected.

In 2004, The Obesity Society created a Task Force on weight which found accumulating evidence of clear and consistent bias, stigmatization, and in some cases discrimination, against obese individuals in three areas of living: employment, education, and health care. They also reported that recent studies have documented automatic negative associations with obese people among health professionals and among obese individuals themselves.

In addition to the negative financial impact that excess weight carries, there is also impact on quality of life. People who are severely overweight may have difficulty performing simple daily tasks, such as tying shoes or walking up a flight of stairs. Many obese people have trouble sitting in, or can not trust the weight limit of, standard furniture. It becomes difficult to go to restaurants or theaters, or to utilize public transportation. Many bathroom facilities would be inaccessible to the obese were it not for the availability of the much larger handicap stall. While I was able to use the regular stalls when I weighted a little over 300 pounds, which is certainly obese but not gargantuan, there were many that were on the small size, and getting in and turning around to shut the door was awkward, if not difficult.

Think about all the places you might not go if you had to be worried about fitting in, or not breaking, the chairs; think of all the places that have booths, which have fixed distances from the table. Consider the size of the average subway turnstile. Go window shopping and mentally buy several stylish items; then go to one of the plus size departments or stores and try to replicate the satisfaction you had mock shopping in your size range. Tie a few gallon water jugs to yourself and see what it is like to sit in your own furniture.

If you are really looking to get an inkling of the reality, fill the jugs with water and carry in your groceries. Water weights about eight pounds a gallon, so you can see what it is like at 50 pounds overweight, 100, 150. I doubt many of us could handle carrying around enough jugs to bring our weight up to the 500, 600 or higher that some people live with; the obese put the weight on over time so tend not to realize just how much weight they are asking their backs and knees to support. There is no way to truly feel what it is like physically to be obese: things like raw inner thighs from chaffing and permanent raw indentations from bra straps can not be duplicated.

These problems may seem trivial to some, but they represent serious, multi-layered difficulties that can have both a cumulative and a rippling effect. If you are afraid you might not be able to use facilities, long shopping trips become less inviting. If your size affects your lung capacity, you may have trouble sleeping, which can affect your performance at work, which in turn may worsen the experience of day-to-day financial strains. So might the ability to keep up, literally.

Duke University Medical Center researchers reported in 2004 that obesity significantly impairs the sexual quality of life. Obese people report sexual problems such as lack of desire, lack of enjoyment, avoiding sex, and performance difficulty at a much higher rate than people of normal weight.

Overweight and obese people are frequently stereotyped as emotionally impaired, socially handicapped, and as possessing negative personality traits. Evidence of discrimination is found at virtually every stage of the employment cycle, including selection, placement, compensation, promotion, discipline and discharge, according to research presented by Western Michigan University. In addition, this bias extends to job assessments of overweight individuals in their various work related roles, both as subordinates and co-workers.

According to recent studies, wages of mildly obese white women were 5.9 lower than standard weight counterparts; morbidly obese white women were 24.1 percent lower. In contrast to females, the wages of mildly obese white and black men were higher than their standard weight counterparts. Men only experienced wage penalties at the very highest weight levels.

The potential effect of applicant weight, age, sex and race on ratings of job candidate acceptability in a laboratory setting was examined in 1988. Overweight candidates were rated significantly lower, but none of the other criteria manipulations had a significant effect. Michigan is the only state that prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of weight.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal statute that protects qualified individuals with disabilities from discrimination on the basis of disability in the workplace. Since the enactment of the ADA, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has taken the position that people who are morbidly obese (body weight more than 100 percent over the norm) are disabled and protected under the ADA. This leaves a huge number of obese, but not morbidly obese, unprotected in forty-nine of fifty states. It also puts those who do qualify under obligation to bring an ADA law suit to rectify a qualifying situation. And you still have to prove it was discrimination due to obesity.

Compared to normal weight people, morbidly obese and massively obese people are more likely to incur instances of institutional and day-to-day interpersonal discrimination. Morbidly obese and massively obese persons report lower levels of self-acceptance than normal weight persons, yet this relationship is fully mitigated by the perception that one has been discriminated against due to body weight or physical appearance: a more palatable reason psychologically than character or personality defect, or a job not well done.

Unflattering portrayals of obese people pervade popular culture, while multiple studies document that children, adults, and even health care professionals who work with obese patients hold negative attitudes toward overweight and obese persons. Twenty-eight percent of teachers in one study said that becoming obese is the worst thing that can happen to a person; twenty-four percent of nurses said that they are repulsed by obese people.

Obese people who believe that their health care providers look down upon them may avoid seeking care; this reaction is potentially dangerous given that obese individuals are at an elevated risk for many health conditions.

Research conducted over the past 40 years shows that obese people are viewed as physically unattractive and undesirable. Obese individuals also are viewed as responsible for their weight due to some character flaw such as laziness, gluttony, or a lack of self-control and self respect. Obese persons may form negative self-evaluations as a reaction to the pervasiveness of negative attitudes toward obese persons and real or perceived discriminatory treatment.

Interpersonal consequences of severe obesity are most acute for members of higher socioeconomic strata. A number of studies suggest that upper-middle class Americans are less likely to be obese, more likely to adopt negative views toward the obese, and more likely to view thinness as an ideal body type; the belief that obesity is a consequence of laziness may be particularly common among those with richer resources and opportunities. Physical appearance and putting forth a positive image of your employer also may be a more critical aspect of job success in professional occupations than in blue-collar or service occupations. In all of our surveys, the only striking difference in obesity statistics was a drop in the obesity percentages in the shopping playgrounds of the wealthy.

The Employment Law Alliance (ELA) released findings from its America at Work Opinion Poll portending a rise in lawsuits alleging employment related obesity discrimination. The survey found 47 percent of obese Americans believe they have suffered discrimination in the workplace, while 32 percent think obese employees less likely to be respected and taken seriously in the workplace. Nearly 40 percent of those who identified themselves either as obese or overweight contend they deserve special government protection against weight-based discrimination in the workplace, though only 26 percent of individuals of normal weight echoed that contention.

Studies show that overweight and obese students, especially girls, are less likely than the non-obese to be accepted by the more competitive colleges. This is true even if their grades, standardized test scores, and other variables are the same as for other boys and girls.

Overweight people are less likely to attend college even though they score high on standardized tests and are academically motivated. Also, overweight women are more likely than other men or women to pay their way through college.

Overweight students are more likely to be refused letters of recommendation from faculty members.

There has been some change in the practices regarding hiring of the obese, as so much more of the employment force has become obese there is not often an option. Look at the number of employees you see in stores and businesses in a day, and you will notice that there are more obese employees than there were when you were a child. But it does not remove the ceiling or reduce the promotion restrictions that shadow the obese.

A study of 1200 doctors revealed that, although physicians recognized the health risks of obesity and perceived many patients as overweight or obese, they did not intervene as much as they thought they should, were ambivalent about how to manage obese clients, and were unlikely to refer them to weight loss programs. Only 18 percent of physicians reported that they would discuss weight management with overweight patients, and only 42 percent of physicians would have this discussion with mildly obese patients. I have lived and worked in five states in my lifetime, and have had jobs in six different counties in California, so I have had many different primary physicians in my adult lifetime, and I can tell you that most never broached the subject of my weight , and the few who did merely remarked that I should lose some.

In a 1969 survey of physicians, obese patients were described as weak-willed , ugly , awkward , and self – indulgent . In a more recent physician survey, one of three doctors said they respond negatively to obesity, behind three other diagnostic / social categories: drug addiction, alcoholism, and mental illness. A survey of severely obese patients found that nearly 80 percent reported being treated disrespectfully by the medical profession.

Physicians are not immune to obesity. Ironically, physicians report fifty percent of their physician colleagues are obese. The Physicians’ Health Study reported that 44 percent of male physicians are overweight, and 6 percent are obese. Although there are no published data on obesity in female physicians, the Nurses’ Health Study demonstrated that 28 percent of female nurses in the United States are overweight, and 11 percent are obese.

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic recently released the results of a survey of more than 2,500 obese patients who went to their doctor for a regular checkup over the course of a year. They found that only one in five of those people were listed on their charts as obese.

Discussing weight becomes even more complicated with children. According to a 2005 study in the Journal of Pediatrics, doctors diagnosed obesity less than 1 percent of the time among 2 to 18 year olds, a figure far below the one-third of young Americans struggling with overweight and obesity.

Among physicians, 17 percent reported reluctance to provide pelvic exams to very obese women, and 83 percent indicated reluctance to provide a pelvic exam if the patient herself was hesitant. Given that overweight women may hesitate to obtain exams and that physicians are reluctant to perform exams on obese or reluctant women, many overweight women may not receive necessary medical attention or preventive care.

Overweight and obese people get waited on more slowly than normal weight customers. They often encounter more difficulty making returns or exchanges than their thinner counterparts. When I was obese, sales people rarely asked to assist, and I often felt I had to track someone down; I assumed this was a general condition of the loss of the ethics of service of the old days. One thing I noticed when I became a size 4 was that sales people began to come up to me and ask if they could be of help much more frequently.

Results of a study by the North American Association for the Study of Obesity revealed that obese children were liked less and rejected more often by peers. Obese boys encounter more overt victimization (verbalteasing or physical aggression) and obese girls reported more relational victimization (cruelty by friends and cliques) compared with their average-weight peers.

Obese girls were also less likely to date than their peers. Both obese boys and girls reported being more dissatisfied with their dating status compared with average-weight peers. The results suggest that obese adolescents are at greater risk for mistreatment by peers and may have fewer opportunities to develop intimate romantic relationships; this may contribute to the psychological and health difficulties frequently associated with obesity; during adolescence, a time of rapid change in body shape and size as well as dynamic interactions with peers and parents, weight control is a particularly sensitive issue.

Recently school nurses reported being more likely to label obese children as sad and lazy . They overwhelmingly agreed with the statement Childhood obesity is a significant cause of peer rejection . Another recent study found that children who are obese are absent from school more than other children, missing an average of two more days than their non-obese peers. Interestingly, obesity seems to predict absenteeism more than any other factor, including school performance and socioeconomic status, two of the top reasons cited in the past for poor attendance. As a former public school teacher (at both elementary and high school levels, and as an principal and superintendent of schools pre-K-12), I can tell you that the number of days of school missed severely effects a child’s learning, and can carry forward in terms of lesser jobs and less pay for the rest of the life of a child. That is a steep personal cost.

Social attitudes towards obesity are negative and usually result in the adolescent becoming withdrawn and isolated. Obese adolescents have feelings of low self-esteem, social isolation, feelings of rejection and depression and a strong sense of failure. Obese children are more likely to engage in high-risk behaviors such as smoking, or consuming alcohol. Obese adolescent girls are more likely to become sexually active at a younger age in an effort to achieve acceptance and attention.

The prejudice associated with obesity is intense. Fat teenagers are often disregarded and subjected to ridicule. Most comments about fatness have negative consequences. Young people are often humiliated and frequently suffer permanent emotional scars. Fat people become tired of being judged by weight first and personality second. Adolescent girls who are dissatisfied with their bodies frequently try to lose weight in unhealthy ways, including skipping meals, fasting, and smoking to ward off hunger. A smaller number of girls are even resorting to more extreme methods such as self-induced vomiting, diet pills, and laxative use. Strict food denial in an effort to lose weight often leads to late afternoon or evening binging episodes. More than one-third of obese individuals in weight-loss treatment programs report difficulties with binge eating. This type of eating behavior contributes to feelings of shame, loneliness, poor self-esteem, and depression, and these feelings in return can spur additional eating as a means of solace.

In a study by the University of California, San Diego, researchers were surprised to find that the scores of obese children on a quality of life survey were as bad as cancer patients in every domain of life.

One obesity study asked severely obese persons to take a forced-choice questionnaire; for each question, they had to make a choice between being at their present weight or having some other given illness. The results were astounding. Although there were some variations on some of the questions, every obese person said that they would rather be blind or have one leg amputated than be at their present heavy weight. Most interestingly, every person who participated in the study would rather be a poor thin person than a morbidly obese millionaire.

Little wonder that depression is commonly linked with obesity, and, having been overweight and obese from age 5 to 50, I can personally attest that this chapter understates the multitude and magnitude of the true personal costs of obesity.

Source by Francine Hemway

from Home Solutions Forev https://homesolutionsforev.com/the-personal-costs-of-obesity/ via Home Solutions on WordPress from Home Solutions FOREV https://homesolutionsforev.tumblr.com/post/189086520420 via Tim Clymer on Wordpress

[homesolutionsforev]

The Personal Costs of Obesity

People who are overweight and obese face many difficulties their normal weight peers do not. Frequent doctor visits are a fact of life for overweight and obese people, due to the development of weight-related disorders such as diabetes and osteoarthritis. Along with the daily difficulties associated with these diseases, the overweight or obese person may be personally affected financially as a result of weight-related expenses and reduced income.

The personal consequences and costs of obesity are serious, and the personal financial cost great. Multiple studies have shown that obesity significantly negatively affects personal and working relations, wages, and advancement, particularly for females.

While the health problems as the overweight / obese age may ravage savings, an overweight / obese person may have difficulty accumulating those savings in the first place. One of the earliest sociological studies of the overweight, in 1966, found that the heaviest students had a harder time getting into top colleges. The obese, particularly white women, are paid less. A study by Cornell University found that a weight increase of 64 pounds above the average for white women was associated with 9 percent lower wages.

I can personally attest to the ceiling placed on the obese; the jobs that are available to you based on your talents and abilities are often not received; there can be pattern of coming in second in interviews. This is particularly so when the job involves social context or a large amount of meet and greet.

Overweight people may or may not spend more than normal-size people on food, but their life insurance premiums are two to four times as large. They can expect higher medical expenses, and they tend to make less money and accumulate less wealth in their lifetimes. They can have a harder time being hired, and then a harder time earning promotions. People carrying as little as 30 to 40 pounds extra can be seriously affected.

In 2004, The Obesity Society created a Task Force on weight which found accumulating evidence of clear and consistent bias, stigmatization, and in some cases discrimination, against obese individuals in three areas of living: employment, education, and health care. They also reported that recent studies have documented automatic negative associations with obese people among health professionals and among obese individuals themselves.

In addition to the negative financial impact that excess weight carries, there is also impact on quality of life. People who are severely overweight may have difficulty performing simple daily tasks, such as tying shoes or walking up a flight of stairs. Many obese people have trouble sitting in, or can not trust the weight limit of, standard furniture. It becomes difficult to go to restaurants or theaters, or to utilize public transportation. Many bathroom facilities would be inaccessible to the obese were it not for the availability of the much larger handicap stall. While I was able to use the regular stalls when I weighted a little over 300 pounds, which is certainly obese but not gargantuan, there were many that were on the small size, and getting in and turning around to shut the door was awkward, if not difficult.

Think about all the places you might not go if you had to be worried about fitting in, or not breaking, the chairs; think of all the places that have booths, which have fixed distances from the table. Consider the size of the average subway turnstile. Go window shopping and mentally buy several stylish items; then go to one of the plus size departments or stores and try to replicate the satisfaction you had mock shopping in your size range. Tie a few gallon water jugs to yourself and see what it is like to sit in your own furniture.

If you are really looking to get an inkling of the reality, fill the jugs with water and carry in your groceries. Water weights about eight pounds a gallon, so you can see what it is like at 50 pounds overweight, 100, 150. I doubt many of us could handle carrying around enough jugs to bring our weight up to the 500, 600 or higher that some people live with; the obese put the weight on over time so tend not to realize just how much weight they are asking their backs and knees to support. There is no way to truly feel what it is like physically to be obese: things like raw inner thighs from chaffing and permanent raw indentations from bra straps can not be duplicated.

These problems may seem trivial to some, but they represent serious, multi-layered difficulties that can have both a cumulative and a rippling effect. If you are afraid you might not be able to use facilities, long shopping trips become less inviting. If your size affects your lung capacity, you may have trouble sleeping, which can affect your performance at work, which in turn may worsen the experience of day-to-day financial strains. So might the ability to keep up, literally.

Duke University Medical Center researchers reported in 2004 that obesity significantly impairs the sexual quality of life. Obese people report sexual problems such as lack of desire, lack of enjoyment, avoiding sex, and performance difficulty at a much higher rate than people of normal weight.

Overweight and obese people are frequently stereotyped as emotionally impaired, socially handicapped, and as possessing negative personality traits. Evidence of discrimination is found at virtually every stage of the employment cycle, including selection, placement, compensation, promotion, discipline and discharge, according to research presented by Western Michigan University. In addition, this bias extends to job assessments of overweight individuals in their various work related roles, both as subordinates and co-workers.

According to recent studies, wages of mildly obese white women were 5.9 lower than standard weight counterparts; morbidly obese white women were 24.1 percent lower. In contrast to females, the wages of mildly obese white and black men were higher than their standard weight counterparts. Men only experienced wage penalties at the very highest weight levels.

The potential effect of applicant weight, age, sex and race on ratings of job candidate acceptability in a laboratory setting was examined in 1988. Overweight candidates were rated significantly lower, but none of the other criteria manipulations had a significant effect. Michigan is the only state that prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of weight.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal statute that protects qualified individuals with disabilities from discrimination on the basis of disability in the workplace. Since the enactment of the ADA, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has taken the position that people who are morbidly obese (body weight more than 100 percent over the norm) are disabled and protected under the ADA. This leaves a huge number of obese, but not morbidly obese, unprotected in forty-nine of fifty states. It also puts those who do qualify under obligation to bring an ADA law suit to rectify a qualifying situation. And you still have to prove it was discrimination due to obesity.

Compared to normal weight people, morbidly obese and massively obese people are more likely to incur instances of institutional and day-to-day interpersonal discrimination. Morbidly obese and massively obese persons report lower levels of self-acceptance than normal weight persons, yet this relationship is fully mitigated by the perception that one has been discriminated against due to body weight or physical appearance: a more palatable reason psychologically than character or personality defect, or a job not well done.

Unflattering portrayals of obese people pervade popular culture, while multiple studies document that children, adults, and even health care professionals who work with obese patients hold negative attitudes toward overweight and obese persons. Twenty-eight percent of teachers in one study said that becoming obese is the worst thing that can happen to a person; twenty-four percent of nurses said that they are repulsed by obese people.

Obese people who believe that their health care providers look down upon them may avoid seeking care; this reaction is potentially dangerous given that obese individuals are at an elevated risk for many health conditions.

Research conducted over the past 40 years shows that obese people are viewed as physically unattractive and undesirable. Obese individuals also are viewed as responsible for their weight due to some character flaw such as laziness, gluttony, or a lack of self-control and self respect. Obese persons may form negative self-evaluations as a reaction to the pervasiveness of negative attitudes toward obese persons and real or perceived discriminatory treatment.

Interpersonal consequences of severe obesity are most acute for members of higher socioeconomic strata. A number of studies suggest that upper-middle class Americans are less likely to be obese, more likely to adopt negative views toward the obese, and more likely to view thinness as an ideal body type; the belief that obesity is a consequence of laziness may be particularly common among those with richer resources and opportunities. Physical appearance and putting forth a positive image of your employer also may be a more critical aspect of job success in professional occupations than in blue-collar or service occupations. In all of our surveys, the only striking difference in obesity statistics was a drop in the obesity percentages in the shopping playgrounds of the wealthy.

The Employment Law Alliance (ELA) released findings from its America at Work Opinion Poll portending a rise in lawsuits alleging employment related obesity discrimination. The survey found 47 percent of obese Americans believe they have suffered discrimination in the workplace, while 32 percent think obese employees less likely to be respected and taken seriously in the workplace. Nearly 40 percent of those who identified themselves either as obese or overweight contend they deserve special government protection against weight-based discrimination in the workplace, though only 26 percent of individuals of normal weight echoed that contention.

Studies show that overweight and obese students, especially girls, are less likely than the non-obese to be accepted by the more competitive colleges. This is true even if their grades, standardized test scores, and other variables are the same as for other boys and girls.

Overweight people are less likely to attend college even though they score high on standardized tests and are academically motivated. Also, overweight women are more likely than other men or women to pay their way through college.

Overweight students are more likely to be refused letters of recommendation from faculty members.

There has been some change in the practices regarding hiring of the obese, as so much more of the employment force has become obese there is not often an option. Look at the number of employees you see in stores and businesses in a day, and you will notice that there are more obese employees than there were when you were a child. But it does not remove the ceiling or reduce the promotion restrictions that shadow the obese.

A study of 1200 doctors revealed that, although physicians recognized the health risks of obesity and perceived many patients as overweight or obese, they did not intervene as much as they thought they should, were ambivalent about how to manage obese clients, and were unlikely to refer them to weight loss programs. Only 18 percent of physicians reported that they would discuss weight management with overweight patients, and only 42 percent of physicians would have this discussion with mildly obese patients. I have lived and worked in five states in my lifetime, and have had jobs in six different counties in California, so I have had many different primary physicians in my adult lifetime, and I can tell you that most never broached the subject of my weight , and the few who did merely remarked that I should lose some.

In a 1969 survey of physicians, obese patients were described as weak-willed , ugly , awkward , and self – indulgent . In a more recent physician survey, one of three doctors said they respond negatively to obesity, behind three other diagnostic / social categories: drug addiction, alcoholism, and mental illness. A survey of severely obese patients found that nearly 80 percent reported being treated disrespectfully by the medical profession.

Physicians are not immune to obesity. Ironically, physicians report fifty percent of their physician colleagues are obese. The Physicians' Health Study reported that 44 percent of male physicians are overweight, and 6 percent are obese. Although there are no published data on obesity in female physicians, the Nurses' Health Study demonstrated that 28 percent of female nurses in the United States are overweight, and 11 percent are obese.

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic recently released the results of a survey of more than 2,500 obese patients who went to their doctor for a regular checkup over the course of a year. They found that only one in five of those people were listed on their charts as obese.

Discussing weight becomes even more complicated with children. According to a 2005 study in the Journal of Pediatrics, doctors diagnosed obesity less than 1 percent of the time among 2 to 18 year olds, a figure far below the one-third of young Americans struggling with overweight and obesity.

Among physicians, 17 percent reported reluctance to provide pelvic exams to very obese women, and 83 percent indicated reluctance to provide a pelvic exam if the patient herself was hesitant. Given that overweight women may hesitate to obtain exams and that physicians are reluctant to perform exams on obese or reluctant women, many overweight women may not receive necessary medical attention or preventive care.

Overweight and obese people get waited on more slowly than normal weight customers. They often encounter more difficulty making returns or exchanges than their thinner counterparts. When I was obese, sales people rarely asked to assist, and I often felt I had to track someone down; I assumed this was a general condition of the loss of the ethics of service of the old days. One thing I noticed when I became a size 4 was that sales people began to come up to me and ask if they could be of help much more frequently.

Results of a study by the North American Association for the Study of Obesity revealed that obese children were liked less and rejected more often by peers. Obese boys encounter more overt victimization (verbalteasing or physical aggression) and obese girls reported more relational victimization (cruelty by friends and cliques) compared with their average-weight peers.

Obese girls were also less likely to date than their peers. Both obese boys and girls reported being more dissatisfied with their dating status compared with average-weight peers. The results suggest that obese adolescents are at greater risk for mistreatment by peers and may have fewer opportunities to develop intimate romantic relationships; this may contribute to the psychological and health difficulties frequently associated with obesity; during adolescence, a time of rapid change in body shape and size as well as dynamic interactions with peers and parents, weight control is a particularly sensitive issue.

Recently school nurses reported being more likely to label obese children as sad and lazy . They overwhelmingly agreed with the statement Childhood obesity is a significant cause of peer rejection . Another recent study found that children who are obese are absent from school more than other children, missing an average of two more days than their non-obese peers. Interestingly, obesity seems to predict absenteeism more than any other factor, including school performance and socioeconomic status, two of the top reasons cited in the past for poor attendance. As a former public school teacher (at both elementary and high school levels, and as an principal and superintendent of schools pre-K-12), I can tell you that the number of days of school missed severely effects a child's learning, and can carry forward in terms of lesser jobs and less pay for the rest of the life of a child. That is a steep personal cost.

Social attitudes towards obesity are negative and usually result in the adolescent becoming withdrawn and isolated. Obese adolescents have feelings of low self-esteem, social isolation, feelings of rejection and depression and a strong sense of failure. Obese children are more likely to engage in high-risk behaviors such as smoking, or consuming alcohol. Obese adolescent girls are more likely to become sexually active at a younger age in an effort to achieve acceptance and attention.

The prejudice associated with obesity is intense. Fat teenagers are often disregarded and subjected to ridicule. Most comments about fatness have negative consequences. Young people are often humiliated and frequently suffer permanent emotional scars. Fat people become tired of being judged by weight first and personality second. Adolescent girls who are dissatisfied with their bodies frequently try to lose weight in unhealthy ways, including skipping meals, fasting, and smoking to ward off hunger. A smaller number of girls are even resorting to more extreme methods such as self-induced vomiting, diet pills, and laxative use. Strict food denial in an effort to lose weight often leads to late afternoon or evening binging episodes. More than one-third of obese individuals in weight-loss treatment programs report difficulties with binge eating. This type of eating behavior contributes to feelings of shame, loneliness, poor self-esteem, and depression, and these feelings in return can spur additional eating as a means of solace.

In a study by the University of California, San Diego, researchers were surprised to find that the scores of obese children on a quality of life survey were as bad as cancer patients in every domain of life.

One obesity study asked severely obese persons to take a forced-choice questionnaire; for each question, they had to make a choice between being at their present weight or having some other given illness. The results were astounding. Although there were some variations on some of the questions, every obese person said that they would rather be blind or have one leg amputated than be at their present heavy weight. Most interestingly, every person who participated in the study would rather be a poor thin person than a morbidly obese millionaire.

Little wonder that depression is commonly linked with obesity, and, having been overweight and obese from age 5 to 50, I can personally attest that this chapter understates the multitude and magnitude of the true personal costs of obesity.

Source by Francine Hemway

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