Sensei Haynes Web Log

Quote of the Day

2009-03-03T04:15:00.000-08:00

“Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Love more, and all good things will be yours.”

--- A Swedish Proverb

Man Sheds 80 Pounds Eating at McDonald's!

2008-06-20T05:49:00.000-07:00

Associated Press - June 20, 2008 7:13 AM ET

QUINTON, Va. (AP) - A Virginia man lost about 80 pounds in six months by eating nearly every meal at McDonald's.

Not Big Macs, french fries or chocolate shakes. Mostly salads, wraps and apple dippers without the caramel sauce.

Chris Coleson tipped the scales at 278 pounds in December. The 5-foot-8 Coleson now weighs 199 pounds and his waist size has dropped from 50 to 36.

The 42-year-old businessman from Quinton, Virginia, says he chose McDonald's because it's convenient.

His inspiration came from his two children and from the story of a blind war veteran who rode a tandem bicycle cross-country.

Coleson says his goal is to get back to the 185 pounds he weighed when he married Tricia Summer. Their 10th anniversary is tomorrow.

United States NOT in a Recession (Despite the Best Efforts of the Media)!

2008-04-30T13:39:00.000-07:00

As I have been saying all along, the United States is still not in a recession and has not been since 9-11. When you read this article admitting this, notice how disappointed the writer is that we are not in a recession!

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Slight Economic Growth Says U.S. NOT in Recession

It may feel like the U.S. economy is in a recession, but according to new government figures it just isn't so.

The U.S. Commerce Department is reporting that the economy limped through the first quarter of this year at a 0.6 percent growth rate -- the same rate recorded for the fourth quarter of 2007.

That growth rate is small, but it beat expectations and proves that the economy is not in a recession. The generally accepted definition of a recession is six months of stagnant or negative growth.

Still, 68 percent of America's adults believe the United States is heading toward a recession, and 53 percent are cutting their spending and paying down debt as a result, according to a survey released Wednesday by American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Americans' most pressing financial concerns, according to the poll, are escalating energy costs, retirement and education (either a child's education or student loans).

Earlier this year, some economists thought the economy would lurch into reverse during the opening quarter. Now, they say they believe that likely will happen during the April-to-June period.

The 'Recession' Is a Media Myth

2008-04-01T05:34:00.000-07:00

Monday, March 31, 2008

By John R. Lott, Jr.

Reposted from Fox News.

During the 2000 election, with Bill Clinton as president, the economy was viewed through rose-colored glasses. According to polls, voters didn’t realize that the country was in a recession. Although the economy started shrinking in July 2000, most Americans through the entire year thought that the economy was fine.

But over the last half-year, the media and politicians have said we were in a recession even while the economy was still growing.

Gas prices are going up. The economy is slowing. Talk of recession is seemingly everywhere. While the majority of people rate their personal finances positively, consumer confidence in the economy has plunged to a 16-year low, well below what it was during the last year of the Clinton administration when we were in a recession.

A Google search on news stories during the three-month period from July 2000 through September 2000 using the keywords “economy recession US” produces 1,610. By contrast, the same search over just the last month finds 50,763. Or, even more telling, take the three months from July through September last year, when the GDP was growing at a phenomenal 4.9 percent. The same type of Google search shows 7,310 news stories.

Over 4.5 times more negative news stories discussed a recession when the economy under a Republican was soaring than occurred under a Democrat when the economy was shrinking.

A little perspective on the economy would be helpful. The average unemployment rate during President Clinton was 5.2 percent. The average under President George W. Bush is just slightly below 5.2. The current unemployment rate is4.8 percent, almost half a percentage point lower than these averages.

The average inflation rate under Clinton was 2.6 percent, under Bush it is 2.7 percent. Indeed, one has to go back to the Kennedy administration to find a lower average rate. True the inflation rate over the last year has gone up to 4 percent, but that is still lower than the average inflation rate under all the presidents from Nixon through Bush’s father.

Gas prices are indeed up 33 percent over the last year, but to get an average of 4 percent means that lots of other prices must have stayed the same or gone down. On other fronts, seasonally adjusted civilian employment is 650,000 people greater than it was a year ago. Personal income grew at a strong half of one percent in just February.

Despite all that, this last week, Barack Obama proclaimed “As most experts know, our economy is in a recession.” Hillary Clinton made similar staements last fall. Yet, as any economist knows, a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative growth, and we haven’t even had one single quarter of negative growth reported. The economy slowed down significantly during the end of last year, but that was after a sizzling annual GDP growth rate of 4.9 percent in the third quarter.

Housing has obviously been a big drag on the economy, but many other sectors of the economy, such as exports, have been doing well, some extremely well. For example, aerospace exports increased by over 13 percent last year.

The media’s focus on the negative side of everything surely helps explain people’s pessimism. In a recent interview Fox’s Neil Cavuto claimed this bias “is all part of the media’s plan to get a Democrat in the White House.”

Indeed, research has indicated that media bias is real. Kevin Hassett and I looked at 12,620 newspaper and wire service headlines from 1985 through 2004 for stories on the release of official government releasing numbers on the unemployment rate, number of people employed, gross domestic product (GDP), retail sales, and durable goods.

Even after accounting for how well the economy was doing (e.g., what the unemployment rate was and whether it was going up or down), there was still a big difference in how positive or negative the headlines were. Democratic presidents got about 15 percent more positive headlines than Republicans for the same economic news.

Yet, the hysteria created by this coverage can have another cost. It creates pressure for government to “do something,” even if that rush to do something actually ends up hurting the economy. For example, Obama's promises last week “to amend our bankruptcy laws so families aren't forced to stick to the terms of a home loan” will only further drive down the value of mortgage-backed securities, making any unstable financial institutions that hold them even more likely to fail. In the long term, who is going to want to loan money when the contract can be rewritten at a later date?

The news media have generated a lot of fear. Ben Stein has a point when he says “The actual economic conditions are not that bad. I think if we have a recession, if we have a serious recession, a great deal will lie at the media’s feet.” Hopefully a little perspective will enter the picture before even more harm is done.

John Lott is the author of Freedomnomics and a senior research scientist at the University of Maryland.

Older Americans Live Longer and Better that Ever Before (Despite Being Fat!)

2008-03-28T05:46:00.001-07:00

Older Americans wealthier, living longer
Thu Mar 27, 2008 7:22pm EDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Older Americans have more money and are expected to live far longer than prior generations, U.S. government researchers said on Thursday.

They said the average net worth of older Americans -- those 65 or older -- has increased almost 80 percent over the past 20 years.

And those who reach the age of 65 are now expected to live an average of 19 more years, or seven years longer than people who had reached age 65 in the year 1900.

The findings are part a report released on Thursday called Older Americans 2008: Key Indicators of Well-Being, which features data from 15 federal agencies on trends in population, economics and health issues.

"It gives you a status report of the older population," said Richard Suzman of the National Institute on Aging, a part of the National Institutes of Health.

"We've seen significant improvements in poverty. The percent of those with low income has gone down, education has increased, life expectancy has increased," Suzman said.

"But there are some notes of concern. Obesity has gone up quite significantly. And there are some large disparities. The life expectancy gap between whites and blacks has narrowed but is still large. There is a big wealth gap between whites and blacks," he said in a telephone interview.

The report forecasts that by 2030, the number of Americans over the age of 65 will nearly double to 71.5 million, or 20 percent of the U.S. population, up from 12 percent, or 37 million people, in 2006.

It found that older adults in the United States are far better educated than prior generations. In 2007, 76 percent of those over 65 had high school diplomas, and at least 19 percent had a bachelor's degree, up from 24 percent with high school diplomas in 1965 and just 5 percent with bachelor's degrees.

But much of those gains in education were enjoyed by non-Hispanic whites over the age of 65. Eighty-one percent of non-Hispanic whites age 65 and older had finished high school in 2007, compared with 72 percent of Asians, 58 percent of blacks and only 42 percent of older Hispanics.

And while the proportion of people with incomes below the poverty line fell to 9 percent in 2006, down from 15 percent in 1974, median net worth for households headed by white people aged 65 and older in 2005 was six times that of households headed by blacks.

Not surprisingly, older Americans, like many other groups, are getting fatter, the researchers said. In the 2005-2006 study period, 37 percent of women aged 65 to 74 were obese, and 24 percent of women age 75 and over were obese. This is up from the 1988-1994 study period, when 27 percent of women age 65 to 74 and 19 percent of women age 75 and over were obese.

Despite many studies touting the benefits of exercise, the report found no significant change in the percentage of older people engaged in physical activity between 1997 and 2006.

While the report noted that Americans are living longer than ever before, life expectancy in the United States still lags many other industrialized countries, including Canada, France, Sweden and Japan.

For example, women in Japan who reached the age of 65 in 2003 could expect to live 3.2 years longer than women in the United States. Men in Japan who reached age 65 lived 1.2 years longer than men in the United States.

The report is available online at www.AgingStats.gov.

(Editing by Will Dunham and Philip Barbara)

A Tremendously Sad Day for All "80's Nerds" Including Myself

2008-03-04T13:09:00.000-08:00

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (AP) -- Gary Gygax, who co-created the fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons and helped start the role-playing phenomenon, died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva. He was 69.

He had been suffering from health problems for several years, including an abdominal aneurysm, said his wife, Gail Gygax.

Gygax and Dave Arneson developed Dungeons & Dragons in 1974 using medieval characters and mythical creatures. The game known for its oddly shaped dice became a hit, particularly among teenage boys, and eventually was turned into video games, books and movies.

Gygax always enjoyed hearing from the game's legion of devoted fans, many of whom would stop by the family's home in Lake Geneva, about 55 miles southwest of Milwaukee, his wife said. Despite his declining health, he hosted weekly games of Dungeons & Dragons as recently as January, she said.

"It really meant a lot to him to hear from people from over the years about how he helped them become a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, what he gave them," Gygax said. "He really enjoyed that."

Dungeons & Dragons players create fictional characters and carry out their adventures with the help of complicated rules. The quintessential geek pastime, it spawned a wealth of copycat games and later inspired a whole genre of computer games that's still growing in popularity.

Funeral arrangements are pending. Besides his wife, Gygax is survived by six children.

Great Article about the World's Most Powerful Journalist!

2008-02-29T12:01:00.000-08:00

Matt Drudge: world's most powerful journalist
By Toby Harnden in Washington
Last Updated: 5:27pm GMT 29/02/2008Page 1 of 2

Ten years ago, he was a reclusive, pasty-faced 31-year-old who, bashing away on his laptop in his grungy Hollywood apartment, shot to prominence when he threatened to bring down Bill Clinton's presidency by breaking news of the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Prince Harry is fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan The Drudge Report breaks the Prince Harry story Matt Drudge unrepentant about Harry report
Now, Matt Drudge owns a luxurious Mediterranean-style stucco house on Rivo Alto Island in Florida's Biscayne Bay, a condominium at the Four Seasons in Miami and is said to drive a black Mustang. He remains an elusive, mysterious figure but the internet pioneer is arguably the single most powerful journalist – though his detractors even deny that is his occupation - in the world.

Matt Drudge is arguably the single most powerful journalist in the world Drudge is still an outsider, contemptuous of the cosy relationships and closed-door deals that keep the ordinary person from being privy to the secrets of the Establishment. He is the reason why people across the globe are now reading about Prince Harry serving in Afghanistan after he shattered a blackout agreed between Fleet Street and Buckingham Palace.

This week, he posted a photograph of Barack Obama dressed in the tribal garb of a Somali elder during a 2006 trip to Africa, claiming it had been emailed by a member of Hillary Clinton's campaign. It appeared to be a brazen attempt to fuel rumours that her rival was a dangerous Muslim.

Within minutes, the photograph was the talk of Washington news rooms and New York television studios. BlackBerry messages flew back and forth between reporters and political operatives. The story spread across the worldwide web as bloggers weighed in on a juicy item that was suddenly topping the news agenda.

Welcome to the world of the Drudge Report. A world in which the successor to Walter Cronkite and Bob Woodward is a loner with no university education or journalistic background. He is now surreptitiously courted by the media and political elites that once derided him but now fear he has the power to change the course of an American election.

The Lewinsky scandal and the 2008 presidential campaign are the bookends to what could be described as the Drudge decade. At the start, he was the antagonist who came from nowhere – Bill Clinton initially fumbled the site's name, calling it the Sludge Report. By the end, he had become Hillary Clinton's weapon of choice against Mr Obama.

Just as he revealed details of Bill Clinton's tawdry affair with Miss Lewinsky while "Newsweek" editors agonised over whether to publish the story, Drudge posted the news of Prince Harry's front-line service against the Taliban on-line without regard to any niceties. Within an hour, Buckingham Palace had lifted the embargo and Prince Harry was the lead item on CNN.

It all seems a long way from Matthew Nathan Drudge's days as a gifted but directionless schoolboy growing up in the Washington DC suburb of Takoma Park, Maryland.

After stints at a 7-Eleven store and at McDonald's, odd jobs as a telemarketer and New York grocery store assistant, he gravitated to Los Angeles in 1989, attracted by the intersection between media and celebrity that was to become the rich seam he mined to achieve his success.

He worked as a runner on the game show "The Price is Right" before landing a job at the gift shop at CBS Studios – a window into Hollywood – and rising to become its manager.

By 1994, his father Bob, a former therapist and social worker, was worried that the self-described "aimless teen" was becoming a directionless adult. He gave him a Packard-Bell computer in the hope that it might spur him on to achieve more.

The following year, Drudge the elder founded refdesk.com, a site that describes itself as indexing "quality, credible and timely resources that are free and family-friendly" and which Colin Powell, the former US Secretary of State, uses as his home page.

Drudge the younger chose a different path. He threw his energies into producing an email newsletter filled with snippets of gossip and rambling steam-of-consciousness opinion. By 1996, he was focusing more on politics, charging an annual $10 fee to his subscribers – which grew from 1,000 to 85,000 between 1995 and 1997.

Today, the Drudge Report attracts more than 600 million visits a month. With an old-fashioned typeface, Drudge primarily links to stories, though he still breaks news using his trademark flashing siren over a banner headline.

So much internet traffic can be directed to an item linked to by Drudge that unprepared websites have been known to collapse under the strain.

For politicians, the effect is akin to a needle injecting information into the media bloodstream. A positive story can give a shot of adrenaline to a flagging campaign. More commonly, negative information can be like a dose of poison being administered.

It has been Republicans who have most assiduously courted Drudge, a conservative populist who passionately opposes abortion and despises taxes. Research directors of the Republican National Committee have made pilgrimages to Miami to pay homage to Drudge.

A 2005 dinner at the fashionable Miami steakhouse Forge in which Tim Griffin, the outgoing RNC research director, introduced his successor Matt Rhoades to Drudge is already the stuff of political lore. Rhoades went on to become communications supremo to Mitt Romney, whose opponents in the 2008 presidential race noted frequently that negative stories about them appeared regularly on Drudge.

American reporters from the mainstream outlets that often dismiss Drudge as a salacious rumour-monger often tip him off about their exclusives or even the stories their editors will not run.

Drudge is very much an outsider amongst political journalists

One of the biggest surprises of the 2008 campaign has been the connection between the Drudge Report and the Clinton campaign, who has reportedly used the former Democratic party official Tracy Sefl as an emissary.

But the attempt to woo the man who came close to being her husband's nemesis appears to have backfired. "The Clinton campaign has clearly had an ability to move negative stuff about Edwards and Obama in a way that we did not have," said Joe Trippi, chief strategists to John Edwards, who recently dropped out of the 2008 race.

"They tried to take some of the tactics that had worked against them and use them for their own gain just when people were getting sick of the kind of politics that's about what's the next bucket of blood that's going to be dumped on Drudge."

Drudge revels in his notoriety, the opaqueness of his methods and his ability to cause trouble. The story about the Obama photograph led to widespread condemnation of the Clinton campaign – prompting some to wonder whether it had been deliberately placed to discredit her.

Alongside his Prince Harry story, Drudge had proudly highlighted the verdict from the veteran Left-winger Jon Snow of Channel 4 News: "I never thought I'd find myself saying thank God for Drudge."

Very Interesting Article on Global Warming!

2008-02-25T16:36:00.000-08:00

Forget Global Warming: Welcome to the New Ice Age
Lorne Gunter, National Post (Ontario, Canada)
Published: Monday, February 25, 2008

Snow cover over North America and much of Siberia, Mongolia and China is greater than at any time since 1966.

The U.S. National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) reported that many American cities and towns suffered record cold temperatures in January and early February. According to the NCDC, the average temperature in January "was -0.3 F cooler than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average."

China is surviving its most brutal winter in a century. Temperatures in the normally balmy south were so low for so long that some middle-sized cities went days and even weeks without electricity because once power lines had toppled it was too cold or too icy to repair them.

There have been so many snow and ice storms in Ontario and Quebec in the past two months that the real estate market has felt the pinch as home buyers have stayed home rather than venturing out looking for new houses.

In just the first two weeks of February, Toronto received 70 cm of snow, smashing the record of 66.6 cm for the entire month set back in the pre-SUV, pre-Kyoto, pre-carbon footprint days of 1950.

And remember the Arctic Sea ice? The ice we were told so hysterically last fall had melted to its "lowest levels on record? Never mind that those records only date back as far as 1972 and that there is anthropological and geological evidence of much greater melts in the past.

The ice is back.

Gilles Langis, a senior forecaster with the Canadian Ice Service in Ottawa, says the Arctic winter has been so severe the ice has not only recovered, it is actually 10 to 20 cm thicker in many places than at this time last year.

OK, so one winter does not a climate make. It would be premature to claim an Ice Age is looming just because we have had one of our most brutal winters in decades.

But if environmentalists and environment reporters can run around shrieking about the manmade destruction of the natural order every time a robin shows up on Georgian Bay two weeks early, then it is at least fair game to use this winter's weather stories to wonder whether the alarmist are being a tad premature.

And it's not just anecdotal evidence that is piling up against the climate-change dogma.

According to Robert Toggweiler of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory at Princeton University and Joellen Russell, assistant professor of biogeochemical dynamics at the University of Arizona -- two prominent climate modellers -- the computer models that show polar ice-melt cooling the oceans, stopping the circulation of warm equatorial water to northern latitudes and triggering another Ice Age (a la the movie The Day After Tomorrow) are all wrong.

"We missed what was right in front of our eyes," says Prof. Russell. It's not ice melt but rather wind circulation that drives ocean currents northward from the tropics. Climate models until now have not properly accounted for the wind's effects on ocean circulation, so researchers have compensated by over-emphasizing the role of manmade warming on polar ice melt.

But when Profs. Toggweiler and Russell rejigged their model to include the 40-year cycle of winds away from the equator (then back towards it again), the role of ocean currents bringing warm southern waters to the north was obvious in the current Arctic warming.

Last month, Oleg Sorokhtin, a fellow of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, shrugged off manmade climate change as "a drop in the bucket." Showing that solar activity has entered an inactive phase, Prof. Sorokhtin advised people to "stock up on fur coats."

He is not alone. Kenneth Tapping of our own National Research Council, who oversees a giant radio telescope focused on the sun, is convinced we are in for a long period of severely cold weather if sunspot activity does not pick up soon.

The last time the sun was this inactive, Earth suffered the Little Ice Age that lasted about five centuries and ended in 1850. Crops failed through killer frosts and drought. Famine, plague and war were widespread. Harbours froze, so did rivers, and trade ceased.

It's way too early to claim the same is about to happen again, but then it's way too early for the hysteria of the global warmers, too.

lgunter@shaw.ca

"Overweight" People Live Longer!

2007-11-07T06:11:00.000-08:00

Here is yet another article (from the New York Times) exposing the lie of obesity in America. I am glad to see that those of us that are "over-weight" (BMI 25-30) are still the longest living of all weight categories, even better than "normal" weight (BMI 20-25) people.

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November 7, 2007

Causes of Death Are Linked to a Person’s Weight
By GINA KOLATA

About two years ago, a group of federal researchers reported that overweight people have a lower death rate than people who are normal weight, underweight or obese. Now, investigating further, they found out which diseases are more likely to lead to death in each weight group.

Linking, for the first time, causes of death to specific weights, they report that overweight people have a lower death rate because they are much less likely to die from a grab bag of diseases that includes Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, infections and lung disease. And that lower risk is not counteracted by increased risks of dying from any other disease, including cancer, diabetes or heart disease.

As a consequence, the group from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute reports, there were more than 100,000 fewer deaths among the overweight in 2004, the most recent year for which data were available, than would have expected if those people had been of normal weight.

Their paper is published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The researchers also confirmed that obese people and people whose weights are below normal have higher death rates than people of normal weight. But, when they asked why, they found that the reasons were different for the different weight categories.

Some who studied the relation between weight and health said the nation might want to reconsider what are ideal weights.

“If we use the criteria of mortality, then the term ‘overweight’ is a misnomer,” said Daniel McGee, professor of statistics at Florida State University.

“I believe the data,” said Dr. Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, a professor of family and preventive medicine at the University of California, San Diego. A body mass index of 25 to 30, the so-called overweight range, “may be optimal,” she said.

Others said there were plenty of reasons that being overweight was not desirable.

“Health extends far beyond mortality rates,” said Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Dr. Manson added that other studies, including ones at Harvard, found that being obese or overweight increased a person’s risk for any of a number of diseases, including diabetes, heart disease and several forms of cancer. And, she added, excess weight makes it more difficult to move about and impairs the quality of life.

“That’s the big picture in terms of health outcomes,” Dr. Manson said. “That’s what the public needs to look at.”

Researchers generally divide weight into four categories — normal, underweight, overweight and obese — based on the body mass index, which is a measure of body fat based on height and weight. A woman who is 5 foot 4, for instance, would be considered at normal weight at 130, underweight at 107 pounds, overweight at 150 pounds and obese at 180.

In this study, those with normal weight were considered the baseline and others were compared to them.

The federal researchers, led by Katherine Flegal, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the big picture they found was surprisingly complex. The higher death rate in obese people, as might be expected, was almost entirely driven by a higher death rate from heart disease.

But, contrary to expectations, the obese did not have an increased risk of dying from cancer. They were slightly more likely than people of normal weights to die of a handful of cancers that are thought to be related to excess weight — cancers of the colon, breast, esophagus, uterus, ovary, kidney and pancreas. Yet they had a lower risk of dying from other cancers, including lung cancer. In the end, the increases and decreases in cancer risks balanced out.

As for diabetes, it showed up in the death rates only when the researchers grouped diabetes and kidney disease as one category. Diabetes can cause kidney disease, they note. But, the researchers point out, the number of diabetes deaths may be too low because many people with diabetes die from heart disease, and often the cause of death is listed as a heart attack.

The diverse collection of diseases other than cancer, heart disease and diabetes, which show up in the analyses of the underweight and the overweight, have gone relatively unscrutinized among epidemiologists, noted Dr. Mitchell Gail, a cancer institute scientist and an author of the paper. But, Dr. Gail added, “these are not a negligible source of mortality.”

The new study began several years ago when the investigators used national data to look at death risks according to body weight. They concluded that, compared with people of normal weight, the overweight had a decreased death risk and the underweight and obese had increased risk.

That led them to ask if being fat or thin affects a person’s life span, what diseases, exactly, are those individuals at risk for, or protected from?

The research involved analyzing data from three large national surveys, the National Health and Nutrition surveys, which are administered by the National Center for Health Statistics. Their participants are a nationally representative group of Americans who are weighed and measured, assuring that heights and weights are accurate, and followed until death. The investigators determined the causes of death by asking what was recorded on death certificates.

The researchers caution that a study like theirs cannot speak to cause and effect. They do not yet know, precisely, what it is about being underweight, for instance, that increases the death rate from everything except heart disease and cancer. Researchers tried to rule out those who were thin, because they might have been already sick. They also ruled out smokers, and the results did not change.

Dr. Gail, though, had some advice, which, he said, is his personal opinion as a physician and researcher: “If you are in the pink and feeling well and getting a good amount of exercise and if your doctor is very happy with your lab values and other test results, then I am not sure there is any urgency to change your weight.”

Picture of an Idiot in Action! :)

2007-04-17T15:53:00.000-07:00

How about you start with spelling!

The "Twinky Defense" Out of Control!

2006-08-27T05:16:00.000-07:00

Great article by Lis Wiehl of Fox News! For her entire list of feature articles, please click HERE!

Jay Haynes, Sensei

Lis on Law: Addiction — The New 'Twinkie Defense'
by Lis Wiehl

Why should a 29-year-old former school teacher from Tennessee, already on probation for having sex with a 14-year-old boy, avoid jail time for sending him sexually explicit photos of herself? Simple — because she couldn’t help herself — she’s addicted to sex.

Pamela Rogers, who was under orders not to contact the boy, reportedly continued to send him text messages as well as explicit photos and video of herself. “What I did was wrong,” Rogers tearfully admitted. “I am willing to do anything to rehabilitate myself.”

Meanwhile, a preacher’s son and former university class president from Pennsylvania is hoping to avoid a jail sentence for bank robbery because, his lawyer argues, the “incident was a cry for help” with his internet gambling addiction. Not to be outdone, a Wisconsin attorney argued that his client should receive a lesser sentence because an addiction to crack cocaine had turned “a hard worker” of 13 years into a bank robber.

And when another Pennsylvania man was sent to prison for conspiring with his wife in her sexual assault of a teenage boy, addiction to alcohol was blamed.

So why are so many defendants playing the addiction card? Perhaps because, like the infamous “Twinkie Defense” before it, it just may be crazy enough to work.

In legal terms, "Twinkie Defense" refers to a criminal defendant’s argument that some extraordinary factor caused him or her to commit an alleged crime and therefore, criminal liability should be lessened or waived.

The expression comes from the 1979 murder trial of Dan White, a former San Francisco city supervisor who fatally shot Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk on November 27, 1978. During the trial, noted psychiatrist Martin Blinder testified that White had been depressed and was thus incapable of the premeditation required for a murder conviction. As evidence of White’s depression, Dr. Blinder stated that White (who was well known to be a fitness buff) had been uncharacteristically eating Twinkies and drinking Coca-Cola. Ultimately, White was convicted of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to a mere seven years and eight months in prison.

Another “success” story involves a Chicago woman who stole $250,000 from an employer to finance her “shopping addiction” and was spared from prison by a federal judge who found that she bought expensive jewelry and clothing to “self-medicate” her depression. A bodybuilder who broke into six Maryland homes, set fire to three of them, and stole cash and jewelry, avoided jail time because, it was reported, his “frenzied” use of anabolic steroids had left him suffering from “organic personality syndrome.” A Florida woman was able to avoid jail time for prostitution after she explained that her reliance on Prozac had resulted in her becoming a “nymphomaniac” (the early 90’s version of today’s “sex addict”) which, in turn, caused her to prostitute herself.

But playing the addiction card to mitigate consequences is not only useful in the criminal context; it can be a nifty public relations tactic as well.

Brandon Davis, the wealthy oil heir and Paris Hilton pal (perhaps best known for being caught on video making crude remarks about Lindsay Lohan) was reported to have entered rehab for substance addiction not because he felt he needed it, but for “public relations” reasons. Apparently, his family encouraged the move to offset the considerable damage his antics had caused to his mother’s personal charity.

And who can forget the December 2003 Patriots vs. Jets game when “Broadway Joe” Namath humiliated himself during a side-line interview with ESPN’s Suzy Kolber? In response to Kolber’s question about his former team’s recent struggles, Namath turned to her and slurred, “I wanna kiss you. I couldn’t care less about the team struggling… I wanna kiss you!” Within weeks, Namath was in rehab for alcohol addiction; a month later he was back on ESPN expressing regret for having done the “wrong thing”; by October 2004, Namath was the subject of a flattering USA Today profile entitled, “’Broadway Joe’ Puts Life Back on Track.” With respect to the “I wanna kiss you” moment, Namath’s agent proclaimed “That probably turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to Joe.”

Pat O'Brien, co-host of "The Insider," announced he was entering rehab for substance addiction just a day after a series of embarrassing phone messages featuring his distinctive voice surfaced on the Internet. One such message stated, "I want to (expletive) go crazy with you. I want to talk dirty to you...get another woman up...Let's get crazy, get some coke." Several days after getting out of rehab, O'Brien appeared in a prime-time special with talk show therapist Dr. Phil McGraw where he expressed remorse for the voice-mail incident and apologized for what his substance abuse had done to his family. O'Brien returned to work on "The Insider" the next day — just in time for sweeps.

Of course, none of this is to say that addictions should not be taken seriously and that those who seek treatment for them should not be applauded for doing so. But for those who invent or exploit addictions or abstract “syndromes” in an effort to avoid real accountability, a Twinkie by any other name is still a Twinkie.

So what’s the moral of this story? The next time you get caught doing something stupid — whether it’s speeding, faking an illness to avoid work, or literally getting caught with your hand in a cookie jar — don’t just stand there foolishly accepting responsibility for what you’ve done. Simply explain that some addiction and/or Twinkies made you do it. It couldn’t hurt — and who knows, it might even get you off the hook!

My Horrible Vacation Experience!

2006-08-21T03:13:00.000-07:00

A Lesson in Customer Service and Common Courtesy!

My wife, Jayme, our 15-month old son, Neil, and our dog Lady went on vacation last weekend to Taylor Park, CO. I have been going to Taylor Park my entire life, and it is my all time favorite place to spend time! Unfortunately, we had an awful time! Here is the whole story:

We made the mistake of staying at "Holt's / Eibert's Guest Ranch." This outfit has not been in Taylor Park for very long (relatively speaking), and it is my opinion that it won't be there for much longer given the horrible customer service that I received!

We arrived on Friday, August 18. When I scheduled the reservations we originally were not planning on bringing the dog. So I told them it would be my wife, my son and myself. They said they had a "perfect" cabin for us... 3E. So I reserved it. Little did I know that it was a one-room, 250 square foot structure that was literally falling apart! For the privilege of staying there we would spend $75 per night plus "fees" (it ended up costing me over $200 per night - see below!).

We called back when we decided to take the dog, and they explained that it would be $5 more per night (added to the $75 per night already). We said that would not be a problem. Apparently, she forgot to make a note about this, because on the third day they accused me of sneaking in an "undeclared" pet and trying to pull a fast one over on them (see below).

If you have not been to Taylor Park, let me explain that it is way up in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. One year, I camped there over the Fourth of July weekend to wake up to four inches of snow! It is breath-takingly beautiful, but it can and does get very cold at night. This is not a place that I would willingly bring my 15 month old baby without heat in the cabin! Yet, that is exactly what I did!

Every time I asked about getting the heat in my cabin turned on, I was treated with what I can only describe a downright meanness. These people were downright mean! Now I am a patient, laidback, easy-going kind of guy. I can let an awful lot of things go, and I did for two whole (cold) nights.

On Sunday morning, we still had no heat. I finally was able to shame them into sending a guy over to look at it. According to him, he was not even told that there was a problem with my cabin until a few minutes before he came over. In fact, he went on to chastise me for not letting them know sooner! The lady at the front desk, on the other hand, had a completely different story! According to her, she had told him the first time I mentioned it.

Then she lit into us for having the dog! I explained that we called back after our initial conversation to let her know that we were bringing the dog. She stood in front of me and insinuated that I was lying to her face. That was the final straw for me. She ultimately was able to "recall" the second conversation. By that, time, I was ready to go.

Believe it or not, they begged us to stay. They even offered to upgrade us to a nicer "mobile home!" Whoopty Doooo! Why would I want to stay at a place where I have been so severely mistreated for three days and two nights? They acted like they were doing me a favor by allowing me to stay!

They refused, by the way, to refund me my money for the unused part of our stay (they charged us in advance for the whole five nights). This means I spent over $200 per night for a "Ted Kosinsky" like cabin.

This woman continued to say that she would do whatever it took to make us happy. She was not willing to refund us the three nights we did not use, so I guess she must be a habitual liar. Unfortunately, there is not much that I can do about it.

Experts say that if you are treated poorly by a business, twelve people on average will hear about it. In this case, it is my goal to multiply that by 1000 times. I have a lot of work to do to reach this goal, but I am very determined!

Sincerely,

Jay Haynes
Sensei

Addendum to the "Intelligent Teenagers" Post!

2006-08-17T12:41:00.000-07:00

Newest article today about how smart our teenagers really are!

-------------------------------------------------------------

Aug. 15, 2006, 11:39PM

ACT scores highest since 1991
By JUSTIN POPE AP Education Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

The high school class of 2006 posted the biggest score increase on the ACT college entrance exam in 20 years, and recorded the highest scores of any class since 1991.

Average composite scores on the exam, which measures students' readiness for college-level work, rose to 21.1 from 20.9 last year. Both boys and girls posted gains, as did all racial groups except Hispanics, whose scores held steady. ACT scores range from 1 to 36.

Officials at the independent, nonprofit ACT said an increase of 0.2 points is significant when considered across a record 1.2 million test-takers nationwide, or 40 percent of graduating seniors.

"It takes an enormous amount of change for that large a group to move even a little bit, particularly when that group is changing and we're seeing more students take the ACT for the first time," said Richard Ferguson, CEO of the Iowa City, Iowa-based organization.

Some of the improvement may come from the ACT's growing popularity among high-achieving students in states where the rival SAT exam has traditionally been more popular. The ACT is more attractive to some students because it focuses more on material covered in high school classes than on general ability.

In Connecticut, 12 percent of 2006 graduates took the ACT, up from 10 percent a year ago, and scores rose from 22.8 to 23.1. In New Jersey, 8 percent took the test, up from 6 percent of 2005 graduates, and scores rose from 21.3 to 21.8.

But Ferguson said the national increases were broad-based. Illinois and Colorado _ the two states where nearly all 11th graders are required to take the test _ saw scores rise 0.2 and 0.1, respectively. Other states with large numbers of ACT takers, such as Kentucky and Tennessee, also recorded increases in line with the national gains.

Historically, the ACT has been more popular in states in the center of the country, while the SAT predominates on the East and West Coasts. But in addition to Connecticut and New Jersey, Florida, Delaware, Vermont and New Hampshire all had double-digit percentage increases in the number of students taking the ACT.

Next year, Michigan will join Illinois and Colorado in administering the test statewide to 11th graders, and Kentucky will follow in 2008.

ACT officials said the numbers are encouraging but still show too few students are prepared for college-level work. Only 21 percent of test-takers scored the benchmark indicating they are likely to succeed in college on each of the four exams _ math, English, reading and science. More than two-thirds hit the benchmark score in English, but barely one-quarter did in science.

"This doesn't mean they won't be successful and graduate from college, but it does increase the likelihood they will struggle or need remediation along the way," Ferguson said.

Students persuaded to take a full core curriculum _ including four years of English and three years each of math, science and social studies _ do better on the ACT and are more likely to succeed in college. But the percentage who reported taking the core _ which is more than many states require to graduate _ actually fell from 56 percent to 54 percent this year.

"The message still isn't getting across to far too many students," Ferguson said.

Average scores for black students rose 0.1 points to 17.1, while Hispanics' scores were steady at 18.6. Significant racial gaps persist: Whites scored 22.0 on average and Asian-Americans 22.3. Even black students who took the core were outscored by white students who had not _ which Ferguson attributed to a range of factors, including insufficient rigor in the core courses offered to minority students.

The average score for boys rose 0.1 percent to 21.2, while girls' scores rose 0.1 to 21.0.

The ACT also released the first results from a new optional essay section, launched in February 2005. About 36 percent of test-takers completed the essay portion and they scored on average 7.2 on a scale of 2 to 12. Girls outscored boys by half a point.

SAT results for the class of 2006 will be released later this month. Most colleges accept either the SAT or ACT when considering an application.

The Top Fifteen Most Influential Websites of All Time!

2006-08-15T15:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, here it is... this is the list of the top 15 websites of all time according to the Guardian Observer in England.

1. eBay.com
2. wikipedia.com
3. napster.com
4. youtube.com
5. blogger.com
6. friendsreunited.com
7. drudgereport.com
8. myspace.com
9. amazon.com
10. slashdot.org
11. salon.com
12. craigslist.org
13. google.com
14. yahoo.com
15. easyjet.com

I thought I was fairly internet savvy, but apparently I am not. I have not visited six of these sites, and I have never heard of five of them!

The title of the article is "Websites that Changed the World!"

Here would be my top websites (not neccessarily in order):

1. google.com - best search plus more
2. yahoo.com - previously best search plus more
3. youtube.com (recently) - is now revolutionizing video online
4. drudgereport.com - revolutionized the entire news media industry
5. myspace.com (again recently) - is now making personal publishing huge
6. wikipedia.com - all you need to know in one place
7. ebay.com - revolutionized buying and selling stuff
8. blogger.com - revolutionized personal publishing
9. napster.com - revolutionized the music industry
10. snopes.com - clears up all misconceptions and rumors
11. amazon.com - all your media in one place
12. vote.com - let your voice be heard
13. metacrawler.com (from way back) - the original greatest search engine
14. imdb.com - the first, last, and best place for movie information
15. familykaratecenter.com - just a plug! :)

Thoughts? Feedback? Additions? Deletions? Please feel free to comment.

Sincerely,

Jay Haynes
Sensei

Cell Phones Banned in Chicago Banks!

2006-08-04T06:16:00.000-07:00

Cell phones banned in banks
CHICAGO HEIGHTS, Ill., Aug. 3 (UPI) -- Cell phones have been banned inside the five branches of the First National Bank in the Chicago area, to enhance security.

Even using a cell phone in the bank's lobby may result in the person being asked to leave the premises.

"We ban cell phone use in the lobby because you don't know what people are doing," Ralph Oster, a senior vice president, told the Chicago Tribune. Cell phone cameras are also a worry.

Oster said there have been holdups in which bandits were on the phone with lookouts outside while committing bank robberies.

"You're trying to stop that communication," he says.

Banks in Mexico City banned call phones in May and Citizens Financial Bank of Munster, Ind., asks customers to turn off their cell phones.

West Suburban Bank, based in Lombard, Ill., barred customers wearing hats in January but has not moved to silence cell phones.

-------------------------------------------------

Okay, so let me get this straight... If you are going to hold up a bank in Chicago, they will ask you to leave the premises if you are talking on your cell phone while doing it. Exactly how is this going to deter bank robbers from using cell phones to their advantage? Answer: It won't.

This is one of "those" rules (its not a law, yet!) that only affects currently law-abiding citizens. I guarantee it won't have any affect on the amount of bank robberies in Chicago. All it does is limit the freedoms of everyday normal customers. An unbelievably stupid person came up with this idea!

Jay Haynes
Sensei

This Astounding Article Will Change Forever How You Look at the Human Condition!

2006-07-31T12:17:00.000-07:00

I found the following article on page ten of my local newspaper. When I attempted to find it anywhere online (except there and at its source, the New York Times), I could not find it anywhere. I searched the Google News site, but to no avail. (By the way, since when is the top story on Google News an editorial?) The article in its entirety is printed below, but I will summarize it for you here.

While the media tells us that we are fat, lazy, and stupid, that is the furthest that reality could be from the truth!

The reality is that we are healthier and more intelligent than mankind has ever been in the history of humanity! The article below proves it. This is not simply due to higher levels of medical technology, but to a overall healthier lifestyle that has created a physically and mentally superior human being. So much so, as the article states, that our ancestors wouldn't even recognize us!

Consider the following fact as proof... The average size of a man during the civil war was 5'7" and 147 lbs (By the way that is a BMI on 23 - perfect physical health... but not according to the article below!) Today the average size of a man is 5' 9 1/2" and 191 lbs (BMI is a very unhealthy 28!)

Today, I.Q. levels, physical health levels, age longevity, and productivity of humanity are all at an all-time high! Read it for yourself below!

Thank you for your attention!

Sincerely,
Jay Haynes, Sensei

Changes in Humans Astound Scientists
July 31, 2006
Health drastically improved in 100 years

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Research from around the world has begun to reveal a picture of humans today that is so different from what it was in the past that scientists say they are startled. The change may prove to be one of the most striking shifts in human existence — from small, relatively weak and sickly people to humans who are so big and robust that their ancestors seem almost unrecognizable.

During the past 100 years, says one researcher, Robert Fogel of the University of Chicago, humans in the industrialized world have undergone “a form of evolution that is unique not only to humankind but unique among the 7,000 or so generations of humans who have ever inhabited the earth.”

The difference does not involve changes in genes, as far as is known, but changes in the human form. It shows up in ways that are well-known, such as greater heights and longer lives, and in ones that are emerging only from comparisons of health records.

The biggest surprise emerging from the studies is that many chronic ailments such as heart disease, lung disease and arthritis are occurring an average of 10 years to 25 years later than they used to. There is also less disability among older people today, according to a federal study. That is not just because medical treatments keep people functioning. Human bodies are simply not breaking down the way they did before.

Even the human mind seems improved. The average IQ has been increasing for decades, and at least one study found that a person’s chances of having dementia in old age appeared to have fallen in recent years.

CHAIN REACTIONS

The proposed reasons are as unexpected as the changes themselves. Improved medical care is only part of the explanation; studies suggest that the effects seem to have been set in motion by events early in life, even in the uterus, that show up in middle and old age.

“What happens before the age of 2 has a permanent, lasting effect on your health, and that includes aging,” said Dr. David Barker, a professor of medicine at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland and a professor of epidemiology at the University of Southampton in England.

Each event can touch off others. Less cardiovascular disease, for example, can mean less dementia in old age. The reason is that cardiovascular disease can precipitate ministrokes, which can cause dementia. Cardiovascular disease is also a suspected risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease.

The effects are not just in the United States. Large and careful studies from Finland, Britain, France, Sweden and the Netherlands all confirm that the same things have happened there; they are also beginning to show up in the underdeveloped world.

On average, the changes, researchers say, are huge.

In 1900, 13 percent of people who were 65 could expect to see 85. Now, nearly half of 65-year-olds can expect to live that long.

People even look different today. American men, for example, are nearly 3 inches taller than they were 100 years ago and about 50 pounds heavier.

Today’s middle-aged people are the first generation to grow up with childhood vaccines and with antibiotics. Early life for them was much better than it was for their parents, whose early life, in turn, was much better than early life was for their parents.

And if good health and nutrition early in life are major factors in determining health in middle and old age, that bodes well for middle-aged people today. Investigators predict that they may live longer and with less pain and misery than any previous generation.

NUTRITION HAS CHANGED

These findings raise a fundamental question, said Dora Costa, an MIT economist who works with Fogel.

“OK, there are these differences, and yes, they are big. But why?” she said.

Men living in the Civil War era had an average height of 5-foot-7 and weighed an average of 147 pounds. Today, men average 5-foot-9½ and weigh an average of 191 pounds.

Those changes, along with the improvements in general health and life expectancy in recent years, intrigued Costa. Common chronic diseases — respiratory problems, valvular heart disease, arteriosclerosis, and joint and back problems — have been declining by about 0.7 percent a year since the turn of the 20th century. And when they do occur, they emerge at older ages and are less severe.

The reasons, she and others are finding, seem to have a lot to do with conditions early in life. Poor nutrition in early years is associated with short stature and lifelong ill health, and until recently, food was expensive in the U.S. and Europe.

Fogel and Costa looked at data on height and body mass index among Union Army veterans who were 65 and older in 1910 and World War II veterans who were that age in the 1980s. Their data relating size to health led them to a prediction: The World War II veterans should have had 35 percent less chronic disease than the Union Army veterans. That, they said, is exactly what happened.

SAT Math Scores Hit Record High

2005-08-30T08:08:00.000-07:00

I have always stated that every generation in America has been better than the previous one. While most people believe that he "youth of America" are moving backward and the quality of teenagers isn't what it use to be, I believe it to be just the opposite.

I work with children and teens daily, and I am constantly amazed at the intelligence, perserverence, creativity, and drive that the youth of our country demonstrate everyday.

Here is an article that floated on August 30, 2005 that demonstrates this.

Thank you for your attention!

Sincerely,
Jay Haynes, Sensei

SAT Math Scores Hit Record High

By JUSTIN POPE

The high school class of 2005 recorded what officials say are the highest-ever average scores on the math portion of the SAT college entrance exam, a modest jump from last year that comes amid conflicting data on the math skills of American students.

Seniors who finished high school last spring scored 520 out of a possible 800 on the math section, 2 points higher than the class of 2004. Average scores on the verbal section were unchanged at 508, according to results released Tuesday by the College Board, the nonprofit organization that owns the SAT.

The College Board also released preliminary results from the first three sittings of the new SAT, which features for the first time a writing section. Members of the class of 2006 began taking the new SAT last spring. They scored an average 516 on the writing section, which includes an essay, compared to 519 on critical reading (the new name for the verbal section) and 537 in math.

The record 1.48 million members of the class of 2005 who took the SAT were the last to take the old version, which had only verbal and math sections. Full results for the class of 2006 will be released a year from now. The College Board emphasized that students who take the test as juniors are typically more highly motivated, so average scores could decline.

For the class of 2005, scores improved for all ethnic groups, though significant gaps remain. Composite scores for black students rose 7 points to 864, but that remains more than 200 points below the average composite score for white students.

Average scores for boys rose 1 point to 538, while girls' scores rose 3 points to 504.

College Board President Gaston Caperton said the improvement in math was encouraging, but the flat trend in verbal scores indicates the need ``to emphasize the core literacy skills of reading and writing in all courses across the curriculum starting in the earlier grades.''

The results come at a time when a variety of tests - on students of varying ages and measuring different kinds of skills - are presenting mixed signals about what if any progress American students are making in math.

Figures released in July from the National Assessment of Educational Progress showed the nation's 9- and 13-year-olds recorded their highest math scores ever, though scores for 17-year-olds were flat. A study released in December found U.S. eighth graders closing the gap with international peers in math and science.

However, that study found fourth-graders slipping further behind. And another study released at about the same time found the United States below 20 of 29 industrialized nations in math.

The ACT college entrance exam, a rival to the SAT that is more popular in about half the states, reported earlier this month overall and math scores for the high school class of 2005 were unchanged from a year ago. Most colleges accept either test.

The claim that average SAT math scores have never been higher is not quite clear cut. The test was ``recentered'' in 1995, which significantly increased students' average scores. The College Board then went back and recalculated scores from prior years using the new system.

Officials said this year's math scores are the highest ever on that scale. However, the board had to use estimates to calculate average scores before 1972.

On the Net:

College Board: http://www.collegeboard.com/

Addendum to the Obesity Article

2005-08-23T09:35:00.000-07:00

In a AP news report filed today (August 23, 2005), the Center's for Disease Control are stating that obesity rates increased in America in every state but Oregon. Here is the article, word for word:

Report: Obesity Rates Up in Most States

By KEVIN FREKING
WASHINGTON (AP) - Obesity rates rose last year in every state but Oregon, according to an advocacy group that called on the government and the private sector to get more involved in Americans' battle with expanding waistlines.

The advocacy group, Trust for America's Health, said data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that the percentage of obese adults for 2002-04 stood at 22.7 percent nationally. The percentage for the previous cycle, 2001-03, was 22 percent.

The state exhibiting the largest increase in obesity was Alabama. There, the rate increased 1.5 percentage points to 27.7 percent. Oregon's rate held steady at 21 percent.

The report said the states with the highest percentage of obese adults are Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia, Louisiana and Tennessee.

The states with the lowest percentage of obese adults are Colorado, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont and Montana. Hawaii was not included in the report.

An official with the Trust for America's Health said the United States is stuck in a ``debate limbo'' about how the government should confront obesity. She used the report to call for more government action on several fronts, such as ensuring that land use plans promote physical activity; that school lunch programs serve healthier meals; and that Medicaid recipients get access to subsidized fitness programs, such as aerobics classes at the local YMCA.

``We have a crisis of poor nutrition and physical inactivity in the U.S., and it's time we dealt with it,'' said Shelley A. Hearne, executive director of the organization.

Radley Balko, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute, said he is wary of the call for more government action on obesity. The institute is a think tank that prefers free-market approaches to problems.

``I think obesity is a very personal issue. What you eat and how often you exercise, if that comes within the government's purview, it's difficult to think of what's left that isn't,'' Balko said.

Health policy analysts maintain that obesity increases the burden on taxpayers because it requires the Medicare and Medicaid programs to cover the treatment of diseases caused by obesity. The report issued Tuesday said taxpayers spent $39 billion in 2003 for the treatment of conditions attributable to obesity.

The Trust for America's Health recommended mandatory screening for obesity among Medicaid recipients, as well as nutritional counseling.

``Better prevention and disease management programs will result in cost savings to the system as a whole,'' the report stated.

Balko said it's not clear the government really knows how to persuade people to make better decisions. He said open-ended entitlement programs, such as Medicaid and Medicare, don't provide much of a financial incentive for people to watch their weight. The government just picks up the cost of treating diseases for those patients, regardless of the amounts, he said.

He prefers that the government give Medicaid and Medicare recipients an incentive to open medical savings accounts, which would allow them to save money when they did not access the health care system.

``If they knew they only had so much to spend, or what they did not spend could be saved, then maybe you could instill a certain sense of responsibility and ownership,'' Balko said.

Adults with a body mass index of 30 or more are considered obese. The equation used to figure body mass index is body weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. The measurement is not a good indicator of obesity for muscular people who exercise a lot.

08/23/05 10:08
© Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained In this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

For information on your state's specific obesity rates, feel free to surf to:

http://www.healthyamericans.org

Thank you for your attention!

Jay Haynes, Sensei

The Benefits of Training at my Karate School!

2005-08-09T12:42:00.000-07:00

I read some interesting statistics today:

1. Teen Pregnancy in the United States is down 28% since 1990
2. Violent Crimes are down 55% since 1993
3. Violence by teens has dropped 71%

Also, the teen suicide rate has decreased, drunk driving fatalities have gone down, elementary school test scores are going up, etc...

I began teaching karate full-time in 1990, and I've been running my karate school in the same location since 1992.

Is there perhaps a correlation?

I think so!

:)

Thank you for your attention.

Jay Haynes
Sensei

How Did I Become Overweight?

2005-08-03T10:12:00.000-07:00

Ever since the government changed the standard by which American's are considered healthy versus "Overweight," I have questioned it. After exhaustive research and study I have developed a theory. I believe that the government, in conjunction with the media, have an agenda to convince all American's that we are fat, lazy and stupid. I have good reasons why I believe they are doing this, which I will discuss in a later post. I personally believe that we are none of these. Yet almost everyday you read in the paper or see on television a story that concludes with one of these three "facts."

As a child, I was always considered underweight. When I started training in the Martial Arts, I was 5'6" tall and weighed 89 lbs. My doctor told me that was about 35-40 lbs underweight. Today, that would be considered only 25 lbs underweight. The standard changed. As a result, today at 6'2" and 196 I am now considered "overweight." Most people if they looked at me would not say that I am overweight. In fact, most people would agree that I could probably gain a few pounds. In fact I could lose fifty pounds and still be considered "normal weight." Ladies and gentlemen, it is a physical impossibility for me to lose 50 pounds!

In my research, I have found the following people are considered overweight by our government:

Barry Bonds: 6'2": 228 lbs: 29
David Boreanaz: 6'2": 218 lbs: 28
Tom Brady: 6'4": 225 lbs: 27
President Bush: 5'11": 191 lbs: 26
George Clooney: 5'11": 211 lbs: 29
Nic Cage: 6'1": 210 lbs: 28
Matt Damon: 5'11": 187 lbs: 26
Johnny Depp: 5'7": 190 lbs: 27
David Duchovny: 6'0": 212 lbs: 29
Vin Diesel: 6'2": 200 lbs: 26
Cheryl Ford: 6'3": 215 lbs:27
Harrison Ford: 6'1": 218 lbs: 29
Brendan Fraser: 6'3": 234 lbs: 29
Richard Gere: 5'11": 187 lbs: 26
Ethan Hawke: 5'9": 172 lbs: 25
Hugh Jackman: 6'2": 210 lbs: 27
Lebron James: 6'8": 240 lbs: 26
Dale Jarrett: 6'2": 200 lbs: 26
Bobby Labonte: 5'9": 170 lbs: 25
Nick Lachey: 5'10": 180 lbs: 26
Karl Malone: 6'9": 259 lbs: 28
Dr. Phil McGraw: 6'4": 240 lbs: 29
Mark McGuire (playing weight): 6'5": 250 lbs: 30
Donovan McNabb: 6'3": 240 lbs: 30
Yao Ming: 7'6": 310 lbs: 27
Brad Pitt: 6'0": 203 lbs: 28
Keanu Reeves: 6'1": 223 lbs: 29
Cal Ripken: 6'4": 210 lbs: 27
Andy Roddick: 6'2": 197 lbs: 25
Will Smith: 6'2": 210 lbs: 27
Sammy Sosa: 6'0": 220 lbs: 30
Denzel Washington: 6'0": 199 lbs: 27
Bruce Willis: 6'0": 200 lbs: 29
Billy Zane: 6'2": 210 lbs: 27

In fact, most of the NBA, NHL, and MLB players are considered "overweight". Almost 100% of all football players in the NFL are considered "overweight."

Also, in my research, I have found that the following people are "Obese:"
Tom Cruise: 5'7": 201 lbs: 31
Mel Gibson 5'9": 214 pounds: 32
Matt LeBlanc: 5'11": 218 lbs: 30
Steve McNair: 6'2": 235 lbs: 30
The Rock (Dwayne Johnson): 6'5": 275 lbs: 33
Arnold Schwarzenegger: 6'2": 257 lbs: 33
Sylvester Stallone: 5'9": 228 lbs: 34
Mike Tyson: 5'11 ½": fighting weight between 218-235: 30-32

If "The Rock" is obese, we should all be!

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,

Jay Haynes, Sensei

The Present

2005-07-09T03:18:00.000-07:00

OBI-WAN KENOBI: "I have a bad feeling about this."
QUI-GON JIN: "I don't sense anything."
OBI-WAN : "It's not about the mission, Master, it's something...elsewhere...elusive."
QUI-GON : "Don't center on your anxiety, Obi-Wan. Keep your concentration here and now where it belongs."
OBI-WAN : "Master Yoda says I should be mindful of the future..."
QUI-GON : "....but not at the expense of the moment."

--- Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace

There is a lot of value to what Qui-Gon Jin says here. It is important to pay attention to the future, but not at the expense of the present. If a person looks away, always longing for something else that he/she does not have, then he/she will miss out on everything that is wonderful about the "now."

It has been my observation that most people do not appreciate something until it is gone. The trick, and one of the keys to happiness is to appreciate something while you still have it. This is so important, it bears repeating:

One of the keys to happiness is to appreciate something at the moment still have it.

So many times I will see people who get caught up so much in their problems of the moment, that they cannot revel in all the good things of their life. H. Jackson Brown, Jr. wrote in his Life's Little Instruction Book, "Be the most positive person that you know." These are words that I live by. I have literally had dozens of people say to me that they can't be the most positive person they know because I am. This is one of my life aspirations. As a result, I am probably the happiest person that I know.

Let me give a couple of examples:

When I was in my early twenties, I was a very poor karate instructor. Living on only $550 per month, I was really struggling to make ends meet. But, I knew that even if I quit, I would still be okay. I was living alone in a very tiny appartment with no furniture or other amenities. I didn't even have a bed to sleep on! I saw a news story about a nine-year old girl in Yugoslavia who wrote three things that she would like to have on her Christmas list:

1. Electricity
2. One night of sleep without gunfire waking her up
3. A chocolate candybar

My thought was, I have those three things. How lucky am I!

When I was going through my divorce at the age of 30, I literally was homeless and starving. I lived at my karate school and ate ramen. I went from 190 lbs to 155 lbs in two months, because I did not eat. I could not afford to. My ex-wife had embezzled all the money I had. On top of that, she had all my assets frozen, and I was under threat of going to jail if I even sold my kitchen table (which was probably worth about $10) to buy food. Needless to say, it was a very difficult time. I was forced to continue to run my karate school by myself. Not only that, but then I would listen to people complain about there insignificant little problems as if they were life threatening challenges for them. Ha! In the face of all of that, I was unbelievably positive, and I never complained to anyone. At that point, I was just happy to be alive! It is my opinion that most people on this planet would not have successfully made it like I did. It took every ounce of will and fortitude to even get up in the morning, let alone accomplish everything that had to be done. Most people would have folded under the circumstances that I endured. That is why I approached it with the attitude that I did. If I hadn't, I would not have made it. Since it was my choice, I chose to be positive. I choose happiness when it was easier to choose the alternative.

So what is the moral of the story. It is simply this:

Happiness is a choice, not a circumstance.
If a person is unhappy, it is because they chose to be that way, not because life forced them there. There is only one person who is responsible for your happiness, and that it you. You can take the credit, or you can take the blame, but don't complain about reaping what you sow, because it was your choice!

Today I read the things people write in their Web Logs and I hear what they have to say about their lives, and I just have to laugh. They complain about the most ridiculous things! They are so self-absorbed is such a negative way that I have to feel sorry for them. Not because of the circumstance they describe, but because of their reaction to the circumstance they describe. How unfortunate it is for them to not choose to be happy.

Happiness is a choice, not a circumstance.

Thank you for your attention!

Sincerely,

Jay Haynes
Sensei.

Balance

2005-06-27T12:59:00.000-07:00

Aristotle philosophized that the key to success was acquiring a certain "balance" in life. In the example he used, he talked about the balance between cowardice and total fool-heartiness. That would be that perfect place called courage. It is bad to be on one side or the other, but being perfectly balanced between the two is success.

There are many obvious examples that one hears regarding this issue almost daily... work - play, spend - save, exercise - rest, alone time - others time, language - math, conservative - liberal. The list is endless. Aristotle then went on to say that if you naturally lean to one side, then you should intentionally move toward the other side and allow your natural tendency to balance you out. In his example, if you are naturally cowardice, then you should try to take more risk than you normally would and allow your natural tendencies to balance you out.

For most of us, this is easier said than done. For example, if a person is a registered Democrat (Liberal), it would be very difficult to actively lean toward the conservative side (i.e. vote for a Republican). So the question is this, is balance always the best thing? Obviously, in government, it is important to have checks and balances of power, so that one group may not gain too much and abuse it. This is the reason for the true success of the United States government. There is a true balance of power between the branches and between the parties. But is it necessarily good for individuals to practice this?

The flip side of the coin is... Is being an "advocate" (on one side of an issue) a bad thing? That is the implication of Aristotle's philosophy. If a person is too cowardice or too fool-hearty it would be easy to say that it is bad for him / her. But what about too much work / play, too much exercise / rest, or being too conservative / liberal? Certainly some people tend to be more of an advocate than an objective "moderator." Others tend to be moderate. Most people are advocates in certain areas and moderate in others. Can you be too much of an "advocate?" Can you be too much of a "moderate?" Can you be too balanced to be in balance?

A person should often times step out of his / her own shoes (position) and attempt to view the issue from the other side. This is tremendously helpful if only to have a better understanding of the opponent. As Sun Tzu said, you must understand not only yourself but also your opponent if you are to be guaranteed of victory. But should a person intentionally move to the other side in view and action?

I realize that I am asking more questions than providing answers, but isn't that the wondrous thing about life? For everyone question answered reveals multiple more questions.

Comments, feedback, or opinion?

Thank you for your attention.

Jay Haynes
Sensei

Ground Rules

2005-06-21T16:37:00.000-07:00

I have observed that in most "blogs," people tend to focus on themselves and the pity they deserve. Most "blogs" are rambling muses about "me" and "how my life sucks." That will not be the focus of this web log. I am a generally positive person, and I focus on the positive. Although it does not appear this way yet, I will not spend the bulk of my time talking about me. Of course the irony is that I have only done that so far! :)

I refuse to call my web log a "blog." The term "blog" is a shortening of the term "web log." I have no need to shorten anything, so I won't. I read a comical question about the "Y2K" problem (when it was still a problem). Someone wrote, "Why do the call it Y2K? They are only taking a shortcut regarding the "year two thousand problem." Isn't taking a shortcut why we ended up in the year two thousand problem in the first place? :)

There will be no typing for the sake of typing.

The topics will be wide in both breadth and depth. I will not be narrowly focused on certain topics as you see in most web logs (see number 1 above).

There will be no typographical errors. I believe that any published work represents that publisher. I do not want to be represented with poor grammar and bad spelling.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,

Jay Haynes
Sensei

Opening Statement

2005-06-20T18:51:00.000-07:00

My Web Log will be a forum for me to publish my thoughts, opinions, and advice regarding walking down the path of the Martial Arts... and of life as well. There will be commentary on a wide range of concepts and topics. These may include, but not be limited to, training principles, running a successful business, politics, life outlooks, my personal hobbies, etc....

This may become somewhat like the forum that I take in my monthly dojo newsletter, but it will probably be more than that. Unfortunately, the monthly newsletter is a very specific box that I must remain in. It does not allow for much freedom or creativity. It is relatively small, and doesn't allow for extra kinds of things such as pictures, videos, web links, etc.... As a result, I feel that I will enjoy this forum even more than my newsletter!

I am an observer of human nature and interaction. I find it to be quite fascinating to watch how people conduct their interpersonal relationships. So I may spend time on that as well.

Finally, any and all feedback, comments, suggestions, and questions are very much welcomed. However, certain things will not be tolerated. I will delete any profanity, any unprofessional statements, and anything else that I deem to not be appropriate for this forum. We are all civilized beings, and I would like everyone to conduct themselves in that manner.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

Jay Haynes
Sensei