2/26/2007 Over the horizon I see...

Emotional products are gaining share. Candles are more popular than ever. Things that make us feel something - like really good films, art or music - will become appreciated (and valued) more and more.

Simple Truth - Energy Account

A new study debunks the widely held belief that diet plus exercise is the most effective way to lose weight. Researchers report that dieting alone is just as effective as dieting plus exercise.

"For weight loss to occur, an individual needs to maintain a difference between the number of calories they consume everyday and the number of calories they burn through metabolism and physical activity," Dr. Leanne Redman of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, explains in a press release.

"What we found was that it did not matter whether a reduction in calories was achieved through diet or burned everyday through exercise."

Thirty-five overweight but otherwise healthy adults -- 16 men and 19 women -- completed the 6-month study. Twelve were assigned to a diet-only group; they reduced their calorie intake by 25 percent. Twelve were assigned to diet plus exercise; they reduced their calorie intake by 12.5 percent and increased their exercise by 12.5 percent. The remaining 11 subjects made no significant diet or exercise changes.

Redman and colleagues found that the diet-only group and the diet plus exercise group lost roughly the same amount of weight, albeit by different means. They lost about 10 percent of their body weight, 24 percent of their fat mass and 27 percent of their abdominal "visceral" fat -- the deep internal fat linked to heart disease risk.

Therefore, if the goal is purely shedding pounds, diet or exercise will work, according to this study. However, as the researchers point out, regular exercise can improve aerobic fitness and lower the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer.

The study also found that exercise did little to tone specific areas of the body. Fat was reduced consistently across the whole body and not more in any one trouble spot.

"Our study then would indicate that weight loss cannot override the way in which any individual stores fat. Perhaps an apple will always be an apple, and a pear, a pear," Redman concludes.

This suggests that people are "genetically programmed for fat storage in a particular pattern and that this programming cannot be easily overcome by weight loss," the authors note in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 2007.

The Nine Ways of Strategy - Miyamoto Musashi 1643

The Nine Ways of Strategy - 1643 - Musashi

1. Do not think dishonestly
2. The way is in training
3. Become acquainted with the arts
4. Know the ways of all professions
5. Distinguish between true gain and loss
6. Develop intuitive judgement
7. Perceive things not seen
8. Pay attention - even to trifles
9. Do nothing which is of no use

Tennessee Williams - Frantically constructing

“It is almost as if you were frantically constructing another world while the world that you live in dissolves beneath your feet, and that your survival depends on completing this construction at least one second before the old habitation collapses.”

-Tennessee Williams

Bums on Bikes

Bums on Bikes

The pedaling action is smooth
My legs are stronger than people think
I miss my fender
It was important after all

B. Crood

Elizabeth Barrett Browning - How Do I Love Thee?

How Do I Love Thee?


How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, -- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! -- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Coming - "The Sercet" with the magic part replaced by logic

There's a good chance you've seen or read about the much publicized documentary "the Secret". The laws of attraction etc. Oprah was quite excited and accordingly the associated credibility gives this material some significant momentum.

I believe that I understand the real secret behind this reported "energy", or at the very least a better / different way to explain it. Please don't be disappointed with me that I have not included it today. It deserves to be thoughtfully detailed - and it will be.

I will tell you that the subject is real. I won't be outing a scam. I'll be taking the magic out of the idea and telling it straight.

Stay tuned.

A Five Minute Classic "Cheese Shop"

Service Expectations

If your customer's expectations are accurate, maybe this works.

Big sign:

In order to keep prices low, we do what we do and that's it. The price is the price, the terms are the terms, it is what it is. Buy it or don't buy it - your choice. Isn't that a clean and simple process? We're very sorry if this inconveniences you, but this is all the apology we can afford.

There are alternatives.

The Pouncer

Aah the frustration of it all.

There is very little margin left in most opportunities. Other than a pure "job", it seems there are enough interests trying to squeeze profitable ideas so tightly that nothing remains.

Everything (well, almost everything - that's the point) is priced for perfection. Where does the "gem of a plan" live? Why so much risk?

Can we do little more with our cash than buy a job?

The aggressive play - taking advantage of people; moving quickly and decisively when the advantage is defined, seems to be the only remaining slice of opportunity.

So be it.

New Munt

When we start something new, like a diet or some other behavior that is commitment-based; beginning on the first day of new month can help. It gives us a point in time to mark our decision. As we approach the date, it gains significance. A measurement of the duration of our commitment, the special date is easy to remember and helps us to feel successful. It reminds us how invested we are.

In other matters (business) the beginning of a new month is a good time to make a new policy or procedure "official".