Olympic Summer Games - XXIX, Beijing 2008 - Michael Phelps' Quest For Gold

While watching the 2008 Olympic games I digressed to the Super Bowl game a few months back. The words I used to describe the Giants victory over New England were Destiny, Fate, Unbelievable, Miraculous. The Giants performance in that game, as unbelievable as it may have been at the time, pales in comparison to the incredible, unprecedented feat that was accomplished by Michael Phelps in the 2008 Olympic games. I watched in awe every evening as he won gold after gold in every competitive race that he entered and whether solo or as a team effort he was successful in his quest for unparalleled achievement in Olympic and sports history.

The incredible Mr. Phelps, whose name is the same as another Phelps, the only other one I know, the Peter Phelps of Mission Impossible fame. The one fictional character, Peter, is the man who is given mission after mission of an impossible nature but he and his team always seemed to orchestrate a successful outcome no matter what the odds against them. Peter Phelps was a fictional character but Michael is as real as real can be and after watching his performance in these games I believe he is the real Mission Impossible Phelps achieving success in each mission with his team at Beijing one race at a time. Some of his solo efforts were anti-climactic because he made it look so easy as he thrashed the field by such a wide margin that you knew the inevitability of the outcome before the race was half over. I would estimate that six of his eight gold medal victories were won in this fashion. The other two, however, were a different story. Talk about manifest destiny, no one can do it better than Michael Phelps. The French were trash talking about how they would crush the American team in the 4 x 100 meter free style relay. They found out the hard way that their trash talk only spurred Michael and the American team to victory.

Super Bowl 2012

Michael's swimming ability is unparalleled in the 2008 games, but we have to give credit where it is due, and that is to his team mates without whom his quest for eight gold may not have materialized. Michael gave his team an edge to help ensure victory but it was his team mates fortitude and determination for victory as well that made the achievement possible. The anchor in the 4 x 100 meter relay, Jason Lezak, really impressed me as he swam a fantastic race. He caught up with the best swimmer on the French team, Alain Bernard, and snatched the victory right out from under him after being a full length behind with only fifty meters to go. Truly amazing to say the least. However, the defining moment of Michael's quest for eight gold medals came in the race for the 100 meter Butterfly and his 1/100th of a second victory over Cavic. Cavic earlier gave Michael the fuel for his victory by suggesting that the games would be better off if Michael lost a race or two.

That's all Michael needed to hear. How unsportsmanlike by Cavic to suggest that a competitor should lose to make things better, for who, maybe him, but not for the games and not for the world. It looked for a time as if Michael's dream for eight gold had finally come to an end but he miraculously stretched his arms out and snatched it away from Cavic to ensure victory and the fulfillment of his destiny. Michael and the American team had accomplished the impossible but as we have learned by watching these games, "Nothing is Impossible". If you have a dream and want it bad enough then nothing should stop you from making that dream come true. Walt Disney had a dream but he has nothing on Michael Phelps in providing a magical experience for the world to see. I'd like to see Walt grab eight gold out of the hat like Mr. Phelps did.

During the course of the first eight days of the Olympics I got to know a little more about Michael and his quest for Olympic history by watching the interviews with him, his family, coach and friends. It became clear that he and his team mates worked very hard for their accomplishments and I feel strongly that they were competing more for the glory of Country, the USA, than for their personal gratification. I think Lezak said it best when he was asked if he won for Michael when he dug down deep and overcame incredible odds to beat out the French in the relay. His reply basically said that he swam his best for his country and self and if he could help Michael achieve his dream at the same time then so much the better. I applaud his reply and attitude toward the games and the competition.

The athletes who have come before Michael, such as Carl Lewis and Mark Spitz had also achieved greatness for their time and left a milestone in their wake that others could measure themselves by in the Olympic Games to come. Without such past accomplishments there would be no real way to measure what Michael achieved at the 2008 Olympic games. Mark Spitz set an amazing record for his era and that was another Olympics that was very exciting to watch. He also claimed victory after victory and gave the world a historic Olympics at that time. Who knows what other records he could have set if he decided to compete again. Although that may not have been the case with Mr. Spitz, I don't think we've heard the last splash from "The Incredible Mr. Phelps". I'm already looking forward to London 2012 and to see what Michael has in store for us. I have no doubt that he will try to better his last performance as incredible a feat as that may be. I have a strong feeling that his record will stand for a long time or at least until Michael competes again in 2012. Remember "Nothing is Impossible". Eight may be a lucky number by Chinese standards but I think it rubbed off on Michael as he won eight gold in the Olympics that started in 8-08-08. Twelve may be another lucky number for him and his next goal in 2012. After watching his performance this past week I would not put it past him and time will tell.

I would like to thank Michael and the rest of the Olympic athletes who have given their country, family and friends a performance to be proud of. They gave us much enjoyment watching them overcome incredible odds to compete and achieve medal victory. Gold is the ultimate medal, but it is not everything, and all of the athletes who have competed and made it to the games have much to be proud of. They beat the best of the best just to be there representing their respective countries and so much the better if they won a medal.

Congratulations to Michael Phelps, and his team mates, Lochte, Lezak, and the rest of the American swim team, Soni, Coughlin, Dara Torres, now there's another story, Misty May and Kerri Walsh, our phenomenal Women's Beach Volley Ball Team, Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin, and Alicia Sacramone of the women's gymnastic team and also the men's gymnastic team. They overcame tremendous odds in winning Bronze without our top gymnasts competing due to injuries and -Congratulations to all of the rest of the American athletes who have made their country and their family and friends so very very proud. The 2008 Olympics are not yet over and I look forward to watching the rest of the events to come.

GO MICHAEL, GO AMERICA! Watch out London - 2012!

Olympic Summer Games - XXIX, Beijing 2008 - Michael Phelps' Quest For Gold

My name is Mike D'Auria and I grew up in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn. N.Y. I played softball for many years until I sustained a severe hamstring injury that ended my career. Since my injury about 30 years ago I have been playing golf. I enjoy the game tremendously and have never looked back. For more tips and golf info visit http://guideforbeginninggolfers.com

The Hierarchy of Knee Injuries

Maybe it's me just being cranky, but the public needs to be educated about knee injuries. I am fast becoming an expert in knee injuries since I had knee reconstruction surgery on April 18th, 2012. Make no mistake about it, I am incredibly grateful for this injury because it is forcing and allowing me to grow in areas that I never would have thought possible and because I am learning things that I will forever be able to help athletes with.

Since this has happened, it seems that everyone and their mother has done this too or knows someone that this happened to. Devon and I are finding it quite comical, considering this is a very rare-injury, only happening in the NBA a handful of times and about 25 times in the NFL in the past 30 years. The knee geek forum that I am a member of only has less than 100 victims of this injury world wide. To be clear, I had a complete rupture of the left patellar tendon, which tore both vertically and horizontally, blew out my knee capsule and for good measure, dislocated my knee cap, which was sitting on the inside of my leg at the moment of injury and then was floating in my quad region in the days leading up the surgery.

Nfl 2012

I have heard things like:
"Oh, I almost did that once"
"Now you know how I feel (with a torn ACL)"
"I've been there, you'll be back stronger"
"I did that too"..."O ya? How as the comeback from surgery?"..."Oh, I didn't have to have surgery."

You get the point. I had no extensor mechanism in my leg. My knee no longer existed until I had the surgery. When Dr. Gecha came out to speak with Devon and my father in law, Big Dave, after the surgery, they said he was even shocked at the damage in my knee and rattled off ligament and structure after ligament that was destroyed. No pro-athlete in the major sports has ever successfully come back from this. Guys in powerlifting have thanks to Louie Simmon's and his knowledge and that is why I made sure to reach out to him immediately. To make matters worse, our quads are innervated by L3-L5 of the spine, two of which mine are severely herniated from years of bodybuilding. Will definitely be a challenge, but one that I will educate from.

My PT friend called after the injury and was distraught, saying he sees 15-20 ACL's per year and if he's lucky he will see this injury once every 2 years.

If the following list offends you, it is not meant to. It is merely the reality of things. I have trained many athletes with knee injuries. Hopefully you can learn from this list.  This are only conditions, albeit not every single condition, that require surgery (or not as you will see).  The list goes from most mild to most severe.  I will make it as humorous as possible...

1. Meniscus-  The menisci are very important and provide cushioning in the knee joint.  It is a piece of cartilage without a very good blood supply and thus requires surgery when the time is right.  The provide a an ideal environment for a healthy knee and keeping arthritic knees at bay.  However, I have had friends that have had the surgery and one lifted that same week, one played in a basketball game the week after.  You can live with this injury for months, some people even opt to never get it fixed.  It is the least major of the well-known knee injuries.


2. Dislocated patellar or knee cap-  This is often a scary sight, but not very dangerous.  The knee cap is not being held in groove that is designed for it and will pop out from time to time.  It can be popped back in and you can even walk immediately after it happens, although you will be sore.  If it keeps, happening, you may require surgery to help fix it.  This is level 2.


3. ACL-  For some reason, people seem to think this is the most severe injury in the knee.  I think that has to do with how common it is.  My mother in law doesn't have an ACL in one of her knees and she is fine.  Dejuan Blair of the San Antonio Spurs doesn't have an ACL in one of his knees, Hines Ward of the Steelers, same thing.  Sean Elliott, John Elway and Thurman Thomas all played half their careers without an ACL in one leg.  People that have this surgery are required to start PT one to two days after surgery. I was recently talking with a friend that tore his not too long ago and he said, "I heard a snap.  Not too much pain.  Walked out of the gym and went to the doctors the next day."  Think about that people.  The ACL is a little bigger than the last link on your index finger.  Adrien Peterson is reportedly now finishing first in sprints at optional team practices 3 months after having torn his ACL and MCL.


4. MCL, PCL- This is really 3B.  I am not saying both at the same time.  I am saying one of the other.  PCL is a thicker ligament than the ACL and the MCL will inhibit your movement laterally and agility wise.  This don't happen as often as the ACL.  Also, if your PCL is torn, you will really have to build back up the hamstrings, popliteal and gasrtocnemius muscles which make up the posterior of the knee capsule integrity.


5. Ruptured Quad Tendon- This is much more common than the patellar tendon rupture and happens typically in people over the age of 40.  If you look at a diagram of the knee, you will see there is not much else to get damaged when this happens as most of the knee joint and structure is below the patella.  Tendons do take a long time to heal because of low blood flow.  This has never to my knowledge ended a pro athletes career.  Can be scary though if the quad rolls up on ya.


6. I will put the final 5 together, since they are all rather rare and have significant complications.  Although I will note that the medical website I found this on did say the patellar tendon rupture is the scariest looking of the bunch.

• Knee joint dislocation - A dislocation of the knee joint is a very serious injury and not the same as a dislocation of the patella (kneecap). In this injury, the femur (thigh bone) and the Tibia (shin bone) and moved apart. The major concern here is nerve and blood vessel damage, as well as fractures and soft tissue damage.


• Unhappy Triad - The unhappy triad (sometimes also called O'Donoghue's triad) is an injury to three of the main supporting structures of the knee; The Anterior Cruciate Ligament, the Medial Collateral Ligament and the Medial Meniscus.


• Posterolateral Corner Injury - The posterolateral corner is the back and outer side of the knee joint. A PLC injury involves damage to several structures, which may include the Biceps femoris tendon, Popliteus muscle, Lateral collateral ligament and several ligaments around the outer knee.


• Tibial Plateau Fracture - This is a fracture to the upper surface of the Tibia (shin bone). It occurs from a high impact accident and is often associated with other injuries such as ACL ruptures. It is even more severe if the fractured part becomes displaced.


• Patella Tendon Rupture - The patella tendon connects the knee cap to the shin bone. This is a scary injury to suffer as the kneecap appears displaced in the lower thigh area and it is not possible to actively straighten the leg. Surgery is needed to repair the tendon.

This was a way for me to have a little fun with my injury. I am not saying that if you have any of the above that you have it easy, but realize it could be worse.  I liked what one guy on the forum had to say that had throughout his career torn his ACL, MCL and patellar tendon when discussing his patellar tendon rupture. "This makes an ACL or MCL look like a freakin' paper cut in comparison."  And no, you didn't do the same thing as me:)

The Hierarchy of Knee Injuries

Kyle Newell is the creator of Newell Strength, located in central New Jersey. He specializes in making athletes bigger, faster and stronger. Kyle's methods are among the most unique in the business. He has worked with college strength programs and has competed in numerous bodybuilding shows. Kyle's men and athletes achieve unbelieveable rates of success and performance on the field. You can find out more about Kyle at http://www.newellstrength.com.

Read This Story - Then Weep for the Future of Civilization

Are you optimistic about the future of civilization? Stop it. By the time you're done with this story you will join those of us pessimists who pray that the Mayans were right about their 2012 prediction.

We present...

Super Bowl 2012

Another reason to weep for our nation.

Yahoo, the web portal that wishes it were Google, has come up with a web app that lets you know what the most popular headlines of the hour happen to be. By demographic.

The results? Depressing.

Let's start with my group. Males, 55 and older. These are the top headlines of the hour, as determined by Yahoo search algorithms.

Most Expensive Plane: B-2 Bomber costs more than the Space Shuttle

This is followed by:
2. Self guided bullet tested
3. Expensive retirement states
4. Pricey super car keeps stalling.
5. Player's rare scorpion kick.

So, with this to guide us, we know that men aged 55 and older are most interested in expensive airplanes, bullets, retirement, fancy cars and soccer.

How about the 55+ gals?

1. Prince Harry Dishes on the Real Queen, Phillip
2. Social Security Facts, Tricks
3. Expensive retirement states
4. Reese Dress Bucks a Trend
5. 14-Pound Baby Born

So, gals of a certain age get a kick out of royal gossip, social security, retirement, celebrities, and laughing at moms who had to suffer through the birth of a 14-lb. baby.

Take it down a notch? OK.

Men 45-54.

1. The most expensive airplane story.
2. Player's rare scorpion kick
3. Pricey super car keeps stalling
4. The self-guided bullet thing.
5. Pro Bowl QB rips teammates. (Turns out Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers actually wanted to win the game)

Except for the last story, pretty much the same as the older demo. Just in a different order.

The 45-54 ladies?

They loves them stories about 14-lb. babies!

1. Woman delivers nearly 14-lb. baby
2. Star's meltdown over visitor (Kristen Bell (who?) got all weepy when her boyfriend brought a sloth to her party. No. I'm serious.)
3. J. Lo grilled on divorce.
4. The Prince Harry/Queen story
5. Longest-married couple secrets.

OK. The ladies of in the onset of the golden years love stories about fat babies (delivered by younger women), gossip, gossip, gossip, and cute old couples.

Let's move to the next demo.

For men 35-44...

1. The soccer "scorpion kick" story.
2. The most expensive airplane
3. Brady impostor creates a stir (apparently, some idiot impersonated Tom Brady at Super Bowl media day)
4. Best dunk of the NBA season
5. The ever-popular self-guided bullet story.

So, men in their early middle ages like soccer, expensive planes, football weirdness, basketball and bullets.

The ladies?

1. Guess What! The 14-lb. baby wins again!
2. J. Lo grilled on divorce
3. Common myths about head lice (Did you know there were "myths" about head lice? I sure didn't.)
4. The celebrity getting weepy over the sloth
5. Save money on makeup.

So... women in the very late child-bearing years still love that some woman somewhere went through the agony of delivering a 14-lb. baby. They love gossip, stories about head lice (these women may still have kids in school, you know), gossip, and ways to save money while looking fabulous.

We're going for the younger group!

THE MONEY DEMO!

Men 25-34. What do they care about?

1. The stalling super car story.
2. The soccer scorpion kick.
3. Aaron Rodgers griping about the NFC's Pro Bowl effort
4. The Tom Brady Impostor
5. Orlando Magic players have had it up to HERE with the antics of Dwight Howard

(What? Nothing with boobies?) So, the older young guys like fast cars that don't work, soccer, sports gossip, sports gossip and sports gossip.

The women folk?

And the winner is...

1. The 14-lb. baby! (They could still have one themselves, you know.)
2. Saving money on makeup.
3. Whatsername's meltdown over the sloth.
4. Man shocked by his photo in an ad. (This is a good one. A chubby guy got 0 to have his photo taken for an ad about diabetes. They photo-shopped out his lower leg and gave him a pair of crutches. They basically turned him into an amputee. The takeaway from this? Read the fine print.)
5. Cute "Puppy Bowl" players.

So, women in the 25-34 group like the fat baby, saving money to look good, celebrity meltdowns, fat guys humiliated by ad agencies, and puppies.

Now, the youngest demo.

Men 18-24

1. The soccer scorpion kick.
2. The stalling super car
3. The self-guiding bullet.
4. The NBA gossip.
5. A new one. "Amazing Flying Figures". Ads to promote the movie "Chronicle."

You'll never guess what the 18-24 ladies liked best.

That's right!

1. The fat baby!
2. The longest married couple. ("Why can't YOU love me like that?)
3. Awwww. The cute puppies!
4. The story of a cancer survivor teenager suspended by his high school for growing his hair long to sell to a wig maker who provides the wigs to cancer patients.
5. Save money on makeup.

So, finally, we find a bit of interest in social justice, but not until we hit the female 18-24 demo.

Fat babies. Stalling super cars, Expensive planes. Celebrity gossip.

These are the things we are searching for, according to Yahoo.

Go ahead. Weep. Weep for your nation. Weep for your future.

COME ON, ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!!!

Read This Story - Then Weep for the Future of Civilization

Bill Schmalfeldt invites you to drop by his blog at http://deepbrainmedia.com to keep up with his daily exploits and to help him raise funds to find the cure for Parkinson's disease. 100% of the profits from his PD-related books and merchandise is donated to the National Parkinson Foundation to assist them with patient and caregiver education and resources, as well as to fund research into finding a cure as well as new and better treatments for this crippling neurological disorder.

Facebook Timeline Shocks Traditional Marketers

The revolution may not be televised, but there will be a broadcast through fiber optic lines across the world! For many, today will symbolize a rare day that only shows it's face every 4 years, but for those who's business is to make business on Facebook today represents something much bigger then leap year.

February 29th, 2012 Business pages, welcome to Timeline!!!

Nfl 2012

So what's the big deal you ask? Well for internet marketers this change in design will dramatically change the way we use Facebook to market to end users. Traditionally, marketing on Facebook was a simple game. Drive traffic to your page, have the visitor hit a custom landing page with a value proposition to like your page (click like to get a 20% discount), then a second landing page arrives with a web form with an email opt in to get an address to send the coupon. Simple enough. You drive the traffic, you get the like, then you get the email. Now you have two platforms to market to your potential customer!!

It was sweet, it was easy, and it is now over!!!!

With the addition of Timeline for Business pages there will no longer be a "non-fan" tab. Facebook is allowing you to have 3 additional tabs, at 760 pixels wide. But in order for a visitor to see this tab they have to click on the icon or logo that is thumb nailed for the tab.

Studies also showed that the traditional Facebook landing pages converted over 40% more likes to your page then those pages without a landing page.

So now what?

Well, here's the painfully good news that is shocking the Facebook marketing community!!

it's all about engagement. This means that you have to have quality engagement and topics on your page to keep your fans interested in what you say. If you have a custom tab created with a 20% off discount in exchange for an email address then you need to interact with your fans and organically drive traffic to that page. It's not as clean as it was, and it will take more time, but Facebook is putting a much larger emphasis on engagement, and less on a funnel system.

So, how do you engage? It's simple, how do you engage in real life? Transfer that to your Facebook platform. If you tend to talk a lot about sports, then talk about sports on your page. Mix in your business talk with what interests you and your customer base. the company Buffalo Wild Wings knows that its demographic is highly male who like sports, so they don't have to talk Hot wings, they can talk about the NFL, cars, mowing lawns, or anything that they feel is interesting to their demographic of men.

Wait..... there's one more very important feature....

A first time visitor to your page can be directed to hit a custom landing tab before your wall but only through a Facebook Ad. Interesting how this new Ad platform works right before the IPO. This will force marketers who want to use a systematic funnel to do it through ads (and pay Facebook) instead of being able to do it by driving traffic off of Facebook or internally through status updates.

For more info on Facebook for your business and how to adapt to these changes visit http://www.facebook.com/jeffandvaden

Facebook Timeline Shocks Traditional Marketers

Vaden Hoffman
http://www.facebook.com/jeffandvaden

Gestapo-Like NCAA Weighs Down on North Carolina Football

The heavy hand of the absolutist National Collegiate Athletic Association thundered mightily on the evil deeds of one University of North Carolina football program banning the Tar Heels from the postseason for one year, reducing the number of scholarships available, and placing the program on its "double secret" three-years' probation.

The NCAA's ruling caps a two-year investigation that led to the dismissal of head coach Butch Davis and the athletic director, Dick Baddour. Players received jewelry and other gifts from people outside of the program as well as receiving improper tutoring help on term papers.

Nfl 2012

Davis cooperated with the investigation and, as many Division I coaches do, implemented several strategies to make sure events like these did not occur. Davis now works for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and was never mentioned as having committed any violation. It seems the dirty deeds belonged to former assistant coach John Blake and a former UNC student and tutor named Jennifer Wiley, who allegedly provided too much assistance on research papers as well as other improper benefits.

Blake supposedly received ,000 from his long-time friend, Gary Wichard. Problem is...Wichard is an NFL player's agent and the NCAA says that the ,000 was paid to Blake as a representative of Wichard's firm. Blake and Wichard say it was one friend helping out another. As a result of the NCAA sanctions, Blake received a three-year "show cause" penalty meaning, for the most part, that he is not permitted to recruit college football players.

The university attempted to preempt any NCAA sanctions by investigating the matter and immediately instituting self-imposed penalties that included vacating all 16 wins from the 2008 and 2009 seasons, a reduction of nine scholarships over the next three seasons, and two years of probation. The school also imposed a ,000 fine, but the NCAA found the self-imposed sanctions to be not enough.

So, now UNC will be ineligible for this season's ACC championship as well as prevented from attending a bowl game, should it have the necessary number of wins. Welcome to North Carolina, Larry Fedora and staff!

For events that occurred three and four seasons ago, current staff and players now take the hit. In 2010, 14 players were forced to miss at least one game as a penalty for being involved in these violations. Seven players missed the entire 2010 season and four of those players were either dismissed from the team or ruled permanently ineligible by the NCAA. Among the 14 players were Robert Quinn, Marvin Austin, and Greg Little. All three were taken in the first two rounds of last year's NFL draft.

It appears that the NCAA will continue to demonstrate its ultimate authority continuing its vise-like death grip on college athletes. Sure, there are some things that shouldn't be allowed to happen, but the NCAA's rules regarding college athletics dwarfs the IRS tax code in size and scope.

As a result, once again we see a group of athletes (and coaches) penalized for something they had nothing to do with. Most of the players and coaches involved in any wrong-doing (according to the NCAA) are gone and are in no way associated with the University of North Carolina anymore. But, until the NCAA, like the IRS, figures out why it exists, the 2012 edition of UNC football must pay the price.

Gestapo-Like NCAA Weighs Down on North Carolina Football

The author is a veteran college and high school football coach who now operates the http://football-freak.com website. The site offers insight, analysis, and coaching tips on a variety of topics and is geared toward the youth, junior high, high school, and foreign coach. Go to http://football-freak.com to sign up for the monthly newsletter and become a member today.

Unlimited Thought Electromagnetically Induced - Hyper Mental Agility, What's It Worth, Your Mind?

As someone who runs a think tank which happens to operate online, I put a lot of thought into the category of thinking itself. What is it for instance which allows some people to be more creative than others and solve problems, and what is it that allows some people to have almost an infallible memory to the point of having savant tendencies? The human mind is incredible, and yet, what if we can improve on this biological wonder, and give the human brain more energy, energy which it doesn't have to create from within? What if we could slightly boost it, without overheating it? Okay so, let's talk about this for a moment, because I'm not the only one asking this question.

It turns out that there are many people working on this problem, for a variety of reasons - for instance to increase the uptake in learning, rote memorization, and increase the speed of training. In fact, there was an interesting article on the MIT Mim's Blog titled; "DIY Kit Overclocks Your Brain With Direct Current - Transcranial direct current stimulation works, and you can try it at home," by Christopher Mims posted on March 8, 2012 which took me aback. The article stated;

Nfl 2012

"DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. The long-term effects of TDCS are unknown, and if you mess up and put orders of magnitude more current through your brain than is typically used in TDCS, obviously, you could kill yourself."

Scared yet, well, I am and definitely hear what Chris is saying here, and the neuroscientist at GoFlow did admit the safety concern, but there are also advantages too. GoFlow, the company creating this device stated; "Air Force researchers were delighted recently to learn that they could cut [the time required to train drone pilots] in half by delivering a mild electrical current (two milliamperes of direct current for 30 minutes) to pilot's brains during training sessions on video simulators. There is also evidence that TDSC can induce the state of creative nirvana known as the flow."

Okay so, they did mention safety concerns, and I agree with the skeptical issues and safety concerns, so it's wise that they are addressing this as they proceed. I see unlimited applications. And bet someday battery operated devices like this maybe in football helmets in the NFL, racing helmets in NASCAR, attack pilot helmets, as well as being worn by writers, thinkers, scientists, and even politicians while debating under their hairline or pointed at them with a direct energy beam source.

Still, I wonder how many of us would actually be willing to try it without knowing the long-term effects. We do know that increased microwave frequencies from cell phones can cause brain damage, but under low doses there seems to be a positive effect in cognitive function. Right, noticed I use the words; "seems to be," and nevertheless, this line of inquiry is intriguing, and worthy of our attention. Indeed, that is all for now, but I surely hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

Unlimited Thought Electromagnetically Induced - Hyper Mental Agility, What's It Worth, Your Mind?

Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on Innovation in America. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net

Ticket Broker Considerations in Setting Prices

Ok, you want to surprise that special someone and score tickets to their favorite band for your anniversary. You search Google for tickets to the show. A bunch of ticket broker websites appear on the first page. All claiming to have the seats to the concert. You click one and find the concert and date to score the tickets. Holy S@3%!! the lowest cost ticket is 0 and that's not even a good seat in your opinion. How can this be? Simple Supply and Demand. Maybe that concert is Madonna's first in 10 years or U2, or Elton John's opening night at Caesars Palace. All of these concerts will have a high demand and very low supply of tickets.

Beside the economics of ticket selling what other factors play a role in the ticket broker pricing? When Elton John announced that he signed an exclusive 2 year contract with Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for his anticipated Million Dollar Piano Tour, Fan all over the world (yes World) were looking to score tickets to the event. That is a hell of a lot of fans for a limited amount of tickets. If you were lucky enough to get tickets to this event, good for you, but for most fans they were not as lucky. There were pre-sales for the concert prior to the event going on sale to the public and those brokers (mostly) scooped up a gigantic amount of seats. These tickets ranged from 0-250 "Face Value". Tickets were listed on every Secondary Market Website immediately after being bought even though the concert was 7 months away and the public sale had not started. Tickets were listed at 0-00 per seat on the public sale date and tickets sold FAST in the first week. Tickets sales slowed down as weeks went by. Ticket prices will remain steady for the months ahead until the event approaches at which time the prices will start to decrease somewhat. One caveat; prices will spike a couple weeks before the event, and decrease only within a day or two before the event.

Super Bowl 2012

Top 3 Considerations:

Price Point #1: Supply and Demand for an event plays the biggest role in ticket broker pricing.

Price Point #2: Prices are highest right after a public sale begins.

Price Point #3: Prices remain steady until a week or two before an event when a spike in the price can be noticed, prices only start to be lowered a day or two before the event.

Other consideration:

Price Points #4: The day of the event matters. Saturday events are the best sellers thus highest priced, followed by Sunday, Friday and moving backwards towards Monday.

Price Point #5: is the event a Rival? i.e Redsox vs Yankees, Celtics vs Lakers

Price Point #6: Is it extraordinary? This mean is it one of a kind, Professional All Star games and playoffs; Super Bowl; a New Stadium for the Florida Marlins in 2012.

Final thoughts about ticket pricing.

Brokers know that fans will be fanatical about their chosen events, whether its sports, concerts, theater or whatever one fancies and count on that enthusiasm to move inventory. I understand that many, myself included, are risk-adverse and would prefer not to wait out a brokers price cycle and just get the ticket NOW and not risk losing that perfect seat location, but for those who are patience deals can be found. What is the saying? Patience is a virtue, it can be true in buying tickets too.

Ticket Broker Considerations in Setting Prices

Steve
http://www.HeadlineTicketsNow.com