Great Inventions That Changed The World by James Wei - Book review

Great Inventions that Changed the World

By: James Wei, Ph.D.

Published: July 24, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 360 pages
ISBN-10: 0470768177
ISBN-13: 978-0470768174
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.













"The greatest inventions make dramatic breakthroughs, and open new eras in human history", writes educator, multiple patent holder former Dean of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Princeton University, James Wei, Ph.D., in his fascinating and comprehensive book Great Inventions that Changed the World. The author describes the most important human inventions that altered the entire course of history, and how inventions not only solved critical problems but also presented some new challenges for humanity.

James Wei recognizes the epochal importance of a revolutionary invention on the transformation of the world and the lives of all people. The author guides the reader on an exciting human journey of discovery and creation that spans millions of years. From the invention of the stone axe which had a profound impact on human evolution itself, to the discovery of fire making that facilitated the spread of people to all corners of the planet, to our post industrial computer and online world, inventions have aided and created fundamental changes in how people live and work. James Wei provides a complete overview of the inventions that rebuilt the world, and the inventors who made those seminal discoveries. At the same time, James Wei examines the fresh set of problems that accompanied the very innovations that enhanced the lives of so many people.

James Wei (photo left) understands the importance of innovation and inventions to the world as a whole. In the book, the author describes the truly landmark inventions and discoveries that changed society and the lives of people forever. Basing the impetus for innovation on basic human needs and wants, James Wei presents these basic driving forces as the historical and modern incentive to innovate constantly, and to create ever more inventions and new discoveries.

James Wei breaks the book down into sections that places these very human necessities and desires into a long term perspective. The author shows both the benefits of each great invention, as well as providing insights into the perils and problems associated with each new advancement. The sections of the book, categorized on needs and wants, are as follows:

* Work inventions
* Domestic life: Food, clothing, and housing
* Health and reproduction
* Security
* Transportation
* Information
* The good life
* Future challenges

For me, the power of the book is James Wei combines his own engineering and inventor based insights, with a long historical perspective, on the fundamental and world changing importance of the major inventions discussed in the book. The author presents the most important discoveries in a logical order, based on the category of human essentials or wants that they solve or enhance. James Wei utilizes his engineering and inventive skills to good use as he offers his deep insights into the inventive process, and the considerations given when seeking out a problem solving innovation.

The author offers a balanced approach to the subject matter as well. Far from being a simple hagiography of the innovators and their creations, James Wei takes a critical examination of the fresh problems and challenges that are posed by each new invention. Each of the innovations carries with it a dark side, and James Wei doesn't dismiss that characteristic out of hand. Indeed, he embraces that new challenge as an opportunity for fresh insights and innovations.

I highly recommend the very accessible and thought provoking book Great Inventions that Changed the World by James Wei, Ph.D., to any business leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, history and technology enthusiasts, engineers, and students of history, technology, and engineering disciplines seeking a clear and engaging guide to the triumphs and challenges of the greatest inventions of all time. This book will also introduce the readers to some of the most creative innovators and problem solvers through the ages in a logical and readily understood format.

Lesson From Darby, The Yorkshire Terrier

by Ron Rutherford

It was over 14 years ago that I held my family’s Yorkshire Terrier within the palm of my ten-year-old hand.

From that point on, Darby was a member of our family.

Even though her contribution came from her seemingly petite five pound frame, her impact was undeniable. She passed away during the 2012 Idaho summer.


Dogs can provide emotional security and stability through the peaks and valleys of our everyday existence. 

Dogs are so faithful in their love that it becomes expected. It’s not every year that they impress. It’s not every month, nor each day. It’s every single hour, every minute.

This is the realization that hit me right in the sternum the day that Darby passed away this year. 

I think humans are inherently mesmerized by the simplicity with which dogs live by, and because of this, their importance and impact aren’t measured properly until they are gone.

The health and well-being of any pet is of utmost importance. 

With the Yorkshire Terriers, fitness and hygiene are incredibly crucial as their size makes them more susceptible to illness and injury. With Darby, we brushed her teeth every single night before bed to make sure her mouth was in good health. With her type, infections in the mouth can often be fatal as their body is too small to recover and cope properly.

We continually fed her carrots rather than traditional  treats, all in the hope of helping her push forward with a sparkling set of teeth.

We believe as a family that our efforts gave Darby the most quality journey she could have possibly had. 

I just wish in hindsight that I could have learned more from her, as I’m sure all widowed pet keepers do. Pets are a phenomenon that humans have generated through the domestication and breeding of other living beings.

Most people have good intentions and treat pets with the respect that they deserve, and this is relieving. 

Having said this, there should be no limit to the respect people pour outwardly onto their dogs. If you have a dog, walk it.  If you have a Yorkshire terrier, brush its teeth. Every single night.

They will thank you for doing so, even if it’s after they are gone.

***

Ron Rutherford is a writer with a passion for dogs and a soft spot for Thai food. He currently freelances for havahartwireless.com, which specializes in progressive and humane wireless dog fences.

Cartoon Round Up

The Commitment Engine by John Jantsch - Book review

The Commitment Engine

Making Work Worth It

By: John Jantsch

Published: October 11, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 256 pages
ISBN-10: 1591844878
ISBN-13: 978-1591844877
Publisher: Portfolio/Penguin














"A business is only alive to the extent that there is commitment", writes marketing consultant, speaker, and blogger John Jantsch, in his refreshing and purpose driven book The Commitment Engine: Making Work Worth It . The author describes the essential, but very often overlooked factor cf commitment, both within and outside the company. He shares the meaning of commitment and how to achieve a very high level of dedication on the part of both employees and customers.

John Jantsch understands that passion alone on the part of the entrepreneur, owner, or CEO is not sufficient to create commitment. That sense of commitment must be nurtured, cultivated, and spread throughout the entire company culture, customer base, and anyone who comes into contact with the company. This commitment development process takes time and patience until it becomes part of the very nature and makeup of everyone who is part of the internal or external parts of the organization. This complete immersion of commitment creates and emits a powerful sense of purpose, integrated into everything the company does, that spawns and develops loyalty from employees and customers.

John Jantsch (photo left) recognizes that the core characteristics that define a commitment oriented company exist, in varying degrees, within all companies. In a commitment engine driven business, however, the foundational building blocks form the bedrock of every decision and action taken by everyone within the organization. The factors that are most critical in the establishment of a commitment based company are clarity of strategy, organizational culture, and a widely based community that spreads far beyond the employees and customers.

John Jantsch divides his book into three overarching sections that encapsulate the core principles that comprise the commitment engine driven company. Each of the three basic pillars is further subdivided into chapters that delve more deeply into the overall concepts contained within the principles. The three foundation building blocks of a commitment driven organization are as follows:

* The Path: Clarity
* The Patron: culture
* The Promise: Community

For me, the power of the book is how John Jantsch combines his overall framework for what comprises a commitment based company, with the practical hands on strategies and techniques to make that effective organization a reality. The author outlines the principles that are essential to developing a commitment company through establishing a sense of purpose. John Jantsch provides the reasoning and guidance for achieving clarity and passion for the higher purpose of the company. The author demonstrates how that passion and sense of true purpose is propelled forward through the leadership, employees, and culture of the company.

John Jantsch offers a comprehensive examination and set of practices to create a superior customer experience that generates loyalty and an enthusiastic community far beyond the limits of employees and customers alone. To add further substance to the core principles of commitment, John Jantsch shares the stories of real world companies who have integrated the pillars of commitment successfully into their own organization.

I highly recommend the transformational and insight filled book The Commitment Engine: Making Work Worth It by John Jantsch, to any business leaders, owners, entrepreneurs, executives, and managers who are seeking a clear and concise blueprint for establishing and growing a commitment based enterprise. This book will lay the foundation for a purpose driven organization that has both an unshakeable company culture and a widely spread loyal community of passionate supporters.

Veterinary Highlights: Dogs Wanted For A Promising Dog Cancer Study

Owners of dogs with cancerous tumors can enroll their dogs in a University of Missouri study that aims to use the body's own defenses to fight cancer.

Clostridium sporogenes. Image The Purple Society

The study’s objective is to stimulate the immune system to combat cancer via the introduction of bacteria.

Introduction of low dose of bacteria into the tumor should stimulate the body to attack the tumor cells. Previous studies, including research out of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University, have shown that clostridium is the most successful bacteria because it only survives in oxygen-deficient environments — it thrives in tumors and stays out of the oxygen-rich bloodstream.

If the treatment works as hoped, the dogs will successfully fight off the cancer and also build fortified immune systems that will resist tumor growth in the future.

All breeds are eligible to participate, although larger dogs are preferred.

Types of cancer: melanoma, oral squamous cell carcinoma, soft tissue sarcoma or cutaneous carcinoma that is resectable by a regional or smaller resection.

Source article:
Promising University of Missouri cancer study needs canine participants

Further reading:
MU veterinarian seeks dogs for cancer study
Current Oncology Clinical Trials/University of Missouri 
(Evaluation of immunological and tumor defining response to an IV infusion of C. novyi-NT for the treatment of melanoma, STS or select carcinomas in dogs)
Canine Cancer Clinical Trials

Legislators Must Oppose a Carbon Tax

By Alan Caruba

One of the most disturbing pieces of news has been the way some Republicans in Congress have gone wobbly on the greatest hoax of the modern era, global warming or climate change or whatever other name is being applied to it as the effort to impose an insane tax on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is getting a push.

Let’s briefly examine the facts:

There never was any global warming if you apply Al Gore’s definition—“The Earth has a fever.” There was no dramatic increase in the Earth’s overall temperature at the end of the mini ice age that ended in 1850 after some three hundred years of significant cooling. An increase of about one degree was sufficient to produce warming.

Carbon dioxide plays NO role whatever in the increase or decrease of the Earth’s overall temperature. The single determining factor was and is the SUN. The seasons reflect the Earth’s circumnavigation of the Sun, warming in the spring and getting colder in the winter.

Carbon dioxide represents 0.033 to 0.038 percent of the Earth’s atmosphere. By contrast, nitrogen represents 78.084 percent, oxygen is 20.94 percent, argon is 0.934 percent, and trace elements represent 0.002 percent.

Carbon dioxide is not a warming gas. It is a cooling gas.

There is no “consensus” among scientists that the Earth is warming or that CO2 plays a role in this alleged, utterly false claim.

There has been no warming for some sixteen years since the Earth entered a natural cooling cycle.

Carbon dioxide is vital to all life on Earth. It is the “food” that all vegetation requires for growth. In greenhouses, CO2 is pumped in to stimulate growth. Without vegetation in the form of crops, all other life on Earth dies. Seeking to reduce CO2 emissions is an idiotic idea.

Taxing so-called greenhouse gas emissions was originally a scheme to enrich those selling “credits” to do so in various exchanges, many of which have since ceased to operate. The carbon tax has a lot of appeal to a dead broke U.S. government. Raising tax rates and revenues allows the government to continue ignoring the larger problem of debt.

What happens when government entities, federal and states, get more income? In general they waste it. Or they allocate it to pay for the benefits, pensions, and healthcare of civil service union employees. Most such obligations are under-funded these days due to their size.

One of the most famous lobbyists against raising taxes, Grover Norquist, a man who has bound Republican lawmakers in Congress to a pledge against draining more money out of the economy, was required to deny reports in the National Journal that he advocated a “carbon tax swap.”. Meanwhile, the Competitive Enterprise Institute has sued the Treasury Department for failure to be more transparent about any deliberations it has engaged in regarding a carbon tax.

If Republicans allow the door to “climate change” to crack open, this utterly baseless tax will be on its way to being law and, like the income tax, will grow to such proportions that it will suck the life out of the nation’s economy, if there is an economy.

It has no basis in science and even a simple understanding of economics and history tells us that it is one of the worst ideas ever put forth. In a recession, you lower taxes, not increase them in order to get more money circulating. In a recession you find ways to encourage job creation, investment, and saving.

On November 13^th The Institute for Energy Research released a study that demonstrates the many ways a carbon tax is plagued by theoretical and practical problems. “Conservative proponents of the free market, of all analysts, should be wary indeed of any plan to introduce a new carbon tax in the name of promoting economic growth,” warned IER Senior Economist Robert P. Murphy.

Simply put, “The U.S. government, acting unilaterally, cannot significantly slow global carbon dioxide emissions.” Other nations will continue to rely on coal-fired utilities to produce the electricity they need to maintain and expand their economies. China is a major factor as is India and all others. Only France that relies on nuclear energy would be exempt.

Moreover “Federal and state governments already have in place many policies that discourage carbon-intensive activities and encourage alternatives such as gasoline taxes, CAFÉ standards, renewable energy mandates.” None of these incentives combined have had any significant impact on reducing CO2 and none of them make the least sense at all. Renewable energy is the most inefficient, impractical and unreliable forms of energy production.

California has just introduced the first tax on emissions and California has been bleeding citizens, industries and businesses for years as life there becomes economically unsustainable.

So, one can only pray that conservative legislators do not fall prey to the desperation and depression that has followed the reelection of President Obama who has been speaking, as usual, out of both sides of his month about climate change.

The climate changes. It has for 4.5 billion years. Humans, a relatively new species on Earth, do not have any control over the climate which is measured in centuries or the weather which cannot be accurately predicted more than two weeks to a month in advance.

Doing anything about “global warming” is the equivalent of Indian rain dances. It may make people feel that they are influencing the climate, but all they are doing is dancing in a circle to the sound of drums.

© Alan Caruba, 2012

Painted Pretzel

The Painted Pretzel on Shark Tank

Painted Pretzel from Season 3, Episode 302

Aired 2/24/2012 - Rerun 11/30/2012

Raven Thomas Owner of the Painted Pretzel Co.

If your looking for that perfect tasty gift for the Holidays, look no further, you still have time to order from the Painted Pretzel Factory. When Raven Thomas came into the Shark Tank it was one of the fastest taping's ever done by any contestant. Thomas was quick to get the Painted Pretzel into the mouths of the Sharks before they ever had a chance to take a bite out of her company. After a small sample of her very delicious treat it was a no brainier that Thomas was going to make a deal.

 

 Whatever it is by combining a pretzel with chocolate that makes them so good I'm not exactly sure. What I am sure is that Raven Thomas has perfected this creation

Read More Here-->>>

Brian Dietmeyer: Poet and Warrior - Blog Business Success Radio

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio

Business consultant, founder of Think! Inc., and author of the deeply personal and contemplative book Poet and Warrior - Balancing your spirit and professional destiny: A human guide for new and aspiring entrepreneurs, Brian Dietmeyer describes how to blend best of the spiritual revolution with the best of the material revolution to establish a successful and meaningful business. Brian Dietmeyer insights into why people become entrepreneurs, and how they are seeking something beyond what the corporate life has to offer. Instead of providing a simple how to guide to building a profitable company, Brian shares the meaning and philosophy of the entrepreneurial journey, Brian shares why it's important to establish your own definition of success, and rid yourself of externally imposed measures that may not be right for you. Brian offers the idea that as an entrepreneur, you are the business, and why and how to align your spiritual goals with your business goals.

Brian Dietmeyer is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Thursday, November 29, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Business consultant, founder of Think! Inc., and author of the deeply personal and contemplative book Poet and Warrior - Balancing your spirit and professional destiny: A human guide for new and aspiring entrepreneurs, Brian Dietmeyer describes how to blend best of the spiritual revolution with the best of the material revolution to establish a successful and meaningful business. You will learn:

* Why clarity of vision and purpose is important for entrepreneurs

* How to treat success and failure in the same way

* How to define your own version of success that is truly your own

* How to establish entrepreneurship as you own heroic journey

Brian J. Dietmeyer (photo left) is a 20+ year veteran of sales, marketing and strategic planning. As Vice President with Marriott International, he led the National Account, Territory Management, Telemarketing and Teleconferencing Sales Forces. He’s a frequent public speaker and had published articles on Negotiations, Marketing Research, Business to Business Relationships and Adding Value. Mr. Dietmeyer is the author of two books: Strategic Negotiation and B2B Street Fighting - Next Generation Business-to-Business Negotiation.

Brian has been VP of Marketing on the Board of Directors for National Account Management Association and was the Chairman of the MPI Education Foundation Board. He completed his undergraduate studies at DePaul University with a degree in Liberal Arts. He holds a Masters Degree in Management from The JL Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and he’s a graduate of the Executive Development Program at the Aspen Institute/University of Maryland. He is also a certified Sales Trainer.

My book review of Poet and Warrior - Balancing your spirit and professional destiny: A human guide for new and aspiring entrepreneurs by Brian Dietmeyer.

My book review of B2B Street Fighting - Next Generation Business-to-Business Negotiation by Brian j. Dietmeyer.

Listen live on Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.



If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.



To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with business consultant, founder of Think! Inc., and author of the deeply personal and contemplative book Poet and Warrior - Balancing your spirit and professional destiny: A human guide for new and aspiring entrepreneurs, Brian Dietmeyer describes how to blend best of the spiritual revolution with the best of the material revolution to establish a successful and meaningful business. Brian Dietmeyer insights into why people become entrepreneurs, and how they are seeking something beyond what the corporate life has to offer. Instead of providing a simple how to guide to building a profitable company, Brian shares the meaning and philosophy of the entrepreneurial journey, Brian shares why it's important to establish your own definition of success, and rid yourself of externally imposed measures that may not be right for you. Brian offers the idea that as an entrepreneur, you are the business, and why and how to align your spiritual goals with your business goals on Blog Business Success Radio.

Poet and Warrior by Brian Dietmeyer - Book review

Poet and Warrior - Balancing your spirit and professional destiny

A human guide for new and aspiring entrepreneurs

By: Brian Dietmeyer

Published: August 13, 2012
Format: Paperback, 104 pages
ISBN-10: 0985898704
ISBN-13: 978-0985898700
Publisher: Think! Inc.








"This book is intended to be both a business and human manual for moving from thinking about starting your own business to actually doing it", writes entrepreneur and and co-founder of Think! Inc., Brian Dietmeyer, in his deeply personal and contemplative book Poet and Warrior - Balancing your spirit and professional destiny: A human guide for new and aspiring entrepreneurs. The author describes both his own personal journey into entrepreneurship, but shares the common motivations, vision, challenges, and need for balance that is part of every business owner's individual path.

Brian Dietmeyer recognizes that the desire to start and manage one's own company is a deeply seated cultural goal. That same intended meeting with personal destiny is also a leap of faith into the unknown, fraught with challenges and obstacles, both internal and external to the would be entrepreneur. Through the offering of his own personal transition from corporate employee to business owner, Brian Dietmeyer provides important insights into why people take the entrepreneurial plunge, how they avoid external measurements of success that are not in alignment with their own vision, and how that vision becomes a reality through the viewing of the world through fresh eyes as both a poet and a warrior.

Brian Dietmeyer (photo left) understands that entrepreneurs require some ideas and philosophy about what he considers the soft side of entrepreneurship. Far away from the business and marketing plans, spreadsheets, and accounts, the author offers the opportunity for entrepreneurs to ask themselves what will make them personally successful in their own lives. Combining aspects of spiritualism and materialism, into the persona of the poet and the warrior, Brian Dietmeyer invites would be and current entrepreneurs to assess their own personal vision of their ideal life of success.

Brian Dietmeyer presents a complete guide to that very personal and individual entrepreneurial journey. He invites business owners to consider the following aspects of their own vision, actions, and clarity of purpose:

* Who am I to leave a perfectly wonderful life?
* The end is where we start from
* Detox: Purging ourselves of artificial success measurements
* You want to own it...it owns you
* I never take vacations and I don't take weekends off
* Wise choices: Decisions aligned to your own version of success
* It's time to get a Ph.D.
* Poet and warrior
* Meeting triumph and disaster and treating both imposters the same
* Sure, it's easy for you...I didn't sleep last night
* Loving kindness builds profit and brand equity
* Tie it all together
* Heroes

For me, the power of the book is how Brian Dietmeyer goes beyond both the standard personal development and how to run a business books, and takes a more philosophical perspective of the entrepreneurial journey. Utilizing his own business story, and those of other successful entrepreneurs, the author offers an alternative approach to really understanding and recognizing your own personal entrepreneurial vision. That vision is unique to each business owner, and as a result, that clarity of purpose and definition of success must be worked out by each and every entrepreneur.

Brian Dietmeyer doesn't provide his readers with the nuts and bolts aspects of starting and running a company. Instead, the author focuses on the inner life of the entrepreneur, and guides the person to find their own true path. To achieve success, the person must maintain a balance in their lives and business approach, presented in the metaphor of the poet and the warrior, creating a sense of calm and stress free life.

I highly recommend the clarity of vision oriented book Poet and Warrior - Balancing your spirit and professional destiny: A human guide for new and aspiring entrepreneurs by Brian Dietmeyer, to any would be and current entrepreneurs who are seeking guidance in focusing on aligning their personal business vision with their own concept of what success means to them. This book will help the business owner find their own inner poet and warrior, and develop personal balance on their own heroic business journey.

Itching For A Diagnosis

by Dr. Robert Foley, DVM

Sometimes I like to surprise people by asking them, as soon as they walk in the room, before they have even had a chance to introduce themselves, something like,

“What’s Max here for today, an ear infection?"

Image Simon Winbles

The nice thing about dermatology is that dogs are literally coming in wearing their clinical signs. I particularly liked studying dermatology at school. While  I did read Miller and Scotts cover to cover (over 1000 pages),  I was more fortunate to attend lectures by both of these authors. These two lecturers (one of them who only wore tie dye shirts, shorts, and Birkenstocks) had a way of cutting through a lot of dense material and focused more on the approach to the veterinary patient. Their textbook, after all, would always be available for reference.

What was important was to look at your patient, get an accurate history, diagnose and treat infections, and to perform the right diagnostics.

Some of the lessons that they taught me are actually quite intuitive, and I can pass these on to you, the reader.

The first thing to note is how old is your patient.  

Young dogs (< 6 months) tend to have either food allergy or parasites (scabies, ear mites, Cheyletiella etc.).

Slightly older dogs (1-3 onset of development ) presenting itchy for the first time tend to be atopic (allergic to things inhaled such as dust mites, pollens, weeds etc.). 

Very old dogs presenting with severe skin problems are often trying to tell us that they are systemically ill with something else (like cancer or endocrine problems).

Also important is the distribution of the lesions.  

Dogs with inhalant allergens, for example, are often itchy in one or all of these three places:  the face (including the ears), the armpit, and the feet. Dogs with flea hypersensitivity chew around the base of their back near the tail, the tail, and under the tail. Often times these dogs will present with hotspots. Food allergic dogs can itch anywhere on the body and can mimic other diseases. 

Pruritic (itchy) and also repetitively infected ears are common but not exclusive for food allergy.  

They will often have itching around the anus mimicking anal gland problems. Dogs with scabies tend to have crusty, extremely itchy lesions around the ear tips and elbows. Greater than 90% of these will kick up their feet when you rub the ear tip between your fingers!

We also need to consider breed.  

Labrador Retrievers, for example, are overly represented when it comes to food allergy. Wheaton Terriers, Bull Terriers (all pits), Jack Russell Terriers are a few breeds that are documented to suffer from inhalant allergy.  Brachycephalic breeds (dogs with pushed in faces like Bulldogs ) often suffer from infections and itches in areas that other dogs don’t have, e.g. skin folds. Cocker Spaniels and others suffer from primary seborrhea (scaling and itching for no other reason other than they’re Cocker Spaniels).

Infections are common and can present either as primary causes of itching or can be present secondarily,  from the animal scratching and damaging his skin barrier, making him more susceptible to infection.  

In the latter instance not treating the secondary infections can hinder your ability to rectify and/or control the primary problem of itching. For example, steroids are often used to control outbreaks of  itching from allergy. Their use however can make clearing infections more difficult as steroids can suppress the immune response.  Thus we are left wondering why the patient is still itching even though we have given steroids.

The infection is still present or a new infection has developed.  

This is why when people call and say, “Hey can I get the steroids that helped my dog last year for his allergies, we often say no (or at least plead our case to the owner). Cytology is necessary to document what infections are present,  and how they need to be treated.

A veterinarian that does not know how to, or does not routinely perform cytology (from scrapings, swabs, and smears) is not worth her salt.

Taking a proper history is crucial.  

When did the animal first become itchy? (Cf. some age of onset examples above.)  Are there any other pets in the house?  Are those pets also itchy or are you itchy (signs of parasites)?  Are any other signs present like increased or decreased appetite, increased thirst (signs of underlying primary metabolic disease)? Are the problems seasonal or all year round?  (Food allergy symptoms , if the same food is fed all year, should be year round, for example).

Then there are just little pearls of knowledge which help.  

For example, most people, when I first discuss food allergy say, “Well he’s been on his same food his whole life”.  An allergen has to be developed however.  It is chronic exposure that leads to a hypersensitivity.

The first time you get stung by a bee it hurts, the second time it swells, the third time you are getting the epi-pen in the Emergency room…).   

Another common misconception by pet owners, and we are seeing that right now, is that flea allergy is a summer problem when it is in fact much more prevalent and severe towards the end of the season in the late fall.

Ultimately, as is usually the case, Angryvet readers and South Bellmore Veterinary Group and East Meadow Veterinary Clinic patients, are encouraged to help with the diagnosis (by giving an accurate history) and paying attention to what is working when we are treating the problem.

Unfortunately, many skin problems become recurrent, sometimes lifelong.  

Attentive clients can head off a lot of bad outbreaks by early intervention. I am a phone call away.  Often times patients can be diagnosed by the phone or treated with brief rechecks. There is a lot that the owner can do at home (baths,grooming,  feeding etc.) to help manage their pets condition long-term. Once again, the relationship between Dr., patient, and pet owner is crucial.

***

Angry Vet's blog offers objective opinions on many controversial topics often not readily available from your local veterinarian. This includes health concerns with over-vaccination, spaying and neutering controversy, and nutritional issues.

Dr. Robert Foley and Dr. Michael Ferber, founders of Angry Vet blog, are raising questions about the general recommendations that veterinarians are taught to give to their patients. Why do veterinarians vaccinate so much? Why they recommend spaying and neutering as a dogma, and as the only option? Is an intact animal actually healthier? Why are certain diseases so prevalent in our pets? Why is "people food" unhealthy for our pets but processed dog or cat foods superior?

Are you asking the same questions? And if you're not, should you? Check out  Angry Vet blog or connect with them on Facebook or Twitter.

Articles by Dr. Foley: 
Really Angry Vet: Winston's First Seizure  
Ruptured Cruciate Ligaments And Early Spay And Neuter  

The Middle East Minefield

By Alan Caruba

I often wonder whether Americans really care about the outcome of events as regards Israel. I know that a segment of American Jews are concerned and that evangelical Christians may care even more.

I can’t escape the feeling, though, that other than the horror of an Iranian nuclear missile blowing up Israel and killing its citizens (both Jewish and Muslim), that most Americans are not that committed to its survival. I suspect that most Europeans are even less committed.

 

I cite Israel because of the hostility of all others in the Middle East, but they may not be as hostile as things appear. Israel is a major deterrent to Iran’s ambitions.

Things are never what they seem in the Middle East.

 A recent article in CanadaFreePress.com by Doug Hagmann suggests that the Benghazi affair that the Obama administration is trying to get passed actually masks a major arms movement from Libya to the Syrian rebels in order to overthrow its dictator, Bashar Assad. Hagmann asserts that it was a CIA operation, not a diplomatic one, and what was attacked was not a consulate, but rather a site for the storage and transmittal of weapons. The attack was an effort to disrupt it by those seeking to keep Assad in power, both Russia and Iran.

The major actors in this are the U.S., Turkey, and Egypt. The main benefactor would be Saudi Arabia whose oil fields are within the range of Iranian missiles. The Russians are part of the picture because they do not want to lose a key Syrian port for its naval ships, but Russia, too, is a major oil producer and anything that might harm its interests is seen as a bonus.

After 9/11 when the Twin Towers and the Pentagon were attacked Americans supported an energetic response, but after George W. Bush committed troops to Afghanistan and Iraq it wasn’t long before Americans decided it was a bad idea. Too many memories of Vietnam along with too much cost in blood and treasure took the edge off of the reprisal in Afghanistan or the deposing of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. Iraq is an oil producer as well, but is now allied with the Iranians where its president found sanctuary during Saddam Hussein’s reign of terror.

Leon Trotsky, an associate of Stalin, once said, “You might not be interested in war, but war may be interested in you.” Wars occur in various ways, deliberate and accidental, but it is the latter that would seem the case these days in a Middle East where Hamas engaged in a lengthy barrage of rockets and then acted surprised that Israel responded, killing a number of their top people and inflicting a lot of damage in Gaza.

Hamas was acting under the orders from Iran. The president of Egypt, Mohamed Morsi, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, brokered a cease fire deal, but also decided he wants to be the next dictator of Egypt. Who saw that coming? The Egyptians had risked life and limb in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to depose Hosni Mubarack and then turned around and voted Morsi into office.

What were they thinking? Why didn’t they embrace a more secular leader? The answer is that Islam is everything in the Middle East. Muslims cannot change and it is foolish to think they will. If you loved the seventh century, you will love the Middle East.

Egypt is important to the U.S. What happens there determines much of the direction the Middle East takes. That explains why the Obama administration wants to forgive a billion in debt and to throw another billion or more at Morsi by way of enlisting him to act as a counter weight to Hamas. On Nov 24 Iranian president Mahmud Ahmadinejad was on the phone to Hamas’s Ismail Haniya and with Jihad Islami leaders to assure them they would be receiving munitions to refill their arsenals.

Reportedly, Obama has agreed to send U.S. troops to Egypt’s Sinai to interdict the arms smuggling routes through the desert to Gaza. Indeed, it was this offer that is said to have gotten Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu to back off a ground invasion, but in this three dimensional game of chess, Israel, Egypt, and Turkey are all working with the U.S.

The U.S. Navy has been busy throughout the brief conflict and earlier. For years it has taken up permanent residency off the coast of Iran and in the Persian Gulf. Other elements are presently positioned off the coast of Syria where their Russian counterparts can also be found.

Bashar Assad has made Turkey very nervous. Moscow, Tehran, and Damascus want to keep him alive. Turkey borders Syria, Iraq, and Iran, and is in proximity of Russia, bordering Georgia. It has its hands full just tending to the thousands of Syrians that have fled there. The U.S. is providing Turkey with Patriot missiles and AWACs, manned by U.S. military, and that could become yet another flashpoint.

None of the nations involved want a really big war to break out.

The wild card is Israel whose very existence is threatened by Iran. The U.S. is doing what it can to avoid that. So far the cooperation is working. If Iran announces it has nuclear weapons or Israeli intelligence determines that's the case, all bets are off.

The major beneficiary of all of this is Saudi Arabia and, as the leader of the majority Sunni Muslims worldwide, it has no love for Shiite Iran. In effect the U.S. intelligence capabilities and its military have become its mercenary army, eliminating Saddam Hussein, standing aside when Mubarak and Gaddafi fell and now working to eliminate Bashar Assad.

 

The U.S. doesn't mind working with dictators, so long as they are "our" dictators, friendly to our interests.

© Alan Caruba, 2012

Shemie Update

The Shemie by Shelton Wilder

It's been just over a month since we saw Shelton Wilder come strolling in the Shark Tank with her invention the Shemie. When she started her pitch  I was certain she would get a deal with at least one Shark. If for anything else, for her enthusiasm towards her product and the fact that she got Lori Greiner to admit that she too would wear a Shemie. Unfortunately things got a little emotional and maybe off track as the Sharks pressured her into talking about some things she was not prepared to talk about. In the end she was not able to make a deal with the Sharks.

 

This isn't the Shark Tank Failure Blog 

 This is the Shark Tank Success Blog!

Read More Here-->>>

The Facts of Business Life by Bill McBean - Book review

The Facts of Business Life

What Every Successful Business Owner Knows that You Don't

By: Bill McBean

Published: October 9, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 336 pages
ISBN-10: 1118094964
ISBN-13: 978-1118094969
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.











"Just as there are facts of life that affect us on a personal level, there are facts of life that affect us as businesspeople, and business owners who ignore them are essentially setting their businesses up for failure rather than success", writes successful entrepreneur Bill McBean, in his comprehensive and real world experience based book The Facts of Business Life: What Every Successful Business Owner Knows that You Don't. The author describes how a business owner not only must be very competent in many different areas of business, but also understand the life cycle of a business, and how to adapt effectively to those inevitable changes.

Bill McBean recognizes that the successful business person demonstrates ability in all areas of the business. Since each of these parts of the business are interrelated, and depend upon one another, weakness in any of the areas can spell disaster for the company. Te author identifies seven areas that every business owner, whether in a start up business or a well established company, must understand and master. Bill McBean provides evidence the the seven overall concepts that successful business people know are easily implemented, easy for employees to learn and put into practice, the better the principles are understood, the better the odds of business success, that the concepts work as a team and create a solid business foundation, and that they produce real results as planned and expected for the company.

Bill McBean (photo left) understands that understanding the long term nature of a business, and how it evolves through various stages of development is critical to the success of the company. An astute business person must be able to adapt to those changes and meet the fresh challenges that arise with each new business phase. As a business evolves, it moves through five levels of business success. Each of these stages is not linear, despite their progression from one level to the next. The five levels are as follows:

* Level one: Ownership and opportunity
* Level two: Creating your company's DNA
* Level three: From survival to success
* Level four: Maintaining success
* Level five: Moving on when it's time to go

Bill McBean shares the seven important facts of business life that contain each of the five levels within them. The seven facts of business life are"

* If you don't lead, no one will follow
* If you don't control it, you don't own it
* Protecting your company's assets should be your first priority
* Planning is about preparing for the future, not predicting it
* If you don't market your business, you won't have one
* The marketplace is a war zone
* You don't just have to know the business you're in, you have to know business

For me, the power of the book is how Bill McBean provides a complete and readily understood blueprint for establishing and growing a successful business through all of its levels and stages. The author shares the crucial insight of the business life cycle, and the different challenges and opportunities that result from the transition from one stage to the next. Bill McBean shares the strategies and techniques for navigating these stages successfully, and for avoiding the mistakes and pitfalls that await the business person who fails to adapt to those ongoing changes.

The book is a very detailed road map, that explains the twists, turns, and course corrections that are essential at each stage of the business. Each of the chapters is self contained, and can be read in any order, and referred to later when each new phase of the evolution is identified for implementing the appropriate action. The author takes a holistic approach to operating a business, and explains carefully how each stage and fact of life is part of an integrated and mutually supporting whole.

I highly recommend the very practical and successful results oriented book The Facts of Business Life: What Every Successful Business Owner Knows that You Don't by Bill McBean, to any business person, regardless of whether they are new to business or have years of experience, and whether the company is a start up venture or an established organization. This book contains so much valuable advice and real world tested wisdom, that it is a must read for anyone with any connection to business who seeks critical insights into how a business is really operated successfully.

Tackling The Veterinary Terminology: Suffixes (-osis)

Remember the Spelling Bee? Big words are easier to tackle when you understand how they're put together. Veterinary terms are composed in the same way. Just like with other words, the main parts of a veterinary term are a prefix, a root, and a suffix. The difference is that they typically come more directly from Greek or Latin.

The suffix is the bit that will tell you about what procedure, condition, disease or disorder you're dealing with. Well, usually ...

-osis [əʊsɪs] from Greek - condition, process, increase

This  covers quite a broad range of possibilities! The way I understand it, the suffix -osis typically indicates the presence of something that doesn't belong.

However, it also means process.

Apoptosis and necrosis are medical terms that clearly describe a process.
Both these terms stand for cell death, the process of cell destruction. However, apoptosis means programmed cell death, which has to do with normal cell turnover, while necrosis is cell death and breakdown caused by injury or disease. The first one does belong, the other one does not.

As for the actual disease conditions, their meanings and severity vary.

For example, halitosis is just a fancy word for bad breath (talking about something that doesn't belong!). While on its own it merely describes the condition, the cause behind it remains unclear and must be diagnosed. The most common cause of halitosis is dental disease. However, there are other possible causes, such as gastrointestinal, respiratory or autoimmune diseases; metabolic disorders; oral cancer; and more.

Dermatosis is pretty vague and really just means any disorder affecting the skin. An example would be vesiculopustular dermatoses, in other words skin blisters filled with serum or pus. Again, determining the cause behind the symptoms is crucial for treatment.

What would, btw, be the difference between a dermatitis and dermatosis?

Dermatitis stands for inflammation of the skin. Dermatosis stands for abnormal skin condition of any kind, whether there is inflammation or not. So if your dog's skin turned green color but had no associated inflammation, it would be dermatosis. Demodectic mange, without the secondary bacterial infection, skin lesions associated with hormonal imbalances, seborrhea, these would all fall under dermatosis but are not dermatitis.

Acidosis stands for excess acidity in the blood. Examples would be metabolic acidosis and ketoacidosis, a complication of diabetes.

To my mind, these are all examples of a lot of something that doesn't belong.

Cirrhosis of the liver is a condition in which normal liver tissue is replaced by scar tissue, which, of course, cannot perform the same functions. This is a perfect example of the suffix's definition—it is a process of infiltration by something that doesn't belong.

Causes, again, are many and figuring them out is ever-important.

It's starting to make sense why diagnosis is a process, isn't it?

Some other examples would be spondylosis (bony growths where they don't belong), thrombosis (blood clots forming where they don’t belong), leukocytosis (overproduction of white blood cells) and so on.

Some of the terms ending with -osis have to do with infections.

For instance, ehrlichiosis (tick transmitted bacterial infection) or mycosis (diseases caused by fungi)… these organisms definitely don’t “belong” in a dog’s body.  The names of many other infectious diseases actually end with -iasis, which we'll cover next time.

***

Related articles:
Veterinary Suffixes (-itis)
Veterinary Suffixes (-oma) 
Veterinary Suffixes (-pathy) 

The U.S. is Blocking Energy Wealth and Jobs

By Alan Caruba

What if I told you that the government was blocking America’s prosperity in the form of enormous untapped energy reserves that represent wealth and jobs that would once again put America on the path to fiscal security and growth?

Recently, Matt Vespa, on CNS.com reported that the International Energy Agency released a report that said the United States has the capacity to outpace Saudi Arabia as one of the world’s leading producers of oil. It projected that the U.S. could become a net oil exporter around 2020. It could become entirely self-sufficient.

Even so, the Obama administration just moved to cordon off 1.6 million acres estimated to represent one trillion barrels worth of oil in the name of conservation. At the same time, the Environmental Protection Agency is moving to so encumber hydraulic fracturing—fracking—with so many regulations it will thwart increased use of this extraction technology that has been safely in use for decades.

As Dan Kish, Senior Vice President for Policy at the Institute for Energy Research, warns, there is a major government effort “to federalize hydraulic fracturing regulation” which is already being done by states “in a very professional and knowledgeable way. Take fracking away, the oil and gas production drops.”

For years, through many administrations, the federal government has been doing everything in its power to restrict drilling domestically and off-shore where billions of barrels of oil remains untapped. In October, a Wall Street Journal editorial noted that “The latest example is the Interior Department’s little-noticed August decision to close off from drilling nearly half of the 23.5 million acre National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.”

As far back as 1976, Congress designated the Reserve a strategic oil and gas stockpile to meet the “energy needs of the nation”, but oil and gas that is not extracted meets no needs. It keeps the nation dependent on imported oil and gas. In an August 22 letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar from the entire Alaska delegation in Congress called it “the largest wholesale land withdrawal and blocking of access to an energy resource by the federal government in decades.”

Noting that “Most of the other 11.5 million acres are almost indistinguishable from the acreage owned by the state that is being drilled safely nearby” the Journal pointed out that drilling on privately owned land has seen North Dakota pass Alaska as the second highest oil-producing state behind Texas.”

According to the Congressional Research Service, “The federal government owns roughly 635-640 million acres of the land in the United States. Four agencies administer 609 million acres of this land; the Forest Service in the Department of Agriculture, and the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Fish and Wildlife Service, all in the Department of the Interior.” The Bureau of Land Management manages 248 million acres and is responsible for 700 million acres of subsurface mineral resources.

Mostly by stealth, more and more privately owned land is being purchased by the federal government. In September 2011, Audrey Hudson, writing for Human Events, reported that “The Obama administration is spending $35 million to buy 30,000 acres of private property across the U.S. this year to make permanent homes for mice, fairy shrimp, mussels, prairie bushes and beetles. Those are just some of the 70 critters and plants to benefit from the land purchases in a dozen states as part of the government’s habitat conservation plans for endangered species.”

Quoting Rob Gordon of The Heritage Foundation, Hudson reported that “The federal government already owns more land than Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, and Poland combined.” The Endangered Species Act is just an excuse to secure ownership of more land and, in particular, to restrict development of every description from housing to hospitals.

Instead of a future in which our oil and gas reserves could unleash all manner of economic growth and the generation of thousands of new jobs, Ben Wolfgang, reporting in the November 22 edition of The Washington Times, “The drilling process that has brought the U.S. energy independence within reach faces renewed scrutiny from the Obama administration and an uncertain future in many states.”

“Next month, the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to release a draft of its long-awaited report on suspected links between water pollution and fracking, which uses huge amounts of water, combined with sand and chemical mixtures, to crack underground rock and release trapped oil and gas.” Fracking, however, occurs well below underground water levels and has been shown to have no effect on it.

What we are witnessing is the deliberate effort by the Obama administration, in concert with earlier administrations, to deny the economic benefit of tapping the nation’s vast reserves of oil and gas domestically and off-shore. This was evident, as well, in the President’s decision about the XL Keystone pipeline on the grounds that it threatened aquifers if allowed to proceed. Thousands of jobs were lost in that single decision with no evidence of the truth of the assertion.

As the nation sinks further into economic decline and default, it is obvious that the nation’s energy sector is being thwarted at a time when it holds the promise of lifting it out of growing unemployment, higher energy costs, and the drumbeat of utterly false environmental claims about greenhouse gas emissions.

© Alan Caruba, 2012

Trevor Blake: Three Simple Steps - Blog Business Success Radio

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio

Successful entrepreneur, life coach, author of the insightful and empowering book Three Simple Steps: A Map to Success in Business and Life, Trevor Blake, describes how to regain control of your thoughts and your life to achieve a life of purpose. Trevor Blake provides the road map to removing negative thoughts from your brain, and replacing them with empowering ideas that create positive actions toward your life goals, Trevor presents the latest breakthroughs in neuroscience that demonstrate how the brain works and behaves under both negative and positive thoughts and ideas. Trevor shares his three simple steps for regaining control of those thoughts, and of your own life, Trevor also offers some practical and proven techniques for dealing with the negative and complaining people in your workplace. Learn how to empower yourself through a complete change in how you think, act, and respond to outside forces and stimuli. The result is life changing and leads you to your life of purpose.

Trevor Blake is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Tuesday, November 27, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Successful entrepreneur, life coach, author of the insightful and empowering book Three Simple Steps: A Map to Success in Business and Life, Trevor Blake, describes how to regain control of your thoughts and your life to achieve a life of purpose. You will learn:

* Why people find themselves feeling stuck in quicksand and sinking fast

* How the latest neuroscience discoveries confirm the impact of thoughts

* How three simple steps will empower a person to a life of purpose

* How to deal with the complainers and negative people in your workplace

Author of Three Simple Steps, Trevor Blake (photo left) was founder and CEO of QOL Medial LLC, a specialty pharmaceutical company he started in 2002 with a few thousand dollars and sold in 2010 for over 100 million. In 2006 he founded ANU, a unique not-for-profit dedicated to developing low side-effect cancer drugs.

Prior to this, Blake was VP Commercial Development at Ceptyr and Director Commercial Development at Orphan Medical. He has worked in the UK, Europe, and the USA with companies such as Biogen, 3M, and Lipha, and has won many industry awards, including marketing professional of the year.

He has an MBA from Durham University (UK) and a Bachelor of Science degree from the Royal College of Radiotherapy. He is also a graduate of the Royal Naval Academy, Britannia Royal Naval College.

My book review of Three Simple Steps: A Map to Success in Business and Life by Trevor Blake.

Listen live on Tuesday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.



If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.



To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with successful entrepreneur, life coach, author of the insightful and empowering book Three Simple Steps: A Map to Success in Business and Life, Trevor Blake, as he describes how to regain control of your thoughts and your life to achieve a life of purpose. Trevor Blake provides the road map to removing negative thoughts from your brain, and replacing them with empowering ideas that create positive actions toward your life goals, Trevor presents the latest breakthroughs in neuroscience that demonstrate how the brain works and behaves under both negative and positive thoughts and ideas. Trevor shares his three simple steps for regaining control of those thoughts, and of your own life, Trevor also offers some practical and proven techniques for dealing with the negative and complaining people in your workplace. Learn how to empower yourself through a complete change in how you think, act, and respond to outside forces and stimuli. The result is life changing and leads you to your life of purpose on Blog Business Success Radio.