Friday, August 27, 2010

More Fun With Political Slogans and Stereotypes.

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"Tax and Spend? Too old school. I propose 'Print and Pray,' as a replacement for the former characterization." - Douglas Castle #TNNWC

Dear Braintentance Brightlights:

I think the former characterization of the Democratic Party by the Republican Party needs to be overhauled, especially in light of Ben Bernanke's new and innovative contribution to US monetary policy, where we are going to "print more money, if necessary in order to avoid deflation." Sounds a bit silly to me. Does this make sense to you?

More Brain-Twisters 'R A-Comin'

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

Douglas Castle
Join my TNNWC Group, LLC collaborative business community (GICBC) at no cost by clicking on http://bit.ly/JoinTNNWC.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

The Best Times To Submit News Releases - and - The Best Times To Send Emails

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Little-Known Facts Of Great Significance
A BRAINTENANCE EXTRA! http://braintenance.blogspot.com/

The Best Times To Submit News Releases -and- The Best Times To Send Emails
 
Object: Maximize the effectiveness of your communications by optimizing timing.
 
Most of the news releases submitted on a Friday will be posted (by media) on Tuesday -- a two business day delay. The best days for a press release to "land" (i.e., to be published) in the media are on Monday, Tuesday Wednesday, and Thursday. Because of 1-2 business day publishing delays, the best (and safest) days to submit news releases to the wire services are on Friday, Monday and Tuesday for maximum effectiveness.
 
In contrast, the best days to get your direct emails to be opened by recipients are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The worst days for recipients to receive your emails are Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Monday is the worst of the worst -- it's when you get the least attention, and maximum deletion. People can even get angry at you for filling up their inboxes to bursting when they've gone to face their accumulated email mountain after a weekend of being away from the rigors of work. 
 
Irony: The best day to get your News Release published is on a Monday (Tuesday is also quite good), while it is the worst day to have anyone receive your email campaigns.
 
- An Anonymous Tipster

Douglas Castle (just an assumed name - he would never divulge a trade secret; not even under threat of physical torture)
 
This Anonymous tip is brought to you by TNNW BUZZWORKS, a deadly-effective Division of TNNWC Group, LLC. For your free membership to TNNWC Group, LLC (including free subscriptions to The National Networker Weekly Newsletter and The BLUE TUESDAY Report, as well as access to TNNWC's Suite of Services), click on either of these magic links:
 
After you've done this, click your heels together three times... (kidding)...

Monday, August 23, 2010

BRAINTENANCE: Riddles - Great Anti-Aging Exercise for the Brain!

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BRAINTENANCE: Riddles - Great Anti-Aging Exercise for the Brain!

Dear Brain Trainers, Maintainers and Occasional Complainers:

Riddles - simple word puzzles - are a wonderful and highly entertaining means of keeping your brain (and your associated mind) in superb shape. Solving riddles increases blood circulation and neuronal plasticity. This exercise calls into play your recall, associative intelligence, vocabulary skills, differentiation skills involving shades or meaning and irony...just to name several. Thinking is a wonderful exercise: particularly if it is positive, productive and challenging.

Here are several from the Riddler, himself, courtesy of http://www.buzzle.com/:

Just click on the link for some great puzzles and answers...

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/riddles-and-answers.html

Target Objective: Solve ten riddles during the course of the day today.














You're quite welcome, Mr. President. By the way, neither animals nor fossil fuels have been used in the presentation of the above riddles. They are non-partisan and politically correct. I hope that I am not being too ambitious in saying that our politicians, both Democratic and Republican, could probably use this form of mental exercise and stimulation. It would be good for the whole country.


Douglas Castle
Join my TNNWC Group, LLC collaborative business community (GICBC) at no cost by clicking on http://bit.ly/JoinTNNWC.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Are You a Missionary or a Mercenary? - Douglas Castle

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Are You a Missionary or a Mercenary?

Dear Friends:

It is a question of motive. Its answer requires some serious introspection. Which of these two that you choose to be may affect your future -- reaching a bit further, it might have to do with the future off all of Humankind.

If you believe in the notion of a soul (yours) and a guiding spirit; if you believe in the notion of a "higher mind," "cosmic consciousness," or of a "Greater Purpose,"; if you genuinely believe in any version of the Law Of Attraction (and don't just preach it to others, or use it to camouflage your own agenda); if you feel a sense of darkness or darker emotion encircling your life and the entirety of society; well then, you have to make a choice.

The choice is whether to work to shine a light in this world and to rise above your baser, weaker, more insecure emotional component -- or to allow yourself to succumb to the growing darkness...to think short-term...to look for a "score" at every opportunity. In brief, this "darkness of intent" is wrought of desperation and fear, and it multiplies itself, like a virus, among the world's population. Dark deeds lead to more, darker deeds -- to to growth of the collective grief.

A mercenary does things exclusively, or primarily for personal gain. A missionary, in the broadest sense, does things either exclusively, or primarily to serve others. I never understood this distinction as clearly as do today. This day. This morning.

A mercenary is a contributor to the darkness. It is the route of choice for those who are either amoral (and who will do anything for material gain or a sense of security), or who, by default and their own passivity in witnessing injustice and evil and simply accepting it as "the way of the world," allow it to propagate itself like a giant cancer.

A missionary does not have to be selfless, or to swear an oath of poverty. He (or she) must choose to add value to the world through his or her acts and deeds, and to refuse to do things that either a) contribute to the fruits of those "baser" forces, or to b) deny to call wrong by its name and to attempt, with whatever limited resources either he or she may possess, to fight it - not to succumb to it. A missionary brings greater light into the world.

In life, and in business, the mercenary ultimate experiences a short-term gain which is overshadowed by a constant general fear, or feeling of uneasiness. The missionary, on the other hand, has a longer, rougher road, but will be aligned with what is best for Humankind and the Universe -- and the ultimate rewards will be greater, more satisfying and longer-lasting. They will bring you peace as well as prosperity.

My mother used to talk to me about doing things with a "clear conscience." She used to trot out such aphorisms as "sometimes it's a matter of principle," or (my favorite, which, by the way, was also immortalized in an episode of THE ODD COUPLE in the 1970's), "Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive." Mom was right.

Before you take your next action; indeed, perhaps before you take your next breath, examine your motives, and then make your choice. Constantly keep in mind the ramifications of what you choose to do.

Each of us, individually, has a stake and a vote in the future of Humankind. We may envision ourselves as being independent, but we are each part of a far greater organism...each of us feeling the effects of others, and each of affecting the others. We're all on the same ride.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

p.s. Visit http://www.tnnwcgroup.com/ and play around a bit.























Douglas Castle
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Thursday, August 19, 2010

BRAINTENANCE: Fun With Metaphors.

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Braintenance: Fun With Metaphors.
Dear Fellow Brain Wrinklers:

Metaphors are excellent tools for clarifying concepts. They utilize easily visualizable examples to "bring an idea" to life.

Good communication often requires the use of metaphors to reduce complex or cumbersome ideas (usually ideas that would take a great deal of time to clarify without the aid of visual examples that most people can relate to easily and comfortably).

US President Obama, whether or not you like or dislike him, has been slinging metaphors about for some time now. I would venture to say that Mr. Obama is as good with metaphors as Former President George W. (dubbya) Bush was with malaprops --- my favorite example is, "This is not rocket surgery, people!"


The following example comes to us courtesy of Yahoo! News.
---------------
SEATTLE — It started out simple enough. There was a car (the economy). And a ditch (the recession). Republicans had been driving the car (were in power) for eight years. It went into the ditch. And now that Democrats have dug the car out (won power and passed a bunch of economic recovery policies), the Republicans want back the keys (power).

The first time President Barack Obama used the metaphor at a Democratic fundraiser in April, he spent exactly four sentences on it: “And yet, after driving our economy into the ditch, they decided to stand on the side of the road and watch us while we pulled it out of the ditch,” Obama said at the Los Angeles event for Sen. Barbara Boxer of California. “They asked, ‘Why haven't you pulled it out fast enough?’ ‘I noticed there's, like, a little scratch there in the fender. Why didn't you do something about that?’” (See: White House searches for a villain)

It has since become the Mr. Potato Head of campaign stump speech metaphors.

The president keeps expanding on it. This week, as he repeated it at fundraisers across the country, it continued to balloon into several paragraphs and with bells and whistles tacked on in all directions.

Obama changes features around. He introduces new characters. He adds new props. The other day he decided Republicans were sipping Slurpees as they watched Democrats dig out the car. (Incidentally, Obama is the only president to ever use the word “Slurpee” in a speech, according to the archives of The American Presidency Project). (See: Mosque debate strains tea party, GOP)

There’s been a lot of mud in the ditch. It’s been all over Democrats as they push and shove, sometimes with their shoulders. In some speeches Obama has the Democrats wearing boots. Other times they’re wearing galoshes. He’s added bugs and sweat to the scene. There are sore backs and “huffing and puffing.” His family and political friends get cameos. And while he’s insistent that Republicans can’t drive, he’s offered for them to hop in the back seat.

“We put on our boots and walked into the ditch. It’s muddy and hot and dusty and bugs everywhere, and we’re pushing,” Obama said, having fun with the metaphor at a fundraiser Tuesday for Washington Sen. Patty Murray in Seattle. “And we’re slipping and sliding and sweating.” (See: Rossi to face Murray in November)

The scene of when Democrats have dug the car out of the ditch (stabilized the economy) differs from event to event. In one speech Obama has the car finally set on “the blacktop” when Republicans are wanting the keys back. But sometimes he puts the car “up on pavement.” Or, he’ll just simply place it “on level ground.”

Various people have interacted with the figurative car as Obama has shaped his favorite metaphor.

Last month he said Missouri Senate candidate Robin Carnahan’s opponent “had his hands on the wheel” when it went into the ditch because he had been part of Republican House leadership. (See: The latest news on midterm elections)

At a fundraiser for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada in July ,Obama accused Republicans of trying to get in the car and run over “me and Harry.”

“Harry Reid and I, we got mud on our shoes. We're — we've been pushing and shoving — car is just kind of getting out, almost on some pavement,” Obama said during remarks in Las Vegas. “Suddenly, they're all, ‘No, no, we want to pull into reverse.’ Run right over Harry and me. Get you back in the mud.” (See: Hot button: GOP candidates knock global warming)

Obama even introduced his 12-year-old daughter Malia to the ditch. It was during a Carnahan fundraiser that same day in Kansas City. “I don't have a teenager yet, but in a couple years, Malia is going to be able to drive, right?” Obama said. “That’s what happens with teenagers, right, they go get the learner's permit, they — now, if your teenager drives into a ditch, your car, bangs it up, you've got to pay a lot of money to get it out, what do you do? You take the keys away.”

This week the president brought some hypothetical passengers into the fold.
“If we give them the keys to this economy, they are going to drive it right back into the ditch,” Obama said of Republicans. “And riding shotgun will be the big banks and the insurance companies and the oil companies and every special interest under the sun.” (See: JetBlue quitter inspires RNC)

In many ways, Obama is continuing a long history of presidents overusing anecdotes and metaphors to drive home their points. Ronald Reagan was known as a great storyteller — and embellisher, said Ross Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University. Abraham Lincoln — one of Obama’s favorite presidents — “was the greatest of all spinners of anecdotes,” Baker added.

“There ought to be a separate chapter in all American history books devoted to the rhetorical excesses of American presidents,” he said. “More recent presidents use these case studies of ‘ordinary Americans’ who have encountered some hardship or achieved something remarkable as examples of American pluck and determination.”

Obama may have claimed the ditch and the car by now, but he is not the first Democrat to use the metaphor.

Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, was talking about the ditch months before Obama. In January, three months before Obama first spoke of “the ditch,” Van Hollen used the metaphor in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

“Why would you hand the keys to the car back to the same guys whose policies drove the economy into the ditch and then walked away from the scene of the accident?” Van Hollen said. “For the Republicans to say vote for us and bring back the guys who got us into this mess in the first place, I don’t think it’s a winner.”

Usually Obama reserves the ditch-car routine for campaign events only. But he used it once in a speech to the AFL-CIO’s executive council earlier this month.
It was there that he played up his favorite addendum to the metaphor: “Somebody pointed out to me that when you're in a car and you want to go forward, you put it in ‘D,’” he said.

“You want to go back in the ditch, you put it in ‘R.’ So I just want everybody to think about that.”

Just as Obama has cribbed from others — some credit Democratic strategist Paul Begala as the first one to use the ‘D’-drive and ‘R’-reverse bit — others are now cribbing from Obama. 
At a Chicago fundraiser earlier this month, Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn of Illinois took to the podium before Obama and robbed him of his metaphor. Quinn, whose delivery was much less animated than Obama’s, forced the president to back into his signature moment. (See: The Arena: Fair and balanced political giving?)

“I think Pat may have mentioned to you, they're trying to get you to forget that they drove the car into the ditch,” Obama said of Republicans. “And after we've pushed it out, now they're saying, ‘Give us the keys back.’ But we don't — we haven't forgotten, because we've got mud on our shoes, our back is sore from pushing that car out of the ditch. And I mean, if they want to get in the back seat, that's OK. But we're not going to put them behind the wheel.”

For a moment during another fundraiser in Chicago that same day, the metaphor even seemed to become too much for Obama.

“I also want to make a simple point — not to belabor this analogy,” he said, “but when you want to go forward, what do you put the car in?
And this time the audience got involved. "D!" the crowd shouted. “D,” Obama replied. (See: GOP's 'really inspiring,' Obama jokes)

With his rhetorical Christmas tree now festooned with flies, bugs, Slurpees, backaches, back-seat drivers, car accidents, sweat, dust and galoshes, who knows how Obama’s ditch will grow from now until November?

But there’s one question that will remain unanswered for another three months: Who gets the car? ####
---------------
Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

Tags. Labels and Terms: maintenance, Braintenance, metaphors, anecdotes, cliches, word pictures, speechmaking, TNNWC Group, Douglas Castle, The National Networker, politics, the Sloganator.

Go to: http://www.tnnwcgroup.com/


Douglas Castle
Join my TNNWC Group, LLC collaborative business community (GICBC) at no cost by clicking on http://bit.ly/JoinTNNWC.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

BRAINTENANCE: Take Care Of Your Brain! - Concussions, Trauma, Undiagnosed Strokes - Important Reading

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Dear Brain Maintainers:

There can be terrible consequences associated with a concussion, head trauma, undiagnosed strokes -- any of these problems, if ignored, unchecked or untreated can, over time, follow a terrible trajectory. Even loud noises (either singular or constant) can cause brain trauma as well as hearing and visual impairment.

Please read the article which follows, and remember....I love you for your minds!

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

LINKS 4 LIFE - Trauma Can Cause Diseases That Mimic Lou Gehrig's, Researchers Say

Dear Friends:

The fascinating update which follows is brought to us courtesy of The New York Times:

Breaking News Alert
The New York TimesTue, August 17, 2010 -- 9:45 AM ET
-----

Trauma Can Cause Diseases That Mimic Lou Gehrig's, Researchers Say

A peer-reviewed paper to be published Wednesday in a leading
journal of neuropathology suggests that Lou Gehrig's demise
-- and that of some other athletes and soldiers given a
diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as
Lou Gehrig's disease -- might have been catalyzed by injuries
only now becoming understood: concussions and other brain
trauma.

Although the paper does not discuss the Yankees slugger
specifically, its authors in interviews acknowledged the
clear implication: Lou Gehrig might not have had Lou Gehrig's
disease.

Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/18/sports/18gehrig.html?emc=na

-----
Now get New York Times breaking news alerts sent to your mobile phone.
Sign up by texting NEWSALERTS to 698698 (NYTNYT).
-----
Faithfully,
Douglas Castle

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

If you haven't already done so, either make LINKS 4 LIFE a favorite, bookmark it, get email updates, or subscribe to the RSS Feed -- You can even get a free widget to put on your website or blog. It's a great resource. Go to http://bit.ly/LINKS4LIFE . We are a Public Information Service, sponsored largely by TNNWC Group, LLC (http://www.thenationanetworker.com/) and The Castle Consultancy.

Thank you. --DC

 
Douglas Castle
Join my TNNWC Group, LLC collaborative business community (GICBC) at no cost by clicking on http://bit.ly/JoinTNNWC.

LINKS 4 LIFE - A "MUST HAVE"

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If you haven't already done so, either make LINKS 4 LIFE a favorite, bookmark it, get email updates, or subscribe to the RSS Feed -- You can even get a free widget to put on your website or blog. It's a great resource. Go to http://bit.ly/LINKS4LIFE  . We are a Public Information Service, sponsored largely by TNNWC Group, LLC (http://www.thenationanetworker.com/)  and The Castle Consultancy.



Thank you, and please pay it forward.

*By the way, to become a member (free) of TNNWC Group (the best resource for information, publications and critical services for empowering small businesses, entrepreneurs and emerging enterprises), just click on http://bit.ly/JoinTNNWC





Membership is FREE!The NATIONAL NETWORKER™The NATIONAL NEWSPICKER™LEFT, RIGHT and CENTER™Financing, Credit and Risk ManagementEmerging Enterprises Venture Capital Program™Merchant Payment Processing SolutionsNews Releases, Publicity and Public RelationsBUZZWORKS™ - Branding and Social Media DominationMarket Research, Surveys and PollsAssessment ToolsBLOGWORKS™ - Expand Your Search Engine Presence, Positioning and CredibilityAdvertise with Us!Selected Service ProvidersInternational Connections Service - Go GlobalIntelligence and Information OperationsInstant Mobile Communications, Applications and Training
Visit Our WEBSITE for more!http://www.TheNationalNetworker.com
Capital, Traffic Building, International Customers and unique SERVICES.
The National Networker Publications™ produced by TNNWC Group, LLC
Empowering Emerging Enterprises”

Douglas Castle
Join my TNNWC Group, LLC collaborative business community (GICBC) at no cost by clicking on http://bit.ly/JoinTNNWC.
 

Monday, August 16, 2010

Supplements, Alternatives Or Replacements for Endangered U.S. Social Security and Vaporizing Pension and Retirement Plans - Possibilities worth exploring NOW - REVISED.

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Article Title

Supplements, Alternatives Or Replacements for Endangered U.S. SOCIAL SECURITY and vaporizing PENSION AND RETIREMENT PLANS - Possibilities Worth Exploring Now  ...Unless you have a great deal of faith in government and your company's money managers to secure your future...
---------------


Note: This article was written by Douglas Castle (http://aboutDouglasCastle.blogspot.com), author of THE GLOBAL FUTURIST, THE INTERNATIONALIST PAGE, and BRAINTENANCE. My Castle is also Co-Chairman and CEO of TNNWC Group, LLC, a firm which provides publications, intelligence and uniquely powerful services to entrepreneurs and emerging enterprises. Visit http://www.TNNWCgroup.com and become a Member for free today.
---------------
Article Type:

Open Discussion Forum.

Dear Friends, Colleagues and Fellow Futurists: 

There is great concern amongst the aging U.S. population that they will not be receiving their full share (which they have worked hard for, and which has been in the "financial management" of the United States Government and its agencies.




This fund has been raided and is rapidly vaporizing. The Government and legislators are dropping hints (the size of bombs), that they want to raise the Social Security eligibility (i.e., so you run a higher chance of either dying "on the job" before you can collect, or you'll collect less over your "remaining lifetime."




This, of course, will be funded by increased taxes on the U.S. labor force -- but then, that requires employment and wages to tax -- in combination with massive cutbacks in government services.


Corporate pension and other retirement benefits plans are either devalued because of the generalized recession (investments gone sour or south), or because the companies responsible for handling them are changing the rules of the funding vesting and collectibility game -- they are leaving plans unfunded (they have used the capital to sustain operations or to increase senior executive salaries) and going out of business; they are extending the age at which benefits can be accessed or paid out; or they are simply firing people and coming up with a myriad of creative excuses not to pay them any pension beyond a "departure package payment."




Those remaining employed have little or no real security. Don't expect the law to protect you. A legislative or judicial victory to coerce some bureaucrat or administrator to pay you your hard-earned, rightfully-vested, guaranteed retirement funds would, if even possible, be: 1) merely symbolic, if, in fact the funds had already been pilfered, diverted or whittled down to nothing at the time of your "win," and 2) post-mortem, if you are past retirement (i.e., deceased). 




My sense of the future is that the federal government in collusion with the Treasury and Congress, can and may dissolve the Social Security Administration's obligation to make payments at will. The same could happen to employers' obligations to segregate and responsibly manage funds and issue payments to retirees.




I don't offer investment, financial, accounting or legal advice...but I can say that we must all look at securing our futures with alternatives, and new approaches.  I am merely a Global Futurist with a responsibility to report or foresee emerging trends and advocating reasonable, timely and effective preparedness. 




The things that we all (especially U.S. - based Futurists) should all be thinking intensely about follow. And after thinking about them, I would like to ask all of you, my friends and readers, to come up with you strategic ideas and share them with other readers, by posting them to the Comment Box at the end of this Article:


1.  How can we gain investment authority over our own funds which are being managed by third-party administrators in 403B, 401K, IRA, and other tax-deferred plans? Alternatively, can we borrow against them, or shut them down (an the minimal possible withdrawal penalty) so that we may gain use of the proceeds? The ultimate effect is to make this money available to us so that we can "self-direct" it.




2.  How can we gain investment authority over pension plans, stock option plans, and retirement funds being managed by trustees and administrators chosen by our employers?




3.  How can we either tap into or otherwise gain use of Social Security proceeds (even if these are paid out to us early, and in installments) accrued and owing to us?




In summary, the unifed and consolidated question is this: How do we gain access to our money now (why there is still some left) in order to take charge of it ourselves based upon our own investment strategies?




Your participation and your comments are welcome indeed. If you are not reading this on my blog at http://TheGlobalFuturist.blogspot.com, or on the TNNWC Group website (http://www.TNNWCgroup.com), then please post your comments directly to this discussion group as part of an ongoing discussion thread.




I will provide bi-weekly updates on all of the information gathered from all of the respondents to each and every participating group through a downlink. Your responses may remain anonymous if you wish.




The subject heading of your response in any posting thread to any group should be: "THE GLOBAL FUTURIST: Funding Our Futures."


With Great Appreciation,


Douglas Castle

See Comment Box Below:
Note: If you do not see a comment box below (if you have received this via email or RSS, the box may not appear), just click on the title hyperlinked title of this article (above, at the very top), to be directed to the actual post. The box will appear on the original article.
  


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Douglas Castle
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Friday, August 13, 2010

Scripting - For Re-Programming Your Mind: Beating Stress-Induced Depression and Anxiety

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SCRIPTING - For Re-Programming Your Mind: Beting Stress-Induced Depression and Anxiety.

Scripting is a very basic technique which involves the utilization your hands, your eyes, and your lips for the successful re-programming of the way you think. While it involves some techniques derived from RET, NLP, Entrainment and Hypnosis, it is a method unto itself, and it can be used at any time, at your leisure and completely subject to your control. It is a means of displacing a damaging "subsconscious program" and replacing it with a positive and useful one.

For optimal success, here is the best approach:

1. Download a professionally-written script;

2. Print the entire script out;

3. In a quiet, private time, hold the script in both your hands and either read it aloud, or "word" through it --- this means having your lips silently form the written words;

4. Do this repeatedly throughout the day;

5. Do not drive or do anything technically or intellectually demanding for ten or fifteen minutes after you've finished reading or wording through the script.

Please follow the above directions and don't take shortcuts. Incidentally, two of the best times to do scripting activity are right before going to sleep and upon awakening in the morning.

Please download and print out a SCRIPT FOR BEATING STRESS AND ANXIETY. Give it a try. Use it several days in a row. If you enjoy the result, don't worry; there will be more scripts in days to come.

Here's the download:

http://www.mediafire.com/?qqs1762hq960lgc

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

p.s. Take some time to invest in yourself! That's what this is about, friends.

Douglas Castle
Join my TNNWC Group, LLC collaborative business community (GICBC) at no cost by clicking on http://bit.ly/JoinTNNWC.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Braintenance: The Paradox Of Introspection

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Braintenance: The Paradox Of Introspection

Dear Fellow Brain-Trainers:

We are constantly being taught to "be careful about what we think," and to "control our thoughts." We are also told (usually in the depths of our depression, despair and loss) that "You must think POSITIVELY, or you'll continue to attract negative things into your life!"

This whole idea of detaching ourselves from our thoughts and objectively thinking about what and how we are thinking is a logical and psychological challenge.  If it were easy, we could be like self-programming, self-correcting computers.

Try it. Try to think about what you are thinking. It's an amazing (and potentially productive exercise). At any rate, it i easier that watching yourself sleep without the use of some arcane astral projection technique.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle
BRAINTENANCE! http://Braintenance.blogspot.com


Douglas Castle
Join my TNNWC Group, LLC collaborative business community (GICBC) at no cost by clicking on http://bit.ly/JoinTNNWC.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

The "Economic Recovery," Although Slow and Possibly Fictitious, Has Changed My Standard Of Living!

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The "Economic Recovery," Although Slow (and Possibly Fictitious), Has Changed My Standard Of Living!

-- Douglas Castle

Dear Readers, Friends and That Small Group of Folks Who Fall Into Both Categories Together:

Here's the picture:











The headline underneath this picture (a photo of a sign in front of a condominium in Delray Beach Florida), proclaimed "PLACES WHERE CONDOS ARE CHEAPER THAN CARS."

I was intrigued. Have cars gotten that expensive? Perhaps this is because you can finance them. Have condos gotten that cheap? Perhaps this is because you have to jump through flaming hoops, run a gauntlet of sadists, have a FICO score in excess of what yours actually is at any given time (Heisenberg's Principle meets Murphy's Law), and be completely without sin in order to get a bank (especially the ones which Ben Bernanke proclaimed "too big to fail!") to actually give you a mortage loan to "buy" one. 


MY NEWS STORY

I interviewed an anonymous stranger (a tall, bearded fellow) who was purchasing several bags of freshly-packaged fertilizer at a "going out of business SALE!" nursery where I happened to be shopping for a Catcher Plant (disappointed to find out that there were only Pitcher Plants - the nice lady cashier smiled at me and said, "hey, don't ask, don't tell," with a New England accent), and this is what the fellow said:

"I love your country! I was once so poor that I lived in my car. But I've sold it, and I bought a beautiful condominium with the proceeds! Praise be to Allah!"

Yes indeed, friends. There's something for everyone here. You just have to know where to look. Knowing where to look...hmmmm....now there's an idea to start promoting to everyone.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

p.s. This story is partly fictional, partly whimsical and partially farsical. Is farsicality a word? Have I coined a new Lingovation? FARSICALITY.

p.p.s. I still can't help but laugh every time I hear the word "infarction."


Douglas Castle
Join my TNNWC Group, LLC collaborative business community (GICBC) at no cost by clicking on http://bit.ly/JoinTNNWC.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Braintenance: Was One Of Your (Distant) Relatives A Sponge?

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Braintenance:
Was One Of Your (Distant) Relatives A Sponge?

Friends (and Young Lovers):

I did not write the article which follows, but found it almost as fascinating as I found it to be hysterical. You should read it. What are the implications?

What are the funniest and most hideously simplistic conclusions that one might jump to?

One that occurs to me is that by the associative principle, monkeys and sponges probably had a common ancestor, who could both swim and climb trees. Another is that if any of this genetics stuff is true (and quite a bit of it is), should we, as Human Beings be better able to clean up after ourselves?

The article which follows comes to us courtesy of AFP (I'm still sore from laughing...I'm sorry....)
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Scientists find sea sponges share human genes

AFP
Scientists find sea sponges share human genes AFP/File – An international team of scientists have revealed that sea sponges (pictured) share almost 70 percent …

Fri Aug 6, 5:58 am ET

SYDNEY (AFP) – Mankind may be descended from apes but Australian scientists have found proof of links much closer to the sea floor, with a study revealing that sea sponges share almost 70 percent of human genes.

Genetic sequencing of sea sponges from the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef showed the ancient marine animal shared many of its genes with humans, including a large number typically associated with disease and cancer.

Lead researcher Bernard Degnan, of the University of Queensland, said the findings "would shed light on a whole range of different things," and could lay the foundation for breakthroughs in cancer and stem cell research.

"Sponges have what's (considered) the 'Holy Grail' of stem cells," Degnan told AFP.
Exploring the genetic function of sponge stem cells could provide "deep and important connections" to the genes that influenced human stem cell biology, he said.

"(It) might actually inform the way we think about our own stem cells and how we might be able to use them in future medical applications," he said.

The study -- published in the journal "Nature" this week -- is the result of more than five years of research by an international team of scientists.

It required the extraction of "really pure DNA" from sponge embryos and a complex sequencing exercise, Degnan said.
####

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

p.s. What about Bob? Sarcastic smile

Labels, Tags and Key Terms: Braintenance, The National Networker Companies (TNNWC), TNNWC Group, Sponges, stem cells, evolution, genetic linkages, funny logic, humor, absorbency, the mind is like a sponge - and perhaps with good reason!, Douglas Castle, self-growth, self-improvement, cognitive enhancement, ook-ook, things that all life have in common, stem cell research, organ replacement, arboreal beings, marine life, the life of a Marine, Saving Ryan's Private's, etc.

Douglas Castle
Join my TNNWC Group, LLC collaborative business community (GICBC) at no cost by clicking on http://bit.ly/JoinTNNWC.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

The Omnigadget Lives! Lingovations Make Their Return! - Braintenance Special!

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Dear Fellow Cerebrators:

BRAINTENANCE is about flexing and strengthening your most important muscle -- your brain. I have taken the liberty of posting one of the weekly items from The BLUE TUESDAY Report, published in conjunction with The National Networker Weekly Newsletter and published by TNNWC Group, LLC. The website address for TNNWC (you can acquire a free Membership there, too!) is http://www.thenationalnetworker.com/ .

Lingovations are words which "beg" to be invented because they 1) are uniquely suitable to express certain concepts when no other word or word combination will serve quite as effectively, and 2) they are sometimes hysterically funny.

If after reading the LINGOVATION explanation (that rhymes!) which follows, you have some idea of your very own for a new LINGOVATION, simply press on the button which follows  (it says "Submit My Original Lingovation") to submit your new word and its definition, and we will make you famous...well, perhaps just somewhat famous. We will get your Lingovation a very high ranking on all of the search engines -- that much is assured!

The address for the form (if your buttonophobic):
https://ciof.wufoo.com/forms/submit-my-own-lingovation/

The button!

SUBMIT MY OWN LINGOVATION!

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle









BLUE THING #10: LINGOVATION OF THE WEEK. JA!

Dear Friends:

As you may or may not know, a Lingovation is a newly-created, freshly-coined word, often comprised of  a hybrid or contraction of several existing words, which comes into being when no other single existing word or word combination (and sometimes not even an entire paragraph!) can precisely express the thought. They are not nonsensical terms, and must indeed be taken very seriously.

For example, the seminal term Lingovation, created by the brilliant but occasionally eccentric Douglas Castle, is actually a compounded contraction of two words: "Innovation" and "Linguistics".

In the past, some exceptionally popular Lingovations have included such terms as Omnigadget, Hyper-hyphenation, and others. Go ahead. Google 'em.

From this week forward, I promise you a fresh, steaming Lingovation to be featured in each BLUE TUESDAY Report.

I swear (too frequently),

Douglas Castle


Labels, Tags and Keywords : Blue Things, Blue Tuesday, Lingovation of the Week, the national networker, TNNW, tnnwc, Omnigadget, wordplay

A brief word from our sponsor, Albert Einstein, who is deceased at the moment, having suffered (apparently) at least one too many electroconvulsive therapy treatments:
















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Douglas Castle
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