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By: Peter Schiff Friday, November 9, 2012
Now that President Obama has been re-elected, the media is finally free to focus on something besides the clueless undecided voters in Ohio, Florida, and Colorado. The brightest and shiniest object that has attracted its attention is the "fiscal cliff" that we are expected to drive over at the end of the year unless Congress and the President can agree to turn the wheel or apply the brakes.
Fresh from his victory, the President took time today to let the nation know how he proposes to avoid the cliff: to raise taxes on those Americans who make more than $250,000 per year. He made clear than no one making less than that will be asked to pay any more. The two percent of taxpayers that the President is targeting earn 24.1% of all income and pay 43.6% (as of 2008) of all personal federal income taxes. Sounds like a fair share to me. But the four or five percent tax increases on those earners that are being proposed would only yield around $30 to $40 billion per year in added revenue, a drop in the federal bucket. Even if they were to double the amount that they pay our deficit would only be cut by about one third (even if those increases did not trigger an economic slowdown).
So what exactly is this looming menace, and why is it so dangerous? Stripped of its rhetorically charged language the fiscal cliff is simply a legal trigger that will trim the deficit in 2013 by automatically implementing spending cuts and tax increases. In other words, the government will spend less, and more of what it does spend will be paid for with taxes rather than debt. Isn't this exactly what both parties, and the public, more or less want? The fiscal cliff means that the federal budget deficit will be immediately cut in half, shrinking to approximately $641 billion in 2013 from the approximately $1.1 trillion in 2012. What is so terrible about that? I would argue that there is a greater danger in avoiding the cliff than driving over it.
If you recall, the cliff was created by a deal last year when Congress couldn't find ways to trim the deficit in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. When they failed to reach an agreement, Congress knew they had to raise the debt ceiling anyway. The resulting Budget Control Act of 2011, signed in August of that year, offered the pretense that they were dealing with our long-term fiscal crisis and not simply raising the debt ceiling with no strings attached. This was done not only to appease some House Republicans, who had threatened to vote against a debt ceiling increase, but to satisfy the bond rating agencies that had threatened (I would choose a different word or provide a source to back this up)a down-grade if Congress failed to act.
Now the focus turns to how Congress will dismantle the structure it created just 16 months ago. There can be little doubt that they will as economists are assuring politicians that driving over the fiscal cliff will immediately bring on a recession. The expiration of the Bush era tax cuts for all taxpayers will cost Americans an estimated $423 billion in 2013 alone. Hundreds of billions of across the board spending cuts, including the military, have been delineated. No politician would allow that to happen.
It is amazing that members of Congress can keep a straight face as they claim to want to address our long-term deficit problem while simultaneously working to avoid any substantive action. No doubt an agreement will be reached that will replace the looming fiscal cliff with another one farther down the road (which they can easily dismantle before we actually reach the precipice). Will the rating agencies buy this bill of goods a second time? If we lack the political courage to go over this fiscal cliff, why should anyone think we will be able to stomach going over the next one? Especially since each time we delay going over the cliff, we simply increase its future size, making it that much harder to actually go over it.
Many currently believe last year's S&P downgrade resulted from the same congressional dysfunction that resulted in the fiscal cliff agreement. The truth is that the downgrade would probably have been much greater, and more rating agencies would have likely joined S&P in taking action, had it not been for the fiscal cliff agreement. If further downgrades fail to be issued when the lame duck Congress inevitably comes up with another can kicking deal, then the agencies themselves could lose any remaining credibility. In my opinion, the only explanation for inaction by the rating agencies would be for fear of regulatory retaliation by a vindictive U.S government.
I do not think it is a coincidence that while the banks are suffering a regulatory backlash as a result of their perceived culpability for the mortgage crisis, the credit rating agencies have been relatively untouched. But the credit agencies played a key role in catalyzing the mortgage crisis by giving questionable ratings to the mortgage backed securities. My guess is the government simply does not want to open up that can of worms as similar mistakes are being made with respect to the agencies' ratings of government debt.
The truth is that regardless of what you call it, going over the fiscal cliff is not the problem, it is part of the solution. Our leaders should construct a cliff that is actually large enough to restore fiscal balance before a real disaster occurs. That disaster will take the form of a dollar and/or sovereign debt crisis that will make this fiscal cliff look like an ant hill.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Please feel free to repost with proper attribution and all links included.
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This was the little top I had thought of just before I fell asleep a couple months ago. It's really taken a long time to come to fruition. This is partially due to the fact that around this time of year there are no stores that sell corduroy! None. I even had a hard time finding it online. Finally, an etsy seller had just what I was looking for. She even included a little potpourri satchel with the material so it smelled all good and sweet when I opened it up. Don't some etsy sellers pay the best attention to detail? It's the little things, ya know?
At any rate, this little top was made with my new serger. So....a)it won't fall apart in the wash. b)won't fray all over the place. c) looks awesome!
Whenever I make my own pattern there are little things that I would perfect if I had to do it over again. When I first envisioned this top I had wanted the little ruffles to be closer together on the chest so that you could see the sides. But I didn't take into account the very tiny frames my girls have. I had to do a lot of trimming and in the end the ruffles were spread out but I think it still looks okay.
I made the ruffles with the serger. It soooo fabulous! No need for elastic thread or a special foot all you have to do it set the differential feed to something like "2". As easy as changing the tension and VOILA! Ruffles! I love it.
However, I did just buy a ruffle attachment for the serger with is supposed to only ruffle the top layer while keeping the bottom layer straight. This is very useful but I have my doubts. The last time I bought one of these it very lightly gathered the bottom layer. But I bought this attachment specifically for this serger so maybe things will be different this time.
Along the little ruffles I sewed some red and yellow piping for a more polished look.
Each of the camis have three pintucks in the front which flare out at the bottom for a fun, little-girl look.
One of my favorite things about these little camis are the fabric covered buttons on the front that match the ruffles on the sides.
Someday I'll post a fabric button tutorial but for these tops I used a fabric button "kit" bought at JoAnns. I have to tell you, they are about a hundred times easier than making your own. I'll never go back to homemade buttons again but it's still a good thing to know if you only have one or two and don't want to run down to the store.
The back is enclosed with metal snaps which I fastened with snap pliers. I have mixed feelings about the snap pliers. On one hand, if everything goes smoothly (which it never does) it can be an easy way to add an enclosure. However, most of the time, the little prongs don't exactly line up with the snaps and then the buttons won't work correctly and you must use needlenose pliers to remove them from the clothing without tearing the fabric. Does anyone else have this problem with snap pliers? And if so, what advice might you have?
As for Lily and Molly, they had more fun on the swings than the hopscotch. I left hoping someone in the neighborhood might get some good use out of it before the rain would come and wash it away.
I would say the yellow top would fit a size 3-5 and the little red top would fit a size 1-2.
As usual, if you would like a chance to win these camis just link back to this post. If you have any questions see the "questions and answers" link to the right. If you use blogger just use the "create a link" link at the bottom of this post. If you don't use blogger, that's fine too. Just create a link on your page as you normally would and I will see it using Technorati.
Create a Link

subset: commoncrawl


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New Space 9X12 Wool
This Tibetan carpet or rug is woven with a single warp thread and a single weft thread per knot. The yarn used to make the knots may include three-plies of yarn spun into a single-strand. The standard Tibetan knot may be constructed by looping yarn around two warp threads, then around a temporary rod placed in front of the warp threads.
In accordance with one embodiment, a method for weaving a carpet includes tying a row of knots with yarn and weaving two or more weft strands next to the row of knots, where the weft strands are 100% cotton and the yarn is wool yarn hand-carded and hand-spun into a single strand.
Custom program
Dolma's Custom Program offers the finest combination of quality, artistry, timeliness, price and flexibility available in the market. You can create your own design, or apply your own color palette to an existing design. You may simply order a unique size of a programmed carpet to fit a particular space. It is an extraordinary luxury to put one's personal touch on a handmade masterpiece, thereby both personalizing and further accentuating the uniqueness of the carpet.
There are option of larger rug tailored to your specific size. The rug would be resized or reduced to a smaller suitable size and then reserged or fringed as you like. This allows clients to obtain customized sizes quickly and easily.


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Fantastic home in sought after location! This home has new HVAC, fresh interior paint, fresh exterior paint, new flooring throughout the home and new appliances. Windows create a light filled interior with well placed neutral accents. The kitchen is ready for cooking with ample counter space and cabinets for storage. You won't want to leave the serene primary suite, the perfect space to relax. Extra bedrooms add nice flex space for your everyday needs. The primary bathroom features plenty of under sink storage waiting for your home organization needs. Take it easy in the fenced in back yard. The sitting area makes it great for BBQs! Don't wait! Make this beautiful home yours today.
Courtesy of Opendoor Brokerage Inc., Gabriel Valdez. Selling Office: .
The information being provided by CARETS (CLAW, CRISNet MLS, DAMLS, CRMLS, i-Tech MLS, and/or VCRDS)is for the visitor's personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identifyprospective properties visitor may be interested in purchasing.Any information relating to a property referenced on this web site comes from the Internet Data Exchange (IDX)program of CARETS. This web site may reference real estate listing(s) held by a brokerage firm other than thebroker and/or agent who owns this web site.The accuracy of all information, regardless of source, including but not limited to square footages and lot sizes, isdeemed reliable but not guaranteed and should be personally verified through personal inspection by and/or withthe appropriate professionals. The data contained herein is copyrighted by CARETS, CLAW, CRISNet MLS,DAMLS, CRMLS, i-Tech MLS and/or VCRDS and is protected by all applicable copyright laws. Any disseminationof this information is in violation of copyright laws and is strictly prohibited.CARETS, California Real Estate Technology Services, is a consolidated MLS property listing data feed comprisedof CLAW (Combined LA/Westside MLS), CRISNet MLS (Southland Regional AOR), DAMLS (Desert Area MLS),CRMLS (California Regional MLS), i-Tech MLS (Glendale AOR/Pasadena Foothills AOR) and VCRDS (VenturaCounty Regional Data Share).


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Just months after Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight escaped from years of captivity in a house in Cleveland, their captor is dead. Ariel Castro was found hanging in his prison cell last night. His death has now been ruled a suicide. From member station WCPN, Nick Castele reports.
NICK CASTELE, BYLINE: I'm standing outside 2207 Seymour Avenue in Cleveland. This is the address where Ariel Castro held three women captive for about 10 years. The house is gone now. Last month, the county tore it down, and it demolished two other abandoned structures nearby. In its place is a stretch of land that's been partially filled in with beds of pink flowers to mark the spot until neighbors and officials can decide what more to do with the properties. The news of Ariel Castro's death has brought international attention back to this street in Cleveland, and neighbors are trying to figure out just what to make of this latest development in the story.
JOVITA MARTI: He tortured those girls for 10, 11 years, and he didn't even - was in jail for four months, you know? He didn't have the guts to stay, like, a year and suffer a little bit.
CASTELE: Jovita Marti was sitting on her porch with her mother this morning across the street. Ariel Castro pleaded guilty this summer to hundreds of charges, including rape and kidnapping. Around 9:20 last night, prison staff in central Ohio found him hanging in his cell from a bedsheet. About an hour later, he was pronounced dead at a Columbus hospital. The county coroner today ruled the death a suicide. Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokeswoman JoEllen Smith says Castro was alone in his cell, and that guards were instructed to check in on him frequently.
JOELLEN SMITH: Rounds are required to be conducted every 30 minutes at staggered intervals. The entire incident is under investigation.
CASTELE: This is the second hanging in a month in an Ohio prison, and the ACLU here is calling for an investigation of prison mental health services. The plea deal took the death penalty off the table in exchange for life in prison without parole, in attempt, lawyers said, to spare Castro's victims further agony and keep him behind bars. Back on Seymour Avenue, Eli Amos says he was disappointed that Castro died without serving that sentence.
ELI AMOS: I think they were doing whatever they could do to make sure he got sent away. The death penalty came regardless.
CASTELE: He says no matter how hard Castro's defense had tried to avoid death for their client, in the end, death and Castro found each other. For NPR News, I'm Nick Castele in Cleveland. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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Auto Shipping in Coy
Auto Shipping TLC has been transporting cars, trucks, and SUV's to and from the city of Coy since 2011; call today for a free estimate.
(561) 369-2255Car Transportation You Can Trust
Do you need a quick response from our auto shipping experts? Call us at (561) 369-2255 or fill out the short form; our staff will answer any questions and provide a free estimate on shipping your car to or from Coy, Arkansas.
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The City of Coy
The municipality of Coy is in 1 county.
- Lonoke
Zip Code
Coy has 1 zip code.
- 72037


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Had the prices been right, I may have left with every one of these chairs …above and below because they were all so incredibly fabulous. The mirror-backed dining set of chairs had a matching mirrored console. It was utterly ridiculous! …in a good way.
There are a few vintage clothes racks but quite a lot of jewelry booths, estate and otherwise overflowing with treasures, but since my original purpose wasn't exactly for jewelry, I didn't snap many photos of it …I did, however leave with a few extraordinary gems though.
I have to admit that I secretly died when I was handed this vintage Castlecliff lobster pendant necklace. This was my biggest splurge of the trip. Though I don't think it was overpriced for a unique Castlecliff I almost turned it down. I'm pretty sure the saleswoman knew if she handed it to me I wouldn't be able to give it back …and she was right. I won't tell you the price but I will tell you that it was 15% off 😉
I'm dying for all that is gilded, bijoux, 90's Versace gaudy gold and bejeweled lately and these two pieces fall exactly into that category. The ring, which was first thought to be D&G but at closer inspection just has the letters DG inscribed {?} was still a deal at $35. This was from the same woman who sold me the Castlecliff lobster. When I went up to the front to pay I found the bracelet at the counter that was such a perfect match I couldn't pass it up. It was $45 and also 15% off …maybe a bit higher than I wanted but the perfect match absolutely sold me on it.
And the biggest steal of the day, at $25 each, my beloved golden tree stumps {you can see them in the shots above the zebra chair}. As I walked passed them the first time, they literally whispered "psst" to me …and I did a double take. When I saw the price I folded my arms and stood there for a good 5 minutes contemplating their amazement. And when push came to shove, it was really all about the price. Well, and the fact that they make me giggle and are fabulous. {tweeted from the back of my car}
For now they are sitting in what we refer to as our game room and they may just get a little sheepskin on top of each and remain there as seats …but they could also have a home by the fireplace, in my office with a piece of glass over them as a desk, or as side or coffee tables around the couch. I'm not sure where they will end up but they have already proven themselves as a conversation piece and that seals the deal for me …not to mention great props for DIYs, dogs posing, & jewelry in outfit posts. And it must be mentioned that my husband now thinks I am insane.
And proof {as if you need it 😉 } from my brother Scott & niece, D'Lady George, that they are indeed, fantastic sitting devices. {photo taken w/ my iphone}
The Sherman Oaks Antique Mall is on the corner of Ventura blvd near Hazeltine {and it's enormous} …check the Map/About page for even more info or befriend them on Facebook. They're having a storewide 10% – 50% off sale through August 15th. I stop in there every so often on my way home from the gallery just to see what new trinkets I can spy …or if nothing else, for a little inspiration.


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After all six characteristics have been rolled and recorded on a separate sheet of paper or other permanent record for the character, the player decides what class the character will be, This decision is based on the character's strongest abilities and the player's preferences.On this model, you roll the dice, take a look at what you've got, and choose a class accordingly. There are class-specific provisions for 2-for-1 and 3-for-1 swapping of points between abilities, but otherwise you get what you get. That's why I still use the term "character generation" rather than "character creation" when talking about rolling up a new D&D persona: until you roll those dice and record the results, there's no way of knowing whether you'll be playing a fighting man or a magic-user.
In the passage quoted above, Holmes states the choice of character class should be based on "the character's strongest abilities and the player's preferences." This comports well with the sample character in Volume 1 of the LBBs, Xylarthen, whose Wisdom is higher than his Intelligence and thus "would have progressed faster as a Cleric, but because of a personal preference for magic opted for that class."
This is a line of thought carried through into Moldvay's rules as well.
To choose a class, a player should first look for his or her highest ability scores. If one of the high scores is the prime requisite for a class, the player should consider making his or her character a member of that class.Again, the implication here is that the choice of a character class is, to a large degree, one makes after one has rolled the dice, not beforehand.
I found myself thinking about this because, earlier today, I'd re-read the original appearance of the barbarian sub-class for AD&D, which Gary Gygax offered up for consideration in issue 63 of Dragon (July 1982). Unlike most sub-classes, the barbarian has no ability score prerequisites. Instead, Gygax offers an unusual method for determining ability scores:
- Strength: best 3 of 9D6
- Intelligence: 3D6
- Wisdom: 4D4
- Dexterity: best 3 of 7D6
- Constitution: best 3 of 8D6
- Charisma: 3D6
As I said, my concept of character generation is heavily influenced by the way we read Holmes back in the day. One did not decide in advance to play a fighter or a thief; that was what one decided after rolling the dice and seeing the ability scores generated. I've always found this approach useful for two reasons. First, it breaks me of the habit of playing the same classes over and over again. Left to my own devices, I gravitate toward fighters or clerics but random rolling occasionally forces me out of my comfort zone into classes I otherwise might not choose. Second, it makes the prerequisites for sub-classes meaningful. Paladins, for example, are clearly meant to be rare -- "born, not made" -- and their rarity becomes increasingly notional outside of a 3D6-in-order scheme.
Clearly, this is an area where Gary had a different opinion from my own. He explains his position in a post to ENWorld from December 2003:
in 1972 we all rolled 3d6, but later when AD&D made the stats more meaningful, players would keep rolling until they got more viable numbers, so then we switched to various systems--roll seven or eight times with 3d6 and keep the six best totals or roll d4d and throw out the lowest die.It's funny to think about the Lake Geneva crew rolling and re-rolling characters until they got the "right" arrangement of ability scores, because, as a kid, I would have considered such behavior "cheating." To my friends and I, rolling ability scores was a bit like finding out which territories you start with in Risk or Illuminati. Will my next character be a fighter or a magic-user? Will he get an XP bonus? Mind you, I like a lot of randomness in my RPGs, so perhaps I'm just weird, but, nowadays especially, that's how I roll.
After all, the object of the game is to have fun, and weak PCs aren't much fun for most players. Even fine role-players want characters with at least one or two redeming stats...


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Muscle peptide (Gotratix®)
A natural Bioregulator to normalise the function of the Muscles.
Product Description
Peptide Bioregulators, gene switches that could replace stem cells!
This former Russian military secret is now available to the public!
Today Professor Vladimir Khavinson is the President of the European Academy of Gerontology and Geriatrics, but in the 1980's he was a Colonel in the Soviet Union military medical corps. At the time, he and his team were approached by Kremlin officials, they wanted them to find a way to protect their troops from a myriad of problems; issues such as radiation for submariners in nuclear submarines to troops that may be blinded from known, (but thankfully unused) new weapons such as battlefield lasers.
What their secret research uncovered – that was used for two decades on many thousands of men and women – was a remarkable link between short chain peptides and DNA.
Now their published research is in the open and it identifies that each organ / gland / tissue uses a highly specific short chain peptide to act as a 'short cut' to initiate protein synthesis. These peptides can be found in food and unlike proteins they can enter the blood through the stomach. Through a comprehensive list of patents and even copyrighted PowerPoint slides, the Russian research group are showing that each of the concentrated peptide bioregulators so far examined interact with particular strands of DNA – effectively and very specifically activating repair and regenerative processes.
This is a remarkable story since what we are describing here are individualised gene switches and since they have been tested for many years on thousands of individuals, without report of any serious side effects or contraindications to date, they could be set to 'out do' stem cells. Why? Because this peptide therapy is relatively cheap, highly specific, can be taken orally and doesn't require any suppression of the immune system to operate fully.
Professor Khavinson and his award winning team at the St Petersburg Institute of Biogerontology have discovered that each organ / gland has a biological reserve and despite the origin of the tissue they have studied, incredibly each one is always set at 42%
Even dosing doesn't need to be daily, these peptide bioregulators have been shown to act even after a simple course of 2 capsules daily for 10-days. Healthy individuals only being encouraged to repeat the course 6-months later, although of course depending on the need this course can be repeated every 3-months, 2-months or 1-month if necessary. But compared to a hormone replacement therapy this is interesting, since hormones would require almost daily application. But these peptide bioregulators aren't hormones, they are acting on the gland concerned to 'encourage' it to become active and effectively 'younger' by triggering / activating the DNA responsible.
Here at IAS we are excited about this emerging technology and have been following it since 2010 and will be reporting much more, though articles, interviews and videos etc., so please stay tuned. There's more to learn including the synergistic interaction of the peptide bioregulators themselves and if individuals are using hormones concurrently, then there may well be a need to monitor their blood levels more closely with a view to lowering those doses and applications etc.
Note: Of the 20 or so peptide bioregulators available IAS has chosen the following, (and will be adding more into the range in due course). All the sources of these Peptide Bioregulators are from carefully chosen Danish bovine tissues and processed through pharmaceutical processes and filters.
Currently all of these peptide regulator capsules enjoy registration on the Russian market as food supplements.
What can you expect from the peptide bioregulators?
Bonothyrk® is the Parathyroid Peptide Bioregulator.
Bonomarlot® is the Bone Marrow Peptide Bioregulator.
Cerluten® is the Brain Peptide Bioregulator.
Chelohart® is the Heart Peptide Bioregulator.
Chitomur® is the Bladder Peptide Bioregulator.
Endoluten® is the Pineal Peptide Bioregulator.
Glandokort® is the Adrenal Peptide Bioregulator.
Gotratix® is the Muscle Peptide Bioregulator.
Libidon® is the Prostate Gland Peptide Bioregulator.
Pielotax® is the Kidney Peptide Bioregulator.
Sigumir® is the Cartilage Peptide Bioregulator.
Suprefort® is the Pancreas Peptide Bioregulator.
Stamakort® is the Stomach Mucus Peptide Bioregulator.
Svetinorm® is the Liver Peptide Bioregulator.
Taxorest® is the Lung Peptide Bioregulator.
Testoluten® is the Testes Peptide Bioregulator.
Thyreogen® is the Thyroid Peptide Bioregulator.
Ventfort® is the Blood Vessel Peptide Bioregulator.
Visoluten® is the Retina Peptide Bioregulator.
Vladonix® is the Thymus Peptide Bioregulator.
Zhenoluten® is the Ovary Peptide Bioregulator.
IAS is the first western organisation to make these peptide bioregulators available and we shall be reporting regularly on them.
Frequently Asked Questions About PEPTIDE BIOREGULATORS
Disclaimer: Please note that only your own physician can determine your precise needs, but in order to give you some information these answers are based upon the 'average person' and clinical / published results.
- Which PB is best for blood pressure?
- Ventfort®-start at 2-capsules daily for 30-days, repeat at 2 capsules daily for 10-days each month. As the condition improves the 10-day cycle can be reduced to every 2, 3 or even 4 months. Don't overlook the possibility that low levels of magnesium could be involved.
- Which PB is best for atrial fibrillation?
- Chelohart®– start at 2-capsules daily for 30-days, repeat at 2 capsules daily for 10-days each month. As the condition improves the 10-day cycle can be reduced to every 2, 3 or even 4 months. Note: Don't overlook the possibility that low levels of progesterone and/ or magnesium could be involved.
- What does the muscle peptide Gotratix®do?
- The Gotratix®peptide regulates the metabolism processes in muscular cells, improves their safety margin and has a favorable effect on adaptive capabilities in extreme conditions; it also has antioxidant properties and helps to regulate the peroxidation processes in the muscular tissues. Thus, it can be expected that Gotratix® is an effective means to restore the function of muscles under intense physical load, like those involved in sports.
It is commonly known that various means and methods of pharmacological and more recent genetic correction, can be used to improve the physical performance capability of athletes and their adaptation to increased physical and psycho-emotional loads, (Seyfulla, 1999; Yakimov, 2001). Irrefutably evident is the fact, that athletes using banned pharmaceutical products, cannot maintain stable high competition for a long time, because they have physiological failures at the high loads, (Semenov et al., 2002). The risk is made worse because of many new stimulators, whose doping effect is disguised by different food and vitamin additives, (Mikhailov, 2006).
Therefore this is not only an issue of the early detection of the negative consequences of administration of modern doping substances, but also the need to develop methods for the bioregulation of physiological reserves for high-qualification athletes; to help create effective prevention of physical de-adaptation in their training cycles.
Furthermore, maintaining the spare capacity of the muscular system is also a problem for people who do moderate physical exercise and especially for older individuals who may be developing sarcopenia.
A clinical study of Gotratix® peptide efficiency was carried out at the Medical center of Saint Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology between April till November 2011. The study included 37 veterans of sport aged between 40 and 65 years, including 19 men and 8 women who specialized in rowing and track-and-field athletics. Those examined in the control group (17 persons), had been training under a general program. Athletes in the treated group (20 persons), in addition to basic training also took Gotratix® at 2 capsules twice daily (at mealtimes) for 30 days.
It was established that the application of Gotratix® resulted in the improvement of the general condition of the patients in the treated group over the controls. All treated patients noticed an increase in their physical efficiency. The parameters of speed and force for dynamometry and standing long-jump were significantly higher in the treated group when compared to the controls. Step-test and dorsal spine mobility parameters in the persons examined, taking Gotratix®, were also improved over the controls.
- Does it make sense to take the Thyreogen®peptide if my thyroid has been removed completely and subsequently I'm taking 240 mgs of Armour thyroid? I wasn't sure if it was pointless if I have no thyroid.
- You are correct that in this instance it would be pointless. The peptide bioregulators work by initiating the 'biological reserve' of the gland/ organ in question. If that gland has been removed nothing can be initiated, therefore as you are currently doing the only way to address such a situation is to take the relevant hormone.
- I need to provide a peptide bioregulator for someone that had a heart attack and with CHF. I wanted to know what is your opinion?
- Professor Khavinson's recommends the following peptide bioregulators for their synergy:
- Heart peptide (Chelokhart®)
- Blood vessel peptide (Ventfort®)
- Liver peptide (Svetinorm®)
The intensive course is 2 (QD or BID) capsules daily for 30-days, thereafter 2 capsules QD for 10-days each month.
It is worth noting that the published work of cardiologist Kenneth Kensey suggests that the two most important criteria to assess risk of heart attack (or stroke) are blood viscosity and arterial stiffness. Another recent publication even suggested that Alzheimer's may be due to viscous blood too! So an answer is to keep arteries 'soft' and blood 'thin.'
Published in December 2013 in the Journal of Aging Science are supplements that can reverse arterial stiffness. The fastest to work are those that can release nitric-oxide, L-arginine and L-citrulline, (Nitric-Pro® powder and Neo40® lozenges respectively- nitric-oxide levels can be tested with Neo40® saliva test strips.) Plus anything that acts as an anti-glycation agent is excellent also, this could be metformin, aminoguanidine or L-carnosine.
To 'thin' blood supplements with resveratrol can assist, as can the enzymes in Boluoke® and Wobenzym®. A child's aspirin is the 'classic' approach, but its long term use can damage the stomach lining.
For additional protection, choose Bio En-R'Gy C® (a vitamin C drink that also contains ribose which is excellent to maintain pulse and MSM to reduce inflammation) and CoQ10 in high doses should also be considered, (or idebenone in lower doses).
I am interested in about 7 of them for different concerns. For example I would like to try the 3 recommended for vision, as well as adrenal, thymus, pineal, and maybe cartilage. Is it possible to take 3 for 10 days, then the other 3 or 4 the next 10 days of the month? Or should you alternate months taking 3 or 4 each month?
There is no problem with combining them all at the same time. This is because each has a highly specific gene reaction that is only applicable to that gland or organ. Of course in some cases the improvement of particular hormones could interfere with each other and this should be noted and monitored.
The best beginning is to know one's weak points and address them first. That can also give a target for dosing, i.e. to dose the weak points more aggressively and the others less so.
As you may remember from the Aging Matters™ article, general support can be as little as 2-capsules a day for 10-days (that's one package) followed up again in 6-months. Dependent upon the need the follow up could be each 4, 3 or 2 months.
An aggressive dosing schedule is 1 or 2 capsules twice daily for 30-days.
How should a 70 year old lady with Multiple Sclerosis be treated?
A difficult case but you can try Cerluten® – nervous system peptide, Endoluten® – pineal peptide, and Ventfort® – blood vessel peptide. You can combine them for example in the following way: 1 capsule of each in the morning and 1 capsule of each again in the evening for at least 30 days; repeated as necessary.
How should a 67-year old post-menopausal woman who has chronic insomnia be treated?
Try Endoluten® – pineal peptide – 2 capsules daily for 1-month, repeated as necessary. This will improve melatonin secretion.
How should a 68 year old man with chronic fatigue with sleep problems be treated?
Try Endoluten® – pineal peptide – 2 capsules daily for 1 month but this may require regular repeat dosing.
How should an insulin dependent diabetic be treated?
Difficult if there is a strong insulin dependency, try Suprefort® – pancreas peptide – and Endoluten® – pineal peptide.
How should a type 2 diabetic or a person with metabolic syndrome/insulin resistance be treated?
Combine Suprefort® -pancreas peptide – and Endoluten® – pineal peptide
What combination of peptides would be best to consider for the elderly in general?
Glandokort® – adrenal peptide, Vladonix® -thymus peptide and Ventfort® – blood vessels peptide.
Would there be a difference between dosing for men and women?
Not particularly, the dosing is more related to need than sex or bodyweight
Is it best to include the blood vessel peptide in all combinations used?
Yes it is recommended, the blood vessel peptide is known as Ventfort®
What peptides would be recommended for a menopausal lady with osteoporosis?
Sigumir® is the cartilage peptide but will be required with regular repeats
How to correct disorders of the immune system?
Combine Vladonix® – thymus peptide, Endoluten® – pineal peptide and Ventfort® -blood vessel peptide
How to correct disorders of the thyroid?
Combine Thyreogen® – thyroid peptide and Ventfort® – blood vessel peptide
How to correct disorders of the kidneys?
Combine Pielotax® – kidney peptide and Ventfort® – blood vessel peptide
How to correct disorders of the testes?
Combine Testoluten® and Ventfort® – blood vessel peptide
How to correct disorders of the prostate?
Combine Libidon® – prostate peptide and Ventfort® -blood vessel peptide
How to correct disorders of the retina?
Combine Visoluten® – retina peptide and Ventfort® – blood vessel peptide
How to correct eyesight problems in general?
Combine Visoluten® -r etina peptide, Ventfort® – blood vessel peptide and Cerluten® – brain peptide
How to correct disorders of the liver?
Combine Svetinorm® – liver peptide and Ventfort® – blood vessel peptide
How to correct disorders related to the central nervous system?
Combine Cerluten® – brain peptide and Ventfort® – blood vessel peptide
How to correct disorders related to the adrenal glands?
Combine Glandokort® – adrenal peptide and Ventfort® – blood vessel peptide
What is the typical dosing regimen for the peptides in general?
Two capsules a day for 10-days – a total of 20 capsules equivalent to one pack – for general support this can be repeated again in 6-months' time, if the need is greater then it can be repeated again in 2 to 3 months' time, if the need is felt to be great then typically the regimen is repeated every month.
- This is a case of neovascular retinal overgrowth treated with laser ablation. Now there is a central blind spot where the laser also destroyed the retinal cells.
As a rule apply a complex of peptides – retinal peptide (Visoluten®), peptide from the brain (Cerluten®), immune peptide (Thyreogen®), peptide from vessels (Ventfort®); in order to reduce macular edema and to reduce vascularization.
- Spinal stenosis treated with Spinal fusion and finally Laminectomy. Now still has peripheral nerve symptoms including muscle pain and weakness.
In case of spondylarthrosis we apply a course of peptide preparations from cartilages (Sigumir®), nervous system (Cerluten®) and vessels (Ventfort®).
Biologically active food supplement from bovine source
Produced in capsules by 0.2g each. One pack contains 20 capsules.
Daily dose contains: (2 capsules), 40mg
The mechanism of bioregulators means that they rarely have to be used every day. Therefore the typical programs that are recommended are as follows;
1. For healthy persons, wishing to support and maintain their condition, take 2 capsules once a day for 10 days (1 pack) and repeat every 3 months.
2. For persons, more concerned about their current condition, the program should be 2 capsules once a day for 10 days (1 pack), every month.
Contraindications: individual tolerance of components.
Consult your physician before use.
Storage conditions: keep in dry dark place under temperature from +2°C to +25°C.
Shelf Life: 3 years from the date of production


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It's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Audie Cornish.
All this week, we're reporting on a remarkable increase in the size of the country's disability programs. Fourteen million Americans now receive a monthly disability check from the government. The number has roughly doubled every 15 years. As we've reported, there are many, complicated reasons for the increase. There's also one, very simple one: Congress. In 1984, Congress changed the definition of disability. Lawmakers broadened it, and made it more vague.
Chana Joffe-Walt, with our Planet Money Team, has the story of what happened next.
CHANA JOFFE-WALT, BYLINE: There is no medical diagnosis called disability. It's a term that is in need of constant definition. Before 1984, the government's definition of disability included people with heart disease, cancer; basically, lots of severe illnesses that often killed you pretty quickly and were pretty easy to test for. After 1984, the new, changed definition included things like depression and back pain - things that can be severe, but things that are often very hard to test for. And so in this new, confusing, gray world, one group of Americans stepped in to help offer some clarity.
JOFFE-WALT: Lawyers.
JOFFE-WALT: Disability lawyers offer to help Americans fix their problems, on billboards, taxis and television. They offer their help in a variety of ways. There are musical lawyers. ..
JOFFE-WALT: Lawyers who know how to listen...
JOFFE-WALT: And then there are the YouTube lawyers - one disability lawyer, one webcam. The way Congress expanded the definition of disability allowed much more latitude for judgment. So lawyers like Troy Rosasco go on YouTube, and try to help people understand what is possible under these new parameters.
TROY ROSASCO: I want to talk to you today about how disabled you have to be in order to get Social Security disability benefits. Well, the bottom line is, you don't have to be an invalid. You don't have to be home, you know, wracked in pain to get Social Security disability benefits. Let me give you an example. I handled a case - gentleman was a butcher. As a result of working as a butcher, he developed trigger finger in his index finger. That was his sole disability, OK? And they granted him Social Security disability.
JOFFE-WALT: The Social Security Administration denies a lot of people, at least the first time around. Only about a third of those who apply for disability are awarded benefits. The rest are denied. So more and more people see these ads and appeal the decisions. Not everybody appeals - a little more than half. And those who do have much better chances, almost two-thirds of the time. Usually with the help of representation, they win. There is one firm that proudly takes credit for transforming the way Americans win disability benefits.
JOFFE-WALT: America's most successful disability advocates are Binder and Binder.
JOFFE-WALT: The guy making that promise is a cowboy-hatted Charles Binder, pointing straight into the camera; a man who has completely changed the game for disability lawyers.
: It's funny, when we started - I don't think, when we started, anybody else was advertising Social Security. So we - to some extent, I take credit for that. I've created some of the problems for the government because so many people appeal. In the old days, they had many fewer people. The government doesn't advertise this program. We advertise this program. And now, obviously, there are lots and lots of competitors who advertise it, too.
JOFFE-WALT: There exists today what I'm going to call a disability industrial complex, and Charles Binder had a big hand in creating it. When he started in 1979, Binder and Binder represented less than 50 clients. Last year, 30,000 - 30,000 - people who were denied disability appealed, with the help of Charles Binder - in one year. The firm made $68.7 million in fees.
So you've got 30,000 people denied disability, who are appealing to a judge; taking their case to the courts. And on the one side, the judge has a passionate, persuasive lawyer making the case that his client is physically or emotionally incapable of working. And on the other side, who's on the other side? Nobody. Nobody - really. David Autor, an economist at MIT, told me with disability cases, there's no person in the room making the government's case.
DAVID AUTOR: You might imagine a courtroom where on the one side, there's the - you know, the claimant and their lawyer, saying, my client - you know, needs these benefits. On the other side, there's the government attorney, saying ah, no, well - you know, we need to protect the public interest, and your client is not sufficiently deserving, and here's why I think that, and so on. But actually, it doesn't work like that because the government is not represented. There is no government lawyer on the other side of the room.
JOFFE-WALT: The Social Security Administration says disability hearings were never meant to be adversarial. In these courtrooms, the judges are actually employees of Social Security. So they have a dual role - to represent the government, and to make a fair and objective determination. But when you talk to these representatives of the government, who also happen to fair and objective judges, they will tell you this dual role can be very difficult.
One judge, Judge Randy Frye in North Carolina, who hears disability cases, told me he'll often find himself glancing to where he imagines there should be another chair, like in any normal courtroom.
RANDY FRYE: And there are always moments where you are concerned that maybe you missed something.
JOFFE-WALT: And you wish you could turn to that chair?
FRYE: Absolutely. You would turn to the chair and say, Counsel, I'm having trouble with this issue. Why does the government think this case should not be reversed?
JOFFE-WALT: If someone is awarded disability benefits, that person will receive an average of 250- to $350,000 from the government in benefits and health care, over a lifetime. If you sued a company for that amount of money, even a tiny company, they would bring a lawyer with them to court. Not so with the government's disability program. There is the disability industrial complex on the one side. And on the other side? An empty chair.
Chana Joffe-Walt, NPR News.
CORNISH: And our disability series continues tomorrow, with the story of a company, a very successful company, with one purpose: to help states move people off of welfare, and onto disability.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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Let's say your 62-year-old granny is feeling creaky. One of her hips has been giving her trouble, and her doctor tells her it's time to get it replaced with an implant.
There's a catch. Grandma isn't old enough for Medicare and she doesn't have health insurance. She does, however, have a stack of cash in the bank and is willing to pay for surgery right away.
So how much will it cost her?
Who knows. Seriously.
Researchers from Iowa called 20 top-rated orthopedic hospitals across the country using a script based on Grandma's predicament. They asked for the lowest price (everything included) for a total hip replacement. The researchers also asked two other hospitals in each state and Washington, D.C., for good measure.
Getting an answer wasn't easy. Of the top 20 hospitals, only 9, or 45 percent, provided a bundled price that included fees for both the doctors and the facilities.
But that response looks terrific compared with how the other hospitals did. The researchers were able to get a bundled price estimate from only 10, or about 10 percent, of the other 102 hospitals they queried.
The researchers were able to piece together prices in quite a few instances by contacting doctor groups when hospitals provided only their fees.
Even after incorporating those figures, however, total pricing information was available for only 60 percent of the top hospitals and 63 percent of the others.
The prices obtained varied widely: from a low of $11,100 to more than $125,000.
The findings were just published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.
Why couldn't more hospitals comply? Some said a doctor would need to see a patient before an estimate could be given. Others said they didn't give out prices over the phone. Some just said there was no way they could do it.
"Our calls to hospitals were often greeted by uncertainty and confusion by the hospital representatives about how to assist us," the researchers wrote. "It is sobering to compare our experience with the best practices we have come to expect from other service industries."
Buying a car used to be like this, an accompanying editorial points out: "A 2013 hip replacement looks a lot like a 1954 Buick." But a 1958 federal law that required dealers to post sticker prices on vehicles began a long road to fuller disclosure about prices and specifications that have changed the marketplace for automobiles.
Now it's time for hospitals and doctors to do a better job, the authors of the editorial write. "There is no justification for the inability to report a fee estimate, or a 12-fold price variation for a common elective procedure," they declare.
As a matter of fact, they argue, the health care business is even worse off than the car business was. Many doctors and hospitals don't know the price of their products, unlike car dealers.
Still, there's hope, the editorialists say.
"The history of the automobile industry shows that information asymmetry is treatable," they write. "Health care will need to travel down a similar path. It is time we stop forcing people to buy health care services blindfolded — and then blame them for not seeing."
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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I've been wondering lately, do animals invent names? As in names for themselves? Names for each other? I've always thought that what we do when we call ourselves "Ralph" or "Laura" is unique, something exclusively human. But it turns out that's wrong. Other animals have name-like calls that they use much like we do. I've posted about this before (regarding horses, dolphins and little parakeets) ...
... and now I've discovered a new one. It's a bird, native to Australia, called the Superb Fairy-wren. It apparently gives its babies names — in this case, a "family" name, like Jones or Smith. First names are unnecessary for these birds. If George Washington had been born a Superb Fairy-wren, his mom and dad would have called him "Washington" — no need for "George." There's good reason — or rather, a dastardly reason — for this last-name preference. Here's the story:
Imagine a mama wren hovering above her nest. The chick below is crying out for food. The mama listens. She keeps listening. The chick is obviously hungry; the mama has a mash of berries ready, but ... she doesn't land. Instead, after a few more beats, she turns and — suddenly — vanishes. She doesn't come back. Ever. The baby starves. What just happened?
The mother has just made a horrible discovery. A few days earlier she had a couple of eggs (not yet hatched) in that nest. While she was out foraging, a sneaky neighbor snuck over and dropped an extra egg of her own into the nest. This new egg wasn't invited. It wasn't even a wren egg. It belonged to a Horsfield's bronze-cuckoo, an animal that biologists call a "brood parasite" — meaning the cuckoo tricks other birds into raising her kids.
Mama wrens don't see all that well. Cuckoo eggs and wren eggs look similar enough that wrens figure, well, if they're in my nest, they must be mine. So the cuckoo switcheroo can work. The dastardly part is that cuckoo eggs are programmed to hatch extra quickly, so when the baby cuckoo emerges, it can sometimes be the first viable bird, free to move around and free to then push the other unhatched eggs out of the nest, to their death ...
... making itself the sole (and, therefore, a very well-fed) surviving chick. So yes, these baby cuckoos are killers. Yes, they are imposters, but no, they don't always get away with it.
That's where the names come in.
Biologist Diane Colombelli-Negrel, from Flinders University in South Australia, discovered that Superb Fairy-wren moms have a way to detect an imposter. When they lay their eggs, they wait nine days, and then park themselves by the eggs and start singing. They will sing and sing the same tune every four minutes, over and over for a week, and the chicks inside those eggs not only hear the tune, they commit it to memory.
Scientists call this an "incubation call" and Colombelli-Negrel found that these songs contain a special note that is, in effect, a familial password. When the embryonic chicks hatch and then begin to cry out for food, they will include that note in their begging calls, so the mother knows, "Ok, that one is mine."
So why don't the Horsfield's bronze cuckoo chicks know that note?
Because they arrive late. Their mothers slip them into the nest at the very last moment — about two to three days before all the eggs hatch. Yes, the interlopers are speedy hatchers and can sometimes eliminate their foster brothers and sisters — but they haven't had enough time to learn the password. Three days aren't enough.
So now, when the Superb Fairy-wren comes by and sees a bunch of chicks (or just one biggish baby) and says, "Whaddaya say, little one?" the imposter doesn't know the code.
Mama notices and decides, "You're not my baby."
And that's that.
The nagging question here is, can one note be a "name?"
What if every Superb Fairy-wren used the same note? Then it's not a name, it's a hard-wired cry.
What's A Name?
Ed Yong, in his wonderful blog Not Exactly Rocket Science considered this question last year, and reported that the science papers say the notes used by chicks in different nests are not the same. They vary from brood to brood. They aren't innate. Different parents in different nests used different notes. What is more, he wrote,
...when Colombelli-Negrel swapped some eggs between different clutches, she found that the chicks made signature calls that matched those of their foster parents rather than those of their biological ones. It's something they learn while still in their eggs.
One more quibble: If your family name is "Jones" or "Washington," everybody in the family should recognize the name, not just the kids. Do older, adult Superb Fairy-wrens know their "family" name?
They do! When females beg food from the males, they include the password-note in their own begging calls (as in: "I'm hungry, I'm hungry, I'm hungry, I'm Jones"); dads, therefore, also learn the password. If moms know it, dads know it and kids (but not imposters) know it, then this note is now being used as an identifier — shared by a group that uses it to include and exclude.
Hmmm. Sounds like a name to me!
Now I'm wondering: If we can learn the names that dolphins, parrots and song birds use for one another, why not break the code and say, "Hello?" One day, we'll be able to use these passwords to call out personally to animals — using their language, not ours. I wonder what they'll think when they hear a disembodied alien calling their name? We are, I think, tiptoeing into fascinating new places. You can find Colombelli-Negrel's paper here.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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In recent decades England's top wheels, from Jaguar and Land Rover to Lotus, Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce and Triumph (motorcycles), all have been revitalized: New owners applied boatloads of cash and deft touches of global engineering, yet left them in Britain, where craftsmanship, pride and heritage could finish the job.
No great marque has benefited more from this evolution than Bentley, which was freed from Rolls-Royce when it joined the VW Group in 1998.
Today Bentley is a jewel in an automotive crown that also includes Bugatti, Lamborghini, Audi and Porsche.
Each of these legendary carmakers not only has kept its own distinctive personality, but reached new heights of performance and sophistication. Bentley's Continental GT is a perfect case in point.
This is the hardtop two-door, a four-seat fastback armed with a twin-turbo 12-cylinder motor tuned for 567 horsepower and 516 pounds of torque. This enormous muscle flows to the enormous (21-inch) wheels and Z-rated (149-plus MPH) tires through one of the few outsourced components, a dual-mode German ZF automatic transmission, and an all-wheel-drive system that splits the power 60/40 between the rear and front axles.
Unexpectedly, the AWD, plus normal ground clearance and an adjustable suspension, makes the Continental GT an all-weather, all-roads supercar. In Wales last month, the BBC's Top Gear ran one of these machines, straight off the factory floor and complete with double-glazed windows and electric door latches, against racing cars half its size in the World Rally Championship. (The show will air in February. Time and speed are closely guarded secrets, but the Bentley crushed the gravel course, with its two jumps and two water crossings.) And last year Bentley set the world ice-speed record with a variant of this car: 205.48 MPH on the frozen Baltic Sea in Finland.
My own, more humble moment of truth came when traffic parted on the highway to reveal the carcass of a truck tire in the middle of my lane. With sports-car agility, the two-and-a-half-ton Bentley simply pirouetted around the obstacle with zero drama. The nose followed the steering wheel, the tail followed the nose, and my passenger looked up and said, "Oh, what was that?"
(This is even more impressive when we realize that 58 percent of the car's mass rides on the front wheels. Shifting the transmission to the rear would balance things out, but at the cost of passenger and trunk space. Bentley opted instead to amp up the suspension to compensate.)
In the days that followed, we put the Continental GT over two mountain passes connected by several hundred miles of winding rural roads. At times the discreet rear spoiler, which deploys at 90 and retracts again at 65 MPH, was flapping up and down like a semaphore. My passenger remained unruffled. She stopped trying to guess our speed because the car is exactly as serene at 70 as it is at 80, 90, 100, 110 . . .
As Bentley's chief vehicle-dynamics engineer noted, with justifiable pride, at speed the Continental GT seems to shrink-fit itself around the driver. In fact, the entire performance envelope—staggering acceleration and speed, precise steering and confident braking—is an integrated whole managed by perfectly weighted driver effort.
Driving, then, is spectacular. Equally brilliant is the car's sumptuous, subtle interior. Every surface is hand-crafted—machined, fitted, stitched, buffed and polished to the nth degree. If it looks like wood, chrome or leather, it is. The seats, scratch-built at Bentley, remain comfortable hour after hour. Senior citizens can program the transmission, suspension and even the satnav.
Yet there's a welcome degree of simplicity. Other luxury cars may offer more toys, but do heated and cooled cupholders really improve the driving experience? Bentley evidently disdains mere gadgets and understands that, in a road car, luxury without performance is meaningless and speed without comfort is useless. Bentley has created the very definition of a deluxe automobile, a blend of functional opulence with epic poise and performance.
The Continental GT is fully focused, usable and approachable—if not, unfortunately, affordable. With $45,000 worth of upgrades and fees, this Aegean Blue-over-Beluga example lists for $222,565.
Every other extravagantly priced car that I know demands some sort of sacrifice or accommodation from its driver. In exchange for mind-rattling speed and cornering, ineffable comfort or sensual sheet metal, the visibility suffers or the ergonomics are funky, or it handles like a canal boat or just plain beats you up. The Bentley, however, despite its phenomenal performance and looks, short-changes neither passengers nor driver in any conceivable way. I've driven much more expensive cars than this, but I cannot say I've ever driven a better one.


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So you've survived for five days stranded at sea aboard the Carnival Triumph. The ship had no working toilets, sewage dripped from walls, and the whole place smelled "like a hot port-o-potty." Here's $500 for your troubles.
Last week, after the Triumph was finally tugged into Alabama and passengers kissed solid ground in relief, Carnival announced that all passengers on the ship—which was hit with a fire in an engine room and left without power in the Gulf of Mexico—would receive some compensation. The offer included a full refund for the cruise and travel expenses, reimbursement for nearly everything they spent on board the ship, a credit good toward a future cruise, plus a check for $500.
To some, the offer didn't exactly seem generous. "I would have expected more really," said travel expert George Hobica, who runs the deal-finding site AirfareWatchdog.com. "I think giving them their money back and $500 is pretty cheap."
Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor of CruiseCritic.com, had basically the same reaction. "What these people went through was worth more than $500," she said. "It's a little bit insulting. It's almost as if Carnival would have been better off offering nothing than to go so low."
(MORE: Why Didn't Carnival Evacuate Passengers from Its Stricken Cruise Ship?)
So where did Carnival come up with the $500 figure to begin with? The cruise line didn't explain. In situations involving refunds and compensation for travelers, there usually isn't much explanation other than that the policies and dollar figures somehow seem about right. "It's all about PR," said Brown. "This was probably determined by the marketing department more than anybody."
Calamities like the Triumph can obviously be bad for the cruise line at the center of the storm. They can also damage the cruise industry as a whole. In the aftermath of the sinking of the Costa Concordia—which just "celebrated" its one-year anniversary last month—cruise prices decreased by 12%.
To minimize the public-relations damage, to salvage some sort of goodwill with affected customers, and also to cut off lawsuits before they are filed, travel operators are known to offer compensation during the worst situations. Concordia passengers were offered around $15,000, on top of a refund and travel expenses.
At the time of the offer, a lawyer representing the cruise line told the Associated Press that there were big upsides for passengers who accepted the payment: "The big advantage that they have is an immediate response, no legal expenses, and they can put this whole thing behind them."
Funny: The cruise lines involved in these disasters also want to avoid legal expenses and put the whole thing behind them.
(MORE: Not Wanting to Be Left Out, Cruises Pile on New Charges Too)
But about the payouts: Where do the figures come from? When vacations are ruined, compensation paid to travelers can run the gamut, from bupkis to tens of thousands of dollars. Are the amounts purely at the discretion of some travel company executives?
Well, under certain circumstances, airlines and cruise lines are obligated by law to compensate customers whose trips have been adversely affected. For instance, Department of Transportation regulations require airlines flying within the U.S. to compensate passengers who are denied boarding because a flight is oversold. If the airline gets such a passenger on another flight that lands within one to four hours of the originally scheduled arrival time, the carrier pays the delayed traveler 200% of the original one-way fare, up to $650. If the traveler is delayed by four hours or more, the compensation goes up to 400%, and a maximum of $1,300. On the other hand, if the airline gets such a passenger onto another flight that lands within one hour of the original arrival time, no compensation is required at all.
The contract cruise passengers agree to stipulates specific instances when compensation will be provided by the cruise line. The Princess Cruise Line Passage Contract, for instance, lists scenarios such as this:
If Carrier cancels the Cruise before it has started, it shall refund the Cruise Fare (less any air or accommodation charges incurred).
(MORE: Turns Out You Won't Get Rich Hunting Pythons on Florida)
Well, you'd hope that if the cruise is cancelled, refunds would be in order. For the most part, however, the contracts travelers unknowingly sign off on are loaded with language that absolves cruise lines and carriers of responsibility for all sorts of delays, changes, and general disappointments. Here's one passage from the contract for Princess Cruises (the "Carrier" mentioned in legalese below):
You shall have no claim against Carrier, and Carrier shall not be liable for damages or a refund of the Cruise fare, any portion thereof, or other refund, payment, compensation or credit of any kind; nor for hotel or meal charges, travel expenses or other loss, delay, inconvenience, disappointment or expense whatsoever, which shall be the Passenger's responsibility, whenever the cancellation or change was beyond Carrier's exclusive control.
For flights within the U.S., the DOT requires airlines to compensate passengers whose checked baggage is lost, delayed, damaged, or stolen, to the tune of up to $3,300. Yet most passengers never get anywhere near that amount, partially because airlines state that they're not liable for all sorts of things when they're placed in checked luggage. The Hawaiian Airlines site stipulates that the carrier is not responsible for an enormously long list of goods "including but not limited to items" such as:
Sculptures; paintings or pictures, framed or unframed; and models. Sconces; decorative screens; items of decorator stones; marble, onyx and alabaster; vases; figurines; trophies; souvenirs … sewing machines, watches, clocks, sensitive calibrated tools and instruments, televisions, radios … Glassware, crystal, mirrors, bottles and any liquids contained therein (excluding reasonable quantities or toiletries), prescription or non-prescription sunglasses, eyeglasses and contact lenses … Business/personal documents, negotiable papers, securities, manuscripts, publications (including manuals and textbooks), mechanical drawings, blueprints, maps … Cameras, camera lenses, film … Backpacks, sleeping bags, and knapsacks (and contents thereof) … Microscopes, oscilloscopes, telescopes, barometers, binoculars, meters, counters, Polygraphs electrographs, medical equipment
And on and on. The point is this: For the most part, airlines and cruises are not obligated by law to compensate customers when things go badly on a trip.
If a domestic flight is delayed or cancelled, the airline isn't required to put passengers up in hotels or provide food or other amenities. You've probably heard about cruise passengers coming down with Norovirus on ships, but, as a CruiseCritic post stated plainly, "Cruise lines are not required to compensate guests who fall ill on a voyage."
Nonetheless, airlines often do offer passengers hotels, or at least bottled water and snacks, when flights are delayed or cancelled. Cruise lines often do offer customers refunds, vouchers or discounts on future cruises, airline and hotel reimbursements, or other forms of compensation when a cruise itinerary is changed or half the ship's passengers are hit with a virus.
(MORE: Is Airline-Style Dynamic Pricing Coming to Theme Parks?)
Why do they do so, then, when they're not required? As mentioned above, it's in their business interests to do so. "Carnival isn't required to do anything," said consumer travel advocate Christopher Elliott. "It appears to be acting only because of the intense media scrutiny." Cruise lines and airlines take action because they want to minimize the damage and avoid lawsuits, with the idea that hopefully not too far in the future the traveling public will forget the whole thing happened.
Considering the horrendous conditions aboard the Triumph—rotting food, backed-up toilets, awful smells all around—this is one cruise industry black eye that's likely to be remembered for a while. By most accounts, the staff aboard the Triumph maintained their professionalism throughout the ordeal and tried to help passengers as best they could. "The crew was always smiling," one passenger said, according to USA Today. "They need a huge raise."
Unfortunately for Carnival, and the cruise industry as a whole, this same passenger also had this to say after finally getting off the ship: "This is my first and last cruise."
As for travelers who do keep on taking cruises, what happens if and when something like this happens again? Every situation is different. There's no requirement for cruise lines to offer special compensation, and there's no telling what each cruise line would do in any particular scenario. "No precedent has been set," said CruiseCritic's Brown. "The next time a cruise has a problem, passengers should not be expecting to get $500."


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Logistics Energy Services
One of today's priorities in business, industry and government is to limit the impact on global warming.
Energy is one of the main areas where organizations can help to make a difference by managing their energy more efficiently and developing alternative energy sources.
SGS has worldwide expertise in the energy sector and provides a range of services to support energy efficiency and innovation. Our global presence and knowledge of local legislations and regulations gives you the peace of mind of knowing that you are minimizing your environmental impact and improving your energy consumption.


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In the fall of 1938, radio was huge. That Halloween, Orson Welles scared listeners out of their wits with his War of the Worlds. And on November 10, 1938 — the eve of the holiday that was known then as Armistice Day — the popular singer Kate Smith made history on her radio show. She sang a song that had never been sung before, written by the composer Irving Berlin.
The song began with a verse about storm clouds gathering overseas — World War II was just a year off — and it summoned Americans to sing a song to their free country. Then came words and music that Americans have sung ever since. Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" has not only endured, it has become a statement of patriotism, of home front support for troops at war, and, in the Vietnam era, an anthem of counter-protest. And while it has brought a lump to the throat of many an American, it has also annoyed many who hear it as a tune of syrupy nationalism and trivialized faith.
One mark of its unusual status: Irving Berlin took no royalties from it. Instead, he created a fund that collected them and distributed them to the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts of America.
Sheryl Kaskowitz has written a book on Berlin's tune called God Bless America: The Surprising History of an Iconic Song. In it, she explores the song's lyrical evolution and explains how its early popularity reflected the anxiety of the pre-war period and sparked a surprising anti-Semitic and xenophobic backlash. She speaks about it here with All Things Considered host Robert Siegel.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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u2.com limited editions
The Joshua Tree (Remastered) - Deluxe
03 December, 2007
Where The Streets Have No Name
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
With Or Without You
Bullet The Blue Sky
Running To Stand Still
Red Hill Mining Town
In God's Country
Trip Through Your Wires
One Tree Hill
Mothers Of The Disappeared
Luminous Times (Hold On To Love)
Walk To The Water
Spanish Eyes
Deep In The Heart
Silver And Gold
Sweetest Thing
Race Against Time
Where The Streets Have No Name (Single Edit)
Silver And Gold (Sun City Version)
Beautiful Ghost/Introduction To Songs Of Experience
Wave Of Sorrow (Birdland)
Desert Of Our Love
Rise Up
Drunk Chicken/America
In 2007, U2's landmark 1987 release The Joshua Tree, was digitally remastered from the original analogue tapes to mark 20 years since its release.
In 1987, The Joshua Tree reached Number 1 around the world and won a Grammy for 'Album of the Year', while U2 won the Brit Award for Best International Act and Time Magazine put the band on its cover, proclaiming them 'Rock's Hottest Ticket'. Including a clutch of the band's biggest ever tracks - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Where The Streets Have No Name and With Or Without You - The Joshua Tree went on to sell more than 20 million copies. The digitally remastered edition came in four formats:
* A standard CD featuring liner notes from Bill Flanagan, lyrics and unseen photographs from long time collaborator Anton Corbijn.
* A double 12" gatefold vinyl format, with the original album pressed across two 180 gram audiophile discs.
* A deluxe edition including a second CD of b-sides and demos from the original album sessions.
* A limited edition box set containing two CD's and a DVD featuring The Joshua Tree Tour live from the Hippodrome in Paris and other rare video footage.
The track listing is as follows: Where The Streets Have No Name, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, With Or Without You, Bullet The Blue Sky, Running To Stand Still, Red Hill Mining Town, In God's Country, Trip Through Your Wires, One Tree Hill, Exit and Mothers Of The Disappeared.
Released Date:
03 December, 2007
Produced By:
Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois
Universal Island Records under licence to Mercury Records
Recorded At:
Windmill Lane Studios
With Or Without You - The Joshua Tree
With Or Without You - The Joshua Tree
Party Girl Live Joshua Tree Tour
Party Girl LIve (Joshua Tree Tour)
One Tree Hill
Spanish Eyes
Where The Streets Have No Name - The Joshua Tree
I Still Havent Found What Im Looking For (The Joshua Tree)
With or Without You
Joshua Tree Re release - Police Shut Down
The Joshua Tree (Remastered) - Deluxe NEWS
'Big Screen American Visions...'
28 Dec 2007
Bill Flanagan on what U2 saw 'through...
No Ordinary Song
10 Dec 2007
'A mix of reggae and gospel it...
Paul McGuinness on The Joshua Tree
08 Dec 2007
Listen in to The Album Archive on...
BBC Music Club Special: The Joshua Tree
30 Nov 2007
Monday night's BBC Radio 2 Music Club...
'We're shutting this down...'
23 Nov 2007
Remember that LA rooftop in 1987 ?...
All News Stories
The Joshua Tree (Remastered) - Deluxe REVIEWS
Uncut review - The Joshua Tree Remastered
10 Jan 2008
20th anniversary reissue of an oft-maligned masterpiece
'They made none better'
18 Oct 2007
'The Joshua Tree is U2's most varied,...
'They made none better'
17 Oct 2007
'The Joshua Tree is U2's most varied,...
Cue Joshua Tree
30 Jan 2007
A special edition of Q Magazine is...
Robert Hilburn in the LA Times
28 Feb 1987
'U2 is what the Rolling Stones ceased...
All Reviews
'There has been continuous demand from U2 fans to have The Joshua Tree properly re-mastered. As always, the band had to make sure it was right, and now it is.'
Paul McGuinness
'The Joshua Tree will prove a braver and better record than anything else that's likely to appear in 1987.'
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The Wasp
31 August, 2012
Review: The Joshua Tree (Super Deluxe Ed
Achtung Baby was described as the sound of four men chopping down The Joshua Tree, but the grand old titan remains a beauty to behold despite its creators attempting to fell its influence on their next epic. Only seven years into their recording career and still in their mid-20s, U2's 1987 album of power and passion has been released in a deluxe 20th anniversary package that delivers a remastered and correctly indexed version of the original album, a disc of tracks which didn't make the final cut as well as a DVD of live performances and unreleased music clips. While the original album's classic singles With Or Without You, Where The Streets Have No Name and I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For made U2 household names around the world and assisted the album notch up more than 20-million album sales, it's already been thoroughly dissected and theorised over by critics intrigued by the album's American heart and Bono's magnetic lyrical attraction/repulsion for its geographical, cultural and political spheres. It's the extras included in this special package that now warrant further attention. Bonus CD: There's little doubt that The Joshua Tree era was the most fruitful and prolific time for original U2 B-sides, avoiding the remixes and covers which populated flipsides from Rattle & Hum on. As well as their original appearances on the three major Joshua Tree singles, many of these tracks have since been mined for studio albums (Silver & Gold reappeared in an arrogant live format on Rattle & Hum), hits collections (The Best Of 1980-1990's bonus disc pilfered half a dozen of these initial cast-offs) or even as singles in their own right (a lifeless re-recording of The Sweetest Thing hit number one in Australia in 1998). While U2 followers will never get tired of hearing lost classics such as the boisterous love song Spanish Eyes, the yearning magic of Luminous Times (Hold On To Love) or the brooding Deep In The Heart, it's the material emerging on disc for the first time that proves how inventive the band were at the time. Wave Of Sorrow (Birdland) is cut from the same emotive cloth as Luminous Times, with a quivering piano offering the backdrop as Bono raps on the horrors of his 1985 quest to Africa. Rise Up and Desert Of Our Love find Bono pouring out the impressively spontaneous lyrics that feature on many of this disc's best songs, while Drunk Chicken/America marks the band's first experimental collaboration with US beat poet Allen Ginsberg. DVD: As well as a live set from The Joshua Tree tour filmed at a muddy French racecourse, the DVD disc in this set also features some real rarities from the vaults. Initial plans during the recording of The Joshua Tree found Red Hill Mining Town tipped as a single, with a moody video subsequently shot by Academy Award winning director Neil Jordan. When it was discovered the song was too gruelling for Bono to sing live, the single preparations were shelved and the video stored away in the archives. Despite its dark intentions, two decades later the sight of the band in sweaty mining outfits stands as the most amusingly homoerotic imagery of their career. Additional clips include a different cut of With Or Without You (allegedly the first video featuring a female nipple to make it onto MTV) and film footage recorded during photographer Anton Corbijn's journey through US desert towns with the band for the resulting album's iconic artwork. While undermined by the mixed signals and conceited presentation of Rattle & Hum, The Joshua Tree live show filmed at the Hippodrome de Vincennes in Paris proves to be far more memorable than its former filmic documentation suggests. With Bono prancing about in poncey shoes and performing the grand gestures he spent the next decade retreating from, drummer Larry Mullen Jr, bassist Adam Clayton and guitarist The Edge cohesively configure the musical backdrop to one of the most epic albums of all time. Beaten and blown by the wind, The Joshua Tree still stands strong. Scott McLennan
24 August, 2012
Dream Beneath a Desert Sky
I can still remember that night shortly after Christmas of 2001. I wasn't feeling well due to eating too much chocolate (that's another story for another time) and decided to lie down and find something to do. I had received a bunch of new records for Christmas and was in the process of going through all of them. However, U2's The Joshua Tree was one of the few I hadn't gotten around to hearing yet and now seemed like a perfectly good time to delve into it. I had no way of knowing that that night would be a defining musical moment in my life and would drastically change everything I believed and knew about music. I was only a little over a year old when The Joshua Tree was released on March 9, 1987. U2's popularity had been growing and previous albums like War and The Unforgettable Fire had turned the band into an international success. The Joshua Tree turned them into the biggest band on the planet and ever since they've managed to retain that title through tireless work and constant innovation and reinvention. Every U2 album is special to me and each one has played an important part in my life. However, The Joshua Tree still remains not just my favorite U2 album but also my favorite album of all time. This is just my personal opinion and my experience with the band and the album that forever changed my life. I love music that's able to paint pictures and whisk you away into another world. U2 has always been good at this and The Joshua Tree is a perfect example. The desert imagery is everywhere, from the album title and photos to the lyrics and instrumentation. You can feel the desert wind, see the storm clouds rolling over the sandy plains, and see the dry and dusty landscape from the dunes and towering mountains. The band embraced American roots and blues music and mixed it into their signature sound to create a dense and intimate sound that draws you in right from the beginning. There's nothing like driving through the open country of America while listening to this album. It really gives you the full experience and draws you into another time and another world where you're completely free. It's surreal and well worth the effort if you get the chance to do it. I can't think of a better opening to an album than "Where the Streets Have No Name". It's my favorite song and probably as close to heaven as we can get on this earth. The slow fade-in of the organ as The Edge's shimmering guitar kicks in is so moving and wonderfully done. Bono doesn't even sing until nearly two minutes in, choosing instead to the rest of the band come in and drive the song as it continues to build. Anyone who's seen the band live can tell you what an amazing and exhilarating experience this song is in concert. It's the climax of every show and everyone waits for the moment when the red lights come up and The Edge's gentle notes kick in. I've seen the band multiple times and "Streets" was a highlight every single time. In Atlanta the crowd was so energetic and loud that the band couldn't even play the next song for several minutes until the cheering died down. It's legendary. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "With or Without You" follow and they make up what could quite possibly be the best three song opening to any album in existence. The former song has always been one of my favorites. Some see it as a crisis of faith but it's really about the feeling that we'll never be satisfied in this life. There's always something we're missing or one thing left to do that forces us to keep running. The song isn't about losing faith but rather about understanding that faith doesn't give us everything we want or every answer we crave. It's smart and extremely insightful and one of the first U2 songs I can remember liking and feeling a connection to. "With or Without You" is the mother of all love-torn songs, a desperate yet beautiful journey through a wide range of tortured emotions. I think it's a great reminder that sometimes simplicity works best, a notion that U2 has always been privy to. They're all amazing musicians but they realize that sometimes a few chords and a simple beat say more than blistering solos and complicated rhythms. This song proves that point beyond a doubt. "Bullet the Blue Sky" is one of the band's best political songs and it burns with a passion and anger that totally takes you by surprise. From the pounding of Larry's drums and Adam Clayton's simple yet mesmerizing bass line, it packs a punch and culminates in one of Edge's most powerful solos, a cacophony of screeches and wails that sound like they're crying out in pain and frustration. "Running to Stand Still" is one of the hidden gems on the album, a devastating look at the heroin addiction that was sweeping across Dublin in the 1980s. The gentle piano and acoustic guitar are just barely audible over Bono's gentle voice, culminating in a brief swell of drums before Bono's harmonica fades the song out. It's beautiful and has always been a personal favorite of mine, both for it's musical and lyrical finesse. "Red Hill Mining Town" focuses on the various mining strikes of the 1980s while never actually referencing a particular incident. Instead it uses these headlines to form a more open-ended story about the trials and difficulties of working in a mine and we hear all of this through the eyes of one of the workers, who in the chorus can only say, "I'm hanging on/You're all that's left to hold on to". "In God's Country" is a more up-tempo track that looks at the promises that America offers to foreigners, using the Statue of Liberty as an icon. It's a cautious yet optimistic warning that America offers a wide variety of opportunities, both blessings and curses. The album continues with "Trip Through Your Wires". This is easily the most fun and laid-back song on the record. Every member gets a chance to shine and Bono gets to show off some impressive harmonica skills once again. The song stands as a solid reminder of how well U2 truly grasped American music, a concept they would take even further on the their next record, Rattle and Hum. "One Tree Hill" is about Bono's personal assistant and close friend, Greg Carroll, who died in a motorcycle accident in 1986. It's a touching song and one of the band's most overlooked efforts. "Exit" is the heaviest and darkest song present here, beginning quietly until the thundering conclusion where crashing drums erupt in a fury of sound. The meaning of this song always seems to change for me: sometimes I think it's about a killer, sometimes about someone driven crazy by a love they can't have, and other times they're driven mad by love itself. It's a twisted tale and Bono leaves just enough vagueness in the lyrics that you have to decide for yourself. The gentle closer "Mothers of the Disappeared" is both haunting and epic, a tribute to the mothers whose children had disappeared or been taken by Argentinean and Chilean governments, something Bono had heard about firsthand while working in South America as a volunteer. Despite the American themes of the album, it's really the time that Bono and his wife spent helping in South America that influences this album and runs through it. The Joshua Tree is beautiful, epic, and absolutely stunning. Every note, every word, every tiny instrumental touch means something and has its own story. Survival and perseverance are two of the biggest themes running throughout the album. Even the Joshua Tree itself is iconic, a lone tree that's able to survive in the harshest of environments. Every U2 album has its own themes and sounds running through it and this album is the one that started it all for me. I feel a spiritual connection to this album, almost like a part of me wouldn't exist if this album didn't, and it's hard to imagine I would feel the way I do about life and music if this record, as well as this band, didn't exist. It's hard to put into words but this album just touched me in such a dramatic way that it changed everything for me: musically, spiritually, and mentally. This album got the remastered sound and classic packaging it deserves back in 2007. Complete with an album of b-sides, outtakes, and even a full concert from Paris (on DVD, no less!) it's a must-have for any diehard fan and a wonderful collectable. Hearing finished and updated takes of "Wave of Sorrow (Birdland)", "Desert of Our Love", and "Rise Up" are must-haves for collectors and longtime listeners. The real Joshua Tree was struck by lightening and toppled over in 2000. However, that hasn't stopped countless fans from journeying out in the California desert to pay tribute to it. Countless records, plaques, monuments, letters, and trinkets have been left at the site and one day I would love to travel there just to experience it for myself. At the end of the day that's what The Joshua Tree is: a journey. It's one I've taken hundreds of times and one I plan to take again and again. If you don't own this album you should. If you haven't heard it then do yourself a favor and just get it and experience it for yourself. It'll take your mind and spirit to a place where the streets have no name and until I meet my Maker I'm happy to dream about it in the meantime.
24 August, 2012
A fan's opinion
I was born in 1984, so it's great for me to have this exact album remastered, since I was three when it was first released :). Few years later I started listening to my favourite band...till now :) I adore U2 and this (for me) is the greatest of their (and everybody else's) albums, it contains all of the MUSIC and Emotions that the group brings. Unique!!!
23 August, 2012
What an impact was to listen for the 1st time, Joshua Tree. Starting with"Where the streets", then "I Still Haven't Found..." and "With or Without You..." In the 3rd song, my thought was "What's going on here!?" Full of soul, The Joshua Tree is a great portrait of the moment when the"boy meets the man".
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- Fonds
- 1963 - 1989
The fonds consists of records arising from Dunham's teaching and research activities. Includes lecture and research notes, course outlines, exams and study questions, reading lists, reprints, essays and other writing by Dunham, and a few pieces of correspondence regarding Dunham's career and projects.
Dunham, Robert


text:
I hear many parents say:" My son/daughter is going to Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy". Parents say it with such conviction as if sending their child to Nick's academy means that the kids become the next Roger Federer over night. Don't get me wrong, with all due respect, Nick Bollettieri is a great coach but most of the kids attending his academy never get to see him on the court. Instead, parents pay a lot of money, $32,100 - $85,000 for full-time status, but don't know much about the person who actually conducts the training. Most of the parents don't even know what the player/coach ratio is – most academy coaches have numerous kids they coach at once.
If parents ask me if they should send their kid to Nick Bollettieri's academy, I generally do not recommend it, unless their child is already a very successful junior player on a national/international level. National/International successful junior players will receive quality training and hence the individual attention of good coaches that is needed to become successful. But if the kid is "just" a talented player, he/she will be one of many and will not receive the quality training that the top players receive. Instead, they will be on court 28 with some assistant coach who drills them till they throw-up, then they receive a hat and a shirt, and not much else. This phenomenon can be seen at tennis academies all over the country.
So, what would be a better approach?
One way to go is to find a place where player/coach ratio is low (1:2 – 1:4 max). One such place could be John Roddick Total Tennis. But the most effective way is to find your own private coach that works with you on a 1:1 basis. This is a comparable scenario to class room sizes in schools. Research has shown over the years that if you have a private tutor you will learn more than sitting in a classroom with 24 other students because the tutor can focus solely on your needs and the student pays more attention as well. It will cost you probably some more money but you get much more for each and every $ spent. I strongly believe in the notion that "quality will be remembered when the price is already forgotten."
Now, how do I find a great coach that can help me get better?
There are many coaches out there and almost each and every one of them claims to have worked with professional players. Most of the time, it's rather wishful thinking than reality, which leads me to the first rule: "Don't listen to what people say, look at what they do".
For instance, what is their completed level of education? What kind of degree did they accomplish - do they have a "Bachelor's" or "Master's"?
If someone has a Master's degree doesn't necessarily mean that they are smarter but it means that they had the determination to get through 6+ years of university classes. It means that they set out to achieve something and they started and finished the job.
Is the coach certified by a tennis teaching organization (e.g. USPTA or USPTR)?
How many certifications does he/she have? What level did they accomplish? Again, it doesn't mean that they are "better" than someone without a license but it is an indication that they take teaching seriously. If someone possess more than one license means that he/she is open to different ways/methods to accomplish something – being open-minded to different approaches. Believe it or not, there are many ways to become successful – Nick Bollettieri has one way of teaching, Ion Tiriac/Gunther Bosch (Boris Becker's former manager & coach respectively) had another way.
What is the physical appearance of the potential coach - do they suffer from the fat-and-happy syndrome? What I mean by that is, are they in good physical shape themselves for their age or are they 25 pounds overweight? Why is that important you might ask…well, for once, it's a matter of self-discipline. As a coach, I cannot expect from my student to work out hard, eat right, etc. and I can't do it myself – they should do themselves what they are preaching. Does Nick Bollettieri, Tony Roche, or Dean Goldfine look overweight? The answer is NO.
If you have a chance to watch the coach conduct a training session, watch for the following:
- is he/she on time?
- Do they have a plan for what they try to accomplish or do they just do the same routine all the time?
- Are they engaging when they teach – do you feel the coach cares if the student learns something
Being on time is a matter of respect and discipline. If they have a plan shows that they took the time to sit down, think about what they want to accomplish and find ways to implement a desired outcome. If they are engaging means that they want you to get better, not just getting paid.
Quality education cost a lot of time and money...Rome wasn't built in one day. Many tennis academies are either run by former professional players (e.g. Casal, Bruguera, Evert, etc.) that all know how to hit a ball themselves but have little to no knowledge about physiology, anatomy, nutrition, etc. or they are run by a coach that had success with 1 player 25 years ago and they still practice like it is 1975. By the way, the most successful coach, Nick Bollettieri, is not a good tennis player himself but he had/has drive, discipline and determination.
Being on the court during the day and then sitting in class for 3 years in college takes money, time, determination, and effort....lying is easier and they get paid regardless because most people are blended by a big name and/or don't have adequate information available to them.
I mentioned previously what parents can do to evaluate for themselves if a coach is ambitious, honest, and knows what they are talking about. One thing I would recommend to parents is asking questions...why do you do this? why do you do that? Coaches who know what they are doing will be able to explain to you in simple terms why they are doing something...coaches who don't will often answer "because we used to do it". The best advice I can give parents is to look at results. Has the academy produced any players that made it into the top 100 ATP or WTA and when did they do it? Are they still getting players to that level today or in the recent past? There are no excuses to charge a lot of $ but not being able to deliver results...why send your kid somewhere if they never produced anybody? That means that they are doing something wrong...doesn't it?
Back to the expertise of coaches...For example, the coach says "you have to go jogging 6 miles, 4x/week". The coach that doesn't know what they are doing will say something like "because it enhances the player's aerobic base" or "that's how we do it". A competent coach would say "we don't send them jogging because tennis is more of an anaerobic (higher power output, short durations < 30 sec) sport than aerobic (endurance)." Do endurance runners look muscular? How about American Football players? Why would I want to train a football player (plays last ~10sec) like an endurance athlete (marathon runner)? It has to be sport-specific.
Also, the notion of "more is better" when it comes to training is absolute non-sense and shows immediately that the coach is clueless. This approach will most often lead to injuries and a decline in the players performance due to over-training! and/or because the coach reinforces wrong technique, intensities, rest intervals...just to name a few. I don't see how doing the wrong things over and over make you a better tennis player...do you? For example, adequate rest intervals are vital, otherwise any organism (e.g. human body) will die instead of getting stronger.
These are just some of the things you can use to evaluate a potential coach. Apart from the aforementioned guidelines, it is essential to be on the same page on a personal level – coach and player should trust each other and get along personally in order to have success.
For more information you can visit our website and/or join our Facebook Group for periodic information on tennis, conditioning, and sports nutrition.