Make Money and Lower Risk Im Serious

An Incredible “Gift” for Making Money in Financial Markets Enables You to Lower Risk and Leverage Trades

7:34 AM

Dear Entrepreneur:

“Is this a legitimate tool for making money in the market or another Wall Street deception?”

                                                                             T.M. Sante Fe NM

I received the above post on my blog recently.

My answer is yes.

Today I’ll show you an incredible “gift” investors, speculators and traders are using to make money.

The “gift” is exchange-traded funds or ETF for short.

Hang on……I know you’re probably familiar with ETFs.

But I’ll show you how my clients and I are making money with them. You won’t learn these tactics on financial websites or from the clowns on CNBC.

An exchange-traded fund (or ETF) is an investment vehicle traded on stock exchanges, like stocks.

I’ll give you a powerful overview in a second.

The profit making potential of ETFs is mind-boggling…and here’s why…

The risk of trading ETFs is super-manageable, and especially for beginning traders and speculators.

I like the ETFs for three reasons:

1.     Risk is limited to the initial investment (LOW)

2.     The ETF market is easy to enter and exit (LIQUID)

3.     ETFs offer nice leverage (LEVERAGE)

You won’t have the same leveraging or pyramiding ability of a futures contract or Forex.

But there’s a new type of ETF which enables traders and investors to leverage opportunities in a big way.

Marc’s ETF “Cheat” Sheet

An ETF holds assets such as stocks, bonds, currencies, or commodities and trades at approximately the same price as the net asset value of its underlying assets.

The most popular ETFs track an index, like the Dow Jones Industrial Average or S&P 500.

ETFs can be an attractive tool for making money because of the relatively low risk, tax efficiency, and stock-like features.

An ETF combines the feature of a mutual fund meaning it can be purchased or redeemed at the end of the trading day for its net asset value (or NAV).

ETFs traditionally have been index funds, but in 2008 the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission authorized the creation of actively-managed ETFs.

What is an Actively-Managed ETF?

An actively managed ETF will have a benchmark index (like the S&P 500), but managers can change sector allocations, market-time trades and/or deviate from the index as they see fit.

This produces investment returns which will not mirror the underlying index perfectly.

Passive ETFs typically follow indexes pretty closely, which allows investors to track the fund fairy easily.

Oil Exchange-Traded Funds

The price of oil has climbed to historic highs.

However, not everyone believes oil will remain at historically high levels for eternity, including me.

In fact, the last four months is a good indication of what can happen in the oil market….it can skyrocket when bullets start flying.

But…..and listen closely……oil can plummet in price too! Almost NO ONE believes this….but this is where the real money is made.

For example, look what happened to oil during the recent disaster is Japan….the price of oil went down!

You can make a fortune with ETFs when you understand how to trade markets when before they skyrocket or plummet… especially if you go against the crowd at the right time. 

On top of that, with EFTs you can wait indefinitely!

Gold Exchange-Traded Funds

Gold is trading at near three-decade highs.

But you can make a fortune when and if gold plummets in price too!

I know….this is a hard thing to grasp. It’s also one of the hardest lessons for novice traders to learn.

Look around…..everyone from Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity to Warren Buffet and George Soros is touting gold as the greatest investment since the dawn of civilization. There are hundreds of “buy gold” commercials running at any given time.

But very few people believe the price of gold or precious metals will decline over the next 12 to18 months.

The so-called financial experts try to convince people gold will surge in price for eternity.

But like stocks, real estate, bonds, baseball cards and diamonds this is not always the case.

Sure… in times of sudden panic, stock market crashes, currency wars, etc. the price of gold “tends” to rise quickly.

But the price of gold can plummet during crises, too – as witnessed in the gold market recently.

For example, the price of gold surged from $400 an ounce in 2004 to more than $1400 an ounce in 2010.

However, at the beginning of the real estate and mortgage crisis in 2008 gold actually FELL in price.

So whatever your view happens to be there’s likely a Gold ETF you can trade.

Cool Insight on “Ultra” Exchange-Traded Funds

If, as an investor or trader, you believe the price of something will go up, you are considered bullish, or a “bull.” If you believe the price of something will go down you would be considered bearish, or a “bear.”

As an investor or a trader you might even be “ultra” bullish or bearish, meaning you think the price of something is going to go up or down in a big way.

That is the beauty of a new breed of ETFs called “ultras.”

Ultra Exchange-Traded Funds enable an investor or trader to leverage an investment in a much bigger way than just an ordinary ETF.

Here are a few “ultra” ETFs you can track on any financial website. I’ve noted the underlying stock, bond, currency, or commodity:

ProShares SIJ UltraShort (Industrials)
ProShares EFU UltraShort (MSCI EAFE)
ProShares EEV UltraShort MSCI (Emerging Markets)
ProShares EWV UltraShort MSCI (Japan)
ProShares MZZ UltraShort (MidCap400)
ProShares SCC UltraShort (Consumer Services)
ProShares DXD UltraShort (Dow30)
ProShares FXP UltraShort (FTSE/Xinhua China 25)
Proshares SKF UltraShort (Financials)
ProShares RXD UltraShort (Health Care)
ProShares DUG UltraShort (Oil & Gas)
ProShares QID UltraShort  (QQQ) Twice inverse of NASDAQ-100
ProShares SRS UltraShort (Real Estate)
ProShares SDK UltraShort (Russell MidCap Growth)

ProShares SMN UltraShort (Basic Materials)
ProShares SZK UltraShort (Consumer Goods)

How to Make Money with ETFs

Every investor has an opinion of the world financial markets, politics, and economy.

This is why the markets move so dramatically – up, down, and sideways.

In order to make money with ETFs your world view of the future needs to be accurate.

What’s more, you need to be fairly accurate in terms of timing too.

For example, in 2000 I was confident the Dot-com hysteria was a joke. I was advising several companies being run by 20-year olds valued at more than $100 million each…with NO sales.

It seemed like everyone was swept up in the fantasy.

And novice traders were making cash hand over fist on stocks of these Dot-com companies – on paper.

But no one I knew or read about removed profits from the Dot-com fiasco by the time everything collapsed.

In this case my world view of the market was correct. I made a bundle shorting tech and Internet company stocks. But my exposure to downside risk was way too high.

On top of that my timing was off by 10 months or so. I knew the market would plunge but timing is crucial.

Our view needs to be accurate in terms of “timing.”

And so…..

In order to make money with ETFs we need to examine the market we’re investing and calculate a “reasonable” time frame.

Now….one of the great aspects of ETFs is timing is not overly important.

You can hold an ETF for weeks, months and even years without any downside risk, margin calls or frustration.

For example, everyone knows the housing and real estate market has been in serious trouble for more than 3 years.

Some investors believe the housing market will bounce back in 2011. While other investors believe the worst is yet to come this year.

The reality is probably somewhere in the middle.

If you believe the housing market will stay the same or get slightly worse there are two ETFs you could purchase to take advantage of that trend:

Ultra Short Financials Proshares (AMEX: SKF)

This ETF benefits when and if financial services suffer. This would include real estate lenders, international banks; property and casualty insurance companies; companies invested directly or indirectly in real estate; diversified financial companies, such as Federal National Mortgage Association, credit card issuers and investment advisers; securities brokers and dealers, and investment banks,

ProFunds Short Real Estate Inv (MUTF:SRPIX)This ETF invests in derivatives that ProFund Advisors believes should have similar daily return characteristics as the inverse (opposite) of the daily return of the index. Assets of the fund not invested in derivatives will typically be held in money market instruments. It is non-diversified

The beauty of ETFs and specifically “ultra” and “double short” ETFs is they enable a trader to leverage markets (up or down) in a big way, but offer lower downside risk of futures and Forex markets.

There you have it!

Everything you wanted to know about ETFs but were afraid to ask!

Your humble host…

Marc Charles

(Ed Note:  Marc Charles is referred to as "The King of Business Opportunities" ....and for good reason. He should be known as "The King of Legitimate Business Opportunities"...because hes launched, bought, sold reviewed and advised on hundreds of businesses and money making opportunities. He understands legitimate opportunities. Marc has agreed supply League of Power members with crucial updates regarding legitimate business and money making opportunities.)

******* Action Strategy *********

Start researching the “ultra” ETF market today.

When you start trading ETFs you’ll need an online brokerage account.

But that’s easy…..you can open an account with as little as $500.

The right ETF enables you to profit if a market skyrockets, plummets or trades sideways.

On top of that, you can make a boatload of money with double long or double short (ultra) ETFs.

You can subscribe to ETF publications and advisories to gain some street smart insight. I’ve included a couple of recommendations in today’s issue.

Paper Trade ETFs!

You can trade ETFs on paper and never risk a dime!

Simply select the ETFs you want to buy (or sell, or purchase options on), write down the current market price, and watch them in the paper or financial websites go up or down in value.

Develop an exit strategy.

Buy and hold for eternity will not work in the coming months and years. Nothing lasts forever – so develop a specific exit plan and remove profits regularly.

******* Valuable Resources ********

Exchange-Traded Funds Explained– Investopedia

Exchange-Traded Funds Center – Yahoo! Finance

ETF Investment Guide - seekingalpha.com ETFs

CEF Connect – ETFconnect.com

ETF Investor Newsletter

ETF Trends

Morningstar ETF Investor

New Book Recommendations

The ETF Handbook by David Abner

Super Sectors: How to Outsmart the Market Using Sector Rotation and ETFs by John Nyaradi

The ETF Book: All You Need to Know About Exchange-Traded Funds by Richard Ferri

Read More..

Whats with pre med students shadowing a doctor

Many medical schools are either requiring or highly recommending that applicants show evidence of “shadowing” [following a doctor around] for varying periods of time. This supposedly gives a pre-med student an idea of what doctors do. I guess the schools assume that if someone has shadowed a doctor and still wants to become one, that individual is a better candidate for medical school than someone who hasnt done any shadowing.

A recent incident at a hospital in Syracuse, New York raised some serious concerns about shadowing. An anesthesiologist allowed a college student to endotracheally intubate a patient in the operating room. This was a problem on many levels. Students who are shadowing are not supposed to touch or examine patients. The patient who was intubated likely did not know that an unlicensed college student would be doing a procedure on him. And of course, theres HIPAA.

According to the article, the director of Consumers Unions Safe Patient Project, called the incident an "egregious violation of patient-doctor trust."

Ive had a problem with shadowing for many years, and Im not the first to say so. Dr. Elizabeth Kitsis, director of bioethics education at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, has blogged about the topic.

She told of a male pre-med student who was introduced to patients as a "student doctor" and watched a gynecologist perform pelvic exams. The student himself said he felt a little awkward. One wonders how the unsuspecting patients would have felt had it been known he was a college student thinking about becoming a doctor.

There were many comments pro and con on both Dr. Kitsiss blog and a follow-up piece that appeared on another Einstein blog.

Dr. Kitsis co-authored a paper which found that few studies have looked at shadowing by pre-med students. She called for guidelines and a code of conduct for this activity.

Several questions come to mind.

With all the information available on the Internet, is shadowing really an effective way for college students to decide whether to become physicians or not?

Is there any research comparing career outcomes of pre-med students who shadowed doctors to those who did not?

What about the patients? Do they have any say in this? Are students who shadow introduced as who they really are?

How does a student choose a doctor to shadow? As far as I can tell, there is no quality control for this aspect of shadowing.

Is shadowing mandatory in other fields? Must one shadow before becoming an engineer [civil, railroad, or sanitation], an accountant, a fighter pilot, a shepherd, or an exotic dancer?

Read More..

Can You Make Money on Diply

I was browsing Quantcast figures to see if there were any clues as to why my own were so dreadful.  I checked out the top sites to see how they were doing.

A site called diply.com caught my eye.  Dramatic growth in traffic as evidenced by the Quantcast graph below.  Look at those visitor numbers since 2014!

"So what are they?" I wondered.

Moments later I was looking at the Diply front page.  Lets look at it together...

Ah.  Its one of those sites.  Full of titles that hint at information you simply must know about - presented in bite size chunks as the frequent use of numbers indicates.  The 10 best this, the 4 worst those.

Diply encourages YOU to contribute.  Sign up with your Facebook.  Get social and get posting.

It looks like a fun read, a magazine style for the quickly browsing mobile reader.  The visitor numbers show how popular it has become.

So can anyone write for them?

Yes - they can!  Of course they can.  This is reader generated content for the generation that believes in its right to be heard.  OK, thats fine.  For some of us there is another question.

Is there any money in it?

...

Diply host adverts so they must be making a turn on the amount of traffic that comes through.  I checked their sign-up conditions carefully.

Sadly, there is nothing in there about earning for writing.  Sure I can share my thoughts and my legally obtained pictures and non-plagiarised copy - but as for cents...  None at all on offer.

If I have missed a trick and there is a way to earn from Diply please let me know.  But spare me the free publicity angle.  You need to shout pretty loud in that amount of traffic to get heard.

Read More..

Indian teenager dies after being raped and set on fire

A 16-year-old Indian girl who was raped and then set on fire on the roof of her home on Monday has died, police said on Wednesday, the latest in a string of horrific sexual crimes committed against women in India.

The investigating officer told AFP that the  teenager had sustained more than 90 percent burns on her body and could not be saved. He said she died in hospital early Wednesday.

"Unfortunately she could not be saved despite the best efforts of the medical staff," said Ashwani Kumar. "We have arrested the accused, who is 19 years old and sent him to judicial custody. "An investigation is on to find out more about the motive and details of the crime,".

"The body has been sent for postmortem. We are waiting for the report."he said.

The accused has been charged with a slew of offences including rape and murder, Kumar said.

 

According to media reports, the girls dad said the 19 year old man lived nearby in their village in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh had been harassing his daughter for a year despite the fact that he had warned him several times to leave his daughter alone.

The 19 year old has been arrested and charged with sexual harassment, rape and murder.

There have been so many rape incidents in India with the men getting arrested sometimes while others have shamed the victims and let the men go unpunished.

Last month, a teenage rape victim was sexually assaulted for a second time while in hospital receiving treatment for the initial attack in eastern Jharkhand state.

Read More..

Cosplay Spotlight Jenn Croft

 The legendary Lara Croft will be making her triumphant return March 5th, in the highly anticipated Tomb Raider reboot. The game will focus on Laras early years fighting for her life on a deadly and mysterious island.  In honor of Lara returning to the world of video games I contacted Jenn Croft, who is my favorite Lara Croft costumer for an interview with the Confessions of a Cosplay Girl Blog.  The California beauty, who currently resides in Australia, chats about her thoughts regarding Laras new beginning, her 25 Tomb Raider costumes and which actress she would select to bring Lara back to the big screen.











Victoria: How long have you been cosplaying Lara Croft?

Jenn: 13 years.

Victoria: How many Lara costumes do you currently own?


Jenn: I think its somewhere around the 25 mark. I stopped counting long ago.

Victoria: Do you have any Tomb Raider costumes planned for the future?

Jenn: Yes, I am about to start working on the sola wetsuit next week.

Victoria: What did you think of the movies starring Angelina Jolie? Would you like to see those films continue or do you think a reboot is in order?

Jenn: The movies were fun. I dont think they were as close to the games as they could have been but Angelina Jolies acting job was great. That being said, I really hope there is a reboot because although they were entertaining, the movies do need a reboot to match the new Lara from this years game.

Victoria: Speaking of reboot, the new Tomb Raider game will be released soon. How do you feel about them rebooting the franchise with a young, inexperienced Lara?

Jenn: I think its great! This is a side of Lara that nobody has seen before so it was always this void in Laras history that we never got to experience before. I am excited to see how the story of this game pans out and how it will compliment the heroine we all have come to love over the years.

Victoria: If you could cast a new actress to take over the role of Lara, who would you select?

Jenn: I would pick Lyndsy Fonseca because to me she looks just like the reboot Lara and has proven that she can act the part of an action girl from her role in the TV show Nikita.

Victoria: Aside from cosplay, what other hobbies do you enjoy?

Jenn: I have many hobbies. Probably too many, in fact. I enjoy extreme sports such as rock climbing, base jumping, skydiving. I love motorcycles and firearms. I have a huge passion for animals as well. And that is just to name a few.

Victoria: Do you have any new costumes currently in the works?

Jenn: Yes, the Sola wetsuit from Tomb Raider 2!

Victoria: Will you be attending any conventions in 2013?

Jenn: I may be attending some conventions in Australia this year such as Supanova or Oz Comic Con both in Melbourne, but its still uncertain at this point.

Read More..

FG employs Ocholi’s son gives others Scholarship

The Federal government has offered automatic employment at the Federal Ministry of Justice to Aaron Ocholi, the only surviving son of James Ocholi, Minister of state for Labor and Employment, who died alongside his wife and son in a fatal accident along the Kaduna-Abuja expressway on Sunday March 6th. ? Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, disclosed this today when he visited the bereaved family.

Malami also disclosed that the late Ocholis other children will enjoy scholarship programmes from the Federal Government. Aaron is a law graduate who was called to bar in October 2015.

Malami said

“I am here to convey Mr President’s condolence message and he has asked me to personally inform you that you have been given automatic employment in the Federal Ministry of Justice. The employment letter is in process and you can resume work after now. Your father was a very hardworking and conscientious member of the Federal Executive Council who was very passionate and worked hard for the realisation of the change agenda of this government. Indeed, it is a sad moment for all of us and the vacuum which his death has created is not only for the family, but the leadership as well. He was a great pillar in the struggle which brought this administration to power. He played a major role in the merger process,”.

Read More..

Effects of acupuncture on pain and inflammation in pediatric appendicitis

A paper [full text here] from The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine says that "acupuncture may be a feasible and effective treatment modality for decreasing subjective pain and inflammation" in pediatric patients with appendicitis.

They studied six adolescents with appendicitis and administered acupuncture for pain control prior to surgery. Pain was assessed using three analog scales, and inflammation was measured using serial white blood cell (WBC) counts and C-reactive protein levels (CRP). CRP is a nonspecific indicator of inflammation in the body.

Figure 2 from the paper summarizes the results.

You can see that after 20 minutes of acupuncture, all three pain scores and WBCs declined. However, CRP continued to rise. Conspicuously absent from the figure and the text of the paper are any statistical analyses. This is due to the lack of a significant difference in any of these values because of the limited number of subjects studied.

The authors were undeterred and concluded "Although CRP as a general marker of inflammation stayed roughly the same on sequential blood draws, the median WBC showed a modest and noticeable drop. The implication of this finding is that the effectiveness of acupuncture may have a biophysiological basis." Look at the figure and decide for yourself if the WBC drop is really more noticeable than the CRP rise.

While the authors did mention some limitations of the study including the lack of statistics, they didnt discuss impediments to using acupuncture in patients who present to an emergency department. Whether patients were given antibiotics before or during the acupuncture session was not stated.

Even if the technique actually works [which is certainly not proven by this paper], how practical would it be to have an acupuncturist on call? Would she take in-house call? If not, how long would it take for her to get to the hospital? Would insurance pay for acupuncture? Would the acupuncturist be subject to work hours limitations?

The authors are not proposing acupuncture as a definitive treatment for appendicitis. So what is the clinical value of reducing inflammation? An even better way to reduce inflammation [and pain] is to remove the diseased appendix.

I know how difficult it is to publish papers and continue to do all the clinical and administrative work of an academic physician. As I have said on several occasions, many of my published papers were simply not very good.

But acupuncture to decrease inflammation in appendicitis patients? I doubt youll be seeing an on-call acupuncturist any time soon.

Read More..

Photos from accident on 3rd Mainland Bridge this evening

A female passenger was left severely injured after the vehicle she was traveling in somersaulted on 3rd Mainland bride this evening...

 

Read More..

So Many Scams So Little Time by Marc Charles

 September 12, 2014

I received this question from an entrepeneur the other day.

I thought you might like my response.

Marc


Question: Dear Marc, Im frustrated as you can probably tell. But Ive spent a small fortune on every conceivable home business opportunity and online money making deal. 90% of them are a joke! Most Internet marketers and business opportunity salesmen are nothing more than shills and hucksters. But I value your opinion and insight...and every time youve recommended something its been valuable. Is anything legitimate?

Answer Marc Charles:

Wow.....I enjoyed your email! If you apply this attitude to business youll make a fortune!

But first I need to defend my fellow hucksters and business opportunity salesmen.

Im serious.

Yes......there are cons, shills, crooks and everything in between in the world today. I could devote a dozen books to all of the crooks Ive met in my life and in business.

Ironically, it was one such con artist where I had the most fun in business. I was young entrepreneur but I couldnt believe how resourceful this guy was. In one business venture this guy started offering handguns as premiums! And it worked! The stupid phone rang off the hook for two weeks straight.

Anyway, the problem is not finding legitmate business opportunities or money making ventures.

You could STOP ordering books, courses, tapes, DVDs, special reports, newsletters, conferences, eBooks, webinars and everything in between today, and you would have all of the information you need to run a profitable business and make money.

Im not kidding.

You need to stop looking for "the secret" formula. The "secret" formula does not exist. There is NOTHING new under the sun.

What you need to acquire is wisdom and understanding.

95% of what you buy from someone else will not impart wisdom and understanding. This is a BIG lesson to learn.

I encourage people to look for the "essence" of a business opportunity or money making venture.

The "essence" is what you really need to make a business go.

And ironically...."essence" is the one thing which is not available when you buy or start a business.

Now...this doesnt mean people cant or wont help you.

This blog is a good example. Im not charging a nickel for this wisdom. Im also willing to help almost anyone who has PROVEN they have a passion to learn.

But when you order information products, books, courses and the rest......look for the "essence".

When you understand the "essense" of a business or money making formula, and YOU APPLY this understanding...you will gain wisdom.

Its a big deal.....and this is 100% true and accurate.

I hope that helps!!

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,


Marc Charles
Fellow Huckster

PS Check out my books on Amazon.....many of them FREE. Dr. James Towers books too :)  

Read More..

More on selecting and teaching residents

A resident emailed me with some questions about surgical residency programs and education. For space considerations, his queries are incorporated with my answers.

Thanks for sending the link to the paper on selecting residents. Many surgeons feel that choosing athletes who played a varsity sport—team or individual—in college is a good way to pick residents. With one notable exception, my limited experience is consistent with that idea. Its limited because there are not enough applicants (at least not to programs I ran) who are athletes. I have a post coming out soon about the subject of "grit" or conscientiousness and selecting residents who have high grit levels. A recent paper suggests that residents who drop out of surgical programs might have low grit levels.

The resident who wrote to me suggested trying to choose applicants who fit in. At first glance, the idea is appealing. However, the matching process can thwart that goal because the people you think will fit in may not rank the program highly. If everyone based their selections on who fit in best, there might not be women or minorities in many programs.

Teaching residents how to dictate operative notes is important for residents. The problem with allowing a resident to dictate a case is that the dictation is a legal document and cannot be removed from the chart, particularly if it is an electronic medical record. I have always felt that if a resident cannot coherently dictate a case, she probably did not learn how to do it and would not be able to do it by herself. Practicing off-line using speech recognition technology could overcome this problem. The resident could dictate a draft which then could be gone over with the attending thereby achieving the feedback which is a very important part of learning.

Regarding the best use of limited didactic time, I have no brilliant answers. In fact, Im glad Im no longer a program director and dont have to deal with this difficult question. One often overlooked factor in work hours limits discussions is that conference time has been quite negatively impacted since 2003.

Because about one-third of residents must go home early every morning means that there are no longer any afternoon conferences or rounds. Cramming 2 or 3 hours of didactic time into a single morning goes against many principles of learning especially if the sessions are boring lectures which do not engage the audience. Intermittent bursts of teaching and/or practice have been found to be better for learning than long single sessions. In addition, there is so much more to learn because of the expanding body of knowledge and mandates from the RRC and other regulatory entities.

I have written several posts advocating teaching residents how to think rather than memorize facts which are available on a smartphone. Heres one from 2012. However, this will require a top to bottom reorganization of not only the way residents are taught, but also the way they are tested.

Please comment if you disagree or have something to add.

Read More..

Google v Squidoo and Hubpages

Matt Cutts, Google guru, has declared war on content farms.  It is a long war, involving a lot of algorithm tweaking.

The idea being to reduce the power of the content farm when compared to genuine content written for the purpose of it being there, rather than a quick buck.

The graph below shows the last few months of Hubpages v Squidoo traffic as measured by Quantcast.  HubPages is the one at the bottom.

There is a clear decline in HP traffic, and a corresponding rise in Squidoo.  It is as if turning down the dial on HubPages simply increased the views to Squidoo.  Im not a fan of Squidoo but that cant be what Google wanted.

The two sites are very similar.  Content written for marketing - either adsense or affiliate.  To me, Squidoo looks spammier but its a choice thing.

Heres the graph...

You can see the divergence in traffic around July, gathering pace in late September where HubPages took quite a knock.  As HP goes down then Squidoo rises.  All that traffic had to go somewhere, but it doesnt look like it went to individual sites.

Google just took it from HP and gave it to Squidoo.

I wonder if the Squidoo drop at the beginning of November is the next phase of Googles anti-content farm efforts?  No corresponding rise for HP, so a content farm drop overall.

This has long been promised by Google, the end of the writing sites that specialise in low quality generic material that serves little purpose.  The sites that I have spent my time writing on as it happens.

I havent bothered feeding my blog into Quantcast by the way, it wouldnt even register I should think.

Really, I should stop looking at traffic and just get on with writing.  The trouble is, it is so addictive.

Wouldnt it be nice if Google just set the dial higher on our own content and gave us millions of hits each day?  That really would be worth blogging about.

Read More..

See what these classy ladies posted on Instagram

Lol...Like, seriously?

Read More..

5 Easy Steps To Making Money On Youtube!

This Video Makes Money On Youtube!!

         Make Movies That Make Money! The Low-Budget Filmmakers Guide
Have you ever clicked on a Google Ad on Youtube that was on a video you were watching? How about an ad that was on a Youtube page located in the top right hand corner?

This is called Adsense and people are making a great living by implementing them into their Youtube videos through means of monetization. Every time someone clicks on a Google ad, that person gets paid.

You can too! Its Easy! Its Free!!

Step #1  Sign up for a new Gmail account. Its best to try and obtain a name that will pertain to your brand. If you make and/or promote funny videos then try and find a name like " my( your brand name)funnyvideos at gmail.com.

Step #2  Sign up for Adsense. Its free, but it may take a few days to get approved. You need to use a Gmail address for this but it can be your personal Gmail. Its best to use a Gmail address NOT attached to any brand name because you only get ONE Adsense account for life. However, you will probably and eventually have several different brand Gmails for different niches.

Step #3  Sign up for a Youtube account with your new Gmail address. Once again, try to pick a Youtube channel user name that will compliment your Gmail name and brand.

Step #4  You have mail...You have been approved for Adsense!! Now its time to run over to Youtube with your newly coveted Adsense ID#. A 16 digit account number that you will plug into every Adsense site you have. Go to Youtube  account settings and click on the Monetization tab. This is where you will find the area to add your Adsense ID#.

*IMPORTANT TIP*  Never click on your own ads!!!! Google is smart and will find out. The consequence is being banned for life from Adsense!! This is NOT your goal. If you need to edit your video, click on the Video Manager link and edit from there. You can also edit comments under the Comments link while in the Video Manager.

Step #5  Upload your video. After you fill out some "Basic Info" on your video, click the tab next to that which is the "Monetization" button. Check the box "Monetize My Video". Next, look below and check the top two "Ad Formats". Overlay in-video ads (Overlay in-video ads are transparent overlay ads that appear on the lower portion of your video.) and TrueView in-stream ads (TrueView in-stream are a family of formats that give viewers choice and control over which advertisers messages they want to see and when.) boxes. At the bottom of that page check the box that lets your video be shown everywhere like laptops,computers,tablets and smart phones. Also check the box below that only shows your video on monetized platforms. No need in showing your video for free.

Thats it. You are now on your way to making Adsense revenue with your Youtube videos. Other posts will discuss networking on social sites and more ways to make money with your new Adsense account.

Read More..

Another reason not to rely on medical advice from the Internet

On New Years Eve, The Daily Beast published an article with suggestions about how to avoid a hangover.

Some of the tips were reasonable such as limiting yourself to one alcoholic drink per hour and maybe avoiding certain beverages like wine, bourbon, and Scotch, which contain congeners and have been associated with worse hangovers.

However, some of the advice is wrong.

The article recommends this on the day you plan to party:

6 a.m.: Rise and hydrate! Drink early and drink often. One of the main causes of a hangover is dehydration. Women should be drinking 2.7 liters per day, and men should get 3.7 liters. Thats 0.7 gallon and 0.97 gallon, respectively.

After you party, at 12 a.m.: Drink some water and get to bed. It’s your last chance of the day to hydrate, so seize it! Sip some water before your head hits the pillow, but avoid popping any anti-hangover pills.

The 6 a.m. recommendation has two important bits of misinformation. One, dehydration is probably not a major factor causing a hangover. A 2010 literature review explains that hangovers are much more complicated than most people think. From the abstract:

Markers of dehydration were not significantly related to hangover severity. Some studies report a significant correlation between blood acetaldehyde concentration and hangover severity, but most convincing is the significant relationship between immune factors and hangover severity. The latter is supported by studies showing that hangover severity may be reduced by inhibitors of prostaglandin synthesis. Several factors do not cause alcohol hangover but can aggravate its severity. These include sleep deprivation, smoking, congeners, health status, genetics and individual differences.

Two, the idea that you need to drink 8 glasses of water per day is a myth. The best plain English explanation of this appeared in the New York Times last summer.

The 12 a.m. suggestion may also be incorrect. Do you really need more water right before you try to sleep?

As the 2010 review pointed out, blocking prostaglandins by taking an anti-inflammatory drug like ibuprofen might be useful. However, a small risk of bleeding from gastric mucosal damage with the combination of alcohol and anti-inflammatory drugs is a concern.

Abstaining from alcohol or drinking it in moderation is the best way to avoid a hangover. Once you have a hangover, the best remedy is time.

A Washington Post article on the dangers of overhydration in marathon runners quotes an expert as follows: “Drink when you’re thirsty. It’s not something you have to tell your body to do.”

If you have normal kidneys and drink as much water as The Daily Beast recommends, you may avoid hangover because instead of getting drunk, you will be spending a lot of time in the bathroom peeing.

Read More..

Now Im really worried about surgical education

Heres why.

A friend told me that a new attending on his staff was having some problems. Although the young surgeon was a graduate of five years of general surgery training plus two years of fellowship, he was unable to do an inguinal hernia or a laparoscopic cholecystectomy by himself.

This is just an anecdote, but the issue has been identified by others. Remember the paper from Annals of Surgery in September of 2013 that described a survey of fellowship directors? It stated that 66% of graduates of five-year general surgery training programs could not conduct a major case unsupervised for 30 minutes, and 30% could not independently perform a laparoscopic cholecystectomy

A study published online in JAMA Surgery last month looked at 20 years of ACGME surgical resident case logs and found that although minimally invasive surgery is being done much more frequently, it is currently performed in more than 50% of cases for only five procedures—cholecystectomy, appendectomy, adult anti-reflex surgery, partial gastric resection, and thoracic wedge resection.

In 2007, the Residency Review Committee for Surgery increased the required number of basic laparoscopic surgery cases from a minimum of 34 to 60 and from 0 to 25 for advanced . The authors expressed concern that there might not be enough minimally invasive cases for all of the residents to do. They also pointed out that there was still in need for residents to learn open surgery since all but five operation procedures are still predominantly performed that way. However, as laparoscopic cases increase, the number of open cases will decrease because the total number of cases done by graduating chief residents has not changed significantly in 20 years.

A year ago, I blogged about some potential problems that might occur when surgical residencies are expanded and new programs are begun. Specifically, I wondered if there would be enough teaching cases to go around. It is interesting to see my speculation bolstered by data.

A program director recently told me that there may be a movement afoot to start a Fundamentals of Open Surgery course.

What is going on here? There is already a Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery course. Do we really need to have a separate course to teach residents open surgery? Isnt that what a "residency" is supposed to do?

How did surgeons of my generation ever learn how to operate without courses in the fundamentals of laparoscopic and open surgery?

The visionary surgeon Leo Gordon saw it coming in 2002. He predicted the need for a "macrolaparotomy" course, and it can be run by the newly created American Board of Open Surgery.

Read More..

Should every man over the age of 65 be on a statin

If you believe the latest arteriosclerotic cardiovascular risk calculator, the answer is yes.



A previous version seemed to recommend statins for everyone over a certain age. I decided to plug in the optimal values, conveniently stated in a footnote beneath the data entry fields, for a 65-year-old man. Here is what the data entry looks like.



As you can see below, the risk calculator recommends "moderate to high-intensity statin therapy."



Below the recommendation, it says, "Adults 40 to 75 years of age with LDL-C 70 to 189 mg/dL with no diabetes and estimated 10-year ASCVD risk ?7.5% should be treated with moderate to high-intensity statin therapy." This is a apparently high-level (A1) evidence-based recommendation.

What am I not understanding here?

I would very much appreciate it if some cardiologists would comment and explain to me how such a sweeping recommendation came to be.

Is this accepted as gospel? Do all cardiologists recommend statins in the above situation?

Read More..

Debunking the Xena Comparison

At this weekends 2014 San Diego Comic-Con, Warner Brothers released the first official photo of actress Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman from the upcoming  Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice film. Immediately fan boys took to the interwebs to compare Dianas outfit to that of Xena, played by Lucy Lawless  in 1995-2001. I suppose many of the so-called "fan boys" thought they were being cleaver in referencing a t.v. series thats been off the air for over 10 years. If any of them were true fans they would have known that Princess Diana of Themyscira has been rocking the warrior princess look in comics before Xena ever hit the small screen.

Throughout the years Wonder Woman has had many different costumes but she has been sporting the Warrior look since the 1980s, Thats right folks; the 80s which was long before the Xena television series was created. If you need proof, feel free to Google Warrior Wonder Woman by George Perez which was done in the 80s and you will see for yourself. Princess Diana has been kicking butt in it ever since. If anything, Xena was inspired by Wonder Woman not the other way around.  Perhaps you should stop calling yourselves fan boys when it seems like your only goal is to rip apart uncompleted films. You have demonstrated an obvious lack of knowledge on the history of the character in comics. 

For those of you who say the movie costume is a rip off of Xena; your argument is invalid.

Read More..

Take lecture notes on a laptop computer or use old fashioned longhand

A paper published last year in Psychological Science suggests that taking notes in longhand is the better choice.

The authors, from Princeton University and UCLA, performed three studies on college students. They found that even if multitasking and distractions were eliminated, “students who took notes on laptops performed worse on conceptual questions than students who took notes longhand.”

Previous research has shown that note taking enhances learning by both providing external storage of information for later review and “encoding,” that is, processing information and reframing it in one’s own words.

Although significantly more notes were taken by laptop users, they tended to be more like transcriptionists instead of thinking about and summarizing what they heard.

When tested on standardized lecture material, both groups did equally well on factual questions, but those who used longhand for note taking fared significantly better on questions dealing with concepts.

Even when students using laptops were instructed not to transcribe lectures verbatim, they were unable to do so.

Subjects were tested with and without studying their notes. Without studying before a test, scores did not differ between the two groups, but when studying was permitted, those who took longhand notes again performed better.

From the discussion section of the paper: “Although more notes are beneficial, at least to a point, if the notes are taken indiscriminately or by mindlessly transcribing content, as is more likely the case on a laptop than when notes are taken longhand, the benefit disappears.” [That run-on sentence was probably typed on a laptop.]

The authors concluded that laptops in classrooms may be doing more harm than good.

This dovetails nicely with my previous post on live-tweeting of conferences and lectures. People who live tweet claim the tweets can serve as notes. I doubt that. The live tweeters are deluding themselves. They are simply doing “play by play” of a session and are not likely to retain the information.

From a Guardian essay on this topic: A linguistic professor "conducted a survey of reading preferences among over 300 university students across the US, Japan, Slovakia and Germany. When given a choice between media ranging from printouts to smartphones, laptops, e-readers and desktops, 92% of respondents replied that it was hard copy that best allowed them to concentrate."

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, smart pens can record what is written in longhand and convert it to digital text albeit with some difficulties and inaccuracies. Using a stylus on a tablet computer can also be done, but not as quickly as writing with a dumb pen on paper.

Like reading a real book instead of a digital book, taking notes may be another area in which the gadgets lose.

Read More..

The King on Twitter by Marc Charles

A question from the other day......


Question: Hey Marc, I met you at an ETR conference. You were fabulous...not only in the after meetings, but as a regular guy and entrepreneur. Your talk on developing info products is still paying dividends for me! Anyway, are you on Twitter?
R.L. Phoenix AZ

Answer Marc Charles:

Its great to hear from you. I remember our meetings and discussions. My Twitter stuff

Talk to you later....

Marc Charles

Read More..

More on activity restrictions after surgery

In early January, I blogged about the dearth of evidence about activity restrictions after surgery.

A number of people commented and most agreed that there is little basis for most of the activity restrictions surgeons currently use.

An anonymous reader told me about a 2008 study from Creighton University that generated some interesting data about intra-abdominal pressures associated with some common activities. Here’s a summary of the paper.

The authors managed to find 10 healthy volunteers all of whom could bench press at least 100 pounds and were willing to have nasogastric manometry catheters placed and Foley catheters inserted into their urinary bladders.

Intra-abdominal pressures were recorded as each subject coughed 10 times as hard as possible, bench pressed varying amounts of weight from 26 to 114 pounds, and vomited after receiving ipecac syrup and drinking about 500 mL of water.

Pressures in the stomach and bladder correlated fairly well. To keep things simple, let’s look at gastric pressures only.

The highest mean and maximum pressures were found during vomiting. Coughing produced similar pressures. Most interestingly, intragastric pressures during weightlifting were significantly lower with a mean of 2 mmHg and a maximum of 52 mmHg, p <0 .001.="" br="">The authors mentioned that another group had found similar intra-abdominal pressures with subjects bench pressing 25 pounds.

Another unexpected finding was that although the differences were not significant, the mean intragastric pressures were inversely proportional to the amount of weight lifted.

Maybe we should tell postoperative patients not lift less than 26 lbs.

The authors were focused on measuring pressures that would disrupt a gastric anastomosis. They calculated that an intragastric pressure of 290 mmHg generated by vomiting was about 1/50 of the 20N [Newton] force that would disrupt a gastric suture line in a porcine model as demonstrated by other investigators.

The effect of repetitive stress such as found in patients with a chronic cough were unknown, but they said “the intra-abdominal pressures generated in our study alone do not appear to be responsible for hernia formation.”

The Creighton study authors concluded, "The common postoperative lifting restriction, although logical, has little evidence to support it." They called for more research in this area.

Unfortunately, their call has not been answered.

Read More..