Moving to new site!

Obviously I haven't been keeping up this blog too often. I have been spending a good amount of my web time building a new site which is launching today. This new site will focus on a narrower topic field and also function as my "personal representative on the web," in addition to all that other social media stuff.

Thank you for all who have stayed with me with this blog. There are some big things in store in the future. I sincerely hope you like the new site.

Check out ColinCroninCom now

The Power of Multivitamins?

Vitamin supplements are one of the most debated topics out there in terms of "lifesaver vs. scam" arguments. Ranging from your bargain basement One a Day multivitamin to high-quality but expensive brands such as Usana and Nutrilite, the health and sports supplements sector has exploded over the last couple decades, defying even the recession with industry growth.

While vitamin supplements are hotly debated, there is no real controversy about the importance of vitamins for physical health. Researchers at Yale University have found that a lack of Vitamin E can result in an up to 60% more likely chance of physical decline. Ideally the best way of attaining important vitamins is to get them straight from foods. However, for many of us in our busy lives that is not always possible. Moreover, in some cases acquiring the daily recommended amount from foods would require us to eat far more than we ever could or would want to.

New studies are now indicating that vitamins have a significant impact not only on physical, but also mental health. UC Irvine scientists have found that a form of Vitamin B3 called Nicotinamide plays a role in reducing the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. It lowers levels of a protein that leads to the development of tangles, one of two brain lesions associated with the disease. Vitamin B3 also strengthens the pathways through which information travels in brain cells. This helps keep neurons alive and Alzheimer's at bay.

Research from the UK indicates that Vitamin D also has positive effects in staving off dementia:

Compared to participants with healthy levels of vitamin D, those who were severely deficient in the vitamin were 60 per cent more likely to experience substantial general cognitive decline, and 31 per cent more likely to experience new problems with mental flexibility. The researchers describe the results as “the first...to identify a clear link between low vitamin D levels and cognitive decline.”

One of the most important considerations with multivitamins is the risk associated with exceeding the daily recommended amount. For some vitamins there is no established daily amount which makes it difficult to judge if you are consuming too much or too little. However, an often overlooked fact is that there is no risk from water-soluble vitamins (the 12 B Vitamins and Vitamin C). Any amount of these vitamins not absorbed by your body throughout the day is simply flushed out. The risk of overdose comes from Vitamins A, D, E, and K. These are fat-soluble vitamins meaning excess amounts are stored in fat cells. This can become poisonous at high levels, although you generally have to consume very large quantities of these in order for them to have adverse effects.

It is smart to be watchful of your vitamin intake. But just as there is an unreasonable phobia of taking mass amounts of vitamins for health, so too is there an unreasonable phobia of taking too little vitamins for fear of overdose.

Link: How to Become an EKG Technician Online

The electrocardiograph (EKG) technician is responsible for performing diagnostic tests on the heart to detect irregular rhythms and electrical abnormalities. Other responsibilities may include stress testing and monitoring brain function. EKG technicians play an integral role managing patients with heart disease. Certificate programs generally last around one year. Associate's and bachelor's degrees, lasting up to four years, will also include a number of other general education and science courses. Depending on the state and facility you work for, you may be required to pass an exam to become licensed. Online training programs provide the flexibility to hold a full- or part-time job while working toward an EKG certification

Read the rest of my piece at eHow.

The Power of Pro-Suming

If you are unfamiliar with the concept of a pro-sumer, think of it as a combination of consumer and producer. In the age of e-commerce and online deep-discounts, many people have been fooled into believing that they are saving money by purchasing cheaper goods and services online. Ironically, we may actually be using up our money more quickly. Here's why.

If you are spending $50 to buy something online that retails in a brick & mortar store for $80, are you saving $30? Or are you spending $50? Consumption cannot help you build financial security because you spend your money to purchase liabilities that depreciate over time as opposed to assets that grow over time. The ones who benefit most from the e-commerce explosion are the producers of wealth, the companies that rack up record profits for themselves and their shareholders. The primary keys of wealth creation are to make money and build equity. You cannot do that if you are buying goods that lose value over time. The convenience of e-commerce has made it easier to spend our money more quickly.

The idea of being a pro-sumer is to consume the product and services that you want or need, while also positioning yourself to produce income by recommending those products and services to others. Referral-based business has been growing for a long-time, and some of the biggest companies in the world are profiting from it, including Google (through Google AdSense) and Amazon (through Amazon Associates), as well as some lesser known stores such as MoreStore.com. Facebook is a perfect example of a multi-billion dollar company whose value was built in this way.

Pro-suming with products that are consumables and commodities allows you to build a more long-lasting stream of income. If you are paid to refer another customer to a common product they will buy over and over again after they use it up, then you can create residual or passive wealth that does not shut off. In other words, you get paid for what you did instead of what you do. This is same mindset many business owners and entrepreneurs share.

Instead of looking at "price" as simply the money you pay at the store, "price" should reflect what you give up in return for what you get. Factors considered in the latter and more comprehensive definition include the time you spending acquiring the item, rebates paid back to you after you purchase the product/service, the shopping experience, and... perhaps most importantly what you could or would have been doing if you were not shopping for a product or service. For those who are familiar with Michael Pollan's arguments in The Omnivoire's Dilemma, he makes a similar point regarding the cost of food. The price tag does not represent the entirety of the price we pay for buying cheap industrial-produced food. In order to determine that, we also must take into account the health-effects of processed and treated food, the environmental impacts of how that food is produced and delivered, and the eventual burden that health-related problems will put on our health-care system.

Today, affiliate marketing offers companies and individuals the opportunity to earn money through a referral-based system. It wields arguably the most powerful forms of marketing, word-of-mouth. Despite the plethora of new online startups that attempt to break into affiliate marketing, the most successful companies are (and will continue to be) established brick & mortar stores that capitalize on the potential of affiliate marketing through the Internet. Physical companies such as Barnes & Nobles, Safeway, Office Depot, and Best Buy already have extensive distribution systems in place. New web-based businesses have to deal with the issue of building enough capital  not only for startup costs, but also for laying in their distribution infrastructure before they can take advantage of the power of affiliate marketing.

Price is not defined by the money you pay, it is defined by what you give up in return for what you get.

Link: How to Measure Wheel Holes

You can measure wheel holes by using the bolt pattern, which is the diameter of an imaginary circle formed by the centers of wheel lugs. It is also known as the bolt circle or pitch-circle diameter (PCD). Common bolt patterns are 4-, 5-, 6- or 8-lug holes. A bolt circle of 5x100 would indicate a 5-lug pattern on a circle with a diameter of 100mm. There are different methods of measuring PCD depending on how many lugs there are.

Read the rest of my piece over at eHow.

Link: How to Change Your Password in Oracle Database

Oracle -- short for the Oracle Database -- is a relational database management system. It is well known for its high level of security and reliability, and its ability to run applications across multiple connected servers. Its data warehousing capabilities are designed to reduce IT costs through consolidation. An important element of the Oracle system is the ability to change passwords for additional security.

See the rest of my article over eHow.

Link: How to Install an Under the Counter Toaster Oven

See my piece over at eHow.

Everybody loves a good depression

Last week the New York Times had a chilling piece on the recession. As always, the article talks about the how the recession is the worst since the Great Depression. Let's be honest here, we are in a depression. It's just no one wants to call it that.

Of course, you will hear lots of economists scoff at that and say that it is a joke to compare our current situation to the depression. After all, during the Great Depression:

• Unemployment rose to 25% (it's only about 10% now)
• The stock market fell by 8,000 points (it's still floating above 10,000 points now)
• GDP contracted by over 1/3 (GDP has only fallen a couple percent since 2008)

These are all valid points. But they are also irrelevant.

Less than a month before November's elections, the United States is mired in a grim New Normal that could last for years. That has policy makers, particularly theFederal Reserve, considering a range of ever more extreme measures, as noted in the minutes of its last meeting, released Tuesday. Call it recession or recovery, for tens of millions of Americans, there’s little difference.

The key line is right in that paragraph: "For tens of millions of Americans, there's little difference." For your average American, it does not matter much if GDP contracted 33% or 2%. Their situation is still poor. You can argue that if GDP contracted by the amount it did during the Great Depression then people would undoubtedly be worse off. And that's true too. But comparing the amount of GDP loss is like comparing donkeys and stallions. The economy and the global economic system are completely different today than in the 1920s-30s. It is not reasonable to expect American GDP to shrink in such a way as it did in the past because of how much our economic foundation has changed.

What matters to the average American person is whether or not they can find a source of income and make enough to live off of. If they don't have that it doesn't matter what the statistics are. If you have any doubt that we are in a recession, just keep this in mind:

At the current rate of job creation, the nation would need nine more years to recapture the jobs lost during the recession. And that doesn’t even account for five million or six million jobs needed in that time to keep pace with an expanding population. Even top Obama officials concede the unemployment rate could climb higher still.

Moreover:

• Ford is expected to shut down one-third of its Lincoln dealerships. 
• Microsoft employees will need to start paying for health insurance in 2013.

Whatever party you support, whoever you voted for and will vote for, there is only so much that the government can do to impact your day-to-day living. In some cases what they do may have an overall negative effect on your life... like tax breaks to encourage people to buy something they couldn't have afforded and shouldn't have bought in the first place (that might be good for whatever marketing you bought from, but it isn't good for your personal finances)

If you really want something to change, make a change in your life. Stop relying on the government for everything, even if (perhaps especially if) the government might be responsible for a lot of what's wrong in your life. The government is a strong defender of people's rights, but it is a wasteful allocator of resources. More importantly, even before you can get to the allocation part, you have to go through the overly complicated and overly bureaucratic game that is politics. If you are counting on the government to save your life... well, keep counting.

Unity, Liberty, and Charity

A few days ago while visiting Lily's school I came across an article in the magazine Restaurant Hospitality entitled "Is Your Professional Marriage Sinking?" The author quotes a line that his father once told him:

If you're going to get married, he said, pick a wife as if you were a policeman picking a partner because you're going to be heading down a lot of dark alleys in life and you want to make sure she has your back.

I began thinking of how many sinking domestic marriages there are in the US today. The divorce rate in America ranges somewhere between 40 and 70 percent, depending on the source. Marriages generally fail because they were not good to begin with, or because somewhere along the way something drives the couple apart.

Let's focus on the first of those, marriages that were bad from the start. As the quotation above so succinctly puts it, you want to be sure your partner-in-life has your back. The only way that can happen is if you and your partner have built a relationship grounded on strong and common values. Too often, people go into marriages against their better judgment (and perhaps against the judgment of their friends). Love and emotions can easily blind people from taking a hard look at their relationship. But there are a few important things to look at which will help guide people in determining whether they have a strong relationship.

Someone once told me that a good marriage follows this rule: "in essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, and in all things charity." The wisdom of this is as profound as it is subtle. A couple must agree on their basic core values. These can be values such as the importance of family, how to raise children, and how you impact the lives of others. Non-essentials can be things like particular interests, social habits, or possibly political views. In these areas we are to grant the other person liberty, to agree to disagree. But in all things, we are to love, respect, and cherish one another.

No marriage can be ever be built on 100% understanding and agreement. Some will say that, statistically, the two factors that break marriage apart are finances and miscommunication. We can do something to secure the first one, but the second is something that is always a work-in-progress. Because people are not perfect, they are prone to hear what they want to hear and misunderstand what they want to misunderstand.

However, regardless of the arguments that you have with your spouse and the areas you might disagree in, you must have a shared set of core values that you both hold dear to your heart. A couple cannot flourish if they do not see eye-to-eye on something fundamental like family. Generally, disagreements on fundamental values lead to treatment that can be described as anything but charitable.

At the same time, you must also allow the other person to be him or herself in the non-essentials. These are areas that are not core to the relationship. Sometimes people have a very difficult time letting this one go (I know I have). They want to solve all the problems in the relationship so that there are no disagreements. That simply does not work. Sometimes there are things that you will not agree on, nor ever agree on. But those are not the things that define a couple's love for one another.

If you really expect your spouse to have your back, make sure you have a relationship founded on these principles. Otherwise, it will be at best a marriage where the couple makes themselves miserable more often than happy... and at worst a divorce.

Remember, "in all things charity."

The author closes with:

If you're involved in a bad professional marriage, nobody wins. 

That is true of bad domestic marriages. Nobody wins: not the couple, not the friends or family involved, and certainly not the children whose lives will be changed forever.

Finding the Broken Butterfly in Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition

I was talking with a friend the other day who said he wanted to know how to get the Broken Butterfly weapon in Resident Evil 4 on the Wii console. He told me I should write a blog post about it. So here it is!

I suppose this adds a little more spice to my blog now that I am writing about my childhood passion for video games... maybe not...

Overview

The Broken Butterfly is a powerful magnum revolver in Resident Evil 4 that you can acquire in one of two ways. The first is to simply buy it from the merchant at 38,000 pesetas. The second is to find the free one in a special locked treasure room. This room is in the hall south of the hedge maze. You first visit this area during Chapter 3. There are two doors: the left takes you up to the balcony and fountain before leading to the hedge maze; the right door is locked and requires another person (Ashley) to open it. The information below comes from my personal experience with game, but you can also f via an online walkthrough.

The Broken Butterfly... a true badass

How to get the free Broken Butterfly

Return to the locked door with Ashley when you begin Chapter 4. Start by heading west past the area with the merchant until you reach the room with the fallen cage.

Kill or avoid any infected creatures that have re-spawned, and head through the door to the south.

Do not move right after you exit through the door and are back in the hall south of the hedge maze. Kill the creatures on the ceiling using your rifle.

Go past the fountain towards the balcony and back down the steps, returning to the area with the two doors via the left one.

When you approach the locked door on the right Ashley will piggyback onto you in order to get over the wall. She will unlock it from the other side.

Enter the room and open the chest to get the Broken Butterfly. Remember to pick up the other free items.

Tips/more info

If you purchase the Broken Butterfly first and then take the one from the treasure room it will hold double the ammo. You cannot get double ammo by first picking the free one up and then trying to buy the same weapon. The merchant will not sell it to you.

The Broken Butterfly's special upgrade pushes the maximum firepower to 50.0, making it one of most powerful weapons in the game. The Killer 7 is a better weapon in terms of base stats. However, once the Broken Butterfly is fully powered through its special upgrade, it is much stronger, making it the preferred weapon for bosses. You can view the complete stats list for this and every other weapon here.