As divided as the country is today, the country stood together that September day in 2001 when President Bush shouted to the Ground Zero workers and to the world that “the people responsible for knocking these buildings down will be hearing from all of us soon”. And likewise, the country stood together when President Obama announced on an evening in May 2011, “I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that has killed Osama bin Laden.”
Of course that unity lasted all of five seconds. Pretty soon people on the left started shouting of how this was a triumph for President Obama’s brilliant foreign policy. And then people on the right started shouting of how it was all President Bush’s brilliant strategy that President Obama inherited. Soon, Hollywood came in and started asking for access to the CIA and administration officials, smelling the opportunity to make a blockbuster movie. The right complained that the left was using this for political advantage. The left complained that the right was just jealous. The Walt Disney Company even tried to trademark the phrase “Seal Team 6”.
The irony is that while the political leaders and Hollywood producers were all tripping over themselves trying to grab their share of the glory, the real heroes are the ones we never hear about: the young men and young women who saw the horrors of September 2001 and decided to serve their country, as intelligence officers, as law enforcement officials, and as members of the armed services. As silly as their bosses behave sometimes, we can never forget the sacrifices that these men and women and their families made to protect the freedoms so many of us take for granted.
The Navy SEALs are a particularly exceptional group of soldiers, and SEAL Team 6 / DEVGRU represent some of the elite of the elite, men who are in top condition both physically and mentally. Because of the nature of what they do, we almost never hear behind-the-scenes stories from them, but every day they are putting their lives on the line for us in ways we’ll never be able to know or appreciate.
Kathryn Bigelow’s big movie about the Bin Laden raid is set to come out in December; from the trailer it looks like it’s going to be a grand movie, complete with dramatic dialog, heart-pounding music, cool special effects, and all the other bells and whistles you expect from Hollywood.
But it makes me chuckle a little to know that one Navy SEAL has beaten Hollywood to the punch and will be releasing his book No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden. The book is scheduled to launch on September 11, 2012, eleven years after 9/11. The author, who’s writing under a pseudonym that the geniuses in the media decided to divulge, was reportedly one of the first members to storm into the compound in Pakistan where Bin Laden was holed up. In a press release, the author explains the book: “It is time to set the record straight about one of the most important missions in U.S. military history. No Easy Day is the story of ‘the guys,’ the human toll we pay, and the sacrifices we make to do this dirty job.”” Something tells me that the truth will be much better than any embellishment Hollywood can cook up.
While some will accuse this author of “cashing in”, in that same press release the publisher states that the author will be donating a majority of proceeds to the charities that help the families of Navy SEALs.
Here in the United States, one thing that was universal in the recent Olympics was watching the medal count. Whether it was my 10 year old niece or our company president, it’s something I heard everyone talking about.
Most self-proclaimed “experts” predicted that as in Beijing, China would take the lead in gold medals, while the USA would take the lead in overall medals. To Team USA’s great credit, they took both.
Just as in the days of the old Soviet Union, there’s something behind this that’s not just jingoism. It’s really a reflection of two different systems.
English: United States Olympic Committee logo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The system in the USA is one that celebrates individual achievement. An athlete participates in their sport for the sheer love of the game. They and their families make huge risks and sacrifices to pursue their dream. Some athletes are supported by corporate sponsorships, private contributions, and of course their families. And for those who are lucky and good enough to rise to the top of their sport, they enjoy the rewards that they earned. Where’s the US Government in all this? They provide indirect support by letting its citizens make tax-deductible contributions to organizations that support the athletes, but mostly they keep out of the way.
The system in China is one that’s completely different. Its focus is not on individual achievement but on collectivism. The Chinese government cherry picks from its 1.3 billion people children who show aptitude for different sports. These children are taken out of their schools and put into programs where they can be trained to dominate their sport. In some cases, children go for years without seeing their families. Recent reports have indicated that the Chinese government spent upwards of $1.57 million to train swimmer Sun Yang. And of course, now that Sun Yang won the gold medal and is getting endorsement deals, he will be permitted to keep 1/3 of any earnings, while 2/3 will go back to the system. In a nation with a per-capita income of $7500, that’s still enough to let him live fabulously, but that’s not the point. In China, it’s not about individual achievement, but the collective working together to increase the standing of the government in the world.
To quote Will Smith from a recent TV appearance, “God bless America“.
Of course it’s easy to sit back and decry the system in China while celebrating the system in the USA, but there’s one important thing to remember. The system in the USA only works if individuals step up and do their part. I’m not just talking about the athletes and their families, but every person who still believes in dreaming, everyone who looked at the medal count and smiled with a feeling of pride in what their fellow citizens have accomplished, and everyone who in their own way accomplish things every day in what is still the “land of opportunity”.
So what is “your part”? For starters, it’s understanding that Team USA needs your support. Our athletes aren’t cherry picked for their genetics from birth, and they certainly don’t get $1.57 million to train. In most cases, these are just kids with big dreams who overcome huge odds to be able to compete. They depend on support from organizations like the US Olympic Committee to build training centers and provide coaching, equipment, training, and comunications. And the US Olympic Committee depends on contributions from ordinary Americans. And while the USOC does receive corporate donations, it’s the little contributions from individuals that make the most impact.
If you’ve been enthralled by the performance of Team USA in any sport these past few weeks, don’t take this success for granted. It’s fun to enjoy the successes, but it’s important not to take for granted what it took to get there. Consider a generous donation to the USOC to keep the Olympic dream alive. For a gift of $20 or more, you can choose a free gift (which in any store would easily cost $20 or more).
If you’re a fan of any individual sport, also consider a donation to that sport’s governing bodies, which also help develop and promote awareness and participation for their sports. Here’s a list of all USA Teams that were part of the 2012 London Games.
I’ve been on a housecleaning tear lately, and one of the things I started to do was throw out my old business school textbooks.
I’m not sure why I still had them on my bookshelf; the books are all outdated, they’re not relevant to anything I’m doing, there is absolutely no resale value in them, and most of the stuff is out there on the Internet if I ever needed it. If I had to psychoanalyze myself, it could be that I’d paid about $150 each for them and there aren’t that many things in the world I pay that much money for only to toss into the trash. I think I’d considered selling them, but I’d only get pennies on the dollar. So I held on to them to see if they’d appreciate in value like gold or Apple stock (hint: they didn’t).
Such is the racket of college textbooks. I’m going to sound like an old fuddy-duddy, but if I had any advice to give to college students (who aren’t made of money to begin with), it’s to NOT buy your textbooks. Yes, as a college student I was conditioned to feel superior using my brand spanking new textbooks versus my classmates with the used textbooks. I was conditioned to think that somehow my grades would be better if I paid $150 for a book versus $10. But trust me, it’s all a scam.
I’m not even sure why it’s legal that a book that’s worth $10 sells for $150. Instead of investigating these corporations that are making a 8% profit margin instead of a 7% profit margin, I’m not sure why the government doesn’t investigate universities that charge students many times what it costs them to pay teacher’s salaries and maintain their facilities. But I digress. We keep paying, so they keep charging.
One reason I love
The good news is, even though you may still be getting gouged on your tuition, competition has come to the college textbook market. Specifically, one company I really admire is Chegg, one of the leaders in college textbook rental.
You start out by going to their site and searching for a book–for some schools you can even search by your school and course. You’ll be quoted a price to rent or buy the book. You can rent the book by the month or in some cases purchase an e-version of the book. In both cases you’ll likely end up paying 1/2 or less of the price it’d cost you to buy the book outright. In some cases when you rent the book, they’ll also give you temporary access to the e-version of the book while you wait. And all books have a 21-day money back guarantee.
If you’re afraid that you’re going to need to keep the book because it might come in handy later, trust me, I’ve had a bookshelf full of textbooks that have been unopened for 20 years. Besides, that’s what the Internet is for.
Let’s put it this another way. If I had taken the money I spent textbooks in college and bought Apple stock with that money, I’d have $85,714 right now. Instead, I have five useless and dusty books to show for it.
One reason I really respect Chegg is the charity work they do. Right on the bottom of their home page you can read about it. When they started their company, they resolved to help plant trees, which they do through American Forests–so not only does their service prevent $150 books from killing trees and piling up in landfills, they actually make up for those who do (they’ve planed over 5 million trees and counting). They also support Ashoka U, a non-profit that promotes social entrepreneurship, ONE.org to fight AIDS, and All Stars Helping Kids to help disadvantaged children.
Now for the deal-and-a-half. Click this link and you’ll get 5% Off Textbook Rentals at Chegg from 8/1/12 to 8/31/12. That’s even more money you can not pay the textbook gougers and invest for the future 🙂
When a woman goes through the nine months of pregnancy, her body goes through an amazing transformation from supporting one life to supporting two lives. Whenever we hear medical talks about pregnancy the talk always focuses on the child, how it goes from zygote to embryo to fetus to infant to a glorious noise, drool, and poop machine.
But we rarely hear about all the changes that are going on inside the woman’s body to accommodate every step of the child’s development. We hear about outward signs like nausea, back pain, and cravings, but when all is said and done there’s an amazing and dizzying amount of change that a woman’s body goes through, not just physically but also mentally and metaphysically. And it seems while there are a zillion and one books on what women should do during pregnancy, there are precious few that talk about what to do afterwards.
And so after the 9 weeks are over, very often women are left with a body that looks very much unlike the one they started with. And all too often, physiological changes can also affect emotional, mental, and spiritual states too given how closely integrated all these things are.
For women who are suffering with these changes and trying to get their lives back, Body Back is the book for you.
Heather Porter is an author who has perhaps the best qualifications to write a book on getting your body back after pregnancy–she’s the mother of four. Heather experienced many times what it was like to see her body fall apart after pregnancy. She looked all over to find books to help her, but no book seemed to be satisfactory–all too often they were incomplete or good advice was spread out over different books and not in the same place.
Heather decided to write it herself, and boy did she ever write one. I had a chance to review a copy. First of all, this isn’t a small book. It’s a hardcover book measuring in at 9.4 x 8.1 x 1.3 inches and weighing over 3 pounds. Heck, just bench pressing this book might be enough to get you in shape.
If you read through the table of contents, you’ll get an idea of the topics the book covers:
Introduction
The Naked Truth
Hair Back
Face Back
Brain Back
Teeth Back
Neck and Decollete Back
Breasts Back
Arms Back
Hands Back
Nails Back
Back and Shoulders Back
Tummy and Waist Back
Hip and Thigh Back
Legs and Ankles Back
Feet Back
Skin Back
Posture Back
Power of the Mind
Internal Systems
Medical
All About Food
Diet and Nutrition
Drink
Exercise and Sport
Environmental Toxins
Alternative Health
Relax
Woman
Nip ‘n’ Tuck
Non Surgical Procedures
Dressed
Dressing the Face
Conclusion
Vitamin and mineral glossary
Acid and Alkaline Chart
You’ll be very, very hard pressed to find another book like this. Each chapter could be (and is) a book in itself. Turning to the “Feet Back” section, Heather talks you through the reasons your feet can get hurt during pregnancy (the main one being that you’re carrying upwards of 28 pounds or more of weight they weren’t accustomed to carrying!). Then, she talks about common foot problems that women face during pregnancy, from dry feet to developing hard skin to developing blisters, fungi, or viruses, to having cold feet or poor circulation or cramps. She talks about the proper shoes to wear, creams to apply, how to properly massage the feet, and even what to tell a pedicurist. She also gives practical DIY tips, such as how to properly soak your feet, make your own healthy food scrub, and how to help your feet absorb more moisture. And that’s just the feet!
Here’s a peek at the page about taking care of your teeth after pregnancy. Multiply this by just about every part of the body and mind that can be affected after pregnancy,
And one thing I find very appealing about the book is how easy to read it is. Despite its length and its comprehensiveness it’s not like a dry medical textbook or encyclopedia. Heather’s writing reads like a friend talking to you and giving you advice each step of the way. While some may read the book cover-to-cover, I see it more as a resources that you can pick up any time to learn just about anything that’s going on with your body. Granted, a lot of this information is on the Internet, but instead of wasting your time surfing through thousands of Web pages (some of them accurate, some of them not so much so) to try to find the nuggets, this book provides the best of the best nuggets all in one place in a fun and interactive format.
Here’s Heather herself talking more about the book and how it came to be.
One awesome thing about the book is its tie-ins to charity. Prior to the book launch date, Heather donated 20% of all pre-sales to Jenny McCarthy’s autism charity Generation Rescue. After speaking to one of Heather’s representatives, I learned that Jenny McCarthy and Heather Porter have become great friends; Jenny loves the book and its plans as a mother and a woman whose physical appearance is very important to her in many ways, including her career. Heather also loves Jenny’s charity as it is something that affects all mothers and families, and so it was a perfect fit. Through Generation Rescue, Heather wanted to give back not only with the information in the book, but also find a way to add a philanthropic angle as well.
Seems like everyone’s getting into the “deals” act. Now it’s not just sites like Groupon and LivingSocial, but Wheel of Fortune of all people. Seems that for a while now, Wheel of Fortune has been promoting these daily Wheel of Fortune Deals on their show for a little while now.
This particular deal is a fantastic one. You can get a free customized 20-page 8×8″ photo book with a hard photo cover from Shutterfly for free. Well, almost free…you make a $1 donation to cancer research. Oddly, they don’t give the name of the cancer charity other than to say that your dollar will go to “help fund medical research and educational programs that support the fight against cancer”. But still, Wheel of Fortune is of course a legitimate organization, so you can be sure your dollar will be going where it should.
The photo book is a $29.99 value. After you donate your #1 you’ll get a promotion voucher that can be redeemed from now until 9/16/12 (when the promotional value of the offer will expire). Shipping and taxes are extra, and there are a bunch of limitations on the type of book you can get. Still this is one of those deals where you can do some good and get something great out of it while you’re at it. These books make great gifts and are great ways to commemorate special events or trips.
Two years ago in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, there was one knit hat that Team USA wore during the Opening Ceremonies that became one of the most popular posts on this blog. People were scrambling to get that darned hat, but Ralph Lauren decided that they were only going to make so many.
So my advice two years later? If you see the athletes walking in the Opening Ceremonies with some cool fashions, jump on it right away 🙂
You can find official Team USA gear at Macys or at Fanatics, who are powering this year’s Team USA store. The licensing fees paid to Team USA will help support our athletes, but of course the best way to give is to contribute directly.
For the next week, if you click over to LivingSocial’s National Deals page, you’ll see a wonderful offer where you can pay $25 to LivingSocial, and they’ll turn that into a $50 donation to the USO to purchase care packages for troops stationed far away to remove them of home and to let them know that we’re thinking about them and grateful to them for preserving the freedom we’ll be celebrating next week on Independence Day.
The care packages contain goodies like snacks, toiletries, phone cards, and other great items that will keep our troops connected. As of this writing, over 23,000 people have purchased this already, but of course there’s a lot more to go to cover as many of our troops as possible.
Oh, one more thing–as thanks for your generosity, the USO will send YOU a T-Shirt as well. So in one fell swoop, you can turn $25 into $50 towards a care package, PLUS get a great T-Shirt to further help spread the message to support our troops.
This deal lasts only 8 more days from this writing, so head on over to LivingSocial now!
Another option for giving to the troops is a great site called Pizza4Patriots. This outfit, founded by retired Master Sergeant Mark Evans, had a great idea of sending pizza to troops stationed overseas to literally give them a taste of home. This year, they have a goal of sending 30,000 pizza to feed virtually every service member stationed in Afghanistan for July 4, 2012. Give a generous donation today!
I had the pleasure of hearing from Linda at Sitara Collections (Sitara is the Sanskrit word for “Star” or “Morning Star”). Sitara is a remarkable site that sells jewelry, leather goods, accessories, Ayurvedic beauty supplies, and other gifts directly from India.
Seems that everywhere you go, you see low-quality, mass-produced imitation jewelry in department stores. Sitara bucks that trend and offers hand-crafted jewelry created by exceptional local artisans in India. For example, here is a stunning Amethyst necklace, one of their more popular items.
Surf through their earrings, necklaces, rings, and bracelets and you’ll find all kinds of amazing jewelry. What’s more amazing is that these aren’t mass-produced pieces made using the cheapest materials and the cheapest labor to flood the market. To the contrary, as Sitara puts it they’re the work of local artisans, who are paid fairly, and who combine their traditional craftsmanship with a modern sensibility. Most of the jewelry pieces are made from .925 sterling silver and include precious and semi-precious stones.
I had the pleasure of taking a closer look at some of their leather goods. This one is called the Bird on a Twig Journal.
The cover on this is really more beautiful in real life than this picture or even the picture on their Web site. The scene is of a bird on a twig against a deep red background with pistachio green and burnt orange. If you’re looking for a very special book to keep a journal in, this is a great one.
What’s more, this book is also produced under fair trade principles by an artisan cooperative in Rajasthan, India. The paper in the book are made by recycling scraps of waste textile, meaning that no trees were destroyed to make the book. And yet the paper is beautifully textured, even more so than journals costing a lot more and not nearly as eco-friendly.
Here’s a close-up.
Something else that’s nice about the leather cover of this journal is that it’s “cruelty free”. This means that instead of an animal being slaughtered for its leather, the leather used here was taken from an animal who passed away from natural causes. Good for animals, good for trees, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a “friendlier” journal.
And as if that weren’t enough, one remarkable thing that Sitara Collections does is donate a portion of net proceeds to underprivileged Indian children. Among other things, these kids are given the opportunity to learn English. So far, 75 children have benefited from this program, and hopefully there will be more to come!
Sitara was kind enough to send me these beautiful-looking passport holders, also produced with cruelty-free leather. They’re the perfect size and weight to hold your passport.
If you’ve read this far, here’s your chance to win one of these beautiful passport covers for yourself. Just “like” us on Facebook by clicking the button on the right-hand of this screen, and then leave a comment on this post telling us which item on the Sitara Web site you like the most. If we get more than two responses, I’ll choose two random winners to receive these beautiful passport covers (valued at more than $15 each).
I work in New York City, and one ubiquitous sight I see when walking to and from work are tour buses. They come in all shapes and sizes. But the one tour bus that has always stood out has been the bright red Grey Line double-decker bus. They’ve actually been providing tours of New York City since 1926, so they’re an institution in themselves.
I admit, I always feel a little like an animal in a zoo when I see one of these tour buses pass by. Just for kicks, from time to time I’ll deliberately make silly faces to try to ruin the pictures of the tourists snapping pictures of me. Of course, when they go home and look at the pictures, it probably just reinforces their notion of a typical New Yorker. Still, like the monkeys in the Zoo, we New Yorkers don’t mind it when people stare at us, point at us, and take pictures of us. As long as we can get fed our daily fill of falafel and shawarmas, shish-kebobs, and dirty water dogs from the street vendors, we don’t go ape and bother the tourists in the buses.
I’ve actually never taken a tour of New York on a Grey Line bus before, but from the faces of the tourists staring down from on high, they seem to really love it, especially on a beautiful day. And from someone who’s taken subways, bikes, cars, public buses, and every other mode of transportation through the city, I really can’t picture a better way to view it than towering over everyone. If you’re coming to New York City, I’d definitely say it’s worth it to sign up.
Here’s something to make it even sweeter. A few days ago Gray Line and The Breast Cancer Foundation officially launched their pink color buses (during the ceremony Gray Line also made a generous $10,000 donation).
They did so at a big celebration that included Miss USA, Olivia Culpo.
It’s a 1.5 hour tour that takes you by the best tourist sights in New York: downtown where you can view the Statue of Liberty and Ground Zero, and midtown where you can see the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Central Park, and Times Square (where you’ll have the best chance of snapping a picture of me).
Unlike their standard red buses, this isn’t a “hop on, hop off” tour, so for the 1.5 hours it’s like your own private tour without any distractions. And best thing about it, $1 of every adult ticket goes to the Breast Cancer Foundation. Given that they give rides to thousands and thousands of people each year, this is a great way to help.
You can purchase tickets here, and they’re good for one year from the date of purchase, meaning that if your plans change you’ll still be able to use the tickets at another date. There aren’t many better ways to see the City. Just remember not to feed the animals 🙂
Available on Amazon are 700 Poop Bag Shop (TM) Biodegradable Dog Waste Bags for $19.99 by a company appropriately called “Poop Bag Shop”. That’s enough to last for almost a whole year. No more scrounging around for plastic garbage bags.
The bags come in blue or black colors in 35 rolls. If you buy something at Amazon for another $5.01 you also get free super saver shipping. They also come with a free dispenser shaped like a bone.
While I never heard of the company “Poop Bag Shop” nor their parent company (strangely named “Luxury Collections”), reviews of this product are great. They are biodegradable, meaning that while traditional plastic bags may take years and years to degrade into the soil, these bags will disappear in a lot less time. And yet users have reported them to be durable, unlike other biodegradable dog poo bags that start their biodegrading in your hands!
One thing I appreciate about these bags is that the product description mentions that a portion of sales will go to fight puppy mills. I wrote to the company to ask for more details about what material they use, as well as more details about how exactly they support charity. Here was their response, which seemed legitimate if not exactly grammatically correct.
Hi,
Thank you for contacting us. We donate 10% of our profit to the ASPCA to fight puppy mill. Puppy mill is a serious problem. Please share this horrible information with your readers.
Our bags are made of material: Biodegradable (EPI / d2w)
Thank you very much,
Sincerely,
Mary
Bottom line, it seems like a lot of Amazon reviewers are very happy with this company’s product. I’d say it’s definitely worth trying out, especially if you’re using less-than-friendly bags for picking up after your dog right now, and especially if you’re in one of those states that have banned plastic bags from grocery stores (or if you just prefer to use a eco-friendly reusable shopping bag)
Here’s a deal worth making a stink about (sorry).