Bath salts are causing a craze from Salt Lake City, Utah all the way to Addicks, Texas.

     If you haven’t caught the news clip about the “living dead” in Florida that ate 75 – 80% of a person’s face like it was birthday cake, then you should perform a quick search.  This isn’t for the faint of heart.  The guy was on bath salt.  No, he didn’t hop out of the tub in a rage because his upstairs neighbor kept beating on the floor.  This was a person on the drugs entitled, bath salts.

“The injured man now needs a facial transplant. The unofficial cause for the depravity: bath salts, a synthetic cocktail that usually contains cocaine and speed (http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=20741307&title=emergency-officials-call-effects-of-bath-salt-use-frightening&s_cid=featured-3; By Peter Samore, June 7th, 2012).

     These aren’t difficult to find.  This new high has taken an upward swing since approximately 2009.  The ease to which the consumer can acquire the drug fuels the progressive, chronic brain disease characterized by loss of control; drug use despite harm and denial: addiction.

     The active ingredients, M-Cat, bk-MDMA, and NRG-1, are deemed dangerous.  Thus far, there is a lack of laboratory tests to provide factual information about bath salts affects, but they have been classified as stimulants.  Stimulants increase activities which normally occur.  There is abnormally increased behavioral arousal and activity which results from the levels of norepinephrine in brain synapses.  Bath salts can also be classified as hallucinogens.  The bath salts cause distortions of senses, such as vision, to drive the user into fits of rage.  One could compare its affects to LSD or PCP.   Mephedrone and methylone have been tested, not on humans, though.

“Mephedrone and methylone are synthetic chemical derivatives of the psychedelic herb khat.  All three of the newly banned drugs share properties of stimulants, such as methamphetamine, and psychedelics (or empathogens), such as ecstasy (WebMD, http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20110908/bath-salts-used-to-get-high-are-now-illegal, September 8, 2011, By Daniel J. DeNoon, WebMD Health News)

     Amphetamine addiction leads to amphetamine psychosis.  This psychosis is very similar to schizophrenia.  The stages of abuse effects are accelerated with bath salts.

     -energized, aroused

     -restless, agitated, anxious

     -extreme behavioral excitation in attempt to achieve the initial high

     -depression, despair, intense drug craving, drug seeking

     -psychosis and drug toxicity become common

            (The Neurobiology of Addiction, James D. Stoehr, 2006)

     The buying and selling of these bath salts has become illegal, but chemists stay on the edge with the different combinations of legal drugs to arrive at the same illegal bath salt.  The only way to deem the drug illegal is to make that recipe illegal including its protocol for production.  The sellers, most of which are over the counter, such as head shops and smoke shops, have adopted the salts giving them new euphoric names; Cloud 9, Zoom, etc.  The prices have been jacked up, making them easy to identify.  If you are buying some bath stuff at $25-30 for 0.5g, or 500mg, then you are headed toward oblivion.  Put it back.  Question its origins.  Leave it alone if you get an answer like, “well uh, you know, uh…”

     More reports and research has to take place in order to educate society as to the damaging results of bath salt abuse.  When society is educated, more will be smart in perceiving the harm in using the drug.

     Speak up, who was sitting in the tub thinking, “What if someone sniffed this lavender sh..?”

ARE YOU SELF-MOTIVATED?

Strong Mind

     During self-motivation, you will experience self determination.  With enough self-discipline you will become completely self-propelled. 
“Motivation accounts for the level, direction, and persistence of effort expended at work (Schermerhorn, 2011).”      

     Hard work is the key.  An unmotivated person would not agree with that.  Individuals who are not determined to persevere enthusiastically will hold back, and only work to the minimum specifications of their job.





        Motivation is a concept.  The concept begins with an individual’s needs.  There are obviously different sets of needs, but generally all of these needs cause tensions that change attitudes and behavior.  Being self-motivated teaches you to satisfy the important needs through hard work.

People who possess self confidence are able to view difficult goals as a challenge. Positive thinking enables people to visualize a rewarding future.  A motivating environment provides opportunities for teamwork and creates a workplace where people are 'on the same page' ((http://www.examiner.com/article/motivation-13 ); Motivation An Essential Ingredient For Professional Success; Jerald H. Yatt, Arlington Workplace Issues Examiner) 

     Remain positive.  Maintain the belief that working hard will actually result in high task performance.  Then you will slowly work toward your goals.  Set some fairly specific goals.  Also, set some challenging goals.  Except those goals and then make a commitment.  Prioritize your goals.  As you realize that they are attainable, you reward yourself for all accomplishments.

     
     As you follow these steps, keep reminding yourself that you are determined to finish.  You will successfully create a condition under which you’re inspired to put forth an effort at a specific level and direction, consistently.

SLOW -n- LOW, Issue: 1, Volume: 2, pg 2

SLOW -n- LOW issue:1 volume:2

Previous Plot:  The main characters, Slow and Low, came together with some of his friends to throw a house party beginning at 9:00 p.m.  The contributors were friends, Jugas, Ism, Zantine, Seo, and some unmentionables.  The party contributions included open bar, D.J., exotic dancers, and a huge guest list.  After the exotic dancers arrived, Seo began charging a door fee.  The D.J. set his mixer next to the swimming pool and got women to act crazy for the dancers running around with a camera.  The party was just beginning.  Slow is know for always balling.  All of the issues begin with a basketball scene.

Slow-n-Low
gonbup productions
copyright 2013

Read a book, or read an e book?

      Once upon a time, some executives in the upper echelon of their companies collaborated to eliminate competition among e book sellers.  The target company was Amazon.com.  Why Amazon, you might ask?  Well, Amazon.com is the marketer of the KINDLE e book readers.  Customers were bewildered by the high price of e books in proportion to hardback books.  Amazon.com cut the prices of bestselling novels to $9.99, taking a loss for the price of best sellers and other e books; the KINDLE started flying off of the shelves. The exception that executives wanted to remove is the fact that $9.99 was substantially below their hardcover prices.  Chronologically speaking, it wasn’t that long ago that Amazon effectively built a monopoly on e book sales and e reader sales.  Obviously, the competition was “ooooohhh aaaahhhhhhh.”

Amazon's market share:                     60 - 90 %

Barnes & Noble's Nook market share:        25 %

iBookstore market share:                   10 % - 15 %

“According to federal court papers, the settlement agreement with three publishers said that for two years they will not restrict, limit or impede an e-book retailer's ability to set, alter or reduce the retail price of any electronic book ( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47017081 ; Pete Yost)."

     Wide spread complaints were from: Texas, Connecticut, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont and West Virginia. Puerto Rico also joined the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Austin, Texas.

     Why are e books costing so much?  Look at the example above.

     Well, paper doesn't cost very much.  We set it in our consumer minds that because a product isn’t heavy, it is cheap.  The logic will confide that an e book should cost very little or next to nothing because there is no paper, printing, and shipping involved.  Not so, company publisher's costs come from expenses that still exist in an e book world: Author advances, design, marketing, publicity, office space, and staff.

     What was really happening with the price fluctuation was the e book marketplace competition that publishers wanted began to take place. In order to set the $9.99 price, Amazon.com had to lose money.  Gaining a strong customer base along with a huge percentage of the overall market was more important to the retail giant.  Rather than competing on price, e book sellers like Apple, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and others have, up until now, mainly been competing on user experience.  The companies want us to have a relatively great reading experience. Despite the poplarity of the e book experience, we are still a hardcover world.

     Ebook companies could decide on a means of plotting a solution to a two-variable problem on a graph in order to solve the small linear programming problem.  The first step is to the goal: maximize profit via objective function.  The two constraints mildly limit the degree to which the objective can be accomplished.  There are plenty of alternative courses of action in this product-mix problem, though. 

     No need, now.  The government is now telling us that the e books are inevitably going to be set at a low price, anyway.

“Barnes and Noble and Amazon continue to duke it out in the e-reader market. Barnes and Noble currently offers over 2.5 million digital books, magazines and newspapers for its Nook devices. (ABC News; JOANNA STERN (@joannastern) April 12, 2012)"

Don’t use the foam. Get ready to read about beef.

  Using ammonia hydroxide to treat lean beef trimmings will kill pathogens.  This has been the norm for quit sometime.  The food additive NH₄OH, is a widespread antimicrobial utilized by major fast food companies such as McDonald’s, Burger King and Taco Bell restaurants.  The Food and Drug Administration has cited the pathogen killer to be generally recognized as safe (GRAS).  Studies found that replacement of sodium phosphate, used prior to the fact; with “…ammonium hydroxide would allow processors to significantly reduce the sodium content of injected fresh meat. ( J Food Sci. 2011 Jan-Feb)” The pink slime has been in use for around 20 years.
     The additive isn’t the safest additive to use.  Customers that take in beef like a vacuum on dirt don’t want to hear that.  Isn’t the customer always right?

     Beef treated with ammonium hydroxide can still be found on grocery shelves, but the listed fast food chains have discontinued its use.  The product additive won’t completely disappear, though, the slime will just get slick about where it is.  The foods with the additive will be labeled, “LEAN FINELY TEXTURED BEEF”.  Soon you will be able to qualify for a degree to shop for the healthy foods.    
In recent headlines, “Iowa Governor Terry Branstad said the campaign against the beef filler called “pink slime” by food activists is a “vicious smear” and called for a congressional probe after more than 200 Iowans lost their jobs. (Bloomberg News, By Chappatta and Brennan on 4/4/ 2012)”
     The alternative that has been mentioned to take the place of the foul sounding additive is citric acid.  This has been accepted.  In the process, there is no foam produced.  The slime is left over after the beef tissue on the slab has been heated to about 100 degrees.  After heating, the product is spun to separate the fat from the lean meat.  The ammonia functioned to kill bacteria during the heating process. Pink slime, the unwanted meat filler, was used as a low-cost additive that was added to fattier meat in order to produce a leaner overall fat content.
     How do you say in brat-terminology? “Ew.”
     Let’s all thank the fast food restaurants, that produce value meals which will stop the heart of any known human being, for not using pink slime.  In the grocery stores, you have to avoid that slime ball yourself.

BUS. TECH. SCOPE

     Being without your sheepish techie gadgets leaves you feeling as if you left your briefs in the drawer.  Keep clean undergarments on, please.

At APPLE, the 3G iPad has busted loose.  Not 3G in the “fall asleep slow” term, but third generation “latest technology to break your purse” term.

     Alas, there is still an app for that.  “A recent survey of businesses between five and 499 employees found that 72 percent have implemented mobile technology in their organization while a third have gone completely wireless. NPD Group reports that 75% of U.S. SMBs plan to buy tablets over the next 12 months – mostly iPads (http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/03/15/how-to-do-business-on-your-brand-new-ipad/,  Eric Savitz, Forbes Staff).”  Innovation looks great on business.  This scratch promises to load interface with customers, streamlining your operations to point out improved results.

Become known as the new kid cloud kicker with the client engaging device to function as a real time digital projector, flyer or interactive menu for your business. The  SlideRocket application rockets your presentations and marketing objectives.  Constantly sell, cut down on paper use with Evernote, answer calls with the latest eVoice virtual phone solution, Dropbox gives you power to get data anytime, and utilize your realtime payment center through Square.

     Any updated, upgradations can boost your work ahead of our dynamic and competitive marketplace.  Determine what is important in order to utilize technology to its utmost extent.

     Technology is the norm, now. Invest on that statement. “Except they don’t, argues Gina Martin Adams over at Wells Fargo. She calls tech “the new defensive sector,” noting the sector’s low beta, steady earnings, massive cash piles and rising dividends have given it a new mature edge that was missing in 1999-2000 (http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2012/03/15/tech-stocks-snoozing-their-way-into-a-new-bull-cycle/, Jonathan Cheng March 15, 2012).”  The Beta (β) of a stock or portfolio is a number describing the relation of its returns with those of the financial market as a whole.  Beta can be estimated for individual companies using regression analysis against a stock market index.

Move away from your touchpad with the Logitech Cube- small, featherweight mouse. It is designed for travel, fits into any pocket, doubles as a presentation clicker, USB-rechargeable battery lasts a very long time, there’s a power switch on the mouse, Logitech’s minuscule 2.4GHz Unifying USB receivers, and it works with over a dozen other Logitech wireless products.

Rethink your plans.  Get Bold, and T-Mobile will bring your business up to speed with 4G innovations, a powerful network, and flexible plans.  The new Blackberry 9900 4G, in black obviously, is running the new RIM 7 OS.

What about your site?  Utilize the JVC GSTD1BUS.  “Get it…”--Full HD 3D camcorder, 64GB internal Flash memory, SDXC card slot, 5x optical zoom, 3D playback on the 3.5 touch panel LCD without special glasses, F1.2 Super Bright "JVC 3D TWIN HD GT LENS", two Back-illuminated CMOS Sensors, low-light performance, while JVC's unique BIPHONIC audio technology reproduces dynamic 3D SOUND.

Handle your operations with ease. Catch-up, 2012 is wonderful.

 Smile.