MooPig Brain Industries :: Bipolar Triggers

[Picture LINK]

Bipolar Disorder: Tracking Triggers
Mixed Martial Articles by Pat Darnell  |  Mar 21, 2016  |  Bryan TX


Life events, anxiety, and even physical changes can cause a mood swing. What triggers an episode of mania or depression varies from person to person. Here are some typical physical triggers, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

• Not getting enough sleep
• Using alcohol or drugs
• Stopping your medicine
• Beginning antidepressant medication (this can cause a switch to mania)
• Hypothyroidism (low thyroid function, a possible side effect of lithium medication, often used to treat bipolar illness)

Emotional stress and big or small life changes can also cause mania or depression. The Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance gives these examples:

• Major life change like moving or starting a new job
• Arguing with a friend or loved one
• Financial problems

Louisa Sylvia, PhD, a psychologist at the Bipolar Clinic and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston says, “Changes in daily routines, such as staying up late studying or flying to another time zone, can cause a mood swing.”

______________________________
[Reference Unknown]

NAMI

MooPig Brain Industries :: "Do You Like Lists?"

If you like Lists, there are some Tests that you can take
Mixed Mental articles by Pat Darnell  |  Oct 20, 2015  |  Bryan TX

"I don't know what to think," said the mother of her two year old daughter. "She talks in paragraphs already, and looks out for her little brother in the most altruistic manner."

This doesn't sound much like a problem. It sounds like a bonus to having her beautiful little doll-like daughter at her side. I am here to let all parents know, there is no "Normal" child pattern. Pre-schoolers are beings from another time and space. So, lighten up. There is no "narrative" of children because there are no five year old authors. Childrens' books are written and illustrated mainly by adults. No child is writing his memoirs while a child, that is not how they communicate. Blah, blah, blah.

Get this though, most planet-sized-corporational-mega-industrial-conglomerates would bust a hemorrhage to get into a child's head. It would open up markets to exploit, that remain confusing at best to capture. We will soon enter into the Exploits of Brains era.

But at last writers in unflaggingly personal ways, are publishing their daily experience with their own minds:

12 Struggles Of Having An Outgoing Personality But An Anxious Mind: "Outgoing people with anxious minds - or minds that overthink - tend to feel anxiety the most intensely, often because we don't talk about it. And by "often" I mean never."
'via Blog this'

MooPig has spent some effort in recognizing humanity's ongoing search for itself. The next hundred years will be the "Brain Age" as humans gaze into their own heads. Leading up to this Brain Age is what Mack Jones, MooPig Editor of Cognitive Dissonance, has termed Brain Industries.

The current way many brain specialists look at your brain requires a personality quiz. They are about $200, and can be taken at any psychologist's office. They do help in determining if you and your brain are depressed, or manically inclined, or both.

"I have exposed myself to these tests, and have become somewhat more tolerant of others," said Mack Jones.

__________________Reference
http://www.puckermob.com/lifestyle/12-struggles-of-having-an-outgoing-personality-but-an-anxious-mind
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2007/09/blog-post.html

MooPig Brain Industries Department :: Are you a Contender?

[Picture LINK ]

Right-Brain or Left-Brain Thinkers ... or Something more Subtle?
Mixed Martial Articles by Pat Darnell  |  Apr 10, 2015  |  Bryan TX

Whatever your local neurosciencetist says, we are only a wee bit further along in understanding how the brain works, as we were in 1800's. The Human Genome Map that was commissioned by Prez Clinton didn't pan out. It only makes sense if you are a gene looking for a place to live in the human body. Otherwise a gene found in the human genome is sometimes activated, and sometimes not, according to the "environment." Aha!

So follows the Human Brain Map that is rapidly coming into view in the next few years. Brain imaging has taken off, and many before and after images can be viewed. Before someone's brain is worked on is imaged, and then afterwards is the result of the work. Still sounds gruesome, invasive and 19th century-like, doesn't it?

Debunking 7 Popular Myths About the Brain: "Brain imaging technologies have also demonstrated that the entire brain shows levels of activity, even during sleep. "It turns out though, that we use virtually every part of the brain, and that [most of] the brain is active almost all the time. Let's put it this way: the brain represents three percent of the body's weight and uses 20 percent of the body's energy." - Neurologist Barry Gordon of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Scientific American"
'via Blog this'

What 7 myths are we concerned with today?

1. You only use 10% of your brain. Does that mean 10% of cubic inches of your three pounds of brain matter, or what?
2. Brain damage is permanent. 
3. People are 'Right-brained' or 'Left-brained.' 
4. Humans have the largest brain.
5. We are born with all the brain cells we ever have, and once they die, these cells are gone forever.
6. Drinking alcohol kills brain cells.
7. There are 100 billion neurons in the human brain.

If these seven myths are not accurate depictions of the human brain, then our next president will use 100% of his brain, continue to grow brain cells even if he is a she named Gabby. It matters if the next prez can count and utter words, like it always has, right or left brained, random or dogmatic, as it will come out in the wash.

The new prez in 2016 should have a working knowledge of biology, and environment, to augment decisions. This prez must realize his life, and every living things' lives, cannot be defined without "environment."

Our new prez will drink if he wants to be more cognitive. In conclusion:

"We found that on average the human brain has 86bn neurons. And not one [of the brains] that we looked at so far has the 100bn. Even though it may sound like a small difference the 14bn neurons amount to pretty much the number of neurons that a baboon brain has or almost half the number of neurons in the gorilla brain. So that's a pretty large difference actually." (Cherry, Kendra. – Dr. Suzana Herculano-Houzel. captured 4/10/2015. LINK)

_______________________Reference
http://www.dyslexiavictoriaonline.com/diberiandleb.html
http://psychology.about.com/od/biopsychology/a/myths-about-the-brain.htm
http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/a/left-brain-right-brain.htm

MooPig Brain Industries Department :: "Acceptance and Commitment Therapy -- ACT"

[Picture LINK unknown]

Empirical Status for ACT
Re-directed Articles by Pat Darnell  |  Mar 19, 2015  |  Bryan TX

Thanks to John Franks who posted about ACT on faceBook. Say you have a pet Narwhal, and it never seems to be happy in your pet palace you built for him. As he suffers, you also suffer, and things get all confused.

I think we may be on to something. ACT is a therapy that is being used in cases of PTSD. When my Dad was in his final days, he was at the VA Hospital, checked in for lots of old age ailments. His suffering was not pretty, nor quiet. I in fact suffer PTSD from his agonizing final journey. He used to say he had so many pains he couldn't count that high, and one of the results was that he would lash out at me, or whoever, was with him. He didn't mean it, it just happened. Communication broke down, and I couldn't get him what he needed to overcome his death rattle. He was hurting and what he said to me hurt. I absorbed his trauma.

But it was not a physical hurt, you know what I mean? But I as his son felt like I wanted to escape any of his criticisms of me during that episode. Escapism has been my whole life long journey, now that I have my father's death as a fixed point in time, maybe I don't have to escape anymore.

ACT | Association for Contextual Behavioral Science: "Developed within a coherent theoretical and philosophical framework, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a unique empirically based psychological intervention that uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies, together with commitment and behavior change strategies, to increase psychological flexibility. Psychological flexibility means contacting the present moment fully as a conscious human being, and based on what the situation affords, changing or persisting in behavior in the service of chosen values."
'via Blog this'

"...Buttressed by an extensive basic research program on a associated theory of language and cognition, Relational Frame Theory (RFT), ACT takes the view that trying to change difficult thoughts and feelings as a means of coping can be counter productive, but new, powerful alternatives are available, including acceptance, mindfulness, cognitive defusion, values, and committed action..."

CONCLUSION
I need this therapy.

_____________________Reference
https://contextualscience.org/act
https://contextualscience.org/about_act
https://contextualscience.org/ACT_RFT_Reader_s_update
https://contextualscience.org/act_faq
https://contextualscience.org/act_in_popular_media
https://contextualscience.org/special_populations
https://contextualscience.org/marketing_materials
https://contextualscience.org/list_of_resources_for_learning_act
https://youtu.be/z-wyaP6xXwE

MooPig Brain Industry Department :: "Stroke Indicators"

Stick out Your Tongue
Mixed Mashed articles by Pat Darnell  |  May 25, 2014  |  Bryan TX

I URGE ALL MY FRIENDS TO READ & SHARE THIS; YOU COULD SAVE A LOVED ONES LIFE BY KNOWING THIS SIMPLE INFORMATION!!!

Stroke has a new indicator! They say if you forward this to ten people, you stand a chance of saving one life. Will you send this along? Blood Clots/Stroke - They Now Have a Fourth Indicator, the Tongue:

During a BBQ, a woman stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) ...she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.

They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Jane went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.

Jane's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00 PM Jane passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Jane would be with us today. Some don't die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.

It only takes a minute to read this.

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE

Thank God for the sense to remember the '3' steps, STR. Read and

Learn!

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S *Ask the individual to SMILE.

T *Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A

SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently)
(i.e. Chicken Soup)

R *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call emergency number immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

New Sign of a Stroke -------- Stick out Your Tongue

NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue. If the tongue is

'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other that is also an indication of a stroke.

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved.

I have done my part. Will you?

Blood Clots Cause Strokes: What Are The Symptoms Of A Stroke
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kuv6eCxFfNg

Blood Clots http://patientassistanceprogramsofame
If You Have Symptoms Of A Stroke, Blood Clots Can Kill You If Don't Act Fast.

Join us at: The Mind Unleashed ॐ

MooPig Brain Industry :: "Brain Initiative"

We Wonder if Barry reads Our Stuff ...? or, Have Brain: Need Map!
By Pat Darnell  |  Oct 7, 2013  |  Bryan TX

[Craniotomy Picture LINK]

MooPig Wisdom Enterprises does not toot its own horn -- except this one time. Back in April 2013 the White House led by Barry Obama announced the "Brain Initiative." And why we toot our own horn is because we thought of it first. In fact we were talking about brain industries a decade ago. Brain references began early in our MooPig Wisdom blog: here --Brainstorm: Smaller world, bigger market
JavaJoy, Inc. ..., By Patrick Darnell, Marketing Research Practices, ... and here -- Ever thought about letting professionals do your Marketing?  ...   GI, Going International  ... and ...  Generalists have a place in Tech... Everyone needs Pedagogy once in a while  ...  all "brain-storming" articles from online courses taken in 2006. Brain tickling such as:

" ... Editing, reducing, summarizing, looking for patterns, and applying statistical techniques to data will provide advanced knowledge of customer segments, and loyalty. ... "

We even wrote this poem in 2000:

Brain Industries

My brain is mysterious
it contains all that I am
a macro in a skull of bone
... mind you, mind me, my mind.

It says all the time
I am what I eat
Yet it eats everything
and I do ...
mind you, mind me, my mind.

Some might say
'You control the brain
then you control the heart...'
Not so ...
...

My brain is libido,
my heart is motion;

Think,

This brain sits
While the heart runs

... times factors in billions ...

Do you get it?
Patrick Darnell (10.2000)

And this free verse in 2010:

Visitors and Brain Industries

Elongated cranium
fashion from
Sirius B and A,
Potolo Ama,
and Dogons,
knew it --
"Star Knowledge"
nomenclature
told through oral culture.

Artisans -- split apart hybrids ...

Catalogers left to hash it out ...

Sirius B -- how far away is that?

Zuni -- 1200 BC
Egypt is at bat

Dogon Spacemen
visitors, Sky People
Keepers of Space

Cachinas:
Dance each year
in full head dress
in costumes to re-enact
coming of Space gods
and elongated cranius
That's a fact!

Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

CONCLUSION
What we have learned over the past fifteen years is that understanding of our beautiful Brains' Industry is that it is in its infancy, and any body of knowledge about Brains is going to be out of date before it can be printed. Brain Initiative by Barry Obama pontificated on April 2, 2013, initializes work toward the goal of "mapping the activity of every neuron in the human brain, an initiative that has been projected to cost more than $300 million per year for ten years."

In a news conference on April 2, 2013, President Obama announced "that he would seek an initial expenditure of $100 million for fiscal year 2014." In a January 2013 meeting, a group of neuroscientists concluded that "the project would generate about 300 exabytes of data every year, presenting a significant technical barrier."

Furthermore, the usefulness of most of the currently available high-resolution brain activity monitors is limited because they are highly invasive, being implanted by a process that involves surgically opening the skull.

MooPig Wisdom and all its Enterprises are tickled pink to be an axle hub on the wagon of this pioneering event -- the sorting out of Brain Industries as to be discovered by the Brain Initiative 2013. Open your minds; open your skulls. Have Brain -- Will Travel.

SUMMARY
Eight years of work, thousands of researchers around the world, $1 billion spent — and finally it was done. On April 14, 2003, a decade ago this week, scientists announced that they had completed the Human Genome Project, compiling a list of the three billion letters of genetic code that make up what they considered to be a sort of every person’s DNA.

And, now, it's the Brain's turn!!

[Picture LINK] CAPTION: "My name is Dana. In April of 2012, I was diagnosed with...unfortunate brain news. This is where you can read and watch my story unfold. I had a bean-sized mass / tumor / house boat living in my brain that I was on a quest to destroy. After one crazy craniotomy in July of 2012, we discovered it was a low-grade neuronal neoplasm--a rare but FORTUNATE form of growth. I will still have to get quarterly bi-monthly MRI's to monitor the remaining bits of the tumor, but I'm cool with this as long as I get a cupcake afterwards. My tumor's name is Brain Worm, Clampy, James, or Neutron Dance. I also talk in a strange language like one of the Navi." [unfortunatebrainnews@gmail.com] 

___________________________Reference
http://www.whitehouse.gov/share/brain-initiative
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BRAIN_Initiative
http://www.nih.gov/science/brain/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/obama-brain-initiative
http://www.popsci.com/article/science/government-shutdown-has-halted-obamas-100m-brain-initiative
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57605783-76/obamas-brain-project-gathers-dust-in-government-shutdown/
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/science/obama-to-unveil-initiative-to-map-the-human-brain.html?_r=0
http://www.npr.org/2013/04/05/176339688/president-obama-calls-for-a-brain-initiative
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/2013/05/22/why-you-should-care-about-pentagon-funding-of-obamas-brain-initiative/
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=neuroscientists-weigh-in-obamas-brain-initiative
http://blogs.nature.com/news/2013/04/society-for-neuroscience-quashing-dissent-on-brain-initiative-critic-complains.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2006/11/brainstorm-smaller-world-bigger-market.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2006/12/gi-going-international.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2007/04/generalists-have-place-in-tech-everyone.html
http://poetrygeist.blogspot.com/2011/10/what-is-what-isnt-is-better-than-all.html
http://poetrygeist.blogspot.com/2011/01/for-my-heart.html
http://poetrygeist.blogspot.com/2010/07/visitors-and-brain-industries.html
http://poetrygeist.blogspot.com/2012/05/brain-industries.html
http://funwithmedicine.tumblr.com/post/10271234187/craniotomy
http://unfortunatebrainnews.tumblr.com/post/28065656408/fun-with-6-5-inch-craniotomy-staple-train

MooPig Brain Industries :: Google Zeitgeist 2012

by Pat Darnell | Jan 18, 2013 | Bryan TX

[Picture LINK]

What Google Zeitgeist 2012 Tells Us About Us | News and Opinion | PCMag.com: "Evidently, we really want to know about Whitney Houston, Gangnam Style, and Hurricane Sandy. The 2012 Top Google Searches were: Whitney Houston, Gangnam Style, Hurricane Sandy, iPad 3, Diablo 3, Kate Middleton, Olympics 2012, Amanda Todd, Michael Clarke Duncan, and BBB12."

Is that all there is? Nope.

'via Blog this'

We search the web for answers to our questions; what are our questions? Can they be translated to show our quests? ... Quests beyond just consumerism?

The 2012 Google mind map is too large but not unmanageable. It shows us the way to 1.2 trillion searches; 146 languages. That is roughly the capacity of one human brain; sure you cold learn 146 languages if you had to.

From Scientific American:

" ...The human brain consists of about one billion neurons. Each neuron forms about 1,000 connections to other neurons, amounting to more than a trillion connections. If each neuron could only help store a single memory, running out of space would be a problem. You might have only a few gigabytes of storage space, similar to the space in an iPod or a USB flash drive. Yet neurons combine so that each one helps with many memories at a time, exponentially increasing the brain’s memory storage capacity to something closer to around 2.5 petabytes (or a million gigabytes). For comparison, if your brain worked like a digital video recorder in a television, 2.5 petabytes would be enough to hold three million hours of TV shows. You would have to leave the TV running continuously for more than 300 years to use up all that storage. (Paul Reber, professor of psychology at Northwestern University. April 19, 2010. HERE) ... "

A reader comments:

"... I'm sure this is just a mistake in editing; after all, even Neuroscience for Kids gets the number of neurons right: 100 billion neurons and a quadrillion synapses. Since your estimates here are magnitudes of order wrong, though, and if they were used for further calculations, doesn't that make the rest of your calculations in error as well? (ibid.) ..."

It's not yet an exact science, neither brain industry nor Google zeitgeist. the author above, Reber, goes on to explain:

" ..."The human brain consists..." I should have gone with the commonly held estimate of ~100 billion. However, in terms of the numbers of neurons in the brain likely to participate in long-term memory of facts, events and episodes, 1 billion neurons is not a bad estimate. That might be surprising, but if you look into the details, e.g. a report trying to estimate the number of neurons, [Report LINK] (ibid.)... "

The point being a year of Google activity is equivalent to one regular, everyday human brain. There are those who think once the "machine" surpasses the brain's capacity to think and adapt, it will become our ... lord - boss - teacher - owner - maestro ... or what ever supplants the human brain in capacity is called.

MooPig Brain Industries Department thinks that the day you see an aisle in the Walgreen's with the sign "Brain Products" posted, that will be the sign that machines have advanced to the realm of competitor.

Or, when your pet can play BorderLands as well as your teenager, that could be the sign that machines have "evolved."

So, regrettably your mind could be supplanted by terabytes of computer power, before you have a mind. But that is the way of the future; Or is it?

It is hard to believe that the Apollo 11 spacecraft had a computer with only 2k of memory and 32k of storage. Earlier missions had relied upon as little as 24k of core read-only storage, and 1k of main memory.

Moore’s Law ... which originated around 1970 ... simplified version states that processor speeds, or overall processing power for computers will double every two years. The limitation which exists is that once transistors can be created as small as atomic particles, then there will be no more room for growth in the CPU market where speeds are concerned.

On the other hand, ... perhaps molecular computers, quantum computers can takeover when silicon power is exhausted. But then the question is, what’s the timeframe?

" ... In fact, Intel Corporation is now going to three-dimensional chips, chips that compute not just flatly in two dimensions but in the third dimension. But there are problems with that. The two basic problems are heat and leakage. (MICHIO KAKU. MARCH 7, 2012, 12:00 AM. HERE) ... "

CONCLUSION
Hey, our brains are three dimensional. But, did you, reader, catch that -- "heat and leakage" -- we might want to tweak our brains in this age of techno-barbarism; all that leakage will catch up with us.

Using natural human curiosity and Google search, will we download our brains?

" ... Our brain is a learning machine. It encounters tasks and then learns how to overcome these tasks, one by one. So that's going to be the basic problem. Simply digitalizing information, that's easy, we can simply scan information into a computer. But, you see, our brains learn. We learn to adapt new ideas, we begin to learn new tasks and new things. And that's going to be a lot more difficult to replicate by computer. So, I personally don't think we're going to see that in our lifetime. (MICHIO KAKU. JANUARY 19, 2011, 12:00 AM. HERE) ... "

Let the wild rumpus continue. And, be good to your brain, it's got a lot on its mind!

Keywords:
brain scaling, number of neurons, human, encephalization

_____________________________Reference
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2413146,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03079TX1K0000585
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-is-the-memory-capacity
http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2009/07/20/how-powerful-was-the-apollo-11-computer/
http://www.mooreslaw.org/
http://bigthink.com/ideas/42825
http://bigthink.com/ideas/26541
http://www.frontiersin.org/human_neuroscience/10.3389/neuro.09/031.2009/abstract

MooPig Report from the Middle -- PRIVATIZATION : the Game, Part One, UPDATE

5 Ways Privatization Is Ruining America | Alternet: "August 13, 2012  |

" ...  A grand delusion has been planted in the minds of Americans, that privately run systems are more efficient and less costly than those in the public sector. Most of the  evidence points the other way. Private initiatives generally produce mediocre or substandard results while experiencing the usual travails of unregulated capitalism -- higher prices, limited services, and lower wages for all but a few 'entrepreneurs.'

With perverse irony, the corruption and incompetence of private industry has actually furthered the cause of privatization, as the collapse of the financial markets has deprived state and local governments of necessary public funding, leading to an even greater call for private development." (Paul Buchheit. 13 Aug 2012. LINK)..."

'via Blog this'




___________________Reference
http://www.alternet.org/economy/5-ways-privatization-ruining-america?page=0%2C0&akid=9229.251800.S5KoB2&rd=1&src=newsletter694379&t=3

MooPig Brain Industries :: BRAINDANCING SMORGASBORD: SYNVERGENT THINKING: Mind-Mapping, PhotoReading & Syntopicon Method

Retrieved by Pat Darnell | May 19, 2012 | Bryan TX

The Internet is the most interesting purveyor of Brain Science. It is a giant mind-map all its own. I had not surfed the Net for a while, but as soon as I did here jumps out this amazing blogger site. Cool brain industry all the way, Bob.

Take a Look.

What is essential to understanding is how much we retain of our reading and other stimulus gathering tasks. It is a sin to read and not retain some of the important parts. And, those of us 'with-out' the gene's that make us a few points near genius with photographic memories, mind mapping always seems pleasurable to the not so genius, mine, brain.

Call this a site review, but more than that ... it is a look into solving puzzles that we might have been stumped with for a lifetime.

BRAINDANCING SMORGASBORD: SYNVERGENT THINKING: Mind-Mapping, PhotoReading and Syntopicon Method:

'via Blog this'

NEXT WEEK: "Brain on the Hoof ..."

___________________Reference
http://braindancingsmorgasbord.blogspot.com/2009/11/synvergent-thinking-mind-mapping.html

MooPig Brain Industries :: "Improve your Brain Health - Lumosity"

Conclusion
Lumosity costs about $80 per year but there is a trial available on the site. The monitization scheme is the down side for me and probably a million other potential users. The exercises are fun and obviously effective in stimulating the suggested areas of cognitive ability. As for Lumosity's extended claim of increased cognitive ability, I obviously cannot say. I do tend to remember the items on the grocery list better and I can now spot a yellow bellied sapsucker while reading a speed limit sign. Seriously, research has shown that exercising brain faculty in this way is helpful and healthful. As for paying $80 to hone these skills, I think free games that emulate Lumosity could probably be aggregated by most users, but progress would be more difficult to track... (August 12, 2007 | Phil Butler. HERE)


Retrieved by Pat Darnell  |  Mar 12, 2012  |  Bryan TX
Improve your Brain Health - Lumosity:
Train your Brain, play some games, get a score to ponder and we haven't paid anything yet for Lumosity. But you can be sure you might eventually have to pull out your Debit Card to continue... but the introductory is kind of fun ... if you like games.
'via Blog this'


Picture Your Improvement With This BPI Chart

Lumosity users often ask how much they can expect to improve with training. The short answer is you can improve a lot. The chart included shows the average Brain Performance Index (BPI) for users as a function of the number of Lumosity games played, up to 1000 total games. BPI is Lumosity’s version of IQ — it measures your ability to handle the speed, memory, attention, problem solving, and flexibility challenges on Lumosity...

About a month ago I began testing a fascinating new beta called Lumosity. The service is designed to exercise user's brains with a series of games that promote cognitive skills. According to Stanford neuroscience graduate and Co-Founder Michael Scanlon these exercises build cognitive ability in processing speed, cognitive control and attention. Playing these fun and simple games for as little as 30 minutes a day can promote quicker thinking, improve memory, increase alertness, improve concentration and even elevate a user's mood.

Lumosity was created by Lumos Labs a cognitive R and D company that builds software tools to improve brain health. Lumos was started in 2005 by Kunal Sarkar, Michael Scanlon and David Drescher, all of whom possess impressive scientific and/or business credentials. Lumos Labs also has a scientific advisory board comprised of some of the leading neuroscientists in the world.

__________________________Reference
http://www.lumosity.com/app/v4/personalization
http://profy.com/2007/08/12/lumosity-training/

MooPig's Brain Industries :: "Alzheimer's brain plaques 'rapidly cleared' in mice"

Retrieved by Pat Darnell | Feb 12, 2012 | Bryan TX

[Picture LINK]

So, fellow partners in dementia, here is one of those articles that alerts us to a possible cure. But what will become of that cure as the months go by? Like all exposing articles on miracle cures, they are lost in time and space. They are in the News, then no word is ever heard again.

Therefore, it is up to us to follow up on all MooPig's Brain Industries past posts, and give an accounting. This category was intended to document some of the newest products and services that capitalize on Brain Science; and, is there a trend?

We at MooPig International plan to keep this up until we see an aisle at the Walgreen's titled: "BRAIN."

We search MooPig Wisdom blog, and get eight pages worth of LINKS, in no particular order:

http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2011/06/factbox-allies-of-venezuelas-president.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2011/01/moopig-bookie-business-head-for-borders.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2010/02/interview-before-rapture.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2011/01/stomach-industries-gerd.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2009/12/moopig-movie-reviews-nippon-cinema.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2008/07/moopigs-music-depreciation-chart-latest.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2008/07/brain-industry-new-black-berry-for.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2009/09/moopig-movie-reviews-home-room.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2009/03/earmarks-are-those-like-skidmarks.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2010/09/report-from-middle-internet-warfare.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-now-mad-cow-part-two-michael.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2011/01/moopig-brain-industry-dr-douglas-fields.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-now-mad-cow-part-three-slicing-up.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2010/04/report-from-middle-multi-taskin-brain.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2009/09/update-brain-tautology.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2009/10/brain-industry-contesting-phrase-tends.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2009/11/moopig-wisdom-brain-industries-bulletin.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2009/10/brain-industries-hemisity-no-not-as-in.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2008/07/brain-drain-mccain-moopigs-brain.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2008/07/brain-industries.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2010/01/brain-industries-labeled-desensitized.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2010/09/moopig-brain-industries-and-gym.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2010/12/brain-industries-labeled-desensitized.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2010/12/brain-industries-labeled-desensitized_9285.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2010/12/brain-industries-labeled-desensitized_18.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2011/01/brain-industries-labeled-desensitized_12.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2011/04/moopig-brain-industries-senior-moments.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2011/06/moopig-brain-industries-godels.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2012/01/half-worlds-richest-1-live-in-united.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2011/05/moopig-brain-industries-some-blind.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2011/07/brain-industries-labeled-desensitized.html


From the Picture at the top:
BBC News - Alzheimer's brain plaques 'rapidly cleared' in mice: "Specialists said the results were promising, but warned that successful drugs in mice often failed to work in people.

Researchers Paige Cramer said: "This is an unprecedented finding. Previously, the best existing treatment for Alzheimer's disease in mice required several months to reduce plaque in the brain."

The exact cause of Alzheimer's remains unknown, but one of the leading theories involves the formation of clumps of a protein called beta-amyloid. These damage and kill brain cells, eventually resulting in memory problems and the inability to think clearly."

'via Blog this'


______________________Reference
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16945466
http://richarddawkins.net/articles/644899-alzheimer-s-brain-plaques-rapidly-cleared-in-mice

MooPig Brain Industries :: Senior Moments [Advertisement for Vinpocetine]

Start Ramping up your Brain
Retrieved by Pat Darnell April 17, 2011 Bryan TX

NOTE: MooPig Enterprises wants to get information out to its reader, both of them, so we include this info-mercial for you to peruse. Maybe you can pick up the Periwinkle supplements at your favorite pharmacy, or Health Food store. That's all.

[ADVERTISEMENT]
Dr Al Sears  | Benefits of Periwinkle, vinpocetine |   [Power Point LINK HERE]  |   [Text LINK HERE]

Subjects for today:

• Help reduce "Brain Fog" and Senior Moments"
• Boost blood flow to your Brain
• Support Nervous System Health

What's the scoop? The claim is that periwinkle's -- vinpocetine -- has miraculous power that:

"Keeps your brain stocked with the “feel-good” compound dopamine, which helps you direct your thinking and behavior - and stay motivated. To understand the key to vinpocetine’s power, you need to know just how much power your brain really needs."

Vinpocetine works in three remarkable ways:

1. It boosts blood circulation in your brain. It zeros in on your brain’s tiny blood vessels so they can deliver oxygen more efficiently. It even helps your brain use oxygen better.

2. Since it keeps your brain cells charged up with high oxygen levels, it increases the amount of time your brain can go without fresh oxygen. That means it can keep your brain cells from dying.*

3. It helps your body preserve its energy for a robust brain and power for healthy living.* It preserves something called “adenosine triphosphate” or ATP—the fuel every cell of your body needs to function.

" ... [This] study published just last year in the prestigious Journal of Neurological Sciences found that in people suffering from limited stroke damage, it had an almost magical healing effect. It directed blood right to the affected areas. (8)
" ... Thinking and overall brainpower got a significant boost from vinpocetine in another clinical trial involving a 12-week long oral treatment. “Psychometric” tests gauged levels of higher brain function, with additional monitoring of participants’ overall mental health. After three months, the increase of blood flow velocity while at rest was significantly higher in the vinpocetine group.(8 Vas et al. “Functional neuroimaging in multiple sclerosis with radiolabelled glia markers: Preliminary comparative PET studies ....” 2008. Journal of the Neurological Sciences. 264(1-2):9-17.) ... "

Now is the time to preserve and protect your mental power. To get started, just click on the links above.


To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD

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Top Five Ads for Super Bowls

5. Monster.com “When I Grow Up …” (1999): A group of kids stare at the camera and declare their desire to “have a brown nose,” “be a yes man” and “claw my way up to middle management.”

What worked: Kids are cute, and even cuter when reciting lines such as, “When I grow up … I want to be forced into early retirement.” It was great brand recognition for the new company.

The results: Monster survived the dot-com implosion and despite a stock controversy in 2006 has become a prosperous company that employs close to 5,000 people worldwide.

4. Reebok “Terry Tate: Office Linebacker” (2003): To boost productivity, a CEO recruits a linebacker from Reebok to slam into a series of “Office Space”-style cubicle drones.

What worked: A series of brutal hits, punctuated by lines such as, “Break was over 15 minutes ago, Mitch!” made this the best Super Bowl ad of the last five years.

The results: Terry Tate got people talking about Reebok for something other than sweatshop controversies. The company provides shoes for all the major sports and hosts clothing lines for rappers Jay-Z and 50 Cent.

3. E*Trade “Monkey” (2000): Two dim-witted guys and a monkey clap to some cha-cha music in a garage, followed by the punch line: “Well we just wasted 2 million bucks. What are you doing with your money?”

What worked: Easily the cheapest ad of the year to produce, it was an instant classic —remaining self-deprecating about dot-com excess while lampooning the well-publicized cost of Super Bowl ad time.

The results: The marketing Gods have a way of punishing tech companies that blow too much money on flashy ads. (See: Pets.com. Or don’t. They haven’t been around since 2000.) E*Trade lost hundreds of millions of dollars in 2001 and 2002, and the company's shares — once trading at more than $60 — dropped below $3 in 2002. The company has since bounced back to profitability.

2. Coke “Mean Joe Greene” (1979): A kid offers his Coca-Cola to a battle-weary “Mean Joe” Greene — who softens up enough to toss his jersey as a reward.

What worked: A cute kid with a soft drink was the perfect foil for the surly Greene. Grown men still burst into tears when thinking about “Mean Joe” throwing that jersey.

The results: The ad became an instant pop culture classic, boosting Greene’s career. Among the offshoots was the inspiring “The Steeler and the Pittsburgh Kid” — perhaps the first hourlong TV movie in history to be based on a one-minute commercial.

1. Apple “1984” (1984): A jogger representing Apple throws a sledgehammer into a giant Big Brother image representing IBM — promising a populist shift in the future of personal computers.

What worked: With “Blade Runner” director Ridley Scott in charge, the ad generated more hype — and post-game water cooler talk — than any television commercial in history. Do you even remember who played in the Super Bowl in 1984? (L.A. Raiders and Washington.) You almost certainly remember the biggest Super Bowl ad of the year.

The results: The most storied Super Bowl ad of all time might have boosted sales of George Orwell books, hot red running shorts and sledgehammers. But it didn’t do much for the Macintosh — Apple continues to be the Reform Party of computer manufacturers. Maybe there was a storage locker filled with iPods behind that huge video screen?

Honorable mentions: Pepsi “Apartment 10G” (1987); Pepsi “Diner” (1995); Pepsi “Sucked in” (1995); Mountain Dew “Bad Cheetah” (2000); Budweiser “Magic Fridge” (2006).

Peter Hartlaub covers pop culture for the San Francisco Chronicle.

What do you want for Christmas on your Planet?

We need a break-through. Let's make a splash; don't forget it's summertime somewhere in the world.--9:01pm
PATRICK.DARNELL: Please fill out the following information for Santa Claus: Gazillionaire Worksheet II
A. At the start of turn #6, record the following from the menu of the planet you are on.
1. Name of your company:___________________________
2. Name of the planet you are on:______________________
3. Cargo - identify the cargo on your ship by looking in the “marketplace”:
________________________________________________
4. How many tons of cargo are you carrying? ___________________
5. How much money have you got? (Don’t forget to count any money you
have in the bank)
______________________________
6. Do you owe Mr. Zinn money? (circle one) yes no
If “yes”, how much do you owe?___________________
How much interest did you pay last week to Mr. Zinn? ______________
7. Do you have any loans out from the bank? yes no
If yes, how much?______________ Amount of interest paid last
week:_____________
8. On the planet you are currently on, what is the planet special being offered? go to “explore planet” and then click on “planet special”.)--9:04pm

PATRICK.DARNELL: Final note and I will go: Especially submit how much you all are going to pay out...

It's Christmas Eve, and we are contemplating that million dollar idea, right team? Remember greater is to give than to receive. You all have my best wishes, and warmest regards for this, another Christmas Eve, 2006. God Bless you! >>PD

RiskStorming
By Patrick Darnell
11/19/2006 Managing Project Risk and Opportunities

Introduction

According to Kotter and Cohen, “Sending clear, credible, and heartfelt messages about the direction of change [is].... Establishing genuine gut-level buy-in that shows up in how people act. Use of words, deeds, and new technologies to unclog communication channels [will have prevailed to] overcome confusion and distrust” (2002).
Project management is a liaison career, where the Project Manager is collecting information from stakeholders in the company he represents, and translating that into tasks to assign his subordinates and contractors to execute and take a project to completion. As projects roll along, the informed PM is responsible to inform his customer who hired his company in first place of how things are going. Customers will have suggestions, and upgrades, and second thoughts for pieces to drop and parts to add. Essentially, stakeholders will have last word input as to what fits core competency of their own company.
There is complexity to measure. It is implicit value our Project Manager adds as leader in his or her ability to handle divergence of strategies and risks. All core focus topics, including risk, are augmented by weighing and learning of the Project Manager. Thereby, the endorsed role, of Project Manager in charge of reserves of information to be doled out to various involved groups, is well defined.
Even when the Project Manager “brings up risk management and sees questioning looks in [the] eyes” of his project team members; his project knowledge intuition tells him that “all will soon realize that risk management means different things to different people” (Task Detail; 2006).
This discussion paper tries to pull together several layers of very comprehensive and lengthy bodies of information, to summarize the blending of many secondary resources for reason of illuminating some of the thinking behind management of risk.
Anticipating Risks
George Jucan in his review of PMBOK Third Edition “provides a comprehensive classification through knowledge area definitions.” This is useful because “...One of the main reasons to estimate project complexity is to be able to compare projects” (Jucan; June 21, 2006). For example:
In some cases, maybe the human resources aspect of the project needs special attention because of high turnover or labor unrest in the specific department. For fixed-price projects, maybe the cost dimension is more important, while the first project for a new customer might have an increased focus on scope management to fully satisfy the client (Jucan; June 21, 2006).
Project Manager’s role in defined terms is; he will be able to “summarize the above considerations, and apply [to] project complexity ...as project integration management [using] indicators that:”
· Consolidate indicators of other eight knowledge areas: scope, time, cost, quality, human resources, communication, and procurement.
· Ask: Is it objective at organization level, to be valid for any undertaken project?
· Ask: Is it subjective at project level, to account for the unique characteristics of each project? (Jucan; June 21, 2006)
Chapter Eleven of the Project Management Body of Knowledge, PMBOK, identifies risk management as one of the nine most important awareness structures. Using simple scales with three choices each for “probability and for impact” we can turn the confused facial expressions to concentration on responses to early warnings of risky business (PMBOK, 2004).
Risk Management is not the act of going through the proposals and pointing out why every task has a high potential to fail. No, that is not the higher purpose for understanding risk. Truer intention rises above this single-minded intuition; rather risk identification means to remove masks of risks inherent in all projects. A risk managed is a resource conserved.
Risk is Iterative
Risk management fits the iterative processes of project management like keys unlocking closed doors to opportunities that have doors to other opportunities. “Many processes are fashioned in response to critical cost areas, and to redundancy” that indicate and rectify risk (Krajewski, L J, & Ritzman, L P; 2005). A template for qualitative risk analysis might take a form like the one in Dick Billows article.


Achievement-Driven Project Management
Risk Event
Probability of Occurrence
Magnitude of Impact

From this survey, the bias of risk is in two areas: 1. the probability of occurrence, and 2. the magnitude of impact.
The language of Project Management is “intensely combed through for every project in iterative trials of cause and effect to cleanse to acknowledge best practices for each project. The work is amazingly correlated as simply: Realization >> Strategic Choice >> Tactical Contingency... Moreover, sub-processes today also employ sophisticated feedback tools developed to help in cost control;” the major indicator of risks: cost overruns (Bredillet, Christophe N; 2002).
Risk is beat down by frequent reporting, and auditing of changes in iterative vernacular. A risk identified and scoring high in both “probably will occur, with high magnitude of impact” is a risk that needs further study. And to make sure the additional study will be done with controlled experiments that provide quantitative results.
Conflict is an unavoidable pretext in project context, as each entity has unique and differing thoughts, ideas, and opinions. Therefore, it is important to learn ways to minimize and manage this difficulty, in order to ensure “efficient and harmonious iterative interactions during the project’s life-cycle” (CTUOnline, Live Chat; Nov 2006).
Risk Management
Dick Billows, PMP, GCA of 4PM says, “We can do a few minutes of risk management on even the smallest project and get good return for the effort. Dealing with risk does not have to be a paperwork jungle.” Project managers run the risk of “fighting fires for the rest of the project... [When] even a small project can under-take a simple risk assessment process,” at the first team meetings, says Billows. “Because the sponsor wants to start quickly without wasting time on things like risk management, Project Managers often skip the risk assessment process” (Billows, Dick, 2006).
The handiest way to “prioritize our risks in terms of their significance” (Billows) for the project -- “Automated Mobile Defense System, AMDS,” -- is to use qualitative techniques like the survey template above to pre-qualify certain risk areas for higher costing quantitative techniques of risk analysis. This team and project manager have been assigned to “lead Project X, which will design, develop, test, demonstrate and deploy 10 AMDS units to a location to be determined by the DOD assuming a successful demonstration” (CTUOnline, Task Detail; 2006).
The PMBoK framework provides the fundamentals of project management in respect to the type of project to be completed and is structured around 5 basic progression placeholders. Those progressive process groups are Initiate, Plan, Execute, Control, and Close.
George Jucan in his article Complexity Matters describes time savings is “at the start... Taking your time to measure before you cut is always good advice. In a Project Manager's world, spending the time to plan the project and open up probable risks is proven to dramatically increase the chances of success” in:
· Planning: defining the scope of the project risk and putting a value to it makes the necessary campaign to carry it out.
· Executing: Now that we have identified our project risk and planned for its purpose, our next step is to put our plan into action by adjusting and...
· Controlling: we monitor all aspects of the project risk. We review and check the integrity of all inputs and outputs in respect to the project threats.
· Closing: we make sure the final product has the quality and completion that was originally planned and that all risks are conserved in documentation and covered monetarily.
Therefore, the project starts with half a day of teams “risk-storming” to identify, and qualify risks in each of the sub-processes. After that they will determine the risks most impacting the life-cycle and put some heavier tools of quantitative analysis to work. This will have unlocked potential for increased probability and impact of events positive to the project.
Conclusion
The beauty of project management is that with knowledge and learning, the wheel doesn’t have to be re-invented each time a project begins. Project Management Body of Knowledge, PMBoK, is a compilation of processes and knowledge areas generally accepted as best practices in context of Project Management discipline (pmi org, 2006). Each new project gives rise to opportunity to re-visit honesty and integrity. In a lifetime of projects, a little reliability goes a long way to satisfy all risks in projects.
References
Billows, Dick; (2006) Risk management & analysis prevention not lots of paperwork, 4PM Project management training and certification, Denver, CO, The Hampton Group
Bredillet, Christophe N; (2002) PMI July 14 2002, Seattle, International Educational Network, PPT, founding principles for the development of a value added network for global education
CTUOnline (November 2006) Live Chat, MPM450 03 0604B Managing Project Risk and Opportunities
CTUOnline (November 2006) Task Detail, MPM450 03 0604B Managing Project Risk and Opportunities
Encarta MSN online dictionary; (2003) English: American 2003
Jucan George, MSc, PMP, OCP, SSGB (June 21, 2006) Complexity Matters, [Gantt head]>home>departments>Project Portfolio Management, retrieved 10/10/06
Kotter, John P and Cohen, Dan S; (2002) the Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations (Hardcover) HBS Press Book, Pub. Date: June 17, 2002, 208p
Krajewski, L. J., & Ritzman, L. P. (2005) Operations Management Processes and Value Chains, 7th ed, Upper Saddle River, NJ, AK: Pearson Prentice Hall
PMBOK; (2004) A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, PMBOK Guide, third edition, 2004 project management Institute, 4 Campus Blvd, Newton Square, PA 19073 USA
Pmi org (2006) retrieved from web, Nov 15 2006 Project Management Institute (PMI) The Largest Project Management Association. Retrieved October 19, 2006, from pmi org info default asp

MSN says: Blog it and they will Come

Blog it and they will come (retrieved entirely from http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA012240831033.aspx , November 17, 2006) Others aspire to write may find this muy interesting!!!
"So is the hope of every blogger — or Web diarist — out there. Because everyone, whether they admit or not, wants to be heard, and a blog offers the perfect environment for just that.
Several of my readers have written to ask me what blogs ("Web logs") are all about. To be frank, I hadn't really been a big reader of blogs. But once I decided to delve deeper into the world of online Web logs and do some research, I discovered a brave new world out there. And sure, while I found some blogs to be pointless, others narcissistic, and yet others downright weird, I also discovered that there are many people out there who are interesting writers with unique perspectives on the world around them. In other words, I was pleasantly surprised, and it sucked the crabbiness right out of me — although my editor doesn't think so. (Regardless, don't worry; there are plenty of opportunities all around waiting to refill my crabby heart.)
You see, when the Internet first became a part of our common lexicon and people got a tiny amount of technical knowledge, personal Web pages became all the rage (and bane) of the Internet. I don't know how many of these are on the Net but I think I can safely say too many.
Blogs are a little different. While a blog can have many of the same qualities as a personal Web page, a blog is usually seen as more of a diary or a commentary, a core upon which a virtual community can form. (At least, that's my take on it, and from what I've read, there are as as many definitions for blog as there are bloggers.) Bloggers write about whatever is on their minds, be it personal, philosophical, or political. All of a sudden, their opinions are out there, for all to read, and their audience may just join them and create a community around one of their entries or ideas. And while personal Web pages were pretty much only for those who knew how to code a Web page, blogs can be created by anyone with an Internet connection since those who host blogs often provide the simple software and design choices that enable non-techie types to express themselves on the Web.
So what blogs are out there? There are blogs about hairless cats, blogs about politics, blogs extolling the virtues of nudist colonies, and blogs that serve the close-knit community of scientists studying the mating habits of paramecium. In other words, there are almost as many blogs as there are reasons to blog. And, according to comScore Networks, a company that provides information regarding consumer behavior in various industries, nearly 50 million Americans, or about 30 percent of the total U.S. Internet population, visited blogs in the first quarter (Q1) of 2005. That is a lot of people reading, interacting, and listening to what you have to say.
A blog by any other name is still a weird word
As I mentioned at the beginning of the column, as human beings, we have this need to express ourselves, and a blog is the perfect place to do that. Now, expression, as we know, comes in many forms, and so do blogs. Some blogs are strictly text based: the writer — or "blogger" — writes an entry every day, week, or however often he decides. If he develops a following of sorts, the audience expects to see his entries at certain intervals, and so a sort of community is formed. Some blogs incorporate photos, video clips, and lists, such as a list of links to other blogs or any other kind of sites. Sometimes readers of blogs can even provide comments, thereby enhancing the feeling of community.
So you can see why this type of communication is really catching on: If you nurture and pay attention to your blog, you can create a community out of thin air around yourself and your interests. For example, consider the blogs that gained notoriety during the last national election: Many of these bloggers became somewhat famous as their communities grew, and they were granted entry into the circles normally reserved for mainstream journalists.
Blogs can also be oriented toward business; they can perform such duties as exposing new products, or acting as forums to talk about everything from new inventions to changes in business practices. Remember that number of 50 million blog visitors in Q1 2005? Imagine the countless ways in which you can reach, connect, and correspond with your current — and prospective — customers.
You can see why blogs are growing more popular: It only takes a few minutes to set up a blog and it doesn't require that you be a computer geek.
Everyone else has one; I want one too
...and so now I have one. That's right: Crabby has her own blog. And while my blog isn't really where I post commentary and opinions, it is a place to read my column. But even better than that, you can access my blog (and therefore my column) using RSS, or Really Simple Syndication. RSS allows you to subscribe to "feeds," or content, from several sources and automatically combines the information into one list, a list that is contained in an RSS reader. You can quickly browse the list without visiting each site to search for new information of interest to you. It's ingenious, really; you don't have to bookmark all your favorite sites (such as my archive page); you just check in with your reader, see what's new and read what you want. When you subscribe to my blog on MSN Spaces via RSS, the moment I publish a notice that I have a new column, you can go and read it. Or, you can just read the intro and decide the content isn't for you right now.
More information about Crabby's blog
Get the latest Crabby columns with RSS.This article explains what RSS is
Crabby's Corner on MSN SpacesThis is my actual blog
Crabby RSS feedThis is a link to the place that explains how to subscribe to my RSS feed
Now, if after reading this column you're all hot to create a blog of your own, visit MSN Spaces. They make it nice and easy to get started and make your voice heard." (November 17, 2006)

Ever thought about letting professionals do your Marketing?

Brainstorm: Smaller world, bigger market
JavaJoy, Inc. was founded by Hank Sanchez in 1980
By Patrick Darnell
Marketing Research Practices

Introduction
Ownership and operations at JavaJoy Inc have been sole responsibility of the owner Mr. Sanchez. First order of business is to wrestle some of the marketing responsibilities from the owner/operator, and put them into a vision statement for a strategic marketing team. This division of labor should free up some time for Mr. Sanchez to continue on his mission of providing premium ongoing brewing excellence; Brewing mastery for the Next Generation. Numerous missions for the new marketing efforts are based on the owner’s vision of brewing success as basis for growth.
Machines and apparatuses of brewing coffee are not proprietary, and probably not patented. Any device can be reverse engineered by competitors, and international knock-off artists. Mr. Sanchez’s generational process is the knowledge basis of JavaJoy Inc and is locked in the owners’ mind. The process must be further winnowed and nurtured. The process for exacting excellence in coffee brewing is after all the patentable part that belongs solely to Mr. Sanchez and JavaJoy Inc.
This discussion attempts to apply some marketing adjustments to state of affairs at JavaJoy Inc. A recent issue of VAR Business Magazine, November 13, 2006 discusses expected return on investment of some CRM decisions being made today. Also, articles discuss some anticipated growth percents for next year’s resellers. Also, the paper tries to unlock potentials of capturing market share by introducing research.
Initially JavaJoy’s new marketing manager will find indicators that identify accelerated growth. Data will then be used to build a framework for additional research in identifying customer desires. As a final point, market research will determine a path for the consolidation of the efforts of JavaJoy to enable entry into vertical markets successfully.

Discussion One
1. Is the shift in the coffee market an opportunity for accelerated growth?
Assumption: The direction of JavaJoy Inc is similar to typical trends, and is veering “toward service industry, because of its reputable brewing, and customer base, and is expected to increase in revenues [up to] 14% in the next twelve months” (Gonsalves, Chris; November 13, 2006).
Idea 1: Determine which internet technologies are evolving in 2006, and predetermine a quality standard based on the service end of sales, and stiffen for accelerated growth in the field service industry. Provide resources and budget for ongoing refinement of knowledge as it applies to a framework and model for growth and consolidation.
Reasons for Java Joy to expand research efforts in defining field services in an accelerated growth market:
>Twenty year history with best brewing customer services and products
>Family business with healthy growth history, generational rewards
>Brewing technology high end, excellent,
According to a recent survey by Aberdeen Group, 88% of best-in-class service organizations view the connection between the field and back office as a top strategic priority. If [JavaJoy Inc] doesn’t already have some type of communication solution in place — such as calling [field agents] via cell phones or a scheduling and optimization field service data solution — it will soon. But [JavaJoy Inc] solution can be more than just connectivity between the field and the office. [JJI] can leverage complementary technologies to make the most of its investment (Chapin, Khristen; October 2006).
Therefore, Rep Team-building will be the priority for JavaJoy headquarters. Market adjustments will be delivered by those field groups, such as resellers, specifying engineers, chains and restaurateurs. Whereas JavaJoy “markets directly to medium and large restaurant chains that maintain technical staffs who specify equipment like brewers, with the next step in market evolution is to replicate its success in “other vertical [markets]” (Task Detail; 2006).
An excellent supporting idea comes from Douglas Kern, partner and president of Thoughtful, Inc. “And it’s not just technology ...we offer professional services, sales and marketing help for our partners. We’re even venture capitalists,” says Kern. Thoughtful, Inc is “seeing record growth in businesses from ...discrete, proprietary systems to dot-Net-based integrated solutions (November 13, 2006, p 44).”
Christopher L. Smith, owner of Kettle Moraine Web & Consulting Services, Dousman, WI says “Beyond the current need for security, his own customers’ desire for growth, fuels opportunities for him, first in consulting and later in IT services” (November 13, 2006, p 46).
JavaJoy Inc will be able to draw some ideas for revenue and growth from “state of the market surveys” for Business 2 Business, Business 2 Customer and Business to Government/ Education now being published in most end-of-the-year issues of 2006 business periodicals. Essentially, shift in the coffee market means growth for JavaJoy Inc.

Discussion Two
2. Is the shift in the coffee market a problem of retaining [good customers]?
Assumption: Customer Relations are not “fully” managed, and could be improved at all levels of operations. A vital element is missing in Customer Relations Management.
Idea 2: Begin Snail Mail campaign with US Post Office to send surveys and samples. Every reseller and specifying agent in its supply chain will have a sample of the JavaJoy Inc perfection in brewing. Then work to “find out where they [customers] want to be in the next year, two years, and three years versus their competitors. That’s what leads to the discussion of technologies and products,” says Christopher L. Smith of Kettle Moraine Web & Consulting Services.
In order to identify missing elements in CRM, follow up is to be done by agents, representatives, resellers, while headquarters supports and feeds base operations. Its mission is to gather as much “subsurface customer data as possible.” This implicit information will be added to CRM database to give whole picture spread of what JavaJoy Inc customers are expecting.
Those willing to “travel outside comfortable business locales and trudge through ...plants [and end-user establishments] stand to reap the most rewarding and long-standing engagements in the channel (Gonsalves, Chris; November 13, 2006).
Customer loyalty is too easily lost from year to year. This kind of information is locked in the minds of field personnel, who most need access to broader, “subsurface customer information.” For the ensuing five years ahead, the ambition is sharing with all agents’ the implicit knowledge of market rhythm, patterns and desires that most help to grow fertile coffee brewing opportunities for JavaJoy Inc, and all its entities.
By means of questions, Home office and field-operations groups determine consumer loyalty:
>Where does your group want to be this time next year?
>What technology will best cover lost ground?
>Is “ubiquitous CRM” actually “lifting [customer] visibility to everyone in” JavaJoy Inc (Lee, Dick; 1/31/2003)?
>As sellers of complex products and customer-service what share of the market can JavaJoy Inc expect next year?
>What is a good basis for team-building in the trenches?
>How can the JavaJoy Inc marketing policies suppress the modern quandary: “Today, if you can’t solve the problem, you can’t keep the customer” (Lee, Dick; 1/31/2003)?
>What are JavaJoy Inc customers “expecting us to make full use of our staff experience and expertise to craft solutions” for them?
>Do JavaJoy Inc customers require energetic, fastidious no slack added determination by us to “resolve difficult problems for them” (Lee, Dick; 1/31/2003)?
>Do you consider consolidation, such as merger and acquisition, as a method for reaching wider ranges of customers, including obscure and hard to reach end-users?

Discussion Three: Consolidation
3. A “shift in the coffee market” of 1990’s to present can be described as a microcosm of sort, linking the “improved brewing processes to accelerated growth.”
Assumption: Coffee consumption does not define itself in the typical market sense. Most of the contributions to the accelerating coffee market are a result of turning a good olfactory stimulus that tastes bad, as a bad tasting stimulus, to a good tasting stimulus that also smells good.
Idea 3: Brewed coffee actually does not taste as good as it smells, unless brewed in a patented way and doctored up for the taste test. That special job belongs to Mr. Sanchez and JavaJoy Inc. He has high end brewing equipment and process to achieve good tasting, good aroma corollary. Success in brewing means good margins in end-user category. But initial investment in equipment and process may cause margin problems at JavaJoy in the long run.
But what will determine the best route for JavaJoy Inc depends on what sort of regularity it is looking for: and there are certain regularities human individuals anticipate. Rhythms of desire, or, of fatigue, what some might call biological clocks, has revealed to many businesses a path for growth or decline. Complaints recur at rhythmic intervals, as the resellers of JavaJoy technology and services know all too well.
Questions for upper management to ask of themselves:
>Are we willing to decentralize our knowledge base, and publish to our resellers?
>How much will we share, or invest, in our business partnerships starting now?
>What today are General Economic Conditions at present...? In context of:>>Price sensitivity, >>Retail outlets patronized, >>Buyer preferences
>Will we have a mastery of product consumption habits and consumption of related product categories after we invest in our expansion of body of knowledge?
>Will we achieve in five years, or earlier, the obvious: “being able to provide a greater breadth and depth of products and services to a wider range of customers” (McEachern, Christina; 2006, p 46)?
>In context of time, net present values, and budgets: “We don’t want to make a $10 million purchase if it takes 10 years to pay off. A reasonable time of three to five years makes economic sense,” says McEachern, quoting John Varel CEO of FusionStorm (McEachern, Christina; 2006, p 46)?
>Is the legal environment at the firm tolerant to merger and acquisition as a faster route to making JavaJoy Inc more rounded in its offerings, to “complement current value proposition and enhance the benefits we can offer clients” (McEachern, Christina; 2006, p 46)?
The sheer number of small and midsize solution providers has climbed to staggering heights in the United States, and that could be reason enough for market consolidation. With dwindling product margin and the move to a service-based model in the channel, many of the little guys just can’t scale their infrastructure or their offerings to effectively compete (McEachern, Christina; November 13, 2006)
Conclusion
If we ask the decision-maker what he, Mr. Sanchez, wants to focus on in the market research, I am certain he wants to continue to perfect his brewing process. He will also divulge that he wants his officers to focus on symptoms of markets, and give missions to the various resellers. These deliverables will make advertising, pricing strategies and introducing of new products and services more enticing to customers over the next five years. Marketing Management looks forward to achieving results through conclusive descriptive cross-sectional research across the firm’s entire representative structure.
Data collection and preparation will help owner and officers alike address the rather tumultuous question to merge, acquire, or to not. A tough decision is narrowed with research that tapers the customers’ expectations.
Editing, reducing, summarizing, looking for patterns, and applying statistical techniques to data will provide advanced knowledge of customer segments, and loyalty. The lasting benefits from the market research are in confirming which vertical markets JavaJoy Inc should track and tackle.
References
Chapin, Khristen; (October 2006) Integrated Solutions, Three Steps to Field Service Success, retrieved date: 15 November 2006 WesP CorryPub %20PDFs ISM06
CTUOnline; (November 15, 2006) Task List; MKT350 03 0604B Marketing Research Practices,
Gonsalves, Chris; (November 13, 2006) State of the Market, don’t be chicken, VARBusiness, article p 42
Lee, Dick; (1/31/2003) CRM: Three Steps Forward, One Step back, but new “Expertise Automation” Technology recovers lost ground, High-Yield Marketing retrieved date: 15 November 2006
McEachern, Christina; (November 13, 2006) Gobble, Gobble, mergers and acquisitions heat up in the channel, VARBusiness, article p 46