You, Me, and The Fence Post

Celebrate World Toilet Day By Cleaning Up Your Act

Jack Sterling — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 11:03:40 +0000

With World Toilet Day (Nov 19th) just around the corner, what better way to plan to celebrate than to bring yourself a leap forward in personal hygeine? Let’s face it: It’s the 21st century and most of the U.S. still smears away collateral excrement from their private areas using wads of paper. It’s abrasive, inefficient, unhygenic, and one day soon we’ll look back on this behavior and consider it to be quite primitive.

A trend in high end home building, and soon to be a standard feature in the developed world, is the self cleaning and drying toilet a.k.a. bidet. It’s more comfortable, effective, and ecologically practical. And of paramount importance, it is most hygenic.

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Get yourself a toilet that washes and dries you at the touch of a button. To do so would be most judicious.

Don’t Miss Out: Secure Your Baby’s Name on The Web

Jack Sterling — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 05:51:32 +0000

Let’s face it: We live in the Internet Age. Using the Web is second nature to most school aged children today. Computers and the Web will continue to grow to be an integral part of the lives of people more and more. This is why I believe that it makes sense to try to secure a child’s name as a domain name on the Internet Here is a new report supporting that notion and the trend that is ensuing.

I believe that it is important for parents to at least try not only to secure their own .com names, but the names of their children as well. What can you do with this? When a child is just a baby, one can simply park it until ready to use it for something practical. Parking means a simple Web page will come up to let the world know this domain name is taken. Parking is typically a free service.

However, what I have done is use the domain name for a private photo journal for friends and family featuring pictures of my child over the course of their childhood. Software to do this is generally inexpensive and sometimes free from whomever you buy your domain name.

The real value will come when your child reaches college age and beyond, when he or she will be able to benefit from a professional presence on the Web for hosting a blog, one’s resume, curriculum vitae, and who knows what may come to be. I used this firm - they make it easy and inexpensive - and their customer service is great:

http://GetYourBabysName.com

To secure your child’s .com name would be most judicious indeed.

Do Real Nipples Make You Smarter?

Jack Sterling — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 05:54:45 +0000

For tens of thousands of years women have breastfed their babies or, when unable, employed the use of a wet-nurse. Later in human development, civilized man has reportedly attempted various substitutions. But, only in recent history has any of these concoctions been considered to meet the nutritional requirements of a developing newborn. Yet even today, the FDA recommends using formula over human milk under only a handful of circumstances.

What’s more, mother’s milk goes beyond being the best form of infant nutrition — it also imparts immunities and other benefits related to infant health. A recent report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality details these benefits. Ongoing is the debate, however, about any correlation between intelligence and breastfeeding. The AHRQ report asserts that, while as a source of nutrition, breast milk is unparalleled — no relationship between breastfeeding and cognitive performance is evident. Furthermore, the British Medical Journal reports on a recent study that shows a much stronger correlation of infant cognitive ability to a mother’s IQ than whether she breastfed her child or not; essentially asserting that all we really know is that smart mothers tend to have smart babies.

But wait! An even newer study now shows a correlation to higher IQ’s in breastfed children, yet only when they carry a certain gene. This study as published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports a 6 or 7 percent increase in the IQ’s of children who carry a certain variant of the FADS2 gene found in 90% of the population. Professor Terrie Moffitt and colleagues at the Institute of Psychiatry, London conducted the research. Professor Moffitt has reportedly declared that while this is a very exciting discovery, “…this study must be repeated by other research teams in other countries.”

So perhaps another study will follow that invalidates this new one. Or maybe it will be further proven. In any case, given all the other undisputed benefits, naturally breatfeeding your baby seems most judicious.

Buy or Lease a Car? Forget about it!

Jack Sterling — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 05:27:58 +0000

Starting with a home, for many individuals their next highest cost purchase is a car. An oft asked question is: should I take a loan to buy it, or shoud I lease my vehicle? Generally speaking, if your motivations are primarily fiscal, leasing is hardly ever the better choice. The details of why this is so can be found in any one of many articles on the topic. But, if the vehicle you are buying is to be used for commuting from home to work, it seems people are forgetting a third and very important option: Paying cash.

Learn from my experience. I have leased and I have financed new cars. It took me years of trial and error, before I sat down and did the math and got this issue into perspective. What you must realize if you are going to do the right thing for yourself is that vehicles are some of the worst kind of depreciating assets. And unless you are using the vehicle as a direct tool in the operation of a business to turn a profit, then you should do everything you can to avoid using a debt instrument to obtain one.

I think everyone should achieve the ability to drive a nice modern car. I paid cash for my last car. But, I bought it used (just a year old - the greatest depreciation comes in the first year). And, it took time for me to be able to do that. Now, I realize no one wants to drive around in an old “rust bucket.” Besides, the repair costs of a used-up old car could rival a lease payment – as well the hassle due to the loss of use of the vehicle while it is in the shop.

So, what I recommend is to choose a used car very judiciously. One thing that’s very helpful in buying used is that information about the reliability of various model years of cars manufactured ten years ago is readily available. And then considering, that at the time of this writing, Kelley’s Blue Book reports that one should be able to buy a 1997 Honda Civic for just over $4,000 — save your money and buy one of these as soon as possible! Drive it for 5 years, while in the meantime putting what you would pay for a car payment into the bank. At the end of five years, buy a new one for cash! No more car payments and no more interest: Most judicious!

Study Shows TV Makes Kids Stupid

Jack Sterling — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 06:39:59 +0000

A study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has revealed a significant correlation between early childhood television viewing and ADHD. Furthermore, the AAP now recommends pediatricians to “urge parents to avoid television viewing for children under the age of 2 years. Although certain televisionprograms may be promoted to this age group, research on earlybrain development shows that babies and toddlers have a criticalneed for direct interactions with parents and other significantcare givers for healthy brain growthand the development of appropriate social, emotional, and cognitiveskills. ”

The AAP study, which evaluated over 2,000 children at ~7 years of age confirms what many have suspected. While ADHD takes on many forms, according to the National Institute of Mental Health in over 20% of cases it is accompanied by learning disability. It’s a shame to think parents could be actually causing this to happen to their children.

A somewhat tongue-in-cheek video about this otherwise serious matter:

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I believe avoiding television at all ages is most judicious.

Honoring The Men and Women of the Armed Forces

Jack Sterling — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 20:54:48 +0000

The honor we hold for the men and women serving in the United States armed forces is timeless, since the job they perform is central to the very core of our exitence as a nation. But as we are in the midst of active fighting it seems to be difficult for some to separate the war from the warrior.

Let us not ever forget the job that these protectors of our freedom are tasked with: To forge ahead into situations from which every ounce of human instinct tells them they should be fleeing. We demand incredible fortitude and bravery – and sometimes, the ultimate sacrifice from these people. Let us never tread upon their honor; to do so is most injudicious.

Please take the time to see the video at this link: Do You Remember Me?