Why I Won't Buy Knock-Offs (anymore)!

I went to a training class at work last week regarding the huge increase in “Trademark, Counterfeiting and Piracy”.  In the past I didn’t think it was a big deal to buy a cheap knock-off because I didn’t feel like it was harming anyone; especially big corporations that already had a boat-load of $$.  After hearing the below facts, I now feel much differently.  The below facts were provided by Investigative Consultants®:

·        10% of all U.S. consumer spending is for counterfeit goods

·        Many drug dealers and gang members are focusing on selling counterfeit goods because it produces more $$ for their criminal activities and it’s less dangerous than the drug trade

·        $312 billion in the drug trade VERSUS $500 billion in selling bogus goods!

·        The majority of this $$ funds criminal/ gangster and terrorist activity

·        Counterfeiting has cost LA County $460 million is lost taxes and 106,000 lost (legitimate) jobs

·        Counterfeit goods are not isolated to CDs and DVDs.  Dish soap, shaving razors, shampoo, clothing, computer components, Viagra, diapers, ball bearings etc. are among the many counterfeited goods.   Pretty much anything!   And yes, I mistakenly bought P90X via the internet and found that it was a knock-off.

·        Major U.S. companies are now employing full-time employees to help protect their intellectual property and to prevent counterfeiting. 

·        Terrorists know that the U.S. economy is a soft-target and they will milk it for everything they can.

·        Counterfeit Spiderman baby blankets netted Hezbollah $100,000.

·        LA and Mexican gangs (MS13, Crips, Mexican Mafia, Florencia13 etc.) have all had huge ties in “controlling the strings” behind the store front.

·        China produces 80% of the counterfeit goods.

·        I purchased a P90x workout video from a discount website, thinking that it was used or in a damaged package.  It was $75 versus the $150 from the direct website.  When it arrived it was packaged nicely, however I found that the print quality in the booklet was faint and I determined that it was counterfeit.  I entered in the company website into a domain name search and found that the company domain holder was in China.

·        One elderly store owner balked after receiving multiple warnings to cease selling counterfeit CDs at her small “mom and pop shop”.  After a search warrant was issued, it was determined that she had $1,000,000 in liquid assets tied to the sales of her counterfeit goods.  Some stores have had actual duplication and packaging machines in the store and/or at a family member’s residence.

·        The majority of products are sold via the internet.  Mom and pop shops, flea markets and street vendors are also a big problem.  Items sold as “replicas” such as police badges are counterfeits.

·        Ebay, Craigslist and other websites that aren’t controlled by the actual company can sell knock-offs (i.e. Tide detergent) for a huge discount to vendors or consumers that want a good deal.

·        A police officer unknowingly bought a counterfeit lithium battery from a discount website.  The battery did not have proper venting and it exploded.  The officer’s handgun and clothing were burned.  Another man unknowingly bought counterfeit Gillette Fusion razors.  The blade was tweaked at it cut his face open from his upper jaw to his chin.  He sued Gillette but lost after the razor was found to be a knock-off.  Do you think a terrorist organization would mind if a successful American company was shut-down overnight?  (Think, "U.S. Economy = Soft Target).

·        When we visit New York City, Cancun or other places and buy those $5 Oakley Sunglasses or the $20 Gucci purse, ask yourself, “What gang is profiting from this?”  Remember, it’s all black-market.  That $$ can be funneled to a shady gangster or terrorist organization for drugs, weapons and the promotion of their cause.

·        Oregon has successfully prosecuted suspects under ORS 164.865/ 858 (pertaining to unlawful sound and labeling recording) and ORS 647.135 (Trademark Counterfeiting).

Hope this helps you re-think buying knock-off products.  It sure changed my mind!

Joe

9 Miles!

My lovely wife after running 9 miles.  This is the fartherst she has ever ran in preparation for a half-marathon on Mother's Day.  She's smiling in the photo but she has battled a few demons in preparation for the big day. 

Imagine how you'll feel when you think of a goal, take a series of step to get you there, suceed and fail along the way, and then ultimately reach your goal.  And to think that about one year ago she was over 40 lbs. heavier and unable to run a half mile!  Her first step in losing the weight was the Take Shape for Life Program's "5 & 1" eating plan where average typical weight loss is 2-5 lbs/week.  When her weight loss started to kick-in, she incorporated exercise into her life.  At first she couldn't even run a half mile and yesterday she ran nine.  It's all about baby steps!  I'm very proud of her.

If you need some sample workout ideas visit: http://www.mojoefitness.com/.  There's also a "122+ At-Home Exercises" DVD that I have available that will definitely give tons of workout ideas.

1957 Portland Nuclear Attack- City Wide Evacuation Drill

This is a neat video filmed in Portland at the height of the Cold War. Actual city officials took part in the film. It shows the city's evacuation plan in the event of a nuclear attack. The Command Center shown in the film was our 911 Dispatch Center up until the mid-90s.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueEl7A7KaHA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

My Cousin's New Book!

Smashwords - Critical Mass - A book by Gunnar C. Garisson  It's finally here! Available as an e-book for $9.99. It'll likely be in paperpack by the summer.  Hopefully he'll be able to schedule a weekend book tour this summer and I can chauffeur him around to some local book stores!

Below is a description from the "Smashwords" website:
Critical Mass
Ebook By Gunnar C. Garisson
$9.99 Rating: Not yet rated.
Published: Mar. 24, 2011

This highly descriptive, character driven epic spans 93 light years, detailing the plight of a nomadic remnant human race, leaving a now uninhabitable Earth and colliding with an alien race in the binary system of the "Demon Sun," Algol. The future of their world is unravelling, and it will fall on one who has seen the past to keep them from repeating it as a 2000 year old Viking prophecy unfolds.

Extended Description
There has been much speculation and controversy as to what point it is that it will become irreversible, but the hard fact is that humans will overpopulate the planet to the point of sociological and economic critical mass. Somewhere around 2048, less than 40 years from now, mankind will reach a global population of nearly 11.5 billion people before things get so bad that the growth is predicted by sociologists to actually flat-line; the mortality rate finally equaling the birth rate.

The ensuing depression will give birth to the rampant practice of every desperate act man is capable of. While some innovative solutions had been found to address the environmental holocaust that is staring us in the face, the sociological condition is already nearly irreparable. With the middle class nearing extinction, the rich will need to find new ways to protect themselves from the poor, and a new kind of segregation will take place in most of the major cities of the world.

Plastic Oceans & Filling Your Stomach

Ok, I know that's a strange blog title.  It'll make sense as you read further! 

When a young girl eating potato chips tells her mom, "I'm still hungry even after eating all these chips", maybe that's a hint that some thing's not right with those chips!  For those of you that live near coastal waters like I do in Oregon, I'd recommend that you look down at the sandy beaches and notice that on many beaches, there are colored granules mixed in with the sand.  These are actually bits of broken-down plastic!  Now that I pay attention, I see it on nearly every beach I visit (mainly in Yachats, Oregon).  I've found plastic toothbrushes, bottle caps, tubes, lids etc..  I've even found some little toy doll parts with Asian clothing.  Our plastic oceans are becoming a new problem.  To read more about the problem click here for Wikipedia or here for an informativeYouTube video.

The point of this is that wildlife eats these plastic bits as food.  Of course there's no nutritional value and when their stomachs becomes engorged, they die. 
Graphic image below:






The young girl eating chips brought me to this similar conclusion.  For us humans, eating junk food is killing us.  It's gorging us slowly and not providing adequate nutrition.  The timeline for this occurrence unfolds for each of us at different rates.  We can speed or slow up this process by what we eat and how we use our bodies.  If you're eating junk, or even too much good quality food, your going to reach the same result.

There are many ways to reduce weight and get healthy.  As a personal trainer with the National Academy of Sports Medicine, and in studying numerous weight loss methods, I believe that I stumbled across the best weight loss method with the Take Shape for Life (TSFL) program (you can go to my main website and click the Take Shape for Life link for more info).

Here are some tips that I recently received from my own Health Coach to help those of you on the program have a fuller feeling in your stomach without packing in a lot of bad calories:

Soups
Add hot boiling water to them instead of microwaving them.
Add 2 cups of hot water instead of one and then add some bouillon make it a
larger portion.
Add some seasonings like Mrs. Dash or taco seasoning.
Add some leftover cooked broccoli or cauliflower to the soups to give them
some substance.
Add some protein, a couple of ounces of lean ground chicken or taco meat.

Shakes
Add some sugar free (no carb) syrups to them. Cash n Carry has the best
prices on Torini syrups
Magic Bullets are the best invention for shakes (Costco or Bi Mart have the
best prices and sales on them)
Mix the choc or vanilla shakes with coffee.

Oatmeal
Try mixing some sugar free syrups with the oatmeal's for different flavors.

Brownie
Try adding 1 teaspoon of Sugar Free syrup on the brownie after you cook it.

Eggs
Mix Medifast eggs with some seasonings like bouillon and Mrs. Dash and bake
them in a (Pam sprayed) small oven safe baking dish at 425 for 15 min.
I have attached the condiment list that is recommended by TSFL. When buying
sugar free syrups etc, make sure they don't have carbs in them. Adding too
many carbs (more then 6) in your plan will put you out of the fat burning
state and it will take you 3 days to get back on the program.

Also, here are some things I keep in my refrigerator:
Broccoli - cooked and uncooked
Cauliflower - cooked and uncooked
Chopped Salad - with TSFL friendly veggies already cut up and made, so I
don't have to make it when I am hungry.
Celery
Pickles
Picked peppers, asparagus, green beans,
Ground chicken, some of it I use for taco meat
Grilled Chicken
Cold cuts (low fat and low sodium)
Sugar Free Jell-O

Use the condiments and snacks sparingly!  I know of a couple of coaches who
do not coach using the snacks, condiments or the maintenance bars.  They do
not give their clients this option.  These have to be used sparingly or your
weight loss will stall.  The maintenance bars can get you into trouble.
Save those for a very special occasion or for maintenance!

Joe Graziano
"Don't Eat Like a Goldfish"

Clinical studies demonstrate an average weight loss of 2-5 pounds per week;
however there is no guarantee that everyone will experience the same
results.  Always consult your physician before starting any weight loss program.