~ My-Wellness-Coach ~

The Future of Brain-Computer Interfaces with Ray Kurzweil

Ray Kurzweil discusses the future of BCI (Brain-Computer Interfaces) at a workshop at the X-Prize lab in MIT, January 2010. This workshop was co-sponsored by Singularity University.  

Dr. Vagnini Speaks the Truth about Obesity, Wellness & Long Life

Highlights from Dr. Fred Vagnini's presentation at the Annual World Congress of Anti-Aging Medicine.  Amazing...

21 Things That Became Obsolete This Decade

Public pay phones, fax machines, maps and floppy disks--can you guess what else became obsolete this decade? Great, fun list from Silicon Valley Insider:

NFL Digs in its Cleats--Denies any Link between Head Injuries & Alzheimer's

The person in this clip who says NFL players are "expendable commodities" is unfortunately correct, judging from the NFL's attitude about head injuries.  Reminds me a bit of how the tobacco industry tried for years to deny a link between smoking and cancer.  Enjoy this clip....

Why We Absolutely, Positively NEED Health Care Reform

You can debate what shape the Health Care reform bill should take until the polar ice cap completely melts, but there's not doubt the current system is a disaster and needs serious attention. 

Convincing evidence for my friend Cliff Barney, who just turned 80, and his wife Carolyn McCall came recently in the form of two hefty packages mailed to them from HealthNet, the company that provides their supplemental Medicare insurance.

The packages measure 8.5" x 11" x 3"; that's 280.5 cubic inches--about a sixth of a cubic foot.

They each weigh 6 pounds, 1 ounce.

They each cost $11.00 to mail.

The contents are identical; HealthNet does not provide a family plan and so both Cliff and Carolyn got the entire package.  Naturally, they recycled one of them unopened.

Here are the contents -- HealthNet's 2010 Annual "Notice of Change"--in no particular order:

1. HealthNet Medicare Advantage HMO/PPO Mental Health and Substance Abuse Provider Directory (182 pages)
2. HealthNet Dental DHMO Plan Provider Directory (512 pages, 1/2 inch thick).
3.  Document: Can HealthNet Help You make Confidential Health Care Decisions? (21 pages)
4. HealthNet Medicare 2010 Part D Pharmacy Directory (269 pages)
5. Evidence of Coverage/A Complete Explanation of Your Plan (Santa Clara County) (213 pages)
6. HealthNet HMO/PPO Vision Plan Provider Directory (113 pages)
7. HealthNet Medicare Part D 21010 Formulary (list of covered drugs) (113 pages)
8. HealthNet Medicare Advantage Chiropractic and Acupuncture HMO and PPO Plan Provider Directory (182 pages)
9. HealthNet Medicare Silver&Fit HMO Plan Directory (35 pages)
10. HelathNet Medicare Advantage HMO Plan Provider Directory (267 pages)
11. Cover letter (13 pages)
12. HealthNet Seniority plus Green (HMO), Seniority plus Ruby (HMO), Seniority plus Ruby Plans 1, 2 and 3 (HMNO), Healthy Heart (HMO) and Healthy Heart Plans 1 and 2 (HMO) Vendor Benefits Rider (60 pages)
13. Changes to Medicare Part D mail order prescription ordering limits (1 page)
14. Change in cost for some brand name drugs (1 page).

Total pages: 2003 (plus a few blank pages at the ends of the various booklets)

Cliff look this up and found HealthNet spends 13 percent of its income on overhead. Its third-quarter revenue this year was about $4 billion, meaning that about $520 million went for overhead.

He says, "One can see why. HealthNet has 3.6 million members; if they all got this package, that's almost $40 million for mailing this item alone!"

Cliff, Carolyn and I agree--Somethings gotta be done!

Single payer anyone?

A Fool Speaks OUT on Safety of H1N1 Vaccine

If you are against getting the H1N1 vaccine or won't do this for your kids, then you're in the company of fools.  Here's a fine example:

Download the poster, "How NOT to Get the Flu" for tips and advice for avoiding infection, building your immune system AS WELL AS getting your shot. Look for this on right-hand column of my homepage.

In Case Your Wondering Here's Why Tax REBATE Money Hasn't Stimuted Spending

Usually I deal with wellness in terms of individual people.  But when our economy is sick, in a way, we're all sick.  The stock market has come back, but spending is still down and here's one big reason why.  Americans are deep in debt so naturally most of this windfall went to help reduce this.

Building My Wellness Network: Twitter verses Facebook

For the past few months, I've been building a "Wellness Network" using Facebook and Twitter and have found myself spending way more time on Twitter. 

The Reason is it is much easier and much faster to build up followers using Twitter than is to build up friends on Facebook.  And there is no limit to the number of followers you can have.  In just three months, I have 60,000 plus followers for my accounts and a year from now, who knows? 

Among these accounts are: DavBunnell, BrainFitWorld, GretaBFit, DrDavesBest, BeatingDiabetes, MaxLifeOrg, GreatBlackburn, HumanPerform, DoctorTwitts, and WellnessTwitts.

Through "retweets" or "RT's" I can send tweets across all these accounts so everyone's reach is magnified. 

On Thursday evening, September 24, three of my clients participated in a Conference on Telomeres in New York which was sent out over the Internet through a live Webinar. 

In the days leading up to this event, I was able to deliver several dozen tweets across these accounts which when retweeted and retweeted added up to over one million impressions.  (One tweet sent to one follower equals one impression)

During the event itself, hundreds of people tuned into the live online Webinar and sent questions into the speakers using the "hashmark" #askta.  (Hashmarks, for those of you who don't use Twitter, allow you to isolate a stream of tweets that focus on the same topic or event.)

This made the evening very exciting as the speakers had all these questions to answer from the "twitterers" who were watching and tweeting.  In fact, they were many more questions from them than the attending audience. 

On Friday, the day after the event I woke up to read in the New York Times that Twitter is on the verge of raising an additional $100 million. 

That must mean there is plenty of growth and excitement ahead for Twitter and people like me who are trying to use Twitter not only to build a business but to send out educational messages.  My clients and I want people to live healthier lives and we want them to live longer lives as well.

The Following Chart shows you how fast Twitter's been growing just this past year:

Cell Phone Radiation Report from Environmental Working Group

Steve Jobs: Apple Tablet will Destroy Kindle