Sports Psychology

May 14, 2013 / / No comments

Sports fans love to argue with fans from other teams. They debate the performance and talent of individual players as well as the merits of the team as a whole. They may even spend hours debating which mascot is better or at least more popular. When it comes to the latter, there is actually a survey that can be used to settle the score.

sportsThe 2011 survey looked at mascots in terms of four attributes: appeal, entertainment value, team identification and awareness of the mascot itself. The survey considered mascots from professional sports teams across the country to determine which is the most popular in America (and to give rental companies an idea as to which Mascot Costumes to stock up on before Halloween).

The winner this year is the Phillie Phanatic, representing the Philadelphia Phillies. He is followed closely by last year’s winner, the San Diego Chicken (who is now freelance after years of association with the San Diego Padres). The Racing Sausages of the Milwaukee Brewer’s and Mr Met of the New York Mets are next on the list. The sole non-baseball mascot, the Gorilla from the Phoenix Suns, rounds out the top five.

The rest of the top ten: 6 – Racing Presidents (Washington Nationals), 7 – Benny the Bull (Chicago Bulls), 8 – Wally the Green Monster (Boston Red Sox), 9 – Rocky (Denver Nuggets), and 10 – Billy the Marlin (Florida Marlins).

The annual survey for Forbes magazine is conducted by The Scott Tucker Group

photo by: Mariano Kamp

To Your Health: Saving on Medical Equipment

May 10, 2013 / / 5 comments

As the baby boomers enter their golden years, they face an increasing cost of medical equipment required to healthily live out their retirement years. Compounding this problem are wounded veterans back from war, 1.2 million registered members according the the Disabled American Veterans Organization, many of whom require medical care. Basic care items like a box of sterile latex gloves, has increased by a few dollars. This might not seem like a lot, but it does add up if someone requires round the clock care, which many people will as life expectancy continues to rise.

wheelchairsMedical Insurance Becomes a Rarity

Years ago people could usually count on their job to pay for the cost of medical insurance as part of a comprehensive benefits package that included a 401k and often dental insurance. With the instability of the job market and increasing number of college graduates, a benefits package has become much rarer. More people are grateful for the jobs that they get when they get them and have become less picky when it comes to a position that doesn’t cover all of their needs.

There are now 48.6 million people who are uninsured in the United States. This is due to an increase in part-time positions and cutbacks made after the 2008 recession. Without benefits, people remain at the mercy of the market to determine a fair price for medical equipment. Most people who are uninsured have an increasingly difficult time finding a way to cover their costs and address their medical needs.

Covering the Insurance Gap

To bridge the gap between rising costs and lack of adequate insurance, it’s up to people to find creative ways to meet their financial needs. Supplemental insurance is available to those with extra funds and already have basic medical coverage. These plans will usually cover medical costs above and beyond the norm. Another option extended to those with decent credit ratings is a Care Card. This is essentially a credit card used primarily for medical expenses, including equipment. A limit of approximately $2,000 is given and no interest rate is charged for one year. This allows people time to pay off their debt slowly rather than in one lump sum.

When it comes down to it, some people will simply have to ask others for help. One route is to approach friends and family for assistance with medical expenses. It’s often better to offer some kind of exchange so that both people feel more comfortable, but sometimes this simply isn’t a possibility. A crowd-funding site like Gofundme can be used, especially if the story behind the injury or ailment is particularly touching. Many good Samaritans are willing to offer their help to others who are worse off. There might even be local churches who are willing to help cover medical expenses for people in their congregation. Tough times often help bring people together and hold together the community.

Andy Marshall is a professional writer whose work appears on numerous video, blogs social sites, and websites. His writing focuses on subjects related to health, insurance, and the cost of medicine. Examples of his work can be found on this site.

The Advancements in Stem Cell Research

May 9, 2013 / / 3 comments

When you envision your baby’s birth, you may imagine your doctor holding the baby up and announcing, “it’s a beautiful healthy baby (add gender here)!”  The next image is probably that of the baby’s umbilical cord being cut. In that remarkable instant, mother and baby go from being one connected entity to two autonomous beings.  What you may not have thought about is how the choice you make about the subsequent moments can be critical. They present the opportunity for your baby’s cord blood to be collected and banked for decades into the future. And the decision to bank your child’s cord blood now may result in saving his or her life later on. Cord blood banks may even save the lives of your other children.

scienceCord blood flows through your placenta and into the umbilical vein to nourish and oxygenate your baby.  It also contains stem cells – more specifically, blood-forming stem cells. These stem cells are a miracle of nature because they can generate all three types of blood cells our bodies need (red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets). This ability to regenerate blood cells is especially necessary when a child is healing from a potentially fatal cancer like leukemia, a blood disorder such as sickle cell anemia, or certain immune system disorders.  If your child is ever diagnosed with one of these fatal diseases, the cord blood you have banked will be used to help save your child’s life. A stem cell transplant will boost the immune system and can help him or her recover from subsequent treatments like radiation or chemotherapy. If you do not bank your baby’s cord blood, you can end up playing a stressful and worrisome waiting game.

When a child needs a stem cell transplant, it can mean waiting for a matching cord blood, or bone marrow, donor and this can take a long time. Sometimes families wait months for a correct match and time is critical when a child is fighting for his or her life. It’s important to note that if you are an ethnic minority, or if your baby was conceived via in vitro fertilization, you might have to wait even longer than normal for an ideal match.  Parents who have banked their child’s cord blood have no wait at all. It is one of the best investments you can make for your family.

photo by: kevin dooley

Texting and Driving – A Modern Lethal Practice

April 26, 2013 / / No comments

By: Anthony Cervezes

While social media has been a fantastic way for the automotive industry to connect with it’s clients and enthusiasts, there is a more sinister side to the otherwise innocuous and fun time-waster: texting while driving.  Texting while driving makes you 23 times more likely to get in an accident, not to mention that in the US it has been made illegal in 30 states.

What’s worse is that texting while driving is, according to several studies, worse than drunk driving.  Car and Driver ran an independent test to determine the reaction time of a drunk driver versus that of a texting driver.  The results were clear, showing that the texting driver reacted 10% slower than the drunk driver.  It was all done on a closed course, so don’t get any ideas.  However, the message is still clear: texting while driving is downright dangerous.

Texting and driving is definitely a problem, but it is mostly a problem with the younger crowd.  Teenagers are the obvious culprits; with only a few months to a year of driving experience under their collective belt, they tend to be more accident-prone, reckless, oblivious, or all three than a seasoned commuter.  Coupled with younger people’s affinity for technology means that they often split their attention between driving and telling their online friends that they’re driving.

The natural question is, “what can be done about this?”  There are advertisements all over the place reminding us not to text while driving, but that isn’t always enough.  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has a few helpful ideas though.  The first is keeping your phone out of sight.  Keeping it someplace where you won’t be constantly looking at it is a great way to keep you from playing with it.  For teens that means potentially leaving it at home, or keeping it in the back seat where it is difficult to reach.

The NHTSA also recommends turning the phone to silent, which will prevent you from worrying about whatever text or call you just received.  Or better still turn it off. Everyone can attest to the massive willpower it takes to avoid checking your phone after hearing it sound off.  A designated texter can also help—with somebody in the passenger seat to handle communications it is a lot easier to keep your eyes on the road.  There are also some apps that will help prevent you from using your phone’s texting feature while driving.  Think of it like putting your iPod on hold to prevent in-pocket button presses.  There are a ton of apps out there and a few are even free.

As far as teens are concerned, they will do what they will do, but with a little vigilance on the parent’s side in explaining how bad texting while driving actually is, the consequences of it, and the ways to avoid it, we can all drive on safer roads.

This hard hitting video covers the risks of texting and driving

Anthony Cervezes is an automotive blogger and social media strategist and a regular contributor to this blog and others such as http://ScottTuckerRacing.com

Get Ready for Summer Heat in Phoenix

April 20, 2013 / / One comment

It may seem ridiculous to those still buried in snow an suffering through freezing temperatures, but for those in Phoenix, Arizona, summer is just around the corner. In fact, the city has been known to experience 90 degree temperatures as early as March and usually hits the century mark a few times in April, so really, it is time for them to plan for summer.

The most important thing for Phoenicians to do is get their air conditioning checked. Having a broken unit when the temperatures spike doesn’t just mean suffering through the heat. It means being one of many, many others who were caught unawares and need their A/C fixed in a jiffy.

When it comes to air conditioning Phoenix is filled with qualified technicians and repair professionals who are more than willing to come out and check a system BEFORE the first spring heat wave. They will make sure that the system is working properly, identify any worn or nearly worn out parts that may need to be replaced and can even do a quick check of a home’s ventilation system to make sure there are no obstructions or problems that would interfere with the efficiency of the A/C unit.

Residents of other warm regions of the country should also be watching their calendar closely. Phoenix isn’t the only place that experiences summer like weather in March. Anyone in a tropical or desert environment would do well to schedule their A/c check up as soon as they can.

Griffith Marker is a DIY blogger who specializes in home energy systems, such as HVAC, solar panels, and water heaters.  His work can be found on blogs, news magazines and sites like Virginia Beach AC.

 

Technology Pioneer

April 17, 2013 / / 2 comments

Prior to the rise of the internet, apartment hunting was dominated by print. Potential residents armed themselves with classified ads from newspapers, fliers found on bulletin boards, and, in larger communities, with apartment magazines filled with listings from residential buildings in their city. It was then a matter of footwork. Visiting all the listings that looked promising only to discover that the neighborhood wasn’t right or the property was in disrepair, etc. Apartment hunters of the past could spend weeks trying to pinpoint the perfect residence.

Today, all they need is a computer or smart phone with a solid internet connection and the weeks of research and time spent trekking from property to property can be accomplished in a few hours. This is thanks to leading real estate visionaries like Daniel Drimmer who evolved a number of technologies that make finding and renting an apartment a whole lot easier.

One of the most obvious advances of the real estate industry online was the birth of the virtual tour. The first examples of this tool appeared in the form of still photos that provided a 360 degree view of a given room or apartment complex. Once streaming video became an option, Drimmer and other leaders began creating true video tours of properties and specific units. This meant that instead of having to drive to every potential apartment, searchers could quickly watch short video clips and eliminate those that weren’t worth the time, or gas mileage, to visit. Thanks to Drimmer, today’s residential rental companies post their virtual tours on video sharing sites as well as their company Starlight Investments websites in order to give potential residents all the information they need.

Another important tool that was pioneered by Drimmer is the interactive map. Renters can search for available units by geography. The best maps allow for filtering by specific features and amenities. Since location is the most important aspect of any real estate transaction, it only makes sense that being able to see properties on a map would be a key part of the apartment hunting process.

In addition to these two features, more and more apartment sites have started offering the online lease application. Prospective residents can easily complete the application from home, work, or, using a smart phone or other handheld device, from anywhere they like. Efficient companies will be able to offer quicker decisions, since all the information is provided digitally, rather than having to be gleaned from a paper application. The overall savings in time and energy is invaluable.

Tools like these are what set apart companies like Drimmer’s Starlight Investments from rental companies that rely on the now old-fashioned process of printed listings and time-consuming site visits.

Image courtesy Joelk75 via Flickr. Creative Commons License.

Fraudulent Medical Insurance Claims

April 16, 2013 / / 6 comments

As health care benefits expand, both in the private sector and in government aid, fraudulent medical insurance claims are increasingly on the rise as well. Medical benefits, when used properly, can be lifesavers for many families who might otherwise face financial insolvency and even bankruptcy in the face of doctor bills, expensive medication, and career-ending injuries. The U.S. population is aging, living and working longer years, and that does account for many perfectly legitimate claims. But unfortunately in the deluge of new claims, many exaggerated or outright false reports are filed as well.

Different Type of Medical Insurance Fraud

There are two basic types of fraudulent medical insurance claims: claims made by patients, and claims made by medical professionals. In the case of patients, it can be very easy to invent or inflate a head or spinal column injury, placing claims either through workers compensation programs or filing for government benefits. In some extreme cases, some con artists will actually stage or cause traffic accidents to extract money with fraudulent medical claims from the other driver’s insurance company.

Sadly, doctors, nurses, and other medical staff are equally culpable of abusing the insurance system. For all intents and purposes, insurance companies rely on doctors to bill honestly and there are many ways to cheat the system. Fraud can be committed by double billing, by charging for services not performed, and by ‘upcoding’ – billing a more expensive service than the one actually performed.

Perhaps the worst of all of these is doctors who order unnecessary tests for their patients. Not only do insurance companies lose money on these fraudulent claims but patients also take a hit, both through any co-pays and also in stress caused by having these unnecessary procedures be performed upon them.

Insurance Companies Respond

To deal with this growing problem, many insurance companies have increased the number of fraud investigators working for them. Fraud investigators can either be ‘in the field,’ actually checking up on a person or medical professional who has filed a suspicious claim, or a forensic accountant working in an office, seeking out patterns that may indicate a health care provider who is not billing honestly.

Financial Crisis Effects on Individuals, Companies and Healthcare

April 11, 2013 / / No comments

Everyone has financial troubles at some point in their lives. Well, okay, almost everyone, though it’s difficult to imagine anyone who hasn’t experienced some sort of economic difficulty, the extent of and lifestyle impact faced might, and does, vary greatly. One of the dividing factors is not how impacted by economic difficulties one might find themselves, but exactly how they deal with them. Individuals tend to have a moral relationship with money. On an individual level we tend to equate our self worth with our credit score, financial status and career success. These can be dangerous elements when circumstances well beyond our control render us at the brink of financial ruin. Professionals like moneymutual.com are well aware of the impact financial crisis can have on individuals as well as businesses and are also aware of the lifestyle and possible emotional effects they produce.

While most individuals tend to equate their financial and career success with their own feelings of self worth, corporations tend to take a different approach. Small, private businesses are generally an extension of the individual, and their success or failure might be a factor in the personal effects of financial problems. Corporations, however, are not owned by a single individual, generally, and typically have a sole purpose of making money for their investors. When a corporation is dissolved there is rarely a personal response of shame or guilt placed on any one of the share holders. Of course there are different philosophies and factors attached to CEO and other leaders, and when legal or ethical issues enter the picture, it’s an entirely different story. That’s still a bit different than the main issue here.

So how does the scientific community fit into a financial crisis? Generally speaking, many people who enter the sciences do so for personal interest and life passion factors. And while having a new asteroid or star, better yet, named after you for finding it can be a motivating factor, the fame and glory associated with such an achievement is not generally the inspiration behind this career choice. In addition, much of the sciences are dependent on governmental and public support. So, a while a financial crisis can have a major impact on science and various projects, the professionals in the field are not considered responsible for reductions in governmental support. However, and this is strongly emphasized, they can have enormous personal responses to the lack of financial support for their projects. And with that being said, professionals in the science community tend to feel a higher purpose to their work and financial set backs might effect their projects, but not the professionals’ attachment of worth to it. So, what would money mutual professionals recommend the individual mirrors in their approach to their own financial troubles? Well, definitely it’s not the small business, personal worth option. On an individual level it might be better to emulate the scientist or corporation in their relationship to financial crisis.

The Cutting Edge for Ambulances

April 10, 2013 / / 9 comments

Every day that goes by sees more innovations in automotive technology.  Cars are getting more comfortable, faster, more fuel efficient, and better overall.  But one place where all of the new technology is helping is where we would hardly even look: in ambulances.  New technology has brought ambulances from simple people carriers to full on, traffic skirting, mobile life saving devices.

Life Saving Equipment

Modern ambulances have most of the things that can save your life in an emergency.  A lot of the equipment has mobile and fixed units, so paramedics can bring stuff with them, stabilize a person on the scene, and bring them back to the van.  Having your community’s ambulances in good repair and at peak performance is essential to the health of each resident, and the community as a whole.  Ambulances and their crews are like a first response team for whenever somebody is seriously injured.  If they can get around fast, reliably, and with the equipment they need, then they will be able to save that many more lives, and keep the community together.

ambulanceThere is a ton of different equipment.  There are suction devices to clear blocked airways, oxygen tanks, defibrillators, all manner of life saving drugs, and even a pacemaker!  In addition to all of that, they carry various immobilization devices, which sound more sinister than they really are.  In reality they are there to make sure that patients can’t injure themselves trying to move, or get further hurt from the movements of the ambulance.

Vehicle Design

But what a modern ambulance carries is only half of the good stuff.  New models come equipped with excellent anti-lock brakes, large V8 engines with lots of torque for quick acceleration and a high carrying capacity, tires that can handle a lot of weight and a lot of G forces, and all manner of other cool tech.  They are constantly being redesigned, making the sirens more noticeable, the cabs more comfortable, and the vehicle just better overall.

It’s a good thing, too.  Ambulance drivers have a tough job.  Getting from place to place in a hurry can be tough by itself, but throw in that a life is on the line, that you have to run red lights and break traffic laws, and are responsible for the lives of your coworkers, and it gets stressful—and that isn’t even considering taking an injured person back to the hospital.  Every second counts, so it’s essential to have an ambulance in good repair and performing as best it can.

Lewis Nelson blogs frequently about traveling, cars, and racing and covers specifics such as leather seats and Moto Metal Wheels amongst other automotive topics.

 

Reducing Stress Series – Buying a New Car

April 9, 2013 / / One comment

When you are new to the car buying market it pays to use a beginner’s guide in order to get the most car or truck for your budget. Whether you are out of school with your first job or just leaving home to embark into the world on your own, no doubt about it, the financial world is a little scary.

Of course, your primary objective is to provide yourself with reliable transportation. While it sounds simple, achieving this is not as easy at you may think.

1. Do Your Research
Take a look at car manuals, magazines,books and search online to get a feel for prices and styles of vehicles. There are a lot of cars out there and twice as many dealerships; small and large. If you have your eyes on a gas drinker ask yourself if you can afford to supply gas for a gas drinking monster. Look at your budget realistically before leaping into debt.

2. Think About Your Financial State Ahead of Time
Most people want to talk about the car. First, decide where you are going to get the money to make this purchase. How much are you willing to pay for the privilege of borrowing it? A cash payment would be fantastic, and there would be no reason to worry about a credit score or finding a lender. Check to make sure your credit score is over 600. Keep in mind the more lenders you visit, the lower your score will go. If you have no credit wait a while, purchase an item you want to buy, on credit; pay for it on time, then return to the car buying market.

3. Be Leery of All Deals at First
Buying a car is moving around in shark infested water. There are good deals and reputable dealers with top interest rates. But, there are the sharks who will sell you a lemon and have you in years of terrible debt with ridiculous interest rates. Search for money from a source you choose. The payments will be better and interest rates will be lower. This will help you work with a budget while you are car shopping. Consider how much money you want to spend. While you are thinking of buying a car you will still need to eat, buy food, buy gas, and pay another bunch of living expenses. There is little point in having a new car when you find yourself sleeping in it. Think about what kind of car you want and if the price and payment options are good for you. At least $1600 in earnings is required and a six month working history. Time and financial diligence will get you what you want.

Emily is the proud owner of a used Honda Civic and she also is a contributing writer for CashForTrucks, a company that helps people learn how to receive cash for cars and also how to sell you car so that you can buy a new (or at least new to you) vehicle!

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