Fuel for Thought

I see the following call to arms over high gas prices in the USA is making the rounds again ...

Here's a message I received recently from someone I know, who felt the need to transmit it to their entire e-mail address book:

GAS WAR-- An Idea

"This was originally sent by a retired Coca Cola executive. It came from one of his engineer buddies who retired from Halliburton. It 's worth your consideration.

"Join the resistance!!!! I hear we are going to hit close to $ 5.00 a gallon by next summer. Want gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action.

"Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea. This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the 'don't buy gas on a certain day' campaign that was going around last April or May! The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to 'hurt' ourselves by refusing to buy gas. It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them. BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can work. Please read on and join us!

"By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is super cheap. Me too! Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50-$1.75 and the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their gas! We can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves. How?

"Force a price war:

"For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies (which are now one), EXXON and MOBIL. If they are not selling gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. To have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxon and Mobil gas buyers. However, it's simple to do! Now don't wimp out on me at this point...keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!!

"I am sending this note to 30 people. If each of us sends it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300) and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth group of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers.

"If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it: THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!

"Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all!

"How long would all that take? If each of us sends this e-mail out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8 days! Acting together we can make a difference.

"If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on. I suggest that we not buy from EXXON/MOBIL UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $1.30 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN WORK.

"Xxxxx Xxxx, Research Coordinator"

This has been attempted before, and it's never been successful. The basic reason is that the USA is a country with a very diverse populace. Any attempt to get an effective number of them to abide by the discipline such a plan would require is simply impractical.

However, that's not the point I want to make. I contend that these people are missing the real point:

Why can't the American public accept that the issue isn't high gas prices, but their stubborn subservience to gasoline?

The obvious answer is that gasoline is the established and easiest facilitator for personal transportation. And, as long as those facts remain, the Americans' habits will remain, as well.

Placed in a global perspective, $5.00 for a gallon of gas is not unusual. The difference is that the rest of the globe has accepted lifestyle adjustments and moved on to other issues.

One of the simplest of those adjustments to make is changing the location of the workplace. Move it from an office to home!

Cyberspace can make decentralization much more efficient. Some Fortune 500 companies began to embrace the concept over a decade ago. Bank of America, for instance, allows many of their executives to utilize a home-office relationship. Clearly, not every job allows its worker to perform at home, but there are enough that do. The effects would be subtle, but significant. For example, if even 20% of the vehicles in a commute were removed from the road, traffic congestion would be eased. That, in turn, would allow for better mileage in the vehicles that wouldn't be stuck in idling or stop-and-go sequences. That saves gas and reduces demand.

As e-commerce continues its relentless drive toward mainstream acceptance, numerous shopping trips can also be reduced. Cyber-meetings also are very possible now, and they can accommodate the sharing of documents. Even cyber-schooling could be expanded; Sweden has been operating a cyber-curriculum for the youth of its citizens abroad for years, which is a great way for its culture and high academic standards to be provided to those who work elsewhere.

So, any attempt to target Exxon --- or British Petroleum or Elf or Shell --- is Quixotic. Target yourself instead. You'll surely get much better mileage out of your time. You'll also probably notice an improvement in your monthly gasoline budget. In the bigger picture, as well, it's a simple plan which relies on simple market forces, ie- less demand lowers prices.

Small strategies are what win the wars. In this one, open your battlefront in cyberspace.

J Square Humboldt is the featured columnist at the Longer Life website, which is dedicated to providing information, strategies, analysis and commentary devoted to improving the quality of living. His page can be found at http://longerlifegroup.com/cyberiter.html and his observations are published three times per week.

Selling Abilities - Part 1

Selling -abilities: Reliability

(Part 1 of 4)

Most salespeople love to talk about their -abilities: Reliability, Upgradeability, Compatibility and Expandability. Salespeople feel stronger and more confident when they can use their abilities to convince the customer to make a buying decision. But what happens when the customer still doesnt buy? What happens when you keep repeating your abilities but get no response or pulse from the customer? Many salespeople overuse their company's abilities. Repetition or sounding like everyone else has the affect of dulling a customers buying senses. So, how do you sell abilities effectively? Lets start with reliability in this first of four articles.

Selling Reliability
In any selling situation whether product or service, mostly the former, the term reliability is bound to be raised as a point of contention or objection. Twenty years ago reliability was much more of an issue then it is today when it came to hardware sales. Today, with the improvement of semiconductor electronics, the consolidation of component on chips or boards and the reduced dependence on moveable parts (e.g., mechanical v. electronics), reliability is less of an issue when it comes to hardware.
Reliability as it applies to selling software on the other hand is another animal altogether. As programs have gotten more robust, requiring millions of lines of codes, theyve become more susceptible to bugs and operating system errors.

There are three basic strategies for overcoming reliability objections or issues with software and/or hardware products:

Strategy #1: References are only good when they are similar in company structure and needs. If you have customer with similar profiles to the company youre trying to sell to, use that customer as a reference. The reference company should have a similar profile in terms of requirements (e.g., many offices distributed, over 1,000 employees wholl access the system, etc.). Warning: Using a companys competitor as a reference can backfire.

Strategy #2: Agree to set up an onsite trial where the software (or hardware) can be used and exercised to its fullest. This strategy is referred to as beta testing. One approach is to use one of the companys smaller departments. The benefit to you the salesperson is that youll be able provide and support a more controlled environment. If the software or hardware works within the department, you will be able to leverage that success company-wide. Warning: These tests should only be done when your product(s) has passed your own bug & crash test.

Strategy #3: Many large corporations have some type of certification program. Some of these programs are either done in-house or outsourced to some third-party company who specializes in testing products. Take a look at one of your appliances at home and youll note that it has been certified as reliable by some third-party laboratory (e.g., U.L.). If a company has an in-house certification program, the first step in the selling process is to get the product approved. Here is where a salespersons technical support team can play a key role in helping and expediting the certification along. If the certification is to be done by a third party, all you can do is hope your product passes. The key here is to get your product(s) approved and specd in (i.e., specifications approved) by the company. Once this happens, a path is cleared for the salesperson to begin the selling process.

In all three strategies, a lot of selling has to be done, not some much about the product, but about your company. Buyers need to know that your product is highly reliable and that you are equipped to support it over the long run. Keep in mind that a buyer has to invest time and effort just to help you sell them. Great salespeople understand that they are inconveniencing the company. Which is why great salespeople will do anything and everything to make sure the testing phase goes smoothly without undue demands on the potential buyer. These types of sales have long cycles and require patience, understanding and flexibility on the part of the seller.
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2003. Victor Gonzalez. All Rights in All Media Reserved. Victor Gonzalez is a sales trainer and motivational coach.

Herbs and Herbal Teas

Herbs have been important contributors to the quality of human life for thousands of years. Throughout history plants have served mankind as valuable components of seasoning, teas, cosmetics, dyes and medicines. The term herbs is used to refer not only to herbaceous plants but also to bark, roots, leaves, seeds, flowers and fruit of trees, shrubs and woody vines.

Recently there has been a resurgence of interest in the use of herbs. Various herbal teas are used in place of caffeine-containing beverages. Dietary recommendations encourage the use of herbal seasonings to flavor food as a way to cut down on the use of table salt.

Safe Herbs used in Seasoning:
Caraway
Cardamo
Coriander
Dill
Oregano
Garlic
Onion
Saffron
Sage
Sweet Basil
Thyme
Tumeric

Some view herbal products as natural remedies for the treatment of varied disorders and illness. Self-prescribed herbal preparations are widely used for a whole host of common conditions including insomnia, arthritis, colds, coughs, ulcers, allergies, constipation, infections, high blood pressure, intestinal disorders, premenstrual syndrome, headaches, fever, anemia, weakness, aging, stress, nervousness, sexual disorder, and indigestion.

A number of herbal products, such as aloe vera, blue-green manna and bee pollen, have been promoted as possessing special healing and health-promoting properties. One should always be wary of products that are sold as cure-alls, miracle food supplements of panaceas. While the fresh juice of aloe vera may promote wound healing when applied externally, the commercial gels, ointments and creams containing aloe vera have no therapeutic and cannot be retained over time. Furthermore, experiments are unable to verify that blue-green manna (algae) has any significant health-promoting properties. Likewise, it has not been proven that bee pollen has valid use as a general tonic, or that can help in weight reduction, stop premature aging or serve to improve ones athletic performance.

Unsafe Herbal Teas:
Arnica
Goldenseal
Morton tea
Snake root
Black cherry
Gordo lobo
Nutmeg
Tansy ragwort
Bloodroot
Groundsel
Oleander
Tonka bean
Buckthorn
Jimsonweed
Pennyroyal
Tu-san-chi
Burdock root
Kavakava
Periwinkle
Water Hemlock
Cohosh
Lobelia
Poke root
Woodruff
Comfrey
Mandrake
Sassafras
Wormwood
Elderberry
Melilot
Senna
Yohimbe
Foxglove

Safe Herbal Teas:
Alfalfa
Fenugreek
Hyssop
Rose Hips
Blackberry
Feverfew
Lemon Grass
Rosemary
Chamomile
Flaxseed
Orange
Sarsaparilla
Chickweed
Ginseng
Peppermint
Savory
Chicory
Gotu Kola
Psyllium
Slippery elm
Dandelion
Hibiscus
Raspberry
Spearmint
Echinacea
Hops
Red Raspberry
Valerian
Fennel
Horehound

Guidelines to Follow

1.Avoid buying unlabeled loose or bulk teas.
2.Be alert to the toxicities of certain herbs.
3.Refrain from considering herbal beverages as natural panaceas.
4.Read labels carefully, so that only prepackaged teas with safe ingredients are used.
5.Used moderate amounts of those teas with safe and effective constituents.
6.Drink no more thatn1-2 sups of tea per day on a regular basis, since the long term effects of drinking most herbal teas in large quantities is not known.
7.People who show allergic response to ragweed, asters, or chrysanthemums should avoid all teas containing marigold, yarrow and chamomile flowers.
8.Pregnant women should especially use caution in drinking any herbal tea since few have been thoroughly tested for safety. Before using any herbal tea, a pregnant woman should first consult with her physician. Likewise young children should be restricted in their use of herbal teas.

Gay Relationships - An Alternative To Feeling Our Way In The Dark?

We all love romance, And sex. And yet, these things can become so complicated and entangled that we end up hating ourselves for wanting them so much. Everybody has felt totally overwhelmed by romantic relationships at some points in their lives, starting with the first high school crush. But to my mind, the feeling of being lost in a world of mismatched traffic signs is even more difficult when you are gay. There is simply no reliable roadmap to follow.

First of all, what are our roles? Straight people know what the rules are, how the role playing is supposed to work out. Just watch all the dating games on TV and you will see how finely tuned males and females are to the code words and body language of their culture. The people on those shows have been chosen precisely because they have internalized all of the most banal and stereotypical behaviors and have raised them to a fine art. Now what about gay men and lesbians? Have we ever really figured out what our codes and body language mean? In the world that we have created, based on otherness in a straight culture, much of the allure of a relationship is the ambiguity. I think we avoid any clear explanations because we are afraid that all the magic will simply vanish in the light. We have gotten used to feeling our way in the dark. The gay dating shows I have seen on TV have been failures precisely because of everyones reluctance or inability to communicate what the real attractions were.

Its not that we gay people dont also have our stereotypes raised to a fine art. No way, in fact, we invented that camp game! We create our types by twisting and reworking the raw material that straight people have left us. Shes a gigolo, a female friend says, for instance, describing an ex-girlfriend, like one of those guys in a movie from the 1960s with a girl in every bar. She uses a male reference without the slightest hesitation. But is the woman in question really like one of those guys? I dont think its so simple. Gay people may take on the characteristics of the opposite sex in their romantic relationships, but we pick and choose, mix and match according to some complicated plan even we cannot fully explain.

Shes not really a gigolo, because she is still a woman, and that means she has learned to use certain behaviors to get what she wants in life that are different from the behaviors that men use. She has seen life from a womans perspective, she has learned how to handle the restrictions and exploit the privileges that are a womans lot, no matter what her sexual orientation. She is not a gigolo, and yet it is somehow stimulating, and sexy for other women to see her that way. Its a deception that makes sense to these other women because subconsciously they are also aware of the feminine side of that person and how that side informs her gigolo-ness.

The same can be said for gay men. There are no real queens among men, though there may be legions of people with penises who think that they are Paris Hilton or Ivana Trump. They can never understand what a womans world looks like when you have been female since the day you were born, and they would never renounce the privileges of masculinity that they have enjoyed all their lives. It is precisely those male privileges that empower them to break the gender rules and play the lah de dah femme fatale game.

So what good are these stereotypes, then? Can they help us find ourselves, the way that Tiffany-and-Brad on the Dating Game can help straight teenagers learn the ropes? The great majority of gay people, I believe, strive for some kind of harmony in their personal lives that manages to see with both male and female vision in a rich and rewarding way. The problem is, we dont know how to interpret what we are seeing. It is hard enough for people with the monovision of one sex, but for us it is doubly confusing. Who can guide us? Ironically, we need these people at the extremes, we need them to search out the far frontiers of gender bending and to report back what they find. Otherwise, those of us in the middle will have to muddle along forever, blindly mixing our own instincts with the dubious words of wisdom of Tiffany and Brad. Not a pleasant thought.

Dominic Ambrose is a writer and script developer for an independent film company in Paris. Take a look at his writings on http://www.dominicambrose.com and his new entertainment blog at http://www.dominicambrose.com/blog/