Unrelated News – Page 29 – My Thought Spot

Disclosure Policy

I have written a disclosure policy for the blog since I am now seeking financial independence through blogging. Ok, maybe I am just trying to buy a new microphone and a pair of shoes every few months. Anyway, I used disclosurepolicy.org to help me write a policy that I think covers the bases.

Basically it says this. I may get paid to blog about products, but what I say about them is what I really believe. I will try to choose “for pay” opportunities that will be of benefit to the readers of My Thought Spot.

And, don’t worry, my personal ramblings are not going anywhere (or maybe you were hoping they would). Also, if this goes the way of many things in my life, in a few months, you won’t have to worry about a disclosure policy since I probably will not be taking money for posting. It is a cool fad right now that may get me some new shoes. Every 8 months when shoe replacement time comes around, I may pick up the paid posts in earnest and then drop them again for a while.

Podcast falling off my radar

Yesterday I was listening to a podcast that has health and fitness tips. The hostess was talking about the affects of extra strength acetaminophen (Tylenol) on the liver. She cited an article that said studies showed that 14-20 Extra Strength Tylenol in a 24 hour period has been shown to cause severe liver damage. But, if you have been drinking alcohol severe damage could occur with as few as 4 of these pills.

Her suggested solution? “It is thought that switching to ibuprofen can eliminate that risk.” What? To eliminate the risk of liver damage, this health tips podcasts suggested that “you might be able to lessen your chances of killing yourself by destroying your liver if you will continue to drink alcohol (which is a known liver destroyer) but switch to a different drug interaction possibility.”

I have heard this type of thinking way too often. People don’t want to actually say that drinking is bad for you. They would rather not offend you by telling you that alcohol is destructive, and instead give you alternatives that don’t fix the problem.

I know that this is could be done in an effort to not offend listeners and loose subscribers to her show. In actuality though, she may not even be thinking that way. It could simply be a way for her to justify that drinking is not the problem, but the medicine is the problem. I don’t really know why she would say things like this if she is supposed to be all about health and fitness. With the exception to the health benefits touted for red wine (which you can get from purple grapes) there is nothing good or healthy about alcohol.

Anyway, I am no longer recommending Fitness Attack like I have in the past. I will unsubscribe from her feed and will be writing her an email with my thoughts.

I have one other podcast (done by a medical doctor) that has made similar comments. I have been listening to him closely on this issue as well.

It just boggles my mind that alcohol is such a sacred cow. You would think it was an endangered animal. In reality, it is an all too common monster.

I have always held to this position even though it has gotten me ridiculed on many Internet forums. But my position is strengthened at this time because I have friends whose family is going through emotional turmoil while they watch their father/grandfather slowly die due to alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver. Try telling them that it is OK to drink, just be sure to take ibuprofen instead of acetaminophen.

Now that wasn’t so scary

That, my friends, is how you earn $5.

Each sponsored post pays differently. The one for Dyslexia Decoded was a $5 sponsorship. You can tell it was a sponsored post because in the category link it says “Sponsored” and it had the little red box at the bottom saying that it was sponsored by a company.

Does that mean you should not read them? No. I will post honest thoughts about the websites or products I review. You have read my thoughts and opinions about many other websites and products here on the blog, so the only difference is that now I am getting some compensation back from my postings.

I am trying to earn enough money each month to save for new shoes. Running does not require much equipment, but shoes do wear out and they are not always cheap.

Basketball Goal

I had a basketball goal built this last week. I wanted to just go buy one, but the cheapest I could find was $300. A bit more than I wanted to pay. Ok, a lot more than I wanted to pay.

I ended up paying a welder $120 to build the basic goal and then I put together the backboard. Since I was unsure of what materials he would have availbable, I just allowed him to design and build it. He did a pretty good job, though I would have done a couple of things differently.

There was more to the cost than just the welding work. I had to buy wood for the backboard. Plywood is not at all cheap here. I did find a place cheaper than Home Depot and saved myself $10 in the process. Total cost for the project was less than $200. Maybe $180? I don’t have an exact figure, but I saved more than $100 by building it myself.

Now I just have to move some electrical wiring around so I can make better use of the space I have to play ball.

Fluffy’s next big adventure

Sunday morning while I was out racing, the family was eating breakfast. Fluffy was again in the exercise ball. While they were eating, the baby said “There goes Fluffy.” My wife told her that Fluffy was exercising.

A bit later, our son said that Fluffy was running around. My wife commented again that Fluffy was exercising in his ball. Then our son told her that Fluffy was running around outside of the ball! Somehow the lid came off and Fluffy was loose to roam free.

He was not hard to catch.

Lest you think that Fluffy is a new addition to the family, he is not. We have had 2 hamsters since the end of January, Fluffy and Spot. But up till this weekend, there really has not been anything exciting to say about them. Now they are getting the lime light. At least Fluffy is.

Some day I will have to take a picture of them when we try to put them together. We have our own ring side seats for a cage match.