The Dbottino Weblog

We ultimately make our own decisions, and so we should with grief – on our own timeline and in our own way. Not buying in to “you should be moving on” if it does not fit. Grief is best as the “snowflake” concept – honoring our uniqueness.

My youngest sister succumbed to lung cancer in 1998. She had a 10% survival rate – the reality of lung cancer for women over 40. We were soul mates, sisters, and dear friends – I knew my life changed forever. I was in shock at the idea of losing her – the mother of two teenage boys. I was numb, her boys paralyzed with fear. The entire family was in disbelief.

We still showed hope and our faith by resolving family differences and coming together to forgive – an opportunity we did not want to miss. Repressed grief ignores reality and suppresses true feelings. Give yourself permission to feel, not deny death – find an emotional safety net.

Denial finds diversionary activity. I sought a new companion. I took him with me to our family reunion that first Christmas she was ill. I had not taken a companion home with me in 20 years; being in reality was too painful.

Anger showed in searching endlessly for answers and new drugs; someway her “big sister” could make things better. Anger at God, at her for smoking, and at the ones that say quitting 12 years makes a difference!

Now the guilt – I am the oldest with no children – why was it not me? Did I do enough for her? Did I write the book out of guilt? Did we reconcile childhood issues? We cannot change the past, but we can change our reactions to it!

Depression came when I was not looking, that dark mood visited me when I least expected it. I was in slow motion and forgetful. Her funeral seemed pointless, I did not attend. Despair was with me, but not recognized. I felt abandoned and overwhelmed. I stayed home alone.

Acceptance is a search for meaning by maintaining a relationship with them in our memory and our dreams to solidify that bond. She will forever remain a part of my life. Her old blue broach was my “something old” when I recently married. I had no doubt she was there too. You do not need to let go to heal – you can embrace your loss in a new way.

Grief feels like being afraid. When we accept, the fear dissipates. Faith is my lifeline to the world. The anger has subsided and the guilt no longer exists if I stay grateful for the years we had and attach some meaning to the loss such as my personal growth, my spiritual awakening and my chance to write a book to leave her legacy by celebrating her life.

“My mission is to enhance the spirit of the client’s organization.”

An inspirational speaker, Patricia L. Brooks has contributed to the development of successful women for over 25 years. Patricia L. Brooks Seminars, LLC http://www.plbrooks.com, features Human Relations and Marketing of her business expertise with keynotes and workshops. In 2005, she has added Grief Support, Anti-Smoking and Writing Workshops through her personal perspective since the launch of her first book – Gifts of Sisterhood, #ISBN 1-4208-1875-9, a celebration of her sister’s life.

She has been a university faculty associate for over ten years and teaches Marketing at Arizona State University Polytechnic. Patricia has a Masters Degree in Organizational Management, the Advanced Toastmasters designation and was recently named to Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.

Patricia is President of the National Association of Women Writers – Scottsdale Chapter, a member of the Phoenix Writers Club, the Arizona Authors Association and the Arizona Small Business Association.
patricia@plbrooks.com cell 480-250-5556

Some of the best persuasion techniques have been developed from NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) methods. For example, if you hear a person saying, “I see,” a few times, they are probably processing information visually, according to NLP. To influence them then, you would use phrases like, “You can see how…” or you would actually show them things. A more auditory person would be influenced by, “I hear what you’re saying,” and “Listen.”

Notice if they use visual, aural, or kinesthetic words. If you want to convince your spouse to go to the Bahamas, it makes a difference which words you use. “We’ll be feeling that sun on our backs,” is not the same as “We’ll see sunny beaches,” or We’ll listen to the waves at night.” You may use all of these, but one of the three types of words will be more influential for most people.

More Persuasion Techniques

1. Use a person’s name. You have undoubtedly heard salesmen use and abuse this technique. Maybe a statement like “Look Steve, you can see the benefits of this…” just turns you off. Using a person’s name IS a powerful persuasion technique, but there is more subtlety and art to persuasion than just following simple rules.

People do love to hear their own name, but you have to be careful how you use it. First of all, use it how they want to hear it. Ask how they prefer to be addressed. A Mike may not like “Michael,” and a Joseph may be irritated by you calling him “Joe.”

Second, use it at the right time. Unless you are great at reading people and know it is okay, don’t say “Hi Betty!” the moment she walks into your office. Wait until there is a bit of rapport, and sometimes even ask permission (“Is it okay if I call you Betty?”).

2. Use motivating words. Say “think about,” they’ll do that. It is not a call to action. Use words like “today,” and “now,” and “do this.” Many subliminal experts will tell you that even using “by now,” repetitively, as in “By now you can see that this car is luxurious,” is subconsciously taken as “buy now.”

Remember to use THEIR words. If they use the word “efficient” often, then it’s an important word to them. Start using it: “You can see how efficient this RV is in it’s use of space.” Pay attention and pick out any words they use often. Persuasion is easier when you speak the same “language.”

3. Be a chameleon. Change your language to more closely match theirs. Slow or accelerate your speech to match theirs. Sit in the same position that they sit in. Use the same facial expressions. Laugh when they laugh.

This technique is called “mirroring and matching,” and, when done well, you can establish rapport quickly and easily with most people. Most people will never notice you’re doing this, but don’t be too obvious. The person will just feel like you’re like they are, that you can “relate” to them. A bond will begin to develop between you, and you can test this bond by “leading.”

This means that once you have established the bond, you can change your body posture, to see if they unconsciously do the same. If so, they are ready to follow. You continue to mirror and match, but you also start to lead them right to the bottom line on the contract, or to whatever action you want them to take. This is one of the more powerful persuasion techniques.

Steve Gillman has been hunting down obscure knowledge and useful secrets for years. Learn more about subliminal persuasion, and get a free gift at: The Secret Information Site (www.TheSecretInformationSite.com)

After you have joined an affiliate program, there are several crucial steps you will need to take in order to succeed. Without taking the steps outline below, your chances of succeeding will be limited. By simply following these guidelines, you will be able to increase your affiliate commissions and earn some money you can live on.

A lot of people fail with affiliate programs because they do not have the necessary affiliate program information.

Generally, the best way of succeeding with affiliate programs in to choose a niche; create a useful and content-rich and keyword-rich website on the specific topic of your niche, and add in your affiliate links and AdSense ads.

So what is the critical affiliate program information you will need to know, and the steps you need to take for you to succeed with your affiliate program?

1. Set your objective of how much you want to earn. You will need a goal to work towards. How much do you want to earn per month? It also helps to visualize what you want to achieve with this goal. Pay off your car? A holiday? You must start with an achievable amount, and gradually increase this amount.

2. Find a niche that suits you and your interests. Your business is a long term commitment, thus you will need to get involved with an affiliate program in a niche that interests you. The internet is full of affiliate program information; make an effort to do your research and find the best niche to suit your interests.

3. Select a lucrative niche. You will need to have affiliate program information about how profitable any opportunity you are interested in will do. Your goal is to make money, and you need to establish how profitable your business will be. The internet has information about profitable niches, and you will need to know these before you decide the best opportunity for you.

4. Another critical affiliate program information you will need to have is the reputation of the affiliate merchant. You need programs with good reputation and high quality products or services that will be easy to sell.

5. Create a useful, motivating, content-rich and keyword-rich website which search engines will pick. Offer some free tips and tools on your site; make your visitors want to come back to your site. This is very critical because more visitors to your site mean more sales and more money for you.

6. Place AdSense on your site. If you have a website with a lot of visitors, you can easily earn some money from AdSense.

7. Get Links. This is very important affiliate program information you will need to always remember. Linking to other sites will help improve the ranking of your site. One way links are more important that reciprocal links.

8. List your website in major and niche directories.

9. Write and distribute articles. This strategy extremely essential; and it is a cost effective way to market your affiliate program.

10. Be Patient! It normally takes a few months of consistent effort before you can start to see any benefits. Do not be discouraged, do not give up. Your efforts will start to show after about three months as search engines will start to send traffic to your website.

Outlined above is crucial affiliate program information you will need to know if you want to succeed and make some money as an affiliate. By simply following the recommendation above, you will see your affiliate growing gradually.

A lot of people fail because they do not have the important affiliate program information they need and the guidelines on how to succeed. As a result, they do not know how to earn any money or increase their affiliate checks. These steps can help you increase your earnings.

Jeff Casmer is an award winning entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and internet marketing consultant with career sales over $25,000,000. He is currently featured as a “Top” Affiliate of ThePlugInProfitSite. His “Top Ranked” Earn Money at Home Directory gives you all the information you need to start, maintain, and prosper with your very own Internet Home Based Business in the 21st century.

Most of us take it for granted that we know those or the things we are familiar with. We often say that we know someone, while we had come across that person just once. Our built-in recognition system can sometimes play tricks on us, given us the false impression of knowledge and recognition. On the basis of recognition and knowing a person, we are sometimes led to believe that we can trust that person more than others, to communicate with that person in a certain way, or to be off guard. However, this kind of knowledge is most probably the result of our prejudices of thought. During our lifetime, we accumulate a “wealth” of prejudices, some of them are useful and some are a nuisance to us and to others. These prejudices relate not only to what we think, but also to the way we think. On the basis of faulty mechanisms of knowing others, we choose, consciously or not, our style and method of communication with others. The effectiveness of this communication is thus bound to depend on factors that are not under our control. Effective and efficient communication with others definitely requires a fair amount of knowledge of the other. This is valid for people, but also for organisations and institutions. If you want to assert yourself or yours ideas you definitely need to adapt your communication style and method on the basis of fairly good knowledge of your interlocutor. Otherwise, effectiveness is left to chance and luck.

The instinctive ability to have insight into and to know what is in another person’s mind is known as ‘theory of mind’. The conceptualisation required to have such ability is complex. We now know that a particular region in the middle of the prefrontal cortex springs into life when we deal with questions that call for a calculation about another person’s mental state. We also know that this region has wide-ranging connections to many other areas of the brain, in particular those needed to pull in stored information and personal memories. This background information is required in order to be able to read between the lines of a story or do guess the real motives behind it, rather than taking the story for its face value. Another important ability relates to reading expressions and feeling emotions. The lack of understanding of emotional responses from a given person renders it difficult to connect with that person and to strike the right emotional cords. On the contrary, this lack of knowledge may elicit undesired responses. In the face of all this, it is fair to say the effectiveness of assertiveness is highly dependent on our ability to know what is in another person’s mind, to foresee his or her emotional responses and to read to be able to read his or her reactions.

Cutesolutions, a Belgium-based provider of innovative training, has compiled and categorised interesting assertiveness techniques. On the basis of this research a deck a cards has been developed with the objective of providing a practical tool and an effective learning method for boosting assertiveness. A demo is accessible from http://cute4u.net:8082/myfiles/demo/1.0 The assertiveness cards fall under four major categories. The last category relates to people. In this category, various techniques aim at enhancing awareness about the importance of the ability to have insight into another person’s mind and emotional system. These techniques relate to both the unconscious emotional system and the conscious emotional control centre. The effectiveness of communication involving greater assertiveness and self-confidence hinges on own ability to know the interlocutor. Otherwise, communication would amount to barking at a passing train. Yet, I really wonder if people take the time to challenge their knowledge of even their closest partner. Just ask yourself how well you know a close person. I mean try to describe the way he or she thinks, his or her emotional response patterns and his or her facial and other body expressions.

For further information on assertiveness, please contact us at:

Cutesolutions
30, rue Josse IMPENS
1030 Brussels – Belgium
Tel +32-2-2155157 Fax +32-2-2156416
Ibl.Belgium@telenet.be
http://cute4u.net:8082

M’Hamed CHERIF is a holder of a Ph.D in economics. He has assumed a teaching function at the Free University of Brussels, and he has worked as a country economist at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. Since 1989, he has been working as a consultant in the development field, with a major focus on preparation and negotiation of macroeconomic and sectoral reform programmes, as well as developmental projects. Recently, he teamed up with his daughter, Sarah CHERIF, a holder of an university educational science degree, to develop a business in training on personal development and business management.

General Motors has been taking a beating for over a year now due to sales dips, make/model image problems, and labor and legacy issues. Truly, if there was a better time to jumpstart the company, I don’t know what it would be. Fortunately, someone in GM’s walnut-trimmed boardroom is getting the message: build what we want and we will buy it. The Buick Enclave, a luxury SUV making the rounds of the U.S. auto shows, appears to be one such winner.

I realize that I am in the minority of car critics, but I think that Buick is on the right track. The Lucerne, a full sized car based on the Cadillac DTS, is a beauty and Buick’s next newest model, the mid sized Lacrosse, is another attractive looking car. Still, Buick’s remaining fleet has been scaled back with only two SUVs and one crossover vehicle, the Terraza, left. At times it isn’t clear what plans GM has for its “near luxury” division, but if the Enclave is one example, then Buick has a promising future.

Without having pictures available to show you, it can be difficult to describe the Enclave. When I viewed pictures on various web sites, I couldn’t help but think that the Enclave was similar to the Subaru B9 Tribeca. Before you get your knickers twisted in a wad, the Enclave is a swan in comparison to the ugly Subaru.

Sporting a front end akin to the Lucerne, the back end looks a lot like the Tribeca. Overall lines are somewhat car like but the Enclave certainly does sport an SUV look with calmer lines.

What we know about the Enclave at this point is fairly limited. The vehicle sits on a 119 inch wheelbase and is powered by a 3.6L V6. So, it appears that Buick will replace the smaller Rendezvous with the Enclave and keep the larger Rainier. Or, perhaps, the Rainier will be retired altogether. The Enclave has all the amenities a Buick owner is accustomed to including: leather appointments, power everything, OnStar, a variety of entertainment options, responsive handling, and a quiet cabin. Pictures reveal 21″ tires with seven spoke wheels. Seating is for six, spread out over three rows. No couch seating either; individual bucket seats are planned for all six passengers.

There is no official word yet whether the Enclave will see the light of day at least in its present interpretation. Still, the vehicle is a fresh look for a refreshed division, something that Buick certainly needs in order to keep the momentum going.

Last month, my wife and I attended the Real Estate Wealth Expo hosted by the Learning Annex. One of the keynote speakers was The Donald himself.

While many of you have seen at least one episode of “The Apprentice”, imagine being able to sit down with him for an hour and have him personally give you advice on success, business, and life. Well, that’s exactly what he did for over 61,000 people.

Here’s what he had to say:

• 1. Need to love what you do or else you will not be successful
• 2. Never give up
• 3. Stay focused
• 4. Be paranoid
• 5. Know when momentum is slowing down
• 6. Go against the tide only if you have the talent
• 7. Have to be really careful about people b/c you never really know a person that well
• 8. Some people are lucky; others are not (but you can help create “luck”)
• 9. Get even! If someone screws you, go back and get even.
• 10. Have a prenup or else business will be seriously at risk
• 11. Power of positive thinking

While some of this is common sense, some are also slanted based on Trump’s own personal and business experience. Thank goodness Trump didn’t copyright this material or else I wouldn’t be able to help you save the admission fee and share this info!

A beginning copywriter recently asked the question, “How can my client quickly generate testimonials?” The answer is the same for her client as it is for us: You must develop them! I must confess that in my own copywriting business I was lazy in this department and had to scramble once I decided to correct my negligence. It’s a fact that every couple of months about 10 percent of your business contacts change jobs, get promoted, quit work, or otherwise leave their positions. When that happens, your chance for getting a glowing testimonial from a happy client is gone forever! So listen up…here are the secrets to painlessly growing your testimonial list: KEEP A TUNED EAR Whenever a client compliments your work, ask immediately if you can use the statement as a testimonial. If it’s verbal, write it down and send it to the client right away for changes or approval. Oftentimes a client will compliment you in an email. That’s even better. All you do is reply, and ask if you can use the written statement as a testimonial. CULTIVATE TESTIMONIALS If you did a great job for a client, they know it and you know it, ask for a testimonial. If you’re on the phone, listen for a slight hesitation. If you discern some reluctance, it’s probably not that your client doesn’t want to write you a testimonial, but that there’s something in the way. I suspect the number one reason for reluctance is that you’ve just given your client a “job” to do. Now he has to think and spend time on your behalf, and it doesn’t benefit him in any way. Another “objection” is that he may be intimidated. Many people are poor spellers or insecure about their writing ability in general. And now they’re being asked to write something for a professional writer! You can blast past both barriers by offering to write the testimonial yourself. My approach is always something like this: “If you’d rather I write it and you edit, I can do that. I’ll write it as close as possible to what you just said. All you have to do is approve it or make any changes.” I’ve never had a client say no to this suggestion. And often I’ve been able to tell that they were relieved that I assumed the burden. REACH INTO THE PAST If you’re just starting out in your freelance life and you don’t have any testimonials, don’t despair. Unless you were born yesterday, you DO have testimonials… they just haven’t been written yet. Clients value more than a successful job. They value professionalism. They care very much about deadlines. They want to know they’re working with a human being who’s easy to work with, not some stuffed shirt with a big ego. Undoubtedly you’ve found favor in the eyes of those you’ve worked with in the past. Ask these people for testimonials! They can be past employers, friends you’ve done work for, even relatives (although it doesn’t look so good if they have the same last name). So think. Who have you helped in the past? Ask them for a testimonial…and if they hesitate, offer to write it for them. THE LEGAL SIDE Whenever you get a testimonial, you should also get a signed and dated Testimonial Release. You’ll easily find forms on the Internet.

What you want is permission to use the testimonial in any or all of your marketing, and protection against lawsuit for using the testimonial. You might wonder if a client’s permission, recorded in an email thread, will suffice. My guess is that the law would be on your side, but why take the chance? Although I’ve never heard of a copywriter being sued for testimonial use, copywriters are at risk for lawsuits. A FINAL NOTE: Testimonials are worthless unless they carry a full name (no initials!), a company name, and a location. You also want to publish your client’s title as well. Testimonials are about credibility. If you don’t supply the details, what’s the point?

There’s a great little article (‘Business Lifeforms‘) on the back pages of the UK’s leading management magazine, Management Today each month. It’s a spoof (at least I think it is!) about some fictitious key player in a fictitious organisation. For January, it’s about Ken, who’s a ‘Facilities Manager’.

Now Ken has seen it all and truly worked his way up from the bottom to the top. Until, that is, a couple of years ago when new MBA-armed suits took over and decide to slash Ken’s department (until now, running very, very smoothly under Ken’s watchful eye) and Ken himself. Of course it all goes pear-shaped and the top dog has to come grovelling back to Ken, offer him loads of money and a big car, basically to ensure that the toilets aren’t ‘backing up’ any more!

This is in direct contrast to Michael Gerber, in his fascinating book The E-Myth Revisited. There he talks about working ‘on’ the business and ‘in’ the business, making it clear that if you do too much of the grindstone not-my-expertise stuff yourself, you lose track of what you are really good at, and what you went into business for.

In a past life, I too experienced challenging outsourcing. At one time I had a great little local cleaner who I trusted (he even opened the store up for me – hmmm, that was a long time ago!). He did an excellent job and was on hand for emergencies. Then a new senior director decided to consolidate and outsource, for ‘economy and consistency’. It was cheap – but the service was awful. Each time I got a new ‘centrally sourced’ cleaning company, they came with great intentions for the first 3 months and then dribbled off (with our money!) until it became unsustainable and another ‘excellent contractor’ came along.

The moment of truth for me, was when the director for one of these contractors, came along for the first time in a brand new £60K Merc (and it’s a few years ago now). Then I knew where my money would be going. I went through 6 contractors in 5 years, even though my hands were tied by ‘Head Office’ contracts!

To solve this problem? There needs to be strong leadership at the start. Very clear standards required from outside contractors and severe penalties (yes, stop paying them even!) for under achievement. Corporate central contracts agreed there, but implemented and managed locally, leave a lot of space for waste.

And yes, in a small business, don’t even think of doing the bookkeeping yourself as soon as you can afford not to – do what you do best, value it and get on with creating the business you love, not like struggling Sarah in the book. But, get someone who you trust and who will deliver. Chris Barrow, of Million Dollar Coaching Practice fame, suggests that the very first thing anyone going into a consulting business should do, is get a PA. And that modern day evolution, a VA (virtual assistant) has made this a real, low cost possibility for many.

Moral of the story?

If you are going to outsource, especially if your business is big enough, where it’s not only the fashion, but it can have economic and logistic value, take the following steps:-

1. Find the best on the market, not the cheapest.
2. Set the standards yourself, and don’t take theirs.
3. Be very clear on expectations and outcomes if standards aren’t met.
4. Keep in very business-like, however much you like/know/are related to them.
5. Have clear timescales for regular review.
6. Have a named and senior contact in the organisation for whom there will be pain if they lose the contract.
7. Keep contract length manageable.
8. If things start going wrong tackle them early, before too much money is wasted.
9. If ‘Head Office’ agrees the contract, don’t chase your own tail over non-delivery – get someone from there down as soon as there is a problem – you have enough to do.
10. Don’t get involved in the problems any local operatives might have – refer them back.

Martin Haworth is a Business and Management Coach. He works worldwide,
mainly by phone, with small business owners, managers and corporate leaders. He
has hundreds of hints, tips and ideas at his website,
http://www.coaching-businesses-to-success.com.
(Note to editors. Feel free to use this article, wherever you think it might be of value – it would be good if you could include a live link)

…helping you, to help your people, to help your business grow…

Asbestos is a naturally-occuring fibrous mineral of metamorpic hydrous magnesium silicate. The term “metamorphic” is used to describe a process of extreme heat and pressure which creates specific secondary patterns of minerals with new chemical and/or physical properties. As the primary rock is heated and recooled, silicate crystals align in long rows of mineral fibers, which easily separate into tiny shards thinner than a human hair. Asbestos fibers are not a health risk as long as they are undisturbed. However, when asbestos is undergoes natural weathering, or is mined and processed, the microscopic particles waft into the air and cause disease if they are inhaled.

Asbestosis occurs when an inhaled asbestos particle irritates the body’s natural defence mechanisms, causing inflammation and scarring which eventually restricts lung function. Mesothelioma is a malignant tumor of the membranes surrounding the heart, lungs and abdominal cavity. Asbestos can also cause cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, larynx, stomach, lung and lymphoid tissue.

Asbestos exposure can also cause non-fatal illnesses such as asbestos warts, caused when asbestos fibers are lodged in the skin, causing lumps of scar tissue to form around the irritant in the same manner as they do in the lungs to cause asbestosis; pleural plaques, discrete, sometimes calcified fibrous lesions which can be seen on X-rays but are too small to cause breathing impairment; and diffuse pleural thickening, which can cause breathing impairment if it is extensive.

Due to its fire resistant properties, asbestos has been used historically for household and industrial purposes. It has been found woven into burial cloths in ancient Egypt, and Charlemagne reportedly had a tablecloth made of asbestos which he would throw into a fire to clean.

In World War II asbestos was considered so important by the War Department that it was considered a strategic material, and many American workers were exposed in the World War II boom in shipbuilding. After the war, it was widely used in the construction industry.

In modern Western society, it was used for such diverse purposes as lamp wicks, brake shoes, oven insulation, electrical hotplate wiring and home insulation, roofing and flooring. For instance, some kinds of vermiculite used in home insulation into the 1970s contained asbestos. The EPA banned this product in 1977.

When a home owner discovers asbestos in an old home, it should not be a cause for immediate panic. If the asbestos looks intact and is not pulverized, it is best to leave it alone. However, because of legal liability, schools and businesses containing asbestos usually must undergo a costly removal process, hazardous in itself because disturbing the stable asbestos product causes fibers to fill the air. Special equipment must be used to insure that the removal process does not cause health problems where non existed before.

Most industrialized nations have reduced or banned the use of asbestos for at least 30 years and now use fiberglass or woven ceramic fiber as a substitute, but since asbestos-caused disease has a latency period of up to 50 years, patients are still presenting with these illness today. Every year in America, approximately 3000 new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed, and 550 deaths occurs due to asbestosis. According to the March 1991 Report of the Judicial Conference Ad Hoc Committee on Asbestos Litigation, asbestos exposure has caused the deaths of approximately 200,000 to 265,000 Americans.

Asbestos use peaked in the United States in 1973, when 1 million tons of the material were used. The EPA attempted to institute a complete legal ban on the use of asbestos products in 1989; however, this ban was largely eviscerated by the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1991, and some restricted use of asbestos, albeit in fewer products than than before, resumed. Therefor, even today some workers are being exposed to this toxic material.

Asbestos is a serious continuing concern to the Environmental Protection Agency, and their website has detailed information on asbestos and its removal.

Concerns about the health risks of asbestos exposure date back to 1898, when the Chief Inspector of Factories of the United Kingdom reported to Parliament in his Annual Report about the “evil effects of asbestos dust”. He noted that the “sharp, glass like nature of the particles” when allowed to remain suspended in the air, “have been found to be injurious, as might have been expected”. In 1906 a British Parliamentary Commission confirmed the first cases of asbestos-related deaths in Bristish factories and called for improved ventilation and other safety measures. In 1918 an American insurance company produced a study showing premature deaths in the asbestos industry in the United States and in 1926 the Massachusetts Industrial Accidents Board processed the first successful compensation claim by a sick asbestos worker.

Today, lawsuits claiming compensation for asbestos-related illnesses are a growth industry in the legal profession. An internet search of “mesothelioma lawyer” yields 1,910,000 results. The original manufacturers of asbestos products have long since been driven into Chapter 11 bankruptcy; plaintiffs have now turned to suing corporations with peripheral connections to asbestos products. More than 70 American corporations have filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in due to asbestos liability claims.

Since the 1970’s, approximateley 6% of all lawsuits filed in American courts have been asbestos-related. The lawsuits now facing the courts have been described as “an elephantine mass” by the US Supreme Court, and are expected to cost between 200 to 275 billion dollars to settle. Asbestos liability is one of the largest issues facing the global insurance industry today.

Most epidemiological studies expected the number of lawsuits to peak in the 1990s, but this has not occurred, either because of the long latency period of asbestos-related diseases, or because legal action is becoming more popular among asbestos-exposed members of the public due to high-profile legal cases and widespread advertising by attorneys who specialize in such cases.

Many complaints have been made by representatives of industries facing lawsuits and the insurance companies who will be expected to pay them that the asbestos-lawsuit industry is rife with fraud, with less that half of all payouts reaching the plaintiffs. Aggressive, ambulance-chasing lawyers are said to exaggerate medical disability and coach clients on their testimony.

The group of plaintiffs includes not only ill people, but also those who have merely have a history of asbestos exposure and want compensation for potential future health risks. According to the American Academy of Acturaries Mass Tort Work Group, more than 100 million Americans have been exposed to asbestos in their workplace during the past century.

Connecticut sophomore forward Rudy Gay and LSU freshman forward Tyrus Thomas both declared for the NBA draft Monday. While the decision for both is the shrewd choice financially speaking, neither player will ever have a tangible impact in the NBA.

Gay was slapped with the perennially annoying “unlimited potential” tag the minute he arrived in Storrs. Yeah, Rudy is a terrific athlete, with freakish talent, but that doesn’t make him a great basketball player. J.J Redick can’t slap the top of the square on the backboard with his palm, but you know what? J.J can shoot the eyes of the basketball. And for all of his shortcomings, last time I checked a three point goal was worth three points more than a fancy bricked dunk shot.

As for Thomas, nobody and I mean nobody, save for the avid college hoops fan, even knew who Tyrus Thomas was prior to the Sweet 16. Lucky for you, I am a college hoops enthusiast and I could have told you the reason why LSU hit the skids late in the season was because Thomas sustained a high ankle sprain and was being held out to get healthy for the Big Dance. So yes, Thomas was vitally important to the Tigers this year, but no, he is not ready for the NBA game. Thomas, like Gay, is a stud athlete, with impressive skills without the ball, but offensively his game is not up to NBA snuff. Can you imagine Tyrus Thomas trying to take Kobe Bryant or Bruce Bowen off the dribble? Or if not on the perimeter, can you imagine him, with that slight frame, backing down Elton Brand or Tim Duncan on the block? Come on.

Thomas and Gay are cashing in because that “unlimited potential tag” is a lease that expires the longer you stick around college. Smart move to bounce; rock the Escalade proud and definitely pimp it with spinners, but I personally don’t expect much burn or much production from either of you.

Call me crazy, but barring injury for all three, Redick will average more minutes, more points and play more seasons in the NBA than the more physically blessed Gay and Thomas.

Sports talk and discussion is a serious matter. As serious as it is Matt Auerbach writes in a way so that you catch yourself angry at his opinions but then all of a sudden laughing over and over.

Matt Auerbach blogs about sports and pop culture at http://www.sportsbuffoon.blogspot.com