Tuesday, March 29, 2011

FDA and ANDRO

When I played baseball in high school in eastern Henrico County in 2000, weight lifting was the focus of the offseason.  Certainly, if you played football, you would essentially live in the weight room on a year round basis.  It was practically a mandatory practice where you were expected to be there at least 2 days per week, if not 3 or 4. Baseball and football players alike would take Creatine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creatine) or Andro (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Androstenedione) on a regular basis in order to 'bulk up' and build muscle mass.

Andro was later banned by the FDA in April of 2004 for significant health risks commonly associated with steroids.  Were the people who purchased Andro prior to April 2004 doing anything illegal? Were they taking steroids?  Mark McGwire was the spokesperson for this product that was perfectly legal at one point in time.  Now it is not.

Whether it is 'The Cream', 'The Clear', 'Andro', the changes that occur in the pharmacology industry will always occur at a faster rate than the U.S. Congress.   This is a fact.  When Andro is developed by a pharmaceutical researcher, we praise the free market.  After it is banned, we crucify perfectly good people for fighting for the jobs and trying to be the best they can be at their profession.  If high school kids can do it to gain an advantage, major league baseball players will certainly be doing it.  That does not make the substance good for you, but is not a criminal act.

At what point did weight training become commonplace? When do we recognize the changes in support are because we pay super human athletes to do super human things and lift super human weights to do those things that we like to see.  

Saturday, March 19, 2011

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/First-Person-Losing-Big-65-ac-2690070448.html?x=0
Kris, I'm sorry for your loss. However, there is opportunity and a positive outlook on life, depending on where you live. Even in real estate. 

My wife and I purchased a 340K fixer upper in Arlington VA in OCT 2008. At appraisal, 4400 square foot lot was valued at 270, and structure was valued at 90K. Our mortgage was 2300/month, with prin, 5.875% int, taxes, insr included. We have remodeled a kitchen, 2 bathrooms, stained hardwood floors, changed an electrical panel box, put down sod, painted etc. Altogether we probably have put an additional 35k into fixing it up. Accoring to zillow, we are estimated at 488K. Recently we refinanced at 4.375% 30 year fixed, dropping piti to a bit over 2000/month. I knew it was a good investment because rental prices in the area, high land leverage ratio, (tear me downs indicate land is undervalued), and we purchased well under the assessed value, all while the stock market was declining about 500 pts a day. We took a huge risk at an extremely opportune time and came out for the better. Counter-cyclical and counter-intuitive always creates the best opportunity. Hold your head up, you'll get 'em next time. livedevelopment.blogspot.com

My title is King of All Kings..

My name is Muammar Muhammad al-Gaddafi. I am badass. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muammar_Gaddafi


I am a close supporter of Ugandan President Idi Amin. In gratitude,  he even married my daughter while in Libya, but she then divorced him.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

What exactly is the NCAA?

The NCAA is the National Collegiate Athletic Association, created to profit and exploit the individual rights of young adults at colleges and universities in United States of America. The problem of the NCAA would be easily solved with the creation of a minor league system that pays athletes according to the services they provide.  The cartel collects monies, imposes punishment, and violates the privacy of the members whose services they exploit.

The 14-year 11-billion dollar contract is evidence of the money that is involved in college athletics:
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/portal/ncaahome?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/ncaa/NCAA/NCAA+News/NCAA+News+Online/2010/Association-wide/NCAA+signs+new+14year+TV+deal+for+DI+mens+basketball_NCAANews_04_22_10

ABC, CBS, ESPN, BIG10 NETWORK, COMCAST, TIME WARNER (I cold go on) provide services by broadcasting college athletics on television. They collect advertising revenue from NIKE, REEBOK, PEPSI, BUDWEISER, MILLER LITE, PG, GEICO, COCA COLA, and other sponsors to market their products to the public.

Some athletes are compensated fairly by receiving the free education, while others are clearly not. Do people believe we truly have free markets?

What is your favorite cartel?
OPEC
BCS
NCAA
NFL
GULF
SINALOA
TIJUANA
EUROPEAN UNION
FEDERAL RESERVE
IMF
WORLD BANK