Drill Campaign Could Re-ignite Utah Uranium Mining Boom

Talk about lousy timing. In the summer of 1980, exploration manager Clancy Wendt, then working for Phillips Uranium, a subsidiary of the oil company, had three rigs and a crew drilling mile centers in Utah's Thomas mountain range. They drilled between 60 and 70 holes, over every square mile, looking for altered versus unaltered rock to indicate uranium. One of those drill holes encountered 0.05% U3O8 over a 100-foot thickness at a depth of 900 feet. Shortly thereafter, Clancy Wendt was transferred to the company's minerals division, Phillips drilled a few more holes, and oh, by the way, there had been an accident about 2,000 miles away near Middletown, Pennsylvania, at a place called Three Mile Island. Utilities stopped building reactors and the uranium exploration business came to a grinding halt.

Phillips Petroleum got out of the minerals business, and Clancy Wendt went on to discover the Mt. Hamilton gold deposit in the Carlin Trend for another company. But that drill hole about 150 miles southwest of Salt Lake City never stopped bugging him. "When you find something, you always remember that," Wendt told StockInterview.com. "I was working with it day and night. That was my project." And it is his project again today.

After a twenty-odd-year hiatus, Wendt staked 540 acres of the property, which had been abandoned, and then optioned the 27 claims to Max Resource Corp (TSX: MXR; OTC BB: MXORF) for what both parties called a reasonable sum. Since then, Max Resource Corp staked around those claims, and increased the company's land position to 195 lode claims comprising 3,900 acres in the Thomas Mountain range. "We staked the entire caldera rim," Wendt explained, "because that is exactly where I think the uranium is going to be, within that rim or within the moat inside that rim." Wendt is now the vice president of exploration for Max Resource Corp.

Max Resource Corp President Stuart Rogers is quite thrilled with the upcoming exploration of the caldera rim that he hopes will yield an economic grade of uranium, "It's felt that the caldera was the source of the mineralization for the nearby Yellow Chief uranium mine." A caldera is a large crater formed by volcanic explosion or by the collapse of a volcanic cone. "This is one that didn't get on the radar screen because it just had the one ore grade hole on it before they stopped exploration," Rogers explained about the PPCO claims. "Clancy was one of the few guys who knew about it."

The Geological Significance

Who would have remembered Utah's Yellow Chief, a uranium mine defunct since the early 1960s? It was a small producing open pit mine of less than 100,000 metric tons with a grade of 0.20 - 0.23 percent U3O8 in the middle of a desert in a mountain range. Delta, the closest town, is 20 miles away with a population of 3209, according to the last census. Uranium might be the last thought on anyone's mind. About 1.5 miles west at Spor Mountain is the world's largest economic beryllium deposit, owned by Brush Wellman (NYSE: BW).

Like enriched uranium, beryllium is high up on the U.S. government's classified list. Beryllium is a strategic material used in most sophisticated U.S. weapon systems, used to control reactors on nuclear powered submarines and surface vessels, as a triggering device for nuclear warheads, and used in guidance, optical and satellite systems for which there are no substitute metals. Needless to say, there probably won't be much environmental challenge in Utah for uranium mining. Clancy Wendt observed, "This is an area that is well known for mining. They all want mining to happen. It helps the community. The Brush Wellman mine runs all year long."

Back to the Yellow Chief mine. Discovered by prospectors in 1953, the ore zone was outlined by rotary drilling in 1955 and open pit mining of tabular ore lenses began in 1959. Most of the ore was mined by 1962. Stuart Rogers explained, "Most people agree the Yellow Chief stopped production because mineralization was faulted off to the east." And that is the direction where Max Resource Corp is going.

Wendt explained the geology of the caldera, "The age of the mineralization is very young, when compared to uranium in Wyoming. It's between 27 and 34 million years. It's found within the caldera ring of the vent within a major vent, which is 40 to 50 miles across. Right at the edge of the circle (it stands out just like a circle on a topography map or land sat image), is where we found the mineralization." Wendt added, "It is postulated that this vent was the source rock for the Yellow Chief sediments. I am hoping a great deal of the ring itself will be mineralized because that's a nice conduit area. It's an area that's going to be permeable because it's along the ring fracture of the major vent."

David A. Lindsay of the U.S. Geological Survey (Denver) who has written extensively about mineralization in western Utah, wrote in a 1978 report, where Yellow Chief was mined and where Max Resource Corp plans to drill, "Uranium occurs in four diverse settings in the Thomas Range:

1. In tuffaceous sandstone and conglomerate at the Yellow Chief mine,

2. In beryllium deposits in water-laid tuff,

3. In fluorspar pipes, and

4. In veinlets of opaline silica in volcanic rocks of all ages."

Wendt, who has talked with Lindsay about the geology at Thomas Mountain, said this about the beryllium tuft, "The mineralization found in our drill hole, I think, is in the beryllium tuff unit. If it is not that unit then it is probably the source." Wendt also explained that background or trace values might be present, but economic values of beryllium would be very unusual. Ore occurs in tuffaceous sandstone that has been correlated with the tuff that hosts beryllium deposits nearby.

Another indicator mineral suggesting uranium mineralization came about by accident on the first pass two decades ago. "When I drove up in my truck and I started walking toward the drill rig," Wendt remembered. "I thought for a minute the drillers had been dumping cottonseed hulls. (Drillers sometimes use cottonseed hulls to plug up formations that might suck up water.) Instead of hulls, I'm looking at this long line of black quartz crystals on the rocks." Smoky quartz, or black quartz, crystals are formed through natural radiation coming from nearby uranium deposits. That confirmed for Wendt that a uranium deposit was in the vicinity. "It's not an indicator mineral in all systems, but it is in this one," said Wendt.

Reverse Circulation Drilling Could Increase Grade

Asked if he would find uranium during this month's drill program, Wendt chuckled after answering "Yep." Why is he certain he would when most geologists pause on questions asking for a guarantee? "Because I found it there before," Wendt laughed. "If I hadn't drilled the hole there before, I would waffle, too. After the first hole, I don't promise any guarantees. That's the one I drilled." Why test what was once drilled in 1980? "We're going to re-drill to confirm the hole so that it complies with National Instrument 43-101," Wendt explained. "Secondly, we want to get a good sample that we can assay."

His comment about getting a "good sample" to assay opened the door to the previous drilling, which was mud rotary style. Wendt explained how mud rotary drilling was done over 25 years ago at the present site:

"You would dig two pits, like baby swimming pools, next to each other, and fill both of them up with water. The rig would start drilling a hole. Out of the hole would come the material that you're grinding. It would go in the first pit, which would be the settling pond for any of the material coming out of the hole. Material would then flow over into the next hole where you've got your intake hose pumping the water back down into the hole. You would catch your sample coming out of a pipe with a colander (just like you would for a salad or spaghetti). You would catch up the ground up material, and dump a lump of it on the ground every five feet, building 20 piles of material in a row - that's a hundred feet. And you would just keep plopping them down. When you got to whatever depth you were going to do it to, you would stop."

Wendt agreed this was not a very scientific method in determining grades. "When you dumped it on the ground, you really didn't get a great sample for assay," he laughed. "You're only getting the chunky material. Any of the "real fine" material" would go through the colander. Wendt is optimistic about establishing a more accurate grade from the upcoming drill program, "It should come in higher." How will reverse circulation provide a different grade? "With reverse circ, you are sucking the material right up out of the center of the pipe," Wendt emphasized. "You are not losing the fine material."

Another reason for reverse circulation is Wendt believes the system is "probably 6-7 million years old and in disequilibrium." He clarified, "This means that you have a reading on the electronic probe that may give you a lower reading than is really there." Lindsay's geological survey report points in the same direction, "Mineralogical and geochemical studies of the (water-laid) tuff have shown it is extensively zeolitized, leached of alkali metals, and likely to have been leached of uranium by ground water, so that the tuff is a possible source for the uranium at the Yellow Chief mine."

The historic grade at the Yellow Chief was 0.2 percent. How would Clancy Wendt feel if the new drilling brought in 0.2? "If I had 100 feet of 0.2, then I'm in heaven. I would have over $100 in my rock. That would be like drilling 100 feet of 0.3 gold. Would that attract anyone?" He knows it would. Perhaps the timing was bad for Phillips Uranium, but just perfect for a very patient Clancy Wendt and Max Resource Corp. As a side note, and a possible parallel, there's now an oil rush in central Utah, according to Associated Press in Salt Lake City. It appears a tiny Michigan-based oil and gas exploration company triggered the "oil rush" after a wildcat strike. Before then, the region had a history of frustrating oil exploration. Will a uranium discovery by Max Resource Corp trigger a 1950's style uranium boom in western Utah?

On July 6, 1952, Charlie A. Steen struck the biggest deposit of high-grade uranium ore in the United States on the other side of Utah. School teachers, insurance brokers, used car salesmen, and shoe clerks around the nation rushed to Utah to seek their fortune. A group of high school students staked forty claims, later selling them for $15,000. Within a few years, nearly six hundred producers were shipping uranium ore. Employment in the industry topped 8,000 workers in the mines and mills. Salt Lake City was dubbed "The Wall Street of Uranium." The boom ended in 1964 when the Atomic Energy Commission announced, "It is no longer in the interest of the Government to expand production of uranium concentrate." A lot has changed over those three decades.

Since 2001, spot uranium has jumped by more than 500 percent. Accompanying the new uranium upswing, many of the old projects in Wyoming, New Mexico and elsewhere are being revived. According to a USA Today article published in mid January, "...a new generation of prospectors is staking thousands of claims in the desert Southwest." The Utah Geological Survey said more than 6,000 uranium claims were filed in 2005. Max Resource Corp's uranium project in Utah may be one of those worth investigating.

COPYRIGHT © 2007 by StockInterview, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

James Finch contributes to StockInterview.com and other publications. StockInterview’s “Investing in the Great Uranium Bull Market” has become the most popular book ever published for uranium mining stock investors. Visit [http://www.stockinterview.com]

The Hidden Cost of Remodeling: What You Don't Know Could Cost You a Fortune

No matter how simple your project might seem, every remodeling project involves decisions that you as the homeowner must make -- either by choice or by default. Making informed decisions could save your budget, your sanity and possibly your home. As the knight in the "Indiana Jones" movie says; "You must choose wisely". This article contains information that can help you do just that.

You can't get where you're goin', if you don't know where you're at

It can be a challenge for even the most experienced professional to find everything that's behind the walls, under the floor or above the ceiling. A thorough inspection of the site will often reveal certain conditions that must be dealt with one way or the other. Knowing what these conditions are and what your options are for dealing with them can make a huge difference, both in terms of time and money. Discovering a problem in the middle of the project can often result in substantial delays and additional costs.

By having an accurate set of "as-built" drawings, many potentially budget-busting problems can be dealt with during the design process. Sometimes a simple change to the design can avoid the problem altogether. In fact, these changes can often result in a better design for less money.

But what if you can't (or don't want to) design around the problem? Well at least you'll know what the problem is and what it will cost to resolve it. Perhaps you can reallocate money from another part of the project by reducing the scope or choosing a less expensive finish. Perhaps you could simply add the cost to your budget. Either way, you can eliminate many surprises and be able to make intelligent, informed decisions if you are armed with the knowledge that only a thorough site reconnaissance and accurate as-built drawing can offer.

Fail to plan? Plan to fail!

Some projects need to be designed before you can figure out how to do it and what it will cost. Kitchens, room additions, basement finishes and other large scale projects almost invariably need to be designed first. Smaller projects such as a simple bath remodel, painting the exterior or replacing windows are simple enough that all it takes is a material takeoff and a budget for labor.

Regardless of whether a project needs to be designed, it certainly requires a project plan. Jumping into a project without considering all the ramifications will almost invariably cost more and take more time. A detailed plan that is well thought out is essential to the success of any project - particularly if it requires that you move furnishings, empty out cabinets or have to arrange for a safe place to store your vintage 1956 Thunderbird while the work is being done.

Make sure your contractor has a plan that includes your requirements so as not to be surprised when the cabinets are delivered and the Thunderbird is buried behind a wall of boxes in the garage.

Comparing apples to oranges to pears to bananas

Conventional wisdom says that soliciting multiple quotes for your remodeling project is the best way to select a contractor. On the surface, it would appear to make sense. But it can be quite confusing when it comes time to sit down and compare the quotes. This is because every contractor has their own way of determining your requirements, assembling the scope of work and calculating the cost. It's easy enough to compare the bottom line. It's much more difficult to figure out what's included. (Talk about hidden costs!) But there is a better way.

First, let's distinguish between large scale projects and "one-dimensional" projects. Large scale projects, such as kitchens, master baths, room additions and basement finishes typically require a design. One-dimensional projects, such as flooring, painting and roofing only require material selection. Either way, selecting the right contractor is the key to getting the job done right. If your main focus is on the bottom line, you are certain to attract contractors that use poor quality materials and questionable business practices to keep the price down. Better you should focus on the criteria that really matters - trust, experience, reputation and compatibility. Let's drill down a bit.

Trust -- There are plenty of ways to gauge a contractor's trustworthiness, particularly in the age of the Internet. Go to your browser, type in the name of the company and see what comes up. Don't be put off by a bad review here or there. No one gets along with everybody every time. But if there's a lot of negative information, you'll want to move on.

Then take a look at their affiliations. Do they belong to any professional organizations such as the National Kitchen and Bath Association or the National Association for the Remodeling Industry? Are they members of the Better Business Bureau?

Finally, make sure they have the proper insurance coverage. They should have liability insurance of at least 2 million dollars and workers compensation coverage on all of their direct employees. For sub-contractors, the general contractor should be named as "additional insured" on the sub's insurance certificate. Without the proper insurance coverage, your contractor will be exposing you the most devastating of all the hidden costs, one that could very well cost you everything you own.

Experience - While experience is certainly important, be careful with this one. Being in business for 20 years says nothing about the contractor's ability to deliver a quality project on time and within budget. The best way to look at this one is by asking for references. Here's a good tip. Ask for nine references - three from projects they completed several years ago, three from projects that were completed in the last year and three that they're working on right now. You don't have to contact them all, but you'll get a more complete picture if you talk to at least one in each category.

Reputation - Good or bad, a contractor's reputation is a direct reflection of the way they choose to do business. It's important to emphasize the word "choose" since this speaks volumes for the character and integrity of the organization. Reputable contractors engage in fair business and pricing practices. Their integrity shows up when they have the opportunity to take advantage of a situation and choose not to. For example, let's say that an asbestos coated duct is found in a wall that is to be taken out. Obviously, this has to be dealt with on a change order. The opportunity to take advantage is certainly there, but a reputable contractor would choose not to.

Compatibility - After you've determined that a contractor has the trust, experience and reputation to do the job, your next step should be to interview the key players in an effort to size up your compatibility with them. Depending on the size and scope of the project, you may wish to meet with the owner of the company, the designer and the project manager. These may be all the same person or different members of a team. Remember, you've already determined that the contractor has the ability to do the job, so the interviews should focus on how you feel about each member of the team and how they communicate with you and each other. Let's look at each role as it pertains to your project.

Meeting the owner of the company - regardless of whether he or she will be directly involved in your project - will tell you all you need to know about the culture of the organization. If you feel good about the owner, chances are you'll feel good about the company. If the owner rubs you the wrong way, the best advice is to move on.

For obvious reasons, the relationship between you and your designer is critical to the successful outcome of the project. A good designer will listen, interpret and produce a design that reflects what you want, not what they think you should have. They should be ready, willing and able to offer expert guidance and advice, but they should also recognize that you will be the one who will be living in the space. Sizing up the designer is simply a matter of listening to their ideas - not just in terms of whether you like their ideas, but also in terms of how they are presented. If you're not comfortable with their style, you'll need to keep looking.

Finally, there's the project manager. The skill set required to effectively manage a remodeling project can only be obtained through lots of experience. The technical skills required to complete the work are similar to other residential construction projects, but in the remodeling business, everyone is working in a fish bowl. There's no way to insulate you from the inconvenience associated with a remodeling project, but a skilled project manager knows how to orchestrate everything such that the impact on your home life is minimized. Aside from having a strong working knowledge of every trade, diplomacy, tact and an even temper are the things to look for in the one who will ultimately be responsible for delivering the end result.

In the final analysis, selecting the right team to take on your project is the most important decision you'll make. In the process of evaluating contractors, remember this simple formula: Quality + Service = Price. High quality and excellent service only cost more on the front end. As long as your contractor delivers both, the price will be a bargain in the long run.

We'll need a #4 sky hook for that

Of all the things that effect your remodeling budget, the greatest impact can be found in the design itself. Basically, a valid design needs to be functional, aesthetically pleasing and be practical to build.

The National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA) publishes and maintains two sets of guidelines - one for kitchens and one for baths - that when adhered to, will result in a perfectly functioning kitchen or bath. If the design doesn't work, you're going to hate it no matter what it looks like. The worst part is, a dysfunctional kitchen is usually discovered after the fact, as a result of the day to day use of the space.

Once the requirements for functionality are met, the aesthetic requirements can be applied. For example, the cabinet layout and appliance locations are a product of functionality. The cabinet door style and the color of the appliances are design decisions that only affect the look. To be sure, the aesthetics can drive the budget up. Lots of molding costs lots of money. Applying matching panels to the refrigerator and dishwasher can be surprisingly expensive since the door is the most expensive part of the cabinet.

If the design meets the first two requirements, the next thing is to determine the degree of difficulty in bringing it to life. A good designer anticipates the practicality of moving a bearing wall for instance. But is there a more practical, less expensive alternative? Not all designers are prepared to gauge the impact that their design decisions have on the budget.

In the worst case, a flaw in the design is discovered in the middle of the project. For example, it's discovered that a wall that was to be moved can't be moved at all. Of course, a total recon of the site as suggested in the first part of this report should insure that the design can be built. But it won't necessarily insure that the design could have been done without moving the wall.

The message here is to make sure that the validity of the design is field verified before any materials are ordered. You do this by making sure the designer and the project manager have done a thorough review of the design early on so as to anticipate any problems in building it out.

Cheap doesn't always mean less expensive

No matter how much money they have, everybody loves a bargain. It can be hard to resist a great deal, even if you're not in the market at the time. But when you think about it, there are really only three reasons that price and value get out of sync; the seller doesn't know what it's worth, the seller doesn't care what it's worth, or the seller is desperate. Other than that, cheap probably means low quality, which is no bargain at all.

When it comes to remodeling, consider whether you would want a contractor to work on your house if they don't know what the work is worth. If the job is under sold, it usually means something was missed. That's not exactly the kind of attention to detail that you'd like to see. Then again, if there's not enough money to do the job right, your contractor may have to cut corners.

Now consider the contractor that doesn't care what the job is worth. Perhaps the competition for work is fierce and he just needs to sell something to stay busy. So he cuts his margin to the bone and basically works for free. Will he be able to pay his suppliers or will he need the money for himself? Contractors that operate on a razor thin budget will eventually go out of business, leaving you with no recourse if something goes wrong down the road.

Finally, there's the contractor that's just plain desperate. In this day and age, there are plenty of folks in this category. Imagine handing a check over to someone who has to turn around and get their tools out of hock. Worse yet, imagine handing a check to someone you'll never see again. It happens more often than you might think.

Aside from the quality of the contractor you select, the quality of the products that go into your remodel is every bit as important. That shiny new faucet might look great when it goes in, but what will it cost you to have it replaced when it breaks in a year or so? Particularly if it leaks all over your hardwood floor. Does your contractor offer a warranty? Is he going to be around to honor it?

The lesson here is, quality may cost a little more to begin with, but it will pay off in the long run. Your best bet is to find a contractor that has the experience, the credentials, and the ability to deliver a quality result for a fair price. What more could you ask for? What more would you want?

Smith? Party of four?

Obviously if you're going to remodel your kitchen, you're going to have to find alternative eating arrangements. Even if you're not remodeling the kitchen, the dust and disruption which is inevitable with many projects may cause you to eat out more often.

In the extreme, you may even want to move out during the construction phase. In this case, the associated costs could include moving your furniture into your temporary digs or a storage facility, the cost of rent added to your ongoing mortgage payments and moving your furnishings back in when the project is complete. If you're financing the project, you can add the interest to the list of items you'll have to deal with while you're waiting to move back in.

Since most people are aware of these additional costs, one might not think of them as hidden costs. You'll know in advance that you have to budget for these items. The question is, for how long?

Delays are to be expected in the remodeling business, particularly with large scale projects. It's almost inevitable that something will show up damaged and have to be reordered. If all of the materials are in hand before the work begins, you'll be ahead of the curve on this one. Unfortunately, accidents happen and the materials could be damaged during the construction process. Other causes for delays include the weather, building inspections, scheduling conflicts, and unexpected conditions such as mold behind the sink cabinet. The point is you need to plan for the delays and hope that you won't have any. Therefore, the target date for completion should be worst case...unless it's not.

Regardless of the type of project you've got going, the chances are you have some sort of per diem cost associated with the construction phase. As hard as it may be to understand, it's not uncommon to hear stories about projects that take weeks or even months longer than anticipated. In these cases, the cost can be measured in more than just dollars and cents. The associated stress can become a serious health issue.

The best way to insure that you will not have to deal with an extended timeline is to select a contractor with a demonstrated history of bringing projects in on time - or at least within reason, all circumstances taken into consideration.

Paul Belongea is the owner of Platte River Kitchens of Denver, Colorado, one of the area's premier design/build remodeling companies. The company also provides plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling services through its technical division, Platte River Home Services.

They can found online at [http://www.platteriverkitchens.com] or [http://www.platteriverhomeservices.com]

Obesity Is A Social Contagion, Say Experts - Could Texas Be Spreading The Disease Of Fat?

Obesity is spreading like a virus -- literally. According to recent analyses of thousands of participants over three decades, you're more likely to get fat if your friends do. Looking at obesity as a sort of social contagion may even help explain why the weight of America's residents has suddenly ballooned over the last generation.

Sound farfetched? Well, not according to Nicholas A. Christakis, physician and professor of medical sociology at Harvard Medical School, and a principal investigator of a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that tracked a large social network of 12,067 people between 1971 and 2003. Unlike most studies of its kind, which only record the relationship of an individual and his/her contacts, the Framingham Heart Study looked at a network, practically tracking the entire town of Framingham, Massachusetts, and each participant's social contacts.

Studies like this could be especially important to Texas, where obesity has become a major health problem. Sixty-one percent of adults and 35% of children in the state are considered obese, and it's not just a cosmetic problem. The condition is a serious medical issue, and can lead to heart disease, type 2 diabetes (also at epidemic levels in Texas), stroke, and even certain cancers. In a state where 25% of the population is going without health insurance, and the health care systems are already overburdened -- particularly in the larger cities of Dallas, Houston, and Austin, where rural residents come seeking care -- any increase in disease could effectively collapse the system.

The Framingham study was actually a large federal study intended to investigate heart disease. Every four years, each subject was examined and asked to name at least one person who would know where he or she would be at the time of the next evaluation. As most of the town and its relatives participated in some fashion, a large social network was tracked and data, such as weight and body mass index, recorded. Investigators knew each participants' relationships with each other -- be it sibling, spouse, neighbor, or close friend.

Analysts concluded that an individual was 57% more likely to become obese when a close friend did. In fact, friends had more influence on each other than family. Statistically, there was no effect when neighbors gained weight, and close mutual friends had the most affect on each other, even if they were hundreds of miles apart. If one became obese, the other had a 171% chance of following suit. The same effect was noticed for weight loss, but as Americans have been predominantly growing fatter, an increase in weight was seen more often.

If the idea of likening obesity to a contagious disease seems harsh, perhaps it is, and, according to Christakis, he and colleagues are not intending to blame the patient for the disease so much as to determine why the epidemic is occurring. One explanation for the dramatic increase in American poundage is that an obese person is likely to influence another in his or her social network (i.e., a friend) to also become obese, in the same way that an individual losing weight might. Friends may also affect each other's perception of fatness, and what weight is acceptable. "...[the effects] highlight the importance of a spreading process, a kind of social contagion, that spreads through the network," said Christakis.

While Richard M. Suzman, from the National Institute on Aging (which funded the study) hails it as "one of the most exciting studies to come out of medical sociology in decades," colleagues like Kelly D. Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, aren't so sure. "I think there's a great risk here in blaming obese people even more for things that are caused by a terrible environment," said Brownell.

Further, no one disputes the influence genetics have on the condition. An individual generally has a genetically predetermined weight range, usually around thirty pounds. The environment, then, can play a major role in determining whether a person is near the bottom or top of that range. With all the advertisements for heavily processed, sugary, and high-fat foods that are cheaper than healthier produce, it's easy to see how "environment" can be a negative influence, indeed.

The Framingham review is unique, which can be seen as a rare and tremendous breakthrough, as well as a study that's difficult to replicate -- an important aspect in determining its overall scientific validity -- according to Stephen O'Rahilly, an obesity researcher at the University of Cambridge. No other study has the same, long-term, detailed analysis of a population and its social networks, and it could take another thirty-two years to produce one. Its results are telling, and something to consider. How much do we influence each other, and not realize it? If we can encourage our friends to gain weight simply through our own attitudes and habits, then can we, instead, encourage them to be healthier? Viewing the results as an opportunity to be aware of how much we can influence each other to do better, or as just highlighting another factor working against us, is really a matter of perception.

Keeping your weight at a healthy level is an important aspect of taking care of yourself. How you take care of yourself will certainly affect you as you age, and eventually your wallet, as well. If you’re a young individual who tries to keep informed and maintain a healthy condition and lifestyle, you should take a look at the revolutionary, comprehensive and highly-affordable individual health insurance solutions created by Precedent specifically for you. Visit our website, [http://www.precedent.com] for more information. We offer a unique and innovative suite of individual health insurance solutions, including highly-competitive HSA-qualified plans, and an unparalleled "real time" application and acceptance experience.

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Texas Could Be At Greater Risk For Food Contamination

The United States’ food and vitamin supply may not be as safe as we think, according to recent reports. This year’s pet food scare spurred intensive investigations into national regulations regarding human food and vitamin safety, and the findings were not good.

Many of the products creating the most serious problems are distributed nationally -- from Texas, to New York, to Missouri, and in national supermarket, discount store, and drug store food chains. States such as Texas may be at particular risk, as many products are legally or illegally imported at the border. It is almost guaranteed that any major store in any town or city in the state, from Dallas, to Houston, to Austin, are likely to be carrying products imported from a country that has a track record of contaminated food and vitamins. The implications this has for the healthcare and health insurance industries, not to mention for public health in general, are astronomical. If a series of outbreaks do occur, it could prove especially detrimental to Texas, where 25% of its residents are uninsured, and the healthcare system is already overburdened.

According to Peter Kovacs, a food industry executive and consultant of forty years, “the U.S. is sitting on a powder keg,” ready for food contamination issues to explode. Many of the major national food producers are very careful about their products, he says. They’ve learned to trace their ingredients directly to their sources, and to test them regularly. This isn’t required, however, and many manufacturers don’t, particularly if the products are considered at lower risk -- like pet foods.

This is precisely what happened when pet food was contaminated with a wheat protein from China. China, which is already building a reputation for exporting contaminated food and vitamins, exported wheat protein from companies that added melamine and cyanuric acid to up the apparent protein content and price. This supposed higher protein content is one of the major reasons the more expensive brands, like Iams, were hit so hard. Believing they were buying a more potent product, they, instead, ended up contaminating millions of pounds of food due to one ingredient.

Recalls are common -- they just don’t always make national news. In recent months, there have been recalls on milk, olives, bottled water, bread, prepared fruit trays, melons, oysters, and peanut butter, for reasons varying from dangerous levels of salmonella, listeria, and arsenic, to wire fragments in the food. Last year’s national e-coli spinach scare stemmed from Natural Selection Foods in San Juan Bautista, CA, and lead is routinely found in vitamins and dietary supplements. An estimated 76 million fall prey to illness and 5,000 die every year in the U.S. due to food contamination.

Just this February, ConAgra foods recalled the widely-distributed Pan peanut butter due to salmonella content, which, in turn, was due to poor conditions at one of their plants. Europe just dodged a bullet when it discovered right before the product hit the market, that Chinese-manufactured vitamin A used to supplement infant formulas was contaminated.

A major part of the problem in the U.S. is the Food and Drug Administration’s gross underfunding and lack of control. Imports have doubled since 2002 to nine million shipments a year, and the FDA only has the resources to inspect one percent of them. Many of those imports originate from countries without strict controls on their products, and regular testing before they hit the American market does not occur.

Michael Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia, stated “…we’re not even close to having a system in place that gives assurance that the food is safe.” He should know. Two years ago, the FDA suspected Cold Stone Creamery was responsible for a salmonella outbreak in four states, but their painfully out-of-date labs couldn’t detect the bacteria. Samples were shipped to Doyle, whose lab did pick it up. The FDA simply “doesn’t have the resources,” he said.

Dr. David A Kessler, former FDA Commissioner, would agree. “Our food-safety system in this country is broken,” he said.

In fact, many former employees of the FDA agree. William Hubbard, a top policy official who left the FDA in 2005, warned ten years ago that the amount of imported food was on the rise, while the ability of the FDA to regulate those shipments was on the decline. Attempts to solve the situation were offered to Congress and promptly rejected. Five years ago, they tried again with a $100 million import-safety plan, inexpensive by today’s standards. The FDA also asked for the authority to block food shipped from countries “repeatedly linked to contaminated products.” Both proposals were soundly rejected.

The fact that food manufacturers spend a million dollars every year lobbying against stricter regulations, and that mega powers, like Wal-Mart, also oppose tougher regulations, port inspections, and country of origin labeling, doesn’t help. These companies would lose business, and they make sure Congress knows it. Wal-Mart alone is China’s eighth largest trading partner, and 10% of all of their imports go to the company. Chinese agricultural products shipped to the U.S. totaled a staggering $2.26 billion alone last year, and 90% of all vitamin C sold in the U.S. is manufactured there. To enforce tighter regulations would effectively ban many of the products offered today on the U.S. market.

On May 2nd of this year, after widespread outbreaks affecting one product after another -- from spinach, to pet foods, to toothpaste, to vitamins -- Congress finally acted by passing a bill allowing the FDA to create databases of contaminated food. It seems so terribly simple, but until now, the organization did not even have the power or resources to electronically track contaminated shipments in a detailed manner, and then efficiently circulate the information.

Hubbard says it can’t stop there, however, and recommends modeling the FDA after the USDA. While the USDA only inspects meat -- and the FDA everything else -- the USDA has ten times as many inspectors, has the power and resources to send them to foreign plants, can deny entry of products from any company that doesn’t meet safety standards, and limits meat shipment to just a few ports in order to streamline the process. The FDA can do none of that. The FDA, realistically at this point, only has the resources to respond to problems already going on.

The average American citizen at this point can take action by lobbying Congress to impose stricter regulations, and buying as much local food as possible. Locally produced food is no guarantee, of course, that contamination will not occur, but at least customers can see where their products are being produced, and ask questions of those actually growing it. As always, the best advice seems to be common sense and vigilance.

Being aware of food safety is an important part of watching out for your health. How you take care of yourself will certainly affect you as you age, and eventually your wallet, as well. If you’re a young individual who tries to keep informed and maintain a healthy condition and lifestyle, you should take a look at the revolutionary, comprehensive and highly-affordable individual health insurance solutions created by Precedent specifically for you. Visit our website, [http://www.precedent.com], for more information. We offer a unique and innovative suite of individual health insurance solutions, including highly-competitive HSA-qualified plans, and an unparalleled "real time" application and acceptance process.

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Unclaimed Assets: Stocks, Bonds, Utility Deposits, FHA Insurance Refunds, Etc. Could Belong To You

Stocks, bonds, utility deposits, FHA insurance refunds, paychecks, safe deposit box contents, etc. - in the U.S. there are Billions of dollars in unclaimed money and property ready to be claimed. Many people do not know that each state in the nation has a specific department which was established for sole purpose of receiving unclaimed money and property, and that they have the right to inquire about what could rightfully be theirs.

The vast majority of this unclaimed money and property originates from banks, insurance companies, utility companies, and various other institutions. In accordance with the law, this unclaimed money and property is generally held for anywhere between 2 to 5 years before being turned over to the state.

For over 5 years United Refund Services has been helping reunite people with their unclaimed money and property.

You can conduct a 100% free, instant search for unclaimed money and property by visiting: http://www.united-refund-services.com/unclaimed-searches.html.

In the event you do have unclaimed money and/or property, the claims process is quite simple and in most cases only requires you to produce a general form of identification and complete a simple form. Please note that unclaimed property is often auctioned to the general public if the state deems it to be abandoned, so if you are serious about inquiring, you don't want to delay.

United Refund Services continues to provide top level advice, materials and resources regarding unclaimed assets and residual income at: http://www.united-refund-services.com.

Could You Improve Your Insurance Sales Watching a Guy Selling Cookware at a County Fair?

Even though there are big differences between selling products and selling a service when someone does a superior job of selling there are lessons to be learned. When you watch a top producer selling anything there are tremendous lessons to be learned from the obvious to the subtle nuances.

At the end of each summer there's a local county fair that's one of the better ones in the nation. This year my husband and I went, and while there my husband purchased a collection of cookware for me that was so obscenely expensive that many people have purchased cars for less. So, how did this guy selling cookware sell my husband on such an expensive totally impulsive and unnecessary sale? It wasn't like I didn't already have cookware, it wasn't like we left for the fair that morning thinking we needed to find cookware, and it certainly wasn't like either of us even knew cookware could cost that much money. Read and learn.

It had been a long morning at the fair when I noticed this guy had some kind of cooking demonstration going on that involved chairs for the audience, so we happened to sit down in his audience. One thing you noticed immediately beyond the fact that the guy was just likable was that he wasn't just demonstrating his cookware he was actually teaching people about cooking, nutrition, and healthy eating. And he was doing it in a way that had the audience spell bound. This guy had a group of about 50 people completely focused on him and what he was saying. Why? All ears and eyes were trained on him because he was providing added value beyond what they expected.

He disqualified non-buyers from the start, but he did so in a way that wasn't insulting. He told the audience often, and with no shame that his cookware was very expensive. All throughout his demonstration he was preparing the future buyers and the non-buyers alike.

He focused on what he knew the people in his audience wanted. His focus was on fast, easy, and healthy cooking made simple in both preparation and cleanup. He had one of the future buyers sold within about 10 minutes of the start of his sales demonstration. In fact, this guy was so enthusiastic I thought he was a plant until I verified for myself that he wasn't.

He focused on the real decision maker. Few women would spend that kind of money on cookware without involving the husband, and this guy focused on selling the cookware to the husband and left it to the husband to close the wife. Nearly everyone in his audience was forty plus, and it's at that point that most people start to have a reality check about their health. My husband is extremely health conscious, and evidently so were a lot of other people in the audience. Now of the fifty or so people in the audience about a dozen were kids. Many were couples, so there were probably about a dozen real decisions makers at most. Yet at the end of his demonstration the cookware guy had sold three very expensive cookware collections. Perhaps you can take a lesson from the cookware guy to improve your career sales training, and it may not hurt to use the free sales skill analysis below to do a spot check to see how your skills measure up.

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Could you sell more with a few Time Management Tips?

How Much Impact Could We Make by Co-Ordinating All the Current Food and Environmental Projects?

Fruit, vegetables, cocoa, coffee, tea are all things we take for granted on UK supermarket shelves but how many shoppers know that they originated in Africa or were made from African produce?

UK shoppers spend about 1 million every day on food products from Africa, including some Fairtrade items.

The focus on climate change and on food miles, however, has created misunderstanding about the sustainability of food from African and highlighted how little we know about how the resulting changed shopping habits have impacted on developing countries.

Almost 75% of Africans relay totally on agriculture for their livings and severl million of them rely partly on selling produce to the UK to enable many of them to escape poverty.

Most UK consumers support the idea of making their shopping choices reduce poverty. However, they also worry about other issues such as price, food safety, the environment and animal welfare.

Now, to add to the pressure comes a new report this month (July 2010) saying that climate change threatens to undo years of work to tackle poverty in developing countries.

Forum for the Future's study emphasised the need for strong action in poor countries to tackle climate change but in tandem with efforts to boost economic development and it said international aid's efforts to tackle poverty should factor in climate change and measures to help poor countries adapt to its effects.

It wants them to avoid promoting high-carbon development and to help developing nations deal with the impact of climate change and seize new opportunities created by global movement to a more low-carbon economy.

The UK's Department for International Development (DFID) supported the Forum's latest report and also has its own initiative, FRICH Food Retail Industry Challenge to support the development of trade in food from Africa to the UK.

No in its third round of bidding the Challenge asks food supply and distribution business with their supply chain partners to test and develop innovative business models to bring new and higher volumes of food products from Africa to UK while improving the livelihoods of African producers.

So far it has funded seven challenges. They include Bettys & Taylors of Harrogate, seller of a famous Yorkshire Tea, which is working with Rwanda's tea authority, tea factory owners, the Rainforest Alliance and the farmers who supply the factories to develop a sustainable supply of quality tea for their famous Yorkshire Tea brand. Rwanda tea is now on UK supermarket shelves as a Yorkshire Gold 'seasons pick'

The Co-operative has long supported Fairtrade and is working with tea supplier Finlay Beverages, the Cooperative College UK and Africa Now to deliver the benefits of both Fairtrade and the co-operative business model for sustainable livelihoods for 8,000 small-scale tea farmers in Kericho, South-West Kenya.

Waitrose has been helping growers to adapt their cultivation and production processes to meet the environmental requirements of the LEAF Marque standard as a way of spreading the message of sustainable agricultural practices across Africa. The LEAF Marque guarantee for UK fresh grown produce has been used by Waitrose for the past three years and the company has now committed to helping all its suppliers to use environmentally responsible practices.

The third Challenge Fund bidding round invites UK companies to offer projects that will promote trade to some of the poorest countries north of South Africa and south of the Sahara

Its aims are enhancing productivity and adding value to any sector of the supply chain from the start in food production, through processing, storage, to compliance, financing or procurement

It also aims to extend the benefits of export supply chains to producers currently unable to meet market requirements or insufficiently established as export growers to be able to attract commercial investment in their operations.

Its third focus is expanding UK consumer demand for African produce in the face of concerns about food miles, environmental conservation, labour standards and food safety.

Search around a bit and it's possible to find any number of inventive pieces providing some solutions to the complex puzzle of climate change, environment and food scarcity.

They can be small and local - such as the Indian village treadle-powered irrigation system that has stabilised and improved cultivation there - or slightly larger like the FRICH Challenge focusing on a particular world region.

Or they can be potentially far-reaching - like the Biopesticides Developers' invention of promising new low-chem agricultural products such as biofungicides and yield enhancers to play their part in helping combat climate change and pests while increasing yield sustainably to help farmers, both small and larger.

It would be nice if all these disparate elements were co-ordinated to work in tandem to making access to food and a reasonable income fairer around the world alongside a significant global impact on preserving the environment.

Copyright (c) 2010 Alison Withers

There's plenty of evidence of research, projects and initiatives of all sizes happening around the world to combat climate change, restore the environment or increase farming yield sustainably from village irrigation schemes to R & D in low-chem agricultural biofungicides. Yet says consumer journalist Ali Withers we have little sense that they're making much impact.

How To Create an Environment of Investment - Or How Humanitarian Projects Could Save The Day

Sometimes, when surviving through an economic depression, especially like the last one, which had world-wide coverage and effect, the only way to get going at full speed again is by applying a massive kick-start.

Create an Environment of Investment.

Most noble comment. But which Government has the will, or the financial clout (especially after a series of such dramatic natural disasters) to start or jerk this fragile recovery into action?

Perhaps no 'standard' government has the financial clout any more. But what about an association of First Nations people?

More about that later; let's look at what is happening in the world, and issues that need addressing as rapidly as possible.

Those that spring most readily to mind are Global Warming, and our seemingly unswerving dependence on rapidly-dwindling fossil fuels, followed by a world-wide concern over poverty and health issues.

Let's take a closer look at some of these issues:

Our continuing desire to burn massive amounts of fossil fuels (petrol and diesel), as well as even bigger amounts of coal, oil, and natural gas on generating most of our electrical power.

We create monstrous, unsightly, and highly inefficient wind farms, using out-dated technology that in itself takes up to 20 years to replace the carbon footprint created to install them

Our continuing desire to throw away our waste in the most selfish manner, and then let our local councils either burn or bury it (or export it to some other country - who usually bury or burn it for us).

Our very fickle desire to build houses in a manner that takes such a high carbon footprint to achieve it, and causes so much waste by-products, and then, we insist in spending even more fossil fuels in an attempt to keep these houses hot in winter and cold in summer.

Then, do we make any attempt to conserve water. No, we regularly flush our toilets, public urinals waste Olympic Swimming pools of water every year; rainwater and waste water is just literally poured down our sewers.

How do we try to control diseases? We just get through millions of gallons of bleach, and other products that 'kill all known germs DEAD'. We treat fats oils and grease in the same manner, and just move the problems 'further down-stream', creating a superb playing field for all sorts of nasty pathogenic bacteria.

Let's look at each of the above points in more detail

Burning masses of fossil fuels to run our power stations, or run our cars and other transport. Until the recent Japanese nuclear disaster, Britain was on track to build 4 new nuclear plants. What an environmental and potentially disastrous choice. Electric cars? Not with the current battery issues and recharging times. But how about hydrogen produced from a simple cell, with a few gallons of water? Want to see a MAC truck or a Hummer running on one of these devices, with very little modification? Email me and I will send you a number of videos.

Wind farms. Have you recently been concerned about a collection of these prehistoric monsters getting planning permission to damage your view and your environment, as well as a danger to wildlife? We have the latest technology vortex wind turbines, that are unobtrusive, and far more efficient than the gargantuan dinosaur wind turbines.

Waste handled in the only proper manner. We have systems that can automatically sort all household waste (no more need to have selective bins); that can also take in dangerous hospital waste, green waste, oily sludge, tyres and plastics, and even human and animal sewage, and convert it very efficiently into green electricity - with No Incineration, and No Toxic ash. Efficient, maximised recyclables, reduced landfill needs, and reduced pollution. Perfect solution to our energy, resources, disease containment, and stops locking up scant fossil fuel based products on land fill sites for ever.

Sustainable Living. Why continue to build houses that need such a large carbon footprint to build, create so much waste, and then cost so much to run. Our houses are already built to the UK Government's Code 4 standards - probably 10 years ahead of anyone else.

Water -that scant resource that in some areas may cause a new World War. How about a collection of systems that can conserve water in toilets, recycle rainwater and other waste water, purify water, computerise crop watering, and how about this - a machine that can extract gallons of water every day from the air - even in a desert?

Using Nature to help fight disease. Rather than using chemicals that are toxic to our very environment, why not resort to Nature to fight natural illnesses. Using products such as EcoBug that uses 'good' bacteria to remove smells, fats etc, by outperforming pathogenic germs, alongside other natural products, we start to undo much of the destruction to our natural environment by this subtle move.

Eco-Tourism. Living with Nature. No point continuing what mankind has done increasingly over the last few centuries - destroying Rain Forests, hunting to extinction so many forms of wild life. Each Peace City will have an EcoPark area allocated to it, where the local natural flora and fauna, and indigenous animals and bids, are protected, encouraged, and enjoyed.

Fine. So we have many technological breakthroughs, that if they were to be adopted universally, what a great overall benefit they would have for all mankind.

Taking that process one stage further, and, following the lines of the United Nations 8 Millennium Goals, that also includes eradicating poverty and homelessness, reducing infant mortality, better education, better sports health, better employment which would lead to a much higher standard of living for so many millions of people across the world. If we could combine technological advances with these humanitarian goals, what a better place the whole world would be!

Now, going back to my earlier comment about a coming together of a number of First Nations people, who were able to combine their Sovereign Wealth into a suitable financial instrument of power, here we are looking at levels of resources that at this present moment in time, no 'conventional ' government could access.

What better way to utilise these resources to create a number of new 'Peace Cities' in a number of locations around the world, that combined all of the above benefits, including plans for education, employment, medical health, hospitals, shopping malls, sports awareness, agriculture, animal husbandry, with all the civic structure of a new City fully in place.

If these First Nations fully funded these projects, imagine the amount of local investment that this would attract - creating the climate for investment and humanity - and here you have the perfect kick-start to a far better, caring, humanitarian, peaceful world.

Far-fetched? It can never happen? Then I suggest you see what the Matua Karanga Foundation Trust is up to - under the control of His Excellency Chief Charles Hohepa - Sovereign Mandate of the Maori Nation.

Geoff Morris is working with a number of companies facilitating the humanitarian projects being implemented by the Matua Karanga Foundation. If you would like to understand more about His Excellency Chief Charles Hohepa, The Foundation, and the collaboration between First Nations, their Cultures, and the planned Humanitarian projects for around the world, please visit http://www.matuakarangaglobal.org