States Use Gambling to Save Economy

Gambling Addiction

Policymakers in USA is starting to see gambling as a panacea to be the cure for all economic ills but gambling addiction it the ugly side of the coin. USA Today is in the view that gambling states are addicted to easy money in its report dated 25 Sep 2014. The Editorial Board cited New Jersey are the prime example of the worst offenders in the world of gambling. "They are both addicts and pushers. They throw temper tantrums and upset settled policy when their fix of gambling revenue runs low."

Save the Economy

New Jersey began offering online gambling last year to bring in more tax revenue as Atlantic City casino revenue took a sharp dive. Since the revenue from the online gambling was not much of a help, the state will come up with more gambling products. Governor Chris Christie has given the green light for casinos and racetracks to offer sports betting. A federal judge will hear Christie's argument on Oct 6 as a 1992 federal law banned the practice in all but four states where it previously existed.

Gambling Expanded Widely

The good days are gone. Christie can't expect gambling to be the savior. New Jersey is no longer the gambling mecca of the East Coast. Adjoining states - Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware - have all opened casinos recently. As of 2012, America had 513 state-licensed casinos, plus 466 on tribal lands. With more players, it is obviously going to be less share for the same pie.

Gambling Destroys Lives

There is a deadly social cost for gambling. Compulsive gambling habits from 1% to 2% of gamblers are known to destroy lives. People lose their jobs, families and self-confidence due to heavy losses. A study done by Baylor University in 2011 estimated the cost of gambling ill at $9,393 per compulsive gambler per year. The state should explore alternatives instead of always relying on gambling to bail them out.

Anything Under the Sun: China Corruption Blitz Hits Macau Junkets

REBLOG> Anything Under the Sun: China Corruption Blitz Hits Macau Junkets:
SavySeph's Original Blog

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Laundering Money

Rotten gamblers, especially the whale bettors, could be mistaken for money laundering. This may be the assumption of Chinese President, Xi Jinpin. His crackdown on corrupt officials and tycoons is starting to drain China. This almost 2 years blitz had caused the sale of luxury good to dwindle and the VIP rooms at Macau casinos to slow down. It had driven rotten gamblers to other gambling destinations. This is like sending away the goose that laid the golden egg to your fellow neighbors. The claim of coming by a windfall from the casino is not that easy to justify with the generous amount of surveillance camera covering the casino. Coming up with the bankroll to make the amass the extraordinary win would be a great question mark.

Macau's Casino Junket Squeeze

The prolonged crackdown is now starting to squeeze the junkets in Macau. As the Chinese economy dragged its feet, the whale gamblers shy away. In Macau, whale gamblers will punt HK$1 million without second thoughts. Junkets who lend them money and settle their debts are not longer as flexible as debt recovery is not as easy. Authorities are digging junkets for information on Junkets are had left the industry. Chinese officials suspected of corruption who may be laundering money through Macau. The pressure is too much that, "I can't sleep at night. There are just too many problems," said one 54-year-old junket operator who didn't want to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. "I'm not optimistic for the future of the VIP junket industry here." Of Macau's 220 licensed junket firms, at least 15 have shut up shop in the big casinos this year the Reuters reported on 24 Sep 2014.

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My Comments

China's determination is great cause for concern for Macau's gambling industry.

On Empty Thoughts: Alcohol Ban at Stratford Supercasino

REBLOG> On Empty Thoughts: Alcohol Ban at Stratford Supercasino:
Guerrilla Gamblers' Original Blog

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Violence at Gambling Outlets

p>I will update Gambling Tales Facebook and Google Plus Page with this article on Violence at Gambling Outlets. Alcohol never ceases to cause trouble for Aspers Casino in Westfield Stratford City. Since they have so much trouble handling their drinks, it had been taken away from them.

Alcohol Ban

A recent news dated 23 Sep 2014 from the Newham Recorder the Supercasino has had its alcohol license revoked by Newham Council after security staff allegedly "beat up" a punter. A Newham Council spokesperson said: "The decision was made in view of the seriousness of the incident and the police and licensing sub-committee’s concerns about the casino’s ability to prevent crime and disorder. The suspension will remain in force until a full licensing review hearing." Aspers Casino will not be able to serve alcohol or food from 23:00 to 05:00.

The Incident

The incident took place on Saturday night of 20 September. CCTV footage of the assault on the customer by a security staff showed that the customer sustained "severe injury". The involvement of alcohol in the attack was not mentioned by the press. Aspers Casino did not comment on the incident.

Banning Use of Glasses

Two week ago the casino was banned from using glasses to serve drinks and the casino resorted to using plastic cups. This was following two serve cases of glassing. One resulted in an inch long cut to the victim’s head which required gluing. In the other case, the glass used to commit the crime was thrown away by casino staff, leading to the loss of vital evidence (see Newham Recorder's report on 9 September).

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My Comments

Drug abuse is likely in the picture too.

Light and Easy Talk: Funny and Confusing City Signs

REBLOG> Light and Easy Talk: Funny and Confusing City Signs:
Veronica Glowsome's Original Blog

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City Signs are Fun

Guardian Cities asked readers to share photos of the most silly, confusing and dangerous signs. They posted the good ones on GuardianWitness. I have commented on some of the photos.

1) You will be the big garbage dump when that happens.


2) Berlin loves this park so much that they wanted everybody to know it!


3) I wondered about the source of the water.


4) They made one sign for the cats but these stray cats can't read.


5) This sign was intended for the police.


6) Tennis on this court is played without balls.


7) Car park with a penalty for parking: make up your mind!


8) Two linguistically independent ways to Brussels.


9) On this planet the pedestrians drive.


10) This must be the place for stress relieve.


11) Sign in a cave near Valletta, Malta.


12) Recyclables in the small bin. Dog heads in the big bin. Sign in Milford, Connecticut, USA.


13) The plants may catch you.


14) Carrying reptiles must be a common thing on this street.


15) A slightly puzzling street sign in Luxembourg.


16) This was painted on a road on the East Coast, Australia.

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My Comments

A child may get the wrong message for picture 12

Pest in Midst: Laggard to the Casino Industry

REBLOG> Pest in Midst: Laggard to the Casino Industry:
XingCai's Original Blog

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Casino Industry in Asia

Singapore is considered a laggard to the casino industry in comparison to her neighbor, Malaysia. To make up for being half-a-century late Singapore decided to have two casinos. Other Asian countries - Vietnam, Korea, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Japan - are joining the bandwagon to intensify the fight for gamblers patronage. Like good foodies, gamblers will travel the extra mile for a wager.

The Singaporean Stunted Growth

Macquarie, a leading financial services provider in Australia, "think the Singapore gaming market cannot grow." They noted that the gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the nation had plateau around $6 billion a year since 2011. "After three big years, tourist arrivals in Singapore have started to decline (down 3 percent year-to-July) and most importantly, Chinese visitors who form more than 50 percent of Singapore VIP volume have fallen by 29 percent year-to-date," Macquarie said. VIP volumes make up around 80 percent of the city-state's total gaming volume, it said [CNBC 23 Sep 2014].

Singaporean Senseless Optimism

Carey Wong, an analyst at OCBC, is optimistic about the situation. He sees the drop in overseas visitors to be temporary as it is partly due to China's economic slowdown and corruption crackdown. He said, "Once things die down, we'll see the return of these high rollers," he said. "From an Asian perspective, Asians will gamble regardless of good times or bad. It's different from a Western perspective, where gaming is more for leisure." Wong does not seem to make much sense when he claimed that economic slowdown was the cause of decline in Chinese visitors yet advocating that bad times will not stop Asian gamblers. Singapore's strong currency and lack of tourist attraction in their tiny island is more likely the cause for their failure to attract foreigners.

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My Comments

Laggards had the poorest attraction power.

Sex Change Surgery in the 18th-Century

Hermaphrodites

Hermaphrodites is the biological term for an organism that has reproductive organs of both male and female sexes. Hermaphroditic plants are called monoecious, or bisexual. Hermaphroditic animals are mostly invertebrates and usually parasitic or slow-moving like snails. In humans, hermaphroditism is an extremely rare sex anomaly. A true hermaphrodite is an individual who has both ovarian and testicular tissue [Encyclopædia Britannica]. Today we have a rich knowledge on the subject but back in 1997 it was a different scenario.

Thomas Brand's Report

A 7-year-old girl came to the Soho Square Dispensary for the Relief of the Infant Poor with her parents for treatment. The doctors' opinions differs. The first doctor's opinion was hernia but the second doctor's opinion was hermaphrodites. This case was documented as "the case of a boy who had been mistaken for a girl; with three anatomical views of the parts, before and after the operation and cure." The paper was sitting in the college's rare books library in the University of Kansas. In the early 2000s, Carol Warren — then a professor of sociology of the university — stumbled upon the report.

Thomas Brand's Surgery

According to Brand's report, published in 1787, he noticed an "irregularity" in the patient’s "external parts." After further examination, he concluded that the child’s "part, which had the appearance of the labia pudenda, was in fact the scrotum," and suggested an "operation to free the penis from its confinement." He went ahead and made some alterations, enabling the child—whose name is unknown—"to urinate standing up, wear trousers, and enjoy the privileges of being a male." Brand, who practiced at the Royal Hospital at Greenwich, was "not a quack," according to Mary Fissell, a professor of the History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins [Alice Robb, New Republic]. This may be may describe one of the earliest instances of sex-change surgery. For Dr Brand he actually corrected the child's gender. Was it possible for Dr Brand to correct the child sex to female?

Gender Roles

The child that Dr Brand operated was a girl for the first 7 years of her life. After having his penis freed from its confinements, this child led a life of a boy and goes into manhood. It show that gender roles can be trained or taught. In am curious about the initial gender adjustment period that this child went through.

Seeking Enlightenment: Sugar Babies Meets Sugar Daddies at Seeking Arrange...

REBLOG> Seeking Enlightenment: Sugar Babies Meets Sugar Daddies at Seeking Arrange...:
Sophia Logica's Original Blog

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Internet Prostitution

Sugar Babies goes to Seeking Arrangement to meet Sugar Daddies. Seeking Arrangement is a website that brokers the meeting of pretty young women with rich older men under the guise of providing social escort services. Tammy Castle, a professor at James Madison University, said "[The administrators of the Seeking Arrangement] are trying to avoid the negative stigma of prostitution by advertising this as just another dating website, but money is exchanged for arrangements that may include sex," the Atlantic reported on 19 Sep 2014.

In High Demand

As in the case with any search engine, the most important part is to be listed on top of the page. Men with annual incomes of over $5 or $10 million get the most attention. The site encourages women in higher learning institution. If women register with a ".edu" email account, they receive a free premium membership, something the guys have to shell out as much as $1,200 for.

The Ideal Product

Some men use the site entirely for sexual services. Most of them wanted sex and something else. They want a companion who understands and appears interested in what they have to say. A suitable mate to tag along for business trips or company events, and even meet their friends. Most importantly, they want someone who will help them pretend that the relationship is not a transaction.

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My Comments

Some people will choose the easy way out even if it was against their conscience.

Light and Easy Talk: Man Commits Suicide after Ramming Truck into Casin...

REBLOG> Seeking Enlightenment: Man Commits Suicide after Ramming Truck into Casino
Sophia Logica's Original Blog

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Suicide Attempts

Ryan Brown ramped a pickup through the glass front doors of the Stratosphere Casino on Sep 10, a Las Vegas police arrest report showed. The 40-year-old electrician was arrested on suspicion of reckless driving and possession and use of cocaine, the Reuters reported on 19 Sep 2014. Brown was released without restrictions after prosecutors failed to file criminal charges on 15 Sep. Toxicology reports were required to pursue charges and the judge set a status hearing in October. On 18 Sep Brown was found dead at the Rio All-Suite Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. The Clark County coroner’s office reported that Brown died of asphyxia and hanging, police spokesman Larry Hadfield said. According to arrest report, Brown was fired due to a domestic dispute with his wife. He told the police in a drug-fueled diatribe that he had been on cocaine and speed for six days and had smoked crack about two hours before deliberately crashing into the casino. Brown said, “He intended to run up to the top of the Stratosphere and jump off.

Doubtful Released

Brown was preoccupied with Suicide. He thought of jumping off the Stratosphere Casino but ended up crashing into it instead. He contemplated on an idea that would hurt himself but performed an act that could hurt others. “Darren Richards, assistant Clark County public defender, whose office was not involved in the case said, “I don’t know what the District Attorney was thinking, why they didn’t file some charges against someone who had been caught driving through the lobby of a casino.” The Clark County District Attorney’s Office, which provided the arrest report, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Brown’s release. “It is not against the law to be mentally ill,” Hadfield said when asked why Brown was not arrested after his release.

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Veronica Glowsome's Comments

Gambling Tales had a good collection of gambling stories. This is good stuff for the Bizarre Section. My guess is he blown a fortune, quarrel with his wife, felt miserable and thought of suicide.

My Comments

Unrestrained gambling always leads to misery and some will cost you your life.

Jack of All Trades: Ben Affleck Admits Counting Cards in Casinos

REBLOG> Jack of All Trades: Ben Affleck Admits Counting Cards in Casinos:
Jack Omnitrade's Original Blog

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Advantage Players

Savy Seph gave a good explanation of advantage players. "The advantage players have an edge over the house given that they tend to win more than they lose. While cheating at casinos is a criminal activity, advantage players use legitimate means to beat the house. Since they play by the rules, they deserve to pocket their winnings. The casinos may frown on the advantage players but they are not able to use legal means to throw advantage players in jail. This shows that the law recognizes advantage players to be a different kettle of fish from the unethical cheaters." Card counting, a form of advantage play, was used by Ben Affleck at the Hard Rock Casino in Vegas to win $800,000 in May 2014.

Ben Affleck Admits

Sky News had a few interesting quotes from Affleck in their 18 Sep 2014 article. "That is a true story. I mean, that took place. I took some time to learn the game and became a decent blackjack player," he said. "And once I became decent, the casinos asked me not to play blackjack. I mean, the fact that being good at the game is against the rules at the casinos should tell you something about casinos."

Casino as a Sore Loser

Blackjack is the only casino game that is vulnerable to a good system. The casino is a sore loser and they will reject your patronage. "They don't even want you to have a sporting chance, really. There's a lot of hospitality, backslapping, when they think you're gonna come in and dump money, and if they think you might leave with some money, it's like, 'You know what? Why don't you try craps or roulette?'."

Dispelling Rumors

Affleck dispelled the rumors surrounding his visit to the Hard Rock Casino in May. With respect to being kicked out of the premises he said, "I wish I could say they were afraid of me in every capacity, but they only said, 'No blackjack'. That would be awesome [if they threw me out]. 'Get him outta here! He's a magician!' Unfortunately, they just came up and said: 'We can't let you play blackjack. But we have other table games. We have Chinese poker'." Affleck also rejects reports that his blackjack playing was affecting his marriage to actress Jennifer Garner.

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My Comments

As long as Ben Affleck can consistently win, it will not be a gambling problem. The problem would be sneaking himself into a Blackjack table unnoticed.

Filling Bottles: Gamblers Go to Vegas to Avoid Macau Corruption Bli...

REBLOG> Filling Bottles: Gamblers Go to Vegas to Avoid Macau Corruption Blitz::
Sue DaJi's Original Blog

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Nations Bow to Gambling

Gambling Tales claims that banning casinos would cause black market to flourish or drive gamblers to casinos in a neighboring country in the article "Nations Bows to Gambling". On Chinese soil, gambling is legal only legal in Macau but China would not sanction their own citizen gambling on their soil. Corruption blitz had been carried out at Macau to rid the activity on their sovereignty.

Corruption Crackdown Affected Gambling and Luxury Malls

SavySeph's blog on Tumblr covered the news on the Chinese anti-corruption crackdown of gambling in Macau and shopping outlets specialized in luxury good in Hong Kong to rid the stench of corruption from the land. Here is a reblog of SavySeph.

Reblog Savy Seph

Beijing’s intensifying crackdown on corruption is hitting the VIP rooms at Macau casinos and luxury shopping malls in Hong Kong hard, the Wall Street Journal reported on 1 Aug 2014. “This anticorruption crackdown in China is much more widespread and deeper than the VIP community had anticipated and as a result there could be prolonged weakness in the market,” said Union Gaming Research analyst Grant Govertsen.

Sales of luxury goods fell by nearly a third in the second quarter, including a 40% decline in April. With Beijing monitoring conspicuous consumption and capital flight closely, it would not be kool to be seen buying diamond-encrusted watches or punting millions at a baccarat game.

A New Playground

XingCai a tumblr user commented that these Chinese gamblers will find a new play ground soon. I have just found the news about their new playground as reported by Sidney Morning Herald on 17 Sep 2014. Junket operators, which organise casino trips for wealthy Chinese VIPs, are bringing those gamblers to other locations such as Australia, Europe or the US, according to Credit Suisse analysts Kenneth Fong and Isis Wong.

Viva Las Vegas

Casinos' revenue on the Las Vegas Strip has increased 3.7 per cent to $US3.7 billion ($4.1 billion) in the year to end-July, driven mainly by a 14.4 per cent jump in baccarat revenue, according to Robert Shore, a Las Vegas-based analyst at Union Gaming Group. This indicates "an inverse correlation" with the weaker performance from high rollers in Macau, he said in an e-mail. "Las Vegas is a brand that is clearly world-renowned and that people continuously want to come to," Dan D'Arrigo, Chief Financial Officer of MGM, said via telephone when asked about Chinese gamblers.

Veronica Glowsome's Comments

Gamblers will need to get their fix somehow.

My Comments

The only way to stop these gamblers is to chain them down.

NFL's Absurd Marijuana Policy

NFL Pain Management

Former Denver Broncos tight end and writer, Nate Jackson said, "Virtually every single player in the NFL has a certifiable need for medical marijuana," [New York Times, 8 Sep 2014]. He confessed that he was medicated by marijuana for most of his career as a tight end from 2003 through 2008. He criticized the NFL who issues pain killers as the prescription. Almost 17,000 Americans overdosed and died from prescription painkillers in 2011, according to the most recent figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Changes in Law

Jackson see a change in the social mentality on marijuana. He expects the NFL, who is engaged in a violent trade, to exercise some forward thinking.

Time Is a Thief: Colombian Women's Cycling Team Naked Jersey Design...

This is degrading to women. The honors to be in the national color is more like a humiliation. To make thing worse, even the reporter is not interested in the outcome of the race.

REBLOG Time Is a Thief: Colombian Women's Cycling Team Naked Jersey Design...:

Getting Attention

The Colombian women's cycling team stole the attention from the crowd with naked jersey design. Although the women's cycling competitions in Italy are not usually watched, the team managed to cause excitement with what seemed to be a very revealing outfit. It must have took a lot of practice to look natural wearing this jersey.

Perverted Taste

The jersey had a large patch of flesh-colored section across the women's lower torsos and groins. The crotch was deliberately designed to look like a cut-out revealing bare flesh at the public area. It is unimaginable that this outrage was endorsed by the South American nation's ministry of sport. The team came under the sponsorship of the capital city of Bogota.

Insignificant Sports Event

The outfit for non-cyclists did not to feature the same design. Only the women's cycling sport this jersey. The reason for this design to be worn only by the women's cycling team gives the impression that the Sports Minister is a pervert. The Independent did not report the winners for the event. I guess that was not the highlight of the event.

Celebrity Gossips & News: Mourning Robin Williams

This is a well written obituary for Robin Williams.

REBLOG Celebrity Gossips & News: Mourning Robin Williams:

Death

Robin Williams, Oscar and Grammy winner, was found death at his home in Tiburon, California on 11 Aug 2014 at about noon time. The sheriff...

Battle

Williams' publicist said he had been battling "severe depression of late." He struggled with alcohol and cocaine addiction. He was gifted to touch many lives through the screens, but nobody could see his ailing heart. The gradual torment that loneliness hurl at him had drove him to the wine cellar and to seek substance. Destiny cruelly required him to bring joy to others at the expense of his own.

Obituary

Known as the funny man, you had brought cheer and laughter with idiosyncrasies and queer accents. You made a lasting impression to us as an intellectual dramatist in Dead Poet Society. Now the world will mourn for this dead poet of multi-talent. Rest in peace Robin McLaurin Williams.

Anything Under the Sun: Ohio Approves Preshuffled-cards

It is good that the OCCC look at the integrity of the games to ensure fairness. They should be more comprehensive in the assessment.

REBLOG Anything Under the Sun: Ohio Approves Preshuffled-cards:

Green Light for Pre-shuffled Cards

Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC) has approved the use of pre-shuffled cards in the state's casinos. It made me reflect on the unshuffled cards causing a casino millions and Brogata accusing Phil Ivey for collaborating with the card manufacturer to mark cards to be used in play. While the unshuffled card at Golden Nugget Atlantic City may be a one in a lifetime affair, Brogata's wild accusation could possibility become a regular affair with this new regulation.

Casinos Wants Red-tape Cut

Dealers would spread out all 312 cards in the six-deck stacks to carefully inspect before use. "It can take 30 minutes to get the first table going and up to 90 minutes to get all six tables going," said Tosha Tousant, Horseshoe Cleveland’s director of table games. With such procedure to ensure fairness, casinos need to cut down the red tape as the Horseshoe Cleveland uses a total of 16,000 decks a month. Hollywood Casino uses about 20,000 decks a month, the Columbus Dispatch reported on 16 Sep 2014.

Protecting the Integrity of the Games

For Matthew Schuler, executive director of OCCC, the integrity of the games would be his main concern. He was skeptical when Ohio casino executives requested permission to use pre-shuffled decks. He sent his staff to inspect the United States Playing Card Co. in Erlanger, Kentucky. He was convinced as cards were shuffled so thoroughly and randomly that there’s no way for dealers or players to know what card will come up next. The company became the only card manufacturer the OCCC has approved to supply pre-shuffled cards. The application of other card factory are being processed, Schuler said.

United States Playing Card Co

United States Playing Card Co is equipped with a fully automated production line. "We load sheets of printed decks at the front of the production line. They are cut and then shuffled automatically by our approved equipment, and then we load finished and secured, pre-shuffled cartons of cards into a shipping carton," said company spokesman Scott Madding.

Human Intervention

Schuler's investigation was based on the machines ability and credibility. The machine can mechanically and methodically shuffle the cards thoroughly and randomly but the aspect of human intervention is not considered. For the right price a motivated individual will make the necessary alteration to the advantage of any players who will pay the price. Schuler made no remarks on the security procedures of the factory that monitor the intervention of these motivated individuals.

Selling Obesity Drugs to Americans

Selling to One Third Obese Nation

With an obesity rate 1 out 3 in the nation, selling obesity drug to American had been a daunting task. Although Contrave manage to get the approval of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), sales had been way below expectation. Both Qsymia and Belviq with approval from the FDA in 2012 also face poor sales. Bloomberg Businessweek's article on 15 Sep 2014 looks at the difficulty of selling obesity drug in American.

Major Setbacks

The disastrous safety record of diet drugs pulled from the market in the 1990s, was a major contributing factor to the resistance to weight-loss pills. A large number of health insurance plans not pay for the drugs which often lead to only modest weight loss is another major contributing factor. Clinical trials had shown that Placebo, medical condition intended to deceive the recipient, had proven far more effective than Contrave's loss of only 4.1 percent in weight.

Marketing Strategies

Orexigen Therapeutics, the manufacturer of Contrave, is enlisting the 900-person U.S. sales force of Japanese pharmaceutical giant Takeda. Orexigen will approach primary care doctors and specialists such as endocrinologists who often treat obese patients. "Primary care physicians love samples, so sampling is a part of the tactical plan," said Mark Booth, Orexigen's chief commercial officer. Meanwhile Takeda preparing print and online ads directed at patients, says Katie Andino, director of obesity marketing for Takeda USA.

The Competition

Eisai, the maker of rival drug Belviq, approach the market by running national television commercials. "Weight loss is not just about willpower" is the theme of their advertisement. This suggest that Belviq is the missing factor to the aid willpower. Honest disclosure of the side effects such as "high doses may cause mental problems" does not seem to give much mileage.

Honest Disclosure

Show of integrity is not the reason for honest disclosure. Complication arising from lawsuits can be very messy if things are not properly spelled out. Takeda are careful to stress that the drug must be paired with healthy behavior. "A pill is not enough," says Andino. The introduction of Contrave will include partnership with "an innovative behavior modification program" for people committed to losing weight. Contrave’s label comes with a boxed warning about risks of suicidal thoughts, as well as other risks identified by the FDA.

Free Samples

Using the pill to enhance willpower would only work on certain individuals. Obesity pills are so difficult to sell that all three manufacturers are offering free trials and prescription discounts in their marketing plan. With such promotional offers, users would not have to buy these pill after the sampling period if it does not work for them.

Anything Under the Sun: Watchdog to Named and Sham...

This where I had to agree that letting the adult gaming centers in on the FOBTs would bring check and balances with the bookmakers. I hope the competition will put some pressure on being serious with admitting minors.

REBLOG Jack of All Trades: Anything Under the Sun: Watchdog to Named and Shamed Bookies:
Betting shops need to clean out their act or adult gaming centers will snatch a chunk of the pie from them.

REBLOG Anything Under the Sun: Watchdog to Named and Shamed Bookies: Saving the Gaming Industry Bookies who break promises on advertising will be "name and shame" by a new watchdog. This watchdog should also penalize those who admit minors. This ruling is often violated and never taken seriously...

Keyboard Determines Baby’s Name

The QUERTY Effect

The QUERTY Effect states that letters typed with the right hand are considered more positive than those typed with the left hand. A lefty word means that a word contains more words types with the left hand. The word "writer" is a lefty word since there are more letters typed with the left hand on the keyboard.

Baby's Name

Daniel Casasanto, a psychologist at the University of Chicago and his colleagues applied the QWERTY effect on baby names in 2012. The researchers analyzed data from the Social Security Administration for 788 names given to children between 1960 and 2012. They found that names with right-handed-words got more popular after 1990. Three decades ago the keyboard was not a commonly used writing tool [Popular Science, 11 Sep 2014].

Naming Trends

This made me ponder over the possibility that the typewriter was invented for the right-handed user. Checking the Wikipedia I found that Christopher Latham Sholes placed more emphasis on the location of vowels in the design of the typewriter than dexterity of the right hand. With this finding, I believe product naming and branding will be centered around the right-handed-words.

Nearly 1 in 5 Women Have Been Raped

New survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that 19.3% of women have been raped at one point in their lives. In contrast 1.7% of men have been raped.

The study also showed that 43.9% of women and 23.4% of men have experienced some other form of sexual violence. These activities include being made to penetrate, sexual coercion, unwanted sexual contact, and noncontact unwanted sexual experiences.

Victim of stalking had recorded 15 percent for women and nearly 6 percent for men. Male being stalked reported a more even mix of males and females.

The survey took place over cellphones and landlines, with more than 12,000 completed interviews [the Washington Post, 5 Sep 2014].

It is common to put the blame on the pornographic industry for proliferating violent sex. The other media especially the World Wide Web is equally as guilty.