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Chalk it up to present times, but with just about everything changing regardless of the field, even personal fitness trainers have to use CPE courses to be able to stay qualified.
Yes, personal trainers, those guys and gals in the gym who make a profit helping people exercise!

It might seem like a no-brainer to become a personal trainer, but in theory a good deal of expertise is essential to be one – at least be one qualified by the most widely recognized organizations in the health club industry.
Hence, CPE courses for the trainers, which most have to take every two years in order to maintain their good standing with the grading body of their choice.

The “gold standard” with regards to such certifications is that issued by the American collge of Sports Medicine, or ACSM.
The ACSM has been available since the 1950s, and was the first ever to require CPE courses back in 1973, just as well-liked interest in recreational running took off.
Other prestigious organizations that issue widely recognized certifications include the American Council on Exercise (ACE), the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA), as well as the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) – to name but just a few.

Certainly, by some estimates, there are as many as three hundred certifying organizations in the industry!
Many of these are pure business ventures of very recent vintage, and many still are just certifications put out by the company that creates a product that’s very hot at the moment in order to, cynics claim, cash in on its reputation.
Still other fitness certifications pertain to specific types of exercise, whole theories patented and packed for consumption by a public enamoured of brand names.
In the end, obviously, the very expertise provided by even a certified personal trainer is instead readily accessible to anyone with an internet connection or a library card.

When it comes to comparison shopping, the creation of the worldwide web makes things much easier.
Just log on and identify numerous prices for whatever it is you’re looking to get.
It is often like this since just about the earliest days of the web but now in the 21st Century things are even more convenient.

By the same token, retailers have got considerably smarter about taking advantage of the medium and exploiting its characteristics – and, even, its weaknesses – to ensure sales, sales, and more sales.
As a result while comparison shopping has certainly become easier in some ways, it has now also become somewhat trickier in others.

As an example, a directory of retailers for some product or other may not really reflect what is available online so much as which retailers are being promoted by the site hosting this kind of list.
It is effortlessly conceivable that, far from offering any real price comparison, the list includes only those vendors that have, say, paid to be listed!
Such a situation would certainly make comparison shopping rather more challenging and none too convenient whatsoever – and regrettably it has become something of a norm online now.

Alternatively, the deals offered are certainly good deals and it is unlikely that prices could really be far lower most of the time.
Retail consumer electronics, for instance, is known for its low profit margins and as a result the best deals have been prone to be identified with big retailers who make money strictly via volume.
The mom-and-pop, in contrast, can only hope to lure customers with personalized service and other intangibles; they can never hope to compete on price alone.
Thus, it appears any given selection of prices would be fairly accurate, in spite of the omission of smaller vendors.

Just as you embark on reading through the underneath content article, it’s best to do this with the help of a good receptive mind and you are going to be thrilled that you may find out a lot more than you ever believed you would. Lots of people who weren’t particularly looking for the below piece but looking for pieces around Real Estate found the below piece useful. You just might as well if you take the time to go through it.

Evaluating your property or having it evaluated or appraised by a real estate appraiser is vital, as we are not all real estate gurus like Isaac Toussie, etc. The appraisal determines your property’s market value and can put a fair price on the house that will benefit you.

A real estate agent has the ability to get you a real estate deal much faster than if you were thinking of sourcing out one for yourself; getting one who is a real professional count.

Using a real estate agent is advisable for the reason that apart from providing you with a list of options that you can select from in terms of property, they are also adept at assessing your needs and giving advice on which property will fit you more.

Prices for a particular piece of property may differ according to the extent or level of need; a person who needs a house desperately will most likely buy it at a price that is higher than a person who is going about things in a sedate manner.

The first thing to take into consideration when thinking about hiring the services of a real estate agent is his/her reputation; is it pristine and devoid of dirty deals? A good reputation gives you the assurance to entrust a real estate search to him/her.

The articles and also tips we provide on this article site are generally and particularly related to Real Estate. It also has pieces that provide useful as well as important tips when enthusiastic about Real Estate. Take your time to go through our other many as well as highly educational pieces and you’ll concur that this is clearly one article site of repute worth visiting again and one that is worthy of informing your contacts, co-workers, relations as well as well-wishers about.

Arthritis isn’t just an ailment that affects aging adults people. While it is correct that a lot of people will develop arthritis as they grow older, it is also true that plenty of younger people are afflicted with it as well. Arthritis usually develops soon after a broken bone starts to heal. Other folks have a genetic predisposition to early onset arthritis. If you learn how to recognize the early symptoms of the disease it will make you better able to treat it. This allows you to retain a full range of motion for longer. The earlier you let arthritis take hold, the more difficult it is going to be for you to exercise and stay in shape. Keep an eye out for these things.

Joint pain is an obvious indicator of arthritis. Joint pain can be a symptom of lots of different problems, true, but it is one of the most obvious symptoms of arthritis. If the pain in your joints worsens with weather conditions (most notably moisture in the air or dropped temperatures) or only comes on when you have a fever it is more likely an indicator of the early stages of arthritis. Ask your doctor to do some X-Rays to figure out if there are other causes for your joint pain. Don’t just pop some ibuprofen and hope that it goes away.

One very disturbing symptom of arthritis is a decreasing ability to normally move your joints. Some stiffness is common. Our joints get stiff, for example, when we catch a cold or our muscles are tense. If the tightness doesn’t clear up once you have cleared up your health problems, you need to see a doctor. Do not try to just “stretch” or “exercise it away.” You might end up unintentionally shredding your muscles and making issues worse for yourself. A doctor can perform some muscle checks and make it easier to figure out if arthritis is the culprit behind your inability to move properly.

Do your joints feel warm? Call a family doctor. Warm joints implies that the body is sending additional blood to those places in an attempt to fix a problem that you probably cannot see. If you discover that your joints are warm for no reason, phone a family doctor without delay. It’s true that this may be a signal of arthritis but it can also be a symptom for something worse. The only way to figure it out beyond doubt is to call up a family doctor and let him or her perform some tests.

An arthritis diagnosis will not ought to be the end of the world. More and more advancements are designed in this area daily. In fact, when you get it in the first stages, there are medicines and therapies that you can use to help greatly slow down the advancement of the disease. You are no longer bound to copper necklaces and struggling. Many new innovations and insights have happened that may allow arthritis sufferers to retain their ranges of motion for a lot longer than they used to. Try to be positive. Lots of individuals lead properly normal lives despite severe arthritis!

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CPE courses are essential for professionals such as doctors, lawyers, and accountants. Teachers and also personal fitness trainers, now, will need some sort of continuing professional education in order to stay in good standing with their respective certification boards or professional associations. CPE courses should be made because in our fast-paced ever-changing world developments take place all the time, and recertification only occurs every few years, a veritable lifetime in terms of all the discoveries, as an example, that happen regularly.

In fact, even personal fitness trainers need some type of continuing education. Almost all the recognized certifying organizations in the industry, and definitely the biggest names like the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Council on Exercise, need them. Such CPE courses are written in the same dry academic language one would expect to find in one serving doctors and lawyers, perhaps the better to gain respect for them. For it does seem laughable that personal trainers should need licensing or continuing education. While there is surely a certain amount of expertise involved in what a real personal trainer does, is it really essential to require on-going education of them?

What more could be said about the biceps, or a bicep curl? Just how many discoveries are increasingly being made about the appropriate way to run, anyway? And how would any of that expertise help even a real personal trainer help his or her clients accomplish their fitness goals any better? Judging by the looks of things in the gym, the personal trainer is usually no more than a glorified babysitter, for all his or her knowledge. Does the world really want trainers who take industry-mandated continuing ed – did it ever even need their accreditation to start with?

Regardless of the answer, the spirit of continuing ed is here to stay – in that, in addition to many, many other professions and job fields.

The ordinary person on the street doesn’t have any idea why accounting scandals are extremely important.
Even otherwise knowledgeable laymen and women may dismiss the newest episode of financial malfeasance as nothing more than something similar to jaywalking, a practice that is theoretically bad but in actuality victimless.

After all, when was the last time you actually waited for the light to turn green ahead of crossing the street?
If there are no cars, or the car is far, far away down the (next) block, does it really sound right to adhere to a traffic light?

Such thinking is what ethics continuing education courses for the accounting profession seek to address.
It’s almost unavoidable that the rows and columns of numbers become divorced from reality at some point – particularly in the scenario of astronomical sums.
Moving money from the company’s left pocket into its right sounds healthy enough on the face of things; certainly, it seems outright needless when taken out of context.

But there is certainly a context, and that context is the ultimate point of a good ethics CPE course.
For there is a good reason why funds are stored separately, and why companies have to report their finances accurately.
Our system of free enterprise demands transparency so that investors can make totally informed decisions.
After all, investors are the true owners of a company.

Above and beyond such arguably private interests, however, are extremely public “big picture” concerns.
Take the case of privatization, where public ownership is traded for private ownership.
Good CPE ethics courses usually study these situations.
The claim for privateization is that private companies will run formerly public assets significantly better, more effectively and more profitably.
Many historical cases are cited in support of this belief, but in a lot of those cases closer inspection unveils unethical accounting methods that only lend an appearance of increased efficiency and profitability.

The web is an excellent boon for tinkerers, folks who love nothing but some cool DIY project over the weekend.
A veritable treasure trove of plans are available online for those willing to invest the time to research things, much of which are free for the taking.
A myriad of things can be built, and the expense of the materials required is often qutie marginal.
In the process, one can’t help but pick up a cornucopia of skills and factoids about our world and how things work in it!
Everyone can play the Thomas Edison these days in the 21st Century, thanks to the DIYer’s dream that is the internet.

It’s tough to come by small business loans – or leastways as compared to the past. That’s simply two or three years ago, actually. Long time, naturally, but then again not too long. It wasn’t all that long ago when credit was easy and money everywhere. But obviously, that’s what got the economy into this fix in the first place. Well, I don’t purport to understand all of it any farther than I can chuck a ton of economics textbooks, but I do believe that at the bottom of it all is good ol’ human nature, with all its greed and gullibility, not forgetting wishful thinking and just plain laziness. Hell, I know, ’cause it takes one to know one!

Going to enjoy the Great Outdoors?
Make sure to pack a backpacking tent or you may just regret it.
Mother Nature is no one to trick around with, and she can be quite unpredictable!
Thus, even if it is just a relatively short hike of at least half a day’s travel time, be sure to shoulder a lightweight backpacking tent, just in case (of storm or a whole lot worse).
This way, you will at least have shelter and not be completely subject to the elements.

Appears like sound judgment, doesn’t it?
Yet many hikers take to the trails without so much as a thought to the chance of disaster.
Of course, lots of people who enjoy the wild do so without schlepping along a backpacking tent, nevertheless light, and manage to survive perfectly.
Without a doubt, many such folks may be experienced survivalists!
But because it’s better to be safe than sorry, even at the tariff of some inconvenience, it is more than a good idea that one is carried.

It’s just good sense.

Besides, you weren’t going to go off entirely empty-handed, were you?
After all, what’s a hike with a corresponding picnic at some point!
And if you’re going to schlepp something along, why not one of the most important items of gear when it comes to anything outdoors-y.

You’re going to need your food and water in any care for sure.
It’s only just one more step to carrying a full-fledged tent, only designed to be as light as possible for urgent overnight stays.
The possible inconvenience is slight and pales in comparison next to the satisfaction that comes from being totally prepared.

So enjoy Mother Nature and her bounty – try not to tempt fate!
Do the right thing and stay pro-active, not merely reactive: don’t leave home without your tent!

You know, you may mandate all the ethics CPE courses you want but in the end there’s really no ceasing corruption and white-collar crime without publicly shaming the individuals concerned as well as exacting a draconian punishment.
Needless to say, there are numerous possible long-term and wide-ranging repercussions to such methods and tactics, but until the heart of man itself should change society at large will simply be playing catch-up with the criminals – generation after generation.

All things considered, who wouldn’t go to jail in exchange for tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars?
This is the standard connundrum that no ethics CPE course can really deal with: businessmen and women think when it comes to dollars and cents.
They can work the corporate grind for years and years and hopefully be recognized or they can rake in multiple millions now and in all probability not end up caught – and then not be too roughly punished if indeed caught.

For what sort of punishment is it to spend a couple of years jailed in a minimum-security facility that has cable TV, modern exercise equipment, and three square meals a day?
The millions embezzled are still safe, for the most part; clever criminals can bury their ill-gotten loot for long periods.
In anywhere from five to ten years’ time they can get out and enjoy life again.
It’s a Faustian Bargain, to be sure, but one that makes economic sense for many people, no matter what an ethics CPE course might preach.

More disturbing, having said that, is the fact that many white-collar criminals – indeed, many a criminal, period – aren’t motivated by such a calculus of monetary profit as opposed to time lost.
No; they seem to engage in illicit activities basically because they enjoy being able to do such things – period.
Could any ethics course – or any law, for that matter – dominate against such human nature?

Realty law is full of fascinating cases. Professional developers with numerous years within the industry can tell you “war stories” involving the most curious circumstances, including the bitter Brooklyn couple who literally divided half their house – the husband receiving the dining room whilst the wife received the kitchen!

Whilst not all are as humorous, all are most surely fascinating. 1 of the most frequent questions posed to first-year law students entails ownership of discovered valuables: a gold ring, say, is found on someone’s property, but does not belong to the property owner. Is it simply finder’s keepers?

Not inside the eyes of the law it is not. Real estate law is interpreted in such a way as to mean not only the land itself, but everything on the land. And most interestingly, even the wider economy can have an impact! Look at what would occur if a building that was contracted for turned out to have something which the buyer disapproved of. As an example, suppose a thoroughly essential last-minute amendment to the design occasioned the buyer’s wrath. It could be understandable if the buyer really should sue for cancellation of the contract, but years ago, just before the sub-prime lending disaster lead to our present economic malaise, it would have been rather surprising for the buyer to have sued.

That’s right – surprising, in a good economy, since legal expenses would have been made back by a bull market anyway: that’s, the buyer would have just sold the property onto a then ever-present roster of eager fellow buyers, persons who typically invested in property instead of purchasing them for residence. Yet as a result of the still-lackluster economy two years on from the economic crisis of 2008, buyers are extra likely to sue than ever prior to! And so it is that the guidance of seasonsed professionals like an Isaac Toussie are normally sought, business insiders whose experience include a wealth of such fascinating scenarios that will prove invaluable.

Thinking about kicking the habit but can’t quit cold-turkey? You’re one of many, obviously. If you’re the kind who must do things steadily, electronic cigarettes may be the best of all possibilities today. These remarkable devices do not actually create smoke but vapors that look like smoke, similar to stage fog that comes from dry ice. Without any combustion, carcinogens, or cancer-causing particles, are eliminated outright. And many varieties of e-cigarettes, as these items are also known, allow the user to choose the level of nicotine delivered, from normal levels similar to that obtained from a regular cigarette to absolute none whatsoever! This fact alone signifies that you can very easily and rather precisely calibrate your intake to best suit your smoking cessation regimen.

Indeed, a recently concluded 2010 study by the prestigious School of Public Health at Boston University discovered that electronic cigarettes seem to be of valuable help to those attempting to stop smoking. Moreover, for those who are still smoking, research indicated that using modern electronic means to do so was much safer, with up to a thousand times less carcinogens created than by conventional cigarettes. Indeed, the levels of toxicity found were determined to be related to levels existing in nicotine replacements such as patches and gums!

It must be noted, however, that most if not all manufacturers themselves do not actively market their products as smoking cessation aids but simply alternative types of enjoying a smoke. Resellers are actually much more competitive, however, in capitalizing on the couple of facts that have come out of certain studies. Luckily, the trade group representting the business has taken a sturdy stand against such marketing claims, forbidding its members from making them.

But what do the hundreds of thousands of users feel about these units? A 2009 online survey of three hundred by the University of Alberta found that they perceived advantages such as an elevated capability to exercise due to substituting regular cigarettes with electronic ones.

Swarovski Rhinestones are, no great surprise, rhinestones produced by Swarovski – but exactly what are rhinestones, and what makes one a Swarovski?
In fact, who, or what, is Swarovski?

Rhinestones are diamond simulants, with the best examples showing most of the same qualities as a real diamond – such as those created by Swarovski, a world-famous Austrian company that’s long been making such fine goods.
Originally established by Daniel Swarovski (born Daniel Swartz) back in the days of the Dual Monarchy of the Hapsburgs’ Austro-Hungarian Empire, the company has expanded into a luxury brand so well-respected that it has been selected to provide the star atop Rockefeller Center’s famous Christmas Tree every year.

But what of Swarovski Rhinestones?
Well, all that’s by way of sayings that when it comes to rhinestones, you can trust Swarovski to bring the same level of know-how that has been at the foundation of the company’s long history of technical excellence second to none.
Certainly, Daniel Swarovski was but only thirty years old when he patented an electric cutting machine that made it much simpler to make fine crystal glass.
With above a century of such expertise, their rhinestones, like all their crystal glass products, will be the finest examples of the craft and sometimes treasured as heirlooms.

Consider such realistic effects as shining sparkles and rainbows, in the same manner that a diamond would create.
With a Swarovski, it takes an expert gemologist to notice any difference – and then only under magnification.
Made out of rock crystal, glass, and even acrylic, the best rhinestones can just about rival the price of the real thing oftentimes!

Naturally, even Swarovski Rhinestones will only be but so faith in their verisimilitude.
A skilled eye with the assistance of magnification can view such tell-tale signs as seams and curved edges.
But for all practical reasons, a Swarovski rhinestone will do all right!

Taking CPE courses has always been a simple fact of professional life for those who choose to be doctors, lawyers, and accountants, but because of the ever-changing world we live in nowadays it is now required of practically everyone from teachers and social workers to even individual fitness trainers!

Normally, from a “bird’s-eye-view/big-picture” point of view, it is a good thing that the spirit of continuing education has permeated so many fields.
However, what could CPE courses do for personal trainers or, even, social workers?
Regarding the former, it is arguable that scientific developments happen all the time, new knowledge which should be incorporated into any exercise regimen.
While this is true in the abstract, in reality the fact of the
matter is that basic time-tested movements like the biceps curl will not change – ever.
And it is precisely such basic physical fitness protocols that comprise the overwhelming great majority of what most personal trainers do on a daily basis with their clients.

Requiring CPE courses of them sounds excellent in theory but it is in practice just for show.
It is perhaps also unnecessary for a profession like social work, although this is certainly a much more controversial idea.
But let’s return to the original motivation for continuing professional education – what is the point?
When it comes to medicine, scientific discoveries do in fact impact on healthcare.
Where the law is involved, changing politics will make for changed rules and regulations.
Same thing with accounting and taxes.
But social work?
How many new approaches to counsel a drug addict (or homeless person, or single mom, or juvenile delinquent, et cetera) could there be?

Needless to say, there are many reasons why the profession of social work feels a want for continuing education.
But unlike with the traditional professions, it is unlikely that these reasons have the type of impact they would in the case of doctors, lawyers, and accountants.
After all, a social worker is no longer not able to serve due to the fact he or she is unaware of the latest thinking in the field, whereas doctors, lawyers, and accountants would be irrelevant literally overnight if they didn’t keep up with current improvements!

Who’d ever have suspected that an electronics store could turn into a goose that lays golden eggs? It’s the American Dream, “a schmuck in the right place at the right time” taking advantage of his luck. But in what way does an electronics store come to be the gateway for billions of dollars’ of riches? Located in the center of Manhattan, Lafnac Digital Computers brings to mind New York’s old mom-and-pop retail days, in addition to cabbie-turned-billionaire Tamir Sapir – via electronics. Tamir Sapir came to the United States at the age of 26, in the year 1973, and got a gig driving, first buses in Tennessee next taxi cabs in New York City. Twenty years later, he became one of the most successful men anywhere, and is now among downtown Manhattan’s most influential landlords.

It all began with an electronics store, a lot like a Lafnac Digital Computers today, only then it was close to the Soviet embassy where prominent diplomats would go to shop. As he was born in the then Soviet Republic of Georgia and his store was within easy walking distance of the Soviet embassy, a relationship with these diplomats developed. By the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union, these official contacts were parlayed into the opportunity of a lifetime, with exclusive American rights to distribute former Soviet petrochemicals in exchange for mass shipments of Western electronics. The self-described “schmuck in the right place at the right time” used the revenue to purchase local realty at a recessionary time, only to reap enormous profits when the market inevitably picked up again.

Reflect on that the next time you scoff at something like a Lafnac Digital Computers – for who knows where it might all lead! And now the short near-chinless Sapir is a multi-billionaire with a leggy young blonde Ukrainian lady on his arms – all from selling some electronics to some Soviets! That’s probably together with quite a few other lady friends of a more casual companionship – alongside the many fantastic prime properties he counts as his residences around the world. And what of electronics? Indeed, what about them? The store is long gone but what a bargain in return!

The whole thing started with getting a taxi medallion – and giving it up to fund the opening of his electronics store so fatefully near the Soviet embassy. It sounds so unbelievable because it all looks so easy. And now Tamir Sapir joins the company of the only other New York cabbie to become wealthy, quite an exclusive club indeed in this town of elites!

Money is undoubtedly vital. It’s the very first thing anyone needs in society. And, basically, one of the best ways to get a lot of money can be to create your very own business. But what, specifically, ought you do? A retail electronics operation like Lafnac Digital Computers sounds like it must work because, hey, we all like gadgets. But this kind of operation is capital-intensive, particularly when considering the startup costs. Even given some savings or some venture capital, you may not feel comfortable risk a good deal away on any such adventures.

Besides, with regards to retail stores, it’s all about one thing: location, location, location – which in turn means only one thing: rent. The rent a Lafnac Digital Computers pays must be over the top. Obviously, it’s only a few short blocks away from legendary Times Square with its crush of tourists, ready to purchase. That means top dollar with respect to the rent. Consider that even for a simple restaurant on Broadway on the Upper West Side, miles away from the Crossroads of the World, rent would be in the tens of thousands of dollars every single month; imagine something located in the heart of midtown Manhattan! Even if income is ridiculously under-reported (ahem) or customers are robbed outright it could well be quite a challenge just breaking even, let alone turning out a worthwhile profit.

Many undervalue the effect rent has on a business. They look at something like Lafnac Digital Computers, with its enviable quantity of foot traffic and imagine that that’s all it takes to make a fortune. Naturally, those New York landlords are shrewder than a stereotypical Scot, and even if you were to rake in some fifty thousand dollars each month your rent would probably be over half that amount – at least!

So indeed you can count on high rates of shoppers, even foot traffic that’s rather well-heeled, but it’s most probably going to be challenging nonetheless on account of the rent. No, earning money is not easy, not even for a store in the middle of New York City. But what else is there? Clearly something that can give recurring income, income like royalty payments which need no more than a small amount of work to maintain at most. Pen the next bestselling novel, for instance, something whereby you could rest on your laurels for the rest of your life, basically anything where you just keep getting money for work that was done just that one time! The next Billboard Number One, the next hit film, anything, so long as there are assured royalty payments every time it is used!

One of the most fascinating aspects of the web is how it magnifies just about anything exponentially. Put a message in a bottle and send it off to the ocean and even if anyone ever finds it that’s just one person who’s heard your word. Put that same message on the worldwide internet and suddenly individuals from all over the world are knocking on your door. Obviously, it is not as simplistic as that, but such circumstances aren’t too unusual, either – at least not with some excellent SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. And so it really is that some rather insidious myths or misinformation has gained wider and wider currency as a result of their being disseminated by way of the web, their ill effects magnified manifold as a result of ever quicker technologies. Chief among these are those misconceptions involving the realty organization.

Naturally, business insiders know all about them, but what’s the layman to do? Fortunately, the rather web that has made achievable such widespread prevalence of half-truths and falsehoods has also supplied the antidote to them, usually from industry insiders within the know such as well-known developer Isaac Toussie, consumers who share their insights through all the many different blogs, tweets, and news articles obtainable on the internet, typically for totally free. It’s tough to separate the digital chaff from the digital wheat when it comes to free guidance nowadays, but a great method to commence could be to go to the various forums devoted to real estate topics and carefully weigh everything that’s said.

Basically, one needs to exercise all due diligence and conduct probably the most thorough research. Sounds mind-numbingly obvious sufficient at 1st, but quite a few forget the basics and get flustered by info overload – most if it misinformed. Keep the basics in mind and it will be harder to get swindled; for example, you can’t cheat an honest man: if it looks too good to be true, it really is!

E-commerce, e-publishing, e-this, e-that.
And then, in one of the weirdest ever occasions, the kind that makes the “believe it or nuts” section of the local daily, the sort that is spoofed on TV with a soundtrack of Richard Strauss’ “Thus Spake Zarathustra” for an accommodation, the innovation of the e-cigarette.

You heard that right, an electronic cigarette.

Hon Lik was a Chinese pharmacist who smoked first thing in the morning, as well as in-between bites of lunch and, well, just about all the time.
He would be through two packs by dinnertime, with another before retiring for the night.

Smoking prodigiously was the family hobby, and in China, where some sixty percent of the men smoke, it’s arguably the national pastime, second only after dining out.
But when his own father died of lung cancer, the middle-aged Hon Lik finally resolved to kick the habit – and, along the way, invent the e-cigarette.

It’s one of the strangest gizmos to come out of Asia, so interesting that one might be surprised it hadn’t already been thought of in Japan long ago, the country most often linked with technological novelties both sublime and ridiculous.
But there it is, an electronic cig, a smoke free cigarette, additionally.

You heard that right, smokeless.

No carcinogens, or very, very little.
No nicotine, even, if the user so wishes!
A cigarette-looking device that simply uses a small battery to vaporize a small amount of flavored liquid to produce, well, vapors, vapors similar to stage fog.

That’s all.

As strange as these things are, nevertheless, stranger still may be the claims that they help one quit smoking, or, even, are better alternatives to cigarette smoking – strange because such claims may be correct, if the conclusions from a current 2010 Boston University School of Public Health review are to be believed!