Author Archives: Edward Brownlee

Nitric Oxide

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Many people think that taking nitric oxide supplements will enhance blood flow in the body to improve performance in sports, promote healing, enhance heart health, and provide many other potential benefits.

To reduce inflammation or improve your digestion, sleep quality, immunity, memory, and behavior, you need to know about nitric oxide.

Nitric oxide is an essential molecule required for overall health. As a vasodilator, nitric oxide signals the blood vessels to relax, allowing them to expand.

Nitric oxide is most known for its role in heart health as it is a potent vasodilator and regulator of blood pressure, making your blood vessels supple and flexible, which allows them to withstand pressure changes.

What is Nitric Oxide?

Nitric oxide is a gaseous molecule synthesized from the amino acid L-arginine with molecular oxygen by synthases, neuronal (nNOS), endothelial (eNOS), and inducible (iNOS).

Nitric oxide performs crucial roles in vascular and neuronal signal transduction, smooth muscle contractility, bioenergetics, platelet adhesion and aggregation, immunity, and cell death regulation.

Benefits of Nitric Oxide:

Research shows that Nitric oxide has blood-flow-enhancing effects and supports healthy delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the muscles during exercise.

There may be benefits of Nitric oxide supplements for sexual enhancement and erectile dysfunction. Studies imply that some men can use Nitric oxide as a natural way to aid with erectile issues and maintain a healthy sexual experience.

Nitric oxide is produced by the endothelial cells lining the arteries; however, Nitric Oxide levels can naturally decrease as you age.

As you age, your body slows down and produces less of almost everything than it did in your younger years.

Additionally, many unknowingly use antibacterial mouthwash or acid blockers to cut down the acid in their stomach. Both of these products destroy the good bacteria in your mouth and your gut. You need these bacteria to convert certain nutrients in your body into Nitric Oxide.

Regular physical exercise is a great way to enable and empower our body’s function. It helps distribute much-needed life-giving oxygen and healthy nutrients to the rest of the body. However, exercising 24/7 isn’t reasonably achievable for the everyday person.

You can boost naturally Nitric oxide levels in your body. A diet of foods such as spinach, beets, celery, arugula lettuce, iceberg lettuce, carrots, parsley, cabbage, radishes, collard greens, etc., have small amounts of nitric oxide. Changes in diet can improve Nitric oxide levels.

You Do Need Life Insurance

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To protect those who depend on you financially, you need life insurance.  Life insurance provides peace of mind—for you and those who rely on you. It’s a way to ensure your loved ones are financially protected.

Some of the benefits they could receive include:

  • protection against financial loss 
  • supplemental funds for everyday needs
  • help with rent/mortgage, childcare, and tuition costs 
  • assistance with funeral expenses

Life insurance is money paid to your loved ones in the event of your death. It can pay off debts and final expenses, fund children’s education, pay off a mortgage and take care of the day-to-day needs of those who depend on you. Plus, life insurance can be affordable and flexible:

  • Understand the difference between term and whole-life policies
  • Determine how much coverage makes sense for you. While you can’t pinpoint exactly how much life insurance you’ll need to purchase down to the nickel, you can make an informed estimate using a strategy that considers your current financial situation and future needs. 
  • Calculate your monthly costs.

Term life insurance is suitable for fixed-term coverage needs like paying off a mortgage or funding your child’s education.

If you’re looking for low-cost coverage, a term life policy is the most affordable type available. You can choose how much and how long the policy will cover you.

Whole life insurance is the most well-known and offers you lifelong protection with benefits including wealth transfer, charitable giving, and maintaining the same standard of living for your family.

A whole life insurance policy, sometimes called “permanent life,” offers lifelong protection. In addition to insuring your life, it can be customized to address unique financial goals, like transferring your assets and charitable giving.

 

U.S. Government Shutdown

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Government operations will begin to shut down at midnight on Saturday, September 30, 2023, unless lawmakers can agree on extending the current federal budget, a compromise that has been elusive for months.

The 2023 fiscal year ends on September 30th, and with it, so does the budget plan to keep almost all federal operations active.

Fights between Democrats and Republicans on future federal spending levels — and fights within the House GOP caucus itself — have not produced any likely plans so far to stave off an appropriations lapse. A government shutdown means millions of Americans won’t get the services they depend on. Federal workers won’t get their paychecks. People’s livelihoods will be upended.

A government shutdown would be the first to affect all federal agencies since 2013 when about 850,000 federal workers — about 40% of the government workforce — were furloughed for 16 days amid that congressional fight.

For the military, if lawmakers do not reach a short-term budget extension or full-year appropriations plan for government agencies by October 1, the resulting budget lapse will trigger the shutting down of non-essential military activities like family moves and some training operations.

Troops would still be required to report for duty but could miss their mid-October paychecks if the shutdown stretches from days to weeks. In 2013, just hours before a 16-day government shutdown triggered by political fights on Capitol Hill, lawmakers overwhelmingly passed special legislation to prevent that salary stoppage for troops.

References:

  1. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2023/09/25/government-shutdown-set-for-next-weekend-barring-surpise-budget-deal/

Bourbon Corner: Knob Creek 12

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In 2020, Jim Beam released Knob Creek 12 Year Bourbon, a brand new bourbon to the Knob Creek.  Knob Creek 12 year is an absolute amazing bourbon.

  • Distillery: Jim Beam
  • Type & Region: Bourbon, Kentucky, USA
  • Alcohol: 50%
  • Composition: 75% corn, 13% rye, 12% barley
  • Aged: 12 years
  • Color: 1.2/2.0 on the color scale (tawny)
  • MSRPrice: $60-70

Incredibly satisfying. deep caramel color with a perfect balance of oak, spice and heat. It’s can be hard to find on store shelves but it’s worth the effort.

Recommendation is drink neat or create the perfect old fashion!

Long-term Investing Perspective

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Warren Buffett once said, “Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”

One tried and true investment philosophy is investing with a long-term perspective. In essence, the time-arbitrage approach gives long-term investors an edge. Most investors are focused on the short term, basing trading decisions on factors that may have little to do with business fundamentals, such as quarterly earnings beat or miss or overall market volatility.

Long-term investors often adopt a long-term perspective while taking advantage of the shortsightedness and noise of the market. They tend to conduct extensive research and conduct a deep dive into the fundamentals of every company in which they are considering an investment.

Their extensive research allows them to develop an informed and thorough understanding of the longer-term secular advantages of these companies. Ultimately, they are more interested in the duration of a company’s growth opportunity rather than being overly focused on its timing.

They like to invest early before a company is on the market’s radar because they believe it’s impossible to pinpoint precisely when the market will notice and start trading the stock up to reflect its growth opportunity properly. This is a vital part of the engine that drives alpha for us.

Low turnover is an outgrowth of this investment process rather than a goal in and of itself. If they find and invest in the right companies, they believe that it makes little sense to replace these companies with new and relatively untested ones. Wsupported remain invested throughout the duration of the growth trajectory of our highest conviction companies. We also believe this is a more tax efficient approach to managing a portfolio and one that is often attractive to company management who are aware of our reputation as long-term holders of stock.

Your primary goal must be capital appreciation, and you should stay involved as companies grow and flourish as long as your investment thesis holds true.

The best risk management starts with knowing the companies in which you invest. By conducting extensive research prior to initiating a position in a company and continuing to conduct due diligence will keep you apprised of the company’s growth story.

World Gratitude Day

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Today is World Gratitude Day

World Gratitude Day is observed annually on September 21. to mark the importance of appreciating people and expressing gratitude.

World Gratitude Day is a reminder of the importance of expressing gratitude by thanking people and appreciating the things you have. It is a day aimed at realizing the importance of showing appreciation and gratitude for the people around us.

Gratitude promotes happiness by giving people more positive emotions and making them savor good experiences. Gratitude helps people savor good moments, appreciate life, deal more effectively with bad experiences, improve their health, and build more rewarding relationships.

A regular gratitude practice can make you healthier and lead to…

👉 Better mood
👉 Better sleep
👉 Lower blood pressure
👉 Improved immune function

Never regret a day in your life.

  • Good days bring happiness,
  • Bad days give experiences,
  • The worst days give lessons, and the best days give memories.
  • Every day is a unique chapter in your story, filled with valuable moments that shape your journey.
  • Cherish them all, for they contribute to the beautiful tapestry of your life.

Follow a Compass

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Conventional wisdom says that to be successful, you should build a career plan: Map out where you are now, where you want to be, and the steps you’ll need to take to get there. However, Seth Godin, a bestselling author,  disagrees with that conventional wisdom since he never followed a predetermined path. His advice: Use “a compass and not a map.”

Your compass is your vision — who you aspire to be outside of a job title. Following it means pursuing decisions that make you happier and more content in the short term rather than following a pre-planned set of steps that may or may not eventually lead to your “dream job.”

Maps are great! They get you from point A to point B and help you stay on the right track! Yet, everyone’s got the same map, following the same routes, visiting the same sights. So, if you try to run your business or career using a map, your business or career will look, sound, and feel like any other out there. How do you stand out like that?

As a business owner and individual, what you need is a compass!

This won’t give you a step-by-step guide. No, it does something better! It points you towards your goal, leaving the path to reach it totally up to you. Unpredictable turns and unexpected terrains provide the chance to craft a unique journey. That’s what will make your business stand out!

Now, I’m not saying that you should throw away the map! Glance at it from time to time to see what routes work and which ones lead to nowhere. Just don’t follow it unthinkingly, or you might end up like some of the drivers who follow GPS without using their judgment – in a lake!:D

Your business needs that compass mentality. It’s not about retracing steps but charting your unique journey.

Those decisions may not always pan out, but you’ll learn enough from each failure to succeed eventually, Godin said.

Tesla – Electric Vehicles

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Tesla is planning to build another factory overseas, There is a demand across the globe by several nations wanting the plant to built.

Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, would like the next Tesla factory to be built in his country. Erdogan asked the Tesla CEO to put the eighth factory for its electric vehicles in Turkey.

Musk mentioned India as a possible place to make a low-cost electric vehicle. Tesla is currently building a factory in Mexico.

Saudi Arabia is also vying for the new plant. Attracting Tesla would be part of a push by Saudi Arabia to secure metals needed for EVs in Africa as the country tries to diversify its economy away from oil, reports Barron’s.

VO2 Max

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VO2 max is the single best indicator of cardiorespiratory fitness.

When it comes to measuring fitness and longevity, there is one number cardiovascular experts believe rule them all: VO2 max. VO2 max — or your oxygen uptake — shows how much oxygen your body absorbs and uses while working out. V is for volume, O2 is for oxygen and max is for maximum. Many health experts consider it the single best indicator of cardiorespiratory fitness, and research has found it correlates to longevity as well.

A person’s maximal oxygen consumption, also known as VO2 max—a measurement of how well the body takes in and uses oxygen while exercising at a high intensity—is a useful statistic to gauge fitness and cardiovascular health. A higher VO2 max score means the heart and lungs are transporting more oxygen-rich blood to the muscles, increasing energy production and maximizing athletic performance.

The most accurate VO2 max tests are done in a laboratory where you are hooked up to a mask that measures oxygen consumption as you exercise. VO2 max is measured in milliliters of oxygen a minute per kilogram of body weight. The more oxygen you burn, the fitter you are.

Activity level Average VO2 max
Sedentary 27-30 mL/kg/min
Active 33.0-36.9 mL/kg/min
Very active ≤ 77 mL/kg/min

Source:  Cleveland Clinic.

If you are on a treadmill, you are told to walk or run faster and faster until your oxygen consumption stops rising. If you go beyond this point, you will increasingly be using anaerobic energy—which doesn’t burn oxygen—and you will have trouble sustaining it for long periods.

References:

  1. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-is-vo2-max-and-how-to-calculate-it/
  2. https://www.barrons.com/articles/vo2-max-test-increase-fitness-age-128c53cd