America losing the war on obesity

Its official — Americans are the fattest people in the world.  In a recent study published in the medical journalLancet,theUSAwas named the most obese country in the world, with 87 million of the world's 671 million obese people — 13 percent of the total for a country with 5 percent of the population.

According to one of America's leading stress experts Paul Huljich, a primary cause of rising obesity rates is stress.

A balanced and healthy diet is crucial to good health and overcoming stress.  In his book,Stress Pandemic, 9 Natural Steps to Break the Cycle of Stress & Thrive(published byMwella), Paul Huljich shares a powerful yet simple and holistic approach to nutrition, paying added attention to the effects of what we eat on our neurochemistry.  "Ensuring that we are supporting a healthy neurochemical balance is a vital and proactive step toward managing our stress," Mr. Hulijch asserts.  "When you feel tense, stress eating or emotional-eating is triggered like an automatic response. That's especially so if your body reacts strongly to stress-released hormones."

A 2010 study from theUniversity of Michiganshowed that when levels of the stress hormone cortisol were boosted in healthy, non-stressed adults, they ate more junk food.  When people feel stressed out, most either stop eating altogether or binge on high-fat, high-sodium products such as chocolate, doughnuts, potato chips and other snack foods.  And when combined with America's growing portion sizes, people grow sicker, gain weight and develop bad habits that can endure a lifetime unless they say "NO" and take charge of what and how they eat. 

Mr. Huljich believes that as a society we must revolutionize the ways in which we eat beginning with cutting out all the C-R-A-P (an acronym for caffeine, refined sugar, alcohol and processed food).  He also does not endorse the use of fad diets, counting calories or choosing to eat certain food groups over others.  His approach to a healthy diet, which is outlined in detail in his bookStress Pandemic, is a balanced and practical one, which first identifies and bases his diet on the good foods and eating patterns in your life while eliminating the bad ones. 

Bad eating habits start young so where else to begin teaching kids about good nutrition outside of home but in this nation's schools?  Thankfully, people like First LadyMichelle Obamaare championing this national problem. Crusading to end childhood obesity, the Obama administration recently enacted changes to government-subsidized school meals—which adds more fruits and green vegetables to breakfasts and lunches and reduces the amount of salt and fat—is under fire by House Republicans despite its positive track record thus far in our nation's schools.  In response to such resistance,Michelle Obamarecently struck back at her naysayers and called a recent meeting with school nutrition officials who said the guidelines have been working in their schools.  The event was an unprecedented move for the first lady, who has shied away from policy fights since she lobbied for congressional passage of the child nutrition law in 2010.  "The last thing we can afford to do right now is play politics with our kids' health," Mrs. Obama told participants.

A balanced eating plan supports all of the body's functions so that it can absorb and use nutrients efficiently and effectively. Health maintenance promotes physical fitness and disease prevention such as the risk for heart disease, heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes and some forms of cancer.  "We are a nation trying to find a cure yet not looking closely enough at the symptoms," states Huljich. "By finding the courage to and wisdom to look at the root cause, going back to basics, and teaching good habits to our nation's children, we can learn how to fortify, empower and master our stress, lose weight and live longer and healthier lives."

Oberhelman: Cat maintains commitment to sustainability

Caterpillar Inc. has no plans to end its sustainability efforts borne by decades of initiatives, Chairman Doug Oberhelman told shareholders Thursday during the company’s annual meeting in Corinth, Mississippi.

That’s because, he said, the future needs of people around the world will rely on companies like Caterpillar to do their part for making the environment stronger and the economic stable.

"Caterpillar has been on this sustainability journey for decades and won’t ever stop. We will continue to build, develop and power the world, and make sustainable progress possible," Oberhelman said in his speech during the annual meeting at its flagship remanufacturing plant. It is there that old, used Caterpillar machines and parts are broken down and remanufactured to be like new. In fact, remanufactured parts carry the same warranty as new.

Oberhelman said the meeting’s location was one reason he chose to speak of Caterpillar commitment to sustainability and to outline the company's successes and initiatives in the three aspects of sustainability - economic, environmental and social.

"Over the last 10 years, our U.S. and overseas remanufacturing facilities have returned more than 500,000 tons of materials  ̶  materials that might have otherwise been scrapped or gone to a landfill ... and we’ve kept over one million tons of greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere through remanufacturing alone,” he said.

To give that perspective, he said one should consider the Empire State Building, which weighs 365,000 tons. Or, closer to home, 500,000 tons equals the weight of 4,300 D11 bulldozers, the largest Caterpillar makes.

“Those numbers are pretty impressive.  We can be very proud of our sustainability record, and we’re going to keep improving. We’ve continued to make our operations safer. We’ve got a great example right here -- the Sawyer facility core processing team has gone seven years with zero injuries. 

“World leadership in safety and remanufacturing are two examples of how sustainability is integral to Caterpillar, and it has been ever since our company was formed promising to deliver durable and reliable tractors,” he said.

Oberhelman said it’s important to discuss sustainability and continue to commit to it “because the world’s middle class is projected to more than double from 2 billion today to 4.9 billion by 2030. They will expect – and deserve  ̶  higher standards of living. It’s important because nearly one billion people in the world today lack access to clean water. It’s important because energy demand is expected to double between now and 2050. It’s important because Caterpillar is uniquely positioned to help meet these demands for energy, water, and higher living standards.”

Noting that Caterpillar has made sustainability one of its core values, Oberhelman likened it to a three-legged stool. Each leg  ̶  economical, environmental and social  ̶  must be equal or the entire system will be out of balance.

He cited numerous examples of how Caterpillar keeps each leg balanced, including such things as fuel efficiency, reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and investments in education.  

“Caterpillar is, and will remain, a company our employees are proud to work for, a company our customers are proud to do business with and a company our shareholders are proud to own,” Oberhelman said.

Mayor Ardis Twittergate and Online Satire

Mayor Jim Ardis gave a press conference last night, with no questions from media, hot on the heels of the ACLU announcing they are suing the City of Peoria, IL.

Many Peoria residents who follow WMBD on Facebook saw the link in their newsfeed to the press conference video that WMBD recorded and uploaded to YouTube. Peoria Journal Star reporters and other media personnel also linked to the video and engaged in discussions of this situation on Facebook.

An ugly and unfortunate circumstance has now grown worse and it's hard to tell where this story is going to end. I have no expertise regarding law or city government, but I can provide some expertise on social media platforms and online community policies.

Let me explain a few things about Twitter, parody, verified accounts, and PR.

From Twitter Terms of Service:

“Impersonation: You may not impersonate others through the Twitter service in a manner that does or is intended to mislead, confuse, or deceive others.”

https://support.twitter.com/articles/18311-the-twitter-rules

All Mayor Ardis had to do was notify Twitter about a violation of their Terms of Service. The fake Twitter account with the nasty statements would have been deleted, terminated, removed. All this controversy, the police raid, ACLU involvement, and quoting of foul tweet language in the press conference could have been avoided.

In the press conference video, the mayor says his identity was stolen. No, it was caricatured. He asks why the tweets never entered print or broadcast media. Because they were unseemly. By quoting them in the press conference, in a misguided attempt to arouse sympathy or elicit outrage, he does no service to his cause.

PR firms are used by CEOs and politicians to shield them and fine-tune the spin when a scandal or tricky situation arises. To attempt to dance through the mine field on your own can have disastrous results.

This is why a media celebrity, CEO, tech pundit, music artist, film star, or public official gets a Verified Account on Twitter, so people will know which account is the real, authentic person. It is a good idea to have a profile on all the most popular social networks, to prevent enemies or people who are trying to be comedians from creating an account in your name. It's a form of online squatting. Staking a claim to your name and protecting your legacy.

This threat of impersonation is also why you should never delete your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or other account. A malicious person might start a new account in your name, spam your friends and colleagues with friend requests or invitations to connect, and then spew forth crazy, filthy content supposedly coming from you.

Twitter has a special antidote to this. It's called the Verified Account.

If a Twitter account is not labeled Verified Account (with a large check mark), people will be skeptical about it. There have been many fake, satirical, parody Twitter accounts for celebrities, tech gurus, CEOs, etc. and they are NOT labeled parody. Sometimes they are called The Fake Steve Jobs or the Anti-Bill Gates or similar, but often they just use the real name.

False but comical “news report” websites are sometimes labeled satire, but often these sites have buried the disclaimer at the bottom of their Home page or in the About page. Other times, you have to surmise that the “news” is just Mad magazine or Saturday Night Live-type humor by recognizing the absurdity of the content.

The Onion has no such satire notification and poses as legitimate, with “America's Finest News Source” as their tagline. “America's Funniest Pseudo News Source” would be more accurate. Their latest article is entitled “Resigning House Leader Cantor Reflects on All the Accomplishments He Thwarted.”

http://www.theonion.com/

The Daily Currant has no indication that is a humor website, but in the HTML code the title tag, which shows up in Google search results listings, says “The Daily Currant - The Global Satirical Newspaper of Record.” On the website itself, what users see in their browser, there is no warning to not take it seriously.

http://dailycurrant.com/

News Biscuit has this slogan: “News Written By You.” A recent article is entitle “Egypt Swears in New Pharaoh for the Next 4,00O Years.” Their disclaimer, a link in the footer at the bottom of the Home page says they endeavor to ensure the accuracy of the reports. It's not clear that it's a satire site. You have to comprehend this based on the very silly content.

http://www.newsbiscuit.com/

Comedy Central has a website called Indecision. Its tagline is “News, Politics, and Other Jokes.”

http://www.cc.com/indecision

Private Eye, which is referred to as the British version of The Onion, seems legitimate on the Home page, but does carry this message on the About page: “...offers a unique blend of humour, social and political observations and investigative journalism.”

http://www.private-eye.co.uk/

Google News participates in the trending craze of parody and comedy news, with this notice: “To offer a diversity of opinions and content, Google News does contain some satire, often humorous or hyperbolic stories with the intention of social commentary. We identify these types of articles with the tag (satire), so that you'll know when you're reading a satirical article.”

https://support.google.com/news/answer/40264?hl=en

It is indeed unfortunate that the City of Peoria did not have public relations experts review the ACLU news and formulate a better response to it. Apparently, the City of Peoria has no communications staff and not much going on in social media, just a steady stream of press releases. This is unfortunate. Cities, companies and individuals must adapt to the changing media landscape, for if they do not, they may bitterly regret it.

It is time to re-examine how taxpayer funds are invested. Perhaps less money to developers, especially in light of the problems with the Pere Marquette and other money-losing projects, and more money to real municipal needs is in order. Filling pot holes, for example.

A college student intern with a passion for social media would have known how to report the fake Twitter account that pretended to be Jim Ardis. Anyone reading the inflammatory tweets would know the account was bogus.

Pubic relations and social media management are required for any large organization. Much can be done to prevent or remedy negative social network information dissemination through deft maneuvering of content and audience building. There are also reputation management companies who specialize in counteracting negative online publicity.

Here's a website that explains why and how a city should use social media for information dissemination and for active participatory conversations with engaged constituents:

http://thesocialcity.org/

Parody and satire Twitter accounts do not have to be labeled as such. Neither are they stealing an identity. I am also relatively sure that a public official cannot sue for defamation of character or libel in a case like this. Mayor Ardis even mentioned taking action against the “hosting” of the fake Twitter account, which I assume means suing Twitter.

Another thing I'm sure Mayor Ardis and his team did not think about is the tendency of musicians to sample audio and use vocal statements out of context. Already there is at least one music video that has excerpted the “choice phrases” of his news conference and put them into a music video with satirical images of the mayor. This was accomplished just a few hours after the news conference. I refrain from posting the link to it.

See the Mayor's press conference video uploaded by local WMBD news outlet.

WARNING: Video is unfit for work or family viewing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCYwgP7CE5w

Cat increases quarterly dividend 17 percent

Caterpillar Inc. increased its quarterly cash dividend by 17 percent to 70 cents a share after a vote Wednesday by its board of directors.

The increase, announced during Caterpillar’s annual meeting of shareholders, is payable Aug. 20 to shareholders of record at the close of business on July 21, the company said.

"This dividend increase demonstrates our financial strength and confidence in long-term prospects for the company,” said Caterpillar Chairman Doug Oberhelman.

“Despite business and economic uncertainties around the world, our balance sheet has remained strong – the strongest it's been in more than two decades – positioning us to perform through the cycles. In addition, our global team has delivered solid operational and financial performance, enabling Caterpillar to return over $5 billion of capital to stockholders through stock buybacks and dividends since the beginning of 2013," he said.

"We are proud of our long dividend history, in which Caterpillar has paid a cash dividend to our stockholders every year since the company was formed in 1925. We are equally proud that during this period, our equipment and services have helped build, grow and power the world," Oberhelman added.

Caterpillar has paid higher dividends to its stockholders for 20 consecutive years, and since 1998 the company's cash dividend has more than tripled.