Sci-Fi Legend Reveals Why Women

Are Taking Over Movies, Science Fiction and Fantasy!

Topic Summary

It used to be that only guys went to action movies or read science fiction. It used to be that comics and video games were the sole territory of guys who couldn’t get dates. It used to be that only men could be action heroes.

Well, tell that to Angelina Jolie, Cameron Diaz, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana, Katherine Heigle, Megan Fox, and, well, just about any actress working in movies today. They might disagree, because they are all starring as strong, heroic characters in movies that are out this summer, including “Killers”, “Salt”, “Knight and Day”, “Jonah Hex”, “The Losers” and more.

David Weber, a New York Times best-selling author who is now launching his 15^th book featuring his female hero Honor Harrington, called Mission of Honor, argues the point that women have come a long way in modern entertainment.

“Women have made science fiction, fantasy and action movies mainstream,” Weber said. “As recent as only 20 years ago, women weren’t as much characters as they were bait for villains, waiting to be rescued by a man. Today, women do the rescuing, and more and more women are watching them in movies, reading about them in books and even buying comics featuring female protagonists.”

Discussion Questions

What is it about today’s science fiction that has captured the imaginations of so many women?

• How are the female heroes faring in the mainstream media, as well as in science fiction?
• Who are your favorites, and why?
• What inspired you to write science fiction?
• What about your character Honor Harrington is so unique that she is now on her 15^th book?

Topic Overview

David Weber thinks science fiction has come a long way.

“It used to be that the science fiction section in the book store was hidden away in the corner, and only those willing to be labeled geeks went near it,” said Weber, whose books own a serious piece of real estate in most book stores. “Today, it’s very prominent, as are graphic novels (remember when they were called comic books?), which are one of the largest parts of the store. And it’s not just the big recognizable franchises that are making money. Many less recognized books are being made into large movies. It’s not so much about whether people will recognize the title, anymore — it’s all about the story.”

Women have also come a long way in science fiction and fantasy, according to Weber.

“Back in the days of the pulp science fiction novels of the 1930s and ‘40s, women tended to be window dressing,” said Weber, whose primary heroine, Honor Harrington, is a female military commander. “They existed so they could be damsels in distress, always being tied to a ticking bomb or a rocket about to be shot off into space unless the male hero rescued them in the nick of time. These days, they’re heroes. I LOVED Sigourney Weaver’s role in Avatar. She had courage and heart, and was a lynchpin in the story — no window dressing there.”

While Sigourney Weaver may have been one of the most recognizable female heroes in the movies, dating back to the movie Alien, today’s top films are rife with female action stars.

Weber said that as women’s role in society at large has been accepted, even in the role of soldiers in combat, their role in science fiction and fantasy has benefited.

About David Weber

With more than six and a half million copies of his books in print and fourteen of his titles on the New York Times best seller list, David Weber is the science fiction publishing phenomenon of the decade. A lifetime military history buff, David Weber has carried his interest in history into his fiction. In the best-selling Honor Harrington series, the spirit of both C.S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower and history’s Admiral Nelson are evident. Mission of Honor is Weber’s 15^th book featuring the character.

America’s Money Doctor Gives Family-Friendly Financial Planning Tips

Topic Summary

If the economic mess was a disobedient child, at least one expert would recommend a spoonful of castor oil and a good old-fashioned whack on the behind to set him straight.

“We need to get back to basic common sense,” said Louis Scatigna, Certified Financial Planner and national radio talk show host known as “The Financial Physician.” “The economy is a mess, and there are two sides of the cause. Yes, the big banks and investment houses were lending money through high-risk products without an ounce of sense to the outcome. However, for them to be knee-deep in bad investments, they had to be selling them to someone. All those high-risk mortgage loans belong to people who were buying more house than they could afford and they knew it. All those people with high credit card debt weren’t having their arm twisted by the credit card companies. They were simply given the chance to live beyond their means and now they are paying for it.”

Scatigna, author of The Financial Physician: How to Cure Your Money Problems and Boost Your Financial Health (www.thefinancialphysician.com), recommends a back-to-basics approach for consumers to get through the rough patches on the road to recovery.

“To a certain extent, recovery is irrelevant,” he added. “A lot of these troubles would correct themselves if the average American just buckled down a bit more, and exercised some restraint and common sense.”

Discussion Questions

• What have Americans been doing wrong with their money?
• How important is financial literacy to financial health?
• Why do you use medical analogies in your discussions about financial matters?
• You predicated this financial crisis 2 years before it happened — what do you see coming in the years ahead?
• Why do you view Wall Street as anti Main Street?
• What do you mean when you say Americans have feelings of material entitlement?

Topic Overview

Scatigna’s tips for getting through include: 

• Stop using the credit cards, sort of – The average American is carrying about $7,500 in revolving debt, and it’s only going to continue to grow if people don’t stop using their credit cards for things they don’t need. I call credit card debt cancer to the financial body; it’s the worst form of debt available and dangerous to your financial health. Now, some banks are starting to charge “inactivity fees” to people who don’t use their cards, and that’s only one of the rubs. If you have credit, and don’t use it, it may actually adversely affect your credit accounts and reduce your credit rating. The best thing to do is buy something small with your credit card once a month, or use your credit card for one grocery run each month, and then pay it off with the next billing cycle. That keeps your card active, and the regular use will reflect positively on your credit rating. 
• Only spend what you have – If you don’t have it in your checking account, don’t spend it. Many households that can’t make ends meet get into trouble because they are spending their money on things they really don’t need. Make a budget and stick to it, even if it hurts a little for now. When your cash flow increases, you can relax the rules. Remember buy what you need, not what you want. 
• Pay down your debt – When you have a little extra money to spend, don’t splurge. Use it to pay extra on your credit cards. In many cases, paying the minimum balance on your credit cards won’t reduce your debt by much. A simple $10,000 balance could take as long as 15 years to pay off if you stick to minimum payments. By the time you pay it off, you could actually spend double the amount of your debt because of increasing interest rates. 
• Use cash when you can – The debit card can be deadly, because it is so easy to swipe it and forget it. Because some debit card transactions take days to clear, many people operate day to day without a clear picture of what they have in their checking accounts, leading to the surprise of being overdrawn. If you can track your debit card use closely, then do so. If not, drawing cash for specific purposes and sticking to those budget items is a low-tech way of keeping things straight. In the depression of the 1930s, many families used mason jars marked with their regular expenditures as a way of keeping track of their monthly budget. It’s not pretty, but it got many Americans through the worst depression in history.

“There are a great many of us who are in dire financial straits, and are already tightening the belt as far as it will go,” he said. “Many of those families are already doing the hard work of living within their means. However, many of us still cling to some of the bad habits that put us in the mess we’re in now. We need to learn better habits if we’re going to survive and boost our financial health”

About Louis Scatigna

Louis G. Scatigna, CFP, is a financial expert who excels at clearly explaining complex fiscal matters. Since 1983 he has been a financial advisor and a licensed investment broker and since 1987 a tax accountant. For over 10 years, Lou has hosted the top rated radio program, The Financial Physician, in which he answers listeners’ telephone questions on their financial concerns. The Financial Physician radio show can be heard nationally on XM Talk Radio 165, Sundays at 6 p.m. ET. Lou’s radio programs can also be found on his website www.thefinancialphysician.com.

Expert Reveals Natural Treatments Can Be More Effective Than Traditional Medicine

Topic Summary

It’s the silent plague that robs women of their self-confidence, casts a pall over romantic relationships, and even ends marriages. Yet few women talk about it, and even fewer seek help.

According to the Journal of Family Practice, three out of every five women reported pain during love making. The American Family Physician published a study that charted 60 percent of women reporting the same at some point in their lives. Yet, despite the astronomical numbers, few women seek help for the condition.

This condition, known by physicians as dyspareunia, has haunted women for decades. Medical treatment such as desensitizing cream and pain killers attempt to make marital relations more bearable.

“The problem is that these ‘remedies’ simply mask the symptoms; they do not return normal function,” said physical therapist Belinda Wurn, research director of Clear Passage Physical Therapy (www.clearpassage.com) and an expert in this area. “However, there are some natural therapies that can actually address the cause of the pain, and restore a woman’s sense of confidence and maybe even save their marriages.”

Discussion Questions

What are the most common causes of dyspareunia?  

• What are the remedies most doctors recommend?
• Why don’t they work? 
• What types of natural therapies exist to provide relief for women?  
• How were these therapies discovered?

 Topic Overview

 Belinda Wurn knows first hand about dyspareunia.

“Millions of women suffer needlessly from this kind of pain,” she said. “Recent studies indicate that there is no longer any need for most of these women to have pain during intimacy. While conducting research and treating over a thousand women with pelvic pain, we found that dyspareunia appears to stem from tiny adhesions that form when a woman heals from infection, inflammation, surgery, or trauma. Thus a bladder infection, a fall from a horse, bicycle or during gymnastics, or endometriosis triggers a healing response that can pull on nerves or make the delicate tissue in the region inflexible, causing pain during intimacy.”

Wurn’s relationship with pelvic pain began early, after she was diagnosed with cervical cancer and underwent extensive pelvic surgery. She was pronounced cured, but within a year she began to experience a pulling sensation in her pelvis, which turned to debilitating pain. Her doctors told her that the pain was due to adhesions caused by her surgery, and the only way to relieve the pain was more surgery, which would likely result in more adhesions.

This started Belinda and her husband, massage therapist Larry Wurn, on a 20-year journey of research and investigation into non-surgical methods to relieve pelvic pain. The result was a new soft tissue physical therapy that is both safe and effective, and is now offered in several clinics in the US. The new physical therapy treatment they perfected feels like a deep massage, “but calling it a massage is like calling the space shuttle a plane,” Larry says. “Treatment protocol varies widely, depending on the patient.” The focus of the work is to reduce the adhesions that formed in the body over time, and return the structures to normal mobility, tone, and function.

The Wurns were alerted to its effectiveness for dyspareunia while treating infertility and other pelvic pain issues at their clinics. Patients began reporting dramatic pain reductions, and increased libido and function after receiving the new physical therapy, now dubbed the Wurn Technique®.

“Modern medicine has its limits; some conditions cannot be treated with an ointment or a pill,” she said. “I lived it, and learned that there are better methods available outside of the mainstream. The human body has an amazing capacity to heal itself, and sometimes all it needs is a little help to engage its own natural capabilities. The women we have seen typically have been told by their doctors that there is little or nothing available to treat their pelvic pain, but that’s patently untrue. We’ve seen excellent results, even in women who have suffered from this pain for decades.”

About Belinda Wurn

Belinda Wurn began her education as a pre-med student at the University of Florida. She was an excellent student, but soon realized that her heart was in a more “hands-on” approach. She transferred to the Physical Therapy program, graduated and began working. An artist when he and Belinda married, Larry Wurn is now a massage therapist and Research Director of Clear Passage Physical Therapy, Inc.  Their new book, Miracle Moms, Better Sex, Less Pain, co-authored by research gynecologist Richard King, MD, is available at www.miraclemoms.net. Larry and Belinda Wurn are living happily ever after in Gainesville, Flo.

Top Cardiologist Gives Tips On How To Stay Healthy Under These Conditions

Topic Summary

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 7 million Americans work at least two jobs, and that number is growing every month. That means millions of people work way beyond the traditional 8-hour workday.

That could be very dangerous, say doctors who performed an 11-year study of British civil servants. Their study reveals a direct link between heart disease and working 11 hours or more each day.

That’s why Dr. Bryan C. Donohue, M.D., F.A.C.C., Chief, Division of Cardiology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center/Shadyside Hospital thinks Americans could use a helping hand in keeping their hearts healthy.

“In reality, it’s more like there are people who are sick, and the rest are going to be sick at some point,” said Dr. Donohue. “The fact is, there is a vast segment of the population who aren’t necessarily sick, but they aren’t necessarily healthy, either. They just don’t feel well. They suffer from non-specific symptoms like headaches, chronic low level pain, fatigue and lack of energy and mental sharpness. They don’t bother seeing the doctor because they can’t take the time off from one of their two to three jobs, or they can’t afford the fees. So they allow the symptoms to persist. They could use a few tips on how to keep their hearts healthy.”

Discussion Questions

• What are some of the basic things people can do to keep their hearts healthier, even if they work a long, hard work week?
• What are some of the things your patients complain about the most?
• What are some of the factors that make us more susceptible to coronary disease?
• Are there any supplements that could help with our heart health?

Topic Overview

Dr. Donohue knows that many people lead very demanding lives between work and family, but he thinks they should still try to make an extra effort to stay healthy, and he recommends a few simple steps.

• Eat better — If you work a couple of jobs, eating can be a hassle, but you should resist the temptation to eat fast food. Bring a plate from home. A sandwich or even a helping of broiled fish or chicken is far better for you than the Big Mac and fries.
• Sleep better — Balancing work and family is more art than science, but it can cut into your sleep schedule. Still, you should try to get the recommended 8 hours of sleep every night, because it will keep you out of the doctor’s office. Moreover, it will help reduce your fatigue so when you do have time off, you can spend quality time with the family instead of spending it trying to catch up on your sleep.
• Exercise — Unless you work a physically intensive job, you should still try to fit in a little exercise, and it doesn’t take much. A brisk walk for 20 minutes every day or every other day is enough to reduce stress and strain on your heart, and keep the muscle strong.
• Take supplements — There are some natural supplements you can take the help prevent heart problems. One supplement ingredient that has received a lot of attention from medical studies is Resveratrol, which can be found in red wine grapes. Laboratory animals that were given Resveratrol in a recent study by the University of Michigan experienced lower blood pressure, better heart function, reduced inflammation throughout their bodies, and fewer signs of heart muscle damage. More information about Resveratrol can be found at www.vinomis.com in the Science section.

About Dr. Bryan Donohue

Dr. Bryan Donohue is the Chief of Cardiology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center – Shadyside Hospital; President and Founder, Donohue Cardiology Associates; and has been a Medical Director at the Cardiac Cath Lab, UPMC.  He graduated from Georgetown Medical School 30 years ago, and has authored and co-authored more than 20 medical research articles about angioplasty in acute myocardial infarction.