The Worthwhile Journal Volume 5

WORTHWHILE //VOL5// JOURNAL SUMMER 2014

EVALEE GERTZ “Turning Adversity Into Triumph”

OUR HOSTEL WORLD with Stefania Silvestri Q&A with Michael Rogers PERSONAL GOLD with Dr. Hollingsworth VAPESTERS

CONTENTS FEATURED EVALEE GERTZ “TURNING ADVERSITY INTO TRIUMPH”

TRAVEL “OUR HOSTEL WORLD”

FASHION STEFANIA SILVESTRI “Q&A”

ENTERTAINMENT MICHAEL ROGERS “PERSONAL GOLD”

MEDICAL DR. HOLLINSWORTH “VAPESTERS”

CONTRIBUTORS JEROME FITTS MICHAEL ROGERS CHRIS HOLLINGSWORTH GILBERT MOORE

PHOTOGRAPHIC CONTRIBUTORS

MICHAEL ROGERS LUCA DI MARTINO LORENZO CABIB BJORN KELLER ROSS MARQUAND MARK FURLONG JEROME FITTS ROGER SCHECK

MAGAZINE DESIGN MICHAEL RASMUSSEN

The Worthwhile Journal is a division of the BCBF Media Corporation 9107 Wilshire BLvd. Suite 450, Bevelery Hills, CA 90210

“Turning Adversity Into Triumph” We know we are a little late with this issue but staying true to WJ form we wanted to concentrate on a quality issue. Its our 5th official issue and it seems to get better and better with relevant stories from reliable sources.

Just when things seemed to have it the bottom of the ocean as we were victims of social and business sabotaging terrorist, the defense of continuity was delivered in our favor with an interview with Evalee Gertz.

The talented artist took time out to give me the LA land updates while summing up what its like to be apart of one of the greatest shows in Los Angeles.

Michael Rogers, our one time LA based contributor, came across an amazing story of the overlooked and U.S Olympic 2012 underdog Women’s Cyclist team documentary thriller, “Personal Gold”. To compliment the film, Mr. Rogers, sits down with former World Record holder, Sky Christenson, to explain why he put together the recognized documentary.

“It came down to us all eliminating and established “culture of limitations”- Sky Christenson.

In our fashion section Gilbert Moore, takes a lead from the infamous LA Fashion District, to take a look at one of Italy’s up and coming designers.

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Ironically enough Stefania Silvestri relevant story, starts from the nonconventional fashion districts within a remote village of Italy. The standard Q&A is destroyed with a series of answers that displays exactly what our embryonic stage magazine is about, “Someone that creates their dreams and sacrifice everything to accomplish them.”

We compare the uprising choice of accommodations across the world-hostels. We display via photos, the unusual existence of hostels in America and a season of choice of backpackers within Eastern Europe in Macedonia.

Speaking of timing, it seems Dr. Hollingsworth; non-bias yet structured analysis of vaporizers users. More importantly breaking down the detail of why the U.S. government approves the selling of the product but also the attempt to sell the vaporizers. Dr. Hollingsworth raises the obvious questions of; “Are there acts of hypocrisy within the system of buy and sell in America, or is it an attempt to encourage people to buy more of the products?

It would be a complete injustice not to give a BIG THANK YOU to Michael Rasmussen for putting up with me all summer and helping put this thing together.

Enjoy

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Photos By: Mark Furlong

EVALEE GERTZ

“Turning Adversity Into Triumph” By Jerome Fitts Photo By: Roger Scheck

///FEATURED: EVALEE GERTZ /// Whenever I hear a story about the insane world of Los Angeles, I think of the song “Free Falling” by Tom Petty. After covering stories from around the world, little did I know I would be covering a remarkable story of an individual that may be the modern day catalyst for the song that is nearly 25 years old. Ms. Evalee Gertz. I came across the unusual dancer, actress, writer and producer that emulates not only the song, but have lived throughout conclusion of the lyrics. Tom Petty would be proud.

Evalee started off saying; “I'm from Denver, Colorado. But I've been in LA for the last 14 years.

I ended up in LA by accident; I never intended to come here. I was going to go to Chicago for Art School, but I wasn't really sure that was what I wanted to do, but my boyfriend at the time, suggested I come with him to LA because he wanted to be a rock star.

After I graduated high school we basically ran away together and came to LA, I was 17 at the time. I only got into acting after living here a few years. When people back in Denver found out I'd become an actor they were all shocked, no one ever thought I would be a performer because I was so shy.”

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Photo By: Bjorn Keller Maybe that shyness led her to theater productions, lead roles in respected movies such as “Kontrast” to being featured in Martin Scorsese Evalee Gertz, By: Jerome Fitts “The Aviator”. There is also dancing with some of LA finest live acts on stage most notably the Toldeo Diamond show in Santa Monica.

Everyone in LA has something going on or they simple cant exist or coexist and there are a millions dream stories out there.

But I wanted to know about where Evalee was in the year 2014.

“When I get frustrated I ask myself what else would I be doing with my life and the answer is always nothing”

///FEATURED: EVALEE GERTZ /// When I asked “what is on the cards now with acting?” Evalee responded; “Who knows with this business, haha. I've been studying with the famous Ivana Chubbuck in Hollywood and have done a Dairy Queen advertisement that is on the air right now. I have had some great auditions lately, so hopefully the right part will pop up soon.

Things happen so quickly in this business.”

I reminded Evalee that I had walked into a club in Santa Monica on a day that I was so fed up of the States and LA in general with the lack of originality. The first thing I noticed was the music complimented by the dancers. I am sure you have been told how special the Toledo Show is. The point being is, not only did it change my mood swing with the amazing music complimented by amazing dancers; I extended my stay for another week. I wanted to know more.

Evalee started by saying; I danced all my life but stopped doing it seriously after high school, then one day about 3 or 4 years ago I met an awesome lady who was a dancer in The Toldeo Show. I went to see the show and instantly wanted to be a part of it. She introduced me to Toledo that night and the first thing I said to him was "How do I get in your show?"

“He brought me in to audition the next week and we started working out a number together, after a few hours he told me I was in and we were going to perform that number in two weeks! I was terrified, it had been years since I'd danced and I'd never done anything like that before. But it was the single most empowering thing I'd ever done and I instantly fell in love with it. I danced with Toledo for about a year or so, it's such a great show and I had a blast doing it and have been dancing professionally with different groups and bands ever since. But I miss being in that kind of a show where the energy is amazing.

So you have been approached to dance in some music videos?

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“I have, I did one video with a band called Ben Bostick and the Music Force X, where I danced with all last year and would happily do more but I don't have a dance agent right now so it's hard to find opportunities like that. I mostly do live gigs and .“ events,” said Evalee

E ///FEATURED: EVALEE GERTZ ///

The Toledo Show is one of a kind, if your not cool then you cant enjoy it. It’s really that simple. The dancers work with the rhythm of the band and its classy and smooth. When the subject came up in regards to the hard work and rehearsals of the show. Evalee insisted: “We rehearse a lot as dancers but not with the band. We do rehearse/choreograph to certain tracks prior to performing with the band live, which can be a bit problematic the first time we preform a new number live but we usually pull it off pretty well. Especially if you've been dancing with that band for awhile, you start to learn each other.”

“Most of the time it's freestyle and anytime we solo its just freestyle making it up as you go along with the music. That's my favorite, I love choreography but to freestyle you just have to be so present and listen to the music while feeling your way through it. You can't plan the dance you just have to let it happen. Sometimes you've never even heard the song before you perform to it. It was scary at first because it doesn't always come out so great, sometimes you’re just not feeling it, but when you are feeling it, it's like magic! There is no better feeling.”

Everyone in LA has something going on or they simple cant exist or coexist and there are a millions dream stories out there. For many in America, the world would revolve on what we listen to on the now defunct conventional radio and that thing we used to call a television. Unfortunately, for most young dreamers in America getting away would mean going to New York or Los Angeles and call it “traveling”. For the most part of this unusual interview I wanted to leave out the cynicism but “the world can’t revolve around LA” and its certainly not traveling right?

“I do love to travel and have traveled all over the world. My love of history, led me to backpack all over Europe exploring the art and architecture, it was amazing. I've been to the Middle East, South East Asia, Central America and South Africa to name a few. My dream is to visit everywhere on the planet. I love to backpack and have done a couple of amazing volunteer trips”, said Evalee.

Ok. So what influence did it have on you when you returned to your origin (LA/Denver)?

Evalee concluded; “Oh wow, that so hard to say, I've loved so many of the places I've been for so many different reasons. I absolutely loved Thailand and got to do all kinds of fun adventures in Costa Rica. I feel like I could move to pretty much anywhere in Europe tomorrow and never look back but I'd have to say my most recent trip to South Africa, was probably the most profound adventure. I was doing volunteer work in Cape Town for just a little over a month, and it's just stunningly beautiful there. It certainly was not the most enjoyable trip that I've had because it was very hard work and the conditions weren't great, but I was deeply moved by the experience. To spend so much time in the townships and slums, I got to really see how low the quality of life is for most of these people and it made me realize how much we take for granted here in America. That drove me to work harder and to be so much more grateful for everything, especially the little things. Who cares if there's no money in my bank account, at least I can take a hot shower anytime I want. And if my new car got scratched, at least I have indoor toilets with toilet paper and running water for that matter. It doesn't matter if I can't afford a designer handbag because I have nice clothes to wear and food to eat and I don't have to worry about getting raped every time I walk down the street.”

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You know in Israel, it's a requirement for every kid to serve in the Army after high school. I think our society here in America, would be a happier and more compassionate country, if it were a requirement for every kid to spend a month in third world conditions after high school.

“I was terrified, it had been years since I'd danced and I'd never done anything like that before.”

///FEATURED: EVALEE GERTZ /// LA is renowned for being an overly saturated market and now with the new brave world of digital (everyone is a producer, writer, director and photographer), it seems there would be a major challenge for originality.

I asked; What are some of the challenges of being an aspiring actor in LA? “Haha there are so many! Too many people, not enough parts and more productions are leaving LA, not to mention how expensive it is. It can be very discouraging, but you have to remember why you're doing it. When I get frustrated I ask myself what else would I be doing with my life and the answer is always nothing. Nothing else would be as fulfilling, I don't think I could be happy doing anything else even if that means being a starving artist forever!

Photo By: Ross Marquand

“I feel like I could move to pretty much anywhere in Europe tomorrow and never look back.”

TRAVEL “OUR HOSTEL WORLD”

Our Hostel World… Part 1

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As part of the now infamous WorthJourney, we are sharing some of our readers’ points of view of where they stay when they are contributing to our publication.

However in true WJ fashion we are displaying two places from remote parts of the world Kissimmee, Florida (Orlando) and Skojpe, Macedonia.

The only differences in these two places are the geographic view. As the reader you be the judge.

///TRAVEL: “OUR HOSTEL WORLD”///

Lakefront Hostel Orlando, Florida

The unique thing about Lakefront is its only 20 minutes from the world renowned Disney World. If you still want to see Florida for its amazing tropical view, yet relax within a multicultural setting Lakefront would be highly recommended.

PHOTOS BY: JEROME BEAU FITTS

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///TRAVEL: “OUR HOSTEL WORLD”///

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Lakefront Hostel Orlando, Florida

There is everything a visitor of Disney World would want and still have the same privacy to oneself.

///TRAVEL: “OUR HOSTEL WORLD”///

The hostel, which is only a football pitch away from the International Bus Station, has all of the elements of a five star hostel. If there is such a thing?

The warm greetings that you receive once you get off the bus from Thessaloniki, Greece, Sofia, Bulgaria or from Pristina, Kosovo is the best part of the accommodation.

-“Your greeted with a Welcome to Skojpe!”On a consistent base, Neno, who runs the hostel with his sister (Kookie), have built up a reputation for not only accommodating people in their hostel but also expressing the warm greetings anyone receive arriving into a not so usual city- Skojpe, Macedonia.

Backpacers Hostel Skojpe, Macedonia

If you don’t know where Macedonia is, there is one thing for sure, you will in the very near future.

The marvelous architecture, which surrounds the city, is astounding.

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The Hostel- There can be enough said. Neno and Kookie are the perfect host to their city. Not only do they accommodate their guest but they also guide the guest throughout the city.

Two thumbs up!

www.charlesmillerbrand.com

STEPHANIA SILVESTRI

PHOTOS BY: LUCA DI MARTINO AND LORENZO CABIB FOR ELLEQUADRO

///FASHION: “Q&A” WITH STEPHANIA SILVESTRI///

Conducted By: Gilbert Moore (Milano, Italy- March 2014)

What got you into fashion and designing?

During my last year at fashion design school, I tired to envision what my life would be like in the real world of fashion.

I looked at my sketches that I designed during my studies and I felt the strong need to give life to those creations I had. I wanted to build something that belonged to me. It seemed unbearable to me to start looking for my place in one of the many fashion companies. During this period of deep crisis, where so many young people search for an opportunity, I wanted to create my own opportunities. So without any fear I started looking for a seamstress or a little factory that could produce my dresses.

At the beginning was very hard because even small factories, they are not willing to make commitments for small production.

By chance I found a seamstress in my own city that eventually worked with me.

Imagine that, I was searching on the internet and found a seamstress in my own town. (Laughter!). From that moment it’s been a little achievement where people are actually ordering and buying my designs or dresses. That little bit of courage and ambition got me where I am today, speaking to you. (Smile) Where and how can the public obtain your brand?

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(Stefania); My creations today are distributed throughout Italy but the bulk are in stores in Salerno, Naples and Positano.

However, we do have a large amount of online sales.

Who are your recognized (famous or not) clients of your brand?

(Stefania); Well I come from a small Italian village and there are not many chances to have someone where my dresses but one of my dresses (the first One that I designed) was worn at Miss Italia that was one of the finalist and she is now on a famous Italian television show.

///FASHION: “Q&A� WITH STEPHANIA SILVESTRI/// The models for your design?

Who are they? How did you obtain them?

(Stefania); It really depends on the brand or style of my designs. I like to choose different models as I have several different styles as you can see.

At the beginning I didn't have any resources to invest, so I contacted young aspiring people in fashion like me, who tried to emerge in this world of fashion. They were models; make up artists, photographer, fashion and bloggers. From there we tried to build unit to give substance to our dreams.

With the growth of the brand, I didn't change my philosophy, but I started to understand that every choice must be targeted and functional to the project.

So I started to research with more attention with models I did choose to represent the campaign

S Surely you cant do it all on your own- so what is your staff structure?

(Stefania); At the beginning, as you can imagine, I did everything by my self. I bought the texture, I followed the production of the seamstresses and I personally followed every single costumer. For a period, so much so that I wanted everything to be perfect that I learned from my grandmother. Now everything is' different, the brand is having a good success and I am trying to broaden my horizons. I had to convince myself that I could not do it all by myself.

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Now I have 5 seamstresses who follow the production of tailored suits, and a consultant who is helping me to bring the brand outside the borders of my country. This was something I had to get used to.

From the very beginning we had a great response from the public. My seamstresses face a wave of orders, and my greatest joy are the days prior to an event or a wedding. I get messages of congratulations from people at those events that have recognized and appreciated my dress.

///FASHION: “Q&A” WITH STEPHANIA SILVESTRI///

Your biggest influence to date?

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(Stefania); To date, there are two brands that inspire my work, first of all, Giorgio Armani, to the sophistication and elegance of his creations, but if I were to think of a more conceptual brand, my idea of fashion is very close to that Marni.

///ENTERTAINMENT: “PERSONAL GOLD” WITH MICHAEL ROGERS ///

///ENTERTAINMENT: “PERSONAL GOLD” WITH MICHAEL ROGERS ///

PG "It came down to us all eliminating an established 'culture of limitations," assesses 2012 London U.S. Olympic underdog women's cyclist documentary thriller, PERSONAL GOLD Producer and former U.S. Olympic cyclist alternate (1996 and 2000) Sky Christopherson.

Mr. Christopherson, who himself broke a World Record in the 2011 Velodrome sprint, utilizing his and sports consultant Dr. Eric Topol's proprietary biometrics and genomics performance optimization system, Optimized Athlete, sums up his involvement in the newly included 2012 U.S. Olympic Women's Pursuit challenge with, "when your cyclist friends reach out for help to compete in an upcoming Olympics, you answer their call."

Excerpt: "It came down to us all eliminating an established 'culture of limitations," Simply put, this is a revolutionary film and game-changing movement for top-shelf, global women's sports achievement.

The women's cyclists help plea call came from the team's positive-motivating lightning rod, multi-time World Champion, Sarah "The Hammer" Hammer, who ignited not only a medaling U.S. Olympic Women's Pursuit (after years of qualifying consideration effort, a discipline in its inaugural year in 2012) but has gone on to inspire currently-vital community building, bike-friendly cities as well as preparing to follow up 2012 London by hitting the boards again in Rio 2016.

The team wouldn't be as dominant in the international women's cycling arena as it is if not for the individual strengths of the entire team: 7-time U.S. National Champion and a 2x Pan American gold medal winner Dotsie Bausch, Keirin World Championship Title winner and children's-empowering Jennie Reed Foundation firebrand Jennie Reed, and Pan Am Championship World Record holder, Lauren Tamayo.

Here's what is so worthwhile and poignantly elucidating about the unique dynamic of this fierce foursome: their personalities and cycling strengths are about as distinctly diverse as could be.

Personal Gold's first-time filmmaker Tamara Christopherson succinctly conveys the ladies' diversity sweep with, "something elegant, greater than the sum of their parts is created by their differences on the track."

2000 Sydney Kayak Olympian and President of the SoCal Olympians Association, Ms. Christopherson originally volunteered with her Personal Gold Producer husband, Mr. Christopherson to consult as a trainer for the ladies at their Alaro, Palma de Mallorca, Spain preparation facility, and through discerning a remarkably-riveting emotional velocity unfolding before them while reviewing training footage, soon concluded what has become this Personal Gold documentary film must be made.

"It came down to us all eliminating an established 'culture of limitations,"

“Personal Gold” By: Michael Rogers Los Angeles, California May 2014

///ENTERTAINMENT: “PERSONAL GOLD” WITH MICHAEL ROGERS /// Ms. Christopherson breaks down the team's individual cycling styles for us: "Sarah is often called 'The Hammer' for a reason, because she's the pace-setting driving force of the team.

When she decides to go for it, it's on. Dotsie is the Louisville, Kentucky native, former longcourse road racer who transcended her personal health challenges to win two national track titles in her first year's efforts. Jenny is the speed and powerhouse Velodrome sprinter, earning 14 career National Titles and over 30 International World Cup Medals, while Lauren Tamayo is a nicknamed "La Diabla" road endurance racer, winning the women's team pursuit in early spring of 2010 at the Pan Am Championships in Mexico."

Now here's where this whole saga gets really intriguing. During the making of this film, there were a whole bunch of synchronous firsts.

U.S. Olympic categories are minimally, mostly not at all subsidized by the U.S. government the way most other country's Olympic discipline support is, so the ladies were required to get their training done with significantly limited resources compared to other world class programs like that of England, Australia, France, Canada, and Scandinavian territories. So, to realize performance potential from the individual and collective strengths of this unique team, what to do? Solution: Husbands.

Enter Andy Sparks, elite Performance United founder, 2008 United States Olympic Track Cycling Team Head Coach, and Performance Director, and Sarah's husband; Brandon Madden, respected as ‘The Voice of the Velodrome’ due to his motivating vocal passion and Jennie Reed's husband; Kirk Bausch, competitive road cyclist, and Mike Tamayo, competitive cycling United Healthcare founder and Lauren's husband. Joining forces with iconic Team USA cycling coach expert and eight-time national champion, Ben Sharp, this husband-driven coaching tour de force became the core unit that ignited the scrappy, lean motivation crew that ultimately resulted in the ladies earning Silver medals on the London Velodrome boards.

As equally diverse in personality vibe as their competitive wives, Ms. Christopherson's unobtrusive, nuanced film direction captures how "the husbands" and Mr. Sharp together helped accelerate a gradual, steady evolution of cohesive, exhilarating performance grace in the ladies' eventual collective unity. As Mr. Christopherson and Dr. Topol fine-tuned their proprietary biometrics and genomics performance optimization system, Optimized Athlete that monitors biometric variables such as blood sugars, effects of sleep quality, Vitamin D assimilation, etc., with some of the finest technology minds the U.S. offers, the ladies' husbands provided performance and emotional consistency every progressive step, from dropping e verything in the U.S. to walking the nurturing walk through preparatory training in Spain, to keeping the ladies' fiercely competitive minds focused on optimal individual and collective peak performance, all the way right up to their Silver medal podium glory. Mr. Madden quickly became a high-volume vocal cheerleader with his spirited passion booming off the Velodrome walls in Jenny's corner, Mr. Bausch maintained his consistency as Dotsie's "rock" of emotionally available encouragement, while Mr. Sparks and Mr. Tamayo demonstrated their world class training wisdom in fine-tuning the intricate steps toward eliciting the team's eventual performance synchronicity. Oh, and without the staff personnel enjoyed by athletes in other countries, the husbands handled mechanical maintenance of the specialized cycles ... laundry, shopping, cooking, and "emotional therapy" for their wives as well.

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///ENTERTAINMENT: “PERSONAL GOLD” WITH MICHAEL ROGERS /// Ms. Christopherson's graceful filmmaking interweaves each of the ladies' personal innerchallenge journeys with how training specialists volunteered to lend their attentive knowledge as parts of a greater whole, "spokes in a wheel," as it were (pun intended).

Rounding out the specialists team are the film's Producer, Mr. Christopherson, whose prior competitive cycling achievements, coupled with his passion for developing evolving state-of-the -art bio-monitoring technology (http://oathlete.com/ ... "Data, not doping" (TM) elicited a fine brew of prior competitive cycling experience and never-before-mastered human body fruition analysis.

Saying she and Mr. Christopherson originally intended to only stay in Mallorca at a local Air BnB residence for just an initial week to provide achievement consultation, Filmmaker Ms. Christopherson describes, "It soon became clear that Sky and I would need to stay through the entire training pursuit in order to both lend their athletic and tech expertise as well as transform their analyticallyattuned video coverage into this extraordinary documentary feature film, Personal Gold.

Chief academic officer at the Scripps Medical Clinic, ‘The Creative Destruction of Medicine’ author, and sports consultant Dr. Eric Topol volunteered as an advisor for the team’s digital health experiment. Eventually appearing on the Stephen Colbert Show ((http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/videos/udr4lu/eric-topol) to represent his and Mr. Christopherson's revolutionary biotech monitoring system (cardiac, blood pressure, blood oxygen saturation, etc.), Dr. Topol soon became an integral asset to the process by which detailed biometric analysis gave this team its competitive advantage over other favored national crews.

Dr. Brent Kay is the Founder and Medical Director of the Southern California-based OUCH Medical Center, which, in addition to attending to this London 2012 U.S. Olympic team's success, also consults for the San Diego Chargers, Padres, and AMA Motocross.

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Next, Silicon Valley Datameer CEO, Stefan Groschupf volunteered to serve as a critical "big data number cruncher" to handle processing the tech team's massive influx of bio rhythmic indicators. A computing industry open source innovator, technologies designed and coded by Stefan can be found running in all 20 of the Fortune 20 companies in the world, analytic systems for companies like Apple, EMI Music, Hoffmann La Roche, AT&T, the European Union, and others, and visionary open source technologies like Kafka, Storm, Katta and Spark, all rely on technology Stefan designed more than a half decade ago.

///ENTERTAINMENT: “PERSONAL GOLD� WITH MICHAEL ROGERS /// U.S. Navy CDR Mark Devine is a former corporate CPA, CEO & Founder of elite mental toughness program SealFit, NavySEALS.com, author of Unbeatable Mind, retired member of SEAL Team 3, Ashtanga Yoga Instructor, the team's "spiritual advisor," and volunteered to help the underfunded team with leadership prior to London. In this film, CDR Devine helps the ladies transcend their self-imposed individual achievement challenges through guided imagery, yoga breathing techniques, and inviting them to conceptualize their efforts as serving a collective higher calling to, as he states, "to do for the others in the group what you wouldn't do even for yourself."

Sonia Ancoli-Israel, Ph.D is Director of the Gillian Sleep and Chronobiology Research Center, who, along with the numbers-crunchers, applied corollary data on biochemical markers like sleep, travel, and diet into the practical system that in part, resulted in the ladies' 2012 London peak performance.

The volunteer consultation team was rounded out by Gil Blander, Ph.D, an MIT Post Doc, specializing in genetics and blood biomarkers, whose similar biochemical markers data fueled Mr. Christopherson and Mr. Groschupf's big data rubric.

As the ladies' training reached critical mass, just weeks prior to 2012 London Opening Ceremonies, the cycling world received an unprecedented series of news landmines: Elite male cyclist after cyclist (U.S. icon Lance Armstrong, Russian track cyclist Victoria Baranova, etc.) suddenly informed the International Olympic Committee that they wouldn't be attending 2012 London. The reason: doping.

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This sudden news hoisted the team into unprecedented international attention high relief as responsible carriers of original Olympic values such as honest integrity and natural training.

The underfunded, underdog U.S. ladies soon unwittingly endured the double-edged challenge of competing as organically-prepared warriors, while also then having the added stress of sudden global high-expectations heat piled onto their already-daunting reality of facing several of the world's finest elite national Pursuit program athletes on newly-fresh London Velodrome boards they had never before raced.

At the London track, the filmmakers' cameras captured the nerve-shredding tension that soon evolved into a veritable cinematic thriller, as the husbands' emotions went into high wire overdrive in support of their wives' now-highly drilled ambitions. U.S. Olympian women have won several cycling medals since 1984 ... in 2000 Mari Holden won silver, in 2004 Dede Barry won silver, in 2008 & 2012 Kristen Armstrong won Olympic gold. All 4 medals were won in Time Trials. The only US women's Olympic Track Cycling Medal ever awarded was Bronze, won by Connie Paraskevin in Seoul, Korea in 1988 in the first year that women were allowed to compete in Olympic track cycling, so the pressure was about as profound as it gets for the ladies to medal in the first women's Pursuit. During time trials, the ladies' execution ranged from breaking a new time record, despite their tight-formation cohesion coming unglued with wide gaps opening between them ... it wasn't pretty but they soared anyway. The filmmakers' cameras captured Dotsie's husband Kirk Bausch courageously carrying the lion's share of the group's emotion as he dissolves into tears witnessing the team's distance gap widen.

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///ENTERTAINMENT: “PERSONAL GOLD� WITH MICHAEL ROGERS /// The ladies later relayed that they could hear the passionate cheering power of Jennie's husband, Brandon "The Voice" cutting through the Velodrome's deafening audience volume, while more cool energy characterizing Mike Tamayo and Andy Sparks allowed them to stay fiercely focused on optimizing all the advantageous bio metric big data to assist in manifesting the team's spinetingling, never-before-achieved Silver Medal.

By now, the ladies had come to intuitively know each other's personal and athletic strengths, challenges, and ways of going about things. Early in the final going-for-Gold race, Dotsie surprised everyone, especially her teammates as she veered up the corner boards to allow Sarah to lead the charge FOR THE NEXT THREE LAPS! Later, Dotsie would report her judgment that, "I knew Sarah could handle and do it." Sarah realized what Dotsie was doing and reports having doubt about whether she was up to the challenge ... that lasted only a few moments because she went for it and the team kept pace with her to achieve their photo finish time of 3:16.3. Their exhilaration was lightning in a bottle.

In the end, with the unconditionally loving support of their husbands, the unprecedented assistance of state-of-the-art, industryinnovative technology, and a minimal crew of world class volunteer specialists, and a newlymastered selfless, almost Enlightenment-like elegance, this underdog 2012 London U.S. Women's Pursuit crew pushed themselves through and far beyond the limits of any physical, emotional, and spiritual achievement restrictions of which they had previously imagined themselves capable.

As Mr. Christopherson assessed, "It came down to us all eliminating an established culture of limitations."

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///MEDICAL: “VAPESTERS” WITH DR. HOLLINGSWORTH /// While cigarette smoking is clearly one of the most dangerous things you can do to yourself, I haven’t been able to fully embrace vaporizers.

Perhaps it is because I am often annoyed by people using vaporizers in public. I refer to them as vapesters. Standing in a crowd at a concert while I feel a vapester exhale a cloud of red, strawberry scented smoke against the back of my neck is incredibly annoying to me, in the same way that someone blowing cigarette smoke in my face would elicit an unfavorable response.

For the uninitiated, vaporizers are the small, hand-held devices that you have been seeing increasing numbers of people using. They are also referred to as e-cigarettes and e-hookahs.

Vapor is produced by a small heating element in an extraction chamber that varies by manufacturer. This heating element heats and “vaporizes” the liquids, which are often waxes and oils, into a vapor cloud of steam that is inhaled into the lungs. Some of these contain nothing other than different flavors, some contain cannabis oils or resins, and some contain nicotine. The vapor produced does contain smoke along with the steam, but would appear to have significantly less carcinogens, tar, carbon, and ash inhaled then directly inhaling smoke.

This should be associated with less lung irritation and inflammation as well.

Annoyance isn’t really the main concern about vaporizers. The potential dangers of vaporizers and cigarette smoke are what the issues are.

Lung cancer is associated with cigarette smoking, and anything that reduces the amount of cigarettes that people smoke should be encouraged.

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You are more likely to die from lung cancer than any other type of cancer.

Cigarette smoking is associated with around 90% of lung cancer, and close to two million people die from it every year worldwide. Smoking cessation is a major initiative for the world health organization and many countries around the world. So anything that encourages people to quit smoking, should be promoted right?

Wrong.

This March, the Los Angeles city council voted unanimously 14-0 to ban vaporizers in public places. Reasons cited for the ban, which is almost identical to the ban in cigarette smoking included unknown risks of second hand smoke and carcinogens, and LA residents’ rights to clean air. Despite their not being a significant amount of research in the field to prove vaporizing is dangerous, this ban was passed, and a lot of people were happy.

But were they happy because it was going to make their lives safer, keep them from getting lung cancer and having respiratory issues, or were they just happy that no one wearing lens less glasses was going to be allowed to blow hot pumpkin spice steam over them in public anymore? If you want clean air, it makes more sense to ban anything with an oil-burning engine.

Vaporizers are also known as E –cigarettes when they are similar in appearance to cigarettes. They are recognized as a useful adjunct to help promote smoking cessation. Studies have found them to be just as effective as nicotine patches.

Here is what is shocking, a recent study publicized in France suggest e-cigs contain acetaldehyde, formaldehyde, and acrolein which are toxic chemicals also found in regular cigarettes, although in lessened amounts, but this study heated the cigarettes to the point of melting to get their data. So the study is more like a marketing scam to deter people from using vaporizers. Why? Probably to get smokers back on tobacco.

It gets increasingly nebulous when chasing the paper trail for who funds these studies that attempt to make vaporizers look dangerous.

All of the decent research literature that has been published suggests vaporizers are less dangerous to users by a factor of ten compared to conventional cigarettes, and completely harmless to people nearby. Basically there is no public health concern for vaporizers in public.

Red Dragon products; eGo-F2 Vaporizer Kit

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///MEDICAL: “VAPESTERS” WITH DR. HOLLINGSWORTH ///

eGo Vaporizer Lanyard Case

L O H .

R D 31 What is concerning is what groups are trying to make vaporizers appear dangerous and why. The most obvious group that could benefit from this media spin would be tobacco companies.

There are numerous other jurisdictions all over the world that are considering or have passed laws to ban these products despite them not having any proven dangers to people nearby. It will still be quite some time until the long-term effects of vaporizers are evaluated, because the industry is still in its infancy and most vapesters haven’t been using their vaporizers for more than a few years. Until then I would be skeptical of anyone who claims vaporizers are dangerous to anyone except those puffing on them.

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