OK, I’m not dead and I didn’t quit! yes, it’s been quite a while since I made the time to post a blog entry!

I simply like to have a normal life outside of cyberspace! Too many of us can be guilty of spending far too many hours infront of our laptops indeed I can be guilty of this at times. Then I reflect that I’m so blessed with a wonderful family and there are better things to do in life that be tied to the computer sreen! For those of you, forever on your keyboards, if you feel like this image below seems like you, then it’s really time to chill and get on with real life - unplug!

So this past Friday (15th May’09), I took our 13 year old son Antony on a Father and Son’s overnight camp. Each year, we take the time to ‘bond’ and spent this valuable one-on-one time with each other. With 5 daughters, who get very jealous that I take Antony camping, this just has to be done! We’re so out numbered in our household by the ‘female kind’, that Antony and I have to get some male bonding each year with our camp outs!

My life long friend Clifford Herbertson has a lovely estate and hosted this Father and Son overnight camp on his land, which was perfect, apart from one thing - typical British weather, it rained and rained that night, but it all adds to the fun!

Thankfully we have a pop-up tent, one of those tents that when upzipped automatically flips into shape and so all we had to do was peg it down whilst in the rain, thankfully Antony held the umbrella whilst I did the pegging down in the dark night as we had arrived late.

YouTube Video: Father and Sons Camp - 15April09

You can’t have a camp out, without a camp fire…

These pics show the camp fire the following morning, some of the boys had stayed up all night keeping the fire and embers going, thats dedication for you!

Antony and I didn’t have that staying power to remain awake all night, we hit the sack in the early hours! Getting into our sleeping bags Antony then got out his Apple iTouch and wanted to play Chess, I tried to oblige but trying to play Chess on an iTouch is a little difficult in the wee early hours! With no Wi-Fi access, he wasn’t able to get online either thankfully so Antony fell asleep after me, as we drifted off to sleep in our warm sleeping bags, with the rain dripping on out tent. Note in the video his wet socks, lovely!

By Morning, after breakfast, time for games, a variety of father and son team games, such as catch the egg throwing competition. Oh yes, I knew what to expect, lots of eggy mess, so we hung back, but it was not surprising to find some pre-planned fun cheating going on, some were using part hard boiled eggs. It all becaome too suspicious, when the distances being thrown and dropped was too unbelieveable for a soft raw egg to survive, especially when they bounced - no way!

The last game was popping the balloon, tied to your angle, not so much fun if those tramping on your feet were wearing football studs, ouch!

So why do we do all this, apart from the obviously bonding time with our youth, our sons and young men? Certainly camping isn’t the idea of fun for many men, who’d rather be comfortable on a matteress bed at home. For me, I love camping and spending one-on-one time with Antony camping is great for our relationship, but there is another reason for the recognition of this date 15th May each year.

In our faith, the significance of this date is important, for Latter-Day Saints, 15th May 1829 is the date that John the Baptist appeared and restored the holy Aaronic Priesthood which is the authority to act in God’s name.

YouTube Video: Restoration of the Priesthood

Restoration of the Priesthood

Hope that if anyone is looking for a back to basics bonding time with their children, trust me, go camping, get your kids unplugged from their games consoles, TV or computers and spend some ‘human’ interaction time with your kids, you won’t regret it, just watch the ‘ole back if sleeping rough!

Paul Zane Pilzer is a world-renowned economist, a multimillionaire software entrepreneur, an adjunct professor, and the author of eight best-selling books and dozens of scholarly publications. I’ve enjoyed reading some of his material and watching his links online etc. A very smart entrepreneur, take note below!

Pilzer completed Lehigh University in three years and received his MBA from Wharton in 15 months at age 22. He became Citibank’s youngest officer at age 22 and its youngest vice president at age 25. At age 24, he was appointed adjunct professor at New York University, where he taught for 21 consecutive years. Over the past 30 years, Pilzer has started and/or taken public, five companies in the areas of software, education and healthcare. [Biography]

Paul Zane Pilzer - So he’s an Economist, Professor and a Best selling author who has admitted conservatively in his latest book “The Next Millionaires” (New York Times Bestseller), that even with the economic downturn…

Ten million new millionaires will be created between 2006-2016, and you can become one of them especially if you are in direct selling, technology, home-based business, product distribution, or an emerging trillion-dollar industry like wellness.

Seems like Paul is being proved right, even in these tough economic times. The World is home to more than 10 million millionaires already now. The number of people around the world with at least $1 million in assets passed 10 million for the first time last year.

All told, but get this… there were about 600,000 more millionaires in the world in 2007 than in 2006, for a total of about 10.1 million. That’s a 6 percent increase from the previous year.

Ten million may seem like a big number for such an elite club, but it still represents less than one-fifth of 1 percent of the world’s 6.7 billion people.

American investor Warren Buffett is the world’s richest person. His ranks - the superrich - are growing. It’s what good you can do with wealth that attracts me to people like Warren Buffett whom I see as just a wonderful example of how to use wealth for the greater good with his incredible Philanthropy.

The rarefied group of the superrich - those with at least $30 million in assets - got richer, too. There were 103,000 of them around the world last year, 9 percent more than the year before, and their wealth grew by nearly 15 percent.

So how can ‘Joe Average’ - you and I have a chance of entering in this elite club? Paul Zane Pilzer has stated in his book The Wellness Revolution that by the year 2010, an additional $1 trillion of the US economy will be devoted to products and services that keep us healthy, make us look or feel better, slow down the effects of aging, and prevent diseases from developing altogether. The implications of the shift to proactive wellness are far reaching from health to beauty to food to medicine.

This is why AGEL represents such an incredible opportunity for ‘Joe Average’. AGEL is aligned with four of the most powerful growth trends in the world today. The internet revolution, the home based business boom, the aging baby bombers and the explosive health and wellness industry. AGEL has all of the factors in place to be the next billion dollar giant in this industry.

Here’s a successful story which shows how is really can be done. Pic below of Bruno Grilo with myself John Deighton at a London AGEL Team event recently, as you can see we’re enjoying ‘rocking with AGEL‘, but watch the video beneath of Bruno’s incredible story.

Bruno Grilo from Portugal after 4 months had sponsored just 16 people into AGEL (with no prior experience), Those 16 family members and friends (including Bruno) were paid out by AGEL $365,000 USD November’07, just 4 months after Bruno had joined AGEL. This demonstrates what is possible in this industry. See Bruno’s story below after 3 months and 1 week with AGEL and earning over $50,000 per month!

For those who have no idea what AGEL is all about, watch this short video below (3:39). Enjoy, then we should talk! Call me

Your friend, John Deighton
My Other Site - Agelfortune

To sell or not to sell my beloved Phaeton - that be the question!

I remember the day in November 2005 that I drove to East Grinstead to test drive a Volkswagen Phaeton at the VW dealership. I wasn’t really certain about what I was doing there, perhaps more curiosity than anything else. My friend having worked for Bentley explained that the Phaeton is really a Bentley in disguise and so having driven Bentley’s too, I was intrigued.

I had been driving Mercedes for the previous 6 years and perhaps rather snobbish about the badge on my personal transportation, so if this Phaeton was a Bentley, it was worth the drive to go check it out – ‘what a snob’ I hear you say.

Indeed, the understated lines of the VW Phaeton, offer a reassurance, to go about unnoticed, therefore less chance of some holigan ‘hoodie’ to recklessly scratch it than otherwise a Mercedes or similar prestige marque.

A Bentley Continental GT shares its basic architecture with the VW Phaeton. The suspension setup is also nearly the same, with gas air springs and multiple links front and rear. The steering wheel, 7” display, clock, switchgear and dashboard layout are all the same. So is the Bentley worth nearly double the price of the VW Phaeton? Or should you ask the more appropriate question: What’s in a name?

My friend, who advised me to check out the Phaeton, was at that time the General Manager for H.R. Owen Bentley Dealership in Barclay Square, Central London. He had commented that they had discussed using Phaeton’s as courtesy cars for their clients, Bentley advised them against this. Their reasoning being some clients would soon appreciate that they paid twice the price for their Bentley’s and the Phaeton shares so much of the same components at half the price, with all those same ‘bells and whistles’ to boot!

I test drove the car, I was sold, it was awesome, the performance, the quality, the technology and patents behind the Phaeton are so very impressive, so I actually brought the demonstrator car I drove on that day. Later did I come to appreciate what a sensible decision that had been seeing reviews such as Top Gear below.

Don’t take my word for it; see what Jeremy Clarkson of BBC’s Top Gear said about the Phaeton, video below.

So after watching this Top Gear review you’re probably thinking why would I even consider selling my beloved Phaeton after almost 3 years of blissful and exhilarating performance from its jaw dropping V10 cylinder 5.0 litre twin turbo engine, even considering its frugal diesel economy, I must be mad to even consider selling my Phaeton.

Jeremy Clarkson would be ashamed of me, being such a petrol head. I’d like to think I could do my part in reducing my carbon footprint and even with the frugal economy of the Diesel, a V10 5.0 litre engine even so make a generous footprint!

Don’t expect me to rush out and go buy a Hybrid Toyota Prius, I’ve driven one and it’s no Phaeton! You must see what Clarkson thought of the Prius; watch his review, driven whilst in the US.

Just to appreicate how powerful the VW Phaeton V10, 5.0 litre diesel engine is, how much torque is available. Fifth Gear TV show took a VW Touareg which has the same V10 engine and used it break a new world record - towing a 155 tonne Boeing Jumbo 747 airplane.

I’ll let you know if I ultimately do sell my beloved Phaeton and go Green and if so, what next? Well perhaps a Hybrid Supercar that is capable of 220 miles per gallon?

This is the supercar that can return 220mpg, but has enough power to see off a Ferrari! With it’s Porsche Carrera GT-style rear, it looks ready to take on the world’s elite motors, I think I’ll order mine now!

Your friend, John Deighton
My other web site!

So why write about Warren Buffett… read on, this is not what you think!

After 13 years on top, Bill Gates is no longer the richest man in the world. That honour now belongs to his friend and sometimes bridge partner Warren Buffett.

Riding the surging price of Berkshire Hathaway stock, Buffett has seen his fortune swell to an estimated $62 billion, up $10 billion from a year ago.

Gates is now worth $58 billion and is ranked third richest in the world. He is up $2 billion from a year ago, but would have been as rich or richer than Buffett, had Microsoft not made an unsolicited bid for Yahoo! at the beginning of February. Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helú now ranks as the world’s second richest person with a net worth of $60 billion.

The son of a Nebraska politician, Buffett delivered newspapers as a boy. He filed his first tax return at age 13, claiming a $35 deduction for his bicycle. He moved on to study under value investing guru Benjamin Graham at Columbia University.

Buffett began buying shares in textile firm Berkshire Hathaway in 1962 and purchased a controlling stake in 1965. He began buying insurance companies and astutely investing those companies’ cash reserves.

Despite Buffett’s meteoric rise, his days as the World’s Richest Man are almost certainly numbered. He had long promised to give away his fortune posthumously. But in the summer of 2006 he irrevocably earmarked the majority of his Berkshire shares to charity, most going to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

At the time, the gift was valued at $31 billion. However, assuming that Berkshire shares continue to rise, the final amount of the donation will far exceed that sum. Buffett gives 5% of his shares to charity every July.

This is what impresses me about these Billionaires (Gates and Buffett), they pretty much want to give it all away, they have so much, they can afford to certainly, but their humanity is worthy to note. I read Buffett still lives in the same house he’s lived in for years and only pays himself a measly $100,000 a year, just incredible hey!

The parable of the widows mite is no less acceptable for us mere peasants by comparison to these billionaires! We can give generously to those causes that make a difference. Gates and Buffett’s philanthropic generosity is an example to us all.

You must watch this… an exclusive conversation with Warren Buffett, Bill and Melinda Gates - a new age in philanthropy, how to give away $30+ billion and importantly - why!

This video above was two years ago. Now this week Bill Gates left his office as planned from Microsoft and today now full time works tirelessly for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, using the wealth of people like Warren Buffett to create a legacy of greater worth to the world than Microsoft as I heard Bill comment this week.  What will your legacy be? How will you be remembered? How would you like to be remembered? There are many who think and say in a manner of speaking… eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. That’s the philosphy of many in the world, but certainly there are reasuringly those who would wish to make a difference and do a little good.

We’ve been an advocate for the humanitarian work done by our church. So offering a little something, knowing 100% of our contributions is used for the worthy work done by these unpaid volunteeers. Some good friends return shortly from serving a humanitarian mission for the church and many more are sent throughout the world.

If we would all look a little further than our own self interests, having seen real poverty face to face in parts of the world seamingly unforgotten, we need to care, don’t ignore the attrocities and hardships seen on our news channels. The reality is, it’s not just the Buffett and Gates of this world that can make a difference it’s all of us in so many ways, remember just as the widows mite.

Your friend, John Deighton
My other web site!

Who remembers Little Nellie?
The Gyroplane from the 007 James Bond movie - ‘You Only Live Twice’. (If you haven’t seen Little Nellie in action, I copied below some video look at the opening scene which features Little Nellie, scroll down.)

I remember as a young boy, seeing this incredible flying machine and how it performed just ‘owned me’. As our hero Bond took to the skies this would forever plant in my mind a desire to fly. They call the Gyroplane the ‘motobike of the skies’ due to it’s incredible ’seat of your pants’ performance and the open air cockpit.

During You Only Live Twice, Bond asks Tiger Tanaka to contact M and arrange for Little Nellie to be delivered along with her father. Little Nellie arrives in 4 large suitcases accompanied by her father, Q.

After being assembled Bond uses Little Nellie to scout remote mountains and volcanoes to try to find the missing US and Russian spacecrafts. During his reconnaissance mission, five SPECTRE helicopters armed with machine guns confront him. Using all Little Nellie gadgets, Bond manages to defeat SPECTRE and return to base. (see brief video below from You Only Live Twice among other scenes too.)

Loaded with gadgetry, Little Nellie sported two rear flame guns, aerial mines, front-mounted machine guns, two rocket launchers, smoke ejectors and two heat seeking air-to-air missiles, just wonderful for a young boy growing up on the Bond legend!

For those who appreciate some of Bond’s gizmo’s and gadgets, see this short video clip which at the beginning features Little Nellie, plus many other great Bond moments.

Here’s the history from Commander Ken Wallis himself on the story behind Little Nellie. I joined the British Rotorcraft Association many years ago and their annual Wallis Day’s fly-in up in Norfolk would include a visit with Commander Walis to his home where he has about 19-20 gyros. I just found this on YouTube of another event where he tells the story behind Little Nellie becoming part of James Bond history.

More on my Glyro Flying dreams realised later….

Your friend, John Deighton
My other web site!