The Board of Directors for health-technology start-up “Dan’s Plan” announced a hostile takeover by wealthy entrepreneur, David Leibsohn. Very little information is publicly available on this mysterious billionaire, however, Techcrunch was able to locate the personal Pinterest account for Leibsohn which, disappointingly, reveals very little information about his interests. This takeover occurred late Friday evening when current CEO Dan Pardi was attending the Paleo FX conference in Austin, Texas. In an interview early Monday morning, Pardi stated:
Temporarily Stewart P. Formerly Dan Pardi
“I just didn’t see this coming. I immediately sought council but my lawyers can no longer represent me. Leibsohn purchased their firms the same day of the takeover as a strategic move to prevent a lengthy legal battle.” Mr. Pardi also stated, “Leibsohn now has rights to my full name, too. I can no longer use ‘Dan Pardi’ for legal identification. This is all very disorienting. I’m temporarily going by the name ‘Steward P,’ but that just doesn’t feel right.”
When asked what interested him to make such a bold and aggressive decisions, Leibsohn stated “I’m still not certain what Dan’s Plan does but I had a very large tax return this year so I just didn’t want to let that cash sit in my bank. After the paper work is complete, I’ll visit the site and see what I’ve purchased. I like owning stuff.”
CEO and President, as of today.
The incumbent Board of Directors is scrambling to understand what ramifications this will have for them. The very first move for current COO, Erik Svenson, was to order new business cards from Moo.com. He stated “I’ve been a part of deals like this hundreds of times during my days as an investment banker. Leibsohn needs to keep a few people around who have significant institutional knowledge of the former entity. I’ve learned that this a great opportunity to create whatever story you want for the new owners. This is why my new business cards say CEO and President.”
Dan’s Plan had recently released a corporate wellness program, and beta version of a novel weight loss program (the ‘Ideal Weight Program‘) that was designed in collaboration with researcher
Aspiring Reinsurance Agent
Stephan Guyenet, PhD., of the University of Washington. In a brief phone interview, Dr. Guyenet stated “my inside sources have told me Leibsohn is interested to turn the new company into a reinsurance agency for those with underwater mortgages – this is actually something I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid. I couldn’t be happier. Besides, Dave’s Plan is 1000x better than Dan’s Plan – it just works!”
Loves business that start with "D"
Techcrunch pursued outside commentary to shed light on this emotionally complex business situation from Dr. Steph Habif, member of the ‘Stanford d-School, a department dedicated to ethnographically chronicling companies that start with the letter ‘D (and sometimes y).’ Habif said “I was very excited to see this case cross my desk. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the hostile takeover of one ‘D’ company by another. This will undoubtedly become a cases study we will discuss across the ages.”
Enthusiast
Mike Maser is an enthusiast and a recovering gluten addict. Mike earned a degree in BS by studying Strategery at George Bush University in Texas. He also has a masters degree in Life Coaching from Greystoke University, an internet college currently under investigation by the IRS. Once upon a time, Mr. Maser owned the world’s largest collection of Beta video tapes after he made a very large investment in “Betabuster Video.” Current, Mr. Maser writes a weekly column for Techcrunch entitled Paid4News; a column dedicated to taking money from start ups in exchange for writing boilerplate press releases.
is passionate about food, movement, and sleep. Interested in developing low-cost, high value health solutions. Also interested in anthropology, evolutionary biology, exercise and inactivity physiology, cognition, neuroeconomics, decision making, circadian biology, epistemology, gastronomy, food culture and politics, agriculture, sustainable practices, and dogs. Activities include mountain biking, CrossFit, hiking, dancing, and long walks with my headphones.
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Walnuts are a dietary paradox – or at least they appear that way. As you probably know, walnuts are very calorically dense, mainly because of their fat content. Just one ounce of walnuts – that is about 12-14 halves – contains 185 calories. If you’ve ever tracked your food intake, you know that sort of thing can add up very quickly, especially if you’re just grabbing handfuls and not measuring.
But if we take a look at the literature, we plainly see that people who eat nuts are actually less likely to gain weight, and long term consumption of nuts is associated with reduced risk of obesity.
So why are nuts such an outlier?
Some have pointed to inefficient energy absorption. But other studies of nuts suggest another mechanism may be at play. Research suggests that when people eat nuts, they wind up compensating for most of the calories by eating less of other foods – without even trying.
Researchers affiliated with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center decided to look inside the brain to figure out what exactly was going on here. They compared people who ate a walnut-based smoothie to counterparts consuming a placebo smoothie, and the results are revealing. Check out the blog to find out what they discovered!
It was traditionally thought that total brain blood flow was not changed during physical activity. Research in the last 10 years, however, changed this perspective. We now understand that the increased neuronal and metabolic activity of the brain during exercise drive increases in blood flow to it. We have also learned that exercise that is too intense will reduce blood flow and oxygen delivery causing fatigue. So, what is the ideal intensity to stimulate blood flow to the brain, and perhaps, augment your mental abilities in the moment?
When we think of foods that improve athletic performance, chocolate is maybe not one of the first options that comes to mind.
We’ve known for a while that certain molecules found in chocolate, known as flavonols, are associated with health benefits to the heart and the brain. Epicatechin, in particular, has exhibited widespread effects throughout the body.
But some emerging evidence suggests that chocolate may also aid in exercise performance – weird as it may sound.
Here’s what the research says so far, and how it seems to work.
Around this time of year, much of the world is advancing their clocks by one hour to make efficient use of seasonal daylight. Americans switched to Daylight Savings Time last week, and this week Europeans will revert to Summer Time.
When this happens, we all “lose” an hour of sleep, because we have to get up and get things done an hour earlier than we have been. This is in relation not just to the light and dark cycles of the day, but also to our body clocks.
One hour sounds like a small change, but it can make a big difference in how we function, at least in the short term. For example, data from the past two decades shows that there is a statistically significant spike in the number of car wrecks on the Monday immediately following the shift to Daylight Savings Time in the US.
As we all adjust to the time change, it’s worthwhile to consider how other aspects of our lives can sway our circadian rhythms. Circadian clocks govern the rhythms of sleep and activity in virtually all animals and are responsive to a variety of stimuli like light and stress. Research is starting to suggest that our eating patterns – specifically when we eat – can also have a pervasive impact.
We do not enter into the world with infinite knowledge of ourselves and our surroundings. We don’t have knowledge or skill to survive, to dance, or to do martial arts with grace and efficiency. We don’t know enough about ourselves or know how to interact best with different types of people we encounter. We don’t know how to accelerate our ability to get better at something. We are born, however, with the capacity to learn and to remember, and by virtue of this skill, we have an incredible potential to do great things.
Professor Marcos FrankToday, important stuff happened to you. Tonight, when you sleep, your brain will extend the process of turning that stimulation – the sites, sounds, thoughts, emotions, facts, etc. – into memories that you can access at a moments notice in the future. It’s amazing when you think about it: experiences, facts, skills, and even thought patterns become a part of who we are. How much do you know now that you didn’t know 1o to 15 years ago, or even last week, last month, or yesterday? The process of accumulating information, and accessing when needed, is so routine it’s easy to forget that something is going to make it possible. As it turns out, sleep plays a vital role in the formation of certain types of memories. In this interview, I speak with someone who has made, and continues to make, significant contributions to help the world better understand how all this magic works. My guest is Marcos Frank, Ph.D., who is the Interim Chair of the Department of Biomedical Sciences in the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine at Washington State University. I hope you enjoy this discussion as much as I did.
