Over twenty some years I have told literally thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people how something as simple as carrying a small pepper spray could save their life, or prevent a mugging or similar act of violence. We now have many more products than we did back two decades ago.

Still, the message falls on deaf ears, and people who should know better continue with behaviors that will eventually make them a victim.

I saw this little story this morning, and thought I would pass it along. It comes from merry old England.

“There’s always someone who thinks good advice doesn’t apply to him. For example, if a doctor advises not to go near a flame, as you are going to be covered with flammable material, most people would take this advice, and not strike a match until the flammable material had been removed.

However, Phillip, 60, knew better than his doctor. Phillip was in the hospital to treat a skin disease, the treatment consisting of being smeared in a paraffin based cream. Phillip was warned that the cream would ignite, so he definitely should not smoke.

But he just couldn’t go without that cigarette.

Smoking was not permitted anywhere in the ward, but he took this setback in stride, and sneaked out on a fire escape. Once he was hidden, he lit up…and peace descended as he got his nicotine fix. Things didn’t start to go downhill until he finished his cigarette, when he ground it out with his heel.

The paraffin creme had been absorbed by his clothing. As his heel touched the butt, fumes from his jammies ignited. The resulting inferno “cremated” his skin condition, and left him with 1st degree burns over most of his body.

He died in intensive care.

Personal protection products can save your life.

Are you listening?

If you’re prepared, you’ll never be surprised,

Michael Gravette

Last weeks tasering of a University of Florida student put tasers in the news again, and not in a good way. My own point of view is that the tasering of the student was unjustified. Even if he was just being stupid and annoying, he wasn’t endangering anyone, excepting maybe John Kerry’s brain.

And Kerry reacted just like the real time coward he is, standing around and watching, doing nothing to stop the incident. He had to be thinking that he was glad he didn’t have to answer a few tough questions from a mere student.

But enough with the cowardly lion, the hair that might have been president. Only Johnny Boy Edwards can top Kerry for vanity.

The point is, a lot of these anti gun, anti violence folks are focusing in on tasers as the cause of a big problem, not a solution.

Somewhere along the line their brains have disconnected, and they have tried to connect tasers with police brutality. And every now and then a cop does go over the line. It happened before tasers, and it will happen again. But it doesn’t make tasers bad.

Tasers, in fact,  save lives.

If a policeman draws his gun and shoots, the offender is usually hauled to the morgue. Not too many bodies can stand that kind of puncturing and keep on ticking.

Getting tasered may be painful, but you get to live.

And it isn’t as if they aren’t being used. Thousands of tasers are being used every day.

Amnesty International has only seven cases where a medical professional has linked a taser to a death. That doesn’t mean it caused the death, it means it may have been a factor in the death, along with many other factors.

Taser International has been sued 54 times for wrongful death. They have never come close to losing a case.

A company spokesman says this: “In a courtroom, media sound bytes don’t count. We have time to debunk the junk science, and demonstrate the value of our product.”

It boils down to this Bubba, the same as for guns.

Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.

Tasers don’t kill either, but they can be mishandled. That’s a police training issue, not a safety issue.

If you’re prepared, you’ll never be surprised,

Michael Gravette 

I’ve never tried this, but it does make some sense.

Willie from Georgia wrote in with this story. He’s a delivery man for a big outfit and his turf has some undesireable areas. He’s been carrying the 775 for a couple of years, and pulled it once before when approached by a group of young thugs.

They decided not to invade his personal space.

Last week he just finished getting a signature for a large parcel and turned around. Standing about six feet away was a rottweiler who was squared up. Willie went to his waist and Rotty Dog growled his dissaproval.

Willie took a step forward, and Rotty Dog bared his teeth.

Willie hit the button on the 775 and let it cackle a couple of times.

He then made it cackle again as he took a step toward Rotty Dog.

Rotty Dog stared at him…then dropped his head.

“Beat it,” Willie said.

Rotty Dog ambled on down the street.

Willie walked back to van and called animal control. Surprisingly, they had a vehicle only a couple of blocks away, and came right out. They secured the dog in just a couple of minutes. Willie was relieved to see the dog off the street, because he knows how few folks would have been prepared for this encounter.

If you’re prepared, you’ll never be surprised,

Michael Gravette

Maybe those Florida cops who used the taser on a student a couple of days ago can be waiting for OJ Simpson when he arrives  today, or at the latest tomorrow. Now here is a guy who could use a little voltage. It’s just too bad that that it isn’t the level he deserves, which would reduce him to ash.

Here’s my predection.

He  is going to get off on these charges too.

I have been reviewing all the stories coming out of this stew, and the more I hear, the cloudier the whole situation gets. Everybody involved is a nut job of one sort or other, which is just what you expect if OJ is involved.

Now there is one thing going on here that may put OJ in the slam. It’s the old Al Capone law. Several people have said that while OJ has been on the lam he has been making big money under the table at autograph and card shows. As much as millions of dollars that he has hidden from the Goldmans by using a number of ruses, such as never signing for the money.

Could the downfall of OJ be tax evasion, federal tax evasion?

I think that’s the only way he’s going to the see ment pond.

I’m more than willing to provide him with a purse, makeup, and some Lipstick Pepper Spray that doesn’t work when he gets convicted.

In the meantime, I’m sticking with Pomengranate Juice.

If you’re prepared, you’ll never be surprised,

Michael Gravette 

I have a friend from Peru who was trained wrong, and today he went over the line, eating pizza with a knife and fork. He eats fried chicken with a knife and fork too, and it drives me crazy. But Pizza? If the pizza is so sloppy you need a knife and fork you need to find a new pizza joint, and throw the knife and fork away.

Many years ago I had a boss who was 6 foot 7 or 8, and he was a Cheesehead from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He really loved spaghetti, ordering it almost everywhere we went, and he would cut it and cut it and cut it, till it might as well have been Spaghettios, and then he would eat it.

I blame his mother. and my Peruvian friends mother. They probably had the idea that this constituted good manners, but its just neurotic. Pick up the chicken, the pizza, and use your hands, like God intended, and twirl the spaghetti and get it to your mouth without cutting it. Or go eat in the corner by yourself with your good manners.

Just an early morning rant here.

The new cattylogg is at the printer, and we have a couple of DYN O MITE new items that should sell like hot cakes  at a free breakfast. And when I say DYN O MITE I mean it. They are smokin in the boys room and all that combined.

Keep your eyes peeled and get ready for a terrific fall selling season. There has never been a better time to be in this business, and the election year should be even better. Real Estate may down, but Security is going up, up, up.

And there is no mortgage payment involved.

If you’re prepared, you’ll never be surprised,

Michael Gravette 

This morning I was sitting in the kitchen talking to the dogs when it struck me the plant I was looking at was actually a Flower Pot Safe. I had completely forgotten about it, and couldn’t even remember what I put in there, so I had to check.

Sure enough I had a little “rainy day” money, one of those”just in case” funds. I must have put it there during one of the hurricane alerts a couple of years ago, just in case the power went out, and you couldn’t use an ATM machine. It was enough to buy myself a little something if I could think of anything that I needed, but I couldn’t, so I put it back, just in case.

Then I remembered I had another safe, a Book Safe. I found that on a bookshelf, and I checked that out too. It had more “rainy day” money. I guess I’m pretty well covered as long as the house doesn’t blow away. Or the grocery store. Or the gas station.

The point is that Diversion Safes just blend in. They don’t look like anybody went to any extra effort to hide something, and you have a whole variety of typical household stuff to choose from like Ajax, or Scotchguard, Miller High Life, the Flower Pot, or a book.

Chris Rock said the best place to hide money from a mook is in a book, because mooks don’t read. He may be on to something there.

If you want to stash a “rainy day” fund, or just secure a little dough, a Diversion Safe is an inexpensive way to hide it in plain sight. Mooks don’t have time to be checking Ajax or bathroom cleaner, something they could probably use at their crib, because they are looking for things they can use immediately, like cash, or pawn, like jewelry.

You can keep both by outthinking them.

If you’re prepared, you’ll never be surprised,

Michael Gravette

I had a few sips of coffee this morning and heard a great story on the radio. In Bayshore, New York, a 74 year old man beat the snot out of a would be mugger with the muggers own weapon of choice, a two by four.

It seems the mook approached Grampz near his car, and demanded his wallet while waving the two by four. Grampz didn’t take kindly to the request after it was repeated a second time. He grabbed the mook and wrestled away the two by four. Then he used it on his attacker. The mook then ran away as fast as he could go.

Attaboy Grampz! I’m sure this mook doesn’t want to show his face anywhere on Long Island after the S kickin he got from a 74 year old man.

But just think how easy this situation would have resolved itself if Grampz had been carrying some S kickin in a can.

A little Mace Pepper Gel to the face, and Mighty Mook would have been down on the pavement doing some brick dancing. There would have been plenty of time to call the cops and give the clown a new permanent residence for more than a few years.

This Grampz was a tough old bird, but lets face it, not that many guys his age are going to take on a young mook and win, at least not without a little help. We have all the help you need here, and with Mace Pepper Gel, or any other product, you truly will have a competitive edge, no matter what your age.

If you’re prepared, you’ll never be surprised,

Michael Gravette 

I’ve been suffering from one of the worst colds I have ever had in my life. One day it’s my chest, then it’s hacking and coughing, and yesterday it was hammers pounding my head. It’s my sincere wish that none of you get this, because it’s really , really nasty. My head hurt so bad yesterday it affected my balance, and I almost crashed a couple of times. At my age I don’t want to be falling down and getting bruised up on top of feeling terrible.

This morning my ears are ringing, but I’m feeling good enough to sit and write.

I hardly ever write about Bear Spray, but I got a field report from southwest Virginia, one of the small towns up in an area around the Old Homestead Resort, in the mountains. Mike’s kids were playing in the backyard with Scooter, the family mutt, when Scooter started making a lot of racket. Roger, the ten year old, ran to the garage and came running back to his younger brother Pat, with Scooter along side.

A young black bear was in the back yard. Scooter made a couple of runs at him, barking and snarling up a storm, but the young bear seemed non plussed and continued moving closer. Roger then stepped forward and sprayed Mace Bearspray in the direction of the young bear. The bear stopped, sniffed, and didn’t move for about 30 seconds. Then he turned and left.

Scooter followed him barking and snarling.

Younger brother Pat said, “Back off, bear!” raising his arms.

All this happened while Mike and his wife were working in the front yard. The kids told them the story over lunch. Mike had bought the bearspray about six months ago, and showed Roger how it worked a day or so after he received it. He then put it on his worktable in the garage, and it sat there until Roger came and grabbed it. Until it happened, bear sitings were just something on television, and nobody they knew had actually seen one themselves.

Now it’s real, and Mike is sure glad he made that order when he did.

If you’re prepared, you’ll never be surprised,

Michael Gravette 

Mary got mugged on Friday night, which I am sorry to hear. She lost her purse with all her credit cards, and about $300 in cash. She is canceling all the cards, and there isn’t a chance of getting back all the cash. She also has a bruise on her face where she got smacked.

It was what I call a smash and grab. The mooks attacked near her car in a tight space. The blow to the face was pure and simple intimidation, with the threat of more to come. Then they just grabbed the purse and were gone into the darkness.

There are a number of things here that need to be addressed here.

First, the parking spot.

It was dark, and very poorly lit.

No security guards, no bouncers walking the lot.

This is asking for trouble.

Second, carrying a purse with all your credit cards and cash.

It’s a club for godsakes, not a mall. 1 Credit Card or Cash. Leave the big useless bag at home.

Third, not expecting any kind of trouble, or it can’t happen to me syndrome.

It can, and it does. Every five minutes. No one is immune.

Let’s say Mary was a Kommando.

First, she would have been carrying some sort of protection device, possibly two, and her car would have been outfitted as well.

Second, she would not have parked in dark, poorly lit lot, with no security.

Third, if she did park in a place like that, she would have had a protection device in her hand and ready to go if and when she got out.

Fourth, one credit card, and it would not have been visible.

Fifth, a personal alarm. Remember, mooks are afraid of loud noise, and vamoose the area quickly when hearing it.

This ain’t rocket science. You don’t need an advanced degree to figure any of this out, it’s just common sense.

I’ll tell you one thing, mooks can tell if you aren’t confident. If you feel vulnerable, they know it a heartbeat. You’re like a young deer who runs into a hungry pride of lions.

Um…tasty.

Get tooled up now, before it happens again.

If you’re prepared, you’ll never be surprised,

Michael Gravette

80% of all people who inquire about a product buy it within one year…but not usually from the company they originally contacted. The means you are probably educating people so that can eventually buy from your competitors.

You can make sure this doesn’t happen by staying in front of all your potential customers. The cheapest way to do this is by using an autoresponder and frequently sending them messages by email. This constantly reminds your potential customer who you are and insures that when they do get ready to buy, they will buy from you.

The mistake most marketers make, is delegating the influencing of the buyer, to the buyer. They mistakenly assume that the buyer will maintain his own interest instead of doing everything they can to make sure the buyer stays interested and eventually buys from them.