Rob Kall

Inventor

In 1976-77, while Kall was a graduate student, he learned of the physiological finding that cold hands can result from the vascular constriction that indicates stress. He then developed the "Bio-Q ring" to detect stress through use of 13 liquid crystals to detect changes in the temperature of the hand. The concept was that if a wearer were forewarned of approaching tension, they could mitigate their actions and thus reduce stress. In 1978 and 1979, he took early design samples of the Bio-Q ring to BSA meetings in Albuquerque and San Diego. Encouragement from biofeedback experts Thomas Budzynski, Edward Taub, and others, kept him focused on the concept. Raising money as a freelance medical writer, he founded Futurehealth Inc as a manufacturer of biofeedback instrumentation/materials. By 1984, 185,000 Bio-Q units had been sold, and according to the Futurehealth.org website, by 2014 that quantity has reached over 300,000 units sold in over 50 countries.

OpEdNews

Rob Kall relates how in early 2003, he had heard a Colin Powell speech about why the United States "had" to go to war with Iraq and felt that Powell's reasons were disingenuous. Wishing to "publish the Truth", Kall began a personal blog which developed into OpEdNews.

"OEN is a publication for the people. In the evolution of it I listened to the readers, writers, and editors. The more I listened to these people, the better the site did. Hardly anything is assigned – it’s just people writing about what they want out there, and expressing what they care about. Oped News is written by regular people. Watchdog organizations, whistle-blowers, and people interested in social responsibility like us because we’re inclined to publish them. One of the main purposes of Oped News is to give the people who know the real truth an opportunity to be heard. We get between 1000 and 2000 articles submitted each month." - [sic] Rob Kall

Kall's opinions have been quoted or republished in such sources as Democratic Underground, Democrats.com, The Greanville Post, Columbus Free Press, EllenBrown.com, The New York Times, and Scoop.

Recognition

Rob Kall has been quoted or used as a source in numerous books, including

"The Generations of Antichrist: An Argument for the Sake of Heaven" by G. H. Eliason, ISBN 1432765507"The Liberal War on Transparency: Confessions of a Freedom of Information 'Criminal'" by Christopher C. Horner, ISBN 1451694881"Pocket Posh Word Power: 120 Words that Are Fun to Say" by Wordnik, ISBN 1449408885"The Perfect Revolution" by The Very Revd. Stuart W. Lambert, ISBN 1483406636"A Symphony in the Brain: The Evolution of the New Brain Wave Biofeedback" by Jim Robbins, ISBN 0802143814"America in Peril" by Robert C. Aldridge, ISBN 1932717153"The Edison Gene: ADHD and the Gift of the Hunter Child" by Thom Hartmann, ISBN 159477885X"Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union" by David Swanson, ISBN 1609800656"Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck" by Jim Donovan, ISBN 0307363007

Kall is ranked by Mediaite as one of the top 200 online/print columnists.

Awards and nominations

In July 2013, Kall, along with his Opednews (new media), became the first media winners of the Pillar Human Rights Award for International Persons of Conscience for supporting whistleblowers and the first amendment, awarded by the 2013 Whistleblower Summit for Civil & Human Rights as hosted by ACORN 8 and Federally Employed Women-Legal Education Fund (FEW/LEF).