Friday, January 30, 2004anxiety & stress help
I am a big fan of Rescue Remedy, a tincture made of flower essences that is helpful in dealing with stress or traumatic events.
While I'm generally skeptical about "alternative" cures (selling snake oil is nothing new) I have had good luck with many herbal remedies. Many of the pills that doctors prescribe have their origins in plants (including aspirin!) and there are many ancient herbal medicine traditions around the world that are definitely worth exploring.
posted @ 12:25 PM PDT Wednesday, January 28, 2004chemical soup
Toxic chemicals are in our air, food, water, cosmetics, cleaning products, and thousands of other things we use every day.
The Body Burden website talks about chemical buildup in human bodies, with more information about where these chemicals come from, their effects, and what we can do about them.
In a study led by Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, in collaboration with the Environmental Working Group and Commonweal, researchers at two major laboratories found an average of 91 industrial compounds, pollutants, and other chemicals in the blood and urine of nine volunteers, with a total of 167 chemicals found in the group. Like most of us, the people tested do not work with chemicals on the job and do not live near an industrial facility.
Scientists refer to this contamination as a personˆ¢s body burden. Of the 167 chemicals found, 76 cause cancer in humans or animals, 94 are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and 79 cause birth defects or abnormal development. The dangers of exposure to these chemicals in combination has never been studied.
posted @ 03:43 PM PDT Monday, January 26, 2004comforts of winter
If you find yourself feeling cold this winter, think about getting some silk long underwear. They're warm, thin under clothes, dry quickly if you sweat or get splashed, and luxuriously comfortable. There are synthetic ones available, but in my opinion it's worth the extra for silk. Find a well-made set and they'll bring you many years of relative warmth!
posted @ 09:19 PM PDT Saturday, January 24, 2004a funny book for women
Susan Jane Gilman's book, Kiss My Tiara: How to Rule the World as a Smartmouth Goddess is a humorous look at sex, food, careers, relationships, body image, and all the other things women in our society obsess about. Here's a sample:
Fairy Tale Number 6.
True Love is Instant. We'll know it the minute we see the person.
Pudding is instant. Real love and intimacy take time. This is a pretty hard concept to grasp for all of us who've been raised watching "Love Boat" reruns and flirting on the Internet, but a healthy relationship does require more than sharing pi–a coladas on the Lido Deck or sending each other, ahem, hotmail. Trust, communication, and kindness -- which we can't always gauge on the first date, much less the fourth -- take time to unveil and build.
Besides, think about what made for an "instant" connection when we were fifteen: The fact that the guy looked like Lenny Kravitaz, we smoked pot together listening to "Free Bird" and agreed that everybody else in our school was a jerk.
posted @ 07:22 PM PDT Thursday, January 22, 2004ensuring food safety?
Here are two contrasting profiles of Ann Veneman, the current USDA Secretary of Agriculture.
This is the person handling America's Mad Cow crisis...
USDA Biographical Sketch
http://www.usda.gov/agencies/gallery/veneman.htm
President Bush has often said that the spirit of the American farmer is emblematic of the spirit of America, signifying the values of hard work, faith and entrepreneurship. Secretary Veneman believes strongly in these principles and since taking office, has worked to foster economic opportunities for farmers and ranchers, ensure a safe and wholesome food supply, protect agriculture against pests and diseases, encourage conservation and environmental stewardship, invest in rural communities, and support the next generation of agricultural leaders through new educational opportunities.
Meet Ann Veneman ˆ… Perhaps Bushˆ¢s Most Dangerous Cabinet Pick
http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0115-04.htm
Veneman has served as a key member of the Reagan and Bush administration farm teams, as director of the California Department of Food and Agriculture during the gubernatorial administration of agribusiness favorite Pete Wilson, as an agribusiness lawyer and as a member of the national steering committee of Farmers and Ranchers for Bush. In those positions she has rarely missed an opportunity to promote a free-trade regimen that advances the interests of international food production and processing conglomerates, to encourage policies that lead to the displacement of family farms with huge factory farms, to open public lands for mineral extraction and timbering, to support genetic modification of food and to defend biotech experimentation with agriculture. Indeed, Veneman is a biotech absolutist who served on the board of Calgene, the corporation that launched the first genetically engineered food in 1994. Veneman told a forum last year, "We simply will not be able to feed the world without biotechnology."
Most Americans still imagine farms as family-run ventures where a measure of environmental stewardship is practiced, but that sort of farming is rapidly being displaced as family farmers find they no longer can compete in a global market dominated by corporate agribusiness monopolies. Veneman has for the better part of two decades served as the point person for a so-called "modern" vision of farming that has more to do with global-positioning satellites and genetic engineering of the food supply than the tending of fields and the care of animals. With Venemanˆ¢s encouragement, California developed a conglomerated, big-farm, chemically enhanced version of food production that Iowa Farmers Union President John Whitaker describes as "an entirely different face of agriculture" from that practiced or desired by most working farmers in places like Iowa and Wisconsin.
posted @ 02:56 PM PDT Tuesday, January 20, 2004make your own commercial
Check out these entries from an anti-Bush commercial contest...
posted @ 03:06 PM PDT Sunday, January 18, 2004pondering escape from the maze
What is a girl who
runs to the bridge
for its long vista
at sunset to catch
the orange glowing
in the scraped sky
doing in the city?
posted @ 06:50 PM PDT Saturday, January 17, 2004human, like me
I believe that we're making social progress as a species, whether it's always obvious or not. The meeting described below never could have happened a few decades ago, or ever before in history.
Practical solutions are more difficult than words, but this is a promising first step.
World Social Forum: A symbol of hope
http://news.amnesty.org/mav/index/ENGASA20170120042004
Right here on the outskirts of Mumbai, in the coming days, up to 100,000 people will come to the World Social Forum 2004. The decision to move the Forum from Brazil to India was made because half of the world's population lives in Asia and many of the poorest people on the planet are among them.
...
People from all over the world, with different views and ideas; gathered under one slogan - another world is possible. They are fighting for social justice and against an unfair globalisation. Amnesty International has come to the forum with the message "Globalise Human Rights", saying that human rights are an example of positive globalisation. Human rights cross borders; every man, women and child has these rights - not because of their citizenship, social status or heritage, but simply because they are human beings.
posted @ 06:17 PM PDT Thursday, January 15, 2004the octodog!
This kitchen gadget is fascinatingly weird.
posted @ 10:01 AM PDT Wednesday, January 14, 2004breast cancer & deodorant
A new UK study claims that chemicals found in breast cancer tumours probably came from underarm deodorant:
Cosmetic Chemicals Found in Breast Tumours
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994555
Their analysis of 20 breast tumours found high concentrations of para-hydroxybenzoic acids (parabens) in 18 samples. Parabens can mimic the hormone estrogen, which is known to play a role in the development of breast cancers. The preservatives are used in many cosmetics and some foods to increase their shelf-life.
"From this research it is not possible to say whether parabens actually caused these tumours, but they may certainly be associated with the overall rise in breast cancer cases," says Philip Harvey, an editor of the Journal of Applied Toxicology, which published the research.
It's difficult to know if deodorant directly causes cancer. Another study found that there was no link in response to Internet rumours.
I personally am not sure about this issue, but I use natural cosmetics just in case.
In the case of deodorant, I had to shop around a bit to find one that actually works, but they do exist.
posted @ 11:49 AM PDT Tuesday, January 13, 2004compulsive shopping disorder?
A study out of Stanford University says that the anti-depression drug Celexa can help people with "compulsive shopping disorder."
While I'm sure there are people who have problems with not being able to put down their credit cards, taking pills is not going to fix the root cause of this problem. It will however, make quite a lot of money for the drug's manufacturer!
Antidepressant Helps Compulsive Shoppers
http://my.webmd.com/content/article/71/81261.htm
Does shopping make you feel better when you're down -- that is, until you're hit with a bill you can't pay? If so, you may suffer from compulsive shopping disorder, but a new study shows that taking an antidepressant can help curb uncontrollable shopping urges.
Shoppers Little Helper
http://dir.salon.com/mwt/style/2001/07/30/shopping_pill/index.html
I'm still a resident, so I'm trying to figure out how the academic world works," she adds. "But from what I see they come and form relationships with the primary investigators and find out what they're excited about. Dr. Koran was interested in the subject anyway, but they'll come and brainstorm and say 'Can we help you do this study?' or 'You're thinking about SSRIs, why not Celexa? And if you use Celexa then we'll pay for part of that study.' That's kind of how it works on an informal basis."
When a company donates money to the university to finance a study, it has to go through the university to make sure that it will not influence the study in any way. The primary investigator still decides how to conduct the study, and companies are prohibited from trying to influence results. "But they do give a lot of money," Bullock says. "It's amazing."
posted @ 03:29 PM PDT Monday, January 12, 2004video crack
I'm currently working on my next essay for this site, the working title is "Career Tips for Turbulent Times." It's coming along well and I'm excited about it. I also have plans to expand it into a book when time/money allows. However, I'm currently working full-time and balancing a full load of extra-curricular activities so it's difficult to find much time to work on it.
Instead of writing over the weekend (as I'd planned) I spent hours playing Sims: Bustin' Out on the (dangerously addictive) Xbox that has recently been brought into my home.
In this game, you start out as a young adult living at home. The object is to get a job, move out of Mom's house, while keeping your "Sim" happy, clean, and fed. If you make the right friends and don't miss the bus, you (eventually) move up the career ladder.
The irony of this was not lost on me.
Next weekend I'll stay in and write about the importance of developing willpower and focus, really...
posted @ 10:03 AM PDT Friday, January 9, 2004food & fear
The US Government is putting a lot of effort into protecting the food supply from "agro-terrorism" but is our food any safer to eat?
Terrorist Potatoes
http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/9695
The real threat to U.S. agriculture, however, comes not from outside actors eager to exploit these holes in our security system. Nor does it come from domestic terrorists, religious cults or even the animal activists and opponents of genetically modified food sometimes identified as potential disrupters in the reports of terrorism experts.
The real threat comes from the very structure of U.S. agriculture. We are more than capable of poisoning ourselves without foreign assistance.
posted @ 10:20 AM PDT Wednesday, January 7, 2004Nutrasweet/Aspartame is toxic
I believe that Aspartame (brand name: Nutrasweet) is toxic for humans and that it never should have been approved for use in our food supply. Most dieters don't know that this low calorie sweetener (ironically enough) can increase appetite and cause disease...
It tastes awful too, bleah!
Here are a few links with more information...
How Aspartame Became Legal: The Timeline
http://www.rense.com/general33/legal.htm
September 30, 1980-- The Public Board of Inquiry concludes NutraSweet should not be approved pending further investigations of brain tumors in animals. The board states it "has not been presented with proof of reasonable certainty that aspartame is safe for use as a food additive."
January 1981-- Donald Rumsfeld, CEO of Searle, states in a sales meeting that he is going to make a big push to get aspartame approved within the year. Rumsfeld says he will use his political pull in Washington, rather than scientific means, to make sure it gets approved.
Aspartame Disease: An FDA-Approved Epidemic
http://www.mercola.com/2004/jan/7/aspartame_disease.htm
For orientation about the gravity of this public health dilemma, I shall mention just a few of the published associations in aspartame reactors. They include the initiation or aggravation of diabetes mellitus, hypoglycemia, convulsions, headache, depression, other psychiatric states, hyperthyroidism, hypertension and arthritis; the simulation of multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease and lupus erythematosus; increasing aspartame addiction (12); an apparent causative role in brain tumors (10); a neurologic condition in overweight young women known as pseudotumor cerebri; and even the carpal tunnel syndrome (11).
Aspartame Case Histories
http://www.sweetpoison.com/aspartame-case-histories.html
Eight out of ten of my clients have health symptoms that disappear when they stop using aspartame. Hundreds if not thousands of children are suffering aspartame reactions but donˆ¢t know how to tell their parents or teachers why they are feeling sick, disoriented, confused, and emotional. The case histories are piling up, and people are now sharing their personal experiences with others to help educate those unaware of the reality that aspartame is harmful to health and wellness.
The Sweet Secret of Stevia (one of my old articles)
http://www.margonaut.com/stevia.htm
Why did the government treat stevia like a controlled substance? FDA documents call stevia a "dangerous food additive" even though the safety of stevia has been widely tested for many years by scientists in Japan. The FDA will not reveal who made the "trade complaint" (despite the Freedom of Information Act) though many suspect that it was the makers of the artificial sweetener Aspartame (aka "Nutrasweet") trying to fend off competition, as the artificial sweetener is very profitable. Was the government protecting the health of its citizens or that of big business?
posted @ 10:34 AM PDT Tuesday, January 6, 2004green beans
The crazy old lady told me
that she visited heaven so
I asked her about her trip
she emphasized that it was
a relaxing place but there
was no sense of touch just
floating and feeling peace
and though thatˆ¢s nice she
prefers living, especially
on good weather afternoons
when the garden needs work
posted @ 07:20 PM PDT Monday, January 5, 2004movie review: Cold Mountain
I recently saw the epic Civil War drama Cold Mountain and found it very beautiful and moving. It provides a glimpse into the human side of a conflict that still haunts America today.
Though the war and romance aspects of the film are exceptional, I most enjoyed the scenes of the women trying to run the farm on their own. I think RenŽe Zellweger deserves a "best supporting actress" nomination for her portrayal of Ruby, a rural woman with a sharp mind and a quick tongue who teaches Ada (played by Nicole Kidman) how to survive the winter during hard times.
If you like historical drama, military history, beautiful scenery, romance, and/or good acting I highly recommend this film!
posted @ 02:57 PM PDT Friday, January 2, 2004Iran & earthquakes
There has been a lot of press about the earthquake in Iran which has killed tens of thousands of people.
This Arabic report talks about something that hasn't been mentioned much in the news: a nuclear power plant that exists along the same faultline!
Lessons to Learn from Bam Earthquake
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7¤ion=0&article=37292&d=31&m=12&y=2003
The Bam earthquake also focuses attention on the nuclear power plant that Iran is building on the Bushehr Peninsula. The area where the plant is being built is located on the same geological fault line that has destroyed Bam. Each year thousands of tremors of various degrees of intensity are recorded on that fault line. Bushehr itself has been destroyed by earthquake on three occasions in recent times (1877, 1911 and 1962). It is not hard to imagine what an earthquake that destroys a nuclear power plant could do to the entire Persian Gulf area.
The Germans who designed the Bushehr plant and the Russians who are building it assure everyone that it could withstand tremors of up to 7.2 on the Richter scale. That is almost one degree higher than the tremor that destroyed Bam. Also, the historical date available shows that the region has not known tremors of more than 7 on the Richter scale. But there is no guarantee that a higher intensity tremor will not strike in the future.
The Persian Gulf, through which passes almost half of the worldˆ¢s imported crude oil, is a shallow body of water that consists entirely of the continental shelf. (On average it does not go deeper than 90 meters). The destruction of a nuclear plant by earthquake in so shallow and narrow a waterway could create a disaster many times larger than that of Chernobyl. It would affect eight littoral countries directly while dealing a severe blow to world trade by halting oil exports for months if not years.
posted @ 10:39 AM PDT
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