I recently completed reading a book titled Sugar Blues by William Duffy, I picked it up at a closeout sale at a Borders bookstore for half price. I like this one, learned a few things from it and have since recommended it to a few friends. I also have largely gone on a sugar-free experiment. I also recommend you read this book, it’s a classic diet book, yet it sounds as if it was written a couple years ago, there might be a few outdated bits and pieces but again, this is a classic worth reading and has a wealth of insight to offer you. I had reduced my sugar intake for a few years, seeking to be “moderate”, this book is actually helping me far “very easily” resist sugar. I am almost sugar free these days. I appreciate the history in this book, you will learn about the history of sugar, and other things like fermenting, sauerkraut and beer. You will learn how sugar was invented, and you will be reminded that unlike salt (so essential people used it as currency in the past) sugar is a relatively new addition to our diet. This book touched me in a positive way, and I feel it will do the same with you. You just might never look at food and eating the same way again! all good positive things!

Well, what else does the book talk about? Duffy makes it clear how he dislikes how sugar is labeled (or not labeled) on products and how it is inaccurate to lump refined sugar with other healthy carbs under the same label name. See, not all carbs are the same, but a food label doesn’t tell you that, nor does it say how much added sugar is in a product. You might be surprised to learn what I learned about brown and raw sugar products, and what they put sugar in (ketchup, mayo, dressing, etc), you’ll read about sugar and the persians, indians, crusades, and even slavery! The book is easy to read as well, well documented and sourced.

Knowing what I know now, it is difficult to allow myself to eat sugar, and I have this book to thank. This books acts as an anti-sugar vaccine or an anti-sugar booster shot. If you crave sugar simply read this book and you will no longer crave it!

Sugar is not a nutrient, it is not empty calories either, it is actually an anti-nutrient, when you eat it you are eating something that takes away vitamins from your body to rid itself of sugar.. thus Duffy defines it as a poison, and I see why.

I’ve finished the book a weak ago only, I can say no to sugar now easily, I have resisted cravings and know what it feels like to eat sugar now vs. another source of calories, and I am still learning my body’s response and watching to see how my health will improve. I am unable to tolerate sugar in things now, many things smell and taste too sweet! I do not touch or crave the junk you find at gas stations or coffee shops. Instead of sugar I eat fruits, brown rice, potatoes etc.. real healthful calories. It’s a transition, for sure, but a good and natural one. I wish I had read this book 20yrs ago, as a kid I binged on sugar and now can see how it probably had negative effects on my health.

See, the thing is, “when it comes to sugar, the secret is not moderation but avoidance.”

I wont ramble much more..

You can find it at a very affordable price on amazon

It’s a prime ingredient in countless substances from cereal to soup, from cola to coffee. Consumed at the rate of one hundred pounds for every American every year, it’s as addictive as nicotine — and as poisonous. It’s sugar. And “Sugar Blues”, inspired by the crusade of Hollywood legend Gloria Swanson, is the classic, bestselling expose that unmasks our generation’s greatest medical killer and shows how a revitalizing, sugar-free diet can not only change lives, but quite possibly save them.

Read more…

Below I quote a few paragraphs that are very true that a friend of mine who healed himself from cancer naturally and now helps hundreds of people, Dr Charles Morris said on his website www.distance-healer.com. The below are timeless words of wisdom from an experienced person.  I often say very similar things to my clients, as truth is universal.

Read it and see if you agree, see if you can relate.

What is really frustrating to me is that even when I spend years researching things and put it all up on my website for free, no one takes the time to really study (or even read it thoroughly), and they then ask questions that are already on the website (i.e., they’re too busy to learn how to not die and won’t do the work necessary to maximize their health, including reading free information that took thousands of hours to compile and then is given to them for free. Most complain that blended vegetables don’t taste good, or they don’t like to take a lot of supplements (but they have no problem spending lots of money taking all kinds of trips to remote islands, drinking booze and eating bad food with the money that they claim would be “wasted” on supplements to fight their cancer with). Some actually ask if they were to take just one supplement (and not change their diet or lifestyle), if they can beat terminal, stage 4 cancer! When I tell them that they have to do some work to get better, they go back to the chemo and radiation doctors, and I hear soon afterwards that they’re dead.

Some people are determined to die in order to somehow “get even” with someone else – these people cannot be helped, no matter how good a protocol or doctor is; they give up the “will to live” and hasten their own death. Furthermore, no doctor wants to get into the middle of it and be blamed for it.

Also, if you believe someone or something has the power to kill you (as in voodoo), then you’ve empowered it to kill you and it may, unless you take the power to kill you away from it. The converse is also true. There is a book about 50 cancer survivors that illustrates this: each beat cancer in a different way; the only thing they had in common was the fierce belief that life was worth living and that they were going to beat cancer. Make sure that you WANT to live: there’s a huge difference between merely being afraid of dying and embracing life, loving life and wanting to live. Also, don’t give someone else the power to take away your will to live; if you’re not happy with your life, CHANGE IT! You don’t have to die to escape from it.

Bad habits, diet and lifestyle (and often a bad attitude/mindset and neglect of your spiritual self) lead to cancer by activating certain inherited genes that pre-dispose you to getting cancer. The good news is that 80% of these genes can be either activated or de-activated. What is necessary is to fully commit to doing what is necessary to get better and stay better. Once you beat cancer (for the rest of your life), in order to keep cancer from coming back, you’re going to have to keep from falling back into your old habits, because that is how you ended up getting cancer in the first place.

Your belief system can severely limit your available options, many of which are viable ones. Sure, there are quacks out there, but not every non-chemo and non-radiation treatment is quackery; follow the money, and try to step back and see outside of the box. I definitely recommend reading “Questioning Chemotherapy” by Ralph Moss: cancer is actually a cry from your body for help because it cannot tolerate your toxic diet and/or lifestyle – it is not a cry for you to flood it further with more toxins from chemo and radiation. The odds of beating it are MUCH greater when a person starts the protocol before they’re dying. Chemo works in less than 2% of cancers — and of those 2%, more than half of them get secondary cancers caused by the chemo. According to Dr. Blaylock, “It’s important to remember that secondary cancers are not recurrences of a previous cancer but entirely new cancers caused by the treatment. Most often, the secondary cancer is much more resistant to treatment than was the original cancer. Biopsies (including needle biopsies) also spread cancer in more than half of the cases.”

He also says on dosage:

Many people don’t seem to understand that the dosages of therapeutic supplements are critical, and that you can’t just take a few of the supplements along with chemo or radiation and increase your chances of success — the supplements try to build your body and immune system up and the chemo and radiation try to tear it down. I still take 175 pills/capsules each day, drink/chew two 10 ounce glasses of raw, organic vegetable juice along with a perfect diet, avoid toxic brands of cosmetics, cleaners, air fresheners, deodorants, soaps, etc., and make time to study what I need to know in order to survive (i.e., take charge of my health), not just blindly follow what some doctor tells me to do (i.e., delegate responsibility to someone else) — it all boils down to whether a person REALLY wants to live and is willing do what it takes, or not

Some colleagues have told me that it’s human nature to value something relative to its cost, and that people would value this information more and do more to help themselves if I were to charge them for it, but I want to help people who are hurting financially and not add to their burden of cancer.

One thing that might be confusing you is that therapeutic dosages of supplements (including vitamins) are a lot different from preventative dosages (RDA minimums — the amounts below which certain deficiency diseases appear) and have different effects; that’s why dosage is very important.

Read more…

Death by Medicine, Part I

By Gary Null PhD, Carolyn Dean MD ND, Martin Feldman MD, Debora Rasio MD, Dorothy Smith PhD

ABSTRACT

A definitive review and close reading of medical peer-review journals, and government health statistics shows that American medicine frequently causes more harm than good. The number of people having in-hospital, adverse drug reactions (ADR) to prescribed medicine is 2.2 million.¹ Dr. Richard Besser, of the CDC, in 1995, said the number of unnecessary antibiotics prescribed annually for viral infections was 20 million. Dr. Besser, in 2003, now refers to tens of millions of unnecessary antibiotics.^{2, 2a}

The number of unnecessary medical and surgical procedures performed annually is 7.5 million.³ The number of people exposed to unnecessary hospitalization annually is 8.9 million.⁴ The total number of iatrogenic deaths shown in the following table is 783,936. It is evident that the American medical system is the leading cause of death and injury in the United States. The 2001 heart disease annual death rate is 699,697; the annual cancer death rate, 553,251.⁵

TABLES AND FIGURES (see Section on Statistical Tables and Figures, below, for exposition)

ANNUAL PHYSICAL AND ECONOMIC COST OF MEDICAL INTERVENTION

We could have an even higher death rate by using Dr. Lucien Leape?s 1997 medical and drug error rate of 3 million. ¹⁴ Multiplied by the fatality rate of 14% (that Leape used in 1994¹⁶ we arrive at an annual death rate of 420,000 for drug errors and medical errors combined. If we put this number in place of Lazorou?s 106,000 drug errors and the Institute of Medicine?s (IOM) 98,000 medical errors, we could add another 216,000 deaths making a total of 999,936 deaths annually.

ANNUAL UNNECESSARY MEDICAL EVENTS STATISTICS

The enumerating of unnecessary medical events is very important in our analysis. Any medical procedure that is invasive and not necessary must be considered as part of the larger iatrogenic picture. Unfortunately, cause and effect go unmonitored. The figures on unnecessary events represent people (?patients?) who are thrust into a dangerous healthcare system. They are helpless victims. Each one of these 16.4 million lives is being affected in a way that could have a fatal consequence. Simply entering a hospital could result in the following:

1. In 16.4 million people, 2.1% chance of a serious adverse drug reaction,1 (186,000)
2. In 16.4 million people, 5-6% chance of acquiring a nosocomial infection,9 (489,500)
3. In16.4 million people, 4-36% chance of having an iatrogenic injury in hospital (medical error and adverse drug reactions),16 (1.78 million)
4. In 16.4 million people, 17% chance of a procedure error,40(1.3 million)

All the statistics above represent a one-year time span. Imagine the numbers over a ten-year period. Working with the most conservative figures from our statistics we project the following 10-year death rates.

Read more…

Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever?
by: Stephen Sinatra, M.D., F.A.C.C.

Throughout practically all of history, we humans have walked barefoot and slept on the ground, largely oblivious to the fact that the gentle surface energies of the Earth harmonize and stabilize the body’s fundamental biological rhythms and keep inflammation at bay.

In our contemporary Western world, the widespread use of insulative rubber or plastic soled shoes has disconnected us from these nurturing energies and, of course, we no longer sleep on the ground as we did in times past.

New research, which I am proud to be involved in, indicates that this physical disconnect from the Earth creates abnormalities in the physiology and contributes to the chronic inflammation, pain, fatigue, stress, and poor sleep that are so rampant in our modern society.

Along with the research has emerged an amazingly simple remedy for many health problems, including the chronic inflammation regarded as the cause of most common modern diseases, including cardiovascular disease.  The remedy is something right beneath our feet – the Earth itself!

The Greatest Health Discovery in My Career
During my nearly forty years as a practicing cardiologist, I have encountered and used many wonderful natural treatments and seen first-hand astounding lifesaving technological advances. The greatest health discovery of my career, however, is something totally different and more natural than anything I could ever have imagined.

This discovery is called Earthing and it means reconnecting the human body to the Earth’s natural and subtle electric frequencies that few people even know exist. The surface of the planet, science tells us, brims with health-sustaining energy, but until recently the extraordinary benefits that it offers were basically unknown.

Connecting the human body to this natural resource is utterly simple – just go barefoot outdoors. If you have ever walked along the beach near the surf, or on a grassy field wet with morning dew, you may have felt the energy in the form of gentle tingling or warmth in your feet and legs.  You can also connect to this energy by sleeping, working, sitting, or resting on specially designed and inexpensive conductive sheets, bands, or mats that transfer the energy via a wire into your home and office.

These unique devices often relieve common health and pain problems. Recovery from surgery, injury, and extreme athletic performance is accelerated. People report sleeping better with more energy during the day.  They feel better.  For more than ten years, thousands of people around the world – men, women, children, and athletes – have incorporated Earthing into their daily routines. The results have been documented and they are extraordinary.

This surprising yet totally intuitive subject is the focus of a new book that I have had the privilege to co-author.  It is called Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever? (Basic Health Publications, 2010).  In the book, my co-authors and I present research and observations collected during more than 12 years that strongly suggest that the biggest anti-inflammatory on the planet is – get this! – the very planet itself. Basically, we live on top of a global treatment table!

A Missing Link to Health?
The research also suggests that direct physical contact with the Earth reconnects you to the natural electric signal from the Earth governing all living organisms dwelling upon it. The signal restores your body’s natural internal bioelectrical stability and rhythms, which in turn promote normal functioning of body systems, including the cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive, and immune systems.

It shifts the nervous system from stress-dominated functioning to one of calmness.  By reconnecting, you enable your body to return to its normal evolutionary electrical state, better able to self-regulate and self-heal.

The Earth’s surface energy takes the form of a virtually unlimited reservoir of free electrons, subatomic particles. When “uploaded” into your body as a result of direct physical contact with the ground, these electrons appear to quell the rampage of destructive free radicals at the basis of chronic pain and inflammation.

Read more…

The following list was written by Nancy Appleton, Ph.D. (visit her very informative website www.nancyappleton.com), the author of the book Lick The Sugar Habit.

In addition to throwing off the body’s homeostasis, excess sugar may result in a number of other significant consequences. The following is a listing of some of sugar’s metabolic consequences from a variety of medical journals and other scientific publications.

141 Reasons Sugar Ruins Your Health

(Just Kidding, it’s 143)

By Nancy Appleton PhD & G.N. Jacobs

Excerpted from Suicide by Sugar

Used with permission

1. Sugar can suppress your immune system.

2.  Sugar upsets the mineral relationships in the body.

3. Sugar can cause juvenile delinquency in children.

4. Sugar eaten during pregnancy and lactation can influence muscle force production in offspring, which can affect an individual’s ability to exercise.

5. Sugar in soda, when consumed by children, results in the children drinking less milk.

6. Sugar can elevate glucose and insulin responses and return them to fasting levels slower in oral contraceptive users.

7. Sugar can increase reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can damage cells and tissues.

8. Sugar can cause hyperactivity, anxiety, inability to concentrate and crankiness in children.

9. Sugar can produce a significant rise in triglycerides.

10.  Sugar reduces the body’s ability to defend against bacterial infection.

11.  Sugar causes a decline in tissue elasticity and function – the more sugar you eat, the more elasticity and function you lose.

12.  Sugar reduces high-density lipoproteins (HDL).

13.  Sugar can lead to chromium deficiency.

14.  Sugar can lead to ovarian cancer.

Read more…

About sixty years ago, Dr. Meinig was one of the founders of the American Association of Endodontists (root canal specialists).  Naturally, he has filled his share of root canals and when he wasn’t filling canals himself, he was teaching the technique to dentists across the country at weekend seminars and clinics.

He offered the world his experienced perspective on root canals exposing their latent dangers. About six years ago, having recently retired, he decided to read all 1174 pages of the detailed research of Dr. Weston Price, (D.D.S).

Upon reading these papers Dr. Meinig was startled and shocked. They provided valid documentation of systemic illnesses resulting from latent infections lingering in filled roots.

Dr. Meinig has since written a book entitled “Root Canal Cover-Up EXPOSED – Many Illnesses Result”, and has devoted himself to radio, TV, and personal appearances before groups in an attempt to blow the whistle and alert the public.

This is one interview with him:

:: note: this interview is re-posted here for archival purposes. The source is found at the end of the interview ::

Root Canals Pose Health Threat

MJ Please explain what the problem is with root canal therapy.

GM First, let me note that my book is based on Dr. Weston Price’s twenty-five years of careful, impeccable research. He led a 60-man team of researchers whose findings – suppressed until now rank right up there with the greatest medical discoveries of all time. This is not the usual medical story of a prolonged search for the difficult-to-find causative agent of some devastating disease. Rather, it’s the story of how a “cast of millions” (of bacteria) become entrenched inside the structure of teeth and end up causing the largest number of diseases ever traced to a single source.

MJ What diseases? Can you give us some examples?

GM Yes, a high percentage of chronic degenerative diseases can originate from root filled teeth. The most frequent were heart and circulatory diseases and he found 16 different causative agents for these. The next most common diseases were those of the joints, arthritis and rheumatism. In third place – but almost tied for second – were diseases of the brain and nervous system. After that, any disease you can name might (and in some cases has) come from root filled teeth.

Let me tell you about the research itself. Dr. Price undertook his investigations in 1900. He continued until 1925, and published his work in two volumes in 1923. In 1915 the National Dental Association (which changed its name a few years later to The American Dental Association) was so impressed with his work that they appointed Dr. Price their first Research Director. His Advisory Board read like a Who’s Who in medicine and dentistry for that era. They represented the fields of bacteriology, pathology, rheumatology, surgery, chemistry, and cardiology.

At one point in his writings Dr. Price made this observation: “Dr. Frank Billings (M.D.), probably more than any other American internist, is due credit for the early recognition of the importance of streptococcal focal infections in systemic involvements.”

What’s really unfortunate here is that very valuable information was covered up and totally buried some 70 years ago by a minority group of autocratic doctors who just didn’t believe or couldn’t grasp – the focal infection theory.

MJ What is the “focal infection” theory?

Read more…

Probiotics are beneficial bacteria that occur naturally in the human intestinal tract. Foods “cultured” with beneficial strains of probiotics such as yogurt and kefir have been used throughout history to improve overall health and vitality, and today, there are many studies reinforcing probiotics’ ability to balance and promote digestive health.

Probiotics also play an important role in modulating the immune system, 70% of which is located in the gut. The word “probiotic” means “for life”, “antibiotics” means “anti life”. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of healthy gut flora. The benefits of probiotics don’t end there, in fact many have reported the disappearance of acne, better skin texture, better hair, the halting of male pattern baldness, ending Candida, even Fibromyalgia, migraines were stopped, and allergies and inflammation reduced by having good gut flora.

“Why take probiotics daily?” you may be wondering. Well, our modern/civilized life has been detrimental to healthy gut flora. Refined sugars, adulterated grains and foods, chemicals, medication, fluoride and chlorine in drinking and cooking water, pasteurization of milk, amongst many other factors can kill off good gut flora and/or allow less-beneficial and sometimes harmful bacteria to take over. Further, many of us also do not eat fermented foods such as sauerkraut, sourdough, kimchi, kefir, etc..
I will address this question in future posts more thoroughly.

Many probiotic products exist, unfortunately, not all probiotics are equal, here I will list the best probiotic products, based on my research/opinion.

A general rule, for the greatest percentage of active (live) cultures is to buy probiotics that require refrigeration. However, this is not always the case. Also, remember, more strains doesn’t mean “better”. Some of the best probiotics have 8, 9 or even 4 strains.

I’ve looked around for the best probiotic products that have the best strains, this is what I came up with:

Note: My top 4 are interchangeable. Try one for a month, if you do not see results try another from the top 4. One of these will likely work for you. If not, you can try the other good ones listed below or scroll all the way down to read about using single-strain probiotics (some people react differently to different strains).

Here are the best:

1- Dr.Ohhira’s Probiotics 12 Plus
Dr. Ohhira invested years of testing on subjects and came up with a non-refrigerated probiotic supplement line.

Renowned microbiologists, lichiroh Ohhira, Ph.D., and scientists from Okayama University combined ancient Japanese fermentation skills with modern technology to create this unique beneficial product.

This one has twelve (12) strains of lactic acid bacteria, including powerful proprietary TH10, are used in a complex 3-year fermentation process. The nutrient rich cultures medium (an optimum natural pre-biotic) composed of vegetables, fruits, mushrooms and seaweeds is encapsulated along with the live lactic acid bacteria. The probiotic system also includes organic acids naturally produced by fermentation. These important substances create the proper GI environment in which all the body’s unique blend of hundreds of strains of friendly bacteria can flourish.

Read more…

I found about this cool website today. It is worth sharing with you..

The Green Routes website is an easy-to-use tool to help you find one-of-a-kind places to eat, play, shop, sleep, and learn. Use the map to find a destination, or add filters by clicking the categories above. You can also search or highlight selected routes for traveling. Enjoy!

(click to visit Green Routes)

You can explore “Journeys with first nations” and find out how you can visit a ton of “first nation” locations to learn about their food, culture, sustainable projects and history, make new friends plus much more. Here are some of the places you can tour:

Anishinaabe Culture Center and Gallery, Becker County Historical Society, Becker’s Resort, Cass Lake Chamber of Commerce and Hwy 2 Welcome Center, Cass Lake Museum and Lyle’s Logging Camp, Chippewa National Forest – Blackduck Ranger District, Dennis Banks Native Products, Eagle View Organics Farm, First Week Boutique, Forestedge Winery, Great River Pizzeria, Historic Holmes Theater, Historic Winnibigoshish General Store and Resort, Ice Cracking Lodge & Resort, Lake Country Scenic Byway, Lakes Area Farmers Market, Lakes Processing, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Fitness Center, Leech Lake Tribal College, Maplelag, Minwanjige Café, Mississippi Headwaters Hostel, Muskrat Coffee Company, Native Harvest/White Earth Land Recoverey Project, New Horizons Resort & Lodge, Northern Adventures Guide Service, Northern Lights Casino Gift Shop, Palace Casino Gift Shop, Sahkahtay Indigenous Preservation Society, Spirit of the Forest Enrichment Center, Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge, White Earth Public Transit, White Earth Tribal and Community College Extension, York’s Log Cabin

Visit now: journeys.greenroutes.org

You want to explore more?   Nation-wide? .. Visit places such as:

Buffalo Lake Farm & Flea Market, Fairfax Farmers Market, Fieldstone Vineyards, Great Plains Designs, Hector Farmers’ Market, Jeffers Petroglyphs, Moonstone Farm, Morgan Creek Vineyards, Olivia Farmers Market, Putting Green, Renville County Historical Society, Renville Farmers Market, Tatanka Bluffs B&B and thousands of other eco local-tourism options!

Simple!

Find these and more here: www.greenroutes.org

Don’t buy into polluting, blind, commercialized, hyped-up, profit-centered tourism!

Find a local location worthy of your time and money, make new friends, vacation consciously, align your travel plans with your morals and values.

Read more…

European Exopolitics Summit 09 – Stephen Bassett

For the past five decades the human race has been caught between two worlds, two paradigms. While millions of people worldwide have come to understand they are not alone in the universe, that an extraterrestrial presence has become manifest about the planet, the governments of the world, frozen in place by fear and indecision, have been unable to publicly engage this new reality.

Stephen Bassett, is a lobbyist, activist, commentator and columnist. He is the founder of the Paradigm Research Group and the Executive Director of the political action committee, X-PPAC. His work has been referenced in, among others, the Washington Post, Washington Times, New York Times, Legal Times, Christian Science Monitor, National Journal and O’Dweyer’s Washington Report. He has been featured in documentaries and a guest on numerous radio programs addressing the “Politics of Disclosure.”

In this highly spirited and passionate interview, Stephen calls on every citizen to demand the proof of extra terrestrial life that we intuitively already know exists. Get ready to be inspired and motivated!

I came across a website that offers free books online. Ben Crowell has authored several books, which he graciously makes available for free online.

1- The Light and Matter Series

This series of six books is intended for a one-year introductory course of the type typically taken by biology majors. Algebra and trig are used, and there are optional calculus-based sections.

• 1. Newtonian Physics
• 2. Conservation Laws
• 3. Vibrations and Waves
• 4. Electricity and Magnetism
• 5. Optics
• 6. The Modern Revolution in Physics

2- Physics Books

• Simple Nature – a calculus-based book for students majoring in engineering and the physics sciences
• Conceptual Physics – a nonmathematical book for the general reader
• General Relativity

3- Math

• Calculus

You can find more free learning resources at the Free Learning Resources page.

Driftwood is wood that has been washed onto a shore or beach of a sea or river by the action of winds, tides or waves. It is a form of marine debris or tidewrack. Some may consider driftwood a nuisance. However, this driftwood provides shelter and food for birds, fish and other aquatic species as it floats in the ocean. To some of us, who value nature as it is and find beauty everywhere, driftwood can be pretty to look at. Some use this wood to make natural-looking furniture.

If you want to be creative, you could do as Heather Jansch did, get some driftwood and re-use it to make wooden horses!

Not  only are they beautiful, but they are made from what mother nature has put on the shores to tease our imagination and creativity. For her nature-based art and creativity, I list Jansch’s horses in the “best of” category.

Below you will see more photos. The artist is Heather Jansch. Her website is www.heatherjansch.com

Make sure you patronize Heather Jansch’s website: www.heatherjansch.com

It is worth remembering that our galaxy alone has billions of Earth-like planets, and these earths are “[not only] probably habitable but they probably are also going to be inhabited”

.

Galaxy has ‘billions of Earths’

There could be one hundred billion Earth-like planets in our galaxy, a US conference has heard.

Dr Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution of Science said many of these worlds could be inhabited by simple lifeforms.

He was speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago.

So far, telescopes have been able to detect just over 300 planets outside our Solar System.

But, based on the limited numbers of planets found so far, Dr Boss has estimated that each Sun-like star has on average one “Earth-like” planet.

This simple calculation means there would be huge numbers capable of supporting life.

“Not only are they probably habitable but they probably are also going to be inhabited,” Dr Boss told BBC News. “But I think that most likely the nearby ‘Earths’ are going to be inhabited with things which are perhaps more common to what Earth was like three or four billion years ago.” That means bacterial lifeforms.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7891132.stm

The caption below was written in November 2004.

Other Earths

So, after having compiled a bestiary of exotic planets, many the size of Jupiter and locked in a deadly embrace with their star, what are the chances of the planet-hunters identifying rather smaller, sedate rocks upon which life might actually get the chance to evolve? It’s not as if these planets are likely to exist in minute numbers: current estimates [Using the Drake Equation] border on there being 30 billion terrestrial planets in our Galaxy alone [this is an article from 2002]. The odds of finding such planets lengthen a lot when one considers that these planets would have longer years and cause much smaller wobbles in their star’s position.

The odds shorten again the longer we look for these planets. Hot Jupiters tend to get found simply because the radial velocity method is most sensitive to their kind. It’s only now that smaller planets are being found, although none of them are likely to harbour life. Adopt a different method of detection, and we might start to see terrestrial planets, instead of inferring their presence.

This is precisely what the Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) telescope is designed to do. This instrument comprises four space-based telescopes flying in formation. Their light is combined in such a way as to vastly increase resolution. One of the indicators that TPF will be looking for is the presence of elemental oxygen in a planet’s atmosphere. All oxygen in our atmosphere is there because of photosynthetic organisms: plants and cyanobacteria. Oxygen is therefore a key signature of life⁶.

TPF is not due to fly until 2015 at the earliest. In the meantime, Earth-based telescopes will get bigger and better, and astronomers will be able to observe for longer wobbles than they currently can. Even if we can’t see the little green men yet, we’ll have a much better idea of where they might live.

Source: H2G2 extrasolar planet hunting

Read more…

This documentary is very much worth watching. It shows the potential power of the human mind that we ALL posses. As you watch this, I ask you to consider this question: “what is normal?”

Enjoy!

Intro: This is the breathtaking story of Daniel Tammet. A twenty-something with extraordinary mental abilities, Daniel is one of the world’s few savants. He can do calculations to 100 decimal places in his head, and learn a language in a week. This documentary follows Daniel as he travels to America to meet the scientists who are convinced he may hold the key to unlocking similar abilities in everyone. He also meets the world’s most famous savant, the man who inspired Dustin Hoffman’s character in the Oscar winning film ‘Rain Man’. (2005)

PS. Mr. Tammet is not a boy as the title of this video implies, he is a genius and a very bright man.

A friend told me about a documentary on crop circles. I watched it today and in my opinion, this is the best documentary on youtube discussing the crop circles phenomena!

I highly recommend you watch it, whether you think crop circles are nothing but man-made art work, or if you think UFO’s are making this art, this documentary will have something to offer you.

It discusses causes, physics, research results, possible interpretations, eye witness testimonies, video footage and considers if  crop circles are as natural as a flower or a sea shell or if they are supernatural messages from another dimension,  and much much more.

Here’s the youtube video description:

Where does this mysterious crop circle phenomena come from? Is it done by man as a joke? So why do people have extraordinary experiences then? Flying ball of lights were seen in and around crop circles. Or is it an alien intelligence which try to communicate with us? The geometry which can be found in crop circles, include a lot of mathematics which can be also found in nature.

Our new documentary “New swirled order” deals with these questions and present some very extraordinary Crop circle formations in 2008, like the “Pi”-formation in Barbury Castle or the Crop Circle near Avebury Manor, which showed our solar system with the planetary constellation of December 21 of 2012.

You can Buy the movie at http://www.nuoviso.com

Great Music video from the nineties !
The lyrics are taken from a famous essay — written in 1997 by Mary Schmich, a columnist with the Chicago Tribune (article) — which gives some amazing advice for life, thoroughly recommend everyone to watch this ! enjoy !

THIS IS THE ORIGINAL MUSIC VIDEO

Lyrics:

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of 99 Wear Sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they’ve faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don’t worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts. Don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don’t waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long and, in the end, it’s only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Read more…

After a while, the United States is simply too much: too much religion and not enough gods, too much news and not enough wisdom, too many weapons of mass destruction – or, for that matter, private destruction (why search so far away when they live right under our noses?), too much entertainment and not enough beauty, too much electricity and not enough light, too much lumber and not enough forests, too much real estate and not enough earth, too many books and not enough readers, too many runners and not enough strollers, too many freeways, too many cars, too many malls, too many prisons, too much security but not enough civility, too many humans but not enough eagles. And the worst excess of all: too many wars, too much misery and brutality – reflected as much in our own eyes as in those of our enemies.

by Bill Holm

Rather than buying gifts, packaged in boxes, wrapping them & mailing them out (think of the carbon and waste produced as a result), how about giving the gift of hope and opportunity to people via micro-finance or micro-credit?

This season, you can help others find hope and start businesses in the US or around the world with a small financial gift!

Learn more here:

• Grameen America
• Grameen Foundation
• Grameen Bank
• Enterprise Development Group
• KIVA
• Accion USA

Find more on how you can support charitable efforts

Gore Vidal, Stephen Fry, Albert Einstein, H P Lovecraft, Peter Singer, Susan B Anthony, Janeane Garofalo, Penn and Teller, Shirley Manson, Ian Mckellon, Ayn Rand, Diane Keaton, Brian Eno, Mark Twain, Isaac Asimov, Richard Dawkins, Harvey Fierstein, Gloria Steinem, Rachel Griffiths, Douglas Adams, Germaine Greer, Charles Dar More..win, Daniel Dennet, Armistead Maupin, John Malkovich, Katherine Hepburn, David Attenborough, Sam Harris, Joaquin Phoenix, Gabriel Byrne, Voltaire, Bruce Lee, Carl Sagan, Bertrand Russell, Jodie Foster, Steven Pinker, Gene Roddenberry, Frank Zappa, Gary Numan, Dave Gilmour, Nietzsche, Kathy Griffin and John Adams.

Winona LaDuke, is an Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe) enrolled member of the Mississippi Band of Anishinaabeg and is the mother of three children. Winona is the Program Director of Honor the Earth and Founding Director of White Earth Land Recovery Project.

Leading Honor the Earth she provides vision and leadership for the organization’s Regranting Program and its Strategic Initiatives.  In addition, she has worked for two decades on the land issues of the White Earth Reservation, including litigation, over land rights in the 1980’s.  In 1989, she received the Reebok Human Rights Award, with which in part she began the White Earth Land Recovery Project.

In 1994, Winona was nominated by Time Magazine as one of America’s fifty most promising leaders under forty years of age, and has also been awarded the Thomas Merton Award in 1996, the Ann Bancroft Award, Ms. Woman of the Year Award (with the Indigo Girls in 1997), the Global Green Award, and numerous other honors. A graduate of Harvard and Antioch Universities, she has written extensively on Native American and environmental issues.

Her books include: Last Standing Woman (fiction), All Our Relations (non-fiction), In the Sugarbush (Children’s), and The Winona LaDuke Reader.

To show respect to all of her work, I post this article about Winona LaDuke under the Best Of category.

For more information, visit: http://nativeharvest.com.

I just wanted to write a quick post and say “Baking Soda, What a Precious Salt!”  Baking soda can be used for so many things, from cooking to deodorizing,  it makes a good tooth paste, has anti fungal effects and can be used to wash hair and quickly eliminate dandruff. What a useful precious salt!

Do you use baking soda for things other than cooking?

Below you will see what wikipedia says about backing soda. Retrieved 10/27/2009 10PM CST.

Sodium bicarbonate or sodium hydrogen carbonate is the chemical compound with the formula NaHCO₃. Sodium bicarbonate is a white solid that is crystalline but often appears as a fine powder. It has a slight alkaline taste resembling that of washing soda (sodium carbonate). It is a component of the mineral natron and is found dissolved in many mineral springs. The natural mineral form is known as nahcolite. It is also produced artificially.

Since it has long been known and is widely used, the salt has many related names such as baking soda, bread soda, cooking soda, bicarbonate of soda. Colloquially, its name is shortened to sodium bicarb, bicarb soda, or simply bicarb. The word saleratus, from Latin sal æratus meaning “aerated salt“, was widely used in the 19th century for both sodium bicarbonate and potassium bicarbonate. The term has now fallen out of common usage.

Cooking

Sodium bicarbonate is primarily used in cooking (baking) where it reacts with other components to release carbon dioxide, that helps dough “rise”. The acidic compounds that induce this reaction include phosphates, cream of tartar, lemon juice, yogurt, buttermilk, cocoa, vinegar, etc. Sodium bicarbonate can be substituted for baking powder provided sufficient acid reagent is also added to the recipe.^[3] Many forms of baking powder contain sodium bicarbonate combined with one or more acidic phosphates (especially good) or cream of tartar. Can also be used for softening peas (⅛ tsp. per pint of water and bring to boil for one hour)

Thermal decomposition causes sodium bicarbonate alone to act as a raising agent by releasing carbon dioxide at baking temperatures. The mixture for cakes using this method can be allowed to stand before baking without any premature release of carbon dioxide.

Neutralization of acids and bases

Many laboratories keep a bottle of sodium bicarbonate powder within easy reach, because sodium bicarbonate is amphoteric, reacting with acids and bases. Furthermore, as it is relatively innocuous in most situations, there is no harm in using excess sodium bicarbonate. Lastly, sodium bicarbonate powder may be used to smother a small fire. ^[4]

A wide variety of applications follows from its neutralization properties, including ameliorating the effects of white phosphorus in incendiary bullets from spreading inside an afflicted soldier’s wounds.^[5] Sodium bicarbonate can be added as a simple solution for raising the pH balance of water (increasing total alkalinity) where high levels of chlorine (2-5 ppm) are present as in swimming pools and aquariums.^[6] Read more…

One of my favorite quotes by Albert Einstein

The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed. It was the experience of mystery— even if mixed with fear— that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, our perceptions of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which only in their most primitive forms are accessible to our minds: it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute true religiosity. In this sense, and only this sense, I am a deeply religious man.

Consider these famous quotes on courage:

Courage, an optimistic attitude, common sense, and a feeling of being at home upon the crust of the earth, will enable (us) to face advantages and disadvantages with equal firmness.

–Alfred Adler

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.
~Ambrose Redmoon

Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.
~Mary Anne Radmacher

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.
~Winston Churchill

Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared.
~Edward Vernon Rickenbacker

Fear and courage are brothers.
~Proverb

Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.
~Raymond Lindquist

Courage is knowing what not to fear.
~Plato

Courage is a kind of salvation.
~Plato

Have the courage to live. Anyone can die.
~Robert Cody

If you haven’t visited the National Geographic photo of the day website you gotta check it out.

I’ve said this before, I love the National Geographic magazines and I love the National Geographic channel and every program they have (along with Discovery and the History channels).  I like these media outlets mainly because they go where I can’t go and they show me the rest of the world and nature that I can only wish to see.

Their website “National Geographic Photo of the Day” offers another outlet for me to go and find breathtaking photos of our living world. This is a very valuable resources to those of you who love life and our planet.

Find the website here: http://ngphotooftheday.blogspot.com

Buy your own National Geographic magazines or other educational products (and save money using coupons) here

Thom Hartmann is the nations number 1 progressive talk show host. His radio show and books offer a wealth of knowledge in history and politics, also in ADHD.

He is very level-headed and has a very wise view of the world. I listen to his show as often as I can; every time I listen to his show I get educated, and I’ve been listening for 2 years now. He is an award-winning author of twenty books in print in four continents and 18 languages.

I agree with a lot of what he says and I also learn a lot from him. I am a very pleased listener and supporter.

For that and more, Thom Hartmann has earned his well deserved spot in my ‘Best Of” list.

Thom’s official website can be found at:

http://www.thomhartmann.com/

Find Thom’s blog here:
http://www.thomhartmann.com/category/thom/blog/

Listen to him on your local progressive radio, find stations here: http://www.thomhartmann.com/newstations.php

Find show notes here:

http://www.thomhartmann.com/category/radioshow/daily-stacks/

Download mp3s of Thom Hartmann’s radio show (from KPOJ): http://www.620kpoj.com/cc-common/podcast/single_podcast.html?podcast=hartmann_nationwide.xml

About Thom:

Short Bio (from http://www.thomhartmann.com/)

Thom Hartmann is live daily from noon-3 PM ET in Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Atlanta, Detroit, Seattle, Portland, Phoenix, Santa Fe, Pittsburgh, Memphis, Grand Rapids, and on over fifty other stations nationwide including Chicago, Washington DC, Santa Barbara, Minneapolis, and on XM and Sirius Satellite radio. He is also a four-time Project Censored-award-winning, New York Times best-selling author. His national daily progressive radio talk show, now in its sixth year on the air, replaced Al Franken on the Air America Radio Network, is also distributed to radio stations nationwide on the Jones Satellite system. More people listen daily to the Thom Hartmann Program than any other progressive talk show in the nation.

Talkers Magazine names Thom Hartmann as the 10th most important talk show host in America, and the #1 most important progressive host, in their “Heavy Hundred” ranking. Check it out at www.talkers.com

Read more…

On July 11th, you can join a “Massive Qigong Gathering: 1000’s Will Breathe as 1” event. Experts in NATURAL MEDICINE & YOGA ARE RAVING about this event. You can also start a 4-day seminar (training) on Qigong!

Over 10,000 people have attended and taken the Qigong training. With live music & the most powerful techniques you can’t go wrong.

Qigong makes your body strong and builds energy using breath & movement. Learn breathing exercises that deliver a full body vibration in 45 seconds. Also learn qigong exercises that create a highly-tangible healing energy.

PLUS, learn a proven Food-Healing system entitled Conquering Any Disease

This event is about NATURAL HEALING and positive HI-ENERGY living.

Atlanta & Orlando are the sites for the next Qi Revolution events. For $99 its the deal of a lifetime and more FUN then you can imagine.

You can register now and join hundreds of like minded individuals. Click here to find registration info on QiRevolution.com. Looks like it’s worth attending!