For” Foodie Friday”, but first this:
It was December 21st. in Australia, yesterday!!
Crying Wolf: The December 2012 Apocalypse
“The story is a familiar one. Way up in the Alps an impulsive young shepherd boy guarded his flock of sheep.
Bored with his task he decided to shake things up a bit, and sounded the wolf alarm. The townspeople came running to defend the flock, and the shepherd boy laughed up a storm at the hubbub.
Though reprimanded, he remained unrepentant. Another dull moment and the scene was repeated. The townspeople resolved to ignore further warnings from this young man.
Suddenly a hungry, snarling pack of wolves crept out of the forest. The shepherd boy saw the moment for action. He sounded the alarm loud and long, but no one came running.
Depending on your version of the story the wolves ate the sheep...or in more dire circumstances they ate the shepherd boy.
Lesson learned: Don’t lie.
But how does the 2012 Apocalypse fit in?
December 21 will come and go without an apocalyptic end to civilization, and more people will scoff at these predictions—rightfully so, when they are lies. If constantly claiming that the world will end imminently leads to unfulfilled promises then how will people react when the warning is valid?
Just last year a preacher named Harold Camping predicted the return of Christ. But it wasn’t the first such forecast of its kind. About 168 years ago another date was set for the return of Jesus Christ. As usual the time came and He didn’t arrive. The Great Disappointment, as it became known, crushed a lot of hopes and re-routed an entire religious movement.
In 2000 the Y2K crisis cropped up and the world was going to be destroyed by a computer glitch. Every so often, when news is slow, asteroids are calculated to crash into the earth and change life as we known it.
All have passed, all have failed. So what’s the real disaster here?
The problem is let-down and familiarity. Let-down because things don’t happen the way they’re predicted for the very simple reason that they are lies. A culture of lying becomes familiar. Then, like the shepherd boy on the alp, when the real warning comes, no one hears it and if they hear, they don’t care because these “end of the world” warnings never came true in the past.
At another time in history when the southern house of Israel, better known as the kingdom of Judah, had reached the peak of its sins God instructed his prophet Ezekiel to proclaim disaster and destruction to that nation.
The people didn’t want to hear this and they had a saying, “The days are prolonged, and every vision fails” (Ezekiel 12:22) We don’t believe it!
God replied, “The days are at hand, and the fulfillment of every vision” (Ezekiel 12:23 Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.
See All...). The time has finally come—the end is here!
And it did come. In 586 B.C. the Kingdom of Judah failed, was invaded by the Babylonians and the survivors were carried off to Babylonia (modern-day Iraq).
Ultimately the world as we know it will end, and Jesus Christ will return. As for the day and the hour, well, God has that covered.” From: http://www.ucg.org/blog/crying-wolf-december-2012-apocalypse/
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The Great Orange Juice Scam
“One of the great scams of the industrial food cartel is the so-called "fresh" orange juice sold in supermarkets.
Some reality checks:
- There is more vitamin c in a single orange than in a full glass of industrial orange juice.
- Truly fresh orange juice only lasts a few days. It if last for weeks (or months), it's an industrial product.
- Until the Florida orange growers launched a campaign in the early 20th century to deal with their surplus crop, the only people who drank orange juice were Floridians who had a tree in their backyard. There is nothing particularly healthy or natural about drinking orange juice -- and the industrial product is a total waste of money.
Why Orange Juice is Not Healthy
Many people start their day off with a glass of orange juice, typically thinking the vitamin C and other nutrients it contains are a smart and healthy choice.
But a glass of juice, whether fresh-squeezed or not, has about eight full teaspoons of sugar per eight-ounce glass! This is nearly as much sugar as is in a can of soda (one can typically has 10 teaspoons of sugar).
When the sugar is combined in its natural form in the whole fruit it causes far less of a problem as the fiber tends to slow its absorption and prevents over consumption.
But process the fruit sugar out of the fruit and remove the fiber and you have an entirely different setup.
The sugar in orange juice is typically a fruit sugar called fructose, which many mistakenly believe is a “healthy” form of sugar. But fructose is every bit as dangerous as regular table sugar since it will also cause a major increase in your insulin levels.
Whole Fruit is a Better Choice than Juice
If you are overweight, have diabetes or high blood pressure, however, you are best off avoiding fruits or limiting them to a small handful of berries a day. If you are currently healthy, a small amount of fruit should not be a problem as long as you follow the guidelines of your nutritional type.
Is a glass of orange juice part of your daily routine? Here's a practical tip for weaning yourself off it, or at least keeping your consumption to a minimum: DILUTE the juice with water or sparkling water. You can start slowly by diluting it slightly and then keep increasing the water content over time.
This tip works great for kids, too, and you’ll be doing them a favor by having them fill up on healthy fresh fruits and vegetables instead of on a glass of fruit juice.” From: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/11/05/the-great-orange-juice-scam.aspx and
http://www.therealfoodchannel.com/videos/the-food-industry/the-great-orange-juice-scam.html
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Why '100% Orange Juice' Is Still Artificial
“File this one under "things we always sort of knew, but wish we didn't." All that "100% orange juice, not from concentrate" stuff you've been drinking? Technically, it's "not from concentrate," but it's not really 100% orange juice either, a report at Civil Eats details. (Interesting)
The process is rather depressing. Gizmodo explains part of the process:
“Once the juice is squeezed and stored in gigantic vats, they start removing oxygen. Why? Because removing oxygen from the juice allows the liquid to keep for up to a year without spoiling. But! Removing that oxygen also removes the natural flavors of oranges. Yeah, it's all backwards. So in order to have OJ actually taste like oranges, drink companies hire flavor and fragrance companies, the same ones that make perfumes for Dior, to create these "flavor packs" to make juice taste like, well, juice again.”” More at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/29/100-percent-orange-juice-artificial_n_913395.html
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Why make your own fresh squeezed orange juice? Here are a few good reasons...
Buying already squeezed orange juice can be convenient, but did you know, "that" kind of orange juice must be pasteurized, which boils out essential vitamins? So not only is fresh juice more delicious, it also contains 50% more Vitamin C and 2 1/2 times more beta carotene than processed juice!! Orange Juice is a great way to both nourish and reward your body.” From: http://www.pearsonranch.com/juice-oranges.html
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California Woman Sues OJ Giant Tropicana Over Flavor Packs
“A California mother is taking on orange juice giant Tropicana, alleging in a lawsuit that the company's not-from-concentrate Pure Premium juice is "heavily processed" and not a "natural" product.
In a class-action suit filed Jan. 6 in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California, Angelena Lewis, 32, of Vacaville alleges that the addition of aromas and flavor packs "changes the essential nature" of the juice.
"While Tropicana claims that 'making Tropicana orange juice is truly art,' it is far more a science," the lawsuit alleges.
If the class action moves forward, the lawsuit would represent anyone in the nation who had bought Tropicana Pure Premium, which is made by Tropicana Products, a division of Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo Inc.
They allege that advertising claims are misleading and that Tropicana Products has violated consumer fraud statutes in various states, including California's false-misleading advertising law.”
Videos and more at: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/california-woman-sues-pepsicos-tropicana-alleging-deceptive-advertising/story?id=15394357
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On This Day:
Dec 21, 1988:
Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland, Dec 21, 1988:
“Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York explodes in midair over Lockerbie, Scotland, an hour after departure. A bomb that had been hidden inside an audio cassette player detonated inside the cargo area when the plane was at an altitude of 31,000 feet. All 259 passengers, including 35 Syracuse University students returning home for the holidays, were killed in the explosion. In addition, 11 residents of Lockerbie were killed in the shower of airplane parts that unexpectedly fell from the sky.
Authorities accused Islamic terrorists of having placed the bomb on the plane at the low-security airport in Malta, and it was transferred to Flight 103 in Frankfurt, Germany. They apparently believed that the attack was in retaliation for either the 1986 bombing attack on Libya , or a 1988 incident, in which the United States killed 290 passengers when it mistakenly shot down an Iran Air commercial flight over the Persian Gulf.
Sixteen days before the explosion over Lockerbie, a call was made to the U.S. embassy in Helsinki, Finland, warning that a bomb would be placed on a Pan Am flight out of Frankfurt. Though some claimed that travelers should have been alerted to this threat, U.S. officials later said that the connection between the call and the bomb was purely coincidental.
In the early 1990s, investigators identified Libyans Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah as suspects, but Libya refused to turn them over to be tried in the United States. But in 1999--in an effort to ease United Nations sanctions against Libya--President Moammar Gadhafi agreed to turn the suspects over to Scotland for trial in the Netherlands using Scottish law and prosecutors. In early 2001, al-Megrahi was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, although he continues to profess his innocence and work to overturn his conviction. Fhimah was acquitted.
In accordance with United Nations and American demands, Libya accepted responsibility for the bombing, though it did not express remorse. The U.N. and U.S. lifted most sanctions against Libya; the country then paid each victim's family approximately $8 million in compensation. In 2004, Libya's prime minister said that the deal was the "price for peace," implying that his country only accepted responsibility to get the sanctions lifted, angering the survivors' families. He also admitted that Libya had not really accepted guilt for the bombing.
Pan Am Airlines, which went bankrupt in 1991, received a $30 million settlement from the Libyan government in 2006.”
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Yesterday:
Time to go into our little town to pick up a prescription for my sinusitis, and a few groceries. Then as I stopped at the mail box, there was a lot of junk mail to shed. When I arrived back home, I tried to pack some more things up that were still where the RVport used to be, and design a new fence for the house.
Then I went down to Claudia’s, as she had fallen and bruised herself pretty badly. Misty had to wear her barn coat to keep warm for her walk-about down there.
High winds made branches fall in my back yard, and I had to pick them up so that near-blind Misty wouldn’t stumble into them. When the RVport was taken down, it put a lot of pine needles on the brick walkway into the back yard, I had to rake them out of the way, as she couldn't find the pathway by feel.
It was a cold and very windy day.
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