Is Space the Final Frontier? Are We Alone in the Universe? The Role of Processed Foods in the Obesity Epidemic.

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Is Space the Final Frontier?

“The vastness and unexplored mystery of outer space has inspired many. But is it truly the final frontier? What other vistas await the human race?

As a boy in the 1960s, I think I learned to count down from 10 almost as early as I learned to count forward. The thrill of each rocket launch in the race to the moon began to make anything seem possible.

When the original Star Trek television series launched in 1966, it seemed that space truly was “the final frontier,” as Capt. James T. Kirk declared at the start of each episode. Our collective mission was “to boldly go where no man has gone before.”

To boldly go

In the years since Star Trek’s short three seasons (1966-1969) and the brief period of human exploration of the moon (1969-1972), the excitement of space seems to have faded a little. But for many people it never lost its pull.

Now private companies have begun to take up the mission “to boldly go,” with space tourism serving as a stepping stone to the moon, Mars and beyond.

Feeling the overview effect

In October 2021, the actor who played Capt. Kirk finally got his chance to experience space in real life. William Shatner, then 90 years old, spent only three minutes in space with Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos. But the effect was powerful.

The Atlantic reported that, with tears running down his cheeks, Shatner said, “What you have given me is the most profound experience I can imagine.”

What was it like touching the edge of his final frontier? “It’s extraordinary. Extraordinary. I hope I never recover from this.”

Shatner is not the only one who has felt powerful emotions upon looking down on our precious planet or out into the universe. The experience has even been given the name the overview effect.

• “No one could be briefed well enough to be completely prepared for the astonishing view that I got,” wrote astronaut Alan Shepherd in 1962.
• “If only everyone could relate to the beauty and the purposefulness of it,” said Gene Cernan, one of the 12 people who have walked on the moon. “It wouldn’t bring a utopia to this planet for people to understand it all, but it might make a difference.”

For more about this phenomena, see our blog post “The Overview Effect: Why We Need to See the Big Picture.”

Other frontiers

While outer space has gotten most of the headlines as the final frontier, others have suggested that inner space is where it’s at. Of course, this term has been defined in different ways. Merriam-Webster.com says the first known use of inner space was in 1958, in the sense of “space at or near the earth’s surface and especially under the sea.”

It has also been used to describe the microscopic world, as well as the inner self.

All of these frontiers, though closer to home, may be as mysterious and challenging as outer space.

The bottom of the sea

As man headed into space, undersea exploration was also taking off.

On Jan. 23, 1960, Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh descended for nearly five hours to reach the Challenger Deep, the deepest known point in the ocean. It is 6.83 miles (10.99 kilometers) below the surface of the Pacific Ocean near Guam.

Ever since, oceanographers have made amazing discoveries in an unseen world every bit as fantastic as science fiction:

• “In the coastal waters of Shark Bay, Australia, scientists discovered that a seagrass bed of Poseidon’s ribbon weed (Posidonia australis) is actually one plant. The massive organism covers an area of 77 square miles” (Smithsonian).
• Off the coast of Antarctica, “scientists discovered 60 million icefish nests covering an area the size of a small city” (ibid.).
• “From 13m-long (43ft) voracious carnivorous squid, to scuttling Yeti crabs huddling near hydrothermal vents, to tusked whales dwelling thousands of feet down to avoid predatory orcas, sizeable marine animals new to science are still being documented every year” (BBC).
• The deep ocean seemed to be “a harsh, monotonous place of perpetual darkness, frigid temperatures, limited food and extreme pressure—conditions that should make complex forms of life impossible. But new tools . . . have demonstrated that biodiversity in the darkest depths may rival that of rain forests and tropical coral reefs” (Scientific American).

But even with all the exploration that has been done, only 5 percent of the ocean has been explored.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, “Humans know more about the physical and chemical properties of outer space than about planet Earth’s deep ocean regions.”

Inner space remains an exciting frontier for future generations. “The generation of kids in middle schools right now will explore more of Earth than all previous generations combined,” said National Geographic explorer-at-large Robert Ballard.

The microscopic world

Within the earth’s biosphere, the life-forms visible to the eye are outnumbered by the microscopic ones. This invisible world could also make a claim to the title final frontier.

Consider these amazing facts:

• “Right beneath your nose—on your face, in your gut, and everywhere in between—trillions of bacteria, viruses, and fungi are so abundant in your body, they outnumber your human cells” (NOVA).
• “Microalgae in the ocean produce half of all the oxygen in our atmosphere. Fungi and bacteria convert the organic material from dead animals into new raw materials. And intestinal bacteria help you digest your food. Without any of them, life on earth wouldn’t be possible” (Micropia.nl).
• “Microbes eat almost everything, including metals, acids, petroleum and natural gas” (ibid.).

The human mind

Lawrence Galton wrote in 1958: “Of all things known in the universe, the human brain is by far, the most complex. As a subject for scientific study it presents infinite intricacies and difficulties.”

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke said in 2023: “The brain is the most complex part of the human body. This three-pound organ is the seat of intelligence, interpreter of the senses, initiator of body movement, and controller of behavior. Lying in its bony shell and washed by protective fluid, the brain is the source of all the qualities that define our humanity. The brain is the crown jewel of the human body.”

Beyond the gray matter of the brain itself, deeper questions arise about the difference between animal brains and human minds. In this frontier we are still probing the mysteries of memory, creativity, consciousness and the subconscious. What gives us the ability to think, plan, calculate, design, enjoy, love and so many other things?

The human mind itself is a worthy frontier.

For more on this, see our article “The Miracle in the Mind.”

Our minds have allowed us to study and explore all of these frontiers. And beyond that, they have conceived of other frontiers of creativity and imagination, such as time travel, the metaverse and multiverse.  

Is there anything that all these frontiers have in common? Space, the oceans, the microscopic world, the human mind and the cyber world are all based on some combination of space, time, matter and energy.

In that sense, they are all physical.

In considering what our final frontier is, we should ask:

Is there anything beyond the physical?

Beyond space and time

While human beings enjoy imagining fictional multiple dimensions and universes, our minds can’t truly comprehend realms beyond dimensions and unlimited by time and space. 

As incredible as our imaginations are, they are shaped by what we know—matter, energy, space and time.

Yet there is a source that claims to be a message from beyond space and time. In fact, it claims to be from the Source of space and time. And it offers glimpses into that realm, translated into concepts humans can only begin to perceive.

Most amazing of all, it reveals directions that lead to a portal into that realm.

The Source—the Creator—had a reason for making us as finite beings who are always searching for new frontiers. In His unbounded love, He deeply desires for us to become like Him and to join Him in eternity!

This loving plan—this path leading to our transformation—is truly the final frontier that humanity has always sought.

A peek into eternity

The greatest library of inspirational literature ever written, which claims the Creator God as its Author, gives us tantalizing glimpses into our destiny.

God has big plans for His children, and they are never-ending plans (Isaiah 9:7). This final frontier will be an ever-increasing one, with fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11). The Holy Bible reveals that from the beginning, we were actually created in the image and likeness of the Creator (Genesis 1:26). And though we are now mortal and corruptible, God plans to give us immortality and incorruption (1 Corinthians 15:53).

God is offering to share all things with us and to give us amazing glory (Hebrews 2:6-10).

What does this look like? The Bible hints that God’s plans for us are beyond what our senses can experience and beyond even our wildest dreams:

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

God has given us “exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these [we] may be partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). He gives us divine power through His Holy Spirit to begin our metamorphosis.

God wants us to begin the transformation process from the inside:

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2).

Those living by the perfect will of God in this world will run into obstacles and enemies, but even these are just part of the training program God has for us.

In this world of dust, challenges abound. But God’s love for us is far more powerful than anything we face. The apostle Paul penned these words of encouragement:

“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

The apostle John summed up God’s awesome plan in these immortal words:

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! . . .

“Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

“And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:1-3).

God has big plans for His children, and they are never-ending plans (Isaiah 9:7). This final frontier will be an ever-increasing one, with fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11).

This is our ultimate purpose. It gives incalculable value to our lives. It provides profound meaning.

Whether this article has convinced you or not, you owe it to yourself to explore this further.

Study the inspiring human potential using our free booklet God’s Purpose for You: Discovering Why You Were Born. This booklet can enlighten and empower you to boldly go where your Creator is leading you!:  From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/life/what-is-the-meaning-of-life/is-space-the-final-frontier/?

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Are We Alone in the Universe?

“The search for life in outer space is not just the stuff of science fiction. Scientists continue to look for evidence of life out there. Will they find it?

Is there anyone out there?

Do we share the universe with other life-forms? Is there anyone out in the vastness of space?

Many in the scientific community believe the answer is yes. According to astronomers, there are 70 sextillion (7 followed by 22 zeros!) stars in the cosmos. Deeply rooted in evolutionary theory, many scientists believe there is a great probability that life has evolved on other planets with conditions favorable for life.

Exploring exoplanets

Recently NASA has reported the discovery of an additional 65 exoplanets (planets that orbit a star outside our solar system) in our Milky Way galaxy, raising the total to more than 5,000. Yet despite these amazing discoveries in the field of astronomy, the search for life on other planets still eludes searchers.

Reporting on this, Marina Koren wrote in The Atlantic: “But no one has yet discovered evidence of life in another planet’s atmosphere, nor detected radio transmissions wafting from the direction of a distant world. Astronomers can predict how many planets are out there, but they can’t say how many we’d have to find to discover another Earth or a sign of extraterrestrial life. Even with more than 5,000 other worlds in the books, it’s still just us. In fact, scientists could find 5,000 more exoplanets and we might be exactly as alone as we are now” (March 22, 2022).

Others, such as Dr. Seth Shostak, a leading scientist at SETI Institute (in Mountain View, California), believe scientists will find intelligent life in space within the next few decades. SETI stands for Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, a research group with the stated mission “to understand the origins and prevalence of life and intelligence in the universe.”  Continued at: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/life/what-is-the-meaning-of-life/are-we-alone-in-the-universe/

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The Role of Processed Foods in the Obesity Epidemic

Transcript of the video at: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-role-of-processed-foods-in-the-obesity-epidemic/

“The rise in the U.S. calorie supply responsible for the obesity epidemic wasn’t just about more food but a different kind of food.

The rise in the number of calories provided the U.S. food supply since the 1970s is more than sufficient to explain the entire obesity epidemic. Similar spikes in calorie surplus were noted in developed countries around the world in parallel with, and presumed primarily responsible for, the expanding waistlines of their populations. By the year 2000, the United States was producing, after taking exports into account, 3,900 calories for every man, woman, and child—nearly twice as much as many people need.

It wasn’t always this way. The number of calories in the food supply actually declined over the first half of the twentieth century, only starting its upward climb to unprecedented heights in the 1970s. The drop in the first half of the century was attributed to the reduction in hard manual labor. The population had decreased energy needs, so they ate decreased energy diets. They didn’t need all the extra calories. But then, the so-called energy balance flipping point occurred, when the “move less, stay lean” phase that existed throughout most of the century turned into the “eat more, gain weight” phase that plagues us to this day. So, what changed?

What happened in the 1970s was a revolution in the food industry. In the 1960s, most food was prepared and cooked in the home. The average “not working” wife spent hours a day cooking and cleaning up after meals. (The husband averaged nine minutes.) But then, a mixed blessing transformation took place. Technological advances in food preservation and packaging enabled manufacturers to mass-prepare and distribute food for ready consumption. The metamorphosis has been compared to what happened a century before in the industrial revolution, with the mass production and supply of manufactured goods. This time they were just mass-producing food. Using new preservatives, artificial flavors, and techniques such as deep freezing and vacuum packaging, food corporations could take advantage of economies of scale to mass produce ready-made, durable, palatable edibles that offer an enormous commercial advantage over fresh and perishable foods.

Think ye of the Twinkie. With enough time and effort, any ambitious cook could create a cream-filled cake, but now they are available around every corner for less than a dollar––or delivered straight to your door for 30 cents! If every time someone wanted a Twinkie, they had to bake it themselves, they’d probably eat a lot less Twinkies. The packaged food sector is now a multi-trillion dollar industry.

Or, consider the humble potato. We’ve long been a nation of potato-eaters, but they were largely baked or boiled. Anyone who’s made fries from scratch knows what a pain it is, with all the peeling, cutting, and splattering. But with sophisticated machinations of mechanization, french fry production became centralized, and could be shipped at -40^o to any fast food deep fat fryer or frozen food section in the country to become America’s favorite vegetable. Nearly all the increase in potato consumption in recent decades has been in the form of french fries and potato chips.

Cigarette production offers a compelling parallel. Up until automated rolling machines were invented, cigarettes had to be rolled by hand. It took 50 workers to produce the number of cigarettes a machine could make in a minute. The price plunged, and production leapt into the billions. Cigarette smoking went from relatively uncommon to almost everywhere. In the 20^th century, the average per capita cigarette consumption rose from 54 a year to 4,345 cigarettes a year by the time of the 1964 Surgeon General’s report. The average American went from smoking about one cigarette a week to a half-pack a day.

Tobacco itself was just as addictive before and after mass marketing. What changed was cheap, easy access. French fries have always been tasty, but they went from being rare, even in restaurants, to omnipresent access around every and each corner (likely next to the gas station where you can get your Twinkies and cigarettes).

The first Twinkie dates back to 1930, though, and Ore-Ida started selling frozen french fries in the 1950s. There has to be more to the story than just technological innovation…which we’ll explore, next.”  From: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-role-of-processed-foods-in-the-obesity-epidemic/

Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.

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“I Can Only Imagine” What a World It Will Be With God in Charge. God's Bountiful Country. Update.

For “Scripture Sunday”:

“I Can Only Imagine” What a World It Will Be With God in Charge

“The inspiring story behind the famous song brings hope for a future when God will right every wrong!

     Ümit Bulut/Unsplash

Our world is broken. There is so much pain and suffering. Our world is in need of intervention that only God can give.

I recently watched the movie “I Can Only Imagine.” It’s a wonderful movie about a wonderful song by the same name. I did not want to watch it at first because I felt it would be too emotional for me (I worried the plot would hit too close to home for me on account of my own painful childhood experiences). However, it only inspired me, because it reminded me of how awesome our Father in heaven is!

The movie is based on the true story of a young man, Bart Millard, who grew up in Greenville, Texas. Bart’s mother walked out on him and his dad after they divorced when he was 3 years old. Bart suffered emotional and physical abuse at the hands of his father.

Many times the young boy thought his dad was going to kill him. In an interview, Bart said of his upbringing: “I ended up living in fear for most of my childhood… If he got embarrassed or cut off in traffic or whatever, he would take a swing at me… I was like his punching bag.” Bart grew up like that with no family support.

Then when he was a freshman in high school, things took a drastic turn for Bart. His dad became terminally ill with cancer, which caused him to repent of his ways and find God. Bart and his dad mended their relationship.

Millard took care of his dad and literally became his nurse. It was his dad’s new faith in God that transformed his life. “That’s when things really changed, because it went from us really not having much contact to talking for two or three hours every night until we fell asleep,” he says.

“I got a front row seat to see this guy go from being a monster to falling desperately in love with Jesus,” Millard says. “By the time he passed away when I was a freshman in college, not only was he my best friend, he was like the godliest man I’d ever known. And it’s literally changed the trajectory of my life.”

Years later Bart Marshall Millard became a songwriter who is best known as the leader of the band MercyMe. He wrote the song, “I Can Only Imagine,” which is the best-selling contemporary Christian single of all time. You can read more of his inspiring story here.  The movie is worth watching as it explores the themes of forgiveness and healing.

How many of us have gone through tough times and we hope for things to change? Alternatively, we may even think the phrase, “I can only imagine…”.

The truth is, God is your hope!

God is and was my hope. God was Bart’s hope. God was his dad’s hope that transformed him before he died so he could be the father he never could have been on his own. And God transformed a severely abused young Bart into someone who totally trusts Him, going on to write songs that worship Him and encourage others. God is our healer!

He is our Father who loves us so much! The movie inspired me because I know my Father in heaven brought me through so much just like Bart. And He is still there with me every day. But He is not just my Father, He is a Father to all of us! He will love you when you feel no one else does. He has the power to deliver you from whatever you are going through.

Our world is broken. There is so much pain and suffering. Our world is in need of intervention that only God can give.  Psalm 147 says: “ He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground … His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior;  the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love” (Psalms 147:3-6, Psalms 147:10-11). I encourage you to read the whole chapter of Psalm 147.

“I can only imagine” what a world will be with God in charge. The great news is it will happen! I earnestly pray for His Kingdom to come when ”He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4).”  From: https://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/blogs/i-can-only-imagine-what-a-world-it-will-be-with-god-in-charge

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God's Bountiful Country

An Amazing Fact: “The most densely concentrated area of life on the planet is the tropical rainforest. In fact, researchers found that just a 4-mile-square patch of rainforest contains as many as 1,500 species of flowering plants, 750 species of trees, 125 mammal species, 400 species of birds, 100 species of reptiles, 60 species of amphibians, and 150 different species of butterflies. A single pond in Brazil is home to more fish species than can be found in all of Europe’s rivers, while the fish species in the Amazon River outnumber those in the Atlantic Ocean! But of the estimated 5 million species in the rainforest, only a small percentage has been named, much less studied.

The rainforest is also a cornucopia of produce, with over 3,000 varieties of fruit. Fruits like avocados, coconuts, figs, oranges, lemons, grapefruit, bananas, guavas, pineapples, mangoes, and tomatoes all originated in tropical rainforests. Even so, the rainforest’s bounty is largely undiscovered by the Western world: of the 3,000 varieties, Westerners only use around 200.

In addition, the rainforest contains a pharmaceutical gold mine. Nearly half of our medicinal compounds come from the plant life in the tropical rainforest, including drugs for childhood leukemia and heart disease. Yet these riches are largely unmined, as less than 1 percent of tropical plants and trees have been tested by scientists.

Rainforests are a living dynamo of animals, plants, and medicines, but instead of discovering and enjoying its bounty, man is destroying it at the rate of 1 acre every minute.

While rainforests used to cover fifteen percent of the Earth’s land area, today they cover less than seven percent.

In the book of Jeremiah, God expresses His displeasure over how Israel treated the Promised Land: “I brought you into a bountiful country, to eat its fruit and its goodness. But when you entered, you defiled My land And made My heritage an abomination” (Jeremiah 2:7). The book of Revelation makes it plain that God will eventually “destroy those who destroy the earth” (Revelation 11:18). As the Earth’s caretakers, shouldn’t we do our best to preserve His bountiful country?

BIBLE TEXTS
And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. Revelation 11:18”

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Last year, visitor clicks funded the protection and preservation of 10,321 acres of of habitat, home to tens of thousands of plant and animal species.

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Update.

In between the rainy days, Zack managed to mow the grass and clip the hedge. The every day maintenance of this place is partly what gets me down, I hadn’t expected it to take up so much of my retirement, or I would never have added to it over the years.   Less is more!

Like so many people, my junk is owning me, so I am trying really hard to get it all sold and donated, but it seems neverending.  My daughter is having to cope with too much of other people’s stuff right now, so I had better get this place whittled down to the bone and sold.  They don’t accept U-Hauls at the pearly gates, or the other place!

The new roof on the canvas 10 x 20’ garage doesn’t fit because they sent the wrong one, even though it is marked right on the box.  Maybe a packer put the wrong one in the box. The company said that they will send someone here to take it down and give me a refund.  We will see if that happens.

As I am still ferrying Lauri around, I haven’t been able to list much stuff for sale. Monday, I took her way down south, nearly to The Woodlands, to Costco. She bought more of those organic green hockey pucks, organic hummus and organic already-peeled hard-boiled eggs there.  I would rather buy locally and cook the food myself, then you know exactly what is in it.  But to each his own.

Zack and I contact-cemented the Formica on the other two countertops, but we haven’t done the backsplashes yet. The next day Zack didn’t show up, so as Lauri needed to go south near the Conroe Outlet Mall to pay a bill that she had forgotten, I picked her up.  I went to the “L’Eggs, Hanes, Playtex” store in the Outlet Mall and was measured and fitted for some new bras.  Just hadn’t taken the time to do that for quite a while.  Wow, how clothes have gone up in price!  Lauri wandered around the really upscale second hand store “Jazzy Junque” next door.  They have some lovely things, mostly furniture, and the proceeds are for handicapped kids.

I knew that I wanted to go to the Conroe church again to see Diane, and hopefully, her husband Les, as it was “Father’s Potluck”, but he still wasn’t feeling well.  They have been having troubles, and I hoped that going to church might help them.  He is the super-duper hero who fixes the computers free for the folks at the Willis church.  For the potluck, as I am fighting for room in my fridge’s freezer, I took out several containers of already-cooked food, mostly veggies and some rice, thawed it all out in a big pot on the stove. That concoction, with a few added spices, became Dirty Rice and was put in two crock pots, one for each church again.  I don’t spend much on groceries, but I just seem to have an abundance of food all the time, so I might as well share it.  Lauri needed a ride to my usual Willis church before I went in the other direction to the Conroe church, so I dropped her, and a crockpot, off.

At the Conroe church, Diane’s grandchildren stayed in the nursery while we studied out of the Beth Moore book again.  That didn’t quite make sense to me as Beth Moore is a Sunday preacher, and this is a Sabbath keeping church, just like Jesus went to.  Then the service with the singing, announcements, prayers, more singing and the Message which was about Romans 5. “The Benefits of the Gospel of Christ”, and closing prayers. 

At the Father’s Potluck there were pictures of some of the men when they were young strung on a line and numbered.  We had to guess who was who!  All the food was great and it was so nice to reconnect with old friends.  Then I drove back to Willis church to pick up Lauri and take her home.  Hopefully she will get her TX Driver’s License on Monday.

It was a good thing that I had made some room in my fridge’s freezer, my little deep freeze suddenly stopped freezing.  I caught it before any of the meat defrosted, but some of the frozen veggies got soft, so I cooked them in my big pot.  I had to crank up my little 2-door counter-height fridge, turn it up all the way, packed it full, and just hoped that it can cope.   Now there are towels and bins catching the water from the defrosting deep freeze.  When that is done, I will turn it on again and take it’s temperature.  I have had it many years, so I hope it isn’t ready to retire.

Zack and I tried to get some more stuff sorted out for donating, selling or just chucking out today.

Cookies Cause Deforestation. Invisible Nuclear Threat. Cabbage With Scorpion! Marine One. Medal of Honor.

 

For “Foodie Friday”:

Do Your Cookies and Shampoo Contain "Deforestation?"

Orangutans are endangered because their homes—the tropical forests of Indonesia and Malaysia—are being cleared to make room for new palm oil plantations.

“Palm oil is currently used in thousands of products we use every day, from baked goods to cleaning products to shampoo. Unfortunately, all that palm oil is being produced at a tremendous expense to our planet's tropical forests. These forests are being cleared at an alarming rate to make room for new palm oil plantations—and for every acre of trees that are cut down and burned, hundreds of tons of carbon dioxide are released into our atmosphere.

This deforestation causes about 15 percent of global warming emissions worldwide! And to make matters worse, more than half of all plant and animal species in the world live in those forests. With every acre cleared, those species get even closer to extinction.

The good news is that we have the power to change this story.

It is possible to grow palm oil without destroying tropical forests. Businesses can grow palm oil on degraded land instead of forested land and existing plantations can increase crop yields to avoid the need to further expand into forests.

In June, the U.S. government announced a new joint initiative with the Consumer Goods Forum—a global network of manufacturers and retailers that includes major corporations such as Wal-Mart and Coca-Cola—to make ingredients, like palm oil, deforestation-free.

Please urge the CEOs of Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart, Procter & Gamble, and Kraft Foods, who sit on the board of the Consumer Goods Forum, to ensure all the products made or sold by member companies globally are deforestation-free.”  More at: https://secure3.convio.net/ucs/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=3419

“Global consumption of palm oil, almost all of which comes from the rainforest regions of Southeast Asia, has skyrocketed in the twenty-first century. The result has been a tragic loss of tropical forests and their biodiversity and carbon stocks.”

Click here to read more about the Consumer Goods Forum's initiative and palm oil on our blog.

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The Invisible Nuclear Threat Within Non-Organic Food

“Whether you know it or or not, nuclear waste (cobalt-60) has been used for decades to make your food "safer."

There is a profound misunderstanding in the mass market today about the value of certified organic food.  The question is not whether the 50% higher or more you pay at the register for an organic product is really worth the added vitamin, mineral and phytonutrient content you receive.

Inconceivably High Amounts of Radiation Used To "Pasteurize" Your Food

This is not a hypochondriac's ranting, as we aren't talking here about small amounts of radiation.  The level of gamma radiation used starts at 1 kiloGray (equivalent to 2,500,000 chest x-rays (40 millirems each) or 166 times a human lethal dose (5 Grays)) and goes all the way up to 30 kiloGray (75,000,000 chest x-rays or 4,980 times a human lethal dose).  The following table is a list of foods that are increasingly being "nuked" for your protection.

 

Even though organic food does usually have considerably higher nutrient density, it is not always the positive quality of what it contains that makes it so special. Rather, it is what you know the organic food does not contain, or what has not happened to it on its journey to your table, that makes buying organic a no-brainer to the educated consumer.  Let me explain.

The FDA presently supports and actively promotes the use of cobalt-60 culled from nuclear reactors as a form of "electronic pasteurization" on all domestically produced conventional food. They claim it makes the food "safer."¹ The use of euphemisms like "food additive" and "pasteurization" to describe the process of blasting food with inordinately high levels of gamma radiation can not obviate the fact that the very same death rays generated by thermonuclear warfare to destroy life are now being applied to food to "make it safer."  This sort of Orwellian logic, e.g. WAR is PEACE, is the bread and butter of State-sponsored industry propaganda, and also informs other ostensibly "humanitarian" applications of weapons of mass destruction such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

How is it, then,  that a process that is so obviously detrimental to human health is allowed? There are at least three reasons driving this dangerous process:

1. Food Sanitization: food irradiation allows for the continuance of the fundamentally unsanitary and unsafe farming practices considered essential for the profitability of large corporation-owned factory farms.  When raw human sewage and wastewater in combination with manure from sick, antibiotic-raised animals is used as fertilizer, virulent strains of antibiotic resistant bacteria can infect the product, getting deep within its tissues where chemical sanitizers can't reach.  Gamma-radiation, which effectively penetrates deep within the product, enables the irresponsible, immoral and unsanitary conditions to remain.”       Rest of article at: http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/invisible-nuclear-threat-within-non-organic-food1

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GMO Gene Splicing Lunacy: Cabbage Mixed with Scorpion Poison Coming Soon

“Would you consider scorpion venom ‘safe’? The next ‘safe’ GMO food for you to consume is a genetically altered cabbage that has been gene spliced with scorpion venom because it is more ‘resistant’ to Roundup ready chemicals, and of course they are telling us it is safe.

As the GMO frankenfood business continues, the brain-children of the likes of Monsanto and Dow get progressively ludicrous. I beg a rap artist to talk about scorpion-poison genes interlaced with cabbage, just to exacerbate the inane to the masses of people who still believe these companies are out for your best interests, and really care about your health.

In 1994, a scorpion-poison-pesticide was made and ‘tested’ by spraying it in a field with scientists who wore full hazmat suits to protect themselves from it. Even the lead scientist in charge of running the trial was absent from the spraying altogether – perhaps David Bishop was just as worried as we are about scorpion cabbages.

Now, in 2013, the same genetic engineering is utilizing genes from the scorpion, Androctonus australis hector as a cross-breed with cabbages, of course with the goal of creating plenty of food for a growing population, and to feed us all. The FDA hasn’t done any research on this new crop, and it is probable that this newest freak-show of ‘food’ will turn out on our grocery store shelves before we can say, “WHAT?!””  More at: http://naturalsociety.com/gmo-gene-splicing-lunacy-cabbage-mixed-with-scorpion-poison-coming-soon/

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On This Day:

Eisenhower takes first presidential ride in a helicopter, Jul 12, 1957:

“On this day in 1957, Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes the first president to ride in the newest advance in aviation technology: the helicopter.

Although experimental military helicopters had been tested since 1947, it was not until 10 years later that a president considered using the new machine for short, official trips to and from the White House. Eisenhower suggested the idea to the Secret Service, which approved of the new mode of transportation, seeing it as safer and more efficient than the traditional limousine motorcade. The HMX-1 Nighthawks squadron put into the president's service was initially administered jointly by the Army and the Marine Corps. In 1976, the Marine Corps took over all helicopter operations.

During his second term, Eisenhower used a Bell UH-13-J Sioux to fly to the presidential retreat at Camp David and to his farm in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. According to the White House's Military Office, presidents since Eisenhower have used the Sikorsky VH-3D, otherwise known as a Sea King, for travel both in the continental United States and abroad. Most presidential helicopter flights depart and arrive from the White House's south lawn. The official presidential helicopter is always called Marine One, just as the official presidential airplane is always referred to as Air Force One. Marine One and a second decoy helicopter now accompany Air Force One on all presidential trips.

Currently there are 19 helicopters, including Sea Kings and the UH-60 Blackhawk available for the president's use.”

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First Marine wins Medal of Honor, Jul 12, 1965:

“Viet Cong ambush Company A of the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, led by U.S.M.C. Lt. Frank Reasoner of Kellogg, Idaho. The Marines had been on a sweep of a suspected Viet Cong area to deter any enemy activity aimed at the nearby airbase at Da Nang.

Reasoner and the five-man point team he was accompanying were cut off from the main body of the company. He ordered his men to lay down a base of fire and then, repeatedly exposing himself to enemy fire, killed two Viet Cong, single-handedly wiped out an enemy machine gun emplacement, and raced through enemy fire to rescue his injured radio operator. Trying to rally his men, Reasoner was hit by enemy machine gun fire and was killed instantly. For this action, Reasoner was nominated for America's highest award for valor. When Navy Secretary Paul H. Nitze presented the Medal of Honor to Reasoner's widow and son in ceremonies at the Pentagon on January 31, 1967, he spoke of Reasoner's willingness to die for his men: "Lieutenant Reasoner's complete disregard for his own welfare will long serve as an inspiring example to others." Lieutenant Reasoner was the first Marine to receive the Medal of Honor for action in Vietnam.”

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Yesterday:

Jay didn’t call to see if I was on schedule to pick him up, so I presumed that he was too hung over and didn’t want to work.  If he is like, that I don’t want to be around him, anyway.

Ray’s back was bothering him so he wanted to rest up after he had taken his son to Conroe for an appointment.

So I paid some bills which can’t be paid automatically, caught up on some emails, and answered some people about things I have advertized.  It seems that anything one does anymore takes more time than it did without a computer.

The puppy playpen, with a top, was all ready for Midnight and her kittens when they arrived for their four day stay.  They just slept as soon as they had been fed.  They are growing, and seem a lot more content than they were last week.

About 3.00pm in the afternoon, the internet and TV went out, but the electricity didn’t, thank goodness, so we still had air conditioning.  I don’t know how I would have kept 7 animals cool.  So I just did noisy things like vacuuming, grinding coffee, and running the Bullet.  Machinery scares Nala, my foster cat, so I don’t know if she has ever lived in a house before.  Nala does not like canned food, so I blend it with some liquid in the Bullet, then sometimes she will drink it.  I am trying to keep her healthy, and an all dry cat food diet will not do that, no matter how good it is. 

To have some noise in the house, I plugged in a radio which also has a tape deck, but I had never used it and couldn’t make the tape work.  We don’t have any good radio stations around here, so I had it on Country Oldies, not my favorite.  Bored with Willie, Waylon and the Boys, I plugged a phone cord into my old laptop which has a ‘telephone hole’, and was able to chat with my friends in the RV-Dreams chat room on Dial-Up.  When I called the cable company they said that a fiber had been cut affecting several towns, and it might take a day to find and fix it, so I went to bed.  I feel so sorry for the cable splicers working in this heat.  The TV came on at 10.45pm.  I didn’t check the internet then, but it is working this morning.

So things are back to normal today.

Soy’s Devastation in Brazil. Dangers of Soy. “Frankensoy”. Euro Debuts. First Electric Car.

 

For “Foodie Friday”:

“This Greenpeace documentary, based on a lengthy, intensive investigation, discusses how soy producers in Brazil are devastating the Amazon rainforest, stealing native farmers’ land and burning down their homes, and even assassinating their activists, in order to turn the land into massive soy plantations.

Three multinational companies—ADM, Bunge, and Cargill—account for 60 percent of the total financing of soy production in Brazil and the destruction of nearly three million acres of Brazilian rainforest between 2007 and 2008.

Brazil is now the second largest soybean producer in the world, second only to the U.S; but Brazil has the fastest climbing share of genetically modified soybean crops.

GE soy crops are associated with resistant super weeds and super pests, uncontrollable cross contamination, and serious health hazards, including allergies, infertility, birth defects, bizarre mutations and cancer, just to name a few.”

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/forests/in-the-name-of-progress

“A new “soy rush” has been kick- started, and large-scale farm producers from all over Brazil are flocking to the Amazon forest in hopes of striking it rich with this golden crop. Yet all this comes at a price. Communities -- most often those found in the forest -- are often violently expelled from their lands in the wake of this uncontrolled scramble to plant soy.
For Brazil, it’s all in the name of progress. Still, to ask those whom have been chased from their lands and have seen first-hand the ecological wrath which has followed in the wake of soy in the region of Santarem, this new cash crop in the Amazon has brought nothing but destruction and misery.”
For more information www.greenpeace.org

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So, Is Soy Bad For You?

“The short answer? YES! Let’s be clear on the recent history of soy. The soybean was a modest and unpopular crop until food manufacturers intent on creating cheap vegetable oils convinced the U.S. government to start subsidizing it. The soy was turned into oil, and the industry was left with an industrial waste product. Then somebody had a brilliant idea:

‘Let’s take this industrial waste product full of toxins and carcinogens — isolated soy protein — and turn it into food that people will eat!’  So Soy foods were born.   From Nina Planck’s article.”    More at: http://www.foodrenegade.com/dangers-of-soy/

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The Dangers of Soy Are Real--and Much Worse Than You Might Think

“Promoting soy foods as health foods while ignoring the dangers of soy and soy derivatives should be considered a crime against humanity. If you think this statement is too extreme, read this article to the end, and then see what you think!

The dangers of soy are thoroughly documented in the scientific literature, which makes it hard to believe that many health and fitness communities and counselors, and most health food stores, still promote soy products as ultra-healthy foods.

Hopefully this harmful misrepresentation of soy foods will begin to change as the dangers of soy become better known.

A Summary of the Dangers of Soy

• Soybeans and soy products contain high levels of phytic acid, which inhibits assimilation of calcium, magnesium, copper, iron, and zinc.
• Soaking, sprouting, and long, slow cooking do not neutralize phytic acid.
• Diets high in phytic acid have been shown to cause growth problems in children.
• Trypsin inhibitors in soy interfere with protein digestion and may cause pancreatic disorders.
• Test animals showed stunted growth when fed trypsin inhibitors from soy.
• The plant estrogens found in soy, called phytoestrogens, disrupt endocrine function, that is, the proper functioning of the glands that produce hormones, and have the potential to cause infertility as well as to promote breast cancer in adult women.
• Hypothyroidism and thyroid cancer may be caused by soy phytoestrogens.
• Infant soy formula has been linked to autoimmune thyroid disease.
• Soy has been found to increase the body's need for vitamin B12 and vitamin D.
• Fragile soy proteins are exposed to high temperatures during processing in order to make soy protein isolate and textured vegetable protein, making them unsuitable for human digestion.
• This same process results in the formation of toxic lysinoalanine and highly carcinogenic nitrosamines. (Doesn't sound like anything anyone would want to eat, does it?)
• MSG, (also called free glutamic acid), a potent neurotoxin, is formed during soy food processing. Many soy products have extra MSG added as well. (See video on the dangers of Aspartame, MSG's chemical first cousin.)
• Soy foods contain elevated levels of toxic aluminum, which negatively effects the nervous system the kidneys and has been implicated in the onset of Alzheimer's.

If this list of the dangers of soy isn't enough to make you run out the door of your local health food store, keep reading. It gets worse.

But Don’t Oriental Cultures Eat Lots of Soy?

It seems that historically, Oriental cultures consumed mostly traditionally fermented soy products such as miso, tempeh, natto, shoyu and tamari. (Tofu is not fermented, and falls into the dangerous soy foods category.) They consumed these soy foods in small amounts, as a condiment.

• Soy foods account for only 1.5 percent of calories in the Chinese diet, researchers found. (1977 Chang KC)
• The actual soybean consumed today is not the same one used by traditional Oriental cultures.”

More at: http://www.naturalhealthstrategies.com/dangers-of-soy.html

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Suffering of Inmates

“Early in 2007, the Weston A. Price Foundation began hearing from inmates who were suffering from myriad serious health problems due to the large amounts of soy in the diet. These prisoners had found us through the Soy Alert! section of our website. http://www.westonaprice.org/soy-alert 

Complaints include chronic and painful constipation alternating with debilitating diarrhea, vomiting after eating, sharp pains in the digestive tract, especially after consuming soy, passing out, heart palpitations, rashes, acne, insomnia, panic attacks, depression and symptoms of hypothyroidism, such as low body temperature (feeling cold all the time), brain fog, fatigue, weight gain, frequent infections and enlarged thyroid gland. Since soy contains anti-fertility compounds, many young prisoners may be unable to father children after their release.

The suffering of these men is intense and medical care is palliative at best. Many have had sections of their digestive tract removed, but all requests for a soy-free diet are denied. The men are told, "If you don't like the food, don't eat it." That means that unless they can afford to purchase commissary food, they must eat the soy food or starve.”  More at: http://www.westonaprice.org/soy-alert/cruel-and-unusual-punishment-soy-diet-for-illinois-prisoners

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Food sources of soy protein

“Many fast-food restaurants commonly use soy protein in hamburger buns (soy flour) hamburger meat (soy protein) and hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) in sauces. On their respective websites, McDonald's and Burger King list soy flour as an ingredient in their hamburger buns.  U.S. Nutrition Information Multi-grain breads, doughnuts, doughnut mix and pancake mix commonly contain soy flour.

Nearly all bread products available in the US now contain soy. Soy can now be found in nearly all types of foods, from meat to ice cream, to cheese, to french fries. Many foods are contaminated with soy due to being cooked in soy oil. At the Jack in the Box fast food chain for example, everything fried is cooked in a soy oil. At Baskin Robbins, over half of all ice creams offered contain soy. Canned tuna may contain vegetable broth which contains soy protein.

Some products [for reasons having to do with national regulation of soy products] don't list soy protein or soy flour on their ingredients labels, yet they still contain soy. There are still many latent issues resolving how soy should be regulated, as well as its long term effects on human health. Unilever Holland use soy bean oil in their peanut butter among other foods, which they state on their website concerning allergies contains no soy bean. People will have allergy reactions but the reaction may be put on peanuts rather than soy oil.

Products containing soy protein include:

• edamame
• miso
• natto
• shoyu sauce
• soy (soy albumin, soy fiber, soy flour, soy grits, soy milk, soy nuts, soy sprouts)
• soybean (curd, granules)
• soybean butter
• soy protein (concentrate, isolate)
• soy milk
• soy sauce, tamari
• tempeh
• textured vegetable protein (TVP)
• hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP)
• tofu

The following food additives may contain soy protein:

• flavoring (including natural and artificial)
• prepared broths, including chicken broth, vegetable broth, and bouillon cubes.”

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On This Day:

The euro debuts, Jan 4, 1999:

“On this day in 1999, for the first time since Charlemagne's reign in the ninth century, Europe is united with a common currency when the "euro" debuts as a financial unit in corporate and investment markets. Eleven European Union (EU) nations (Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain), representing some 290 million people, launched the currency in the hopes of increasing European integration and economic growth. Closing at a robust 1.17 U.S. dollars on its first day, the euro promised to give the dollar a run for its money in the new global economy. Euro cash, decorated with architectural images, symbols of European unity and member-state motifs, went into circulation on January 1, 2002, replacing the Austrian schilling, Belgian franc, Finnish markka, French franc, German mark, Italian lira, Irish punt, Luxembourg franc, Netherlands guilder, Portugal escudo and Spanish peseta. A number of territories and non-EU nations including Monaco and Vatican City also adopted the euro.

Conversion to the euro wasn't without controversy. Despite the practical benefits of a common currency that would make it easier to do business and travel throughout Europe, there were concerns that the changeover process would be costly and chaotic, encourage counterfeiting, lead to inflation and cause individual nations to loose control over their economic policies. Great Britain, Sweden and Demark opted not to use the euro. Greece, after initially being excluded for failing to meet all the required conditions, adopted the euro in January 2001, becoming the 12th member of the so-called eurozone.

The euro was established by the 1992 Maastricht Treaty on European Union, which spelled out specific economic requirements, including high degree of price stability and low inflation, which countries must meet before they can begin using the new money. The euro consists of 8 coins and 7 paper bills. The Frankfurt-based European Central Bank (ECB) manages the euro and sets interest rates and other monetary policies. In 2004, 10 more countries joined the EU—-Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. Several of these countries plan to start using the euro in 2007, with the rest to follow in coming years.”

________

GM announces its electric car, Jan 4, 1996:

“On this day in 1996, General Motors announces at the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show it will build an electric car, dubbed the EV1, to be launched in the fall of that year.

During its years in production, from 1996 to 1999, around 2,500 EV1s were produced in total. In late 2003, the company announced it was pulling the plug on the EV1 program and wouldn't renew any leases. GM cited the high cost of producing and maintaining the vehicles as a reason for the EV1's demise. However, as The Los Angeles Times noted in 2009: "The EV1 began in the 1990s as a response to a zero-emission vehicle mandate by California's Air Resources Board....When, finally, GM and other automakers managed to get California to soften its zero-emission mandate in 2002, [GM CEO Rick] Wagoner promptly canceled the program." (During this time, other automakers introduced then discontinued their own electric vehicles, including Toyota, whose RAV4 EV was available from 1997 to 2003.)

Environmental activists protested the end of the EV1, staging a mock funeral and later holding a vigil at a Los Angeles-area GM facility that had impounded a number of EV1s that would later be destroyed.

By 2008, GM had been hit hard by a global economic crisis and slumping auto sales and needed a multi-billion-dollar bailout loan from the federal government in order to stay in business. In March 2009, company CEO Wagoner was ousted by the Obama administration and in April of that year, GM filed for bankruptcy. The company was criticized for continuing to focus on its sport-utility vehicles and small trucks despite a growing consumer demand for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles. Wagoner was quoted as saying that pulling the plug on the EV1 and not putting more development resources toward hybrid gas-electric vehicles was a major mistake of his career.”

________

Yesterday:

LilMiss arrived for her grooming appointment, and after I had finished her and she had gone home, I started looking at ways to ‘stage’ my house, as the appraiser is coming on Monday. 

It needs to have more Feng Shui to look it’s best.  I will move the kitten’s cage into the Middle Room, which would only be temporary, as I don’t really want to be heating that third of the house, which is the Grooming Room, Middle Room and Hall.  Then I need to move some furniture around in the living room and my bedroom.  My sewing machine cabinet needs to be closed up and put back against the wall, and my sewing stored somewhere.  Some items will have to be stored temporarily in Pugsy, the vintage motor home.  I hope I can round up some help.  But I think Jay is working somewhere else, and Ray just had some more shots in his back.  I don’t think I can’t do it all by myself.

It seems that on HGTV shows about selling houses, the buyers want ‘updated’ kitchens with stainless steel appliances.  We have gone through several phases of appliance colors over the years.  Aqua, harvest gold, avocado, white, black, even red, and now stainless steel.  From what I can see, the new color might be Slate or Ice White.  I am not going to change any of mine, as stainless might be outdated by then, so I’ll let the buyers worry about that.

There is a lot to do before Monday, so I am going to be very busy today.

Dog Recall. Soft Mouth, NO Bite. Pet Food Transport. Bears and Bison Thank You. Ed and Marilyn's Fire. Boarders. "Economic Hitmen".

No, there isn't a recall on dogs, it's the Recall Command!
"How to get your dog to come when called:  

Eric Letendre goes in depth on the topic of RECALLS, and teaches you how to get your dog to come back to you every time you call him or her.
Learn why your dog doesn't come back to you when off leash.
Many times we unintentionally punish our dogs for coming to us which can backfire your training efforts.
Watch this episode to learn how to avoid this common pitfall.  Learn how to get your dog to come when called."

_________________

Soft Mouth, NO Skin Biting.
"I once taught a puppy class and watched a guy spend the entire class encouraging his puppy to bite his hands.
He would grab his puppies snout, push at the puppy, and then stick his hands out for the pup to chomp on.
At the end of the class he came up to me and said: "My puppy keeps biting me and my family."    Ugh!
Teach your dog to take treats gently and have a very soft mouth every time it comes in contact with a person's skin. It is very important to teach your dog or puppy to have a soft mouth and not bite."

___________________

From Me:
If a puppy is playing with it's siblings and it nips too hard, the nipped puppy yelps, so it learns that it has hurt it's playmate.
I used this same tactic to teach my orphan kittens not to play with me with their claws out.  A couple of my squeals and they knew that they had hurt their "Mom", so they don't do it any more.

Curbing play-biting/mouthing/nipping is the top priority for new puppy parents.
Consistency & a positive, gentle approach allows us to quickly & effectively teach a puppy to make the right choices.
The emphasis is on teaching the puppy the appropriate behaviors, instead of correcting them for making reasonable mistakes.
Remember that puppies love to interact with their human(s) in all sorts of ways, and learn from every interaction that we have with them.
As an alternative to using aversive punishment, this multi-faceted approach allows us to creatively connect with our dogs by employing positive reinforcement and harnessing a relationship that is based on trust & respect.
___________________

Help shelters and rescue groups across the U.S. access pet food donated by pet food suppliers!

"Pet food suppliers sometimes have food that they can't sell; perhaps they made too much, or the bag has the wrong color of label, or the kibble is the wrong color. This food is new and perfectly nutritious, but because suppliers can't sell it, they donate it to rescue organizations.
The food is given free of charge, but suppliers providing the food may not be located near a shelter that needs it. The rising cost of fuel makes transit and storage of large quantities of pet food expensive, and can prevent shelters and rescue groups from using this amazing resource.
You can help. Our charitable partners stand ready to distribute this viable pet food to animal rescue organizations who can use it. Your donation helps cover the cost of getting the food to the animals who need it.

• $18 can distribute 200 pounds of cat or dog food, or treats
• $40 can distribute a 450 - 500 pound 1/2 pallet of food
• $80 can distribute a 900 - 1000 pound pallet of food   

click for more detail  Pallets of Pet Food for American Shelters"
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"Your clicks and purchases preserve endangered forest habitat around the world.
Thank you for joining us at The Rainforest Site throughout the entire month of May to celebrate 11 great years of helping Mother Earth!
If you'd like some help remembering to visit The Rainforest Site, you can choose to be reminded any day of the week--or all seven if you'd like! Just click here to manage your e-mail subscriptions and sign up for our daily reminder service; we'll remind you to make the click that counts as well as share special store offers that also benefit the cause.
What you do makes a difference and...it's just a click away! Act today.

Shop For Mother Earth & Mama Bear

"You click to preserve vital habitat and you shop at The Rainforest Site store to help more since every item purchased preserves at least 1,145 square feet of forestland. 
All too often, mama bears are killed by poachers, automobiles, or natural disasters, leaving the bear cubs (who are intensely dependent on their mothers) to fend for themselves.
Experts in bear rehabilitation, the staff at Northern Lights takes in injured and orphaned bear cubs with the eventual aim of releasing them back into the wild.
Please help them continue this crucial program by shopping where it matters.
You can also provide care for an entire week (or month!) with the purchase of our Help Raise an Orphaned Bear Cub Gift That Gives More™. 100% of your gift goes directly to Northern Lights Wildlife Society and is tax-deductible in the U.S.
Thank you for continuing to nurture Mother Earth with your actions at The Rainforest Site!!"
P.S. Big Win for Bison! Thanks to all 45,980 of you who signed our Stop the Yellowstone Bison Slaughter petition. Montana officials have finalized a deal that will open 75,000 acres in southern Montana for bison to roam outside of Yellowstone National Park.
Click here to help gain more victories for other imperiled natural treasures.
____________________

Yesterday:

Everyone's hearts go out to Ed and Marilyn, as their fulltime rig was totaled by fire yesterday:
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-607253
-----------------
Nothing much going on, except my two little doggie boarders, Muffie and Maddie arrived.  They stay in the house with Bobbiecat, Prime, Paco, Misty and me.
Everyone gets along and they are all housebroken, so when we go out, I have four dogs to watch, and praise when they do what they went out for.   

I battled with the new 12-cup coffee maker one time, but it was just too awkward being so tall, and close to the upper cabinets.  Then I remembered that I had an old 4-cupper that used to be in my other motor home.  I found it in my "Yard Sale Dept.", and remembered why I didn't like it.  There is a small slotted place where you pour the water, but it had collected dust, a pine needle and a dead wasp in there, and the top is not easily removable.  I supposed that is why they don't make them like that now.








So I got out my tiny screwdriver, took it apart, cleaned it thoroughly, and replaced the top.   You have to have a good aim when you pour in the water, or it doesn't all go down that little slotted place, and runs over the sides!  Another reason why they don't make them like that any more.  Yes, I tried leaving the top loose, and pouring it down the big hole. But the top fits very tightly so it is difficult to remove,  and if not down all the way, all you get is steam coming out the top, and less coffee in the pot.   But it it makes good coffee, and fast, so I will use it for now.

--------------

My son in England posted an interesting video on Facebook about "Economic Hitmen" by John Perkins.  I was engrossed watching all three parts, and then the two parts of  "How our Corrupt Monetary System Works", by the same author.  I learned a lot.  Thanks Peter.
"John Perkins is a former Economic Hitman and he has written a book called 'Confessions of an Economic Hitman'. John Perkins talks about the role Economic Hitmen have in our society."

I didn't know whether all of it was true, so I found:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man
http://heliologue.com/2010/01/29/confessions-of-an-economic-hitman/

------------------

Then it was back to being doorman/woman for four dogs, until two leave today.

Help Save the Honeybees, And Save Our Plants And Crops. Cargo Trailer.

For "Mammal Monday", let's change to:  MALISSA: in Greek, name meaning “honey bee.”

So for "Malissa Monday":   Preserve Our Ecosystem and Save the Honeybees.
 
"Honeybees pollinate the crops that we enjoy every day —
if they were no longer around to do so, plants' abilities to reproduce would be decimated.
We need to make sure that the substances we put on our crops are not threatening other species of insects and animals. If we don't, we're simply trading one bad outcome for another.
Honeybee populations are in danger because they are ingesting a harmful pesticide called clothianidin. Take action for the bees!

Honeybees are vital to our ecosystem.

They pollinate plant species that make up a large portion of the crops we consume. Without bees, plants would not be able to reproduce and the core of our agricultural system would crumble.
Right now is the time to take action in favor of saving our bees. Bee populations have begun to see sharp declines in recent years. There are several theories as to why this may be occurring, but the most widely-accepted is that pesticides meant to protect us from other harmful bugs are having the unintended effect of killing off the bees.

The chemical — clothianidin — is very toxic to honeybees. Clothianidin has not been tested properly, and therefore should not be viable for use as a pesticide. We need to know a chemical's full potential before it is used on the food that we consume
.
Sign the petition asking the EPA to ban clothianidin until they truly assess its effects on humans and honeybees."
At: http://www.therainforestsite.com/clickToGive/campaign.faces?siteId=4&campaign=Honeybees&ThirdPartyClicks=ETE_022411_Honeybees_3
___________________

Two pounds of honey requires that bees make about ten million trips to individual flowers.
______________________

A Bee Abode

"Give struggling bee populations a break by giving them a home

• If you are not a do-it-yourselfer, you can buy a bee block, nest, house, or hive online or at garden and specialty stores.
• If you don’t have dead trees or logs lying around your backyard sanctuary for bees to use as nest sites, you can create the nooks and crannies favored by cavity-nesting bees with an easy do-it-yourself project: a bee block.

Build a bee block

You can buy bee blocks and other bee homes at garden or other specialty stores, but if you want to make your own, here are directions:

• Into the side of untreated 4 x 6 inch lumber or similarly-sized stick of firewood (the length is not important), drill a range of holes approximately 1/2 inch apart.
• Drilling at different diameters (about 3/32–3/8 inch) and depths will accommodate different bee species. For example, 5/16-inch diameter and 2–4 inch deep holes will favor mason bees. Don’t drill the holes all the way through the wood, and try to make them as smooth as possible on the inside.
• Adding a roof will protect nesting bees from rain and strong sun.
• At a height of about 2–4 feet, firmly attach your bee block to a stake and place it in the garden or affix it to a building, fence, or tree. Face it in an east or southeasterly direction so it catches the morning sun.
• Line the holes with specially made paper straws or tubes (you can find these online by searching for "bee paper straw," or you can make your own of parchment paper or newspaper) for easy cleaning at the end of the season. Don't use plastic straws; they can allow mold to grow and have been linked to bee deaths.

Maintaining bee blocks

• To reduce the occurrence of parasites, fungi, and diseases, pull straws out of nest blocks with tweezers at the end of the summer, and store them in a cool place over the winter (shed, fridge) in a ventilated container so mold does not develop.
• Wash out the block with a mild bleach solution
• Let it dry and store it for the winter
• In spring, insert new straws and place the occupied ones you collected the previous season in a protected, east-facing location somewhat near the cleaned out block. Dispose of used straws when the bees emerge. "

Learn more about bee homes

Helpful alien: The familiar honey bee is actually foreign to North America.

You can find lots of information online about befriending bees. Here are a few places to start:
»The Xerces Society's Nest for Native Bees factsheet
» The U.S. Department of Agriculture's page on building a bee (or nesting) block
»The National Sustainable Agriculture Center's information on helping native bees.
»The Blog at Help Save Bee's page on building a mason bee house

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Help bees in other ways

"Bees often get a bad rap because a very few species might sting if they feel threatened near their nests. Actually, the majority of North America’s 4,000 native bee species probably won't sting you under normal circumstances.

Did you know that bees are nature’s most important and efficient pollinators? But they are disappearing at an alarming rate.

So get to know your native bees—and learn how to bee-friend them.

You need bees to pollinate your flowers, but if having bee home in your yard doesn't appeal to you, or if you've set up your block, hive, or nest and now want to do more, you can give them food and a safe habitat."
http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/resources/tips/bees.html#What_you_can_do_to_help_bees
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Today:

"Pebbles" will finally eat kitten food out of a bowl, but as they are orphans, they want some motherly love, so I give her and "Pal", a bottle last thing at night. Puny little "Precious" is growing, but she doesn't want a bottle any more.


Today, Jay and worked some more on the little shelf/drawer cabinet by the door, in the cargo trailer. Here it is with 5 drawers installed. I have 8 of these little drawers, but we won't be using all of them. All eight of the drawers would be too high, as one couldn't see in the top one. 
The drawers cover the seams in the paneling, just like I intended. We cut two sticks 4-1/2' long, (total 6" with the 1 x 2"  ledger boards) to gauge the depth of each cubby hole, to keep them evenly spaced.  It will have a door or two over the drawers and shelves, on the front of this cabinet.

Ray will still has some more painting to do to it on another day.