This section of my web site is for unstructured self-expression.
Sort of a blog.
Your comments are appreciated.
In any case, I get to vent.
Essays, monographs, poems, book reviews, and comments.
- Spoofed New York Times
- On Wednesday, November 12, a collaboration of activists and pranksters distributed a remarkably high quality spoofed
copy of the New York Times along with an equally artful website,
www.nytimes-se.com.
The front page of the paper headlines with "Iraq War Ends". Other articles present Thomas Friedman's angst at the result
of his writing and his decision to retire. I wish it weren't a spoof.
This spoof, its conception by The Yes Men and its success, is described
here.
(11-15-2008)
- What an election!
- I was a young college student when President Johnson signed the desegregation law.
And a few short years later a black man becomes President. Wow!
(11-5-2008)
- Profit at any price?
- It's 10 PM PST on Election Day and it's clear that Barack Obama has won the Presidential election by more than 2:1.
John McCain in his final days of campaigning characterized the differences between him and Obama as between
Ronald Reagan and the "socialism" of FDR. The election results proved waving the socialism flag was not enough to deter
the great majority of Americans who have personally suffered from the unregulated free-market capitalism that Reagan
unleashed. Perhaps it's time for humanism, not profit at any price.
I have been especially encouraged to read and hear several people in the last few weeks say it's not enough to
elect Obama, we must act daily in our own behalf—demand the government redress the wrongs and take the steps
forward towards real health care, safe retirement, good jobs, solar energy, and economic independence. We must rely on
ourselves, not just those we elected today.
(11-4-2008)
- Who's minding the store?
- The current "economic" disaster happened while you and I were looking the other way. What the current situation
evidences is that true freedom, honest and meaningful work, and protected assets come with a price tag: continual
participation in government, active democracy.
Read the full essay.
(10-25-2008)
- Rich con poor
- The recent history of this country is one where the rich have persuaded the poor to set aside their own interests in
favor of the interests of the rich. What an amazing con.
(10-25-2008)
- Tax undesirable behavior
- Maybe we should tax behavior that endangers the commonwealth like waste production, water consumption, fossil
fuel-sourced energy consumption, and pollution.
(10-25-2008)
- Plant medicines
- The Pacific Institute of Aromatherapy started their Call for Papers for the 7th Aromatherapy Conference scheduled for February 2009 in San Francisco:
"Most major health challenges in western societies no longer arise from threats posed by nature, but rather from the
physiological confusion we visit on our own organisms by subjecting them to an accelerating stream of man made chemicals.
Food additives, artificial flavors, pesticides, antibiotics, genetically modified crops and lifestyle drugs such as statins
or serotonin reuptake inhibitors all send conflicting messages. The trust we put in these chemicals reflects our cultural
conviction to dominate nature. There is only one problem. These substances are physiologically foreign to our organism and
confuse our metabolic processes. The substances from the plant world are fundamentally different. They originate from the
biosynthetic processes of life itself and our organisms have learnt to coexist with them through the long periods of
biological evolution."
(10-19-2008)
- Aluminum poisoning
- We are exposed to aluminum in medicines, personal care products, food, and air. It can accumulate in our bodies,
especially the brain and bones, where it causes a long list of symptoms including loss of mental function.
Are "CRS" (can't remember shit) and "senior moment" inevitable or the results of aluminum poisoning? This
4-page report itemizes the symptoms,
sources, diagnosis, and treatments.
(10-9-2008)
- What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?
- This question is attributed to Dr. Robert H. Schuller, an ordained minister of the Reformed Church in America whose
congregation now meets in the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, CA. I find it mesmerizing.
In researching this quotation, I found Dr. Schuller has a new book with an equally inspiring title:
If It's Going to Be, It's Up to Me.
(9-14-2008)
- Afghanistan whither thou goest?
- "Policy makers did not have the time, structures, or resources for a serious study of an alien culture.
They justified their lack of knowledge and experience by focusing on poverty and implying that dramatic cultural
differences did not exist. They acted as though villagers were interested in all the priorities of international
organizations, even when those priorities were mutually contradictory."
Rory Stewart wrote The Places in Between in 2004 about his walk across central Afghanistan, from Herat in the West
to Kabul in the East, two years before. This quote is from the few pages where he discusses international policy making
and its disconnect with the reality of the people he met. I am glad I read this book. He had previously walked across
Iran, Pakistan, India, and Nepal for a combined journey of over 6000 miles.
(9-14-2008)
- Mass sedation
- I recall reading that "religion is the opiate of the masses." Today that role seems to have been usurped by
television. The dearth of critical thinking is rampant. People are ignorant of history and recent events.
The so-called media continue to prove themselves irrelevant to anything but alternately sedating its audience and
whipping it into mass hysteria. The combination of conditions seems to imitate life in its victims who cannot or will not
tell the difference. We are deliberately manipulated by the patriotic flag and the fear card—the carrot and the stick.
Our grasp on the vigilence so necessary to keep our freedom is lessening.
(9-14-2008)
- Animal husbandry under seige
- Animal husbandry and companion animals have been with humans since the dawn of civilization.
We must not let animal control laws interfere.
Read the full essay.
(9-14-2008)
- Guiliani's speech at the 2008 Republican National Convention
- When I heard his speech on the radio, I was stunned. What was he saying? It seemed like he was talking about
an alternate universe, it had no connection to the world I inhabit.
(9-4-2008)
- License plate that tickled my fancy
- 2WALOME
(9-1-2008)
- What is civilization?
- I wrote this essay on 10-2-2007 and am finally publishing it here now.
(9-1-2008)
- Measures of prosperity
- America measures its prosperity in dollars as Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, a number based on sales figures.
This unit of measure is devoid of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is stripped of the measures of
individual prosperity: familial love, health, meaningful work, learning, and an environment where these measures
can be maintained sustainably.
Capitalism has imposed a schizophrenia on us that has rendered us unable to even protest. When we are looking at
national economic prosperity we are unable to frame our personal prosperity. Ideology trumps self-preservation.
(9-1-2008)
- Free?
- Wendell Berry wrote: "An economically determined society is not by any stretch of the imagination a free one."
That fits my experiences.
(8-18-2008)
- Thomas J. Longman (1935–2008)
- A remarkable man.
(8-17-2008)
- The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (2005)
-
A long, savory, engaging story, good to the last page.
There are several historians in the novel—two searchers and one the object of the search—Dracula,
Vlad the Impaler who resisted the Ottoman conquest in Wallachia (now southern Romania) in the 1400s.
There are three story lines seamlessly interwoven. Vivid characters and intelligent discussions.
Highly recommended. Amazon has a good summary and a satisfying interview with the author.
(8-11-2008)
- Real food is not an industrial product
- I guess I'm not through with this thought; see the May 6th entry for more.
Factory farming values quantity over quality. That value may be appropriate to
some industrial products, but food is meant and needed to nourish human bodies and minds. Foods that truly nourish us,
that do not introduce dangerous chemicals into our bodies, and that are raised with respect are real foods.
Demand real food and read labels!
If industrial meat (factory-farmed, awash in growth stimulants, antibiotics,
herbicides, and pesticides, and slaughtered inhumanely) puts you off, as it should, don't abandon all meat, demand real meat.
And consider that industrial vegetables are no less unhealthy than industrial meat, demand real vegetables.
My essay from 12-2007 is a little different.
(8-5-2008)
- Religion is just an excuse to sin
- Remembering sectarian violence.
(7-31-2008)
- The dirt about PETA and the Humane Society
- If you think these organizations care about cats and dogs, it's time to do your own research.
You can start with
the No Kill Blog of Nathan J. Winograd
about Wayne Pacell,
the head of the Humane Society. Then be sure to read the essay on feral cats!
(7-31-2008)
- The Canadian holocaust
- Did you know that the Canadian government and churches have engaged in systematic genocide (extermination) of the Canadian
aboriginal peoples up to the 1990s, and it may be continuing even now? I first learned of this 12 days ago and am still agog.
You can learn about it with books, several videos, and recorded radio interviews and lectures.
See Hidden From History for details.
(7-15-2008)
- The high price of gasoline
- Petroleum as a power source is obsolete—supplies are dwindling, foreign producers charge exorbitant rates,
and processing is destructive to the environment. We need a source of power for buildings and vehicles that is affordable,
endless, produced domestically, and non-polluting. This is a national priority and should be a national policy. Its
production and distribution will become key elements in our national infrastructure. This power source should not be
left to the oil companies to develop, with or without tax incentives. Instead it should be developed by a
federally-funded R & D program.
(7-11-2008)
- Whence capitalism
- I am determined to understand what capitalism is and isn't. And I have an MBA!
I have miles to go before I sleep but want to quote Robert L. Heilbroner from The Nature and Logic of Capitalism:
"The laws of motion of capitalism as a social formation are not solely determined by the law of the tendency of the falling
rate of profit or the law of the rising organic composition of capital or the expansive but self-regulating thrust of a society of perfect
liberty. Rather, they reflect the interaction of these self-generated logics with other logics, above all those of
political or ideological processes, that alter the ballistical properties of the social formation itself."
So capitalism is primarily a social, political, and ideological construct? More to come.
(7-10-2008)
- Government programs ignore bad diets
- What does it say about our government that it funds expensive research projects in search of a drug to cure medical
conditions known to be caused by the wrong diet? Stem cell research, the FDA's food pyramid—all wrong-minded and
having no proven effectiveness without "side effects." Do we really want to eat what we want, regardless of nutrition,
at any price? And the price is very high: poor health, diminished ability, pain and suffering, cost of medical care
including transportation, cost of "health" insurance, water pollution caused by drugs excreted in urine, on and on
with no end in sight. Our government provides no leadership when they act to reinforce this scenario by supporting
processed foods, insurance companies, and drug research. Real food is the best medicine!
(7-6-2008)
- A sunny future
- The only way we can sustainably continue to live our modern gasoline-powered lifestyle is to switch to a
solar energy-powered lifestyle.
Imagine . . .
(6-14-2008)
- Caution
- Parents teach their children caution, but it doesn't stick.
More.
(5-27-2008)
- Pixel-perfect
- Pixel-perfect web designs—where the design of the page is rendered identically on every monitor by every
browser—are virtually impossible to achieve and not worth the effort.
Let's solve strategic, conceptual, and architectural problems and let the pixels fall where they may.
Read the full essay.
(5-17-2008)
- Industrial chemicals make us fat?
- A recent book counters the old theory about weight gain based on excessive calorie intake with one based on the
body's reaction to industrial chemicals in the diet.
Read the full essay.
(5-10-2008)
- Industrial food is a cuckoo
- Industrial food is a pretender. It does not nourish our bodies, instead it brings
poison. Industrial disease is the gift of industrial food.
Read the full essay.
(5-6-2008)
- The Iraq war must stop now
- This war begun in 2003 has severely damaged America and Americans.
Can you spell E-N-O-U-G-H?
(4-24-2008)
- The violence of 9-11-2001
- The 9-11-2001 destruction of the World Trade Center buildings in New York and the Pentagon in Virginia are the
single largest acts of violence in American history. The report of the 9/11 Commission was unsatisfactory and
unworthy of the American people. We are right in continuing to seek the truth. There is no statute of limitations on
lies—they remain lies until the truth is revealed.
What I believe today.
(4-24-2008)
- Carcinogens are not the only danger
- I just got an announcement in the mail from my CA state Senator Carole Migden titled "Carcinogens in Cosmetics?".
It reported that CA Senate Bill 484, signed into law in 2005, is, effective in 2008, requiring cosmetic and personal care
product manufacturers to publish the names of products that contain carcinogens.
"The scientific community is concerned the cumulative result of . . . exposure [to these carcinogens] is an increased
likelihood of reproductive harm and cancer."
Further it states that
"new legistlation will soon be introduced to ban harmful chemicals which currently can be found in baby products . . ."
This seems mighty slow to me. It's past time for us to become more discerning about the dangers of industrial
chemicals. Cancer and reproductive disability are not the only dangers.
For example: (1) Phthalates are linked to reproductive, developmental, and respiratory problems.
(2) Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are linked to reproductive and developmental problems and endocrine disruption.
(3) Bisphenol A (BPA) causes problems similar to PBDEs.
I expect that if we look carefully, we'll find more dangers from more chemicals.
(3-15-2008)
- No problem? How rude!
- Whatever happened to "you're welcome"? The current mis-use of "no problem" is getting on my nerves.
The older I get the more I say "thank you" for help or service. What I get back is "no problem."
Do they mean they only provided the help or service because it was no problem to them, even when they were paid to do so?
Do they imply that if it had been a problem, they wouln't have done it?
Or perhaps they are bragging that it was easy for them.
In either case—it is RUDE.
(2-29-2008)
- The end of pets
- PETA and the ASPCA are the biggest threat to the future of purebred cats since World War II.
That war killed cats and devastated breeding programs. Some breeds came within a whisker of dying out.
Today a group of people who claim to be motivated by a desire to prevent cats from being killed in "shelters"
seek to eradicate cats as pets. These people are inhumane.
(2-18-2008)
- Dodging the recession
- Government non-regulation set the stage for the high risk mortgage crash-and-burn and a possible recession.
Let's take the time to do it right: avoid recession while helping those at risk.
Read all about it.
(1-22-2008)
- Business profit at the expense of worker protections
- Lately there's been a lot of "news" about tainted goods from China, from cat food to children's toys.
It prompts me to wonder why the protections established inside America cannot be imposed on imported goods.
American companies complain that worker's health care benefits make them uncompetitive in the global marketplace,
as the cost of the benefits is added to the cost of their products.
Labor is another imported item, whether it is "offshoring" or built into imported goods.
Think of all the "inexpensive" clothes made offshore and sold here with American brands on them. That practice was adopted because the cost of offshore labor is less than American labor. Why is the offshore labor less? No health benefits, no workplace protections, no minimum wage, etc.
I will not be surprised if American businesses demand that domestic worker protections be abandoned because it hurts
the businesses' competitiveness abroad.
Why not extend the protections of domestic workers to foreign workers who produce goods sold in America?
Just as we have our dolphin-free tuna, why not have our sweatshop-free clothes?
Leveling the playing field should not mean the lowest common denominator, but instead the highest.
(12-6-2007)
- A War on Knowledge?
- Prez Bush admits Iran stopped its nuclear weapons program four years ago, then in almost the same breath
says "Iran was dangerous, is dangerous, and will be dangerous" because it knows how to build nuclear weapons.
Bush claims the basis for the danger is knowledge.
Beware Americans! If knowledge is danger, we are all at risk of being threats to national safety.
If you thought the War on Terror would be endless, think of a War on Knowledge.
Clearly—isn't it?—the "knowledge is danger" theme is pure BUNK and must be laughed off the stage by everyone.
Start laughing.
(12-5-2007)
- Monday thoughts on the economy
- Thinking about our economy.
Our form of capitalism defines everything as a buy-sell transaction.
It's one thing to produce goods for sale, but what does it mean for prosperity to be based on the sales of services?
America has increasingly turned from a producer of goods to a producer of services.
When times are hard, services have no buyers.
Is there a limit to the ratio of goods to services that is viable, is there a point beyond which prosperity is not
sustainable? Are services an additional cost of goods? How much is too much?
For me subsistence is a touchstone, and the goods needed for living seem to be the true foundation of a viable prosperity:
food, clothes, shelter, medicine, school books. Related services are also necessary: healers, teachers, journalists and writers.
Modern American economy is based on people buying things they do not need with money they do not have.
Surely this is not a recipe for a sustainable supply of goods and jobs.
Even worse these days everything is for sale, even debt.
Now we have prosperity based on the ability of homeowners to pay mortgages with rising interest rates on over-priced homes. A downward spiral is in sight: if the job market shrinks, more people will default on their mortgages, leading to more layoffs.
(11-19-2007)
- All-news TV is really a video blog
- All news TV is really a video blog—constant facts and factoids broadcast with no value.
Well, that's a disservice to blogs, many of which do have value.
(11-15-2007)
- A little cat humor
- This animated cartoon
was sent to me by a distant cousin on the Isle of Jersey.
Be sure to hear the audio.
(11-11-2007)
- The inferno: wildfire in Southern California
- This photograph was taken near the home of a co-worker near Santiago Canyon, Orange County, California.
Amazingly enough she was not evacuated and her home is safe.
(10-29-2007)
- Why cats domesticated
- I've got a theory about why small wildcats domesticated: touch. Domestic cats love to be touched.
And people love to touch them.
More . . ..
(8-26-2007)
- At our house cat hair is a condiment
- Spoken by Steven McKinchak as Master of Ceremonies at an awards banquet of TICA about 1997.
(8-26-2007)
- Sectarian violence
-
Sectarian violence permeates the modern world. As a child of European descent growing up in Christian America,
I was taught a history punctuated with acts of Christian sectarian violence.
But I did not know how long there has been Muslim sectarian violence.
What I discovered was that violence, especially sectarian violence, has been at the heart of Islam since its inception
in 630.
More . . ..
(7-21-2007)
- Why can't a programmer tell the difference between Halloween and Christmas?
- Because OCT31 = DEC25. (Found as a tag line on a website.)
(7-12-2007)
- Origin of the domesticated cat
-
The ongoing Cat Genome Project recently (June 29, 2007) published their initial findings on the origin of the domestic
cat. They made a genetic assessment of 979 modern cats, both domestic and wild, from three continents. They found five
lineages of mitochondrial DNA indicating that each wild group represents a distinct subspecies of Wildcat,
Felis silvestris.
This DNA research indicates that Wildcats became domesticated in the Fertile Crescent (modern day Iraq) perhaps as
early as 100,000 years ago.
More . . ..
(6-30-2007)
- Women's complaints about men
-
We ask our men to share the parenting and the housework so we can have the time to pursue careers as scientists,
artists, academics, and CEOs. When the men fail to deliver, we are upset. We take it personally.
Wrong. When men agree to share parenting and housework, what they are really saying is "I understand what you want,
I care for you, I support your dreams, and I'll do this to the extent of my abilities."
What we refuse to understand is that civilized man is not able to meet this contract all of the time. And he hasn't
been able to for at least 8000 years.
More . . ..
(6-8-2007)
- The Anglican Church and Protestantism
-
In 1852 John Mason Neale (1818–1866) delivered a lecture in Brighton, England which was published as
"The Bible, and the Bible Only, The Religion of Protestants."
This is a lengthy lecture and one you may appreciate as much as I.
What I found the most interesting was the following points:
a. Is the English Church Protestant? No. This is the theme of the lecture.
b. What is Protestant? The only common belief is in the Resurrection of the Body; that there is One God is denied by
the Universalists ("Socinians cannot be said really to hold the first Article, because if they deny God the Son, they
clearly deny God the Father as Father").
c. What is the basis of these Protestant religions? Their interpretation of the Bible. "Then, I think, at last we
have discovered the true and genuine principle of Protestantism. Every man has a right to interpret the Bible according to
his own understanding; after giving it the best attention which his opportunities and capacity enable him to bestow."
d. Which leads to "the horns of the dilemma." "Either you must confess Roman Catholics . . . to have as good a right
to their opinions as you have to yours, in which case, what dreadful bigotry, intolerance, ay, and wickedness, is
your denunciation of them; or, . . . you say that all men are bound to interpret the Scripture according to
your own private judgement."
e. He goes on to say "So much for the right of private judgement, which forms the positive belief of Protestants. I am
not going to waste words in showing you that the Church of England openly and palpably rejects it.... All this, mark you,
does not in the least prove that the Church of England is right in holding this opinion; that is quite a different question, and one with which we are not at all concerned now: it only proves that, as a fact, she does hold it."
f. And then he addresses the error in the title of his talk: "The whole Bible and the Bible alone does not form their
religion. Not the whole Bible, because they, in point of fact, reject a good deal that is in Holy Scripture: not the Bible
alone, because they hold a great deal that is not in Holy Scripture."
(5-19-2007)
- Vitamin K is Activator X
- Dr. Weston A. Price's research into health and dental defects led to his discovery of a vitamin-like substance found
in the traditional diets of the healthy peoples he studied, a substance he called "Activator X."
He found that Activator X played an influential role in the utilization of minerals, protection from tooth decay,
growth and development, reproduction, protection against heart disease, and the functioning of the brain.
Now Chris Masterjohn in a recent article in Wise Traditions, the journal of the Weston A. Price Foundation,
lays out a clear case for the equivalence of Activator X and vitamin K2, that they are one
and the same.
More . . ..
(5-5-2007)
- A civic morality
-
Human society has for thousands of years adopted a personal morality—a code of behavior deemed correct
and proper and by which individuals could be judged as good or bad.
For American children, a personal morality might be reflected by whether Santa Claus judges them as naughty or nice.
What America lacks today is a civic morality—a code of behavior of individuals as citizens, a set of
obligations to their country and responsibilities for their country. A morality that is focused on their relationships
with their country.
More . . ..
(4-7-2007)
- Caifornia AB 1634
- I am adamantly opposed to AB 1634, the erroneously named California Healthy Pets Act. Healthy pets are certainly better
than unhealthy pets. But this bill has little to do with pet health, instead it will completely block all registered purebred cats and dogs as pets in California.
Animal husbandry is central to civilization. The purebreeding of cats and dogs has been and continues to be invaluable to
humans. It is absolutely ridiculous to ban the registered breeding of cats and dogs in this state and to deny such animals
entry into the homes of Callifornians. PLEASE VOTE NO.
Furthermore it is not the jurisdiction of the State of California to limit pets. If you don't like that animals in
shelters are killed, then find a real solution.
The Best Friends pet sanctuary in Kanab, Utah is an example of a workable
alternative. And you could always offer free spay/neuters! and make it easy for people to bring in their pets.
And is "pet overpopulation" a problem? Is it even a truth? Who is the State to say California can only hold so many pets?
Egads! (4-7-2007)
- Lunar calendar
- I am enthralled by the moon which I watch every night when the sky is clear, an iffy proposition here in fog land.
It was only about two years ago that I learned to tell when a moon was waxing (getting fuller) and waning (getting smaller).
In case you don't yet know, a waxing moon looks like a right parentheses, ), which is to say it thickens on the right side.
A waning moon looks like a left parentheses, (, because it is eroded from the right.
I like to be aware of the moon's progress, but find the common method of drawing a calendar where each week is a separate
line, does not fit the moon's cycle. So I drew my own: each lunar month begins on the new moon, which is the moment the moon
is completely invisible.
You are welcome to use my lunar calendar for 2007.
(3-17-2007)
- The future is all of us
- For years I've read articles whose theme was that our future is in the hands of our children. I've read novels where women
sacrificed their future for their children. Neither of these themes appeals to me.
Everyone can contribute to the future, both to their own and to the rest of us.
The only meaningful sacrifice for a parent is that needed to raise a child well.
If children are so valuable to our future, what are we doing to prepare them for it? And how can we do that while
acknowledging that everyone is valuable, children and parents, young and old?
The future is all of us.
More . . ..
(2-9-2007)
- Children are raised by children
- Essentially, children raise children. Parents in their twenties and thirties may be legal adults, but their actual
parenting efforts are primitive. They are barely out of emotional childhood themselves.
In this light it is amazing that any family with children can be other than dysfunctional.
Is this good? Is it inevitable? Is there another way?
More . . ..
(2-9-2007)
- Common sense—choosing humane values
- I recently read an essay by Patrick Reinsborough titled "Decolonizing The Revolutionary Imagination: Values Crisis,
the Politics of Reality, and Why There's Going to Be a Common-Sense Revolution in This Generation."
The essay was originally published in 2004. It jiggled a
lot of ideas in me which I am noting here with some quotations.
(2-4-2007)
- Is skin color everything?
- African blacks in America have long complained that the European whites have discriminated against them, suppressed,
and repressed them. The recent influx of brown-to-black skinned people from India, especially as technology workers,
is illuminating a different story. The Indians have the same colored skins as the African Negroes, their faces are
different from European ones, their hair is wavy. Their voices have British accents and they comport themselves in a
way to fit in with the white professionals with whom they work. They are here because they work for less—for now.
They do not ask for handouts, only an open door. They are succeeding. They fit in—with black skins.
Why don't many of the African-Americans?
(1-26-2007)
- What's in that tomato? Depends where it comes from.
- Peter Bahouth, former director of Greenpeace, wrote an essay titled "The Attack of the Killer Tomato" which was first
published in the Summer, 1994 Earth Island Journal, and has been reprinted a number of times since.
It is available here.
(1-26-2007)
- Grapefruit seed extract is neither safe nor natural
- The 2005 Medical Herbalism journal has
an article by Todd Caldecott about grapefruit seed extract (GSE).
I was interested because while I use this product, I did not know how it was prepared or what it contained.
Researchers found that GSE contains, in addition to an extract of the seed of the grapefruit, one or more of methyl-p-hydroxybenzoate,
triclosan, and benzethonium chloride. The antimicrobial activity attributed to GSE is due to these preservatives, not the grapefruit seed
extract itself.
Benzethonium chloride "is clearly stated to be a potentially harmful compound. and is not approved for internal use in the
United States." "Triclosan is listed by the EPA as a 'pesticide'". While "it is approved for use in topical and oral applications, is not approved for internal use in the
United States." That is in contrast to suggestions that GSE be used internally.
(8-13-2006)
- The Buteyko Breathing Method
- The Buteyko Breathing Method was recently brought to my attention by a friend who is using it to ease
asthma in her young child. The following is an excerpt from the website of
Breath Dance:
"The Buteyko Breathing Method is actually a very simple set of tools and techniques used to correct chronic
patterns of hyperventilation, or overbreathing. The method was developed in Russia in the 1950s by Dr. Konstantin P.
Buteyko ... He noticed that hyperventilation was one of the primary symptoms of illness ... When hyperventilation was corrected,
[there was] 100% improvement of conditions such as hypertension, angina pectoris and asthma.
In 1981, after a successful clinical trial with asthmatic children, it was adopted as the treatment of choice in
pediatric asthma and is still widely used to this day."
(7-7-2006)
- Heat by Bill Buford
- I loved this book!
Heat's subtitle is quite useful: An amateur's adventures as kitchen slave, line cook, pasta-maker, and apprentice to a
Dante-quoting butcher in Tuscany. The chapter titles follow along. Essentially, Buford apprenticed himself first to
Mario Batali at Babbo in New York, second, in Emilia Romagna, to a pasta maker named Betta in Porretta (15 miles north of
Pistoia), and lastly in Tuscany to a butcher named Dario Cecchini in Panzano (20 miles south of Florence)....
(7-3-2006)
- Angelique
- In the 1960s I began reading a series of paperback novels—historical fiction—about a woman named
Angelique in 17th century France and America. These books were written by Serge and Anne Golon.
I have saved them all this time because they were so remarkable,
and recently discovered there were three more books that had been translated into English.
Luckily I found them used on amazon.com and so have the complete set.
I reread them every ten years or so.
There are several websites that have information on the novels and their authors, among them the official website of Anne Golon
The World of Angelique.
(3-29-2006)
- Dogs grovel, cats smirk.
- Aromatherapy
- Aromatherapy is a wonderful and effective practice for health and life.
What is aromatherapy? The therapeutic use of essential oils—physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually....
(1-14-2006)
- Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) in Maine Coon Cats
- A five-page recap of HCM in the Maine Coon cat and its issues for breeders.
(12-2-2005)
- Western medicine
- I have to rant about a MD who failed me while tooting his own horn.
(12-2-2005)
- Water quality
- Water quality notes. These notes are taken from the book Water and Salt, The Essence of Life by Barbara Hendel and Peter Ferreira.
Mature water is a liquid crystal and, as such, carries energetic information....
(9-19-2005)
- A poem about the Colorado River
- A poem about the Colorado River near Moab, Utah.
(5-13-2005)
- The 2000–2001 energy crisis in California
- The energy crisis in California. I watched this from inside the main utility company of
northern California. I eventually came to see the value of regulated utilites, and gave up my interest in the Libertarian party.
(1-2-2002)
- Consitutional republic and law in the USA
- Are we really free?
This is a question I think about these days.
I've noticed that there are several kinds of freedom: economic, political, religious, social, familial.
I keep wondering if the current situation was intended by our founding fathers and if it is a direct result of our
Constitution. I doubt it.
Clearly my high school civics class did not treat this subject with any honesty or depth....
(1-6-2002)
- A cartoon about the Taliban and 9-11
- A cartoon about the 9-11-2001 terrorist attacks that made the rounds of my office emails.
(10-3-2001)
- Thinking
- The practice of thinking. What we need post 9-11.
(5-30-2004)
- Human and humanity
- What is humane and humanity? What does "humane" mean? Kind? Compassionate? Ethical?
(5-30-2004)
- Energetic continuum
- Energetic continuum. "Modern" science is based on the mechanistic, discontinuous model of Cartesianism.
That model was fully discredited in the mid twentieth century, and replaced by a model of an energetic continuum....
(5-30-2004)
- I am tired of reading African-American
- Hyphenated Americans.
(5-30-2004)
- The death of the American Dream
- I am filled with despair these days by the Shrub Administration's rabid efforts to destroy civil liberties, health,
democracy, jobs, and the environment. They are relentless. My future is in jeopardy, as is that of my daughter and her
children. The American Dream has become the American Myth.
What can I do? I envy my friend Paul's belief that mankind—and you know it is mostly men—will
not destroy his home. I am not so sanguine, hence the despair.
We must all talk and write about these threats to our future.
My challenge is one of focus. I am most interested in how I can live and eat nutritious food while not hurting
the environment.
(10-1-2003)
- Feelings in the aftermath of 9-11
- This was a journal of sorts, mostly thoughts that came to me on the way to work.
(12-23-2001)
- Mark Twain's The War Prayer still relevant
- "The War Prayer" by Mark Twain.
It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, ...
(5-30-2004)
- Wool bed
- A wool bed: The ultimate software upgrade banishes sheep deprivation.
Fleece on earth, good wool to all. At last—a bed that warrants superlatives of comfortability and health:
the all-wool bed and bedding from Shepherd's Dream....
(1-14-2006)
- Hormone Replacement Therapy—think twice
- If you have ever considered taking estrogen replacement "therapy" (or HRT), you owe
it to yourself to read this abstract
by the JAMA,
"Risks and Benefits of Estrogen Plus Progestin in Healthy Postmenopausal Women: Principal Results From the Women's Health Initiative Randomized Controlled Trial".
The full article published in 2002 is available from JAMA for a fee.
(5-15-2005)