Tuesday, April 14th:

“To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth.”

Why is this quote related to April 14th? Answer in the Comments section below.

Tuesday Cosmetics Clean Up:

I have discovered a very good product for dry skin or if you have normal skin but will be traveling to drier climates. I like it A LOT. I even use a bit of it in the day time. This rates a 3 on Cosmeticsdatabase.com.

Aubrey Organics Rosa Mosqueta Night Creme

Tuesday Good News:

Months ago, wonderful reader Lori sent me this blurb which can be put to even better use today than ever. It’s all about “Happiness Boot Camp”:

A big part of Happiness Boot Camp is about the 30-day news fast because the news tends to be so heavy-handed on the negative side of life and during boot camp we need to stop taking in all the toxic fear-based information. We also make daily lists of what is working in our lives and where we got it right – AND I also think that SEEKING out good news in the world is very, very beneficial.

Here are a couple of sources to check in with daily on the net:

• Good news blog <http://www.goodnewsblog.com/>  
• Wonderful news, Wonderful World <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13282721/>  
• Cute Overload <http://www.cuteoverload.com/>  
• Sharing Miracles <http://www.sharingmiracles.com/>  
• Good news daily <http://goodnewsdaily.com/>  
• Good new network <http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/>  
• Good news broadcast <http://www.goodnewsbroadcast.com/>  
• Google good news page <http://www.fugue.com/pics/goodnews.html>  

Share your good news and email your close friends your good news! 

Tuesday Green Tip:

“Genetically Modified” or GM food has been hailed as an important part of the solution we seek on how to feed the burgeoning global population. Sounds logical that “building a better plant” that is more disease and weather resistant and gives higher yield per acre would be a welcome development.

But not all are applauding these scientific advances, for a variety of reasons. Here’s a recent, troubling report. Remember, GM is identifiable on produce stickers that are 5 digits and begin with an 8…..

Monsanto’s Roundup Residues in GM Food Cause Cell Damage

Residues of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide found in GM food and feed can cause cell damage and even death, even at very low levels. The authors of a study on the subject say their research “… points to undesirable effects which are currently masked or hidden from scientific scrutiny.”

Roundup herbicides are among the most commonly used in the world, especially on GM crops that are engineered to be Roundup resistant. Their residues are among the major pollutants, and they are authorized as residues contaminating GM foods and feed at the tested levels.

The researchers studied toxicity mechanisms of four different Roundup formulations in human cells. The formulations were diluted at minimal doses (up to 100,000 times or more), but they still caused cell death within a few hours. The researchers also noted membrane and DNA damages, and found the formulations inhibit cell respiration.

Sources:

 Chemical Research in Toxicology January 2009;22(1):97-105

 Organic Consumers Association January 5, 2009

Every Tuesday Matters:

Fresh stuff from the Every Monday Matters book and website… especially timely as ammunition sales are skyrocketing 😦

Support Neighborhood Watch

FACTS

• Over 3.4 million burglaries occur annually
• 60% or more of residential burglaries occur during daylight hours.
• Every 14.6 seconds a burglary takes place.
• Over 60% of all burglaries are by forcible entry through the use of tools, breaking windows, and forcing open doors, windows, or locks.
• Approximately 32% of all burglaries are by unlawful entry with no force: the robbers enter via an open door or window.
• The average loss per residential burglary is $1,725.
• July has the greatest number of burglaries; February, the least.
• Only 17%, or 1 in 6 people, volunteer in a program that prevents crime.

TAKE ACTION TODAY

• Get to know your neighbors.
• Organize a community watch program to protect your neighborhood. Obtain training and necessary information about Neighborhood Watch from your local law enforcement agency
• Post a Neighborhood Watch decals in a visible window of your home and encourage neighbors to do the same.
• Ask neighbors to be observant and to report suspicious or unusual activities.
• Let your neighbors know when you’ll be out of town and leave a contact number where you can be reached. When you travel out of town, place your mail on hold.
• Make your home safer by installing an alarm system, placing rods in the frames of sliding windows and doors, leaving outdoor lights on at night, setting indoor lamps with timers, and adopting a dog.

YOU MATTER

A safe neighborhood is created when the people who live in the community look out for one another and their property. Keeping a watchful eye, noticing and reporting unusual activities, and talking with neighbors to make them aware of neighborhood happenings all help create a crime watch program and a safe community. Let’s make it more difficult for burglars to do their job.

Tuesday Brain Game:

Number Hunt

Tuesday Funny Stuff:

A couple of weeks late, but better than never…. March was National Colon Cancer Awareness Month. So what’s funny about that? Dave Barry’s take on a colonoscopy…. that’s what:

 I called my friend Andy Sable, a gastroenterologist, to make an appointment for a colonoscopy.  A few days later, in his office, Andy showed me a color diagram of the colon, a lengthy organ that appears to go all over the place, at one point passing briefly through Minneapolis .  Then Andy explained the colonoscopy procedure to me in a thorough, reassuring and patient manner.  I nodded thoughtfully, but I didn’t really hear anything he said, because my brain was shrieking, quote, ‘HE’S GOING TO STICK A TUBE 17,000 FEET UP YOUR BEHIND!’  

I left Andy’s office with some written instructions, and a prescription for a product called ‘MoviPrep,’ which comes in a box large enough to hold a microwave oven. I will discuss MoviPrep in detail later; for now suffice it to say that we must never allow it to fall into the hands of America’s enemies.  I spent the next several days productively sitting around being  nervous. Then, on the day before my colonoscopy, I began my preparation.  

In accordance with my instructions, I didn’t eat any solid food that day; all I had was chicken broth, which is basically water, only with less flavor. Then, in the evening, I took the MoviPrep.  You mix two packets of powder together in a one-liter plastic jug, then you fill it with lukewarm water.  (For those  unfamiliar with the metric system, a liter is about 32 gallons.) Then you have to drink the whole jug. This takes about an hour, because MoviPrep tastes – and here I am being kind – like a mixture of goat spit and urinal cleanser, with just a hint of lemon.  

The instructions for MoviPrep, clearly written by somebody with a  great sense of humor, state that after you drink it, ‘a loose, watery bowel movement may result.’  This is kind of like saying that after you jump off your roof, you may experience contact with the ground.  MoviPrep is a nuclear laxative. I don’t want to be too graphic, here,  but: Have you ever seen a space-shuttle launch?  This is pretty much the MoviPrep experience, with you as the shuttle. There are times when you wish the commode had a seat belt. You spend several hours pretty much confined to the bathroom, spurting violently. You eliminate everything. And then, when you figure you must be totally empty, you have to drink another liter of MoviPrep, at which point, as far as I can tell, your bowels travel into the future and start eliminating food that you have not even eaten yet.  

After an action-packed evening, I finally got to sleep. The next  morning my wife drove me to the clinic. I was very nervous. Not only was I worried about the procedure, but I had been experiencing occasional return bouts of MoviPrep spurtage. I was thinking, ‘What if I spurt on Andy?’  How do you apologize to a friend for something like that?  Flowers would not be enough. 

At the clinic I had to sign many forms acknowledging that I understood  and totally agreed with whatever the heck the forms said. Then they led me to a room full of other colonoscopy people, where I went inside a little curtained space and took off my clothes and put on one of those hospital garments designed by sadist perverts, the kind that, when you put it on, makes you feel even more naked than when you are actually naked.  

Then a nurse named Eddie put a little needle in a vein in my left hand. Ordinarily I would have fainted, but Eddie was very good, and I was already lying down. Eddie also told me that some people put vodka in their MoviPrep. At first I was ticked off that I hadn’t thought of this is, but then I pondered what would happen if you got yourself too tipsy to make it to the bathroom, so you were staggering around in full Fire Hose Mode. You would have no choice but to burn your house.  

When everything was ready, Eddie wheeled me into the procedure room,  where Andy was waiting with a nurse and an anesthesiologist.  I did not see the 17,000-foot tube, but I knew Andy had it hidden around there somewhere. I was seriously nervous at this point. Andy had me roll over on my left side, and the anesthesiologist began hooking something up to the needle in my hand. There was music playing in the room, and I realized that the song was ‘Dancing Queen’ by ABBA. I remarked to Andy that, of all the songs that could be playing during this particular procedure, ‘Dancing Queen’ had to be the least appropriate.  ‘You want me to turn it up?’ said Andy, from somewhere behind me. ‘Ha ha,’ I said. 

And then it was time, the moment I had been dreading for more  than a decade. If you are squeamish, prepare yourself, because I am going to tell you, in explicit detail, exactly what it was like.  I have no idea. Really. I slept through it. One moment, ABBA was yelling ‘Dancing Queen, feel the beat of the tambourine,’ and the next moment, I was back in the other room, waking up in a very mellow mood. Andy was looking down at me and asking me how I felt. I felt excellent. I felt even more excellent when Andy told me that IT was all over, and that my colon had passed with flying colors. I have never been prouder of an internal  organ.