Dennys: News Politics Comedy Science Arts & Food

31 January 2010

How Many Poisons in Our Food Supply?

From Denny: This news will get you wondering how to safeguard yourself. There are so many contaminates in the air, the soil and the oceans that it is migrating into our food supply. Dr. Oz talks about mercury and pesticides as a promotion for a full length show he devotes to the safety of our food supply. He also provides healthy diet tips.


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30 January 2010

Funny iPad cartoons and more 30 Jan 2010

From Denny: Great cartoons this week from the busy mind of editorial cartoonists! They sure had a wild time with all the ways the American people got screwed over this week like by the Supreme Court for starters. Check out all the goodies over at The Social Poets blog because the blog template here is not wide enough to include the entire cartoon - and the cartoon site doesn't have a smaller version available for embedded linking.



For this week's funny political cartoons about the State of the Union, iPad and more, go here: Editorial Cartoons This Week 30 Jan 2010

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28 January 2010

67 Charities to Donate: Helping Haiti Heal

From Denny: The outpouring of donations worldwide for the relief of suffering in Haiti following a 7.0 devastating earthquake is incredible. The following are a list of 67 well-known established charities to which you can donate safely.

The Mobile Giving Foundation has received over $30 million in text pledges from cell phone donors the past two weeks. Even the Pew Research Center was well impressed and threw out some statistics:

14% donated by text message
12% donated by phone
23% donated via the web
5% donated via email
39% donated in person via a church or other group

Here's something I doubt any of us thought about when we donated by text message or phone: how long will it take for the phone companies to send out that donation? Turns out it can take from 30, even up to 60 days to transfer customers' contributions, which is then added to the mobile phone bills.

The biggest carriers like Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile have all decided to expedite those donations.

Here's each company's status:

Verizon Wireless:
Last Friday, 22 January, they transferred $2.98 million. Today, 28 January, they transferred $4.84 million. Jeffrey Nelson declared the campaign "the largest outpouring of charitable support by texting in history — by far. In all of 2009, all mobile giving (via texting) to all charities totaled just under $4 million for the year."

AT&T: Donations are up to $10 million. The company says they will "advance payment of verified texted donations" to the Red Cross.

Sprint: Donations so far are $3.1 million. By Friday, 29 January, they will advance 80% of the donations with the remaining 20% placed into the usual 30 to 90 day settlement cycle.

T-Mobile: They are working hard to expedite on a weekly basis.


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Relief Agencies where to donate:

Action Against Hunger 877-777-1420
Agape Flights 941-584-8078
American Red Cross 800-733-2767
American Refugee Committee 800-875-7060
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee 212-687-6200
American Jewish World Service 212-792-2900
AmeriCares 800-486-4357
Beyond Borders 866-424-8403
B'nai B'rith International 202-857-6600
CARE 800-521-2273


CarmaFoundation
Catholic Relief Services 800-736-3467
Childcare Worldwide 800-553-2328
Church World Services 800-297-1516
Clinton Foundation 501-748-0471
Concern Worldwide 212-557-8000
Convoy of Hope 417-823-8998
Cross International 800-391-8545
CRUDEM Foundation 413-642-0450
CRWRC 800-55-CRWRC


Direct Relief International 805-964-4767
Doctors Without Borders 888-392-0392
Episcopal Relief and Development 800-334-7626
Feed My Starving Children 763-504-2919
Food for the Poor 800-427-9104
Friends of WFP (World Food Program) 866-929-1694
Friends of the Orphans 312-386-7499
Habitat for Humanity 800-422-4828
Haiti Children 877-424-8454
Haiti Foundation Against Poverty


Haiti Marycare 203-675-4770
Haitian Health Foundation 860-886-4357
Healing Hands for Haiti 651-769-5846
Hope for Haiti 239-434-7183
Hope for Haiti Now 877-99-HAITI
International Child Care 800-722-4453
International Medical Corps 800-481-4462
International Rescue Committee 877-733-8433
International Relief Teams 619-284-7979
Islamic Relief USA 888-479-4968


Lions Club International Foundation 630-203-3836
Lutheran World Relief 800-597-5972
Medical Benevolence Foundation 800-547-7627
Medical Teams International 800-959-4325
Meds and Food for Kids 314-420-1634
Mennonite Central Committee 888-563-4676
Mercy Corps 888-256-1900
Nazarene Compassionate Ministries 800-306-9950
New Life for Haiti 815-436-7633
Operation Blessing 800-730-2537


Operation USA 800-678-7255
Oxfam 800-776-9326
Partners in Health 617-432-5298
RHEMA International 248-652-9894
Rural Haiti Project 347-405-5552
Salesian Missions 888-608-2327
The Salvation Army 800-725-2769
Samaritan's Purse 828-262-1980
Save the Children 800-728-3843
ShelterBox



UN Central Emergency Response Fund
UNICEF 800-367-5437
United Methodist Committee on Relief 800-554-8583
World Concern 800-755-5022
World Hope International 888-466-4673
World Relief 800-535-5433
World Vision 888-511-6548


Text to donate:

Text/ Number/ Giving campaign/ Amount

"HAITI" 90999 American Red Cross $10
"QUAKE" 20222 Clinton Bush Haiti Fund $10
"GIVE" 25383 MTV telethon $10
"HAITI" 25383 International Rescue Committee $5
"HAITI" 85944 International Medical Corps $10


"YELE" 501501 Yele Haiti foundation $5
"HAITI" 52000 The Salvation Army $10
"HOPE10" or "UNICEF" 20222 UNICEF $10
"HABITAT" 25383 Habitat for Humanity $10
"OXFAM" 25383 Oxfam America, Inc $10


"HAITI" 40579 National Religious Broadcasters $10
"SAVE" or "SAFE" 20222 Save the Children Federation $10
"GIVE" or "WORLD" 20222 World Vision, Inc $10
"CARE" 24383 CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, Inc) $10
"AJWS" 25383 American Jewish World Service $10


*** THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS - even the smallest amount delivers a huge impact!

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27 January 2010

Healing Remedies: Food in Your Fridge

From Denny: Eating cherries for jet lag? Papaya for a bruise? Unlock the healing powers of food.

Cherries really are useful for dealing with nagging jet lag. Take along dried cherries, eat some before your trip, and the formula is to eat cherries every night for each hour of time change: 5 hours of time change = 5 nights of eating cherries.

Cherries are also an anti-inflammatory and so cherry juice is a must after a strenuous workout to avoid soreness.

Pineapple and papaya are useful for bruises because of enzymes that break up the blood pooling under the skin that creates the bruise.

An old trick here in Louisiana when we bruise ourselves is to use vinegar and cayenne pepper to soak a bruise. Vinegar and cayenne pepper pull out the excess blood pool under your skin. It's especially useful if you stubbed your toe badly and don't want to lose the nail.

Fresh ginger root steeped in hot water to make a tea is famous for stomach aches and nausea, even nausea from pregnancy or cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Eggplant is used sliced thinly and applied directly to warts to help stimulate the immune system to heal faster.

Plums, specifically Japanese plums that are sour and salty, are famous for treating hangovers.

Kefir is the latest trending super food that helps with really bad breath because it is full of pro-biotics and good bacteria. Definitely a food to buy before Valentine's Day when you are going to be doing all that kissing! :)

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26 January 2010

Healing Power of Plants and Herbs

From Denny: P. Allen Smith, author of "Bringing the Garden Indoors," reminds us how plants keep us healthy by helping to clean indoor air. He also advises us upon which plants are great indoor choices and which need to be kept away from pets and small children.

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25 January 2010

6 Good Friends You Need to Live a Long Life

From Denny: A long term study from Australia has determined that long friendships are a greater predictor of long life than close family ties.

Strong social ties over family ties proved to help with lower risk of obesity, depression and heart disease. It isn't how many social site friends you have, the quantity, but rather the close friends you have for quality relationships.

Types of Good Friends to Have or Develop:

Childhood friend
New Friend
Workout friend
Spiritual friend
Younger friend
Your Partner's Friend

Take a listen as they explain why these types of friends are so important to our health:


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24 January 2010

Reclaim Your Life, Reclaim Your Joy Now

From Denny: Did you ever wonder how to use universally known spiritual principles in a practical way that can enhance your everyday life? Do you know what keeps you off balance in life?



Photo by marklarson @ flickr

Indian proverb

There is an Indian proverb that says that everyone is a house with four rooms – a physical, an emotional, a mental and a spiritual. Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time, but unless we go into every room every day, even if only to keep it aired, we are not a complete person.

It really is important to fully furnish each and every room to gain the fullness life offers.

Balance in life is paramount in order to succeed.

Begin at the beginning and remove emotional clutter



Curb the Clutter Photo by lylamerle @ flickr

Clear the clutter video



Remove emotional clutter

The main reason people end up stressed and out of balance is because we are not emotionally clear. It is easy to get so emotionally cluttered we can no longer even take inventory of what all is in there, stored away for decades. We often know we don’t feel as good as we could but just can’t easily articulate it and point to any one situation. The reason for that is because the emotional clutter is layered up like piles of dirt on a shiny diamond no one can find.



Clutter shelves photo by YellowDog @ flickr

Extremely cluttered conditions video




Emotional clutter builds up over time

Emotional clutter builds up over time. That clutter is like unwelcome cobwebs. When we are not visiting our emotional room soon after any life event it can disturb our inner house. Sometimes a life experience is just annoying like opening the door and a wind gust throws in a layer of fine dust that is easy to remove.

Other times an ongoing chronic life event can get overwhelming where it feels like you are buried in a blizzard trying to dig yourself out. Then there are those rapid fire intense life situations that feels like a hurricane came at you so hard you end up part of the Blue Roof (tarp) Club while waiting for repairs, left wondering how long it will take help to arrive in your personal disaster zone.



Cluttered desk photo by ChicagoEye @ flickr

Layers of life events create emotional clutter

Many life events come our way. The important thing is to take notice of the effect upon us emotionally and spiritually. Do we lose hope? Do we question our faith? Are we angry, fearful, resentful or disappointed?

Most of all: What do we do with these emotions? The worst thing to do is ignore them. That’s when the clutter pile starts looking like a landfill dump.

The second worst thing is to set them aside for examination at a later date. Human nature being what it is that’s when procrastination comes in. We like to avoid what we think may be unpleasant or difficult. The thing is that when we visit our inner rooms on a daily basis none of this examination is difficult and takes little time. It’s the mile high pile that can be overwhelming.



Eye closeup photo by Nikki L. @ flickr

First step to removing emotional clutter

Who wants to experience joy only every now and then? Why not a steady stream on a daily basis? The first step to removing emotional clutter is to set aside guilt and self-condemnation for getting into this fix in the first place. Relax. Mankind has had this issue for millennia and will continue until universal spiritual principles are taught to every generation in the schools and at home instead of only in a religious situation.

Too often people have been taught to get tough, deal with it and move on. That’s usually the response of others who have yet to develop emotional maturity in the area of compassion for others. While it’s great to learn to be tougher and eventually move on, there is little taught about the process of achieving that success. People are just expected to do it because they are considered to be inconveniencing those around them. That’s an attitude that does nothing to contribute to the troubled person’s ability to process. In fact, all it does is create another layer of emotional resentment added to the overwhelming pile.

Take your focus off others and place it on the inner you

Don’t allow other people to influence you into feeling guilty or unworthy. All this does is cause you to focus upon resenting them. Instead, focus upon the emotional clutter as a project of an inner room you want to air by throwing open the windows to bring in fresh ideas. Take your focus off what is outside of you and place it on the inner you. That brings a calm and clarity, especially when lovingly visited with only kind emotions. There really is something to be said for the philosophy of being kind to yourself after you have heard a litany of negativity from toxic people.



DREAMS photo by stephentrepreneur @ flickr

Get happy, get organized! Video



Second step to removing emotional clutter

Visualization. Good old-fashioned daydreaming is what visualization really is all about. What could be more fun than that? You get to create situations in your mind and dream about what could be.



Sofa on a cloud photo by ….. dotted ….. @ flickr

Visualization is a valuable tool for removing emotional clutter. Using this technique to help heal is easy and useful on a constant basis. There is no end to the ideas you can imagine to solve any problem. Solutions always take place in your inner rooms. Our best inspiration is waiting there for us to visit and decide to use for our benefit.



Rusted office files Photo by biskuit @ flickr

Visualization exercise

An easy inner mind exercise is the one of emptying your filing cabinet. How often do we find ourselves buried in a sea of paperwork at work or in our home offices? Well, the same holds true for our emotional clutter.

Imagine your filing cabinet stuffed so full you can’t close the drawers no matter how much you push and shove to try to force it. You see manila folders all over the floor piled high up against the walls. Loose papers are falling out and spreading all over the place in a total mess. You can’t even walk into the room without wondering if you will slip and fall. The bookcases are a total disaster. You can’t find anything as it is all out of order. The same holds true for confused emotions not knowing how to express themselves.

Put your 800 pound gorilla to work FOR you



Closeup gorilla face photo by TXZeiss @ flickr

See yourself rolling in a really huge garbage can. Make this visualization fun. Enlist an 800 pound gorilla to sweetly be your clutter aide. Now start emptying that filing cabinet. Make sure you remove every piece of paper. Remember nothing is important in this room and it all has to go.

Keep going through all your files. Trash all the files sitting on the floor piled high. Hand them to your big gorilla to put into the garbage can. Now go to the bookcases and clear the shelves of all clutter. Keep nothing. Your gorilla is strong enough to carry the files to the trash.

Achieving your goal

Notice the clutter is beginning to disappear and you can now see the floor again. Look! The computer desk is right where you left it! Look! You can see the bookcase once again! Inner progress is wonderful, isn’t it? Inform your sweet gorilla to wheel the garbage can out to the street for trash pick-up in a few moments.

Make sure you go to the window and wait for the garbage truck as it suddenly arrives. You and your gorilla are enjoying the moment. He has his big arm around your shoulders to congratulate you on a job well done. You both smile and high-five as the garbage truck empties your can and starts to crush all that clutter that once overwhelmed you.

It’s been a good day. Success!

Success is won on a daily basis



Black and white dress for success photo by _cr_ @ flickr


Success is won on a daily basis. Use this visualization for several days in a row. It’s like dressing for success on the inside. What you will find out is that emotional clutter was just an unconscious habit. Habits don’t go away overnight.

New habits can develop

New habits can develop. The habit you are developing here is the habit of removing emotional clutter before it can build up into an intolerable mess. Your goal is to remain emotionally clear and you achieve that goal by removing daily clutter.

The next step to maintaining your joy is how to stop the emotional clutter from developing to such an intolerable level in the first place.



Balancing rock of Green Bay, Fish Creek, Wisconsin, USA Photo by James Jordan @ flickr

Summary

Balance in life: important

Balance in life is paramount in order to succeed. Joy is necessary to maintain your balance in life. The best way to maintain your joy is to remove emotional clutter.

Emotional clutter builds up over time. The first step to removing emotional clutter is to set aside guilt and self-condemnation. Take your focus off what is outside of you and place it on the inner you.

Visualization is a valuable tool for removing emotional clutter. Success is won on a daily basis. Use visualization for several days in a row. Your goal is to remain emotionally clear and you achieve that goal by removing daily clutter. There is no end to the ideas you can imagine to solve any problem. Solutions always take place in your inner rooms. Our best inspiration is waiting there for us to visit and decide to use for our benefit and our healing.

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23 January 2010

Updating Your Home: Decorating Dilemmas Solved

From Denny: I always find these practical ideas to be useful. Who wants to get stuck in one line of thinking, get rigid and end up so out of touch there is little hope of reconnecting with the rest of the world? :) An easy fix is to periodically get a tune-up for your perspective on the world. It's a real tonic to your creativity for art, food or writing!

The most fun way is to take everything out of a room you feel just does not inspire you to work or sleep or whatever purpose you want it to have and think of it from another angle. Read that as my husband has grown used to finding the furniture moved around and a room painted when he comes home from work. He has learned to become more emotionally flexible as a result of my re-thinking a room's personality or purpose.

Now, when the seasons change he looks at me and asks which color scheme we are changing into this time and volunteers to go get everything. Read that as I make it easy by just adjusting accessories for a new feel. Light and pales for the heat of the summer, reds and warm tones for the winter and you get the idea. I've streamlined it over the years so as to make it easy to adjust the room in a few minutes.

I even rearrange the furniture in the main living area for summer vs. winter. In summer you want a more open plan for lots of coolness, removing the rugs, excess pillows, chair covers. In winter, you want to arrange for a cozier plan to encourage warm air to remain, bring back the rugs, add more pillows, a few comforters - if you have pets, make those washable as my cats are blanket hogs. The product Fabreeze is wonderful because it kills bacteria on pillows and other items you don't want to wash every week. You no longer have to stress if someone puts their feet on decorator pillows! :)

These two short videos give you some great ideas if you feel stumped as to what to do for one of your rooms. Readers sent in their decorating dilemma to be solved:

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Transforming your bleak basement into a livable space, ah, at last! And the designer shows you how if you are a DIY kind of person:

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Medical Mystery: She Went Insane for a Month Then Got Well

From Denny: Susannah Cahalan, only 24 years old, suddenly lost for her mind for no explainable reason, undiagnosed properly, a bafflement to her doctors. Now she wonders how many people suffering from mental health issues are not properly diagnosed and would benefit from her experience. Nothing like something catastrophic to happen to a reporter. You can bet they will publicize it to get out vital information!


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22 January 2010

Mission of Hope Run by American in Haiti

From Denny: A few years before the disaster struck in Haiti, American Brad Johnson decided to move there and help the people in his parents' ongoing Christian mission to Haiti. He was in a unique position to help after the earthquake as he already had an established school, an orphanage and a medical clinic operating, along with plenty of supplies. His mission is just outside of Port-au-Prince. He is busy distributing supplies to survivors and has been within hours of when the disaster hit.

Here is the website: Mission of Hope in Haiti

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Rare Reaction to Pain Meds: Her Face Peeled Off

From Denny: This is a rare reaction to pain medication. Still, it's wise to not just trust what you are told and take the time to read well the fine print of any medication. Fortunately, she healed. Take a look at this incredible true story.

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21 January 2010

Beautiful Zen Nature Photos

From Denny: Lately, I've taken to writing more than photographing but still like to combine the two mediums, blending into one statement. Blogging is the perfect use of art in word, poetry and images, enjoy! I like to thank my fellow flickr photographers whenever I place one or more of their photos on my blogs. They are generous enough to place many of their best photos in the Creative Commons area for use by online writers like me! Thank you so much!

There are a total of 13 photos in the Rain Blessings poem.


Be sure to check out the poem Rain Blessings to see why these photos were chosen and are such a perfect fit with the words!

Sunset


sun_set, originally uploaded by anirbanbiswas_c8.

Thank you! Your photo was placed in the poem Rain Blessings.






Lightning on the Columbia River


Lightning on the Columbia River, originally uploaded by phatman.

Thank you! Your photo was placed in the poem Rain Blessings.





Red Rain


54 - Red rain, originally uploaded by tourist_on_earth.

Thank you! Your photo was placed in the poem Rain Blessings.





Rain Rain Go Away...


Rain, rain, go away..., originally uploaded by muha....

Thank you! Your photo was placed in the poem Rain Blessings.





The Philosopher


The Philosopher II, originally uploaded by h.koppdelaney.

Thank you! Your photo was placed in the poem Rain Blessings.





Into the sun...


Into the sun, originally uploaded by James Jordan.

Thank you! Your photo was placed in the poem Rain Blessings.





Full moon and clouds


nuages_n&bl_Lune, originally uploaded by luc.viatour.

Thank you! Your photo was placed in the poem Rain Blessings.





Going with the flow...


go with the flow..., originally uploaded by muha....

Thank you! Your photo was placed in the poem Rain Blessings.





Buddha in the Rain


A Buddha in the Rain, originally uploaded by h.koppdelaney.

Thank you! Your photo was placed in the poem Rain Blessings.





*** For more wonderful photos, check out Visual Insights!

*** Be sure to check out The Social Poets for the poem Rain Blessings to see why these photos were chosen and are such a perfect fit with the words!

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20 January 2010

2 Inspiring Haiti Stories: Woman Pulled From Wreckage, New Baby Born on USS Carl Vinson

From Denny: Finally, a happier story of triumph as a woman named Jeanette was pulled from the damaged building in strong health with minor injuries and dehydration after six days pinned down. This is an awesome story of her faith in God and her determination to survive to be reunited with her husband.

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Of course, with any horrific disaster it helps to focus upon the positive. Nothing is more positive and heart-warming than the birthing of a new life. How fortunate this young mother was to have an entire USS Navy ship at her beck and call. The crew is all smiles to be a part of something so life affirming. Can you guess the new baby boy's name? Yes, it's Vinson, in honor of the ship and crew.

The ship is about 17 miles out from the shore of Haiti. They have been taking in any and all injured discovered on the streets of Haiti by U.S. troops. They were the closest American ship in the area and the first to arrive after the disaster.

Can you imagine being pregnant and deep in labor right after an earthquake? The things that had to be going through her mind as she was getting ready to birth her baby. Luck had it she was found by American troops who quickly transported her to the ship to deliver her baby safely.

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18 January 2010

Evidence of the Afterlife: New Book Offers Proof

From Denny: There's a new book out with research from a study and recounting near death experience stories. It's from an author in my part of the country, Louisiana, Dr. Jeffrey Long who researched this subject and the new book is called "Evidence of the Afterlife."

Reincarnation, near death and after life experiences are often controversial, especially to those who have not experienced the phenomenon. Previously, medical researchers tried to explain away those experiences by declaring the brain was on overload while dying and that explains "the light." What they should have said is "I don't really know." One person's truth is not always someone else's truth - until it happens to them.

I applaud this doctor, a radiation oncologist, for daring to step out there and investigate this subject. He collected more than 1,300 stories from people all over the world.

He offers this book up as proof the afterlife exists, writing there are at least nine lines of evidence and here are two of those lines of proof:

1. People blind from birth have visual near death experiences.

2. His study was with young children with no previous knowledge of the subject, ages 5 to 9, and their near death experiences were identical to that of older children and adults.

Mary Jo Rapini recounts her experience in this video. Previous to her near death experience she had been a skeptic who worked with dying cancer patients who repeatedly told her of their experiences.


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Bobbi Browns Makeup Tips, Great Beauty Buys for 2010

From Denny: Bobbi Brown is known for working with "real women" with everyday makeup issues. Here she shares some great ideas to enhance your look when you feel like wearing makeup.

Want to know how to keep cream blush on longer? Bobbi suggests first putting on a little powder blush and then following on top with the cream blush. The powder helps to set and stabilize the cream version.

As to concealer, make sure it is only one shade lighter than your skin tone to blend properly. Try to use some eye brightener too.

The Bobbi Brown trick is to take the lip gloss she uses on the lips and dots a little on the face and cheeks to create a fresh glow.

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Now on to some great beauty picks for 2010. I always enjoy the new colors and technology for better foundations. Of course, palettes are fabulous and sephora.com a fav to shop:

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16 January 2010

Funny Music Video of How Americans Sound to Foreigners

From Denny: This is so funny, mainly because the lampooning Italians have us accurately nailed to the wall. If you have ever wondered what Americans sound like to others who speak different languages you will laugh at this. An Italian singer decided to write a song with nothing but gibberish to sound like it was intelligible English. Of course, the funniest thing of all is that often today's music sounds unintelligible to us as well! :) But hey, pop music is really all about the beat that makes you want to dance and have fun! ("That's my story and I'm sticking to it!" as the saying goes in America...) I guess Americans can remind themselves of the other saying: "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery." Anyway, you look at it, this little musical spoof is great fun!




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15 January 2010

Clothing Bank for Those in Need

From Denny: We have all heard about and donated to Food Banks for those in need. Now New York City, a center for fashion, has instituted a wonderful idea of a Clothing Bank for those in need. Yet another superb idea for recycling and giving donations. What's even better about this Clothing Bank is that most of this clothing is brand new! A much needed resource for those down on their luck and sure could use some newer clothes to go on those job interviews.

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14 January 2010

Skinny Foods to Help Us Slim Those Excess Pounds

From Denny: Satisfy your taste buds and curb your appetite is a tall order sometimes. Joy Bauer of the Joy Fit Club and author of "Your Inner Skinny," a nutritionist who helps obese people trim off the excess weight, shares some wise advice.

I really like her low calorie Pumpkin Pudding of combining canned pumpkin puree (not the pumpkin pie canned filling which is loaded with sugar) with vanilla yogurt and some cinnamon - now there's some taste and fiber you can actually enjoy! :)

Other good advice? Start you dinner with a non-starchy vegetable soup. Studies prove you will eat about 20% less of the following dinner after a bowl of soup. Lots of healthy fiber expands to make you full. I love to make soups and one thing is for sure, lots of wonderful spices and garlic make a soup taste great, often all we have for dinner we love it so much!

Cucumbers are another great weight loss veggie because they are 95% water. Combined with lots of balsamic vinegar, a teaspoon of your favorite oil, some tomatoes and a little green onion make for only a 125 calorie snack - a favorite at our house in the hot Louisiana summers when you can't eat much because of the humidity and heat.

Feeling emotional and need to stress down? Go for a hot mug of good green tea. You will have to experiment with various brands of green tea to find out your favorite. Green tea has been studied and proven to help provide some small calorie-burning advantage. Studies generally are small studies and an averaging. You might be one of those people that does not benefit from green tea as a weight loss tool.

Then there are others like myself that it affects greatly to the positive so I stick with it. Also, I spent time living in Taiwan when I was in high school as my father was stationed over there at the time. The Chinese introduced me to green tea and, especially, jasmine tea that was always served in businesses to honored guests. I've been a fan of Chinese teas ever since those days.

Remember: it is very easy to over-brew green tea (unless it is weight loss Wu-Long which can steep until "the cows come home"). Most green tea in teabags should only be dunked for about 20 seconds in almost boiling water. If your water is too hot it will turn a darker green and be intensely bitter. It's that bitterness that people new to green tea experience and get turned off to the product, not realizing they over-brewed in water far too hot for the delicate tea.

Another weight control trick is to use hot pepper sauce which we love in south Louisiana: the well known Tobasco sauce which is a bit more vinegary than we like at our house and another, Louisiana Hot Sauce which is a milder burn and a lot less vinegar pique. Around here everyone puts hot sauce on our morning over easy fried eggs, on hamburgers, you name it, even in tunafish salad - talk about kick up the flavor combined with the mayonnaise! The real trick of using hot sauce is that the explosion of flavor causes you to slow down your eating (and sometimes reach for that glass of water to quench the shock or a glass of milk to kill the fire since milk proteins kill hot pepper heat).

Shrimp cocktail is the skinniest appetizer on a restaurant menu - unless, of course, you come to Louisiana where they will put a roulade sauce on it, packed with calories. Most restaurants across America use a ketchup based only sauce. The best way is to control the calories in the sauce is ask them to bring you the condiments to make your own like we do in Louisiana: ketchup, horseradish sauce, fresh lemon juice, Lea and Perrins Worchestershire sauce and a hot sauce like Tobasco. Now we're talking: real cocktail sauce!

Boiled shrimp without the sauce are only 8 calories each! You do have to watch the salt and iodine levels. Too much salt in our diet can contribute to water weight gain or kidney problems. Too much shellfish with iodine in it like shrimp can contribute to slowing down your thyroid so don't go thinking it's a great idea to load up on boiled shrimp for the calorie level alone.

These are all great ideas for tasty food from a very practical nutritionist:


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13 January 2010

5 Funny Quotes About Time



Time? Where are you, you little rascal? I'll go shoot me some Time to keep!

From Denny: Enjoy these funny quotes as a sampling of today's Mind Candy! For more grins at funny photos and quotes, go here: Funny Quotes About Time - Cheeky Quote Day! 13 Jan 2010


Quotes

* When I give a lecture, I accept that people look at their watches, but what I do not tolerate is when they look at it and raise it to their ear to find out if it stopped. - Marcel Achard

* Time will explain it all. He is a talker, and needs no questioning before he speaks. - Euripides

* I would I could stand on a busy corner, hat in hand, and beg people to throw me all their wasted hours. - Bernard Berenson

* I've been on a calendar, but never on time. - Marilyn Monroe

* Time and Tide wait for no man, but time always stands still for a woman of thirty. -Robert Frost

: "Play it again, Sam!"

*** To enjoy the full post, full of funny photos too:
Funny Quotes About Time - Cheeky Quote Day! 13 Jan 2010


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11 January 2010

Good News: Successful Potato Peeler Salesman Joe Ades

From Denny: If you missed this quirky good news story then this is a must see and something to email to friends as it will make you smile. This man had one impressive work ethic and positive outlook on life. To see what he accomplished is amazing since he had a real devotion to family.

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Trim Off Obesity: 3 Inspiring Stories, Nutritionist Answers Diet Questions

From Denny: These stories will get you pumped up and ready to tackle any extra weight you have been wanting to trim off. Impressive and inspiring stories, they all come from the Joy Fit Club series.

Amy Barnes, age 35, lost more than 340 pounds just through simple dieting and basic exercise. She got to this weight level because she was addicted to food as a way to emotionally medicate the hurt from an abusive relationship. After trimming off the weight she is now a body-builder:

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Greg McBride shed more than 250 pounds:

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Fast food junkie for years and now she has trimmed down from a high of 250 pounds down to a manageable 130 pounds.

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Joy Bauer, nutritionist, answers dieting questions and clears up confusion about calories and sugars in particular:

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