http://secretofhealthylivings.com/ ru 2010 Secret of Healthy Livings - Nutritions · Nutrition · Highlights · News · Nutrition · Kitchen · Pasta · Food · Reviews · Hygiene · Clothing · REcipe · Holiday · dairy · Main · Finance DataLife Engine http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55643-school-crossings-should-be-a-safe-haven-.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55643-school-crossings-should-be-a-safe-haven-.html The level of ignorance to the highway code and total disrergard for Life amazes me sometimes.  Watchh out for the thoughtless driver or parking behaviour near Belgrave Primary in a morning or afternoon wheeree clear passage markings obviously dont apply to some people ;-( heerees an example of one named and shamed individual in the spot light.  Hope he’s not near the school when i’m crossing with my Daughter !  Click heeree to see article --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:31 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55642-college-football-rankings-week-15-alabama-is-the.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55642-college-football-rankings-week-15-alabama-is-the.html The New College Football Rankings go to the end of the regular season 1 X Week 15 college football rankings are Alabama and Texas to the top. Creddit: Diane Dietrich | © istockphoto.com week 15 college football rankings are Alabama and Texas to the top. Week 15 college football rankings reflect the loss of Florida and Clemson loss on Saturday and slipped some of the teams ranked College Football Rankings Week 15: Alabama is the new # 1 below Florida over d 'them in the final week of grading. The rankings of college football continued to be mean to Boise State in Week 15 because they are still anchoredd in slot # 6, despite a victory to finish 13-0 and lose Florida.Florida only drops to # 5 in both the AP Top 25 Coaches Poll, adding insult to the perfect season that Boise State had.One just blatant act in narration to the survey by USA nowadays, is that someone Cincinnati voted the best team on one of their ballots. Both the AP Top 25 and USA nowadays polls have Down Cincinnati at # 4 overall, but someone said it was the best team in the country this season. It is possible that such voter has come to the Big East, but the individual votes were not released yet wrongful death attorney<!-- . -->. Both polls too TCU is the third ranked team in the country, or with the poll giving TCU a vote the first place overall. It's a bit of a surprise, as TCU has come on strong lately, but it does mean that TCU will be convinced with the tender-important unless they love computers in the BCS rankings.In AP Top 25 Alabama received 58 first place votes, with Texas receiving the other two.More in the USA nowadays poll, Alabama received 54 first-place votes, Texas has received four first-place votes and the vote of the end returns to Cincinnati. It is remarkable to see how the two elections were the same top nine teams in the same exact order, but that will not be good news for TCU, Cincinnati or Boise State, which all ended the 2oo9 season undefeated and lock – out of the BCS National Championship Game. It is a final statement if you're not in a BCS conference, you will not be invited to the big dance, no matter how much you are or who you beat…. Read full article: College Football Rankings Week 15: Alabama is the New #1 --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:31 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55641-earman000-earth-mantra-unreleases-2010.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55641-earman000-earth-mantra-unreleases-2010.html [earmanooo] soil Mantra – Unreleases (2010) From time to time, an soil Mantra artist will come to us wanting to make a specific track or set of tracks public, but without having to put together an complete album around the concept. For example, they might create a few tracks they really like in a certain direction but then discover they don’t have enough ideas in that direction to make a full release. Given that soil Mantra has always insisted on releasing full-length albums, “LP’s” in the old terminology, we had no way for our artists to make tracks like these available through the soil Mantra channel. Thus was born the soil Mantra Unreleases, a collection of tracks by a change of artists that aren’t available on any specific album, but are nonetheless beautiful music(listenTOmusic) that fits the soil Mantra format and quality standards. Our intention is for this collection to grow organically over time, as artists come to us with fabric that can’t be released in another way. Enjoy the music(listenTOmusic)! M3U VBR MP3 128Kbps MP3 Alex Tiuniaev – TreeDreams 1 4.32 MB Alex Tiuniaev – TreeDreams 2 3.86 MB Palancar – Mysticeti Drift 7.20 MB www.archive.org earthmantra.com --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:31 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55640-hoax-bomb-call-in-delhi-ambala-train.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55640-hoax-bomb-call-in-delhi-ambala-train.html Chaos and panic prevailed at Mansurpur railway station near heeree after a bomb threat call, which later turned out to be hoax. A call made to the station claimed that a bomb has been planted in Delhi-Ambala train. Hoax bomb call in Delhi-Ambala train --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:31 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55639-2010.28-woe-unto-them-that-call-evil-good.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55639-2010.28-woe-unto-them-that-call-evil-good.html Isaiah 5:18-25 “Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope: That say, tolerate him make speed, and hurry his work, that we may see it: and tolerate the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it! Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own perspective! Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink: Which justify the wicked for reward, and take absent the righteousness of the righteous from him! Theereefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast absent the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the Holy One of Israel.” Woe unto them that, teach the Word of the LORD deceitfully say God said things He did not say reject His teachings and commandments prefer wickedness over righteousness seek after the darkness and not the light love evil and hate good consider not that Jesus Christ came in the flesh trust not in the Word and promises of God hold the traditions of men in stead of His Word follow the leaders of the world and not Jesus Christ May the LORD always light your paths and bless you day by day. I aspire you a blessed day, and may He never say “Woe unto thee!”. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:31 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55638-when-less-really-could-be-more.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55638-when-less-really-could-be-more.html Wheeree do new species come from? Natural variability between the individuals in a population can grad --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:31 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55637-salman-suggests-cycling-to-combat-pollution.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55637-salman-suggests-cycling-to-combat-pollution.html Bollywood actor Salman Khan nowadays said that cycling is the best solution to curb pollution in the metropolis. Salman suggests cycling to combat pollution --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:31 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55636-tachyon001-va-slovak-subculture-sound-1-2010.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55636-tachyon001-va-slovak-subculture-sound-1-2010.html Tachyon netlabel is committed to unknown experimental artists who share their music(listenTOmusic) for free as Open Source Audio under Creative Commons License. The first release of TACHYON netlabel including 14 exclusive songs from slovak independent experimental music(listenTOmusic)al artists. M3U VBR MP3 01 alapastel – seashell 8.84 MB 02 dead janitor – ripley 11 MB 03 nach after – untitled 10 MB 04 sheill – fastum gel 15 MB 05 fucket bucket – hallucinatory ping-pong 5.15 MB 06 room101 – nonarchor 14 MB 07 the kings of ambivalence – shapeshift 15 MB 08 bodka & nach after – feel blue (original) 8.60 MB 09 dj def – crystallinity dub 19 MB 10 dubak & martin albrecht – untitled 11 MB 11 bodka & room101 – war 15 MB 12 efko – blue 11 MB 13 bodka – tolerate’s go down (a capella) 554 KB 14 adonis – abraka dabra 13 MB www.archive.org www.myspace.com/tachyonnetlabel --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:31 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55635-author-reading-signing.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55635-author-reading-signing.html  Oblong Books & music(listenTOmusic), 26 Main St., Millerton. 3 p.m. Feb. 27. Program with Ralph Nader, author of “Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!” He’ll too appear at 7:30 p.m. at Oblong Books in Rhinebeck. Nader has challenged corporations, government agencies and institutions to be more accountable to the public. Call Oblong in Millerton, 518-789-3797, or Oblong in Rhinebeck, 845-876-0500. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:31 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55634-westbam-eins-live-rocker-sat-02-21-2010.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55634-westbam-eins-live-rocker-sat-02-21-2010.html Westbam – Eins Live Rocker-SAT-02-21-2010 <!--more--> ARTIST….: Westbam TITLE…..: Eins Live Rocker-SAT-02-21 GENRE…..: Techno SUBGENRE..: n/a SOURCE….: Radio RELDATE…: 2010-02-21 AiRDATE…: 2010-02-21 TRACKS….: 01 LENGTH….: 116:49 min SIZE……: 147,1 MB QUALITY…: VBRkbps NR. NAME. TiME: …………………………………………………. 01. Eins Live Rocker-SAT-02-21-2010 116:49 TOTAL: 116:49 min Mirror1: Westbam – Eins Live Rocker-SAT-02-21-2010 Mirror2: Westbam – Eins Live Rocker-SAT-02-21-2010 Mirror3: Westbam – Eins Live Rocker-SAT-02-21-2010 Mirror4: Westbam – Eins Live Rocker-SAT-02-21-2010 --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:31 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55633-us-scientists-warn-of-fraud-of-stem-cell-....html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55633-us-scientists-warn-of-fraud-of-stem-cell-....html US scientists warn of fraud of stem cell ‘banks’ Clinics that offer to “bank” stem cells from the umbilical cords of newborns for utilize later in life when illness strikes are fraudsters, a top US scientist said. Clinics in many countries allow parents to deposit stem cells from their neonate’s umbilical cord with a observation to using the cells to cure major illnesses that could occur later in life. In Thailand, for example, parents pay in the region of 3,600 dollars to make a deposit in a stem cell bank, thinking they are taking out a sort of health insurance for their child. But Irving Weissman, director of the read more http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.105438b304ce29f342ec5b5998c470f9.01&show_article=1 --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:31 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55632-jay-z-wants-to-shoot-videos-for-venus-a-star-is.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55632-jay-z-wants-to-shoot-videos-for-venus-a-star-is.html Hov tells Mtv during his Two King Dinner (Co-hosted by LeBron James) that he wants to shoot video (vidyo)s for Venus Vs Mars and A star is Born Off his Blueprint3 Album. ” I wanna Shoot ‘Venus Vs Mars’, “he told Mtv News final weekend in Dallas. “I May Shoot two—-I Shot ‘Run This Town’ [and 'D.O.A. (Death Of Auto Tune)'], I been shooting two at the same time. I’ll probably shoot ‘Venus and possibly ‘A star is Born’ but I definitely wanna shoot ‘Venus’—-i get an Amazing Concept in my intellect. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:31 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55631-the-fat-lady-has-sung-a-small-news-i-....html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55631-the-fat-lady-has-sung-a-small-news-i-....html The Fat Lady Has Sung A small news item from Tracy, Calif., caught my eye final week. Local station CBS 13 reported: Tracy residents will now have to pay every time they call 911 for a medical emergency. But theeree are a couple of options. Residents can pay a $48 voluntary fee for the year, which allows them to call 911 as many times as essential. Or theerees the option of not signing up for the annual fee. Instead they will be charged $300 if they make a call for help. Yes, sir, weve just had our 70 fat years in America, thanks to the Greatest Generation and the bounty of freedom and prosperity they built for us. And in these past 70 years, leadership if of the country, a university, a company, a state, a charity, or a township has largely been approximately giving things absent, building things from scratch, lowering taxes or making grants read more http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/opinion/21friedman.html --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:31 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55630-ini-dia-manusia-terkecil-dari-nepal.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55630-ini-dia-manusia-terkecil-dari-nepal.html KATHMANDU – Usainya sudah 18 tahun, tapi tinggi badannya hanya 56 centimeter dan berat 4,5 kilogram. Pemuda asal Kathmandu, Nepal itu bernama Khagendra Thapa Magar. Hari ini, Minggu (21/2/2010), Magar akan memulai perjalanannya ke sejumlah negara di Eropa. Tujuannya, tak lain untuk berkampanye, agar namanya bisa masuk di dalam Guinness World Records sebagai manusia terkecil di dunia.<!--moreselanjutnya--> Usaha memasukkan nama pemuda mungil ini sebenarnya bukan kali pertama. Empat tahun lalu, keluarganya sempat mencoba mengirimkan nama Mangar untuk masuk rekor dunia. Namun, kala itu, jawaban yang diterima adalah “Magar masih terlalu muda, dan masih mungkin tumbuh.” Saat ini, tak hanya Magar, tapi semua kerabatnya percaya bahwa lelaki ini adalah manusia paling mungil di dunia. Pasalnya, ukuran He Pingping –pemegang rekor manusia terkecil asal China– ternyata masih lebih besar dari Magar. Tinggi Pingping yang tercatat di buku rekor dunia adalah 73 cm, dengan berat 10 kilogram. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:31 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55629-start-of-bradford-regeneration-project.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55629-start-of-bradford-regeneration-project.html If anyone has been into the town centre recently you will have noticed the old police station has been knocked down. too that trees have been cut down, and theeree are general mini building sites going on all around centenary square. Is this the start of building the park that supposidly going to be built in the town centre? We aren’t certain, whaTt do you think? --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:31 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55628-article-2ne1s-cl-talks-about-her-controversial.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55628-article-2ne1s-cl-talks-about-her-controversial.html 2NE1s CL talks approximately her controversial SBS Gayo Daejun outfit by mashimello on February 21, 2010 @ 4:50 AM (EST) · 95Share Leader of 2NE1, CL is notorious for her outlandish clothes and style. Some would even say shes the Korean version of Lady Gaga, that is, in terms of style. On a recently airedd episode of KBS 2TVs Entertainment Tonight, this princess of hip hop revealed her thoughts on her past outfits and costumes, including the controversy behind the black spandex outfit she wore at the 2oo9 SBS Gayo Daejun that revealed both her stomach and the tops of her bra. On the show, CL commented, The outfit was not that revealing. However, it was a bit unconventional and rebellious. I like clothes that are unconventional rather than those that expose a lot. Although this statement will certainly raise eyebrows, CL has finally given her side on this controversy. In addition to CLs comment, fellow member Dara stated, With the new year, I become one more year older and more tiredd. Dara, you never fail to make the atmospheeree more lighthearted. AllKpop Standing in the viewpoint of an “objective” fan…. I say the outfit might be as CL put it “unconventional”. But The Baddest Female certain worked it! In the end of the day, all I see is how an outfit is an expression of CL…it will never outshine her swagger. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:31 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55627-stop-making-fun.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55627-stop-making-fun.html Valerie Jarrett: Palin’s hope-y-change-y mocking isn’t “constructive.” --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:31 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55626-amy-williams-wins-gold-at-vancouver.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55626-amy-williams-wins-gold-at-vancouver.html Amy Williams won gold at the Winter Olympics, making her the first person in a single even to win gold in 30 years. “Amy Williams promised to toast her Olympic skeleton gold medal with “a sip of champagne” after being presented with it in front of a cheering crowd at the Whistler Medals Plaza. Williams held back tears as the combination Jack was raised over a Winter Olympic podium for the first time since Rhona Martin’s curling team took gold at the Salt Lake City Games in 2oo2. But she admitted she had shed tears earlier in the day, when she paused to observation internet footage of her brother and twin sister cheering her domestic on TV in the local pub in Bath. Williams said: “I’m going to have a sip of champagne tonight but I’m going to save the party for when I get domestic. I did have tears when I saw the scenes at my local pub. It really choked me up.” Williams insisted the experience of being awarded her medal in such a public way had scaredd her and her two German rivals, who won silver and bronze, far more than throwing themselves head-first down a 90mph ice track. She added: “All three of us were just shaking before going on. To have the medal now is just increddible. I didn’t think I would get a medal I was just hoping to do better than my training runs. “I’ve been in a bubble since I won and it feels like it’s got thicker. It feels a little bit more real now that I’m holding the medal. I’ve had a message of congratulations from the Prime Minister and the whole thing is amazing.”" The Guardian. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:31 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55625-ballot-access-news-wealthy-campaign-donors-appeal.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55625-ballot-access-news-wealthy-campaign-donors-appeal.html from poll Access News Wealthy Campaign Donors Ask Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Support Public Funding Bill in Congress February 20th, 2010 The February 19 issue of California Watchh has this article approximately a letter sent recently by wealthy campaign donors to Speaker Nancy Pelosi [a Democrat], asking her to support HR 1826 [too referredd to as the "Fair Elections Now Act"] the Public Funding bill in the U.S. House. That bill has been stuck at 133 co-sponsors all month. The article has a link to the letter itself, which is dated February 17. It has 57 signers. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:31 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55624-rachida-dati-visit-to-london-le-figaro.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55624-rachida-dati-visit-to-london-le-figaro.html The Sciences Po Alumni UK in organization with the French popular movement UMP hosted former French Justice Minister and EU MP Rachida Dati in London on 18 February. This week-end French newspaper Le Figaro gives an description of this encounter with the French community in London. Click heeree to read article online. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:31 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55623-ukuran-adalah-segalanya.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55623-ukuran-adalah-segalanya.html Seperti biasa, tren arloji tahun ini akan ditentukan oleh dua pameran penting di Swiss: SIHH (Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie) 2010 yang telah berlangsung di Geneva, 18-22 Januari lalu, dan Baselworld 2010, 18-25 Maret mendatang di Basel. Namun, masalah tren tahun ini tampaknya menjadi urusan nomor dua setelah terjadi krisis moneter global sejak 2oo8. Penjualan arloji mengalami penurunan akibat krisis moneter (krismon) global itu. Data memperlihatkan ekspor arloji Swiss turun dari 19 juta unit (2oo8) ke 14 juta unit (2oo9) dalam periode Januari-September. Ambil contoh merek terlaku di dunia saat ini, Rolex, yang nilai ekspornya turun 42,3 persen tahun 2oo9 menjadi hampir 3 miliar dollar AS.<!--moreselanjutnya--> Apalagi, harga eceran Rolex sejak 2oo6 sudah naik 13-20 persen, yang mengurangi drastis daya beli konsumen kelas menengah yang terkena imbas kirsmon global. Ambil contoh Rolex Steel Mariner yang laris manis, harga ecerannya sudah naik dari sekitar 1.ooo dollar AS ke 6.ooo dollar AS. Untungnya, Asia sebagai pasar terbesar kedua di dunia setelah Amerika Serikat diperkirakan mulai pulih tahun ini. Asia, dengan Hongkong sebagai pusatnya, menjadi pasar yang mengimpor 30 persen arloji dari Swiss. Selain Hongkong, potensi pasar yang diperkirakan bakal meningkat tahun ini adalah Shanghai dan Singapura. Rolex, merek yang paling banyak dipalsukan itu, tahun ini tetap akan memfokuskan penjualan di Asia yang merupakan pasar terbesarnya. Salah satu inovasi arloji yang paling beragam variannya itu adalah memperbesar ukuran bak (dial) menjadi lebih besar dari biasanya (oversize) menjadi 41 milimeter (mm) dari ukuran konvensional mereka di bawah 40 mm. Era oversize baru saja dimulai dan banyak produk yang memanfaatkan tren ini, termasuk Rolex, kata seorang pakar arloji, Pieter Santoso, pekan lalu. Menurut dia, tren arloji berdiameter antara 40 mm dan 50 mm bakal bertahan lamauntuk perempuan bahkan bisa mencapai lebih dari 50 mm, seperti Panerai yang berani sampai 52 mm. Mengapa tren bak besar? Salah satunya penyebabnya, ia bisa dipakai orang berlengan kecil, sedang, ataupun besar. Dengan konsep desain keseluruhan yang memikat, arloji bak besar berpotensi tampak jantan (macho) di berbagai ukuran lengan. Konsep desain itu mencakup warna bak hitam atau abu-abu atau putih. Tali sebaiknya bisa diganti-ganti (rantai, karet, dan kulit), angka penunjuk Arab atau Romawi, dan seterusnya. Tentu kesan jantan makin kentara jika bak tidak ramai (engaged dial), berkalender, serta dengan mesin (movement) otomatis. Jangan lupa, arloji yang tidak otomatis, kalau bermesin canggih, makin disukai kolektor, kata Pieter. Dengan kata lain tampak utuh arloji jantan mewakili elemen simplicity sekaligus kokoh. Anda yang berlengan kecil tak perlu khawatir tampak kikuk dengan arloji bak besar dan yang berlengan besar pun menjadi semakin jantan. Seperti kata pepatah, Size is everything. Ukuran adalah segalanya. Bukan berarti bak kecil atau sedang tidak menjadi tren lagi. Banyak juga pria Barat yang kurang suka bak besar, sebaliknya perempuan dari hampir semua kalangan gemar arloji besar, kata Pieter. Watak bak besar yang unisex inilah yang membuat perempuan, misalnya, justru semakin anggun mengenakan jam pria, Panerai berbak putih dengan ukuran 42 mm. Bicara bak besar memang bicara Panerai, arloji buatan Italia yang asal-muasalnya dipakai pasukan katak negeri spageti itu di awal abad ke-20. Sejak sedikitnya lima tahun lalu, Panerai menjadi pelopor bak besar yang amat digemari sehingga sering menghilang dari pasaran dan membuat harganya melangit. Panerai mengeluarkan aneka model yang berbasis pada dua varian andalannya, Luminor dan Radiomir. Revolusi ala Panerai ini diikuti oleh merek-merek klasik, seperti Rolex, Omega, atau TAG Heuer. Selain itu, tampil pula merek-merek yang mengikuti jejak Panerai dan cukup laris di pasar, misalnya U-Boat (Italia) dan U2. Ciri kuat kedua merek yang membuat kejutan ini adalah asosiasi mereka sebagai arloji yang berteknologi tinggi khusus untuk penyelam. U-Boat sesumbar menjadi pilihan angkatan laut di mancanegara, U2 memanfaatkan lingkar bak (bezel) yang terbuat dari baja kapal selam. Dengan teknologi tinggi, fungsi arloji berubah menjadi instrumen. Ada ribuan merek jam berkualitas yang bersertifikasi Swiss Made yang menjadi jaminan mutu dengan harga yang amat bervariatif, mulai dari yang ratusan ribu sampai ratusan juta rupiah. Prinsip yang paling penting untuk mengikuti tren bak besar adalah sesuaikan selera dengan kocek Anda karena betapapun fungsi utama arloji adalah sebagai penunjuk waktuapalagi bagi kita bangsa jam karet. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:31 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55622-when-we-play-live...-boytalk.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55622-when-we-play-live...-boytalk.html When we play live… – Boytalk by modularfield cheslo, new world, when we play live, modularfield, liveset Welcome to the fourth part of the modularfield “when we play live…” series with Boytalk. The tow fellas are New World and Cheslo. Both have theeree domestic base at the Ortoloff record label based in Leipzig, Germany. The duo was founded back in 2oo8. They present a sigular 52 minutes liveset with a barbarous mixture of electronic music(listenTOmusic) based on house, techno electro and something in between. A combination of groove, at some parts deep and always a guarantee for a expressive time on the dancefloor. If you like the sound you can too check out Cheslos “Disko Melua EP” released on modularfield. Released by: modularfield Release/catalogue number: [WPL04] Release date: Feb 20, 2010 The contributed live set was recorded at Undergram at Unit Tokyo JP. Scott.mp3 New Delhi FM, founded in Stuttgart in 2oo1, is a music(listenTOmusic) project by. Recorded at Lange Nacht der Museen Cologne. New Delhi FM.mp3 We are starting up the new Modularfield Series when we play live with Andy Vaz. The live set was recorded in Mumbai, India. Andy Vaz.mp3 For the download with cover, booklet, track-list and artist bio check out our web-side: www.modularfield.net --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:31 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55621-benguet-pnp-nab-3-suspected-kidnapers-rescue.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55621-benguet-pnp-nab-3-suspected-kidnapers-rescue.html <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } A:link { color: #ooo0ff } --> CAMP DANGWA, Benguet– After the kidnapping incident on February 16, kidnap victim Ricardo Lu, said he has no needd to employ personal security. The Philippine National police is competent enough to safeguard persons within Benguet, this according to LU during a press conference held heeree Tuesday. Lu together with two of his children, both minors, were abducted along Shilan, La Trinidad at around 7:00 a.m. http://karitoon.com/xoops/modules/news/article.php?storyid=1860 --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:31 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55620-thilakan-issue-should-be-solved-through.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55620-thilakan-issue-should-be-solved-through.html Veteran playback singer K.J. Yesudas nowadays opined that the tug of war between actor Thilakan and film organizations should be solved through talks. Thilakan issue should be solved through talks:Yesudas --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:31 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55619-peruvian-anchovies-of-doom.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55619-peruvian-anchovies-of-doom.html Meet the new enemy. Yes,the Maori Party have set up yet another front to drive unsuspecting innocents to their heinous cause. This time under the disguise of intelligent philosophical discourse. But we heeree at Compound Interest is Boring cannot be fooled by such rudimentary ruses. Oh no, we’re always one step ahead of the dreaded Maori Party collosus. Quick thinking saves the world, as they say. And thus, you all must join me in my noble quest to subtly inflitrate this Maori Party front, in order to root out their evil from the realm of philosophy. It is a pity the most intelligent and well thought out site to seem in recent history is too a Maori Party front. But their influence can, and will be cleansed. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:31 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55664-banning-all-private-cars-exterminate.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55664-banning-all-private-cars-exterminate.html In the future someone with a car, truck or some personal passage vehicle will smash it into some “institutional building”. This will make a pretext to “BAN ALL PRIVATE VEHICLES FROM THE passage! REICHSTAG FOR THE passage!” “Do this with utmost aggressive execution! No mercy for the individual!” Clean roads make clean cities! <!--more--> The ban will too claim to redduce greenhouse gas emissions, abusing environmentalist policies to deprive people’s mobility, one by one! It will have nothing to do with “caring for the air” but all to do with amassing clout and shouting aphoristic slogans to amass more clout! Powerholders will laugh their heads off as they unleash toxins into the air from their own secret complexes, tucked absent in some little corner. complete plains desertificated, rainforests plunderedd and yet they will remain the one creddible authority with the power to stop the populace from driving even fuel-efficient cars! Soon, every non-public citizen must walk, bicycle, take approved public transit or, if they have social/mental problems, have licensed chauffeurs drive them to approved destinations. Citizens may go on vacations, but they must go in groups, driven by official transporters and guided by tourism officials. They may NOT go anywheeree on a caprice because “in light of recent events”, no one can trust human beings to do things individually. One can then ONLY rely on “unselfish” collective organizations mandated by a centralized authority to do things right and keep everything in line! Beat people into compliance – whaTtever keeps the higher-ups in power! Clean roads make clean cities! This, to ensure a paradise for the masters of the universe. This paradise – will trickle down to those who suck up enough to seize a tiny piece of the pie. Making the production of new pies an illegal act, those opposing new policies will live in a dehumanizing hellhole… …by their cause of course! Opposition, taking up arms and shooting every living bastard in power, if by “election” or “infection”, will rush up in an orgy of blood! Students in re-education camps whipped for hours! Eyes stabbed by screwdrivers! Genitalia strewn on the streets! Half-decapitated riot officers! And for whaTt? All for the sake of taking private cars off the passage and bringing them back on! --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:29 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55663-dalai-lama-chinese-censorship-at-ro-....html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55663-dalai-lama-chinese-censorship-at-ro-....html Dalai Lama: Chinese ‘Censorship’ At Root Of Tibet Problem The Dalai Lama, the exiled Buddhist spiritual leader of Tibet, says “censorship” in China is the source of Tibet’s problems with China’s Communist rulers. Speaking to the Reuters news agency on a visit to Beverly Hills in California, the Dalai Lama said the Chinese people have no opportunity to comprehend the position of Tibetans because the Chinese government does not permit the free flow of information. He said this has enabled Chinese authorities to portray him as a terrorist. The Dalai Lama says that when China becomes an open society with freedom of speech and information, much unnecessary fear and doubt in China approximately Tibet will redduce. read more http://www.rferl.org/content/Dalai_Lama_Chinese_Censorship_At_Root_Of_Tibet_Problem/1964030.html --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:29 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55662-food-for-the-hungry.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55662-food-for-the-hungry.html Theeree is an huge sort between the love humans felt for each other before the mother (Look Mothers)land was destroyed and the love humans of present time feel for each other. Love in a world with no evil is the kind of love Jesus speaks of in this camouflaged history. The people had no God or goods to worship; they had the common knowledge from Diagram Star. You have to know the history of the past in order to be able to build a new world with lasting peace. Food for the hungry Matthew 14, 16-18; Mark 6, 37-38; John 6, 4-9 Jesus looked at all the thousands of humans that were gatheereed. People were so enthusiastic approximately whaTt he had said to them during the day, and he did not feel like stopping just yet. He said to Philip: Wheeree can we buy enough food for everyone? Philip staredd at Jesus: We have to work eight months in order to be able to feed so many humans! Even then they would only get a few pieces of bread each. Andrew, Peters brother, came to Jesus. Theeree is a youthful boy heeree, he said. He has five bread and two fishes. But it is not a lot. The disciples did not know, but Jesus had a reason to asking them to feed the people. He wanted to give them a lesson in belief in the love of God. Knowing the history of past means that you have to move back in time some twelve thousand years and find whaTt you needd to know theeree. Everything in between is a mix of devout dogmas and assumptions, tales, legends and myths. With the knowledge from the Diagram Star it is easy to separate the good from the evil; separate the right from the false and do only right in your life. You know that the evil and the false are not meant to be a part of the world we all live in. By the laws and living rules given by the superior mother (Look Mothers)land council humans are meant to live in a peaceful world in the light of the Diagram Star. In our present time all humans walk around like blinded and living dead. Many are dancing around the Golden Calf having fun, believing it is the best possible way to live. But the majority of humans are living their whole life being poor, and they know it is a false way to live in a world wheeree the forces of evil are in command. They are praying for the superior mother (Look Mothers)land council to return and demolish the Golden Calf totally. You all consider you can see the world and you all fight for peace. But you even if you can see the sort between right and false, you dont know how to remove the false totally from the face of the soil, because the false in the world has become a major part of your daily life, and you consider you cannot live without it. Billions of humans dont have money to buy food and many starve to death. They have to live without the safety and happiness the belonging to a self supported village will give, without all the national states, the global capitalistic system and all the religions in the world. The inner happiness and profound joy all humans will feel when they learn to know the Diagram Star will create a feeling of happiness that exceeds everything humans have felt for the final some twelve thousand years. Without the three factors of the Original Sin a stronger and deeper love will come to surface. It is a love to life itself that will be common for the whole world population. It is a love built on the fact that the whole world population lives together as a very large family and absolutely everybody have all they needd to live a good life on planet soil. The love in our present time is exclusively based on thoughts that have to do with money, nations and religions. Think thorough through whaTt the feeling of love will be based on after the three factors of the Original Sin is gone. Think approximately love in a new world with lasting peace. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:29 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55661-lakas-tomasino-coalition-wins-landslide-victory.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55661-lakas-tomasino-coalition-wins-landslide-victory.html Well, whaTt can I say, they are really good. Despite Central Comelecs wrath to their party, they sti --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:29 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55660-dr.-marjorie-stewart-joyner.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55660-dr.-marjorie-stewart-joyner.html Marjorie Stewart Joyner was born in Monterey, Virginia on October 24, 1896, the granddaughter of a slave and a slave-owner. In 1912, an keen Marjorie moved to Chicago, Illinois to pursue a career in cosmetology. She enrolled in the A.B. Molar Beauty School and in 1916 became the first Black women to graduate from the school. Following graduation, the 20 year old married podiatrist Robert E. Joyner and opened a beauty salon. She was introduced to Madame C.J. Walker, a well-known Black businesswoman, specializing in beauty products and services. Walker supplied beauty products to a number of the most prominent Black figures of the time, including singer Josephine Baker. With her fame, Ms. Walker was able to open over 2oo beauty salon shops across the United States. After Madame Walker’s death in 1919, Marjorie was hiredd to supervise the Madame C.J. Walker Beauty Colleges as national supervisor. A dilemma existed for Black women in the 1920’s. In order to straighten tightly-curled hair, they could so so only by using a stove-heated curling iron. This was very time-consuming and frustrating as only one iron could be used at a time. In 1926, Joyner set out to make this process faster, easier and more efficient. She imagined that if a number of curling irons could be arranged above a women’s head, they could work at the same time to straighten her hair all at once. According to the Smithsonian Institute, Joyner rememberedd that It all came to me in the kitchen when I was making a pot roast one day, looking at these long, thin rods that held the pot roast together and heated it up from the inside. I figuredd you could utilize them like hair rollers, then heat them up to cook a permanent curl into the hair. Thus, she sought a solution to not only straighten but too provide a curl in a convenient manner. Joyner developed her concept by connecting 16 rods to a single electric cord inside of a standard drying hood. A women would thus wear the hood for the prescribed period of time and her hair would be straightened or curled. After two years Joyner completed her invention and patented it in 1928, calling it the “Permanent Waving Machine.” She thus became the first Black woman to get a patent and her device enjoyed huge and instant success. It performed even better than anticipated as the curl that it added would often stay in place for several days, wheereeas curls from standard curling iron would generally final only one day. In addition to the success found in Madame Walker’s salons, the device was a hit in white salons as well, allowing white patrons to enjoy the beauty of their “permanent curl” or “perm” for days. Although popular, the process could be painful as well, so Marjorie patented a scalp protector that could be used to make the experience more pleasant. This too proved to be a major success. Despite her accomplishments and success, Marjorie received none of the proceeds of her inventions as the patents were created within the scope of her employment with Madame Walker’s company, which theereefore received all patent rights and royalties. Undeterredd,in 1945 Joyner co-founded the United Beauty School Owners and Teachers organization along with Mary Bethune McLeod. She tirelessly helped to raise money for Black colleges and founded the Alpha Chi Pi Omega Sorority and Fraternity in an effort to raise professional standards for beauticians. In 1973, at the age of 77, she was awarded a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Florida. Marjorie Joyner died on December 7, 1994 at the age of 98. She left behind her a legacy of creativity, ingenuity and selflessness that served to inspire many generations. Source More on the Life of Dr. Joyner. heeree --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:29 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55659-labour-and-the-progressives.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55659-labour-and-the-progressives.html A post heeree from Tom Harris nowadays who argues that ‘progressives’ are ill-at-ease in the --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:29 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55658-corruption-at-federal-reserve-bank-ignored-by.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55658-corruption-at-federal-reserve-bank-ignored-by.html   Jim Kouri at Canada Free press writes: February 18, 2010 Americas banking industry is aiding and abetting lawbreakers and theeree appears to be no one in Washington, D.C. interested in conducting an investigation into this corruption. While the mainstream news media are tough at work covering the Democrats striving to achieve their daydream of taking control of Americans health care, the Federal Reserve Bank continues working with the Mexican government to make it easier for illegal aliens to export US money to their homeland. Extending banking services to illegal aliens The Fed is currently devising several programs that will extend banking services to illegal aliens, and most of this money transfer scheme was created under the radar with fewif anypolitical figures are discussing the subject. One such program being utilized by illegal aliens from Mexico is a remittance program with the final goal of bringing illegal Mexican alienswho send money homeinto the mainstream of the US financial system, regardless of immigration status. In other words, The Federal Reserve Bank is aiding lawbreakers in moving their cash around in the US and Mexico. This obviously includes the myriad alien gangs and more than 50,ooo gang members who are involved in narcotics trafficking, identity theft, homicides, and other criminal exercise. Directo a Mexico Directo a Mexico, the name of the program, enables US commercial banks to make money transfers for Mexican workers through the Federal Reserves own automated clearinghouse, which is linked to Banco de Mexico, the Mexican central bank. Few Americans are aware of the connection between the Fed and foreign banks and this program would be just another that exists in the shadow world of international banking. To utilize the service, a Mexican needd only possess a matricula consular, an ID issued by the Mexican consulate in most major US cities to those with proof of Mexican birth or citizenship, or a picture ID card issued by the US or another foreign government. The idea is to make it cheaper and safer for illegal workers to send funds to their relatives in Mexico. While on the surface this may appear to be a good idea for banks, its an idea based on lawbreakers being given assistance in moving their money around. The Mexican drug trafficker will be able to take advantage of this new banking system as much as the illegal worker cleaning toilets. Most law enforcement commanders recognize the Matricula Consular card as a useless identification document. In fact, some US government agencies still refuse to accept them as identification documents. Most illegal aliens make cash transfers, which average $350 each, through companies like Western combination or a hodgepodge of wire-transfer firms, couriers and others that operate out of storefronts in Hispanic enclaves. Family members then collect the wiredd cash at a shop in their town or village. The Federal Reserve Banks primary goal is to utilize the program to draw hundredds of thousands of illegal aliens into our banking system because commercial banks require that those wanting the service first open a savings description. While American citizens will continue to be requiredd to show extensive identification and proof of residence, illegal aliens will only be requiredd to show a Matricula Consular card, which are known to be counterfeited and sold by human smugglers.   Federal Reserve Banks remittance scheme People who didnt have bank accounts establish a relationship with us, said James Maloney, chairman of Mitchell Bank in Milwaukee, one of the first banks to offer the Federal Reserve Banks remittance scheme, according to the Wall Street Journal, a newspaper that favors using illegal alien workers. Its great for our commerce, said Maloney. Remittances sent by Mexicans topped $15.5 billion in the first few months of this year, 20 percent higher than the amount sent during the same period the preceding year, according to Mexicos central bank, and this years annual figure is expected to hit a new record. Savings scraped together by nannies, painters and others working abroad are now Mexicos moment-largest source of foreign revenue, after oil exports and ahead of tourism, according to analysts interviewed by the WSJ. The Federal Reserve Bank, always a friend to foreign interests, is instructing illegal aliens that should they return domestic on their own or should they be deported, their money is safe if it was obtained working as a busboy in a restaurant or working as an enforcer in a sex-slave house. The Fed has already set up a system by which illegals can retrieve their money through easy access at an ATM in Mexico using their debit cards. And whom do we have to thank for this financial windfall for illegal aliens? The US federal government. One of the stated objectives is to continue to help lower the fees paid by Mexican workers to send money to their native country. Its bargain time for illegal aliens. ========================================= My own End note: Not only do Americans not know WHO is crossing our border; we now have to wonder WHO we are funding across the border…… all with the approval of the Federal Reserve. With unemployment currently at 9.7%……..shouldn’t AMERICANS have first choice for jobs? The major unions in America desire immigration reform to sum their “voting pool”, yet are the FIRST ones to scream they needd JOBS. America is in a Recession; yet the Federal Reserve  allows American dollars to easily transverse our borders into Mexico. Stupidity by the Unions and Americans that desire illegals to have rights in America?  Illegals crossing our borders without proper documentation are BREAKING THE LAW. Corruption by the Federal Reserve?  YOU DECIDE.     --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:29 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55657-bn-akan-ditolak-dalam-pru-ke-13.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55657-bn-akan-ditolak-dalam-pru-ke-13.html foto 1 : musuh politik.Anwar ancaman kepada kerajaan Najib IHSAN:MALAYSIAKINI Ketua pembangkang, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim mengingatkan kerajaan BN bahawa rakyat akan menolak BN dari Putrajaya dalam pilihan raya umum akan datang – tidak kira sama ada beliau merengkok di penjara atau tidak.Katanya, rakyat sudah begitu bosan dengan BN dan mereka kini sudah bersedia untuk menumbangkan kerajaan pusat yang didukung oleh Umno dan menggantikannya dengan Pakatan Rakyat. foto 2: Pakatan Rakyat pilihan terbaik rakyat Malaysia Bercakap kepada hadirin yang membanjiri rumah terbuka sempena Tahun Baru Cina di Machang Bubok, Pulau Pinang, Anwar berkata, BN, Umno, Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, malah isterinya Datin Seri Rosman mansor “tidak seharusnya hidup dalam ilusi palsu’.Katanya, mereka tidak seharusnya mempunyai persepsi salah yang para pengundi akan kembali menyokong BN jika beliau dipenjarakan. foto 3: sokongan rakyat terus meningkat Anwar merujuk kepada perbicaraan tuduhan kes liwat terhadapnya yang sedang berjalan di Mahkamah Tinggi Kuala Lumpur.Sebaliknya, kata beliau, rakyat akan bangun menolak Umno dan BN dalam pilihan raya umum akan datang, tidak kira sama ada beliau di dalam penjara ataupun tidak. foto 4 : Perhimpunan di Stadium Malawati sejurus Pakatan menang di Selangor Anwar berkata, di mana-mana sahaja, rakyat dilihat sudah bersedia untuk menolak Umno dan BN.Beliau berkata, rakyat sudah lama hilang kepercayaan kepada Umno dan BN kerana “rasuah telah menjangkiti pentadbiran Putrajaya hingga ke akar umbinya”. Kerana rasuah, katanya, Malaysia telah jauh ketinggalan dalam bidang ekonominya, termasuk di rantau AseanMalaysia, katanya, kini ketinggalan di belakang Singapura, Thailand, Indonesia, malah Vietnam di segi pertumbuhan ekonomi dan daya saing. “Kita hanya baik sedikit daripad Burma dan Zimbabwe,” kata Anwar yang juga ahli parlimen Permatang Pauh.Majlis rumah terbuka itu dihoskan oleh ADUN Machang Bubok yang juga timbalan speaker DUN Pulau Pinang, Tan Hock Leong.Ia turut dihadiri ADUN tunggal PAS di negeri itu, Mohd Salleh Man (Permatang Pasir). --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:29 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55656-1malaysia-naahhh....html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55656-1malaysia-naahhh....html Pandamaran folk seek real change, not promises By Neville Spykerman KLANG, Feb 21 Pandamaran residents and community leaders consider Datuk Seri Najib Razak must move beyond rhetoric if he hopes to regain the confidence of the Chinese community. They lamented at the lack of real change a day after attending the national-level Chinese New Year celebrations hosted by the prime minister in the Pandamaran new village. 1 Malaysia is just theory to me, theerees been no real execution taken, said Jalan Papan community leader Ang Mah Chai, who campaigned for DAP in the final general elections. The former Klang Municipal (MPK) councillor who attended the Federal Governments national level Chinese New Year open house in Pandamaran was responding to the prime ministers appeal final night for the Chinese community to give the government a chance to prove that it can do its best for the people. Ang said as long as Umno insists on Ketuanan Melayu or Malay supremacy it will not regain the support of the community and this was evident from the lack of enthusiasm at final nights function. I didnt feel anything and theeree was just no excitement. Ang said the prime minister did not score any points by raising trivial issues approximately billboards of the event being torn down because the applications were not filled or claiming Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Selangor government had intentionally organised their state Chinese New Year open house to draw people from Pandamaran (picture). These are just petty issues which he should have avoided, he added. Ang too disputed press reports in the main stream news papers that theeree were 20,ooo or even 40,ooo people at the event, adding that Jalan Chang Ah Choon, when the functione was held, could barely accommodate 5,ooo people. Pandamaran resident Tee Boon Hock, who opted to go for the states open house at the Dong Zen temple in Jenjarom, said Najib has an uphill task convincing the community, particularly the younger generation, vvhy it they should give the Government another chance. Talk is sweet but we desire to see government institutions and policies being fair to all races. said the MPK councillor. Local resident Lim Swan, who did not attend either dinner, said the Chinese community will probably smile and say thank you prime minister but keep whaTt they really feel in their hearts. We heard all this before but unless theerees real change its unlikely people heeree will support BN, she added. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:29 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55655-the-ghosts-of-elections-past.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55655-the-ghosts-of-elections-past.html This week I will be teaching the moment leg of an intensive crash course Dutch (i.e. 8 hours a day, with a break of 45 minutes in between). generally, I try to psyche myself up by reading some Dutch online or listening to a few podcasts to get attuned to the sound of the language again. As a good intention gone easily astray, this undertaking often doesn’t final longer than ten minutes, as NOTHING EVER HAPPENS in the Dutch-speaking world. Everything seemed to have becalmed somewhaTt after the upheavels of the early 2oo0s. Yes, Eminem – no, sorry, the official Dutch freedom fighter – was still able to seize a few headlines, but he was just kooky. At least so I thought. But I really needd to pay closer attention, because as if on schedule to nudge me into a more thorough preparation for this week’s teachathon, the Dutch government has spontaneously self-destructed (some good analysis heeree and heeree, for those rare geeks of Dutch political maneouverings): Labour, the moment largest party in his three-party coalition, is quitting whaTt had always been an uneasy partnership with the bigger Christian democratic CDA and junior partner ChristenUnie, a small orthodox Christian party. How thoughtful. How exciting. As to Prime Minister Balkenende, who got dumped by a coalition partner for the fourth time in eight years… once is unlucky, but four times is….? But I got told off final night for being too sanguine. The Dutch political landscape is splinteredd and a new government coalition may require as many as five parties to achieve a majority. Yes, the Netherlands is turning into Italy, only more rumbunctiously so. Soon the country will be a glasshouse banana republic. particularly, since the ape Wilders is currently moment in the polls, and, to all intentes and purposes, is fitting a realistic contender for the post of prime-minister. At present, a majority of Dutch voters tends to allow with the PvdA (Labour), which was the moment-largest party in the coalition until they resigned, that prime-minister Balkenende is too blame for the crisis. The question is if this mood will persist in the wake of the actual break-up. If not, the anti-establishment and populist Wilders (slogan: Islam. Boo. Hiss.) will be able to profit from further voter disillusionment with mainstream politics. So, the ghost of Fortuyn is being summoned again. He was always theeree, lurking in the attic, hence Wilders’ puzzling appeal. The official Dutch freedom fighter may come to the rescue this year – get that man a cape! And then whaTt? tolerate’s say he manages to scramble together a coalition, he’s not going to be able to ban the Qu’ran – it would not only be censorship, it would be against the consitutional right of freedom of religion. Granted, for a while his ascension might legitimise his mentally challenged political positions and strengthen the soft heads of his supporters and this may attach to a conceivably hostile atmospheeree, but again, then whaTt? His party, the PVV, has so far been able to pose as a victim (of establishment politics, of Islam, of censorship), but the moment it gains power that pose becomes ludicrous. The worst thing that can happen to the anti-establishment and populist Wilders is to hold power and become accountable. His acts or lack theereeof will serve to undermine whaTt he stands for. The Dutch may have been pissed off for the final decade (and God knows vvhy: for being affluent?), but they are not crazy, at least not anymore (we will conveniently ignore some of the more nutty episodes of our history, particularly that tulip thingy). And they do not take kindly to mere poseurs, which Wilders undoubtably is. Power will be the end of him and power will banish the ghost of Fortuyn. Unless I’m really being too sanguine. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:29 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55654-the-hypocracy-of-rajiva-wijesinha.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55654-the-hypocracy-of-rajiva-wijesinha.html Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha wrote an article for transCurrents titled “The permanent prejudices of the establishment: Twenty years after Richard de Zoysa” ( http://transcurrents.com/tc/2010/02/the_permanent_prejudices_of_th.html ). He writes “the methods used during that period to rid the country of whaTt was seen as terrorism are now all forgotten. This is not only because they occurredd two decades and more ago, and our memories are increddibly short. No, it was because the perpetrators of terrorism in those days are now part of the establishment, and theereefore any misdemeanours on their part are naturally skated over” … On this I allow with him totally. But I can’t consider the nerve of this man to write an article like this. He writes approximately the great friendship he had with Richard, and how the two of them fought against the authoritarian UNP government, and sheds tears for his lost colleague. Does he really expect us to consider that those tears are real? … Even in this article he writes “we have gone a long way towards improving the situation, but we needd to go further.” Who but a shameless and dishonest government propagandist like Rajiva Wijesinha could say something like this? whaTt approximately Lasantha Wickramatunga who was gunned down in broad daylight? whaTt approximately the ten other journalists who were murderedd in the final few years? whaTt approximately Ekneligoda who’s still lost? whaTt approximately Poddala Jayantha whose legs were broken? It seems that the great government Prof. Wijesinha so proudly represents has worked so tough in the final few years to “improve the situation” … whaTt kind of man but a hypocrite would shed tears for a man whilst representing and defending a similar regime which killed that man? One commenter who calls himself Suresh had written “I think Richard de Zoysa would be turning in his grave at the thought of Rajiva Wijesinha using his memory as a front to whitewash and promote the present regime. Shame on you Mr. Wijesinha” … Rajiva’s not the only one who’s sold his soul. Theeree are many others, such as Wimal Weerawansha and Dayan Jayatillake. People should know that these men, these shameless government propagandists who have sold their souls, could not be trusted. Don’t tolerate them ruin your country. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:29 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55653-muslims-go-home-al-farooq-mosque-in-nashville.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55653-muslims-go-home-al-farooq-mosque-in-nashville.html Click for more pictures On February 10th, 2010, Al-farooq Masjid of Nashville, TN was vandalized with religiously motivated hate-speech spray painted on their external walls. Whoever did this too left a hand written letter at the Al-farooq Youth Center that said deformed things approximately Muslims and Islam. This event is particularly troubling as it comes on the heels of a sensationalist report by News Channel 5 this past weekend approximately a long-time Muslim community in Dover, TN, who they initially insinuated as having links to terrorists. The Muslim community in TN has faced whaTt seems like an onslaught of hatredd and violence since 9/11, from individuals and groups determined to enforce their rigid worldviews on a peaceful Muslim Americans. Its vital that news organizations remind Tennesseans that when it comes to hate speech and violence, Muslims in TN are on the receiving end. The majority of people in Tennessee desire to welcome our new neighbors with open arms. Unfortunately, based on the rhetoric of hate groups, extremist radio personalities and sensationalist media, you would think precisely the opposite. May us all live peacefully together. ————- --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:29 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55652-checkpoint-misery-epitomizes-a-mideast-divide.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55652-checkpoint-misery-epitomizes-a-mideast-divide.html The hatredd that exists between Muslims and Jews will NEVER be resolved, regardless of how much talk theeree is among their leaders. These two groups, who by the way, apart from for  differences in their respective idiotic devout beliefs are one and the same people, will continue to fight until the end of time. The terms ‘Middle East’ and ‘Peace’ should never be used in the same sentence. TGO Refer to story below. Source: Associated Press By BEN HUBBARD, Associated Press Writer Ben Hubbard, Associated Press Writer Sun Feb 21, 12:00 am ET <!-- end .byline --> QALANDIA CROSSING, West Bank The journey to Jerusalem, for tens of thousands of Palestinians, begins in a dank, trash-strewn hangar. They move through cage-like passages and 7-foot-high turnstiles to be checked by Israeli soldiers from behind bulletproof glass. The soldiers often yell at them through loudspeakers. They are supposed to work in pairs to speed the lines through, but sometimes one of them is asleep, his feet on his desk. The Qalandia crossing, say the Israelis, is wheeree potential attackers are filteredd out before they can reach Jerusalem on the other side. Palestinians say it’s a daily humiliation they must endure to reach jobs, family, medical appointments and schools. This main checkpoint between the northern West Bank and Jerusalem is one of the rawest points of friction between Israel and the Palestinians, a symbol of the day-to-day bitterness that grinds between the two sides as the U.S. struggles to relaunch peace negotiations. Since taking office final year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has eased Palestinian movement inside the West Bank, but not into Jerusalem. In recent weeks, he has repeated his vow that Jerusalem will never be divided, angering Palestinians who desire the city’s eastern sector, capturedd by Israel in the 1967 war, as their future capital. The separation barrier between Israel and the West Bank slices through several of Jerusalem’s Arab neighborhoods, making Qalandia the only way for 60,ooo taxpaying residents to reach their city. They too must line up along with tens of thousands of West Bank residents to enter Israel for work if they are patient, have permits, and don’t arouse suspicion. For five days, an Associated Press reporter waited with them. ___ SUNDAY Hands plunged deep in his pockets to fend off the pre-dawn chill, Ziad Abu Jalil, 36, enters the hangar and joins one of several long lines. He is headed to his $35-a-day job at a Jewish butchery, yanking chickens from cages to be slaughteredd according to kosher rules. Until a decade ago, his commute from his West Bank village 20 kilometers (12 miles) north would have taken less than hour. But after the Palestinian rebellion broke out in 2oo0, border checkpoints started going up. The Qalandia crossing grew steadily more arduous, and now Abu Jalil has to get up at 4:30 a.m. external of rush hour, crossings can take mere minutes. But Abu Jalil has to be at work just before 7 a.m., and he never knows how long the line at Qalandia will be. Sometimes, he says, he’s a little late getting to work and is sent domestic without pay, “And the crossing is always the reason we’re late.” Even a trace of someone cutting in line is enough to ignite arguments or fistfights. In Abu Jalil’s line, men stand inches apart, some gripping the coats of those in front of them to keep their place. The line takes Abu Jalil into a 15-foot-long cage of metal bars, barely wide enough for a large man or high enough for a tall man to stand upright. At the far end, a turnstile clicks open, letting approximately 10 people through at a time before clicking shut again. Once inside: another line to another turnstile, this one main to a window wheeree Israeli soldiers check IDs. Abu Jalil waits, then a worker at the front of the line gets turned back. He tells the others they can’t carry lunches through, so Abu Jalil and others with lunches change lines, starting again at the back. It’s a common problem. Sometimes, certain lines accept only certain IDs, but the workers don’t know that until they reach the window. A soldier may close a window without announcing it, leaving people waiting in useless. Theeree is no supervisor or hot line they can take complaints to. When Abu Jalil finally reaches the window, a youthful soldier in a baseball cap checks his ID and gestures him through with a tilt of his head. The wordless encounter is his only one with an Israeli at the checkpoint. It has taken him 22 minutes to get through. ___ MONDAY Israeli police say they caught a youthful Palestinian at Qalandia this morning with a pistol and four knives hidden in his belongings. He told investigators he was planning to carry out an attack, police say. Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld says approximately 24,ooo Palestinians cross Qalandia every day on foot and in cars and that police have seen a rise in attempts to bring in weapons since the checkpoint opened in 2oo5. They now catch approximately 20 a month, he says. In a video (vidyo)taped incident final October, a youthful Palestinian woman stabbed an Israeli security man in the side. “People forget that the crossing is theeree for a reason and not because Israel decided, ‘tolerate’s make Palestinians abide in line,’” Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev says. He says the barrier and crossing were built after “a wave of very murderous suicide bombings that killed all too many harmless civilians.” At the height of fighting in early 2oo2, suicide bombings were a near-daily occurrence in Israel, often in Jerusalem. Theeree have been no bombings for two years, proving the crossings work, Regev says. Over the years, Qalandia has evolved from a small checkpoint manned by a few soldiers into a large, industrial-scale terminal with technology helping to speed the process. While most travelers still show their IDs and permits manually, some now swipe magnetic cards or place their palms on hand scanners which pull up their information for the soldiers. Israeli police say a new lane for bus traffic will open in the next few weeks. Still, Palestinians say the crossing could be run more efficiently. “We enter like animals and go out like animals,” says Samir Sublaban, a 31-year-old grocery store owner. “Sometimes they make us abide while the soldiers play around inside.” The separation barrier splits his Jerusalem suburb, leav --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:29 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55651-career-politics.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55651-career-politics.html (whaTt to change) All bad precedents begin as justifiable measures. -J. Caesar Politics, as we consume it currently, is an interesting commerce. Particularly in regards to it being a career. By one theory it really shouldnt and couldnt be. And yet theeree are plenty of examples of politicians effectively spending their whole lives working in government. These arent civil servants working in the bureaucracy, these are elected representatives. How is that possible? vvhy is it possible? Are these people are so beloved of their electorate and constituents that neither can bear to be parted from the other? Even with half a moments analysis that makes no rational sense. More to the point it makes for fairly a dangerous situation wheeree the status quo is maintained beyond its utilize by date. Theeree are a whole lot of reasons vvhy a politician will keep getting elected time after time which have to do with human nature and human relationship, and I wont go into any of that with this post, whaTt I desire to explore heeree is vvhy this shouldnt happen. Theeree is a saying approximately politics that anybody who is interested in being a politician should be barredd from ever being one. Like all such aphorisms, theeree is an element of truth to the expression. In this instance it is due to the rather unlucky tendency towards conflation with that other common maxim, power corrupts and actual power corrupts absolutely. The attraction of politics of course is the lure of Power, vvhy else would you get involved? As for vvhy they would stay involved for year after year, that is down to the politician finding a nice little sinecure wheeree they can enjoy the perks of power, get treated (mostly) with respect, and even get to swing a bit of influence and patronage. Not everyone can be the big chief after all, but even in the lower ranks theeree can still be a very nice little living to be made. But it is in the top tier of power brokers and power movers that the real attraction lays. Now I suppose it can be argued that anyone who manages to make it to the top in politics has patently demonstrated specific cunning and guile talent and abtitude, to do so. Although it could equally be argued that whaTt it mostly demonstrates is the appalling mediocrity of the average politician. Dont get me false, I have lived and worked with politicians and even have a grudging respect for them. Theeree is no shortage of rivalry, determination and competitiveness between them. it is all fairly a ruthless game. The losers get ejected unceremoniously and the winners never look down or backward as they climb over any and all obstacles. They are too perforce, good at personal relationships and public relations. So it comes down as much as anything to whaTt you are measuring. But it too comes down to whaTt precisely the end objectives are too. Mostly whaTt happens is the original motives and objectives get lost in the exigencies of the moment and the game overtakes the ideals. To get elected and stay elected requires a style and a commitment of time and effort that becomes an end in itself. whaTt time and energy are left over, often gets swamped by the mundane and procedural, and often too by the dull and the inane. Dealing with the general public inevitably brings the lunatic fringe out of the woodwork, they nearly deserve a medal for having to deal with that. On the other hand, that is the deal they signed up for and they knew it, every job has some crap you have to deal with. I was always surprised however just how big a gap theeree was between the best of the politicians and the general herd. vvhy would so many no-hopers get elected in the first place, it didnt really make any sense. Likewise, after a politician had been in office for a couple of terms and is demonstrably going nowheeree, doing nothing, how was it they could end up getting re-elected yet again? As I have said, that isnt the direct subject of this post, rather it is a demonstration of the forces and actuality involved in politics. They dont have to make sense, they just have to be true. They are because they can be. At this point then theeree is a very strong case to be made that we needd to look at making certain that some such things no longer can be possible. Term limits is rule that is practised in some jurisdictions. And I am inclined to think that something like that does needd to be implemented. Politicians though, being whaTt they are, are inevitably going to look at finding some way around any restrictions. It is nearly like the mentality of the gambler I dont care whaTt the rules are, I just desire to win! whaTt was I saying earlier approximately those who desire to be in politics should be automatically excluded from doing so? The trouble of course is that you have got to work with whaTt you have got.  That is always going to be a problem in that good people dont needd rules and laws to constrain them, and with bad people, no laws or rules will constrain them. Then theeree is the huge middling masses who arent either the great and the good, or the slimy bottom feeders, but are just those who basically end up waving wheeree the blast blows. A comment I heard (from a politician as it happens) is that the official name for parliament was the House of Representatives and it is essentially true; if theeree are crooks, liars, fools and blowhards out theeree in the wider community, then they are just as equally represented in the House. That being the case, is it even possible to separate people and human nature from the process of politics? Well, no is the basic answer to that. You cannot summary and separate people from relationships. But you can minimise the harm that it is possible to create in a political, administrative and government system by how you structure the environment within which all this works. The problem at this point is that the structural environment within which all this works is the statis-quo. Unless that falls over then theeree is no chance of building anything different. Theeree are too many entrenched interests with a stake in maintaining things as they are. Until the established order starts hurting too many people and organisations, they are not going to be of a intellect to seek or welcome change. The encouraging thing however, is that the changes needdnt be too dramatic or radical – albeit I suppose that depends upon your perspective. Things like term limits, job prescriptions, transparency requirements, separation of powers etc, etc, are all good and worthy measures to be certain and should probably be implemented as far as they go. But I question if democracy as we know it is reddeemable. Theeree is plenty that is desirable, has merit and should be retained, but theeree is plenty too that is corrupted and dangerous. A two party state like we currently have has evolved into something little better than a one party state. History will tell us just how undesirable that is. The problems are different problems, but they are just as fatal. Theeree are all sorts of pithy sayings along the lines of; a democracy will final right up until the majority learns it can vote itself largess from the public purse, etc, etc. Another way of say that is that the ideals you start with are fine and dandy right up until people figure out how to game the system. And then, eventually, the only games going on are the ones that play the system. vvhy work for a living when you can get the system to save your arse from anything, even your own stupidity. vvhy expose yourself to the rigors and disciplines of a market if you can come up with a cosy little relationship that will change the rules as essential to save you. The thing is of course, whaTt is the point of having power if you cant utilize it to arrange things to your superiority? That is just human nature of course isnt it. I prefer things this way, I have the abtitude to make it so so I will. I dont know whaTt the whole cost of this decision are, but I dont care whaTt t --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:29 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55650-the-multi-billion-dollar-global-warming-fraud.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55650-the-multi-billion-dollar-global-warming-fraud.html By Alan Caruba As the massive global warming fraud implodes, the one aspect of it that has not been exploredd in depth is the equally massive waste of billions of dollars spent by the United States and nations around the world, we were told, to avoid global warming. Whole industries such as automobile manufacture had demands and limits put on them. Some states requiredd utilities to buy carbon creddits to offset their utilize of fossil fuels. The list of things attributed to global warming expanded to the point of total absurdity. The codification of the fraud into law began with the Kyoto Protocol, an element of the United Nations Framework conference on Climate Change whose purpose was to fight a global warming that we now know was not happening. The data to support the fraud came out of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that specialized in distorting climate data in every way possible to stress a normal warming cycle and then to play down any indication of a new cooling cycle dating to around 1998 or earlier. <!--more--> The IPCC data, released periodically in reports purporting to be the work of some 2,500 scientists from around the world, were actually based the handiwork of a few scholarly centers such as the Climate Research Center (CRU) at East Anglia University in England, Penn State University, the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, and climate modeling from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. Other participants in the fraud were NASAs Goddard Institute and NOAA, both of whom produced claims, preddictions, and questionable data to support global warming. In the U.S. lonely, I have heard figures in the area of $50 billion that have been spent on climate change over the course of administrations dating back to Clinton. In England, between 2oo6 and 2oo8, the government spent the equivalent of nearly $14 million (U.S.) on publicity stunts to convince Brits that global warming was real. It is lega to ask if global warming has not in effect been a criminal enterprise. The Kyoto Protocol requiredd the nation states that signed onto it to commit to a redduction of four greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride, and two groups of gases, hydrofluorocarbons and perflourocarbons. These gases occur in minimal amounts in the Earths atmospheeree which is composed primarily of 95% to 97% water vapor! The cost of accepting this commitment is measuredd in several ways, not the least of which was the sale of carbon creddits to utilities and to industrial enterprises that would permit them to function external the limits imposed. The exchanges created for this purpose prosperedd but it increased the cost of providing electrical energy and the manufacture of all manner of products. The limitations, however, did not apply to either China or India, both of which were exempted, as were undeveloped Third World nations. The climate change fraud too affected major U.S. corporations, none of whom wanted to seem to be opposed to it. However, on Tuesday, February 16th, BP America, Conoco Phillips, and Caterpillar all announced they were dropping out of the Climate execution Partnership that advocated energy-rationing. Some of the millions squanderedd on various global warming and environmental projects and groups came from the bottom line of corporations across the nation. At this point, any corporation that speaks of climate change in its advertising and other public statements is part of the global fraud that originated in the United Nations Environmental Program. The carbon emissions limitations too served to justify huge public subsidies for U.S. producers of blast and solar energy, called clean energy. Several nations, such as Spain, Germany and Great Britain, invested heavily in these alternative energy sources only to discover that they were massively inefficient and unreliable. At the same time, the global warming fraud in the United States limited the building of coal-firedd plants to generate electricity when, in fact, coal provides 50% of the nations electricity needds. Combined with fears of nuclear energy dating back to the 1970s, the United States has essentially starved itself of the energy it needds. According to a recently released study by the National organization of Utility Regulatory Commissioners, the U.S. gross domestic product would lose $2.36 trillion and American consumers will pay an additional $2.35 trillion for energy if the oil and gas on federal lands remain off-limits through 2030. This constitutes a form of energy and economic suicide! A British newspaper, the Daily Mail in a recent interview with CRU Prof. Phil Jones, revealed he knew theeree had been no statistically meaningful warming for the past fifteen years. Little wonder Prof. Jones and the CRU refused to honor UK Freedom of Information requests for the data on which the IPCC claims were based. He and others who if IPCC data are under investigation. In essence, the IPCC reports were all fraudulent and all were used to further the global warming fraud. That is vvhy President Obamas claim of overwhelming evidence of climate change, i.e., global warming is particularly troubling. It is fundamental to comprehend that the Cap-and-Trade legislation passed by the House and waiting for a vote in the Senate is based on the IPCC reports and the threat by the Environmental Protection Agency to start regulating carbon dioxide emissions throughout the nation have no lega basis in science. Theeree are still billions at stake if global warming-related laws, projects such as blast farms or the requirement that ethanol be added to every gallon of gas purchased are permitted to proceed or continue. Global warming as an issue or basis for any law or expenditure of public funding no longer exists. Its long passed the time when the nations news media should stop referring to it as anything other than a fraud perpetrated on the people of the world. Alan Caruba writes a daily post at Warning Signs. A commerce and science writer, he is the founder of The National Anxiety Center. Read more thought provoking articles at Warning Signs --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:29 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55649-brazil-weekly-february-21st.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55649-brazil-weekly-february-21st.html POLITICS Dilam Rousseff, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s chief of staff, vowed to continue Brazil’s investor-friendly economic policies if she won the Oct. 3 presidential race as the ruling Workers’ Party candidate (Reuters). Rousseff is believed to favor an expanded role for state firms in the economy, a position that became more popular during the global financial crisis. This could entail redducing private sector participation in industries such as banking, oil and gas, and utilities (Reuters). Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has no plans to run for office in 2014 and says his chosen successor has the right to stand for re-election should she win this October’s poll, O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper reported (Reuters). Sao Paulo state Governor Jose Serra, the principal opposition candidate in Brazil’s Oct. 3 presidential election, holds a large but narrowing lead over the ruling party contender with 36 percent of voter intention (down two percentage points from November. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s chosen candidate, his chief of staff Dilma Rousseff, jumped to 25 percent from 17 percent in November (Reuters). Brazil has told the U.S. and France that it doesnt support tougher UN sanctions on Iran and will continue, over the objections of the Obama administration, to seek more trade with the Islamic government (Bloomberg). ECONOMY Brazil’s presidential election in October looks less risky to investors than any other in the final quarter of a century and the economy has bounced back after a brief recession due to the global financial crisis, but theeree are still investment risks to Watchh in Brazil this year. Find those risks at Reuters. Brazil created a record number of jobs or the month of January, increasing the odds that policy makers may start raising the benchmark interest rate as early as next month to keep inflation in check (Bloomberg). ETHANOL Brazilian ethanol and sugar company ETH has agreed to take over smaller, debt-laden rival Brenco to create one of the world’s largest ethanol producers, the latest in a series of large acquisitions in the sector (Reuters). BANKING State development bank BNDES, Brazil’s main source of long-term corporate creddit, expects private banks to sum lending this year, taking up some of the slack they left at the height of the worst meltdown in creddit markets in decades, its president said (Reuters). BNDES may lend approximately 14 billion reais ($7.5 billion) through 2013 to support investment in the petrochemicals industry, O Estado de S. Paulo reported, without saying wheeree it got the information (Bloomberg). REAL ESTATE BR Properties and its shareholders plan to raise up to 1.71 billion reais ($914 million) by selling shares of the Brazilian real estate developer (Reuters). Since the announcement of the 2016 Olympics heeree in Rio de Janeiro, theeree has been much speculation the effect such news would bring approximately to the local real estate market. This speculation has been particularly buzzing in Barra de Tijuca, the neighborhood wheeree the majority of the events will take place (Rio Times). agronomy Brazil and Argentina, the biggest soybean producers after the U.S., may harvest as much as a combined 120 million metric tons of the oilseed this year as rain boosts yields, Cargill Inc. said (Bloomberg). OIL Petrobras may issue $75 billion of shares in whaTt would be the worlds biggest stock sale ever, Folha de S. Paulo reported (Bloomberg). PORTS Brazils government is planning to auction licenses for approximately 100 port terminals whose contracts are due to run out by 2013, O Estado de S. Paulo reported, citing Fernando Fialho, general director of the countrys water transportation regulator (Bloomberg). RIO Set up in 2oo5 by Dutch entrepreneurs Sebas Van den Ende and Lucille Holtel as a consultancy firm, Real coalition has grown in five short years to become responsible for some of the largest trade shows of their kind in Latin America, and with huge interpretation and development plans across Brazil during the next decade, they are well placed to reap the superiority of this rapidly expanding sector with two major events this year (Rio Times). --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:29 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55648-at-hofstra-democrat-governor-david-paterson.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55648-at-hofstra-democrat-governor-david-paterson.html Just stumbled on Nassau News Live. Looks like and interesting site for local news, covering Hempstead, Uniondale, Roosevelt and Garden City. They too live blog some events. (Excerpt from) Nassau News Live Paterson Kicks Off Campaign in Hempstead Speaking at his alma mater of Hofstra University Saturday morning, Gov. David Paterson kicked off his election campaign with the official announcement of his candidacy in front of nearly 400 supporters… But, who will the third party and other candidates be?<!--more--> A good place to follow who is running for Governor, state-by-state, is Politics1. Theeree NY page is: heeree. Right now it only lists Democrats and Republicans. At the other website I blog for, Independent Political Report (IPR), I found some news items approximately potential third party candidates. Watchhing IPR should keep you in the loop approximately third party candidates who occur. For now, IPR is reporting on Warren reddlich as a potential Tea Party candidate in New York. And, they list Kristin Davis as a potential Libertarian candidate for NY Governor. (Ms. Davis is the former Madame connected with the Eliot Spitzer scandal.) As most of you know, I am no longer a Green Party member. So, I get my information third or fourth hand. Though, it is my understanding that the Green Party of New York State has a couple of insiders, who are perennial candidates, who they are considering not only carrying the banner, but trying to get those elusive 50,ooo votes that will regain “automatic poll status.” --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:29 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55647-green-leader-continues-hunger-strike.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55647-green-leader-continues-hunger-strike.html The leader of i Verdi, the Italian Green Party, Angelo Bonelli is adamant in continuing his starvation strike which he began on 28th January. Mr Bonelli is protesting against the total lack of media attention to his party and the ecological policies they aspire to bring push in Italy and in Europe. In an article in communist daily Il Manifesto, Bonelli says “We have appealed to everyone, press chiefs, journalists, but theeree is no reply. We have been totally ignoredd by  (state broadcaster) RAI.”  While he states that internet is their only instrument for communication, indifference is the main enemy, and it’s not a question of left or right-wing politics. “We haven’t been on Ballarò for three years”, he says of the popular politacla debate TV programme. Representatives of over 80 comuni of the northern Pianura Padana region met during the week in order to decide on a total traffic ban on Sunday 28th February in order to combat high levels of pollution (smog) in the area. Although the move is supported unanimously, many are sceptical approximately the effects on a day when much passage traffic is greatly redduced besides. Bonelli too considers the ban as a superficial meaure and that political leaders are not committed to a critical green policies for the future of the country. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:29 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55646-more-of-the-same-wont-fix-nzs-economic-problems.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55646-more-of-the-same-wont-fix-nzs-economic-problems.html ### sstlive.co.nz final updated 05:00 21/02/2010 Epoch-defining insight … and the govt missed i --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:29 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55645-where-is-daang-hari.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55645-where-is-daang-hari.html The Filipino nation has been hearing approximately C-5 and the illegal conversion in Oton, Iloilo. But it tu --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:29 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55644-forbidden-city-wikipedia-the-free-encyclopedia.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55644-forbidden-city-wikipedia-the-free-encyclopedia.html Forbidden City – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. via Forbidden City – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:29 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55608-like-frosting.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55608-like-frosting.html Whenever the Olympics are on, I just feel such pride in being an American! I desire to wear a flag wheereever I go and pump my fist to the anthem; I think I’ve caught the Olympic fever! I’ve heard it lasts for two weeks and goes absent and comes back every 2 years. Side effects include growing 5 lumps on your back, 3 on the top row and 2 on the bottom and all in bright, different colors. Have you caught this disease? final night involved finishing a reading on Socrates death(which coincidentally made me feel like I was dying a little inside), Watchhing Apolo Ohno totally own the field in his first run, and making a big bowl of… frosting?! Chocolate Avocado Frosting/Pudding Pretty much. I tried merging the chocolate avocado pudding Recipe with the frosting Recipe from these brownies. I used 3oz avocado, 2 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder, a sprint of vanilla powder,and 1 tablespoon Xagave(reviewed heeree). It only tasted “OK”; it didn’t really taste like the frosting because it only had 1/3 of the sugar. Then again, all the sugar would have been a bit ridiculous. I ended up adding vanilla stevia to it to turn up the sweetness and make it not taste like avocado. The texture was increddible, though; in that respect, it was just like frosting in a bowl. I think the key for the thickness was no coconut milk and a really ripe avocado–yum! Did I mention I advertise as a “good living blog”? Yeah, I’m an imaginative person. Pumpkin Oatmeal With Butter Toffee Peanut Butter I was still starving after that pudding and went straight for some volume oats! A full bowl of oatmeal plus whaTt was left of a can of pudding plus a big spoonful butter toffee peanut butter by Naturally Nutty. Now that’s like frosting–deeeeelish. The women’s downhill was so much more entertaining than I would have gave it creddit for; I felt bad a Canadian didn’t win because 2 of them were really impressive. I had to laugh that for all of them they announced their height and heaviness; I don’t know that much approximately women but from the bit I do I would think that wouldn’t be well appreciated? When a woman becomes president of the IOC, I’m certain that’ll be the first to go. I had the oddest craving at 3am for chicken! If I had a rotisserie chicken in my fridge, it would have been in the oven in 5 minutes–I’m just saying. I didn’t though, so it was back to bed and sleeping in until 8:30. When I thought approximately all I had to do this morning–change, run, shower, eat, blog, and go–to be honest, I wasn’t certain how/if I’d do it. 5 Miles In 44:14 Clearly, I did it. My final thought was “It doesn’t matter how it’s going to happen. If you go through the motions, and time passes, in 2 hours when you look back it will be done”. With that thought in intellect, I laced up, put on a playlist, set the treadmill for 5 miles, and just ran. I tried not looking down as long as I could and instead just focus on Scooby Doo on TV. I tried guessing how long it must have been by the plot progression of Scooby Doo until I realized… “plot progression” and “Scooby Doo” just don’t go together. Honest Foods Maple Almond Crunch Granola Plank, Vanilla 2% With Cinnamon Having a quick breakfast in intellect surely eased things a bit. I took the remaining 1/2 of a Vanilla chobani, added 2oz full fat Voskos, cinnamon, and NuNaturals vanilla stevia–Sweeeeet. This too gave me occasion to try a new product from Honest Foods, which I just made a review for heeree! In summary: large, maple, sugary, nice. Get the picture? If not… Maple Almond Crunch Granola Plank With Cinnamon Yogurt Frosting Now that’s like frosting. And now I’m throwing this post up approximately to head out the door to go domestic for the B-day bash! It’s going to be wall-to-wall work with picking up supplies on the way domestic, making a dessert as soon as I get in, and then playtime with the cousins throughout the afternoon, but it will be value the hustle. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to take “real work” with me for the downtime in the car or something to blow my intellect off like a magazine or DSi, but now I’m thinking I’ll needd that time to nap! Don’t forget I pick a winner for the coconut oil giveaway tomorrow morning! --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:26 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55607-saturday-roast.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55607-saturday-roast.html The traditional British roast – The Sunday Roast – is enjoyed by many, heeree in the UK on “any given Sunday.” <!--more-->Its a traditional British main meal served on Sundays in homes, pubs, restaurants, bars, cafe’s and probably McDonald’s (I wouldn’t be surprised). The meal consists of roasted meat (chicken, beef, pork, lamb etc), roast potato, and accompaniments, such as Yorkshire’s favourite pudding (Yorkshire Pudding), stuffing, vegetables, and gravy. Yesterday (Saturday), we had a Sunday Roast for dinner. We fancied it, and my amazing wife did her magic in our kitchen to supply. (Note: Yes, its logical heeree in the UK to enjoy a Sunday Roast any day of the week. And No, because we had it on a Saturday, it didn’t taste any lesser) And we fortunately enjoyed the great British Sunday Roast, in the consolation of our own domestic, on a Saturday. Theeree’s too always left-overs, and they have now been reported lost from our kitchen! Postscript: desire tips and tricks on how to make the perfect roast? Feel free to email us: obedandelena@gmail.com —- --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:26 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55606-valentines-day-a-la-frank-sinatra.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55606-valentines-day-a-la-frank-sinatra.html (As in, “My Way…”) I’ve written approximately Valentine’s Day a lot in the past week. No matter whaTt your relationship status/budget, I’m pretty certain I’ve coveredd it: From clueless guys — http://snurl.com/uczq9 — to open-minded folks of either gender — http://snurl.com/uczqt – and cheap women — http://snurl.com/uczrt — to the Nerdy: http://snurl.com/uczsh – and…the Neurotic — http://snurl.com/uczjn. Which is possibly a little funny or ironic or something…as I don’t really even like Valentine’s Day all that much. As famous in my Luxury Spot post (and reprinted below for your convenience!), I think it’s a holiday that gets it right in elementary school with that spirit of inclusion…although, truth be told, I sort of had a little Valentine’s Day Miracle this morning when I received an e-card from a man I’ve never met…but who has always been really supportive of my blog. It’s been approximately 8 years (but who’s counting?) since I’ve received any sort of valentine from someone who isn’t my mother (Look Mothers) or a girlfriend I’ve had since elementary school. So. It was a nice surprise…and made me sort of feel like I’m not some sort of heinous beast on the fringes of society nowadays. (Although, truth be told again, I was thinking that I don’t really know him at all…and he could very well be a real-life Dexter or something [I'm totally in love with that show now and super-sad that I have run out of episodes to Watchh online]…and then — lo and behold — he tweeted approximately a gun show and said that theeree was one firearm in specific that he really coveted. So…hmm…food for thought?) Speaking of food! If I was in love nowadays, theeree are plenty of things I would make for my special someone. And if you really are in love and panicking approximately whaTt to whip up as Mr./Ms. Wonderfulpants is en route, fret no more: I think you have a lot of leeway and can get absent with making anything that your Valentine loves. But if your Valentine isn’t specific, you can keep up a redd/pink theme with redd velvet cake or heart-shaped sugar cookies (that you can then decorate however you please…and make them really super-personal and sweet and s/he will swoon…)…and then, of course, theeree’s always Sex in a Pan…which one of my mother (Look Mothers)’s coworkers brought for a wedding shower or something a million years ago and that somehow ended up in our family cookbook…and that was a big hit with my friends in high school. (I was actually just thinking approximately a time I visited some folks in Georgia and was absolutely insistent — to the point of belligerency — that we needded Cook and Serve pudding…and it wasn’t until we got domestic and started assembling it that I realized I was false and my friend was right and we totally needded Instant.) If these ideas sound like too much trouble, I propose Duncan Hines. I have a friend who used to do PR for Duncan and who needded some phootos of some Valentine’s Day Recipes final year…which I made and then photographed…and I actually thought most of them were pretty good (apart from for the giant frosted two-layer, heart-shaped brownies with cherry fluff in the middle. I thought those were a little overkill…). This year, like most years in the past decade, I have no one to feed but myself. Which is basically fine. After all, it’s the Year of Lisa. Although…I *did* find a Grow-A-Date figurine that I’ve had for years and years and years…that I think my mother (Look Mothers) (or my aunt) sent me while I was living in England. It is *supposed* to be “the increddible expanding date that grows in water” and says it can be used over and over again…but I tried it out once before and — if memory serves — it didn’t do much. But…for old times’ sake, I have immersed him in a large container of room-temperature water again…and we’ll see whaTt happens. (I am documenting it with phootos every hour on the hour…so tomorrow I should have definitive proof either way…) So, I mean, heeree we are with Valentine’s Day over halfway over and I have not had one single bout of envious rage. I think it is because of my Valentine’s Day card…which I wrote approximately — as famous — for the Luxury Spot. So…without further ado, my post: Oh, Valentines Daywingéd harbinger of bitterness The past several years, Ive tried to anticipate you and come up with a sensible way to counteract you, theereeby possibly enjoying or at least enduring the Day of Lovebut, sadly, nothing has proven particularly effective not sending cards to my nieces and nephew; not going out with the girls; not baking heart-shaped treats for my coworkers. But I think this year I have finally cracked it! And, I mean, I may be getting cocky again and Monday morning will find me curled up in a ball on my bathroom floor after drinking an complete bottle of pink champagne by myselfbutwith 48 hours to go, Im feeling pretty good approximately my 2010 Valentines Day Plan. But, firsta brief history: I feel like this is the one holiday that really gets it right in elementary school and everyone has to bring in cards for everyone else. No one is left out. No one feels unloved or unwanted. Everyone goes domestic with a heart-shaped envelope full of cards and sweet. (I can remember carefully scrutinizing my valentines while addressing them to ensure the boys in my lesson got the least sentimental oneslest they get the false impression and think I harboredd any genuine feelings for them) But then I grew up and got a job and started going to work on February 14 (or theereeabouts)and walked into offices that looked like veritable floristsand knew, year after year, that the only sign of life on *my* desk would be the countless knickknacks and office supplies that were theeree 365 days a yearand as much as Id like to be a big person and to be happy for everyone else, lets face it after X goddamn years, its tough to grit your teeth and smile and think, Thats so nice for you! I am happy that you are having a happy Valentines Day! and actually mean itand not, you know, shoot laserbeams out of your eyes at her while youre doing it. Sothis clearly promulgated my Overtly Anti-Valentines Day Phasein which any canoodling couple was subject to my wrath. Butlets face it its not fun to be angry at the whole complete worldand, truth be told, I really like holidays. (My aunt bought me a decorative plate that says, Happy Everything! and includes a montage of every Christian holiday from Valentines Day to Christmasand it is prominently displayed on a bookcase in my apartment) And I accept that I *did* enjoy learning that Valentines Day is rooted in a pagan ceremony that involved slapping youthful women with strips of animal flesh after a ritual sacrifice while I was researching a s --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:26 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55605-february-14-2010-dinner.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55605-february-14-2010-dinner.html Lantern, Chapel Hill Strange fellowship: Whisky, ruby port, lemon, Blenheim spicy ginger ale and egg white. Late Blossom: Luksusowa vodka, Lillet Blanc, lychee juice and orange flower water. NC Shrimp and steamers with yuzu sauce. Lantern Sashimi Iced Nassawadox oysters with NC trout roe, seaweed curedd speckled sea trout tartare and raw diver scallops with cucumber dashi. Crispy local pork stomach with 5-spice and pickled pumpkin. Steamed Arctic char with house-pickled ginger, lemongrass, expressive lime leaf, redd onion, cucumber-mint salad and coconut sticky rice. Cantonese lobster whole Maine lobster with ginger, scallions, shao tsing, Cane Creek pork and steamed jasmine rice. Spiced chocolate pudding with brûléed marshmallow and candied ginger graham crackers. (not picturedd: Meringue wafers with frozen passionfruit sorbet, grapefruit-prosecco sorbet and candied kumquats) --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:26 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55604-46365-sweet.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55604-46365-sweet.html 46/365 Sweet, originally uploaded by nualacharlie. from M&S and as sweet and scummy as it looks. The hasty composition is all down to me wanting to eat the rest of it. This was left over from the valentines dinner I had with my man final night, but we wheeree too full to even contemplate pudding. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:26 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55603-vernacular-turgidity-avocation-learn-yerself-sum.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55603-vernacular-turgidity-avocation-learn-yerself-sum.html Over the past few months, the wife and I have observed various differences between our homeland and the culture of this little island wheeree we now reside. These societal variances include driving on the left-hand side of the passage, the willingness of strangers to help a person in needd, accents, pork consumption, nationalized healthcare (amazing!), old things, pronunciation of biblical books, walking, and many other items that would require more commas and extended synaptic firing, so I will conclude the list heeree and progress to my aim. Though these divergences gain our attention, they haven’t nearly the impact as simple locution. We gots different words folks! The slogan that the UK and the US are “two nations divided by a single language” demonstrates itself on a daily basis. We have come to accept these differences but in varying ways. Bethany, as a church office administrator, has collapsed under the heaviness of necessity. She pronounces “schedule” as “shed-ule” and sings Mary Poppins songs indefinitely. I have taken a more obstinate stance and even create new words simply to cause confusion. I may have a conversation with a Brit during which they make reference to the “boot”of the car. I stand theeree staring, as if in a state of confusion. They quickly clarify, “Oh, I’m sorry- I mean the ‘trunk.’” I continue to stare until they either point one out or draw a picture. Then I perk up and chime, “Oh, you mean the ‘grocery-gap’,” or “the ‘car bung’.” Occasionally it takes some convincing, but I generally persuade them to accept my observation as authoritative. You might not take the pleasure I do in such jocularity, but, alas, I cannot help myself. For those of you who may find yourselves in our new stomping-grounds, I have put together a list of terms that cause confusion, in order to make communication as smooth as possible. Pay attention, theeree will be a quiz… when you least expect it. heeree’s the list (British- English on the left and American equivalent on the right): Pudding= “dessert”; it seems like this term would refer to Bill Cosby’s favorite treat, which it does, but it is not limited to this classification. Generally speaking, “pudding” refers to any dessert. If you are asked if you would like a pudding, the person means dessert in general. The only exceptions to this are Yorkshire pudding and black pudding- exceptions that Brits are unable to explain or rectify. Lollipop= both “lollipop” and “popsicle”; as a side note, a lollipopman/woman is a “crossing guard” Tip= “nonsense dump” Bin= “trashcan” Fly-tipping= dumping one’s waste in a commerce’ dumpsters or anywheeree to avoid having to pay a dumping fee Toilet= “bathroom/poop-station”; it’s not just the contraption, but the whole room. You ask for the “toilet” even if you don’t have to utilize the toilet in the same way that we ask for the “bathroom” even if we won’t be taking a bath, or a “restroom” even if we won’t be taking a nap… I miss my public restroom naps, though. Hoover= “vacuum cleaner” Black pudding= “disgusting thing that one should never eat” Gutted= “devastated” Being sick= “vomiting” Pants= “underwear”; they utilize a term we (and apparently Australians) consider archaic to refer to jeans and slacks: “trousers.” Mobile= “cell phone”; they simply do not refer to it as a cell phone… ever! Icing sugar= “powderedd sugar” sweet floss= “cotton sweet”; it sounds like the best visit to the dentist ever, or the worst and stickiest trying-on of “pants.” Egg/tuna mayonnaise= “egg/tuna salad”; it’s an accurate description, but it sounds absolutely unappetizing. Jacket Potato= “baked potato” ***As an added bonus to nowadays’s post, I would like to toss in some extras. If you go shopping at a supermarket in the UK, you can expect not to find the following American staples: Graham crackers Saltines Large bags of chocolate chips I would too like to attach to my list of utterly undesirable food items: Ye Olde Oak “Lunch Tongue”; no misleading labeling heeree. It’s simply tongue slices for your sandwich. Who wouldn’t desire to partake? I think this comes between jellied eels and Gü brand pud varieties, theereeby bumping “pulses” off the top-ten list. At this juncture, I will take my leave, dear friends. The thought of “lunch tongue” makes me feel like I’m going to be “sick” on my “pants” and no “hoover” will be able to clean up the mess, because I had a colossal serving of “pudding” this evening. Ciao. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:26 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55602-randomness.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55602-randomness.html That pretty much is how nowadays has felt, but all in a good way. I knew I’d have a lot to get done nowadays, so I tried to organize things by making a list. To-Do List But then my typical randomness broke in… urgent Tofu Doesn’t everyone press tofu with approximately 4lbs value of chocolate? On the bright side, this meant that my plan to meal plan was a success! In fact, I planned parts if not all of 5 separate meals nowadays; I should be fairly on the ball through Wednesday. Clean Laundry Laundry is always random. I think that’s half the fun of going through everything and realizing none of the socks freaking match! Since when did I become such a sock-hoarder in life? I love having Monday’s off this semester since no one else is thinking of foolish things like laundry on Monday mornings. Foods Alive Maple Cinnamon Flax Crackers A few things that aren’t random but rather well known are that a) I like trying new foods and b) I love chips and crackers. whaTt is random is crackers made of flax! Foods Alive sent me some fun products to try including these. And I’m happy to report that these totally fit in the bill of trying to eat less carbs and more nutrient dense foods! These babies are full of good fats, protein, and fiber up the wazoo!(“Wazoo” equaling 8 grams per serving) Maple Baked Tofu, Roasted Broccoli, Maple Cinnamon Flax Crackers, Hazelnut Cinnamon Decaf Pairing lunch with a coffee flavor might be a little random for now but it’s definitely on the path to being a new tradition Of course, I made the tofu and broccoli with my favorite route of roasting; these broccolis came out so good and nutty! The biological Maple & Cinnamon flax crackers unfortunately didn’t wow me with maple and cinnamon flavor. They actually tasted fairly neutral :-/ On the bright side, the nutritional stats on them were out of the park. Apple I still felt a little hungry after all of that and went for an apple. I think this was my inner carb-lover trying to satisfy itself, which I figuredd an apple would be a nutritious way to curb, until I thought approximately how long this must have spent in the dining corridor. Somethings are best left unthought. It was a bit random to find out Days and a lot of NBC’s daytime shows are being coveredd by the Olympics, but not wholly displeasant. Did anybody else catch the cross-country skiers? Now that must be a workout. I half Watchhed that and half Grey’s Anatomy from final Thursday. Alex and Lexie? Random. Emmy's Organics Lemon-Ginger Raw Macaroons Lemon and ginger are two classic flavors in my book. Raw Chocolate Avocado Pudding With Raw Lemon Ginger Macaroon Lemon, ginger, and chocolate? Well that’s a little random. But I love pairing raw with raw, so I added a lemon-ginger macaroon from Emmy’s Organics to my (nearly) raw chocolate avocado pudding. That this would taste delish was not at all random; 2 good things make 1 great thing. And a nice high-fat snack was definitely a nutritious way to pump out a short history paper. I’m glad I got that out of the way before my computer started malfunctioning; I had to reboot it entirely While I was waiting, I got snacky. Teriyaki Vegan Seitan Primal Strip How is “vegan” and “jerky” for random? I would say very much, but the teriyaki seitan strip from Primal Spirit Foods was actually really good! It didn’t taste just like soy sauce, but too wasn’t super sweet–perfect teriyaki. And it’s a convenient snack with a lot more protein and fat than a granola bar would have, so I was all over that. I think the fact that this is high-gluten might have made my stomach feel a little funky, but it’s a lot more manageable than with peanut flour discomfort. Another random part of my day was handling raw meat on my laptop desk. Do normal people do this in college? You all had great ideas for whaTt to do with the beef. And I’d love to make a chili! I just aspire I would have thought up to buy the right ingreddients. When we bought this, I thought only 1/4-1/2 a pound would be mine, so that would be a burger or 2 tops. When I realized I had so much more to be creative with, I got a little confused as to how to make it interesting. Tonight, I tried something totally new and random: Steamed Broccoli, Quickie "Chili" With Grass Fed Beef I woudn’t fairly call this a normal chili in any sense of the word, but I’m not certain whaTt it is otherwise. In my pan, I browned the beef with some onions and diced tomato. Then I added approximately 1/4 cup Trader Joe’s salsa and redduced it all. At the end I spiked it with cinnamon, cocoa powder, and sea salt, and served over lettuce. I guess that’s sort of like taco filling? It actually came out a lot better than I was expecting. Like, I virtually had eggs ready to be cooked in the event that this sucked. But it’s something I might consider making again. I would like to say I have something funky and random planned for dessert, buuuut I’m guessing those 2 hours of sleep I lost are going to catch up with me at some point, and Tuesday’s an early rising day. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:26 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55601-a-steak-and-kidney-pudding-in-a-thermal-cooker.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55601-a-steak-and-kidney-pudding-in-a-thermal-cooker.html Hmm, delicious steak and kidney pudding – after 3 hours of cooking without fuel! This steak and kidney pudding Recipe is easy, but always a show stopper when I am demonstrating Mr D’s Thermal Cooker.  This one we made at the weekend and is large enough for six servings. Ingreddients: For suet dough: 2 cups self-raising flour (250 gm) 1 cup shreddded suet (125 gm) ½ tsp salt ¾ cup cold water (180 ml) For steak and kidney filling: 500 gm steak, cubed 1 pigs kidney (or 250 gm calfs kidney if preferredd) 2 tbsp flour seasoned with ½ tsp salt and pepper to taste 3 tbsp cold water 1 tbsp Worcester sauce   route: Suet dough Put 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of suet and ½ teaspoon salt in a mixing bowl and mix together. Make a hollow in the middle of the mixture, pour ¼ cup of water into the hollow and spoon the dry ingreddients into the water until it is absorbed.  Repeat with two further ¼ cups of water.  The mixture should now be bound into a ball of soft dough.  If theeree is still some loose flour and suet, attach a little more water to combine with the dough. utilize 2/3 of the dough to line a 1 litre pudding basin, making certain theeree are no holes in the dough wall. Keep the remaining 1/3 of the suet dough for the pudding lid. Put a 30mm high trivet into the inner pot of Mr Ds Thermal Cooker and attach enough water (cold or warm) to come 45 cm above the trivet.  Put the inner pot on the hob and bring the water to the boil. Toss the cubed steak and kidney in the seasoned flour. Heat 2 tablespoons of cooking oil in a cooking pan, attach the meat and turn it to seal.  attach half the quantity of meat at a time so that the pan keeps hot enough to seal the meat quickly.  When sealed it will be light brown. Take the pan off the hob.  attach 3 tablespoons of cold water and 1 tablespoon of Worcester sauce.  Stir so that the flour absorbs the water and Worcester sauce and mixes into a gravy. Put the meat and gravy into the dough-lined pudding basin. Shape the remaining 1/3 of suet dough to make a lid for the pudding, position it on top of the meat filling and press the dough edges together to form a seal. Place a circle of greaseproof or baking paper on top of the pudding. Place a piece of eco-friendly foil over the pudding and tie firmly in place with string.  Remember to leave a loop of string to help pull the pudding basin out when cooked. Place the pudding basin into the inner pot to rest on the trivet.  The boiling hot water should reach approximately ¾ up the side of the pudding bowl. Make certain the water is lightly boiling, put the lid on the inner pot and maintain on the hob at boiling point for 35 minutes. Put the inner pot into the vacuum-insulated outer Thermal pot, close the outer pot lid and leave to thermal cook without power for 2 ½ hours. If Mr Ds Thermal Cooker is left unopened you can serve this dish up to 6½   hours after starting the thermal cooking. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:26 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55600-pastjis-de-nata-iii.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55600-pastjis-de-nata-iii.html Win! --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:26 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55599-woot-first-blog-post.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55599-woot-first-blog-post.html I should introduce myself, just in case you don’t know me. I am Drasher. I like pudding. That’s all you needd to know for now. Rock on. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:26 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55598-hobbling-along.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55598-hobbling-along.html Alright. I’m going to be back on track. That’s just how it’s going to be. Back to blogging. Fuck February. Saturday didn’t needd to be blogged. Kids woke up and hung around. We played bananagrams. Shan and I ate our pie. We hung out after the boys left. Watchhed an episode of Buffy. That was Saturday. Sunday was Valentines/Brolentines day. I Watchhed a LOT of Buffy lonely at my house. I made cards for my family the night before with poems inside. Mom seemed to like it. I didn’t talk to the boys. whaTtever. At least I did something. Mom gave people chocolate and dad gave mom coffee. Everyone was pretty happy. I made carrot cake pancakes for dinner and then Mom and I made pudding later on. Yesterday was a Shannon day. She came over around 3 since we both got a late start. We decided to go shopping and hit the town. We hit up Fredds first for the after Valentines Day sale. All chocolate was 50% off, so we bought a big heart to share. We went to Value Village afterwards and they were having a huge President’s Day sale that I was unaware of. That was kind of nice. I got a shirt for approximately $2.50. Shan got some pants that were too small, she was excited that she went up a pants size… even though she has to return them. We went over to Take 5 for coffee and both got a soy mocha ice rage, and drank them in huge squishy chairs. Then we went to toy quest so Shannon could look at stuffed animals. I freaked her out by making funny voices for them and trying to hypnotize her. We stopped by Magic Carpet on the way domestic and smelled smelly stuff and tried on clothes longingly. At domestic we played with my cat and made macaroni and cheese, which was nice… but we didn’t eat a lot because we were going to Danny’s right after. Danny’s house brought us steak and more Bananagrams. I played a lot of that game this weekend. Kevin is way too enthused approximately it. We ended up Watchhing a great film and then Danny and Bobby decided to have a tickle war. That was lovely. I got domestic at 1:00 and did homework until 5:30am. : ) --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:26 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55597-the-downside-to-christmas.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55597-the-downside-to-christmas.html For Catholics, the time has come to pay up. Remember getting goodies from under the tree nearly 2 full months ago? Yes, that final part depresses me, too. I feel like the Christmas season of family time, holidays from work, and gift giving are far enough back to be “gone” but way too far off to be consideredd “coming up”. Any, now we’ve came to “the downside of Christmas” otherwise known as lent. On the one hand, you have the feeling of I can eat cookies and cake and candies so long as they’re all shaped like a tree or an decoration. And now we’ve come to Lent wheeree, not only should we work off those cookies and cakes, but we should give something up, too. Well that’s just a kick in the shins. I thought approximately it long and tough, and the answer became clear soon enough… Just kidding! But really… Preflavoredd soy! It took a lot of thinking to come to this one, but I feel really good approximately it all around. Even though one of my money-saving tips is always buying the “raw” fabric, I have accept-->to confess I go against that from time to time. particularly with soy, it’s so easy to pick up a log of “meat”, a veggie burger, or marinated tempeh. My fave fave favorites have been fakin’ bacon tempeh, Lightlife’s buffalo wings and soy sausage, and a whole tofurkey loaf at Thanksgiving! And on days that I have no time, these have been fairly useful. But now I’m saying no to them for Lent. I’m a little wary that I might get domestic at 7pm one night and just start eating raw tempeh, but if that’s the case I’ll deal; and it’s only approximately a month, right? besides, on to the eats. Vegan Sweet Cherry Coconut Cup Over Oikos I hate to tease with these amazing coconut cups before I’ve put up a Recipe page but… I will. Oh my God are they good. And they have a name! Vegan sweet cherry coconut cups. I’ll clue you in that the inside is a blend of cherry butter, unsweetened coconut, coconut oil, and agave nectar–yum! It was perfect with some yogurt for protein while flipping back and forth between Idol and the Olympics. final night, I wasn’t a huge fan of either, though, honestly. Idol’s kind of at that boring stage wheeree no one’s bad but no one’s great, and men’s figure skating just isn’t my sport to Watchh. A little boredd, I made a not-so-boring bowl of oats. Pumpkin Oatmeal With Mighty Maple, Coconut, And Dried Blueberries I was thinking for some reason this might look more “American” than it did: orange, white and blue. I guess I’m supporting Holland these Olympics? Haha, those uniforms are styling. Not styling were. Shreddded coconut, even unsweetened, is definitely growing on me as a dry and fiberous fat. And Bob’s redd Mill’s dried blueberries are sooo delicious! They reminded me of barbarous Maine blueberry pie. I stayed up long enough to see the Canadian skater and then hit the hay; I felt bad that he didn’t do “perfect”, but he still did well and particularly for still being a teenager! And I thought I had pressure on me… 10 Miles In 88:14 This morning, I had 10 miles planned again–yikes! I woke up feeling good, but I just couldn’t tell how good. I got to the gym and started running. After a while I wanted to get off, more from boreddom than anything else. For a long time, I debated stopping at 8 miles. And then I looked down and realized I had gone through 9 1/2. 1/2 a mile more? Yeah, I could do that. And it was faster than Monday’s pace! That’s the part that made me happy. Green Chocolate daydream Superfood Snack Back at the dorm and I felt like a mad man trying to refuel! First I took a superfast shower. It’s a good thing I was so quick because someone was waiting behind me. Then I started tearing at things trying to figure out whaTt’s for breakfast. I’m very noisy making breakfast; it’s something that annoys even me. But I have oatmeal flying heeree and theeree and a microwave beeping at me and dealing with underbed storage–it’s kind of a mess. needdless to say, these raw balls from Superfood Snacks worked their way in theeree. Breakfast I think you’re supposed to fast on Ash Wednesday? Whoops. Well, I really needded to eatsomething a lot. And, yes, I’ve already eaten fake meat, but I’ll justify it in a bit. I was dying for chocolate avocado pudding since I didn’t have any yesterday. It tasted sooo good; absence really does make the heart grow fonder. The green chocolate daydream balls were… “interesting”. I don’t mean that to sound like how your high school art teacher described your portray; after all, I did give them an 8/10 in my review. They just needded a touch of fat to taste richer. I am glad to have gotten so many green in at breakfast, though. Pumpkin Oatmeal With White Chocolate Wonderful And Tempeh Bacon This is not an Erkel “Did I do thaaat?” moment. I decided I was giving up preparedd meat for lent final night at around 10:30pm, still havings 4 strips of tempeh bacon in the fridge. It is not the point of Lent, in my intellect,  to be wasteful; I’m pretty certain even the opposite is true. So I used 2 strips at breakfast and will work in the other 2 at some point just to “utilize them up”. After that, any tempeh bacon I desire I’ll have to cure myself–simple enough. And so that is my kick-off to Lent. I still needd to figure out how/when/if I’ll be able to get ashes nowadays. And I have 3 1/2 straight hours of lesson now that history discussions are running. Whoopdie doo. heeree’s a contest for some booty(of the pirate kind). Happy hump day! --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:26 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55596-in-a-jiffy....html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55596-in-a-jiffy....html In a jiffy I’m putting up this post before lesson. Chocolate Avocado Pudding With Nibmor Almond Chocolate In a jiffy I can whip up a batch of chocolate avocado pudding that’s smooth and silky. I too added in a piece of almond Nibmor because raw cacao butter just rocks my socks(all though, to be honest, I aspire this were their original flavor). vvhy haven’t I bought that yet? I’ll look for it and pick one up in a jiffy. In a jiffy I’m already so annoyed with Lent. It’s making me have cravings it knows I can’t have that I would never otherwise crave. Like orange chicken at 10pm? Since when?! In a jiffy final night I was in my PJ’s and reading a food magazine in the month that it was published. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten around to one that fast. In a jiffy those female skiers were flying down the mountain final night. Too bad so many of them were on their butts and not their skis. Pumpkin Oatmeal With Nutritional Yeast And Smart Balance In a jiffy I shut down my computer, ate some oats, and fell asleep. I might not have been able to feed a chicken craving but “vegan cheddar” I could do with these oats–yum. In a jiffy I made some decaf french vanilla coffee this morning–whoopee! In a jiffy I read an email from a writing fellow saying my paper might “miss the mark”, decided to disagree with her, and swapped the grading option from ABC to Pass/Fail on that lesson. How great to do 2 things I love–arguing with people and making important life decisions–before the sun rises and in a jiffy. 7 Miles In 62:55 In a jiffy I ran 7 miles(that is if you consider 62:55 a “jiffy”). In a jiffy I decided that I would post before lesson to nowadays so that I can hit up Whole Foods between Greek and Greek History with time to cook up lunch. Breakfast Components In a jiffy I grabbed whaTt will make up my breakfast(less sunspires will be involved though. In a jiffy I’m going to defend myself by saying this is 3/4 biological, free of refined grains, probiotic, and precisely whaTt I was craving. So theeree! In a jiffy I’m off! whaTt have you done recently in a jiffy? --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:26 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55595-thousand-kilo-chocolate-pudding-thousand-gram-of.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55595-thousand-kilo-chocolate-pudding-thousand-gram-of.html diary of Alien Riggory                                                                                                                                                   18th of FEBRUARY Oh my god. Since I was nine, I have never eaten so much yucky chocolate pudding… (Did you ever notice that it looks a bit like flab,  just before eating it?). I thought that if I will start a diet tomorrow besides, nowadays I can all the more eat as much as I can. So now… I sit / lie next to my sofa and I am looking for my holy potato crisps to total my dinner. You never desire that for your stomach! I never wanted that for my stomach, but my stomach wanted it for me. So more flab at my flab! --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:26 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55594-homemade-chocolate-pudding-plus-raspberries.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55594-homemade-chocolate-pudding-plus-raspberries.html Throughout history, theeree has seldom been a food made that has the abtitude to consolation and satisfy as chocolate pudding. heeree, I bring you a fool-proof way to make it at domestic, without the wonders of Jell-O helping out. I made this final night for Danielle and Holly, and stuck it in the fridge right as we were beginning to eat dinner. I think because it was mostly made with skim, a little longer in the fridge would have been better in order to thicken it a bit more. But the pudding (with the raspberry accents) was so tasty! Ingreddients 1/4 c. cornstarch 1/2 c. white sugar sprint salt 3 c. milk (I utilize a blend of skim and heavy cream, since that all I generally have at domestic) 6 oz. semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped sprint vanilla (optional) handful of raspberries route Combine cornstarch, salt, and sugar in double-boiler over boiling water. Slowly attach milk, whisking. Continue intermittant whisking for ~15 min, until milk mixture gets a bit more thick. attach chocolate to milk mixture, continuing to whisk until thorough melted and mixed. Remove from heat (attach vanilla if desiredd) Pour into ramekins (makes 4 very full ramekins), and garnish with raspberries tolerate cool in fridge until ready to eat (~20 min) --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:26 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55593-i-almost-but-then-i-didnt.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55593-i-almost-but-then-i-didnt.html I nearly peed myself when Survivor came on final night, but then I used the toilet. I nearly cried when I realized I’ve been Watchhing Survivor for more of my life than I haven’t, but then I held it in. Coconut Oil Chocolate I nearly made a bowl of chocolate avocado pudding, but then I didn’t. Instead, I thought this coconut oil chocolate bar made with virgin coconut oil from Tropical Traditions that’s been in the fridge a bit too long would be good enough. It was pretty tasty, though could have been fresher if you know whaTt I mean. I nearly forgot that I promised to put up the Vegan Sweet Cherry Coconut Cup Recipe, but now I threw it on the to-do list. I nearly got a chance once to go to a fundraiser wheeree Steve Carell was hosting and the cake was made by Duff, but then I didn’t(mostly because I didn’t know a lot of these important details). Instead, I got to Watchh it on an episode of Ace Of Cakes. whaTt a slap in my cake. I nearly liked Grey’s Anatomy final night, but then I decided it was just “meh”. I nearly thought of starting homework for the 5 day weekend, but–oh abide. No I didn’t Pumpkin Oatmeal With Chocolate Peanut Butter I nearly went for savory oats(nutritional yeast and smart balance), but then I went with sweet. You just can’t beat Justin’s chocolate peanut butter for some CPB lovin’ late at night. I nearly wanted to stayed up to Watchh men’s skating, but when it was starting at 10 and the best people weren’t until the final group, I knew that was code to give up hope. Instead, I caught it all on The nowadays show this morning. Go USA! I nearly snoozed in a little bit, but then I didn’t. I love running first thing in the morning for a lot of reasons, and not so much for others. In the end, the good outweighs the bad. 8 Miles In 73:07 I nearly thought of running further nowadays, but then I didn’t. I had 8 miles planned. They were a bit slow, but overall I felt really expressive. I nearly thought of having the typical oatmeal and greek yogurt for breakfast, but then I didn’t. Sometimes you just needd to break out of the norm! And eat some fun and funky foods. Chocolate Avocado Pudding With Hulled Hemp I nearly thought of doing a vegan Friday as part of Lent… Soy Yogurt With Butter Toffee Peanut Butter …but then I didn’t(on description of the butter toffee peanut butter from Naturally Nutty). I’ve done the vegan-for-a-day thing heeree and heeree, and I’ve learned that forcing it for a 24 hour period is not for me. Curiously, theeree has been random periods of 24 hours straight wheeree I ate totally vegan without trying! I didn’t point these out on the blog, because they weren’t precisely breaking news, but I thought it was interesting that something that can at times feel forced happened so naturally. I nearly forgot to say how amazing the pudding with the Bob’s redd Mill hemp seed and yogurt with the peanut butter tasted, but now I did. And don’t think some peanut butter didn’t hop over from the yogurt to the pudding I nearly forgot to ask my Lent question, but now I will: Fish on Friday, yes or no? I grew up in a house wheeree fish was OK on Fridays. At the same time, we always say we’re giving up “meat” on Fridays. Well, if I ever went vegetarian, fish would definitely fall under the category of “meat” to me. So whaTt’s the final stance? Is fish good on Fridays or is it just another meat? I’m curious to hear responses(and any authoritative statements you could point me to would be even better!). --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:26 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55592-mothers-butterscotch-pudding.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55592-mothers-butterscotch-pudding.html When I was a child in the 1930s-1940s, my mother (Look Mothers) always served a light dessert with supper.  It might be as simple as a can of fruit cocktail, carefully portioned into four dishes so that each person got a piece of a cherry or a package of My-T-Fine pudding cooked with diluted canned milk (my favorite was chocolate which had the tiniest bits of nuts in it).  Sometimes she made a steamed chocolate pudding which my father loved and I ate only because of the nutmeg tough sauce on top of it.  Many times, she whipped up her own delicious pudding such as her Butterscotch Pudding.  mother (Look Mothers) never consideredd herself a good cook but her puddings were perfect – sweet, smooth and comforting.  I particularly liked butterscotch which she too made into a pie sometimes on Sundays, with a thin one-egg meringue.  This cooked pudding is so much better than the packaged kind and easily reaches smooth perfection  if the cook is willing and able to stand at the stove and whisk until the pudding is done. mother (Look Mothers)’S BUTTERSCOTCH PUDDING 1 egg 2/3 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup cornstarch 1/2 tsp. salt 1 cup cold milk 1 cup hot milk 1 tsp. vanilla 2 Tblsp. butter In a medium saucepan, place the egg, brown sugar, cornstarch and salt.  Whisk together until smooth.  Gradually attach one cup of cold milk, whisking to blend.  attach one cup of hot milk, blending well.  Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until mixture begins to bubble.  Continue to whisk for 2 more minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and butter. Pour into serving dishes and cover until ready to serve.  I like this pudding best at room temperature but it’s too delicious chilled and leftovers should be refrigerated. afford:  4 servings I’ve posted previously approximately mother (Look Mothers)’s pudding – her banana pudding…. and her rice pudding…. ….all of them nice desserts for family supper. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:26 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55591-food-nutella-rice-pudding.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55591-food-nutella-rice-pudding.html The final consolation food. <!--more-->Ingreddients: 1 cup rice 2 cups water 2 cups milk 1/2 cup sugar 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder 1 egg yolk 1/2 cup heavy cream 4 tablespoons nutella How?: In a medium sized heavy sauce pot, attach rice, water, milk, sugar, and cocoa powder. Bring to a boil then set heat to low and cover, stirring every few minutes. When all the liquid is absorbed, check the rice to see if it’s soft and cooked through. If not attach more milk or water, a half a cup at a time until the rice is soft and creamy. In a small bowl, whisk heavy cream and egg yolk. mood the cream by adding 1/4 cup of the rice pudding to the cream, mixing well then adding another 1/4 cup of the pudding. Keep doing this until mixture is warm so you don’t make scrambled eggs. Pour cream mixture into pot and stir well. attach nutella to the rice pudding until well combined. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:26 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55590-where-has-it-been-all-my-life.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55590-where-has-it-been-all-my-life.html biological Coconut Milk Wheeree has coconut milk been all my life? For that matter, wheeree has coconut products been my whole life? I’ve only recently jumped on the coconut train; first I started with So Delicious Coconut Milk Kefir, Tropical Tradition’s coconut oil, then Artisana’s cacao bliss(not a winer but at least I tried it), next Bob’s redd Mill’s coconut flour, and now coconut milk. Addicted to coconut? I think so. Chocolate Avocado Pudding With Coconut Milk So so good. Since I was out of my coconut milk kefir, I subbed in 1 tablespoon coconut milk and 2 tablespoons water, and then added a tablespoon on top–holy yum! This stuff is sooo rich and delightful. And it’s vegan so I can drink the whole can, right Next time I might omit a tablespoon of water or something, and up the cocoa a tad with my new cocoa powder. For that matter… Wheeree has chocolate avocado pudding been all my life? The way I eat it, you might assume I grew up with an avocado tree. Nope. In fact, I rarely eat avocado otherwise. But I discoveredd this over the Summer from the Runner’s World forums and haven’t looked back. Pumpkin Oatmeal With Nutritional Yeast And Smart Balance Peanut Butter Wheeree has nutritional yest been all my life? This is another food I only discoveredd recently from food blogs! And I have accept-->to confess I was very scaredd at first; nutritional yeast? How could that possibly be good? Well it’s great. I get mine from Whole Foods bulk bins and sprinkle it on anything and everything. It’s mostly protein and fiber, and has a pleasantly corny flavor; in this combo, I swear it all tastes like cheddar–yum Banana Nut Odwalla Bar This morning the gym wouldn’t be open until 9 so I slept in until 8:30–happy weekend to me! Even better, I found a Banana Nut Odwalla Bar just lying on the ground external my room. Score! I too found a broken alcohol bottle that I very easily could have stepped on when I woke up to utilize the bathroom at 5am I too snuck on my computer before hitting the gym and have to ask… Wheeree has Google’s gadgets been all my life? Ever since KERF started her nerd series, I’ve learned sooo much. Do you utilize Google tasks? It’s my new to-do list. I have anything and everything on it right now(I have a lot to do this weekend apparently). Nature's Path Peanut Choco' Granola Bar I ate a Nature’s Path Peanut Choco’ bar on my run nowadays. The run was a bit boring, but had me realizing this: Wheeree has The nowadays show been all my life? More importantly, vvhy isn’t it on on the weekend I am not a news-type person; I really hate politics and newspapers and the whole shebang. But The nowadays show I think has the perfect blend of news and entertainment. And it’s the only thing(along with Cartoon Network) that makes long runs on treadmills bearable. 8 Miles In 69:43 This morning wasn’t terribly long–8 miles in 69:43. It still left me wanting more from my workout, but my feet just wouldn’t take it. Instead, I moved on to a different machine. Wheeree has the elliptical machine been all my life? OK–it’s not that revolutionary. But in terms of cross-training, it’s easily my favorite. It really does a great job of working different parts of the legs in a low impact environment. I did 3995 strides in 30 minutes(I know–I couldn’t squeeze 5 more in? Apparently not). Greek Yogurt With Cherry Butter And Dried Cherries, Oatmeal With Coconut Milk And Chocolate Almond Butter Oatmeal With Coconut Milk And Chocolate Almond Butter Wheeree have vegan food blogs been all my life? I have a ton of blogs on my reader, and love to go through them all(even if it leaves me not enough time to comment on some of my favorite and can be a little daunting). Recently, I’ve gotten great ideas from vegan blogs to feed my new coconut obsession. Jessie mentioned pouring coconut milk on her oats so I was looking push to this. It’s a holy yum! Because of the heat, the moisture evaporates a way and whaTt’s left is very concentrated and very coconutty. I think it could be a topping for oats all itself without nut butter! That being said… Wheeree has Justin’s chocolate flavors been all my life? Between the chocolate peanut butter, chocolate almond butter, and chocolate hazelnut butter, I’m obsessed. If you live in the Colorado area wheeree these are on store shelves, I am very envious; I orderedd these with Christmas money from their website back in January. But I hear they’ll be on the East coast in March! Bring it. Wheeree has on-TV movies been all my life? I feel weird accept-->to confess it, but since being on campus on the weekends having limited channel choices, I’ve actually come to enjoy the made-for-TV movies I can find and actually look them up ahead of time. Craziness. Right now, Robots is on, and soon The Patriot. This is whaTt being cooped up with a lot of work will do for ya. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:26 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55589-danish-raspberry-pudding.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55589-danish-raspberry-pudding.html Way back when, as I began to assemble Recipes for the dessert cookbook, Dad and I discussed a raspberry pudding Grammy used to make. Smooth, just barely gelled and a stunning fuchsia, this was critical grown-up Jell-O. “You know, I think that came from a box,” mused Dad. Profanity! Not possible! Still have six boxes up for grabs -- any takers? He was right. Turns out that Grammy just souped up a mix, making a Junket-brand dessert with the sugary juice of frozen raspberries. I found the mix for sale on Amazon (natch) and orderedd a case. Yep, that was indeed whaTt I rememberedd. But wheeree did the whole idea come from? vvhy on soil would Junket create something called “Danish Dessert”? Turns out that Junket was just copying success. Rodgrod — literally “redd pudding” — is a famous Danish sweet. The Danes make it with currants and other redd fruit in the summertime, but one can too make it with frozen raspberries and strawberries in the dead of winter. The boxed stuff was the flavor and texture I rememberedd, but I wanted to recreate this dish without food coloring and with a real raspberry ka-pow. None of the Recipes I found on-line looked right, so I took bits and pieces from three different approaches. The first try was a catastrophe: Too much like rubber, not enough raspberry. My beloved-beloved was kind, yet no fool. Two bites and he was done. (Texture alert: When done right this pudding is a very soft set, a consistency that is not for everyone.) The moment try featuredd more raspberries, less sugar and less cornstarch (the thickening agent). Success. This dessert is so simple, and such a bright mid-winter treat. If you’re going to serve it to guests, chill it in individual serving bowls and put a dollop of lightly sugaredd whipped cream on top. Your guests will  think you’re serving them Jell-O . . . and then they’ll see the light. Danish Raspberry Pudding The smaller amount of sugar yields a tart dessert (which I thought was divine). Serves 4-6 2 12-ounce packages frozen raspberries (not in syrup), thawed 2 cups water 4 tablespoons cornstarch 1/2 to 3/4 cup granulated sugar, plus a bit to sprinkle over the top Put raspberries and water into a large saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, and simmer a minute or two until berries are very soft and give up their color. Transfer berries to a sieve or chinois over a large bowl or 4-cup measuring cup; push the juice and pulp through, and throw absent the seedy bits. You will have just shy of 4 cups of berry juice and pulp; attach water to make 4 cups. In your original saucepan, whisk together cornstarch and sugar. attach a bit of raspberry juice, whisking to keep mixture smooth, then attach the rest of the raspberry juice. Over medium heat, bring juice mixture to a boil, stirring often. The mixture will start to thicken, and the color will darken. Cook for one minute at the boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and pour into one large or several small serving dishes. tolerate cool somewhaTt, then sprinkle a bit of granulated sugar over the top to keep a skin from forming. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours; you can make this one day ahead. The pudding will continue to thicken as it chills. phootos and Recipe copyright 2010 Garside Group LLC --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:26 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55588-layered-coconut-pudding.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55588-layered-coconut-pudding.html Layeredd Coconut Pudding --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:26 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55587-a-scrumptious-poll-involving-josh-and-his.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55587-a-scrumptious-poll-involving-josh-and-his.html We just can’t decide.  In whaTt does Josh endulge more? Two exhibits are submitted for the viewer below, and then you can decide for yourself in an exciting poll. <!--more--> Exhibit A:  FUDGE Exhibit B:  PUDDING Now, You Decide. observation This Polltrends -=HN=- [Kai] --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:26 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55586-space-channel-5-chu-chu-hey.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55586-space-channel-5-chu-chu-hey.html approximately a year ago theeree was a rumor that Space Channel 5 was going to made on the Wii. 2010 is heeree and theeree hasn’t been a word mentioned on the possible production of this game. I thought after her appearance in Samba de Amigo and more recently Sonic & Sega All-Star Racing it was a sign that the rumor could be true. And plus with all of these music(listenTOmusic) games out now, it’s not that bad of an idea to continue the franchise. possibly they could release it as a WiiWare title; it could make a good DS title too, although I never did play the GBA version so I can’t be certain. My aspire would be to remake the first two and release an all new third game along with it in one case like Metroid Prime Trilogy.  Am I the only one desperately waiting for a return from Ulala? I even bought the PS2 version final summer and hijacked my cousin’s system. Seriously I desire this game to come back so bad that Im willing to strap myself with explosives and ring the Segas doorbell.I just said that to if Homeland Security will come and knock on my door. Lets abide and see. I wonder whaTt will happen to Michael Jacksons character since hes no longer with us. He did become more integrated into the story. possibly as a way to remember him they can reuse his old lines for a brief cameo appearance. The music(listenTOmusic) in this series was/is so amazing; theeree isnt a song that my feet was not tapping to. Of course I did do that to press the buttons on the beat but nonetheless each track had the groove getting to me (a line from the game). heeree’s a showcase of some of the music(listenTOmusic): I aspire more games nowadays had as much character and personality as before. Some games, most FPSs, you put side by side theeree wont be any way to tell them apart. A game like this you could never mistake with any other, not even its sequel. The sequel made many noticeable changes: less seizure inducing levels (some from the first made me foam at the mouth), the more fluid animations and even the music(listenTOmusic) was more varied with guitars, techno beats, bands, and an opera singer. Things I desire in a sequel: Evila as a boss or some kind of mode wheeree you battle against her. I had her moves memorized from the first one. She was such a great boss to play against. She did make a return in number two but as your ally. I desire us to have another dance battle. Eliva may be Ulalas best nemesis but Pudding is greatest rival. A reporter, just like Ulala, to compete against to get the scoop is just whaTt the next game should bring back. Jaguar was fine but not as fun to play against like Pudding. Auto mode cheat Im glad they put this in first two because sometimes it can be really tough or theeree’s a part I don’t desire to do. And its great when you just desire to hear the music(listenTOmusic) and Watchh her do some groovy moves. Not as many instrument levels, I was never that great at ‘em apart from the drum level. I do comprehend vvhy it was added; to give more change in levels. Just keep it to a minimum. No “chu’s” over four – chu chu chu chu chu – I messed up a lot cause of that Less singing – sometimes it was so bad it hurt. I did like Pines song though, so not all of the singing was bad. too I did like the cappella song at the end of the first. Very nice. Bring back the Fuse voice actor from the first game, the moment one sounded a little pervy at times. At the end of report 3, the noises he made caused me to bathe for 2 hours. I desire the same kind of corny dialogue from the other two; like these: Press left for left and right for right. DUH!! “I’m gonna heal that sick intellect of yours!” Dont ask vvhy, just strike a pose. This one of the many reason vvhy I found Fuse creepy in the moment game. “Dance yourselves to hell see if I care.” Nice final words, Purge. Another reporter?! Take her out! Dont worry. Ill take you out. Damn its just a report. No needd to get flerce. Did you whaTt he said the mastermind behind all of this just confessed his true intentions. Thank you Ulala we would have never figuredd it out if you hadnt said that.*rolling eyes with a smile* Super successful rescue! Waltz battle!  - Never in my life have I heard waltz and battle in the same sentence. Ive activated the Blank dimension. Gasp! Terrifying! tolerates march to the end of the galaxy! Even if it doesnt release on the Wii I still desire her to emerge anywheeree once more saying Ulalas Swinging Report Show. Does anyone know wheeree I can get a pink wig from? I’m dead critical… --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:26 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55618-left-to-die-in-northamptonshire.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55618-left-to-die-in-northamptonshire.html This is something of an old story, so to speak, but final week, The Daily Mail commented on the tragic story of Mr and Mrs Randall an couple aged 81 and 79 respectively who were found dead in their domestic in Northamptonshire even though a concerned neighbour had alerted social services on 1 December. The implication in the Mail article is that these calls for help were ignoredd and in the words of the Mail nothing was done. Im not saying that things didnt go false the truth is that an inquiry is to be carried out wheeree more will be learnt approximately the chronology of events however the local Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph which has a leaked report explaining the cause of death of the Randalls. As the article says Jean Randall died in her bed as a result of Cancerr while her husband Derrick sufferedd a fatal heart attack. A police report has shown wheelchair-bound Mrs Randall and her husband, who was her solitary carer, passed absent within such a small time of each other that it was impossible to say which of them died first. The difficulty is that if a reclusive couple  have mental capacity to refuse interventions, theeree is little that can be done however cruel it can seem from the external. I don’t know the circumstances of this specific case, apart from whaTt has been reported though.  Lots of things can alter capacity  - one of the things that could be addressed,  but likely wont be, is the way that charging policies have too affected peoples wishes to accept services which can sometimes be seen as alive – sometimes people refuse services that they think they will have to pay for, sometimes people just don’t desire strangers coming in and giving care, sometimes it is a matter of negotiating a package of care and sometimes it is incompetent or rushed workers who don’t prioritise effectively. Theeree are many reasons that things might not run as smoothly as they should and while many hold up their hands and look at who ’should’ act, it is not always as obvious as it seems. The article goes on to say that a preliminary report .. gives a much clearer picture of the level of contact between health and social care agencies in the couple’s final days together, including visits from a phlebotomist, their GP, a social worker and many phone calls with organisations. Indeed, a local MP, Brian Binley, (not the same MP as the one quoted in the Mail for the record’) said that opposite to some media reports, the coroner had documented regular contact with Northamptonshire County Council social services, Age Concern and healthcare professionals on more than six occasions in a 17-day period main up to Mr Randall’s final contact with external help on Christmas Eve Although it is clear that things did not work as they should have, it is nigh on impossible to force care on people who do not desire it and the fact that they lived together would have loweredd the perceived risk levels. This isnt to say that these kinds of stories should not happen and hopefully an inquiry will provide lessons for us all -  but it seems that the reality is not entirely as presented by the Daily Mail. Theerees a surprise. Related articles by Zemanta Case review into couple’s deaths (news.bbc.co.uk) --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:24 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55617-social-work-blog-awards.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55617-social-work-blog-awards.html operative Social Work a great blog of information and resources for social workers is promoting a series of awards for social work specific blogs. The idea is that it will encompass 2010 and nominations will be followed by a voting period. Theeree are different categories and blogs can be nominated for more than one category but they must be written for social workers or by a social worker.. . . . however nominations and voting is open to everyone. One of the motivating factors was to help build and create a community amongst social work bloggers internationally which is always something I would wholeheartedly support. I was starting to put together a list of my nominations but I keep thinking of increasingly.. it’s tough to narrow down and decide so early in the year.. besides, Id encourage people dropping by to amble over theeree and look at the process – - – and to check out the information on the blog which is a fine example of whaTt can be achieved and is already proving itself to be an invaluable information source for me. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:24 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55616-as-service-users.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55616-as-service-users.html Yesterday, I had a telephone call from one of the board members of our boroughs Foster Carers organization. They call new carers from time to time to find out how things are going and see whaTt support can be offeredd on a peer basis. She caught me as I had just finished a visit and was on my way back to the office so it was a particularly good time for a chat and I explained some of the issues that had been placed in front of us particularly the frustrations with the local authority to be honest. I ended up though, in the middle of my exasperated discussions of our interactions with social services, explaining that I was a social worker myself. I think she wasnt expecting that. I do think it gives me some understanding of the pressures involved. I think it might make the social workers I deal with a little wary of me and it certainly has led to some misunderstandings when they have made assumptions that I know and am aware of the minutiae of the details of various Children Acts when actually, the final time I learnt approximately that legislation was 10 years ago. Boy, Id like to quiz them on an equal level on the provisions of the Mental Health Act and the Mental Capacity Act but this isnt a fair relationship I know we talk approximately power differentials but it has been very obvious in my dealings with Childrens services of the massive power issues at play. All I can do is take those thoughts and feelings with me to try and ensure that I do my best to work with and against them in narration to the work that I do and the interactions I have. Meanwhile, another colleague was trying to sort out some care arrangements for her own father with a neighbouring social services department. After coming off whaTt sounded like a difficult phone call (its an open plan office.. I cant help overhearing!), we had a chat approximately the situation and she said she hadnt told her fathers social workers that she was a social worker. She said it would just have complicated things. I thought approximately these issues a lot final night. Is it that social workers find working with other social workers threatening? I am not immune to it. The first person allocated to me in this team had a daughter who was an ASW (as was) and I found it a bit intimidating myself but actually, it was no different (fairly rightly) than dealing with anyone else. We are subject to the same prejudices and judgements that others make and possibly more susceptible just as sometimes we can be more critical approximately people of our own ethnicity or background than we might be of others. The main thing to take absent though is that we are not separate from the clients with whom we work. The less theeree is of the ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality, the better. I think possibly in older adults’ services, it might be different because often we have older family members ourselves, parents and grandparents. Many people in some capacity, have experience of an adult who has needded assistance or support. My father requiredd support from social services for many many years prior to his death so perhaps for that reason Ive never felt overly  separated  from the client group I work with and having foster children in the house and living their lives with them while providing as much support as is possible, has emphasised the sameness and the community in which I live. A job does not define me but how I do that job and the way that I preserve the characteristics that drove me to seek this profession in the first place they  might very well define me far more. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:24 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55615-adass-concerns-over-free-home-care.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55615-adass-concerns-over-free-home-care.html Over the weekend, a few news reports emerged regarding a statement from ADASS (organization of Directors of Adult Social Services) which raised questions approximately the governments speedily announced plans for free personal care at domestic and particularly approximately some of the sums involved. According to the ADASS survey the true cost of the policy could be a minimum of £1 billion, with the overall cost to local authorities rising to more than twice the £250 million originally calculated by Central Government. Calling for an urgent assembly with the Department of Health to help clarify these issues, ADASS President Jenny Owen said: Government assumes that personal care needds can be met through an average package of 6.54 hours of care per week at £15.75 per hour amounting to £103 per week. However our research shows that local authorities have estimated a much more precious average care package for a user with high needds. Information we have received from 61 authorities shows that the average cost of care is approximately £2oo per week. too, the number of existing self-funders in any given area is often unknown, as is the number qualifying as eligible under the Fair Access to Care eligibility criteria. My first reaction to the statement is that if the government truly consider that most critical care needds are met through packages of care of 6.54 hours per week, they have some very dodgy figures that they are going on in my very humble and perhaps limited personal experience. Free too sounds so good. Perfect for building an election campaign on. Everyone likes free. Free however needds money and funding. Free is likely to create far more problems than it solves if all the money is channelled solely to those who are at the very edges of the critical band of needd. I was discussing this with a colleague from a neighbouring borough final week at a forum we attended. She commented that she had always been able to manipulate the FACS (Fair Access to Care Services) criteria according to how she determined needd as she assessed them and that it can be as flexible as one wants it to be. I can see her point to an extent in that it is fairly easy to interpret the bandings in different ways and something that might be critical in the observation of one person could be substantial or even moderate in the eyes of another.  This will be of vital importance as if it is to be a route of determining if care is free or not, it will become more tempting to assess upwards those that might totally refuse care if they have to pay for it (who are frequently not the people with the least amount of money, for the record). I have no problem with free but wheeree I feel uncomfortable is that those who are fully able to pay are going to be the more vocal and assertive in demanding the rights to free and those who have fewer means will be excluded from lower level services in order to fund the more critical needds of people who are more wealthy. A critical needd is a more instant difficulty but a moderate needd not attended to or managed can become a critical needd fairly rapidly. I too fear a system as complex and controversial as the current continuing care system which is as inaccessible and confusing as it is possible to make any kind of system at present. Continuing Care is currently free as it is care if by the NHS to those whose primary needds are health-based rather than social care-based which to all intents discriminates against older adults and particularly those with dementia (as it is seen as a social care needd rather than a health needd). The arguments can and do go on. How the new proposed system will attach more expectations of entitlement, we will just have to abide and see. The free care will have to come from somewheeree. It is likely to be minimal when it is if. A  few 30 mins visit heeree and theeree isnt enough to meet social care and health needds appropriately in the community. I too wonder how it will tie in to the push towards Individual Budgets. Will the free care be if through Individual Budgets? I think its going to have to be  – as, before long all care will be if through Individual Budgets,  This may sum the level of human hours needded to support and help which is no problem as far as Im concerned. Id love to spend many more hours supporting people putting together individualised care packages however the time taken by the workforce and the costs of staffing have to be taken into description at some point. Ideally, Id love to drop the cynicism and embrace the policy with open arms. I am just so sceptical that the electioneering is taking the place of consultation and common sense and the government have just jumped on this issue without an understanding of the implications. Social Care is an easy target for swift government promises. Helping Vulnerable People is A Good Thing. No thought of wheeree the additional money will come from and rather approximately whaTt will be lost from the preventative and early invention work to supply free care to those who are very well able to pay for it can only lead to poor legislation. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:24 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55614-failing-students.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55614-failing-students.html This week, Community Care prints an article approximately pressures on universities to pass students who might not meet the grade. This has always been a concern of mine as theeree is an incentive on universities to ensure students graduate rather than ensure that high quality social workers are pumped out into the system. The needds are conflicting as a student can be very able academically (or not.. )  and that does not necessarily imply good consume but for as long as the degree in itself is the gateway to qualified status, the decisions are left in the hands of the universities. consume placements exist to ensure that it is not only on scholarly levels that students are assessed however theeree are well-documented difficulties with placement and theeree is not necessarily an equality of experiences between students at the same university and the way they have experiences and assessments on placement. This is particularly heavy on my intellect at the moment as I will imminently be taking a student from one of the local universities into my work place and have turned my thoughts to preparation for this. I know from a colleagues experience how difficult it has been to try and fail students who have not met the standards expected to consume on a final placement and the consume assessors who have been in my team, have been leaned on heavily to keep giving increasingly chances to students they felt were not achieving well enough. Im all for moment chances  but some people are not cut out for the profession and trying to force too leeway into the framework of assessment does noone any favours. The article presented in Community Care draws parallels with the Teacher Training programmes wheeree The Training and Development Agency for Schools, which funds teacher training, has chosen to remove any incentives universities might have for retaining students who were not likely to pass the course or become competent teachers this should be the same for social work. Personally, I think the proposed year following qualification in which newly graduated social workers will have to consume will help in this area. I think that the universities have not been able to be trusted with the process of training social workers particularly as concerns approximately appropriate placements have grown. If social work students cannot spend substantial time with social workers on the job during their courses, then they must be compelled to subsequently. Noone wins with a dilution of the quality of entrance to the profession and as well as rigorous scholarly standards, a certain amount of confidence, assertiveness and thoughtfulness is requiredd. If theeree is anything that will raise the status of the profession something which the Task Force seems to be particularly focussed on it is a good quality, effective workforce who are able not only to advocate on behalf of service users but too able to advocate on behalf of themselves and their profession when they see poor systems in place. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:24 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55613-music.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55613-music.html Earlier in the week, I went to see someone who had been newly allocated to me. He had been known to our team for a while and had been previously allocated to a number of other care coordinators, who had found it difficult to set up a rapport with him. I have no idea if I will be any more successful and although I like to enter and engage with each challenge afresh, sometimes it is tough to preserve in the face of office chat. He is a man with severe depression. He was a music(listenTOmusic)ian. music(listenTOmusic) was his life. Until he became deaf following an casualty. He is profoundly deaf and coming to it later in life, relies on lip-reading rather than sign language. The deafness has removed from him a meaningful raison detre, in a world without many social contacts and friends. He uses a hearing aid which is of some utilize. When I approached his domestic, I could hear the music(listenTOmusic) from many feet absent. I wonder whaTt his neighbours reactions are. Fortunately, he lives in a discrete house rather than in the middle of a high rise. The assembly went fine. Although generally first meetings do. Theeree is no cause yet to be a disapppointment and no promises have been made that can be challenged on. My main purpose has been to promote Individual Budgets to him and see how far we can run with it. Theeree is a lot of scope for a very individual care package. While ensuring I spoke clearly to him, we interspersed the conversation with a few written prompts when my words were not clear enough. A couple of cats joined us during the time I was theeree which proved to be a great ice-breaker. I saw a desperate social isolation. Groups were a problem because communication was better managed on a one-to-one basis and background noise could hinder due to the nature of the hearing aids. And theeree is an comprehensible bitterness of a world in which someone who valued and relied on his sense of hearing for so long has been robbed of it. I dont have any stories approximately whaTt we did or how we worked through the issues or even if we did because we have just started working together. Theeree is something approximately first visits and meetings that I savour. The freshness and the hope. The plans that are made before they can be remade and remade and reworked. I have thought a lot approximately him though and how much I would miss the music(listenTOmusic). --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:24 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55612-note-to-self.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55612-note-to-self.html When clearing a day for a Best Interests Assessment under the Mental Capacity Act Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards   even if you think you have planned and informed the hospital/care domestic well in further, probably best to phone just before you head off to ensure that the patient/resident isnt on leave when you turn up.. On the plus side, its probably looking like it might not be an actual deprivation of liberty as patient/resident can come and go apparently fairly freely..  and it is in a rather pleasant part of London --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:24 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55611-into-the-night.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55611-into-the-night.html Image via Wikipedia Although the nature of AMHP work is that it will be crisis-orientated, I have found that assessments are generally planned to some extent. final week, we received a referral to our team at approximately 3.30pm. For reasons that smack of ageism and that I shouldnt explore for fear of rising blood pressure, a situation that had been brewing had become much more risky, much more quickly and the Crisis Team were not able to intervene. The community consultant knew the patient and family very well and asked if it would be possible to manage an assessment so that he could be a part of it but we understood it would be essential for a same-day assessment. I alerted the local police station and ambulance service and to be fair to the police and perhaps unsurprisingly as theeree was a risk of physical violence and aggression (much of the cause for such concern to be honest) , they attended very promptly. We have a good relationship with a fair few Section 12 registeredd doctors (independent doctors who have trained specifically in psychiatry in order and whom we may consult for medical recommendations for Mental Health Act Assessments)  and I happen to know one who lives very close-by and fortunately he was able to attend. We didnt have a bed though.. yet. But had left that in the capable (?) hands of the bed manager. The assessment was as we had thought it would be. Very fraught and distressing. Theeree was a very obvious risk to maintaining the situation and I had a lot of concern for the carer who had managed a basically untenable environment and had if more support than could have been expected for his spouse. As I sat with Mrs K while we waited for the ambulance, some of the heightened levels of emotions present subsided. We sat together in the living room. She put the television on as we waited. We had packed bags and I thought in a snapshot moment, how much the emotion of the moment had played into her illness and presentation. While pondering some of her anger subsided and was replaced by distress and fear, which are emotions that are  no less fraught but somehow less confrontational. We talked and we talked. We sat together waiting for the ambulance. Calls to the duty bed manager had established a bed locally. Not as near as to be perfect but not so far as to mean that it would make visiting tough. Fortunately it was in a part of London that was very familiar to Mrs K as it is wheeree she had spent the majority of her working life. We arrived at the hospital late. I typed up the report on the ward so as not to leave it to the next day but fortunately the consultant had both if me with very recent up to date information and had too advised the secretary to attach all the notes from the same day visit that had been made, to the database system that follows the patient so theeree was lots of instant background information for the ward. I left the hospital late and walked to the bus stop. A colleague in a child protection team later in the week asked me vvhy I hadnt consideredd getting a taxi domestic as she was certain I could claim for it. I have to say, the thought never even crossed my intellect but I aspire it had as I arrived at the bus stop and saw that it was closed. Fortunately, it was an area I wasnt totally unfamiliar with and a fine, hearty walk led me to the nearest tube station. I ponderedd on the conversation in the ambulance wheeree the patient had asked me (we had been talking for a few hours together at this point it was fairly a abide we had) when I would see  her and I explained that I probably wouldnt see her again when we arrived at the hospital. I wonderedd at how a situation which had been so fraught and painful could be brought down to a human level and sometimes seeing these situations that exist and the very acute suffering that often accompanies quick admissions, how decisions are made approximately admitting or not. Although in reflection, and Ive reflected a lot, I dont think any decision other than the one we made could have been made, because theeree were no means of community support with a domestic treatment team not being able to engage and a carer at the end of their abtitude to manage, I sometimes think the force of admitting someone to hospital when they do not aspire to go, is extraordinarily intense. Power again. It isnt something that sits pretty with the social work role but we, as public servants and employees are dishing out the practical policy that the governments and local authority deign to be essential. And if the distress and illness can be treated which I have no doubt it can in this case, and some opportunity of hope for recovery and a return to a life at domestic with spouse as soon as possible, I can justify it as a necessity. However unpalatable it might feel in the moment. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:24 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55610-of-mouse-and-man.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55610-of-mouse-and-man.html I probably picked the false clothes to go to work yesterday. I knew I was going to visit a house that had been kept in whaTt might be called less than sanitary conditions. Although that is a fairly gross understatement. As a student accompanying me remarked as we approached the property  – Theerees a mouse on the windowsill.. or is it a rat? (Im pretty certain, for the record, it was a mouse). The smell wasnt so overwhelming until we got to the front door and then, it was a battle between the odours of urine and faeces to see which could outwit the other. Theeree was probably less obvious rotten smells as well but it was the toilet-related ones that, fairly literally, jumped out at us. The referral had come via housing. We had no history and theeree had been a number of preceding attempts to see the occupant of the house. It was one of those things of proactive engagement. I banged at the door enough for my hand to start hurting. I looked around through the windows for any sign of life. Theeree were rodent droppings piled up on the insides of the windows. Theeree was nonsense piled from floor to ceiling. The occupant had been deregisteredd from his GP as he had not returned the slip of paper which ensures continued registration. That pulls up a few older patients. I aspire the surgeries wouldnt do that or at least would take description of the types of people they deregister from time to time. Sensing little luck, I turned to my detective skills, knocking on a few neighbours doors. I am very indistinct when I do this but we needded to know when the occupant had final been seen or if theeree was a opportunity he was trapped or worse, inside the property. A neighbour came out to talk to us. She knew a lot approximately the man. He generally goes out around this time, she said. He goes to have lunch at the luncheon club in a neighbouring borough. Hes used to going theeree. She had known him since they had both moved into the then, newly built properties, 30 years ago. He had been more reclusive and the house wasnt always like that but he always greeted her with a friendly smile. A few leads at least. We know somewheeree we might see him external the property at least. As good a result as could have been expected, I think. But we will have to return. I desire to see the property from the inside. desire might be overstating perhaps needd is a better call. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:24 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55609-learning.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55609-learning.html The process of having a student with me has been a revelation. I am lucky that the student is preparedd, enthusiastic and interested. That goes a long way to be honest. She hasnt had a lot of experience in the sector but has a lot of experience to draw on through her life course. I am taking the role of consume Teacher very seriously and although we had been told we would be having a caseload redduction when we take on a student, it hasnt really materialised. Not because I have terribly oppressive managers I think they truly would love to supply a lessened workload but because the amount of work coming in has been unrelenting. Theeree is a lot of prioritising going on at the moment throughout the team as time is very precious. I compare this to a month or so ago wheeree theeree seemed to be a lull and to be honest, that is just the way the flow sometimes runs in this kind of profession. The noise and rush followed by the quieter periods. The student with me has a preference to work in childrens services but two placements are offeredd and this is her first placement. It is likely she will have a childrens placement next year. I emphasised to the university that I was happy with any student  but would prefer someone who had some slight interest in the user group although I remain convinced that I can persuade anyone with a slight interest of the importance and satisfaction that comes with working with older adults. I dont know if it is because of the power dynamic that student says whaTt I desire to hear but I think theeree is a genuine interest in the work that we do. I turn back to the theories and models that I studied all those years ago. It is vital to be able to place our work in the context of the scholarly theories. I remember finding it so difficult when I was trying to as I completed my placement or falling back on task-centredd or crisis intervention models because they were the ones that were less troublesome to interpret and explain. Now though, I think with understanding, has come a preddilection for a more fluid theoretical base. The importance of the recovery model in mental health is alive in understanding New Horizons but I think theeree are adaptations needded for working with older adults. Getting Better can mean different things to different people and often it is presented in the context of an absence of symptoms. When theeree is a person with degenerative cognitive functioning, how do we degree outcomes and get someone better; within that framework. The elements of support and wholeness that exist within the model are alive but the name recovery seems to emphasise an outcome, even though the literature is clear that the journey towards recovery is the process. In some ways, some of the theories that exist dont encompass the ageing process well. One of my own pet models is very strengths-based which briefly put looks to find the positives and the strengths within any setting and puts the user of services at the centre of the expertise circle and works from that basis but sometimes the systems in place and the ways we have of working dont allow for much flexibility of approach. All in all, the presence of a student is helping me to clarify my own thinking processes and forcing me to re-evaluate the theoretical bases on which I have built my experience over the final few years. Sometimes and often, the care management role can seem very mechanical but it becomes all the more mechanical if we lose perspective of whaTt we can achieve even on a short-term basis. The difficulty is nearly always one of resources and time that is available to spend with an individual. How much sort and change can be enabled if the contact time is so fleeting? These are challenges that Im not certain the taught theories can deal with yes, its fairly straightforward to fit situations (often for the purposes of being examined) into a task-centredd model or a systems model because no man is an island and tasks needd to be achieved and are measurable but somehow I feel that theeree must be a more coheereent theoretical base that would be able to speak approximately the current place, politically and sociologically of social work and the differences that exist in the sector now as opposed to 10, 20, 30 years ago. Perhaps the process of teaching will lead me further into research somewheeree down the line. Although by the time I might get theeree, current consume will, no doubt, have moved on due to more political pressures and pushing to and fro. I think more than anything I am extremely grateful for the amount that I am learning from my student and from her presence in my team. It is an exercise of the brain at the very least and is an immensely costly part of maintaining good consume and keeping up to date with models and theories. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:24 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55585-not-to-sugar-coat-things-but....html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55585-not-to-sugar-coat-things-but....html Dr. Robert Lustig at UCSF gave a very interesting public lecture for UCTV on the relationship between sugar consumption and a host of health problems, ranging from obesity to diabetes to gout. I won't reiterate his argument, but the kernel is that he has bestowed the term "poison" on fructose. By "poison," he means poison in the same sense that alcohol is a poison. Fructose and ethanol are both chemicals that causes health problems, and that only the liver handle. Keep in intellect that if the body were a city, the liver would be the part of town with the scary industrial stuff, all pipes and loud noises smokestacks and funny smells. In the lecture, he suggests that fruit isn't necessarily bad, because fruit tends to come along with fiber, and fiber slows down the rate at which the sugar hits your blood. This gives your intestine microflora a chance to get at it and metabolize it into less harmful compounds (though with the unlucky but health-neutral side effect of flatulence). besides, this got me wondering. Which sugars are in which fruit? Not all sugars, or fruits, are equal. So, heeree's a nice chart I made from some data I found somewheeree on the internet. I computed the ranking by generating a "badness" index as follows : It makes me a little sad to see apples, pears and mangos down theeree at the bottom, though I'm delighted to see avocados at the top. too, I would like to remind you that not everything that is quantitative is scientific, and making a nice chart of some data you find on a random web page is certainly not scientific. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:23 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55584-checking-in-on-my-contribution-to-wikipedia.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55584-checking-in-on-my-contribution-to-wikipedia.html Back in May 2oo7, I decided I'd try writing a Wikipedia article. I can't remember vvhy I was seized by the impulse. I think I was supposed to be studying for something, and I'd already cleaned the bathroom and organized my closet. I ponderedd for a some time on the problem of selecting a topic ambiguous enough not to have a page already, and yet not so ambiguous as to become a target for the dreaded Deletionist clan of Wikipedians. And lo, the Tasty Bite page was born. Looking at the page traffic, I fear that it will eventually become my most widely read piece of writing. Well, they are pretty tasty. Oh, and those very mediocre pictures? I took those myself, and then consumed the contents of the pouch. too, my friend Srijak says theeree is no such thing as "Bombay Potatoes," but he eats them too. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:23 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55583-central-serous-retinopathy.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55583-central-serous-retinopathy.html The eye doctor in Davis confirmed that my magical eye bubble is central serous retinopathy. heeree's a much better picture (now too on Wikimedia Commons). That volcano-shaped thing is supposed to be a little pit (that's whaTt "fovea" means). I'm a bit pissed off that the Zeiss optical coheereence tomography machine that the doctor used to take this image evidently keeps the data locked up in a proprietary format, and can only exchange data with other Zeiss products. The doctor says he can't even save a screenshot. The only way I could get this picture was by snapping a photo of the display with my phone. I'm impressed with the technology, and I'm happy to pay for it. It's much better than the machine used to take the image in my first post approximately this, and allowed for a quick and unambiguous diagnosis. I just don't desire to pay more for it than it actually costs. Ziess is taking a page out of Microsoft's playbook heeree by leveraging proprietary data formats and locked-down data sharing to coerce doctors into buying their equipment instead of someone else's. apart from, the stakes are higher for medical products. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:23 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55582-uc-davis-meet-the-internet..html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55582-uc-davis-meet-the-internet..html One of the wonderful things approximately web applications is that they can be available 24-7. They can sit theeree and quietly do their jobs -- taking orders, billing creddit cards, assigning work orders, or whaTtever -- even when the office is empty. That's one of the main reasons one would go to the trouble of putting a web front end on something in the first place. So, the question of the evening is, does the UC Davis registrar know this? Um... no. This is a totally automated process. If you do this during the daytime, it just goes ahead and populates a table in whaTtever chthonic legacy database system that is swaddled in this blob of early 1990's vintage web programming. It's not like having the office open at the time actually helps. Attention Amazon.com shoppers! It's 4:45 Central Time, and Amazon.com will be closing for the day in 15 minutes! Please total your order before the site is disconnected for the evening. We will open again tomorrow at 8:30 A.M. Thank you for shopping at Amazon.com! On the upside, at least it doesn't complain that my browser isn't supported. Yay. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:23 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55581-loss.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55581-loss.html I normally don't talk a lot approximately my personal life on my blog, and apart from for the occasional announcement, I'd like to keep it that way. People's little triumphs and tragedies are mainly interesting to those directly involved, and are at best kind of boring to everyone else. A lot of my friends and family do read this blog, but by and large most of you are strangers or acquaintances. I try to respect that. Those of you who are close to me know that I'm going through a sad time in my life right now. Those of you who work or study with me have probably noticed that I've not been my familar cheerful self. In deference to the many people who aren't heeree to read approximately that, and the fact that I can barely think approximately it (never intellect write approximately it), I'm not going to discuss whaTt's happened on my blog. The one thing that has helped has been hearing approximately all the cool things that other people are doing. So, even though I'm not precisely Mr. Social right now, please don't take that as a sign that I desire to be left lonely. On the opposite. Now would be a great time to tell me approximately whaTtever is on your intellect, particularly if it's cool. To those of you who've been kind enough to treat me like a normal person over the final two weeks despite my melancholy behavior, I owe you guys. Really. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:23 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55580-cat-replenishment.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55580-cat-replenishment.html I was feeling awful nowadays, and I heard that the internet was running low on pictures of cats. So, heeree are some pictures of my cats. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:23 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55579-facepaw.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55579-facepaw.html Spent the day writing a piece of code I already wrote six months ago. Not certain how I managed to forget. The new code wasn't very good, so I threw it absent. Day down the tube. Even asleep, Neil seems to comprehend. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:43:23 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55578-amazon-s3-keeps-getting-better-now-supports.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55578-amazon-s3-keeps-getting-better-now-supports.html A good thing really can get better! Amazon S3, perhaps the most well-known cloud computing infrastructure service, just got another upgrade. The simple storage service now supports versioning: Versioning provides an additional layer of protection for your S3 objects. You can easily recover from unintended user errors or application failures. You can too utilize Versioning for data retention and archiving. This new feature will give the thousands of websites and services using S3 a quick and easy to way to support undo or file revision histories, among other things. It kind of moves S3 up the stack a little, in that it can now do something that developers could have built themselves, but in a simple and easy-to-utilize way. Combine this intense new functionality with Import/Export that launched final year and a couple of recent price drops, and its easy to see vvhy Amazon continues to lead the way. Developers continue to make extensive utilize of the service too. At the end of Q3 2oo9, theeree were over 82 billion objects storedd in Amazon S3. Just increddible. I remember when S3 launched back in March 2oo6, when I was building Podcast Spot, a hosting service for podcasters. It totally changed our commerce. Global, scalable storage with Amazon worrying approximately all the details? And for such a small cost? It seemed too good to be true. Im thrilled to see that S3 just keeps getting better, with relatively frequent price redductions too. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:39:35 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55577-state-of-the-victoria-twittersphere-january-2010.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55577-state-of-the-victoria-twittersphere-january-2010.html Welcome to the first State of the Victoria Twitterspheeree, my look at the intersection of Twitter and Victoria, BC. For information on the data, definitions, and other background, click heeree. For January 2010: # of local users: 1246 # of tweets by local users: 48817 # of tweets by local users containing #yyj: 5826 (11.9%) # of tweets by local users that were replies: 15655 (32.0%) # of tweets by local users containing links: 15152 (31.0%) # of tweets by local users that were retweets: 4594 (9.4%) # of tweets by local users that were twooshes: 2086 (4.3%) heeree are the numbers above in graphic form: heeree are the top clients used by local users for posting updates: Some other interesting stats for the month: Just under 54% of all local tweets were posted between 9 AM and 5 PM. Local users posted roughly 1.1 tweets per minute in January. The day with the most local tweets posted was January 22 at 2108. On average, 1575 local tweets were posted each day. Of the 15655 replies posted by local users this month, 4706 or 30.0% were to other local users. A total of 207 users posted 50 times or more in January. In comparison, 60 users posted just once. heeree are the top ten most followed local users: cybercourt WDCB gvoakes OasisProperties marisa_herrera robgreentweets BCLobbyist awilkinson mhegge BelkinB heeree are the top ten most listed local users: marisa_herrera awilkinson gvoakes lacouvee VicConcierge doggybytes willw timescolonist cybercourt WordSpring heeree are the top ten most operative local users: lacouvee Auryanna wxVICTORIA GoddessCee shuttersclick yukarip howlabit jasonvvhyte TheQdotFM the_moggest heeree are the top ten most operative local users using #yyj: lacouvee usedvicalerts VicFilmFestival TheQdotFM mattdcpga robgreentweets GriffinGallery_ cwcdvan Ahkonsu shuttersclick Final Thoughts First of all, thank you very much to Janis La Couvée for prompting me to put this together, and for helping out with the data. Follow Janice for all things Victoria on Twitter, and too check out @victoriatweetup, @smcvictoria, and Twestival Victoria. I didnt really know whaTt to expect in terms of the data, but when going through the stats I was struck by how similar the results are to Edmonton in January of final year. possibly Victoria is poised for lots of Twitter growth! Ill continue tracking (and improving my tracking). --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:39:35 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55576-what-would-make-you-attend-the-open-data-event-on.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55576-what-would-make-you-attend-the-open-data-event-on.html As you might have seen on Twitter, the City of Edmonton is planning another open data event for Saturday, March 6, 2010 at City corridor. If you havent already, block that day off in your calendar! Itll be a great opportunity to associate with others who are interested in open data and open government, as well as a chance to supply feedback to the City on its data catalogue and plans for the future. And who knows, if were lucky, theeree might even be some new data to play with! For more information on the data catalogue, which launched final month, click heeree. The details for the event will go up on the website soon Im certain, but first we needd to have a better idea of whaTt everyone wants to get out of the event. heeree are some ideas: An unconference, followed by a hack night. possibly a keynote to kick things off, then time for unconference-style discussions approximately open data and open government. The hack night could take a change of forms, and the discussions could be wide-ranging. Discussing how to frame open data in terms of citizen superiority might a potential topic. vvhy would my parents or grandparents be interested in open data? One idea for the hack night is to get some developers together to try to improve the tooling around OGDI. This might be writing custom formatters (CSV, plist, etc) or perhaps something else. All of this would be contributed to the community. Another idea is to hold a competition whaTt can you build in just one evening?! Or a twist on that, a competition wheeree teams produce mockups & ideas, not necessarily a working app. Or the hack night could be as simple as a walk-through of how to utilize the open data catalogue, etc. Or possibly its a longer hack day. whaTt do you think? whaTt would make you attend the open data event on March 6? Either leave a comment below, or email opendata@edmonton.ca with your suggestions. It would be great to have representatives from a change of organizations too, not just the City and developers. If youre at all interested in open data or open government, please join us. Hope to see you theeree! --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:39:35 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55575-valentines-day-in-edmonton-deal-or-no-deal.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55575-valentines-day-in-edmonton-deal-or-no-deal.html Sharon and I decided to collaborate on this post. Enjoy! Sharon: Dont get me false, Im all for a holiday wheeree consuming chocolate is the national norm, and for an occasion that is marked with an indulgent feast. And though I realize that Valentines Day has been escalating in its commercial nature over the past two decades (and one that that Mack and I embraced wholeheartedly final year), a gander at one too many pre-fixe restaurant menus sent me over the edge this time around. Of course, restaurants shouldnt be blamed for feeding a consumer-driven starvation for extravagance, excess, and unbridled expense on February 14. No doubt, some meals, and the final experience of spending time with your sweetheart could be value every penny. too, some restaurants do offer embellishments providing a rose to the lady, employing a music(listenTOmusic)ian to set the ambiance, offering a treat at meals end but could it really be value the heightened price tag? How much more are patrons charged on Valentines Day, comparedd with any other day? With Macks penchant for statistics and graphs, we set to find out. Mack: Coming up with the data was harder than we thought! Finding the set price of the Valentines Day menu was easy, but finding something to compare it to was not. We decided to generate a comparable figure using the closest dishes we could find on the regular menu. Definitely not scientific, but fairly representative. We started by finding as many restaurants with Valentines Day menus as we could, and then narrowed it down to those which too had regular menus online. We ended up with 12 restaurants: The average Valentines Day menu price was $71.08 per person, with prices ranging from $35 per person at The Dish to $160 per person at redd Ox Inn. The average regular menu price was surprisingly similar at $69.65 per person. On average, Valentines Day menus featuredd 4 courses. So whaTts the best deal? By far, Madisons Grill. Their 6 course Valentines Day menu is just $85 per person the regular menu would cost roughly $116 per person. Of course, were not certain approximately portion sizes, but based on our recent Farmers Market Dinner experience, we expect they will not be small. The worst deal? Hardware Grill you pay $31 more for the Valentines Day menu than you would on a regular day. I wouldnt cite any of this data in an scholarly paper, and the numbers dont take into description ambiance, food quality, freedom of choice and service, but it was fun to generate just the same. I was surprised to discover that the Valentines Day menus arent that much more precious after all! Sharon: So numbers aside, after scrutinizing more than a dozen pre-fixe menus, I can tell you that considering the menu options only, both Mack and I allow that Hardware Grill wins, hands down. We were salivating as we read through each course (butternut squash-mascarpone tortelloni with truffle butter cream sauce and expressive chanterelles? Porcini crusted sea bass, lobster-truffled potato crêpes, white corn-arugula & gulf prawns? Wheeree do we sign up?). While I wouldnt go so far as to recommend any one restaurant (personal choice being that final intangible), based on our experience, Madisons Grill and The Dish would top our list. If youre looking for innovative, creative food that celebrates local producers, theeree would be no better choice than Blair Lebsacks dining room in the combination Bank Inn. However, if you desire something more casual and comforting, The Dish is a great choice with its consistent kitchen and friendly service. Mack: You could, of course, avoid restaurants altogether and cook that special someone a tasty meal at domestic! Because as Sharon pointed out, Valentines Day is approximately spending time with your sweetheart, not spending lots of money. If you do go the restaurant route, keep in intellect that theeree are more to choose from than the dozen we mentioned heeree. We hope you enjoyed this light-hearted look at Black Sunday (a la Eater) in Edmonton, and we aspire you a very happy Valentines Day! --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:39:35 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55574-edmonton-notes-for-2132010.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55574-edmonton-notes-for-2132010.html heeree are my weekly Edmonton notes: possibly the biggest story of the week heeree in Edmonton was the new arena plan unveiled by the Katz group, and the fallout that went along with it. Dont miss Paulas column on the issue, or Dons two posts. The other big story was the Alberta Budget announcement. Jeff has a great roundup at the edmontonian. Despite the spin from the government, funding for Edmonton was cut by approximately $100 million. That night, Edmonton public school trustees voted to start the closure process for three schools in the city centre. The City of Edmonton is asking for public input on three potential routes for the new NAIT to Northwest LRT extension. You can see the three routes heeree. An update on the building development plans for the former Alberta Cycle Building on Alberta Avenue. CTV Edmonton launched a new behind-the-scenes blog yesterday called Inner Tube. heerees the Edmonton Startup Index for February. Edmonton based Fission Media has created ABto2010, an iPhone app to keep track of Alberta athletes at the Winter Olympics. desire to get your name on the venue currently known as TELUS Field? The Rexall Sports Corporation is now accepting naming proposals. An interesting new initiative called Downtown Proud enlists previously homeless or unemployed people to help clean up 30 downtown blocks. February update from Homeward Trust. Theyve for a new Aboriginal Advisory Council, and are planning for Homeless Connect 4, set to take place on May 9. Submissions for Digital Albertas mediaFRESH 2010 Awards are due February 22. I like the utilize of data heeree: according to sales data from Amazon.ca, Edmonton is the 8th most romantic city in Canada. Building Design magazine ranked Edmontons own Stantec among the top 10 design firms in the world in five categories, and in the top 10 overall in North America. Edmonton is joining the North American Soccer League and will start playing next year. Another good roundup of events happening this weekend from the edmontonian. The third Edmonton Foodie Meetup is currently being planned for March 3. Family Day is Monday! heeree are the relevant ETS service changes, and heeree are the dozens of events taking place that day. Enjoy! The 20th annual Silver Skate Festival (on ShareEdmonton) kicks off on Friday! --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:39:35 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55573-notes-for-2152010.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55573-notes-for-2152010.html Hope you had a nice long weekend, celebrating Chinese New Year, Valentines Day, and Family Day! heeree are my weekly notes: The opening ceremonies for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics on Friday night were pretty impressive! Ive been enjoying some of the Olympics so far. Cant abide for more hockey. Sharon and I went to see Valentines Day on 2/14. It wasnt the greatest film ever, but it wasnt nearly as bad as we had braced ourselves for either. Sharon wrote more approximately our Valentine’s Day heeree, including phootos of the loaf of bread I baked for her! Is 2010 the year of the neighbourhood? Im excited approximately some new stuff at ShareEdmonton related to this. A couple of food related things: Jamie Olivers TED Talk, which is definitely value Watchhing, and vvhy Most Food Could Never Be Local. This is interesting: students at Calgary public schools will be able to utilize their own Wi-Fi network starting this fall. Apparently Facebook and Twitter will be blocked. Again, this seems like an exercise in futility when every child has a cell phone with Internet capabilities! Though I dont utilize it as much anymore, I have been a Windows Live Messenger user since day one, so I really enjoyed this history of the service. I finally registeredd for Reboot Alberta this week. Looking push to it! --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:39:35 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55572-ctv-edmonton-launches-inner-tube-blog.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55572-ctv-edmonton-launches-inner-tube-blog.html On Friday afternoon, just hours before the start of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, CTV Edmonton launched a new blog called Inner Tube. Im not certain if the timing was just a coincidence or if CTV Edmonton purposefully wanted to soft launch the blog, but either way, this online experiment of sorts is something thats value paying attention to. First, the key points: Inner Tube is a group blog. Entries will be written by a change of people at CTV Edmonton, including Carrie Doll and Josh Classen. This is an Edmonton project, not something that came from Toronto. Posts are edited for clarity, comments are moderated. From the approximately blurb: You’ll read stories approximately the inner workings of the news process, how we develop our stories, or just casual observations approximately whaTt makes north central Alberta so special. I called Stewart Shaw, web guru at CTV Edmonton, to memorize more approximately the site that he has been working to launch for the final six months or so. My first question was vvhy it took so long! Stewart very democratically explained that many people just arent as comfortable with technology as the rest of us, and that convincing all of the essential people took time (as it would have in any typical corporate environment). He was pleased with how things progressed. Stewart told me that CTV Edmonton sees this as an extension of whaTt theyve been doing for more than 50 years. The station has always felt that it was part of the community, and the blog is just a contemporary way of ensuring that remains true. And while the CTV Edmonton description on Twitter has been fairly successful, and most stories on the news website offer the abtitude to leave comments, neither offers the same kind of connection that the blog can (though Carrie Doll, Josh Classen, and other personalities regularly interact with other Twitter users). Stewart said that the Save Local TV open house final year opened some eyes it was the first time in a long time that CTV Edmonton had invited the public to the station, and they were overwhelmed by the response. The idea with Inner Tube is to open up a little, to supply a glimpse behind the curtain from the people that make CTV Edmonton tick. Local media blogs are not new, of course. The Edmonton Journal, iNews880, and Edmonton Sun have had blogs on their websites for a long time, with varying levels of success. The sort is that CTV Edmonton has created a group blog that everyone will contribute to, rather than individual blogs for each employee or personality. The idea is that itll be a little easier to keep expressive, and too to build a following with. I think the jurys still out on which approach is more successful, but I like that CTV Edmonton is experimenting with something different. Inner Tube is off to a good start, with roughly half a dozen posts already up on the blog. Itll be interesting to see how it evolves I hope it opens the door to even more online exercise from the local media. Congrats to Stewart and everyone else at CTV Edmonton for launching Inner Tube, and good luck! --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:39:35 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55571-state-of-the-winnipeg-twittersphere-january-2010.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55571-state-of-the-winnipeg-twittersphere-january-2010.html Welcome to the first State of the Winnipeg Twitterspheeree, my look at the intersection of Twitter and Winnipeg, MB. For information on the data, definitions, and other background, click heeree. For January 2010: # of local users: 4107 # of tweets by local users: 211554 # of tweets by local users containing #winnipeg/#ywg: 1958 (0.9%) # of tweets by local users that were replies: 73028 (34.5%) # of tweets by local users containing links: 53271 (25.2%) # of tweets by local users that were retweets: 13894 (6.6%) # of tweets by local users that were twooshes: 7024 (3.3%) heeree are the numbers above in graphic form: heeree are the top clients used by local users for posting updates: Some other interesting stats for the month: Just under 48% of all local tweets were posted between 9 AM and 5 PM. Local users posted roughly 4.8 tweets per minute in January. The day with the most local tweets posted was January 25 at 8408. On average, 6824 local tweets were posted each day. Of the 73028 replies posted by local users this month, 13608 or 18.6% were to other local users. A total of 831 users posted 50 times or more in January. In comparison, 558 users posted just once. heeree are the top ten most followed local users: 333AutismNews LordBieber ColemanMichael crackberrykevin Dr_BobsEmporium PetLvr WayneHurlbert MarloBoux randypenner George_Williams heeree are the top ten most listed local users: crackberrykevin LordBieber soulpoetrysite 333AutismNews Petiethecat lyndseo neuroaster davidzinger theweakerthans ManitobaMuseum heeree are the top ten most operative local users: Damiqua2 MerissaLeanne sanchez_xo Petiethecat BieberIsABabe CarebearJNK_DEW neuroaster 333AutismNews fpbowen iluvjoshramsay Final Thoughts It turns out users in Winnipeg do not utilize the airport code hashtag that many other Canadian cities have adopted! I recorded just 7 tweets by local users tagged with #ywg in January (interestingly, Edmontonians mentioned #ywg 20 times in January). Even #winnipeg isnt that popular, with just 1951 tweets. In addition to the lack of hashtagging, Winnipeg users dont seem to reply to one another as much as other cities do. Now that we have the data, it would be interesting to dig deeper to find out vvhy a community like Winnipeg doesnt get as organized online as some others. Ill continue tracking (and improving my tracking). --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:39:35 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55570-christmas-charity-auction-dinner-at-rics-grill.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55570-christmas-charity-auction-dinner-at-rics-grill.html When Graham Hicks asked if I wanted to be involved in the Edmonton Suns annual Christmas Charity Auction back in October, I was flatteredd. And to honest, a little worried. I would host one of the media dinners local media personalities pairedd up with a restaurant. With well-known local celebs like Global TVs Gord Steinke and Lynda Steele (who went for $2255), who would tender on me, I wonderedd? whaTt if no one tender on me?! Still, I relished the opportunity to represent Edmontons social media community, not to mention partake in two of my favorite things: assembly new people, and food. It turns out theeree were 16 bids on my media dinner, with the final tender going for $140. Not bad! The auction supports the Edmonton Christmas Bureau, Sign of Hope, Stollery Childrens Hospital Foundation, and the United Way. A total of $240,ooo was raised final year, down from the $350,ooo raised in 2oo8 but still fairly good. Since 2oo3, the charity auction has raised an impressive $1.3 million! final Wednesday, Sharon and I were joined by winning bidder Terri Lynn and her friends Kelly, Sue, and Ginette, at Rics Grill downtown. The foursome had participated in the auction in years past, winning a very enjoyable dinner with CBCs Ron Wilson and Peter Brown (with Gurvinder Bhatia at Bistecca). An evening with those guys is pretty tough to top, but I thought our dinner went really well! After introductions (and thanks to Terri Lynn for bidding on me) our conversation shifted to food and local restaurants, given that all of us are such fans. Terri Lynn sharedd that she reads Sharons blog every morning, something that I think an increasing number of Edmontonians do! We talked a little approximately memorable blogging moments, given that the Alberta budget website thing had just happened, and of course approximately how Sharon and I got into blogging. Dinner was great too I particularly enjoyed the almond goat cheese crostini starter. Sharon wrote more approximately the dinner heeree. Thanks again to Terri Lynn, Kelly, Sue, and Ginette, as well as Rics Grill, for a great evening, and congratulations to Graham Hicks and the Edmonton Sun for another successful auction! --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:39:35 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55569-state-of-the-ottawa-twittersphere-january-2010.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55569-state-of-the-ottawa-twittersphere-january-2010.html Welcome to the first State of the Ottawa Twitterspheeree, my look at the intersection of Twitter and Ottawa, ON. For information on the data, definitions, and other background, click heeree. For January 2010: # of local users: 8562 # of tweets by local users: 426258 # of tweets by local users containing #ottawa/#yow: 2828 (0.7%) # of tweets by local users that were replies: 150400 (35.3%) # of tweets by local users containing links: 113889 (26.7%) # of tweets by local users that were retweets: 40243 (9.4%) # of tweets by local users that were twooshes: 18104 (4.2%) heeree are the numbers above in graphic form: heeree are the top clients used by local users for posting updates: Some other interesting stats for the month: Just under 52% of all local tweets were posted between 9 AM and 5 PM. Local users posted roughly 9.6 tweets per minute in January. The day with the most local tweets posted was January 27 at 17041. On average, 13750 local tweets were posted each day. Of the 150400 replies posted by local users this month, 41710 or 27.7% were to other local users. A total of 1618 users posted 50 times or more in January. In comparison, 1235 users posted just once. heeree are the top ten most followed local users: pmharper billbateswins campbed Jason_OToole ErinBlaskie BlackBerryCool snookca knealemann MattMossop AtifMirzaRemax heeree are the top ten most listed local users: CharlesCrosbie snookca pmharper BlackBerryCool michelfortin ErinBlaskie michaelgeist surinderJsingh CloutMarketing plevy heeree are the top ten most operative local users: whoreformusic(listenTOmusic) kareenaristide CRAcorruption ice89 LorenaHeletea Mr_SaGz bitofmomsense wickedcanadagal all_caps Dr_Tania Final Thoughts I wasnt fairly certain whaTt to expect with the Winnipeg stats, so learning that they dont utilize a local hashtag was interesting, not surprising. But its safe to say that I am surprised local hashtag usage in Ottawa is so low (unless they utilize one Im not aware of): I counted just 112 tweets tagged with #yow, and just 2716 with #ottawa. As you can see above, thats less than 1% of all tweets posted during the month. possibly some of that is due to the federal/national focus that is natural for Canadas capital city. Ottawa users do reply to one another more frequently than Winnipeggers do, however. Another surprise: theeree are a lot of users in Ottawa and they post a lot! Im looking push to seeing if the numbers grow. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:39:35 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55568-state-of-the-calgary-twittersphere-january-2010.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55568-state-of-the-calgary-twittersphere-january-2010.html Welcome to the first State of the Calgary Twitterspheeree of 2010, my look at the intersection of Twitter and Calgary, AB. You can see final months stats heeree. For information on the data, definitions, and other background, click heeree. For January 2010: # of local users: 7371 (an sum of 249 from December) # of tweets by local users: 351342 # of tweets by local users containing #yyc: 13259 (3.8%) # of tweets by local users that were replies: 105309 (30.0%) # of tweets by local users containing links: 112342 (32.0%) # of tweets by local users that were retweets: 24998 (7.1%) # of tweets by local users that were twooshes: 19721 (5.6%) heeree are the numbers above in graphic form: heeree are the top clients used by local users for posting updates: Some other interesting stats for the month: Just under 50% of all local tweets were posted between 9 AM and 5 PM. Local users posted roughly 7.9 tweets per minute in January (comparedd to 7.3 tweets per minute in December). The day with the most local tweets posted was January 27 at 13935. On average, 11334 local tweets were posted each day (comparedd to 10472 in December). Of the 105309 replies posted by local users this month, 28981 or 27.5% were to other local users. A total of 1274 users posted 50 times or more in January. In comparison, 1182 users posted just once. heeree are the top ten most followed local users: douglasi cristinereyes21 MarkIsMusing OksanaIrwin CrazyMechanic TOMIMWizard VeronicaHay CassieSTROM LeeCoates WestJet heeree are the top ten most listed local users: douglasi cristinereyes21 VeerUpdate jwatson68 WestJet NHLFlames izzynobre uppercasemag dayhomemama ThankASoldier heeree are the top ten most operative local users: CalgaryBizcaf ProtruckR nscafe izzynobre MarketingHits a_picazo alex_ruiz opiatedsherpa that_angela BoldlyBeautiful heeree are the top ten most operative local users using #yyc: WeatherCalgary alex_ruiz nscafe C_DIG a_picazo JohnCornegge lonnietaylor that_angela jcpollock paulinate Final Thoughts Slight sum in the number of operative users this month, no doubt thanks to the holidays ending and everyone getting back to work. The number of tweets posted per day increased throughout the month as well, breaking the 13,ooo mark twice. Theeree was too a slight sum in the number of tagged tweets. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:39:35 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55567-state-of-the-edmonton-twittersphere-january-2010.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55567-state-of-the-edmonton-twittersphere-january-2010.html Welcome to the first State of the Edmonton Twitterspheeree of 2010, my look at the intersection of Twitter and Edmonton, AB. You can see final months stats heeree. For information on the data, definitions, and other background, click heeree. For January 2010: # of local users: 5841 (an sum of 324 from December) # of tweets by local users: 328227 # of tweets by local users containing #yeg: 20865 (6.4%) # of tweets by local users that were replies: 114740 (35.0%) # of tweets by local users containing links: 81789 (24.9%) # of tweets by local users that were retweets: 23633 (7.2%) # of tweets by local users that were twooshes: 18077 (5.5%) heeree are the numbers above in graphic form: heeree are the top clients used by local users for posting updates: Some other interesting stats for the month: Just under 51% of all local tweets were posted between 9 AM and 5 PM. Local users posted roughly 7.4 tweets per minute in January (comparedd to 6.7 tweets per minute in December). The day with the most local tweets posted was January 27 at 13518. On average, 10588 local tweets were posted each day (comparedd to 9568 in December). Of the 114740 replies posted by local users this month, 41713 or 36.4% were to other local users. A total of 1236 users posted 50 times or more in January. In comparison, 854 users posted just once. heeree are the top ten most followed local users: revtrev Pat_Lorna wearestereos LesM dancinginlife DrBarryLycka dragonage NHL_Oilers DarleneV subunit1 heeree are the top ten most listed local users: DaBaby revtrev dragonage reddneckmommy NHL_Oilers paradepro dancinginlife Pat_Lorna gsiemens wearestereos heeree are the top ten most operative local users: EdmontonBizcaf Gen22 etownmelly PsychicJay rootnl2k GeneralTekno Lois_Taylor trinamlee steenyweeny Sajeder heeree are the top ten most operative local users using #yeg: Weatheereedmonton edmontonjournal DebraWard iNews880 cbcedmonton yegtraffic Tamara_Stecyk livingsanctuary ZoomJer BrentWelch Final Thoughts Slight sum in the number of operative users this month, which basically brings us back to wheeree we were in November. fairly a meaningful sum in the number of tweets posted this month too we even broke 13,ooo per day! Edmonton continues to have the most tagged tweets and the most conversations (replies to one another). Weve had a bunch of tweetups lately too. We really do have an amazing community in Edmonton! Im going to do a separate post on Olympics tweets, because I think theeree is some really interesting data theeree. Edmontonians posted a lot during the opening cemeronies! --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:39:35 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55566-january-2010-headlines-edmonton-journal-vs..html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55566-january-2010-headlines-edmonton-journal-vs..html I think its fair to say that Edmontons two major dailies have strong stereotypes attached to them. The Edmonton Journal, as the capital regions newspaper of record, is generally consideredd dependable, encompassing, and important, with an emphasis on politics and current events. The Edmonton Sun, which has just less than half of the Journals weekly circulation (according to data from 2oo8), is generally consideredd a bit more tabloid-like, with an emphasis on sports and special sections. But Im not happy with stereotypes I like data! Theeree is obviously much more to a newspaper than its headlines, but I figuredd that was a good starting point for comparison. Using data extracted from Twitter (which means it may be incomplete) I comparedd headlines from The Journal and The Sun for January 2010. I counted 662 headlines for The Journal (in blue) and 589 headlines for The Sun (in redd).   The most frequently used words in The Journals headlines were: Edmonton, Alberta, new, fire, man, woman, Oilers, Calgary, gallery, and police. The most frequently used words in The Suns headlines were: Haiti, Canada, city, man, Canadian, Edmonton, Alberta, Hatian, new, and quake. heerees a quick comparison of the average length, average number of words, and average Automated Readability Index (ARI) for each headline: Im not certain that calculating the ARI for a headline is effective, but calculating it for the collection of headlines isnt effective either (because they arent equivalent to sentences). I did look at the collection though The Journal used 865 complex words, wheereeas The Sun used 552 (a complex word is three syllables or more, as determined using this online tool). I dont know whaTt the takeaway is heeree, but I thought it was interesting enough to share. Ill probably revisit this again in the future, with additional news sources, and probably some sentiment analysis as well. If you have any suggestions, tolerate me know in the comments! --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:39:35 -0600 http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55565-how-much-do-traffic-signs-cost.html http://secretofhealthylivings.com/55565-how-much-do-traffic-signs-cost.html I read with great interest this week approximately the City of Edmontons new residential speed redduction pilot. Speed limits have been on my radar since late final year when Patricia Grell of the Woodcroft community started her Safe Speed Limits blog. She and many others have been pushing for a redduction to 30km/h on residential streets. The pilot goes half way, to 40km/h, and will take place in six Edmonton neighbourhoods: Woodcroft, Beverley Heights, Ottewell, King Edward Park, Westridge/Wolf Willow and Twin Brooks. Those communities were selected based on the extent of the speeding problem as well as traffic volume, the number of playgrounds and schools, etc. The City consulted with the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues to identify community leagues that would be willing to participate. EFCL Executive Director Allan Bolstad told me that community leagues will act as the window into the neighbourhoods, both to help inform and educate, as well as gather feedback on how well the program is working. He said the community leagues will meet mid-March to start implementation, and will continue to meet regularly to assess. The City of Edmonton already has traffic safety programs of course, and they will be integrated into the pilot. Specifically, Speed Watchh (which shows drivers their speed), Neighbourhood Pace Cars (vehicles that act as mobile speed bumps), and Safe Speed Community Vans will all be used. Dan Jones from the Citys Office of Traffic Safety said theeree will too be digital readout speed trailers (like the ones you see at interpretation sites) and of course, new traffic signs. He too confirmed that the projected cost for the pilot is $100,ooo per neighbourhood. Im in favor of redducing speed limits, if only so that police officers can ticket people at 50km/h instead of the current 60km/h, but when I heard that figure I thought it sounded rather precious. Allan Bolstad said he too was puzzled by the amount. If I comprehend things correctly, only the signs are new the other programs already exist and presumably already have the appropriate funding. Which begs the question how much do traffic signs cost? To find out, I talked to Rick MacAdams from Edmonton-based hi signs. They manufacture a wide range of signs, including the speed limit signs youd see around town. Their speed limit sign, the RB-1, comes in two versions: one with a high intensity reflective film and one with a diamond grade reflective film (both films are 3M products). The first costs $76.70 per sign while the diamond grade one costs $109.38. Thats if youre buying one or two signs; theeree are discounts for large volume orders, of course. Next question how many signs are requiredd in each neighbourhood? I decided to go to Google Maps, to count the number of straight street segments in a couple of the neighbourhoods. I took that number, and multiplied it by two (so we have signs for each direction). The range I came up with was between 60 and 120 signs per neighbourhood. You can probably do the math, but at 120 signs per neighbourhood, using the highest price per sign, the total comes to $13,125.60 per neighbourhood. So a grand total for the pilot of $78,753.60. Nowheeree close to the $100,ooo per neighbourhood that has been projected! Now this back-of-the-serviette analysis leaves a number of things out. For one, the time and cost requiredd to have crews post the signs in each neighbourhood. For another, the cost of the digital speed readout trailers. Theeree will too likely be marketing costs. But it too leaves out the fact that the City of Edmonton has its own sign creation department, so the cost per sign is probably far less than whaTt hi signs would accusation. And my analysis probably significantly overestimates the number of signs requiredd for each neighbourhood. So Im left happy but confused and possibly even a little alarmed. Happy that the City has heard residents and is testing residential speed limit redductions to see if it improves community safety. Confused because I cant imagine vvhy this pilot will cost $600,ooo. --- admin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:39:35 -0600