Dash For Power

To watch the numbers tick on the World Clock, it seems that healthy lifestyles continue to be coming to an end and now we can see. We can count off each second to the tenth power how much the temperature of the earth is increasing. This information from the United Nations, which is gathering information from every weather station on earth mostly now all on line. So we know when the seas will begin to turn all us coastal folks into members of the I love Venice club, and open our gondola concessions.

But that doesn’t solve the problem of all those jets in the sky, that the numbers will double and double again. Soon each rich new Chinese will want to see Paris again. Dear gasping mother earth says take the train, not the plane. So here is our blue pie in the sky vision, we present this to you. If you agree, send a message or three, jets are fueled by kerosine, which is that trail up there that spittles on you and me. So each day you get home, and have been out for a stroll, if the day has been cloudy it may be a jet roll. so have a good shower when you get to home, and light not a candle to your kerosine dome.

Your hair is sprinkled with stardust so kerosine pure, or dirty to be honest, and that is for sure. So here is a plan, that the Economist ran. Sprinkle the globe, with a high tech railroad, under the sea between Siberia to we, and work on your project serene, while the transport gets you from Rio to Rome, or Moscow or Nome, London to Cairo, Johannesburg, up to Istanbul, then zip on back home. Look at a map, and imagine who might object. And work with those factors, and we have a fast track.

China has begun, at which France and Japan have excelled, to fast track trains rather than freeways, which America and Britain have tried. If China chooses the Anglo American vision on this and builds freeways for one billion cars, while they extend their coal burning plants, we will all soon live in a hellish gray skied hot place, in which we all become sicker. China privately admits it is losing perhaps ten percent of it’s productivity on sickness and lost time, and this is climbing, as is the global clock temperature chart.

The route is here. Or do we want to be noble, blind, so full of our manifest destiny and sense of being chosen, or that our jihad is more holy than your crusade, or that your ancestry in north Ireland creates in me a need to kill, to revenge that bloody hand. My father did extensive genealogy of our family, nobles, buffoons, and arrogant fools. I had an Irish American mother, but my English Canadian father once told me we were entitled to have in our English coat of arms the bloody hand of English in north Ireland.

I had to ask. It seems that when King James offered that northern quarter of Ireland to which ever English could put their hand on the soil first. And, speaking of fanatics, apparently we have in our blood that one ancestor of mine saw another boat was beating to the beach, he chopped off one hand and threw with great force, and it did land on the beach, which now made it his, and he was in charge. King’s Han Chinese hall monitors rules. To you, King James, from both my Irish heart and even my English soul, you should not have made such an intrusive, arrogant law.

And if we need to take a boat to Dublin, or even a non jet clean aircraft from Dublin to London, some how some more English and Moors and Christians and Jews and and blacks in south Africa could at least visit by train. Which would be a healthy change, and mighty refrain. Blue skies, nothing but blue skies, all day long. Is not possible. New coal plants to build. New jets to fly and spray us, coal in our lungs, kerosine in our hair. Do you have sum ting against progress, you did all this, we can too. Oh, where is that train, convert dear Boeing and we could soon train to Spain, enjoy the rain on the plain. And that is my refrain, I will say again and again.

The lessons of history are clear. When your buggy whips are not good any more, remember you are in the transportation industry. Less planes, more trains, same companies.

Happiness can be as elusive a state to be in, as depression can be to get out off. We know it when we see it in others: a laughing couple, a tender holding of hands between an elderly couple, a child on a swing in the park,Within our own lives, it can be obvious as well: a meeting with a long unseen loved one, almost any time with a grand child, a sense of achievement at completing a task, the praise of one we respect, the smile of a loved one.

There has been further recent research of the value of statins and whether they help more than hurt. And the case for statin use among many who use it is not very strong, as lead researchers of an innovative team from the Therapeutics Institute at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver Canada has found.

In part, it was a fluke that an alert Vancouver machinist became a patient put on and taken off Lipitor, and whose case came to the attention of of the doctor of Wynn. James M. Wright, also a professor and head of the federal government funded Therapeutics Institute was looking at different ways to see how well statins really work.

Yes, statins can save lives. But as noted this week with the releaqse of this much needed up to date view from a different angle, it can cause more harm than good to many. I, for one, have stopped my plan to this evening have my good night statin.

They do not help those over 65, do not help women, cause loss of memory and disorientation in too many, and the results of their positive effects have been applied in a way that these scientists have changed to what may be the new science standard for worth or value of a drug: Number Needed To Treat (NNT) .

On this score, as example, Antibiotic Cocktail to eradicate ulcer-causing stomach bacteria (H.pylori) has a 1.1 ratio to reduce bacteria. That is in almost every case it cures. Next best on this scale for power in application is this plus to eradicate ulcers, which will cure one in two in a year.

Lipitor and other statin cholesterol-lowering drugs when use in people who have suffered a heart attack or display signs of heart disease have an NNF score of 16-23. To prevent an actual death the NNT is 48.

Below that, statins to those with no hear disease but who have high blood pressure, there was no clinical reduction in deaths or serious heart issues, so a precise measure from the graph in Business Week estimates a 1 in 500 NNT value.

Below that, the graph by Business Week from the Therapeutics Institute places Avandia, which controls blood sugar, and Zetia, which lowers cholesterol , have an effective likelhood under NNT of 1,000 to 1.

The need to be up to date on such findings is so important as drug costs and medical expense soar for us all. Further studies such as this very fine use of federal funds are much welcomed indeed. We so often find that after a moment of glory some wonder drug may end up causing us to wonder how he survived it.

Business Week sounds like us when it suggests that perhaps a simple switch to a Mediterranean diet, and we would add lots of celery since science has shown it lowers bad HDL rapidly, naturally. Make your celery soup with elegance and do not boil, simmer and let us see if our brains as well as our arteries clear up, clean, pure, us and the deep blue sea. Here is a celery in your bloody Mary: eat, drink, be Mary.

How we are able to handle ourselves as we age becomes a matter of vital concern, and especially for women. In Britain, there is a women’s self defense course that is bringing surprising results. The Toronto Globe and Mail reports that an elderly British woman who is taking self defense training recently fought off two muggers with her self defense stick, one of whom was hospitalized. Rather a star, she now gives examples. Classes begin with warm ups, they focus on gentle movement of the hands, wrists, arms and bodies, and goes on to turning and twirling the stick. Pupils of all ages learn how to practice sets of movements.

It is only then they begin to learn simple strangle holds, arm locks and throws, using their walking sticks. Kevin Garwood, a British martial arts expert has devised this special walking stick that helps seniors, and particularly senior women, to walk safely and protect themselves if attacked. He added that the woman he had trained who fought off the muggers went to the police station because she was worried about having hurt the boys.

Now that is consideration. She will get to Heaven, with her wise heart and agile skills. The boys, somewhat the wiser, still need to work on several skills. Including, it would seem, their social skills before they get out of reform school.

Derek Dashwood

Modern humans in Europe may have evolved or mixed between Neanderthals, who otherwise died out, with Homo Sapiens, who now make up humanity. The waves of Ice Ages forced both of these groups, as with animals, farther south. Around 40,000 years ago, cave excavations in southern France show only reindeer bones, compared to later returning larger ungulates who require more warmth and plant growth to survive.

It could have been during this time that Neanderthals, forced into the areas more controlled by the emerging Homo Sapiens, lost in one more wave before a stronger species. But, Eugene Morin, an anthropologiy professor at Trent University in Ontario, says “It seems that the Neanderthals were not completely erased”.There was a population decline during this period, all of Britain was under ice.

At these cave sites, both Neanderthal and Homo Sapiens bones have been found, and then in the ranges of cold, woolly mammoths, wolves. The generally accepted view of scientists studying this era and area is that both species existed at the same time, may have done some interbreeding, and that between 32,000 and 24,000 years ago, Neanderthals became extinct.

This is an on going study, and the general view that there may have been some inter breeding brings forward the thought of differing protective body defense mechanisms that might exist between any of these descendants and the rest of us. We know and are learning to discuss body defense strengths, and weaknesses even between us Homo Sapiens who happen to be black, yellow, brown or “white”. Whether by diet, lifestyle, circumstance or heredity, black men suffer more hypertension, white some kinds of cancers, other groups, other weaknesses.

It could well be that we learn or adapt from each strength, and by hook or pill we learn to swallow ways to become better by learning, and using that information. More on this soon, many bright minds must also be pondering this, now that again since 1979, when Neanderthal bones were first found mixed with Homo Sapiens in southern French caves. More on this soon.

People keep replaying old negative scripts till it kills them- a possible way out

• Studies of nine thousand British Civil Servants were tracked long enough that it was found that people could die of a “broken heart”, they kept replaying the old script that failed until it broke their hearts, literally. The article appeared in the Archives of Internet Medicine, and they found the stress and anxiety of hostile, angry relationships can boost the risk of developing heart disease. Chances of a heart attack or chest pain rose by 34% for those in stressful relationships, in contrast to people on good terms with their spouse.

• Researchers noted that ” negative aspects of close relationships…are associated with coronary heart disease.” Hm. Is that why henpecked Uncle Dexter, and bullied Aunt Doris, both died at 48? Other studies have shown the protective value of a nurturing relationship, but this was the first to study the ill effects of a non nurturing relationship. The research team followed these subjects over a 12 year period, and reported that those who stayed together but reported a high degree of hostile arguments, criticism and other types of conflict, as we mentioned above, had a 34% greater risk of heart attacks or chest pain.

• When the researchers stripped out risk factors such as obesity, smoking, drinking and family history, the chance of a heart attack in a hostile relationship was still 23% higher, said Dr Roberto De Vogli, an epidemioligist at University College London, the leader of the study. “If you have good people around it is good for your health. If you have negative people around it is much worse for your health.

• The danger is that for all the positive effect of social relationships are having a significant protection effect, the negative impact seems far stronger, said Dr. De Vogli. “People continually replay negative experiences”. The writer has been since 1968 a meditator, one who once sat at the feet of the Maharishi, now famous from his teaching the Beatles the previous year, and the writer was once introduced, in a very holy experience, to the Dahli Llama. At the same time, the writer was a Psychology Major. And while it is true that negative can overpower positive, you can also work through those negatives, and retrain yourself, gradually, hopefully, through those moments.

• When the writer was 13, a halloween bonfire rocket slipped in the sand as it was lit and shot through the crowd into the face of a woman standing behind me: she fell on me, I turned, people pulled away from us both and she stared at me until she died, with this large rocket sizzling into her left eye, blood pumping out, and her baby laying next to her, alive but singed. I no longer waking up dreaming of that, but it took self hypnosis and therapy. And for you, too, there may be a moment you wish to forget, hopefully not a permanent negative situation. For me, it took years of meditation for 20 minutes a day allows inner self healing, somehow, some circuits can be quieted, more positives placed in the way.

• Soldiers, police, anyone in the line of fire knows how powerful such a negative can affect, over time. The elders know rockets and poor marriages can kill, while innocent youngers only see but exciting sparklers, enchanting engagements, happily ever after marriages, a life of joy and excitement.

• With a rocket, or a failing marriage, it may take therapy and positive living to realize what was rare, was is ongoing pain. If you are both not good for each other, therapy is best, healing better, separation if necessary. When children involved, more lives to be considered. But an unhealthy home is a killer, science now shows. Let’s kiss, make up, do something good, go plant a tree.

• Derek Dashwood

More stomach fat news that seems amazing.

New research indicates that the body frame of a woman is designed with a distinct disc at the base of the pelvis that is missing in men. This has allowed a woman, about half way through her pregnancy, to adjust her spine to allow the woman to walk quite naturally, with her frame tilted back to hold her center of gravity in place for her natural daily movements and activities. And so, a pregnant woman is able to carry on without her back muscles having to tense up, as in the case for men, which causes spinal, heart and other health problems for any man carrying excess stomach fat.

So the message is clear, gents. The fat on the belly throws your spine out, affecting your health in many ways. One more reason women live longer. The writer once weighed 235 pounds on a 6 foot frame. Now, this morning, as I weighed myself I found my weight was 179.5. And you fellows, looking 12 months pregnant, almost needing a cane to walk, you know who you are. “No” thyself at the dinner table.

You don’t realize you are full until 20 minutes you have already eaten too much. Enough is enough. Love yourself enough to deny thy sugars and salts and animal fats, get out and walk. Fat bellys look beautiful on a pregnant woman, repugnant on a man, indicative of over indulgence, which for us guys, really leads to eventual self loathing.

My changing moment came 10 years ago, after back from a wonderful 6 week holidays around Europe with my youngest daughter. We had a marvelous time; restaurant meals, bus tours, eurotunnel to Paris. But when we got home I weighed 235 and looked like I was expecting twins. And you may be doing yourself in, also in some of these loving, enjoy the moment ways.

It leads us men early to grave. Time to shape up, gents. The ladies only stay fat for months, then get on with raising a wonderful new creation. Your fat belly is killing you; you may deny but your loved ones know. Take care, love yourself enough that when you get from your version of 235 down to your version of 179.5 you surely find yourself looking into the mirror in awe and joy. Fat shrinks you all over, your face will look more like Clint Eastwood than Fatty Arbuckle and you will again feel good, walk so much lighter, and those smiles from the ladies change from pity to admiration. Is that really me, all this time hiding under all that fat?

Do it for you. Even your large tummied pregnant friends will be impressed, even if they likely lose their big bellies before you. Get started. Enjoy the journey and keep the goal in mind. No fat people live to 100, too much strain on the system, heart or cancer kicks in. For long lives, you must eat right, get your exercise, keep your mind and body nimble, avoid stairs. But for now, lighten up.

Derek Dashwood

“Let no Pleasure corrupt thee…a good Conscience is a Continual Christmas”

• That is the beginning and end greeting from Benjamin Franklin in Poor Richard’s Almanac for December 1741. In a moment, the entire quote, but that date Dec 1741 was 200 years before Pearl Harbour, yet at his time of writing America did not exist other than as 13 restive English speaking colonies. And in Philadelphia in the middle between north Puritan Boston and slave holding Charleston and Savannah, as Post Master, Benjamin Franklin knew the mood of America better than any, and his Almanac and other industries were making him comfortably rich.

• Yet, in this Christmas greeting, he also speaks of caring for the poor, the needy…

• “Let no Pleasure tempt thee, no Profit allure thee, no Ambition corrupt thee, no Example sawy thee, no Persuasion move thee, to do anything which thou knowesth to be Evil; So shalt thou always live jollily: for a good Conscience is a Continual Christmas. Adieu.

• Early to bed, early to rise, makes Jack healthy, wealthy and wise. That was from another year, but like Shakespeare, don’t you love all the platitudes Franklin and Shakespeare speak in? Oh, you mean they made them up. It is I and thee that make them platitudes? Well, when , if it speaks of wisdom and living with your conscience, made me wonder if those pilots who bombed Pearl Harbour that day 200 years after Franklin wrote about do no evil and live jollily.

Franklin also said often, it will all end up well in the end. I think he is right, t surely will end up right, if we remain fair minded and reasoning, with our hearts open, as Dr. Franklin always approached each new potential adversary, or ally as a dear friend he had heard much good about. Most of us strive to accomplish good, always saying as if they were the first, I want my kids to have it easer than I did. So, while dad tinkers in the basement, noticing how these two harmless compounds gel when mixed with this other… mom cradles, all is as it was…Except it may be dad playing with the kids while mom applies her knowledge to the new probiotic attacking the destructive cancerous antibiotic gone bad… What do you think? Is it a good thing Rapunzel has finally let her hair down, cut it to fund her University of Heidelberg studies of Heirlooms-sorry- and organic whey farms for lost cows. We moove that we meet on that side of the pasture. Step carefully, the horses have benn here also. But what a natural foods feast we have for you. Did you find your whey OK?

Derek Dashwood

Dogs make us walk; cats and birds we love, but make us sick.

• Dogs have become our closest animal companion for a reason: we found early they were good for us. Helping us forage, learning to bring a bird without eating it from our spear or thrown rock; needing our company, needing walks.

• The desert bred cat of Egypt, in contrast kept his duties inside the palace, or the hovel, eliminating the rodents from the wheat piles at harvest time. More aloof, it chose it’s companions, as long as the food supplier supplied treats with the self serve rodent diet. And into the European plague thousands of years later, cats attacked the rats. But cats are prone to many cancers, and pass some of these potential germs; their feces should never be touched when being removed.

• Birds such as hawks have been hunting creatures for kings and pharoahs, also trained, and forced with a ring around their throat to prevent swallowing.And a very sturdy leather covered arm to land on.

• Otherwise, canaries who can sing down the coal mine were life savers for the men. When the canary stops singing, poison fumes, everone out of the mine.

• Nowadays, the dog, the cat are at our feet by the fire and the bird is nearby in his cage, coughing his own birdie flu coal dust our way.

• Since I and you have enjoyed all this in our childhood and would love to have our children know such fun too- my youngest daughter used to create a bird maze of pillows and toys for her three budgies to walk to; we will still find ourselves, as self appointed tellers of health truths, the truth is:

• DOGS are healthiest pets. If you can only have one pet, this is it. This morning I have paused to sip my coffee at my balcony several times. It is early. So far, the first four humans I have watched jog by have been attached by leash to a dog. Not a cat. Not a bird. Those owners are home, their cats licking them with a tongue laced with blood with cancers, leaving steaming feces or their powerful urine in plant pots, wherever. And above, Tweetie is scatching his mites, sending measurable dusts of them, an infected feather, again, use gloves when cleaning this Avin Flu potential site.

• Walk your dawg. His poops are your responsibility, againn plastic glove or plastic bag inverted around your working hand, make it work and leave the park clean.

• Train your pooch to be nice, not a biter. Choose the least nervous among one of the most people friendly groups: from spaniels to golden retreivers or labradors, people know you, and you pooch, are just out to sniff the flowers and a nice long walk.

• However, studies show that if are seen walking a fighting trained dog that might attack a child, you are a hate filled person who needs help, and enough people such a person passes knows, or should know that. This Rottweiler, or Pit Bull, may appear harmless, but it’s genes, especially if there are two of them, can make this animal snap and revert to it’s killer inside. They were bred for a reason: to kill.

• Your typical SPCA pooch just wants someone to love, and go for walkies with.

• Check our sources for healthy dog food, organic and natural. Such as petPlanet2U, apdempsey, to name two American pet food suppliers who maintained their vital 100% customer satisfaction ratings with Amazon customer reviews. And this, in a year of lead and melamine in our dog’s food, is a merit of excellence indeed. Take a look.

Derek Dashwood

Your new Gym, HDTV, Heart Monitor, Fitness Trainer, Biofeedback only needs You.

• Great news. Your life can really be extended, by you. Read our updated Home Gym Essentials, in either our Pages, or Categories Sections. This ultimate life time health science based routine has been carefully building, now together to take into consideration your ultimate goal, which we assume is, to get healthy, have some fun while doing it, maybe learn some things about your own body, while you study the world on a new wide screen HDTV, put on your watch type Heart Monitor and Fitness Trainor, check yourself on the Freeze-Framer Biofeedback System.

• And with all that, as you sweat and work out, you will see whether you are working along just fine, or your blood rate needs slowing back, could handle more. Now all this is available, We have placed them each in our new showroom and let you walk around them, admiring, kicking a tire or - we can put a virtual palm tree here:

• You have your Body-Solid G6B Home Gym. Wow.

• You have your Pioneer PDP5076HD Purevision 50″ Plasma HDTV.

• You have your Suunto T-3 Heart Rate Monitor & Fitness Trainer.

• You have the Freeze-Framer 2.0 USB Biofeedback System. Amazing.

• And you have you. Soon, imagine this, you could buy a few $20 palm trees, and you could be sweetly sweating in some tropical paradise, safely monitored, by you. We always wondered if this could happen, and now, item by priority, it can. Health and happiness for life. I am impressed, hope you are too. Well done, Wes.

Derek Dashwood