Dark and dismal at the crazy lady’s house.

When told the reason for Daylight Saving time the old Indian said...'Only a white man would believe that you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket and sew it to the bottom of a blanket and have a longer blanket.'
Daylight saving time, the brainchild of Benjamin Franklin was not readily accepted in his day but was instigated during World War I due to fuel rationing. Germany realized that the fuel could better be used to serve the war effort, and instituted the first daylight saving laws in 1915. England followed suit in 1916, and, finally, Canada and the USA, in 1918. So I suppose the theory is that we will continue to save fuel because of daylight savings.
To me it just means the lights will be on an hour less in the morning and an hour longer in the evening no real benefit as it is dark when I get up anyway so the lights are generally on for two to three hours at least and it is dark again at around 5:30 at night although we will have to put the lights on around 4pm on a clear day and if cloudy it would be about 3pm so we only have about 5 hours a day without lights and all night of course so daytime can be pretty dark and dismal up here in the frozen north.
Tonight it is –7C/19.4F with a brisk 50km/31mph wind. Enough to freeze your socks off but there are Halloween celebrations going on in the village put on by the hardy souls of the volunteer Fire Department for the few spectators brave enough to venture out. 
Hearing those fire crackers going off makes me think of our dog Annie, now gone to her duties at the alpaca farm. She hated anything that banged and it was hours until we could persuade her to come out of her hidey hole. I have never done Halloween and my kids didn’t either. I wouldn’t want to give children candy anyway. Fortunately no one comes up here to the crazy lady’s house so I don’t have to send them away empty handed. 

News overload

Every morning we have coffee and watch the morning news, mostly for the weather report but lately all we hear is H1N1 and Olympics. I am so fed up with both I could spit. Is there nothing else happening on the planet? Again in the evening at six we watch our local news which is again mostly for weather and to see if the mine has gone any further forward.

I am a news junkie and I know I could turn the TV off but then I would check it out on the Internet anyway. I follow everything from environmental news to the latest technical news.

As far as H1N1 is concerned I think there is far too much fear mongering, people die of the flu every year. Maternal mortality is horrendous throughout the world even in North America the numbers are high, per 100,000 young women there are 6 deaths in Canada, 17 deaths in USA and 83 in Mexico, worldwide 17,553 women die every year  due to pregnancy, but we don’t hear too much about that. Swine flu will come and go but child birth will continue, what are we doing about that.

As far as the Olympics in Vancouver, this January 22 to March 21, I think it was a mistake and I would not have voted for it in the first place. With the drugs and the enormous expense of security, which no city hosting the Olympics can go without these days, the whole spirit of the things is long gone. I imagine this is going to cost the taxpayers a pretty penny. Does anyone know if any city that has hosted the Olympics actually made money from doing so? Montreal hosted them in 1976 and finally paid for them in 2006 having lost money in the process.

So that is my opinion on it for what it is worth.

Binging, thoughts on cholesterol, Vitamin D and doctors.

As many of you know I am a diet controlled diabetic, which means there are many things I don’t eat and I am pretty strict with myself about keeping my blood glucose numbers in really good shape. I was mad that I finally succumbed to diabetes as I had always been quite careful with my diet, never eating junk foods but my Father had diabetes so I guess I inherited it, but it came a lot later because of the care I had taken with my diet, still I was depressed for a while.

Sometimes I just have to binge and today is one of them. I binged on stuff that wouldn’t upset my blood glucose but may add an ounce or two to my weight but all healthy, if too much of a good thing.

I am a lover of wasabi peas so down the hatch they went, also some dark chocolate almonds that I made myself with stevia to sweeten, peanut butter cookies sweetened with stevia and made without flour, using flax meal instead. Finally I whipped up some extra hot and spicy soybeans which have just come out of the oven now,  hot and crispy and ready to burn my taste buds right off my tongue.  I think I am slowing down a bit now and have settled with a cup of tea. All of the above foods are actually very healthy foods so I have not indulged in junk but I have indulged myself a bit. 

I don’t feel guilty although my scale is still hanging 10lbs over what the doctor would like, but I literally have to go hungry to get rid of it so I am just hoping all the additional exercise I plan to get in Mexico will help. I always figure a little extra poundage as you get older is more becoming than the scrawny look anyway. The only thing I can’t seem to budge is my cholesterol and I tend to think this is all hogwash anyway. I believe it is possible the medical profession has been brainwashed by the big pharmaceutical companies that we all need pills to bring cholesterol down. Just as many people die of heart attacks with low LDL (bad) cholesterol as high HDL (good) cholesterol plus our brains need cholesterol. However, I don’t feel I know enough to argue with my doctor on this issue so faithfully take my pills. Since we have purchased Health Insurance for the trip I have to do as my doctor suggests or the insurance is null and void.

I am very grateful for our Canadian health system and before that the British system, and although not perfect it has always met my needs. However, having almost lost my life and the life of my eldest son twice due to two different doctors’ errors, I decided to keep up with the latest medical research myself and not totally leave all the decisions  to the doctors. That is not to disparage them, I think they are great but they are human, they make mistakes, they are over worked, stressed and don’t have the time to keep up with all the research that is out there, regardless what country they are working in. So I feel I should do it for myself.

When the doctor made a mistake in regard to my care while I was pregnant with my oldest son I was asked by the medical association if I wanted to sue as we both could had died. I chose not to sue, I think that would have been morally wrong in that situation. It was an error of judgement on his part not a deliberate act. I survived because of another doctor’s intervention and I am sure the first doctor learned a valuable lesson.

I try and stay fit and eat properly but don’t make a religion of it but one of the things I am realizing now is that I don’t get enough Vitamin D, most people in the northern hemisphere don’t and the latest research says without enough Vitamin D we can’t process cholesterol properly and also we can’t make serotonin which can lead to depression and sleeplessness.  The Vitamin D one gets in milk is hardly enough and there are very few foods one can obtain it from but fatty fish like sardines and salmon contain it along with egg yolks, although a supplement is a good idea, Cod Liver Oil being one of the best. Also getting out in the sun for a least ten minutes without sun block, until your skin turns a little pink which means your body is manufacturing the Vitamin D it needs. That is almost impossible here as it never gets hot enough or rarely, and if I was outside the flies would be biting anyway.

So much to learn, so much we are not told, so much the doctors don’t know, no good worrying about it but taking some steps to greater health certainly pays off.

A Day in the Life – October 25, 2009

Weather in my part of the world:

Snowed starting this morning until noon, cut off internet reception and TV. The snow is probably  here to stay now. 

A simple pleasure:

Watching my husband paint the entrance way, it has been needing it. The whole place is in muted golds, browns and creamy yellows. I like fall colors. He is working his way through from one end to the other. Probably finish it when we come back from Mexico.

From the kitchen:

I made chicken soup today for supper. Lots of veggies and some barley.

Made my own dark chocolates. Added almonds to a sugarless dark chocolate bar plus stevia to sweeten and a little vanilla and put in fridge to harden.

Made peanut butter cookies using flax meal instead of flour and stevia to sweeten.

Since no internet this morning I had to do something.

What am I working on:

Lists for packing

I am reading:

Shanghai by David Rotenberg.

Thinking about:

Often I seem to make my Christian life about what I do for God. You know, so many points for reading my bible and throwing a prayer heavenward, and so on,  but it's not about what I do for God, but about what He does in and through me. If only I would let Him get on with it! He promises that He has begun a good work in me and He is faithful to complete it! I figure I may have 30 years left on the outside, bringing me to 92, I guess I must trust it will be completed on time.

Needing stovetop recipe assistance

While we are Mexico in our rental apartment there is a propane stove top, a very small microwave and a tiny toaster oven. I guess many homes in Mexico don't have ovens because they heat the place up too much.It is well supplied with cups, plates and cutlery but a bit short on actual cooking tools. The American owner who lives upstairs is a bachelor and I don't think he cooks much so he hasn't outfitted the kitchen very well. One large frying pan and one pot. So I have to take a few things down to make my job easier.

I have an electric wok which I was thinking of taking down and possible my slow cooker plus good cutting knife, cutting board, spatula, mixing bowl, and whatever else I can think of. Hubby is scared I am going to take too much but five months is a long time to camp.

I don't cook many things on my stove top here and I am wondering if any one has a favourite easy skillet/frying pan recipe that they would like to share.

I don't want to be inside especially when it is hot messing about over a stove so I want quick meals. I am used to adapting recipes for myself (a diabetic) or simply giving hubby the stuff I can't eat out of a recipe.

When we were down earlier this year I found garlic, tomatoes, potatoes, corn and peppers of all shapes and sizes available easily but the green vegetables that we like are not so readily available so I will be doing some learning and adjusting in the kitchen. That in itself will be a change.

I made my flaxmeal bread recipe today but put 1/4 cup measures of the mix in my frying pan and slow cooked them into little flat breads so I can at least have some bread. Low carb bread I imagine is almost impossible to buy there.

We are in countdown mode now, about one month until we pull out of here, the weather hasn't been bad so far and any snow we have had quickly disappeared, too much to hope for though, I suppose, to beat it altogether.

Want a brain boost

No need to feel guilty for all the time you poke around the Internet you are boosting your brain power.

Research has determined that for older folks, those aged 55 to 78, searching on the internet causes enhanced neural stimulation leading to better reasoning and decision-making.

In a presentation at the Neuroscience 2009 meeting in Chicago, scientists stated, "The results suggest that searching online may be a simple form of brain exercise that might be employed to enhance cognition in older adults." Defying folk wisdom that claims one cannot teach old dogs new tricks.

One of the authors of the study, UCLA psych professor Dr. Gary Small, said, "We found that for older people with minimal web experience, performing Internet searches for even a relatively short period of time can change brain activity patterns and enhance function." In other words, it takes just a matter of days for older first-time Internet users to catch up to their more experienced counterparts in terms of brain activity.

Small also wrote iBrain, a book all about how technology use impacts brain functions.

Twenty-four people aged 55 to 78 whose brains functioned normally, half of whom were daily Internet users, and half not,volunteered for this research.

• First, they searched the web in a lab setting while the scientists took FMRI scans of their brains, looking at changes in blood flow in the brain.
• Next, the test subjects were sent home and asked to search the Internet on assigned topics for an hour a day for seven days over the course of two weeks.
• Finally, the participants returned to the lab for more scans while they searched for more information on different topics.

What researchers found was that the those new to the Internet displayed activity in areas of the brain that govern language, reading, memory, and visual ability during both the "before" and "after" scans. However, their brains showed new and increased activity in the parts of the brain that control working memory and decision-making. The patterns were, in fact, similar to those found in the brains of the long time daily Internet users.

Notes taken from Get Granny to Google: How the Internet Helps Older Brains 

Related articles by Zemanta

• Web surfing boosts brain circuitry in older adults (thestar.com)
• Internet alters older brains in just one week (msnbc.msn.com)
• Doing Internet Searches Boosts Older Brains (science.slashdot.org)
• UCLA Scientists Prove Internet Changes Human Brains (shoppingblog.com)

Heads or Tails – Stop or Go

Skittles has a meme called Heads or Tails this week it is Stop or Go

One wonders where technology will GO to in the next few years but since I love anything techy I hope it won’t STOP.

A lot has changed over the last 10 years. What computer technology of today will become redundant over the next decade?
1. Keyboard and mouse
The keyboard and mouse you use every day will not exist in 10 years, replaced by highly-detailed touch interfaces -- multi-touch systems that support highly complex gestures, such as circling a group of photos, tossing them around, and clicking to remove smudges.
2. Public Wi-Fi
WiMax networks that run in major cities will negate the need for a local hotspot. And as cities develop smart grids that allow citizens to see their power usage in real-time, electric cars report mileage and traffic info over wireless, and streaming video systems replace telephone networks, a widespread wireless network won't just be an emerging tech idea -- it will be a requirement.
3. Landline phone
In 10 years they won't exist anymore, mostly because smartphones will finally take over. Companies have already switched almost entirely to IP-based telephony.
4. Optical discs
In the future, more ubiquitous fiber networks will make broadband faster. Software video distribution networks will finally negate the need for optical discs.
5. Standard game controllers
Game controllers will morph into something more radical, a combination of the Nintendo Wiimote with accelerometer sensors, video systems that scan your body movements and various hardware add-ons.
6. Desktop PCs
Desktops will still be useful for engineers, developers, and video production artists for some time to come. But for most computer users, the desktop already is dead -- netbook and notebook sales are rising fast. Processors and graphics chipsets in notebooks can now compete with desktop equivalents. And portability is no longer just a market segment; every computer user has realized the benefits.
7. Operating systems
An OS will have to exist to manage memory and core functions. But the bloatware of today will be replaced by an extremely thin OS that may not even have a name.
8. Blogging
One reason blogging has become so popular has to do with the one-way nature of web communications. You post your thoughts, and people read them. In 10 years, the web will become much more interactive, leading to better overall information sharing.

Source: Tech Radar September 30, 2009

A day in the life – October 17

The weather in my neck of the woods:

Today..Cloudy with sunny periods. 40 percent chance of showers. High 
5C/41F
Tonight..Cloudy. 30 percent chance of rain showers or flurries
overnight. Low –3C/26.6F

A simple pleasure:

My look after myself day. Shaved my legs, conditioned my hair, stuff like that. Sorted out my makeup, lotions and potions into Mexico and leave here piles. I like makeup and not a day goes by without me putting a bit of a face on and doing my hair even though I probably won’t see anyone but Dave. I do it even if he is away. I like myself better that way I do it for myself because he doesn’t notice anyway.

I am thankful:

Was able to get a pneumonia shot for free. Doctor advised it although I am not having H1N1 shot. I do have certain medical conditions like COPD and asthma as well as diabetes. None of which bother me or make me ill just are there.

From the kitchen:

Cooked black beans then tossed in garlic and olive oil with onions and tomatoes.

Put a pork roast in slow cooker with onions and sage.

Made orange lemon marmalade.

I am working on:

Doing all the boring stuff like organising bill payments etc. for while we are in Mexico and checking health insurance rates.

I am reading:

School Days by Robert Parker (just finished)

The In-Between World of Vikram Lall by M.G. Vassanji

Thinking about:

Contrary to being about man's morality and righteous deeds, the gospel is a revelation of God's righteousness, which can only be received by man as a gift. It's not something man does. It's something he receives and walks in freely.  To be ashamed of the gospel is to be ashamed of the gift that God gives and instead to try to attain it by your own deeds.

Heads or Tails - Cause

   Skittles started a meme called Heads or Tails this week the theme is Cause.

When we are in Mexico this winter we will be connecting with Castaway Kids  which is a charitable organization working in San Carlos and area, in the state of Sonora where we will be spending the winter.

Castaway Kids has taken on the task of helping those rebuild who lost everything to Jimena in September.  Their immediate goal is to make sure that the wiped out communities of Santa Clara, Salvacion, and San Jose will be provided with tent homes while they attempt to rebuild their homes.

Dave is planning to help with some of the rebuilding and no doubt there will be something I can do, but I am not sure what as yet.

What a little sunshine can do for you.

After years of telling us to keep out of the sun, we are now being told that sunshine plays an important role in our health. Getting sunlight on your skin it has been discovered to be extremely important for preventing and possibly reversing chronic diseases: prostate cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, mental depression, osteoporosis. Scientist claim that sunlight can actually reverse osteoporosis.

You probably know the importance of calcium for your health. If you don't have enough calcium you are going to have cardiovascular problems and you will probably end up with heart disease. Calcium is also crucial for healthy nervous system. However without vitamin D  your body cannot absorb calcium even if you take supplements. So if you are not getting sunlight or ultraviolet radiation on your skin, then you are probably not absorbing the calcium. Your skin generates vitamin D in response to sunlight exposure. 

In fact, vitamin D is a key compound in the regulation of cancer cell growth. Researchers are just now figuring out that people who are chronically deficient in vitamin D, which includes most North Americans, are at far greater risk of a variety of different cancers. Vitamin D has been shown to be the single most powerful chemical compound known to medical science for preventing hormone-related cancers such as breast cancer and prostate cancer.

What can you do if you live in the north. One choice is using a tanning booth or to find a source of vitamin D. One of the best ways to do that is to drink cod liver oil on a daily basis. A tablespoonful of cod liver oil would go a long way toward boosting your vitamin D count and protecting you from chronic disease. Cod liver oil is close to tasteless, although you can purchase flavoured varieties.  Although milk has the addition of Vitamin D it will not give you enough. Most of the vitamin D in milk has been destroyed by  exposure to light. The most efficient vitamin D supplement is still fish oil, and cod liver oil is the best way to go.

Vitamin D will give you healthier bones, tissues and blood. You'll help prevent cancer, depression and gum disease. You'll heal more quickly from injury, and your mood will markedly improve. Just ten minutes a day without sunscreen in sunlight can do this for you.

Although I take Calcium tablets with Vitamin D I must admit I hate taking them and often forget or even deliberately don’t take them. Also I don’t go out in the sunshine enough so I am sure I do not get enough of this vitamin. Now I know, this is something I must make myself do every day regardless of bears, flies or cold, as long as the sun is out I can walk up and down in the sunshine on our own property. Dave is out all the time so he doesn’t want to go for a walk with me, and anyway he is 6’3” and I am 5’3” and I can’t walk fast enough and it frustrates him to toddle along.  I can’t wait to get to Mexico and start soaking it up, I plan to do a lot of walking there.  

Notes from Vitamins on Line

Elderhood. What is that?

For Jeni on her 65th birthday. I have known her via the internet since 2006 and although we have never met I consider her a dear friend. So dear friend you have lots before you. It was because of your birthday I started researching aging and I am only three years behind you anyway. I found this inspiring I hope you and others will too.

Many of the books about life after age 60 emphasize how to hold on to youth as aging is viewed as a decline, a series of losses - until you reach the ultimate loss - the loss of life itself. This view of life after age 50 is embedded in much of the current Western literature.  In western culture we do not honour the elderly as many other cultures do, especially since our culture rewards economic contribution and youth, and considers that the aging have nothing to offer. The affects of aging may be inevitable, but these do not lessen a person’s value. In contemporary Western culture, the young are considered more valuable than the elderly .

This is at best a false view of human development after age 60 and at worst it is degrading to those in the last third of their lives

There is an alternative to this view that holds that there are at least three stages of human development: Childhood, adulthood and elderhood and that the goal of human existence is progressive growth though these three stages in order that at the end of  life one is ready to move on because life has been lived fully and completely as child, adult and elder.

It is not considered a loss for a child to move into adulthood but only the losses that an adult faces when moving into elderhood are mourned.  Do not allow yourself to believe that aging is any more about losses than was the transition from childhood to adulthood.

Childhood and adulthood have been researched and written about at length but elderhood the third major stage of human development has almost nothing written about it.    

In the developed world most people are so focused on adulthood, that is, adult tasks, powers and responsibilities that they give little thought to the next stage of human development. Some researchers believe that one of the reasons why many adults fear aging is because they have no idea that there is a another developmental stage beyond adulthood. Freedom is one of the most important aspects of the third stage of human development. Adulthood may be characterized by accomplishment and responsibility but we are taught there is little positive about growing old. 

Psychologists have said that there are more individuals in a room full of eighty year olds than in a room full of 50 year olds. Perhaps the main use of this new freedom in our older years is to become who we truly are - the person that we were made to be.  In fact this becoming who you 'truly are'  could be one of the great tasks at this stage of your life.

Notes taken extensively from Anti Aging Articles 

• Proverbs 16:31:  Gray hair is a crown of splendour; it is attained by a righteous life.
• Leviticus 19:32:  Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God.
• Job 12:12:  Is not wisdom found among the aged?  Does not long life bring understanding?
• Psalm 92:15:  They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing, to declare that the Lord is upright.
• 2 Corinthians 4:16:  Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
• Ruth 4:15:  He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age.

A day in the life – October 8

This is an idea I stole from Danielle's  Day Book. Often I don’t know what to write but as I think about my day I realize there may be some interesting items. Well at least to me.
The weather in my neck of the woods:
Today..Cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. High 7C/42F
Tonight..Cloudy with 60 percent chance of snow flurries or rain showers.
Wind becoming southeast 20 km/hr. this evening. Low -3C/26F.
I am thankful:
To have lots of wood in store so I can be as warm as I want to be and no reason to go out if I don’t want to. Hubby has stocked the wood shed completely full we probably have enough for the next three years.
From the kitchen:
I had a scrawny old stewing hen which I boiled up yesterday. Today the poor little thing will turn into a sumptuous curry. Have been trying out buckwheat and its effect on my blood sugar. It has no effect so I can incorporate some of that into my diet. Buckwheat is not a cereal it is actually a fruit related to rhubarb and sorrel. It contains ingredients purported to lower bad HDL cholesterol and lower blood glucose too. I have been looking up recipes other than buckwheat pancakes.
I am working on:
Finishing a blouse that I started in May. I lost interest in it but there is just a hem to do now. Also I am working on another bracelet on my loom. I have done a few now hopefully I will sell some at the Christmas bazaar.
I am reading:
Pilgrim by Timothy Findley is a review of the book, it is a bit different but I think it could be quite interesting. I have only just started it. I also got out several other books last night, I read so quickly I have to have at least five at a time. That lasts me about a week. I will read just about anything.
What I am thinking about:
The gospel was never meant to be used as a means of protesting the sins that are committed in the world.  That's not what the gospel is about.  The gospel is a declaration of God's love and grace toward people and it's the power that defeated sin - not protested it! Grace Roots
Did I exercise:
I walked up and down for 20 minutes and did some stretching. I may do more later.

Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, and Others Also Hit by Phishing Attack

In yesterday's attack, the list of comprised Hotmail accounts were limited to those where the usernames started with the letter "A" or "B."   The most recent list of compromised accounts includes login credentials for Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Earthlink, and Comcast users, so regardless of whether or not you think your account was compromised, today would be a good day to change the password on whichever webmail service you currently use. Better safe than sorry!

Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, and Others Also Hit by Phishing Attack

What is phishing?

Shared via AddThis