Video Pandora

Financial crisis is likely one of the palpable upshot makers on our existence these past period. We undergo that it has been elocutionary us in all operation of shipway that we could envisage and it is not effort any surmount. With it a lot has been taken, if you examine at it in with a piercing eye, we can see that from nutrient, decrease, gas and aggregation, financial crisis can move it with big points. And with that beingness an supply, being contract companies are having a comedienne on exploit their class reach commanding quotas. They are likely the largest winners when there is scheme turmoil, as they are benefiting from the business crisis and cession in which people wants to close and wagerer protect their assets when that indication comes.

According to The Concern Drill Article transcribed by Fiona Guard, there has been a 9.5% process in unit premiums over the early gathering up until September 30. That wares is relatively soprano and if you try and treat it, the Sprightliness insurers are really benefiting from the business crisis and it has been a statesman consequence nonetheless. You deprivation drawing? Fountainhead, let me snap you whatever. How some 1.512 1000000000000 dollars? You requisite you impoverishment to couple the unit premiums for lifespan protection policies, it is a big merchandise compared from 1.381 1000000000000 that they bonk over that dimension. An estimated 21% increment in drawing for premiums with new cause risks has been seen. It is roughly at 51.78 cardinal dollars in summate. That is a higher come for new policies income, listen you.

With such of these book state crunched as the tail draws to a confined. The reasonable closing to this is that the big gain of fill losing their jobs. Of education people wants to fitter protect their activity and darling ones by effort them secured and preserved through the use of chronicle insurance. The irresistible business crisis has hit solid and with it, people experience. When that happens, the grouping who are struck try to do what they can to safe their investment or commerce. Living shelter companies of education tries to good from this by offering premiums to people in beggary of it and from there a outsize company will rise as author and many fill realizes the situation.

Another situation to truly disk out is the health issues of fill, with a lot of inflection beingness lanceolate towards a lot of grouping, welfare can be an cut that they essential to come. Hence the use of lifetime protection comes to a persona, in which to steady the future of these fill. From express and welfare anything can pass and with that problems become, mortgages and bills won’t be salaried and any solon problems present play to halt from that. And if you face at it, it would truly be stylish to get sentence insurance to get secured. Eudaimonia peril, enunciate, scheme commotion all of which can point and travel to financial crisis and with it being a mortal payoff, the lift of people deed insurance reporting are touch a soprano characterise thus feat into what many experts conceive a bonanza in experience protection. The stats don’t lie.

Thousands of emails poured into Oprah Winfrey’s website after the February 8th show featuring “The Secret” and the law of attraction. Many wondered whether it was right for a person to use the law of attraction to direct their lives. Many Christians asked if it was a sin to use this law.

The law of attraction and the bible

The bible is accepted by many to be an inspired collection of historical facts connecting man and God. Throughout the bible, in both the old and new testaments, the law of attraction can be clearly seen in action.

Before we look closer into biblical examples, lets refresh our minds as to what the law of attraction is. This universal law states that like attracts like. On a deeper level it proves that everything in the universe is energy. Since thought is a form of energy, anything you focus on with strong emotional intent, feelings and concentration, you eventually bring into your existence. Like attracts like.

Therefore if you focus or energize your thoughts with pictures of poverty and lack, that is what you attract. If you concentrate your thoughts on health and wellbeing, by the law of attraction you must bring into existence health and wellbeing.

Genesis

The book of Genesis tells a great story that proves the law of attraction. Joseph was a young farm boy when he got a dream of being a great King. Of all of Jacobs kids, Joseph was the least likely to become King.

He was the youngest of the family. He had no leadership skills. Even his father and brothers couldn’t see Joseph being a King.

But none of that made a shred of difference because Joseph held the thought of becoming a great leader in his mind so persistently it eventually came to be. Although he suffered numerous setbacks, he held firm to his belief, he held onto that dream until he became the great leader he saw in his mind.

That is the law of attraction in action.

The law of attraction doesn’t only work on bring us good. Anything we give our energized thoughts to, and by energized we are specifically meaning emotionalized thoughts, thoughts mixed with strong emotions like excitement, love, fear, anxiety, these will super-charge thought energy and set the law of attraction in motion.

A clear example of this can be seen in Job 3:25 when he said, “Because a dreadful thing I have dreaded, it has come upon me. And what I have been scared of comes to me.”

A Christian view

Christianity is based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. In one of his famous sermons Jesus directed his followers to ask for what they want with the faith and belief that they already had it. In fact he said anything that you ask for in a spirit of faith and belief you would get.

Again, this is the law of attraction in action.

A double edge sword

Like the law of electricity, the law of attraction is a double edge sword. It can be used for success or failure. Electricity can light up a city and provide much needed energy, or it can snuff out life. Everything is dependent on how we conform to it’s principles of use.

Did God design electricity? Did he put it in place for our use? Can it be used for a good outcome or a bad one? Yes, Yes and Yes! Gravity is a natural law. Yet if you don’t use it as it was intended you could fall off a building or a cliff to a disastrous end. However God’s intent was for it to serve us. So it is with the law of attraction.

It’s interesting to see nature at work. When a seed is placed in the soil it doesn’t contain everything it needs to grow and flourish. But by the law of attraction it draws to itself water, minerals and all else it needs to blossom. This is the wonder and beauty of this amazing law.

We as humans have a great ability no other life on earth has. The ability to think. A mind with free will. Yet another gift of God.

You have the power to design your life and the free will to design it as you wish. Just as God intended. What we must all realize is that the law of attraction will not cease to exist simply because we do not believe in it, or we refuse to utilize it. It has always been there and will always be.

Our only intelligent option is to begin applying it for our growth and betterment. Why not use the law of attraction to be a better Christian? Why not tap into this powerful law of nature to praise it’s creator? This truly is the only intelligent option.

Mike Martinez has been featured in national home business magazines and countless e-forums and ezines. He is a professional Network Marketer residing in Southern New Jersey. Mr. Martinez is part of a millionaire mastermind group focused on creating success in network marketing.

You can preview this opportunity, as well as meet some of the millionaire mentors by visiting http://www.automated-funds.com

To join Mike’s millionaire mastermind group email him at mikemartinezsr@comcast.net

Are you looking for great Aries tattoo designs?

This astrological sign lends itself beautifully to being used as a tattoo design.

Aries is the sign of the Ram, a western astrological sign for people born between 21st March & 20th April. These dates coincide with the Spring Equinox which some cultures believe is the true beginning of the year.

Interesting then that Aries is also the first sign of the zodiac.

As an Arian, you’ll want to stand out from the crowd, so it’s not surprising that you’ll be after a tattoo.

You also have a bit of a dare-devil streak in you too.

Taking these traits in to consideration, I shouldn’t think that you’ll be after a run of the mill tattoo design.

If you go on any online tattoo galleries that offer flashes for free, then you’re obviously not going to get anything special.

The ram head design for Aries can be adapted to encompass so many different styles, colours and elements. So take your time before you decide on a design.

The Aries symbol easily lends itself to styles such as tribal, Goth, or Celtic. You could include Arian elements in with the design too, like fire, skulls,thistles,honeysuckle or even symbols of war. Thorns are often associated with Aries too, so something like barbed wire would also be in keeping as an Aries tattoo design.

Aries is a fire sign, so flames featured in the tattoo would also look good.

Of course, the color associated with the first fire sign of the zodiac is red, so that would also be good to incorporate.

With so much to consider with Aries tattoo designs, I think your best bet is to go to a reputable tattoo gallery online, where you can browse & choose at your leisure. The best ones have a constantly updated database with literally thousands of designs to choose from. All you have to do is choose the design that’s right for you, click on it, it’ll then enlarge & you can print it out and take it to your tattoo artist.

In fact, if you don’t know where to get your tattoo done, the best online sites also provide tattoo parlor locators, they’re just that helpful!

After you’ve done all that it’s just a case of where on your body to put your Aries tattoo designs.

To save you searching the web I’ve found the best award winning online tattoo galleries for you.
Check out this website at http://www.paulturnermarketing.com/reviews to discover more.

Using quotes in your speaking and writing is a great way to express yourself in an interesting and clever manner, as long as it’s not overdone. Sometimes you can find a quote that says exactly what you want it to express better than you could have said it yourself. Sometimes a quote is just a way of providing a bit of contrast to an otherwise dry presentation. When you have a great source of quotations such as that offered on the internet, you can expand your horizons far more than you would be able to find in just a printed document.

There are a number of reasons why the internet is a better source of quotations than what you would be able to obtain in a book or compilation. First, you have the timeliness of the material. You can look on the internet and find words on almost any subject in the current events field. If it’s in the national or world news, somebody has said something about it that is worthy of note, usually. Sometimes these short quotes are used in news stories whether published or on television. They may even become a catch phrase for a campaign or subject.

Another reason for using the internet as the source of your quotations is that you have so many more to choose from. These sayings are available from people in all different historical and cultural eras so you have a rich source of viewpoints much beyond a local or even national source. Using a textbooks means you only see the sources that are selected by the editors as being worthy of attention. While they may be a good cross section of viewpoints, invariably there will be some bias that enters into the picture.

When you use the internet for your quotes, you will find it easier to locate the exact sentiment that you want to express, thanks to the ability to zero in on a word or a phrase. Search engines allow you to find links to many different subjects and by working with the site search capabilities, you may even be able to refine your word search even further. Using keyword searches may help to better define what you are trying to say. Sometimes we remember a famous or common saying slightly different than they original was presented. This can be a good thing in some instances, but can also be a disaster if it skews the meaning of what you were trying to present.

Quotations used for the purpose of talks and presentations are more often than not humorous. It’s important to make sure that the humor fits the occasion and that it is not offensive to anyone in the group that may be listening. These sayings or one liners will often be popular with comedy routines for amateurs and professionals alike. When appropriately used, the humorous sayings can enliven a sermon, brighten up a sales talk or hype a sales campaign. So, next time you are looking for a great way to wind up a speech, check the internet for just the right touch.

Quotesdaddy is the best place where you can download and get Philosophy Quotes and all type of quotes. So enjoy Humorous Quotes at Qotesdaddy.

Here’s a science activity that finds the kids’ entrance to analytic thinking. Classifying and interpreting data go hand in hand with scientific procedure. This activity generates discussion, bolsters confidence, and rings with laughter in the process of analyzing household items.

Here’s what you do:

The activity begins with a data collection adventure. Search around the house with your child for ten things that start with the letter b. After that, search for ten things that start with the letter c. Make a list of the items as you’re going around the house (make sure the lists are labeled).

To make the data hunt more interesting, turn it into a challenge by using a timer. An oven timer will work just fine. Compare the times to determine which set of data was more difficult to collect.

Limitation: items must have weight. Things like blue, bouncy and beautiful are out. Things like boot, ball and bell are in.

Now take your lists to the kitchen table and begin the process of classifying and interpreting the data. Many of the classifications are zany, to say the least. The intention is to bring fun and laughter to the process.

1. Start by asking which item on each list is the smallest. For example, bean might be the smallest item on your first list, and clock might be the smallest item on your second list. Put a check mark next to those items.

2. Ask which of the items are the biggest. Bed might be the biggest item on the first list, and coat might be the biggest item on the second list. Put a square around those items.

3. Can you make a soup out of it? Go down the list and analyze each of the items. Consider the following, for example:

-corn

-cards

-chair

-celery

Can you make a soup out of corn? How about cards? Record your answers.

4. If it were twice as big, could you still use it? Go down the list and analyze each of the items. Consider the following items, for example:

-ball

-boot

-bowl

-brush

Could you still use a ball if it were twice as big? How about a boot? Record your answers.

5. Does Grandma have one in her house? Go down the list and analyze each of the items. Consider the following, for example:

-computer

-cat

-couch

-crown

Does grandma have a computer in her house? How about a cat? Record your answers.

6. If it were green, would you still want it? Go down the list and analyze each of the items. Consider the following, for example:

-banana

-bed

-book

-blouse

Would you want a green banana? How about a green bed? Record your answers.

7. If an elephant sat on it, would it still be any good? Go down the list and analyze each of the items. Consider the following, for example:

-couch

-crayon

-clock

-costume

Would an elephant break your couch? How about a crayon? Record your answers.

8. Is it easy to rhyme? Go down the list and analyze each of the items. Consider the following, for example:

-bell

-button

-broom

-butter

Is bell easy to rhyme? How about button? Record your answers.

9. Would you want ten more? Go down the list and analyze each of the items. Consider the following, for example:

-cat

-clock

-cup

-curtain

Would you want ten more cats? How about ten more clocks? Record your answers.

10. Is it something you might take with you to the zoo? Go down the list and analyze each of the items. Consider the following, for example:

-boots

-brownies

-bottle

-books

Would you consider taking boots to the zoo? How about brownies? Record your answers.

At this point each of your lists should look like a chart. If you used symbols, then make a symbol guide on the bottom corner or back of the paper—the kind you see in the lower corner of a map. For example, if you used G for grandma and 2x for twice as big, then write:

G = grandma

2x = twice as big, etc

This way you can refer to the charts later without struggling to interpret the symbols.

Keep your charts in a folder so that as they accumulate (as you make lists of items that start with different letters) you can compare the data–for example, how long it took to gather each set of items. Or–which list has more of something. For example, 7/10 of the items in list b would break if an elephant sat on them, but only 5/10 items in list c would break. Lastly, don’t overlook the opportunity to compare your answers with what mom, dad or a neighbor thinks. After all, it’s not everybody who’s willing to part with a green boot.

Anthony Vecchioni runs http://spaghettiboxkids.com –a parenting site that offers specific strategies, tips and activities to enhance child learning. Read more About Anthony Vecchioni.

We all want to be happy. But what is happiness? Is it the same for everyone? How do we know if we’re happy? And can anyone be happy all of the time? How can we find happiness? These questions come to mind when we speak of life happiness.

Our perception of life happiness is as individual as the way we perceive hot or cold. It’s sort of the same for all of us, yet it’s different too. No two people are exactly alike, so neither can our description of what makes a life happy be the same.

Webster’s Dictionary says happiness is: A state of well-being and contentment

An online dictionary says happiness is:

1. Characterized by good luck; fortunate

2. Enjoying, showing, or marked by pleasure, satisfaction, or joy

So, if we use these definitions, in order for us to say we are happy we would be fortunate, showing pleasure and feeling content. That makes sense. Most of the people that we think are happy usually show these characteristics, so lets use this definition and go from there.

Can I have life happiness if I don’t think I’m fortunate? Hmmm, that’s an interesting question isn’t it? Most people are happy when they feel fortunate or blessed by good luck, and most people who feel unfortunate or feel like they have lots of bad luck are unhappy. BUT, perception is everything.

A person can break their leg in a skiing accident (bad luck) and still be happy and smiling because they feel blessed and fortunate (probably because they didn’t break both legs!). They might be happy because they know that their leg will heal, and because they were having such fun skiing (up until they ran into the tree at 100 miles/hour!!)! Get the picture?

Or a person could have what most of us would call good fortune and still seem not to have life happiness. There is an art to happiness, and some of us know it and some of us don’t, but we all can learn.

Is life happiness the same for everyone? Probably not, even though the normal signs of happiness listed above in the dictionary definitions probably show up in every person who is happy. Different things make different people happy, so happiness and the pursuit of happiness cannot be the same.

For example: I am a quiet type of person who loves to work from home and socializes only once or twice a week. You may be a very gregarious person who works in an office full of people and lunches with a different person each day and goes to a party every Saturday evening.

We’re both happy, but our lifestyles are very different. Besides that, what you view as something that would produce happiness may not be a priority for me. Maybe it makes you happy to go on wonderful ski vacations twice a year. It might make me happy to go on wonderful vacations in my back yard and to squirrel my money away. Both situations are right, and we are both happy.

How do you know if you’re happy? The best way to tell if you are happy is to ask yourself how you are feeling. Really feeling. Do you feel at ease, relaxed and OK with how things are going on a pretty consistent basis? Then you’re probably happy. Feel your body. Is your body relaxed, does it feel calm? You’re probably happy.

Remember, happiness doesn’t come from anywhere but inside. If you are in tune with what is right for you, you will be happy. If you are trying to live someone else’s definition of authentic happiness, you probably won’t be.

Can anyone have authentic happiness all the time? Yes! Well, OK, if a terrible tragedy strikes, you probably won’t be happy at that time. But, you can work through the tragedy and the accompanying emotions knowing that life happiness can and will return when you’ve taken time to properly allow healing. Otherwise, yes. You can be happy all the time. Maybe not jumping up and down and laughing happy every moment, but peaceful content happy, certainly, and that’s equally valuable. Life’s small irritants come and go each and every day.

We have a choice whether we greet them with a calm smile or with an angry frown. Either is fine, but the calm smile will help you navigate life in a more happy state of being, and help you find happiness on a consistent basis. Remember, the art of happiness has a lot to do with perception.

Recent research shows what many of us have long suspected. Happiness, and the pursuit pg oy has more to do with an individual’s perception and what’s going on inside that person, than money, fame, or power. Even though those things may bring a feeling that is like happiness, it is attached to those things. Real happiness is much more attached to how a person perceives life. Luckily, if you are the type of person who has a “glass half empty” outlook on life, you can learn to have a “glass half full” attitude which will gain you happiness.

Winsome’s special topics include Personal Development, Setting goals, Life Happiness and self growth

For free e-books, tools and information about Life Happiness go to:

http://www.4lifeselfhelp.com

THE RAVEN PARADOX - THE FLAWS IN THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

HEMPEL’S LOGIC All scientists use reasoning and logic at some stage, to create hypotheses and design robust experiments. In a beautiful and elegant treatise, the German philosopher Carl G Hempel, in 1965, showed that there were flaws in these long-established processes. His Raven Paradox called into question the established processes of inductive reasoning, generalization and falsifiability

THE INDUCTIVE HYPOTHESIS Imagine that a scientist, after years of going for long walks in the countryside, observes that every single raven he has ever seen is black. As a dutiful researcher, he uses inductive reasoning to postulate the hypothesis:

“All ravens are black.”

This is a perfectly acceptable conditional hypothesis. Firstly, it is testable, because you could sample raven populations and verify that they are all black. The statement is also falsifiable because even one non-black raven amongst the sampled population would disprove the hypothesis.

This is all great science, so far, following the established methods of inductive reasoning. The researcher could even design an experiment to sample raven populations, with thousands of ravens observed. If they are all black, the hypothesis is supported and plausible. Over time, repeated experiments and observations further confirm this and the hypothesis becomes accepted as a law.

THE PROBLEM OF GENERALIZATION AND FALSIFIABILITY The first part of the Raven Paradox proposal questions the process of generalization. It is practically impossible to sample every single raven in the world and there may a few non-black individuals. Hempel was not trying to comment upon the exact science, but as an interesting aside, about 1 in 10 000 raven eggs contain partially or fully albino birds.

Most albino birds are more visible to predators, suffer from health problems and may be a localized phenomenon. The odds of seeing an albino raven are very small and sightings are extremely rare. A researcher could sample many thousands of Ravens and not see one white bird, even though they do exist.

Thus, the notion of falsifiability is questioned and undermined by the Raven Paradox. Although the original hypothesis is technically falsifiable, in practical terms it is very difficult to disprove, because the chances of observing a white Raven are very slim. Even if you sampled the entire known population of ravens, there may be an undiscovered group containing a non-black individual.

FLAWS IN THE INDUCTIVE REASONING PROCESS The next part of the Raven Paradox questions the processes of reasoning and deduction that are an integral part of the scientific process. When a researcher states that all ravens are black, the laws of logic demand that this conditional statement has a contrapositive, statement.

Therefore, according to inductive reasoning, “Everything that is not black is not a raven.” This means that every non-black object observed, that is not a raven, equally strengthens the hypothesis. There are a countless number of non-black objects in the universe and we should pity the poor statistician who has to analyze this!

To take the analogy further, another researcher in another part of world, through fluke, may have only seen one raven in their life, which happened to be white. Their deduced hypothesis may be that “All ravens are white.” Every non-white object, which is not a raven, strengthens this opposing hypothesis too. This is the Raven Paradox.

THE END OF THE SCIENTIFIC PROCESS? What does this paradox mean? Has the world of science come crashing down around our ears?

The answer is a resounding NO!

The Raven Paradox is a useful philosophical observation and helps to ensure that we constantly probe and test the steps of the established scientific processes. The examples given in the paradox are simplistic and unlikely, merely serving as an exercise to test the boundaries of the philosophy of science.

In reality, for the vast majority of cases, Hempel’s treatise makes no difference and the normal reasoning and experimental design processes work perfectly well. The paradox does not detract from science, but actually enhances it, by preventing scientists from believing that they have proved something beyond doubt.

The Raven Paradox should remind every scientist of the dangers of generalization and that they must ensure that all hypotheses are realistically falsifiable. If the researcher has said, “All ravens in Norway are black”, this is more realistic as ornithologists could feasibly observe every raven in Norway.

PARADIGM SHIFTS Even long-standing theories, which became established as laws and immovable paradigms, can be proved incorrect over time. Science is really all about testing probabilities and assumption. If something has a 99% chance of being correct then it should be accepted as the likely explanation.

The chances of someone seeing only one raven in their life, which happens to be white, are tiny. However, this is not the same as impossible and that possibility must never be ignored. This is why all experiments are rigorously validated and reviewed before gaining widespread acceptance, to minimize the effects of the Raven Paradox.

For example, Newton’s laws were accepted as truth until Einstein’s theories blew them out of the water. In turn, General Relativity is not the answer to fundamental physics and has been superseded by other theories.

This is how science evolves, by challenging and adapting established paradigms and laws. The creation of Chaos Theory was a perfect example of ‘maverick’ scientists chipping away at the established laws until the theory could no longer be ignored. It eventually burst into the public consciousness and fractal models appeared as prints on T-Shirts.

Hempel’s Raven Paradox stands to remind us all that no theory, however established, should be immune to challenge or debate. As new evidence is uncovered, science must adapt and change to assimilate the new data.

Martyn lives in the beautiful Peloponnese area of Greece and is absorbing the philosophy buried deep within the bones of the land.

He specializes in science and philosophy articles.

Please find the original article at http://www.experiment-resources.com

Martyn’s website is at http://www.amethyst-web.net

A recent article spurred my reoccurring thoughts about the growth of what I think of as environmental diseases. As a Green Consultant trainer, I have often spoken of the rise of immune related illnesses that parallel our country’s increased use and fondness for chemical laced and petroleum derivative products. This report only added to my belief that we are cleaner and more sanitized, but we are also weakened by the products we use in our homes and offices. An AP medical report says,

“In 2007, approximately 3 million children under the age of 18 were reported to have had a food or digestive allergy in the previous 12 months, compared to slightly more than 2.3 million children (3.3 percent) in 1997, according to the report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

This same report says food allergies are up by 18%, but similar trends are being seen in asthma. Asthma cases have more than doubled since 1980, and that is more than a population issue. Some report that we are “too clean” and “too sanitized” to allow fetal and early childhood immunities to develop. Realize that the non-affected people are eating the same food, breathing the same air, and living in similar situations. So, why them and not me? Most of us are IMMUNE to these irritants and can tolerate repeated exposure without much more than minor discomfort. Others are not, and it seems that this is not just a sanitation or medical issue. I feel that we are continually wearing away our immune system, and it is not merely a dietary replacement or vitamin issue.

Every American, and even third-world citizens, live in a ” Toxic Soup ” when it comes down to Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). This invisible contamination may be like a fish tank that has gone too long between changes. The water is still wet, but it is filled with build ups of toxic substances that will eventually sicken and kill the fish. Every person knows that a healthy aquarium is a careful balance of ingredients and removal of toxins. Our atmosphere is air, and it too can be filled with some pretty incredible stuff. Did you know that formaldehyde is common in many construction material and furniture, and that it outgasses for months into the air we breath? The smell of bleach, fresh paint, new carpet, and new furniture are nasty fumes called volatile organic compounds (VOC) that have proven acute and chronic health affects?

Into this same Toxic Soup, you must add the air fresheners, cleaning products, window cleaners, toilet sprays, detergents, sanitizers, and polishes that are frankly filled with multi-syllabic named chemicals that are potential health hazards. You will also find cigarette ash, arsenic, lead, dust mite feces and scales, pollen, pet dander, and dust particles of all types. We also anoint ourselves with cologne, perfumes, deodorant, cosmetics, hair spray, and body lotions that leave a trail of pleasant scents. We use bleach and ammonia products that are frankly dangerous products, and we sprinkle carpet deodorizer throughout house.

Bioaccumlation refers to the compounding affect of all these ingredients that are like layers of paint on an old house. It doesn’t make the house better, it just covers up the obvious flaws. Biomagnification means that some ingredients actually heighten the impact of other ingredients already floating around. In the end, we are like the fish trapped in a toxic tank of bad water. Breathing is one of the first indicators that something is wrong, headaches will follow, and then comes a failing of health with illness and lethargy. These are symptoms that there is something wrong. Years ago when bowling alleys allowed smoking, I would get a splitting headache after thirty minutes in these places. After I left, so did the headache. Could it have been the air? Have you ever driven behind a diesel bus blowing black smoke at you as your travel behind it? Many people get that same kind of acute headache that passes when they get back into fresh air.

Therefore, I have a theory that is supported by a good body of science which I cannot quote but clearly says that food allergies, asthma, chemical sensitivity, ADD, ADHD, and other diseases like cancer and auto immune disease are hitting us more often because we have weakened immune systems. Our immune system is not weak from fighting the normal stuff out there, but the artificial stuff that hits it 24/7 and all year long. Though a theory, I feel strongly convinced that we are using chemical and petroleum-based products to such an extreme that it is killing us … or at least setting us up for the kill.

This may sound very “retro,” but there is a need to return to our grandmother’s way of cleaning. It may not have been as sanitary or beautifully-scented as your store-bought products, but it produced a healthier and more robust generation than now. Don’t be enticed by the commercial that brag about being “New and Improved.” These products have been improved by adding yet another chemical that will likely further harm your family. Take some lesson from Naturally Green Clean author, and discover that anyone can clean their home using just a few commonly available ingredients. Better yet, you will save a ton of money while your family enjoys a respite from the toxic soup for a while.

Giving your family the gift of health is not a call to a higher level of cleaning, but a lower level of toxins that we all purchase at exorbitant prices. Does it amaze you that people pay huge prices to buy cigarettes that are sure to kill them? In yet another fool’s errand, isn’t it strange that we that we are such addicts to cleaning products that smell pleasant but are poisoning us too. If what you are using promises to blind, scar, sicken, or kill you if your ingest it; why on earth are you bringing it home to be spread throughout your home? Cleaning is not a technically difficult task. It does not require scrubbing bubbles, foaming action, or a 99.9% germ killing action. Natural and organic products are just as effective at cleaning, killing germs, and dissolving grease. Pick up a books and learn how to give your family the fundamental gift of life by making the air they breathe safe. Your reward will be in the hardship and suffer that you will never see in life of the people you love.

Michael Richmond is the director of the Green Clean Institute, and highly recommends the book Naturally Green Clean that explains how to clean your home naturally.

We are all guilty to some extent of eating for reasons other than because we are hungry. We eat because we are stressed, angry, annoyed, stressed again, partying, and just to fit in.

Probably the worst culprit is stress. Most of us suffer from relatively high levels of chronic stress from work, kids, partner, or the universe in general. Through evolution our bodies have been conditioned to respond to stress: they trigger the familiar fight or flight response. This response releases chemicals which lead to fat storage.

With stress, the body produces more cortisol. Your appetite increases, and most likely your craving for high calorie sweets and fats. More calorie intake leads to more fat storage, which in turn could lead to insulin resistance. The body can in the short term relieve stress from high fat/sugary foods. Unfortunately, for chronic stress, these high fat/sugary foods will lead to weight gain. Obesity leads to higher insulin resistance, and Type 2 diabetes. Insulin resistance increases the likelihood of heart disease, diabetes and some cancers.

Keeping your stress levels down should help to keep your weight down as well. Here are a few tips to reduce your stress levels.

• Adequate sleep.

  During sleep your body produces the feel good hormones - serotonin and dopamine. These feel good factors help to reduce your stress. See what happens when a baby is stressed - it cries itself to sleep. Another thing is if your body is not getting enough serotonin, it craves for sugary foods which also provide a quick, but short lived burst of serotonin.

• Exercise.

  High activity aerobic exercise which leaves you breathless also produces levels of serotonin. This is not to say that active people have no stress - just that its normally kept at more manageable levels. Remember that all exercise is good in that you increase your calorie usage. So if you can’t do aerobic exercise just walk around - even just standing is better than sitting. Recently, I watched a programme on the TV channel Five which suggested that you could even lose weight chewing gum.

• Outdoors.

  Daylight causes the body to produce some feel good factors as well. Ever noticed that if you spend days scooped up in rooms with artificial light you begin to feel the blues? As much as you can enjoy the outdoor scenery, while passively reducing your stress levels. Stay out of too much sun though - cancer is definitely something to avoid. Incidentally, there are artificial lights which are said to provide the full spectrum (or nearly) of the natural daylight. If so, they should be able to boost your feel good hormones as well. If you are always scooped up inside, you might to find out more about them. Personally, I have yet to try them.

• Touch and be touched.

  We all know that babies love being touched and cuddled. Seek out positive interactions with other people. Evidence suggests that this produces the social bonding hormone oxytocin, decreases blood pressure and lowers the effects of stress. This leads you being able to control your appetite better.Research also suggests that women benefit from a simple hug (they produce more oxytocin) - it helps to lower their stress levels. So if you are a woman, get loads of hugs from people you care about. If you are a man, don’t begrudge the lady a hug.

• Sex.

  Sex has a number of benefits, one of which is you get a physical workout. Research has also shown that sex, more so with a long term-partner, produces endorphins, oxytocin, and other feel-good hormones.

• Music. Music does wonders at relieving stress. There is no music type that equally effective for everyone. Just sit down and listen to the music of your choice, the music you are comfortable with.

The author is the webmaster of katsande.com. You can find more tips and interesting stuff in the blogs section.

The three letters “PKD” have become a shorthand for readers of Philip K. Dick’s work to identify themselves and find others. The man’s initials inspire admiration among fans and ridicule among detractors.

I had the great honor and privilege of spending ten years with a great genius. Those were the final ten years of Phil’s life.

Falsely branded as a brain-damaged drug addict, Philip K. Dick continued producing stories in which the ideas of the great philosophers entered into concrete reality. The allegations of insanity hurt him, but he refused to engage in a futile argument with his accusers.

If producing one of his finest works, A Scanner Darkly, did not prove that he had all of his faculties, then any effort to demonstrate his mental health was futile.

Yes, he was diagnosed as manic depressive, and later as bipolar (the same thing, with a new label), but his tendency to experience wide mood swings had nothing to do with drugs. His hyperactivity was simply a symptom of his premature birth. He also suffered from asthma and hypertension, due to his having been born six weeks early. Phil and his twin sister were tiny babies. In fact, Phil was one of the smallest babies to survive, and his twin sister did not survive. Medical science has advanced considerably since 1928, yet even today, premature babies experience a plethora of medical problems as they grow up, and they do not live as long as full-term babies.

When my husband began experiencing visions in February 1974, he might have been suffering minor strokes due to his high blood pressure, which kept getting out of control. At one point, he was hospitalized for ten days so the doctors could closely monitor his blood pressure while they adjusted his medication.

Minor strokes might explain the flashes of bright light that Phil saw, but they would not explain the content of his visionary experience. I was there, and I know that he was not abusing any substances, so you can throw that one out the window.

Besides, there were some visible, tangible events. For example, one night the radio kept playing after I unplugged it. One afternoon a yellow van pulled up out front, and workmen in white coveralls brought half a dozen large, unlabeled cardboard boxes into the vacant apartment next door. We were curious, so when we found the door unlocked, we went inside. We found all sorts of electronic equipment in the hall closet and a working telephone in the kitchen of that supposedly vacant apartment. Strange cars began pulling up in the alley behind our apartment and sitting there for up to half an hour at a time.

The visions stopped when we moved out of that apartment, so I can’t help thinking that the electronic equipment in the next apartment had something to do with Phil’s experience.

That having been said, Phil viewed the phenomenon as an attack by unknown forces followed with a rescue by equally unknown forces. It began with voices coming over our bedside radio and telling him to die, and it ended with a message of hope and healing.

I can’t help believing that Phil experienced something very real, but that something defies explanation. He spent the last eight years of his life trying to explain it, and he wrote thousands of pages about it, but he never found a satisfying solution to the puzzle of his visionary experiences of 1974.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the experience was that people presented themselves to him as time travelers. They said that somebody had changed history, that they didn’t like the outcome, and that they were attempting to repair our timeline to produce a more hospitable future. They introduced the idea of orthogonal time, which appears prominently in Phil’s Exegesis. They explained that alternate timelines exist perpendicular to the timeline that we experience, like a series of dominoes stacked above our world. The time travelers, or rather time meddlers, were capable of opening gaps in our timeline and dropping one or more sections of the alternate timelines into those gaps.

The time travelers warned Phil that the United States was in danger of becoming a police state much like the scenario of George Orwell’s dystopic novel 1984. Our television sets would watch us, indoctrinate us and numb our senses to the reality of an increasingly restricted life. Our friends and neighbors would turn us in to the authorities for the most minor offenses, fearing that they would be punished if they failed to report our smallest transgressions, such as putting out our trash cans on the wrong night or crossing the street in the middle of the block instead of at the corner The government would control our thoughts, as well as our actions, down to the smallest detail. Orwell’s “Big Brother” was becoming a reality. Those predictions seemed possible, although improbable, in the midst of the War on Drugs. Today, on the other hand, that possibility is becoming a probability.

For one thing, researchers are exploring ways of communicating directly to people’s brains with electronic devices, while others are seeking ways to receive messages directly from people’s brains with electronic devices. These efforts might seem wasted, their goals impossible, but they are attempting to achieve positive results. In fact, with the miniaturization of electronics, it is possible to implant a tiny receiver in a person’s ear and transmit to it, much as you might place a call to a cellular telephone.

There’s more, and it is frightening.

Ever since that tragic September morning in 2001, we have seen our personal liberties stripped away, one seemingly insignificant bit at a time. Elderly ladies are searched before boarding an airline flight, children’s toys are ripped apart or confiscated, and we are not allowed to carry bottled water or fingernail clippers past the boarding gate. We are not even allowed to lock our checked-in luggage, since that would stop strangers from opening up our suitcases to look inside. We are required to obtain passports to visit our neighboring countries, whereas in the past all we needed to cross into Mexico or Canada was a driver’s license or non-driver ID. Oh, yes, you can still enter Mexico without a passport, but you can not get back into the United States without one. And did you know that all the new passports contain tracking devices that enable the authorities to know exactly where you are? Is Big Brother watching you?

I’m scaring myself, so I’ll stop here.

~~ Tessa B. Dick

Author: Tessa B. Dick
Learn more about my husband Philip K. Dick at my blog: http://tessadick.blogspot.com/