The Inquisitive Skink

And it is about time!   HR 3057 , the House companion bill, was introduced by Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY). Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) has introduced The Household Product Labeling Ac t (S. 1697).  This Act would require household cleaning products to carry labels that list all of their ingredients. “Moms and dads have a right to know whether harmful chemicals are present in their kitchen cupboards,” Franken says. The way it is now, products are required to list immediately hazardous ingredients, but there is no labeling requirement for ingredients that may cause harm over time. The bill would make information readily available to consumers.

Nuts in 2003 received the FDA’s first qualified health claim for a food: “Scientific evidence suggests but does not prove that eating 1.5 ounces per day of most nuts, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease.” The FDA announcement was in response to a petition from the International Tree Nut Council’s (INC) Nutrition Research & Education Foundation.

About a year or so ago a wonderfully talented cook, Madelyn Hood, served Mark and I a wonderful dish of stuffed shells that had a delicious winter squash filling. She has since that time talked to me about a small catering she provided where the main dish was once again a pasta dish using winter squash (or was it pumpkin?). So I've thought about creating a pasta dish with winter squash for a while now. My family spreads Thanksgiving out over the entire long weekend. Didn't make it to Madison this year (though I managed to deliver a Bavarian Apple Torte and a Blackberry Pie to them) but we still had our small family gathering at home Thanksgiving Day, and then one with Mark's family at a gathering at his sister's in Indy on Saturday. I had made some Brie with caramelized onion fondue for day-long nibbling while dinner was made on Thanksgiving day. The following day I kept working on creating a recipe for a new lasagna for the Saturday gathering and decided to combine...

Hello and blessings, It has been a while since posting here. Working on "Simply Healthy" and as ever grateful for the abundant opportunities unfolding in my personal life and the generousity of beings! The link is an example. If you know me personally, you know that I love dance. I love dancing and appreciate every single performer who has ever inspired me to movement! This morning I received this and the thought of 21,000 people dancing together is amazing and did bring me to tears. Love and dance! May you have both in abundance in your own lives! Namaste

There is finally a group forming in Bloomington, Indiana to become part of the BALLE Network. BALLE is The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies and works to promote local businesses. Local First Indiana had its first steering committee meeting in late July. Local First Indiana is a non-profit organization committed to supporting and promoting locally owned independent business by educating the public, facilitating collaboration, and engaging in outreach in order to create a more economically and environmentally sustainable local community, while preserving the unique local character." This is how Local First Indiana is defining local: 1. Is the business privately held (not publicly traded)? 2. Do the business owners, totaling greater than 50 percent of the business ownership, live in your local region? 3. Is the business registered in your state, with no corporate or national headquarters outside your region? 4. Can the business make independent decisions...

A forward from a good friend. The Hair Cut... One day a florist went to a barber for a haircut. After the cut, he asked about his bill, and the barber replied, 'I cannot accept money from you , I'm doing community service this week.' The florist was pleased and left the shop. When the barber went to open his shop the next morning, there was a 'thank you' card and a dozen roses waiting for him at his door. Later, a cop comes in for a haircut, and when he tries to pay his bill, the barber again replied, 'I cannot accept money from you , I'm doing community service this week.' The cop was happy and left the shop. The next morning when the barber went to open up, there was a 'thank you' card and a dozen donuts waiting for him at his door. Then a Congressman came in for a haircut, and when he went to pay his bill, the barber again replied, 'I can not accept money from you. I'm doing community service this week.' The Congressman was very h...

I love the people at Organic Authority . But I am getting tired of the diet experts out there. Just a tad frustrated. A new post states " Eating breakfast—especially one that includes whole grains—reduces your risk for heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes and heart failure, according to the May 2008 issue of the Harvard Heart Letter." and goes on to say that a prominent physician, Matthew Edlund, MD, "suggests that if you’re watching your weight, there’s an optimal time to eat your first organic meal of the day: within 15 to 30 minutes of waking up, and no later than 8 a.m." and told Redbook magazine: “If you don’t eat breakfast, your body thinks it’s in starvation mode, and you’ll eat more food later on.” I don't disagree with the original hypothesis of Covert Bailey in "Fit or Fat". I have struggled with changing my set point off and on for years. However, I believe strongly that we cannot be standardized in the way that Matthew Edlund, MD sugg...

The US population is now at 307,098,995 and the World population is at 6,775,839,727. Let's see. That means that the U.S. is only 4.5% of the world's population! This is a humbling thought. One that we need to remind ourselves of once in a while. On another note.....Let's look at China. Their current population is 1,319,175,359. Which means they are 19.46% of the world population. Peace be with all of us. Did you know that their are more Chinese internet users than the entire US population? According to the folks at SearchEngineWatch.com "The number of internet users in China has surpassed the population of the United States, according to the China Internet Network Information Center. Last year their use of broadband passed US numbers, so the level of service and number seems to be growing at a much more rapid rate than people had predicted." I keep trying to think if I have anything to sell to China. :-) Nope. I will just send them thoughts of peace.

This Bamboo Taxi Van runs on coconut biodiesel fuel. Looks so pretty and fun for a trip around town. Picture and article are at Fast Company.

While in the U.P. I asked for directions from the dimestore clerk (they still have a dime store in Crystal Falls!) on how to get to th St. Vincent DePaul store - the equivalent to a Goodwill store here. She told me to go down 2 blocks to the ice cream shop. Went outside looking down the street ........no ice cream shop in sight. That's cuz it really is the sausage shop. Is it just me, or is that an odd combination or what? This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc. has won a patent for a method of extracting oil from the tiny seeds of cranberries. This news makes me want to go out and buy a bag of cranberries and just take a look at those seeds....pretty tiny if I remember correctly. It will take an awful lot of berries to come up with enough oil with therapeutic value, but Ocean Spray is wise to come up with a product that uses the left over mash left from squeezing out all that juice. The patent claims the extracted oil can be used for “treating or reducing the occurrence of breast cancer,” among other diseases. This is a pretty powerful claim, and from what I have read all research is definitely in the preliminary stage. The patent claims the use of the oil for its anticancer, hypocholesterolemic, antithrombotic, antioxidizing, antiatherogenic, antiinflammatory, and immunoregulatory properties. I am already a big believer in the use of grapefruit seed extract and I think it makes sense that seeds would be powerh...

http://www.diseaseproof.com/ archives/healthy-food-soy- compound-and-bone-building. html Direct quote: After two years, those taking the soy product had better bone mineral density than those taking placebo. "[Even] after one year, there was a clear difference in the women who got the genistein," said Steven Wilson, a biostatistician at National Jewish Medical and Research Center, Denver, and a co-author of the study, published June 19 in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The research was funded by the Italian Ministry of Education and the University of Messina, Italy. Genistein, an isoflavone phytoestrogen, is found abundantly in soybean products. Experts who study it hope it can build bone without the adverse side effects -- such as increased risk of heart disease and certain cancers -- associated with hormone replacement therapy. Published ahead of printed in the journal Fertility and Sterility , researchers reviewed the findings of 15 studies and found despite th...

Say what???!!!!!!!! I'm done with child birthing, but if I had been part of this labeling process "back in the day", I would have been labeled out of receiving available treatment. I practically was anyway. I had my first daughter Marissa at the hospital, only after a last minute decision to go there. The mid-wife hadn't personally delivered a breech baby. I was doing fine, got to the hospital too late for them to force a c-section on me, delivered naturally (no episiotomy, drugs, etc.) and went home. However, 4 years later I had an almost impossible time finding a doctor who would take me because the OB who delivered me had me blacklisted. Ended up going with a wonderful OB in Bedford. (another story). Anyway.......here is another link. http://childbirthtoday.blogspot.com/2009/06/ama-promotes-physician-profiling-of.html

I am lucky enough to own this original piece of art by Patricia Coleman . This batik is also used as the art image for the Indiana Holistic Health Network . I hope to someday get back to doing art work.....it is a promise to myself.

Dear Inquisitive Skink, I do recall that time, the media, how within a short span, another young woman was murdered by her husband. The community still recovers from such tragedies. Conversations about domestic violence need to be held by adults in the community. Conversations and real information needs to be offered in every school, beginning with middle-school and onward. A required class, for all graduates from high-schools, universities and colleges. Such information would benefit every community well. I think for a real understanding to be developed, each class would be a semester and designed around understanding domestic violence as it exist within our unique communities, the cost (mentally, physically, and spiritual) to the individual, children, community; preventatives, and resources to be aware of if you wake up some morning and find that this is your life. Women and men, as Maya Anjelou said (not an exact quote) "If a person shows themselves to you, believe them...

This poem by C.P.Cavafy (thank you to Margot for the link) continues the melancholy tone started by my post about Jannifer. I will perk up soon. These words are too lovely. Voices Imagined voices, and beloved, too, of those who died, or of those who are lost unto us like the dead. Sometimes in our dreams they speak to us; sometimes in its thought the mind will hear them. And with their sound for a moment there return sounds from the first poetry of our life— like music, in the night, far off, that fades away.

I don't know why Jannifer has been on my mind lately. Sometimes I think it is odd how a person's life and death can affect someone. Jannifer was someone I thought I was going to get to know better, and then didn't get to do so. My friend Leslie ran a program popular with a lot of homeschoolers called Children's Garden, and Jannifer had generously allowed full use of her house for the myriad of art writing and music activities Leslie had created for them. Jannifer herself wasn't there during Children's Garden most of the time. I do have memories of Jannifer handing over delicious homemade chocolate chip cookies to a swarm of kids; her helping with the May Day Maypole dance (Leslie was famous for these.....what a tangled cheery funny mess!), and sharing a rolling eyes humorous moment when her son and Leslie's son had been tormenting my daughter Jenna with a dead lizard. Jannifer was easy to be around and possessed a very kind and bright spirit. Nine year...

 

I have started to bake bread, mostly looking for an easy way to incorporate this new habit I 'm trying to establish into my already way-too-busy life. I really like the slow cooker bread recipe located here. However, the 3 hour baking period isn't always the most practical for me. I am going to test out a loaf that stays on warm for five hours and tell you how it goes! My next attempt will be at following the instructions of the Five Minute Artesan Bread , by by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois . Mother Earth News provides an their master recipe online here, but you should really check out the whole book. It's worth it. I'm interested in flatbreads and really like the ease of making chappatti's . The recipe I like is this: 2 cups atta flour or whole wheat sifted flour 1 tsp salt 1cup warm water (Or more as needed) Mix the flour and the salt. Make a well in the mixture and pour in the warm water. Mix. Turn out and knead for 8-10 minutes. Cover with plastic ...

United for a Fair Economy has published State of the Dream 2009: The Silent Depression. There is no creativity in direct quotes but since my time is very limited today, this is the background they give in describing this report: "While the general population has been in recession for one year, people of color have been in recession for five years. By definition, a long-term recession is a depression. We detail additional evidence that shows the current racial economic inequity, including poverty rates, wealth and assets and economic mobility. While racial barriers did not prevent an African-American from becoming President, they continue to impede many people of color from achieving the same economic success as their white counterparts." Check it out at: http://www.faireconomy.org/news/state_of_the_dream_2009_the_silent_depression Overall, 24% of Blacks and 21% of Latinos are in poverty, versus 8% of whites. I hope that we do not choose to remain blind to issues of race si...

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children… This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron." — Former U.S. President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, in a speech on April 16, 1953

Indiana’s unemployment figures for January, released Friday, show Monroe County as having the second lowest jobless rate in the state. This comes as no surprise to those of us who work in social services. Many people are out there feeling like they are scraping their faces on the sidewalk pavement. I am hopeful that perhaps this shakedown in our economy will be what we need to reset our table correctly. One can only hope. It has been a tough week at work. Can't say much, other than that it can be tough working in the field of domestic violence. I don't know why I'm sitting here writing when my brain is fried and I started work at 5am this morning. Strange way to relax, huh? But before I sign off here are a few interesting tidbits to ponder. They do relate to my opening sentence, albeit from an odd angle. Tidbit 1 : While millions of families are losing their homes, jobs and health care, the military budget next year will top one trillion dollars — that’s $1,000...

Obama has recently announced intentions to deploy 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan and otherwise expressed a continuation of the failed US policies there. In his very first hours as president, Barack Obama ordered two strikes by unmanned Predator drone missiles on villages in a remote area of Pakistan. We need to stay educated and active on this issue. The September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows is an organization founded by family members of 9/11 victims who have joined together to transform our (and especially their's) grief into action for peace and justice. They have published a primer on the Afghanistan issue that provides a detailed look at the situation in Afghanistan. Military Families Speak Out is an organization of people opposed to the war in Iraq who have relatives or loved ones who are currently in the military or who have served in the military since the buildup to the Iraq war in the fall of 2002. They have published an Afghanistan Education pac...

This is our driveway. I will try to get out today! Those tracks have been made by Mark driving the four wheeler back and forth.