Significa 2-29-12

Super Bowl Ad of the Year: Matthew's Day Off
(With all due respect to Clint Eastwood...)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhkDdayA4iA

To celebrate the launch of the all-new 2012 CR-V, Honda brought Ferris Bueller's Day Off back in a big game commercial. We cast Matthew Broderick as himself, skipping out on a day of acting work and living it up in his all-new CR-V. Relive movie history with Honda's fresh twist and wonderful homage to this '80s classic.

Think you're a true fan of Ferris Bueller's Day Off? We hid over two dozen references to the movie throughout the commercial. Some are obvious, some are VERY subtle. See how many you can find. #dayoff

http://automobiles.honda.com
http://cr-v.honda.com
http://leaplist.honda.com
http://facebook.com/hondacrv

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Who is the most desirable woman on the planet? According to www.AskMen.com, it's Sofia Vergara. Pretty hard to argue against:

Why is Sofia Vergara no. 1?

When it comes to Colombian imports, none are more in demand than Sofia Vergara these days. The jaw-dropping Modern Family star is one of our favorite things about one of our favorite comedies. Vergara shows off the best cleavage on network TV, and we've never been more jealous of Ed O'Neill. But despite her obvious assets, Vergara's also one very funny woman, lampooning stereotypes with her perfect timing. You don't have to pretend to laugh at her jokes, even if you do have to make a concerted effort to pay attention to them. And though you'd never think it to look at her, Vergara is mother to a 20-year-old.

"I am so honored to be AskMen’s most desired woman this year. A big thank you to all the men who desire me."
Sofia Vergara

Full list of AskMen's 99 babes:

http://www.askmen.com/specials/2012_top_99

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Robalini's Deep Philosophical Piece of the Week

Q: Are there cats & dogs in heaven?
A: If cats & dogs aren't there, how can it be called heaven?

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Found: A mysterious object in the Baltic Sea, by deep-sea salvage company Ocean Explorer. According to the NY Daily News, "Through the use of side-scan sonar, the team discovered a disc-like object that measures nearly 200 feet in diameter and has generated out-of-this-world speculation." The coolest theory is that it's a UFO, one that suspiciously resembles Han Solo's spaceship The Millennium Falcon in Star Wars. Other theories, according to Benjamin Radford of the Skeptical Inquirer, are: Russian warships, Atlantis, a marine version of Stonehenge, or a plug to another world inside Earth. Radford, the pure skeptic to the end, doesn't buy any of these scenarios. Quit harshing our mellow, dude...

For more info:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/team-investigate-underwater-ufo-sunken-ships-millennium-falcon-article-1.1013642

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46226992/ns/technology_and_science-science/

http://www.BenjaminRadford.com

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Album of the Month: Born to Die

Never mind the haters. Lana Del Rey, aka "The Gangsta Nancy Sinatra" delivers the goods...

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YouTube Video of the Week: Give Me All Your Luvin'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cItHOl5LRWg

Madonna is back, with Nicki Minaj & M.I.A. (sans middle finger) dressed as cheerleaders. Winning!

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The BlackBerry, Trying to Avoid the Hall of Fallen Giants
SAM GROBART and IAN AUSTEN
January 28, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/business/blackberry-aiming-to-avoid-the-hall-of-fallen-giants.html

Research in Motion, maker of BlackBerry smartphones and tablets, sent its co-chief executives packing last week and replaced them with Thorsten Heins, who had been RIM’s chief operating officer. How would he characterize his employer?

“We make the best communications devices in the world,” said Mr. Heins, who met with editors and reporters from The New York Times on Friday.

Not everyone feels the same way. Over the last year, RIM’s share price has plunged 75 percent. The company once commanded more than half of the American smartphone market. Today it has 10 percent.

RIM has two, maybe three ways forward.

The first — the one that Mr. Heins is clearly aiming for — is a triumphant comeback after a near-death experience. Think Apple and its iMac. RIM is on the verge of upgrading its PlayBook operating system — now with, among other things, e-mail, a feature that the original PlayBook bafflingly lacked — and will release the BlackBerry 10 OS this year.

Behind Door No. 2 is a gradual decline and diminution as rivals like Apple, Google and Microsoft devour most of the market; to some degree, they already have. BlackBerry would keep the scraps — a small but dedicated following of corporate and government customers who want its proprietary messaging and security features.

Then there is the third option: oblivion. The road of progress is littered with the corpses of fallen titans. Objects that once seemed as indispensable as the companies that made them have been mercilessly superseded — as seen below. And RIM ought to know: with mobile devices like the BlackBerry 957, it helped to extinguish the pager era.

SONY WALKMAN (1979-2010) Before the Walkman, “personal audio” meant holding a transistor radio to your ear. Sony’s invention created an entire category of devices and helped make the company the technology leader of the 1980s. New models (Thinner! Auto-reverse!) were eagerly anticipated, the LP was relegated to the attic and tender moments spent listening to mix tapes from that certain someone proliferated across teenage bedrooms. Sony seemed incapable of putting a foot wrong. It successfully moved the brand into compact discs with the Discman, then bought record labels and movie studios to bring about that illusory marriage of technology and content. When the digital revolution hit, Sony was too beholden to its proprietary formats, as well as to the inertia inside its media companies. Enter Apple and the iPod.

PAGERS (BORN 1951) At first, pagers were attached to people who worked in fields where lives were on the line. That usually meant doctors, though the group expanded in the late 1980s to include drug dealers. Early beepers displayed only numbers, giving rise to a numerical lexicon that included codes like 911 (call me back immediately) and 07734, which resembles “hello” when read upside down. Pagers briefly gained fame in early 1990s hip-hop, showing up in songs like “Skypager,” by a Tribe Called Quest. The pager’s fall was attributable to the disruptive and destructive powers of another technology: the mobile phone. Why beep when you can talk? And a pager message is so tiny that it makes a tweet look like “The Iliad.” The beeper does live on, in limited circles: its network remains more reliable than cell networks, making it useful to E.M.S. and other rescue workers.

PALM PILOT (1997-2007) Filofax brought personal organizers to their analog apogee in the early ’90s, but Palm brought them into the digital age. Palm Pilots were dazzling when they first appeared: all of your contacts, calendars and notes in one slim, pocket-size device. A touch screen, which required a stylus, made navigation easy. And you could add software, bought through an online store. Want a Zagat guide to go along with your personal data? No problem. In later years, Palm even added telephone features, creating a compelling, all-in-one gadget. Despite boardroom dramas that affected the company’s name and its ownership, Palm’s reputation as a source of innovative hardware and software endured until Jan. 9, 2007. Why that date? That’s when Apple introduced the iPhone.

POLAROID INSTANT CAMERAS (1948-2008) Edwin Land’s invention of instant-developing film in 1948 put a darkroom inside a handheld camera. That achievement gave his Polaroid Corporation a distinct advantage over traditional film cameras. By 1980, Polaroid was selling 7.8 million cameras a year in the United States — more than half of all the 15 million cameras, instant and traditional, sold that year. In 1985, it won a major patent-infringement suit, forcing Kodak to abandon its own instant-camera efforts. The victory was short-lived. The late ’80s brought the rise of the digital camera. By 2000, digital cameras began appearing on cellphones, placing cameras in millions of pockets. Polaroid declared bankruptcy for the first time in 2001 and stopped making instant film in 2008. Kodak declared bankruptcy on Jan. 19.

ATARI 2600 (1977-c.1984) It wasn’t the first game console, but the Atari 2600 brought video games into the home and popular culture. Over its life span, more than 30 million were sold. Pong, Combat, Pitfall and Frogger soaked up children’s afternoons. Then came the PC, which could play games and do much more. Atari rushed out games, assuming that its customers would play whatever it released. They didn’t. Millions of unsold games and consoles were buried in a New Mexico landfill in 1983. Warner Communications, which bought Atari in 1976 for $28 million, sold it in 1984 for no cash.

A version of this article appeared in print on January 29, 2012, on page BU5 of the New York edition with the headline: The BlackBerry, Trying to Avoid the Hall of Fallen Giants..

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Quiet Quiz: Are You an Introvert or an Extrovert?
Excerpted from: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
http://www.npr.org/2012/01/30/145930229/quiet-please-unleashing-the-power-of-introverts

To Find out where you fall on the introvert-extrovert spectrum, answer each question True or False, choosing the one that applies to you more often than not.

1. ______ I prefer one-on-one conversations to group activities.

2. ______ I often prefer to express myself in writing.

3. ______ I enjoy solitude.

4. ______ I seem to care about wealth, fame, and status less than my peers.

5. ______ I dislike small talk, but I enjoy talking in depth about topics that matter to me.

6. ______ People tell me that I'm a good listener.

7. ______ I'm not a big risk-taker.

8. ______ I enjoy work that allows me to "dive in" with few interruptions.

9. ______ I like to celebrate birthdays on a small scale, with only one or two close friends or family members.

10. ______ People describe me as "soft-spoken" or "mellow."

11. ______ I prefer not to show or discuss my work with others until it's ?nished.

12. ______ I dislike conflict.

13. ______ I do my best work on my own.

14. ______I tend to think before I speak.

15.______ I feel drained after being out and about, even if I've enjoyed myself.

16. ______I often let calls go through to voice mail.

17. ______If you had to choose, I'd prefer a weekend with absolutely nothing to do to one with too many things scheduled.

18. ______ I don't enjoy multitasking.

19. ______ I can concentrate easily

20. ______ In classroom situations, I prefer lectures to seminars.

The more often you answered True, the more introverted you are. This is an informal quiz, not a scientifically validated personality test. The questions were formulated based on characteristics of introversion often accepted by contemporary researchers.

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Underground Movie of the Week: Kill List
Director: Ben Wheatley

From Salon.com:

Love it or hate it, “Kill List” is a definite widescreen cinematic experience loaded with delicious details, from the hotel clerk who holds a conversation without really listening to the sound of someone getting his brains beaten out against a concrete wall. He’s like a faux-Cockney Quentin Tarantino, passionate about the things he loves and also dedicated to the Anglo-Saxon tradition of “taking the piss” — and believe it or not, I mean that as a compliment.

Full Review:
A clever British horror-thriller nods to Tarantino
Andrew O'Hehir
Thursday, Feb 2, 2012
http://www.salon.com/2012/02/03/a_clever_british_horror_thriller_nods_to_tarantino

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TV Show of the Week: Comic Book Men

AMC's new series takes place in Kevin Smith's Secret Stash comic store in Red Bank, New Jersey. It's like Pawn Stars for comic book fans:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-et-comic-book-men-20120211,0,4358774.story

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Awesome Quotes

“From our beginning, in hindsight at least, our social direction is clear. We have moved to become one people out of many. At intervals, men or groups, through fear of people or the desire to use them, have tried to change our direction, to arrest our growth, or to stampede the Americans. This will happen again and again. The impulses which for a time enforced the Alien and Sedition Laws, which have used fear and illicit emotion to interfere with and put a stop to our continuing revolution, will rise again, and they will serve us in the future as they have in the past to clarify and to strengthen our process. We have failed sometimes, taken wrong paths, paused for renewal, filled our bellies and licked our wounds; but we have never slipped back - never."
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath.

"Life is hard; it's harder if you're stupid."
John Wayne

"The more I know about people, the better I like my dog."
Mark Twain

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Kool Websites: Free Stuff & Great Deals Edition

The following list of sites is courtesy of Yahoo Shine:
http://shine.yahoo.com/financially-fit/7-ways-score-free-stuff-145400495.html

ShopSmart
http://www.shopsmartmag.org
Consumer Reports quick & easy shopping guide...

Academic Earth
http://www.academicearth.org
Online courses from the world's top scholars...

Howcast
http://www.howcast.com
The best how to videos on the web...

ThunderFap
http://www.thunderfap.com
100% REAL free samples, freebies: NO STRINGS ATTACHED...

Totally Free Stuff
http://www.totallyfreestuff.com
One of the most popular free stuff and savings sites on the internet...

AbsurdlyCool
http://absurdlycool.com
An automated free stuff aggregator designed to collect free stuff offers from top freebie sites...

Hey It's Free!
http://www.heyitsfree.net
Daily freebies, free stuff and free samples...

Eat Free On Your Birthday
http://eatfreeonyourbirthday.com
Where kids AND adults eat free of their birthday...

Freecycle
http://www.freecycle.org
The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 5,019 groups with 8,910,022 members around the world. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by local volunteers (them's good people). Membership is free...

House Party
http://www.houseparty.com
House Party makes it easy to have a party in your own home and get exclusive access to awesome products for you and your friends. We provide the fun, you provide food, your friends and feedback and promise to have an amazing time. Our parties are sponsored by the brands you love. By hosting, you and your guests get to try their products and receive an incredible Party Pack chock full of goodies! You don’t pay anything or sell anything. It’s a no-pressure party. Just tell us what you and your guests think...

BookMooch
http://bookmooch.com
Trade your books with other people...

Swapstyle
http://www.swapstyle.com
The worlds original & number 1 fashion swap site...

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RIP

Don Cornelius, Soul Train creator & host

Angelo Dundee, veteran boxing trainer, most famously for Muhammad Ali

Actor Ben Gazzara

Film writer-director-producer Zalman King

Baseball Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter

L.A. artist Mike Kelley

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Last but definitely not least, RIP Whitney Houston, the greatest vocalist of the MTV era. Here's Dave Zirin on the passing of Ms. Houston:

Whitney Houston: My Love Is Your Love
Dave Zirin
February 13, 2012
http://www.thenation.com/blog/166208/whitney-houston-my-love-your-love

I’m a sports writer and don’t pretend to know anything about music. I listen almost exclusively to hip hop that stopped being recorded fifteen years ago (Organized Konfusion, Tim Dog) or whatever my seven-year-old daughter is into this week (please don’t ask.) I also don’t pretend to know anything about the addictions and demons that plagued Whitney Houston. But I know how it feels to hear that Whitney Houston is dead and I’m trying to come to grips with why I can’t stop thinking about her voice.

Maybe it’s because Whitney lent that singular vocal instrument to two of the most iconic collisions of music and sports. There was Whitney’s National Anthem performance, all confident volume, at the 1991 Super Bowl, which was the forward-marching soundtrack of the Persian Gulf War. I’ve found that people’s opinions of her anthem tend to reflect their opinions on the war itself. Those who favored Operation Desert Storm see it as a patriotic tour de force. Those who stood against the war remember it as a bombastic sonic eardrum buster with the subtlety of a blowtorch. Whitney also recorded the 1988 Olympic anthem One Moment in Time, essentially an adult contemporary version of Eminem’s Lose Yourself. In other words, you’d need to be comatose to not feel an involuntary goosebump.

But the real reason I’m writing this isn’t because of some sports tie-in or because I think I have anything to say about Whitney’s musical contribution. It’s that her remarkable voice was always there during some of the most intense moments of my younger life. Every junior high dance was punctuated by Whitney. She accompanied those moments of sublime adolescent intensity where a dance, the touch of a hand, a smile or a scrawled phone number, made being a teenager fleetingly bearable. 1980s school dances in New York City meant Run DMC, Bon Jovi, Roger Troutman, Michael Jackson, Bananarama, Springsteen, Lisa Lisa, Joan Jett, Prince, the Beastie Boys, Talking Heads and at least three Whitney songs, with I Wanna Dance with Somebody or How Will I Know always in rotation. You could rely on Whitney for that flirty fast song, and for the slow dance to end the night, with Where Do Broken Hearts Go the favorite.

Whitney was part of a mosaic of 1980s music that was more musically inclusive and less segmented by the crude race-based marketing that dominated the 1990s. A portion of this inclusivity, certainly with Whitney and Michael, was because record execs were trying to "whiten" their look and sound in the 80s for max appeal. But both (as well as Quincy Jones) were talented and transgressive enough to not let industry pressures swamp their sound. The result was a crossover that led, before the industry figured out how to package, market and segregate it, to a burst of rare creativity when commerce comfortably danced with art. Now the fame industry has claimed another life. It was hard to watch the Grammys last night and not wonder where all these painted, praying, preying, people were when Whitney was spiraling down. Bruce Springsteen started last night's Grammy show singing his new single, We Take Care of our Own. He was singing to the wrong collection of people.

This is an industry that tends to people’s talent and not to the people themselves. It’s an industry that claimed Billie Holiday and Whitney Houston before they reached fifty. Its body count transcends musical categories and includes Tupac, Biggie, Kurt, Marvin, Amy, Jimi, Janis and too many others to name. For those who lay all these deaths at the altar of their “personal responsibility” need to explain how so many, from young starlets to Ol’ Dirty Bastards, have been left for dead. I’ve wondered before what it says about our country that the people who in theory should be healthiest among us, professional athletes, tend to die crippled and young. I wonder today how we can look at the music industry as anything other than what it is: a parasite feeding on the very people it should nurture. Of course, many survive its clutches, but Whitney didn’t. Now every memory I have of those dances in darkened church basements, wearing my shell-toe Adidas with fat laces and Coca Cola t-shirts, swaying to Whitney’s voice, is interrupted by the reality that my joy fed the same machine that eventually claimed her life. I don’t know anything about music. But I know that Whitney, like Lady Day, didn’t live to see fifty. That’s a shame and a sin, and in a sane world it wouldn’t be theirs to bear alone.

Dave Zirin is the author of “The John Carlos Story” (Haymarket) and just made the new documentary “Not Just a Game.” Receive his column every week by emailing dave@edgeofsports.com. Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com.

Significa 1-30-12

Blogpost of the Month: Richard Sauder

Wisened In The Upper Amazon
Sunday, January 22, 2012
http://eventhorizonchronicle.blogspot.com/2012/01/wisened-in-upper-amazon.html

I have drunk ayahuasca 12 times now, and every time it seends me reeling. Every time it slams me hard, at a physical level, and every time it raises new questions about reality, and our perception and experience of it, expanding my inner horizons.

A couple of days ago I journeyed into the edge of the forest in the Upper Amazon in the company of a Kichwa shaman. We built a sturdy lean to for shelter against the rain, and collected fallen wood for a fire. He then took me walk about through the forest in search of copal trees. We found a couple of towering, massive specimens from one of which he proceeded to collect small clumps of dried resin or sap. He did this by grabbing hold of a lone, thin vine that was growing straight up 150 feet into the crown of the tree, and yanking on it and slapping it against the side of the tree to knock off the clumps of dried resin. He then used the resin to light the fire as a hard rain began to fall, and thunder pealed.

Just after nightfall I drank a strong dose of ayahuasca and invoked the spirit of amasanga. I specifically asked to be shown what is going to happen in the near future, so that I could communicate what I was shown to a wider public.

Here is what ayahusca showed me:

I saw a large, rectangular compound, set in an open space that had been cleared in a forested area. The site was surrounded by a tall security fence with guard towers or gun towers in the corners. There were military trucks parked near to and also inside the fence, It was a concentration camp. It had a dark, brooding air about it, a low vibration.

Shimmering in the air above the military concentration camp was a sort of electronic mesh or grid or net. I understood that this electronic "shield", if you will, was a sort of frequency barrier to control the concentration camp and to prevent any higher energy or frequency from entering. The interesting thing about the electronic grid was that it encompassed only the area above the concentration camp. It conformed to the rectangular extent of the camp and no farther. I saw no signs or symbols, but had the understanding that this was an American concentration camp.

I wasn`t sure that this was the answer I was seeking, so I asked ayahuasca a second time to show what was going to happen in the near future (understood to be the next one to twelve months). Once again I was shown precisely the same grim scene.

Inwardly I thought, "O.K., that`s it then, that`s the answer. Military dictatorship, police state, internment camps, human holding pens, that`s what`s being planned, that`s what`s coming up in the future months."

I believe that this scenario clearly applies to individual countries, such as the USA, but can also be extended to the whole Earth, considering the whole planet as a concentration camp. The global police state is rapidly spreading its tentacles everywhere. Twice in the last three weeks, buses that I was traveling on were stopped by the army and the national police, respectively, and all the male passengers were ordered off the bus to have their personal identity documents examined. This type of thing is happening routinely in many countries now, including in the USA. Before I left the USA, in late 2010, federal agents entered a bus I was traveling on in New York state and walked the aisle, requesting passengers to produce personal identification. The same thing happened to me while taveling in Peru. Failure to comply can result in arrest and physical detention (jail) or deportation.

The TSA in the USA is now actively expanding its search operations beyond airport screening areas. Recent legislation in the USA such as the notorious NDAA lays the (il)legal groundwork for fascist arrest, detention and even summary execution of anyone, anywhere that the USA government deems a threat to its fascist, imperial agenda. And then there is the recent bid solicitation by FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for contractors to build fenced "camps" within 72 hours, in every region of the continental USA.

For more information, see here and here, and also explore the links here.

What I saw closely corresponds to the camps described in this FEMA bid solicitation.

The electronic grid that controls and subjugates humanity is also real enough -- television, radio, cell telephones and cell telephone towers,, HAARP, the GWEN antennas, ELF antennas, satellite microwave systems, the commercial electrical grid that spans large areas of the planet and feeds electricity into homes and buildings all over the world, and even more we do not know about.

I accept that this huge, global electromagnetic "shield" is a control mechanism that is used to artificially suppress human consciousness.

So that is what ayahuasca showed me initially. But I presisted in inquiring, "What is going to happen in the near future?" What happened next was not quite what I was expecting. I thought maybe it would show me scenes of financial collapse and social unrest, or of war, or natural disasters.

But it did not show me those things, perhaps because all of those are self-evident. Global financial collapse is already underway, social unrest is occurring in many countries and war is an ever-present threat rearing its ugly head.

So, no, ayahuasdca showed me none of those things.

What happened instead is that again and again, at intervals of several minutes I saw extraordinarily brilliant bursts of intensely white, pure light with slight traces of rose, lavender, violet and other hues and colors. I sensed tremendous significance and intent and order in the light, without, however, being able to consciously perceive any discrete image or message.

So I just accepted that ayahuasca wanted me to know that after the concentration camp(s) phase, after the police state repression, after the fascist human prison pens, the Great White Light breaks in and washes all of that away, like a great purifying tidal wave.

I have to say that the force of the Pure White Light is absolutely dazzling. It is unknown multiple orders of magnitude stronger than the shadowy gloom of the concentration camp scene. You might say that the fascist prison camps can`t hold a candle to the Great White Light.

So it looks like near future events will be exceedingly negative at first, but that the subsequent prospect of events to follow is far brighter!

The forces of gloom, doom and darkness will hold sway for yet another while, but after that their shadowy plans will melt away into insipid nothingness.

Nothing from nothing yields nothing. The Vipers Brood will be returning to the bottomless pit from which they sprang, fleeing in abject horror, fear and dread, as the Great White Light that they so loathe comes flooding in.

Coming soon to a planet near you. Details may vary somewhat from person to person, country to country, region to region. But that is the overall picture, as shown to me by ayahuasca.

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Men's Rules

At last a guy has taken the time to write this all down
Finally , the guys' side of the story.
( I must admit, it's pretty good.)

We always hear "the rules"
From the female side....
Now here are the rules from the male side.

These are our rules!
Please note... these are all numbered "1"
ON PURPOSE!

1. Men are NOT mind readers.
(FIRST & FOREMOST RULE)

1. Learn to work the toilet seat.
You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down.
We need it up, you need it down.
You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Sunday sports, It's like the full moon
or the changing of the tides.
Let it be.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want.
Let us be clear on this one:
Subtle hints do not work!
Strong hints do not work!
Obvious hints do not work!
Just say it!

1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do.
Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument.
In fact, all comments become Null and void after 7 Days.

1. If you think you're fat, you probably are.
Don't ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one

1. You can either ask us to do something
Or tell us how you want it done.
Not both.
If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possible, Please say whatever you have to say during commercials..

1. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings.
Peach, for example, is a fruit, not A color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If it itches, it will be scratched.
We do that.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," We will act like nothing's wrong.
We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle..

1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, Expect an answer you don't want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine... Really .

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as Football or Hockey.

1. You have enough clothes.

1. You have too many shoes.

1. I am in shape. Round IS a shape!

1. Thank you for reading this.

Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight;

But did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping.

Pass this to as many men as you can -
to give them a laugh.

Pass this to as many women as you can -
to give them a bigger laugh.

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YouTube Clip of the Week: Mischievous Mitchell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB_57mSDu0w

Dennis the Menace as a Jew-baiting racist. Boys will be boys!

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Konformist Book Club: A Memoir of Injustice
By the Younger Brother of James Earl Ray, Alleged Assassin of Martin Luther King, Jr
Jerry Ray, Tamara Carter

List Price: $19.95
Price: $15.56 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25.
You Save: $4.39 (22%)

Kindle Edition: $8.79

Publication Date: February 19, 2011

Including previously undisclosed information on one of the most significant and mysterious events in modern American history, this account debunks the myth that James Earl Ray was a racist and documents his actual location on one of the critical days leading up to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The memoir also reveals photographs of James Earl Ray when he was ill in prison and gives the key to a code used by the brothers in planning a prison break. Presenting a mesmerizing perspective on the manipulation of the media in reporting on race relations, the working middle class, and the U.S. criminal justice system, this account broadcasts an urgent call to action to correct some of the many injustices that surround these events, such as the U.S. government's refusal to rigorously test the alleged murder weapon, and encourages support for new federal legislation.

About the Author

Jerry Ray is an activist and unintentional witness to the events surrounding the Martin Luther King Jr. assassination. He has appeared on Good Morning America, the Phil Donahue Show, the Tavis Smiley Show, WBZ-TV, and KNSD. He lives in McMinnville, Tennessee. Tamara Carter is an activist, a teacher, and an independent researcher of the Martin Luther King Jr. and JFK assassinations. She is also a charter member and organizer of the Coalition on Political Assassinations. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

Paperback: 480 pages
Publisher: Trine Day (February 19, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1936296055
ISBN-13: 978-1936296057

Paperback:
http://www.amazon.com/Memoir-Injustice-Younger-Brother-Assassin/dp/1936296055/thekonformist

Kindle Edition:
http://www.amazon.com/Memoir-Injustice-Younger-Assassin-ebook/dp/B0050K8C00/thekonformist

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Awesome Quotes

“To declare war on 1.2 billion Muslims and say all Muslims are the same, this is dangerous talk. Yeah, there are some radicals. But they don’t come here to kill us because we’re free and prosperous. Do they go to Switzerland and Sweden? I mean, that’s absurd... The CIA has explained it to us. They said they come here and want to do us harm because we’re bombing them.”
Ron Paul

“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.”
Seneca (Roman philosopher, mid-1st century AD)

*

Kool Websites

Draw a Stickman
http://www.drawastickman.com/


BioAge
http://www.bioage.com/

BIOAGE launched in the USA in 2001

It has been a decade that BIOAGE Inc. brought the BioNutrition products to the USA market. We are proud to say that the BioSuperfood and BioPreparation formulas are safe and effective.

The manufacturer BioNutrition, Inc. owned and operated by Dr. Michael Kiriac was formed in Canada in 1998 after his extensive research on the subject of algae and their nutritional and healing qualities dating back to the early 70s. Dr. Kiriac is one of the world's leading authorities in algae nutrition and recipient of numerous international awards and medals for his research and findings in algae nutrition and earth ecology...


The Concealed Carry Report
https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/

If you’ve decided to carry concealed for personal protection (or even if you’re just thinking about it), I applaud your decision. Most people are not willing to do what is necessary to protect themselves, their family members, and even complete strangers from the ruthless attack or a violent felon...

It is critical that you realize that the MOMENT you’re forced to draw your firearm in self-defense there will be 100+ decisions that you’ll need to make in a split second. The MOMENT you decide to draw your firearm, YOUR LIFE WILL CHANGE.

If you need to take the time to THINK about these decisions, there’s a good chance you’ll make a choice that will put you in jail...or worse.

You need to have these decisions programmed into your brain BEFORE you leave your house Carrying Concealed!

Reading the Concealed Carry Report and being in the USCCA is all about helping people make informed decisions. We empower our members so they know EXACTLY what to do in a life or death situation.

The Concealed Carry Report is a free, weekly newsletter. Inside, you’re going to uncover the answers to the toughest questions a citizen can (and MUST) face before being able to responsibly carry concealed and defend himself...


Botanic Choice
http://www.botanicchoice.com/

Top 10 Reasons to Make Botanic Choice YOUR Choice
Welcome to Botanic Choice where you'll find high-quality vitamins, nutritional supplements, natural beauty products, liquid extracts and herbal teas and homeopathic remedies. Since 1910, customers have trusted Botanic Choice for their health care needs and here is why:

1. Superior quality vitamins and value on every product, every time. You can expect the freshest natural products available - the same quality or better than the more expensive national brands. We adhere to rigorous quality control standards and strict guidelines in every natural product we sell.

2. Exclusive products you won't find anywhere else. Our researchers monitor the latest nutritional and scientific advancements to develop the most effective, powerful vitamin formulas you will only find here, like Thyroid Complex, Apple Cider Vinegar Plus with Green Tea, Prostate 9 Complex, and Opti Gold Vision Formula.

3. A money-back guarantee. If you're not 100% totally satisfied, simply return the unused portion for a full and prompt product refund.

4. Botanic Choice Coupons. Sign up to receive exclusive Botanic Choice coupons via email and save even more every time you order.

5. Auto Refill™ Program for greater savings. Our Auto Refill program lets you lock in your savings and you pay just $2.95 - not the typical $5.95 - for shipping. Just tell us what, when and where to ship and you'll never run out again. To sign up for our Auto Refill program, please call us at 1-800-644-8327.

6. FREE vitamins and beauty products with Botanic Rewards. Earn a Botanic Choice Rewards Card with EVERY order of $20 or more. Collect 10 and receive $30 of your choice of FREE products on your next order.

7. Dr. Karen Yale and Dr. Gary Gendron, leaders in integrated medical care, chiropractic physicians, and experts in clinical nutrition, recommend the products we sell. Click here to read more about our Health Experts, including President, Tim Cleland.

8. Friendly, knowledgeable customer service. Get all your questions answered by calling us at 1-800-644-8327. Our telephone representatives are professionally trained on our entire line of products and their ingredients. Se habla Español.

9. Detailed information on natural health. "Knowledge is power" is true, especially when it comes to your health. Our Health News section is an enormous repository of information including herbal remedies, nutritional tips, recipes, a vitamin guide, and today’s health news.

10. Birthday Club. To help you celebrate you'll get a FREE birthday offer. Call 1-800-644-8327 to sign up.


Montgomery Ward
http://www.wards.com/

Improving American Homes Since 1872

If our brand name sounds familiar, it should! For over 140 years, "Montgomery Ward" has been a well-known and trusted catalog brand. In 1872, Aaron Montgomery Ward established the first mail-order business with an innovative single-sheet catalog offering 163 items. Montgomery Ward's superior service and impressive assortment of goods led to rapid growth, and by 1904 the original Montgomery Ward company was mailing catalogs to three million customers. In 2008 Montgomery Ward was acquired by Colony Brands, Inc., a family owned direct mail business, who strives to continue the heritage, traditions and values of the brand that was inspired by the founder, Aaron Montgomery Ward.*

At Wards.com, we continue to provide customers around the country with quality products and great values. While we are continually looking for ways to enhance and expand our product offering, the philosophy has remained the same. We offer one-stop shopping for quality items at affordable prices, and we deliver them right to your door. Ordering online at Wards.com is safe and easy. Browse and search for products—24 hours a day—7 days a week—and then checkout using our fast and secure online shopping cart. If you have questions, please send an email to our friendly customer service department, or call us at (888)557-3848. Ordering online at Wards.com is safe and easy. Browse and search for products—24 hours a day—7 days a week, and checkout using our fast and secure online shopping cart. We look forward to continuing our long-standing tradition, providing you with great, friendly customer service!


Einstein Noah Restaurant Group
http://www.einsteinnoah.com/

Brave New World

As the nation’s largest operator of bagel bakeries and the leader in the quick casual segment of the restaurant industry, Einstein Noah Restaurant Group is moving with the cultural shift toward food that is fast, but never tastes that way. Think fresh-baked goods, made-to-order sandwiches, crisp salads and gourmet coffee.

We currently own three independent brands including Einstein Bros.®, Noah’s New York Bagels, and Manhattan Bagel. Each sporting their own identity, the brands work independently in niches nationwide, but are growing stronger each year under the powerful umbrella of Einstein Noah Restaurant Group.

Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, Inc. is a leading company in the quick casual restaurant industry that operates locations primarily under the Einstein Bros. and Noah's New York Bagels® brands and primarily franchises locations under the Manhattan Bagel® brand. The company's retail system consists of approximately 730 restaurants in 39 states and the District of Columbia. It also operates a dough production facility. The company's stock is traded under the symbol BAGL.


KettleWorx
http://www.kettleworx.com/

KettleWorx Ultra starts with the "Six-Week Body Transformation," an easy, 6-week, step-by-step personal kettlebell training program of 6 DVDs: Intro, Cardio, Core, Resistance, Fast Abs, and Fast Fat Burn.

Your Order Also Includes:

•A FREE 5-pound Kettlebell—KettleWorx Premium Kettlebell
•The Ultimate Body Sculpting Collection—a set of 4 kettlebell workout DVDs to sculpt your legs and thighs, butt and hips, arms and shoulders, chest and back
•Fat Free in 42 Days—a 6-week healthy eating guide (e-Book)

*

RIP: Etta James, Joe Paterno, Robert Hegyes (Epstein on Wecome Back, Kotter), the TV series Chuck and Peyton Manning's NFL career, at least according to Rob Lowe's Twitter account on the last one...

Significa 1-5-12

Kool Websites
Watch Live Baseball
http://www.watchlivebaseball.com/

Tune in to Watch Baseball Live Streaming online on your pc with instant access payments...


Watch Live NBA Online
http://www.watchlivenba.tv/

Watch all the top NBA games through high quality online streams...

The Jinn
http://www.thejinn.net/

UFO, alien, poltergeist, demon, ascended master, space brother, monster, Watcher, nephilim, reptilian, Grey, Bigfoot, ghost....

We don't actually know a single thing about life on other planets. Scientific evidence that extraterrestrials visit us doesn't exist.

Our belief that they do is fantastic modern mythology in the making.

However, there is enormous evidence that deceptive entities are masquerading as extraterrestrials.

There are unseen creatures that we share this Earth with.

They don't come from other planets.
They've been called many names: aliens, spirits, Etherians, Ultraterrestrials, and more.

In the Koran they are called the Jinn.

Information about the Jinn reads like a textbook description of UFO and other paranormal phenomena.

Discovering these entities gives you an essential key to understanding paranormal phenomena.

They are the major players behind our myths and most perplexing mysteries.

UFOs aren't extraterrestrial -- They're extradimensional.

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Celente’s Trends Proven Accurate; What Will 2012 Bring?
Gerald Celente
Trends Research
December 16, 2011

“Wake-Up Call” Trend: The Decline of America trend is nowhere near bottom, and the worse is yet to come.

One year later: “Worse” has happened, as the country piles up more and more debt, politicians are gridlocked, paralyzed in some perpetual political traffic jam of inaction.

“Crack-Up 2011” Trend: Teetering economies will collapse, currency wars will ensue, trade barriers will be erected, economic unions will splinter...

One year later: The Sovereign debt crisis threatens both the European Union and Euro, currency wars are underway and the US and China are trading trade barbs.

“Crime Time” Trend: No job + no money + compounding debt = high stress, strained relations, short fuses. Hardship-driven crimes will be committed across the socioeconomic spectrum by legions of the on-the-edge desperate who will do whatever they must to keep a roof over their heads and put food on the table.

One year later: Thieves are stealing copper piping and cables, cooking oil and temple donation boxes; “Criminal recycling” is flourishing; in 2011 a record number of cyber crimes is reported to the FBI: more than 23,000 per month.

“Screw the People” Trend: As times get even tougher and people get even poorer, the “authorities” will intensify their efforts to extract the funds needed to meet fiscal obligations.

One year later: In the two-tier American justice system, the long arm of the law only reaches down to the low hanging fruit. Banks are slapped with slap on the wrist fines for billion dollar crimes, and like Jon Corzine, no crime time. But swift justice is readily dealt out for small time crimes. From closing down lemonade stands operating without a license to swat teams busting raw foods cooperatives, in America, Justice means “just us!”

“Students of the World Unite” Trend: “University degrees in hand yet out of work, in debt and with no prospects on the horizon, young adults and 20-somethings are mad as hell, and they’re not going to take it anymore.”

One year later: Occupy Wall Street is just one of the scores of worldwide student protest movements, some of which have proven powerful enough to bring down governments.

“Crackdown on Liberty” Trend: A national crusade to “Get Tough on Crime” will be waged against the citizenry. And just as in the “War on Terror,” where “suspected terrorists” are killed before proven guilty or jailed without trial, in the “War on Crime” everyone is a suspect until proven innocent.

One year later: TSA strip searches of little old ladies; Obama backs bill “authorizing indefinite military detention of U.S. citizens.”

“Journalism 2.0” Trend: With its unparalleled reach across borders and language barriers, “Journalism 2.0” has the potential to influence and educate citizens in a way that governments and corporate media moguls would never permit.

One year later: Aleksai Navalny, an imprisoned young Russian blogger/Twitterer with some 200,000 followers, is “credited with mobilizing a generation of young Russians through social media, a leap much like the one that spawned Occupy Wall Street and youth uprisings across Europe this year.”

“Cyberwars” Trend: The demonstrable effects of Cyberwar and its companion, Cybercrime, are already significant – and will come of age in 2011. Equally disruptive will be the harsh measures taken by global governments to control free access to the web, identify its users, and literally shut down computers that it considers a threat to national security.

One year later: Iran proudly displayed a sleek, white U.S. drone that was used for spying on Iranians; Iranians were able to capture what US military officials privately told Bloomberg was a Lockheed Martin RQ-170 by hacking into its security code; PayPal shuts off service to WikiLeaks.

Gerald Celente was spot on with his Top Trends 2011. No one else came even close. To get a heads up on “History before it happens,” you’ll want the Top Trends 2012.

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Why the Smell of Cinnamon Makes You Spend Money
Retailers know how to manipulate all our senses — and that includes our olfactory ones
Martin Lindstrom
December 16, 2011
http://ideas.time.com/2011/12/16/why-the-smell-of-cinnamon-makes-you-spend-money

Lindstrom's latest book is Brandwashed: Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy.

Every December, you vow it’s not going to happen and yet, without fail, you return home from your Christmas shopping with far more than you intended. Do you ever wonder why? The answer might surprise you, because you’ve probably been seduced by something you can neither see nor hear.

It was a perfectly normal kind of day when I was first struck by that feeling of Christmas in the air, the one that links directly to childhood anticipation of the festive season. The odd thing was that it was early November, yet my need for tangible symbols of the festive season had bitten like a bug. I studiously hit the streets of my neighborhood in search of the perfect tree. I bought decorations and wrote Christmas cards, only to realize that Nov. 5 was a little early to be mailing them.

I was astounded by my behavior. After all, I’m a 41-year-old man who’s long since stopped believing in Santa Claus. So what was it that led me to this neat pile of cards ready to be mailed a good six weeks before Christmas? In my attempt to understand, I went over the details of the days leading up to my own personal Christmas frenzy, and I tracked the origins of it back to a brief window of time as I changed flights in the Zurich airport. I noticed the duty free shops were already full of the colors of Christmas. There was a ginormous tree topped by a gleaming star, surrounded by images of Santas and reindeer and sleighs. But surely it would take more than clichéd icons to turn me into a Christmas zombie?

Not having anything else to go on, I investigated further. Turns out I was on the right path, for the truth of the matter was to be found in the mechanisms behind the displays. To be more precise, carefully camouflaged tubes strategically placed amongst the tinsel and glitz were piping in the sumptuous smells of Christmas: a perfect mix of cinnamon and pine.

Although it seemed I’d gotten to the nub of the issue, I was still perplexed. I mean, can a tube dispensing cinnamon and pine really compel me to embrace the Christmas spirit way ahead of time? Surprisingly, yes. Dr. Gemma Calvert, who is an expert in modern brain imaging based in Oxford, England, discovered the remarkable ability smells have to reactivate childhood memories. She exposed a group of volunteers to cinnamon and then viewed their reactions, using an fMRI scanner. As they breathed in the sweet spicy scent, their brains fired up — including the region responsible for authentic emotional engagement. It seems cinnamon is one of the main ingredients associated, over time, with baking and cider-making rituals and can kick-start an emotional journey whenever it wafts our way.

So while it might seem as though retailers are concentrating on everything that delights your eyes and ears, they also might be surreptitiously enticing you to buy more through your nose. And they might not even be doing it in a sneaky manner. This season, Trader Joe’s, Publix, and other supermarkets are prominently displaying heavily-scented “cinnamon brooms” by the check out — large, smelly bunches of twigs to hang inside your home and anoint with cinnamon oil when their pungency starts to fade. At Bed, Bath and Beyond, Home Depot, and other big-box stores, cinnamon-scented pine cones for sale greet you as you walk in the door. Take these items home and you might even get the urge to rush out shopping again. Christmas is in the air — quite literally!

Lindstrom is a marketing consultant and the author of Brandwashed. The views expressed are his own.

*

Konformist Book Club

The World's Greatest Conspiracies
http://www.atomicbooks.com/index.php/worlds-greatest-conspiracies.html

$21.95

Too unsettling to be buried in the shadows for far too long, the Pandora’s Box of information unleashed in this completely updated and expanded expose proves you just can’t get away from Them. Hidden agendas, massive cover-ups, diabolically sinister plots—if you can handle it, the lowdown on the latest right-under-your-nose conspiracies is right here, including: - 9/11: Islamic terrorism...or inside job? - George W. Bush: The real powers behind the leader of the free world - Atlantis Rising: the deep and wide mythology of a “lost” civilization - Elvis: Still everywhere, with new King-size theories aplenty - Cuidad Juarez: Who—or what—is behind the unsolved serial killings of more than 90 women in this otherwise sleepy border town? - Dick “Darth” Cheney: Dr. Evil for the New Millennium? - And many others that will have you looking over your shoulder With the sordid truth finally leaking more and more into the nightly news, this provocative compilation is crucial reading for seeing beyond what They want you to believe. Whether you’re a cynic or completely certain, this walk on the wild side will convince you of one thing: You should be very, very nervous. “Fills a desperate need in this paranoid era.” —Wired magazine

Jonathan Vankin / John Whalen
Publisher Citadel Press
Page Count 844pp
Publication Date June 29, 2010
ISBN 978-0806528786

The Man Cave Book
Jeff Wilser

Kindle Price: $9.99 includes free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
Paperback $10.19

What separates the men from the boys? The Man Cave.

Boyhood Fort Vs. Man Cave

Who's allowed
Boyhood Fort: Not girls—they have cooties
Man Cave: Not women—they have authority

Primary materials used in construction
Boyhood Fort: Wood, stuff your mom doesn't want
Man Cave: Particleboard, stuff your wife doesn't want

Key activities inside
Boyhood Fort: Goofing around, avoiding responsibility
Man Cave: Goofing around, avoiding responsibility

Peak periods of use
Boyhood Fort: After school, weekends
Man Cave: After work, weekends

Slumber parties with buddies?
Boyhood Fort: Yes
Man Cave: No

Food and beverages consumed
Boyhood Fort: Soda and unhealthy snacks
Man Cave: Beer and unhealthy snacks

Spend the night inside?
Boyhood Fort: Not as a habit, but it's been known to happen
Man Cave: Not as a habit, but it's been known to happen

Money spent on space
Boyhood Fort: As little as possible
Man Cave: As much as possible

Is this a phase you will outgrow?
Boyhood Fort: Yes
Man Cave: No

The Man Cave Book is a tribute to great and glorious man spaces and the craftsmen behind them. Complete with instructions and insights into creating your own unique refuge and shrine to beer, sports, and everything else that's right with the world, this is an essential manual for any man cave enthusiast.

About the Author

A former USMC Reserves squad leader and the author of The Maxims of Manhood, Jeff Wilser is a regular columnist on dating, nightlife, and pop culture who has contributed to GQ, Esquire, Glamour, MTV, and VH1.

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 8251 KB
Print Length: 192 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins e-books; Original edition (April 19, 2011)
Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers
Language: English
ASIN: B004U73C1S
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

Amazon URL

Kindle Edition:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Man-Cave-Book-ebook/dp/B004U73C1S/thekonformist

Paperback:
http://www.amazon.com/Man-Cave-Book-Jeff-Wilser/dp/0062003925/thekonformist

*

Awesome Quotes

“You know, a one-term president with some balls who actually got stuff done would have been, in the long run of this country, much better.”
Matt Damon on Barack Obama

"The sound of five pretentious old guys joylessly grinding out sub-shoegaze drone and patting themselves on the back for being 'subversive.' It's more out of touch than a bunch of CEOs starting a drum circle at an Occupy rally and as sonically disastrous."
Entertainment Weekly, in naming the Lou Reed - Metallica collaboration Lulu the worst album of the year

*

YouTube Greatest Hits

Tiger Woods Amazing Miracle Shot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHMPpZVOfbI

16th Hole at the 2005 Masters in Augusta...


The Dark Crystal, Part 1 of 8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMnFMAF_0RQ

All eight parts are available...


Bill Hicks: On Letterman (1993)
The Cut Set
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vf340K_Ed0o

In honor of what would be his 50th birthday on December 16th:

http://alchemicalarchives.blogspot.com/

Hicks constantly faced problems with censorship. In 1984, Hicks was invited to appear on Late Night with David Letterman for the first time. He had a joke that he used frequently in comedy clubs about how he caused a serious accident that left a classmate confined to a wheelchair. NBC had a policy that no handicapped jokes could be aired on the show, making his stand-up routine difficult to perform without mentioning words such as "wheelchair". Hicks was disappointed that the TV audience didn't get to experience the uncensored Bill Hicks that people saw in clubs.

On October 1, 1993, about five months before his death, Hicks was scheduled to appear on Late Show with David Letterman, his twelfth appearance on a Letterman late night show but his entire performance was removed from the broadcast — then the only occasion where a comedian's entire routine was cut after taping. Hicks' stand-up routine was removed from the show allegedly because Letterman and his producer were nervous about Hicks' anti-religious jokes. Hicks said he believed it was due to a pro-life commercial aired during a commercial break. Both the show's producers and CBS denied responsibility. Hicks expressed his feelings of betrayal in a letter to John Lahr of The New Yorker. Although Letterman later expressed regret at the way Hicks had been handled, Hicks did not appear on the show again. The full account of this incident was featured in a New Yorker profile by Lahr, which was later published as a chapter in Lahr's book, Light Fantastic.

Hicks' mother, Mary, appeared on the January 30, 2009, episode of Late Show. Letterman played the routine in its entirety. Letterman took full responsibility for the original censorship and apologized to Mrs. Hicks. Letterman also declared he did not know what he was thinking when he pulled the routine from the original show in 1993. Letterman said, "It says more about me as a guy than it says about Bill because there was absolutely nothing wrong with that."

*

Retropedia: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
http://www.retroland.com/santa-claus-conquers-the-martians

Earthlings have long held an affinity for the jolly bearded fellow in the red suit that hands out Christmas presents each year. Is it any wonder that other planets might just be a little jealous that we haven’t shared St. Nick with the rest of the galaxy? Well, that all changed in 1964, when the Martians took matters into their own hands in the campy sci-fi classic, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. It might not have given Citizen Kane a run for its money in terms of quality, but that hasn’t stopped numerous generations from gleefully embracing this one-of-a-kind B-movie that remains popular to this day.

The poor kids on Mars have a tough life, what with all of that forced educational programming that has left them little freedom to have fun. Luckily, they are allowed access to some good ol’ Earth television and, as a result, have become enamored by famed North Pole resident, Santa Claus. One particular set of Martian parents, Kimar and Momar (dad and mom, respectively) become aware of this trend, thanks to their kids Girmar and Bomar, and bring their children’s fascination with St. Nick to the attention of the all-knowing Martian, Chochem, who realizes the importance in letting the children of Mars have a little fun in their lives. To that end, he instructs the Martian leaders to head over to Earth and kidnap the famed Kris Kringle.

The idea is to have Santa set up shop on Mars and start churning out toys for the kids, but that doesn’t sit well with one particularly cantankerous alien named Voldar, who would rather see Santa killed, rather than corrupt their ancient culture. So when Santa arrives, along with two Earth children, Betty and Billy, Voldar starts plotting their demise. He immediately sends his henchmen, Shim and Stobo to sabotage the new toy factory so that it builds defective products. And when fellow Martian, the dimwitted Dropo, starts impersonating Santa around town and shows up at the toy factory, Voldar mistakes his identity for the real thing and kidnaps the faux Santa. Meanwhile, the real all-knowing Santa is a step ahead of the scheming and Voldar’s plans quickly unravel. But the big guy is too kind-hearted to leave the children of the planet sans Santa and he has a pretty good idea of who might make a suitable replacement for him on the planet.

While there may not be any huge box-office revenues to report or a list of Academy Award nominations, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians is one of those films that is almost impossible not to like, despite its “B” status. And, although the film certainly didn’t boast an all-star cast, eagle-eyed viewers might notice that one of the Martian kids is actually a very young Pia Zadora.

Recent generations were re-introduced to Santa Claus Conquers the Martians as part of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 show on Comedy Central. The cast poked fun at (skewered) the film in their own inimitable way, leading it to become one of the most popular episodes, one that airs every holiday season. And, although rumors of a remake have persisted for years, it would appear that this classic film is safe from being re-invented as of this writing.


To view the movie:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/24/holiday-movie-santa-claus-conquers-the-martians

RawStory.com review:

There are b-movies and c-movies and then there’s this holiday confection, “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.” The title alone should tell you everything you need to know about how seriously this 1964 release takes itself. We file this one under “So bad, it’s good.” Actually, make that under “So bad, it’s AWESOME.”

Merry Christmas!

*

RIP

Christopher Hitchens, 1949–2011:
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/12/In-Memoriam-Christopher-Hitchens-19492011

Vaclav Havel, Czech dissident, playwright, politician dead at 75:
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/18/world/europe/czech-republic-vaclav-havel-obit

Cheetah the Chimp, Johnny Weissmuller's sidekick in the Tarzan movies, at the age of 80, allegedly:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/12/cheetah-remembering-tarzans-hairy-sidekick.html

The Wilshire Grand Hotel in downtown Los Angeles:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-1223-wilshire-grand-20111223,0,2448939.story

NOT RIP: Jon Bon Jovi. Also, Taylor Lautner isn't gay...

Significa 12-23-11

Pat Robertson: You know you're out of touch when you think of Mac & Cheese as exotic ethnic food...
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YouTube Movie of Week: Labyrinth (1986)

Part 1 of 8:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vcq5Ac1-YC0

(All eight parts can be found on this page)

From the Retropedia via Archive.org:

Masterminded by Muppeteer Jim Henson and Star Wars creator George Lucas, Labyrinth combined live actors, puppetry and special effects in an elaborate fantasy. While not officially a sequel to Henson's The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth had the same look and feel, and it stirred up the same kind of religious fan fervor.

The film begins as a teenage girl named Sarah babysits her younger brother Toby. A naïve girl who indulges herself in fantasies and daydreams, Sarah dislikes always having to be responsible for her kid brother. In a moment of annoyance, she wishes the Goblin King would steal him away forever. She is horrified when her terrible wish actually comes true, and she plunges into the labyrinth in order to save poor Toby.

Jareth, the Goblin King, watches Sarah with great interest as she navigates her way through the treacherous, complicated maze. She is assisted in her quest by many strange characters, including the gruff dwarf Hoggle, the miniature but brave Sir Didymus and the gentle giant Ludo. Sarah's adventures in the labyrinth cause her to become a wiser and more compassionate person, as she matures from a self-indulgent child to a young, intelligent woman.

The film provided many memorable moments of stunning images, including a dark tunnel crowded with thousands of white Helping Hands, the odious Bog of Eternal Stench, Jareth's staircase kingdom (based on the drawings of M.C. Escher) and of course, the mysterious labyrinth itself.

David Bowie's performance as Jareth also made a striking impression. His Goblin King had a truly magnetic presence that made one understand why Sarah would find herself unwillingly attracted to him. The former Ziggy Stardust also wrote and performed five original songs for the film's soundtrack.

It's very easy to fall under the spell of a movie like Labyrinth, because it taps into our ideas about dreams and illusions. The film also boasted innovative puppetry creations for the numerous creatures that populated its fantasy world, making it an even more mesmerizing and unique moviegoing experience.

*

Lame Album of the Year: Lou Reed & Metallica's Lulu

There are a lot of people who think the alleged musical collaboration of Reed & Metallica is the worst album of the year. That's saying a lot in the time of Justin Bieber & Big Time Rush. In any case, count The Konformist in on this bandwagon. For more Lulu haterade, check out DangerousMinds.net:

http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/lou_reed_and_metallicas_lulu_truth_in_advertising

*

Awesome Quotes

"I think there's a lot to be said for keeping your own counsel. It's not about being afraid to be public with your emotions or about who you are and what you stand for. But if you sell it off it's gone. You can't buy it back — you can't buy your privacy back. Ooh I want to be alone. Fuck you. We've been in your living room. We were at your birth. You filmed it for us and showed us the placenta and now you want some privacy?

Look at the Kardashians, they're worth millions. I don't think they were that badly off to begin with but now look at them. You see that and you think 'what, you mean all I have to do is behave like a fucking idiot on television and then you'll pay me millions.' I'm not judging it — well, I am obviously."

Daniel Craig, via Gawker.com


"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property - until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”

Thomas Jefferson


“That Cain’s candidacy was taken seriously for longer than a nano-second in a time of genuine crisis for the country raises fundamental questions about the health of the political process and the Republican party.”

Steve Schmidt, campaign manager for Arizona Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential bid
(Credit to DangerousMinds.net for this one...)

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Killer Eyes
Full Article:
http://news.discovery.com/animals/superpredator-eyes-111207.html

The world's first superpredator was a giant crustacean with enormous eyes and a razor sharp mouth, according to a new study in the journal Nature.

The over 3-foot-long marine predator sat at the top of Earth's first food chain, say scientists from the South Australian Museum and the University of Adelaide. They found fossils for the crustacean, named Anomalocaris, at Kangaroo Island, South Australia.

The exceptionally well-preserved fossil eyes for this Cambrian Period crusher reveal the predator had acute vision that would rival or even exceed that of most living insects and crustaceans.

The University of New England's John Paterson, who led the study, and his colleagues explain that Anomalocaris held the #1 spot in the earliest food chain due to its large body size, formidable grasping claws at the front of its head, and a circular mouth with razor-sharp serrations...

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Kool Websites

Kerouac.com
The Beat Museum
540 Broadway (at Columbus)
San Francisco, CA 94133
is the ultimate source for all your Beat Generation needs:
Email us at info@kerouac.com
or call us at 1-800-Ker-ouac (1-800-537-6822) or 1-831-372-4911.


http://www.salamanderandsons.com/

Salamander and Sons publishes the finest esoteric, occult and arcane books, with an emphasis on alchemical, Hermetic, and alchemystical works, along with texts qabalistic, philosophical, magic(k)al, mystical, and mythological in nature, written by adepts, sages and scholars both ancient and modern.

Salamander and Sons titles are available from our secure online shop and at all good bookstores.

Salamander and Sons titles are distributed in the USA, UK and Europe by Weiser Antiquarian Books (Maine, USA)...


http://www.pimsleurapproach.com/

Learn a Language in 10 Days with Pimsleur
The World Leader in Audio-Based Language Learning

Use the Pimsleur Approach to speak a new language in only 10 days! Pimsleur courses took over 40 years to develop and perfect. Just sit back and listen while the audio does the work for you. Each CD has been scientifically sequenced to rapidly lock language material into your brain after just one listen. You'll absorb your new language effortlessly without any reading, writing or computer use.

All of our courses come with a 30 Day, 100% Money Back Guarantee. If you're not absolutely thrilled with your new ability to learn a language and speak comfortably, simply return your course within 30 days for a full refund.


http://www.xylitolusa.com/

Xylitol is an all natural sweetener that looks and tastes like sugar. Xylitol is naturally occurring in many fruits and vegetables.

Once extracted and processed it yields a white, crystalline granule that can be used in any recipe that calls for sugar. It’s good for your teeth, stabilizes insulin levels, promotes good health and has no negative side effects.

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Stoner Cooking

Hot & Spicy Party Mix
http://www.tabasco.com/taste_tent/recipes/recipe.cfm?id=300&name=Hot_Spicy_Party_Mix

1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 to 3 teaspoons Original TABASCO® brand Pepper Sauce
1 1/4 teaspoons seasoned salt
8 cups of your favorite Chex® brand cereals (corn, rice and/or wheat)
1 cup mixed nuts
1 cup pretzels
1 cup bite-size cheese crackers

Combine butter, Worcestershire sauce, TABASCO® Sauce, and seasoned salt in a small bowl and mix well. Pour cereals, nuts, pretzels and cheese crackers into a large plastic zip-top bag. Pour butter mixture over cereal mixture inside Zipper Bag. Seal top of bag securely. Shake bag until all pieces are evenly coated.

To prepare in microwave oven:

Pour contents of bag into a large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high 5 to 6 minutes, stirring thoroughly every 2 minutes and scraping sides and bottom of bowl. Spread on absorbent paper to cool. Store in airtight container.

To prepare in conventional oven:

Pour contents of bag into an open roasting pan. Bake in a 250°F oven for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Cool and store as directed above.

Makes 11 cups.

Note: Due to differences in microwave ovens, cooking time may need adjustment. These directions were developed using 625- to 700-watt ovens.

Nutritional information per serving: 242 calories, 5g protein, 29g carbohydrate, 12g fat, 1mg cholesterol, 655mg sodium


Homemade Ketchup
Christy Pooschke
Friday, December 02, 2011
http://www.naturalnews.com/034294_ketchup_recipes.html

HEALTHFUL INGREDIENTS:

Apple Cider Vinegar (Raw & Unfiltered)
Typical commercial ketchup contains white vinegar that is distilled from corn. This type of vinegar is inflammatory and offers no real health benefit. Apple cider vinegar that is raw, organic and unfiltered is a much better choice because it actually contributes to health in many ways - eases heartburn, joint pain and joint stiffness; improves skin complexion and bowel function; breaks down fat to aid in weight loss; etc. You may need to shop at a natural food store to find this type of vinegar because it is usually not sold in the regular vinegar aisle at most grocers. Be sure to carefully scrutinize the ingredients label before making your purchase because many products on the market are labeled as "apple cider flavored vinegar," and this is not the same thing! Such varieties are actually made from white vinegar (which is made from corn, not apples), and artificial flavors and colors are added to make them look and taste similar to apple cider vinegar!

Raw Honey
Unlike the refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup in most store-bought ketchup, raw honey is a sweetener that actually contributes to your health. Raw honey is full of vitamins and minerals, and it contains high levels of antioxidants. Refined sweeteners are inflammatory and should be strictly avoided (especially when you are ill). Raw honey actually reduces the inflammation associated with many conditions (e.g., allergies, infections). Raw honey is also antibacterial, so it's great to have around the house for dressing wounds, as well. Make sure you purchase honey that is truly raw because heating (i.e., pasteurizing) honey destroys its natural health benefits! Raw honey is most likely found at your local farmers market, natural food store or health section of your regular grocer. Most honey you find in the baking aisle of your regular grocer is heated (i.e., pasteurized) and pourable. In contrast, raw honey has not been heated and is generally thicker, less clear; it must be scooped out of the container rather than squeezed or poured.

Allspice
Allspice is a dried spice that helps control appetite, offers mild pain relief, aids digestion, regulates blood sugar and increases relaxation. It is also loaded with antioxidants, and it has antimicrobial properties that may protect foods from harmful bacteria.

Cloves
Cloves are another healthful spice. They can reduce heartburn, relieve nausea, aid in digestion and ease joint and toothache pain. Cloves are anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial, and they also contain high levels of antioxidants to neutralize free radicals!

HOMEMADE KETCHUP RECIPE:

6 ounces tomato paste (choose a brand that contains only "tomatoes")
3/4 cup water
2 TBSP raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar
2 TBSP raw honey
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp onion granules (or 1/8 tsp onion powder)
2 pinches ground allspice
2 pinches ground cloves

In a medium saucepan, stir all ingredients together with a whisk. Bring the mixture to a boil and stir. Cover the pan, and then simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let the ketchup cool, and store it in a covered container in the refrigerator. This recipe also freezes well if you prefer to make larger batches and store it for later convenience.

At GroceryGeek.com, Christy Pooschke shows consumers how to reduce their reliance on processed food. Check out her blog to learn how to shop for and prepare additive-free, natural foods. You'll love the free recipes, shopping tips and videos! Christy is also the author of an "Additive-Free" Cookbook & Grocery Shopping Guide, and she offers personalized consultations, as well!

Christy's passion for eating REAL food was sparked in 2007 when she eliminated her Fibromyalgia symptoms through diet and lifestyle changes. Until this time, she had been ingesting a Standard American Diet of boxed dinners, soda pop, candy and fast food; and she was very ill.

Since regaining her health with an additive-free diet, Christy has been on a mission to educate others about the dangers lurking in their cabinets and to help them achieve maximum health by reducing their reliance on processed foods.

In her free time, Christy operates Completely Nourished, Inc., a non-profit organization she founded to educate folks about natural foods, natural health and natural living. Check out the resources, recipes and online community available at http://www.completelynourished.org/. It's free!

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Konformist Book Club: Armand Ptolemy and the Golden Aleph
Mark Jeffrey

Kindle Price: $0.99 includes free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet

ARMAND PTOLEMY is a thriller: think Indiana Jones meets Dan Brown -- with synchronicity machines, the iChing melded with difference engines and 'pseudo time travel' thrown in for good measure.

Geomancy: the art of making stone float with sound. The hacker collective 'Anonymous'. Secret societies …

This is the world of ARMAND PTOLEMY, a new action-adventure hero. Facing an enemy armed with the Golden Aleph -- a mystical device that allows its wielder to see holographically into every point in time and space, Ptolemy must use every trick of his Oxford-educated mind and circus-trained body to succeed.

But how do you fight an enemy that knows your every move … even before you do?

When Armand Ptolemy is called to investigate strange tremors plaguing an old wing of the New York public library, he finds himself enmeshed in a series of events that began in 1912. Yet Ptolemy himself is rumored to be from the past himself -- and the world's Elite lust after the secret of how he seemingly jumped forward over one hundred years in time. Most keenly interested in this secret is Octavio Veerspike, head of the Veerspike banking dynasty.

When the Commission -- a secret society of the world's most powerful people -- suddenly call a conclave in the tropics, Ptolemy has to figure out what they're up to, and fast.

But the Elites have other ideas. Putting into a motion the capstone of a hundred-years old plan, the Commission wants Ptolemy out of the way. And with the Golden Aleph giving them very potent powers of prediction, they just may succeed ...

Author Mark Jeffrey (@markjeffrey on Twitter) is perhaps best known for his best-selling young adult novel MAX QUICK: THE POCKET AND THE PENDANT (HarperCollins, 2011). First podcast as an online audiobook, the book received over 2.6 million downloads. Later, it was picked up by HarperCollins and re-published in hardcover in May, 2011. More information can be found at maxquickseries.com

MAX QUICK: THE TWO TRAVELERS is currently available as a podcast audiobook. Mark Jeffrey is currently working on MAX QUICK: THE BANE OF THE BONDSMAN as well as ARMAND PTOLEMY AND THE GEOMANCER. More information on Armand Ptolemy can be found at armandptolemy.com

Praise for MAX QUICK:
“A wildly imaginative romp through the vagaries of time, Max Quick leads the reader on a high–speed tour of ancient myths, alien kingdoms and some books you can really throw yourself into. Terrific adventure at breakneck speed.” (Richard Newsome, author of The Billionaire’s Curse )

“An imaginative addition to the middle-grade speculative adventure canon.” (Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books )

“Max Quick has the answers to life’s biggest questions. The world stands still the moment you enter this book. It’s a fabulous, fleet-footed adventure story that goes by in a whoosh.” (Kristin Miller, New York Times bestselling author of The Eternal Ones and the Kiki Strike series )

“A fresh, fun and fascinating idea deftly brought to life. With all its deeply–felt adventure, Max Quick should quickly captivate young readers.” (James Jennewein and Tom S. Parker, authors of the RuneWarriors Trilogy )

“This fast-paced adventure…will keep readers turning the pages. The incorporation of figures from Sumerian mythology adds an interesting element that may appeal to fans of Rick Riordan’s “Percy Jackson” series.” (School Library Journal )

“Riveting. The Pocket and the Pendant is not what you expect, no matter what you expect.” (Scott Sigler, New York Times bestselling author )

“Jeffrey’s descriptions of how time has stopped will stop readers in their own tracks. Plenty of action-adventure appeal.” (Booklist )

Mark has been named on of ‘50 to Watch’ by Variety Magazine, selected as one of the “Digital Coast 50' by the Silicon Alley Reporter, and one of the “Heroes of Multimedia” by Entertainment Weekly.

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 273 KB
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
Language: English
ASIN: B0067Y3K9Q

Amazon URL:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0067Y3K9Q/thekonformist

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GODS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD

a new TV series starting this week on THE ENIGMA CHANNEL - filmed entirely on location inside the Great Pyramid, at LUXOR and the house of HOWARD CARTER... GODS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD presents never before seen images of chambers carved with images of Reptilian-Amphibian-Humanoids - known in the Egyptian Creation Myths as the OGDOAD...

MESSAGE FROM BRITISH AUTHOR CHRIS EVERARD:

"Hello, I would like to thank everyone for the concern about my safety during my recent expedition to Egypt. For part of the trip we had a machine-gun armed escort - and whilst the BBC are currently portraying a violent and dangerous atmosphere, our recent expedition to Egypt was safe, full of fun - and we also discovered and filmed never-before-seen carvings, artefacts and statues which prove beyond all doubt that the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt were ingesting HASHISH, TOBACCO, COCAINE and OPIUM. Our most recent expedition also uncovered archaeological evidence that the Pharaohs were involved in HUMAN SACRIFICE and we also interviewed Egyptologists on camer who stated that MAGICAL SPELLS had been employed to assist the moving of huge stone blocks, obelisks and statues.

I would like to thank everyone for ordering my new book STONE AGE PSYCHEDELIA - I've invested 17 years of research and many thousands of pounds into the research for my book - revealing the secret hallucinogenic magic of the ancient people of Egypt and south America. I thank all of you for postig great reviews of my new book - and look forward to broadcasting a new TV Series on THE ENIGMA CHANNEL called GODS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. If you are stumped for a Christmas gift, then my advice is that the best gift is the gift of KNOWLEDGE."

STONE AGE PSYCHEDELIA contains 300+ Pages of previously unpublished research. This book is NOT a compilation of previously published articles - STONE AGE PSYCHEDELIA is 100% fresh research.

You can order direct via the Enigma Channel Cyberstore:

http://www.enigmatv.net/shop

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Try the best natural sweeteners
Dr. David Jockers
Sunday, December 04, 2011
http://www.naturalnews.com/034317_natural_sweeteners_raw_honey.html

(NaturalNews) Sweet foods were a rare delicacy for our ancient ancestors. Today, we have an unlimited supply of sugary foods and beverages at our disposal. Natural sweeteners can be used effectively in moderation to provide the sweetness that most people crave. Here are the best natural sweeteners ranked in order based on low glycemic index and additional health benefits.

Every living creature is designed to run off of a simple sugar called glucose. It is the primary unit in the study of metabolism. However, there are certainly dangers involved with consuming too much glucose. Those dangers mostly involve elevated blood sugar and insulin, which trigger fat accumulation, cellular inflammation and insulin resistance.

Fructose is another simple sugar that is found in nature within fruits, honey, and plant/tree nectar. This is metabolized differently than glucose and can cause even more hazardous effects when consumed in excess.

Safe Natural Sweeteners in Order

Stevia: Stevia is processed from the leaf of the stevia plant, which is native to South America. This herb derivative has no effect on blood sugar, insulin signaling and triglyceride formation. It develops most of its sweetness from glycosides called stevioside and rebaudioside. These compounds are 250-300 times sweeter than sucrose, which makes them have the ability to withstand heat and have longer shelf life.

Studies have even shown the stevia leaf to have beneficial effects at improving cellular insulin sensitivity and at reducing the risk of type II diabetes and high blood pressure.

Lo Han Extract: A fruit plant that grows native in Southern China/Northern Thailand. Lo Han has a very low glycemic index and low sugar content. It gets the majority of its sweetness from a glycoside nutrient called mogrosides. These mogrosides are 300 times sweeter than sugar and act as anti-oxidants that have shown abilities to inhibit cancer cell formation. This is a wonderful sweetener but can be hard to find and expensive.

Coconut Nectar: This is a very low glycemic liquid sweetener derived from the liquid sap of the coconut blossoms. The glycemic index is 35 making it one of the lowest of natural sweeteners. Also, the fructose levels are very low at 10%, and it contains a wide variety of anti-oxidants, minerals and other nutrients that enhance blood sugar stability. It is challenging to get and quite expensive.

Organic, Raw Honey: This superfood does have an effect on blood sugar and contains approximately 53% fructose, so one should only consume this in moderation. Honey contains a wide array of trace minerals such as calcium, iron, zinc, potassium, phosphorous, magnesium, copper, chromium, manganese and selenium. These nutrients are critical for healthy cellular insulin sensitivity and blood sugar balance.

Raw honey is also extremely rich in anti-oxidants and natural enzymes. Honey contains flavonoid anti-oxidants such as pinocembrin and pinostrobin that help reduce oxidative stress in the body and promote better enzyme activity.

Organic Blackstrap Molasses: Molasses is a byproduct of the processing of sugar. It does have an effect on glycemic index and must only be consumed in moderation. Blackstrap molasses is a very rich source of iron, copper, manganese, potassium, magnesium and selenium.

Sugar Alcohols: These include xylitol, glycerol, sorbitol, maltitol, mannitol, and erythritol. Sugar alcohol is supposed to just pass through the body unrecognized. This causes no blood sugar imbalances and is considered a safe sweetener. However, many individuals have reported significant gastrointestinal distress that includes cramping, bloating, gas & diarrhea.

About the author:

Dr. David Jockers owns and operates Exodus Health Center in Kennesaw, Ga. He is a Maximized Living doctor. His expertise is in weight loss, customized nutrition & exercise, & structural corrective chiropractic care.

For more information go to:
http://www.exodushc.com/

To find a Maximized Living doctor near you go to:
http://www.maximizedliving.com/

Dr. Jockers is also available for long distance phone consultations to help you beat disease and reach your health goals.