Yearly Archives: 2012

NM Fire Spotted by Satellite

Posted on by

NASA PHOTO: New Mexico Wildfire Over Gila National Forest Spotted By Satellite

Posted: 06/04/2012 6:16 pm Updated: 06/04/2012 6:16 pm

 nasa photo new mexico fire

May 30, 2012, a wildfire burning in Gila National Forest in southwestern New Mexico had burned more of the landscape than any other fire in the state’s history.

By OurAmazingPlanet Staff

A NASA Earth-observing satellite has snapped a photo of the huge wildfire chewing up vast swathes of southwestern New Mexico.

The Whitewater-Baldy fire, which was sparked by a lightning strike on May 16, has burned roughly 377 square miles (976 square kilometers) as of today (June 4), making it the largest wildfire in New Mexico history. NASA’s Aqua spacecraft captured a view of the conflagration from space, showing vast plumes of smoke billowing over the rugged Gila National Forest near the borders with Arizona and Mexico.

Aqua took the photo on May 29 with its Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument, NASA officials said.

More than 1,000 firefighters have been battling the blaze, which remains less than 20 percent contained. The area’s rugged terrain has hampered progress, as have strong winds.

Though Whitewater-Baldy is big, it currently pales in comparison to some other wildfires that have torched the continental United States. For example, last year’s Wallow Fire— which spread from an unattended campfire in eastern Arizona — burned 841 square miles (2,178 square km).

The great Yellowstone fire of 1988 burned nearly three times that much land, scorching roughly 2,340 square miles (6,060 square km) across Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, including much of Yellowstone National Park. And a 1910 blaze in Idaho and Montana covered about 4,700 square miles (12,173 square km), killing nearly 90 people in the process.

Before Whitewater-Baldy grew so large, New Mexico’s biggest wildfire had been the Las Conchas blaze, which burned 244 square miles (632 square km) in 2011 in the northern part of the state.

from:    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/04/nasa-photo-new-mexico-wildfire-gila-forest_n_1569281.html?ref=green

Build Your Own Solar Oven

Posted on by

How to Build Your Own Cheap, Simple Solar Oven

The “Minimum” Solar Box Cooker is a solar oven that you can built quickly from two cardboard boxes.

The “Minimum” Solar Box Cooker is a simple box cooker that can be built in a few hours for very little money. When this cooker was designed, it was named it the “Minimum Solar Box Cooker” because, at the time, it represented the simplest design we could devise. What we didn’t communicate with that name was that this is a full-power cooker that works very well, and is in no way minimum as far as its cooking power goes.

What You Will NeedEdit What You Will Need section

– Two cardboard boxes. We would suggest that you use an inner box that is at least 15 inch x 15 inch (38 cm x 38 cm), but bigger is better. The outer box should be larger than the small box all around, but it doesn’t matter how much bigger, as long as there is a half inch (1.5cm) or more of an airspace between the two boxes. The distance between the two boxes does not have to be equal all the way around. Also, keep in mind that it is very easy to adjust the size of a cardboard box by cutting and gluing it.

– One sheet of cardboard to make the lid. This piece must be approximately 2 to 3 inch (4 to 8 cm) larger all the way around than the top of the finished cooker (the outer box).

– One small roll of aluminum foil.

– One can of flat-black spray paint (look for the words “non-toxic when dry”) or one small jar of black tempera paint. Some people have reported making their own paint out of soot mixed with wheat paste.

– At least 8 ounces (250 g) of white glue or wheat paste.

– One Reynolds Oven Cooking Bag®. These are available in almost all supermarkets in the U.S. and they can be mail-ordered from Solar Cookers International. They are rated for 400 °F (204 °C) so they are perfect for solar cooking. They are not UV-resistant; thus they will become more brittle and opaque over time and may need to be replaced periodically. A sheet of glass can also be used, but this is more expensive and fragile, and doesn’t offer that much better cooking except on windy days.

Building the Base

Minimum Solar Box Cooker Figure1.gif

Fold the top flaps closed on the outer box and set the inner box on top and trace a line around it onto the top of the outer box, Remove the inner box and cut along this line to form a hole in the top of the outer box (Figure 1).

Decide how deep you want your oven to be. It should be about 1 inch (2.5 cm) deeper than your largest pot and about 1″ shorter than the outer box so that there will be a space between the bottoms of the boxes once the cooker is assembled. Using a knife, slit the corners of the inner box down to that height. Fold each side down forming extended flaps (Figure 2). Folding is smoother if you first draw a firm line from the end of one cut to the other where the folds are to go.



Minimum Solar Box Cooker Figure2.gif

Glue aluminum foil to the inside of both boxes and also to the inside of the remaining top flaps of the outer box. Don’t bother being neat on the outer box, since it will never be seen, nor will it experience any wear. The inner box will be visible even after assembly, so if it matters to you, you might want to take more time here. Glue the top flaps closed on the outer box.

Minimum Solar Box Cooker Figure3.gif

Place some wads of crumpled newspaper into the outer box so that when you set the inner box down inside the hole in the outer box, the flaps on the inner box just touch the top of the outer box (Figure 3). Glue these flaps onto the top of the outer box. Trim the excess flap length to be even with the perimeter of the outer box.

Finally, to make the drip pan, cut a piece of cardboard, the same size as the bottom of the interior of the oven and apply foil to one side. Paint this foiled side black and allow it to dry. Put this in the oven so that it rests on the bottom of the inner box (black side up), and place your pots on it when cooking. The base is now finished.

Building the Removable LidEdit Building the Removable Lid section

Minimum Solar Box Cooker Figure4.gif

Take the large sheet of cardboard and lay it on top of the base. Trace its outline and then cut and fold down the edges to form a lip of about 3″ (7.5cm). Fold the corner flaps around and glue to the side lid flaps. (Figure 4). Orient the corrugations so that they go from left to right as you face the oven so that later the prop may be inserted into the corrugations (Figure 6). One trick you can use to make the lid fit well is to lay the pencil or pen against the side of the box when marking (Figure 5). Don’t glue this lid to the box; you’ll need to remove it to move pots in and out of the oven.

Minimum Solar Box Cooker Figure5.gif

To make the reflector flap, draw a line on the lid, forming a rectangle the same size as the oven opening. Cut around three sides and fold the resulting flap up forming the reflector (Figure 6). Foil this flap on the inside.

To make a prop bend a 12″ (30cm) piece of hanger wire as indicated in Figure 6. This can then be inserted into the corrugations as shown.

Minimum Solar Box Cooker Figure6.gif

Next, turn the lid upside-down and glue the oven bag (or other glazing material) in place. We have had great success using the turkey size oven bag (19″ x 23 1/2″, 47.5cm x 58.5cm) applied as is, i.e., without opening it up. This makes a double layer of plastic. The two layers tend to separate from each other to form an airspace as the oven cooks. When using this method, it is important to also glue the bag closed on its open end. This stops water vapor from entering the bag and condensing. Alternately you can cut any size oven bag open to form a flat sheet large enough to cover the oven opening.

Improving EfficiencyEdit Improving Efficiency section

The oven you have built should cook fine during most of the solar season. If you would like to improve the efficiency to be able to cook on more marginal days, you can modify your oven in any or all of the following ways:

  • Make pieces of foiled cardboard the same size as the oven sides and place these in the wall spaces.
  • Make a new reflector the size of the entire lid (see photo above).
  • Make the drip pan using sheet metal, such as aluminum flashing. Paint this black and elevate this off the bottom of the oven slightly with small cardboard strips.

Cooking Directions

Put food in dark pots. Use with dark, tight-fitting lids.

Choose a cooking location. Set the cooker on a dry, level surface in direct sunshine away from potential shadows. For best results, solar cooking requires continuous, direct sunshine throughout the cooking period.

Put the pots in the cooker and replace the lid. Put the pots in cooker. If you’re cooking multiple dishes, quicker-cooking items should be placed toward the front of the cooker (opposite the reflector) and slower-cooking items toward the back, where access to sunlight is best. Place the lid on cooker.

Orient the cooker. Orient the cooker according to the details below. Once oriented, the cooker doesn’t need to be moved again during three to four hours of cooking. For longer cooking, or for large quantities of food, reorienting the cooker every couple of hours speeds cooking a little. Food cooks fastest when the shadow created by the cooker is directly behind it.
To cook a noontime meal orient the cooker so that the front side (opposite the reflector) faces easterly, or approximately where the sun will be midmorning. In general, it is good to get the food in early and not worry about it until mealtime. For most dishes you should start cooking by 9 or 10 am.
To cook an evening meal orient the cooker so that the front side faces westerly, or approximately where the sun will be midafternoon. For most dishes, it’s best to start cooking by 1 or 2 pm.
For all-day cooking orient the cooker toward where sun will be at noon or early afternoon. The food will be ready and waiting for the evening meal.

Adjust the reflector. With the adjustable prop, angle the reflector so that maximum sunlight shines on the pots.

Leave the food to cook for several hours or until done. There is no need to stir the food while it is cooking.

Remove the pots. Using pot holders, remove the pots from the cooker. (CAUTION: Pots get very hot.) If you won’t be eating for a couple of hours, you may want to leave the pots in the cooker and close the lid. The insulative properties of the cooker will keep the food warm for a while.

Enjoy!

from:    http://wakeup-world.com/2011/07/06/how-to-build-your-own-cheap-simple-solar-oven/

June 3-9

Posted on by

Overall Color for the Week:    Chrome Green

This is a week for catching up on a lot of things.  Once it becomes known on all levels, especially energetically, that you are doing this, many things can come to the fore.  Take a look at them for what they are at this time, in the present moment and do not dwell on what they were then.  The shifts and vagaries of the energies are such that nostalgia and attempts to reinvent the past will be met with frustration, even physical issues.  What has passed was there for you to experience.  The choices you made were right at the time.  There was learning going on, perspective forming.  Now it is time to put it all together.  And there will be ample opportunity for that this week as all sorts of stuff just happens.  You might feel as though someone had pushed the fast forward button.  Do not try to hold onto what is going on, let it go.  The important thing at this time is the overall pattern, the minutiae, well, it just does not mean that much right now. Continue reading →

Coronal Hole

Posted on by

CORONAL HOLE: Spewing solar wind, a yawning dark fissure in the sun’s atmosphere is turning toward Earth. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory photographed the “coronal hole” during the early hours of June 1st:

Coronal holes are places where the sun’s magnetic field opens up and allows the solar wind to escape. A stream of solar wind flowing from this coronal hole will reach Earth on June 5th – 7th, possibly stirring geomagnetic storms. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras

from:    space weather.com

Questionable Imported Foods – Best option – Buy Local

Posted on by

Disease Outbreaks Tied to Imported Foods Increasing according to the CDC

By Dr. Mercola

The more steps your food goes through before it reaches your plate, the greater your chances of contamination becomes.

If you are able to get your food locally, directly from the field or after harvest, such as directly from a farmer or farmer’s market, you knock out numerous routes that could expose your food to contamination.

So it is not surprising that new research released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that foodborne disease outbreaks linked to imported foods are on the rise.

As Food Imports Rise, so do Foodborne Disease Outbreaks

Foodborne disease outbreaks linked to imported foods rose in both 2009 and 2010 (data for 2011 is still being analyzed).

In all, 39 outbreaks and 2,348 illnesses were linked to imported foods from 15 countries.

However, nearly half of the outbreaks occurred in 2009 and 2010 …

Most of the outbreaks were due to fish (17 outbreaks) and spices (particularly fresh or dried peppers), which are also among the most commonly imported foods.

For instance, data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Economic Research Service (ERS) reveals that 85 percent of seafood eaten by Americans is imported! As rates of food imports rise (ERS data shows that U.S. food import has nearly doubled from 1998 to 2007), it’s likely that disease outbreaks will become increasingly common. As it is, the numbers are thought to be a serious underestimate, as food-borne disease outbreaks are commonly under-reported.

Nearly Half of the Tainted Foods Came From This Region …

The data shows that more types of food, from more different countries, are being linked to disease outbreaks. However, one region still takes the “prize” for the most tainted food … Nearly 45 percent of the foods linked to outbreaks came from Asia.

This may be because this region is also a major exporter to the United States, so the sheer numbers of imports would increase the chances. China is the largest exporter of seafood to the United States. (They’re also the largest U.S. supplier of canned vegetables, fruit juices, honey, and other processed foods.) Wal-Mart, in particular, is one of China’s largest trading partners. However, there are problems with food quality in the region as well.

According to a 2008 Congressional testimony by Don Kraemer, deputy director of the Office of Food Safety at the FDA:i

“In the past, [the] FDA has encountered compliance problems with several Chinese food exports, including lead and cadmium in ceramicware used to store and ship food, and staphylococcal contamination of canned mushrooms. While improvements have been made in these products, the safety of food and other products from China remains a concern for [the] FDA, Congress, and American consumers.”

Since that testimony, a variety of Chinese exports have come under fire for being dangerously contaminated with one poison or another, and in some cases with deadly consequences. This includes:

  • Pet food ingredients laced with toxic melamine
  • Imported livestock quarantined for disease and banned chemical contaminants
  • Catfish filets from Chinese aquatic farms tainted with bacteria and heavy metals
  • Dried apples preserved with a cancer-causing chemical
  • Mushrooms laced with illegal pesticides

Another Asian country, Taiwan, has also made headlines because of the contamination of numerous foods and beverages withplasticizer chemicals like DEHP. More than 1 million sports drinks, fruit jams, instant noodles containing sesame oil packets, cookies and other food products were taken off shelves due to the toxin. It appears that the chemical was added to foods as a substitute for more expensive ingredients like palm oil, and it’s unclear how long this had going on or whether most manufacturers were aware of the contamination.

Our global food system makes it so Asian foods (and those from many other regions) are easily obtainable at your local supermarket … but when food is produced and distributed on such a massive scale, contamination often occurs on a massive scale as well.

Food Infections Common from U.S. Foods Too

An estimated one in six Americans gets infected every year from consuming contaminated food. Sometimes this results in a 24-hour bout of diarrhea and vomiting that clears up on its own, but in other cases foodborne pathogens can lead to organ failure, paralysis, neurological impairment, blindness, stillbirths and even death.

Over 100,000 people are hospitalized from foodborne illnesses each year in the United States, and 3,000 die. This is not only from imported foods, but from those produced right here in the United States.

You see, just because a food is manufactured on U.S. soil does not guarantee its safety. Most of the meat sold in U.S. grocery stores and restaurants come from confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), which can house tens of thousands of animals (and in the case of chickens, 100,000) under one roof, in nightmarish, unsanitary, disease-ridden conditions. It’s under these conditions that foodborne pathogens flourish, and indeed studies have shown that the larger the farm, the greater the chances of contamination.

In one study, more than 23 percent of CAFOs with caged hens tested positive for Salmonella, while just over 4 percent of organic flocks tested positive. The highest prevalence of Salmonella occurred in the largest flocks (30,000 birds or more), which contained over four times the average level of salmonella found in smaller flocks.Organic flocks are typically much smaller than the massive commercial flocks where bacteria flourish, which is part of the reason why eggs (and other products, like meat) from truly organic, free-range sources are FAR less likely to contain dangerous bacteria such as Salmonella.

If you still buy your meat at your supermarket, even if it’s U.S. raised, you should know that you are directly supporting a food system that typically promotes widespread contamination.

And you can bet that as long as there are people willing to buy cheap, contaminated meat, the industry will continue to produce it.Consumer Reports tests indicated that 83 percent of fresh, whole broiler chickens bought at supermarkets nationwide harbor Campylobacter or Salmonella.ii This is clearly unacceptable, and if you start to demand more — meat that is raised in a healthy, humane way, free from toxins and disease — producers will have no choice but to listen.

Buying Local is One of the Best Ways to Avoid Food Poisoning

I encourage you to support the small family farms in your area, particularly organic farms that respect the laws of nature and use the relationships between animals, plants, insects, soil, water and habitat to create synergistic, self-supporting, non-polluting, GMO-free ecosystems.

If you value food safety, you’ll want to get your meat, chickens and eggs from smaller community farms with free-ranging animals, organically fed and locally marketed. This is the way food has been raised and distributed for centuries …

If you opt for imported foods, or those from U.S. CAFOs, your food will go through upwards of 9 steps before it reaches your dinner plate. Public health agencies like the FDA use the term “field-to-fork continuum” to describe the path any given food takes on the way to your plate, and during any of the following steps, contamination is possible:

  1. Open field production
  2. Harvesting
  3. Field packing
  4. Greenhouse production
  5. Packinghouse or field packing
  6. Repacking and other distribution operations
  7. Fresh-cut/value-added processing
  8. Food service and retail
  9. Consumer

I personally purchase my whole chickens from a health food store that gets them from a local farmer and they are grown organically and humanely. They cost a bit more but they are worth it — and when you consider that most of us only spend around 10% of our income on food, it is a bargain to get high-quality food. In most countries and in previous generations in the US, up to 25% of income was spent on food.

If you are able to get your food directly from the farmer, you knock out five potential operations that could expose your food to contamination. The closer you are to the source of your food, the fewer hands it has to pass through and the less time it will sit in storage — so the better, and likely safer, it will be for you and your family. Plus, when you know the person who grows your food, you can ask questions about its growing conditions — an impossibility when you buy food from CAFOs or other countries. If eating locally is new to you, rest assured that you can find a source near you, regardless of whether you’re in a remote or rural area or a big city.

Here’s a list of helpful resources:

  • For a listing of national farmer’s markets, see this link.
  • Another great web site is www.localharvest.org. There you can find farmers’ markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area where you can buy produce, grass-fed meats, and many other goodies.
  • Subscribe to a community supported agriculture program (CSA). Some are seasonal while others are year round programs. Once you subscribe, many will drop affordable, high quality locally-grown produce right at your door step. To find a CSA near you, go to the USDA’s website where you can search by city, state, or zip code.
  • Eat Well Guide: Wholesome Food from Healthy Animals is a free online directory of sustainably raised meat, poultry, dairy, and eggs from farms, stores, restaurants, inns, and hotels, and online outlets in the United States and Canada.
  • Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) is dedicated to sustaining agriculture and promoting the products of small farms.
  • FoodRoutes. Their “Find Good Food” map can help you connect with local farmers to find the freshest, tastiest food possible. On their interactive map, you can find a listing for local farmers, CSA’s, and markets near you.
  • For an even more comprehensive list of CSA’s and a host of other sustainable agriculture programs, check out this link to mySustainable Agriculture page.

 

from:    http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/04/04/food-borne-disease-outbreaks.aspx?e_cid=20120404_DNL_art_2

Vaccines Contribute to Disease

Posted on by

Pneumonia Vaccine Shown to Actually Increase Bacterial Infections It Is Supposed to Prevent

By Dr. Mercola

It’s estimated that nearly one in 7 U.S. adults have been diagnosed with sinusitis in the past 12 months, which occurs when the mucous membranes in your nose and sinuses become irritated.i In most of these cases (90-98%) a virus is the cause, whereas in 2-10% of cases, a bacterial infection is also present.

These bacterial infections are becoming increasingly drug-resistant and therefore harder and harder to treat, which is why the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) recently issued new treatment guidelines for sinusitis.

Alarmingly, however, buried on page 16 of their report is the acknowledgement that certain hard-to-treat bacterial infections in children are on the rise because of the widespread use of the conjugated pneumococcal vaccines!

Story at-a-glance

  • Certain hard-to-treat bacterial infections in children are on the rise because of the widespread use of antibiotics and the conjugated pneumococcal vaccines, including Prevnar
  • A report by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) revealed that the presence of certain types of bacteria in cases of upper respiratory tract infections has “markedly increased” since the widespread use of pneumonia vaccines
  • Pneumonia bacterial strains may change one DNA letter about every 15 weeks, a rate of mutation similar to that of the common antibiotic-resistant superbug MRSA
  • The overuse of antibiotics for ear and sinus infections has also caused these pneumonia bacteria serotypes to become resistant to antibiotics
  • Overall, your best defense against any disease is having a robust healthy immune system

to read more, go to:

By Dr. Mercola

It’s estimated that nearly one in 7 U.S. adults have been diagnosed with sinusitis in the past 12 months, which occurs when the mucous membranes in your nose and sinuses become irritated.i In most of these cases (90-98%) a virus is the cause, whereas in 2-10% of cases, a bacterial infection is also present.

These bacterial infections are becoming increasingly drug-resistant and therefore harder and harder to treat, which is why the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) recently issued new treatment guidelines for sinusitis.

Alarmingly, however, buried on page 16 of their report is the acknowledgement that certain hard-to-treat bacterial infections in children are on the rise because of the widespread use of the conjugated pneumococcal vaccines!

Tornado Tracks for the Last 56 Years

Posted on by

Stunning Visualization of 56 Years of Tornadoes in the US

by NANCY ATKINSON on MAY 31, 2012

The tracks of tornadoes in the US during the past 56 years, categorized by F-Scale. Credit: John Nelson

It’s a wonder of nature, baby. Using information from data.gov, tech blogger John Nelson has created this spectacular image of tornado paths in the US over a 56 year period. The graphic categorizes the storms by F-scale with the brighter neon lines representing more violent storms.

Makes you want to hang on to something solid.

Nelson also provided some stats on all the storms in the different categories:

The numbers represent total deaths, total injuries, average miles the storms traveled
F0: 7, 267, 2
F1: 111, 3270, 6.58
F2: 363, 10373, 11.4
F3: 958, 18160, 17.80
F4: 1912, 28427, 28.62
F5: 1013, 11038, 38.87

 from:    http://www.universetoday.com/95561/stunning-visualization-of-56-years-of-tornadoes-in-the-us/

Know Your Sunscreen

Posted on by

7 Important Issues You Need To Know About Sunscreen

By NaturalNews

Ask somebody about sunscreen and you’re likely to receive an earful of disinformation from a person who has been repeatedly misinformed by health authorities and the mainstream media. Almost nothing you hear about sunscreen from traditional media channels is accurate. So here’s a quick guide to the 7 most important things you need to know about sunscreen, sunlight and vitamin D:

#1) The FDA refuses to allow natural sunscreen ingredients to be used in sunblock / sunscreen products.

It’s true: If you create a truly natural sunscreen product using exotic botanicals with powerful sunscreen properties, you will never be able to market it as a “sunscreen” product. That’s because the FDA decides what can be used as sunscreen and what can’t, regardless of what really works in the real world. And there are really only two natural ingredients the FDA has allowed to be sold as sunscreen: Zinc oxide and titanium dioxide.

Any other non-chemical sunscreen ingredients, if sold as “sunscreen,” would be considered mislabeled by the FDA and result in your products being confiscated… even if they offer fantastic sunscreen protection!

Not surprisingly, this whole monopoly over sunscreen chemicals is designed to protect the profits of the chemical companies while marginalizing the natural product companies which could easily formulate far better solutions. I have personally spoken to the founders of several health product companies who have figured out amazing sunscreen formulations using nothing but natural botanicals, but the FDA won’t let them market their products as sunscreen products! It’s just another example of the FDA standing in the way of health innovation.

#2) Nearly all conventional sunscreen products contain cancer-causing chemicals.

Read the ingredients list of any sunscreen product sold at Wal-Mart, or Walgreens, or any other mainstream store.

You will not be able to pronounce most of the chemicals found in the ingredients list. That’s because most sunscreen products are formulated with cancer-causing fragrance chemicals, parabens, harsh alcohols, toxic chemical solvents and petroleum oils. A typical sunscreen product is actually a chemical assault on your body. That’s why research shows that using sunscreen actually causes more cancer than it prevents (http://www.naturalnews.com/023317_s…)

#3) In the US where over 70% of the population is vitamin D deficiency, sunscreen actually blocks vitamin D production.

Vitamin D deficiency is perhaps the most widespread vitamin deficiency in North America. According to the research, 70 percent of whites are deficient in vitamin D, and up to 97 percent of blacks are deficient (http://www.naturalnews.com/030598_v…).

Chronic vitamin D deficiency promotes cancer (http://www.naturalnews.com/031560_v…), winter flu and infections, depression, osteoporosis and hormonal imbalances. Depending on whom you believe, vitamin D alone can prevent anywhere from 50% to nearly 80% of all cancers (http://www.naturalnews.com/021892.html).

By blocking vitamin D production in the skin, sunscreen products actually contribute to cancer-promoting nutritional deficiencies.

This doesn’t mean you should never wear a sunscreen product, of course. If your skin is really pale and you’re planning a day on the beach in Hawaii, you will obviously benefit from some level of sun protection using a truly natural sunscreen product. But an informed health-conscious person would try to allow their skin to achieve a natural, healthy tan (yes, a tan truly is healthy if it’s combined with good nutrition, see below) through sensible exposure levels that activate vitamin D production in the skin.

#4) You can boost your internal sun resistance by changing what you eat.

Here’s the real secret about sun exposure that no one in conventional medicine is talking about (because, as usual, they are woefully ignorant about nutrition): You can boost your internal sunscreen by eating antioxidant-rich foods and super foods.

The supplement astaxanthin, for example, is very well known for boosting your skin’s natural resistance to sunburn. Its fat-soluble carotenoids are actually transported to skin cells where they protect those cells from UV exposure.

The more natural antioxidants you have in your diet, the more sunlight your skin will be able to handle without burning. Nearly everyone mistakenly believes that a person’s sunlight burn response is purely a genetic factor. They’re wrong. You can radically improve your resistance to UV exposure through radical dietary changes.

I’m a great example of this, actually, as I used to burn in just 20 – 30 minutes of sunlight when I was on a junk food diet years ago. But now, as someone who eats superfoods and high-end nutritional supplements every day, I can spend hours in the sun and will only turn slightly red (which fades a few hours later and does not result in a burn or skin peeling).

Except for one time on an all-day visit to a water park, I have not worn sunscreen in over 8 years. I spend a large amount of time in the sun, and I have absolutely no concerns whatsoever about skin cancer. My skin, most people tell me, looks significantly younger than my biological age. That’s not from sunscreen; it’s from nutrition. Sun exposure does not make your skin “age” if you follow a high-nutritional density diet.

The below video is about “The Truth About Sunlight, Cancer and Vitamin D”
by the Health Ranger from Natural News.

#5) UV exposure alone does not cause skin cancer.

It is a complete medical myth that “UV exposure causes skin cancer.” This false idea is a total fabrication by the ignorant medical community (dermatologists) and the profit-driven sunscreen companies.

The truth is actually more complicated: Skin cancer can only be caused when UV exposure is combined with chronic nutritional deficiencies that create skin vulnerabilities.
To create skin cancer, in other words, you have to eat a junk food diet, avoid protective antioxidants, and then also experience excessive UV exposure. All three of those elements are required. Conventional medicine completely ignores the dietary influences and focuses entirely on just one factor: Sunscreen vs. no sunscreen. This is a one-dimensional approach to the issue that’s grossly oversimplified to the point of being misleading.

The medical industry, it seems, does not want people to figure out they can literally eat their way to healthier skin. It’s amazing, actually: Your skin is made entirely out of the food you eat, so how could your diet not affect your skin health? Yet no one in conventional medicine — not the dermatologists, not the doctors and not the health regulators — has the intellectual honesty to admit that what you eat largely determines how your skin reacts to UV exposure.

#6) Not all “natural” sunscreen products are really natural.

Be careful when shopping for so-called “natural” sunscreen products. While there are some good ones out there, many are just examples of greenwashing, where they use terms like “natural” or “organic” but still contain loads of synthetic chemicals anyway.

A good guide for checking on sunscreen products is the Environmental Working Group guide (EWG) at: http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/

Some of the products that are truly natural include Loving Naturals sunscreen and Badger All Natural Sunscreen. Read the ingredients labels to see for yourself. Don’t use any sunscreen product containing ingredients that sound like chemicals:
• Methyl…
• Propyl…
• Butyl…
• Ethyl…
• Trieth…
• Dieth…etc.
Always buy unscented sunscreen unless for some reason you just enjoy coating your skin with artificial perfume chemicals. A typical sunscreen product is made with over a dozen cancer-causing fragrance chemicals, and they’re absorbed right through your skin. Most sunscreens, when applied as directed, are really just toxic chemical baths that heavily burden your liver and can give you cancer.

#7) Many “chemical free” sunscreens are loaded with chemicals.

Search Amazon.com for “chemical free natural sunscreen” and you’ll see a listing for:
Jason Natural Cosmetics – Earth’s Best Sun Block Chemical Free, 4 oz cream
Click on the product and you’ll find a listing of its ingredients which includes: C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Sorbitan Isostearate, Sorbitan Sesquioleate, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Ethyl Macadamiate, Calcium Starch Octenylsuccinate, Stearalkonium Hectorite
So how are those not chemicals? Ethylhexyl Palmitate is NOT a chemical? Who are these people kidding? The Amazon.com description (title) of this product is false and misleading. In all fairness, however, this product title looks like it was added into the Amazon.com system by the vendor and not the Jason company itself. But it’s an example of how the information you see from online vendors can often be misleading.
Always read the ingredients of any sunscreen product before using it. Don’t poison yourself with sunscreen!

Beware the disinfo minefield surrounding sunscreen products

Perhaps more with sunscreen than any other personal care product, the “official” information distributed through the mainstream media is hopelessly misleading (if not downright false). Remarkably, no one in the media or the government is even willing to admit that fragrance chemicals are bad for your health. Similarly, no one is willing to admit that the chemicals you put on your skin get ABSORBED by your skin.

Without those two truths being acknowledged right up front, the rest of whatever they say about sunscreen is worthless babble. Any honest talk about sunscreen must acknowledge the simple truth that the chemicals you put on your skin get absorbed into your skin, and that most sunscreen products are made out of a chemical cocktail of cancer-causing substances.

This is the truth about sunscreen that both the sunscreen industry and the cancer industry doesn’t want you to hear. It’s the dirty little secret of sunscreen: The more you use, the more you CAUSE cancer in your body! (And the more money the cancer centers make “treating” your cancer with yet more deadly chemicals known as chemotherapy.)

So buyer beware. Sunscreen products are a minefield of lies, fraud and disinformation designed to keep you ignorant of the importance of sun exposure as well as the health risks associated with using cancer-causing chemicals on your skin.

Stick with truly natural sunscreen products (when needed) and try to build up a healthy tan while consuming large quantities of superfoods and antioxidants in your diet. Consider taking astaxanthin or other fat-soluble nutrients on a regular basis. Engage in daily juicing of fresh fruits and vegetables which are loaded with living nutrients. Time your sun exposure to build up a healthy tan so that you don’t need sunscreen at all. Contrary to all the misinformation we’ve all been fed, a healthy tan is actually a good sign that you’re achieving adequate vitamin D synthesis in your own skin

from:    ttp://wakeup-world.com/2011/07/11/7-most-important-issues-you-need-to-know-about-sunscreen/

On the Number 5

Posted on by

The Number Five

31st May 2012

By Jelle U. Hielkema

Guest Writer for Wake Up World

‘Penta’ = 5/23 = ‘Nature’

In Music, to which’ condition all Life aspires as the Universe is a musical symphony, the so-called ‘Perfect Fifth’ is the most consonant (stable) musical interval within tone ladder. Both the names ‘perfect’ and ‘fifth’ have the same ‘26’ “Partnerships” vibration of also the name ‘Pythagoras’ so little wonder that He came up with this first ‘String Theory’! And, ‘A Perfect Fifth’ is a ‘17’ “The Magic Star of Venus” like the word ‘Music’ itself as well as ‘Logic’. What’s more, “Music’-‘Logic’- ‘Life” = ‘33’ = ‘Aspiration’!

The word ‘SUN’, ‘spelled’ as ‘365’ is a 5/14, called “Movement and Challenge”, like the following selection: ‘GOD’ ‘ALL LIGHT’ ‘QUANTIZATION OF LIGHT ENERGY’  ‘ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD THEORY OF LIGHT’ ‘ELECTROMAGNETISM’ ‘TIME’’ ‘MIND’ ‘BRAINS’ ‘TEN’ ‘ALL THOUGHT’ ‘EYES’ ‘IDEAS’ ‘TEAM’ ‘DAY ONE’ ‘BIRTH’   ‘MYTH’ ‘GALAXY’ ‘ALL THERE IS’  ‘PHI’ ‘QUASAR’ ‘QUBIT’ ‘BIG BANG THEORY’ ‘BIG BANG MACHINE’ ‘ALL IS ENERGY’ ‘MASS-ENERGY’ ‘BINARY MODE’ and Albert Einstein’s immortal formula ‘E=MC^2’,  and, funny and good enough, ‘LUCK’, ‘JUNK’ ‘PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE’ ‘META’ ‘MAYAN CULTURE’ ‘COSMOTHEOLOGY’ ‘ALL BEING’ ‘A SUPREME BEING’ ‘ROYAL’ ‘A STEADFAST BEING’ ‘TELECOMMUNICATION’ ‘CHAKRA’ ‘MULTIPLICATION BY TIME’  ‘THE TRUTH IS IN THE HANDS OF NATURE ONLY’ and ‘THE TRUTH IS IN THE HANDS OF GOD ONLY’ and ‘IN GOD WE TRUST’ ‘SMILE AT LIFE AND LIFE WILL SMILE AT YOU’  ‘PHILOSOPHY OF MIND’  ‘PERFECTIONING THE WHEEL’ and ‘IN NATURE WE TRUST’  ‘A TRANSCENDENTAL EVOLUTION’  and….. ‘IN THE BEGINNING’, ‘A MATTER OF TIME’  ‘EVERYTHING HAS ITS TIME’ ‘A MOMENT IN TIME’  ‘A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE’ ‘BIG TURN’ ‘IN REALITY’ ‘SAY YES’ ‘BACK TO BASICS’  ‘MAKE A DIFFERENCE’ and….’MATHEMATICS IS NOT AN OPINION’ and  ’CONSCIOUSNESS MATTERS’ and ’A THEORY OF EVERYTHING’

It is to be recalled that Baruch de Spinoza, renowned Dutch-Portuguese philosopher of the 17th Century, with great foresight ‘formulated’ the nature of the Cosmos in three words: MODES, a 5/23; SUBSTANCE, a 5/32 and ATTRIBUTES, also a 5/32 as well. These are all Mercury vibrations, the planet closest to the Sun and first recipient of its ‘information’! As to the obvious question why all of this comes out of the woodwork right now, as you probably know, all of us are about to leave the ‘Age of Pisces’ and on 23 January 1999 we  have  arrived on the threshold of the much sung-about  astronomical ‘Age of Aquarius’.  A Kabbalah numerological analysis of this and related facts yields the following rather circumstantial evidence in connection with the above, to start with a selection of the 5/23 vibration:

‘URANUS’, the Aquarian Ruler, ‘MERCURY’ ‘THE MESSENGER OF THE GODS’  ‘TEN NUMBERS’ ‘DNA AS NUMBERS’ ‘ALL IS ONE GEOMETRY’ ‘PENTA’  ‘NATURE’ ‘OUR COMMON NATURE’ ‘MASS-ENERGY-CONSCIOUSNESS’ ‘A LANGUAGE OF THOUGHT’ ‘LOGIC AND REASON’ ‘MORAL UNIVERSE’  ‘I EXIST, THEREFORE I AM’    =     ‘I AM, THEREFORE I EXIST’ ‘HUMAN BRAIN’  ‘NATURAL CREATIVITY’ ‘GOOD IDEA!’  ‘FANTASY’  ‘WORLD SOUL’ ‘SYMBOLS’  ‘COSMIC BALANCE’  ‘COSMIC VIBRATION’  ‘COSMIC ORDER’  ‘HUMAN INITIATIVE’ ‘PLATO’ ‘A SHARED VISION FOR A BETTER WORLD’   ‘DEALISTIC THOUGHT’  ‘REALISM AND DEALISM’  ‘THE WORLD WE LOVE’ ‘TIME TO RETHINK EVERYTHING’  ‘MIND AND HEART’ ‘MORALITY’  ‘HEALTH’ ‘ETHICS CULTURE’  ‘GLOBAL PEACE’  ‘CIVIC LIBERTY’ ‘MY HOUSE IS MY CASTLE’ ‘TALKING ABOUT A REVOLUTION’  ‘HEAL THE WORLD’  ‘THE LIVING PLANET’ ‘THE POWER OF SIMPLICITY’  ‘SO ABOVE, SO BELOW, SO ABOVE’  ‘THE HUMAN EMERGENCY’ and ‘THINK DIFFERENT’…..‘THINKING OUT OF THE BOX’!

Followed by these clearly connected 5/32’s which carry the name “Communication”:

‘THE AGE OF AQUARIUS’ ‘THE GUARDIAN OF LIGHT’  ‘THE TRUTH IN NUMBERS’ ‘MATHEMATICAL  NATURE’  ‘THE MAGIC OF NUMBERS’  ‘MOTHER NATURE’ ‘QUANTUM MIND’ ‘NUMBERS A LANGUAGE OF THOUGHT’ ‘THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE IS SOUND’ ‘NATURE SPEAKS WITH A THOUSAND VOICES’  ‘DOWN TO EARTH’ ‘INTUITION AND INTELLECT’  ‘ALL LIVING FORMS ARE IN FLUX’  ‘DEGREES OF FREEDOM’  ‘IT IS THE TONE THAT MAKES THE MUSIC’  ‘VIBRATIONS’’ and ‘GOOD, GOOD, GOOD VIBRATIONS’  ‘MUSIC IS THE SPIRIT OF REALITY’  ‘THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE’ ‘BEING TOUCHED BY NATURE’  ‘TRANCENDENCE’  ‘AWESOME POWER’  ‘SEIZING THE MOMENT’ ‘COLLECTIVE DNA’ ‘NATURE IS CONSTANT’ SMALL IS STILL BEAUTIFUL’  ‘FREE AS THE BIRDS’         ‘THE ART OF THE LONG VIEW’ ‘NATURE AND HUMANITY PARTNERSHIP’ ‘THINGS SHOULD BE CLEAR AND SIMPLE’ ‘AND NEW PHILOSOPHY PUTS ALL IN DOUBT’   ‘PYTHAGOREAN THINKING’         ‘THE COLOURS OF THE RAINBOW, SO PRETTY IN THE SKY’ ‘WHAT YOU SAY IS WHAT YOU ARE’ ‘TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT’  ‘THE TRUTH IS ALWAYS IN THE MIDDLE’ ‘THE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH’  ‘SPINOZA’ ‘SPEAK SOFTLY BUT CARRY A BICK STICK’ ‘FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE’ ‘NEUROSCIENCE’ ‘NEUROLOGICAL CAPACITY’ ‘SYNCHRONICITY’ ‘SPIRALS AND DOUBLE HELIX’ ‘THE THEORY OF CELESTIAL INFLUENCE’ ‘COUNT TO BE COUNTED!’  ‘PYTHAGORAS AND PLATO’ ‘BORN TO BE ALIVE’  ‘BLESSING IN THE SKIES’ ‘THE UNIVERSE IS A SYMPHONY’ ‘MUSIC IS THE VERY ESSENCE OF THE UNIVERSE’ ‘MUSIC IS OUR NATURE’  and ‘FOOD FOR THOUGHT’!

Take that in on 31 May 2012, by the digits of the date a ‘14’ like the ‘365’ of ‘SUN!

About the Author

Jelle U. Hielkeman is of Dutch/Frisian farmer’s origin (1947) and has lived in Rome since 1975, where he has been working for the United Nations for thirty years in the field of Earth Observation from space in the context of global Food Security. His frequent travels across the globe spanning five continents, coupled with a keen interest in the interaction among philosophy, science, religion, and politics, enabled him to make a wide range of observations on the relationship among names, language, and numbers with rather amazing findings.
More about these Thoughts and what to possibly do with them can be found on rainbow21122012.org andgci.org.uk

from:    http://wakeup-world.com/2012/05/31/the-number-five/

Oh, Those Scientifically Attuned Infants!

Posted on by

Babies Are Born With “Intuitive Physics” Knowledge

27th January 2012

University of Missouri

While it may appear that infants are helpless creatures that only blink, eat, cry and sleep, one University of Missouri researcher says that studies indicate infant brains come equipped with knowledge of “intuitive physics.”

“In the MU Developmental Cognition Lab, we study infant knowledge of the world by measuring a child’s gaze when presented with different scenarios,” said Kristy vanMarle, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences in the College of Arts and Science. “We believe that infants are born with expectations about the objects around them, even though that knowledge is a skill that’s never been taught. As the child develops, this knowledge is refined and eventually leads to the abilities we use as adults.”

In a review of related scientific literature from the past 30 years, vanMarle and Susan Hespos of Northwestern University found that the evidence for intuitive physics occurs in infants as young as two months – the earliest age at which testing can occur. At that age, infants show an understanding that unsupported objects will fall and that hidden objects do not cease to exist. Scientific testing also has shown that by five months, infants have an expectation that non-cohesive substances like sand or water are not solid. In a previous publication, vanMarle found that children as young as 10 months consistently choose larger amounts when presented with two different amounts of food substance.

“We believe that infants are born with the ability to form expectations and they use these expectations basically to predict the future,” vanMarle said. “Intuitive physics include skills that adults use all the time. For example, when a glass of milk falls off the table, a person might try to catch the cup, but they are not likely to try to catch the milk that spills out. The person doesn’t have to consciously think about what to do because the brain processes the information and the person simply reacts. The majority of an adult’s everyday interactions with the world are automatic, and we believe infants have the same ability to form expectations, predicting the behavior of objects and substances with which they interact.”

While the intuitive physics knowledge is believed to be present at birth, vanMarle believes parents can assist skill development through normal interaction, such as playing and talking with the child and encouraging him/her to interact with objects.

“Despite the intuitive physics knowledge, a parent probably cannot do much to ‘get their child ahead’ at the infant stage, including exposing him or her to videos marketed to improve math or language skills,” vanMarle said. “Natural interaction with the child, such as talking to him/her, playing peek-a-boo, and allowing him/her to handle safe objects, is the best method for child development. Natural interaction with the parent and objects in the world gives the child all the input that evolution has prepared the child to seek, accept and use to develop intuitive physics.”

The study, “Physics for infants: characterizing the origins of knowledge about objects, substances and number,” is published in the January issue of WIREs Cognitive Science

 from:    ttp://wakeup-world.com/2012/01/27/babies-are-born-with-“intuitive-physics”-knowledge/