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Sunday, December 25, 2011

The Virus in Religion

In looking at how society has changed over the past few thousand years I often wondered why organized religion has lasted as long as it has. Though I was religious for many years of my life I no longer hold any religious beliefs as I finally gave in to the logic and reason which was pressing me from the beginning. As the world looks very much different from outside of the box it seems almost clear as day that eventually the rest of the world would follow. From ancient times to this age of science and education and with a noticeable increase in secular ideals it appears that religion still seems to linger on. And so I wondered why. This question made me look closer into the workings of religion to help understand why it perpetuates in this modern, competent and intellectual society.

It’s no task at all to search where religion thrives on this planet. From the top of the Himalayas to the bottom of the city basins to the hearts and minds of modern man it lives and survives in many different forms. Studies have reflected that in the variance of our societies it becomes easier to see that religion is more predominant in places that are more economically challenged. It goes without mention that atheism is almost nowhere to be seen in those places. For people who are living in poverty life is but a strain and in those situations people need a rock to stand upon. What is it over all that the followers benefit from their religion? The answer in its most basic form is rooted in social and psychological consolation. Though there are some benefits that religion can offer it may be more indirect or passive in coping with matters in the real world rather than working for an actual cure. The sense of community for example is a stronghold for a growing society but its success is given a false sense of prosperity if it gathers in the name of false doctrines. Let us see how and why that is.

In the distant past, aside from social and psychological matters, religion much like mythology had attempted to explain the mysteries of our great universe. Today however, the mysteries of how we got here and how our expansive universe was created have clearly been discovered and explained in the realm of modern science. And the matters of who we are and where we came from have also been meticulously deciphered by way of history and biological science.  Though they are ever beautiful those things no longer remain a mystery. But in early times religion provided the explanation. It addressed something that we as citizens of this universe desired answers for and….well….we created them. That’s excusable as long as we acknowledge the systems of science and knowledge that came along after those archaic notions phased out. But they didn’t and it fascinated me now more then ever: why?

Like many Americans I grew up culturally Christian. Our family went to church on Sundays and Christianity was enforced without flaw in the household. But in my early teenage years I started to question our beliefs. I started addressing matters in religion which we contrary to logic and history. Not everyone has questioned their beliefs but I say with confidence that we all have had encountered matters contrary to logic. Unfortunately when talking about these things with a parent I was scolded and had no choice but to retreat to the shores of uncertainty and blind belief. From countless people I had been told, “There are some things that we are not supposed to know.” As time passed I started to feel that this answer was merely an insult to our intelligence. It was only after thinking about this fact when it finally hit me: it was the thinking that was the problem. It was the operating system itself within religion and it was a notion that frightened me. Its simple infrastructure was responsible for keeping billions of people intellectually captive for centuries! From what I can now see it had the caliber of a major epidemic: it was the virus in religion.

Description of the System
To my surprise the “system” as I will call it is quite simple but brilliantly designed and it very clearly achieved what it was intended to do. To see it one has to strip down the ‘fluff’ to isolate the working components; the engine of this vehicle. Take away the material data such as god, divinity, morality, etc the remaining skeleton is similar to a social design implemented by nothing less then a tyrant. It takes a given group of people and applies a small but strict set of demeaning rules. It repressed education and self-exploration. It propels itself with a work and reward modus operandi. It has an internal support system which keeps its leader in charge and financially solvent. It has a crime and punishment system and just to top it off it has a big finale at the end of the show. It’s a monster of an idea and it’s been functioning this way for centuries.

Application of the System in Older Times
To show that I am simply not fabricating or exaggerating such a heinous idea I decided to find a similar system which operates under the same set of principles. Take for example the slave labor over a century and a half ago in our own United States. Slave labor was terribly oppressive and having not even basic human rights the opportunity to get an education was out of the question. The slave owners were well aware of the fact that if slaves became able to read and write their minds would develop. The more they learned the more they would be likely to question their decadent status and attempt a rebellion. So keeping the slaves uneducated aided in keeping their spirits down and compliant. When offering simple necessities like food and shelter as form of pay kept the slaves moving barely enough to continue fulfilling their duties and their masters’ desires. Religion uses a similar design.

Ironically religion was very prominent in these circumstances because people in this lowly place needed a rock to stand on; to sooth the broken spirit. I have no doubt that religion played a monumental role in keeping countless people strong when they had no other source of strength. It would be wrong of me to argue that it would have been inappropriate for them to resort to religion under these circumstances because at that time, it was the way of life. There was no other form of liberation available to them at the time until true morale combined to make a change. What I mean by this is that modern science was still an adolescent in that day and wasn’t readily available to nearly everyone as it is now. In today’s life modern science is blaring at us from every angle; so great that it contradicts the biblical explanation we talked about earlier with minimal effort. However, even if one is not so well read in the sciences just applying simple logic independently to the ideas in religion starts to extinguish its seemingly eternal fire. Back in the days of slavery, it was much different.

This is why I decided to write this article: because this time has already come1.

Core Structure and Rules
Looking closer now at this system we can start to see its anatomy. At the center of this system is the core set of parameters: the holy bible. Though the bible is believed by the Christians as the ‘given word of god’ history now reveals that it is a collection of motivational proverbs, liturgical material, allegorical literature and scantly history combined in a single volume by the biblical committee in the early Christian era.

In this social system the bible plays two important parts: one, it has a set of rules by which each and every follower must intently obey. Second, the follower is required to believe everything that it has to say about life and the universe no questions asked. In fact, doubting the holy spirit or divine origin equates to eternal damnation. The same for those who are even slightly skeptical or “lukewarm” are described as being “spewed from the mouth of god.”  Even though there is no solid evidence of a god it cannot be questioned or doubted. If you do, you’re out of the club. So here, for structural purposes this is the authority and framework.

Repress Education and Self-Exploration
With the bible setting the core structure and parameters comes now the people for which it was made for. Within these walls come the unfortunate ceiling of repression of education and self-exploration. It is accomplished in the way like one puts blinders on a horse to narrow its view to a desired perspective. And with human beings, it promotes ignorance. This notion occurred to me when I was in college and I had the liberty to take courses on world religions. The world then seemed backward to me in the way that people should first be taught about the origin and history of different religions before devoting their lives to it. In my opinion it seemed that if this were to occur people would have more control of their lives for the benefit of themselves and for the goodness of humanity. But unfortunately the world doesn’t work in this way and for those who are born into a religion often do not see that there is an outside reality of virtue.

A strange quirk that I noticed about religion, which isn’t just part of Christianity, but is an integral component in most religions is the incessant fixation to their religious scripture: in this case the bible. Well it makes perfect sense that this is the chosen doctrine that their world revolves around. But if I may go out on a limb I might even be able to propose that this in itself is evidence of not strength but of weakness. It was back in my Christian days I noticed how people revolved their daily lives around the bible and nothing else. I actually was well read in the bible but felt that, like any book, I had the notion and ‘spirit’ now I can go forward and apply it to my life. I didn’t need to constantly resort to it because its essence lived within me. Metaphorically speaking, once a person lights the match of knowledge it gets put to bigger and greater things. One doesn’t continue to keep igniting it once it’s already lit. But the mentality of revolving the world around one book means one thing: shaping the mind with repetitive indoctrination.

And so, it is this closed-mindedness which shows there is no growth except for what level of self-betterment one can obtain in a repressed environment. In fact I know of no church which teaches the history of their religion as it is seen in full view of accredited historians. How many of the followers know of how the book was assembled, how their ideas were spread across the lands, e.g. the Spanish Inquisition, and the fact that Christianity has a history as black and as bloody as any other primitive religion.

Furthermore the institutionalization of children within these walls often leaves them ill prepared for the real world that awaits them. I must say that I did have a relatively happy childhood up until I was about ten. I thought the world was all kind hearted and pure. The ideals I was taught in Sunday school weren’t there to teach me how the world was but to teach me how to behave. Aside from basic human morale people need to be taught about the world. Non-Christian friends of mine talked the same way, played the same way but I always knew that they knew something that I didn’t. So when it comes to censoring things around children I have to say that the goal is not to protect them by shielding them from the world but to protect them by teaching them about the world. Extreme censorship in this context is not a mark of noble quality but of systematic configuration in this perpetuating system.

As inferred earlier the repression of education and religious indoctrination go hand in hand. I honestly feel that this is a bigger problem than most people really know. It is not the matter of just not believing and living ones own life; it is the fact that religion hits the foundation and affects the development of the person inside religion. The history of world religions and the sciences of astronomy and biological evolution are integral components such as earth science, physics, chemistry, quantum mechanics, etc. However, the first three subjects are repressed in our society and the others taught without hesitation. But being that the aforementioned are so prominent in whom we are and where we came from affects the meaning and direction of our individual lives to a significant degree. Knowing how this universe came about is an integral part of being human and an important factor in the direction of our lives!

The astounding dynamics of the creation of our known universe is much more fascinating and extraordinary than the mythical story as depicted in the Christian bible. It never ceases to amaze me how people attempt to evoke scientific and historical axioms from the bible being that it came into existence centuries upon centuries before the era of modern science and that a number of its historical incorporations are not flush with accepted historical facts. This common practice demonstrates the ignorant zeal and confidence believers maintain in supporting what is most important to them. Take for example Archbishop Ussher of Armgah. In the year 1650 the archbishop assumed that the bible was a year by year chronology of our Earth’s history and quantified it to be that of six to ten thousand years of age.  This as we know did not become a mere rule of thumb of ecumenical thought but it became the leading figure that many churches still support. It is needless to say that this “scientific” submission is clearly contradictory to any earth science which has been logically deduced.

Proposing the absurd period of the Earth’s age as six thousand years eclipses also form both believers and non-believers the beautiful and complex story of biological evolution. The wonder and beauty of all life clearly wasn’t something that was created instantaneously as depicted in the dull story of Genesis. Of course back then it was a satisfactory explanation before man had any ability to research such things. But now, we know differently. Seeing how single celled organisms were created from the depths of the ocean and changed into more complex beings like man millions upon millions of years later is truly one of the most breathtaking processes science has ever revealed to us.

Adding more insult to injury is yet another area of life which is highly regulated in the system of religion. Human sexuality is another prime aspect of who we are but it is, to say the least, a taboo in religion. Thank goodness that we’re able to at least provide sexual education in middle schools as without that, only for a competent parent, education in sexuality and reproduction probably wouldn’t even exist. I’ve personally known parents who feel conflicted about the idea of sex, who are uncertain what role it should play in even their own lives and neglect to teach it to their own children. Once human nature takes course it quickly results in pregnancy. The fact that parts of the Catholic Church condone abstinence and condemn preventative factors like condoms couldn’t be more contrary to any living specie. Additionally, telling people to wait before they’re married before engaging in sex can in some ways be seen as a wise policy but really doesn’t flow with the nature of man; allowing people to know themselves and each other on a deeper level is part of being a progressive society. Having knowledge of how to protect themselves not only in sex but in relationships would yield a wiser policy.

As stated above seeing where we came from and where we’re going allows within us a feeling of oneness with nature; a satisfaction comparable to a religious sense of belonging. One can say it is the original intent of human spirituality and it pains me just knowing how many people are denied their human right to know2.

Work and Reward
Continuing on our anatomical analysis of the religious system we now take a look at how the work and reward system operates. Let us suppose that a believer is a “good” person who does good things and when good things happen to that person it follows that that person is being rewarded.  There can also be a good person who does good things and when bad things happen it can be considered a punishment, but not always. When a logical explanation cannot be found it is said that the person is being tested. Funny enough, you can have a non-believer to whom good things happen and the conclusion is that god is just letting him know that he loves him.

It seems to me that this illogical idea attempts to explain how and why things happen in life on the premise of proving the existence of god and his active role in peoples lives. In reality things happen. We cannot logically conclude that god is controlling the mundane circumstances of life that are by far too short to call miraculous. The circumstances in life change depending on what one or another does or does not do. And some things we have no control over at all. There really is nothing mysterious here. We as a fully functional society in this age do not need an explanation for how and why things happen in life except for what we can observe and learn directly from life itself. We do not need an entity that takes credit for positive circumstances and to pass the buck on negative ones. We are better than that!

So far on this soon to be autopsy we have examined the application and use of this social system, the core structure and parameters, the repression of education, and the work and reward system. As the latex gloves snap on we move to the anatomy of the “tail end” where we shall see the reproduction system and the crime and punishment system.

Reproduction and Internal Support
In the proverbial hive of the massive colony of followers we have a queen bee overseeing the entire operation: the church.  In conjunction of the peoples’ daily spiritual battles of the human condition it is the duty of the believer to spread the gospel. In many if not most situations the newly recruited come from a troubled situation and are looking for some guidance and find it. After getting acclimated, they too, go out and recruit others. This is merely one way this massive entity extends, gathers, and replicates.

It seems to fit rather well here that the church is not shy to remind its followers about their duty of being humble; that they are not worthy of what they have and not worthy of their gods love. This idea kills their pride and sense of individuality and replaces it with living for the sole purpose of gods plan. It is the complete and total mental surrender of ones’ self to the one mass forever trapping and subduing the individual. Though this system is self-abolishing to its believers this system with all its “fluff” manages to persuade them that this is a good thing. Whether it is a dictatorship or a religious cult, this honestly sounds like a big cup of “sit down and shut up” just without the whipped cream or sugar. Bearing a burden of this stature on a people is in itself immoral in the eye of those outside of the box. Some may argue and say that this mentality is to promote submission of self to a higher intelligence. However, if it really was, the guidance which people are seeking in religion is something that can be prescribed by other methods.

The masses of people have another recommendation from the church and that is to tithe and donate in every way possible so that the cause will go on. Here’s the reward system again: they’re told that what they give they will receive many times back...when they’re dead. There are verses in the bible that tell them that for whatever little they give they shall receive boundless treasures in the kingdom of god. As leaders keep the troops motivated they assure them that they are doing a good thing by subsidizing the church when so many of their followers are living in poverty. If anyone can benefit from their money it is the same pocket from where it came. Well unfortunately the followers do not or cannot see this and don’t think any better. When all they know are the parameters in which they live and strive to survive then how could they think any different? Even if a believer ponders for just a second about what’s outside the box they are heeded away by fear that they will be eternally tortured for even thinking about it. Now in all honesty if this doesn’t sum up tyranny, cult, and mass manipulation then I don’t know what does. Imposing on someone the fear to think has to be one of the greatest crimes on humanity.

Thanks to the strength of the human intellect more and more people are starting to think3.

Crime and Punishment
Just as with the work and reward system, the crime and punishment system works in much the same way. If, by chance one does not believe, no matter how nice, how moral, or how much good that person does and regardless of how good or bad their life circumstances were, they’re supposedly going to be punished…when their dead. In my life I have known some genuinely good non-believers. However when spoken about by Christians I was told that these non-believers have everything right accept for one thing: the belief in Jesus. And as a result they will suffer unfathomable unending torture as a punishment…when they’re dead. To me, this notion, coming from “moral” people, was in itself immoral. In fact, it seemed to me that it was also primitive, barbaric, closed-minded, and jealous in nature, controlling, audacious, unfounded, and immature. Looking at it this way really does show that this system has a major problem: it just can’t step up to the plate! It just can’t “man up” and show us what it claims it’s made of. Instead it’s showing us exactly what it is made of: nothing. And for the record that’s exactly what’s going to happen in its future: nothing.

 In fact to make things more interesting there are actually people out there who are either just tired of going on in the same old routine in life or who just can’t wait to see their enemies crushed. And for those people there’s a special show scheduled which they call the “end of days”. As it’s said Christ will come crashing through the sky, the dead will rise and cause all hell to break loose on Earth. After World War III there will be one thousand years of peace and then the curtain finally closes and everyone goes home. Honestly what can I say but, “That’s show business!”

I think George Carlin hit the nail right on the head when he spoke about religion.

As I said rather forwardly it seems that there is a real problem here. As we take away the pretty things in Christianity such as the compassion of Jesus, the reassurance of gods love, and bountiful rewards we are left with a cleverly hidden skeleton of mass manipulation and tyranny. Talk about a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” It really is a very sad situation. Promising people their rewards or punishments till after death leaves them astray with no shepherd out looking to bring them to safety. Having no proof of their protector, no rewards for their hard work and controlling their mentality is rootless just like slavery was.

Fortunately, unlike a virus, we may not have to let it run its course. But there may not be a cure if there’s no notion of something wrong and most people are willing to die for their beliefs regardless of what reasoning is put in front of them. But by outlining the differences between these realities hopefully religious believers may begin to see the differences and begin to find their way home. It would be more productive looking at the face of religion as mythology as those tales were also created to loosely explain the unexplainable or give meaning to certain principals in life. As they are not taken literally so too should religion be viewed from the historical perspective as mans archaic system of laws and rudimentary attempts at understanding our universe.

There is a better way to live. There is a structured way people can guide their lives by their own selves. There are ways to meet with like minded people and share the deep sense of community and humanity without being soldiers in someone else’s war or sprout seeds from mans’ convoluted and ignorant past. They don’t have to give up the sense of “spirituality” because that heightened sense of awareness and inspiration is part of who we are and is meant for embracing not false misleading doctrines or mythology but the brilliance of life and the whole of humanity.

Notable articles as indicated by superscripts above:
2) Psychology Today: Why Do You Exist?

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Be Bright

It never ceases to amaze me how much of my life was hampered by the reins of religion. Every once in the while I’ll come across something in my life that I noticed it could have been different had I grown up in a moral but non-religious family. One of those ideas I’ll share with you now.

The influence of religion in our lives was extreme. We were taught in this way because our mother was taught that way. Her and her five siblings were taught that way because their parents were taught that way. As my parents divorced around the time I was ten my father’s secular influence unfortunately wasn’t really in the picture as it had been decided that we would be living with my mother.

As the shock waves of the divorce started to settle down I eventually started pursuing interests in my life. I became a highly devoted and accomplished pianist studying classical music on my own. I became recognized in middle and high school which later resulted in my performing solos at concerts and special events. I also considered myself a scholar as I took on long detailed research projects outside of school in anything that sparked interest in my young mind. Growing up in a poor family I had little to no allowance but whatever I did manage to save I always spent on sheet music and books. I loved reading but I never read fiction. There were simply too many interesting things in life that I wanted to learn. And so it began.

There were a few subjects that I felt compelled to read about which some would say are controversial. They were the subjects of paranormal investigations, UFO’s, world religions, human sexuality and miscellaneous nostalgia. They were all “normal” ideas to the naturally curious mind. I read about the stories; the people who encountered strange objects in the skies or claimed they had psychic abilities. I then read about the research and the laboratory experiments that were conducted. I additionally conducted my own experiments. As an amateur astronomer I was already watching the skies and recorded anything “of interest”. The subjects were exciting and adventurous for a young man like myself but my overall mindset was investigating the truth. I wasn’t set out on proving that these things were indeed true but I was set out investigating whether they are true or not!

I kept my “underground library” in a locked cabinet as I knew my mother wouldn’t understand my reason for having them. One day she decided to break into it to see what “evil” things I was hiding and the experience for me was of persecution by having books confiscated and destroyed. My heart was torn as I saw my books ripped apart and thrown away. I pleaded with her that I was not interested in the “worship of the devil” as she accused me of but it was in answering my own questions of what these things are and whether or not they exist; that we indeed had a right to learn and understand for good cause. My inquisitiveness was called “seeds of the devil” and “wrong”. Unfortunately after my mini-inquisition I underwent a heavier religious discipline. And so it would take me years before I had the time, place and freedom in which I could once again engage in these studies.

Now granted, paranormal investigations and UFO’s seem next to the Easter Bunny and Santa Clause now but back then as a teenager it was an honest inquiry and exciting! It was my right to seek knowledge and understanding: to be skeptical. But I lived for years under the rule of religion and dogma. Under that roof I had “no rights” and had no choice but to honor my mother as unquestionably correct and righteous as dictated in the Ten Commandments. My freedom of thought was years delayed and I can’t help but wonder what kind of person I would have become if I was allowed to exercise my freed mind.

Just the same I felt a dissonant chord strike within me years later when watching a documentary on Leonardo de Vinci. Leonardo was researching (by way of dissection) the heart and had noticed build-up in the arteries. He recognized that this build-up was a result of something streaming in the blood and might possibly have been the cause of death of the person under his scalpel. It was at that moment that he was summonsed to the Vatican where he was then charged with Necromancy and ordered a cessation of all his medical research. As I understand it it was his drawings and writings which helped save him from further persecution and even death as they showed his honest quest for understanding and not communion with the dead. Although writing backward left-handed didn’t help him there but hey, he was self taught!

Thought da Vinci’s lifetime was at the beginning of what we know as modern science it’s always interesting to ponder what he might have further contributed to the understanding of this blockage. Fortunately the work he had previously completed was still groundbreaking in the ways of modern science as diligently articulated in this essay on his clinical research.

Even though da Vinci had a personal idea of what spirituality was he still had the mind to employ scientific inquiry and not simply set aside his subjects as ‘god’s perfect creations’ which should not be subject to scrutiny. I’m sure that if I had the freedom to study freely the known universe I would have made more of a significant contribution to my intellectual life and perhaps even my prosperity. The following years after that critical point religion and other family problems forced me to find answers in no other place but religion. That inevitably futile search lasted ten years as I later left home, left Christianity, and tried finding the answers in other religions like ancient yoga meditation and lastly Buddhism. I eventually and finally found what I was looking for outside of the realms of religion and spirituality: sense, i.e. non-contradiction. I found it through the medium at which I first started my quest: science and critical thinking.

Today I am clearly not a religious person but I can consider myself a spiritual person. But the term “spiritual” is an old one that refers to a higher part of ourselves and what we feel about our involvement in the universe…or multiverse. Though I do not believe in god, gods or spirits I don’t like to use the term atheist. It kind of has a negative connotation so non-theist is more of an appropriate word. To make things more complicated though I am a non-theist I do still have what people would call spirituality! I therefore like to refer to myself rather as bright as coined by Daniel Dennett.

Though I will reserve my writing on spirituality and becoming a non-theist for another posting I will share briefly with you where my spirituality lies in order to show that in this type of transition life does not become less special. In fact, it became more special that I have ever, ever perceived.

There were a few losses and gains from this change. I think it goes without mention that I’m comforted knowing that god and my deceased relatives are not watching me in my private moments…at all! You know those moments where you wonder, “I wonder if they can see me…..” Nope!

One loss from this kind of change is knowing that I’m not going to live forever. Okay~ minor set-back. I had to now put my prime focus on living for the now. I know that whatever I wanted to experience I have to do before I die. I had to re-examine and re-evaluate my past and make sure that I got the best out of life for what I am physically and mentally able to achieve. I couldn’t just be a good boy, chill out and party it up in god’s great kingdom! But looking at life in this way put more of an importance in what I do every day.

Putting the prime focus on this life also allowed me to find and redefine my own spirituality. The simple idea that the beginning of our beautiful Earth and its inhabitants were no longer the simple miracle of a god; the extraordinarily complex and beautiful system of its origins seems more amazing to me and now shined as bright as the sun in my mind with sparks of amazement, reverence and wonder.

Reading Charles Darwin’s The Origins of the Species and The Descent of Man for example thrill me in much the same way that reading sacred scripture would have done. Watching something as extraordinary as David Attenborough’s First Life or Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life brings to reality the true greatness behind global life. It sparks the notions that this is real and this is about me, where I came from and where I am going. It is, in itself, a truee sense of spirituality, i.e. a heightened awareness and connection to all life which in this view is one life.

When asking me my religions preference at my initial examination my personal physician wrote down “agnostic / atheist” in my file. I told her, “Scratch out agnostic and underline atheist. I know what I believe.” She smiled a bit and said, “You have big shoulders.” “What do you mean?” I asked. She responded, “That’s a lot of weight to carry.” It was then that I realized that indeed I did and I was proud. I had not only the confidence and strength of mind to question the binding ideas of religion; I also gained the scientific knowledge to prove to my logical mind what was real. But most importantly I realized that I was also happy; that I reclaimed my sense of spirituality and sense of belonging that I once had. That was the third and final piece of the puzzle I needed to complete what I initially stared years ago.


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Wednesday, December 23, 2009

new blog

i'm currently posting at, much more user friendly and easier for me to manage my postings

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Cozycot Holy Grail Party

Woke up bright and early this morning to attend Cozycot Holy Grail Party at Singapore Expo with my mum. Spent around 2 hours walking the booths, but I didn't see much that caught my eye. There was some good discounts on:
selected ZA products (50% off) with the 2-way cake selling for $10
selected Majolica Marjoca products at 30% off (I grabbed a nail polish at $5)
Esperique Precious foundation going for $49.
10% off Bod sincare line

I bought a cleansing milk and eye gel from Bod, a natrual skincare range which had 10% off (actually this range is newly launched, and can be found at Watson's, also with 10% off I believe). I also tried the scalp analysis at Phyto, Keratase and did a UV skin check at DermaR skincare. For some reason I have more brown spots and UV spots compared to my mum who is almost 30 years older than me!!! Could this be due to the fact that she's more judicious with carrying an umbrella and I prefer to wear sunglasses (I read somewhere that it's not good to wear sunglasses cos they reflect the rays onto your skin but I'm not sure how accurate that is).

Was disappointed with the door gift, I got a stack of vouchers for some spa treatment, a Pantene 3 minute hair treatment, 1 Bliss yoghurt drink, and Bioessence sample for face lifting cream. To think I was one of the early birds queueing at 11am.

See more comments here.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Kao Prettia Hair Dye- Bleach

Kao Prettia hair dye, aka Liese Hair Dye in Singapore, is a range of hair dye in foam format, so not only is it easy to apply, doesn't drip, it is extremely easy to wash off. I don't know how many times I swore off at home dye jobs cos it was just too difficult to wash off.

I used No. 18 Bleach which isn't available in Singapore yet, as there is a wider range in Japan.

Now my hair is black black black, as I haven't coloured it in years. So since I wanted to get a brighter colour, I left it on for 1 hr (the box showed that for the lightest result I would need to leave it in for 40 mins). At the 30min mark, I looked in the mirror and my hair was still black, so I proceeded to leave it in for longer.

The results:

Verdict: I'm happy with the light brown shade, and it looks pretty even, although this could be attributed to the fact that my hair hadn't been dyed before. Oh there was loads of hair dye left, so this is economical for longer haired gals.

Price: $19.90 in Singapore, available at Watson's/Guardian/Supermarkets etc. I got mine in Japan for ard 700yen

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Stila #21 Blush Brush

As you can see in my previous pictures, I'm very fond of the Stila #21 blush brush. In fact, it was one of my first 'branded' brushes and a favourite of mine ever since. I prefer using animal hair brushes for my powder prioducts, leaving synthetic brushes for use with liquid foundations, gel blushes and eyeliners.

What it is:
This bell shaped brush has bristles manicured to a flat top. A corner edge applies color precisely beneath the cheekbone for a contoured cheek look. The flat circular top of the brush puts cheek color down on top of the cheekbone in one sweep. (taken from

Double duty, can be used as a blush brush & a cheek contour brush

Material: Fine Goat hair

Normally I would swirl my brush onto the entire surface of the blush, but this brush has tiny bristles sticking out so that by doing so, excess powder is picked up and flicked off to the side. So I just carefully pres the brush into the pan, lift it and re-press into the pan until it has picked up the correct amount.

see how some hairs are longer than others?

I reccomend using this brush for all blushes, as you can control the amount to be picked up. I've never used it for contouring though, but I can see how it could work as its has a flat surface.

Price: US$45

There are rumours that Stila is pulling out of Singapore, so grab this brush while you still can! Hopefully there will be more price reductions to come.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Luxasia Warehouse Sale

Another sale we were all looking forward to, Luxasia Warehouse sale which started today. End on sunday, location is SAFRA Toa Payoh. Starts at 11am, but I was able to enter earlier at 10am as they have a special preview for Standard Chartered cards members. Prices were cheap, and stock ran low for some items even before I left. I spent 1 1/2 hours slowly browsing, as there weren't many people. By 11.15am people were streaming in and the place was packed! I quickly made up my mind and left. I spent $229 so I also got a free Paul Smith Floral EDP 30ml. I believe non Stand-chart holders got a Lancaster sample pack, as they were about to give that to me.

My Buys
Stila Brushes:
#8 Powder Brush $17 each
#9 all over blend brush $9 each
#21 blush brush x3 $13 each
#31 retractable powder brush $12 each
#17 Retractable brush $10 each
#6 lip brush x2 $8 each
#19 all over shimmer brush $15 each

Stila SPF 30 oil free tinted moisturiser $10
Phytomer toning body scrub $10
Lancaster spf 25 sun beauty stick eyes and lips $6
Vera Wang Princess EDT set $50 (50ml edt, roll on, body polish and body lotion)
Jurlique Eucalyptus essential oil $5
RMK pan concealer $15
Stila Lip glaze stick blackberry $5
Stila Pomegranate lip crush $10
Free gift: Paul Smith Floral EDP 30ml

Prices for the other items that I remember:
assorted makeup brushes, from $8-$20
Lip glaze stick (blackberry/brown sugar/gingerbread) $5
Oil free tinted mosituriser $10 (they had light 02 and a medium colour)
lots of eyeshadow pans going for $4 each
Eyeshadow quad montmare $8
lipsticks, lipglazes, concealers, foundations etc but i didn't look at these

pan concealer $15
powder foundation $20 (this is the discontinued one)
no base or liquid foundations

Metabolisers (for oily skin) going for $16 thereabouts

They had sunblocks going for cheap! spf 30 going for $8, i bought the eye/lip care sunblock stick for $6. This was oos by the time I left, so not sure if they will restock

Toning Body scrub $10
Soothing face cream $25
Soothing face mask $15
Cellulite gel $30

Eucalyptus essential oil $5
Soothing day care lotion $16 iirc (exp sept 09)
they had other skincare tems, but most expired either end 2009 or mid 2010

Salvatore Feragamo incanto heaven $24

Anyone who's going, head down soon!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Magazine gwp alert

Today I went to Books Kinokuniya at Ngee Ann City but they didn't have anything interesting for magazine gwp. I dropped by VivoCity on my way home and popped into Page One bookshop, since they have the cheapest price I've seen so far for Allure magazine (ard $8) but the May issue isn't out yet. Thus, I ended up buying Harper's Bazaar for the 2nd month in a row, due to the gwp. Exclusively at Page One stores (or so the poster claims), you get a full-size Redken Real Control Thermal Resist. Now I just gotta look for its reviews.....

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Lavera Body Spa Wild Rose Body Oil

I've recently started incorporating oils into my mositurising regime, from using a mix of jojoba + almond oils as a cuticle moisturiser to adding a few drops into my hand cream and body lotion. So far I've found that my skin is liking the jojoba oil, and its been keeping my hands moisturised. My hands tend to be dry and my cuticles always look the worse for wear cos im fighting a recurrent bout of ezcema.

Anyway I chanced upon Vivawoman's review of Lavera's wild rose body spa products, and she reccomended the body oil as the product she liked the best. I'm not too sure of the retail price but I got my bottle from Phyto Organics at Raffles City, as they had a $7 promotion and you had to buy a minimum of 3 products, so I also got the Yes to Carrots shampoo and Lavera lip balm -repair. Other products in the same range include a shower gel and body wash. There are also other fragrances such as vanilla-coconut, milk-honey and lavander-aloe.

Lavera is a brand of natural products from Germany, and its products are certified organic.

Wild Rose body oil, 50 ml packaged in a frosted glass bottle

Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil*, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil*, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil*, Rosa Moschata Oil*, Tocopherol, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Alcohol, Fragrance (Parfum)**, Citral**, Geraniol**, Citro-
nellol**, Limonene**, Linalool**
* ingredients from certified organic agriculture
** natural essential oils

As you can see, the base is olive, almond and jojoba oils which is pretty moisturising. The rose fragrance is a pleasant, slightly sweet fragrance but it smells slightly different from my rosewater, probably due to the presence of all the oils. The day after I use it as a body moisturiser, I got incredibly smooth legs.

So there you have it, I was looking for something different and who wouldn't like a rose-scented body oil? The instructions state that it can also be used as a massage oil ;)

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Thursday, June 14, 2012

Native Cultivars on Green Roof

How do I pick my favorite gas stations?  Lowest prices? Nope, it's the plants, of course.  Here is a great gas station on the corner of 22nd and M St. NW in Washington, D.C.  The roof of this Exxon station was designed as a part of the 22 West Condos.

photo by City Paper

It's hard to do plant ID from twenty-four feet away, but the Rhus typhina 'Bailtiger'--as known as Tiger Eyes, is pretty effective from a distance.  A great plant for drought resistance, texture, color, heck, just about anything.  It is a very vigorous plant in most garden settings, so make sure you have space (and a machete).

The Tiger Eye Sumac is perfectly scaled for this urban environment.

Also peeking over the edge is Schizachyrium scoparium 'The Blues' (Little Bluestem).  While not a terribly tidy grass, the blue color of this cultivar works well with the gray metal panels and chartreuse colors of the Sumac.  Little Bluestem and Sumac are commonly found together along great American highways, so this association in a more urban context is kind of a fun play for me.  The use of the strongly colored cultivars translates two rather weedy plants into a more contemporary combination.

The Sumac is not only spectacular in spring and summer, but fall as well.  Here you can see Tiger Eyes in this shot I took at the U.S. National Botanical Garden in the fall.

  1. I'm not familiar with this cultivar. But I will attest to the species and it's toughness and exquisite scarlet fall color. The texture is interesting, Some say coarse, but really it's like one huge, fine compound leaf. It does flower in kind of a creamy panicle and the weird fruit is interesting.
    A lot of contradicting thoughts are running through my mind. A fossil fuel giant and landscaping. I look to the positive and the green.

    1. Scott,

      Yes, I know. I'm trying not to dwell too heavily on the irony of the setting. I don't even think Exxon paid for the green roof. It was the adjacent condo building who wanted to have something nice to look down on instead of a gas station.

  2. Chartreuse clouds!

  3. Thank you for posting this. It’s exactly what I was looking for!

  4. I see Tiger Eyes used here in Chicago's Millenium Park as well. I like the fall color, but for some reason I just can't warm up to sumacs. Maybe it's my childhood in LI where they grew weedy and rampant along the expressways. There's also something about the leaves that seems tropical in a way that clashes with a cottage garden or native plant look.

  5. As a gardener and someone who lives in the middle of nature and works on, against, and with it constantly, but who happens to be a petroleum jobber in my work life, I like to say that nobody gets to hate Big Oil more than me. But I would say that a project like this is fairly emblematic of E/M, who in their post-E. Valdez era is unquestionably the safest and best-managed of all our Evil Energy Overlords (unlike BP, who has learned how to profit from their wild incompetency in a way that is grotesquely offensive. If they were a dry cleaner, they'd have gone out of business decades ago). I have no trouble imagining E/M deciding they wanted a station, and figured the cost of a green roof--as well as some architectural interest, some community 'blending,' and likely the most forward thinking, technologically advanced site monitoring--were just a loss-leading upront operational expense. Unlike BP, who would just have a massive spill, run a bunch of TV commercials about their green energy initiatives, and then raise their price a buck.

    Forgive me, but I find this fascinating in so many different ways. Nobody even builds gas stations here any more.

  6. It's nice to see that this roof garden is offsetting the carbon emissions from the gas station somewhat! It's a shame this kind of thing isn't done more. Surely if we won't cut back on carbon emissions it should be a priority to help neutralize them by planting more greenery (especially in cities)?

  7. That was a clever pick, Thomas. While many consider the price of gasoline, you are looking at the whole of the station. Having a green roof really says something good about the place. The garden above will help maintain the cool temperature. That was an intelligent move from its management, since businesses involving oil products are prone to a hot atmosphere.

    Sierra Nordgren

  8. Green roof needs to be placed in every building, offices or other establishments to help against the urban greenhouse effect. Green roofing will not only look good on top of the structures but it is also helpful for the environment.

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Nov. 26 2013 12:00 AM

Central Pharmacy/ Chierie International Market

Central Pharmacy/ Chierie International Market

Because of a reporting error, the New in Town column on Nov. 20 misstated Rite-Aide's role in the old Lansing Community Pharmacy at Kalamazoo Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. Rite-Aide acquired Lansing Community Pharmacy's prescriptions. The store, however, is closed. Its phone number is being forward to Rite-Aide at Michigan Avenue and Pennsylvania.

In the age of mega-chain drugstores, it’s unusual to hear about a locally owned pharmacy opening.

Apothecary Pharmacy in Lansing and PGPA intown Pharmacy in Okemos are two local stores that have kept up with the giants, but they’ve been around much longer — 87 years and 16 years, respectively.

Now Mike Salquist has joined the list. Earlier this month, he opened Central Pharmacy on the corner of Mt. Hope and Pennsylvania avenues. Salquist has been a registered pharmacist for 37 years. Most recently, he spent eight years at the nearby Lansing Community Pharmacy, which closed without notice to customers two weeks ago.

“It was a family owned place, but (the owners) decided to sell and not tell us,” Salquist said. “I worked hard to get to know the clients. We developed a real

bond. When this opportunity came (to open Central Pharmacy) right down the street, I took it.”

Salquist said Central Pharmacy compounds medication and fills prescriptions for both humans and animals. It also offers free delivery.

Dr. Joe Kozlowski’s office, Kosmic Family Practice, is adjacent to the 1,200-squarefoot store. The building, empty since Grumpy’s Diner moved out of the location in 2011, recently underwent a major exterior and interior overhaul. It was featured as a City Pulse Eyesore of the Week in September, but a lot has changed since then.

“I think this building’s actually become eye candy,” Salquist said. “Can we get that changed?”

Going international Sam Dixon and Sue Bunch opened Chierie International Market in Old Town on Nov. 2. Dixon said he hopes to fill a niche for specialty imported food.

“There are roughly 18,000 African refugees in Lansing,

and we’re trying to (connect them) with the foodstuffs they like,” Dixon said.

Many of the items are shipped directly from Africa, but he also gets items from various distributors throughout the Midwest. One item that’s in: Vitamalt, a gingery non-alcoholic malt beverage that’s hard to find in the area.

The location is the former home of Haze Gallery, a ceramic art gallery that became Great Lakes Artworks art co-op and moved next door in 2011.

Central Pharmacy 1003 E. Mt. Hope Ave., Lansing 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday; 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday; closed Sunday (517) 316-0711

Chierie International Market 304 E. Grand River Ave., Lansing 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday- Thursday; 10-9 Friday- Saturday, 1-8 Sunday, closed Monday (517) 484-9787

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Media Society debate: Reporting the Future

How can journalists and programme makers judge the flood of future visions and scenarios being put forward by technology companies, brands, special interest groups, think tanks and politicians?

23 November 2011

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  • Gill Brown Partner, Third City

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  • Catherine Mayer
  • Bryan Appleyard
  • Charlie Leadbeater

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  • Media Futures
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  • Peter Hartey
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  • Seren Partners Ltd.

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  • Melanie Howard

    Chair, Future Foundation

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Friday, February 24, 2017

Matt Flynn likely to start for Oakland Raiders in Week 4

Matt Flynn has been taking all the snaps with the Oakland Raiders’ first-team offense in practice this week, and he will likely start in place of Terrelle Pryor on Sunday at home against the Washington Redskins.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Thursday that Pryor is unlikely to play in the Raiders’ Week 4 contest because of a concussion. Pryor was concussed in the fourth quarter of the Raiders’ blowout loss to the Denver Broncos on Monday night.

We knew things weren’t looking good for Pryor when he tweeted Tuesday morning that he didn’t remember much from the game after being concussed.

Terrelle Pryor Wesley Woodyard

Pryor was hit with a head shot from Broncos linebacker Wesley Woodyard that occurred in the tackle box. Pryor wanted Woodyard fined for the hit, but Raiders coach Dennis Allen thought it was a legal play. Legal or illegal, it will likely result in Pryor missing at least one game.

Flynn was signed by the Raiders in the offseason but lost the starting quarterback job after playing poorly in the season. Pryor appeared to be a more dynamic playmaker, and the former Ohio State quarterback has proven he gives them a good chance to win games. Flynn’s limited mobility makes him less of a threat than Pryor, but the good news is he’ll be facing a Washington defense that has allowed 32.7 points and 333 passing yards per game, both of which are second-worst in the league.

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Fashion One features Fall’s Most Coveted Color: Oxblood

The fall/winter 2012 circuit was brimming with autumn trends. Runways were filled with dark leathers, layers of lush velvet and lace, and decadent brocade-like prints. However, amidst all of these lavish ensembles, one color stood out among the rest…enter oxblood.

Also known as burgundy, maroon, or wine…newly named oxblood carries all the richness of red with deep undertones of brown and violet. This “color of the moment” has been painting designer’s collections, covering everything from jackets, blouses, and trousers, to lips and nails. Here are some oxblood hued pieces you should scoop up to have you looking fashionably fresh all winter long.

Jackets and blazers for fall are a must, not only do they offer warmth in the colder months, but they are also great for layering up. Instead of a traditional tailored look, go for something a bit more edgy, like a motorcycle jacket. Make sure the silhouette is slightly fitted to accent your shape and adorned with excess zipper hardware. Try these styles from All Saints and McQ by Alexander McQueen. If you’re more into the fur trend, wrap up in McQ‘s cropped leather trimmed option. Oxblood blouses this season have striking details while remaining simplistic. Check out Topshop’s mesh and jersey bodysuit with sexy sheer paneling or Alexander Wang’s merino wool sweater with an asymmetrical hemline.

Dresses this season fall on two extremes, romantic and minimalist. For an evening out, dress up with Nina Ricci’s ruffled chiffon number. Feeling weekend ready? Try OAK’s long-sleeved jersey dress with a revealing cowl back. Mini skirts are back in focus, designed in supple leather. McQ takes the spotlight with diagonal zippers, while Miu Miu plays up preppy style with their pleated version.

A fantastic pair of pants are a wardrobe staple. FOIY’s leather paneled trousers or Dorothy Perkins’ coated leggings can be paired with chucky knits or breezy blouses. Stay on trend this fall with textured denim and printed cigarette pants, all decked out in oxblood tones. 7 for All Mankind ‘s version has a pebble glazed sateen finish, while Topshop’s trousers don a geometrical pattern.

Shoes are the perfect way to make a statement. Slip into collection stunners, like structured monkstrap boots from Cole Haan or polished metal toe cap heels by Dune Balmoral. Mix up textures with YSL’s wedge booties. The combination of leather and ultra-suede creates a dramatic effect, while still remaining casual. For something more playful, try Alexander McQueen‘s oxblood ballet flats, decorated with signature crystal embellished skulls.

Top off your fall looks with classic glossy handbags or utilitarian satchels. Selections from 3.1 Phillip Lim and Ralph Lauren make it easy to look put together while still wearing the season’s most coveted color. Hats and jewelry are another way to wear the oxblood trend. Try French Connection’s boho floppy hat or Alexander McQueen’s iconic ruby skull cocktail ring.

Just in case you haven’t reached oxblood overload, or if you’re looking to try this trend in moderation, check out these lip colors and polishes. You’ll be mistletoe ready in Guerlain’s holiday collection color, or Stila’s lip and cheek stain. However, a new manicure painted in Deborah Lippmann’s or Laura Mercier’s deep shades are an easy way to add just the right amount of burgundy to your life.

You don’t have to be decked out in head-to-toe oxblood to look fashionable this winter. Find separates that you can add to your closet and still work with pieces you already have. Remember, when shopping, choose a shade that works with your skin’s natural undertones. If you’re more on the rosy side, go for oxblood that’s more on the violoet side; if you’re golden, pick colors with a brown base. Regardless of whether you decide to sport this hue in your wardrobe or on your makeup palette, it’s intensity and popularity prove it’s here to stay…at least until spring.

Author: Megan Lynn Lewis
Fashion One
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Monday, December 19, 2005

Thomas Sowell: Merry You-Know-What

Merry Christmas, Dr. Sowell! You are one of my heroes :).

Anonymous paul said...

He is one of mine as well, but I admit to enjoying Dr. Adams more, because of the humor.....added a link to your blog, if you have a problem with this let me know and I'll take it off...

you can see it at

3:24 AM
Blogger Laura said...

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed your visit here enough to link to it, and I will check out your site.

Best wishes, Laura

11:02 AM

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Monday, January 18, 2016

That Moment....When My Eyes Were Opened....

"Open my me inside...." "Open the eyes of my heart, Lord...." We sing these phrases all the time during worship and we pray them often. However, I don't think we're ever fully prepared for our eyes to actually be opened the way that God intends them to be....because the other day God opened my eyes to a situation and I almost went blind from the sun exposure.

   See, I was all like, "I'm a good Christian! I want more of God! Of course I want my eyes opened! Why wouldn't I want my eyes opened?!?"

  And God was like "Are you sure, my Child??"

        Me: "Yes! Yes!!! A thousand times, yes!!!"

       God: "Okay, Kid. Here ya go"

::cue to eyes slowly fluttering open behind closed lids....then *BAM*

 The searing light of the sun burns my eyelids like when one welds without a welder mask. Oops.

   Needless to say, I was completely unprepared for what I had been pleading for. Like a child who begs for a puppy, but doesn't understand the weight of the responsibility that comes with it.

    But I had my wish. My goal, my dream. Was it what I had anticipated?? No, far from it. My answer was on a completely differrent plane than my expectations. So, I adulted, sucked it up and dealt with my changed reality.
   Did I lose my eyes? No...instead, I received different lenses.

       Moral of the story- be careful what you wish may come true....

Friday, December 11, 2015

Space Cadet Defined

       Space Cadet. To some, it is an occupation- a live person who goes into space with a special suit, oxygen and freeze-dried food.  In the van Veen household, it meant something totally different. It was only recently that I came to the discovery that apparently I do not share the same definition of the term "Space Cadet" as most of my peers do.
    This often leads to awkward conversations where I unabashedly say things like "Yeah, so-and-so is a total space cadet," and my conversation buddy is all like, "No way! Can they give me a tour of NASA??". This is the part where, unfortunately, I have to burst their celebrity bubble. And now, I shall burst yours too.
         See, here is the not-so-famous *van Veen* definition of the term "Space Cadet": "someone whose brain has left the planet, is deprived of oxygen...and is now floating around in space, lost and faaaaaaaar from home". These folk display characteristics such as "extreme blondeness" and no common knowlege or ability to grasp such simple concepts such as 2 +2, or "the grass is green".
          For example: that person who just asked you where the crosswalk was (that you were both standing in), heard your response, then proceeded to walk across the street in the not-a-cross-walk.
    Granted, we all have moments in our lives where we forget things or our blonde roots start to show, but Space Cadets are the extreme version of is their life ALL. THE. TIME.
     Now, to be honest, no one know how or where these lovely people derive from. Some may have been created through circumstance while others are a product of of their environments....and the rest must just grow on trees, because they just keep showing up....

Monday, November 30, 2015

How To Give Thanks For Your Kids When You Just Can't

   Ever have one of those days where everything's going crazy and it's Friday, but it feels like a "Groundhog Day"-Monday-day?? I'm talking, like, one kid is sky diving off the couch while another is spinning a fresh roll of toilet paper all over the house, #3 is eating the dog's food and the the dog is lapping up your pricey coffee that is seeping into the carpet...because, of course, SkyDiver sometimes misses the ottoman or the floor and slams into the coffee table.
   These are the days I'm referring to. The ones where it seems like God went all "man" on you and left you to clean up the mess He helped create. The times where it's super hard to even utter the words "children are blessing" (Psalm 127:3)....and you can't help but wonder what in the world you did to deserve this kind of "blessing"??
    That's right. I said it (hey, *you* were thinking it!!!). Sometimes we can't help but wonder what in the world we've gotten ourselves into and start questioning who in the world thought that we were capable of adulting?? (Especially since that younger acts like he doesn't understand English and that your words {like "No!" and "Don't you dare!!"} mean nothing)
     I've been there. I've done that....and that's why I can write about this. And hopefully bless your heart a little bit.
    Giving thanks for your kids when you feel like you "just can't", when your mental capacities are about to explode, when you're two seconds from hiding under your bed and sobbing yourself to sleep is hard. It's hard to look at the mess, look at the chaos and say, "Thank You, God. Thank You for these blessing. For these children who are my reward from You."
    In fact, as you read that aloud, you heard the insanity. But you felt just a little better didn't you?? Now, say it again. And again. Exhale. Because your children ARE a blessing. Sure, you may not see it now, but it is true. And when you continue to thank God for (and pray for) your children, you will start to notice the little when my seven-year-old announces that she carries paper and pen with her when we leave the house "just in case you forget your list, Mommy, so that you can write one down" or when the youngest gives me gross, wet kisses, then giggles about it.
   It's okay. It's okay to feel overwhelmed at times. It's okay to cry. And call for help when you need it. Have your circle of Mommy friends. The best times to thank God are when it's when you're scrubbing the bathroom floor because the toilet overflowed because too many dinosaurs were flushed down it. But those are also the best times. Because through them, God will remind you of how blessed and loved you really are.

Monday, November 9, 2015

BlondieChell's Fab Granola Recipe

   Apparently I make this really fab homemade granola, and throngs of people desire the recipe. so here it is. To be fair, this is adapted from BuzzFeed's Granola Recipe, but a more specific version.

*BlondieChell's Fab Granola Recipe*

    To start, find a large mixing bowl, a pan with raised edges (I like to use wax paper on mine), some measuring cups and a spoon or small spatula to stir with.
   You will need:
   3 cups of rolled oats (aka "old fashioned oats")
   1 cup almonds
   1 cup pecans
   1 & 1/2 cups sunflower seeds
   1 tsp Pink Himalayan salt,
   1 tbsp ground cinnamon
   1/2 cup agave nectar
   1/4 cup olive oil
   1 tbsp vanilla extract

   1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
   2. Mix the oats, almonds, pecans, sunflower seeds, salt and cinnamon together in the big bowl until it looks well-blended.
   3. Add in the oil, nectar and vanilla extract. Mix super-well, until all the dry ingredients are wet with something.
   4. Line your baking pan with parchment paper, then smear the granola mixture onto that. Spread it out so it's as flat as you can get it.
   5. Put it in the oven for 20 minutes, then take it out of the oven and mix it around a bit, then put it back into the oven for 15 more minutes.
   6. Pull pan out of the oven and let cool. I like to take the parchment paper and wiggle it back and forth a bit so the wax paper doesn't melt to the pan.
   ....and....enjoy!!!! I let cook overnight, but then store in an air-tight container so it doesn't stale.

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Bulu Box Promo #Sponsored

   Are you looking for a fun, new way to try health products, but can't afford to buy the new full-sizes all the time??? This may be the opportunity you're looking for! Bulu Box offers monthly sample boxes at a low price, then if you love the product, you can just return to their website and buy!
   The perfect partner in the pursuit of a healthier you, Bulu Box is like having a personal trainer and a nutritionist as a best friend. Each month, a box of healthy discoveries is shipped right to your door for just $10. You learn about that month's 4-5 premium samples, try each one and see what fits into your individual healthy lifestyle. For sharing your opinions on each month's samples through a quick survey, we will give you 50 Rewards Points (that's $5!) to use in our shop to get more of your favorites. Get a 3 Month Subscription for just $15 (regularly $30)! at Bulu Box - Use code WOWZA Just Click Here.@usfg @bulubox

   *This is a sponsored post, which means that in exchange for posting this ad, I will receive something in return. All thoughts and options are my own and I only post/showcase products I love!

Monday, July 13, 2015

What Happens When BlondieChell Attends Group Exercise Classes

     Ever have a friend who is a great friend and you've been through just about everything together, but then she goes and just stops friending in the middle of an intensish yoga/pilates/athletic training class called "Centergy"??
   Well, I do. and for the sake of this post, she shall remain nameless. But we shall call her "T".  And in order to understand her misguided actions, you must first acknowledge the kind of pressure she was under...that "I-didn't-come-here-with-her-and-I-have-no-idea-who-this-crazy-woman-is" pressure.
         The situation started when my good friend "T" and I decided that we would take our not-so-flexible bodies to a Centergy course offered at the local gym. Because sometimes we're over-confident and we enjoy trying new things.
        Since we arrived a little later than the designated class time, we were forced to unroll our yoga mats in the front row, while all the slender-bodied women who obviously take this class religiously were positioned towards the back of the room. The instructor was a gracious, elderly woman who seemed new to the routine that she was introducing to the class. (And if hadn't have walked away with at least one humorous story, it would have been a waste of an hour.)
      About three-quarters of the way through the class, we were led into this pose called "the frog". The instructor herself seemed confused on the exact position, but basically,  you fold over your mat (so there's a bump towards the front of you) then melt down into a wide-legged child's pose, mangling the soles of your feet until they touch. then you take one arm and shoulder roll towards the opposite side, sliding that arm under the other. Until you are stuck. And you remain in that position until your lose all feeling in your knees.
      Once I had completely committed the rest of my life to this pose, the instructor then led us to unmangle ourselves from the "frog". And I tried. And I tried. And tried. Apparently I was stuck- face-first on the floor with one arm crossed under the other and my knees bent at the most unnatural angle. I was also the only student still lying on the floor. And unable to make eye contact with "T".
      I tried really hard to convince my anatomy to move-to at least allow me to wiggle to one side so I could resume the class. But, no. Nothing was working. So I had two choices: remain in this position for the rest of the class time or disrupt the class by asking for help.
      In a quiet voice, I asked the instructor if she could repeat the was to get out of the pose. She did. And again, nothing moved. As I lay there, tears flowed from my eyes. (Why?? I don't know. I wasn't crying.) I was embarrassed and laughing at my situation, but I don't think anyone else was on the same page with me. To them, not only was I stuck, but I was silently sobbing about it. Great.

                            (it may have resembled something like this....)

       Since I was evidently stuck (I may also have announced this) some of the other class members along with the instructor rushed over unpositioned my legs for me. (Notice I didn't mention "T"?? She was frozen with the rest of the class-gawking at the sight I had become)
       After I was returned ot my full-upright postion, "T" leaned over and asked if I was okay. Somehow she had discovered how to friend again. We finished the class without anymore delays or surprises, and in the end, we felt stronger. And more secure in our relationship.

Monday, April 27, 2015

Grilled Mac N Cheese *Recipe*

    Unlike most folks, I try to stay away from traditional recipes (it also doesn't help that the kitchen and I are frenemies).  Instead, I let my imagination take charge, creating recipes that look like they came from a "What To Expect When You're Expecting" cookbook. Like this one.
     Simply put, it is a grilled cheese sandwich stuffed with mac n cheese.  And it is yum. One of those "you'll thank me later" recipes.

        Heated macaroni and cheese (a great use for those leftovers!)
        Cheese (to make the sandwich stick together)
        2 Slices of Bread
        Butter (if you have any of Papa John's garlic butter sauce laying around, substitute that)
         1. Grease your frying pan with the butter.
         2. Layer heated mac n cheese and cheese onto the bread and place sandwich in frying pan.
         3. Flip sandwich over after a few minutes.
         4. Check to make sure you didn't burn the sandwich, and scoop out of the pan and onto a plate. Cut in half. Thank me later.

   This lovely photo is a variation of the Grilled Mac N Cheese. It's the "Mac N Cheese Quesadilla". Same concept, only I added taco meat and used tortillas. (The mac n cheese pictured is a special spaghetti kind my friend makes)


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Undergrad Programs

Major Programs

LAWR offers three majors in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

  • Atmospheric Science, , where you will investigate topics ranging from how to forecast severe weather events to how humans may be altering Earth's climate.
  • Environmental Science and Management offers a contemporary perspective for solving environmental problems and understanding human dimensions of the environment. Students gain exposure to real world problem solving and learn how to use cutting edge technology and tools.
  • Hydrology, where you will study all aspects of water -- weather, river basins, groundwater, glaciers, lakes, streams, permafrost, water vapor.

Faculty advisers within each of these majors will work with you to tailor an individual program of specialization or concentration.

For information about our undergraduate programs email lawradvising@ucdavis.edu or visit our Student Resources Page.

Land, Air and Water Resources is a multidisciplinary department with faculty who specialize in atmospheric, plant, resource, soil and water science, hydrology, and water engineering. Teaching and research focus on both agricultural and environmental science. The faculty contribute to numerous other undergraduate and graduate programs in the Colleges of Letters and Science, Engineering, and Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.


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quesCan daughter claim share in ancestral property?

My grandfather executed a WILL in the form of a notary which was not registered. This property was ancestral. He had 2 sons and a daughter. The property according to the notary was divided between the two sons who've been enjoying these property for 10 years now. The property was further divided amoung their children. Recently, the daughter sent a notice claiming that she was not given any share in the property. She got married 40 years back and is well settled. Does she have a right to oppose the WILL now?

  • ansIt is always advisable to probate the WILL. It is a judicial proof that the WILL is genuine. Your grand father could only have bequeathed a self acquired property by WILL. For ancestral properties, your grand father could only have bequeathed his share.

    The daughter can claim the share in property since it is ancestral and she has a right in it. She has a valid reason to challenge the WILL.

  • Disclaimer: The above query and its response is NOT a legal opinion in any way whatsoever as this is based on the information shared by the person posting the query at LawRato.com and has been responded by one of the Property Lawyers at LawRato.com to address the specific facts and details. You may post your specific query based on your facts and details to get a response from one of the Lawyers at LawRato.com or book a Detailed Consultation with a Lawyer of your choice to address your query in detail.
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Causes of Spinal Injury

A spine injury is typically the result of trauma that damages the spinal cord, vertebrae, spinal disks, or adjacent soft tissue. Trauma to disks or other soft tissue can cause them to swell and thereby irritate the spinal cord. Disease and birth defects can also injure the spine. There are approximately 12,500 new cases of spinal cord injury each year in the U.S., according to the National SCI Statistical Center.

causes of spinal injury

The New York personal injury lawyers of Hecht Kleeger & Damashek, P.C., work with spinal cord injury victims and their families to ensure that they are financially secure as they work to recover from their accident. If a spine injury is the result of an accident caused by someone else’s negligence, violent actions or a medical error, the victim may seek compensation for medical expenses and other losses. A settlement or court award may include compensation for long-term treatment and care expenses if the injured person has been disabled.

Our legal team will make sure your interests are protected and that you are fairly compensated.

How Traumatic Spine and Spinal Cord Injuries Occur

Traumatic spine injuries are caused by a blow that fractures, dislocates, crushes or compresses one or more vertebrae in the spinal column, or damages the spinal cord itself. Bleeding, swelling, inflammation and fluid accumulation around the spinal column can make an injury and its effect on the spinal cord worse.

Typical causes of spinal cord injury:

car accident causes of spinal injury

    • Motor vehicle accidents. Car, truck, motorcycle and other motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of spine injuries, according to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center. The violence of being slammed into the structure of a vehicle, the road, ground or other objects in a collision can snap vertebrae and tear the spinal cord. This includes accidents involving large trucks and other pieces of heavy equipment at construction sites.

fall causes of spinal injury

  • Falls. Falls, including slip-and-fall accidents, are the second-leading cause of spinal cord injuries, and the leading cause in people over 65 years old. A recent study says that because our country’s population has aged, falls are now the leading cause of spinal cord injury. Falls are also among the most frequent workplace accidents and a particular concern in the construction industry where workers perform job duties at heights and on ladders and scaffolding.

birth injury causes of spine injury

  • Birth injuries. A baby can suffer injuries during birth if it assumes an unnatural position and forceps or other medical instruments are used with excessive force to assist in the delivery. Hyperextension of the head in breech delivery or transverse presentation, pressure on the infant’s trunk during breech delivery, stress applied to the child’s spinal axis as its body is rotated, or pressure on the spinal cord via the brachial plexus nerves in cases of shoulder dystocia can all damage the spine and spinal cord.

diving accident causes

  • Diving accidents. Swimmers who dive into water that is too shallow or contains hard debris (stumps, roots, etc.) run a risk of hitting their head with enough force to snap a cervical vertebrae or tear their spinal cord. During drought conditions, those who swim in natural bodies of water run an increased risk of spine injuries from diving in too-shallow water.

  • Trampoline accidents. Young or inexperienced gymnasts under supervision or otherwise using a trampoline recreationally can easily land wrong and wrench their neck or back and damage their spine or adjacent soft tissue. Fractures are the most common “backyard trampoline” accident, with about 2,900 spinal fractures occurring from 2002 to 2011, according to a 2014 study in the Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics.

  • Other sports and recreation accidents. Sports of all kinds account for about 9 percent of spinal cord injuries, according to the NSCISC. In addition to diving and trampoline accidents, sports with a high risk of spine injury include football; wrestling; horseback riding; winter sports like sledding, snow tubing, ice hockey, snow-boarding, and snow skiing; surfing, including body surfing; and gymnastics other than trampoline.

  • Violence (assault). Acts of violence, primarily gunshot wounds, cause about 15 percent of spinal cord injuries, according to the NSCISC. Assault with a blunt object and falls after being pushed during an assault, or a penetrating wound from a stabbing or other type of impalement can also lead to a spinal injury.

Those who cause accidents or contribute to them through disregard for safety can be held liable for the harm they cause. This includes adults who supervise children in organized sports or other kinds of recreational play, or who leave attractive nuisances such as swimming pools and trampolines unsecured. Workers injured in occupational accidents deserve full workers’ compensation benefits.

In cases of criminal assault, the perpetrator may be held liable through civil legal action, i.e., a lawsuit, in addition to the penalties of criminal law. In cases of assault at public establishments, such as hotels, apartment complexes or shopping centers, a property owner who was negligent in providing appropriate security may be liable for the harm done to a patron or customer.

Contact Our Experienced Spinal Cord Injury Attorneys

Regardless of the cause of your or your loved one’s spinal cord injury, we may be able to help you obtain compensation for an accidental or workplace injury, or an assault. Hecht Kleeger & Damashek, P.C., has more than 75 years of collective experience providing high-quality legal representation to the victims of accidents that cause spine injuries. We will work diligently to ensure you obtain a financial settlement that allows you to build a new life with a disability free of any worry about money.

Contact our office for a free legal consultation today if you or a family member has suffered a significant spine injury. We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in order to provide you with the legal assistance you need in your case.


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Really Sciency

Visit my other blog 'Really Sciency' looking at Climate Science and its portrayal, misrepresentation and denial in the media.

Monday, 24 October 2011

Things falling downward doesn’t mean gravity did it.

Any one with the slightest interest in climate science will now know that The Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project has released the conclusions on global temperature data for feedback before peer review and publication.

The project funded independently and including part funds from oil interests, brought together more temperature records than any previous study and when first announced became the climate ‘skeptics’ last great hope for showing that if the world was even actually warming it was overstated by unscrupulous climate scientists looking for further funding.

Unfortunately Richard Muller, a physicist and head of the project announced that the average global land temperature has risen by about 0.9C in a century, which is slightly higher than the 0.7C – 0.8C normally quoted by climatologists, and  said;

"My hope is that this will win over those people who are properly sceptical. Some people lump the properly sceptical in with the deniers and that makes it easy to dismiss them, because the deniers pay no attention to science."
When the news was announced I mentioned it on Paul Hudson’s blog and theorised that if they haven’t already accepted the planet is warming  the ‘deniers will say something like they now accept there is global warming but not what the scientists say is the cause’. I wasn’t disappointed either with many now making claims that they do accept it is warming and in most cases claiming to always have accepted it. But this warming they say, is actually caused by (Insert appropriated denier myth here). The typical reasoning is that there are too many unknowns or it’s been warming since the end of the last ice age, etc.

Even The Daily Fail held up my theory with the headline; ‘New analysis of 1.6 billion weather records concludes the world IS warming (but still can't say what's causing it)’, which was very kind of them since the Berkeley Earth project never even considered the cause. But scientists have been not only saying it has been warming but that human emissions are the main cause. So good on the Daily Fail, with a headline like that not only do they imply that the cause was considered but the scientists have no idea why – science reporting at it’s very worst.

However this set me thinking how I would deal with their ‘Yes it’s warming but science doesn’t know why’, arguments that will keep appearing. The logical thing to do is to point out that research has looked at all the other possibilities, natural cycles, the Sun, cosmic radiation etc, and discounted them as improbable compared to increasing green house gases, but that hasn’t really worked up to now. I did think of a couple of other simple ways though.

Yes it is warming but science doesn’t know why

The only reason scientists were looking to see if warming was occurring was that the basic physics worked out in the 1800s by the likes of John Tyndall, Joseph Fourier and Svante Arrhenius suggested that the increase of certain gasses in the atmosphere would warm it. Those gasses (principally Carbon Dioxide), had increased through man made emissions and if the physics was correct, then at some point a warming signal would be detected within the natural background variation.

So basically, scientists said Man should be causing warming and found warming. For skeptics to then say; ‘We can’t know if the warming is man made’ is just like saying; ‘Scientists say Gravity should cause things to fall downward, but just because they do doesn’t mean that Gravity is the cause’!

So I would argue that it is up to those who believe current warming might not be due to emissions to come up with a more scientifically acceptable theory. I know that most actually believe they have done this with 'It's the Sun' or whatever but that is only half way there. Not only do they need a theory to explain this current warming trend but they also need another theory to explain why the physics worked or in the 1800s hasn't caused the warming that  scientists were originally looking for and believe they have found. A rather tall order and one that might push the limits of Occam's razor.
Of course it is warming; it has been since the last Ice age

I see this argument more and more often and it gets more ridiculous the more I think about it.

Yes it has been warming since the last Ice age, but it has warmed about 1C in the last century. The Ice age was about 4C colder than now and ended over ten thousand years ago – DO THE MATH!

Actually if the planet was to heat up 1C every century then in the last 10,000 years the world would be over 100 degrees centigrade! Or hotter than boiling water!

Friday, 21 October 2011

Not long now!

 Harold Camping says on his website.
"Thus we can be sure that the whole world, with the exception of those who are presently saved (the elect), are under the judgment of God, and will be annihilated together with the whole physical world on Oct. 21,"

 Unfortunately for me, my boss doesn't see this as a valid reason to take the day off!

Wednesday, 19 October 2011

Daily Jekyll and Mail Hyde

Well it seems that I’m not the only person with a bit of an obsession about the accuracy of the Daily Mauls ‘scientific’ articles and their Jekyll and Hyde nature. In an interesting piece recently in the Guardian, Bob Ward comments on this too, in the context of the Press Complaints Commission’s ability to self regulate.

The reason that the Daily Fail almost gets the science right on occasion is that it has an ‘admirable science editor, Michael Hanlon’, who would have guessed?

'We also have the newspapers owners boast that the company has reduced its emissions of carbon dioxide by more than 13% since 2007, well ahead of its target of a 10% cut by 2012'.

Both these things don’t seem to sit well with the Mauls editor, Paul Darce, who is allegedly in cahoots with Lord Lawson and BennyPeiser and their skeptic organisation the Global Warming Policy Foundation. This would account for why science coverage so often and so spectacularly fails

This explains the flip flopping nature of science stories in the paper and the point of Bob Ward’s article is that the blatant misinterpretation of the facts and the promotion of misinformation shows a clear disregard for the Press Complainants Commission’s rules; Rules that are supposed to be upheld by a newspapers editor in this self regulatory system.

But for me, the most interesting thing in the article is the example that Bob Ward uses when he claims that;

"The main aim of the Daily Mail campaign has been to convince readers that the rising cost of living is mainly due to policies to reduce UK emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases."

My MEP, Roger Helmer, must be a Daily Fail reader or at least signed up to similar agenda by suggesting energy price increases are mainly down to green taxes, used to subsidise the likes of wind generation, as I showed in a previous post.

So how much of energy price rises or just energy costs to the consumer are due to these so called green taxes? I have asked Helmer on his blog while trying to get him to justify himself. Some more research is needed and will be the subject of another post soon.

Tuesday, 18 October 2011

Doomsday Again!

The end of the world is happening again this Friday. The New Rapture is nearly upon us.

Remember almost 5 months ago? The end of the world was the 21st May according to Harold Camping. Unfortunately the old chap didn't quite get his sums right - he wasn't exactly wrong of course because the 21st of May was just the beginning. It was the date that applications for salvation closed and the offices of God apparently shut. I presume to give him plenty of time to complete all the paper work that the end of time and space must involve. So if you have been a goodie two shoes in the last 5 months  - its too late! If you were born in the last 5 months then blame your parents, they were told.

Of course there is a very serious side to all this.
I had forgotten all about this and I invited some friends round on Saturday and now it appears that I have spent good money on alcohol that will never get drunk. If that isn't a serious issue - well I can't think of a better one.

If by a slim chance nothing actually happens on Friday, well we always have the one in 2012 to look forward to.

Monday, 17 October 2011

Winds of Change?

Roger Helmer, the Member European Parliament (MEP) for the East Midlands and my representative, (though I used the term 'representative' loosely as he has continued to misrepresent  my views to Europe, and I suspect most of his constituents  as well), announced his retirement last week and used this as a platform to further push misrepresentations.

He was interviewed and appeared on 'The Politics Show East Midlands' where he continued soundly blaming rising energy prices on "our obsession with wind power". However he is unlikely to actually state a figure that he can prove is the true cost per consumer of installing increased wind generating capacity.

While the small percentage of electricity produced by wind currently costs more than that from fossil based sources and will in theory end up being paid for by consumers it isn't the reason for increasing energy prices and only those completely out of touch and concerned in pushing their own agenda would claim such a thing.

Helmer never though to mention the "rigged" market in Britain that has seen a rise in firms' profit margins from £15 to £125 per customer, a rise of over 700%. This is increasing profit, NOT increasing costs due to the changing way we generate power. I'm sure deep down he really knows this even if he can't bring himself to be honest enough to admit it.

Retiring at the end of the year, it is unlikely that he will be replaced by anyone more likely to represent the majority of his constituents in Europe and I might miss the old duffer a little, as better the devil you know and one so easy to prove in error.

Tuesday, 4 October 2011

A Short Step Taken

In one of my very first postings almost a year ago called AShort Step from Madness I suggested some people who are prepared to believe in a paranormal deity and supernatural evil are a short step from carrying out terrible and irrational actions because of those beliefs. The example I used was a news story about several people including a Christian pastor burning a 72 year old as a witch in Ghania

Such a post incited an obviously religious reader to call such thinking a fallacy because the Milgram Experiment showed that people can believe they will not be held accountable for their actions so long as they are instructed to do them by an "authority figure". Unfortunately I saw this as further evidence to my case because a god is the ultimate authority figure and the ring leader is as likely to believe they are following gods wishes as those following.

All this was brought back to me when reading a copy of the free newspaper the Metro when two stories appeared on opposite sides of the paper which I have now tracked down on line. The first shows the kind of fervent religious belief that I consider a short irrational step from madness and the second story is about an unfortunate man who takes that step and commits a shocking act of self mutilation.

In Poland Catholics held a special mass for a miracle communion wafer that fell on the floor in 2008 and has since developed a brown spot after being in water.

So far so un-miraculous but two doctors have since claimed that this brown spot is heart muscle, all done without any scientificanalysis or testing apparently, so with such strong evidence the people of Poland are holding religious services for the heart of Jesus! But then as the Archbishop there said; "For God, nothing is impossible."

I would normally have dismissed such nonsense with a roll of the eyes and shake of the head but on the opposite page was a much more disturbing report.

In Italy at a Catholic Mass a man calmly stood up and tore out both his eyeballs in the middle of the priest's sermon. Clearly this individual was disturbed and almost certainly mentally ill. The point to make is that his actions appear to have been triggered by a passage from the Bible, though it is unclear from the news reports if it was actually used during this sermon.

According to the article; From the Gospel of St Matthew, Jesus tells his disciples:
'If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away.
'It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.'

Though to be honest a verse from Mark 9:47 also came to mind;

And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell,

With a book of mythology containing such passages and taught to people as an early age as ‘gospel’ to base and live their whole lives on, how can anyone expect such terrible incidents not to occur? How can the organisations and people promoting such beliefs not have some responsibility when this sort of incident happens?

Monday, 3 October 2011

Cowboys and Indians

There has been a lot of talk about the ‘Indian Summer’ that arrived in the UK at the end of September. I have discovered that the term refers, not to colonial Britain and the days of the Raj as I had assumed, but to the Native American Indian andwarm weather between September and November.

I was asked by another blogger what my thoughts on it were and I wasn’t that impressed because I first heard the term when I was a kid and remembered going back to school in September from my summer holidays in some glorious ‘Indian Summer’ weather. I’m also very aware of the accusations of climate cowboy 'skeptics', often justified, that every time there is warm weather it is global warming and every time it is cold it becomes just weather.

The Indian Summer weather is due to break tomorrow from temperatures in the high 20s Centigrade to the high teens which are still fairly mild if more average for the time of year. But as the week has gone on I have become more impressed.  It’s not like 2010/2011 being the coldest winter in 15 years but we are recording some of the hottestdays ever and certainly in living memory. We have had a Barbecue Autumn! When it comes to temperatures these have been real outliers on any bell curve constructed for temperatures, pushing for a new warmer average.

So is it Global Warming?

Yes and No. We really need to get away from generally attributing weather events to man made climate change. This is because even if temperatures are the ‘warmest in a century’ or similar types of record, climate cowboy ‘skeptics’ will always retort that; ‘It was just as warm over a century ago, so who was driving SUVs then?’ Even if extreme events are truly record breaking, according to instrument records, it is unlikely that similar have never occurred something in the past.

The case that needs to be made is that the frequency of extreme weather events can be predicted using a bell curve. It is reasonable to say that something is a once in a century type event for example according to the records. It can now be seen that such rare events are now occurring more often than they should be. Both hot and cold records are still occurring but the situation now developing is that there are more heat related extreme records that cold, which is exactly what has been predicted by AGW theory.

 So recorded warmer weather or any climate extreme is NOT global warming or climate change they are new data point pushing the average conditions toward a changed and warmer climate.


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(redirected from Color pencils)
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
Related to Color pencils: Michaels

PENCIL. An instrument made of plumbago, black lead, red chalk, or other suitable substance, for writing without ink.
     2. It has been holden that a will written with a pencil, could riot, on this account, be annulled. 1 Phillim. R. 1; 2 Phillim. 173.

References in periodicals archive ?
subsidiary will market a full line of high-quality artists' color pencils and black lead pencils, as well as a complete line of artist cases and portfolios, cutting and sharpening products.