Second Day Sandstorm
Here is what the sun looks like early this morning; you can’t even see the sea, even though you are looking right at it:
Here is what the city looks like early this morning; visibility maybe 100 m?
And after only one day and a half, here is what my cleaning lady faces today:
(That’s my footprint in the dust, if you were wondering) In just one day, in a seemingly air-tight living space, dust coats everything. I am leaving footprints as if in a house abandoned for a year or so!
I actually don’t mind driving in the dust storms, as long as there is some visibility. When it comes in so thick you can’t see 10 meters in front of the car, I have to pull over. Even with the car sealed, and the A/C on, filtering the air, my nose gets stuffy and I feel like I am having trouble breathing. Maybe today is a good day to stay home. 😦
Flea Infestation
Here’s the problem. Life doesn’t come with an instruction manual. OK, OK, we have our holy books, and they give us character guidelines. I am talking about specifics here, when life hands you those lemons, how do you make lemonade? Specifically!
When we move to Florida, we thought we were in Paradise. We had a house with a big pool, surrounded by shady trees, families of racoons, beautiful gardens – what’s not to like?
Paradise came with chamaeleons, lizards, cockroaches, even in the best houses. And fleas. We had to learn how to deal with them.
During our first and only flea infestation, at first we blamed the cats. Being a terrible mother, I asked my son to help, and he went into the walk in shower (No! Not naked! He was wearing swimming trunks!) to bathe the cats with anti-flea shampoo. I would get the cat trapped, put the cat in the shower, he would shampoo them, let one out and I would hand him the next one. Both cats loved him the best; he had chosen them from the litter.
When I saw this photo on LOLCATS, I really had to laugh.
see more crazy cat pics
Just so you will know, the solution is to take the cats to the vet and have them treated for fleas professionally. While the cats are at the vets, pour 20 Mule Team Borax over all your carpets and in all your upholstered furniture, let it stand overnight, and vacuum it all up. After you vacuum, bring the cats back. It really works. The borax creates a saline environment in which the fleas (and cockroaches) can’t survive, but it doesn’t hurt pets.
Benefits of Cinnamon and Honey
The friend who sent this forward to me knows I like folk remedies and natural medicines, and even though that is true, there are parts of this forward about which I am seriously skeptical. Cinnamon and honey taste good. They probably can’t hurt you if you try it for bad breath, or weight loss, or gas, or a cold.
If you have high cholesterol or cancer – this forward does not cite any studies for the benefits claimed, so if you were to add cinnamon and honey to your diet, it probably wouldn’t hurt you, but if you stopped taking your medications without consulting your doctor – that would be a very bad idea.
Add cinnamon and honey to your toast, to your tea, but, in addition, take some of these suggestions with a grain of salt.
Subject: Benefits of Cinnamon & Honey
Facts on honey and cinnamon:
It is found that a mixture of
honey and cinnamon cures most diseases. Honey is produced in most of
the countries of the world. Scientists of today also accept honey as
a ” Ram Ban” (very effective) medicine for all kinds of diseases.
Honey can be used without any side effects for any kind of diseases.
Today’s science says that even though honey is
sweet, if taken in the right dosage as a medicine, it does not harm
diabetic patients. Weekly World News, a magazine in Canada, on its
issue dated 17 January, 1995 has given the following list of diseases
that can be cured by honey and cinnamon as
researched by western scientists:
HEART DISEASES:
Make a paste of honey and cinnamon powder, apply on toast instead of jelly and jam, and eat it regularly for breakfast. It reduces the cholesterol in the arteries and saves the
patient from heart attack. Also those who have already had an attack,
if they do this process daily, they are kept miles away from the next
attack. Regular use of the above process relieves loss of breath and
strengthens the heart beat. In America and Canada , various nursing
homes have treated patients successfully and have found that as you
age, the arteries and veins lose their flexibility and get clogged;
honey and cinnamon revitalize the arteries and veins.
ARTHRITIS:
Arthritis patients may take daily, morning, and
night, one cup of hot water with two spoons of honey and one small
teaspoon of cinnamon powder. If taken regularly even chronic
arthritis can be cured. In a recent research conducted at the
Copenhagen University, it was found that when the doctors
treated their patients with a mixture of one tablespoon Honey and
half teaspoon Cinnamon powder before breakfast, they found that
within a week, out of the 200 people so treated, practically 73
patients were totally relieved of pain, and within a month, mostly
all th e patients who could not walk or move around because of
arthritis started walking without pain.
BLADDER INFECTIONS:
Take two tablespoons of cinnamon powder and one
teaspoon of honey in a glass of lukewarm water and drink it. It
destroys the germs in the bladder.
TOOTHACHE:
Make a paste of one teaspoon of cinnamon powder and
five teaspoons of honey and apply on the aching tooth. This may be
applied three times a day until the tooth stops aching.
CHOLESTEROL:
Two tablespoons of honey and three teaspoons of
Cinnamon Powder mixed in 16 ounces of tea water, given to a
cholesterol patient were found to reduce the level of cholesterol in
the blood by 10 percent within two hours. As mentioned for arthritic
patients, if taken three times a day, any chronic cholesterol is
cured. According to information received in said journal, pure
honey taken with food daily relieves complaints of cholesterol. (By
the way. if you’re taking cholesterol medicine STOP! They all contain
STATIN which weaken your muscles…including YOUR HEARTand none has
been shown to stop heart attacks or strokes!!!!)
(Blogger comment: Please, this is a forward. Please, don’t stop taking your cholesterol medications without discussing this with your doctor. If it were so simple, wouldn’t we have heard this before?)
COLDS:
Those suffering from common or severe colds should
take one tablespoon lukewarm honey with 1/4 spoon cinnamon powder
daily for three days. This process will cure most chronic cough,
cold, and clear the sinuses.
UPSET STOMACH:
Honey taken with cinnamon powder cures stomach ache
and also clears stomach ulcers from the root.
GAS:
According to the studies done in India and Japan ,
it is revealed that if honey is taken with cinnamon powder the
stomach is relieved of gas.
IMMUNE SYSTEM:
Daily use of honey and cinnamon powder strengthens
the immune system and protects the body from bacteria and viral
attacks. Scientists have found that honey has various vitamins and
iron in large amounts. Constant use of honey strengthens the white
blood corpuscles to fight bacteria and viral diseases.
INDIGESTION:
Cinnamon powder sprinkled on two tablespoons of
honey taken before food relieves acidity and digests the heaviest of
meals
INFLUENZA:
A scientist in Spain has proved that honey contains
a natural Ingredient which kills the influenza germs and saves the
patient from flu.
LONGEVITY:
Tea made with honey and cinnamon powder, when taken
regularly, arrests the ravages of old age. Take four spoons of
honey, one spoon of cinnamon powder and three cups of water and boil
to make like tea. Drink 1/4 cup, three to four times a day. It
keeps the skin fresh and soft and arrests old age. Life spans also
increases and even a 100 year old, starts performing the chores of a 20-year-old.
PIMPLES:
Three tablespoons of honey and one teaspoon of
cinnamon powder paste.
Apply this paste on the pimples before sleeping and
wash it next morning with warm water. If done daily for two weeks,
it removes pimples from the root.
SKIN INFECTIONS:
Applying honey and cinnamon powder in equal parts
on the affected parts cures eczema, ringworm and all types of skin
infections.
WEIGHT LOSS:
Daily in the morning one half hour before breakfast
on an empty stomach and at night before sleeping, dr ink honey and
cinnamon powder boiled in one cup of water. If taken regularly, it
reduces the weight of even the most obese person. Also, drinking
this mixture regular ly does not allow the fat to accumulate in the
body even though the person may eat a high calorie diet.
CANCER:
Recent research in Japan and Australia has revealed
that advanced cancer of the stomach and bones have been cured
successfully. Patients suffering from these kinds of cancer should
daily take one tablespoon of honey with one teaspoon of cinnamon
powder for one month three times a day.
(Blogger comment: Research by whom? Again, please discuss this with your doctor – if curing cancer were so easy as eating cinnamon and honey, we would probably all be cancer free by now.)
FATIGUE:
Recent studies have shown that the sugar content of
honey is more helpful rather than being detrimental to the strength
of the body. Senior citizens, who take honey and cinnamon powder in
equal parts, are more alert and flexible. Dr. Milton, who has done
research, says that a half tablespoon of honey taken in a glass of
water and sprinkled with cinnamon powder, taken daily after brushing
and in the afternoon at about 3:00 p.m. when the vitality of the
body starts to decrease, increases the vitality of the body within a week.
BAD BREATH:
People of South America , first thing in the
morning, gargle with one teaspoon of honey and cinnamon powde r mixed
in hot water, so their breath stays fresh throughout the day.
HEARING LOSS:
Daily morning and night honey and cinnamon powder,
taken in equal parts restore hearing. Remember when we were kids? We
had toast with real butter and cinnamon sprinkled on it!
Daily Caffeine Helps Block Dementia
A big WOO Hoooo for those of us who need our daily coffee fix – BBC Health News tells us it may help block dementia.
Coffee may cut the risk of dementia by blocking the damage cholesterol can inflict on the body, research suggests.
The drink has already been linked to a lower risk of Alzheimer’s Disease, and a study by a US team for the Journal of Neuroinflammation may explain why.
. . . . . .
‘Safe drug’
“Caffeine appears to block several of the disruptive effects of cholesterol that make the blood-brain barrier leaky,” said Dr Jonathan Geiger, who led the study.
“High levels of cholesterol are a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, perhaps by compromising the protective nature of the blood brain barrier.
“Caffeine is a safe and readily available drug and its ability to stabilise the blood brain barrier means it could have an important part to play in therapies against neurological disorders.”
A vital barrier between the brain and the main blood supply of rabbits fed a fat-rich diet was protected in those given a caffeine supplement.
UK experts said it was the “best evidence yet” of coffee’s benefits.
Just in time – gotta go get my second cup! While I am gone, you can read the rest of the article HERE.
Moses Learns to Delegate
When I was young, I never would have thought that I would join a bible study on the life of Moses that took a whole year. When I was young, I was a believer, but never dreamed I would really STUDY the word. One day a person invited me in, and I found myself learning things I never would have dreamed.
I remember learning this segment, from Exodus, which is part of the readings for day. Moses listened to his father-in-law, and he had to learn to delegate, so he wouldn’t be worn out:
Exodus 18:13-27
13 The next day Moses sat as judge for the people, while the people stood around him from morning until evening. 14When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, ‘What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, while all the people stand around you from morning until evening?’ 15Moses said to his father-in-law, ‘Because the people come to me to inquire of God. 16When they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make known to them the statutes and instructions of God.’ 17Moses” father-in-law said to him, ‘What you are doing is not good. 18You will surely wear yourself out, both you and these people with you. For the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. 19Now listen to me. I will give you counsel, and God be with you! You should represent the people before God, and you should bring their cases before God; 20teach them the statutes and instructions and make known to them the way they are to go and the things they are to do. 21You should also look for able men among all the people, men who fear God, are trustworthy, and hate dishonest gain; set such men over them as officers over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 22Let them sit as judges for the people at all times; let them bring every important case to you, but decide every minor case themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. 23If you do this, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people will go to their home in peace.’
24 So Moses listened to his father-in-law and did all that he had said. 25Moses chose able men from all Israel and appointed them as heads over the people, as officers over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. 26And they judged the people at all times; hard cases they brought to Moses, but any minor case they decided themselves. 27Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went off to his own country.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: Kingsolver
A friend passed along a fascinating book by one of my favorite fiction authors, Barbara Kingsolver, who wrote the cross-culturally unforgetable Poisonwood Bible, and many other very readable books. This book is about how her family vowed to eat locally for one year. I haven’t finished it yet, this is not a book review, but I am trying to think how eating locally would apply in Kuwait.
We would have a year-round supply of fish, which I love. We would have spinach in December and January, and those wonderful Kuwaiti tomatoes in the Spring. Cilantro, green onions and mint are grown year round, too, I think, and we would have chickens and eggs and maybe some sheep – or does most of the sheep in Kuwait come from elsewhere? Pomgranates? Pistacios?
I need YOUR help. What would our diet look like in Kuwait if everything we ate were local? Which month would we be able to eat what? What could we preserve in some way – drying, canning, freezing – for future months?
What grain would we have? Let’s say keep the food “local” and give ourselves a 100 mile radius. What would we eat?
A Stroke of Luck
I have the most amazing friend. She thinks WAY outside the box. You would never know it to look at her, she looks just like you and me, but when she hands you a book, it turns out to be a book you will never forget. She forwarded me this yesterday, and I happened to get it at a time when I could take 20 minutes of my life to watch it.
This video from TED talks features brain scientist Jill Bolte Taylor, who describes having her own stroke, and observing herself, as a scientist, from the inside, as she experiences the stroke. It changed how I see things, in fact, it turned how I see strokes upside-down.
I hope you will take a few minutes to watch:
Hold Your Calls, Save Your Life
Actually – not a bad slogan. Pithy, personal, memorable.
Found this in yesterday’s Kuwait Times. Was it also in the Arabic language newspapers? Doesn’t say anything about the fine . . . . the newspaper announcement leads us to believe they are serious. The fine of 5KD (about $20) remains laughable. Nonetheless – if you use a mobile phone while driving, you will become a CRIMINAL after May 1! 😉
No one is going to hate this law more than AdventureMan. Sometimes he calls me when he is driving just to see if I will hang up on him. He tries to talk me into talking with him. I have always said I don’t want to hear his last words being “Oh ____!”
Go For the Bloat
It is breathtaking in its audacity. In a report from CondeNastPortfolio.com we learn of a reverse approach by Carl Jrs. / Hardee’s – going full out towards mega-caloric burgers.
This post is dedicated to Mark, at 2:48 the b-side who is on a quest in Kuwait for the ultimate burger. I am afraid he is going to – literally – eat his heart out.
It was a patriotic statement that went a bit too far afield: an attempt to create the “ultimate picnic burger.” Called the Fourth of July Burger, it was tested last summer at seven locations by the West Coast fast-food chain Carl’s Jr. and consisted of a huge beef patty topped with pickles, ketchup, mustard, potato chips, and a hot dog. Stacked high and loaded with fat and calories, it was the food equivalent of the national anthem played through a sousaphone, a perfect distillation of a peculiarly American form of balls-out, postmodern gluttony that, at least outwardly, we’re all supposed to be ashamed of right now.
Yet for all its pomp and glory, it didn’t quite work. When John Koncki, director of product development for Carl’s Jr., talks about it now, he comes across a little wistful. It tasted really good, he says, but the name and the concept proved too much for the testers. “Sometimes,” the earnest Koncki says, “some of the sandwiches are so unique that consumers can’t wrap their heads around them.”
The uniqueness isn’t the only thing that’s hard to get your head around. During the past few years, CKE Restaurants, the parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, has employed an audacious go-for-bloat approach that defies just about everything you’ve come to assume about the business of modern fast food. (See nutrition data for CKE franchises and other fast-food chains.) In an age when other chains have been forced to at least pretend that they care about the health of their customers and have started offering packets of apples and things sprinkled with walnuts and yogurt, Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. are purposely running in the opposite direction, unapologetically creating an arsenal of higher-priced, high-fat, high-calorie monstrosities—pioneering avant-garde concepts such as “meat as a condiment” and “fast-food porn”—and putting the message out to increasingly receptive consumers with ads that are often as controversial as the burgers themselves.
You can read the rest of this article, and similar articles, by clicking HERE.
Bullying and 19 Minutes; Jodi Picoult
When my blogging friend Chirp makes a recommendation, I have learned to order the book and read it. She reads books that make you think! The latest book is Jodi Picoult’s 19 Minutes, a book about a kid who is sensitive and kind and funny, and plays by the rules – he is good at sharing, and listening and all the things we try to teach our children to be good at.
He gets bullied. From the time he starts school, he is bullied physically and mentally and emotionally. He does the right thing – he reports it. The schools do nothing, or so little that it only makes things worse for him. Pushed too far, one day snaps, he goes ballistic. He walks into the school and shoots 19 of his classmates.
One problem is access to weapons. Literally, physically teenagers have not yet developed the judgement areas of the brain. I am guessing in males it takes even longer, and I only guess that because of all the traffic fatalities and physical damage adolescent boys inflict upon themselves – and their victims. Maybe it is that fatal combination of poor judgement and testosterone that pushes them too far. Access to weapons – guns, knives, fast cars – makes them even more lethal.
Before I wrote this review, however, I had to do a lot of thinking. This book is about bullying, and even as adults we come across bullies. Our household helpers are terrified of the police – those who are here to protect us. The police use their position to try to bully phone numbers out of pretty Kuwaiti girls, and to exact sexual favors from the Asian domestics. Not all police are bullies, but if a person has that tendency, the position allows him/her to use that power wrongly.
And bullying doesn’t stop with graduation from high school. We are seeing the same kinds of behavior at universities – Virginia Tech – and in the workplace – “going postal” and GMAC just to name two. People who are bullied sometimes turn, they go out in a blaze of glory.
I’ve been bullied. People who are raised to have good manners are often victims of those who are willing to overstep the boundaries. We make excuses for them – we say they are oblivious. I am beginning to think that many a bully is NOT oblivious, but has learned to push to get his or her own way.
With men, the bullying is more physical, and it’s all about jockying for position – number one in the pecking order, the next promotion, the boss’s golf partner, etc. If you think women are gossips – you oughta hear the men! When I hear men “bantering” it’s all about who’s got the “biggest.” Or maybe, the devil whispers in my ear, it’s about who can make you THINK his is the biggest.
With women, in my experience, most of the bullies are physically bigger. They are women who – literally – throw their weight around. They are women who will interrupt anyone and override their suggestion with a loud voice. They are women who have temper tantrums, and hurt feelings, who go from person to person forming alliances that dissolve with the next disagreement. That’s the sad truth – a bully wants his or her own way – all the time. Once you go against them, you have to watch your back.
Picoult has done her homework. Bullies are often likeable enough people! A bully carries his/own burden, however – and that is a desperate need for popularity. You can see this in animal behavior; once a creature has achieved dominance, it takes enormous energy to maintain that position, so much energy that the rest of your life shrinks as your focus must be on maintaining dominance.
The UK, Canada, and the US all have websites about bullying, trying to put a stop to it in the schools. What do they define as bullying?
People calling you names
Making things up to get you into trouble
Hitting, pinching, biting, pushing and shoving
Taking things away from you
Damaging your belongings
Stealing your money
Taking your friends away from you
Posting insulting messages on the internet or by IM (cyberbullying)
Spreading rumours
Threats and intimidation
Making silent or abusive phone calls
Sending you offensive phone texts
Bullies can also frighten you so that you don’t want to go to school, so that you pretend to be ill to avoid them
What can people with manners do against a bully?
In general, the first thing to do is tell an adult – it doesn’t have to be your parents. Additonal suggestions suggest creating your own support network – create a wide network of friends. Join interest groups, in our out of school.
When our son was bullied in school, he worked hard and earned a black belt in karate, and then went on to earn further degrees, and to teach karate – while still in high school. Just knowing that he had a lethal skill made him walk differently, made the bullies afraid to target him. He went to a magnet school, where there was a high degree of chaos, and he sought out and made friends with the biggest people he could find. He used his head. He made it through. Of all his accomplishments, one of the things that made us most proud of him was his ability to stick it out and to prevail.
I worked in a high school. My office was a safe haven for many kids, kids who found high school dynamics pure hell. Most of them were emotionally years ahead of the crowds roaming the hallways, the cruel kids, for whom high school will probably be the highlight of their lives.
“You’re going to love being an adult,” I would tell them. “Hang in there. For them, this may be as good as it gets, but your life is going to get better and better.”
Geeks don’t always get a lot of respect. The two guys that graduated high school at the bottom of the class with my son already had a flourishing computer networking business going. If you haven’t noticed, most of the people who are making it big financially are people who have learned how to use their heads.
I have learned something else. You can beat a bully at his or her own game. Bullies usually rely on instilling fear in others, but rarely do they do their homework.
Choose your battles. Bullying hurts everyone. If you see someone being bullied and you can do something about it then and there, stand up for the person being bullied. All you have to do is say “that’s not funny, just stop.” Many times bullies are so shocked at being challenged, they will stop! If your judgement tells you it would be unsafe to say anything, quickly tell an adult, a supervisor, a manager, what you have seen.
If a bully is trying to push through something you believe is wrong, you can quietly discuss things one on one with others, and make a plan. You can call for a vote! You can quietly stand up to a bully. You can tell a bully “it’s my turn to talk” and they have to shut up! (When you do this, you have to be very careful to listen when the bully is speaking so that everyone knows it really IS your turn to talk.) You can use a little gentle humor – bullies usually only like humor when it is aimed at someone else. They haven’t a clue what to do when it is aimed at them!
If it is annoying, but not something worth fighting over, let the bully get his or her own way. They usually end up shooting themselves in the foot, self-destructing. The adult bully ends up driving people away, and then wondering why he/she has no friends?
Living your own life well is your best revenge!
Thank you, Chirp, for another book that really made me think!
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