Wednesday, January 6, 2010

The Universe...always room for another surprise

A brief interlude from those winter blues....because stargazers know 'the truth is out there'.....

Could not resist these stunning photos that are included in a picture guide to the universe by Michael Benson, a photographer, that appear in his book "Far Out: A Space-Time Chronicle"

Andromeda
Crab Nebula












Carina Nebula

Witch Head Nebula

Horsehead Nebula


























Cat's Paw Nebula & NGC6559







Link to the New York Times article and you will find more incredible photos.



104 comments:

Coreen said...

Hope these exquisite photos capture your imagination for at least a little while.

jan said...

Wow! That is all I can say about the photos. Again, I want some fabric with those colors.

jan said...

Coreen, I saw the other pics. You posted the best ones.

Mary said...

Wow--some fantastic pictures, Coreen. Those colors are "out of this world".

Coreen said...

Jan, I was busy getting this post ready, so let
me take a moment to let you know, that I too
hope that your granddaughter's condition
corrects itself. You & yours are in my prayers as well.

jan said...

Coreen, thanks for your prayers.

Guess I had better go to work too. Work does take one's mind off other things.

Hope all of you have a good day today and you each get some sun in your lives in way or another.

Anonymous said...

"Hope all of you have a good day today and you each get some sun in your lives in way or another."

Well Jan, I think Coreen's pictures will bring more sun into our lives today, than anything else.

Thanks Coreen. We were due for some brighter thoughts. Everything is starting to look gray to me again. Great Post!

Anonymous said...

I seem to be more drawn to pictures, when my beloved outdoors is letting me down. Hmmm.

This has got to be the most beautiful picture of lions that I have ever seen. Such determination, such pride (which is why it's called the 'pride of lions' I guess).
A pride of lions

Another amazing picture from a Nasa video (this one and picture 58). A NASA video celebrates the rejuvenation of its Hubble telescope which has discovered the oldest galaxies ever seen. Duration: 01

Anonymous said...

"No one better take away my antidepressants."

Mary, I hear you. I think there's a difference between going through problems and needing therapy to over come stress and depression, as opposed to having a chemical imbalance.

True, stress and bad experiences can cause a temporary chemical imbalance, and in that case therapy can do the job. But I don't think that should be confused with a chronic problem, where drugs may be the best answer.

I completely agree with you Jan about drugs for children. To me, it's almost a crime. I've seen people who put their children on drugs (I blame the parents, because they have the final say over the doctor, and the doctor is getting all of his/her information from the adults), because they're hard to handle, rather than deal with it in more positive ways. I can't believe that they won't have a long term affect on these children.

... Have a great day everyone!

Ivy Green said...

Coreen,
Takes my breath away...thanks for a "golden interlude." lol

jan said...

Chloe & Mary, therapy is no substitute for medications. Hope I did not meant to imply this.

Chloe, when I linked onto the above link you posted, there was one picture of the "blue" moon over a building on U of Kansas campus. It was lovely.

Coreen said...

Ivy,

Here's the guy who made me a NY Jets fan, so very long ago....

Memories...so nice & tomorrow night in honor
of that guy, who provided me & my friends lots of great memories....payback!!!!

Roll Tide....

Texas/Alabama: Rematch 45 years in the making

Coreen said...

And January 12, 1969, Super Bowl III, still the
best super bowl ever played...

NY Jets 16 Baltimore Colts 7

jan said...

Chloe, all 50 pictures are amazing. I have my favoites - love the image of the airplane in the moon and the mailbox with the hand on a post.

Thanks to Coreen & Chloe for posting and putting links to great pictures this morning. Sure helped my moood.

jan said...

OK folks, don't forget I am a Texas alumni - so there will no - Roll Tide- for this Lady Longhorn.

Ivy, however- good luck thursday
HOOK um HOrns

Coreen said...

Jan, sorry about that, but Joe Namath won my
heart a long time ago....white shoes & all....

Chloe's pics were great, loved the animals,
& this one in particular made me feel great.

Sunset in Hawaii

Ivy Green said...

Coreen,
There is a lot of excitement about this game. Some of my friends are already in Pasadena. More to come...

Ivy Green said...

There was a time in my life when I would've been saying, "Hook 'em Horns." But now it's "Roll Tide Roll" all the way.

I 'spose if I moved to Rome, I would learn to speak as the Romans do. lol

Coreen said...

Ivy,

are you saying you might be 'fickle'....

I'm listening to CT radio discuss Chris Dodd's
exit from his senate race. The deal had to be
that our current AG Dick Blumenthal agreed to
run in his place, since Blumenthal is likely
the only statewide Democrat that would win. He now becomes a big favorite...

Coreen said...

As stated by one of the local political pundits
the Republicans who thought they had a chance
against Dodd are now on a 'fool's errand'...

Ivy Green said...

Coreen
I missed that news...that's groundbreaking.

Ivy Green said...

Coreen,
I say "flexible" rather than fickle. I've lived many different places and learned I do better when I try to absorb the culture surrounding me. I used to say I "hated" Birmingham until I realized it was not Birmingham's fault. lol

Coreen said...

Ivy, Flexible it is....

The Dodd news came overnite, he already announced he won't run & the AG Blumenthal
is set to speak later today...

In addition No. Dakota Sen. Dorgan is not running either, nor is the Dem. Gov. Ritter in
Colorado.....

Only adding fuel to the fire that Dems are facing a most difficult 2010 election cycle...

don1one said...

I hear a lot of Democrats are glad Dodd stepped down. They said Democrats didn't have a problem there, Dodd did. Which is too bad, he took on a huge load when Kennedy became ill.

There's another game in Pasadena? Anything for money, isn't it?

Mary, long term they're actually having about as much luck with nutrition and counseling as medications. Make sure you're getting omega-3s like fish oil or salmon, that's key in treatment. Also, you can't build a tolerance to l-tryptophan because it's part of the normal cycle the body uses, just amplified. You might want to talk to your doctor about it, it's been available by prescription for years. It's not immediate, it takes a week. Vitamin Shoppe also carries it.

I'm sure my kidneys are different, but the low sodium V8, which has the benefits of potassium and lycopene, dropped by pressure 20 points. There was a study in Israel that showed lycopene alone dropped systolic blood pressure by 10 points and diastolic pressure by 4 points. Just don't get the high sodium kind.

don1one said...

It's funny Coreen, a conservative friend of mine is from New Hampshire and when I point out that NH is becoming more liberal, he blames the CT yankees moving in.

Ivy Green said...

I was talking to a new acquaintance at a party on New Year's Eve. He was one of only two Alabama Natives attending (the other being Miss College's BF). The rest of us were all Northerner-transplants. I joked, see what happens when you let Yankees move to your state? He quipped right back, "You can have it." Then, "You'll still be stuck with us anyway."

lol

Coreen said...

Hey don, that may be true relatively speaking,
CT vs. NH mindset. But actually I thought that
the 'invaders' from the south were Massachusetts residents moving to NH, more so
than CT

Coreen said...

Ivy,

I know you come from Delaware, but what is the
source of your love of all things British/English...Not sure if you said your
husband was english or just worked for the
english insurer....

Anonymous said...

Don, I really like the nutritional recommendations that you've been making. When you mentioned fish oils, I remembered I haven't been taking mine for months. Also, V8 juice does seem like an easy way to get a lot of your vegetables (and antioxidants, which I get from lots of fruit).

What's really catching my attention though is the l-Tryptophan. I guess I'd need a prescription for that, right?

Anonymous said...

Coreen, I'd wondered the same thing about Ivy. I assumed it was mainly because of her hubs work, and that they've made a lot of friends from England.

Anonymous said...

Ivy, Sorry for talking about you like you're not here. I had wondered if your hubs may be English also. You have such delightful stories and pics as well from your trips there, and I am so glad that you share them with us.

don1one said...

Chloe,
You can get l-tryptophan from supplement stores like Vitamin Shoppe or online. But since Mary is already taking a prescription she might want to discuss it with her Dr.. I think the guidelines were 500mg per 50lbs of body weight, don't have any protein in your stomach and take it with a carbohydrate. The carbs are what carries it through the meninges, the barrier around the brain that keeps bad things out.

Kava is great for anxiety, but some people experience liver problems, probably people taking high doses. It's like alcohol without the depressant effect.

But there's nothing like good nutrition and lots of natural sunlight.

Of course there are severe cases. I had a neighbor that was so bipolar he was on SSI. During manic periods he'd do things like climbing on the roof to look for UFOs

NIH has started a web site that shows supplements and the real studies being performed on them. They show the supposed benefits and how true their studies show them to be on a scale of A - F.

Pharmas won't touch natural remedies because they can't be patented, but there are lots of illnesses for which supplements are as good or better than prescribed drugs.

don1one said...

Coreen, my friend is an evangelist. Because I think there may be more than his way to God, he's sure my soul is lost and just has a sad look when I go visit him. He's a very nice guy though.

BTW, anyone read the news story where a US Marine Capt. wrote into an Australian newspaper complaining about the skimpy attire of the local women? You can bet the responses were interesting.

Ivy Green said...

Not to worry, Chloe...I had stepped out for a bit, so technically, I was "not here" when you and Coreen were conversing. I am perfectly fine with "being a topic of conversation." lol

Actually, it reminds me humorously of a segment on an old Wayne Dyer audio on the topic of self-esteem. He was discussing paranoia, citing a female patient who worried that "everybody's talking about me." He said, well, why wouldn't they? Who else is more worth talking about than you!? I may have paraphrased it inexactly, but to me it was an amusing explanation of the half-full or half-empty outlook on life.

Ivy Green said...

To answer the original question posed by Coreen, and echoed by Chloe, I must ponder it. I think I know, but let me reflect. My corner of Delaware was an ethnic melting pot, and it may have been my way of finding my identity in the mix of cultures surrounding me. It wasn't until I was about twelve that I learned of my Scottish heritage. Of course, then I wanted to know more about it.

Carol said...

My theory is that Ivy lived in the UK in one or more of her past lives. It's in her DNA. I think I met her there in one of my past lives, it might have been the one when I was chasing Jack the Ripper or he was chasing me. I wrote a paper on him when I was in high school and something about that story felt familiar. I may have worked for Scotland Yards.

I'm as sure of that as I am that I knew all of you in one of my past lives. It is no accident that we all came together here. We were drawn together.

Beautiful space pics Coreen. I think I saw Solar in one of those pics. Nice to take a little break from the snow. I would like to see it again around August when I will need to feel a little cooler.

I went to Academy this afternoon and got a couple of pairs of Polar long johns. I told them I wanted something that the football players in Green Bay use to keep warm. The one I bought are warm but thin enough to get between my, getting fatter, ass and my snug pants. Now I'm ready. Bring it on.

Jan, sorry I called your granddaughter, your dil. I'm still having a hard time thinking of you as a great grandma.

And I suggest caution with dietary supplements. There are no real regulations of that industry. This kind of sums it up:

"Dietary supplements are the ultimate merger of self-improvement and free enterprise, with the promises and pitfalls of both. The best supplements can help us stay strong and healthy, but the industry selling them can be a maze of good products and junk, honest companies and hucksters, sound rules and misguided regulations (none of which can be enforced easily). So when you purchase that bottle of pills or canister of powder, you may be walking out with a useful concoction or the equivalent of sawdust -- or something truly harmful."

Several years back I listened to a congressional hearing on dietary supplements and it scared me to death. You only usually hear about stuff when people have adverse effects from a supplement and then they are tested.

I could put swamp mud in a capsule and sell it for a supplement. It may take about 5 years before you grow that shell and become a turtle.

It seems I remember that some countries do require standard for manufactoring these supplements. It might be Germany???

don1one said...

Of course you have to be careful in anything you swallow, and I prefer teas when I can get it. I think you need the whole plant. And just because it's a plant doesn't mean it's safe.

But seeing the FDA is funded by pharma companies I don't trust the FDA a bit either.

Possible side-effects of prozac.

Side effects may include: abnormal dreams, abnormal ejaculation, abnormal vision, anxiety, chest pain, chills, confusion, diarrhea, diminished sex drive, dizziness, dry mouth, flu-like symptoms, flushing, gas, headache, hives, impotence, impaired thinking, insomnia, itching, loss of appetite, nausea, nervousness, rash, seizures, sex-drive changes, sinusitis, sleepiness, sore throat, sweating, tremors, upset stomach, vomiting, weakness, yawning

And that's an old, tested, and approved drug.

Carol said...

From the same article"

"One of every four supplements we've tested had some problem," says Tod Cooperman, M.D., president of ConsumerLab.com, a company that's tested more than 1,900 dietary supplements for quality and purity. For example, Cooperman's team analyzed Nature's Plus Ultra Chondroitin 600, a joint-health supplement that claims to be "the highest potency, most concentrated chondroitin supplement ever developed." But the lab results showed that the product didn't contain even trace amounts of chondroitin. In fact, eight of 11 chondroitin supplements failed to deliver on label claims. You can't even count on multivitamins: 52 percent of those didn't make the grade in ConsumerLab.com testing. Worse, many of these multis contained excessive amounts of lead, prompting the nation's second-largest supplement retailer, Vitamin Shoppe, to pull one of its multivitamin formulations from store shelves last January."

Carol said...

Check out this article?
Big Trouble in The Health Store

Ivy Green said...

Carol,
I think you hit it. I've felt for a long time that in a past life, I worked as a scullery maid in the manor home or castle of a lord or lady in England or Scotland. May 'splain in part why I don't mind cleaning, but I hate to cook.

lol

the Life and Times of the Scullery Maid

Ivy Green said...

Carol,
Considering your past life at Scotland Yard, you must see the movie "Sherlock Holmes." You would have been the "Irene" character.

Irene Adler

lol

Carol said...

Neat Ivy. And I was the cook who didn't like cleaning.

I agree Don. I'm not saying I trust pharmaceuticals either. After reading the dangers of these drugs, it's hard to take anything.

Only way to be safe is to grow you own food, herbs and use no pesticides and careful with fertilizers. Pick fresh and eat them right away.

Find supplements that have been tested by some of these consumer labs and have what they say they have in them and no added poisons.

Coreen said...

Supplements, I take them daily, vitamin C, E,
ginseng, glucosamine/chondroitin (I swear by
this one) multi vitamin, & after reading your
postdCarol, looked further into the 'consumerlab.com' & found that Puritan Pride where I get my vitamins is ok.

But the flip side of the coin is that the lab
testing the products & pronouncing what is
ok & not, may have a conflict of interest.

I will post a couple of conflicting articles & you can make your own determination.

Carol said...

Don't know if this place is on the level either but they state that they independently test nutritional products.

Consumer Lab

Coreen said...

Here's a discussion of vitamins, which uses the consumerlab.com to evaluate the choices from NYT just last month.

Knowing what's worth paying for in vitamins

don1one said...

Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine has been used for centuries.

You're throwing the baby out with the bath water Carol. Many treatments are safe and effective.

I will take a mischance on a supplement any day of the week over the real dangers of most pharmaceuticals.

I can take a supplement and see if it will work. I've had pharmaceuticals threaten my life even though taken correctly. There are several drugs on the market where long term studies haven't been done or they're being prescribed incorrectly. Like statins. A complete waste of money from what I've read unless you've had a heart attack. Yet people are paying $150 a month for it.

Besides, as I said. L-Tryptophan is available via prescription from doctors if you're worried about it. It's still safer than any anti-depressant ever produced.

The partnering problem is that we use prescriptions like magic bullets when someone is already sick, rather than focusing on preventing illness in the first place. Unfortunately they're more like sledge hammers. My mother still attributes being alive today to refusing chemo and radiation treatment for her tumors.

I was asked by the hypnotist that taught me meditation while I was under hypnosis if I'd had a past life . You'll be happy to know I answered "no" Carol. I haven't been around to bother you before. :^)

Carol said...

I totally agree Coreen. Who can we trust???

don1one said...

I've never noticed any difference while taking glucosamine/chondroitin Coreen, but I had some friends give it to their arthritic dog and he start jumping up on the bed again.

Yes, I think prescription drugs have their place too, I just think we rely on them too much. I think of them for emergencies or as a last resort.

Coreen said...

And that NYT article caused a pretty vocal response (again from other vested interests in
the same field, alleging that the entities that
consumerlab found 'better' like my Puritan Pride mail order, in fact, is a paid member of
the testing company.

The comments section are also full of more questions, than answers. Guess the old saying'buyer beware' will always be relevant.

Open letter to Tod Cooperman,Consumer Labs

Coreen said...

Don, Let me put it this way, I was hobbling (my feet) & I my low back sometimes made me
not be able to get up without crawling out of bed, when I read about g/c years ago & said
what do I have to lose...Since then while my
pain is there, not as severe, I can really walk, w/o hobbling & so far, no more back episodes...

I also know that vets suggest that for dogs/cats too, & some friends have had similar
results with their fur friends.

Coreen said...

And back to those 'past life' encounters...pretty sure you can count me out
there too.

Carol said...

What about Dr. Weil?

I don't have any answers, don't pretend to. I just have lots of questions. When prescribing meds, I like to use older, been around a long time, haven't killed many people, drugs and then check for efficacy by monitoring what I'm treating. And if it is a sugar pill and it's works, great but we can't prescribe those anymore.

Carol said...

Do you guys ever listen to those commercials on TV where they introduce a new pharmaceutical to the public, then go into hyperdrive listing all the horrible side effects, then tell you to ask your Doc about the drug. If you still want to after hearing the commercial, there's a drug for that. It's called an antipsychotic.

Carol said...

So Coreen, you and Don are new souls? I wouldn't have thought that but you ought to know. Maybe I will see you around next time.

And Don, I think that Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine is really cool but I wouldn't take or eat anything that comes out of China these days.

don1one said...

By the time they get to you Carol the person is probably in desperate need. We need a health system that looks at early nutrition and prevention as well, if not more so.

We're obviously dealing with ruthless industries that will stop at nothing to make profits. So far it looks like most vitamin supplements are useless and advertising is being used to coerce patients into asking for drugs they don't need. When lethal side effects aren't hidden.

I still miss my sassafras tea. Which the FDA took off the market despite centuries of safe use. And if my mother will quit cutting down the tree (every year for 10 years now) I might get some again.

Here's an interesting link about efficacy. NCCAM

I think I told you about the healing center in ancient Turkey. The patient would lay down and smoke opium, then people in the ceiling would use tubes to tell the patient they were healed. Thinking the Gods had healed them, they often were.

Coreen said...

Unfortunately I see to many tv commercials for
depression medication, during 2 late nite one-hour shows, (CSI NY & CSI Miami just this weekend, I saw 3 different drugs being pushed... & yes the end of those ads, rapidly told you of all the negative effects of the meds....

Coreen said...

Carol, you would have to really refresh my memory for some past life experience, honestly
never had any flashback recalling any such existence....pretty boring on my part....

don1one said...

The worst I've heard is Lipitor, which is warning patients about switching to a lower cost generic statin. One, statins aren't shown to have any effect if you haven't already had a heart attack and may be useless, and two there's no reason to think a generic isn't as good.

There's a lot more research showing a simple walk and a glass or two of wine with dark chocolates is much more effective. And fun.

Another is how they're pushing testosterone supplements, which have never been studied and may be linked to a much higher rate of prostate cancer.

And you've got to admit Carol, wine and dark chocolates are pretty safe. The bad part is that the sickly sweet muscadine wines from North Carolina are highest in resveratrol and other anti-oxidants.

Carol said...

Coreen, have you ever had the experience where you met someone who felt very familiar to you, and you just instantly liked them? Or the opposite, where you met someone who you instantly disliked and didn't know why? Or have a déjà vu ? Or see a place that felt familiar?

Coreen said...

"There's a lot more research showing a simple walk and a glass or two of wine with dark chocolates is much more effective. And fun."

Now that's a good rationalization for indulging yourself....

Carol said...

I don't do wine, it gives me a headache but I do lots of chocolate, lots!

I do love my dark green and yellow veggies. I think eating lots of fruits and veggies are the best thing we can do. Buy organic if they are veggies where they use lots of pesticides/herbicides, ie. strawberries, grapes.

And exercise is probably the best thing we can do. I think that it is the fountain of youth. Most of our degenerative changes are the result of a sedentary lifestyle not aging. I know this to be true and I wish I did more of it.

I think it was the intensive exercise that saved Lance Armstrong from what should have killed him.

Coreen said...

Carol,

I do have a pretty good sense of sizing up a
person upon observing/meeting them. My friends
say I am usually correct in my assessments &
once I decide what I think of a person, it does not change. In short, you only get one chance with me.....

That is a reason I am not so comfortable with
this form of communication, I miss the personal contact, seeing, hearing, listening,
observing a person's demeanor, etc. While I
thoroughly enjoy being here with all of you guys, I still miss that we really don't know
each other...

As far as your specific questions, truly I can't recall any specific instances of any of that...

p.s. I think your show is back on tonite
Modern Family isn't it?

Coreen said...

I second that need to exercise. Unfortunately,
I get lazy, & just don't follow through, when
I actually set up a routine of exercises & complete them I feell so much better, but I
always give up, too many excuses...

maybe we need to reinforce a routine to get
motivated.

I don't drink wine either, lots of juices,
and I like milk chocolate, not dark chocolate.

Fruits, veggies, fine, love real milk though,
can't live without it every day....

Carol said...

Wasn't there suppose to be some fungus that grows on red grapes that had some beneficial effect on the arteries?

Don, I love V8 but unfortunately, I like the spicy V8. I also like that pomegranate blueberry fusion that V8 makes.

Carol said...

Yes, my Modern Family is on tonight and I have ABC on so I won't miss it. Laughing is also the best medicine and that show makes me laugh. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend you check it out.

I agree Coreen. I love to look someone right in the eyes when I talk to them. Their eyes don't lie. That is a big draw back of blogs. You could actually being conversing with a serial killer.

I have spent a lot of time interviewing people in my career. I have lots of experience sizing people up but can't say I'm always accurate. I try not to make an instant assessment because people often present a false front when you first meet them. It could end up going either way after you get to know them for a while.

Carol said...

Any serial killers here? Look me in the eye and answer that.

Coreen said...

No serial killers on this end, but do Have a Bruce Willis movie on, saw it already, many times, live free or die hard but it qualifies as a 'heavy body count' action movie, and the good guy wins....

Carol said...

And I think that life here on earth is for the purpose of learning. That learning may take many lifetimes. I may have flunked a few hundred. When I run into some of the same difficulties in life, I try to figure out what I need to learn from an experience that I haven't.

For the last several years I have wondered why everything has gotten better for me except that life hasn't presented any really interesting relationships for me. I was pretty rotten at selecting good relationships and they all disappeared but nothing more interesting showed up except for you guys.

I assume that maybe I am suppose to get to know myself better and improve myself then maybe something interesting will show up.

Show's on.

don1one said...

I sometimes feel like Eddie Murphy in The Golden Child. You can take the regular path of a 100 years, or the quick path. Too many really odd things have happened in my life.

What happens after we learn all of our lessons?

Carol said...

Jan, don't miss this episode. It's killer.

Oh, and what's interesting about a blog is how you can tell people, who could be serial killers, more about yourself than you tell people who you actually know well. But then I guess there is nothing to lose. And I guess some of the people we actually know can also be serial killers.

don1one said...

And I think tv makes us think serial killers are around every corner.

Carol said...

Oh, you want to know Don? What's the prize? Well it will take a while for you to learn everything you need to learn. And if you are on your first trip, even longer. Then you get the ticket to ultimate bliss, without the need of pharmaceuticals. Better than that opium trip.

Carol said...

And I have these Swamp mud supplements for sale. I can't make any promises of cures because that is one thing that the FDA doesn't allow but I can say that ever since Aunt Betty started taking them she has had a lot more endurance and has attracted lots of nice men. Old uncle Ed has got his errector set working again. My neighbor who use to be bald has a full head of hair. Need more proof?

And they only cost $19.95 plus shipping and handling for a month's supply. That includes the cost of the rubber gloves I have to use to stuff the capsules. May be a little delay in shipping due to our little cold snap.

jan said...

Ivy, saw a bit of a movie last night on TV - Maid of Honor. I think parts of it were made in Scotland. I recognized one of the castles that looked like a pic you posted. Gosh the scenery was beautiful. I definitely want to visit. How neat - you are a Scottish lass.

jan said...

Carol, you could sell your swamp mud for facials or body mud packs. They were so expensive on the cruise. massages and facials are not my style. I have never liked that much touch from a stranger.

jan said...

Carol, I am taping it as we speak.

jan said...

Don, my husb took a lot of supplements and then started having all these allergies -so he got off all of them. He has taken statins for 13 years. He has a strong family history of heart disease. He believes in them. He is so compliant with his meds. I am so glad I don't have to take any meds - cause I am terrible about remembering to take them. I take Vit D now on advice of my doc - but forget 1/2 the time. Oh well!

don1one said...

You know they sell red clay for eating Carol? You're late to market.

It looks like Vitamin D is important to fight cancer, but I prefer the natural source.

Omega 3s

I hope they're helping him Jan. It's just the they're pushing statins in commercials, doctors get tired of fighting and prescribe them on a patient's request, and they've never been shown to help if you haven't had a heart attack. A doctor seeing your husband's history and prescribing them proactively is different.

I have low HDL, and my doctor prescribed niacin. That's a lot cheaper than Lipitor and has been shown to be effective. And now I know how all you pinks feel when you have hot flashes. :^)

Carol, if we're really made in God's image, I wonder if we don't get our own universe. Maybe all the people come together into one being, then we're a companion to our God and go on to make other Gods.

jan said...

Carol, I have a hard time thinking of me as GGma too. I was a mother at 19 and my 2nd son was a dad at 20- so my oldest gr'children (his 2) are 27 & 28. They broke the pattern of early childbearing, but I don't think early childbearing is a bad thing (so many people think it is). I had no health problems with pregnancy and neither did his 1st wife. I was married and so was my son. Back then, early marriage & childbearing for young women was the norm in the part of the country where I grew up.

Carol, you were talking of autism a few posts back. I think autism has always been around just not recognized or diagnosed.

jan said...

Ivy, I think in a past life I was a midwife or maybe a primitive healer - maybe a medicine man or woman. I am drawn to the healing arts -

jan said...

Just got a text from my g'daughter. she said her lab results show no pre-eclampsia. She wrote me earlier today that she didn't want anyone to worry about her - she said it added more stress when we were writing her - so I backed off and told her to just let me know how she is doing. Not an easy thing for me to do.

Ivy Green said...

Don said..."What happens after we learn all of our lessons?"

You can stay in your Happy Place. lol

Ivy Green said...

Jan,
Your G-daughter sounds mature and self-assured. I'm sure she has picked a competent mid-wife and is getting attentive and high-quality care. I fully understand, though, your desire to "be there." Would she be open to having you come out early to be with her, and is that something possible for your schedule?

Ivy Green said...

Jan,
While you were away, I posted a link to a book that's on my all-time list. It's called "City of Dreams" by Beverly Swerling. It would appeal to your past-life healer person. My mother and her sisters are nurses and the daughters of a nurse, and they all raved about it too. Did you happen to see that link during your catch-up? If not you can probably google the title, or I can re-post the link. Not that you have time to read. lol

I have started reading "The Lovely Bones."

Ivy Green said...

There is a lengthy excerpt from "City of Dreams" at this Amazon link.

Chapter 1

Ivy Green said...

BookBrowse, not Amazon...sorry.

jan said...

Ivy, thank you for the link and book suggestion. I will look for it tomorrow. Just so happens I have a gift card to a book store. I read the excerpt. Sounds like something I would like.
I look forward to hearing what you think of the"....bones."

jan said...

" Would she be open to having you come out early to be with her, and is that something possible for your schedule?"

Ivy, Amie lives not too far from me - about a 20min drive. She is very independent. Her mom and dad divorced when she was 17 and she has been on her own since. She has worked and gone to school for several years and she does not want someone "hovering" I fear I did a little too much of that yesterday. I used to work in OB - like Mary - and was frightened when she told me of her blood pressure. I just have to be content taking a back seat now. Her husb is an EMT. I have not met Amie's midwife but she sounds very competent, experienced and Amie has every confidence in her.

jan said...

Do we learn all of our life lessons? Hmmm. Interesting. I have a sense that we are constantly in process. What is Maslow's term - Self Actualization - my interpretation of Maslow's description of self-actualization is that we never truly achieve perfect self-actualization - but are in progress all our lives - that is if we ever reach that stage.

jan said...

"My mother and her sisters are nurses and the daughters of a nurse"

Ivy, your grandmother was also a nurse. Is she alive? I would love to know what nursing was like in her time. What kind of nursing did she do?

jan said...

Time for bed.

don1one said...

Glad to hear she's doing well jan. I'm sure she'd ask you for help if she were really worried.

I actually meant over many lives if reincarnation were true. If you believe the Bible as literal truth, people were immediately set to work tending the garden. So to me ending up in a state of bliss runs counter to what I've been taught in religion. Of course, I come from a Dutch family and we're born with our sleeves rolled up.

Along with this, how many think ESP or being able to actually read someone else's thoughts is real?

Ivy Green said...

Jan,
My Grandmother was a nurse. She graduated hospital nursing school in 1922. If she were alive today, she would be 109 years old. I have a photo of her graduation day and also the pin she got with the date.

Carol said...

Jan, your Amie really impresses me. I guess I've spent too much time around young people who want everyone to do everything for them unless it is give them reasonable advice. Well, I am talking about a population that does not represent the ideal. But I've seen it in those who aren't in jail also.

What a responsibility it must have been raising your kids and then in some cases also raising the grandkids. Knowing when to do for them and when to let them do for themselves. Does it get any easier on the second generation Chloe?

I didn't get that class this go round. I got to practice on some dogs and didn't do too well there either.

Carol said...

One of the reasons I want to believe in reincarnation is that I need something to make sense of why it is fair that some people's time on this earth is so miserable. Why some have it easy and some have nothing but hell? Why some of my inmates keep setting themselves up for punishment over and over. I ask many of them but they don't have a clue. In some of their situations it would have been so easy not to return. They know it will be uncomfortable but fail to do something simple and end up coming right back. Why?

My career has certainly given me the opportunity to see lots of misery. It's easier for me to tolerate the thought that maybe their souls chose the lessons the needed to learn in their time here.

Anonymous said...

Hard to believe Carol, but this map makes it look like we're in the warmest little corner of America, for today at least. The weather channel

Cute cartoon, given the weather conditions now.

Anonymous said...

"Does it get any easier on the second generation Chloe?"

It's just different Carol. You have to remember that I'm not even a year into it yet, though. But I will say this (and I'd bet this is true of all of us here), I am capable of a more pure, thoughtful and giving love now, because I'm older. I have 'less' predetermined ideas than I did when I was young, and I think that opens up many more possibilities.

The second time around, we can just sit back and enjoy more. Don mentioned 'living in the moment' a while back, and I think we all do that a lot more as we get older. Our priorities change - we've learned to appreciate and enjoy things on a different level, and that's how I am with Emma.

Anonymous said...

"What happens after we learn all of our lessons?"
" You can stay in your Happy Place. lol"

Love that answer Jan! :)
I also agree with what you said about autism being around for longer than we think, but was not diagnosed yet.

Anonymous said...

Houston is getting better, moving forward....
.
Houston Mayor Calls Swearing-In Milestone for Homosexuals
"Houston Mayor Annise Parker said Monday her election to lead the nation's fourth-largest city marked a milestone for gay Americans but was just "one step toward a tomorrow of greater justice." http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/59257

Anonymous said...

The irony of this one actually made me laugh (it came in yesterday evening).

Cell Phone Radiation Might Improve Memory
livescience.com – 2 hrs 47 mins ago
Amid ongoing claims that long-term cell phone radiation may lead to brain tumors comes a new study suggesting the radio waves may protect and even reverse Alzheimer's disease, at least in mice.

And the radiation gave mice without Alzheimer's a boost in brain activity.

"It surprised us to find that cell phone exposure, begun in early adulthood, protects the memory of mice otherwise destined to develop Alzheimer's symptoms," Gary Arendash, lead author of the study and researcher at Florida Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, said in a statement.

The researchers showed that exposing old Alzheimer's mice to the electromagnetic waves generated by cell phones erased brain deposits of beta-amyloid, a protein strongly associated with Alzheimer's disease. Clumps of beta-amyloid form so-called brain plaques that are a hallmark of the disease. The scientists speculate the cell phone radiation increases brain temperature, causing brain cells to release the nasty plaques.

The current study found no evidence of abnormal growth in brains of the Alzheimer's mice after many months of exposure to cell phone-level electromagnetic waves. The results are published in the Jan. 6 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. " http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100106/sc_livescience/cellphoneradiationmightimprovememory

Anonymous said...

This is a 'must see' video of a dog that recognizes 340 words (quite a vocabulary). I wonder how much more animals are capable of, if we were to just 'expect' more?

What am I saying? Kids too. I wonder how much more 'everyone' is capable of if we were to expect more.

'Smartest' dog recognises more than 340 words Video of her

Ivy Green said...

"I am constant as the northern star,
Of whose true-fixed and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.
The skies are painted with unnumbered sparks,
They are all fire, and every one doth shine;
But there's but one in all doth hold his place."

~ Wm. Shakespeare, Julius Caesar


(This pome seemed to go with our "universe" thread.)

Ivy Green said...

I put up a new thread. More Shakespeare...lol

Ivy Green said...

Chloe,
I find it no surprise at all that Houston would be the first Texas city to elect a gay mayor. Even during the many years ago that I lived there, I found Houston to be a tolerant and open city. That was the good part. The other side was that cash was the only "family value."