They've Got Their Eye on Us ....

Thanks to a post from my friend Edie -

Here is an article which discusses 6 Government Surveillance Programs Designed to Watch What You Do Online ...

I think its worth a look ...

Fermentation - "When Good Food Goes Bad and is Still Good"

Sandor Katz, author of the blog Wild Fermentation.

He was interviewd on Fresh Air -  "When Good Food Goes Bad and is Still Good"

Katz has also written three books. See his blog for details.

Puddink Lovers Alert

I have not tried this recipe yet, but its on my list of things to do very soon.

Chocolate Avocado Pudding recipe

Thank you, Jess, who writes Forgiving Martha, for your post on how to make it! I've just poked around a little bit on her blog, and she has many gluten free recipes, in addition to this Chocolate Avocado Pudding.

Mmmmmm!

Magnesium - What About It?

I've known that magnesium is an important mineral for health, but I keep forgetting why, or to get some and take it.

This article grabbed my attention - but of course, it is on weight loss! As the author of the article states, almost everyone in the U.S. seems to be interested in weight loss, and thus the title of the article:

Magnesium - The Weight Loss Cure

Of course, there are many more important reasons to make sure we are getting enough magnesium in our diet. Magnesium helps to keep the heart healthy, helps to regulate blood pressure and prevent strokes, it is helpful in the control of diabetes II, and is considered more important than calcium, potassium or sodium - it helps to regulate the levels of all three in the body. Interestingly, magnesium is a muscle relaxant, while calcium is a muscle constrictor. Getting enough calcium is greatly stressed, while magnesium is rarely mentioned. We are often told that if we have muscle cramps, we need more calcium rather than more magnesium, while we more likely need to increase our magnesium intake.

Find out more about magnesium. Here are a few more articles concerning the importance of magnesium from the same website, Natural News, that are worth reading:

Magnesium: The Lamp of Life
Magnesium is Vital for Good Health
Magnesium is Crucial to the Proper Functioning of a Healthy Body

Lizards Hold Secrets to Lyme Cure?

Image from wikipedia:
Sceloporus_occidentalis, Western Fence or Blue Bellied Lizard

Lizard May Act As Lyme Disease Panacea
Feeding on Its Blood Strips Ticks of Dangerous Lyme Bacterium

by Kathleen Scalise, Public Affairs
from The Berkeleyan,
A newspaper for faculty and staff at the University of California, Berkeley

posted Apr. 29, 1998

Ticks harboring the Lyme disease bacterium can be cleansed of the infection when they feed on the blood of the common western fence lizard, Berkeley researchers have discovered. The new finding may explain why Lyme disease is less common in California but epidemic in some northeastern states, where lizards are rare.
(read full article)

Think of the possibilities! I'll have to meditate on Lizard Spirit to see if I get any insights.

Thanks to my daughter's neighbor and friend, who spoke of this last night. I decided to google it today. I am sure that there is more information out there, but this is a start.

Attack of the Urban Mosquitoes

Tiger Mosquito, Aedes Albopictus  image from wikipedia

Attack of the Urban Mosquitoes, Aggressive and Hard to Kill: Two Asian Cityslickers Swarm the East Coast.

This article from the Wall Street Journel is from 2011, but it is still timely and very informative. The two types of mosquitos discussed are both from Asia - the tiger mosquito and the rockpool mosquito.

Mosquitos with their insidious buzzing and the often resulting bites are bad enough to deal with. Details of the article state that these insects can also be disease carriers.

"The Asian tiger was responsible for transmitting more than 200 cases of dengue fever, a sometimes-fatal viral infection, in Hawaii in 2001-02. A similar (but less lethal) virus called chikungunya was transmitted in France and Italy, but no cases have been cited in the U.S. from the Asian tiger. Likewise, the rock pool mosquito is capable of transmitting the West Nile virus, but no cases have been traced to the species in the U.S., Dr. Fonseca says."

Another Insect Borne Disease - Chagas

According to an article in the New York Times by Donald McNeil, published on May 28, 2012, Chagas disease is "the new AIDS of the Americas". The source of this information is an editorial, Chagas Disease: “The New HIV/AIDS of the Americas”, on PLoS (Public Library of Science) website.

I am not trying to be alarmist, just wanting to be informed of possibilities.