September 30, 2009
A Doll For You, But Not For Them
Don’t know what’s worse, a Poll Dancing Doll or American Girl’s Homeless Girl. The concept behind this new hobo named Gwen is beyond comprehension and irritating for three reasons. a) A poverty stricken person does not have $95 to spend on a doll. b) Which means Gwen wasn’t meant for penniless little girls to cherish and enjoy. c) Sending a wrong message that it’s an accepted divide that some children are homeless and some are not.
Instead of having the common sense of donating all proceeds from Gwen Doll towards assisting families living in tents and shelters, American Doll LLC is profiting, in a big way. This seems to be the norm for capitalism now days: no ethics, no values.
Poverty isn’t a trend. Poverty is not an option. If we want our children to learn about empathy and compassion then we should put that $$ towards a real homeless human being. Check out some of these organizations where kids can help out or volunteer: Youth Service America, Kids Care, Take Pride America, Habitat for Humanity International.
September 29, 2009
H1N1: Must Read and 6 Tips
Remember the Bird Flu scare? There were people who locked themselves in a cell while the media was having a field day spreading the overhype about nothing.
I had volunteered in the ER in the early spring to know that doctors, nurses and health officials treat patients with H1N1 like any other patients with the flu. There were no shortage of panicked patients sitting in the waiting room in fear that Swine flu may possibly wipe them out for good. They should have been scared, because we all believed what the media told us from the very beginning: a potential global killing virus thanks to the Mexican pigs… The hospital staff couldn’t minimize the paranoid patients as much as they wanted to send them home with a doctor”s note, “you have the flu, get some rest”.
The actual flu outbreak pales compared to the media hype frenzy. Swine flu is no more than a seasonal flu with almost identical symptoms, except that it targets the upper respiratory tract and proliferates only there. Which explains Dr. Highly Publicized Sanjay Gupta’s bad cough when he nationally televised his illness on CNN from Afghanistan (let’s not discuss why Obama wants to appoint this tee-vee doctor as our new surgeon general…) To put things in perspective, the worldwide death toll exceeds a few hundred thousand people a year, just from the regular influenza virus alone, but the media rarely tell us this. H1N1 is a new strain of a virus, and it does not kill any more than the influenza A virus. The only ones really benefiting from this scare tactic is the pharmaceutical companies and media industry doing what they do best – misinformed and bad reporting…
Please read this link Ten Swine Flu Lies Told by the Media Mainstream to get the other side of the expertise and then decide for yourself, using common sense. And before running off for Tamiflu, keep in mind that Japan banned Tamiflu from children in 2007 because it was considered to be an unsafe drug with some serious side effects such as hallucinations or psychosis causing over a dozen deaths. New York Times recently wrote that the flu experts have no idea whether the current flu vaccine will offer any protection against the virus, other than the viral strain developing a resistance against the drug, hence weakening your immune system.
Whether the need to panic is validated or not, from hereon we should learn to use our discretion on taking care of our body the right way. And before stocking up on hand sanitizer and masks, Dr. Vinay Goyal, a renowned doctor who is an Intensivist and Thyroid specialist, had some tips for us to practice at home before we get sick. It mirrors what my parents and grandmother taught us growing up.
1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).
2. “Hands-off-the-face” approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat, bathe or slap).
3. Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don’t trust salt). *H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/ nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don’t underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.
4. Similar to 3 above, clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. *Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti (very good Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but *blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.
5. Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (Amla and other citrus fruits). *If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption.
6.*Drink as much of warm liquids as you can. *Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.
Btw, my daughter learned yesterday in 6th grade science that the flu vaccine takes away hundreds of thousands of healthy cells from our body. A point made.
September 28, 2009
End of the Day: My Fellas
In the midst of the hustle and bustle, the birds eye view of these two boys is beyond special to me.
Choose
This week, I’m taking a break from bashing on sexism and hussies who are poisoning our young daughters, and turning the channel to mind and body.
Jersey is in the house – my girlfriend sent me this story this morning, you may have read it already. Recycled or not, it’s something we all should try to live by, not just on a bad day, but everyday.
John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, ‘If I were any better, I would be twins!’
He was a natural motivator.
If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, ‘I don’t get it!’ ‘You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?’
He replied, ‘Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or…you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood.’ Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or…I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or…I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.
‘Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,’ I protested.
‘Yes, it is,’ he said. ‘Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It’s your choice how you live your life.’
I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.
I saw him about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, ‘If I were any better, I’d be twins…Wanna see my scars?’ I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place. ‘The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter,’ he replied. ‘Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or…I could choose to die. I chose to live.’
‘Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?’ I asked. He continued, ‘…the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read ‘he’s a dead man’. I knew I needed to take action.’ ‘What did you do?’ I asked. ‘Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,’ said John. ‘She asked if I was allergic to anything ‘Yes, I replied.’ The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, “Gravity” Over their laughter, I told them, ‘I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.’
He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude…I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything!!!
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.’ Matthew 6:34.
After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. You know the choice I made. Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass… it’s about learning to dance in the rain.
September 25, 2009
End of the Day: Two Women
My daughter picked her favorite work of art at the MET. She plopped herself in front and started to draw it on her sketchbook. Turns out my favorite sculpture happens to be standing to the left. I called her, “Our Lady” on the previous post, and she is full of drama and anguish… The golden queen on the center exudes courage and loyalty… These two women are the thread of who we are. You see, one day the young lady will grow up to illustrate their representations in her own personal life.
Lice Cure
I found a cure for getting rid of lice, yes nits too!! It’s called Nisska, a German lice comb, and you can order it online here for $23.99 (I haven’t able to locate a store that carries this brand in nyc). My girlfriend, Maria, tossed the comb to me as an urgent reminder that if the lice spreads throughout the school and her daughter catches it, I’m dead meat… This thing works 90% better than the plastic or made-in-china metal lice comb. With long narrow teeth, it can comb through just about any type of hair. Did I tell you it really works!?!? I just combed remaining nits off of all our hair without having to use my fingers like a chimpanzee. It is God sent, amazing! If you don’t have a few days to wait for the Nisska shipment just order it anyway, because chances are you will get lice again if you have children. In the meanwhile, using a regular cheap metal comb will do, check any pharmacy in your area.
* There is a lice control center here in NYC, called Licenders. They sell a very similar comb to the German brand! They treat lice infected hair at their center and also make house calls. They come with a price tag I heard, so that’s up to your wallet.
** I also heard the Robi comb, battery operated lice comb zaps out the lice and nits without having to use shampoo, conditioner, etc. I don’t know anyone who has tried it but you can buy it here in Soho, NYC.
I’m not an expert on lice control since this was our first time getting plagued. However, after much reading and receiving so many wonderful advices from other mothers who are lice alumni’s, I learned a few fundamental actions one must take to control it:
Ingredients: German lice comb, lice shampoo, hair conditioner, baking soda, paper towel, oil such as tea tree, rosemary Skin So Soft, or olive oil, and a lot of patience.
1) Wash hair with lice shampoo using Nix, guarantee this will kill the crawly lice and the nits. (However, if you are concerned about the chemicals, try Lice MD). 2) Douce the hair with globs of hair conditioner mixed with baking soda, this will suffocate the remainder of live lice, and start combing the hair straight in small sections with the Nisska comb, section by section. Wipe off the comb on a paper towel every time. Make sure to comb behind the ears and back of the head very well because lice tend to breed in warmer areas. Please be thorough and repeat if necessary. 3) Rinse and shampoo. Apply the hair with rosemary oil, tea tree oil or Skin So Soft by Avon after every shampoo (the scent also repels any oncoming lice and the grease prevent nits from adhering to hair strands. Olive oil works also). 4) On the next day, comb dry hair with the lice comb, section by section, until all nits are off the hair strands. Comb and check the hair daily for a week. Keep the comb in soapy hot water for 15 minutes after every usage. 5) Launder ‘recently’ used sheets, pillow cases, blankets and worn cloths in hot water. Also putting them in the hot dryer works if you can’t want to launder, or leaving it in a plastic bag for 7 days will work too.
*If you detect lice or new nits then repeat the shampoo and combing process over again. They also say combing with just conditioner and regular comb routinely throughout the year helps also. ** For babies, I would ask your pediatrician. ***Men usually don’t get lice because of the natural odor they produce repels the bugs away.
The good news is that lice is nothing compared to ticks with Lyme, bedbugs, scabies, etc – so don’t panic. And believe it or not, many foreigners live with lice and don’t get fussy about it the way we do here. Happy Combing!
!
September 24, 2009
Oh Tina
Doesn’t make sense coming from Tina. It’s an absolute sarcasm about an regressive ritual of stupidity exhibited by 21st century women (aka Miley Cyrus and her female predecessors ). Now the ignorance is trickling down to Miley’s 9yr old sister, Noah. Yeah, tell me how open-minded Tina will be when her young daughter follows this “rite of passage” in the near future.We expect something better than a passive aggressive for our daughters…
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/21/tina-fey-talks-miley-cyru_n_294181.html
End of the Day: Kujo
Her name is Sacha, AKA Kujo. The obscure object from yesterday’s post is the work of Sacha’s dog chew. And look at her happy ear!
Infidelity #2: Why Hillary Wears the Pants So Well.
Yesterday, I wrote about Elisabeth and John Edwards and whatever-her-name-mistress. Infidelity is like a common cold with no cure or vaccine in sight. It plagues families on every block and when you think it won’t happen to you – welcome to the club! I said Elizabeth was a brave woman for battling cancer and surviving her cowardly bastard husband, who timed her death for a bogus fairy-tale second wedding. Elizabeth forgave Ed for the sake of her children, his political career and the idea of marriage, but not for herself, I don’t think.
This is why I need to dedicate today’s blog to Hillary Clinton. No, I’m not her biggest fan, didn’t vote for her, but what I love is that she’s a very smart strong woman.
How disgusted were we when we had Bill Clinton and Monica’s stained dress to contend with during his impeachment trial? Democrats, Republicans, Liberals, we were very upset at Bill for his filth, and Ken Starr for exposing the First Family. Secretly, I wished and prayed that Hillary would whip her husband into a wooden box and toss it into the sea… But she didn’t, she wouldn’t, she will never, because she had an agenda. Hillary’s agenda had been deeply seeded before she met Bill. She had big ambitions, intelligence, discipline and the calculation to get to the top one day. When she was in college, her peers believed she would become the first woman President. You see, Hillary wanted it badly then, and even more so after she married Clinton. Bill had dabbled on a few extra marital affairs in Arkansas, but Hillary kicked those tramps out of his dirty boxers and anchored him to D.C. She played a very active role in public policies and fostered her own political influence in the White House. She was known to be the most empowered First Lady ever.
By the time the Lewinsky affair was exposed there was no turning back for Hillary. She already drew her own blueprint in the political future long before Bill lost his virginity at the age of thirteen and no one was going to get in her way – not even Monica. There is no denying the emotional struggle she endured publicly and privately. But even after the scandal, Whitewater controversy, and a painful election loss, she still managed to come out on top as a respected, powerful, and historical figure, on her own terms. Empowered woman shapes her life without sacrificing herself, preserving her integrity, ambition and body. And as long as we are coexisting in the men’s world, we need to play the card more like Hillary.
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