There seems to be a lot of question about which healthy spreads should be used to replace butter. Since the word is finally spreading about the harmful nature of trans fat, margarine has been officially declared as a substance which should be avoided. Of course, in its place have rushed countless other butter alternatives which do not contain hydrogenated fats. But now that refined vegetable oils, additives and preservatives are coming under fire, it leaves the question what in the world can we spread on our toast? The answer is simple and natural: go back to butter.
All posts by George Walters
Wisdom Joke Of The Day
Dwayne is a strong young man at the construction site and he was bragging that he could outdo anyone in a feat of strength. He made a special case of making fun of one of the older workmen, George. After several minutes, George had had as much as he was willing to take. ‘OK, Dwayne, why don’t you put your money where your mouth is?’ he stated thoughtfully. ‘I will bet a week’s wages that I can haul something in a wheelbarrow over to that outbuilding that you won’t be able to wheel back.’
‘You’re on, old man,’ Dwayne, the braggart replied, smirking. ‘Let’s see what you got.’
George, the old fellow, reached out and grabbed the wheelbarrow by the handles. Then, nodding to Dwayne, he said, ‘All right. Get in.’
Footnote:
Please share with us your wisdom and experience.
Relative Humidity & The Flu
Sound Advice.
So why is relative humidity misleading?
The answer is that more moisture can be present in warm air than in cold. Some people like to say warm air can hold more moisture than cold air. While that’s not scientifically correct, it is a convenient way to think about it.
What that means is warm air at 30 percent relative humidity and cold air at 60 percent relative humidity may actually have the same amount of water in the air.
So, while the cold air sounds moist, it might be pretty dry – just what the Flu likes.
Absolute humidity is expressed in weight of water, grams or pounds, in a volume of air, such as a cubic meter or yard. The higher the reading the wetter. The wetter the less likely of catching the Flu
“In some areas of the country, a typical summer day can have four times as much water vapor as a typical winter day – a difference that exists both indoors and outdoors,” “Consequently, outbreaks of influenza typically only occur in winter when low absolute humidity conditions strongly favor influenza survival and transmission.”
Early Mammograms, Hmmm
Kind Of Makes One Think Huh?
What if a diagnostic test actually triggers the life-threatening disease it is supposed to detect? According to a Johns Hopkins study just published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, that may be exactly what happens when women at risk for genetic breast cancer are subjected to radiation exposure from annual mammograms.
Joke Of The Day, New Job
A few weeks after a young man had been employed; he was called into the Human Resources administrator’s office. ‘What is the meaning of this?’ the personnel officer asked. ‘When you applied for this job, you told us you had three years experience. Now I have discovered this is the first position You’ve ever held.’
‘True’, the young man answered with a smile, ‘in your advertisement you said you wanted a person with imagination! Well I’m your man.
How Powerful Do You Think You Are?
“It can be 100 degrees in the shade one afternoon and suddenly there comes a storm with hailstones as big as golf balls, the prairie is all white and your teeth chatter. That’s good-a reminder that you are just a small particle of nature, not so powerful as you think.”
What Is Nature?
Nature is not for us, but a part of us. They are a part of your worldly family. Enjoy life's journey; but leave no tracks.
How To Make Your Own Brown Sugar!
If you want the best brown sugar – use organic or regular sugar and smash in molasses with a fork. 2-4 T per cup depending on the darkness you want. Sooo much better.
The Difference Between White And Raw Sugar
What’s the difference between white and raw sugar in terms of environmental impact? What about raw and brown sugar – are these the same product?
Let’s take a brief look at how each of these cane sugar variations are created.
How raw sugar is made
Sugar cane is initially pressed and the juice is then mixed with lime to achieve the desired ph balance and to help settle out impurities. The resulting liquid is reduced through evaporation, then a centrifuge used to separate sugar crystals. It is then dried further to produce granules. The brown color of raw sugar is due to presence of molasses.
How white sugar is made
“White” sugar is created in a couple of ways.
Mill white sugar is the result of sulphur dioxide being introduced to the cane juice before evaporation. It effectively bleaches the mixture.
In the production of refined white sugar, which is the most common product in the Western world, the raw sugar syrup is mixed with a heavy syrup and run through a centrifuge again to take away the outer coating of the raw sugar crystals.
Phosphoric acid and calcium hydroxide are then added to the juice which then combine and absorb or trap impurities. Alternatively, carbon dioxide is used to achieve the same effect.
The resulting syrup is then filtered through a bed of activated carbon to remove molasses and then crystallized a number of times under vacuum. It is then further dried to produce white refined sugar like we buy in the store.
Brown sugar
Brown sugar is refined white sugar with a molasses syrup mixed in, then dried again.
Computer Humor
1) Customer: ‘My disk ran out of space when trying to save my Word document, so I changed it from double spaced to single spaced and it still wouldn’t fit!’
2) Advisor: ‘Press any key to continue.
Customer: I can’t find the ‘Any’ key.
3) Great Vision
3a) Tech Support: ‘Ok, in the bottom left of the screen, can you see the ‘ OK’ button displayed?’
Customer: ‘Wow. How can you see my screen from there?’
3b) Advisor: Can you click on ‘My Computer’?
Customer: I don’t have your computer, just mine.
3c) Advisor: You have Spyware on your machine which is causing the problem.
Customer: Spyware? Can they see me getting dressed through the monitor?
3d) Customer: My family in Australia use BT Softphone, I can see them but they can’t see me.
Advisor: What brand is your webcam?
Customer: What’s a webcam?
4) No Saving Grace
Customer: ‘All my files I saved last week to my C: drive are missing!’
Tech Support: ‘Do you remember what directory you first saved them in?’
Customer: ‘No, I don’t . I just know it was on my C: drive.’
Tech Support: ‘Ok, I’ll walk you through how to find the files.’
Customer: ‘I wouldn’t think I would be losing files on this computer. Gee, I just had the hard drive replaced in it yesterday.
Governments Do Not Create More Jobs
This is how I feel about Goverments Creating More Jobs. It just isn’t true. It is a little long but take the time to read it, as it is so true.
Government spending of debt money does not result in any net creation of jobs at all. It only confiscates wealth from private citizens and forces them to pay for centrally-planned jobs that the real economy usually neither needs nor benefits from.
Consider three people living in an island, running their own tiny economy. Bob, Sarah and Charlie are all farmers who grow their own food, making an honest living by working 8 hours a day to create the food, clothing and shelter they need to survive.
One day, Charlie decides he wants to be the Governor of the island. He tells Bob and Sarah that as Governor, he’ll bring wealth and prosperity to them both. Initially, that sounds good, so Bob and Sarah agree to elect him Governor.
Then it turns out that the Governor is busy governing things on the island (i.e. deciding what everybody else should do), so he has no time to grow his own food. So he initiates a 50% tax on the productivity of Bob and Sarah, confiscating their food, clothing and resources in order to provide those items to himself without actually having to work for them. (This is a key function of government: To confiscate wealth from those who really work and redistribute it to those who pretend to work.)
Now, Bob and Sarah each have a choice: They can either work twice as much in order to pay their tax and still have enough to survive, or they can quit working altogether and hope to get aid from the government.
Sarah decides to work twice as much, so she starts working 16 hours a day, earning enough to pay the taxes to the Governor while still having some remaining food to feed herself and her family. Bob, on the other hand, decides he doesn’t want to work 16 hours a day and would rather do nothing and apply to the Governor for “public assistance.”
So now on this island of three people, where each of the three people used to work to feed themselves, only one person is working (Sarah), and the other two are living off the wealth that’s being confiscated from her efforts.
One day Charlie, the Governor, says he has a solution! He says he will write a series of IOUs to Sarah in exchange for an extra portion of her food and other belongings. Using that currency borrowed from Sarah, he says he will “create a new job” for Bob and “end unemployment on the island.”
Sarah reluctantly agrees and turns over the fruits of her labor to the Governor, who injvents a job for Bob. “Bob,” he says, “We need to build a bridge across this island!” And with the wave of his hand, he puts Bob to work creating a bridge (that nobody needs) while getting paid by wealth that has been confiscated from the only person on the island still working (Sarah).
So now we have ONE person actually doing productive work, a second person living off the confiscated wealth of that person (the Governor), and a third person working a useless job that’s now paid for by the first person as well. This means we have ONE person supporting THREE. And while the island is at “full employment,” two out of three people are actually doing jobs that don’t materially contribute to the wealth and abundance of island’s residents.
And the best part? Guess who gets to work even more to pay back the IOUs that the Governor traded with Sarah? Well Sarah, of course, because those IOUs are public debt paid back by taxpayers.
The problem on this little island is NOT that insufficient money is being spent on an economic stimulus program; the problem is that the island suffers from too many bureaucrats and too much debt spending. The solution? Fire the Governor and the government worker, shrink the size of government and get everybody back to working their own gardens, growing their own food and supporting their own families. Productivity on the island would triple, and people would have to get back to doing honest, productive work instead of living like parasites off the efforts of taxpayers.
Joke Of The Day
Caller One – Wrong number?
Dispatcher: 911 What is the nature of your emergency?
Caller: I’m trying to reach nine eleven but my phone doesn’t have an eleven on it.
Dispatcher: This is nine eleven.
Caller: I thought you just said it was nine-one-one
Dispatcher: Yes, ma’am nine-one-one and nine-eleven are the same thing.
Caller: Honey, I may be old, but I’m not stupid.
Roundup Herbicide, Not Good
I have been saying this for years that what ever we put on the ground, around our plants, it will eventually get into us humans. We should have never been putting these things on or in our soil. Just one more reason to start growing your own produce and putting away for winter. Also don’t forget my new gardening book coming out this spring. It is loaded with items that can help in getting you started in growing your own veggies. Take a look at this article below. Kind of just says what I have been saying for years.
Roundup is the world`s most popular herbicide used to control weeds all over the planet and is omnipresent in the food chain of animals and humans. Roundup is claimed to have an active ingredient known as glyphosate (G) and said to be safe for humans even though plants are readily killed. In a first of its kind published study, researchers recently sought to examine the toxicity of four popular G-based herbicide formulations on human placental cells, kidney cells, embryonic cells and neonate umbilical cord cells and surprisingly found total cell death of each of these cells within 24 hours. In other words it is slowly making us humans sick. Has to be. just common sense should tell us that.
Good Old Tomatoes
I have always said the more tomatoes one eats the better health wise he or she will be. Just another reason to get out there this coming spring and get to planting your own veggie garden. Also look for my new gardening book coming out this spring. Its a good one.
An edible film based on simple tomato puree might be able to protect foods from contamination by E. coli and other bacteria, according to a study conducted by researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Research Service and the Western Regional Research Centre, Processed Foods, and published in the Journal of Food Science.
“Consumption of tomatoes, tomato products and isolated bioactive tomato ingredients is reported to be associated with lowered risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and hypertension,” they said.
Joke Of The Day
A nursery school teacher was observing her classroom of children while they were drawing. She would occasionally walk around to see each child's work. As she got to little Sarah who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was. Sarah replied, "I'm drawing God." The teacher paused and said, "But no one knows what God looks like." Sarah replied, "They will in a minute"
Fresh Blueberries
Not much is better than a bowl of fresh blueberries. Bursting with flavor and sweetness, low in calories, and packed with nutrients and antioxidants, these tiny fruits are anti-aging superstars. There is however one word of caution. Blueberries lose their power when eaten with milk.
Beef and Mushroom Stew, Hmmm Good!
Serves 4-6
Green olives provide extra color for this fragrant dish.
- 2-1/2 pounds beef chuck, cubed
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 sprigs thyme
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- 2 cups dry red wine
- 1/2 pound salt pork, diced
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
- 1/4 cup sliced green olives
- Salt and pepper to taste
Combine beef, garlic, carrots, onion, bay leaf, thyme, rosemary, and wine in large bowl. Cover and marinate overnight in refrigerator. Stir once or twice. Fry salt pork in oven-proof casserole until crisp. Remove with slotted spoon and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Strain meat and vegetables, reserving marinade. Cook meat and vegetables in salt pork fat 10 minutes, stirring until meat is browned on all sides. Sprinkle with flour, stir to coat evenly, and add marinade. Continue stirring until mixture is smooth. If necessary, add water or water and wine until meat is covered with liquid. Bake, covered, 1 hour. Remove meat from sauce; strain out and discard vegetables. Return meat and sauce to casserole. Melt butter in small frying pan and sauté mushrooms 2 minutes. Add mushrooms to meat and sauce and bake, covered, 30 minutes. Add olives, stir, and cook 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. If desired, garnish stew with reserved salt pork.
Weather Warning For Southern Ontario Feb.1-4
Near- blizzard conditions from parts of the Mid-South into the Ohio Valley and Lower Great Lakes. February 1 – 4, 2009 time frame. Just thought I would give a bit of advance warning.
Garlic and Colds
Sheesh! I have been saying this for over thirty years. And it’s just being looked at today? Hmmmm.
People who eat raw garlic, just one clove a day, will catch fewer common colds than people who do not. Studies have determined that eating raw garlic as it contains allicin will reduce one’s risk of contracting a cold by approximately 50 percent. I would have to say even more than 50% and it doesn’t just stop there. Garlic is sooooooooo good for you.. One thing. Just make sure it is grown here in Canada, or better yet grow your own. It’s one of the easiest plants to grow.
Watch for my new gardening book coming out this spring. It’s much more than just a gardening book though, one would have to get one to see what I am saying. Or just ask.
Food From Cloned Animals
Just one more reason to grow your own. And for those that ask me. Well I would have to say make darn sure you know what you are buying in the grocery stores, before you bring it home for your family, no matter how cheap it is.
The FDA has admitted that meat and milk from the offspring of cloned mammals such as cows, pigs, goats and sheep could very well have already entered the food supply in the United States.
“It is theoretically possible,” agency spokesperson Siobhan DeLancey said.
In January, the FDA declared that foods derived from cloned animals and their offspring were safe for human consumption. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, however, asked food companies to voluntarily maintain a ban on products from clones.
The voluntary ban did not extend to the offspring of cloned animals.
Clones are organisms artificially developed directly from the DNA of a single organism, rather than the mixing that is difficult in sexual reproduction. They are made by implanting the nucleus of an adult cell into an egg cell, which is then incubated by a surrogate mother.
According to critics of the technology, very little research has been conducted on the safety of consuming meat or dairy products from clones or their offspring, thus making it premature to bring such products to market.
“It worries me that this technology is out of control in so many ways,” said Charles Margulis of the Center for Environmental Health. He said that the FDA’s announcement that clones’ offspring might already been food supply “is just another element of that.”
A number of major U.S. food producers have announced that they will not use any ingredients derived from cloned animals, due in part to safety concerns. Companies enforcing a ban on clone products include Smithfield Foods, General Mills, Campbell Soup, Nestle, California Pizza Kitchen, Supervalu, Kraft Foods and Tyson Foods, the largest meat company in the United States.
Kraft said that consumer demand influenced its decision.
“Research in the United States indicates that consumers are currently not receptive to ingredients from cloned animals,” said Director of Corporate Affairs Susan Davison.