by ken winston caine

Dr. Dolittle was very busy.

He was busy trying to decide things.

He was trying to decide: Should he do this? Or should he do that?

And if he did this, should he do it tomorrow or the day after?

And then, should he do it in yellow, or should he do it in blue? And would that be sky blue — as if the sky is still blue anywhere.

Dr. Dolittle decided to consult the internet.

Is there anywhere where the sky is still truly blue? And exactly what shade of blue is sky blue anyway? Does it have, for instance, a PMS number — one of the numbers that printers and designers consult on a chart as they mix pigments in order to assure consistency in colors from job to job and across the industry?

Or, Dr. Dolittle wondered, with computer graphics the standard now, do printers still use PMS numbers?

He decided to consult the internet.

Dr. Dolittle is very, very busy.

Dr. Dolittle fired up his computer.

He planned to Google whether printers still use PMS numbers. Whether he should do this or that.

Whether tomorrow or the day after.

Whether in blue, or yellow, if the day after.

But first, he thought as the computer came to life, I should check my email.

And that caused him to recall six or seven emails that earlier in the morning he had been thinking that he needed to send.

A couple were especially urgent. And a couple were to respond to people who had emailed but to whom he had not responded for several days. One he hadn’t replied to for more than a week. Better do it now, before he forgets, he thought.

Otherwise those people will think that he is impolite. Or doesn’t like them any more. Or is incompetent.

Or dead.

One absolutely must respond to emails.

He began re-composing in his mind a couple of the of the emails that earlier in the morning he had been thinking that he should send.

But it had been too early then. The computer was not on. And he had not had his tea. Or his breakfast.

He had not brushed his teeth.

One should never send an email before one has brushed their teeth.

Nor had he caught the top of the hour news on Morning Edition. And now, (more…)

Great video and great tips from Dr. Mercola on how to find locally grown produce — and other farm products — in the winter, no matter where you live. As well as why this is good for your health and the health of the planet.

See both here:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/02/12/Your-Bes t-Options-to-Eat-Locally-in-the-Winter-Wherever-You-Live.aspx

Passing on this urgent call to action from Cathy Zoi:

Dear ken winston,

Join us, and send a message about how crucial it is to reduce harmful carbon dioxide pollution. That you expect the EPA to (more...)

by Ken Winston Caine

A company selling high-efficiency woodstoves in northern New Mexico is advertising that burning firewood is carbon-neutral.

In other words, they are suggesting that it’s a clean, green-energy form of heating.

True science used to mislead
In the radio commercial, they say that the carbon released when the wood is burned is equal to the carbon that would be released if the tree naturally decayed after it died. And that it is equal to the amount of carbon that the tree removed from the atmosphere during its life. That much is good science, I believe.

But does that make wood-burning “carbon neutral?”

I don’t think so. Here’s why:

Man burns up natural balance sheet
Most hardwood trees have lifespans measured in the hundreds of years. Some live thousands of years. And then, when they die (usually due to pestilence or disease or periods of extreme climate change) they decay very very slowly.

So, the amount of carbon a tree releases needs to be measured against the number of years of its life and decay. Per year, the tree emits very little carbon on that basis. When you burn the tree, on the other hand, you release all the carbon at once. And then what do you do? (more…)

Or watch the short video.

Dr. Mercola lays it on the line: A comprehensive study shows that flu shots don’t work. In fact, they can cause extreme harm. There’s a better way to protect yourself.

Watch the avoid-the-flu-shot video or read the transcript here: (more…)

by ken winston caine

Reliable, detailed monographs on medicinal herbs are available free, online, from the North Carolina Consortium on Natural Medicines.

They come in three flavors:

1. For health professionals.

2. For everyone else.

3. For growers.

You can access any of them.

They are limited to herbs that can be grown in North Carolina — so you won’t find an extensive list of medicinal herbs here. But the information you will find is very thorough and well vetted.

Find them here: (more…)

by ken winston caine

Want to lose 20 pounds in the next 30 days?

Make your diet boring. Boring and simple, says Tim Ferris, best-selling author of The Four-Hour Workweek.

That doesn’t mean no variety or tasteless meals, Ferris explains.

He provides four simple rules for losing weight quickly, while building muscle, and — exercise is NOT one of them. (Click the link below to see all four rules — and the exact diet he is using.)

The rules look nutritionally sound. And they are based on results from scientific studies.

Why make your diet boring? Because it’s easier to follow that way, he says.

“The most successful dieters, regardless of whether their goal is muscle gain or fat loss, eat the same few meals over and over again,” he writes in a blog post at (more…)

by ken winston caine

Naturopath Leslie Taylor maintains an extraordinary database of known information about medicinal herbs on the rain-tree.com website. A nice feature: It includes the scientific (and other) citations.

Much of the information comes from Taylor’s book, The Healing Power of Rainforest Herbs.

To look up an herb, go to: (more…)

by ken winston caine

USA Today reports that new parents are leading the fight against our widespread exposure to health-robbing, mutagenic toxins in plastics.

In one of the more comprehensive and serious examinations of the health threats from plastics and plastic food containers, USA Today reporters Elizabeth Weise and Liz Szabo, note in the copyright story, among other things:

• “Parents, activists and many scientists are concerned that if a baby drinks from a bottle made with [plastic chemicals] bisphenol A [BPA] or gums a toy made with phthalates, he or she could suffer serious, even permanent, harm.”

• “In December, the National Toxicology Program, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, concluded that one form of phthalate, called di(2-ethylhexyl), or DEHP, used in intravenous tubing, catheters and other plastic medical equipment, could pose a risk to the proper development of baby boys’ reproductive tracts.”

• “Nearly every American has been exposed. A 2000 study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found (more…)