The Little Thread Which Grew - the Apollo '73 to Everything But

[RogerB]

NICE! VERY NICE . . . . .

We old veterans should pass on our lessons learned. 'Tis why I have written my thread "Corrections and Advances in More Workable Tech ." It's important to pass on the wisdom.

Rog

Date: Sat, 18 Dec 2010

My New Year's resolution re 2011

re: AUDITING AND THETA TRAINING


Open letter to everyone:



When working with L. Ron Hubbard on the ship, he awarded me the top Sea Org Missionnaire status of POWER for my New Era Dianetics Mission to NYC. I then went on to be the Celebrity Auditor for Yvonne Gillham's Celebrity Center here in Hollywood. After this I set up very successful Field Practices, Auditing, C/S-ing and hatting class 8 Auditors.


Then I retired home to Hawai'i. Yawn...


While the thought of retiring was good in theory, in reality, being separated from what I love doing the most, is proving to be cruel and unusual punishment. Upon this basis, I've decided to take on new Auditing clients and train new Auditors, since it does concern me that such skills of excellence are not being passed onto the next generation.


Therefore, if anyone wants Training and/or Auditing in my specialty areas, please contact me with your details by return email.


Merry Christmas and a very prosperous 2011


Aloha,


Candy Swanson


Class VIII; XDN; original OT VII; OEC; Executive Director; Research & Development Specialist;
Review Auditing and Case Correction; Course Supervision and Administration; Ethics,Tech, & Admin Trainer

Also: Masters of Social Work [University of Hawai'i 2002], Couples Consultant, Autism Specialist, etc.

 

[SweetnessandLight]

Yippee!!!

The new home is acftually a sort of a condo, about 700 sq ft. It is nicely remodeled and is very comfortable. It ain't "The Ritz" but it is not skid row either. The unit is very pristine and has a good aura about it. Being down near the beach, the air is cool, crisp and fresh, especially during these winter months. It is extremely quite in the evening, just like the Simon and Garfunkle song, "The Sound of Silence".

With ex-wifey no longer around for the first time in over 29 years, there is a lot of good in that I am not being continuously made wrong, being invalidated nor being given wrong items. On the other side of the coin, I lie in bed in the morning with no one else in the dwelling and think, "Oh my God, I am all alone now, single again and a bachelor!" This really feels weird, especially at 71 years of age.

This place has a great gym with state of the art equipment and it is free to residents. I plan on making good use of that facility. The development is huge and is excellent for taking long walks. It is a retirement type of facility and people have to be at least 55 to live here.

Though 71, I can not identify with that crowd of oldsters. I am living as if I am in my early 50's. I just do not look, act or feel like 71 year olds normally do. I have been taken for 50 on the low end and 62 is the highest I have been guessed at. Yesterday, the cable tv and internet guy guessed me at 54 and the day before I met a neighbor and they guessed me at 52.
Lakey

Just wait till some of those single lady neighbors get to know you Lakey, especially when they find out you are handy with small home repairs and friendly advice!!! I predict an avalanche of casseroles and Christmas cookies headed your way!!!

I had a great Aunt and Uncle and another Aunt and Uncle who lived there for years. I know it well. You don't know it yet Lakey, but you have landed in a pot of jam!!! That is exactly where I hoped you would move to!!! Read the little local paper and watch the local cable tv station and start to go to some of their clubs and events, and you will feel much better once you begin to meet people and make some new friends. .

I enjoyed the art group and the investment club, myself, when I visited my relatives. They have various sports teams, lectures and performances, etc. Join a dance group! Ballroom dancing is big! Branch out and explore some new activities, too. You will find that many of the people there are very young at heart, and don't act their age either! Way to go, Lakey!!!

 

[FoTi]

http://ak.imgag.com/imgag/product/p...el/&cardNum=/product/full/ap/3166187/graphic1

Nice e-card Hat!

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

Bones found on island might be Amelia Earhart's


AP – This photo provided Dec. 17, 2010, by The International Group For Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) …

By SEAN MURPHY, Associated Press – Sat Dec 18, 12:47 am ET

NORMAN, Okla. – The three bone fragments turned up on a deserted South Pacific island that lay along the course Amelia Earhart was following when she vanished. Nearby were several tantalizing artifacts: some old makeup, some glass bottles and shells that had been cut open.

Now scientists at the University of Oklahoma hope to extract DNA from the tiny bone chips in tests that could prove Earhart died as a castaway after failing in her 1937 quest to become the first woman to fly around the world.
"There's no guarantee," said Ric Gillespie, director of the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, a group of aviation enthusiasts in Delaware that found the pieces of bone this year while on an expedition to Nikumaroro Island, about 1,800 miles south of Hawaii.

"You only have to say you have a bone that may be human and may be linked to Earhart and people get excited. But it is true that, if they can get DNA, and if they can match it to Amelia Earhart's DNA, that's pretty good."
It could be months before scientists know for sure — and it could turn out the bones are from a turtle. The fragments were found near a hollowed-out turtle shell that might have been used to collect rain water, but there were no other turtle parts nearby.

Earhart's disappearance on July 2, 1937, remains one of the 20th century's most enduring mysteries. Did she run out of fuel and crash at sea? Did her Lockheed Electra develop engine trouble? Did she spot the island from the sky and attempt to land on a nearby reef?

"What were her last moments like? What was she doing? What happened?" asked Robin Jensen, an associate professor of communications at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., who has studied Earhart's writings and speeches.

Since 1989, Gillespie's group has made 10 trips to the island, trying each time to find clues that might help determine the fate of Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan.

Last spring, volunteers working at what seemed to be an abandoned campsite found one piece of bone that appeared to be from a neck and another unknown fragment dissimilar to bird or fish bones. A third fragment might be from a finger. The largest of the pieces is just over an inch long.

The area was near a site where native work crews found skeletal remains in 1940. Bird and fish carcasses suggested Westerners had prepared meals there.

"This site tells the story of how someone or some people attempted to live as castaways," Gillespie said Friday in an interview with The Associated Press. "These fish weren't eaten like Pacific Islanders" eat fish.

Millions of dollars have been spent in failed attempts to learn what happened to Earhart, a Kansas native declared dead by a California court in early 1939.
The official version says Earhart and Noonan ran out of fuel and crashed at sea while flying from Lae, New Guinea, to Howland Island, which had a landing strip and fuel.

Gillespie's book "Finding Amelia: The True Story of the Earhart Disappearance," and "Amelia Earhart's Shoes," written by four volunteers from the aircraft group, suggest the pair landed on the reef and survived, perhaps for months, on scant food and rainwater.

Gillespie, a pilot, said the aviator would have needed only about 700 feet of unobstructed space to land because her plane would have been traveling only about 55 mph at touchdown.

"It looks like she could have landed successfully on the reef surrounding the island. It's very flat and smooth," Gillespie said. "At low tide, it looks like this place is surrounded by a parking lot."

However, Gillespie said, the plane, even if it landed safely, would have been slowly dragged into the sea by the tides. The waters off the reef are 1,000 to 2,000 feet deep. His group needs $3 million to $5 million for a deep-sea dive.
The island is on the course Earhart planned to follow from Lae, New Guinea, to Howland Island, which had a landing strip and fuel. Over the last seven decades, searches of the remote atoll have been inconclusive.
After the latest find, anthropologists who had previously worked with Gillespie's group suggested that he send the bones to the University of Oklahoma's Molecular Anthropology Laboratory, which has experience extracting genetic material from old bones. Gillespie's group also has a genetic sample from an Earhart female relative for comparison with the bones.

The lab is looking for mitochondrial DNA, which is passed along only through females, so there is no need to have a Noonan sample.

Cecil Lewis, an assistant professor of anthropology at the lab, said the university received a little more than a gram of bone fragments about two weeks ago. If researchers are able to extract DNA and link it to Earhart, a sample would be sent to another lab for verification.

"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. That's why we're trying to downplay a lot of the media attention right now," Lewis said. "For all we know, this is just a turtle bone, and a lot of people are going to be very disheartened."

Under the best circumstances, the analysis would take two weeks. If scientists have trouble with the sample, that time frame could stretch into months, Lewis said.

"Ancient DNA is incredibly unpredictable," he said.

Other material recovered this year also suggested the presence of Westerners at the isolated island site:

Someone carried shells ashore before cutting them open and slicing out the meat. Islanders cut the meat out at sea.

Bottles found nearby were melted on the bottom, suggesting they had been put into a fire, possibly to boil water. (A Coast Guard unit on the island during World War II would have had no need to boil water.)

Bits of makeup were found. The group is checking to see which products Earhart endorsed and whether an inventory lists specific types of makeup carried on her final trip.

A glass bottle with remnants of lanolin and oil, possibly hand lotion.
In 2007, the group found a piece of a pocket knife but didn't know whether it was left by the Coast Guard or castaways. This year, it found the shattered remains of the knife, suggesting someone had smashed it to extract the blades. Gillespie speculated a castaway used a blade to make a spear to stab shallow-water fish like those found at the campsite.

Following Earhart's disappearance, distress signals picked up by distant ships pointed back to the area of Nikumaroro Island, but while pilots passing over saw signs of recent habitation, the island was crossed off the list as having been searched, Gillespie said.

In 1940, a British overseer on the island recovered a partial human skeleton, a woman's shoe and an empty sextant box at what appeared to be a former campsite, littered with turtle, clamshell and bird remains.

Thinking of Earhart, the overseer sent the items to Fiji, where a British doctor decided they belonged to a stocky European or mixed-blood male, ruling out any Earhart connection.

The bones later vanished, but in 1998, Gillespie's group located the doctor's notes in London. Two other forensic specialists reviewed the doctor's bone measurements and agreed they were more "consistent with" a female of northern European descent, about Earhart's age and height.

On their own visits to the island, volunteers recovered an aluminum panel that could be from an Electra, another piece of a woman's shoe and a "cat's paw" heel dating from the 1930s; another shoe heel, possibly a man's, and an oddly cut piece of clear Plexiglas.

The sextant box might have been Noonan's. The woman's shoe and heel resemble a blucher-style oxford seen in a pre-takeoff photo of Earhart. The plastic shard is the exact thickness and curvature of an Electra's side window.
The body of evidence is intriguing, but Gillespie insists the team is "constantly agonizing over whether we are being dragged down a path that isn't right."
___
Associated Press Writer Kelly P. Kissel contributed to this report from Oklahoma City.

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

Autism Research: Breakthrough Discovery on the Causes of Autism

I found this here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/autism-research-discovery_b_794967.html


Mark Hyman, MDPracticing physician
Posted: December 11, 2010 11:37 AM


Autism Research: Breakthrough Discovery on the Causes of Autism

Imagine being the parent of a young child who is not acting normally and being told by your doctor that your child has autism, that there is no known cause, and there is no known treatment except, perhaps, some behavioral therapy. That is exactly what Jackson's parents were told as their 22-month-old son regressed into the non-verbal psychic prison of social withdrawal, disconnection, and repetitive behaviors typical of autism.

While we don't have all the answers, and more research is needed to identify and validate the causes and treatment of autism, there are new signs of hope. A study just published in The Journal of the American Medical Association by researchers from the University of California, Davis called "Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Autism" (i) discovered a profound and serious biological underpinning of autism -- an acquired loss of the ability to produce energy in the cells, damage to mitochondria (the energy factories in your cells), and an increase in oxidative stress (the same chemical reaction that causes cars to rust, apples to turn brown, fat to become rancid, and skin to wrinkle). These disturbances in energy metabolism were not due to genetic mutations, which is often seen in mitochondrial problems, but a condition the children studied acquired in utero or after birth.

Bottom line, if brain cells cannot produce enough energy, and there is too much oxidative stress, then neurons don't fire, connections aren't made and the lights don't go on for these children. In fact, this problem of energy loss is found in most chronic disease and aging -- from diabetes to heart disease to dementia. Brain function and neurodevelopment in particular are highly dependent on energy.

This is exactly the problem, I documented and found in Jackson when I first saw him. He had a profound loss of energy in his cells (particularly his brain cells), and indicators of severe oxidative stress. This is the same problem many other researchers have found in similar studies. (ii) Despite the evidence, most physicians don't test for mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress or other myriad factors commonly found in autistic children.

Let's look more closely at what this new study in The Journal of the American Medical Association tells us about mitochondrial dysfunction, and how this may lead us to new methods of treatment -- methods similar to the ones I used to help reverse Jackson's autism.

Autism: Brain Disorder or Body-Based Biological Illness?
The big debate (iii) that ranges in autism circles is about whether or not autism is a fixed, irreversible brain-based genetic disorder, or a systemic, reversible body-based biological condition that has identifiable causes, measurable abnormalities, and treatable dysfunctions. In other words is autism a life sentence or a reversible condition?

Many studies have illuminated the causes and possible treatments for autism, but mainstream physicians or scientists ignore most of this data. This new study, breaks new ground because it was published in one of the world's major medical journals.

In it researchers from UC Davis examined children two to five years of age from the Childhood Autism Risk From Genes and Environment (CHARGE) study in California -- a population-based, case-control investigation with confirmed autism cases and age-matched, genetically unrelated, typically developing controls, that was launched in 2003 and is still ongoing. What they discovered was the aforementioned mitochondrial dysfunction that lead to problems with energy. Interestingly, these abnormalities were not found in neurons on a brain biopsy but from examining white blood cells called lymphocytes. This means the energy deficit was a systemic problem -- not one residing solely in the brain.

This study forces the question: How do children acquire energy deficits that affect their whole system, not just the brain?

The causes of mitochondrial dysfunction are well known, specifically as it relates to metabolism and the brain, and I have documented them in my books "UtraMetabolism" and "The UltraMind Solution." They include environmental toxins (iv) -- mercury, lead and persistent organic pollutants(v) -- latent infections, gluten and allergens (which trigger inflammation) sugar and processed foods,(vi) a nutrient-depleted diet(vii) and nutritional deficiencies.(viii) These are all potentially treatable and reversible causes of mitochondrial dysfunction that have been clearly documented.

I found all these problems in Jackson, and over a period of two years we slowly unraveled and treated the underlying causes of his energy loss which included gut inflammation, mercury, and nutrient deficiencies. Over time, the tests for his mitochondrial function and oxidative stress (as well as levels of inflammation and nutrient status) all normalized. When they became normal, so did Jackson. He went from full-blown regressive autism to a normal, bright beautiful six-year-old boy.

What it Means if Autism Can be Reversed
This is just one story, but if autism can be reversed in one child, if there is any possibility of effective treatments or a potential cure, it forces us to ask critical questions: How did this happen? Can it happen in other children? What were the biological patterns found and how were they treated?

The emotional and financial costs of autism for families and societies is staggering. Now one in five -- or 20 percent -- of children have some neurodevelopmental disorder. How can we sidestep our scientific and moral obligation and sit back and accept the limited resources allocated by the National Institutes of Health ($5.1 billion for cancer, but only $141 million for autism) and society as a whole.

Most neurodevelopmental disorders have common roots. But looking at only one aspect of such conditions will not solve the problem of autism. Current autism research is based on an outdated approach -- one that is something like blind men examining the proverbial elephant. Each researcher works in his or her own silo examining different factors and coming to different conclusions. Research that integrates, synthesizes and examines all the data on causes and potential treatments is practically non-existent.

The mitochondrial dysfunction identified in the JAMA study I've been talking about is ultimately only one downstream symptom of many upstream causes. Other researchers have found systemic inflammation,(ix) brain inflammation,(x) gut inflammation,(xi) elevated levels of toxins and metals, gluten and casein antibodies,(xii) nutrient deficiencies including omega-3 fats,(xiii) vitamin D,(xiv) zinc, and magnesium, and collections of metabolic dysfunction related to quirky genes that make it difficult to perform chemical reactions essential for health in the body such as methylation and sulfation.(xv)

The take home message here is that the answer to autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders will not be found in one of these factors, but in all of them taken together in varying degrees in each individual. There is no such thing as "autism." Rather there are "autisms" -- different patterns of biological dysfunction unique to each child that result in multiple insults to the brain that all manifest with symptoms we call autism.

Future research must synthesize current data and design relevant whole systems research studies that don't focus on a single factor, but examine all the factors together. Then we must apply these findings in a comprehensive fashion, as is being done by many practitioners today who work in parallel -- rather than in collaboration with -- conventional approaches and often achieve remarkable results.

To close, I'd like to share Jackson's story, as told by his father. I have documented this case report in a peer reviewed published paper which you can read if you are interested in the details of the case.(xvi) It is called "Autism: Is it All in the Head?" and it can be found at http://drhyman.com.

But more important than my paper is Jackson's story and his beautiful smile.

To your good health,

Mark Hyman, MD

References

(i) Giulivi, C., Zhang, Y.F., Omanska-Klusek, A., et al. 2010. Mitochondrial dysfunction in autism. JAMA. 304(21):2389-96.

(ii) Haas, R.H. 2010. Autism and mitochondrial disease. Dev Disabil Res Rev. 16(2):144-53.

(iii) Herbert, M. 2005. Autism: A brain disorder or a disorder that affects the brain. Clinical Neuropsychiatry 2(6): 354-379

(iv) Landrigan, P.J. 2010. What causes autism? Exploring the environmental contribution. Curr Opin Pediatr. 22(2): 219-25. Review.

(v) Kern, J.K., Geier, D.A., Adams, J.B., et al. 2010. Toxicity biomarkers in autism spectrum disorder: A blinded study of urinary porphyrins. Pediatr Int. Jul 4 Epub ahead of print.

(vi) Feillet-Coudray, C., Sutra, T., Fouret, G., et al. 2009. Oxidative stress in rats fed a high-fat high-sucrose diet and preventive effect of polyphenols: Involvement of mitochondrial and NAD(P)H oxidase systems. Free Radic Biol Med. 46(5): 624-32.

(vii) Dufault, R., Schnoll, R., Lukiw, W.J., et al. 2009. Mercury exposure, nutritional deficiencies, and metabolic disruptions may affect learning in children. Behav Brain Funct. 27(5): 44.

(viii) Ames, B.N. 2004. A role for supplements in optimizing health: the metabolic tune-up. Arch Biochem Biophys. 423(1): 227-34. Review.

(ix) Careaga, M., Van de Water, J., and P. Ashwood. 2010. Immune dysfunction in autism: a pathway to treatment. Neurotherapeutics. 7(3): 283-92. Review.

(x) Li X., Chauhan, A., Sheikh, A.M., Patil, S., et al. 2009. Elevated immune response in the brain of autistic patients. J Neuroimmunol. 207(1-2): 111-6. Jan 20 Epub ahead of print.

(xi) Ashwood, P., Anthony, A., Torrente, F., and A.J. Wakefield. 2004. Spontaneous mucosal lymphocyte cytokine profiles in children with autism and gastrointestinal symptoms: mucosal immune activation and reduced counter regulatory interleukin-10. J Clin Immunol. 24(6): 664-73.

(xii) Jyonouchi, H., Sun, S., and N. Itokazu. 2002. Innate immunity associated with inflammatory responses and cytokine production against common dietary proteins in patients with autism spectrum disorder. Neuropsychobiology. 46(2): 76-84.

(xiii) Bell, J.G., MacKinlay, E.E., Dick, J.R., et al. 2004. Essential fatty acids and phospholipase A2 in autistic spectrum disorders. Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. 71(4): 201-4.

(xiv) Cannell, J.J. 2008. Autism and vitamin D. Med Hypotheses. 70(4): 750-9.

(xv) James, S.J., Melnyk, S., Jernigan, S., et al. 2006. Metabolic endophenotype and related genotypes are associated with oxidative stress in children with autism. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 141B(8): 947-56.

(xvi) Hyman, M.A. 2008. Autism: is it all in the head? Altern Ther Health Med. 14(6): 12-5.

Mark Hyman, M.D. is a practicing physician, founder of The UltraWellness Center, a four-time New York Times bestselling author, and an international leader in the field of Functional Medicine. You can follow him on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn, watch his videos on YouTube, become a fan on Facebook, and subscribe to his newsletter.

 

[Mark A. Baker]

I found this here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/autism-research-discovery_b_794967.html

...

Thanks. I just forwarded this to a friend with an interest in the subject.


Mark A. Baker

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

4 Money Mistakes That Can Destroy You
by Jim Wang
Saturday, December 18, 2010


Not all money mistakes are created equal. If you forget to use a coupon when you buy that gallon of milk, it might cost you 50 cents. It stinks to pay more than you need to but the mistake costs you only 50 cents. If you decline the flood rider for your homeowners insurance and are hit with a flash flood, that's a mistake that can cost you dearly. Both are money mistakes, but one has a microscopic impact while the other hurts significantly.


Today, we're going to go over a few money mistakes we all make that have the potential to cripple you financially. These mistakes are common, have a significant impact, and are often very easy to fix.

Not Having an Emergency Fund

Plan for the worst, hope for the best. These past few years have been an especially trying time for a lot of folks and the last thing we want to think about is how it can get worse, right? Unfortunately, things can get worse and the only way we can protect ourselves is by setting up an emergency fund to help weather those disasters. It's very easy to forget about setting up and maintaining an emergency fund because we are so focused on everything else but car accidents and medical bills don't wait for prosperity to strike.


You don't want to be forced to put the next bill on your credit card, at double digit interest rates, and put yourself in a far more dangerous financial position. Experts recommend that you save anywhere from three to twelve months of expenses into your emergency fund. The more you have, the better. No one ever complained that a safety net was too large.

Failing to Set Financial Goals

You can't improve something if you don't measure it and you can't reach your goals unless you set them. As we go about our daily lives, it's very easy to get caught up in the day to day activities. We forget our longer term goals because we're so busy focusing on today or this week. Imagine the captain of the ship steering by the mile without any designs towards a specific destination -- it would be chaos.

The same is true for your life, financial and otherwise. Set financial goals and measure your progress toward reaching them. Celebrate the victories and learn from the mistakes. Without a set goal, it becomes very difficult for you to plan for the future and chart the way forward. If you have savings goals like a down payment on a home, track how much you've saved toward your home. If you have retirement savings goals, it's important to track those as well.


Missing a Credit Card Payment

When you miss a credit card payment, you will be hit with a missed payment fee that can cost you as much as $40. You will also lose the grace period on new purchases, which means interest on your purchases accrues immediately (if you are carrying a balance, you often don't get a grace period). Next, your credit card company may report this missed or late payment to the three credit bureaus and this will lower your credit score. From here, the door flies wide open since your credit score is used in so many unexpected ways. See how one missed payment can have such a disastrous and cascading effect on your finances?

Not Reviewing Your Credit reports

The government went through a lot of trouble to give you the right to review your credit scores every twelve months, take advantage of it. Through AnnualCreditReport.com, you can get a copy of your report from each of the credit bureaus. Review your reports at least once a year for errors because they are far more common than you think (in a 2004 report by the US PIRG, one in four reports had an error). If you do find an error, follow the FTC's instructions on how to dispute credit report errors. You don't want to discover an error when you're applying for a mortgage because the dispute process can take months to resolve.


Each of these money mistakes has the potential of crippling your financial life if you don't fix it as soon as possible. Why not right now?

Jim Wang writes about personal finance at Bargaineering.com. When he's not tackling money issues, he's usually looking forward to his next vacation and writing about it at Wanderlust Journey.

___

 

[purple haze]

personal request

Gary,

Please ask me what I was going to ask you about an hour ago. LOL

so much has happened in the past hour, it'll need to come back to me when my mind catches up with ME. and, as you know and experienced yourself yesterday, my laptop can get very very slow and loaded down with all kinds of stuff...partly my fault as I'm running about 16 firefoxes all at once.:confused2:

As a Gemini, I'm pulling in the reins on myself and allowing Rudolf light the way. Many things can and must not be communicated or shared with Big Brother from Big Blue watching and listening and reading us, so I've decided to become an expert at deciphering what will henceforth be known as

CANDY CODE

Purple

 

[SweetnessandLight]

LOL Purple at the "Candy Code"! As your fellow Gemini and soul Sister, I support you in this!

I just did what I hope is that last of my Christmas shopping, but still have to sort, wrap, write some cards, and send a ton of email greetings... OY!

OH! For a Buddhist Christmas!!!

 

[SweetnessandLight]

4 Money Mistakes That Can Destroy You
by Jim Wang
Saturday, December 18, 2010


Not all money mistakes are created equal. If you forget to use a coupon when you buy that gallon of milk, it might cost you 50 cents. It stinks to pay more than you need to but the mistake costs you only 50 cents. If you decline the flood rider for your homeowners insurance and are hit with a flash flood, that's a mistake that can cost you dearly. Both are money mistakes, but one has a microscopic impact while the other hurts significantly.


Today, we're going to go over a few money mistakes we all make that have the potential to cripple you financially. These mistakes are common, have a significant impact, and are often very easy to fix.

Not Having an Emergency Fund

Plan for the worst, hope for the best. These past few years have been an especially trying time for a lot of folks and the last thing we want to think about is how it can get worse, right? Unfortunately, things can get worse and the only way we can protect ourselves is by setting up an emergency fund to help weather those disasters. It's very easy to forget about setting up and maintaining an emergency fund because we are so focused on everything else but car accidents and medical bills don't wait for prosperity to strike.


You don't want to be forced to put the next bill on your credit card, at double digit interest rates, and put yourself in a far more dangerous financial position. Experts recommend that you save anywhere from three to twelve months of expenses into your emergency fund. The more you have, the better. No one ever complained that a safety net was too large.

Failing to Set Financial Goals

You can't improve something if you don't measure it and you can't reach your goals unless you set them. As we go about our daily lives, it's very easy to get caught up in the day to day activities. We forget our longer term goals because we're so busy focusing on today or this week. Imagine the captain of the ship steering by the mile without any designs towards a specific destination -- it would be chaos.

The same is true for your life, financial and otherwise. Set financial goals and measure your progress toward reaching them. Celebrate the victories and learn from the mistakes. Without a set goal, it becomes very difficult for you to plan for the future and chart the way forward. If you have savings goals like a down payment on a home, track how much you've saved toward your home. If you have retirement savings goals, it's important to track those as well.


Missing a Credit Card Payment

When you miss a credit card payment, you will be hit with a missed payment fee that can cost you as much as $40. You will also lose the grace period on new purchases, which means interest on your purchases accrues immediately (if you are carrying a balance, you often don't get a grace period). Next, your credit card company may report this missed or late payment to the three credit bureaus and this will lower your credit score. From here, the door flies wide open since your credit score is used in so many unexpected ways. See how one missed payment can have such a disastrous and cascading effect on your finances?

Not Reviewing Your Credit reports

The government went through a lot of trouble to give you the right to review your credit scores every twelve months, take advantage of it. Through AnnualCreditReport.com, you can get a copy of your report from each of the credit bureaus. Review your reports at least once a year for errors because they are far more common than you think (in a 2004 report by the US PIRG, one in four reports had an error). If you do find an error, follow the FTC's instructions on how to dispute credit report errors. You don't want to discover an error when you're applying for a mortgage because the dispute process can take months to resolve.


Each of these money mistakes has the potential of crippling your financial life if you don't fix it as soon as possible. Why not right now?

Jim Wang writes about personal finance at Bargaineering.com. When he's not tackling money issues, he's usually looking forward to his next vacation and writing about it at Wanderlust Journey.

___

I can add number six...joining a "religion" that wants you to tithe WAY MORE than 10% of your income for all their classes, books, CD's, DVD's, and counseling, including "repairs" of botched counseling and ethics actions against you!

 

[lkwdblds]

Candy, I am not pressing on your head so it is hard to do what you ask of me!

Gary,

Please ask me what I was going to ask you about an hour ago. LOL

so much has happened in the past hour, it'll need to come back to me when my mind catches up with ME. and, as you know and experienced yourself yesterday, my laptop can get very very slow and loaded down with all kinds of stuff...partly my fault as I'm running about 16 firefoxes all at once.:confused2:

As a Gemini, I'm pulling in the reins on myself and allowing Rudolf light the way. Many things can and must not be communicated or shared with Big Brother from Big Blue watching and listening and reading us, so I've decided to become an expert at deciphering what will henceforth be known as

CANDY CODE

Purple

Candy, I read minds best when I am pressing on a person's head with my thumb and fingers. With no contact whatever, it is a challenge to know what you were going to ask me an hour ago. I believe, however, that I know what it was. It has to do with Edey and Mike taking the PCA test in a new unit of time and more specifically you had questions about Sept 8, when I had Edey take a similar test. Your questions concerned which version of the test it was and where I got it from, what kind of instructions I gave to Edey etc. I am really quite sure that this is what you were going to ask me about an hour ago. HOW DID I DO, DID I GET IT RIGHT? If so, I am pretty psychic to know what you were going to ask me an hour ago when you yourself have already forgotten what it was.
Gary

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

You've heard of "When Girls Go Wild"

Here is when men bake cookies:

 

[Hatshepsut]

That's precious!

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

That's precious!

Then, of course, one needs wrapping paper, in order to give them as gifts.

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

European winter

here is a slideshow of the harsh snow and winter conditions currently being experienced in Europe

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Heavy-snow-batters-Europe/ss/events/wl/120210europewinter

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

 

[Hatshepsut]

Then, of course, one needs wrapping paper, in order to give them as gifts.

MORE GIFT WRAP!

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[CarmeloOrchards]

MORE GIFT WRAP!

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You are the googlemegatroid par excellence

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

Speaking of Jenny McCarthy...

Swinging the outcome

By Melinda Sacks
Correspondent
Posted: 12/21/2010 12:02:00 AM PST
San Jose Mercury News

When her son Christopher was almost 2, Sarah Sun used to hold his little face in her hands as she gazed into his dark brown eyes.

"I would say, 'Just look at Mommy,' " says Sarah Sun, a 37-year-old product manager for eHealth and the mother of two sons. "I would plead with him, but he just wouldn't. That was the moment of truth."

After a one-hour visit with their pediatrician, Sarah and her husband, Josh Sun, 39, got the news -- their little boy had autism, a complex developmental disorder that typically impairs a person's ability to relate to others and often results in repetitive behaviors such as spinning or headbanging and discomfort with being touched.

After Christopher was diagnosed, a caseworker with the state Department of Developmental Services matched the boy and his family, who live in Mountain View, with Santa Clara-based Pacific Autism Center for Education. Christopher now attends the center's Sunny Days preschool in West San Jose four days a week.

"PACE is almost like divine intervention or something," says Sarah Sun, adding that the school is only five minutes from her husband's office. "They were amazing. The first session, a developmental therapist came in and the moment he interacted with Christopher everything changed. "... He loved it."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 1 in 110 babies born in the United States have disorders that place them within the autism "spectrum," which encompasses a wide range of symptoms, from mild to severe. For many parents whose children have autism, just getting through the day can be trying.

Changes in daily schedule or any disruption can send a child who is supremely sensitive to touch, sound, smell and the unexpected into a frenzied state.

Josh Sun describes Christopher's condition by comparing it to someone who is carsick unless he is driving the car and in control of all the curves and bumps in the road. For Christopher, all the sights and sounds of the world are overwhelming. Until they are controlled, he can't manage.

Christopher "has his own charm in his own way," says Josh Sun, an IT manager for Dentistat, a dental insurance services company. His voice softens when he talks about his son, who is now 4. "He is just wonderful. Sometimes he is our Tasmanian devil, destroying all our stuff, like electronics and books. Other times just looking at him makes me laugh."

One way to control sensory input is for the child to swing, much as children do at the playground. Swing therapy helps build muscle control, balance and stability as it calms the nervous system and promotes receptivity to learning, research has shown. PACE hopes to purchase such a specialized swing so it can offer the therapy at the center.

Therapeutic swings are not playground equipment, stresses Karen Kennan, assistant executive director at PACE. The speed and rhythm of the specialized swings can be adjusted, and the swing system comes with components that allow users to swing in a variety of seated or prone positions. PACE hopes Wish Book readers will help the organization purchase a therapeutic swing, which costs about $5,000, including safety mats.

At Sunny Days preschool, a wide range of therapeutic approaches give children with autism a chance at a better life. Christopher is enrolled in PACE's early intervention program, which is specifically for children younger than 6. (For more information about PACE, visit www.pacificautism.org.)

"Children with autism make the greatest gains if you start at a very young age with intervention" because their brain development is at a critical stage, says Kennan. "Our real hope and goal is to work with children young enough, with therapy that is intense enough, that they will be able to be mainstreamed" into their local public schools, she says.

Before PACE, Josh Sun says, he and his wife felt like Christopher was in his own world.

"It was like he didn't know his own mommy and daddy. It is really hard," he says. "We tried to play with him and he wouldn't even look at us. When the therapy started and they were able to connect with him, it was unbelievable."
Christopher has made great strides thanks to PACE, where he has been a student since May 2009. His teachers describe him as cheerful, happy and sweet, which makes his parents proud. Sarah and Josh Sun see continuing improvements in their son, and look forward to the day he can attend public school.

"It gives us hope," says Sarah Sun, "that we didn't lose our child to some dark world."

Wish Book readers can help Christopher and other young and adult clients of the Pacific Autism Center for Education by making contributions of $50 to help the school purchase therapeutic swings for both the early intervention program and the adult program.

 

[Ted]

Health Matters

The Man-Made Nature of Cancer


December 21, 2010 by Dr. Mark Wiley

The overriding theme of the wellness model I subscribe to is that pain, illness and disease are man-made. More specifically, those diseases for which one is not genetically predisposed, those ailments not caused by a traumatic injury and illness or not related to unknown contaminant are caused by… you. That is, they are self-induced.

That may seem harsh, but the fact is, we are each able to control our own wellness at all times. Whether we own up to that or work our way through existing problems is another issue. If you know coffee causes you headaches, then stop drinking coffee. If working late into the wee hours of the morning leaves you exhausted in the morning, then alter your schedule or plan for a different job or vocation.

Do you experience feelings of nausea, dizziness, headaches, insomnia, lack of energy… and happen to live in an area that is buzzing with electro-magnetic frequencies from towers and Wi-Fi hotspots? Then you need to outfit your home with devices that normalize the electric and magnetic field (EMF) radiation, or move. And while we may have no control over others and the workloads that get placed on us, we can learn and practice stress-relief techniques, get adequate sleep and consume foods high in nutrients. These are choices. Difficult choices at times, for sure, but choices nonetheless.
I have not yet placed cancer within the self-induced model (aside from lung cancer), because the popular research had shown there to be biological markers or defects associated with it. However, new research out of Manchester University in the United Kingdom, suggests otherwise.
The Manchester study sought to find if cancer was indeed a man-made disease and determined that, in fact, it is caused by man-made environmental factors, such as pollution and diet. Here is the study brief:

“In industrialized societies, cancer is second only to cardiovascular disease as a cause of death. The history of this disorder has the potential to improve our understanding of disease prevention, etiology, pathogenesis and treatment. A striking rarity of malignancies in ancient physical remains might indicate that cancer was rare in antiquity, and so poses questions about the role of carcinogenic environmental factors in modern societies. Although the rarity of cancer in antiquity remains undisputed, the first published histological diagnosis of cancer in an Egyptian mummy demonstrates that new evidence is still forthcoming.”

Scientists from Manchester’s KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology studied remains and literature from two ancient cultures — Egypt and Greece. Among an investigation of hundreds of Egyptian mummies, the researchers found evidence of cancer in only one. This single find, combined with scant references to the disease in ancient documentations, proves to these scientists that “cancer was extremely rare in antiquity.”

Indeed, during the Industrial Revolution where man-made progress was in full bloom, the cancer rate rose “massively,” particularly in children. This, the scientists claim, proves that cancer does not just occur in people as they age and their bodies and immune systems weaken.

“In industrialized societies, cancer is second only to cardiovascular disease as a cause of death,” states Rosalie David, professor at Faculty of Life Sciences and the study’s co-author. “But in ancient times, it was extremely rare. There is nothing in the natural environment that can cause cancer. So it has to be a man-made or ‘man-induced’ disease, down to pollution and changes to our diet and lifestyle.

“The important thing about our study,” she explains, “is that it gives a (sic) historical perspective to this disease. We can make very clear statements on the cancer rates in societies because we have a full overview. We have looked at millennia, not one hundred years, and have masses of data.”

That data include evidence of cancer in animal fossils, non-human primates and early humans. It shows that cancer was quite rare, occurring in only a few dozen cases overall. Is it possible that the proof of cancer just was not preserved in these mummies and fossils, making it difficult to find its evidence?

Not according to study co-author Michael R. Zimmerman, whose experimental studies indicate that mummification actually “preserves the features of malignancy and that tumors should actually be better preserved than normal tissue.” Moreover, he clearly explains, “Radiological surveys of mummies from the Cairo Museum and museums in Europe have also failed to reveal evidence of cancer.”

The study was published in the journal Nature. In conclusion of the findings, David had this to say: “Yet again extensive ancient Egyptian data, along with other data from across the millennia, has (sic) given modern society a clear message: Cancer is man-made and something that we can and should address.”

Not only must we “address this,” but we each need to control our own lives and wellness choices. We suffer for our choices. The best way to avoid contracting this man-made modern disease is to find a way to create a life in an environment low on pollution, carcinogens, stress and processed food, and one where it is simultaneously filled with fresh, whole foods, exercise, joy and love.

–Dr. Mark Wiley