Run From The Cure

After a serious head injury in 1997, Rick Simpson sought relief from his medical condition through the use of medicinal hemp oil. When Rick discovered that the hemp oil (with its high concentration of T.H.C.) cured cancers and other illnesses, he tried to share it with as many people as he could free of charge, curing and controlling literally hundreds of people's illnesses... but when the story went public, the long arm of the law snatched the medicine - leaving potentially thousands of people without their cancer treatments - and leaving Rick with unconsitutional charges of possessing and trafficking marijuana!

Watch the full documentary.

[I have zero experience with this product.  At first hearing, the story sounds far-fetched.  But who knows until you try it (or know someone who did).  I actually read about this from a post in dwf.]

say no to excess

Like rats in a wheel, chasing more and more cheese won’t get you anywhere. You’ll just end up exhausted. And that’s why the rat race is a no-win proposition. In the end, you’re still just a rat like everyone else.

Getting out of the rut is easy. Just say no to excess.

I’ve found that all I really need in life to be happy is basic shelter, decent food and drink in my belly, loved ones, a little sunshine here and there, good health, and plenty of time to enjoy the many free activities I like to partake in, like: writing, reading, relaxing, and staying active.

It just doesn’t take that much money to live a fulfilling life. I have found time to be far more beneficial to my happiness than money, and since money is limited I decided to start buying time with my money rather than more stuff.

I often think of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and note that there’s not a new Corvette anywhere in there. Once you have the basics in life covered, like: shelter, running water, electricity, access to food, love, security, warmth, freedom, and the ability to express yourself, your happiness level is already pretty much maxed out. Trying to eke out a bit more with a big house, nice car, and more clothes than you know what to do with will likely only lead to the exact opposite of what you seek. Instead of material goods, I would recommend thinking about independence.

Conclusion

I found myself stuck in a rut more than four years ago. And I decided to take a good look around me and focus on what made me really happy. The rest had to go, and go it did. Since then I’ve funneled all of my excess capital into income-producing investments so that the rat wheel eventually turns without me running my legs off. This leads to the freedom and independence in life that I so aggressively crave. Once your basic expenses are covered for you without any work on your part you’re free to pursue passions with reckless abandon. And you won’t be exhausted any more from running on the wheel all day long. That means more energy to spend on things that you genuinely enjoy. That may be raising your children, traveling, reading, programming, building, or just thinking. It’s about finding value in your life, and making sure your spending is aligned with that. Spending money on things that do not build value for your life is just a waste of money that could otherwise be quite productive.

watching TV may be hazardous to your health

Adults who watch TV for three hours or more every day could be doubling their risk of premature death.

"Television viewing is a major sedentary behavior and there is an increasing trend toward all types of sedentary behaviors," Miguel Martinez-Gonzalez, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., the study's lead author and professor and chair of the Department of Public Health at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain., said in an American Heart Association  news release. "Our findings are consistent with a range of previous studies where time spent watching television was linked to mortality."

Dr. Sen (Restore My Vision Today)

got the ad in my yahoo email.

If you are one of the millions of Americans who suffer from visual problems such as Myopia and Hyperopia then this video will SHOCK you! 

In the following free video you'll discover: 

* How you can 100% naturally and safely cure almost any visual problem. 

* Why your glasses and contacts are in fact WORSENING your eye condition. 

* The real TRUTH about the Eyecare industry 

This revolutionary program that you'll soon discover has dared to challenge the billion-dollar Eyecare 
industry. 

Watch the video while you can: (they are trying to take it down) 

***

Couldn't find much on the product or Dr. Sen via a bing/google search.

The reviews I found are apparently paid for by the company, in the sense I see no negative reviews, which would be most unusual for any product.

The only article I found was this warning from sandiegocan.org.  Sounds like sound advice.

The Law of the Splintered Paddle

The young royal warrior Kamehameha, headstrong with youth, was paddling a war canoe with his men near the shoreline of Ke'eau, in Puna, Maui. Seeking a place to rest, they came upon some commoners fishing on a beach, and attacked them. All escaped, except for two men who stayed behind to defend a man carrying a child on his back.

During the struggle, the young chief's foot caught in some lava rocks, and he was trapped there. One of the fishermen struck Kamehameha on the head with a paddle, and the paddle splintered. It was a blow that could have killed the young future King.

The man who hit him, in defending the child, allowed Kamehameha to survive. The young chief never forgot this act of forgiveness. This commoner taught Kamehameha that all human life is precious and deserves respect, that the strong must not mistreat the weak.

Kamehameha could have taken revenge on the fisherman, but he learned from the experience instead, and made forgiveness part of Hawaii's heritage, and its future.

Years later, King Kamehameha I proclaimed Mamalahoe, the Law of the Splintered Paddle. It provides that any old person, woman or child may "lie by the roadside in safety." This means that anyone who is weak is entitled to protection and assistance, and to respect, even from the King.

[a little different from this account]

how he came mayor?

Billy Kenoi, HPU commencement

55 essential movies your child must see

In many ways it’s too late for them, but we can still save the next generation. The 55 Essential Movies Your Child Must See (Before They Turn 13) is a starting point. This isn’t a list of the 55 “best” kids movies, nor a compendium of hidden gems. Rather, it’s a survival-guide syllabus of films that we all need to know to be able to speak the same pop-cultural language, listed in order by when they might be best introduced.

Let's see.  What do I have on DVD?

6. Beauty and the Beast (I have it on VHS)
7. The Little Mermaid (VHS)
8. Finding Nemo
14. The Sound of Music
15. The Lion King (VHS)
23. Star Wars
24. Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone
26. March of the Penguins (well, I used to have it, 194 copies available)
32. The Incredibles
34. The Princess Bride
40. Back to the Future
44. The Karate Kid
49. Raiders of the Lost Ark
51. The Avengers
53. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
55. Jurassic Park

don't wash

your chicken.

Washing raw chicken greatly increases the risk of food poisoning, Medical News Today reports.

A new study conducted by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in the United Kingdom found that 44 percent of people in the UK wash chicken before cooking it. However, washing raw chicken may lead to the spread of campylobacter bacteria, which can lead to a dangerous form of food poisoning.

When washed, campylobacter from raw chicken can be transferred into water droplets, which may splash onto neighboring surfaces, hands, clothing, and cooking utensils. If the campylobacter bacteria are ingested directly or via unwashed cutting boards and utensils, they can cause campylobacteriosis, characterized by symptoms such as diarrhea, abdominal pain, cramping, and fever.

Though some people experience no symptoms from campylobacter, in rare cases, the bacteria can spread to the bloodstream and cause a life-threatening infection. This infection is more likely to occur in people with weak immune systems, young children, and the elderly.

Dr. Oz scolded by Congress

Dr. Mehmet Oz, a celebrity doctor who frequently extols weight-loss products on his syndicated television show, got a harsh scolding from several senators on Tuesday at a hearing about bogus diet product ads.

Oz was held up as the power driving many of the fraudulent ads, even as he argued he was himself the victim of the scammers. The hearing is a follow-up to the Federal Trade Commission’s crackdown last January against fake diet products.

“I don’t get why you need to say this stuff because you know it’s not true,” Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat who chairs a Senate subcommittee on consumer protection, said at the hearing. “So why, when you have this amazing megaphone…why would you cheapen your show by saying things like that?”

“When you feature a product on your show it creates what has become known as the ‘Dr. Oz Effect’ — dramatically boosting sales and driving scam artists to pop up overnight using false and deceptive ads to sell questionable products,’ she said.

“While I understand that your message is occasionally focused on basics like healthy eating and exercise, I am concerned that you are melding medical advice, news, and entertainment in a way that harms consumers.”

Oz, a frequent guest on NBC's TODAY show, admitted he uses “flowery” language on his shows, and said he realizes that the moment he recommends a product, the scammers use his words to sell spurious products. “I concede to my colleagues at the FTC that I am making their job more difficult," he said.

But he said he has to be “passionate” to engage his audience. “When we write a script, we need to generate enthusiasm and engage the viewer,” Oz said.

“I actually do personally believe in the items I talk about on the show,” he added. “I recognize that oftentimes they don’t have the scientific muster to pass as fact. I have given my family these products.”

Oz said the products give people hope to keep trying to lose weight — something almost all experts agree is a very difficult thing to do. Two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese.

The FTC says it’s been struggling since 1927 to battle fake diet claims. But the Internet has made things worse than ever and it’s often near impossible to track down fraudsters who hide behind shell companies and post office box addresses.

And celebrity endorsements haven’t helped, said the FTC’s Mary Koelbel Engle.

Oz, who has sued some of the companies using his image, said he never sells any products and says the scammers will misuse his image no matter what he says. “You know … the biggest disservice I have done for my audience?” he asked. “It’s that I never told then where to go to buy the products.”

He said he did that for ethical reasons, but it backfired by opening up a market for "fake stuff, real stuff, it doesn't frankly matter and start to use my name to start to sell."

McCaskill asked why Oz didn’t use his show to promote what actually has been proven to help people lose weight — careful eating and exercise. “I want to see all that floweriness, all that passion, about the beauty of a walk at sunset,” she said.

“The scientific community is almost monolithic against you in terms of the efficacy of a few products that you have called miracles,” she added. “I just don’t understand why you need to go there … You are being made an example of today because of the power you have in this space.”

***

On his show in May 2012, Oz touted a product called green coffee bean extract. After the show aired, a company in Florida sold half a million bottles of the pills. The Federal Trade Commission then filed a lawsuit against the company for false advertising.

As a result, the following September, Oz revisited the topic by conducting his own clinical trial on the efficacy of the supplement. All 100 women in the studio audience participated in his study, modeled after a randomized control trial; half of the women received the green coffee bean extract, while the other half received the placebo. Oz and his fellow researchers reported that after two weeks the women who took the supplement lost an average of two pounds, while the women taking the placebo lost an average of one pound.

Oz said he agreed to testify at the hearing because he wants to join in efforts of lawmakers to make companies accountable and require transparency about their products' claims. "I strongly support the need to look at whether the products are safe or not," he said.

History useless?

In last week’s Poll, two of the five people quoted say that history was the most useless thing they learned in school. How sad. After all, history is current events seen in the rearview mirror, and studying history helps one to interpret the present and prepare for the future.

Just for World War II, listen or read Winston Churchill’s speeches, read Ernie Pyle’s dispatches from London and the battlefields, read Pegasus Bridge (glider pilots) and life in Hawaii during WWII. Read these and tell me that history is “useless.” As George Santayana said, “If you don’t know history, you are doomed to repeat it.”

History useless? Not on your tintype.

Arg Bacon
Honolulu

no more drilling?

Dread going to the dentist? A new dental procedure out of the United Kingdom may make appointments a lot less anxiety-inducing by doing away with the drill.

Researchers at King's College London are working on a device for a tooth decay treatment that would fix cavities without the need for fillings and drilling. The two-step process, called Electrically Accelerated and Enhanced Remineralisation (EAER), involves an electric current that spurs decayed teeth to repair themselves.

"The way we treat teeth today is not ideal. When we repair a tooth by putting in a filling, that tooth enters a cycle of drilling and refilling as, ultimately, each 'repair' fails," professor Nigel Pitts of King's College London Dental Institute said in a statement. "Not only is our device kinder to the patient and better for their teeth, but it's expected to be at least as cost-effective as current dental treatments."

Instead of numbing an area with an injection, drilling down the decayed part of the tooth and inserting resin, the method accelerates the processes in the natural tooth cycle.

First, the damaged part of the outer layer of the tooth is prepared. Then, an electric current is used to incite minerals, such as calcium and phosphate, to reenter the tooth and repair it. The tiny, directed current is said to be smaller than the charges presently used for other dental procedures.

The procedure is similar to another noninvasive technique for teeth repair revealed in May. A team from the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences devised a method to use low-power light to trigger dental stem cells to repair teeth by forming the chief ingredient: dentin.

While the new technique is expected to treat tooth decay at various stages, the electric current will likely not work on cavities and decay that are too far gone.

"What it won't do is physically regrow a tooth," Pitts told BBC News.

Scotland-based company Reminova, an offshoot of the King’s College London Dental Innovation and Translation Centre, is currently seeking private investments to develop the device. It could be brought to market in less than three years.

Buddhism in Hawaii

Buddhism in Hawaii is not for everyone. The local temples may state openly that they welcome people from all backgrounds and hold no bias toward any race or ethnic group – and they may truly believe this – but anyone who has ever stepped inside one of the many local Buddhist temples will see things differently.

Japanese people and deities are worshipped at the altars at Japanese temples, Chinese personalities – historical and otherwise – are prayed to at Chinese temples, and Korean mythical figures are revered at Korean temples. The same holds true for the local Vietnamese, Thai, Tibetan and Laotian Buddhist temples.

The ethnic adoration that permeates the various Buddhist traditions and is purveyed through the local temples makes it difficult for Buddhists from different racial backgrounds to worship together. Korean followers in Japanese temples feel uncomfortable worshipping an enshrined Japanese man; Tibetan followers don’t feel right bowing down to a deified Chinese military general at Chinese temples. Non-Asians will feel out of sorts at any temple. And lest anyone mistake one ethnic Buddhist temple for another, the name of the temple at the entrance makes it clear which ethnic group the temple is for. There is no “Honolulu Buddhist Temple” or the equivalent, no common temple with a universal name with which all Buddhists can identify. Instead, one finds “Higashi Hongwanji Mission” (Japanese), “Hsu Yun Temple” (Chinese), “Mu Ryang Sa” (Korean), “Chan Khong Monastery” (Vietnamese), “Wat Lao Sithammaram” (Laotian), “Kagyu Thegchen Ling” (Tibetan), and “Wat Buddhajakramongkolvararam” (Thai) – specific Buddhist temples for specific ethnic groups.

Why the deep ethnic and cultural trappings for Buddhism in Hawaii? Nothing fails like success. Buddhism is the first world religion. It is not the oldest one, but it was the first to transcend ethnic, geographical and cultural boundaries. Indeed, it was so successful in this endeavor that in China, Buddhism became Chinese. The same happened in Myanmar, Thailand, Japan, Korea and elsewhere.

Everywhere, that is, except in Hawaii.

The forms of Buddhism transported to Hawaii from different places remain explicitly tied to their culture of origin. As a result, the Buddhist temples in Hawaii don’t observe the same traditions in the same way in the same place or at the same time. They are governed by different calendars and celebrate different holidays. Indeed, as illustrated in the accompanying photos, the Buddhist temples in Hawaii don’t even worship the same Buddha! The religion is fragmented.

Yet diversity can be a powerful tool, but there is still to appear a local Buddhist visionary who can take the principal message of the religion and repackage it in such a way that is attractive and understandable to everyone, regardless of ethnicity.

In short, there is no “Kama’aina Buddhism.” For local Buddhists this is unfortunate, as the conditions seem ripe for such a form of Buddhism to flourish.

-- Jay Sakashita, MidWeek, 5/7/14 (first column)

try a little kindness

Gottman can predict with up to 94 percent certainty whether couples—straight or gay, rich or poor, childless or not—will be broken up, together and unhappy, or together and happy several years later. Much of it comes down to the spirit couples bring to the relationship. Do they bring kindness and generosity; or contempt, criticism, and hostility?

Contempt, they have found, is the number one factor that tears couples apart. People who are focused on criticizing their partners miss a whopping 50 percent of positive things their partners are doing and they see negativity when it’s not there. People who give their partner the cold shoulder—deliberately ignoring the partner or responding minimally—damage the relationship by making their partner feel worthless and invisible, as if they’re not there, not valued. And people who treat their partners with contempt and criticize them not only kill the love in the relationship, but they also kill their partner's ability to fight off viruses and cancers. Being mean is the death knell of relationships.

Kindness, on the other hand, glues couples together. Research independent from theirs has shown that kindness (along with emotional stability) is the most important predictor of satisfaction and stability in a marriage. Kindness makes each partner feel cared for, understood, and validated—feel loved. “My bounty is as boundless as the sea,” says Shakespeare’s Juliet. “My love as deep; the more I give to thee, / The more I have, for both are infinite.” That’s how kindness works too: there’s a great deal of evidence showing the more someone receives or witnesses kindness, the more they will be kind themselves, which leads to upward spirals of love and generosity in a relationship.

There are two ways to think about kindness. You can think about it as a fixed trait: either you have it or you don’t. Or you could think of kindness as a muscle. In some people, that muscle is naturally stronger than in others, but it can grow stronger in everyone with exercise. Masters tend to think about kindness as a muscle. They know that they have to exercise it to keep it in shape. They know, in other words, that a good relationship requires sustained hard work.

“If your partner expresses a need,” explained Julie Gottman, “and you are tired, stressed, or distracted, then the generous spirit comes in when a partner makes a bid, and you still turn toward your partner.”

In that moment, the easy response may be to turn away from your partner and focus on your iPad or your book or the television, to mumble “Uh huh” and move on with your life, but neglecting small moments of emotional connection will slowly wear away at your relationship. Neglect creates distance between partners and breeds resentment in the one who is being ignored.

The hardest time to practice kindness is, of course, during a fight—but this is also the most important time to be kind. Letting contempt and aggression spiral out of control during a conflict can inflict irrevocable damage on a relationship.

Another powerful kindness strategy revolves around shared joy. One of the telltale signs of the disaster couples Gottman studied was their inability to connect over each other’s good news. When one person in the relationship shared the good news of, say, a promotion at work with excitement, the other would respond with wooden disinterest by checking his watch or shutting the conversation down with a comment like, “That’s nice.”

We’ve all heard that partners should be there for each other when the going gets rough. But research shows that being there for each other when things go right is actually more important for relationship quality. How someone responds to a partner’s good news can have dramatic consequences for the relationship.

In one study from 2006, psychological researcher Shelly Gable and her colleagues brought young adult couples into the lab to discuss recent positive events from their lives. They psychologists wanted to know how partners would respond to each other’s good news. They found that, in general, couples responded to each other’s good news in four different ways that they called: passive destructive, active destructive, passive constructive, and active constructive.

Let’s say that one partner had recently received the excellent news that she got into medical school. She would say something like “I got into my top choice med school!”

If her partner responded in a passive destructive manner, he would ignore the event. For example, he might say something like: “You wouldn’t believe the great news I got yesterday! I won a free t-shirt!”

If her partner responded in a passive constructive way, he would acknowledge the good news, but in a half-hearted, understated way. A typical passive constructive response is saying “That’s great, babe” as he texts his buddy on his phone.

In the third kind of response, active destructive, the partner would diminish the good news his partner just got: “Are you sure you can handle all the studying? And what about the cost? Med school is so expensive!”

Finally, there’s active constructive responding. If her partner responded in this way, he stopped what he was doing and engaged wholeheartedly with her: “That’s great! Congratulations! When did you find out? Did they call you? What classes will you take first semester?”

Among the four response styles, active constructive responding is the kindest. While the other response styles are joy-killers, active constructive responding allows the partner to savor her joy and gives the couple an opportunity to bond over the good news. In the parlance of the Gottmans, active constructive responding is a way of “turning toward” your partners bid (sharing the good news) rather than “turning away” from it.

There are many reasons why relationships fail, but if you look at what drives the deterioration of many relationships, it’s often a breakdown of kindness. As the normal stresses of a life together pile up—with children, career, friend, in-laws, and other distractions crowding out the time for romance and intimacy—couples may put less effort into their relationship and let the petty grievances they hold against one another tear them apart. In most marriages, levels of satisfaction drop dramatically within the first few years together. But among couples who not only endure, but live happily together for years and years, the spirit of kindness and generosity guides them forward.

[via facebook]

Malcolm Gladwell

Brad Paisley

[1/5/16 - Google Talks]

[5/30/16 - Business Insider article via facebook]

Life Lessons

I read something the other day that stopped me and really made me think. You’ve probably run across it on the Internet yourself. Just a simple sentence: “If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.“ What a powerful statement. It says: We’re not so different from each other - we all have troubles.  Even those folks who seem like everything’s perfect have something worrying them. It also says: Be kind. You don’t know what’s troubling someone else, and a little patience, not to mention a smile, can go such a long way. It says: Consider others.  Even though it’s human nature to be self-centered, taking a break from it can really lighten life’s burdens.

I kept thinking about that sentence, and I decided to look up its origin. I figured it might be one of those anonymous sayings without a known author, so I was happily surprised to discover that’s not the case. It’s just one of 50 “Life Lessons” penned by Regina Brett in a column she wrote for the Cleveland Plain Dealer in 2006. The whole list is really worth a read!  Each one of you will probably find your own favorite there.

-- via paperbackswap

[not to be confused with Life's Little Instruction Book]

babies and roaches

Living with cockroaches may have its benefits after all – for newborns, that is.

A new study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology revealed that babies who are exposed to household dirt, pet dander and even allergens from roaches and rodents may have a lower risk of developing allergies as they grow up, Medical Xpress reported.

To conduct their research, scientists at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center collected data from 467 inner-city newborns, following them for three years and monitoring blood tests for signs of allergies.  Simultaneously, the team also measured the levels of allergens and bacteria in the children’s homes.

Overall, children who were exposed to cat and mouse dander, as well as cockroach droppings, before their first birthdays had lower rates of allergies and wheezing, as opposed to children who were not exposed.  The protective effects were also amplified if the homes contained various types of bacteria: 41 percent of the children who didn’t wheeze or have allergies grew up in bacteria and allergen-filled homes, compared to 8 percent of kids with allergies.

These findings support a well-established theory known as the hygiene hypothesis, which argues that children growing up in clean environments are prone to developing allergies later in life.  The idea behind the theory is that the lack of exposure to infectious agents during childhood leads to poor development of the immune system, since it doesn’t have to work as hard to fight off disease.  The result: a weaker, more highly allergic immune response.

don't check your email

in the morning

To some people this is utter heresy. Many can’t imagine not waking up and immediately checking email or social-media feeds.

I’ve interviewed a number of very productive people and nobody said, “Spend more time with email.”

Why is checking email in the morning a cardinal sin? You’re setting yourself up to react.

An email comes in and suddenly you’re giving your best hours to someone else’s goals, not yours.

You’re not planning your day and prioritizing; you’re letting your objectives be hijacked by whoever randomly decides to enter your inbox.

Here’s Tim:

Whenever possible, do not check email for the first hour or two of the day. It’s difficult for some people to imagine. “How can I do that? I need to check email to get the information I need to work on my most important one or two to-dos?”

You would be surprised how often that is not the case. You might need to get into your email to finish 100% of your most important to-dos. But can you get 90% done before you go into Gmail and have your rat brain explode with freak-out, dopamine excitement and cortisol panic? Yes.

Research shows email:

1. Stresses you out.
2. Can turn you into a jerk.
3. Can be more addictive than alcohol and tobacco.
4. And checking email frequently is the equivalent of dropping your IQ 10 points.

Is this really how you want to start your day?

(For more on how to avoid the email trap and spend time wisely go here.)

[corollary: don't check facebook either 8)]

Read more:  [via facebook]

see also Accomplish More

Blue Dawn

When you think about it….Dawn is a pretty amazing. It’s great for washing dishes, pots and pans, flatware and crystal, but all the REST of the stuff it does is what makes it really extraordinary. It’s ALMOST up there with Baking Soda as a versatile cleaning tool….almost.

Wild Life
Ever wonder why Dawn Dishwashing Liquid is the wildlife cleaner of choice after an oil spill? According to the International Bird Rescue Research Center, Dawn effectively removes grease but does not cause harm to the skin of the birds. It’s also biodegradable and contains no phosphates.

BUBBLES
According to Bubbles.org, Dawn dishwashing liquid makes great homemade bubbles. Here is the Giant Bubble Recipe used in bubble makers at many children’s museums: 1/2 cup Ultra Dawn 1/2 gallon warm water 1 tablespoon glycerin (available at any drug store) OR White Karo syrup works too! Stir gently. Skim the foam off the top of the solution (too much foam breaks down the bubbles). Dip bubble wand and get ready for some good, clean fun!

GREASY HAIR PROBLEMS
Kids get into the darnedest things! Like Vaseline and baby oil rubbed into their hair! Dawn is mild enough to use on their hair and strong enough to remove the most stubborn grease.

HAIR PRODUCT BUILDUP
Once a month use original Dawn as you would shampoo. It will remove excess oil from your hair and scalp and strip away any build-up of styling products without any damage. Perform this once a month and you won’t have to buy expensive salon products that do the same thing.

MANICURE SECRET
Soak fingers in full-strength blue Dawn. It makes the cuticles soft and easy to work with. And it removes the natural oil from the fingernails, which allows the polish to adhere very well.

REPEL HOUSEPLANT INSECTS
A safe, effective way to repel insects from your houseplants, including aphids, spider mites and mealy bugs. Put a drop of Dawn Dishwashing Liquid in a spray bottle, fill the rest of the bottle with water, shake well, and mist your household plants with the soapy water.

CLEAN YOUR WINDOWS
Try this recipe from Merry Maids: mix 3 drops Dawn in 1 gallon water and fill a spray bottle with the solution. Spritz and wipe as you would with any window cleaner.

PETS AND PESTS
Use it to bathe the dogs. It kills fleas on contact and is much cheaper than expensive dogshampoos.

CLEAN AUTOMOTIVE TOOLS
After you have finished your automotive repair project, soak your dirty tools in Dawn before you put them away to remove all the oil and grime. Dawn also helps prevent rust from forming on the tools.

ICE PACK
Partially fill a strong zip-type sandwich bag with Dawn dishwashing liquid, close and freeze. The liquid soap stays cold much longer and it can be re-frozen many times. It will conform to the place you need an ice pack.

TUB AND SHOWER CLEANER
Take a spray bottle and fill it halfway with white vinegar. Heat in the microwave. Fill the rest of the way with blue Dawn. Put lid on and shake to mix well. Spray on your tub and shower walls. Allow to sit for a few minutes and rinse away. It will totally melt all the gunk, slime, sludge and other stuff that builds up including a bathtub ring.

REPEL ANTS
Spray counter-tops, cupboards and any other area where you see ants with a solution of Dawn and water. Wipe dry. The slight residue of Dawn that remains will not be a problem at all for kids or pets, but ants hate it. Should you see a trail of ants, go ahead and hit them with the Dawn spray.

STRIPPING CLOTH DIAPERS
Add a squirt or two of original Dawn dish soap to your washer and run a hot wash, then rinse until there are no more bubbles. Dawn is a degreasing agent and helps stripping by removing oily residue. Be sure to rinse, rinse, rinse until the water runs clear.

UNCLOGGING TOILETS
A cup of Dawn detergent poured into a clogged toilet allowed to sit for 15 minutes and then followed with a bucket of hot water poured from waist height will clear out the toilet.

POISON IVY
Poison ivy spreads through the spread of the oil within the blisters. Washing the affected area with Dawn, especially on children who keep scratching the blister’s open, helps dry up the fluid, AND keep it from spreading.

DRIVEWAY CLEANER
If you have gasoline or motor oil stains on your driveway, you can use the kitty litter method to clean up the excess oil and then use a scrub broom and a solution of biodegradable Dawn dishwashing detergent and warm water to safely and effectively remove excess motor oil from the pavement.

OILY SKIN
Dawn makes a great facial cleanser for oily skin. A drop or two combined with warm water will do the trick.

PAINT OR GREASE REMOVER FOR HANDS
Dawn combined with corn oil makes for the perfect paint or grease remover. Simply combine a little bit of both in your hands then rub it over affected areas. The corn oil and the dishwashing liquid both help to dissolve the grease and paint – yet leave skin soft, unlike harsher paint removers.

CLEANING THE KIDDIE POOL
Plastic wading pools can get very gunky, very fast. Dump the water, then scrub the pool with Dawn and a sponge. More potent cleaners like bleach will weaken and dry out the plastic in the sun.

MULTIPURPOSE CLEANER
Merry Maids recommends using a drop of Dawn in water to clean ceramic tile and no-wax/linoleum floors. You can also use the spray on:

• Bathroom and kitchen counters and sinks.
• Woodwork, e.g., baseboards, shelves, and wainscoting. (Dry as you go–wood doesn’t like prolonged contact with water.)
• Tubs and toilet seats.

LAUNDRY PRE-TREATER FOR OILY STAINS
For oil-based stains such as lipstick, grease, butter, motor oil, cooking oil, and some pen inks, simply apply some Dawn dishwashing liquid directly to the stain and scrub with a small brush or toothbrush until the oil is removed, and then launder as usual.

NON-TOXIC LUBRICANT
Sliding glass doors, door knobs, hinges etc. It lasts much longer than any aerosol type spray that I have tried. And Its non-toxic! It does a great job of cleaning the parts that its lubricating as well!

SIDEWALK DE-ICER
For icy steps and sidewalks in freezing temperatures, mix 1 teaspoon of Dawn dishwashing liquid, 1 tablespoon of rubbing alcohol, and 1/2 gallon hot/warm water and pour over walkways. They won’t refreeze. No more salt eating at the concrete in your sidewalks

POOL CLEANING
Squirt Dawn down the middle of the pool and all of the dirt, suntan lotion, etc. will move to the edges of the pool for easy clean up! AND it makes the pools sparkle.

EYEGLASS DEFOGGER
Simply rub a small drop of Dawn on eyeglass lenses, and wipe clean. It will leave a very thin film that will prevent them from fogging up.

SHOWER FLOORS
Cover greasy footprints on shower floors with a coating of Dawn; let sit overnight. Scrub away the gunk in the morning with a stiff brush.

APHID CONTROL ON FRUIT TREES
Mix two tablespoons Dawn to a gallon of water and put in your sprayer. Try to get spray both sides of the leaves, branches and the tree trunks. Let sit for about 15 minutes and then rinse the trees THOROUGHLY!

AND FINALLY……..
Here’s a brilliant idea! Need a hostess gift when visiting friends and family this summer? Print off this post and include it with a bottle of Blue Dawn! Talk about USEFUL !

 [via facebook]

Ann B. Davis

(Reuters) - Comic actress Ann B. Davis, who played the devoted housekeeper Alice on the television sitcom "The Brady Bunch" and won two Emmy awards as the forever-single secretary Schultzy on "The Bob Cummings Show," died on Sunday at age 88.

Davis' character helped keep a large, blended family functioning on "The Brady Bunch" by offering advice and wisecracks to busy parents and frantic kids, or simply by making meatloaf for eight. She was known for her light blue housekeeper's uniform with a white apron.

The "Brady Bunch" was among the first U.S. television shows to focus on a non-traditional family. Robert Reed's character, architect Mike Brady, was a widowed father of three boys. Florence Henderson's character Carol Brady was a single mother - the show was vague as to why - who had three daughters. They get married in the first episode in September 1969.

The series made its debut amid cultural tumult in the United States but remained invariably cheery and avoided controversy during its five seasons on the ABC network. It ran during a TV era populated with caustic sitcoms such as "All in the Family," "Maude" and "Sanford and Son."

In 1994, Davis wrote of the wholesome "The Brady Bunch": "Wouldn't we all love to have belonged to a perfect family, with brothers and sisters to lean on and where every problem is solved in 23-1/2 minutes?"

keep Hawaiian lands in Hawaiian hands

In his column “Eyeing The Sovereignty Struggle,” Bob Jones notes that “The state Supreme Court has said: ‘To date, no sovereign native Hawaiian entity has been recognized by the United States and the state of Hawaii.’”

For the record, Hawaii signed a Treaty of Sovereignty with the United States, Great Britain, France and Belgium in 1842-1843, which allowed Hawaii to be recognized as a sovereign and independent nation worldwide. Essentially, Hawaii and the U.S. were equals under international law. Furthermore, President John Tyler (1841-1845) implemented the Tyler Doctrine (December 1842) as an extension of the Monroe Doctrine (December 1823) to declare to the rest of the world to leave Hawaii alone or incur the wrath of the United States. Then, in 1849, the U.S. signed a Treaty of Friendship with Hawaii, guaranteeing the integrity of the Hawaiian monarchy!

For the record, 50 years later, two annexation treaties submitted by President Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893) and President William McKinley (1897-1901) failed during due process. Accordingly, the U.S. used two domestic documents to acquire Hawaii – namely, the 1898 Newlands Joint Resolution to annex Hawaii and the 1900 Organic Act to implement the territorial government. Domestic documents, however, “define a country’s jurisdiction within its physical boundaries.” Since Hawaii is 2,300 miles from the nearest continent (North America) and 800 miles from the nearest island (Johnston Island), the domestic documents implemented by the U.S. upon Hawaii are not valid.

According to International Law, annexation between two nations can only occur by conquest or mutual agreement. Since neither took place between the U.S. and Hawaii, it can be concluded, then, that Hawaiian sovereignty was never extinguished!

Wayne Hinano Brumaghim
Mililani