December 30, 2010

2011 — We deserve all good things that will happen to us!

So here's to the New Year!


Whether it's a celebration in big crowd or just the two of you.... enjoy yourself. 
Or even if you are alone and staying home... there is always something nice to do... nice candle light bath...
Or, perhaps, invite your neighbours for a glass of bubbly...


Happy New Year!




2011  
Don't feel guilty. We deserve all good things that will happen to us. 

Paulo Coelho 


PS. By the way: 
Did you know if you put a raisin in a fresh glass of champagne, it will rise and fall continuously?
A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continually from the bottom of the glass to the top. This is because the carbonation in the drink gets pockets of air stuck in the wrinkles of the raisin, which is light enough to be raised by this air. When it reaches the surface of the champagne, the bubbles pop, and the raisin sinks back to the bottom, starting the cycle over.

December 29, 2010

Winter driving tips — no warming up the car!


Those of us who live in a four-season climate are used to the idea of allowing our vehicles to warm up on a cold winter's day. But with the technology in today's automobiles, is this still something we should be doing? The simple answer is no. For the most part, letting your vehicle idle for long periods of time in the cold is not only bad for the environment, but can cause serious damage to your engine and emission system.
In the past, most vehicles employed a carburetor to deliver fuel to the engine. Today, almost all cars, trucks and SUVs on the road use some form of electronic fuel injection. In a cold engine, the computer management system tells the fuel injectors to stay open longer allowing more fuel to flow into the engine in part to keep the engine running cool. Trying to warm up the engine at slightly above idle speed is actually doing the reverse and inviting additional problems.
Cold engines produce a much higher level of unburned hydrocarbons as fuel needs heat to burn efficiently. Even the best catalytic converter is unable to process 100 per cent while running at maximum temperature, so allowing the engine to idle for extended periods of time can start to clog the system.
In addition, spark plugs may also become plugged or dirty due to inefficient fuel burning. Older vehicles required regular maintenance, calling for spark plugs to be changed every 30,000 km. Today, almost all engines employ an electronic ignition system that requires spark plugs to be changed at intervals in the range of 100,000 km. An engine at idle for extensive periods of time could dramatically shorten the life of your plugs, causing you to spend hard-earned money on unnecessary service and maintenance.
A better approach is to start your vehicle and let it run for up to one minute before driving away. This will allow fluids to begin flowing through the engine and then warm up to efficient temperatures under normal driving conditions.
Should the temperature outside dip below freezing, allow a maximum of four to five minutes of idle time before driving away. This should be just enough time to clean off any snow or ice that may have accumulated on the windows. While you may not be warm as toast on the way into work or school, you will benefit by saving money at the pump and garage and by driving a vehicle that runs cleaner and more efficient for many years to come.

December 22, 2010

Baby, It's Cold Outside


Winter is officially here! For those of us who like to bundle up, and put few layers on, this is it! It's the season of fluffy, fuzzy and warm all sorts of coats and sweaters. I would like to bring some great ideas of winter pieces...









In today's world there are great fur imitations, if you prefer. But what to do with your old real fur coats, if you've had them from your mom or grandma?






Enjoy your winter! I will...

December 13, 2010

December 12, 2010

Scientists prove principle of astrology and how birth month imprint your brain



Anatomical Man. Image source: Wikipedia

(NaturalNews) Mention the word "astrology" and skeptics go into an epileptic fit. The idea that someone's personality could be imprinted at birth according to the position of the sun, moon and planets has long been derided as "quackery" by the so-called "scientific" community which resists any notion based on holistic connections between individuals and the cosmos.

According to the conventional view, your genes and your parenting determine your personality, and the position of planet Earth at the time of your birth has nothing to do with it.

Then again, conventional scientists don't believe the position of the moon has anything to do with life on Earth, either. They dismiss the wisdom that farmers have known for ages -- that planting seeds or transplanting living plants in harmony with the moon cycles results in higher crop yields. Even the seeds inside humans are strongly influenced by the moon, as menstruation cycles and moon cycles are closely synchronized (28 days, roughly).

Researchers demonstrate scientific principle of astrology

Skeptics must be further bewildered by the new research published in Nature Neuroscience and conducted at Vanderbilt University which unintentionally provides scientific support for the fundamental principle of astrology -- namely, that the position of the planets at your time of birth influences your personality.

In this study, not only did the birth month impact personality; it also resulted immeasurable functional changes in the brain.

This study, conducted on mice, showed that mice born in the winter showed a "consistent slowing" of their daytime activity. They were also more susceptible to symptoms that we might call "Seasonal Affective Disorder."

The study was carried out by Professor of Biological Sciences Douglas McMahon, graduate student Chris Ciarleglio, post-doctoral fellow Karen Gamble and two additional undergraduate students, none of whom believe in astrology, apparently. They do, of course, believe in science, which is why all their study findings have been draped in the language of science even though the findings are essentially supporting principles of astrology.

"What is particularly striking about our results is the fact that the imprinting affects both the animal's behaviour and the cycling of the neurons in the master biological clock in their brains," said Ciarleglio. This is one of the core principles of astrology: That the position of the planets at the time of your birth (which might be called the "season" of your birth) can actually result in changes in your brain physiology which impact lifelong behavior.

Once again, such an idea sounds preposterous to the scientifically trained, unless of course they discover it for themselves, at which point it's all suddenly very "scientific." Instead of calling it "astrology," they're now referring to it as "seasonal biology."

How to discredit real science

It all reminds me of the discovery of cold fusion in 1989 by Fleishmann and Pons, who were widely ridiculed by the arrogant hot fusion researchers who tried to destroy the credibility (and careers) of cold fusion researchers (http://www.naturalnews.com/025925_c...). After the very idea of "cold fusion" was attacked and demolished by these arrogant scientists, it soon returned under a new name: Low-Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR).

LENR has now been verified as true by none other than the U.S. Navy -- along with hundreds of other researchers around the world (see link above). And yet, even today, the conventional scientific community still insists cold fusion doesn't exist and cold fusion researchers are frauds.

Just as there is a solid scientific basis for LENR, there is a scientific basis for astrology, too. The relationship between the Earth, Moon and Sun naturally alter light exposure, temperature, gravitational pull and other conditions that may be sensed by living organisms. To believe in astrology, all that's really required is to grasp the basic concepts of the interrelationships between all living things. Does the position of the sun or moon influence life on Earth? Of course it does: Life as we know it wouldn't even exist without the moon tugging on Earth and preventing its rotational axis from shifting around to the point where radical changes in seasonal temperatures would make life far more challenging. (The moon, in other words, is one of the key "stabilizers" of life on planet Earth because it tends to stabilize the seasons and keep the Earth on a steady rotational plane.)

None of this, of course, means that the position of Saturn today is going to make you win the lottery or find a new love. That's the tabloid version of astrology, not real astrology.

Don't confuse tabloid astrology with real astrology

Even astronomy has its tabloid versions, too, which are entirely non-scientific. For example, every model of our solar system that I've ever seen is a wildly inaccurate tabloid version of reality, with planet sizes ridiculously exaggerated and planet distances not depicted to scale. These silly, non-scientific solar system models imprint a kind of solar system mythology into the minds of schoolchildren and even school teachers. Virtually no one outside the communities of astrophysics and astronomy has any real grasp of the enormity of not merely our solar system, but of our galaxy and the space between neighboring galaxies.

To show a giant sun the size of a basketball, with a depiction of the Earth as a marble-sized planet three inches away is the astronomical equivalent of a gimmicky horoscope claiming you're going to win the lottery today because you were born under the sign of Pisces. Both are fictions. And both are an insult to real science.

In fact, even the whole idea that an "electron" is a piece of physical matter, made up of other "particles" is an insult to real science. The sobering truth of the matter is that "particle physics" doesn't have much to do with actual particles at all. It's all about energies that might, on occasion, vibrate in just the right way so that they momentarily appear to take on the illusion of a particle as measured by our observers -- observers who inevitably alter the outcome of the entire experiment, by the way, once again proving the interrelated nature of things in our universe, including observer and experiment.

The horoscope predictions in the Sunday paper -- as well as much of the hilarious mythology found in the modern description of an atom -- are both simplified, comic-book versions of a larger truth -- the truth that we live in a holistic universe where every bit of physical matter, every bit of energy and every conscious mind impacts the rest of the universe in subtle ways. There is no such thing as an individual who is isolated from the cosmos, because we areof the cosmosand we exist as the physical manifestations of energies that, for our lifetimes, are momentarily organized as beings.

We are made of star stuff, says Carl Sagan. He he's right: We are not only made of star stuff, we are influenced by that stuff, too. And finally, modern science is beginning to catch up to this greater truth that astrologers have known since the dawn of human existence on our tiny planet.

(NaturalNews)

December 8, 2010

Throwing a Fabulous Party?

Hosting a get-together doesn't have to mean spending a ton of cash and slaving away in the kitchen all day. Whether you're having an intimate dinner party or a larger gathering, no one will want to miss your fiesta.


Setting the Mood
1. Try this cheapo and festive decorating trick that Katie uses: Fill vases and hurricane candleholders with fresh cranberries. Stick a sprig of evergreen in the center and place the arrangements around your living room.

2. Pick up some pinecones (free from your backyard or über-cheap at a craft store) and brush a drop of glue over each one. Then dust with silver or gold glitter and place in a large bowl. Use as a centerpiece or on end tables and the coffee table.

3. Make a playlist rather than putting your iPod on random. Katie suggests sticking to upbeat, festive music for cocktail hour and mellow tunes for dinner.

4. You don't have to deep-clean your pad before a party, but you should stash clutter. Use decorative tins, baskets, and hampers to hide messes. Or if you're really pressed for time, toss everything in your boudoir and declare that room off-limits.

Fabulous-and Fast-Food
5. At a dinner party, serve simple comfort foods like meatloaf or fried chicken. They're crowd-pleasers and don't require a lot of effort to cook. Plus, Katie claims these atypical main dishes are awesome icebreakers.

6. If you're pressed for time, pick up a rotisserie chicken and place it on a pretty serving platter. Serve it with a few easy side dishes like steamed veggies or potatoes. Let 'em think it's homemade.

7. Go from chips and dip to haute hors d'oeuvres. Pick up some cheeses, olives, salami, and prosciutto from an Italian deli or grocery store. Arrange them on a plate for a quick antipasto platter.

8. Katie swears by her panini grill. Keep jars of roasted red peppers and artichoke hearts on hand. Put the veggies on a piece of bread along with cheese, throw it on the grill, and voilà! Delicious snacks that feel gourmet. Bonus tip: If it's not a sit-down dinner party, place the bar on the opposite side of the room from the food to encourage mingling.



(Katie Lee — Cosmo food columnist and author of The Comfort Table)

Booze-Infused Holiday Goodies


Get your party on by whipping up sweets spiked with liquor.


These tipsy treats are the perfect things to bring to a holiday bash, and they also make a great, cheap DIY present—wrap them in a pretty tin, and give them to friends along with a bottle of the booze that’s in them. An even better gift? Include a copy of Lucy's fabulous book, The Boozy Baker: 75 Recipes for Spirited Sweets.
Dirty Girl Scout Cookies
Makes about 32 cookies
For the cookies:
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
32 Junior Mint candies
For the glaze:
1 1/4 to 1 3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons Irish cream liqueur (like Bailey’s)
1 tablespoon coffee liqueur (such as Kahlua)
1 tablespoon crème de menthe (use white not green)
Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat mats.
In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and light brown sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, vanilla, and espresso powder. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and beat to combine.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Gradually beat the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, stopping to scrape down the bowl as needed.
Drop the dough into rounded balls (about 3 tablespoons each) onto the cookie sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. Bake until the cookies have flattened, about 15 minutes. (If you don’t have room on the baking sheets or in your oven to bake all the cookies at once, simply work in batches, refrigerating the extra dough.)
Cool on baking sheets for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once cookies have cooled, make the glaze. In a medium bowl, combine the confectioners’ sugar with the liqueurs and stir with a whisk until smooth. Set the wire rack with the cookies on it over a row of paper towels. Using a spoon, drizzle about 1 teaspoon of glaze over each cookie, and gently press a Junior Mint into the center. Don’t worry if the glaze dribbles off the sides of the cookies a bit — it will firm up once it dries.
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies with Orange Liqueur 
Makes about 32 cookies
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon orange liqueur, such as Grand Marnier
Finely grated zest of 1 large orange
11/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, beat the butter and both kinds of sugar together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla, orange liqueur, and orange zest and beat until combined.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beating to combine. Stir in the oatmeal and the chocolate chips.
Drop the dough by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until light golden in color and still somewhat soft in the center. Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the sheets, then remove them and cool completely on a wire rack.

December 6, 2010

The 7 Biggest Beauty Sins You're Guilty of Doing


Confession time: You may have seen the inside of a tanning bed at one point in your life and/or…

Confession time: You may have seen the inside of a tanning bed at one point in your life and/orpopped a zit or two. We're all guilty of committing a beauty sin, but we’ve discovered why those indiscretions may be doing you more harm than you think. Read on to get the full list, some may surprise you.

1. Sleeping with Your Makeup OnYou went out with the girls, had one too many martinis and before you know it you're face down on your bed passed out cold. You'll wash that smoky eye off tomorrow, right? Not so fast. Aside from the fact that your sheets are about to look like an imprint of the Joker's face in The Dark Knight, you're doing some serious damage to your skin. "If you're acne prone, this is the worst thing you can do to your skin," says Dr. Debra Jailman, M.D., a New York City dermatologist. "Leaving makeup on overnight clogs your pores and traps in dirt from the day. Nighttime is your skin's time to repair itself."

If you know you can be a little lazy at night, make sure to leave some makeup removing wipes by your bedside like POND's Evening Soothe Wet Cleansing Towelettes, $5.69, drugstore.com, to give yourself a quick swipe before shutting your eyes.

2. Over ExfoliatingSure, a little exfoliating treatment every now and then feels like tiny angels are scrubbing your face with magical toothbrushes, but exfoliate too much and you could be doing more harm than help for your skin. "Exfoliating gets rid of all the dead skin cells on your face, but this in turn makes it more vulnerable to the sun and your favorite products," says Jailman.

So how much is too much? Jailman recommends a few times a week in the summer but in the winter keep it to once a week so you don't dry your skin out. For a spa-like exfoliating experience, try the Clarisonic Mia Sonic Skin Cleansing System, $149, drugstore.com.

3. Not Getting Enough Sleep

We know, we know...you don't have time to pee some days let alone get seven to eight hours of sleep. Sorry to break it to you, but according to Jailman there's just no way around this important beauty must. "You can apply all the makeup in the world, if you don't get enough sleep your skin is just not going to look good," she says. Like with leaving your makeup on, nighttime is your skin's prime time to repair and rejuvenate, so those hours of shuteye are important.

If you find yourself falling behind on sleep, make sure you turn off the tube, close your laptop, and set your BlackBerry to sleep mode so you can mentally check out and focus on dozing off.


4. Tanning

In a perfect world, we wouldn't even have to discuss this issue. So take this advice and pretend we're not talking to you, because you've never been in a tanning bed...right? Well, if you happen to stumble upon one — don't do it. Just don't. On top of that little thing called skin cancer you're guaranteed to get brown spots, wrinkles, and a big frown from your derm.

This goes for the real sun too. Jailman recommends wearing sunscreen every day (even in the winter), and be mindful of reapplying every few hours when vacationing.

5. Popping Your Zits

There is nothing more frustrating that walking around with a blemish on your face, but popping it is not the solution. "Picking at your face often leads to depressed scars, skin infections, and sometimes broken blood vessels," warns Jailman.

Instead of popping, use an OTC benzyl peroxide or salicylic acid treatment (we love Bliss No Zit Sherlock Complete Acne System, $32, sephora.com). If you absolutely must pop, Jailman says to use a warm cotton swab or compress on your face to bring the puss up to the surface and squeeze gently.


6. Over Moisturizing

Slathering your face in lotion
, especially in the winter is good for your skin, right? Not necessarily. Jailman says doing so can cause you to break out, or can even give you milia, tiny white spots that are formed when dead skin is trapped in the skin.

To keep your complexion clear, choose a lightweight moisturizer like Aveeno Positively Radiant Daily Moisturizer, $14.97, walmart.com. If you're prone to acne, pick a serum over a lotion to keep your pores clean.

7. Plucking Out Your False Lashes

You decided to splurge and get lash extensions but now, they're growing out and are all sorts of annoying. Can you do damage by plucking a few false lashes out? "Absolutely," says Courtney Akai, lash expert and owner of the Courtney Akai Boutique. "Your extensions are attached to your real lash, so there's no way to know if you're pulling a fake lash or one of your real ones."

Ideally, you should go to a professional to get your false lashes removed, which is quick and painless (a solution is rubbed on a cotton swab and the lashes slip right off). If you can't make it to a pro, Akai recommends carefully clipping the ends of your lashes where it doesn’t hit your natural lash so that they don't hang over so much.

December 3, 2010

Cacao - An ancient medicine validated by modern science


Cacao - An ancient medicine validated by modern science

Legendary cacao has a long history of medicinal use throughout Mesoamerica and South America. Today, science confirms chocolate has many favorable qualities that support health and psychological well-being. This magical bean offers great benefits when the cacao is high-quality, raw and organic.

The native people of the Americas extolled the merits of cacao with oral histories, pottery, stonework, and colored documents that chronicled its use in rituals as well as in everyday life. The Mayan and Mexica religions believed cacao had divine origins. According to Mayan legend, after humans were created by the goddess Xmucane, the God Sovereign Plumed Serpent gave cacao to the Maya.

When Europeans began exploring the New World, Columbus and his crew were the first to encounter cacao when they seized a canoe at Guanaja that was filled with strange 'almonds'. Eventually it was discovered the 'almonds' were actually cacao beans used as a source of currency in Mesoamerica.

Chocolate is not only a food, but also a medicine. Preparations are well documented by the explorers who came in contact with cacao during their travels. Cacao medicinal properties were noted to alleviate fever, anemia, poor appetite, metal fatigue and poor breast milk production, as well as tuberculosis, gout, kidney stones and low virility. This delicious bean was famous for healing the nervous system and improving digestion and elimination.

Jump to the modern day and numerous studies celebrate the many virtues of chocolate. Research confirms that chocolate helps to relieve emotional stress. Stress hormones and stress-related biochemical agents were reduced when volunteers, who rated themselves as highly stressed, consumed 1.4 ounces of dark chocolate per day for a period of two weeks.

Another study found that cacao flavanols (CF) improve cognitive function. In a randomized, double-blind trial, 30 healthy adults consumed either 520 mg or 994 mg of a CF infused beverage. Both groups showed significant improvement in mental acuity, while a reduction in 'mental fatigue' was only found with the lower consumption of 520 mg. The researchers suspect the results may be related to the effects of CF ox blood flow.

Cacao mass also contains potassium, phosphorus, copper, iron, zinc, and magnesium which contribute to cardiovascular health. Chocolate has the ability to trigger the release of dopamine and the endorphin phenylethylamine, both of which soothe the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome and depression. Due to its high valeric acid content, cacao has stress relieving properties despite the presence of the stimulants theobromine and caffeine.

Yet not all chocolate is created equal. Organic, raw cacao reigns supreme with maximum nutrient content compared to other forms. Since raw chocolate is processed at low temperatures, it retains much more of its famed nutritional value than if it were roasted. As seen in David Wolfe's, "Naked Chocolate: The Astounding Truth About the World's Greatest Food", raw chocolate has many high-quality nutrients such as manganese, vitamin C, and omega 6 fatty acids. Raw cacao also contains powerful antioxidants along with a significant amount of chromium, which balances blood sugar levels. Additional benefits are found in neurotransmitter modulating agents that act as natural antidepressants. "They allow our neurotransmitters like serotonin to remain in our bloodstream longer that usual. This makes us younger," explains Wolfe. He believes that raw cacao is an excellent way to enhance health while calming the heart, amplifying sensuality and enriching one's love life.

Live your bliss and savor the wisdom of the ancients. Invigorate modern vitality with the many extraordinary traits of raw cacao.


Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/030603_cacao_medicine.html#ixzz172hwNmbz
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

blog visitors

free counters

in pursuit of happiness

Inspired by the beauty of music, architecture, interior decor, travel, nature, and beautiful clothes, beautiful people..... Affirmations. Cognitive bias