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Aruba
aloe factory
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead

Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall--confucius

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page." anon

A man is but the product of his thoughts--what he thinks, he becomes. Gandhi


I am only one, but still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
but still I can do something;
and because I cannot do everything,
I will not refuse to do something that I can do. edward everett hale
Doom to you who legislate evil, who make laws that make victims -- laws that make misery for the poor, that rob my destitute people of dignity, exploiting defenseless widows, taking advantage of homeless children. What will you have to say on Judgment Day, when Doomsday arrives out of the blue? Who will you get to help you? What good will your money do you? (Isaiah 10:1-3, The Message)

There is nothing in the world more beautiful than the forest clothed to its very hollows in snow. It is the still ecstasy of nature, wherein every spray, every blade of grass, every spire of reed, every intricacy of twig, is clad w/radiance. william sharp

I think no matter how old or infirm I may become, I will always plant a large garden in the spring. Who can resist the feelings of hope and joy that one gets from participating in nature's rebirth? edward giobbi

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. marcel proust

I am only one, but still I am one.I cannot do everything,but still I can do something;and because I cannot do everything,I will not refuse to do something that I can do. edward everett hale




Monday, August 22, 2016

aug 2016

No One Ever Told You Onions Could Do THESE Miraculous Things

This article is shared with permission from our friends at livingtraditionally.com.

Onions are a natural cure for many health problems. It is the best remedy for severe vomiting and as a general antibiotic that can boost your immune system.The onion is from the allium family and is rich in sulfur providing the onion with its antibiotic and antiseptic properties. Onion is also extremely high in antioxidant Querectin which helps the body to fight free radicals.Natural Cures. Respiratory conditions respond well to onion juice as it is a great expectorant. Onions are good for cholesterol levels, heart, arthritis, a great antioxidant, and good for diabetes due to its flavonoid and sulfur compounds. Onions have been used as a standard treatment for thousands of years.

Interesting Ways to Use an Onion


•Breakup chest congestion- Crush an onion within coconut oil. Coat the chest with onion paste and cover the chest with a dish towel then a shirt.•Colic- Cherokee Indian recipe for colic babies: Boil a small amount of diced yellow onion in water. Let the onion cool in the water then drain. Feed a teaspoon of the onion tea to the baby every hour until the baby appears to have some relief.•Ear pain/infection– Chop onion and put them into a thin sock and tie the sock closed. Place the flattened onion sock over the troubled ear and cover the head/ear/sock with a hat to hold the sock in place. Remove when pain is gone.•Cuts- The transparent film of the onion skin will stop moderate bleeding immediately. It also acts as an antiseptic for the wound.•Cough- Peel a large onion and slice in half. Cover the face of each onion with 1 tablespoon of brown sugar and cover the onions for one hour. The sugar/onion relish should be taken twice a day to help with the cough•Fever- Slice an onion into thin slices. Rub the bottom of the feet with coconut oil. Put a thin slice into the arch of each foot and wrap with cling wrap. Cover the onion/feet with sock over night to allow the onion to draw out toxins and the illness from the body•Cleanse the air- Place slices of onion on plates throughout your house to purify the air of viruses and bacteria.•Vomiting- Grate 1 white or yellow onion. Press the onion juice from the onion wrapped in a cheesecloth. Brew a strong cup of peppermint tea and let it cool. Drink 2 teaspoons of the onion juice and wait 5 minutes. Drink 2 teaspoons of the cool peppermint tea and wait 5 minutes. Repeat both the onion juice and peppermint tea until the symptoms subside. Vomiting should stop immediately and the nausea should go away within 15 minutes.

Other Neat Onion Uses:

  • Rub a cut onion on you to repel bugs
  • Onion juice rubbed into your hair promotes growth
  • Onion juice repels moths
  • Boiled and cooled onion juice sprayed onto plants repels pests
  • Rub an onion slice into the face of an iron to prevent rusting
  • Polish copper and glassware with an onion slice
  • Rub a cut onion on you to prevent freckling
The Native Americans have used onion to treat colds and flu for centuries. Even the World Health Organization has recognized the ability of onion to relieve coughs, congestion, bronchitis and respiratory infections.
As you can see, onion cures have been around for centuries and is a trusted, proven treatment for many ailments.
In the spirit of good health, give one of these natural onion remedies a try next time you are feeling a little under the weather.

in response to august 15 mich farmer article

GM Watch
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Pro-GMO campaign exploits Nobel laureates to attack Greenpeace and fool the people

Golden Rice Dreams
Greenpeace is being criticized for blocking GMO golden rice – even though the crop is years away from being ready, reports Claire Robinson
A new pro-GMO propaganda campaign has been launched in which, in the words of a Washington Post article, “more than 100 Nobel laureates have signed a letter urging Greenpeace to end its opposition to genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The letter asks Greenpeace to cease its efforts to block introduction of a genetically engineered strain of rice that supporters say could reduce Vitamin-A deficiencies causing blindness and death in children in the developing world.”

In highly emotive language, the letter, published by a shadowy website called supportprecisionagriculture.org, claims, “Greenpeace has spearheaded opposition to Golden Rice, which has the potential to reduce or eliminate much of the death and disease caused by a vitamin A deficiency (VAD), which has the greatest impact on the poorest people in Africa and Southeast Asia.”

The letter calls upon Greenpeace “to cease and desist in its campaign against Golden Rice specifically, and crops and foods improved through biotechnology in general, and upon governments “to reject Greenpeace's campaign against Golden Rice specifically, and crops and foods improved through biotechnology in general; and to do everything in their power to oppose Greenpeace's actions and accelerate the access of farmers to all the tools of modern biology, especially seeds improved through biotechnology. Opposition based on emotion and dogma contradicted by data must be stopped.”

The letter ends with an impassioned rhetorical question: “How many poor people in the world must die before we consider this a ‘crime against humanity’?”

The problem with this picture is that the “emotion and dogma” in this case do not belong to Greenpeace but to those who claim or imply that GM golden rice is ready to deploy and that only anti-GMO activists are holding it back.

That’s because in reality, as Prof Glenn Davis Stone pointed out in a peer-reviewed study co-authored with development expert Dominic Glover, GM golden rice still isn’t ready and there’s no evidence that activists are to blame for the delay.

In 2014 the body responsible for the rollout of golden rice, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), announcedthat the rice had given disappointing yields in field trials and needed further R&D to produce a crop that farmers would be willing to grow. Stone commented, “The rice simply has not been successful in test plots of the rice breeding institutes in the Philippines, where the leading research is being done.” Stone’s study showed that the rice is still years away from being ready.

And far from the rice being held up by over-stringent regulations fostered by over-zealous anti-GMO activists, as some pro-GMO campaigners have claimed, Stone pointed out that GM golden rice “has not even been submitted for approval to the regulatory agency, the Philippine Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI).”

Indeed, how could it have been submitted to regulators, given that IRRI says it’s not ready for release and that it hasn’t been tested for toxicity, let alone efficacy in combating vitamin A deficiency in the target malnourished populations?

As Greenpeace stated in its response to the campaign:

“Accusations that anyone is blocking genetically engineered ‘golden’ rice are false. ‘Golden’ rice has failed as a solution and isn’t currently available for sale, even after more than 20 years of research. As admitted by the International Rice Research Institute, it has not been proven to actually address Vitamin A Deficiency. So to be clear, we are talking about something that doesn’t even exist.”

Authority over expertise

The laureates’ letter relies for its impact entirely on the supposed authority of the signatories. Unfortunately, however, none appear to have relevant expertise, as some commentators were quick to point out. Philip Stark, associate dean, division of mathematical and physical sciences and professor of statistics at the University of California, Berkeley,revealed on Twitter his own analysis of the expertise of the signatories: “1 peace prize, 8 economists, 24 physicists, 33 chemists, 41 doctors”. He added that science is “about evidence not authority. What do they know of agriculture? Done relevant research? Science is supposed to be ‘show me’, not ‘trust me’… Nobel prize or not.”

Devon G. Peña, PhD, an anthropologist at the University of Washington Seattle and an expert in indigenous agriculture, posted a comment to the new campaign’s website in which he called the laureates’ letter “shameful”. He noted that the signatories were “mostly white men of privilege with little background in risk science, few with a background in toxicology studies, and certainly none with knowledge of the indigenous agroecological alternatives. All of you should be stripped of your Nobels.”

The lack of expertise among the letter signatories contrasts markedly with that of the man whose work the new propaganda campaign seems to be attempting to discredit. Glenn Davis Stone – who has never opposed GM golden rice – is an expert on crop use and technology change among poor farmers, including rice farmers in the Philippines, the country targeted for the golden rice rollout – if it ever happens. He has been following the evidence on the progress of golden rice for years and has published extensively on the topic.

In other words, unlike the laureates, he knows what he’s talking about.

Who is behind the letter?

The new propaganda campaign is said to have been organized by Sir Richard J. Roberts. Roberts is a Nobel Laureate in physiology or medicine for the discovery of genetic sequences known as introns, and chief scientific officer for New England Biolabs. According to their website, New England Biolabs are “a collective of scientists committed to developing innovative products for the life sciences industry… a recognized world leader in the discovery, development and commercialization of recombinant and native enzymes for genomic research.”

Given these facts, it is surprising that Roberts claims that he has “no financial interest in GMO research”.

According to the writer and researcher Colin Todhunter, Roberts has been propagandizing for GM food and crops in India. Todhunter says Roberts' speech included emotional blackmail in the form of a claim that millions of people in the third world would die of starvation unless GM crops were introduced, as well as highly questionable assertions about the safety of the technology.

Conflicts of interest and bias aside, if you think it’s unlikely that Roberts alone would be able to mobilize over a hundred Nobel laureates to launch a campaign that gives patently false information about a GM crop that may never see the light of day in real farmers’ fields, you are not alone.

So who’s really behind the laureates’ letter?

Some odd goings-on at the press conference announcing the letter may give a clue. Tim Schwab of the NGO, Food & Water Watch and a Greenpeace representative tried to attend the press event, held at the National Press Club. However, Schwab reported, “We were barred at the door from entry – by none other than Jay Byrne, whose long relationship with Monsanto needs no elaboration.”

Byrne is a former Monsanto PR man who now heads the PR firm to the biotech industry, v-Fluence.

Schwab commented that it was “a bizarre choice for this campaign to have Byrne play bouncer.” He added, “Byrne said only credentialed press were allowed to attend. Seconds later I saw a representative from CSPI (an NGO) entering the room. Byrne said some NGOs were invited to attend. Really? Why not Greenpeace – the subject of this campaign?”

Schwab tweeted, “Nobel laureate #gmo #goldenrice press event would be a lot more credible if industry guy wasn't blacklisting NGOs.”

Why now?

The timing of this press event may be significant. Could it be timed to coincide with the run-up to the GMO labelling vote in the US Senate, with the added ‘bonus’ of burying Stone’s inconvenient golden rice critique?

Whatever the answer to that question, the 'supportprecisionagriculture.org' campaign is shamelessly exploiting a group of Nobel laureates in a propaganda exercise that is actively misleading the public, the media, and governments.

Update 30 June, 20:00 hrs: GMWatch has been alerted to the fact that the website for the laureates’ letter is supportprecisionagriculture.org, but the .com version, supportprecisionagriculture.com, reroutes to the Genetic Literacy Project, which US Right to Know calls an “agrichemical industry front group… with unknown funding that regularly attacks activists, journalists and scientists who raise concerns about the health and environmental risks of genetically engineered foods and pesticides.” Its executive director is Jon Entine.
Update 1 July 2016: A GMWatch reader has pointed out to us that the second organizer of the laureates’ letter alongside Richard J. Roberts is Phillip A. Sharp, who works at the David H. Koch Institute at MIT.

An article for the website Science Alert about the “107 laureates” publicity stunt describes Sharp only as “the winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology”.

What the article fails to mention is that Sharp is a biotech entrepreneur with interests in GMO research. In 1978 he co-founded the biotechnology and pharmaceutical company Biogen and in 2002 he co-founded Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, which uses RNAi gene silencing genetic engineering technologies to manufacture therapeutics.

To be clear, GMWatch does not oppose the use of genetic technologies in contained use situations, such as medical research, as long as there is informed consent by the patient to the therapy and no risk to non-target populations and the environment. However, Sharp’s interests in biotech companies should be disclosed in any GMO advocacy exercises he engages in, just as they would be if he were to publish a paper on GMO technologies in any reputable scientific journal.

Does Sharp’s interests in medical biotech constitute a conflict of interest when it comes to his advocacy for GM in food and agriculture?

It is true that medical uses of GM are separate from food and ag uses and are regulated by different laws. It is a perfectly cogent position to oppose genetic engineering in food and ag while supporting medical use or remaining neutral to it.

However, from a crude industry perspective, the less public concerns there are around GM technologies, the better. That’s presumably why industry lobby groups like BIO represent food and ag alongside other sectors of the biotech industry, including medicine. And why we should treat lobbying for GM crops by medical biotech entrepreneurs with the same skepticism as if they were involved in the GM crops industry.


Scientists fight back on anti-GMO efforts   from the mich farmer 8-15-16 article

 Category: Technology

by Seed World



eating corn on cob
Indiana’s governor reportedly said people who “oppose GMOs should be labeled as cruel, heartless and immoral with their anti-stories.”

More than 100 Nobel Laureates from diverse disciplines voiced support for GMO precision agriculture and called on leaders of Greenpeace, the United Nations and governments around the world to join them.
The Laureates — winners in fields including medicine, economics, physics, chemistry, literature and peace — have all signed an open letter asking Greenpeace and others who have been blocking progress and access to beneficial plant biotechnology products, such as Golden Rice, to abandon their campaigns against GMOs.
Richard Roberts (1993 - Physiology or Medicine), Professor Martin Chalfie (2008 - Chemistry) and Professor Randy Schekman (2013 - Physiology of Medicine) introduced the campaign June 30 at a press conference in Washington, D.C.
"In our letter, we call upon Greenpeace and like organizations to end their shameful campaign of propaganda and criminal destruction of crops improved by modern genetic technologies, such as GMOs," Roberts said.
"We call on governments and world organizations to do everything in their power to oppose anti-GMO obstruction and to accelerate farmer access to the life-saving tools provided by modern biotechnology."
The Laureates urged policy makers, the public and others to come together and add their names to the list of signers and asked how many poor people in the world must die before we consider this a "crime against humanity," stating that opponents of the technology have misrepresented their risks, benefits and impacts, and supported the criminal destruction of approved field trials and research projects.
The full letter is available to read at http://supportprecisionagriculture.org/.
Finally, the greater scientific community is saying what those in agriculture have known for a long time. But it's taken far too long for scientific notables to "seize the high ground."




from the mich farmer 8-15-16 article
At the American Seed Trade Association's 2014 Annual Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, two-term Indiana governor and president of Purdue University Mitch Daniels explained that "feeding 9 billion people by 2050" is not a projected number that might happen; it's a mathematical certainty.
"This fear of technology and apprehension is not new," Daniels said. "We have wealthy people who fear this technology saying 'if you can't eat, that's your problem.' This is a moral argument and that high ground needs to be seized and taken.
"It's bogus to try and alarm people with these fictional stories. Those who oppose GMOs should be labeled as cruel, heartless and immoral with their anti-stories."
More and more, leaders and the scientific community agree that given today's technologies currently in use and the technologies coming down the pipeline, there's no reason why the seed industry and agriculture can't meet the grand challenge of feeding 9 billion people by 2050.



the most dangerous worldview is the worldview of those who have not viewed the world.  naturalist alexander van humboldt

the world is not dangerous because of those who do harm.  it's dangerous because of those who watch and do nothing.  alber einstein

from the WEEK july 29 2016  --  trump changed parties 7 times between 1999 and 2012 starting when he left the gop to consider a run under the reform party banner.  after registering as a dem in 2001, he switched back to the repubs in 2003.  he became a dem again in 2005 and a repub in 2009.  he chose not

Lewis C. Cantley

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lewis C. Cantley
BornFebruary 20, 1949 (age 67)
West VirginiaUnited States
ResidenceBoston, Massachusetts
CitizenshipUnited States
NationalityAmerican
FieldsBiochemistry
Cell Biology
Systems Biology
InstitutionsWeill Cornell Medical College
Harvard Medical School
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Tufts University
Harvard University
Alma materWesleyan College
Cornell University
Doctoral advisorGordon Hammes
Other academic advisorsGuido Guidotti
Known forPI-3-kinase
Phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5)-trisphosphate
Oriented Peptide Libraries/Scansite
Phosphatidylinositol 5-phosphate
Lewis C. Cantley (born February 20, 1949) is an American cell biologist and biochemist who has made significant advances to the understanding of cancer metabolism. Among his most notable contributions are the discovery and study of the enzyme PI-3-kinase, now known to be important to understanding cancer and diabetes mellitus.[1][2] He is currently Meyer Director and Professor of Cancer Biology at the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. He was formerly a professor in the Departments of Systems Biology and Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and the Director of Cancer Research at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in Boston, Massachusetts.



Cantley grew up in West Virginia, remaining in West Virginia at Wesleyan College where he graduated summa cum laude in chemistry in 1971. Cantley obtained his Ph.D. at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he worked withGordon Hammes on enzyme kinetics, using FRET to study enzyme conformational changes. In 1975 he moved to Harvard University for a postdoctoral fellowship under Guido Guidotti, where he discovered that an impurity in commercial preparations of ATP, vanadate, acts as a transition state analog for phosphate hydrolysis. In 1978 Cantley became assistant professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Harvard, being promoted to associate professor in 1981. In 1985 he became a full professor in physiology at Tufts University School of Medicine. In 1985 Cantley and colleagues Malcolm Whitman, David Kaplan, Tom Roberts, and Brian Schaffhausen made the seminal discovery of the existence of phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K). In 1992, Cantley moved to Harvard Medical School as a Professor of Cell Biology and the Director of the Division of Signal Transduction at the former Beth Israel Hospital (now Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center). In 2003, Cantley became a founding member of the newly formed Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School. In 2007, Cantley also became the Director of Cancer Research at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He joined the faculty of Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in 2012.[1][2][3][4]
Cantley is married to Vicki Sato, herself a prominent figure in the pharmaceutical industry and a Professor at Harvard University. to be affiliated w/any party in 2011....then he returned to the gop in 2012...