The amazing pineapple cure!

There is an amazing new cure that has been discovered, which will bless all humanity.  The results speak for themselves.  In the words of Jane Shirtwhistle of Toledo, Ohio:

“I used to weigh 462 pounds on a 4’11” frame.  This was caused by eating fast food all the time and never using anything but the drive through.  I had acne everywhere, I didn’t want to leave the house.  I was tired all the time.  I couldn’t digest my food properly either and I was bloated for most of the day.  My life was miserable!  I tried doctor after doctor, medication after medication.  By the end of 2017 I was taking 23 pills a day with no relief.  My dogs were bored because I wouldn’t walk with them.   I wasn’t sure where to turn.

“Finally my best friend, who is a raw foods advocate and has an organic pineapple farm, convinced me to try the pineapple cure.  She sold me a juicer and showed me how to shave the rind and crown leaves into strands fine enough to consume.  It was pretty fibrous but I persevered, drinking lots of filtered water along with it.

“At first it was really hard, eating a whole, organic pineapple a day, and the strings kept getting caught in my teeth.  I wanted my burgers and pizza and french fries and everything else I was  used to.  But in less than a day, nearly all cravings stopped.  I added lemon to my water and the rest of them stopped.  I started sleeping through the night and my acne was gone within a week.

“After the first week of eating one whole pineapple and a gallon of a day, I noticed that my hair stopped falling out and my blemishes were going away.  My body felt nourished.  I started having energy.  My friend guided me to adding salads for my evening meal but she reminded me not to add anything else.  She explained that I started moving around more.

“It’s been six months since the pineapple cure.  I’ve lost over a hundred pounds and am still losing.  I’m able to just eat half an organic pineapple a day, along with a gallon of water and triple washed, organic vegetables and fruits that I grow in my garden.  I’ve learned that the skin of the pineapple and the leaves help replenish the nutrients that we no longer get with our nutrient poor, Westernized diet.  I am off all my medications and I’m once again enjoying walks with my dogs.  I feel energized, revitalized and like I am in control of my life again.  Thank you, pineapple cure!”

You, too, can be like Jane.  If you want to eat a whole organic pineapple a day, you can, and it will have incredible benefits.  But you no longer have to.  For just a few dollars a day, you can use our freeze dried and purified pineapple powder, certified to contain all parts of the plant for a nourishing, whole health solution.  It comes in easy to use packets that are convenient for work, home, and travel.  You will enjoy lymphatic purification, whole body fat reduction, a cessation to cravings, stronger, healthier skin and hair, and a revitalized outlook on life.  It is the easiest, safest, most convenient way to gain control over your health and your life.  Some of our successful patients have also reported that mood disorders have disappeared, and they no longer need psychiatric medications.  We offer a money back guarantee, but you won’t regret trying our pineapple cure!

Of course, this is not something I’m truly suggesting.  It’s an example of what happens when quack cures are supported by testimonial based “evidence.”  I wrote this up out of whole cloth to demonstrate the key warning signs to look out for when trying to avoid quackery.  It’s getting harder to avoid, too, because quacks are getting better and better at slinging believable sounding medical terminology.

Here are some things to look out for when watching out for quackery:

Authors who only have degrees outside the medical profession.  For example, one totally quacktastic book I just read was written by someone who started out as a chemist and then had “thirty years in private practice” with no mention of medical credentials.  Chemistry is important to biology, of course, but you also need a good knowledge of physiology and a host of other subjects.

Textwalls containing lots of big words that don’t necessarily go together.  Some quacks will try to dazzle you with twenty dollar words that they hope you won’t analyze.

Testimonials.  If there’s no mention of peer reviewed studies, watch out.  Testimonials are often just made up by an imaginative writer but they can be strangely convincing.

Mention of parasites.  For the sake of good taste, I didn’t include passing a giant worm as part of what my “patient” went through, but that often comes up.  When in doubt, gross ’em out!  It deactivates the logic centers in your brain.

An overly restrictive plan.  Most of the time when someone says “you can lose x amount of weight by only drinking some exotic shake, eating some exotic fruit, etc, you can look out for the sound of ducks.

Hearkening to the “golden age.”  The fallacy of the golden age is commonly used.  Though there is a grain of truth to it, there’s usually a lot of exaggeration meant to scare you into opening your wallet.  Basically, it boils down to “we eat and drink nothing but poisons now, it’s a wonder we’re not all dead, when just a hundred years ago the soil was clean and the air was clean and everybody was happy and the kids were all well behaved and nobody was fat and there was a rainbow every day.”

The “Cure” being an exclusive line of products.  Obviously, this is a clear sign that someone’s main interest is selling you something.

Medically significant conditions cured by insignificant actions.  Again, there is sometimes a grain of truth to this, but in general you aren’t going to cure a significant disease just by eating a certain food or taking a certain supplement.  Especially if that supplement only provides testimonials as proof.

Any mention of homeopathy.  Again, for the sake of good taste, I didn’t put that in the testimonial, but take a really hard look at anyone who advocates homeopathic remedies.  You can see why by looking at the history of the “remedy,” and The Economist featured a good article about it here. 

Remember – don’t believe me just because I said it, think about what I said and the examples I gave and see if it make sense to you.  We all owe it to ourselves to evaluate what we do with our own health, get a good understanding of what’s involved, and question things if they don’t make sense.

As we near Obon, her presence remains

Katzenworld recently featured a tribute to Nezumi, Honored Eternal Webmistress of this blog, and Queen of my heart.   When in flesh, she was a delightful calico girl who was one of the kindest people I’ve ever met.

Her ashes lie in a smooth, polished black box with he name on it, with her pawprint and a picture near.

And yet, her spirit isn’t gone.  Her spiritual father, Orion, of whom I have also written, still walks on the bed even though he left his flesh behind nearly ten years ago.

As for Nezumi, our other cat Shinji will sometimes stare at the empty air – or at the shelf where her ashes are kept.

Every once in a while I’ll feel her fur against my ankles or see an orange, black and white shadow flit by.

Neither has left me, and they both have my eternal loyalty, as I (apparently do) and it makes me feel peaceful.

I used to wonder if ghosts existed – I began to doubt it seriously – and then it was proven to me by my own cat-friends.  They made their presence impossible to ignore and they show themselves to both my spouse and I.  They are neither harmful nor destructive, and they come and go as they please.  Our bond is far from broken!  I personally think cats make great ghosts – mine did as they pleased when they were alive, so why not do the same once freed of their flesh?

I told Nezumi as that she could go or stay as she pleased, and that I would love her unceasingly.  It was the last thing she heard me say.

I still miss her – but I’m so glad she, and Orion, still choose to visit me.

So that’s why she’s Eternal Webmistress, the same way that Tama, the Japanese train stationmistress who just happened to be a calico, became Eternal Stationmistress upon her death.

In Japan, some celebrate Obon, (the festival of the dead) in mid-July, and some in mid-August, but in either case it’s a joyous chance to reunite with beloved family members who have passed from mortal life.  It’s not a somber occasion but a time to celebrate and have fun.  So I think often of my two well-loved cats as that festival nears.

When it comes time, I’ll light two lanterns for them and watch them floating in the pool and meditate on the fact that we are more than our bodies, we are luminous beings, not just crude matter.

 

floating lanterns.jpg

Antarctica – A Bonebreaker? Part 2 — Chronicles from Concordia

Dr. Nadja Albertsen is the ESA-sponsored medical doctor spending 12 months at Concordia research station in Antarctica. She facilitates a number of experiments on the effects of isolation, light deprivation, and extreme temperatures on the human body and mind. pQCT scanner used to study bones. Credits: ESA/IPEV/PNRA: N. Albertsen The scanner moves slowly up the…

via Antarctica – A Bonebreaker? Part 2 — Chronicles from Concordia

How to catch a horse in Horse Isle 3

So, you’ve traveled across the countryside.  You’ve seen a wild horse!  This is pretty likely, since they can appear pretty much anywhere – even on ranches and club land.  So what do you do now?

Catching horses can be a lot of fun but at when you are just learning how to play, it can be frustrating too.  There are two ways to do it.  You can use a lasso, obtainable for the low, low cost of 10 Essence, or you can craft Treats and catch them that way.

Using a Lasso:

If you are using a Lasso, it helps to start while you are about as close to the wild horse as you can get before it starts running away.  Approach slowly until you see the horse’s head come up, then stop.  Most horses, except for the most skittish ones, will hold still at that distance, and it varies from horse to horse.  When you are just beginning, it’s often best to try positioning yourself so that the horse’s head is pointed to the left and you are square with it, like this:

Catching a pony

Then, you can stay in first person view, or zoom out with your scroll wheel so that you can see what the lasso is doing.  At this distance you should only need two to three swings.  Aim for the head, and release the lasso just before it’s on the mark.  This will get easier and easier with practice.  You can also try this on floating Essence, that’s a great way to practice pinpoint rope work.

Once you have a horse, it’s good to be mounted and try from there.  Wilds are slightly easier to catch when they are a bit lower than you.  Also, having a horse that doesn’t have a high head carriage helps here.  Try different positions till you see what works best for you.

Using Treats:

If you’re thoroughly frustrated with the lasso, or just want another way to catch wild horses, it’s time to craft Treats.  Most of the gatherables in Horse Isle have different flavor categories.  You can start by picking a bunch of berries, fruit, grasses, grains, etcetera.  Then head to a club house (the tall, round building in every club town) or to your own house if you have one.  Click on the building and “craft treats” comes up as an option.

Club House
A Club House

To craft a treat, you need at least three different flavors.  For instance, if you had lemons, rice grains, and apples, that would be a Sour, Grainy, Fruity treat.  You can have up to five flavors in a treat.  For catching wild horses, it doesn’t matter what the flavor is so just make a bunch of treats with the most readily available ingredients.

Once you have made some treats, go find yourself a wild horse.  Dismount (if you already have a horse) and walk a little bit away so your own pony doesn’t eat the treat.

Go to your inventory and pick a treat.  Hold down the left mouse button to hold it out, and slowly walk toward the wild horse’s head.  In order to walk slowly, hold down the shift key.  If that doesn’t work, then you may need to map that key at the game start screen – ask in Help if you aren’t sure how.

Here are the steps again:

Get near the wild horse and away from any tame ones.

Hold left mouse button, while also holding down shift, while walking.

Left shift button and arrow keys work well here.

Walk toward the head of the horse.   The horse will take the treat, or not, and you might catch it.  Sometimes it takes two or three tries to catch a wild, so it’s a good thing treats are cheap!

Other ways of getting horses:

Auction houses are in many clubs, and you can go to Ads chat to see what’s being sold.  You don’t have to be a subscriber to use options.

Clubs also have player owned stores, and many of them have horses.  Search through their inventory using the Shopping Board.  It looks like  a sign and can be found at clubs.

You can also breed them – using other people’s breeding bars, or store studding, if need be – but that’s a whole ‘nother article.

Lately, people do Live Auctions too so you can watch Ads chat for one of those.

Update:

Horses can now wander away from you, or even get spooked by your lasso.  They will usually be just standing there, or grazing, until you approach.  When you get close enough, their head will come up and they’ll face you.  This happens at varying distances.  Generally the horses with worse stats will stand there like a lump as you ride or walk near, while others might even start to run just as your rope reaches them!  Horses in Dark Forest, or in caves, tend to be especially skittish.

If you have a horse that starts to react at a point when you are still too far away to comfortably use your lasso, this might be a good time to try Treating instead.  Usually you can get a horse within 1-3 treats.

 

Interested in joining? 

Click HERE or go to the HI3 site and put in my user ID, 1023.   You’ll be rewarded with 10 Esroh Essence (good for more energy) and 1000 gold dust to help you get started!

Antarctica – A Bonebreaker? Part 1 — Chronicles from Concordia

For a few seconds, he resembles a Hindu god. One leg is slightly bent but firmly planted on the black plate that detects his movements. The other leg is placed over the first, while the arms are crossed over the elbows. It looks complicated but the technique works. He manages to stay up on one…

via Antarctica – A Bonebreaker? Part 1 — Chronicles from Concordia

Partial lunar eclipse seen from Antarctica — Chronicles from Concordia

Partial eclipse seen from Antarctica. Credits: IPEV/PNRA/ESA–N. Albertsen As the world celebrates the first Moon landing 50 years ago this week we were also treated to a partial lunar eclipse visible from most of the globe last night. The Moon is the only place that everybody in the world has seen – it is of…

via Partial lunar eclipse seen from Antarctica — Chronicles from Concordia

The passing of Nezumi

Our longtime site mascot, Nezumi, has passed from the mortal realm.

In other stories about her, I’ve told how she found us as a tiny injured kitten who was driven away by her mother.  I’ve told how she grew into a fine figure of a queen cat, nurtured by the loyal Orion.  I’ve also told of how we lost Orion and how she carried on with us.  She even wrote a few blog entries on this site.  She was a wonderful girl, a staunch family member, often hilarious, and always lovable.  Lately, her health has been failing and we’ve finally lost our final battle.

It started a few months ago when she started becoming even pickier than usual and we thought there was a problem with her mouth.  She started drooling and rubbing her mouth on things, so it made sense.  We also wondered if she had a hairball that wouldn’t come up.

The vet found a mass near her intestines, but since it wasn’t blocking anything we thought she might be okay.  Perhaps the mass would be benign, perhaps we could encourage her to eat, perhaps we could control the swelling with steroids and find out it was just IBD.  We did blood work, got good news on her organ function.

We got a bit of a reprieve – for a time she seemed to be getting better.  Then she took a turn for the worse.  Back to the vet.  The news was bad.  So we changed our strategy and just focused on keeping her comfortable.  A couple weeks passed.  Her normal meow changed to a little squawk, she lost her coordination, but she still loved attention and would ask to be picked up so she could be near us.  I still saw a soul behind her eyes.  Normally so gentle, she covered my arms with inadvertent scratches and I find now that I want to rub ink into them so I can wear them forever.  Her sweet face and personality created instant love from the first moment I saw her as a tiny waiflike kitten.

That was why it was so hard to have to schedule her end – however, we both agreed that she should go when she still had some dignity left, instead of us selfishly trying to eke the last drops of life out until she passed away in pain and terror.  I also scheduled an appointment with a crematorium for shortly after her last vet visit.

I had to take a Benadryl last night so I could sleep, and still sat up petting her.  My tears were a river that has still not run dry.  In the morning I gave her some brushing, which she loves, and offered her broth for breakfast – which she wouldn’t touch.  She kept patting me and looking into my eyes.   When it was time we took her to our vet.  The assistant laid her on a blue and white Southwestern blanket to make her comfortable.  The vet gave her one more exam to make sure nothing had improved, and then we said goodbye.  Shortly after, Nezumi was gone.  I felt a cool wind blow through me, around that time, though for the life of me I can’t remember exactly when.

The people at Tucson Pet Cemetery were very kind.  The office lady was quiet yet compassionate, neither adding nor detracting from our grief.  The office cat, a fat, bob-tailed Cymric cat, offered cuddles, headbonks, and purring.  She went over the options with us, not trying to upsell but just responding to our questions.   We placed Nezumi on a sort of table under a window, in a shaded room with comfortable chairs so we could say our final farewells.

I find that as sad as this all was, I couldn’t ask for a better end myself.  I hope that when the time for my end comes, I can meet it in peace, with my family around me.  We’ll make a place in the yard for her ashes and set up a cat statue in her memory.  I know that she’s beyond all pain now, and I hope she’s met up with Orion so he can show her the ropes of being a spirit being.

For now, we’ll comfort Shinji as he’s an only cat, yet again.  He’s seen a lot of people die and so we want to be gentle with him.

 

when I feel you’re gone,

my heart pours out misogi

waterfall of tears.

 

doorway-crop-1000

 

The Haunted Mission

The picture above is not from my camera.   Read on, and you’ll find out why.

But first, a little background.

San Xavier is a very old and famous Spanish Catholic mission, the oldest European structure in America.  Though the original mission was established in 1692, the current church dates back to the 1780s and was built by the local Tohono O’odham tribe.  The Wikipedia article (link) gives a good accounting of its history.

Last year, my mother and I went there to see the place.  She has an interest in architecture and was raised Catholic, so it was a meaningful trip for her.  I was curious if I might sense something but wasn’t expecting anything in particular.

When we got there, I realized that I’d forgotten my camera in the car.  It’s a low-end Nikon, not a camera attached to a phone.  I think she uses a Canon but hers is a bit simpler than mine.  I went back to get it.  Now, my camera was working fine until this point and had fresh batteries, the kind that let you test them.  I decided to take a picture of the cross on top of a low hill near the Mission, the same hill where some of the stone for building was taken from.

As I focused on the hill, the camera retracted the lens and shut off.  I turned it on again and again the same thing happened.  I could never get the camera to focus on the hill or anything else in the area.  The only time the lens retracts like that is when the light is bad, or when the batteries are dying, and neither of those things were the case.  It also didn’t give me its usual low battery warning.  My Mom’s camera didn’t have a problem, though she didn’t try to use it in that parking lot.

I gave up on the camera and went inside.

Inside the mission itself, I found the sanctuary a rather interesting place.  Paintings of saints and such were everywhere and the old wooden seats were intact.  I’m not sure if they were original but they were definitely old!  I felt a heavy feeling as I walked around in there, looking at the art.  After a time I was a bit light headed and also felt somewhat uncomfortable.  I spoke quietly to any spirits who might be hanging around, letting them know I was here with peaceful intent.  Around this time I began to be aware of an emotional weight as well, and I also felt something like a vibration throughout my body.  Tears started to well up also even though I hadn’t been feeling particularly sad.  My mind was a bit foggy as well.  The general impression I get when thinking about those few minutes is dimness, and heaviness.

In case it wasn’t just psychic background count, or stored emotion in this old place, I spoke again to the spirits, letting them know that if they were afraid to move on, they need not be, that they were free.  My mother seemed to feel something as well but it was difficult to put into words.

The moment I left the sanctuary and went out into clear air, the heaviness went away, my head cleared, the vibrations stopped, and the emotional sensations also left me.

I’ve done a bit of research and have found two legends about San Xavier.  One describes an old padre who wanders the church at sunrise and sunset, and the other tells of a nun and five children who died in a fire as the nun was leading them to safety.  One person on a hauntings website tells of a heavy feeling, and another says the place is very haunted but isn’t specific about how.  I don’t think I sensed the padre or the nun and children.  My impression was that either I was sensing the strong emotion of all the people who prayed in that sanctuary, each leaving their own imprint like finger-marks on a long-unwashed doorway, or perhaps it was a collection of spirits who hadn’t moved on.  I personally have a thought that sometimes people might pass from this life but not be able to move on because they fear condemnation or eternal suffering, and so they might get stuck.  So when I feel anything like a spirit who might be stuck like that it’s my practice to tell them that they are cared about and that they are free to go where they will, in case no one told them before.

I still don’t entirely know what I felt, but I did undeniably feel something.  My imagination just isn’t that good!

Mithril Wedding Rings

If you’ve read The Hobbit, or the Lord of the Rings, or played certain role playing games, you’ve probably heard of a metal called mithril.  Other names for it are “truesilver,” or “silversteel.”  It’s supposed to be very strong, very light, and it looks like silver.

 

Mithril! All folk desired it. It could be beaten like copper, and polished like glass; and the Dwarves could make of it a metal, light and yet harder than tempered steel. Its beauty was like to that of common silver, but the beauty of mithril did not tarnish or grow dim.

–The Fellowship of the Ring

“Also there is this!” said Bilbo, bringing out a parcel which seemed to be rather heavy for its size. He unwound several folds of old cloth, and held up a small shirt of mail. It was close-woven of many rings, as supple almost as linen, cold as ice, and harder than steel. It shone like moonlit silver, and was studded with white gems.

–The Hobbit

 

Now, it can’t be ‘beaten like copper,’ but there is a metal that looks like silver, can do all these things and also doesn’t tarnish…

Titanium.

So, I was pleased to be able to buy wedding rings of titanium.  As far as I’m concerned, that’s about as close to mithril as we’re ever likely to get!

They are simple, look a lot like silver, and the symbolism is awesome.  To me they mean purity, strength, durability, and the connection with air and spacecraft is undeniable.  I also know they are never going to tarnish, react with my skin, or bend!  They’re even resistant to scratching.

So there you have it – modern mithril.  Personally, I can’t think of a better symbol of an enduring bond.

 

 

…to love, honor and cherish, in peace and in war, in sickness and in health, in crisis and in fortune, without reservation, come what may, until the stars themselves grow cold…