Healthy skepticism

Sooner or later you have to get to know what’s available in order to track the activity on your self-hosted blog.
Yesterday I spent about two hours reading info on this subject and finally I decided to bite the bullet and give a try to Google Analytics.

The process of setting up the account was easy.
You have to have a Google email address first.The you go to www.google.com/analytics/ and fill out the rest of the steps.
Once finished you are given a code to insert into your website, at the end of each post.
At this point I thought that I am going to screw it up big time, but it went as easy as a breeze.
All I had to do was to add the code while in ‘code’ not ‘visual’ tab.
Now I have to wait 24 hours for my first report.
I am already nervous thinking that probably I would be disappointed, but hey, I don’t fancy the ‘ignorance is bliss’ truism.

If at some distant point in time I would decide to get serious about monetizing this blog, I need to know as much as I can about what’s happening.

When you are on a Wordpress platform (your blog is hosted by wordpress.com), it’s ridiculously easy to get the needed information. Wordpress offers blogstats by default.
Splendid feature.
But on your self-hosted one you have to use different sources. Google Analytics or some plugins made available by the other branch of wordpress: wordpress.org.

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No, I am not talking about drowning, I am talking about the water we drink.
Everybody is familiar with the 8-glasses-of-water-a-day advice, right?
Actually it’s not an advice, it’s a dangerous medical myth.
A myth is a myth until it’s debunked; at that point it becomes a corollary of human stupidity.

One of my colleagues drinks about seven liters of water every day. That’s about 6 liters more than I do.
And he is totally convinced that it’s not only healthy, it also helps achieving his weight loss target by burning carbohydrates.

I have a feeling that this ‘water-burning-carbohydrates’ it’s just another myth, waiting to be debunked.

Now, let’s see what are the water functions in the body:

- Regulates body temperature
- Moisten tissues (mouth, eyes, nose)
- Protects body organs
- Lubricate joints
- Helps prevent constipation
- Flushes out waste products
- Carries nutrients and oxygen to cells
- Helps dissolve minerals and nutrients

Water makes about 60% of our weight. We are truly weird beings, made of 60 per cent water and 90 per cent bacteria.

We lose water every day through breath, perspiration, urine and feces. Therefore it makes sense to replenish the water supply by consuming foods and beverages that contain water.
If you exercise, you may need to drink more fluids, depending on how much you sweat. And by fluids, I mean sport drinks that contain sodium, to replace the sodium lost through sweating, and reduce the chances of developing hyponatremia, which can be life-threatening.
It makes sense that under various conditions (humid, hot environment, breast-feeding, some health conditions like vomiting and diarrhea) you should drink more water than you normally would do.
But there are no scientific studies to prove that drinking 8 glasses of water a day has any added benefits vs. drinking only 4, for example.
Even more, I found a very interesting data on daily fluid intake by American adults before and after the ‘8 x 8’ revolution.
It shows that after the adoption of 8-glasses-of-water-daily, the intake of soft drinks, alcohol and juices doubled!
No wonder the rate of obesity.

It’s better to listen to your body and your common sense.
When I tried to increase my water intake to meet the minimum 8 glasses a day, I felt sick and vomited. Probably it was my body response to too much water.

Conclusions:
- Fluids come from various sources: soups, fruits, vegetables, tea, coffee, beer, wine, water
- Drink water when you feel thirsty
- Stop drinking water if you feel nauseous, it’s a sign you had too much

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I was watching a documentary on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. At some point you could see the interior of a room, where a few Tibetan monks started the ritual following the death of a young Tibetan. The room did not have windows, only openings in the stoned wall. But the openings were covered by very small curtains.

As always, I was overwhelmed by the austerity of the Tibetan life, and again I promised myself that one day I will go there. Maybe I am not spiritual enough for this type of journey but I am pretty sure that I would have a life transforming experience.

What do you feel watching this picture?

Photo courtesy of Konstantin

First glimpse brought me a huge emotional pain; my soul hurt. I could almost hear the eerie sound of the wind. The wind that burnt the faces of the old and young Tibetans for centuries.

The most popular image people would refer to while thinking of Tibet, beside the Chomolangma naturally, it’s the artifact found on top of Jokhang (The House of Lord) Temple.
Deers are a direct reference to the Buddha’s first teaching in the Deer Park, Sarnath, also called Dharmachakra Parivartan. The suggestion is that his presence was so peaceful that even the animals came to listen.
In the Tibetan tradition, a monastery which holds the Kangyur and Tengyur collections of texts would have this symbol of deers on both sides of the Dharma-wheel on the roof.

The Jokhang Temple is the most celebrated temple in Tibet. Because the temple is not controlled by any sect of the Tibetan Buddhism, it attracts followers of all the sects, along with the followers of Bon Po, Tibet’s indigenous religion.
The Temple houses the most sacred artifact of the Buddhism: the statue of Jowo Sakyamuni or Gautama Buddha, the founder of the Buddhism.

The statue is 1.5 meters tall, cast from precious metals and decorated with jewels and it represents Sakyamuni when he was twelve-year old.

The Tibetans continue to be violently repressed by the Chinese. Hundreds of Tibetan monks are still imprisoned, vast areas of the country, which are off limits to foreign visitors or journalists, are stripped of natural resources and most monasteries in desperate need of reconstruction are left without any financial support by the Chinese government.
Some monasteries, part of the tourist circuit, have been more or less given reconstruction assistance.
Not Tashilhunpo.
But Tibetan pilgrims still visit this ancient holy site to access the spiritual presence and to pray for the spirit- health of the monastery, spirit to be said to return only after the departure of the Chinese.
The ritual asks to follow clockwise the sacred path, outside the walls.

Photo courtesy of Konstantin

Tashilhunpo remains one of the poorer monasteries, but one that is still trying to look after the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of all the monks, throughout their lives.

I found this very interesting site, that promises a meaningful trip to Tibet.

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I was watching the other day a documentary about Kabbalah and at some point the name Abulafia came up.
Suddenly I remember where I’ve read it before: in Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum.
Interesting how things are connected in life.

In Foucault’s Pendulum Abulafia was the nickname of Belbo’s computer used by him and two other friend-editors to decipher the hidden coded manuscript alleged to contain the information on how the Templar Knights planned to take over the world.
When I’ve read the book, I was intrigued by the name, but that was all. I was too much preoccupied on trying to navigate the intrigue to give a second thought to this name. The book it’s not an easy reading but the journey through the labyrinth it’s quite interesting.

Who was Abulafia?
Abraham Abulafia (1240-1294) is the most important figure in the prophetic Kabbalah.
As opposed to the most known Kabbalist who lived a normal conventional family life, Abulafia was the wandering mystic and teacher, moving from town to town, spreading his teachings.
Abulafia teaches that, by using his methods of letter permutation, meditation, and free association, you can receive prophecy today. Naturally, the Thorah scholars are not quite happy with the mystical point of interpreting divine words.

Before my son was born, I tried to find a meaningful name for him. I came across a Kabbalarian analysis of names and it took me a few days to find one that seemed to work well with the last name and I liked as well. Nowadays everybody knows about artists embrassing Kabbalah, but without converting to Judaism, which is a point various rabbies are complaining about. Probably Abulafia opened Pandora’s box with his teachings.

Finally, what is Foucault’s Pendulum?
The Pendulum is made of a support, a wire and an iron ball that swings back and forth in a plane that is fix relative to the distant stars. Because of the Earth rotation, it will appear that the pendulum rotates anti-clockwise describing a full circle within 24 hours period.

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I like to write. Sometimes it’s therapeutic, or so they say.
Instead of dwelling into your rambling thoughts, it’s best to vent them, so yes, it can be therapeutic.

It has always puzzled me how some people can write 5 times a day without saying anything basically.
I mean, no real value information. Useless thoughts thrown in the cyberspace.
Yeah, yeah, my thoughts are yadda-yadda as well, but hey, I don’t make money writing stupid things. I write them for free, right?

So, this is my dilemma: I understood that in order to get accepted by programs that pay you to blog, you have to show originality.
But it’s not quite clear what ‘originality’ means.
So, to shed some light I started browsing blogs that are making money.
After skimming through two of them I lost my hope that I would be able to prostitute myself like that.
I mean, to say that I found them ridiculous it’s an understatement.
Some gal had an entry almost every other hour and I could not find absolutely anything interesting or remotely useful.
To have an audience you have to have some exposure, meaning that you have to use the appropriate wording to be found by the spiders.
What are these magic words?
‘Car insurance’ could be some? Like am I going to start yapping about how wonderful it is to have car insurance, or how necessary is it, or something along this line, just making sure I use the magic words as often as necessary to be found.
Or maybe ‘plastic surgery’, because I guess a plastic surgeon would have the money to pay for advertising.
But wait! I forgot that I don’t have AdSense and I am not yet accepted by PayPerPost, I don’t even have ContentLink. I don’t even think I could be accepted by Kontera (ContentLink) having like 100 visitors per month. I have seen numbers like 500,000 as the minimum requirement. 500,000???!!!! Not in this lifetime.

Maybe I should start an experiment… well, duh, I work in research, this is something I know.
So the project might be ‘how many things I am not interested in could be the subject of posting just because they are well paid’
Because let’s face it, nobody can convince me that the gal who writes about ski equipment while living in San Antonio is really interested in this stuff.

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I had a routine MRI a month ago and looking for a thing, the technician found the other, namely a chronic, severe sinus infection.
My doctor was puzzled ‘with such a big sinus infection you should have screamed in pain, what the heck is happening?’
If I recall correctly, it was sometimes in the spring time when I had a bad cold; I kept coughing for almost two months. Normally I suffer from migraines, I have had them since I was in school, eons ago. Therefore that cold came and went like a normal one, or so I thought.
I was left with a constant nasal congestion, postnasal drip and some persistent headaches, thought to be my normal migraines.

My doctor gave me some antibiotic, thinking that it might have been a bacterial infection. It did not help at all; everything was still there, the postnasal drip, the pressure, the nasal congestion.

Finally I remembered about the nasal cleansing I used to do when I was practicing yoga.
And I thought that I should give it a try.
But before that, I did some inhalations: boiling water + lots of sea salt + some baking soda. It helped a lot; almost immediately I could feel the relief from the pressure; even the headache was almost gone.
I could not believe the wonderful feeling of breathing almost normally.
Next step: I bought a Sinus Rinse made by NeilMed. It consists of premixed packets of pharmaceutical grade Sodium Chloride and Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda). Although you don’t need a prescription, you have to ask the pharmacist because it’s behind the counter.
Great product, I would highly recommend it to everybody suffering from sinusitis.
Just follow the instructions step-by-step.

Some people recommend daily nasal cleansing, to wash away excess mucus, allergens and bacteria. That will keep a normal amount of mucus capable of fighting infections. Maybe before going to bed I should add this to the routine: nasal cleansing followed by teeth brushing.

To help my sinusitis and my son’s cold symptoms (stuffy/runny nose) I started again using essential oils.
Normally I use an oil burner (the ceramic type with a candle) and add a few drops of lavender, tea tree, oregano and thyme. I did not have any eucalyptus.

Oregano Oil
Considered ‘the nature purifier’, it contains powerful anti-microbial compounds. It’s recommended especially for respiratory and sinus conditions.
I am not very fond of the smell, but hey, it’s healthy.

Thyme Oil
This is a very potent oil, with lots of benefits. It fights infections, boosts immune system and it can be mixed with other essential oils.

Tea Tree Oil
This is a popular antiseptic oil, known probably by everybody.

Thanks to the mixture I made, my son seems to sleep quite well, breathing much easier than yesterday night.

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Today, as in 2 minutes ago, I decided that I need a special category for this controversial issue.
Why controversial? Because I could not make up my mind if I should have added it to the ‘myths debunked’ category or to ‘uncategorized’ one or plain and simple to the ‘rambling thoughts’.

Now I have my category and I will try to do my best to come up with objective opinions.

Let’s start: the urban legend says that you can make money on the net without investing money. Interesting and appealing concept, isn’t it?
It goes even better: you can still have your full time job and be able to add another couple of hundred dollars (at least!) a month just by monetizing your rambling about everything.

It’s just an urban legend. I work full time as a research engineer, I am a full time mother and wife and the reality is that making money on the net it’s not an easy task. Everybody can do it, right? Why not me? If you want to get a reality check, take a look at the following questions:

1. Are you really, really good at finding the right niche?
2. Do you have any Internet marketing knowledge?
3. Are you a stay-at-home mother/father?
4. Do you have any idea about programming, web design, viral marketing, multi level marketing?
5. Can you spend at least 4 hours daily trying to write good posts?

If you answer with a ‘No’ to the above questions, then don’t hold your breath until you start making money from your ramblings.
There is a new trend among Internet marketers: baby boomers targeting. I guess it’s because the generation Y eats already Internet marketing for breakfast.
I am a baby boomer and beside not having time to write as much as a teenager or a stay-at-home mom, I am not computer savvy either.
Meaning that I am badly deficient at the most important things you have to have in order to make a living out of Internet.
And like me are lots of others, moving targets - so to speak- for unscrupulous Internet marketers.

Probably I am not going to be able to provide solutions, I am not a snake-oil vendor, but at least I will make piece with my conscience and try to spread the warning.

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One of Nostradamus prophecy said that “the yellow race will inherit the earth”
Any skeptic would say: “yeah, right, Nostradamus who?”
But like it or not, the reality is that India and China will lead to a new world order, probably sooner than later. So they will inherit the earth.

Last week I found a very interesting article in The Vancouver Sun, written by Jonathan Manthrope , for whom I have an immense respect.
According to him, the future is going to be a difficult place for countries like Canada.
The rule-based international system is not going to survive the rise of superpowers like India and China.
They will make their own rules and impose their own values.

Note: I am not going even to touch the number of recalls we were confronted with this year.

Even the administration of president Bush recognized this when it decided it was better to be India’s nuclear partner than to continue berating New Delhi for not giving a rat’s ass to the nuclear management regime.

C.Raja Mohan, a former member of India’s National Security Advisory Board, is speaking in a lecture series sponsored by BMO Financial Group and the Canadian Institute for International Affairs. According to him, the western world has not grasped the full implications of the rise of Asia, especially India and China.
Both will match or overtake the superpower status of the United States within 30 years.
And with combined populations of about 2.5 billion people the demands these two countries are going to make on the world resources is beyond imagination.

Note: No it’s not; it’s pretty clear that we are going to be in deep s*eet.

To go back to the above mentioned Mr. Mohan, the challenge would be for India and China not to get involved in military conflicts with each other, in the race to control the resources.
It would be a big mistake for western countries to believe that China and India as superpowers will slot into the template for international behavior created by the nations of the North Atlantic basin.
Throughout history, superpowers fashioned the international system to fit their needs and interests.
India is the world’s largest democracy but it does not automatically support other democratic countries. India supported Sudan and Burma (Myanmar) making a classic trade-off between its values and its national interest in securing access to resources of those two countries.
India is going to be a revisionist power.
Mohan said:
“The issue for countries like Canada is if India and China have the power to change the rules, you are going to have to deal with it. If India and China decide to melt the ice cap, you are going to have to deal with it”

Note: I guess that’s in answer to our Prime Minister stance to global warming, as in if India and China are not forced to follow the Kyoto protocol, why should Canada?

Conclusion: instead of asking our kids to learn the fancy schmancy French maybe Cantonese, Mandarin or Punjabi would be more appropriate.

Read Jonathan Manthrope’s blog here

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For the past two months I’ve been trying pretty hard to find a way to monetize my writing. Don’t get me wrong. I like having a blog to share my thoughts with my readers. But hey, if I can add some $$ value to it, why not?
I remember the day when I spent $47 buying info about getting rich through affiliates sites. Big, big scam.
You can’t make money with them, unless on top of this amount you pay a monthly fee to get your already designed website (by the affiliates hosting it) and at that point you can add other stuff to your website. Still depending entirely on the affiliate network.
I am not going to say the name, but it’s a very popular one.
There are a few important things to remember and take into account:
1. Most of the affiliate programs are based on pyramidal marketing, meaning that the people on top of the pyramid are the ones making good money; you on the other hand, are the new entry into the system, you are not going to make almost anything. I made a lame $10 in three or four months
2. If you are told that all you have to do is to get for a certain amount of money for a website hosted by the affiliate program, and after that sit on your butt and collect the moolah, run as fast as you can.
3. Logically speaking, could it be any normal marketing millionaire sharing secrets about getting rich on the net, for $47 or $97? why would they do that? It pisses me off to no extent even this amount : why 47 or 97? why not 98? It must be some psychological tool.
4. Beware of the ‘getting rich without investing any money’ trap. If there is indeed something like that, I have very serious doubts that somebody would share the info with the blogoshpere.
5. I tried to get into affiliate programs not by selling dreams and ebooks, but by promoting sales of products, namely herbs, vitamins and teas. Another warning point: most of them are Multi Level Marketing, and you are asked for money to get accepted as a seller. OK… does it make any sense? I have my own domain, my own website, my potential customers and I have to pay money to X or Y retailers to sell their products? You have to read about 20 pages of legal disclaimers, sign that you agree with all the terms, pay the money and then, good luck. On top of that the whole e-business may go tits up suddenly.

Statistically speaking, most of the successful internet marketers are in their late 20s- early 30s. These guys were born with a hand on a remote control or a game console.
They have started internet marketing campaigns in late 90s. We are now in 2007, almost 2008 and logically speaking we have lost about 10 years of trying to make money on the net.
We don’t have the time or the energy to learn everything we need to be successful.
And this is where the ‘beauty’ (not!) is: they now as much as we do, that we need this precious info. Whatever freebee we get, it’s probably not very useful or it’s been already used and it’s living the final moments. And here I am talking about the sort of honest guys.
Other type of e-marketers are going to sell the useless info, because guess what? Their motto is ‘a sucker is born every minute’

Conclusion: it’s a rant, yes it is, I am a bad sport, sour looser, whatever. But I lost the money I earned working hard, not scamming people.
And the reality is that it is foolish to believe that multimillionaires gurus are going to tell me how to make money.

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Canned vegetables vs frozen ones

When we talk about vegetables, probably nothing is better than the fresh ones.
But realistically speaking from the convenience point of view we are more attracted to the canned and frozen ones.
Canned vegetables are made via heat. Heat is necessary to kill micro-organisms, prevent other chemical reactions and reduce the oxidation that will cause rancidity.
The heat will not only change flavor and color, it would take a toll on nutrients as well. According to some studies, up to 50% of the nutrients are lost during the canning process.
Vitamins, especially water-soluble vitamins like C and the B vitamins, are heat-sensitive and some leach into cooking water in the factory.
Frozen vegetables are the safe alternative striking the balance between safety and nutrition. They are made by plunging briefly the vegetables into boiling water followed by rapid cooling.
The preferred method of cooking vegetables is steaming to limit the nutrients and vitamin loss.

Sodium and Potassium Effects

Facts:

- To counterbalance the taste loss due to heating and refinement, manufacturers will add extra salt.
- Salt also aid in preservation.
- People get 75 per cent of their salt from processed food, 10-15 per cent from food itself and 10-15 percent is added by consumers.
- The majority of people exceed the recommended salt intake (6 grams per day)
- Processing vegetables = potassium loss. Potassium is a mineral important to keep the sodium’s damage at bay.
- Sodium plays an important roll on blood pressure.

Conclusion:
-With potassium lost via processing and the extra salt (Sodium) added to improve taste, we have an imbalance in the system. Hence high blood pressure which can lead to heart disease and stroke.
- According to some studies salt had no impact on blood pressure for people who had not been diagnosed with hypertension.

How to become a shopping expert
- Buy food from around the produce area: fresh and frozen vegetables and fruits, fish, meat and diary
- Choose frozen veggetables over canned, except tomatoes. The heat from cooking tomatoes actually helps to release lycopene, which is the main beneficial nutrient found in tomatoes.
- Choose real whole grain related products; check the label: it should not have an endless list of components
- Avoid everything that lists ‘partially hydrogenated oil’
- Choose a small piece of true cheese over a larger serving of processed cheese; I don’t even fancy the ‘light’ variety of cheese, because to make it light -as in less fat- the food manufacturers will compensate with other ingredients, moving it far from the natural form
- When looking for a good fruit juice, target the 100% fruit variety; it may have a mixture of natural juices, very often including apple and grape ones, along with natural flavours to compensate the loss during pasteurization, vitamin C and citric acid to maintain a shelf-stable pH. Of course the freshly-squeezed home-made juice is always the best

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