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AVOID HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP AT ALL COSTS

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I’ve been preaching about the dangers of high fructose corn syrup for years, and finally, The Times Online verifies: “Scientists have proved for the first time that a cheap form of sugar used in thousands of food products and soft drinks can damage human metabolism and is fuelling the obesity crisis.” www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article6954603.ece


For years I’ve been trying to stringently avoid highly processed foods in general, and foods with high fructose corn syrup in particular. I steer my children away from it. It’s a relief to see the scientific community rallying around what we in the natural health fields have known for years:

“Fructose bypasses the digestive process that breaks down other forms of sugar. It arrives intact in the liver where it causes a variety of abnormal reactions, including the disruption of mechanisms that instruct the body whether to burn or store fat.”

 

My question is, knowing that the US FDA is only a shill for the chemical, pharmaceutical, and biotech companies, will the FDA finally now warn people against high fructose corn syrup, which is potentially as dangerous to people as cigarettes?

Or will the FDA continue to turn a blind eye to the crippling and sickening of the American people by the aforementioned chemical, pharmaceutical, and biotech companies?

Because those companies do not have Americans’ best interests at heart. They have their cash influx at heart. And the FDA has pandered to that, probably because there is a constant flux of scientists and researchers from companies seeking FDA approval to the FDA, and then back to their original companies, when they’ve gotten their products approved. Yep, it’s true: scientists will, say for example, leave Monsanto to work at the FDA when they want the use of bovine growth hormone approved in milk; then, when the FDA has approved the adulterated milk so that Monsanto can get richer, those scientists return to Monsanto. This is of course purely a hypothetical situation: at least, I present it that way, though I read that it happened.

(See NEXUS Magazine, several articles including June/July 2001, vol. 8 #4, “Milking the Truth with GE Hormones” by Jane Akre and Steve Wilson, also Aug/Sept 1998, vol. 5 #5, “The Health Dangers of Dairy Products,” by Robert Cohen, regarding scientist Dr. Margaret Miller.)

So, how soon before the big $$ who profit over high fructose corn syrup can be silenced so that Americans can be healthy?

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Barnes & Noble’s nook: flawed and buggy, wait to purchase

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So I’ve been reading on my ebay-bought nook. It’s got issues.

The weirdest issue: page skipping. Closely related: there’s no “go to page number” function. You can “go to” a chapter, but not to a page. Why, oh why?
I was galloping along, despite the slow page turning function, and my nook went from page 49 to page 61. No matter how I tried, it would not go to page 50.
And there’s no “go to page number” function, so there was no way to input page 50.
The on-line nook help boards helped. Change the font size, and the pages re-appear. Okay, I changed the font from medium to small, and voila! The pages reappeared! With one rather large problem: they are no longer numbered. The novel becomes one long stream of consciousness event. I don’t know about other people, but I like to see page numbers.
But I was luckier than many: a good number of readers are having problems with purchased books having blank pages. That’s right, they pay good money for an ebook, and when it arrives on their ereader, the pages are empty. Not cool.
Moreover, a number of nook owners are reporting android system failures. Others are reporting that the nook wafts out into outer space with “formatting” that never goes away. Their nook screens are locked on that one word, and the ebook never appears.
It’s clear from the nook boards that the nook engineers are working on the problems. My question is, why are they playing this lame game of catch up? Because B&N wanted a big cash windfall, so they went out with more marketing fanfare than technical integrity, and then released–late–a product that was seriously flawed?
Why would a reputable company make such a venal decision? I think B&N will lose some good will over this fiasco.
Perhaps the promised software update will resolve some of these issues. It remains to be seen whether this nook will live up to its promise or become an expensive paperweight. I bet Apple comes in with an ereader that leaves the nook in the dust. Hey Apple: price your ereader competitively, and even fools like me who bought the nook will buy yours.
In summary: the nook is a good idea that fails.
MADNESS: I bought a nook on eBay

MADNESS: I bought a nook on eBay

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MADNESS: I bought a nook on eBay
Note: I paid far less than double. But I did pay a premium.
The sad thing is that I added a nook to my bn.com shopping cart on the day it was announced. But I couldn’t bring myself to complete the transaction. I wanted to feel one in my hands, read the reviews, and consider the Kindle. Then December arrived and with it, nook frenzy. I read some rave reviews of this latest delectable gadget. I started scouring eBay for one for which I wouldn’t have to pay double.
I tell myself it’s market research, because I’m an author.
The truth is, I read voraciously and lickety split fast, and patience is my growing point, not my strong point. To be able to read anything right away without walking the three blocks to my local Barnes & Noble will be a treat for me.
Ecco, the nook has been in my grubby palms for several hours. Here’s the scoop.
Bad news first: the nook is heavy. Heavier than it looks. And it’s definitely slow. Pages lop over like a turtle crossing a finish line. I purchased a novel to read tonight so I’ll blog on how annoying the slowness is when I finish the ebook.
Also, the reading screen seems one shade too dim, to my eyes. It’s simply not white enough. It’s real gray. Not light gray, but gray gray. I get that backlighting causes eye strain and reflective light is the way to go, but real paper is pretty white. Open a book and check it out. So why not make the eink page whiter? To heighten the contrast between the black letters, which are crisp, and the page, which is just so gray? It would boost this ereader’s appeal.
The next negative point that must be stated: the buttons and touch screen are not immediately intuitive. They take some figuring out. If you’re like me and you want to open something and use it right away, this obfuscation will be annoying. I downloaded the pdf of the manual onto my macbook pro.
Now, the positives: The touchscreen is way cool. In the end, I couldn’t bring myself to buy the kindle, though I parked one in my Amazon shopping cart and stared at it for days on end, because I just didn’t like those clunky looking buttons on the bottom. I’m a dedicated iPhone user. I like virtual keyboards. User interface matters to me.
It’s great to scroll along those covers, like walking along a case full of candy. And my purchase went through immediately. For the record: I bought Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol. I could pretend that it’s because he went to Amherst (was he the source of one of those gargantuan donations to the school this fall?) and my beloved eldest daughter attends Amherst so I am biased in favor of Amherst grads. But the truth is, for as mediocre a prose writer as Brown is, he can tell a whopping good story. Sure, there’s no character development, and the diction of some of the sentences should make Amherst ashamed that he earned his degree there. (Why doesn’t he have a better editor or copyeditor, someone who can politely point out the most egregious of his lines, where he’s just godawful clunky and infelicitous???) But Brown has a sense for conflict and suspense and mystery, and I enjoy his work.
Next I will probably buy Sue Grafton’s U book because Grafton’s prose is extremely beautiful, and she can also tell a great story!
That is, I will buy it IF it turns out that the gray reading screen doesn’t detract from the reading experience too much. Fingers are crossed.
One other reason I jumped and bought this device now: I’ve been following the Apple Tablet rumors, and the latest one said that the Tablets, which will feature ebooks (and Apple is making excellent deals with publishers) will be here in the spring. And that they will run $1000. As diehard an Apple fan as I am–one whole grand to read books, more than twice what I paid even on eBay, is just too damn expensive.
So I indulged myself, and now it’s in my hands. More tomorrow, after I find the symbol. Anyone else take the leap that I did, into a molto expensive nook?
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The Mechanism for Human Forgiveness

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Recent events in my life have led me to think deeply on the matter of forgiveness.

I’m not, in a broad sense, a fan of contemporary psychotherapy. It seems to me that the people who are in therapy the most are the ones who are most self-righteously entrenched in their own narcissism. Everything is about them and their process, and if you try to let some light into a closed and airless system by suggesting that not everything in the world is, in fact, about their process–well, it gets ugly. That’s one problem. There’s also, among some child therapists (many of whom, oddly enough, do not even have children of their own) a feeling that children are the unfettered kings of a home, no boundaries required. I think this is folly, and that it undercuts the very structure that serves to give kids a sense of safety and security, and a foundation in life-long values. Kids need structure. They also need a few lectures from mom and dad on topics like, “Don’t get drunk when you’re 14,” “shoplifting is bad,” and “just because all your friends are jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge doesn’t mean you should.”

Note that Proverbs 13:24 claims that “he who loves his children is careful to discipline them.” I know, sure, it’s hokey to quote the Bible in the face of the great amorality of contemporary psychotherapy–but when psychotherapy has endured as human truth for the many thousands of years that Proverbs has, then I’ll quote Melanie Klein and all that rot.

Recently a friend, after I ranted on in this vein, told me to read James Hillman. And I am drawn to Jung, so I’ll make a go of Hillman, when I finish at least two of the four books I’m currently reading. (Which are: The Diamond Cutter by Geshe Michael Roach, The Atlantis Code by Charles Brokaw, The 5 Rules of Thought by Mary T. Browne, and The Search for the Girl with the Blue Eyes by Jess Stearn.)

One of the biggest problems I have with contemporary psychotherapy is that it practices separating the doer from the action. Dr. Phil has espoused this on Oprah, and, with all due respect, this schism goes to the heart of why I view contemporary psychotherapy with prejudice. In fact, we define ourselves by our actions. If we tell lies, we’re a liar. If we cheat, we’re cheaters.

At the same time, in this view of the world that holds people accountable for their actions, there has to be a mechanism for redemption. For returning to self-worth, in our eyes and the eyes of the community, after an error, a wrong, a crime has been committed.

And for absolute sure: we all screw up. Each and every single one of us. Perhaps there are a few saintly monks meditating in caves who have never erred, and isn’t it easy to be a good person when you’re alone on a mountain in deep contemplation? But, for all the rest of us, we are going to hurt people, we are going to make mistakes, we are going to lie and cheat and steal and rage and be lazy and be gluttonous and be jealous and take advantage and persecute and oppress. On purpose and by accident. In the collective sense, and in the personal sense.

I’m reminded of the Passover Seder and how we are supposed to say, “It is because of what God did for me in taking me out of slavery,” and I am reminded of the group confessions during the prayers of Yom Kippur: “for the sin we have sinned before you forcibly or willingly….” I am reminded of Jesus saying, “Let he who is perfect cast the first stone” and “why do you behold the mote in your brother’s eye, but consider not the beam that is in your own?”

So we all make egregious mistakes. Some of those mistakes are cruel and hurt other people profoundly. How is redemption found in those cases? Well, best I’ve been able to figure out, with the help of finer minds than mine, is that we take personal responsibility for our own actions. This looks like: 1, acknowledging the guilt, 2, expressing remorse, and 3, offering to make restitution. Concrete action toward remorse and restitution are key. Someone who has committed a grievous wrong who acts in this way, following these three steps with persistence and humility, ought to get a second chance.

At least, that’s what I am thinking now. This current thinking is subject to evolution, as I journey through my life. It’s a complicated, troublesome subject. I want to be someone who chooses forgiveness and who receives forgiveness. This is so despite my knowing that there are some things I don’t know if I could ever, or will ever, forgive. I also know there are mistakes I’ve made for which I am not able to make restitution, for one reason or another, though I wish I could.

Which brings me back to the essential conundrums of human life: this vale of tears. And the Buddha’s observation that “Hatred does not cease through hatred but through love alone they cease.”

So, here is my prayer: May all conscious beings be released from their suffering. And may I be an instrument of the Lord’s peace, giving and receiving forgiveness.

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The Fighter Pilot and the Monk

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 The fighter pilot and the monk
The Fighter Pilot and the Monk

Someone on the Barbara Brennan Healer’s Listserve to which I belong posted a notice about two evenings of free talks given by John Foley, a former Blue Angel pilot, and Geshe Michael Roach, the author of The Diamond Cutter. The talks concerned “Fearless success in business and life.” Well, I’m a fan of fearlessness and also of success, and my husband Sabin calls himself a Buddhist, so I registered us for the lectures.

And what a treat! I came away, as everyone in the audience seemed to, inspired and encouraged, challenged and impressed. I came away thinking. I came away witnessing my life and my actions in a new way.

Foley was a Navy pilot, and my dad was a submarine sailor in the Navy. Despite the air/sea rivalry, I was predisposed to like Foley. Moreover, I saw the Blue Angels as a kid in Tennessee. I can still remember watching them zoom so close to each other during loop-de-loops that my pounding heart wanted to fly up out of my chest. The Blue Angels elicit awe and amazement. Those planes perform some maneuvers at a distance of only 18 inches, Foley told us. Can you imagine piloting a top-of-the-line precision aircraft weighing 22 tons, while another 22 ton craft rides your belly, and then you flip upside down so the other plane is on top, while maintaining that mere foot and a half of separation?

Intriguingly, Foley didn’t call the maneuvers dangerous. He said they were just inherently unforgiving. What a fascinating perspective!

Most impressively, Foley, who attended Stanford Business school, had thought about what the Blue Angels taught him about high performance. About getting the most out of yourself so you climb up the high performance zone, that wondrous area between where you are and where you want to be. He has a system that’s smart and useful. I’ve been thinking about his 4 steps all day. I’ve been saying, “Glad to be here!” and meaning it.

Geshe Michael Roach was the first American to make it all the way through the 20 year training within Tibetan Buddhism and become a lama. He’s a medium sized guy with a scraggly fringe of hair that reaches almost to his shoulders, he wears the ocher robes of a monk, and his face radiates kindness and intelligence. When he took the stage, everyone leaned forward with an indrawn breath. This is no slight on Foley, who is a dynamic–utterly riveting–speaker. It’s just that Geshela (as they called him with affection) has this aura…

More than a decade ago Geshela’s lama told him to get a business job, and Geshala dawdled for a year or two, delaying carrying out his teacher’s command because he didn’t want to be a businessman. Finally he surrendered. He joined a tiny, fledgling company that was just starting out with a $50,000 loan. Geshela wasn’t supposed to let anyone know he was a monk, but he was supposed to apply the Buddhist principles he’d learned at the monastery. He did so. Not too long ago, the company was making over a hundred million dollars a year in sales, and then Warren Buffet bought it. For a quarter billion dollars.

Geshela’s point was that the Buddhist system works, and he’s proved it. He wants to share it with people so they stop being so anxious about the economy.

So what is this system? Essentially, it comes down to the seeds you plant in your mind with your own actions and thoughts. The mind is always recording everything you do, say, or think. So what you do, say, and think creates your present and future. Specifically, you give money away, knowing that to do so creates money and that every living person is benefitted. Thus a seed for prosperity is planted in your mind. The seed takes a little time, as seeds do, but then it sprouts into a financial opportunity.

We could call it karma, but Geshela says he’s not allowed to say that word in a business setting…

He began his talk with a discussion of emptiness and projection, though he says he’s supposed to call it ‘potential’ and not emptiness or the void.

It made me muse about how much I project onto the world, and what kind of seeds I want to plant in my mind.

Foley also supports charities and “giving forward.”

Geshe Michael Roach mentioned a charity called Three Cups of Tea, which builds schools for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan. I am intrigued. Peace through education: what a beautiful, important seed to plant, not just in my mind, but in the world at large.

C. Stephen Baldwin’s SHADOWS OVER SUNDIALS
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C. Stephen Baldwin’s SHADOWS OVER SUNDIALS

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C. Stephen Baldwin’s SHADOWS OVER SUNDIALS

I love New York. People here are fascinating. I start a discussion with someone and he or she turns out to have a dazzling, heart-palpitating personal story of love and loss, victory and humiliation, exalted communion and dark nights of the soul. Is there no one in this glorious, feral, bursting city who is ordinary?

Many of my neighbors in my apartment building are like this: possessed of extraordinary life histories. A decade ago in Steamboat Springs, my former husband and I and our two children got trapped on the top of a mountain in a white out. We made it into the restaurant near the peak and sat at a table with hot cocoa. Our downstairs neighbor Stephen Baldwin skiied in, looking for the same warm respite. He’d been the one to recommend Steamboat to us, and he was there with some of his teenage kids and his wife.

The three of us–Stephen, my former husband, and I–fell to yakking, sharing anecdotes to pass the time. At one point I looked across the table and asked, “What is it you do at the United Nations, Stephen? I don’t think you ever told us.”

Stephen grinned and started to talk. His dad was JFK’s ambassador to Malaysia. Stephen himself, as a boy, was lost in the jungles of Peru and tattooed by head-hunters in Borneo; as a young man, he wrestled a Bengal tiger and ran with the bulls; as an adult, he set up an underground railroad for Bengali revolutionary leaders to escape a brutal Pakistani regime…. What unfolded was the tale of a brilliant and peripatetic soul who held a vision of the world as a community, and who was committed to world service. My former husband and I were spellbound. It wasn’t just the adventures, it was also the keen and wondering sense of curiosity, of observation, with which Stephen so deeply engaged his life.

“There’s a book here, Stephen,” I said finally. And he took me at my word, and wrote the book. SHADOWS OVER SUNDIALS Dark and Light: Life in a Large Outside World has arrived. I recommend it to everyone.

see Stephen’s website at www.cstephenbaldwin.com