Documentary: The Disappearing Male

The chemical industry is only 100 years old, but in this short time they’ve created substances that may now be threatening human survival.
A handful of these chemicals are detailed in the film The Disappearing Male, which gives an educational glimpse into exactly why environmental chemicals, and particularly the gender-bending kind, are so detrimental.
It’s becoming quite clear that chemicals in the environment are prompting significant changes to animals, especially males, and that extends to human ‘animals’ as well.

Infertility Rates are Rising as Sperm Counts Drop

One couple in the film described the waiting room at their infertility clinic as similar to an emergency room – packed with lines extending down the hall. Infertility is more common than many think these days. An estimated 1 in 6 American couples struggle with getting pregnant each year¹ and there's compelling evidence that hormone-disrupting environmental chemicals are partly to blame.
The problem with low sperm counts has become so severe that the World Health Organization has had to continually drop what’s considered a ‘normal’ sperm count to lower and lower levels over the last several decades, lest too many men be classified as infertile.
Chemicals that may disrupt sperm count and quality are pervasive in today's modern world. They lurk in personal care products, food containers, medical tubing, toys and more. Bisphenol-A (BPA) and phthalates are two of the most well known culprits.
Bisphenol A (BPA)

BPA is a common ingredient in many plastics, including those in water bottles and children's toys, as well as the lining of most canned goods. It was recently discovered that even many cash register receipts contain this chemical. BPA is so pervasive it has been detected in the umbilical cord blood of 90 percent of newborn infants tested!
Recent studies have confirmed suspicions that BPA is affecting male fertility, primarily by reducing semen quality. One such study, which provides the first epidemiological evidence of an adverse effect on semen quality, was published in the journal Fertility and Sterility.² The researchers found that higher urine levels of BPA were significantly associated with:

1. Decreased sperm concentration
2. Decreased total sperm count
3. Decreased sperm vitality
4. Decreased sperm motility

Compared with those who did not have detectable levels, the men with detectable levels of BPA had more than:

• Three times the risk of lowered sperm concentration and lower sperm vitality
• Four times the risk of lower sperm count
• Twice the risk of lower sperm motility

In women, BPA can also reduce chances of successful in vitro fertilization (IVF) by interfering with oocyte (immature egg cell) quality. Two recent studies attest to this. One found an inverse association between BPA concentration and normal fertilization,³ and the other found that "BPA was detected in the urine of the majority of women undergoing IVF, and was inversely associated with number of oocytes retrieved and peak estradiol levels."⁴

Phthalates

Phthalates are another group of chemicals that wreak havoc with reproductive health. Exposure to phthalates can lead to incomplete testicular descent in fetuses, reduced sperm counts, testicular atrophy or structural abnormality and inflammation in newborns.
Phthalates are commonly found in vinyl flooring, detergents, automotive plastics, soap, shampoo, deodorants, fragrances, hair spray, nail polish, plastic bags, food packaging, garden hoses, inflatable toys, blood-storage bags, intravenous medical tubing, and more.

A 200% Increase in Male Genital Birth Defects

Gender-bending chemicals are the likely culprit behind a 200% increase in male genital birth defects in recent years, the film cited, highlighting one woman who believes her son’s undescended testes falls into this category.
Congress passed the Food Quality Protection Act in 1996, which required the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to initiate the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP) to screen pesticides and other environmental chemicals for their potential to affect the endocrine systems of both animals and humans. According to the EPA:⁵

“In the 1990s, some scientists proposed that certain chemicals might be disrupting the endocrine systems of humans and wildlife. A variety of chemicals have been found to disrupt the endocrine systems of animals in laboratory studies, and compelling evidence shows that endocrine systems of certain fish and wildlife have been affected by chemical contaminants, resulting in developmental and reproductive problems.”

However, despite the fact that nearly two decades have passed since the beginning of the program, the market is literally flooded with chemicals that have the potential to wreak havoc on reproductive health, especially when exposure occurs in utero or during childhood (as is often the case).
The strongest evidence showing that exposure to environmental chemicals can lead to disruption of endocrine function comes from the bizarre changes seen in a number of wildlife species, such as male fish transforming into females; frogs developing a variety of defects like multiple testes or ovaries; and hermaphrodite bears, just to name a few.
The effects are being seen in humans as well. The endocrine-disrupting chemicals phthalates, for instance are linked to testicular atrophy or structural abnormality. In experiments on rats, phthalates have demonstrably blocked the action of fetal androgens, which affects gender development in male offspring, leading to undescended testes at birth and testicular tumors later in life.
Studies have also found that boys whose mothers had high phthalate exposures while pregnant were much more likely to have certain demasculinized traits and produce less testosterone.
The more a pregnant woman is exposed to high levels of phthalates, the greater the risk her son will have smaller genitals and incomplete testicular descent, leading to impaired reproductive development. The chemical also appears to make the overall genital tracts of boys slightly more feminine. It is believed that phthalates have these adverse effects because they reduce testosterone synthesis by interfering with an enzyme needed to produce the male hormone.

Even the Most Vulnerable Are Being Inundated with Gender-Bending Chemicals

Studies have shown that premature babies are exposed to extremely high concentrations of phthalates, which are widely used to make plastics like polyvinyl chloride (PVC) used in medical tubing and other medical equipment. With each plastic tube that a newborn is hooked up to, the rate of phthalate exposure increases. And for those premature infants who spend weeks and months in the neonatal intensive care unit, the exposure levels can be extraordinary.
A report released by the nonprofit organization Environment and Human Health, Inc. (EHHI) found that male infants exposed to phthalates through medical procedures are most at risk of suffering health effects.⁶ The phthalate di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, or DEHP, in particular, is raising concern because of research linking it to:

Disturbed lactation	"Decreased dysgenesis syndrome": A syndrome involving cryptorchidism (undescended testicles), hypospadias (birth defect in which opening of urethra is on the underside of the penis instead of at the end), oligospermia (low sperm count), and testicular cancer
Interference with sexual differentiation in utero	Enlarged prostate glands
Impaired ovulatory cycles and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)	Numerous hormonal disruptions
Early or delayed puberty	Breast cancer and uterine fibroids

A typical American comes in regular contact with some 6,000 chemicals and an untold number of potentially toxic substances on a less frequent basis. There are approximately 75,000 chemicals regularly manufactured and imported by US industries, so you could be exposed to any number of them. Disturbingly, most of them have never been adequately tested for safety for adults, let alone their impacts on the most vulnerable among us, our children.
The chemical industry has, in fact, resisted testing chemicals on developing bodies, as might occur when a fetus is exposed in utero, likely because they’d have trouble explaining away all the ill effects that are likely to be revealed. Furthermore, there is absolutely no toxicology research that takes into account the effects of multiple, simultaneous chemical exposures and their resultant synergistic toxicity, which is what actually happens to exposed populations in the real world.

The Chemical Industry Is One of the Most Powerful Lobbyists

Like the biotech, pharmaceutical and processed food industries, the chemical industry wields incredible power over Congress, and uses it to have bills passed in their favor – and regulatory violations overlooked. Perhaps that is why, despite the proven risks, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has denied a petition to ban BPA from food packaging. The FDA and most other US regulatory agencies are backed by pro-industry, pro-corporation advocates who often have massive conflicts of interest when it comes to protecting the health of the public.
In fact, the revolving door between private industry and government oversight agencies like the FDA is so well established these days, it has become business as usual to read about scandal, conflicts of interest and blatant pro-industry bias, even when it flies in the face of science or the law. The fact is, if you want to stay safe, you can’t depend on the FDA, the EPA or any other government agency; you’ve got to look out for yourself.

Protecting Yourself in a Chemically Driven World

No one knows what health consequences to this toxic chemical cocktail will cause to an adult, let alone a developing baby. Unfortunately, it is our future generations, and possibly the species as a whole, who will likely pay the heftiest price for this lack of safety concern, as an embryo and fetus develop at a much faster rate than adults.
While this development occurs, cell division and growth is rapid -- and these rapid changes provide many opportunities for mistakes to occur. It’s clear that boys appear to be at particular risk but, really, no one is safe. I encourage everyone with children or grandchildren to review Theo Colburn's Our Stolen Future, which is one of the BEST resources on this topic. Further, while you make the switch to remove and reduce chemicals around your home, remember that one of the ways to significantly reduce your toxic load is to pay careful attention to what you eat.
Organically-grown, biodynamic whole foods are really the key to success here, and, as an added bonus, when you eat right, you're also optimizing your body's natural detoxification system, which can help eliminate toxins your body encounters from other sources. Rather than compile an endless list of what you should avoid, it's far easier to focus on what you should do to lead a healthy lifestyle with as minimal a chemical exposure as possible:

1. As much as possible, buy and eat organic produce and organic free-range foods to reduce your exposure to pesticides and fertilizers.
2. Rather than eating conventional or farm-raised fish, which are often heavily contaminated with PCBs and mercury, supplement with a high-quality purified krill oil, or eat fish that is wild-caught and lab tested for purity.
3. Eat mostly raw, fresh foods, steering clear of processed, prepackaged foods of all kinds. This way you automatically avoid artificial food additives, including dangerous artificial sweeteners, food coloring and MSG.
4. Store your food and beverages in glass rather than plastic, and avoid using plastic wrap and canned foods (which are often lined with BPA-containing liners).
5. Have your tap water tested and, if contaminants are found, install an appropriate water filter on all your faucets (even those in your shower or bath).
6. Only use natural cleaning products in your home.
7. Switch over to natural brands of toiletries such as shampoo, toothpaste, antiperspirants and cosmetics. The Environmental Working Group has a great database⁷ to help you find personal care products that are free of phthalates and other potentially dangerous chemicals. I also offer one of the highest quality organic skin care lines, shampoo and conditioner, and body butter that are completely natural and safe.
8. Avoid using artificial air fresheners, dryer sheets, fabric softeners or other synthetic fragrances.
9. Replace your non-stick pots and pans with ceramic or glass cookware.
10. When redoing your home, look for "green," toxin-free alternatives in lieu of regular paint and vinyl floor coverings.
11. Replace your vinyl shower curtain with one made of fabric, or install a glass shower door. Most all flexible plastics, like shower curtains, contain dangerous plasticizers like phthalates.
12. Limit your use of drugs (prescription and over-the-counter) as much as possible. Drugs are chemicals too, and they will leave residues and accumulate in your body over time.
13. Avoid spraying pesticides around your home or insect repellants that contain DEET on your body. There are safe, effective and natural alternatives out there.

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Documentary: Fast Food, Fat Profits: Obesity in America

“Fast Food, Fat Profits” gives a quick overview of what’s wrong with the US food industry, and how its inherent design virtually guarantees a sick, overweight population.
From food deserts and cheap fast food to soda that’s marketed directly to children and a revolving door between food agencies and the government, the system is very much stacked against healthy eating … and healthy people.
If your meals consist of $1 burgers and super-size drinks, your diet may be cheap, but it is also excessively high in grains, sugars, and factory-farmed meats. This is a recipe for obesity, diabetes and heart disease, just to name a few of the conditions that commonly befall those who consume "the Standard American Diet."

Why is a Fast-Food Meal Cheaper Than Healthy Food?

Many people realize that they can get a value meal at numerous fast-food restaurants for far less money than it takes to purchase foods to make a healthy meal for their family.
Adding to the problem, many on the most limited food budgets, such as those who receive food assistance dollars, live in "food deserts" – areas without grocery stores, and perhaps only a convenience store or a fast-food restaurant where they can purchase their food.
While it’s certainly possible to eat healthy on a limited budget, this first requires that you understand what constitutes a healthy meal, and then that you have access to such foods, which is not always the case.
Meanwhile, instead of ensuring that all Americans have access to healthy foods, the US government is actively supporting a diet that consists of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), soybean oil, corn oil and grain-fed cattle, a direct result of their flawed farm subsidy system.
The junk foods are made even cheaper through the use of unhealthy filler ingredients and preservatives that prevent spoiling, with the end result being that the very worst foods for your health are often significantly cheaper to buy.

Kids are Eating Turkey Sandwiches With 100 Other Ingredients …

Perhaps nowhere are the problems with the food system more apparent than in US schools, where kids are served processed food products that only vaguely resemble actual fresh food. In “Fast Food, Fat Profits,” one chef is shocked to see that turkey sandwiches slated for the next school lunch contain 100 ingredients!
What this cocktail of chemicals is ultimately doing to our population is difficult to pin down, but food additives like preservatives, artificial flavors and colors and MSG have already been linked to behavioral problems, ADHD and cancer, among other conditions. But, again, many assume that the burger from a fast-food joint is equivalent to one they’d make in their own kitchen … a far cry from reality.
For instance, the McRib sandwich from McDonald’s, described as pork, barbecue sauce, slivered onions and tart pickles, served on a hoagie style bun, actually contains more than 70 ingredients and even the ‘pork’ allegedly consists of restructured meat product (made from all the less expensive innards and castoffs from the pig).

Unfortunately, some parents are unaware that feeding their kids fast-food meals is like feeding them a chemistry experiment, or they are simply lured in by the low prices and tasty (albeit artificial and addictive) flavors.

The Revolving Door Between the Food Industry and the Government is Ever Turning

Many Americans also believe, mistakenly, that food sold on US soil must be good for them, or else the state and federal regulatory agencies would be taking action. But this ideal is laughable when those same government officials work for the very food companies they are supposed to be regulating.
Take, for instance, John Bode, a Washington attorney who served on the Senate Agriculture Committee staff and held three presidential appointments at the Agriculture Department. He became president and CEO of the Corn Refiners Association in May of this year.
Then there’s Catherine Woteki, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) chief scientist and Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics, who previously served as Global Director of Scientific Affairs for Mars, Inc. Michael Taylor, a former vice president of public policy and chief lobbyist at Monsanto Company, who became the deputy commissioner for foods at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is yet another example.
There are other close connections that most of the public isn’t aware of either. Dairy Management, which also includes the National Dairy Council, has been aggressively marketing cheese to restaurant chains in efforts to increase sales. But we’re not talking about simply promoting consumption of a piece of cheddar cheese or a block of Gouda … this includes fast-food restaurants selling junk-food products like:

• Pizza Hut's Cheesy Bites pizza
• Wendy's dual Double Melt sandwich concept
• Burger King's Cheesy Angus Bacon cheeseburger and TenderCrisp chicken sandwich (both of which contained three slices of cheese plus a "cheesy sauce")

In other words, the government is not your ally here. They are working alongside fast-food giants like Pizza Hut, Domino’s, Wendy’s and others to get you to eat more of their junk-food products, which happen to contain lots of (highly processed) cheese!

Should Soda Be Banned From Food Stamp Programs?

Most Americans are drinking far too much soda and other sugary drinks, a key culprit in rising rates of obesity, heart disease, diabetes and related conditions. Some brands, like Chubby’s from the Caribbean, are even marketed directly to children (and feature bottles designed to fit in a small child’s hand).
But, as the video highlighted, now a group of health associations, physicians and nutrition experts are calling for pilot programs that would restrict the purchase of sugary drinks by people using the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This is already done for alcohol and tobacco, but the move to regulate what types of food and drinks a person is able to buy is new territory.
Increasing regulations like these may not be the solution, however, especially if the money spent on soda is simply put toward more heavily processed foods. While farmer’s markets do occasionally make it into the ghetto (and some do accept food stamps), the farmer's market is an occasional institution, operating just one day a week. Fast-food franchises, on the other hand, pump out low-nutrient fare seven days a week, 365 days a year.
While it's possible to make the healthy choice, under these conditions, it's not easy.
There’s no denying, of course, that processed foods, whether soda or potato chips, will eat up your grocery budget in the blink of an eye, and will cause disease in the long-term. In reality, any money spent on junk food is a waste, and purging these items from your grocery list is the first step to eating right on a budget. Some of the healthiest foods are incredibly affordable, even under $1 a serving, such as:

• Raw organic milk
• Raw nuts and seeds
• Two cage-free organic eggs
• Avocado, berries and broccoli
• Home-grown sunflower sprouts
• Fermented foods you make at home

What’s the Real Cost of Eating Cheap Food?

“Fast Food, Fat Profits” highlights what is arguably one of the most disturbing health trends of the 21st century – the fact that today’s generation may be the first to live a shorter lifespan than their parents, and this is a direct result of too much cheap (nutrient-deficient and toxin-laden) food. Avoiding processed food requires a change in mindset, which is not always an easy task. It CAN be done, however. Rather than looking at processed foods as a convenience that tastes good or saves money, try thinking of it as:

• Extra calories that will harm your body
• A toxic concoction of foreign chemicals and artificial flavors that will lead to disease
• A waste of your money
• Likely to lead to increased health care bills for you and your family
• Not something to give to children, whose bodies are still developing and therefore are both much more susceptible to cancer and in greater need of nutrients

Your goal should be to strive for 90 percent non-processed, whole food. Not only will you enjoy the health benefits—especially if you buy mostly organic—but you'll also get the satisfaction of knowing exactly what you're putting into your body, and that in and of itself can be a great feeling. It may cost more to eat this way, but then again it might not. (And in the long run the amount it will save you in the long run is immeasurable.)

Are You Trying to Eat Healthy on a Budget?

While it may not be immediately obvious for people who have grown up relying on ready-made, pre-packaged foods and snacks, you can replace those foods with something equally satisfying that will support, rather than wreck, your health. This requires some strategy, especially if you're working with a tight budget, but it can be done:

1. Identify a Person to Prepare Meals. Someone has to invest some time in the kitchen. It will be necessary for either you, your spouse, or perhaps someone in your family prepare the meals from locally grown healthful foods. This includes packing lunches for your kids to take to school.
2. Become resourceful: This is an area where your grandmother can be a wealth of information, as how to use up every morsel of food and stretch out a good meal was common knowledge to generations past. Seek to get back to the basics of cooking – using the bones from a roast chicken to make stock for a pot of soup, extending a Sunday roast to use for weekday dinners, learning how to make hearty stews from inexpensive cuts of meat, using up leftovers and so on.
3. Plan your meals: If you fail to plan you are planning to fail. This is essential, as you will need to be prepared for mealtimes in advance to be successful. Ideally this will involve scouting out your local farmer's markets for in-season produce that is priced to sell, and planning your meals accordingly, but you can also use this same premise with supermarket sales. You can generally plan a week of meals at a time, make sure you have all ingredients necessary on hand, and then do any prep work you can ahead of time so that dinner is easy to prepare if you're short on time in the evenings.
   It is no mystery that you will be eating lunch around noon every day so rather than rely on fast food at work, before you go to bed make a plan as to what you are going to take to work the next day. This is a marvelous simple strategy that will let you eat healthier, especially if you take healthy food from home in to work.
   
4. Avoid food waste: According to a study published in the journal PloS One,¹ Americans waste an estimated 1,400 calories of food per person, each and every day. The two steps above will help you to mitigate food waste in your home. You may also have seen my article titled 14 Ways to Save Money on Groceries. Among those tips are suggestions for keeping your groceries fresher, longer, and I suggest reviewing those tips now.
5. Buy organic animal foods. The most important foods to buy organic are animal, not vegetable, products (meat, eggs, butter, etc.), because animal foods tend to concentrate pesticides in higher amounts. If you cannot afford to buy all of your food organic, opt for organic animal foods first.
6. Keep costs down on grass-fed beef. Pasture-finished beef is far healthier than grain-fed beef (which I don't recommend consuming). To keep cost down, look for inexpensive roasts or ground meat. You may also save money by buying an entire side of beef (or splitting one with two or three other families), if you have enough freezer space to store it.
7. Buy in bulk when non-perishable items go on sale. If you are fortunate to live near a buyer's club or a co-op, you may also be able to take advantage of buying by the pound from bins, saving both you and the supplier the cost of expensive packaging.
8. Frequent farmer's markets or grow your own produce. You may be surprised to find out that by going directly to the source you can get amazingly healthy, locally grown, organic food for less than you can find at your supermarket. This gives you the best of both worlds: food that is grown near to you, cutting down on its carbon footprint and giving you optimal freshness, as well as grown without chemicals, genetically modified seeds, and other potential toxins.

Just as restaurants are able to keep their costs down by getting food directly from a supplier, you, too, can take advantage of a direct farm-to-consumer relationship, either on an individual basis or by joining a food coop in your area. Many farmer's markets are now accepting food stamps, so this is an opportunity most everyone can join in on.

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Fast Food Baby - BBC Documentary

Fast Food Baby - This one hour long BBC documentary film is released during the year 2011. Fast food is everywhere and most of the people kids just cannot get enough of it. Now people live in nations of fast food babies, and it's a ticking time bomb of massive health problems. This BBC documentary film is discovering why some mother and father hotel to fast meals providing their infants and follows three family members as they seriously try to get back on the right healthy track.

Fast Food Baby - This BBC documentary film meets three different families with three distinctive fast food problems. In these families, there is one kid who is a massive fast food eater, a nineteen month-old baby whose mum and dad are frightened by his refused to eat healthy food and a three-year-old baby whose mum has never cooked in her life. All the families desperately want help. They are meeting up with experts to see how their babies can kick their habits.

Fast Food Baby - The BBC documentary film talks about of the family's child name Cuba; his parents were struggling to get their child on a right nutritional track by the help of nutrition experts. Because of his massive fast food eating a habit likely to cause him anemia which in some case cancels down the Childs development? After the expert's opinion, they follow a well nutrition track. The 2nd family with the help of experts they also explore healthy food in a home, and the parents were much relaxed with their baby's progress. In third family, there was a single mother, and she started a cooking class to avoid the fast food which was healthier for her heart and also for the health of baby as well.

These families have totally changed their eating habits. They had cut their fast food cravings and started a healthy home cooking. Their new diet has improved daily activities, and ultimately; the whole families were in the path to a healthier future
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A View From Space with Gary Bell the Spaceman, August 24, 2013

TOPIC: NASDAQ, Fall of America, Blue Moon, 13th Moon, Merovingian Bloodline, Aliens, Dragons, Technology, WW3, Antichrist, N.W.O. The One, Numerology, Astrology, Sacred Geometry.

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PBS Nova - The Spy Factory (2009)....NSA

Watch The Spy Factory on PBS. See more from NOVA.

In this program, an eye-opening documentary on the National Security Agency by best-selling author James Bamford and Emmy Award-winning producer Scott Willis, NOVA exposes the ultra-secret intelligence agency's role in the failure to stop the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent eavesdropping program that listens in without warrant on millions of American citizens.
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The 7 Deadly Sins of Happiness

Virtually every parent wishes for their children to be happy, but as adults many of us find happiness to be elusive.
One recent Harris Poll found that, despite a recovering economy, only one in three Americans said they’re very happy,¹ which means, of course, that two out of three are not.
Unlike concrete achievements such as graduating high school or college, getting a promotion at work, or even getting married, achieving happiness is much more abstract, and, contrary to popular belief, not based on such worldly accomplishments.
You may have material wealth, even power or fame, yet still be unhappy. Or you may have little more than the shoes on your feet yet overflow with joy, because happiness is a state of mind.
I recently reviewed 22 habits of happy people, and they are overwhelmingly positive changes that prompt you to work on yourself, first. If you want to be truly happy, you’ve got to look to yourself because true happiness comes from within.

Are You Guilty of These 7 Sins of Happiness?

Now we’ll take a slightly different slant, which is identifying the seven ‘sins of happiness,’ which author Trent Hand compiled for Lifehack.² That is, the seven habits or attitudes that make happiness very hard to come by. Hand explained:

“These “sins” are so deadly that we often don’t notice we are falling into their trap until we wake up one day and wonder why we are glaring at ourselves in the mirror.”

1. Comparing Yourself to Others

This will either make you feel guilty for living more comfortably than others who are struggling, or make you feel inadequate compared to those who have more. As Mark Twain said:
“Comparison is the death of joy.”

2. Talking About Your Dreams Instead of Going to Work on Them

Talking about your dreams is great, but only if you eventually follow through with them. Make a point to set short-term action steps that will help you achieve your long-term goals – and act on them.

3. Listening to People With Nothing Positive to Say

Spending time around consistently negative people will drain your energy and bring down your mood. It’s generally nearly impossible to cheer a negative person up, you’re better off avoiding them as much as possible and surrounding yourself with positive people instead.

4. Focusing on the News

Watching the news is virtually guaranteed to bring you down and create feelings of helplessness and a lack of hope, as there’s not much you can do to improve the problems you’re seeing. Instead, focus on positive steps you can make in your local community, such as mentoring a child or delivering meals to the elderly.

5. Deciding Someone Else Needs to Change

Finding fault in others, and letting them know what they’re doing wrong, is easy. Much more difficult is looking inward to see how you can improve yourself instead. The latter will pay off by leading to a better you, while trying to fix others will likely be futile and interfere with your relationships.

6. Thinking “Happiness” is a Destination You Can Reach

If you think you’ll be happy once you accomplish a certain goal (like getting married or paying off your house), this is a myth. You must learn to find happiness during the journey, on a daily basis, rather than waiting to somehow find happiness at the end.

7. Forgetting to Say “Thank You”

It’s easy to take for granted all that you have to be thankful for – friends, family, loved ones, your health, your job … By focusing on all that you have to be grateful for (jot down whatever comes to mind on a notepad, for starters), you’ll instantly feel happier.

Living in the Moment: Another Key to Being Happy

Groucho Marx may not be the first person who comes to mind for a philosophy by which to live your life, but his words come with a definite air of wisdom:

“I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it.”³

How often your mind wanders is frequently a predictor of how happy you are. One study found, in fact, that the more often you take yourself out of the present moment, the less happy you are.⁴ The researchers concluded:

“ … people are thinking about what is not happening almost as often as they are thinking about what is and … doing so typically makes them unhappy.”

So … allow yourself to be immersed in whatever it is you’re doing right now, and take time to really be in the present moment. Practice mindfulness and avoid replaying past negative events in your head or worrying about the future; just savor what’s going on in your life now.

Center Your Life Around Doing What You Love: 12 Quick Tips

Life is too short to wait to be happy. It’s very important to prioritize your life so that you have time each and every day – or at the very least several times a week – to do the things you love. More often than not, it’s the small, simple things in life that bring the most joy, which is perfect because these are also the things that are oftentimes easy to fit in on a daily basis.
You know what makes you feel good, but here are some simple ideas for making your day a bit more joyful. And remember, when you’re doing these things don’t worry about tomorrow or what needs to get done when you’re finished – allow yourself to fully enjoy the moment:

Take a walk in nature, notice the trees, the sky, the sounds	Spend some time in the sun	Get in a good workout
Read (for pleasure!)	Dance (even if it’s by yourself or with your kids)	Laugh
Eat something fresh; savor each bite	Commit a ‘random act of kindness’	Spend time with an animal … or a baby
Cook, from scratch	Create something	Work in your garden

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A View From Space with Gary Bell, August 17, 2013

TOPICS: the Alien Agenda, Illuminati, N.W.O, Royalty, Aliens, Stars, Nasa, Moon landings,  Gus Grissom, Numerology, Astrology, Scared Geometry

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THE SECRETS OF SCIENTOLOGY (FULL DOCUMENTARY)

The Secrets of Scientology is a documentary which was broadcast on 28 September 2010 as part of the BBC's Panorama documentary strand. Presented by John Sweeney it is a follow up of his 2007 investigation into the Church of Scientology and features interviews with former high-ranking members of the organization.
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A View From Space with Gary Bell, August 10, 2013

TOPICS:  Jacobite Birth, Panda Bear Tian Tian, Illuminati, Mass Media Control, Sirius, Gods, Astrology, Numerology, Sacred Geometry, Egypt, Pyramids, Lucifer, N.W.O.....

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How to Thwart the NSA and Gov’t from Spying on You

Recent news of the NSA collecting metadata of phone calls from communication companies, along with federal law enforcement seeming to continue to press for expansion of its ability to collect personal information online without warrants, has many questioning how safe their own privacy is.

Although a Pew Research Center poll found 56 percent of Americans back the NSA’s spying on call records, many have still expressed outrage over what they feel is a breech of their expected privacy and have labeled the whistleblower of the classified government program a hero.

Those concerned about their communication privacy — be it over the phone or on the Web — may then be wondering: Is there anything to be done? Is full privacy even possible?

We went searching and found a few answers. Here are a few tips:

1. Go off the grid: Although the most extreme measure, not communicating electronically would prevent such data from ever being available for collection in the first place. If you want to know what it’s like to go at least without the Internet for a year, check out Paul Miller’s column on The Verge after he did just that.

But as Elad Yoran, CEO of the IT security company Vaultive, told TheBlaze “the choice of not communicating electronically is not one that’s real for us.”

One choice people do have though, Yoran said, is being conscious of what they post online.

“Choosing to post a picture on Facebook or to tweet is an action we take deliberately and that we control,” he said.

Even if you have your social media sites set to private, that information is still being collected by the site itself and could be obtained legally through a court order.

2. Keep your browsing quiet: If you’ve been freaked out when shopping online for a Father’s Day tie and found that ads about menswear are cropping up on unrelated sites afterward, you might consider secure browsing. Although what to get dad might not be a controversial search, users could have their reasons to wish to keep searches private or just don’t want their searches to be recorded in cyberspace. TheBlaze has reported on secure Internet browsing before (Here’s How You Can Browse the Web Without Being Tracked), but here’s a bit of a recap.

• Private mode: most Web browsers have the ability to allow you to search privately, without cookies being enabled to track your movements. There are also browser extensions like Ghostery,  Abine’s Do Not Track and AVG’s Do Not Track that prevent “invisible” entities from tracking searches as well.

• Hide your IP address: an even higher level of security hides your computer’s IP address entirely. There are several services that do this including Hot Spot Shield, which is VPN (virtual private network) software, and the search engine StartPage. 

• Go hard core with ‘Tor’: CNET called the Tor Project “hard core” and potentially even “overkill” when it comes to secure browsing. Tor is free software that enables not only browsing that is anonymous but it encrypts data transport and doesn’t reveal a user’s location or how long they were browsing. How? It reroutes your IP address several times before connecting.

Watch Jacob Appelbaum introduce the Tor Project and the Tor Network in this TED Talk:

Encryption for data transmitted over an Internet connection, would “take thousands of years to break,  and even if the NSA had quantum computers, it would still take them years to decode,” Peter Zaborszky, the owner of BestVPN.com, told TheBlaze.

3. Encrypt. Encrypt. Encrypt.: Yoran’s biggest piece of advice for companies using cloud computing is to encrypt their data. After it’s in the hands of a cloud service provider, like Microsoft, Google and many others, if they receive a court order for information, they might be obligated to turn it over.

Here are tips for encryption from Yoran, who is a member of the FBI Information Technology Advisory Council and the  Department of Homeland Security Advisory Board for Command, Control and Interoperability for Advanced Data Analysis:

1. Encrypt data before it goes to the cloud.
2. Encrypt data persistently in all three states. Data exists in three states: transit, at rest and in use.
3. Hold onto encryption keys yourself. Data can only be made usable with keys.

When it comes to the individual cloud users, encryption packages available for companies are not quite there yet, according to Yoran. (The encryption mentioned in the secure browsing section above addresses encryption of data transmitted over an internet connection).

“I believe this kind of encryption technology will one day be available for consumers, but it’s not yet,” he said.

For now, individuals could avoid using cloud services like Dropbox and Google for information storage or transport that they wish to keep secure.

4. Secure phone conversations: Unless you want to be old fashioned and use a pay phone (if you can even find one), there are fewer options to keep phone conversations secure. Gregg Smith, the CEO of Koolspan, a company focusing on mobile-encryption, detailed some of the products that can encrypt conversations, texts and other information sent from mobile devices between users.

Smith described the technology as a TrustChip, which is placed into the micro SD slot of the device and is “all-in-one key management, authentication and encryption,” according to the company’s website.

Here’s a quick demo showing how Koolspan’s technology works:

Koolspan partners with companies like AT&T, Samsung and other wireless carriers around the world to offer devices with this technology.

AT&T, for example, calls it “encrypted mobile voice,” and offers it as a service for a $24.99 monthly fee.

It is important to note that for such communication to truly be secure, all people involved would need to have their devices enabled with the technology.

What about calls made online? Last year, Skype was accused of online wiretapping. Google Talk hosts information on Google’s servers, which means content, like other information on its products, is subject to compliance with U.S. laws. The Washington Post recently pointed to online telephone service Silent Circle, which has been independently verified to have end-to-end encryption of information without any backdoors for wiretapping.

The Post also pointed to RedPhone, an app for Android phones, that claims to allow end-to-end encryption of conversations. Check out this brief report about RedPhone technology:

5. Avoid cellphone tracking: The ability of law enforcement to triangulate the position of a cellphone based on cell tower connections has been discussed recently from a legal standpoint, but is there a way to prevent this from happening in the first place? Yes, but you probably won’t like it. You have to turn your phone off and can even remove the battery for extra protection.

Location data is taken by the cell company every time you make a call, so that’s unavoidable. But Smith offered a clue to look for to see if your phone has been hacked in any way, which could open it to vulnerabilities, such as turning on the microphone remotely. Looking where the signal bar is and the letter/number designation showing connectivity, Smith said it usually shows a few bars and 3G or 4G LTE. If it shows 2G or GPRS, “that’s an initial sign you might be hacked,” he said.

If you see this sign, Smith explained, someone has pulled you into a lower level of connectivity where there is generally less security and might allow them to access information or features inside your phone.

Is full privacy even possible?

Tech experts say even some encryption services have left backdoors for law enforcement purposes. And Smith said completely preventing metadata being collected from phone communications isn’t entirely possible either. The tips mentioned above are just a few ideas to increase privacy.

Zaborszky said unless one isolates oneself from how the rest of society uses technology, it’s not possible to avoid all snooping.

“But it is important to know that it’s not the technical side of things that is the weak link, but the legal side and the fact that most of these companies are based in the USA and are bound by US laws,” he noted.

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Fat Head : Documentary

While most people saw the documentary Super Size Me as an expose of the fast food industry, comedian and former health writer Tom Naughton saw it as a dare: He'd show that you could lose weight on a diet of burgers and fries. In addition to chronicling Naughton's weight drop, the film provides interviews with doctors, nutritionists and others to drive home his thesis that most of what we know about "healthy eating" is wrong.
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Fat Sick & Nearly Dead : Documentary

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100 pounds overweight, loaded up on steroids and suffering from a debilitating autoimmune disease, Joe Cross is at the end of his rope and the end of his hope. In the mirror he saw a 310lb man whose gut was bigger than a beach ball and a path laid out before him that wouldn't end well— with one foot already in the grave, the other wasn't far behind. FAT, SICK & NEARLY DEAD is an inspiring film that chronicles Joe's personal mission to regain his health.

With doctors and conventional medicines unable to help long-term, Joe turns to the only option left, the body's ability to heal itself. He trades in the junk food and hits the road with juicer and generator in tow, vowing only to drink fresh fruit and vegetable juice for the next 60 days. Across 3,000 miles Joe has one goal in mind: To get off his pills and achieve a balanced lifestyle.

While talking to more than 500 Americans about food, health and longevity, it's at a truck stop in Arizona where Joe meets a truck driver who suffers from the same rare condition. Phil Staples is morbidly obese weighing in at 429 lbs; a cheeseburger away from a heart-attack. As Joe is recovering his health, Phil begins his own epic journey to get well. What emerges is nothing short of amazing -- an inspiring tale of healing and human connection.

Part road trip, part self-help manifesto, FAT, SICK & NEARLY DEAD defies the traditional documentary format to present an unconventional and uplifting story of two men from different worlds who each realize that the only person who can save them is themselves.
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A View From Space with Gary Bell the Spaceman, August 03, 2013

TOPICS:  Kate Middleton, Prince William, Prince George Alexander Louis, Gods & Goddesses, King Arthur, Royal Bloodline, Jesus, Satan, N.W.O. Israel, Iran, Russia, April 2014, WW3, Antichrist, Numerology, Astrology, Sacred Geometry

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How To Make Your Passwords NSA-Proof

Silent Circle has a password test – you don’t need to sign up to test a password in the upper right. Note that longer passphrases, even if they are only lower case characters, are tougher to crack than shorter passwords with all sorts of numbers and non-characters.

Examples:
8 Character Randomized Password: T0u%p@s5 Time to crack: 14 minutes

17 Character Passphrase: rockwell is right Time to crack: 4 Days

26 Character Passphrase: The Country Is Not The Government!  Time to crack: centuries

Even with a passphrase take the extra security step and modify it with an algorithm you derive for every site. That way if a site is storing or transmitting passwords in cleartext (both big no-no’s but it happens), your password will not be known for all sites.

Example – apple.com starts with “a” the 1st letter in the alphabet, so my passphrase might become: 1The Country Is Not The Government!  Note that I pre-pended number 1 at the start of the passphrase. I’d recommend adding at least 2 characters via your algorithm.

Several readers of my blog post wrote to ask if the NSA doesn’t just have an end run around harder passwords for email. In short, they do, but mostly for US-based companies. The largest free email providers, Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft are known to collaborate with the NSA and/or FBI, which means Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, and Gmail are insecure despite your best passphrase. Hushmail, once considered a secure alternative, caved to the Feds over alleged drug running taking place via Hushmail accounts. If your 35 character passphrase is the moat to keep the NSA out, Gmail has the key to the backdoor and lets the NSA right in to directly read your email.

The solution is to get an email account hosted outside the US. Here are several paid alternatives: NeoMailBox (Swiss Based), CounterMail (Swedish) MailVault (Norway), and an excellent article discussing the pros and cons of each. If this is too much hassle, at least adopt passphrases to avoid the non-government criminals from taking over your email and other accounts. Imagine the damage a hacker could do with access to monitor, send forged email, then lock you out of your email account. It wouldn’t take much effort to get your SSN, address and birthday – from there it’s off to the races. “Oh, you need those retirement funds wired where?” If you think this is far fetched, count the number of times a year you get a frantic message from a friend not to open an email because their account was taken over.

Bottom Line: Consider an offshore email, but definitely make your passwords longer by using a passphrase rather than a shorter but “harder” password. Most sites will allow you to enter very long passphrases. Think of the minor investment in time versus the risk of identity theft, account takeover, and the extra time and resources for the government to snoop on you.

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