When Going to the Polls...
Topic: Thirteen Thursday

"Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger, the pest who seizes any opportunity to divert my attention from important subjects, "I know it's not exactly popular to do a Thirteen Thursday on political issues but since election day is less than a week away I'm going to go for it."

'People like light posts on Thursday Kath,' said Mr. Tiger, 'you won't get many comments.'

"I know that Tiger, that's okay," I said before saying, "Here's my list of 13 things to keep in mind when going to the Polls."

Thirteen Things to keep in mind when you VOTE next Tuesday. 1. The not-so-smart remarks by Senator John F. Kerry, a combat veteran, about the underachieving students being stuck in Iraq is a false controversy, in my opinion, when you consider the bigger picture... 2. Neither Kerry and Bush excelled academically while at Yale. 3. Kerry may indeed deserve some criticism for stepping on his tongue but hasn't Bush done the same thing - hundreds of times. 4. The state of the deficient is more important than Kerry's remarks. Healthcare is more important. ?Energy is more important. Pentagon budget / unnecessary spending is more important. as are these... 5. Civilian deaths are still rising .....BAGHDAD (Reuters) - By Alastair Macdonald The number of Iraqi civilians killed in violence may have jumped to another record high in October. Statistics issued by the Interior Ministry for Iraqis killed in political violence put civilian deaths last month at 1,289, nearly 42 a day and up 18 percent from the 1,089 seen in September, itself a record for this particular series of data. 6. Insurgents Are Targeting US Forces .....October's death toll, the highest for American forces in nearly two years, came during a period without conventional battles or catastrophic helicopter crashes. 7. DU (depleted uranium) Death Toll Tops 11,000 .....Nationwide Media Blackout Keeps U.S. Public Ignorant About This Important Story 8. Bush Signs the Reichstag Fire Decree .....With a flip of the wrist, Bush signed into law the anti-Habeas Corpus, pro-torture law (cleverly repackaged as the Military Commissions Act of 2006), signaling with it the end of American democracy. 9. Alleged corrupt arms deals cost Iraq US $800 Million .....Iraq's former finance minister alleged in a U.S. television report aired Sunday that up to US$800 million meant to equip the Iraqi army had been stolen from the government by former officials through fraudulent arms deals. 10. Mental health crisis haunts front line U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq 11. Diebold's backdoors were designed into the machines intentionally ....Latest security vulnerability in paperless electronic voting underscores urgent need for Paper Trail Auditing 12. Tell your Representative to support Rep. Peter DeFazio's resolution requiring a Congressional vote prior to military action against Iran. 13. The above are consequences of our March 2003 invasion. What if the official?9/11 story were not be true? ....Judge for yourself by watching this 10 Minute video. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I'll add you here!)

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It's easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Clay Pots
Topic: Art / Creativity
"Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger, the crackpot within, "It's a little too warm to blog today. I've spent most of it cleaning my closet - got the summer stuff put away and the fall and winter clothes are finally out of the attic because, of course, I'll be needing them soon - days like today will be few and far between."

'Well, if you aren't going to blog - what are you doing here?' asked the pest in a voice that was colder than the day.

"I've plenty of posts from my first blog - the one I accidently deleted," I told him. "I'll just find one of those and make a fast entry before I spend some time in my yard."

'Suit yourself,' he said, which is exactly what I did.

This entry first appeared on Monday, April 10, 2006

Clay Pots - Take Two

"Perfection, I call any simple quality, if it is positive and absolute, such that, if it expresses something, it does so without limits." - Gottfried Leibniz

"Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger, the egocentric pest who thinks he is perfect, "have you ever felt that our lives are guided by larger forces?"

'Not so fast,' said Mr. Tiger before a flatly stated, 'What?'

"I'm talking about my nephew Josh. You can read about how he has been recently honored with a research grant for his technical skill and artistic mastery, at my sister Colleen's Loose Leaf Notes," I told Tiger before saying, "Josh has been guided to follow this path, first by his mother's creative parenting, his studies, and no doubt by other very real energies."

'Anyone can be a potter,' cut in Mr. Tiger, 'Jeeze - little kids play with clay all the time.'

"Yes, Josh began working with clay as a kid," I replied quickly and added to that, "and yes, it's the clay indeed that offers the potential for meaningful expression, but clay is just a clump of earth, until an artists hands, mind and imagination molds it."

'It's all mass production today,' said Mr. Tiger, defending his point of view, 'all you need is a potter's wheel. Anyone can do it.'

"The potter's wheel revolutionized pottery production, Tige, that's true," and after a pause I added, "sometime between 6,000 and 2,400 BC."

Mr. Tiger ended with an shrug and I ended with a story about two clay pots.

A water bearer in China had two large pots, one hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck.

One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master's house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water in his master's house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made.

But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you."
Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?" "I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master's house.

Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the master's house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path."
Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table.

Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house."

Vitamin A
Topic: Health & Well-being

"Individuals deficient in Vitamin A allow conditions ideal for bacterial growth to be set up in their bodies..." - Let's Eat Right to Keep Fit, p. 56

"Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger, the cootie within, "I was reading in my old but trusty Adelle Davis book last night..."

Mr. Tiger cut me off to say, 'I'd be careful there, if I were you, she's on the quack watch list.'

"Yeah I know, but there's still some darn good information in her books," I interjected before telling him what I read last night while leafing through her book. "As I was saying, I was reading Adelle Davis...'

I was cut off again. 'It's Halloween,' reminded Tiger, 'what's she got to do with Halloween? Everyone who blogs will be doing Halloween stuff today.'

"I'm going to talk about Vitamin A Tiger, and errr - well - pumpkins are a way to get it," I said thinking quick and in my best take-that-in-your-pipe-and-smoke-it voice.

'Okay, okay but leave Davis out of this conversation,' he warned trying to sway me from my intention.

"According to Adelle Davis," I began again, making sure to put plenty of extra emphasis on her name, "... a vitamin-A deficiency allows abonormalities to occur in the tissues spoken of as mucous membranes. These tissues line the body cavities such as the throat, nose, sinuses, middle ears, lungs, the gall bladder, and the urinary bladder. If the diet is adequate in vitamin A, these membranes continuously secrete a liquid, or mucus, which covers the cells and prevents bacteria from reaching them and also cleanses the surface. Furthermore, bacteria cannot live in mucus."

'And according to you?'

"According to me," I responded, "I find this very interesting because one, it relates to my entries of last week, and two, because right now I've a terrible cold with a lot of mucus - seems to hit me this way two and three times a year. And lately," I added to that, "I've noticed my eyes are somewhat inflamed in the morning with a crusty substance, which Davis mentions too. And itchy. She mentions both in regards to Vitamin A deficiency. And also, the fact that I didn't eat meat for at least 10 years - meat being a source for getting Vit A absorbed. And what's more," I said as I opened Davis' book, Let's Eat Right to Keep Fit, to page 54, "get a load of this."

I read: "...People who work in bright light, which destroys vitamin A quickly, or dim light, which requires night vision entirely, use relatively more vitamin A than do persons working in moderate light. Typists and bookkeepers who face the glare of light on white paper frequently suffer from eyestrain preventable by diets richer in vitamin A; persons who sew, read, or watch television a great deal, miners working in dim light, welders facing flashing light, photographers working both with bright lights and in darkrooms, and people living a the desert or beach, where the sunlight is reflected by white sand, often have visual difficulties because of their need for vitamin A..."

'So now you have a vitamin A deficiency?' said the pest.

"I don't know that for sure, but it certainly won't be hard to add plenty of A vitamins, more meat now that I've been eating it again, and even some cod liver oil to my daily routine - just in case. Don't forget to make note, that her discoveries were written way before computers were in everyone's homes."

'I'm making note alright. You smoke,' he jabbed. "It's more likely that that is bothering you."

"I do smoke," I said. "I've been smoking again for five years, after a 20 year hiatus. This is true, but let's follow this Vitamin A thing for a bit. I think it's important - or at least it might shed some light..."

'...on all your medical troubles,' he added for me.

"What I was going to say," I corrected, "is that Vitamin A just might be something to consider, since I didn't eat meat for 10 years."

'You ate pumpkins and other foods high in beta-carotene.'

"Right. But as Dr. Joseph Mercola, M.D maintains, "Relying on plant sources for vitamin A is not a very wise idea." His article, You Can't Get Vitamin A From Plants, goes into all the reasons," I told Tiger.

'Let's just drop this,' he ended up saying. 'We're going in circles and all I wanted was something about Halloween and not all this talk about Vitamin A.'

Before I hurriedly pasted a paragraph from Adelle Davis Revisited, I said, "Happy Halloween" and ended our discussion for the day.

Of all the vitamins, Vitamin A is probably the most important for overall health. One reason this is true is because Vitamin A strengthens the mucous membranes, keeping them coated with clear mucus that prevents bacteria from attaching to them and growing. Bacteria cannot live in this clear mucus. The mucus flows over the surfaces of the inner linings of the body, washing germs and other debris off. For a germ to try to grow in a lung with good mucus flow is like the seed of a plant trying to take root in a flowing river.

One of those Mondays
Topic: Book Reviews

"Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger, the noise in my head, "it's the day before Halloween - hmmm - what shall I post today?"

'Another poem?'

"No."

'How about a book report?' suggested Mr. Tiger who I guessed was playing at being Mr. Helpful today.

"Well, I have been reading a lot," I nodded, "with this cold, broncitis, I think, I'm not feeling like doing much else, so yeah, I could blog that I've been reading fiction again, for a change of pace."

'You already mentioned Dennis Lehane - the local crime fiction writer.'

"Yeah, I love how when he writes, getting right into the psyche of his characters. And since Lehane grew up in Dorchester, not far from where I live, I like how he uses towns I know in his narratives." I gave Tiger an example. "Like in the one I just finished, Prayers For Rain, where on page 161 in the paperback edition, I rode with his words, the same places I have traveled, hundreds, or even thousands, of times in real life."

I read. "...He got off the expressway in Hingham and led us through another half an hour of bumper-to-bumper down one humid, crabby lane of Route 228. We passed through Hingham - all white colonials and white picket fences and white people - and then under high-tension wire before the black Beemer led us into Nantasket.
Once a grungy beach community with a soiled-neon carny atmosphere that attracted lots of bikers and woman with flabby, exposed midriffs and stringy hair, Nantaket Beach slipped into a sterile, picture-postcard loveliness when they tore down the amusement park that once fronted its shores. Gone were the cheesy teacup rides and the ratty wooden clowns you'd knock down with a softball to win an anemic guppy in a plastic bag. A roller coaster that, in its time, had been acknowledged as the country's most dangerous had had its twisted dinosaur of a skeleton shattered by wrecking balls and pulled by its roots from the earth so they could build condos overlooking the boardwalk. All that remained of the old days were the ocean itself and a few arcades bathed in sticky orange light along the boardwalk."

'Enough,' Mr. Pretend-to-be-Friendly cut in.

"There's more on the next page about Nantasket," I said, "but yeah, those are his words and not mine. What shall I write about today?"

'Nothing,' he said out loud, then under his breath, he mumbled something like, 'doesn't matter anyway.'

"Indeed," I said because I knew that. So I let it ride without argument and said, "I think I'll just post some pictures of good ol' Nantasket, the town where I grew up and had my first job selling amusement ride tickets. I'll leave it at that," I said and I did.

Reflection
Topic: Family















"Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger, the pest who has no sense of the sacred, "I've written a poem to go with this picture of my sister Sherry and my brother Dan - the fourth and fifth siblings of nine."

Downplaying my efforts was Tiger's game - one I wasn't playing today especially after he said, 'A poem? Meaningless drivel more closely resembling rubbish.'

After a chuckle that I couldn't hold back and without further explanation I simply stated before posting my poem, "Today marks the fifth anniversary of Danny's passing - yesterday was Sherry's 53rd birthday. I'm dedicating this poem to both of them."



Reflection

Walking down a street of my dreams
a thought manifestation trickles
in my bones
in my blood
in my soul
pointing towards infinity

Heart and mind
clicking together in perpetual rhythm
for those in spirit - the rest
still in our hands
eternally held together
as world spins evermore.

by Kathy Osborn

what's in the news and what's not...
Topic: Political
"Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger, the passionless inner pest, "maybe this is just a bad dream left over from all those hours I slept yesterday when I was sick, but for Christ's sake, look at this!"

'Calm down,' said Mr. Tiger before he even knew what I was talking about.

"How can I calm down? If this is true the American people should know about it," I said all at once while reading from an email sent to me by a friend who keeps a close eye on politics.

'Some friend,' snorted the pest with a sideward glance, 'it takes you days to open it?'

Not bothering to explain that I found K's email when I was cleaning out my overflowing mailbox this morning, I said, "That's besides the point Tiger." I carried on with, "She wrote to tell me about a U.S. ammo dump that was blown up in Iraq, at Camp Falcon on October 10th. The official story," she informed me, "is that no one was hurt but somehow 300 of our soldiers died," I cried out as I read the last sentence, "it's not being reported because of the upcoming election!"

'Do you believe that?' asked Tiger.

"Looks as though plenty do," I responded with a sinking stomach. "Here are some of the links she provided."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq082HmtPEM
http://www.siteinstitute.org/bin/articles.cgi?ID=publications219606&Category=publications&Subcategory=0
http://www.jihadunspun.com/intheatre_internal.php?article=106565&list=/home.php
http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2006/10/14/5964.shtml
http://www.pissedonpolitics.com/2006/10/300_us_soldiers_killed_us_falc.htm
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2552679

"What does that tell you about what the people running our country?" I sadly asked. "A full and complete account of this incident should be reported, but NO - it's election time. All we get to hear are those campaign adds which are conveniently nothing more than smear after smear after smear."

'They're just stirring the pot,' said Tiger in an all too undisturbed voice, 'and sex sells,' he added.

I agreed. "They're picking on works of fiction too," I said in reference to Virginia's Senate campaign. "The opposition's selecting passages from the fictional novels of former Navy Secretary Jim Webb to accuse him of demeaning and dehumanizing women. It's a novel for Pete's sake! Since when is a work of fiction supposed to sway the people one way or the other?' I asked.

'People love this stuff,' said Tiger.

I knew he was right but I said nonetheless, after pointing to a Boston Globe article - Roundly condemned, mudslinging ads thrive under shift in laws - that articulates better than I, "I want the truth - even if it's the sad facts that aren't getting reported."

Take Two - The Dance
Topic: Family

"Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger, the deprivation within, "I'm home with the flu - or something like it today. I've no energy to blog or to do much of anything else."

'You just wanted a day off from work,' the callous Mr. Tiger said.

I gave him no mind and chose from my lost blog - the one I inadvertently deleted by hitting the wrong button - a post that meant a lot to me. Tomorrow, if I am feeling better, I'll be meeting the new man my daughter Beth has been recently dating. Whose to say he'll be Mr. Right or even anything close to that? Not me and not her. But because it has been a l o n g road for her, the ins and outs too personal to go into here, I'm feeling okay now that things are turning around. And like the Garth Brooks song says at the bottom of the entry - all our lessons really are just part of the dance.

Take Two _ The Dance - originally posted on 22 August 2006 17:08 EDT

The Dance

from The Joy Luck Club: Old Chong, who is stone deaf and says of himself and Beethoven; "We both hear it in our hearts."


"Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger, the pest who dances around my issues, "I don't listen to country music much, but I was blown away today while I was driving with one of my daughters and her two kids. She put a Garth Brooks CD in and the tears just flooded out of me."

Since you cry at the drop of a hat, I can't say that I'm surprised,' commented Mr. Tiger.

"I was Tige. I was surprised I cried. It's been a long time since that kind of emotional stuff has gotten to me," I said and repeated again, "I was surprised I cried."

'Then why did'ya?'

"Because I knew she was telling me via Brook's song that even though her marriage didn't make it, it was worth all the pain she endured when it all came crumbling down and when she thought it could be built again."

'But you knew that all along,' he reminded me. "Haven't I heard you say more times than I'd like to hear - that people have to go through their own lessons in order to get to the other side."

"Yes, I knew and I know all that Tige," I agreed while thinking only to myself, "Having worn the same dancing shoes myself over thirty years ago I did not need to have it spelled out for me. I know each of us has to dance to our own music, no matter how wild and unconventional the beat. In other words, we have to make our own mistakes, get up again and dance to another tune."

To Tiger I said, "When my daughter played that Garth Brooks song - intentionally for me, I do think - it lifted the decay that had been forming in me because of things I couldn't say - wouldn't say. After all this time, I finally knew. I finally knew she was going to be okay and," I added, "so too would I."

Tiger had had enough. He made a growling sound and disappeared but not before I said to him, "It's always worth it."

I posted the words to the song that said it all for me today. A song that could speak to broken marriages or illusions of any kind.

"The Dance"

Looking back on the memory of
The dance we shared 'neath the stars above
For a moment all the world was right
How could I have known that you'd ever say goodbye
And now I'm glad I didn't know
The way it all would end the way it all would go
Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain
But I'd have had to miss the dance
Holding you I held everything
For a moment wasn't I a king
But if I'd only known how the king would fall
Hey who's to say you know I might have changed it all
And now I'm glad I didn't know
The way it all would end the way it all would go
Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain
But I'd have had to miss the dance
Yes my life is better left to chance
I could have missed the pain but I'd have had to miss the dance

"Hey Tige,"
Topic: Thirteen Thursday

"When we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves." -- Confucius

"Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger, the inner petty tyrant who can be defined by using description from The Fire from Within, as the pest who "annoys me to distraction, "for my Thirteen Thursday today, edition #64, I'm going to select thirteen "Hey Tige" beginnings. In other words - I'm going to list 13 of the over 400 different starts I've used as openers since beginning my blog over 2 years ago." I added for new readers, "before I accidently deleted it."

'No one will even get it,' Mr. Tiger stated flatly.

"No?" I questioned, knowing as I said it that he was right.

'No,' he said again, his fingers crossed.

A daily conversation, with a tiger no less, is certainly a different approach to blogging, I had to agree. I nonetheless went forward with my list my thirteen but not before leaving another quote that might help to explain:

"People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering." -- St. Augustine

Thirteen "Hey Tige" opening sentences from A Particularly Persistent Point of View. "Hey Tige," I said to the off tune pest of my psyche, "Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger, the insenstive pest of my psyche, "Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger the pest who never has enough, "Hey Tige," I said to Mr, Tiger the humbug segment of my inner self, "Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger, the biased pest, who tries my patience "Hey Tiger," I said to Mr. Tiger, the pest who works to keep me locked into the system, "Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger, the pest who aims to cast a spell on my inner spirit, "Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger the waste product of my psyche, "Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger the pest who devours my energy, "Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger the blind spot of my inner seeing, "Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger the monkey wrench of my inner work, "Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger the contriving pest who compromises my motives, "Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger, who like Mr. Wolf of 'Little Red Riding Hood' fame, uses disguise to hide his true intent, Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

The Pineal Body
Topic: Light
"Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger, the imposture who resides within, "for the last few days I've been discussing an important subject. Have you been paying attention?

Lying through his teeth Tiger answered, 'Yes indeedy. Every word.'

I didn't bother to contradict the deliberate false impression he was attempting to convey because I wanted to wrap up this unit of posts and I wanted to get to it right away. I went along and said, "Good. Because as we are seeing this master endocrine gland that secretes melatonin and is involved in our biorhythms and just about everything else, effects all hormonal functions in the body."

The sharp-tongued pest shook his head up and down and said, 'it's all so important to me.'

I had to suppress a laugh before going on. At last I said, "The source of the material I will present today has been mostly taken from The Julius Axelrod Papers. I read in the first sentence to Tiger. "In the late 1950s, Axelrod's interest in neurotransmitter hormones led him to study the pineal gland, the tiny gland often called the third eye due to its central placement deep in the middle of the brain."

"From his findings into the metabolism and regulation of neurotransmitters," I said as I jumped to another sentence and read from the site, "Axelrod identified the pineal gland is a kind of relay station for serotonin in transit in the nervous system because," I continued, "the pineal regulates the release and distribution of serotonin in 12-hour cycles. These cycles of serotonin secretion define what scientists call the body's circadian rhythms. These are the natural rhythms that regulate the body's internal mechanisms for rest and sleep, and continue unabated whether or not the body is exposed to morning daylight or plunged into nighttime darkness."

'Excuse me for interrupting,' said Tiger, still kowtowing in order to put me off guard, 'but how does this fit in with all you said Monday?'

"I'll get to that," I answered, "I thought that first, it would be interesting to point out how brain chemistry can be changed because of these discoveries. Neurotransmitter reuptake drugs have changed the face of psychopharmacology. I was quoting the scientist, Julius Axelrod when I said, "new drugs to relieve mental illness - drugs to remove prejudice, to store memory, to suppress memory, to enhance intelligence - psychedelic trips, since we can control them, will be good ones."

'Prozac?'

"Yes, and other antidepressant medications," I agreed through a grim smile. "A Pandora's Box actually - a slippery slope. Once you introduce the poison into the well, how do you ever get it out of the water?"

Tiger began to answer before I shifted gears, 'Well...'

"Never mind Tiger. Let's move on," I said. Before closing out the huge topic about the mysterious role of the pineal, I provided an array of noteworthy links that would begin answer some of questions I brought up Monday.

Researchers Shine a Night Light on a Possible Link to Cancer
By KATHLEEN MCAULIFFE
Published: June 13, 1999

BY keeping night at bay, the electric light fostered today's round-the-clock society. But now scientists are asking whether there might be a dark side to so much brightness.

Experts on the biological effects of light worry that artificial illumination at night may be contributing to a rise in certain cancers, particularly breast cancer.

There is no direct proof of a connection, only circumstantial evidence from rodent and epidemiological studies. And even if a link is firmly established, scientists don't know how exposure to light at night would rank next to better-studied risk factors for breast cancer, like delayed childbearing, late menopause or alcohol consumption.

The Use of Melatonin in Children With Sleep Disturbances
Marcia L. Buck, Pharm.D., FCCP

The administration of exogenous melatonin has been used in a variety of clinical settings, most frequently in the management of sleep disturbances, including insomnia and jet lag.

Although considered a dietary supplement and not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), melatonin was classified as an orphan drug by the FDA in November 1993 for the entrainment of circadian rhythm in blind people.
In children, melatonin has been used for chronic insomnia, as well as in the management of sleep disturbances associated with vision disturbances, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and neurologic injury.[1- 3]

Sunlight emerging as proven treatment for breast cancer, prostate cancer and other cancers
Monday, July 11, 2005 by: Jessica Fraser

In The Breast Cancer Prevention Diet, Dr. Robert Arnot claims that national rates of breast cancer inversely correlate to solar radiation exposure. In other words, breast cancer occurs at a much higher rate in colder, cloudier northern regions than in sunnier southern regions. Johns Hopkins University Medical School conducted a ten-year epidemiological study that showed exposure to full-spectrum light (including the ultraviolet frequencies) is positively related to the prevention of breast, colon and rectal cancers.

Alcoholism, Addictive Drugs and Light
Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 1993 Jul, 54:7, 260-2.
Study done with Ken Blum, PhD.

Dr. Geller then gave injections of pineal melatonin to rats kept on a regular light-dark cycle and not subjected to any anxiety. The injections alone turned these rats into alcoholics. Dr. Geller stated that ¿it is only through such animal studies that one can hope to attain a clearer understanding and perhaps an ultimate treatment or cure, or both, for alcoholism in humans.¿

PMS Linked to Light

A prominent PMS researcher, Barbara Parry, M.D., of the University of California, San Diego, recently established that PMS is related to light and that phototherapy (light therapy) can alleviate PMS symptoms. Dr. Parry identified a woman in southern California who only has PMS during the winter months. Parry used specially designed lights to regulate the woman's serotonin levels during the day and sleep cycles at night. The woman's PMS symptoms were substantially reduced. (Phototherapy is best known for treating SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder.)

EMFs 101

Some scientists say EMF exposure may be a cancer promoter rather than a cancer initiator. Melatonin studies offer an insight into this theory. A hormone produced by the pineal gland, melatonin has been shown to slow the growth of breast cancer cells. Recent lab studies show that 1) EMFs may lower melatonin levels and thus promote cancer indirectly; 2) EMFs may nullify melatonin's cancer-fighting abilities in slowing the growth of cancer cells. So, even sufficient levels of melatonin would be useless if EMFs block its anti-cancer actions. As a potential causal link between EMFs and cancer, melatonin is gaining attention from the scientific community. Melatonin's benefits to human health have been the subject of several books published in the last year.

Also under investigation is electrical hypersensitivity, based on reports of skin disorders and allergic reactions to EMF exposure. Better recognized in Sweden, this condition is manifest by skin rashes and irritation, fatigue, dizziness, nausea and headaches associated with computer use. The Swedish Association for the Electrically and VDT Injured has a web site on electrical hypersensitivity. EMF exposure occupations such as dressmaking were 3 times as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease.

The Body Electric
author B Blake Levitt

Frey's recent comments are in response to thousands of complaints about headaches in cellular phone users that are now surfacing around the world, much to the amazement of mainstream medicine. But anyone who knows anything about this subject is not surprised by these so-called "new" reports. Humans truly are "electrical" beings. The heartbeat is electrical. Brain waves are electrical. Most hormonal and neuronal activity is electrically regulated. Some crucial aspects of cell division itself are too. In humans, the eye was thought to be the only organ that had evolved to perceive a band of the electromagnetic spectrum --that of visible light. But recent research has found that the pineal gland, located deep within the center of the brain, is probably a "magnetic" organ which determines our sense of direction, among other things. One could argue that not much happens in the human anatomy that isn't electromagnetic. So why wouldn't we react negatively to some frequencies, or, then again, positively to some others?

Malillumination
Topic: Light
"Theories may be interesting to think about . . . but this was affecting my own arthritis, a much more personal matter. Maybe I was one of the lucky people who get better for no reason at all, but I felt strongly that there was a reason. I had taken off my glasses and let the full unfiltered natural sunlight into my eyes and had also made a point of being outdoors six hours or more a day whether it was sunny or cloudy. To me the results were convincing enough: that light received through the eyes must stimulate the pituitary or some other gland such as the pineal, about which not much was known." - John Ott

"Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger, my own inner stress, "can you guess what the term malillumination means?"

'Who cares?' burped the pest.

"It's a term coined by John Ott, the pioneer in light therapy," I told him before continuing with a series of entries about light and our brains.

"If the body doesn't get a balanced diet it will suffer from malnutrition as we know. Ott, Jacob Liberman and others, contend that malillumination is an imbalance too - it's a lack of full-spectrum light which results in a host of problems. One being, learning disabilities and another being, hyperactivity."

'Baloney,' uttered Tiger before saying, "gullible followers and nothing more."

I ignored him and inserted, "Ott carried out experiments with children in class rooms with full-spectrum lighting and others in rooms with standard cool-white fluorescent lights. His studies revealed that there is a discernible difference between the two light sources. The florescent lighting produced increased levels of stress producing hormones. Full-spectrum lighting did not."

'Those kids weren't trying hard enough,' contributed Tiger. 'And you?' he added with snarl, 'You're just trying to figure a way to explain your own dyslexia.'

"That could be true Tige," I responded. "But have a look here at a syndrome called Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome. It describes SSS as a visual perceptual problem involving how the nervous system encodes and decodes visual information - likely originating either in the retina of the eye or in visual cortex in the brain. Juxiposed with the work of Ott and Liberman, it just might be a clue."

'SSS and dyslexia? I think you're reaching,' said Tiger.

I kept talking. "Jacob Liberman calls this syndrome visual dyslexia and explains in his book, regarding the possibility that light and color effect the learning of adults and children, "Individuals suffering from this condition respond inappropriately to specific wavelengths of light; they feel overwhelmed in the presence of those wavelengths, almost as if they are allergic to them."

I wasn't surprised when Tiger departed, saying as he left, 'I'm allergic to this conversation.'

Talking to myself I asked what others might be asking as well. "What happens when the body is restricted to a specific light-diet and only a selected portion of the spectrum is allowed to enter the eyes?"

I didn't really know but I suspected that all this is complexly interconnected with not only how the brain works but how light enters and travels through the pathways of our brains, glands and organs.

I read a snippet from page 106 of Jacob Liberman's Light Medicine of the Future to help me decide if these theories had merit.

"For years we have been labeling and re-labeling children who appear to have difficulties we do not understand. We test and tutor them continually, only to find out that they are usually very bright but that for some reason outside of our understanding they do not achieve in the expected manner within the traditional learning environment. Although the labels for these children have changed from dumb, stupid and lazy to dyslexic, minimally brain dysfunctioned, and learning disabled, the labels nonetheless scar them for life..."