Just got back from vacation. I went to http://www.elvinhome.org.
Got there Wednesday morning, came back Sunday morning.
I was at one of the vendor booths, when I noticed two Kaliedescopes (sp) on a shelf. I picked up one and looked thru it. It was a clear glass type, no bits of colored glass moving around inside of it. It was pretty cool. On a whim, I picked up the other one and put it to my other eye. WOW!!! I bought both and went around showing off my purchases. In one group, a guy said he collected antique Kaleidescopes. When I told him to look thru both at once, he acted like I'd just blown his mind, like he'd never thought of that before. I think people need to have their world rocked once in a awhile. Glad I could do it for him.
The weather was in the mid ninties, and dry. In my camping spot, the gnats were out. They don't bite, they just bother. They seem to have a thing for ears. And eyes. But mostly ears. Made me wish I had longer hair.
Other campsites seemed to have trouble with flies and sweat bees. Sweat bees do bite. Flies can, too.
Other campsites deeper in the wooded area had trouble with ticks.
One woman in my camping area had severe arachniphobia. I don't know why she came...spiders are everywhere out there. Daddy longlegs are common, and some of them manage to live long enuff to get fairly large. Another one I see often doesn't creep or crawl...it jumps. Quickly. Anyway, she happened to see a spider, I don't know which one, and practically had a heart attack. I don't know if she saw any more after that.
Cold water showers, in weather like that, are lifesavers! It's a trip to feel the cold water just peel the heat away and off your body. Try it sometime.
Must of been about 400 people there on Friday and Saturday. Every campsite was full. The campground even tried to revive one or two old campsites, just for the overflow.
I think a good time was had by all, even by the woman afraid of spiders.

I retired on the 1st of March this year. Things are going OK so far, but I'm still in the Working mindset...I need to constantly remind myself that I'm not working anymore. I don't need to parcel out my time...I can do whatever I want, when I want, as often as I want...I don't need to save my time/energy for a fucking job!!

I've no idea which group to post this to, so I'll just stick it here, at least for now. Maybe someone else will see this, maybe not.
This is a flash mob in Russia, of all places, and it's pretty darn cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KgoapkOo4vg

Makes me feel good to watch it.

Seen that promo for the new Steven Segal (sp) show? What's it called, "Justice"? or something.
Gads, in the final shot of the promo, he looks like Ming the Merciless. Utterly ridiculous.

This poem is from Green Egg magazine, copyright Mabon, 1991. After that recent find
in Norway, I thought it would be appropriate.

...................................................................

White Folks Was Wild Once, Too
by Whitman McGowan

Yeah, white folks was wild once, too
We'd get a wild tattoo and paint our faces blue
If we smelled some game we knew just what to do
And someone always dug where the medicine grew
We had our kind of music and our rituals, too
Yeah, white folks was wild once, too

Forget about the Mau-Mau, forget about the Sioux,
We was homesteaders back when the glaciers withdrew
And where our chiefs lay buried, everybody knew
We had a feel for nature, a sense of what was true
Yeah, white folks was wild once, too.

We put up lots of big rocks framing up the moon
'N pointing at the sun and the other stars, too
We did a whole damn lot of scary hoodoo
'N voodoo 'n mojo 'n sacrifices, too
Yeah, white folks was wild once, too.

We took starnge powders to improve our view
Before the Wright Brothers, I'm telling you we flew
Getting right with the Goddess was the mission of our crew
We danced around a fire chanting woo-woo-woo
Yeah, white folks was wild once, too.

Wacky doo, wacky doo, wacky doo, wacky doo
We used to like to drink and fight, used to like to ooh!
For all that I know, we still just maybe do
And we were really ready for the world to start anew
Yeah, white folks was wild once, too.

We had baskets to weave and a bone to chew
We got real funky on some homemade brew
We had a helluva time at a bar-be-que
If you saw us today you'd put us in a zoo
Yeah, white folks was wild once, too!
..............................................................
From the author:
"This particular bit of whimsy comes from decades of feeling like I wasn't a native.
I mean, when the Mayans were building their temples and the Chinese had very advanced
observatories, and the Africans had great kingdoms with complex social structures, _my_
people, you know, white people, who were once natives too, were still running around
hitting each other with sticks and painting their faces blue. And now _we're_ supposed to
be the point men for civilization! We were the _last_ to be civilized. Just about anybody
is more qualified for the job than we are."
--Whitman Ott McGowan

Well, I did it. I retired. A couple of years too early, perhaps, but I had to do it. The company is changing, it wants us to work faster and do more, and here I am, getting older and (naturally) slowing down. Had I tried to stay on, who knows what the stress would've done to me. I don't mind dying from smoking, but I _do_ mind dying from work-related stress. So as of March 1st, 2012, I'm done. Yay!!

I won't vote for Ron Paul, he is, ultimately, too extreme. But, I like some of what he has to say. Got this from a list I'm on...
............................................................................................................................................................

4:20 Ron Paul Quote: " It's our policy of preemptive, deliberate invasions of these countries and occupying these countries that has jeopardized our safety. This blow back principle is what caused 9/11 and we have to come to realise it.
If you keep living in this dreamland of saying that they attacked us because we are free and prosperous,
believe me we'll never get a good foreign policy."

Bill O'reilly Panics After Ron Paul Brings Up 1953 Iran Coup by US and UK.flv
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m76BOQ_2Hs&feature=related
The Bill Oreilly interviews Ron Paul, he doesn't want to see Ron to tell what the US did in the past in the middle east. Ron Paul wants to put 911 in a historical perspective, but as you might expect from FOX they are not very interested in a discussion on an intellectual level.
Watching Ron Paul vids always gives me the impression that he is trying to explain obvious things to idiots


Ron Paul Interview 1988 A Must See!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfZ0a1irFPk&feature=related

The Most AMAZING video on the internet…2012 Election…a RP revolution
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoP0ItndrAk&feature=related

Ron Paul tells a truth nobody wants to hear
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzl7TwnTu5Y&feature=related

Ron Paul vs Michael Moore on Larry King CNN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7myjtY13M8&feature=related

Eat This During Winter to Radically Reduce Your Risk of the Cold and Flu
December 31 2011

Mushrooms contain some of the most powerful natural medicines on the planet, especially for boosting your immunity during cold and flu season
Many medicinal mushrooms having strong anti-inflammatory, antitumor, antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal properties
Mushrooms can help slow your aging, boost your immunity, improve your blood flow and cardiovascular health, stabilize blood sugar, increase athletic performance, and even help regenerate your nerves
It is therapeutically important to use a blend of multiple mushroom species, organically grown, rather than just one type

By Dr. Mercola

Some of the most potent immunosupportive agents come from mushrooms, and science is just beginning to tap into this vast natural medicine warehouse.

There are mushrooms that kill viruses, mushrooms that kill bacteria, and even mushrooms that kill yeast—which may surprise you, given they're both fungi.

Some mushrooms destroy cancer cells, and others facilitate nerve regeneration.

Fungi are incredibly resilient, even surviving radioactivity.

They can actually harness radiation to thrive, as was found by a robot sent to map the inside of the entombed Chernobyl nuclear reactor in 1999.

The robot found a hardy fungus chowing down on 200 tons of melted radioactive fuel.

In addition to bringing us nutrition and powerful medicine, mushrooms offer great benefits for the planet.

You may be surprised to learn that mushrooms have the following green applications:

Eradication of carpenter ants by producing a pesticide that tricks the ants into eating it
Producing a low carbon footprint type of ethanol
Breaking down the neurotoxins in nerve gas
Producing a fully compostable fungal-based packing material that could potentially replace plastics and styrofoam
Bioremediation: Cleaning up waste from petroleum, toxic chemicals (PCBs, TNT), and bacteria such as E. coli
Of the 140,000 species of mushroom-forming fungi, science is familiar with only 10 percent, according to world-renown mycologist Paul Stamets in "The Most Powerful Medicine in Nature". About 100 species are being studied for their health-promoting benefits. Of those hundred, about a half dozen really stand out for their ability to deliver a tremendous boost to your immune system.

I'd like to share some information with you today about a few of the rock stars of Kingdom Fungi. Some of these were discussed in my interview with Steve Farrar, who has worked and studied mushrooms professionally for the last 30 years. If you missed that informative interview, I highly recommend listening to it as well. But first, you need a little understanding about how mushrooms grow and what makes them so unique.

Mycelium: Mother Nature's Internet
Mushrooms are nature's recycling system. If it weren't for mushrooms, we wouldn't have plants, because mushrooms (and their "parent" mycelium) break down rocks and organic matter, turning them into soil that provides the framework to nourish plants..

Mushrooms are actually only the fruiting body of a more vast fungal form—the mycelium. The mycelium is a fascinating cobweb-like mat that infuses nearly all landscapes. It is through the mycelium that the fungus absorbs nutrients from the environment. When two compatible mycelia combine, the resulting mycelium occasionally forms fruiting bodies called mushrooms. The mushrooms make spores, which fly away to make new mycelial colonies, and the lifecycle is complete.

Mycelial mats can be too small to see or cover vast areas of ground.

Their extreme tenacity makes the soil spongy and able to support 30,000 times its weight. A single cubic inch of soil can contain 8 miles of mycelium cells. The largest living organism on Earth is a mycelium in Eastern Oregon that covers 2,200 acres, is ONE cell wall thick and 2,000 years old.

Paul Stamets believes fungal mycelia and the intricate, branching network they form function as "the Earth's Internet," a complex communication highway that is sort of Mother Nature's neural net. In some ways, mycelia are "sentient" and seem to demonstrate learning. If one pathway is broken, it develops an alternate path. According to Stamets, when you step on it, it knows you're there and "leaps up" in the aftermath of your footstep, trying to grab debris. The mycelia—not JUST the mushrooms—contain many of the healing agents for which mushrooms are revered.

Hanging with Fungi Increases Your Odds of Survival
We're more closely related to fungi than we are to any other kingdom. We share the same pathogens, meaning bacteria and viruses. As a defense against bacterial invasion, fungi have developed strong antibiotics, which also happen to be effective for us humans. Penicillin, streptomycin, and tetracycline all come from fungal extracts.

The predominant mushrooms displaying antiviral activities are the polypores, sometimes called bracket fungi or woody conks, tough and fibrous fungi characterized by many tiny holes on the underside of their caps. Polypores have been dubbed the "frontier" of new medicines and are thought to be the ancestors to most of the gilled mushrooms. Interestingly, there are no known poisonous polypores, whereas there are more than one hundred poisonous gilled mushrooms.

Paul Stamets recently discovered that a very rare polypore called Agaricon is effective against the poxviruses—including smallpox. This has the Department of Defense very interested, as smallpox is one of the most feared bioterrorism agents. Agaricon was also found to be effective against flu viruses.

History tells us that living in cooperation with fungi will increase our odds of survival. After major extinction events, it was the fungi that thrived because they didn't need light and lived on dead organic matter. Organisms pairing with fungi flourished, and those that didn't fared poorly.

Many of the mushrooms valued for strong medicinal properties grow on trees, as opposed to the ground dwellers you've likely seen.

These tree fungi concentrate the unique elements that the host tree has absorbed over its lifetime, which may be ten or twenty or even HUNDREDS of years. Many of these mushroom species are long-term residents of Old Growth Forests and play an essential role in nutrient recycling by decomposing old trees. The mushroom wraps itself around these special nutrients, capturing them in the fruiting body of the organism and turning it into a little medicinal powerhouse. Maybe it's time for us to embrace the mushroom and harness it's medicine the way the Asians have done for thousands of years.

Blends of Mushrooms are More Effective Than any One Mushroom Alone
It is therapeutically best to utilize a blend of several mushroom species, because "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." For one thing, it is easier for pathogens in your body to adapt and become resistant to one mushroom than to several. Secondly, each mushroom species has a unique arsenal of anti-infective and immunomodulating agents.

These special agents include:

Polysaccharides
Glycoproteins
Ergosterols (steroid-like compounds that create vitamin D in sunlight)
Triterpenoids
You might have heard the term "beta glucans." The agents listed above are precursors to the more complex compounds, beta glucans. It is the synergism between ALL of these elements that makes mushrooms so medicinally powerful when consumed as a whole food—mycelium included.

Because mushrooms have such powerful immune-boosting effects, it isn't surprising that some have great potential for battling cancer. Mushrooms with anti-tumor activity appear to increase the number and activity of killer T and natural killer (NK) lymphocytes, with no toxicity to healthy cells. Cancer cells are notorious for "hiding" from chemo agents. New research has shown that certain mushroom extracts help chemotherapy drugs better locate and identify cancer cells by "uncloaking them," thereby making chemo more effective.

This is getting some open-minded oncologists very excited! Medicinal mushrooms also strengthen your immune system if you are undergoing chemo, so cancer patients get a double benefit. The list of health benefits science is revealing to us about mushrooms is still growing, but thus far includes the following:

Increased longevity Improved blood flow Cholesterol and blood sugar normalization
Liver protection, including protection from adverse effects of alcohol consumption Kidney support Antiviral (including HIV), antibacterial, and antifungal properties
Destruction of cancer cells; improved outcomes for people receiving chemo and radiation Improved respiratory illnesses, including asthma Reduced risk for heart disease, decreased platelet aggregation and improved blood flow
Nerve regeneration (Lion's Mane mushroom) Improved skin and hair Increased sexual function and athletic ability


It's important to eat ONLY organically grown mushrooms. Remember, what makes mushrooms so potent is that they absorb and concentrate whatever they grow in—good OR bad. Mushrooms are known to concentrate heavy metals, and air and water pollutants.

Now that you have the overview, let's take a look at a few of my favorite health-enhancing mushroom species. We'll start with a delicious little mushroom you have probably seen on your dinner plate or at your local market—the shiitake.

Shiitake (Lentinula edodes)
Shiitake is a popular culinary mushroom used in dishes around the world. It contains a number of health-stimulating agents, including lentinan, the polysaccharide for which it was named. Lentinan has been isolated and used to treat stomach and other cancers due to its antitumor properties, but has also been found to protect your liver, relieve other stomach ailments (hyperacidity, gallstones, ulcers), anemia, ascites, and pleural effusion.

One of the more remarkable scientific studies demonstrating shiitake's antitumor effect was a Japanese animal study, where mice suffering from sarcoma were given shiitake extract. Six of 10 mice had complete tumor regression, and with slightly higher concentrations, all ten mice showed complete tumor regression.

Shiitake mushrooms also demonstrate antiviral (including HIV, hepatitis, and the "common cold"), antibacterial, and antifungal effects; blood sugar stabilization; reduced platelet aggregation; and reduced atherosclerosis. Shiitake also contains eritadenine, which has strong cholesterol-lowering properties.

Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum)
Reishi is known as Lingzhi in China, or "spirit plant." It's also been called "Mushroom of Immortality"—a nickname that kind of says it all. Reishi has been used medicinally in Asia for thousands of years. One of its more useful compounds is ganoderic acid (a triterpenoid), which is being used to treat lung cancer, leukemia and other cancers. The list of Reishi's health benefits includes the following

Antibacterial, antiviral (Herpes, Epstein-Barr), antifungal (including Candida) properties
Antiinflammatory, useful for reducing symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis
Immune system up-regulation
Normalization of blood cholesterol levels and blood pressure
Reduction of prostate-related urinary symptoms in men
Cordyceps (Cordyceps militaris)
Cordyceps, also called caterpillar fungus or Tochukasu, is a favorite of athletes because it increases ATP production, strength and endurance, and has anti-aging effects. This parasitic mushroom is unique because, in the wild, it grows out of an insect host instead of a plant host. Cordyceps has an enduring history in both traditional Chinese and Tibetan medicine.

Cordyceps has hypoglycemic and possible antidepressant effects, protects your liver and kidneys, increases blood flow, helps normalize your cholesterol levels, and has been used to treat Hepatitis B. It has antitumor properties as well.

Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor)
Turkey Tail is also known as Coriolis, or "cloud mushroom." Science is showing that Turkey Tail mushroom holds an arsenal of cancer-blasting compounds. Two polysaccharide complexes in Turkey Tail are getting a great deal of scientific attention, PSK (or "Kreskin") and PSP, making it the most extensively researched of all medicinal mushrooms with large scale clinical trials.

A seven-year, $2 million NIH-funded clinical study in 2011 found that Turkey Tail mycelium improves immune function when dosed daily to women with stage I–III breast cancer. Immune response was dose-dependent, with no adverse effects.

In addition to breast cancer, Turkey Tail has been found to hold promise for other cancers, including stomach, colorectal, lung, esophageal, nasopharyngeal, cervical, and uterine. PSP has been shown to significantly enhance immune status in 70 to 97 percent of cancer patients. Turkey tail is also being used to treat many different infections, including aspergillus niger, Candida albicans, E. coli, HIV, Herpes, and streptococcus pneumonia, and is hepatoprotective. It may also be useful for CFIDS.

Himematsutake (Agaricus blazei)
The last mushroom I'd like to mention is the newcomer on the block: Himematsutake, also called Royal Sun Agaricus, a relative of the common button mushroom. Himematsutake was not cultivated in the East until fairly recently but is now a very popular natural medicine, used by almost a half million Japanese.

Himematsutake mushroom is attracting many scientists worldwide due to its remarkable anticancer properties related to six special polysaccharides. Like many other medicinal mushrooms, this fungus can also protect you from the damaging effects of radiation and chemotherapy. But its benefits don't stop there—Himematsutake can also decrease insulin resistance in diabetics, normalize your cholesterol, improve your hair and skin, and even treat polio.

There are many more mushrooms deserving mention—far too many to include here. But at least you can begin to appreciate the scope of benefits mushrooms have to offer, based on the handful of examples above.

Final Thoughts
A carefully designed blend of medicinal fungi can deliver a powerful therapeutic punch, whether you just wish to help protect yourself from seasonal colds or flu, or you have a more serious condition such as cancer. Either way, these special mushrooms can be an excellent adjunct to a healthful diet and lifestyle to improve your immune health. If you are interested in more information about medicinal mushrooms, you might consider visiting the following sites:

Healing-Mushrooms.net is an encyclopedia of medicinal mushrooms with a searchable database, abundant resources and fungi photos
MedicalMushrooms.net is another encyclopedic database with information about many of the medicinal mushrooms
MushroomExpert.com can help you with mushroom identification
Paul Stamets' YouTube video channel has about 30 videos of wild mushroom hunts and all sorts of informational videos, including mushroom identification and cultivation

References:
Mushroom-Appreciation.com
Cosmos Magazine
TED with Eben Bayer: Are mushrooms the new plastic? July 2010
"The Most Powerful Medicine in Nature," an interview with David Wolfe (Booklet, 2009)
Polypore Primer
GreenMedInfo
J Cancer Research 1970
J Nutrition August 1995
MedicalMushrooms.net
Life Sci December 2006
Am J Chin. Med. 2010
Fungi Perfecti LLC
Mico Nutri
Altern Med Rev 2000
SB3.com

Related Links:
New Study—Cost of Cancer Rapidly Becoming Unaffordable

Is this Simple Sugar a Major Factor in the Failure of the War on Cancer?

One Vitamin that May Stop Flu in Its Tracks

© Copyright 1997-2011 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.gotopless.org is run by those nutty Raelians, but I like their idea, which is scheduled for
Aug 26, 2012.