The Moringa Tree Health Benefits vs. My BS Meter

About a year ago I came across some information pertaining to a ‘Miracle Tree’ that was mostly edible and which had ‘miraculous’ effects on the human body after consumption. Following is a pretty accurate compilation of the claims I’ve come across:

� Boosts the natural defenses of the body.
� Nourishes the brain and eyes.
� Helps regulate a healthy metabolism.
� Promotes healthy cell structure.
� Promotes healthy cholesterol levels.
� Supports healthy function of the liver and the kidneys.
� Beautifies the skin.
� Increases energy.
� Aids in proper digestion.
� Powerful antioxidants that reduce the risk of tumors and the effects of aging.
� Possesses strong anti-inflammatory properties.
� Promotes a healthy circulatory system.
� Supports the normal sugar levels.
� Helps detoxify the body
� Effective against nervous system disorders including normal and migraine headaches.
� Gives a feeling of general wellness.

While it may be true that the leaf powder can do all the above, it’s also true that eating a healthy and diverse diet can accomplish the same objective. The problem many people have, especially in developed countries, is the desire to eat foods that are fried, high in sugars and or loaded with salt. Doing this over a period of decades can result in obesity, digestive problems and an overall decline in health. These people who then buy the Moringa powder which is a very healthy source of nutrition, then experience ‘wonderful’ and ‘miraculous’ changes in a short span of time. Duh!

My point is that, instead of paying $21 a pound for the powder (excluding shipping costs), you might just be better off spending your money on loads of apples, oranges and bananas. This would work quite nicely assuming you also stay away from the fast foods.

The skinny on Stove Top’s Stuffing Mix for chicken!

Having pretty much exhausted the line of Banquet Dollar Meals, I now turn my culinary eye to Stove Top and their line of stuffing mixes. The question I had uppermost on my mind today was who actually gets stuffed here? Is it my taste buds? Maybe my waistline or even my pocketbook? Hmm?

I’ll wager that, you the reader, have a box of stuffing mix hidden away somewhere in your pantry. Possibly a box that never got used on the last holiday. Come on. Get up right this minute and go check. I’ll wait…. My box was behind some other boxes of Mac and Cheese (which I will not be reviewing thank you kindly). And, I’m guessing it’s been around a while as the use by date is set for January 2012. My how the time does fly!

The directions for making the stuffing could not be easier. You bring one and a half cups of water mixed with butter (4 tbsp) to a boil then stir in the package contents. Cover this and let it stand off the heat for about five minutes. Voila – you’re ready to rock. Note: If you do, in fact, find these directions confusing, I would suggest contemplating suicide in the drive up lane at McDonald’s.  'Yes, I’ll have that order super-sized. Ka Bam!'

Before getting into the nutritional stuff a word of caution. Kraft’s idea of a serving is rather strange. They must think the world is full of midgets. A serving, according to them is 28 grams. Check the picture A for how that much looks on a standard plate. What is that? Maybe a mouthful? Two? Anyway, that’s not what I call a man’s portion (picture B at 78 grams). So, right off the bat, I’m pretty sure I’m gonna get screwed here. Instead of just 110 calories, I will be ingesting more like 300! And the sodium, who doesn’t need more sodium in their diet? Well, 430 milligrams now shoots up to 1,195 milligrams or about half a days worth! Think I’ll stop right there, I’m already depressed. I should have been wary of any food with the word ‘stuffing’ in it!

But wait! There is a redeeming quality to be had! For one thing the smell of this side dish is to die for. If you’ve just thrown together a dinner that screams leftovers, the addition of a little stuffing could be the game saver you’re looking for. So, for that alone I’ll give this one a score of 8 on a scale of 10. Just remember, that for most of us, the calories here are the real stuffing.

These are certainly the most interesting of times!

“I know you feel these are the worst of times.

I do believe it’s true.

When people lock their doors and hide inside.

Rumor has it, it the end of paradise.”

Styx ‘82

While it may or may not be the end of paradise, the bloom is definitely fading off the rose for many American’s love affair with Barrack Obama, the Democratic Party and their promise of Hope and Change. Under their watch, Congress has become increasingly ineffective at passing meaningful legislation. (Ya think)? So much so, that the President has now begun to look for loopholes as a means of bypassing them altogether. Amendment 14? Come on, you’ve got to be jacking me, Bamer! You, sir, are a loophole!

TSA warns of bomb implants! Really?

 If the topic were not so serious, I’d be laughing my ass off right about now. It seems the TSA (Transportation Security Authority), a group being trained to razor sharp readiness by the AFL-CIO, is now warning air travelers of the possibility that terrorists may attempt to board planes with bombs implanted into body cavities. They go on to say that the most likely repositories for the HE (high explosives) will be men’s colons and women’s breasts.

On a good note, this announcement has got to be a Godsend for any TSA agent whose leanings run to the sexually exotic.

So, Facebook is also now our new phone company!

Golly and gee whiz, everybody. It seems that Skype and Facebook have now figured out a way that we can video each other for free! Oh, I’m sure this will end well.

While the new video chat feature is advertised as free and is not even branded "Skype," it will cost money to dial a regular phone from inside Facebook, just as Skype today charges a few pennies a minute for dialing outside numbers using its regular service. Facebook will likely require users to pay with the internal Facebook currency it calls Credits, bolstering that product's usefulness. OK, so it’s not really free…

Call me old, call me insane, but I have a bad feeling about all our communications services being wedded to the Internet. A resource that will go ‘poof’ a microsecond after a high altitude nuke goes off in the sky over our heads. This would be due to the EMP effect that might degrade just about everything electronic, which is everything we have these days.

Ortho Home Defense Max!

I tried this product only after I had exhausted all the other less lethal means available to me. The problem was ants. This year, perhaps due to the emergence of the seven year cicada’s, I've had a bumper crop of the little critters. I don’t mind ants and other bugs sharing the planet with me, as long as they respect the sanctity of my humble adobe. Unfortunately, they have not, and so more stringent actions were called into play.

Ortho Home Defense Max to the rescue! So far, this product has a couple of things going for it in my opinion. It’s easy to use and apparently acts as a pretty good perimeter shield around ones home. The process of spraying my foundation took only about fifteen minutes and the results were immediate! Just be careful to read the directions that come with the product carefully before use.

Pyrotechnic Nabobs of the Night!

Every Fourth of July, for years now, I’ve suffered from a particular form of insomnia. While there is no scientific name for the condition, I like the term ‘Crackeritis’. The symptoms begin around sundown and go far into the night. This being due to one or more intelligence handicapped individuals who persevere with their explosive celebrations well into the wee hours of the night.

After all the other neighbors have brought their pyrotechnic celebration to a booming end somewhere around 10PM, these mental midgets continue onwards with a boom here and a bang there. They remind me a lot of an old man with an enlarged prostate trying to empty his bladder one dribble at a time.

Lying there in bed, I’ve formed a mental picture of what these specimens of humanity must be like were I to meet one face to face. For starters, they must be very young, that’s a gimme. And, I would bet they may drink to excess since they have absolutely no sense of time. The kind of people who have very little regard for their fellow man and if asked what the Fourth was all about would only utter ‘Whuut’? (Deep thinkers and followers of history)? Not on your life! Oh, and women, you can forget about that for these guys. No girl in her right mind would put up with a stooge like that.

So, what does that leave us with? I give you a young, acne riddled, alcoholic retard who is also a social recluse that hides out in his bedroom while everyone else is out working for a living. More than likely, the money he spent on his fireworks came from his unemployment check which also irks me no end. A man whose only real talent lies in his unswerving ability to annoy others.

In other words, I’ll just bet you he’s a Democrat!

Falling Skies Series pretty good TV

FALLING SKIES opens in the chaotic aftermath of an alien attack that has left most of the world completely incapacitated. In the six months since the initial invasion, the few survivors have banded together outside major cities to begin the difficult task of fighting back. Each day is a test of survival as citizen soldiers work to protect the people in their care while also engaging in an insurgency campaign against the occupying alien force.

At the center of the series is Tom Mason (Noah Wyle), a Boston history professor whose family has been torn apart. His wife was killed in the initial attack, and one of his three sons has been captured. Determined to get his son back and to ensure the safety of his other two sons, Tom must put his extensive knowledge of military history to the test as one of the leaders of the resistance movement known as the 2nd Mass, because of their location in Boston, Mass. They are constantly trying to gain intelligence about the aliens in order to one day outsmart and overtake them and hopefully rebuild their lives. See the series opener here!

A watercolor of my mind!

On a recent meeting with my therapist, a Mz. Glasner (gender unknown), I was assigned the task of doing a water color that I felt would best represent my feelings towards myself.

Here is the result. I call it 'Rotting Ship'.

Mz. Glasner has since referred me to a specialist.