In January, the New Mexico state Environment Department offered a free Radon test kit to residents, coincidentally January was also National Radon Month. I emailed the person who is running the program and obtained a kit. Before I get to the results, what is Radon?

Radon is a odorless, colorless gas that comes from the decay of radium. Radon is present all over the earth. it's extremely common and it the second most common cause of lung cancer. Check out the EPA's website or Wikipedia's page on Radon for more information.

As I understand it, radon is a gas and decays pretty quickly once in the air. If in a contained area it can be real bad. Knowing parts of New Mexico are in a possible "hot zone", I decided to take the free kit. THey weren't that expensive to start with but free is free.

The kit is just a charcoal canister. I placed the kit 6 feet in the air away from major air flows and in a central part of my house. After some amount of time, I think 48 hours, I put the kit in a aluminum foil envelope and sent it off to a testing lab. They then email me the results.

Your radon test result is - 2.7 pCi/L

Radon Level (pCi/L)

• 0.4 Average outdoor radon concentration
• 1.3 Average indoor radon concentration
• 4.0 EPA RECOMMENDED ACTION GUIDELINE

My results are in between what's considered normal and before I need to take action. What am I going to do? Nothing at the moment except test some more.

I love to grill, but not with the so called briquettes. Only solid hard wood lumps.

The more familiar pillow-shaped briquettes are made from charred granules that typically come from sawdust. These are mixed with anthracite coal, cornstarch, and borax. Nitrate is added to help the charcoal ignite more quickly, and lime to help it assume a white, ashy appearance that lets grillers know the coals are hot enough to begin cooking over.

Borax, by the way, is banned as a food additive in the US and makes a good fire retardant.

A Burning Question - CHOW.

Welcome to the brave new world of toxic barium skies, weather control, mind control and population control through the use of chemtrails modulated with electromagnetic frequencies generated by HAARP.  Our health is under attack as evidenced by the skyrocketing rates of chemtrail induced lung cancer, asthma and pulmonary/respiratory problems.  Our natural environment and planetary weather systems are under attack resulting in freak lightening strikes, bizarre weather, 20% less sunlight reaching the Earth' surface, the alarming, nearly complete collapse in certain areas of the west coast marine ecosystem and the creation of some of the largest tornadoes and hurricanes on record.  Our skies are increasingly hazed over with fake barium/ aluminum particulate, ethylene dibromide chemtrail clouds.   Whether in the atmosphere or in the Ocean this added particulate matter is a hazard to the health of every living thing on this planet.    My health and the health of my family has already been drastically affected.  There is a main-stream media blackout on this subject so the only way to get the word out is by word of mouth.

Strange Days, Strange Skies. Crackpottery probably but interesting. I really enjoyed the picture of the 100 dollar bill with clouds that are supposed to be these chemtrails. Not to mention the bazzillion of others that look like regular contrails to me.

What I dont get from this website is why would the US government want to spray these chemicals? Yes it does say "weather control, mind control and population control" but I'm looking for a little more.

Im sure your all as surprised by this as I am.

Study Casts Doubt on Duct Tape Wart Cure

The tape supposedly works by irritating the skin and stimulating the body's immune system to attack the virus that causes warts. It earned a place in the medicine cabinet in 2002, when a small study showed it to be effective on children and young adults. This time, a study among older adults found duct tape helped only 21 percent of the time and was no more better than moleskin, a cotton-tape bandage used to protect the skin.

Great! I eat bagged spinach, at least once a week. New Mexico is one of the states listed in the outbreak. They don't know of a specific brand.

An outbreak of E. coli in eight states has left at least one person dead and 50 others sick, federal health officials said Thursday in warning consumers nationwide not to eat bagged fresh spinach. The death occurred in Wisconsin, where 20 people were made ill, state officials said. The outbreak has sickened others - eight of them seriously - in Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon and Utah, according to federal health officials.

If this turns out not to be a hoax, then this could be a huge deal. Especially since I'm concerned that I will have, at least, skin cancer some day.

Genetically altered immune cells wiped out tumors in two men with a deadly form of skin cancer and kept the patients disease-free for at least 18 months, U.S. scientists said on Thursday.

Terrific, yet another ingredient thats in our food that's going to kill us. Soya is apparently in everything that's processed, another reason to avoid processed foods.

Over the next months, Fitzpatrick carried out an exhaustive study of soya and its effects. "We discovered quite quickly," he recalls, "that soya contains toxins and plant oestrogens powerful enough to disrupt women's menstrual cycles in experiments. It also appeared damaging to the thyroid." James's lobbying eventually forced governments to investigate. In 2002, the British government's expert committee on the toxicity of food (CoT) published the results of its inquiry into the safety of plant oestrogens, mainly from soya proteins, in modern food. It concluded that in general the health benefits claimed for soya were not supported by clear evidence and judged that there could be risks from high levels of consumption for certain age groups. Yet little has happened to curb soya's growth since.

It's no mystery that many drinkers smoke, and many smokers drink. What is novel is a recent finding among rodents that nicotine can reduce blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) at dosage levels that could be achieved by human smokers. This may lead to more drinking. "Since the desired effect of alcohol is significantly diminished by nicotine %u2013 particularly among heavy or binge drinkers such as college students %u2013 this may encourage drinkers to drink more to achieve the pleasurable or expected effect," said Wei-Jung A. Chen, associate professor of neuroscience and experimental therapeutics at The Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine. "In other words, cigarette smoking appears to promote the consumption of alcohol."

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A sunscreen that blocks the type of ultraviolet radiation linked to some cancers, and which has been available only outside the United States, received federal approval Monday. Called Anthelios SX, the sunscreen contains ecamsule, an ingredient better at blocking ultraviolet A, or UVA, radiation than other sunscreen ingredients currently sold in the United States. Those ingredients mainly screen out UVB rays.

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A study that is suppose to be the most significant in 40 years on magic mushrooms, also known as psilocybin. It apparently has some usefulness.

Two months after getting the drug, 79 percent of the volunteers said they felt a moderately or greatly increased well-being or life satisfaction, according to the report published in the journal Psychopharmacology."Discovering how these mystical and altered consciousness states arise in the brain could have major therapeutic possibilities," said Griffiths.

How interesting that Boing Boing has a post about Red Bull and Alcohol. Interesting becasue I recently tried this cocktail. The study notes:

Study results show that drinking alcohol and Red Bull® together significantly reduces the perception of headache, weakness, dry mouth and impairment of motor coordination.

I would describe it as being drunk with inertia dampeners. The drunk effects is still there but spinning effect is reduced. I can certainly see how someone could over drink using this combination. It seems pretty dangerous actually, enough so that I will not be drinking it on a regular basis.

If this really did last 10 days it would be great.

Men in Serbia are lining up to have electric shocks delivered to their testicles as part of a new contraceptive treatment. Serbian fertility expert Dr Sava Bojovic, who runs one of the clinics offering the service, said the small electric shock makes men temporarily infertile by stunning their sperm into a state of immobility.

I question how long it lasts because a man produces sperm constantly. The only way to be sure your sperm is sleeping is to zap it before having sex.

A Dutchwoman, the world's oldest person on record who swore by a daily helping of herring for a healthy life, died on Tuesday aged 115, the ANP news agency reported.Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper, a former needlework teacher born on June 29, 1890, died in her sleep at a nursing home in the northern Dutch town of Hoogeveen.

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From this AP story

A mother has been arrested on charges of trying to sell her 2-year-old son for $500 so she could buy OxyContin. ... OxyContin is a prescription painkiller often given to cancer patients. It also is abused by people who crush it into powder and snort it to get a euphoric high similar to heroin.

I found this short but interesting article on what is allowed in your food.

"For example, canned apricots are allowed an average of two percent "insect damage" or "infection by insects." Ground cinnamon may contain an average of 400 or more "insect fragments" per 50 grams."