OMG - IT'S GMO

We never fail to be astounded by the inventiveness of big corporations.  Take Monsanto, for instance (please).  They manufacture Roundup the all-purpose herbicide for weed control.  It worked great on weeds, but it also did a number on crops.

Was Monsanto defeated?  Hell, no.  After 
all, this was the corporation (along with
Dow Chemical) that brought us Agent
Orange, the defoliant used in the Vietnam
War

Monsanto went into their laboratories, did a little creative gene engineering and developed crops that were Roundup resistant.  Now farmers not only had to buy these genetically modified seeds, but the only weed killer they could use was ROUNDUP.


But weeds are stubborn little survivors and became resistant to the herbicide, so now farmers had to use more and more of it.  Now farmers are being advised 
to use increasingly powerful mixtures of multiple
herbicides and not Roundup alone.  No wonder our farmers are going broke.


For the latest reports on genetically modified crops, take a look at this.

OILS - YES OR NO?

I found some interesting information in Dr. Joel Fuhrman's book Eat To Live (to be reviewed in the February issued of Life-Style).  If that name sounds familiar, you might recognize it from his lecture on PBS.   Here is an excerpt from the book:


"Fat, such as olive oil, can be stored on your body within minutes, without costing the body any caloric price;  it is just packed away (unchanged) on your hips and waist.  If we biopsied your waist fat and looked at it under an electron microscope, we could actually see where the fat came from.  It is stored there as pig fat, dairy fat, and olive oil fat - just as it was in the original food.  It goes from your lips right to your hips.  Actually, more fat from your last meal is deposited around your waist than on your hips, for both men and women.  Analyzing these body-fat deposits is an accurate way for research scientists to discern food intake over time.  Having research subjects remember what they ate (dietary recall analysis) is not as accurate as a tissue biopsy, which reports exactly what was eaten."


Wow!  No point lying to Dr. Fuhrman.  He knows what you did!  


Seriously, this is an interesting book for many reasons.  Be sure to read my review in the February issue of Life-Style.

This morning I was over at Mighty Girl's blog, checking the status of her "Mighty Life List - 100 Things To Do Before I Go".  After catching up on the most recent adventure Mighty Girl had crossed off her list, I called Doris suggesting that we write our own Bucket List.

After laughing hysterically at ridiculous possibilities, we decided that neither of us would write a lengthy list of  things we knew we would NEVER be able to accomplish - or afford - and write a smaller, more doable, PAIL LIST.


Robin's List

Learn sign language; spend a white Christmas with my family in a mountain cabin; learn to tango; clean the refrigerator ( just wanted to have something crossed off my list); win anything; see the northern lights; get a complete makeover; learn to play the piano; write a book; conquer my biggest fear; quit smoking; get rid of the "old fart" transportation & purchase a new car; go to the Washoe House; have a month's worth of blog posts written in advance; learn french; nap in a hammock.

Doris' List
Ride a zip line in Costa Rica or Orlando or Gainesville (I notice that most of these involve walking across a rope bridge - which might make me reconsider);
finally learn Spanish (I've had the CDs for six years now, but still only know how to say hello, goodbye and where's the bathroom - from the first 5 minutes of the first CD); ride in a hot air balloon; spend a long weekend at a luxury spa; get a mini-face lift (I need major surgery, but I'll settle); write a book; buy a Prius; take a computer course and learn to use Photoshop.



After we do all these things, we'll start a new list.  Funny, now that we've written them down it has inspired us to actually start on them.

What's on your Pail List?