Lobby supreme

In one of the biggest lobbying efforts ever seen in Brussels, lobbyists for Europe's £800m-a-year food industry have been bombarding MEPs with thousands of emails, letters and phone calls and sponsored reports, lectures and conferences ahead of a vote in the European Parliament today.
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They are trying to prevent the European Union adopting the British Food Standards Agency's front of pack labelling system which displays red, amber and green "traffic lights" to indicate levels of salt, fat and other nutrients.
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Although the scheme devised has the backing of doctors and dietitians, because it could cut Britain's annual toll of 70,000 diet-related deaths, the retailers Tesco and Morrisons and the multinational firms Nestlé, Kellogg's, Danone, Kraft, and PepsiCo have refused to introduce it.
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They back a rival scheme called Guideline Daily Amounts, which expresses the nutrients as percentages of an adult's recommended daily intake.
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Independent research shows that traffic lights, which have the backing of the British Medical Association and the British Dietetic Association, are more effective than GDAs in putting consumers off unhealthy products.
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Despite that, in March the European Parliament's environment committee rejected traffic lights by 32-30 votes, following intense lobbying by manufacturers.
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A Dutch socialist MEP Kartika Liotard, who sat on the environment committee, said representations were 100-to-one in favour of the industry and during key meetings the room was so full of lobbyists that there were no seats for MEPs' assistants.
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The lobbying has now shifted to the 736 MEPs who will vote on the adoption of a unified labelling system tomorrow.
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They will vote on three options: traffic lights with GDAs and the words "high", "medium" or "low"; GDAs based on percentages per 100g; or a calorie count.
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They don't want to see traffic-light labels because they don't want this kind of information in such an easy-to-understand format.
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They prefer complex labels that make it far harder for shoppers to really understand what's going in their basket."
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In a report, Corporate Europe Observatory, a business watchdog based in Brussels, disclosed that Commission documents suggested that the PR and lobbying consultancy Fleishman-Hillard had been paid up to €671,000 to promote GDAs by the European confederation of food and drink industries, the CIAA.
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The CIAA acknowledges its members spent €1bn on implementing the GDA scheme across Europe, but would not say how much they had spent on lobbying.
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In a statement the confederation, whose members include the UK Food and Drink Federation, rejected any suggestion its members had been exerting improper influence.
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It said: EU food and drink manufacturers have a legitimate interest in following this piece of EU legislation and we have made sure that European policy-makers are kept abreast of our views on this important draft law
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Independent

Will we ever see the day when Corporations act responsibly with considerations beyond money?

And these same corporations would proudly boast about their corporate social policies

There has been little media coverage of this important legislation that effects every single person in the EU

Wonder why?

No I don't need to we have been here too often before

True globalisation

Friedman argues that business-to-business software that allows computers to coordinate production and transportation is at the heart of the newest phase of globalisation.

But the ash cloud revealed that for humans, it's the consumer-focused internet and communications technologies

Many stranded travellers were simultaneously web-surfing, texting, phoning, and watching television in order to find the elusive bit of information that would help them get home

That is the true engine of globalisation

Tying us together across time and space.

Its disruption offered an opportunity to pause and consider the possibilities of living at a slower pace

Of buying locally grown seasonal produce rather than relying on "fresh" fruit flown in from half a world a way

Of putting more of society's energies into supporting the once pleasurable experience of traveling by energy-efficient trains rather than carbon-spewing planes

Of becoming couch surfers rather than road warriors.

Of turning off the news and closing your laptop and letting nature take its course

A nice idea until the pressures of "normal life" kicked in again

Really this lasted only as long as the emergency

Some lessons were learnt

Others were not

What did you learn?

Do you still pay attention to these newly learnt lessons?

Bet you do not!

Funny creatures humans

Critical few

What are the critical few in your life?

The critical few things that you cannot do without

There are the obligatory ones such as paying taxes

Making sure your chute is packed properly

Feeding your goldfish

Remembering your wife's birthday

Seriously though ever thought about it?

What are the critical few in your life?

We all have some

Most of us have never identified them in this conscious way though

If you do it can be quite helpful

Why?

Because it shows us how we manage to remember them

How we act with the critical few

How they are embedded in us

How much attention we pay to them

How we make sure we have them covered

And once we see this and how effective we can be

Then we can take this knowledge and use it in other aspects of our lives

This can take us to higher levels of performance we never suspected

Simply because we never knew that we were that capable

Simple take yourself to a higher level

It's nicer that's why

Try it

Calibration

Notice how women calibrate on meeting each other

Actually they are in reality often very critical of each other

Noticing how little things are adjusted

All the details of the other woman's appearance

Do her clothes suit her?

Do the accessories match?

Are they of good or poor quality?

Are they in fashion?

Is her make up done well, carefully?

Has she aged?

Is she tired?

Has she had plastic surgery?

What is her mood?

And all this in the blink of an eye!
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And men?

Not the same

Just meeting with a greeting

Might or might not notice the clothes

Might or might not notice anything else at all

Then getting on with the subject at hand

And what of it?

An interesting mechanism calibration

Allows us to see where we are

Depends on our level of consciousness though

Less conscious people just chit chat

Calibration occurring throughout the chit chat unconsciously

Unconscious in most cases as a matter of fact

Did you this did you that?

At a higher level of consciousness more updates on each other lives and activities

One often talking more than the other

One the listener

The other the talker

And higher still what have you learnt?

Where are you now?

Probing the other for details of their life

Women can chatter happily with each other for hours then walk away and confide how they don't really like the other person

Both men and women are calibrating

Calibration is one of modern man's skills

We calibrate all day long

Everything we see we calibrate

We just don't notice

There again we can actively calibrate all the good things we see in each other

To look for and find the good things

Bringing our calibrations to a positive place in our lives

Calibration

Human high-pitch clicks

Jamie Aspland uses an 'echo location' technique, uttering high-pitch clicks with the sound then rebounding off surfaces to help guide him round obstacles.
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The four-year-old, who was born without his sight, was taught the technique as part of a revolutionary new scheme in the US to help the blind.
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His mother Deborah, 39, hailed the treatment after her son was able to walk unaided to the park for the first time and steered himself around a fence he was heading straight for.
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Speaking after just three sessions of the therapy, she said: It's changed our lives.
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The therapy has been a revelation.
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Since learning the skill we can walk to the park and Jamie no longer has to hold my hand.
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He even clicks to find out where the handrails are on our staircase before walking down unaided - it's amazing.
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Jamie, from Ashford in Kent, has just completed his third session with US-based guru Daniel Kish - who lost his sight when he was just 13 months old.
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As president of World Access for the Blind, Mr Kish has developed a system based on animal sonar to help humans form mental maps of their surroundings.
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He copied the technique dolphins use to navigate their way through the murky depths - using high pitch clicks to penetrate objects and reflect off their internal structure.
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Jamie is able to mirror that behaviour - which complements his use of a cane - by flicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth.
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When the sound waves hit an object, it reflects the energy back to the ear to enable a blind person to decode its size, shape and distance.
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A tree may be detectable and recognized at 10 metres, while a large building may be detectable at 100 metres or more.
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It is literally like 'seeing' with dim flashes of light. In fact, neural scientists believe that the same parts of the brain used in visual processing are also being deployed for FlashSonar.
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Ms Aspland, a mother-of-three, gave up her job as a tour operator to care for Jamie, his twin sister Rosie, who also has learning difficulties, and their autistic brother Kane full time.
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She said she watched nervously after Jamie's first session when he approached a fence - but he managed to walk round it.
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We thought he was going to go straight into it.
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But he just went round it - I didn't think it would be possible.
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He was born blind but this therapy has given him a new lease of life
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Telegraph

Modern life for women

Not so funny really

We can look back and see how their mother's had harder lives in many ways

Difficult divorce or no divorce possible

Stuck at home with no choice or chance to work outside the house

Few job or career opportunities

Little or no financial freedom

Few legal protections

Further back men could do what they wanted with their wives

Yes all that was true and more

And yet and yet what do we have today?

For most women in the modern world

A job is necessary

Children have become more and more demanding, maybe not the children themselves but certainly what is expected for their lives and healthy growing

Husbands and partners tired, working long days often with long commutes

Commutes often for the wife too

If not commuting then in and around picking up children from whatever activity they have been doing

Weekends to catch up on things that always need doing

Tired just tired all the time

The pace of modern life never letting up

Time just flashing by relentlessly, unceasing

No time for family

Little time for friends

Just a treadmill

An endless treadmill of jobs and things to do

And behind it all fear and stress

Fear of failure

Fear of loss

Fear of the future

And this is life?

Place all of this in the context of a greedy, dumb, materialistic world

A world gone mad destroying marine life, polluting the environment, pretending itself intelligent

And we can have a feeling of personal powerlessness

Futility abounds, a feeling of depression

Yes this sounds about right

Modern woman please lift your head

You are involved here, the future of our planet is too important to be left to men

See clearly that there is no them

Only us

Change can only come when we all decide to act

All of us men and women

And this only comes about when we change

Change our perception of life that is and of ourselves

To change our societies we need to have a vision of what we want

We cannot complain if we have no ideas as to what we really do want

First the vision

Then the execution

Do you have a vision?

Man or woman reading this what is your vision?

Your complaints sound empty if you have not even thought about what you would like to see come about

Now can you tell me what you do want?

Change your perceptions

Start to think about what would you want from life?

If I gave you anything you wanted what would it be?

A nicer fairer world

We can all buy into that

Now see that allowing ourselves to slide down into depression is too easy

Let us be clear in ourselves what we are here for

Then what we would like to see in this world

Then our involvement to help bring this about

First in our own lives

Then into that of others

Modern woman has a crucial role in helping us create a nicer fairer world

Mirthful laughter

Doctors describe "mirthful laughter" as the equivalent of "internal jogging" because it can lower blood pressure, stress and boost the immune system much like moderate exercise.
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A number of volunteers asked to watch just 20 minutes of comedies and stand up routines saw a dramatic drop in stress hormones, blood pressure and cholesterol.
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That means that the "laughercise" could be a way to reduce heart disease and diabetes.
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It is especially important to the elderly who may find it hard to perform more physical activities.
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Dr Lee Berk, from Loma Linda University, California, who led the study, said that emotions and behaviour had a physical impact on the body.
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He concluded "that the body’s response to repetitive laughter is similar to the effect of repetitive exercise".
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As the old biblical wisdom states, it may indeed be true that laughter is a good medicine, he said.
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Dr Berk, who has been studying the effects of laughter for more than two decades, said that the high you get from a giggling fit was similar to the endorphin rush from exercise.
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He has shown how it can reduce your risk of a heart attack and diabetes and generally regulate the body's vital functions.
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It is also an important way to de-stress after a day's work, he believes.
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In the mid-1990s, Dr Berk found that laughter increases the number of natural killer cells in cancer patients.
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Natural killer cells are the body's way of fighting tumours.
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For the latest study he had 14 volunteers watch either a stressful 20 minute clip of the war film Saving Private Ryan or an extract from a comedy or stand up routine.
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Blood samples taken afterwards showed the reduction in stress hormones and increase in immune T cells for those who watched the comedy.
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Blood pressure testing showed it was down too with this group.
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In 1997, Dr Berk performed experiments with diabetic heart patients.
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One group watched a television comedy each day for one year, another did not.
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The difference in outcomes was stunning.
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At the end of the year, the comedy-viewing group required less blood-pressure medication.
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Eight per cent of the comedy viewers had another heart attack, compared with 42 per cent of those who did not regularly view it.
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An earlier study also showed that watching just half an hour of comedy a day slashes levels of stress hormones and compounds linked to heart disease.
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Levels of compounds linked to hardening of the arteries and other cardiac problems had also dropped, while levels of 'good' cholesterol – thought to protect against heart disease – rose.
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An earlier study by Dr Berk also showed that the mere anticipation of a good laugh can benefit health.
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The expectation of watching a comedy video was enough to raise levels of feel-good endorphins and boost amounts of a hormone that helps our immune system fight infection.
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The findings were presented at the Experimental Biology conference.
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By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent, Times

Never say never

We all say never

Often without thought for how we are setting a train of events in motion

That thought form has energy

Energy that can harm

Energy that can heal

Some might doubt

But then let them answer how women and some men know when they are being stared at

What is happening?

A thought form is what is happening

A thought form carrying energy

An energy that is focused

The woman feels this energy

Often she will turn and look back

So take this concept and understand that all your thoughts have energy

And where this thought is negative it will create karma

One day that negative energy will come back on you

Don't like that idea?

Then control those thoughts

Wandered away a bit from the word never which I started out with today

Coming back to it never as a concept has energy

By thinking or saying this you are creating an energy blockade against whatever it is becoming possible

So never say never even if it seems impossible at the time

For by saying this you are surely making it more unlikely

Just cut out never

Say not now or unlikely or have not done so thus far or any other wording you want

Just leave the door open for the possibility of change

Never say never

And take on board that your thought forms all have energy

The Ruddy Turnstone

At first glance, the ruddy turnstone looks barely strong enough to live up to its name let alone to migrate from one end of the world to the other.
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It is little bigger than a song thrush and weighs in at somewhat less than a 250g stick of butter but the wading bird has a hard-won reputation as one of nature's greatest migrating animals.
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Now a technological breakthrough by scientists at the British Antarctic Survey has at last allowed researchers to track the routes taken by the birds and to see exactly how far and fast they fly
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Tiny light-sensitive tracking devices have shown ruddy turnstones can travel more than 16,700 miles (27,000 kilometres) as they migrate from Australia to the Arctic and back again.
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It took four birds fitted with the devices just over six days, with several breaks for feeding, to fly the 4,700 miles from Flinders in South East Australia to Taiwan.
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One of them later managed a 3,850 mile leg in just four days and a further 3,100 mile leg in another four.
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Analysis of the data provided by the tracking devices revealed that during the flight from Flinders to Taiwan and later from the Gilbert Islands to Australia the birds flew at an average speed of 31-34mph (50-55km/h).
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"A higher speed of 65 km/h was achieved during the flight from Alaska to Kiribati, indicating possible assistance by tail winds," added Ken Gosbell, of the Australasian Wader Studies Group (AWSG) which led the research.
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Ken Gosbell

Coffee

Every cup of coffee you drink owes its existence to a fruit that grew wild in the Yemeni desert.
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The Sufi mystics of Yemen were the first to roast and brew the seeds into a drink.
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It helped them stay awake during long hours of prayer.
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It spread to Ethiopia (where it was banned by the Ethiopian church) and then to the Arab world.
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Coffee houses called kaveh kanes (from where we get "coffee" and "café") sprang up on every corner.
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By the 15th century, Mecca was filled with men with mugs.
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The habit spread to the rest of Europe in the 17th century.
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One of the first coffee houses in England was opened in Oxford by Jacob, a Turkish Jew, in 1650.
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Its coffee was described as "a simple Innocent thing, incomparable good for those that are troubled with melancholy".
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Coffee became popular with scholars as it sharpened the mind rather than dulled it like alcohol.
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Coffee houses became meeting places, debating chambers and even laboratories.
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Isaac Newton and Edmond Halley once dissected a dolphin on the table of a coffee house in London.
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Lloyd's of London and the Stock Exchange started life as coffee houses.
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But the craze had its detractors.
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The brewing of ale had long been the preserve of women, known as "brewsters" or "alewives".
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In 1674, a group of them – alarmed at falling trade in taverns – drew up the Women's Petition Against Coffee, claiming
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Coffee makes a man barren as the desert out of which this unlucky berry has been imported

A pressure tactic if ever there was one

Today we have so called energy drinks such as Red Bull, Monster and others all offering a shot to boost you

For sure too much coffee is not such a good idea

But then neither is too much beer, vodka or anything else

Moderation and enjoy your coffee, not just as a drink but a sociable activity