Dr. Kush: How medical marijuana is transforming the pot industry.

by David Samuels
The New Yorker

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/28/080728fa_fact_samuels?currentPage=all Read more!

The Brits Like to Use Allitteration

"Fasting fakir flummoxes physicians"
By Rajeev Khanna
BBC correspondent in Ahmedabad





Doctors and experts are baffled by an Indian hermit who claims not to have eaten or drunk anything for several decades - but is still in perfect health.

Prahlad Jani, a holy man, or fakir, who is over 70 years old, has just spent 10 days under constant observation in Sterling Hospital, in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad.

During that time, he did not consume anything and "neither did he pass urine or stool", according to the hospital's deputy superintendent, Dr Dinesh Desai.

Yet he is in fine mental and physical fettle, say doctors.

Most people can live without food for several weeks, with the body drawing on its fat and protein stores. But the average human can survive for only three to four days without water.

Followers of Indian holy men and ascetics have often ascribed extraordinary powers to them, but such powers are seldom subject to scientific inspection.

Mouthwash

"A series of tests conducted on him show his body mechanism is that of a normal person," said Dr Desai.

Mr Jani spends most of his time in a cave near the Ambaji temple in Gujarat state.

"He has never fallen ill and can continue to live like this"
-- Bhiku Prajapati, Mr Jani's devotee

He spent his 10 days in hospital in a specially prepared room, with a sealed-off toilet and constant video surveillance.

To help the doctors verify his claims, Mr Jani agreed to avoid bathing for his time in hospital.

The only fluid he was allowed was a small amount of water, to use as mouthwash.

One hundred millilitres of water were given to him, and then collected and measured in a beaker when he spat it out, to make sure none had been drunk.

Thank goddess

A statement from Ahmedabad's Association of Physicians says that despite no water entering his body, urine nonetheless appeared to form in his bladder - only to be re-absorbed by the bladder walls.

At the end of his confinement, doctors noted no deterioration in his condition, other than a slight drop in his weight.

"I feel no need for food and water," says Mr Jani, who claims he was blessed by a goddess at the age of eight and has lived in caves ever since.

He grew up in Charod village in Mehsana district and wears the dress of a devotee of the goddess Ambaji - a red sari-like garment, nose ring, bangles and crimson flowers in the hair.

He also wears the vermilion "tika" mark on his forehead, more often seen on married Hindu women.

His followers call him "mataji" or goddess.

More tests

He says he has survived several decades without food or water because of a hole in his palate.

Drops of water filter through this hole, he says, sustaining him.

"He has never fallen ill and can continue to live like this," said Bhiku Prajapati, one of Mr Jani's many followers.

"A hole in the palate is an abnormal phenomenon," says Dr Desai.

His colleague, Dr Urman Dhruv, told the BBC a full medical report is being prepared on Mr Jani's 10 days under observation.

Doctors say they cannot verify his claim to have not eaten or drunk for decades - but by observing his feat under laboratory conditions, they hope to learn more about the human body.

It is likely that doctors will want to examine Mr Jani again in order to solve the medical mystery he has presented them with.

End Post. Read more!

Pharmaceutical Monopoly of YOUR Basic Needs

I followed a link to a Facebook group called "Abate the Codex Alimentarius". I think Giancarlo had mentioned something about this before but I never looked into it. I had no idea about the extent of such obscenity although, again, I'm not entirely surprised what with the way things are going globally. The description of the group is as follows:

"Anyone who has not heard of the Codex Alimentarius before, you're in for a bumpy ride. The Codex Alimentarius is a trade commission in place to control the international trade of food and backed by the World Trade Organization (WTO). Bottom line: everything edible, except pharmaceuticals (remember that), is controlled by the Codex. This is to go into full global effect in the year 2010, and here are a couple of disturbing highlights:

You may remember a few years ago there was a big to-do about a new product called Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH). This is a product that increases the milk production in cows. Since then, there have been numerous other products that do the same thing, as well as different hormones given to cows to increase the production of meat. Artificial hormones that increase production will become MANDATORY! And, any vegans out there who think nothing of this should know that all agricultural products would be required to be irradiated. Essentially, all organic food will be illegal. Welcome to the new world order.

Under the Codex, all nutrients (vitamins and minerals) are listed as toxic materials. Any substance deemed as toxic is required to be legally regulated to "protect the ignorant, the unthinking and the credulous" through the science of toxicology. The sciences of toxicology and 'risk management' have one ultimate goal: to limit the amount of the material in question to a point where it will have "no possible affect on humans". So, if the Codex is allowed in the United States, and you go to the store to pick up some glucosamine for your joints or some green tea for. . . well. . . everything, the nutritional content of those tea bags or those gelcaps will be limited to a point where they will have "no possible affect (benefit) on humans".

My greatest fear in all of this (in a world where we have at least one prescription drug commercial during every commercial break) is that in the very near future, any health conscious person who would prefer to watch what they eat and take care of themselves will be allowed only two solutions: pharmaceuticals or death."-Jon Pietz

Facebook Group found here



Summary of Codex in 7 Points


Dear Money Famished Corporations,
Stop ruining my life.
Love, Leslie
P.S. What's next, a tax on air? Let me know. Read more!

Pranic Healing

In Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Tantric Judaism, Islam, and Gnostic Christianity there are two types of energy: Prana (chi) and Shakti (universal God-energy, Buddha, Christ, Brahman). Prana is the word for chi in Hinduism, Ruach in Judaism, Barraka in Islam. People who practice Qi meditation or kundalini yoga are able to harness Prana and manipulate it. This type of energy is what everything physical is composed of... sort of like a life-force, or God manifest in the physical. It can be pooled in the Chakras and channeled from person to person, either through each person's own Prana or through that of the Earth, wind, water, or sun (Chi or Prana from the wind is the most common source, Prana from the sun is the most potent). Shakti on the other hand can't be manipulated, but merely channeled. Pranic Healing is based on the concept that physical and psychological ailments are caused by a disharmony or blockage of Prana in the Chakras. Someone practicing serious meditation or kundalini yoga (especially westerners) often experience "kundalini syndrome" which manifests itself as physical and psychological disturbances, depression, or near-death (this happened to me during my last trip). This is due to a physical manifestation of a person's karma when his or her mind is consciously and physically aware of Pranic energy. Cleansing the body through exposure to sunlight, sea-water, and positve karmic actions like abstaining from or participating in the killing of sentient living beings, surround oneself with large trees, and pranic healing like the video below allow Prana a cleaner and smoother enviornment in the body, thereby alleviating unwanted effects of novists being aware of Prana or Chi. Also, Sakya and Tibetan Buddhists are able to to channel both Prana and Shakti energies without the unwanted effects due to the process of using this energy in order to attain a state of vipassana wisdom after samatha meditation, the goal being liberation from the physical and union with God, and not the manipulation of Prana for physical purposes. Anyway, so far as I know.

Read more!

Harness your Chi

This man is able to light fires with pure energy from his hand.
He heals with it, he stops bullets with it. Read more!