Listening List

Music makes me happy.

Anatomy of a Linkfest

First up: Let's hit Google up about what the advantages of going gluten-free are.

In the descriptions we find this:
Many people may benefit from a gluten-free diet, including those with Celiac disease, MS, brain fog, seizures, arthritis, osteoporosis, autism, diabetes, ..

Brain fog? What the fuck is this?

Google? I feel a linkfest coming on...

According to Dr. Wilson:
Brain fog is extremely common. It affects thousands of people, children as well as adults. It contributes to school and work problems, low self-esteem, accidents, unhappy relationships and even crime and delinquency. Although it is common, it is not a recognized diagnosis, either in medicine or psychology.

Some people have been this way for most of their life and think this is normal. In other cases, it comes on slowly or perhaps almost overnight.

Fog? Maybe that's what's wrong with England.

According to what's-his-face, brain fog can be casued by just about anything from the wiring in your home to copper, to chronic illnesses, to food, to lack of grounding and even spinal problems. What a range.

But what do we mention here? Adrenal burnout?

And what's-his-face says:
Adrenal burnout can be the best thing that happens to a person. It is a wake up call. Often, some area of life is out of balance or alignment.

Addressing burnout is often the starting point for a deeper exploration of self. Rather than just existing as a programmed zombie, adrenal burnout may be the beginning of real living.

This was the case for me, and for many patients I have worked with. I suffered from adrenal exhaustion for a number of years. As I began to understand the condition better, I made many changes in my diet, lifestyle and most critically, my thinking.

I forced myself to do coffee enemas, to walk every day and to meditate daily, although I did not enjoy doing any these things, at first.

Woah. Back up. Coffee enemas? And saying that you didn't enjoy this at first implies that you sure did later. Sicko!

But what the hell? Google?

So the article in Wikipedia states that:
Coffee enemas are the enema-related procedure of inserting coffee into the anus to cleanse the rectum and small intestines.

No shit. Oh well, yes, shit. Definately. But tell me something I didn't figure out on my own!

Gerson said that coffee enemas had positive effects on patients with tuberculosis, and later even cancer. He claimed that unlike saline enemas, the caffeine traveled through the smooth muscle of the small intestine, and into the liver. This, he said, cleared even more the gastro-intestinal tract and removed more toxins and bile than a normal enema.

Yeah right? I still prefer my caffiene orally, thankyou.

But what's this reference article? "Colonic irrigation and the theory of autointoxication: a triumph of ignorance over science". Ha! This sounds like a cracker! Let's go!

Unfortunately I hit a brick wall there - the article is blocked to anyone who isn't a subscriber to the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology. Damn. But I think I proved a valuable point today. See how little time it takes on the internet for genuine research of a topic to link on to shit? Literally!

Whinge, Whine, Fricken Whinge.

It's a cloudy, windy day. Bugger.

This kind of day just seems to take the life out of me. I can't go to the beach, because it will be cold and the sand will be blowing around enough to remove a few layers from any exposed skin areas. Exfoliation, yes. Painful and annoying, more so. If I ditch the plans of spending the weekend exploring outdoors and instead attend to the indoor challenge of conquering Mount Washing, I will end up being bashed about the head by sheets and towels as I hang them on a wildly swing Hills Hoist clothesline. Since I have a tenuous relationship with the clothesline at the best of times, it's better to avoid that idea too.

It seems that sunshine and fresh air are a requirement for my happiness. I like my job because a large portion of it is outside work, and in a very changing environment. In my current state of mind [ie. muddled, medicated, working on getting better] I couldn't imagine being inside in a little box all day, the same little box all day, to earn a living. Honestly I would not cope.

I'll add to that - sunshine, fresh air, new experiences. I feel happy when my eyes are opened to new things. Often on days like this I will spend a fair amount of time on the internet. At the end of the day it might look like I've accomplished nothing, but I will have been on a linkfest that takes me through hundreds of different perspectives, reading about whatever may fleetingly take my interest. I will have given myself brain fodder at least.

Speaking of brain fodder I need a new challenge. Kat and I have kind of run out of steam on the stripes photography challenge, so I have thrown the ball to her for the next choice. Who knows what it will be!

Even the doga are going nuts in this weather. They're whinging, all of them. Joey the turdlet will not stop barking until he is let inside. The other two join in just because they hear him barking and whining, and they're probably sick of it too. I have no idea how to shut them up and it's frustrating to say the least. Thank god I don't have children - it would be worse.

Anyway, I'm off to find something somewhat positive to spend my day on.

This has been a public service does of whinge.
Tell me to shut up and get over it anytime.

It's all about the music, take two

In an earlier post I wrote about Madame xPod, a somewhat tasteful adult photography site featuring women and iPods. Now I find what must be so good about the iPod...

This particular accessory, the OhMiBod, vibrates in different ways depending upon the music that you're listening to, and the intensity of the vibrations are adjustable using the volume dial. You can accessorise your OhMiBod with a pink garter belt and a pink soft-skin sleeve.

Guiness... Marmite?

I might be able to overcome the taste of Marmite to satisfy my curiosity, but I don't think they'll be available over here. There's only 300,000 jars available. At the Guiness Blog they say that the darker colour paste combined with the white lid are supposed to represent a pint of Guiness. Uhuh. I've never seen a pint that looks like a mini fishbowl.

Saturday linkfest

So I'm drinking coffee, eating cold pizza and following links in eight different windows. I'm an impatient little snot, so if a page doesn't load straight away I just open a new window.

Today's linkfest takes the meandering direction of urban art, with the first direction being clean graffiti. This is like writing "Wash Me" on the back of cars. I came across two artists in particular who are scraping soot from exhausts off tunnel walls and things to create their images.

Firstly, there's Alexandre Orion's fantastic work on a tunnel in Sao Paulo, lining it with skulls. The article is here on BLDG BLOG.

Also found along the way is Leeds artist Paul Curtis aka Moose creating the question of whether it's illegal to clean up, creating art in the process. There's a little news article about it here.

So then I somehow find an a thing about this artist called Roadworth, who recieved a permit from the city of montreal to paint a bike path that stretches for about a kilometre. He says:

"The surreal feeling of spray painting the street with the aid of pilons provided by the City of Montreal while police cruisers passed by unblinkinglywas heightened by the presence of a growing group of on-lookers who soo turned the event into a bit of a street party, complete with beer and pizza."