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WHEAT: A Problem Food for Every Body

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Aug 292020
 

Wheat is one of the most common food allergens that has long been associated with a host of symptoms. Regardless of whether or not you have a known or suspected allergy, sensitivity, or intolerance to wheat, it is wise for everyone to limit or avoid this staple grain altogether for several reasons.

1 ~ We eat way too much wheat in this country. For many it is the only grain they ever eat. This is problematic because it means missing out on the many nutrients that other grains have to offer. In addition, eating the same foods over and over can tax the system, deplete specific enzymes, and lead to intolerances down the road.

2 ~ Unless you are the rare person who cooks up bowls of wheat berries, which is its whole grain form, all of the wheat being served up in this country is processed – the overwhelming majority of which, is highly processed into white refined flour.

White refined flour and the many products made from it – pasta, breads, cereals, pastries, cookies and more – are devoid of most vital nutrients and fiber. These foods are so devitalized they are actually anti-nutrients that deplete the body of vitamins, minerals, and enzymes in order to process them.

Unfortunately, even many of the products labeled “whole wheat” are themselves highly processed, and also frequently contain white refined flour and refined sugars as well. Check the label!

3 ~ Wheat in any form, processed or not, is challenging to digest and eliminate due to its high gluten content. Remember as a child mixing flour and water to make glue? It is gluten that gave this mixture its sticky, glue-like consistency.

Gluten is a mixture of gum-like, water-insoluble plant proteins found in many grains, and wheat has the highest gluten content of them all. Great stuff for binding paper mache, not so good for the intestines – or any other part of the digestive and eliminative tract, for that matter.

4 ~ Because it is so difficult to digest and eliminate, wheat is a notorious mucous-producer and inflammatory agent known to cause or contribute to a host of dis-eases, including: arthritis, sinus problems, constipation, diarrhea, bowel disorders, fatigue, yeast infections, liver & gallbladder congestion, mental disorders, insomnia, and suppressed immune function. In Chinese medicine wheat is considered one of the primary causes of depression.

Regardless of whether or not you are suffering from these or any other symptoms, everyone can benefit from limiting wheat in their diet or going completely wheat-free. Try it and see!

Today it is easier than ever before to go wheat-free or at least cut down on your intake. There is an array of wheat-free and gluten-free products now available on the market. Choose from:

GLUTEN GRAINS:
barley
kamut
oats
rye
spelt
teff

NON-GLUTEN GRAINS:
amaranth
buckwheat
corn
millet
quinoa
rice – wild, brown, basmati, jasmine, etc.
sorghum

When you enjoy these whole grain alternatives, you will not only be giving your system a break from wheat and white refined flour, but you will also be giving your body more of the beneficial nutrients and fiber it so desperately needs.

All-in-all, losing some of the wheat can mean regaining some of your health & energy!

SOME FAVORITE WHEAT-FREE PRODUCTS

– Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Pancake Mix
– Bob’s Red Mill 8-Grain Wheatless Cereal
– Ryvita or Wasa Rye Crackers/Flat Bread
– Vita Spelt Pasta Products
– Tinkyada Rice Pasta Products
– Thai Kitchen Rice Noodle Soup & Other Dishes

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Is That Your Check Book Driving Away

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Aug 282020
 

Title
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Is That Your Check Book Driving Away

Is Your Check Book On The Curb
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This is an article about people throwing away their home computers with all their financial and banking information on them and easily accessible. A very simple first step to financial and identity theft and it happens all the time. Computer Disposal and Identity Theft go hand in hand.

Since Hurricane Wilma, our city has stepped up bulk trash pickup to every month. Bulk pickup is when you can put out pretty much anything; dressers, vacuum cleaners, and of course computers. Early in the morning on each bulk pickup day people come around with pickup trucks to see what they can grab prior to the city trucks showing up. Some are looking for throwaways that can be refurbished and re-soled, while others work for charities that are looking to provide less fortunate people with items that are useful.

Identity Theft & Home Computer Disposal
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This morning my wife reminds me that not only is it trash day, it is bulk pickup day (And for some people, possibly Identity Theft day). So I take out the trash and put out the other large items. As I approach the curb, a truck full of discarded goodies pulls around the corner. He asks me if I am throwing that stuff, and if so could he put it on his truck. I said sure, and lifted it on to an already huge pile of discards. When he drove away, guess what I saw on top of the pile, three desktop computers, and one laptop. From the look of them, they were a few years old. I wonder why they were put out on the curb? Where they inoperable, or did their owner just get tired of how slow they were and bought a new one? Even if they weren’t working quite right, I wonder how much effort it would take to repair them, probably not much.

Throwing Away your Computer, Money, and Identity
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Jackson Morgan, a contributing author for Defending The Net, wrote an article called “Computer Disposal – Throwing Away Your Computer, Money, and Identity” a few months ago. In this article, he interviewed people at the dump to see what was on their discarded computers. And the results were quite surprising, actually, to us they were not surprising. And now I am writing this article to give you my own personal experience / observation

Do You Take Computer Security and Identity Theft Seriously
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There are so many articles written about wireless security, Internet security, and computer security and how your identity and private information can be stolen. Some people are really concerned about this. I wonder how many of those discarded PC’s on the truck this morning had owners that secured their wireless Internet connection? I wonder how many of those computers had their hard drives removed or destroyed. More importantly, I found myself wondering where those computers were going to end up?

Someone Just Sold A Thief Your Checking Account
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Let’s think up a reasonable and viable scenario. Let’s say that this gentleman is working with a charity. This charity takes discarded, yet useful items and cleans them up and distributes them to people who are less fortunate or down on their luck. One of the PC’s really had no problems except that it was loaded with Spyware and Adware and needed a thorough cleaning inside and out. This was a great find, the Operating System is intact, and it’s full of useful applications. Applications like Microsoft Office, and more importantly, QuickBooks. The computer is given to someone who cannot afford such a convenience, and all is well. Then about a week goes buy and something pops up on the screen. What do we have here, a QuickBooks reminder and notification of account balances. And look at that, a checking account with $80,000 in it. I wonder what else this computer contains. And were going to find out because there is no password to get into the application.

I don’t know about you, and I am sure several people are going to think I’m being harsh with my following statements, but this scenario scares the you know what out of me. This does not apply to all those who are down on their luck, but how many people in a situation like this would ignore the information or be tempted to further investigate it. What if they already have little to lose? What could they do with this information and access to someone else’s financial information. Maybe they don’t do anything with it directly, but there is someone they know who would be willing to pay for access to a bank account with $80,000 in it. Not to mention the rest of the information that is most likely on the computer. Wouldn’t be ironic if your financial information fell into the hands of a thief for $300? All because someone else was trying to help someone out.

Conclusion
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I find it quite strange that many people are concerned about the technical aspect of security yet overlook the most basic things. Do yourself a favor, before putting a computer out on the curb, take out the hard drive and label it “destroy” and take it to local metal shop when you have a chance. They can cut in into tiny little pieces or melt it down for you. Don’t think because you have just a home PC that you don’t need to have a userID and password to login to it. You do need this, for many reasons. Also, buy yourself an inexpensive paper shredder and make sure to shred all your important, but no longer needed paper documents. If you think you can’t lose everything you have worked for over the last 10 to 20 years by making just a tiny mistake your are quite mistaken.

You may reprint or publish this article free of charge as long as the bylines are included.

Original URL (The Web version of the article)
————
http://www.defendingthenet.com/NewsLetters/IsThatYourCheckBookDrivingAway.htm

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How to Start a Screenplay: Treatment or Free Fall?

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Aug 272020
 

Starting a screenplay can sometimes be as hard as finishing one. Impatient to pull up to the front door of a classic motion picture, I want to get everything right so quickly. This impatience challenges my trust in the work, the creative process of screenwriting. What exactly does trust mean? If I don’t trust my writing, then what am I? Frightened. This is the battle. If I’m scared that everything I’m typing is worthless, then what? My hands find something else to do. So trust is good and important and essential to beginning this journey, alone, a trip that will eventually take what comes out of you into millions of people. But its just you now. And your trust.


Now, does trusting your writing mean sitting down with no ideas, opening a new document, and starting to type? Of course. And no. What I need to do is make a decision and execute. And this decision often comes back to whether I should write an outline or treatment before I start writing my screenplay, or, with a rough idea, a shadowy shadow of something calling from my brain, start writing?


I have done both in the past. When I wrote the first draft of LOVE LIZA, I really had very little idea of where the story was going. I had a few things to start off with, and somewhere I wanted to end up down the road, but that was it. It was terrifying and difficult to remain seated. But the most original characteristics of the screenplay came out of the immediacy of trying to come up with whats next, with my fingers resting on the keyboard. I became sold on this process. Outlines killed creativity, because writing an outline is not actual screenwriting. Its outlining.


But then I came to Hollywood and tried to tell executives the little ideas I had. I would very proudly announce an image, a picture in my head, that I knew contained the fire of an entire epic. I was shocked when they asked, Then what happens? I didn’t have an answer. Why? Well. BECAUSE I HADNT WRITTEN IT YET. It seemed like a completely stupid question. What happens? What happens?? Did I say I had a complete screenplay to show you?!


You know the rest. No phone calls and bewilderment and then I found myself in the city of pitches, and starting to flesh out things into 14 page screenplay treatments. I did so, convinced that it could never be that good, that it was forced, and staged, and predictable. I was shocked to find out that it did not destroy my creativity. I was still able to come up with interesting, original things. But deep down I knew. This was still not screenwriting. This was not the art of screenwriting. And I’m right.


So now what was I going to do? What was better? If I was to sit down and spec something out, how was I supposed to go about it? First off, I’m lazy, so having a treatment or an outline sitting next to my laptop to walk me through the first draft is very appealing, despite knowing that the inspiration driving a treatment is different than the juice that comes when writing the screenplay blindly. And I have sat down and written 90 pages, trying to find the story, only to simply start over. This is a lot of work, but I’ve come to recognize that this work is not lost. This is the path. It hurts, it kills, it bludgeons, it fatigues, it flattens, but its the road. Believe me.


But what about a heist movie, or a mystery? A thriller with twists? Aren’t movies sometimes puzzles? Can we find this stuff without a plan? Don’t you have to figure this stuff out? Yes and no. Flying by the seat of your pants often produces jaw-dropping turns the audience will never see coming. Why? The writer didn’t. This is the largest reason why studio movies are predictable—-the fabric of the script is shot through with the knowledge of the ending of the story.


If we are to plot out the map of our movie with a treatment, beat sheet or outline, we better be damn sure its the real thing. Putting our best foot forward with a very strong outline is only the start of what will end up as a screenplay. Despite putting that golden outline next to our keyboard, we will find that turning it into a screenplay is still, I’m awfully sorry, a lot of work. Scenes that we imagined to be amazing will suddenly be impossible to write. And why does that upset us? Why does that frustrate the writer?


Well, we thought we had a short cut. We thought we were going to sneak into the back of a classic movie. My journey as a writer has been marked by the learning and relearning that all that wood has to be cut out there in the back yard, whether I like it or not. If I wanna do this, I have to swing the axe.


But we know, if we trust our gift, that something beautiful is coming, regardless if we have an outline or not. Perhaps the writers who work from outlines should throw them out. Perhaps the writers who write like the house is on fire, with nary a note within miles, should sit down and write a treatment. Treatments are fun, too.


I do both, switching back and forth when I need to. When I’m writing and I start to feel blindfolded, I turn to jot down a few notes, sketch a few ideas, track a character arc, reorder an act. But when I think I’m caught up in pitches and notes and beat sheets and the safety of plans, I chuck it all and write like I did when I was a kid.


Did we use notes when we were kids?

Article URL: http://www.bluecatscreenplay.com/About/how_to_start_a_screenplay.php


Copyright © 2006 BlueCat Screenplay Competition

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Why Easy To Use Software Is Putting You At Risk

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Aug 262020
 

Can Easy To Use Software Also Be Secure
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Anyone who has been working with computers for a long time will have noticed that mainstream operating systems and applications have become easier to use over the years (supposedly). Tasks that use to be complex procedures and required experienced professional to do can now be done at the push of a button. For instance, setting up an Active Directory domain in Windows 2000 or higher can now be done by a wizard leading even the most novice technical person to believe they can “securely” setup the operating environment. This is actually quite far from the truth. Half the time this procedure fails because DNS does not configure properly or security permissions are relaxed because the end user cannot perform a specific function.

If It’s Easy To Develop, Is It Also Secure
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One of the reasons why operating systems and applications “appear” to be easier to work with then they use to is developers have created procedures and reusable objects to take care of all the complex tasks for you. For instance, back in the old days when I started as a developer using assembly language and c/c++, I had to write pretty much all the code myself. Now everything is visually driven, with millions of lines of code already written for you. All you have to do is create the framework for your application and the development environment and compiler adds all the other complex stuff for you. Who wrote this other code? How can you be sure it is secure. Basically, you have no idea and there is no easy way to answer this question.

Secure Environments Don’t Exist Well With Complexity
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The reality is it may look easier on the surface but the complexity of the backend software can be incredible. And guess what, secure environments do not coexist well with complexity. This is one of the reasons there are so many opportunities for hackers, viruses, and malware to attack your computers. How many bugs are in the Microsoft Operating System? I can almost guarantee that no one really knows for sure, not even Microsoft developers. However, I can tell you that there are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of bugs, holes, and security weaknesses in mainstream systems and applications just waiting to be uncovered and maliciously exploited.

How Reliable and Secure are Complex Systems?
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Let’s draw a comparison between the world of software and security with that of the space program. Scientists at NASA have know for years that the space shuttle is one of the most complex systems in the world. With miles of wiring, incredible mechanical functions, millions of lines of operating system and application code, and failsafe systems to protect failsafe systems, and even more failsafe systems to protect other systems. Systems like the space shuttle need to perform consistently, cost effectively, and have high Mean-Time-Between-Failure(MTBF).

All in all the space shuttle has a good record. One thing it is not though is cost effective and consistent. Every time there is a launch different issues crop up that cause delays. In a few circumstances, even the most basic components of this complex system, like “O” rings, have sadly resulted in a fatal outcome. Why are things like this missed? Are they just not on the radar screen because all the other complexities of the system demand so much attention? There are million different variables I’m sure. The fact is, NASA scientists know they need to work on developing less complex systems to achieve their objectives.

This same principal of reducing complexity to increase security, performance, and decrease failures really does apply to the world of computers and networking. Ever time I here associates of mine talk about incredibly complex systems they design for clients and how hard they were to implement I cringe. How in the world are people suppose to cost effectively and reliably manage such things. In some cases it’s almost impossible. Just ask any organization how many versions or different brands of intrusion detection systems they have been through. As them how many times the have had infections by virus and malware because of poorly developed software or applications. Or, if they have ever had a breach in security because the developer of a specific system was driven by ease of use and inadvertently put in place a piece of helpful code that was also helpful to a hacker.

Can I Write A Document Without A Potential Security Problem Please
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Just a few days ago I was thinking about something as simple as Microsoft Word. I use MS-Word all the time, every day in fact. Do you know how powerful this application really is? Microsoft Word can do all kinds of complex tasks like math, algorithms, graphing, trend analysis, crazy font and graphic effects, link to external data including databases, and execute web based functions.

Do you know what I use it for, to write documents. nothing crazy or complex, at least most of the time. Wouldn’t it be interesting that when you first installed or configured Microsoft Word, there was an option for installing only a bare bones version of the core product. I mean, really stripped down so there was not much to it. You can do this to a degree, but all the shared application components are still there. Almost every computer I have compromised during security assessments has had MS-Word installed on it. I can’t tell you how many times I have used this applications ability to do all kinds of complex tasks to compromise the system and other systems further. We’ll leave the details of this for another article though.

Conclusion
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Here’s the bottom line. The more complex systems get, typically in the name of ease of use for end users, the more opportunity for failure, compromise, and infection increases. There are ways of making things easy to use, perform well, and provide a wide variety of function and still decrease complexity and maintain security. It just takes a little longer to develop and more thought of security. You might think that a large part of the blame for complex insecure software should fall on the shoulders of the developers. But the reality is it is us, the end users and consumers that are partially to blame. We want software that is bigger, faster, can do just about everything, and we want it fast. We don’t have time to wait for it to be developed in a secure manner, do we?

You may reprint or publish this article free of charge as long as the bylines are included.

Original URL (The Web version of the article)
————
http://www.defendingthenet.com/NewsLetters/WhyEasyToUseSoftwareIsPuttingYouAtRisk.htm

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Share the world

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Aug 252020
 

“Back to the Past”

“Manuscripts don’t burn,” the ancients used to say. But one guy named Gerostratus managed to reduce the Alexandrian Library to ashes. He got his own way, but priceless manuscripts were lost.
Modern Gerostratuses, also known as hackers and noble burglars, are ready to be hide from the audience. But a marriage contract, a rental contract, and a report for your boss may all vanish from your computer into thin air in a moment – just a tiny virus is more than enough. Methods for protecting information have been discussed 1000 times, but no panacea has been found. Anyway, relief exists – you just need to look for it in another place.

“Just My Luck”

Of course you may buy some cd-rw and flash drives with up to 1 Gb volume, and every day, or, better yet, hourly, copy your data to removable drives. Spacious shelving and a friendly catalogue search engine would be great too. And the main thing – don’t forget your CD-case to grab all that stuff for work or on vacation. I know one guy who has opened two e-mail accounts and every day sends data from one to another on purpose to keep files on a mail-server. Unfortunately for him, his huge Power Point files didn’t want to attach to his messages. We could keep on torturing you, mentioning “hacker-like” nightmares, and you will keep on copying data to removable drives forever. But the new file-hosting services have changed everything.

“Forward To The Future”

Nowadays, file-hosting is one of the most reliable ways of hosting and sharing data. Super protected servers cut off all the endless attempts by hackers to penetrate the system, and keep all data primitive. As a whole the list of services at those sites are the same. Upload, Host and Share. But you will really be surprised by most of them because of the commercials and strong requirements they have in order to register. You can breathe freely just doing what you want to on friendly www.oxyshare.com. First of all, there is an Oxyshare directory, where you can share and store everything you want. You can find here Video Storage, which doesn’t let your home videos take over your hard drive, Photo Album, where you can upload and share your photos with anyone on Earth, Music Library, in which your favorite songs are always within reach, Movies Collection, and even Organizer, which gives you access to files anytime and from anywhere. In brief, OxyShare gives you 24/7 access to your data wherever you go.
And all these things can be done without any registration, and absolutely totally for free. But “for free” is not exactly the right expression. You can even earn money for your living with Oxyshare. Its Partnership Program allows you to upload interesting video (your grandma’s anniversary is not the best idea) or useful soft, and get money for every download from your link. It’s a piece of cake. But that’s not the only good thing. If your upload gets in the TOP 100, you’ll get a bonus. But we won’t tell you the amount of this bonus aloud. Otherwise… Well, you know that not only Joe Black’s visit is inevitable.

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Some ways to improve your king content

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Aug 242020
 

There are thousands of articles, books and forum posts which showed that content is king in search engine optimization (SEO). In this article, you can find some ways that can help you improve this king content for your web site.

* Content for people first, not for search engines – Some webmasters make a common mistake that they optimize everything for search engines but forget about web visitors. The goal of our website is not only to get high search rankings, but also to sell our service. So you should give your website visitors what they are really looking for. Make sure your content flows naturally and you’re not just trying to stuff more keywords in the interest of search engines. If users don’t find your content convincing they won’t buy from you.

* Studying popular search terms – High search engine ranking is meaningless if your website only ranks high on terms nobody searches for. You need to ask your colleagues, vendors, competitors, clients, … or use online tools (e.g.: wordtracker.com) to identify what keywords which potential customers would use to search your web site, then try to use them often, in titles, and throughout the body.

* Building article directory – How can you optimize the content if your web site only offers a simple service? It means there are just several pages in your whole website. So, to increase the content in quality you should write some articles, reviews which are related to your service. A site with more web pages means there are more chances of different terms that will become findable in search engines. You may consider adding free articles to your article directory. On the Internet today, one can find a lot of websites which provide articles free for republishing. Of course you must accept the policy of these web sites and authors before using these articles.

* Making a clear website organization – Build a site which is simple to navigate with a well linking structure. Every page should be accessible from at least one text link. It’s better to be sparing with image links, Flash, JavaScript drop-down menus, or other codes that are not HTML based… because the search engine crawlers cannot recognize text contained in these kinds of display. In case using them is required, then make sure a text based menu or a sitemap is also included in the Web site. Last but not least, you should use meaningful words in your URLs, use as simple a web page layout and design as possible.

In conclusion, it is undeniable that content is king in the kingdom of search engines. The quality of your content is the main factor which decides the success in Internet marketing. So improving your content is very necessary.

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25 Ideas For Enjoying Your Summer Home

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Aug 232020
 

Indoors

Lighten up. Put away any dark throws, rugs etc. Use white or cream accessories wherever you can and free your rooms of as much clutter as possible. Natural or white wicker baskets can store essentials neatly.

Gather together all your floral china and indoors or out set the prettiest afternoon tea table ever. The pieces don’t have to match, it’s almost better if they don’t! Float some flower heads in a glass bowl of water or
some slices of lemon and lime and add a floating candle or two if you have them. Just add cucumber sandwiches, fruit cake and of course plenty of hot aromatic tea.

Make a cheesecake. Get wonderful recipes here
http://www.pastrywiz.com/archive/category/cheesecake.htm

White or pale cream lace looks lovely with Summer flowers. Drape cloths on indoor or outdoor tables for a touch of vintage luxury.

The most amazing table decoration for a Summer party is an ice bowl. Get instructions on how to make one at the links below.
http://www.diynet.com/diy/le_party_food_decorations/article/0,2041,DIY_14026_2277634,00.html
or http://www.recipelink.com/ch/2000/may/girlfriendsforever1.html
These always look amazing and gets lots of compliments.

Give an inexpensive bunch of flowers designer style by displaying them in a group of vases or glasses of varying heights. Experiment, you’ll love the results.

An inexpensive way to add drama to a plain wall is to stretch and staple a bold piece of fabric over a wooden frame. It’s easy to change too should you get tired of it.

Start a kitchenalia collection. Yard sales, flea markets and boot sales are good hunting grounds for retro and vintage kitchen equipment, but an often overlooked fact is that older members of your family may still have lots of this stuff tucked away in cupboards and would be glad to let you have it.

A table runner makes a pretty alternative or addition to a cloth. As this is basically a rectangle of fabric hemmed on all four sides, it is easy to make several to suit the mood you want. Runners are very economical on fabric too. Make napkins out of any leftover fabric.

Paint tired pine, garage sale or hand me down furniture white or cream to bring it bang up to date.

Makeover your linen cupboard. Line the shelves with pretty wallpaper or gift wrapping paper so that it is a pleasure to open. Tie sets of bedding together with pretty ribbons and use lavender sachets to make
everything smell wonderful and repel moths.

Your home can be whatever you want it to be. Whether your fantasy is a sophisticated urban pad, a whitewashed beach house or a country cottage – think of it as that, decorate as that – why not?

Just as you fill your home with the spicy scents of cinnammon and pine at Christmas time, bring perfumed roses, sweet peas and fragrant herbs in to your Summer home.

Make lots of ice and serve long cool drinks from a pretty jug on a hot afternoon.

Change heavy curtains for florals or sheers to instantly brighten any room. Tie them back to maximise the light coming in.

Change any dusty candle arrangements for new pastel ones. Old fashioned glass cake plates with pedestals are good bases for candles as they keep the heat off polished table tops. Wind beaded wire around the candles for added sparkle.

Make up your bed with crisp white sheets and pillowcases and place a pretty flower arrangement on your bedside table.

Cover some cardboard boxes with fabric for pretty storage for any room. Full instructions here http://www.allthatwomenwant.co.uk/coveredboxes.htm or find pretty boxes meant for gift wrapping in card and gift stores.

Outdoors

Light your garden for lazy evening gatherings. Use lanterns, flares or solar push in lights if you don’t want to run electricity. Citronella candles help keep bugs away.

Style your garden the way you would your home. Add decorative jars, stones, cones, shells, windchimes, cushions etc. to your outdoor space, however small. Even one chair and a pot of flowering plants straight from the garden store will lift your spirit when glimpsed through the window and entice you outside.

Make a still life of garden tools, flowers in a trug, straw hats, watering cans, gardening gloves and such in a boring corner of your yard or porch.

Make a pretty chair planter. This is a charming addition to a country garden. Full instructions here http://www.allthatwomenwant.com/chairplanter.htm

Seaside striped pillows or table cloths, shells, buckets and spades, a fat trashy novel and a deckchair or two equals instant seaside vibe.

If traffic or other urban noise is a problem when trying to relax outside, play some gentle music or tapes of birdsong, waves crashing on a beach or other sounds of nature.

If you have a timber garden shed consider having a major declutter, sorting out essential storage and using it as a Summer house. Pale lavender, pale blue grey or the palest pink paint would help the transformation and look wonderful. A comfy chair, a pile of books you’ve always wanted to read…………escape there whenever
you can.

Copyright 2004
Colleen Moulding

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Runes – The origin and purpose behind the ancient symbols and alphabet

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Aug 222020
 

Ask six rune experts ‘ Where did the runes originate from ?’ and you will probably get 6 different answers. There are different versions of runes for each culture and era they seemed to come from. One person told me they came from the vikings, another said they originated from the druids, yet another said they came from aliens, each person was serious and thought they had the correct origins of the runes, how can everyone have a different answer about them ? The answer appears to be ‘ time ‘, over the years folks have made up so many tales about the runes that nobody knows the true origin of them. The very name ‘ rune ‘, is a word derived from the Gothic word ‘ runa ‘, which means “mystery.”

One of the oldest and first recorded uses of runes came from German tribes in central and Eastern Europe, these early uses of runes show that they were not even meant to be a language for everyday speech, but were used as a symbolic alphabet system. Each rune letter or shape had it’s own sound, and meaning, in fact each rune represented a deity or so called God, that gave it it’s special power. People of old believed that by carving runes into their personal property or other items, the God or deity over that rune would protect the item, they even believed that a sword could be made more powerful for use in battle by carving runes into it.

There are at least 6 different types of runes or rune alphabets that folks use or dabble with today, and each rune alphabet is supposedly the correct set to use, if you ask the person that uses them. Runes hold no more special meaning than any symbols, drawings or sigils do, unless you have a belief that they are magical and will it, they are nothing more then drawing a circle or a square and giving them special meanings. For instance if I was around hundreds of years ago, I might of looked towards the sun in the sky and then drawn or carved a circle on a stone or piece of wood, to me it meant the power of the mighty glowing circle of fire in the sky, to someone else years later that discovered my circle carved into the stone, they may think that circle represented a wheel, eye, moon, or just a plain circle. Each person uses runes for their own purposes and each person seems to give them their own meanings.

In ancient Europe a lot of adults seemed to do wood carvings, in fact it was a prized skill handed down from one family member to another. An alphabet was needed that could easily be carved or scratched into the wood used by the carvers, runes were perfect for this since they consist of mostly straight lines linked together. Most uses of runes were nothing more than markers symbolizing ones trademark, or ownership of an item. Later they were altered and more symbols were added as the earth’s population grew and it’s linguistic skills required more rune symbols and meanings.

Runes were and are written different ways by different folks, some are written left to right, others are written right to left, or up to down, this again shows you that runes hold different meanings to different people.

Now days a lot of folks think the runes were used for magic or such things as divination and fortune telling, this again depends upon the person who reads such meanings into the runes. Years back when the Christian faith was adopted by Europe, the use of the runes fell and they were replaced by the more modern Roman/Latin Alphabet, in fact one letter of the latin alphabet even contain an earlier rune symbol as part of it’s language.

Years later as Christianity spread, use of the runes dropped, Church leaders did not understand their meanings and symbols, so they considered them evil or from the devil, this thinking has lasted even to today, and it is the basis for the thinking of modern occultists, druids and new-agers that the runes are magical and can be used in ceremonies or rituals. Even Hitler in his perverted thinking, used symbols of the rune alphabets in the nazi military insignia to supposedly give his army more power, this of course proved foolish as the nazi regime was crushed by other military forces.

But still many folks like using runes today because they are an ancient item, they hold mystique and even occult powers to some folks. I say use them for fun, don’t try using them for fortune telling or spell casting, all that stuff is clearly against the true source of power, the power of God and his son Jesus Christ. In fact to show you the weakness of runes for prophecy, modern runes contain a blank rune, this blank rune symbolizes the Unknowable, wouldn’t you think that a great source of knowledge or power would know all ? Again, look to the Bible and Jesus Christ for your future, it is the only book of prophecy that has been and will continue to be, 100% accurate.

Some of the common runes used still today, are: ‘ Elder Futhark ‘,’ Younger Futhark ‘,’ Anglo-Saxon Futhorc ‘,’ Robert’s Runes ‘, the later ‘ Robert’s Runes, has become very popular, as it is the only version of the runes that includes a full english alphabetic translation, which makes writing any english text in runes possible. Robert’s Runes are also available as a ‘ True Type Font ‘ for use on any WINDOWS based computer. ‘ Robert’s Rune Fonts ‘, can be downloaded for free at this website address:

http://www.rb59.com/software/rrunesf.html

By Robert W. Benjamin

Copyright © 2006

You may publish this article in your ezine, newsletter on your web site as long as it is reprinted in its entirety and without modification except for formatting needs or grammar corrections.

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