The Healing Miracles of Coconut Oil

If there was an oil you could use for your daily cooking needs that helped protect you from heart disease, cancer, and other degenerative conditions, improved your digestion, strengthened your immune system, and helped you lose excess weight, would you be interested?

No such oils exists you say? Not so! There is an oil that can do all this and more. No, it's not olive oil, it's not canola oil, or safflower oil or any of the oils commonly used for culinary purposes. It's not flaxseed oil, evening primrose oil, or any of the oils sold as dietary supplements. It's not rare or exotic. It's ordinary coconut oil.

But wait, isn't coconut oil a saturated fat? And isn't saturated fat bad (?) because coconut oil is primarily a saturated oil, it has been blindly labeled as bad. It is lumped right along with beef fat and lard with the assumption that they all carry the same health risks. However, researchers have clearly shown that the oil from coconuts, a plant source, acts differently than the saturated fat from animal sources. The oil from coconuts is unique in nature and provides many health benefits obtainable from no other source.

What Coconut Oil DOES NOT Do:

• Does not contain cholesterol.
• Does not increase blood cholesterol level.
• Does not promote platelet stickiness which leads to blood clot formation.
• Does not contribute to atherosclerosis or heart disease.
• Does not promote cancer or any other degenerative disease.
• Does not contribute to weight problems.

What Coconut Oil DOES Do:

• Reduces risk of atherosclerosis and related illnesses.
• Reduces risk of cancer and other degenerative conditions.
• Helps prevent bacterial, viral, and fungal (including yeast) infections.
• Supports immune system function.
• Helps prevent osteoporosis.
• Helps control diabetes.
• Promotes weight loss.
• Supports healthy metabolic function.
• Provides an immediate source of energy.
• Supplies fewer calories than other fats.
• Supplies important nutrients necessary for good health.
• Improves digestion and nutrient absorption.
• Has a mild delicate flavor.
• Is highly resistant to spoilage (long shelf life).
• Is heat resistant (the healthiest oil for cooking).
• Helps keep skin soft and smooth.
• Helps prevent premature aging and wrinkling of the skin.
• Helps protect against skin cancer and other blemishes.

As unbelievable as it sounds, the oil in coconuts has been found to aid the body in destroying dozens of harmful viruses including hepatitis C, herpes, and HIV. Coconut oil has been called the healthiest dietary oil on earth. If you're not using coconut oil for your daily cooking and body care needs you're missing out on one of nature's most amazing health products. In this book you will discover the many healing miracles of coconut oil. Each health benefit is explained and fully documented by scientific research.

• http://www.coconut-oil-uk.com
• http://coconut-oil-diet.com
  

It’s Consistency vs. ‘Wow’

Original article - NYTimes

Correction Appended
When Google introduced its mapping service last year, it did something that made its competitors look antiquated. Users could click on a map and drag it to see an adjacent area, a much faster approach than those offered by rival mapping services.

But today, Google Maps still does not offer some of the pedestrian conveniences of Yahoo Maps and MapQuest from AOL. For example, while it can remember your favorite starting point, it cannot store multiple addresses.

Alan Eustace, a senior vice president for engineering and research at Google, said in an interview last week that the company had made a conscious choice to play down copycat features: “We are trying to come up with something that is new and different, that makes people say ‘Wow.’ ”

Do Internet users prefer services that are consistent and predictable, like those offered by Yahoo, or are they more interested in Google’s wow factor?

These two approaches define a pivotal front in the battle for online loyalty between the major players in the Internet search business.

Both companies see e-mail and other services as ways to display more advertising — and, even more important, as a way to keep their brands in front of users so they stick around for more searches.

“The battle is about one thing: getting that search box in front of as many people in as many places as possible,” said Jim Lanzone, the chief executive of Ask.com, the search service owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp. Yahoo is on the defensive in the broader fight, where Web search advertising is the biggest prize.

Google is continuing to extend its lead in users and revenue from Web search, while Yahoo’s attempt to compete is foundering. Last week, Yahoo reported weak search revenue and said it would delay a critical search advertising system, sending its shares down 22 percent to a two-year low.

With AOL and MSN from Microsoft losing share and plagued by strategic confusion, Yahoo is in a position to further solidify its lead as the Web’s most popular full-service Internet portal, so any incursions by Google into areas like e-mail and maps are a threat.

Yahoo is trying to fend off its rival by emphasizing the wide range and consistent approach of its Swiss army knife of services. And since 200 million of its users have registered Yahoo accounts, it can use information about them, like their addresses and contact information, to save them time and personalize their experience.

“Our philosophy is that being part of the Yahoo network is a huge advantage and a huge competitive differentiator,” said Ash Patel, Yahoo’s chief product officer. “When we build a product that takes advantage of the Yahoo network, it doesn’t feel like an orphan.”
Google has tied some products together — for example, combining its instant messaging and e-mail services on the same Web page. But those links are often created after a product is introduced.

“There is a tradeoff between integration and speed,” Mr. Eustace said. “We are living and dying by being an innovative, fast-moving company.”

Sometimes this penchant for speed and innovation can cause Google to zoom past the basics. When asked about the lack of an address book in Google Maps in an interview last fall, Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice president for search products and user experience, said it was a gap in the product. She said it was much easier to get the company’s engineers to spend time developing pioneering new technology than a much more prosaic address storage system.

There are risks in each approach. Google tends to introduce a lot of new products and then watch to see what works. This has the potential to alienate users if there are too many half-baked ideas or false starts. At the same time, Yahoo risks being seen as irrelevant if it tries to put so many features into each product that it is always months late to market with any good idea.

“Yahoo has lost its appetite for experimentation,” said Toni Schneider, a former product development executive at Yahoo who is now chief executive of Automattic, a blogging software company. “They used to be a lot more like Google, where someone would come up with a cool idea and run with it.”

While Yahoo’s processes have become too bureaucratic, it is still attracting an audience, Mr. Schneider said. “Google’s products may be more innovative, but at the end of the day, Yahoo is pretty good at nailing what the user really wants.”

Read more - http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/24/technology/24yahoo.html?pagewanted=2

Lebanon

This post is dedicated to the beautiful country and the people of Lebanon

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT LEBANON

1. Lebanon has 18 religious communities
2. It has 40 daily newspapers
3. It has 42 universities
4. It has over 100 banks (that is banks and not branches of a bank)
5. 70% of the students are in private schools
6. 40% of the Lebanese people are Christians (this is the highest percent all the Arab countries)
7. There's 1 doctor per 10 people in Lebanon (In Europe & America, there's 1 doctor per 100 people)
8. The name LEBANON appears 75 times in the Old Testament
9. The name CEDAR (Lebanon's tree) appears 75 times too in the Old Testament!!
10. Beirut was destroyed and rebuilt 7 times (this is why it's compared to The Phoenix).
11. There's 3.5 Million Lebanese in Lebanon
12. There's around 10 Million Lebanese outside Lebanon!!!

OTHER INTERESTING FACTS:

1. Lebanon, the country, was occupied by over 16 countries:
   (Egyptians-Hittites-Assyrians- Babylonians- Persians- Alexander the greats Army- the Roman Empire Byzantine- the Arabian Peninsula-The Crusaders- the Ottoman Empire- Britain-France- Israel- Syria)
2. Byblos (city in Lebanon) is the oldest, continuously living city in the world.
3. Lebanon's name has been around for 4,000 yrs non- stop (it's the oldest country/ nation's name in the world!)
4. Lebanon is the only Asian/African country that doesn't have a desert.
5. There are 15 rivers in Lebanon (all of them coming from its own mountains)
6. Lebanon is one of the most populated countries in its archeological sites, in the world!!!
7. The first alphabet was created in Byblos (city in Lebanon)
8. The only remaining temple of Jupiter (the main Roman god) is in Baalbeck, Lebanon (The City of the Sun)
9. The name of BYBLOS comes from the BIBLE!!!
10. Lebanon is the country that has the most books written about it.
11. Lebanon is the only non-dictatorial country in the Arab world (Yes, we do have a President!)
12. Jesus Christ made his 1st miracle in Lebanon, in Sidon (The miracle of Turning water into wine).
13. The Phoenicians (Original People of Lebanon) built the 1st boat, and they were the first
    to sail ever!
14. Phoenicians also reached America long before Christopher Columbus did.
15. The 1st law school in the world was built in Lebanon, in Downtown Beirut.
16. People say that the cedars were planted by God's own hands (This is why they're called "The Cedars of God", and this is why Lebanon is called "God's Country on Earth."

"People who regard themselves as highly efficacious act, think, and feel differently from those who perceive themselves as inefficacious. They produce their own future, rather than simply foretell it." -Albert Bandura

May the people of Lebonon have strength to overcome the crisis, world prays for you ...

Also visit Lebanese Political Journal - http://lebop.blogspot.com

Content Credits - Nathalie.

United Stand

Minds worked, times set, hearts kept aside
Lives used, fright set, familes tore apart

Bombay once, Mumbai since, people suffer
Are we there, will be shared, all thats' fair

Helping hands, opted pain, will survive
Back to normal, we all choose, shall they learn

Spirit alive, who can dare, they can only scare
Only threat, reckless kings, kick them out

Friends, Mumbai came to a shocking standstill on July 11 when serial blasts ripped through its local trains, killing and wounding hundreds. But the city of dreams stood fearless and fighting fit.
Salute Mumbai's never-say-die spirit and Light a Candle for those who succumbed to the blasts or got injured. For every candle you light, CNN-IBN and Channel 7 will donate Re 1 for the relief of the victims.

http://clients.ibnlive.com/features/mumatt/index.php

Why I Have No Free Will

I have no free will, and it’s great.

My brain is what controls my behaviour. It is, like all matter, composed entirely of chemicals. It is extraordinarily complicated, with many many working parts, all interconnected in a fiendish and as-yet unfathomed pattern. No matter how complicated a thing is, however, it remains true that at any given instant in time, it is in a particular state. The chemicals are joined in particular combinations, and energy and matter are moving around in particular directions.

Some stimulus comes into my brain from outside. It is sensed by my senses and the signal is sent to my brain. That signal interacts with my brain, changes the physical and chemical state of my brain, and the result is some behaviour from me. My body follows what my brain instructs it to do. Where was the free will? There wasn’t any.

Someone tells a joke. I hear the joke. The sounds of the joke come into my brains through my ears, and are translated into electro-chemical activity. The language parts of my brain recognise what the words I hear mean. The joke relies on my understanding that the sound of "big ears" can mean both large ears, and the name of the fictional character Noddy’s best friend. I already know this, from previous life experience, and so I am able to get the joke*. My brain registers the humour of the joke, and I laugh. I do not decide to laugh consciously. The stimulus got a response: my laughter.

A few minutes later, I hear the same person tell the same joke to someone else. This time, I don’t laugh. I don’t laugh because I have heard the joke before. My brain has been chemically altered by the first telling, and now the sounds I hear are interacting with a different brain.

Sometimes, though, it seems to me that I do make decisions. I am in a shop, and am tempted to buy a pair of glow-in-the-dark sunglasses, but can’t decide whether they are really worth the money I must pay. I dither and agonise over the decision, and then leave the shop without buying them, and walk home, all the time wondering whether I have done the right thing. Still, no free will is involved, merely the illusion of it.

I was always going to decide not to buy the glasses. My brain was in a particular chemical state when the opportunity to buy the glasses arose, and given the particular combination of circumstances (the mood I was in, the light in the shop, my knowledge of my bank balance) I was always going to decide against the investment. My conscious mind didn’t know what the final decision would be, however, and what I consciously experienced was the agony of decision. Such difficult decisions are very rare.

Some people rebel against the conclusion that we have no free will. They claim that it is for some reason depressing. I have never been told by anyone, despite my having asked many times, why I should be depressed to realise that I have no free will. That I have no free will seems a logical conclusion which must be drawn from the simple facts that my brain is made of matter and that it interacts with the world through the senses.

This is how I see it:

The world I live in is a very large and complicated place. Consequently, though it has a certain and comforting degree of predictability, I do not ever know for certain what stimuli I am going to experience next. Also, since I do not have conscious access to everything my brain is doing, even if I could predict what is going to happen to me next, I still could not predict how I would react. Life is an interesting three-dimensional experience, with sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and feelings. Why should I complain that I have no free will, when I have the perfect illusion of it, and the world is so marvellous? How would having free will make me any happier?

People talk about how amazing it is that we have evolved free will. Some people consider free will to be so amazing that it convinces them that a god must have created humans, and that free will is some special magic that humans have. In fact, we have not evolved free will at all. Instead we have evolved a consciousness, and the illusion of free will. Often, to us, it really seems as though we could have decided to act some other way from the way we did act.

So why did we evolve the illusion of free will? Well, partly this is to do with the phenomenon of consciousness, but also to do with self-deception. If I can fool myself into thinking that I’m a nice guy, then I’m going to be much better at fooling you into thinking the same. Actually, deep down, our every instinct is self-serving. I am only nice because in the long term it suits me to be nice. If I become convinced to my core that I truly am nice, then I will not yield to the temptation to be nasty for short-term advantage. I will be consistently nice, and the benefits of niceness are far greater if one acts that way. The illusion of free will makes me feel that I am deciding to be nice, and if I am deciding to be nice, having the option of being nasty, then I must be a truly nice guy, right?

People who have been hypnotised to shout “Basingstoke!” at the tops of their voices whenever anyone uses the word “sponge” will, when asked why they just shouted Basingstoke, give totally spurious reasons. They do what they do despite not knowing why. The illusion of free will protects us from our true motives. Evolutionary psychology is largely the study of subconscious motives. Those of us who study it notice again and again that our motives just happen to coincide with the strategy which would maximise the number of genes we might pass on. Men do not decide to find twenty-year old women sexier than eighty-year olds, they just do. It just so happens that men who feel this way pass on more genes, because eighty-year olds cannot get pregnant. This is no coincidence. Similarly, people who are wronged several times by their siblings are far more likely to be forgiving than those wronged by non-relatives. The siblings share the genes of the potential forgiver, and so there is shared genetic interest. The wronged man may feel that he has the option of not forgiving his brother, and of forgiving his friend, but he has not. The illusion of free will prevents him from realising the truth, and so he acts more effectively in the service of his genes. If he knew the truth, he might start acting against the interests of his genes. Perhaps some people in the past started doing this, but they probably did not become our ancestors (and even then, they still didn’t actually have free will).

So, I have no free will, and I can sit back and enjoy the roller-coaster ride of life. Even I don’t know what I’m going to do next. Exciting, eh?

Originally found on Nikolas Lloyd's website http://www.lloydianaspects.co.uk/evolve/freewill.html.