Has This U.S. Federal Judge Aligned Himself with Monsanto? │ Rosa Canina Rosehips for Osteoarthritic Pain Relief

Despite getting to bed last evening well before 10:00 p.m., sleep was elusive. Part of me was anticipating the arrival home of my wife after her long day working at her friend's Thai restaurant.

It had been lightly raining to some small degree since dark.

Well, about a half-hour after getting to bed, she proved herself home by opening the bedroom door to fetch something and also leave something. It was around 10:17 p.m., and she had likely sought her housecoat.

As far as I know, I was still awake when she came to bed ─ long past 1:00 a.m.

I wear earplugs and a makeshift blindfold, but obviously they were poor aids for sleep.

It wasn't a good night. I did sleep, but only in spurts. I was to check the time once or twice before finally doing so around 5:15 a.m. and deciding to rise after a few minutes.

I got delayed in attacking the day's content assignment for the post I am constructing at one of my six hosted websites, for I had involved myself with a considered and thoughtful response to an E-mail.

However, I did eventually get to work, and my eldest stepson was to rise around 6:00 a.m. to ready himself for his workday, and his drive out to his Burnaby workplace from here in Surrey where we live.

By the time I had finished that content job it was well beyond 8:00 a.m., and my younger brother had finished his shower and was just about to emerge from his bedroom.

Nevertheless, I shut the door to this room where I keep my computer ─ a small room next to my bedroom ─ and bedded down here on the floor in front of my computer to try and nap.

My wife would need her undisturbed sleep ─ she would have another long day of work ahead of her at the restaurant beginning at 11:00 a.m.

I had set my cellphone's alarm for 9:59 a.m. to ensure that I was up to rouse her if she needed me to.

Well, I did nap a little, but I never needed the alarm. I was awake enough at 9:44 a.m. that I checked the time, for it seemed like I might have been laying on the floor far beyond the time I wanted the alert for.

It took two or three minutes to galvanize myself, but I decided that I might as well rise ─ there was no likelihood of any further sleep.

My wife was to rise of her own volition, fortunately.

I joined my brother in the living room at 10:00 a.m. to put our T9 Android 8.1 TV Box into action to spare him having to watch any further of the weak fare available through our T.V.'s limited cable package (he does not know how to operate the Android TV Box).

I still needed more sleep, and often my chance will arrive around noon or early into that hour when my brother will seek a restorative nap ere he heads away for the afternoon to eventually pursue drinking somewhere.

But on this occasion after watching an episode of The Graham Norton Show as our first bit of entertainment, a BBC announcer's voice-over during the closing credits mentioned an upcoming episode of a comedy series we had never heard of: Witless.

So I suggested we give it a try.

I used the Titanium TV 'app' that I have downloaded into our Android TV Box to seek the series out, and we were a little surprised to see that there have already been three seasons of the series ─ the series centres around two young women who had witnessed a murder, and who are subsequently put into a witness protection / relocation programme.

Well, the first season only had six episodes.

We watched the first, then watched the second episode to see if it would improve ─ we weren't exactly smitten with what we had seen.

That led to a third episode, and by then I think we both were developing a fondness for the two young women.

Even so, I never intended to have to sit and watch all six episodes ─ my brother would just not let me stop.

When the sixth episode was done, it was 1:30 p.m.

My brother sought his rest, but I was too hungry to return to my proper bed without a wee snack (it was to be a wedge of extra old cheddar cheese with natural smooth peanut butter poured over it).

I had to eat something, for I still had a session of backyard tool-shed exercises ahead of me; but I was too in need of further sleep to tackle them right then, and I knew that I would be too enfeebled after any nap if I did not break my fast.

I was not to be in bed much over an hour, and napped comparatively little, but it helped somewhat. Still, I needed to have this day's third caffeinated beverage to help me revive.

And that is where we are right now at 4:21 p.m. ─ I must soon take a break from this post and get on out to that tool-shed. My eldest stepson has already been home from work for some while.

First, though, I want to cover something I read this morning that I find exceedingly disturbing.

You likely heard something about the American groundskeeper who successfully sued Monsanto last year for being responsible for the cancer he developed using lots of their Roundup herbicide.

I think he had a female judge, but of course it was the jury that found in his favour ─ he was awarded $289 million that Monsanto would have had to pay, but the judge later reduced that figure by well over a hundred million down to $78 million.

Nevertheless, the judge did seem somewhat sympathetic to the guy.

Apparently a new case is not trending quite so well ─ the judge has every appearance to be entirely on Monsanto's side. In fact, some of what he is allowing by Monsanto and actually imposing practically seems illegal to me.

I received this in an E-mail this morning at 7:37 a.m.:

High Stakes, High Drama

While much of the nation was tuned into the Michael Cohen drama in Washington, D.C. this week, another drama was playing out in a San Francisco courtroom.

On February 25, a jury in San Francisco Federal Court began hearing the case of Edwin Hardeman vs. Monsanto. Hardeman alleges that Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller caused his non-Hodgkin lymphoma cancer.

Hardeman’s is the second case involving someone who developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma after using Roundup. His case follows the August 10, 2018, $289-million judgment (later reduced to $78 million) awarded to DeWayne “Lee” Johnson, a former school groundskeeper who also sued Monsanto for causing his non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Monsanto’s appeal of the $78-million judgment is still pending.

The trial was barely underway before Judge Vince Chhabria threatened to “shut down” Hardeman’s attorney for violating the judge’s ban on presenting the jury with evidence that Monsanto attempted to manipulate regulators, including by ghostwriting safety reviews of its flagship herbicide.

According to reporting by U.S. Right to Know’s Carey Gillam, the judge was “ripping into” Hardeman’s attorney, Aimee Wagstaff, threatening to “sanction her $1,000 and maybe the whole plaintiff’s legal team as well. Calling her actions 'incredibly dumb.'"

Read ‘Rounding Up the Latest on the Monsanto Roundup Trial and Other Related News’

So what the hell is wrong with this judge?

He is effectively hamstringing the victim's legal team.

You can get a look at the judge in this article at Law.com: Chhabria Sanctions Plaintiffs Attorney for 'Obvious Violations' of Orders in Roundup Trial.

Doesn't he look like quite the warm, fun guy? Of course not ─ I was being sarcastic!

By comparison, here and here are a couple of photos of hapless attorney Aimee Wagstaff. 

A smile says so insurmountably much!

oooooooooooooo

Okay, I've had that exercise ─ it was 5:00 p.m. by the time I was set to start. Back in December, it would have likely been too dark out there, for the shed has no electricity.

I think that it may have been as far back as the mid-1960s that I first became quite interested in camping books and those involving living off the land, and it was around then that I likely first became aware that wild rose hips were a very good source of vitamin C.

However, never before do I recall reading that rose hips could be a source of pain relief for osteoarthritis sufferers ─ note this article:

HSIonline.com

Ease osteoarthritis pain with rosehip │ Kick arthritis pain to the curb with this crazy ‘hip trick’

Unfortunately, the article seems to me to be somewhat misleading, for even back when I was a teen learning a little about edible plants, I had learned that commercial roses are practically devoid of vitamin C or any other nutritional benefit ─ despite their considerably larger size.

Or at least, that is what I seem to remember.

Also, when I looked into this pain-relief aspect, it would seem that not just any wild rose's hips will do ─ I kept seeing a non-North American variety known as Rosa canina as being the cited source for this property.

Here are three random articles on the topic ─ the first is a news report from back in 2008:

• Telegraph.co.uk: Rosehip 'better than painkillers' for arthritis
• Arthritis.org: Rose Hips
• VersusArthritis.org: Rosehip

I did an Amazon search at the bottom of this post just to see what would turn up, and to get an idea on pricing ─ I used the scientific name Rosa canina rather than one of the brand-names that were mentioned in the articles.

If I had osteoarthritic pain severe enough to be considering medication, I would definitely try some Rosa canina concoction before ever risking the side-effects of commercial painkillers.

Incidentally, Wikipedia claims that the seeds of Rosa canina will only germinate "after two winter chill periods have occurred."

I am supposing that these two frigid periods could occur during the same Winter, and that the claim was not specifying that two actual frigid Winters are required before a seed will be motivated to finally germinate.

I was going to touch upon two or three other health-related topics, but my afternoon has just about run its course ─ thanks to all that earlier T.V.-watching I had to undergo due to my brother.

I never used to watch T.V. in the daytime before he retired last March or whenever it was. Not only doesn't he know how to operate the Android TV Box, but he also doesn't know how to use a computer; so as soon as he comes downstairs in the morning during the week, on goes the T.V.

I subscribe to a couple of weekend newspapers, so he has those to occupy his morning on the weekends; but I have to babysit him through the week from 10:00 a.m. until he is ready for his nap, and it is a dramatic robbery where my productivity time is concerned.

I will close this post with some photos ─ well, one, actually.

Google Photos notified me today that it had created a commemorative image from an old Google Photos album of mine to celebrate the final day of February (i.e., today) ─ back in 2012:

That tree exists out by one side of the mouth of our driveway, so it is clearly visible from our living room window.

For comparison, here is the original photo:

Lemon Balm (Melissa Officinalis) ─ Its Potential as a Sleep Aid

It was just about 12:30 a.m. when I was into my bed last night.

I hadn't shut down my computer ─ I had only selected for it to restart ─ so there was no need for me to rise into my night to turn it back on and log into it in order for it to be all warmed up for later use.

I find that I have to do that, or my old machine will very likely freeze up ─ I even have to disconnect the mouse immediately after logging in anytime my computer has been shut down for any length of time, for it has been my experience that the mouse's cursor seems to fix on something and cause a freeze.

But I've been running on something of a sleep deficit, so it wasn't until after 6:00 a.m. that I got myself out of bed this morning. My eldest stepson was already shut up in the bathroom as he readied himself for his workday ─ and his drive out to his Burnaby workplace (we live in Surrey).

We were to have an overcast day without any breaks in the cloud cover.

I always deal with my E-mail situation before I begin work on the day's content assignment at the post I have in progress at one of my six hosted websites, so it was awhile yet before that website work was undertaken.

Unfortunately, my younger brother had risen ere I was done, so I felt constrained to join him at 10:00 a.m. to operate our T9 Android 8.1 TV Box to fetch up some entertainment. He doesn't know how to operate it, and thus can only amuse himself with the weak offerings available through our basic cable package.

Yestermorn I had to cut short a documentary we were watching ─ a Telus technician  had arrived to diagnose and repair what was wrong with our dead houseline.

So I tuned that worthy feature back in and resumed it where we had left off: Abacus: Small Enough to Jail.

That's one of the lovely features of many of the streaming 'apps' used in Android TV devices. My current favourite is called Titanium TV, and it had to be downloaded by me into the Android TV Box.

A user can watch a T.V. episode or some other feature like this documentary or even a movie; and if it is necessary to cut out of the production for whatever reason, and the viewer is unable to return until days later to watch it again, the 'app' will usually remember exactly where the viewer had left off and offer a prompt on whether it should start over or just resume.   

Anyway, we watched a few shows until deep into the noon-hour, and then my brother was ready to seek a rest before he would be heading off for the afternoon to go drinking somewhere.

I wanted to have my day's first meal before I sought my own nap, and thus it wasn't until something like 1:32 p.m. that I was back into bed. And I did nap, but probably wan't in bed more than around 70 minutes ─ definitely less than 1½ hours.

My brother was gone by the time I was back out of my bedroom. However, my youngest stepson had been home all the while, and was still present.

I read about a potential herbal solution to sleeping troubles, and I am curious enough about it to be considering giving it a try.

I've used melatonin, but cannot notice that it has any effect on me whatsoever. I've never tried herbs before, though ─ I can recollect that plants like chamomile and lavender, for instance, have reputations in the context of aiding sleep. 

But this article makes this particular plant sound like it may be a surer bet:

HSIonline.com

Reverse sleep disorders with lemon balm │ Sleep like a baby! Herb of antiquity activates your bedtime 'off switch'

I checked out a few other websites for other articles ─ I will include four of them, but none are as effusive about lemon balm as is the one above:

• WebMD.com: LEMON BALM
• SleepJunkies.com: USING LEMON BALM AS A SLEEP AID
• MedicineNet.com: Melissa officinalis
• TheGreenLife.ca: 5 herbs for better sleep

In addition, you can have a look at some of the various studies that have included lemon balm ─ refer to ScienceDirect.com: Melissa officinalis. 

As you will see if you take a look at those studies, lemon balm's potential has figured into far more research than for just aiding sleep ─ this rather increases lemon balm's value, I would suggest.

But I am notoriously shy on disposable free income ─ most of my monthly pension goes toward the house mortgage. My wife and her two sons only help out when I let them know how seriously underfunded the chequing account is that the mortgage gets debited from.

I might actually never get around to trying any ─ I would have to order it through Amazon and of course charge it to my credit card that hasn't had a debt balance below $1,200 in a few years, so I hate adding to that burden.

Nevertheless, I did do an Amazon search at the bottom of this post just to see what resulted, and get a pricing idea.

Now speaking of my wife and her two sons, early last year they arranged a small reunion in Bali with five of their Thailand family members.

Here are a few photos from that trip. These were taken on January 30, 2018 ─ and this is my wife: 

I remained home to worry about the monthly mortgage, as I always do.

I still have to create a post at my private. blog, so I shall say no more here.

 

💀💀💀 The Herbal Tea That "Might Fight Breast Cancer" │ Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Attacks Often Reduced with Ample Vitamin D

It was a bad one last night. In a most corrupt display, after my younger brother and I had finished watching T.V. for the evening just ahead of midnight, I resisted getting to bed and instead wasted numerous physical resources by sitting here at my computer.

It was a little after 2:30 a.m. before I betook myself to bed, sickened with myself for denying myself precious hours of sleep.

I think that it was around 5:30 a.m. when I rose just to turn my computer back on and log into it so that it would be all set for later use.

When I next checked the time after some further sleep, I think it may have been working toward 7:00 a.m., so I rose ─ the day's content assignment for the post I am constructing at one of my six hosted websites was still before me.

It's possible that I rose even earlier than what I have suggested ─ I may have risen by 6:30 a.m. or even earlier, for I knew that my eldest stepson had not risen to go to work. He usually rises around 6:00 a.m., so I must have risen closer to that hour in order to know for certain that he had not bothered to get himself up for work.

My brother was to rise before I had quite completed that post content work, so there was to be no immediate return to bed for more sleep. At 10:00 a.m. as I almost always do during the workweek, I joined him downstairs in the living room to operate our T9 Android 8.1 TV Box to fetch up some entertainment beyond the basic cable offerings he has to select from (he doesn't know how to wield the Android TV Box).

Yestermorn I had tuned in a movie for us to watch, but I cancelled out of it after a bit better than five minutes ─ it was abominable.

However, this morning I opted to give it a second go and sit past the 10-minute mark to see if maybe it could redeem itself.

It did not. The wretched movie was titled Chi-Raq.

If everyone in the world who consumed music had my tastes, rap music would have absolutely no market. I would not accept a huge box of rap CDs if someone wanted to give them to me ─ they would be useless and go unheard.

Heck, if a store selling rap music was going out of business and was situated right next door to me, I would not bother walking the few steps over to it if the owner had told me that I could have for free my choice of as much of the entire stock as I was able to haul home in however many trips I wanted to make.

I knew the movie was supposed to be a musical, and there was a lot of rap being played in those first 10 minutes. But what I was not prepared for was that every bit of the spoken dialogue was also rap.

And profanity and vulgarity galore!

Once the 10-minute mark had been surpassed, the movie was done as far as my brother and I were concerned.

And this rot was actually in theatres where people would have paid money to watch it?

Unfathomable.

Anyway, I never had to wait until deep into the noon-hour ─ or even after it ─ before getting a chance to have a nap. My brother had arranged yesterday to have a technician from Telus show up today to try and correct a  problem we have been having with our house- or landline for several weeks.

At any given time of any given day, the receiver could be lifted and there would be utter silence ─ that is, no dial tone. It might remain dead for several hours...and then miraculously all would be well for an equal amount of time.

This would hold true for the other two house outlets ─ it was not just our main phone in the living room / dining room areas.

So the technician was to pay us a visit between 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. today. And as it happened, he showed up considerably ahead of 11:00 a.m.

It was to be no fast fix.

Since the telephone hookup is in my brother's name, I left him to deal with it and sought that nap.

I roused just after 1:00 p.m., and emerged from my bedroom to notice that my brother was lying in his own bed with his bedroom door just barely ajar.

Had he not tightly closed it, and a breeze had managed to slightly open his door?

I think he deliberately left it that way because he was expecting the Telus technician to return ─ he had needed to go and find some essential component.

However, the guy phoned my brother's cellphone when he was returning ─ he did not just show up unannounced.

Anyway, the job got done.

But before the technician had returned, I had gone out to the backyard tool-shed for some exercising out there.

It was lacklustre, for I was still feeling quite listless from my nap; and I was also feeling rather weak from hunger. However, at least I got the chore out of the way and was free to finally fix myself my day's first of two meals.

It's quite a chilly day, but flawlessly sunny. The snow on the ground is slowly diminishing in depth and is now probably less than a two-inch blanket.

Just before I began work on this post this afternoon, I read a short article that might prove of benefit to any women living with the worry of a recurrence of their breast cancer ─ in fact, if the article is to be believed, the plant spoken of in the article may even be able to quell cancer cells that already exist:

HSIonline.com

Herbal tea from Pakistan keeps breast cancer from coming back │ BANISH breast cancer with this breakthrough elixir

I performed a Google search using the term "Fagonia indica and cancer," and the first page of results seemed to all be links to studies involving that specific plant glycoside and how it affects cancer cells.

I did an Amazon search at the bottom of this post using the term "Fagonia indica," but Amazon didn't like the "indica" half of the term.

So using just "Fagonia," some relevant literature was found, as well as actual seeds (apparently sold singly, if you can believe that) for anyone interested in trying to raise the plant indoors.

It would seem that you need to be looking elsewhere if you wish to find a concoction of the herb itself. I noticed a few websites claiming to be selling this as a herbal tea, but since I know nothing of the legitimacy of the websites, I had no wish to link to any.

I wouldn't have much faith in sources abroad when there is no way of verifying their authenticity. Such sources are pretty much 'out of reach' in any legal sense, so one cannot expect to be able to hold them accountable.

As for other articles about this plant and its effect upon cancer, there seemed to be something off a flurry of such articles back in 2012 ─ here are three:

• PakistanToday.com.pk: Village women a few miles from Lahore find a cure for breast cancer
• IOL.co.za: The tea that might fight breast cancer
• ScienceDaily.com: Cup of herbal tea could help fight breast cancer

I don't think anyone dealing with breast or any other cancer should put all of their eggs into this treatment basket, but at least it shouldn't cause any harm ─ and it just might actually help.

Now moving on to a second health-related topic, as far as I know, I don't have any degree of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

However, for anyone who does, perhaps they should consider the following article. I won't keep the reader in suspense ─ the "affordable solution" is vitamin D:

DrMicozzi.com

The easy, affordable solution to slashing COPD flare-ups in half

Supplement only with vitamin D3 ─ it is the most effective or bioavailable form.

I actually take the 10,000 I.U.s daily that are recommended near the end of the article. However, during the warm months of the year when I can sit out in the sunshine and soak up the rays, I cut back to 2,000 I.U.s.

If I actually do spend any length of time sunbathing, I might even drop down to 1,000 I.U.s.

Well, today was another in which Google Photos has notified me that it has created a commemorative collage from some photos I have in an old Google Photos album.

This specific collage is in remembrance of this day (February 26) back in 2013 during a trip my wife had made to her Thailand home village to visit her mother, other family members, and friends:

That is my wife in all four of the photos ─ she is probably somewhere in the city of Udon Thani.

Here are the four original photos, beginning with the left column:

I still have to create a post in my older and private blog, so I shall quit this post now and get it published.

Light Massages as Beneficial as Deep Massages for Back Pain Treatment

Despite getting to bed early last evening ─ 'twas 9:49 p.m. ─ I had considerable difficulty finding sleep.

For one thing, my wife had arrived home a little earlier in the evening, so I left the bedroom light on and wore a blindfold ─ two bandannas folded for that purpose, and held in place with an old fleece headband that I stretch under my chin and up around the top of my head.

She was late coming to bed, and I cannot say that I recall that occurrence ─ perhaps by then I was asleep.

But I was awake before 3:00 a.m. and decided to rise at that hour to soon get to work on the day's content assignment for the post I have in progress at one of my six hosted websites.

I fared very well with that effort, and was completed the assignment ahead of 6:00 a.m. ─ rarely can I finish these assignments under three hours. In fact, they can take four hours or more.

So instead of bedding down on the floor here in front of my computer to avoid disrupting my wife's needed sleep, I returned to our bed in full expectation of having an excellent reunion with blissful unconsciousness.

Alas, I was probably awake as much as I was able to briefly nap over the next better-than-four hours ─ that period was punctuated by numerous mini-naps and much dreaming.

It was nearly 10:15 a.m. when I checked the time and then got myself up for the morning. And soon I was downstairs, joining my younger brother in the living room to watch T.V. via our T9 Android 8.1 TV Box.

He doesn't know how to operate it, so that task is mine alone.

Normally my wife rises around 10:00 a.m. to ready for her 11:00 a.m. start time at her friend's Thai restaurant, but she never got up until at least 10:30 a.m. and displayed no sign that she needed to be going anywhere.

Only into the afternoon did I learn that she did not have to work today.

It was a flawlessly sunny day, but chilly. One of the radio announcers claimed that this month is on record for being the coldest February ever recorded for this area.

Anyway, with my wife home, I was unable to seek a somewhat needed nap. My brother got his; and reasonably early into the afternoon, he left to end up drinking somewhere.

It may have been around 3:30 p.m. that my wife left, saying that she would see us again on Wednesday.

So with her and my brother away, I was able to use the latter's bedroom for some exercising, mostly centred around my 43½-pound dumbbell.

My bedroom is too cramped; and since my youngest stepson had been home all day, the living room was not an option.

Earlier, I had used some sheers to drastically 'prune' branches from two flowering shrubs outside and just below our living room window.

They are the same type of plants, but one gets quite large blue flowers, and the other gets while blooms. I have no idea what the shrubs are identified as, but they were beginning to blot out too much of the living room view because of how expansive and tall they were becoming.

I just hope that I didn't cripple them. Their blooms are a favourite with bees.

But speaking of crippling, lots of people seek out relief from their nearly crippling aches and pains through massages.

I have only ever had one massage in my life, and that was an unsolicited massage I was tricked into having on a Thailand beach ─ one of the Thai women serving as my tour guides surreptitiously arranged it with one of the beach 'masseuses' who flog that service at the beach.

Gosh, that was just over 16 years ago!

I'll probably never have the experience again, unfortunately.

I would have liked to have experienced one of those deep-tissue massages ─ the ones that approach being painful to endure. I think that I have taken for granted that these kinds are the most therapeutic.

The following article makes the argument that the gentler massages are every bit as beneficial:

LifeSpa.com

Ayurvedic Massage: Low Back Pain + Oxytocin 

I recognize the priceless value of physical human intimacy in gentler massages, and thus I would never question that the ecstasy engendered by this kind of massage could almost work miracles.

Obviously, I wouldn't be interested in having some dude supply that connection, of course.

And no ─ I am not talking about some kind of "happy endings" massage that is a form of prostitution.

Nevertheless, the sensual aspect of a light massage is undeniable ─ especially for recipients unaccustomed to being massaged. It is an intimate experience, after all.

I deeply miss the intimacy my wife and I once shared...but that's talk for my private blog.

I am going to drop the topic.

Google Photos has yet again created a collage from photos in an old Google Photos album of mine ─ I think that this is the third consecutive day that Google Photos has visited that 2014 album.

I must have been rather prolific about photographing a snowfall that had occurred around this time back then.

Here is the collage ─ the photos in it were clearly taken on a beautifully sunny day:

The top two photos were taken of the backyard, while the bottom two involve the front yard.

Let's look at the original two photos of the backyard, the first photo of which is a capture of the back of the house. That huge evergreen beyond the top of the house was actually in our neighbour's front yard, but the woman had it removed a couple or so months ago. The 'tree' was actually a cedar and a tree like a spruce that had practically fused together at their bases:

And now here are the bottom two photos involving the view of the front yard and the cul-de-sac we live in:

I still have to create a post at my private blog, so I will call it quits with my post here and get it published.

 

Myers' Cocktail Therapy for Fibromyalgia Sufferers Brings Relief to Most │ Bearberry (Arctostaphylos Uva-Ursi) as Treatment for Chronic UTIs │ Don't Take These Pain-Relievers for at Least a Week prior to Any Hospitalization │ How Much Fish Oil You Should Be Taking

For the third consecutive Saturday evening, my younger brother showed up here instead of spending the night at his girlfriend Bev's home.

He used to regularly spend that night with her, but I guess now that the fourplex or quadruplex (or whatever the building is) has become less and less amenable to 'creature comforts,' he is preferring the comfort of our home.

Bev has to be moved out by the end of March because the building has been sold and is probably going to be demolished, and she is the last remaining tenant. Thus, the owner has no interest in repairs that are needed.

The place is very cold, and there is lots of water damage from a recently burst water pipe.

Yet my brother claims he offered her the chance to spend the night here last night, but she made excuses.

Anyway, he showed up around 9:30 p.m. ─ just early enough to catch me up. And so I ended up operating our T9 Android 8.1 TV Box until well into the midnight hour instead of getting to bed early as I had hoped I would be doing.

In fact, it was a minute or two past 1:00 a.m. before I was into my bed.

I got to sleep, but was awake enough well ahead of 4:00 a.m. to rise just so I could turn on and log into my computer to have it all warmed up for later use.

I had at least a couple more bouts of sleep before checking the time and deciding to rise in the neighbourhood of 7:00 a.m.

The day was to be a blend of lots of blue stretches of sky, and vast expanses of drifting clouds.

I applied myself at discharging the day's content assignment for the post I have in development at one of my six hosted websites. And although my brother never emerged from his bedroom until long past 9:00 a.m., I was kept busy until probably around 10:00 a.m. or awhile later.

Since my brother was still downstairs occupied with coffee and the Sunday morning edition of The Province that I subscribe to, I was able to return to bed.

During the week when there is no morning newspaper, the first thing my brother does is turn on the T.V. And since we only have limited viewing choices because of subscribing to basic cable alone, I always feel obligated to use our Android TV box to fetch up entertainment if the morning is at least as advanced as 10:00 a.m.

My brother doesn't understand how to operate the Android TV Box.

I napped, but it was in two segments. When the first segment finished and I was barely conscious, I confusedly believed that it was early morning and I still had that website content assignment to deal with.

Fortunately reason prevailed, and I did not become too excited and thus unable to return to sleep.

In all, I likely was not abed for 90 minutes; and I rose to find that my brother was shut up into his own bedroom.

This was to afford me an early opportunity to have some exercises out in the backyard tool-shed, for I got out there just before the noon hour struck.

It also meant that I would be able to have my first meal of the day earlier than I generally do. When I have any tool-shed exercising scheduled, I do not like to have eaten aught beforehand because the pull-ups session of those exercises is too burdensome overall.

I was expecting that my brother would be wanting to watch some T.V. once he came back downstairs, but I was wrong ─ he was already all set to take off for the afternoon. And by 12:42 p.m. at latest, he was away.

Maybe for a change I can finish blogging earlier in the afternoon than I customarily manage to do.

I have my share enough of physical problems, but at least fibromyalgia is not one of them. Perhaps that is why I am unsure if I have ever heard of an intravenous therapy using what is known as Myers' cocktail.

According to the following article, it is known to bring relief to perhaps 80% of the fibromyalgia sufferers who undergo the treatment:

HSIonline.com

Relieve fibromyalgia pain and fatigue with the Myer’s Cocktail │ This blacklisted ‘cocktail’ ERASES pain and sends energy SOARING

Mainstream medicine scoffs at the therapy, yet a Google search using a phrase like "Myers' cocktail brings relief to most fibromyalgia sufferers" turns up no shortage of articles claiming just that ─ it can indeed help many sufferers.

Wikipedia ─ ever the antagonist of holistic and alternative medicine ─ quite naturally impugns the value of the Myers' cocktail with this statement:

Medical experts warn that intravenous vitamins, such as the Myers' cocktail, do not have any benefits and should be considered modern-day snake oil.

"Medical experts"? Do any of those "experts" themselves suffer from the condition? ─ is that why they are so "expert" as to be able to speak with authority?

I get so bloody sick of reading and hearing about "medical experts" ─ the pompous pricks.

Oh, I've got to move on and change the subject!

Here's another topic that I am thankful that I have no experience with ─ urinary tract infection (UTI).

Or at least, I don't think that I suffer from fibromyalgia or a UTI ─ I suppose that it's always possible for someone to have subclinical manifestations of either condition, and therefore the pathology simply is not recognized for what it is.

According to the following article, chronic UTI sufferers ought to gain considerable relief with a plant known by various names including bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi):

HSIonline.com

‘Mountain secret’ puts an END to the recurring nightmare of UTIs │ ‘Mountain secret’ puts an END to the recurring nightmare of UTIs

There are no shortage of other articles about the plant's efficacy that you can find for yourself, but I will link to three ─ and please pay heed to the cautions if you choose to give it a try:

• PennStateHershey.Adam.com: Uva ursi
• DrWeil.com: Uva Ursi
• WebMD.com: UVA URSI

I did a search at Amazon at the top of this blog post using the scientific name Arctostaphylos uva-ursi just to see what would result, and to get an idea on pricing ─ there were even berries and seeds on offer for any gardeners, I suppose.

Anyway, please don't forget the other suggestions offered at the end of the HSIonline.com article if you do suffer from chronic urinary tract infections and plan to give this plant a shot.

These three websites are a sampling of some that give information on what to expect if you tried your hand at growing the shrub:

• PFAF.org: Arctostaphylos uva-ursi - (L.)Spreng.
• TheSpruce.com: Growing the Bearberry in the Home Garden
• Plants.GardenWorks.ca: Bearberry Arctostaphylos uva-ursi

I rather like the idea that it could be used as a ground cover.

I want to include the following article for your popular interest because it tells why you should never take an NSAID like ibuprofen, naxproxen, or even aspirin for at least a week prior to any known hospitalization you may be facing:

DrMicozzi.com

Popular pain-reliever reduces your ability to fight superbugs

Who knew, eh? I bet your doctor doesn't!

The last topic I wish to broach in this section concerns fish oil, and why few of us are actually taking as much as we probably need.

The following three reports tell of the most recent study into this:

JacksDailyDose.com

Fish oil study reveals how much you really need │ How Much Fish Oil Do You REALLY Need?

BrainMDHealth.com

OMEGA-3 FATTY ACIDS: HERE ARE THE FACTS & LATEST RESEARCH

News-Medical.net

Consumption of more fish and omega-3 supplement can help reach cardioprotective Omega-3 Index of 8%

This finding is not all that new. For instance, an article published on July 11 (2018) at at Omega3Innovations.com expounded the same thing: Why Everybody Should Get Their Omega-3 Index Measured.

And an April 2017 .pdf document from The Great Plains Laboratory, Inc. serving as a sample report of a John Doe's omega-3 index found his 7.71% to be unacceptably below the recommended 8% - 12% range: Omega-3 Index Report.

The document went into considerable detail.

I confess that I am not taking 1,000 mgs. of EPA / DHA daily. The fish oil capsules I take have 300 mgs. of those two fatty acids, but I only take two of them a day.

I feel confident mine are fairly good quality ─ they are from Webber Naturals, and each 1,000 mg. capsule of 100% wild Alaskan salmon & fish oil (anchovy, sardine and / or mackerel) have 180 mgs. of EPA and 120 mgs. of DHA.

I typically only have two meals a day, and I take one capsule with each of those meals. I could double up, but the stuff is rather dear in cost, and I am an old age pensioner lacking anything like a ready and disposable income.

Some photos now ─ Google Photos created the following collage today to commemorate the same day (February 24) back in 2014. The photos used in the collage were selected from an old Google Photos album of mine:

We still have a couple or more inches of snow that fell earlier this month, but it's not looking as fresh as does the stuff in that collage.

Here are those original photos, beginning with the left column which depicts a pair of shots taken while looking out from the front of our house toward the cul-de-sac we live in:

The second column shows the backyard tool-shed I exercised in earlier this afternoon; and then from the tool-shed, a shot was taken of the back of the house:

With that, I am going to call it quits for today ─ I still have to create a post at my long-established private blog.

I just want to say that the afternoon has become remarkably sunny.

Miracle Berry (Synsepalum Dulcificum) Makes Sour Taste Sweet │ In Praise of Daily Egg Consumption's Health Benefits │ Seniors Require More Daily Protein Than Younger Adults

Last night's bedtime was well into the midnight hour, and it became apparent later into my night that I was dealing with something of a sleep deficit.

I think that it was after 4:00 a.m. when I rose just to turn on and log into my computer so that it would be all set for me to use later on. I then returned to bed and easily enough fell back asleep.

I was awake again after 5:00 a.m., but I was far too ill-slept to care to rise. It was not until something like 6:45 a.m. that I was finally able to do so and get to work on the day's content assignment at the post I have in development at one of my six hosted websites.

When I got around to making my day's first hot caffeinated beverage quite early into that work, I noticed that it seemed to be very lightly raining, but I would have needed to open a door to be certain. Whatever the case, it was relatively mild out there; and the snow would be slowly melting, and not be frozen in place. 

I never completed my work until after 9:00 a.m., and at my return to bed I do not believe that I shut myself up into my bedroom much ahead of my younger brother emerging from his own.

I napped, but I wasn't in bed for too very much beyond an hour. Nevertheless, it took several minutes before I could rally myself enough to get out of bed ─ I still felt in need of sleep. It was the same when I had risen earlier to work on that website post.

When I emerged from my bedroom following that nap, I was a trifle irritated to find that my younger brother was again shut up in his own bedroom. Apparently he had already finished with the Saturday morning edition of the Vancouver Sun that I subscribe to.

During the workweek, he relies upon me to use our T9 Android 8.1 TV Box from around 10:00 a.m. to fetch up episodes of the T.V. shows that we watch, for he doesn't know how to operate it and otherwise has to rely on the limited programming available with our basic cable package.

This task can usurp as many as three hours from each of my weekdays, for we do not have a weekday newspaper for him to occupy himself with (he doesn't know how to use a computer to entertain himself, either).

So sometimes I suspect that he actually tries to schedule himself on the weekend to synchronize with my own schedule in order to 'guilt' me into putting the Android TV Box into play on the weekends, too.

That would be one explanation of how it could be that he had already returned to his bedroom to rest up ─ with the newspaper out of the way, he was essentially 'lying in wait' until he knew that I had gotten up from my nap, and then he would present himself and suggest that I call up something interesting to watch. 

So I quietly went downstairs to prepare my day's second hot caffeinated beverage, and then I came back upstairs here to my computer to begin working upon blog posts. My brother ─ as if on cue ─ soon emerged from his bedroom and went downstairs, but I had steadfastly remained upstairs here at my computer in order to avoid being drawn into his ploy (as postulated by me, of course).

It is now 2:33 p.m. and he has been relying upon basic cable since his rest. Soon, he will be leaving for the afternoon to end up drinking somewhere.

And this evening, he might even end up returning to his girlfriend Bev's home with her to spend the night there, and I will be free to do as I will this evening.

We shall see. It is what he usually does on Saturdays, but it is not invariable ─ he could well show up this evening.

The day has been mostly overcast, but quite bright; and I suspect that there may even have been some sunny breaks. 

Yesterday I ran out of blogging time before I could post a link to an intriguing article about a tropical berry that ─ upon being eaten ─ makes anything sour taste as if it is sweet ─ can you imagine? You could actually eat a lime and it would seem to taste sweet instead of so powerfully sour!

The plant producing this berry is called miracle fruit (Synsepalum dulcificum).

I would love to have ready access to such berries! Wikipedia says that the effect of the active ingredient (miraculin) lasts for up to an hour, but other websites say it can last two and even up to three hours.

And only one berry is needed if it is thoroughly masticated in the mouth.

Anyway, here's the article I spoke of ─ no doubt there is exaggeration, but still lots of truth:

HSIonline.com

Could the miracle berry actually replace sugar? │ BANISHED berry still has Big Sugar running scared… after nearly 50 years

Another less-effusive article can be found at VerwellHealth.com: Synsepalum Dulcificum Safety and Uses. 

I would be interested in trying to grow some plants, but they would never survive the Winter here in Surrey where I live. Remember, it is an evergreen type of plant ─ a bush or even a tree. It's not a plant that you would just re-plant every year when the weather becomes warm enough to get a new crop.

Here are a couple of websites detailing how to grow miracle berry:

• Instructables.com: Growing Your Own Miracle Fruit - Synsepalum Dulcificum 
• Growables.org: Miracle Fruit - Synsepalum dulcificum

I performed two Amazon searches ─ the first is at the top of this post where I used the scientific name Synsepalum dulcificum; and the second is at the bottom of my post where I used the term for the active ingredient ─ miraculin. 

Now let's have a look at eggs as a dietary staple. If you love them, but can't quite shake the notion that they're likely not all that healthy for you, then the following article is just what the doctor ordered:

DrMicozzi.com

The “controversial” food that can slash your Type II diabetes risk

I am linking to this next article because of the claim that seniors need more protein in their diets than do younger people, although I can't quite swallow that a wholly sedentary senior would be needing more protein than would a young athlete who happened to weigh as much as did the senior:

LifeSpa.com

Do You Need More Protein as You Age? 

I also find myself resisting the full concept of seasonal eating. The historic lifestyles of people living in South Asian countries like India ─ nor those engrained habits of African tribes like the Hadza ─ aren't exactly exemplary for those of us living in northern climates.

Also, as far as I know, I am not derived from ancestors who originated from either dreadfully hot area of the world.

But let's drop the subject for today.

I mentioned that we still have quite an accumulation of snow around here ─ three inches at least, I would say.

Google Photos created a collage today from some old photos of mine in a Google Photos album ─ the collage is supposed to be a commemoration of this day (February 23) back in 2014:

That snow is fresher than what we have around now.

Here are the four original photos, beginning with the left column:

I noticed just a short time ago that there is a live Bellator MMA telecast on T.V., beginning at 6:00 p.m. I would like to tune it is, so I am going to call a finish now to today's post so I can proofread and publish it before the show starts.