My Excalibur food dehydrator is one of my prized tools. Yesterday we had some folks home for a meal after Church and they all raved about the carrot pulp-sunflower seed pizza crust that I had just taken out of my dehydrator after its twelve hours of drying. If you are interested in trying some dehydrating but can't quite spring for a good electric dehydrator just yet, a friend on Facebook posted some information that you might find useful on building a solar dehydrator for about a buck... who can beat that? Click on the image to learn more:

I guess the Canadian government is now in the publications biz big-time... or so it would seem by the recent email I received advertising the Directory for Subsidies and Grants.  Well, not a bad thing to have access to if you are in business... Go here for more information.

In the meantime, if you are interested in starting a business that you can do for a fraction of what it would cost to pick up the more common franchised business (and where you can realize a large profit in half the time it takes someone in a franchise to do so), please take the free, no-risk evaluation here and if you like what you see, submit the request for further information... I'm still looking for my Dream Team! 

I well remember when I saw the first cell phone being used in public-- it struck me as quite hilarious.... a person walking through a mall jabbering away with a glazed looked in their eyes, totally in their heads, seemingly oblivious to the crowds of strangers around them eavesdropping on their private conversation.  And then there was the trip in '04 to an underdeveloped country where everyone seemed to be talking to and texting each other, from the mature matron being helped into her chauffeured limo to the wise young kids who spent most of their out-of-school time in the air-con internet cafes in the malls to avoid the intense afternoon heat.  The place was a cacaphony of jazzy ring tones and text buzz. 

Now we're finding out that there are any number of dangerous red flags where cell phone use is concerned:

• Children, under 8, have thin skulls and should not use cellphones at all, except in dire emergencies, according to studies showing of possible side effects from radio frequency radiation.  Read: brain tumors.  A review of several Swedish studies suggests that a particular brain tumor-- acoustic neuroma-- is on the rise and that anyone who spends 10 or more years using a cell phone.  Children are more vulnerable, of course, not only because of their more delicate physiology, but also because they have been conditioned from an early age to begin to use the mobile phones that weren't even around when most of their parents were their ages.  Their use is projected to be greater and of a longer duration, making them 'sitting ducks' for this cancer that affects the ear-brain connector points.

• It would appear that there are even greater and more profound health issues-- that radio wave interference is widespread and that none of us, save perhaps a hermit on some far-flung mountain top (or maybe valley?) is safe.  It would appear that the reason that the largest study, yet, to be undertaken, the INTERPHONE PROJECTinvolving scientists in 13 countries studying epidemics of cancers thought to be related to cell phone-use, is snagged-up with in-fighting: quarrels around the definitions of "safe" and "unsafe" dominating, apparently. 

• Journalist R. Douglas Fields reports in this month's Scientific American Mind that using a cell phone just before bed can result in insomnia-- that cell phone signals can alter brain waves and keep you up at night.  120 men and women in Australia took part in a study where cell phones were strapped to their heads while their brain waves were monitored.  There was evidence that the brain's alpha waves, the waves used to lull us to sleep, are overcome in a battle with the electrical interference caused by the pulsed microwave radiation from cell phones.

• A different study in England showed that when people were exposed to as little as 30 minutes exposure to their phone signals in 'talk mode' (meaning that they weren't actually ON the phone-- just around it, intercepting the pulsed microwave radiation)-- they had twice as much trouble falling to sleep as those who had their phones off or in standby mode.  The scientists believe that it takes the brain twice as long to relax after being jazzed by the phone's electrical field.

What can we do? Personally, I am going to take a very conservative course of actions around the use of cell (and cordless, wireless technology in general).  I know that this technology is already pervasive and that if it is harming anyone, I'm probably also on the target.  Nonetheless, I know that I am NOT committed to using a cell phone.  Like an eight-year-old, I can get away with using one only during an emergency.  When I use my cordless, I pledge to use a head phone that will interfere with some of the interference.  

I am concerned about the younger generations, though-- my children and tender little grandchildren are quite inured to any warnings about their beloved convenient cellphone communication.  It's here, folks. The toy companies have jumped on the bandwagon and there are a pile of cell phone replicas for babies, to get them used to the concept... a little like candy cigarettes for my generation, I fear.  WiFi is everywhere, so there is no where to run and hide.  

What suggestions do YOU have? 

Here on Mp3 is Brenda Cobb, of the Living Foods Institute, telling about what people must do to overcome dis-ease. Good food is important but you must also address other issues. Attitude and emotional healing are very significant.

What a gift is Pastor Phipps... For your meditation, here is the background of this beautifully inspiring old hymn:

In the 1870s Horatio Spafford was a successful Chicago lawyer and a close friend of evangelist Dwight L. Moody. Spafford had invested heavily in real estate, but the Chicago fire of 1871 wiped out his holdings. His son had died shortly before the disaster. Spafford and his family desperately needed a rest so in 1873 he planned a trip to Europe with his wife and four daughters. While in Great Britain he also hoped to help Moody and Sankey with their evangelistic tour. Last minute business caused Spafford to delay his departure, but he sent his wife and four daughters on the S. S. Ville Du Havre as scheduled, promising to follow in a few days. On November 22 the ship was struck by the English ship Lochearn, and it sank in twelve minutes. Several days later the survivors landed at Cardiff, Wales, and Mrs. Spafford cabled her husband the brief message, "Saved alone." From Glimpses of Christian History