Communati.com

I feel a little dense and I was wondering if someone could help me.

I am trying to Blogroll. I click “my account” and I don’t see the feature. Where is it?

I am either missing something, or it doesn’t work for me.

“You Are More Than Enough: Every Woman’s Guide to Purpose, Passion, and Power” by Judi Moreo
Judi Moreo shares some information about the cover of her book.

Visit - http://judgebookbycover.blogspot.com/ for more information about Judi’s cover art.

Nikki Leigh
www.nikkileigh.com/book_promo_101.htm

The August issue of the Readers’ Station Quarterly Newsletter is now available.

We welcome you to visit www.readersstation.com/august_2007.htm for much more information. Join us to learn much more about what the women of the Readers’ Station are doing. We will also share information about our anthology which will be available in September.

Nikki Leigh
www.nikkileigh.com

I was listening to someone talking about the President’s, No Child Left Behind, program the other day and got to wondering why he hadn’t included thorough eyechecks for each child. Maybe, if he had, problems could be caught in time to prevent the obvious poor eyesight many Democrats seem to have when they grow up.

For example, one of my friends, a lifelong Democrat, is always telling me that she does not trust our President because he has “beady eyes.” Now I have studied dozens of photos of the President, and, so far, none of them show a single beady eye. Therefore, I have concluded that my friend needs new glasses.

In our town, the only newspaper is blatantly Democratic. All the columnists give us a constant barrage of how awful our President is, how nothing he has done or ever will do is right, and how Republicans are nothing but a bunch of ignorant rednecks, being guided by those h-o-r-r-i-b-l-e, right wing, homophobic, fundamentalist, talk-show hosts.

Well, maybe so, but if you read our local newspaper, you would see why it is such a relief to turn on Rush, or Larrs, or Sean once in a while in order to get a breath of fresh air; but I digress.

What I intended to tell you about our newspaper, concerns the Democratic artist who provides us with our daily political cartoon. The president, in these cartoons, always has little, pointy ears, and is portrayed as being a very short man.

In reality, his ears look like pretty normal ears to me, and he is actually taller than most other men that appear in news pictures with him. Do you think they send out a call for a bunch of “shorties” to walk along by the President whenever he is to be photographed? I don’t think that would be practical so I can only come to one other conclusion; the democtratic cartoonist, at least in our town, needs glasses.

Another alarming thing I have noticed in the last five years, is that the President, in political cartoons, seems to be growing shorter by the day. Is this some warped attempt by the cartoonist to make the President completely disappear by the time his term ends? No doubt, this would make his opponents happy, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.

I have considered the possibilty that this particular cartoonist not only needs to have his eyes checked, but to lay of the booze and marijuana as well.

Well, enough of that for now. In case you were planning to write and tell me that it is MY eyes that need checking, rest assured, that possibily has crossed my mind so I did rush right down to my opthamologist to see if anything was wrong. Result, my eyes are just fine. How about yours?

Aspartame, which is sold as Equal, Nutrasweet, and under several other names, is the most controversial of the artificial sweeteners.

You have two extreme groups out there when it comes to this sweetener.

1) Current FDA, ADA, and big business - anyone who is against aspartame is a “conspiracy nut” or “needlessly panicking”. The only people who need to worry about aspartame are people who are allergic to Phenylketonurics and a warning is on the label. Aspartame is safe and wonderful.

2) The “conspiracy nuts” - aspartame is a deadly poison that causes dozens of diseases and deaths every year. It is not safe for anyone and should be banned from the marketplace.

With two groups who are such polar opposites; it takes a lot of digging to come up with the actual facts. But, here are the FACTS:

1) Originally the FDA was going to ban aspartame; BUT, when Reagan became President he appointed a NEW head of the FDA and it was approved in less than two weeks even though the FDA studies indicated there were problems with it.

2) Aspartame is made from three chemicals: aspartate, phenyalanine (this is what the warning is for on labels), and methanol (also known as “wood alcohol”). Aspartate is almost identical to MSG in both chemical compositions and bodily reactions. Phenyalanine, in addition to people who are sensitive to it, this ingrediant has been linked to brain disorders and birth defects. Methanol, this substance caused blindness and death among people who “accidentally” drank this highly toxic form of alcohol back in the 60’s and 70’s.

3) Every study of aspartame that was sponsored/funded by Searle and/or Monsanto showed it was safe. EVERY study that was sponsored/funded by independant groups showed it had serious safety issues. ANY study that started to say it was unsafe and later changed it’s report to safe; either received funds or “prestigious employment positions” for it’s researchers.

4) The American Diabetic Association (ADA) actively promotes aspartame for diabetics. The ADA also receives funding from the company that produces aspartame AND the brochure the ADA distributes was CREATED by the company that produces aspartame.

5) Aspartame was originally approved ONLY for cold beverages and foods. The reason is that methanol starts to break down at 86 Fahrenheit (30 Centigrade) and forms formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is toxic and is used to preserve corpses! The formaldehyde continues to be converted to formic acid which is used as an activator to strip epoxy and urethane coatings. Normal body temp is 98.6 Fahrenheit. Hmmmm!

6) In 1993, the FDA approved aspartame for foods that would be heated and in 1996 they removed ALL restrictions on its use. It is now used even in children’s vitamins!

7) The US Air Force was warning it’s pilots NOT to drink diet sodas before flying that contained aspartame way back in the 70’s; because, they had already found that it caused some of pilots to have seizures!

Aspartate, Phenyalanine, Methanol, and their byproducts can accumulate in the body. Aspartate and Phenyalanine are known to be able to cross the “blood-brain” barrier and directly affect the brain.

SO - after all of this, my verdict is that aspartame is NOT 100% safe; BUT, it is not THE cause of all of the diseases and disorders that some people claim. I do believe that prolonged use of products containing aspartame can make certain health problems worse and even cause some problems on its own. I believe that the FDA does NOT DARE reverse itself on this subject and go back to the original ruling they had planned; but, after all the “mistakes” the FDA has been caught in lately, that should not be a surprise.

I, personally, removed ALL products containing aspartame from my home last year and no longer purchase ANYTHING containing aspartame. The reason is that my husband became a diabetic 5 years ago. His blood glucose levels would NOT come down, even with multiple medications - 3 different medications twice a day! I found out that aspartame can cause SOME diabetics to have a difficult time controlling thier blood glucose levels; so, we eliminated ALL aspartame from his diet. Within 2 weeks, his blood glucose levels were normal with just 1/2 of ONE pill per day and they have stayed under control for over a year now.

Did aspartame “cause” his diabetes? Possibly; but, probably not (he was 50 years old when he was diagnosed). Did aspartame make his diabetes worse? Definately! When removing aspartame was the ONLY change, it is obvious aspartame was causing problems.

If you think that aspartame MAY be causing problems for you or a loved one - try a 30 day challenge. NO food, beverage, etc. with aspartame. If you notice a difference, you may be on to something. If there is no difference, you only went without aspartame for 30 days - not forever.

For eveyone else, use it sparingly and in COLD foods and beverages that do not get heated!

If you would like more information about aspartame check this link:

http://www.wnho.net/aspartamenews.htm

Even though they do believe aspartame is bad for you; they do provide links to EVERY story about aspartame that occurs; both for and against.

Last night I read the funniest, albeit true, post about Google. I was laughing and nodding in agreement during the whole read.

It made me think I was right to stop using Adwords. I used it when I first started blogging. Bought some traffic that didn’t buy anything. It’s crazy how people fork over money to them.

I’ve been researching alternative means like local magazines, Ask.com, etc. I just never feel good giving Google my money–especially when I get so little for it.

Lots of us here have blogs that we use for various purposes. I’ve got a mentoring blog, a creative writing blog, a portfolio blog and a few paid blogging blogs. But do you also have a blog that’s just for fun?

I don’t know about you, but blogging is not only about creating a profile or offering a service. It is also about relaxing. For me, this blog is the place where I relax. One of the reasons why I changed my username was to give me that little bit of extra freedom. I’m not trying to hide, but sometimes it’s nice to blog about whatever comes into my head, instead of what a particular blog demands.

That doesn’t change all the things I write about. I’m afraid you’re stuck with me writing about writing, promotion, seo, social sites and the like. But since I have other places where I do that, I can also write here about parenting, holidays, or whatever.

Which of your blogs is the most fun?

Today’s my last day, or should I say tonight is my last evening. In my mind, I left months ago. I cleaned out my desk last night and I need to get all my personal files off the computer.

I’ve had a couple of stumbling blocks in the last few weeks, but it seems something good happens each time I stumble. Found out the new job pays bi-weekly. I didn’t even know there were places that still did that. Looks like I will see a paycheck in September after all.

The new boss has a retreat planned and she sent me some reading material. Maybe I can put my education to use finally.

Found an excellent person to work on fixes for the new blog. I’ve received several complements on its appearance, but behind the scenes it’s a dated mess. She says it will be all fixed up tomorrow. Wasn’t even expecting anything for a week or so. Her speciality is fixing up old plugins and themes that need updating.

With the new blog I’m trying an experiment. Instead of submitting it to many free directories. I’m going to pick 3 paid directories that allow deep linking. I’ve found 2 and am looking for a good quality third so if anyone has suggestions please let me know.

I’m soooo glad this is my last night here. It’s been a long time coming. Ruminating is putting me in a bittersweet mood though. I’m trying to be fully present in every moment and stop wishing my life away. There’s joy to be found in each nano second . . .

Okay, all of you Literati out there, I ran across this famous quote and was just wondering how many of you might know either where it came from or the author (and yes, I know):

WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

No cheating looking it up. Just wondering who knows off the top off their head.

Here’s an inline image example in a blog post. All users with BLOGGER status or above should be able to do this. If you have problems, please contact me.

1. Create a new blog entry.
2. Go to INPUT FORMAT and select FULL HTML.
3. Go to FILE ATTACHMENTS (scroll down page until you see it).
4. Browse & attach your file. Max view size will be 640×640.
5. Highlight and copy the name of the file only, not the path.
6. Enter text and then add “["inline:filename"]“ (without the quotes–I had to use them to get the tag to show correctly) replacing filename with your file name.

Example: I’ve attached a file called “USA.gif,” so I add it by replacing filename with “USA.gif” (no quotes) in the inline tag, and if done correctly, you should see this USA button => [inline:USA.gif]


Piece of cake right?

P.S. A couple of things I’ll mention here: 1) Images should automatically get resized to 640×640, and 2) Max file size should be 800kB for now.