Thanksgiving-Christmas Issue, 2008

     I almost gave up on getting out this newsletter. You see, Bill and I switched from Comcast to Verizon on Monday, November 10. And in the process both of us lost our Internet access for all that week. A nice young man from Verizon finally got Bill straightened around on Sunday, November 16 – the day after my newsletter was due. He also got my computer to working, it SEEMED. My computer and office are at the other end of the house from Bill’s and my computer is connected to his by a router. When I was first reconnected to the Internet I happily worked on this newsletter until one in the morning. I quit when it needed just another hour of work. I got up the next morning, ready to finish it, and, once again, I couldn’t access the Internet. We have been trying to get me back on the Internet ever since.

     We thought it was the router, but Roger Fuji, our super-knowledgeable techie, thought it was something else. Bill spent Friday evening schlepping the computer to Roger, who lives an hour away. He waited while Roger worked on it, schlepped it home, and it STILL didn’t work, although it had worked at Roger’s. At ten Friday night, after an hour on the phone with Roger, trying one thing after another, Bill got me back onto the Internet. WHEEE! Roger hung up the phone, I happily read two e-mails, and my computer screen went black. I was off the Internet again. I could still use my word processing program to type the newsletter, but could not use the Internet.

     Bill and Roger had another go at it Saturday, over the phone. In the late afternoon, following one of Roger’s leads, Bill discovered that my computer doesn’t want to connect to the router in his office down the hall. It would rather connect with our next-door neighbor’s computer. In fact it insists on it. I can get online, with difficulty, when no one next door is on their computer, but as soon as they come on, my screen goes black. On Saturday night the neighbors happily used their computer all evening, and Roger, who could no doubt have fixed the problem, was out doing whatever Roger likes to do on a Saturday night.

     I’m typing this Sunday night. We haven’t been able to get hold of Roger today, but the neighbors don’t seem to be using their computer at the moment. If they stay offline just a little bit longer, I’ll get the newsletter off to Mike Hodapp. If they come back, I won’t. When you get this, you’ll know that either we got through to Roger, or the neighbors stayed off their computer for awhile.

     Anyway, I have decided to take this as a sign from heaven. This is going to be a Thanksgiving-Christmas issue – when it does come out – and there will be no more newsletters until January 1. Instead I’ll be working on a blog I hope to start in January. It will be a blog that helps people start a blog that makes money. A lot of people are interested in that right now. Oddly enough, there are hundreds of blogs about blogging, and the top bloggers are generous with the secrets of their success. It’s just a matter of finding the best material and setting up a blog that leads people to it. Setting up the blog being the catch. I’m a lady who doesn’t feel comfortable with any device more complicated than a refrigerator. Every time I do something new online, I expect the computer to explode. So I will have a psychologically tiring time as I learn to set up a blog, ALL BY MYSELF. But twelve-year-olds do it, and I’m sure that I will do it too, eventually. If my computer doesn’t explode, of course.

     Janette

----Table Of Contents----

1. Snow Kiting
2. A Piece Of Dark Chocolate A Day . . .
3. Tomato Soup Prevents Cancer?
4. Statins May Prevent Alzheimer’s, Memory Loss
5. Simple Blood Test Helps Prevent Heart Attacks
6. 20 All Time Best Men’s Health Tips
7. Learn About Black Friday Bargains
8. In-Depth Bargain Information
9. Ideas For Inexpensive Gifts
10. Chip In
11. Gratitude Is Good For Your Health
12. 50 Homemade Gift Ideas
13. For Hundreds Of Craft Gift Ideas
14. Buy And Sell Crafts
15. What’s In The Christmas Section?
16. It’s A Wonderful Internet

1. SNOW KITING

     If you are young and athletic, snow kiting may be in your future. “Snow kiting” is a new sport, in which people on skis are lifted aloft by a kite. This astonishing video of a man twirling aloft is a commercial one, and I have to say that many of the snow kiting videos on YOUTUBE feature people lifted off the ground for a few yards, then falling flat on their faces in the snow. But one can always dream.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=48NrikofSFU

2. A PIECE OF DARK CHOCOLATE A DAY . . .

     The news on the dietary front is good these days. You saw in a previous issue that coffee is actually good for you. And now we learn about STILL MORE benefits from chocolate. According to WEB MD, “An Italian study shows that dark chocolate can significantly reduce the inflammation that leads to cardiovascular disease.” So, a piece of dark chocolate a day may indeed keep the doctor away.

http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20080925/dark-chocolate-prevents-heart-disease

3. TOMATO SOUP PREVENTS CANCER?

     I read on a ketchup bottle that ketchup is a good source of lycopene. Which started me on a search about lycopene. You will learn from the following site that lycopene helps prevent certain kinds of cancer. And that it is abundantly present in tomato dishes, including pizza and Campbell’s tomato soup, both of which are sometimes put forth as unhealthy. (The soup does have a lot of salt, and pizza does have a lot of saturated fat.) So, the next time you realize you’re going to eat that piece of pizza anyway, remember that you’re actually preventing cancer.

http://www.lycopene.org/

     As you can see, red fruits and vegetables are the ones that have lycopene. Watermelon is a good source of lycopene, but somehow beets are not. Research shows that red carrots, as opposed to the orange kind, are a good source of lycopene but that Mongolian gerbils utilize the lycopene in tomato paste better than that in red carrots. Research was also done on red carrots vs. tomato paste in humans, and “the vehicle of administration was muffins.” Result: “the lycopene in the red carrot is about 44% as bioavailable as that from tomato paste.” I am not making any of this up.

4. STATINS MAY PREVENT ALZHEIMER’S, MEMORY LOSS

     A research study that came out in July indicated that, if you’re taking a statin drug to lower your cholesterol, it may also prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s. Which confirms earlier findings that the statin drug Zocor (whose generic version, Simvastatin, is quite inexpensive) helps prevent Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080728192657.htm

5. SIMPLE BLOOD TEST HELPS PREVENT HEART ATTACKS

     You’ve heard of people dying from a heart attack, when only the day before their doctor had said they were in splendid health? Well, now researchers have found a simple test that can help prevent these unexpected heart attacks and strokes. According to the account below, “Boston researchers . . . have developed a strategy that dramatically reduces the risk of heart attacks, strokes, and even death among older adults who don't have the traditional warning signs of perilously clogged arteries.” They used a test that revealed inflammation in seemingly healthy people, the inflammation being a precursor of heart attack or stroke. People who had inflammation and were given the Crestor statin drug were almost 50% less likely to have a heart attack or stroke. (Crestor is very expensive, and it’s likely that other, much cheaper, statins would have equally good results.)

     So, if you’re over forty and NOT taking a statin drug, the next time you have a physical, do insist that your doctor test you for the kind of inflammation that may lead to a heart attack.

http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2008/11/10/statins_cut_risk_of_stroke_heart_attack_in_study/

6. 20 ALL-TIME BEST MEN’S HEALTH TIPS

     MEN’S HEALTH is a great guy site. And the twenty tips are sometimes peculiar, but they no doubt work.

http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/All-Time_Best_Mens_Health_Tips/index.php

7. LEARN ABOUT BLACK FRIDAY BARGAINS

     This site helps you learn in advance what items will be on sale on the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday. As you can see, they feature a wide variety of stores.

http://www.theblackfriday.com/

     Then, if you like to buy online, check this website on Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving, for more good deals:

http://www.cybermonday.com/

8. IN-DEPTH BARGAIN INFORMATION

     Look off to the left, under 1000 BEST SITES, and you’ll find in-depth bargain hunting information in BARGAINS & CONSUMER HELP. It gives the locations of the best bargains anywhere on the Internet, which is really saying something. You will also find the places where you can find good, quick bargains. Plus consumer information that rates merchants as to their promptness and service.

9. IDEAS FOR INEXPENSIVE GIFTS

     In the lefthand 1000 BEST column, also check out the CRAFTS, GIFT IDEAS section. We’ll get into the craft stuff later. Just please note that the last nine sections are about extra-thoughtful, often unusual, and inexpensive gifts. And I’m listing below a few more good sites I’ve found:

     TEN DOLLAR TOY TREASURE HOUSE. Here all toys are $10 or less. On checking out the site, it appears to be a dollar store for toys – it even has fifty-cent toys! You’ll not only find good stocking stuffers for children, you’ll find items, like the holly stocking notepad at fifty cents, that make good humorous or token gifts for grownups.

http://toytreasurehouse.com/

     GAMES BY JAMES has board games and puzzles for the whole family. James seems to have knocked a bit off the price of most of his games, and you can find a number for less than $10. The collections of crossword puzzles would make good gifts for grownups who work them.

http://www.gamesbyjames.com/index.htm

     HAYDEL’S BAKERY is an old-time New Orleans bakery that survived Katrina and is still going strong. They will ship their specialties overnight anywhere in the U.S., which means they could be used for last-minute gifts. They ship abroad, too, though I wouldn’t bet on the overnight bit in that case. For Christmas, their Cajun Kringle offers “pastry with special praline filling, topped with caramel icing and decorated with sweet southern pecans.”

http://www.haydelbakery.com/

10. CHIP IN

     Are you collecting for a gift at the office? CHIP IN helps you manage collections from a large group, using a secure PayPal account. They say they’re “a Web-based service that simplifies the process of collecting money from groups of people. We make this process quick, easy, and secure, and we provide organizers with numerous ways to get the word out by their ChipIn event.”

http://www.chipin.com/

11. GRATITUDE IS GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH

     Yes, scientific research has shown that being thankful for your blessings actually improves your health. You can show your gratitude by going to THE HUNGER SITE and clicking to donate food to the hungry. The food is given by the website sponsors.

http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=1

     And at “I GIVE” you can help your favorite cause for free, once again through donations from sponsors. Please remember that the charities are hurting right now: they have more people than ever before who need help, and donations are down, because people are feeling financially pinched.

http://www.igive.com/welcome/index.cfm?wov=101508-01

12. 50 HOMEMADE GIFT IDEAS

     This collection of homemade gift ideas features some really interesting, out-of-the-ordinary gifts.

http://notmadeofmoney.com/blog/2006/11/50-homemade-gift-ideas-from-around-the-web.html

     Those gift ideas, which date from 2006, come from the NOT MADE OF MONEY blog, which is still going and full of good ideas of all sorts:

http://notmadeofmoney.com/

13. FOR HUNDREDS OF CRAFT GIFT IDEAS

     If you scroll down the page of this newsletter to the CRAFTS section of the 1000 BEST SITES, you’ll find hundreds of ideas for inexpensive and unusual Christmas gifts. Also suggestions for thoughtful, inexpensive gifts. And then there’s just one more good item that didn’t make it into the 1000 BEST:

     MAKE YOUR OWN SPARKLEBALL. The sparkleball has a U.S. version and a Down Under version. And as they say, “A light ball made out of plastic cups won't change your life, but it will make everything just a little bit sparklier.”

http://www.sparkleball.com/intro.htm

14. BUY AND SELL CRAFTS

     If you’re very good at crafts, you may want to sell them on eBAY. And if you’re not very good at crafts, you may want to BUY some on eBAY. Click below to find some really good buys.

http://crafts.shop.ebay.com/Crafts__W0QQ_sacatZ1433

     And then there’s ETSY.COM, where you can also buy and sell crafts:

http://www.etsy.com/

15. WHAT’S IN THE CHRISTMAS SECTION?

     In the 1000 BEST CHRISTMAS SECTION, you’ll find Christmas recipes, free Christmas cards, Christmas plays and songs for children, and much more. Many of the items have never before been listed in this newsletter.

16. IT’S A WONDERFUL INTERNET

     It’s a takeoff, of course, on “It’s A Wonderful World.” This one is clever and fun – once you figure out that you need to click on the arrow at lower right to keep going.

http://itsawonderfulinternet.com/