breast cancer prevention foods: what's the real story?

source: The Breast Cancer Prevention Plan

Here are what are suggested to reduce one's chances of getting breast cancer
green tea
organic milk and milk products
buy meat from livestock ranchers you can interview directly
eat cruciferous vegetables every day
consume more yogurt (organic)
brussels sprouts, broccoli, kale, cabbage, turnips, collards and cauliflower should be eaten frequently (unless you're pregnant or breast-feeding).
raise your Vitamin B12 and folate levels: eat green leafy vegetables, peas, beans, and enriched cereals -- supplement with methylcobalamin
eat fruits and vegetables that have not been sprayed with pesticides or herbicides
avoid dioxins
reduce or regulate your blood sugar
N-acetylcysteine

never eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food
never eat anything that would not spoil easily
never eat anything wild animals will not eat


touching, hugging and sex all increase melatonin production
make sure you turn down your lights especially after 10 pm. this includes turning off the TV or using the computer after 10 pm

the velveteen rabbit

I read Margery Williams's classic to my kid last night and he leaped across the bed to hug me when I finished reading. This is a parental thrill. He doesn't hug his father after his father reads to him.

The noise filters are doing their job well today

I accompanied my family to "Taste of Chicago" and found the radio commercials much too loud. Maybe I am a geezer. I walked out of the restaurant, the radio volume was that loud. Not only that, the television was going too. We were the only customers in and we didn't request the television nor the radio. I don't want to go to "Taste of Chicago" anymore, although the person on staff did turn down the commercials. Ten minutes of ads! How do people cope

More readings:
Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments by Michael Dirda
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them by Francine Prose

Van Gogh's room at Arles : [three novellas] / Stanley Elkin.

Reading in bed : personal essays on the glories of reading / selected and edited by Steven Gilbar.

The best American short stories of the century / John Updike, editor ; Katrina Kenison, coeditor ; with an introduction by John Updike.

Pieces of soap : essays / by Stanley Elkin.
Esquire's big book of fiction / edited by Adrienne Miller.

There are so many readers here in Seattle. I don't meet them because they read. There are umpteen book clubs, but I don't read in book clubs, so I don't meet them. What I'd love is for someone with whom to share reading recommendations and experiences. Maybe making food is a better way of connecting: people in general are happier when their stomachs are full of good food; show me who is satisfied when his or her mind has digested a terrific novel.

The last great novel I read was Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers. Before that it was The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. I read Geek Love and although it cried out to be for 17 years, its message wasn't worth waiting that long for.

I'm very sensitive to input these days. When the input is positive, that is good. I went to school today and three people said hello. I met some parents while we waited for the school bus to return our children to us. That was a golden, neighbourly moment. Now I'm going to watch "Heima."

titles for "next time"

Fantomas -- Louis Feuillade's silent films
Reel Baseball - America's national sport depicted in the flickering tintypes 1896-1926
Revolution from Within
Out of Africa
Post Office - Bukowski
How to Have a green thumb
Trust me on this - Donald E. Westlake
What Colour is Your Parachute
Secrets of the Flesh - possibly a Colette biography
Ladder of Years - Anne Tyler
A Shining Thread of Hope
Random Acts of Hope
Simple Abundance
Honey for a child's head

thirty-day social media fast

you'd think this would include blogs. I'm not cutting people out of my life: I am still using e-mail. I read Jack Baty's cached 30-day media fast blog post, and Steve Pavlina's book Personal Development for Smart People, and it seems to me that I could do more decluttering, volunteering, exercising. I'm also in a rut, and think some new experiences would be beneficial.

I am not sure if this would include blogs. Yes, blogs are social media, but they don't take much of my time: there are only four that I read. I'm looking forward to gardening, reading (e-mail, letters, books) and writing (cover letters, e-mails).

Drop me a line, if you're so inclined.

Accepting the new

Playing Happy Songs for Happy People, by Mogwai. Lots of books, CDs and DVDs rented. After all, you're better off with libraries and no money than you are with money and no libraries.

Other Library treats:
upgrade your life edition 2, by Gina Trapani
The book of general ignorance, from John Lloyd, who brought us 'QI'
Heima, the Sigur Ros DVD
Bobby, Noel & Cole 2 DVD-set where Bobby Short sings and plays the music of you-know-who
After the Rain, the soft sounds of Erik Satie
The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players DVD
Diamond Settings: Hommage a Satie, by the Seattle Symphony (score! I didn't know they recorded; more aware of the Montreal Symphony)
Mozart: 3 KlavierSonaten by Mitsuko Uchida

books for the boy, card game rules, chess for children, eating fractions, Velveteen Rabbit (love this book)

To borrow SOON: Wallace Wang's Steal This File-Sharing Book. Guided by Voices DVD box set, Robyn Hitchcock DVD box set.

not off to a great start this morning

1. Husband reported cat did not come in. We both went out at separate times to look for it. I did some energy medicine exercises to relieve stress and tension, I affirmed that I was filled with serenity and light. I took two melatonin. I barely slept. I did cry and fantasized leaving my family. I know it's only a cat, but I rarely let the cat out, repeatedly ask my spouse not to let the cats out, and he ignores me just as much. Although, that day I read to him that cats of a certain breed (of which my cat is one) should not be let out because they are much too trusting.
Cat ends up to have been in the house, just cleverly camouflaged. I have to forgive my spouse, but I will not forget this.

2. I burned breakfast because someone called me and I didn't give her boundaries ("now is not a good time to talk, I have breakfast going."). I have only myself to blame for that.

3. School staff survey show a calamitous slide in teacher confidence/approval of principal at my son's school. I must find work: I must afford private school and a replacement car. Math textbook series adoption sucks. The advanced learning opportunities math teacher my son loves is no longer affordable, so she is gone. My son reads at the third grade level but the school focuses, justifiably, on those who are slow or beginning readers. When you're at teacher in my city, it's a non-issue that a kid reads beyond his age. Assumption is the kid likes reading and can keep up.
Am considering unschooling, part-time job, volunteer. Anything to get out.