Responsible Art

The holiday season is quickly approaching and you might be wondering what to get that guy on your list who has everything and wants for nothing. I’m sure you know the guy I’m talking about, the one with who just purchased a brand new LED television for his theater last month, has a collection of leather bound first editions in his library, and the walls of his office are covered in original works of art and photos of him standing next to diplomats and dignitaries. What kind of gift gets that guy excited? After all he might already be the most interesting man in the world.

No matter how timelessly cool any man might be, he will always appreciate the gift of cigars or cigar accessories like a cigar humidor.

There’s just something about a quality cigar that just speaks to a man. Of course Cuban cigars are the benchmark of the cigar world and due to import/export sanctions are not legally sold in the United States. However there are a great deal of high quality cigars that guy on your holiday list will enjoy.

Before choosing a particular style or make of cigar its important to understand what goes into a cigar and what distinguishes one from another. Cigars are made from two parts of the tobacco plant. The cigar is composed of high grade tobacco wrapped in an aged tobacco leaf. Much of the flavor of a cigar comes from the wrapper. In fact a great deal of the rating of a cigar is judged by inspection of the wrapper.

Tobacco plants used to make wrappers are grown in one of two ways. They are either known as shade grown or sun grown. Shade grown plants are grown under canopies out of direct sunlight. Shade grown plants are specifically used for making wrappers because the lack of direct sunlight keeps the leaves soft and limits the growth in the veins. Quality cigars will often have shade grown wrappers with tight fibers and small veins. On the contrary, sun grown wrappers have larger and tougher veins. However sun grown tobacco leaves tend to be sweeter and darker in color, making them ideal for certain types of cigars.

The tobacco inside the cigar goes through just as intense and rigorous a process as the wrappers. First the tobacco is grown to strict standards, and then it is fermented in heated compost heaps known as burros or bulks. This process is often known as sweating. Finally the raw tobacco goes to the blending room for mixing into the finished product. Blending is the process of combining tobacco flavors, however much of the composition of blending cigar tobacco is held in deep secrecy.

Even in the cigar aficionado world there are certain brands and blends that are well respected. CAO cigars are widely recognized as some of the highest quality cigars manufactured across the world. If you’re looking for a quality box of cigars for that special someone on your list CAO cigars are an excellent choice. They offer a variety of blends produced on every continent except Antarctica.

A cigar humidor also makes an excellent gift. A popular misconception is that cigars are dried. Nothing could be further from the truth. Quality cigars retain moisture and silkiness in both the wrapper and tobacco. Maintaining the right level of humidity and moisture is a crucial step to storing and keeping cigars. As a result a cigar humidifier known as a humidor is used to protect and store cigars until consumption. If you know a cigar lover, chances are they have or need a humidor to keep their collection in perfect condition.

Just remember this holiday season. There is a gift for everyone. And for the man that has everything and needs nothing, there are always cigars. Cigars are not only an enjoyable smoke, but a symbol of status and elegance. Cigars can be inexpensive and common or costly and rare. The cigar you choose depends as much on your tastes and desires as it does on the manufacturing process the grower undertakes. And most of all, a cigar is also the perfect way to ring in the new year with friends. Happy holidays!

How you can stop addiction, and stop letting drugs control your life.

You have no control of your life when addicted to drugs, and YES, alcohol IS a drug, although you may think that you are totally in control. Stop addiction? “One might say.” I’ve got no addiction to stop.

Possibly you are thinking:

· I work at a good job making a decent salary.

· I have a home, and a family I am supporting.

· I am not standing on a street corner begging for

money and then buy drugs or maybe a bottle of booze.

Or maybe you are thinking:

· I do drugs because I want to, not because I have to.

· It’s a social thing.

· I can control it.

Well, here’s the hardcore truth…

Just because you are a functioning addict does not mean there isn’t a problem there.

If you have to have a drink or even a glass of wine, or any mind altering drug just to have fun or socialize. If you get up in the morning and you have to do drugs in order to make it through your workday. Then no, you are NOT in control of your life and there are issues to address.

You are just like other addicts who actually know they are addicts and feel trapped in their addiction seeing no way out.

Addicts need drugs just to function or to have fun. It doesn’t matter where we come from or what drugs we do or have done, or how good of a job we have. Addiction can happen to anyone.

Are you wondering who I am and how I know about these things?

I am a 47-year-old recovering drug addict. Drugs and alcohol had control of my life for 31 of those years. I was flying high on autopilot, in the self-destruction mode, and I found recovery just in time to save my life.

I have been clean and sober for almost four-and-a-half years now. Drugs and alcohol put me through a life of pain and survival through many traumatic events. In addition, I was in and out of jail more times than I can remember. Drugs and alcohol no longer control my life. I am living proof that recovery is possible for anyone who truly wants it. And I am living a life that I never thought would ever be possible.

I am now a published author and I have a future, without drugs. I escaped that trap and now I am living, not just existing. I lived in hell most of my life but I clawed my way out. And I want to share with anyone who cares to listen, how I got clean and have been able to remain so.

Believe me when I say, drugs do control your thinking. For example; they control who we think our friends are. In our addiction, our friends are people we only hang out with in bars, or that we sell drugs to, or buy drugs from. They are people who would sell their mother in order to get drugs. They are people we would have nothing to do with if we weren’t addicted to drugs. Drugs also control what kind of jobs we can get because when applying for a job most jobs do drug and alcohol testing before they will hire you. Most of us have criminal records that keep us from getting the jobs we want. Drugs and alcohol make us lie, cheat and steal. The list goes on and on.

In my addiction I felt trapped, I did not know how to survive without drugs. This reality was just an illusion. I only felt trapped because I knew no other way to live. I didn’t know how to put my hand out and ask for help. In my recovery however, I learned that we do have choices, and we do have the freedom to choose. Do we want to live? Or do we just want to exist and endure the painful life that we get from our addiction? There is a way to get out of the trap and stop addiction from controlling our lives.

If you have a problem with drugs and, or alcohol, and your feeling trapped in your addiction, I would like to give you some advice that worked for me and has proven to be very effective for millions of people to stop addiction and learn a new and wonderful way of living.

First of all, we must realize that we have a problem. Then realize that we cannot do this alone. For some of us, like myself, it is necessary to go into a residential drug rehabilitation program to get clean and continue recovery with 12-step meetings after we graduate. It is very important that when we decide we want to recover that we must go to 12-step meetings regularly. This is where we start to learn a new way to live and also learn that we are not alone.

We start making new friends, we learn that we must break all ties with our “friends” that use or drink. Please don’t fool yourself into thinking you can hang around “friends” who are still using or drinking and not have it cause you to pick up. This is just another illusion; it will be just a matter of time before you are using or drinking again. If you have decided that you want recovery and your “friends” do not feel the same way. You must stay away from them for your own protection and recovery. It is important to put recovery first above everything. If they are truly your friends they will be happy for you and will understand. Once they see how much your life is changing for the better they just might join you on your road to recovery.

However, if they get mad at you for your decision, and try to get you to have a drink or indulge in some drugs with them, then they do not have your best interests at heart and you will surely know that they were never your friends to begin with.

I have met some of the best people I know in recovery, and I have found friendships that will last a lifetime. I mean real friends that will be there for me no matter what. People who truly care about me, people just like myself who know where I’m coming from, and it will be the same way for you.

When you first start attending meetings you may feel a little uncomfortable. It is normal to feel this way but as you continue going to meetings, you will make new friends, and you will start looking forward to attending meetings. That is the way it is for most of us. If you continue going to meetings, do what is suggested, and don’t pick up no matter what, your life will get better. Once you start hearing other people’s stories you will realize you are not alone. We are all seeking the same thing. Freedom from active addiction. When I first got to the program I had trust issues. Most of my life in my addiction, I found myself trying to trust untrustworthy people and was convinced that I could not trust myself. In recovery however, I began healing from my trust issues and have since learned to trust again. You will begin testing relationships with other recovering addicts and you just might be surprised at how easy it is to find good friends, people just like you who are not using. Recovery has been a lot of fun for me. We do many activities together. I was welcomed into a new family in recovery, and I get love and support from all of them.

After we go to a few meetings we find someone of the same gender who inspires us, we ask them to sponsor us as we begin working towards recovery. Don’t be nervous about asking someone to sponsor you, when we sponsor someone it helps us as much as it helps the person who we sponsor. It is always an honor when a woman asks me to sponsor her. Many of us as we enter the program, have much pain and grief to get through. The 12-steps are the blueprints of our recovery. Our sponsor will guide us through working the steps. We learn a new way to live by applying spiritual principals to our daily lives. We learn to accept our past and let it go. As we begin our journey on our road to recovery we learn to live life on its own terms. We feel the pain, and we release it. We feel our feelings and we let them go. We heal from our past and move forward. Our lives become worthwhile and we lose the obsession to use. We move into our future and start living better lives.

If you have a problem with drugs and, or alcohol please get help and stop addiction from controlling your life. If you truly want to live a life free from active addiction. You can do it by making a decision and get into a 12-step program. Take back your life. Stop Addiction!

I bet most of you must have seen the movie The Devil Wears Prada, which is directed by David Frankel in 2006 and the American sitcoms Ugly Betty, which has won the 64th Golden Globe Awards for Best Comedy Series. These two movies are all set in the fashion world. You can see a lot of fashionable dresses designed by fashion notables. They attract many women who want to be stylish and fashionable. What I’ve learned from this movie is that any woman, whether she is beautiful or not in her appearance, can learn how to be stylish and super hot.

It is universally acknowledged that every woman wants to be an object of desire and admiration. This is pretty normal for female. But it is undeniable that not every woman can manage to be sexy as what they want.

Only knowing how to make up your face rightly, how to keep fit, how to be stylish is not enough yet. You have to pay much more attention to your underwear. The right sex lingerie is like a work of art. Just imagine when you wear a sexy pair of panties, how amazing you would be. So don’t be shy when entering a women’s lingerie store. Just ignore what others are thinking of you.
Here are three tips for you to choose the right sex lingerie for yourself.

Tip1 Quality is the top one consideration

In general, firstly, you should look at the lingerie which you are interested in, and then to feel it with your hands. Both of your eyes and your hands will tell you whether this piece of lingerie is of high quality or not. I bet every woman, whether you have any fashion sense or not can tell the difference between polyester and silk by simply touching the fabric. Why should we seek the quality of the lingerie? It is because nowadays health care is principal in people’s daily life, especially for the underwear which is very close to our skin.

Tip2 Choose the right size

Please make sure what kind of bra do you need. Demi, push-up or complete coverage?

Tip3 Taste matters

Take your time to make final decision. Pay attention to your own taste. You can fantasy what image do your boyfriend or husband wants. Or if you really don’t know how to choose it, just ask the shop attendant to help you. If you are still unsure, I give you a little piece of advice, just buying the black one since black flatters everyone.
In conclusion, any woman can be super hot if she gets the right suggestion.

 

Drug abuse is certainly one of the problems of the state of Colorado. This problem doesn’t affect one specific group, race, or socio-economic component. It has affected almost every family in America. Many of these people go on to get arrested and moved through the states penal system. As of 2002, 61.7% of males arrested in Denver tested positive for drug use.

Drug abuse is seen when an individual becomes chronic or a regular drug user. In this case, a physical dependency on the drug is developed. Abuse of drugs usually starts during an individual’s adolescent years. On average, this is around the age of 12 since taking drugs has become a common social activity for many in society. Because of this, more ranges of people find themselves facing addiction.

With the growing concern of drug abuse in the state, more employers are conducting drug testing. Hiring employees with drug problems can cause many concerns for a business. There is also liability on behalf of the company involved with this issue. Drug testing firms are hired to provide data that shows if a potential employee is a drug user. Here are some problems seen from drug abuse in the workplace:

Erratic Behavior

Drug abuse can cause the addict to start acting weird under the influence. This will depend on the type of drug being used. Erratic behavior is connected to drugs like heroin, opium, and cocaine. Heroin and cocaine account for much of the state’s drug use. The Denver area especially has become the largest source of drugs for most addicts.

Loss of Productivity

Some people indulging in drug abuse are able to hide their problems. These are the limited few who can perform work tasks despite their condition. Others, however, are not competent enough to do their jobs. As a result, they may either mess whatever tasks they’re handling or cost the company a large sum of money.

Drug abuse has found its way into most families in this country, and it continues to do so until some action is taken against it. However, with the popularity of drug testing, maybe addicts will become motivated enough to leave this habit once and for all.

Cycling diet is often overlooked by many cyclists, yet it is essential to maintain your health and fitness and in giving your body the right nutrients it needs to recover from heavy training sessions. If you’re going out on a long training run then ensuring you have the right cycling diet is important. You need to be sure you have enough energy inside you to complete your training session.

Fuel up before your training session, carry something to eat during it and you need to eat after the session to allow your body to recover from the hard work you have just put it through. A good cycling diet will facilitate all these things. Another good point is about weight loss. If you are cycling to lose weight then forget about the bathroom scales as your monitor and use body fat monitors instead.

This is because cycling reduces fat and builds muscles.

Muscle is heavier than fat, so if you use the scales to monitor your progress you will not see much drop in weight as the fat is reduced but the muscle increases. Using body fat monitors will give you a truer picture of your fat shedding progress. Your cycling diet should be based on good quality foods based on fresh ingredients’. A natural diet will involve more effort but is worth it for the returns you will get in higher energy levels and a more robust immune system.

Avoid fast foods, sugary pop drinks and instant meals which are full of fat and sugar. Your cycling diet should be based on fresh fruit and vegetables, lean meat and nuts. Balance is also crucial. Make sure your cycling diet includes a good balance of the right food groups. Carbohydrates, healthy fat products, protein and vitamins. A diet rich in these nutrients and well balanced will not only improve your cycling but will give you a great health boost generally. If you are using cycling to lose weight don’t skip meals. You need to keep enough energy stored to get through your training sessions. Skipping meals is a mistake. Just drop all the sugary rubbish and replace it with fresh foodstuffs. This along with hard cycle training will be enough to get rid of those excess pounds.

Look at your cycling diet as important as your bike and clothing in your cycling training. Get the balance of diet and training right and you will soon reap the benefits of increased endurance and improved health.

There is no one therapy that does it all. And,
to complicate it further, like most “mental”
problems”, it’s not simple to diagnose. In the
younger ages, it’s easily confused with mental
retardation, or brain damage.

What are the known causes of autism? Perhaps the
best known today is the usage of mercury (
thimeroserol) in infant and childhood vaccines.
Only in the past few years was this practice
discontinued. So, we’ve literally poisoned
millions of children with good intent!
Protecting them from dangerous childhood diseases
has caused much worse problems.

Another well known cause of autism is food
sensitivity and allergy. Virtually every known
mental problem may be caused by a normally
harmless allergen – a simple food that has been “
recognized” by that person’s immune system as “
dangerous”.

This seems to be caused by what is called “leaky
gut syndrome”. A major theory in this cause is
that the malnourishment of the mother prior to
birth and during initial feeding after birth
opens the entrances from the gut too much in the
attempt to obtain more needed vitamins and
minerals and enzymes, etc.

This larger “leaky gut opening” allows larger “
particles” thru the gut walls into the portal
vein. Instead of digested single amino acids, or
simple combinations of a few amino acids, longer
chains of amino acids are allowed thru. These
larger than “normal” collections of amino acids
may then be recognized by the immune system as
possible viruses, bacteria, or even parasites.
This particular collection of amino acids is now
a distinct allergen to that person, even though
it is actually harmless.

There are possibly many other minor causes and/or
combinations of causes. We know very little
about the evolution of our immune system, and how
allergy/sensitivity is developed.

What can we do to “normalize” autistic children?
What are the answers that we already know?

The Mercury Toxicity Problem /font>

As a former orthomolecular psychologist, mineral
toxicity is well known to me. I’ve seen several
schizophrenic patients “cured” that suffered from
copper toxicity in particular.

The first step is diagnosis of this problem. Is
mineral toxicity involved? There are several
different ways to diagnose mineral toxicity. In
my opinion the best way is a mineral hair
analysis. Most MD’s prefer a 24 hour urine
collection. Actual blood tests and urine and
saliva tests are not reliable.

It seems that all toxic minerals are stopped from
getting into the brain by the filtering and
storage facility of the liver. A large amount of
mercury getting to the brain would be very
dangerous, so the liver stops it and stores it,
and then gradually releases as small an amount
back into the bloodstream so that it can be
excreted. Hair is an excretion route, and an
inch or so of hair tells a “history” of mineral
excretion over a period of weeks. While hair
analysis isn’t very accurate insofar as amount in
the body, it’s very accurate as to what’s been
excreted over time.

A hair analysis would be my first step towards
solving the autism problem.

Supposing that the hair analysis came back
showing large amounts of mercury. What to do
next? The answer is some form of chelation.

Chelation means “to grab onto”. There are
several drugs that do this for minerals. In the
blood stream, these drugs (EDTA and others)
literally grab onto minerals, and allow them to
exit the body thru the kidney/urine excretion
system. This usually involves going to a
chelation clinic, sitting for an hour or so with
a needle in the arm. It’s not that uncomfortable,
although a small child might find it so. This
procedure is done several times over a period of
several weeks.

. One problem with this is that because the
chelation agent (drug) “claws onto” all minerals
in the blood stream, it takes out essential
minerals as well as the toxic ones. So, it
becomes very necessary to supplement the minerals
our bodies need for everyday use. In effect,
taking all out, good and bad, and putting back
the good.

It’s also not cheap, as it involves “doctor time”.

I successfully used a cheap and effective
alternate in my practice. Vitamin C. Vitamin C
combines with minerals in the bloodstream
metabolically to form a mineral “Ascorbate”
combination that is also water soluble and passes
out thru the same kidney/urine exit.

There are several advantages to using Vitamin C
instead of drugs. It is a natural antibiotic
that kills both viruses and bacteria in the
bloodstream. So, people who use it will be
healthier than most, AND they’ll be getting rid
of toxic minerals at the same time.
The same thing happens as does with drugs. Since
vitamin C combines with ALL minerals, we are
taking out the essential ones along with the
toxic ones. So, all the essential ones must be
supplemented daily.

Few people realize the truth about vitamin C
today, in spite of the work done by Linus Pauling,
a true genius. The “spin” by nutritionists and
MD’s and the RDA has us taking very insufficient
amounts of vitamin C for daily use. Did you know
that the veterinarian RDA for a 150 pound ape is
4000 mg (4 grams) per day? We humans and other
primates such as that ape handle vitamin C
exactly the same. The RDA is under 100 mg (0.1
gram).

For schizophrenic adults I worked with in past
years, I used 10 grams per day in split doses.
For these patients, their schizoid symptoms
seemed to disappear within two weeks or so, but
surprisingly, a six month hair analysis showed
even high levels of copper. Carl Pfeiffer, a
mentor, and a good friend, explained that the
body is now allowing more toxic material out of
storage into the bloodstream so that it can be
excreted safely. Most goes out via the kidney/
urine pathway, but also hair. To my surprise,
this increase in hair levels was actually good.

Allergy/Sensitivity Problem size=”+1″ br /> font>

The “leaky gut syndrome” is becoming a huge
health problem, albeit unknown to most people and
even most physicians. It’s a function of our
culture moving more and more away from healthful
foods containing good nutrition and moving more
and more to sweet and pre-processed foods without
good balanced nutrition.

Because we have evolved requiring certain amounts
and balances of vitamins, minerals, amino acids,
fatty acids, and enzymes derived from what we eat,
we, as a culture are not getting even close to
sufficient nutrition for good health without
taking vitamin mineral supplements. One theory
of “leaky gut syndrome” is that each generation,
being malnourished, has to find a way to get more
necessary nutrients, and allowing more amino
acids and other needed nutrients thru the walls
of the intestines, this is accomplished.

There are several possible answers to this
particular problem:

1. Giving the person with the problem digestive
enzymes. This helps the digestive system do a
better job, breaking up proteins into amino acids
easier to digest as small peptides and individual
amino acids. This solves part of the problem at
least, especially in those cases where digestive
problems are present. Of course, protease is the
most desired.

2. Avoiding those foods that are most likely the
allergens that the immune system has “decided”
are enemies. This is the basis of the milk free
and gluten free diets that are popular, and have
proved of value for some autistic cases.

3. Allergy search and solution. The only really
effective “test and cure” system is the End-
Point-Titration method. This not only finds both
allergies and sensitivities, but also provides a
neutralizing amount. Unfortunately, the costs
are prohibitive, ranging in the tens of thousands
of dollars. A free allergen test may be found at
Free
Allergy Test

4. EEG Biofeedback (aka Neurofeedback or
Neurotherapy) has long been used with ADD/ADHD
successfully. Dr von Hilsheimer in Orlando has
successfully worked with several autistic
children using this therapy. He has taken well
over 200 sessions with several patients. The
problem is that it is very expensive and uses a
lot of “doctor time”.

5. A new therapy called Neuroliminal Brain Wave
Training was invented by me in 2004. It does
exactly what EEG Biofeedback does, namely change
brain wave strengths (and in the case of autism
patients, increases brain blood flow (similar to
HEG biofeedback).
Besides being as successful as EEG BF, it
actually has several other advantages for autism
cases:

a. Very affordable cost – a fraction of EEG BF,
a viable alternative to the dangerous drugs used
for the ADD-autism continuum. Mid and low income
families simply cannot afford EEG BF, leaving the
only real choice the dangerous drugs.

b. Very simple to use at home. No messing
around with wires and sticky paste or even bulky
helmets. Even the “worst” autistic kids can be
trained without problems.

c. No motivation required to simply go to sleep.
With ADD/ADHD and high functioning autistics,
motivation is a critical factor in success.

In a recent test of 9 autistic children from 3 to
11 years of age, over an eight week period, ALL
nine improved, some dramatically, and some slowly.
This is exactly what would be expected if using
EEG and HEG BF. All parents put up a 0
deposit, and if no improvement was found, they
could get that back. All preferred to keep it
and continue training.

Those are the options I see at present. Autism
is increasing as our nutrition is decreasing, and
more and more toxins are used for good reasons
that have bad effects.

If I had a child who was autistic, or even slow
to develop, what would I do?

1. Start Neuroliminal Brain Wave Training
immediately.

2. I’d do a hair analysis to see if mercury is
at toxic levels, and if so, I’d start my child on
5-10 grams of vitamin C per day.

3. I’d try a Caveman Diet for a week or so to
try to determine if common allergens such as milk
or grains are a major culprit.

4. I’d investigate digestive enzymes for autism
on the web, and start using them.

The belt and suspender theory seems to me to be
the best way – do all that you can as soon as you
know about the problem and possible solutions.
The sooner the autistic child is started on these
programs the closer to “normal” they usually
become.

There is no magic pill. All these programs take
time. Magic pills usually aren’t anyway, and all
drugs have serious side effects for some at least.
What I have outlined does not in any way.
Unfortunately, the physician’s dictum “do no harm”
is no longer the case.