Autoimmune Disorder Causes Arthritis in Children, and...

We repeat the title of this post, that arthritis in children, or Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (a.k.a. "JRA"), is caused by an autoimmune disorder, in order to add to that the fact that vaccines cause autoimmune disorders. Result, vaccines can cause arthritis in children, a disease that long ago, before vaccines, was only associated with the elderly.

We emphasize that there is a great deal of vastly differing disinformation on this subject, or actually on these two subjects. Generally, doctors profess that there is no known cause of JRA. Scientists generally state that JRA is entirely attributable to autoimmune disorders. Others, mostly in mainstream medicine, denote JRA as having dual causitive factors in that "something" in a child's "genetic makeup" makes them susceptible to JRA and then that an "environmental factor" such as a "virus" (or autoimmune disorder) then triggers the onset of juvenile arthritis. Long story short, the scientific conclusion is the most widely documented and most widely accepted, with the medical obfuscations being largely diversionary from the conclusive scientific evidence. They all do agree that juvenile arthritis is not hereditary.

Our bottom line conclusion for emphasis: vaccines cause arthritis, even in children.

Thieves Oil

This is not about the thieves at Exxon and their Big Oil cronies. Rather it is about thievery long, long ago back in the "dark ages". At the height of the bubonic plague, aka the "Black Death", when thousands of people were dying daily, it is said that there were those entrepeneurial types that sought to enrich themselves by garnering the valuables of the newly deceased. It is also said that these thieves had discovered a means of protecting themselves from contracting the highly contagious plague even though they came into direct contact with obviously infected dead bodies and of course the possessions of said dead peops. The secret is that they used antiseptic "handi-wipes" -- no, just kidding. Actually, these desperados were said to have had access to what became known appropriately as "Thieves Oil", said to have been developed by some "Wise Women" of the times based on hundreds of years of knowledge.

This thieves oil concoction as it exists today consists of the oils of clove, cinnamon, eucalyptus, lemon, and rosemary. Which makes us wonder -- since eucalyptus only grew in Australia, a very remote island continent far away from the epicenter of the plague, which also happened to be pretty much devoid of civilization back in the dark ages as far as we are able to ascertain -- if this thieves oil isn't more of a modern day mixture that has been bestowed with this fabled history to provide more credibility and instill interest.

Admittedly, all of these oils are said to exhibit anti-viral properties, as well as antiseptic, anti-fungal, and even antibiotic properties. They are also said to be natural pesticides, although we are not sure that is significant regarding this particular analysis. The quality and strength, and therefore the effectiveness, of these anti-everything properties likely depends on the production process employed by the manufacturer, and we are as yet unaware of any specific measurement process for these attributes, like 80 proof for liquor.

Also, we have noted numerous articles about this oil, none negative (apparently Big Pharma has not hired ghostwriters to discredit it yet), and many articles of course (by retailers of the oils and likely some of their "affiliates") that emphatically promote the effectiveness of the product.

We will provide one link to a site of special interest, which lists 101 uses for thieves oil (uses other than protection from germs while pillaging diseased dead bodies).

If you have any experience or comments on this topic, we would like to hear from you. We would prefer not to hear about "lifting" jewelry from corpses though.

Disclaimer. We have no personal experience with this concoction, as yet. However if we ever actually do have any kind of serious influenza, we plan to give it a try. Point is, this is just an interesting looking concept that, give the times, we thought we would share the information with our readers, and we are not in any way making any claims as to it's effectiveness, other than concluding that the info that we have perused on it so far sounds quite credible...

Immunity and pH Balance

For some time, we increasingly ran across some seemingly obscure observations that indicated that it appeared that people with a normal pH balance, ranging to slightly alkaline, were considerably less likely to contract influenza and those that did, fell into the group that had the so-called mild cases of the flu. Conversely, those individuals that had a slightly acidic pH balance were more likely to contract the flu and have more severe cases with complications, and those that were so acidic that they were considered to have "acidosis" were having the most severe cases of flu. This could be attributable to the correlation that people with acidic pH balances have lowered immune systems.

At any rate, we eventually decided to do a little research on the subject. We found that this concept dates back to about a century ago, before pH balance was a commonly known factor. Back then, ingestion of baking soda (aka sodium bicarbonate) was a common household natural remedy for avoidance of colds and flu. Consumption of baking soda is said to have come into heavy use during the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918 where it was noted that it appeared to be effective. It is interesting to note that it is now known that ingestion of baking soda alkalises the bodily pH balance, and that most people back then, and especially now were/are said to be acidic to at least some extent if not very acidic.

All things considered, we advise checking your pH balance and if it falls into the acidic range, take measures to adjust it accordingly. There is a variety of pH test paper to determine pH balance, and it can be procured at drug stores and health food stores, where you can also find natural supplements to alkalize (altho you can alkalize, albeit more slowly, via diet and home remedies such as baking soda). Be sure to read the directions with the test tape, as many factors can affect the testing and results can vary accordingly, so you need to perform several tests in as accurate a method as possible to determine your condition, but most people will be acidic. Note that if you have inflammation of any kind, this may well be an indication that you are acidic, and can benefit from alkalizing.

Alkalizing with baking soda. First note that some baking soda products are said to contain aluminum, and some products even list it as an ingredient on the label, but some that are said to contain it but do Not list it. To be safe, only procure baking soda that openly states that it does NOT contain aluminum -- costs a little more, but aluminum is said to be toxic to the human body. Anyway, the "old time formula" for dosing with baking soda is for the first day to take six doses of a half teaspoonful in a glass of water every two hours. Then on the second day take four doses in the same manner, cutting back to two doses on the third day. After that take a one dose each morning until your pH tests normal.

Alkalizing foods. We have addressed this topic on the WisBits website. If you would like to peruse the information, click on this link to the pH balance page.

Alkalizing with bromelain and supplements. Also addressed at the link just above.

Bottom line comment: if you are proven to be highly acidic, you have a serious condition which makes you susceptible to dangerous diseases other than just lowered immunity, and you should employ any and all alkalizing tactics immediately. However, we must note that the pH balance must be monitored, as excessive over-alkalizing may lead to the opposite side of the spectrum known as alkaline which also has it's dangers...

Don't Microwave Microwaveable Food

We had company while fixing lunch today and they were amazed at the wisdom of our food preparation "methodology", so thought we should pass it along, as we viewed our visitors as fairly astute folks, so maybe our method is not so fairly obvious.

First, not everyone may be aware that microwaving food not only tends to disperse radiation out into your world, but it also destroys the nutrients in the food, particularly vegetables. Anyway, that is why we avoid the microwave for anything but heating up cold coffee.

Secondly, we must disclaim that we do not procure a lot of pre-packaged prepared processed salty microwaveable products containing who knows what, but on occasion for convenience in hurried times we do pick up some of the supposedly healthier microwaveable foods, such as zero trans-fat vegetable egg rolls, like that...

Anyway, in anticipation of time constraints, we keep some frozen microwaveable items down in the non-freezer section of the refrigerator so that they are already thawed out, and then remove them from the fridge a few hours before prep to minimize heat exposure in the cooking process. We then STEAM the food to the point that it is edible, with the admission that we also might pan fry some microwaveable foods in olive or coconut oil.

A simple convenient process that minimizes destruction of nutrients in pre-prepared foods, that many folks do not seem to have stumbled across. Pass the word along...

Curious Observation: ever wonder why the word refrigerator isn't spelled with a 'dg' or 'j' in it like it is pronounced? You know, the short name IS "fridge" spelled with a 'd' in it. And this word was not dreamed up hundreds of years ago when the "English" language was first dreamt up by a bunch of drunken monks holed-up in a monkeytorium... Are other languages as screwed-up as the English language? Probably, very likely all languages were dreamt up by some reclusive wiped-out "holey men" holed-up in cavernous dens across this little planet...

Novel Humor

We find it curious that the medical/pharmaceutical industrial media complex often uses the term "novel" regarding their methods and procedures and drugs and diseases, such as "the novel H1N1 virus...", "a novel detection method...", "the novel drug combo..."

It is of further interest to note that definitions of the word "novel" are "pleasantly new or different" and "an extended fictional work".

Since the plethora of fabrications defecated by the medical/pharmaceutical industrial media complex are of a highly deceptive intent, we feel that their use of the word "novel" is well applied using a word that means "fictional".

OK, so it wasn't that funny, if at all, but our point is that it is best that you associate their suspiciously odiferous emissions as "extended" fiction unless proven otherwise, however unlikely that they might actually happen to be stating the truth. Adjust your mindset, be wary, be safe...

Opportunity for Immunity with Impunity

With winter officially arriving soon, comes the season when you must do all that you can to boost your immune system to protect against the onslaught of colds and the flu. Consequently we thought it prudent to update the WisBits website with concise, pertinent information on that topic and are noting it here on this blog, with the following high level list reflecting the more detailed info that resides on the website. The following list is in no particular order, but we have tried to annotate the more optimal immune boosters, but these are all very good in their own way. If you would like to go directly to the new website page on immunity, just click on this link.

Also, note that any of the nutrients on this list indicated to exhibit antioxidant properties are said to be beneficial in the treatment of influenza -- click on this link to view one of many recent articles about research findings that indicate antioxidants are the "Achilles' heel" of influenza. It is not the intent of the following list to fully address antioxidants, but if interested in more extensive information on the subject, click on this link to our page on antioxidants.


Garlic is incredibly beneficial to your immune system because it is antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-fungal.

Extra virgin unrefined coconut oil not only boosts your immunity but also provides numerous other highly beneficial health properties such as prevention of diseases and cancer.

Fermented Foods such as kefir, natto, kimchee, miso, tempeh, pickles, sauerkraut, Greek yogurt, and even olives all contribute to raising your immunity level.

Unpasteurized, raw whole milk has beneficial bacteria and fats that are said to boost your immune system.

In the absence of whole milk, whey protein is a good substitute.

Blueberries are very potent immune boosters as well as highly beneficial antioxidants.

Chlorella is an efficient detoxification agent, even binding to toxins such as mercury and eliminating them from your system. Also, chlorella contains chlorophyll which cleanses the blood, aids in the assimilation of oxygen, and promotes the repair of your tissues and organs, all of which of course strengthen the immune system.

Mushrooms are one of the few foods that provide vitamin D, said to be the most potent immune enhancer. The beta glucans in medicinal mushrooms such as Reishi, Shiitake, and Maitake are notable for their ability to strengthen the immune system.

Propolis is a resin produced by honey bees and is said to be the most broad spectrum antimicrobial compound in the world. Propolis is a rich source of caffeic acid and apigenin, which are important phenolic compounds that boost the immune response.

Vitamin D3: this is said to be the one most crucially important protector against all types of winter illnesses.

Vitamin C: even if you manage to consume fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin C, in the winter months you need to supplement daily with 2,000 mg of vitamin C.

Horseradish is a very powerful natural antibiotic and is said to be helpful in fighting off the effects of colds and influenza.

Turmeric is a known immune system booster and is said to be many times stronger than vitamin C.

Green tea is rich in polyphenols in the form of natural chemicals called catechins. The most powerful catechin in green tea is epigallocatechin (aka EGCG) which has been reported to be many times more potent than vitamins C.

Tulsi tea, used for thousands of years medicinally in India, is loaded with antioxidants and is said to exhibit numerous health benefits, to include support of the immune system.

Oregano oil provides enhanced immunity. Oregano the spice does also, but the oil is a concentrated stronger form necessary to ingest adequate amounts of the beneficial properties.

Avoid insufficient rest and sleep, as it tends to run down the immune system.

Exercise, but don’t overdo it. “Moderate” exercise is widely stated to boost the immune system function, but it is also widely stated that “intense” exercise can have the the opposite effect.

Increasing oxygenation of the body is also widely stated to boost immunity. This of course is a natural benefit gained from the aforementioned moderate exercise, but practicing “deep breathing” should also be considered.

Avoid ALL sugar, including foods and condiments that contain it.

Avoid consumption of toxic metals, particularly in the food chain, e.g. tuna and seafood contain mercury.

Avoid vaccines -- enough said.

Sanitizer Sanity

We just observed a misleading disinforming news segment on good old Big Media Good Morning America which delved into the "safety" [sic] of hand sanitizers. One of the topics featured a person that had a container of hand sanitizer in every room, in his vehicle, at work, and on his person, and used them constantly, even when moving about from room to room at home (he lived alone...). Their subliminal implication was that this extremely obsessive overuse of sanitizers on your highly absorbent skin was normal and safe.

We then concluded that everyone must NOT be aware that most of these instant sanitizers contain potent, toxic chemicals and are even "highly flammable"? Additionally, the main "ingredient" in most sanitizers is 60 percent to 90 percent alcohol -- not the same food grade alcohol used in hard liquor, but ethyl or isopropyl alcohol which is in a doubly stronger concentration than that in booze, almost pure alcohol at the high end.

Also note that sanitizers also kill "good bacteria" that is supposed to be on your skin as beneficial to your health. We should add that if ingested, hand sanitizers are a poison and will kill human beings.

Our point is, that if you are out and about amongst the virulent hoarde, sure, use a sanitizer at certain points where you may come into contact with bacteria and viruses. But, if you are at home, do NOT NOT NOT constantly over-use a chemical hand sanitizer -- use good old soap and water as much as feasible. And if you are at home and simply going from one room to another, is it really necessary to de-bacterialize yourself? Sure, feel free to use those disinfectant handy wipes in your home or vehicle if you have visitors or passengers that may deposit vermin on surfaces in your premises. And, frankly, we admit to using the disinfectant handy wipes on products that we bring home from the store, especially food stuffs, milk cartons, and the like (not only store employees handle merchandise, but goofball customers pick up products and put them back down...). Ever notice that those goofballs and employees do not even wash their hands after going to the bathroom, which usually has a door handle that you must pull on with the obtusely open-in door (isn't that against fire regulations? so what, it spreads germs...).

The GMA segment also featured a short piece on manufacturers of hand sanitizers, and also an interview with a medical doctor, with the bottom line being a brainless sermon on the safety of the sanitizers. We did not watch out the program, but we would bet that the network will be rewarded with compensation via ads by the manufacturers, which in large part are drug companies, good old Big Pharma.

If you feel that surely the media and medical community would not mislead the populace on this, just do a search on the phrase "hand sanitizer dangers" (way over 100,000 hits in just the English language).

Again, we are not entirely against the use of hand sanitizers, as we indulge in the minimal use of it ourselves when unavoidably necessary. However, do not just pick up any old sanitizer at some retail checkout line "impulse buy" location -- we advise instead that you procure a relatively safe more natural product at a "health food store" which also is devoid of suspicious ingredients contained in regular OTC sanitizers which may someday magically induce inflammation into the joints of your hands. If you doubt that, then you are gullible, naive, or very uninformed. Anything that the Big Media bobble-heads, Big Business, Big Pharma, and Big Medicine band together to preach safety about (like this incredibly obtuse GMA segment) is in reality something that should send up red flags as to something that you should instead be extremely suspicious of...

By the way, that nutcase on GMA that used sanitizers all the time, looked like some poisoned unhealthy demented dweeb that gave the distinct impression that he was on too many "happy pills"...

Added Evaluating Online Health Information to our WisBits Website

Just a note that we have added a page to the WisBits website which provides our evaluation of online health oriented websites and organizations. At this point it is in an incomplete formative draft stage, but might be of benefit to anyone wanting to determine good (and bad) sources of online health information. Click on this link to go to the new page of the website if interested in taking a look at it.

This is a really good source of great info.

Typically, when we run across another great website or blog, we usually just add their link in the sidebar. However, we finally discovered a site that deserves a post to bring attention to it. First, do not be sidetracked by the website name, just because it has the word "sexy" in it -- this site has nothing to do with sex, but everything to do with good health.

This excellent blog has a very impressive "posse" of well known experts on numerous health subjects, many of which are doctors -- yes, doctors, some of the "good guys and gals" of the medical profession. Click on this link if you would like to first take a look at the aforementioned contributors.

If you would just like to go directly to the main home page click on this link.

Have a Happy Turkey Day!

Want to make million$ ?

We monitor many sources of information, one of which is the cable news programs, but only when our patience level is high and stress level is low. This latter source tends to be highly aggravating due to the fact that all of the programs tend to dole out a minute or two of abbreviated "news" and then (after inferring an interesting topic is coming up "next") they cut away to two or three minutes of dumbed-down advertising. So, whenever we feel like tolerating this irritating scenario to see what the bribed bobble-heads are up to, we change the channel when ads come on, in the hope of finding another channel that is not doing ads.

To make it easier to catch up on the "up to the minute" news and bypass the increasing glut of incredibly obnoxious "commercials", we would like to see someone develop a mechanism that automatically detects them and switches over to a preselected list of other channels until it finds an actual news broadcast instead of increasingly stupid commercials. There would of course need to be a setup process to create the aforementioned prioritized list of programs to bounce around to, via a device like a "channel changer", which of course would need an on/off switch, as well as a time sensitive block for certain segments such as "Spin Doctor Nonsense" (er, "Nancy") and a time sensitive inclusion process such as scanning the network news programs during the morning and evening time frames.

There are many other tweaks that we would need to be incorporated into this mechanism which we will not list here, but surely anyone with enough brains to develop this concept will identify all the possible variable requirements.

If you are not the inventor type but know an inventor friend, mention this concept to them, or just slap a patent on it and sell the rights to it -- heck the "mad men" would buy it to avoid anyone to developing it...

Whenever Hospitalization is Unavoidable...

CNN reported today on their "Daily Dose" segment that 40 surgeries per week in the U.S. are either performed on the wrong patient or the wrong body parts of the patient. Since this CNN news segment is broadcast during the day, we thought that we should repeat it for anyone that missed it. For emphasis, that 40/week figure extrapolates out to 8 surgeries per day -- a low percentage nationwide, but to avoid being one of those erroneously cut into, CNN suggests the following whenever hospitalized.

• do NOT be shy, do NOT feel like you are being a pain in the butt just for simply ensuring your safety from erroneous procedures and surgeries
• frequently state the patient's name and procedure that they are hospitalized for to any attending staff members (especially if in the ER, emergency room)
• ask hospital staff to check ID bracelet before conducting any procedures (not just surgery)
• before surgery, mark the body part to be operated on, but most importantly mark body part NOT to be operated on (sounds like the staff should now be doing that as "standard operating procedure" (pun intended)

Lastly for emphasis, CNN reported that an abdominal CT scan was recently erroneously performed on pregnant woman that was in the ER. CT scans emit a ridiculously high dose of radiation even for an adult, but is seriously damaging to the development of a fetus. The point being, even if you are not in a hospital for an operation, you still must take serious precautions to avoid wrongly "procedured upon". So, even if you are just in the ER to visit a friend, don't let them drag you into surgery just because your name matches that of an ER patient.  Seriously, be sure to alert freinds and family.

Roundup Onions, Garlic, Chives and the Usual Suspects

Onions, garlic, and chives are minimally antibacterial and antiviral. That means that they offer a certain degree of protection against colds and influenza. We wonder if this is due to some extent to the fact that the subsequent odors deter close proximities with strangers that might be infectious (that is a facetiousism, the properties of these veggies are the key deterrent). While on the subject, we must also inject the scientifically verified absolute concrete fact that vitamin D3 is scientifically verified as an extremely strong deterrent to colds and any flu, and that almost everyone is D3 deficient these days. But, you won't hear that from the evening news bobble-heads, your doctor, or big pharma ads -- no profit there, in fact loss of profit. We are all being conned by unethical swindlers, big time, but, "what's new" as they say...

Fluoridated "Spring Water"?????

Ran across a local grocery store store-brand plastic bottle, labeled as fluoridated spring water. Of course, the word fluoridated was in small, thin, light colored letters but spring water was in large, bold, prominently colored letters -- the effect was to see spring water but not fluoridated. ARRRGH! Why do that? The whole point behind water from a "spring" source is to avoid the toxins. We wonder now if in really fine print on the back of the bottle that maybe it was confessed that the water was bottled from tap water (which already conveniently contains fluoride, hence "fluoridated") during the spring season of the hear (hence "spring" water), or if that was the ill-logic of the labeling and they just did not bother to mention it... Big Food finds yet another way to deceive and poison the populace.

Create your own blog/site like this one

If you, or someone that you know (that has some time on their hands and you would like to give them something to occupy their time) might like to create a blog and website similar to Wisbits, first understand that it can be done for free, and secondly that you do not need to be a website developer nor even technically inclined, and lastly that you/they might even make dollar or two in the process, not to mention feeling good about helping out other people...

We repeat that there is no cost involved, you might even make some money, and if you can work with typical PC software applications such as word processors and spreadsheets then you can handle the "technical" end of it -- it can all be done without "programming" languages, or "coding".

We have created a webpage over on the Wisbits website to explain in detail how to accomplish the creation a similar blog/site, just click on this link to go there.

We could even provide you with some of the "code" to save some time and effort. Jump in there and do something, the world needs all the help it can get, share your knowledge...

Meanwhile, back at the ranch house...

We have been fighting wildfires elsewhere and thought we would interject this post from another of our websites for your perusal.

The month of October was the hottest, driest October ever recorded for the region. And don't tell anyone but WE saw the highest high tide here on the intracoastal waterway during the month of October than ever before -- the water was actually coming up through the planks in the waterway boardwalk at low points. You won't hear anything about that from the big media bobble-heads though, as they are paid off by big business, real estate firms, and the chamber of commerce to keep it quiet.

Of course that "extra" water has nothing to do with the the polar ice caps melting, nor with the Greenland and Iceland ice sheets melting, nor the meltdown of the Kilimanjaro and K2 ice fields, nor with all of the planet's glaciers melting, nor with existing sea water thermal expansion due to higher temperatures which are due to increasing record levels of human-made pollutants in the atmosphere trapping the planet's heat. Nope, can't be any of those silly little ole things. Heck there isn't really any "global warming" at all according to the "Big Deniers", just because the planet's temperature is increasing, it'll start going down again, someday, after we are all living up in the mountains, close to the seashore at the foot of the mountains. We even noted one Big Denier comment that even if everything does melt, then all the sea life will die from the toxins we are dumping in the oceans and that will make plenty of room for the melt water, heck the water levels may even go down...

By the way, having mentioned Iceland, we hear that they are thinking of renaming it soon to No-iceland, or Iceless-land, or Iceallgone-land, or Whuthappendtoduhice-land. Hey, seriously, do a search on "rising sea levels map" for some very interesting information, especially if you or someone you know lives or owns property in a low lying coastal area. Here we all come Montana!

Updates to the Pain and Inflammation Subject

Just a quick note that we have finally managed to add some important information to the pain and inflammation page on the WisBits website...

Warning on GRILLED Chicken Carcinogens

Grilled chicken is promoted as a healthy food, particularly healthier than fried chicken. However, chicken cooked on a grill over a fire has been found to contain what is said to be a potent carcinogen, referred to as 'PhIP' [sic]. Warn your friends and family. Additionally, note that any food cooked over a fire on a grill tends to produce carcinogens. Click on this link if you care to peruse an article with the specifics on grilled chicken carcinogens.

Food and Water Watch -- Take Action

We are posting below a link to the Food and Water Watch website. The link is directly to their webpage that lists safety issues for our food and water supplies. For each listed issue you can click on the "take action" button to obtain detailed info about the issue and sign and send a petition to the applicable government recipients. Click on this link to see the list of food and water issues that you can take action on. Note that there is a second page of issues that can be reached by clicking on the page 2 link at the bottom of the webpage.

Updates and Toxic Tap Water

Just a note that we have made some updates to the "Cancer" page under the "Illnesses and Diseases" category. We also include below some pertinent info that we added to the extensive category of "Hydration and Water" because we have noted that many of our acquaintances (and most fellow bar patrons) were unaware of this...

Most municipal public water systems now ALSO contaminate our tap water with the chemical "chloramine" (a mixture of chlorine and ammonia) supposedly to lower the level of carcinogenic disinfection byproducts created by the chlorination process. However, chloramine has been found to generate even more disinfection byproducts that are much more toxic than those resulting from the chlorination process. Makes us think that we don't need a cure for cancer so much as we just need to eliminate the obvious causes of cancer, like this one...

Anyway, like chlorine, chloramine remains in tap water. Granular activated carbon (GAC) or carbon filters can reduce chlorine and chloramine concentrations significantly. GAC/carbon filtered water should then be subjected to a reverse osmosis (RO) filter to remove any carbon residue released into the water as well as other toxins that GAC/carbon filters cannot remove. The reverse osmosis filter should not be used without preceding it with a GAC filter as chloramine will pass through the RO membrane and damage the filter elements. A GAC/carbon filter will remove chloramine, allowing the RO filter to effectively remove other toxic substances.

If you do not have filters for your tap water, it is often stated that boiling water for twenty minutes will eliminate most of the chlorine and chloramine. However, be advised that these toxins (along with others) are expelled from the water into the air in gaseous (breathable) form, and that chlorine gas has been used as a lethal poison agent in gas warfare. The gas might not kill you over dead at low concentrations from boiling water, but we speculate that it would be best to avoid breathing it.

Another more plausible means of eradicating chlorine/chloramine from drinking water without filters is said to be using a slice from an orange in a glass of water, or an entire peeled orange in a gallon of water -- wait at least thirty minutes before drinking. In the absence of an orange, any fruit with a high content of vitamin C that is pulpy or absorbent will suffice, as well as a pinch of ascorbic acid. Lastly, in the absence of these substances, it is said that exposing water to air and sunlight for a few days will result in "decomposition" of some of these toxins -- into what they decompose we are not certain, but we speculate it isn't good stuff...

Added a Couple of Important Links

We feel compelled to mention that we have added a couple more important links to the "Some Good Sites" section in the sidebar to the right, since the new links would be easy to miss if you had already perused that section on a previous visit. For your convenience, we provide the new links here in this post with some info on them...

Environmental Working Group - Toxins, Contaminants, Safety. The content on this site is NOT about "the environment", as in tree-huggers and climate change. Rather, it has some valuable information regarding the toxins and contaminants that we come into contact with daily, like that...

Link to a Searchable Cosmetics Database. Check out the toxicity and dangers of that "war paint" that you coat your vulnerable skin with that makes your skin age more quickly, requiring more war paint, and so on...

Water Quality Report by Zip Code

Here is a link to a website where you can find a water "quality" report by zip code. The water quality report is in reality more like a "Contaminated Water Danger Report" for your region, which you may use to determine how best to filter your tap water. Note that if the water contamination report for your area pushes you to consider bottled water, that you may also find a report there on the contamination "quality" of the more popular bottled waters. Likely, your best option is to use a double reverse osmosis filtration system on your tap water, and use that to mix with the best bottled water, all of which goes into a carbon filter water pitcher (to lessen the differing strengths of the toxins in each water source). Note that we checked the "water danger" report for our area, and the residue of the "disinfectant" chemicals that the water company uses to "purify" the tap water significantly exceeded safe levels. Ah, for the good old days when our drinking water was only polluted with poisonous fluoride and toxic chlorine -- time to move up into the mountains near an alpine stream...

Online Petitioning - Don't Just Do Something, Sit There!

A visitor to our WisBits website, who was more than a little incensed about the deluge of detestable atrocities that we all are subjected to, emailed us inquiring as to what if anything could be done to address these travesties. One method, of many, that we suggested was to file (or sign existing) online petitions. There are several of these petition websites where you can search for or start a petition. We have provided below some clickable links to some that we are aware of that do not seem to have a particular bias. Pass this information along to anyone that you feel might take the time to participate. Some of these require registration to start a petition, but you can search without registering, not sure about signing. As with everything else online, be cautious about disclosing your identity, but these sites all seem quite credible based on a quick review -- you might want to check the "privacy policy" and "terms of service" if you have any concerns. Note that the petitions do NOT just sit out there in cyberspace, as the signed petitions can actually be distributed to targeted companies, agencies, entities, people...

Petition Online - Largest Online Petition Site
Go Petition - More Global in Focus
Petition Spot - More "Social" Oriented, a little kooky even...
Lobbying Forum - A little different...

It has been suggested that we also post a link to the fuderal government website page that provides information on how to contact "elected officials". So below find the link, but we feel like sending emails to paid-off politicians is generally to be equated to the proverbial act of "urinating into the wind" -- but it probably gives some bored secretaries and bobble-heads a good laugh...
How to contact elected politicians

"Powdered" Bisphenol-A ("BPA") is now on your Shopping Receipts

Now that the word finally got around that the populace was being exposed to the dastardly bisphenol-A (a.k.a. "BPA") chemical via plastics and canned products, it has been discovered that the Medical/Industrial complex implemented yet another, easier, more effective way to inflict this danger on even more humans.

First, if you have not been warned about BPA, suffice it to succinctly state that BPA is hazardous to your health -- a recent study covered by the Journal of the American Medical Association associates cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, and “other problems” with BPA. The "other problems" are infertility, cancer, malformations, and DNA permutations. This toxic substance has been proven to be injuriously debilitating to the human body and should be avoided -- a few bans have been put in place by location, but it should be banned altogether by our "protectors", the FDA.

Independant researchers have recently determined that the crisp, clean receipts that you receive while shopping are coated with a powdery layer of BPA, and they conclude that we are getting considerably more exposure to BPA through shopping receipts than we do through bottles or cans.

Further, receipts that use BPA "technology" on average will have 60 to 100 milligrams of "free ranging" BPA on them. The BPA in plastics are bound into a polymer and must leach out into the contained product over time, but since the BPA on receipts are loose molecules, the BPA powder will end up on your fingers and then on or in anything you touch, like your eyes, lips, and food that you ingest.

This is a faster and much more effective method of directly poisoning more of the public than having to rely of the slow process of BPA leaching out of plastic used by only some of citizenry, resulting in more health problems with more patients, much more quickly, for more easy money for the profiteering Big Med "sick care" system.

Why did independent "researchers" have to discover this? Exposing the entire populace with the dangerous poison of powdered BPA should not occur at all for any reason -- but without even any warning, not even informing the public that they should wear gloves when handling receipts? They put warnings on products for other similar, less volatile dangers -- why was this allowed and just who approved it? Where are our many well paid government "watchdogs"? Why aren't the Big Media bobble-heads warning us about this?

Every once in a while I catch myself thinking that some new discovery of evil treachery instituted by the Medical/Industrial complex is the absolute worst that I have ever heard of and hopefully ever will, but this detestable powdered BPA scheme has to be near or at the top as the all time most despicable plot to sicken the entire citizenry.

A Little Humor in the Midst of Madness

Hippocrates, the originator the Hippocratic Oath, the oath of physicians, is said to have made the statement, "Let your medicine be your food, and let your food be your medicine."

Ancient lore records that he made the above statement during a meal of a Vienna sausages, a bag of cheese curls, along with a cola, and a Ho-Ho pastry for desert -- thus, the origin of the word "hippocrat", then "hippocrit", now spelled as hypocrite, very appropriate for the "father of medicine".... Hey, a little humor is good.

Updates to Vitamins and Supplements

Just an FYI that we have been making some (other) important updates to the subjects of Vitamins and Supplements (some of which, but not all of which, we have noted here. Click on this link to go directly to the vitamin page of WisBits.

How to Identify Low Quality Supplements

We have been asked if there is an easy way to ID the cheap supplements referred to in the prior post regarding the Centrum brand of "drugstore vitamins". Well first the obvious, if you are in a drugstore, they are very likely cheap low quality supplements loaded (like a firearm) with toxic substances. Price of course is another obvious identifier, as the high quality supplements are more expensive to produce and therefore have a higher price tag -- hence the old adage, "you get what you pay for", but in the case of cheap vitamins it might be more correct to state that you are paying for what you do NOT get and getting malnourished and toxified... Otherwise, check the following points.

One way to identify low quality supplements is by the use of standardized “USP” vitamins. For example, “thiamine USP″ is indicative of the synthetic chemical form of vitamin B1. Another indicator of cheap vitamins is the use of "cyanocobalamin" for the B12 vitamin. These forms of the B vitamins actually sap cellular energy from your body to make them usable to any extent (you will actually feel fatigued rather than energized).

And, a way to identify high quality supplements is to look for the “coenzyme” forms of the B vitamins (listed using the word “coenzyme”). Or, the high quality form of vitamin B12 will appear as either "methylcobalamin" or "hydroxycobalamin". The "methyl" prefix on methylcobalamin stands for methylated, which is a good thing indicating high quality if noted elsewhere.

The Centrum brand of Vitamins are Toxic Junk

We have warned against consuming "drugstore vitamins" in more than one place on the WisBits website but have not yet elaborated on the point extensively. So we thought that we finally should, since we just ran across an article that stated that the Centrum brand of "vitamins" is the highest selling vitamin in the U.S. and we already know that their product is highly tainted with fillers, excipients, and synthetic low grade vitamins that are not absorbable. The bottom line is that these junked up "sick pills" fill you with toxins but do not provide benefits. There is actually an entire website devoted to explaining how lousy Centrum "vitamins" are -- click on this link to go to the "Centrum is Toxic" website for more information. Note that this applies to most all "drugstore vitamins", not just Centrum.

So, you are maybe questioning why they would produce such a debilitating product? Just what is the devious collusion behind this asinine scenario? The answer is that drugstores are providers of pharmaceuticals, which are produced by Big Pharma and prescribed by Big Medicine, both of which benefit if you consume drugstore vitamins that provide little or no nutrient value and instead fill you up with toxins, both of which will result in your contracting illness and disease, both of which will throw you into the clutches of conventional western orthodox medicine for "treatment" and prescriptions for pharmaceuticals, which of course will send you back to the drugstore pharmacy to get your prescription filled for even more poisonous junk, and while you are waiting you can procure even more of their toxic products... Madness!

Avoid Contact with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

For now, we are posting this skeleton warning as an precautionary alert. The Journal of Science just reported findings that in a study 67% of those suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome were found to have an infectious virus, referred to either as "Xenotropic Murine Leukemia Virus-related Virus", "Xenotropic Mulv-Related Virus", or Xenotropic Murine Leukemia Virus, abbreviated as 'XMRV' or 'XMLV'. XMRV/XMLV is a retro-virus, a member of the same family of viruses as the AIDS virus. By contrast to the aforementioned 67%, only 3% of individuals not having CFS were found to have this virus. What all this means is uncertain at this point, but until the researchers get this sorted out, the point that we are attempting to make is to be cautious if coming into contact with anyone diagnosed with CFS that has not been tested for the virus, due to the possibility of contracting the infectious XMRV/XMLV virus. It has not been specified exactly how this virus is contracted, although the definition of infectious used the term "transmitted through the air breathed"... It is speculated that the virus results from CFS, not that the virus causes CFS. We will follow this issue and provide updates when new information surfaces.

Added "Over the Counter Stuff"

We have been refining and adding little stuff here and there that is not worth mentioning, but we thought that we should point out that we have added the "Over the Counter Stuff" page for warnings and recommendations on what you should be aware of about "drugstore" stuff. We have only one topic for now in that category, but an important one if you purchase OTC pain relievers.

A Warning on Gelatin

We observed a woman on the beach today feeding her child a container of Jell-O and thought we should add an informative warning about it on the Nutrition Warnings section of the site, and after doing so felt that it deserved a quick note here on the blog. Gelatin is produced by "boiling down" the bones, skins, and hides of slaughtered livestock (cattle, hogs, etc. - if you ever saw the movie "Soylent Green" you might wonder what else they dump into this disgusting concoction). A point on the immediately preceding "what else" conjecture: there are "disposal" services that come around and pick up dead animals, to include long-dead, rotting, maggot infested "road kill", and we wonder what they do with the carcasses -- do they end up being boiled down into gelatin?

Anyway, boiling down (using toxic tap water of course) this vile effluvium from slaughtered animals littered with residues of growth stimulants, antibiotics, and who knows what other toxic substances, results in what the "Big Food" industry aggrandizes as a "protein rich collagen". This convoluted collagen is then re-boiled and re-filtered numerous times, and is finally dried and ground down to a powder. Because the collagen is "processed extensively", the final product is not categorized as an animal product by our protectors (sic) at the big industry paid off, politician controlled FDA. We wonder, what is the real chemical composition of this rancid "stuff", and whether or not there are any remnants of the aforementioned residues in it, and what types of illnesses and diseases it might have a part in triggering -- wouldn't this stuff minimally be carcinogenic?

As if this "end product" wasn't bad enough to start with, they then colorize it with toxic dyes and add sugar to it and box it up and sell it as foods such as "Jell-O". No wonder cancer is so prevalent... Of course, gelatin is added to many other things that we ingest, even capsules for drugs, vitamins, pills of any kind, so be wary.

Update: we just stumbled across information that (we confirmed) indicates that "some" vaccines contain gelatin -- are you asking yourself why?

Warnings on "Star Fruit"

We heard about this and verified it, and apparently this is not well known, so thought we should flag it here on the blog as a warning. The carambola fruit, known more commonly as the "Star Fruit" (due to it's shape), is rich in antioxidants and vitamin C but it has been stated to be harmful to anyone with kidney problems and some deaths have been attributed to the consumption of it. This fruit also is said to contain a neurotoxin which invokes "star fruit intoxication", resulting in insomnia, confusion, vomiting, numbness of limbs, convulsions, and decreased muscle power. It is stated that those with healthy kidneys are able to filter out the neurotoxin, but why ingest it at all? It's a neurotoxin! It must do some damage to healthy kidneys? It may not kill you or make you sick if your kidneys are fine and you are tolerant to neurotoxins, but who knows what it DOES do to a healthy body on a small scale in the long term. Our recommendation is to avoid anything that may possibly be detrimental in any way and get your antioxidants and vitamin C another way, avoiding foods such as the star fruit.

El Nino Frequency Increasing

Finally got the computer back from the tech guy for a while, so thought we would insert the following blurb about the increasing frequency of the El Nino weather phenomenon (from one of our other websites) for your consideration...

An interesting statistic on the number of years between the last four El Nino's. This year, 2009/2010, with the prior El Nino occuring in 2006/7, before that 2002/3, and before that 1997/98. So the progression going backwards is 3, 4, and 5 years. So the last two El Nino's have occurred one year sooner than the prior one (in case you were wondering, going back in time before 1997 the number of years between each El Nino was five years). Note that the dominant causation feature of an El Nino is a warming of the Pacific ocean equatorial surface temperatures, with the effect being warmer winters in the northern hemisphere. And, yes, the opposite effect, La Nina, ocean cooling, has begun to occur less frequently with less lowering of temps (despite glaciers and polar ice caps melting), while the more frequent El Nino's have higher and higher temps. This all adds up to more "warming", and now more frequently. "Theoretically", looking ahead based on the above noted progression, we will have only two years until the next El Nino following this one, and then they should occur every year, or all the time (they last for a year). Shouldn't this be on the "news"? Are we the first to notice this? Heck no, the "Big Media" bobble-heads have been forced to keep it quiet -- we got more important things to deal with, like the site of the 2016 olympics. We live in "The Age of Stupid" (there is a documentary out now with that title, about global climate change).

"New" Sun Crystals Sweetener

Since we touched on the subject of sweeteners on the WisBits website, we thought we should post about the "new" sweetener in town. Although we were unable to find the exact percentages of the ingredients in "Sun Crystals", the best we could manage to determine is that it consists largely of Stevia but also contains an indeterminate amount of "sugar cane" that we suspect to be a very low amount. Note that the sugar cane plant is what sugar comes from and that we did find references to sugar from the cane plant. Also, there are many references to replacing stevia with "erythritol", which is a sugar alcohol, which on the main product site it states that Sun Crystals does not contain sugar alcohols. This is all a little perplexing, but our guess at this early stage is that they are simply adding a very small amount of sugar to stevia to make it sweeter. Long story short, whereas regular stevia or Sun Crystals are safe as opposed to the artificial sweeteners (e.g. aspartame), we still feel that if you absolutely must sweeten something, go with raw uncooked honey.

Wicked-pedia Warning

Once upon time, back in the golden age of the Wikipedia website, we heralded this one time jewel as a middle of the road source of accurate information. However, over the course of the last year or so, we have observed a gradual change, almost like a "take-over" by what appeared to be becoming biased maintainers of the information. As in biased in favoring mainstream, conventional, conformist, big business, establishment misinformation. So much so, that we developed a tendency to ignore the site when it came up in search results, like it just was not reliable or even credible anymore. And today we listened to a report on National Public Radio regarding the Wicked-pedia downward spiral into disinformation. People were calling in to NPR that were actual Wikipedia contributors and complaining that their updates were being deleted if it did not conform and in some cases radically altered to reflect the aforementioned biases of big biz, big med, big pharma, like that, and to not reflect the original intent. We have to assert that the aforementioned "biggees" seem to be pouring their money into biased ghostwriters (the AMA recently admitted to doing just that for studies and reports and we feel they are doing the same thing across the world wide web). So, beware wicked-pedia, and as we have cautioned before, be wary of any other info you find on the web -- try to check out the authors and funding behind it, altho that can be impossible, in which case you just have to be skeptical and think about what it says and maybe the "why" of it all.

If you are stuck with using Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser

If for some reason you are stuck with using the Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer browser click on this link to an article which explains a new and better way of coping with the situation.

Back to the Deja Vous Future Once Again

We have gone back to migrating the original "Google Sites" version of Wisbits to an actual hosted website. Consequently, that intensely laborious effort is eating up most of our computer time and not much updating is going on in the interim... This is an incredibly slow process, as it takes HOURS to cleanup the horrendously over-obfuscated code that Google Sites auto-gen's for just ONE web page. In a couple of days at this we have managed to knock out only four pages, so it is going to be a few more days before we are ready to switch to the new website. This would be the opposite of Yogi Berra's quote "We're lost but were makin good time", or instead "We know where we're goin, but we're NOT makin good time".

When we complete the migration, we will notify of releasing the new site here on the blog and then will change the link accordingly. Meanwhile, check out the links to the websites that we listed a little further down the page on the right side. Or, click on this link to a trailer for the movie "The Age of Stupid".

Noting an Important Update...

Some time ago, we added the topic "Dangers in the Shower", which reflected common sense knowledge acquired over time regarding precautions of showering your body with contaminated water. We have recently observed that scientific studies are now backing us up on this and even the media has been picking up on it lately. We have updated our topic accordingly regarding the new specifics and provide here a direct link to it. However, in case you do not take the time to go there and peruse it, we will concisely repeat here that the National Academy of Sciences cautions that you should let the shower water run for about thirty seconds before entering the shower to avoid the initial expulsion of the build up of mycobacteria from the showerhead. We also feel compelled to get your attention by noting here that the bacterium has the potential to cause a number of lung abnormalities such as hypersensitive pneumonitis, hot tub lung, lifeguards lung, and Lady Windermeres syndrome -- this of course is just one aspect of showering your skin, the largest body organ, with the abundant toxic impurities hiding in "treated" water.

Added new topic "Weight Control"

Although we have added the topic of "Weight Control" under the "Tips on Health" subject under the "Health" category, we confess that it is at this point very concisely stated and populated with only a few (but very significant) tips. We do intend to flesh this topic out as time allows, breaking it out into it's own subject... Here is a link to the "Tips on Health" page, the weight control topic should be at the very top unless some other team member adds something where they should not (just who is in control here?).

Breaking News on Monitoring the "News"

We noticed that Google has announced it's "Fast Flip" website news service, which is a new way of presenting a comprehensive pictorial-like overview of what is going on with just about everything. Here is a link to their new gig, enjoy... In retrospect, we should point out that what you see when you first land there is not the way it has to be, and that the format is quite flexible. Note that there are four main categories that cross the page horizontally, which can be moved left or right using the arrows at the left or right. Or, there are minimize buttons at the left of each of the four horizontal categories, and if you minimize all main categories and then click on a subcategory, that more of the articles for that subcategory will fill the page (note that if you do this, you have to use the browser's back button to return to the main page). And so on, play around with it and you will see that it is fairly flexible in what you can do with it. Some like it, some don't. For alternatives, see the subject "The best way to get news that you want only when you want it" under the Technical category on the Wisbits site (the second topic from the top).

Shifting Sands and Little Sand Castles

Just an extraneous note to point out that altho we have not added anything of major importance lately, that we have been performing a lot of little additions across all categories which of course are too numerous to list here. However, we have added a new category titled "Illness and Disease" under which we have so far just migrated into it a lot of pre-existing related topics out of the "Health" category -- makes more sense than overloading the health category. Update: it has been indicated that we did manage a few updates (altho it is still actually in progress and nowhere near complete) to the CAM subject (Complementary and Alternative Medicine).

Added Antioxidant Category

Just to note the addition of the crucially important category of antioxidants. This new subject is still in it's initial stage, but since we have started off the "Master Antioxidant", also known (more pleasantly) as the "Mother of Antioxidants", likely it should be of interest to many, since most of us are in trouble and don't yet know it or know why... Here is a link if you want to go directly there...

Added Thyroid Dysfunction

Just a note that we have added the subject of thyroid dysfunction (under the Health category), as in hypothyroidism or the converse, hyperthyroidism. Both of these conditions need to be understood, and must be avoided in the interest of health.

Added pH Balance Topic

Just a quick note to announce that we have added some information on the crucial subject of pH balance under the Health category. Get some pH test paper to check your pH to determine if you are in a dangerous state of health and don't even know it, or to discover that your health is not what it should be due to a pH imbalance...

Update to Metabolic Syndrome Info

Just a note that we have updated the Metabolic Syndrome topic with some important information if you might suspect problems with hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia, or "syndrome x" (potential precursors to type 2 diabetes)...

Mad Fish Disease

It has been strongly suggested by one of our volunteer "critiquers" that we briefly note that we have updated the information on the topic of "Farmed Fish" in the Warnings section of the Nutrition category. So noted, FWIW...

New Info on Unfiltered Coffees

We added a new tip to Nutrition Warnings on health issues with unfiltered coffee and feel that it is important enough to note it here on the blog, and thought that rather than link to it that we would just duplicate it all right here, as follows...

Since we have heard several times that there are "health issues" with unfiltered coffee, and since a friend recently stopped by with some home made French pressed coffee to impress us, we decided to finally check it out. The issues do appear to be widely recognized and even officially "documented" on some sites such as Intelihealth (altho we do not give a lot of credence to Intelihealth). Anyway, what we found is that French pressed coffee, or any pressed coffee such as expresso, or more specifically any coffee made without a paper filter (such as "boiled coffee", as in Turkish or Scandinavian with the grounds in the water) is purported to raise bad cholesterol levels. This is because without a filter the supposedly nefarious "diterpene" oils of cafestol and kahweol are not filtered out and go directly into the coffee, resulting in the stated negatives. Update: the contention that cafestrol and kahweol increase cholesterol is documented officially as correct by the National Institute of Health, which also noted that these oils are carcinogenic to some extent, as well as effective as a sunscreen! However, we are not yet verifying that coffee filters actually filter out these oils, but it appears that filtering does reduce them to "negligible amounts", and we assume that would depend upon the quality, thickness (we now use two filters at at time), and effectiveness of the filter(s). So, it might be OK to have an expresso once in a while, but it might be advisable to avoid making it a (bad) habit...

The topic of tea, a work in progress, but...

We have managed to flesh out some information on the topic of tea (under the "botanicals" subject under the "nutrition" category, link below), and altho we had intended to wait for a while before noting it here on the blog, a friend that critiques WisBits for us has urged that the information is important enough that we should go ahead and "announce" that it is ready for human consumption even in a raw unfinished state (we get that a lot from our team of reviewers). So, we hereby do just that, and "pardon our dust", with the disclaimer that we feel that considerable refinement remains to make it less confusing and much more informative. To your health... Here is a direct link to the info on tea.

Under Cover of Daylight

Based on the lack of posts on this blog it might seem to you that we have not been doing much on WisBits, and we thought that we should point out that we have actually been pretty busy working on just about everything site-wide, mostly refining but also adding a few little things here and there that we did not feel were significant enough to merit noting them here. So, we have made minor updates just about everywhere and thought that we should point out that once in awhile it might be advisable to go back over everything in subjects of interest to you to see what might be new and also for the sake of "review" (a volunteer "critique-er" mentioned this, in the context that there is a lot of valuable information on WisBits to assimilate and remember). Also, as a further "excuse" for our seeming inactivity, we should note that we have been delving into considerable research to keep up to date on many "moving target" issues like H1N1 and flu vaccinations, as tons of conflicting information can roll in on any one subject daily. Footnote: actually, there was one new tip that we added entitled "Butter, margarine, and esterified oil conglomerations" at the bottom of the "Warnings" section in the "Foods" category that might be of interest if you think that those new age "healthy" margarines are going to magically fix any cholesterol problems.

Footnote: if you made a mental note that the title for this post would be a great title for a book, we confess that it is already the title of a book by James Hall.

Brain Heallth

We have added the subject of "brain health" to WisBits. For starters, we have listed the most important nutrients for optimal performance of the human brain as well as the best foods for brain health. We wiill add more as time allows. Click on this link to go directly there....

Fighting Back and Aging Well

This post is just to point out that new topics regarding "Fighting Back" (with "super nutrition") against the poisonous contaminants in our world, along with "Protein and Diet", have been added to the Aging Well category. If interested, click on this link to go directly to the new information.

Personal Care, Cosmetics, and "War Paint"

This post is just to point out that a new topic regarding "personal care" products has been added to the Warnings section of the Health category. If interested, click on this link to go directly to the new info.

Nutrition Warning Update on BPA

In the Nutrition Warnings section of WisBits we very briefly reference the dangers of "Bisphenol A", also known as BPA. Long story short, there is a great deal of biased disinformation concocted by the chemical industry on BPA and rather than overload WisBits with information that already exists, we felt it advisable to simply post a link here to a recent NRDC article on the subject. Whereas the prior link/article presents the current situation, we also feel compelled to post this link to more specific facts on the chemical itself (in 'PDF' format, has to "download").

Nutrition Warning Update on Bottom Feeders

We have just posted additional information to the "Bottom Feeders" warning under the Nutrition category which we feel might be of value for anyone dining on seafood. This link is to a site that provides free downloadable printed pocket guides that detail types of seafood for all areas of the country and how safe (or not safe) various types of seafood are to consume. We do not guarantee the accuracy of the guides, but it all looks like fairly straightforward information, and thought that it might be of help to the general dining public.

Health Warning on Cookware "Safety"

We have added an item to the WisBits Health category under the Warnings subject regarding unsafe and safe cookware. We know enough to avoid the poisonous Teflon cookware, and converted over to ceramic and cast iron cookware many years ago, but admit to not being well educated on what now seems to have become a controversial topic. As we become better informed we will update the cookware topic, but in the interim would appreciate any feedback on safe cookware.

A Little Righteous "Activism"

We confess that it is difficult to be "green", sensible, logical, truthful, honest, down to earth, and all that stuff, and not be just a little "activist" oriented. So, we recently observed a cause worth noting and feel we must rattle the proverbial cage.

The CEO/owner of Whole Foods Market recently did a mentally deficient op-ed in the Wall Street Journal whereby (regarding the current health care controversy) he stated, seemingly with forethought but surely not, that only the rich like himself deserved health care. Righteously indignant folks (like now ex-customers of Hole Foods) have joined together to express their disgust with this certifiably inane diatribe from an excruciatingly dimwitted person (he was caught spreading misinformation and unfounded rumors about competitors via a supposedly neutral "anonymous" blog).

So, the result is that former customers have established a boycott of Whole Food Market and are even picketing stores, explaining the owner's attitude to unaware consumers and recommending alternative stores.

We join in support of all former incensed customers in strongly recommending the complete and total boycott of Whole Foods Market. Sorry WF employees, we know that you are decent folks, but you should quit working for such a perpetually blatant idiot, or better yet pool your resources and buy the company from the owner, turn it into a co-op maybe...

Harvesting Rain Water?

Our first actual blog entry here pertains to the recently posted topic of "Water 'Quality' - a Misleading Misnomer" (posted on our WisBits website, not this blog), where we mentioned the concept of capturing rain water for drinking water, but we were as yet uncertain of the safety of doing so, and this is our followup to that post.

Our sources almost unanimously agreed that in regions where the air is not terribly polluted (think "acid rain") is that rainwater, initially upon raindrop formation, is almost entirely free of any impurities, that some minimal impurities may be captured by the rain droplets if they descend through any "impure" air, and that most contamination of rainwater occurs in the harvesting process -- usually with a poorly designed catchment system that is a continuously exposed open-air receptacle where the rainwater is stored for a period of time before offloading without filtering (think bird poop). The latter issue is of course negated by a properly designed catchment system. The bottom line opinion was that if done right in an area of relatively unpolluted air, that harvested rainwater was generally not only entirely safe, but "exponentially" safer than the chemically processed (and even more contaminated after "processing") municipal city water that exudes from most of our "taps". Still, you might want to first catch some rain water in a bucket and test it for impurities before proceeding to install a catchment system. One of our sources made the amusing comment to the effect that "you know what rhymes with 'city water' don't ya"? I quickly responded that the answer to her question might well be the same as what rainwater containing bird poop would be called?