Self-reliance is a vital key to living a healthy, productive life.  To be self-reliant one must master a basic set of skills, more or less making them a jack of all trades.  Contrary to what you may have learned in school, a jack of all trades is far more equipped to deal with life than a specialized master of only one.

While not totally comprehensive, here is a list of 50 things everyone should know how to do.

1. Build a Fire – Fire produces heat and light, two basic necessities for living.  At some point in your life this knowledge may be vital.

• How to Build a Fire
• Wilderness Survival Firecraft
• Build a Fire Without Matches or a Lighter (video)

2. Operate a Computer – Fundamental computer knowledge is essential these days.  Please, help those in need.

• How To Help Someone Use a Computer
• The BBC’s Guide to Using a Computer
• Mac Basics
• Windows Basics

3.  Use Google Effectively – Google knows everything.  If you’re having trouble finding something with Google, it’s you that needs help.

• Google Guide
• Google Advanced Search Operators
• Google Web Search Features
• 20 Tips for More Efficient Google Searches

4.  Perform CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver – Someday it may be your wife, husband, son or daughter that needs help.

• Learn CPR
• How To Perform Adult CPR (video)
• How CPR Works
• How to Perform the Heimlich Maneuver (video)

5.  Drive a Manual Transmission Vehicle – There will come a time when you’ll be stuck without this knowledge.

• How To Drive a Stick Shift Instructional Movie (video)
• Learn to Drive a Stick Shift
• Learn to Drive a Car with Manual Transmission

6.  Do Basic Cooking – If you can’t cook your own steak and eggs, you probably aren’t going to make it.

• Cooking Basics and Tips
• Cooking and Baking How To Information
• Basics of Cooking Series

7.  Tell a Story that Captivates People’s Attention – If you can’t captivate their attention, you should probably just save your breath.

• How To Tell a Great Story
• How To Give a Great Speech
• Presentation Tips for Public Speaking

8.  Win or Avoid a Fistfight – Either way, you win.

• How To Actually Win a Fistfight
• How To Win a Fistfight (video)
• How To Win a Street Fight
• How To Avoid Confrontations Like a Samurai Warrior

9.  Deliver Bad News – Somebody has got to do it.  Unfortunately, someday that person will be you.

• How To Deliver Bad News in Writing
• How to Deliver Bad News to a Customer
• Good Ways to Deliver Bad News

10.  Change a Tire – Because tires have air in them, and things with air in them eventually pop.

• How To Change a Flat Tire (video)
• How To Change a Tire (video)
• Saturday Mechanic: Changing a Tire

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This is a three part article on how our food and medicines have cause a stupefying effect on the population.

Dumbing Down Society

By The Vigilant Citizen Report

Is there a deliberate effort by the government to dumb down the masses? The statement is hard to prove but there exists a great amount of data proving that the ruling elite not only tolerates, but effectively introduces policies that have a detrimental effect on the physical and mental health of the population. This series of articles looks at the many ways the modern man is being dumbed down. Part I looks at the poisons found in everyday foods, beverages and medications.

The theme of dumbing-down and dehumanizing the masses are often discussed in articles on The Vigilant Citizen. The presence of those concepts in popular culture are, however, only the outward and symbolic expression of the profound transformation happening in our society. Scientific data has been proving for years that governments around the world are tolerating the selling of many products which have a direct and negative effect on cognitive and physical health. As we will see in this article many everyday products cause brain damage, impaired judgment and even a lower IQ.

Is a dumber population something that is desired by the elite? Hitler once said “How fortunate for the leaders that men do not think.” An educated population knows its rights, understands the issues and takes action when it does not approve of what is going on. Judging by the incredible amount of data available on the subject, it seems that the elite want the exact opposite: an unhealthy, frightened, confused and sedated population. We will look at the effects of medication, pesticides, fluoride and aspartame on the human body and how those products are being pushed by people from inside the power structure.

Prescription Drug Abuse

America has witnessed during the last decades a staggering rise of drugs being prescribed to treat all kinds of problems. Children are particularly affected by this phenomenon. Since the 1990?s, an ever-rising proportion of American children are being diagnosed with “illnesses” such as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and are prescribed mind-altering drugs, such as Ritalin.

The DEA has become alarmed by the tremendous increase in the prescribing of these drugs in recent years. Since 1990, prescriptions for methylphenidate have increased by 500 percent, while prescriptions for amphetamine for the same purpose have increased 400 percent. Now we see a situation in which from seven to ten percent of the nation’s boys are on these drugs at some point as well as a rising percentage of girls.
~ Source

Today, children who show too much energy, character or strength are being willfully sedated with powerful drugs which directly affect the way their brains function. Are we going in the right direction here?

Even if ADD is not a clearly defined and documented disorder – it causes NO observable biological effects whatsoever – children are still being diagnosed with the illness in great numbers. This raises important ethical questions.

“Pediatricians as well as ethicists have also voiced their concerns in usage of these stimulants. In an article published in the New York Times, they have questioned the appropriateness of medicating children without a clear diagnosis in hopes that they do better in school. They also asked whether the drugs should be given to adults failing in their careers or are procrastinators. They question the worthy of this method.

This concern have also been voiced out in the January 2005 issue of Pediatrics in which the large discrepancies between pediatricians’ practice patterns and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidelines for the assessment and treatment of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was bought forth. The article also stated that because the medical community didn’t come to a consensus on how to diagnose ADD/ADHD, they should not be making extensive decisions as to how to treat individuals who have been diagnosed with the disorder.”

The usage of Ritalin at a young age breaks the psychological threshold people maintain towards the usage of prescription pills, which makes those children more likely to consume psychotropic drugs later in their lives. We should not be surprised to witness a dramatic increase of consumption of antidepressants in the years to come. The trend is already beginning:

“In its study, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at 2.4 billion drugs prescribed in visits to doctors and hospitals in 2005. Of those, 118 million were for antidepressants.

The use of antidepressants and other psychotropic drugs – those that affect brain chemistry – has skyrocketed over the last decade. Adult use of antidepressants almost tripled between the periods 1988-1994 and 1999-2000. Between 1995 and 2002, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the use of these drugs rose 48 percent, the CDC reported.”
~ Elizabeth Cohen, CNN

The use of prescription pills might be of a great help for specific and properly diagnosed cases. The pharmaceutical industry however, which has many “friends” in the highest levels of government, is pushing for the widespread use of psychiatric drugs within the public. Since 2002, a great number of pills claiming to fix all kinds of mental conditions have been marketed to the public, but many of those pills were approved for sale without proper research for side effects. Even worse: the side effects might have been known but hidden to the public. Below is a list of warnings issued on commonly sold psychiatric drugs. Some of those side effects are actually frightening as a pill should not be able to have that much power over the human brain. Think about it: Some drugs are subject to warnings because they can cause you to … commit suicide?

2004

March 22: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned that Prozac-like antidepressants (called Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors or SSRIs) could cause “anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, insomnia, irritability, hostility, impulsivity, akathisia [severe restlessness], hypomania [abnormal excitement] and mania [psychosis characterized by exalted feelings, delusions of grandeur].”

June: The Therapeutic Goods Administration, the Australian equivalent of the FDA, reported that the latest antipsychotic drugs could increase the risk of diabetes.

June: The FDA ordered that the packaging for the stimulant Adderall include a warning about sudden cardiovascular deaths, especially in children with underlying heart disease.

October 15: The FDA ordered its strongest “black box” label for antidepressants warning they could cause suicidal thoughts and actions in under those under 18 years old.

October 21: The New Zealand Medicines Adverse Reactions Committee recommended that older and newer antidepressants not be administered to patients less than 18 years of age because of the risk of suicide.

December 17: The FDA required packaging for the “ADHD” drug, Strattera, to advise that “Severe liver damage may progress to liver failure resulting in death or the need for a liver transplant in a small percentage of patients.”

2005

February 9: Health Canada, the Canadian counterpart of the FDA, suspended marketing of Adderall XR (Extended Release, given once a day) due to reports of 20 sudden unexplained deaths (14 in children) and 12 strokes (2 in children).

April 11: The FDA warned that antipsychotic drug use in elderly patients could increase the risk of death.

June 28: The FDA announced its intention to make labeling changes to Concerta and other Ritalin products to include the side effects: “visual hallucinations, suicidal ideation [ideas], psychotic behavior, as well as aggression or violent behavior.”

June 30: The FDA warned that the antidepressant Cymbalta could increase suicidal thinking or behavior in pediatric patients taking it. It also warned about the potential increased risk of suicidal behavior in adults taking antidepressants.

August: The Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration found a relationship between antidepressants and suicidality, akathisia (severe restlessness), agitation, nervousness and anxiety in adults. Similar symptoms could occur during withdrawal from the drugs, it determined.

August 19: The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products warned against child antidepressant use, stating that the drugs caused suicide attempts and thoughts, aggression, hostility, aggression, oppositional behavior and anger.

September 26: The Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco (Italian Drug Agency, equivalent to the FDA) warned against use of older (tricyclic) antidepressants in people under 18 years old. It also determined the drugs were associated with heart attacks in people of any age.

September 29: The FDA ordered that labeling for the “ADHD” drug Strattera include a boxed warning about the increased risk of suicidal thinking in children and adolescents taking it.

October 17: The FDA warned that the antidepressant Cymbalta could cause liver damage.

October 24: The FDA withdrew the stimulant Cylert from the market because of the risk of liver toxicity and failure.

November: The FDA warned that the antidepressant Effexor could cause homicidal thoughts.

2006

February 9: The FDA’s Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee urged that the strongest “black box” warning be issued for stimulants, because they may cause heart attacks, strokes and sudden death.

February 20: British authorities warned that Strattera was associated with seizures and potentially lengthening period of the time between heartbeats.

March 22: An FDA advisory panel heard evidence of almost 1,000 reports of kids experiencing psychosis or mania while taking stimulants.

May 3: FDA adverse drug reaction reports linked antipsychotic drugs to 45 child deaths and 1,300 serious adverse reactions, such as convulsions and low white blood cell count.

May 12: The manufacturer of Paxil warned that the antidepressant increases the risk of suicide in adults.

May 26: Health Canada issued new warnings of rare heart risks for all drugs prescribed for “ADHD,” including the risk of sudden death.

June 2: An FDA study determined that the antipsychotic drug, Risperdal, might cause pituitary tumors. The pituitary gland, at the base of the brain, secretes hormones that promote growth, and regulates body functions. Antipsychotics may increase prolactin, a hormone in the pituitary gland, and this increase has been linked to cancer. Risperdal was found to increase prolactin levels more frequently than in other antipsychotics.

July 19: The FDA said antidepressant packaging should carry warnings that they may cause a fatal lung condition in newborns whose mothers took SSRI antidepressants during pregnancy. Migraine sufferers also need to be warned that combining migraine drugs with SSRIs could result in a life-threatening condition called serotonin syndrome.

Food Poisoning

The modern man ingests in his lifetime an incredible amount of chemicals, artificial flavors and additives. Although there is growing awareness regarding healthy eating, there is also a lot of misinformation and disinformation.

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The grandmother in this film reminds me of my mother.  She passed away in 1989 of Alzheimer’s Disease.  I miss you mom.

(C) Alzheimer’s Disease Association

We must learn to prevent and reverse Alzheimer’s Disease.  No solutions from drugs, only from Mother Nature. We got to change our way of food production and consumption.

Raw  is how human beings consuming milk for tens of thousands of years.  So are the milk babies getting from their mothers is RAW.  The bottom line?  If you drink milk, the only way you should is raw! If you are drinking it for the benefit of health.   But that is not our laws say. Many states have either very straight law regulating raw milk sales or ban it all together.  Transporting raw milk across state lines for sales is forbidden by interstate commerce.  Many raw milk drinkers have decided to fight back and set up their own supply routes for raw milk. The movement is gaining momentum.  So it also attracts the attention of the government regulators.  The fight is heating up in many states.  In this recent article in dailyfinance.com details the battle cries of both the supporters and detractors of raw milk.

The War Over Raw Milk: A Battle Heats Up

In the holy war over raw milk, the lives of our children are at stake, or so the faithful on either side of the battlefield assert. And, if you had been at the Rawesome food buying club on June 30, when Los Angeles police officers, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Food & Drug Administration and at least one Canadian agency knocked on the door, guns drawn, you might believe the war was more literal than figurative. As one Rawesome member said, “Why do you need guns?” when the enemy is, as far as anyone can tell, millions of microbes too small for the human eye to see, and surely, for the man-made bullet to destroy.

The FDA has long banned interstate sales of raw milk, and many states restrict or prohibit the sale of raw milk entirely. Raw milk drinkers and would-be sellers, who had previously purchased raw dairy products through legal loopholes began fighting back in early 2010, filing suit against the FDA claiming that banning interstate sales is unconstitutional. The FDA responded in late April, insisting that “plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to obtain any food they wish.” The case is now pending while the crackdowns continue.

The Raw Milk Debate

Raw milk is milk that has not been heated to at least 145 degrees, a temperature sufficient to kill the living things present in all mammals’ milk. These enzymes and bacteria have been shown to strengthen the immune system, develop healthy bacteria in the intestines and reduce the chances of everything from respiratory disease to obesity. Anything that yogurt manufacturers say about the “good” bacteria in yogurt is also true of raw milk.

Pasteurization, on the other hand, destroys both the good and the bad bacteria (like E. coli); it, along with homogenization (a process in which the fat globules in cream are broken to such a small size that they remain suspended evenly in the milk), allows milk to be transported over great distances and have a much longer shelf life. The widespread use of pasteurization and homogenization meant that dairies no longer needed to deal directly with consumers, as in the days of the milkman delivering glass bottles to your doorstep.

As the FDA sees it, the most important benefit of pasteurization is the virtual elimination of the dangers of bacterial infections. It was a huge concern in the late nineteenth century, as dairies moved closer to cities to provide nourishment for the newly industrial and urban population. But the concentrated quarters of the cows and a change in diet caused disease to start spreading. Pasteurization, say scientists, greatly reduced its spread.

The FDA officially banned interstate sales of raw milk in 1987, but it wasn’t until 2006 that the so-called “crackdown” began. Agricultural departments in several states, with the help of the FDA, started to stage raids of small dairies and buying clubs that were “replete with undercover agents, sting operations, surprise raids, questionable test-lab results, mysterious illnesses, propaganda blitzes, and grand jury investigations,” writes journalist David Gumpert, who has followed the raw milk war and written a book on the topic.

A Movement Takes Shape

As early as the 1970s, proponents of healthy eating and sick people in search of cures began to consume raw milk as a health-giving tonic. At the time, Dr. Aajonus Vonderplanitz (along with cookbook author Sally Fallon) came to the conclusion that drinking raw milk from cows who are raised on a ruminant’s diet — grass, and clover, and not much else — and treated well could be the basis for the most nutritious possible diet — and a movement was born.

Vonderplanitz says he has been “fighting” the government’s efforts against raw milk since 1977. He started an organization known as the Right To Choose Healthy Food, where he’s taught raw foodists how they can sidestep the rules governing commerce, and especially interstate commerce, by organizing into private clubs and leasing animals. Cow lessees pay upfront, and pay ongoing “boarding fees” for the board, care, and feeding of the animals, and harvesting of the product through milking. As Vonderplanitz sees it, those who consume the raw milk from the animal that they are leasing are not subject to the jurisdiction of the states’ agricultural and commerce departments, and the FDA, which, in many states, restricts or even bans the sale of raw milk to consumers.

Vonderplanitz’s organization also runs the Rawesome Club in Venice, California, and has chapters throughout the U.S. and “a few” in Canada. The private buying club, which sells only raw foods and for which you must pay a membership fee, and sign a waiver, to join, was challenged once before. In 2005, an official from the Los Angeles County Department of Health came onto the property. The officer examined the food and issued a citation to the organization because it did not have a health permit, for having food without a label and other charges. (Vonderplanitz rejects his need for a health permit because he says Rawesome is not conducting commerce.)

Vonderplanitz wrote a letter to the County Department of Health on July 22, 2005 asserting that the health official was illegally trespassing, and that the hearing notice for the day after the visit was “without legal merit.” He never heard back, he says, until June 30, 2010.

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(c) dailyfinance.com

This is a 9 parts videos on youtube.com on how to reverse Alzheimer’s Disease. click on the video will take you to the youtube site and allows you to watch the rest of the program.  Alzheimer’s is on the rise and now is the time to start learning how to prevent or reserve it.

Read the Transcript of the speech

In this program of Democracy Now, there is a segment commenting on the ways BP and the EPA hiding facts on the dangers of the dispersant, Corexit being used in the oil spill. Not to make the clean up better, but to hid the extend of the oil being released and potentially protect BP from losing more money.  The chemical is extremely corrosive. There are report of it eroding the bottoms of boats in the gulf, and causing internal bleeding of sea animals.  There seems to be cover-ups in higher up going on.  In addition the dangerous chemicals, BP also says the money they spent on hiring fishermen for the cleanup effort will be deducted from the 20 billion dollars they set side for the  reparation of the lost of livelihood of the same fishermen.  Our government is allowing this “foreign” company to do that?  As it turns out, many major stock holders of BP are actually working for the Federal government.  One of which is our treasury secretary!   What are our “leaders” are thinking?  Unless we the people start waking up and hold these self-appointed guards of the hen house accountable for their criminal behavior, we will have a lot more of these injustices awaiting for us.  The segments of the BP cover-up starts at around 27:45 into the program right after a report on an AIDS Conference.

Watch this Video

Monica Long had expected a routine appointment. But here she was sitting in her new oncologist’s office, and he was delivering deeply disturbing newsMonica Long had expected a routine appointment. But here she was sitting in her new oncologist’s office, and he was delivering deeply disturbing news

Nearly a year earlier, in 2007, a pathologist at a small hospital in Cheboygan, Mich., had found the earliest stage of breast cancer from a biopsy. Extensive surgery followed, leaving Ms. Long’s right breast missing a golf-ball-size chunk.

Now she was being told the pathologist had made a mistake. Her new doctor was certain she never had the disease, called ductal carcinoma in situ, or D.C.I.S. It had all been unnecessary — the surgery, the radiation, the drugs and, worst of all, the fear.

“Psychologically, it’s horrible,” Ms. Long said. “I never should have had to go through what I did.”

As it turns out, diagnosing the earliest stage of breast cancer can be surprisingly difficult, prone to both outright error and case-by-case disagreement over whether a cluster of cells is benign or malignant, according to an examination of breast cancer cases by The New York Times.

D.C.I.S., which is also called Stage 0 or noninvasive cancer, was a rare diagnosis before mammograms began to be widely used in the 1980s. Until then, breast pathology typically involved reading tissue from palpable lumps. The diagnoses — usually invasive cancer, a benign fibroid tumor or a cyst — were often obvious.

Today, D.C.I.S. is diagnosed in more than 50,000 women a year in this country alone. The abnormal cells, which are encased in breast ducts, are removed before they develop into invasive cancer. There are estimates that if left untreated, it will turn into invasive cancer 30 percent of the time, though it could take decades in some cases.

“There is an increasing recognition of the problems, and the federal government is now financing a nationwide study of variations in breast pathology, based on concerns that 17 percent of D.C.I.S. cases identified by a commonly used needle biopsy may be misdiagnosed. Despite this, there are no mandated diagnostic standards or requirements that pathologists performing the work have any specialized expertise, meaning that the chances of getting an accurate diagnosis vary from hospital to hospital”

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(C) nytimes.com, July 19, 2010