Author: TomsWrite

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Salem Witch Trial

Salem Witch Trial

One of my friends told me about a powerful lesson in her daughter’s high school class this winter. They’re learning about the Salem Witch Trials, and their teacher told them they were going to play a game.

“I’m going to come around and whisper to each of you whether you’re a witch or a normal person. Your goal is to build the largest group possible that does NOT have a witch in it. At the end, any group found to include a witch gets a failing grade.”

The teens dove into grilling each other. One fairly large group formed, but most of the students broke into small, exclusive groups, turning away anyone they thought gave off even a hint of guilt.

“Okay,” the teacher said. “You’ve got your groups. Time to find out which ones fail. All witches, please raise your hands.”

No one raised a hand.

The kids were confused and told him he’d messed up the game.

“Did I? Was anyone in Salem an actual witch? Or did everyone just believe what they’d been told?”

And that is how you teach kids how easy it is to divide a community.

Keep being welcoming, beautiful people. Shunning, scapegoating and dividing destroy far more than they protect. We’re all in this together.

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Chemicals used to fight BP spill were ineffective and toxic, study says

Oil Spill

The undersea use of chemical dispersants during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil disaster likely did more harm than good, a new study says.

A University of Miami-led study indicates that the massive amounts of dispersants BP applied directly at the spewing wellhead – about a mile below the Gulf of Mexico’s surface – failed to curb the oil’s spread, and may have increased the disaster’s ecological damage.

The study is one of several in recent months that have questioned whether dispersant should be used at all. Other research cited in the UM study noted that dispersant appears to fight nature’s ability to clean-up after oil spills. A study by the University of Georgia indicates that dispersant kills or inhibits the growth of oil-eating microbes, including naturally-occurring bacteria that rapidly consume oil that dispersants only break apart.

Dispersant has also been linked to illnesses in humans and several types of marine life. The Gulf’s deep sea coral were found to suffer more from a dispersant-oil mix than oil alone.

“There is no upside in using ineffective measures that can only worsen environmental disasters,” said Claire Paris, a marine scientist and the UM study’s lead author.

BP declined to comment on the study. In the past, BP has said the use of dispersants was approved by federal environmental agencies and the Coast Guard.

University of Georgia marine scientist Samantha Joye said the study raises questions about whether dispersants should be used on future oil spills.

“These findings should change the way we think about spill response (and the) reprioritization of response measures,” said Joye, who assisted with the study.

The oil industry’s drilling in deeper water in the Gulf underscores the need for alternative measures for dealing with blowouts and spills, UM scientists said. The “capping stack” method BP used to plug the well nearly three months after the explosion might be a better first response strategy. The study’s authors also suggested more research into “bio-surfactants,” a less toxic and biodegradable option for breaking up spills.

https://www.nola.com/environment/2018/11/chemicals-used-to-fight-bp-spill-were-ineffective-and-toxic-study-says.html
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BP claims an oil spill off Australia’s coast would be a ‘welcome boost’ to local economies

Oil Spill Fire

Coastal towns would benefit from an oil spill in the pristine Great Australian Bight because the clean up would boost their economies, energy giant BP has claimed as part of its controversial bid to drill in the sensitive marine zone.

This is ethically bankrupt and environmentally insane!

They should never be allowed near our oil reserves! Or anyone else’s for that matter!

https://www.watoday.com.au/politics/federal/bp-claims-an-oil-spill-off-australia-s-coast-would-be-a-welcome-boost-to-local-economies-20180406-p4z867.html
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Concerned About Your Cholesterol?

Bergamot

I have had the occasional person ask me about handling cholesterol without statins. For obvious reasons. Statins are more dangerous than cholesterol! As a matter of fact, cholesterol is not even dangerous! There has never been a study that linked cholesterol to higher risk of heart attack or stoike and people over 60 with low cholesterol have a highr risk of dying from heart disease than those with high cholesterol! Nevertheless, arterial health is highly desirable so this is worth reading.

And if US$70 a month for another supplement is a tad more than you want to spend, check out your green grocer for some bergamot!

https://drkeithsown.com/bergamot/ps/

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Leaked evidence points to Big Pharma encouraging disease outbreaks to promote higher vaccination rates

Vaccine and Syringe

According to Merck scientists serving as whistleblowers on research fraud regarding the MMR vaccine from over a decade ago, the FDA’s approval of the vaccine was not only based on false information, but it also caused an outbreak of Measles in 2006. The vaccine was reportedly tested against phony laboratory strains of viruses instead of being tested against those that are floating around in the real world. Is this fraudulent behavior from Big Pharma?

https://newstarget.com/2016-06-10-leaked-evidence-points-to-big-pharma-encourages-disease-outbreaks-to-promote-higher-vaccination-rates.html

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Drug Testing

Drugs

A friend called Carl writes:

I’m going to have my say about DRUGS and testing them to make it “safer” for users at music events.

Un-friend me if you want; try and argue with me if your have to. But, I’ve seen the effects drugs have on people, throughly, from both sides of the fence.

Back in the day I took a LOT of drugs. Many of you would be surprised by this. When I quit I spent years helping many people get off them and detox on a full-time basis.

So, I consider myself very well experienced and knowledgeable in the area.

The pills some people are wanting to test are made of chemicals, fundamentally they are poisonous. Just because they are tested and passed by some “arbitrary” standard doesn’t mean they aren’t harmful.

Overdosing can happen to anyone at anytime. An overdose is caused by the bodies system (the kidneys) releasing too much of the chemical into the body’s system rather than detoxifying and expelling it from the body. This can happen to a long time user or a first time user.

It really has nothing to do with the “quality” of the drug; it has to do with how the individuals body copes with the poison. The affects a person feels, aka the “high” is caused by poisoning the body.

What’s really needed is EDUCATION.

Those calling for drug testing are uneducated and quite frankly irresponsible—not unlike the makers and dealers themselves.

Proper education is what’s needed. When that’s in place the DRUG USE WILL DROP to the point that only those interested in either killing themselves or killing others by supplying the poison will take them.

I understand and appreciate that some drugs are needed for medical reasons and I’m not opposed to them.