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Palmer Luckey
Virtual reality for the masses is no longer just science fiction, thanks to this 21-year-old video game fan. Engineering prodigy Palmer Luckey started developing his own head-mounted VR displays when he was still in high school, and was in college when he created the first prototype of a consumer-priced VR headset called the Oculus Rift. "You put it on," says Luckey, "and you feel like you're inside of the game, rather than looking at it on a screen." Endorsements from game industry icons including Valve's Gabe Newell and id Software's John Carmack helped Luckey raise $2.4 million in a 2012 Kickstarter campaign. (Carmack was so impressed, he even left id to work for Luckey as his CTO). The year-old company has raised over $91 million from venture capitalists, employs 50 people, and has released an early version of the device to software developers, who are already showing off some innovative VR games and applications. Consumers should be able to buy their own headsets – which initially will work only with PC and mobile games – for a goal price of $300 sometime later this year.


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Managing a Trusted Community
Human societies have been generally successful in managing trust and reputation. People have always self-organized into resilient communities for information exchange, and these self-organizing models have won the test of time [11]. In this section we describe an approach that models trust by using the exchange of reputation and trust information based on social networks [12].
Utilizing Social Networks: Community Vouchers
Earlier we described a web-of-trust model. Several attempts have been made to create viable web-of-trust models, such as Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) [9]. There are several problems with the models proposed to date, such as the collusion and identity problems already noted. Problems also occur because in every community, members depend on other members for trust. The recommendations are not weighted, and newly enrolled members may have difficulty finding any existing members whose recommendations are believable. Furthermore, the notion of negative recommendations, which is essential in defending against malicious members, does not exist in the existing web-of-trust models. We propose calling all forms of recommendations vouchers, because we see a recommendation as a way for one member to vouch or not for another member.
In Figures 2a and 2b, each solid line between two members represents an existing trust relationship. Figure 2a represents a community that has accreted naturally into three clusters: a cluster between two members labeled Cluster_i, a random network cluster labeled Cluster_r, and a mesh network labeled Cluster_m.
If member F intends to establish a trust relationship with member A, any combination of the following existing trust relationships can be utilized by A to provide evidence for trusting F: (1) the trust relationship between F and I, because A accepts I's vouchers, (2) the trust relationship between F and D, because A accepts D's vouchers, or (3) the trust relationship between F and S, because A accepts S's vouchers.
Of course, in general A does not have a priori knowledge about any of these relationships, and it faces the problem of how to expeditiously obtain the evidence it needs about F's trustworthiness. The solution? A should query all of the other community members it considers trustworthy that are presently on-line. Other community members can send their vouchers. Whether another member has the evidence A needs depends on that member's connectivity and experience within the community. Figure 2 depicts S as more highly connected than other members, so it is likely S can respond to more requests.
By responding to more requests, S can build a reputation for fast or more complete or authoritative responses, because it has access to more sources of evidence (S may instead build a negative reputation by passing information that later proves to be inaccurate). A member such as S builds its reputation based on the natural evolution of relationships within social communities. These reputations can be used to weight trust decisions.
Trust Calculation
In addition to making decisions on whether or not to trust another member, the weight factor can also be used to determine trust levels. Trust levels fluctuate dynamically. For example, a voucher from a highly connected member such as S may make F more trustworthy to A. A higher trust value is therefore given to F in A's trust list, because S is likely to have more evidence about F's past behavior. By reporting helpful vouchers more frequently than other members, S's trust level will increase.
There are many ways to represent levels of trust. One representation can be trust rings, where each node creates several rings around it that represent levels of trust, and the device sorts other members into the most appropriate ring. A member places the peer members it trusts the most (that is, those that it maintains the closest relationships with) in the inner-most ring, followed by its friends in the next ring, and so forth. A neutral ring denotes a neutral trust state, while the outer rings represent mistrust. A member can move between rings depending on the change in its relationship with other members. Trust, from a member's point of view, can have the following form:
where τay denotes how much member A trusts B, τay< 0 denotes mistrust, and αr denotes the weight associated with a trust ring. Using this equation, if member A receives several vouchers for member B, A will use the trust ring of the members vouching for B to resolve conflicting vouchers. A then uses its trust calculation to decide whether to transfer B between rings. Highly-connected members tend to migrate toward the innermost ring (at least if the vouchers they provide report good information over time), resulting in their opinions weighing more. Trust rings provide a simplified version of assigning trust for a node, especially in situations where the node does not have the computing power to assign and maintain individual values for all nodes it encounters. It provides the flexibility of grouping nodes according to trust levels.
As an example, in Figure 2b, node L trusts member M with a value of 3, while J mistrusts M with a value of -2. Member A places L and J at level 5 and 2.5, respectively. When A computes the trust level for M, the negative endorsement of member J will be subtracted from that of member L. This will result in a positive trust value τAM , which will probably not be high enough to place it in the inner circle due to the negative endorsement of J. In addition, the trust levels (τab ) are dynamic variables, which makes the equation adaptive to changes in the communities (for example, nodes moving out of current communities or forming new communities).
A member's cumulative rating across all other members' rings represents its reputation within the community. Reputation requires maintenance of a relationship history, so is not free. We believe reputation makes for a good default trust value when no other information is available.
Micro and Macro Trust System
In addition to trust between members, we extend the trust model to a second dimension, where trust is calculated in a vertical (layered) manner, and reconciled to horizontal trust (for example, nodes virtual networks). Figure 3 illustrates the concept with a system comprised of three entities, and each entity is comprised of multiple components. For example, entity A consists of a user, a device, a virtual machine, a host operating system, and an application running on the device. A vertical trust relationship exists between the respective components of entity A; in the meantime trust also exists horizontally, such as between entities.
In existing technologies, individual components completely trust all the components of other trusted entities. This increases the risk when a component on a trusted entity is compromised. Our approach, on the other hand, applies trust propagation among individual components inside entities as well as among entities as a whole, and trust levels among different components within an entity can be independent. For example, assume that entity A is running a web browser, while entity B is running a web server, with a database backend. As a result, the trust of the browser in the database server on entity A is a function of its own trust level for the web server and a trust voucher on the database, while Entity A and Entity B as a whole may have different levels of trust between themselves. We assume no explicitly defined trust level between the application and the device. However, trust can propagate from the application to the device through the user, the operating system (OS), or a virtual machine (VM). In order for such a system to be usable, it is essential to have a network that is manageable to the degree that you can continue to model the interconnections based on social networks, where each entity can be treated as a community.

subset: commoncrawl


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Workforce Development: In the Classroom and Beyond
During recent commencement exercises, the Texas A&M Health Science Center (TAMHSC) School of Rural Health celebrated awarding a graduate degree to its 1,000th student since opening in 1999.
Reaching such a milestone in a relatively short period of time was made possible in part because of the school's innovative approach to education that isn't bound by geography. Long before online degrees were possible, the TAMHSC-School of Rural Public Health began offering graduate training throughout Texas via distance education, and since 2004 has continually had a cohort of students in Austin.
"Only 20 percent of the public health workforce in the state has formal training, so we began reaching out to improve the workforce soon after we opened the doors of the school," said Interim Dean Jim Burdine, Dr.P.H. "We quickly learned that there was great interest to obtain knowledge and skills in public health, but individuals could not do so because they were job- and family-bound to their communities."
Having identified the importance of flexible schedules and locations, the school developed distinctive programs that addressed the unique needs of public health students. Distance education courses are offered in the evenings twice a week in Temple, Austin and McAllen, and the master's degree program can be completed part-time in three years. Today, instruction is delivered through a variety of methods including web courses, live courses taught onsite, as well as courses taught in College Station and connected to remote sites via video conference. These non-traditional approaches have allowed for the establishment of student cohorts in Tyler, Temple, Mt. Pleasant, Marshall, Lufkin, Corpus Christi, Laredo, Kingsville, and at the TAMHSC-School of Rural Public Health's second campus in McAllen. Additionally, TAMHSC-School of Rural Public Health is the only school of public health offering degree programs at the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) in Austin.
David Lakey, M.D., commissioner of DSHS and this year's speaker at TAMHSC-School of School of Rural Public Health's commencement ceremony, is supportive of the program, and showed his appreciation to each graduate from DSHS by standing and shaking their hands as they walked across the stage to receive their diplomas.
"The M.P.H. is an application-oriented program with a diverse faculty that offers you real-life experiences in public health, health policy and health care administration," said Jeff Hayes, who graduated with the Austin cohort. "They provide you the opportunities to use their experiences to learn and apply them in your coursework and, ultimately, in the field of public health."
In efforts to address the lack of access to formal training referenced by Burdine, the school offers various continuing education opportunities to support the professional development of the public health workforce. For example, over the past five years the school has been competitively selected by the U.S. Army Medical Department to provide continuing education public health training to military personnel in the Department of Preventive Health Services Principles in the Army Preventive Medicine program at Ft. Sam in San Antonio, Texas. Also, the U.S.A. Center for Rural Public Health Preparedness offers education and training activities on a variety of public health issues. In the last project year, the U.S.A. Center provided education and training or education resources to 206 of the 254 Texas counties.
Media contact: Dee Dee Grays, 979.436.0611.


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Saturday, September 26, 2020
Hady Abu-Assad brings the Palestinian reality to Cannes Festival with Omar
Leona Vicario
- June 17, 2013
Main News
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The "Omar" crew at the Cannes International Film Festival.
The Palestinian film
, the latest feature by Palestinian director, Hady Abu-Assad (Golden Globe winner and Oscar nominee for his feature film, Paradise Now), received an award in the
Un Certain Regard
category during the last round of the annual Cannes International Film Festival.
The prize recognizes young talent and innovative work. By awarding it this time to the film
, the jury allowed for the exposition of the inherent complexities found within the West Bank, the long-entrenched conflict found therein and its impact on love and friendship.
Not available yet to the general public, the film focuses on three Palestinian friends— Omar (Adam Bakri, Paradise Now), Amjad (Samer Bisharat) and Tarek (Eyad Hourani) — who mark a breaking point in their lives by carrying out an act of vengeance brought on by internal and external circumstances. "The plot comes from this military country [Israel]; a country which behaves in a military way. There is also the wall between families and friends in the West Bank and Israel which separates the continuity of life," the Palestinian actor Eyad Hourani explains.
However, director Abu-Assad insists that the film is not about politics: "It is really about when you make a decision — a not well prepared decision — what the consequence of that is. It is about human behavior rather than political discussion."
Eyad agrees that the film is based on the characters' feelings, constrained by ever present physical and psychological barriers. "These three friends are worried about the Israeli military harassment over the population and the possibility that this mistreatment just continues and they do not stop. So they organized to kill a soldier as response to this continuous situation," Eyad explains.
After the assassination, the Shin Bet (the Israeli intelligence organization responsible for internal security within Israel and the West Bank, also known as the Shabak) begins an investigation to find out who is behind the murder. Omar, who is madly in love with Tarek's sister, Nadja (Leem Lubany), is detained by the military police in relation to the event.
Subsequently, Omar is tempted to betray his beliefs and feelings, in an attempt to deal with an imposed military system that tries to divide the society from within; breaking the environment of trust within the Palestinian community, thus turning them into isolated and suffocated human beings focused solely on personal welfare.
Promoting the Palestinian culture from Palestinian efforts
Omar was filmed both in the West Bank and Israel proper (Nablus and Nazareth). 90 per cent of the staff working on the project is Palestinian and it is the first film funded completely by Palestinian money.
The American-born actor Waleed F. Zuaiter (The Men Who Stare at Goats), who also stars in the film, created the independent film production company, ZBROS LLC, along with his two brothers, which has bet on Omar as its first production. Along with a handful of private investors, the company found support from the Dubai International Film Festival during the post-production process.
With a modest budget of $2 million, this new project may potentially open the doors to an artistic industry that has, until now, remained in the hands of external supporters, sometimes even related to larger corporations. "There are not too many opportunities here. The artists wait for organizations like the Cinema [Jenin] or the [Freedom] Theatre but they are in need of funds from outside. So if they get them fine but if not, there is nothing to do. And this is a problem because the Palestinian Authority does not give funds for productions; they do not support actors or cinema. They do not pay attention to culture," regrets Eyad, the film's only actor living within the occupied territories.
As many others, Eyad is one of the artists who began his artistic path in the porverbial creative factory known as the Jenin Freedom Theatre. In the heart of one of the most mistreated areas of the West Bank, particularly during the second Intifada, the Freedom Theatre in the Jenin Refugee Camp gives Palestinian youth the tools not only to explore their lives and develop their ideas, but also to analyze their own reality from an artistic point of view. It is impossible for Eyad to tell the difference between his reality and the role that he plays in the movie. "I am Tarek and Tarek is me. We both share the same circumstances: we are both at the same age; we are stuck in a place between walls and war."
In Eyad's opinion, culture should be the working framework within which to develop Palestinian resistance. "Culture is the way, the only way for us. We, as Palestinians, do not have this military system as Israel does. We cannot use guns in front of Israel, the situation is unequal. They have a 'gun culture'. We use politics and they have war," Eyad points out. "They are controlling and we do not get anything from them through politics. So we have the way of culture resistance but it does not come in days, it comes in years after years. The generation has technologies that can be used to express our live, our circumstances around the world and also to develop this small thing, the small ideas of change," he wishes.
"The first thing that we need is culture: cinema, music, theatres, schools, etc. These matters should be developed. But we are weak in these areas; we are just trapped between Israel and a hard life to face: no money, no job opportunities, etc," Eyad regrets. "Our situation is not just about politics, simplifying that Israel kills our people and we hate them and always the same. The culture is necessary to explore our life. We need to life the live and our freedom. But instead of that, in 2013, we are under occupation and a military country controls us still." He already faced the physical barriers and the occupation's pitfalls when he needed to ask Israel for permission to leave the country and join the film crew at the Cannes Festival.
The actor remembers how culture was never something detached from Palestinian life; however, more than 60-years of conflict have weakened cultural strengths, and instead, focus is now placed on mere survival. "Palestinians used to be aware about the importance of culture. But nowadays there are not too many opportunities left to enjoy culture: to go to the cinema, to the theatre, to a festival… Ten years ago there was a war right here [Ramallah] with the tanks in the middle of the street, the schools were closed down…This stopped the development of the community."
Asked about the message that he hopes Omar transmits to the public, Eyad relates his own, as well as Tarek's (his character in the film) opinion. "We face hard circumstances in a hard place. The wall over our land, which separates our families, the laborers… They [Israel] want us separated (…).A film does not die. With a film you can reach the entire world. And I would like people to understand our situation. Look at the Palestinian life. Do not learn about it from politics or from TV. I would like that the idea that they have about Palestine would come from the life. Come to visit and see the truth."
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Jon Brodkin writes "Pity poor Mega Man. The little blue robot boy with a gun for a hand was one of the most popular heroes in the Nintendo Entertainment System's heyday, starring in a video game series almost every bit as good as The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros. The original Mega Man series resulted in some great games for the original NES and the Super Nintendo. But then he dropped (swiftly) from the face of the Earth. Attempts to bring Mega Man into the 3D world resulted in games not nearly as fun as their predecessors. Most recently, the planned Mega Man Legends 3 for Nintendo 3DS managed to generate a bit of fan excitement, but the project was canceled in July 2011. Gamers moved on — some grudgingly. Fans have clamored for Capcom to revive Mega Man for years, and it's happened to some extent. Mega Man 9 and 10 came out in 2008 and 2010, respectively, continuing the original series with the same graphical and gameplay style perfected in the 1980s. And Monday, something perhaps even more exciting occurred for Mega Man's 25th anniversary: the release of Street Fighter X Mega Man, a celebration of two excellent game series that have lost their luster in the HD age." Read on for the rest of Jon's review.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.


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A blog to compile what I have learned (and what I am learning) about Mandriva (and GNU/Linux in general) since 2009, when I migrated. Current distros I'm using: OpenMandriva Lx 4, Mageia 7, PCLinuxOS, MX 19, PicarOS, Elive 3, and AntiX 13.
lunes, 5 de julio de 2010
Popularity... or Performance?
This is what I discovered:
1. Remember that you must run a clean install, which means that your HD has to be erased. Some people are saying that this lack of upgrading compatibility is Microsoft's revenge on you for rejecting Vista.
2. Under 7, some users have reported problems with XP compatibility mode. This means that some of your programs might crash.
3. Make sure you can locate ALL of your drivers for Windows 7. So get ready for a good driver hunt...
4. If you have a laptop, CONSIDER THE BATTERY ISSUE.
Regarding #4, I even read there a post of a person instructing users on how to check the status of the battery first... using UBUNTU LINUX!
Can MS go any lower??
3 comentarios:
People are really angry about the battery issue. Some of them are even considering taking legal measures, but I doubt they can get anything from Microsoft. They haven't even gotten an ANSWER since last year! Well, who knows? Maybe Win7 SP1 will come on its white horse to save the day...(if not, users can still get help from Ubuntu and other Linux distros!)ResponderEliminar
"Before blaming Windows 7 or the questionable information that remained somewhere in the BIOS after an upgrade from XP or Vista to Windows 7, blame your laptop manufacturer for not providing a reliable way of recalibrating your battery!" : http://beranger.org/post/383437673/no-folks-batteries-cant-be-dying-because-ofResponderEliminar
@ Theguy,ResponderEliminar
That is only ONE source. Don't you tell me that you back up your opinions using only ONE source!
Now,let's see: Batteries worked with XP and Vista. Upgrade to 7, they fail. Obviously, the problem is not the batteries, but how the OS miscommunicates with them!
Again, are you trying to convince me that the hardware should adapt to the OS? That's irrational! Then we should call it IS (Inoperating system).
It's the Ides of August!
In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Roman general Julius Caesar is given an ominous message by the Soothsayer. The message is a simple warn...
I bought a new headset for my laptop two days ago. Since the store did not have many options available, I went for a Combat Argom Tech piec...
On Feb, 24, I upgraded my Fedora install from 27 to 29. Well, it turns out that Fedora 30 was released two days ago, so I decided to upgrad...


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Poverty and national parks: Decade-long study finds surprising relationship
August 22, 2011
If so many poor people live around national parks in developing countries, does that mean that these parks are contributing to their poverty?
Yes, according to the conventional wisdom, but no, according to a 10-year study of people living around Kibale National Park in Uganda that was published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
These children live alongside Kibale National
Park, Uganda. Although poverty is common at
the edge of many national parks, a new study
shows that a park may actually attenuate poverty
rather than enhance it. Photo credit Lisa Naughton.
"Often people have lamented that the poorest of the poor live on the edge of the parks, and the assumption is that it's the parks that are keeping people poor," says Lisa Naughton, a professor of geography at UW-Madison and a faculty affiliate with the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. The issue matters, she says, because "people say we can't afford to protect biodiversity" if that inflicts further economic hardship on people who are already poor.
To explore the relationship of parks, poverty and biodiversity conservation, Naughton and colleagues began monitoring 252 families living within three miles of Kibale National Park in 1996. The general trend during 10 years was toward greater prosperity, as measured by access to clean drinking water, ownership of more livestock, and living under an improved roof rather than the traditional thatch.
"Most of the households came out ahead, are a lot better off than when we started," says Naughton, who has worked in Uganda for more than 20 years. "I go back every couple of years, and people are generally optimistic, some say they never imagined life would be this good."
But 10 percent of the families in the original study sold or lost their land and moved away, which indicates severe poverty, says co-author Jennifer Alix-Garcia, an assistant professor of agricultural and applied economics at UW-Madison. "The sale of land does not sound so terrible to us, but in Uganda, land is your most productive asset, and once you sell it, you don't have anything to rely on."
Although one finds a disproportionate presence of the very poor at the park edge today, more of their very poor counterparts who lived further away were forced to sell or give up their land, Alix-Garcia says.
"Apparently the park provides a source of insurance; they can hunt, or sell firewood or thatch from the park. It's misleading. If you look, you see more poor people living near the park. But when you look at the change in assets, you see that the poor people who live next to the park have lost less than poor people who live farther away," she says.
And that suggests that the park is unlikely to explain the increased poverty among its close neighbors.
The study had significant support from the National Science Foundation. The third author was Colin Chapman, an anthropologist from McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
Parks, landscapes, societies and economies vary widely, and so it's hard to know how well the results will generalize, Naughton admits. But she says the study was one of the first to look at parks and poverty over the long term, and the results do undermine the conventional wisdom - that national parks are to blame for the poverty found at their borders.
"If you are concerned about the welfare of the people who live around parks, don't assume that it is the park that is trapping them in poverty. Instead of only looking at the park, turn around and look in the other direction. Land is becoming scarce and most public forests have been cleared or privatized. There are many other factors, it's not just the park," Naughton says.
By looking at changes over time, Naughton adds, it's easier to understand the real course of events. "There is a lot of research looking at poverty in parks, but much of it amounts to looking just at the present-day location of poverty. For 10 years, we have been looking at the changes: What were the starting conditions? What were the ending conditions? And did the park matter?"


text:
Bon Jovi Death Prankster Taking Full Advantage of Newfound Notoriety
As previously reported, Jeffrey Goho, the man who started the recent Bon Jovi Is Dead hoax, has been the object of hate mail and general disgust. Now, thanks to this world of instant fame and the art of cashing in, you can add recording offers to that list as well.
Goho is also a musician and — surprise! — has a band of his own. Due to this sudden notoriety, his band, Minutia, has also started to garner some attention from all the hoopla Goho is knee deep in. He has claimed that his intention was only to draw notice to the fact that Bon Jovi and other bands were becoming known for everything but their music, saying anything else was "unexpected." He added, "I never really thought it would get out of Pennsylvania."
Be that as it may (or may not), the "unexpected" has happened. According to a posting on their Facebook page, "Minutia [have] been commissioned to record a single in response to the Bon Jovi hoax which surfaced on Dec. 19th. Recording is set to begin today (Jan. 1). The song will be titled 'No Regrets.'"
Acclaimed French producer and Candlelight Records affiliated Kevin Pandele arrived at The Philadelphia International Airport late Dec. 28th, to act as co-producer with a celebrity name that, as of now, has yet to be revealed. Release date TBA. Recording for Minutia's debut album has been temporarily postponed. More information to come." Golly gee whiz!
Minutia, it must be said, have no chance of ever being mistaken for Bon Jovi. As these numerous You Tube clips of the band show, their sound is closer to that of a lawnmower running over a wounded mule than it is to living on any sort of prayer. You might call it angry metal, or, you might not want to call it at all.
See, Andy Warhol was always right! Fifteen minutes indeed. Enjoy it now Minutia boy, the clock is ticking…


text:
French Country Ivory Solid Wood Hand Crafted and Painted Distressed King Size 5ft Bed Frame
French Country Ivory Solid Wood Hand Crafted and Painted Distressed King Size 5ft Bed Frame
This high quality handmade modern king size 5ft bed frame is made from reclaimed and new solid wood and then hand painted, distressed and finished with wax to give a time-worn and rustic look. Part of our French Country Range, it is painted in a beautiful distressed ivory with the top of the headboard and footboard left raw, and limed to complete the look, perfect for a country cottage or new build home with a modern rustic decor.
This stunning bed frame is designed to fit a king size mattress and would make a great centrepiece in any Rustic Country themed bedroom. The legs of the frame are fitted with fabric feet to prevent any damage to the flooring. This piece works particularly well when paired with matching furniture from this range, such as our French Country Small Table or French Country Chest of Fifteen Drawers.
We hope you love the new French Country Range as much as we do. We have hand picked it because of its beautiful curves and pilaster legs, reminiscent of what you would find in Grand French Chateaus. A distressed finish gives a time worn feel but well built with modern day living in mind. The beautiful ivory painted finish provides a modern rustic edge while also maintaining the vintage shabby chic feel, perfect for those who want a sophisticated but lived in look. There is a full bedroom and living Range and some pieces are also available in cream. This piece would especially work brilliantly when paired with matching furniture, such as the French Country Large or Small Sideboard.
All our furniture ranges are the type you invest in. Our classic designs and high quality craftsmanship provide an ecological alternative you can recycle or up-cycle, adapt or change as you grow and move. Our furniture is an investment in your future at prices you can afford. As independent furniture experts we provide our personal high street service online just pick up the phone or email us for any help you require ...
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Assembly Required: Yes - Legs Need Attaching
Material: Solid Wood (Pine) throughout (No MDF or veneer here!)
Colour: Grey
Style: Rustic Country
Dimensions: W: 165cm D: 211cm H: 127cm
Weight: 69kg
Box Dimensions: Please note this product arrives in two boxes. Box 1 - W: 174cm D: 135cm H: 19cm and Box 2 - W: 209cm D: 99cm H: 17cm
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All our items are Beautifully Wrapped in Tissue Paper and Securely Packaged, you have a choice of our standard UK Mainland delivery service which is 2nd Class signed for at £3.95 or a next day courier service £5.50, all our delivery cha rges are per shipment. Delivery charges are visible once you are signed in and are listed below. FREE DELIVERY ON ALL ORDERS OVER £99 including furniture
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Goods Should be returned to:
Maison Rustic
4 Bush walk
This does not affect your statutory rights.


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Two generations of dance crazes collided at Sunday's American Music Awards, when Psy's show-ending performance of "Gangnam Style" featured a special guest appearance by MC Hammer.
"Stop," the Korean pop sensation said midway through the song. "Hammer time."
Once Hammer took the stage, the two broke into a choreographed mashup of "Gangnam Style" and Hammer's 1991 hit "2 Legit 2 Quit," with everyone in the audience on their feet and dancing.
Who's the hottest hunk? Make your pick now!
Afterwards, Psy — who says he's a longtime Hammer fan — called the performance a "miracle." "That was so awesome," he told CNN backstage.
Hammer, meanwhile, said they are "kindred spirits" and indicated that he would be open to collaborating again. "He's got the whole world dancing," he told CNN.
Watch their performance below:


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RateSupermarket.ca's Expert Mortgage Panel Predicts Competitive Mortgage Rates
TORONTO, ON – February 13, 2013: The groundhog recently predicted an early spring, and so it is for homebuyers looking for advantageous mortgage rates this month. Despite increasing Government of Canada bond yields, a slowing housing market prompts lenders to take competitive measures to gain mortgage business, leading to no movement for fixed mortgage rates. Variable mortgage rates are also expected to remain unchanged this month, as the Bank of Canada did not introduce rate changes in the January 23rd announcement.
Fixed Mortgage Rates: Unchanged
While Government of Canada bond yields have increased over the past month, a development that would usually prompt a hike for fixed mortgage rates, lenders are keeping mortgage rates low in order to remain competitive as Canada's housing market sales continue to decline.
Variable Mortgage Rates: Unchanged
As the Bank of Canada did not increase the Overnight Lending Rate last month, market conditions for variable mortgage rates will remain stagnant. However, as consumer debt levels remain at record highs and global economic uncertainty lingers, an interest rate increase is not expected until late 2013 or 2014.
About the Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel
The Panel includes some of the country's top mortgage experts, and helps Canadian consumers make informed decisions by offering a short-term outlook for fixed and variable mortgage rates.
This month's panel members:
- Dan Eisner, MBA. AMP. President, True North Mortgage
- Elisseos Iriotakis, President, Safebridge Financial
- Mark Kocaurek, Senior Vice President, ING Direct
- Dr. Ian Lee, Director of the MBA program at the Sprott School of Business and Chair of the MBA Committee
- Mary Zenar, Mortgage Broker, Zenar Financial
About RateSupermarket.ca ( www.ratesupermarket.ca )
Over 2.8 Million Canadians have found their best rate for personal finance products on RateSupermarket.ca. Launched in 2008, RateSupermarket.ca is Canada's largest and most comprehensive rate comparison site, offering visitors transparent access to the best mortgage rates as well as credit cards, bank accounts, insurance quotes and GIC rates.


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A look at the interplay between diet and disease shows that when it comes to protecting health, avoiding processed meats may help. According to a review published in Circulation, one serving per day ups the odds of developing diabetes by 19% and heart disease by 42%.
The popular message to eat less red meat for heart disease and diabetes prevention hasn't been consistently backed by research, and not all of the studies have looked at the types of meat that people were eating. So, what if some of the perceived risk actually stems from the way the meats are prepared, rather than the meat itself?
A team of researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health reviewed 20 different studies, looking for clues about the connection between red and processed meat consumption and the risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.
For the purposes of the review, red meat was defined as unprocessed meat from beef, hamburgers, lamb, pork, and game.
One serving of red meat was 100 grams (about 3.5 ounces).
Processed meats included any meat preserved by smoking, curing, salting, or adding chemical preservatives, such as bacon, salami, sausages, hot dogs, and processed deli meats, including some poultry.
One serving of processed meat was 50 grams (about 1.8 ounces).
The review showed that eating red meat didn't raise the risk of heart disease or diabetes, but eating processed meat did
The review showed that eating red meat didn't raise the risk of heart disease or diabetes, but eating processed meat did. Just one daily serving of processed meat increased the risk of heart disease by nearly 1.5 times. Similarly, eating two slices of bacon each day increased the risk of diabetes by almost two times. Few studies looked at the link between meat consumption and stroke risk, but those that did found no connection.
There were little differences in calories, protein content, and amount and types of fats between red and processed meats. The biggest difference was in the amount of sodium and non-salt preservatives, such as nitrites and nitrates. "Higher levels of [these additives] in processed meats could plausibly contribute to increased cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk," said the researchers.
Just because this review didn't show a connection between red meat consumption and heart disease or diabetes risk, there are plenty of other benefits to planning your diet around an assortment of veggies, whole grains, fruits, legumes, and nuts. When you do opt for some red meat, make sure it's the real thing, without salt or chemicals.
(Circulation 2010;121:2271–83)


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The Turkish army said it launched a military exercise on Turkey-Iraq border on Sept. 18, just a week before the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) is set to hold an independence referendum. Source: Daily News
GEFIRA provides in-depth and comprehensive analysis of and valuable insight into current events that investors, financial planners and politicians need to know to anticipate the world of tomorrow; it is intended for professional and non-professional readers.
Yearly subscription: 10 issues for €225/$250
Renewal: €160/$175
The Gefira bulletin is available in ENGLISH, GERMAN and SPANISH.
I must warn people in the US and Taiwan who hold this kind of thinking. Once they take the step of returning US forces to Taiwan, the PLA will definitely start a just war to safeguard China's territorial integrity. China's Anti-Secession Law is a tiger with teeth. Source ZeroHedge
French prosecutors have opened a terrorism investigation after two people were wounded in a knife attack in Paris on Friday near the former offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. The suspected perpetrator, as well as six other men, have been taken into custody. Source France24
Mitsugi's population as of the end of March marked a 13.8 percent plunge from 10 years ago, while Innoshima saw a similar drop of 12.4 percent. The statistics show both of these rural areas have been hemorrhaging its residents at a pace twice faster than central Onomichi, whose population has shrunk by 5.9 percent over the past decade. Source Japan Times


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Following this magazine's interview with Dr. Harold W. Manner, we received innumerable letters and phone calls. Much of that correspondence was from readers who hadn't known of the healthcare possibilities offered by nutrition therapy until they read about the Manner program in our pages, but a surprisingly large number of folks called to let us know that there are other revolutionary researchers who are "curing" degenerative diseases such as cancer. And the greater part of these "tips" suggested that MOTHER EARTH NEWS look into the metabolic therapy work of Dr. William Donald Kelley at his Winthrop, Washington clinic.
The information that we received from our readers raised a few questions, too: How, for instance, did Dr. Kelley—an orthodontist by training—come to develop the concepts of metabolic subtyping and non-specific metabolic therapy—ideas which won him the International Association of Cancer Victims and Friends "Humanitarian Award " and recognition from such lofty "alternative" medical organizations as San Diego's Price-Pottenger Foundation?
In order to find the answers to these questions—and to learn more about Dr. Kelley's reputation for providing successful treatments for a number of "incurable" diseases—MOTHER EARTH NEWS contributor Cameron Stauth traveled to the former dentist's clinic high in Washington's Cascade Mountains.
The edited transcript that follows summarizes more than three days of discussion. It presents a picture of a man who has made it his life's work to explore the frontiers of medicine, those unexplored areas where risks must be taken and, sometimes, breakthroughs are made.
PLOWBOY: Dr. Kelley, when I arrived in Winthrop I must have walked around the block three or four times trying to spot a building imposing enough to be a research clinic. I couldn't believe that this little house was your office!
KELLEY: That's a pretty common reaction. People come here from all over the world expecting us to be sitting at the end of the rainbow, in a huge complex of white-pillared buildings with half a dozen research centers scattered around the grounds.
Some of those folks are disappointed at first. I think, however, that many of our visitors learn more from this humble office than they do from whatever I may say. Such people look around, and they don't see a multimillion dollar establishment with posh waiting rooms, so they ask themselves, "Where is the healing going to come from?"
And the answer to that question—as my patients soon learn—is that health can only come from within their own bodies.
PLOWBOY: That's a radical concept, especially so in this age of high-technology medicine. How did you develop your unorthodox ideas about healing?
KELLEY: I suppose I got many of my health care notions from the country doctors who used to visit my childhood home in Kansas. Those physicians cared about their patients. They wouldn't take drastic, invasive measures unless such steps were absolutely necessary, and they often got incredible results without resorting to "the knife." I was fascinated by the country M.D.s and spent as much time talking to them as their busy schedules would allow.
I also—while I was still quite young—convinced the local Red Cross chapter to let me take its entire battery of first-aid courses even though I wasn't old enough to be formally admitted to the classes.
By absorbing all of the health-care information I could, I built up enough know-how to later get myself admitted to the Navy's medical corps. I worked with a great number of physicians while I was in the service, and was most impressed by those men and women who paid as much attention to the causes of a problem as they did to what medication might alleviate the symptoms.
I left the Navy at the end of the second world war and enrolled in a pre-med college program, majoring in biochemistry with minors in biology and physiology. I originally hoped to become an M.D., but—for a number of reasons—never went on to med school. In retrospect, I'm glad that I didn't become a physician, because the brainwashing involved in such training would probably have kept me from recognizing the value of the "new" nutritional concepts that I'm involved with today.
It was my dentist brother who talked me into applying to dental school. I took an aptitude test at Baylor University in 1949, got the highest grade any dental school applicant had ever made, and decided that maybe I was cut out to be a tooth doctor!
During my four years in dental school I worked, part time, as a hospital electrocardiac technician. I'd handle that job from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., do private duty nursing from 11 p.m. till 7 a.m., and then try to grab a little bit of sleep between classes. I was a typical ambitious young man.
My specific goals, however, were somewhat unusual. I've always had a yen to teach—I earned my M.S. in education while I was pursuing my dental degree—and my ambition was to improve the quality of this nation's dental schools. You see, though I am a Texas hillbilly at heart, I've always thought on a grand scale!
At any rate, I discovered that no one in the dental training field held both a Ph.D. in education and a degree in dentistry. Most dental school deans—then and now—are men or women who were unable to succeed in private practice ... and, of course, the unfortunate dentists who can't even make it in education have no choice but to become executives in the American Dental Association!
To return to the subject at hand, though, my entire class was required to take a course in nutrition from a government educator. Most of my fellow students laughed their fool heads off during that class, but I fell for the nutrition idea hook, line, and sinker. I've always been more interested in causes than in remedies, and the nutritionist explained how poor diets could actually cause cavities. Her points made perfect sense to me, and I began to study nutrition on my own.
PLOWBOY: Did you go into practice after graduating from dental school?
KELLEY: Yes, I opened up my office in 1954 and—over the next two years—finished the course work for my doctorate in education under a Department of Health, Education, and Welfare postdoctoral fellowship.
At that same time, the bigwigs at HEW offered me a position as director of a new curriculum program that would affect all the dental schools in the country. Unfortunately, it turned out they wanted to get a dentist into every grade school in the United States. Though the goal was laudable enough, they hoped to accomplish this by cutting the standard dental education down to a two-year degree, so they could mass-produce dentists. I, on the other hand, wanted to upgrade the program so dentists would be real doctors rather than mechanics with doctoral degrees. In the end I refused to do the job that HEW wanted, and they eventually let the idea die.
The experience shook me up, though, and made me reexamine the feasibility of my dream to improve the quality of dental education.
I began to practice orthodontics in 1958, and my interest in prevention reemerged. I was shocked, for instance, by the numbers of children who came into my office with crooked teeth. The standard orthodontics "line"—which implies that the young people inherit such misaligned teeth—goes something like this: "Johnny has Daddy's big teeth in Mommy's little jaw." That approach makes the parents feel guilty and allows them to assuage that guilt by spending thousands of dollars to put bands and wires into their sons' and daughters' mouths.
I doubted that crooked teeth were in any way hereditary, and I was also disturbed by the manipulative nature of implying that they are inherited. So I continued studying and eventually discovered the work of Dr. Francis M. Pottenger and Dr. Weston A. Price, who wrote a classic book—called Nutrition and Physical Degeneration—about the sound dental structure and lack of degenerative disease found in many "primitive" societies. The ideas advanced by these two men—and others—really turned my thinking around. In fact, I still feel that Dr. Pottenger's and Dr. Price's writings should be required reading for anyone involved in the healing arts.
PLOWBOY: Did you, at that time, begin to incorporate nutritional ideas into your practice?
KELLEY: Right. All my studying and all the theories I'd been working on began to come together into a "big picture" that I could actually use clinically.
And, in the early days of my orthodontic practice, my oldest daughter came down with a number of allergic and asthmatic problems. The standard allergy injections didn't seem to bring her much relief, so I developed a nutritional program for her that really did help.
In addition to that, however, my wife took the girl to a chiropractor. Of course, the visit was made without my knowledge, because—back then—I was orthodox enough to think that all chiropractors were quacks. The man was able to help control my little girl's asthma, however, and I lost one more bit of my professional prejudice.
It's important to realize, though, that while I had worked out a nutrition program to deal with my daughter's allergies, I was still limiting myself to the standard allopathic or antidisease approach—that of giving a "pill" to kill a specific symptom.
The next big step in my "education" occurred in 1962, when I began to feel miserable. At first I thought I was having a series of heart attacks, yet—though the situation got worse and worse over the next few years—my doctors couldn't locate any problems! Finally, in 1964, after I'd gotten so drained that I had to rest between dental patients, one of the physicians discovered malignant lumps on my liver and pancreas.
He told my wife I only had two months to live, and she let me know of my condition a month later! I also found out that the internist wanted to perform surgery, but the surgeon in charge of the case felt that I'd die on the operating table if the attempt were made. In effect, he told me to get my affairs in order.
My internal organs were so shot that most food would make me violently ill. I started altering my diet to try to keep my strength up, and—because I'd learned about such things during my medical training—began taking massive doses of pancreatic enzymes in order to support my pancreas enough to allow me to eat. I wanted to at least die on a full stomach!
Anyway, I gradually worked out a program for myself, and lo and behold I started getting well! I refined the procedure as I went along and eventually—in 1967—wrote about the results in my book, One Answer to Cancer.
PLOWBOY: After you'd recovered from your disease, did you begin recommending nutritional programs to others?
KELLEY: Well, I'd been advising nutritional changes for some of my orthodontics patients even before my cancer was diagnosed. And other folks heard about my success in treating my daughter's asthma and allergies, so those people sometimes asked me for advice on similar problems, too. In fact, I was known as the "asthma doctor" of Midland, Texas.
Once I'd recovered from my illness, however, I began to tell other people who had cancer how I'd healed myself. Some of those men and women were intrigued with my advice, applied it to their own cases, and recovered! So, very gradually—the process stretched out over a number of years—I got to the point where I was regularly recommending lifestyle programs to patients with serious degenerative diseases.
PLOWBOY: Can the fact that you've been able to help people cure a range of illnesses—from asthma to cancer—be attributed to what you now call "non-specific metabolic therapy"?
KELLEY: Yes it can, and non-specific metabolic therapy is the only healing concept I apply. The technique is based upon the assumption that—if a person gives his or her body all the nutrients it needs, relieves its structural problems, stimulates the glands to do their jobs, cleans out any accumulated toxins, and maintains the proper mental and emotional states—the body will be able to handle all sorts of problems, including such degenerative diseases as cancer, heart disease, arthritis, and so on.
This method is, of course, the antithesis of conventional specialized medicine, which tries to isolate problems and treat them one at a time. But such accepted means of "doctoring" are, I think, based upon a false premise: that the systems of the body function more or less independently, rather than in complete and continual dependence upon one another.
The human body is an amazingly adaptable organism. If all of a person's organs are working at anywhere near 100% efficiency, the body chemistry can rebalance itself to eliminate almost any disease.
The only really effective way to treat an illness is to build health. The allopathic approach that's so common today is, at best, a temporary solution.
PLOWBOY: Would you describe your non-specific therapy as anew concept?
KELLEY: Not totally new, no. As I mentioned before, the old-time family doctors did try to cater to their patients' total well-being and were able to do so because they knew the family members and treated them over a long period of time—sometimes through several generations. Those physicians, however, were still mostly disease-oriented. It's only been within the last five years that doctors have begun to use health-stimulating biochemical information in actual practice.
In reality, though, non-specific metabolic therapy does represent a kind of return to the past. It's an example of the classic methods of healing as advocated by Hippocrates that have been shoved aside in this century.
PLOWBOY: What diseases respond most readily to non-specific therapy?
KELLEY: We've had our most dramatic successes with the degenerative illnesses: cancer, heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, chronic fatigue, multiple sclerosis, and so forth. Such diseases are caused by a gradual wearing down of the immune processes and metabolic pathways. Sudden traumatic illnesses or accidents don't respond as well to our program ... though people who have been under non-specific metabolic therapy tend to avoid illness and to recover quickly from either sickness or injury.
PLOWBOY: Haven't you also encountered cases in which a person was cured of multiple illnesses by going through a single metabolic program?
KELLEY: It happens all the time. The fact is that it's very difficult to be in poor health in just one part of your body. I can think of one man, for example, who came to us with psoriasis, cardiovascular problems, and cancer. The latter disease finally forced him to deal with his poor health ... and as that cleared up, his other illnesses went away, too!
PLOWBOY: Dr. Kelley, did your early medical training make it difficult for you to accept the concept of non-specific metabolic therapy while you were first working the idea out?
KELLEY: I have to admit that it did seem hard to believe at first. I had the feeling—as do most medical practitioners—that I was a member of the best-trained group of professionals in the world. I wanted to think that if my methods couldn't solve a problem, nothing would.
Then, even after I became involved in nutritional care, I went through a phase of wanting to treat specific problems with a specific vitamin/mineral combination. It took about three years for me to grasp the entire concept of building health.
PLOWBOY: How did the "specialty medicine" concept become so widely accepted that alternatives seem to be shoved aside without adequate evaluation?
KELLEY: I think the idea was originally based upon the theory that a number of specialists—working independently—could find more solutions to specific problems. Of course, the concept meshed well with the accepted procedures of crisis medicine, and with the allopathic concept of treatment to eliminate disease rather than to promote health. And, finally, specialty medicine is very profitable. The only big problem with this medical system is that it does not work. People are not getting well at the doctor's office.
PLOWBOY: Is there a strong resistance to non-specific metabolic therapy among "conventional" doctors?
KELLEY: There has been, but I think that situation is changing. Doctors are always, and often rightly so, reluctant to accept new ideas. However—with the health of the American people worsening at an observable rate, and with health care costs rising daily—there seems to be a greater willingness among physicians to look into alternative therapies.
PLOWBOY: Have your ideas also met with resistance in wholistic medical circles?
KELLEY: Yes. In fact we've encountered more suspicion from "alternative" practitioners than we have from "traditional" M.D.'s. Some of the wholistically oriented folks have gotten to the point of using vitamins in place of traditional medications, and these people often treat that "discovery" like a new religion. Consequently, when someone is critical of the vitamins-to-match-the-symptoms approach—as anyone explaining non-specific metabolic concepts would be—the criticism is thought of as blasphemy!
Too many of today's "alternative" practitioners are interested—whether they would admit it or not—in simply getting their patients into a symptom-free condition. That's where they quit, without realizing that the overall problem is likely far from being solved. What we're interested in, on the other hand, is getting people out of a pathological symptom range and into a state of vital, vibrant health!
PLOWBOY: Is the general state of health in the United States vital and vibrant?
KELLEY: Are you kidding? Ninety-nine percent of this nation's population can't even conceive of what good health is like! In our culture you're considered healthy if you're warm and moving and don't have a runny nose.
PLOWBOY: But aren't our young people somewhat healthier than the national average might indicate?
KELLEY: To tell the truth, I'd rather treat someone who's over 60 than a patient who's under 30! I really believe that a great number of our young adults won't live to be 50. They've grown up in a convenience food-consuming, sedentary, polluted, drug-oriented, and anxiety-ridden culture, and that lifestyle has already begun to take its toll.
Worse yet, since about 1945 the huge agribusiness corporations have totally controlled food production. Consequently, millions of people no longer eat even a bit of nutritious food on any given day.
PLOWBOY: But there has been a renaissance of health awareness in the past few years. Hasn't this trend had a positive effect?
KELLEY: At least it proves that people are getting the right idea, although they're often not actually able to apply it. The trouble is that most folks have no complete integrated approach to health. Many of even the more nutritionally aware men and women are influenced by a mishmash of conflicting theories. And the problem is compounded by the fact that some people's bodies are so destroyed that they can't even metabolize the granola and vitamin C they're gulping down.
PLOWBOY: Can your program help an individual determine exactly what sort of nutrition program his or her body needs and will be able to use?
KELLEY: Yes, it can. We've developed a means of analyzing the state of a person's health. Our technique incorporates questionnaire books and a series of thorough blood tests. All of the information is synthesized and analyzed by computers which we have here in the office.
We can determine, first of all, how well a person's body is functioning. Then we isolate the specific vitamin or mineral deficiencies and recommend the steps necessary to correct such "shortages." The questionnaires cover every facet of lifestyle, diet, health history, and so forth.
The test is also designed to compensate for the problem of subjective misinterpretation. With the complete analysis, we can spot problems before they become serious illnesses.
PLOWBOY: But you don't actually treat people for specific ailments, do you?
KELLEY: No, we only accept patients whose physicians have requested in writing that we construct a lifestyle change for the person in question. We set up a program, and the patient can go home to follow—under the care of his or her own doctor—the recommendations that we provide.
PLOWBOY: So the patients themselves are responsible for following through on their therapies?
KELLEY: Of course. Health is always up to the individual. The myth that a doctor or hospital can create physical well-being is on the way out.
PLOWBOY: So your work isn't actually directed toward cancer or any specific disease state?
KELLEY: No, it's not. We do, of course, recognize the illnesses that our patients arrive here with, but we don't focus on any disease to the exclusion of the sick person's total state of health. Once you go beyond disease to a program for health, the body can take care of whatever specific problems it may have. We're interested in the patient who has the disease, rather than in the disease that has the patient.
PLOWBOY: But specific illnesses do respond to your non-specific metabolic treatment?
KELLEY: Oh yes. We've never run a formal statistical analysis, but we retest our patients every six months to see how they're doing, so I have a pretty fair idea of what sort of success ratio we've been able to maintain.
With cancer victims—even the ones whose disease has metastasized—we can expect a five-year survival rate of well over 50% ... which is, of course, much better than that of conventional radiation and chemical therapy.
We are also able to reverse conditions that are supposedly irreversible—atherosclerosis, for example, and diabetes or arthritis. It has been assumed that—because such diseases don't respond to pharmaceutical drugs or surgery—the illnesses are "untreatable." That's ridiculous! The body has the response mechanisms to reverse these conditions.
The medical community is only beginning to understand the capabilities of the human immune system. For example, the surveillance theory of cancer—which holds that the body's immune mechanisms can kill malignant cells—has only become widely accepted in the past five years. Until that time, the dogma was that nothing but outside forces—such as surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy—could eliminate the disease cells.
PLOWBOY: Would you agree with the many wholistic-care spokesmen and women who claim that conventional cancer therapies sometimes do more harm than good?
KELLEY: Yes, I would. Such treatments can be quite debilitating. In fact, I think that anyone who chooses to undergo a conventional cancer therapy would do well to go on a nutritional program like ours for a few weeks prior to the treatment just to build up enough strength to enhance his or her chances of survival! Of course, many people who would do so might begin to show improvement and decide to stay with nontoxic therapy. Others, of course, would still opt for the orthodox route; lots of folks are only happy when they've put their problems in somebody else's hands.
Most of us would like to pretend that degenerative illnesses can exist in isolation from their victims' attitudes, emotions, and habits. We want a magic pill to end the problem. Now I don't think people should feel guilty about having created their diseased conditions—because guilt is a nonproductive emotion—but no one is going to beat a degenerative illness without understanding how he or she participated in getting sick in the first place. Cancer and heart disease, for example, don't just drop down from the sky. Such illnesses are a long time in building up and are inextricably tied to the way that the person who contracts them lives. The man or woman's lifestyle has to be changed if the disease is to be beaten. And the patients who take responsibility for their health can recover!
But—although we have had many successes in reversing the progress of degenerative illness—we're even more concerned with conditions that we can keep from ever reaching a crisis state. That's the area we really shine in, although there's no way to produce firm statistics on the number of diseases we've prevented.
PLOWBOY: Tell me about the programs that you devise for your patients.
KELLEY: In the first place, we have to influence the body's metabolism—its energy exchange with the environment—and this can only be accomplished through a nearly total change in lifestyle.
Each patient receives a different program, based on his or her needs. The recommendations include diet, supplements, detoxification, structural therapy, emotional counseling, and often physical exercise.
Some of our diets, for instance, are primarily vegetarian, while others include large amounts of meat. After all, an appropriate diet for any given person will depend upon that man's or woman's metabolism. Some people can digest meat easily, while other folks can't metabolize it at all. This commonsense truth really bothers a lot of "health fad" people. In fact, when I began recommending nutritional therapies, I thought vegetarianism was the perfect approach for everybody. How naive! No single diet can be just right for everyone!
Our various nutritional programs do have several factors in common, however. They're all nutritionally balanced, and all based upon fresh, organically grown fruits, vegetables, and meats. And raw milk, whole grains, and distilled water.
PLOWBOY: I understand that the vitamin supplements in your programs can cost as much as several hundred dollars a month. That must amount to quite a lot of pills!
KELLEY: You bet it does! The number of supplements is reduced, however, as the patient regains his or her health. And, although a few hundred dollars a month is a heavy expense, it's miniscule compared to the cost of even a short stay in a hospital. In addition, the supplements we prescribe are powerful tools that can, indeed, keep a person out of the hospital. The vitamins, minerals, and so on stimulate, support, and—in some cases—even substitute for vital organs. They help the immune system do its job!
One of the reasons these materials are effective is that they're not bargain-basement synthetic vitamins but whole food products—like wheat germ oil or brewer's yeast—which contain all of the co-factors necessary to produce a synergistic effect that isolated vitamins can't equal.
Most important, however, is the fact that the supplements help people metabolize their food. Remember, you are not what you eat ... you are what your cells metabolize!
PLOWBOY: Does your program involve anything more than personalized diets and supplements?
KELLEY: Of course. One of the most important parts of our program is detoxification. This consists of high-colonic coffee enemas, purges of the gall bladder and liver, and—to a lesser degree—controlled sweating, dry skin brushing, and bathing.
When a body begins to regenerate itself, the cell turnover accelerates, and trillions of dead cells are sloughed off into the system. It's necessary to speed up the body's elimination of this "waste" tissue, or the patient will likely feel ill.
Coffee is used in the high enemas because it cleans the colon wall—which prevents the reabsorption of toxic material and enhances the wall's ability to absorb minerals—and also stimulates the liver. You see, the caffeine enters the liver through the portal vein and causes the organ to throw more toxins into the bile system. The enemas also increase insulin output, which makes the cell walls more permeable and better able to absorb nutrients.
PLOWBOY: You've said in your public presentations that degenerative disease is approaching an epidemic stage in the United States. Do you believe this country's collective lifestyle will have to change before such a "plague" can be stopped?
KELLEY: Yes, and epidemiological studies have proved that point beyond any reasonable doubt. Other nations don't have—as we do—degenerative disease showing up at some point in the lives of three out of every four of their citizens ... and such illnesses weren't so prevalent here, either, before our land became highly industrialized.
Of course, we can't eliminate industrialization, but we must attempt to refine it ... and accept the fact that there are no shortcuts to health.
As I see it, the key to turning our degenerative disease epidemic around involves a return to individual self-reliance. If we can each assume responsibility for our own health—that is, if we can improve our inner environments—then the changes that are necessary in the outside world will be much more easily accomplished.
PLOWBOY: And have you taken steps to spread this message around?
KELLEY: Yes. A few years back I helped form an association called the Nutritional Academy—a network of doctors and lay counselors—to carry such ideas nationwide. The Academy administers our tests, offers regular seminars to train additional physicians and lay personnel in our techniques, and publishes the Journal of the Nutritional Academy. The journal isn't filled with the "take this vitamin for that disease" advice that characterizes most wholistic health magazines. Instead it presents articles that reflect an integrated body of knowledge that tell people how to become well and how to stay that way!
PLOWBOY: One would think that your private practice, your work with the academy, and your contributions to the organization's magazine would keep you quite busy. Yet I know you're involved in other projects as well.
KELLEY: That's right. I'm in the process of rewriting One Answer to Cancer. In the new edition I hope to incorporate all the information that I've picked up over the last 12 years. And, of course, the most important project is our experimental farm.
PLOWBOY: Can you tell me about that undertaking?
KELLEY: Certainly. We have a 160-acre working farm complete with facilities for studying more healthful ways to produce and preserve food.
If we're ever going to get people healthy in this society, we'll have to find ways to provide them with proper nutrition. Unfortunately, the agribusiness and processing industries have little interest in producing goods that will make people healthy. Such firms couldn't care less about the food value of their products, although they often pay lip service to nutrition in their advertising and packaging campaigns. You can, for instance, go down to most any grocery store and buy "natural granola" now, but in most cases it will be the same old junk cereal with a different label. And some of the "health food stores" are just as unreliable as are the supermarkets!
PLOWBOY: So your farm will attempt to demonstrate alternatives to such over-processed and valueless foods?
KELLEY: That's the idea. But we can only set an example, and even that will take a long time. We've laid out a 30-year program which begins with building up the soil to the point where it'll contain the proper nutrients, have the correct bacterial and earthworm balances, and so forth. At the same time we're trying to find ways of preserving, transporting, and storing foods—methods that won't destroy most of the real nourishment in the substances.
We've found that much of the information that is available on nutritional food processing has been carefully ignored. If the major companies can save one cent in production costs by destroying half the nutrients in their products, you can bet that those firms will go after the penny! We need to gather information that will enable us to prove how much of our food's value is being destroyed, and to demonstrate how that destruction affects the health of all of us.
PLOWBOY: That goal will take some time to accomplish. At what stage of development is your farm today?
KELLEY: We have our large processing building ... a number of livestock barns ... about 40 acres of vegetable gardens ... some acreage in grain, pasture, and alfalfa ... several berry patches ... and an orchard. Everything is grown wholistically on virgin soil.
PLOWBOY: You've certainly come a long way from your medical beginnings as a Texas dentist, Dr. Kelley. Can you try to summarize that "journey" for me, and tell me what the future might hold?
KELLEY: That's a big order, but I'll take a stab at it:
When I began what I like to think of as my search for truth, I just wanted to find a little bit of it—enough to make me feel comfortable and believe I was doing something worthwhile. In the beginning, I thought health could be won easily. I figured we could all live happily ever after on cola and vitamin tablets, and I knew that was the type of program most patients would want.
But I had to look at myself in the mirror every day, and so I pushed on farther and farther down the road. Finally, of course, I found myself getting "back to basics" by setting up the farm to actually grow and preserve good, solid food.
We're doing nothing more than providing the means for a transition. Our non-specific metabolic therapy can get people out of the pathology range so they can work in their own gardens and metabolize the food that they grow. In the final analysis, however—after we've taught our patients everything we can—good health is up to the individual ... all alone in the garden, working with his or her own hands.


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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — In the film "12 Years a Slave," free black man Solomon Northup dreams of one thing during his long captivity in the antebellum South: returning to his family and home in Saratoga Springs.
In the film, as Northup, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, undergoes grueling labor and horrific punishment on a series of Southern plantations, Saratoga Springs becomes a promised land, its name uttered with a sense of longing and hope.
Yet mention Northup's name to many locals in modern-day Saratoga Springs or ask about the memoir or movie that tells his story and they'll raise an eyebrow, largely unaware of the man and his legacy.
"I've never met him. But I think my daughter has," said Linda Gibeault, 63, a manager at a downtown motel. When told who Northup was, she said, "That's fascinating. I've never heard of him, and I've been here 34 years. But people don't like to talk about things like that here. Especially Republicans. And I'm a Republican."
As the Steve McQueen film continues to draw critical acclaim and audiences — since hitting theaters in October, the movie has grossed more than $40 million and has been nominated for nine Oscars, including best picture — it has renewed focus on the racial history of the slave-holding South. And nearly 150 years after the end of the Civil War, the North's attitude toward slavery is also coming under scrutiny.
"New York and some other Northern states don't like to think of themselves as having a connection to slavery — they think of it as a Southern thing," said David Fisk, an upstate New York-based scholar who has written several books about Northup. "Most people living in New York would be surprised to find out that slavery was still legal here as late as 1827."
Northup moved with his wife, Anne, from their farm in nearby Kingsbury to Saratoga Springs in 1834. The free-born Northup was a violinist and a driver, raising his three children in relative prosperity for the next seven years. In 1841, with the false promise of a job in a circus, he was lured by several kidnappers to Washington, D.C., where he was sold into slavery before finally regaining his freedom 12 years later.
Situated about three hours north of New York City, this upstate town of 26,000 is these days an upscale, educated community, with liberal-arts Skidmore College in the middle of town and trendy shops lining its main streets. The Saratoga Race Course, which dates back to the 1860s, is a well-known attraction. Yet Northup's 1853 memoir is not taught in schools here. Nor is there an exhibit devoted to the antislavery crusader at the downtown history museum.
And an annual summer event started more than a decade ago by a local African American woman to commemorate the town's native son resulted in a partisan dispute with the mayor's office, which in 2013 barred the event from taking place at the town's main event space.
"There is a population that wants to celebrate the city and its different aspects," said Joanne Yepsen, a Democrat who was serving as a county supervisor when the event was barred last summer and who was recently elected mayor. "But some of our leaders have different priorities."
To be fair, until the past decade even some historians were unaware of Northup's tale, and the book had been largely forgotten. But the ignorance is particularly pointed in Saratoga Springs, which can claim Northup as one of its true native heroes.
Renee Moore, founder of Solomon Northup Day and the city's chief proponent of marking its racial past, knows that firsthand.
Solomon Northup Day has become a magnet for those with a connection to the man — last year, several dozen of his descendants gathered for the event at Skidmore College and the film's co-star and Oscar nominee Lupita Nyong'o turned out to speak, while footage was shown; one descendant, Clayton Adams of Pittsburgh, described the experience "like watching 'Lincoln' with all the people from the film there."
But Moore has often struggled to raise even the few hundred dollars necessary to finance the proceedings. Local businesses eventually contribute, and she usually gets a small grant from an upstate charity. The city does not contribute.
From a dilapidated row house just a few blocks from the town's main street, Moore, who was raised here, lays packs of Northup-related material in her living room. "Solomon Northup, one of the great heroes of the slavery era, is from here, but you wouldn't know it from listening to our mayor," she said.
Moore, a feisty fiftysomething who is one of the city's roughly 1,000 black residents, came up with the idea for the event nearly 15 years ago after an exhibit at Union College in nearby Schenectady turned her on to Northup's story.
Among those she holds responsible for the challenges is former Deputy Mayor Shauna Sutton, a Republican who oversaw city events in Saratoga Springs. Moore said that Sutton never attended Solomon Northup Day events and that she didn't allow it to be held at its usual spot at the visitors center last year.
"There are a lot of people here who view blacks the way certain people from Texas or Arizona view Mexicans: as a kind of contagion that's percolating north, in this case from New York City," said Enid Mastrianni, an Italian American who has helped Moore with the event since 2002. "So to acknowledge Solomon Northup is to wreck their narrative. It means black people were here long before they were."
That race-fueled tension is bubbling up in the city in other ways too. A blog called Saratoga in Decline has recently been calling attention to alleged injustices by the police against the city's minority population, using graphic photos and headlines like "Guilty of Being Black in Saratoga Springs."
In August, a 21-year-old black man named Daryl Mount was seriously injured while being pursued by police. As Mount has languished in a coma, protesters have ratcheted up calls for an independent investigation. Police have said he was hurt while climbing scaffolding.
Sutton did not return a call for comment about Northup Day, and a call to the office of former Mayor Scott Johnson, a Republican, led to a referral to Ken Klotz, a former Democratic mayor who was instrumental in the early years of the Northup commemorations.
Part of the problem, say those who have tried to honor Northup, is that there isn't much left that can be tied to him. Nearly all the buildings from that era have been razed. There is also no known grave site for Northup and few artifacts, which is why officials say the town's main history museum contains no mention of him, focusing instead on periods like the community's resort-town heyday of the mid- to late 19th century.
Still, Moore fought to get a plaque at the visitor's center. A few years ago, she prevailed.
There are other signs the tide is turning. Last year, a city reading program recommended "12 Years a Slave" as the title residents should read and discuss.
Tab Orthwein, a Saratoga Springs woman who helps organize the event, said she heard from many who chose to read the book. "People were shocked by what had happened, and that they didn't know about it," she said.
A new multiplex in town had been playing the film, which has created enough awareness that Skidmore College appears poised to pitch in with Solomon Northup Day and perhaps even take it over entirely, Moore said.
"Maybe the movie will make things better, maybe [Mayor] Joanne [Yepsen] will make things better," Moore said. "But people here don't really seem to care. Talking about Solomon Northup, you can feel like you're shouting into the wind."


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Red Book of Westmarch
This article or section needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of article quality.
The Red Book of Westmarch (sometimes Red Book of the Periannath) is the book in which the legendarium of Middle-earth was written. It is bound in red leather.
The first Red Book was written as a diary by the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins and recounted his quest for Erebor, which he called There and Back Again. Within it, he compiled Elven lore while he retired to Rivendell (Translations from the Elvish) where he gave it to Frodo.
Frodo organized Bilbo's manuscript and used it to write down his own quest during the War of the Ring. Inscribed within, it reads:
My Diary. My Unexpected Journey.
There and Back Again.
And What Happened After.
Adventures of Five Hobbits.
The Tale of the Great Ring,
compiled by Bilbo Baggins from his own observations and the accounts of his friends.
What we did in the War of the Ring.
(as seen by the Little People; being the memoirs of Bilbo and Frodo of the Shire,
supplemented by the accounts of their friends and the learning of the Wise.)
Together with extracts from Books of Lore translated by Bilbo in Rivendell.
The book contained Bilbo's translations of Elven legends from the Elder Days, and various Hobbit poems. A lot of background information on the realms of Arnor, Gondor, and Rohan was added to it by Peregrin Took and Meriadoc Brandybuck from their contacts in Rohan and Gondor. Other material was provided by King Elessar.
After Bilbo and Frodo left for Valinor, the Red Book passed into the keeping of Samwise Gamgee, the Mayor of the Shire. The book was left in the possession of Sam Gamgee's eldest daughter, Elanor Fairbairn, and her descendants (the Fairbairns of the Towers or Warden of Westmarch).
The original book was formed from Bilbo's private diary and attached to it, in a single red case, were three large volumes bound in red leather. There was a fifth volume containing commentaries, genealogies, and various other matter concerning the hobbit members of the Fellowship. Several copies, with various notes and later additions, were made and copies were passed on to future generations, of which one, the "Thain's Book", is the most important.
The "original" version of the Red Book contained the story of Bilbo's journey as it originally stood: thus, Gollum willingly gives the One Ring to Bilbo, and there is no trace of the Ring's hold over Gollum. Later copies of the Red Book contained, as an alternative, also the true account (later written in by Frodo), where Bilbo comes across the Ring by accident.
- "But most of all he [Tolkien] found delight in the Fairy Books of Andrew Lang, especially the Red Fairy Book, for tucked away in its closing pages was the best story he had ever read. This was the tale of Sigurd who slew the dragon Fafnir: a strange and powerful tale set in the nameless North."
- ― J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography
Tolkien's inspiration for this repository of lore was the real Red Book of Hergest, the early 15th century compilation of Welsh history and poetry that contains the manuscript of the Mabinogion. Bound (and rebound) in red leather, in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, the manuscript was well known to Tolkien.
In the first edition of The Fellowship of the Ring, Tolkien's foreword claimed he had translated the Red Book from the original Westron into English, and it therefore must be supposed that copies of the book survived throughout several Ages.
Portrayals in adaptations
2001: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring:
- In the extended edition, Bilbo is writing in the book (working on the prologue) in Bag End. It reappears in Rivendell, where he shows it to Frodo.
2003: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King:
- Frodo entrusts the book to Samwise just before he leaves Middle-earth.
2012: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey:
- As part of the framing of the movie, Bilbo starts the writing of the book.