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Drop the bomb? Eat seaweed

The following is an excerpt from Susun Weed’s Healing Wise. It may come in handy, in a world where the government seems to be having nukes on their mind.

Workers at Swedish nuclear power plants eat seaweed to reduce and eliminate their absorption of strontium 90, a radioactive element. Research at McGill University finds that alginic acid, one of the main components of seaweed, binds with radioactive strontium to form strontium alginate, an insoluble compound, which is rapidly eliminated from the gastro-intestinal tract, reducing the absorption of strontium 90 by fifty to ninety percent. Strontium 90, released in nuclear accidents as well as in the running of nuclear power plants, has a high affinity for calcium. When released into the air, it is easily concentrated in calcium-rich foods such as milk (including mother's milk) and leafy greens. Eat these contaminated foodstuff and the radioactivity, now combined with calcium, enters the bone marrow where it can damage delicate immune and blood cells. Consistently eating seaweed helps eliminate any radioactive particles already absorbed, repairs damage to the bone marrow, and prevents further absorption of strontium 90. Fucoidan and algin, components of brown seaweeds, diminish blood levels of lead in animal studies. Seaweeds have been shown to remove mercury, cadmium, lead, barium, tin and other heavy metals from tissue, according to the Marine Technology Society.
review, books

The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill

Today I finished reading The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, a book about the author’s time with a flock of wild parrots in San Francisco. The book has its ups and downs, becoming boring at times with the attention payed to the parrots’ every action, but, overall, it’s a good read.

Bug Juice

MutantFest served as my testing ground for Good Natured Earthling’s bug spray, made by my soap teacher. I was surprised how well it worked. During my whole time in the Forest, I was bit only once, and that was before I broke out the bug juice in the evening.

I highly recommend picking up a bottle.

herb, review, books, survival, bushcraft

Healing Wise

Wise Woman Herbal: Healing Wise is an excellent book written by Susun Weed, one of those shifty feminist witches. She begins the book with an examination of what she sees as the three different healing methods: the scientific method (who’s motto is “your body is a machine, you broke it, and now must be punished” and who’s symbol is a line), the heroic method (who’s motto is “you broke the rules and must suffer the consequences, repent” and who’s symbol is a circle), and the wise woman method (who’s motto is “accept the illness and learn what good it has to offer” and who’s symbol is a spiral).

After analyzes the three methods and their healing practices in depth, she moves on to describing 7 herbs – common weeds that can be found in the crack of any sidewalk, in any city – but she doesn’t just devote a page or two to each. Instead, each “green ally” receives special devotion in its own chapter, and she introduces and teaches about them in wonderfully unique ways.

Obviously the book is written from the female perspective, for the female, but, as a male, I didn’t find that hindered the book for me in any way. (Though it does show how even the most seemingly free-thinking people can be boxed in by our culture and it’s duality, but that’s another discussion).

I highly recommend the book for everyone. Even if you have little interest in herbs or healing, this is a book to have on your shelve for battling the common cold. No id check required.

herb, review, books, survival, bushcraft

From Earth to Herbalist

Gregory Tilford’s From Earth to Herbalist, which I purchased with my herbal kit, is an herbal field guide that “challenges us to reconsider our roles as herbalists, to go beyond health care consultant, medicine-maker, wildcrafter, and gardener/farmer to become earth-steward”. It combines the two roles of field guide and medical resource in one book that has managed to show me a new, “earth-conscious” way of looking at plants.

Reading it at MutantFest, all I had to do was simply adjust my gaze in order to locate most of the plants mentioned in the book. A great learning experience.

I recommend the book for anyone interested in herbal medicine.

When Hippies Turn to Cyber Terror

http://blog.wired.com/27BStroke6/index.blog?entry_id=1539952

Last February the Department of Homeland Security oversaw a large-scale international cyber terror simulation involving 115 public and private organizations in the U.S., Canada, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, all testing their ability to coordinate with one another and respond to computer-driven attacks. It was called Cyber Storm. Nobody's said much about the results, or the details of the exercise scenario. But a newly-published DHS PowerPoint presentation on the exercise reveals that the real terrorist threat in cyber space isn't from obvious suspects like al Qaida types or Connecticut voters; it's from anti-globalization radicals and peace activists. The attack scenario detailed in the presentation is a meticulously plotted parade of cyber horribles led by a "well financed" band of leftist radicals who object to U.S. imperialism, aided by sympathetic independent actors. At the top of the pyramid is the Worldwide Anti-Globalization Alliance, which sets things off by calling for cyber sit-ins and denial-of-service attacks against U.S. interests. WAGA's radical arm, the villainous Black Hood Society, ratchets up the tension on day one by probing SCADA computerized control systems and military networks, eventually (spoiler warning) claiming responsibility for a commuter rail outage and the heat going out in government buildings. The Black Hoods are a faction of Freedom Not Bombs, whose name is suspiciously similar to the real Food Not Bombs, which provides vegan meals to the homeless. ...

I always knew Food Not Bombs was really a front for Harrison Ford’s 37337 band of h@x0rs. Free food? They must be devil worshipers.

Anonymous Searching

Scroogle is a nice tool. No cookies, no logs, no worries concerning leaks. But is it too much to ask for a stylesheet? Google presents results in such a clean, organized way. Scroogle is just ugly.

The majority of my searching I do via Google, accessing it only through Tor and denying it cookies. This is undoubtedly an anonymous way to search, but is ruined by Google’s attempt to please. Because of my shifting IP, I rarely every reach Google.com, but am instead redirected to Google.de, Google.fr, Google.it, or some other. Without cookies, the “Google.com in English” button does nothing.

Results tend to be the same, and in English, with the exception of other language sites receiving higher placement than they would on Google.com, but I can’t use the spell-check feature, the dictionary feature, or any of those other little conveniences.

Anyone have any suggestions for another search method?

Update: Good timing

herb, health

Lemon Balm Tincture

I’ve an abundance of dried Lemon Balm hanging around, so last night I decided to tincture 2/3 of it. Trouble is, none of my books contained alcohol percentages or ratios for the herb. Google seemed to think that 100 proof alcohol would be fine, but couldn’t come to a conclusion as to the ratio. Some sites said 1:1, some 1:4, and still others claimed 1:5.

The most important part of tincturing, I’ve been taught, is that the herb is completely covered for the first two weeks. I made my measurements to use the 1:5 ratio, but, to cover everything, ended up with a mixture closer to 1:16. Let’s hope it turns out.

In one and a half moon cycles, it will be ready for use – calming nervous systems, fighting fever, helping digestion, and even combating herpes (hey, you never know).