"If you burn a tree, it doesn't affect the global carbon levels as a tree is only a very brief part of the carbon cycle and the carbon trapped in it would have been soon released as Co2 when the tree died and decayed." This is totally incorrect. There is no CO2 gas trapped in a tree that is released during decay. Gasseous CO2 is taken into a plant through pores on the underside of a leaf. Through the process of photosyntesis a plant uses Chlorophil and Sunlight as a catalyst to combine the Gassesous CO2 and Water (H2O) to form Sugar (C12H22O11). Sugar is the stored form of carbon that is used as a fuel by both human and animal cells and combustion. In fact, combustion itself is merely the oxidation of carbon. Complete combustion, whether it takes place in a human or animan cell or in a fire requires 2.16lbs of oxygen per lb. of carbon. Heat is a byproduct of combustion. As plant matter decays, the sugars, which are the stored form of carbon are concentrated by heat and compression, first into compost, then to Peat, and finally to lignite and bituminous coal (Soft Coal) and with another million or so years of compression, it produces Anthracite or Hard coal. The problem here is that when excess vegatative matter decompose in the earth, they also combine with other elements that are present in the soil. Coal and oil is fundamentally only a concentrated form of plant sugars, however during the compression phase in the soil coal picks up trace amounts of other elements. The worst of which is sulphur. When complete combustion occurs the Hydrogen and carbon in the sugar is transformed by oxidation back into water vapor H2o and Carbon Dioxide which is then recycled back into sugars by plants. The process is never ending. (The presence of sulphur is almost non existant in corn or wood, therefore they do not contribute significantly to acid rain) However, when deep mined fossil fuels, that now contain trace amounts of sulpur are burned, the sulphur combines with oxygen to form suphur dioxide (SO2). The emitted Sulphur-dioxide then combines with water vapor (H2O) to form (H2SO4) sulphuric acid which falls in the form of acid rain. You stated in your post that growing corn is an extremly polluting process,,, AGAIN, TOTALLY UNTRUE.. With the advent of no-till planting and harvesting techniques the average fuel consumption per acre of corn is less than 1/2gal/acre as compared to the national average of 11 to 14 gal/acre to maintain a lawn for the same growing period. (Ref. Ohio State University- Agricultural Extension Service Bulletin) Fertilizer is only applied prior to planting as a preplant subsoil application of anhydrous amonia, and one post emergence application of nitrogen, but only after germination and before the corn plants produce the third leaf on the stalk. The application of fertilizers after the formation of the third leaf will actually yellow the corn and reduce crop yeilds (Again- The Ohio State University -Agricultural Extension Service Bullets on corn production). The applicaton of fertilizer is carefully regulated. Prior to application a farmer is required to perform soil tests and may only apply the absolute minimum necessary to maintain the nitrogen requirement of the specific crop. In no case may more than 10lb/acre per season be applied. By contrast, it is conservatively estimated that the american homeowners apply an average of 35lbs/acre on thier lawns. In fact, after nearly ten years of study the Ohio State University Agricultural extension service has determined that excess nitrate runoff from urban and suburban lawns and gardens is nearly 1000 times greater than the maximum allowable runoff for a farm. While it is easy for everyone to sit in there easy chair and point fingers at industry and agriculture for pollution, the fact is, we need to really monitor what we are discarding as a matter of course. By example, if a truck driver is unloading his trailer and drops a gallon jug of chlorox on the ground, he is required by law to stop and file an EPA hazmat incident report and define the method of cleanup, but once the truckload of chlorox is placed on the grocery shelf every consumer in town can dump gallons down thier drains, in their wells and swimming pools or whatever, without so much as a conscious thought of the outcome. Examine the chemicals under your kitchen sink, in your garage, basement and store room. Now multiply that by how many homes in your community? If any single corporation had that much excess hazardous waste laying around in a warehouse their would be no end to the public outcry. Everyone likes to complain about the electrical utility generating plant, but in truth they are required to constantly monitor their stack emmissions and make instant changes if it gets out of hand, but most homeowners havent a clue as to the combustion effieciency of their furnaces or water heaters.

It's great to hear from you Pooh. Very happy to know that you have your son now. What a blessing for both of you. I'm sure he'll do so much better in school and just in general. Plus, he will be a great help to you at home. I hope they will let your boy have his dog soon. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Good news about your mood lifting too Pooh. I'm sure when you start getting more active again, with the weather warming up, you'll start having better luck with your weight loss. The 4-wheeler sounds like a great choice for you. I can only imagine how much freedom that allows you. Best of luck to you, Cindy and your DS Pooh. Please do check in when ever you feel like it. You are in our thoughts.

No steroids here. My nurse says it is a combination of too many carbs, no exercise, and my pancreas is not producing enough insulin. I have been taking massive doses of insulin. Sometimes up to 50cc. Most times my blood sugar readings have been over 500. My meter only goes up to 500 then it reads HI. A few nights ago it read over 500 so I took 50cc of insulin. Three hours later I took another reading and it was in the high 300's. So I took 30 more units of insulin (80 units total in 3 hours). The next morning my blood sugar reading was 411. I don't know why it went up during the night.

Hi (again) Amer Auto Ass'n. ("A A A" for short) It has, so far ... ... now all I have to do is avoid getting into "scrapes" (or bang-ups) ... ... and I'm good to go for the next two ears. (Dang keyboard - that was supposed to be "years"!). Hope I can keep the equipment between those "ears" - and function, as well - in half decent shape for those two years ...for in recent times increasingly it seems as though I can't remember a darn thing. ole joyfuelled