Wow, is it staying blue in the sun? It sure is a lovely plant. But then, at your latitude, the sun rays are more oblique than here. Not quite as deadly. What a difference a degree can make....lalala ....and the sun and the flowers.... ...where there ought to be rain..... Gesila, wear a hat when you go out in the noonday sun. Like they say, only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in it. :)

OH, Doug, I read it quite well and it does not support or agree with the study you posted. In fact the link I posted states the following, amongst other things about selenium but it doesn't say what you posted. "Goggins says the key to selenium supplementation is not taking too much, though. He recommends women take 50-60 mcg a day to raise levels to the ideal range, and men 100 mcg. However, it is difficult to buy selenium pills at such low levels, so the authors suggest finding a good brand (e.g. Solgar Yeast Bound Selenium, 100 mcg) and breaking the tablet in half, or taking one tablet every other day." Now you said the following "his landmark research effort showed that daily supplementation of diets with 200 micrograms of selenium yeast cut the cancer death rate in half." Now, who didn't read a link? I'm not going to play tit for tat with you. You can post all you want till the cows come home. There is no regulation of any kind in supplements, especially ones that are obtained from out of the country, manufactured out of the country and brought into this country. There is a place for some alternative treatments, but those that you are advocating, well, they are suspect to say the least. No one, especially me ever said that our health care system is the best. As a matter of fact, I support a universal health care system, not what we have now or even the Affordable Health care act, that was passed. but that is far better than what we have had. Nothing is perfect and no matter how hard one tries, there will always be such things as infections in hospitals, deaths from medications and it is an unfortunate fact. There is no possible way to test any medication for 100% safety. That can only come once it has passed the testing that the FDA requires and then the medication is widely used by the general public and done so over quite a number of years. Then and only then, will some possible side effects start to show up that could not be found unless there is mass use of the particular drug. That isn't defense of big pharma, that is a fact. When testing is done on a limited number of people, for example 5000 people, the side effects of that drug can appear to be very safe, or as safe as can be determined. When the same drug is then widely used and more than 150,000 people use that same drug, then various side effects can start to show up that where not seen before. and yes, sometimes, factual information is kept from the FDA until it is too late and people have died that would have not died if big pharma told the truth. There is also something called the "risk benefit ratio" that is used in prescribing medications and how doctors and their patients make decisions on when to use a particular medication and when not to. Unless you are in a position to have to decide something based on that "risk/benefit ratio", you don't know what you might or might not do, decide to use or not use and whether you are willing to take the risk that the medication that might save you life, could give you a life to live and function in could also kill you, that procedure, treatment, test could be that last you ever have or it could give you a new lease on life. Believe me, from personal experience, those are very, very hard decisions to make, scary ones to make, and yet I've made them more than once, and I'm here posting on this thread because of those choices. On the other hand, there are people that made the same choice I did, and they are not alive to talk about it. Your idea of supplements, vitamins, minerals etc, they come from all over, have been found to be contaminated with lead, and various other contaminants that have the potential if not the outright ability to kill those that take that brand; and that is because there is nothing, no regulations, no US agency that is responsible for making sure these imports are safe. They just come into this country and are popped right on the shelf of stores to sell and it's the buyer beware of what you are taking and what is contained or not contained in the bottle. There have been many cases where the dose was way to high or way lower than the bottle claimed. Any why? because no one checks them, no one regulates them, no one is responsible for them. make all the claims you want, it still doesn't change the facts, dosing with vitamins, minerals, various supplements have overall been proven to be a waste of money, not safe and the few that have a benefit or might have a benefit are being sold in way to high doses to be safe.

I found this interesting: __________________________ Man, Environment And Life Expectancy By Edward Grimsley In the beginning, the air and all the rivers, lakes, and oceans were clean and pure. And darkness was upon the face of the deep much of the time. Man spent most of his time looking for food and shelter, and shivering, clothing made from fig leaves not being very warm. Finally, he learned that animals were useful not only as food but also to provide clothing and shelter, since their pelts and hides could be used for cloaks and tents and so forth. He became a hunter and hunted all the time without a twinge of remorse, since there was no animal-rights movement to tell him he was doing wrong. So he roamed the earth, searching for food and shelter, breathing the pure air and drinking the pure water. He had plenty of room to roam, for the Earth was not crowded in those pristine and prehistoric days. The average life span, you see, was only 18 years. Man limited his activity to the daylight hours, of course, since he had no light strong enough to dispel the darkness that covered the face of the deep several hours of each day. He was in bed by sundown, which means that he spent much of his short life in unconscious sleep. Over the centuries, life changed. Man discovered the fire, which provided heat and light. True, it burned forests, and occasionally human beings, but people decided the advantages of fire more than offset its dangers. Through the years, more and more people began to live in permanent villages, towns, and cities. They dumped their garbage into the streets and nearby streams and rivers. Thus they invented pollution. And life expectancy rose, reaching 30 years by Roman Times. Man continued to develop and change. Eventually he invented candles. Then he discovered that lamps fueled by oil, from whatever source, produced stronger light than candles. Since whales were a good sourced of lamp oil, people killed a lot of whales in those days. But there was less darkness upon the face of the deep. People could even see to read at night. Hardly anyone spoke out in defense of whales. In the 18th and 19th centuries, man moved into the Industrial Age. This featured factories that filled the air with black smoke and poured new pollutants into the rivers and lakes. Man breathed poison 24 hours a day. His live expectancy jumped to about 40 years.

xamsx-I would rely on the re agent for that. When I purchased this house, I hadn't sold my other home yet-she handled that sale/purchase for me as well. Even though I was only 35 minutes from the other house, she kept a close eye on things. She is pretty good like that-and its a good thing because we ran out of oil, and she let me know before the pipes froze in the dead of winter. chisue-thanks for the good wishes. Yes, there are difficulties that adoptive families deal with that other people would never even think of. My children are not of a matching race as my husband and myself. They are biological brother and sister, both are 3/4 Samoan, and 1/4 African American (picture the wrestler/star "The Rock"-my son looks exactly like him). Their biological mother did not take care of herself during her pregnancy, and did not abstain from doing certain things that anyone who wishes to have healthy children should abstain from while pregnant. My children are paying for those choices now. But they are doing great, and we are a happy family. This is something that would be difficult for any family to have to deal with. Unfortunately, I can't explain to a child that only wants daddy that because of money issues she can't be with him. But-we will be together sooner then I thought if this inspection comes through ok. It will be next Saturday-so basically I am keeping my fingers crossed that whatever should happen will be the best thing for us. Whether the inspection goes well-or doesnt thats the way it was meant to be. On a good note, the 30 year fixed mortgage that we went for on this house is coming with a 5 and a 1/4 percent interest rate-and we are paying 3 points. I am really happy about that.