I am home again because I moved to Syracuse, NY to attend college at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and because of the pain (being “treated” mind you) I could not keep up in my classes.  I attempted to hold out because this was my dream.  I was only making things worse by ending each semester with horrible grades and unfinished assignments due to time off and/or my inability to write, take notes,  read for long periods of time, and sit at a desk for hours on end…let alone getting there on a bus, lugging around all my books, trying to sit through lectures, and getting home on the bus.

I get to a place many many times where I feel helpless, hopeless and like life will never be worth living for me again (this is while being “treated”).  I am a resilient person and have been able to bounce back each time only to find myself in this place again where I feel dark, alone, and like giving up (my life).

I am 30 years old, on disability, and trying to survive for the last 10 years on $780 a month.  I am ALWAYS only JUST making ends meet.  So on top of the physical pain there is the stress of everyday expenses, not having money to just relax and have fun, and I am always pinching pennies.  When I don’t act frugally I suffer greatly from backed-up bills, lack of rent, etc.

I am also a recovering addict.

I had a few relapses over the last year after over 4 years clean.  I used from the time I was 15ish starting with marijuana and alcohol and I progressed and “graduated” to other drugs from there.  I am one of those addicts who TRULY believes I was born with this disease.  Since the day I was born I struggled and suffered emotionally and spiritually, feeling like I was alone, there was no one like me, I was going to live and die this way and no one cared or could see.  I also grew up in a situation where there was addiction and mental health constantly causing more than just minor problems in my life which only lead to more feelings of abandonment, betrayal and despair.

I felt EVERY emotion as raw as it could be felt, I took everything personally and I turned it ALL inward just hoping someday someone would magically become aware of the fucking hell I was existing in and take me away or fix me.  But then, I found drugs.  This did the trick for awhile and I even had “friends”.  This is not about the drugs though today so we will skip all of this.

I found recovery, was doing work on myself inwardly and learning to trust people, recognizing I was NOT alone and it was NOT the end of the world.  I was also dealing with chronic pain.  The fucked up shit I’m feeling today is that while everyone is telling me More Will Be Revealed, and Give it To God, and talking about the journey inwards (and wanting with all my heart to believe this)…I was held back by my constant struggle to find a solution for the daily suffering I was experiencing due to chronic pain.  To me, there was no hope, there were no solutions…sure I could be all peachy on the inside, get right with God, learn to make good decisions…and I even believe there is a Higher Power that can help fill the void I feel without the drugs in my life that I still to this day try and fill with a man to make me feel good, or busy-work, or drama.  I honestly DO believe that.

It ALWAYS comes back to this though.  I can pray my little fucking ass off, work towards solutions for the pain, see doctors, follow the right routes, be doing stepwork, staying away from vices, help newcomers, do service work, feel hope in OTHER areas of my life even sometimes feel some preliminary hope in this area, practice patience…but I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT THERE IS A HIGHER POWER WHO, BECAUSE I ALL OF A SUDDEN DECIDE TO LIVE RIGHT AND WITH ALL THE OTHER SUFFERING IN THE WORLD, WILL TAKE AWAY THE PHYSICAL PAIN THAT HAS STOLEN MY LIFE, MY HOPE, MY HAPPINESS, AND ANY CHANCE I EVER HAVE OF MOVING ON WITH MY LIFE NO MATTER WHAT ELSE I WORK ON OR HOW RIGHT WITH GOD AND THE WORLD I AM.

I get it, ok??  I am powerless.  People telling me  these things that they CANNOT identify with DOES NOT HELP!  Hello!!!!  Remember being in rehab and how it felt to have a non-addict therapist TRY and empathize with you??  It tells us in our own literature that the most powerful weapon we have…for addiction…is another recovering addict!!

So…what is a girl to do?????  Is there virtue in the fact that I suffer and have (sarcastic cutesy smiley faces, rainbows, and puppies attached) “FAITH” that everything will be ok.  Faith with the knowledge of no solution from that faith according to my own evidence and the LACK of evidence I see in other people in this area…is a lie.  Does it make me a better person to “accept” my lot in life when secretly I would rather die than to accept that the best possible life I could hope for for myself and now my unborn child is a spirited woman with so many dreams settling for $780 a month and no prospect of ever completing college or working in a meaningful job??

So uh…YEAH I want to use drugs, or men, or anything to make me feel good.  YEAH I am angry, resentful, and self-seeking…STILL.  YEAH I get how it is SO easy to place denial as a protection in front of those things that make “it all go away”, if even only for a moment (cause sometimes it TRULY is better than it not going away at all).  Yeah I get how I will justify the FUCK out of the things I do.  YEAH at this point in my life…AGAIN… I do not want to live or die.

And then, check this out, I also have a conscience that makes doing these things once I am aware of them impossible or painful if I cannot stop.  I also have a stubborn and very WILLFUL desire to, no matter what, live the BEST possible life I can live by doing what is right, not hurting other people or myself and following God’s will!!!!!

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?????????????  WHAT IS THAT JOKE ALL ABOUT???  WHAT A HORRIBLE FUCKING DISEASE!!!!!!!!!!!

Information included in the link above to contact your members of Congress!!!!

Leading environmental officials at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and in California agree: ethanol made from sugarcane is an ideal renewable fuel that can help reduce greenhouse gases while diversifying America’s energy resources. EPA has designated sugarcane ethanol as an Advanced Renewable Fuel – an important category of superior biofuels that, along with cellulosic biofuels and others, will make up 21 billion gallons of America’s fuel supply by 2022. This is equal to about 15% of today’s gasoline market. In California, the state’s air regulators have classified sugarcane ethanol as a “low-carbon” fuel that will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the state’s transportation sector.

What is it about sugarcane ethanol that makes the fuel so environmentally friendly?

• Renewable – Sugarcane ethanol, unlike coal or oil, is produced from sugarcane plants that grow back year after year.
• Sustainable – Since sugarcane only needs to be replanted every five to seven years – as a semi-perennial crop it can be harvested without uprooting the plant, its cultivation has less impact on the soil and surrounding environment. Learn more about sustainable sugarcane agriculture in Brazil.
• Energy-Intensive – Sugarcane is highly efficient in converting sunlight, water and CO₂ into stored energy.  Sugarcane produces seven times more energy compared to corn when used in ethanol production.
• Lower Carbon Emissions – Compared to gasoline, sugarcane ethanol cuts greenhouse gases by more than 60%. That’s better than any other liquid biofuel produced today in large quantities.

In addition to these significant environmental benefits, sugarcane ethanol also is more affordable compared to other alternatives. That’s why many observers point to sugarcane ethanol as a good option for diversifying U.S. energy supplies, increasing healthy competition among biofuel manufacturers and improving America’s energy security.

Some of the 2010 changes include:

Balancing Calories

• Enjoy your food but eat less
• Avoid oversized proportions

Foods To Increase

• Make half your plates fruits and vegetables
• Make at least half your grains whole grains
• Switch to fat-free or low-fat milk

Foods To Reduce

• Compare sodium levels in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals
• Drink water instead of sugary drinks

Food Groups

Grains

Any food made from wheat, rice, oats, cornmeal, barley or another cereal grain is a grain product. Bread, pasta, oatmeal, breakfast cereals, tortillas, and grits are examples of grain products.

Whole Grains -

Whole grains contain the entire grain kernel ― the bran, germ, and endosperm.

Refined Grains -

Refined grains have been milled, a process that removes the bran and germ. This is done to give grains a finer texture and improve their shelf life, but it also removes dietary fiber, iron, and many B vitamins.  Most refined grains are enriched. This means certain B vitamins (thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid) and iron are added back after processing. Fiber is not added back to enriched grains. Check the ingredient list on refined grain products to make sure that the word “enriched” is included in the grain name. Some food products are made from mixtures of whole grains and refined grains.

SECRET!!!:

Don’t be fooled by the”wheat” breads that do not say 100% whole grains somewhere on the package.  Caramel coloring is added to the bread to give it the wheat coloring.  They are technically allowed to call it “wheat bread” because…even white bread is wheat.

Vegetables

Any vegetable or 100% vegetable juice counts as a member of the Vegetable Group. Vegetables may be raw or cooked; fresh, frozen, canned, or dried/dehydrated; and may be whole, cut-up, or mashed.

Dark Green Vegetables

Dark green leafy vegetables provide many essential vitamins and minerals your body needs, such as vitamin A, vitamin C, and calcium.  In addition, they are also a wonderful way to get the fiber your body needs. The darker the leaves, the more nutrients the vegetable usually has.

bok choy
broccoli
collard greens
dark green leafy lettuce
kale
mesclun
mustard greens
romaine lettuce
spinach
turnip greens
watercress

Starchy Vegetables

Starchy vegetables are healthy, but they are higher in carbohydrate than other vegetables and they have more calories.

cassava
corn
fresh cowpeas, field peas, or black-eyed peas (not dry)
green bananas
green peas
green lima beans
plantains
potatoes
taro
water chestnuts

Red and Orange Vegetables

Red- Contains nutrients like lycopene, ellagic acid, Quercetin, and Hesperidin.  These nutrients reduce the risk of prostate cancer, lower blood pressure, reduce tumor growth and LDL cholesterol levels, scavenge harmful free-radicals, and support join tissue in arthritis cases.

Orange (and Yellow)- Contain beta-carotene, zeaxanthin, flavonoids, lycopene, potassium, and vitamin C. These nutrients reduce age-related macula degeneration and the risk of prostate cancer, lower LDL cholesterol and blood pressure, promote collagen formation and healthy joints, fight harmful free radicals, encourage alkaline balance, and work with magnesium and calcium to build healthy bones.

acorn squash
butternut squash
carrots
hubbard squash
pumpkin
red peppers
sweet potatoes
tomatoes
tomato juice

Beans and Peas

Legumes which are high in protein value, although their proteins are not regarded as having sufficient amounts of the amino acids required by the human body, and should, therefore, not be used as the sole source of protein foods. They are of high caloric value and they make some contributions to the mineral and vitamin content of the dietary. Peas are relatively high in vitamin A content, which is associated with many physiological functions, notably growth and dark adaptation. Both beans and peas, particularly soy beans, are good sources of vitamin B₁, which is the anti-neuritic vitamin enjoying such wide attention at the present time.

black beans
black-eyed peas (mature, dry)
garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
kidney beans
lentils
navy beans
pinto beans
soy beans
split peas
white beans

Other Vegetables

Here is a link for the nutritional value of specific vegetables.

Fruits

Here is a link for the nutritonal value of specific fruits.

Dairy

All fluid milk products and many foods made from milk are considered part of this food group. Most Dairy Group choices should be fat-free or low-fat. Foods made from milk that retain their calcium content are part of the group. Foods made from milk that have little to no calcium, such as cream cheese, cream, and butter, are not. Calcium-fortified soymilk (soy beverage) is also part of the Dairy Group.

*Selection Tips

Choose fat-free or low-fat milk, yogurt, and cheese. If you choose milk or yogurt that is not fat-free, or cheese that is not low-fat, the fat in the product counts against your maximum limit for “empty calories” (calories from solid fats and added sugars).

If sweetened milk products are chosen (flavored milk, yogurt, drinkable yogurt, desserts), the added sugars also count against your maximum limit for “empty calories” (calories from solid fats and added sugars).

For those who are lactose intolerant, smaller portions (such as 4 fluid ounces of milk) may be well tolerated. Lactose-free and lower-lactose products are available. These include lactose-reduced or lactose-free milk, yogurt, and cheese, and calcium-fortified soymilk (soy beverage). Also, enzyme preparations can be added to milk to lower the lactose content. Calcium-fortified foods and beverages such as cereals, orange juice, rice milk, or almond milk may provide calcium, but may not provide the other nutrients found in dairy products.

Protein Foods

All foods made from meat, poultry, seafood, beans and peas, eggs, processed soy products, nuts, and seeds are considered part of the Protein Foods Group. Beans and peas are also part of the Vegetable Group.  Select a variety of protein foods to improve nutrient intake and health benefits, including at least 8 ounces of cooked seafood per week. Young children need less, depending on their age and calories needs. The advice to consume seafood does not apply to vegetarians. Vegetarian options in the Protein Foods Group include beans and peas, processed soy products, and nuts and seeds. Meat and poultry choices should be lean or low-fat.

*Selection Tips

Choose lean or low-fat meat and poultry. If higher fat choices are made, such as regular ground beef (75 to 80% lean) or chicken with skin, the fat counts against your maximum limit for empty calories (calories from solid fats or added sugars).
If solid fat is added in cooking, such as frying chicken in shortening or frying eggs in butter or stick margarine, this also counts against your maximum limit for empty calories (calories from solid fats and added sugars).
Select some seafood that is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, trout, sardines, anchovies, herring, Pacific oysters, and Atlantic and Pacific mackerel.
Processed meats such as ham, sausage, frankfurters, and luncheon or deli meats have added sodium. Check the Nutrition Facts label to help limit sodium intake. Fresh chicken, turkey, and pork that have been enhanced with a salt-containing solution also have added sodium. Check the product label for statements such as “self-basting” or “contains up to __% of __”, which mean that a sodium-containing solution has been added to the product.
Choose unsalted nuts and seeds to keep sodium intake low.

Related Articles

• What are the function of seven basic foods (wiki.answers.com)
• Why you should read nutrition labels between the lines (theglobeandmail.com)
• 100+ Nutrition Facts About 25 Well-Known Foods (imaginethespirit.wordpress.com)
• The Whole Grain, Multi-Grain, 12-Grain Game (self.com)
• Food Pyramid Changes to Food Plate (friendseat.com)
• Why Are Whole Grains Better? (fitnesstroop.com)
• MyPlate: The USDA’s New Food Group Symbol (psfk.com)
• How to Apply “My Plate” (diabloclinicalresearch.wordpress.com)
• Body Blog: Peace Out (Food) Pyramid (collegecandy.com)
• Food Pyramid Gets a Face-Lift with New MyPlate (healthnews.ediets.com)

If there is a Web of Trust warning there will be a photo of the Web of Trust Scorecard and a link to read the comments people left about why they gave it such a bad warning.

What is Web of Trust you ask??

Web of Trust is the leading website reputation rating tool and one of Mozilla’s most popular add-ons. Our safe surfing tool uses an intuitive traffic-light style rating system to help you see which websites are trusted when you search, surf and shop online.

WOT ratings are powered by a global community of millions of trustworthy users who have rated millions of websites based on their experiences. The WOT add-on provides reputation ratings to search results when you use Google, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo!, Bing, Wikipedia and other popular sites, helping you protect your computer and personal information. Your online email account – Google Mail, Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail is also protected.

Here is the link to add it on to your Mozilla Firefox Browser:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/wot-safe-browsing-tool/

If it has not been rated yet, or they have been tricky and are hiding under the general “facebook apps” links, I will just put a picture and a description as to the issue.

fb5.apps.friendsy.us

Friend Buzz is the general name that this app lies under.  What it looks like on your wall is this:

Here is another app from Friend Buzz with bad ratings:

The ratings for this are the worst in every category.  Here is the link to WOT:

http://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/fb5.apps.friendsy.us

So in general, just don’t add anything having to do with Friend Buzz.

Fun in Your Name – (Created Via-> Http://apps.facebook.com/fun)

About the Developer:  Senang Solutions specialized in Internet Social Networking Applications.

Developer Name:  www.senang-solutions.com

It is difficult to find a rating on Web of Trust.  Here is some info I found at this website:

http://www.spotnblog.com/facebook-scam-fun-in-your-name/

“Do not install the following Facebook App: Fun in Your Name! by – Senang Solutions specialized in Internet Social Networking Applications.

This App is what you call Likejacking, a form of clickjacking, is a malicious technique of tricking users of a website into posting a Facebook status update for a site they did not intentionally mean to “like”.

Stay away from these kind of “like” comments or Apps, because the people behind it earns loads of money on you being stupid. In worst case you will end of with a Malware infected PC.”

More info about clickjacking:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clickjacking

Warning about Likejacking:

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/likejacking_takes_off_on_facebook.php

How to avoid Likejacking:

http://techie-buzz.com/social-networking/avoid-likejacking-clickjacking.html

socialappsmail.com

Friend Rank or 20 Top Friends

Also developed Top Loves and probably some others

Here are some photos of what they look like on your wall and requesting permission.  NOTE HOW MUCH INFO THEY WANT FOR SUCH AN INSIGNIFICANT APP!!!

Here is the Web of Trust Ranking for this developer in general:

Link to the rating:

http://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/socialappsmail.com

Here is a link to this developer’s fucked up Privacy Policy:

http://www.socialappsmail.com/privacy-policy

Info on Stalker Apps -

These are the apps in which you are promised to be shown who looks at your profile the most. First of all, if you have clicked on these you are so gullible your mama should have just shoved you back in rather than expose the world to your stupidity. Here is a link for info about these:

http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2011/01/those-facebook-stalker-apps-they-dont-work-so-avoid-them.ars

Beware the following messages and/or wall postings from Facebook friends:

Example #1:

I’ve just seen who checks me out the most here on Facebook! You can see who stalks you too!

http://todayurl.com/stalker

Example #2:

I just saw who STALKS me here on Facebook. You can see who creeps around your profile too!

http://todayurl.com/stalker

Example #3:

I just saw who CREEPS around my pics the most here on Facebook. You can see who stalks you too!

http://todayurl.com/stalker

These are all variants of the same scam. If you click on the link, you’re taken to a page that requests your permission to access private information. If you allow it to do so, the message immediately reposts itself on all your friends’ walls and you’re prompted to fill out a phony questionnaire.

What it won’t do is show you your Facebook “stalkers” or reveal the names of people who’ve visited your Facebook page or viewed your photos. The whole thing is a ruse to trick more people to installing the useless app and clicking through to survey pages.

Then there is the “Slap Myself in the Face for Being So Fucking Stupid” Link that people just have to see:

Girl Killed Herself After Father Posted On Her Wall

I will add more as I find them!! Feel free to pass this note around and tag your idiotic friends who need to see this cause they swear up and down the app is fine. Also, private message me any that YOU find that I have missed.

Update: Although this one is not new I just saw it on a friend’s page.

The Dislike Button

Here is a link with some information about this one:

http://mashable.com/2011/05/17/facebook-dislike-button-scam/

via Scientists cure cancer, but no one takes notice — Health & Wellness — Sott.net.

Full article at above link.

This was something that I did not want to blog about at face value.  I typed the drug name into Google Scholar to see what primary literature I could find on the subject.  Here is some real information I have found:

British Journal of Cancer

http://www.nature.com/bjc/journal/v99/n7/full/6604554a.html

Dichloroacetate (DCA) as a potential metabolic-targeting therapy for cancer

E D Michelakis¹, L Webster¹ and J R Mackey²

The generic drug dichloroacetate is an orally available small molecule that… increases the flux of pyruvate into the mitochondria, promoting glucose oxidation over glycolysis.”

Free Patents Online

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2009/0118370.html

Method of Treating Cancer using Dichloroacetate

Related Articles

• Dichloroacetate and cancer (scienceblogs.com)
• curing cancer the easy and cheap way? (breastcancerblog.wordpress.com)
• The DCA zombie arises again (scienceblogs.com)
• Exploiting the stress response to detonate mitochondria in cancer cells (biosingularity.com)

Send a message to your representative through the above link.

Bills have been introduced that will put you in control of your personal information while online or on your smartphone!

Now we need to get these online privacy bills passed, and we need consumers like you to weigh in. Opposition is expected to be strong, since online tracking of your private information is big business!

This latest bill would require companies to honor your decision if you do not want to be tracked online. And it would hold tracking companies accountable if they go against your wishes. The rules also would apply to smartphones, too.

For several years now, the U.S. Senate has proclaimed the third Friday in May to be Endangered Species Day. This year, the day has extra significance. The Endangered Species Act (the only thing standing between countless species and extinction) has come under unprecedented attack.

To paraphrase John Donne, “No species is an island.” Humans, too, depend on biodiversity and the richness of the web of life. Aldo Leopold, compared the loss of species to “throwing away, one-by-one, the engine parts of an airplane while flying.”

What’s more, the airplane’s facing some serious turbulence. All living things — including humans — face new and daunting challenges in a world where the climate has been disrupted. Habitats are shifting and pressures on species are increasing. You can’t preserve that web of life without also protecting the places it lives. We might think we’re protecting habitat for this or that creature — but in truth we’re doing it for all living things, not least ourselves. That’s the basis for the Sierra Club’s Resilient Habitats campaign, which is working to protect places where plants, animals, and people can survive and thrive.

Full article at above link.

Image via CrunchBase

The idea for this blog entry started this morning after 3 or 4 cups of coffee and 5 episodes of Futurama on Netflix.

I began by creating an event to let all of my friends know about a recent change on Facebook.  I started searching for other things about facebook that I might be unaware of.  I was partly motivated also by the staggering amount of spam and malicious apps and links being posted to my page by friends who are sometimes completely unaware of the posts or unaware that the posts have malicious links.

Here are some things I found:

1.  I Can’t See All My Friends’ Posts

Have you noticed that you are only seeing certain people’s statuses over and over again? I looked this up myself guys so it is not a spam or malicious.

1. At the top of your Homepage (not your profile, your Home Page) it says “Top News” and “Most Recent”.

2. Click on the small arrow (triangle facing down) next to “Most Recent”.

3. Go down to “Edit Options” at the bottom and click on it.

4. A box will pop-up saying “Edit News Feed Settings”

5. The first thing says “Show Posts From:”

6. You can choose either “Friends and Pages You Interact With Most” (if you have commented on, left a message for, wrote on someone’s wall they will show up in your feed, but everyone else will be excluded) or you can choose “All of Your Friends and Pages”.

7. You can also view and change whose (People and Pages and Apps) posts you have previously chose to ignore.

8. By clicking on the arrow you can also choose to only see Game posts, Photos, Statuses, etc.

2.  Check Facebook Privacy with Online Tools

This information comes from: Melvins Inquisitive Mind

Privacy Check - http://www.rabidgremlin.com/fbprivacy/ 

Privacy Check is a nifty app that evaluates your privacy settings and gives you a score out of 21. The details of the score reveal which objects of your Facebook account are publicly accessible.

Privacy Defender - http://apps.facebook.com/privacydefender/

PrivacyDefender is a Facebook application that evaluates your Facebook privacy settings. You need to drag its bookmarklet to your bookmarks toolbar. When you access your Facebook account, click this bookmarklet to evaluate your settings and view which information is viewable by whom.

ReclaimPrivacy – http://www.reclaimprivacy.org/

ReclaimPrivacy is another tool that works similar to PrivacyDefender. You get a bookmarklet which you need to click once you are on your Facebook’s privacy settings page. You privacy settings are evaluated and shown to you.

Zesty Facebook Privacy Checker – http://zesty.ca/facebook/

Zesty Facebook Privacy Checker is a useful tool which takes in your Facebook username. It then displays a comprehensive list of all your Facebook content that is set to public.

Save Face - http://www3.untangle.com/saveface

SaveFace is a simple bookmarklet that evaluates your privacy settings. Unlike the tools mentioned above, it can even restore your settings to friends only. Here is how you use SaveFace:

1. Drag the SaveFace bookmarklet to your bookmarks toolbar.
2. You need to enter your privacy settings, and click on the SaveFace bookmarklet. Your settings will then be reset to “friends only.” This means that only your Facebook friends will be able to view your Facebook contact information, search settings, friends, tags and connections, personal information and posts. SaveFace’s script will take a little time to run, so you will have to be patient.
3. Once the process is through, you can use anyone of the above mentioned tools to verify that your data is set to “friends only.”

3.  One Time Passwords

Facebook is launching one-time passwords to make it safer to use public computers in places like hotels, cafes or airports. If you have any concerns about security of the computer you’re using while accessing Facebook, Facebook can text you a one-time password to use instead of your regular password.

Simply text “otp” to 32665 on your mobile phone, and you’ll immediately receive a password that can be used only once and expires in 20 minutes. In order to access this feature, you’ll need a mobile phone number in your account. We’re rolling this out gradually, and it should be available to everyone in the coming weeks.

4.  Remote Sign Out and Account Settings

The ability to sign out of Facebook remotely is now available to everyone just like what GMail had introduced a while ago. These session controls can be useful if you log into Facebook from a friend’s phone or computer and then forget to sign out. From your Account Settings, you can check if you’re still logged in on other devices and remotely log out.

Under the Account Security section of your Account Settings page you’ll see all of your active sessions, along with information about each session. In the unlikely event that someone accesses your account without your permission, you can also shut down the unauthorized login before resetting your password and taking other steps to secure your account and computer.

When people log in to Facebook, the system will regularly prompt them to keep their security information updated. If you ever lose access to your account, having this information helps Facebook verify who you are and get you back into your account quickly.

I highly recommend the last two steps to be able to keep your account safe at all times.

Looks like Facebook is reacting that we want more control over what we share on Facebook—to manage exactly who sees it and to understand exactly where it goes. But is it going to be enough, all over the internet people are talking about the demise of Facebook but Facebook seems to be appearing in more websites, blogs and journals as the login method or the like button. We need to see how things are going to work out in the next year for Facebook.

Related Articles

• Facebook Privacy: 10 Settings Every User Needs to Know (matthewzavoras.wordpress.com)
• Facebook Pages Are Not Private, But Here’s How To Control Your Privacy Settings (lockergnome.com)
• Hypocritical Facebook scores PR own-goal with sleazy attack on Google privacy (pratyushkp.wordpress.com)
• Social-networking sites face new privacy battle (sfgate.com)
• Optimizing Your Privacy Settings on Facebook (davisconsultingservices.wordpress.com)
• Can I make them stop tagging my photos? (debsanswers.wordpress.com)
• The “Bait And Switch” Of Social Network Privacy Contracts (5min.com)
• Privacy settings on Facebook (e1evation.com)
• Social-networking sites face new privacy battle (sfgate.com)
• Social-networking sites face new privacy battle (seattlepi.com)
• Proposed Law Would Require Social Networks to be Private by Default [NetworkEffect] (networkeffect.allthingsd.com)
• Anatomy of a Facebook Spam: See Who’s Stalking You (wiredpen.com)
• How to keep safe from Facebook scams and spams (mobilegameroids.wordpress.com)

Part 2:

Hope On the Horizon

Alcoholics Anonymous history is relevant to the history of Narcotics Anonymous but we will not re-hash it at length here.  Without AA, there would be no NA.

The Grapevine

The Big Book

In 1939 AA published its Big Book and years later Bill W. (co-founder Bill Wilson) published a series of articles in a periodical called The Grapevine (which still exists today).  These writings brought about the Twelve Traditions:

1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.
2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority—a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
3. The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.
4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole.
5. Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
6. An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
7. Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
8. Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
9. A.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
10. Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.
12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

The formation of AA and the development of the steps and traditions were necessary for the miracle of the formation of NA.

“In a 1954 article in The Saturday Evening Post there is mention of a recovering alcoholic named Houston S who received a job transfer to Kentucky in 1947.  Houston had sobered up in Montgomery, Alabama, AA in 1944.  One of the drunks he tried to help, a man called Harry,was using morphine as well as alcohol.  Although Harry had stopped drinking, he was unable to stop using morphine.  He was eventually arrested and committed to Lexington for mandatory treatment.

When Houston was transferred to a town near Lexington, he was reminded of his friend Harry and his drug problem, and felt that the principles which worked so well for alcoholics in AA could help the addicts.  Houston met with the medical director, Dr. Victor Vogel, and suggested that the AA model may work for addicts as well, offering to help start a group.  On February 16, 1947, the Narco Group, a group of inmates and patients, met for the first time at the Federal Narcotics Farm in Lexington, Kentucky.  One of the addicts who attended these first meetings was an addict named Danny Carlsen” (p. 18).

Obituary for Daniel L. Carlsen

At the same time in 1946 in New York, Dorothy Berry, a brigadier in The  Salvation Army, started working with addicts.  Danny Carlsen, who had been attending meetings of the Narco Group in Lexington was discharged and returned to New York.

In 1948 Danny Carlsen, Dorothy Berry, and Rae Lopez started a group in the NYC Prison System called Narcotics Anonymous.  Danny Carlsen eventually wrote a book called The Addict.

The first meeting outside of a prison took place in 1950 at a YMCA in New York City.  The group developed 13 Steps of their own and never adopted the Traditions:

1. Admit the use of narcotics made my life seem more tolerable but the drug had become an undesirable power over my life.

2. Came to realize that to face life without drugs I must develop an inner strength.

3. Made a decision to face the suffering of withdrawal.

4. Learn to accept my fears without drugs.

5. Find someone who had progressed thus far and who is able to assist me.

6. Admit to the nature and depth of my addiction.

7. Realized the seriousness of my shortcomings as I know them and accept the responsibility of facing them.

8. Admit before a group of NA members these same shortcomings and explain why I am trying to overcome them.

9. List for my own understanding all the persons I have hurt.

10. Take a daily inventory of my actions and admit to myself those that are contrary to good conscience.

11. Realize that to maintain freedom from drugs, I must share with others the experience in which I have benefited.

12. Determine a purpose in life and try with all the spiritual and physical power within me to move toward its fulfillment.

13. God help me.

The book The Junkie Priest was based on Father Daniel Egan, a NYC priest, who served as chaplain for these NA meetings

The group’s structure was similar to that of the Salvation Army.  There was a captain, director, and a chaplain (p. 19).  Besides detoxifying addicts they also worked to find addicts jbs and housing.  This version of NA survived until 1960 in locales where it could be sponsored by the Salvation Army.

The Early Years

Most people in the 1950s were enjoying the postwar boom years, listening to Elvis, watching the tv (a new invention), and living the American Dream.

The “Beat Generation” was a growing group of underground radicals who were anti-authoritarian and were characterized by their use of marijuana and methamphetamines.  They set the stage for the revolution of the youth in the 60s.

“Writers like Jack Kerouac and Alan Ginsberg, reacting against the growing surge of consumer capitalism in the U.S., would set the tone for a later generation’s call to “turn on, tune in, and drop out” (p.21).

In 1951 the Boggs Act and in 1956 the Narcotics Control Act imposed harsher penalties on addicts.

A mass migration of African-Americans from the Southern U.S. and Hispanics from Puerto Rico, the Carribbean Islands, and Central and S. America to northern and western cities occured after WW2. As European immigrants were moving out of the cities, Hispanics and African-Americans were moving in.  They moved into areas with preexisting problems with narcotics addiction and trafficking.  I emphasize preexisting so that no one will misunderstand the true nature of how African-Americans and Hispanics began to get such a bad rap and how wrong it is to assume that they are the problem.  They began replacing the European addict statistically (p. 21).  “Thus, the continuing stigmatization of addicts and their drugs of abuse now even further reflected class and ethnic biases within the community” (p. 21).

Fear of marijuana began in the 30s with movies like Reefer Madness.  People were told that

1936 film Reefer Madness, originally called Tell Your Children

marijuana use would certainly lead to heroin use.  Few measures were taken to treat the increasing use of heroin in post-WW2 America.  For example, Riverside Hospital for adolescent addicts was opened in New York.  It quickly closed after a study showing that less than 3% were abstinent.  This 3% were never even addicted in the first place.  They had been arrested on narcotics charges and chose hospitalization (p. 23).

AA was flourishing on the sidelines and alcoholics were finding sobriety and new lives and recovery in the rooms.  “It was through the hope that was at last being found by the suffering alcoholic that similar hope for addicts would begin to appear” (p. 23).

Related Articles

• Origin of the Twelve Steps (georgehach.wordpress.com)
• We Do Recover: Part 1 (f33dyourhead.wordpress.com)

Jimmy K

Incorporated in Chatsworth, California.  The photos in the book will be hard to reproduce but I will try my best to convey the overall feel of the literature as best I can.

The book is dedicated to the memory of Jimmy K.  “His tireless efforts in the early years of our formulation and growth laid the foundation for our movement (p. 7).”

Old pill bottles

Introduction

There seems to be this alternative: either go on as best we can to the bitter ends – jails, institutions or death – or find a new way to live.  In years gone by, very few addicts ever had this last choice. – Little White Book

In 2007, there were over 25,065 groups holding over 43,900 weekly meetings in 127 countries.  The improbability of such a movement makes the existence of this God-given program an absolute miracle in the lives of suffering addicts.  There was a time in history when there were none to very few options for addicts who wanted to get clean.  Addiction itself, was a crime.  There was a time when it was illegal for addicts to meet together.  The “truth” about an addict was this: “Once an addict always an addict”.

Drug Use Before and In the Twentieth Century

Drug use has been around probably as long as humans have been around.  It has been used for medicinal purposes, for religious rites and practices, and for recreational purposes.

Wine was used at least from the time of the early Egyptians; narcotics from 4000 B.C.; and medicinal use of marijuana has been dated to 2737 B.C. in China. But not until the 19th cent. A.D. were the active substances in drugs extracted (FactMonster.com).

Ancient paraphernalia (Drug Kit)

Andean mummy hair has provided the first direct archaeological evidence of the consumption of hallucinogens in pre-Hispanic Andean populations, according to recent gas chromatography and mass spectrometry analysis.  Indirect evidence for psychoactive drug use in South America’s ancient populations abound, ranging from the discovery of drug equipment to the identification of hallucinogenic herb residuals in snuffing kits.

In Europe, Swiss Alchemist Paracelsus invented laudanum (opium dissolved into liquid form) in 1541.  It became a widespread curative potion.

Hmmmmmm.......

The use of opium became epidemic in 19th century Europe and in America.  It was commonly used in children’s medicine with cute labels such as “Godfrey’s Cordial”, “Munn’s Elixir”, and get this….”Mother Bailey’s Quieting Syrup” (p. 10).

In 1803, a German pharmacist by the name of F. W. Serturner successfully isolated the active ingredient in opium: Morphine.  Morpheus is the Greek God of sleep and dreams.  This is Morphine’s namesake.  The hypodermic was not invented for about another 40 years (p. 10).  The drug was effective and thought to be harmless.  It’s peak use was during the Civil War in which it is estimated that 400,000 morphine addicts were created in the army alone.

Old ad for morphine: apparently accepted for use as a teething aid

We now had patent medicines such as “Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup”, “Darby’s Carminative”, and “Ayer’s Cheery Pectorial” (p. 10).  They were particularly popular with older white women from middle and upper classes.  In 1900 there were an estimated 300,000 opiate-dependent people in the U.S.  At this point the affliction was looked upon with sympathy.  When immigrant’s began to have the same addiction issues these views rapidly changed.  Urban tenements and slums developed, poverty increased and so the poor more often turned to alcohol and narcotics.  Lower-class addicts brought the views on addiction to a new light and addiction was driven into criminality, dereliction, and hopeless despair (p. 10-11).

Criminalization of Addiction

Perhaps the earliest recorded example is the prohibition of the use of alcohol under Islamic law (Sharia), which is usually attributed to passages in the Qur’an dating from the 7th century.

Religious intolerance was a motivation for drug prohibition in Christian Europe. In a move interpreted as support for the efforts of the Spanish Inquisition against the Arabs, in a 1484 fiat Pope Innocent VIII banned the use of cannabis. The persecution of heretics in the form of witch hunts also gathered momentum around this time, and frequently targeted users of medicinal and hallucinogenic herbs. The Inquisition proceeded apace in Meso-America and South America, where peyote (péyotl), ololiúqui, toloáche, teonanácatl and other sacred plants of the Mexican culture were prohibited as works of the devil.

The first law outright prohibiting the use of a specific drug in the United States was a San Francisco ordinance which banned the smoking of opium in opium dens in 1875.  Even though the law prohibited the trafficking of opium, laudanum and other tinctures were allowed to persist in medicinal form.  The distinction between its use by white Americans and Chinese immigrants was thus based on the form in which it was ingested: Chinese immigrants tended to smoke it, while it was often included in various kinds of generally liquid medicines often (but not exclusively) used by people of European descent. The laws targeted opium smoking, but not other methods of ingestion.  This was followed by the Harrison Act, passed in 1914, which required sellers of opiates and cocaine to get a license. While originally intended to require paper trails of drug transactions between doctors, drug stores, and patients, it soon became a prohibitive law.  In 1919, the Supreme Court ruled in Doremus that the Harrison Act was constitutional and in Webb that physicians could not prescribe narcotics solely for maintenance.

Then, of course, we had the Prohibition on alcohol.  Most of us know this story so here is a link if you would like to learn more: Prohibition of Alcohol.

In 1936 the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) noticed an increase of reports of people smoking marijuana, which further increased in 1937. The Bureau drafted a legislative plan for Congress, seeking a new law and the head of the FBN, Harry J. Anslinger, ran a smear campaign against marijuana.  During this particular time frame, the media was swarmed with propaganda regarding the effects of marijuana.

Marijuana Propaganda

Marijuana Propaganda

In 1972, United States President Richard Nixon announced the commencement of the so-called “War on Drugs.” Later, President Reagan added the position of drug czar to the President’s Executive Office.

In 1973, New York State introduced mandatory minimum sentences of 15 years to life imprisonment for possession of more than four ounces (113g) of a so-called hard drug, called the Rockefeller drug laws after New York Governor and later Vice President Nelson Rockefeller. Similar laws were introduced across the United States.

California’s broader ‘three strikes and you’re out‘ policy adopted in 1994 was the first mandatory sentencing policy to gain widespread publicity and was subsequently adopted in most United States jurisdictions. This policy mandates life imprisonment for a third criminal conviction of any felony offense.

After the Harrison Act courts refused to define addiction as a disease.  Addicts were driven underground and were subjected to street violence, diseases, arrests, convictions, and incarcerations.  Dispensing clinics were opened.  in 1919 thirteen municipalities had 44 opiate dispensing clinics aimed at detox or opium maintenance.  The government perceived these as a threat and had them all closed by 1924 (p. 12).  There was another increase in crime.  In 1929 Congress adopted The Porter Act.  Treatment facilities were established finally for addicts.  One was in Lexington, Kentucky and the other was in Fort Worth, Texas.  These were operational in the 30′s.

Lexington, Kentucky

Fort Worth

In the early years they primarily served as prison hospitals for convicted addicts.  Those who entered voluntarily were detoxified.  Treatment included “sweating it out” with hard work on the farm in Kentucky.

We now have employee assistance programs, hospital and residential-based treatment, and 12 step fellowships.  In the 30s and 40s doctors were threatened into not only stopping treatment of addicts but also into reporting them to authorities (p. 13).

William Burroughs' Junkie allows a peak into the limited treatment options available to addicts

At one point it was illegal for any two addicts to be seen together.  Addicts went even further underground where drugs were bought on the black market and the street or to complain of the “right symptoms” to doctors in order to satisfy their needs.

After WW2 addicts were put into two general categories: those addicted to pills, sedatives, barbiturates, laudanum, Demerol, etc.; and “dope fiends”.  The second category more often needed to obtain their drugs through illicit means (p. 16).

Searches, harassment, and incarceration were normal parts of everyday life.  Addicts and doctors who attempted to help them were seen as criminals.  These are the truths of an addict from this time.  We may not fully understand the words spoken by Jimmy K, that very few addicts DID have a choice like we have found today in Narcotics Anonymous.