Stay safe this Halloween

Ward off evil zombies this Halloween with the Emergency Zombie Defense Station!

Happy Halloween from IDRocks

Halloween is fun and games for most of us, but we all tend to forget just how scary it can be for "others". Hopefully this video will shed some light on the Halloween crowd that doesn't have it so good... (note, if you can't see the video go to the website and view it there).

On the lighter side....

So I realize my post yesterday was a bit deep for a lot of us. I sincerely hope I did not offend anyone. If you haven't had a chance yet to check out all of the comments from everyone, definitely check it out and give us your opinion. It was one of the most trafficked posts ever on this blog (which isn't saying much)!

On the lighter side, I thought I would share this modern engineering marvel with you. This was sent in by "Boise Bill" yesterday and something I got quite a kick out of. You guys ready to try this out "Polar Bear Club Style"?!!

NOTE: If you can't see the video below, click on the headline above to be taken to the website where you can see the full post.

What the Cancer Industry does to keep you sick

Pink Ribbons, Months dedicated to "Cancer Awareness", Nightly vigils, and National Advertising campaigns are all parts of what the Cancer industry does to spread its message of hope for those of us who are touched by cancer in some way. The industry perpetually asks you for donations to help cancer research, and pumps Millions and millions of dollars into "research" for pharmaceuticals that may one day "cure" cancer. But what if they are going about it all wrong? What if cancer can't be "cured" in the traditional sense?

There are many out there (like me) who believe the cancer industry has no incentive to help those who have cancer. After all, if they "cured" cancer, where would the money come from? How would thousands of doctors, corporations, Pharmaceutical Sales Reps and Cancer Board of directors make money? The answer is they wouldn't. If people are sick, they make money. If people are well, they don't.

There are many things out there that the cancer industry does NOT WANT YOU TO KNOW. Things like:

1. 70% percent of all cancers can be prevented through simple changes in food and lifestyle. That number is probably conservative, though according to Mike Adams. His own opinion is that 90 percent of all cancers can be prevented through simple food and lifestyle changes. Yet no one in the cancer industry seems interested in teaching any of these strategies to people. In the cancer industry, there is no incentive to teach people how to avoid cancer, because to do so would eliminate a future customer! Billions of dollars in revenue are at stake here, and the cancer industry is banking on the continuation of this disease among the population.

2. Vitamin D supplementation produces an astonishing 77 percent reduction in all cancers in women, making it the single most effective medicine for preventing cancer that has ever been discovered by modern medical science. The American Cancer Society, however, seems stuck in the nutritional dogma of the 1950's and continues to claim that only drugs, radiation and surgery can treat cancer, and that nutritional supplements have no role to play whatsoever in cancer prevention. This view is so out of date that it belongs in a museum of medicine, not on the agenda of an advanced nation. (Stating that vitamin D has no useful role in preventing cancer is as hopelessly outdated as claiming the Earth is flat.)

There are so many other examples of how the corrupt cancer industry does nothing to really help people, and everything to help corporate profits. Unfortunately the vast majority of the American public doesn't seem to notice or care.

Hopefully this post will encourage some of you to actually do some research and open your eyes! Cancer doesn't just happen. Cancer is the result of the society in which we live. Daily exposure to pollution, Genetically Modified Foods, Toxic Chemicals in Foods, Lack of Exercise, Pharmaceuticals, Toxins found in drinking water, chemicals in plastics, toxins in our homes, and MANY more things are what causes cancer.

Click here for a series of articles on Cancer that will change the way you think!

Click here for a list of 18 things that CAUSE cancer and 22 things that PREVENT cancer.

Here is to changing minds and taking control of our health!

Reminder

Hey everyone, just a reminder that the idaho-rocks@googlegroups.com email address is about to be put to sleep on this Blog. Starting tomorrow I will be inactivating the email address and you will only receive updates if you have gone to the site and subscribed either via email or RSS. So, if you haven't already signed up, you can do so now by clicking here and signing up online. Once you enter your email address, you will receive a email in your inbox where you will need to confirm your subscription.

Fire Map Mashup

For those of you following the fire in California, I thought you might be interested in seeing this interactive Google Map. This is a really great example of how the new Web 2.0 environment is really changing how we view the world and interact with each other. You can see from the map just how large the fire has actually become. This would be extremely useful if you were a resident in the area and wanting to know which roads to take, where you can go for shelter, etc...


View Larger Map

So I would like to take some of your time to explain and dispel some of the popular notions about climate change, renewable and sustainable energy, and a couple other things. So I suppose I will start out with a couple phrases that I hear uttered quite often that are really just a bunch of “codswallop”; they have been really becoming annoying because I hear them so often. I will then go on to explain in depth why I think so and do my best to supply you with the real picture. The reason for this is because people need to know what the facts and figures of the matter are, instead of what is spewed out by the media and the countless so called “green” internet sites out there
-“There is a ton of wind, solar, tidal, geo-thermal, energy out there.” Really? A ton of it? Where is it? Take into consideration that the amount of energy humanity, especially Americans consume is pretty huge as well. We need numbers not adjectives to solve this problem. When numbers are usually expressed they are used to shock and awe people that really have no understanding for what they mean; an example of this is a statement like “If Americans used just one roll of recycled toilet paper we would save 30,000 trees, 100,000 gallons of water and keep 20,000 tons of carbon from being dispersed into the atmosphere.” I will try to avoid doing this; which brings me to my next point.
-“Every little bit helps.” I will talk more about this later, but for now chew on this “If everyone does a little, then we will achieve a little.”
- I will also throw in my two cents on what is sustainable and what is renewable; I’ll probably talk about some other stuff too.
Now that you have read that you might be brimming with a little animosity and might be thinking that I think that this whole energy, global warming, climate change debate is a bunch of bull, but that is extremely far from the truth. In my opinion these issues are the most pressing in just not American society, but for the future of humanity as well. We need clean, renewable, sustainable energy now, or better yet we needed it yesterday.
Like I said earlier I would talk about the numbers and I will try to make the numbers as easy to follow as possible, but when dealing with energy you deal with some really big numbers and some rather scientific words. I will be using the kWh to describe most of the energy from here on out so if you are interested in what a kilo-watt hour is then look here; because Wikipedia will be better able to explain it than I (I mean I’m no engineer, hello poly-sci!) I suppose I should talk about what energy is too and the simplest way to do that is that energy= force x change in distance; or energy = force through a distance (E=F x). Power is different from energy in that power is the rate at which energy is being used or power= energy divided by time. Energy is also called work so for example driving your car requires a certain amount of energy, which is constant, the only thing that changes is the rate at which your car uses energy. If I haven’t lost you yet and your ears haven’t started to bleed then you are doing pretty good, if that is not the case then I apologize and you might want to get something to soak up that blood. Do not worry though because physics is over. If you are still curious as to what I am talking about pickup any engineering or physics textbook or look here or better yet here; this is a online text by the author David McKay, this is the same text that I am getting a lot of ideas from, so if you think I’m full of it then I encourage you to check out his book, it is www.Withouthotair.com
With that out of the way I’ll get down to talking about how much we really use. By the way I’m getting these numbers from the Energy Information Administration .
So the U.S in 2006 used about 100 quadrillion BTUs(1 BTU or British Thermal Unit is roughly the equivalent to the amount of energy produced by burning one wooden match1) throughout our entire society. Whoa! That sounds like a huge number and it is so why don’t we shrink it down a little.
100x1015 BTU x 1 kWh x 1 year x 1 person =211 kWh per person/day
4312 BTU 365 days 300 million Americans
That is a much simpler number don’t you think? Now you might be thinking no way! There is no way I use that much in one day. Well maybe you don’t, but this is the average for every American and it includes driving, residential use, industrial use, commercial, transportation such as mass transit and commercial trucking. So now we have a basic yardstick for how much energy a person consumes in a day =211 kWh p/p/d. You have direct control over roughly a third of this through your choices when driving or at home. The rest of the energy usage comes from industial, commercial, transportation and electrical generation(thats right you have to use energy to get energy, that is another one of the major problems with coal and petroleum) I suppose I could go and talk about how each sector consumes energy, but that would be going into minutea and I don't have time to do that. So just be happy with the yardstick number or better yet go look it up yourself.

Originally I was going to write about everything in one long blog post, but that would be one very long post and you would get bored with reading about the subject. Plus I've got other things to do right now as well, damn logic class, it is neither logical nor classy! Never fear though I will be back to finish what I've started. I'll get into the good stuff about renewable energy, wind, solar, hydro, etc. It is all such a interesting subject that has such a division between smart people, that is why we need numbers not adjectives to really talk about energy.

Kulgogi Graduation

Kulgogi graduated from puppy school tonight-even though she jumped on the bed- and she did more than just graduate; she was the valevictorian of the class! Needless to say Jennifer and I are very proud of her; oh yeah so is Scout. Now that Kulgogi has an education she can get a good job and not be a cesspool upon society!

Take the News into your own hands

After my last post, I received a bunch of emails from co-workers on the topic. More or less, everyone had their own opinion which is a great thing. Everyone played nice and respected others opinions. That is the point here in America - A national dialog. Not just huge media organizations which cater to either the left or the right. Big Media seems more about spreading disinformation lately as opposed to really helping American's understand the real issues. So, if the media organizations are broken, where is one to go for their news? The answer is Current.com. I'm not sure if this is the only website dedicated to "User Defined News", but it is definitely worth checking out if you want a new way to consume the news that is important to you.

The website in conjunction with the actual Current TV Channel (you can find Current TV through DISH, DirectTV, Comcast, AT&T & Others) is 100% based on feedback from the viewers (us!). The producers of much of the content - including the advertisements - are independent producers from around the country. Check out the site and become a member. Subscribe to the topics of interest to you and submit news yourself! Its fun and liberating to engage on topics you are interested in and not just take in the crap that is fed to us over the airwaves every day.

If you don't shut up, you don't love your country

I received this email from a colleague today. My colleague is a great person, so this by no means is meant to put them down. I guess I'm just blown away by how some people perceive our world. That being said, I too am limited by my perceptions so I'm anxious to hear what all of you have to say about this subject. Maybe we can all come to some sort of weird consensus. Please read the email and then read my response below it. Once you have read everything, go to the Blog and POST A COMMENT!

ORIGINAL EMAIL FROM FRIEND:

This is a very special email. I don't care what party you are, we should all read it and think about how good we have it. No matter how we feel about the war, at least it isn't on our shores; not yet, anyway

Jay Leno on President Bush (Surprising)

"The other day I was reading Newsweek magazine and came across some Poll data I found rather hard to believe. It must be true given the source, right?

The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed and 69 percent of the country Is unhappy with the performance of the President. In essence 2/3s of the citizenry just ain't happy and want a change

So being the knuckle dragger I am, I started thinking, ''What we are so unhappy about?''

• Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 Days a week?

• Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter?

• Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job?

• Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any time and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the last year?

• Maybe it is the ability to drive from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state?

• Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would find along the way that can provide temporary shelter?

• I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough.

• Or could it be that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up and provide services to help all and even send a helicopter to take you to the hospital.

• Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home.

• You may be upset with knowing that in the unfortunate case of a fire, a group of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use top notch equipment to extinguish the flames thus saving you, your family and your belongings.

• Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar or prowler intrudes , an officer equipped with a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss.

• This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping and pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods where 90 percent of teenagers own cell phones and computers.

• How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world?

Maybe that is what has 67 percent of you folks unhappy.

Fact is, we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves the U.S. , yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for what we are. The most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don't have, and what we hate about the country instead of thanking the good Lord we live here.

I know, I know. What about the president who took us into war and has no plan to get us out?

The president who has a measly 31 percent approval rating?

Is this the same president who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11?

The president that cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession?

Could this be the same guy who has been called every name in the book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled ungrateful brats safe from terrorist attacks?

The comm!nder in chief of an all-volunteer army that is out there defending you and me?

Did you hear how bad the President is on the news or talk show?

Did this news affect you so much, make you so unhappy you couldn't take a look around for yourself and see all the good things and be glad?

Think about it......are you upset at the President because he actually caused you personal pain OR is it because the "Media" told you he was failing to kiss your sorry ungrateful behind every day. Make no mistake about it.

The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have volunteered to serve, and in many cases may have died for your freedom. There is currently no draft in this country. They didn't have to go. They are able to refuse to go and end up with either a ''general'' discharge, an ''other than honorable'' discharge or, worst case scenario, a ''dishonorable'' discharge after a few days in the brig.

So why then the flat-out discontentment in the minds of 69 percent of Americans?

Say what you want but I blame it on the media. If it bleeds it leads and they specialize in bad news.

Everybody will watch a car crash with blood and guts. How many will watch kids selling lemonade at the corner?

the media knows this and media outlets are for-profit corporations. They offer what sells , and when criticized, try to defend their actions by "justifying" them in one way or another.

Just ask why they tried to allow a murderer like O.J. Simpson to write a book about how he didn't kill his wife, but if he did he would have done it this way......Insane!

Stop buying the negativism you are fed everyday by the media.

Shut off the TV, burn Newsweek, and use the New York Times for the bottom of your bird cage.

Then start being grateful for all we have as a country.

There is exponentially more good than bad.

We are among the most blessed people on Earth and should thank God several times a day, or at least be thankful and appreciative." "With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, "Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"

Jay Leno

Please keep this in circulation. There are so many people that need to read this and grasp the truth of it all.

MY RESPONSE:

Most of the claims in this are either false or simply misleading. The people are upset because America has the ability and potential to do MUCH more than this. We have the potential to eliminate poverty in our country and others throughout the world. We have the potential to stop wars over oil that we DON’T NEED. We have the potential to make everyone safe and Healthy. Sure, you can get an emergency vehicle delivered to your door right away. What was left out of this email is that if you will get charged thousands of dollars for that ride, be taken to an Emergency room where you will be charged another few thousand, and then depending on what happened to you another few thousand to make you better. If you don’t have health insurance (like many Americans), you are screwed and will probably have to file bankruptcy. If you DO have health insurance (no matter how much you pay for it), your insurance company will most likely deny payment for some part or all of your coverage by digging in to your history to find some reason why you don’t deserve the insurance you have been paying for.

Some of the major points I take issue with:

1. Is this the same president who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11? - Are you freaking kidding me? Even if the president was concerned about our nation’s people (which I don’t think he is), you can’t make the argument that he “guided our nation in the dark days after 9/11”. If he did that, we would be fighting terrorism and would have caught Osama Bin Laden. Let me remind you that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 yet for some reason everyone has been coerced in to thinking it does.
2. The president that cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession? – Again, you have got to be joking…. Sure, he cut taxes. For the rich that don’t need it. I haven’t seen any bigger return on my taxes since Bush has been in power. Have you? Every president in our history has contributed to paying DOWN our debt with the exception of Regan & Bush. Bush has added to our national debt in the TRILLIONS of dollars with no sign of stopping. Gas prices have increased over 100 percent since he took office (Energy Information Administration, Household Vehicle Energy Use: Latest Data and Trends, and Weekly Retail Gasoline and Diesel Prices). Health care premiums have increased by over 70 percent (Kaiser Family Foundation). College tuition has skyrocketed by as much as 57 percent (College Board Foundation 10/05) and Housing affordability has reached a 14-year low (U.S. Census Bureau; Wall Street Journal, 12/22/05) - EVEN IF the economy is better as this letter claims, it is certainly at the expense of you and I.
3. Don’t even get me started on the Media and the spin. Unfortunately the Media is as disjointed as our politics. Some organizations catering to the “left” and others to the “right”.

I could go on and on with most of these points but I’ll stop there.

So, all you idahorocks readers. What do you think? Go to the website and post a comment. Lets talk about it!

Leave No Trace Children's Book

History of Religion - The Map

I found this map the other day (If you can't see the video, click on the subject link in the email to view it online) after reviewing an article on Current.com. It is very interesting to get a visual of how the "Big 5" Religions have spread throughout history. Of course it would be impossible to create a map with ALL the worlds religions. Especially when you consider that thousands of new religions are created every year. The most interesting thing to me is considering all the war that has ensued as part of each religion's expansion.

Step in to RSS with Idaho Rocks!

One of the cool things about Blogs are that they are a very versatile medium for getting a message across. The publisher of a blog can use elements such as audio, video, pictures, and text. Furthermore, the publisher of the blog can offer subscriptions to its readers in a few
different formats. The most popular formats of course are email & RSS (Real Simple Syndication). The majority of people who read this blog receive updates because they belong to the Idaho-Rocks Google Group. If you belong to this group, every time you receive an update from us, you get it in the form of an email from idaho-rocks@googlegroups.com .

This is about to change. In another week or two, you will no longer receive updates from this address. This does NOT mean that we are stopping the blog. Oh no. Quite the contrary my friend. We are planning on bringing you hard hitting, eye opening coverage of local and national events topped by no other Blog or mainstream media site on the internet! That is why you too must upgrade and start getting our subscription through an RSS Reader, or via email by signing up on the blog: http://www.idrocks.com OR http://idahorocks.blogspot.com - If I were you, I would sign up via an RSS Reader AND via email, just to make sure you don't miss anything.

Many of you who read our blog are savvy enough to know about these concepts, but this is new to a lot of you. You are just getting used to the concepts of email, let along blogs, and RSS. Don't fear though. You can read more about RSS by visiting this Wikipedia Entry. Once you have read about RSS, check in to getting yourself a FREE web based RSS Reader from Google or someone else.

To sign up using Google or Yahoo, just create an account on one of their sites. Then just click on the "add to Google" or "add to Yahoo" button on our site and BLAMO! You are using RSS & getting all the sweet stuff from Ben (The Law) Lawellin & Bryan (Bgood) Wilson.

If you would prefer to receive updates via email, just visit our site (links listed above) and enter your email in the email subscription box.

Well, there you have it! Welcome to the new age of communicating via the internet! We are so happy you have chosen our site as the number one site for... For... Well, for really cool stuff that you can't find anywhere else guaranteed! If you can find any other site that offers the same thing we do, please email us so we can promptly refund your money.

Best Wishes,

The Idaho Rocks Staff

Back to Reality!

Wow, when I look through my posts, I have been really pathetic on keeping this blog up to date. Thanks goes out to The Law who has been carrying this blog for the past few months.

I guess I have had good excuses. As most of you already know, Amie & I were married on September 22nd. It was the happiest day of our lives. Thank you to everyone who came and made it all possible. We couldn't have done it without the support of all of you! Luckily we also had an amazing photographer, my sister Amanda Norton. If you need anyone for your own wedding photography in the future, just let me know and I can put you in touch with her. Here is a link to the pictures she took for us on the big day. Make sure you have a cup of tea ready because there are a lot of them!

We had a great time on our honeymoon as well! The humidity is a bit much for me, but it was nice to have a change for a week. We were fortunate enough to meet up with some of my family while we were down in West Palm Beach. Unfortunately it rained a lot, but we did get a few days of fun in the sun.

Other than that, things are really going great. We are working hard to get the house all sealed up for winter time. As you can see here, the snow is already blanketing our peaks every night almost! When we got back from Florida, the first thing we did was drive to the top of Soldier Mountain! We are definitely not flat landers!

Thank you Boise State Broncos

So I could mostly care less about football; I've never played it and rarely ever watch it, generally I have no strong feelings either way about football. Not to say that I do not like football, but I'm not going to go out of my way to see a game or get some shwag. I do own a BSU Broncos shirt though, but only because the bright orange colors would protect me from myopic hunters when I went hiking last fall, now I call that school spirit! The great thing for me about the BSU games is that Boise basically becomes a ghost town during the home games; every one is either at the stadium or at home watching the game. I love it ! I took the pup running today during the game on the Table Rock trails and where it would usually be crowded with cars filling the parking lot on a warm fall day; today there where only three cars. It made for a great quiet run where I only saw one other person. So I just wanted to say thank you Broncos, finally your good for something other than jacking up tuition.