FundRaisin.info is a collection of easy fundraising ideas, programs & resources.
I made it to help nonprofits, activists, charities, community groups & do-gooders.
Please use the info on FundRaisin.info to raise money for your favorite good cause.

New Scientist has discovered that Pentagon's National Security Agency, which specialises in eavesdropping and code-breaking, is funding research into the mass harvesting of the information that people post about themselves on social networks. And it could harness advances in internet technology - specifically the forthcoming "semantic web" championed by the web standards organisation W3C - to combine data from social networking websites with details such as banking, retail and property records, allowing the NSA to build extensive, all-embracing personal profiles of individuals.
newscientisttech.com

Hi - your ideas resonate with calmness and sanity. Thanks for such great posts. I like the one about coffee, as I am currently an addict, but want to quit. Every time I tried, I felt better after the few rough patches. However, the key was staying off of it. There were too many challenges…and i would get back to it. Do you have a way how to stay off?

Big question. Applies to so many areas. We all have trouble being true to what we value.
Be gentle with yourself. Be patient. If you fall down, get up again. Repeat as often as necessary. Get up one more time than you fall down.
Don't worry if you can't 'stay off' caffeine yet. If you start again, quit again. Get as much anti-caffeine information as possible. Get a book or two. Read my caffeine page again, visit the links. Not all the parts of you are thoroughly convinced, give them more negative info about caffeine.
Notice what you tell yourself when you are getting ready to use again. Think about things you could tell yourself to counter those rationalizations for your addiction. Name it as an addicition.
If you fall down, get up again. Repeat as often as necessary. Get up one more time than you fall down.
Habits are formed by repitition. It is dificult to change oneself. There is no magic secret. If you find one, please tell me.

A zaadster who saw my caffeine page said it helped him quit coffee, and asked about negative effects of green tea - - -

Congratulations on quitting coffee. You may go through a few rough days, then your body and mind will start feeling better and better. It takes a month or two of not using coffee, tea, chocolate to fully recover from the effects of the drugs. You can look forward to feeling less stressed, less anxious, and less angry.

Tea: Green tea & black tea are the same plant, processed differently. Tea contains caffeine & theopyliine. Caffeine and theophylline are central nervous system stimulants. Consuming them creates a stress reaction, fight-or-flight.

Chocolate: Chocolate contains caffeine and theobromine. Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant; theobromine is a muscle stimulant. Choclate has an especially strong tendency to create muscle tension and pain.

Caffeine, theophylline and theobromine are closely related substances, methylxanthtine alklaoids. They all have similar effects, and are addictive and toxic.

People point to the fact that tea & chocolate have less caffeine than coffee. They ignore the other stimulating substances. They assume that tea and chocolate don't cause any problems. Wrong. I have seen green tea, black tea, decaffeinated coffee, decafffeinated tea, and chocolate cause pain in my massage therapy clients. I can feel the difference in tension in someone's body if they start or stop using.

These are powerful addictive drugs. We are very good at finding ways to rationalize our addictions. People who get bored if you tell them that vegetables and whole grains contain antioxidants, are suddenly very interested in antioxidants when they hear that their favorite drug plants have some.
These drug plants have antioxidants because they are plants. There are plenty of plants that contain antioxidants, but no addictive toxic drugs.

Caffeine: Cup of Pain, Liquid Stress

Lama Yeshe said to me "When you become excited, relax."

My friend L asked Lama Yeshe how not to take on other people's energy when doing massage.
Yeshe said "That's not dharma, just help them".

A massage therapy client was having difficult emotions arise while receiving a session for pain relief. She said "What do I do with these feelings?"
I don't know sophisticated emotional processing, not trained in it, not my thing. In a moment of clarity, i said "Feel them." She said "I don't want to."

When I find myself wanting to "do something" with feelings, i remember that conversation. It's a big challenge to follow my own advice. I want a magic therapy that will make it all better. I want a technology. I don't  want to simply be with, and be open to.

"His Holiness’ kitchen in Dharamsala is vegetarian.  However, during visits outside of Dharamsala, His Holiness is not necessarily vegetarian."
Dalai Lama's vegetarian kitchen

"When in Tibet we have also popularized the concept of vegetarianism and we did create an impression on the minds of the people. Lately I have also turned to a vegetarian diet."
Dalai Lama vegetarian

"Some of my friends have told me that basic human nature is somewhat violent, but I told them I disagree. If we examine different animals, for examples, those whose very survival depends on taking others lives, such as tigers or lions, we learnt that their basic nature provides them with sharp fangs and claws. Peaceful animals, such as deer, which are completely vegetarian, are gentler and have smaller teeth and no claws. From that viewpoint we human beings have a non-violent nature."
Ecology & the Human Heart

”We Tibetans are basically Buddhists and particularly in the Mahayana tradition which we follow, we preach love and compassion towards all other living beings on earth. And therefore it is the responsibility of all of us to realize the importance of wildlife conservation."
Dalai Lama campaigns to save wild animals

Everyone wants to change the world.
No one wants to change.

Let's deconstruct the notion of "superfoods". What are the unwritten rules that determine whether something is or is not a superfood?

A superfood should be:
Expensive.
Should seem exotic.
Should come from somewhere far away. The more fossil fuel used to get it here, the better.
Even better if the faraway place seems really cool and glamorous.
Should be unfamiliar. Even better if you'll have to develop a taste for it.
It helps if it's something that you wouldn't ordinarily consider edible.
It should be something consumed in small amounts.
Should come in colorful packaging. Either the packaging should seem rustic, brown, organic and hand-made, or very high-tech with shiny mylar foil.
It helps if it's been extracted and/or concentrated, especially if an unfamiliar process was used. Doesn't matter if the process is an ancient one, or something very high-tech.

A superfood should not be:
Grown in your own country of residence.
Something that you can buy at the local Farmer's Market.
Anything familiar.
Anything your own ancestors ate.
It's OK if someone else's ancestors ate it, especially if they seem way cool.
Anything that seems ordinary.
A familiar vegetable or fruit. Something that you already know and like.
Something that you can afford to eat in quantity, such as dark green leafy vegetables.
Anything that you can buy in bulk, such as whole grains.
Something that you can prepare yourself, such as whole grains.
RawVeg.info