Thanks to:DELANE SAUNDERS for contributing this piece to this blog. She received this by email – the original author is from the New York Times. Enjoy!

The Amazing Cucumber
And all we thought they were good for was eating!
It is interesting,

This information was in The New York Times several weeks ago as part of their “Spotlight on the Home” series that highlighted creative and fanciful ways to solve common problems.

1. Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day, just one
cucumber contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5,
Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus,
Potassium and Zinc..

2. Feeling tired in the afternoon? Put down the caffeinated soda and pick up
a cucumber. Cucumbers are a good source of B Vitamins and Carbohydrates
that can provide that quick pick-me-up that can last for hours.

3. Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower? Try rubbing a
cucumber slice along the mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, spa-like fragrance.

4. Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds? Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area.

5. Looking for a fast and easy way to remove cellulite before going out or to the pool? Try rubbing a slice or two of cucumbers along your problem area for a few minutes, the phyto-chemicals in the cucumber cause the collagen in your skin to tighten, firming up the outer layer and reducing the visibility of cellulite. Works great on wrinkles too!!!

6. Want to avoid a hangover or terrible headache? Eat a few cucumber slices
before going to bed and wake up refreshed and headache free. Cucumbers
contain enough sugar, B vitamins and electrolytes to replenish essential
nutrients the body lost, keeping everything in equilibrium, avoiding both
a hangover and headache!!

7. Looking to fight off that afternoon or evening snacking binge? Cucumbers
have been used for centuries and often used by European trappers, traders and explorers for quick meals to thwart off starvation.

8. Have an important meeting or job interview and you realize that you don’t
have enough time to polish your shoes? Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the
shoe, its chemicals will provide a quick and durable shine that not only looks
great but also repels water.

9. Out of WD 40 and need to fix a squeaky hinge? Take a cucumber slice and
rub it along the problematic hinge, and voila, the squeak is gone!

10. Stressed out and don’t have time for massage, facial or visit to the spa?
Cut up an entire cucumber and place it in a boiling pot of water, the chemicals and nutrients from the cucumber with react with the boiling water and be released in the steam, creating a soothing, relaxing aroma that has been shown the reduce stress in new mothers and college students during final exams.

11. Just finish a business lunch and realize you don’t have gum or mints? Take a slice of cucumber and press it to the roof of your mouth with your tongue for 30 seconds to eliminate bad breath, the phyto-chemicals will kill the bacteria in your mouth responsible for causing bad breath.

12. Looking for a ‘green’ way to clean your faucets, sinks or stainless steel?
Take a slice of cucumber and rub it on the surface you want to clean, not only will it remove years of tarnish and bring back the shine, but it won’t leave streaks and won’t harm you fingers or fingernails while you clean.

13. Using a pen and made a mistake? Take the outside of the cucumber and
slowly use it to erase the pen writing, also works great on crayons and
markers that the kids have used to decorate the walls!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I guess maybe God knows how to make things that work – without bad side effect .

This information was in The New York Times several weeks ago as part of their “Spotlight on the Home” series that highlighted creative and fanciful ways to solve common problems.

Hey visitors – just passing on this story by :Keisha Shakespeare-Blackmore, Staff Reporter

Please enjoy

Subject: Jamaican-born scientist making strides in nerve research

Jamaican-born scientist making strides in nerve research
Published: Monday | January 4, 2010

Keisha Shakespeare-Blackmore, Staff Reporter
(Embedded image moved to file: pic12619.jpg)

Dr Patrice Smith, Jamaican-born scientist living in Canada who discovered a new way to
repair damaged nerves. – Contributed

Who would have thought that a little girl from Darliston in Westmoreland would turn
out to be a First World scientist who may have discovered a new way to repair damaged
nerves?

Now living in Canada , Jamaican-born Dr Patrice Smith and her colleagues at Harvard
have discovered a way to repair damaged nerves by allowing the adult brain to respond
to repair signals that are induced after injury. Dr Smith explained to Flair in an
email interview, that as we get older, we lose the ability to repair damage to the
brain and spinal cord, because our nervous system is actively preventing the immune
system from sending out repair messages. If we get a cold, for example, the immune
system kicks in and helps with our recovery. However, if our brain or spinal cord is
damaged, this repair message is blocked. What they have discovered is that this
mechanism is blocked by a molecule called SOCS3.

“In the absence of SOCS3, the damaged nerves were able to regenerate themselves in an
adult. My hope is that the research will help people who suffer from brain and
spinal-cord injuries by helping to repair the injuries they may have received in an
accident, or just through the natural ageing process,” said Dr Smith.

A curious child
She said she has always been interested in how things work. As a child she was very
good at taking apart small appliances and seeing whether she could put them back
together.

Her interest in how the brain works began when she migrated to Canada , and took up a
summer research job in a neuroscience lab at the University of Ottawa, Canada.
Dr Smith grew up with her grandparents because her mother, Elaine, was just 18 years
old when she was born and had to move to Kingston to find work. Her mother later got
married and migrated to Canada . Dr Smith joined her after completing her studies at
Mannings High school in 1995 at the age of 18.

Her CXC results were not recognised in Canada , so she had to repeat her final year in
a Canadian high school. She excelled and obtained a scholarship to attend the
University of Ottawa . She received the highest average in her graduating year and was
awarded a medal by the Ottawa-Carleton education school board. “I felt that my
Jamaican education provided a strong framework for this,” she told Flair.
After completing her doctorate in 2005, she received a scholarship from the Canadian
Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to attend Harvard University, which was where she
began her current research. The research took about two years to complete. “I am
currently working on extending this research in my own lab back in Canada to look at
ways of functionally repairing damaged nerves, following spinal cord and brain
injury.”

Benefits of hard work
Dr Smith is currently making waves in the scientific world in Canada , but it is hard
work that has put her where she is today. She explained that when she first moved to
Canada , it was difficult to adapt to the weather, especially the snow. But she notes
that she was fortunate to have met and interacted with some wonderful people
throughout her career, who have helped her along the way.
Her field is a male-dominated one, but she has persons around her who are generally
“accepting” of a female scientist, although she says she has become used to being the
only black female (sometimes the only black person) in her circle.

“And I am still not used to being called ‘Dr Smith’.”
Although her job is challenging, she considers herself blessed to be able to do what
she loves as a career. The added incentive is that what she is doing will someday help
persons suffering from brain and spinal-cord injuries.

Best friend
Dr Smith told Flair that in 2008 she married her best friend, Ryan, who has been her
biggest fan and most avid supporter. “I am truly blessed that we found each other (we
met in Canada ). Ryan was the one who actually encouraged me to go to Harvard.”
She is currently heading up a medical research lab in Canada , and will continue her
research into ways to promote health and well-being.

 Did Silvio Berlusconi caught the H1N1?

One could be forgiven for thinking so. Check out the photo gallery of  free dispensing of kisses from our lovely first Lady Michelle at the recent G20 summit that took place in Pittsburgh on September 24-25, hosted by US President Barack Obama.

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A Handshake PLUS a kiss for the Russian President Dimitry Medvedev

Apparently First Lady's hugs and kisses contain magical qualities - Merkel is smiling

Even the USUALLY stoic Prime Minister Harper of Canada melted under First Lady’s kiss

The French Double – President Obama and First Lady “french kiss” the Frenches

And the dozy of all = Lady Michelle snuggles up to Prime Minister Brown of Britain who planted a BIG warm one.

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Now with all the dispensing of warm hugs and kisses – how you you explain This Greeting of  Silvio Berlusconi of Italy?  

6 feet away from Silvio

Bolt offered US$100m Chinese contract

Republished from the Daily Gleaner – all rights for this Article belongs to the Gleaner.com

The company in China is also reportedly willing to buy out any entity with which Usain might have agreements, and would supersede them in base salary while offering a licensing deal that Bolt currently does not have. If Bolt agrees to the deal, it could be signed in a matter of weeks.

Bolt is currently signed to sporting goods maker Puma AG, which reportedly pays the world record holder in the 100- and 200-metre sprints and triple World Championships gold-medallist about US$1.5 million a year. Puma CEO Jochen Zeitz recently disclosed that, after his success in Beijing in 2008, analysts estimated Bolt’s media market value to be about US$358 million. The media market value is equivalent to what the company would have to spend to get similar exposure from regular advertising
. A big change

The Chinese deal, which offers Bolt licensing rights inside China and exclusive distribution rights in markets outside that country, is being negotiated by Anza Marketing Group Inc, the exclusive marketing agent in China for the triple Olympic champion. Ajani Williams is the CEO of Anza.

“Anza, through its work
over the past eight months, has received several offers, and most notably, two major offers, one of which would eventually change the landscape for Usain Bolt in terms of his sponsorship and endorsement market rate. It would change the landscape of track and field, it would change the outcome of his life, and probably even the direction of the country,” Williams said of the proposal on the table, adding that Anza had a counteroffer that could double the sum mentioned. Shortly after Anza became Bolt’s agent in China, just under a year ago, it began talking to partners in the Chinese company about possible deals. This monster deal, however, came together about eight weeks ago, Williams revealed, adding that the negotiations were difficult given the worldwide economic downturn.

Tipping point

Bolt’s performance in Berlin, where he broke two world records and won three gold medals, was the tipping point, he said.

Williams was unable to disclose the name and nature of the company, citing the risk of compromising the integrity of the deal, but gave the assurance that if Bolt signed, then those details would be made known. He did reveal that conservative valuations show

 

that Bolt could earn around US$115 million from the deal over five years, but there was the potential to exceed US$300 million, based on sales in China and the world market.

“China is the world’s largest market and these kinds of deals were not available to people like Michael Jordan 20 years ago,” Williams explained. “Usain now has the chance to be empowered and empower a new generation of track and field athletes and all athletes and become the CEO of his own empire.”

He said an athlete of Bolt’s calibre has to capitalise as much as possible on licensing deals, along with guaranteed base-salary endorsement deals. It also gives the triple Olympic gold medallist the opportunity to use this new deal to leverage similar deals, which would force companies to adjust their current market rates.

In recent times, Chinese sporting-goods companies have signed several major sporting stars, including basketball stars Shaquille O’Neal and Baron Davis. Just this year, Russian pole-vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva was signed by Chinese sporting goods company Li Ning to a deal worth about US$1.5 million a year.

Bolt is also being offered a deal worth between US$200,000 and US$400,000 a year from another company, sina.com, which Williams describes as the Chinese version of Yahoo. The site hosts one of the biggest sports blogs in China. Basketball stars like Kobe Bryant reportedly earn as much as US$400,000 a year just for posting blogs there, Williams said. He added that blogging on the site would help Bolt keep his brand relevant in the Chinese market, establish his value, and set him up for many more deals.

Anza has received several offers and most notably, two major offers, one of which would eventually change the landscape for Usain Bolt in terms of his sponsorship and endorsement market rate. It would change the landscape of track and field, it would change the outcome of his life, and probably even the direction of the country.

 

Ajani WilliamsCEO of Anza

 

 

 

 

Leighton Levy, Gleaner Writer
Usain Bolt A five-year, multimillion-US-dollar deal reportedly offered to sprint sensation Usain Bolt by a Chinese company could also allow the athletics superstar to eventually spin off his own division of the firm.

Parents please share this with your teens – The lesson here is –
To succeed – you must first have the Desire to. Obama Express

Khadijah Williams stepped into chemistry class and instantly tuned out the commotion.

She walked past students laughing, gossiping, napping and combing one another’s hair. Past a cellphone blaring rap songs. And past a substitute teacher sitting in a near-daze.

Quietly, the 18-year-old settled into an empty table, flipped open her physics book and focused. Nothing mattered now except homework.

“No wonder you’re going to Harvard,” a girl teased her.

Around here, Khadijah is known as “Harvard girl,” the “smart girl” and the girl with the contagious smile who landed at Jefferson High School only 18 months ago.

What students don’t know is that she is also a homeless girl.

As long as she can remember, Khadijah has floated from shelters to motels to armories along the West Coast with her mother. She has attended 12 schools in 12 years; lived out of garbage bags among pimps, prostitutes and drug dealers. Every morning, she upheld her dignity, making sure she didn’t smell or look disheveled.

On the streets, she learned how to hunt for their next meal, plot the next bus route and help choose a secure place to sleep — survival skills she applied with passion to her education.

Only a few mentors and Harvard officials know her background. She never wanted other students to know her secret — not until her plane left for the East Coast hours after her Friday evening graduation.

“I was so proud of being smart I never wanted people to say, ‘You got the easy way out because you’re homeless,’ ” she said. “I never saw it as an excuse.”

–

A drive to succeed

“I have felt the anger at having to catch up in school . . . being bullied because they knew I was poor, different, and read too much,” she wrote in her college essays. “I knew that if I wanted to become a smart, successful scholar, I should talk to other smart people.”

Khadijah was in third grade when she first realized the power of test scores, placing in the 99th percentile on a state exam. Her teachers marked the 9-year-old as gifted, a special category that Khadijah, even at that early age, vowed to keep.

“I still remember that exact number,” Khadijah said. “It meant only 0.01 students tested better than I did.”

In the years that followed, her mother, Chantwuan Williams, pulled her out of school eight more times. When shelters closed, money ran out or her mother didn’t feel safe, they packed what little they carried and boarded buses to find housing in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Ventura, San Diego, San Bernardino and Orange County, staying for months, at most, in one place.

She finished only half of fourth grade, half of fifth and skipped sixth. Seventh grade was split between Los Angeles and San Diego. Eighth grade consisted of two weeks in San Bernardino.

At every stop, Khadijah pushed to keep herself in each school’s gifted program. She read nutrition charts, newspapers and four to five books a month, anything to transport her mind away from the chaos and the sour smell.

At school, she was the outsider. At the shelter, she was often bullied. “You ain’t college-bound,” the pimps barked. “You live in skid row!”

In 10th grade, Khadijah realized that if she wanted to succeed, she couldn’t do it alone. She began to reach out to organizations and mentors: the Upward Bound Program, Higher Edge L.A., Experience Berkeley and South Central Scholars; teachers, counselors and college alumni networks. They helped her enroll in summer community college classes, gave her access to computers and scholarship applications and taught her about networking.

When she enrolled in the fall of her junior year at Jefferson High School, she was determined to stay put, regardless of where her mother moved. Graduation was not far off and she needed strong college letters of recommendation from teachers who were familiar with her work.

This soon meant commuting by bus from an Orange County armory. She awoke at 4 a.m. and returned at 11 p.m., and kept her grade-point average at just below a 4.0 while participating in the Academic Decathlon, the debate team and leading the school’s track and field team.

“That’s when I was really stressed,” she says, at once sighing and laughing.

Khadijah graduated Friday evening with high honors, fourth in her class. She was accepted to more than 20 universities nationwide, including Brown, Columbia, Amherst and Williams. She chose a full scholarship to Harvard and aspires to become an education attorney.

–

Early adversity

She tried her best; she never smoked or drank, never did drugs, and she never put us in abusive situations. However, that was the best she could do.

There are questions about her mother Khadijah is not ready to ask, answers she is not ready to hear. How did her mother end up on the streets? How come she never found a stable home for her daughters? Why wasn’t there family to turn to, no father, no grandparents? And what will become of her little sister?

“I don’t know. I don’t know,” is often her response. Ask personal questions about her mother and the fire in Khadijah’s eyes turns dim. She knows when she arrives in Cambridge, Mass., she will need to seek counseling. So much of her life is a blur.

She knows she was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., to a 14-year-old mother. She thinks Chantwuan might have been ostracized from her family. She may have tried to attend school, but the stress of a baby proved too much. When Khadijah was a toddler, they moved to California. A few years later, Jeanine was born.

She has chosen not to criticize her mother. Instead Khadijah said she inspired her to learn. “She would tell me I had a gift, she would call me Oprah.”

When her college applications were due in December, James and Patricia London of South Central Scholars invited Khadijah to their home in Rancho Palos Verdes to help her write her essays.

When they went to return her to skid row, her mother and sister were gone.

Khadijah accepted the Londons’ invitation to spend the rest of her school year with them.

In their comfortable hilltop home, Khadijah learned a new set of lessons. The orthopedic doctor and nurse taught her table manners, money management and grooming.

She won’t be the first homeless student to arrive at Harvard.

Julie Hilden, the Harvard interviewer who met with Khadijah to gauge whether she should be accepted, said it was clear from the start that Khadijah was a top candidate. But school officials had to make sure they could provide what she needed to make the transition successful.

They plan to connect her with faculty mentors and potentially, a host family to check in with every so often. She will also attend a Harvard summer program at Cornell to take college-prep courses.

“I strongly recommended her,” Hilden said. “I told them, ‘If you don’t take her, you might be missing out on the next Michelle Obama. Don’t make this mistake.’ ”

–

Seeking connections

“I think about how I can convince my peers about the value of education. . . . I have found that after all the teasing, these peers start to respect me . . . . I decided that I could be the one to uplift my peers . . . . My work is far reaching and never finished.”

Khadijah expected to feel more connected after nearly two years at Jefferson, to make at least one good friend.

Students flock to the smart girl for help with homework and tests and class questions. She walks through campus tenderly waving and smiling and complimenting everyone she knows.

But when prom pictures arrive, they show her posing alone in a silky black and white dress. In her yearbook, hundreds of familiar faces look back, but the memories are missing.

“It’s a nice, glossy, shiny, colorful yearbook,” she said. “But it feels like they’re all strangers. I’m nowhere in these pages.”

In the last six months, she saw her mother only a few times and on Thursday tried to find her. Khadijah headed to a South-Central storage facility where they last stored their belongings.

She found Chantwuan sitting on a garbage bag full of clothes.

“Khadijah’s here!” her sister Jeanine yells. Chantwuan’s face lit up.

She explained the details of her graduation, the bus route to get there and gave her mother a prom picture. She said she would leave for summer school Friday.

There is no talk of coming home of for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Proudly, Khadijah modeled her hunter green graduation cap and gown and practiced switching the tassel from right to left as she would during the ceremony.

“Look at you,” her mother says. “You’re really going to Harvard, huh?”

“Yeah,” she says, pausing. “I’m going to Harvard.”

–

esmeralda.bermudez@latimes.com
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times

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