Love Can Build A Bridge

Performed By The Judds

I'd gladly walk across the desert
With no shoes upon my feet
To share with you the last bite
Of bread I had to eat
I'd would swim out to save you
In your sea of broken dreams
When all your hopes are sinking
Let me show you what love means

Love can build a bridge
Between your heart and mine
Love can build a bridge
Don't you think it's time?
Don't you think it's time?

I would whisper love so loudly
Every heart could understand
That love and only love
Can join the tribes of man
I would give my heart's desire
So that you might see
The first step is to realize
That it all begins with you and me

Love can build a bridge
Between your heart and mine
Love can build a bridge
Don't you think it's time?
Don't you think it's time?

When we stand together
It's our finest hour
We can do anything, anything
Anything, anything
Keep believin' in the power

Love can build a bridge
Between your heart and mine
Love can build a bridge
Don't you think it's time?
Don't you think it's time?

Love and only love
Love and only love

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Blog-A-Licious Wednesdays - First Time Around

Here's a list of blogs that I have come across this week which can be described in three words.
- Awesomeness
- Interesting
- Pass-It-On (alright, that's not one word, but you get the idea)

This also marks the beginning of my Blog-A-Licious Wednesdays, where I'll have the chance to pass on more blogs, hopefully for your reading pleasure and you can join by dropping your links at the bottom of this post.

Read more about
http://www.bellyinhand.blogspot.com/
http://ikolinda-scrappinmomma.blogspot.com/
http://www.pinayscribbles.blogspot.com/
http://tershbango.blogspot.com/
http://www.rhymemeasmile.blogspot.com/

http://whatthegraham.com/
http://holesinmysoles.blogspot.com/
http://www.atwittersend.blogspot.com/
http://the-world-of-thought.blogspot.com/
http://neneng-tarigan.blogspot.com/

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Reductil (Sibutramine) Banned Across Europe For Patient Safety

I remember being given this to increase metabolism and as a 'happy pill' when I first got sick in 2003. Now, considering that increased intracrannial pressure can cause a stroke and this is now being taken off the market because it can cause a stroke, the only thought running through my head is - I'm glad I never listened when they said I had to be on this for a year. Sigh. What is the world coming to indeed.

Sourced from Slimmimg Pills

One of the most commonly prescribed weight loss drugs has been banned across Europe for patient safety.

According to health regulators in the UK, the prescription drug can cause heart attacks and strokes.

A European review of the medicine sibutramine, marketed as Reductil in Europe and the US, has concluded that it is potentially dangerous and that anyone taking it should seek alternative ways of losing weight.

Reductil was the drug of choice for doctors, and nearly 330,000 prescriptions were written in Britain in 2008.

But recently a clinical trial involving 10,000 patients during the past six years found that the drug could be tied to an increase of the risk of developing heart problems.

Reductil was only available on prescription for patients who are clinically obese (BMI over 27), who naturally are in a high risk heart disease category. But a previously known heart condition would have excluded patients from taking the drug.

As always, we recommend using natural weight loss supplement combined with a healthy lifestyle, a good diet, and regular exercise for best results.

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Coffee, Tea Or Me?

5 Ponderings On Which Is Better
By Pandora Poikilos

Here's a debate that has been a guest at many a breakfast table. When all you need and crave for, one groggy morning, is that sweet flavour of caffeine, sliding down your tongue and hitting your nerves in that soothing and warm manner you're accustomed to, but instead someone picks this very moment to give you a series of long lectures on how coffee is bad for you. Sound familiar? Well, if I'd have to pick a side (without a moment's hesitation) my pick would be - coffee. Even as I spell the word, I know Peas will be cross eyed as he reads this post seeing he can never get through a day "without a few cups of tea." For me, good and bad factors taken into consideration, I just love the way coffee goes with anything. You can have it after a super spicy dish or as you savour that delicious slice of blueberry cheesecake. Coffee is also not complicated to match unlike tea that has some types that need to be served with a slice of lemon and others with milk. Just in case you haven't decided on your favourite beverage, here are some pointers that might help you choose which beverage you'd like to sip.

Is coffee really bad for your health?
I'm no scientist but what I do know is that for every study that says, don't touch that cup of coffee there's another that says, drink it. What I can tell you from my own experience is that a drink that has you craving for more, gives you the perception that you need to keep sipping it while working or to stay awake and when after regularly consuming large amounts of it on a daily basis has your fingers shaking when you can't drink it in the same quantity, it can't be the perfect ingredient for good health, so controlled intake is necessary. Bear in mind also, that it's the caffeine in coffee that gets you going and some people opt to enjoy decaffeinated coffee, which is not necessarily a caffeine free version of coffee, it just has less caffeine. This makes it less evil but taken in enough large quantities, it's like drinking normal coffee isn't it? If you're re-reading this bit with raised eyebrows, think of another two words - Diet Coke. It doesn't say sugar free Coke, it doesn't say good for you Coke, it says Diet Coke which means there's a little less of what everyone else is getting but it doesn't necessarily make it good for you which is probably why they finally came up with Coca Cola Zero.

Tea has caffeine?
That it does. So do soft drinks and chocolate. What makes each item different is the caffeine levels contained in each raw item are varied alongside the process of each product resulting in different levels of caffeine remaining in the end product to affect your body. Also, in the case of chocolates it may not necessarily be the caffeine that's giving you that little 'kick' it may be all that sugar that'll have you thinking its Christmas morning again. I may be way past the Trick or Treat age group but I know given the right unhealthy amount of chocolates, I can still get a sugar rush. So what's the grand difference? If tea and coffee both have caffeine, why is coffee singled out to be the bad boy of a breakfast table? In comparison with tea, caffeine in coffee moves through our system much more rapidly than caffeine in tea. For instance, and this is not based on any particular study, 50mg of coffee might react within minutes while 50mg of tea will take two hours. Just like coffee, different types of tea have different caffeine levels so each type will have a different time frame of when it reacts in your system.

Coffee as a brand
With the advent of outlets like Starbucks coupled with the wireless era, coffee became a 'cool' badge. I say "coffee" because it was no longer, "Let's go for a drink", it became, "Let's go for a coffee". It was no longer "Coffee for breakfast" it became "After dinner coffee". Either tea got left out in the popularity contest or it just didn't qualify as 'cool' word. But this where I'm a little curious. Imagine this, a couple walk in. Obviously they are a couple, they are holding hands, whispering in those little tones that lovers reserve for each other as they order their coffee beverages and then when their order is served, they sit opposite each other, slide out a laptop and spend the rest of their outing communicating to each other and others through their laptop. So maybe this is the only place they can get internet connection together or maybe its a new form of communication that's lost on me because I just wouldn't understand how if you were lucky enough to be holding someone's hand why you would want to spend the rest of the time texting through a laptop? Now, don't get me wrong. I have nothing against these outlets. Personally, I adore a Caramel Machiato from Starbucks. Different countries on different continents and you know this will taste the same. But it does make me wonder, why all the funding and hype about coffee and not tea? We know its addictive and you'll come back for more so let's keep reminding you?

Tea provides more cures
Even as some studies point towards findings that drinking tea can prevent heart diseases and cancer, we're back to turning this into a debate. While I know that tea has fixed some severe colds and flus for people I know, the only thing that worked for me when I had a ghastly cold when I was about 10 was an even more ghastly mixture that an aunt made using a teaspoon of brandy, eggs and coffee. While some people say that coffee works better to fix a tummy upset, a cup of tea (no milk or sugar) does that for me. While some studies point to tea acting as a soothing agent when having a migraine, even more studies say that caffeine in any dosage (coffee, tea, chocolates) can aggravate migraines. Tea components are also said to be beneficial when used in skin care products, I personally have to disagree. Having tried it at varying stages as a teenager I ended up with much bigger spots then when I tried the products with clear skin.

Coffee or tea for baby?
While I cannot speak from personal experience on this point, caffeine during pregnancy has also been the source of many studies and even more misunderstandings with some saying a maximum of 3 cups of tea and 1 cup of coffee and others saying that any amount of coffee is fine during pregnancy. Some studies have pointed out that coffee leads to miscarriages early on in a pregnancy while others have shown that, even getting pregnant when drinking large amounts of coffee everyday, is going to be difficult. The best remedy for this is of course to check with your family doctor. Then comes the question of how old is appropriate for children to have coffee. Some are given sips as early as 8 and others are not allowed anywhere near tea or coffee till aged 16. There are studies that point towards caffeine being a contributor to stunting one's height. And yet, there are the 6 footers who've been sipping away at coffee since they were 7.

Maybe like so many things in life, our preferences about tea and coffee are decided from how we're brought up or about what we end up feeling comfortable with. Whatever the beverage, moderation is still necessary and if you're drinking caffeine to the point of yellow-rotting teeth and fingers shaking the minute your body lacks caffeine, then maybe, just maybe it might be worth trying a different beverage? If you're still deciding, what will it be? Complicated tea or simple coffee? Sip.

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Google Me

3 Simple Reasons I'm Thankful For Google
By Pandora Poikilos

"Honestly, I don't think Google needs any form of advertisement. It's a tribute and more importantly a reminder of a message that so many people choose to forget, "GIVE PEACE A CHANCE". I love it. And its very inspiring."

I made this remark yesterday after watching the John Lennon Google Doodle. For the first time, I became a member of You Tube (so I could watch it again) and for the first time since starting this blog, I got told off in language I would not care to repeat.

Maybe it was predominantly a Public Relations exercise for Google to once again remind the world how powerful it actually is or a very subtle, good natured poke at China but I thought it was perfection in motion. Significantly placed to commemorate John Lennon's 70th birthday (with enough time for people to play, replay and tell the rest of the planet), and even more conveniently placed on the announcement day of Liu Xiaobo's controversial Nobel Peace Prize, accompanied with the lyrics - You may say that I'm a dreamer, But I'm not the only one, I hope someday you'll join us, And the world will be as one and finished with the caption "Join us in celebrating John Lennon's 70th birthday! Give peace a chance." - it became so much more than just a doodle, it also reminded me on what a world without Google would actually be like.

Connectivity
In this town called Social Media that we choose to live in, internet connection has become the roofs over our heads with Skype functioning as telephones, Facebook as the largest shopping mall in town and Google functioning as electricity. Nobody says, "Give me a sec, I'll Yahoo! it or I'll MSN it", they say, "I'll Google it". Even if you've tried two or three faulty websites, you don't blame your internet connection as long as you can see the words G-O-O-G-L-E on your screen. Like it or not, Google is a common connector among so many of us. Yes, I'd like it more if I had better control of my memories than placing it in no man's land with terms and conditions I sometimes need to read at least two times just to understand, but here are the people with answers to making it easier to connect. For emails, you have Gmail. For diaries (and in some cases of showing off writing talent), you have Blogger. For watching and listening, you have You Tube. For viewing the world and armchair traveling, you have Google Earth. For photo albums, you have Picasa. You can share 40 pictures across 7 continents at the price of your internet connection, so while I'd love to have pictures stored in a hard cover album, I cannot help but appreciate the convenient connectivity that Google provides on a daily basis .

Convenience
For me this factor is very simple to stand by. Everyday is a reminder of how Google is a blessing when it comes to convenience. Seven years ago, I would never have known that having excessive Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) is an existing condition if it hadn't been for Google. I wouldn't have been able to read up on lumbar punctures and share this information with family and friends who needed to know or people who had the same problem as myself, sometimes needing more reassurance than actually giving it. I didn't have to travel to 10 doctors in all corners of the world, I was able to find them and read up on the progress of finding other means of draining excessive CSF fluid. Down the road to September 2010, I wouldn't have been able to ask other people what a VP Shunt felt like or to tell other people, brain surgery is something you can get through. As an online writer who is always seeking more writing jobs, I don't need to commute up and down to libraries and buy as many different newspapers as I can, Google gives me this and even when the information can't be obtained on Google for free, I'm pointed as to where to look.

Inspirational
I think the best sharings the world has seen, from the Beatles to Harry Potter to Twilight phenomenon to Steve Jobs and Oprah Winfrey, have actually come from those who never believed it when told they cannot do something. Google founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page are no exception to this. When Google started way back in 1996 as a research project for their PhD studies, I can only assume the backlash that must have come their way and I'm immensely glad they didn't listen. For instance, in 1999, when they tried to sell the concept of Google to Excite for USD1 million, CEO George Bell rejected the offer and wouldn't even buy it for less. Their perseverance paid off in 2004, when Google's share sales gave the company a market capital of approximately USD23 billion having Brin and Page requesting that their base salary be cut to USD1 as their main compensation continues to come from owning Google shares.*

Yes, Google may have loads of issues to deal with, from invasion of privacy to the lack of privacy measures to harbouring at least one irresponsible user out of every two users but until they do something far worse than being two people implementing a great idea, a task so many of us choose to sit on while waiting for the 'perfect' moment or someone else comes up with something far better, its two thumbs up to Google with a big thank you, from me. They've spoilt me in some ways and taught me to have better locks on my virtual doors in others but a world without Google, would be a very difficult world indeed.

*Referenced from Google Inc

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