Sugar is worse than cocaine (video)

Amber Larson, Seth Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly; Alex Cohen (SCPR.org); Suzi Yoonessi

What's she doin? I'dunno, but it's Barbie! How could it be bad? Her Corvette, dream house

Is it child abuse to give your kids sugar? Coca Barbie doesn't think so!

Funny or Die had a contest, and "Olive and Mocha's Fast Times at Sugar High" took first place. It was an unlikely friendship between a goody-goody and a bad-seed that resulted in havoc at a birthday party.

I'm not hyper! But get me some more candy!

Sugar was the culprit. Not System of a Down's "Sugar," though maybe that had something to do with it. It was the pure white and artificially-flavored confection and killer of America's kids. How could it be worse than the deadly excitotoxin cocaine? For one thing, it's legal. For another, no one suspects it.

We were all high on SUGAR: "The Kombucha mushroom people...!"

 

Birthday party: Fast Times at Sugar High

They shove it into kids, with each American child snorting, shooting (hospital IV), or swallowing an average of 150 one-pounds sacks of it each year, usually hidden in food, desserts, and soda. It dehydrates, ruins the ability to concentrate, sends blood glucose levels through the roof, kicks the immune system offline for about five hours after each it, and eats away at the body. It may or may not directly cause obesity, but it is the cause of early-onset diabetes, brain problems (mental fog, confusion, spectrum disorders), cancer, tooth rotting, premature aging, and more. Yuck!
 

Funny or Die contest

Drugs! Drugs! Get your drugs here!

(SCPR) The L.A. Film Festival this year joined forces with the comedy video website Funny or Die in a talent search for diverse, unique, and authentic voices in the comedy world.

 

The submissions to the "Make 'em LAFF" competition were whittled down to the top 25, then the top 5, and this weekend, the first place winner was revealed: Suzi Yoonessi (audio).

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White Sugar is the new Cocaine (audio)

Amber Larson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Mitch Jeserich (KPFA.org, Berkeley, 5-21-14)

I snort my sugar, take the candy straight to my head, which is where it ends up anyway.

 

Live from Berkeley, Pacifica's Letters and Politics (KPFA FM) focuses in on the effects of carbohydrates and white sugar. Professor of Pediatrics Dr. Robert Lustig, M.D. (UC San Francisco School of Medicine), author of Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Foods, Obesity, and Disease. They also mention the pioneering work of Dr. Perlmutter, author of Grain Brain. Diabetes? Brain damage? Lack of energy? Heart disease? Obesity? The results will surprise listeners:

• AUDIO: PLAY NOW (download MP3)

Neuroscience of carbs: Grain Brain, Dr. David Perlmutter, MD (drperlmutter.com)

Psychedelic Science: 'shrooms for alcoholism

Why a $30K paycheck is like $24K in L.A.

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Autumn Festival: story behind the cakes (sutra)

CC Liu, Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; Zen Vuong (Pasadena Star-News); Pacific Asia Museum

The glorious harvest moon refulgent with yin energy (donnalewisconan)

  

Father and son make lantern

The Mid-Autumn Festival celebrates harvest, family reunions, and hope for another year of good fortune.

Some believe the celebration’s roots originated from the Chinese rebellion against the Mongols, who detested moon cakes. The Chinese rebel leader, Zhu Yuanzhang, had a hard time organizing a coup because large gatherings were outlawed, reports ChinaTravel.com. So the rebels baked a slip of paper into moon cakes. It ordered insurgents to attack on the 15th day of the 8th lunar year. Thus the Chinese eat moon cakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival to celebrate this successful overthrow.
  

Tea with dense, sickly sweet cakes.

Thanksgiving [means] the centerpiece for this Chinese and Vietnamese harvest celebration doesn’t include a bulky dead bird. During Zhongqiu Jie, or the Mid-Autumn Festival, people give family, friends, and colleagues moon cakes, a small but filling pastry embossed with a description of its innards or the name of a bakery. Others have patterns of clouds, the moon, or a rabbit [a lucky symbol of the moon]....

 

“It’s almost like a Christmas fruitcake. It’s a traditional gift...,” said Becky Sun, a Pacific Asia Museum spokeswoman. “Adult children give them to parents and seniors. Friends and business partners give them to each other...” More 

The Miserly Treasurer

Ken and Visakha Kawasaki (trans), Illisa Rebirth Tale (Jataka 78)

The miser didn't enjoy his riches either

This story was told by the Buddha while at Jetavana Grove about a tremendously rich royal treasurer.

He lived in a town called Sakkara near the city of Rajagaha and had been so tightfisted that he never gave away even the tiniest drop of oil that could be picked up with a blade of grass. Worse than that, he wouldn't even use that minuscule amount of oil for his own satisfaction. His vast wealth was actually of no use to him, to his family, or to the deserving people of the land.

 

Moggallana, however, led this miser and his wife to Jetavana, where they served a great meal of cakes to the Buddha and a large number of monastics. After hearing words of thanks from the Buddha, the royal treasurer and his wife attained stream-entry.

That evening the monastics gathered together in the Hall of Truth. "How great is the power of Ven. Moggallana!" they said. "In a moment he converted the miser to charity, brought him to Jetavana, and made possible his attainment. How remarkable is the elder!" While they were talking, the Buddha entered and inquired as to the subject of their discussion.

 

When they told him, the Buddha replied, "This is not the first time, monastics, that Moggallana has converted this miserly treasurer. In previous days too the elder taught him how deeds and their effects are linked together." Then the Buddha told this story of the past [past life].

 

The best cake is raw vegan berry cheesecake California-style (TheRawtarian.com)

 

Long, long ago, when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benaresaranasi, there was a treasurer named Illisa who was worth 80 crores of wealth. This man had all the defects possible in a person. He was lame and hunchbacked, and he had a squint; he was a confirmed miser, never giving away any of his fortune to others, yet never enjoying it himself either.

 

Interestingly enough, however, for seven generations back his ancestors had been bountiful, giving freely of their best. When this treasurer inherited the family riches, he broke that tradition and began hoarding his wealth.

 

One day, as he was returning from an audience with the king, he saw a weary peasant sitting on a bench and drinking a mug of cheap liquor with great gusto. The sight made the treasurer thirsty for a drink of liquor himself, but he thought, "If I drink, others will want to drink with me. That would mean a ruinous expense!" The more he tried to suppress his thirst, the stronger the craving grew.

 

The effort to overcome his thirst made him as yellow as old cotton. He became thinner and thinner until the veins stood out on his emaciated frame. After a few days, still unable to forget about the liquor, he went into his room and lay down, hugging his bed. His wife came in, rubbed his back, and asked, "Husband, what is wrong?" "Nothing," he answered. More