The Day the Future Halted

A very short story by Rich Amber

Somewhere near the galactic core, a quantum supercomputer was recording minor events within its sphere of influence and storing them in a database of future history. It would have clicked and hummed, but it isn’t really like Earth computers because it stores data in the form of photons and subatomic particles, held in place by extremely intense magnetic flux fields. A tiny data bit drifted by and was captured, recorded, then set free to continue its quarky movements across the infinite space-time continuum.

Bob, the oldest librarian at the facility, occasionally scanned one of her numerous optical receptors across this data log because she had a fondness for one of the planets she helped evolve by sending specific data streams in that general direction. Yes, this data had indeed originated from the ball of rock and liquids that had been in the central focus of those data photons she projected during her experiment on the enlightenment of a minor species.

The supercomputer had not captured the entirety of the message, but she got one small quote that was apparently put out by some entity who called itself AP. Bob had always thought that was a strange name for someone, even for such a strange species as those that inhabited that backward orbital object of a minor star, two-thirds of the galactic disc away from the center of the real action for all truly intelligent beings.

Bob read the data bytes silently. They said: “I don’t want to scare people away from using antibiotics… But it’s concerning, and we need to respond,” said Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, an author of both articles and an epidemiologist at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Hospitals need to be conducting surveillance and implementing control measures. And all of us need to realize the risk of antibiotic use may be increasing” [as the bacteria continue to mutate], McDonald said. The bacterium is Clostridium difficile, also known as C-diff. The germ is becoming a regular menace in hospitals and nursing homes, and last year it was blamed for 100 deaths over 18 months at a hospital in Quebec, Canada.

Bob sighed. Methane tears ran from several of her optical receptors. One of her co-librarians asked if she was being adversely affected by the recent cosmic dust hurled around by the latest electro-magnetic quake front. Bob shook several of her heads and replied, “No. It’s just that the humans have finally created the feared nexus event, a microscopic germ that cannot be killed using their own sciences, which I have been worried about. If they don’t reverse their clumsy excuse for science, they will write their own epitaph: 'Here lies the decayed remnant of mankind who committed mass suicide through medical stupidity.'”

Bob’s co-worker smiled from several of its 49 mouths and said, “Do not fret over small things, Bob. You need not call out a flight of interveners. There are many other emerging dust balls in the galaxy. You can always try again elsewhere.”

Bob grimaced and replied, “But they were such a promising species. Too bad they are all too stupid to not follow the rules that the Mother set down for them. Pharmaceutical greed will kill them all.”

To read what inspired this story, because the Associated Press copyright does not permit me to reproduce their articles, see:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/12/02/ap/health/mainD8E7P5U00.shtml

Review of Fungal Diseases

I recently got a new book (thank you, Rich!) called Natural Cures for Killer Germs by Dr. Cass Ingram, and it has some interesting information in it. Some of it we’ve talked about in previous newsletters, but I thought maybe I’d mention some of the more salient points here. First of all, here’s an M.D. who is advancing a “natural cure” approach to illness, rather than prescription drugs and surgery, which is rather refreshing.

One of the first things he mentions in his book is that there will never be a medical cure for the vast majority of common diseases. Only Nature can cure, not modern medicine. Modern medicine only masks symptoms. I know we’ve talked about this many times, but it’s such a problem these days. Everyone wants a quick fix, and the doctors are more than happy to keep writing prescriptions. Side effects? No problem, here’s a prescription to mask that too. I realize that sometimes a quick fix is definitely the order of the day, especially if you’re having really bad pain. You just want the pain to go away, and right now. But how many people then go on to figure out what was causing the pain in the first place, and correct it? It’s obvious if it’s a broken bone or a pulled ligament or some other injury. But what about pain that isn’t associated with an actual injury? Most people will just keep on taking their medicine and never give it another thought. This is one of our goals with this newsletter - to get you to start questioning things. Like “Why does my stomach hurt every time I eat?” Is the answer a purple pill every day for the rest of your life? Or do you try to find out what’s causing the pain and take steps to correct the problem at the source?

Herbs and foods, used in the proper form, quality, and quantity, can be just as potent as medicine, but without the side-effects that usually come with taking a prescription. We’ve talked about healing herbs and foods before, so I won’t go into it again here, but it’s a good thing to keep in mind.

Dr. Ingram also brought up another very good point. We told you earlier that just a single teaspoon of sugar will grow a billion new fungal organisms in your body. But while it’s feeding those yeast/fungus cells, it’s also killing white blood cells, in about the same proportion. So sugar is a double-hit, by feeding the bad guys and at the same time, killing off an equal number of good guys.

In addition to sugar, another white blood cell killer is Non-Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs). They suppress the immune system to a point that it’s difficult to fight off any kind of virus or bacteria that’s going around (remember it is cold and flu season). Your immune system needs to be in top working order to keep you healthy, but consider the fact that most people in this country eat a high-sugar diet, and are also taking some kind of NSAID (Advil, Tylenol, Naproxen, etc.), and it’s no surprise that so many people are ill all the time. And not just with colds and flu, but serious autoimmune diseases.

Autoimmune diseases occur when the immune system isn’t functioning normally, or when there’s an overload of germs in the body. A lot of these germs, whether they are viruses or fungi, have the ability to enter healthy cells and alter the DNA, thereby rendering them “enemy” to your immune system. The immune system can only do the job it was meant to do, and that is destroy “enemy” invaders to the best of its ability. In someone with a severely suppressed immune system, it can’t destroy all the invaders and the person may die from a simple fungal or yeast infection. I’m referring here to very severely immuno-compromised people such as AIDS and chemo patients – most of them don’t die from AIDS or cancer – they die from “complications” or “secondary fungal infections.”

Other drugs that will severely suppress the immune system include any type of cortisone or steroid (corticosteroids), antibiotics, Methotrexate (given for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis), all chemotherapy drugs, whether oral or I.V., estrogen-based drugs (hormone replacement therapy), Dilantin (an anti-epileptic drug), cholesterol-lowering drugs, anti-rejection drugs (given to organ transplant patients), Penicillamine (a chelating agent), and birth control pills. Drugs containing cortisone or prednisone, including creams and inhalers, can cause irreversible immune system damage if used for prolonged periods. Also, people with asthma who use a steroid inhaler have a 30% higher death rate than asthmatics who don’t use steroid inhalers.

Dr. Ingram also listed the most common molds that infect humans and cause disease. They are Aspergillus, Penicillium, Stachybotrys, Cladosporidium, and Fusarium (yup, the same mold they make that new “health” food, Quorn, out of). Some of the more common diseases caused by a high level of these molds are Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, polymyositis (inflammation of the muscles), fibromyalgia, arthritis, lupus, migraines, bronchitis, sarcoidosis, asthma, emphysema, tuberculosis, and chronic sinusitis. (And the Quorn people say their Fusarium is a healthy, wholesome, food!)

The chances of being infected with one of these molds, or its mycotoxins, is higher than you’d think. A lot of it comes from your food. I used to scoff at people who said genetically modified foods were dangerous. After all, if you can get a vegetable to produce bigger fruit quickly, while staving off insect infestation, that’s a good thing, right? But I’ve done a little research on this subject since then and I’ve found out that when a food is genetically altered, its own immune system is compromised. This means that it is less able to fight off disease. The most common diseases to plants are fungus-based. So a genetically modified fruit or vegetable is more likely to be infected with a fungal disease than a non-modified one. Corn is the best example. It’s impossible to find an uncontaminated kernel of corn anymore. And buying organic vegetables is no help, since by adhering to the “organic” guidelines, the grower cannot spray his crop with any kind of pesticide or fungicide. Combine a GM food with organic growing practices, and you’ve got real trouble.

A candida overgrowth can be caused simply by eating a diet high in sugars and refined starches. The “average” American eats 150 pounds of sugar every year. Of course, other factors can exacerbate the problem, or cause it outright, such as antibiotics, surgery, the use of catheters, injections (even that good ol’ flu shot), or cortisone (injected or topical). A single 10-day course of antibiotics, or a single cortisone injection, can be enough to cause a candida overgrowth to start.

Systemic candidiasis is most often misdiagnosed as something else, because physicians don’t want to say the “F” word (fungus). Some symptoms of systemic candidiasis that have been erroneously diagnosed as “diseases” include: fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, arthritis, lupus, hypothyroidism, irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, Sjogren’s syndrome (an autoimmune disease of the moisture-producing glands), ankylosing spondylitis, esophagitis, endometriosis, ovarian dysfunction, and prostatitis, among others.

I also found an interesting note in this book about West Nile Virus. The media would have you believe that it can be passed between humans, via mosquito bite, but it isn’t so. The only way a human can get West Nile virus is directly from a mosquito who has just bitten an infected horse. In other words, if a normal, virus-free mosquito bites a person with West Nile, then bites another person, the second person will not contract the virus. Something about the human host seems to change the virus to be non-infective. West Nile virus is also not normally a life-threatening disease. A healthy human immune system can easily overcome this virus. An immune system that has been compromised will have more trouble. Because we know that everyone’s immune system is compromised to one degree or another, the virus appears to be more virulent than it really is. Keep your immune system functioning properly, and it will protect you from all sorts of nasty bugs, including West Nile Virus.

And finally, a note about Alzheimer’s Disease. Did you know that 90% of all people with Alzheimer’s have an active brain infection? The most common organisms found are Chlamydia (a bacterium) and Actinomycetes (a tentacle-forming fungus that resembles a bacterium). Also, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association, women who use hormone replacement therapy (estrogen) are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s as those women who do not use hormone therapy. Is it possible that the hormone drugs are contaminated? We know that flu shots are directly linked to Alzheimer’s, and they are almost always contaminated with something, even if it’s only broken pieces of bacterial or fungal DNA. Of course, the fact that they put mercury and aluminum in them to preserve them might have quite a bit of bearing, too. So maybe the hormone drugs are similarly contaminated. That one needs some more research on my part. If I can find the answer, you’ll get the write-up.

U.S. life expectancy hits another all-time high

“U.S. life expectancy has hit another all-time high — 77.6 years — and deaths from heart disease, cancer and stroke continue to drop, the government reported Thursday.”

That’s the headline and opening paragraph for December 8, 2005, folks, according to my MSNBC link to the Associated Press article. Can you see what is wrong with that statement? There is a lie buried in there and it jumps right out and smacks me upside the head. Do you see it? Be honest. It’s not the life expectancy part, but their statement that deaths from heart disease, cancer and strokes have dropped. They are playing with numbers here. The total deaths from these diseases have actually increased, but articles like this don’t inform you that the population has risen faster than the death rates, so the percentage of people dying from those things is lower than it used to be. For those of you who do not understand the mathematical difference, it works like this: If the total population is 250,000,000 people and 25,000 of them died from whatever the disease of the week is, then the percentage of people dying from those diseases would be calculated as 25,000 divided by 250,000,000 or 0.10% of the total. Now, say ten years later, 28,000 people died from those same diseases. Would you say the number of people dying from those diseases had increased? I would. But given that the population that year was now 300,000,000, then the percentage of deaths due to those diseases is 0.09% and because 9 is less than 10, they can say that the numbers indicate less people are dying from those diseases, but the unspoken part is “as a percentage of the total population.” The reality is that the total number of people who died from the disease du jour has increased. To me, this is called “deception.”

Now that very same article goes on to say, “Half of Americans in the 55-to-64 age group — including the oldest of the baby boomers — have high blood pressure, and two in five are obese. That means they are in worse shape in some respects than Americans born a decade earlier were when they were that age.” So, we might be living longer, but we are in more pain and in worse physical condition. To rephrase their words, of all Americans in the 55-64 age group, 50% have high blood pressure and 40% are extremely fat! Those are positively frightening numbers. I see that as a direct result of the fact that we live a more sedentary lifestyle than the previous generation (i.e., less physically demanding exercises) and we eat too much junk food, which is not only more fattening, but contains more chemicals and toxins. Sorry to say this folks, but the Standard American Diet (SAD) is a killer – perhaps not directly of the total body (we are living longer, or so they claim) but the overall health level of your body is definitely in the toilet.

Readers Q&A

Q: I read that chocolate is actually good for us, but you tell us to stay away from that. Why?

A: Pure natural chocolate, in the form of cocoa solids, is good for you, but there is no candy bar or cake frosting or pudding or anything else with the name “chocolate” as part of its marketed name that is being sold in this country that has not been pumped full of a zillion cups of refined sugars, and that is the killer. Raw cocoa beans contain substantial amounts of antioxidants, the dietary substance that mops up free radicals. Disease-fighting antioxidants are also present in blueberries, kale, spinach, green tea, raw garlic, oregano, honey, and pure grape juice (and several other things). But chocolate is a particularly potent source; dark chocolate has five times as many antioxidants as the same weight of blueberries. Again though, beware the added sugars – not just because of the high calories, but remember that we told you before, one teaspoon of refined white sugar is enough food to turn one fungus into one billion fungi.

Several studies have demonstrated that the antioxidants in chocolate (known as flavonols) help lower levels of LDL cholesterol (the bad guys) while boosting good HDL cholesterol. Flavonols also seem to ease inflammation, opening blood vessels and improving blood flow. These antioxidants can also prevent platelets from adhering to the lining of blood vessels, inhibit blood clotting, and help prevent plaque formation in the arteries. The doctors substantiating that claim worked up all kinds of reasons for this, but the truth is, if a food is antioxidant, it is also antifungal. LDL cholesterol is caused by fungi and any antifungal food will kill it, so your LDL level drops. It’s that simple.

To make chocolate, a manufacturer crushes roasted, fermented (note that word – it implies there will also be mycotoxins present) cocoa beans, or nibs, into a liquid called chocolate liquor. The liquor is then pressed to separate out its fat (cocoa butter). What remains is a cocoa solid that can be ground up to become natural unsweetened cocoa powder. This has the highest level of cocoa flavonols because it’s the least processed. Also, because the fat has been removed and it contains no extra ingredients, such as sugar, it’s the healthiest form of chocolate you can find. But it tastes bitter, so you’re not about to eat it by the spoonful. To include natural unsweetened cocoa powder in your diet, sprinkle it into coffee, tea, or yogurt. Try not to overcome the bitter taste by adding a bunch of refined sugars because that will defeat the purpose. And, of course, if you can’t eat unsweetened chocolate, there are many other antioxidant/antifungal foods out there that aren’t bitter (see short list above).

You might also be interested to know that Georgetown University researchers recently reported that when human breast cancer cells were treated with pentamer (yet another antioxidant found in cocoa), it interrupted the rapid growth that can lead to tumors. We have already stated that we believe cancer tumors are caused by fungi and that antioxidants are antifungals, so to me, this “discovery” at Georgetown should have been simple common sense.

Q: I saw a TV show on bread-making that claimed a single test tube of yeast is turned into 800,000 pounds of useable baker’s yeast in only one week. Does that stuff really grow that fast or are they pulling my leg?

A: Saccharomyces cereviae does grow that fast, given ideal conditions. Here’s the basic process.

Like we have been telling you folks, sugars feed fungi (yeast is a fungus), and the basic carbon and energy source for yeast growth are sugars. Beet and cane molasses are commonly used as raw material because the sugars present in molasses, a mixture of sucrose, fructose and glucose, are readily fermentable. In addition to sugar, yeast also require certain minerals, vitamins and salts for good growth. Some of these can be added to the blend of beet and cane molasses while others are fed separately to the fermentation. Required nitrogen is supplied in the form of ammonia and phosphate, which is supplied in the form of phosphoric acid. Each of these nutrients is fed separately to the fermentation to permit better pH control of the process. The sterilized molasses, commonly referred to as mash, is stored in a separate stainless steel tank. The mash stored in this tank is then used to feed sugar and other nutrients to the appropriate fermentation vessels.

Baker’s yeast production starts with a pure culture tube of the appropriate yeast strain. This yeast serves as the inoculum for the pre-pure culture tank. Following growth, the contents of this vessel are transferred to a larger pure culture fermentor where propagation is carried out with some aeration under sterile conditions. These early stages are conducted as set-batch fermentations where all the growth media and nutrients are introduced to the tank prior to inoculation. From the pure culture vessel, the grown cells are transferred to a series of progressively larger seed and semi-seed fermentors. These later stages are conducted as fed-batch fermentations, where molasses, phosphoric acid, ammonia and minerals are fed to the yeast at a controlled rate. This rate is designed to feed just enough sugar and nutrients to the yeast to maximize multiplication and prevent the production of alcohol. It is not economical to use pressurized tanks to guarantee sterility of the large volumes of air required in these fermentors or to achieve sterile conditions during all the transfers through the many pipes, pumps and centrifuges, so this stage is no longer sterile. At the end of the semi-seed fermentation, the contents of the vessel are pumped to a series of separators that separate the yeast from the spent molasses. The yeast is then washed with cold water and pumped to a semi-seed yeast storage tank where the yeast cream is held at 34 °F (1 °C) until it is used to inoculate the commercial fermentation tanks. These commercial fermentors are the final step in the fermentation process, which are carried out in large fermentors with working volumes up to 50,000 gallons each. To start the commercial fermentation, a volume of water, referred to as set water, is pumped into the fermentor. Next, in a process referred to as pitching, semi-seed yeast from the storage tank is transferred into the fermentor. Following the addition of the seed yeast, aeration, cooling and nutrient additions are started to begin the 15-20 hour fermentation. At the start of the fermentation, the liquid seed yeast and additional water may occupy only about one-third to one-half of the fermentor volume. Constant additions of nutrients during the course of fermentation bring the fermentor to its final volume. The rate of nutrient addition increases throughout the fermentation because more nutrients have to be supplied to support growth of the increasing cell population. The number of yeast cells increase five- to eight-fold during this fermentation. Air is provided to the fermentor through a series of perforated tubes located at the bottom of the vessel (it bubbles up). The rate of airflow is about one volume of air per fermentor volume per minute. A large amount of heat is generated during yeast growth and cooling is accomplished by internal cooling coils or by pumping the fermentation liquid, also known as broth, through an external heat exchanger. The addition of nutrients and regulation of pH, temperature, and airflow are carefully monitored and controlled by computer systems during the entire production process. Throughout the fermentation, the temperature is kept at approximately 86 °F and the pH in the range of 4.5-5.5. At the end of fermentation, the fermentor broth is separated by nozzle-type centrifuges, washed with water, and re-centrifuged to yield a yeast cream with a solids concentration of approximately 18%. The yeast cream is cooled to about 45 °F and stored in a separate, refrigerated stainless steel cream tank. Alternatively, the yeast cream can be pumped to a plate and frame filter press and dewatered to a cake-like consistency with a 30-32% yeast solids content. This press cake yeast is crumbled into pieces and packed into 50-pound bags that are stacked on a pallet. The yeast heats up during the pressing and packaging operations and the bags of crumbled yeast must be cooled in a refrigerator for a period of time with adequate ventilation and placement of pallets to permit free access to the cooling air. Palletized bags of crumbled yeast are then distributed to customers in refrigerated trucks. Those customers will then break the content down to smaller bags for eventual distribution to consumers.

Now, consider that one test tube of pure yeast cells can be turned into 800,000 pounds in only one week, what kind of yeast production is going on inside your own body? You have approximately the same temperature and pH in your gut (with individual variations, of course). You have the minerals and other nutrients the yeast requires. You lack (luckily) the volume of oxygen aeration, so production would occur at a slower rate. Yeasts can grow in the presence or absence of air. Anaerobic growth (growth in the absence of oxygen), is quite slow and inefficient. So what is the magic ingredient? Sugar! If you stop feeding sugars to your fungal cells, they have no food to make them grow.

Q: You have made mention a couple times you don’t believe in homeopathy. Why?

A: First, let’s define homeopathy so we’ll be sure we are all talking about the same thing here. Homeopathy is a disease treatment system in which a patient is given minute doses of natural drugs that, in larger doses, would produce symptoms of the disease itself. That is, the entire concept is rather like getting a flu shot; they’re giving you a small version the disease in order for your body to build up a resistance to it so you can fight it with your natural immune functions. Gee, that’s all well and good, if you have a good immune system. Modern humans however, especially in the United States and many other “western” cultures, have been immuno-compromised since birth by the overuse of antibiotics and the chemical crap that is in nearly all the foods we eat. Here’s my major disagreement with this concept: If you are in good health and have a fully functional immune system, you don’t need to get a small case of the disease in order to fight the disease. I haven’t had a flu shot since 1968 and I haven’t had the flu since then. No, not because the flu shot was that effective – obviously they aren’t expected to be a lifelong inoculation or the allopathic folks wouldn’t ask you to come get a new one every year.

What’s the dosage for homeopathic remedies? Well, these things come in assortments labeled 6X or 30X, etc. The X means they were diluted by a factor of 10 (one part of whatever toxin they say you need to develop immunity to per 10 parts water). So a 6X dose means that it was diluted six times by a factor of 10, meaning the final dilution will be 0.000001 of the original solution of the ingredient, which is one ten millionth of the pure ingredient. And 30X means that it was diluted thirty times by a factor of 10. These are extremely small concentrations of the active ingredients and a reason for the safety of homeopathic ingredients. That is, in my opinion, homeopathic remedies are safe because they cannot possibly harm anyone, which also means they cannot possibly make any changes in your body chemistry, which you must have if you are attempting to fight a disease you already have (even the Allopaths won’t give you a flu shot if you already have the flu). When you are talking about a dilution of 1:10,000,000 or 1:1,000,000,000, that is about the same as saying that another practice, the taking of “essences,” is also physiological (such as where five drops of brandy are put into a bottle of distilled water during a full moon while a wolf is howling in the distance, and then sold at $10 an ounce as “Essence of Wolf,” which is supposed to increase your self-esteem or confidence or something like that.J ). In my mind, both of these things fall into the realm of “placebo effects” (double blind studies of both allopathic and naturopathic medicines show a certain percentage of those given inert ingredients will still get better, which means the cure was the state of mind of the patients, not what was or wasn’t in the pill they took.).

OK, so the next obvious question might be, “What makes Naturopathy any better?” I have also said before that I am not 100% into Naturopathic remedies either. Naturopathy is a system of medicine founded on the belief that diet, mental state, exercise, breathing, and other natural factors are central to the origin and treatment of disease. Not far different, but at least it has some basis in science. I am not a homeopath, a naturopath, or an allopath (those who treat symptoms only with potent manufactured artificial drugs that usually have potentially harmful side-effects). However, the “proper” dose of the natural chemicals found in plants will cause a physiological change in your body. This is both measurable and repeatable (i.e., scientific) and will work on the vast majority of humans.

So what am I? A Naturalist. I believe that Mother Nature (God, if you so choose) has put the cure for all natural diseases (not necessarily the man-made diseases) within easy reach of wherever you live. A Naturalist, like a Naturopath, also believes that if you eat right, exercise right, etc., you will stay healthy and if you avoid those foods that contain the poisons that are giving you all these nasty diseases that are in the news every day, you need not be concerned about them. That also gives you a psychological edge (less stress). Yes, I do believe the grains that naturopaths push would be good for you if they didn’t contain all the molds and mycotoxins from bad storage and/or GM fragility. But, because they do contain those things, I will not tell you to eat what I know is harmful. The naturopaths have not learned this, so they are still pushing bad foods (e.g., grains, soy, peanuts).

Now, for those of you who want to get into the “far out” end of healing, I have also gained a considerable amount of knowledge in those areas (e.g., positive mental attitude, acupuncture, acupressure, reflexology, Reiki (cosmic energy transfer – not necessarily hands-on healing), psychology, parapsychology, metaphysics, group prayer, etc.), I would be most happy to share that data with you, but not in this newsletter. We established at the onset of this project that we would discuss only those items that could be scientifically proved or disproved,

Also, bear in mind, those “fringe” things require a great deal of faith to have positive outcomes (i.e., as far as I can tell, all healing is done by the patient’s state of mind, spiritual-support-group theories aside) and they are not scientifically testable or able to fix everyone who chooses that path.

If you want to discuss those areas, we must either start a different newsletter, or take it “off line.” Send me an e-mail to let me know if you want to delve into those mysteries.