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The healthy superfoods you should be eating
By Rachael Anne Hill | The Slim Down – Thu, Jun 28, 2012

Yahoo! nutritionist Rachael Anne Hill identifies four nutrient-packed, super-healthy foods we should be eating but are often forgotten about.

Quinoa

Although commonly referred to as a grain, quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is actually a seed. Available from most good health stores and supermarkets, it can be cooked and eaten in much the same way as rice and contains all the essential amino acids (the amino acids your body can't make) so it is an excellent source of complete protein for vegans and vegetarians.

Quinoa is low in fat but rich in cholesterol-lowering fibre and is a good source of B vitamins needed for repair of body cells and an efficient metabolism. Quinoa contains energy-giving iron too (the mineral women are most likely to be deficient in), calcium for strong bones and potassium, which can help to reduce high blood pressure. It's also a good source of magnesium, which can reduce the frequency of headaches by helping to relax the blood vessels that supply the brain. In short, quinoa is a super-healthy super food and introducing it to your diet is a smart and tasty choice.

Cold pressed rapeseed oil

Cold pressed rapeseed oil (cold pressed means the oil is naturally extracted from the plant at room temperature without the addition of any chemicals) has balanced levels of omega 3, 6 and 9. Together these make up the essential fatty acids vital for lowering cholesterol, reducing inflammation that can cause heart disease and premature ageing, boosting the immune system and nourishing skin, hair, bones and joints. It also has half the saturated fat and ten times the omega 3 content of olive oil and is an excellent source of skin-enhancing vitamin E.

Cook with it, drizzle sparingly over salads, rice or pasta dishes or mix with balsamic vinegar, garlic and a little honey for a really delicious salad dressing.

Crab

Crab is a slimmer's dream because it's low in calories (a four ounce serving of crab meat has only 98 calories), full of flavour and with under two grams of fat per serving, it's heart-healthy too.

Despite its low calorie content, it is a great source of protein so it's a really filling and satisfying food. Crab is also a good source of omega 3s which help to lower triglycerides and blood pressure along with reducing the risk of heart disease.
Omega 3s are also thought to reduce inflammation, enhance immune function and even lower the risk of certain types of cancer. Try topping a salad with flakes of fresh crab meat or alternatively add tinned crab meat to fish cakes or fish pies.

Radishes

These hot tasting little vegetables are members of the cruciferous family and owe their pungent flavour to super nutrients called glucosinolates that are also found in broccoli and cabbage.

Glucosinolates help to boost detoxing enzymes in the liver, have anti-cancer properties and aid digestion. Radishes contain just one calorie each and come packaged up with plenty of hunger-combating fibre so they are great for the waistline.

Chomping your way through just ten radishes will provide you with 25% of your daily vitamin C and their leaves, which are also edible, contain six times more. Add them to summer salads for an extra peppery kick or dip them into hummus and tzatziki.

Are you a Golden Indigo?

Your a "Golden Indigo" if...

1. You are over the age of 60.
2. You have always felt a "stirring" within your soul to heal and bless humanity.
3. That "stirring" has increased considerably over the last five to ten years.
4. You feel a tangible connection with the Indigo Children.
5. You can't keep silent any longer, but feel drawn to share your wisdom.
6. You refuse to sit back and simply "retire."
7. You felt a resolute "YES" when you first read or heard about the Golden Indigos.

We are standing at the edge of an exciting new world, and the Golden Indigos have an extremely important role to play. Please stay tuned as we share more and more information, as well as some new exciting programs we're putting together. For example, we're in the process of producing two films on the Goldens, the first being a feature film called "Redwood Highway," as well as a documentary called "Golden Indigo."

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that wisdom is learning what to overlook.

William James said that, and he had it absolutely right.

And someone in your life right now is hoping, praying,
that you will overlook their faults, their foibles, their
most recent mistake.

Will you?

The Universe invites you to say yes.

Love, Your Friend....

**********

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that you can change what you see. You don't have
to be trapped by it.

Nothing has to remain the way it is, and nothing is
the way it is forever unless and until you say so.

You really are in charge of your day-to-day
experience. Really.

You know exactly why you received this message
today.

Love, Your Friend....

**********

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that enthusiasm is half of the journey to success, and
all of the journey to joy.

If you're going to do something, do it with gusto. Don't
do anything half-heartedly. That dishonors the doing
and the doer. So go for it. Hold nothing back. In life.

Or love. Or anything at all.

You will not have to think but a second to know
exactly why you received this message today.

Trust that your inner goodness will rule this moment...

Love, Your Friend

**********

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that kindness is one of your wonderful traits, but
where you really shine is in your generosity.

It is one thing to be kind, and you are that. Yet it is quite
another thing to also be unfailingly generous--with your
time, your talent and energy, your willingness to
"be there" for others, and yes, with your money.

You are a generous person, and that takes kindness
to a new level. Be happy in the knowingness of this.

Love, Your Friend.

**********

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know......

that life was meant to be FUN! It's hard to believe
sometimes, but it's true. It's all about point of view.

Even our most difficult moments bring us gifts. And so
life may call upon us to be a bit "philosophical" now and
then; to embrace the "low's" with the "high's."

The trick, of course, is gratitude. Therein will you find
both your peace and your joy.

Love, Your Friend

**********

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that your inner goodness is going to carry the day.

I know that you know what a good person you are.

Yes, we all make mistakes, but when everything is said
and done, you are a genuinely good person...and you
know it.

So here's what you should be told: God knows it, too.

Trust that your inner goodness will rule this moment...

Love, Your Friend...

**********

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that illness is not a sign of spiritual weakness, but of
spiritual strength.

When we fall ill there are some who will say, "Why
did you create that for yourself?" They might convince
you to see it as a sign of spiritual weakness or failure.

It is not. It is a sign of spiritual strength.

All challenges are a sign of spiritual strength, and of
the readiness of the Soul to move on;
to evolve even further.

Love, Your Friend....

**********

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that progress is not measured in miles, it is measured
in inches.

Do not wonder why things are "taking so long." In fact,
everything is rolling out exactly as it needs to, using
not a minute more than Perfection requires.

Rest easy and be at peace. Life is working its magic
even as you take your very next breath.

There. See? You could almost feel the Perfection,
couldn't you?

Love, Your Friend....

**********

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that how bad things may look right now means nothing.
It's how good you know they can look with God's help
that counts.

Life has a habit of changing itself completely around in
24 hours. Heck, in 24 minutes sometimes.

Don't you dare give up on Tomorrow because of the
way things look Today. Don't even think about it...

Love, Your Friend....

**********

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that obstacles are not opposing you, but merely and
gently re-routing you.

It is important not to view that which stands in your
way as your 'enemy.' It can often be your best friend,
sending you on a detour that takes you around what
could have been your biggest stumbling block.

Send a word of gratitude, then, for anything that seems
to be 'opposing' you now. All things in life happen for
good. Trust God about that.

Love, Your Friend....

**********

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that intimacy means more than sex, as you know. Tell
others that, for you, it is about the connection of souls.

It is the true union of two beings. It is about walking
through all moments, both good and bad, and never
leaving the other's side.

You are intimate when you are fully with another, no
matter what. In fact, this has very little to do with that
which is physical.

Love, Your Friend....

**********

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that you cannot tailor-make your situation in life, but you
can tailor-make your attitudes to fit those situations.

World famous motivational speaker Zig Ziglar said that, and
he was profoundly right. How you shape your attitude is not
a small part of how you shape your life...it is the only part.

Does it sound as if I'm saying that attitude is everything?

Good. Because I am.

Love, Your Friend

**********

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that someone is extending love to you this day, and
hoping so dearly that you will receive it.

You have asked for someone to love you right now,
and God has answered your prayer. Look. Listen.
That loving person is right in your world. Open the
door for them to come in.

I promise you, I'm not making this up. Someone is
loving you right now. Look. Listen. Let it in.

There, I've said it twice. God wanted me to make sure
you really got it.

Love, Your Friend

**********

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that there is no need to be afraid. Even if you were to
die right now, there would be no need to be afraid.

This life, this wonderful life, is on your side. This universe,
this wonderful universe, is in your corner, supporting all
of life. This God, this wonderful God, places Divine
wisdom and power in your hands.

Trust that. Use it. And let it give you strength. Right now.
This day.

Love, Your Friend..

**********

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that there is a solution to all of this--and it is right
around the next corner.

A few weeks from now you will not even be facing
this problem. A few months from now, you will have
forgotten you ever had it. A few years from now, you
will wonder why you let yourself worry so much.

I'm not trying to make light of it here. I just want to
put it in perspective.

Okay? Trust God here. Trust life. And breathe.

Love, Your Friend.

**********

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that you can live a charmed life, and that there is a
formula by which you can make this work.

Here is the formula: You can live a charmed life by
causing others to live a charmed life. That is, be the
source of 'charm' -- of charming moments and
experiences -- in the life of another.

Be everyone else's Lucky Charm! Make all who you
touch today feel 'lucky' that you crossed their path.

Do this for a week and watch things change. Do it
for a month and you'll be a different person.

Love, Your Friend

*********

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that nothing is as bad as it seems. Nothing.

There is a benefit and a blessing hidden in the folds
of every experience and every outcome. That includes
every and any 'bad' thing that may be happening to
you right now.

Change your perspective. Know that nothing happens
ever that is not for your highest good. All that needs
to change for you to see this...is your definition of
'Highest Good.'

Love, Your Friend..

**********

On this day of your life, Melodie, I believe God wants you to know...
...that disappointment is temporary. Only your thought
it is permanent.
Change your mind about what has disappointed you
and you will change your life. All disappointment is
just Advantage, looked at from the other side.

You will not have to think but a second to know
exactly why you received this message today.

Love, Your Friend....

**********

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that the best argument you can make
is no argument
at all.

Do not argue with life, or with anyone in life. Life
presents itself perfectly in every moment, and every
person believe his or her point of view to be valid
and 'right.'

Arguing with any of this is pointless, and a terrific
waste of energy. Simply create what you choose next.

Love, Your Friend

***********

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that you've just had a really good idea!

Don't deny it! Don't cast it aside, or "put if off 'til
tomorrow," or in some other way give it short shrift.

Ideas are gifts from heaven. Don't dishonor them.

Jump right on it. Make it happen.

That's what ideas are for!

You will not have to think but a second to know
exactly why you received this message today.

Love, Your Friend

**********

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that perfectionism is the enemy of creation.

John Updike said that, and he was right. He understood
that nothing stops the forward march of any creative
endeavor like the need to do it absolutely perfectly.

And who is to judge what is 'perfect' anyway? What I
have judged full of flaws so many others have called
terrific. Maybe the definition of Perfection is something

that actually gets done.

Love, Your Friend....

**********

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that you should act like you expect to get into the
end zone.

Football coach Joe Paterno said that, and boy, did
he have it right. Nothing substitutes for positive thinking.

Nothing. It is more powerful than all the money, all the
influence, all the 'friends in high places' on earth.

You only need one friend in high places--and you already
have that. So go ahead, expect to get into the end zone.

You'll find that you do, 90% of the time.

Love, Your Friend....

**********

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that life begins now -- right now -- not tomorrow or
the next day or the next.

Every minute of every hour of every day, life begins
anew. That means everything can change in an instant.

It also means you can have a new beginning
whenever you want.

Why put off for one day that decision you've been
pondering...aren't you just putting life itself on hold?

Love, Your Friend

**********

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that it's okay to go ahead and take a risk.

There's no guarantee that everything will turn out exactly
the way you want it to, but there IS a guarantee that it
cannot possibly do so if you are afraid to even take the
chance.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained" is not just a nifty
old-time saying. It's wisdom. Listen to it.

You know exactly why you received this message today.

Love, Your Friend....

Scam Watch: June update - the fraudsters you should be aware of

This article was written in response to messages from our readers. If you suspect a scam please let us know the details. We will investigate and warn others.
Moneywise – Fri, Jun 29, 2012 14:55 BST

Although we might pride ourselves on our ability to smell a rat a mile off, swindlers aren't stupid; they make their operations look as plausible as possible so we need to be on our guard.

MINISTRY OF PENSIONS SCAM

"One of our employees was called up last week from a man claiming to be from the Ministry of Pensions. The number was from a mobile phone and although it sounded suspicious, the caller knew her name and address and told her she was due a backdated pension payout of £5,000. To get the money released she would have to pay £200 and at this stage she wisely hung up the phone."
Gillian Morgan, June 2012

DHL SCAM

"A company pretending to be DHL emailed me to say it had attempted to deliver a parcel to my address but was unable to, and if I wanted to rearrange the delivery I needed to download a reference number.

"Attached to the email was a PDF, which I stupidly thought would be safe to download. As soon as I did every file on my computer became blocked and I had to take the laptop into a local centre to get it fixed."
Dave Hope, June 2012

SANTANDER SCAM

"An email arrived in my personal inbox this week supposedly from Santander. It said someone had tried to send me money but as the transaction looked suspicious it was declined and my account is now restricted.

"Therefore I was asked to confirm some personal details to be able to access my account again. Although it looked quite genuine there were also a lot of spelling mistakes in the text, which hinted it might be a scam."
Vanessa Preece, June 2012

ROMANCE SCAM

"I have been in contact with a man who is stuck in Ghana after finishing work on an oil rig there for the Ghanaian government. He says he hasn't been paid yet and needs money for a ticket back to the UK and claims he is a structural engineer living in Manchester. The money needs to be transferred online but I believe it's a scam so I have instead alerted the British Commission in Ghana."
Joanna Farrington, June 2012

CO-OPERATIVE BANK SCAM

"Someone posing as the Co-op emailed me last week to let me know about a potential fraud alert to my account. To avoid this, ‘the bank' has updated its security system I was told I need to hand over my sort code and account number by email to make sure my account is protected."
Frederick Burns, May 2012

DATING WEBSITE SCAM

"Ever since the end of last year, I've been in touch with a woman I met through an online dating website. Apparently she lives in Australia but is currently on a trip in London.

She emailed me yesterday to say that while over here she's been mugged and now no longer has her debit or credit cards or any cash. Therefore she's asked for me to transfer money to her for a flight back home. Instead, I'm alerting ScamWatch as I believe this is a con."
Phillip Hall, May 2012

STUDENT LOAN SCAM

"My inbox is regularly filed with scam emails and the latest claims to be from the student loans company. It says it’s being sent out to all students who have received grants and loans and asks for the student to verify their personal details. Within the email was an attachment which needed to be downloaded to complete the process."
Frederick Burns, April 2012

BT SCAM

"Although my phone account is with BT I was a little suspicious when I received an email from the company recently. It was titled "action required" and said my last payment wasn’t processed properly. This was either because my personal details had been changed or there was an error when I had paid the bill. To resolve the situation it asked for further details, and included a link, so instead of carrying on I marked it as spam and deleted it."
A Brooks, April 2012

LOAN SCAM

"I have been trying to get a loan so I can take my wife on holiday and we had a phone call recently from a firm offering this. It seemed completely genuine and we weren’t asked for personal or financial details. We were told we should buy a voucher for £50 and then we would have the loan deposited into our account. However, we were never called back and there seems to be no way to get our £50 back. If they can do this to one person I wonder how many more times have they done it."
Stephen Gibson, April 2012

INVESTMENT SCAM

"A lady with a Scottish accent called me this week suggesting I ring fence my assets, so that they could not be used in the event of entering a care home. The alarming thing is she mentioned a password I do actually use for some of my accounts but I’ve never had any dealings with this company before. I’ve now changed all my other passwords."
Margaret Herd, April 2012

http://finance.yahoo.com/video29147702

AMAZON SCAM 2

"The public need to be aware of yet another Amazon scam in circulation. It is a voucher that advertises a £10 voucher for Amazon. However, once you sign up to the voucher and give your personal details to the company £29 will be debited from your account each month and will be described as an administration fee."
Shan Lamptey, April 2012

CHINESE INVESTMENT SCAM

"Today I received a letter from a so-called private investigator in China to say someone with my surname had died and he was the lawyer representing the case. The deceased man apparently had millions of pounds in his investment portfolio and as there are no other interested parties, the funds could be split equally between the author of the letter and myself. Funnily enough I have taken this no further."

David Storrar, March 2012

PARCEL DELIVERY SCAM

"I arrived home from work today to find a card behind my door telling me a parcel had been left under my patio table. I had not ordered anything from this catalogue company and rang it up asking why these items of jewellery had been sent. I was put through to the fraud department and the member of staff asked if I was a company director to which I replied that I was. Apparently the latest scam is for con artists to use your name and address (which they can find on a company website) and then change the address for delivery once the account has been accepted. Thankfully I acted straight away and a fraud marker was put on my file and I was advised to check my credit record."
Angela Oakley, March 2012

DISASTER NEWS SCAM

"Last week an email arrived in my inbox from a friend and immediately alarm bells began ringing. For a start the language was strange and it went on to say she was on holiday in London and had been mugged and had everything stolen apart from passports. It then went on to ask for help settling the hotel bill and getting a flight. There were lots of things in it that didn’t match up so I contacted my friend and she confirmed it was a scam."
Ann Street, March 2012

THE HALIFAX SCAM

"Halifax, or at least I thought it was the bank, contacted me to say it had detected irregular activity in my Halifax online banking login. As I was the primary contact the email asked me to verify my account as a hold had been placed on my debit card so I couldn’t access my cash. There was an attachment with the email, which I had to download to verify the account. Alarm bells rang and so instead I checked my online banking in a new window and found no problems."
Aysha Begum, February 2012

THE AMAZON SCAM

"I received an official looking email from a company pretending to be Amazon to say the order I had placed had been cancelled. The email included a new order number and a link to what I thought was Amazon. I clicked on this and it directed me to the website of a Canadian pharmaceutical company selling drugs."

Barry Arrowsmith, February 2012

THE COMPETITION SCAM

"I’ve been emailed as apparently my email address was the star pick from an automated ballot system which means I’m entitled to receive the grand reward of 2.5 million dollars. The suspect email said the prize was from a reward program for the ‘patronage of internet services’ and the promotional draw is conducted in the Netherlands. In order to claim this prize the email says I must send personal details out immediately."

Bob Hope, February 2012

THE DEATH CERTIFICATE SCAM

"Apparently my death certificate has been handed into a branch of HSBC in Canada by a man who claimed to be my representative and also to have power of attorney of my finances. There is also a fund of 12.5 million dollars in my name, which I need to claim in the next 48 hours while at the same time confirming I am still alive. This is very clearly a scam."

Eirik Vestgard, February 2012

THE YAHOO SCAM

"A scam email arrived in my account supposedly from Yahoo. It said I needed to update my personal details after a series of illegal attempts on my email account from different IP addresses. It went on to say it was for my own safety and if I wanted to keep my account open I would need to fill in details such as, email address, password, date of birth and country of residence."

Richard Search, February 2012

THE NPOWER SCAM

"Quite unexpectedly we received a phone call one evening at 8 o'clock and my wife answered. She said npower, our electricity provider, was on the phone and wanted a meter reading there and then. We had just started to watch a favourite TV programme so I said I would send one online the next day. The caller was persistent but settled eventually and said they would call again – which didn't happen. I phoned npower the next day and was told everything was fully up to date and no reading was required. It's difficult to imagine what would have followed had we complied and gone to the meter and provided a reading. Doubtless the company would have tried to obtain some sensitive personal information on some pretext or other."

Clifton Pyrke, November 2011

THE ILLNESS SCAM

"This message arrive in my inbox from a friend in my address book. The subject of the email was 'Dearest Beloved'. The message said: 'As you read this, I don't want you to feel sorry for me because I believe everyone will die someday. I have been diagnosed with oesophageal cancer, view attached mail for full details.' My friend is not ill and the email had an attachment which I did not open."

Kunio Uematsu, November 2011

THE SKY SCAM

"I was checking through our bank statement online and discovered a transaction marked 'Sky Subscription' which is strange as we have not been with Sky for over six years.

We rang Sky to ask why and it told us all of its payments are labelled 'Sky Digital'. We rang the bank and stopped the debit card this transaction had been used on. The scam appears to work by taking random amounts from your bank account. We have spoken to others and found this is a growing problem with one friend being debited as much as £200. The message here is – always check your bank statements."

Peter Balshaw, November 2011

PAYPAL SCAM
"I sold a mobile phone on eBay and a bidder offered me double the price I had hoped for. I accepted this and he sent the authorisation code for the payment but no money arrived in my account.

I contacted PayPal who told me this was a scam as the authorisation code was an old one. The bidder looked genuine and had good feedback and I contacted him again. He sent another code but still no money arrived so in the end I sold it to someone else."

Joel Brown, October 2011

PUPPY SCAM

"I tried to buy a Chihuahua puppy on the free advert side Oodle for £150 plus delivery from Dundee to Edinburgh. I emailed the seller and asked a lot of questions about the puppy and delivery and he assured me that everything would be straightforward.

I was sent the details of the delivery agency and I paid the seller through MoneyGram. Next my husband spoke on the phone with the agency and suddenly it wanted another £600 to cover insurance and to deliver my puppy by plane. We didn’t want to do this so but the seller would not listen and he even said if we pulled out of the deal the dog would be put in quarantine and we would be in trouble with the police.

This was not the first advert I applied to and it seemed genuine. Looking back I shouldn’t have wired the £150 but I was so desperate for this puppy I went ahead with it."

Mrs Elizabeth Heppell, October 2011

SAD NEWS SCAM

"An old friend who now lives in America emailed me last month asking to borrow £2,000 as he was on holiday in Wales and had been mugged. The email was very convincing and said his cash, cards and mobile phones had been stolen but he still had his passport and flight tickets.

It said he had gone to the American embassy and police but had not had much luck and needed to settle hotel bills before getting a flight back to America the next day. I would have sent the money to him but the use of the headline ‘Sad News’ suggested a death in the family, which this was not, and made me feel uneasy.

I hadn't contacted him for years, but I found the number and rang his home in North Carolina. It turns out his emails had been hacked and similar messages had been sent out to everyone in his address book."

Victor Courtice, October 2011

COMPUTER HEALTH CHECK SCAM

"I was contacted by a man who told me my computer was not running at the right speed and offered me a free security health check. The caller asked me to switch on my pc and log onto a website. At this point the computer would be accessed remotely and cleared of any bugs.

When I asked the name of the company I was told it was part of Microsoft and the caller said this would be totally free. As a PC engineer I didn’t go any further as alarm bells began ringing and I believed the company’s intention was to get passwords and data off my PC."

Stuart Strong, October 2011

VITAMAIL SCAM

"My poor elderly mother was sent a letter from a company called Vitamail telling her she was in debit of her account by £5. She did not have an account with this company and the letter looked very convincing.

"However, I noticed the letter had her name but no initials, the company asked her to send cash, it was not signed and also threatened to send someone round to her house if she didn’t send her bank details.

"I searched for the company on the internet and found there were many people who had received the same letter who had never heard of this company let alone had an account with them. This company trades under many names and many addresses but is based in France."

Mrs S A Walsh, October 2011

BBC CHEQUE SCAM

"I received an email telling me I had won a £1,000,000 lottery prize from the BBC. I contacted a few names on their email messages and questioned the matter to see if it was for real. No one got back to me and after reading the email again I noticed they used a delivery services which asked for a £250 fee to release the cheque."

Mr M Chai, October 2011

AUTOTRADER SCAM

"I placed an advert through Autotrader on my partner's behalf and naively I put my personal email address on the advert. Within 24 hours I had emails from two different people expressing interest. Both said they would buy the car without viewing it, pay via PayPal and send an agent to collect vehicle.

My partner expressed immediate concern and a quick search on the internet confirmed a well-known scam whereby someone accepts an offer and their car is collected but the money is withdrawn from PayPal before the transaction is complete."

Debby Curry, October 2011

THE AVIS SCAM

"A company in Seattle rang me around six times trying to persuade me that I had 10 times as many shares in Avis Europe than I actually have. It also said it had a buyer for these shares at 10 times their value. In order to move forward I would have to sign a confidentiality agreement and send it some money. This is clearly proof that if it sounds too good to be true it probably is."

Guest - September 2011

PAYPAL SCAM

"Recently I received a message from PayPal about a transaction but I have never had an account with the company. When I queried it I was informed it was a type of phishing scam. Paypal says it will always address you by name when emailing you so if you ever get an email from Paypal addressing you as 'Dear Member' it is a scam."

Guest - September 2011

MILLIONAIRE FUND SCAM

"Today I received an email from someone supposedly representing Arab millionaires who have had their funds frozen after the 9/11 attack. The email says these millionaires have been investigated by the FBI and found to be clean but now the funds, for some reason, can't be returned to their rightful owners. It then says these funds are available to be claimed by first sending over card details. This is clearly a scam."

Guest - September 2011

WEIGHT TRAINING SCAM

"Having decided to up my weight training I searched the internet for items to help me out. I found a suitable website and then sent off several emails regarding price and asking how long an order would take. A man contacted me and was very efficient so I had no reason to suspect anything. He requested I deposit the payment of £50 into his bank account and sent me the sort code and account number. I was informed my order would take around a week to arrive but after this period had passed I emailed him to ask about my order. I had no further replies from him after this and have lost out on this money."

John Boyd - September 2011

The HMRC SCAM

"A member of staff has just alerted me to the fact that they have recently received a scam email which purports to be from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and appears to be advising them that they are due a tax refund. It offers a link for them to follow where it is likely that they would be asked to confirm their bank details. This is a scam."

June 2011

MINISTRY OF JUSTICE SCAM

"I received a phone call from a lady claming to be from the Ministry of Justice last week. She had a strange accent and although she gave me a number to call back on, this was different to the number she had called me on. I bank with Santander and the lady calling enquired about a payment to my bank account. I've now received another call from the same company and have tried reporting them to Consumer Watch and the Ombudsman but as no fraud as yet been committed neither will help me."

June 2011

The EHIC SCAM

"With the holiday season upon us, people need to watch out for scam websites charging a £10 renewal fee for the EHIC card. Renewal through the NHS website is free, so beware of the top picks on a google search for 'EHIC renewal'."

May 2011

CAMPHIRENOW SCAM

"I was contacted by a company called 'Camphire Now' [supposedly a recruitment firm] and a lady by the name of Julia Marks sent me an e-mail asking me to enter a code and fill out an application pending an interview in London in a few days.

"When I got to the IQ Test section of the website I discovered in order to carry on I would be charged £4.50 per month thereafter. I have e-mailed Julia twice now asking for information on the company as I cannot find it anywhere on the website. The links on the website provide no information at all. It's a scam. I have reported it to the OFT and trust you will warn others."
May 2011

If you think you've been scammed get in touch by leaving a comment below or emailing us on scamwatch@moneywise.co.uk and let us know exactly what has happened.

In order for Moneywise to investigate each scam we require you include a name and contact email. Please be aware your email address will not be published.
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********

The return of a classic scam

One of the classic scams is back. It's so obviously a scam, Tony Levene is laughing.

By Tony Levene | Lovemoney – Mon, Jan 30, 2012 15:43 GMT

There are times when I don't know whether to laugh or cry. And there are times when I feel like a parody of a bit part player in an old EastEnders episode – going into the Queen Vic, shouting: “Oh, my gawd. I don't believe it. Pull the other one. It can't be for real.”

But, straight up, it was for real. And it arrived earlier this week. It came in a white window envelope, with a first class 46p stamp, addressed very formally through the window to me as Anthony Levene.

Who writes to me as Anthony other than the taxman and my bank? Even solicitors complaining that I have traduced their scammy clients call me Tony.

What was this missive? Readers may not credit this but the envelope contained the classic “Nigerian 419” letter.

What goes around, comes around

Earlier this month, I was discussing scams with a police friend of mine. I told him that there were a number of rackets that I had not seen for quite a while. Among those was the Nigerian letter and the email which tells you that you have won a fantastic number of millions in a lottery which you have never entered, let alone even heard of.

Maybe he was wiser than me when he advised me “never, say never. What goes around, comes around”. And so it did.

The heading of the letter itself started with number of Chinese characters, followed by a Hong Kong fax number and an email address. The signatory – a Mr McKay Xu – told me that he is a private investment manager involved with the estate of a William Levene.

William, Xu writes, died (on an unspecified date but apparently between 2002 and 2008) in a hiking accident in mainland China (that's a big place but there are no further details).

In 1997, before his death, William went to Xu to ask him to act as an investment manager for his $17.5 million. This money was transferred in cash in 2002 to mainland China for an urgent business venture. But poor William went hiking and died, without leaving a will.

So as I share the same surname, Xu concludes that I must be the nearest to a next of kin. The letter has some spelling mistakes but the basic message is that Xu will share the money with me equally if I help him deal with a “specialist bank”. Xu is peeved William is dead as “he still owes me my percentage for service and naturally I deserve to have that money but cannot do it alone. So I need your help”.

There are at least four William Levenes in the UK and two companies with that or similar names. But if my surname had been Jones, then the letter would have cited a William Jones.

Funny

Why do I find all this rather funny? Firstly the mock serious English: “It would be legally confirmed as I am working with my local solicitor on this deal to make sure all legal aspects are covered.” Then there is the threat that if I don't go along with this, “the funds will revert back to the state where is may be shared by state officials for their personal use and enrichment”. Imagine, officials scamming the estate of poor William.

I can't believe that anyone still falls for this scam – named after the section in the Nigerian criminal code which outlaws the practice – although it is possible. But it is also hilarious that some poor guy has spent money on printing and posting all these letters. He must have paid out for loads of envelopes, paper and countless 46p stamps.

I wonder who is behind all this. It is obviously a false name – no one is going to use real details. It may well not be someone in Hong Kong at all. But whoever it is has got to be pretty stupid. Does anyone think I am going to hand over 50%. No way! I want at least 90%!!!

So I shall email Xu to tell him that I shall talk to him but only on the condition that I take the bigger cut. He'll probably agree – after all there is no money and he just wants me to keep paying $10,000 here and $20,000 there until I go broke. But I also intend to ask him to send $10,000 in cash to prove he is who he says. He won't like that!

********

How to get your money back after a scam

If you have been scammed, you haven't received goods you ordered, or a product isn't as it was described to you, you could easily get your money back.
By Neil Faulkner | lovemoney.com – Thu, May 10, 2012 15:21 BST

Lost money to a scam? Getting it back could be easier than you think (Image © Fotolia)

The police and Financial Services Authority admit that they're usually powerless to get your money back after you've been scammed. However, there's a way to do so yourself in many cases, and with relative ease.

If you make any purchases of between £100 and £30,000 and pay for it, or even just part of it, using your credit card, your card provider should pay you back for the entire loss in the event of scam.

It isn't just obliged to do this for scams either. Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act ensures that the card provider must reimburse you if a retailer doesn't deliver the goods or service, or if the product is not as described.

How customers are getting their money back

Credit card companies don't always agree when a customer makes a section 75 request to be reimbursed. Often, customers then complain to the free Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). It's these borderline cases that give us the most insight into when and where this legal right can be used.

The Ombudsman has just published some recent examples of its decisions relating to section 75. Here are some of the customers who succeeded in getting their money back.

Broken promises

Mrs S paid £3,500 for a holiday club on her credit card on the assurance that she would get the whole membership fee back after five years. On receiving the paperwork, however, she realised she'd been tricked.

She complained to the FOS when her lender didn't believe her “recollection of events”. The FOS found public accounts of others taking legal action against the holiday club, so it considered there to be enough evidence and justification for the card provider to reimburse Mrs S, and ordered it to do so.

Ill-fitting suits

Mr C paid £800 for a tailor-made suit on his credit card. When the finished suit was delivered to him, it didn't fit properly. He asked the tailors to make alterations, but they didn't show up for the appointment and Mr C had no luck when he complained further.

The lender refused to reimburse Mr C, but the FOS saw evidence from both sides, including photos of Mr C wearing the badly fitting suit. It decided that Mr C had done everything he could to get the tailors to correct their mistakes, and so it ordered the lender to reimburse him.

Paying a deposit below the £100 limit

Miss N paid a £99 deposit on her credit card for a £1,000 sofa but, before delivery, the retailer went out of business. Her lender refused to compensate her under section 75, saying she had spent less than £100, so she complained to the FOS.

Although Miss N had only lost £99, the purchase price was £1,000, which means she is covered by section 75. The FOS ordered the card provider to reimburse Miss N.

Video: Don’t be tricked by share fraudsters
http://finance.yahoo.com/video29147702

Make sure you understand section 75

Not everyone is successful when they claim under section 75, even if they take a complaint to the FOS. Indeed, Phillipa Cook, spokeswoman for the Ombudsman, told me that probably a little under half of the section 75 complaints the Ombudsman hears are successful.

We can learn from other customers' mistakes.

Paying a deposit below the £30,000 limit

Mrs T used her credit card to pay a deposit of £3,000 to a building company for an overseas property that was going to cost £162,000. The property was never completed and the building company didn't return her calls. Her lender refused to reimburse her and she complained to the FOS.

Unfortunately, it's not the size of the deposit that counts for section 75, but the value of the entire purchase. Since that was over the £30,000 limit, the FOS rejected Mrs T's complaint.

Changing your mind

Mr W joined a holiday club, but later changed his mind when he realised he could pay less by shopping around for holidays by himself. He asked his card provider to reimburse him. When it refused, he complained to the FOS.

The FOS decided that the holiday club had not given false or misleading information to Mr W, nor had it breached the contract. Finding that there are better deals elsewhere is not grounds for section 75, so it rejected Mr W's complaint.

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that beauty comes in many forms--and there is no form
more beautiful than you.

Just exactly as you are, this minute, right now, without
changing a thing...you are beautiful. Beautiful enough to
take God's breath away.

You do believe this, don't you? Oh, you must. You must.
How can I believe in my beauty if you don't believe in
yours? It's for me you must believe, not for you...

Love, Your Friend....

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that your thoughts create your reality. Your mind is
more powerful than you know.

Are you worried about something right now? Are you
feeling unsure about something these days? God invites
you to change your thinking. Miracles seldom occur in
the lives of those who do not consider them possible.

There could be a miracle waiting for you this minute.

Please make room for it in your thinking. Thanks.

Love, Your Friend.

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that nothing has to happen immediately, this minute,
or "right now."

It's okay to pause for just a moment. Just take a breath.
Then go quietly inside. Ask Life Itself to lead you to
your best outcome.

There's nothing you have to do, really, except get out
of your own way.

... know what I mean?

Love, Your Friend...

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that the truth lies within you—as does all the power
you will ever need to change the direction of your life
and the course of human history.

Wow. Can you imagine that? All the power you will
ever need to change your life...and the course of
human history.

And you may tap that power whenever you wish.
Today, if you choose. Indeed, you tapped it just now
in the sending to yourself of this message...

Love, Your Friend...

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that caution is not the same as fear, and observation
is not the same as judgment.

Use your good sense about things, and don't let
others talk you out of simple caution and observation
by telling you that you are in "fear and judgment."

An ounce of prevention is still worth of pound of cure.

Make sense?

Love, Your Friend....

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that the world is so much brighter, so much better,
because you are in it.

If only you knew all the gifts that you bring to others.

You would never feel sad again, but only rejoice in
how wonderful God has made you!

I would not say these things just to make you feel
good. The things I've said here happen to be true.

Love, Your Friend....

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that money is just as holy as meditation, just as
sacred as prayer. It is a wonderful part of God.

If you hold an idea that money is the root of all evil,
you may unconsciously keep it from you. You are
invited to drop that thought now.

All the money you need is coming to you now. Do
you believe that? You must, you know...

You will not have to think but a second to understand
exactly why you received this message today.

Love, Your Friend...

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that happiness and joy comes to you when it moves
through you. There is no other pathway--and that's
the miracle.

You will have a number of opportunities in the days
just ahead to be a vehicle of happiness and joy for
another. Step right into that. Be the source of that.

As you bring others to a smile, so, too, will you
bring yourself. The method is foolproof.

Love, Your Friend....

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
... that good things await you on the other side of this
ridge. This is a hill you can climb. Just put one foot in
front of the other.

If you feel a little discouraged right now, that's okay,
that's understandable. But give yourself permission
to journey on. Keep moving.

There is a positive result here.

Love, Your Friend..

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that you are on the right path; you are marching
straight to your own joy, and to happiness for others.

Did you need a "signal" from the Universe about this?

Consider that signal as having been sent...
Now it is just a matter of trust. Do you trust that God
knows what She is doing?

You will not have to think but a second to know
exactly why you received this message today.

Love, Your Friend.

Our 5-yr-old: Alone But Not Lonely

You cannot be lonely if you like the person you're alone with. --Wayne Dyer

Our 5-yr-old: Alone But Not Lonely
by Ragunath Padmanabhan, Jan 15, 2012

Our 5-yr-old son Aum had been playing on his own at the farm for two hours. About an hour into it, my wife Nisha admonished me: "You really enjoyed your childhood with your two siblings, kids in the neighborhood and at school.

Now look at him, being alone, no one to play with and nowhere to go. Do something!" 4 years ago, we'd made a conscious leap into a rural India, leaving high-tech careers in the Silicon Valley to do natural farming.

Nisha has just as much conviction about our decision as I do, and yet, on occasion, she and many other loved ones have genuinely felt bad because Aum does not have company. He is our only child and he doesn't go to school (we farm-school him) and there are only three kids in the nearby farms, none of whom have much time for him since they go to school).

Everyone in Aum's life is concerned about his loneliness. Except Aum and me. The evidence that he is not "lonely" or "bored" is right in front of everyone's eyes -- when we are not engaged with him, Aum is busy most of the time with his own thoughts, things, games, dancing, etc. Occasionally he throws in his share of mischief and tantrums, just to remind us that he is a kid. Otherwise, I have never seen him unhappy for the reasons most adults in his life feel he "should" be unhappy.

Aum does not have the company of his peers as much or as frequently as other kids. We don't have a TV at home. We have never bought him any toys except one lego set and one tinkertoys box that Nisha got after she felt bad about not having bought any toy for him. Most of his clothes are gifted by family and friends. We give him one or two candies a week and ice cream once a month. He doesn't have cookies, chocolates, carbonated drinks, fast food or any snack that comes in a package and is sold in a retail store. He must be one miserable kid, right? If I say, "No", one might respond with, "Well, he doesn't know what he is missing and he is being brought up in an extremely protective environment." Not true either.

He knows the reasons for all the choices we have made for him and he has willingly embraced them. In fact, he is ever-ready to explain his choices to anyone who wants to know. He has tasted/experienced everything other kids have and is presented the opportunities many times, given our frequent visits to many relatives and friends in different places. Of course he gets tempted at times and rebels. Steering away from the extremes of bribing and punishing, we manage to strike a balance and help him stick to his better choices.

He doesn't have grand ideas and concepts for what would bring him happiness. He is just fully living his life. Everything has meaning for him. He doesn't overlook this moment expecting another; he is not chasing after anything and has no plans for tomorrow. He goes around as if he has an unlimited reserve of energy, curiosity, time, faith and willingness to be engaged with whatever and whoever comes his way as if ... as if he intuitively knows what he wants. If he could answer the question "What do you want in your life?" it would probably be, "I don't know, but I want it all anyway, moment by moment." And he does not seem to be bothered if many of those moments are spent alone. But it does rattle quite a few others.

To my mind, the rural and middle-class people of the last generation and before, had the right perspective on elusive states like peace, happiness, joy etc. They communicated through many proverbs and clichés -- that meaningful engagement at work, being with family and friends and with oneself, pretty much covered all the real causes of happiness and peace. The meaning for engagement could come from both tragic and comic life situations (and more often than not, their lives were full of tragic meaning). People did not make decisions with the sole focus on whether it would make them happy. Happiness was just one of the considerations. Perhaps meaning was a more important consideration. There is no other way to explain sacrifices that I know of in history and even in my own family. My own father has always been a happy-go-lucky man all his life, in spite of having access to very limited resources, very few choices and very many responsibilities. I look at him and I know I can be happy, no matter what.

Being in the farming world, someone asked me recently whether there is a specific gene in fruits that give them sweetness. He speculated that if we could find that gene, then we could increase the quality and quantity of sweetness in fruits. But what if sweetness is not an isolated characteristic of a fruit? What if it is the culminating effect of the entire growth process -- from seed to ripening?

Of course, we don't eat fruit that is not ripe and sweet. But do we eat fruit only for its sweetness?

Would anyone be satisfied to extract only the sweetness of a fruit and take it as a tablet?

Can happiness, then, be had at any moment as an instant thing to be consumed?

Yet, we behave every moment of our lives as if our only aim is to avoid everything that would bring unhappiness and seek things that would bring happiness:

Being alone, having nothing to do, sacrifices, inconveniences, criticism, waiting, bad luck, randomness, an uncertain future ... these are supposed to bring unhappiness and we avoid them.
Constant engagement of mind/and or body with work, people or entertainment, selfishness, creature comforts, instant gratification, security, certainty, greed ... these are supposed to bring happiness and we seek them at any cost.

The Art of Happiness has been lost perhaps because by chasing it, we have chased it away. The Art of Suffering has been lost perhaps because by running away from it we have tightened its knot on us.
Many saints and religions have said that it is human nature to be constantly oscillating between cravings and aversions. Knowing this, throughout history, people in all cultures created norms, rituals, customs, traditions, practices, ceremonies and attitudes to contain excitement and embrace difficulties (the middle path, the golden mean). In fact, “to mature into an adult” was supposed to mean that one has learned to discern and implement his or her cultural baggage without superficially considering it as a burden. Even blindly following one’s culture was considered better than simply being blind to it. Yet that is precisely what seems to have happened on the backs of our over-sized, over-paced materialistic and technological growth. If we were to personify our zeitgeist, it would be a person with over-sized hands, legs and brain. And a small, feeble heart. No wonder we eat but we starve; we have more of everything and feel empty; we can do everything super-fast and yet do not have enough time for anything.

Our idea of moving to a farm in a village was to create a space from scratch in which we could reinvent many of those old, middle-path practices to suit our current potentials and pathologies.

Outside of the context of our farm (and sometimes even within), I find it difficult to follow these values and practices because, I guess, the human psyche has seen too much evidence of the inefficacy of the old secrets. I often feel like a fully-suited man in a beach. But it is only because we have hurriedly created suffocating spaces that have given birth to many unskillful and even vicious cycles. What we need are airy and nourishing spaces where we can relearn the old arts.

I am only 38, yet I feel like an old man of another era when I catch myself reacting to someone's complaints or ambitions that are normal in this era. I am neither poor, nor rich, nor middle class. I am in the process of going off-the-class. Yet, I'd like to keep the older middle-class attitudes towards life.

Without the aid of great philosophy or religion, all the secrets of everyday happiness - hard work, honesty, grit, grace, patience, wonderment, contentment, romance, even innocence – it was all there in that class. I'd like to be a permanent student in that class and have my son Aum be the teacher.

________________________________________

This story is printed here with permission from the author. Ragunath Padmanabhan and his wife Nisha Srinivasan share updates on natural farming and holistic living at Greenlocal.org -- their "experiment in laying a new path on an old road that leads to simplicity, sustainability and, dare we say, spirituality."

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
..that life is meant to happy.

I know this is sometimes hard to believe, and I
know that on many days it simply is not your
experience, but it is true. You have all the tools
right now to make this day, this moment, happy.

The best of these tools is love. Just love everything
that Life has to offer today. And of course, love
every person. Then watch the whole experience
change.

Love, Your Friend....

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that your trust has not been misplaced.
Listen to your Self today. You have been telling
yourself something very important for days now.

Today, listen more closely. And heed.

Trust the still small voice within. Your soul is
gently leading you to your next step.

Love, Your Friend...

On this day of your life, Melodie, I believe God wants you to know...
...that fairness is not obvious in every case.
Look, we all want life to be fair, right? But
sometimes it just isn't. True? No. False. Life
is always fair -- it sometimes just does not
look that way.

You will see how 'fair' life is if you will give
it a chance to play itself out. Wait. See.

Your Higher Self, which always wants the
best for you, is in charge here. Believe it.

Love, Your Friend...

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
..that you have something important to contribute

to your world today.

Every day God sends you one person for whom
you hold a gift in your hand. You will not know
what it is until that person greets you, but you
will then know it immediately.

The only questions remaining will be: Will you give
your gift? Right then and there? Fully and completely?

By the end of this day you will know why you
received this message just now.

Love, Your Friend....

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
..that you have something important to contribute to your world today.
Every day God sends you one person for whom
you hold a gift in your hand. You will not know
what it is until that person greets you, but you
will then know it immediately.

The only questions remaining will be: Will you give
your gift? Right then and there? Fully and completely?
By the end of this day you will know why you
received this message just now.

Love, Your Friend...

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
..that you cannot make a mistake, you can only
make a decision that will be your next best step.
There is no reason to hesitate when you know
that you have nothing to lose. And losing is not
an act of God, it is a thought in the mind of
humans.

Get rid of the thought and you get rid of doubt.
Ride your Wisdom to Victory.
You will not have to think but a second to know
exactly why you received this message today.

Love, Your Friend

On this day of your life, Melodie, I believe God wants you to know...
....that the biggest commitment you must keep is your
commitment to yourself.

Betrayal of yourself
In order not to betray another
Is betrayal nonetheless.

It is the highest betrayal.

This is not a call for willy-nilly abandonment of a job
or a person or a situation. But it is your notice from
the Universe that it is all right for you to take care
of yourself also.

You will not have to think very hard to know
exactly why you received this message today.

Love, Your Friend...

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
....that perfection is not required of you
-- only perfect_effort.

Not to even try because you don't think you can would
be terribly sad. You'll be amazed at what you can do if
you simply step into it.

Life awaits you on the other side of Risk. What can you
lose? Face? Dignity? Who cares about those when
greatness is possible? Who cares about those when
fairy tales are at hand?

Love, Your Friend..

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that everything is falling together perfectly, even
though it looks as if some things are falling apart.

Trust in the process you are now experiencing. Life
is on your side. It is showing that to you now, though
you may not be able to see it clearly at this time.

You have made your wishes and dreams known to
God. Now comes the time for faith. Faith that all
is right, right now. Tomorrow will reveal itself exactly
as it should.

Love, Your Friend...

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that you can remain in your present idea about yourself,
or you can choose again. I like the idea of choosing again.

Glorify who you are today, do not condemn who you
were yesterday, and dream of who you can be tomorrow.

You will not have to think for more than a second to
know exactly why you just read this...

Love, Your Friend....

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that the yearning for love in your life is about to end
in the most wonderful way.

It is impossible to yearn for that which you already have,
and you are about to see and realize that all the love
you could ever want is coming to you now.

Open your heart and you will see it right in front of you.

I am glad that you read this today. Add so is God.

Love, Your Friend....

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that there is no challenge you cannot meet -- and that
includes the present one.

I know that on some days it doesn't feel like you want
to continue the struggle anymore. But I promise you, it
is going to be worth it.

What is happening now is part of a larger process
leading to your own self-realization. Please believe me,
and sleep well in the truth of that. Your soul will rejoice
again--more than it ever did before.

Love, Your Friend...

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...
...that hope has always been your greatest strength, and
it continues to be today.

When others are about to give up and give in, you've
been the one to stand firm and strong. Good for
you--and good for everyone else around you!

Why am I telling you this? Because someone near
you needs a bit of hope today. You won't be able to
miss who this is. So thanks, ahead of time, for helping
that soul...

Love, Your Friend....

Very touching video... want share with you ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Hzgzim5m7oU&vq=medium

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...

that there is a family reunion awaiting you, and you will be more overjoyed than you can now begin to imagine.

On the day you leave your body -- what I like to call your Continuation Day -- you will be greeted by everyone you have ever loved in any way for any reason...and, standing in front of the group, every person who has been so very dear to you. It will be a grand and glorious reunion, with joy and laughter and pure wonderment filling every heart and soul!

This has also been experienced by everyone who has ever left here -- all those who have gone before you -- of course. So do not grieve for them. They are so very happy! I'm not sure why you were meant to hear this on this particular day...but I bet you are...

Love, Your Friend....

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...

that the mere apprehension of a coming evil has
put many into a situation of the utmost danger.

F.L. Lucan said that, and it is right. There is no faster way to bring about misfortune than to think it is coming. Thought is a powerful force, and it is a creative tool that many people give little energy to -- or abandon in the face of any real threat to safety or stability.

What are you worried about today? Why? Rather than worry about it, would it not be a better use of your mental time to visualize a positive outcome? Use your mind in this way today and you will have tapped one of the most extraordinary tools God has placed in your hand for the creation of your tomorrows.

Love, Your Friend....

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...

that all families have troubles in them. Problem-free families do not exist. Indeed, the challenges in families are family's greatest gifts.

How else could we be healed of all the false notions we have about what it means to be human? How else could we learn of real love, and of true compassion, and of total acceptance?

There is, of course, nothing to learn. There is only for us to remember what we have always known. And families give us the greatest opportunity to do that. Therefore, don't condemn "Uncle Charlie" or "Aunt Matilda". Rather, embrace them even more fully, and show them what it means to be fully human...so that they can find their way back home.

Love, Your Friend....

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...

that love is not what you want, it is what you are. It is very important to not get these two confused.

If you think that love is what you want, you will go searching for it all over the place. If you think love is what you are, you will go sharing it all over the place. The second approach will cause you to find what the searching will never reveal.

Yet you cannot give love in order to get it. Doing that is as much as saying you do not now have it. And that statement will, of course, be your reality. No, you must give love because you have it to give. In this will you experience your own possession of it.

Love, Your Friend....

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...

that your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights.

Kahlil Gibran said that, and he was right. Listen, therefore, to your heart. Cultivate the ability to do this. Practice it. Produce it. Perfect it.

It is not that difficult. Just be quiet with yourself. And for heaven's sake, stop listening to your mind. You will not find the truth there. You may find the answer, but it will not be the truth unless it coincides with the answer in your heart.

You think there is more to know about life than this, but there is not. Your heart holds the key. Your heart holds the wisdom. Your heart holds the future. Your mind knows nothing but the past. It imagines the future will be just like yesterday, so it makes it decisions based on that. Only your heart can see beyond memory's horizon.

Love, Your Friend....

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...

that there is something 'wrong' with everything.

No matter what you are looking at, you can find something wrong with it, something imperfect, something that is not okay with you. Don't worry, if you look hard enough you'll find it.

There is also something 'right' with everything. No matter what you are looking at, you can find something right with it, something perfect.

There remains, then, only one question: What are you going to look at? What are you choosing to notice? What is your perspective? (I'll bet you already know what God's perspective is...)

Love, Your Friend....

On this day of your life, Melodie, I believe God wants you to know...

that nothing is ever as bleak as it looks. Everything, in fact, is a blessing.

I know, I know...that is sometimes very hard to believe. How can a suddden, calamitous event in one's life be a blessing? It takes a longer view, I know, to see this wonderful truth. Even a diagnosis of a terminal illness could be seen as another gift from life when experienced from a particular perspective.

It is an opportunity for us to express once again, at the next highest level, Who We Really Are. And, if it turns out that, at the Soul level, we have indeed decided to leave our present physicality in this particular way and time, that, too, would be an expression of our Highest Self. And so, all "calamities" are blessings, not yet understood by the Mind. God knew this was a good day for you to hear this...

Love, Your Friend....

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...

that the gifts you have to give are multitudinous and magnificent -- and your time to give those gifts has only just begun.

The life events of this moment are being placed in your experience to provide you with a perfect context within which to experience the true wonder and glory of Who You Really Are. Honestly, without a lot of fluffy talk, it is time for you to know and to express the fullness and the richness of how wonderful, of how special, you are.

These events, the occurrences of these days and times, the challenges in your life right now, are designed by you (at a very high level) to give Little You a chance to experience and express Big You...right here, right now. Take a look at what you are facing in this moment, on this very day. Do you think this is by accident?

Love, Your Friend....

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...

that strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.

Mahatma Gandhi said that, and he was right. Boy, was he right! My father put this to me in another way. Often during my childhood he would say, "Never take 'no' for an answer." And he made it clear to me that by this he meant, not just from people, but from life.

Life is bendable to our will more than we know. Every single time? Every single instant? No.

(Well, actually, yes...but that will probably not be our experience, unless we have reached Mastery.)

But more than we know. In fact, that's the deal. If we don't know that life bends to our will, it will not.

So the trick is to know that life is on our side -- and but awaits our command. Look what Gandhi did.

Love, Your Friend....

Soul Conscious Living
The Void: Is your Hunger greater than you Fears?
by kristinajansz

To be precise, is your Hunger for what you want: goals, dreams, quality of life etc., greater than the fears that hold you back from creating them?

To bring anything of value into being, especially that of creating a soul-centered life, you have to be willing to go through the Void.

The Void is the space that exists between where you are now and where you want to be. It triggers your greatest fears, is the root cause of most self- sabotaging behaviour and the reason why many people do not reach their full potential.

Take a look around you right now; computer, cell phone, light bulbs, all of them at one time or another, did not exist. The fact that they are here now is testimony to certain people having had the courage to hold onto their vision of what could be possible and go through the Void in order to bring them into being.

As you listen to the call of your Soul telling you there is so much more life for you to be living, and you take those courageous steps out of the old familiar paradigm you’ve most likely lived in for decades, you enter the Void.

Now, you are no longer on familiar territory, but you are also not yet firmly and safely rooted in the new paradigm. This can bring up a lot of different feelings.

At first, there is a sense of excitement, hope and enthusiasm about this newfound freedom but eventually the unfamiliarity will create periods of disorientation, doubt and perhaps even thoughts of turning back. At times you may feel very alone and find that you no longer relate to those around you and this may make you feel vulnerable, insecure and panicky. There may also be moments when you are just so exhausted from trying that the journey to soul-centeredness, or any other goal, seems too far away.

While these are not the kind of things you would want to voluntarily subject yourself to, they are in fact, the defining characteristics of Evolution. They are going to happen, that’s a given. The real question is whether your desire/ hunger for soul-centeredness is greater than all of this.

Are you willing to get uncomfortable? Are you willing to make big mistakes and keep on going? Are you willing to feel completely ungrounded, uncertain and alone, and still want to reach your goal more than anything? “Yes!!” you say? That voice, that clear, brilliant voice that shouted out from deep inside you is the triumphant sound of the courageous human spirit to not give up, to cut through fear, resistance, roadblocks, anything in order to reach for something greater beyond the safety net and in doing so, Evolve.

So, there will be fear and discomfort, we all experience it, but your hunger for soul-centeredness has to be greater than that fear. The reason why you must kick yourself free from the emotional undertow of fear, is because this is the only way you can grow to your full potential and breathtaking beauty of soul-centeredness.

Are you willing to get uncomfortable? Are you willing to make big mistakes and keep on going?

Are you willing to feel completely ungrounded, uncertain and alone, and still want to reach your goal more than anything? “Yes!!” you say? That voice, that clear, brilliant voice that shouted out from the depths of your being is the triumphant sound of a courageous human spirit not willing to give up, ready to walk through fear, resistance, roadblocks, anything in order to reach for something greater beyond the safety net and in doing so, Evolve.

So, there will be fear and discomfort, we all experience it, but your hunger for soul-centeredness has to be greater than that fear. The reason why you must kick yourself free from the emotional undertow of fear, is because this is the only way you can grow into your full potential and the breathtaking beauty of your Truth.

kristinajansz | March 23, 2012

http://soulconsciousliving.wordpress.com/2012/03/23/the-void-is-your-hunger-greater-than-you-fears/

Inside an eco home: What life is like when you don’t have bills
By Yahoo! staff writer

Jane and Stephen Frances' eco home outside Ely
By Harriet Meyer

Energy bills are burning a hole in consumers' pockets, with the cost of heating and lighting the average home amounting to an eye-watering £1,200 a year, according to the Energy Saving Trust.
But some households manage to reduce or even wipe out these bills entirely by putting in place eco measures to reduce their energy consumption.

So what's life like for these eco-enthusiasts off the grid? Don't all those green tweaks and energy-saving measures get in the way of daily life?

Eco home in the woods

Jane and Stephen Frances, 56 and 53 respectively, are reaping the benefits of life in a 'green' home and find their quality of life is much improved. The couple bought a four-bed house made entirely from natural materials in the Fens outside Ely two years ago (pictured above).

"We saw it online and at first were scared of its unusual qualities — but we love it now," says Jane. "It's built from natural materials, so made primarily from timber, straw bales, clay and lime — and the roof is made of shingles which are a kind of wooden tiles."

Alongside the structure, the couple have installed a multitude eco-friendly measures to reduce their energy usage.

These include a wood-burning stove, for which they gather wood from the surrounding land, solar thermal to generate renewable power on the roof and rainwater harvesting — so there is an area on the roof where rainwater is collected in tanks to reduce the use of mains water.

"From April to October we really don't heat the water at all because the sun heats it, so we benefit from extremely low energy bills during these months," says Jane. "We also have an air-source heat pump, which is a low temperature heat source — and we aim to be self-sufficient by growing our own vegetables."

Jane and Stephen's garden

However, it's not just the odd eco-home around the country that includes a range of green measures.

Driven by the Government's 10—year plan for all new homes to be carbon neutral by 2016 many developers are building energy—efficient apartment blocks around the UK.

After all, a staggering 50% of the UK's carbon footprint comes from running buildings, according to the UK Green Buildings Council, so concern over climate change is seeing developers devise new ways to reduce their impact.

A feat of eco design

An example is One Brighton, built jointly by Crest Nicholson and sustainable developer BioRegional Quintain and completed in 2010, which comprises 172 studio, one and two-bedroom "eco apartments" in the New England quarter.

About 58% of the concrete frame is made from recycled materials, reducing carbon emissions by a third.

The aim of the project was to build a community designed to run entirely on renewable energy — and it appears to have succeeded. Principles include achieving zero-waste status through recycling and composting, building using sustainable materials wherever possible, implementing sustainable transport solutions and applying measures to support local suppliers, food and wildlife.

TheTop of FormBottom of Form energy on site comes from a renewable wood-fuelled boiler and photovoltaic array on the roof, with green electricity supplied from eight wind turbines. All communal areas use eco lightbulbs, with all fitted appliances being A or AA-energy rated. There is also an on-site composter.

The eco development One Brighton

But what are the benefits? As the 'zero carbon sustainable community' shares the building's environment facilities, you're likely to get to know your neighbours — so it's a sociable place with a shared sense of purpose.

How you can use less energy

Wherever you live there are various methods of incorporating energy-saving measures into your lifestyle to save energy in your home. Here is a selection from the Energy Saving Trust:

• Turn your room heating thermostat down by 1C to cut your heating bills by up to 10%.
• You can get foams and sealants available at most DIY stores to combat poor ventilation and draughts.
• Insulating your loft is also worthwhile to cut bills, as the recommended 270mm depth can be installed at a cost of a few hundred pounds — and you could save around £100 a year on your bills.
• Also, lag your pipes and water tank at the same time for maximum efficiency by fitting a British Standard jacket around your hot water cylinder — this can cut heat loss by over 75%.
• A third of the heat in an un-insulated home is lost through the walls. There are two wall types — solid walls and cavity walls. Both can be insulated to improve the energy efficiency of a property. If the home was built from 1920 onwards there is a good chance it has cavity walls. A home with un-insulated cavity walls could cost up to £135 more to run each year than one with insulated cavities, so it's worth finding out the state of play.
• You should replace your boiler roughly every 15 years and opt for an 'A' rated appliance which uses less energy and is also more environmentally friendly. Standard efficiency boilers that you may have had for ten years or more are only 50% efficient. Replacing a G rated boiler could save around £300 a year on running costs. Worcester's 'A' rated condensing boilers, for example, are particularly efficient.
• Double-glazed windows can save up to £165 on heating bills compared to a single-glazed property.
• Heavy lined curtains can help keep the heat in if double-glazing can't be fitted.

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...

that there are few tools more effective or more useful in achieving deep knowing, true joy, and inner peace than daily meditation.

It would be very beneficial to take 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening -- more if you can find it -- to be quiet with your Holy Self. Your consciousness can be dramatically expanded over a relatively short period of time with true dedication to such a gentle discipline.

Are you meditating regularly? Is it the first thing you cut out of your day if things start off, or begin to get, hectic? It should, of course, be the last thing.

Love, Your Friend....

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...

that when we do the best we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life,
or in the life of another.

Hellen Keller said that, and she was right. There is a situation in your life right now where you are being asked to do your best, your very best. Maybe it is in finding forgiveness for another. Or is understanding something that you just haven't been able to understand. Or in accepting what has to this point felt unacceptable.

Whatever that situation (and you know exactly what it is right now)...are you doing the best that you can? If you are, so be it, and good. Yet if you think you might do better, allow this little nudge today to be your gift from the soul. A miracle awaits if you will reach back now and do your very, very, very best in this.

Love, Your Friend....

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...

that to find beauty in everyone you must see beauty in everyone, then announce that you see it, for in announcing it, you place it there in their reality.

Do not miss a single chance -- not one single opportunity -- to tell someone how wonderful they are, how special they are, how important to you they are, how incredible as a person they are, how beautiful they are inside and out. Do not miss a single opening in which to insert such a comment, genuinely felt and genuinely meant.

Make it your life's mission today to bring to the attention of another just how extraordinary they are. Say it. Say it. SAY it. Their heart is waiting to know that their own best thought about themselves can be believed.

Love, Your Friend....

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...

that every action is either strong or weak, and when every action is strong we are successful.

Wallace D. Wattles said that, and he was right. You know when the action you take is strong, and you know when it is weak. You can tell in your stomach. Endeavor to take no weak action whatsoever.

Run away from it. Reject it. Go for the strong action, the strong choice, every time.

You know, by the way, what is meant by all of this. You have been weak in some of your choices and decisions, and you have been strong. You have been both in your life. But no more, right? Only strong from now on, yes?

And you know exactly why you received this message today.

Love, Your Friend....

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...

that what is important in your life is what you decide is important -- and this decision will indelibly create who you are.

When you awoke this morning, what was the first thing on your mind? On your list of Things To Do, what is #1? As you contemplate your current priorities, is there a person at the top, or is it some kind of doingness ...?

Only you can know what is catching your attention, what is calling to you for your energy. Yet you can ask yourself a key question...

Where is love in all of this?
.
Love, Your Friend....

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...

that every action is either strong or weak, and when every action is strong we are successful.

Wallace D. Wattles said that, and he was right. You know when the action you take is strong, and you know when it is weak. You can tell in your stomach. Endeavor to take no weak action whatsoever.

Run away from it. Reject it. Go for the strong action, the strong choice, every time.

You know, by the way, what is meant by all of this. You have been weak in some of your choices and decisions, and you have been strong. You have been both in your life. But no more, right? Only strong from now on, yes?

And you know exactly why you received this message today.

Love, Your Friend....

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...

that life offers you an amazing opportunity in every single moment to see and experience Who You Really Are.

Watch yourself this day. Just watch yourself. Look at what you are doing moment to moment...and why. Ask yourself in the midst of it, "What does this have to do with my real reason for being here? Is this what I have come all the way to the Earth to experience?"

If the answer is a resounding Yes, keep doing it. If the answer is No, ask yourself, "What in the world am I doing?" Look at the words and consider them literally. What-in-the-world-am-I-doing? What am I involved in every day, and what does this have to do with my soul? It's just a question...just a question...

Love, Your Friend....

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...

that you need not be concerned about money. Be concerned, instead, about joy.

How much joy are you experiencing in this moment? How much joy are you bringing to this moment?

The joy you experience will be the joy you bring. If you are waiting for joy to be brought to you, you do not understand what you are doing here. And if you think that joy has anything to do with money, you really do not understand what you are doing here.

There is a person waiting right now, right this very minute, for you to uplift them. Do that...and you will be rich.

Really. I mean, really. I'm not making this up.

Love, Your Friend....

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...

...that it could seem like you are losing something right now, but do not be fooled. This is simply a turnaround orchestrated by your soul.

Even before this, you were. And even after all this passes away, you shall be. All the Rest Of It is stuff and nonsense. The accoutrement. The flora and fauna. Pretty, perhaps. Shiny and sparkling, perhaps.

But having nothing to do with anything.

Let it go. Release it. If it was not supposed to be removing itself from you now, it would not be doing so. It will never return to you in this exact form, and it is not intended to. If it returns at all, it will be in a higher form. That is the purpose of its leaving. All of life only improves itself. It can't do anything else.

This is called evolution. Trust it. And now, smile. Tomorrow is coming! Tomorrow is coming!

Love, Your Friend....

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...

that your job, your invitation from the Universe, is to give people back to themselves.

You can do this every day, in a hundred ways. Why not practice it with the first three people you encounter after reading this?

It is really a very easy thing to do -- yet it can affect a person mightily. All you have to do is look for the best in that person, and then show it to them, right then and there. Describe it. Admire it. Thank them for it.

Do this for three people every day and watch how your whole life can change. At last you will realize what you are doing here. All the rest will be just stuff and nonsense.

Love, Your Friend....

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...

that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.

Laura Ingalls Wilder said that, and she was right. This seems such simple stuff, such simplistic knowledge, yet when we truly embrace it as our living reality, our day-to-day lives begin to change in very important ways.

So take a look today and this evening at what sweet, simple things of life you may be looking past, or right over, and neither seeing nor enjoying. Look closely. They are likely to be right in front of your face -- something you're looking through every day

Love, Your Friend....

Who’s been looking at your Facebook page? Can you find out?
By Becky Worley | Yahoo!

If you have been an internet user for more than five minutes, you've no doubt seen an advert or two that promises to "find out who's searching for you". It sounds like a scam, but is it actually possible?

Can someone find out if you've been looking at their Facebook or LinkedIn profile? Can you tell if someone's unfriended you? And can you see what searches have been performed with your name?

Facebookhttp://uk.news.yahoo.com/video#video=28319634

First the warning: there are scams a plenty promising to show you who is "stalking" your Facebook page. I put in a call to Facebook and spoke with their technical folks - the truth is no-one can see who's been on your Facebook page. There are no features buried in the Facebook settings with that data. There are no apps that can unearth that info. Facebook says it is one of the most common scam come-ons on the site. Don't fall for it; you cannot see who's looking at your profile (and no one can see if you've been looking at theirs).

But… there are apps and tools to see who's unfriended you. Facebook tries to squelch these apps, but I found a couple: one that you download to your computer called UnFriend Finder and one for Android called Friends Checker. Sign in, and they store a list of your friends. Then every time you check back, it tells you who's no longer on the list. UnFriend Finder also reminds you of friend requests you've made that haven't been answered. For Twitter, Qwitter does the same thing, telling you who's unfollowed you each week.

Professional tools

LinkedIn is a popular social networking site that lets you connect with professional associates and keeps your work activities up to date, and it does let you see who's viewed your profile. This handy feature is over on the right column of the site - it looks like an ad, but click it to see a handful of most recent people who've looked at your profile. To access a comprehensive list of people checking up on you, you need to pay £8.55 (inc VAT) a month to upgrade to a Personal Plus membership.

While this may seem voyeuristic, it actually makes sense to me: if you're looking for a job, you'd want to know which hiring managers are checking up on you; or if you network for business, this feature tells you which sales leads are vetting you. Another professional site for academics and researchers called Academia.edu has the same useful feature.

Finally: search data about you. You'd love to know who's searching for your name, but the real truth is that search companies will not reveal any data about searches, not unless they are compelled by a warrant. So any come-on promising to tell you who's searching for you is a scam. But you can find out what search terms people combine with your name. Google AdWords offers a keyword search. It will tell you what corollary terms are associated with the search for your name. For example my friend Leo Laporte is a tech podcaster. The words associated with searches for his name are ‘Leo Laporte Twitter name’ and ‘Leo Laporte Blog.’ This corollary info is helpful and might influence his decision to more prominently market his Twitter handle or blog address.

Bottom line: there is very little data available for you as a consumer to track who's looking you up or looking you over on social networking sites.

Note: We’re running this content on Yahoo! UK & Ireland as a trial. Would you like to see a UK-produced series? We’d love to hear your comments. Let us know below.

Facebook Spy - Who's been looking at your profile and pictures?

http://youtu.be/QRdomHVv2AI

A rogue application that promises to allow Facebook users to know who visited their profile page is circulating the social network.

A new iteration of an old scam has surfaced on Facebook pushing a fake application that promises to enable users to see who has visited their Facebook page.

The problem? Facebook does not allow this capability. According to Sophos, the app is spreading across the social network with messages that say: "OMG OMG OMG... I cant believe this actually works! Now you really can see who viewed your profile! on [link]."

Those who click on the link accompanying the message are taken to a Web page that asks them to permit the application to have access to their Facebook profile, blogged Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. Granting that permission will make a user's profile "yet another victim of the viral scam. ... And no, you don't ever find out who has been viewing your profile."

This is far from the first time this type of application has circulated the network. Tempting as it may be for a user to know who is visiting his or her page, promises to keep track of that type of information are invalid.

"Facebook does not provide the ability to track who is viewing your profile, or parts of your profile, such as your photos," the company states in its Help Center. "Applications by outside developers cannot provide this functionality, either. Applications that claim to give you this ability will be removed from Facebook for violating policy."

The company later states, however, that while it does not provide an app that enables users to track profile views or statistics on the views of specific user content, third-party developers may offer some of this functionality. Still, the company has made it "technically impossible" for applications to track profile visits for users who simply go to another user's profile.

According to Cluley, the current campaign is using a variety of different links, but via bit.ly Sophos has observed that at least one of them has tricked nearly 60,000 people into clicking.

"Always think before you add an unknown application on Facebook, and ask yourself if you're really comfortable with ceding such power to complete strangers," he blogged. "Rogue application attacks like this, spreading virally, are becoming increasingly common—and do no good for anyone apart from the scammers behind them."

Uploaded by TheYoungTurks on 1 Dec 2010
http://www.facebook.com/TYTnation

Facebook App: See Who Views You (Bad Idea?)http://youtu.be/hXdON3wfhbQ

Whitney Houston is dead - We will always Love you Whitney

Whitney Houston is dead - We will always Love you Whitney http://youtu.be/vuIEKrUREH8

Whitney Houston - I'm Every Woman Wanna Dance Step by Step

http://youtu.be/p_pKft6bExI

I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) - Whitney Houston http://youtu.be/3KhhY9iwn-w

Whitney Houston - It's Not Right But It's Okay

http://youtu.be/6J538b-OLRU

Whitney Houston - Run To You http://youtu.be/h9rCobRl-ng

Whitney Houston - My Love Is Your Love http://youtu.be/kxZD0VQvfqU

Whitney Houston - So Emotional http://youtu.be/0YjSHbA6HQQ

Foods that will bring you luck
Article By: Elizabeth Rogers - Dec 29, 2011

Want to ensure wealth and prosperity for the year ahead? Add these traditional lucky foods to your New Year's menu.

Still trying to figure out what to serve on New Year’s Eve? How about serving up some luck? Folklore and custom around the world dictates that eating certain foods can bring wealth, prosperity and abundance in the New Year. Whether you’re superstitious or not, these traditions can add some tasty fare to the table.

Green veggies for greenbacks

Good news for vegetable lovers: it’s tradition to serve up some healthy fare for New Year’s. Many leafy green vegetables are thought to bring luck because they are the same colour as money.

Whether you believe this theory or not, these veggies are packed with vitamins and minerals such as vitamins A and C, folic acid, iron and calcium — making them a smart way to start the year.

But how should you prepare them? In the Southern U.S., collard greens are the favoured choice and they’re often boiled with a piece of salt pork or ham hock to temper their texture and bitter flavour. The vegetable may also be served with cornbread (which is the colour of gold) to soak up the broth.

In Denmark, kale is the vegetable of choice and a topping of white wine sauce, sugar and cinnamon is traditional.

If you’re not fond of these bitter greens, try turnip greens, dandelion, Swiss chard or spinach. As an alternative, bend the rules a little and use these greens for a salad. (And it’s okay to sneak in some other colours — after all, money isn’t just green).

Lucky legumes

Greens aren’t the only healthy choice for the dinner table. Legumes are also popular not only because they’re shaped like coins, but they also swell when cooked — symbolizing abundance. Not only are they inexpensive, they’re low in fat and a great source of soluble fibre and protein (not to mention iron and folic acid).

Two particular legumes win favour at New Year’s. The black-eyed pea is another Southern U.S. tradition and it’s often prepared in a Hoppin’ John (a mixed vegetable and rice dish). On the side, the black-eyed pea is a versatile choice for any menu because it can be made into a loaf, a dip, a bean salad and side dish. (See About.com’s Black-Eyed Peas recipes for ideas.)

The lentil’s green colour in addition to its shape makes it a favoured choice. It can be served on its own as a side dish (as it is in Germany and Brazil), or as part of a main dish. In some parts of Italy, this legume is served with sausage — another lucky food. People in some countries even combine it with sauerkraut.

Meaty rewards

With legumes on hand, meat isn’t necessary for a New Year’s feast but there are a few choices according to custom. One of the most common is pork, and it’s associated with wealth for a couple of reasons, depending on the country. Its fatty meat is linked with wealth or “fat wallets”, and pigs root forward — symbolizing progress. Roast pork, ham, sausages, roast pig and even pig’s feet are some of the many choices served around the world.

Fish also makes the list — with carp being the choice in Germany, boiled cod the favourite in Denmark and herring served as a midnight snack in Poland. The scales are lucky because of their resemblance to silver, and consuming fish is thought to ensure a good catch throughout the following year.

But beware… some meats are thought to bring bad luck. According to cooking website Epicurious.com, chickens, which scratch at the ground backwards, which could cause people to dwell on past regrets. Other winged foul will “fly away” with your luck, and lobster will cause setbacks because the crustacean moves backwards.

Long strands, long life

Forget the potatoes and try noodles for a long life. The Japanese custom is to serve long ooma noodles — but you’d better be careful not to break them as you slurp! In parts of Europe, sauerkraut is served instead, but long strands of cabbage are preferable to guarantee longevity.

Sweet success

Yes, desserts and sweet treats can bring you luck too if its shape resembles a coin or a ring. In the Netherlands, olie bollen (donut-like pastries filled with apples and raisins) are popular, while Italians treat themselves to chiacchiere, fried balls of pasta dough drenched with honey and sprinkled with sugar. Donuts are popular in Hungary and Poland, while sweet breads or cakes are served in Italy as a symbol of hope. Benné wafers, made from sesame and cheese, are also served in many African countries or in African American communities.

Of course, sweets of any kind can be served to promote “sweet success” in the future.

Hidden treasures

Some traditions dictate that not everyone gets the luck on New Year’s — and ironically it’s a matter of chance who gets the nod. It’s tradition in many parts of the world to serve a loaf of bread, cake or dessert with a special treat baked inside. The person who gets the treat — whether it’s a nut, coin or other trinket — is said to have luck for the New Year.

In Greece, vasilopita (a cake with a coin baked inside) is served at midnight in honour of St. Basil, whose memory is celebrated on January 1. The head of the family slices the treat, setting aside a piece for St. Basil or for the poor. Simply participating in the observance is thought to bring a year full of happiness and health.

Or perhaps a pudding would suit your taste? In Sweden and Norway, rice pudding is served with a whole almond hidden inside.

When the clock strikes 12

Sometimes it’s not about the food so much as when you eat it. For some, it’s important for a lucky food to be the first one consumed in a new year. For others, simply having food on the table at midnight means there will be enough food throughout the year. In the Philippines, it’s customary to gather seven different round fruits for abundance.

In Spain, it’s tradition to eat 12 grapes — one for each stroke of the clock at midnight. Eating 12 grapes in as little as 12 seconds is a challenge, so be sure to buy small ones if you plan to try this tradition!

And if you thought staying up until midnight was a challenge, consider that in some countries the celebrations last until the first sunrise of the New Year. In Japan, that’s when the celebrations begin in earnest.

Menu planning

The entire menu doesn’t have to be these lucky foods — you can use one or two or as many as you like. The trick is to eat well, but to create a balanced menu that doesn’t focus on heavy, rich foods. If you want to stray from this list, look for the essentials: colour (green, gold or silver) and shape (round or coin-shaped).

http://www.50plus.com/lifestyle/food-that-will-bring-you-luck/2014/3/

11 shocking things you now realize to be true (but you never would have believed just three years ago)

(NaturalNews) We are living through a time of great awakening. The people of our world are beginning to open their eyes and realize the stunning depth of the scams and collusion taking place all around them. These scams that steal their wealth, poison them with chemicals, enslave them with financial trickery and control their minds with propaganda. These scams are the very fabric of modern government, the mainstream media, universities and so-called "science" institutions.

Here are 11 of those scams that you probably never would have believed just 2-3 years ago; but now you probably realize these are true!

Welcome to the real world, my friends. Now that we recognize the depth of the scams, let's change things for the better. (Occupy America!)

#1 - Most of the honey you buy in the grocery store contains no actual honey whatsoever
It's true, the so-called "honey" isn't even technically honey. Most of it is made of cheap "mystery" sweeteners, illegally imported from China, right under the nose of the FDA.

http://www.naturalnews.com/034123_h...
http://www.naturalnews.com/034102_h...

#2 - The fluoride that's dripped into municipal water supplies is actually a highly toxic industrial chemical byproduct

This scam is exploding in the faces of all the ignorant dentists and doctors who have been pushing this poison for years. Once again, they were wrong; the "conspiracy theorists" were right.

http://www.naturalnews.com/033753_w...
http://www.naturalnews.com/031547_f...
http://www.naturalnews.com/031602_f...

#3 - Flu vaccines often contain live flu viruses and actually cause the flu as a way to worsen the flu season and scare more people into buying vaccines
It's also true with MMR vaccines, which cause the measles. Flu vaccines are the greatest medical hoax that has ever been perpetrated on the world:

http://www.naturalnews.com/033998_i...
http://www.naturalnews.com/033816_s...
http://www.naturalnews.com/029641_v...
http://www.naturalnews.com/031043_f...

#4 - Ron Paul is deliberately stripped out of mainstream news reports, online polls and debate coverage in order to "game the system" against him

The power elite don't really want "fair and open" elections in America, you see. It's all about rigging the system to make sure a globalist puppet gets elected instead of a Man of the People.

http://www.naturalnews.com/033528_R...
http://www.prisonplanet.com/realcle...
http://www.prisonplanet.com/cnbc-ca...

#5 - The United States government openly trafficks illegal guns into Mexico as a way to cause gun violence in the USA

It all seemed so very clever until they got caught, and now it just seems flatly criminal. So why can the federal government run illegal guns and nothing happens to them, but if you or I do it, we go to prison for a long, long time?

http://www.naturalnews.com/032934_A...
http://www.naturalnews.com/033802_F...
http://counterthink.com/Fast_and_Fu...

#6 - Prestigious U.S. hospitals are widely engaged in black market organ trafficking and organ transplants

And why not? It's profitable, and they can claim they're "saving lives!" Make no mistake: the organ transplant industry is steeped in dark, psychopathic criminal activity.

http://www.naturalnews.com/028994_o...
http://www.naturalnews.com/034060_o...

#7 - The child sex slave industry is huge, highly profitable, and found everywhere across America (and the world)

You wouldn't have believed this, probably, until the whole Penn State scandal recently made headline news around the world. As everybody now knows, Penn State sports officials routinely raped young children, even pimping them out to other criminal rapists who paid big money to rape young boys.

This went on for 15 years right inside a prestigious university, right here in America.

Are you shocked? You shouldn't be. Alex Jones has been sounding the alarm about this for a decade. Nobody listened to him. They couldn't believe it was real. People would rather bury their heads in the sand than face reality.

And yet, this Penn State scandal just scratches the surface. The far deeper horrifying truth of all this is that Child Protective Services routinely kidnaps young American children and sells them into sex slavery -- so-called "white slavery." That story has not yet been covered by the mainstream media.

http://www.naturalnews.com/032501_M...
http://abcnews.go.com/US/penn-state...
http://www.prisonplanet.com/archive...
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/10/justi...
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/in...

#8 - Commercial chickens are routinely fed arsenic, and commercial cows are routinely fed chicken poop

Oh, you didn't know that? When you eat conventional beef, you're eating meat from cows who created that meat by consuming chicken poop. Yumm! Can I have some more poop on that burger, please?

http://www.naturalnews.com/032659_a...
http://www.naturalnews.com/000987.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/028675_b...

#9 - "Natural" foods and cereals are routinely made with genetically modified ingredients

Oh, you thought "natural" meant better than organic? Non-GMO? Stop getting suckered by the cereal companies and dishonest food conglomerates. Know what you're really eating:

http://www.naturalnews.com/033838_b...
http://naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=15C9C...

#10 - The global banking industry is a criminal racket that steals wealth from working class People and redistributes it to the global wealthy elite

You wouldn't have believed this five years ago, but now, looking at your own bank account, the job you lost, the house you can't sell and the health care you can't afford, it's all sinking in: The global financial system is an engineered con that suckers working-class people into giving up all their wealth, piece by piece, until they die bankrupt. Indentured servitude...

http://www.naturalnews.com/News_000...
http://www.naturalnews.com/025672_m...
http://www.prisonplanet.com/goldman...

#11 - The U.S. government routinely conspires with pharmaceutical giants to conduct criminal, inhumane medical experiments on innocent people

Recent revelations about the U.S. government's secret medical experiments in Guatemala are just the tip of the iceberg here. Dr. Jona Salk, inventor of the polio vaccine, also ran unethical medical experiments on people. In fact, the entire history of modern medicine (pharmaceuticals, vaccines, chemotherapy and more) is something of a "house of horrors" of inhumane medical experiments on innocent victims.

http://www.naturalnews.com/033483_G...
http://www.naturalnews.com/031564_J...
http://www.naturalnews.com/033988_a...
http://www.naturalnews.com/019189.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/019187.html

What else is true?

Ever wonder what else might be true about our world that you never would have believed just a few years ago? Maybe it's time you started reading books by Jim Marrs or even David Icke.

Now is a good time to start listening to the Robert Scott Bell Show on www.NaturalNewsRadio.com where you'll also hear news from Patrick Timpone.

Perhaps it's time we all started questioning history, medicine, corporate science, banking institutions and all governments. Discard your blinders.

Maybe it's time we opened our eyes to reality and stopped lying to ourselves about the depth of corruption and evil in our world. And why would we do that? Because that's the first step to positive revolution where we work together to create a better world... a world where such criminality and suffering is ancient history.

Accept reality, in other words... and then CHANGE it for the better.

Open your eyes at the following websites:

www.NaturalNews.com
www.AlternativeNews.com
www.InfoWars.com
www.LewRockwell.com
www.CCHRint.org
www.ActivistPost.com

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/034126_awakening_beliefs.html#ixzz1davJejkt

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/034126_awakening_beliefs.html#ixzz1dav2lC00

Do you believe in superheroes? After you watch this video, you will.

Amy Pankratz, a stay-at-home mother of three in South Dakota, crafts custom capes for sick children and their siblings. She reads their story, she thinks about them, and she prays for them as she is making each cape...infusing it with special powers of hope and courage for each child. And it works! As 5-year-old Brooke Mulford (a.k.a "Super Brooke") says, "It helps me to be brave".


Superhero Capes Provide Hope & Inspiration for Sick Children

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRxT-1N07og

Top foods to keep you young


7 Anti-aging foods…
Most of us are keen to stay looking as fresh and young as possible, and although there's no way to pause or turn back the clock, there are few age-proof strategies we can employ to make sure we stay looking good. Maintaining a healthy and well-balanced diet is one approach, and the good news is that there are some foods that are thought to give you extra ammunition when it comes to combating the signs of aging.

Green tea
There is no end to the benefits of this super brew; green tea boasts a wealth of benefits that earns it the top spot in our anti-aging food list. Green tea is believed to help regulate blood pressure, lower blood sugar, boost the immune system, lower cholesterol and studies have even shown that green tea can be effective at preventing cancer. That's as close to the elixir of life as you can get.

Leafy greens
Whilst eating spinach won't be enough to turn you into Popeye, it's certainly excellent for boosting the body's immunity from illness. Spinach and other leafy foods like kale and collard are high in folate which is vital in preventing DNA and blood vessel damage. If you can maintain a healthy circulatory system you are reducing your risk of developing conditions such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, kidney disease and dementia.

Dark chocolate
Who would have thought this sweet treat would feature in an anti-aging list, but the good news is chocolate can help fight against some signs of aging due to its cocoa content. Cocoa is rich in a group of antioxidants called Flavinoids which help preserve healthy function of the blood vessels. And healthy youthful circulatory system lowers risk of high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, kidney disease and dementia. Don't fill your boots though, a square a day is a good guide and make sure you go for the over 70% cocoa stuff.

Soy products
Like fish, soy products such as tofu are also a great alternative source of protein than red meat or even dairy, since they have little or no saturated fat. A diet that's low in saturated fat will reduce your risk of developing heart disease and lower blood pressure. As a staple part of the Japanese diet, soy products are great at helping keep down cholesterol and are a useful addition to a healthy diet.

Yogurt
Judging from their frequently bad press, you might assume that all forms of bacteria are out to get you. Thankfully, this couldn't be further from the truth. 'Good' bacteria is great for regulating the immune system, by increasing its antibodies and preventing the rise of pathogenic organisms like salmonella and E.coli. Many yoghurts include a high volume of 'good' bacteria that help maintain gut health and diminish the incidence of age-related intestinal illness. Yogurt is also rich in calcium, which can help stave off osteoporosis.

Red wine
A glass of red wine tots up a good dose of anti-aging elements including polyphenol antioxidants, minerals, and resveratrol. Resveratrol which helps to increase 'good cholesterol' levels in the body and prevents blood clotting and a healthy circulatory system. Resveratrol found in red wine may also be beneficial for women during the menopause by reducing the risk for conditions for example breast cancer and osteoporosis that result from reduced oestrogen levels. Like the chocolate, it's not carte blanche to guzzle as much as you want; we suggest a standard glass every other day is a good approach.

Water
Few people - whether active or not - drink sufficient water, and side effects of even slight dehydration include headaches, fatigue and low concentration levels. Yet increasing fluid intake can increase energy levels, aid digestion, give skin a boost and help boost your anti-aging armoury. Concentrate on drinking little and often throughout the day, being extra vigilant after exercise or when you've been confined in a dry, overheated or air-conditioned environment.

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