I have been beset with a sense 

of urgency to record those parts 

of our heritage which seem to be

receding as quickly as the view

from the rear of a speeding train.

I fear that we are eradicating

the evidence of our past

accomplishments so quickly

that in time we may well lose

the sense of who we are.

David Plowden

(1932-     )

American Photographer

An invasive, stinging ant called the Little Fire Ant (LFA) has been discovered on a farm in Waihee, on Maui.  Agricultural officials say it appears that the ant infestation is confined to a ½-acre area on the farm and the Hawai`i Department of Agriculture (HDOA) is preparing an eradication program.  Although this ant species has been on the Big Island since at least 1999, this is the first discovery of the ant on Maui.

Image courtesy W. Nagamine & the Hawaii State Department of Agriculture.

Photo of fire ant colony courtesy R. Heu and the Hawaii State Department of Agriculture.

LFA are tiny ants, measuring 1/16^th inch long, are pale orange in color and move slowly.  They can produce painful stings and large red welts and cause blindness in pets.  They can build up very large colonies on the ground and in trees and other vegetation and completely overrun a property.  They can also freely move into homes..

The following is a chronology of events on Maui:

On October 2, 2009, the HDOA’s entomologist on Maui followed up on a call about ants stinging people on a farm in Waihee.  Ant specimens were collected and sent to Honolulu, where the ant was positively identified as LFA, Wasmannia auropunctata, on October 5th.

On October 6th, HDOA’s Maui entomologist and two Plant Quarantine inspectors surveyed Waihee Elementary School, which is located about ¼ mile from the infested farm.  No LFA were detected at the school.

From October 7 through the 13th, staff from Honolulu and the Big Island joined the Maui crew to conduct surveys at the infestation site and determined that LFA is confined to about 1/2 acre of the property.  Surveys determined that the ant did not occur in the surrounding area, which includes macadamia nut fields and other private lands.

HDOA is working with the landowner, to eradicate the ant on that property.  HDOA is using a combination of techniques to confine the ants and eradicate them, which involves using two types of ant baits and restricting the movement of infested material off and within the property.  Entomologists report that, by the size of the ant colonies, LFA may have been at the site for about one year.

The department is also conducting trace back and trace forward research to determine the original source of the ants and the potential places where it may have been moved.

HDOA has been conducting surveys for this ant throughout Maui, but will increase this effort by training Maui County field crews about this stinging ant and the Maui Invasive Species Committee (MISC) on how to conduct surveys for LFA at high-risk areas on Maui. MISC has received funding from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to conduct these surveys.

HDOA would like to request the public’s help in determining if there are other infestations on the island.  Suspected LFA or other stinging ants on Maui should be reported to the Maui office of HDOA Plant Quarantine Branch at 873-3962 or to the State’s toll-free PEST HOTLINE at 643-PEST (7378).

(Posted by Wendy Osher; Information provided by the State Department of Agriculture)

Foreign tourists at an ethnic Dao village in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai’s Ta Phin Commune. Development of local tourism sectors is seen as a way to help poor people escape poverty. — VNA/VNS Photo Trong Duc

HA NOI — Development of tourism has been part of the stimulus plan initiated by the Government which intended to reduce the negative impact of the economic downturn on the nation’s development, generating jobs for many poor people.

At a two-day conference entitled Human Resources Development in Tourism and Poverty Alleviation: Uncharted Territory, Tran Chien Thang, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism said during 2000-08, income from tourism increased at a much higher rate than the average growth in the numbers of Vietnamese and foreign tourists.

Dr Trinh Xuan Dung of the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) said that in 2005, foreign currency earnings from tourism reached more than US$2.3 billion and in 2008, it was $4 billion with an average annual growth rate of 15.6 per cent.

Compared to GDP, total revenue from tourism in the 2000-08 period accounted for 4.15 per cent per year.

He added that tourism also generated many jobs to society, especially for poor people.

According to the latest statistics of VNAT, by 2008, the tourism industry employed, either directly and indirectly, more than 1 million people, accounting for 10 per cent of the labour force in the service sector and 4 per cent of working people nationwide.

Sung Thi Hoa, a Mong ethnic minority woman, works as a waitress at a restaurant in the mountainous district of Sa Pa, northern Lao Cai Province and earns a monthly salary of VND1 million (US$55).

Hoa said that many young people from her village worked as tourist guides, bakers or service staff in hotels and restaurants in the district. Their lives had changed for the better with their improved incomes. Their families were no longer afraid of hunger.

Douglas Hainsworth, senior consultant of the Human Resources Development in Tourism Project, said that in rural areas with limited options for non-agricultural earning opportunities, tourism could provide sources for off-farm income earnings. In urban areas, the tourism sector could also provide opportunities for the poor. Engaging in informal sector activities such as selling products as food or souvenirs to tourists, or gaining entry level positions working in tourism enterprises as cleaners and food services were examples.

According to many experts, people working in the tourism sector have slightly higher incomes and the services generally offer higher returns than other economic sectors.

The General Statistics Office revealed that hotels and restaurants alone ranked 6th out of the 18 national economic sectors in Viet Nam in terms of their efficiency.

A person working in hotels or restaurants earns VND78 million ($4,300) per year while an agricultural labourer earns VND32 million ($1,700) per year or a construction worker VND40 million ($2,200) per year.

Dung said this was the way tourism helped the country’s poverty alleviation aims.

Thang said that tourism was considered as a high potential service sector, high in added value and strongly competitive, but in order to reach international standards, it required high quality human resources.

Tourism training

Hainsworth suggested that it was necessary to improve access to tourism training opportunities for the poor. To more fully engage the poor in tourism training programmes, they needed to be affordable, fit local employment conditions, and be based near to where the poor lived. Vocational skills should be based on both the current abilities of training participants and the jobs they would likely engage in.

He added that entry level positions could provide the vital step to get out of poverty, and the full potential of people from disadvantaged backgrounds should be further supported by opportunities to train for higher level positions in the industry.

Pham Thi Vy, headmaster of Hoa Sua Economic Tourism School, one of the most well-known vocational training schools to offer free training courses in tourism for nearly 4,000 poor people aged between 18 and 25, said that only about 50 per cent of employees in tourism had taken training programmes.

Vy said that the school’s students were mainly from the poor districts of Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, Lao Cai, Hue, Da Nang, Quang Nam and Khanh Hoa, provinces with high tourism potential, but where tourism enterprises found it difficult to find good quality employees. The school picked up the young people in these localities to train them in hospitality skills such as restaurant service, reception and cooking.

She added that the students returned to their hometowns and applied what they had learned from the school and developed their life skills and their local cultural identities.

Hoa, an ex-Hoa Sua student said she had to do the training course at the school before finding work in a restaurant in Sa Pa District. She was going to take part in pastry-making course at school. She hoped to combine her new skills with her village’s traditional cakes in order to improve their attractiveness to customers.

Hoa hoped more young people in rural Viet Nam could have the chance to improve their vocational skills so that they could secure permanent jobs, while satisfying tourists.

Participants at the meeting were informed of the Viet Nam Tourism Occupation Skill Standard System (VTOS) – a system attempting to guarantee international standards in the Vietnamese tourism industry.

The project on human resources development funded by the European Union aimed to improve the quality and standard of human resources working in the tourism sector from 2004-10.

VNAT’s Dung said that through improved human capabilities and skills in tourism, it was expected that the average growth rate of foreign currency earnings from tourism in 2011-20 would be more than 16 per cent per year, with revenue from tourism increasing at more than 18 per cent per year on average. The average growth in the number of international tourists and domestic tourists would be 9-9.5 per cent and 10-13 per cent per year,` respectively. —

Source: vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn

Last night I was with some friends and I mentioned yesterday’s post about cleaning out the crumbs from the toaster oven.  One of them laughed and said “You mean we are supposed to clean our toaster ovens?!”  We had a good laugh and I thought, great, so much for that analogy of our lives and sin!  We did go on to discuss what happens when you don’t clean the crumbs out your toaster oven: The crumbs (some big, some small) can burn and cause a very unpleasant odor; they make the toaster oven look dirty; and my personal favorite: they can attract beasties.  I love the word beasties for the nasty little vermin you find in the kitchen.

Here’s a cup of honesty for you today:  This morning I was enjoying a healthy, high-fiber breakfast of raisin bran.  I checked for little black bugs, also known as weevils, did not see any and proceeded to add milk, checked again for any floating, didn’t see any, so proceeded to eat.  I was reading a magazine while eating and after ingesting most of my cereal I looked down and saw several suspicious things floating in the milk.  Not black adult weevils, their larva!  Ugh!  Gag!  Gross!  How many did I eat before I discovered the additional protein in my cereal?  I stared into the bowl, willing those little worm looking things to be pieces of bran, but no, I had to be honest with myself and accept the fact that I had indeed consumed an unknown number of beasties!  As I sat there thinking of this, I consoled myself with the knowledge that millions of people unknowingly eat beasties and live to tell about it thanks to the power of stomach acid.

Well, in case you don’t clean the crumbs out of your toaster oven, perhaps the visual of beasties living in your pantry will be a better analogy for the need to see if there are any beasties in your life that need to be discarded.  Sometimes it’s difficult to find the source of the beasties in our life, those things that annoy us, frustrate us, anger us; but like weevils, they do not liking to be exposed to the Light.  Thankfully, as we expose them we can then choose to eradicate them rather than continue living with them.  And, much more powerful than stomach acid, is the Lord’s power to eradicate the “beasties” in our life.

HA NOI — Scientists and health experts from 32 countries gathered for the second Rabies in Asia Conference (RIACON 2009) in Ha Noi to discuss ways to eliminate rabies in Asia by 2020.

The three-day event was held by the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology and the Rabies in Asia Foundation.

“With a crucial transmission method from animals (like dogs or cats) to humans, and case fatality rates of 100 per cent, rabies is a major public health concern not only in developing countries, especially in Asia and Africa, but also in developed countries,” said Deputy Minister of Health Trinh Quan Huan at the event.

“Therefore, effective prevention and control measures aimed to eliminate rabies from both animals and humans are essential and require stronger attention from the Government,” said Huan.

The conference will make recommendations on a regional strategy in strengthening partnerships between animal and health sectors and other agencies on rabies prevention and control.

“Rabies cases have increased in recent years in Viet Nam, as well as in the region. Dogs are the major animals transmitting rabies to humans in Viet Nam. The active participation of communities and administrations at all levels in ensuring good management of dogs and a high rate of dog vaccinations would reduce rabies cases,” said the Director of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Nguyen Tran Hien.

The Ministry of Health’s statistics showed that the reported number of animal bites reached nearly 300,000 in Viet Nam in 2008. Roughly 100 people had died of rabies between 2004 and 2008. More than 76 per cent of animal bite victims had gone to preventive medicine centres (after they were bitten by the animal) for rabies vaccinations.

The main causes of human deaths with rabies were that victims did not get vaccinations immediately after they were bitten, or that the bites were too severe.

Health experts estimated that globally 55,000 human rabies deaths occurred every year, of which 56 per cent were in Asia and 44 per cent in Africa. Rabies remained a neglected infectious disease in both animals and humans. —

Source: vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn

***  Starvation Eradication T-Shirts  ***
(from Starvation Eradication Festival 2009)

$15.00 Each — Black Only
Adult Small, Medium, Large, & Xtra Large
Price Includes Shipping & Handling

100% of all profits go to hunger and homeless relief efforts in the state of New Jersey (specifically Ocean & Monmouth Counties) via PassionWorks, Inc., a Federally licensed 501(c)(3) humanitarian organization based in Brick, NJ.

http://www.passionworksusa.org (website)
http://www.passionworksusa.org/Merchandise.asp (purchase)

Questions?  Contact — Chuck Gianakos (732.272.3477) or Pat Cashin (908.902.3473)
Owners — Lefty Clothing Company

          ***  The Original Lefty NJ Hat  ***         
$23.00 Each
Flex Fit Sizes – S/M (6 3/4″ – 7 1/4″) or L/XL (7 1/8″ – 7 5/8″)
(Straight Ahead NJ or Offset Left Emblem – Please Specify When Ordering)
Price Includes Shipping & Handling

100% of all profits go to hunger and homeless relief efforts in the state of New Jersey (specifically Ocean & Monmouth Counties) via PassionWorks, Inc., a Federally licensed 501(c)(3) humanitarian organization based in Brick, NJ.

http://www.passionworksusa.org (website)
http://www.passionworksusa.org/Merchandise.asp (purchase)

Questions?  Contact — Chuck Gianakos (732.272.3477) or Pat Cashin (908.902.3473)
Owners — Lefty Clothing Company
    

NRL personality Matthew Johns has been stood down indefinitely from all his on-air commitments with the Nine Network following the group sex allegations that aired this week.

The announcement was made on the network a short time ago.

In a statement, Nine CEO David Gyngell said the mutual decision had been taken in the best interests of the Nine Network, Matthew Johns and his family, the game and its supporters.

“The fact is, whatever the arguments about the details of the New Zealand incident involving Cronulla players in 2002, the conduct and its aftermath was simply unacceptable, fullstop,” he said.

“I fully endorse David Gallop’s comments concerning the indefensible conduct of some players and the lack of respect for women — and the critical focus on all stakeholders to help eradicate it from our game.”

“I join with him in extending my apologies and sympathy to the young woman involved in the incident, who clearly is still distressed as a consequence.”

Mr Gyngell said Johns had agreed the decision was in everyone’s best interests.

“I have always had great regard for Matt, but he knows better than anyone that this incident has placed him in untenable position,” he said.

“To his credit he has recognised that and acted upon it.”

Johns’ future has been under a cloud since the ABC’s Four Corners program aired allegations about his involvement in a 2002 group sex incident in New Zealand while he was playing for Cronulla.

The former Test star arrived at Nine’s Sydney offices this morning, along with his manager John Fordham, for the meeting with Mr Gyngell.

www.news.ninemsn.com.au

The only way I think I’ll ever get over him is if we completely stop talking.
I think he knows this too.
He’s still talking.

It must mean something.

Six Sigma is a statistical measure used to ensure quality of products and services. The six sigma academy has developed a break through strategy consisting of measure, analyze, improve and control, that allows companies to make exceptional bottom-line improvements. In addition to the material and labor savings, which flow directly to the bottom line, a company engaged in six sigma can expect to see:

a. Improved customer satisfaction

b. Reduced cycle time

c. Increased productivity, Reduction in total defect

d. Improved process flow.

Implementing, six sigma program in manufacturing means more than delivering defect-free product after final test or inspection. It also entails concurrently maintaining in process yields around 99.9999998 percent, defective rates below 0.002 parts per million and virtually eradicating defects, rework and scrap. Other six sigma characteristics include operating processes under statistical control, controlling input process variables, rather than the usual output product variables, maximizing equipment uptime and optimizing cycle time. In a six sigma organization, employees assess their job functions with respect to how they improve the organization. They define their goals and quantify where they are currently, their status quo. Then they work to minimize the gap and achieve six sigma by a certain date.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Line of Sight

What do I see looking in my mirror?

I experienced a situation this week that really has made me think about when it’s appropriate to “draw the line”, at least for me.

Growing up I often experienced verbal and physical abuse at the hand of a parent, the teaching system and several adults, I didn’t realize it then, I do now. That doesn’t mean I hate them, it does mean I realize they were not very healthy folks and I soon learned to assume a “victim” identity to survive. I was truly fearful many times, and the experiences often allowed me to hold back who I am. I know now, I am bright, creative, artistic and diplomatic for the most part, unless one of those old buttons are pushed, then I easily revert back to a passive aggressive self I don’t like very much at all.

Unfortunately I was exposed to one sided conversations where I was not allowed to express my opinions. Mostly consisting of patronizing looks and expressions and tone of voice and many times a condescending attitude. The person letting me know in no uncertain terms, they thought they “were better than I”, smarter, more attractive, more creative etc. I worked diligently to eradicate those old messages and to replace them with “the truth” of who I am.

I found this week some of those old buttons being pushed and also realized, I no longer need to behave in the protective fashion of long ago, even though I did to an extent. I am by far not a perfect person, no one but God is, I know. But it doesn’t mean I don’t try my best to live by the “Golden Rule”, to be straight up with my thoughts and words, to encourage others, to light a fire of creativity within those I meet, to accept nothing else but truth in return. I used to say “yes” to everyone and take on far more projects then I could adequately do, now I am cautious with my volunteerism and use “no” a lot as well as, “that’s interesting, I’ll think about that and get back to you”.…a wonderful way to dismiss something I don’t want to decide on at the moment.

When I have a confrontation with someone, I expect and deserve respect from them as I try to give that to them as well. We wouldn’t be having a disagreement if we thought alike now would we? So, I have learned to listen, to let the other person express their ideas and frustrations respectfully and I expect the same from them. Many times that is possible, sometimes not.

The expectations I have for myself are pretty rigid it seems, I hate not being as truthful as possible, I don’t tolerate well a person who blames others or circumstances for their choices or shortcomings, and taking on a task for a group and not following through, or asking for extra  help from others if they need it,  drives me nuts. I realize from being in the “in charge role” quite often in my life, how the success of others each taking different responsibilities and completing them, or not completing them affects the group as a whole.

I guess I have looked long and hard at myself and learned to get through the uncomfortableness of admitting mistakes, learning to readily sayI am sorry, taking my share of the responsibility of the neglect of a task, it sure isn’t easy but it can be done.

What that has done in my life is build my esteem and confidence and held me accountable for my behavior which is far from spotless, just ask my family. But I have learned incredible things. I have strong values and a pretty decent moral base I work on myself, to maintain and preserve those parts of my character that I deem important for me.I know what it feels like to be “talked down to” treated in a condescending manner and to be patronized with tone and words as if the person is agreeing with you, when you know they really, are not. Ofen they aren’t even listening to what I am saying, they are planning the next thing they want to say. It’s not a nice place to visit or to be in. I try not to go there, which brings me to the point, “When Does One Draw the Line”?

If someone or many people attempt to cross your boundaries of self respect, esteem and integrity what is the best way to behave? For me, I know God requires me to love everyone and all the things He’s created, but I don’t have to like them or their behavior. I can choose a civil confrontation or I can walk away and choose my battles. I can no matter what, affirm the gifts of my own value and confidence and turn the other cheek ,knowing that the values I hold dear have taken my lifetime to develop those I  try so hard to uphold are mine, not anyone else’s. They are my responsibility be proud of even when they are less then perfect. I am responsible to myself and to God, so are other folks. It’s then I often “draw the line” between those I want to associate with of like character and those that cause me anguish. It isn’t easy, but I need to look myself in the mirror and reaffirm the woman looking back each day is one I respect, the woman I see is afterall me. This makes me wonder, what circumstances or opportunities you’ve experienced dictate, “when do you draw your line?”

When I was first asked to take on this project, I was bombarded with information, letters, and directives immediately. I washed much to the side to try and keep my head above water, passing on many opportunities to present the world with the other side of the story, or stories in our case. For that, I apologize. But, with a stroke of luck, I have resurrected something very interesting and deserving of a post on our site. Please read and enjoy the below letter to a congressman.

Dear Congressman (name has been omitted per request),
I am writing this in reference to the increased amount of troops publically refusing to deploy to a war that they feel is unethical and immoral. I am a civilian contractor currently deployed in Iraq, and have spent the last 3 ½ years overseas. At no time have I witnessed a stronger force, a stronger will, a stronger determination than I have in the time spent in this country. The American military has been given orders to deploy, orders to fight and eradicate an insurgency that has bullied and terrorized a nation, and a hand full of individuals are standing up against the government that has given them the freedom to do so. No matter what the issue at hand, no matter the reason for an occupation of foreign soil, the cold reality is that the soldiers, airmen, marines, and seamen held up their hands, took an oath to stand between their families, fellow countrymen, and the enemy, both foreign and domestic.
It has always been the few that make it to the forefront of the media, the few that are held up and claimed heroes. Ones that defy their leadership, defy their government, defy even the simple thought of responsibility, which are forced in front of the couches and computers of modern day America.
“A month after US army reservist Matthis Chiroux publicly refused to deploy to Iraq, the former sergeant on Sunday set himself up for possible prosecution by failing to report for active duty with his unit in South Carolina,” quoted from Yahoo News.
My request, sir, is that I may take his place, or the place of Lt. Watada, to serve along side their once fellow soldiers, so that they have the extra set of eyes that could enable them to return safely to their always waiting families back home. What I want from life is the ability to show my daughters the good in man, not what is on the T.V. every night, portraying military men and women as oil thieves and rapists. Reality in pictures and words showing what the men and women of the Armed Forces do on a daily basis; repairing damaged dams, water pipelines, sewer treatment plants, constructing new schools and hospitals, delivering food to starving families world wide from someone that I hope and pray they trust, their daddy.
I have learned to realize that I can not change the world, but I can change the world of my children, a world in their eyes free of hate, free of violence, free of discrimination, free of starvation. A world created because of the hard work and sacrifice of the American Soldier driving an MRAP vehicle down a hostile street in Mosul, the American Airmen refueling a B-52 on Diego Garcia bound for the Middle East to provide air support for the ground troops, the American Seaman who guides in a F-18 on a wobbly deck in the Persian Gulf, and the American Marine who sleeps in a sand pit in the Anbar Province, taking incoming nearly as often as beads of sweat roll off his face.
I am not requesting this for fame, or public praise, only to join the likes of the true heroes of America’s modern day. I am officially requesting a waiver to join the ranks of the few, so that I too can defend this nation, my family, and the freedom of so many others worldwide.

Sincerely,
Name omitted per request

Sir, thank you for your dedication and love for your, I mean our, country.

STOCKHOLM  —  A French scientist who shared this year’s Nobel prize for medicine said on Saturday he believed the transmission of AIDS could be eliminated within years. “Our job, of course, is to find complementary treatment to eradicate the infection. I think it’s not impossible to do it within a few years,” Montagnier said.
Montagnier and Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, of the Institut Pasteur, shared half of the 2008 prize for discovering the virus that has killed 25 million people since the early 1980s.

File under “What Not To Plant” (at least in my opinion)…

A neighbor has opted for what must be the three most difficult to eradicate plants in our climate (Seattle, Zone Eight), all planted together at the top of the retaining wall on the sidewalk. My photo is poorly exposed but maybe you can still see them twining together in all their rapacious glory:

Yes indeedy, that is ivy, St. John’s wort (my personal nemesis) and Himalayan blackberry. I’d never seen them all planted together, I wonder if it was even intentional. In the immortal words of Mr. T, I pity the fool who has to rip this out someday!

EMPATHIZE – I feel very sorry for women who have been socialized that “a man is a plan” and now have to “fend for themselves” after being widowed (often at an early age) or divorced. Trying to learn about finances when one is grieving is a recipe for disaster, as grieving is surely a full time job! Additionally women’s family’s money messages are particularly limiting, if not worse. Women’s socialization has also placed huge hurdles in our paths towards understanding our finances. I’m in touch with both the necessity AND the magnitude of the task ahead. My easy steps will help us safely get in touch with our feelings about money.

ERADICATE fears – Like all subconscious matter, our fears will control us until we disarm them and bring them to the conscious, so we can deal with them effectively and efficiently. Once we’ve taken an inventory of all our assets and listed all our expenditures we are well on our way to realizing that we can manage our doubts and devise plans to succeed.

EDUCATE – How can women win at the game of finances, if we don’t know the rules? Understanding the historic performance of various asset classes as well as commonly accepted DOs and DON’Ts will aid us in the race to compound money quicker. I’ll give you the Cliff Notes of investing so you can craft an effectively diversified portfolio. Knowledge is power!

ENERGIZE – Armed with a can-do attitude, we will move from our paralysis and take the first step(s) NOW! We will institute rewards for our achievements and further feel the power of success breeding success. We commit to birthing and nurturing a plan whereby our money outlives us, because it’s Our Turn Now!

EMPOWER – It’s not enough to hear what to do, we must act now, and feel the surge of pride when we move towards our goals. What we feed grows, and positive reinforcement is essential to achieving steady progress. The power within us is strong enough to channel towards converting obstacles into opportunities. I’ll give you 5 amazingly simple power unleashing tips!

The Ayurvedic teachings very often encourage the frequent ingestion of raw fruit and vegetables. However in the case of typhoid prevention this isn’t necessarily so. If you reside in or are visiting an effected region of the world you should be very careful when eating raw vegetables and fruit as they may have bee washed in contaminated water or been handled by a typhoid carrier. Without the effects of boiling water or the foodstuff being cooked in some other way the bacteria survive and will very likely infect the immune system when digested.

If you have already contracted typhoid and are beginning your recovery programme then you should ensure that you drink as much pure liquids as you can as this prevents dehydration as the fever takes hold.

Water would be the best option, but again if you are in an affected region then in all likeliness the water will be contaminated, so be careful. In this instance it would be advisable to boil all drinking water to be on the safe side.

You should also follow a high-carbohydrate diet as this will replace all the nutrients you will have lost during the high fever stage of the infection.

It is also best to eat food that is as hot as the room temperature. As heat is a very good way to eradicate the negative bacteria.

Today is the big day. I am done. I can’t take it any longer. It has to stop. So today we are on a search and destroy mission in my house. No pacifier is safe today. We will find each and every one of them and they will be destroyed.

What brought along such a violent approach? Three nights in a row of be startled awake by the blood curdling screams from the Big One when she couldn’t locate the dreaded paci.

The Big One will be 3 years old in two weeks, it is high time to get rid of the dumb thing. We’ve tried in the past and somehow she always gets another one. We’ve tried cutting the tips off of them so they are “broken.” We’ve tried the “Big girls don’t need pacis” approach. We’ve tried the “sending them to the babies” approach. Somehow none of them have worked.

The Big One has discovered one in the bottom of my purse. She has found several in my car {they must be like rabbits with the way they multiply}. She has even gone so far as to steal them from the Little One.

So tonight we are going paci free. The Little One is getting dragged into this battle now so that I don’t have to re-live it in another year. Yes, I will also be taking them away from the Little One too. I figure if one of them is going to scream all night, might as well add the other to the mix. If you’ve got any tips to make the transition easier, please send them my way.

The biggest challenge with tonight’s cold turkey mission is that it will coincide with another life-changing event for the Big One. The parental unit is on their way to our house as I type with the “big girl” bed. Yes, we are combining two life altering moments tonight. We will be going paci-free in a brand new twin bed.

I know the psychologists reading this {you know you are out there} are cringing and shaking your heads at me. I know it’s a mistake to combine two “life-changing” events at the same time. Trust me, it’s not the first time I’ve screwed up with the Big One. And I can guarantee that it won’t be the last. Hey! Maybe I’ll go for the triple threat and put her in panties and throw the diapers away tonight too.

C’mon you didn’t think I was serious did you. I’m not a total moron. I am after all the one who would have to clean the sheets in the middle of the night when she peed all over the brand new bed.