the cleansing detox foot pads.

i bought some a while back ago on a trip to bed, bath and beyond. it was in the “as seem on tv section”. there were a lot of other useless junk/useful things but caved to the kinoki. i stuck it on my foot as soon as i got home. while sleeping, i felt a tingly sensation that kinda bothered me. when i woke up, one of the pads ended up on the floor and other other one about to fall off. they were black and hard. i felt a bit grossed out. yuck. toxins in my body. that’s what american food will do to you.

p.s. i may be 80 at heart but i don’t look it. and i’m quite funny too. i’m also full of myself. the end.

After my tiny rant earlier about my disappointment in Kanye, I looked over my planner and realized that there is so much to talk about. Therefore I am making this a modge podge post. If you are game for confusion and 15 topics of discussion than keep on reading.

Kinoki Update: Think back about a week ago and you’ll remember that I was trying out Kinoki pads as a natural healing method. Boo! After three days of use I gave up because BF convinced me they don’t work. And I was starting to think the same thing. No more Kinoki. I’m not sure if they actually work or not, but I might try them again a few months from now.

October is just around the corner and it gets me thinking about Breast Cancer Awareness month. I am a huge breast cancer research advocate because I know many women close to me who have beaten it, as well as others who have not been able to. I always think back to a special woman who I nursed through breast cancer and how much that experience changed me for the better. That was 8 years ago now, but I remember it every time this month comes up. And because I too suffer from a hormonal condition, although not cancer, I feel especially obligated to spread the knowledge of some awesome causes. With that said, I want to showcase “Warriors in Pink.”

This is a company started by Ford and their main goal is to raise money for breast cancer research. You can visit their site and shop here. They have so many beautiful pieces and to me everything is reasonably priced because I know where that money is going. So check it out and if financially possible purchase a gorgeous scarf to not only make yourself more glamorous, but to help some women in need.

Ok, emotional meltdown discussion time. I have had quite a few this week. Hormones are raging and I’ve resorted to taking extra anti-despressants as a means of coping. Otherwise I’d be crying uncontrollably. Sometimes my body goes through hormonal shifts and I can’t control the emotional side of things. Before this week I was only taking 20 mg/day, however this week I’ve up’d my dosage to 30 mg/day. Not too drastic, but enough to take the edge off and help me cope. I can’t wait until this week is over so I can hopefully regain some composure.

Now onto something much more happy. MY NEW LAPTOP ARRIVED TODAY! I’m typing on it right now and it feels so good. The keys are smooth, she’s sleek and sexy, and I truly feel connected to her already. Therefore, without further ado, I introduce to you all…ROXY!

The picture is somewhat dark, but it’s totally fitting because she is a vixon. I love it.

Home projects are in full swing around here. BF and I were baffled the other day when we opened our closet door and the whole top hanging rack was detached from the wall. And today he was on a mission to fix it.

There were moments of severe frustration, but BF kept a happy attitude through it all.

He couldn’t fix it today, so his clothes are still lovingly placed on my reading room floor.

This weekend we are tackling the front garden and the garage. EEK! Will definitely have updates for you from both.

OH, today is Joie’s 10 month birthday! Happy Birthday, Jo Jo Bean! I love you so much. Here are two throwback photos of her on the day we got her. January 17, 2009 and she was 2 months old to the day! She was our 4-pound bundle of joy.

Have you ever had a modge podge day?

Lucho Iglesias y Álex Ruiz nos traen una cinta que puede hacer tambalear los valores establecidos de la actual sociedad de consumo. Que digo yo, que ya era hora, no de que salga la cinta, sino de que se caigan los valores y paradigmas de la vieja Era, con sus guerras y locuras que alguna vez aceptamos, y venga la paz, porque como bien dice nuestro amigo Enric Duran: “SIEMPRE hay alternativa”.

Documentales de éste tipo hay muchos, antes se podían ver bien organizaditos en la Kinoteka; ignoro porqué ahora no funciona.

La cinta en sí no la he podido conseguir todavía para disfrutarla, pero puedes ver su trailer aquí, en RTVE.

Termino hoy con el blog de los creadores de ésta Gran obra: Soy Utopia

We’d just like to give a shout out to the other galleries in town that are part of the growing art scene here in San Cristóbal. Just up the hill from us is Studio Cerrillo which was started in 2002 by Cisco Dietz. It will be featuring performance and instalation art this year, starting in March. Galería Albertina is a new gallery focusing on photography that opened in December 2008. Centro Cultural de Los Altos in the Ex-Convento Santo Domingo has several large spaces that display art and archeology. Museo de las Culturas Populares has a permanent exhibit of the various cultures and traditions of Chiapas as well as a gallery that features local artists. Kinoki features cinema, photography and art. The Fundacion Mario Uvence houses Mario’s personal collection of Mexican art. Centro Cultural El Carmen or the Casa de Cultura has exhibtions as well as classes in drawing, painting, dance and music. Na Bolom displays the photos and artifacts of Trudy Blom and has a an exhibition space for other artists. Casa Blues is a alternative art space just down the street from us. There are also many restaurants such as Plaza Real and Cafe Museo Cafe that mount exhibits of artists.

xacta 3000

Federal Trade Commision on haastanut Yehuda (“Juda”) Levinin, Baruch Levinin, ja heidän Xacta 3000 Inc- yhtiönsä harhaanjohtavasta mainonnasta.

He mainostivat “Detox Kinoki Foot Pad” tuotetta, jonka oli tarkoitus poistaa myrkkyjä elimistöstä jalkapohjien kautta. Nämä eräänlaiset pohjalliset eivät kuitenkaan tee työtänsä. (Useimpien “detox” tuotteiden tapaan…)

Valituksen mukaan, näiden Foot Padien oli tarkoitus poistaa yön aikana:

1. Raskaita metalleja
2. Metabolisia vesiä
3. Myrkkyjä
4. Loisia
5. Kemikaaleja ja
6. Selluliittia

…heidän ruumiistaan. Mainokset myös väittivät, että tuotteen käyttäminen parantaisi masennusta, murheita, diabetesta (!), niveltulehduksia, korkeata verenpainetta ja heikentynyttä immuunijärjestelmää. Näihinkään tuote ei ole auttamassa.

Kun tuotteen asettaa jalkapohiin, alkaa se tummua. Markkinoijat esittivät, että tämä olisi merkki myrkkyjen poistumisesta. Tarkempien tutkimusten osoittaessa taas, että pohja tummuu ollessaan minkä tahansa kostean kanssa kosketuksissa. 

Lähde: http://www.devicewatch.org/reports/kinoki.shtml ja http://www.casewatch.org/ftc/news/2009/kinoki.shtml

Wann: Donnerstag, 19.06., 20:00
Wo: Times Garage (Bergstraße 2a)
Wer: Kinoki
EINTRITT FREI

Der G8-Gipfel in Genua im Jahre 2001 machte durch Ausschreitungen und massive Polizeigewalt von sich reden. Der Gipfel selbst geriet schnell in Vergessenheit, die juristische Aufarbeitung der Ereignisse dauert dagegen bis heute an. Aktuell werden noch immer Prozesse geführt, einerseits gegen 25 italienische AktivistInnen, andererseits auch gegen Polizeikräfte.

Im Rahmen der Verteidigung der 25 AktivistInnen wurden die Ereignisse des 20. Juli 2001 akribisch rekonstruiert. AnwältInnen und MitarbeiterInnen des Rechtshilfebüros in Genua (“Segreteria Legale”) haben in mühsamer Recherche u.a. Videoaufnahmen sowie Mitschnitte des Polizeifunks ausgewertet.

Der Film “OP Genua 2001 – Öffentliche Sicherheit und Ordnung”, der im Frühjahr diesen Jahres veröffentlicht wurde, stellt die Dokumentation dieser Aufbereitung dar. Der Film ist eine Erweiterung des Films “Recht auf Notwehr” von 2005 und zeigt die Angriffe der Polzeieinheiten auf die Großdemo in Genua am 20. Juli 2001, in deren Folge Carlo Giuliani von einem Polizeibeamten erschossen wurde.

Der Film verdeutlicht das Ziel der AnwältInnen, nämlich zu beweisen, dass die DemonstrantInnen von ihrem legitimen Recht auf Notwehr Gebrauch machten.

KINOKI geht nach dieser Vorstellung in die Sommerpause.
Danke an das KINOKI Team für deren Filmabende!

Dear Innovation Gone Wrong Constituents,

I heard about Kinoki a couple of months ago and I’m not convinced. I am very skeptical of the viability of Kinoki. At $40.00 a pop it seems quite convenient to make a large prediction that you can get all of the toxins out of the body. I welcome comments to verify the success of the program, but as of right now I have yet to be convinced.

Keep finding the 9/10 start-ups that don’t make it.

IGW

I have been asked a few times recently about these detox foot pads.  They are supposed to rid your body of heavy metals, parasites, toxins, chemicals, etc, etc. In short, I really do not think these things will work as advertised.  The second part to the short answer is that these things are a scam.  In fact, Dr. Ed Zimney, in his “Dr. Z’s Medical Report” , stated in no uncertain terms, “This is such a blatant scam that it gives other scams a bad name! “

You see, substances placed on the outside of the foot and substances circulating within the body will not flow freely from one side of the skin to the other. The skin is simply not a semi-permeable membrane.  Even if it was, this would not remove “toxins” from the body. Real detox occurs in the liver and then the blood if filtered by the kidneys.  The skin has no involvement in the process of detoxification any more so than the eyes are involved in urination. As far as the reflexology tie-in, the entire premise is crap.  Most nerves in the body do not actually end in the foot, and there are no anatomical pathways between the foot and internal organs as depicted in reflexology charts. Moreover, there is no physiologic mechanism whereby stimulating the foot can influence the health of internal organs. What a load of nonsense.

As far as the pads turning colors when left on the foot, there are some demonstrations circulating on the Internet that show the pads turning brown simply with the addition of water.  Reminds me of a similar scam – ear candling.  While these pads can’t pull the toxins from your body, if you are allergic to your money, you can easily have that pulled from your wallet.

I have also learned that the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is cracking down on one supplier, Kinoki, whom they indicate has made false and misleading claims about their products.

Dr. Brett Kinsler is a chiropractor in Rochester, NY who tells it like it is and doesn’t recommend goofy, unscientific treatments like detoxification foot pads.

Was mit einem Streik der LehrerInnen für bessere Löhne und soziale Bedingungen begann, führte im Sommer 2006 zu einer beispiellosen Rebellion und breiten Solidarisierung der Bevölkerung im südmexikanischen Staat Oaxaca. Über Monate hinweg werden Strassen blockiert, Regierungsgebäude besetzt, die Stadt in Selbstverwaltung regiert und die Absetzung des verhassten Gouverneurs Ulises Ruiz Ortiz gefordert.
‘Ein kleines bisschen von so viel Wahrheit’ führt mit viel Geschick das Videomaterial von mehreren engagierten MedienmacherInnen zusammen. Das Ergebnis ist eine intime und atemberaubende Erzählung von historischer Bedeutung.

Filmabend im Infoladen Salzburg
Lasserstraße 26
8.4 um 20 Uhr

Lady #1: My son called me at work today to tell me that grandpa wanted tea, but we did not have any. I told him to tell grandpa to drink the iced tea. Then my father got on the phone and started *****ing, so I told him I’d buy some after work.

Lady #2: Iced tea causes kidney stones. It’s true! I read it. In the New York Times!

Lady #1: Really? Then I should definitely give the **** some ****ing iced tea…

Being the scientist that I am, I was both intrigued and skeptical (and abashedly alarmed, because I drink iced tea like Hemingway drank Cuban rum) of this supposed iced tea/urinary tract connection. A few days prior, PS (Pregnant Sister) had made a claim while we were swimming at The Riverwinds, that she could float. I had been doubtful about this also, and she had proved me wrong. So, I decided to investigate this iced tea quackery.

The most common type of kidney stone is composed of either calcium oxalate or calcium phosphate. I knew that black teas have a good amount of oxalate (4.68 and 5.11 MG/g tea)… but was it a significant amount compared to, say, the ridiculous amount of phosphates in sodas (Coca-Cola:41 GRAMS of phosphorus/8 oz. soda)? 1 oz. = 28.35 g. Yah… I will save you a lot of reading by telling you what the experts have concluded. If you have a history of kidney stones, you should probably stay away from high-oxalate/phosphate foods all together. If you are not prone to kidney stones, you don’t have much to worry about. Click here if you actually care.

In other psuedo-science news, I was having a conversation with… Actually, I will leave your name out, since you are in medical school, and I do not want to discourage anyone from becoming your patient once you graduate… You’re welcome! So, I was watching tv with *Veronica when one of those Kinoki commercials came on. You know. Those magical foot pads that claim to detoxify you by supposedly drawing out toxins/heavy metals while you sleep… Needless to say, these commercials make me roll my eyes. However, Veronica was pretty captivated.

Unless you are willing to undergo chelation therapy or spend months on a dramatically different diet… you are not going to be ridding yourself of heavy metals. The only things which will be “drawn” to your $20 foot pads are the dirt from your feet, dead skin cells, and sweat. No wonder the things turn brown. I would not be surprised if the pads also contained some sort of iron compound. This would explain the gradual brown coloring of the pad. Nothing more than a reaction with the moisture from your sweat. Like rust. :/ So, you can spend that $20 on a possible placebo effect… or you can do something more worthwhile with that money. Such as giving it to me. I will even send you 2 maxi pads in return. Then you can stick them on your feet. I promise that this will have the same effect as the Kinoki pads. Minus the brown color. I do accept Paypal.

* Not her real name.

Filmabend im Infoladen Salzburg:

Kinoki: Theo – Oben ohne. Porträt eines Transsexuellen
Dienstag, 05. Februar 2008, 20.00 Uhr, Infoladen / Lasserstrasse 26

Theo wurde in einem Frauenkörper geboren. Seit langem fühlt er sich aber als
Mann und liebt Frauen. Er versucht zwischen den Welten zu wandern. (mehr)

Quelle:  Infoladen Salzburg

Kinoki foot pads are another of the many mystical medical products so frequently found on late night infomercials.   They claim to pull toxins out of your feet while you sleep which, according to them, is how a tree works.  I know that there is a segment of the population who always falls for whatever snake oil cure-all comes along, but I was surprised to see an animated discussion over at BoingBoing as to whether or not these things works.  As a general rule, if a product is cited as being an ancient Japanese secret held by reflexologists then no, it does not work.