Ever since last Tuesday, Nancy Brinker has been at the center of a firestorm. That was when word finally surfaced that Susan G. Komen for the Cure, of which she is the founder, had decided to defund Planned Parenthood. The repercussions were swift and came from every level: social media, mainstream press, Congress 26 Democratic senators wrote a letter, members of its own board, scientists, donors, and the general public. New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg was so dismayed that he donated $250,000 to Planned Parenthood to ease the shortfall.

The decision quickly became a public-relations fiasco that caught the organization totally off guard and rocked it to its core. "We really were surprised by the backlash, things got totally out of hand,” says former board chair Alexine Jackson. "I guess it will never be completely over, but I hope the reaction will eventually die down.”

via Komen for the Cure: How the Groups Founder Courted Controversy – The Daily Beast.

Vitamin E is one of our most important anti-oxidant vitamins. It fights against free radicals, helping to protect our arteries from cholesterol buildup and our cells from cancer. Vitamin E also keeps our blood cells flexible and healthy, and plays a role in reducing inflammation.

Back in the 1980’s and ‘90’s, many doctors and scientists believed that high doses of supplemental vitamin E offered a safe and easy way to protect the heart. They based this assumption on the findings of studies that suggested that people whose diets included substantial amounts of vitamin E were less prone to heart attacks. Furthermore, since vitamin E is “natural,” how could it cause any harm?

Although only 22.4 International Units (IU) of vitamin E are necessary to maintain health, supplemental doses of 400-1200 IU were routinely recommended, even though no research had been done on the safety of effectiveness of these supplements.

Subsequent research has found that doses in this range may actually increase the risk for congestive heart failure in vulnerable individuals, and reduce the effectiveness of some cholesterol medications. Doses of 1000 IU may prolong bleeding times.

In October, the results of the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial were reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The trial was started with the optimistic idea that perhaps vitamin E and selenium could reduce prostate cancer. Over 35,000 men aged 50 or older were enrolled. They were assigned to vitamin E (400 IU daily), selenium (200 mcg daily), both supplements, or placebo.

The results were disappointing and sobering. After a follow-up period of seven years, those men who took the vitamin E supplements were 17 percent more likely to have developed prostate cancer. Selenium was basically a wash, with no substantial effect on cancer risk.

via Vitamin E: A Supplement Whose Time has Passed | Healthline.

Every couple argues. Some of the do it overtly by yelling at each other while others do it covertly by avoiding contact and conversation. Whatever the method, the result is the same – hurt feelings and disenchantment. Here are my tips to help you argue constructively, if done correctly it can be a pathway to growth and problem solving.

Understand that anger itself is not destructive. There is a vast difference between anger and rage. When someone is angry they need to state their feelings, they don't break things or relationships – that is ragefull behavior.

Talk about your feelings before you get angry. When you or your partner can approach the situation as it happens and deal with it in a safe way, it may not get to the point of being an argument. Sometimes things just need to be verbalized and most arguments can be avoided if your partner understands how you feel.

Don't raise your voice. It's amazing how issues of hurt feelings or differences can be resolved with a whisper. I counsel couples who are yellers to only communicate with a whisper and it greatly reduces the anger factor in their relationships.

Don't threaten your relationship. And don't take every argument as a threat to your relationship. This type of emotional blackmail puts the other partner in a panic/flight or flight mode. While you're telling them you want to leave, they may be making plans to find a roommate. In addition, they may be so devastated by the thought of losing their family they can go into a deep depression and be unable to give you what it is you need.

Don't stockpile. This is where you bring up issues from the past to use as a hammer against whatever problem your partner has asked for help with. Deal with their issue first and if you really have unresolved feelings from past problems talk about them at another time.

Don't avoid your anger. If you stuff your feelings long enough you will explode and say or do things that you will regret. Anger does not diminish love, you can be angry with those you love. In fact the ones we love hurt us the most because we love them the most. 

Create a process for resolving problems without anger. Start by each of you taking five minutes to state your feelings, then take a twenty minute break to think about things and come back to the table for another ten minutes to discuss how you think you can best deal with the problem. Also, know that it's okay if the problem doesn't get solved right away.

Continued at … 10 Tips for Fighting Fair | Psychology Today.

Piercing, shooting, burning, stabbing—even the vocabulary of chronic pain is distressing. Most people who live with it would do almost anything for relief. But medication can compound your problems with other risks: Narcotic painkillers and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs), for example, may cause gastrointestinal bleeding, heart attack, and stroke. The good news is, researchers are demonstrating that alternative remedies can complement and sometimes even replace these heavy-duty drugs. A few I swear by:

The Pain: Lower backache

Nature's RX: Devil's claw

The Khoisan tribes of the Kalahari Desert used this herb as a pain remedy for thousands of years before it was introduced to Europe in the early 1900s. One study found that devil's claw—which contains an anti-inflammatory agent called harpagoside—was just as effective as the prescription NSAID Vioxx, which was immensely popular before it was withdrawn from the market due to its cardiovascular side effects. I recommend taking an extract that provides 50 to 100 milligrams of harpagoside daily for as long as your pain lasts.

The Pain: Migraine

Nature's RX: Butterbur root

When a migraine strikes, cells in the brain release chemicals that cause inflammation. By interfering with some of those chemicals, butterbur can provide relief. In a study of migraine patients, 68 percent of those who took butterbur root reduced their number of attacks by at least 50 percent. Take 75 to 100 milligrams twice a day on an ongoing basis.

The Pain: Arthritis

Nature's RX: Fish oil

A 2009 study on osteoarthritis showed that people who regularly took a supplement rich in fish oil were able to reduce their use of pain meds by half. The oil's omega-3s help decrease the production of various chemicals that cause inflammation and pain in the joints. Look for a supplement that contains both EPA and DHA omega-3s, and take four to six grams a day.

The Pain: Menstrual cramps

Nature's RX: Vitamin E

Cramping is attributed to hormone-like compounds called prostaglandins, which cause the uterus to contract and expel its lining; women who have higher levels of prostaglandins get more intense cramps. Vitamin E can lower the levels of prostaglandins, and studies have shown that it can significantly reduce menstrual pain. Begin taking 400 IU a few days before your period, and continue through the first three days.

via How to Relieve Chronic Pain Naturally – Natural Painkillers – Oprah.com.

I was in a terrible hurry, running late for a business meeting in Philadelphia. I'd spent more than $100 for my train ticket from a vending machine at New York's Penn Station—but in my haste had grabbed only the receipt, which I now presented to the conductor.

"You need the ticket," he said.

I apologized and explained that the receipt was all I had.

"The rules are the rules," said the conductor. "Either you pay the fare or you leave the train."

I'm constitutionally opposed to following rules for their own sake; plus, this man was treating me rudely. But I'm not confrontational, so I wasn't going to let my annoyance show. Instead, in my most neutral voice, I asked a question (like many introverts, I'm forever asking questions): "Is there any way you could bend the rules just this once?"

"Why would I do that?" the conductor snapped. "How do I know you're not cheating me? You could have picked that receipt up off the floor!"

That's when I realized it wasn't the rules he was worried about; he feared I was making a fool of him. Suddenly I saw the man not as belligerent and officious but as human and vulnerable, and my focus shifted to How can I reassure him that I'm not trying to take advantage?

I pointed out my credit card number on the receipt and showed him my card so he could see that the digits matched. Instantly his posture softened. He mumbled an apology and proceeded down the aisle. And I made it to my meeting on time.

Encounters like this one happen to me a lot. When I graduated from Harvard Law School almost 20 years ago, I believed that success belonged to the table pounders of the world, and that my soft-spokenness was a liability. But over the course of my career—first as a Wall Street lawyer, later a negotiations consultant—I have learned that introverts, thanks to their tendency to speak quietly and reasonably, to ask questions, and to listen to the answers, can make unusually strong negotiators. My introverted talents have helped in a range of tricky situations, from navigating mergers for corporate clients to convincing my kids to eat their broccoli.

And striking deals isn't the only thing introverts do well. Some of our most transformative leaders have been shy or introverted: Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks. All of them were more focused on their causes than on their egos. In fact, many of the most spectacularly creative people across a broad variety of fields have been quiet types who enjoyed solitude, from Frédéric Chopin to Charles Darwin.

Instead of worrying that I'm too introverted, I now worry that our culture is not introverted enough. In today's overscheduled, hyperactive society, we celebrate the alpha approach (consider the rise of reality TV stars, for example) and dramatically undervalue the quieter aspects of our natures—which, by the way, even the most gregarious of us possess. If you're ready to empower your inner introvert, read on. Based on research in personality psychology and dozens of interviews, I've identified six strategies for nourishing the unique strengths that come from your quieter reaches.

Continued at …  Successful Introverts – Being Soft-Spoken Isn't a Bad Thing – Oprah.com.

Although most of us love a great wedding, an increasing number of women are saying “No, thanks” to the idea of marriage. In 2011 the US Census Bureau released statistics that show women are now marrying later than ever before with an increasing number choosing not to marry at all. Many women are instead choosing to engage in “serial monogamy” – embracing the idea of having a series of successive long-term monogamous relationships that don’t necessarily result in marriage – a relationship pattern that was once thought to be a man’s prerogative. Does this mean that women are the new commitment-phobes or is there more at play here?

Old ideas about marriage, dating and relationships have gone out the window

In the past, women needed marriage as a means of guaranteeing their financial security however, this is no longer the case. As the age of marriage has steadily risen, so have women’s career prospects and economic independence. The dating pool is now rife with educated, savvy women who know what they want and are more financially independent than their predecessors. Women are applying this increased sense of empowerment to the choices they make in dating and relationships.

It’s not that women aren’t willing to commit, it’s that many are no longer willing to settle. Without the need to seek out a mate for financial security, personal satisfaction has risen to the top of their relationship wish list. Women who are currently dating in their 20s and 30s are part of the “Oprah generation” who have come of age in a culture where women are encouraged to become more attuned with their own needs and “A-Ha” moments. They value personal happiness because they are now in an economic position to do so.

As Ella*, age 30 notes, “I look at the marriages of my parents and grandparents generation and I see people who spent decades together even though they were miserable. I don’t want that. I’m not against marriage. I’d just prefer to be unmarried than to be in an unhappy situation.”

via Dating and relationships: Are women the new commitment-phobes? : Relationships – Elle Canada.

IF ONLY, Chinese leaders might be thinking, Tibetan medicine had the power to pacify. In recent years rural incomes in eastern areas of the vast Tibetan plateau have been soaring, thanks to a surge in Chinese demand for Tibetan herbal remedies. But in late January the same region experienced the biggest outbreak of violent unrest since a surge of Tibetan discontent across the plateau in 2008. Police have shot dead several demonstrators. There is every sign the unrest could spread.

The shootings follow on from the self-immolation of 16 Tibetans, including monks and nuns, over the past year, some of them fatal. Now security across Tibet and Tibetan-inhabited areas of neighbouring provinces has been tightened in an effort to stop protests—including self-immolations—from spreading. The violence has so far been limited to Tibetan-dominated areas of Sichuan province, to the east of Tibet proper (see map). But the recent shootings of unarmed demonstrators are bound to arouse powerful emotions elsewhere on the Tibetan plateau.

Police have sealed off affected areas to prevent access by foreign journalists, making reports of recent events difficult to confirm. But Western human-rights organisations say protests broke out in several villages and rural towns in Sichuan from mid-January onwards, and that police opened fire on three or four occasions, killing several people. In the most recent incident, on January 26th, a crowd of Tibetans attempted to block the way of police who had arrested a protester in a township in Rangtang county. Police shot into the crowd, reportedly killing one Tibetan.

To Chinese officials, the violence should reaffirm that rising prosperity is far from being the guarantor of stability that many of them suppose. The areas where the immolations and protests occurred are still relatively backward. But in Ganzi, a prefecture that has seen some of the worst unrest, rural incomes rose by an average of 30% in 2011. They are projected to rise just as much again this year.

A big contributor to this has been a voracious appetite in other parts of China for the region’s “caterpillar fungus”, a mushroom that grows in the bodies of dead caterpillars on high-altitude grasslands. Claimed to be an aphrodisiac, it can be worth more than its weight in gold. The Sichuan government reported in 2010 that in Aba county, another centre of unrest, most peasants were getting up to nine-tenths of their income from it, at the expense of traditional herding and farming.

In Lhasa, the Tibetan capital—usually off-limits to journalists as well—the authorities have responded to the recent unrest with increased patrols by armed riot police. Tensions will remain high for at least the next few weeks. The Tibetan new year falls in late February, and the month of March gives the jitters to authorities in Lhasa because of various anniversaries: the uprising that led to the Dalai Lama’s flight into India in 1959 (March 10th) and the anti-Chinese riots in 2008 (March 14th).

via Tibetans and the Chinese state: No power to pacify | The Economist.

Family isn’t always blood.  They’re the people in your life who appreciate having you in theirs – the ones who encourage you to improve in healthy and exciting ways, and who not only embrace who you are now, but also embrace and embody who you want to be.  These people – your real family – are the ones who truly matter.

Here are twenty tips to help you find and foster these special relationships.

Free yourself from negative people. – Spend time with nice people who are smart, driven and likeminded.  Relationships should help you, not hurt you.  Surround yourself with people who reflect the person you want to be.  Choose friends who you are proud to know, people you admire, who love and respect you – people who make your day a little brighter simply by being in it.  Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you.  When you free yourself from negative people, you free yourself to be YOU – and being YOU is the only way to truly live.  Read Stumbling on Happiness.

Let go of those who are already gone. – The sad truth is that there are some people who will only be there for you as long as you have something they need.  When you no longer serve a purpose to them, they will leave.  The good news is, if you tough it out, you’ll eventually weed these people out of your life and be left with some great people you can count on.  We rarely lose friends and lovers, we just gradually figure out who our real ones are.  So when people walk away from you, let them go.   Your destiny is never tied to anyone who leaves you.  It doesn’t mean they are bad people; it just means that their part in your story is over.

Give people you don’t know a fair chance. – When you look at a person, any person, remember that everyone has a story.  Everyone has gone through something that has changed them, and forced them to grow.  Every passing face on the street represents a story every bit as compelling and complicated as yours.  We meet no ordinary people in our lives.  If you give them a chance, everyone has something amazing to offer.  So appreciate the possibility of new relationships as you naturally let go of old ones that no longer work.  Trust your judgment.  Embrace new relationships, knowing that you are entering into unfamiliar territory.  Be ready to learn, be ready for a challenge, and be ready to meet someone that might just change your life forever.

Show everyone kindness and respect. – Treat everyone with kindness and respect, even those who are rude to you – not because they are nice, but because you are.  There are no boundaries or classes that define a group of people that deserve to be respected.  Treat everyone with the same level of respect you would give to your grandfather and the same level of patience you would have with your baby brother.  People will notice your kindness.

Accept people just the way they are. – In most cases it’s impossible to change them anyway, and it’s rude to try.  So save yourself from needless stress.  Instead of trying to change others, give them your support and lead by example.

Encourage others and cheer for them. – Having an appreciation for how amazing the people around you are leads to good places – productive, fulfilling, peaceful places.  So be happy for those who are making progress.  Cheer for their victories.  Be thankful for their blessings, openly.  What goes around comes around, and sooner or later the people you’re cheering for will start cheering for you.

via 20 Things to Start Doing in Your Relationships.

INMATE number 61727054, known to the world as Bernie Madoff, is serving a 150-year sentence in a prison in North Carolina, and is one of the world’s most reviled men. For many, he embodies the greed, roguishness and deceit that caused the financial system to implode in 2008. He confessed in December of that year to operating a $50 billion Ponzi scheme, the largest in history, but few really understand why he did it or when it began.In “The Wizard of Lies”, Diana Henriques, who covered the Madoff scandal for the New York Times, offers a riveting history of Mr Madoff’s shady dealings and the shattering consequences of his theft. Mr Madoff grew up in Queens. His father’s small business ventures repeatedly failed. Determined to be a success himself, and too proud or afraid to disappoint others a fatal flaw, it would turn out, his first fraud dates back to 1962, when he was managing money for about 20 clients. Mr Madoff invested their money in risky stocks that went belly up. Instead of owning up, he borrowed $30,000 to buy back their shares, erasing the losses and allowing him to keep up the impression he was a brilliant money-manager. It set a pattern. Mr Madoff’s Ponzi scheme probably began after the 1987 stockmarket crash, which prompted investors to withdraw billions from his fund. He used his new investors’ money to pay out the old.

The fraud was especially jarring because Mr Madoff was the consummate Wall Street insider, writes Ms Henriques. He served as chairman of NASDAQ and was on the board of governors for the National Association of Securities Dealers. He saw the opportunity to speed up trading early on, and pushed for automated stock quotes. When the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) had to abandon its downtown offices after the September 11th 2001 attacks, FINRA’s legal team worked out of Mr Madoff’s offices.

His illegal activities were nearly uncovered many times. After numerous tips the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigated him. But, despite hours spent poring through his fabricated trading records, they found nothing. Fraud at another hedge fund, Bayou Group, exposed in 2005, prompted investors to withdraw cash from Mr Madoff and left him $92m short. He had only three days to sign up more investors or his fraud would have been detected. He got the money. Unable to find enough cash to meet all the redemptions in the crash of 2008, he finally confessed to his family about what he had done, and his sons turned him in.

Mr Madoff claimed he pulled off this massive fraud alone, but this seems unlikely. Who else knew? Several of Mr Madoff’s employees falsified records of non-existent trading activity and will probably spend their lives in jail. Jeffry Picower, one of his longtime investors, may have also suspected it. He had been the victim of a Ponzi scheme before but, before he died, he made sure he was one of Mr Madoff’s largest beneficiaries. Last December his widow reached a $7.2 billion settlement with the victims. Her husband, she insisted, knew nothing about the fraud.

via Bernie Madoff: Lord of the lies | The Economist.

By Tom Laskawy -

When I wrote recently about the next generation of genetically engineered seeds, I was in truth referring to the next next generation. The fact is that the next actual generation of seeds is already out of the lab and poised for approval by the USDA.

And I’m not talking about Monsanto’s recently approved “drought-tolerant” seeds, which the USDA itself has observed are no more drought-tolerant than existing conventional hybrids.

No, the “exciting” new seeds are simply resistant to more than one kind of pesticide. Rather than resisting Monsanto’s glyphosate-based Roundup alone, they will now also be resistant to Dow AgroScience’s pesticide 2,4-D .

“A new pesticide,“ you say. “How exciting!” Except 2,4-D, despite its catchy name, has been around since World War II. Not only is it one of the most commonly used pesticides in the world, but it came to further prominence in certain circles when it was incorporated as a main ingredient in Agent Orange.

Indeed, as with research into new antibiotics, research into new — potentially safer — pesticides has come to a virtual standstill. Like the drug pipeline, the pesticide pipeline has run dry. Instead, biotech companies are going back to the older, more toxic chemicals, like 2,4-D, for inspiration.

And while you’d expect opposition to these new products from the likes of Tom Philpott of Mother Jones or Doug Gurian-Sherman of the Union of Concerned Scientists, one place you might not expect to see it is the pages of the influential, peer-reviewed journal BioScience.

And yet there it is! Led by David Mortensen, a team of scientists from Penn State, Montana State, and the University of New Hampshire published a paper that describes the effects on agriculture from an over-reliance on glyphosate and an overuse of Monsanto’s genetically modified seeds. It also discusses at length the risks of using new seeds that “stack” resistance to various pesticides into one genetically engineered package.

In short, they say that you can’t believe Monsanto and Dow when they hype gyphosate resistance plus 2,4-D resistance as two great tastes that taste great together. The two companies are promising to eliminate the growing superweed menace — the one that has caused farmers to abandon thousands of acres of prime farmland and to return to older, more toxic pesticides to protect their crops.

What these scientists conclude is that with so many weeds resistant to glyphosate already, it won’t take long for them to develop resistance to 2,4-D as well.  According to the study’s authors, almost half of the nearly 40 species of weeds that are already resistant to two pesticides have arisen since 2005 (i.e. since the Roundup Ready era began). In short, the crisis Monsanto and Dow are promising to head off is already here.

There are other problems with 2,4-D, such as a strong link to cancer and a much greater tendency to drift on the wind (and thus contaminate nearby fields and waterways) — problems that the development of the less toxic, less volatile glyphosate was supposed to have “solved.” Yet now, thanks to Big Ag’s over-reliance on these genetically engineered one-hit wonders, which encouraged farmers to use too much glyphosate too often, we’re back to square one — or rather to square toxic.

There is, however, an alternative — and one that doesn’t require a total transition to organic agriculture (not that there’s anything wrong with that!). Mortensen and his team describe in detail a practice called Integrated Weed Management (IWM). Like its sibling, Integrated Pest Management (IPM), IWM does involve the use of chemical pesticides. But it’s a judicious use that can act as a last resort rather than a first line of defense. As the paper states:

IWM integrates tactics, such as crop rotation, cover crops, competitive crop cultivars, the judicious use of tillage, and targeted herbicide application, to reduce weed populations and selection pressures that drive the evolution of resistant weeds.

via Monsanto’s new seeds could be a tech dead end | Grist.