BEWARE-IFICATIONS

I keep track of alerts, snippets of info, warnings...as well as facts.

BEWARE-ifications get filed into my pile of worry news that get me googling around to see if others are worried. Recently Time Magazine posted -- "Very hot drinks are a probable cancer trigger."

Wowie-eek, rang in my mind as I read, reread, checked it out, and read again.

World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) -- 23 scientists from 10 countries, reviewed 1,000 studies investigating the connection between high temperature beverages and their potential link to cancer. Based on the available evidence, they concluded that drinking very hot beverages (defined as anything above 149F), linked to a higher risk of cancer of the esophagus. Hot Drinks is now on the list of 116 probable cancer-causing agents in people, along with red meat, fried food, and DDT.
 
Mid-seventies they told us saccharin killed lab rats. Hey, we are glad to know from IARC that smoking kills you, that coffee, coca cola, and contraceptives (Huh?) can give you cancer. We have been warned to keep away from diet pills, sleeping pills, tanning salons, but gee... never heard about contraceptives...

In the Time Magazine article a top researcher explained that a new study shows that people who drank coffee had less inflammatory ailments than people who don't drink coffee.  

"Inflammatory" means ... hot?  Painfully hot?

Do drink it? Don't drink it?

Here's what I gathered from Wikipedia. Most cancers are related to environmental, (everything outside the body), or lifestyle, or behavioral exposures from tobacco, diet and obesity, infections, radiation, stress, lack of physical activity, and environmental pollutants. Age is a factor, as is what you inherit genetically. Where you live is also a factor ... lotsa factors....  

Okay, I always use saccharin, but I don't smoke, and I stay out of the sun, eat very little red meat, and I exercise. I bet there will be more research -- this study will give birth to more studies that will explode into those nice little headlines that get you worrying about various this's and that's.

Hey, wouldn't it be interesting if the study of inflammatory ailments said exercise less or proved that you do better if you're 10-to-20 pounds overweight...

Yiii, I'm getting a headache. IARC reports on factual real news. We're living in a time when we've got to question everything, figure out what's real, what's fake -- what do you do?

You head for the clouds

I looked at this film about your morning wake-up cup of something.

I know what I'm going to do.

It's going to be piping hot.

HOW IS HILLARY DOING?

How often have you wondered how Hillary is doing? It's a daily thing for me -- every time I hear the latest news about President Donald Trump -- what he's dealing with, not dealing with -- I wonder about her.

She has made a few appearances since the election. She's given a few speeches, but how is she really? This photo of the Clintons at Trump's inauguration speaks volumes.

I read that she doesn't watch the news, and that after the election she went for long walks near her home in Chappaqua. Did she, does she discuss things -- what happened, why, what's next for her -- with Chelsea? With Bill? He looks older, much older, and quite gaunt.

Anyhow, Hillary cut her hair. (It's what a woman does that says I'm different now.) I like the way it looks. I like what she said in the speech she made on St. Patrick's Day in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Hillary told the Society of Irish Women, "I'm like a lot of my friends right now, I have a hard time watching the news," and mentioned how, as first lady, she met with female leaders who want to bring peace to Northern Ireland. Clinton said, "What we can do now is bring people together and find common ground, so that we listen to each other again and try to make a difference. I'm not sure what will come out of Washington, but it can come out of Scranton. Let's find ways to do that. I am ready to come out of the woods and to help shine a light on what is already happening around kitchen tables at dinners like this, to help draw strength that will enable everybody to keep going."

Hurray for you  Hillary. It sounds as if you are rejoining the world. This speech is one of several Clinton is scheduled to deliver in the coming months -- including a May 26th commencement address at her alma-mater, Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She is also working on a book of personal essays that will include some reflections on her loss to Donald Trump.

I wish I could phone her. I'd say, "Your loss of the presidency is our loss too. For many of us it's still a nightmare, we're still having difficulty adjusting to what's happening to things we need, we believe in, we counted on. If you could just shine a light on what you think, what you feel about what happened, it would help. We need closure, Hillary. We have to put away what happened, and refind energy, passion, and strong positive things to say and do for ourselves, our neighbors, and our country. Shine that light and talk to us Hillary!

(VIDEO) EVER TELL A BIG FAT FIB?

Wife Emily Frankel asks her husband, John Cullum, if he ever told a whopper.

John bends over backward to be honest and answer truthfully, but it gets very awkward. As the subject gets into "girlfriends," what Emily says and does will surprise you.

THE NEXT WOMAN PRESIDENT...?

The Week Magazine quoted a Boston Herald reporter who said, "Why not  Oprah for President?" The Chicago Times thought it was joke, saying that Trump's first weeks remind us that a president with no experience is like choosing a surgeon who has scant medical knowledge.

Oprah said, "Oh gee, I don't have the experience." Same day on a talk show she  said "Oh?"  and indicated with another softer, smiling "Oh..." that she was thinking about it.

I've thought about it. The heroine of my novel, Somebody, Woman of the Century -- Cordelia -- was born day one of 1900, the events in her life coinciding with life-changing events, inventions, wars, and trivia -- movies, music in the air -- everything from bustles to bikinis -- all the things that affected a woman's sense of herself, as women back then, were trying to achieve status with men.

On her 98th birthday, as the last of the party guests were leaving, Cordelia settled herself on the couch next to her granddaughter.

     As the elevator closed, someone called, "Put it on your schedule,  Cordy -- see you at our 'Keep the Environment Green' meeting Friday!"

     Miranda murmured, "What a laugh, you retiring from congress two years  ago, because you were too busy. You've got how many projects now, on  the front burner?"

     "Six. On a four-burner  stove." Like a teletype, Cordelia's mind ticked away on her last year  in congress. "I'm still still doing a jig over the Social Security legislation we rammed through in '96 so that old folks could earn a little extra money -- thanks goodness there are jobs for them."

     "Scary jobs -- they cloned that sheep 'Dolly.' It's scary, Cordy, and I don't like the idea of interfering with Mother Nature's  domain!" 

     Cordelia nodded, thinking of the three men she loved. "Richard would have agreed with you. Jackson wouldn't. Ray would have reacted the same way as Richard." ...was it two years ago that he left the world... memories of one man blending,became memories of the other.... "He'd have worried about terrorism, blamed it on our foreign policy, and chuckled over the fuss, hated the hullabaloo over Clinton's love life. Wouldn't be thrilled about more lady commanders, the military announcing more lady bosses by two thousand and ten." Still musing out loud to herself, Cordelia  hummed a few names. "Oprah, Hillary, Madeline Albright? Who'll be the  queen pin, king pin, the president in two thousand and ten? Some new  person we never heard of?

When I finished that novel in the mid-nineties, woman president made a great deal of sense. Today, it makes more sense than ever.   

It could be Elizabeth  Warren, Kamala Harris, the Attorney  General and Senator-elect from California, or Illinois' Tammy Duckworth, combat veteran who lost both her legs. Or ...what about...

...Michele...?

In a sit down discussion with Oprah, Michelle made it clear she will not be running for office -- she said she would not put her family through more time in the spotlight. "I don't make stuff up, I'm not coy. I'm pretty direct. If I was interested in it, I would say." Ms Obama said again, that eight years in the White House had been long enough and she did not want to force her children to be faced with more sacrifices.

But a year from now... Wouldn't it be something if Michele Obama would consider it?

She's  a name -- a gleaming gold name, a powerful vision -- a queen-pin-king-pin to hold in mind as we start talking now, not next year, talking now -- talking, talking and planning now, for the next election.

Yes.