TELEVISION ITIS

An "ITIS" is an ailment for which there isn't a cure -- a generic something or other that happens again and again and is making you ill.

Almost every time I turn on a television, I'm getting germs that are infecting me, giving me nausea, aches and pains, head-to-toe.

Yes, sometimes by accident the first thing I see on my TV is a weather person, or a pleasant-faced commentator -- lips moving, words coming at me, but mostly, even before I can translate them, something is being sold to me.

Blah blah about something to buy -- that I need, that's urgent, important, GUARANTEED (that word makes me shudder), -- get two for one, great price, low price, worth every penny, call this number -- proof that it's important, the best -- list of warnings -- pictures -- ugly, pretty, animations, reality, cartoons, famous faces, nobodies -- telling, selling, expelling blah blah, compelling me to pay attention. as the blah blah's are mentioned over and over AND OVER!.

Can I be me if I never again turn on the TV?

I'm thinking seriously about it. I'm not sure that I have the will power to stop something that's been a part of my life, more and more and AND MORE -- every year for a lot of years.

THE HAIR GUY

Last month, this guy said he was thinking of running for President because it was a disgrace, the way our country was going to the dogs -- the Chinese were overtaking us -- "Let's face it," he said, "We are no longer number one in business like we used to be."

Now he's claiming/exclaiming the "birthers" are right! Where's Obama's birth certificate? Obama's wrong in Libya, wrong economically, wrong culturally -- everything in America's falling apart because Obama's the worst President we ever had, and he's not a real American.

Are we listening and watching this guy because T -R - U - M - P is engraved on a bunch of buildings? Trump's a 100% all-American, white, limousine- riding TV celebrity -- rich, remarkably recovered from bankruptcy. Also, he's got those gorgeous, girlish-wives and great-looking kids, and he's selling and bellowing out facts that don't sound unreal, do they?

Oh my golly, could he end up being the Republican candidate? Oh no -- it can't happen -- gee it could happen -- it's a free county -- freedom of speech -- we're thinking as we stare, stare, stare at his hair.

FALLING IN LOVE

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Falling in love is quite often, painful.

Having "a crush," being "swept off your feet," feeling lovelorn or heartbroken -- many of the words about falling in love imply hurt.

According to the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences," the brain doesn't know the difference between physical pain and emotional pain. During MRI studies of 40 volunteers, (people who were recently or suddenly rejected by their partners), researchers noted that brain circuits lit up as if they'd been probed with a heat sensor (like a hot cup of coffee). Though studies have not been made of emotional sources like grief, clearly. when the volunteers looked at photos of their partners, they felt what you feel when you stub a toe or burn a finger.

So medical researchers have concluded that love pain activates brains sensory pain pathways similar to heat stimuli.

Would taking an aspirin help? No -- medication won't stop you from picturing your partner, or remembering something wonderful or terrible. Time passing is the healer. Yes -- love pain is not just in your head.

Francesco Alberoni, an Italian Sociologist, journalist, and Professor in Sociology, has studied falling in love. In his published writing, he said that people fall in love when they are ready to change, or to start a new life. "Falling in love is not a regression, it a relaunching of oneself toward a new future, and change, attached to the formation of a romantic partnership."

Psychologist Dorothy Tennov, studying 500 people, in 1977 published her book, "The Experience of Being in Love." She coined the word "limerence." Tennov describes limerence as "the ultimate, near-obsessive form of romantic love that is often interpreted as infatuation, or is colloquially known as a state of being completely carried away by unreasoned passion or love, even to the point of addictive-type behavior."

Tennov writes that a "limerent" is inspired by an intense passion or admiration for someone, often dismissed by "non-limerents" as ridiculous fantasy or a construct of romantic fiction."

Does defining falling in love help when you're falling in love, waiting for a phone call? Once we've experienced it, even after obsessiveness has blended into your daily feelings, and you are no longer lovelorn, heartbroken or 'out of whack' with it -- love is ...

I'm out of words. But read "I GOT YOU BABE," aloud with someone, (ala Sonny [1] & Cher [2])

1: They say our love won't pay the rent.
2: Before it's earned, our money's all been spent.
1: I guess that's so, we don't have a pot.
2: At least I'm sure of all the things we got.

BOTH: I got you babe, I got you babe.

2: I got flowers in the spring.
1: I got you to wear my ring.
2:And when I'm sad, you're a clown.
1: And if I get scared, you're always around.

BOTH: I got you babe, I got you babe.

1: Don't let them say your hair's too long
2: 'Cause I don't care, with you I can't go wrong.
1: Then put your little hand in mine
2: There ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb

BOTH I got you babe. I got you babe.

2: I got you to hold my hand.
1: I got you to understand.
2: I got you to walk with me.
1: I got you to talk with me.
I got you to kiss goodnight.
I got you to hold me tight.
I got you, I won't let go.
I got you to love me so --
I got you babe, got you babe, I got you babe, I got you babe, I got you babe.

Enjoy the memory of when you felt like that, and if you haven't, hope that someday you will.

EXERGAMES

See the feet in red socks that are stepping onto that pattern? It's an exergame, an easy, fun way to keep fit.

(If you are a regular person, not a computer/cell phone "app" nut, GAMES are a biggie-big thing in LIFE, sort of like ...well ... a major addiction, like marijuana, liquor, sex.)

A new scientific study says exergames actually count as physical activity for kids.

Oh c'mon, please -- is this true, or is it media news -- a hyped-up fact that the media can develop into a day, a week of news alerts, and revelations?

My instinct is keep-fit-with-exergames is BB, (my acronym for bull- baloney).

Visiting exergames.com I saw their latest new game --"The Horsepower Challenge.” Users buy pedometers for their shoes. Your numbers are wirelessly uploaded to the game while you're playing. You get warranties for the software and electronics. I clicked "lowest price" but no price appeared.

Wondering what doctors thought about exergames, on medpagetoday.com, I learned that tests were done using 39 Boston children. They were volunteers -- no overweight kids or kids who hate exercise were tested. The kids had a ball with the games for approximately 10 minutes (not the recommended 90 minutes). The medpage experts sort of nodded -- exergames were good workout, but whether they provided "fitness" couldn't be determined.

Here's the background story about exercising with electronics. Back in the 80's there was a surge of interest in "virtual reality," talk about Nintendo toys, various gizmos, and Nintendo entertainment systems. During the 90's, Microsoft, Sony, and other manufacturers began to use sensors attached to various machines. Treadmills, bikes, and do-it-all machines provided automated feedback to users, but it was expensive and more or less dropped.

Around 2003, the "gaming bike" caught on, and Nintendo's "Wii, " which inspired other software folks to develop more game-products for kids and adults -- fancier, better, various priced gaming devices that have evolved into Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 and 7th generation Wii.

"Gamericize" technology is now very much in vogue. Neuropsychologists and medical specialists. are advocating that you vitalize every aspect of your cognitive, psychological and physical health.

The British Medical Journal, a well-known international authority on the subject, says Wii games use significantly more energy than playing sedentary computer games, but the energy used is not of high enough intensity to contribute towards the recommended daily amount of exercise in children. (Oh ho -- my BB bell is tinkling.) And the Journal included exergames, the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 in their report, and all the latest games which superimpose animated objects to be punched, kicked, or otherwise interacted with, over a video image of the user.

Yes, it looks like fun, And definitely keeps the kids happy, busy, and bouncing around. But it is not exercise that will make young people truly fit or give them a fitness knowledge, and a "keep-fit" religiously followed routine -- a philosophy that will grow up with them, as they grow up.

ATTENTION MR. GLENN BECK

Dear Mr. Glenn Beck,

I am sending you my heartfelt congratulations, celebrating that soon you won't be on Fox TV.

Hooray -- you haven't been fired, but yay -- you won't be re-hired. How and when they are phrasing you out isn't clear, but the reason -- that 400 sponsors withdrew their potential support -- that's fascinating. It means your "art" as a TV celebrity, your thrill-chill power as a spokesman has actually been diminishing even as you are getting stronger, and more uniquely YOU.

Yes, you have become, perhaps, too much of an "artist." With your painting, designing, creating, decorating, performing and entertaining while displaying your views of reality, you've been doing what you do -- selling the Glenn Beck vision of the world. And promoting it better than ever!

Previously, when I wrote you fan letters, it bothered some of my friends that Em' Talkery, a strong supporter of our current White House, would salute you. But gee, I'm impressed, fascinated, by the growth, the deepening talents of a celebrity like you -- your theatrical gifts that enable you to distort ideas and ideals so blatantly, so brilliantly.

Soon, ala Rush Limbaugh, but on your own Mercury Radio Channel, you'll be providing rumors, gossip, suppositions -- hours and hours of background noise -- for the millions of Americans who tune in to tune out of their humdrum lives.

I know we'll be hearing more about your Wall Street and Health Care reforms; your practical solutions for reducing the size of government, along with your strategies for handling Nuclear threats, and our wars.

The Beck vision of Democracy -- the Beck concept of what the world of today needs to be -- will definitely inspire the rebels, the protesters, the young folks in the middle east, who are fighting for the freedoms we take for granted.

With your wealth, your homes, your investments and your website "Blaze," and its "Naked Emperor News," you've got more than enough money, and potential ammunition. Why right now, today, even as I write this fan letter, I am exhilarated by the "Blaze's headlined message -- "Sometimes violence is better than no violence."

Gee, maybe violence is what we need?

Since your "Restore America's Honor" rally last summer, and the way you are expanding -- getting bigger and more powerful every day -- with your anti-Nigger, down with the Jews views, and your artistry -- your promote wealth, stealth, spying, lying, saying whatever you need to feed the greedy breed that wants a total rewrite, a civil war fight -- holy cow, wow! NOT being rehired, being semi-retired gives you more time for your radio shows! What the heck -- it's great news for Glenn Beck!

As for Em, the fan ... Well, it'll be lots of hot air, but ... I've got an air conditioner.

Sincerely,

Em's Talkery

FRACKING revisited

Take a look.



That's what's been happening to home owners throughout the country, who sign contracts with companies that are "fracking" through bedrock to reach natural gas.

The arms and legs of a giant (Halliburton), operating under other names of various natural gas drilling companies, are wending their way into your very own backyard, and poisoning your water. They are buying the right to proceed with "fracking." in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Colorado, Wyoming, Michigan, in Texas and Louisiana, and in the Catskill/Delaware watershed, which supplies all of New York City and Philadelphia.

Pay attention -- this is serious!

F-r-a-c-k-i-n-g is a petroleum industry technique that pumps large amounts of water, sand, and cocktail of chemicals, including benzene and toluene (paint thinner), underground, at high pressure to open fissures -- build up enough pressure to fracture the bedrock and release the gas trapped inside.

The people who signed the contracts are now, mostly, using bottled water, but they're still getting sick. In Wyoming people are reporting headaches, nausea, itchy skin, dizziness, and difficulty breathing. Again and again tests prove that gas drilling puts contaminants in the air. And even when the readings says that formaldehyde levels, are hot -- red-hot and deadly -- they are rationalized away in the company's favor by state and local agencies..

Furthermore, the natural gas companies have started trucking in workers (some of whom worked on the oil rigs during the Gulf crisis), to counter the protests of concerned citizens that are saying no to fracking.

Under federal law, companies aren't required to reveal the chemicals they are pumping underground. The only restriction the Environment Protection Agency has issued is that "Frackers" cannot use diesel oil.

It's a loophole big enough to drive an oil truck through. Thanks to the Bush-Cheney era's accommodating legislation, Frackers can use other compounds that have the same toxic chemicals as diesel. They aren't even required by law to list their toxic ingredients.

So people are getting poisoned.

You can drink bottled water, sure -- but you can't buy bottles of Evian to maintain a herd of cows.

How do we stop this? What can we do? Write or call dmulligan@democracyforamerica.com. DFA is a watch-dog group founded by Dr. Howard Dean, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, a man the White House trusts. (802) 651-3200 ext. 115. Sign their petitions.

Most people don't realize what's happening. This film clip tells the whole story. Get your friends to see it, and pass it around.

IF YOU'RE DOWN AND BLUE (video)

The Cullums talk about what do when bad things happen -- seriously bad events that have to do with life and death.

As usual, they find themselves agreeing. It's difficult to say words like "dead," or to name the terminal illness, or mention what the bad event was. Even so, sometimes reality affirms and gives the mourner comfort.

They both feel that a realistic talk enables you to gather yourself, adjust and move on.