Good microbes

Bacteria, viruses and fungi are actually natural and healthful parts of the human microbiome. This article's about the unintended consequences of all-out assaults – which go beyond antibiotic resistance and hygiene hypotheses to destroying your body's ecological balance. Read the Scientific American Dec. article here.

Cow looking at photographer

"Wow, something new to look at! They make us stand here...forever." From NYTimes article on manure disposal that estimates each cow poops 150 pounds a day.

Overuse of antibiotics

Pressure Rises to Stop Antibiotics in Agriculture - ABC News

PETA Prime: Celebrating Kind Choices: Stricken by Grief

PETA Prime: Celebrating Kind Choices: Stricken by Grief

Knoxville: Culture by the mountains

Opera, theater, culture minutes from the mountains. Robin's latest in the Examiner here.

Food waste: what can be done

Around 40 percent of all food manufactured and put on sale in the United States is wasted, and studies show this trend is increasing. Food waste - including waste from farms, manufacturers, retailers and consumers - has risen 50 percent since 1974, reaching about 150 trillion calories per year in 2003. Current trends and what can be done – read this DW-World article.

The Witness: watch it free online

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Travel gift: BUILT's handy travel organizer

For under $25 at retailers such as Amazon.com, you can get BUILT's (www.builtny.com) new Cargo Travel Organizer. Cool colors and most important, soft, easy-packing protection in neoprene (the material used for surfer wetsuits) for small gadgets and accessories such as power cords, thumb drives, digital camera stuff.

St. Maarten tropical escape

Robin's Dec. 20 travel piece in the D.C. area Examiner newspapers here.

Trashion: Designers' recycled fashions

In the Dec. 20 DC and San Fran Examiner newspapers here

Disappointment Valley: New doc about US govt horse slaughter

Artists transform mining town

Robin's Dec. 13 Sunday Travel feature about Argenta, Arkansas in the Examiner newspapers here.

Plastics: toss those marked 3, 6 and 7

Plastics: toss out containers/plastics marked 3, 6 and 7. Their endocrine-disrupting chems are linked with cancer. I wrote about this about a year ago; article didn't get published (gee, wonder why?). Supposedly “safer plastics” are marked 1, 2, 4, 5...or any marked “BPA-free. NY Times has details here.

Obama Afghanistan Cold Open

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

Vegas thrills on foot

Robin's travel piece in the Nov. 29 Washington Examiner - here.

Scottsdale Fashion Passion travel article

Robin's Dec. 6 "Worth the Trip" feature in the Examiner newspapers explores Scottsdale, AZ. Read the D.C. edition
http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/launch.aspx?eid=3bc3e120-ff5c-4a53-9dcd-4b72a5802454&pnum=38">here.

Can a Plant-Based Diet Cure Cancer?

Dr. T. Colin Campbell, professor emeritus of Cornell University and author of the groundbreaking The China Study, explains how nutrition influences cancer.... He says that at various times throughout our lives, we all have cancer cells that will pop up in our bodies, but what “feeds” the cancer and fortifies it is, among other things, animal protein. Why is that? Read on.