Endorphins are substances produced in the brain that naturally raise the pain threshold. Some of us produce more endorphins than others, and those that produce very little are highly sensitive to pain. Another way of describing the phenomenon of pain sensitivity is in the recognition that some of us produce more of the enzyme that blocks the utilization of our own endorphins, thus making us more sensitive to pain. Bis beta-carboxyethyl germanium sesquioxide inhibits the endorphin inhbitor.

Personal use, and reports from physicians and patients, indicate that Germanium does work as a pain desensitizer. In both humans and animals Ge132 has been shown to increase gamma interferon in the blood, activate macrophages and natural killer cells, bring blood hemoglobin levels up and white cell counts down, stimulate immunomodulation activity in the B cell system, and demonstrates antitumor and antiviral activities. This substance, therefore, may be an excellent adjuvant (aids the operation of) immunochemotherapeutic agent. The effects of Ge132 on various immune parameters are almost identical to that of known gamma interferon immunomodulating activity. In addition, studies on immune-suppressed animals and on patients with malignancies or rheumatoid arthritis suggest that Ge132 normalized the function of T cells, B lymphocytes, anti-body-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, natural killer cell activity and numbers of antibody-forming cells. Obviously organic germanium has a “normalizing” influence on the immune system.

WRITING THE RIGHTS

• Adolescents who reported feeling connected to parents and family are more likely than other teens to delay initiating sexual intercourse.
• Teens whose parents are warm and firm achieve more in school and report less depression and anxiety.
• When mothers discussed condom use before teens initiated sexual intercourse, youth were three times more likely to use condoms after becoming sexually active.
• Teens who reported previous discussions of sexuality with parents were seven times more likely to feel able to communicate with a partner about HIV/AIDS.
• When parents make consistent efforts to know their teen’s friends and whereabouts, young people report fewer sexual partners, less sex and more use of birth control.
• Researchers have not found that sex education increases the risk of early sexual activity.
• Discussing HIV with parents decreases the likelihood that teens will engage in unprotected sexual intercourse.

DO WE KNOW THEY WILL BE FINE?
But is it true? Research tells us no such thing, simply because there is no reliable body of research that compares children being raised in same-sex versus mother/father homes. We are just beginning the same-sex family experiment; therefore there are not significant populations of such families for scientists to observe over long periods of time.
Honest researchers confess as much:

• “Research exploring the diversity of parental relationships among gay and lesbian parents is just beginning.”4
• “Thus far, no work has compared children’s long-term achievement in education, occupation, income and other domains of life”5 (emphasis added).
• From a sound methodological perspective, the results of these studies can be relied on for one purpose – to indicate that further research…is warranted. The only acceptable conclusion at this point is that the literature on this topic does not constitute a solid body of scientific evidence.”6

Worried About Your Child’s Weight?

The following are 10 physician-approved tips for parents:

1. Discuss the importance of healthy diet and lifestyle choices with your child. Remember to talk about health, not about weight.
2. Create a healthy eating plan; do not put your child on a diet. Many diets that are popular with adults have never been tested on children, and a healthy, balanced diet is the goal for children.
3. Allow sweets or treats, such as candy and other snacks, in moderation rather than eliminate them. Children who learn the importance of balanced eating will be better-equipped to manage their own diet as adults.
4. Give your child plenty of healthy alternatives. Focusing only on what he or she cannot eat does not teach your child to make healthy choices.
5. Do not use food as leverage in a relationship. Do not hold back food as a punishment, and do not offer food as a reward.

The primary principle when learning photography is to take many pictures. Never take just one. When you think a few is enough, take a
dozen. Traditional photography requires a wait between the taking of a picture and the development of the film for viewing. With digital photography, the ability to immediately view and edit images gives us the freedom to make mistakes and to quickly learn from them. For this reason, digital photography supports the primary requirement for mastering photography, which is to take many pictures.

Another advantage of digital photography is its relatively low cost when compared to traditional photography. Traditional film based photographs had to be processed or sent to the lab which could take days and incur substantial film and processing costs. Polaroid photography offers immediacy but the film is costly so it is not an acceptable alternative for the average photographer. By comparison, digital photo media can be used and reused endlessly which significantly cuts down on the cost. Cost control is the second advantage of digital photography.

CONTROLS: FRONT of CAMERA
Focus Mode (the little lever at the bottom of the lens marked AF and M [hidden above]): I set it to AF. This means Auto Focus. M means manual focus. In manual focus you have to twist the focus ring yourself and look for a sharp image in the viewfinder. In manual you also can look for the green dot at the bottom left in the viewfinder. The green dot lights up when you’re in focus.

Depth-of-Field Preview (the little button below the lens in the photo above): Tap this to stop the diaphragm down to the taking aperture. The viewfinder probably gets darker, but look carefully and you can see what’s in focus or not. This analog feature is a remnant from film days. Today most people look at the LCD playback.