Well, it was a little messy, but my upgrade from Wordpress 2.1.2 to Wordpress 2.2.1 is complete & successful.

The part that confused me a little was how they wanted you to delete the wp-content/cache folder.  I backed up, disabled all plugins, deleted my old files, uploaded the new files, & went to run the upgrade script.  The script finished successfully, but I had a wp-cache error on all pages (and the plugin was disabled).  I then deleted the plugin, noticed the author had a new version out (2.1.1, I was on 2.1), so I downloaded it, installed it, & activated it.

After that the wp-cache error was gone, but all my sidebars were messed up!  What?  I didn’t even change my sidebar files.  I activated all my other plugins but was still having the weird sidebar issue.  Turns out Wordpress 2.2.1 has the widgets enabled by default so I just disabled them (I use my sidebar pages & no widgets) by navigating to | Presentation | Widgets, and dragging all info off the sidebars…hence using the default sidebar files.

Denn denn da dahhh…perfect.  We’re all upgraded & good to go!

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This is a guest author article. I wrote my article about the The Evil of Genetics on my own blog on April 12, 2007.

That article was more of a rant because of the recent news I had heard of scientists genetically modifying rice to include HUMAN DNA. Since then, I’ve had time to sit back and think about genetics in a more rational light.

If you believe in God and the history contained in the Old Testament, like I do, you’ll agree that when God created mankind, he gave us dominion over every lower life form on this planet. We were to use these life forms for purposes such as food, clothing and labor. As time progressed, rules had to be made so that mankind didn’t abuse animals they owned. God gave us every tool we will ever need to put plants and animals to the best use and this includes modern science.

The reality is that we have been genetically modifying food sources for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Cross-pollination and grafting are two ways that have been used in agriculture for a long time and I don’t see anything evil in this at all. These are fairly simple ways of changing plant properties and behaviors. It’s the source of the “tangelo” and other odd fruit types.

Crops used for purposes other than food, modified by genetics to withstand certain climates and conditions, are not evil either. The problems I have with genetics is when scientists or bioengineers think they can produce something better by mixing things that shouldn’t be mixed. Adding human DNA to any plant or animal to produce something is evil and I will not debate anyone on it. Chimeras, animals comprised of two or more into one, is another evil mix. It’s one thing for it to happen in nature and it’s quite a different thing when it’s engineered.

When we start interfering with natural life, we must maintain the goal of having it benefit mankind. Anything else is our own attempt to play God.

The one & only RT Cunningham of UntwistedVortex has done me the honor of appearing as a guest author on eJabs.   Thanks RT.

Richard has grown to be a good friend of mine, and I admire him & his writing style.  I will continue to promote the fact that RT has one of the most well-thought & well-written blogs on the Net today.  Please enjoy, read & share his posts as you would any others on eJabs.

Who knows what a slop jar is?

This is a term I was unfamiliar with until yesterday. My wife’s grandfather (Al) is 86 (I think), anyway…he’s been around awhile. Yesterday we had a family get-together & I spoke with Al at length about a lot of the different things he’s been through & seen in his lifetime.

Grandpa Al was born in roughly 1920, so if you consider the time, he has lived through an amazing amount of technological advances. Al grew up on a farm in Rosebush, MI. He worked the farm with his father, brother, and some hired men. The farm had a tenant house where the hired men would live while Al’s father employed them on the farm.

Throughout the 30’s they plowed the fields with horse drawn plows. Also, he was telling us how they didn’t have running water or toilets until the 1940’s; and, even then there were no bathrooms or running water in the tenant house, just in the main farm house.

After some time, Al’s father went to meet the Lord and Al & his brother inherited the farm. Al married Jessie Kaninski in 1944 and they moved into the tenant house. Al’s mother, brother, & sister were living in the main farm house. Al & Jessie lived there a few years and ended up having two children in that home. While Al was telling me these stories I couldn’t help but wonder more about the bathroom/shower/bath situation, so I asked him.

Al proceeded to inform me that up until the 1950’s he & Jessie had no shower, bath, indoor toilet, or even running water! He mentioned how they didn’t shower or bathe, they would basically just “wash up” in the wash basin. Since it’s freezing cold in Rosebush, MI more than half the year, I also wondered about using an outdoor bathroom in the winter months. Al went on to tell me that, in the winter, they would use “slop jars” and then empty them in the out house each morning. So I inquired more about the “slop jar” and sure enough, it was a bucket with lid that you would use for waste, then empty it into the outhouse in the mornings. Generally the slop jars were stored under the bed (mmm…yummy).

After doing a little more research, it appears that slop jars were very common in country homes until after World War II (1945). I had never heard this & it really surprised me. I knew that this type of thing happened, but I had no idea it was commonplace in such recent history.

Have you ever used a slop jar?

Our human bodies are made up of 2/3rds water.  When born our bodies are generally 80% water, and toward old age that number decreases to around 70%.

Dehydration is simply the removal of water from an object. Medically, it is a condition in which the body contains an insufficient volume of water for normal functioning.  Why would you or I become chronically dehydrated?  Simply because, as Americans, our culture sets us up for this affliction by the normal ingesting of coffee, tea, soda, and alcohol.

All of these beverages are classified as diuretics.  A diuretic is any drug that elevates the rate of bodily urine excretion. All diuretics increase the excretion of water from the body.

Are you chronically dehydrated?  If you’re not consuming at least 64 ounces of water each day, you probably are.  Also, if you consume any of the diuretics mentioned above, especially on a daily basis, you are most likely chronically dehydrated.  Medical Intuitive Lee Rossano of Transitional Journeys in Rochester Hills says that “we’ve programmed ourselves for chronic dehydration by consuming coffee, tea and soda throughout the day.”  If you consume alcohol regularly, your chances for dehydration increase dramatically.  Lee says, “People assume that liquid is liquid, and that as long as they drink something, they are well hydrated. The truth is that coffee, sodas, alcohol, and tea do not give our cells and organs the hydroelectric ‘charge’ they need to communicate and function properly. Only water can do that.”

Signs of chronic dehydration:  Mood swings, fatigue, weight gain and heartburn aren’t part of the natural aging process - they’re all signs of chronic dehydration.

The following is a snippet from a nutritional solutions article:

“According to the experts, Americans are sicker than ever. Part of the problem is that we ignore our body’s cries for water, causing the thirst signals to shut down and the hunger signals to activate. This is a major cause of obesity in America, and the saddest part is that the symptoms of chronic dehydration are most often ‘treated’ with over-the-counter or prescription drugs that exacerbate the problem rather than solve it.

Chronic dehydration affects our brains, causes friction and wear on our joints, reduces the ability of the kidneys to produce healthy blood, and has a major impact on the elasticity and youthfulness of our skin.  One of Lee’s clients, a 53-year-old, relatively healthy woman, states she saw  “a long-forgotten face - a younger, brighter ‘me’” in the bathroom mirror after only four days of increased water consumption.

Lee’s formula for proper hydration is simple. Divide your body weight by two, and drink that many ounces of water each day.  For the average American woman, standing approximately 5′4″ tall and weighing approximately 130 pounds, that means 65 ounces, or eight 8-ounce glasses.  Tap water is fine, if you let it sit until the chlorine evaporates. Room temperature water is best for the liver, and you should limit water during meals because it may dilute the balance of stomach acids needed for digestion”

There you have it folks, drink half your body weight in ounces of water per day.  I weigh 200 pounds, therefore I should be drinking 100 ounces/day!  If I have a coffee in the morning than I should add an extra cup to my intake.

Do you drink enough water?  How much do you drink?