Soy Wonder

On the one hand,

As little as 30mg of soy isoflavones--the amount in 5-8 ounces of soy milk - have been proven to suppress thyroid function. "The isoflavones in soy act like a hormone in the body. And in many women, especially those who eat large amounts of concentrated soy powder or take isoflavone supplments, this disturbs the body's hormonal balance, triggering or worsening thyroid problems," explains Dr. Larian Gillespie - from Soy Online Service.

It [soy] contains high quantities of various toxic chemicals, which cannot be fully destroyed even by the long cooking process. These are: phytates, which block the body's uptake of minerals; enzyme inhibitors, which hinder protein digestion; and haemaggluttin, which causes red blood cells to clump together and inhibits oxygen take-up and growth. Most controversially of all, soy contains high levels of the phytoestrogens (also known as isoflavones) genistein and daidzein, which mimic and sometimes block the hormone oestrogen - from Soybean Crisis.

And on the weirder side of things,

Prion disease transfer via animal-to-animal is much less common than direct organophosphate exposure. This puts vegetarians at risk for contracting a prion disease from foods treated with organophosphate pesticides and/or herbicides. Of particular interest are soy products, specifically Roundup-Ready soybeans - from Vegans and other vegetarians at high risk for prion diseases.

You can find more anti-soy propoganda here and here.

( On the other hand, )

Guestbook Hijinks

And now for one more post before I run off to do more chores. Here's what the Wacky Wiccans have posted in my guestbook. They keep me very entertained.

Collera sends me some handy information:

I am a witch. I know alot of spells in latin that... some that can cuase people pain... but i hardly use them. I dont think its right to place bad spells on people...here's one i use sometimes... but it's not physical pain...Stasera, abbia un sogno dell'amici danneggiati... i like your site.

Laurie writes,

I am a witch in real life and some spells actually work!! I have been searching for a potion to stir while my friend where here and I didnt find one but my friend scanned over this page and said this is so fake thoguh I belive that some of thses might work and baby phat isnt a ingrediant at all It WAS one a long time ago in the killings of reed........ but tha ts not anymore imposible to egt that ingrediant nowdays! I think you guys think to much into your own minds spell are merely a way of romanticism or greed which os not how you should use it some work slower than others and no we dont fly on brooms and no we dont fly or have wands!!! Love----Laurie p.s. im typing from a friends computer

Raven, who "wan to see how many people hate witche," says, "I am a witch. This site is dumb. You freak!" Someone anonymous writes, "this makes me sick to read about the horrible things that people have done to women and all of you freaks that think that this is cool should see a shrink and go to catholic school!!!!!!!!" Wow. That's a whole lot of exclamation points. I better get me to a Catholic school, pronto.

And then I have a confusing letter regarding gothicism from "seasons":

my opinion is the true gothic is not a way for teens to be cool.the gothic have a great philosophy and have very much connections with the romanticism.the gothic it is not a religion it is a way to understand the world in other image what is presented by massmedia.the beginning of gothic was the dark romanticism not the satanism.some stupid people make gothic simmilary with the satanism but this is not true.the gothic should be romantic not satanist.the satanism is an idiot religion and the true gothic don't have connections with the satanism.the gothic-romanticism is something more profound like the religion and like the idiot teens "cool"attitude

Shirley MacLaine as New Age Catalogue

After reading chapters 18 and 23 from Shirley MacLaine's 1983 Out on a Limb, I've come to the conclusion that Shirley's belief system is some sort of New Age stew. Her belief system appears to be a hearty mix of various philosophies and religious traditions. Within the chapter sampling, Shirley refers to UFOlogy, ancient Mayan religion, Christian apocalyptica, Buddhism, Indian epics, Tibetan writings, Eskimo mythology, and even the popularist science of Carl Sagan. She appears to use different belief systems as a spiritual shopping list.

After visiting her website, I see she embraces an numerous other New Age elements including Feng Shui, aromatherapy, chakras, ley lines, colour therapy, holism, astrology, angels, numerology, dream divination, etcetera. It looks like she has all her bases covered, and the end result looks like a big bunch of mumbojambalaya to me!

The direction Shirley MacLaine appears to be travelling in these excerpts seems awfully close to my understanding of Erich von Däniken's theories. He believes ancient Earth was visited by extraterrestrial astronauts, and so does Shirley.

The excerpts I read are thematically almost identical to the Castaneda excerpts I pored over not too long ago. A reluctant student is shown by a spiritual adept the ways in which that student's views on reality are blinkered. Then, by means of misadventure, knowledge is gained despite initial recalcitrance.

I guess this is a pretty common theme.

Shirley is a highly entertaining writer. Her prose is smooth and enjoyable to read, and she has a charismatic personality. This goes a long way toward explaining her immense popularity. Nevertheless, I still think she's a crackpot!