GMO Apples - Does it Get Any Worse?

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An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away...
For centuries everyone liked apples and suddenly they are not good enough and need to be GMO enhancement?  Of all countries, Canada approves genetically modified Apples - just because they  "have more eye appeal: no yucky browning". 
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First of all, most people eat up their apples and not let them lay around. And even when an apple might get a little brownish after a couple of hours, there is nothing wrong with it, it's a totally natural process, which happens with many fruits, such as bananas or plums for example. 
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What's a Biotech's Company Reason to Tamper with our Apples?
Intrexon, the owner of Okanagan Apples, has the following motto on their website: "A Better World Through Better DNA".  I personally read this:  "More Money Through GM Fruit".  What other reason should they have to "modify" our staple foods? For example another food product they created, the AquAdvantage® Salmon, which is genetically enhanced Atlantic salmon.
Intrexon is traded on the NYSE stock exchange, and they make enough money, so they could leave our apples alone. The Biotech news site Biospace.com lists Intrexon's earnings:
Total revenues of $31.1 million, an increase of over 335% over the fourth quarter of 2013;
Net income of $18.8 million attributable to Intrexon, or $0.19 per basic share. Their PR message is: "to create innovative approaches to maximizing value for all stakeholders".
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If You Don't Like to Eat GM Apples Take Action!
The Canadian Biotech Action Network suggests:
69% of Canadians don't want the GM apple approved. Are you one of them?
Write to the head office of your grocery chain store!
Ask your store chain to commit to keep GM apples out of the produce section. Send the response to us.
Here is a list of the chain stores' headquarters, such as Loblaws Superstores, Walmart, Cosco, Sobeys etc.: http://www.cban.ca/Resources/Topics/GE-Crops-and-Foods-Not-on-the-Market/Apple/Grocery-Store-Contacts

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Keep these Things in Mind when Purchasing Food:

1. Stop looking for labels. ...
2. Look for products that are USDA Certified Organic or Non-GMO Project Verified.
3. Avoid all corn, soy, and canola that is not specifically labeled as non-GMO.
4. Familiarize yourself with the abundant aliases for corn and soy.

If you are on a low budget, read here how to avoid GMO's.  There are many more sites where you can learn how to shop for healthy non-GMO food:
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carole-bartolotto/how-to-avoid-genetically-_b_3463653.html

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/11/21/foods-give-up-avoid-eating-gmo/

http://www.ewg.org/research/shoppers-guide-to-avoiding-ge-food

https://www.organic-center.org/learn-5-facts-to-know-about-gmos-get-our-free-organic-facts-booklet/

http://naturalsociety.com/5-tips-how-to-avoid-gmo-foods-grocery-store/

Last but not least:  The only label you can trust is a 5-digit code starting with a 9—that identifies organic fruits and vegetables and by their classification as certified organic, they are non-GMO.

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Shipping Container Designs - Even for Malls, Hotels

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Driving recently through the village of Salmon Arm in rural BC, Canada, I was struck by the sight of several steel containers. Just a couple of hours earlier, I researched online for outstanding design ideas, using these “ship containers”.  

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I went into the elegant office, built of ship containers and talked with a nice lady, who explained me they sell brand-new containers, custom-built, but also used ones: “Almost any structure you can envision can be built using shipping containers. We built more than 600 modular structures over the years and most of them have been custom design builds.”  I asked for a price list and was surprised how inexpensive they really are, starting from $3,000 or 4,000 to 8,000 for new ones. 
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BoxPark, London, England
London's first pop-up shopping mall made completely from shipping containers. Located next to the Underground Shoreditch station to the north-east of central London, the mini shopping center is convenient, pedestrian-friendly, and packed with popular stores. The stores are compact in their own right, taking up only 1-3 containers - a refreshing rebut to ginormous vanilla shopping malls wrapped in endless parking lots. An upper pavilion lets shopper stretch out a bit, and the remaining container shops are clustered to create a few gathering spaces.

The dark grey mall has a low-key aesthetic that lets the retailer’s windows and interiors do the bidding for attention. Functional lighting and lettering above each shop indicates the world of goods inside.
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Hamburg, Germany
Stephen Williams Associates  designed a very interesting eclectic hotel inspired by sailing and shipping. In the amazing décor shipping containers, ropes, rotors and other elements from the shipping industry were used to create the impression of a raw, industrial shipping  warehouse. 25Hours HafenCity Hotel has each room decorated to look like a cabin from a ship.  
Designed as a home away from home, the cabins and all of the rooms at the 25hours Hotel Hamburg HafenCity are warm and cosy. Features and materials inspired by the harbour and shipbuilding are interpreted with tongue-in-cheek humour and held together with sailors’ yarns: 25 seafarers from around the world tell real-life stories of dangerous voyages, romantic encounters, violent storms and painful farewells. Anecdotal accessories and objects refer to these adventures, which are told in full in each cabin’s logbook.
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• 170 cabins
• meeting space for up to 200 guests
• club floor to relax
• heimat kitchen+bar
• habour sauna
• mare kiosk
• free of charge wifi
• imac workstations at radio room
• free of charge mini and bike rental
• underground parking with access to the hotel
• the hotel compact for download

http://www.25hours-hotels.com/en/hafencity/home/home.html

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California Orders Unprecedented, Mandatory Water Cuts

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Sierra Nevada snowpack levels fall to record low

The Wall Street Journal reported:  California’s long-running drought has officially reached crisis mode, with Gov. Jerry Brown ordering statewide water reductions for the first time ever. Read the whole story at the WSJ.


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The drought warnings are posted prominently on digital highway signs.  Not sure if people read them - and act accordingly.  Just yesterday I took a couple of photos when I drove by a small town cemetery, where dozens of pressure sprinklers watered the GRAVES.  Minutes later I took an image from a totally dry river.  
California produces more than 80 percent of Almonds in the world, mostly around Chico in the Sacramento Valley, north of the Californian capital of Sacramento.  And 10 percent of the water in California is used for Almond production...
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Roundup - a Potential Carcinogen by WHO

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Warning on Roundup weed killer follows low crop prices, criticism of biotech food
Agribusiness giant Monsanto Co. is confronting some of its stiffest challenges in years, as it contends with consumer criticism of biotech foods, farmers tightening their belts, and a global health agency that has labeled its trademark weed killer as a potential carcinogen.

The latest and most prominent threat came from the World Health Organization agency’s classification this month of glyphosate - which Monsanto sells under the Roundup brand - as likely having the potential to cause cancer in humans.  Read the whole story at the Wall Street Journal.
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And NO, I am not feeling sorry for Monsanto. They have been lying to the public for years. In 2014 they made $5.1 BILLION REVENUE in the agricultural "productivity" segment, which includes Roundup.  I am only wondering that this poison is not banned by EVERY country in the world.

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I have recently witnessed how much Roundup is used in the vineyards of the California Sonoma and Napa Valley - and guess which wine I am not drinking?  In three weeks there I found one single organic vineyard.  And in the Sacramento Valley around Chico where all the Walnuts, Almonds and Wild Rice is grown, a farmer told me that they don’t use Roundup “because it is too weak, they have better and stronger pesticides…”.


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Discover Your Ancestors

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If you are living in the USA, you might have a surname passed down from ancestors in England.  Until after the Norman conquest in 1066 surnames were not used, but as the country’s population grew, it became necessary to distinct people from each other.  Several types of surnames evaluated into our modern names. 
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From a Place or an Area

It could be drawn from a place where a person was born, has lived, worked, rented or owned land. It could be from the name of a house, farm, hamlet, town, or county, e.g. Bedford, Hampshire, Sutton. 
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Occupation

Occupational names identified people based on their position in society, such as Archer, Baker, Brewer, Butcher, Carter, Cooper, Cook, Dyer, Farmer, Faulkner, Fisher, Hunter, Judge, Parker, Potter, Sawyer, Slater, Smith, Taylor, Thatcher, Turner, Weaver, Woodman, and Wright — and there are many more. It could also be the name for whom a servant worked for. 

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Personal Characteristic

Often they are nicknames describing a person, such as: Short, Long, Little, coloring: Black, White, Green, or Red, which could have evolved into “Reed”, or another character trait.
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Name of an Estate

Descends from landowners may have taken as their surname the name of their holdings, castle, manor, or an estate name, such as Windsor.

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Geographical Landscape Feature
Examples are Bush, Fields, Greenwood, Grove, Hill, Knolles, Moore, Perry, or Stone. Canadian Bestseller Author Margaret Atwood is probably descended from someone who lived “at the wood.”
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Signifying patronage
Some surnames honored a patron. Hickman was Hick’s man (Hick being a nickname for Richard). Kilpatrick was a follower of Patrick.

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From Parents or Ancestors

Surnames that come from a male given name include Davidson (“the son of David”), Dawson, Evans, Harrison, Jackson, Nicholson, Richardson, Robinson, Simpson, Stephenson, Thompson, or Wilson.  Female surnames include Madison (from Maud), or Marriott (from Mary).Scottish clan names include Armstrong, Cameron, Campbell, Crawford, Douglas, Forbes, Grant, Henderson, Hunter, MacDonald, and Stewart.

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How to Get More Traffic for Your Blog / Website

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One of the Answers:  Blog directories!
If you are trying to gain exposure to your blog or website:  A blog directory will help you link your site to other websites, and it also organizes your website by categorizing those links. Gaining exposure for your blog is critical to building a following and revenue.  After creating compelling articles, catchy titles, enticing descriptions and great link strategies, it’s time to list your blog in several directories.
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How is a Blog Directory Different to a  Search Engine? 
A directory will not display any lists of web pages based on keywords, like most search engines do.  A directory will list websites by both a category and a subcategory.  Unlike a search engine, it is categorized not by one page or keywords, but rather by the content which is contained on the entire website.
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Human-edited directories are considered to be more reputable, possibly your website which has been submitted to a human-edited directory will have a higher ranking than a website which has been submitted to a non-human edited directory.  Before you sign up, get a very rough estimate of a site’s traffic by checking their Alexa rank - national and international (the lower the number, the better).
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http://www.OnTopList.com

http://www.Blogged.com

http://www.Globeofblogs.com

http://www.BlogCatalogue.com     


Find more blog directories at this article at SearchEngineJournal:

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/20-essential-blog-directories-to-submit-your-blog-to/5998/

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