Evidence shows ancient Mesopotamians may have used opium and cannabis as medicine and in their rituals

For as long as there has been civilization, there have been mind-altering drugs. Alcohol was fermented at least 10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent, about the same time that agriculture took hold there. Elsewhere, for example in Mesoamerica, other psychoactive drugs were an important part of culture. But the ancient Near East had seemed curiously drug-free-until recently.

Now, new techniques for analyzing residues in excavated jars and identifying tiny amounts of plant material suggest that ancient Near Easterners indulged in a range of psychoactive substances. Recent advances in identifying traces of organic fats, waxes, and resins invisible to the eye have allowed scientists to pinpoint the presence of various substances with a degree of accuracy unthinkable a decade or two ago.

For example, "hard scientific evidence" shows that ancient people extracted opium from poppies, says David Collard, senior archaeologist at Jacobs, an engineering firm in Melbourne, Australia, who found signs of ritual opium use on Cyprus dating back more than 3000 years. By then, drugs like cannabis had arrived in Mesopotamia, while people from Turkey to Egypt experimented with local substances such as blue water lily.

Evidence shows ancient Mesopotamians may have used opium and cannabis as medicine and in their rituals -- Secret History

Triggers Honesty Awakening Wisdom Resistance Free Will Highest Truth 2018

The plastic inside us

What does plastic in tap water mean for human health, how did it get there, and what can people do about it? We went looking for answers in a ten-month investigation across six continents.

orbmedia.org/stories/Invisibles_plastics

It is everywhere: the most enduring, insidious, and intimate product in the world.

If you realized how beautiful you are, you would fall at your own feet.

Forget McDonald's - Farmed salmon is the new toxic 'junk food'

Forget McDonald's - Farmed salmon is the new toxic 'junk food'

If you're aware of the health benefits of animal-based omega-3 fats and the fact that salmon is a great source, you may be shocked to discover that farmed salmon has more in common with junk food than health food. This is the grim reality revealed in Nicolas Daniel's documentary "Fillet-Oh-Fish," which includes exclusive footage from fish farms and factories across the globe.

Among the experts featured is Kurt Oddekalv, a respected Norwegian environmental activist who claims salmon farming is an unmitigated disaster, both from an environmental and human health perspective. Below the salmon farms dotted across the Norwegian fjords is a layer of waste some 15 meters (49.2 feet) deep, teeming with bacteria, drugs and toxic pesticides, and since the farms are located in open water, this pollution is in no way contained.

Farmed salmon also pose a more direct toxic threat to your health. Fish has always been considered a health food, but food testing reveals that today's farmed salmon is one of the most toxic foods in the world. As noted by the producers of the film, "through intensive farming and global pollution, the flesh of the fish we eat has turned into a deadly chemical cocktail."

Until I meet everything with unconditional love, my work is not done.

A thought is harmless unless we believe it. It’s not our thoughts, but our attachment to our thoughts, that causes suffering. Attaching to a thought means believing that it’s true, without inquiring. A belief is a thought that we’ve been attaching to, often for years.

Byron Katie

20 Quotes To End All Suffering By Byron Katie

We don't attach to people or to things; we attach to uninvestigated concepts that we believe to be true in the moment.
― Byron Katie, Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life

Wild oregano oil and its many health benefits

Wild oregano oil and its many health benefits

It's very exciting to also know that oregano oil can treat a whole array of health problems that can often be very serious. In an article by Dr Josh Axe, he shared that there are over 800 (actually the number at the time of writing this article it is now well over 1000) pubmed studies showing the benefits of carvacrol (the healing part found in oregano oil), and 583 studies on oregano oil for things such as:

Bacterial infections
Fungal infections
Parasites
Viruses
Inflammation
Candida
Allergies
Tumors

If we were living in rented accommodation, humanity would have been evicted ages ago

12 Rolando

But life as a whole doesn't care.

Humans, as the ultimate apex predictor has not yet grokked that. The meek shall inherit the earth. The bacteria, the viruses, the very simplest forms of life.

Then it will start again. The striving for primacy. The individual death battles. Perhaps bi-gender species will emerge again, and once again the personal will become politic(s)

Future of the Sea report: Ocean plastic projected to triple within seven years -- Earth Changes

Future of the Sea report: Ocean plastic projected to triple within seven years -- Earth Changes

If we don't act now, plastic pollution in the world's oceans is projected to increase three-fold within seven years, according to a startling new report.

The Future of the Sea report, released Wednesday for the UK government, found that human beings across the globe produce more than 300 million metric tons of plastic per year. Unfortunately, a lot of that material ends up in our waters, with the total amount of plastic debris in the sea predicted to increase from 50 million metric tons in 2015 to 150 million metric tons by 2025.

Roughly 70 percent of all marine litter is plastic, and the effect of this non-biodegradable waste can be devastating for marine biodiversity.

"There is extensive evidence that entanglement in, or ingestion of, plastics can cause injury and death to a wide range of marine organisms, including commercially important fish and shellfish," the report says.

The report also warns about the prevalence of microplastics and other tiny plastic debris in the ocean. "Plastic does not decompose, instead breaking down into ever smaller pieces," it states. "The full effects are not understood, but there is growing evidence of plastic harming sea creatures and restricting their movement, as well as polluting beaches."

RELAX Edition 10