Love may very well be the most important factor in keeping us healthy and young. Thousands of hours of research show that love and intimacy (or lack of them) are at the root of what makes us sick and what makes us well, what makes us suffer and what leads to healing:

· Being alone increases our chances (by between two and five times) of get- ting ill and dying young, no matter how healthily we live.

· Among patients who survive heart disease, the ones who did best after five years weren’t married, but had someone to confide in. The next healthiest were patients who were married and had a confidant. Following were those who were married but didn’t have a confidant. The group members who were unmarried and had no close friend to talk to did worst; half died within five years.

· You’d think that the more people you talk to the more likely you’d catch a cold from one of them. But research has found the exact opposite. The wider variety of people you talk to often – including partners, children, neighbors, coworkers, fellow volunteers, etc. – the lower your chances of getting the symptoms of a cold, even if you’ve been infected. Experts speculate that if you’re meeting lots of people you’ll be happier and therefore have a stronger immune system.

· When women marry, they cut their chances of dying young by half. Men reduce their chances of dying young by five times when they’re married. Researchers found that married people are most likely to take better care of themselves, for example, by eating breakfast, wearing seatbelts, exercising regularly, etc. Their healthier habits may also explain why they spend fewer days in bed ill, half as much time in the hospital, and are less likely to become disabled as they get older.

· Happily married men live eight to 10 years longer than single or divorced men. Happily married women live three to four years longer than single or divorced women.

· Women who are in happy relationships are less prone to strokes and heart attacks after menopause, when they’re most at risk for heart-related problems. Single women and women involved in dissatisfying relationships are significantly worse off than women in happy relationships in terms of heart disease risk factors like high blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Ted Stevens 3 Heart Beats Away from Being President?

1. The Vice President Richard Cheney

2. Speaker of the House John Dennis Hastert

3. President pro tempore of the Senate Ted Stevens

4. Secretary of State Colin Powell

5. Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill

6. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld

7. Attorney General John Ashcroft

8. Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton

9. Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman

10. Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans

11. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao

12. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy G. Thompson

13. Secretary of HUD Melquiades Rafael Martinez

14. Secretary of Transportation Norman Yoshiro Mineta

15. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham

16. Secretary of Education Roderick Paige

17. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi

Adapted from Infoplease.com

 

Freeze, mother-stickers, this is a ****-up! A thief burst into a Florida bank one day wearing a ski mask and carrying a gun. Aiming his gun at the guard, the thief yelled, “FREEZE, MOTHER-STICKERS, THIS IS A ****-up!” For a moment, everyone was silent. Then the snickers started. The guard completely lost it and doubled over laughing. It probably saved his life, because he’d been about to draw his gun. He couldn’t have drawn and fired before the thief got him. The thief ran away and is still at large. In memory of the event, the banker later put a plaque on the wall engraved with the words, “Freeze, mother-stickers, this is a ****-up!”   Love And Marriage Over breakfast one morning, a woman said to her husband, “I bet you don’t know what day this is.” “Of course I do,” he indignantly answered, going out the door to the office. At 10am, the doorbell rang and when the woman opened the door, she was handed a box containing a dozen long-stemmed red roses. At 1pm, a foil-wrapped, two-pound box of her favorite chocolates arrived. Later, a boutique delivered a designer dress. The woman couldn’t wait for her husband to come home. “First the flowers, then the chocolates and then the dress!” she exclaimed. “I’ve never had a more wonderful Groundhog Day in my life!”

A Kid’s View

I believe you should live each day as if it is your last, which is why I don’t have any clean laundry. Come on, who wants to wash clothes on the last day of their life?

– Age 15

If we could just get everyone to close their eyes and visualize world peace for an hour, imagine how serene and quiet it would be until the looting started.
- Age 15

When your mom is mad at your dad, don’t let her brush your hair.

-Age 11

Never trust a dog to watch your food. -Age 10

Puppies still have bad breath even after eating a tic tac.

-Age 6

If you want a kitten, start out by asking for a horse.

-Age 15

Don’t pick on your sister when she’s holding a baseball bat.

-Age 10

Never try to baptize a cat.

-Age 8

Felt markers are not good to use as lipstick. -Age 9

 

Neat Internet Sites

www.time.gov: Tired of the clock in your computer being incorrect? This site has the official atomic clock time from the clock in Boulder, Colorado. You can download a little program that will automatically synchronize your computer clock with the official atomic clock.. Do you want to never have to set the clocks in your home again? The atomic clock center in Boulder, Colorado broadcasts a radio signal with the correct time. There are actually clocks with built in radio receivers that will set themselves all by themselves. They’ll even change the time automatically when we go into daylight savings time. Do a Google.com search to find companies that sell them.

 

WATER OR COKE?

I saw this on the Internet. I’m not certain if it’s all true but it was a real eye opener!

WATER

1. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. (Likely applies to half world population.)

2. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one's metabolism as much as 3%.

3. Lack of water, the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.

4. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.

5. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.

COKE

1. In many states (in the USA) the highway patrol carries two gallons of Coke in the trunk to remove blood from the highway after a car accident.

2. To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour a can of Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away the corrosion.

3. The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. Its pH is 2.8. It will dissolve a nail in about four days. Phosphoric acid also leaches calcium from bones and is a major contributor to the rising increase in osteoporosis.

4. To carry Coca-Cola syrup (the concentrate) the commercial truck must use the Hazardous Material place cards reserved for highly corrosive materials.

5. The distributors of coke have been using it to clean the engines of their trucks for about 20 years!

The Truth about Taxes

Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men-the poorest-would pay nothing;

The fifth would pay $1

The sixth would pay $3

The seventh $7

The eighth $12

The ninth $18.

The tenth man-the richest-would pay $59.

That's what they decided to do. The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement-until one day, the owner threw them a curve.

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20."

So now dinner for the ten only cost $80. The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six-the paying customers?

How could they divvy up the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his "fair share?"

The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would end up being “paid” to eat their meal.

So the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same proportion, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so the fifth man paid nothing, the sixth pitched in $2, the seventh paid $5, the eighth paid $9, the ninth paid $12, leaving the tenth man with a bill of $52 instead of his earlier $59.

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth. "But he got $7!" "Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got seven times more than me!"

"That's true!" shouted the seventh man.

"Why should he get $7 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night he didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They were $52 short!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college instructors, is how the tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax

reduction.

Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table anymore. Unfortunately, many cannot grasp this straight-forward logic!

Kenneth Wangler

 

A Great Car Salesman! We recently bought a new Toyota Sienna minivan and I wanted to let everyone know about the wonderful service that Hoa Pham (Charlie) at Sandy Springs Toyota gave us. He was the first salesman of 5 that we talked to. He gave us his best drive out price and no one else could come close. He didn’t mess around going back and forth. No hassles at all. I referred my brother in-law to him last month and he had the same great experience. Looking for a Toyota? Give Hoa a call. 404-256-3392

See An Interesting Home? No need to wonder about the price. No need to call a high-pressure sales agent who will just make you feel obligated. My computers can send you the information quickly and easily, for any house, listed or sold, anywhere in town. Just ask me! It’s all part of my free, no-obligation HomeFinder Service. Leave the address on my voicemail, 404-845-0265 anytime, 24 hours a day, and I’ll fax or mail you all the information on that listing within 24 hours.

 

February Quiz Question

What kind of acid is in Coca Cola?

Everyone who faxes, e-mails or calls in the correct answer by March 15, 2003 will be entered into a drawing for a $50 gift certificate to Home Depot. Everyone who responds correctly but doesn’t win the drawing will get a $5 gift card to Blockbuster Video.

 

December Quiz Answer Question: What are the names of all eight of Santa’s reindeer mentioned in the poem “T’was the Night Before Christmas”? Answer: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder and Blitzen Nancy Record, John and Ellen Gartland,Barb Waring, and Cathy Barnett had the correct answer. We had a drawing and Barb Waring’s name was picked. She’ll receive a $50 gift certificate to Home Depot. All others will get a $5 gift certificate to Blockbuster’s.

Tim’s Book of the Month

The One Minute Father by Spencer Johnson Spencer Johnson always does a good job of breaking an idea down to some key components that can then be built upon to create a positive outcome. I was skeptical of "The One Minute Father" as most people seem to be about all of the One Minute Ideas. Don't let the title fool you. By using the common sense approach to disciplining your children, you will eliminate the negative time to small points in time while giving you the opportunity to spend a great deal of time in a positive and rewarding relationship with your child(ren). This is a must read for any parent. The things that we often know but won't believe are possible are possible.

Healing Back Pain, The Mind-Body Connection John Stossel did a report on ABC last year on Dr. Sarno and gave a personal testimonial to his remarkable treatment. This book promises permanent elimination of back pain without drugs, surgery, or exercise. According to John E. Sarno, M.D., Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS) is the major cause of pain in the back, neck, shoulders, buttocks, and limbs--and it is caused not by structural abnormalities but by the mind's effort to repress emotions. He's not saying that your pain is all in your head; rather, he's saying that the battle going on in your mind results in a real physical disorder that may affect muscles, nerves, tendons, or ligaments. An injury may have triggered the disorder, but is not the cause of the amount or intensity of the resulting pain. According to Sarno, the mind tricks you into not facing repressed emotion by making you focus on pain in the body. When this realization sinks in ("and it must sink in, for mere intellectual appreciation of the process is not enough"), the trick doesn't work any more, and there's no need for the pain.