Some Husbands

This is just…….. Classic!!! A man and his ever-nagging wife went on vacation in Jerusalem . While they were there, the wife passed away. The undertaker told the husband, "You can have her buried here in the Holy Land for R150 or we can have her shipped back home for R5000. The husband thought about it and told the undertaker he would have her shipped back home. The undertaker asked him, "why would you spend R5000 to have her shipped home when you could have a beautiful burial here, and it would only cost R150????" The husband replied, "Long ago, a man (JESUS) died here, was buried here, and three days later, rose from the dead. I Just can’t take that chance!"

JJ

Back at the hospital with baby…she has not been doing too well this past week and it seems to have caught up with her this weekend…

Sex Fact

Spanish fly, the most famous of all supposed aphrodisiacs, is a mild poison made from dried beetles and “works” by irritating the urogenital tract. Over-consumption can lead to scarring of the uretha, or even death.

The truth about health drinks

Earlier this month, the global drinks giant Coca-Cola dropped out of an annual list of the world’s top 10 brands for the very first time; having come third in 2010, the company found itself in 16th place, and the fall, analysts said, was in part fuelled by the fact that consumers are increasingly choosing “healthier drinks” over traditional fizzy drinks.

The shift in our drinking habits over the past two decades has been remarkable: the global rate of bottled-water consumption quadrupled between 1990 and 2005, and today the industry is worth some £2-billion in the United Kingdom alone. Over the past few years we have seen an explosion in enhanced waters — not only flavoured waters, but also waters with added vitamins and minerals, electrolytes, not to mention waters that promise to aid energy levels, concentration, sleep, sex and relaxation.

The predicted growth of the market can be judged by Coca-Cola’s 2004 buy-up of Energy Brands Inc (which makes Vitaminwater), which was the largest purchase in Coca-Cola’s 115-year history. But are these drinks any healthier than, say, lemonade or cola? Certain flavours of a flavoured water range available in the UK called This Water contain 42g of sugar per 420ml bottle (a 500ml bottle of Coca-Cola contains 35g of sugar).

“The nutritional information is clearly stated on all our drinks labels,” says Sarah Smart, This Water’s marketing manager. “This Water drinks are made from pure squeezed juices from real fruits, spring water and sugar. The sugars found in our drinks are made up of the sugars in fruit juice and sucrose, which is needed to ensure that our drinks taste great — without it, they would taste too sharp. Unlike other flavoured water brands, our drinks will never contain concentrates, colourings or preservatives.”

The problem with the enhanced water market is in part one of perception — as consumers, we associate the words “vitamins” and “fruit” and even “preservative-free” with a healthy diet, and give little thought to less desirable ingredients.

Misleading advertising
In January, the UK’s Advertising Standards Agency declared an advert that claimed Vitaminwater was nutritious “misleading”. Although the drink promises much by way of added vitamins, including 100% of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of vitamin C, and though it does qualify as a “low-calorie” drink by European Union guidelines, each 500ml bottle also contains the equivalent of around five teaspoons of sugar — about a quarter of the consumer’s guideline daily amount.

“We have always been completely transparent that the drinks contain 23g of sugar in each 500ml bottle,” a spokesperson says, adding that its flavours and colourings are now “naturally derived” and that the drink “provides a convenient way to help people hydrate and get more of the vitamins and minerals they may require”.

Of course a drink that promises extra vitamins, not to mention improved focus, sex or sleep, cannot help but seem alluring. A brand called Neuro Bliss, for instance, claims to be “designed to promote happiness and eliminate stress without affecting your energy levels”. It contains L-Theanine, an amino acid found in green tea, to aid relaxation and mental function, phosphatidylserine, which “may help to maintain and improve healthy mental performance” and vitamin D3, which “supports healthy bones; may help support cognitive function and immunity”. Should we be sceptical?

“For these claims to appear on a label,” says Bridget Benelan of the British Nutrition Foundation, “they have to either comply with the European Commission approved list, or be going through the process of applying for that approval.” But the commission’s regulation has only been in place since 2007, and as thousands of appeals have been submitted, it is understandably taking a long time to check them all.

“A lot of them haven’t got through,” Benelan says. “For example, some probiotics, as well as the link between omega 3 and cognitive function. But vitamin D’s link to bone health has been proved, and as long as there’s more than 15% of the recommended daily amount in the drink, they can make that claim.” Neuro Bliss contains 50% of the RDA of vitamin D3.

Although such drinks can do no harm as an occasional treat, it is the cumulative effect of drinking them regularly, and in large quantities, that could prove harmful: a 2009 study found that Americans now obtain 25% of their calories from liquids.

“If people are consuming large quantities of things with a high calorie content, then there is reason to worry,” says Benelan. “If we want something to drink, it’s usually because we’re thirsty, not because we need energy — and it’s unlikely to mean that later we don’t eat something because we’ve consumed calories from that drink.” — Guardian News & Media 2011

Fraudsters

Yesterday I received notification on my cell phone of a deposit into my ABSA account of R82 000. I could not work out who would have deposited it, only a reference J002. At midday yesterday I received a call from John Ndlovu from "South African Receiver of Revenue" stating that they had erroneously deposited a VAT Return of R82 000 into my bank account, Reference J002 and that they needed me to reverse this payment as it should have done to TLB Towers. They faxed through to me a very official looking letter with all the information and their banking details at ABSA. Last night I went into my banking to do the transfer but decided to print a bank statement first. I saw that the R82 000 was in my account but still "uncleared". Gut feelings were quite strong, so I did not reverse the amount but waited till this morning to phone my bank. They could not identify who the deposit came from. I then asked to be transferred to the risk/fraud division and explained everything to them. The ABSA investigators phoned me a short while ago to let me know that this was a scam, the bank account that I was to transfer into was a personal account with no funds in presently. They also expect that the cheque deposited into my account will be a stolen cheque and will bounce and they would reverse it in a few days. This means that would have "paid back" the money into someone’s private account, they would have withdrawn the money, and then the cheque would have bounced, leaving me with R82 000 less in my account.

Please can you pass this onto everyone that you know. I have been advised that this is happening with people saying that they are from "SARS", "PEP Stores", TELKOM, Water and Electricity Municipal Departments etc . Do not pay anything into any account and contact your bank immediately.

Michael Jackson made Ellen Degeneres straight

10 April, 2011 02:04

“It is common for those that are farthest from God, to boast themselves most of their being near to the Church.”

Quote on Food

Public and private food in America has become eatable, here and there extremely good. Only the fried potatoes go unchanged, as deadly as before.
– Luigi Barzini

Love

Hate leaves ugly scars, love leaves beautiful ones.

Quote

You only lose what you cling to.