Every once in a while, I log onto CNN.com to see what lie of the week is being promoted.

Today I see that they have a poll posted that asks, "Is the Canadian Supreme Court right to OK group sex among consenting adults?"

So many important things going on in this world and that's all they can think of to ask people's opinions about?

Does anyone, who is emotionally healthy, really give two hoots about whether another person likes to get it off by him or herself or with one other person or two or twenty? I find it hard to believe that this should end up in the Supreme Court; but seeing as how it did, it is reassuring that they had the common sense to vote to keep the Government and the police out of the private affairs of consenting adults.

Today is Christmas day. In honor of that, I'll post this...

In town this past Saturday morn for the farmers' market to get our fruit and veggies, I stopped in after shopping to a local bistro for a cup of coffee. I ran into a young Canadian lady who works as a botanist here on the island.

'Are you going home for Christmas?' I ask her.

'No', she replies. 'Christmas is a ho-hum thing for me. Just another day.'

'Not quite Bah Humbug, I hope,' I say with a smile. 'You could have a sleepless Christmas eve.'

'Yeah, maybe it is bah humbug,' she says, 'even here, it is just another Hallmark commercial event. Shop til you drop.'

'You are awfully cynical for someone so young,' I say, 'no spirit of Christmas at all?'

'It seems to me that too many folks are more concerned about having a toyous Christmas rather than a joyous Christmas. It seems to me that too many folks attempt to have a joyous Christmas by satiating their bodies with food and drink rather than satiating their spirits with love and peace. It seems to me that too many proclaim their Christianity in words and defame it in their actions. It seems to me that the spirit of the season has become a pale ghost. Celebrate Christmas? Where are all the Christians? Christians preach peace, not war. Christians propagate love, not fear. I don't see any real Christians around, do you?' she spurts.

'You and Mark Twain,' I say.

'Huh?' she asks.

'He wrote, "There has been only one Christian. They caught him and crucified him--early." in one of his cynical moods,' I tell her.

'Truer words have never been spoken,' she tells me.

'So, you are not a Christian then?' I ask.

'Nope. If I was to be anything religious, I'd be a pantheist,' she says.

"A pantheistic botanist or a botanical pantheist?' I ask. She only gives me a hint of a smile in response.

'Don't pantheists love a good party?' I ask, 'It seems to me that they have that reputation. I'm sure any good pantheist would be happy with an excuse to enjoy a feast day, no matter whose name it was called in.'

'Bah, humbug,' she says.

'Oh, yes, thanks for reminding me, I need to buy a bottle of rum,' I say, 'Thanks for the chat. I must run. I wish you joy, peace and abundance this winter solstice. Watch out for the mistletoe.'

'Phoradendron macrophyllum', she muttered. I blew her a kiss on my way out the door.

We went to the home of some friends to have dinner and view their newly decorated Christmas cactus. This was the view from their deck last night. Who needs lights when this kind of decoration exists?

The closest we will get to having a white Christmas this year is visiting the white sand beaches on Bequia. Maybe I'll also look up on the Net some beautiful winter wonderland photos of snow covered trees and change my screen saver for the season.

I participate in a few forums from time to time, some regularly. One of my favorites is Powerful Intentions. In one of the topic discussions that I monitor someone posted something that inspired me to post something I'd written some time ago.

I post it here also, in case it amuses you also.

Beer, Beamers and Born Agains

> Owning a BMW reduces risk of Prostate cancer?

A recent study by the American Cancer Society showed that men who had more than 20 ejaculations per month had a 33% reduced risk of prostate cancer and men who had between 13 and 20 ejaculations per month had a 17% reduced risk.

A recent poll by the German magazine, Men's Car, found that BMW drivers had more frequent sex than owners of any other make, with strangely, Porsche, at the bottom of the list, behind even Ford.

So, it would seem to follow logically that BMW drivers have a lower risk of getting Prostate cancer. All you middle-age-crisis types should pay some attention to which little red sports car you buy.

> Putting beer on your corn flakes reduces risk of Prostate cancer?

In addition to the other proven health benefits of drinking beer (reduced risk of: heart disease, strokes, diabetes and gall stones), drinking 2 glasses of beer a day has been shown to reduce the risk of getting Dementia and/or Alzheimer's disease.

On the other hand, drinking just two glasses of milk per day has been shown to double a man's risk of getting Prostate cancer. (Women who drink two or more glasses of milk per day are twice as likely to suffer broken hips in old age.) AND, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study (on Feb 14, 2002) that shows that drinking milk doubles the risk of getting both Dementia and Alzheimer's.

It sounds like a pretty good idea to substitute beer for milk on your morning cereal.

> Drinking fluoridated water leads to mental deficiency?

The US Environmental Protection Agency reports that 58% of Americans have a high health risk from drinking fluoridated water. Other recent scientific studies have shown that ingestion of fluorides lead to mental degradation and Alzheimer's disease.

Coincidentally, according to a recent Time Magazine poll, 58% of Americans believe that the Revelations of St John, commonly known as The Apocalypse, will come true in their lifetime.

Ronald Reagan, milk and fluoridated water drinker, prostate cancer victim, fervently believed in an immanent fulfillment of the so called prophecies of St John AND he suffered from advanced Alzheimer's.

g.W. bush stopped drinking beer and now believes in the Apocalypse. Hmmm. I wonder if he drinks milk. Does he brush with fluoridated toothpaste? How often does he do the wild thing? How's his prostate doing?

Is it possible that a brain chemical imbalance (excess fluorides and homocysteine (milk protean) leads to end of the world delusions? Or, is it possible that simply adopting strange beliefs leads to mental degradation and Alzheimer's? Or just maybe, it is simply that the lack of sexual activity leads to the loss of the prostate gland and to insanity.

Obviously, according to the evidence, if you want to live longer, be healthier, both physically and mentally, have more fun and get more of the horizontal bop, it is a good idea to have a beer or two each day and avoid milk and fluoridated water. (And maybe drive a BMW.) If you start imagining that you hear angel's trumpets, or start imagining that you see 7-headed, red dragons in the sky, I'd suggest you check yourself into an advanced care retirement home and get your doc to lube up his glove.

I'm definitely hooked on The Secret.

At first, I was just awestruck by the incredible viral marketing; but then I really got into the vision of what they are creating.

Just look at what they have accomplished.

So, 2 days ago, I thought I'd make it real for people and created this Frappr map.

If you are, like me anticipating the Feb release of this worldwide television event and want to contribute, then go here and add yourself to the map. Participate in viral marketing.

I've also been a regular participant in this forum.

I have also added the ribbon to my Delfin website and to the index page of my Prosperity Paradigm eZine.

So you can see that I am into this Secret thing big time.

Better that than sitting around in front of the boob tube watching more of the same old mind numbing drivel like 90% of the folks.

I've spent the last 2 days playing around with Frappr

The first map I built is to add to The Secret buzz. It is going to be fun to watch the hundreds (maybe even thoussnds) of people add themselves to this map over the next days and weeks in advance of the global television event in February.

Of course, I continue to contribute to the awesome Powerful Intentions Secret forums. What a great bunch of people they are attracting.

I also created a Frappr map for Prosperity Paradigm. That is a longer term project that should also be quite rewarding.

Speaking of Prosperity Paradigm. My eZine website is finally back up and running on a new server. The third one in three years.

And then, just to have another sandbox to play in, I also created a space and another blog at My Space

Time to go make a Caesar salad. TTYL.

I turned on my computer this morning to find this email...

Hi LESLIE,

This is Mark Victor Hansen and I have been looking for you.
Robert G. Allen and I have teamed up to find 100 people to make rich!

Are you one of them?

We are looking to prove that our new book really works...so we are looking to help 100 people to create multiple streams of income.

Apply Here

This is not the first "invitation" I've received from these two guys. It has been almost a year since I got my first one.

So, I have a question...

Why are you still looking for those 100 people who want to get rich?
Surely there are at least that many out there in cyberspace.

Something does not add up.

Either you are looking for more than 100 or your marketing campaign is not working well enough to attract 100 in a year.

I find it hard to believe that at least 100 people have not responded by now.

In either case, you might consider that, just maybe, it is time to adjust your sales pitch.

At sunset yesterday, I am sitting at a favorite watering hole sipping a cold beer. This guy engages me in conversation. Seems nice enough. Next thing you know, he asks me if I am prepared for heaven.

'Christ,' I think; not another nutter.

I hope to cut him off at the pass, "Is there beer in heaven?" I ask.

"Of course not," he answers.

"Then, I am not interested. I'll pass."

He persists, "Jesus is coming soon. You need to prepare your soul."

"Listen," I reply, "They also say that Santa is coming in a couple of weeks. I'll tell you what...if Santa shows up, and then, if the Easter bunny also shows up, I'll be willing to believe that your Jesus might show up. In the meantime, please don't try to sell me on your personal delusions. I have enough of my own already."

This morning, I see on CNN that two 'fundies' beat up a university professor for calling into question their creationism crap. Now there's two good examples of christianity. Love your neighbor.

I wish somebody would take all these fundamentalists (Moslem, Christian, Jewish, whatever) and send them to another planet; maybe they could go colonize Mars.

The island trade winds are blowing today.
As Pooh would say...
it is a blustery kind of day.
It was election day here in St. Vincent yesterday.
Nothing has changed.

My friend Tom's daughter died yesterday.
That's a kick in the head, heart and soul.
I wish I could take away his pain.
Tom is my partner in a new online payment processor.

I contribute in a couple of forums.
Today, in one, I am endeavoring to convince members that they can think and grow rich.

I stumbled across something new that may prove very interesting for anyone who is interested in marketing.

I hope that you are enjoying all that life has to offer.

Read 2 great and famous ebooks online for free.

No downloads necessary; but you can print them out if you want a hard copy.

Millionaire Mindset Secrets

Napoleon Hill's 13 Success Secrets Revealed

Things people do that pissed me off today:

1) Email me asking a question and when I go to respond, I find that they have some sort of spam blocker tech in place that asks me to jump through hoops. Needless to say, I don't bother and they don't get their answer. If they want to hear back from me they should be courteous enough to pre-approve me.

2) Re-print my articles on their websites and don't attribute them to me.

From dad to all 3 sons, the Bushies are Moonies. Of course, that is the least of their weirdness.

Gotta love this artwork. I wonder who is doing it.

Oh, those Canadians. Always letting the cat out of the bag.

Just added a Technorati link.

Forbes just released a new list of the world's wealthiest. It is well worth the read. The bios will surprise you.

Christmas is coming and the annual neighborhood competition for who has the best light display is well underway. If you are competitive, here is the benchmark for you to surpass.

What a busy week...

I am the stage manager for a local theatre group that premiered a musical last night and we had rehearsals every night leading up to opening night. It was a hit. Next show is next Saturday night and then the following Saturday, we do a performance in Bequia.

We had to do an emergency reload of our seLFTech website after a denial of service attack. Sandra spent some long intense hours working with our programmers. Fortunately, we had planned a move to a new more secure, bigger and faster server, and had begun the moving process, so we were already half way there.

My friend Bob Dignard-Fung is launching his global Magnetic Thinking TV program on Monday. I'll be a future guest and we have also been working together on another exciting project that will launch early in the new year.

My partners in IPg8 have been busy putting the finishing touches on integrating the global financial network that will make this the best online payment processor that exists. Wait til you see the great new Flash graphics on this website. Gotta love how the Web is evolving.

The best viral marketing thing I have seen in ages continues to explode around the world. They just put out a new trailer for their upcoming global TV event. I am enjoying my communications with some of the insiders of this project.