Electronic Time Capsule - Cute, But I Vote No

Here's something to ponder: the Electronic Time Capsule. According to the website:

"Electronic Time Capsule is a unique way of sharing your life with those you love. Easy and convenient, too, it ensures that your feelings, life story and family history are documented and told — at a time you designate — to your loved ones. Efficient, personal and flexible, Electronic Time Capsule allows you to:
Create a capsule anywhere, anytime at a moment's inspiration.
Discuss mature topics and deliver them when your child will understand.
Capture your child's life story… told by all the important people in their lives.
Be certain your child receives the time capsules… no flood or fire or hard drive failure can destroy your memories (pictures, video, letters).
Leave a legacy… Even if you pass away unexpectedly, Electronic Time Capsule will deliver your thoughts and feelings forever."

The site has a complete tour, and it's not free. It costs $15.00/year. Several writers can contribute, and photos can be added.

Personally, I like the idea of a time capsule. And, I like the idea of leaving messages for "when [my] child will understand."

However, I think I like them better in my own handwriting, not stored in cyberspace. Maybe I like journals and scrapbooks and photo albums too much.

To me, this offer is something that only seems simple. It's deceptive.

Simple is writing letters to your grandchild with a cup of hot tea, and storing them in a nice box for her sixteenth birthday, or her graduation, or her wedding. Including photos, and ribbons, maybe a piece of jewelry or something.

Now, that's a nice time capsule to give. And to get.

TV Shows With a Simplicity Focus

Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska is a PBS show that many have seen or heard about: it's into its third season (though we don't get it here in San Antonio). Interestingly, there seems to be more and more television shows popping up with at least some content that appeals to those simplifying their lives.

Here are some, please feel free to add to the list:

Living With Ed, HGTV. Ed Begley, Jr. (loved him since St. Elsewhere - does this man age?) and his wife have a new, weekly reality show dealing with their environmentally-friendly home. Funny and educational. Here's Ed telling you about refrigerators: he calls them "energy hogs."

Living Fresh with Sara Snow, Discovery Health. This show (jumping to Discovery from FitTV) deals with eating fresh, locally grown, organic foods. An example of its focus: Sara's list of ten things you can do to "go green."

Healthy Appetite With Ellie Krieger, Food Network is a somewhat similar show to Sara Snow's Living Fresh. However, Krieger doesn't seem to leave the kitchen (Sara goes on field trips) and Krieger focuses on the cooking itself. She's got a growing recipe collection at the site - however, I'd double everything. From the show, I don't see this woman believing in leftovers.

Real Simple, PBS is another offering that I haven't seen. According to its site, "Want to know how to throw together a delicious last-minute dinner from whatever you have in the refrigerator? How to upgrade supermarket flowers into beautiful centerpieces? How to streamline your schedule? The answers are simple on Real Simple Television — a series unlike anything else on the air." Check the website to see if your local PBS station carries the show.

Simplify Your Life, Fine Living Network, offers more of a reality-tv perspective. Each week's show is named after the family guest-starring in that episode. As an example, "the Witkins," offers "When baby makes three, make way for more stuff. With some creativity and a few tools, the spare bedroom that's being used to store clothes can transform to a nursery. And expectant parents might be low on energy, but that's the very time you need a fitness routine for pregnancy and beyond--Geralyn Coopersmith has the perfect suggestion. Nutritious can be delicious, even for pregnant women, with these menus and some quick kitchen tips from Grace Parisi. And the same techniques will work just as well after the baby's born."

LowCarbCookworx, PBS-HDTV. Hosted by a husband-and-wife doctor team, healthy recipes are the focus. You'll hear discussions of things like the importance of magnesium here, and see them adding it to food, as well as making things like mock maple syrup (to avoid high fructose corn syrup) to go with high-protein waffles. Ed Begley would like this show.

Personal Post 1 - Life Without the Microwave

In April 2005, I tossed the microwave and I thought I'd report on that event, and its aftermath, as my first official "personal post" here at Everyday Simplicity.

Long story short: haven't missed it. Not even once.

Why did I do it?

In Spring 2005, I read The Maker's Diet and that led me to surfing the web, learning about the safety (or lack thereof) of microwaved food. Skeerey stuff, more details on that down below.

How'd I do it?

Well, first, I prepared myself for what I perceived to be a tremendous sacrifice. (I gave myself permission to sigh a lot, and I ate more chocolate.) Then, I kept a list of how I used the machine - kept it up for a couple of weeks.

What a revelation: I only used it to heat water for tea, and once to defrost some chicken. I was surprised. So, on the last day of the month, surprisingly without angst, I unplugged it and toted the thing out to the alley, for garbage pickup. Away it went.

Today, I can report that I'm glad it's gone. Not only for the health benefits (again, all those details are still to come), but it increased my quality of life. Seriously.

Now, I boil hot water in a wonderful blue tea kettle, and listen for the whistle. Then, I use one of a collection of tea pots to brew tea for the daily pitcher of iced tea or I have a pretty tea mug at the ready, for a single cup.

Sure, I'm not standing at the counter waiting for a ping, but I've got the time to take care of a little thing while I'm waiting for the whistle. I get the paper, I unload the top rack of the dishwasher, I water some plants. We're not talking a big time differential here - the mug has water for tea within three minutes with a kettle.

Defrosting means thinking ahead or revising the dinner menu if I forget. That's okay. I've found that over time, I'm not forgetting anymore - it's like I've settled into something here. I'm cooking at home for almost all my meals now, something I wasn't doing in April 2005. But I suppose that's the topic of another post.

Back to the 'wave. I do admit to getting a toaster oven, so I could heat or cook or toast without firing up the big Westinghouse oven. In 5-10 minutes, I have hot food that has real brown marks on it and no rubber corners.

I think that this one change has influenced other positive changes in my life, albeit in a small way. My mornings feel cozy when that kettle sounds, and the three minutes instead of 50 seconds for the mug in its own way forces me to keep a slower, steadier pace. There's a ritual here that I see in old movies, read about in books set in the English countryside. Suddenly, I'm a part of all that.

It's a simpler way of living, and I like it.

Now, about the health issues of microwaved food.

1. "People who ingested microwaved foods showed a statistically higher incidence of stomach and intestinal cancers, plus a general degeneration of peripheral cellular tissues and a gradual breakdown of the function of the digestive and excretory systems. Due to chemical alterations within food substances, malfunctions occurred within the lymphatic system, causing a degeneration in the immune system's ability to protect the body against neoplastic (cancerous) growth. Microwave exposure caused significant decreases in the nutritional value of all foods studied, most significantly in the bio-availability of Bcomplex vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin E, essential minerals and lipotropics (substances that prevent abnormal accumulation of fat). Heating prepared meats in a microwave sufficiently for human consumption creates the cancer-causing agent d-nitrosodiethanolamine. Cancer-causing free radicals were formed within certain trace-mineral, molecular formations in plant substances -- particularly in raw root vegetables. Ingestion of microwaved foods caused a higher percentage of cancerous cells within the blood serum. Microwaving foods alters their elemental food substances, leading to disorders in the digestive system. The use of microwave ovens was banned in Russia in 1976." -- Cambridge University

2. "From the conclusions of the Swiss, Russian and German scientific clinical studies, we can no longer ignore the microwave oven sitting in our kitchens. Based on this research, we will conclude this article with the following:

1). Continually eating food processed from a microwave oven causes long term - permanent - brain damage by "shorting out" electrical impulses in the brain [de-polarizing or de-magnetizing the brain tissue].
2). The human body cannot metabolize [break down] the unknown by-products created in microwaved food.
3). Male and female hormone production is shut down and/or altered by continually eating microwaved foods.
4). The effects of microwaved food by-products are residual [long term, permanent] within the human body.
5). Minerals, vitamins, and nutrients of all microwaved food is reduced or altered so that the human body gets little or no benefit, or the human body absorbs altered compounds that cannot be broken down.
6). The minerals in vegetables are altered into cancerous free radicals when cooked in microwave ovens.
7). Microwaved foods cause stomach and intestinal cancerous growths [tumors]. This may explain the rapidly increased rate of colon cancer in America.
8). The prolonged eating of microwaved foods causes cancerous cells to increase in human blood.
9). Continual ingestion of microwaved food causes immune system deficiencies through lymph gland and blood serum alterations.
10). Eating microwaved food causes loss of memory, concentration, emotional instability, and a decrease of intelligence."

- Dr. Joseph Mercola

See:
BBCNEWS.com ("Cancer Risks in Microwaved Food")
CambridgeUniversityNet ("Health Risks and Dangers of Using Microwaves in Food Preparation")
Mercola.com("Hidden Hazards of Microwave Cooking")

Illustration: The Mad Hatter's Tea Party, by John Tenniel, appearing in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865).