Blog On Excavator Accident With Head Injury & Natural Healing

Below are notes on my injury, presented as encouragement in case my account could inspire another injured person to heal naturally . (As i did not use so-called conventional medical means to cure myself. In fact i found "instant relief" by "simpler" natural means. I wished that information sources on the web could have provided me this story to inspire these simpler methods of healing. It would have saved me lots of money. A large sum of money which in fact was wasted to pay for hospital costs, just to get prescription pain killer-- I soon stopped using the pain killer anyway).

Healing is described below. Click hear to skip preamble.

  First: How the accident happened is explained.

Two accidents: While digging deeper in a construction site (picture center, above), I foolishly managed to get hit in the head by the 25 ton excavator as it dug the well. I had to realize it was my own fault for misreading the movements of my friend's excavator at work. Perhaps we raced too fast to make up for time lost on the first accident. (Make up for the bad weather of that especially rainy and wet season)....

In the first accident, my friend had straddled the deep ditch to distribute a little gravel at the ditch bottom.  His risky straddling caved in the ditch,(picture above), but my friend was not hurt . The next day i helped him rig up a woods skidder. With the bull dozer side-leveraging the excavator with it's arm raised, we managed to get the machine out of the caved in ditch. (My friend driving on one track only). We also had to pry one very heavy tread back onto it's rollers as the fall derailed it. Later that afternoon, i made my great mistake of getting in the way, this time my fault, getting hit in the head.  Haste made waste.  

I went back to work, on the same site, about 6 weeks after my accident. With my excavator friend away at that moment, i decided to rent a CAT 312 excavator and continue the project by myself. I love earth moving work like this and originally would have done all this digging except that we wanted to speed the progress up. That proved difficult, but inevitable risk is required by progress. One takes the risk or does without the potentials. It was a good way to tune up my brain motor skills after such a severe injury. I was hit in the back of my head by the excavator bucket. (Here is a link which describes my job: A preliminary effort to build a house with zero energy cost HVAC).

Note: These pages are placed in the public domain and are furnished "as is". The author assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of the concepts in this series. All authorities should be satisfied first, as might be required, by relevant laws, before any building proceeds.

Searching Synergy ........ Free Exchange of Ideas

Blog About My Head Injury & Natural Cure

I was knocked out cold by the excavator accident but was told later that i sleep-walked around, or staggered, talked briefly and washed my face before actually recovering my own awareness and consciousness. The pain was very severe. I tried some aspirin, etc to no avail. After 4 days at home with pain increasing daily, i was persuaded to ride into a local  hospital and i hoped to try a little hospital pain killer relief. To my disappointment pain killers were promised only after some X-ray scans (CT angiography). This took many hours to wade through with many useless delays. After finally obtaining a bit of pain killer i decided hospitals and medical protocol were clearly wrong for me. Yet thinking did improve with less pain. I wanted to escape from the gloomy, institutional mind set. Only drugs were offered if one could pay the multiple protocol costs. Sure, charge anything to my name, very funny. Hide the price tags. Little hospital signs encouraged comers like me not to worry about payment. Ha, they would have crippled my life, had i depended on them. So, with gradual cognition i wanted to go home with a little prescription pain killer. This head ache had heavily burdened rationality. One pays royally for this or luckily discovers better alternatives. I did find a far superior pain remedy which costs nothing at all. It is a totally-cost-free-remedy and some traditions prescribe it.  (Later on, a self employed friend of mine admitted that he has had endless monthly payments for a past, job related injury, with endless costs.)

It took me a couple of days after leaving the hospital, to realize that i should not be lying down at all! Powerful skull damage challenges good reasoning. So i determined to sit up continuously and even sleep in a sitting position. I was startled to find my long term head ache completely vanish in about 9-18 hours of sitting upright, even though i had stopped using any sort of pain remedy! Perhaps. a reasonable protocol should advise upright posture for severe head injury**. I had to think of all this on my own, despite constant, severe head pain. This simple advice was absent from hospital protocol. My scholarly brother later verified the protocol fact. How can such poor protocol come from science? After curing my week long headache through my own remedy, it felt truly miraculous. Other severe issues persisted: Severe dizziness, ear popping, imbalance and my vision was still completely skewed since the accident. My eyes were totally out of alignment except from one corner (viewing far to the side only). I wondered if i was literally finished. I wore an eye patch to remedy the "cross-eyed"condition. Searching the www for information about all this seemed to suggest that my condition was incurable according to western-medicine. I stopped driving for 2 months. People with all my symptoms tended not to heal. Surprisingly however, each of my conditions did slowly improved over a period of a month and were almost essentially healed in about 2-3 months.

** Update:  While "sitting-up" worked in my case, a casual conversation, much later, defended the protocol. A person identifying himself as a medical doctor explained that there is a possibility of spinal fluid leakage, in some injuries, somehow, in some cases -- That lying down prevents the unwanted leakage...  Therefore, victims of head injury should not be asked to sit up. However he did not make clear how this can be readily diagnosed or differentiated from my nature of injury. Nor did he explain how my poor scull was to drain all that "blood on the brain" continuously pumping in between my dear brain lobes. Nor did he elaborate any further. I'd be glad to link suggested references, which pertain to this discussion, email me. I could link appropriate references here.

**Additional update, 2 years after my accident: I feel totally healed, with just a slight, occasional, popping in one ear, during animated conversation, but not otherwise. I attest this healing was entirely by natural means which largely consisted of vegetarian and vegan foods, generally, along with supplements aimed at kelating out the damaged byproducts in my dear skull. It has worked and the curative element \were low cost. I did not use any pharma protocols, nor could i afford MD assistance. There were extensive injuries reported by the radiologist, which i can prove, with evidence recorded digitally, by qualified, certified radiologists. If i had reasoned better, i would not have visited the emergency room-- One can not think very clearly with head trauma and severe pain. I would not have needed the oxy codon pain killer if i had avoided lying down during the early days, following injury. I would have healed sooner, if i had not gone to the emergency room. Yet with proof in hand, i hope my experience will serve others. I pray that the idiots who are trying to ruin human health, world wide, with devices like Codex Alimentarius, will fail in their attempt to prevent individuals like me from purchasing health supplements, without difficulties!

To summarize quickly, my CT Angio scan results revealed a skull fracture, blood on the brain but fortunately no aneurysms. It seems logical that "blood on the brain" would cause severe head-ache pain, due to normal blood pressure. (When the head is gravitationally level with the heart, that is. Sitting up reduces the blood pressure on the all-important blood brain barrier.) However, it is illogical that a modern science would hide the most appropriate remedy from head-trauma victims, (in favor of monopolistic remedies-- Masking the pain instead of relieving the high pressure on the blood-brain-barrier).  I largely attribute my healing to intensive nutrition along with self styled mental and spiritual discipline.  I have always respected high-quality dietary protocols and "dietary supplements". Especially when i don't have time to shop around for better ranking food, nor time for proper preparation. I generally admit that food preparation should be prioritized. I was especially appreciative to find specific diet and supplement protocols put together by Gary Null.

My Favorable Experience WIth Supplements

Gary's tablet formulation called "Supreme Health Formula" contains many super nutrients, which,are very helpful to brain health and brain recovery. To my understanding, Gary generally uses and favors organic plant based sources instead of chemically-synthesized or animal-tissue-materials. It is a little like getting super nutrients when you can't spend time shopping around. If all common foods had all the nutrients or enough of them, supplements would not interest me. I'm very glad that i had been using Gary's formulation prior to the injury. I believe my stamina was helpfully strengthened by use of scientifically proven supplements. By contrast, modern medicine has for too long focused on disease-cosmetics, instead of health boosting nutrition. Modern medicine has for too long preferred to mask the symptoms with drugs and neglect unhealthy side effects. Worse yet is the absence of repair which good nutrition offers.  The body better achieves repair with nutrition. Pain-masks cost more than does carefully chosen nutrition. I splurged my money and bought many selective nutrients (as compiled by Gary), which i feel played a vital roll in my head- recovery. In fact, Gary has compiled a specific, detailed protocol for nutrition of the brain, which felt like a godsend for my head injury. I trust Gary because for decades, he has followed many scientific research journals and has himself done mainstream nutritional research as a qualified scientist. Moreover, Gary seems to put his profits back into his publicly spirited mission. He even, reportedly provides certified nutritionists to provide free services in NYC. Amazing. I have no reluctance to support a business like that.

We should pay much more attention to restorative nutrition and resist monopolistic blinders. Unfortunately, the pharmaceutical industry repeatedly tries to outlaw marketed supplements through greedy political tactics. I feel sorry for all those who suffer needlessly from medical iatrogenics. I believe the CT Angio scans were not worth the cash in my case. No restorative benefit was received from them. Only arrays of X-ray radiation-exposures were received.     So...  In less than one day after entering the hospital, i left, (My wife driving). I instead found relief at no cost and could begin restoring my health with free market nutrition. I avoided further involvement with medical services, as i did achieve weekly health gains naturally, on my own. I gradually began "working again", at home within days of clearing the head ache (and before regaining full vision or full ambulatory balance). Slowly but surely, my eyes, my strength and balance-sense improved. Progress seemed very slow, but it was steady and far better than hospitals have reported for severe head trauma. From what i understand, modern parma has achieved little success with permanent head-trauma cures. I'm so thankful to say i have been well for months, thank God. I attribute my natural healing to what a secularist could call spiritually-based-will-power, better informed nutrition and self discipline (get back on the horse sense).

I have tried to stay informed on health subjects from a variety of sources, throughout my life. Earned knowledge has empowered me while medical-insurance would have weakened my spirit, by depriving me of this self-empowering experience, (of natural self healing). Health insurance includes an invisible mental commitment to yield up some measure of self reliance. Insurance can diminish self-reliance of an individual. Self reliance can promote health. Yet for dealing with sudden injury, decisions must be made quickly, without time for study or contemplation. Still i see little or no advantage to a hospital protocol that actually postures severely injured heads downward, (where blood pressure increases on the brain, due simply to physical gravity). Why should hospital protocol ignore the importance of gravitational effects on the blood-brain barrier (after severe injury)? How can hospital-protocols remain so drastically quite about this, i ask you? Head trauma? Sit up and stay sitting up, sleep upright! Don't always assume that the sufferer of head trauma should lie flat! Provide immediate analysis of CT Angio Scans to determine the type of leakage. I found that my head ache could reach full force within a few hours of lying down and that it subsided after more than a few hours of remaining upright. After a day and night of remaining in an upright posture, the head ache completely vanished, permanently. I avoided lying down for maybe 2 months! Finally all the blood-pressure-leaks into my skull could heal! Many natural foods clean the body internally, remove waste material and remove toxic accumulations. Organically grown nutrients are intentionally freed from pesticides and are very effective cleansing agents. By contrast, overly commercialized food grown on depleted farm soils will lack important nutrients and instead dump toxic pesticides into our body. I believe this is especially relevant for clean up and repair of severe injury including severe head trauma. This nutritional approach to health has long been suppressed for fear of weakening vast pharmacological monopolies. Presently there is an attempt to take over the word "organic"and dumb down legal definitions of that word. Consumers are slowly coming to appreciate the organic food advantages. Sadly, the big players treat it as a branding war instead of scientifically proven product options. Powerful entities fear loosing market share. Their market share has for decades been dependent on uninformed consumers.

Furthermore, authentically spiritual approaches to health are discouraged by the extreme materialism. However, instances of healing have been found through authenticity spiritual approaches. A spiritual attitude helps guide a healthy mind in sorting out material paradoxes. Much of life is perplexing. Why should things that taste good prove bad for us? Why should things that taste bad prove good for us? What works for the greater good or greater depravity? Generic spiritual attitude helps to resolve exhausting paradoxes. Now let me get back to the materialistic side, (where modernity defines and confines health).

There are a large number of helpful nutrients to consider, so i advise life-long study. For a start, removal of nutrients as in "refined white flour" or in processed food deprives us badly. Whole grains provide critical nutrients. Food processing largely deprives us of nutrients and instead, harmful substances are installed, (such as pesticides and assorted food cosmetics). The pesticides and cosmetics simply overload the natural mechanisms of toxin removal. There are many sources of natural-health information, pro and con (this issue or that issue). Unfortunately, the majority choose to remain conned through mainstream indifference. Indifference to achieving a high standard of health. The fact is that some people have found nutritional and other non orthodox health solutions. This has progressively occurred through countless generations.  Strict dietary protocol has healed a variety of common ailments. Orthodox medicine has broadly ridiculed self empowered natural healing. Some limited, initial acceptance of dietary protocols started gaining mainstream popularity from about the 1970s, continuing to the present. I have followed much of this for nearly 4 decades now, while medical- orthodoxy dragged it's feet in the nutritional approach. Dietary approaches to health were often discourage by cultural leaders. A populist notion has been spread widely which foments distrust of scientific dietary information, because it is difficult to follow scientific progress, (which is continuously updating).  As one example, scientific research into cholesterol and fat consumption has significantly changed and even reversed in some aspects. Reversed because big pharma had earlier wanted to sell it's ill conceived "pills and potions". People dislike spending time to study the numerous details and the struggling history of dietary science. The populist question arises, how can you trust a science that burdens you with changing and with confusing facts? Progressive, developing facts should not upset us. If we accept where higher truths may leads us. If we stopped being a figment of monopolistic imagination. Dietary facts would be more reliable if the studies themselves were not monopolistically manipulated.

Honest scientific comparison of orthodox medicine with specific dietary protocols would reveal some superior performances of dietary science over monopolistic orthodoxy. That is why such comparisons through double blind studies are prevented by authoritarians. Orthodoxy refuses to test superior methods, fearing a loss of market share. A lame excuse is offered to the effect that comprehensive comparisons would cost too much. Rather it would clearly demonstrate that dietary protocols would win over orthodox pharmaceuticals. (If scientific comparisons were made. Instead science isn't funded where monopolistic profits would suffer. Typical market forces resist science.) Furthermore, orthodox medical cheerleaders, claim that they have increased the human life span as compared with historical records. I have long questioned this notion saying that technologies, such as the poly-phase electrical power distribution and rural electrification are more responsible for increased life spans. The poly phase system, (three phase power and long distance power distribution) invented by Nikola Tesla and first implemented by Westinghouse Corporation, made possible widespread refrigeration of perishable necessities like food. Improved water supplies and sewage treatment arrested ravaging disease. Improved transportation increased food supplies, while better preserving food at the same time. (Electrical refrigeration also began wide distribution, around that time). Social consciousness teamed with enlightened business, gave the masses education. These items and others increased the average life span of our times. Medical orthodoxy does not deserve all the credit which is heaps upon itself, concerning health statistics. How dare they claim all the credit? Easily answered: raw profiteering with political pay-back.

My preferred format for lengthy information has always been the spoken word in place of text (which requires my reading of lengthy texts). Gary Null offers extensive dietary information through audio broadcasts and podcasts. (Gary is also a prodigious writer for those who prefer reading.) I subscribe to many free audio sources, thanks to Apple for jump-starting this progressive media market! Podcasts let my mind absorb information while i do my humble hand work. Even major universities are also now pod casting valuable educational material, for free! I love this wide ranging free cultural service. To be fair, there are many other sources of good information on natural healing associated with nutrition. I will point to a few i have noted lately.

I am cautious with orthodox medical sources of information, because for decades, these dominant sources have hidden issues like iatrogenics and seem to have opposed nutritional awareness. At the same time pharmaceutical lobbyists try to outlaw supplemental nutrition through legislative suppression like Codex Alimentarius. One should be free to find a source which fits their personal choice. Many of my educated friends believe that nutrition should be addressed only through plain food. This might seem great if you are appropriately situated, but not practical for overtime workers. I think a good source on this sort of "food-only" approach can be found through many sources. Dr Mercola offers exhaustive information with a chat group over the internet.  Dr Weil offers brief, simple-minded clips of information as do many others, (perhaps good for elementary, self-education). "The Warrior Diet" seems to include some unusual dietary ideas which i like, especially the night-time big-meal preference. I theorize that hard struggling cultures often had no opportunity during the daytime to prepare food. By nightfall, they could make a fire, relax and eat the big meal. This basic pattern also gripped my lifestyle, of focusing on work accomplishment during the daytime. Then by nighttime, i could wash up, relax and make a good meal. I happened to "convert" myself to a largely vegetarian diet in 1985. It lent me hope that planet earth is sustainable and also that this practice might better tune my brain functioning, (by several means). That my giving up meat unburdens the world from my small corner. It is not evident that the world can support 6 billion meat eaters! I responded to the problem by self-demonstrating health and sustainability on a nearly vegetarian diet.  (My wife won my support to raise a little poultry for eggs and we very occasionally ate fish.). After many years, of being perhaps 90+% vegetarian, i am healthier now than when i was as a full omnivore. Recently i am trying to go fully vegan in diet.  I have devoted my life to increasingly live in a sustainable manner that does not unduly burden the world.

Full vegan commitment has been hard for me to begin, but scientific research on what is possible with plant-based sources greatly moves me. I feel that full vegan protocol has restored health without need for over-priced, authoritarian, medical intervention. If food market prices tend towards an accelerated price increase, then we may all do well to find a sustainable diet, (an affordable and fully nutritional diet, not a silly fad). It is said that meat requires 200 times the amount of water, to raise it. Two hundred times more water than potatoes require for production. So much meat is raised in draught prone lands, as deep aquifers underground are drained for meat production. Are we approaching another dust bowl? Dust bowl history is well worth a read. The Amazon rain forest is being devastated in order to support animal feeds for pork, beef, etc... Meats are promoted to human food markets as sort of a vital staple, if not the most essential food item. My experience of 24 years, tells me this is mistaken, if not a drastic cause of climate change, (because rain forests provide the world with vital oxygen).

Also, an information source on muscular stress can inform the aging laborer or exerciser. Science increasingly reveals that the human species can not stay healthy in a fully sedentary mode. I prefer hand-labor instead of athletics and there are things to learn about physical stressing, about nutrition, (individually and together combined). Muscular, aerobic-exercise or labor demands nutrient-cleaners, foods that clean out the body. (All normal pollutants should be removed or reduced, as part of proper nutrition). On this point, simple green vegetables and fruits do a great service for us, much better than over-priced medical emergencies-- After the body was stuffed and clogged with careless and mindless diets. However, it is equally risky to assume that a market label like the word "organic" will not solve all of one's nutritional needs. Rather. it is mottos like "nothing added, nothing removed" which should better guide food selections. Organic food is especially prone to unintentional contamination because food laws neglect contaminants that inadvertently creep into the food chain. Nature has provided that internal cleansing processes utilize unburdened foods. Purely unburdened foods (like uncontaminated green vegetables), provide sort of a "cargo space", which scoop and dump unwanted pollutants. It is better that the body avail itself of this resource. Rather than having this resourceful "cargo space" be overwhelmed with pesticides and preservative overloads. Overloads can be held in the body by sticky foods like animal fats.  Animal fats can directly absorb into a human's fat deposits. Inadvertent contaminants do eventually overload the body. Overloads of toxins in our body which cannot be removed. Thereby, the body can become deprived of  this constant cleansing of harmful things. Hence, the toxins gradually accumulate to a point that the body is overwhelmed by the various contaminant threats. There are various kinds of inflammation caused by contaminants-- Inflammation is a rudimentary defense for the body, which seeks to prevent spreading of suspect agents. Inflammation also results in confusing the immune system,. Prolonged, abusive eating brings on any of a variety of chronic illnesses. Pharma drugs, for most part mask the pain and the real causes, which provides pharma companies with huge markets. Many ills can be healed naturally through a predominantly vegetable cleansing system, (instead of masking symptoms as ignorant, monopolistic markets do confuse facts about health, while they reap excessive profits. A bit short-sighted, don't you think? Many doctors presently are enlightening themselves on the many complexities involved. I say more power to those insightful doctors and research scientists, who break away from pharma abuse.)

It can be difficult to find or afford wholesome food. It is labor-intensive to grow considerable amounts of wholesome foods in one's own garden. In that this would typically be a second job in addition to an occupation. Difficult also in the sense of fully devoting one's life style to developing labor habits and proper storage. Habits must be developed for weeding and tending vegetables, etc..  (Here is my latest visualization for a satisfying garden system). Vigilance over all, that is chosen, can be very disappointing as wholesome supplies do cost more than inferior supplies. (Monopolies will not encourage better products and thereby monopolies cultivate inferiority). The urge to go out and work in a service economy instead, can distract attention from wholesome lifestyle alternatives.  With better income, one can simply buy the more expensive but more wholesome foods. One can still gain some sense of satisfaction by supporting "local sustainable producers". I've savored many options between these various contrasting approaches. It is easy enough for me to grow health inducing vegetables for 5 months a year, but the remaining 7 months demands more breakthroughs (in a cool climate). Raising sprouts will easily provide some important "cleanser nutrients" while saving money. Greenhouse gardening certainly can extend growing seasons, but is also fraught with pest issues and "climate control issues". Foregoing meat in my diet saves me considerable money. Setting up good "culturing" processes like making tempeh and sour kraut still illude my efforts, but become priorities, as unemployment appears to increase, these years. While purchasing foods is easier and while income can cover it, let me recommend super-star favorite substitutes.  Two products made popular by Gary Null are of special interest. So called "Red Stuff" is an assortment of super nutritious berry residues. "Green Stuff", likewise is dried green, plant based nutrients. These two organic products provide proven "DNA-repair"  and "internal-cleaning", for over-time workers, (the work style which i tend to follow). Easy to use in shakes or smoothies or even as seasonings. I haven't tested firsthand, other brands similar to Gary's products. Yet the concept seems vital to me and actually restores alertness and energy levels. In the old days, the 1970's, when i browsed through nutrition books, similar "wholesome food" claims were evident, but organic products were not so easily available or affordable. Today, getting a comprehensive product "instantly", sure makes the test easy. I still liked a rare coffee until recently, but it is a harsher jolt of "energy" in many ways (largely due to acidic and diuretic effects). The subtler energy boost of Green Stuff  or of green vegetables, lasts longer, despite the absence of a super jolt. I always used to space-out consumption of coffee in relation to nutrition, because coffee tends to leach out neighboring nutrients in the digestive tract, (as coffee is a known diuretic). The addictive nature of coffee is hard to control, except, perhaps, where very little is used.  Yet the burden of pesticides in most coffee products should give us incentive to severely limit it's use to the point of indifference to it's attractive memory. The point of non-addiction occurs when we sustain higher convictions of nutrition-science. Conviction seems to rely upon the relationships which we maintain and the media we absorb. Choose wisely or we loose ground.

Yes, i may seem a bit compromised by exposing my lost job and medical experience. Instead i feel stronger since i learned how to actually heal my head injury without over-priced methods. Natural self healing is real power. Consider the power of honest self evaluation and compare all available protocols. Consider this page a protest against larger system problems, that politicians can't fix. They simply can't fix personal-choice problems, nor overcome lobbyist manipulations. Sadly, politicians refuse to favor science over unreasonable monopolies. (Monopolies which finance political careers and political power). Separating monopolistic giants and State should be key. (Just as it was key to separate Church and State).

Update 2007 & Early 2008

December 2008 Summary:  The smaller remaining ear-popping symptom has subsided very gradually throughout the year. I have had no other issues throughout 2008, except for one short period in June 2008. I was proceeding with my most stressful job for the summer, when the slightly dizzy spells seemed to almost return. It occurred only when moving my head around vigorously and quickly passed.This effect seemed to last perhaps a couple of weeks and then completely vanished again. I have read of symptom reoccurrences on the web somewhere, but mine was very mild and i proceeded in my work including the climbing of ladders and scaffolding, overtime, without incidents. So it should be fair to say that my healing was complete. I've economized on my supplements. My outdoor vegetable garden was prolific until mid December with kale, (the easy to grow cold crop. I ate tons of it instead of Greenstuff and still work on some Kale and grapes which i froze. My objective is to use lots of dark greens for health maintenance, along with our perennial berries here, raspberry and dark grapes. I have intentions to pioneer some particular green house ideas. A means to grow water cress also appeals to me, if these greenhouse ideas would work out. Frankly, i expect that the 2008 economic crises will grow in severity and that food costs will rise, as draughts affects production. A consequence of system collapses may ultimately result from incompetent monopolies, as indicators have already appeared immanent in 2009. I am moving onwards towards full vegan diet gradually, even if the transition happens slowly.

Update June 2009

Well, two years passing and i manage to feel better and better, (despite the serious head injury described above). None of the original injury-symptoms remain, except the occasional ear popping, but my hearing is still above average. Thanks here to my use of more supplements, wholesome foods, self education through podcasts, while i work productively. Construction labors and gardening are my form of combining exercise with making a living. Having kept a "self-sufficient" edge throughout my life, for decades now, i can say it is clearly affordable. It was not  always respected in the "bubble economy years". However we did sustain and used times of une3mployment wisely, in the pursuit of our creative spheres. My wife's main interests were floral and plant related. My interests, are to be seen all over my website. Low employment periods provided plenty of time for artistic endeavors, which typically pay little or nothing, but can fulfill one's inner ambitions, (no matter if one's ambition is humble or over-the-top). Originally i came to my land, almost as a serf and my wife and i pieced together what we now own, building it over 4 decades. "Self sufficient habits" provide stability throughout any sort of economic cycle.

2009-  Find more top-notch podcasts, for the multi-t asker!

I found more superb podcasts of great interest. The easiest source by far is Progressive Radio, due to the growing menu of new hosts, covering many vital subjects of today. One can download passed shows in the archive, which remain timely, due to the tremendous foresight and insight of these people. One can subscribe to receive periodic, new shows.  New hosts are added to the network and the system improves continuously. Besides this formidable network, another favorite health information website has  thoroughly captured my interest. "Natural News" which i believe was founded by The health Ranger (Mike Adams).  Once again, excellent podcasts on health related issues can be downloaded! This speaker Mike Adams has such a cheerful voice and a positive attitude to promote his deep understanding of various sciences and his constructive perception of our world and of our times. He also interviews many individuals who are marketing "super foods" and super supplements.  Usually these are highly accomplished and highly disciplined individuals, from many walks of life, not just one-track vendors. I get the sense of hearing many perspectives, yet these all generally support the notion of new-found health discoveries. Discoveries which were somehow missed throughout history. Missed by the average person that is. Actually, many of the super-foods have been known by isolated individuals or groups (even sometimes over the centuries), who were shunned by profiteering market places. Well, OK, it has simply taken time for evolution combined with free-will to make these subjects better known. We still have a hang-over from feudal- authoritarianism, in our world which requires patience, on the part of intelligent people. Mike seems to be the producer, interviewer and narrator of these podcasts. Mike also relates to the digital age, which might help engage younger people, in the search of practical life strategies.

2009- Recycle an old stereo with an old laptop.

I absolutely love this and am adapting my ancient laptop into a podcast server, heh, heh! An older smaller laptop screen is perfect for scrolling through menus of podcasts and music, both. (Much bigger and better, in my view, than a tiny mp3 player screen or an ipod screen. Old, suitable laptops are cheap nowadays and the earphone jack can feed an old home stereo. Ten-year-old stereos are more durable than the economy type sold today, (which i find break easily and also are more difficult to use). Yard-sales have cheap stereos for the frugal. I cannot say enough in praise of constructive broadcasts available on-line! Or ask a friend to "fill up" your old computer with great selections of free podcasts-- Be aware that copyrights are being enforced, but that freely downloaded progressive podcasts can be shared, without compromising the copyright laws. By the word progressive, i refer to real progress in the world. I also love learning more about economics from Libertarians like Lew Rockwell. He has great podcasts to which people can subscribe.