Last week was the three year anniversary of my accident. It is the single incident that has propelled me to some of the great things I have today - Margaret, USF and many of the good things I am enjoying right now...

ONION

In 1919 when the flu killed 40 million people there was this Doctor that visited the many farmers to see if he could help them combat the flu.
Many of the farmers and their family had contracted it and many died.
The doctor came upon this one farmer and to his surprise, everyone was very healthy. When the doctor asked what the farmer was doing that was different the wife replied that she had placed an unpeeled onion in a dish in the rooms of the home, (probably only two rooms back then). The doctor couldn't believe it and asked if he could have one of the onions and place it under the microscope. She gave him one and when he did this, he did find the flu virus in the onion. It obviously absorbed the bacteria, therefore, keeping the family healthy.

Now, I heard this story from my hairdresser in AZ. She said that several years ago many of her employees were coming down with the flu and so were many of her customers. The next year she placed several bowls with onions around in her shop. To her surprise, none of her staff got sick. It must work.. (And no, she is not in the onion business.)
The moral of the story is, buy some onions and place them in bowls around your home. If you work at a desk, place one or two in your office or under your desk or even on top somewhere. Try it and see what happens. We did it last year and we never got the flu.
If this helps you and your loved ones from getting sick, all the better. If you do get the flu, it just might be a mild case..

Whatever, what have you to lose? Just a few bucks on onions!

Now there is a P. S. to this for I sent it to a friend in Oregon who regularly contributes material to me on health issues. She replied with this most interesting experience about onions:

Weldon,thanks for the reminder. I don't know about the farmers story...but, I do know that I contacted pneumonia and needless to say I was very ill...I came across an article that said to cut both ends off an onion put one end on a fork and then place the forked end into an empty jar...placing the jar next to the sick patient at night. It said the onion would be black in the
morning from the germs...sure enough it happened just like that...the onion was a mess and I began to feel better.

Another thing I read in the article was that onions and garlic placed around the room saved many from the black plague years ago. They have powerful antibacterial, antiseptic properties.

This is the other note.

LEFT OVER ONIONS ARE POISONOUS

I have used an onion that has been left in the fridge, and sometimes I
don't use a whole one at one time, so save the other half for later.

Now with this info, I have changed my mind...will buy smaller onions in
the future.

I had the wonderful privilege of touring Mullins Food Products, Makers of
mayonnaise. Mullins is huge, and is owned by 11 brothers and sisters in
the Mullins family. My friend, Jeanne, is the CEO.

Questions about food poisoning came up, and I wanted to share what I
learned from a chemist.

The guy who gave us our tour is named Ed. He's one of the brothers Ed is a chemistry expert and is involved in developing most of the sauce formula. He's even developed sauce formula for McDonald's.

Keep in mind that Ed is a food chemistry whiz. During the tour, someone
asked if we really needed to worry about mayonnaise. People are always
worried that mayonnaise will spoil. Ed's answer will surprise you. Ed said
that all commercially- made Mayo is completely safe.

"It doesn't even have to be refrigerated. No harm in refrigerating it, but
it's not really necessary." He explained that the pH in mayonnaise is set
at a point that bacteria could not survive in that environment. He then
talked about the quintessential picnic, with the bowl of potato salad
sitting on the table and how everyone blames the mayonnaise when someone gets sick.

Ed says that when food poisoning is reported, the first thing the officials
look for is when the 'victim' last ate ONIONS and where those onions came from (in the potato salad?). Ed says it's not the mayonnaise (as long as it's not homemade Mayo) that spoils in the outdoors. It's probably the
onions, and if not the onions, it's the POTATOES.

He explained, onions are a huge magnet for bacteria, especially uncooked
onions. You should never plan to keep a portion of a sliced onion.. He says it's not even safe if you put it in a zip-lock bag and put it in your
refrigerator.

It's already contaminated enough just by being cut open and out for a bit,
that it can be a danger to you (and doubly watch out for those onions you
put in your hotdogs at the baseball park!)

Ed says if you take the leftover onion and cook it like crazy you'll
probably be okay, but if you slice that leftover onion and put on your
sandwich, you're asking for trouble. Both the onions and the moist potato
in a potato salad, will attract and grow bacteria faster than any
commercial mayonnaise will even begin to break down.

So, how's that for news? Take it for what you will. I (the author) am going to be very careful about my onions from now on. For some reason, I see a lot of credibility coming from a chemist and a company that produces millions of pounds of mayonnaise every year.'

Also, dogs should never eat onions. Their stomachs cannot metabolize onions .Please remember it is dangerous to cut onions and try to use it to cook the next day ,it becomes highly poisonous for even a single night and creates Toxic bacteria which may cause Adverse Stomach infections because of excess Bile secretions and even Food poisoning.

Please pass it on to all you love and care about.

The rise of Darwin’s hypothesis on biological adaptation in the mid 19th century gave anthropologists a framework to theorize on the changing nature of human culture. Since life was seen as developing through a struggle between the “strong” and the “weak,” 19th century anthropologists viewed cultural development in the same way. These notions also fell into the concepts of “progress” that developed through the Industrial Revolution.


Many saw white European culture as the pinnacle of human civilization and viewed others through that ethnocentric prism, judging different societies in ways that assigned “stages of progress,” using their own (considered “superior”) culture as the yardstick.

These evolutionary theories were used to explain human life in terms of linear progression, now called unilineal evolutionism. Unilineal evolutionism used a spectrum that ranged from “primitive” to “advanced,” where all cultures would fall in relation to their level of “development.”


Anthropological study of the 19th century had a Judeo-Christian perspective, with the analysis of the “evolution” of various belief systems also reflecting the ideas behind unilineal evolutionism. Animism, the belief in a world inhabited by spiritual beings, evolved into polytheism, an idea that many gods influenced humanity. Monotheism then developed through an evolutionary jump from polytheism, reflecting the struggle for superiority between many gods into a single deity. To those in that time the Judeo-Christian ideal represented the “top” of the evolutionary chain.


Anthropology in 20th century moved away from the ethnocentric ideal of its predecessors, and began looking at various cultures “in their own terms.” Franz Boas, seen by many as the “father of American anthropology, rebelled against the ethnocentric tendencies of the unilineal evolutionists. He advocated ethnographic research, where the understanding of culture comes from direct observation from the “inside.” The need to leave cultural biases behind while studying culture gave Boaz and his student’s new insights on cultural differences. Culture does not evolve in a straight line, slowly progressing to a Western ideal. Culture develops in its own unique way, and because of that, they must be examined individually.


The value of recording cultural tradition developed through generations, as well as the importance of focusing on the inherent rights of indigenous peoples, illustrate the significance of modern anthropology.

The ethnocentric viewpoint of the 19th century anthropologist would view “Pygmies” as a culture “less developed.” Examination of the communities that comprise Pygmies would be limited by a sense of superiority that many anthropologists of the past felt when probing cultures different from the European “ideal.”

Pygmies is a term considered an epithet in many parts of Africa—especially the eastern part of the continent—the people are actually a collection of groups subsiding in the rainforests of Central Africa, living through a landmass twice the size of China. Their shorter stature is their feature distinguishing them from other groups in Africa.


Examining the cultural traditions of the Pygmies without the ethnography advocated in the 20th century would miss many important rituals, especially the subtleties of the experiences of education of the Mbuti young. According to Colin Turnbull in “The Mbuti Pygmies: Change and Adaptation,” the Mbuti rituals are often so informal and apparently casual that it may pass unnoticed at first.” It is easy to imagine a 19th century “armchair anthropologist” missing the significance entirely.


Ethnocentrism would gloss over the role of “play” in Mbuti children’s lives and their function as part of society, relegating the patterns to “savagery” and an under-developed culture. Rituals like the “tug of war” between males and females as well as the maturation in the elima ritual would most likely not enlighten a 19th century anthropologist to the futility of the battle between the sexes. It would probably be dismissed as “primitive.” The misunderstanding of race and sexual relations, rampant in the 19th century, would not appreciate the complexity of the Pygmy cultures. The concept of Western “progress” would categorize the Pygmies to a stage of civilization less developed, making it easier to be ignored.


The modern approach of historical particularism, an examination of the history of various cultures in a unique light and their own distinctive growth, enriches the understanding of the relationship Pygmies have to their environment and how that relationship has developed through generations. It recognizes the complexities between the sexes and uses those insights to appreciate our own struggles with gender.


It is the line of thinking prevalent in the 19th century that set the stage for the decimation of the resources of Central Africa, putting the Pygmy culture, as well as many other indigenous peoples, at risk. It is with a more enlightened view of these cultures where the need for preservation, documentation and continued survival rests.

Applying methods of anthropology and the complexity of cultures are shown to be valuable tools in addressing the world’s problems. The sensitivity of the researcher, in relating the information from well-conducted ethnographies, is essential to understanding how people relate to their environment and to each other. The lessons learned in generations of practice, such as by the Mbuti, can be integrated into the cultures of “more developed” Western peoples.


For example, the Mbuti have developed a complex process of educating their young in their preparation for integration into society. The utilization of “play” in the bopi is important for the preparation of skills that will serve them well as they mature. The value of the young to the Mbuti; how they are given complete safety in the first three years of life, as well as the equality of the mother and father in the child’s upbringing are valuable to ethnographers in recognizing the systemic complexity of the Mbuti culture.

Understanding the relationship of the Mbuti to their young can give us an insight to some of the ways Lesser Developed Countries assess the benefits of having children. The importance of children to the hunting rituals, as well as the development of the ability to reason and apply reasoning to settle disputes, can give significant lessons to humanity as a whole.

The examination of the sexual maturity of the Mbuti and the ritual elima festival, where the female celebrates her first menstruation, illuminates “the potential for conflict” that lies in the arrival of adulthood. It brings to light a moment of stress and change, making the transition much easier for both men and women. It would serve us well to integrate that type of connection into our culture of “progress.”

As stewards of the land, through methods of resource management and personal interrelationship, the Mbuti can offer an appreciation of “some of the alternate ways of living experienced by various human populations.”