Musings and Reflections for the Week of Aug 7 2017

1. Arsenic is our food has been neglected for too.  The highest concentrations are found in animal foods but if you are plant-based, you're not off the hook.  Rice and mushrooms have high concentrations due to contamination of soil.  To minimize exposure, reduce rice consumption to no more than 1/2 cup per week, buy rice from California, and cook it using the parboil method of 1:10 rice to water and rain -- like making pasta.
2. https://www.facebook.com/michael.greger.35/videos/vb.712958326/10156510345153327/?type=2&theater  Tomorrow night, Tues 8pm, PBS is airing a special featuring Dr. Greger about "How not to die."  Anyone who has not heard Dr. G, this could change the trajectory of your life.  Seriously, although perhaps a better title would be "How not to kill yourself gradually by eating foods which we were culturally conditioned to eat but cause heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, etc." 
3. With one dietary change, the U.S. could almost meet greenhouse-gas emission goals.  https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/08/if-everyone-ate-beans-instead-of-beef/535536/?utm_source=fbia
4. This piece from the New Yorker on Buddhism.  "Sometimes it helps to dwell on the immensity of the universe."  http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/08/07/what-meditation-can-do-for-us-and-what-it-cant
5. More than two-thirds of Americans are financially illiterate.  One man hopes to changes that by sharing everything we need to know and it all fits on one index card. https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2017/03/09/9-money-rules-index-card/#7192ab892c09