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Got this from the Celiac.com newsletter today. It's the most up-to-date compilation of safe and unsafe candies:

Gluten-free and Gluten-safe Candy List for Halloween 2012

One thing I noticed: Reese's minis are on both the safe and unsafe list, so you might want to avoid them just in case. I've been pretty good at keeping my 2012 resolution abstaining from non-nutritional food, so I doubt I'll be eating any candy. But it's nice to know that 3 Musketeers are still gluten free.

Saved the best funnies for last. Thanks to Ducky, who sent me this in 2002:


Halloween Rules:

When it appears that you have killed the monster, *never* check to see if it's really dead.

Never read a book of demon summoning aloud, even as a joke.

Do not search the basement, especially if the power has just gone out.

If your children speak to you in Latin or any other language which they should not know, or if they speak to you using a voice which is other than their own, shoot them immediately. It will save you a lot of grief in the long run. NOTE: It will probably take several rounds to kill them, so be prepared.

When you have the benefit of numbers, *never* pair off and go it alone.

As a general rule, don't solve puzzles that open portals to Hell.

Never stand in, on, above, below, beside, or anywhere near a grave, tomb, crypt, mausoleum, or other house of the dead.

If you're searching for something which caused a noise and find out that it's just the cat, *leave the room immediately if you value your life.*

If appliances start operating by themselves, move out.

Do not take *anything* from the dead.

If you find a town which looks deserted, it's probably for a reason. Take the hint and stay away.

Don't fool with recombinant DNA technology unless you're sure you know what you are doing.

If you're running from the monster, expect to trip or fall down at least twice, more if you are of the female persuasion. Also note that, despite the fact that you are running and the monster is merely shambling along, it's still moving fast enough to catch up with you.

If your companions suddenly begin to exhibit uncharacteristic behavior such as hissing, fascination for blood, glowing eyes, increasing hairiness, and so on, get away from them as fast as possible.

Stay away from certain geographical locations, some of which are listed here: Amityville, Elm Street, Transylvania, Nilbog (you're in trouble if you recognize this one), the Bermuda Triangle, or any small town in Maine.

If your car runs out of gas at night, do not go to the nearby deserted-looking house to phone for help.

Beware of strangers bearing tools such as chainsaws, staple guns, hedge trimmers, electric carving knives, combines, lawnmowers, butane torches, soldering irons, band saws, or any device made from deceased companions.

In the spirit of Halloween, time for some "groaners"! Horrible puns courtesy of Ducky circa 2002:


Do zombies eat popcorn with their fingers?
No, they eat the fingers separately.

What is a vampire's favorite sport?
Casketball.

What is a vampire's favorite holiday?
Fangsgiving.

What do you call someone who puts poison in a person's corn flakes?
A cereal killer.

What does a vampire never order at a restaurant?
A stake sandwich.

How do undertakers speak?
Gravely.

What do witches eat at Halloween?
Spooketti, halloweenies, devils food cake and booberry pie.

What do young ghouls write their homework in?
Exorcise books.

What kind of girl does a mummy take on a date?
Any old girl he can dig up.

What are little ghosts dressed in when it rains?
Boo-ts and ghoul-oshes.

What kind of street does a ghost like best?
A dead end.

Did you hear about the cannibal who was expelled from school?
He was buttering up his teacher.

I found a few tricks and/or treats languishing in the archives. I think this would rightly be called classic humor, because I got it in 2002, and it was outdated then! "Twilight" didn't even exist yet. Enjoy the nostalgia, courtesy of Ducky:


The top 15 complaints of the modern day vampire:

15) Grunge look makes it tough to tell living from the undead.

14) Nutrasweet or not, fat-free blood tastes like crap.

13) Hard to get a decent puncture with latex on your fangs.

12) Three Words: Daylight Savings Time.

11) Thanks to all those Marilyn Manson fans, we just aren't taken seriously any more.

10) After 45 years of Communist rule, it's impossible to find clean, uncontaminated Transylvanian soil for bottom of coffin.

9) After 100 years of trying, still can't score with Elvira.

8) No bat is safe with Ozzy Osbourne around.

7) With all those crucifix-wearing Madonna clones, junior highs are suddenly off-limits.

6) No warm blood for miles around DC.

5) Exhausted from all those Calvin Klein photo shoots.

4) Sick and tired of being mistaken for Keith Richards.

3) Buxom wenches of old have been replaced by aerobicized "hardbodies."

2) Baboon heart makes everything taste gamey.

And the number 1 complaint of Modern-day Vampires:
1) No small task beating F. Lee Bailey to a warm body.

This appeared on a fibromyalgia Facebook page weeks ago, but it took me quite some time to read it all. Technical in places, but worth sorting through, and it contains valuable and fascinating info:

The Lived Experience of Severe Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME)

If you can't get through the whole thing, at least check out the sections toward the top that show a link between ME and autoimmune conditions like Sjogren's syndrome, MS and others. Also, toward the end is an excellent summary of international reactions to the efficacy of graded exercise therapy (GET) and cognitive behavioral therapy. Basically, GET has been found to cause an alarmingly high rate of relapse, and CBT is completely ineffectual because ME is NOT a psychiatric disorder.

Came across this on a fibromyalgia Facebook page. Glad for the heads up:

One Suspicious Artificial Sweetener Is Getting A Brand New Name--Keep An Eye Out for It

Just what we need, another way to trip up unsuspecting consumers who are avoiding aspartame for health reasons. That stuff gives both my husband and I migraines. I use stevia as a sweetener for cold items like tea, but it doesn't taste good in hot foods, so for things like cream of brown rice, I use Splenda. I tolerate Splenda just fine despite all the rumblings about it being bad for us, but I do limit it somewhat.

Was perusing some of the blogs to which I subscribe and saw this. I think it is a potentially exciting development:

What's New on the Horizon?

It would be a great relief to have the opportunity to try a medication that combines the benefits of an anti-inflammatory and an opioid without the side effects of either. I cannot do narcotics because of my gastroparesis, and while I am currently on an anti-inflammatory, I am starting to show signs that the medication is becoming ineffective. The downside is that it takes many years to get a medication approved for use in the United States.

Another gem from Psychology Today. There are some excellent quotes in here:

Euripides to Bill Cosby: 30 Quotes on Mindfulness

Speaking of quotes, I never did get back to posting my Inspirations of the Day. I still have them in an ever-growing pile right in front of the monitor. I hope to sort through them after I have put together my peace globe for November 4 and after I have finished researching which Medicare plan I will use next year (open enrollment ends the first week of December).

This is a follow up to the previous article. It tells why you should read the patient information that comes with your medication: 

What Are Those Prescription Drugs Doing in Your Body, Anyway?

It should go without saying that the more medications you take, the more important it is to be alert for side effects, not just with each medication, but also potential interactions BETWEEN your medications. Also, multiple medications can cumulatively be more toxic to your liver. You may want to have your liver monitored regularly if you have long-term ailments that require multiple drugs to treat them.

Got this awhile back off a fibromyalgia Facebook page. It's about how Americans sabotage their own health and then expect someone else to fix it:

You Live in Your Body, Not Your Doctor -- Part I

I am amazed sometimes at people who know they are shortening their lives but will not give up that Big Mac or Cinnabon or Big Gulp. Even if they just consumed these things less frequently or in smaller portions (share with a friend!), it would help. I used to be an occasional binge eater, so I know it can be overcome, food addiction or no food addiction.

This came out a few weeks ago in Psychology Today. I can relate to some of these:

Confessions of a Sick Person

It can be a challenge to not be envious of those who do not have problems with cognition or severe exhaustion, even if they have other ailments. There is so much more I could do with my life if I didn't have to spend most of it resting or trying to remember things. But I probably wouldn't feel that way if I had a different illness; I guess everyone has their own particular burdens.

Found this awhile back on a fibromyalgia Facebook page. It has some ideas on the safety of brown rice:

Arsenic In Your Rice? How to Decrease the Contamination Risk

I probably am not going to change my eating habits much because I don't have a lot of alternatives to brown rice. I can only tolerate so much whole grain from other gluten-free sources. But I don't drink fruit juice, which should help, and I think rinsing the rice is a good idea.

Stumbled across this while reading an article someone had sent me. Check out the whole slide show - I like the turkey, the sailor, and Mr. T.

Tompkins Square's Annual Halloween Dog Parade

In other news, I got most of the way through editing the photos I took of the 2012 Sculpture Walk, but then Dan showed me a Photoshop trick to brighten subjects that are in shadow without washing out portions of the photo that are in full sunlight. It made most of the sculptures look so much better that I ended up re-editing three-quarters of them. I've gotten very little else done on the computer lately, so expect several posts containing articles that have been piling up.

TV Review: Prime Time Network New Fall Shows, October 2012

Picking up where I left off, here are my thoughts on five programs that debuted in October. It took some juggling on my DVR, but I managed to view the first episode of each of these shows.

All times listed below are Eastern.

Arrow, 8pm Wednesdays, The CW. This is a version of the "Green Arrow" series of comic books. Our hero is Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell of "Private Practice"), a billionaire's son, who is rescued from a remote island five years after an accident at sea. Once an irresponsible party boy, he returns to his home in Starling City a changed man. His alter ego is a vigilante archer in a hoodie; he possesses both mad fighting skills and killer abs. This modern day Robin Hood has a reluctant ally in Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy, daughter of David Cassidy), a public defender who is also his ex-girlfriend. We don't know Oliver's entire back story; more will likely be revealed in bits and pieces in flashbacks to come. While I was never a comic book reader and don't follow the super hero genre very closely, this show is stylish enough to attract the newbies. I believe the DC Comics crowd will want to stick around too.

Chicago Fire, 10pm Wednesdays, NBC. For a different kind of heroics, "Chicago Fire" chronicles a fire and rescue squad both on the job and off. Jesse Spencer, formerly of "House", and Lauren German, formerly of "Hawaii Five-O" are amongst the rather extensive cast. I was reminded of the times I watched "Emergency" way back in the 1970's as a kid. Luckily, the emergencies look much more realistic now. The fires are particularly impressive, and the techniques now used to fight them are interesting. But I must say the rest of the show is rather blah, not really giving us much reason to care about the squad's personal lives. So probably not worth tuning in unless you are a fire and rescue junkie.

Nashville, 10pm Wednesdays, ABC. This much-hyped look into the present state of country music stars Connie Britton of "American Horror Story" and Hayden Panettiere of "Heroes" as rival songstresses. Britton is Rayna James, a legend who is no longer selling out stadiums, and Panettiere is Juliette Barnes, an Auto-tuned young diva whose loyal fans have memorized every word of her songs. Juliette is not above stealing Rayna's producer, musicians, anything she can to get ahead. The ultimate indignity for Rayna is when her label insists that she cancel her current tour and become the opening act for Juliette. Both actresses are quite convincing in their roles, and they are actually doing their own singing of original music written by the likes of Elvis Costello and the Civil Wars. So there is plenty of quality here. Watching a weekly country cat fight is not quite my style, but I predict "Nashville" is going to be a hit of Grand Ole Opry-sized proportions.

Beauty and the Beast, 9pm Thursdays, The CW. This isn't the Disney version, or even a reboot of the 1980's series. This Beast is a man who was experimented on by the military, and an alteration in his DNA causes him to transform into an extraordinarily strong creature whenever his adrenaline spikes, sort of like a hot version of The Incredible Hulk. He rescues a beautiful young woman from certain death, and nine years later, when she is a detective, she discovers his identity. Perhaps this will appeal to under-30 romantics, but it didn't do much to entice me to watch it again.

Emily Owens, M.D., 9pm Tuesdays, The CW. Set in a gorgeous but unfortunately fictional Denver hospital, the title character of this comic drama is played by Mamie Gummer, daughter of Meryl Streep. We follow Emily on her first day as a surgical intern re-living all the stereotypes she experienced in high school, and she doesn't seem to have matured emotionally beyond that age. The internal monologue is so extensive that it breaks up the flow of the story. The scene where she follows her tough new boss on rounds is pretty much a carbon copy of the first episode of "Grey's Anatomy" except done half as well. The dramatic scenes work somewhat better. But if I had a surgeon with that little confidence, I'd want to switch hospitals.

As with the September shows, if you want to catch up on any of the above, check iTunes, hulu, and the network's own websites for download availability. Happy viewing!

If one more person uses the word "deconditioned" in reference to me and my fibromyalgia, I just may EXPLODE! Deconditioning does NOT cause fibromyalgia. I was perfectly physically fit at the time I got sick.

I know cardiovascular exercise produces endorphins which are nature's pain killers, but whenever my heart rate goes above 90 beat per minute, I get horribly sick, which rather erases any benefit the exercise might have given me. I work HARD at being as fit as my illness will allow, and I'm tired of not being given credit for that. I do water therapy three times a week, and use a non-impact glider very slowly for 30 minutes three times a week. It took me four years to get to 30 minutes - I had to start at just five minutes and raise it ever so slowly. I do stretches at least twice every day except Sunday (I stretch just once on Sunday). But I am told this is not enough because I am not raising my heart rate. I do believe in exercise, but it has to be exercise to TOLERANCE for someone with fibromyalgia.

No one would ever dream of telling a person with a broken leg to go jogging, or tell a person with cancer just to push through their exhaustion until they collapse. Why is it okay to say these things to someone with fibromyalgia? If exercise cured fibromyalgia, I would never have gotten it and would still have a job, be able to hike in the mountains, travel, go on photo expeditions without a wheelchair and would be able to have a dog I could take on long walks every day.

End of rant, for now.

Have had this on my browser for awhile. Got it from a fibromyalgia Facebook page:

Fibromyalgia And Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Myths

I've heard myth #2 a lot lately, that fibromyalgia was invented by the makers of Lyrica. If that were true, how did I get it before the drug company made a treatment for it? Besides, Lyrica was originally intended to be an anti-epileptic medication.

Actually, I was gonna write a review of this very product myself, but someone beat me to it. Courtesy of But You Don't Look Sick:

Have you tried VitaCoco Coconut Water? Hydration is so important, try something new.

I started drinking coconut water awhile back, and this is the brand I like best. I drink 8oz. of it every day. I would drink more if it weren't for the carbs. I still get muscle cramps, but coconut water definitely reduces the soreness I usually experience after the spasms stop.

TV Review: Prime Time Network New Fall Shows, 2012

It's that time of year again. Actually, the new fall season started quite early, and the debuting shows are spread out over a longer span of time, making a review of them all in one article somewhat impractical for someone who does not get to see them in advance of their air date. As I am part of the regular home viewing audience, I will focus here on the shows that began in the month of September. I will do another article in a few weeks featuring the programs that start in October.

For fall 2012, the emphasis seems to be on the resurgence of the half-hour sitcom. Hour-long dramas, while potentially more engaging, are also more expensive to produce and thus are more of a gamble on the part of the networks. NBC in particular has had several of their dramas of past seasons fail to attract a sufficient audience, and as a result, they have made the most changes in their lineup. I did not see any new reality shows on the major networks, which I hope means viewers are finally becoming bored or at least over-saturated with the genre.

All times listed below are Eastern.

Go On, 9pm Tuesdays, NBC. A preview of this show first aired during the Olympics, but I didn't see it until it was re-broadcast on September 10. I also caught the second episode the following night. "Go On" stars Matthew Perry of "Friends" fame as a recently bereaved sportscaster who is required by his employer to go to group therapy. Perry's character is rude and doesn't know how to deal with the world except through denial and sports. This is a comedy, but it also tries to be sweet. Unfortunately, I didn't think it managed to do both at the same time. It was like watching someone drive a manual transmission car for the first time - the way it lurched between comedy and drama, you could almost hear the gears grinding. Perhaps in time this show will decide on a tone, but its debut just didn't work for me.

The New Normal, 9:30pm Tuesdays, NBC. This was another early bird, with the preview episode on September 10. This half-hour comedy comes from Ryan Murphy, the man behind both "Glee" and "American Horror Story". The premise here is that Bryan and David, a couple wanting a child, meet Goldie, a newly separated woman who already has a nine-year-old daughter. Goldie agrees to be a surrogate for Bryan and David over the strident objections of Goldie's bigoted grandmother (played by Ellen Barkin). "The New Normal" contains the humor of "Glee" without all that pesky singing. Some people will likely find Jane, the grandmother, offensive. She is basically Archie Bunker in high heels. But I found the show to be outrageously hilarious, and while I was laughing, I found myself caring about what happened to the characters. This is my favorite comedy of the new season so far.

Guys with Kids, 8:30pm Wednesdays, NBC. Another half-hour comedy, this debuted on September 12. The co-creator is Jimmy Fallon, but he does not appear in it. You can pretty much sum up the entire show with the title. It's about three men who are friends, and each of them has at least one child. Tempestt Bledsoe from "The Cosby Show" appears as the wife of the guy who has four kids. I found the first episode to be the equivalent of hitting the same note on a piano over and over, rather predictable except for one scene toward the end where I actually did chuckle. Maybe this will appeal more to actual guys with kids.

Revolution, 10pm Mondays, NBC. This began on September 17 and has as one of the executive producers J.J. Abrams, who brought us "Lost" and "Fringe". Like those shows, this one is easier to watch than explain. The setting is what was once the United States, 15 years after all electric and battery power inexplicably ceased to function. Medication is scarce, transportation is either via foot or horseback, and food is whatever you can grow or hunt. Charlie, a teenage girl handy with a crossbow, goes on a cross country search for her uncle (Billy Burke of the "Twilight" films) after her father is killed and her brother is kidnapped by the new regime's militia. Elizabeth Mitchell from "Lost" and "V" appears in flashback's as Charlie's mom. If you can buy the premise, you are rewarded with a mash-up of genres, as though everything old were new again. Without the ability to use tanks, bombs or airplanes, the law is enforced with a cavalry of gunmen; some carry swords like samurai warriors. Greenery gains a foothold as technology no longer encroaches on forests or pollutes the air with toxic chemicals. The shells of empty vehicles and businesses create a new kind of ghost town. I don't know if this series will be able to hold my interest long-term, but I was impressed by the first couple of episodes.

Partners, 8:30pm Mondays, CBS. I thought this sitcom might have potential as it came from David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, the creative minds behind "Will and Grace". In "Partners", best friends Louis (Michael Urie of "Ugly Betty") and Joe find their relationship strained when Joe gets engaged. Oddly, the fact that Louis has a boyfriend (Brandon Routh) doesn't seem to matter to Joe. The Louis character is rather narcissistic and whiny. The writing wasn't nearly what I was hoping for. The actors were good, but they deserved better dialogue.

Ben and Kate, 8:30pm Tuesdays, Fox. A half-hour comedy featuring Dakota Johnson, daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith, as Kate. She plays a single mom of an adorable five-year-old. Kate's emotionally immature brother, Ben, waltzes in and out of her life according to his own whims, but when his ex-girlfriend marries someone else, he opts to move in with Kate and help her with her daughter. The character of Ben is based on the executive producer's own brother, which makes him pretty believable. Most of us have at least one relative like Ben who is exasperating yet lovable. And Kate's attempts to re-enter the dating world after five years are hilarious. I was amused and charmed by this show and plan to keep watching it.

The Mindy Project, 9:30 Tuesdays, Fox. Mindy Kaling, who acted and wrote for "The Office", is now the executive producer and writer of the first few episodes of her own show. It is a comedy, but not a spin-off of any kind. Kaling stars as Mindy Lahiri, an ob-gyn who is successful professionally but not personally, at least in her own mind. She delivers babies by day and parties to excess by night when she is not obsessing over rom coms. She wants to reform, but she practically guarantees failure by her all-or-nothing approach. This show is creative and unusual, but I'm not completely convinced it is my cup of tea. I do think it is worth seeing at least once, though. I am willing to watch another episode before I decide whether it's for me.

Vegas, 10pm Tuesdays, CBS. One of the tried-and-true CBS formula of crime dramas, and yet it's not. This is set in 1960, back when the Mob ran the casinos and cattle ranches were just outside the Vegas Strip. The writer is Nicholas Pileggi of "Good Fellas" and "Casino" fame. It's based on the real-life story of a rancher named Ralph Lamb who became sheriff and tried to keep order in the face of the rampant corruption in Sin City. The show is well cast with Dennis Quaid as Lamb, Michael Chiklis as mob boss Vincent Savino, and Carrie-Anne Moss as the assistant district attorney. The dialogue is believable and the setting historically interesting, with an Old West meets Chicago gangster vibe. This was not something I was expecting to enjoy, and yet, I did. My husband was intrigued too. We're going to tune in to at least one more episode to see how it goes.

Animal Practice, 8pm Wednesdays, NBC. As you might guess from the name, this sitcom is set in an animal hospital. The main character, George, is a sourpuss veterinarian who must work for his bubbly ex, Dorothy. The rest of the staff are various shades of wacky. The real star, though, is a monkey who wears a white coat, paints, mugs for the camera and gets all the laughs. If only the humans were as consistently amusing. I must confess it is tempting to watch it just for the monkey though.

The Neighbors, 8:30pm Wednesdays, ABC. The show is funny, in this case meaning strange, very strange indeed. A group of aliens from another planet live undisturbed in a gated community for a decade until one family defects and puts their condo up for sale. The unsuspecting buyers are a stereotypical American family of four who think they're going to be living the dream. Interplanetary culture clash ensues. Is "Neighbors" trying to be the next "3rd Rock from the Sun"? Yes, and no. The aliens here, in trying to assimilate Earth culture, have got the concept of diversity down, even within each family unit. The alien leader and his family have named themselves after sports heroes, with father Larry Bird, mother Jackie Joyner-Kersee, elder son Reggie Jackson and younger son Dick Butkus. But all this weirdness did have me laughing quite a bit. I don't know if I want to commit to an entire season, but I'll commit to another week and go from there.

Last Resort, 8pm Thursdays, ABC. A truly original premise: an American nuclear submarine, the USS Colorado, is patrolling the Indian Ocean when it gets orders from a questionable source to bomb Pakistan. They nearly comply, then decide to get confirmation first. While they are attempting to do so, another American sub bombs the Colorado and temporarily sinks it. The Colorado finds refuge on the nearest island while the media are erroneously reporting that Pakistan sank the sub. America retaliates by destroying Pakistan. Andre Braugher plays the sub's captain who must decide between blind patriotism and conscientious disobedience. While the plot may seem a tad outlandish, I couldn't help thinking how easily a nuclear war could escalate based upon misinformation and what that might look like. I am generally not fond of war themes, but even so, I have to admit this show was unusually intense and well-executed. I believe "Last Resort" will find a loyal audience.

Made in Jersey, 9pm Thursdays, CBS. When CBS isn't airing detective dramas, it's usually airing legal dramas. The angle of this one is that Martina, fresh out of Trenton and law school, tries to compete with the big fish in a New York law firm. Martina looks like Fran Drescher during "The Nanny" years; her ginormous hair complete with pouf is distracting. Fortunately, she doesn't quite sound like Drescher. Kyle McLachlan, most recently of "Desperate Housewives", plays the boss who realizes that his young employee's street smarts can be used to the firm's advantage. "Jersey" isn't as dreadful as I'd been fearing, but there's nothing particularly special about it either, pouf notwithstanding.

Elementary, 10pm Thursdays, CBS. It seems Sherlock Holmes will never go out of style. Not surprisingly, this present-day take on fiction's most popular detective comes courtesy of CBS. British actor Jonny Lee Miller ditches the pipe and funky hat for a black jacket and plaid scarf but keeps the London slang. Just out of rehab and seeking an outlet for his obsessive mind, Holmes goes to work as a consultant for the police force in New York. The biggest surprise of "Elementary" is the casting of Watson: Lucy Liu. She plays Joan Watson, a former surgeon who is basically baby-sitting Holmes to make sure he stays clean. She is bitten by the crime-solving bug too. The dynamic between Holmes and Watson is engaging, the mystery solving and dialogue are fast-paced, and the potential for an interesting series is somewhat high. My husband and I will be tuning in next week.

666 Park Avenue, 10pm Sundays, ABC. Terry O'Quinn of "Lost" and "Hawaii Five-O" and Vanessa Williams of "Desperate Housewives" and "Ugly Betty" have a new address - Park Avenue in New York. They are the owners of the Drake, a ritzy apartment building where odd things happen. They hire a nice young couple to manage the property, but the wife might be too nosy about the goings-on at the Drake for her own good. O'Quinn and Williams are excellent at being pleasant on the surface but creepy behind their smiles. I will grant this one future viewings.

That's a lot of new television for a three week period! And some are still to come in October and even November. If you want to catch up on any of these new shows, check iTunes, Hulu, and the network's own websites for download availability. Happy viewing!