Hman, one seaweed study I found is below - it is a study on pears. I have also seen many studies that show neem as at least some effect, but the oomph factor is always on the low side. For the Effective Microorganisms, it is well-known that having other microbes on the leaf surface will give the bad guys more competition and lessen disease impact -- thats the simple idea behind EM and it makes total sense. What has not been studied much is whether spraying on more microbes will appreciably help tip the balance. I spent a lot of money and time dipping my fruit tree starts in mycorrhizal fungi, but proceeded to not notice much difference and subsequently learned that most of those microbes are already in the soil. So for that reason I am somewhat skeptical of the impact of EM sprays. I just did some Googling and there are more studies out there than I had found last time I looked - I think I used wrong keywords last time. Here is a study which shows that both foliar and root applications of EM helped persimmons. This study was done in Egypt; in general nearly all of the EM activity is outside of the US. Hey here is another positive study, on roses from Poland: study. This latter one looks to have somewhat better methodology than the Egyptian one. Another one from Laos: study -- there is only a brief summary and apparently some EM formulations helped and some hurt tropical fruit trees. Here is a negative study on Taiwan cherry seedlings (whatever that is). Here is a study from Austria which shows EM had significant positive effects on apple tree growth as well as decreasing scab incidence -- see Figure 1 for the scab data. Here is an interesting pro/con viewpoint. Overall I have to say the pro-EM case looks stronger to me after having read these studies, I may give it a try this year. It is far from conclusive but there is a glimmer of some pretty good stuff. Scott Here is a link that might be useful: pear seaweed study

I got this in an email the other day, and would like to share it with you all. Any death, for any reason, is sad, but let's keep our priorities straight. "With no disrespect intended to the Jackson family, this sure does reveal the shallowness of our value system in this country. This puts things into perspective: While the focus today, tomorrow and for the next God-knows-how-many-days will be the death of a pop culture icon; while many will mourn, wail and quite literally make fools of themselves over it and while as many will speak endlessly about it, allow me, if only for a moment, to remind us all that others have died this month; others whose lives were cut short; others who leave behind loved ones and whose families will dearly miss them; families who'll suffer with much more dignity and honor than we'll be exposed to on the tube in the coming days. Yes... it's true... we've suffered a great loss... but forgive me while I tell you that I'm not talking about the king of pop music. These American military members died in Iraq this month: Sergeant Justin J. Duffy Specialist Christopher M. Kurth Specialist Charles D. Parrish Lance Corporal Robert D. Ulmer Staff Sergeant Edmond L. Lo Sergeant Joshua W. Soto Captain Kafele H. Sims Specialist Chancellor A. Keesling And these members of our U.S. Armed Forces died in Afghanistan this month: Sergeant Jones, Ricky D. Specialist Munguia Rivas, Rodrigo A. Command Master Chief Petty Officer Garber, Jeffrey J. 1st Sergeant Blair, John D. Sergeant Smith, Paul G. Staff Sergeant Melton, Joshua Sergeant 1st Class Dupont, Kevin A. Specialist O'Neill, Jonathan C. Chief Warrant Officer Richardson Jr., Ricky L. Specialist Silva, Eduardo S. Lance Corporal Whittle, Joshua R. Major Barnes, Rocco M. Major Jenrette, Kevin M. Staff Sergeant Beale, John C. Specialist Jordan, Jeffrey W. Specialist Griemel, Jarrett P. Specialist Hernandez I, Roberto A. Sergeant Obakrairur, Jasper K. Staff Sergeant Hall, Jeffrey A. Private 1st Class Ogden, Matthew D. Private 1st Class Wilson, Matthew W. Let's remember and honor this day those whose deaths are truly impacting. "The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." - Thomas Jefferson

Happy belated Thanksgiving- well, I have been trying to keep up with the posts and AnnieB, your results are great! Good for you!!! I read my original post and I made an error, at 3 weeks I had lost 15 pounds. Well, I got off the plan due to a trip to Paris (no way I am giving up wine, cheese and chocolate when I am in the good food capital). But I am back on the palan and it feels great to see the scale moving again. 18 down and only 30 more pounds to go. We are snowed in here and I am fighting the urge to eat warm, comfort foods! So I am off to make some tuna! If anyone has some good recipes, I would love to see them! Thanks!

I'm afraid I don't see how someone can do things such as that and not realize what they're doing or seeing. I do believe it's probably just part of a culture that he was raised in, but something's gotta be missing inside with people who can do those sorts of things and not have it register somewhere. I also don't think someone can just change that type of thinking so Quickly. Maybe there are intense programs in prison? It just doesn't seem too plausible to me. It would take a lot of time and reprogramming to reach that point, imo. Hopefully he's at least on his way. I did not see the interview to really see how much progress he claims to have made. I also don't understand the connection to NFL, with regards to people's outrage. I can sort of see what people are saying, but I still see them as separate. I don't believe in shunning or bullying people. He's out of prison now, as far as punishment goes, and he needs to move on. Hopefully forward. If someone wants to hire him, then that's their business. I don't see it as some sort of a reward for bad behavior. Apparently he does what he does well, so that's why he's back. I'm not sure why his salary was reduced as it was -- from ~$134 million down to ~$1.6 million (the numbers may not be completely accurate). Specifically why? To offset potential losses due to public outrage? Cause they could manage to keep a whole lot of money? It's really not their job to punish him further, so I don't quite get that. But, what I think would have been really great, since they did reduce his salary, is if they had put all that money to good use working on animal protection and rights. $132 million. It would have been demonstrable if he'd actually offered to do it, but still quite something if the NFL had, as their own statement and support.