This is for the game Trick or Treat Smash & tips how to play it

OK, first off I don't claim to be the best at this game, ( you'll have to talk to klingon about that ) but I can point you in the right direction to gain high scores and challenge the best players in tournaments. 

   First off, You do NOT want to leave level 1 until you want to post a score. How can I get a high score if I don't beat level 1 ? 

ALL HIGH SCORES ARE ACHIEVED ON LEVEL ONE!

The method I use is this:  ( Caution, this is not foolproof. )

Your top brick should be # 41 and you should attempt to collect all the forty bricks up to 50 in order. (41, 42, 43, etc.)   I also attempt to collect whatever 30 blocks I can at the start.  Put the 40 & 30 blocks where they fit.  If the vikings do not give you a 40 or 30 block choose the green?.  Within a short amount of time your tower will contain many of the 40 & 30 blocks. 

Here's where it gets tricky.  If you choose the green? and it gives you a 23, look at your tower & try to trade for a 22 or 24.  In these cases you are not trying to put blocks in order to gain points , you are trying to eliminanate those numbers and create a void in the viking tower.  If you continue to trade 1s for 3s and 11s for 13s, sooner or later the vikings give you a 30 or 40 block.  As your tower fills in, trade the low 30 blocks out.  You will reach a point where ALL the blocks from 41 to 50 are either in your tower or the vikings.  When you reach that point you are on the road to kicking butt. 

Once all the blocks from 41 to 50 are in yours or the vikings tower, Never choose the green ? choice.  Just take whatever block the vikings give you and put it where you think it will do the most good. 

At some point, the vikings may give you a block that completes your tower.

unless you are satisfied with the score you have, DO NOT place the block where it finishes your tower.  Instead trade it for another block that will enable you to keep going.

With a little practice you should be able to amass hundreds of thousand of points in a very short amount of time.  

Good luck and I hope to see you in the tournaments soon.

"NOBODY Understands'

The other day, during a casual conversation, a friend told how she had explained my condition (fibromyalgia) to someone else:

You know, when you work yourself really hard, so that you feel totally exhausted, and you ache from top to bottom so badly that you cannot even get up? Well that's how Debbie feels. Only it does not go away.

I was floored. I felt tears flooding my eyes. But why? I wondered. Well, because I was understood. My friend showed me that she knew what I was experiencing, how I go about my day. If she were an anthropologist, she should feel successful because she managed a deep understanding of the "native's experience."

Later, I thought about my friend's simple explanation of fibromyalgia. Why was it so meaningful to me that someone understood how I feel? At the same time, however, I felt a little strange about it. As if my friend had peered into the otherwise personal and private relationship between me and my pain. I pondered my mixed emotional reaction.

I began to ask people with similar "invisible" conditions about their desire to be understood. The answers were mainly practical: If we were understood, they explained, we would not have such a difficult time being excused from certain activities. Friends would understand why we were saying "no," and not push us. They would accommodate us, or give us a break when we need it. The same goes for family, and even coworkers when possible. In addition, being understood is important because it can restore self esteem when we are not able to finish (or even start) the projects we take on. Being "ill" is preferable to being thought of as "lazy," "hypochondriacal," or a "whiner." Finally, being understood, particularly by someone who shares our experience, creates a feeling of camaraderie. You do not have to explain in any detail to produce an accurate picture or evoke an appropriate response. To be understood is to be validated.

What It Means to Be "Understood"

Many of us often think with dismay that "nobody knows what we are going through." This is probably correct. The casual observer is unlikely to perceive the depth of our pain or fatigue through our behavior or appearance. And our friends, try as they may, often feel confused by our seemingly strange array of complaints. Our presentation communicates the double message of "invisible illness" -- that we can look perfectly fine, but feel absolutely crummy.

A few friends of mine with invisible illnesses, however, prefer the secrecy. They would rather appear like everyone else and lick their wounds later, in private. They have weighed the cost of added physical discomfort against the biases they imagine people may have against them, their abilities, their attractiveness, and even their value as a person, and decided to "bite the bullet." For them, understanding appears threatening, unless reserved for their most intimate circle.

As such, understanding represents a two-edged sword. Let's think about it. If someone really knew what you were experiencing, say, right now, how might that person feel or react? How do you feel when you know someone is suffering? Knowing the extent of our difficulties may frighten others, depending on their own life experiences and how close they are to us. Those closest to us, and particularly the more nurturing, may become overprotective. They may wait on us hand and foot, as though we are unable to do anything for ourselves.

At the same time, our social invitations may dwindle as "understanding" friends protect us from overtaxing activities. And although there are laws against discrimination, it is not difficult to imagine coworkers and bosses changing their opinion about the type or amount of work suitable for people like us (even if we had been successfully doing it!). Such "understanding" could affect our ability to find and keep manageable employment.

It therefore seems to me that understanding, like many things, is something that we want when it is convenient for us, but that we would like to withhold when it works against us. Rather than providing full information with a vivid stamp on our forehead (or something less abstract such as a wheelchair), we may prefer to disclose information about our condition as we feel comfortable to do so. We could offer limited, person-specific understandings rather than a fuller picture of our situation. After all, wouldn't we prefer to be invited to take part in the activities of life (and sometimes have to say no, or leave early) than to be not invited at all? On days when we feel better or have the gumption to push, we will want to join in! It is better that this remains up to us.

What does it really mean to understand someone else's experience anyway? Let's take a look around ourselves. What is going on with our friends, our family, our colleagues? Can you really understand what your neighbor going through a difficult divorce feels? What about your friend with an eating disorder? You may not even be aware of it, or the extent to which it governs her days. What about the couple you know who have been desperately trying to have children, who are now participating in the impersonal, drawn-out gamble with science in hopes of conceiving? What about friends who have lost a spouse, a parent, or even a child? Can most of us say we understand?

More likely we are guilty of avoiding someone in one of these situations because we do not know what to say or how to act. We probably feel badly for them, and the thought of facing their problems makes us feel more uncomfortable.

I am not pointing this out to say that we are self-centered buffoons for wanting understanding, while we ourselves are unable to understand others' life experiences. Rather, I would like to suggest that (1) understanding another person's experience is something rare, and (2) that sort of understanding may not be crucial to being a good friend.

Unless you are going through a similar experience (and sometimes even if you are), deep understanding of someone else's experience is difficult to achieve. However, I also argue, it is not necessary to have first-hand knowledge of what it is like to have lost a child, for example, to be a good, supportive or loving friend to someone who has. But think how much easier it would be if your friend provided guidelines about what helps the most, and the areas that are most sensitive. Well, by knowing yourself and accepting your current needs, this is precisely the sort of information you can provide for your friends, to make their job as friends easier.

Self-Understanding Is Key

So rather than longing for understanding from others, the critical thing may be to understand yourself and be able to communicate that picture to others. How people will treat you is largely up to you -- and your behavior. The more you are able to recognize your own capabilities and limits, know your preferences, and are familiar with your audience, the better able you will be to do this.

Recognizing your own capabilities and limits helps communicate to others enough to receive an understanding response. While it is likely that your abilities will slowly increase as you find ways to pace and adapt, it helps to know what you are able to do right now. When unable to finish something as planned, we may feel the hopelessness that often comes from struggling with chronic illness. But healthy friends also complain about their own slowness. "That's not the same thing!" you protest. And I agree, in many ways it is not, and certainly not to us. But keep in mind that most people have competing demands and often say "no" for all sorts of reasons. This sometimes gets blurred by people with chronic illness who are so eager to be able to say yes. Your "no" or "not yet" is not viewed as harshly as you probably view it yourself.

Knowing your preferences makes it easier for everyone involved. The best way, I have found, to figure out how various factors affect you is to keep careful notes. Create a simple worksheet to record the most important variables of each day and measures of your experience. As you become well informed about the effects of say, noise, light, temperature, activities, movement, and lack of movement, you are in a much better position to keep yourself feeling better. The less control you have over your environment, the less you can affect these things. But at least you can plan your day. If, for example, you know the supermarket is always too cold and bright -- wear extra clothes and always have a pair of sunglasses handy.

Deborah A. Barrett   ,Ph.D

 

FIBRO FOG

Sometimes also referred to as memory fog, brain fog is the inability to think clearly, focus or remember information. It can be a symptom of numerous medical problems including diabetes, kidney, liver and bowel toxicity, vascular disorders or Alzheimer’s disease. It frequently presents in association with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, food intolerance or depression. Chronic pain or infection from any source can lead to brain fog as well. Most often brain fog seems to creep up slowly. At first a lost key, pair of glasses or pen seems harmless enough, but then the frequency of forgetfulness increases to the point that it interferes both at work and at home. Unlike head injury or minimal traumatic brain injury, forgetfulness, decreased concentration and increased agitation may or may not accompany brain fog. While doctors don’t really know what causes brain fog, there are some obvious answers. Lack of sleep is common. Poor nutrition, stress and exposure to environmental poisons such as arsenic and mercury never help. Worry from any cause can preoccupy many to the point that they begin to forget other things that were once considered important. Minimizing, or eliminating these factors from your life whenever possible, is always a good idea. Consulting a doctor familiar with environmental/wellness medicine to measure for their presence or prescribe treatments to get rid of them can be important. Naturally anyone concerned about having progressive brain fog should see their doctor to make sure that medical diseases such as tumors, encephalitis or dementias are taken care of as well. While certain medications that increase wakefulness, decrease stress and improve memory retention can help, other medications including calcium channel blockers (for hypertension), analgesics (for pain), antihistamines (for allergy or sinus), chemo-therapy (for cancer) or hypnotics (for sleep) can all make memory worse. In general, reducing the number of medications taken to a minimum is a good idea. One important self help approach is to write down exactly what kind of information is being forgotten and under what circumstances. For example, assess if it is only “semantic” (factual or information based) memory that is being forgotten. Evaluate if you do a better job of remembering events or facts when they are associated with feelings, such as joy, laughter or sorrow. Your brain processes memory differently in these situations. Knowing the difference can help ascertain the cause of forgetfulness and lead to a treatment plan that will either reduce or eliminate the problem.

Last Updated ( Sunday, 27 November 2005 )

No matter what your personal political views are, this applies to all of us.  God Bless....

WASHINGTON - Now the death toll is 9/11 times two.

U.S. Military deaths from Iraq and Afghanistan now surpass those of the most devastating terrorist attack in America’s history, the trigger for what came next.

The latest milestone for a country at war came Friday without commemoration. It came without the precision of knowing who was the 2,974th to die in conflict. The terrorist attacks killed 2,973 victims in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

An Associated Press count of the U.S. Death toll in Iraq rose to 2,696. Combined with 278 U.S. Deaths in and around Afghanistan, the 9/11 toll was reached, then topped, the same day. The Pentagon reported Friday the latest death from Iraq, an as-yet unidentified soldier killed a day earlier after his vehicle was hit by a roadside bombing in eastern Baghdad.

Not for the first time, war that was started to answer death has resulted in at least as much death for the country that was first attacked, quite apart from the higher numbers of enemy and civilians killed, too.

Historians note that this grim accounting is not how the success or failure of warfare is measured, and that the reasons for conflict are broader than what served as the spark.

The body count from World War II was far higher for Allied troops than for the crushed Axis. Americans lost more men in each of a succession of Pacific battles than the 2,390 people who died at Pearl Harbor in the attack that made the U.S. Declare war on Japan. The U.S. Lost 405,399 in the theaters of World War II.

Milestone overlooked
Despite a death toll that pales next to that of the great wars, one casualty milestone after another has been observed and reflected upon this time, especially in Iraq.

There was the benchmark of seeing more U.S. Troops die in the occupation than in the swift and successful invasion. And the benchmarks of 1,000 dead, 2,000, 2,500.

Now this.

“There’s never a good war but if the war’s going well and the overall mission remains powerful, these numbers are not what people are focusing on,” said Julian Zelizer, a political historian at Boston University. “If this becomes the subject, then something’s gone wrong.”

Beyond the tribulations of the moment and the now-rampant doubts about the justification and course of the Iraq war, Zelizer said Americans have lost firsthand knowledge of the costs of war that existed keenly up to the 1960s, when people remembered two world wars and Korea, and faced Vietnam.

“A kind of numbness comes from that,” he said. “We’re not that country anymore — more bothered, more nervous. This isn’t a country that’s used to ground wars anymore.”

Violence worse in Iraq
Almost 10 times more Americans have died in Iraq than in Afghanistan, where U.S. Casualties have been remarkably light by any historical standard, although climbing in recent months in the face of a resurgent Taliban.

The Pentagon reports 56 military deaths and one civilian Defense Department death in other parts of the world from Operation Enduring Freedom, the anti-terrorism war distinct from Iraq.

Altogether, 3,031 have died abroad since Sept. 11, 2001.

The death toll among Iraqi civilians hit a record high in the summer, with 6,599 violent deaths reported in July and August alone, the United Nations said this week.

The latest U.S. Deaths identified by the armed forces:

• Army 2nd Lt. Emily J.T. Perez, 23, Fort Washington, Md., who died Sept. 12 in Kifl, Iraq, from an explosive device detonated near her vehicle. A former high school sprinter who sang in her West Point gospel choir, she was assigned to the 204th Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
• Marine Sgt. Christopher M. Zimmerman, 28, Stephenville, Texas, killed Wednesday in Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

A new study on the war dead and where they come from suggests that the notion of “rich man’s war, poor man’s fight” has become a little truer over time.

Among the Americans killed in the Iraq war, 34 percent have come from communities reporting the lowest levels of family income. Half have come from middle income communities and only 17 percent from the highest income level.

Bigger losses among the poor
That’s a change from World War II, when all income groups were represented about equally. In Korea, Vietnam and Iraq, the poor have made up a progressively larger share of casualties, by this analysis.

Eye-for-an-eye vengeance was not the sole motivator for what happened after the 2001 attacks any more than Pearl Harbor alone was responsible for all that followed. But Pearl Harbor caught the U.S. In the middle of mobilization, debate, rising tensions with looming enemies and a European war already in progress. Historians doubt anyone paid much attention to sad milestones once America threw itself into the fight.

In contrast, the United States had no imminent war intentions against anyone on Sept. 10, 2001. One bloody day later, it did.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14959937/