Yummy air and sunlight diet...

I've been following this fellow's story for a few years now. Prahlad Jani, 82, claims to have subsisted on a diet of air for the past 74 years. He lives in a cave and has some type of hole in the roof of his mouth that gathers moisture from the air and gives him enough energy to live. He says a goddess pours an 'elixir' through the hole in his palate. He also claims he derives energy from sunlight. It's bit meshuggah but somehow I believe it...

A wing of the Indian Government's defense department is studying him under lockdown for 15 days with a team of 34 doctors to see if he's for real. They want to know if he could teach them how to help soldiers survive for long stretches of time without food, or disaster victims to remain alive without sustenance until emergency workers arrive.

To read more about Prahlad Jani, click HERE.

I'll keep you posted when I hear any updates.

Ez


UPDATES:

-The 15 day study has concluded and Prahlad Jani baffled the doctors by not eating or drinking for the entire period. Here's an article about the preliminary results.
-A Harvard doctor exclaims "Impossible"; a blog commentor named "eric" types: "India is full of phony magicians. What I want to know is this: What is his relationship to the "researchers" and why are they knowingly publicizing a fraud?"; and a self-help guru chimes in, "It may truly be an example of mind over matter. These are things that enligtened being have been doing since the beginning of time... Jesus stated, "You will do things even greater than I. Study quantum physics..." More.

Hempy trails, Jack...

(Jack Herer, 1939-2010; photographer unknown)

Many of you probably know I love hemp. The plant that can be used for food, fibre, fuel, paper, plastic, soap and rope (even dope if you count hemp's sister plant marijuana) is not just incredibly versatile but also environmental, historical, industrial, medicinal, renewable and frankly, logical:

The way I see it, hemp just makes sense and more and more people like you are click by click and wow by wow discovering this... and making good things happen with it.

The world has lost perhaps the most important hemp advocate. On April 15th, Jack Herer passed away at the age of 70.

In 2004, the L.A. Times wrote: "Herer is widely credited with launching the modern hemp movement, a persistent campaign by an eclectic coalition of environmentalists, legislators, rights activists, farmers, scientists, entrepreneurs and others to end the maligned plant's banishment and tap its potential as a natural resource..."

Jack, the author of the landmark book "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" (read it online here) is the person who took the age-old hemp plant and its myriad uses out of obscurity in the late 1980s.


Having been all but banned, banished and shunned since the late 1930s, hemp was essentially rediscovered and fully exposed for modern readers by Jack's book. In researching the book, he uncovered lost documents about Henry Ford's virtually indestructible hemp car; about "Hemp For Victory" a pro-hemp film made by the U.S. government during WWII and subsequently hidden; and among other things, the truth about how nutritious hemp seeds are and how high they are in protein, amino acids and omega fatty acids.

I never had the opportunity to meet Jack but had we met I would have thanked him for turning me and so many others on to this plant and its immeasurable potential.

I've now spent 5 years wearing, eating, researching, and sharing hemp and products derived from hemp. Jack inspired me to do my homework on this plant and after all this time I can't find a good reason for our society not to use this plant more. In a time of eco crisis, here is a plant that's easy to grow, requires no pesticides and little water, and actually heals the soil as it grows. Add to that all that can be done with it once harvested.

Thanks, Jack, for all you did. We will carry your work forward each day. We'll miss you next month as we celebrate the first annual Hemp History Week.

You can read Jack Herer's obituary here. And here is a very nice article about Jack's funeral.

Curious about hemp? Want free Dr. Bronner's hemp soap samples or Manitoba Harvest hemp seed samples? Come by Montreal's CinemaSpace at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts the world's first hemp-seat movie theatre I run and we'll happily give you some.

Best to all from Montreal,

Ez

Bob Dylan upon a wall

"Subterranean Homesick Greens" (4/14/10, MTL, Mural by Henry Buszard, photo by Ezra S.)

"He's a huge Bob Dylan fan!," said a worker at a veterinarian's office in NDG about her boss who commissioned this fine mural of Bob Dylan on the vet's building.

To see Mr. Dylan in the original 1965 video upon which this mural is based, click here. Good for a pick-me-up anytime. Look for Allen Ginsberg looking highly rabbinic in the background.

Oh, and to see the Weird Al Yankovic cover of this song, click here!

Ez