Your typical water filter, like Brita or Pur, only removes some metals and chemicals which may make the water taste better. But these filters do not protect you against what you really need protection from, like viruses and bacteria that can be harmful to your health.
A Guide to Water Filters
Many but not all available home water filters remove Cryptosporidium. Some filter designs are more suitable for removal of Cryptosporidium than others. Filters that have the words "reverse osmosis" on the label protect against Cryptosporidium. Some other types of filters that function by micro-straining also work. Look for a filter that has a pore size of 1 micron or less. This will remove microbes 1 micron or greater in diameter (Cryptosporidium, Giardia). There are two types of these filters — "absolute 1 micron" filters and "nominal 1 micron" filters but not all filters that are supposed to remove objects 1 micron or larger from water are the same.

• The absolute 1 micron filter will more consistently remove Cryptosporidium than a nominal filter.
  
• Some nominal 1 micron filters will allow 20% to 30% of 1 micron particles (like Cryptosporidium) to pass through.

NSF-International (NSF) does independent testing of filters to determine if they remove Cryptosporidium. To find out if a particular filter is certified to remove Cryptosporidium, you can look for:

• the NSF trademark on Tested and certified by NSF Standard 53 or NSF Standard 58 filter plus the words "cyst reduction" or "cyst removal" on the product label information. 
• Reverse osmosis (with or without NSF testing)
• Absolute pore size of 1 micron or smaller (with or without NSF testing)
• You can also contact the NSF at 789 N. Dixboro Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48113 USA, toll free 800-673-8010 or 888-99-SAFER, fax 734-769-0109, email info@nsf.org, or visit their Web site at www.nsf.org/certified/DWTU/. At their Web site, you can enter the model number of the unit you intend to buy to see if it is on their certified list, or you can look under the section entitled "Reduction claims for drinking water treatment units - Health Effects" and check the box in front of the words "Cyst Reduction." This will display a list of filters tested for their ability to remove Cryptosporidium.

A preparedness supply kit should include one gallon of drinking water per day per person.

What to store water in:
You can store water in food grade plastic or glass containers with tight fitting screw-on caps.

• Food-grade containers include those that previously held beverages, such as 2-liter soda bottles and other water, juice, or punch containers. Plastic milk bottles should be avoided, because it is difficult to remove protein and fat residues, which may allow bacteria to grow during storage.

• You can buy new plastic containers for water storage in most housewares and sporting goods departments, and clean food-grade containers may be available for purchase at water vending machines. Only purchase containers labeled for storage of food or beverages. Containers not labeled for food or beverage storage could release harmful chemicals into the water. Never use a container that has held toxic substances, because tiny amounts may remain in the container's pores. Some plastic containers may affect the taste of stored water.  Avoid using containers that will decompose or break, such as milk cartons or glass bottles. Also, some old glass jars were made with glass that contains lead, and unacceptable amounts of lead can leach into water stored in them even for short periods.

How should I treat the water for storage?
Be sure that the water you are treating is drinking-quality water to begin with. To treat water for storage, use liquid household chlorine bleach that contains 5.25 percent sodium hypochlorite. Do not use bleach with soaps or scents added. Add the bleach according to the list below, using a clean, uncontaminated medicine dropper.

Stir the water and allow it to stand for 30 minutes. Chlorine should be detectable by odor after the 30 minute waiting period. If the water does not smell like chlorine at that point, repeat the dose and let it stand another 15 minutes. Place caps on containers and attach labels describing the contents and when each was prepared.

• Water stored in metal containers should not be treated, prior to storage, with chlorine since the chlorine compound is corrosive to most metals. Therefore, only very pure water should be stored in metal containers.
  
• Do not boil water before storing it. It will not prevent all problems that may occur during storage. In addition, boiling may concentrate other contaminants as the water evaporates away.  

There appears to be more than just water in our water supply. Everything from pharmaceuticals, to poisons metals, to deadly chemicals. What's in your water supply? Check here. To the right, on the linked page, is a box asking for your zip. Fill in the appropriate blanks to find out what is in your water supply.

It's amazing to find out what you're taking a shower in, or cooking your pasta...You can always use a water filter. As long as you regularly keep the filter changed, your run-of-the-mill activated carbon filter (think Brita) filter will get rid of or reduce lots of those pesky additions like: Bad tastes and odors, including chlorine. A standard 53-certified filters also can substantially reduce many hazardous contaminants, including heavy metals such as copper, lead and mercury; disinfection byproducts; parasites such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium; pesticides; radon; and volatile organic chemicals such as methyl-tert-butyl ether (MTBE), dichlorobenzene and trichloroethylene (TCE)
In my next post I'll give a break down which water filters can protect you the best, because they're not all the same.

But if you ever find yourself in a "Boil Alert" or "Boil Water Alert Advisory", those filters wont work. Boiling water from 3-5 minutes is your only sure bet to kill off any harmful bacteria like the Cryptosporidium. This nasty critter is the cause of most water born illnesses. Some filters remove them, but boiling water is the only sure way to protect yourself from this bugger. But boiling doesn't take out harmful metals or toxins. You would then need to send your boiled water through an appropriate filter.
I have an ultra high sensitivity to the taste of water. The only water I have ever tasted, that did not taste funny, is Fiji Water. It is especially easy to taste the 'funniness' of water is when it's warm.

But during a Boil Alert, it's good to realize all the water coming out of the pipes, is contaminated.

• Meaning: Ice cubes, filtered (disinfected) water, foods washed in this water. Be sure to throw out the ice cubes you have, even if they were made before the Boil Alert, because all you need is one cube to make you sick.
  
• Plus, do not let the water touch your skin; so don't wash your hands in it, clean your clothes, wash the dishes, or take a shower.

So until the Advisory is lifted, use plastic utensils and paper plates. And lots of hand sanitizer and baby wipes. Baby wipes are great, by the way, they clean and disinfect, and they're safe to use on your face. Cryptosporidium is not killed by alcohol gels and hand sanitizers. Soap and disinfected water are specifically recommended for preventing cryptosporidiosis. But you must wash your hands with uncontaminated water.
Although chemicals (e.g., bleach) are sometimes used for disinfecting small volumes of drinking water for household use, Cryptosporidium is poorly inactivated by chlorine or iodine disinfection. Cryptosporidium can be removed from water by filtering through a reverse osmosis filter, an "absolute one micron" filter, or a filter certified to remove Cryptosporidium under NSF International Standard #53 or #58 for either "cyst removal" or "cyst reduction." However, unlike boiling or distilling, filtering as just described will not eliminate other potential disease-causing microorganisms, such as bacteria and viruses. Ultraviolet light treatment of water is not effective against Cryptosporidium at normally-used levels.

Links to official sites:
EPA
CDC

First of all, let me just state, a majority of scientists say both occurrences are a slow gradual process. I think they are just saying that to not alarm anyone. I honestly think they don’t know. How  could they? They weren’t around when the last one happened. They can see “what” happened on a certain date by examining soil sediments and rocks, but honestly they couldn’t tell if it took place over 30 days or 30 seconds.

So in this blog I’ll go over what occurred during these extraordinary events. But the speed in which it happened is still to be determined.

Precluded By Increasing Cataclysmic Weather Activity on Earth

It is said by some geologists and scientists that 11,500 years ago a deadly cycle happened and this is the point at which this cycle will happen again where another ice age will come back. It is said there are increased cataclysmic type occurrences when these cycles happen. Whether this 11,500 year cycle is true or not is unknown, but one thing is for certain, drastic Earth disasters are occurring more often and closer together.
In the past 200 years,                                                               

• 3 of the largest ever earthquakes have happened and earthquake occurrences have gone up by 62% in that time period.
• Underwater volcanoes and earthquakes in the oceans have gone up by 88% in the past three years, increasing the ocean's temperature and is already affecting the ocean's life forms.
• An increased number of hurricanes and there strength have increased. During the historic 2005 Hurricane season, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ran out of names for major tropical storms, using letters of the Greek alphabet to name storms for the first time since storms began acquiring names in 1953
• More powerful tornado seasons are at an all-time high.

It definitely seems as if the Earth is shifting for some reason or another.

Effects of a pole shift

The effects of the pole shift may have some terrible results in a short period, or perhaps it will be gentle and take a hundred years to take place if it happens in a long period. Since human beings have never been through a pole shift that they know of in recorded history, no one really knows how a pole shift is going to work or what the results will be.

If a pole shift does take place, it is said that the axis and magnetism of Earth will be changed, the poles will flip and reverse so that the south pole will have a positive magnetic charge instead of a negative magnetic charge, and the north pole will have a negative magnetic charge instead of the positive magnetic charge it now has.

• When this happens, it is believed that the Earth's rotation will change as well. The Earth's rotation will completely reverse and will literally spin in the opposite direction. Now no one knows this for sure, but scientists at NASA are presuming the reversal would take place. The science of magnetism depicts that if the poles reverse then Earth's rotation will also reverse.
• The cataclysmic effects would be that the bodies of water would actually move just the way the water in a glass would slosh if the direction the glass is moving is changed. All the people who live in the "slosh zone" would be subject to tsunamis and flooding.
• The Earth would not be stable during such a drastic change in its magnetic field. Tectonic plates would shift and move, earthquakes would happen, volcanic activity would be triggered.
•  Incredible storms with wind and water would batter the surface of the Earth while the weather patterns readjust.

It is believed that it is possible the Earth's magnetic field could drop to 0, especially during a pole shift, and no one really knows what would happen if that occurs. A few things that are definitely going to happen if the Earth's magnetic field drops to 0 is that;

• All electronic devices will fail, become damaged, and possibly irreparable.
• Satellites would be lost.
• Direction based on magnetism would be obsolete, and even bird migrations would be completely interrupted, which in essence would endanger those types of species.
• The worst thing that will occur, however, is that the sun's radiation will have no obstacle to reaching the Earth and the Earth will literally be uninhabitable for humans if that is the case. The magnetic field of Earth serves particularly to block radiation, the harmful rays of the sun, from reaching the surface. Plants would not be able to grow, animals will die, and so will all humans who are still left on the surface.

This weakening of the Earth's magnetic field has been happening for 2000 years, some scientists say. In the past 20 years the magnetic field has become erratic and unstable and the equipment for airplanes actually had to be readjusted for this change in the Earth's magnetic field behavior. But if the magnetic field of the Earth suddenly changed, and this does naturally occur every 250,000 years or so, the consequences would be fascinating. For life, we can see from the fossil record that the past field changes had no significant effect on living organisms. Geophysicists have begun to notice a decline in the strength of the Earth's magnetic field, suggesting a precursor that the next field reversal epoch may be about to start.

After Noah's flood, in the Bible God told Noah that the Earth will be destroyed by fire next time it is destroyed. Could solar radiation be how that happens? Or perhaps even a solar plasma cloud, which some say is another way that it is possible for the sun to fry the Earth in an instant. A solar plasma cloud is literally a piece of the sun that breaks off and shoots into space, and it would fry anything it touches. Some say that the sun has spewed solar plasma clouds off into space before and fortunately the Earth wasn't in its path.

Why do people believe in a 2012 Pole Shift?

Pole shifts are cyclic occurrences on the Earth and the cycles are natural. This is something that happens to the Earth naturally through cosmic cycles that happen like clockwork when looked at from the perspective of celestial events. Spiritual texts in some traditions suggest that these pole reversals happen every 26,000 years and that the north and south pole have switched before more than once. In Hindu texts these cycles are called Yugas. Even the Bible says in Isaiah 24:1, "Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty, and makes it waste, and turns it upside down." The Mayans also have records and legends of such occurrences. Somewhere in humanity's innate knowledge, this information is within and is recorded in a way that could be taken quite literally in light of today's challenges with the possible 2012 polar shift. Scientific proof and evidence shows that there have been pole reversals before on Earth as well.

It is a natural cycle when Earth goes above and below the galactic equator every 26,000 years. It takes 26,000 years for our solar system to make one full orbit around the galactic center. Each time it does this it goes through the galactic equator and the Earth's poles reverse. This happens back and forth every 26,000 years.

NASA has verified that there is now positive magnetism energy appearing in the south pole, which is normally supposed to be in the north pole only. The South pole is supposed to only have a negative magnetic charge. In the past 150 years, there has been a migration between the north and south poles and their respective magnetic charges of positive and negative magnetic reversal. Another thing that NASA has observed is that the sun literally reverses its poles every 11 years at the peak of each sunspot cycle. The solar pole shift will happen again in 2012 exactly. There is some concern about the extra solar activity that will be happening in the sun during this cycle, solar cycle 24, but there is some comfort in the fact that 2012 is just another normal time for the solar cycle to happen. It is natural.

Yet, if the 2012 polar shift is drastic, than everyone will have serious challenges in surviving it.

The “when” appears to have been 1993. The why, seems a little convoluted to me. It appears the FDA approved nationwide to feed milk cows a steroid hormone called rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone), also known as rBST (recombinant bovine somatotropin). FDA allows the use of the protein hormone rbGH to increase milk production in dairy cattle. Thus, hormones can increase the profitability of the meat and dairy industries. Because rBGH use results in more cases of diseaese, dairy farmers tend to use more antibiotics to combat the infections, the residues of which also may end up in milk and dairy products. These residues can cause allergic reactions in sensitive individuals and contribute to the growth of antibiotic resistant bacteria, further undermining the efficacy of some antibiotics in fighting human infections. Furthermore, recent research has shown conclusively that the levels of a hormone called “insulin-like growth factor-1″ (IFG-1) are elevated in dairy products produced from cows treated with rBGH. Canadian and European regulators have found that the FDA completely failed to consider a study that showed how the increased IGF-1 in rBGH milk could survive digestion and make its way into the intestines and blood stream of consumers. These findings are significant because numerous studies now demonstrate that IGF-1 is an important factor in the growth of cancers of the breast, prostate and colon. Let’s not even get into the pesticides used in the feed these animals eat.

Who knows what the long term affects will be of feeding growing kids these steroids. All I know is as soon as they started adding hormones and antibiotics I started getting stomach aches after I drank milk.

I can only drink certain organic milk without getting sick. And it tastes like the milk I grew up with before it was changed in 1993. I’ve tried the alternative milks, and they just don’t taste right. So if you find you can’t drink milk, but you’re fine with all other dairy products, then try organic. And FYI, not all organic brands are the same. Certain brands can give me a stomach ache, too.

Things to read
http://animalrights.about.com/od/animalsusedforfood/f/AntibioticsrGBH.htm
http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/dangers-of-cows-milk/
http://foodsafety.suencs.com/231
* I wanted to add: there are also some ice creams I can't eat. Certain brands I have no problem but they're typically the expensive brands, and I don't eat cheese too often. I've never had a problem with cheese though.*

Oy! Busy weekend.
I'm taking a weekend off on writing a blog.
Now just relax and watch, and become hypnotized...