Wednesday, October 6
Tuesday, October 5
Nuclear Stress Test Results
My Cardiologist indicated that the next step was to have a heart cath procedure that will actually take a closer look so that heart surgeons can determine if additional stents should be inserted, or if a bypass should be performed, or if maintaining the status quo is appropriate...
In 2009/2010 five (5) stents were inserted into my heart arteries, 3 in the LAD and 2 were inserted into other arteries on the left side. After 10 years, it is normal and typical for these stents to no longer perform as they were originally intended to perform.
My concern folds around the idea that for the last decade I have only eaten heart healthy foods to prevent something like this from happening... Exercise may have helped reduce plaque build-up but diet is the preferred way to go... I did both but concentrated more on diet than on exercise.
These days instead of entering the artery in the inside upper thigh in the groin to travel to the heart, the surgeon enters into another artery in the wrist around the area of the thumb. This approach is less invasive and just as effective with the recovery time being greater. I am waiting to hear back on the dates for this procedure... but what I do know is that it will start at 7:30 am and I am to report 90 minutes before that.
That procedure will determine that next steps that I will be taking.A few days ago, I had a nuclear stress test and while I achieved my target heart rate, I felt light-headed and soon after the test was halted. Yesterday, I received a call from my Cardiologist who informed me that my test yielded an abnormal result... meaning there is a blockage and that blockage revolves around the LAD... called the "widow maker".
My Cardiologist indicated that the next step was to have a heart cath procedure that will actually take a closer look so that heart surgeons can determine if additional stents should be inserted, or if a bypass should be performed, or if maintaining the status quo is appropriate...
In 2009/2010 five (5) stents were inserted into my heart arteries, 3 in the LAD and 2 were inserted into other arteries on the left side. After 10 years, it is normal and typical for these stents to no longer perform as they were originally intended to perform.
My concern folds around the idea that for the last decade I have only eaten heart healthy foods to prevent something like this from happening... Exercise may have helped reduce plaque build-up but diet is the preferred way to go... I did both but concentrated more on diet than on exercise.
These days instead of entering the artery in the inside upper thigh in the groin to travel to the heart, the surgeon enters into another artery in the wrist around the area of the thumb. This approach is less invasive and just as effective with the recovery time being greater. I am waiting to hear back on the dates for this procedure... but what I do know is that it will start at 7:30 am and I am to report 90 minutes before that.
That procedure will determine that next steps that I will be taking.
Colorado's Best Towns
From natural hot springs to world-class ski and mountain bike trails, these small towns in Colorado offer something for every type of traveler.
CREDIT: KRBLOKHIN/GETTY IMAGES
CREDIT: KRBLOKHIN/GETTY IMAGES
The New Yorks and San Franciscos of the world tend to get all the credit — and visitors — but it's often a state's small towns that offer a true feel for the place. In Colorado, for example, some of the best parts of the state can be found well outside large cities like Denver and Colorado Springs.
It's in Colorado's best small towns that you'll find the state's notorious mountain views, mining-era downtowns, cowboy and ranching culture, and of course, plenty of outdoor activities — from skiing and hiking to fishing and whitewater rafting.
So, when you're ready to see a different side of the destination, give this list a peek to find a small town that checks all the boxes for a dreamy Colorado adventure.
Salida
Two and a half hours south of Denver will put you in Salida, a small town that sits in the heart of the Sawatch Range. It's a great place to challenge yourself to hike a 14,000-foot mountain (the area has plenty), bike the Arkansas Hills and Methodist Mountain trail systems, or do like the locals do and hang by the shady shores of the Arkansas River, which runs through town. No matter what adventure you end up on, you'll want to wrap up your day on the Moonlight Pizza & Brewpub patio with a well-deserved slice and beer.
It's in Colorado's best small towns that you'll find the state's notorious mountain views, mining-era downtowns, cowboy and ranching culture, and of course, plenty of outdoor activities — from skiing and hiking to fishing and whitewater rafting.
So, when you're ready to see a different side of the destination, give this list a peek to find a small town that checks all the boxes for a dreamy Colorado adventure.
Salida
Two and a half hours south of Denver will put you in Salida, a small town that sits in the heart of the Sawatch Range. It's a great place to challenge yourself to hike a 14,000-foot mountain (the area has plenty), bike the Arkansas Hills and Methodist Mountain trail systems, or do like the locals do and hang by the shady shores of the Arkansas River, which runs through town. No matter what adventure you end up on, you'll want to wrap up your day on the Moonlight Pizza & Brewpub patio with a well-deserved slice and beer.
Paonia
The climate in Colorado tends to be dry, but this little agricultural haven produces some of the state's best tree-ripened fruits — apricots, cherries, peaches, pears — and hosts a fall Ciderfest that celebrates all things apple with boot-stomping music and food. If local fruit doesn't get you excited, head to the town's well-regarded Creative District, an area full of shops, artist studios, and galleries, or visit one of the local wineries. TO FIND OUT ABOUT THE OTHER EIGHT (8) TOWNS IN COLORADO, CLICK HERE...
The climate in Colorado tends to be dry, but this little agricultural haven produces some of the state's best tree-ripened fruits — apricots, cherries, peaches, pears — and hosts a fall Ciderfest that celebrates all things apple with boot-stomping music and food. If local fruit doesn't get you excited, head to the town's well-regarded Creative District, an area full of shops, artist studios, and galleries, or visit one of the local wineries. TO FIND OUT ABOUT THE OTHER EIGHT (8) TOWNS IN COLORADO, CLICK HERE...
NOTE: It is perfectly legal to smoke marijuana in Colorado... even tourists from another State...
Undoing Carbon Emissions
Carbon emissions are causing climate change – so rather than sending carbon dioxide into the sky, in Iceland, some are turning it into stone.
The two red-and-white silos of the aluminium smelter at StraumsvÃk are conspicuous from afar to everyone travelling from Iceland’s international airport to the capital city, ReykjavÃk. These silos house a mineral called alumina, the raw material used to produce aluminium.
The alumina makes its way via an automated system to potrooms – three grey, long, low-lying buildings – where the manufacture of aluminium happens. These potrooms are perhaps less noticeable than the towers, yet they are playing a crucial role in reducing Iceland’s carbon emissions.
Heavy industry in Iceland contributes 48% of the country’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, according to the Environment Agency of Iceland, excluding greenhouse gases from land use and forestry.
Heavy industry in Iceland contributes 48% of the country’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, according to the Environment Agency of Iceland, excluding greenhouse gases from land use and forestry.
Even though these industrial facilities run on renewable energy from hydroelectricity and geothermal power, CO2 is released as part of the process of producing metals like aluminium.
The larger of the country’s industrial facilities produces silicon metals, which are used in steel manufacturing, as well as aluminium, much of which is exported and used in the automobile industry.
At present, three aluminium smelters, two manufacturing plants and the energy company Reykjavik Energy are investigating becoming carbon neutral by 2040. Together, the facilities release about 1.76 million tonnes of CO2 each year.
At present, three aluminium smelters, two manufacturing plants and the energy company Reykjavik Energy are investigating becoming carbon neutral by 2040. Together, the facilities release about 1.76 million tonnes of CO2 each year.
Getting from that figure to zero might seem like a tall order, especially when much of Iceland’s heavy industry already runs on renewables. TO READ MORE, CLICK HERE...
Being A Good Leader
- If you want to keep good employees, you need to have strong managers.
- Not everyone is cut out for a leadership role, particularly people who show narcissistic tendencies.
- Leaders should be approachable, not overbearing, and eager to praise their direct reports' success.
As an executive coach, I do a lot of listening to managers worried about losing good employees. People-oriented managers understand what they need to do to get the best out of people. I'm not concerned about them.
I am concerned about managers being promoted into leadership roles when they have no business being there. Leadership is demonstrated through competence, not attitude, confidence, or charisma. It takes ability and skills.
That's why the single biggest decision any organization will make is whom they name manager. When you name the wrong person manager, nothing fixes that bad decision.
We've all heard this tune play like a broken record: People leave managers, not companies. TO READ MORE, CLICK HERE...
Monday, October 4
How Einstein Imagined Spacetime
Like a gorgeous mirage, hyperspace wavered into being, in philosophy, science, literature and art. The science is Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity. There are two kinds of art I want to share. First, the water lily paintings of Claude Monet. Secondly, there’s that amazing innovation in narrative prose—the stream of consciousness. Let’s start with the paintings. They make it so obvious.
The Orangerie is quite an experience. “Orangerie” means a place where they grow oranges. But this is a place where they grow experiences of gorgeous paintings.
The Orangerie is a pair of oval-shaped rooms in the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris. In these rooms, you can visit Claude Monet’s astounding water lilies paintings. It’s more than visiting. It’s being inside them. It’s not an experience you can forget.
The Orangerie is quite an experience. “Orangerie” means a place where they grow oranges. But this is a place where they grow experiences of gorgeous paintings.
The Orangerie is a pair of oval-shaped rooms in the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris. In these rooms, you can visit Claude Monet’s astounding water lilies paintings. It’s more than visiting. It’s being inside them. It’s not an experience you can forget.
Immersive, strangely anticipatory of VR, you find yourself surrounded by gigantic ovals of color. An oval is a circle that’s been squeezed, just like spacetime isn’t totally regular but is squeezed and stretched by gravity. An oval is also an egg, an obvious container that isn’t just a container, but a living habitat for an embryo. The visitors are the embryos. And Monet’s paintings are the yolk, a gorgeous, mauve-blue-green yolk.
Floating in the yolk are little blobs, the water lilies. The water lilies appear not as objects in empty space. They melt into the water. It’s as if they are manifestations of the warp and flow of Monet’s beloved pond at Giverny. It’s as if the water lilies are an intrinsic part of their habitat: go figure.
Floating in the yolk are little blobs, the water lilies. The water lilies appear not as objects in empty space. They melt into the water. It’s as if they are manifestations of the warp and flow of Monet’s beloved pond at Giverny. It’s as if the water lilies are an intrinsic part of their habitat: go figure.
Ecological thought holds this to be true, a truism, even. But imagine what it was like to see that, first. You’re Claude Monet, and you’re seeing the slowly rippling, smooth, transparent liquid of your pond at Giverny. The pond contains so much else—water weeds, shadows, the sky… and water lilies. TO READ MORE, CLICK HERE...
The Kitchen
How Do You Thicken Cauliflower Soup?
There are many ways to thicken cauliflower soup. Some recipes lean on heavy cream, half-and-half, milk, or coconut milk to thicken the soup and make it creamy. Others blend in cooked potatoes with the cauliflower. My favorite way to thicken cauliflower soup, though, is to simply let the cauliflower do the work. When cooked and blended with chicken or vegetable broth, cauliflower’s natural starches make the soup plenty thick, rich, and creamy without the need for much else.
How Do You Fix Bland Cauliflower Soup?
Bland cauliflower soup is a result of a lack of seasoning. Here’s how to ensure every bowl is packed with flavor.
- Season twice with salt and pepper: You’ll start by seasoning the cauliflower florets with salt and pepper before roasting. Then, season again when the roasted florets are combined with broth on the stovetop. Your soup should be well-seasoned if you follow this approach, but it’s always a good idea to taste it before serving in case your personal preference is a little more salt, pepper, or both.
- Add lots of aromatics. Leaning hard on aromatics is another way to load cauliflower soup with flavor. Here, garlic, onion, and fresh thyme lend tons of savory flavor to the soup. Since cauliflower is such a mild vegetable, it can handle a heavy hand.
- Finish with lemon. A big squeeze of lemon juice stirred into the soup right before serving brightens it up. Acid helps draw out flavor and ensures every spoonful of this soup is balanced and interesting.
TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS CAULIFLOWER SOUP, CLICK HERE...
Laergest Comet Ever
More than 2.7 billion miles from the sun—29 times farther than Earth treads—a tiny sliver of sunlight reflected off something plummeting toward our home star. Something icy. Something unimaginably old. Something big.
About four hours later, in the predawn hours of October 20, 2014, a telescope in Chile’s Atacama Desert turned its gaze toward the heavens and snapped an enormous picture of the southern night sky, capturing hints of this reflected light.
However, it would take nearly seven years for researchers to identify that strange dot of light as a huge primordial comet—possibly the biggest ever studied with modern telescopes.
Called Bernardinelli-Bernstein, the comet was announced in June, and researchers have now compiled everything they know about it in a discovery paper submitted to The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
“My phone didn’t stop ringing—I wasn’t expecting the reception the [scientific] community gave to the discovery,” says Pedro Bernardinelli, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington.
“My phone didn’t stop ringing—I wasn’t expecting the reception the [scientific] community gave to the discovery,” says Pedro Bernardinelli, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington.
He co-discovered the comet during the final weeks of his Ph.D. research at the University of Pennsylvania with his then-adviser Gary Bernstein. “Overall, it’s been pretty overwhelming.” READ MORE...
Sunday, October 3
Women to Register for Draft
Congress has debated for several years whether to require women to sign up with the Selective Service, as men must do between the ages of 18 and 25. No American has been drafted in nearly a half century, but the Selective Service provides the government with information that could be used if a new draft were to occur in a time of national emergency.
Six years of debate
Congress’ previous efforts to require women to register for the draft have fallen short despite widespread bipartisan support for the move.
The debate over registering women picked up steam in 2015, when women were permitted to perform so-called combat roles in the U.S. armed services.
In 2016, both the House and Senate Armed Services panels approved the change, but it did not make it into the final fiscal 2017 bill.
In the House that year, Republicans effectively stripped the provision out of the defense authorization measure on the floor without a vote, when the Rules Committee adopted a so-called self-executing rule that turned the required registration into a mandate for a study of the issue.
Last year, a National Commission on Military, National and Public Service, which was created by Congress, recommended that women register.
Politico reported earlier this week that Rhode Island Democrat Jack Reed, the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, would push to include the provision requiring women to register for the draft in this year's bill.
House push
On the Selective Service website, one of the "frequently asked questions" is: "Why aren't women required to register?"
The response is: "The Military Selective Service Act, as it is written, only authorizes the registration of 'male persons.' In order for the Selective Service to be authorized to register women, Congress would have to pass legislation amending the current law." TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS, CLICK HERE...
On the Selective Service website, one of the "frequently asked questions" is: "Why aren't women required to register?"
The response is: "The Military Selective Service Act, as it is written, only authorizes the registration of 'male persons.' In order for the Selective Service to be authorized to register women, Congress would have to pass legislation amending the current law." TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS, CLICK HERE...
Welfare Benefits & Government Salaries
The Cato Institute released an updated 2016 study showing that welfare benefits pay more than a minimum wage job in 33 American states, and the District of Columbia.
Even worse, welfare pays more than $15 per hour to stay home in 13 states.
According to the study, welfare benefits have increased faster than minimum wage. It's now more profitable to sit at home and watch TV than it is to earn an honest day's pay.
Hawaii is the biggest offender, where welfare recipients earn $29.13per hour, or a $60,590 yearly salary for doing nothing.
Here is the list of the states where the pre-tax equivalent "salary" that welfare recipients receive is higher than having a job:
1. Hawaii : $60,590
2. District of Columbia :$50,820
3. Massachusetts : $50,540
4. Connecticut : $44,370
5. New York : $43,700
6. New Jersey : $43,450
7. Rhode Island : $43,330
8. Vermont : $42,350
9. New Hampshire:39,750
10. Maryland : $38,160
11. California : $37,160
12 Oregon : $34,300
13. Wyoming : $32,620
14. Nevada : $29,820
15. Minnesota : $29,350
16. Delaware : $29,220
17. Washington : $28,840
18. North Dakota : $28,830
19. Pennsylvania : $28,670
20. New Mexico : $27,900
21. Montana : $26,930
22. South Dakota : $26,610
23. Kansas: $26,490
24. Michigan : $26,430
25. Alaska : $26,400
26. Ohio : $26,200
27. North Carolina : $25,760
28. West Virginia : $24,900
29. Alabama : $23,310
30. Indiana : $22,900
31. Missouri : $22,800
32. Oklahoma : $22,480
33. Louisiana : $22,250
34 South Carolina : $21,910
Hawaii, DC , and Massachusetts pay more in welfare than the average wage folks earn there. Is it any wonder that they stay home rather than look for a job. Time for a drastic change... Americans are not stupid . Note that California is $18.50 an hour. Are we Nuts or what? How do we un-do this type of stupidity .
Now if you think that's bad, read about these salaries:
Nancy Pelosi will retire as a Congress Person at $174,000 Dollars a year for LIFE. She will retire as SPEAKER at $223,500 a year Plus she will receive an additional $193,400 a year for when she was Minority Leader, the fact that she has become rich while in office notwithstanding. That's $803,700 Dollars a year for LIFE including FREE medical which is not available to us.... the taxpayers. She is just one of the hundreds of Senators and Congresspersons that float in and out of Congress every year I think we found where the cuts should be made!
If you agree ....please pass this on, I just did.
AND , can you imagine paying AOC these sums for life ?
- Salary of retired United States Presidents $180,000 FOR LIFE
- Salary of House/Senate...$174,000 FOR LIFE.
- Salary of Speaker of the House ..$223,500 FOR LIFE!
- Salary of Majority/Minority Leader $193,400 FOR LIFE!
- Average Salary of a teacher ... $40,065
- Average Salary of Soldier DEPLOYED IN AFGHANISTAN.. $38,000
Nancy Pelosi will retire as a Congress Person at $174,000 Dollars a year for LIFE. She will retire as SPEAKER at $223,500 a year Plus she will receive an additional $193,400 a year for when she was Minority Leader, the fact that she has become rich while in office notwithstanding. That's $803,700 Dollars a year for LIFE including FREE medical which is not available to us.... the taxpayers. She is just one of the hundreds of Senators and Congresspersons that float in and out of Congress every year I think we found where the cuts should be made!
If you agree ....please pass this on, I just did.
AND , can you imagine paying AOC these sums for life ?
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