Through the Woods

 

Gates Foundation: Zero Benefits from Alcohol

People under the age of 40 start risking their health if they consume any more than two teaspoons of wine or two and a half tablespoons of beer per day, a new study suggests.

The analysis—part of the wider Global Burden of Disease study—was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and published in The Lancet medical journal on Thursday.

It found that for young adults between the ages of 15 and 39, there were zero health benefits—only risks—associated with drinking alcohol.

Globally, almost 60% of people who consumed unsafe amounts of alcohol in 2020 fell into this age bracket, according to the findings.


Researchers said that for people aged between 15 and 39, the recommended amount of alcohol that could be consumed before risking their health was “a little more than one-tenth of a standard drink.”

They defined a standard drink as 3.4 fluid ounces of red wine or 12 fluid ounces of beer.

By this definition, the study’s findings suggested that alcohol stops being “safe” to consume for under-40s after around two teaspoons of red wine or two and a half tablespoons of beer.

The Global Burden of Disease study is massive in scope. It has been ongoing since 1990 and uses data from 204 countries and territories, and is described in the Lancet as "the most comprehensive effort to date to understand the changing health challenges around the world."

But the young-adult side of this isn't the whole story.

'Benefits' of drinking alcohol

While the study warned that drinking only led to health risks for younger generations, the GBD research team found that for people over the age of 40 with no underlying health problems, consuming a small amount of alcohol each day could provide some health benefits.  READ MORE...

Shopping Cart

 

What to Buy at Disney World

I worked in merchandising at Disney World, and I have an annual pass.  Casey Clark

I never buy water bottles because I always bring my own.
If you're on vacation and want to spend $3.50 on a bottle of water, be my guest. But I never buy water at the parks.

It's a waste of money, especially because you're allowed to bring your own bottles in.

The old trick of the trade is to ask for a water cup at any quick-service location, but, frankly, I don't like the taste of that water. Instead, I purchase a few cases of water on my way from the airport and carry them around the parks in a backpack.

It saves me money and keeps me hydrated in the Florida heat.



You won't catch me spending nearly $40 on M&M's.
I'm usually one to justify spending an exorbitant amount of money on anything shaped like Mickey Mouse. But M&M's is where I draw the line.

I was walking through the Main Street Confectionery in Magic Kingdom one day and came across M&M's in a Minnie Mouse container for $39.99.

The price is outrageous, and they're destined to melt in the Florida heat before you can even eat them.

You're better off getting some candy at a gas station on your way home.  READ MORE...

Dog & Toy

 

Our Above Ground Pool

The circumference of my above-ground pool is such that I must complete 75 revolutions in order to walk a mile...  now obviously, there is a slight difference between walking on the inside perimeter of the pool or walking on the outside...  albeit inches...  so, 40 inside laps should compensate for that discrepancy.

Ordinarily, I would not care about any of this, but I have found that walking in the water is much better on my back than walking on the asphalt neighborhood streets.  Plus the pool floor is relatively level whereas the neighborhood streets incline and decline.

Walking on the neighborhood streets requires a walking stick whereas walking in the water requires no assistance at all.

Our pool water has been 84/85 degrees because of all the warm and humid weather but last night a storm blew through dumping an inch or more of water, bringing down the temperature of the water by 4 degrees.  Colder water affects me more than when I was younger, so it took me a while to lower myself into the pool, but once I was there, the water temp did not bother me at all.

As one moves around the pool, the movement of water moves in the same direction that one is walking...  so, if one wants to strengthen the leg muscles, then all one has to do is start walking in the other direction...  there is a slight burn in the legs as the muscles strain against the water.

One can also move one's arms back and forth through the water, to strengthen the shoulder muscles...  also good when one reverses direction as well.

Sometimes, I exaggerate my steps reaching my leg out as far as it can reach as I take each new step, hoping that the action allow muscles to stretch out in different directions...  I have no idea if this helps or not but I do it anyway.

My wife holds onto the sides of the pool and lets her body float out being her, then moves her feet up and down as if she is swimming to strengthen her thighs and shoulders.

Our above-ground pool is not just something that we use for recreation or to cool off but we use it quite extensively to exercise, especially as we both get older.

Installing an above-ground pool is a lot cheaper than putting in a conventional below-ground pool.  And, if you take care of the pool, it will last a long time.  Our pool is over 12 years old and we have never replaced the liner.  We have repaired the pump a couple of times.  We replace our pool cover every 2 years as a new cover is cheaper than buying all the chemicals one needs to balance it again if the cover leaks and dirt seeps inside.

You don't have to spend a lot of money to enjoy yourself...

What a Day for a Daydream...

 At least once a month, I get out a piece and paper and a pencil and recalculate our finances to make sure that they have not changed any since last month...  Of course, they have not changed, you idiot...  I tell myself, but I do it anyway just to make sure...

What I calculate is this...

if I were to die today and my wife lived another 30 years (or until she was 100 years of age) do we have enough money saved for all of her bills to be paid for that long?

Last month the answer was YES...  the month before that the answer was YES as well as the month before that; however, I perform those calculations every month just to ensure nothing has changed.

I take my responsibilities seriously and each day it seems that something goes on with my body that makes me wonder just how long will I continue to live.

Sometimes, it is my back and somedays it is my knees and every once in a while, it is my hips that want to aggravate me...  and, this is when I feel the most vulnerable...  but, the fact remains that I walk 1.5 miles a day and I sleep 8 hours each night and I eat as healthy as I can and my cholesterol is still under 100.

My mother lived to almost age 96 and I keep telling myself that despite my cancer, and my heart, I am going to live longer than she did...  but, I don't care if that is true or not because of the life I have lived so far has been the exact kind of life that I wanted to live...  there are no regrets and no desire for a DO OVER...  it is what it is...  and, I am glad that it was...

I would not have been very good at being wealthy or financially well off, because that would have made me cocky and egotistical...  and I would have bought stuff for people because I could.   It feels good to GIVE...

I would have spent all the money on travel more than likely and expensive cars...  but not on clothes...   I like jeans, t-shirts, sandals, and thin leather jackets...

If I had that kind of money, I would fly to Paris on the weekend just for a banquette and some French cheese to eat while I drink red wine.  How silly would that be?  Or, maybe to London for some fish and chips and a warm beer...  although, I really have not gotten used to warm beer.

NO...  it is best that I don't have much money or just enough as that is the lifestyle that works best for me...  I enjoy daydreaming of all sorts of possibilities that I know I will never live...  but, right now that is what pleases me...  and I do that with a diet Pepsi and cheese thins.

The Nature of Life

Existentialism is the belief that our lives have no inherent meaning or purpose, but rather it is the purpose we create for our lives that gives them a sense of meaning. This meaning is only present in our consciousness however, the universe, or god, doesn't care what you're doing.

Nihilistic means rejecting all religious and moral principles in the belief that life is meaningless.

Similar but different views of our lives here on earth from a purpose/meaning point of view...  the former believes that we give ourselves purpose and the latter believes that we have no purpose at all...

Don McLean, the 74-year-old singer best known for his 1971 hit "American Pie," says he is not impressed with the music of today.

The singer-songwriter believes times have certainly changed since his early days in the music industry, and he's claiming there is no longer music of substance when he turns on the radio.

"The music doesn't mean anything. The music reflects the spiritual nature of the society. We have a kind of a nihilistic society now," McLean told the host. "No one believes in anything, no one likes anything, no one has any respect for anything much. The music shows that."

When I was in college pursuing an English degree, I got heavily involved with Existentialism...  and, I still believe that the world does not care about anything but its own survival and continued existence.  If we are going to find purpose and meaning in life, we are not going to find it in the lyrics of the music like we did in the 60s and 70s but we are going to find it if we give ourselves purpose and meaning.

We can no longer identify with what we had or what we want or what we would like to have, we must look at TODAY and realize that our purpose and meaning is what we do TODAY...   how we treat ourselves, how we treat others, what we believe or don't believe...  all revolves around TODAY.

And, another aspect of this TODAY concept is that we cannot expect or demand that others make us happy... or provide us with joy...  that can only be done by ourselves and for ourselves.  We must learn, one way or another, that it is up to us and only us, to provide ourselves with what we need.

Life is individual...  we are born individually (even twins) and we die individually (no one dies for us) so we must live the same way.  We can share our lives but we cannot expect that the sharing will make us happy...  the purpose and meaning that we give to live and to ourselves is what makes us happy...

Sometimes, it is a difficult lesson to learn...

Fire & Smoke

 

Leonardo da Vinci's Anatomy Drawings

The veins and muscles of the arm drawn by Leonardo da Vinci. 

Photograph: Royal Collection Trust

Leonardo da Vinci’s notes on human anatomy remained largely forgotten until the mid-18th century when the Scottish anatomist William Hunter learned of them in the royal collection. A new exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland, called Anatomy: A Matter of Death and Life, brings some of these drawings together with a variety of objects and artwork from the Scottish Enlightenment to illuminate the frequently tense relationship between the furthering of anatomical knowledge, and the need of early anatomists to procure dead bodies.

Leonardo got around the problem by working with elite patrons and by assisting an academic professor of anatomy; later Dutch and Scottish anatomists often had to pull bodies from gibbets and graveyards. Modern medicine, the art of postponing death, is built on a foundation of this grave robbery, but had its origins in a more collaborative, consensual attitude typified by Leonardo.

It’s an approach that has now returned: the exhibition closes with a moving series of videos from Edinburgh’s current professor of anatomy, a medical student and a member of the public, each explaining the vital role of bequests by people who leave their body to medical science.

Some of this history is unavoidably grisly: the exhibition resurrects the story of Burke and Hare, two Irishmen of Edinburgh who obtained bodies for the anatomist Robert Knox through the simple expedient of murdering them.

Burke’s fate was to be anatomised: on my way to tutorials in Edinburgh’s medical school I used to pass his skeleton, and it was a surprise to see it across the road in the museum. Burke’s signed confession has been loaned from the New York Academy of Medicine, and some detective work has unearthed details of the lives of his victims.

There is Johan Zoffany’s painting of William Hunter lecturing, and from Amsterdam, Cornelis Troost’s three-metre The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Willem Röell – more ghoulish (and more accurate) than Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp, painted almost 100 years earlier.

One particularly striking exhibit is an early 19th-century petition, signed by 248 medical students, asking for bodies to be made available to them through legal means.  READ MORE...

The Wave

 

Solar Storm Hitting Earth

It has been a busy time for solar activity. Back in March of 2022, Earth was hit by separate geomagnetic storms, according to government weather agencies in the U.S. and the U.K.

Though the geomagnetic storms likely didn't cause any harm, they brought into focus the potential harm that could come from more powerful storms in the future.

Then earlier this month, a G1-class geomagnetic storm hit the Earth, causing bright auroras over Canada. The only problem is that nobody saw this storm coming until it was quite late.

Five days ago, a giant sunspot and filaments on the solar surface had astronomers worried about possible Earth-directed solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that could lead to blackouts.

Finally, on Friday, it was reported that a massive solar flare had erupted from the Sun, which could see radio blackouts in many parts of the world.

A "direct hit" from a solar storm
Now, on Saturday, Dr. Tamitha Skov, known as the "Space Weather Woman," predicted a "direct hit" from a solar storm to take place on Tuesday. She took to social media to share the news along with a NASA prediction model video.

Skov is a research scientist at the federally funded Aerospace Corporation and an award-winning science educator on social media.

"Direct Hit!" she wrote on Twitter. "A snake-like filament launched as a big solar storm while in the Earth-strike zone."

"NASA predicts impact early July 19. Strong Aurora shows possible with this one, deep into mid-latitudes," she explained, adding that there could be disruption to GPS and amateur radio.  READ MORE...

Jumping into Water

 

The Ancient Druids

Most of what we know about the Iron Age druids comes from Roman sources, describing a learned class of priests, teachers and judges, who performed Druidic rites in forest clearings and offered human sacrifices to the gods.

The most detailed description dates from around 50 BC in the Commentarii de Bello Gallico, a first-hand account of the Gallic Wars, written as a third-person narrative by Julius Caesar. Most of the text is based on the hearsay of others and is regarded as anachronistic, drawing on earlier accounts by writers such as Posidonius.

Caesar’s depiction of the Druids is documented in book six, chapters 13, 14 and 16–18, where he discusses how the Druids are “engaged in all things sacred, conduct the public and the private sacrifices, and interpret all matters of religion.” They are the arbiters of disputes and are the judiciary over crimes.

Anyone who disobeyed their decree would be barred from sacrifice (considered the gravest of punishments) and shunned, with all persons forbidden to speak or engage with them in society, lest they themselves “receive some evil from their contact”.

According to Caesar, the Druids are ruled over by an elite figure who “possesses supreme authority among them”. Unless a worthy candidate can be found upon this person’s death, those with a “pre-eminent in dignity” can put their candidacy forward for election, although this sometimes resorted to armed violence between candidates to solidify their position.

They studied ancient verse, natural philosophy, astronomy, and the lore of the gods, some spending as much as 20 years in training. This was through oral tradition and verses, with writing considered unlawful to prevent their doctrines being divulged among the people.

In Chapter 16, Caesar comments: “The nation of all the Gauls is extremely devoted to superstitious rites; and on that account they who are troubled with unusually severe diseases, and they who are engaged in battles and dangers, either sacrifice men as victims, or vow that they will sacrifice them, and employ the Druids as the performers of those sacrifices”.  READ MORE...

Dancer

 

Who Are We/You?

Some of us claim to be Americans while a vast majority of us (globally) claim that we are part of the race of human beings.

Humans are primates. Physical and genetic similarities show that the modern human species, Homo sapiens, has a very close relationship to another group of primate species, the apes. Humans and the great apes (large apes) of Africa -- chimpanzees (including bonobos, or so-called “pygmy chimpanzees”) and gorillas -- share a common ancestor that lived between 8 and 6 million years ago. Humans first evolved in Africa, and much of human evolution occurred on that continent. The fossils of early humans who lived between 6 and 2 million years ago come entirely from Africa.

Most scientists currently recognize some 15 to 20 different species of early humans. Scientists do not all agree, however, about how these species are related or which ones simply died out. Many early human species -- certainly the majority of them – left no living descendants. Scientists also debate over how to identify and classify particular species of early humans, and about what factors influenced the evolution and extinction of each species.  SOURCE:  Smithsonian National Museum of  Natural History

So, from the Smithsonian's perspective, we are primates and have a very close relationship to the great apes, chimpanzees, and gorillas...  and, if we are very close to these hairy critters, then why/how did we evolve so much differently?  And, can our evolution be contributed to Darwin's Theories of Evolution?

Our transformation seems not just dramatic but accelerated in its advancement while other primates have not evolved that fast at all over the years.

BUT...  in 2014, Scientific American published a piece about a missing genetic link in human evolution...

Although scientists aren’t sure how, the core seems to sweep up neighboring segments of DNA, duplicating the entire stretch and inserting the new copy into a new location on the chromosome. “Then it picks up again and duplicates some of the sequence around it and moves to another new location,” Eichler said. “It seems to be an extremely unstable genetic element that provides a template for evolutionary change.”

It is this process that appears to create new genes: When new duplications are inserted into the genome, they bring together two previously foreign pieces of DNA, which can lead to new functional components, such as proteins. This chaotic mix-and-match approach is different from the traditional model for the creation of a gene, in which an existing gene is duplicated and the copy is free to develop new functions.

“This mechanism appears to be seminal in our evolution,” said Philip Hastings, a geneticist at Baylor College of Medicine, in Houston. “It’s possible that we are the way we are largely because of this mechanism that generates dramatic episodes of chromosomal structural change.”

Now we are totally confused as to how our DNA got altered in Africa all those millions of years ago in order to start the evolutionary process that created how human beings look today...  these mysteries are profound, outside of a religious context, because it could imply that some other species messed around with our DNA millions of years ago.  And, while the results were positive, it is still puzzling how our development was initially generated in order for us to be who we are today.

In What Do We Live?

We live on a planet that lives in a solar system that floats around in the Milky Way Galaxy that is simply one of billions and billions of galaxies that exist in our universe...  so, our small planet is unique but not altogether dissimilar with other small planets in other galaxies and other solar systems that are part of those galaxies.

We...  or some of us anyway...  believe that there are other universes that somehow interact with our own universe to create a multiverse or sorts...  but, it is uncertain how many of these other universes there actually are interacting with us...  2-3-4-5-6...  etc.

In other words, life on earth (as we know it) could be replicated in these other universes so that there is a slightly different variation of our lives here taking place there.

How odd/cool is that?

But, all of this is taking place on a MACRO level...   what about life taking place on a MICRO level?

How many dimensions do we live in here on earth?  FOUR...   is the typical answer:  height, width, depth, and time.   But, what if there were 12 dimensions?  What would life be like in those other dimensions?

We are all aware of the atom and its components:  electron, neutron, and proton...  and as the various atoms combine they form various compounds.   How many of us are aware, that these electrons, neutrons, and protons can be further broken down into sub-atomic particles and that those sub-atomic particles can be further broken down into strings of pure energy.

It is unpredictable how these strings of energy move from one location to another location, so scientists believe that this unpredictability is what could be causing all these various dimensions to exist...  and, in turn, the various dimensions cause all the parallel universes to exist as well.

Still odd and cool?

Do We Even Exist?

The Latin cogito, ergo sum, usually translated into English as "I think, therefore I am", is the "first principle" of René Descartes's philosophy. He originally published it in French as je pense, donc je suis in his 1637 Discourse on the Method...

Descartes continues with his thinking and writes the following:

"...What of thinking? I find here that thought is an attribute that belongs to me; it alone cannot be separated from me. I am, I exist, that is certain … I know that I exist, and I inquire what I am, I whom I know to exist … [W]hat then am I? A thing which thinks. What is a thing which thinks? It is a thing which doubts, understands, conceives, affirms, denies, wills, refuses, which also imagines and feels … For it is so evident of itself that it is I who doubts, who understands, and who desires, that there is no reason here to add anything to explain it..."

Herein lies the problem... as a thinking man, he is claiming that he also doubts... as well as understands...  surely Descartes must see that if he doubts and understands that logically should understand that he doubts I THINK THEREFORE I AM...  doubt his own logic and understanding that he doubts his own logic is by definition part of his own concept of thinking.

For many years, Descartes's logic was the sole source of proof that we existed...  but then the movie THE MATRIX came along and logic was taken to a whole new and different level.  How do we know that we are not living in some sort of giant matrix and that all of our perception and awareness, understanding, doubting, and thinking is just the side effect of some complex and comprehensive computer program designed by THE ARCHITECT...  the fact remains, that we don't know for sure and right now there is no way to prove it one way or another.

The other side of this concept for me is spiritual or religious...  and revolves around the concept that the Bible claims that we will have eternal life...  eternity is a hell of a long time...  and, we compare that with living 80-100 years on earth...  our life on earth seems rather meaningless in comparison, doesn't it?

As we ponder this comparison maybe our 80-100 year life isn't real at all...  maybe the only life is after we die...  and, for centuries, especially in Egypt, once a person died all the blood was removed...  so, maybe it is the blood that creates this false life...  maybe it is the blood that puts us into some sort of virtual reality computer program existence in which we pretend to be alive experiencing what we do.

Or, once the blood is created in our body, an essence is initially created that we later have come to label our soul or spirit and the combination of the soul and blood provides us with our matrix-type existence...  and when we die, our true shapes are automatically created by the soul that leaves our body...

Something leaves our body because after we die, our bodies weigh a few ounces less than they did before...   that's some weird shit, isn't it?

Bird Feeding

 

The Founding Population of Mexico

Archaeologists have recovered DNA from 10 colonial-era inhabitants of Campeche, Mexico, revealing the diversity of the founding populations of European settlements in the Americas.

Campeche was an early colonial settlement in Yucatán. It was founded in 1540, less than 20 years after the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs, once conquistadors secured their rule.

The important port was initially served by a parish church until it was replaced by a cathedral in 1680. The church was rediscovered in 2000 during rescue excavations when archaeologists found 129 early colonial burials at the site.

Early attempts to extract DNA from these burials failed. Now advances in aDNA research have allowed Professor Vera Tiesler and a team of researchers from Harvard University to gather genetic data from this important site. Their work is published in the journal Antiquity.

“Ancient DNA methods have improved to the point where we can generate robust data from warm, humid environments,” said Dr Jakob Sedig, from the Reich Laboratory at Harvard University and co-lead author of the research, “Using the petrous bone, we were able to generate excellent data from all 10 individuals we tested, which is encouraging for future ancient DNA analysis in this region.”

The aDNA revealed the 10 individuals interred in the colonial cemetery were made up of six females and four males, and none were close relatives. Most were local Indigenous Americans, but people of European and sub-Saharan African ancestry were also identified. READ MORE...