Admiring the View Squirrel

 

Going on Vacation

 

I have gone through 4 phases of going on vacation...

Before graduating from high school, our family vacations lasted anywhere from 2 weeks to four weeks depending on where my dad was doing his naval reserve obligation of 2 weeks of active duty.  If his training was somewhere near where the rest of the family could vacation, we would stay there for 4 weeks.

The next phase took place during my first marriage and since neither one of us earned that much of an income, our vacations were spent at home doing chores around the house.  Interestingly, we did not feel that we were missing anything.  We would drive down to the Outer Banks every once in a while and spend the week at my parent's beach house for free.

The next phase took place during my second marriage. We traveled to all sorts of places like Vegas, New Orleans, NYC, Atlanta, Ft. Lauderdale, the Gulf Coast, Canada, Vancouver, Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico, and Europe.  We also went on 12 cruises that took us to Alaska, Hawaii, the Mediterranean, and all over the Caribbean...  But, no matter where we went, we always made time to spend a couple of weeks at Myrtle Beach.

The last phase (that I currently know about) is currently taking place during my second marriage and it seems that we have burned ourselves out with vacations and now the only place that we want to go is Myrtle Beach and even then, we are not all that keen on going so it is more or less just a change of scenery for us.

We will be in Myrtle Beach this year in September as our June visit was postponed due to my back surgery.  We have an ocean-facing condo that has a living room with a balcony, a kitchen and eating area, a bathroom, and a back bedroom with a door so that I can go to bed early and not be disturbed and my wife can sleep in a little in the morning and not be disturbed.

What do we do differently down at Myrtle Beach that we do not do at home, besides sitting under an umbrella watching the Atlantic Ocean?  Not much at all other than in the evening, we get "cleaned up" as the saying goes, and venture out for dinner.  And, while we can certainly do this at home, we typically don't do it every night.

While 6 hours in the car does not seem like a lot of time, it will be this time because of my back surgery and I have been mildly ordered by my Orthopedic Surgeon to stop every two hours so that I can get out and walk for 5-10 minutes.  We normally stop once for gasoline, so the inconvenience which is not really an inconvenience is only stopping a second time since the third time to stop will be at our hotel.

Rising Moon

 

One Vitamin Keeps Brain Healthy

As a nutritional psychiatrist, I always make it a point to maintain a well-balanced diet. Much of that has to do with making sure I get all the right vitamins, especially because it’s essential to preventing cognitive decline.


And given that the risk of neurological diseases increases as we get older, one question I often get from my patients is: “What is the best vitamin for protecting our aging brains?”


Each of our microbiomes is like a thumbprint, so a truly effective eating plan is personalized to the unique needs of an individual. But the vitamin group I prioritize the most to keep my brain young and healthy are B vitamins.

The brain benefits of B vitamins
Depression, dementia and mental impairment are often associated with a deficiency of B vitamins, a study from the Wayne State University School of Medicine found.

“A B12 vitamin deficiency as a cause of cognitive issues is more common than we think, especially among the elderly who live alone and don’t eat properly,” says Rajaprabhakaran Rajarethinam, a psychiatrist and the lead author of the study.

There are eight different B vitamins, each with its own primary health benefits:

1. Increasing your energy.
Vitamin B1, or thiamin, is crucial for the basic function of our cells and the metabolism of nutrients for energy.


The brain is one of the most metabolically active organs in your body, which means it needs the support of thiamin to prevent the deficiencies that can lead to neurological problems down the line. READ MORE...

Underwater Turtle

 

Heart Medications Linked to Heart Attacks

According to a new study, patients taking beta-blockers and antiplatelet medications (such as aspirin) are at high risk of suffering a heart attack during very hot weather.

For people with coronary heart disease, beta-blockers are important medications that can improve survival and quality of life. Likewise, aspirin and other antiplatelet drugs can reduce the risk of a heart attack.

However, those protections could backfire during hot-weather events, a time when heart attacks are already more likely. A new study published on August 1 in the journal Nature Cardiovascular Research found that, among people suffering non-fatal heart attacks associated with hot weather, an outsize portion are taking these heart medications.

“Patients taking these two medications have higher risk,” said Kai Chen, an assistant professor in the Yale School of Public Health Department of Epidemiology (Environmental Health) and first author of the study. “During heat waves, they should really take precautions.”

Those safety precautions include cooling strategies like using air conditioning or visiting a public cooling center.

Air pollution, cold weather, and other external environmental factors can trigger heart attacks. There is growing evidence to suggest that hot weather can do so, too. However, epidemiologists are still working to identify which groups of people are most vulnerable to these environmental extremes.  READ MORE...

Cave Road

 

Mortgage Market Resets

U.S. mortgage rates are tumbling even after the Federal Reserve hiked its benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points last week.

In fact, the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage has dipped below 5% for the first time since early April, a new report shows.

This is still significantly higher than last year — and the combination of high prices and interest rates is “driving a reset in fundamentals,” says George Ratiu, senior economist with Realtor.com.

“With borrowing costs setting an affordability ceiling for many buyers, home sales are dropping,” says Ratiu.

“In addition, as many homeowners rushed into summer ready to list their property and capture the equity brought about by record-high prices, inventory has improved. This brought a welcome sign in this year’s real estate markets — price cuts.”  READ MORE...

B17 in Flight

 

Millionaires and Billionaires and the Rest of Us

 

One of my faults my family says is that I am too critical of things and people...

Well, that is probably true...  but there are certain things that one must be critical about and for me that is TAXES...

So, here's the question:

SHOUlD THE WEALTHY BE TAXED MORE AND EXPECTED TO PAY FOR SOCIAL PROGRAMS THAT WILL CAUSE US TO DO EVEN LESS WORK?

In other words, if I were a millionaire or a billionaire, I would be expected to pay millions of dollars that I created myself to pay for:

• higher unemployment benefits
• higher social security benefits
• higher medicare benefits
• housing and food for the poor
• free college education
• a guaranteed minimum income

Why should I be forced to pay more taxes simply because I am wealthy?

And, if I am going to be forced to pay more taxes to pay for this shit, then guess what...  I'm hiding my income in the Grand Caymans where it cannot be taxed.

Then, who is going to pay for these programs?

NOT ME!!!

If this little scenario sounds somewhat silly...  it is about to happen...  and I would be willing to bet you that 90% of all millionaires and billionaires have already hidden their money so that it cannot be taxed.

If we cannot get the money from taxes, then our only other choices are:

• borrow the money
• print more money

Both of these choices ain't too smart because some future generations will have to pay if we borrow...  and, printing will simply devalue our dollar, and cause inflation...

But...  hey...  what the hell do I know?

Conspiracy

Why would the Democratic Party and Mainstream Media be pushing a climate agenda, going GREEN to combat climate change...  when wealthy Americans who support the GREEN MOVEMENT have refused to give up their private jets?

And, when there are only a few countries that are going GREEN?

In order for GOING GREEN to work, the entire world MUST GO GREEN...  countries NOT GOING GREEN:

• Russia
• China
• India
• North Korea
• Indonesia
• Africa
• Central America
• South America

The other interesting aspect of GOING GREEN is that commercial aircraft will not be involved in this process...  and, commercial aircraft fly all over the world to EVERY DAMN COUNTRY...

Looks like those of us who are GOING GREEN are spitting in the wind, and wasting time and resources...

Line Dancing

 

Extinct Pathogens Destroyed Civilizations

Thousands of years ago, across the Eastern Mediterranean, multiple Bronze Age civilizations took a distinct turn for the worse at around the same time.

The Old Kingdom of Egypt and the Akkadian Empire both collapsed, and there was a widespread societal crisis across the Ancient Near East and the Aegean, manifesting as declining populations, destruction, reduced trade, and significant cultural changes.

As usual, fingers have been pointed at climate change and shifting allegiances. But scientists have just found a new culprit in some old bones.

In remains excavated from an ancient burial site on Crete, in a cave called Hagios Charalambos, a team led by archaeogeneticist Gunnar Neumann of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany found genetic evidence of bacteria responsible for two of history's most significant diseases – typhoid fever and plague.

Therefore, the researchers said, widespread illnesses caused by these pathogens cannot be discounted as a contributing factor in the societal changes so widespread around 2200 to 2000 BCE.

"The occurrence of these two virulent pathogens at the end of the Early Minoan period in Crete," they wrote in their paper, "emphasizes the necessity to re-introduce infectious diseases as an additional factor possibly contributing to the transformation of early complex societies in the Aegean and beyond."  READ MORE...

Classic Car

 

Giant Squid Hunt For Prey

First-of-Its-Kind Video Shows How Giant Squid Hunt Their Prey Deep in The Ocean...

In the permanent twilight of the mesopelagic, a silent predator hunts.

The enigmatic giant squid is rarely observed in its natural habitat. In the first videos of their kind, unveiled in 2021, marine scientists caught its hunting behavior in the wild – revealing for the first time how these monsters of the deep stalk and attack their prey.

Although the crushing pressures and darkness of the oceanic depths are hostile to us air-breathing humans, we've slowly but surely been learning more about them, thanks to the wonders of robotic technology. Most of our underwater vehicles, however, are best suited to studying slow or immobile organisms.

For giant squid, the bright lights mounted on underwater vehicles can be uncomfortable for their sensitive, low-light eyes, which can grow to the size of dinner plates; the sound and vibration can also scare off more mobile animals. And, of course, bringing giant squid to the surface won't record their behavior in their natural environment.

That's why a team of researchers led by Nathan Robinson of the Oceanographic Foundation in Spain devised a different solution: a passive deep-sea platform, equipped with a camera. Because giant squid eyes are optimized to see shorter-wavelength blue light, they used longer-wavelength red lighting that won't annoy them, in order to see the animals on video.  READ MORE...

Sea Creature

 

Ancient Panda in Europe

An illustration of Agriarctos nikolovi, an ancient relative of the modern panda. (Velizar Simeonovski/Chicago)

Six million years ago, a relative of today’s giant panda roamed ancient forests — but in Bulgaria, not China, scientists say.


Researchers used a set of fossilized teeth discovered in the 1970s to uncover a new species of panda. The teeth were first discovered by paleontologist Ivan Nikolov, and the species bears his name — Agriarctos nikolovi.


The find is described in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.


The teeth are shiny and black because they fossilized in coal deposits in Bulgaria. Researchers believe they date from the Messinian age — 7.2 million to 5.3 million years ago — and that the animal lived in humid forests and swamps. It was probably comparable in size to modern pandas, which can weigh up to 250 pounds.

The fossilized teeth are less robust than those of modern-day pandas, which chomp on woody bamboo, and researchers think the ancient bears relied on softer plants instead.  READ MORE...

Parachute Fails

 

Learning Never Stops

 

I attended college from 1966 until 1968 and then again from 1972 to 1974 and then again from 1980 to 1981...

From 1969 to 1971, I was employed by the US Navy because I did not think college was that important...

And, I still have those doubts about attending college and you will have a productive life and earn more money are simply NOT ALWAYS TRUE...

BUT WHAT IS TRUE...  is the fact that one never stops learning or one should never stop learning.   I say it this way because many people after leaving whatever school they attended do not want to learn anymore...

About college these days and I have been a college instructor full time for 3 years and part-time for over 12 years...   is that today's student does not want to retain the knowledge...  while most of the knowledge that high schools and colleges teach is pointless, the student should still practice RETENTION.

My transcripts (and GRADES) were never used to hire me during the 45 years that I worked even those colleges and universities that hired me to teach.

Learning on the other hand is an on-going lifelong process that should never stop.  At 74 years old, I still want to learn...  forget the fact that it is exercise for my brain...  but, I really enjoy learning...  and I am learning shit that I will never use or never get quizzed about.

Right now, I am learning about:

• Theoretical Physics
• String Theory
• Cosmology
• Astrology
• History
• Archaeology
• Comparative Religions
• The Vikings
• Polical Science
• Cooking

Can you imagine that if you spent your entire life learning one item a day, let's say how smart you would be if you were to die at age 80?  You would know 22,995 pieces of information and 26,645 if you lived 10 years more to the age of 90.

What would it mean to know that much knowledge?

Probably not a damn thing...  except for personal satisfaction.

 

Path Less Taken

 Sometimes...  walking through a wooded area on a seldom used path can be invigorating as it reduces one's stress comuning with nature...  but, then there are the spiders...  the ticks...  the bees...  and the snakes that one may have to contend with...  and, the experience becomes not enjoyable at all...

THIS IS THE ROAD LESS TAKEN...

When I left high school, one of the lessons that he shared with me (and there were many) revolved around learning from those who came before you...  and, while that does make a lot of sense, it negates a lot of valuable experience on which you might miss out.

And, while I did learn a lot of valuable experience, my decision put me a good 10 years behind my peers who decided that they would get very little from those experiences...  looking back...  perhaps they were right...  but, I am still glad that I did what I did.

I don't know if you have heard this lesson or not but it's kinda like the turtle and the rabbit.  

Most days when I am in the car and going through a city, whether urban or rural, there is always a driver who has to take off fast from the red light...  so, he can get green on the next one and maybe green on the next one, but on the third one he catches the red.  

Interestingly, I am right there with him...  maybe a few cars behind...  but, I did not jump off the red light quickly, nor did I exceed the speed limit...  yet, I always catch up with them...  when going through a city.

It is humorous to watch these drivers because they never see me and know that I am right behind them and THEY HAVE GAINED NOTHING...

The same issue is present between me and my peers because even though I am 10 years behind them, I always catch up with them, and oftentimes surpass them...  sometime around half way through their careers.

It's true that I worked a little harder because I was behind, but that working harder is normal work for me...  at least during my career...  I am not that same kind of person now that I am retired.

My retirement is a little better or maybe the same as my peers because during the last 15 years of my career, I started planning for my retirement.  I planned for my retirement because that was one of the lessons that I learned when I took THE PATH LESS TAKEN.

What makes the photo at the beginning of this article a good one is not so much the subject matter but the use of light and dark to create contrast and depth of field...  this is what I learned from the path less taken.