Becoming Healthy Easily

Is punching health data into your phone or constantly checking your watch to see how much oxygen your blood has starting to feel like a chore?

We live in a time where the line between our bodies and our data is getting increasingly blurry. With the availability of apps that track our menstrual cycles and watches that can tell how stressed we are, there's pressure to keep tabs on any incremental changes to our health metrics. If we don't, how can we possibly know if we're healthy?

While tracking such metrics can be helpful (or even fun), it's not necessary to live a healthy life. In fact, if you stay tuned in to your body, you'll be able to gauge your well-being through some key patterns.

Here are a few health clues.

You're 'regular'
This applies to both bowel movements and menstrual cycles (for people that have one). Just like the nonexistent hands on our smartwatches, our bodies like to keep a rhythm.

Having at least one bowel movement a day is a good sign that your digestive system is working properly, and anywhere from three a week to three a day is considered normal. (Bonus points if you normally go around the same time each day.) Painful or infrequent bowel movements could be signs of constipation or irritable bowel syndrome -- conditions that flag a reason for a doctor's visit.  READ MORE...

Orange Crab

 

Focusing on Rotten Publishing

When I say that white supremacy makes for terrible readers, I mean that white supremacy is, among its myriad ills, a formative collection of fundamentally shitty reading techniques that impoverishes you as a reader, a thinker, and a feeling person; it’s an education that promises that whole swaths of the world and their liveliness will be diminished in meaning to you. Illegible, intangible, forever unreal as cardboard figures in a diorama.

They don’t know how to read us, I’ve heard fellow writer friends of color complain, usually after a particularly frustrating Q&A in which a white person has either taken offense to something in our books or in the discussion (usually the mention of whiteness at all will be enough to offend these particularly thin-skinned readers), or said something well-meaning but ultimately self-serving, usually about how their story made them feel terrible about your country.

White supremacy is a comprehensive cultural education whose primary function is to prevent people from reading—engaging with, understanding—the lives of people outside its scope. This is even more apparent in the kind of reading most enthusiastically trafficked by the white liberal literary community that has such an outsize influence, intellectually and economically, on the publishing industry today.

The unfortunate influence of this style of reading has dictated that we go to writers of color for the gooey heart-porn of the ethnographic: to learn about forgotten history, harrowing tragedy, community-destroying political upheaval, genocide, trauma; that we expect those writers to provide those intellectual commodities the way their ancestors once provided spices, minerals, precious stones, and unprecious bodies.  READ MORE...

Flying By

 

Democracy Is In Trouble

In 1776 when we declared our independence from Great Britain and formed a Democratic Republic, having a Democratic Government was seen as an EXPERIMENT and many countries simply did not believe that it would work...  having that must trust in people to decide what is best for a country.  And, for 246 years, we have been conducting this experiment quite successfully until recently.

Our experimental government has created the:

• strongest military in the world.
• strongest economy in the world.
• best education programs in the world.
• best healthcare in the world.
• best employment opportunities in the world.

And it is because of this list above that we now have a divided country and that division is getting worse each year.  This division started to manifest itself about 2012 during the second term of Obama.  It worsened in 2015 when Donald Trump campaigned and won the Presidency and escalated into high gear from 2016-2020.  And, even though Trump is no longer President the division in this country is worsening.

It is my belief that Russia, China, and several multi-billionaires are financing and promoting this division through a campaign of misinformation.

According to the Brookings Institute:

Democracy in the United States is in serious trouble. A review of some recent public opinion research shows just how much.

For example, an NPR survey conducted earlier this year found that 64% of the American population believes that U.S. democracy is in crisis and is at risk of failing. A strong indication that the situation is getting worse and not better is that over 70% of respondents in that poll said that democracy is more at risk of failure now than it was a year ago.

Similarly, a Quinnipiac University survey reveals that 76% of respondents think political instability within the country is a bigger danger to the United States than external adversaries. Amazingly, this suggests that Americans recognize that we are a bigger threat to our own democracy than any other potential external threat. Sadly, according to this poll, over half of Americans (53%) expect political divisions in the country to worsen over their lifetime rather than get better.

One of the drivers of decreased confidence in the political system has been the explosion of misinformation deliberately aimed at disrupting the democratic process. This confuses and overwhelms voters. Throughout the 2020 election cycle, Russia’s cyber efforts and online actors were able to influence public perceptions and sought to amplify mistrust in the electoral process by denigrating mail-in voting, highlighting alleged irregularities, and accusing the Democratic Party of engaging in voter fraud. The “big lie” reinforced by President Trump about the 2020 election results amplified the Russian efforts and has lasting implications on voters’ trust in election outcomes.

Democracy is the heart and soul of the United States and the ONLY REASON that we are and continue to be the most successful country in the world.

Yes, we have Democratic Progressives here and yes we have Socialists here who want the government to pay for everything while requiring that the wealthy foot the bill...  and while that sounds a lot like being taken care of by our parents, it is not going to be healthy for our economy...  unless the wealthy volunteer to do this on their own.

Moving fast in having only a GREEN economy, is foolish, childish, economically unsound, and illogical.  Transitions like this must be gradual and to say we are going to stop using petroleum crude oil, is just blatantly IGNORANT.

Over 6,000 items are made from petroleum waste by-products, including: fertilizer, flooring (floor covering), perfume, insecticide, petroleum jelly, soap, vitamins and some essential amino acids.  SOURCE:  Google Search

Shoreline

 

Plant Based Diet

A plant-based diet could be helpful if you want to lose weight, avoid diabetes, or reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s.


New study argues that all doctors should be aware of the benefits of plant-based diets for these six health conditions.


According to a recent commentary in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, all doctors should be aware of the advantages of a plant-based diet for six different health conditions, including COVID-19, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and weight loss.


“The field of medicine, despite its prominent influence in society, has invested little to promote healthy lifestyle choices,” says the commentary co-authored by Saray Stancic, MD, FACLM, director of medical education for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. 

“The consequence of this is reflected in our ever-rising chronic disease statistics, most notably obesity and diabetes rates.  READ MORE...

Friends

 

Pest Working Its Way Across the Country

“It was like it was raining lanternflies when you walk outside,” Gavyn Essner told FOX 29 Philadelphia of the sheer number of bugs in his yard.

The spotted lanternfly is not only pervasive and invasive but deadly to plants. The plant-hopping bug pierces plants with their mouth and sucks sugary sap out of the stems, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

“Our yard – this was the worst year so far,” said Essner about the insects. He started noticing lanternflies three to four years ago in his Williamstown, New Jersey yard. “The previous years we have seen them here and there, nothing major, but this is by far the worst. I had to wrap tape around the trees this year.”

The lanternfly is even more destructive to hardwood forests, orchards and vineyards. It deprives plants of sap, causes wilting, dieback and makes plants more susceptible to other diseases and pests.

“Some vineyards have seen a 100% crop loss,” Sharon Powers of Pennsylvania’s Department of Agriculture told FOX Weather’s Katie Byrne. “They are a threat to our economy as well as our quality of life.”

In addition to sucking sap, the fly that travels in swarms and covers plants also produces honeydew.

“The honeydew that the insects squirt out covers the plants, blocks photosynthesis, so the plant doesn’t get the sunlight it needs,” explained Powers. “And the plant is basically smothered, but it’s also covered with a black, sooty mold that destroys the plant.”

Honeydew is a sugary substance that promotes mold growth. The mold is not harmful to humans but can be a mess when it covers decks, play sets and outdoor furniture.

“Stop, scrape and squash!” says a yard sign the Pennsylvania Ag Department distributes to remind residents to eradicate the bug that is not harmful to humans or pets.  READ MORE...

Alaskan Waterfall

 

Chocolate Vessel Found in Cave

Archaeologists have recovered a Maya chocolate-type vessel from the Cueva de la Cruz, near the coastal resort of Playa del Carmen, in Mexico’s Yucatán.

Researchers from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) recovered the 13cm tall vessel after being notified by the Cenotes Urbanos project.

The vessel was partially submerged and buried in soft sediment, deposited by the rainy season that tends to flood the entire cave.

“It has a reddish colour on the outside and a black slip on the inside, partially covered by calcium carbonates. The decoration seems to provide a phytomorphic image, similar to a pumpkin”, said archaeologist Antonio Reyes abounds.

The vessel dates from the Late Preclassic period (300 BC to AD 250), and although lacking a spout, archaeologists suggest that the vessel was used for drinking chocolate.

Maya chocolate was consumed as a hot liquid beverage, seasoned by mixing the roasted cacao seed paste into a drink with water, chilli peppers and cornmeal, and then transferring the mixture repeatedly between pots until the top was covered with a thick foam.

The drink was used in official ceremonies and religious rituals, as funerary offerings, as a tribute, and for medicinal purposes.  READ MORE...

Cats Watching

 

Some of Us are Caught Between Floors

 

I saw the headline for an article (that I did not read) which stated that Dem Candidates Refuse To Say If Males Can Get Pregnant and Define a Woman...

Right before that article there was another article that stated VP Kamala Harris introduced herself as the woman who was wearing a blue outfit and shared her pronouns...

As a retired American who is also a Vietnam Veteran, this garbage does not shock me, it just makes me feel that the people promoting this kind of shit are setting the stage for their own downfall as a majority of the people, especially all the illegal immigrants that are coming across the border are going to identify as either male, female, drug dealer, drug addict, or terrorist...  lol

A male can cut off his penis if he so desires that is fine by me and he can swallow female hormones to grow titties...  but that joker is still going to be a male and the only pronoun I am going to use will be IT.

The same hold true for a female who wants to have a penis attached in her crotch and pretend that she can impregnant another female...  She too can do whatever she pleases but as far as I am concerned she will also be referred to as IT.

I also read the other day that our once glorious military is actively trying to recruit people from the LGBQT+ community...  and, all I can say there is that I am glad that I did not have to go into battle with people like that.

Can you imagine a GAY Rambo or James Bond?

And yes I do understand that many bodybuilders both male and female are gay but I doubt any of them want to switch their gender.

On the bright side...  if there are more and more gender switches and if there are more and more gay males and lesbian females...  then there is a good possibility that our population will begin to decrease...

If latinos, hispanics, Mexicans, and Asians do not have the same gender curious desires, then there is a good possibility that their populations will increase.   And, in time, the demographics of the US will change and the two largest populations will be Hispanics and Asians with Caucasian and Blacks being on the bottom.

If I were one of these groups, I would want to be financing the LGBQT+ movement in the hopes that it grows uncontrollably large...

He is has the last laugh will laugh the hardest...

Kitten & Big Dog

 

A Semiconductor Better Than Silicon

MIT researchers say cubic boron arsenide is the best semiconductor material ever found, and 

maybe the best possible one. Credit: Christine Daniloff, MIT

Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have found a material that can perform much better than silicon. The next step is finding practical and economic ways to manufacture it.

Silicon is one of the most plentiful elements on Earth, and in its pure form, the semiconductor material has become the foundation of much of modern technology, including microelectronic computer chips and solar cells. However, silicon’s properties as a semiconductor are actually far from ideal.

One reason is that although silicon allows electrons to readily flow through its structure, it is much less accommodating to “holes” — electrons’ positively charged counterparts —and harnessing both is crucial for particular types of devices. 

Furthermore, silicon does a poor job of transporting heat, which contributes to the frequent overheating problems and pricey cooling systems in computers.

Now, a team of scientists from MIT, the University of Houston, and other institutions has carried out experiments showing that a material called cubic boron arsenide overcomes both of these limitations. 

In addition to providing high mobility to both electrons and holes, it has excellent thermal conductivity. It is the best semiconductor material ever found, and maybe the best possible one, according to the researchers.

Cubic boron arsenide has so far only been made and tested in small, lab-scale batches that are not uniform. In fact, in order to test small regions within the material, the scientists had to use special methods originally developed by former MIT postdoc Bai Song. 

More work will be needed to determine whether cubic boron arsenide can be made in a practical, economical form, much less replace the ubiquitous silicon. But even in the near future, the researchers say, the material could find some uses where its unique properties would make a significant difference.  READ MORE...

The Caribbean

 

Air Conditioning Will Not Save Us

It keeps happening. Every summer, unprecedented heat surges through cities across the United States—in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho; in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio; and in Maryland, Virginia, and New Jersey. Last week, a heat wave melted records in Texas with unrelenting highs well into the 100s for days. 

And just when residents need it most, the electrical grid fails. Every year, hundreds die from heat-related illness in the U.S., and thousands more end up in emergency rooms from heat stress. Compared to other weather-related disasters, the emergency response to extreme heat from U.S. leaders has been minimal. As a result, many places remain unprepared. How, then, do we make our cities more resilient?

The urban heat crisis is not confined to North America, of course. Extreme heat kills more people than any other climate disaster on the planet, including hurricanes, floods, and wildfires. In the U.K., temperatures are reaching 104ºF for the first time in recorded history, and the heat is stoking wildfires across Europe. 

In India, cities inhabited for centuries are now unlivable with highs of 123ºF. And, driven largely by carbon emissions from the developed world, climate change is making it worse. 

Heat waves are getting hotter, they’re happening more often, and they’re lasting longer. Currently, 2.2 billion people—that’s 30% of the world’s population—now experience life-threatening heat during at least 20 days of the year, and scientists predict that heat could threaten as many as 66% of human lives by the end of the century. 

Unlike more cinematic violence, heat is invisible, even as it’s more immediate and widespread. That also makes it more dangerous. Nothing but the massive reduction of fossil fuels will slow this trend.  READ MORE...

Truck Backs Into Tight Space

 

Phantom Galarxy Looks Like A Wormhole

The James Webb Space Telescope's imagery of NGC 628 (the "Phantom Galaxy") shows glowing 

dust in this citizen science image. (Image credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/Judy Schmidt)

A fresh image based on brand-new deep-space data appears to show a wormhole spinning before our very eyes.

The appropriately named "Phantom Galaxy" glows eerily in a new image by Judy Schmidt based on James Webb Space Telescope data collected nearly a million miles away from our planet using the observatory's mid-infrared instrument (MIRI).

"I've been doing this for 10 years now, and [Webb] data is new, different, and exciting," Schmidt told Space.com. "Of course I'm going to make something with it."

The image highlights the dust lanes in the galaxy, which is more properly known as NGC 628 or Messier 74. Dubbed the "perfect spiral" by some astronomers because the galaxy is so symmetrical, the Phantom Galaxy is scientifically interesting because of the intermediate-mass black hole scientists believe is embedded at its heart.

The galaxy has been imaged professionally many times before, including by space observatories such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). 

What makes Webb imagery stand apart from these past efforts is the mid-infrared range that highlights cosmic dust, along with the power of its unique 18-segment hexagonal mirror and deep-space location.

Webb observed M74 earlier this week. The data was also shared on Twitter(opens in new tab) (with different filtration) by Gabriel Brammer, an astronomer at the Cosmic Dawn Center in the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Denmark.  READ MORE...

Hero

 

A Business Philosophy

Throughout my business career of 45 years, one of my responsibilities was the hiring, training, mentoring, and firing of employees.

My hands were tied by the fact that I had to hire college graduates for certain positions but after I knew that they for certain had a degree, I could care less about their grades or what clubs they might have belonged to or if they worked while attending college...

What I cared about was threefold:

• Would they fit in with the rest of the team?
• What value could they add?
• Did I believe they would achieve the results I needed them to achieve?

It was not the best two out of three but it had to be all three...  otherwise, it was pointless to hire them.

HOWEVER, out of those 3 identifiers, only one was certain in an interview and that was could they add value...  the other two were always yet to be seen or determined.

But, the value could the ascertained right there in the interview by what the potential employee said or did not say about his/her abilities and what they could do.

On the other side of the coin, whenever I found myself in an interview seeking possible employment from an employer, my strategy was always to explain the value I could add to the company.

And, when you think about it, adding value is all you have to give an employer...  it is the value you add that helps you fit in and it is the value you add that helps you achieve results...

Why on earth would you ever hire someone that you did not think would achieve the results that you needed them to achieve?

TRUTH is What We Want It To Be

TRUTH is that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality.

FACT is a thing that is known or proved to be true.

REALITY is the state or quality of having existence or substance.

Truth can be proven and has existence or substance...  and, therefore one's truth does not have to be another's truth unless we are trying to convince more than two of our truth...  and, whether or not it is really true, as long as others believe it to be true as known or real, then it is truth.

The point that I am trying to make is that truth is not always true but what we chose to believe and whether or not it is actually true is rather irrelevant...  For instance, if I have a religious belief and for me, it is the truth by fact, evidence, existence, and substance but it is not the truth at all...  as long as I believe it to be true then it is truth.  And, what if an entire population believed something to be the truth when in reality it was not the truth at all...  then their truth would still be truth.  And, what if an entire world believed in a truth that was not the truth at all, would it still be the truth?  YES.

We currently live in a country that is divided politically between liberals and conservatives, and each of these two groups has its own truth that they believe is the only truth because it is supported by fact, evidence, and reality. But, both sides cannot possess the only truth.  One side has got to be incorrect...  and if that is the case then one side has to admit that their side is not the truth.  That will never happen.

At some point in our past, these two sides were willing to compromise because they understood that their beliefs were not completely the truth...  but, compromise is no longer an issue for either side as they believe the other side in UNTRUTH and their side is TRUTH.

If I believe that there are extraterrestrials living among us here on earth then my behavior is going to be governed by my truth even though I have no evidence, facts, or reality to support my truth.  My truth is what I want it to be...

So, what are your truths? 

Celebration

 

Searching for Meaning

Summary: Appreciating the beauty in the smaller things in everyday life can contribute to a more meaningful existence, a new study reports.

Source: Texas A&M

Appreciating the intrinsic beauty in life’s everyday moments can contribute to a more meaningful existence, according to new research.

In a paper recently published in Nature Human Behavior, Joshua Hicks, a professor in the Texas A&M University Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, says this may be a previously unaccounted for factor tied to perceptions of meaning.

“It might not relate to whether you matter in the grand scheme of things, but we’ve shown people who value the little things, like your cup of coffee in the morning or being mindful in conversations with others, tend to have a high sense of meaning in life,” he said.

Hicks studies existential psychology. Put simply, he aims to understand the “big questions” in life. He describes his main focus as the experience of life—studying people’s subjective feeling that their life has meaning.

Scholars like Hicks generally agree there are three main sources of a subjectively meaningful existence: coherence, or the feeling that one’s life “makes sense”; the possession of clear, long-term goals and sense of purpose; and existential mattering. This last factor, he says, is the belief that one’s actions matter to others.

What Hicks and his co-authors argue in their latest research is that appreciating and finding value in experiences, referred to as experiential appreciation, is a fourth fundamental pathway toward finding meaning in life.

Researchers measured this factor by asking study participants how strongly they identified with statements linked to finding beauty in life and appreciating a wide variety of experiences.

They were also asked to recall the most meaningful event of the past month, among other questions, with the goal of measuring experiential appreciation. Hicks described this series of experiments in a recent article he co-authored for Scientific American.

In each case, the results confirmed the original theory that appreciating small moments can make for a more meaningful life.  READ MORE...

Vollleyball

 

How To Be Happy Alone

True happiness comes from within.

And while you can always turn to others for a mood boost, there's nothing quite like being content with your own company. That said, can you really be happy alone?

Yes, but it's all about perspective.

The word "alone" sometimes carries a negative connotation since many equate it to being lonely and, well, sad. However, that is simply not the case as the two words have completely different meanings.

“Feeling lonely is actually completely different from being alone. Loneliness is a feeling while being alone in a situation," Dr. Nina Vasan, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Real told TODAY.

With the right techniques, you may be able to get past this feeling of loneliness, whether you're single, going through a breakup or simply miles away from the people you love. “For example, if you’re by yourself but connecting to others through good communication or activities like volunteering, you don’t feel lonely," she said.

In fact, the ability to enjoy the joys of quality alone time may just be the greatest act of self-love. Not to mention being alone — whether by choice or circumstance — gives you time to be "introspective, creative, or engaged through activities like journaling, painting, reading a book or building something for your house."

Read on for expert-backed tips and tricks on how to be happy alone. Implement one (or all) of these techniques into your everyday life to remind yourself the happiness should always start and end with you. Who knows, you may even find that you're a better friend, partner and colleague because of it.  READ MORE...

It's A Revolt

 

"TURN ON" Gene Causes Cancer

Researchers found that hypomethylating agents, a medication commonly used to treat myelodysplastic syndrome, could “turn on” the gene that causes cancer,



Hypomethylating agents (HMA) are currently used as a first-line treatment for individuals with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a group of conditions where there is an inadequate generation of healthy mature blood cells in the bone marrow. However, the exact mechanism through which HMAs work is still unknown. Although this has not yet been completely proved, one possible concern is that they could activate a sleeping oncogene.

In a recent study, researchers from the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Cancer Science Institute of Singapore (CSI Singapore) in close cooperation with Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and Harvard Medical School (HMS) have shown that HMAs can and do activate the oncofetal protein SALL4.

The research was published in the academic journal New England Journal of Medicine and was also carried out in partnership with the University of Tor Vergata in Rome, Italy, and the Institute of Hematology and Blood Diseases Hospital in Tianjin, China.
Turning on the gene that causes cancer

SALL4 is a known oncogene, and the expression of SALL4 has been found to contribute to the development of MDS and leukemia. A study conducted by another research group in 2016 demonstrated that SALL4 activation in a liver cancer cell line was associated with hypomethylation.

Professor Daniel Tenen from CSI Singapore and his team demonstrated in 2021 that hepatitis B virus induced SALL4 demethylation in liver cancer through an RNA mediated mechanism. To examine possible upregulation of oncogenes in patients being treated with hypomethylating agents, Professor Tenen’s team collaborated with the other groups to study the association between HMA utilized and SALL4 activation, as well as the implications on survival outcomes.  READ MORE...

Juggling

 

We All Have Life to Live

LIFE is a magazine...  at least it was when I was growing up...  I am not sure if it is still around or not... but, when life is not a magazine, it is magnificent to behold as it is being lived...

• Life is blessed
• Life is horrible
• Life is adventurous
• Life is devastating
• Life is joy
• Life is pain

and...  after we live all that we can...  WE DIE...

and...   while some of us believe that there is an afterlife, many others do not...  as they believe that once you are dead, you are dead...  nothing more.

and...  neither side can prove that they are right nor can they prove the other side is wrong.

It is what one believes...  even though those who don't believe in an afterlife claim that they believe in nothing.

BUT...  whatever happens, after death happens...  my concern is LIFE...  and, how I live this life that I have been given...  even though I am not exactly sure who gave it to me...

I know that my parents gave me life (even though I did not ask them for it) but there is a bigger picture here...  who created the human race...  outside of it being attributed to the evolution of primates and a random mutation of their genes and DNA.

I guess the evolution of primates some of which developed the ability to talk is an unexpected leap that cannot really be explained.

BUT...  be that as it may... there is a LIFE that we all must live...  and that life is usually between 80 and 100 years...  and then we are done.

How well one lives that life is individual and influenced by a variety of factors, the least of which are preconceived ideas...  along with one's personality which I suppose can be modified slightly but not changed.

Some people want to earn as much money as they can, knowing that there is just so much that can be spent and more importantly that it will all be left behind to someone who will theoretically continue to remember them until they die.

But what about those who just want to sit around and THINK...  what would you think of them?  Are they losers?  What is the point of just thinking?  And, wouldn't you run out of ideas about which to think?

It also seems like a silly way to spend your time...  just thinking...

I suppose dreaming is really no different than thinking...  very little is accomplished other than the passing of time.  However, it does not cost anything to think or dream.