Using Nature’s Secrets to Look Great and Feel Terrific
Someday this mouse may save your life:
The Wall Street Journal reported July 24th that teams of Chinese scientists have used mature skin stem cells of mice, reprogramming the cells, to create living mice. Someday in the future of medicine we may be able to create our own organs using stem cells.
The great solar eclipse of the 21st century occurs on Wednesday — the longest total solar eclipse in our lifetimes, unsurpassed in duration until June 13, 2132. Most visible over India and China, at 5:28 a.m. Indian time on Wednesday, 17 minutes after the sun rises over the holy Ganges, the shadow of the moon will creep across the sun until, at approximately 6:26 a.m., the sun will be obscured. Continue reading ‘Total Eclipse’
Back then, the Cold War gave us a tun of weapons, some really good James Bond movies, and a sense of urgency. I remember in junior high science class, Sputnik had just been launched and we were encouraged to become scientists, math majors, and doctors. We felt connected to the destiny of America and comforted by the fatherly voice and presence of Walter Cronkite. In this CBS news video you can see the Apollo 11 Saturn rocket take off. My father, then working for Sandia Corporation in New Mexico, helped design the rocket that launched it into space. My then husband was on the Navy ship that fished the Apollo 11 astronauts from the ocean. This week we pay tribute to Walter Cronkite and to Apollo 11. We have not seen their equal since.
Good friends at www.chinasprout.com have a newsletter with links to current news about China’s culture, development, tourism etc. Chinasprout in NYC sells quality products, educational tools, and language books from China. The blog is recommended for people interested in visiting china. Here is a sample from Chinasprout Newsletter’s Chinese Culture Section an article from The NY Times: The explosion of construction activity that has transformed Beijing into a modern metropolis over the past decade also turned many of its historical neighborhoods — known for their narrow alleyways, or hutongs — into rubble. . . Now, as they labor to protect what remains, Chinese preservationists are facing a new, equally insidious threat: gentrification. The few ancient courtyard houses that survived destruction have become coveted status symbols for the country’s growing upper class and for wealthy foreign investors.
I am sitting on a big green ball–the kind you find at the gym, the kind featured in exercise videos starring bright young things who have tight, gleeming muscles and who say in a high voice, “Hi there! I’m here to help you firm up!” I learned about the ball in my Vermont chiropractor’s office. The nice receptionist Karen was sitting on one as she typed. Her abs are perfect her stomach tiny, practically invisible. I thought, “I type all day, why shouldn’t I sit on a ball instead of a chair?” Karen says the ball firms the core. I used to think only apples had cores. But she meant the muscles and spine that support internal organs–the center of you. Scrunching my lower back into a hard chair, all that stuff inside gets mushy. Pretty soon I’ll be saying “Hi there!” in a high, young voice.
Some of you friends have a blog or website. Here’s a site I found recently that helps reduce spam before it corrupts your site: http://www.stopforumspam.com/ They catch spammers trying to register on forums and post their details at that site. They currently have information, including country of origin, on 382067 spammers. At www.stopforumspam.com you enter to search an IP address, email address, or username in order to confirm if a request to register at your site is a spammer, then don’t let the spammer register at your site.
My friend, Tai Chi and Qigung expert of over thirty years, Sharon Smith, recently attended the International Tai Chi Symposium held in Nashville, Tennessee, which brought together the grandmasters of 5 major traditions of Tai Chi Chuan. The elderly bald fellow in the center resembles the Chinese God of Longevity. Sharon’s blog has great photos and her apt insights, among them: Tai Chi as practiced in America is “a meditational movement form influenced by scientific and medical advances, the fitness industry, and all of the so-called New Age movement styles (Feldenkrais, Authentic Movement, etc.).” You can subscribe to Sharon’s blog to learn about Chinese healthy, movement/meditation arts and Sharon’s busy teaching schedule. Very recommended.
With the country near bankruptcy, the poor had little to eat. Jobs were scarce. The bourgeoisie felt powerless. Sound familiar? On July 14, 1789 an outraged band of Parisians stormed the Bastille prison, releasing the seven prisoners inside. It was symbolic. They might have demanded money in their pockets and no-interest loans. How about a government-funded Job Corps for a zillion unemployed? But the French like theater. They were probably singing Le Marseillaise. The lasting significance of Bastille Day was the recognition that power was not held by the King or God (or the bankers), but by the people. We still have a lot to learn from the French.
Here’s another one of those studies: 64 volunteers were asked to put their hand in ice water for as long as possible while repeating a swear word of their choice. They then repeated it using a non-affect word that might describe a table. What’s the connection between word choice and pain? Researchers at Britain’s Keele University School of psychology concluded that swear words reduce pain. Wow! If we all get together and yell enough swear words to turn the sky blue, pain may disappear all together. It is uncertain how or why, but the volunteers were able to keep their hands in the ice water for longer when swearing. Sorry, that does not establish a link between swearing and pain tolerance. If that were the case certain neighborhoods I know would be totally pain-free. Some of the kids leaving school on my New York City block must be perfect specimens. Continue reading ‘Angry Pain’
Smoking can weaken the valve between the stomach and esophagus (so stomach acid flows back into the esophagus); cause fat-digesting bile salts to migrate from the small intestine to the stomach; and cut down on saliva, which normally flushes stomach acid out of the esophagus and contains acid-fighting bicarbonate. Smoking makes GERD worse.
So do over-the-counter pain-killers, fish oil capsules, stress, peppermint, being over weight, possibly your genes, arguing during meals. See this article, then add 1/4 cup of aloe vera jel to a glass of warm water and sip it slowly. You will feel better. Aloe will also clear your complexion and prevent bad breath. It helps relax tense muscles in the abdomen during PMS or other stressy times.
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