Word of the Day: prevaricate(prihVAIR\uh\kayt); to depart from or evade the truth; to speak with equivocation
Weight: 206 pounds
Goal: lose 100 pounds in one year duration
Pounds to lose: 74 pounds
Waist Size: 41 inches
Specifically on Efrem's mind: food, fun and feet
Rowing Duration: sixty-four (64) minutes, five (5) seconds
First the reasons should be obvious to you in that because my breathing is not quite what it should be, and because my feet are very swollen, I have purposely cut down my time on CC to avoid further mishap to myself.
Image via WikipediaAs you may know, I have had some difficulty in losing some of my posts when they accidentally get deleted from my hitting some key, (I don't know what key it is that I've hit,) and I have to start writing over from scratch. I am now doing this, in an effort that should my copy get deleted and then saved simultaneously , I will have some copy to work with, and at least I will not have to start creating all over again from the beginning. Thus, it takes me longer to create the post, but at least that, now while I am writing, I have a kind of insurance from havin
The second reason why my posts are later in getting to you is that my feet are still severely swollen, and I am staying in bed longer to keep my feet elevated higher than my heart. Keeping my feet up like this does reduce the swelling, for awhile, and I do have to do what I can to manage this painful condition, so consequently my posts are later in reaching you, but aren't my posts worth the wait? Don't answer that Lily!
I did have to use my insurance copy of my post because my computer did its thing and wiped out the original post I was working on TWICE today, and even with a copy of some of the original post, it is still alot of work to recreate what was originally write, anyway, I didn't have to start from scratch, I guess that is something.
Yesterday, was rather quiet here in Gainesville, Florida, it was dark, and ominous looking outside for the entire day, it looked like it could rain anytime, alas the rain did not come until late afternoon, and then, finally, we got quite a thunderstorm that went way into the night.
I made some interesting discs yesterday, on the one disc, which goes for eight (8) hours are the movies: "Play Misty for Me," "Pacific Heights," "The Name of the Rose" and "This Boy's Life. " Do you remember those movies? I had quite alot of fun rewatching Jessica Walter in "Play Misty for Me," she really was excellent in the role as an obsessed stalker in love with Clint Eastwoods's character, Jessica's role, "Evelyn draper" was/is very similar to the role that Glenn Close played in "Fatal Attraction," but Ms. Walter's acting reaches levels of comical proportions.
I'm sure that's it is the over-the-top performance that Jessica Walter gave which stopped her from getting an Oscar nomination for playing that role, however, if you have never seen the movie, do give it a peek, if only for the fact that it is Clint Eastwood's first attempt at the direction of a movie. he has since got a little better!!!!!
I have been getting quite an influx of email, lately, and I would like to thank all of you for staying in communication with me, but, so far, to my dismay, and bewilderment, no one has signed up for my project to keep me motivated to write short stories, while at the same time, give money to charity. I realize that it is just after the holidays and we are all a little low on cash, but is there ever a good time that you have an abundance of money to give? Please remember that I am asking you to only give what you can, okay, there is the minimum dollar, but I really don't think a dollar is asking too much. Many of you pay more than that for one coffee you get at your workplace, so come on, re-think it and then sign up to my project.
I would like to thank all of you who submit comments to my post, on my post, and not through email. Today, I happened to read all of the comments directed to my blog, and it pleases me to see some new comments. I am glad that you read my post, but I really would like it if while you read it, you signed on to my post because it lets "blogger" know that my audience is a good size, and has in fact. grown since it's infancy.
You can keep your identity anonymous when you sign up as a follower of my blog, the blog will just publish comments you make, so you do not need to worry about your privacy, as when you sign up, you just say that you wish to stay anonymous, not even I will know that you signed on, so please consider doing this for me and would only take a moment or two (2) of your time.
The following is intended to two (2) people specifically in my life, but is not restricted to those people, in any case, did you know that in the first two (2) years of life, babies born to women who have contact with cats and farm animals appear to have significantly less eczema than those born to women who were not exposed to such animals during pregnancy. I know what some of you may be thinking, Great, I had to be born in the city.
Eczema, a skin condition charactereized by irritated, dry, and itchy skin, is thought to be the result of an overactive immune system, which I wish to simplify and call it what it is: allergies. Researchers believe that early exposure to diverse microbes trains the immune system to be less prone to allergic overreactions to benign substances later, an idea known as the "hygiene hypothesis."
Gosh they really have a fancy way of saying and simplifying that: one small alliteration (hygiene hypothesis) is that the exposure to multiple germ(s) in infancy and childhood, reduces the risk of allergies, asthma, and now, eczema, as compared to previous generatons when people were not as clean as we, as they lived in unsanity conditions with rats and mice in their homes, at least most people today and now do not live with those conditions, I shutter to think that there are people that have to live with these conditions.
As always, researchers are always coming up with theories to why we get something, such as eczema in this case, I know that had I, or my sibling sister been born on a farm, today, the reverse would be stipulated that city living is a reason for not getting eczema, hmmmm, aren't we all guilty of doing the opposite of what is good for us?, or is that just nature's little joke on all of us!
And although today it is revealed that living on farm is beneficial for the eczema reason, and asthma and other allergies, Zac, who was raised on a farm, will tell you that health benefits do win out in the end, and should win out, but farm living is not always "Old McDonald Had a Farm!" so do not feel too badly if you were, and are, being raised in the city.
A European research team reports in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology that a mother's contact with farm animals and cats during pregnancy has a strong protective effect against atopic dermatitis, a serious skin condition also known as eczema, in the baby's first two years of life.
In eczema, an overactive immune system leads to chronic itchy scaly skin rashes that come and go. Nearly a third of children who develop it before age two go on to develop hay fever or asthma.
Researchers don't know why some children develop eczema and others don't, although an interplay between genetics, the environment and the immune system is suspected.
Because mothers can pass on some short-term immunity to their babies, Dr. Caroline Roduit of the University of Zurich and colleagues in Switzerland and Germany wanted to know if moms whose immune systems were regularly challenged by microbes might have children with a lowered risk of eczema.
Previous research has already shown that children of farm families have reduced risk of asthma and allergies, with credit given to the rich microbial life, both pathogens and harmless bugs, that animals contribute to the kids' environments.
Roduit's team analyzed mothers' environmental exposures during pregnancy and the development of atopic dermatitis in their children up to age two (2.) The study included 1,063 children born to 508 farm families and 555 non-farm families in 5 European countries.
Women answered questions about their exposure to animals, smoking habits and history of allergies. Mothers' blood was tested and samples of the babies' cord blood were taken at birth and analyzed. In all, 17.8 percent of the study children developed a doctor-diagnosed case of eczema by age 2, but differences between the two groups were apparent: just 14.4 percent of the farm children got the condition whereas 20 percent of non-farm children did.
The researchers found that while the all the children of farm moms had lower risk of eczema, the greater the variety of animals (horses, pigs, cows, sheep, rabbits, poultry) their mom contacted, the lower the kids' risk. Maybe we should be raised in a surrounding similar to that of a zoo wherein we would get the most animal exposure!
"For each additional farm animal species the mother had contact with, we observed a (risk) reduction of 20 percent," they wrote. They also found a similar significant association between mothers' contact with cats and the skin rash disorder in the children.
At birth, the children who would prove least likely to develop eczema by age two had the highest amounts of several immune system-related proteins in their cord blood, the authors note. The proteins are involved in the body's ability to recognize pathogens.
Although the findings support previous research suggesting that microbe-rich environments such as farms have a protective effect against allergies, the results do not mean pregnant women should seek out new exposures to cats or farm animals.
"We did not study the infectious diseases among our study population," Dr. Roduit told Reuters Health in an e-mail. "So it is difficult with our results about allergies to change these recommendations about infections that could be dangerous for pregnant women," she said. Yes, I should think that salient factor is most important and should be addressed, so please pay high regard to it!
One more thing that I want to mention before concluding today's post is to honour or salute, Maria Montessori who opened her first school today in 1907. Maria Montessori was an educator and the first woman to receive a medical degree in Italy. While working in a clinic for mentally disabled children, she developed a method of teaching that involves immersing children in an environment filled with "learning games" that naturally motivate learning and allow them to develop at their own pace. This idea seems so obvious that one has to question why it wasn't explored before, anyway, better late than never. Anyway, Maria Montessori opened her first children's school in 19087 and spent the next forty (40) years travelling and promoting her method. Maria Montessori was nominated for the Nobel Prize three times, but the prize always eluded her, I don't think it should have, but once again, that's me!
In the future, some of my posts may not be finalized with with bolding, putting italics, and underlining certain words and phrases, because it takes way too much time to do this task. As it is, today, I spent over two point five hours trying to complete this task, and you can imagine how frustrating that is, so I'm just not going to do it anymore if/when my computer acts up, but you will receive the post, just on some days, it won't have all the trimmings. I'm sure you understand and know that you will not mind too much!
Hope you are all having a wonderful day.
Topics coming soon:
Art
Politics
Cartoons
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