If you are considering eating cockroaches, don’t microwave them! They are so fatty that they explode in the microwave. You just don’t want the mess.
Which is not to say you shouldn’t eat them. According to the EntoMove Project, the cockroach nutritional profile, per mg/100g, (3.53 oz) is 19 g protein, 10 g fat, calcium 38, iron14, zinc 32, potassium 224, niacin 44, magnesium 50, B12 237 mcg.
Current research on this topic is non-comprehensive. It is likely that insects are a regular part of the diet in countries not listed above particularly in South America, Africa, and southern Asia. Many traditional cuisines are often more accepting of the idea of insects as a protein source.
And it isn’t just cockroaches. In many cultures around the world, insects are a traditional and nutritious part of the diet. This practice, called entomophagy, is common in regions where insects are abundant, sustainable, and rich in protein, healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals. Here are some cultures and regions where eating bugs is more common.
Latin America
Chapulines in Mexico
Mexico: Insects like chapulines(grasshoppers), escamoles(ant larvae), and gusanos de maguey (maguey worm) are popular, especially in Oaxaca and central Mexico. Cooks often toast chapulines with chili and lime and serve them as snacks or added to tacos.
Colombia:Hormigas culonas (big-bottomed ants) are a delicacy, particularly in Santander. People often toast them to eat as a crunchy snack.
Brazil: In the Amazon, indigenous communities eat tucum (palm weevil larvae) and suri(palm beetle larvae).
Southeast Asia
Cambodian fried tarantulas
Thailand: In markets and street food stalls, you can find insects like crickets, silkworm pupae, water beetles, and bamboo worms. They are often fried or roasted and seasoned with spices.
Laos:Khao tom mat (ant egg soup) and deep-fried insects are common snacks.
Nigeria: In some regions, rising livestock feed prices are leading people to raise palm weevil larvae and grasshopper as alternatives to chickens and cattle.
Australia and Oceania
Indigenous Australians: Traditionally ate honey ants, witchetty grubs (larvae of cossid moths), and bardi grubs (larvae of palm weevils). People most often eat these raw or only lightly cooked.
Dora Napaljarri Kitson, hunting for Witchetty grubs (Ed Gold)
Papua New Guinea:Sago grubs (larvae of the sago palm weevil) are a delicacy, often eaten raw or roasted.
East Asia
Inago and hachinoko
China: In many provinces, including Yunnan and Guangxi, people eat insects like silkworm pupae, cricket, bee larvae, and water beetles. Cooks often stir-fry them or use them in soups.
Japan:Inago(grasshoppers) and hachinoko(bee larvae) are traditional foods, often boiled in soy sauce.
South Korea:Beondegi(silkworm pupae) is a popular street food, steamed or boiled and seasoned with spices.
Middle East
Oman and Yemen: During swarms, locusts and desert locusts make a very handy addition to many dishes, often roasted or fried.
Why Do These Cultures Eat Bugs?
Fried insect vendor in Thailand
Nutritional Benefits: Insects are high in protein, healthy fats, fiber, vitamins (like B12), and minerals (like iron and zinc).
Sustainability: Insects require far less land, water, and feed compared to traditional livestock, making them an eco-friendly protein source.
Cultural Tradition: In many regions, eating insects is a long-standing practice tied to local ecosystems and food security.
Availability: Insects are often abundant in tropical and subtropical regions, making them a reliable food source.
In many cultures, insects are recognized/consumed for their medicinal as well as nutritional properties.
Bottom Line: Are you open to exotic and beneficial foods?
For one thing, you can’t live without it! Fortunately, it’s a hard worker. It beats over 100,000 times per day, pumping about 1.5 gallons of blood every minute. (Over the course of a day, that adds up to over 2,000 gallons.) The right side of your heart pumps blood into your lungs. The left side of your heart pumps blood back through your body, delivering that oxygen to cells. Other than the cornea, every cell in the human body gets blood from the heart. There are 60,000 miles of blood vessels in your body—enough to go around the world twice—in order to reach all those cells. Strong as it is, things can go awry. Heart disease is the number 1 cause of death in the United States.
Metaphors of the Heart
Even without understanding the biology, the heart has taken its place at the heart of human culture.
Take language, for example. Think metaphors. Those involving the heart quickly and efficiently convey whole worlds of meaning.
King Richard the Lion Hearted of England
The heart of the matter A heart of gold Heart of stone Cold hearted (or warm hearted) Heart of a lion/lion hearted Take heart Heartless Wearing one’s heart on one’s heart sleeve Heart ruling your head Heart and soul Pour out your heart Set your heart on something Speak from the heart Break your heart/broken hearted Win someone’s heart To have a big heart The heart of the city
Yes, such metaphors are very useful in spoken discourse. If you use them in writing, however…cliché.
Hearts in Song
There are approximately a gazillion songs involving hearts. Those that come easily to my mind include:
“Total Eclipse of the Heart” (RIP, Bonnie Tyler)
Heart Over Mind Heartbreak Hotel Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band Your Cheatin’ Heart Heart and Soul You Gotta Have Heart
The usefulness of heart in such ways owes much to the symbolism. A heart is one of the most universally recognized symbols, carrying deep emotional, spiritual, and cultural meanings across history and societies. Here are some of its most common symbolic interpretations:
What could be more romantic than an anatomically accurate heart necklace?
Love and Romance
The heart is most strongly associated with love, both romantic and unconditional.
It represents passion, desire, and emotional connection.
In Western culture, people often use the heart symbol (❤️) to express affection, attraction, or deep care for someone or something.
Life and Vitality
Historically, the heart was seen as the center of life and soul in many ancient cultures.
In Egyptian and Greek traditions, the heart was believed to be the seat of the soul, emotions, and intelligence.
The phrase “follow your heart” suggests trusting your instincts and inner wisdom.
Anahata, the heart chakra
Compassion and Kindness
A heart symbolizes compassion, empathy, and kindness.
Acts of charity or volunteerism are often described as “giving from the heart.”
The heart chakra in Hindu and Buddhist traditions represents love, healing, and spiritual connection.
Courage and Strength
The phrase “a lion-hearted person” refers to someone who is brave and strong.
In medieval times, the heart was a symbol of heroism and valor.
Health and Healing
The heart is a medical symbol for health, vitality, and the circulatory system.
It represents resilience and recovery, especially in contexts like heart disease awareness (e.g., the red dress symbol for heart health).
Spiritual and Mystical Meanings
In Christianity, the heart symbolizes faith, devotion, and the divine love of God.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus is a prominent symbol in Catholic iconography, representing divine love and mercy.
In Taoism, the heart is seen as the center of balance, harmony, and inner peace.
The Egyptians believed a person’s deeds, good and bad, resided in their heart, which would be tested after death to determine their afterlife.
Unity and Connection
Two intertwined hearts often symbolize unity, partnership, or marriage.
The heart can also represent global unity, as seen in movements like “We Are the World” or environmental campaigns.
Transformation and Growth
The heart is a symbol of personal growth, healing, and renewal.
It represents the idea that love and pain can lead to transformation.
Nature and the Earth
The heart shape appears in natural forms like leaves, seeds, and rivers, symbolizing nature’s nurturing power.
It is often used in eco-friendly and sustainability movements to represent care for the planet.
Art and Creativity
The heart is a universal motif in art, literature, and music, representing beauty, emotion, and human experience.
Cultural Variations
In China, the heart is associated with the idea of “xin” (心), which encompasses both the physical heart and the mind, representing thought and emotion.
In some Native American traditions, the heart is a symbol of truth, sincerity, and harmony with nature.
In Japanese culture, the heart (“kokoro” or “shin” 心) represents the core of one’s being.
Modern Uses
Emojis: The heart emoji (❤️) is used globally to express love, friendship, or appreciation.
Tattoos: Heart tattoos often symbolize love, loss, or remembrance.
Brands and Logos: Many companies use the heart symbol to convey care, trust, and emotional connection (e.g., healthcare, non-profits, and food brands).
Some heart information is (in my mind) interesting but not obviously important.
Other information can raise red flags about stress and danger. For example, the most heart attacks occur each year on Christmas Day. The day after Christmas and New Year’s Day are close behind. More heart attacks happen on a Monday than any other day of the week. The more you know….
Bottom Line: Hearts are important physically, metaphorically, and symbolically.
A few days ago, I noticed that my right leg is bigger than my left: thighs, knee, calf, top to bottom. The only surprise here is that—having lived in this body for decades—I hadn’t noticed this sooner.
I’m right-handed (along with 85-90% of people worldwide), and I noticed early on that the fingers on my right hand are longer than on the left, and every time I buy shoes, I’m reminded that my right foot is bigger than the left. My right hand and arm are stronger than the left as well. I assumed that these things all go together.
Wrong!
Athletic Unevenness
It turns out that such definite “right-sidedness” is because I am not athletic! According to research, for people who play sports, even right handers have bigger left legs. Whether a layup, a pitch, or throwing a ball, the primary plant leg is going to be the left. According to what I read, amateur to professional, almost every right handed athlete has a stronger left leg. (The same is true of right-handers who do weight-training.)
Just for the heck of it, I asked (step-grandson) Cash about his handedness and thigh size. He’s over 6’5” tall and a great basketball player, although only a high school junior. He’s right-handed and reported that, previously unnoticed, indeed his left leg is bigger, even at the young age of 17.
On the other hand, handedness is usually related to eye dominance. True to expectation, my right eye is dominant. (If you don’t know which is your dominant eye, and want to, consider which eye you tend to use for one-eye tasks such as a viewing through a telescope or aiming a rifle.)
On the third hand, eye dominance is not related to the strength of vision in each eye but rather to the brain’s preference for processing visual information from one eye over the other. In my case, my left eye has better vision.
A yoga-teaching friend of mine noted that slight differences in leg length are common. In the extreme, this is related to scoliosis. But even less extreme cases are reflected in hip flexibility.
Facial Asymmetry
Size, strength, and vision aren’t the only asymmetries in our bodies. Most of us don’t typically consider that our faces aren’t symmetrical, but it’s so. Bilateral features in the face, such as left and right eyes, ears, and lips, often show some asymmetry.
Decades ago, a classic psychology experiment determined that if photographs are manipulated to produce pictures of symmetrical faces made from two left sides or two right sides, people always, and easily, chose one photo as more attractive. Conclusion: people really do have “a better side”!
In general, symmetry is more pleasing than asymmetry. In my face, the most noticeable differences are more hairs in my right eyebrow and deeper wrinkles on the left side. I trust the former is noticeable only to me, but the latter is obvious. I attribute it to sleeping on my left side from as far back as I can remember until I had breast surgery for cancer in 2014.
Body variations in symmetry is often observed in wrists, breasts, testicles, and thighs. I already mentioned my right thigh. My right wrist is bigger, as was my right breast prior to 2014.
Fortunately I am relatively symmetrical, in spite of all the exceptions I’ve admitted to. That is to say, no one looking at me would think “lopsided.”
I say fortunately because research has found multiple factors that are associated with symmetry. It can indicate developmental stability, and also suggest genetic fitness. This can further have an effect on mate attraction and sexual selection! Physical health is also associated with greater symmetry. According to Wikipedia, multiple other factors can be linked to asymmetry, such as intelligence and personality traits.
Asymmetrical bodies are common and usually harmless, often due to genetics, posture, natural aging, and—as noted above—exercise.
Muscle Memory
Years of practice allow most bodies to walk without thinking about the mechanics
Thinking about repetitive movement as it relates to body asymmetry (thigh size and athletic movements, as I already mentioned) led me to think of muscle memory. Muscle memory is moving in a particular way without thinking about it. This type of memory comes from repetition or practice—doing the same task over and over in the same way. Many movements involved with bathing, playing an instrument, eating, driving, dancing, etc., rely on muscle memory.
Along with all this other self-examination, I’ve been considering what I think of as my personal muscle habits. The first thing that came to mind is that on a frequent walk from my house, about 200 steps along, I climb a set of three steps. I happened to notice that, regardless of whether I’m strolling or hurrying, I always ascend the first step with my right foot first. Having noted that, I checked: I always mount stairs right foot first.
Similarly, I always put pants on right leg first. I virtually always put dangle earrings on left ear first, whereas stud earrings are right ear first.
My house is dotted with area rugs, and the fringe is scuffed in the same place on each rug, testimony to an habitual gait—or possibly habitual foot-dragging!
Why write a blog about my lopsided body? Because your body is probably asymmetrical, too. Think about it!
Bottom Line: If you focus on your body, it might surprise you!
I originally posted this blog entry in July 2024, “Better Know Your Body” but so much information deserves a second look!
Everybody has one. But how much do you really know about it?
Skin
Let’s start with your largest and most visible organ: skin. When it comes to skin, we tend to notice attractiveness, color, roughness, and wrinkles. But skin is functional as well as ornamental. It keeps everything on the inside from coming out. In addition, it also helps keep us at the right temperature, helps us with touch and sensation, allows us to move without restriction (not too tight or too loose), heals and regenerates constantly, and much more.
You probably aren’t average, but these “average” data will give you an idea of how you compare.
Skin by the Numbers
If you are average, your skin weighs 6-9 or 7.5-22 pounds, depending on your source. According to the NIH Library of Medicine, skin makes up approximately 1/7 of your body weight.
The entire surface of your skin is replaced every month, which put another way means you have about 1,000 different skins in your life! This skin renewal every 27-28 days involves sloughing off the old.
Your skin constantly sheds dead cells, about 30,000 to 40,000 cells every minute! (That’s nearly 9 lbs. per year. On the low end, other sources say you slough off roughly 1.5 pounds of dead skin a year, equal to about 3 ½ cups of sugar.)
Dead skin comprises about a billion tons of dust in the earth’s atmosphere. Indoors, the oil on dead skin cells helps to remove ozone, leaving the air cleaner!
Some sources estimate that more than half of household dust is actually dead skin, others say 70%, but much depends on number of people, pets, etc.
Passengers
Your skin is home to more than 1,000 species of bacteria.
Your face is host to bugs (demodex folliculorum) too tiny to see. Hairlines, eye sockets, and lashes are favorite hiding places. If they get out of control, they can cause skin problems or eye infections.
About 2,400 germs call the belly button home. The average person has 67 different species of bacteria in their belly button.
Weird Skin
Scar tissue is different from normal skin because it lacks hair and sweat glands.
Some of the nerves in your skin are connected to muscles instead of the brain, sending signals (through the spinal cord) to react more quickly to heat, pain, etc.
The color of human skin is determined by the level of pigment melanin that the body produces. Those with small amounts of melanin have light skin while those with large amounts have dark skin.
Genital skin is darker than other skin: nipples, anus, and genitals are more sensitive to sex hormones acting on melanocytes. The contrast increases during puberty and pregnancy.
Your blood makes up about eight percent of your body weight.
Laid end to end, an adult’s blood vessels are between 9,000 and 19,000 kilometers long! This includes veins, arteries, and communicating little capillaries that move between both.
Your heart beats around 100000 times a day, 36500000 times a year and over a billion times if you live beyond 30.
Inside your bones are tiny tubes filled with blood vessels called osteons. They are to bones what rings are to trees. The percentage of large osteons increases with age.
When you’re too hot—or you lose your cool—your nerves send signals to open millions of glands, allowing sweat to flow. It pools by your armpits, palms, feet, head, and private parts.
Earwax is actually a type of sweat! A recessive gene can cause earwax to be dry and flaky rather than viscous and sticky.
Germs love to swim, so they thrive in sweat. Sweat on its own doesn’t smell bad. It’s the bacteria that mix with it.
What we eat directly affects urine and feces. For example, you might notice red or pink after bingeing on beets. Or changes in your urine after eating asparagus. (Note: although asparagus affects the chemistry of everyone’s urine, some people are able to smell it and others aren’t—whether their own or someone else’s.)
Your brain is the fattiest organ in the body, approximately 60% by dry weight. It needs essential fatty acids to perform adequately.
The brain uses over a quarter of the oxygen used by the human body.
Your brain is sometimes more active when you’re asleep than when you’re awake. Humans have a stage of sleep that features rapid eye movement (REM). REM sleep makes up around 25% of total sleep time and is often when you have your most vivid dreams.
Everyone is familiar with forgetting, but additionally, our brain re-writes memories each time we think of them, slowly altering or twisting them over time.
Muscles
The word “muscle” comes from Latin term meaning “little mouse“, which is what Ancient Romans thought flexed bicep muscles resembled.
Your heart is the only muscle that doesn’t get tired.
Gluteus maximus is the Latin name for the largest muscle in your body, your behind. You have two of them, one for each cheek. These powerful muscles serve as a cushion when you sit down, but when flexed tight, they keep you upright.
Few muscles are as hard-working as the tongue. By day, it twists to form the sounds you speak and pushes around the food you eat. While you sleep, your tongue moves saliva down your throat.
The strongest muscle in the human body is the jaw (masseter). A healthy jaw can close teeth with a force of up to 200 pounds, according to the Library of Congress.
Eyes
Your eyes can get sunburned. The symptoms include headache, eye pain and redness, tearing, blurred vision, twitching, and feeling gritty. Sunglasses can prevent sunburn, and symptoms typically resolve themselves after 48 hours.
Your eye is your fastest muscle. The orbicularis oculi is capable of contracting in less than 1/100th of a second.
Infants blink only once or twice a minute while adults average around 10.
Women blink 19 times per minute compared to 11 per minute for men. This may relate to estrogen levels, which can make the cornea more elastic, changing how light waves travel through the eye.
You blink more when talking and less when you are reading. This is why you get tired when reading.
Only two percent of the population have green eyes. The largest concentration of green-eyed peoples is in Ireland, Scotland, and Northern Europe. All races (Asian, African, Caucasian, Pacific Islanders, Arabic, Hispanic, and the indigenous peoples of the Americas) can have green eyes.
All babies are born with blue or brown eyes. Green eyes can take between six months and three years to appear in children.
By three months, our eyes are the same size that they will ever be as the corneas have reached their full width. Human eyes grow rapidly in the womb and for the first three months after birth.
GI Tract
Your sense of smell is around 10000 times more sensitive than your sense of taste.
On average, your intestines are 25 feet long from end to end. Your small intestine is over 20 feet. And while your large intestine is wider around, it’s only about 5 feet in length.
Your intestines are always moving, a continuous wavy motion called peristalsis. Or when vomiting, reverse-peristalsis.
Stomach acid can melt metal—at least certain metals, such as zinc. Digestive juices in the gut contain hydrochloric acid. They rank just below battery acid on the pH scale.
Your Asymmetrical Body
The two sides of your face are not alike. If you take a photo of your face and divide it down the middle, then replicate each half, the faces look different enough for people to judge one face better looking than the other!
Almost everyone is stronger and more dexterous on one side of their body than the other. Research indicates somewhere between 85% and 90% of the population is right-handed; almost everyone else favors their left hand. Only about 1% of the population is naturally ambidextrous, but it is possible to train one’s non-dominant side to greater strength and ability.
Body Bits and Pieces
All humans share about 99.9% of our DNA with other humans. For comparison, we share 98% with pigs, and 60% with bananas! (thednatests.com)
The extra skin on your elbow, known scientifically as olecranal skin or colloquially at the weenus, is basically nature’s Silly Puddy because there are fewer sensory neurons located there. That means you can keep kneading it all day long, and as hard as you want.
Adult lungs have a surface area of around 70 square meters!
Human teeth are almost as hard as opal. Diamonds have a hardness of 10; teeth are at 5.
You are about 1cm taller in the morning when you first get up than when you go to bed. This is because during the day the soft cartilage between your bones gets squashed and compressed.
Some penises “grow” more than 4 centimeters when aroused. I found nothing about any relationship between this and any aspect of sexual functioning.
Vaginas range from 2.7 to 3.1 inches. The depth while aroused ranges from 4.3 to 4.7 inches.
Men are more sensitive to caffeine; women are more sensitive to alcohol.
Your fingernails grow three times faster than toenails, explained by the hands having more blood pumping through them. The fingernails on your dominant hand grow faster. In colder weather, nails grow more slowly.
During pregnancy, one’s sense of smell improves dramatically, possibly the body’s attempt to avoid exposing the fetus to danger.
A human’s scent also changes during pregnancy. Other humans can’t usually detect it, but pets might!
Our bodies give one nostril a break while the other is active – we just don’t know we do it. We naturally tend to alternate breathing from one nostril then the other, which helps keep the air we breathe moist so as not to irritate our lungs.
Every new cell is reproduced from the template of our DNA. Therefore, it’s not surprising that this DNA template gets worn away and errors occur as we age. But the aging body is beyond the scope here!
Bottom Line: Know your body well as a path to taking good care of it!
Blood is so important that it has escaped the confines of the body and pops up everywhere, in symbolism, metaphors, and superstitions.
Fallacies About Blood
In many ancient cultures, where blood was seen as the essence of life—sacrificing blood (animal or human)—was believed to sustain the gods, the land, or the community. In ancient paganism, such sacrifices were offered to gods like Moloch, Aztec deities, or the Greek Fates to ensure fertility, harvests, or protection.
It was once believed that blood was the same as life, and as such, drinking blood was the equivalent of a transfusion today.
Ma’at weighing the heart of the deceased against the Feather of Truth, determining a soul’s guilt or innocence in the Egyptian Book of the Dead
Cannibalism, as a tribal rite, was based on a similar belief, that the blood of another was his life and soul. The practice of drinking the blood of the bravest foes was to acquire their courage, cunning, and other distinctive traits.
Royalty and the super rich literally had blue blood. This was based on the fact that those who did not labor in the sun, and therefore weren’t tan, had veins that showed more prominently blue. (Indeed, some creatures have blue blood—e.g., horseshoe crabs—but humans aren’t among them.) Historically, Royal Blood meant that royalty were of divine or pure lineage, untouched by commoners. Bloodlines determined inheritance, legitimacy, and power.
Transfusion bag
People of different races have different blood, and transfusions across ethnic groups are dangerous if not deadly.
A baby gets blood from the mother. In fact, the fetus creates its own blood entirely, in utero.
Bloodletting
Bloodletting in the 1860s
As far back as the Ancient Egyptians, doctors have attempted to treat patients by adjusting fluids inside the body. In particular, medical theories held that sweating and bloodletting were effective treatments for everything from headaches to gout. Hippocrates believed menstruation was a spontaneous form of bloodletting. Talmudic, Ayurvedic, Chinese, and Islamic medical texts all contain detailed instructions of the practice.
Galen created very specific charts of the best locations to cut or place leeches to achieve specific health benefits, encouraging patients to take their “cure” into their own hands! Cutting the vein in the right hand might cure liver problems, while cutting the vein in the left hand could cure spleen trouble.
Diagram of where to bleed for specific health concerns
He also believed that the heart created blood and sent it to the organs and extremities, where it was used up. Having too much would cause it to stagnate, leading to illness. For centuries, doctors throughout Europe and the Middle East thought it purged toxins, balanced bodily chemistry, and boosted immunity.
Bloodletting remained a common medical practice through the 19th Century. Textbooks from 1923 still recommended treating patients with strategic bleeding.
It still shows up in our language. “Bloodletting” is now a euphemism for simmering tensions in a community erupting into violence.
Bloody Language
A subject so entwined with human history and sensibilities is bound to show up in our language.
Blood in Metaphors
Blood feud: People of one bloodline/clan are born enemies of another.
In cold blood: To do something cruel or violent deliberately and without emotion.
Hematohidrosis, a rare medical condition, causes a patient to sweat actual blood.
Blood, sweat, and tears: A lot of effort and hard work, often involving suffering.
Blood runs cold: To feel a sudden shock or horror.
Flesh and blood: Someone’s family or relatives; also used to describe human limitations or weaknesses.
Blood boils: To become extremely angry.
Bad blood: Strong feelings of hatred or anger between people.
New blood: New people joining a group or organization, bringing fresh ideas.
Roman gladiators from a Third Century mosaic
Blood sport: A sport involving the hunting or killing of animals, or a violent competition.
Blood money: Money earned through dishonest or violent means; also refers to money paid to a killer as compensation for a murder.
Bloodcurdling: Extremely frightening or shocking.
Blood brother: A very close friend; historically, mingling a few drops of blood from two people in a cup of wine and both drinking it sealed the bond. More recently, two people nick their thumbs or wrist veins and press them together to seal the bond. (“Brothers” could also be women, though this was much less common.)
Lady Macbeth by Gabriel von Max
Blood on one’s hands (e.g., Lady Macbeth’s famous line, “Out, damned spot!”) symbolizes moral stain or unresolved guilt.
Bloodstained: Covered or marked with blood, often implying violence or guilt.
In one’s blood: innate, as of a skill or quality. The same as “XXX runs in the family.”
Blood is thicker than water: Family relationships are stronger than other relationships.
In some initiation rites (e.g., fraternities, secret societies, or rites of passage), blood may symbolize commitment, loyalty, or rebirth into a new social or spiritual state.
Bloody Proverbs
Blood is inherited and virtue is acquired.
None so keen at the hunting of wolves as the dog with wolf blood.
Who grudges his blood to a blade had better earn his living behind the plow.
You cannot get blood from a stone/turnip
Good blood will never lie.
Men’s skins have many colors, but human blood is always red.
Like blood, like means, and like age, make the happiest marriage.
Marrying in the blood is never good.
Noble and common blood is of the same color.
If blood is spilt on you before breakfast, you will shed blood before nightfall.
The human body contains about 5 liters (1.3 gallons) of blood, which circulates through the body 3 times every minute on average! It transports oxygen, nutrients, and hormones, fights infections, regulates body temperature, and removes waste products.
Bottom Line: Blood is so important that it’s everywhere!
We’re all aware, at some level, of racism and sexism. Everyone lucky enough to live to be old will probably become aware of ageism. Many fewer are attuned to ableism. The world wasn’t built for people with disabilities, and because of that, the world we live in is inherently “ableist.”
“Ableism is the discrimination of and social prejudice against people with disabilities based on the belief that typical abilities are superior. At its heart, ableism is rooted in the assumption that disabled people require ‘fixing’ and defines people by their disability. Like racism and sexism, ableism classifies entire groups of people as ‘less than,’ and includes harmful stereotypes, misconceptions, and generalizations of people with disabilities.”
All -isms are based on stereotypes. Stereotyping is when, based on one characteristic, we assume a whole constellation of characteristics, traits, abilities, or behaviors. While it can sometimes feel like a mental shortcut to quickly understand the world, it often leads to inaccuracies, misunderstandings, and unfair judgments.
Effects of Stereotyping
THE American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) provides legal assistance for people seeking civil liberties protections.
Bias and Prejudice: Stereotypes can reinforce harmful biases, leading to discrimination or exclusion. Overgeneralization: It ignoring individual differences. Self-Fulfilling Prophecies: People may unconsciously act in ways that confirm a stereotype, perpetuating the cycle. Loss of Individuality: It reduces people to a single label, ignoring their unique identities, experiences, and complexities.
Common Areas Where Stereotyping Occurs
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is a legal advocacy organization promoting civil rights in the US.
Gender: Assuming women are “naturally” better at caregiving or men are “naturally” better at leadership. Race/Ethnicity: Linking certain behaviors or traits to an entire racial or ethnic group. Professions: Believing all engineers are socially awkward or all artists are “starving.” Age: Assuming older adults are “out of touch” or teenagers are “irresponsible.” Cultures: Assuming everyone from a specific country behaves the same way.
Ableism
Returning to focus on ableism, consider the following examples from the source cited above:
Presenting a disability as either tragic or inspirational in news stories, movies, and other popular forms of media
Choosing an inaccessible venue for a meeting or event, thus excluding some participants
Using someone else’s mobility device as a hand or foot rest
Institutionalizing adults and children with disabilities
Failing to incorporate accessibility into building design plans. This applies to disabilities but also such things as gender-neutral bathrooms.
Buildings without braille on signs, elevator buttons, etc.
Selectively enforcing dress codes
Restricting workplace benefits, such as family leave or health insurance, to opposite-sex couples
Creating inaccessible websites
Entrenching existing prejudices into computer algorithms and coding
The assumption that people with disabilities want or need to be ‘fixed’
Requiring hairstyles that are difficult or impossible to maintain with certain hair textures
Using disability as a punchline, or mocking people with disabilities
Conducting research without consideration of differences based on gender, race, abilities, etc. This is especially important in medical research and the creation of public policy.
The lynchings of Blacks in earlier decades and eugenics movement of the early 1900s
Disproportionate number of guilty verdicts and harsher sentences based on race or ethnicity.
The mass murder of disabled people in Nazi Germany
Hiring preferences based on the assumption that women will become pregnant and leave the workforce
Wage gaps based on sex, race, ethnicity
“Die-Ins” during Black Lives Matter protests drew attention to racialized police violence in the US.
Micro-Aggressions and “Isms”
Micro-aggressions are everyday verbal or behavioral expressions that communicate a negative slight or insult in relation to someone’s gender identity, race, sex, disability, etc. It seems to me that non-conscious put downs of -isms are more common—and more socially acceptable—than others these days.
“That’s so lame.”
Dumb blonde jokes.
“That’s so retarded.”
“That guy is crazy.”
“You’re so brave to wear that!”
“You’re acting so bi-polar today.”
Schools defaulting to communicate with a female parent, regardless of a family’s arrangements.
“Should you really be eating that?”
“Must be that time of the month.”
“You’re so gay.”
“Are you off your meds?”
“It’s like the blind leading the blind.”
“It’s fine to be gay, but why do they have to shove it in my face?”
“My ideas fell on deaf ears.”
Putting hands on someone to guide them to where you want them.
“You throw like a girl.”
“You look great for your age!”
“But which one of you is the woman?”
“That’s so psycho.”
“I’m super OCD about how I clean my apartment.”
Offering to help old people. Sometimes this is appreciated, putting a bag in the overhead bin, for example. But often it comes across as assuming incompetence.
“You’re so well-spoken!”
“A real man would…”
“I’ll pray for you?”
Addressing an elderly person as young man or young lady.
“Of course he’s paid more; he has a family to support!”
“I don’t even think of you as disabled/black/a woman.”
“I’m not saying she deserved it, but did you see what she was wearing?”
“I love old people; they’re so adorable!”
“This sort of thing comes naturally to your people, right?”
“Big boys don’t cry.”
Touching someone’s hair.
“You’re such a spaz.”
Witnessing or overhearing any of the above without speaking up.
How to Avoid Stereotyping
The Stonewall Riots kicked off the gay liberation movement in the US, eventually leading to major legal protections and growing social acceptance of LGBTQ+ people.
Challenge Assumptions: Ask yourself why you hold a particular belief about a group. Seek Diverse Perspectives: Engage with people from different backgrounds to broaden your understanding. Focus on Individuality: Recognize that everyone is unique and shouldn’t be reduced to a stereotype. Educate Yourself: Learn about the lived experiences of others rather than relying on stereotypes. Practice Empathy: Put yourself in someone else’s shoes to understand their perspective.
Bottom Line: -Isms and stereotyping can harm mental health, self-esteem, and social cohesion. Stereotyping can often leads to systemic -isms like racism, sexism, ageism, and other forms of discrimination. Breaking free from stereotypes is essential for creating a fairer, more inclusive world.
First there are the dailies. Only 31 days in the month, yet there are 486 (!) daily holidays and observances. If you are reading this blog the day it is posted (May 12), 224 of these opportunities have already passed you by for 2026. You are probably aware of Cinco de Mayo and Mother’s Day, maybe even celebrated them. But (probably) missed opportunities include
And soooo many more. Of course, there’s always next year. It pays to plan ahead (perhaps plant something soft in anticipation of Naked Gardening Day 2027).
All isn’t lost, though. There are 10 opportunities to celebrate just today (May 12) including National Nutty Fudge Day and Limerick Day. My long-time favorite limerick was composed at St Lawrence University during a graduation ceremony—every year there was some faculty challenge during that event—by a member of the Physics Department, Peter Oesper.
There was a young lady named Ruth Who made love in a telephone booth. Her father, dismayed, Cried, “Ruth, you’ve been laid!” “No, stood up if you must know the truth,”
Peter Oesper
Try your hand at a limerick and share?
Celebratory Weeks in May
Of curse weekly celebrations and observances abound in May—130, in fact. A couple of things to note about the weekly listings: 1) several of the earliest ones actually started in April; and 2) some are not a full week, just too long to be a daily.
Here are some examples of celebrations for people who don’t want to feel pushed by a one-day limit. Of course—for you, dear reader—some must await next year. These include the 27 weekly observances that are always the first full week in May. And among others
If even a week is too constraining—or just doesn’t have enough time to do it properly—go for one of the 118 Monthly Holidays and Observances. Trust me, there is something here for everyone! Just a few far-flung examples:
My Ph.D. is in Experimental Social Psychology. Though I was not a clinician, an article in the print edition of a recent Wall Street Journal grabbed my attention: Where Have All the Male Therapists Gone? (Published online as What Will Happen When All the Male Therapists are Gone? [March 12, 2026]) “… in the mid-1960s, the ratio of men to women in the field was 80 to 20. Today, that ratio has flipped.” (Going forward, any citation from that article will be marked **.) This is a great article, and I suggest you read it if you can.
“The main consequence of the feminization of psychology is the topics that are worked on,” says [Martin] Seligman. “From the 1960s through the 1980s, it was aggression, conflict and trauma, but not love, meaning, friendship or cooperation.” **
The psychology of women emerged as a distinct field and gained momentum during the rise of the feminist movement. Feminists challenged these biases, leading to research focused on women’s experiences, gender roles, identity, and the social and cultural factors affecting women’s mental health.
Though this change to less violent and more humane research has much to recommend it, Seligman sees less research on therapy and issues for boys and men as a downside. ** While I applaud psychology for—finally—recognizing the distinct experiences and needs of women, the current imbalance is equally regrettable. The male psyche is becoming less the norm than an aberration. According to Mark Kiselica, “They are greatly influenced by models that look at how boys and men are flawed rather than about boys and men are different.” ** It truly is a a reversal of psychology researchers’ bias.
Issues of bias aside, there is strong evidence that men are struggling today. In 2023, suicide rates for men were approximately four times higher than for women. Overall, men account for about 77% of suicides, while women make up about 23%, showing a stark gender difference in suicide mortality.
Roughly 15% of U.S. men aged 21-25 reported a major depressive episode in 2024. “It’s estimated that roughly 1 in 5 men suffer from some form of mental illness—a share that has increased from 13.6% in 2008.” **
Men are significantly less likely than women to seek therapy due to societal expectations, stigma, and perceptions that mental health issues are not “manly.” This may be changing—albeit slowly. “In 2024, 17.3% of men sought some form of counseling up from 8.7% in 2002.” **
But, truly, how important is the dearth of male therapists?
True, men who work in male-dominated fields are more likely to prefer a male therapist who “speaks the same language.” Nevertheless, only 40% of men expressed a gender preference for their therapist, and of those half preferred a woman. **
Clinicians agree that a well-trained therapist can work effectively with both male and female clients. Furthermore, research has found no differences between male and female therapists in their effectiveness or client outcomes.**
The United States currently faces a significant shortage of therapists and mental health professionals relative to the demand for mental health services. Several factors may be contributing to this need.
Growing Mental Health Awareness Increasing awareness and reduced stigma around mental health have led more people to seek therapy and counseling.
High Demand vs. Supply Gap Many regions, especially rural and underserved urban areas, have insufficient numbers of therapists, leading to long wait times and limited access.
Rising Mental Health Challenges The prevalence of anxiety, depression, PTSD, and other disorders has increased, partly exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and social stressors.
Workforce Shortages The mental health workforce is aging, with many professionals nearing retirement and fewer new therapists entering the field than needed.
Insurance and Cost Barriers Even where therapists exist, cost and insurance coverage can limit access, making the demand for affordable, accessible therapy even more pressing.
Bottom Line: Expanding the mental health workforce with more therapists can improve access, reduce wait times, and support better mental health outcomes.
Vivian means “likes bright and vivid colors.” And I do, including red, which was my mother’s favorite color. I doubt she was alone here, but in the United States, the top six colors nationally are blue, black, gray, pink, white and green. Why didn’t red make the list?
Perhaps it’s because, in the U.S., the color has so many negative associations. Red is used almost universally in stop signs, alarms, and warnings. It signals alertness and caution, often linked to fire, blood, and emergency.
Stop signs
Traffic lights
Fire Trucks
No entry
Flammable liquid
Biohazard
Warning signs are commonly red because it is associated with danger, is highly visible, and stands out against most backgrounds, ensuring it can be seen from a distance even in poor conditions like fog or smoke. Many poisonous animals have red markings. In humans, exposure to red increases heart rate, raises blood pressure, and heightens alertness.
Symbolism One Step Removed
Seeing red. It means being very angry, mad, furious, irate, or enraged. Some synonyms for this phrase include losing your temper, exploding, erupting, losing patience, becoming enraged, or flying into a rage.
What about the bullfighter’s red cape, encouraging the bull to attack? Bulls are actually color-blind, but I’d be pretty mad too if someone was shaking a cape in my face and trying to stab me!
Then there is red faced. Depending on context, it could mean embarrassment or anger, but neither is pleasant.
Red lined: deleted.
Being in the red = financial deficit.
But this color is rich with symbolism across cultures, emotions, and contexts. It symbolizes a range of powerful concepts including love, passion, energy, vitality.
Seeing Red Emotions
Energy and Vitality
It symbolizes life force, strength, and physical energy. Its vibrancy grabs attention and can stimulate excitement or action.
Passion and Love
Red is associated with love, desire, and romance. It’s the color of hearts, roses, and Valentine’s Day.
Power and Courage
Mounties on Parade
Think red-blooded. Also, historically, red has symbolized power, leadership, and bravery. Warriors and royalty often wore red to signify status and valor.
The color can also evoke feelings of anger, aggression, or intensity, reflecting the heat of strong emotions.
Seeing Red Around the World
In Hinduism, red is associated with Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and embodiment of beauty.
Indian Culture
In Indian culture, red symbolizes love, passion, power, fertility, prosperity, and marital bliss, often used in weddings, festivals, and religious ceremonies. Brides often wear red saris, representing love, prosperity, and new beginnings. Red is also used in religious ceremonies and festivals like Holi.
Chinese Culture
In Chinese culture, red is a symbol of good fortune, prosperity, happiness, and celebration, especially during festivals like Lunar New Year. It’s therefore prominent in weddings, festivals, and decorations, believed to ward off evil spirits.
American Traditions
Red is associated with Christmas (red berries, Santa’s suit) symbolizing warmth and festivity. Many opera houses have red seats to convey a sense of opulence. A red carpet also signifies especially formal occasions.
Red Square
Russian Beauty
The ancient Russian word for red and beauty are the same. Even today, Moscow’s Red Square (Красная площадь) would be more accurately translated as Beautiful Square.
African Traditions
In many African cultures, red beads or cloths symbolize life, health, and vitality, but can also represent danger or mourning depending on the context. The Ndembu in Central Africa associate red with life and health, so warriors and sick people wear red paint.
Seeing Red In Art
Red’s symbolism is woven through art, literature, and cultural traditions, carrying meanings that evoke deep emotions and ideas in viewers, readers, and participants—often reflecting the above.
Emotion and Drama
Artists use red to convey intense feelings—love, anger, passion, or violence. For example, in Renaissance paintings, red robes often signify power or sanctity (like in depictions of Christ or saints). Medieval painters often depicted martyrs in red clothing.
Focus and Contrast
Red draws the viewer’s eye, creating focal points or dramatic contrasts. Think of Henri Matisse’s bold use of red to energize his compositions.
The Lute, Henri Matisse (1943)
Symbol of Life and Death
Red can represent blood, vitality, or sacrifice. In Mexican Día de los Muertos art, red flowers symbolize the life force amid remembrance of death.
In Literature
Love and Desire
Red often symbolizes passionate love or temptation. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet uses red imagery to underscore the intensity and tragedy of young love.
The Scarlet Letter, Hugues Merle (1681)
Violence and Danger
Red can signal bloodshed or conflict. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the scarlet “A” is a mark of sin and shame but also of identity and resilience.
Rebellion and Revolution
Red is also linked to upheaval and change, as seen in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, where the red flag symbolizes revolution and political power.
Red’s symbolism is a powerful reminder of life’s intensity—from love and celebration to warning and sacrifice. It’s a color that speaks to human experience across time and place.
Sustainable Perspective on Red Symbolism
A more recent interpretation is that red’s connection to blood and fire reminds us of life’s fragility and the importance of protecting natural resources. It can inspire urgent action toward climate and social justice, symbolizing both warning and passionate commitment.
Bottom Line: The effect of red is—totally?—dependent on context and culture.
They say that waking up Is hard to do. And I know, I know that it’s true!
I love being in bed—even if all I’m doing there is sleeping! I love snuggling down, feeling comfy. I can sleep soundly for ten hours or more, given the opportunity. I get up when I have to.
In high school, that meant 5:30 a.m., to be picked up at 6:00 by the parents of three elementary school children, to get them up, dressed and fed, walk them to and from school, and babysit them till the parents got home from work about 5:00 p.m.
And so it went from then through every subsequent job: roll out in time to get to work. During my seven years in college (B.S., M.S., Ph.D.), replace “work” with “class.”
Today, I sleep later, and stay up later. I still get up when I have a specific time-critical commitment. And I still struggle with waking up.
Waking Up with Help
Apparently, I’m not alone here. Sleep specialists say that some level of sleep inertia is normal. It’s just that for some of us, that level is very high! And for them, there are options—some of them pretty harsh. A March 6 article in The Wall Street Journal described several that I (for one) consider extreme.
Modern Assistance
Pavlok Shock Clock is a wrist-watch-like device that delivers an electric shock to the wearer. The wearer sets the intensity to hurt but not cause damage: for example, a setting of 75% is 300 volts. It sells for about $160.
Clocky, created about twenty years ago, is a wheeled alarm that hops off a table and beeps as it zooms around the room.
Nuj, an app on which the user sets a task to prove s/he is up. If the task isn’t performed within minutes, a financial penalty, also set by the user, is levied. All the money collected goes to charity.
Alarmy, another app for which the user chooses a “mission” that must be accomplished before the alarm will shut off. At this writing, it costs $7.49 per month.
Sonic Bomb, sounds off at 113 decibels (think rock concert loud) and flashes red lights. It comes with a vibrating puck for under the pillow or mattress to shake the sleeper awake.
A gentler alternative might be an alarm clock that slowly turns up bedroom lights, mimicking a sunrise. Or one that brews a cup of coffee at your bedside!
Historical Help
Once upon a time, people lived without mechanical alarm clocks or phone apps. To wake up earlier than circadian rhythms dictated, people relied on the noise of animals, deliberately drinking lots of water before bed, or time-keeping bells at nearby religious buildings.
A “knocker-upper” shooting pellets at second story windows to wake people
People used a variety of mechanical methods to try waking up on time when their bodies just wanted to sleep. Some lit a candle that dropped metal pieces with a clatter when they’d been burning for a certain amount of time. Others set a slow trickle of water to trip a pressure alarm and ring a gong. A stick of slowly burning incense, held between the toes, would wake even the soundest sleeper when the burning embers hit skin.
But according to the Wall Street Journal article, the demand for alarm clocks took off in the late 1800s, with names like “the Rattler, the Slumber Stopper, and the Tornado.” With the shift to urban settings and factory work, more people needed to be up earlier and at more precise times. Many factories hired a “knocker-upper” to walk through the streets and rouse employees for their shifts.
In the 1930s, the Westclox Factory introduced the Siesta, with an early version of a snooze option: it alarmed and ten minutes later alarmed again louder. My cellphone alarm offers a snooze option that, when chosen, will sound again eight and a half minutes later—which is soooo easy to repeat, making it increasingly difficult to meet whatever commitment made me set an alarm in the first place!
Waking Up Without Help
According to sleep experts, we really shouldn’t need to resort to extreme measures. Mariana Figueiro, PhD, at Mount Sinai, offers advice beginning with why you should consider avoiding the snooze button on your alarm and why raising the shades is critical.
According to Figueiro, the key is to keep a regular schedule. Getting up and going to bed at the same time every day, including weekends, trains your body to know when it’s time to wake up. (This makes the shifts to and from Daylight Savings Time particularly difficult!) And get up right away—without hitting the snooze button. You never sleep as well after your alarm goes off. It’s better to set the alarm for the time you really need to get up.
Habits for Waking Up Easily
Experts seem to agree on the importance of regular sleep habits. The quality of sleep is also important. Activities I’ve come across for getting good sleep include the following:
Meditate
Eat lots of protein
Take breaks from screen time
Exercise
Let natural light in
Get lots of natural light first thing in the morning (or bright, indoor lights)
Relax before going to bed with music or a physical book (not an e-book)
Avoid caffeine (coffee, chocolate) later in the day
Late night alcohol does not contribute to good sleep
Sleeping as Long as Possible
As a sleep lover who gets up at the last possible minute when I absolutely have to, here are some things that help me sleep as long as possible before I have to meet some commitment:
Organize what I’m going to wear the next day the night before, including jewelry. (I’m a jewelry junkie!)
Learn to enjoy cold coffee.
Have power bars on hand so breakfast prep is optional—or marry a spouse who will make breakfast for you on your schedule!
Minimize grooming time by omitting whatever won’t be noticed and schedule more time-consuming bits (like shampooing) for days without scheduled commitments.
