Musings

PAIN, AGONY, HURT!

Posted on by vlaw759

Studies suggest that about 10% of one’s nervous system is dedicated to sensing pain. Given what else the nervous system does—sight, smell, taste, hearing, thinking, moving, digestion, etc., etc., etc.—that’s a lot!

Why so much attention to pain? As it turns out, there are benefits to feeling poorly.

Pain for Gain

Foremost is survival: without unpleasant sensations, we wouldn’t know to avoid fire, allow injuries to heal, attend wounds such as broken bones or cuts, etc.

There are additional ways in which negative feelings lead to have positive consequences.

Pain facilitates pleasure by providing an important contrast for pleasurable experiences, increasing sensitivity to sensory input, and facilitating self-rewarding behavior.

In many communities, the ability to withstand pain or physical endurance marks a child’s elevation to adult status.

Pain augments self-regulation and enhancement by increasing cognitive control, reducing rumination, and demonstrating virtue.

Pain promotes affiliation by arousing empathy from others, motivating social connection, and enhancing group formation.

Pain Reduction

Mesopotamian goddess Nisaba, with opium poppies growing from her shoulders. c 2430 BCE

But for all of that, we try to avoid or minimize feeling bad. Indeed, pain is the most common reason why people seek medical care. Seeking relief is not a new phenomenon, but getting it is.

Surgeons have been using general anesthesia in the Islamic world for nearly two thousand years. In the 1600s, many European doctors gave their patients opium to relieve pain.

The earliest European surgeons operated while keeping patients wide awake and physically restrained. By the 1800s, the nicest surgeons introduced ether and chloroform anesthetics for surgery. And why was this controversial?

Several major religions view physical suffering as intrinsically linked with atonement or moral goodness. Some, such as Buddhism and Taoism, hold that it is caused by an imbalance within the individual and can only be resolved through personal effort. Others, such as Christianity, have historically believed that suffering brings one closer to an ideal spiritual state.

Surgeons operating on patient under ether anesthesia, 1847

Some doctors questioned the ethics of operating on unconscious patients. Others were concerned that relieving pain might hamper healing. “But the surgeons could not long resist their new power to perform longer and more complex procedures, and most patients thought anesthesia a divine blessing,” wrote Marcia Meldrum, an associate researcher in the department of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles.

By the 1900s, people were using morphine and heroin as pain medications. At first, doctors thought these “safe.” However, over time, it became clear that these treatments also made people vulnerable to addictions.

Until this time, the medical field considered pain to be primarily a problem to manage in acute care (related to injury, for example, or surgery) or during a painful death from cancer.

“Flavors” of Pain

Acute pain is what you feel when you become hurt or injured. You may have experienced acute pain from an injury such as a cut or a broken limb or from disease or inflammation in the body. Acute pain can be intense and severe, but it typically resolves as your body heals from whatever caused it.

Nociceptive pain is caused by tissue damage. Most acute pain is nociceptive. 

According to NIH, chronic pain is a sensation that lasts much longer than acute pain―usually months and sometimes years. Chronic pain sometimes has a clear cause, such as an acute injury, a long illness, or damage to and dysfunction of your nervous system. However, it sometimes happens without any obvious reason.  Medical providers have often assumed that patients complaining of on-going pain are delusional, hypchrondiacal, malingering, or addicts. Patients often turn to psychotherapy, or sometimes neurosurgery.

Neuropathic pain is caused by nerve damage or dysfunction. You can experience neuropathic pain from injuries or illness that affect the spinal cord and brain (for example, a slipped disc in your spine) or the peripheral nervous system (the nerves throughout the rest of your body). This kind of discomfort often feels similar to burning, shooting, or stabbing. 

Inflammatory pain happens when your immune system activates in response to injury or infection. In addition to causing redness or swelling, it can also make you more sensitive to feelings of pain.

Everyone’s pain feels differently, and the only way to know whether someone is hurting is to ask. Has a medical practitioner asked you to rate your discomfort on a scale from 1 to 10? They may also ask you to describe what you feel: dull, throbbing, aching, shooting, stabbing, etc.

Treatment Options

Chinese woodcut from 1818 showing an orthopedic treatment for prolapsed disc

Just as there isn’t a way to measure it objectively, there isn’t one single treatment that will work for everyone. It often involves a combination of treatments, which may include:    

  • Over-the-counter and prescription medications (such as pain relievers and drugs that reduce inflammation)
  • Physical and occupational therapy to improve function and limit discomfort
  • Counseling and therapy to teach skills for coping with pain
  • Medical treatments (such as medications and injections) to interrupt the brain’s signals or change how nerves process painful sensations 
  • Neuromodulation therapies (devices that stimulate nerves or the spinal cord) to reduce pain 
  • Complementary and integrative therapies (such as acupuncture and mindfulness meditation). 

And When Nothing Helps…

Chronic pain is an enormous problem.

More than 1 in 5 adults in the United States experience chronic pain.  Chronic conditions, such as low back pain and migraine, are the leading causes of disability around the world.

Not surprisingly, rates of chronic pain, including conditions that severely limit work or life activities, are highest among adults ages 65 and older.

Advertisement for treatment to cure morphine addiction, c 1900

In the 1980s, several prominent pain specialists suggested that opiods had a “low incidence of addictive behavior.” They pushed for increased use of the drugs to treat long-term, non-cancer pain, as Meldrum noted in her paper “The Ongoing Opioid Prescription Epidemic: Historical Context.” Today we all know how wrong they were, and we are still trying to undo the opioid crisis.

Where Does Aspirin Come From?

1923 advertisement

Apart from prescription medications, over-the-counter options are popular. Aspirin, as it is known today, was first developed in 1895 in Germany. By 1915, Bayer Pharmaceuticals developed the first tablet form, which they then sold throughout the world as a medicine.

The active ingredient in aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid, which is formed by the acetylation of salicylic acid, which is derived from natural plant sources such as jasmine, willow and poplar trees, as well as certain species of legumes.

This gives credence to the efficacy of willow bark tea for minor aches and pains, as long claimed by folk medicine practitioners.

Aspirin molecule, acetylsalicylic acid (ASA)

However, aspirin is no longer made from willow bark. Today, pharmaceutical companies derive aspirin from plants of the Spiraea genus. Compounders then convert the salicylic acid into acetylsalicylic acid via acetylation.

Aspirin is very useful in many ways besides pain relief. Indeed, doctors use it as a blood thinner to treat clots. At a daily dose of 81mg, it is helpful in preventing future heart attacks.

But beware: You should not use aspirin if you have a bleeding disorder such as hemophilia, a recent history of stomach or intestinal bleeding, or if you are allergic to an NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) such as Advil, Motrin, Aleve, Orudis, Indocin, Lodine, Voltaren, Toradol, Mobic, Relafen, Feldene, and others.

OTC Alternatives

A common alternative to aspirin is Tylenol. Acetaminophen, commonly sold under this brand name, is a non-opioid analgesic that relieves pain and reduces fever. Acetaminophen regulates the body’s temperature and alters its perception of pain.

Tylenol is generally safe at recommended doses. For adults weighing more than 110 pounds (50 kg), the recommended acetaminophen dosage is 1000 mg every six hours or 650 mg every four hours.

Risks

However, elderly individuals may face higher risks of certain side effects due to physiological changes, including:

  • Liver Damage: Aging decreases liver efficiency. This raises the risk of liver damage from acetaminophen, especially if taken in high doses or with alcohol.
  • Kidney Damage: As kidney function naturally declines with age, long-term or high-dose use of acetaminophen may lead to kidney damage in the elderly, particularly if their kidneys are already compromised.
  • Gastrointestinal Issues: Although Tylenol is easier on the stomach than nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), it can still cause gastrointestinal discomfort. This may include nausea, constipation, or diarrhea.
  • Acetaminophen toxicity occurs when a person takes more than the recommended dosage of this medicine. Tylenol overdose leads to 56,000 emergency department visits, 2,600 hospitalizations, and 500 deaths each year in the United States, making it one of the most common poisonings. Too much of a good thing is not a good thing!

Apart from any hedonistic motives to “just feel good,” pain is an economic drain: the estimated yearly national cost of pain, including medical treatments, disability, and lost productivity, is $560 billion to $635 billion in the U.S. alone!

Bottom Line: Pain is universal, and treating it is only human. But proceed with caution!

BLACK GOLD

Posted on by vlaw759

I love freshly ground black pepper! Those who know me know my favorite flavor so well that a friend gave me my personal pepper grinder, with a black bag to carry it with me virtually anywhere.

Black pepper grinder

Pepper loses its flavor and aroma through evaporation, so keep it in an airtight container and out of the sun. For the best flavor, grind whole peppercorns just before eating. But beware: whipping out your personal pepper grinder at McDonald’s might earn you some stares and side-eyed looks.

And I’m not alone in liking pepper. Black pepper represents about 50% of a typical restaurant’s spice usage. The United States is currently the world’s biggest consumer of pepper. As of 2024, the United States imported US$325.6 million (19% of total black pepper imports).

Nor is pepper only recently appreciated. People have used pepper in cooking for over 4,000 years. Ancient Egyptians placed pepper in the nostrils of mummies to accompany the pharaohs over 2,500 years before Christ.

History

Egyptians used toothpaste containing black pepper
Egyptians made toothpaste from pepper, mint, rock salt, and iris flowers.

Long before “black gold” came to mean oil in some places, in the “Old World” it was a synonym for pepper. Pepper was so valuable in ancient times that people used it to pay taxes, tributes, dowries, and rent. It was weighed like gold and used as a common medium of exchange.

In ancient Greece, priests offered pepper to the gods in sacred rituals and even used it in place of gold.

Pliny the Elder complained in 77 C.E. about the price of peppercorns and the amount of money Rome paid to India every year for black pepper. When Alaric, king of the Visigoths, captured Rome in AD 410, he demanded 3,000 pounds of pepper (in addition to gold and silver) as ransom.

There are some arguments that black pepper may have been available in China as early as the Second Century B.C.E., during the Han Dynasty. However, historians generally agree that the hujiao (胡椒, foreign pepper) described in Chinese records in the Third Century C.E., was piper nigrum, black pepper.

Saint Aldhelm, a seventh century Bishop of Sherborne, wrote a riddle about the value of pepper in his life:

close-up of dried black pepper

I am black on the outside, clad in a wrinkled cover,
Yet within I bear a burning marrow.
I season delicacies, the banquets of kings, and the luxuries of the table,
Both the sauces and the tenderized meats of the kitchen.
But you will find in me no quality of any worth,
Unless your bowels have been rattled by my gleaming marrow.

from Riddles of St. Aldhelm

In the Middle Ages in Europe, pepper was an acceptable form of currency in some regions. Indeed, at times, peppercorns were worth more by weight than silver. A scornful term for wealthy merchants in medieval Germany was pfeffersack or “pepper sack.” The value of peppercorns, among other spices, made ventures like that of Christopher Columbus a worthwhile financial prospect.

Is Black Pepper Good for Anything but Flavor?

All indications are “Yes.” And here’s an overview!

Like many spices, pepper was historically both a seasoning and a medicine. Ayurveda, Siddha, and Unani medicines in India all mention black peppercorns. The Buddhist Samaññaphala Sutta lists pepper as one of the few medicines monks may carry. The 5th century Syriac Book of Medicines prescribes pepper for many illnesses:

black pepper in jar
  • Constipation
  • Diarrhea
  • Earache
  • Gangrene
  • Heart disease
  • Hernia
  • Hoarseness
  • Indigestion
  • Insect bites
  • Insomnia
  • Joint pain
  • Liver problems
  • Lung disease
  • Oral abscesses
  • Sunburn
  • Tooth decay
  • Toothaches

Various sources from the 5th century onward also say pepper is good to treat eye problems. Sometimes, physicians applied special ointments containing pepper directly to the eye. There is no current medical evidence that any of these treatments has any benefit; pepper applied directly to the eye would be quite uncomfortable and possibly damaging.

What Modern Research Reveals

Black pepper on its own provides some of the minerals needed in a healthy diet. One tablespoon (6 grams) of ground black pepper contains moderate amounts of vitamin K (13% of the daily value or DV), iron (10% DV), and manganese (18% DV), with trace amounts of other essential nutrients, protein, and dietary fiber.

Scientists at the Royal Society of Medicine and Sabinsa Corporation are studying piperine’s potential to increase absorption of selenium, vitamin B12, beta-carotene, and curcumin, as well as other compounds. 

Black pepper and its active compound piperine may have potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

Isolated piperine crystals

Laboratory studies suggest that black pepper may improve cholesterol levels, blood sugar control, and brain and gut health.

Despite these promising findings, more studies in humans are needed to better understand the exact health benefits of black pepper and its concentrated extracts.

Pepper can irritate the intestines. Doctors encourage patients having abdominal surgery or ulcers to eliminate black pepper from their diets.

Components of black pepper are often added to commercial mouthwashes and breath fresheners to treat sore throats.

Molecular formula of piperine, active compound in black pepper
Piperine molecular formula: C17H19NO3

The caffeine content level of black pepper, as far as I could find, is negligible.

Pepper contains small amounts of safrole, a carcinogenic compound. I found no evidence that this is problematic.

How Many Kinds of Black Pepper are There?

Piper nigrum, black pepper plant

Excluding sweet bell peppers, chili peppers, etc., which are entirely different plants, there’s only one pepper.

Black Pepper comes from the dried fruit peppercorn (piper nigrum). It grows on a perennial flowering vine. When the plants reach maturity, peppercorns are stripped from the stem and then boiled for a few minutes before drying in the sun for several days. They are then flash dried. Black peppercorns are green when harvested and change color while drying.

Commercial pepper comes in many colors—green, black, red, and white—but all come from the same plant, the color determined by how ripe it is and how it has been processed.

Red, white, green, and black pepper

White peppercorns are black pepper without skin. Ground table pepper is typically 70% black and 30% white. However, the good stuff is 50/50.

While black pepper is a staple in most American kitchens, white pepper is more popular in French, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Swedish cooking. White pepper, though similar to black, has a sharper and mustier flavor. Use care when substituting one for the other!

Because the berries remain on the vine longer than normal before harvest, red peppercorns are the most expensive available.

Growers classify pepper as either garbled or un-garbled. The garbled variety is black and nearly globular, with a wrinkled surface. The ungarbled variety also has a wrinkled surface, but the color varies from dark brown to black.

Once the peppercorns are dried, pepper spirit and oil can be extracted from the berries by crushing them. Many medicinal and beauty products include pepper spirit. Pepper oil is also popular in ayurvedic massage oil and in certain beauty and herbal treatments.

Note: A completely unrelated species (chili peppers from the Capsicum family) is referred to as “red pepper.” Chili peppers, which are native to the Americas, were originally introduced to Europe as a substitute for black pepper due to their pungent flavor.

And a Few More Pepper Facts

People have long believed pepper is the cause for sneezing. Some sources say that piperine irritates the nostrils, which will cause the sneezing. Others say that it is just the effect of the fine dust in ground pepper. Still others say that pepper is not in fact a very effective sneeze-producer at all. Few if any controlled studies have been carried out to answer the question.

The plant is particular about soil conditions and thrives in soil that is “just right,” not too dry and not too wet.

Pepper is cultivated in tropical regions and is native to the Malabar region of southern India, where it grows as a tall vine with the peppercorns as flowering drupes.

Traders formed spice routes from India to Europe and often fought over them. One source maintains that, in an attempt to establish direct trade with Indian pepper plantations, Christopher Columbus inadvertently stumbled upon the Americas and consequently mislabeled the native inhabitants as “Indians.”

In the past, the expense of pepper limited its consumption to the extremely wealthy classes in India. For the first time, India is now a net pepper importer because of rising consumption among the growing middle class.

Accounting for about 20% of the monetary value of the world’s spice trade, black pepper is now produced mainly in India, Vietnam, Brazil, and Indonesia.

Pastry chefs in fine dining restaurants include black pepper in all kinds of desserts. It’s an especially delicious surprise in chocolate sweets, from fudge brownies and chocolate layer cake to chocolate truffles.  

What Pepper isn’t Good For

A commonly held myth claims that cooks in the Middle Ages used pepper to conceal the taste of partially rotten meat. There is no evidence to support this claim, and historians view it as highly unlikely: in the Middle Ages, pepper was a luxury item, affordable only to the very wealthy, who certainly had unspoiled meat available. In addition, at that time, people certainly knew that eating spoiled food would make them sick. In fact, a law in York, England required butchers to sell meat within 24 hours of slaughtering or face a fine!

A similar belief that pepper was in wide use as a preservative is also questionable. It is true that piperine, the compound that gives pepper its spiciness, has some antimicrobial properties. However, at the concentrations present when pepper is used as a spice, the effect is small.

Bottom Line: Given possible health effects, and no evidence of possible “overdose,” this amazing flavor-enhancer is worth adding to your daily cooking: its bold flavor is a great addition to almost any dish, savory or sweet.

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW DOGS?

Posted on by vlaw759

Because April is Dog Appreciation Month AND Canine Fitness Month, I’ve been posting about dogs on FaceBook almost daily. But there are dozens more—different—fun facts about dogs out there, and not enough April days left to share them. So, for your reading pleasure, from across the web:

There are over 75 million pet dogs in the U.S.—more than in any other country—and a third of ALL households around the world have a dog.

Part of the Family

Forty-five percent of dogs sleep in their owner’s beds. Here’s hoping they share the blanket!

Seventy percent of people sign their dog’s name on their holiday cards. If you want your dog to actually sign, use a nose print. Dog (and cat) nose prints are unique.

A study at UCSD claims that your dog can genuinely get jealous when they see you display affection for another creature.

Dogs can experience separation anxiety. If this is true of your dog, try leaving some clothing you’ve worn with your pet. It’s been proven that the scent you leave behind on your clothes can help ease your dog’s separation anxiety.

Yawning is contagious — even for dogs. Research shows that the sound of a human yawn can trigger a yawn from a dog. And it’s four times as likely to happen when it’s the yawn of a person the pet knows.

Dog Sensitivity

Dogs have wet noses for a few reasons. The moisture helps to absorb scent chemicals, sweat glands on the snout help regulate temperature, and many dogs lick their noses to clean them or taste dirt that may be there.

Dogs’ noses can sense heat and thermal radiation, which explains how blind or deaf dogs can still hunt.

A dog’s sense of smell is legendary, but did you know that their nose has as many as 300 million scent receptors? In comparison, a human nose has about 5 million. Your dog can smell 40 times better than you can.

Up to 30% of a dog’s brain may be dedicated to analyzing odors at any time.

The Bloodhound ’s sense of smell is so accurate that law enforcement agents can use the results of its tracking as evidence in some courts of law. An old Scottish word for this type of dog was “sleuth-hound” from which we derive the word “sleuth” for a detective.

Your dog can smell your feelings. In fact, your dog’s sense of smell is approximately 100,000 times better than yours. So it shouldn’t be shocking that they can in fact, smell things such as fear. When a human is fearful, they perspire, and a dog is easily able to pick up on this change.

Dogs can be trained to detect cancer and other diseases in humans. Cancerous cells release different metabolic waste products than healthy cells in the human body. Dogs may even be able to sniff out cancer cells simply through smelling someone’s breath.

All puppies are born deaf. As they get older, they can hear 4 times better than humans.

Adult dogs have fantastic hearing! They can detect high-pitched noises and spot sounds from much further away than humans can.

Dogs are not color-blind. They can see blue and yellow.

Dogs don’t see in as much detail as humans. Perfect sight for a human is 20:20, but for a dog, it’s 20:70 or 20:80. However, dogs track movement better than people because of a structure in their eye called a visual streak, which humans don’t have. So they’re very good at seeing horizontal movement and tracking it, even if visually they might not be able to make out what, precisely, is moving.

Dogs have about 1,700 taste buds. (We humans have between 2,000 and 10,000.) However, dogs are more sensitive to impurities in water than humans are, making it very important to ensure your dog always has access to clean, fresh water.

Dog Intelligence

Dogs have a sense of time. They have proven in multiple studies that they know the difference between one hour and five. Often they can predict future events, such as regular walk times.

Dogs can also “tell time” from scent. Your dog will start getting excited or more active around the time you come home from work each day. They do this because we are creatures of habit and are typically gone the same amount of time every day. When we leave our scent in the house, it fades over time; when we get home, that scent is at a certain level. Dogs become conditioned that we will return when our scents hit that lower level.

Your dog is as smart as a two-year old! Ever wonder why children around this age seem to have a special bond with the family dog? It could be because they speak the same language, roughly 250 words and gestures.

Not all mammals understand pointing but dogs and humans do. Dogs even understand pointing when you do it with your eyes and not your hands.

Stray dogs in Russia have learned how to ride the subway system, and get off at specific stops in search of food.

From their ears to their eyebrows, shoulders, and tail, dogs use signals and smells, as well as sound, to communicate! Their posture makes a big difference, too.

Dog Health

Dogs mostly pant to cool themselves. They have sweat glands between their toes; sweaty paws dogs help to stay cool. This also gives them the added benefit of a better grip.

Dogs have three eyelids. They have upper and lower eyelids, but also a third eyelid underneath, known as the nictitating membrane. This membrane serves multiple functions, including clearing the cornea of any particles or debris, producing tears, and acting similarly to a lymph node to battle potential infections. 

A majority of strays that end up in shelters are pets who are lost simply because they don’t have any identification. Additionally, Fourth of July is the busiest time of year for animal shelters: many pets are so frightened of loud fireworks that they run away.

Chocolate can be deadly to dogs due to containing the ingredient theobromine. Dogs cannot metabolize theobromine, and ingesting chocolate could cause a severely toxic buildup in their system, which could become fatal. American chocolate is bad but not typically lethal.

Xylitol is super poisonous. This includes gum, toothpaste and rarely peanut butter. A stick of gum is usually an ER visit, a handful of Hershey’s kisses is usually not deadly.

Health Benefits of Dogs for Humans

Petting a dog can actually benefit your physical and mental health. Studies have shown that petting a dog for 15 minutes can lower blood pressure by 10%, combat loneliness, and help lower feelings of stress and depression.

Children living in a home with a pet dog tend to develop stronger immune systems and have lower incidences of asthma. Scientists speculate this is a result of being exposed at an early age to allergens and bacteria that a dog introduces to the home.

Human blood pressure goes down when petting a dog. And so does the dog’s.

Many dogs undergo intensive training to work as guide dogs, helping blind people get around safely. Others are assistance dogs, who keep their owners calm and safe, warn of impending medical emergencies, or assist with daily tasks.

Sleeping Dogs

The average dog sleeps for about half of every day, or around 12–14 hours. That figure is higher for puppies, older dogs, and larger breeds.

A dog’s sleeping patterns are nearly identical to a human’s. Like us, they go through three phases during NREM sleep and also experience REM sleep. However, a dog’s sleep cycle is a lot shorter than ours: while we go through an average of five cycles a night, a dog can go through 15-20 cycles.

All dogs dream, but puppies and senior dogs dream more frequently than adult dogs.

Dogs can be unpredictable if they’re woken suddenly. They may bite or nip purely as a reactive response to being startled, so it’s always better to let your sleeping dog lie. If you really have to rouse them, do it with a gentle voice – not a hand. But don’t wake them from a bad dream, as they may react badly.

One reason for your dog snoozing on their back, paws in the air may be because s/he feels safe and secure, showing total trust. There’s also a possibility that your dog is too hot, particularly in the summer. There’s less hair on their belly, so heat can leave their body more easily. Plus, as dogs sweat through their paws, in this position they’re catching a breeze.

A dog sleeping on its side also indicates they are feeling relaxed and comfortable. It’s another sign of trust, and a dog will often enter REM sleep and dream in this position.

Dogs curl up in a ball when sleeping to protect their organs — a holdover from their days in the wild, when they were vulnerable to predator attacks—but it is also a way to conserve heat.

Special Dogs

Rin Tin Tin, the famous German Shepherd, was rescued from a bombed-out dog kennel in France during World War I. After the war, he was brought back to the U.S., where he (and his offspring) starred in 27 movies. He was nominated for an Academy Award in 1929.

Three dogs survived the historical sinking of the Titanic in 1912: a Pekingese named Sun Yat Sen, a Pomeranian named Lady, and another unnamed Pomeranian. All three sailed in First Class cabins.

The Guinness Book of World Records names Bluey, an Australian cattle dog, as the oldest dog to ever live. Bluey lived to be 29 years 5 months old and lived from 1910 to 1939.

The town of Idyllwild, California elected their first mayor in 2012, Mayor Max. But Max wasn’t just any regular mayor, he’s a Golden Retriever! Although Mayor Max passed away in 2013, the town elected Mayor Max II in 2013, and Mayor Max III in 2022. Way to go, Mayor Max!

According to Guinness World Records, a Great Dane named Zeus was the world’s tallest male dog ever. Zeus was 3 feet, 5.18 inches tall. He could drink from the kitchen sink, and his family has to buy a larger vehicle to fit him better.

What about the shortest dog? Guinness World Records gives that title to Pearl the Chihuahua. She measures 3.59 inches tall.

Interesting Breeds

Dachshunds were originally bred to fight badgers. In fact, their name means “badger dog” in German!

Newfoundlands make great lifeguards because they have water-resistant coats and webbed feet. They can also swim for unusually long distances, even while pulling a would-be drowning victim to safety.

Dalmatian puppies are born completely white; they develop their spots as they get older.

Maltese dogs have hair instead of fur. This means that, although their hair falls out like a human’s does, they do not shed fur and dander. Thus, they are ideal pets for allergy sufferers.

The Labrador Retriever has been on the AKC’s top 10 most popular breeds list for longer than any other breed. It is originally from Newfoundland, descending from the St. John’s Water Dog.

The French Bulldog was first named the most popular breed in 2022 .

The name Collie has disputed origins.

  • It may stem from the black-faced mountain sheep common in Scotland, called “coollies.”
  • A Northern English dialectal term for coal is coaley, possibly referring to the breed’s black patches.
  • In Old Gaelic, collie was a rural description of anything useful, which Collie dogs assuredly are. Collies are still among the most popular herding dogs today!
  • Another potential Gaelic root, cuilein, means a puppy or cub.
  • The Scandinavian name Colle was often used to refer to any dog in Medieval English, as seen in Chaucer’s works.

Chow Chow and Shar-Pei are the only two dog breeds with fully black tongues. I couldn’t find any explanation for why this trait was bred into these dogs.  According to one legend, the Chow Chow’s tongue turned blue while it was helping a monk paint the night sky.

The Dandie Dinmont Terrier is the only breed named for a fictional person, a character in the novel Guy Mannering by Sir Walter Scott.

The Australian Shepherd is not actually from Australia. In fact, they are an American breed.

A person who hunts with a Beagle is known as a “Beagler.” (Not to be confused with a “Beaglier” dog, which is a cross between a Beagle and a Cavalier spaniel!)

Basenjis don’t bark. Instead they yodel (called a “barroo”), whine, and occasionally scream as a means of communicating. Their barkless traits have earned them a nickname: “The African Barkless Dog.” 

The Norwegian Lundehund is the only dog breed created for the job of puffin hunting.

Greyhounds can beat cheetahs in an extended race. While cheetahs can run twice as fast as Greyhounds, they can only maintain that 70 mph speed for about thirty seconds. A Greyhound can maintain a 35 mph speed for about seven miles. The cheetah may start out first, but the Greyhound would soon overtake them.

And then there are working dogs: sled dogs, herders, trackers, search and rescue specialists, drug (or other) sniffers at airports, hunters, racers….

Dog Miscellany

When your dog is carefully choosing the perfect place to do their business, they may be leaving a message for other dogs, finding a surface they prefer, looking for a safe spot, or simply prolonging their time outside. They may even prefer to poop in alignment with the Earth’s magnetic field!

When dogs kick backward after they go to the bathroom, it’s not to cover it up, but to mark their territory, using the scent glands in their feet.

Dogs share 99.9% of their DNA with wolves. The Alaskan Malamute and Siberian Husky may have the closest DNA to their wild cousins.

Like right-handed and left-handed humans, most dogs have a dominant paw. To figure out which one it is, note which paw your dog most often starts with when getting up and walking.

A study shows that dogs are among a small group of animals who show voluntary, unselfish kindness towards others without any reward.

Dogs are able to breathe out through their mouth and nose at the same time. Their noses can separate air for sniffing and air for breathing. A dog’s nostrils are also able to move air out of their lungs while simultaneously moving air in across their scent receptors!

More than half of U.S. presidents have had at least one dog during their time at the White House. And then there’s Calvin Coolidge, who had at least 12!

The term “man’s best friend” was coined for a hound dog named Old Drum. A neighbor shot him, and his owner took the neighbor to court and proceeded to give one of the finest speeches defending the relationship of humans and dogs. This speech is forever immortalized on a plaque in front of a hound statue, located in front of the court house in Warrensburg, Missouri. The speech is available online. If you want to know more, look up “Burden vs Hornsby Old Drum”.

So, while I searched broadly, being totally comprehensive wasn’t possible. There are always more things to learn about dogs. Enjoy exploring!

Bottom Line: Dogs are useful, complex, fascinating, and—dare I say decorative? There’s lots to appreciate about dogs, all through the year!

EATING LIKE YOUR GREAT GRANDPARENTS

Posted on by vlaw759

I’m not talking about old family recipes here. I’m talking about “bought foods” some from hundreds of years ago, still consumed today. These brands are still popular in the United States; people in other countries are no doubt eating and drinking like their own great grandparents, but I am focusing on the brands I know.

Breakfast

You may be starting your day off by eating (and caffeinating) just like your ancestors!

In 1850, William H. Bovee, the owner of the Pioneer Steam Coffee and Spice Mills in San Francisco, built a mill that allowed him to sell pre-roasted, ground coffee. In 1865, A. Folger became a full partner, going on to buy out the other partners and rename the company J.A. Folger & Co. in 1872.  Folger’s Coffee was born.

Farther east, in 1873, Joel Cheek left Kentucky to seek a new life in Nashville, Tennessee. Eventually he launched the Nashville Coffee and Manufacturing Company. In 1892, Cheek created a special blend of coffee that he named after the Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville, which was one of his biggest customers. Legend has it that in 1907 President Teddy Roosevelt visited Maxwell House, the prestigious Nashville hotel and after finishing a cup of their namesake coffee, he declared it was, “good to the last drop.”

eating Quaker Oats

Ferdinand Schumacher founded the German Mills American Oatmeal Company in the 1850s in Akron, Ohio. With Robert Stuart of Ontario, he opened the Quaker Mill Company in 1877 in Ravenna, Ohio. In 1881, Henry Crowell bought the company and launched a national advertising campaign for Quaker Oats.

John Harvey Kellogg/W.K. Kellogg created Kellogg’s Corn Flakes at the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan in 1894. Kellogg was supporting good health through a vegetarian diet. Accidentally invented as a breakfast food to counter indigestion, Corn Flakes, the first dry, flaked breakfast cereal, became the most popular dry breakfast cereal in the world.

Lunch

You can take a break at lunchtime by eating the same lunch your great grandparents enjoyed!

Wonder Bread is an American brand of sliced bread. Established in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1921, it was one of the first companies to sell sliced bread nationwide by 1930. Elmer Cline named the company after the wonder he felt witnessing the launch of hundreds of hot air balloons at the International Balloon Race in Indianapolis.

After working for many years in a Chicago sausage factory, Oscar Mayer opened his first hot dog shop in 1883. Events like the Chicago World Fair in 1893, World War I, the release of the Wienermobiles, and the Oscar Mayer Wiener song made these hot dogs a cultural phenomenon.

In 1898, a LeRoy, New York-based carpenter and cough syrup manufacturer named Pearle Bixby Wait trademarked a combination of granulated gelatin, sugar, and flavoring called Jell-O. The first flavors were strawberry, raspberry, orange, and lemon.

Baking

Many of the brands modern bakers use have not changed substantially in generations. Even when baking at home, you may be eating the same cake as your great-grandparents!

Pillsbury Flower eating

In 1790, Henry Wood launched a company specializing in importing and distributing English-milled flour in Boston. Henry Wood & Co started milling and selling American-grown flour in 1825, when the Erie Canal made distribution faster and more reliable. They launched a new product in 1895 called King Arthur Flour (the name inspired by the hit musical of the day, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table). 

In 1764, John Hannon and Dr. James Baker started importing cacao beans and producing chocolate in Dorcester, Massachusetts. For 15 years, the duo produced chocolate under the company name Hannon’s Best Chocolate. Hannon went on a cacao-gathering trip to the West Indies in 1779, and never returned. Baker changed the company name to Baker Chocolate Company.

Charles Alfred Pillsbury founded C.A. Pillsbury and Company along with his uncle, John Pillsbury, in Minneapolis in 1872. Pillsbury was the second company in the United States to use steel rollers for grain processing. The Doughboy didn’t come around until 1965.

Carnation Milk eating

Carnation is now a brand of food products, but Elbridge Amos Stuart began as a dairy farmer in 1908. In addition to selective breeding, Carnation Farms aimed to increase milk production through keeping their cows happy and stress-free. The brand was especially known for its evaporated milk product created in 1899, first called Carnation Sterilized Cream and later called Carnation Evaporated Milk.

In 1912, a group of California raisin growers created the California Associated Raisin Company, which became Sun-Maid Growers of California. So, while not as old as some, Sun-Maid Raisins have still been around longer than today’s consumers. 

Sauces

Even if the other ingredients change, the flavors of what you’re eating may not be very different from what your great-grandparents ate.

When Edmund McIlhenny and his wife Mary Eliza first settled Avery Island, Louisiana, in 1859, they made a mint harvesting salt and selling it to the Confederates. The Union Army ransacked his entire operation. When McIlhenny inspected his land after the war was over, he noticed something growing: a spicy pepper native to the Mexican state of Tabasco.  McIlhenny planted tabasco peppers all over the island, and started selling his Tabasco Hot Sauce, made with those peppers and Avery Island salt, in 1868.

The story of Heinz Ketchup began in 1876 when it was first marketed as “catsup” by Henry J. Heinz. In the Unites States, many assume ketchup is always tomato-based, but that is an American invention. Around the world, people have made ketchups with all sorts of main ingredients, for example, mushrooms or bananas.

Drinks

In addition to eating like your ancestors, there is a very good chance you’re drinking like them!

Johannes “Reginald” Beam, a Kentucky farmer, began producing whiskey in the style that would eventually become known as bourbon, and sold his first barrel of corn whiskey, which he called Old Jake Beam Sour Mash, in 1795.  Today this is Jim Beam Bourbon, of course.

On May 8, 1886, Dr. John Pemberton poured the world’s first glass of Coca-Cola at Jacobs’ Pharmacy in Atlanta, Ga. He served about nine drinks. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it didn’t catch on immediately. The first recipe for Coke contained both wine and cocaine, and was marketed toward upper class intellectuals.

Caleb Bradham, a pharmacist in New Bern, North Carolina, invented a concoction that he originally called Brad’s Drink in 1893. He changed the name in 1898 to Pepsi-Cola, to advertise that his drink got its flavoring from kola nuts and could treat dyspepsia. Though the original recipe did not have any pepsin, it did contain vanilla and sugar, which Bradham claimed would aid in digestion and boost energy.

Yuengling Beer is a product of D. G. Yuengling & Son, established in 1829, is the oldest operating brewing company in the United States. In 2018, by volume of sales, it was the largest craft brewery, sixth largest overall brewery, and largest wholly American-owned brewery in the United States. Its headquarters are in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.

Thomas Lipton opened a small grocery shop in 1871 in Glasgow, Scotland. While traveling to source new stock for his store, he purchased tea gardens in modern-day Sri Lanka in 1890. He was able to control the entire supply chain, selling Lipton Tea in packets with the slogan “Direct from the tea gardens to the teapot.”

Snacks

Between meals, there’s a good chance you’re eating the same snacks as your great-grandparents. Though the recipes have no doubt changed, you may be reaching for the same brands and labels.

“The invention of the potato chip is attributed to George Crum, who was born George Speck in 1824, the son of an African American father and a Native American mother who was a member of the Huron people. In 1853 he was a cook at Moon’s Lake House restaurant in Saratoga Springs, New York. A customer sent back his order of fried potatoes, stating that the slices were too thick. Supposedly, Crum cut thinner slices of potato, but the customer was still dissatisfied. An annoyed Crum then decided to cut thin sections of potato and fry them in oil until they resembled crispy disks that could not be eaten with a fork. The customer, instead of being irritated, was delighted by the crunchy potatoes. Other restaurant patrons then requested the dish, leading the establishment to offer its special Saratoga chips.”

Encyclopedia Britannica

According to a taste test by Bon Appetit, the best potato chips today are Lay’s Classic.

The Rueckheim Brothers of Chicago, Il. trademarked the Cracker Jack label in 1896. However, coated popcorn and peanut mixtures had been around since at least the late 1850s and people were described eating them in articles dating from about 1857 to the 1880s. The contribution of the Rueckheim Brothers was largely to make the product less messy to eat by means of a carefully guarded process of processing. Circa 1899, Henry Eckstein joined Frederick Rueckheim & Bro, adding the packaging that would be familiar to anyone who bought Cracker Jacks well into the 1960s and beyond.

Not so old, but the Hershey Company is one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world. The name of the company has changed over time: Hershey Chocolate Co. (1894–1927), Hershey Chocolate Corporation (1927–68), Hershey Foods Corporation (1968–2005). Whatever the name, Hershey chocolates are classic.

Tootsie Rolls are a chocolate caramel candy that has been manufactured in the United States since 1907. It was the first penny candy to be individually wrapped in America. According to the company, they make over 65 million Tootsie Rolls daily.

Bottom Line: If the original product is good, subsequent iterations can go on indefinitely.

SKIN: FUNCTIONAL AS WELL AS ORNAMENTAL

Posted on by vlaw759

Unless wounded or suffering a rash or whatever, I venture to suggest that people mostly attend to how skin looks. It’s only logical, given that it’s exposed to public view—more or less, depending on culture, sex, age, season, and occasion!

Putting Your Best Face Forward

The good news is this: skin is constantly renewing itself, shedding dead cells and producing new ones. On average, we lose about 30,000 to 40,000 skin cells per minute. You may not see the dead, dull skin flaking off your face and body, but it is, and it contributes significantly to household dust!

It takes about a month for newly formed skin cells to make their way to the surface. The bad news is that renewal takes longer with age: turnover can take as much as six to eight weeks in someone in their 60s or 70s.

A buildup of dead skin cells can make your complexion appear duller and drier.

Like your body’s overall metabolism, the skin’s metabolic processes also lag with age and exposure to environmental aggressors.

The skin’s metabolism controls the production and breakdown of collagen and elastin. It also affects how well your skin renews its cells, repairs its damage, and even how it responds to topical products you use.

Giving Nature a Helping Hand

You can speed up the process of skin renewal (at any age) with topical products that contains retinoids, which promote new cell growth, or alpha hydroxy acids, including glycolic acid. These loosen up the intercellular glue-like substance that holds skin cells together on the surface, allowing them to slough off sooner. You can find these ingredients in cleansers, serums, lotions, or creams.

An alternative is the judicious use of skin exfoliants. Harsh or excessive exfoliation can cause small tears, which allow water to escape and potential irritants to pass into your skin, making it feel dry and sensitive.

Heads up: the molecules in most cosmetic compounds are too large to be absorbed, so be suspicious of claims about absorption.

Even molecules in some anti-aging skin-care products are too large to pass through skin’s outermost layer.

When the skin’s barrier gets damaged (from UV exposure, harsh cleansers, over-exfoliating, etc.), microscopic tears form.

Sunscreen keeps skin’s surface safe from sunburns and its cells protected from UV damage. My dermatologist recommends a lotion with SPF 35 on the face, every day, year-round, and something stronger for extended exposure, for example when sailing.

The road to healthy, radiant skin is paved with blood vessels. Skin contains 11 miles of blood vessels. Each square inch contains 20 blood vessels.

Gilding the Lily

Nanaia Mahuta, former Foreign Minister of New Zealand

One’s skin is an expansive canvas. The average adult has 2,800 square inches—about 22 square feet—of skin, and people have painted on it for more than 6,000 years, when ancient Egyptians (both women and men) used makeup to enhance their appearance and display their wealth. Now the beauty industry is a key driver of the U.S. economy, generating approximately $94.36 billion in cosmetics and beauty sales in 2023. Enough said about that.

Over time and around the world, for the sake of appearances, skin has been tattooed, pierced, and scarred, kept pale or tanned vigorously. Standards of beauty vary greatly from culture to culture.

But beyond its ornamental value, skin is incredibly useful!

The Real Skinny on Skin

Next time you step on the scale, remember that skin is the heaviest of all your organs. The average adult body can have 20 pounds of skin alone, making up 10-15% of body weight. That 10-15% is composed of water, oils, fats, nutrients, hair follicles, blood and lymph vessels, collagen, and living and dead cells.

Cross-section of human skin

Within one square inch of skin, there are 19 million skin cells of various types, each with its own specific job.

That square inch includes about 60,000 melanocytes, cells that produce melanin pigment, which gives skin its color. All humans have melanocytes (with the exception of some people born with albinism).

The majority of skin cells are keratinocytes. These include basal and squamous cells, the two types from which the most common skin cancers can arise.

Skin Hard at Work

According to the Cleveland Clinic, a square inch of skin also contains 300 sweat glands—for better or worse!

Skin helps regulate body temperature by sweating, but also by dilating blood vessels. Blood vessels bring oxygen and nutrients to your cells, remove waste, and help regulate your skin’s temperature. When the skin gets warm, your blood vessels dilate, allowing heat to escape to the outside air. When it’s cold outside, they constrict, keeping the heat in your skin.

Skin is a sensory organ, each square inch containing 1,000 nerve endings, allowing us to feel touch, temperature, pain, pressure, and vibration.

Skin is also highly reactive to emotional stress. Research has shown that skin inflammations such as eczema, psoriasis, and acne often flare during stressful times.

Stressful situations can also trigger sweating, itching and hives.

Experts have found the connection between stress and skin is bidirectional: stress can exacerbate skin issues, but skin can also send signals to the brain, triggering a stress response.

Skin is the protective barrier against external threats, such as UV rays, bacteria, and infections.

Under the Surface

Skin has a microbiome, with trillions of microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses and fungi that help in fighting infection, controlling inflammation and helping your immune system recognize possible threats. Researchers are working on treatments to manipulate the bacteria on the skin’s surface to treat inflammatory skin conditions such as atopic dermatitis, acne, and diseases including skin cancer.

Researchers have discovered that skin has a circadian rhythm. During daylight hours, skin is in protective mode, trying to shield cells from UV light, free radicals, pollution, etc. Research shows that repair peaks at night. Both temperature and permeability increase at night, making skin more receptive to topical ingredients. Also at night, more water escapes from the skin. So, before bed, it’s prime time to apply moisturizer.

The thickest skin grows on the soles of the feet and palms of the hands, while the thinnest grows on the eyelids.

When exposed to sunlight, skin produces vitamin D, which is essential for bone health.

Your skin can flex. There are tiny muscles within the skin called the arrector pili muscles, located inside your hair follicles. It’s these muscles that make your body hairs stand straight up when you get goosebumps.

Medical Uses of Skin

My guess is that when people sign their organ donor cards, very few are thinking “skin.” Heart, liver, kidney, lungs…sure. In fact, skin is the largest organ in (on?) the human body. And skin donations are sorely needed.

Each year, approximately 58,000 tissue donors provide lifesaving and healing tissue for transplant. A single tissue donor can heal up to 75 lives. That’s why surgeons can perform approximately 2.5 million tissue transplants each year in the U.S.

Three-quarters of skin transplants are used in life-saving circumstances, such as severe burns. Doctors also use skin grafts in various surgeries, including open heart and post-mastectomy breast reconstruction. Experts estimate that another 500,000 patients would have shortened wound-healing time if enough skin were available.

Should you need a skin transplant, the preferred source would be you! Doctors usually take skin from the patient’s back, buttocks, and the backs of the thighs. These are highly effective, successful over 90% of the time. Skin donations from another person (living or dead) or from an animal, such as a pig or a fish, are stop-gap measures, to minimize infection and maximize fluid retention till you are able to repair yourself. “Foreign” skin is nearly always rejected long term.

Bottom Line: The title says it all. Skin is useful as well as ornamental

WORKING 9-5:00

Posted on by vlaw759

Working from home was relatively rare prior to the pandemic that took hold in 2019. Now there is a big push for return to office (RTO) work. Most notably, Trump has mandated RTO for all federal employees. Is this a smart move?

Remote Work Studies and Statistics

  • A study by Great Place To Work found that most people reported stable or even increased productivity levels after employees started working from home.
remote work skeleton desk
  • Owl Labs found that 83 percent of remote workers felt they were equally productive, if not more, than when they were physically in an office.
  • A 2019 study by Airtasker found that remote and in-office employees perform equally well, and 65% of remote workers reported feeling more productive away from the office.

According to activtrak.com, remote workers are 35-40% more productive than employees who work in a traditional office.

  • Work conducted remotely includes 40% fewer mistakes than work done at the office.
  • Work-from-home employees save an average of 72 minutes a day that would otherwise go to commuting — and give 40% of that time back to their employers.

Companies requiring employees to return to the office may face a smaller talent pool for open positions. Over time, this could hinder their ability to compete.

remote work doesn't require commuting

So Why Mandate RTO?

  • Some companies believe that in-person work can lead to increased productivity and focus, as opposed to the potential distractions of working from home.
remote work
  • Companies have invested heavily in office space, and empty desks represent a sunk cost. Returning to the office aims to justify these investments by maximizing office use.
  • Many leaders believe that in-person work strengthens company culture, boosts employee engagement, and facilitates better collaboration and mentorship.
  • Some leaders believe that in-person interaction can improve employee morale and engagement, potentially leading to higher retention rates.
  • Some argue that the lack of social interaction in remote work can lead to isolation and decreased employee well-being, which in-person work can help mitigate.

The Downside of RTO Mandates

Returning to the office after a period of remote or hybrid work presents several challenges. Here’s a breakdown of key challenges.

Employee Resistance and Discomfort

  • Many employees have grown accustomed to the flexibility of remote work and may resist returning to the office, especially if it means a loss of autonomy and control over their work-life balance.
  • Salaried employees especially, who are hired to “get the job done” regardless of the hours required, may resent the office “time clock” mentality.
  • The prospect of commuting can be a significant deterrent for some employees, who may have valued the convenience and the time saved by not commuting.
  • Commuting costs money, often including paying for parking, vehicle maintenance, fuel, tolls, insurance, or bus and train fare.
  • Many people find driving in rush hour traffic stressful.
  • With the promise of remote work, people may have taken positions too far to commute to an office and be reluctant to move.
  • A lack of clear communication and a well-defined return-to-office plan can lead to anxiety and uncertainty among employees.
  • Some employees fear that returning to the office will mean the permanent end of remote work opportunities, which can lead to a decline in morale.

Adjusting to a New Work Environment

  • After a period of remote work, employees may need to adjust to the dynamics of in-person collaboration and teamwork.
  • Companies may need to invest time and effort in fostering a positive and inclusive workplace culture that supports both in-person and remote work.
  • It’s important to manage employee expectations regarding the new work environment and ensure that it meets their needs and preferences.

Managing Expectations and Communication

  • It’s crucial to proactively address employee concerns and anxieties regarding the return to the office.
  • Open and transparent communication is essential to ensure that employees are informed about the return-to-office plan and have a clear understanding of expectations.
  • Companies should actively solicit feedback from employees to ensure that the return-to-office plan is effective and meets their needs.

I found no research supporting RTO full-time for improving financial performance or firm values. On the other hand, companies with flexible work arrangements, including part-time remote schedules, are 21% more profitable than fully in-person companies.

In addition, organizations offering more flexibility can attract top talent who are uninterested in rigid RTO policies or are more distant geographically.

It seems successful companies need to allow for both in-person and remote work options.

  • This may include modifying or updating their technology infrastructure to support both.
  • In addition, companies may need to develop an employee culture that values both options.
  • Even with reduced days in an office, employees have greater flexibility in work-life balance, reduced commuting times, and lower personal expenses.
  • A perceived loss of control over how one spends one’s time can significantly impact mental health, potentially leading to or exacerbating conditions such conditions as anxiety and depression.

Variations on a Theme: Hybrid Models

Anchor days and weeks mandate employees to be in the office on designated days or weeks while allowing remote work for the remainder of the time.

Business Insider data suggests that, given an option, employers most commonly choose Tuesday for workers to come in. According to Bloomberg, Mondays are popular WFH days for project-based people. Fridays, too, are popular but for opposite reasons. (It’s easier to end early and enjoy the weekend sooner if you’re already at home).

But when all is said and done, it is the employer’s choice.

  • There’s no law that mandates employers to offer remote work options at all.
  • Even if offered, they do not have to be offered to all employees, nor are employers required to treat all employees the same regarding remote work.
  • Employers are free to set policies and make decisions based on their specific business needs, which can include factors like job function, team dynamics, and operational requirements.
  • However, employers must avoid discriminatory practices. They cannot allow remote work for certain groups while denying it to others based on protected characteristics (race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, etc.).
  • If an employee with a disability requires remote work as a reasonable accommodation, employers are generally obligated to provide it, unless it would cause an undue hardship.
  • And once again, communication is key: clear communication about remote work policies and the reasons behind them can help avoid misunderstandings and potential complaints—or lawsuits!

Of course, the employee can also simply quit and try to find work with a more flexible company!

Bottom Line: Except in rare cases, an employee is required to work in the office if and when the employer mandates. Suck it up, Buttercup.

CHILDHOOD FRIENDS

Posted on by vlaw759

A few days ago, I learned from former classmates that my high school sweetheart had died suddenly the day before. I had not seen Bill or heard from him in more than ten years, but I found his obituary online and was immediately swept back in time to my childhood in a small Ohio town, where most of us were classmates and childhood friends from first grade through graduation.

My Childhood Friends

Research has proven the importance of childhood friendships for social and emotional development. But my focus here is more personal, on the importance of childhood friendships for me. I believe these observations hold true for other adults as well. 

My childhood friends and I share a unique history and understanding of each other’s lives. We knew each other’s parents, siblings, activities, achievements, and (sometimes) failures.

In a broader sense, we shared music, movies, TV, major news events, and cultural icons.

These shared experiences bring feelings of familiarity that make so many of us enjoy high school reunions.

Some experiences are shared with only one other. With the death of my high school sweetheart, that reflection of me—that mirror—is gone forever. No one else knew me—or could ever know me—in quite the same way.

Similarly, only one friend was present when I learned to ride horses bareback or tried playing chess and decided it wasn’t for me. The retelling is thin, lacking the intensity, thrill, frustration, and laughter. There’s a reason people say, “You had to be there!”

Sheer proximity guides some of the most intense childhood memories.  Because I was seated behind her in first grade, I may be the only one of our classmates who remembers Mary Jane peeing her pants in first grade. (The teacher, who thought too many kids were requesting bathroom passes, denied her.) 

Friendships require shared interests, activities or tasks—something to bring people together. Bill was a long-distance runner and captain of the track team. I was the statistician for the track team, and we often sat together on the bus to and from away meets. We started going steady and ended up being voted class sweethearts senior year.

By the Numbers

Adults report that, most frequently, their friends are coworkers. Among children most share school, farm chores, sports, music, or other extracurricular activities.  Research indicates that children usually have lots of friends, typically 10 to 20.

Friendships become more selective during adolescence, averaging 5 to10 close friends. In adolescence, friendships become more intimate, with the sharing of personal thoughts and feelings as well as time.

Young adults usually experience a further decline in the number of close friends, averaging around 3 to 5, and are likely to be lasting, meaningful connections.

When childhood friendships last a lifetime, they provide a sense of stability and consistency in one’s life.

Sharon, who was my best friend from first grade until we went to separate colleges, has never lived near me since then. But whenever we manage to visit, it’s like we were never apart: we immediately talk freely about matters of family, health, spouses, or social concerns—i.e., anything and everything. I can always count on her.  And I believe our mutual comfort is rooted in our shared history.

When childhood friends remain close for a lifetime, they are an important source of support and companionship, even in old age. 

Although childhood friendships can last a lifetime for some, others fade due to changing interests, life circumstances, or personal growth.

Some make a distinction between friends of the road and friends of the heart. The former are intense and important until changes like those above separate them. The latter are the ones that last forever, regardless of changes and distance.

Both leave traces in our heats and in our memories.

Bottom Line: Even when they are over, friendships are never completely gone.

VARIATIONS ON A THEME

Posted on by vlaw759
Sometimes the appeal of fan fiction includes fabulous dance numbers!

For the last several months my preferred escapist reading has been variations on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. What’s the appeal?

Well, for one thing, I enjoy seeing the varied ways a writer can use Pride and Prejudice as a starting point for so many related but different stories!

In addition to dodging social pitfalls, the Bennets must dodge hordes of the roaming undead.
  • One of the Bennet daughters is an heiress.
  • Mr. Bennet dies and the women must make their way by working, sometimes for their Uncle Gardiner, sometimes as companions.
  • Lydia marries someone other than George Wickham.
  • Jane marries someone other than Charles Bingley.
  • Elizabeth is a widow, often with a child.
  • Mary Bennet marries Collins, and Charlotte Lucas marries someone else entirely.
  • Elizabeth and Darcy become trapped alone together in a flood and must marry because of the “compromise.”
  • Elizabeth and Darcy first meet in their teens and reunite years later.
  • Minor characters shift personalities, behaviors, and support.
  • Jane Austen characters from other novels make an appearance.
  • Longbourn is not entailed.
  • Mrs. Bennet dies; Mr. Bennet remarries and has an heir.
  • Elizabeth is kidnapped.
  • Darcy saves Elizabeth’s life and vice versa.
  • The events of the story are mere background in the lives of the Bennets’ servants, who are dealing with their own problems.

And what makes these stories most comforting is that, whatever happens to other characters or the plot, Darcy and Elizabeth always end up together.

One of Austen’s first imitators was Sybil G. Brinton, whose novel Old Friends and New Fancies (1913) features characters from nearly all of Austen’s novels.

The Kindle Store offers literally hundreds of these stories, to buy or borrow. They come up when a user searches the store for Pride and Prejudice variations. These novels are a version of fan fiction (also known as fanfiction, fan fic, fanfic, fic, or FF).

from the Jane Austen Parade for Literacy, 2019

Fan Fiction

A fan-made movie poster for a cross-over fic casting the characters from BBC’s Merlin in the roles of Pride and Prejudice by ls311 on deviantart

Fan fiction is fiction created by fans—(duh!)—typically in an amateur capacity, that is based on an existing work of fiction, using their characters, settings or other intellectual properties but not authorized by the original creator(s).

Sometimes fan fiction is based on real life celebrities or politicians.

Fan fiction can range from poems and short stories to novel-length works and can be based on various media, including books, movies, TV shows, comics, video games, music videos, board games, and more. 

Fan fiction allows fans to explore their favorite characters, settings, and storylines in new ways, often continuing canon narratives, exploring alternate universes, or creating original stories within the established framework. 

Examples

A graphic novel from Marvel Comics based on Pride and Prejudice
  • Stories based on popular TV shows like “Supernatural” or “Only Murders in the Building”. 
  • Stories based on books like “Harry Potter” or “Twilight”. 
  • Stories based on movies like “Star Wars” or “Avengers”. 
  • Stories inspired by other forms of media (such as the language learning app Duolingo).
  • Poetry and song lyrics reflecting characters or elements of a story

Fan fiction websites, such as Archive of Our Own, Fanfiction.net, and Wattpad, attract millions of daily page views, and many social media users share or discuss fan fiction on Tumblr, Discord, Instagram, and TikTok . 

While fan fiction often uses copyrighted material, it is generally considered fair use because it is a transformative work, and the original creators are unlikely to take legal action.  One must be more cautious when writing variations of more modern works. For works out of copyright, such as Pride and Prejudice, this is never a problem.

Jane Austen’s Fandom

One of the earliest film adaptations, in 1940, starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier

Jane Austen fan fiction, or JAFF, is a very popular and thriving genre, with numerous published and unpublished works, and has seen an increase in popularity since the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. As I said at the beginning, I greatly enjoy Pride and Prejudice variations.

The Austen fandom boomed after the release of the 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries and the 2005 film adaptation.

There are numerous published Austen-inspired novels, with Pride and Prejudice being the most popular source of inspiration, accounting for at least 900 published books. The number of unpublished stories on various JAFF sites at least doubles that number. 

Modern adaptations of Austen’s works, including “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries,” have also drawn in new audiences, including those who may not have read the original novels. 

My particular escapist reading is rooted in Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, but whatever your taste, there’s surely fan fiction out there for you!

Pride and Prejudice: Blood Ties, a role-playing video game that blends Jane Austen’s work with vampires

Evolution of Fan Fiction

Elizabeth Bennet drawn in the style of an anime chibi, by twosugars16 on DeviantArt

“Despite its ties to the Internet, fan fiction is nothing new. English-language fan fiction can be traced to the 18th century. Jonathan Swift’s satiric novel Gulliver’s Travels (1726) inspired some of the earliest fan fiction, including a series of poems by Alexander Pope. In one such piece, Pope imagined Gulliver’s wife bemoaning her adventurer husband’s long absence and his uninterest in her upon his return, accusing him of infidelity during his journeys: “Not touch me! never neighbour call’d me slut! Was Flimnap’s dame more sweet in Lilliput?” (britannica.com)

Because it is, by definition, “derivative,” fan fiction often gets less respect than other fiction. However, many successful traditionally published authors have written fan fiction, including Meg Cabot.

Orson Scott Card, though he says he hates fan fiction, has published “fanfic” at some point in his career.

from Charles Ross: One Man Pride and Prejudice, a stage play in Vancouver, 2019

Author Neil Gaiman inspires fan fiction, and he’s also written it. His novel Good Omens (1990), written with Sir Terry Pratchett, has nearly 50,000 entries on Archive of Our Own. Gaiman’s story “A Study in Emerald” (2003) imagines a crossover between the worlds of Conan Doyle and H.P. Lovecraft, creating a
Sherlock Holmes-style mystery with a supernatural twist. In 2004, members of the World Science Fiction Convention named it the year’s best short story.

“Early fan fiction, like its contemporary counterparts, could be bolder and more sexually explicit than its source material. Henry Fielding wrote a sensual fan fiction of Samuel Richardson’s sentimental novel Pamela (1740). Amusingly titled Shamela (1741), it reimagines Richardson’s protagonist without the burdensome virtue of chastity. Similarly, in the 19th and 20th centuries the works of Jane Austen and Arthur Conan Doyle became popular fodder for fan fiction writers, who may have wondered, What happened between the lines of the original stories?” (britannica.com)

Inspiration

Illustration from Pride and Prejudice and Enterprise, a Star Trek crossover, by NaOH-giveup

Fan fiction shows up in unexpected (by me) places. For example, Biblical fanfic is (could be) a thing. Some in the fan fiction community have gone so far as to call apocryphal writings or Dante’s epic poem The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–21) “biblical fanfic.” Although people generally consider religious literature to be a unique genre, in the Internet age, The Divine Comedy has inspired its own fan fiction, including more than 150 related works on Archive of Our Own. On Fanfiction.net, the Bible has inspired about 4,000 fan pieces.

The huge number of Sherlock Holmes fans inspired the Baker Street Journal (1946), a fan magazine that published a mix of scholarly writing and fan fiction. Ellery Queen’s “My First Meeting with Sherlock Holmes” was one of those. Actually, according to britannica.com, Queen was also a fiction, created by authors Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee. (Dannay and Lee also launched Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine in 1941, which still publishes crime fiction.)

Harry Potter has inspired more than twice as many stories as any other fandom. In second place is the anime Naruto.

Among TV series, the BBC’s Sherlock, which has had only four seasons, generated 29,000 works of fanfiction per season. That’s almost 30% more than the runner up, Teen Wolf, which averages a little more than 20,000 stories per season over six seasons.

Big fandoms tend to be older ones (for example Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, and Supernatural).

Illustration of Star Wars: Rogue One characters in the roles of Pride and Prejudice by Blooming Cyre

Although books often generate fan fiction, here are 5 famous books generated by fanfiction:

  1. The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare
  2. Point Pleasant by Jen Archer Wood
  3. Paradise Lost by John Milton
  4. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith
  5. 50 Shades of Grey by EL James

Why Fan Fiction?

Fans “cos-playing” as characters from Pride and Prejudice, dressing up and acting out the story to better suit the way they thought it should have gone. photo by Ringmasah

Many people write and read fanfic for many reasons.

Fan fiction fosters a sense of community among fans who share an interest in the same media. In addition to exchanging direct contact details, fans can join online communities, Discord servers, subReddits, Tumblr clusters, zine boards, etc. with other fans of similar media. Some fans even set up conventions and local meet-ups.

Some writers use prompts from other fans as writing practice. For example, Sherlock fans will challenge each other to write 221B “drabbles.” They try to tell a story in 221 words, ending with a word that begins with the letter B (in honor of Holmes and Watson’s shared flat at 221B Baker Street). Other prompts include chain stories, collaborations with illustrators, retelling scenes from the point of view of a background character, resetting a story in one’s hometown with local slang, experimenting with first or second person narrative, and just about anything else one might imagine.

Other reasons fans write their own stories:

A lesbian young adult romance in which a young Pittsburgh writer is magically transported to meet the Bennet sisters
  • As a chance to explore and share interests, such as setting the story in a particular historical setting or having characters exploring niche hobbies
  • Providing representation the fan writer feels is missing, whether self-insertion or widening the role of minorities overlooked by the original author
  • Correcting perceived plot holes, factual inaccuracies, or underdeveloped characters
  • Simply making the story turn out the way the fan writer would have preferred!

Bottom Line: If you ever wish you could change a story’s ending or hate to cut ties with particular characters, the solution could be fan fiction. Ditto if you just want to avoid too much news!

GOOD VIBES

Posted on by vlaw759

People typically feel relaxed and calm when they do things that stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, allowing them to let go of tension and stress. When the bad vibes threaten to overwhelm you, consider the following suggestions to return good vibes to your life!

Sounds Can Promote Relaxation

Listening to calming music can promote good vibes. Such music typically features slow, soothing melodies, minimal percussion, and soft instrumentation such as piano, guitar, and strings. The tempo is generally slow, and the volume is often kept low to create a peaceful atmosphere.

Nature sounds, such as ocean waves or rain, rustling leaves, chirring of insects.

Gentle ambient noise, such as a fan or “noise machine.”

Sights

If you feel the craziness closing in, your eyes can help restore your good vibes!

Water is key: Looking at water, especially calm bodies like a lake or a quiet ocean, can significantly lower heart rate and blood pressure, inducing a meditative state. 

Natural patterns: Fractal patterns found in nature, like the branching of trees or the ripples on water, can be particularly soothing. 

Wide open spaces: Expansive landscapes with open horizons can promote a sense of peace and tranquility. 

Activities

There are steps you can take to improve the vibes in your life, some easier than others.

Deep breathing: Focusing on slow, deep breaths is a highly effective way to activate the relaxation response in the body. It’s a simple and effective way to reduce anxiety and anger.

Heat: Taking a warm bath or applying heat to tense muscles can induce relaxation.

Physical activity with low intensity: Gentle stretching, yoga, or walking can help release tension in the body. 

Get into nature. Nature is calming because it provides a sensory experience that engages multiple senses with sights, sounds, and smells that are often repetitive and predictable, which can help to reduce stress, lower heart rate, and promote relaxation. Being in nature essentially acts as a distraction from daily worries and allows for a sense of connection to something larger than oneself. Many of these benefits come to gardeners. There is also something called the biophilia hypothesis: research suggests humans have an innate connection to nature, which can lead to feelings of well-being when exposed to natural elements.

Keep a journal. It provides a safe place to express and process your thoughts and emotions, allowing you to gain clarity, release pent-up feelings, and reflect on experiences, often leading to a sense of reduced stress and anxiety. 

Get creative. Creativity often leads to a sense of self-expression, reduced stress, and a feeling of control over your inner world, essentially providing an outlet to process and release tension. Creativity can put us in a flow state, meaning we become focused with optimal attention on a task or activity. This is sometimes called being “in the zone.” When we are in the zone, it can feel euphoric, and we become more mindful and relaxed.

Mind Games

The phrase “mind games” tends to evoke images of power-hungry bosses or abusive ex-partners. However, you can also play mind games with yourself to encourage healthy practices!

Mindfulness practices: Meditation and other mindfulness techniques help to quiet the mind and become more aware of the present moment, reducing stress.

Relaxing imagery: Can help calm down angry feelings.

Being grateful: Practicing gratitude can reduce cortisol, the key stress hormone. You can record your gratefulness in a journal.

Visual imagery: Imagining peaceful scenes or calming scenarios can help to distract from worries and promote relaxation. 

Environment

The outside impacts the inside. By the same token, surrounding yourself with good vibes has a powerful impact on mental well-being.

Warm environments are more relaxing than cold ones.

Color palette: Soft, muted colors like blues, greens, and pastel shades are generally considered calming.

Limit clutter in your personal environment.

Limit your exposure to negative stimuli, such as disturbing news.

Habits

On their own, small habits may not make much difference. But when you practice them regularly, you may find an appreciable improvement.

Regularly engage in positive social interaction: Spending time with loved ones or engaging in pleasant conversations can promote feelings of well-being and reduce stress. 

Sleep: Getting enough sleep is important for thinking clearly and controlling negative emotions. To sleep better, you can avoid caffeine, alcohol, and heavy meals before bed. 

Nutrition: Eating well is a key part of maintaining calm. See below.

Physical activity: Exercise can help you feel calmer.

Routines: Having a consistent morning routine can reduce decision-making and stress. 

Eating and drinking

What you put into your body can have a major impact on how your brain works. Nutritionists have identified many foods that support mental health and well-being.

Lots of people relax with alcohol, but this is not a good primary practice, given the empty calories, loss of control, and potential for addiction.

Instead limit caffeine and drink chamomile tea and green tea. 

Complex carbohydrates are good, including whole grains like breads and pastas, brown or wild rice, and oatmeal. 

Omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish like salmon, tuna, and halibut; avocados; flaxseed.

Magnesium from foods such as leafy greens like spinach and Swiss chard; legumes, nuts, and seeds; dark chocolate; bananas.

Vitamin C is good, from berries like strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries; and, of course, oranges.

Surprise! You can get probiotics from pickles, sauerkraut, and kefir. 

Other good foods: yogurt, dark leafy greens, asparagus, oysters, cashews, liver, beef, and egg yolks.

You can also try eating lean proteins to help calm you.

Emotional Control

The physical environment can certainly influence good vibes, but exercising emotional control can have a powerful effect on mental health.

Treat yourself kindly: Calm people don’t beat themselves up about mistakes or weaknesses.

Seeing the middle ground: Expect that there will be glitches, even when people do their best.

Respecting boundaries: Setting boundaries can lead to long-term benefits. 

Use your phone judiciously. Be mindful about media you consume.

Why Bother?

Regular practice of relaxation techniques will assist you in relieving muscle tension, reducing anxiety, and improving your overall wellbeing.

Other physiological benefits:

  • Decrease in heart rate
  • Decrease in respiration rate

Being calm and relaxed significantly improves both mental and physical health:

  • Reducing stress
  • Lowering blood pressure
  • Enhancing focus
  • Improving sleep quality
  • Boosting mood
  • Allowing for better decision-making, ultimately leading to a higher quality of life

Essentially, it allows your body and mind to recharge and function optimally.

Bottom Line: There are myriad ways to relax and promote calm, and the benefits are well worth the effort.

History of Valentines

Posted on by vlaw759

For many the mention of February immediately brings thoughts of Valentine’s Day, Valentine cards, whether to send them, and to whom.

A Hallmark History

For many Americans, Hallmark has become synonymous with Valentines. Founded by 18-year-old Joyce Clyde Hall in 1910, Hallmark Cards is the largest manufacturer of greeting cards in the U.S. They got into the Valentine act in 1913, and began producing their own designs in 1916.

Hallmark store in Quebec

Hallmark offers approximately 1,400 Valentine designs in their catalogue. Valentines are their second biggest seller, after Christmas cards. Before Valentine cards, there were Valentine love letters.

Saint Valentine

Saint Valentine Valentines

The Catholic Church has sainted at least three men named Valentine or Valentinus, two executed on February 14 of different years. I prefer the Saint Valentine who was a 3rd-century Roman priest executed for performing secret weddings in defiance of the emperor’s orders. (Claudius II believed that unmarried men made better soldiers because they had nothing to lose, so he outlawed marriage for young men.) Legend says this St. Valentine wrote a farewell note to his jailer’s daughter, signing it “Love, from your Valentine.”

Writing Valentines

Lace and paper Valentines

Subsequently, the imprisoned Duke Charles of Orleans wrote the earliest existing Valentine love letter to his wife in 1415. Then followed, in 1477, love letters from Margery Brews to her future husband, John Paston, which contain the first known use of the term “Valentine” in written English.

People exchanged formal messages of affection in the 1500s. Sending handmade cards was popular throughout the 1700s and continued through the 1800s. Europeans exchanged love notes, often decorated with lace and ribbons. 

In 1797 London, printed Valentine’s Day cards, to be hand-colored by the buyer, appeared. They featured hearts (the traditional seat of emotions), flowers, Cupids (the Roman god of love), and lace. Because popular science of the day held that the avian mating season began in mid-February, many cards also featured birds as a symbol of the day.

Victorian Valentines

Mass-produced Valentine’s Day cards debuted in America in the 1840s, created by Esther Howland of Worcester, Massachusetts. In 1879, she joined Edward Taft to create the New England Valentine Company. In 1881 George C. Whitney bought their company and combined it with the Whitney Valentine Company. Around 1900, German manufacturers introduced “mechanical” Valentines that folded out to create three-dimensional scenes, which came to dominate the market.

Not Just for Lovers

Today, the holiday has expanded beyond romantic partners to expressions of affection among relatives and friends. Even schoolchildren exchange Valentines now.

The latter is a relatively new development. As best I could find, around the 1950s school children began exchanging Valentine’s Day cards in large numbers in the United States. It has since become a popular school tradition. When I was in elementary school, each student brought a cardboard shoe box, cut a slit in the top, decorated it, and hoped to find cards from classmates, the more the better. 

My Funny Valentine

A current Hallmark ad reads, “Shop Valentine cards for all the people you love— spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, and best friends. Find funny Valentines…”

Vinegar Valentines 'Tis a lemon that I hand you And bid you now "Skidoo," Because I love another - There is no chance for you!
‘Tis a lemon that I hand you
And bid you now “Skidoo,”
Because I love another –
There is no chance for you!

Unlike Valentines for classmates, humorous Valentine’s Day cards are nothing new. “Vinegar Valentines” originated in the Victorian era (the last 65 years before 1900) as mocking or comic Valentines. These cards were often insulting and could be sent to anyone the sender disliked, including landlords, salespeople, employers, and adversaries. The tone ranged from gentle to aggressive. They typically insulted a recipient’s physical appearance, character traits, or lack of a romantic partner. They sometimes mocked specific professions. These “comic” Valentines often included grotesque drawings that caricatured common stereotypes. As with all things Valentine, they have evolved.

Valentines by the Numbers

To the annoyance of many, Valentine’s Day has become highly commercialized. According to an article in Business Insider, Hallmark is among nine companies that turned Valentine’s Day into a national economic engine. (Others include sellers of jewelry, flowers, and chocolate.) According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), Americans were expected to spend approximately $25.8 billion on Valentine’s Day in 2024. Though not all that money goes for cards, according to a 2023 National Retail Association survey, 40% of Americans planned to send cards.

Valentine’s Day celebrations in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Valentine’s Day is popular in at least 24 countries. Worldwide, the Greeting Card Association estimates that about one billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year. Guatemalans celebrate many varieties of love on Valentine’s Day, exchanging cards with friends and family. Many Germans exchange heart-shaped gingerbread cookies. The Japanese split the celebration into two days: women give Valentines to men on February 14th, and men return the favor on March 14th.

In the Philippines, February 14 is the most common wedding anniversary, and mass weddings of hundreds of couples are common on that day. Are cards for these celebrations two-fers, wedding and Valentine? Heads up, Hallmark!

Bottom Line: Giving Valentines may be a centuries-old tradition, but it’s still going strong!