FRIENDS.... secrets to a long life

Cleo will never forget the phone call he received from Phil one August morning.Cleo's two daughters were killed in an automobile accident.Though neighbours , friends and others reached out to him he drew the greatest comfort from Phil who lost his two girls to a sniper. In the many months since the two have shared each other's losses,hardships and joys and that saved the sanity for Cleo.Scores of studies bear out that deep close friendships boost people's chances of fighting back , overcoming life-threatening situations , build stronger more resilient immune systems , nurture mental health and give people longer life expectancies than those who go it alone.People with friends - deep and shared - are less likely to suffer from depression , anxiety and other types of mental illness. Researchers have discovered that those with a network of friends , the kind of friends you can't live without are less likely to have massive attacks of stress , changes in heart rate or blood pressure when crisis looms or trouble strikes . Of course some friendships will leave you depleted rather than renewed. But quality instead of quantity is an individual choice.

Dr Muto's Labour To Master Earthquakes

When the Kanto Earthquake hit central Japan in 1923 , 100,000 people lost their lives , another 100,000 were injured but more than 700,000 homes were destroyed. Kiyoshi Muto , then 21 decided to devote his life to seismic architecture. Using new seismographic equipment and computer technology it became apparent that the old idea about the shape of the earthquake wave was false: the waves were not identical. " If every single wave has it's own shape, a building then would not necessarily suffer a
'multiplied' tremor!Each wave needs to be dealt with separately" - working on that hunch Dr Muto thought of making buildings flexible instead of solid. Traditional ferro-concrete walls were too strong , too rigid.After a series of experiments Dr Muto came up with a "slitted wall " - designed in such a way as to contain all the impacts of the earthquake.The framework was applied to the 36-story Kasumigaseki Building when construction started in 1965.On March 2 , 1967 a severe earthquake hit Tokyo but workmen on the 27th floor of the building hardly felt the tremor!His reputation established as the foremost designer of earthquake-proof structures , Dr Muto has enabled Japan to stretch skywards and other earthquake prone nations to finally be able to rebuild from the devastation and destruction ...

Miracle Of The Trees

Many nations plant trees, but no other as Israel has.When Israel was born in 1948 , half it's land was desert and wilderness ; most of the the rest was gaunt gray stone and eroded hills . Today in excess of 600 forests , great and small clothe the once naked land. As many as nine million trees are being planted yearly.Surprisingly , there is no Forestry Department.Forestry is handled by the Jewish National Fund which also involves itself in land reclamation. These monuments of foliage and wood are the result of the JNF's "plant a tree with your own hands" program which hardly no other nation has poured itself into with such fervour , dedication and reverence.

Stop Feeling So Guilty!

On any given day Li Yang has a laundry list of things to feel guilty about . When she's working she feels guilty about not spending enough time with her children. When she takes time off she feels guilty she is not contributing financially to the household. When she needs to discuss something badly with her husband she feels guilty she's not letting him have his 'break' at home. Most of us have this kind of guilt feelings. Guilt is constructive , but after making amends you still feel gulity you are probably suffering from false guilt.
Unrelieved guilt can lead to stress and stress leads to getting ill .If you have these pangs here are 3 steps you could take :
MAKE AMENDS . Don't chug ancient misdeeds along life's roads , crossroads and paths.
FORGIVE YOURSELF . We all have our legion of things done wrong , gone wrong , went wrong ..... Compare guilt to pain .Pain signals something is wrong.When you feel it , you just don't sit there - you do something about it. The same is true of guilt.
DISABLE 'guilt buttons' - We can't escape people or circumstances manipulating us into feeling guilty.A martyred sigh from Mother sends some people into paroxysms of guilt.But you should deal with them! Identify these 'guilt buttons' , whatever makes you feel so : work , friends , family , children. Next identify the people who can push those buttons and take the power away from them. Accept that the others are not gods and they may not always be right. Decide you are going to be in control of your life! Guilt tends to fester in an environment of secrecy ; it's important to get them out into the open.Talk about them , Laugh at them with others , Write them away in a diary and you get to see how inconsequential the guilt has been !

The Killing Of Baby Jane ..........

Day 1 : All human chromosomes are present , human LIFE has begun
Day 22 : heart begins to beat with the child's own blood
Week 3 : backbone , spinal column , nervous system forming liver , kidneys and intestines taking shape
Week 5 : eyes , legs , hands begin to develop
Week 8 : every organ in place , bones begin to replace cartilage , fingerprints begin to form , baby can begin to hear
Week 14: baby's heart pumps several quarts of blood through the body everyday
Week 20: baby recognizes mother's voice.... but it's the earliest stage at which partial abortions can be performed....
5th Month : mothers' feel an increase in movement , kicking and hiccups from the baby
7th-9th month : Baby can relate to the moods of Mother.Baby's heart is now pumping
300 gallons of blood per day and a week before birth Baby Jane "drops" head down into the pelvic cavity ..... but we won't get to see Baby Jane .
1 in 5 pregnancies worldwide
end in abortion . Globally 49,000,000 abortions per year , 150,000 per day....

An Art With Twigs....

When Patrick Dougherty came out with this spin on art it had families in my hometown talking about hobbies , talent , skills etc etc . His art can truly be called " twisted " - he wove saplings , twigs and branches into fanciful sculptures that seemed to sprout out of the earth. He took materials from the immediate environment wherever he was . Dougherty's works are songs to the natural world. " Saplings have an inherent property that causes them to snag and entangle easily , there's no need for extra support. Over the substructure , one could weave smaller sticks and fine branches to mask irregularities " he adds. These artworks finally subside back into the earth or they are converted to mulch thus returning them to their origins.