life is good

You probably wouldn’t want to take a trip with Kira Salak. And more to the point, she probably wouldn’t want you along anyway. Her expeditions are usually solo affairs, often dangerous, almost always uncomfortable, and frequently a hairbreadth from disaster. She’s been caught in a coup attempt in Bangladesh, chased by rebel soldiers in Mozambique, held at gunpoint in Congo, and hunted by a Tuareg gang in Mali. She’s survived malaria, dysentery, and cholera—and that’s the short list.

It’s far better to follow Salak vicariously, through her books and articles (including many for this publication). Her prose is luminous, often deeply personal, and transporting in the pan-sensory way that only the best travel writing can be. At 36, Salak has been anthologized in Best American Travel Writing five times. Her 2001 memoir, Four Corners: A Journey Into the Heart of Papua New Guinea, was the New York Times Notable Travel Book of the Year.

Now she has written her debut novel, The White Mary (available in August). It’s safe to say that you wouldn’t want to travel with Salak’s main character either. And vice versa. This 32-year-old journalist named Marika Vecera ventures, almost always alone, into the world’s most dangerous places. A war correspondent, Marika is the type of woman who casually cauterizes a machete wound to her neck with a tent pole she’s heated in her campfire.

Long ago I believed that survival meant having a pack full of equipment that would allow me to make fire and build shelter and trap varmints to eat in the wilderness. But then I kept coming across cases in which someone had survived without any equipment or had perished while in possession of all the right tools. Obviously something else was at work here. After more than three decades of analyzing who lives, who dies, and why, I realized that character, emotion, personality, styles of thinking, and ways of viewing the world had more to do with how well people cope with adversity than any type of equipment or training. Although I still believe that equipment and training are good to have, most survival writing leaves out the essential human element in the equation. That’s why I’ve concentrated my efforts on learning about the hearts and minds of survivors. You can start developing these tools of survival now. It takes time and deliberate practice to change. But new research shows that if we adjust our everyday routines even slightly, we do indeed change. The chemical makeup of the brain even shifts. To make these lessons useful, you have to engage in learning long before you need it—it’s too late when you’re in the middle of a crisis. Presented here are 14 concepts that have proved helpful to survivors in extreme situations, as well as to people trying to meet the challenges of daily life.

God is so good. He always send blessings to us. thank you Lord for all these gifts that we have recieve from you. i love you LORD!!

In today’s world looks do matter and almost every person is first evaluated by looks. People who are crazy behind celebrities are all because they have good looks which just seem to improve day by day. Women especially are very conscious about their looks. They aim to look their best from head to toe and use appropriate make up to look perfect. Half of all the discussions among women include about beauty and beauty tips.  There are some basic tips which we all can follow. They include drinking 8-10 glasses of water everyday, eating at least 5 servings of raw food, some fruits which are more juicy are very good for the skin, apart from all these, milk is also very important for the body. One should eat green leafy vegetables as they are very nutritious and good for the body as well as the skin.  One should definitely get the required 8 hours of sleep every night, which brings a lovely glow to your face the next morning. Drinking lot of water helps the body to flush out toxins from the body and drinking more water also helps in weight loss. Some of the natural things that can keep your skin soft and bring a lovely glow include papaya juice, tomato juice, orange skin, sandalwood, honey, etc. However, after applying all these things should be kept for a minimum of 15 -20 minutes so that it dried properly.It is also essential to wear only good quality make – up which has less chemicals and more natural substances that is beneficial for the skin. One should remove make – up before going to bed and use a proper cleanser so that the face is clean and the body and repair the skin while sleeping. Remember the natural, the better! Besides this some amount of physical activity is also important which will ensure that you remain active and have a lovely glow on our face along with a fresh look. If you follow these tips regularly, you are bound to remain fit and fine and have a lovely skin.

source:http://www.beyondjane.com/Beauty/Skin/How-to-stay-beautiful-and-have-a-lovely-skin.164105

Continuing a magnificent two-day old tradition, FPM celebrates the best and worst of the Beijing Games. Check here for more FPM medals. In our quest to find the most awesome and absurd Olympics items, we landed on Ebay to find the products that *really* captured the essence of athletic competition. Between a Michael Phelps-used Speedo, a Dream Team windbreaker, Dream Team air mattress and Shawn Johnson cardboard stand-up, the FPM Medal was pretty much a no-brainer. Let us review the four nominees for good measure:

Shawn Johnson Cardboard Stand-up - Currently for sale with a bid of $76.00 and T minus 20 hours remaining Michael Phelps Autographed Used Speedo - Sold for $579 the same weekend Phelps captured his 8th gold medal. Perfect timing on the vendor’s part and equally disgusting. Dream Team windbreaker- Sold for $12.99, and will get its true value via wall decor. Anyone who wears the jacket in our current society will likely be mocked and have to answer questions about Reebok Pumps, Zubaz and Philadelphia Eagles fans. Scottie Pippen/David Robinson Air Mattress- Sold for $7.99 and has a hole in it! Throw on some tape and use as a de facto cardboard stand-up and it will at least muster a shred of long-term benefit. Safe to say our undisputed FPM Medal for value goes to our smiling gymnast. It turned into a two-horse race between Phelps’ swimming attire and 56 inches of cardboard Shawn Johnson. In the end, Johnson’s value will stand the test of time (pun not intended). When the Olympics flavor tapers off and autumn officially hits the calendar, the novelty of Michael Phelps will certainly subside. Likewise for Johnson. The difference in their items, however, is that Johnson will be smiling for all time. The Speedo on display will quickly turn into the "Speedo on the wall" and soon you’ll be the creepy person with another man’s briefs you treasure as a souvenir. That’s what makes a sexual deviant. Plus, nobody wants to spend 580 bucks on a used Speedo.

c house calls this week along with one of our therapists from the Mobile Treatment Services program. We visited a man who lives alone in a small apartment in downtown Baltimore.

It took him quite a while to answer the door. We assumed he was there because we could hear the radio blaring in his living room. He probably didn’t hear us banging on the door.

After he let us in and turned off the radio, it was still noisy inside the apartment. He had a different radio station blaring in the bedroom along with a television set turned up all the way. This is what he does most days. He doesn’t really listen to three broadcasts at once. He keeps them on all the time to prevent the neighbors from hearing his thoughts.

Our patient constantly experiences auditory hallucinations and believes that others can hear them along with whatever else he is thinking. At times in the past he has been agitated and disorganized enough to require hospitalization on psychiatric units.

However, he insists that he has no mental illness. His problem, he says, is that several decades ago doctors implanted a microchip in his brain that allows them to control his behavior and also causes the "voices" that he hears so often. He wants to sue these doctors. In fact, he doesn’t really trust any doctors now.

Insight is a real problem for this man. He doesn’t believe he has an illness, so he doesn’t think that he should take any medication. I think his brain is malfunctioning and that this is limiting his ability to achieve his goals of socializing and getting a job.

I believe that he would be happier and have a greater sense of fulfillment if he were willing to take antipsychotic medications on a regular basis. He may take an occasional dose, but he doesn’t take them consistently enough to stop his hallucinatory symptoms.

My sense is that, on some level, he realizes that he needs help because he allows our team to see him each week. If we can’t help with his paranoid thinking and auditory hallucinations right now, at least we’re able to help him in other ways.

We help him get the most out of his health, disability, and other benefits, and organize his finances. Eventually he may trust us more so we can help him in other ways. Our real goal is his recovery, which is more than just reducing his psychiatric symptoms.

 Depression often occurs with other medical disorders. The evidence supporting the overlap is especially strong with cardiovascular disorders. Recently I wrote about the example of hypertension and a research study showing that an integrated treatment program addressing both mood and blood pressure resulted in greater improvements in both high blood pressure and depression. The very common type 2 form of diabetes, also called adult-onset diabetes, is another example of a disorder associated with depression. Research has shown that people with this type of diabetes are more likely to suffer with depression compared to similar people without diabetes. The opposite also is true — people who have been diagnosed with depression are more likely to have type 2 diabetes than are similar people without depression. Which came first, the depression or the diabetes? That’s an important question because the answer could have implications about the causes of both these disorders and might provide important insights regarding treatment. According to a study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the answer to the question is "both." Researchers examined data from approximately 5,000 people ages 45 to 84 years for just over 3 years. Individuals were identified as depressed if they scored high on a depression scale or were treated with an antidepressant medication.  Fasting glucose levels were classed as normal, impaired, or high enough to represent diabetes type 2. The people in the highest glucose group or those already treated for diabetes were classed in the diabetes group. The study showed that over the approximate 3-year follow-up period, the people who initially were treated for type 2 diabetes had a 54 percent increase in their risk of developing depressive symptoms compared to those not treated for diabetes. The analysis also showed that people starting off with depressive symptoms ultimately had a 42 percent greater likelihood of developing diabetes. The take-home message is simple. People with diabetes should be screened to see whether they have depressive symptoms that should be treated. People with depression should be evaluated to determine whether they have any evidence of diabetes. Treating both conditions could make a big difference for patients.

to want to do all you can to deliver a healthy baby – but how do you decide what’s best? Your own health care professionals can be an important resource, but what about things you read or hear between visits? You may not want to be calling your doctor to double-check everything.

Even for those things for which no answer is known, one thing is for sure: you’ll get advice about it. No matter how popular, advice that is clearly wrong is worth ignoring. For the list of myths below, I’ve searched the web and surveyed my friends and family. As expected, the number of opinions about what pregnant women should and should not do was exceeded only by the confidence placed in these rules and prohibitions. Here’s a sampling of what I heard:

Twelve Pregnancy Myths

1. You can determine your baby’s gender by the position of sexual intercourse and you can predict it by how you are carrying.

The gender of your baby is determined by the father; more specifically, if sperm carrying an X-chromosome fertilizes the egg, the baby will be a girl and if the sperm carrying a Y-chromosome fertilizes the egg, a boy will result. The position of intercourse has no clear effect on which type of sperm (X or Y) successfully fertilizes the egg.

The baby’s size and position determine how one “carries” their baby. For example, during late pregnancy, the baby’s head “drops” lower into the pelvis in preparation for delivery; that will make it seem that the mother is carrying “low,” but that happens for male and female babies. A mother-to-be may be “carrying high” simply because the baby is large, not because of its gender.

2. The worse the morning sickness, the more likely it is you’re having a girl.

Most experts believe this is truly a myth. However, several studies have found that among women with severe morning sickness bad enough to require admission to the hospital, slightly more than half (53% to 56%) delivered girls, so perhaps there is some truth to this idea. Then again, even among those with the worst morning sickness, the male and female offspring were nearly 50-50 and whether this applies to milder cases is unknown.

No one knows exactly why morning sickness (also known as hyperemesis gravidarum) occurs, though it has long been thought to relate to elevated hormone levels (including progesterone, estrogen and/or human chorionic gonadotropin, or HCG). Which hormone, if any of these, is most important, remains a matter of speculation, and several other theories have been proposed such as zinc deficiency, genetic factors and psychological factors. At least one study found that women carrying a female fetus had higher HCG levels than with a male fetus. If true, that could explain the connection.

3. If you raise your arms above your head while pregnant (as when you are hanging up clothes on a clothesline), the baby will get the cord wrapped around its neck.

Up to 25 percent of fetuses have the umbilical cord wrapped around the neck; it is the baby’s activity in the womb and, perhaps, bad luck, not the mother’s activities during pregnancy that determine whether the cord is wrapped around the baby’s neck. Another important risk factor is a long umbilical cord, but, again, that may have more to do with fetal activity and is not something a pregnant woman can prevent. The good news is that nearly all of these babies develop normally and are successfully delivered.

4. If you get a lot of heartburn during pregnancy, your baby will have a lot of hair.

Heartburn is common during pregnancy because, as the stomach is pushed higher by the growing baby and the expanding uterus, it becomes easier for acid to move backwards (or “reflux”) from the stomach into the lower esophagus. Acid is irritating to the esophagus and causes the discomfort we know as heartburn. Remaining upright after eating, sleeping with the head of the bed at a slight elevation, and antacid medications (many of which are considered safe during pregnancy) can be helpful. Check with your obstetrician before taking any medications during pregnancy, including over-the-counter remedies.

5. Avoid sleeping on your back or, always sleep on your left side.

During the later stages of pregnancy, the uterus and baby may be large enough to press on the large vein, the inferior vena cava, and reduce flow of blood from the lower body (and uterus) back to the heart. But this tends to matter only in certain circumstances such as prolonged labor, if blood pressure is high, if the kidneys are not functioning properly, or if there is a problem with fetal development. In those situations, lying on the left side may be somewhat helpful, but for normal, healthy women in the midst of a routine, successful pregnancy, the best position for sleeping is the one that’s most comfortable.

6. To keep your unborn child safe, avoid sex and exercise during pregnancy.

Within the bounds of common sense, there is no recommendation to avoid exercise or sex during pregnancy. The baby is protected in the uterus so that sex is unlikely to cause problems. Similarly, moderate exercise is not prohibited during pregnancy, and is often recommended. Because excessive body heat can be harmful to a developing fetus, exercising in hot weather should be avoided. And if your pregnancy is complicated by bleeding, pre-term labor or other problems, your obstetrician may recommend that you avoid sex as well as certain exercises.

7. You should not touch your cat while pregnant.

This myth is close to the truth but still untrue. The recommendation regarding cats during pregnancy is due to toxoplasmosis, a parasite that can cause serious infections in humans and deformities in the developing fetus. Infection can follow handling of cat litter because it can be found in the stool of cats, so pregnant women are advised not to handle cat litter. However, no other activities are prohibited – feeding or petting your cat and allowing it to sit in your lap are considered perfectly acceptable while pregnant. And the risk of getting toxoplasmosis from your cat can be lowered even further if your cat has tested negative for this parasite or is an indoor cat that eats only store-bought canned or dry food.

8. If you are pregnant, you cannot have X-rays and should avoid microwaves and computer terminals.

While unnecessary radiation exposure should generally be avoided while pregnant, if there is a good reason for a chest X-ray (for example), the amount of radiation exposure to the fetus is minimal – in fact, according to some experts, you might receive a similar amount of radiation by taking several commercial airplane flights (due to cosmic radiation from the sun and other stars). There is no evidence that modern microwave ovens or computer terminals expose women or their fetuses to harmful radiation.

9. Don’t take a bath if you’re pregnant.

Apparently, concerns about contracting an infection that could spread from the vagina, through the cervix, into the womb led to recommendations to avoid bathing. However, there is no well-established risk known to be associated with bathing during pregnancy. The water should not be too hot, since raising body temperature above 101 degrees F may cause problems. And there may be times to avoid bathing altogether, for example, if your water has broken or there is bleeding.

10. If the weather is stormy or the moon is full, you are more likely to go into labor, even if you are weeks away from your due date.

While believers may never be convinced otherwise, studies have demonstrated no increased incidence of labor based on the weather or the phase of the moon. Never mind the fact that even if this were true, there’s nothing you could do about it! In fact, labor is triggered by a complex series of hormonal signals with no known connection to atmospheric conditions or the weather.

11. Avoid spicy foods – they can trigger labor before you’re ready.

As above, scientific evidence suggests that labor is triggered by biological signals, some of which are well understood and others that remain uncertain. For a routine pregnancy, as long as you eat a well-balanced diet, there is no evidence that what you eat has any effect on your delivery date.

12. Avoid bumpy car rides – they can trigger labor (or being bumped in the abdomen can trigger labor, or lifting groceries).

Minor bumps, taps and jolts, as in a bumpy (but “on-road”) car ride is highly unlikely to trigger labor. The uterus and surrounding fluid provide ample cushioning and protection from minor trauma. Of course, major injury, as in a car accident or a fall, may complicate pregnancy, including inducing pre-term labor.

The Bottom Line

the article by Karl Taro Greenfeld about zombie marriages we thought it might have something to do with Halloween. But that is not the case.

In the August 2008 issue of DETAILS magazine, Greenfeld described zombie marriage and wrote that being in a zombie marriage could help your marriage become stronger down the road.

He writes that you have to survive the zombie phase and not end up killing your marriage or suffocating it with a bunch of relationship fixes. He recommends that you just leave a zombie marriage alone.

"… the Zombie Marriage is just a phase — and quite possibly a crucial one. For a lifelong relationship to survive its most challenging period, it must enter an unconscious, protective state, so that no matter how many stakes are driven through its heart it will continue to stumble forward … Because the Zombie Marriage, just like those B-movie ghouls who can be restored to mortality with a few drops of a serum or potion, can be revived."

We don’t think a zombie marriage should just be left alone. Doing nothing is not a good option when you are in disillusionment. You need to talk with one another about your issues and problems.