Category: life

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Volunteers Are Taking Elderly People on Rickshaw Rides to Get Them out into Nature

I love this!

This is about as wholesome of a story as you’re gonna see today. A company in Denmark called Cycling Without Age allows volunteers to take senior citizens on rickshaw rides to get them outdoors and into nature.

Ole Kassow explained how and why he started the project back in 2012: “I saw an elderly gentleman sitting in front of a nursing home. As usual, I was on my bike and came up with the idea that maybe he wanted to join me and we could get to know each other. I rented a rickshaw and it took off from there. The man became my friend, his name is Thorkild.”

Kassow pointed out how loneliness and isolation has become an epidemic among older people: “Our modern fast-paced lifestyle means that we value youth and careers and sometimes forget to appreciate the older generation and their wisdom. That means many people become isolated and lonely as they grow old.”

Since its beginnings in Denmark, Cycling Without Age has become so popular that is has spread all over the world and now has 1,100 locations, 1,500 rickshaws, and 10,000 “pilots” who take seniors out for rides in the fresh air.

The program has proved to be a big hit on all sides of the globe. In Scotland, two 95-year-old twins have enjoyed the rides immensely. The manager of the care home where the twins live said,

“Almost all of the residents have been out on the trishaw and it has brought back many memories of days gone by when motorised transport was rare. Sharing stories has been amazing and made staff think how hard life must have been in the 1940s and 50s when the only means of transport for most people was a bike. It was while on the trishaw the funny stories kept coming as Nancy and Janet, who have rooms next door to each other, shared their secrets of the bike rides over the years.”

And in Canada, the program has been lauded for its help with people suffering from dementia. A great idea that is obviously very popular for good reason!

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Some Hospitals Are Using Clear Drapes for C-Sections Instead of Opaque Ones

C-sections are grueling, and they can be really tough on new moms. One especially disappointing part is that, typically, moms are not able to see their new baby right away. Because there’s a drape obscuring their view of the surgery itself, they can only hear their babies, not see them.

That’s why some hospitals are beginning to use clear drapes.

It may sound scary to have a clear drape instead of an opaque one. Nobody wants to see themselves being operated upon!

But these drapes are actually only partially clear. The lowest part is still opaque, so it completely blocks the mom’s view of the operation. The upper part is clear, so she can see when doctors pull the baby out of her womb.

Clear drapes are amazing. <3 I love that they are more accepted for cesarean births now! Watching my client see her…

Posted by Tracy Abney, Birth Doula on Tuesday, April 3, 2018

 

Tracy Abney, a doula, mom and birth photographer, is a huge advocate of clear drapes. She had a typical C-section with a solid drape and told Parents that she felt “disconnected.”

“Everyone saw my daughter before I did. I could hear her, but not see her,” Tracy said. “I didn’t see her until she was cleaned up and wrapped in a blanket, then she was taken away and I didn’t see her for a long time.”

“Clear drapes help the mother feel like she is part of the birthing process,” she added. “She can see the baby when everyone else does, the moment the baby is born.”

That clear drape, though. <3

Posted by Tracy Abney, Birth Doula on Thursday, May 17, 2018

Clear drapes are one aspect of the new “gentle C-section” trend, which aims to make C-sections more like the traditional birthing experience. Doctors pull the baby out slowly and immediately bring the baby to the mom for skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding, if it is medically safe to do so.

Anything that helps is well worth the adjustment!

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Here’s the Truth Behind Why You Stop Feeling Tired the Moment You Crawl into Bed

Does this sound familiar?

You’re exhausted all day long. There’s isn’t enough coffee in the world to prop your eyelids up during your commute, at your desk, your kid’s soccer game, but suddenly, when you’re in your pajamas, teeth brushed, and between your nice, clean sheets, you can’t sleep.

According to TIME, you’re not alone – many people have trouble falling asleep in their own beds, thanks to a phenomenon called conditional arousal.

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Basically, it happens because you’ve inadvertently trained your body to associate your bed with being awake, as opposed to being used for sleep. We don’t get in bed when we’re tired, we get in bed an hour before we want to be asleep and then binge a couple of Netflix episodes, scroll through our social media, read a few chapters, have a snack, etc – and that tells our brain that the next time we get into bed, we won’t be going to sleep right away.

So, it holds off on the good chemicals.

Conditional arousal is a cycle, something you’ve made a habit, which means you can’t really break it in one night. To fix it, you basically have to stop doing anything that isn’t sleeping in your bed, and you’ll need to give it time.

Photo Credit: iStock

This is also the reason that sleep experts advise you get up and go into another room if you’re struggling with a bout of anxiety and/or insomnia that keeps you tossing and turning. If you stay in bed, your brain will begin to associate your mattress and pillows with flopping and frustration as opposed to a peaceful night’s sleep.

Like any habit, you’ll need to establish a new routine, and then stick to it for as long as it takes to erase the previous one from your brain.

If it doesn’t work, or you suffer from clinical insomnia or anxiety or other conditions that can make falling asleep difficult, you might want to consult a medical professional in order to get the sleep you need.

But if you’re just guilty of climbing into bed to wind down, try doing that part of your routine in another room and saving your mattress for when you’re actually ready to catch some zzz’s.

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A New Character on ‘Sesame Street’ Helps Children Dealing with Addiction in Their Families

Even though Sesame Street is an oldie, it is always ready to push boundaries. When it comes to inclusion and addressing children’s issues that some might consider taboo, nothing is off limits.

With their newest cast addition, Karli, Sesame Street is proving that their commitment is as strong as ever.

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Sesame Street has welcomed Karli, a Muppet in foster care, as well as her “for-now” parents, Dalia and Clem. All three Muppets appear in videos posted online as part of an initiative to provide free resources to caregivers navigating difficult issues, such as family homelessness, foster care and trauma. Karli, a green Muppet with fluffy pigtails, is introduced in an online-only clip called “On Your Team,” in which Dalia and Clem chat with their old friend, Elmo’s father, about becoming foster parents. Karli is the latest newcomer in an effort to make @sesamestreet more inclusive. In early 2017, Julia, a young Muppet with autism, became the first new Muppet in a decade to appear on air. A homeless Muppet named Lily was also introduced in December. Read more on washingtonpost.com.

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Karli was introduced in May when she came to Sesame Street in foster care, and in a recent episode of the Sesame Street in Communities initiative, she talked more about her situation.

In the video, Karli thanks Chris for watching her and Elmo while her mother is in a meeting. Elmo asks what kind of meeting, and Karli replies, “My mom needs help learning to take better care of herself, so she talks to people with the same problem.”

Image Credit: Youtube, Sesame Workshop

She also explains that she goes to meetings of her own with other kids like her – kids whose parents are struggling with substance abuse – and talks about how it helps her understand and feel not so alone.

Image Credit: Youtube, Sesame Workshop

Elmo is very understanding, too, and he and Chris help Karli feel even better by the end of the video.

Sesame Street in Communities aims to cover sensitive family topics like addiction, divorce, and grief, and the nonprofit released a statement promising to ai the resources to the “5.7 million children under age 11, or 1 in 8 children, living in households with a parent who has a substance abuse disorder.”

Image Credit: Youtube, Sesame Workshop

Watch the whole video here:

Life can be tough, and even though we all wish children didn’t have to face hard truths too soon, the fact is that they do.

It’s comforting to know that no matter what comes their way, Sesame Street will be there to offer them solace, understanding, and friendship, all without judgement.

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Ex-NFL Player Deangelo Williams Paid for 500 Mammograms to Honor His Mother Who Died from Breast Cancer

DeAngelo Williams retired from professional football a few years ago, but, by the looks of it, his work might just be getting started. The former running back for the Carolina Panthers and the Pittsburgh Steelers made news recently when he paid for 500 mammograms for women through his non-profit organization, the DeAngelo Williams Foundation.

Williams’ mother passed away five years ago from breast cancer, and since then the ex-NFL player has made it his mission to help women with mammogram screenings and other tests so they can hopefully catch any potential issues as early as possible.

Sandra Hill, Williams’ mother, was only 53 years old when she passed away in 2014. Williams also lost four of his aunts to breast cancer, all before they had reached 50 years of age. So for him, this work if incredibly important.

So far, Williams’ foundation has paid for 500 mammograms for women in Pittsburgh, Charlotte, Memphis, and Jonesboro, Arkansas. He said, “To be able to help all these women is amazing. This can be life-changing for these women. We are enabling them to get this care that no one should ever be denied or not have access to.”

Even though Williams has already done an amazing amount of work, he’s aiming much higher. He wants to host free mammogram screenings in all 50 states and expand the reach of his organization as far as is humanly possible.

Risalyn Williams, his wife and executive director of the foundation, said, “DeAngelo wants to ensure that no woman (or man) fights breast cancer alone.”

Keep up the excellent work, Mr. Williams!

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A Company Publicly Shamed a Job-Seeking Woman for What She Posted on Her Personal Instagram Page

When 24-year-old Emily Clow came across a potential marketing job at Kickass Masterminds, she thought it sounded like a good fit.

The company, which worked with “rebellious business owners who yearn for freedom and are ballsy enough to chase after it,” was looking for someone to help those entrepreneurs grow their businesses through marketing and social media.

Clow applied and received a request for additional application materials, which she provided. She was excited until she discovered that the company wasn’t interested in hiring her – they were interested in using her as an example of what not to do.

Someone involved in the hiring process took a photo of Emily from her Instagram page (she was wearing a bikini) and posted it to their own Instagram story with the following caption:

“I am looking for a professional marketer – not a bikini model. Go on with your bad self and do whatever in private. Bt this is not doing you any favors finding a professional job.”

In their IG story, the person behind the company’s account used Emily’s photo to warn other applicants against sharing their social media handles with potential employers “if this is the kind of content on it.”

Clow was, unsurprisingly, not all that happy when she found out about the post.

“I was objectified earlier today by a company because of a picture of me in a bikini. They claimed it made me an “unprofessional.” They screenshot the photo, posted it on their insta story, and called me out. I am still baffled that the company handled it in such a manner.”

Her tweet has since gone viral, garnering support from thousands of people online, including some who have even offered to help Clow find a job.

Clow was hurt, but also confused because it was a picture of her in a bathing suit at a pool – where that attire is obviously standard.

Her requests to the company for the post to be taken down were originally ignored (and they eventually blocked her on Instagram when she continued to dog them about it).

Image Credit: Emily Clow

Sara Christensen, Kickass Masterminds’ CEO, wrote on Medium that she made “an error in judgement” and has “learned a lesson” but is not “ready to publicly address it in detail.”

It appears she might not ever be ready, because the company’s IG account – along with their website, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn profiles – has been removed.

Funny sort of stuff from such a “ballsy” company.

Said Clow, “I thought this was a situation that I feel like a lot of women deal with on a daily basis when they’re job hunting. I figured that, ‘Hey, I might as well talk about this,’ because if I talk about it I know someone else is going through this and we can start a conversation and see if there’s a way to fix the issue.”

Social media has complicated many facets of life since it became such an integral part of both people’s personal lives and employers’ hiring. Though it has its upsides, it has become a minefield that all current job seekers have to navigate.

How to do that professionally is an ongoing discussion, and Emily Clow definitely added a chapter.

How the next one goes, we’ll just have to wait and see.

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This Is How You Can Figure out If Someone Is Stealing Your WiFi

Stealing other people’s WiFi seems to be a common phenomenon. Anything to save money, right? But this sneaky practice causes WiFi speed to slow down considerably, and it’s not sustainable in the long run for anyone involved.

If you suspect that someone may be stealing your precious WiFi, there are a few ways to figure out whether that’s true, Lifehacker reports.

First, you can check the indicator lights on your wireless router. These lights show whether any wireless activity is happening on nearby devices. Shut down all of your own wireless devices — phone, laptop, TV, everything that can connect to the internet — and then see if the light is still blinking. If so, that means there’s another device on the network that’s not yours.

Photo Credit: iStock

Second, you can log into the router’s administrative console to see a list of devices on the network. To get into the console, enter your router’s IP address in a web browser window. Then log in — your router’s login information is usually included on its paperwork somewhere. Once you’re in, you’ll see a section called something like Connected Devices, Device Manager, or My Network. This will show you a list of IP addresses, MAC addresses and device names, which you can review to see if there’s anything that doesn’t belong to you.

Last, to take things to the next level, you can use an app that detects whether your WiFi is being leeched, such as MoocherHunter. This will actually tell you the physical location of the WiFi thief!

Photo Credit: iStock

After you figure out what’s going on, it’s important to beef up your WiFi security so that the thief can’t get online anymore.

Good luck, bounty hunter!

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Being Forgetful Might Be a Good Thing for Your Brain

I forget a whole lot of stuff. It’s gotten much worse as I age (and since my pregnancies and having kids – sleep deprivation is no joke!), so I’m quite happy to hear that maybe I haven’t become addled by middle age after all.

Now, let’s just say this: the science says that forgetting small details might mean your brain is functioning well, separating important things from the noise, but forgetting large things should still be considered a major problem.

Onward.

Recent research from the University of Toronto, published in Neuron, finds that the growth of new neurons in the hippocampus (where we think memories are stored) is formatted to make room for new and important information. In the process, that growth allows you to jettison useless knowledge.

Professor Blake Richards, lead author on the study, explains further.

“We always idealize the person who can smash a trivia game, but the point of memory is not being able to remember who won the Stanley Cup in 1972.”

The point of memory, of course, is to increase your intelligence and your ability to assess your circumstances and make educated decisions – and in order to do that, some things need to be forgotten.

The study is supported by 2007 research that used MRI scans to monitor the brains of 20 healthy adults taking a memory test. The results claimed people were better at remembering conflicting information, as opposed to easy or repetitive knowledge.

“The process of forgetting serves a functional purpose,” verified Michael Anderson, one of the researchers on the 2007 study. “What these guys have done is clearly establish the neurobiological basis for this process.”

Researchers agree that there are several benefits to being able to forget some things. First, certain information, like old phone numbers and passwords, is worthless. Second, we can generalize or combine certain memories to no detriment.

In one super interesting experiment with mice, scientists had the rodents find the exit to a maze, then on a future try, changed its location.

The mice who were drugged to forget the former location of the exit found the new one much faster.

Huh.

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Toby? Tom? Tim? Oooh, Andrew. Sorry.

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I’m not sure if this is why I can never remember the names of people I’ve just met (or met long ago), but hey. I’m going to go ahead and blame it on my brain trying to be smarter and stronger, and not on my general lack of interest.

Don’t try to stop me.

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Michael Buble’s Song ‘Forever Now’ Is About Kids Growing up and Parents Are Emotional About It

Beyond the bottle feedings and weekend soccer games, the unconditional love parents feel grows deeper by the minute. From the time your baby is born, your bond never stops expanding, even after they go off to college.

Michael Buble put all that into words with his new song “Forever, Now” and I’ll tell ya, it gave me all the watery eyes.

I’m not a mom, but I watch my friends raise their children and my heart swells. It’s no easy feat but what’s incredible is that everlasting love.

With lyrics such as these how can you not cry!

I tuck you in at night

Another day has passed

Every week goes by a little faster than the last

It wasn’t so long ago

We walked together and you held my hand

And now you’re getting too big to want to

But I hope you’ll always understand

Within a few lines, Buble has literally managed to span time from a baby to a grown adult, all through a parent’s eyes. OMG, please pass the tissues!

In an interview with Magic Radio, Buble admits that when he wrote it he never meant to make it personal, but after recording the demo it truly was. He also feels he’ll never perform it live.

“I did a vocal demo…and the truth is I never sang it again. And to this day I’d never sang it again…I’m not ready to handle it yet.”

Michael Bublé on his song 'Forever Now' | Magic Radio

For his new album Love, Michael Bublé wrote a song that he'll never be able to perform again.

Posted by Magic Radio on Saturday, September 29, 2018

Even the crooner heart-throb is affected by his own music! This makes me love him even more. Oh, and for all you parents of fur-babies? Yeah, he mentioned that you are parents too with a deep love for your pets. Gah! Does he get any better?

Whether you just had a child, are seeing one off to college, or they are having children of their own, grab the tissues and enjoy this beautiful song. Thanks, Buble!

Hopefully this video filled your heart and gave you tears of joy! I think Buble is out to keep Kleenex in business.

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U-Haul Posted an Eye-Opening Demonstration on How to Properly Load a Trailer

This is important: pay attention.

If you regularly pull a boat, camper, livestock or something similar, then you can probably skip this video on how to properly load a trailer you’re attaching to your vehicle.

For the rest of us, though, the information could turn out to be lifesaving.

It comes to us courtesy of U-Haul, a company founded in 1945 by Sam Shoen and his wife, Mary, after they were unable to find a trailer to rent for their interstate move.

The demonstration uses a treadmill and a model mustang pulling a trailer with a movable axle and weights, and aims to help renters understand why weight placement is so important. The key is to maintain the correct ratio of tongue weight to gross trailer weight – and doing it wrong can have dangerous (or even deadly) consequences.

U-Haul recommends that 60% of the weight be loaded in the front of the trailer, ahead of the axle. If you put any of the weight back further you run the risk of fishtailing with what amounts to a pendulum swinging behind you.

Too much tongue weight will cause the rear end to be lower than the front end, which can result in traction issues, so make sure to take gross weight as well as proportion into account.

You’ll also want to consider the trailer’s height and center of gravity, make sure your load is evenly distributed inside the trailer, and ensure that you’re able to see clearly around what you’re towing.

You can read more tips on U-Haul’s website.

And now you know – it’s almost enough to make you dread your next move even more, am I right?

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