The Muppet
This series was shown in the period of my early youth and there was no episode that I missed to watch. It was originally created as a separate story of the much more popular and long-lasting series for children, Sesame Street.
First there was "Sesame Street", then someone came up with and made a separate show - "The Muppet Show". Unlike their predecessors, "The Muppet Show" was watched by both children and adults. And although at first nothing indicated that the series would have an impressive audience, this assumption was soon denied - "The Muppet Show" were welcomed with open arms and achieved fantastic success - 235 million viewers worldwide and broadcast in over 100 countries.
Dolls that have conquered the world "The Muppet Show" separated from "Sesame Street" by accident. First, their idea creator Jim Henson made two thirty-minute specials called "Muppet Show" and quite unexpectedly got a chance that was not given - the commercial station ATV offered Henson to start showing the new series on their television. The series was shown for five seasons and during that time it became synonymous with the most witty puppetry. It was full of jokes, clever sentences, expressive wit, black humor, parody, bizarre and absurd elements.
The word Muppet is a combination of the words marionette and puppet, and was designed by Henson. The protagonists are fantastic, they differ from related types of puppets in their extreme mobility and expressiveness. They are characterized by wide open mouths and comical ping-pong balls like eyes. They can be anything: humans, animals, plants, objects or, simply, monsters and creatures created right from the imagination.
The main character, who is also the host of the show, was Kermit the Frog - the director of the theater where the action took place. It is interesting that Henson lent his voice to Kermit. He is in love with the capricious and selfish Miss Piggy, and one of the most heavenly characters is the performer Gonzo, who stood out for his clumsiness and the fact that he almost never manages to realize his ideas. Probably one of the favorite heroes of this series is The beast, who brings tears to the eyes of viewers by persistently searching for iron food. However, most gladly remember the unbearable, grumpy comments of the critics from the VIP lodge - the famous Statler and Waldorf .
The fact that it hosted more than a hundred film and music stars in the five-season broadcast testifies to the huge success of the series. It was almost a prestige to appear in this puppet series. In some episodes, Whoopee Goldberg, Michelle Pfeiffer, John Cleese, Roger Moore, Elton John and many others appeared.
"The Muppet's" got a star on the Boulevard of Fame The last episode of "Muppet Babies" was shown in 1981, after which "Muppet Babies" were recorded. The "Muppet Show" has been transformed into a feature film on several occasions, and the last in a series is the one from 2011 directed by James Bobin. Even today, after more than three decades since their first showing, "The Muppet's" enjoy great fame. Imagination, creativity and wit are the elements that make this series an evergreen, and its heroes icons of pop culture.
One of my favorite characters is the Swedish chef, who no one understood what he was talking about, and whose attempts to prepare food always ended in complete disaster.
Fighting two dogs - how to separate animals and end their conflict?
**RESPOND TO THE PROBLEM**
In most cases, it is a harmless basketball in which there is no need to intervene. However, sometimes a fight between two dogs can be dangerous for one of them. How do you react if it is a dog you own?
You walk through the park while your dog runs around you. Suddenly, a local brawler, bigger, more dominant and more aggressive, rushed at him. What to do? Should you separate them or let the dog steel himself and solve the problem on his own? And how to separate them at all, and be sure that you will not get hurt yourself.
Here are some tips on what to do when a fight between two dogs occurs!
**Assess the situation**
Not all dog fights are the same. In most cases, it is a harmless basketball in which no one will be injured and there is no need to intervene. As with people swearing and pushing, with no intention of seriously hurting each other. However, there are situations when you have to react so that your dog would not be seriously, maybe even fatally injured. Sometimes it is difficult to assess the situation correctly, but there are a couple of rules you should follow.
If you know that one of the dogs has been aggressive and injured other animals before, end the conflict as soon as possible
If two dogs of extremely different sizes were arguing, you should separate them so that the little one does not pull out the thick end
Any quarrel involving a dog belonging to one of the breeds bred for fighting should be stopped immediately
**Avoid risk**
Any method that allows you to stop the fight and stay far enough away from the jaw is good and safe. Ideally, you can reach for the leash and separate the dogs. If the dog has bitten and is holding the opponent, wait for the bite to subside for a moment and then pull quickly. You can also try pouring cold water on the conflicting dogs, which will shock them and make them forget about the battle. Of course, provided you have water nearby. Otherwise, you can try to scare and separate them in some other way.
The closer you are to the jaws, the higher the risk of injury. However, if there is no other way, you can try to place an object between the conflicting dogs. Sometimes even a piece of cardboard can leave you enough time to grab them by the leash and separate. If they are not on a leash, you can try to grab them by the hind legs and drag them away, taking care not to turn around suddenly and vent their anger on you.
**The most risky move is to try to grab the dog by the collar.** If he has bitten an opponent, you can twist his collar a little, reduce the air supply for a moment and thus force him to open his jaw. Sometimes the only and very risky way to end a conflict is to push a short stick into the dog’s jaw and pull and push it until you force it to loosen the bite.
**Preventive behavior**
Some owners have discovered that the can can be a great help in canceling the started attack. If your dog is a brawler, or you know that in the park where you take him there is a dog with which he does not "smell", put small metal parts in a can of a drink, and the sound that occurs when it shakes acts as a great tool for correcting behavior. If you come across a dog that has already gritted its teeth at your voice, throw the can in front of it and that should be quite enough for that aggressor to give up such behavior. However, the safest solution for the prevention of street fights is the simplest one: keep your dog on a leash so that he is always at your fingertips and then there will be no problems.
Culinary tips for complete beginners in cooking
Useful culinary tips will help you find your way around the kitchen, especially if you are a beginner and inexperienced in this field.
**Arrange the groceries you need**
Professional chefs use this system - they first put together all the ingredients from the recipe, partially preparing them (such as measuring and cutting) and placing them close together. This system is great advice for all housewives, because it helps with organization. This will ensure that you have not forgotten any ingredients and will save you time.
**Season nicely**
Salt is a key spice if you want your food to be delicious. Most recipes mention when to add salt, but the golden rule is to add at least a pinch or two of salt when you start cooking and again at the very end. Try food often during cooking to see if you have seasoned it well.
**Use appropriate utensils**
When the recipe says that you use a certain type of pan, use it. If you only have one pan or pot, it is important to buy several types of dishes that you know you will always need and that way you will be ready.
**Dry the vegetables and meat before cooking**
If you roast meat that is moist, it will not taste good and will not fry properly. Always dry the meat with a towel, then put it in a pan, casserole… The same goes for vegetables.
**Do not overfill the pan**
Whether you bake or fry in a pan (casserole, pot…), it is important not to overload them with food. It is good that the food has room to fry nicely.
**Throw away spices that have lost their scent**
Ground spices quickly lose their smell and therefore their taste. So if your spice doesn’t have any smell you can throw it away as it won’t give any taste to the dish.
**Save the fat**
Chicken fat is an amazing thing, whether you fry onions in it, fry vegetables or spread it on toast. When you make the chicken chilled fat from the pot / casserole / pan, pour it into a plastic container and store it in the freezer. This also applies to bacon.
**As if the chicken crust is always crispy**
Add plenty of salt to the chicken and leave it uncovered in the fridge for a few hours before baking. This will give you the most crunchy skin.
**Use a freezer**
You already know that you can leave leftover food in the freezer. But make room in your freezer for supplies that will make it easier for you to prepare meals. Frozen ginger will stay fresh longer and you will cut it easier. You can freeze tomato paste, broths and owls and only defrost them afterwards if you need a recipe. You can also freeze the dough for cakes and pies, egg whites and egg yolks and use them when you needs them.
Dogs and dreaming
Beautiful dreams and nightmares
There is a lot of solid evidence to suggest that dogs also dream
After a long day of living a dog's life, the family pet stretched out on the carpet for a well-deserved nap, to start twitching, stretching and making muffled barking sounds during sleep. And most dog owners, after witnessing this unconscious activity, come to the logical conclusion that the dog is dreaming. It is a phenomenon that every dog owner thinks he knows well. Still, is there any truth in that and do dogs really dream?
The short answer is yes ... probably. In the absence of a fairy-tale canine companion who would confirm that dogs dream, people can only assume that twitching and growling in the sleep of their four-legged family member indicates brain activity similar to the human concept of dreaming. Fortunately, curiosity about dreaming dogs has long been a topic of study, and this assumption is based on an extensive series of scientific studies. There is a lot of solid evidence to suggest that dogs are actually dreaming. For starters, a dog's brain is structurally similar to a human's. Scientists studied the brain waves activities of sleeping dogs to find that they experience the same phases of electrical activity as humans.
Researchers have confirmed that dreaming occurs in animals with a less complex neurological system, because studies in sleeping rats suggest that rodents also dream. Interestingly, however, the frequency varies, so small dogs dream more often than large dogs.
What do dogs dream about? So, what do people dream about? The most common belief is that animals dream about activities in which they participate in the waking state, just as a person's daily activities determine later dreams. Science confirms this belief.
In research, identical brain activity was observed during sleep as was observed while rodents performed activities awake. It can be assumed that a dog that experiences terrible situations while awake, probably has nightmares.
Many pet owners wonder if they should intervene while their sniffer dog is asleep when kicking, barking, or otherwise experiencing brain activity during sleep. Sometimes this is based on caring for a dog, and sometimes it is for purely selfish reasons - a person's desire for undisturbed sleep.
The old adage, though, is the best advice: let the dog sleep. Interruption of the REM phase can confuse the animal and jeopardize the much-needed sleep cycle of your faithful friend.
Skewer (spit, broach) the first food cooking tool in human history
No one will be able to determine with certainty when and how it occurred to any of the ancient people to use fire to roast meat on it. But most likely the real man concluded that the taste of meat is better if it is slightly roasted and puffed. There he had the problem that if he put the meat directly in the fire that it would burn, if he held it in his hand near the fire, his hand would burn, and then he thought of stabbing a piece of meat on a branch and bringing it closer to the fire ... and thus the first skewer became.
Today, there is no man or child in this world who does not know what skewer is. We meet him in every place where anything is prepared on the grill. Whether it’s small pieces of meat or whole animals. Throughout history, people have figured out in different ways what to use as a skewer, so soldiers used their swords to stab meat on them and roast it.
Thanks to the preservation of tradition, today we have a special name for certain roasted meats in this way. The most famous is kebab which is associated with Turkey, gyros and souvlaki which is associated with Greece
Further advancing the idea of roasting meat created the grill, but that’s a whole other story.
The next step in preparing the meat by roasting over a fire occurred when the man decided to place the whole animal on a skewer.
Although today we are equipped with various technological means that allow us to store food easier and faster, we have not given up storing food over an open flame because there is simply no better prepared meat than that.
As for roasting whole animals, I believe that people usually prepare chicken, after that there is pork, lamb, ox ... but also some slightly more exotic animals, so in some parts of the world we can find alligators, rats, spiders, octopuses and many others.
When it comes to preparing whole animals for skewer, we can distinguish three basic approaches.
**The First way - just attach on skewer, seasoning and put over heat**
**The second way - open like a book**
**The third way - remove the bones and roll**
The next thing to pay attention to is how the skin will be prepared. Poor preparation can cause the skin to become inedible or burn. For this purpose, when roasting meat, it is topped with various toppings, in our country it is most often beer.
Also, someone practices cutting fresh skin into regular pieces to make it bake better.
As for my country and our neighbors, we can't imagine going on a trip to nature if we don't prepare some of these specialties on that occasion.
Life balance - how to reconcile private and business life
The term "work-life balance" - private and business life in balance, or life balance, was first used in the eighties in America, as a concept that partly explained the unhealthy lifestyle that many people led. The basic characteristic of such a life was the neglect of many aspects of life, from family to social to the neglect of many small personal needs that each individual has, and which are related to his nature, temperament and established habits.
Burnout syndrome is becoming an increasingly common problem for all people who consume large amounts of energy in an effort to achieve set work goals in their workplace. In addition, over the last ten years, a new type of pressure from employees in the form of harassment in the workplace has spread. There is also a growing number of negative consequences that were partly due to the competitive atmosphere that was nurtured and maintained in the workplace with the aim of increasing the productivity and success of companies.
Employees are expected to invest more and more in achieving their companies ’goals, while their basic needs (including the need for material and professional security in the future, which is often a major motive for additional investment of effort at work) remained unmet. Establishing a balance between work and life as a whole is one of the important aspects of human resource management in the modern world. The balance between work and life actually implies a constant process of balancing between responsibilities at work and those at home.
**Symptoms of imbalance model private and business life**
In an atmosphere characterized by feelings of overload and insecurity, the balance of the individual is disturbed, there is a continuous overload and neglect of private life. The job-life conflict is defined as a role conflict in which demands related to work and other domains of life simultaneously exert pressure that a person cannot get rid of, because satisfying the demands of one party necessarily leads to impossibility of satisfying the other party.
Feeling overwhelmed with work, work demands and the time that must be devoted to their execution is a significant threatening factor when it comes to the family, its balance and optimal functioning. Employees who feel the great pressure that comes from work, often declare its negative impact on family relationships. Also, they are less satisfied with their family life, they more often miss performing family obligations due to work.
The connection between the quality of family life and the possibility for an individual to properly distribute their energy in meeting family and business requirements is quite logical. People who have problems in establishing this balance, primarily due to the volume of work and the responsibility they feel towards it, spend significantly less time in the family environment. In addition, the time spent with the family is often not of a positive quality because employees show a tendency to "take home problems with them".
And finally, employees with a lower sense of workload regularly practice activities that encourage feelings of security and coherence of the family, such as joint meals, creative activities, socializing with family friends, practicing various types of joint parties and others.
**Strategies and tips for improving the balance of private and business life**
**1. Slow down**
Life is simply too short
Take concrete steps to stop and enjoy the things and people around you
Find ways to distance yourself from the things that cause you the most stress.
**2. Learn to better manage your time.**
Avoid procrastination (delay from one day to the next). For many people, most of the stress they suffer is just a result of being disorganized - and procrastinating (delaying from one day to the next).
Learn to set more realistic goals and deadlines - and stick to them.
**3. Divide the load**
Although sometimes we may feel like we are the only ones capable of doing something, that is usually not the case.
Motivate your partner or other family members to help you with your family responsibilities.
**4. Let some things go their course (don't sweat over little things)**
Learn to recognize things that don’t have as much of an impact on your life and allow yourself to just let them go their course
**5. Explore your options. Seek help.**
In many cases you have certain options; you just need to take the time to research them
Eg: hire someone to help you with babysitting or caring for parents, consult with friends, share experiences
Don't feel overwhelmed by family responsibilities
**6. Set priorities.**
Sometimes it’s easier to allow ourselves to be overwhelmed than to take the lead and make a list of priorities among the things that need to be done
**7. Simplify**
It is human nature to take on too many tasks and responsibilities, to try to do too much and to possess too much
Find a way to simplify your life
Change your lifestyle
Get rid of garbage and excess luggage in your house - and in your life.
**8. Don’t plan too many things**
Assume that only 50% of what you have planned for one day will be realized.
**9. Be relentless in setting priorities**
The secret to effective time management comes down to knowing what's really important and what to expect.
Use the sharpest knife to separate the essential from the secondary.
**10. Learn how to say no**
One of the most powerful weapons in effective time management is raising awareness of the fact that you don't have to agree with everyone and everything.
**11. Organize things around you**
Taking control of your time is not just a matter of planning and scheduling. "Eliminating the clutter and the chaos it causes will give you 240 to 288 hours each year."
**12. Use technology**
Step beyond your personal habits and develop time management skills. Use technology as another weapon to achieve maximum effect during the working day. "Reminder papers are one of the worst things in the world… .."
**13. But don’t rely on her too much**
Effective time management also means knowing when to turn everything off. Turning off a cell phone or other wireless means of communication means setting boundaries in communication. This helps you regain the balance between private and business life.
**14. Know that things will never be perfect**
Be grateful for what is going according to plan and learn from your mistakes. Work as hard as you can and enjoy every moment where you feel good or have been productive. Keep your private and business life in balance.
Time management is not an exact science. Don't stress yourself further and waste time during this process, obsessively monitoring every second of your time.
How to behave properly and prevent dog bites
RULES OF PROCEDURE
It is possible to prevent a dog bite if we act in accordance with certain rules. Although they are generally very fun and endearing, dogs can also be dangerous. Be careful with dogs you don’t know!
Most dogs are friendly, but even the most affectionate dog can sometimes be angry or scared. Dogs mostly bite for defensive reasons. Get to know their nature better to make a precious friendship that can last a lifetime.
When it comes to dog bites, the victims of the attack are often small children, so there has been a public debate for a long time about "dangerous breeds" that should be banned or not. There are behaviors that can at least somewhat protect you from an awkward encounter with a dog, so learn them!
A dog will most often bite a human:
1) when he feels threatened or scared
2) if he is overly excited, even during the game
3) if he doesn't know you
4) when he is injured or in pain
5) when protecting its territory, food, toys, family members or puppies
**How should one behave?**
Never approach an unfamiliar dog - even if it is wagging its tail. This is not always a sign that the dog is in a friendly mood.
If your dog approaches you in the company of the owner, and you want to pet him, first slowly extend your hand and offer him a palm to sniff him.
If the dog wants to sniff you, let him. He will probably continue as soon as he "smells" that you are not a threat to him.
Under no circumstances should you suddenly scream and run. The dog will surely run after you. Just stand still and don’t look at him.
If the dog jumps and knocks you to the ground, curl up in a ball and continue to lie still.
If the dog wants to attack you, try to give him something to bite - a bag, a bag with things…
Never pet another's dog without permission.
Also, do not enter someone else's yard and do not approach the fence without an invitation if there is a dog in the yard.
If you encounter an injured stray dog, call the expert services. The dog is probably scared and could bite you.
Never pet a dog through a yard fence.
**Get out of the way of the angry dog**
Sometimes it is possible to predict a dog attack. If the animal stands still and growls, shows its teeth and barks, it is probably preparing to attack. At the same time, his hair is ruffled, he stares at you, and his tail is firmly raised.
Be very careful, even if the dog is wagging its tail. When he is in a friendly mood, his tail moves relaxed. If it’s stiff and moves fast it’s certainly not an invitation to play. However, some dogs are not recognized at all for preparing to attack.
**Do you own a dog and have a child?**
Even your own, dearest and best pet in the world can sometimes show teeth. Here's how to avoid an accident in your own home when a child and dog are not under your supervision.
If the child and the dog are alone at home, your child must not challenge or tease him. Explain to the child that we must not disturb our pet while sleeping or eating.
If your dog takes care of his own offspring, the child should not disturb him, and it would be best not to spend time without your supervision.
A child should not make loud and disturbing noises near his dog.
Warn your child if he only takes the dog for a walk (which is not a good idea) that he never puts his hand between two dogs.
If the dog still bites you or your child, go to the doctor immediately for an examination and inform the competent services. Although they are generally very fun and endearing, dogs can also be dangerous. Be very careful with dogs you don’t know!
Chocolate & rice
Sometimes we get into a situation to admire some cake decorations and we want to make something ourselves that will be beautiful and effective. One of them is chocolate with expanded rice grains. To make something like this, you need to find a mold in which to pour melted chocolate. You don’t need special expensive molds, the shapes you can find in your kitchen just need a little imagination. For this chocolate I used an ice cream lid.
Wash the lid or bowl you are using well, melt the chocolate and pour in it.
Immediately afterwards, while the chocolate is melted, sprinkle colored rice on the surface, and instead you can do it with whatever you want, it can be sugar crumbs, chopped walnuts, hazelnuts, whatever you want. The most beautiful thing is that you can invite children to work with you during the making, believe me, they will enjoy it.
After that, you just need to cool and tighten the chocolate, which you can speed up by leaving it in the fridge or freezer for ten minutes.
When the chocolate hardens just take it out of the mold and the job is done. Otherwise, these treats are ideal for many occasions, when guests come to you, when you make children's parties .... it is made quickly and easily and at the same time it is delicious and not expensive.
Diving in shallow water - tips for beginners
Before i start writing i wish to say this article is inspired and dedicated to my friend who i meet on this platform @tired_momma
The vast majority of people enjoy watching documentaries that deal with the topic of diving. Unfortunately, many of them never get the opportunity to experience something like that for various reasons. However, what most people can afford is diving in shallow sea water.
To dive, you need expensive equipment, which you either have to buy or rent. Then you need a guide who will take care of you whether you are an amateur or a certified diver. All of this requires significant funds that you can sometimes spend better on. Also, some people, in addition to a great desire for adventure, have a great fear of the depths, so they are not able to fully enjoy the experience. The solution to all these problems is to dive in shallow sea water, where you can stay on your feet any time when you wish.
At first glance, such an adventure may seem uninteresting to you with the question of what can be seen and experienced in the shallows.
But trust me, you will be surprised by all that can be revealed here.
**First of all, precautions**
At the outset, we must first tell you that many people make the mistake of diving in shallow water because they do not take into account that their backs will be exposed to the sun for a long period of time which can lead to problems with sunburn. This is additionally dangerous because since our skin in such a case is often wetted and cooled by the water in which we dive and later we notice that we have got burns. So if we decide for this activity, we must protect our backs well with a water-resistant cream or wear a T-shirt that will protect us from the sun.
**How to choose the right place for diving in shallow sea water**
The first thing you need to be aware of is that the main things happen on the surface and in the cracks of the rocks. Rocks are a place inhabited by living organisms and form their colonies and habitats there. You will recognize a good rock by seeing traces of flora on it and it does not have a smooth surface. The more uneven and hollow the surface of the rock, the more likely it is to find interesting animals that have settled there. When choosing a place you have to take into account the tides because the water level affects the formation of living life below the surface. So choose places that are always below the water surface during low tide. It is also desirable that the rock you have chosen, the waves do not hit hard when the weather is nice, because in such places it is difficult for organisms to stay in large numbers.
**But first of all, when choosing a holiday destination, ask a travel agent if there are places where you could go where you want to go. Also when you are there, ask the locals to recommend a good place for what interests you.**
**Equipment**
As far as equipment is concerned, the simplest mask and breathing tube are enough. For those who want to get to know the living world in full splendor, I recommend a magnifying glass. But I must mention that a simple magnifying glass cannot be useful to you because water is a different environment from air and that is why if you want you can find and get a magnifying glass that is made for magnification under water.
**Children will love this activity**
And finally, what’s most beautiful about shallow-water diving is that it’s fun for the whole family. If you go on vacation with children, no matter how small, you can enjoy this activity together with them without any fear.
Why that negative news is present in a much larger number compared to positive news in media
Do you think that negative and positive news are equally represented in the media?
My impression is that negative news is present in a much larger number compared to positive news.
Why is it important? Because children and adults build their image of the world based on the image of the world presented to them by the media. When the media projects a predominantly negative image of the world, then people begin to think that this world is a negative, corrupt place. The more people are exposed to the media, the more they absorb negative images that impregnate their unconscious.
**Evil world syndrome**
It is known that the average viewing of television in the adult population is around four hours a day. This means that a large part of the population is exposed to the media "cultivation" of the image of the world. For some of them, it causes the "evil world syndrome" which has a bad effect on mental health, whether people react with fear and depression or react with aggression.
People who clearly recognize their need for a balanced picture of the world feel that the media is to blame because they place too much negativity on us. That is why one can occasionally hear a request for the media to increase the representation of good news. What people don't know is that they themselves are responsible, and therefore "guilty", which is too little positive news. The reason is in the human psyche, which reacts quite differently to negative and positive news. People are much less interested in good news than in bad news. The consequence is that the medium that would publish more positive news would probably fail quickly.
The main reason is that other people's happiness is boring. The fact that someone's child won an international award in mathematics or rhetoric is not very interesting to people. But it is very interesting to their parents. The reason is that for those parents, that child is not someone's, but ours or mine. In order for someone else's happiness to be interesting and exciting for someone, he must be emotionally connected to that person - he must identify with it and consequently experience it as "his" or "ours". This is best seen in sports when our national team plays: "ours" against "theirs". The spectators, that is, the fans, enjoy the game, are proud of the victory, and are depressed after the defeat.Unfortunately, apart from sports, there are not many other occasions in which a larger group of people identified with someone's success.
Another reason is that when there is no identification and emotional connection, then people are either indifferent to other people's success and happiness, or they can even react with unpleasant feelings. Someone else's happiness can remind people that they are unhappy. A typical unpleasant feeling of someone else's success and happiness is envy.
When there is no friendly attitude towards a person who has experienced happiness, success, progress or some joyful event, then people can envy. It simply means that they see their own failure in someone else's success. How do they come to such a conclusion? By comparing themselves to others, and to the extent that he is more successful, they conclude that they are equally unsuccessful. That is how the success of someone else's child becomes the failure of my child. Although perseverance, work and a lot of practice are behind almost every success, it is easiest for people to think that the other was simply lucky, and that they did not have it, and that it is not fair. And then, as a rule, it moves into a campaign to reduce that vertical difference, by dragging others down, through various devaluations.
Negative news provokes a much stronger emotional reaction. As a rule, people identify with the victim of an accident and try to prepare, that is, to learn how not to get into the same situation or, if it happens to them, how to get out of it. Little is known about the fact that unpleasant feelings are almost twice as intense as pleasant ones.
**Drama and profit**
Evolutionary psychologists warn us that vulnerability situations are much more important than positive situations, because they are related to survival. Evil attracts attention much more strongly than good. And in the structure of every negative news, there is a struggle between evil and good, a drama in which what should not win often wins. Behind the word "media" are various companies that are fighting for profit by attracting our attention. And that is why negative news in the media is emphasized and exaggerated, especially in headlines and announcements. So they poison our image of the world, and thus us.
Truths and misconceptions about marijuana
Young people face many challenges and situations on a daily basis where they have many different choices and need to make a decision about what to do, which society to choose, where to go out, how to spend their free time, and so on. "Marijuana is a very affordable drug and can be obtained anywhere," the young people I talk to tell me. It is offered on the street, in a disco, around the school, they say sometimes though rarely even at school. A large number of young people will find themselves in a situation to make a decision: to reject or not to reject the offered joint. When people generally make decisions in life, they use some information, knowledge and attitudes they already have about the situation. Where do young people get information about how drugs work? Many young people believe that marijuana is not harmful. The messages on offer are different and confusing. On the one hand, parents defend because they say it's dangerous and they are often so scared that you can't believe it's so scary, and on the other hand there are persuasions to take it because "everyone takes it" and because it's "cool". and lately it has been spoken of as a medicine that cures all diseases. The school talks about it here and there.
Dealers offer it as "good goods", and the media more often glorify it and almost as a rule write sensationalistically. On the Internet, however, you can find really everything, there are different addresses, some advocate taking, some offer (business is business), and many scientists competing with each other instead of giving answers to questions, further confuse. Not to mention the different lobbies. And so when we add it all up, unfortunately; the amount, type of information and the way in which information is transmitted, contribute to the positive or neutral attitude of a significant proportion of young people towards marijuana. This increases the likelihood that the offered drug will not be rejected.
In this text, I will try to answer the 7 most common misconceptions or myths about marijuana, which prevail among young people, and which are spread by many out of ignorance, and the others because it is in their interest to make as much money as possible.
I want to help parents learn more about the harmful effects of marijuana to make it easier to talk to their children, and I encourage young people to read, think, and form an attitude that will help them make the best possible decision for themselves, their friends, family and their future.
**1. Myth: Legalizing marijuana will not increase its use**
The first myth or misconception about marijuana is "Legalizing marijuana will not increase its use." The truth is just the opposite. Legalization in all cases leads to increased drug use, because most people still try to do what is allowed. An example is the ban on alcohol from history. It is true that alcohol-related crime was high at the time, but the number of alcohol addicts, and thus social problems related to alcohol, was incomparably lower than it is today, and liver cirrhosis was a real rarity. Likewise, the number of cigarette smokers dropped significantly only when smoking was banned in public places, although the penalties were not as drastic.
Proponents of marijuana legalization most often cite the example of the Netherlands as an example. Let's see what really happened there after the opening of "coffee shops" in which marijuana was freely consumed. Between 1984 and 1996, marijuana use among people aged 18-25 increased by over 200%, and the number of people (registered as cannabis addicts) who sought help as a result of marijuana use increased by 25%. At the same time, the number of alcohol addicts increased by only 3%. What is atypical here in relation to drug use in countries where there has been no legalization, is the increase in the number of elderly users. Light drugs are usually started at a younger age out of curiosity and a desire to experiment. They are more often taken by immature people, people with mental health problems or prone to risky behaviors.Taking other addictive substances in that population (e.g. alcohol) is also high. Here we must emphasize that in the Netherlands, the consumption of marijuana is allowed only in "coffee shops", while consumption in other places is sanctioned. The United States has a similar experience as the Netherlands with the decriminalization of marijuana. In the 1970s, half of the U.S. countries introduced decriminalization of soft drugs, followed by a significant increase in the number of marijuana users. In the late 1980s, when they withdrew the law, the number of beneficiaries fell by almost a third. The trend of decriminalization at the beginning of XXI. century was again accompanied by an increase in marijuana consumption.
**2. Myth: Smoking marijuana is not dangerous**
Another myth or misconception is "Smoking marijuana is not dangerous." The harmful effects of marijuana are generally well known, documented and confirmed by the rules of "evidence based medicine". On the other hand, smoking anything is potentially dangerous because it carries a risk to the respiratory system. Marijuana has up to 70% more carcinogens compared to cigarettes. Marijuana smokers consume fewer cigarettes, but they inhale deeper and longer, and keep the inhaled smoke in their lungs longer. This is why experiments have proven four to five times higher amounts of tar and carbon monoxide adsorption in marijuana smoking than in cigarette smoking. Adverse effects on worsening of respiratory symptoms and more frequent development of chronic bronchitis have been demonstrated in long-term marijuana users.
THC (delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol) is the main active ingredient in marijuana that primarily accumulates in body fat cells. In the brain, it binds to specific receptors known as cannabinoid receptors. As a large number of these receptors are located in the part of the brain that is responsible for memory, thinking, concentration, coordination of movements and perception of time and space, marijuana consumption negatively affects precisely these functions. Like other drugs, THC stimulates the brain to release dopamine. Dopamine then activates the part of the brain that is responsible for the feeling of satisfaction. After the initial euphoria, there is a feeling of drowsiness or depression. Other symptoms caused by THC are laughter, altered perception of time, and increased appetite. In some it can cause anxiety, fear, distrust or panic, and in higher doses it can cause an acute psychotic reaction.The consequences of marijuana consumption continue even after marijuana is broken down in the body and manifests as memory difficulties and reduced learning ability and sleep disorders. Long-term consequences (due to cumulative action or chronic abuse) are addiction, chronic cough and bronchitis, increased risk of developing schizophrenia and other psychoses or worsening of symptoms in people with pre-existing psychosis, increased risk of suicidal ideation and attempts, development of anxiety, depression and amotivation syndrome. Frequent and regular use of marijuana leads to neglect of obligations at school and at home, weakening of success in school, neglect of appearance. With such users, the so-called "holes in memory". A person cannot remember what happened yesterday, what he just wanted to say and the like.In pregnancy, marijuana can significantly affect the growth and development of the unborn child. It is interesting to note that in countries where the use of marijuana is legal, the risk of acute respiratory problems and accidents caused by overdose is also increased among children and young people.
**3. Myth: No one died from marijuana**
The third myth or misconception is "No one died from marijuana." Marijuana has a strong detrimental effect on the abilities and skills needed to drive safely (e.g., wakefulness, ability to concentrate, coordination of movements, reaction speed, distance estimation, etc.), and the detrimental effect lasts up to 24 hours after consumption. As it impairs balance and coordination, short-term memory and attention along with reduced critical judgment increases the likelihood of risky behavior and statistically significantly increases the risk of traffic accidents. While the different effects of marijuana are still in the research phase, a statistically significant association between marijuana consumption and traffic accidents, including those with a fatal outcome, has undoubtedly been confirmed. The number of deaths increases or decreases in proportion to the share of consumers in the population. The higher the share of consumers, the higher the number of casualties.
As an example, I cite a study from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, which processed data for 23,500 fatal drivers in the period since 1999. to 2010. The results showed that alcohol as a contributing factor in accidents, all this time was in 40% of cases, while the share of accidents under the influence of marijuana increased from 4% in 1999. at 12% in 2010 Should it be mentioned that this is a time of re-trend of decriminalization of marijuana and a time of introduction of marijuana into medical use?
**4. Myth: Marijuana is less harmful than cigarettes or alcohol**
The fourth myth or misconception is "Marijuana is less harmful than cigarettes or alcohol." That this is incorrect can be deduced from the previously described consequences of marijuana consumption. The question they could also ask in this case is: How much harm would marijuana do if consumed by the frequency or amounts in which cigarettes and alcohol are consumed. We all remember a time when young people did not consume alcohol as they do today. At that time, the harm from consuming alcohol was incomparably less, but that did not mean that alcohol was not harmful. Today, when tolerance towards alcohol consumption has changed, and consumption has become a completely accepted, "expected and desirable behavior", we can measure and estimate the part of the damage caused by the change in the pattern of consumption in the population.Unfortunately, we will be able to assess some of the consequences only in the future. Proponents of marijuana also often claim that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol because it makes you relaxed, so people are not violent. It is true that marijuana causes a condition we call amotivation syndrome, so a person has no will for anything, but in some consumers (people who consume marijuana in large quantities), especially in states of abstinence crisis, strong emotions of anger (so-called anger attacks) occur. with all the consequences that such conditions can lead to. The fact that cigarettes and alcohol are harmful in no way diminishes the harmfulness of marijuana.
**5. Myth: Marijuana is a medicine**
The fifth myth or misconception is that marijuana is a medicine. This is to create an image of how good marijuana is. If it cures, which is good, then marijuana use is more good than bad. However, this is not true. First, for a substance to be declared a medicinal product, it must consist of a well-defined substance whose quantity is measurable and equal in all unit forms of the medicinal product (eg tablet or injection). As marijuana is a plant that is taken by smoking, and its composition varies, so we cannot speak of a medicine in the true sense of the word. We can say that some marijuana ingredients act on the symptoms of some diseases, which will be discussed in more detail below. The fallacy also lies in the idea that something is good by the very fact that it can be used as a medicine. Each drug is taken in strictly defined amounts and only in certain diseases and taking any drug when it is not medically indicated can have harmful and in some cases even fatal consequences.
The fact that certain parts or marijuana are used in certain diseases does not diminish its harmfulness and does not mean that everyone should consume it, on the contrary. Unfortunately, the growing acceptance of marijuana for medical purposes has influenced a shift in awareness of the harmfulness of marijuana among young people. Research shows an inverse association between risk awareness of marijuana consumption and consumption itself. As the share of young people who consider marijuana consumption risky decreases, so does the share of consumers, which is why marijuana use among young people is growing again.
On the other hand, it is true that marijuana contains several compounds that have been shown to be useful in the treatment of various diseases or conditions. The last report on the health effects of marijuana and cannabinoids by a group of experts from the National Academies of Science, Technology and Medicine in the USA from January 2017. (“The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids”) talks about the effects of marijuana on certain medical conditions, ie. which hypotheses about the therapeutic properties of marijuana and / or its ingredients have been confirmed and for which there is insufficient evidence.
Thus, oral cannabinoids have been shown to significantly reduce chemotherapy-induced vomiting and nausea in cancer patients and to reduce the symptoms of spasticity in multiple sclerosis patients. Unfortunately, they do not reduce the spasticity measured by objective measures, but only the subjective feeling of the patient, which does not affect the disease itself, but makes the patient's life more bearable. Marijuana itself has also been shown to be helpful in reducing chronic pain in adults in conditions where other therapies were not sufficient. There is also some, albeit still restrained, evidence of improved sleep disorder symptoms in patients with chronic pain, fibromyalgia, and multiple sclerosis, and in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.
Although there is some still inconclusive evidence that acute marijuana use improves some lung capacity parameters, with equal statistical significance, cessation of marijuana use has led to improved respiratory symptoms in marijuana users. The hypothesis has not been confirmed or there is no evidence that marijuana or cannabinoids help in the treatment of cancer or anorexia and cancer-induced cachexia syndrome or in anorexia nervosa, irritable bowel syndrome, epilepsy, spasticity in spinal cord injury, symptoms of amyotrophic lateral scleriasis or Parkinson's disease, dystonia, schizophrenia, or schizophrenia-like psychosis. There is also no evidence that it helps abstain from other addictive substances.
Scientific research into the active chemical compounds in marijuana and their potential effects on medical conditions and diseases has led to the development of new drugs whose effectiveness has been proven, and scientists are trying to create drugs that will enhance the therapeutic effects of cannabinoids and minimize harmful side effects. Scientists and drug manufacturers have also synthesized a number of synthetic cannabinoids, some of which are very potent and very dangerous to abuse and can cause serious health consequences.
Marijuana preparations for medical purposes are generally used for serious diseases such as multiple sclerosis, end-stage cancer and AIDS, and not for personal use with the aim of achieving psychoactive effects. There are various preparations in the world, most often in the form of tablets with isolated compounds (cannabinoids) used in the treatment of certain conditions, but it is never "smoking home-grown grass", but controlled substances for which the manufacturer "guarantees" the composition, concentration, etc. Despite numerous texts advertising marijuana as a cure for many diseases, it should be emphasized that so far no disease has proven the therapeutic effect of marijuana in terms of treating the disease itself, but its beneficial effect in reducing some of the symptoms of the disease in some patients. always applied as adjunctive therapy where the drugs administered did not help and again only in selected patients according to precisely defined protocols obtained by scientific research.
**6. Myth: Marijuana is not addictive**
"Marijuana does not create addiction" is another myth or delusion that many young people believe. In one study, among 200 marijuana users, 76% met addiction diagnosis criteria including an abstinence crisis. Symptoms of an abstinence crisis were as follows: loss of appetite, indeterminate fear-anxiety, depression, restlessness, irritability, trembling, severe insomnia, sweating, heightened deep tendon reflexes, mood disorder. As the symptoms are not as pronounced as with opiates and as many frequent consumers have already had some psychological symptoms, unable to distinguish the symptoms of the crisis from the symptoms of the psychological difficulties that caused them to start consuming, they continue to consume marijuana believing that they will feel better. 97% of addicts said they continued to take marijuana even after realizing it was a problem because they could no longer stop taking it. They needed it to function "normally".
**7. Myth: Everyone takes marijuana**
The seventh myth or delusion is "Marijuana and that's how everyone takes it". You can often hear this belief, but fortunately it is far from true. It is true that when we want to point out a problem, then we emphasize its size, because even if only 1% of young people take drugs, it is not only a problem, but a big problem. Most young people do not take marijuana nor will they ever take it. Young people move in circles similar to themselves. So someone who takes drugs moves in a circle of other people who take drugs. Everyone takes drugs for them. If you ask someone who moves in the company of a healthy population of young people, they will tell you that no one or a small number is taking it. If you look at how many young people have experimented with marijuana, the proportion is large and averages around 30-40%, depending on the environment and time period in which you are researching. But if you research regular use, then that number is thankfully at least three to four times smaller.
**And as a conclusion**
Young people reach for the offered cigarette, alcohol, joint to make themselves important, at the urging of their peers, to fit in, out of curiosity. Growing up time is frustration time. It is also a time when young people must learn how to overcome these frustrations, how to behave in society, how to develop self-esteem, how to make and maintain friendships, think critically, make decisions, defend their views and many other important life skills. Young people, unfortunately through the fault of us adults, today have significantly more freedom than their ability to cope with various new situations. Exposed to much greater challenges and pressures than previous generations, it is not always easy for them to refuse the drugs offered, starting with socially accepted drugs such as alcohol, which is worryingly widespread among young people today. It is a way for them to hide their insecurity and immaturity in the outside world into which they have come unprepared. It is important to keep in mind that taking drugs (both legal and illegal) in an attempt to reduce the frustration of growing up, at the same time slows down or even stops normal development and maturation.
Doge coin - a joke that still lasts
More or less so far, we are all familiar with the emergence and use of cryptocurrencies. One interesting story in all these stories is the story of Doge coin. It was originally created as a result of the humorous intentions of its creator, but no matter what anyone thinks about this coin, it still manages to last stably on the crypto scene. While other coins were created with very serious intentions and big plans, Doge coin is something that no one has ever seriously counted on, but after this time, this coin, created without any ambitions, managed to beat much more serious competitors in the crypto world. I personally have always had a certain sympathy for that coin, and that is why I have a certain amount in my wallet.
Roulette strategies and why they don’t work
More or less we all know what gambling is. Today we are witnessing the exponential rise of the gambling industry in which incredibly large amounts of money are being turned.
Before I start with a more serious analysis, I want to point out only one thing, and that is that all casinos are extremely expensive facilities that are richly equipped. Let's ask ourselves where did the money for that come from and who paid for it? The answer is clear, it was all funded by players who lose money in casinos. So it should be clear to all that there is no safe system for how we can beat a casino, because if that were the case, they would lose money very quickly and they would have to stop working.
However, we are witnessing a daily increase in the number of players. on the one hand it is a desire for adventure, which is relatively harmless if we know how to set limits for ourselves, but on the other hand there is also the gullible thought that we have learned something that can help us get rich overnight. Let's not be fooled, such secrets do not exist, can we really believe that no one before us remembered to try the same thing? ... of course without success.
The emergence of cryptocurrencies has greatly affected the additional growth of the gambling industry. Also since the internet became widely available to a large number of people, casinos have started their work online as well. Initially, some casinos began to shy away from accepting bitcoin as a means of payment in addition to traditional currencies, but now we are witnessing that more and more online casinos that accept deposits are exclusively in cryptocurrencies.
As someone who likes to spend some time gambling, and also as someone who understands math and statistics well, in my youth I thought it might be possible to find a math-based system that would be successful. And let's not lie, such a system exists, but there is two small problem that spoils happiness.
To ensure a safe casino win by playing roulette, you must have an unlimited amount of money and the casino must not have a bet limit. Both are impossible so in the beginning we are doomed to loss, sooner or later. It may happen that at some point, statistics and probability will be on our side, but the longer we stay at the gambling table, according to all the laws of mathematics, the numbers will come to their natural balance in which we are doomed to loss.
I don't want to go into complicated mathematical formulas, but I will explain it on a simple example of the game black and red.
When you play color on roulette, your winnings, if you guess, are as much as you bet, so for $ 1 you get $ 2 and that's nice. But don't forget that roulette has 37 or 38 fields, of which 18 are red and 18 are black, one or two fields are there so that the math is always on the side of the casino. What does that mean in practice. If we imagine that you played as many times as there are roulette fields, for example 37, and that each number came out once, it means that you had to place a bet 37 times, which is $ 37, and you had a win 18 times, which is $ 36. So you are losing $ 1. The longer you play and the higher your bet, the more your loss will become over time. Of course, there are times when the situation is adjusted so that one of the players wins, but even that is a pre-calculated outcome because imagine that no one ever wins, in which case rarely anyone would decide to enter the casino. This is where psychology comes into play. People will always believe that they will be the few lucky ones and they will not even look at those who have lost everything.
All roulette systems, which are claimed to be able to bring you success, can be defined as systems that recalculate how you will be at a certain profit by increasing each subsequent stake.
**Martingale roulette strategy**
By far the most popular roulette cheating strategy is Martingale (also known as double-up roulette strategy). This strategy is also very simple, which has contributed to its popularity, because more or less anyone can use it without learning or any research.
Remember that Martingale is a betting strategy that can be used in more or less any casino game (with some restrictions, of course). However, it is most widely known for its roulette
The Martingale strategy works as follows: The player places an initial bet, say $ 1, on any of the roulette bets of equal odds (red / black, even / odd, small / large). A red / black bet is most commonly used, but there is no statistical difference as to which of these bets is chosen. If a player wins, he returns to the first point and bets $ 1 again. If a player loses, he doubles his bet. This is repeated until the player wins. The player then returns to the first point and bets $ 1 again. The Martingale strategy works in cycles. The length of individual cycles varies, but each should result in the player gaining $ 1 or losing everything. I'll start with the winning cases, and I'll talk about the losing ones later. Here are some examples of Martingale winning cycles:
The player bets $ 1 and wins $ 2. The net win is $ 1.
The player bets $ 1 and loses. Then bet $ 2 and get $ 4. The player bet a total of $ 3 and won $ 4. The net win is $ 1.
The player bets $ 1 and loses. He then places bets of $ 2, $ 4, $ 8, $ 16, $ 32, $ 64, $ 128, $ 256 and loses each. The player then bets $ 512 and wins. The total bets were $ 1023 and the player wins $ 1024. The net win is $ 1.
All of these cases have been successful for the player, but as you can probably already see, the last case is quite worse than the first two. The player lost nine bets in a row, winning only the tenth. That means he bet $ 512 dollars just to get $ 1 over the entire cycle. Rapidly increasing the size of bets is one of the main issues with the Martingale strategy.
Why does the Martingale strategy seem to work
There is a very fine logical explanation for why the Martingale strategy should work. If you continue to double your initial bet, the roulette ball must sooner or later stop at the number that guarantees you a win. Is not it?
Yes it's true. When the number of attempts approaches infinity, the probability of total failure approaches 0. This means that with infinite resources and no limit by the casino, you will eventually be able to win and complete the cycle with a net profit of $ 1.
With infinite resources and no restrictions by the casino, the whole system would work. However, as you have probably guessed, these two conditions will never be met in the real world. Let's delve into these problems.
**Problem # 1:**
**Limited amount of money**
In the real world, every player has a limited amount of money. This means that if a player continues to use the Martingale strategy in the long run, he will eventually run out of money, which will make him / her unable to place the next bet and complete the winning cycle. Let's study this in more detail using examples. Imagine a player with a $ 1000 play amount using the Martingale strategy with an initial bet of $ 1. With $ 1000 available, a player can afford to place the following bets in a row: $ 1, $ 2, $ 4, $ 8, $ 16, 32, $ 64, $ 128, $ 256. The total amount of these bets is $ 511 which means that after losing them all, the player will only have $ 489 left in the account, which is why he will not be able to place the next bet, which would be $ 512.
Now, you might say that this is really unlikely to happen. In order for this scenario to materialize, a player must lose 9 bets in a row. At first glance, this may never seem to happen, however, it does happen. **And it happens much more often than you might think.**
**Problem # 2:**
**Bet size limits**
In addition to money problems, the Martingale strategy is also limited to the size of bets allowed by the casino you play at. Of course, the minimum or maximum table limit varies by casinos and games, but generally speaking, the maximum allowed bet is generally only a few hundred times higher than the minimum bet.
**Fibonacci roulette strategy**
The Fibonacci roulette strategy is in many ways similar to the Martingale roulette strategy, but there are some differences between them. I will focus mostly on the differences between these two strategies.
First, let's describe the way the Fibonacci strategy works. It is based on the famous Fibonacci sequence. The sequence looks like this:
1 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 5 - 8 - 13 - 21 - 34 - 55 - 89 - 144 - 233 - 377 - 610 - 987 -…
You may have noticed (or already knew) that each of the numbers in this sequence is the sum of the two previous numbers. This sequence feature is used in this strategy, although it may not be noticeable at first.
This is how the Fibonacci roulette strategy works:
The player starts by betting on the amount corresponding to the first number in the series.
Each time he loses, he moves to the next number in the row and bets the appropriate amount. Each time he wins, he returns two numbers back. If a player reaches the beginning of the series, he only continues to bet the amount corresponding to the first number until he loses; then proceed accordingly.
**Advantages and disadvantages of Fibonacci strategy**
There is a big difference between Martingale and Fibonacci roulette strategies. In the Martingale strategy, one winning bet is enough to complete the winning cycle. On the other hand, in the Fibonacci strategy, a player completes the winning cycle only when he manages to move back to the beginning of the series and win the bet corresponding to the first number. **In other words, one gain is not enough to reverse a series of losses.** This means that the Fibonacci strategy needs more spins at roulette to achieve the same gains compared to the Martingale strategy. However, it also means that the Fibonacci strategy is less risky.
**D’Alembert roulette strategy**
Both strategies, both Maringale and Fibonacci, work by increasing or decreasing the bet amount depending on the results of individual spins. The D’Alembert roulette betting system works similarly, but the differences in the bets are much smaller. Therefore, this strategy is much safer.
D’Alembert’s roulette strategy is also based on betting on one of the odds of equal odds (red / black, even / odd, big / small). It works like this:
The player decides on the initial bet and bets on it.
Each time a player loses, he increases the bet amount by 1 in the next spin. Each time a player wins, he reduces the bet amount by 1 in the next spin.
The disadvantage of this strategy is that if you run into a losing streak, which will certainly happen sooner or later, you lose a large sum of money.
**Labouchere roulette strategy**
The Labouchere roulette strategy is more complicated than the other strategies I mentioned in this article. It requires you to keep a record of your bets and add the numbers together, which may require a little practice. This strategy is generally just a mathematically complicated set of previous strategies that will eventually lead you to lose your money again. Too boring to explain but I mentioned it because it is also present in gamblers.
What is reality today and is this the real world?
Through augmented reality glasses, one can see the real world in which computer-generated elements have been added. So, in a couple of years, we will be able to walk down the street, and the invisible space where there is nothing will be filled with something.
Just a couple of decades ago, this was a purely philosophical question that had nothing to do with everyday life. When a couple of years ago, I wondered if what we were seeing was the real world or an illusion? Only philosophers. Who cares if we live in the real world or some computer simulation? Only philosophers. However, in the first few years of the 21st century, this issue has ceased to be "theoretical". It is no longer open only to philosophers in cabinets, but is now set for everyone. How do we determine today what the real world is?
there are already other worlds in the West. Not parallel, but other, simulated worlds. Technology changes everything, but does it change reality?
Those who have played video games are known to draw players into a new world. Even parents know that children completely break away from this world while playing games. Sometimes they sink so deep that they forget to eat, drink water and go to the toilet. In South Korea, where gaming is extremely popular, people end up in the hospital because the games drag them in so much that they forget to sleep and drink water. Even a few deaths have been reported.
However, everyone will say that video games are not the real world. As we play them we sit in this world and no matter how well they are done, they cannot physically move us into some new world. People have been trying to simulate reality since the 50's, but they didn't succeed…. until recently.
Today, virtual reality (VR) is well known. We have recently perfected this technology which is basically a computer generated scenario that simulates experience. We put on glasses and with them we enter a computer simulation in which we can do different things depending on what it is programmed for. We can only watch a movie happening all around us or play a game. VR simulations are also used by the United States military to train people. So, if an ordinary video game immerses a person so much in the new world that he forgets to eat, does VR put him in a new reality?
Many are still not convinced that VR is changing our concept of reality. They would say, "yes, he is playing a game in some virtual reality, but it is still just a virtual world and he is still physically present in this world." However, it seems so to us. While we say that he is here with us, he is in another world. He may be in the living room, but it seems to him that he is in a medieval castle or on a spaceship where he is fighting aliens. Isn't his perception what decides whether something is the real world or not for him?
In order to avoid philosophical theses that are not known to everyone, let's take an example from popular culture. At the very end of the last century, the film The Matrix was released, in which the main character, Neo, reveals that he is in a computer simulation. But he discovered that he was not in the real world only when he heard about the simulation. What would have happened if no one in the Matrix had ever discovered that they were in a simulation? Maybe we as viewers would know that they are in a simulated world, but the characters from the film would seem to be in the real world.
After all, we know we are in the real world because we didn’t have someone who discovered that this around us was a simulation. Imagine that we are in a computer simulation, but we do not have access to the red pill that Neo took. To us, the world we are in seems real, and since we decide for ourselves what the real world is for us, it means that this is the real world - although in reality it is a simulation.
Reiki Kawaraha has published a series of "easy novels" Sword art online. Here, people are locked into a MMORPG game (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) that they play in virtual reality. They have been in the game world for so long that some even fall in love with other players, but also feel when they touch something. They are completely in a new reality - they live in houses, trade, work… They live normal lives even though their bodies are in the hospital on an infusion to maintain it. What if one day we can really do this?
Imagine that one day you can spend your vacation by turning on the infusion, going to bed, putting on the scientists and entering a new world where you can live for days or weeks? I believe that in this case, most agree that those who spend their holidays like that go somewhere. They are in another world. Basically, this procedure would be the relocation of our cognition center. We would change the reality we live in for a while. Philosopher Edward Castronova warns that as we spend more and more time in the virtual space, there is a gradual "migration to the virtual world". Which is true, portals are replacing classic newspapers today, digital marketing is becoming more dominant than traditional, shopping is done online. It is only a matter of time before the migration to the virtual world becomes complete.
However, today we can only play games and watch movies in virtual reality. We have not yet come to the point where we can live in a virtual space. Some are afraid of shifting the center of cognition, and some can't wait to move into virtual reality and at least briefly experience a life they could never have. But, far from it, technology does not change the real world for us. In addition to VR, there is AR (augmented reality) - augmented reality.
The principle of augmented reality is that there is a direct view of the physical world in which additional elements are computer-generated. In other words, technology combines information from physical reality with digital elements and displays them together on a display. For example, you turn on the camera on your phone and scan the living room, and computer-generated images that hang on the walls, but which are not in reality, appear on the screen. A banal example. There are mobile apps on the market today that can read and display augmented reality, but augmented reality glasses have already been designed. They are not science fiction, they are already on the market.
Through them, one can see the real world in which computer-generated elements have been added. So, in a couple of years, we will be able to walk down the street, and the invisible space where there is nothing will be filled with something. For example, virtual promo banners. Flying commercials. Many would say that these commercials are not part of the real world, but why? The point of the advertisement is to be read and you read it through those glasses, so how is it not "real"?
Augmented reality is a relatively new technology, but it is very much used. It is used by artists, marketing experts, architects… The well-known company Ikea has used AR to enable interested buyers to look at what the furniture they want to buy should look like in their apartment before the purchase. So, with phones, we can see what our room will look like before we buy a sofa that we will put in it, but still many will say that it is still not a changed perception of reality.
The role of the sofa is to sit on it and you cannot sit on a computer-generated sofa. However, what about things that do not require physical contact? The purpose of the commercials is to read them, so AR advertising is basically real. The same goes for works of art. Did the AR artwork become a part of reality?
Hardly everyone will agree. In any case, we must recognize that technology is changing our world completely. It is slowly beginning to change the very concept of reality. There are no longer just abstract philosophical thought experiments, but there are paradoxes from everyday life. What was science fiction yesterday is slowly becoming commonplace. Today, we are not sure what the reality is, and how time passes, how technology advances, well, who knows. What was an idea yesterday is happening today. We miss the basic certainty of what the real world really is.
The US government has sued Google for violating antitrust laws
Most of us know that the world of capitalism is cruel in its race for profit. Neither the way nor the means are chosen on that path. This time, Google's business has come under investigation because of its monopoly position and therefore its very large influence, which it can and does use to promote various goals. We are also witnessing the very great power of Google because it follows our every step and search, which it uses to place advertisements to an interested group with the help of its algorithms. In this way, it puts in an unequal position all those who do not want to advertise through Google or pay too little for it. Something similar last happened 20 years ago when Microsoft was under the same charge. We will see how all this will eventually affect us, the small users who are unconsciously directed towards certain products, policies, goals and the general formation of attitudes about all sorts of things.
Queen Elizabeth - the secret of longevity
Definitely the most famous person in the world is the current Queen of England. Although he is largely in his tenth decade of life, he gives the impression of a healthy and strong person. Certainly one of the secrets of its longevity is a regular diet. Unfortunately for many ordinary people, the pace of life and the material situation do not allow such a luxury, but it is still interesting to see what are the habits of the queen when it comes to nutrition.
**Tea and biscuits before breakfast**
The queen starts each day with a cup of freshly brewed Earl Gray tea (the famous black tea flavored with Bertram oil) with a few pieces of biscuits. The queen never adds sugar or milk to her tea.
**Cereal flakes, fruit and toast for breakfast**
A typical British Queen’s breakfast consists of cereal and seasonal fruit. Another, much rarer variant of breakfast is toast with jam. Sometimes (mostly around Christmas time) the queen is treated to a breakfast of fried eggs with the addition of smoked salmon and a little truffle.
**Lunch without starch**
The Queen's lunch is always at the same time, at 1 p.m. There is a lot of protein on the plate, few carbohydrates. He often eats fish or simply prepared chicken, say from the grill with a large bowl of salad. He avoids pasta, rice and potatoes, ie. starchy foods. Although he is healthy, garlic has almost been expelled from the British court. The reason is simple: no one wants members of the ruling family to feel on this food. Chefs must also be very careful with onions in their meals.
**Snack with tea, cakes and sandwiches**
For an afternoon meal, snack or tea at 5 pm, biscuits are usually prepared in the royal kitchen, a cake with honey and whipped cream or a chocolate biscuit. Chocolate, say the people who work in her household, the queen adores, and prefers dark chocolate with as much cocoa as possible. Experts would agree with that, because dark chocolate is a rich source of many useful substances, a super food that helps fight cardiovascular diseases. Sandwiches are definitely prepared for this meal: with cucumbers, smoked salmon, eggs and mayonnaise or ham and mustard. Bread must not have a crust, and sandwiches are triangular in shape, because the queen does not like square ones. He also likes bread with butter.
**"Well done steak" for dinner**
For her evening meals, the queen again mostly chooses light dishes, such as grilled fish, vegetables and salads. He also likes traditional English weekly roasting, and sometimes lamb, mutton and black grouse are on the menu. The meat must always be well roasted. Her favorite dish is a steak with mushroom sauce, sour cream and whiskey. She loves, like everyone else, home-grown groceries, vegetables from her gardens, fruits like white peaches and strawberries grown in Windsor, as well as beef, veal and fish from her estates. When it comes to fruit, only what is in season is eaten (again, something that all food experts would welcome). “Serve her strawberries every day during the summer and she won’t say a word. But try to do it in January, and she will tell you never to dare to send her genetically modified fruit again. "
**Alcoholic drink, but moderate**
The queen rarely drinks alcohol, and on those occasions it is usually a gin and Du-bonnet cocktail (flavored red wine aperitif) with lots of ice and a slice of lemon (for lunch) or a glass of dessert wine (for dinner). Sometimes, after dinner, the queen likes to drink a glass of champagne.
Imitating others - the need to be accepted
The human need to be accepted, to belong, not to be different, different and foreign in a given social environment is the cause of identification or imitation
We live in a time when many people, both young and old, try to present themselves to others as original, special, unique, different. Teenagers in particular try to stand out, be different from their peers and leave the impression of an interesting, and thus attractive person. No matter how expressed this aspiration is, the human brain functions in a different way: as a machine for imitating others.
Much of this imitation takes place on an unconscious level. Children imitate their parents, but also other children. Teenagers imitate their peers, but also chosen "idols". Adults imitate others in order to be accepted or to occupy social status. Much of social learning takes place through the unconscious imitation of other people.
**Group influence**
When an adult moves from one environment to another, a different environment, he unconsciously adopts the patterns of behavior, dress, expression, and speech that exist in the new environment. In a few years, she "drowned" in a new environment, so it is difficult to distinguish her from the "natives". The cause of this is the human need to be accepted, to belong, not to be different, different and foreign in a given social environment. This is in line with the Latin proverb: When you are in Rome, do what the Romans do.
There are several names for the psychic mechanism that underlies imitation, such as identification or identification, imitation, model learning, role modeling, copying, and so on. At the core of this mechanism is the sense of sight: people imitate what they see, but not everything but only what they like. The importance of the senses of sight is indicated by the words s-see, where the root is sight, as well as the pattern, where the root means to look. Based on what is seen, there is a desire to have what others have, to be like others, to act like others.
All this makes the group of peers in which a teenager moves an important factor in the development of his personality. Teenagers have a strong need to be accepted and to belong to the group, so if members of the group have problematic behavior, it is very likely that the teenager will start behaving that way. This same mechanism that applies to bad society also applies to good society. If the group is made up of young people who behave in a desirable and positive way, the teenager will imitate them.
When teachers and professors, through the splendor of their knowledge and their personality, achieve that they are role models for pupils and students, then they will unconsciously "absorb" not only the knowledge but also the ways of behavior of given professors, and try to look like them. And when there are a large number of such teachers at a school or faculty, then it becomes the best school. Many people intuitively know that when they are in contact with people who impress them, who are their role models, they develop as personalities because they feel that they are enriched in that way by "taking over" some positive ways of thinking and behaving.
The emergence of mass media, especially visual ones, has led to a new problem. While people used to imitate other real-life people, the media offered unreal, illusory characters as role models. On the one hand, they are real people, film and music "stars" who offer the audience carefully shaped images and personalities, hiding numerous aspects of their real personalities and real lives.
**Samples from the movie**
On the other hand, they are completely fictional characters from movies and series. There are many who unsuccessfully try to imitate film characters and transfer film scripts into real life.
Imitating others can also become a conscious way of personal growth and development. When someone is successful in something, people often envy him. When they see that someone they compare themselves to is more successful than them, they conclude that they are equally unsuccessful. Instead of seeing their own failure in someone else's success, they can turn a successful person into a role model. It simply means seeing what that person has done to achieve success, and starting to do the same to achieve the same kind of success. In this sense, perhaps the collective consciousness would change if we used "exemplary success" instead of the often used term "enviable success".
It is interesting that although people consciously and unconsciously imitate others, they do not like others to imitate them. Occasionally we hear a complaint from a woman that someone else is "stealing her personality" because he imitates her in dress, make-up and hairstyle. It is just a sign that she has become a role model, and that imitation is a form of flattery.
Ideas for useful gifts at all times
**CREATIVE, BUT PRACTICAL GIFT**
Whether you need gifts around the New Year holidays, birthday gifts or special occasions, the lack of ideas can create extreme stress. That is why we suggest interesting gifts that can suit different occasions and situations. Make your loved ones happy in the right way with these gift ideas.
**A book is always a good gift**
This is a gift you can't go wrong with.If you are not sure which title to choose, ask the sellers for help based on the personality of the person you are buying the gift from. In addition, today's bookstores have a wide selection of accompanying programs, so you will be able to opt for various additions to the book.
**The Bluetooth speaker has been a very popular gift in the last couple of years**
This small device is useful whether you like to spend time in nature with friends, sing in the shower or simply listen to music in every room in the house. More and more mobile phone owners are opting for this option instead of headphones and it comes in various shapes and colors. If you want to show how you understand the various advantages of this speaker, opt for the waterproof variant because it will allow you to use this device even near water.
**Portable charger, travel rescue**
Anyone who has traveled abroad at least once knows how burdensome it is to store a battery and take care of its consumption. The best gift for someone who spends a lot of time outside the home is a portable mobile phone charger and a tablet that allows for several charges. This will give everyone you give away this useful add-on the freedom to take pictures and search for places to visit without fear of their phone turning off.
**Wireless headphones**
This type of headset has become popular in the last two years and more and more people are opting for it. They are popular because of their practicality because they do not have cables that are wrapped, they only contain headphones and come packed in a box.
They are always easily accessible, they come in several variants, the best of which is the one that has a radio receiver in it, and you don't need anything other than listening to music.
**Cosmetics package**
This is a great choice for those who do not like to work too hard on choosing gifts but still want to give something practical. You will find already packaged products in many stores, and it is up to you to decide on the best combination that will suit the person you are buying the gift for.
**Phone & tablet holder**
Everyone who struggles with holding tablets and typing at the same time, will be grateful for this practical gift. In addition to ordinary holders, there are also variants with a pillow that is filled with small Styrofoam balls and adapts to the surface. In this way, maximum comfort at work is provided, and if you opt for the variant that also has a coffee holder, you will create a pleasant atmosphere for your loved one during work.
**You can't go wrong with jewelry**
This is something that will delight members of the fairer sex, and guarantee you the best gift. Although many immediately think of expensive jewelry and spending money, there are options that are much more creative. Handmade jewelry is available in a wide selection of materials and colors, sometimes with the option to make your own combination. This personalized gift will be unique and will surely delight everyone.
**Chocolate box & wine**
This is a gift that can be taken away at any occasion and will always make you happy whoever you give it to.
All you have to do is figure out which gifts best suit your loved ones and get ready to make them happy. There is no doubt that everyone will be happy with the practical and nice gifts you have prepared for them. After shopping, relax and enjoy time with your loved ones and opening great gifts.
Dental implants - artificial teeth
**How and in what way?**
Modern dentistry has advanced so much that it is possible to achieve a flawless smile in an extremely easy and fast way. It is about the fact that artificial teeth have become an absolute replacement for natural ones. This is possible because the installation is done with a dental implant that consists of two parts. One is screwed directly into the jawbone and the other is fitted with a crown.
There are two types of crowns, metal and metal-free, but due to the quality and not so big difference in price, the latter are always recommended. In the case of metal, only the core is metal, while the outer part is ceramic. Metal-free dental crowns are made of zirconium, which belongs to the group of high-strength ceramic materials, better known as artificial diamond.
**When is time for artificial teeth?**
If we try to determine the age limit and in that way come to the answer when it is best to decide to install artificial teeth, we will hardly achieve anything in that way.
There is no ideal time to take certain steps in life, as well as those related to health. We can rightly state that today an increasing number of young people decide to install artificial teeth, which we can say is not necessary because in most cases, being left without teeth is related to age. The reasons for this are different.
These are often aesthetic reasons because it is sometimes impossible to correct certain birth defects with a prosthesis. Apart from aesthetic teeth, the reason for the installation of artificial teeth is also the health condition, because due to insufficient care for the health of their own teeth, people are forced to get rid of their own and compensate for that loss with artificial ones.
The installation of artificial teeth can be delayed until the tooth bone is in good condition and until it can enable the installation of individual teeth that are missing in the jaw. The challenge arises when the tooth bone is no longer stable for the implantation of individual teeth, then the only solution is the implantation of artificial teeth with the help of implants.
Features that you need to know about **metal-free ceramic crowns** and what is also contained in their qualitative component are the following:
given that the constituent element of metal-free crowns is diamond, which is also the hardest material, only this fact explains why metal-free crowns promise quality;
their great advantage is that once they are fixed, they remain immobile and that it is possible to function normally with them as with one's own teeth. That is why it is often said that they are forgotten to be artificial;
appearance is their trademark, namely, the color and shape of teeth can be absolutely adjusted to the natural appearance so that it can not be distinguished from real teeth, which is due to zirconium, which is an integral element;
their advantage is that the patient adapts to them very quickly, and at the same time is spared swelling and inflammation, which are unavoidable during classic implantation;
**Metal-ceramic crowns** are slightly different from metal-free ones in the following:
according to the type of building material, namely, the metal part of these crowns is placed in the middle while the exterior is ceramic;
the metal part that is placed in the middle is the most common cause of the patient adjusting harder and slower to these crowns;
metal crowns are made by hand, so the patient cannot be one hundred percent satisfied with the shape;
in these crowns, due to the metal part contained in them, it is not possible to achieve the color of the teeth that can be achieved with metal-free crowns;
A ballad about Janice Joplin
Half a century after the death of the big star, the songs that remained after her are no less popular than they were during her life, and the social criticism woven into recognizable verses about freedom or "Mercedes" has not lost its force.
Five decades ago, the world lost Janice Joplin and gained a legend. This is not a column about the musical legacy of the famous rock and blues rebel, but a short dedication to her symbolic legacy. Half a century after the death of the great star, the songs that remained for her are no less popular than they were during her life, and the social criticism woven into recognizable verses about freedom or "Mercedes" has not lost its force. On the contrary, her feminist agitation and prophetic critique of consumerism seem to be tailored to fit perfectly with the spirit of today.
At a time when the war in Vietnam was raging, and the streets of Paris were burning with social unrest, the American countercultural scene was ruled by Janice Joplin. It was an icon of moving the established rules and the boundaries of "nice" behavior. With her attitude, appearance and texts, she offered a different model of gender identity. If we look carefully at the special expression she had, we will see that many elements of the so-called The second wave of feminism, which came into force in the 1970s (the first wave of feminism was a struggle for legal and political equality, and the second involved a broader social, economic and cultural struggle). But there is one catch.
When you read the texts that have been written about her (and there are an incredible number of them), you will come across the assessment that it is a paradox - that Joplin was remembered as a symbol of feminism, and that she never actually fought for it with concrete statements or activism. The answer to such criticism could be that she may not have been a women’s rights activist in the sense that some other women of the time were, but she did live a different, unconventional gender model. She was not humble, feminine, submissive, she was wild, free, emancipated and independent.
Even on the rock and roll scene, which was usually subversive, women before Joplin did not have a prominent position (remember only the girls who went with the "Beatles" or some other group - it was always women in the background, "behind" the men the stars they admired, adored and followed). Joplin, on the other hand, although even shy in everyday life, instantly became the brightest star on the stage lights. She has never been in the shadow of male performers, neither at Woodstock, nor at any other musical event.
Another social aspect related to the work of Janice Joplin has remained relevant to this day. We remember her most famous song ("Mercedes Benz") and satirical verses in which she criticized consumerism and hunger for various status symbols of that time (color TV, "Mercedes" ...). Insisting on post-material values as opposed to materialistic ones was one of the basic features of the hippie movement, which today seems to us not only as a relic of the past, but also as a kind of utopia.
In today's time of the harsh imperative of economic achievement, which goes "hand in hand" with various "companions", such as perfect physical appearance, imposed visual norms on social networks, with a value system conditioned by brands - the idea that a musician of that reputation and cultural influence (especially if it is a female artist) sharply opposes the existing order is almost unimaginable.
On the other hand, as ridiculous as it may seem today that the greatest wish only half a century ago was to have a color TV, criticism of the consumer mentality and affirmation of intangible values is even more relevant today, and criticism in the lyrics of the song "Mercedes Benz" is still quite deadly.
Without going into whether someone loves the music of Janice Joplin or not, and whether he is a fan of her legacy, it is indisputable that he is one of the most authentic personalities on the world cultural scene. She was a true representative of the hippie movement - both visually and artistically and in terms of values - and she pushed the boundaries of established norms. She died young, at the age of only 27, and thus became part of the "Club 27" (it is a rather morbid cultural phenomenon that many music stars passed away at the age of 27 - Jimi Hendrix, Janice Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain) .
Thinking these days about how some topics have remained relevant even after 50 years, what the hippie movement has changed, what were the misconceptions of the sexual revolution and (especially) anti-war ideals, I come up with the verses (perhaps the best, but certainly my favorite) of the song Janice Joplin: "Freedom is just another word for having nothing to lose" (song "Me and Bobby McGee").
Freedom was a key term that marked the generations of the hippie movement, but the deep human and collective dilemma contained in these verses has survived for half a century and has remained a legacy to today's generations.
How to choose the perfect women's shirt for summer - the best tips
There is no women's wardrobe from which neatly folded shirts for the summer do not emerge, they are waiting for their opportunity and moment to be worn again.
For all of us, the sun is the first association when summer is mentioned. Winter clothes are being put aside, and light and summer clothes are coming on the scene. There is no women's wardrobe from which neatly folded shirts for the summer do not emerge, they are waiting for their opportunity and moment to be worn again.
**The best and most pleasant materials for summer**
To enjoy warm and sunny days, light clothing made of special materials is necessary. During the summer, the most important thing is to wear clothes in which you will not sweat. In that respect, **linen** was and remains the best material, and clothes made of this natural material are the best solution for summer. Linen clothes are easily crumpled, but that is why comfort is completely guaranteed.
You will never go wrong with **cotton** because it does not retain heat and dries quickly. You can wash and wear cotton clothes for many years.
**Silk** is a delicate natural material that you will not even feel on your body. Summer materials include **Georgette**, **jersey**, **twill**, **viscose**, **ie. artificial silk**. If you have sensitive skin, avoid artificial ones and turn only to natural materials. Pure cotton, linen and silk are used to make all clothing items, including shirts. There are also so-called mixed fabrics that are made from a mixture of cotton and synthetic materials.
Types of women's shirts for the summer Shirts are an unavoidable item of clothing for all women, regardless of age. Of course, depending on your personal build, height and the impression you want to leave, you choose such a shirt. The shirts are adapted to all occasions - everyday, business, formal.
There is no style of clothing that a shirt cannot send - casual, military, boho, country, sophisticated, etc.
Shirts go equally well with pants, skirts, shorts, leggings. It is up to you to choose the color, pattern, length. Above all, it is important to choose the material that best suits your skin, especially in the summer.
Linen and silk summer shirts with long sleeves will protect your delicate skin in the moments when the sun is strongest. And whenever you want, you can roll up your sleeves, which contributes to the overall impression of casualness and relaxation.
On the other hand, there are sleeveless shirts, then, with short sleeves and three-quarter sleeves. In the case of a sleeveless shirt, the skin of your hands is exposed to the sun, so it is highly recommended to apply a sunscreen.
The white shirt was and remains a favorite item of clothing for all women. What is a black tight dress among dresses, it is a white shirt among shirts - a classic that does not die out and is always in trend.
**In what ways can you wear a shirt**
You can wear a shirt in countless ways, it all depends on the cut and length of the model. Shirts can be ultra short, but they can also be ultra long, like a dress. They can also be tight and follow the line of your body, and they can be wide and fluttery. Women even like to have and wear shirts that are a few sizes bigger than theirs, precisely because of the feeling of relaxation. During the summer, wide linen and silk shirts are a real blessing for women.
If you want to look formal and formal, it is desirable to button all the buttons and emphasize the collar. For a more casual look, it is enough to unbutton one or two upper buttons. You can also wear the shirt completely unbuttoned, with a T-shirt with straps underneath. It is up to you to choose whether to wear the shirt over the pants or the skirt, it is not necessary to transfer it over the dress to the straps, or you will pull it into the pants or the skirt.
When you pull the shirt into the pants, feel free to play with it - throw one part of the shirt over the pants while the rest is tucked in or pull the whole shirt into the pants and just throw it out a little along its entire length.
Some shirt designers pay special attention to collars. The design of the collar on a classic one-color shirt is especially pronounced. In the case of a collar with necklaces, sequins, artificial diamonds, etc., it is not necessary to think about a necklace.
You can wear a thin necklace of medium length with a shirt with a "V" expression. Luxurious necklaces look great with a shirt buttoned up to the neck.
**How to properly wash and maintain shirts**
If you want your shirt to look like new from the summer season to the season, take care of washing in the first place. It is highly recommended to wash by hand or wash in a washing machine at a low temperature (30ºC). During washing, be sure to separate the whites from the colorful shirts. Wash shirts buttoned up and upside down. It is advisable to avoid centrifuge, especially in the case of linen shirts.
It is desirable to dry shirts on plastic or wooden offings because clips have a habit of deforming the ends of clothes.
Linen and cotton are ironed with a hot iron using steam. It is not desirable to dry flax in a tumble dryer, but you can use cotton without any problems. Iron silk shirts while they are wet. Avoid spraying perfumes and deodorants directly on your shirt to avoid stains. The shirt was and remains a universal item of clothing that you will never go wrong with, and at least not in the summer, when playing with patterns and colors is more than inspiring.
3D puzzle - One of my favorite hobby
We are all aware that the pace of life is getting faster and faster every day. For this reason, it is necessary to press the brake a little from time to time and slow down. In such moments, it is ideal if we are engaged in a hobby that we really enjoy. One of my hobbies is arranging puzzles. When I was younger and my eyes served me well, I enjoyed putting together puzzles of 4000-5000 pieces. Today, when my eyesight has weakened due to age, I have to be content with less challenging endeavors, so these days I have put together this beautiful 3D puzzle, a replica of St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice.
Creative chaos - My working place in the morning
Every morning my desk looks more or less similar, but what is certain is always in total chaos. There is always everything that was necessary for something the day before. So as of this morning, I have the task of moving the duct tape, the meter, the pliers, the empty tissue box, and a few more. What are your desk habits? As far as I know for myself, I have always functioned better when I focus on work, no matter how much chaos I create on that occasion. When I’m done, or the next day, then I first clean up the mess I left behind the day before, and then get to work. But first of all, first you have to drink one homemade coffee and only then everything else ...
Short funny comic
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Sneezing - Benefits & Self-help in some situations
Most people experience sneezing as an unpleasant and completely unnecessary experience, but is that so?
To begin with, let's find out something about our body and how everything affects us.
**Eyes**
Our eyes are an organ like any other. They contain muscles that allow us to sharpen our vision in relation to objects that we observe at different distances from us. However, at some point these muscles get tired and cramp, especially when we are exposed to strong light. Then they can't relax and our body resorts to sneezing to help them with that. You can play and check your eyes by looking briefly at the sun during a sunny day, which will cause juice in our eyes and relax by sneezing.
The modern age has dragged us in front of the monitor for a long period every day and our eyes are exposed to increased exertion. Occasional sneezing will relax you.
**Neck**
As we age more and more often we come to a situation where our neck rebels for some reason. Whether it’s maybe poor sleep, or long irregular sitting, he still needs relaxation. If you sneeze well and hard, they will successfully place the vertebrae of your neck in the correct position.
**Heart**
Do you know that when you sneeze your heart stops for a short time?
In some people who have an irregular heartbeat at certain times, sneezing helps it return to a proper work schedule. This is especially pronounced if you have experienced some sudden fear. Sneezing will help you calm down and relax your body.
**Nose**
Whether you have a sneeze or a stuffy nose, sneezing will help you breathe easier as it will encourage cleaning of your airways.
**Lungs**
Did you know that when you sneeze, the air in your lungs swells so much that the flow is faster than in the jet engine of passenger planes? Just imagine how effective it is for clearing your airways, especially if you suffer from allergies, if you have been in rooms where there is a large amount of dust, or if you have been exposed to a large amount of smog.
**Muscles**
Sneezing affects the entire musculature, so when you sneeze all your muscles throughout the body relax.
**Hiccup**
Sneezing can help to stop hiccup.
And now,
**How to cause sneezing ?**
Since I regularly have neck problems and since I have concluded that sneezing helps me, I regularly provoke it by inhaling ground hot pepper powder.
Of course I don't dip my nose in paprika but keep it in a small plastic bottle with a small opening. First I shake the bottle well to lift the dust inside, then I open it, bring it to my nose and squeeze the bottle while inhaling at the same time.
That way a small amount of powder enters my nose but enough to cause sneezing.
**IMPORTANT !!!**
**NEVER !! Close your nose or mouth when you sneeze, cover yes but close NO !!**
Bitcoin cash - History of origin
After eight years of existence of Bitcoin, and its increasing acceptance in the world, there were certain technical challenges that had to be solved in a way that users are satisfied.
Just as nothing in this world is perfect, so Bitcoin has shown flaws in some segments.
One of the most important problems for cryptocurrencies has always been its adaptability. More precisely, it was the size of the block of transactions, which after the creation of bitcoin was limited to one MB. This limitation causes significant delays in transaction processing time and limits the number of transactions that the network can process. Bitcoin cash is another story. It differs from other versions in that it has enabled an increase in block size from one MB to eight MB. The overall goal is to increase the number of transactions that the network can process, hoping that bitcoin cache will be able to compete with the volume of transactions that industrial giants.
Bitcoin cash was launched in August 2017 and has since become the most successful part of the bitcoin company.
**The story of the hard fork**
A limit of one MB for the size of each block was originally implemented to reduce the possibility of potential spam and DDoS attacks. Although there were not that many transactions in the network, the restriction did not affect anything.
As bitcoin became more and more popular, the limit of one MB began to cause an accumulation of blocks, which unnecessarily extended the transition times. The situation got out of control around May 2017, when some users said they had to wait for confirmation for up to four days.
Users have had the opportunity to pay higher transaction fees to expedite confirmation, but this approach has basically made bitcoin useless as a payment method, especially when it comes to smaller transactions. For example, paying for a sandwich or a cup of coffee with BTC was simply not sustainable, because a $ 3 cup of coffee will have a transaction fee of more than $ 15. Otherwise, the seller will receive a small amount of BTC that he cannot use.
Increasing fees related to bitcoin transactions were one of the main reasons for the emergence of bitcoin cash. A very practical test, conducted in December 2017, showed that a bitcoin cash transaction is 99.56 percent cheaper than the same transaction on a bitcoin network. At the very end of 2017, people were paying an average of $ 28 in transaction fees to move their bitcoin tokens. Some even claimed that he had to pay a fee of $ 16 for sending bitcoin worth $ 25, which is a 40 percent commission.
The Bitcoin community has come up with two possible solutions to this situation: Bitcoin Unlimited and Segregated Witness (SegWit). Bitcoin Unlimited would completely break the block size limit. Many miners supported this solution, because the absence of a limit on the size of the block would not only prevent accumulation, but would also increase the total compensation of miners for each block.
However, many developers were against this proposal, thinking that its implementation would lead to small miners going out of business, which could lead to the centralization of the entire network by large mining corporations.
The Segregaged Witnes approach involved storing some information in separate files outside the blockchain. The developers claim that this will free up a lot of storage space, the blocks will fit into more transactions, and the confirmation time will be significantly reduced. But many believed it was just a more complicated temporary halt compared to the Bitcoin Unlimited approach.
As a result, a compromise protocol called SegWit2x was developed. Running this protocol involved storing some information outside the blockchain, as well as increasing the block size limit to two MB. The protocol was implemented on August 1, 2017, after 95% of miners voted for the proposal. However, the network has not experienced an immediate increase in the block size limit. For many people, this meant postponing the problem instead of solving it.
Moreover, this decision seemed to suit those who treat bitcoin as an investment opportunity rather than a payment system. Then, during the "Future of Bitcoin" conference in Arnhem, the Netherlands, the first implementation of the bitcoin cash protocol called bitcoin ABC was announced by Amari Seychet, a former Facebook engineer. Seychette and his team of developers have decided to abandon the SegWit2x protocol and increase the block size limit to eight MB. Due to such drastic changes, it is necessary to separate their creation from the original bitcoin network, it was announced that the hard fork will take place on August 1, 2017.
Hard fork is the only currently known method used by developers to update bitcoin software. The developers shared the network and actually created a new blockchain with changed rules. The original and split versions of the cryptocurrency have identical blockchains until the block when the separation occurred. Since then, these two networks have existed independently.
After the split, everyone who had bitcoins before the hard fork received the same amount of bitcoin cash tokens. The new cryptocurrency was quickly adopted by investors, because at the end of the first day of its existence, bitcoin cash became the third cryptocurrency after bitcoin and eterium in terms of total market value.
Magic and mental health
When someone prone to magical thinking believes that someone has cursed him, cast spells on him or cursed him, things can become more serious and even lead to paranoia and psychosis.
Are you prone to magical thinking? For example, when you say something nice about yourself or a person you love, do you knock on a tree? Do you spit or move when you utter a negative health prognosis for the person you love?
Although you may not be aware of it in all these cases, you are performing magical acts. In the first case, you "prevent" some higher power from spoiling your happiness, and in the second case, you "cancel" the realization of something negative that you said.
**An explanation for the failure**
These magical actions are based on magical thinking. It is a way of thinking according to which what people think, feel, say or do in some inexplicable way causes an event in the real world. In that sense, magical thinking is the opposite of rational thinking based on facts and logic.
The vast majority of adults are prone, to a greater or lesser extent, to magical thinking. There are several reasons for this. One is that adults have their "inner child" who retains the ways of thinking that a person had in childhood. And it is young children around the age of four who think in a magical way. It is basically a child's compulsive actions - children's compulsions - when a child has to do something, for example, to symmetrically align his slippers before going to bed, because in that way he removes the fear that something negative will happen to him or a member of his family during the night or the next day. families.
When a child is afraid that something negative might happen, he reduces his fear in this way, because he believes that his actions "control" the future. It’s magic by principle: if the slippers are okay, it will be okay the next day.
The second reason is that magical thinking and actions are woven into the folk tradition. Many have inherited these patterns of behavior from their parents or grandparents. Every culture has numerous recipes for what must be done and what must not be done at all, in order to preserve prosperity. All this is one of the little superstitions of everyday life.
However, things become much more serious when someone who is prone to magical thinking begins to think that he is the object of someone's magic: that someone has cursed him, cast spells on him or cursed him. It is something that people who are successful and satisfied do not think about. But the person who had a series of failures, unfortunate events, is trying to find out the reason for that.
One way of thinking would be to accept responsibility for her failures, to consider whether and how she herself contributed to each individual failure. In that case, if there is responsibility, she must accept that she did something wrong that she must correct in future similar situations. Another way is to think that she did everything well, but that someone, most often someone unknown, causes her troubles with her actions. In other words, by projecting one's responsibility onto someone else, by looking for the culprit in someone else, one frees oneself from responsibility and guilt.
The person who started to feel bad, to feel pain in different parts of the body, and after several doctors confirmed that she was completely healthy, concluded that she was actually a victim of someone's black magic and that only explained her poor health. It is typical for these people not to know that certain emotions can cause painful experiences in the body, so they are closer to the idea that someone else is trying to "make them sick".
Most people do not want to provoke someone else's hatred. And when someone believes that he is a victim of black magic, he believes that a person, an enemy, wants to destroy him in a magical way and spoil his happiness. A special source of fear is that a given person does not know exactly who that insidious enemy could be, so he begins to suspect various people around him.
**Fear and obsession**
People who suspect that they are under a "black magic attack" seek help from various sorcerers, fortune tellers and other people who know magic skills. The nouns witch and witch came from the word skill. What happens in these encounters is that the person gets a "confirmation" that he is really under a magical attack, but he also gets a way to defend himself from it. He often "discovers" who is behind that attack, because the magic helper "sees" or "feels" the energy of the "tall black woman".
All this can lead to a chain of events in which the "attacked" person becomes increasingly obsessed with magical attacks and defenses, all the way to the degree of paranoia and the development of clinical psychosis.
**It has been confirmed that the best defense against someone else's magic is to simply not believe in it.**
Europe has not learned its lesson, the growing fatigue from the Corona virus
The second wave of the corona virus epidemic flooded Western Europe even before the start of the flu season, intensive care units were filled, bars closed, and to make matters worse, the authorities warn of the increasingly widespread "fatigue from Covid 19" The record high numbers of those infected in several Eastern European countries and the sudden jumps in the hard-hit western part clearly show that Europe has never broken the Covid 19 curve as it had hoped, after the spring restrictive measures.
**Spain** has declared a state of emergency in the Madrid region, which has led to tensions between local and national authorities over measures to combat the virus.
**Germany** is hiring troops to help monitor contacts in the new hot spots. Italy is introducing mandatory masks in the open and warns that the health system is in critical condition while hospitals are filling up again.
The **Czech** "farewell" party from Covid 19 in June, when thousands of Prague residents dined at a table 500 meters long along Charles Bridge celebrating the victory over the virus, now seems sadly naive, because the country is experiencing the highest infection rate on the continent.
Epidemiologists and residents point the finger at governments for failing to take advantage of the summer lull in the epidemic, to adequately prepare for the expected fall in the fall because the number of tests and medical staff is again small. "When we came out of the state of emergency, we should have invested in prevention, but that was not done. "We entered the autumn wave without leaving the summer wave," says a virologist and immunologist at the Spanish Center for Molecular Biology.
Tensions are rising in cities where new restrictions are being reintroduced. Hundreds of **Romanian** catering workers are protesting the closure of restaurants, theaters and discos. "We were closed for six months, the restaurants did not work and the number of cases still increased. I’m not an expert but I’m not stupid either. We are not responsible for the pandemic, "said , the owner of a pub in Bucharest.
While the infection is spreading in many European countries, some such as the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Spain and France, diagnose more new cases per capita per day than the United States.
**France**, with a population of 70 million, had a record almost 27,000 new infections yesterday, and a total daily record of 100,000 new cases was recorded in the whole of Europe. Experts claim that the high rate of infection in Europe is partly the result of more mass testing than during the first wave, but this trend is still worrying given that the flu season has not even begun. "We did not learn the lessons of the first wave. We are running after the epidemic, instead of going ahead of it ", said the director of the hospital in Paris.
However, there is also good news, experts say, stating that doctors now know which therapies work, according to the AP. During the peak of the epidemic in March and April, doctors in Spain and Italy gave the patient every drug they thought would work - hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir, ritonavir, but with limited success. "Now we almost don't use those drugs because they have no effect. In that sense, we won because we now know much more, "said assistant director of emergency services at the Spanish hospital .
But medical treatment for the virus is only half the battle. Public health officials are now facing protests from citizens against wearing masks, denying the risk of the virus and the fatigue of citizens who are simply fed up with being told to keep their distance and refrain from embracing loved ones.
YouTube Kids is an app that lets you control what your child is watching
With the advent of new technologies that have entered almost every home in this world, there is an increasing need to limit the content that is placed through them when it comes to children. Children take many things for granted without the possibility of critical judgment about them, and some content is very inappropriate for them. For all these reasons, technology companies will have to take into account this aspect of their operations. One such thing is the new app that deals with You tube and the content we want to allow our kids on it.
A new YouTube Kids app is available, which will give you far more control over the content that children watch online, but also over the time they spend with the app.
This application is important primarily because of the control it makes available to parents for the content that children watch, then the time that children spend with the application, the search that children perform and the restriction of content that is not appropriate for children.
The content, which is already adapted to the children's age, can be additionally adjusted by the parents by entering their suggestions for restriction and prohibition of viewing. It is possible to protect the application with a password, so that parents can keep their capabilities in the application only for themselves, and it is also possible to limit the duration of the review in the application, after which it is necessary to enter a password to continue watching.
When you first launch the application, the parent has the ability to create different profiles of children, monitor viewing history, turn on the timer, report videos that are not suitable for children and thus reduce the possibility of such and similar videos reappearing, block certain profiles and types of videos. restrict your child's search, allow you to watch videos on a TV or larger screen, and allow certain content to be loaded more often.
The YouTube Kids application also has educational videos in its database, which can be used for children of different ages. If kids prefer fun, there are only fun videos. The design of the application is adapted to children. It has large parts of the menu, it is easy to understand.
This application is certainly not perfect and it is possible that the child will see some video here and there, which will not be to the taste of all parents. Also, the content will be mixed in our and foreign languages, and some videos will not be completely in accordance with the interests of the child, but it is a great start to prevent them from watching videos that you think are not suitable for a child.
The more you use the app and help evaluate or block content, the safer the kids will be online, and the better the YouTube Kids app will be.
How to decorate an office that exudes professionalism?
A well-furnished and decorated office with a professional look is pleasant for those who work in it every day and encourages creativity, attracts clients and instills trust. With a few tips that we have prepared today, everyone can professionally equip their workspace at affordable prices, quickly and easily.
**Quality office furniture - for start**
When equipping and arranging an office, good office furniture should be at the top of the list of priorities. Whether you choose a classic interior with heavy solid wood furniture, which instills confidence and leaves the impression of a traditional company with experience, or a modern "open space" office with top gadgets and futuristic pieces, you should be guided by the same philosophy. Choose quality and functionality! Provide your employees with comfortable chairs and practical desks to be as productive as possible; You don't need much time for this - you can order office chairs online, as well as desks, shelves and everything else you may need at work. Ergonomic chairs are not a bad idea for those who sit all day.
**What business ethnics design says about you**
As we mentioned in the text above, there are a number of aesthetic solutions for offices that you can use in business interior design. As for your workspace, it should reflect your work philosophy and skills, and speak for you even before you say anything yourself. For example, large law firms generally attract clients who need to be impressed by resourcefulness, knowledge and rich work experience. For the needs of employees, there should be spacious and well-organized tables for bureaucratic work; also, fluorescent plastic chairs and consoles for lobby games are out of the question here. It is more suitable for modern start - up companies operating in the field of digital marketing and information technologies. For a top-notch office look, you can turn to professional designers and experts, but with common sense and good taste guidance, you don't need other tips so much.
**Inspiration and creativity on the walls of the office**
A professional office does not mean a boring office - it is allowed to let your imagination run wild!
The decoration on the walls does not have to diminish the seriousness of the look of your offices, and can give it a more "human" character: normal people work there, not robots. In addition, a particularly interesting picture or figurine can be a relaxed conversation at times when a more relaxed introduction and relief through chat is necessary.
Of course, paintings and other decorative items should not show anything explicit, offensive or give the impression of bad taste and look kitschy. Pots with natural flowers and plants, as well as vases with bouquets are always a welcome, safe option. Framed photos with it - building and festive events in the company will show that you care not only about profit, but also the human aspect of business.
**In addition to decorative items, you can also exhibit this:**
diplomas, awards and recognition's for professional and professional achievements;
whiteboards on which to write ideas;
large screens for moments of relaxation and watching fun,
educational and inspiring content: shelves with magazines, books and other useful things - more practical than decorative function.
**Always clean and tidy!**
In the end, we leave less advice, because everyone knows this, and more a reminder - the office should be clean, tidy and ventilated at all times!
Make sure everything is in good condition, the dust wiped off and the floor vacuumed; dirty dishes should only be in the dishwasher! Professional cleaning is mandatory once or twice a week, and in the meantime, everyone should take care not to leave breakage and debris behind.
A professional and functional office is home to good decisions and quality people, and that is how it should look like. Equip it well, and you will call for new endeavors and success!
@milanlukic
