November 29, 2019

Thanks so much for sharing this! ❤ nt

November 28, 2019

I was just thinking about her and this song's been running around in my head. I love her.

Thanks for the post douglas9. ❤

November 18, 2019

And a classic example of violence against women.

https://www.thehotline.org/is-this-abuse/abuse-defined/power-and-control-wheel/

It's actually remarkable how much of the wheel parallels our current state of affairs. Just substitute "she" & "her" with "the American people" and it's amazingly revelatory.

November 13, 2019

Bill Withers, Lovely Day

Lyrics

When I wake up in the morning, love
And the sunlight hurts my eyes
And something without warning, love
Bears heavy on my mind
Then I look at you
And the world's alright with me
Just one look at you
And I know it's gonna be
A lovely day
A lovely day
When the day that lies ahead of me
Seems impossible to face
When someone else instead of me
Always seems to know the way
Then I look at you
And the world's alright with me
Just one look at you
And I know it's gonna be
A lovely day
A lovely day
When the day that lies ahead of me
Seems impossible to face
When someone else instead of me
Always seems to know the way
Then I look at you
And the world's alright with me
Just one look at you
And I know it's gonna be
A lovely day
A lovely day
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: William Harrison Withers Jr. / Skip Scarborough
Lovely Day lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc, Royalty Network, Golden Withers Music

November 9, 2019

You Can "Catch" Stress Through a TV Screen

Couch potatoes beware—characters in distress are hazardous to your health.
BY SIMONE M. SCULLY
ILLUSTRATION BY FRANCESCO IZZO




http://m.nautil.us/issue/31/stress/you-can-catch-stress-through-a-tv-screen

Your heart rate speeds up, your breathing quickens. Your muscles tighten. Your stomach ties itself in knots. All of these changes are symptoms of the condition called stress.

When animals, including humans, are under acute stress, their bodies respond with a powerful neurochemical chain reaction. Glucose, the fuel for our cells, is released into the blood from storage sites in our body, notably the liver. The elevated heart rate increases circulation of the energy-enriched blood to the muscles. Any long-term body processes not immediately necessary, such as digestion, growth, and reproduction, are slowed down. Immune defenses are enhanced, ready to respond to bodily injury, and our senses are sharpened.

The major purpose of this response, says psychiatrist and stress researcher Kristen Aschbacher, “is to help redirect energy away from less critical functions in order to devote them to survival functions.” Stress gets you ready to react.

But a recent study published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology shows that the stress response is not just experienced by those directly in a crisis: It can be contagious. You can catch it from seeing other people under stress, even if you’re watching a stranger on a video screen. This phenomenon is called “empathetic stress.”

The study looked at pairs of total strangers along with romantically involved couples that had been together for at least six months. One person from each pair was subjected to the Trier social stress test, where they were given a fictitious job interview, then asked challenging arithmetic questions in front of a panel of supposed “behavior analysts.” The other member of the couple simply observed the test, either via a one-way mirror or a video transmission.
Snip...
More at the link.

http://m.nautil.us/issue/31/stress/you-can-catch-stress-through-a-tv-screen

November 4, 2019

Beach Boys; Sail On, Sailor

I sailed an ocean, unsettled ocean
Through restful waters and deep commotion
Often frightened, unenlightened
Sail on, sail on sailor

I wrest the waters, fight Neptune's waters
Sail through the sorrows of life's marauders
Unrepenting, often empty
Sail on, sail on sailor

Caught like a sewer rat alone but I sail
Bought like a crust of bread, but oh do I wail

Seldom stumble, never crumble
Try to tumble, life's a rumble
Feel the stinging I've been given
Never ending, unrelenting
Heartbreak searing, always fearing
Never caring, persevering
Sail on, sail on, sailor

I work the seaways, the gale-swept seaways
Past shipwrecked daughters of wicked waters
Uninspired, drenched and tired
Wail on, wail on, sailor

Always needing, even bleeding
Never feeding all my feelings
Damn the thunder, must I blunder
There's no wonder all I'm under
Stop the crying and the lying
And the sighing and my dying

Sail on, sail on sailor
Sail on, sail on sailor
Sail on, sail on sailor
Sail on, sail on sailor
Sail on, sail on sailor
Sail on, sail on sailor
Sail on, sail on sailor

October 29, 2019

Not to mention that there's a correlation between

Domestic violence, guns and mass murders.

1) The men behind the US's deadliest mass shootings have domestic violence — not mental illness — in common

http://www.businessinsider.com/deadliest-mass-shootings-almost-all-have-domestic-violence-connection-2017-11

2) The Surprising Link Between Mass Shootings and Domestic Violence and what you can do about it

https://www.joinonelove.org/learn/the-surprising-link-between-mass-shootings-and-domestic-violence-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/

3) Mass Shootings in the United States: 2009-2017 PDF Download

https://everytownresearch.org/reports/mass-shootings-analysis/

4) A Common Trait Among Mass Killers: Hatred Toward Women
By Julie Bosman, Kate Taylor and Tim Arango
Aug. 10, 2019

The man who shot nine people to death last weekend in Dayton, Ohio, seethed at female classmates and threatened them with violence.

The man who massacred 49 people in an Orlando nightclub in 2016 beat his wife while she was pregnant, she told authorities.

The man who killed 26 people in a church in Sutherland Springs, Tex., in 2017 had been convicted of domestic violence. His ex-wife said he once told her that he could bury her body where no one would ever find it.

The motivations of men who commit mass shootings are often muddled, complex or unknown. But one common thread that connects many of them — other than access to powerful firearms — is a history of hating women, assaulting wives, girlfriends and female family members, or sharing misogynistic views online, researchers say.

More at the link

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/10/us/mass-shootings-misogyny-dayton.html

5) Armed and Misogynist: How Toxic Masculinity Fuels Mass Shootings

https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2019/06/domestic-violence-misogyny-incels-mass-shootings/

6) Domestic violence plays a role in many mass shootings, but receives less attention: Experts

https://abcnews.go.com/US/domestic-violence-plays-role-mass-shootings-receives-attention/story?id=59418186

7) In Texas And Beyond, Mass Shootings Have Roots In Domestic Violence

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/11/07/562387350/in-texas-and-beyond-mass-shootings-have-roots-in-domestic-violence

8) 5 Statistics That Explain the Link Between Domestic Violence and Mass Shootings

https://fortune.com/2017/11/07/domestic-violence-shootings-statistics/

9) The connection between mass shooters and domestic violence
PERSPECTIVE | ‘Do you want to die?’

https://www.thelily.com/the-connection-between-mass-shooters-and-domestic-violence/

10) The domestic violence-mass shooting link cannot be ignored

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-domestic-violence-mass-shooting-link-cannot-be-ignored/2018/07/02/41b7baa4-7bbf-11e8-ac4e-421ef7165923_story.html

Regardless of the original research date, the data is clear. Shall I send a link to this to the above poster in a private message, onecaliberal?

Thanks for standing up for what's right.

October 29, 2019

Hershey's Chocolate Syrup Cake

https://www.thekitchenismyplayground.com/2013/04/hersheys-chocolate-syrup-cake.html

October 20, 2019

Gary Clark, Jr., This Land

October 18, 2019

I AM NOT ALWAYS VERY ATTACHED TO BEING ALIVE

https://theoutline.com/post/7267/living-with-passive-suicidal-ideation

I AM NOT ALWAYS VERY ATTACHED TO BEING ALIVE

Chronic, passive suicidal ideation is like living in the ocean. Let’s start talking about how to tread water.

By Anna Borges APR—02—2019 09:07AM EST

I wish there was a nicer way to say this, but I don’t always want to be alive. Right now, I don’t actively want to kill myself — I don’t have a plan, I don’t check the majority of the boxes on lists of warning signs of suicide, I have a life I enjoy and I’m curious about the future — but the fact remains, I don’t always feel strongly about being alive and sometimes, on particularly bad days, I truly want to die.

It’s been a long time since that statement felt anything but mundane. In middle school and high school, there were the morbid poems, the self-harm, the overwhelming emotions that everyone dutifully labeled teen angst. In college, there were nights when I drank too much and the protective barriers keeping my depression at bay faded to nothing and the thought came to me unbidden, as seductive as it was scary. I want to die. Eventually, I finally stumbled my way into treatment. After that, I celebrated each birthday with surprise because each age I hit was one I assumed I wouldn’t reach.

At 27, I’ve settled into a comfortable coexistence with my suicidality. We’ve made peace, or at least a temporary accord negotiated by therapy and medication. It’s still hard sometimes, but not as hard as you might think. What makes it harder is being unable to talk about it freely: the weightiness of the confession, the impossibility of explaining that it both is and isn’t as serious as it sounds. I don’t always want to be alive. Yes, I mean it. No, you shouldn’t be afraid for me. No, I’m not in danger of killing myself right now. Yes, I really mean it.

How do you explain that?

In the United States, nearly 45,000 people die by suicide every year, making it the tenth leading cause of death in the country. On average, there are 123 suicides a day. That’s not counting those who survive attempts — estimated to be about 1.4 million in 2017.

Snip...

Much more at the link.