• RELAXING MUSIC BEFORE BEDTIME HELPS FALLING ASLEEP and being lesser prone to waking up during the night, especially for seniors. Neuroscientific research studies involving the parasympathetic nervous system now show that “music in which each element – harmony, rhythm, frequency & environmental noise – in form of lapping waves, chirping birds & sustained synthesizer chords designed to line up with circadian rhythms, tend to encourage deep REM sleep, which is also thought to help turn short-term memories into long-term ones… Ambient artists are now collaborating with music therapists and artificial intelligence to increasingly replace sleeping pills by creating sound environments as the sedative hypnotic that influences our brain to keep us in the various slates of sleep.“   [TIME – 8/17/20]
  • FLU PANDEMICS OCCUR TWO OR THREE TIMES EVERY CENTURY AND 2020 WAS OUR UNLUCKY YEAR. World Health Organization statistics show that Influenza viruses globally infect up to 5 million people annually, with up to 10% dying; but thanks to better info for prevention & health care, only one-in-five Americans get hospitalized with flu virus and fewer than 36 thousand die annually, most commonly from bacterial pneumonia infection. Scientists believe that Coronaviruses evolved over millions of years on a co-trajectory with bats, and that COVID-19 is the first with major respiratory impacts, the most infectious mutation ever – and baddest, spreadable due to modern air travel anywhere in the world within 18 hours of initial infection. It’s a terrible tragedy, but history shows it will [LBN EXAMINER – 8/12/20]
  • POOR SAN FRANCISCO: LEFTIST CITY GOVERNMENT IN IT’S GLORY – where “chaos is now erupting around and inside luxury boutique hotels that SF Dep’t of Health have surreptitiously placed homeless people in, by designating them Emergency Frontline Workers.” The rules and process included: (1) The Mayor evoking an Emergency Disaster law allowing authorities to keep neighborhood residents unaware of hotel guests suffering from drug addiction, severe mental illness and/or criminal backgrounds; (2) Enabling SFDPH refusal to notify the public and blocking media from entering or reporting (on the basis of protecting Guest Privacy/Safety/Discrimination/Harassment/etc.); (3) Mandating that all city & hotel workers sign a required Non-Disclosure NDA (subject to $1K fine or imprisonment or both);  (4) Providing Security Agents to stand outside entrances but not attempt to control the uptick in neighborhood crime, drug activity & vagrancy around the hotels; (5) Providing hotel ‘guests’ with free alcohol, cigarettes & cannabis (purportedly granted by Private Citizens); (6) City leaders’ Acceptance of destroyed rooms, rampant drug use, used syringes discarded haphazardly, and (in one hotel) providing ‘needle-kits’ with advise to ‘call the front desk before shooting up’… What possessed hotel owners to consent to potential pitfalls?  Paid nightly fees for lost revenue from Covid lockdowns (at rates nearly double the cost of a 1BR SF apartment), along with FEMA assured damage coverage, and a promise that ‘who their guests are’ would not be revealed.” Just one more dimension to 2020 blue city politics.  [NEW YORK POST – 7/27/20]
  • HUMANS EAT LOTS OF FISH – average globally around a pound a week, with Koreans nearly triple that. Mercury is no longer considered a potentially serious risk in fish, except for women in pre through post pregnancy, but another health risk may be from Plastics, which result from packaging & synthetic textiles waste degrading in the marine environment and ingested daily by consuming seafood, along with bottled water. U.K. scientists have recently analyzed plastic content in seafood to determine that highest levels exist in sardines (up to 30 mg, average weight of a grain of rice), prawns, crabs, squid & oysters. Risk degree is still uncertain, but awareness may matter to diet balance. [NEW ATLAS – 8/13/20]
  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:

         Watch a quick, truly interesting, entertaining & sensible video showing how 200 of the worlds’ countries & economies evolved over the last two centuries – up until the present decade – with creative visualizations showing power of animation (of time dimension & dialog to analytics graphics). The current decade’s place in history is presently being written…   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo

         Over 11.3 million candidates for Jury Duty were summoned from local California Voter Registration lists during the decade which ended June 2017. According to Politifact, “about 4.7 million were disqualified for not being a U.S. citizen.” Current levels likely exceed 500,000, certainly relevant to Congressional representation and federal election results if allowed to vote. 

        DAILY PROVERBS WHICH SENIORS WISH WERE TRUE:  1- I can remember this and don’t need to write it down;  2- No problem that I haven’t learned to act my age;  3- People my age definitely look older than me;  4- Waiting to pee won’t be a problem;  5- Aging has not slowed me down;  6- I don’t need anger management, just maybe more tolerance for idiots; 8- It’s okay to talk to myself; everyone needs expert advice.