New Years Resolutions

This the time of the year when we all try put the old behind us and start anew. 

It is good to make resolutions to improve yourself, but for too many the promises are unrealistic however good the intent. So the best thing to do to give yourself a chance is keep it real. 

These are the most popular resolutions:-

* Improve health: lose weight, exercise more, eat better, drink less alcohol, quit smoking

* Improve finances: get out of debt, save money

* Improve career: get a better job

* Improve education: improve grades, get a better education, learn something new (such as a foreign language or music)

* Improve self: become more organized, reduce stress, be less grumpy, manage time, be more independent

* Take a trip

* Volunteer to help others

So when you link arms tonight and think about the promise of a New Year ahead, start viewing the possible as probable. You'll be surprised at what you can accomplish.

Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities - always see them, for they're always there.

Stable Siblings

Have you got a little brother or sister? Do you love them? If the answer is yes to both there is something simple you can do to give them a better chance for the future.

Reading to kids and / or helping with homework can lower their risk of developing psychaitric problems, research shows. It also develops their social skills enabling them to interact better with peers, a think absent in sufferers of personality disorders.

So says a study by the University of New York as they looked into a way parents can protect children.

Often parents have neither the time nor the inclination but an older sibling can be just as effective. Set aside 15 minutes a day three times a week. Surely you can do that for someone you love!

Grin And Bare It

There is a school with two occupational therapy students which has an anger management scheme. It is designed to cut down bullying by improving teens confidence and self-esteem.

In one lesson pupils are encouraged to brush each others teeth in an exercise to build to trust.

Look at me again like that and I'll clean your teeth!

The students say 'it has been a great success, a lot of children don't understand why they get upset'

The Best Video Ever

There is nothing else to say except this is truly amazing and a must see.

INCREDIBLE!!

Don't Believe Everything You Read

There is a lot of unreliable information floating around. Even old wives tales handed down over the generations are not all that reliable.

So while it's true that rubbing a nettle sting with dock leaves works, there are many others that should be readily disregarded.

Ever heard someone say 'We only use 10 per cent of our brains'?

Although you might think you can nominate several pertinent examples, scans show that all of the brain is active and playing a part in our thinking. Even small amounts of damage to the brain will cause mental impairment.

What about 'Sweets and other sugary treats make children hyperactive'?

Repeated studies have shown that children's behaviour is not affected by the amount of sugar they've eaten - although parents rate their children as being more hyperactive if they think they have given them a sugary drink, even if it is, in fact, just water!

Or 'We should drink 8 glasses of water a day to avoid dehydration'

There is no scientific evidence to support this widely believed and often followed myth. Tea, coffee, fruit juice - even the food we eat - all provide us with fluid. In fact excessive intake of fluid can damage the body and can even be fatal.

And we all know 'Spinach is high in iron'

Spinach is not at all that rich in iron. Apparently, when it was first measured the decimal point was written in the wrong place, overstating the iron content of spinach by a factor of 10. Spinach contains about 1mg of iron per 100g, whereas dried figs have 4.25mg, roast beef 2.5mg and courgettes 2.4mg.

Every mother knows 'Warm milk helps you get to sleep at night'

Milk contains the enzyme tryptophan which has been linked to the initial stages of sleep - but the amount in a glass of milk probably isn't enough to make us drowsy. However the psychological effect of warm milk at bedtime may be strong enough to put us in the mood for sleep.

One I've never personally believed 'Sick people should rest in bed'

An analysis of studies on the use of bed rest in treatment found that for many ailments staying in bed had no beneficial effect. In some cases it was actually harmful. Sorry, but going back to work/college/school is sometimes the best treatment.

One my mother used to overstate 'You should wear a hat because we lose most of our body heat through our heads'

Our heads don't give off any more heat than any other part of our body. If you are fully clothed then of course most of the heat will leave through your head because it is uncovered, but the same would be true for any other similarly sized body part.

Another one of yours mum 'Too much stress can give you ulcers'

Actually, over 90 per cent of ulcers are caused by a bacterium, Helicobacter pylori.

And my favourite 'If you are stung by a jellyfish you should pee on the sting'

Before you start approaching people on the beach asking them to do the deed, you should know this is not true. There is nothing in urine that can counteract the effects of a jellyfish sting - in fact some stings will be further activated by it. But washing out the sting with warm water may alleviate the pain and prevent further skin damage, so this may be the source of the myth.

So in future before you take to heart some of these myths a little research may save embarrassing situations like your friends trying to pee on you.

No Fear

In a 2005 Gallup poll (U.S.A.), a national sample of adolescents between the ages of 13 and 15 were asked what they feared the most. 

The top ten fears were: 

1.   terrorist attacks

2.   spiders

3.   death

4.   being a failure

5.   war

6.   heights

7.   criminal or gang violence

8.   being alone

9.   the future

10. nuclear war

Fear not your enemies, for they can only kill you; fear not your friends, for they can only betray you. Fear only the indifferent, who permit the killers and betrayers to walk safely on the earth.

Stand And Be Counted

In an age when Rockstars have urged us to 'feed the world' and we are urged to save the giant pandas, save the rain forests or save the planet, you are probably like me and think 'what can I do?'.

Looking at it logically..... nothing! To do these things we need world wide co-operation and with China building a new power station every week, the words of the USA are hollow when they remain by far the single biggest polluters on the planet.

Don't tell me that leaving a light on or leaving the television on standby is killing the planet you hypocrites! Do you think I'm stupid?

Save the whales, save the kids in Africa, that's not something you nor I can do. We can't cure social ills anymore than we can cure cancer. Stuff like that is the responsibility of governments. They CAN do it they just won't!

Think what they could do with the money spent on arms or the fruitless waste of time exploring space. Why bother? Shouldn't we sort our own planet out before looking for life on others? Do they honestly believe any intelligent life would want to associate themselves with the likes of us?

Okay we've established there is nothing we can do to save this world but there IS a way we can make a difference. We can all potentially save a life. Take a look at this clip it's really funny.....

Did you laugh? How would you have felt if it had been you on the receiving end?

Have you witnessed bullying or do you know of someone who is being bullied? If you don't you must be very sheltered. Do you have friends? Why not have another one? You can befriend a kid who finds themself isolated and alone. With you as a friend and being allowed to associate with your friends, the bullies may leave that kid alone. I'm not asking you to do anything brave like confront the bullies and make yourself a target (you would have to be really special to do that - are you special?).

Just be a friend to a lonely, vulnerable kid. You could be saving a life! Doesn't that make you feel good? 'I saved a life'. So what if they're different, fat, thin, spotty, geeky, different ethnic background, gay, or just 'not cool'. It could have been you! One day they may even be somebody and reward you for your friendship at a time when they needed it most, if knowing you have been nice decent human being was not reward enough, who knows.

Youth Takes A Stand

A couple of places I have lived have been quite rough. It's because my family have been in low paid jobs - when the work was available.

Politicians and middle-class know-alls, with their 'holier than thou' attitudes, just don't understand. They live in their nice neighbourhoods never having to worry about going out after dark in case they are shot or stabbed. Nor do they have to worry about not wanting to stay home in case they were beaten up, or going hungry for days at a time. I was lucky in my home life but many of my friends weren't.

Where I lived before it was on a daily basis the police were called to our street, where drug and alcohol fuelled skirmishes are the norm. I was fortunate because I get on with most people and most people knew I wasn't a soft touch, but for others their homes become their prisons.

Because of this teens group together in large numbers and use certain streets as boundaries. Initially it was a territory issue between rival gangs and other people were left alone. The last couple of years have seen changes though and the kids have taken on a role of vigilantes.

They know where the 'rejects' live. The druggies, their dealers, the nonces (paedophiles), the prostitutes, the homosexuals and the grasses (informers). It's easy to tell, all their windows are boarded up. Junkies were usually subject to 'happy-slapping' and their money / drugs taken. Dealers are taxed (robbed). Their money and drugs are taken with violence as with their 'customers'.

An odd moralistic twist is that the gangs then sell the commandeered drugs themselves. Hypocrisy is all many of them have seen all their lives, violence is just a normal part of everyday life.

Nonces and homosexuals are subjected to beatings and street robbery. Prostitutes are robbed and sexually assaulted (sometimes raped). Grasses are endlessly tormented and intimidated. The worst beatings and stabbings were mainly reserved for other gangs though, whether there has been some transgression of the unwritten code, or whether it's a simple case of straying into the wrong place at the wrong time.

As time has goes on the gangs seem to take things one step further each time and the police have no real chance and - seemingly - no real inclination to reverse this trend. Teachers are inept and parents the product of the bleeding hearts phasing out corporal punishment. With a lot of the gang-members being of a similar age I can understand some of the behaviour but I've never been one to run with the pack because very often they get it wrong.

If one of the gang has a beef with someone all they have to do is put a label on that person and retribution follows, warranted or not. I have no problem with bad things happening to bad people, but I hate it when innocent people get hurt. Round the corner an 83 year old woman had her handbag snatched by kids thought to be about 12 or 13.

The power has to be taken away from the gangs, if it isn't already too late. The only way is to win over the gang-members on the fringes because they're only there for protection. If youths have interesting alternatives to hanging around on street-corners maybe they and other decent lads will drift away from gangs, hopefully causing a snowball effect until the gang-members become a minority.

Computer Madness

They do say that "to err is human, to really screw up you need a computer"

Let's analyse this. In the past making a payment involving paperwork was straight-forward and if an error was made, it was generally quite minor as really outrageous discrepancies would be instantly noticeable. If however the error was computer generated it would be more likely to go unnoticed and could cause all sorts of problems.

A Nigerian worker was given his pay-cheque and on his way to the bank he added a few noughts to the end to 'boost' his earnings. The ploy worked right up until he tried to cash the cheque! Whereas a cash machine in England was recently paying out double amounts of cash requested whilst only registering the single amount as the transaction. It was only noticed when one honest (or possibly insane) person reported it to the bank!

Kids allegedly do copycat violence towards others, mimicking computer game violence they see on screen.

Is there any basis for this argument or not? Does a constant stream of projected violence in computer games de-sensitize impressionable adolescents to a degree where they would emulate their 'heroes' in real life? Or would these same kids commit random acts of violence towards others anyway?

Are computer games more addictive than drugs and just as unhealthy?

Whilst the amount of money and the means by which the funds are purloined are vastly different what about the overall effects? Which one am I describing here? A tremendous feeling of euphoria whilst indulging, followed by an emotional and physical low when not able to. An appetite repressant where the user is content to fast, sat in a darkened room. Sleep, school, family are all secondary to the users who only think how to get their next 'fix'. Temperament changes, the user becoming moody and short-tempered. With my limited knowledge it appears there are some pretty scary similarities.

To summarise:

All computers should come with a parental guidance warning! This simply will not happen because our parents have little or no knowledge (or indeed interest) in computers, their advantages and / or their dangers.

It is my belief that computer violence can and does lead to copycat violence by kids - although to a very small minority - who are already likely to commit acts of violence anyway.

All the games do is what the cinema does by giving them ideas as to how they will perpetrate their crimes. The addiction issue is the crux of the argument because I know myself I am capable of spending hours a day, every day, sat at the keyboard in what is really a fruitless pursuit. Lack of access and / or sleep has made me moody and intolerant in the past.

Smells Like Pneuma-teen

Pneuma is the spirit or the soul. Pneuma-teen is ergo 'teen spirit'.

Nirvana:

Nirvāna (Sanskrit: निर्वाण; Pali: निब्बान (nibbāna); Prakrit: णिव्वाण) is a central concept in Indian religions. In sramanic thought, it is the state of being free from suffering (or dukkha). In Hindu philosophy, it is the union with the Supreme being through moksha. The word literally means "blowing out" — referring, in the Hindu context, to the supreme state free of suffering and individual existence[citation needed], and in the Buddhist context, to the blowing out of the fires of greed, hatred, and delusion.