My Virtual Reading Room

Please donate/share/spread the word, if you can, to help the Okhmatdyt Hospital in Kiyv rebuild:

donorbox.org/okhmatdyt

Please donate your undamaged eclipse glasses 🙂

This organization will ship them to schools in Latin America, where they'll have an annular eclipse in 2024.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eclipse Give Back

We are often asked what to do with used eclipse glasses after an eclipse. Eclipse Glasses USA works with other organizations to donate used but undamaged eclipse glasses to other countries with upcoming eclipse events.

We only accept US-made paperboard glasses that have the manufacturer's address and contact info and that bear the ISO logo. All others will be discarded due to liability and quality issues.

All shipments will be opened and inspected before being repackaged for outbound shipment. Damaged or unusable glasses will be discarded.

Glasses can be shipped via USPS First-Class Mail (super inexpensive) in an envelope. For larger quantities, please consult your local post office for the most cost effective ways to ship.

We do not provide prepaid labels.

You can mail them to:

Eclipse Glasses USA, LLC
PO BOX 50571
Provo, UT 84605

As obesity rises, Big Food and dietitians push ‘anti-diet’ advice

General Mills warns of ‘food shaming’; dietitian influencers promote junk foods and discourage weight loss efforts, from The Washington Post

3 new memoirs tell stories of struggle and resilience

‘This American Ex-Wife,’ ‘Everywhere the Undrowned’ and ‘The Manicurist’s Daughter’ delve into the challenges of knowing oneself and one’s family, also from The Washington Post

It Took Divorce to Make My Marriage Equal

I spent 12 years fighting for an equal partnership, when what I needed was a divorce, by Lyz Lenz, in Glamour (yes, she's the author of "This American Ex-Wife")

The All-American Father

When I became a father, I felt a torrent of love, pride, and terror. Now, looking back on the rules of manhood that shaped how my own father raised me, I wonder: did he love me the same way? (from Esquire)

For all the Grandparents.

1. She was in the bathroom, putting on her makeup, under the watchful eyes of her young granddaughter, as she'd done many times before. After she applied her lipstick and started to leave, the little one said,
"But Grandma, you forgot to kiss the toilet paper good-bye!"
I will probably never put lipstick on again without thinking about kissing the toilet paper good-bye.

2. My young grandson called the other day to wish me Happy Birthday. He asked me how old I was, and I told him, '80.' My grandson was quiet for a moment, and then he asked,
"Did you start at 1?"
( Read more... )

Mental health and related matters:

How to enjoy your problems

Accepting your problems is one thing. To enjoy them? Well, that’s pretty much enlightenment. Here’s how to get there, by Chelsea Harvey Garner

The harms of adverse childhood experiences are well-known. But positive experiences can affect future health, too, from STAT News

Purpose in life and cognitive health: a 28-year prospective study, from Cambridge Uni Press

(Spoiler: their conclusion: Purpose in life is associated with healthier cognitive function measured up to 28 years later. Individuals with lower purpose, especially in their 60s or older, and with steeper declines in purpose, are more likely to have dementia at age 80.)

Quelle surpirse!

The New Science of Optimism and Longevity, from the MIT Press Reader.

A growing body of research suggests that optimism plays a significant role in promoting both physical and mental well-being.

Are we all doomed? How to cope with the daunting uncertainties of climate change, from Nature

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when thinking about the damage that might be wrought by global warming — but that is missing the point.


Microorganisms:

The Microbiome and Its Myth-Making Machine, from McGill Uni

If you have heard something very specific about the microbiome, odds are it’s wrong.

Everyone Is Eager to Forget Covid. But Who Are We Forgetting Along the Way?, collection of articles from Firefox Pocket

Critical care physician battles long COVID with hope and grit, from Kevin MD

Four years on: the career costs for scientists battling long COVID, from Nature

Many with the condition have found ways around their health problems, but they say more employer support is needed.

One of the famous Soviet children's poets. Haven't we all known people like this neighbor? ;)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Агния Барто

Наш сосед Иван Петрович

Знают нашего соседа
Все ребята со двора.
Он им даже до обеда
Говорит, что спать пора.

All the children in our communal yard
Know our neighbor.
He tells them it's bedtime
When it's not even lunchtime yet.

Он на всех глядит сердито,
Все не нравится ему:
— Почему окно открыто?
Мы в Москве, а не в Крыму!

He looks at everyone angrily,
And disapproves of everything:
"Why is the window open?
We are in Moscow, not in the Crimea!"( Read more... )

Wishing you and/or your family members greater success in the academic efforts than this hapless student had ;)

The illustrations in the video are by the famous and talented Kukryniksy.

(cross-posting to greatpoetry )




Samuil Marshak
About one schoolboy and six poor marks

A schoolboy came from school one day
And hid his record-book away.

“Where is your record-book?” asked Mum,
So out again it had to come.

A "Very Poor" caught Mother’s eye;

She shook her head and heaved a sigh.

On hearing of his son’s disgrace
His Dad went scarlet in the face.

“What was it for, upon my word?”
“I called a baobab a bird.( Read more... )

Four from The Marginalian:

Kurt Vonnegut’s Life-Advice to His Children

Turning Loss and Loneliness into Wonder: How the Victorian Visionary Marianne North Revolutionized Art and Science with Her Botanical Paintings

The Blue Hour: A Stunning Illustrated Celebration of Nature’s Rarest Color

How the Great Zen Master and Peace Activist Thich Nhat Hanh Found Himself and Lost His Self in a Library Epiphany

And one from Google Books:

Krylov's Fables, translated into English verse

Two from The Washington Post:

A 3-year-old unwrapped Christmas presents at 3 a.m. His parents covered for Santa.

Saving the magic of Santa:When Santa Claus’s magic is in jeopardy, these parents know how to save it

And the salad which gets funny looks from those who don't know... ;))

Olivier salad

An old favorite ;)
~~

Урок вежливости

Медведя лет пяти-шести
Учили как себя вести:
В гостях, медведь,
Hельзя pеветь,
Hельзя гpyбить и чваниться,
Знакомым надо кланяться,
Снимать пpед ними шляпy,
Hе настyпать на лапy,
И не ловить зyбами блох,
И не ходить на четыpех.

A Lesson in Courtesy

A bear of about 5 or 6 years of age
Was being taught how to behave:
When you're visiting someone, bear,
You shouldn't roar,
You shouldn't be rude, or put on airs,
You should bow to people you know,
And take off your hat to them,
And not step on their feet,
And not be catching fleas with your teeth,
And not to walk on all fours.( Read more... )

(still busy, but had to share these two articles by Dr. Wen from the Washington Post with you)

The CDC’s updated covid school guidance is ushering in a new normal

Your questions about covid-19, answered by Dr. Leana Wen

Pick what you like ;)
~~~

Positivity:

One-year-old's Oval Office birthday photoshoot is as presidential as it gets, from UpWorthy

(and the birthday boy's sister took part as well ;))

Nashville Zoo welcomes a rare spotted fanaloka baby, the first to be born in the United States, also from UpWorthy




Healthcare, health, and wellness:

Nursing Is Not Gardening, but You Still Must Tend to the Weeds, from Medscape Blogs

...When I became a head nurse, the outgoing head nurse sat me down and asked me what I would prefer to be in a garden, "an orchid or a weed." I quickly said an orchid. To which she responded, "Orchids are good for gardens but not on a unit."...

(Interesting article and valid points, but I'd say "wildflowers", not "weeds"... ;))

Pick Your Sunscreen Carefully: 75% Don't Pass Muster, from Medscape WebMD

Just in time for Memorial Day outings, a new report on sunscreens is out.
The news isn't all sunny. About 75% of more than 1,850 sunscreen products evaluated offer inferior sun protection or have worrisome ingredients, according to the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit research and advocacy group that just issued its 16^th annual Guide to Sunscreens....

Selma Blair on living with MS: ‘My doctors urged me not to go public. They worried I wouldn’t get work’, from The Guardian

In an extract from her new memoir, the actor remembers the moment she found out she had multiple sclerosis – and finally understanding why her body had been betraying her for years

War:

In Ukraine’s Bucha, one woman is painting flowers around bullet holes

In an extremely rare moment of candour on Russian state TV on May 16, defence columnist Mikhail Khodaryonok gave a damning assessment of Russia's war in Ukraine and his country's international isolation.--4-minute video with good-quality English subtitles

Khodaryonok warned on Feb. 3rd, 2022 that attacking Ukraine was a terrible idea, and explained why, in this article Predictions of Bloodthirsty Political Scientists, About Excited Hawks and Hasty Cuckoos

(article is in Russian; if anyone wants to, let me know, I'll translate...)

...most unfortunate that no-one listened to him...

10 things that made us smile this week, from Upworthy

Enjoy ;)

Father of the Year

Owner dresses up as dog's favorite stuffed animal, from UpWorthy

Let us have something entertaining and/or optimistic...
~~~

A church faced a £50,000 bill to fix its historic clock. Two guys did it with two cans of WD-40.

Perfectly unique toddler is bringing joy across social media with his 'uncombable hair'

People recall 21 instances of unexpected kindness throughout history

Teachers are sharing their students' wildest excuses that actually turned out to be true

Suburban Myths

(such as, "We only use 10% of our brain")

(thanks to elenbarathi for the link!)

An 8-year-old slid his handwritten book onto a library shelf. It now has a years-long waitlist.

Dillon Helbig, a second-grader who lives in Idaho, wrote about a Christmas adventure on the pages of a red-cover notebook and illustrated it with colored pencils.

When he finished it in mid-December, he decided he wanted to share it with other people. So much, in fact, that he hatched a plan and waited for just the right moment to pull it off.

Days later, during a visit to the Ada Community Library’s Lake Hazel Branch in Boise with his grandmother, he held the 81-page book to his chest and passed by the librarians. Then, unbeknown to his grandmother, Dillon slipped the book onto a children’s picture-book shelf. Nobody saw him do it....

Former NFL lineman now cooks at his kids’ school cafeteria: ‘Kindergartners are my toughest critics’

Retired NFL offensive lineman Jared Veldheer was looking for a new challenge in Grand Rapids, Mich., last summer when he heard about a job opening. It was at his kids’ school, in the cafeteria.

The Catholic school needed someone to oversee cooking and serving lunch for about 260 students from preschool to eighth grade. The previous manager had quit, and the school wanted to line up somebody quickly because classes were to start in two weeks.

“I wasn’t looking to become the school lunch lady, but I figured this was something I could handle,” said Veldheer, 34, who was once named one of the NFL’s “most indispensable players.”

Veldheer, who played for several teams, including the Green Bay Packers, Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders, said he was intrigued by the job in part because he loves cooking, and as a professional athlete, he spent a lot of time focused on nutrition.

“I’d eaten meticulously for more than a decade and I thought, ‘There is value in being able to cook and provide kids with a good, nutritious lunch,’” said Veldheer, whose two children, Eva, 6, and Edwin, 4, attend Saint Paul the Apostle Catholic School....


More than half of her class had never seen snow. So a Florida teacher got her sister to ship her a snowman.

In November, a classroom of kindergartners listened attentively as their teacher, Robin Hughes, read them a book about snow.

But as the Riverview, Fla., special education teacher flipped through its pages and showed them photos of children sledding and making snow angels, Hughes, 60, noticed some students looked puzzled.

“How many [of you] have seen snow?” Hughes asked her class at SouthShore Charter Academy. Only a couple of kids raised their hands.

“I was shocked that they had not seen snow,” Hughes, who grew up in Louisa, Ky., told The Washington Post. “It’s hard for kids to understand the concept because they don’t have the relevant knowledge.”

So Hughes called in a favor to someone she knew might be able to help: her sister in Danville, Ky.

“Do you want to build a snowman?” Hughes texted her sister, Amber Estes, in January. Estes recalled her sister’s request when her town was hit with about 10 inches of snow....


A school district yanked chocolate milk off the menu. A 9-year-old got his entire class to protest.

The powers that be took something precious from Jordan Reed, but he vowed to fight back.

His chosen tools: well-researched arguments, protest signs and the backing of dozens of others who had also been robbed.

Together, they would try to bring back chocolate milk.

Jordan, a 9-year-old fourth-grader at Sierra Vista K-8 School in Northern California, took to heart last week’s lesson about opinion writing, unleashing what he had learned of Vacaville Unified School District’s 2020 decision to remove chocolate milk from the lunch menu. Within roughly 24 hours, Jordan turned the classroom instruction into a protest with his 26 classmates — and one sixth-grader — that drew the school district’s nutrition department to Sierra Vista for an impromptu, on-the-spot negotiation with Jordan and his comrades.

Is Money Driving Those Who Spread COVID Disinformation?
— Milton Packer is amazed to learn what monetizing followers can do for writers

...Me: I have heard that the content on Substack is not moderated. Many people who have been kicked off Twitter or Facebook have moved to Substack. Robert Malone, MD, and Alex Berenson are a couple examples.

Colleague: Yes, and they are making millions of dollars a year by selling their thoughts to subscribers on Substack. Being a physician who spreads disinformation about COVID-19 is very profitable.

Yes. It is very profitable....

COVID Vaccine Hesitancy and Past Trauma: Is There a Link?
— U.K. researchers found that adverse childhood experiences played a role

‘Catastrophic disruption’: What covid-19 school shutdowns have cost the world’s children

Covid-19 has meant shuttered classrooms for more than 1.6 billion kids. The consequences reach well beyond lost learning.

Ask Aradhana, a bright and energetic 9-year-old from India, about what she’s been learning lately, and the child hides behind her mother in embarrassment.

“She only remembers some things, most of it she’s forgotten,” her mother, Vibha Singh, told Grid, standing with her child in her one-room home in a slum in the Indian capital Delhi. The city’s schools have been shuttered for more than 600 days, in what amounts to one of the world’s longest covid-induced school closures...


Why Deaths of Despair Are Increasing in the US and Not Other Industrial Nations—Insights From Neuroscience and Anthropology

The US National Academy of Sciences reports rising mortality for US adults, most steeply for White adults with a secondary education or less. The rise is largely attributable to deaths of despair (suicide and poisoning by alcohol and drugs) with strong contributions from the cardiovascular effects of rising obesity....

...Deaths of despair combined with metabolic and cardiac deaths exceed by 4-fold the next important cause of death, cancer. Moreover, when primary liver cancers caused by alcoholism (50%) and lung cancers caused by smoking (90%) are included, the total number of deaths exceeds the remaining cancers by nearly 5-fold. This annual mortality rate far exceeds that caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and unlike the COVID-19 pandemic, it shows no signs of abating...

Full text:  jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2788767

Jeremiah Stamler, Pioneer of Preventive Cardiology, Dies at 102

On the occasion of his 100th birthday, The Washington Post wrote of the trailblazing cardiologist and scientist Jeremiah Stamler, MD: "You may not know him, but he may have saved your life."

Hyperbole, it was not.

Over a career spanning more than 70 years, Stamler transformed medicine and the public's understanding of diet and lifestyle in cardiovascular health and helped introduce the concept of readily measured 'risk factors' such as cholesterol, hypertension, smoking, and diabetes.
...