Fish oil “calms children better than Ritalin’

Very interesting, and potentially very useful, news !

Hyperactivity on children is a serious issue. It was almost non existent / insignificant in many societies. Nowadays it’s almost the norm, and people notices.

Quoted :

The number of hyperactive children on medication is soaring, with a staggering 330,000 prescriptions written out each year, or 6,350 a week.

A very funny story on a guy retaliating on this phenomena can be read on, where else?, bash.org

But again, hyperactivity itself is a very serious problem. It can destroy families.
That’s why people are looking with hope to new medications that’s supposed to solve this problem. Such as Ritalin.

Unfortunately, Ritalin is not without problems.

Quoted :

Nine British children have died after taking the drugs. Two died of heart problems, while others suffered illnesses including strokes and swelling of the brain. Dr Timimi, a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist at Lincolnshire NHS Trust, said: ‘Drugs like Ritalin have considerable dangers associated with them, including insomnia, changes in personality and cardiotoxicity – they are bad for the heart and can cause heart attacks, strokes and sudden death.

Thankfully; there’s a new research that find out that the solutions is quite simple, and healthy too – Fish Oil :

Just six capsules a day of the naturally-occurring oil can vastly improve children’s behaviour without any of the side-effects of Ritalin and related drugs.

Note that Omega3 is also good to all – not just for kids with ADHD or hyperactivity problem :

Other studies have shown that omega 3 is also effective in children without ADHD or learning difficulties, boosting their grasp of the three Rs and improving their GCSE grades.

WARNING: not all Omega3 products are equal ! Many products only claim of having Omega3, but it may have been destroyed in its production process. The best source for Omega3 is still fish oil.

Anyway, hope someone finds this useful.

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Back to Life : questions on the boundary between life & death

I found this news : Woman Wakes Up After Family Says Goodbye

Quoted :

They said Thomas suffered two heart attacks and had no brain waves for more than 17 hours. At about 1:30 a.m. Saturday, her heart stopped and she had no pulse. A respiratory machine kept her breathing and rigor mortis had set in, doctors said.

“Her skin had already started to harden and her fingers curled. Death had set in,” said son Jim Thomas.

Well, not yet :

However, Thomas was kept on a ventilator a little while longer as an organ donor issue was discussed.

Ten minutes later the woman woke up and started talking.

The question of “what is THE boundary between life & death” is further questioned on this news article : Man comes back to life as doctors prepare to remove his organs

Quoted :

The case of a man whose heart stopped beating for 1½ hours only to revive just as doctors were preparing to remove his organs for transplants is fuelling ethical debates in France about when a person is dead.

“During the meeting, other reanimators … spoke of situations in which a person whom everyone was sure had died in fact survived after reanimation efforts that went on much longer than usual,” the minutes of the committee meeting say.

Very interesting stuff. This question may not have a definite answer, but still, very interesting.

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Our Silly Lee

Ever heard a phrase “tyranny by the majority” ? It’s really ugly, and the only thing worse is “tyranny by the minority”

And I saw it in UK. Several muslims are bullying and complaining that they’re having it bad, while actually they’re the nasties — they trashes others, not afraid of using violence, and throw ugly insults (“white trash”, etc).
And they are the minority.

Spike Lee was trying to pull something similar. Quoted :

“Many black veterans who fought in Iwo Jima were hurt that there was no representation of them in both of those films,” Lee said in the 2007 interview in Rome.

“Very few Hollywood films deal with black soldiers,” Lee said. “For the most part, if you look at the history of Hollywood cinema they haven’t dealt with anybody other than white Americans. If you think Hollywood and World War Two, you think John Wayne — the great white male that saved the world.”

The man, Clint Eastwood, then put a death blow to the claim.

Quoted :

In an interview with Germany’s Focus magazine, Eastwood said it was nonsense to suggest he had “erased the role of black GIs from history”. He said there were no Afro-Americans in those films because there were no Afro-American soldiers involved.

“Does he know anything about American history?” Eastwood told Focus when asked about Lee’s criticism. “The U.S. military was segregated til the Korean War, and the blacks in World War Two were totally segregated. The only black battalion on Iwo Jima was a small munitions supply unit that came to the beach.

“The story was about the men who raised the flag and we can’t make them black if they were not there. So tell him: Why don’t you go back and study your history and stop mouthing off!”

To that I say : “Ouch”

A note of advice : guys, if you are a minority, know your place. Do not actually step on others’ toes on purpose.
It’s bad when done by the bullies, it’s simply stupid when done by the weak.

If you’re the minority – behave. There’s a Minangkabau tribe saying “dimana bumi dipijak disitu langit dijunjung” – where ever you are, uphold/respect the local laws / customs.
This way, hopefully when you have become the strong / majority, then you’ll be able to do things justly & wisely.

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Teen finds way to decompose plastic bags in just 3 months

Truly great news.
Finally somebody found a way to decompose plastics, which is a serious environmental problem, using nature, resulting in harmless substances (water + tiny amount of CO2), and in only 3 months. And he’s only a 16 years old teenager !

Props to Daniel Burd for his diligence and persistence :

we produce 500 billion of (plastic) a year worldwide, and they take up to 1,000 years to decompose. They take up space in landfills, litter our streets and parks, pollute the ocean and kill the animals that eat them.

(Burd) knew plastic does eventually degrade, and figured microorganisms must be behind it. His goal was to isolate the microorganisms that can break down plastic.

(long scientific process to finally find the bacteria)

Tests to identify the strains found strain two was Sphingomonas bacteria and the helper was Pseudomonas.

Industrial application should be easy, said Burd. “All you need is a fermenter . . . your growth medium, your microbes and your plastic bags.”

“This is a huge, huge step forward . . . We’re using nature to solve a man-made problem.”

Truly wonderful news. Armed with common sense & patience, a teenager have helped showed us the way towards a better world to live in.

Thank you Daniel Burd !