Saw these on my walk this morning. Empty cicada shells. It’s just the beginning. Pretty soon there will be so many we’ll be sweeping them away.
A close-up. The people in the house where I saw them had their tree taken down. So, when the cicada nymphs emerge after 17 years and want to climb, they pick the nearest vertical object, in this case a blade of grass.
These next two photos show the holes that are appearing beneath trees, near the roots. They’re about 1/2 inch in diameter. Dug by the nymphs that were in the shells above.
I can’t believe I lucked out and saw some adults! They’re close to 2 inches long. They aren’t singing yet. I can’t wait.
I added a brief description under each exercise. You can visit her article for more detail.
1. Palming
Rub your hands together for 10 to 15 seconds until they feel warm. Then gently place your hands over your eyes, with the fingertips resting on the forehead, the palms over the eyes, and the heels of the hands resting on the cheeks. Don’t touch the eyeballs directly.
An example of palming, not part of her article but helpful:
2. Eye Rolling
Without moving your head, direct your gaze up toward the ceiling. Then slowly circle your eyes in a clockwise direction, tracing as large a circle as possible. Repeat 3 times. Perform the same eye-rolling movement three times in a counterclockwise direction.
3. Focus Shifting
Hold one arm straight out in front of you in a loose fist, with the thumb pointing up. Focus on your thumb. While keeping your eyes trained on it, slowly move the thumb toward your nose until you can no longer focus clearly on it. Pause for a breath or two, and then lengthen the arm back to its original outstretched position, while maintaining focus on the thumb. Repeat up to 10 times.
4. Distance Gazing
Rest your gaze on a distant object (if you’re indoors, look out a window, if you can). Focus on the object as clearly as possible, while staying relaxed in the eyes and face. Slowly shift your gaze to another distant object around you.
I like this video. Nothing extraneous. He even includes one for eye bags at the end.
About 4 days ago I found this lying on the sidewalk next to a big tree. It’s the shell of a cicada. The adult crawled out of it and probably climbed up the tree. Oh. No.
I recall these from 17 years ago. The noise. It was louder than standing next to a lawnmower. And it was eerie! You couldn’t get away from it. Go inside, shut the windows. Nope.
For 17 years, cicadas do very little. They hang out in the ground, sucking sugar out of tree roots. Then, following this absurdly long hibernation, they emerge from the ground, sprout wings, make a ton of noise, have sex, and die within a few weeks. Their orphan progeny will then return to the ground and live the next 17 years in silence.
What they look like as adults (from Vox, as is the text above):
David Attenborough says the noise is earsplitting. Yep. Below he shows (audio too) what it’s like when billions emerge from the ground. It’s something else. No one knows exactly how they count the 17 years. “Astonishing” is the word Attenborough uses.
Eggs are layed by female hens. That makes females valuable; males not as valuable. For every egg-laying hen, approximately one male chick is killed as a newborn. Worldwide, around 7 billion male chicks are killed each year … because they don’t lay eggs.
Japanese women consuming more than 2 eggs per day (compared to 1 egg/day) DOUBLED their risk of dying from any cause and TRIPLED their risk of dying from cancer.
Conclusions: Egg intake was associated with cancer and total mortality. Reducing egg intake may have some definitive health benefits in women in Japan, at least.
Japanese data set, Japanese researchers. We have to go to a country where research is not dominated by industry for more objectivity.
They found that eating just 2-4 eggs a week increased risk for an early death from all causes, including cancer and heart disease. And just ONE egg a week increased mortality if someone had high blood pressure or high cholesterol.
We are not required to visit our beliefs upon others. So, whether our beliefs are based upon reason or faith, we have an alternative to argument or persecution, and that is to let others be, to respect their free will.
Dr. Frederic Bertley, president and CEO of the Center of Science and Industry (COSI), breaks down what’s in the COVID-19 vaccine:
There’s just a few simple ingredients: water, sugar, salt, fat, and most importantly, a building block for protein.
Here are the ingredients in the vaccines from CDC’s website:
WHAT ARE THE INGREDIENTS IN THE MODERNA COVID-19 VACCINE?
The Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine contains the following ingredients: messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), lipids (SM-102, polyethylene glycol [PEG] 2000 dimyristoyl glycerol [DMG], cholesterol, and 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine [DSPC]), tromethamine, tromethamine hydrochloride, acetic acid, sodium acetate trihydrate, and sucrose Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Overview and Safety
WHAT ARE THE INGREDIENTS IN THE PFIZER-BIONTECH COVID-19 VACCINE?
The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine includes the following ingredients: mRNA, lipids ((4-hydroxybutyl)azanediyl)bis(hexane-6,1-diyl)bis(2-hexyldecanoate), 2 [(polyethylene glycol)-2000]-N,N-ditetradecylacetamide, 1,2-Distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, and cholesterol), potassium chloride, monobasic potassium phosphate, sodium chloride, dibasic sodium phosphate dihydrate, and sucrose Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Overview and Safety
WHAT ARE THE INGREDIENTS IN THE JANSSEN COVID-19 VACCINE?
The Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine includes the following ingredients: recombinant, replication-incompetent adenovirus type 26 expressing the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, citric acid monohydrate, trisodium citrate dihydrate, ethanol, 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HBCD), polysorbate-80, sodium chloride Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine Overview and Safety
Fat, sugar, salt … the vaccine is just like a candy bar. This is either accurate and science-based or it’s:
Propaganda; noun: 1. information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.
Fanatic Cook 