To Bee or Not to Bee

Greetings all!

A friend recently told me about a bee therapy house she visited in Russia. Bee house? Of course, I had to do a little research!

Image from https://healthywithhoney.com/sleeping-above-beehives-another-way-of-treating-ourselves-with-bees-help

Apitherapy uses products from honeybees to treat various ailments and goes back to Ancient Egypt and China. Well, there is using the bee products and then there is sleeping with the bees! Apparently, bee houses are popular in Canada, Russia, Ukraine, China, Japan, and Korea as an alternative therapy to self-heal the body.

WATCH HERE (2-minute video): https://1-tube.ru/watch/MMWf4nuayWs

According to https://healthywithhoney.com/sleeping-above-beehives-another-way-of-treating-ourselves-with-bees-help/, “There have been numerous cases reporting positive effects in rheumatic, dermatological, urology, gynecology, cardiology, endocrinology, respiratory systems and musculoskeletal system. Some say it cures chronic diseases, normalizes potency in men and eliminates insomnia… It facilitates detoxification, normalizes metabolism, eliminates excess weight and tendency to overeat.” 

It seems you actually do not come into direct contact with the bees but instead reap the benefits from your proximity to beehives: 

• Light vibro-massage from bees fanning their wings
• Clean ionized air
• Aromatherapy
• State of meditative trance from bee buzzing

Sounds interesting! I would be willing to try if there were a bee house nearby!

As always, talk to your doctor before using any alternative or new therapy as some side effects might be permanent (https://www.bbc.com/news/health-43513817)!

EXTRA RESOURCES:

https://www.healthline.com/health/apitherapy

https://vmegre.com/en/events/38361/

https://www.docbee.com.ua/en/magazine/beehive-therapy-the-new-direction-in-apitherapy

What did you think? Drop me a line!

Thought of the week - Joy

Greetings all!

Here is an inspiring thought for the upcoming week (from http://www.deeshan.com).

Hope you have a great week! Drop me a line!

Pomarola – Quick and Easy Tomato Sauce

Greetings all!

Anthony Bourdain said, “An ounce of sauce covers a multitude of sins.” Since I try to keep my posts short, today’s topic will not be sins – but a recipe for one of my favorite sauces - Pomarola - shared by a friend many years ago!

(If you shop at Trader Joe's, these are the products I use!)

Ingredients: 

• 1 lb (~500g) of canned crushed tomatoes
• A splash of olive oil
• Garlic (3 frozen cubes or several cloves minced)
• Basil (3 frozen cubes or several fresh leaves torn)

Instructions:

• Mix all ingredients and simmer for 15-20 minutes
• In the meantime, cook your favorite pasta
• Combine pasta and the sauce and simmer for 1-2 minutes

Variations:

• Use fresh tomatoes instead of canned
• Add hot pepper flakes for spiciness
• Add onion
• Add sugar
• [MY PERSONAL FAVORITE] Add meatballs and simmer for another 30-45 minutes; then add pasta

Bon Appetit!

Darwin Awards: Chlorinating The Gene Pool

Greetings all!

Recently a friend mentioned Darwin Awards, and since we were talking about the recent climate changes, I thought he was referring to something scientific. In fact, he was talking about the awards given posthumously to people who take themselves out of the genetic pool.

Of course, I was intrigued! I googled “Darwin Awards,” and the first hit in the search results was exactly that, “Darwin Awards. Chlorinating The Gene Pool.”

Home page at https://darwinawards.com/ summarizes it nicely: “Natural selection deems that some individuals serve as a warning to others. Who are we to disagree?” 

Image from https://darwinawards.com/

The site is pretty funny, “In the spirit of Charles Darwin, the Darwin Awards commemorate individuals who protect our gene pool by making the ultimate sacrifice of their own lives. Darwin Award winners eliminate themselves in an extraordinarily idiotic manner, thereby improving our species' chances of long-term survival… The dark humor, engaging stories, and mordant social commentary have made the Darwin Awards one of the most popular humor sites on the web.” The site founder does warn that some people might be offended.

One of the 2018 winners is from the entry “ Mind The Cone Zone”: (8 March 2018, New Jersey) A Wanaquer man died in a vehicle fire after he drove around barricade cones and onto live power wires in Franklin Lakes. A good son, Anthony G. was en-route to his father's house to shovel the driveway.  After the second nor'easter storm in a week, hundreds of thousands were left without power. Utility crews worked overtime to deal with downed trees and electric lines. Traffic snarls and frustrated motorists were everywhere. Anthony did not want to lose time to a detour! According to police, our winner simply navigated around bright orange traffic cones warning motorists of a hazardous downed wire on Route 208. Responding to calls, officers arrived at 9AM to find the vehicle fully engulfed in flames. A live power line was sputtering in the roadway near the vehicle. The fire totally gutted the car, and the driver was pronounced dead at the scene. Ironically this Darwin Award winner was employed as a New York City electrician.

Another featured category is At-Risk Survivors:  “The stupidity displayed by the participants in the following tales stops short of the ultimate sacrifice, but we salute their spirit and innovation.”

Here is a 2009 At-Risk Survivor from “Locker Room Humor”: (17 July 2009, Germany) Unexpected odds and ends are always turning up in train station lockers, but this is the oddest yet. After a night spent carousing with friends, squeezing into the Ludwigshafen train station locker had seemed like "an amusing idea" to the man. He shut himself in a suitcase locker for fun, but the laughter faded as the oxygen supply dwindled. His companions were unable to open the locked door and free the 20-year-old. With time running out, police broke open the door and dragged the groggy prankster to safety.

What did you think? Drop me a line!