Discovering what lies within
For a community of monks in Siam (now Thailand), it was a huge, plaster Buddha statue that was tended to over the centuries by future monks of the community.
It wasn’t considered aesthetically or monetarily valuable, but it attracted a certain amount of affection from people of the area over time. So, the monks continued to look after it.
But sometime in the 1940s, the 15-foot statue needed a new home and the monks employed a crane operator to move the art piece. And that’s when the secret was revealed: The crane dropped the statue and the plaster cracked open. The Buddha had suffered minor damage in the past, but never as bad as this.
One of the monks began to assess the extent of the damage and peered into the wide crack where he discovered . . . Gold. Dazzling, solid gold. Five-and-a-half tons’ worth. This was the secret those original monks were hiding from invaders to their country a secret they took to their graves.
What is it that you hide about yourself not just from “enemies,” but from friends and family and colleagues?
Are you covering up some part of your true nature?
Gordon Parks, the youngest son of 15 children, was born in 1912. His father was a dirt farmer in Kansas, and when his mother died, Parks began making his living at 15 by playing piano in a brothel, singing, washing dishes, and waiting tables on a train.
Poor and black, Parks attended high school, but never graduated. While he was in school, one of his teachers told the students in his class not to waste their parents’ hard-earned money on college because they were just going to end up being maids and porters anyway.
In 1938, Parks bought a $7 camera from a pawn shop and set out to prove his teacher wrong.
“I picked up a camera because it was my choice of weapons against what I hated most about the world, including racism, intolerance, and poverty,” Parks said.
Eventually, he became a photographer for Life and Vogue magazines, made several films (one of which was Shaft), wrote novels, poetry, orchestral scores, and cofounded Essence magazine. He volleyed back and forth in life, from high fashion to chronicling the African-American experience.
The self-taught and prodigious artist had to break through racial barriers in every field he pursued. Of the many honorary college degrees he was awarded, Parks dedicated one to the teacher who had told him not to bother going to college because it was she who had inspired him throughout his life to prove her wrong.
Older women should focus on protein to build muscle
Women 65 and older have a harder time preserving muscle, according to a paper published in the Public Library of Science
One online journal The study found that women were less able to build muscle mass than men because their bodies don’t store as much protein in muscle Scientists believe that this is due to the changes women experience when they go through menopause and is related to estrogen production.
Postmenopausal women were less able to build muscle, even when they participated in resistance exercises (e.g., lifting weights). The results indicate that it’s important for older women to eat plenty of protein foods, such as eggs, fish, chicken, and lean red meat. Women shouldn’t just try to eat a greater quantity of high-protein foods, but should instead focus on foods that will deliver a higher proportion of protein to their bodies, researchers say.
Could the Sandman help eliminate childhood obesity?
Getting less sleep could increase your child’s risk of becoming overweight or obese, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have found. In fact, for each additional hour of sleep children get, their risk for obesity drops by 9 percent.
The researchers found that children with the shortest sleep time had a 92 percent higher risk of being overweight or obese when compared with children who experienced longer sleep durations Short sleep durations were categorized as follows:
• Children younger than 5 less than 9 hours per day
• Children ages 5–10 less than 8 hours per day
• Children older than 10 less than 7 hours per day
Previous research has recommended the following daily sleep times for children:
• Younger than 5 11 hours or more per day
• 5 to 10 10 hours or more per day
• Older than 10 9 hours or more per day
How much is alcohol costing your organization?
Fifteen percent of employees in the hospitality industry suffer from serious alcohol-related problems, according to a report from the George Washington University Medical Center. In fact, workers in the hospitality, construction, and wholesale industries are significantly more likely to suffer from alcohol abuse or to be dependent on alcohol than employees in other industries.
For a company with a workforce of 5,000 in the hospitality industry, for instance, annual alcohol-related absenteeism costs $266,052 and the associated healthcare costs add up to $1.9 million.
Recipe: WatermelonPopsicles
Forakid-friendly,frozentreat,trythesewatermelonpopsicles!Theseare easytomakewithonlyafewsimpleingredients.
Ingredients Directions
19 oz cubed seedless watermelon (3 1/2cups)
51/2Tbspgranulatedsugar,divided 1Tbspfreshlemonjuice
1/2 cup canned coconut milk, well shaken
13ozkiwi(6medium)
1Tbspminichocolatechips
Addwatermelon,2Tbspsugarandlemonjuicetoablenderandblend untilwellpureed.Pourinto10popsiclesmoldsfillingeachabout2/3.
Sprinklethechocolatechipsovertopsthenusingapopsiclestickgently pushdowntoimmersechips.Coverwiththelidandinsertpopsicles sticks.Freeze31/2hours.
Whisktogethercoconutmilkwithsugaruntilsugarhasdissolved,chill30 minutes.
Removepopsiclesfromfreezer,removelidandcarefullypourascant tablespooncoconutmilkintoanevenlayeroverwatermelonlayer. Returntofreezer,uncovered,andchill45minutes.
Peelandcutthekiwiincubesandblendinablenderalongwith2Tbsp granulatedsugar.Pulseuntilwellpureed.Chillkiwimixture30minutes.
Pourabout1Tbspkiwimixtureovercoconutlayer.Returntofreezerand chilluntilpopsiclesaresolidabout2-3hours.
Serveandenjoy!
To solve a sudoku, you only need logic and patience. No math is required. Simply make sure that each 3x3 square region has a number 1 through 9 with only one occurrence of each number. Each column and row of the large grid must have only one instance of the numbers 1 through 9.
The difficulty rating on this puzzle is easy.
What goes around... comes... around
One night, a man was sitting at home and heard a knock at the door. When he opened it, he saw a snail perched on his porch. Irritated, the man booted the snail away as far as he could see.
Three years passed. Then one night, the man was sitting at home and heard a knock on his door. He opened it to see that same snail perched on his porch.
“What the heck was that all about?” asked the snail.
Fetch Boy Fetch!
We know dogs can learn, but we’re continuing to discover how much and what they can learn Rico the Border Collie is one such pooch who astounded scientists by knowing the names of more than 200 toys Rico was able to fetch the correct toys in the absence of his owner and he was able to learn and remember the names for new toys the scientists introduced into the mix. Rico wasn’t accurate every time, but he did fetch the correct toy in 37 of 40 trials when dealing with familiar objects! When it came to newly introduced toys and their names (scientists mixed seven familiar toys with a completely new one), Rico got it right 70 percent of the time, probably by a matter of eliminating the familiar objects and picking out the new one. Even so, he retained the new names after he’d learned them.
Let’s go fly a kite and send it soaring...
It’s kite-flying season and from the World Kite Museum come these facts:
• The highest altitude achieved by a single kite: 13,609 feet above ground, although a train of eight kites reached a height of 31,955 feet.
• Kites were used to deliver letters and newspapers during the American Civil War.
• The world record for the longest “kite fly” is 180 hours.
• Kites were banned in Japan in 1760 because too many people preferred kite-flying to working.
• It is believed that the first kites were flown more than 3,000 years ago and were made of leaves.
TESTIMONIALS
Here’s what you had to say this month...
-Very easy process Best was closing came to us - couldn’t have been simpler
-The Brad Roche Group made our home purchase a very easy experience! Very informative and great communication throughout the process!
-Brad Roche is an excellent mortgage lender. He is efficient in communication and explaining the process. He is always there to answer any questions along the way. His service is prompt and on point. I highly recommend Brad and his team for residential home financing and re-financing.
- Everyone was so great! The requests were timely and everything was on point We moved along quickly, all questions were immediately answered and the team worked extra hard to get everything ready in time. They were amazing to work with!
-The home buying process is normally stressful but our experience was not that at all Everything was explained to is and made convenient for a family with a busy schedule
- Excellent team, true professionals who provide top-notch levels of service to the client through the entire home buying experience. Brad and Angela are highly recommended!
“Thank you for your continued trust. ” Anyone you know we may be able to help?
