La chenille

Claudia, la soeur de Guylaine (ma conjointe), nous a envoyé cette photo d’une superbe chenille qu’elle a vue à quelques reprises en Estrie.

J’ai sorti mes livres sur les insectes et j’ai pu l’identifier. C’est la chenille du papillon de nuit Hyalophora cecropia (Linné 1758))

Phylum : Arthropodes
Classe : Insectes
Ordre : Lépidoptères
Famille : Saturniides
Nom scientifique : Hyalophora cecropia Linné
Nom français: Saturnie cécropia
Nom anglais : Cecropia moth (robin moth)

ESPÈCES APPARENTÉES
La famille des Saturniides compte 10 espèces au Québec. Plusieurs de ces grands papillons sont brillamment colorés. Leurs ailes arborent des taches imitant de faux yeux pour effrayer les prédateurs.

Pour + d’infos voir Insectarium de Montréal

Can you say ‘Hujambo’? Please.

Deep-voiced men ‘have more kids’

Scientists do the strangest research! It’s not that it isn’t interesting, it’s just that I would have never thought about doing a research like this. Maybe it’s because I do have a rather deep voice but only 2 children. Hey! It’s not too late. Let me do some deep-voiced sweet talking with Guylaine and see what happens…

Men with deep voices tend to have more children than those who speak at a higher pitch, scientists say.

Males who hit lower notes as they talked had about two more children on average than squeaky speakers.

It fits with observations that women find masculine voices more attractive, the team reports in Biology Letters.

“There are a lot of reasons why lower pitch and reproductive success could be linked,” said Coren Apicella, from the Department of Anthropology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, US.

Deep tones are suggestive of increased testosterone levels, which could lead females to perceive such men as better hunters and therefore better providers, she told the BBC.

“Or it could be that men with deeper voices simply start reproducing earlier. We really don’t know what is behind this yet.”

Read the whole story on the BBC website

Now – That’s Funny!

Many moons ago my friend Art introduced me to the humorous work of Richard Lederer.

I recently received a monthly Canadian newsletter from a special interest group. One of the member, Nicky Kew, has worked as a medical transcriptionist for 20 years. She used to simply edit the “bloopers” done by the doctors over their dictations but in 1998 she met Richard Lederer and realised she should start collecting them.

Here are some examples:

- At the moment of impact his foot popped off the brake pedal and rolled across two lanes of traffic and started going up a hill opposite.

- In the past she has also had breast implants which appear to be in good shape.

- He presents as a very bright boy of about average intellect.

- A complete psychoeducational report shows problems with inattentiveness, listening, following instructions, organizing tasks and activities, sustaining mental effort, forgetfulness, careful mistakes and distractibility.

- She has never been married and I think was divorced.

- The neck pain is in her neck.

- Past history includes puberty and back surgery.

- This lady returned to the office today. She was surprised, as you and I were, that her prostate is enlarged on a recent CT scan.

- There is no other elements sleep disturbance and this young man reports that he is waking refreshed from school.

- He sleeps relatively well although occasionally he wakes up with a toothache in his back.

- Patient required coaxing to illicit range of movement.

- On examination, the testicles and penises are normal.

—-
Whew!  I finally wrote them down. I was laughing so hard that tears were making my vision blurry!

Konishiki Hand Print / Sumo wrestler

Yes I am a Sumo wrestling fan, but I never took the opportunity to visit Japan and see it in person. I am not an expert at all, just a fan but I do own few videos of Sumo wrestling, magazines and taped TV reports of Sumo contests.

When my friend and colleague Larry Lieberman (now deceased) came back from a visit to Japan in the 90s, he gave me this preciously wrapped hand print from Konishiki, a huge (600 + pounds) Sumo wrestler originally from Hawaii. Konishiki has always been one of my favorite guys, a hero of mine. In spite of his massive structure, he is a real sweet guy, sensitive and expressive – “qualities” that are not always appreciated in a traditional Japanese event like Sumo wrestling. That may be why I like him so much. He dares to be different. He has retired from wrestling in 1997 but remains a strong and somewhat controversial personality in the world of Sumo.

So, recently when another dear friend of mine, Arthur Robbins, sent me a 2004 picture reminding me that Konishiki has been married for more than 2 years now it made me very joyful and in my own small way I wish them both many more years of happiness.

From a BBC report in 2004

Japan sumo star weds
Japan’s heaviest ever sumo wrestler, Hawaii-born Konishiki, has married his girlfriend of two years, a former medical worker. Konishiki registered his marriage to 28-year-old Chie Iijima on Wednesday, his talent agency said. The couple appeared at a press conference on Monday to announce the news.

The former wrestler, 40, is famous for becoming the first ever foreigner to attain the sport’s second-highest rank of ozeki.

Since retiring from sumo in 1997 he has worked as a TV celebrity.

During his sumo career, Konishiki weighed a massive 275kg.

Herbal Solutions to Back Pain

I have had back pain off and on for the last 2 years. I am always interested by alternative perspectives about health issues. Herbal solutions to back pain was not on my radar but many people say it is very efficient and helpful.

Here is an excellent post by Jim McDonald, herbalist at www.herbcraft.org

To address this, the first rule is to be extremely vigilant about
taking it easy. Over exerting can result in extended recovery time.

Foundationally, people need to be sure that they’re adequately
nourished. To much emphasis is put on calcium when we think of
nourishing bones and connective tissues; we need to look at other
nutrients that increase the utilization of calcium; silica (from
horsetail or oat straw), magnesium, Omega 3 EFAs, boron, and other
nutrients that work together to enhance bone/connective tissue
strength.

Herbally, you need to address several things at once:

*structural integrity (weakness of injury)
Horsetail, St-John’s wort, Comfrey, Solomon’s Seal, Osmunda, Mullein, Goldenseal, etc.

*muscle spasm
Black Cohosh, Arnica, Kava, Lobelia, Cramp Bark, etc.

*nerve involvement
St-John’s wort, Sweet Clover, Jamaican Dogwood, Mullein Root, ect…

*problems with fluids in the joints; either atrophy (dryness) of
tissues or fluid stagnation
Black Cohosh, Mullein, Solomon’s Seal, Yarrow, Calendula, ect.

*inflammation (in many cases, the herbs that address the problems
listed above will act on inflammation; as a broadly acting
anti-inflammatory I’m inclined to recommend, initially, fish oil)
Ginger, Turmeric, Willow, Black Cohosh, Solomon’s Seal, St-John’s wort, etc.
mullein (lower spine), blue vervain (upper spine)… they’re nice together…

Pain relief is a large consideration, though it must be
remembered that pain is your body’s way of communicating to you what
you can and can’t do. I think the use of strong pain medicines
contributes greatly to re-injury and results in chronic pain and the
“need” for surgery.

Of course, pain medicines can be useful and can be necessary, just as
surgeries, but they should be used consciously so that their use
doesn’t worsen the problem. If someone is using pain meds so they can
tolerate moving around too much or sitting for long periods of time,
they’re going to do *far* more damage than good.

Ice is sometimes appropriate initially, but alternating heat or cold
or heat pads are more helpful for addressing the attendant muscle
spasms.

Externally, a warming salve (burts bees, tiger balm or homemade) can
be helpful, especially if it contains saint john’s wort or
(preferably) you add saint john’s wort oil or salve to it. You can
also mix in some lobelia tincture, some arnica tincture or oil, some
kava tincture or oil, and other applicable antispasmodics.

Vitamine C et cancer – Linus Pauling avait raison

C’est le Dr Linus Pauling, lauréat du Nobel de chimie, qui fut le premier, dans les années 70, à avancer l’idée alors controversée que des compléments de vitamine C pourraient avoir des effets anticancéreux.

La vitamine C aurait un effet protecteur contre certains cancers en neutralisant une protéine, montrent des travaux menés à la faculté de médecine de l’Université Johns Hopkins, aux États-Unis.

Les cancers à progression rapide, comme celui du foie, demandent beaucoup d’énergie à l’organisme. Afin d’assurer leur développement, ils brûlent tout l’oxygène disponible autour d’eux, qui finit par manquer. C’est à ce moment que la protéine HIF-1 compense la diminution d’oxygène disponible et permet la création et la survie de cellules cancéreuses. Mais voilà: cette protéine ne peut fonctionner sans des radicaux libres, parties instables et très réactives d’une molécule.

L’équipe américaine de chercheurs affirme que les antioxydants comme la vitamine C détruisent ces radicaux libres et neutralisent la HIF-1, ce qui bloque la progression de la tumeur. C’est la première fois que cette action des antioxydants est mise en évidence.

Cette percée a été réalisée sur des souris de laboratoire sur lesquelles des cancers ont été induits.

La protéine HIF a été découverte il y a une dizaine d’années par des chercheurs américains. Les vertus potentielles des antioxydants contre le cancer sont soupçonnées depuis des décennies, et de nombreuses études, aux résultats discordants, ont été réalisées sur ce sujet.

En découvrant le mécanisme par lequel agissent les antioxydants, nous pouvons maximiser leurs effets thérapeutiques. — Dr Chi Dang

Voici certains aliments riches en antioxydants:

Le thé
Les fruits comme les fraises, les mûres, les oranges, les framboises, les bleuets
Les légumes comme la tomate, l’ail, le chou vert, l’épinard, l’asperge, le brocoli

Source: Radio-Canada

Article en anglais: HOW VITAMIN C STOPS THE BIG “C”

La curieuse petite grive

Nous revenons d’une semaine de vacances au chalet dans la région de Maniwaki. Pendant nos promenades, cette jeune grive semblait très curieuse et peu farouche. J’ai pris cette photo à main levée pendant qu’elle se posait tantôt sur une branche tantôt sur une pierre. C’est comme si elle était intéressée par nos gestes et voulait nous observer. Nous avons aussi vu plusieurs petites mésanges virevolter autour de nous et quelques-unes se sont même posées sur la paume de ma main pendant quelques instants. C’est tellement agréable d’être entourés comme ça d’oiseaux et de petits écureuils roux qui courent partout. Les huards qui crient la nuit, le martin pêcheur qui est au poste le matin très tôt, les libellules rouges qui se prennent pour des hélicoptères (ou est-ce le contraire?) et les guêpes qui butinent sur les asters d’automne. Et l’air pur bien sur. Comme l’affirmait Simone de Beauvoir: “On devrait déménager les villes en campagne, l’air y est tellement meilleur”

Who buys our royalty free music?

Francois (my son) and I are the owners of a Royalty Free Music website. People often ask us this question: who buys your music at Premiumbeat.com? The answer is multiple. We’ve sold music to people and businesses in more than 40 countries on all 5 continents.

Our clients are web designers, flash developers, video producers, photographers, business people, website owners, shop owners… Our music has been used for TV shows and advertising, for websites, videos and audio books. It has been heard in school projects, at Film Festivals, on radio stations and on YouTube. It has been used for meditation CDs, yoga instructions, poetry reading. For a Hip-Hop demo, for a wedding where the 2 people getting married wanted to go down the aisle with a specific piece of country music. It has been used for games on line and off-line. For downloadable software, music-on-hold, background music in a shop, e-cards, elearning programs and documentaries.

I am sure there is a lot more. Royalty Free Music can be used whenever there is a need for music beyond private use such as at home or in your car or on your IPod. It’s a simple, easy and affordable way to get legally access to quality music for any project.