Frank Sinatra, My Way, With Lyrics

Explore, dream, discover

Twenty years from now

you will be more disappointed

by the things that you didn't do

than by the ones you did do.

So throw off the bowlines.

Sail away from the safe harbour.

Catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore. Dream. Discover.

Mark Twain

Things I learned along the way

I've learned that I like my teacher because she cries when we sing "Silent Night". - Age 6

I've learned that you can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk. - Age 7

I've learned that when I wave to people in the country, they stop what they are doing and wave back. - Age 9

I've learned that just when I get my room the way I like it, Mom makes me clean it up. - Age 13

I've learned that if you want to cheer yourself up, you should try cheering someone else up. - Age 14

I've learned that although it's hard to admit it, I'm secretly glad my parents are strict with me. - Age 15

I've learned that silent company is often more healing than words of advice. - Age 24

I've learned that brushing my child's hair is one of life's great pleasures. - Age 26

I've learned that wherever I go, the worlds worst drivers have followed me there. - Age 29

I've learned that if someone says something unkind about me, I must live so that no one will believe it. - Age 39

I've learned that there are people who love you dearly but just don't know how to show it. - Age 41

I've learned that you can make someone's day by simply sending them a little card. - Age 44

I've learned that the greater a person's sense of guilt, the greater his need to cast blame on others. - Age 46

I've learned that children and grandparents are natural allies. - Age 47

I've learned that singing "Amazing Grace" can lift my spirits for hours. - Age 49

I've learned that motel mattresses are better on the side away from the phone. - Age 50

I've learned that you can tell a lot about a man by the way he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. - Age 52

I've learned that keeping a vegetable garden is worth a medicine cabinet full of pills. - Age 52

I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you miss them terribly after they die. - Age 53

I've learned that making a living is not the same thing as making a life. - Age 58

I've learned that if you want to do something positive for your children, try to improve your marriage. - Age 61

I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. - Age 62

I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catchers mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back. - Age 64

I've learned that if you pursue happiness, it will elude you. But if you focus on your family, the needs of others, your work, meeting new people, and doing the very best you can, happiness will find you. - Age 65

I've learned that whenever I decide something with kindness, I usually make the right decision. - Age 66

I've learned that everyone can use a prayer. - Age 72

I've learned that it pays to believe in miracles. And to tell the truth, I've seen several. - Age 73

I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one. - Age 82

I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love that human touch - holding hands, a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. - Age 85

I've learned that I still have a lot to learn. - Age 92

Maureen Hopkins

Playing Music to Dairy Cows Brings More Milk

For the 860 dairy cows that live on a farm in a village in central China’s Henan Province, music makes their day and helps them to produce more milk!

Their breeder, Guo Zhixin, claims that playing music to his cows for an hour every day produces more than one kilo of milk from every cow, every day of the year resulting in 700 yuan (about $102 dollars) more worth of milk every year.

While it seems incredible, Guo is convinced it works and has the milk to prove it. He got the idea to try music on his cows after reading about another farmer’s success in a foreign cow magazine. (Is there really such a thing?)

We have always known that animals hear differently than humans. Dogs, cats and horses not only hear two to three times more than humans do, they also can hear sounds faster and from much further way than their human counterparts.

Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that for an animal, their interaction to the world is a based on smell, the need for food and reactions to the sounds and noises that surround them.

From the point of view of owners, this makes an animal’s sensitivity to sound an important aspect of pet ownership education. The acute sense of sound is perfect in the wild where animals can move freely away and toward sound.

In homes and barns created by humans where movement is restricted, animals may often develop separation anxiety, fear of thunderstorms and aggressive behaviors.

Still, it seems that for cows to fit into this picture is a bit far out, but then again so was the idea of rubbing two sticks together to make fire at one time in our thinking.

One can only wonder where this insight may lead as far as cows and other fine creatures of the universe are concerned.

Is there a chance that in the world to come where wonders never cease that cows might one day be composing music (or at selecting what they would like to hear)?

Perhaps a prodigy will soon burst upon the musical/farm world?

Welcome, Moothoven.

Go figure.

What do YOU think about this?

source

Sleeping for less than six hours may cause early death, study finds

Sleeping consistently for less than six hours a night may cause an early death, but too much sleep could also mean problems, according to a study that claims to have found unequivocal evidence of the potential harm from abnormal sleep patterns.

It found that those who generally slept for less than six hours a night were 12% more likely to experience a premature death over a period of 25 years than those who consistently got six to eight hours' sleep. Evidence for the link was unequivocal.

"Whilst short sleep may represent a cause of ill health, long sleep is believed to represent more an indicator of ill health," said Professor Francesco Cappuccio, who led the study and is head of the Sleep, Health and Society programme at the University of Warwick.

"Modern society has seen a gradual reduction in the average amount of sleep people take, and this pattern is more common amongst full-time workers, suggesting that it may be due to societal pressures for longer working hours and more shift-work. On the other hand, the deterioration of our health status is often accompanied by an extension of our sleeping time.

Source

dark chocolate may guard against brain injury from stroke

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that a compound in dark chocolate may protect the brain after a stroke by increasing cellular signals already known to shield nerve cells from damage.

Ninety minutes after feeding mice a single modest dose of epicatechin, a compound found naturally in dark chocolate, the scientists induced an ischemic stroke by essentially cutting off blood supply to the animals' brains. They found that the animals that had preventively ingested the epicatechin suffered significantly less brain damage than the ones that had not been given the compound.

Scientists have been intrigued by the potential health benefits of epicatechin by studying the Kuna Indians, a remote population living on islands off the coast of Panama. The islands' residents had a low incidence of cardiovascular disease. Scientists who studied them found nothing striking in the genes and realized that when they moved away from Kuna, they were no longer protected from heart problems. Researchers soon discovered the reason was likely environmental: The residents of Kuna regularly drank a very bitter cocoa drink, with a consistency like molasses, instead of coffee or soda. The drink was high in the compound epicatechin, which is a flavanol, a flavanoid-related compound.

The new study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart and Stroke Association.

Source