World Kindness Day observance on November 13th

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November 12, 2022

World Kindness Day is to highlight good deeds in the community focusing on the positive power and the common thread of kindness for good which binds us. Kindness is a fundamental part of the human condition which bridges the divides of race, religion, politics, gender and location.

World Kindness Day video celebration Seattle, Washington 2012:

World Kindness Day is an international observance on November 13th.

It was introduced in 1998 by the World Kindness Movement, a coalition of nations’ kindness NGOs. It is observed in many countries, including Canada, Australia, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates. Singapore observed the day for the first time in 2009. Italy and India also observed the day.

Schools across the globe are now celebrating World Kindness Day and work with local NGOs such as the Be Kind People Project and Life Vest Inside In the USA.

In 2012 in Australia, Marie Bashir, Governor of New South Wales, hosted an event for the first time at Government House to celebrate World Kindness Day and accepted a Cool To Be Kind Award from year 3rd and 4th grade students.

Australian Councils representing over 1.3 million residents have also signed Declarations of Support for World Kindness Australia placing World Kindness Day on the Council Calendar of Events.

World Kindness Day serves as an important reminder of the power of kindness in fostering community spirit and improving mental well-being. By participating in this global observance, individuals can contribute to a culture of compassion and generosity that transcends borders and differences.

Ideas for Impactful Actions:

Engage in small, spontaneous acts that can brighten someone’s day. This could include leaving a positive note for a stranger, buying coffee for the person behind you in line, or helping an elderly neighbor with groceries.

Find local charities or organizations that resonate with your values and offer your time. Volunteering at food banks, shelters, or community clean-up events can create a tangible difference in your community.

Initiate or participate in events that promote kindness, such as community clean-ups, kindness fairs, or workshops focused on empathy and compassion. These gatherings can foster connections and inspire collective action.

Use social media platforms to share uplifting stories, inspirational quotes, or engage in conversations that promote kindness. Utilizing hashtags like #WorldKindnessDay can help amplify your message and connect with a larger audience.

Remember that kindness begins with yourself. Engage in self-care activities that nurture your well-being, which can enhance your capacity to be kind to others

Orkidea – Beautiful (Are you an Angel)

By

Alan

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November 11, 2022

Orkidea – Beautiful (Are you an Angel) — A Morfou Remix

Tapio Hakanen (born 1977), better known by his stage name DJ Orkidea (predominantly shortened to Orkidea), is a Finnish electronic music artist.

He has been one of Scandinavia’s top DJs for over 10 years and has been voted twice “Most Popular Nordic DJ” in the Swedish/Danish Megamind’s voting and elected five times as “Best DJ” at the Finnish Club Awards.

Orkidea has made remixes for big trance labels like Anjunabeats or Hooj Choons and for artists like Tiësto, Tilt, and Way Out West.

You can catch up with Orkidea by visiting his website: http://djorkidea.com/

PDF Shaper Free 13.8 for Windows

By

Alan

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November 11, 2022

Here’s a handy-dandy tool for use when dealing with your PDF files.

Unfortunately it’s only written for the Microsoft Windows operating system but I’m pretty sure that you who may use Windows will appreciate it.

PDF Shaper is a powerful and free PDF software, which offers a collection of PDF tools and utilities to modify and optimize your PDF documents and its content. The program offers super-intuitive user interface with changeable themes and the one of the fastest and stable PDF processing algorithms with ability to process multiple files at once.

Features:

Convert PDF to various formats – DOC, CSV, TXT, images, scanned PDF
Merge, split, print documents and add watermarks using text or images
Remove individual elements from PDF – images, bookmarks, annotations, text
Protect PDF with password and usage restrictions, sign with digital signatures
Modify pages or page ranges – rotate, crop, extract, move, insert or delete
Common PDF utilities – rename files, extract text and images, edit metadata

Specs:

File Size: 9.3 MB
License: Freeware
Operating System: Windows (All)

Publisher: Burnaware
Homepage: PDF Shaper

Visit https://www.pdfshaper.com/download.html to see the paid versions of this software.

Freeware version Download Here

Dogs can smell when we’re stressed

By

Alan

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November 8, 2022

The physiological processes associated with an acute psychological stress response produce changes in human breath and sweat that dogs can detect with an accuracy of 93.75%, according to a new study.

In the new study, the researchers collected samples of breath and sweat from non-smokers who had not recently eaten or drank. Samples were collected both before and after a fast-paced arithmetic task, along with self-reported stress levels and objective physiological measures: heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP).

Samples from 36 participants who reported an increase in stress because of the task, and experienced an increase in HR and BP during the task, were shown to trained dogs within three hours of being collected. Four dogs of different breeds and breed-mixes had been trained, using a clicker as well as kibble, to match odors in a discrimination task. At testing, dogs were asked to find the participant’s stress sample (taken at the end of the task) while the same person’s relaxed sample (taken only minutes before, prior to the task starting) was also in the sample line-up.

Overall, dogs could detect and perform their alert behavior on the sample taken during stress in 675 out of 720 trials, or 93.75% of the time, much greater than expected by chance (p<0.001). The first time they were exposed to a participant’s stressed and relaxed samples, the dogs correctly alerted to the stress sample 94.44% of the time. Individual dogs ranged in performance from 90% to 96.88% accuracy.

The authors conclude that dogs can detect an odor associated with the change in Volatile Organic Compounds produced by humans in response to stress, a finding that tells us more about the human-dog relationship and could have applications to the training of anxiety and PTSD service dogs that are currently trained to respond predominantly to visual cues.

The authors add: “This study demonstrates that dogs can discriminate between the breath and sweat taken from humans before and after a stress-inducing task. This finding tells us that an acute, negative, psychological stress response alters the odor profile of our breath/sweat, and that dogs are able to detect this change in odor.”

Journal Reference: Clara Wilson, Kerry Campbell, Zachary Petzel, Catherine Reeve. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0274143

Upper Crust

By

Alan

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November 8, 2022

Back in the day, those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of it to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death.

This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle and the guests got the top, or “Upper Crust.”