How a French Cookie Company Made It in the U.S.

Michel et Augustin was founded by two French pastry enthusiasts, Michel and Augustin, who became friends in middle school. They both worked corporate jobs after business school, Augustin at Air France and Michel in banking in New York. Staying in touch, they were both pulled towards the idea of going back to a manual trade, and soon Michel et Augustin was born. Augustin got his baking certificate while working in a boulangerie making bread, and they started experimenting with recipes in Augustin's kitchen in Paris. After 300 trials of a sable cookie (the French equivalent of shortbread), they were ready to release their first product. They pitched the cookies door-to-door, focusing on the quality of the whole ingredients and building a loyal customer base from scratch (no pun intended).

The adventure began in France twelve years ago, and two years ago Michel et Augustin began bringing products to the U.S. Some translation was required as the company learned more about the U.S. cookie market. "New Yorkers love their chocolate!" said Lily Dionne-Jermanovich, the US PR and community manager for Michel et Augustin. Cookie squares filled with raspberry and pistachio, for instance, just didn't move at the same rate as chocolate and hazelnut or chocolate and caramel. 

Two important things stayed the same as the company expanded across continents, however: the quirky personality and entrepreneurial spirit of the brand, and the seriousness about quality baking. Now, they've come out with a cookbook in France, and all of the company's employees, from sales and marketing to admins, are pursuing their French state pastry certification. 

Dream of starting your own small food business? Lily says it's all about the relationships, investing in employees, and getting the product out there through hand-selling and trade shows. 

Check out Michel et Augustin at many local retailers, and if you speak some French, check out the Michel et Augustin podcast! It’s on iTunes and SoundCloud and it documents the latest news from behind the scenes each week. 

Listen to the full episode with Michel in the top right hand player or on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Should You Switch to Corn Oil to Lower Cholesterol?

Cindy writes,

“Recently I’ve been seeing ads on television saying that corn oil is better than olive oil for lowering cholesterol. I've always used olive oil and canola oil. Now, I’m thinking of changing from canola oil to corn oil. Should I make the switch?”

I bet Cindy's not the only one who has been seeing these ads. Makers of corn oil are spending a lot of money right now to promote the results of a study showing that a diet rich in corn oil reduced cholesterol more than a diet rich in olive oil.

Those of you with a very good memory might remember me writing about this same study a few years ago, when the unpublished results were first presented at a scientific meeting. This month, the study was finally published in a in a peer-reviewed journal. Because it’s getting a lot of new attention, I thought it would be worth revisiting.

First, let’s take a closer look at what the study found and then I’ll tell you whether I think it makes sense to start using corn oil in place of other oils you might be using.

How Corn Oil Affects Cholesterol

In the study, healthy adults consumed either 4 Tablespoons of corn oil or 4 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil per day for three weeks. The oils were incorporated into various foods, including muffins and yogurt. After three weeks on the corn oil diet, the subjects saw a 9% reduction on average in their LDL cholesterol versus just 2% for the olive oil diet. 

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Although this finding might surprise you, it was not a surprise to the researchers. Corn oil is naturally rich in phytosterols, compounds that are shaped very similarly to cholesterol and can block the absorption of cholesterol from foods. Basically, the phytosterols occupy the cellular parking spots that cholesterol molecules would normally pull into. Because those spots have already been taken, the cholesterol ends up passing through the system without finding a place to park. Result: less cholesterol is absorbed.

Because corn oil contains a lot more phytosterols than olive oil, it is not surprising that it blocks cholesterol absorption a lot more effectively. Nonetheless, I’m not convinced that you should replace your olive oil (or your canola oil) with corn oil.

The Problem with Corn Oil

Despite its beneficial effect on cholesterol absorption, there are two potential concerns with adding corn oil to your diet. One is that corn oil is high in polyunsaturated fat—a type of fat that can produce harmful compounds called HNEs when heated. Even if you’re not heating them, polyunsaturated fats are easily oxidized, causing the oils to become rancid.

Monounsaturated fats, on the other hand, are more stable when heated and less prone to oxidation and rancidity. Because olive oil and canola oil are higher in monounsaturated fats and lower in polyunsaturated fats, they seem (to me, anyway) like a better choice.

See also episode # 124: Which oils are best for cooking

The other concern with corn oil is that it is high in omega-6 fats. Now, there’s nothing wrong with omega-6 fats, per se. In fact, they are considered essential to our diets. However, it is possible to get too much of a good thing. If our diets are too high in omega-6, it keeps the equally important omega-3s from doing their good work.

It’s a little like phytosterols and cholesterol competing for the same cellular parking spot. Only in this case, the problem is that omega-6 and omega-3 are competing for the same enzymatic pathways. If you have similar amounts of omega-6 and omega-3 in your diet, there’s plenty of room along the enzymatic freeway for both to make their way. But if too many omega-6 fats are hogging all the lanes on the enzymatic freeway, the omega-3s cannot get to work on time—or ever.

Avoiding oils that are high in omega-6, such as corn oil, is one of the best ways to maintain a balance between omega-6 and omega-3 fats, which gives omega-3s a fighting chance of reaching their cellular destinations.  Olive oil and canola oil are both much lower in omega-6 than corn oil. And as a bonus, canola is relatively high in omega-3s.

See also: Episode # 85 Fish Oil and Omega-3s and #185 on Does the Ratio of Omega-6 Matter?

How to Get More Phytosterols

Finally, the cholesterol-reducing action of corn oil appears to be mostly due to its phytosterol content. But corn oil is not the only way to get more phytosterols into your diet. In fact, guess which oil contains almost as much phytosterols as corn oil?

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Canola oil.

And that’s why I don’t think it makes sense to replace your canola or your olive oil with corn oil. 

Although olive oil is not particularly rich in phytosterols, it does have the virtue of being extremely low in both polyunsaturated fats and omega-6s. Extra virgin olive oil also contains polyphenols that may benefit your heart in other ways. Plus, It’s delicious.

You may not wish to use olive oil exclusively, however.I also like to have a less expensive and more neutrally-flavored oil on hand.

Canola and corn oil contain similar amounts of phytosterols, but canola is lower in polyunsaturated fats, meaning it is more stable at high heat and resistant to oxidation at room temperature. It’s also lower in omega-6 and higher omega-3. That’s why canola gets the number 2 spot in my cupboard and not corn oil.

There are lots of other healthy foods that provide phytosterols, as well: Peanuts, pistachios, wheat germ, wheat bran, are particularly good sources, but phytosterols are found in a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, and nuts. Below, you’ll see the amount of phytosterols in various foods. If you wanted to get the amount included in this study, your goal would be 400-500 mg/day.  Bon appetit!

5 Immigrants and Refugees Who Changed U.S. Science

The U.S. outspends all other countries, as well as the entire European Union combined, in total dollar amount put toward research and development. The U.S. also produces the most scientific publications of any country and is home to many of the top-ranked universities for the study of science and engineering. This reputation has been and continues to be due in large part to the contributions of immigrant and refugee scientists.

For example, in 2016, there were six scientists from the U.S. who won a Nobel Prize and all six were immigrants. Sir Fraser Stoddart, originally from Edinburgh, Scotland, earned the Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for the design and synthesis of molecular machines”. David Thouless and Michael Kosterlitz, both from Scotland, along with Duncan Haldane of England, earned the Nobel Prize in Physics “for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter.” The Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to Oliver Hart of England and Bengt Holmstrom of Finland “for their contributions to contract theory.”

According to the National Science Foundation, 49% of mid-career scientists and engineers in postdoctoral research positions who obtained their doctorates in the U.S. immigrated from other countries. In a separate report, NSF determined that, as of 2013, 18% of the STEM researchers and engineers in the US are immigrants. This total includes nearly 3 million scientists from Asia, over 800,000 from Europe, over 300,000 from Africa, and over 1 million from Canada, the Caribbean, and Central or South America. Immigrant scientists and engineers are also more likely to have earned an advanced degree than their U.S.-native counterparts.

Let’s look at five immigrants and refugees who have left their mark on the study of science in the U.S..

Hedy Lamarr

Born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, Hedy Lamarr was well-known for her work as a film star from the 1930s to the 1950s. In 1938, Louis Mayer of MGM studios, offered her an acting contract in the U.S., which she accepted in part to escape her very controlling first husband. In the U.S., Mayer promoted Lamarr as “the most beautiful woman in the world.” She was also an inventor.

Together with the composer George Antheil, she developed a frequency hopping technique that would prevent the radio signals guiding Allied torpedoes from being jammed (and thus redirected) during World War II. By continuously changing the torpedo guidance signal at regular intervals, the Navy could prevent those signals from being intercepted. Lamarr and Antheil patented their spread spectrum technology in 1942, but it wasn’t until the 1960s when the U.S. Navy officially adopted their invention during the Cuban missile crisis.

In her controversial autobiography, Lamarr suggested that her first introduction to military technology came from attending meetings with her first husband, an ammunitions dealer who had ties to Mussolini and the Nazi government in Germany. In her movies, she was often typecast as the exotic beauty with only few lines and so was rumored to have taken up inventing to relieve her boredom with such simple roles.

Lamarr’s spread spectrum technology is now used in modern wi-fi, CDMA (code division multiple access), and Bluetooth systems. Lamarr and Antheil were both inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014.

Elon Musk

Born in Pretoria, South Africa, Elon Musk reportedly taught himself computer programming at the age of 12. After starting his degree at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Musk transferred to the University of Pennsylvania in 1992 where he soon earned Bachelors of Science in both Physics and Economics.

Musk is an entrepreneur, an inventor, and an engineer who is perhaps best known for being the founder, CEO and CTO of SpaceX and the co-founder, CEO and product architect of Tesla Motors. SpaceX, or Space Exploration Technologies, aims to advance the field of rocket technology and has achieved such firsts as the first privately funded liquid fueled rocket to put a satellite into Earth orbit (Falcon I), the first commercial company to launch and berth a vehicle on the International Space Station (Dragon), and the first time the first stage of an orbital rocket has returned to land back on the launch pad. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft have replaced the now retired U.S. space shuttle, and NASA has awarded contracts to SpaceX to develop the capability of transporting U.S. astronauts as part of the Commercial Crew Development program.

Many of Musk’s designs are aimed at mitigating global warming through sustainable energy practices, including the electric car. His company Tesla motors has worked to improve the range limitations and affordability of electric cars. To encourage other automobile manufacturers to also engage the electric car market, Tesla also shares their technology patents. Musk has earned many honors, including the Royal Aeronautical Society’s highest award, the gold medal, and the 21st spot on Forbes list of the world’s most powerful people in 2016.

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Chien-Shiung Wu

Born in Liuho, China, Chien-Shiung Wu earned her physics degree from the National Central University before becoming a researcher at the Institute of Physics of the Academia Sinica. In 1936, she determined the best way to advance her car was to pursue her studies in the U.S. So she took a steamship from China to the western U.S. and enrolled in grad school at the University of California in Berkeley.

Wu studied radioactivity, including improving the techniques employed by Geiger counters for measuring nuclear radiation levels, as faculty at Smith College, Princeton University, and later Columbia University. She was part of the Manhattan Project to develop the first nuclear weapons during World War II and made major contributions to our understanding of the Standard Model of particle physics through her experiment that proves particle parity is violated by the weak force.

Wu was the first female instructor at Princeton and the first female president of the American Physical Society. She also was awarded the National Medal of Science.

Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch

Born in Danzig, Germany, Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch obtained her PhD in 1932 despite the prejudices against her as a Jewish woman scientist. She fled the Nazi government a year later and became a lecturer at Columbia University. Gluecksohn-Waelsch laid the foundation for studies of developmental genetics in mammals, specifically the genetics of differentiation, or the process determining how cells from a fertilized egg develop.

Despite her active research contributions, Columbia did not grant professorships to women and so Gluecksohn-Waelsch eventually left to become a full professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and later earned the National Medal of Science.

Albert Einstein

Of course, a discussion of refugee scientists would not be complete without this podcast’s namesake, Albert Einstein. Born in Ulm, Germany, Einstein was targeted by the Nazi government both as a Jew and as a theoretical physicist whose work promoted theories of relativity that challenged what we understood from Newtonian mechanics. Luckily, Einstein was visiting the U.S, when Hitler rose to power in Germany in 1933 so he did not return to the Berlin Academy of Sciences where he was a professor. Had Einstein timed his trip to the U.S. differently or were he less famous (and thus likely less welcome to stay in the U.S.), his contributions to our understanding of the photoelectric effect and his theories of general and special relativity may have been lost.

These stories are only a few examples, of course. Erwin Schrodinger escaped Austria after the Germans took over in WWII. Johannes Kepler escaped Austria and later Prague. Emmanuel Dongala fled the civil war in the Republic of the Congo in the 1990s, and San Thang fled Vietnam after communist forces took Saigon at the end of Vietnam War.

The U.S. has a long history of providing safe haven for scientists and has welcomed immigrants who wish to contribute to the U.S. commitment to the pursuit of scientific truth. We will never know what advancements may have been lost due to refugees turned away or immigrants denied entry, but we can take measures to not repeat the mistakes of the past.

Until next time, this is Sabrina Stierwalt with Everyday Einstein’s Quick and Dirty Tips for helping you make sense of science. You can become a fan of Everyday Einstein on Facebook or follow me on Twitter, where I’m @QDTeinstein. If you have a question that you’d like to see on a future episode, send me an email at everydayeinstein@quickanddirtytips.com.

Image courtesy of shutterstock

7 Small Cleaning Habits to Make a Big Difference

1. Don’t put it down, put it away!

Don’t create extra work for yourself by setting things down where they don’t belong. Instead of dropping your shopping bags to deal with later or kicking your shoes off and let them land wherever, take the time to put everything back where it goes. It might be a couple of seconds of extra work to put things in their proper homes, but you’ll save a ton of time down the road. Think of it as doing Future You a favor.

2. Multi-task

Waiting for the coffeepot to finish brewing? Use that time to do some dishes while you wait. Bored at a commercial break? Fold as much laundry as you can in those few minutes. Try to find those little bits of time throughout your day and use them to chip away at your to-do list a little at a time.

3. Give yourself an end time

By setting a timer or only working until the end of a podcast or TV show, you’re limiting the time you have to invest in your tasks, and you know you’re going to be able to stop sooner rather than later. Rather than getting overwhelmed by a whole-house cleaning marathon, you can instead retrain yourself to work around the rest of your life and still end up with a clean home.

4. Do something to improve a room every time you’re in it

Whether that’s putting away a few rogue items, dusting off a shelf, wiping down a counter, or straightening up a tabletop, these little efforts add up in a big way.

5. Reset daily

If you have an area or surface that attracts clutter and mess, just cleaning it up once isn’t going to help keep it clean. Make it a goal to “reset” that area back to clean once a day, so that the clutter doesn’t have a chance to accumulate again. After a while, the habit will be so ingrained, you’ll forget that spot used to be a problem area.

6. Don’t let laundry linger

How often do you do your laundry, and then leave it sitting in the basket (or the dryer, or the end of your bed, or that pile on your chair), just picking what you need out of the pile and then repeating the cycle once there’s nothing clean left? Take the extra ten minutes or so to actually put your clean clothes away.

7. Make your bed

Yeah, yeah. I know. You don’t want to, you don’t see the point, you’re just going to mess it up later anyway. Just try it. It only takes a minute, and a made bed helps to bring a little bit of order to an otherwise chaotic room. 

Pick up a copy of Rachel Hoffman's Unf*ck Your Habitat at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound.

Eliminate Vagueness for Stronger Business Agreements

They say the Devil is in the details. Have you ever wondered what that means? I looked at the details really closely and there weren’t any devils there. There was an old ATM receipt, some belly button lint, and a bit of toenail fungus, but no devils.

The Devil just keeps his word. Someone says, “I will give you my soul if you give me a billion dollars!!! Bwah hah hah hah hah” The devil gives it in pennies, dropped from a distance of 100 feet. The person is crushed to death, and we all say, “the Devil is so evil!!!”

We think the devil is a poopy-head because even though he’s adhering to the letter of the law, he’s violating the spirit of the law. And unfortunately, lots of people follow his example. You can protect yourself when making a deal by adding concrete examples to the agreement.

Doing a Good Job

“When you deliver a working product, we’ll send your payment!!” they say. You deliver a working product. Then they say, “Well, it doesn’t make blueberry waffles unattended.” You say, “No … It’s a lawn mower. That’s not what it’s supposed to do.” They say, “but we want that!” And they refuse to pay.

If you’re a professional writer, graphic designer, artist, software engineer, photographer, or any kind of creative freelancer, you’ve definitely heard that. If you’re a freelancer of any other sort, you’ve probably heard that. And if you’re an employee who uses freelancers, you’ve probably said that, thus putting your life at risk from the charming-but-sociopathic freelancer you last said it to, whose name is “Justice,” and they take their name very seriously. Hire a bodyguard now.

The Problem is Vague Language

What went wrong is that the agreement was written in abstract language. Abstract language describes something, but doesn’t show something.

For example, when you say “hand me something to drink out of,” your well-meaning boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, spousal equivalent, or polyamorous family unit might rush to hand you a hummingbird feeder. They would hand it to you with love and affection, just as you collapse from dehydration.

“Something to drink out of” is abstract. But if you follow it up with some concrete examples, that will help make your meaning clear. “Hand me something to drink out of. That Chuck-e-Cheese glass, the I-heart-the-Carpenters mug, or that odd Goblet I’ve never seen before with the upside down pentagram that seems to be shrieking with the voice of a million lost souls.” Now your shmoopie knows for sure what you mean by “something to drink out of.”

Alternate Abstract and Concrete Goals

At work, instructions can often be vague. If we do a good job at what we think is wanted, but it isn’t what’s really asked of us, then everybody loses. It’s worth taking the time to ask clarifying questions that alternate concrete and abstract.

My boss once told me “if you want a bonus, do what it takes to make the company succeed.” This is vague, and this is fraught with danger, since my idea of “what it takes to make the company succeed” might not be Boss’s idea. True, the cup shrieking with a million lost souls is more fraught with danger, but this is still a place where a concrete example will help.

“Boss, if you tell me to push the red button, I’ll do it. But if I think the blue button is what the company needs, then I push the blue button and get my bonus. Right?” Now the boss has a specific example they can use to clarify. “No, I am the Boss. If I say push the red button, you’ll push it, even if you think the company needs the blue one.” 

“Great! And of course, if you say red button, but I wanted to go with the blue button, and in hindsight we realize blue was the right choice, then get my bonus for trying to do what was right for the company … right?” 

As you can imagine, my boss promoted me on the spot for my masterful understanding of the situation. (Hah hah, just kidding. He actually said, “No, you don’t get a bonus," thus showing me the nihilistic reality that trying to do the right thing is futile.)

 

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Use Concrete Examples When Communicating Culture

One place concrete examples really shines is when communicating company culture. Federal Express’s original slogan was the best mission statement I’ve ever heard: “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.” Great slogan. It told employees and customers what the goal was. But how far should an employee go in getting a package there, “absolutely, positively” overnight?

Lawyers hate concrete example, because they actually makes things clear.

There’s a story-turned-company-myth at Fedex of a delivery person who actually rented a helicopter to make sure a package got through. That’s a concrete example of the company culture.

(Their new slogan is “Our solutions connect people to possibilities.” There aren’t enough concrete examples in the world to make that piece of fluff mean anything. It’s the worst company mission statement I’ve ever heard. It sucks balls and gives no guidance about how to run the business. And when I say “sucks balls,” you know I mean golf balls.)

Use Concrete Examples When Going Out with Shmoopie

When you and your shmoopie are making plans, concrete examples also help. Shmoopie happily declares, “I’m in the mood for a tasty dinner out!!” BOOM! You’re already in hot water. Anything you say can, and will, be used against you. Because your interpretation of “tasty dinner” is, by definition, wrong.

So alternate with concrete examples that give a menu of options. Maybe you vary the price points and cuisines. “A tasty dinner sounds great! Are you thinking El Golden Palace sit-down tasting menu, In-’n-Out Pakoras, or McDonny’s Bloat Burgers?” By giving concrete examples and letting shmoopie choose, you can start to hone in on what might actually satisfy them.

Use Concrete Examples in Contracts

My favorite place to use concrete examples is in contracts. Lawyers hate them, because a concrete example actually makes things clear. So when you have a contract that says, “you’ll pay me for the logo I design,” add a few concrete examples.

“For example, (a) I design a logo and you love it, you pay me. (b) I design a logo, you hate it, we incorporate your feedback at least three times, and deliver a design. You pay me. (c) I design a logo. You love it, and refuse to pay me. You don’t get the rights to use it.”

If the lawyers fight you and insist the examples be removed, push back. “Why? Do you intend to take the logo and not pay me?” 

Be Devilishly Clever

When you’re making an agreement with someone, cover the big picture of the agreement and add concrete examples. Do it with work assignments, communicating policies, and making plans with shmoopie. That way, everyone is on the same page when it’s time to sign on the dotted line. And if the other person asks you to sign in blood, definitely double check the contract for loopholes. The Devil may be in the details, and you can do details, too. 

This is Stever Robbins. Follow GetItDoneGuy on Twitter and Facebook. I run programs to help people develop the kick-ass business skills they need to create an extraordinary life. If you want to know more, visit SteverRobbins.com. 

Work Less, Do More, and have a Great Life!

Can You Build Muscle with Body Weight Only Exercises?

Earlier this summer in How to Build Muscle with Body Weight Exercises, I reported on the results of a new study which showed that simply flexing your muscles the same way as you would if posing in front a mirror, flexing your abs, doing a “front double biceps post,” doing a body weight squat throughout a full range of motion was just as effective as traditional weight training when it came to building muscle.

While I noted that actual strength gains were greater in this study for a loaded weight training scenario versus a non-loaded condition, the research was worth taking a closer look at for anybody not wanting to be limited to using dumbbells, kettle bells, resistance bands, barbells, or machines to build muscle and for folks who instead want a body weight only option.

Now a new “low load, high rep” study has hit the streets, along with a 2017 workout strategy presented by yours truly and an intriguing article from a friend of mine about his own quite positive experience maintaining muscle with body weight only training. In this episode, we’ll take a look at these three new resources, discover whether you can build muscle with body weight only exercises, and find out if you need to actually lift heavy weight to build muscle.

The Newest Study on High Rep, Low Load Training

Let’s first take a look at the study Effects of rest intervals and training loads on metabolic stress and muscle hypertrophy, which was published quite recently. In the study, 20 young athletes who were part of a university gymnastics club volunteered to participate. These athletes had at least a couple years of experience with weight training, and were randomly assigned to a short-rest, low load group that performed 20 repetitions of their exercises with 30 seconds of rest between exercises or a high load, long-rest group that performed 8 repetitions of their exercises with a three minute rest between exercises. Both groups performed the same number of sets and same exercises (for their arm muscles) three times per week for 8 weeks.

They performed each exercise set to failure and used three biceps and three triceps exercises, specifically:

-barbell curl

-preacher curl

-hammer curl

-close grip bench press

-French press

-dumbbell extension

Over the course of the eight weeks, the researchers increased the weight by 10%, whenever the participants could perform more than 20 repetitions (for the low load group) or more than eight repetitions (for the high load group). If you actually do the math, the volume (# of reps x load lifted) was close to identical for each group.

So what did the researchers discover?

First, the high rep, low load protocol produced significantly greater increases in growth hormone. Second, there were long-term extra gains in the muscle cross-sectional areas and muscle thickness in the group that did the light load, high rep training, which was especially surprising when taking into account the fact that muscle size did not increase significantly in the high load training group! So it appears that, when it comes to hypertrophy (increases in muscle size), the low-load, high-rep group with the very short rest period won out.

Now granted, as I noted in my last article on this topic, as you would have expected, only the group that lifted the heavier loads and used the longer rest periods actually showed a significant increase in strength. Nonetheless, this study certainly suggests that training with more reps and lower weight and less rest builds more muscle compared to training with longer rest and more weight (although the latter will boost strength gains more significantly).

Finally, while the participants were not using body weight only exercises, there is a definite physiological crossover here in terms of the highlighting of the fact that you don’t necessarily need to “lift heavy stuff” to build or maintain muscle. You just need to exhaust the muscle.

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An Interesting Article on Body Weight Training

About the same time this study was released, my friend Skyler Tanner reported on an intriguing self-experiment he conducted using a year of mostly bodyweight only training.

Skyler only trained on Mondays (one day a week!) and, early in the year, his workouts comprised of the following exercises:

1. Chinup
2. Pushup
3. Single Leg Split Squat
4. Row
5. Dip
6. Hip work (single leg hip thrust, static abduction, 45* hyper, etc.)
7. Ab work

He used a 3/3 cadence for his reps (3 count up and 3 count down) and tried to reach failure within 6 to 10 reps for upper body exercises and 8 to 12 reps for lower body exercises. You may note that this approach stands on contrast to the previous study, which used much higher reps. However, Skyler was not using heavy barbells, kettlebells, dumbbells or other equipment that would traditionally be used to build or to maintain muscle.

As the year progressed, he maintained a low load but added some weight via a weighted vest.  Eventually, to keep the reps in a reasonable range as his body adapted to the moves, he began to use increased holds in the most mechanically disadvantaged position of an exercise (e.g. holding the bottom of a pushup exercise). For example, he found that while he could do 9 reps of 4 count down/4 count up pushups to failure with a thirty pound weighted vest, he could also reach failure with the same rep count by simply removing the weighted vest and instead adding a 4 second hold at the lower turnaround part of the pushup.

So what did he report?

Here’s his takeaway:

“Did I become He-Man? Nope. Did a become Zena? Nope. Did I maintain my muscle mass? Yes.”

Skyler then goes on to highlight a few great tips he discovered during his year of body weight training, including:

·         Use movements that track muscle/joint function through a safe range of motion (“loading patterns“). Think push/pull/squat/hinge.

·         Use a weight that lets you get to muscle failure in good form without suffering too much (it’s going to challenge you, but you shouldn’t chase suffering!).

·         Initiate the movement smoothly, as well as the turnarounds.

·         Train 1 to 3 times per week, depending on your goals and motivation

·         Spend the rest of your time moving and enjoying your life!

·         (Bonus) If you have a sport you’d like to excel in, keep but do less strength training. Include some more targeted exercises that might stave off overuse injuries (think rotator cuff work for pitching, or shin raises and hip abduction work for running).

·         (Bonus 2) If you’re osteoporotic, you’ll need sufficient loading to stimulate the bone turnover you’re after. Heavy static holds are the safe way to accomplish this in the face of your significant strength deficit (because your muscles got weak long before your bones did).

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My Own Body Weight Training Plan

As you’ve already discovered if you read Part 1 and Part 2 of my “What Is The Perfect Workout For 2017” series, I’m also programming body weight only training as an option for both my strength days and my power days.

For example, my body weight only alternative for Tuesday and Friday training is The Ultimate Efficient Body Weight Workout. You can find complete details and science behind this body weight routine here. Each exercise is to be performed for 30 seconds with 10 seconds of rest in between exercises.

Technically, one round only takes about 7 minutes, but if time permits, you should attempt to do 2-3 rounds. Use good form on every exercise, and, because the focus for this workout is power, try to low yourself slowly, then explode through the work portion of each exercise quickly.

Jumping jacks

Wall sits

Pushups

Crunches

Step-ups

Squats

Dips

Planks

Running in place with high knees

Lunges

Pushups with rotation

Side planks

Meanwhile, my Monday and Thursday body weight only option is to warm-up for 5-10 minutes, preferably with a gymnastics routine, Animal Flow, a Core Foundation routine, or anything else that dynamically prepares the body for movement and elevates the heart rate.

Next, choose from the “Strength” list below:

-one Upper Body Push

-one Lower Body Push

-one Upper Body Pull

-one Lower Body Pull

-one Full Body Move

As an option, you can pair each of the exercises above with a “Core/Mobility” exercise. But for a recent body weight training (a workout I completed in a hotel room), I didn’t even pair with any exercises and instead just did:

-Super slow pushups to exhaustion

-Super slow squats to exhaustion

-Super slow pullups (using a suspension strap I travel with) to exhaustion

-Super slow hip hinges to exhaustion

-Super slow V-ups

With just one round, my body was tired, two rounds I was beat, and three rounds I had a 40 minute exhausting training session that left me feeling like I’d been hoisting a heavy barbell!

 Do you have questions, comments or feedback about whether you can build muscle with body weight only exercises? Join the conversation at http://ift.tt/1PKzcip. 

Smelly Feet? Try These 6 Homemade Remedies

Lemon-Fresh Feet

Smelly feet? To freshen them easily, simply rub a few slices of lemon over them. This will also help prevent athlete’s foot.

Smelly Feet Start with Smelly Shoes

Keep your feet smelling fresh by sprinkling a bit of cornstarch into your shoes once or twice a week. The cornstarch will absorb moisture and odors, and you won’t be afraid to slip off those uncomfortable dress shoes under your desk. Cornstarch is a great way to prevent blisters too!

Sage for Stinky Feet

Go natural to get rid of stinky feet! Break up a few leaves of sage and spread them around inside your shoes. They’ll kill the bacteria that causes foot odor. To cut down on how much you perspire in the first place, try drinking sage tea. Herbalists say it will take several weeks, but you’ll see results!

Baking Soda Foot Deodorizer

You know that baking soda is great for absorbing odors in your refrigerator, but did you know that you can also use it to keep your feet from smelling bad? Try this odor-busting foot powder. Mix together a quarter cup of baking soda and five drops of your favorite essential oil, breaking up any lumps. Dust feet with the powder to reduce perspiration and odor. You can also sprinkle a little into stinky shoes.

Can You Use Deodorant on Your Feet?

Make your deodorant/antiperspirant do double duty: Apply it to your feet! Just as it does with your underarms, deodorant can reduce sweating and eliminate foot odors as well. A spray-on deodorant is easiest to apply to the feet, but you can also use the roll-on or stick varieties for the same great results.

Vodka for Smelly Feet

Got a bottle of vodka? Use it to fix foot odor. Saturate a paper towel with the vodka and rub it over your feet. The alcohol will instantly kill the odor-causing bacteria.

See also: DIY Pedicure: Pamper Your Feet on the Cheap

For more all natural remedies from all around the internet, check out our Health and Beauty Tips board on Pinterest. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Facebook and Instagram! 

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

6 Ways to Help Your Child Practice Self-Love

A parent has a major influence on his child’s self-esteem, so it can be truly heartbreaking when you witness your son or daughter struggling to feel good about him or herself. Self-esteem is the collection of beliefs or feelings that we all have about ourselves.  How we think about ourselves – either positively or negatively – influences our attitudes, behavior and success in life.  If your child has confidence in herself she’s also more likely to fight off peer pressure and stay away from drugs and alcohol.

Whether your child is a toddler or a teenager, you as his parent will influence how he thinks about himself.  In order to encourage your child to build good self-esteem and actually like himself, Mighty Mommy has six tips to keep in mind.

Tip #1:  Encourage Volunteering

Being kind to others as well as sharing your time to help those less fortunate can be one of the fastest paths to a healthy self-esteem. If you have a child who is really down on himself, try to shift his attention off of focusing on what he doesn’t like and instead encourage him to care for others. Mark Snyder, a psychologist and head of the Center for the Study, noted in Why Helping Others Makes Us Happy that people who volunteer tend to have higher self-esteem, psychological well-being, and happiness.

I found this to be true with several of my children, particularly my 16-year old son. He is the sixth of our eight kids and is not athletically inclined like our other children. He went through a terrible phase of putting himself down because he was not an athlete. He happens to have a great sense of humor, however, and is not only very witty he’s able to build anything, without directions, and loves to demonstrate this to others. Last year I asked him to help me by being my assistant in my Sunday school class. He reluctantly agreed but after the first class, he was hooked.  The younger kids really look up to him and he was able to share his love of creating things with them during class time. Not only is he a huge help to me, he has been a real source of comfort to some of the special needs kids in the class. His self-esteem has blossomed over the past year due to his volunteering. Help your child look for ways to share his time and talent and you will likely see a big shift in his sense of self. See Also: 5 Fun Ways to Encourge Kids to Volunteer

Tip #2:  Create a Self-esteem File

When I was in high school I was fortunate to have a very creative yet compassionate English teacher who taught me not only how to appreciate beautiful poetry and how to craft a well-written story she also taught me about self-worth.  At the beginning of my senior year she had the entire class create a very important file which was named “My self-esteem File”.  We all decorated a manila folder with bright, beautiful colors and stickers and throughout the school year we collected any papers, projects, memos or notes of praise that were given to us by our teachers and our classmates.  In addition we had to come up with a list of 10 things we liked about ourselves physically, academically, and character-wise.  We also had to have at least three classmates name ten attributes they admired about us.  We perused these self-esteem files on a regular basis, and it never failed to pump us up and make us feel like extremely valuable human beings.  To this day I have a similar file that I keep positive notes "fan mail" from readers and listeners, friends and family and of course, my editors and co-workers.  In a time where I’m not feeling so good about myself, I read through some of this file and it’s an instant pick-me-up.  Help your children to create their own “Self-esteem Files” so that they can collect words of praise throughout their childhood.  Together you can read all the complimentary things said about them and celebrate what makes them special.

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Tip #3:  Give Your Undivided Attention

One way to make another person feel like they aren’t very important or worthwhile is to not pay attention to them when they are talking to you or to continually interrupt them when they are trying to share their feelings. Kids are no different when it comes to this. If your daughter comes home from school excited to tell you about being chosen to represent her class in the Science fair and you pick up your cell phone to text your best friend about the neighborhood wine tasting while she’s sharing her big news, you’re sending a loud signal “you’re not that important to me.”  It’s impossible to be tuned in 100% of the time due to the logistics of having busy lives, but when we make the effort to focus and pay attention to our kids when they do have significant news to share, we are affirming their value in our lives, which in turn helps to build their self-esteem.  See Also:  Become a Better Listener with Your Kids

Tip #4:  Don’t Humiliate

There aren’t many of us who haven’t faced an embarrassing situation.  As the mother of eight kids I’ve had my fair share (more than I care to remember) and have witnessed many that my children have experienced as well. Not too long ago my son stood in the locker room getting ready for his basketball game only to pull out his uniform shorts and find my youngest daughter’s Tinkerbell underpants clinging to them.  He somehow survived that horrible moment even though several of his teammates nicknamed him Captain Hook for the rest of the afternoon.

Yet I also recall visiting a new friend’s home right after report cards came out and unfortunately her son didn’t receive good grades.  I was there when she opened it and looked at him with great disappointment and said “I thought you were in high school not kindergarten.  Do you want me to buy you a new box of crayons?”  That poor teen slithered out of the room at about 3 inches tall. 

When our kids do something wrong, it’s OK to call them on it and turn it into a teaching opportunity, but it’s never ok to humiliate them, especially in front of others.

Tip #5: Be Present   

The world we live in today is chock full of commitments, obligations and demanding schedules. It’s easy to see how parents can be overly distracted from the minute they rise and shine in the morning. One way to help our kids feel good about themselves is to connect with them on a regular basis. Turn off your cell phones, TVs and laptops and sit with your child for a few minutes each day and have an everyday conversation about school, their soccer team, their favorite ice cream flavor, how they like to spend free time after school.  When we show a genuine interest in our kids feelings and what’s going on in their lives we help build their self worth.  See Also:  8 Ways to be Present with Your Kids

Tip #6:  Laugh at Yourself

People who take themselves too seriously are certainly missing out on a lot of fun in life!  A good sense of humor and the ability to make light of oneself is an important part of living a happy and fulfilled life.  Kids need to learn that we all mistakes and many times if we laugh at ourselves, we can lighten the mood and move forward faster. If you make a mistake or do something you label as silly, view it as an opportunity to laugh at yourself or have a good laugh with your kids. For instance, just this week I came home from work, put dinner in the oven, set the kitchen timer and headed to the laundry room to fold towels while dinner cooked.  When I returned to the kitchen 45 minutes later, I discovered I had set the timer but forgot to turn on the oven.  Dinner would now be an hour late, but instead of getting upset (I thought about crying, but I was too tired!) I started to sing the song from The Wizard of Oz “If I only had a brain” to which two of my kids joined in.  We were all hysterical laughing within a few short minutes and eventually, we did get to eat our lasagna for dinner.  Having the ability to laugh at yourself means you accept you're not perfect but feel pretty good about who you are.  See Also:  5 Ways to be a More Playful Parent

What are some ways you help to boost your child’s self-esteem?   Share your thoughts in the comments section at http://ift.tt/1zMEe2L, post your ideas on the Mighty Mommy Facebook page. or email me at mommy@quickanddirtytips.com. Visit my family-friendly boards at http://ift.tt/1wyJKr5.

Be sure to sign up for the upcoming Mighty Mommy newsletter chock full of practical advice to make your parenting life easier and more enjoyable. 

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

The Simple Math Behind Crunching the Sizes of Crowds

There are over 7 billion people on Earth today, and occasionally a bunch of them decide to converge for one reason or another. We’re talking thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of people in the same place at the same time. As those of us in the United States (and no doubt around the world) have recently witnessed, such events include things like U.S. presidential inaugurations and political marches.

In case you haven’t heard, there’s been a bit of a fracas brewing over the exact sizes of crowds at certain events held in the U.S. this past week. While I don’t want to get into the political aspects of these issues (nor the very reasonable questions about why we’re having these sideshow conversations at all), I feel that it’s important to note that estimating crowd sizes is a solved problem that’s actually pretty straightforward. And it’s relevant to us math fans because it’s really nothing more than a simple exercise in basic math.

So, how do crowd estimate experts estimate crowds? Let’s find out.

Counting Crowds

The most reliable method for estimating the size of a crowd is to actually count the size of the crowd. In truth, I’d say this method provides a measurement of the crowd size rather than an estimate since it’s just a matter of counting up people—there’s no other math involved. The beauty of this method is that the uncertainty in your measurement should be extremely low, which means you can be confident about the count’s reliability. Such a direct count is easy to do when crowd sizes are relatively small or when people have to pass through doors or turnstiles, but it’s hard (or even impossible) to do when crowds are large and spread out.

The most reliable method for estimating the size of a crowd is to actually count the size of the crowd.

In such cases, we have to rely upon our math and reasoning skills. In particular, we have to change tactics from performing a count to performing an estimation. As with any estimate, there will be uncertainty in the final tally since the whole process relies upon a set of assumptions which each are accompanied by some uncertainty. But the beauty of math and statistics is that it provides us with a framework within which we can not only estimate the size of a crowd, but also estimate the quality of our estimate. Which means we can accurately calculate the range of the crowd size which, with very high probability, contains the actual number of people.

Low-Tech Crowd Size Estimates

For medium to large crowds spread out over medium to large areas, your best-bet low-tech solution for obtaining accurate crowd counts is to use the method developed by UC Berkeley professor Herbert Jacobs in the 1960s. While observing crowds of protestors gathering in the plaza below his office window, Jacobs realized that he could take advantage of a geometrical/architectural feature of the plaza to come up with crowd size estimates. Since the concrete of the plaza was poured in a grid pattern, Jacobs started by performing an accurate count of the number of people in a few typical grids, and then obtained his total tally by multiplying this average count per grid by the total number of grids. As I said, this isn’t exactly rocket science.

We can get a bit fancier and obtain a more complete understanding of crowd sizes by incorporating uncertainty. For example, imagine you are in charge of counting a crowd. The first thing you do is find a vantage point that gives you a good overview of the scene. Even if you’re not so lucky as to have a grid pattern poured in concrete to work with, you can still mentally divide up the scene into some sort of grid. Suppose you count the people in several squares and conclude that the average square contains between 20 and 25 people (since the density of all crowds does naturally vary from place-to-place). To come up with your estimate of the crowd size, you can then multiply the low and high estimates of the number of people per square by the total number of squares. If there are 300 squares, you would conclude that there are between 20•300=6,000 and 25•300=7,500 people in total.

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Modern High-Tech Crowd Size Estimates

With really big events such as presidential inaugurations or political marches, modern technology offers some assistance to the crowd estimating experts of the world. Today you can launch a balloon or drone-borne camera system to hover over an event and take high resolution images of the crowd. But even with these technological advances, the best crowd estimates still ultimately come down to measuring the average density of people in a representative region of the crowd and then multiplying this value by the total area over which those people are spread out.

Modern technology offers some assistance to the crowd estimating experts of the world.

There are a few additional modern twists on the simple grid pattern technique in use today. For example, computers (and the humans that write the software they are running) are pretty good at looking at images and classifying different regions of those images based upon their densities. So instead of breaking up an image into a regular grid pattern, a computer can figure out the different amoeba-shaped regions in an image that share similar densities. Once you have such a map of the different regions, you can turn it into a more precise crowd count by calculating the actual density of humans in each region and performing the arithmetic problem just as before. The idea is the same, but the technique does provide more precise results.

The Certainty and Uncertainty of Crowd Sizes

Even though we have the mathematical know-how to reliably estimate crowd sizes, you’ll still find that different groups can come up with very different estimates. Most of the time these differences don’t point to a problem with the math but are instead traceable to the biases of the person (or people) performing the estimate. For example, police, media, and event organizers often report different numbers. Why? Well, it’s fairly obvious that different groups might benefit by having larger or smaller numbers reported. Event organizers typically want to bolster their message, so they might be inclined to be “generous” with the assumptions they make in calculating their values.

While it’s good to keep all of this in mind, the real takeaway message here is that calculating crowd sizes isn’t all that complicated. The bottom line is that pictures don’t lie … and with the help of a bit of simple math, they provide all the information needed to accurately estimate crowd sizes.

Wrap Up

Okay, that’s all the math we have time for today.

For more fun with math, please check out my book,The Math Dude’s Quick and Dirty Guide to Algebra. Also, remember to become a fan of The Math Dude on Facebook and to follow me on Twitter.

Until next time, this is Jason Marshall with The Math Dude’s Quick and Dirty Tips to Make Math Easier. Thanks for reading, math fans!

Crowd image from Shutterstock.

6 Simple Ways to Get Rid of Foot and Toenail Fungus

DIY Peppermint Powder

Keep your feet fresh and dry with this peppermint-scented foot powder. Place a quarter cup of unscented body powder, five drops of peppermint essential oil, and five drops of tea tree oil in a Ziploc bag and seal carefully. You’ll need to massage the outside of the bag to get the oils to blend together evenly with the powder. To use, dust a little onto clean feet. The peppermint has a refreshing quality, and tea tree oil is a natural anti-fungal.

Blow Dryer

For optimal protection, wash your feet every day and dry them thoroughly afterward. Fungus loves moist environments, so drying is especially crucial. After bathing, blow a hair dryer on your feet—and between your toes!—to make sure they’re completely free of moisture. Remove sweaty shoes and socks as soon as possible so the hot sweat doesn’t linger on your skin and nails.

Tea Tree Oil

Pick up some pure tea tree oil at your local health-food store and use it to treat your infected nail. A favorite of naturopaths, this oil has antiseptic and antifungal properties, and it’s been shown to be an effective weapon against toenail infections. Rub the oil over your nail a few times a day for as long as necessary. As with other treatments, it may take months or even longer to completely eliminate the fungus, so be patient!

Garlic

Garlic is an antimicrobial and antifungal, and it makes one funky fungus-fighting treatment. Spread mashed garlic onto a gauze bandage, wrap it around the affected toe and nail, and tape to secure. Reapply this wrap using fresh garlic every few hours.

Listerine

Although marketed for its antibacterial powers in the mouth, it’s also used to treat fungus thanks to its combination of alcohol and essential oils, which include menthol, thymol, and eucalyptus. Soak your fungus-plagued toes in mouthwash for up to 30 minutes twice a day until the fungus is gone and the nail has grown out.

VapoRub

This drugstore staple is not just for chest congestion. VapoRubs’s combination of eucalyptus oil, camphor, menthol, and thymol makes it an effective treatment for fungus. Apply VapoRub all over your yucky nail, including down into the sides and beneath the nail plate (if possible) to coat the fungus completely. Wrap securely in a bandage for protection, and replace if it comes loose. Repeat every day until the toe improves, which can take two to six weeks.

See also: How to Treat Athlete's Foot

For more all natural remedies from all around the internet, check out our Health and Beauty Tips board on Pinterest. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Facebook and Instagram! 

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

Discovering Guy Burgess: Cambridge's Most Infamous Spy

Image courtesy of Celtic VT/Wikipedia

UH: Today we are joined by author Andrew Lownie, whose book Stalin's Englishman is out now at book retailers everywhere. He first became interested in the Cambridge Spy Ring when, as President of the Cambridge Union Society in 1984, he arranged an international seminar on the subject. After graduating from Cambridge University, he went on to take a postgraduate degree in history at Edinburgh University. He is now a successful literary agent, and has written or edited several books. Welcome, Andrew.

AL: Hello! 

UH: Who exactly was Guy Burgess, and how did he become one of the Cambridge spies?

AL: Guy Burgess was born in 1911, and he was one of what we call the Cambridge Five, a ring of spies that provided British and American secrets to the Soviets before and during the Cold War. He was a very intelligent, wealthy, and well-educated young man who was living in Cambridge and studying at Trinity College when he got involved with Communist politics, and became friends with a man called Kim Philby. Through Philby he was recruited by the Russians to become a Russian spy in 1935. 

UH: How was Guy eventually suspected of espionage and what did he do then?

AL: I think the irony of the whole situation is that Burgess was never suspected of espionage; it was only him fleeing with another member of the Cambridge Give, Donald Maclean, in 1951 that made people realize he was part of the ring. If he hadn’t escorted Maclean, he wouldn’t have been discovered, as he hadn’t actually been identified in the Verona Codes that identified Maclean; he might well have just been disciplined, left the Foreign Office, and retired to the British countryside, or gone and lived abroad, and we probably never would’ve hear of him. 

UH: How does his story represent both other spies during the Cold War, and in what way is his story more compelling or more unique than other spies?

AL: I think he’s in some ways the most tragic comic of the spies. He was very lonely when he was stationed in Moscow; he found nothing to do there except to drink, he never really assimilated, he never learnt Russian, and he didn’t really have many friends apart from some visitors. The other members of the Cambridge Five were better; Donald Macleans family joined him in Moscow and he learnt Russian, and Kim Philby came later than Burgess so he wasn’t there as long. But of course he was like all the others; they were all recruited at the same time, by the same people, all within the space of a year or so in the mid-1930’s. They all knew each other, and in fact Maclean and Burgess were lovers for a time, and then Burgess and Blunt were lovers, sharing a flat together during the war. They were all close friends and very interconnected. I think that's why people are so fascinated by them, because not only were they very privileged, and it seems weird that they should turn on their backgrounds like this, but also that they all knew each other, and indeed a wider group of people, really anyone who was anyone in mid-20^th century Britain knew some of the Cambridge spies. 

UH: What are the challenges of writing about a secret world?

AL: Writing intelligence history is very difficult, because you rely on documents and you rely on interviews, and neither of them is very easy to obtain. You can’t talk to intelligence officials because they aren’t allowed to talk to you, and in addition these people are taught to lie, so they’re very unlikely to give you the truth even if you do get them to talk. The Russians I interviewed at the time were giving disinformation and just playing with me, so you have to be able to corroborate that. Clearly in a case like this that’s 70 years old most people are dead – there are only about a dozen still alive- but luckily I was able to talk to about a hundred because I began this book 30 years ago. The other problem is the lack of documentation. There is some material in private archives, and clearly there are letter and diaries that are kept, but generally the British and Americans do not release intelligence documents, so it’s very hard to get the picture of what happened. 

Listen to the rest of the interview with Andrew Lownie on the Unknown History podcast.

You can pick up a copy of Stalin's Englishman from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Apple, or Booksamillion.

 

 

 

 

Names of the Months

As with many words in English, the twelve words we use for the twelve months come from Latin. Strangely enough, though, the Ancient Romans had only ten months for a while. Over the centuries, other calendars have been introduced, evolving into the one we use today.

The Ten Roman Months

Centuries ago, around 753 BC, it’s believed that Romulus, the first king of Rome, invented the original, pre-Julian, Roman calendar, which was probably a lunar calendar, meaning it was based on the cycles of the moon. This calendar had ten months covering 304 days. The months were named Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Iunius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, and December. (1) 

The first four Roman months sound less familiar than the later ones. The names of Roman gods and goddesses figure into three of the four names: Martius was named for Mars, the god of war; (2) Maius comes from Maia, the goddess who “oversaw the growth of plants”; (3) and Iunius comes from Juno, “patroness of marriage and the well-being of women.” (3) Aprilis is the odd one out, likely coming from aperire, the Latin word for “open.” Aprilis was so named “because it is the month in which the buds begin to open.” (2) Incidentally, another English word that comes from aperire is aperture, which refers to a small opening such as a hole or a gap. (4) 

The names of the last six months in the Roman calendar—Quintilis through December—seem strictly number based. Quintilis starts with quint, meaning “five,” as in the word quintuplets, referring to five babies born at once. Likewise, Sextilis, relates to the number six, as in the word sextuplets. You won’t be surprised to learn that the months September through December originate from the Latin septem, octo, novem, and decem, the numbers seven through ten, respectively. (2)

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January and February

To recap, Martius became March, Aprilis turned into April, Maius is now May, and Iunius became June. September through December are pretty clear. Together, those make eight of the twelve month names, so there are four left to discuss. Up next are January and February; we’ll talk more about Quintilis and Sextilis, now July and August, in a minute.

According to timeanddate.com, the 304-day Roman calendar was flawed because “it didn’t align with the seasons,” and about 61 days were missing during the winter. (1) To solve this, around 700 BC, King Numa Pompilius added 50 or 51 days to the calendar, adding two months to the beginning of the year. These were called Januarius and Februarius, our January and February. Januarius comes from Janus, the Roman god who protected gates and doorways, and the word Februarius originates with Februalia, a Roman “festival of purification and atonement.” (3) If you have ever wondered why there is a silent R in the middle of the word February, you have the Latin februa, meaning “to cleanse,” to thank for this spelling difficulty. (3) 

The Julian Calendar, and July and August

Despite the addition of two months, the calendar still had problems. (1) After the Romans made various failed attempts to align the calendar with the seasons, it was decided to add what was called the “intercalary month.” The high priest of the College of Pontiffs in ancient Rome (otherwise known as the pontifex maximus) got to control when to insert this extra month, and this became a problem because “a pontifex maximus could control the length of the year depending on (his) political agenda.” (1) 

Julius Caesar, who lived from 100 BC to 44 BC, began developing what was known as the Julian Calendar in 46 BC, and he abolished the intercalary month. (3) The Julian Calendar was completed during the reign of Caesar’s successor and grandnephew, Augustus, (1) who lived from 63 BC to 13 AD. The names Quintilis and Sextilis were changed to July and August, respectively, in honor of these two leaders: Julius Caesar and his grandnephew Augustus. (3)

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The Gregorian Calendar

The Julian Calendar was in effect for centuries, but this is not our calendar today. We use the Gregorian Calendar, named after Pope Gregory XIII, who issued a papal bull about it in 1582. A papal bull is a letter or announcement from the pope to the Catholic world. The pope felt the Julian Calendar had to be replaced because “it did not properly reflect the actual time it takes the Earth to circle once around the Sun, known as a tropical year.” (5) The Julian Calendar had “miscalculated the length of the solar year,” and as a result the calendar didn’t coincide with the seasons, especially Easter, which the church wanted to schedule relative to the spring equinox. (6) The solution was to chop out some days—quite a few, in fact. It took more than 300 years for all countries to adopt the calendar, and the longer they waited, the more days they had to cut. For example, when Britain and its American colonies switched to the Gregorian Calendar in 1752, they deleted 11 days,(7) whereas Turkey, the last country to make the official switch in 1927, had to delete 13 days. (8)

The Calendar Today

The calendar we use today is quite accurate but not perfect. Experts calculate that come year 4909 on the Gregorian calendar, we’ll be off by a day again. (8) That’s a long way off, so for now just make sure to put in that silent R when you are spelling the word February.

That segment was written by Bonnie Mills, author of The Curious Case of the Misplaced Modifier.

Sources

1. timeanddate.com. “The Roman Calendar.” http://ift.tt/2hKAh07. Accessed January 15, 2017.

2. Encyclopedia Mythica. “Origin of the names of the months.” http://ift.tt/2jlm1a6l. Accessed January 15, 2017.

3. The Old Farmer’s Almanac. “Origin of Month Names.” http://ift.tt/2jw2FTa. Accessed January 15, 2017.

4. Dictionary.com. “Aperture.” http://ift.tt/2jlnE7L. Accessed January 15, 2017.

5. timeanddate.com. “Change From Julian to Gregorian Calendar.” http://ift.tt/2hbXJT1. Accessed January 15, 2017.

6. History.com. “6 Things You May Not Know About The Gregorian Calendar.” http://ift.tt/2jln9L0r. Accessed January 15, 2017.

7. “1752 Calendar Change.” http://ift.tt/1MmKJz9. Accessed January 23, 2017.

8. timeanddate.com. “Change From Julian to Gregorian Calendar.” http://ift.tt/2hbXJT1. Accessed January 15, 2017.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

6 Ways to Build Your Resilience

Kelly Clarkson reminds us that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, Elton John is still standing, and of course, Gloria Gaynor will survive. What’s the common thread? A little thing glinting in the eye of the tiger called resilience.

Resilience: it’s adapting and responding positively to stress and adversity. The adversity you face may be long-term, like having an alcoholic parent or growing up in poverty. Or it may be a single lightning strike of tragedy—a car accident that claims a limb, an assault that claims your dignity. Even first-world problems require a shot of micro-resilience, like when the person ahead of you snags the last blueberry scone (I’m talking to you, red beanie). No matter the scale of your tragedy, resilience is all in how you respond.

Resilience has gotten some pushback recently. By encouraging “resilience,” detractors say, we imply that setbacks are exclusively individual, when in fact they often come from systemic barriers, like racism, sexism, economic inequality, or other injustices.

The answer? As with many things, it’s complicated. The solution to systemic injustice shouldn’t be to expect each individual to pull themselves out despite tractor-beam-like forces pulling them back. At the same time, resilience isn’t an empty idea: individuals can and do respond differently to the problems life dishes up.

Importantly, resilience is a skill, not a you-have-it-or-you-don’t trait, which means whether you sink or swim is a skill that can be taught. So what can you do? Here are 6 ways to make like a rubber band and bounce back.

Tip #1: Give yourself permission to feel lousy. You heard that right. We’ve all heard the cheerful encouragement of: “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!” or “Hey, when one door closes, another one opens!” But rah-rah motivational slogans often feel useless, like a new lid for already-spilled coffee.

True resilience doesn’t mean you never get discouraged. In fact, pain is almost universal among the resilient—after all, if you never encounter painful struggle, you never get to discover your resilience.

Therefore, resilience isn’t about hiding your pain and pretending everything is peachy, nor is it unfeeling stoicism—you’re human, not a machine, and getting knocked down hurts. In short, what matters isn’t how you feel; it’s that you get up again. That’s resilience.

Tip #2: Trust that you control your fate, not the other way around. In 1955, the psychologist Dr. Emmy Werner and her colleagues began to follow every child—almost 700 of them—born that year on the Hawai’ian island of Kaua’i. It marked the beginning of a study that would last more than 40 years.

Kauai in the 1950’s was not a privileged place. Many of the kids were raised in poverty, had unstable, chaotic families, and had mothers who never went to high school. But despite all this, by the time they reached age 40, one-third of the group was, as the study said, “competent, confident, and caring.” They defied the odds—none of that one-third was unemployed, had been in trouble with the law, or relied on social services. Their accomplishments equaled or surpassed many of the kids who grew up in more stable environments. The researchers itched to know: how did they beat the odds? What was the secret ingredient in such resilience?

Again, it’s complicated. Some of it was luck, some of it was having at least one emotionally stable and loving family member to look out for them, and some of it was finding an emotional home in a civic organization, at school, or at church.

But the most important thing the resilient kids had was something called an internal locus of control, meaning that these kids believed that they, not their circumstances, were in the driver’s seat. They believed they could control their life, as opposed to being controlled by whatever life dished out. For example, the researchers noted that resilient kids with a dysfunctional family were good at “recruiting” surrogate parents, whether a youth minister, a trusted teacher, or even a friend’s parent.

How can you apply this to you? In short, act. Do. Take decisive action. It’s tempting to put the future in the hands of fate, but take control as best you can.

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Tip #3: If you don’t know what to do, look to your values. It’s all fine and good to make executive decisions, you might say, but what if the way isn’t clear? A handful of studies have found that having a moral compass—an internal system of values and ethics—goes along with higher resilience. A belief in human ethics and morality gives rise to purpose, which in turn gives rise to resilience. So maybe in the bigger picture that blueberry scone was nothing to get worked up about?

Tip #4: Recharge with some exercise. Dealing with setbacks can be exhausting, so it’s important not just to push, push, push your way back, but to rest and recharge along the way. How to do this? You have full permission to recharge in any way you wish [re: on the couch with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s and a New Girl marathon], but consider, between episodes, some exercise (regular listeners, you knew that one was coming).

When going through rough times, exercise is often a mini metaphor for life’s larger challenges: We set short-term goals that build mental momentum to reach larger goals in the long term. Getting ourselves off our butts on both good days and bad is resilience in action.

Plus, exercise improves mood and motivation, which directly impact how we perceive our ability to face obstacles, and it plain old relieves stress and gives us a break. It’s the ultimate recharge, plus you can feel better about the aforementioned Ben & Jerry’s.

Tip #5: Set realistic goals. You may want to get rich, get famous, and look fabulous doing it, but part of resilience involves not setting ourselves up for failure. Indeed, in the Kaua’i study, one of the characteristics of the resilient adults was that they set realistic educational and career goals for themselves. If we set too many, too lofty goals, we may see not achieving them as a personal failure on our part. So keep the scale of your goals reasonable. Challenge yourself and aim high, of course, but be fair to yourself.

Tip #6: Tell your friends how you’re feeling. It’s cliche, but it works. According to a study of student nurses doing emotionally exhausting work in a literal life-or-death environment, those who were able to do two things were less prone to burnout. Those two things were 1) to draw on support from friends and colleagues, and 2) to genuinely express their emotions—from sorrow to frustration to joy. Those students were better able to muster the wherewithal to continue the tough emotional work their job required. So tell people you trust how you feel. Be honest and authentic rather than trying to put on a good face, and you’ll come out the other side able to keep calm and carry on.

It’s only when you’re faced with obstacles that your resilience skills are honed. Even Barry Manilow made it through the rain. And so can you, with a secret weapon called resilience. 

Get more savvy by subscribing to the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher, or get the episode delivered straight to your inbox by signing up for the newsletter.

Leave in the Lurch

Maybe your coworker resigned in the middle of a big project, leaving you to pick up the pieces. Or maybe your science fair partner was a slacker, leaving you to finish the entire display. Yup. You got left in the lurch. 

But what is a lurch? And can you leave someone there?

Let’s start at the beginning.

The word lurch comes from a 16th-century French game called lourche. The specifics of the game have been lost, but we think it was a dice game, something like backgammon. In lourche, if you fell far behind the other players, you were said to incur a lurch. 

The term was picked up and used in cribbage, which was born in the same era as lourche. Cribbage is a card game, but players use a wooden board lined with holes to keep track of their scores. As players gain points, they move their pegs around the board, trying to be the first person to reach 61 points.

If one person gets 61 before another player gets 31, guess what? The loser is lurched, and the winner scores two games instead of one. Boom.

This sense of being left behind and badly defeated can be felt in the expression to leave in the lurch. It means to be abandoned in a difficult situation, without support or succor.  

And listeners, that’s just not nice.  

So, there’s your tidbit for today. Be kind to one another. Support your friends, family, and neighbors—instead of leaving them in the lurch.

Samantha Enslen runs Dragonfly Editorial. You can find her at dragonflyeditorial.com or @DragonflyEdit.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

Sources

Ammer, Christine. Leave in the lurch. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, 2nd ed. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. 

Cresswell, Julia. The Cat's Pyjamas: The Penguin Book of Clichés. Chapter 4, Sports and Games. Penguin UK, 2007. 

Dent, Susie. Leave in the lurch. Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 19th ed. Chambers Harrap, 2012.

Jarvie, Gordon. Bloomsbury Dictionary of Idioms. Leave someone in the lurch. A & C Black Publishers, 2009. 

Oxford English Dictionary, online edition. Oxford University Press. Lurch. Cribbage. (subscription required, accessed August 15, 2016).

Not Only But Also

When not only is followed by but also (or simply but), it's considered good form to make sure the parts that follow each set of words are formatted the same way.

Examples of ‘Not Only But Also’

For example, this sentence is good because it uses two noun phrases:

Aardvark is not only a great fisherman but also a great friend.

A great fisherman is a noun phrase and it follows not only, and a great friend is a noun phrase and it follows but also.

Keep It Parallel

Sometimes people write sentences like this, in which the parts aren’t parallel, and that can be called out as bad style:

Aardvark is not only a great fisherman but also works hard to be a good friend. 

A great fisherman follows not only and is a noun phrase, but works hard to be a good friend follows but also and is a verb phrase. Since one is a noun phrase and one is a verb phrase, they don’t match grammatically, and that’s why it’s bad. 

If you want to use a verb phrase, you can rewrite the first part to match:

Aardvark not only excels at fishing but also works hard to be a good friend.

That’s your Quick and Dirty Tip, try to use parallel elements when you’re writing a sentence that uses not only with but also.

This article originally appeared January 29, 2011, and was updated January 27, 2017.

4 Ways to Test If Your Baking Ingredients Have Gone Bad

The Baking Powder Test

Did you know baking powder loses potency over time? If you can’t remember when you bought yours, run a test before using it. Here’s how: Put ½ teaspoon baking powder in a small bowl, then pour in a quarter cup of hot tap water. The more vigorously the baking powder bubbles, the fresher it is. (Try this test on a fresh box of baking powder so you know what to look for.) Also, when buying baking powder, be sure to check the expiration date on the box. Once opened, it will remain fresh for about a year.

See also: 20 Kitchen Items You Should Never Pay For

The Baking Soda Test

If you’re not sure how old your baking soda is, test its activity level. Stir a quarter teaspoon of baking soda into about two teaspoons of white vinegar. If it doesn’t bubble vigorously, throw it out.

Flour Test

Not sure whether the flour in your canister is self-rising or all-purpose? Taste it. Self-rising flour is a bit salty because it contains baking powder.

Yeast Test

Is your yeast too old? Proof it to be sure it’s not ready for retirement. Dissolve a little sugar in some warm water, then sprinkle in the yeast. The mixture should begin bubbling within five to seven minutes. If it doesn’t, the yeast is too inactive to provide the leavening function, and you should throw it away.

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Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

5 Internet Search Tips for Reliable Medical Information

I was speaking to Tech Talker, the latest addition to the Quick and Dirty Tips team, and we’ve both noticed how much medical information there is on the web. I find that that more and more of my patients rely on the internet for their health info prior to seeing me in the office.  That is just the reality of living in our internet-perusing, Google-searching, mouse-clicking world. Whether it’s to find an old flame on Facebook, or to self-diagnose our ailments, internet searching is now second nature to most of us.

“I had some abdominal pain, so I Googled it last night, and it said I have cancer, Doc!”

“No way am I getting that flu shot – I saw that cheerleader video on YouTube!”

“I’ve had this back pain for two weeks, and this website says I need an MRI.  Will you order me one, Doc?”

Healthcare is changing and growing alongside technology.  It’s just a sign of the times, and I have come to truly embrace this new challenge.  I love the fact that my patients yearn to learn more about their health conditions.  The more medical knowledge they obtain, the better equipped they will be to take care of themselves. 

Unfortunately, it turns out that many of my patients are perusing rather unreliable websites, and that is my only hesitation with this new internet age. What makes me occasionally shudder is when a patient convinces themselves that they have an incurable disease because of something they read from an unreliable source.  Remember: the internet is completely unverified. Anyone can post anything they please, and they may have absolutely zero medical background. 

So today, I’d like to share my 5 tips for perusing the internet to find reliable medical information.

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5 Tips for Perusing the Internet

Tip #1:  Avoid “.com” Websites

Be wary of any medical websites that end in “.com,” as these tend to come from less reliable and unverified sources. They also often have advertisements and their goal is to make money off of the reader who may intentionally or accidentally click on an ad.  Instead, opt for websites that end in “.org” or “.gov” for your health information.

Here’s a list of websites that I recommend to my own patients as a more reliable source of medical information:

www.familydoctor.org

www.cdc.gov

http://ift.tt/Nd1MHK

www.nih.gov

www.healthfinder.gov

www.nlm.nih.gov

http://www.who.int/en/

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Tip #2:  Find the Source

Always ask yourself, “Who is writing this article?”  Is it written by a physician or an expert in the field?  More than likely, it’s not.  Many magazines and online medical articles are written by journalists with a “focus” in health – what does this mean, exactly?  Is their educational background sufficient enough to be giving medical advice?  Doctors complete a minimum of 11 years of schooling to do what they do.  Is a 6 month course in “health” sufficient to advise you on your heart condition? I don’t think so.

Tip #3:  Be Wary of Headlines

Remember: the ultimate goal of the news, magazines, and many websites is to sell.  The more frightening and controversial their writing, the more money they make.  So before you buy into anything you read or see, ask yourself if the source is reliable  for the type of information you are seeking?  For example, Vogue magazine can certainly comment on the latest Prada collection, but is it really a reliable authority on medical topics?

Tip #4:  Research the Article’s Sponsors

Is the writer affiliated with an entity who wants to sell you a product?  Does the author work for a pharmaceutical company?  What are they trying to sell you?  The source should be completely unbiased for the information to be considered reliable.  Otherwise, be wary…very wary.

Tip #5:  What You Are Reading is One-Dimensional

The internet cannot solve complex medical problems that require a background of experience and human reasoning.  The computer cannot perform a physical exam, or feel your level of pain, anxiety, or whatever it may be.  Medicine is very complex, and not always cut and dry.  Typing a list of symptoms into a web-based diagnosis program is not the same as seeing your health professional. Trust your doctor.  And if you don’t, find one you do trust.

If you can keep the above tips in mind while perusing the internet, you can make better and more well-informed decisions regarding your health.  After all, it’s your health – nothing to take lightly or to mess with. One small incorrect decision can be potentially fatal.  Again, this is why doctors go to school for so long – let us be your guide.  Feel free to peruse and search, but ask your doctor for their opinion on the matter before you convince yourself of anything.

Please note that all content here is strictly for informational purposes only.  This content does not substitute any medical advice, and does not replace any medical judgment or reasoning by your own personal health provider.  Please always seek a licensed physician in your area regarding all health related questions and issues.

Do you have trouble with punctuation? Check out Grammar Girl’s Punctuation 911 today: http://ift.tt/2kmiGcQ

Woman searching on Computer image courtesy of Shutterstock

6 Myths That Are Costing You Money on Gas

Restarting Your Engine Uses More Gas than Idling

If you are waiting for longer than 30 seconds in your car, turn off the engine. You use more fuel idling after 30 seconds than you use to restart your car.

Your Car Needs to Warm Up in Winter

If you have a newer car, you can skip the long warm-ups, even in winter! Today’s cars are designed to warm up while being driven, so after you give the car 30–60 seconds of idling time, you can be on your way—just take it easy for the first few minutes on the road. You’ll save both time and gas!

Seat Warmers Waste Energy

Heated seats in your car may seem like a luxury, but they can actually be a huge money-saver. Heated seats don’t have to use as much energy (that is, gas) as your car’s heating vents to keep you warm. If they aren’t offered when you buy your car, consider getting a heated pad for your seat or even having heated seats installed after-market.

Changing Your Oil Less Frequently Saves You Money

Change your oil regularly and you’ll have to fill up on gas less often. As oil ages, it gets thicker and harder to push through the engine, causing more energy to be used. By changing your oil regularly, you’ll make sure you get the best fuel economy possible.

Premium Gas Makes Your Car Run Better

Only 5 percent of cars actually run better on premium gas as opposed to regular. Make sure to check your owner’s manual to see what it recommends.

“Topping Off” is Worthwhile

Have you ever “topped off” your car’s gas tank to round out the price at the pump? You should know that since the pump is only pumping out vapors at that point, they’re automatically sucked back into gas station’s tank. In other words, even though you now have exact change, you didn’t get any extra gas!

For more easy ways to take care of your car, follow our Car Tips board on Pinterest. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Facebook and Instagram!

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.