Showing posts with label ▷ 2014 Apr 05. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ▷ 2014 Apr 05. Show all posts
Saturday, April 05, 2014
Def'n: Bonsai
Bonsai From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Bonsai at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum
at the United States National Arboretum
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"Bonsai" is a Japanese pronunciation of the earlier Chinese term penzai. A "bon" is a tray-like pot typically used in bonsai culture. The word bonsai is often used in English as an umbrella term for all miniature trees in containers or pots. This article focuses on bonsai as defined in the Japanese tradition.
The purposes of bonsai are primarily contemplation (for the viewer) and the pleasant exercise of effort and ingenuity (for the grower). By contrast with other plant cultivation practices, bonsai is not intended for production of food, for medicine, or for creating yard-size or park-size gardens or landscapes. Instead, bonsai practice focuses on long-term cultivation and shaping of one or more small trees growing in a container.
Video: Bonsai
Note:
Bonsai Society of Edmonton
Meeting schedule: The 3rd Thursday of every month from 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM
This YouTubes is for a bonsai beginner ...
History of Bonsai
Uploaded on May 3, 2006Learn about the history of the ancient Chinese art of growing the bonsai tree, in this free video.
Expert: Mike Hansen
Bio: Mike Hansen, owner of Midwest Bonsai, has been growing, caring, selling, and instructing others in bonsai care for years. Mike is an expert bonsai master.
Standard YouTube License @ expert village
Saturday Comics
| For Better and For Worse Lynn Johnston - 2014/03/30  "Hmm,... mom was right !!" | Dilbert Scott Adams - 2014/03/30  "My gut sends me messages in morse code..." |
Peanuts Charles Schulz - 2014/03/30 
"Okay Lucy, where you on that fly ball ??"
| Doonesbury Garry Trudeau - 2014/03/30  "You've reached MyFACTS supporting your reality..." |
** I tried to get low or free price at the people http://www.UniversalUclick.com/ for the images for the cartoons. It was too high for Stroke Survivors Tattler i.e. we are not a regular newspaper and our budget is very low. Fortunately, you will have to do only 1-click more to see the cartoon image, it is legit and it is free using GoComics.com and Dilbert.com.
Note: Now SSTattler are running cartoons starting on the previous Sunday.
Eclectic Stuff
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Definition: Eclectic(noun) a person who derives ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.
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Sunday Stroke Survival ~ Bonsai - Banzai!
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| Jo Murphey The Murphey Saga |
When I first scrolled this topic to write about I immediately made the correlation between Bonsai and Banzai. Being half Japanese, I knew that Bonsai was the art of creating little trees that live for decades even centuries. The art of design teaches mind/eye coordination, imagery, patience, and even relaxation and meditation states.Yes, I know I should be talking about these little trees, but I'm not. So there! :oP I'll leave that to others.
Now this is where my mind gets quirky. No, it isn't because of the stroke. I was like this before as an author. The little nuances of twists and turns possible with a couple letters changed in a word and slight variation of the meanings. With this revelation, I found I may not have lost all my language skills also. Or not totally.
You probably thought the word meant "Here we go" or something like that. But it doesn't mean any such thing. It's became a battle cry but it could also be a toast at a wedding or christening too. Know what it means? If not you'll have to wait a minute while I shift to the third thought that jumped into my mind.
The third thought that popped into my mind was a movie. Can you guess it?The movie was based on a comic book series. Buckaroo Banzai. Having it showing on my television didn't hurt either. Awe, the pictures gave it away, right?
Bet you are dying to figure out how I tie these three together.
Bonsai are long lived trees given immense care and attention.
Banzai means Long Life. So it could be used as a battle cry, wedding or christening toast.
Buckaroo Banazai, well that was just a movie, but the hero can't die so he should have a long life.
The moral of all this... Even after a stroke we can have long lives. It may not be what we thought or planned our lives to be, but we can still enjoy it.
As a side note, my maternal grandfather was an engineer that helped bring the Mitsubishi A6M into reality. Otherwise known as the Zero fighter plane. I happen to be very proud of that fact. And, you thought Mitsubishi only made cars. Geez! I also have a Toyota sewing machine circa 1935 that's still working. So much for the "Made in Japan" post war stickers.
Nothing is impossible with determination.
See the original article:
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Great Weekend
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| Dean Reinke Deans' Stroke Musing |
Flew to Minneapolis/St. Paul for the weekend.
Used my new wheeled luggage cart to carry my bag and briefcase from the airport, using light rail, a bus and a five block walk for $1.75 to get to my friends house instead of the $35 taxi ride I used last time.
A wonderful walleye sandwich at Tavern on Grand in St. Paul before we headed over to another friends' house as he was preparing for a bonsai showing the next day. We succeeded in interrupting his progress to join us for beer, wine and cigars around the backyard fire.
Breakfast at an outdoor patio next to a Koi pond Sat. morning. Sat around most of the day in the backyard acting like we knew something, 'Yeah, if you want to know what that plant is and how he built the planter, Bruce is over there in the straw hat.'. But we were quite entertaining for those not part of the bonsai club.
Sunday, took a short walk around a pond with geese ready to chase us. A thrift store for books, I only bought 8.
Went to Harriet Island in St. Paul for the Irish Fair, listened to two great bands on the main stage;
Belfast Cowboys, trombone, trumpet and 2 sax players plus other assorted players.
Gaelic Storm.
There should have been there all the stroke patients from the local hospitals for their sensation and music therapy.
The Globe Illustrated Shakespeare: The Complete Works Annotated [Hardcover] 2364 pages
Its 5 inches thick and I had to leave it along with 3 other books to be mailed to me later. This will be used for boosting my brain.
Monday was a divorce mediation meeting, nonconfrontational and something my lawyer can get proposals out of to settle it prior to court.
See the original article:
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Del Harvey: The Strangeness of Scale at Twitter
SSTattler: Please look at @StrokeTattler ... good Twitter!
When hundreds of thousands of Tweets are fired every second, a one-in-a-million chance — including unlikely sounding sounding scenarios that could harm users — happens about 500 times a day. For Del Harvey, who heads Twitter's Trust and Safety Team, these odds aren't good. The security maven spends her days thinking about how to prevent worst-case scenarios while giving voice to people around the globe. With deadpan humor, she offers a window into how she keeps 240 million users safe.
Why you should listen
At Twitter, Del Harvey works to ensure user safety and security, balancing Twitter's wide-open spaces against spammers, harassers and worse, to create a workable policy that lets the tweets flow. Prior to joining the booming social media site, she spent five years as the law enforcement liaison for a group fighting child exploitation, where she worked with agencies ranging from local police departments to the FBI, US Marshals and the Secret Service.
As Twitter grows, its ever inventive users (who famously came up with many of its key features by themselves) are finding ever new ways to overshare, offend and pick on others. Harvey and team's challenge is to weed out the worst while keeping the site feeling like a safe place to have this new kind of conversation we're all having there now.
Standard YouTube License @ TED
2CELLOS - Thunderstruck
http://www.facebook.com/2Cellos
http://www.twitter.com/stjepanhauser
http://www.twitter.com/lukasulic
2CELLOS Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser playing their arrangement of Thunderstruck by AC/DC BaRock style!
Get the song on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/thunderstruck/id815242497?i=815242505 and Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Thunderstruck-2cellos-Sulic-Hauser/dp/B00I9Q304K
Video by Kristijan Burlovic,
Editing: Ivan Stifanic and 2CELLOS
Technical support: MedVid produkcija
Produced, mixed and mastered by 2CELLOS and Filip Vidovic (Morris Studio, Zagreb)
Special thanks to Friends of Giostra Society, Poreč, Croatia
Just two of many comments:
- By Eloise - I watched the YouTube video and fell in love. These men are the real deal. They are handsome, talented, funny, and you get the point. I love that more artists are doing modern music cross overs and these guys nailed it. I plan of buying everything I can get my hands on. I strongly recommend anyone interested to buy 2CELLOS!!!!!
- By orion1113 - These fellows are very talented classically-trained cellists. Check out the terrific video of this on YouTube; it is quite entertaining.
Standard YouTube License @ 2CELLOSlive
Elton John Talk About 2CELLOS
Published on Sep 4, 2013Sir Elton John talking about 2CELLOS Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser.
Standard YouTube License @ 2CELLOSlive
Hand Function Comes From My Gut, Part 2
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| Rebecca Dutton Home After a Stroke |
When you reach forward for an object that is out of reach the shoulder blade helps by sliding forward (scapular protraction). Scapular muscles are attached to the rib cage. Abdominals keep the rib cage still so scapular muscles have a steady home base. With weak stomach muscles, my shoulder flexors relied on help from the long head of the biceps which crosses the shoulder joint. I repeatedly got tendonitis. My biceps tendon used to swell so badly it made a popping sound when it slipped out of its groove.I wonder how much faster I would have progressed if my OTs had worked on abdominal strength. I do not blame my OTs. As an OT I do not know of a motor theory for treating stroke that links hand function to core muscles. Yet athletes who need superior arm strength, like weight lifters and javelin throwers, know how important abdominal strength is to upper extremity performance. Stroke survivors exert this same kind of extreme effort when they lift their arm with paralyzed muscles. Don't believe me? Therapists use two hands to lift a paralyzed arm so even people with normal strength are challenged when lifting all that dead weight.
* I have always known where my fingers are when a therapist moves them while my eyes are shut. This traditional test of proprioception does not assess the automatic sensory awareness people need. I cannot manipulate an object if I have to keep track of what my fingers are doing.
See the original article:
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#MothersDay 4 years on…. A mothers love
& tribute to I, H & W.
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| Kate Allatt A Rocky Stroke Recovery |
Who’d have thought it?
4 years ago – coma, life support, then Trachi, PEG, catheter with the real prospect of life in a nursing home and crucially away from my kids?
That was quite possibly, and hopefully will always be, my worst ever Mothers Day, in ICU back in 2010.
Make no mistake about it.
- Forget the obsessive running.
- Forget the importance of social media in my own recovery.
- Forget about my passionate need to provide ‘no promises, just possibilities’ for others now, who suffer like I did.
My basic MOTHERS NEED to be back with MY KIDS, after WEEKS & MONTHS of separation, ACTUALLY SAVED MY LIFE IN HOSPITAL & drove my relentless spirit and self belief.
Fact!!
However, fast forward my amazing last 4 years!
We have all bounced back and seem to be finally thriving in every way.
I’ve learnt:
- Our kids are more resilient than you think.
- I have accepted and cope better with all my own emotional baggage, as do they.
- There have been huge family tantrums and tiaras, all round. Then combine that with adolescent hormones!!! EXPLOSIVE!
- There have been MASSIVE ups & GIGANTIC downs, but we have a bond, which is totally unbreakable, close and solid. My mothers love is truly unconditional.
THANK YOU INDIA, HARVEY & WOODY for giving me the fire in my belly! :-) :-) :-)
.
See the original article:
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A Man Woke Up ...
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| Jackie Poff Stroke Survivors Tattler |
The man groaned, but the doctor went on, "You have $9000 in insurance compensation coming, and we now have the technology to build a new penis. They work great but they don't come cheap. It's roughly $1000 an inch."
The man perked up. "So," the doctor said, "You must decide how many inches you want. But I understand that you have been married for over thirty years and this is something you should discuss with your wife. If you had a five incher before and get a nine incher now she might be a bit put out. If you had a nine incher before and you decide to only invest in a five incher now, she might be disappointed. It's important that she plays a role in helping you make a decision."
The man agreed to talk it over with his wife.
The doctor came back the next day, "So, have you spoken with your wife?"
"Yes I have," said the man.
"And has she helped you make a decision?"
"Yes" said the man.
"What is your decision?" asked the doctor.
"We're getting granite counter tops."
Delays to Stroke Treatment Can Be Costly
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| Jeff Porter Stroke of Faith |
I was fortunate enough to get help quickly on the day my stroke happened. Now, recently published research casts this in a different way - stroke patients lose a month for each 15-minute delay:
- Diane Barbeler had a stroke on Monday last week. The next day, she walked out of the hospital with only minor sensory changes in her right hand and foot.
- Barbeler owes her quick recovery to the tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, that she received within 3 hours of losing strength and control in her lower limb, says Atte Meretoja, a neurologist who helped diagnose her stroke at Australia’s Royal Melbourne Hospital. Patients like Barbeler, 66, gain a month of disability-free life for every 15 minutes saved in getting the clot-busting drug, according to research by Meretoja and colleagues published today in the journal Stroke. ...
- “The main delay in stroke is due to people not calling for help,” said Meretoja, the lead author of the study and an associate professor of medicine at the University of Melbourne. “We have now demonstrated that this is very harmful, and people lose on average a month of life for every 15 minutes they wait at home hoping that the symptoms will go away.”
That's a sobering number. Wait 15 more minutes, and you lose a month. Know the signs of a stroke and get help - for yourself or someone you care about - quickly.
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| From the American Stroke Association |
See the original article:
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Cat Trouble
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| Diane The Pink House On The Corner |
So add to all the stress that I've been going through, Zenith, our seven year old Siamese cat, has decided to NOT use the litter box....
And, I tell you, I have been at my wit's end about this.
I've tried everything: from getting another litter box, then yet another litter box. To making sure the boxes (now three!) are all spotless clean. To even bringing a litter box into (yuck) the kitchen (where she has been using the rug instead of the litter box).
And nothing has worked.
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| Zenith (asleep & innocent!) |
Not to mention: how on earth to afford a (probably very big) vet bill?? (One vet I called quoted me $248.00 for a visit + tests. yikes)
Add to all of that, Zenith is Bob's favorite kitty and I surely didn't want anything to happen to her, as he'd be devastated. Not to mention, I love her too!
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| Pre-stroke: Bob & Zenith were constant companions... |
The doctor came on Wednesday. She was absolutely terrific. She wasn't sure if Zenith's behavior is from an infection or from stress, but thought we should just try some antibiotics and see if that works, before running Zenith through a bunch of expensive tests. She actually, for no extra charge, stopped at a pharmacy and picked up antibiotics for Zenith before she arrived as I had told her how hard it was for me to get out of the house. She was here for nearly an hour and she even gave Boomer a free check-up, to boot! And her charge was only $70.00!
She also asked if anything had happened recently that could be causing Zenith to be stressed out. But other than me, being far more stressed out than usual with all this crazy-making lawsuit business, really nothing has changed. She told me, however, my stress level could certainly be affecting the cat.
Anyway, we are trying 20 days of antibiotics to see if that clears up the problem. She also suggested that I get a "Feliway" diffuser for the house, which is a plug-in device that diffuses cat pheromones and this may help to calm her down. I am currently scoping out e-bay to see what I can find....
I am praying that all this will work, and Zenith will get back to normal. That we don't need more tests, etc. Or I'm going to need to find a human "pheromone" diffuser to calm me down!
And I do want to say: THANK YOU!!, from Bob and me and Zenith, to all my blog readers who have sent donations through my PayPal "donate" button. Those donations always come in handy, to buy little things like latex gloves and bath wipes and pressure sore creams and an occasional guilty treat, like a pair of slippers -- but this month I had enough to pay a vet bill and that has been a real life saver! I greatly, sincerely appreciate it. And don't know what I'd have done without that help. Thanks again.
See the original article:
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Y-O-G-A
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| Amy Shissler My Cerebellar Stroke Recovery |
The problem with Kundalini Yoga and why it’s not taken seriously by doctors and insurance companies is that is has the word ‘yoga’ in its name. As soon as people hear the word ‘yoga,’ a certain image is conjured in the brain – an image that is EXTREMELY incorrect. Kundalini is authentic yoga and was not made up by the fitness injury like smokin’ hot yoga and power yoga and those other dumb things. Everyone hears what I’m doing and thinks “oh, Amy is doing some yoga, it’s really helped her.” No. I’m not just “doing some yoga.” I practice an ancient medical science that has piles upon piles of evidence, research published in peer-reviewed journals, to PROVE that it makes a HUGE difference in the brain. This practice saved my life and is now saving the lives of some others. All anyone in this society cares about is what doctors have to say and doctors don’t recommend yoga. I realize that Heather and I are going to have to fight for the rest of our time on this planet to get this science and its capabilities recognized in the US. That’s fine, I have time.
See the original article:
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Hugh Herr: the New Bionics That Let Us Run, Climb and Dance
SSTattler: You should watch it - the climax is beautiful!
Hugh Herr is building the next generation of bionic limbs, robotic prosthetics inspired by nature's own designs. Herr lost both legs in a climbing accident 30 years ago; now, as the head of the MIT Media Lab's Biomechatronics group, he shows his incredible technology in a talk that's both technical and deeply personal — with the help of ballroom dancer Adrianne Haslet-Davis, who lost her left leg in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, and performs again for the first time on the TED stage.
Standard YouTube License @ TED
RMR: Rick and Throwing Sports
Published on Mar 26, 2014SSTattler: We have two YouTubes because they prepare for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Rick visits the University of Lethbridge to throw the discus, shot and hammer with Canada's National Team as they train for the upcoming Commonwealth Games.
Standard YouTube License @ Rick Mercer Report
RMR: Rick and Field Hockey
Published on Mar 26, 2014Rick heads to Vancouver, BC to train with the Women's National Field Hockey Team as they prepare for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Standard YouTube License @ Rick Mercer Report
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