https://almage.home.blog/member-pictures/

Enjoy.

President John F. Kennedy addressed a crowd of 35,000 in Texas with a lofty goal – for the United States to land a person on the moon by the end of the decade. During his 17-minute speech at Rice Stadium in Houston, he aimed to persuade Americans to support the Apollo program that would see astronauts walk on the moon’s surface and then return to Earth safely. “We choose to go to the moon,” Kennedy said during his speech. “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” The president’s words came in the midst of the space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, more than a year after Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to fly in space and orbit the Earth. Kennedy’s goal was eventually accomplished in July, 1969, with the Apollo 11 mission when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon. — Stefanie Marotta

Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill

Share facebooktwitterReport by Dana Gunders August 16, 2017
https://www.nrdc.org/resources/wasted-how-america-losing-40-percent-its-food-farm-fork-landfill

In 2012, NRDC published a groundbreaking report that revealed that up to 40 percent of food in the United States goes uneaten. That is on average 400 pounds of food per person every year. Not only is that irresponsible—it’s expensive. Growing, processing, transporting, and disposing that uneaten food has an annual estimated cost of $218 billion, costing a household of four an average of $1,800 annually.

Our original report sparked a national conversation about wastefulness and its consequences. In 2017, we released an update on America’s progress with recommendations for what needs to happen in order to reduce the amount of food we waste. It is time to stop biting off more than we can chew and clean our plates. There is much work to be done, but we are well positioned to undertake it.

This is about more than just food. It’s about resources. Even with the most sustainable practices, our food system uses enormous resources. Including cropland, fresh water, fertilizers, pest control, labor, and energy to transport and regulate temperature. If we never eat the food, those resources are used in vain. Wasted food is also a major contributor to climate change, producing more greenhouse gas emissions than 37 million cars. The majority of those greenhouse gases are released by growing the food, though a portion is released as methane as food rots in landfills. In fact, food is the number one contributor to landfills today.

Today in history: Sept. 11

1888: Canadian Gov. Gen. Baron Stanley makes one of the oldest surviving recordings. The greeting to U.S. President Grover Cleveland was recorded at Toronto’s Industrial Exhibition (now the Canadian National Exhibition).

1973: A military coup led by army head Augusto Pinochet overthrows the government of Chile. It’s said President Salvador Allende shot himself, but many believe he was assassinated.

1997: The Scottish people vote to restore the Scottish parliament they gave up in 1707 when they joined the United Kingdom by an overwhelming majority.

2001: Hijackers crash two airplanes into New York’s World Trade Center, toppling its twin 110-storey towers. Not long after, another hijacked plane slams into the Pentagon in suburban Washington and a fourth plane crashes in Pennsylvania after passengers fight with hijackers. Approximately 3,000 people are killed in the four crashes, including two dozen Canadians. The attacks are blamed on Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden, who was living in Afghanistan under the protection of the Taliban government. The U.S. responded by organizing an international coalition to drive the Taliban from power and find bin Laden, who is killed by U.S. Navy SEALs in Pakistan on May 2, 2011.

2018: Nova Scotia introduces legislation banning the use of conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth under 16. The controversial therapy attempts to change a person’s sexual orientation.

Do these things to keep yourself as safe as possible.
https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-protect-yourself-in-a-data-breach-if-your-bank-gets-hacked/

JASON CIPRIANI
AUGUST 4, 2019 6:37 PM PDT

Events like the recent Capital One breach or the broader Equifax hack in 2017 can leave you feeling vulnerable and helpless — and rightfully so. It’s one thing to have your Facebook or Twitter account compromised, but being the victim of a financial institution getting hacked adds a whole new level of distress. 

Our bank accounts hold some of our most personal information such as social security numbers, our credit and debit card numbers, where we live and our financial records.

When someone has all of your private information, it’s natural to feel like there’s nothing you can do to prevent any further damage. But that’s not the case — there’s a lot you can do to make sure your credit, identity and online accounts remain yours.

Temporarily freeze your credit

One of the first things you should do is put a freeze on your credit. Doing so will prevent anyone with your information from opening a line of credit, or taking out any loans under your name. Freezing your credit won’t take long, you’ll just need to fill out a form for Equifax, Experian, and Transunion to make the request. 

The downside to freezing your credit is that when you want to make a purchase, such as upgrading your iPhone through a payment plan, you’ll need to go through the process of briefly removing your credit freeze — and then freezing it again once you’re done. 

Next, monitor your credit

Staying on top of what’s on your credit report is an easy way to make sure someone isn’t using your information nefariously. Some companies offer free credit monitoring to victims of a data breach, but often times that’s only temporary.

Credit monitoring services help you watch your credit report, where you can hopefully catch false accounts as soon as they happen. 

Sign up for identity theft monitoring

Monitoring your credit report is an important step to take, however, there’s so much more that can be done with your personal information. An identity-monitoring service will monitor your social security number, credit, as well as the dark web for anyone selling or trading your personal information or arrests under your name. It should give you peace of mind if someone tries to do anything with your personal information. 

Use a Password manager

Using a unique and strong password for every online account you own is an easy way to make sure a breach of one service doesn’t lead to bad guys accessing more of your online accounts where you used the same password.

Instead of reusing a password — or a series of passwords — rely on a password manager to create, store and autofill your login information. 

Don’t wait to take action

The most important aspect of taking action after a hack or breach is announced is to not wait for impacted companies to announce how they want you to handle it. Be proactive. At the end of the day, it’s your information and your financial future that’s at stake.

After locking down your credit and starting monitoring services, then begin to look at suggestions from the impacted companies.

Some breaches lead to settlements, forcing the affected company to offer free services or, as in the Equifax case, offer settlements.

I updated the Almage Rosemont website with the pictures of today.

Walking Pics:  https://almage.home.blog/member-pictures/

As well as the pics from the Corn Roast.

Corn Roast:  https://almage.home.blog/corn-roast/

You could receive a free hearing test at the following center… call them and inquire. Tell they you are from Almage Rosemont.

1954: Marilyn Bell, 16,  becomes the first person to swim across Lake Ontario. Bell started her swim the previous day from Youngstown, N.Y. She swims for 20 hours and 57 minutes under gruelling conditions, fighting five-metre waves and lamprey eels attacking her legs. About 300,000 people are on hand when she comes ashore in Toronto.

1971: Prisoners at the state prison in Attica, N.Y., begin a four-day riot. Thirty-three prisoners and nine guards die when police storm the prison on Sept. 13.

1991: As many as 100,000 federal civil servants walk off the job in one of the largest strikes in Canadian history. The strike is called off nine days later when the Public Service Alliance and Treasury Board agree to return to the negotiating table.

2003: The Boston Roman Catholic Archdiocese agrees to pay $85 million US to 552 people to settle clergy sex abuse cases.

2015: Queen Elizabeth becomes the longest-reigning British monarch, surpassing her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria, who served for 63 years and 216 days, from 1837-1901. Elizabeth began her reign upon the death of her father King George VI on Feb. 6, 1952.

Montreal Gazette, Canada Sep 7, 2019 B3 LINDA BLAIR
Friend­ship is vi­tal.

Those of us who are part of a strong friend­ship group are more likely to live longer, as Ju­lianne Holt-lun­stad at Brigham Young Uni­ver­sity dis­cov­ered in her meta-anal­y­sis of 148 stud­ies across the world.

And those who have good work­place friend­ships per­form bet­ter and re­port a more pos­i­tive work at­ti­tude, ac­cord­ing to Seok-hwi Song at the Uni­ver­sity of Seoul.

There are count­less def­i­ni­tions of good friend­ship but, in my opin­ion, five qual­i­ties stand out.

The first is that the friend­ship nour­ishes both in­di­vid­u­als. Each feels sup­ported and cared for.

Sec­ond, there is trust. Each knows they can count on the other to be hon­est but ac­cept­ing, even when one or both change.

Com­mit­ment is the third qual­ity. Both are pre­pared to put time and ef­fort into the re­la­tion­ship, even when they’re phys­i­cally far apart.

Fourth, bal­ance. Al­though at any given mo­ment one may ask more of the other, over time each in­di­vid­ual gives and takes equally.

Fifth, the re­la­tion­ship is up­lift­ing and re­ward­ing, al­low­ing both in­di­vid­u­als to feel en­er­gized and pos­i­tive.

The size of our so­cial net­work ap­pears to be fairly sta­ble across age groups, gen­der, time and cul­ture.

Ac­cord­ing to Robin Dun­bar at the Uni­ver­sity of Ox­ford, the num­ber of in­di­vid­u­als any of us can claim to feel fa­mil­iar with — about 150 — is based on the amount of in­ter­per­sonal in­for­ma­tion the hu­man brain can process. Within the 150 are three lay­ers — five or so in­ti­mate friends, about 15 very good friends and around 50 close friends.

How­ever, not all friend­ships are ben­e­fi­cial. Some, known as “toxic friend­ships,” can ac­tu­ally dam­age well-be­ing, caus­ing low self-es­teem, self-doubt, anx­i­ety and fa­tigue.

There may even be phys­i­cal con­se­quences — some re­searchers have found cor­re­la­tions be­tween toxic friend­ships and sys­temic in­flam­ma­tion as well as higher rates of heart dis­ease.

If you think a friend­ships is toxic, what should you do?

Write down which as­pects cause dis­tress. Ask your­self how you’d like things to change. Can you make any of those changes? If not, try talk­ing to your friend.

If they’re will­ing to make changes, give the friend­ship a chance. If not, or if there are no changes within three to six weeks, it would be best to end the re­la­tion­ship and fo­cus in­stead on other, health­ier friend­ships.

For­get tak­ing off your shoes; con­sider how filthy money, smart­phones, gas pumps are

Montreal Gazette, Canada Sep 7, 2019 A2 FREED
There’s even talk of a pos­si­ble dirt vac­cine that could some­day boost kids’ im­mune sys­tems.

“Take off your shoes, please” is a com­mon greet­ing in many homes, but should it be?

Stud­ies do in­di­cate it’s un­wise to eat di­rectly from your shoes or touch their dirty soles for good luck be­fore din­ing. To boot, we Mon­treal­ers should ob­vi­ously re­move our boots in win­ter to pre­vent slush in our bed­rooms.

But if you’re just try­ing to keep your house clean and germ-free, there are many things to worry about be­fore shoes.

A re­cent New York Times re­port made the case this footwear house­hold habit doesn’t add much hy­giene to our lives. It got me think­ing about the end­less stuff we do daily that prac­ti­cally makes our shoes seem hy­gienic.

So here’s the dirt on dirt: Money: There’s a good rea­son we talk about “dirty money” and “filthy lu­cre.” Stud­ies show the av­er­age bill has been touched by so many thou­sands of hands it con­tains 3,000 types of bac­te­ria, many caus­ing ill­ness.

Ac­cept­ing money is pretty much like putting a cold in your wal­let so you can pass it on to the next vic­tim. But do you know any­one who re­fuses to touch your cash?

Or asks you to leave your wal­let at the door be­side your shoes?

ATM and credit-card ma­chine but­tons are touched by so many peo­ple be­fore us we should prob­a­bly punch them with our el­bows. Ditto for the LOBBY but­ton ev­ery­one hits on el­e­va­tors.

Sci­en­tists have found our smart­phones so filthy they’ve been de­scribed as “pocket petri dishes.” It’s time some­one in­vented an iphone hand san­i­tizer app that elec­tron­i­cally “Purells” our iphones.

Equally in­ti­mate are gas pump han­dles that we press firmly to make sure we get ev­ery last germ. Also, ho­tel TV re­motes, which stud­ies find to be germ fac­to­ries that should come with dis­pos­able gloves.

Hand­shakes are an­other shaky zone where we hap­pily of­fer our dirty palms to strangers say­ing: “Here, have some germs!”

Some peo­ple never shake hands and ex­cuse them­selves by say­ing: “Sorry, I have a cold and don’t want to spread my germs” — just to scare your hand off.

The dirty truth is the Ja­panese bow is a far more san­i­tary, sen­si­ble greet­ing than hand­shak­ing. But when it comes to tak­ing off your shoes, Ja­pan beats ev­ery­one as I found out on my first trip there years ago.

I was stay­ing in a tra­di­tional fam­ily inn with slip­pers at the doors of most rooms, not un­com­mon in Ja­pan. Shortly af­ter ar­riv­ing, I po­litely took off my liv­ing room slip­pers to change into pa­per bath­room slip­pers, piled just out­side the door.

But com­ing out of the bath­room I was still wear­ing them. As my foot stepped down to­ward the liv­ing room floor, I heard a shriek, then the oc­to­ge­nar­ian fe­male inn-owner flew through the air and shoved me heav­ily back into the bath­room, like a sumo wrestler.

I was shocked, but soon learned I had al­most be­come the first per­son in the cen­turies-old house to ever bring bath­room dirt into the liv­ing room. For all I know they’d have had to re­place the floors.

Toi­lets: The strangest irony in North Amer­ica is that we draw a line at bath­room toi­let seats, in places like air­ports where pa­per seat cov­er­ings are now com­mon. Yet stud­ies show there are a mere 50 bac­te­ria per square foot on re­stroom toi­let seats com­pared with 2 mil­lion per square foot on their floors.

De­spite that, we un­think­ingly plop our suit­cases and purses onto th­ese bath­room floors, then bring them home and un­pack them on our beds.

In ad­di­tion, there are thou­sands of other germ-rid­den things we han­dle reg­u­larly from fridge han­dles and bus poles to reused kitchen sponges that sci­en­tists have de­clared “cesspool(s)” — and the filth­i­est ob­jects in our homes.

The dirty truth is most of us keep them till they look grubby, cheer­fully dirty­ing our house as we clean it.

Given the mul­ti­tude of mi­crobes we en­counter, it’s a won­der we’re not per­pet­u­ally sick. Or is it? There’s an­other ar­gu­ment that says too much clean­li­ness doesn’t lead to god­li­ness, it leads to ill­ness.

A grow­ing num­ber of books like Eat Dirt and Dirt Is Good say kids to­day have more al­ler­gies and ill­nesses be­cause they’re too pro­tected — and the more we wall our­selves off in ster­il­ized, ever-cleaner homes, the less re­sis­tant we’ll all be.

That’s why the Amish have lower asthma rates: they’re ex­posed to barnyard dust. That’s also true for peo­ple who own dogs that bring the out­doors in.

There’s even talk of a pos­si­ble dirt vac­cine that could some­day boost kids’ im­mune sys­tems by lightly ex­pos­ing them to dirt mi­crobes.

Un­til then, han­dling filthy money, gas pumps, el­e­va­tor but­tons, sponges and purses left on bath­room floors may be habits that ac­tu­ally keep us healthy. Tak­ing off our shoes in win­ter is a no-brainer, but per­haps we should do the op­po­site in sum­mer and greet our guests by say­ing:

“Leave your shoes ON, please. We don’t al­low stockinged feet in the house.”