JOURNAL
Sex, What's the Big Deal?
Our society tends to make quite the stink when it comes to sex. Sex is a basic human experience, yet we treat it as something other than what it is. We put it up on a pedestal. We judge it. We repress it. We exploit it. We label it as sinful or taboo. But we rarely accept it exactly as it is, as a normal, everyday thing. It begs the question, why is sex still such a taboo subject when industries like fashion and entertainment exploit it on a daily basis? Why are we, as a society, accepting of oversexed images everywhere we look, but we can’t be supportive of talking about sexuality in an open, honest, and real way? Anthropologist, Ava Mir-Ausziehen, says, "Sex isn't some strange, ethereal construct. It's as normal and necessary as eating and sleeping...when we regard sex as something apart from the mundane, we're causing anxiety, fear, and dysfunction." Could this be the answer to why our society struggles to have a healthy, positive relationship with sexuality?
A Farm-Load of Problems: Why an Animal’s Daily Dose Might be Killing You
Antibiotics are as close to a ‘cure-all’ as we have. Since Fleming’s discover of penicillin in 1929, numerous types of antibiotics have been developed to treat numerous types of illness, from everyday throat infections to life-threatening problems like pneumonia. However, they are far from perfect. One of the dangers of antibiotics is the development of resistance – and if we become completely resistant, we could see ourselves taking a step back in time, to a place where people die from even the most common infections. The worrying thing is, we are getting closer to that truth every single day. The bacteria that causes infections are becoming more and more resistant to more and more types of antibiotics and it is becoming an epidemic that we should be more concerned about. The question is though, why are we becoming so resistant and how can we stop it?
Quackery: The Dark Side of Alternative Medicine
Everyone has heard the stories in the news and on the TV; the miracle cures and the life-saving medications, the alternative therapies that offer heart-rending tales of lives saved, and the scary stories of what conventional medicine really does to our bodies. Alternative medicine, more often than not, comes with glowing testimonials and mind-blowing claims – and usually high price tags too. It’s easy to get sucked into the hype and with such media whirlwinds, it’s hard to know what to believe. This is especially true when people get frustrated with traditional doctors and their perceived lack of time or bedside manner. Patients feel lost and out of control. But just what are ‘alternative therapies’ anyway? And where is the harm, if someone wants to try something different?
Sex Addiction a real illness or just an excuse for impish behavior?
The term “sex addiction” has received a lot of press over the last several years, with celebrities like Tiger Woods, David Duchovny and Kayne West claiming to suffer from it. Even without knowing too much about the topic, the world had its doubts. Was this a real illness or just an excuse for naughty behavior? Could a person really be addicted to sex? While the answer to that question doesn’t yet have a simple answer, those claiming to suffer from it engage in a variety of different behaviors, and not all of them include cheating or extramarital affairs, as seen reflected in the press over the years.
In Cities, Mobile Farms Give New Meaning to the Term “Food Truck”
The challenges of growing food in the city -- pretty much any city, really -- are well documented, and topping the list of obstacles is the issue of space. In packed metropolises like New York, where back yards, patios, and roof decks are something of a luxury, finding the necessary square footage beneath adequate sunlight can be a tall order. Still, determined growers make due, farming in container gardens on their front stoop, snagging a coveted plot in a community garden, sneaking their crops onto roofs and fire escapes, maintaining small windowsill gardens, and even engaging in some guerrilla gardening in unused public space. Commercially, rooftop farms and indoor farming techniques are becoming increasingly popular means of supplying urban dwellers with fresh, locally grown produce.
The Addictive Nature of Carbs
Carbohydrates are a complicated business when it comes to eating healthy and losing weight. It's not easy when the advice seems to contradict itself, with some diets telling people to cut out carbs completely and others touting the benefits of a carb-laden eating plan. However, recent research conducted at the Boston Children's Hospital seems to have finally laid the carb question to rest, as findings suggest that processed carbohydrates are not only bad in themselves but that they can trigger cravings for further calorie-laden, sugary goods.
BandAid Solution to Low Sexual Desire
There is a new pill undergoing drug trials that promises to help women with their sexual desire issues. Intrigued? Research suggests that over 30% of women suffer from low desire to some degree. There are a number of different theories as to why women suffer from low desire, but researchers have yet to pinpoint an exact cause. Nevertheless, women who have this problem often suffer emotional and relationship stress because of it. Are new drugs like Lybrido and Lybridos the answer to women’s prayers? Or will the drug just cause a chemical change in the body leaving the psychological issues unaddressed?
In Search of Sustainable Seafood: Emerging Solutions to Fish Farming Woes
Whether fish is farmed or caught free, the process of getting delicious seafood onto the plates of consumers is rife with problems. Open sea fishing has severely depleted wild fish stocks, and as a result, roughly half of the seafood sold in the United States is farm raised, rather than caught in the open waters, according to NPR. But like most commercial agriculture, the aquaculture (fish farming) industry struggles with problems of inefficiency and environmental impact. The practice of confining thousands of fish to relatively small pens makes it necessary to use pesticides and antibiotics to prevent the spread of disease. Since aquaculture facilities are usually located in the ocean, discharges of fish waste, cage materials, and pesticide chemicals can damage surrounding ecosystems and threaten wild fish populations. Escapement is also a problem, as escaped fish from these facilities compete with native populations for food.
Furthermore, fish need to be fed, and the question of how to feed farm-raised fish presents yet another challenge, particularly when it comes to carnivorous species such as salmon and tuna. As Food & Water watch points out, farmed fish are often fed with wild species such as krill, with the effect of further threatening wild fish populations by depleting vital elements of our oceans' ecosystems. It's a system that's woefully inefficient: to raise one pound of farmed tuna, for example, 15 pounds of wild fish are converted to feed, according to chef Dan Barber -- wild fish, some argue, that could be used to feed humans instead.
A Fight for Health: The Commonalities of the Paleo, Vegan, Vegetarian, Slow Carb, and Flexitarian Diets
Weight loss and health are big business these days, and with so many fad diets claiming to be ‘the one’ to help you meet, or even beat your goals, it is difficult to decide which ones to believe. There is a group of diets, however, that are increasingly gaining in popularity. Not only do they argue for a lifestyle change rather than a faddy quick fix but they all advocate similar eating patterns and for very similar reasons.
The Affordable Care Act - Provisions that benefit the seniors in your family
Overview – the expansion of the safety net
Since their inception, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security provided the vital safety net that protected the poor and the middle classes in America. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was thus intended to bridge the gaps in the protections that these programs provided. Come January 1, 2014, the ACA will impact over 100 million Americans with savings and peace of mind.
More specifically, The ACA was meant to drastically reduce the number of uninsured Americans, to improve and render more comprehensive the coverage of insured Americans, and to address the crisis of rapidly increasing national healthcare costs.
The full name of this landmark legislation is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, mostly referred to simply as the Affordable Care Act. It was passed by Congress and then signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010. Pursuant to subsequent legal challenges, the Supreme Court rendered a final decision on June 28, 2012, to uphold the health care law. The law was promptly proclaimed as the most significant healthcare legislation enacted since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid forty-five years earlier. It puts in place major health insurance reforms that will keep rolling out over the entire decade, starting in 2010.