When it comes to chocolate, modern science and the stomach both agree it’s good for brain functioning

When it comes to chocolate, modern science and the stomach both agree it’s good for brain functioning

Researchers from The University of Nottingham’s School of Physics and Astronomy used advanced MRI technology to determine that consumption of a cocoa drink rich in flavanols — a key ingredient of dark chocolate and certain other foods— boosts blood flow to key areas of the brain for two to three hours.

And that’s not all:

The findings, unveiled at one of the biggest scientific conferences in America, also raise the prospect of ingredients in chocolate being used to treat vascular impairment, including dementia and strokes, and thus for maintaining cardiovascular health.

The study also suggests that the cocoa flavanols found in chocolate could be useful in enhancing brain function for people fighting fatigue, sleep deprivation, and even the effects of ageing.

The MRIs showed increased activity in certain areas of the brain after individuals consumed a flavanol-rich cocoa drink. The effect is the result of “dilation of cerebral blood vessels, allowing more blood — and therefore more oxygen — to reach key areas of the brain.”

Besides chocolate, flavanols can also be found in red wine, green tea and blueberries.

Source: Science Daily

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Would love to say.. “I knew it!”

The Most Powerful 3 Words Phrases

The Most Powerful 3 Words Phrases

The following three-word phrases can enrich every relationship. These are just three little But Very Powerful words: I’ll Be There   If you have ever had to call a friend in the middle of the night, to take a sick child to hospital, or when your car has broken down some miles from home, you will know how good it feels to hear the phrase ” I’ll be there. ” Being there for another person is the greatest gift we can give. When we’re truly present for other people, important things happen to them & us. We are renewed in love and friendship. We are restored emotionally and spiritually. Being there is at the very core of civility.   I Miss You   Perhaps more marriages could be saved & strengthened if couples simply & sincerely say to each other “I miss you.” This powerful affirmation tells partners they are wanted, needed, desired & loved. Consider how ecstatic you would feel, if you received an unexpected phone call from your spouse in the middle of your workday, just to say “I miss you.” I Respect You / I Trust You   Respect and trust is another way of showing love. Its conveys the feeling that another person is a true equal. If you talk to your children as if they were adults you will strengthen the bonds & become close friends. This applies to all interpersonal relationships Maybe You’re Right   This phrase is highly effective in diffusing an argument and restoring frayed emotions. The flip side to “maybe you’re right” is the humility of admitting maybe “I’m wrong”. Let’s face it. When you have a heated argument with someone, all you do is cement the other person’s point of view. They, or you, will not change their stance and you run the risk of seriously damaging the relationship between you. Saying “maybe you’re right” can open the door to further explore the subject, in which you may then have the opportunity to get your view across in a more rational manner. Please Forgive Me   Many broken relationships could be restored and healed if people would admit their mistakes and ask for forgiveness. All of us are vulnerable to faults and failures. A man should never be ashamed to own up that he has been in the wrong, which is saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday. I Thank You   Gratitude is an exquisite form of courtesy. People who enjoy the companionship of good, close friends are those who don’t take daily courtesies for granted. They are quick to thank their friends for their many expressions of kindness. On the other hand, people whose circle of friends is severely constricted often do not have the attitude of gratitude. Count On Me   A friend is one who walks in when others walk out. Loyalty is an essential ingredient for true friendship; it is the emotional glue that bonds people. Those that are rich in their relationships tend to be steady and true friends. When troubles come, a good friend is there indicating “you can count on me.” Let Me Help   The best of friends see a need and try to fill it. When they spot a hurt they do what they can to heal it. Without being asked, they pitch in and help. I Understand You   People become closer and enjoy each other more if they feel the other person accepts and understands them. Letting your spouse know in so many little ways that you understand them, is one of the most powerful tools for healing relationship. This applies to any relationship. Go For It   We are all unique individuals. Don’t try to get your friends to conform to your ideals. Support them in pursuing their interests, no matter how weird they seem to you. Everyone has dreams, dreams that are unique to that person only. Support and encourage your friends to follow their dreams. Tell them to “go for it.” I Love You   Perhaps the most important three words that you can say. Telling someone that you truly love them satisfies a person’s deepest emotional needs. The need to belong, to feel appreciated and to be wanted. Your spouse, your children, your friends and you, all need to hear those three little words “I love you.”

731 days to go…

Today in History~!

1797 – Mary Lyon
educator: founded Mount Holyoke Seminary, now Mt. Holyoke College, one of the first permanent colleges for women; died Mar 5, 1849

1820 – Sir John Tenniel
cartoonist, illustrator: Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass; died in 1914

1824 – Charles Blondin (Jean Francois Gravelet)
acrobat, aerialist: first to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope [June 30, 1859]; died in 1897

1894 – Ben Hecht
novelist: Eric Dorn; scriptwriter: Wuthering Heights; playwright: The Front Page; died Apr 18, 1964

1901 – Linus Pauling
Nobel peace prize-winner [1962]; Nobel prize for chemistry [1954]; died Aug 19, 1994

1903 – Vincente Minnelli (Lester Anthony Minnelli)
Academy Award-winning director: Gigi [1958]; An American in Paris, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever; Judy Garland’s husband; Liza Minnelli’s father; died July 25, 1986

1907 – Milton Caniff
cartoonist: Terry and the Pirates, Steve Canyon; died May 3, 1988

1915 – Lee Castle (Castaldo)
trumpet, bandleader: led Jimmy Dorsey’s band during time of smash hit: So Rare; died Nov 16,1990

1915 – Zero Mostel (Samuel Joel Mostel)
actor: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Journey into Fear; died Sep 8, 1977

1920 – Alf Kjellin
actor; director: The Girls of Huntington House; died Apr 5, 1988

1923 – Charles Durning
actor: Spy Hard, The Hudsucker Proxy, Dick Tracy, Death of a Salesman, Tootsie, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Sharky’s Machine, The Final Countdown, When a Stranger Calls, North Dallas Forty, The Hindenburg, Dog Day Afternoon, The Sting, Evening Shade, Studs Lonigan, Eye to Eye, The Cop and the Kid, Captains and the Kings

1924 – Chris Kraft
NASA flight director for all Mercury and many Gemini missions; NASA spokesman: voice of Mission Control during Mercury and Gemini space missions

1926 – Svetlana Alliluyeva
author: The Faraway Music; daughter of Russian leader, Joseph Stalin; defected to the West Mar 9, 1967

1927 – Stanley Baker
actor: The Guns of Navarone, Knights of the Roundtable; died June 28, 1976

1930 – Gavin MacLeod
actor: The Love Boat, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, McHale’s Navy, Operation Petticoat

1930 – Frank (James) Malzone
baseball: Boston Red Sox [all-star: 1957-1960, 1963, 1964], California Angels

1931 – Dean Smith
Basketball Hall of Famer; coach: North Carolina Tar Heels; coach of U.S. Olympic Basketball Team [1976]

1939 – Tommy Tune
Tony Award-winning dancer, actor: My One and Only, Will Rogers Follies, Dean Martin Presents; director: musical theater

1940 – Mario Andretti
auto racer: Indianapolis 500 Hall of Famer

1942 – Frank Bonner
actor: WKRP in Cincinnati, Sidekicks, Just the Ten of Us

1942 – Brian Jones (Lewis Hopkin-Jones)
singer, musician: rhythm guitar: group: The Rolling Stones: [I Can’t Get No] Satisfaction; died July 3, 1969

1942 – Joe South (Souter)
guitarist, singer: Walk a Mile in My Shoes, Games People Play; songwriter: Down in the Boondocks, Rose Garden

1947 – Stephanie Beacham
actress: The Colbys, Dynasty, Sister Kate, Seaquest DSV, Foreign Affairs, Troop Beverly Hills, The Nightcomers

1947 – Marty (Martin Roman) Perez
baseball: California Angels, Atlanta Braves, SF Giants, NY Yankees, Oakland Athletics

1948 – Bernadette Peters (Lazzara)
actress: The Jerk, Annie, All’s Fair, George M, Dames at Sea, Pennies from Heaven; singer: Gee Whiz

1948 – Mercedes Ruehl
actress: Indictment: The McMartin Trial, Lost in Yonkers, Last Action Hero, The Fisher King, Married to the Mob, Big, Radio Days

1950 – Tom Riker
basketball: Univ. of South Carolina, NY Knicks

1953 – Roland Harper
football: Chicago Bears

1957 – Phil Gould
musician: drums: group: Level 42: The Chinese Way, The Sun Goes Down [Living It Up], Hot Water, Something About You, Leaving Me Now

1957 – John Turturro
actor: Girl 6, Quiz Show, Barton Fink, Miller’s Crossing, The Sicilian, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Color of Money, To Live & Die in L.A., Desperately Seeking Susan

1957 – Cindy Wilson
singer: group: B-52s: Rock Lobster, Quiche Lorraine, 606 0842, Dance This Mess Around

1969 – Robert Sean Leonard
actor: The Boys Next Door, Safe Passage, The Age of Innocence, Mr. & Mrs. Bridge, Dead Poets Society, Manhattan Project

I believe…

* I believe that we don’t have to change friends if we understand that friends change.* I believe that no matter how good a friend is, they’re going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that. * I believe that true friendship continues to grow even over the longest distances. The same goes for true love. * I believe that you can do something in an instant that will give you heartache for life. * I believe that it’s taking me a long time to become the person I want to be. * I believe that you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them. * I believe that you can keep going long after you can’t. * I believe that we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel. * I believe that either you control your attitude or it controls you. * I believe that regardless of how hot and steamy a relationship is at first, the passion fades and there had better be something else to take it’s place. * I believe that heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences. * I believe that money is a lousy way of keeping score. * I believe that my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best time. * I believe that sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you’re down, will be the ones to help you get back up. * I believe that sometimes when I’m angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesn’t give me the right to be cruel. * I believe that just because someone doesn’t love you the way you want him or her to doesn’t mean they don’t love you with all he or she has. * I believe that maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you’ve had and what you’ve learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you’ve celebrated. * I believe that it isn’t always enough to be forgiven by others. Sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself. * I believe that our background and our circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become. * I believe that no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn’t stop for your grief. * I believe that just because two people argue, it doesn’t mean they don’t love each other. And just because they don’t argue, it doesn’t mean they do. * I believe that you shouldn’t be eager to find out a secret. It could change your life forever. *  I believe that even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you, you will find the strength to help * I believe that two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different. * I believe that your life can be changed, in a matter of hours, by people who don’t even know you. * I believe that even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you, you will find the strength to help. * I believe that credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being. * I believe that the people you care about most in life are taken from you too soon.

734 days to go…

1997.

10 years.

A decade.

A year of many things.

A landmark year.

• Started feeling good about myself. Proud of my achievements, of the choices I had made to get to where I was.  Proud of having given on what had been had for me to give up. Proud of taking up certain challenges. Proud of making a major decision for myself (that I still do not regret…).
• Joined Interact, which influenced a better part of my life since then. Still is, in some pretty unexpected way, I guess.
• Learnt that diversity is what makes life so much more interesting. Met people from various schools with various interests. Fortunately, still in touch with some of them. Unfortunately, lost touch with many of them too.
• Learnt to be more independent, that I could do things without a bevy of friends to support me. This has also influenced me in more ways than I expected.
• Learnt the meaning of dedication, of priorities, of love, of letting go.
• Learnt to do things in spite of fear.
• Learnt to just listen to criticism, and to deal with it (whether it is positive or negative).

Dear friends I’ve met at RJC, whether we are still in touch, and friends I’ve yet to connect with, despite spending 2 years in the same school, it’s been 10 years. That’s a real long time in Earth time. Through the years, though I can’t say with true honestly that everyone of you have been in my thoughts every day, I can say (quite safely) that my interactions with each of you, things I learnt from everyone there has influenced me, for better or for worse, to be who I am today. The work ethic, the adventurous spirit, the desire for excellence, the quarrels, the fights, the arguments all definitely helped me to grow, and I do draw on these lessons to help me deal with day to day living.

Let’s make a date. Drop me a note if you happen to see this, especially if you were in RJC in 1997. Let’s have a gathering. At the moment, the details are pretty hazy, but I hope we can do a group dinner sometimes this year or next (the year we met, the year we left RJC). I’m sure there’s tonnes that we can catch up on. After all, for friends who have not met for years, the beauty of the meeting lies in that we can still pick up where we left off, right?

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Apple Trees

Girls are like
apples on trees. The best
ones are at the top of the tree.
The boys don’t want to reach for
the good ones because they are afraid
of falling and getting hurt. Instead, they
just get the rotten apples from the ground
that aren’t as good, but easy. So the apples
at the top think something is wrong with
them, when in reality, they’re amazing.
They just have to wait for the right
boy to come along, the one
who’s brave enough
to climb
all the way
to the top
of the tree.

Funny!

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You are a good old-fashioned six-sided cube, otherwise known as a d6. Others know you to be plain, predictable, conservative, average, ordinary, and downright boring. You prefer to describe yourself as dependable, honest, practical and trustworthy. People usually know what to expect from you, since you rarely hold any surprises. You hate to make decisions, and if forced to decide, you’ll always fall back on how it was done in the past. You always order the same thing at your favorite restaurant, and your jokes, while funny, are never too offensive. It seems that you are well liked, but maybe that’s simply because there’s nothing to hate.

Be…

Be understanding to your enemies.
Be loyal to your friends.

Be strong enough to face the world each day.
Be weak enough to know you cannot do everything alone.

Be generous to those who need your help.
Be frugal with that you need yourself.

Be wise enough to know that you do not know everything.
Be foolish enough to believe in miracles.

Be willing to share your joys.
Be willing to share the sorrows of others.

Be a leader when you see a path others have missed.
Be a follower when you are shrouded by the mists of uncertainty.

Be first to congratulate an opponent who succeeds.
Be last to criticize a colleague who fails.

Be sure where your next step will fall, so that you will not tumble.
Be sure of your final destination, in case you are going the wrong way.

Be loving to those who love you.
Be loving to those who do not love you; they may change.

More valentines wishes

A pair of human skeletons lie entwined at an Neolithic archaelogical dig site near Mantova, Italy, in a photo released February 6, 2007. In a Valentines Day gift to the country, scientists said they are determined to jointly remove and preserve the remains of the couple buried 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, their arms still wrapped around each other in an enduring embrace. REUTERS/Enrico Pajello/Handout