Articles from the Week of February 2, 2024
Interesting Quotes
These first three quotes are from Benjamin Franklin
Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every New Year find you a better man.
Love your enemies, for they tell you your faults.
A true friend is the best possession.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Martin Luther King Jr.
"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."
Albert Einstein
"The one lesson I have learned is that there is no substitute for paying attention."
DIANE SAWYER
Fascinating Facts
The first U.S. gold rush was started by a 12-year-old boy.
“Although the 1848 California Gold Rush was the largest in American history, it wasn’t the first. That distinction belongs in the state of North Carolina, where in 1799, Conrad Reed, the 12-year-old son of John Reed, found a 17-pound gold nugget in Little Meadow Creek outside Charlotte. At first — not knowing what his son had stumbled across — the elder Reed used the rock as a doorstop for his home’s front door. It wasn’t until 1802, when he took the rock to a local jeweler, that he began to grasp the enormity of his son’s discovery.
“By 1803, Reed had established the first gold mining operation in the U.S. As local papers reported on his business, nearby farmers began hunting for gold on their own properties by searching shallow riverbeds, a practice known as “placer mining.” When these shallow-lying deposits dried up in the 1820s, companies ditched the gold pans and began excavating lode mines, which required many more workers. Until 1828, North Carolina was the only gold-producing state in the Union, and its gold rush reached its peak in the 1830s and 1840s, when the industry employed nearly 30,000 people. The state’s gold-hued fortunes changed once the first reports of wealth out West arrived in the Carolinas, but Reed never saw the end of his state’s gold-rush boom time, dying a rich man in 1845 with his mine raking in millions.” (Source: InterestingFacts.com)
A baboon worked for a South African railroad company in the 1880s.
“In 1881, a South African railroad employee named James Wide purchased a baboon named Jack whom he trained to become his assistant. Four years earlier, Wide had suffered a terrible accident in which he lost both his legs, and he was struggling to perform at work. He discovered Jack at a local market, where the baboon was leading an oxcart. Wide was so impressed with the animal’s abilities that he purchased the creature and deputized Jack as an employee at the Port Elizabeth Railway Station.
“At first, Wide enlisted Jack’s help by training him to push a trolley during the morning commute. But Jack really thrived as a signalman, and he was later taught how to operate the station switchboard. After watching Wide, Jack learned how to throw switches and change tracks, and his work was so impeccable that he never experienced a single incident over the course of nine years. Eventually, Jack could perform the duties without Wide’s supervision, and passing conductors had no idea that a baboon was operating the system until they saw it with their own eyes.
“Before long, word of Jack’s “employment” reached authorities, who decided to give the creature a competency test. To their amazement, Jack passed with flying colors, saving both his and his owner’s jobs. Jack was given an official employment number and paid 20 cents a day plus half a bottle of beer each week. Jack continued working for the railroad company until his death in 1890.” (Source: HistoryFacts.com)
What bird has the longest migration?
“The Arctic Tern holds the remarkable distinction of being the bird with the longest migration on Earth. This incredible avian traveler embarks on a round-trip journey of approximately 44,000 miles (70,900 kilometers) each year. Breeding in the Arctic during the summer months, it then embarks on a jaw-dropping migration to its wintering grounds in the Antarctic.” (Source: RecordsTrivia.com)
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Counseling Articles
In Case You Have a Client Who Is Arrested for Having Cocaine on their Person
If you have a client who needs an excuse for why they have cocaine on their person, this woman from Pt. St. Lucie came up with a creative excuse that I hadn’t heard before. She was part of a traffic stop and several bags of cocaine were found in her back seat. She claims that high wind blew the cocaine into her purse. Apparently Pt. St. Lucie has some pretty high winds.
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New Memoir Reveals the Tragedy of Polyamory for Women
Polyamory is getting a lot of attention in the press these past few months. This memoir, written by a woman who has experienced polyamory herself, tries to put a positive face on her experiences, but in reading it, you see the pain that it causes her.
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What You Need to Know About Finding the Right Bipolar Support Group
If you have one or more bipolar clients, encouraging them to join a bipolar support group could be very helpful to them. This article talks about support groups, their advantages, and suggestions for finding the right support group for each person.
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7 Ways to Manage Stress While Also Managing Bipolar
Tanya Hvilivitzky has bipolar disorder and always has excellent blogs. This one has several practical guidelines for helping people with bipolar to keep their stress levels lower, so they minimize the chances of their stress triggering another bipolar episode.
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Several Common Drugs Are Linked to Dementia
This article is interesting, but I would wait for other research to confirm these findings before sharing this information with clients. A couple reasons: (1) the people who are recipients of these drugs might be at higher risk of cognitive impairment than people in general and (2) this newspaper has a history of finding problems with many medications. So that is the reason I’m recommending that you read this information but not share it with clients until these findings are confirmed by other research. However, there are non-drug therapies that can be encouraged, e.g., moderate aerobic exercise can act as an antidepressant, and it increases physical and mental health in a number of ways.
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Trillions Spent on ‘Climate Change’ Based on Faulty Temperature Data, Climate Experts Say
This is definitely not a counseling article, but if these findings are true, trillions of dollars are being spent on something that is not true, while those trillions could be spent on things that help more people in other ways. See what you think.
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First human to receive Neuralink brain implant is ‘recovering well,’ Elon Musk says
This story sounds like something out of a science fiction movie, but it’s actually a true story recounting an actual brain implant in a real person. The eventual goal is to allow a paralyzed person to be able to control a computer, or even to speak using their thoughts to do so. Although for those of us who see and speak and move about we take those abilities for granted, this is a revolutionary movement forward for those who have not been able to communicate or move about due to accidents or disease.
Another article, this one from a British newspaper that you can’t read without a subscription, speculated about some of the things this neuralink could eventually do, including controlling a keyboard and mouse, helping blind people see, controlling a touch screen, helping disabled people to walk, and preventing epilepsy.
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The Power of Play for Dementia Patients
Legos are fascinating to children, but now they are finding a helpful use at the other end of the age spectrum. This article describes how they can play an important role with dementia patients.
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Playing musical instruments benefits brain health in later life
This research study from Great Britain found that playing a musical instrument enhanced mental health functioning in later life. There are several cognitive activities involved in reading the score, then translating the written notes into muscular movements, recognizing the rhythm patterns and translating them into movements, etc.
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11 Things That Make Adult ADHD Worse
If you have a client with ADHD who is doing things that make ADHD symptoms worse, this concise article might be helpful motivation for them to change their behavior.
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The High School Study Guide for Teens with ADHD
Interesting set of slides with suggestions on how teens with ADHD can succeed in high school. I thought the first one (the BROIL method) was particularly interesting.
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Anger Management Therapist Loses It, Murders Man While Witnesses Watch: Police
A Licensed therapist who specializes in anger management counseling in Daytona Beach had difficulty following his own suggestions and shot a man several times, murdering him, allegedly for abusing his dogs.
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Defeating Porn By Understanding Your Brain’s Arousal Template
If you have a male or female client who is struggling with porn they might find this article helpful to work through with you. If you are working with female Christian clients, be aware that they experience twice as much shame as do men about struggling with porn, so they may not tell you they are struggling unless you gently ask them.
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First Cases of Medically Acquired Alzheimer's Disease Reported
Five cases of persons who, as children had growth hormone deficiencies and were treated with human growth hormone extracts from cadavers, many decades later developed Alzheimer’s disease, in the first cases of medically-acquired Alzheimer’s Disease. While this situation has been in the headlines these last two weeks, some medical observers recommend that we not over-react to this finding, but rather, study it carefully to determine what actually happened.
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Ronald Reagan’s Deeply Personal Argument for Intelligent Design
This obviously is not a counseling article, but this is a heart-warming article about Ronald Reagan’s deep Christian faith and will probably give you some details you’ve never heard before about him.
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Biogen ditches Aduhelm, an Alzheimer's drug that was approved amid controversy
Aduhelm, which was hoped to slow the development of Alzheimer’s, has been discontinued because of some conflicting data about its safety and effectiveness.
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Evaluating Love Languages from a Relationship Science Perspective
Thirty years ago Gary Chapman, a Baptist minister, developed the theory that there are five ways that people express love. Those five love languages are words of affirmation, physical touch, quality time, receiving gifts, or acts of service. Although this theory has been widely referenced in books, articles, and therapy, the three foundational assumptions upon which Chapman based his theory have been researched in this new study and the researchers found that rather than each person having a preferred love language “people tend to value each of the five languages in different contexts. The researchers also emphasized that the languages may not encompass all the meaningful ways that people express and feel love. Finally, their research found very little evidence that partners with matching love languages fostered better relationships.”
Even though this research did raise questions about the validity of Chapman’s three basic assumptions, many would argue that his theories have helped many Christians become more aware of the ways they can express love for each other.
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14Things No One Tells You About Aging
If you or a client are discouraged about growing older and are thinking your best days are behind you, this slideshow highlights 14 things, most of which get better with age.
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Hope you have a wonderful week or weekend!
Henry Virkler
