Articles from the Week of March 8, 2024

Interesting Quotes

I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.

J.B. Priestley

You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to bed with satisfaction.

George Horace Lorimer

With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Fascinating Facts

Caesar salad isn’t named after Julius Caesar.

“It would be easy to assume that the Caesar salad got its name from the famous Roman statesman of the same name, but the classic appetizer actually has no connection to Julius Caesar. Instead, it was named after an Italian American restaurateur and chef named Caesar Cardini.” (Source: HistoryFacts.com)

The world’s largest waterfall is under the ocean.

“Waterfalls are some of the world’s most amazing wonders. Millions of people flock to these water-rushing giants — with names like Niagara, Yosemite Falls, and Iguaçu — to see them up close and in person. However, the largest waterfall in the world has no ticket counter, no gift shop, and no tourists. In fact, there’s nothing at all to see, because this waterfall is entirely underwater.

Nestled between Greenland and Iceland is a body of water known as the Denmark Strait, and beneath its waves lies the world’s largest waterfall. Known simply as the Denmark Strait cataract (a “cataract” is a type of powerful, flowing waterfall), it cascades 11,500 feet toward the seafloor. This incredible deluge — like other underwater cataracts — is actually a dramatic dance between warm and cold water. In the case of the Denmark Strait cataract, cold water from the Nordic Sea meets the much warmer water of the Irminger Sea southwest of Iceland. The cooler, denser water sinks beneath the lighter, warmer water, dropping more than 2 miles to the seafloor. The resulting waterfall completely dwarfs Venezuela’s Angel Falls, the tallest terrestrial waterfall in the world, by more than 8,000 feet. The Denmark Strait cataract is also a staggering 100 miles wide, nearly 15 times wider than the widest terrestrial waterfall, the Khone Phapheng Falls in Laos, which is only 6.7 miles wide. By every single metric, this underwater avalanche towers over the competition — even though it never rises above sea level.” (Source: InterestingFacts.com)

The Atheist Who Became a Believer by Reading Leviticus

This story appeared in “Our Daily Bread” during the last week of February. Most Christians skim over the book of Leviticus, especially the parts concerning how the Jewish priests were to evaluate Jews who developed a skin infection. One medical doctor was leaning toward atheism, but he decided to read the entire Bible before making a final decision. While reading the sections in Leviticus about skin diseases he realized that the commands were much further advanced than the medicine of Moses’ time, and gradually concluded that those commands couldn’t have come from a human being and, from that start, eventually became a believer.

Counseling Articles

Neurons help flush waste out of brain during sleep

We have known for some time that getting adequate sleep is important for healthy living. Neuroscientists have been studying what happens during sleep and have found that there is an active process that cleans up metabolic waste that accumulates during the day. When an individual chronically does not get enough sleep these metabolic wastes accumulate and may lead to neurological diseases. This article summarizes what we know about this process at this time.

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“Society Says” Relativism

This is not directly a counseling article, but the topic may come up occasionally in your counseling sessions. The article discusses whether there are some absolute moral standards or whether all moral standards are relative to the society they are in. It makes some good arguments against relativism, which may be helpful if you have a client who argues that all moral standards are relative.

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Groom wears Apple Vision Pro on his wedding day as wife is creeped out

This groom is apparently quite fascinated by the latest technology, and asked his wife-to-be if he could wear his Apple Vision Pro during their wedding. She said “no,” but did allow him to wear it during the reception. I’m not sure what the odds for this marriage surviving are.

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The Reality of So-Called “Gender Affirming Care” is Being Exposed

The authors of this article discuss a study here in the U.S. by the Endocrine Society which looks like it will do an open-minded assessment of “gender affirming care,” but the study committee is being packed with doctors who have a conflict of interest in the outcome. It also includes a discussion of study committees in other countries, and what they have concluded about the validity of studies that were once used as support for gender-affirming-care.

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NFL Draft Prospect Stuns at Combine Event: ‘I Don’t Believe in Space,’ ‘I Don’t Think There’s Other Planets

This high school student has some interesting ideas. He doesn’t believe in outer space or that there are other planets. He also thinks that “flat-earthers” have some interesting ideas. I wonder if there was enough padding in his football helmet?

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Ketamine Clinics Diverge from APA Recommendations

If you have a client who is considering going to a “ketamine clinic” for treatment it would probably be wise for them to know that these ketamine clinics are often providing treatments that diverge from treatments recommended by the American Psychiatric Association. And there is no evidence that these treatments are more effective than medically approved treatments for psychiatric disorders.

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Powerful Psychedelic Gains Renewed Attention as a Treatment for Opioid Addiction

This is from the New York Times, so you probably won’t be able to read the article without a subscription to that newspaper, so I’ll summarize the gist. Research has suggested that ibogaine appears to help ease the agony of detox and prevent relapse from opioid addiction. Although it is starting to be used in other countries, it remains illegal in the U.S.

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10 telltale signs that someone has stolen your identity

Probably all of us live with some fear that our identity might be stolen. Here’s a worthwhile article from Kurt the Cyberguy on signs that someone has stolen your identity and what to do if you discover that this has happened.

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What Is a Pig-Butchering Scam?

This is a fairly new term that refers to another type of scam that is circulating today. I encourage you to take a couple minutes to familiarize yourself with this scam, both for yourself but also so you can alert your clients if they start to get taken in by this type of scam. This scam generally takes awhile for the scammer to cultivate, so if a client talks to you about it early in the process, you can probably help them get out of it before it causes them serious trouble.

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I’m stuck on the ‘anxiety’ drug pregabalin

This article is from a British newspaper, so you probably won’t be able to access it without a subscription, so here is the gist. Pregabalin was originally approved as an antiseizure medicine, but doctors discovered that it is helpful for patients with neuropathic (nerve) pain, and then eventually for anxiety, which some of your clients may be using it for. It was thought to be a safer alternative to some of the drugs currently available. However, it has been found to have a discontinuation syndrome that includes diaphoresis (sweating), tachycardia (fast heartbeat), hypertension, tremors, diarrhea, agitation, paranoia, auditory hallucinations, mutism, self-mutilation, and suicidal attempts. So if you have a client who is thinking of discontinuing it, you may wish to prepare them for this.

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3 Myths About Bipolar Mania

Although you probably completely understand the symptoms of bipolar disorder, this article by Julie Fast, a blogger who has bipolar disorder herself, will tell you some things about bipolar disorder “from the inside” that you probably didn’t know. And if you counsel with any clients who are just beginning their journey with bipolar disorder, this article will probably help them minimize the damage that often occurs in manic episodes.

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Leaked Files from WPATH Reveal Widespread Medical Malpractice on Children and Vulnerable Adults at Global Transgender Healthcare Authority

For many years WPATH (the World Professional Association for Transgender Health) was considered a respected professional organization that made careful medical recommendations regarding issues related to children who had questions about their gender. However, this in-depth report suggests that they have deviated very significantly from the organization they once were.

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Leaked Files From Transgender Medical Org Show ‘Medical Malpractice’

I have read several analyses of the files from WPATH that have been released. Some are in foreign newspapers that you could not read unless you had a subscription to those newspapers. However, here is one that you can read without a subscription. I think it will give you a strong sense of why several of these reviews are so negative about the transgender agenda WPATH has been supporting.

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Promising New Wearable Could Retrain the Brain After Stroke

Some people develop physical handicaps following a stroke. This new invention, now available only to those in a clinical trial, is an inexpensive device that could improve many lives in the future.

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West Coast is Rethinking the Advisability of Decriminalizing Hard Drugs

In 2020 Oregon decided to decriminalize the use of hard drugs. In the last four years, there has been such an upsurge in crime and death from drug overdoses in Oregon that state legislators have now passed a bill to revoke those laws and the governor is planning to sign it. San Francisco is considering doing something similar. There has been such a devastation of city businesses and deaths from fentanyl overdoses that legislators are considering laws that would make drug dealers guilty of murder if a person dies from a drug they have sold them. I’m including one article on each of these topics, although you may not be able to access them without subscriptions to these newspapers. However, I think the fact that liberal states like Oregon and California are recognizing that removing the penalties for hard drug use is not the solution is important  to know, whether or not you can read the full articles.

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Alabama governor signs legislation protecting IVF providers from legal liability into law

After the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos, a normal part of in-vitro fertilization process, are children, the legislature rushed to create a law that protected IVF providers from legal liability. The new law will go into effect immediately.

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Promising new treatment for PTSD revealed — how it can help veterans

This is a brief description of a new treatment for wartime PTSD. Although it is just focused on PTSD from wartime experiences, perhaps in the future it can be applied to types of PTSD coming from other kinds of experiences.

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Striking the Balance Between Medications and Therapy in Bipolar Treatment

Those individuals recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder often hope for a “quick fix” with medication alone. This article provides good advice that balancing the results of medication and therapy to produce maximum effectiveness.

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Forced marriage of Christian women becoming 'concerningly common' worldwide: Open Doors

A very sad article. Let’s pray for the women this is happening to, that it would stop.

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Boy, 11, dies after suffering cardiac arrest during ‘chroming’ social media challenge

“Chroming” is a TikTok challenge in which a child or teen inhales the fumes from common household items like aerosol cans, nail polish remover, paint solvents, and cleaning products to get high. Often other children or teens film the process and post the results online. Chroming can cause serious brain damage and several children have died after doing it. Chroming is only one of several dangerous activities that have been encouraged on TikTok.  Tommy Lee, the 11-year-old child, went into cardiac arrest and died. He was taken to a hospital where doctors tried to resuscitate him to no avail.

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I hope you have a wonderful week or weekend,

Henry Virkler