January can be a very busy time for health clubs and fitness centers. Even myself….I have joined a fitness club in an effort to get myself in better shape this year!
Jesus spent much of his life healing the sick, physically and spiritually. Jesus demonstrates that our physical and spiritual well-being should be a top priority and that the health of body and soul are invariably related. Remember the last time you liked the way you looked, inside and outside?
To change our quality of life, we must make conscious choices and practice them until they become habits. Imagine just taking small steps throughout the year toward a healthier you!
Experts recommend getting at least thirty minutes of exercise a few times per week, eating fresher, less processed foods, and getting a good night’s sleep. In addition, setting aside a few minutes daily to connect with God in silent reflection, prayer and Bible reading will strengthen us from the inside out. By taking just a few small steps we can begin to achieve a healthy balance that helps us to be at our best. God will meet us in our goals, empower us to follow through and fill our lives with love and joy!
Q: It was on this day back in 1784 that the United States finally became a sovereign nation. The Continental Congress ratified what treaty fulfilling the Declaration of Independence?
A: Treaty of Paris that officially ended the American Revolution and established the United States as a sovereign nation. And taxes have been going up ever since.. Today is also known as Ratification Day!
Today is National Dress Up Your Pet Day.
Today is Today Day. NBC-TV started the morning news show, "Today," on this day in 1952. The first host was Dave Garroway. Later hosts included John Chancellor, Betsy Palmer, Hugh Downs, Florence Henderson, Tom Brokaw, Barbara Walters, Bryant Gumbel, Jane Pauley, Matt Lauer, Katie Couric, and a chimpanzee named J. Fred Muggs. J. Fred was the first co-host.
Actress Francis Bavier was born on this day in 1903. She was Aunt Bee on "The Andy Griffith Show," the aunt we'd all like to have: to take care of us, give us subtle advice, not try to run our lives, and when we don't have time, be nice to all our Goobers.
Andy Rooney is 90 today. Andy is a curmudgeon. That's a cantankerous old guy who can whine on any subject. Sort of like the US Congress when you hide their Metamucil.
On this day in 1794 Dr. Jesse Bennett of Deom, Virginia, performed history's first successful Caesarian section -- on his wife -- using no anesthesia! Something tells me an ordeal like that could cause a wife to get a lot of headaches.
On this day in 1779 the Continental Congress issued the first $55 bill, which amazingly is still in circulation. Only today it's called a one.
1963: The first of 124 different guest hosts filled in for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. The first was country singer Jimmy Dean.
1993: Upset because Jay Leno got "The Tonight Show" job, David Letterman left NBC for a $16-million contract at CBS
Jim…can you beat this bicycle ride?
2007: George Hood of Burr Ridge, Illinois, pedaled his way into the Guinness Book of World Records with a bicycle ride of 85 hours, three hours longer than the previous record. Hood pedaled 1,040 miles in place from 4:00 a.m. Wednesday until just before midnight on Saturday. He averaged 12.7 miles an hour for 82 hours, then kicked in gear and hit 13.5 the final three hours. Yep, said he was really tired.
Three days before his inauguration, Barack Obama is going to retrace Abraham Lincoln’s route by taking an Amtrak train from Philadelphia to Washington D.C.
The Detroit Auto Show opened this week. America’s automakers are showing off their latest cars. Unfortunately, they didn’t get as much of the bailout as they thought, so a ticket into the auto show costs $1.3 billion.
Dr. Bruce K. Rubin said rather than clearing congestion or easing a cough, it can stimulate mucus production and inflame airways
"Infants and young children have airways that are much narrower than those of adults, so any increase in mucus or inflammation can narrow them more severely," he said.
Rubin said that while many people like to use Vicks to treat colds, there is not much data to show that it works. He said it can also cause inflammation in the eyes, mental status changes, lung inflammation, liver damage, constriction of airways and allergic reactions.
A news release on Rubin's work noted that the packaging on Vick's VapoRub already warns against using it on children under the age of 2. And he wants to go further.
"I recommend never putting Vicks in, or under, the nose of anybody -- adult or child," Rubin said. "Some of the ingredients in Vicks, notably the menthol, trick the brain into thinking that it is easier to breathe by triggering a cold sensation, which is processed as indicating more airflow. Vicks may make you feel better, but it can't help you breathe better."
Rubin also said that if a child is struggling to breathe, she should be seen by a doctor as quickly as possible. His study appeared in this month's issue of the journal Chest.
Shopping around: Insurance rates can vary greatly from company to company, so shop around to find the best deal. Sites like progressive.com offer people the ability to compare its rates with those of other companies, quickly and easily. 2007 data shows that people who switched to Progressive reported saving over $350 on their annual premium.
Insure Your Home’s Actual Value: Most homes have decreased in value in the last year. Homeowners need to make sure they are not over insuring it. You need to reevaluate your homeowner’s policy every year and not just pay it as part of your monthly mortgage payment without thinking. By insuring your home for its actual value instead of an inflated value, you could save $300 per year.
Going beyond clipping coupons: Given the current economy, clipping coupons is making a comeback. But learn how to go beyond the basic manufacturer’s coupon to layer in even more savings by buying items already on sale and using a coupon. This tip saved Ellie’s family more than $8,000 last year!
Check for available discounts: Check with your carrier to see what discounts you may be eligible for. Many insurance companies offer discounts if you pay in full, are a loyal customer, sign up for paperless billing, etc. For example, some companies offer discounts if customers opt to do business with them electronically. Make sure you get all the “little” discounts available to you—they can add up to big savings.
No more plastic: Paying for everything in cash is an easier way to budget and track expenses without racking up credit card debt and finance charges.
The road less traveled: Do you take mass transit to work or are you a stay-at-home parent who doesn’t drive your vehicle much during the day? If so, you should investigate Pay as You Drive insurance programs like Progressive’s MyRate program that can potentially save you up to 25 percent or more depending on how and how much (or how little) you drive!
Higher deductibles, lower costs: Insurance is for the big stuff, not the little stuff. According to the Insurance Information Institute, raising your deductibles to just $500 could reduce your Collision and Comprehensive costs by 15 to 30 percent. So raise those deductibles on Comprehensive and Collision and see your premiums go down!
In an affidavit, the counselor to Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. said that Obama's staff had informed him that the president-elect specifically wished for Roberts to include the phrase when he administered the oath.
The affidavit figured heavily Friday in the Justice Department's opposition to the suit filed by a group of atheists who want to bar Roberts from using "so help me God" in the oath.
The Justice Department's lawyers -- a list of heavy hitters including Assistant Attorney General Gregory Katsas, Deputy Assistant Attorney General John C. O'Quinn, Civil Division Assistant Director James Gilligan, and trial attorneys Brad Rosenberg and Eric Beckenhauer -- essentially called that idea ridiculous.
“Plaintiffs' legal theory -- that the President of the United States has a First Amendment right to say the words 'so help me God' after taking the oath of office, but not to have the same affirmation administered to him -- simply makes no sense," they wrote in their opposition.
The Justice Department also noted that because Obama is not named as a defendant in the case, there isn't much the suit can do to stop him from having the oath administered the way he wants it.
"Nothing in the Constitution or the laws of the United States requires the Chief Justice to administer the presidential oath of office," its lawyers wrote. "Thus, if this Court were to issue an injunction against the Chief Justice ... the President-Elect could merely exercise his prerogative to invite someone else to administer an oath that is followed by the phrase 'so help me God.'"
FAITH STILL AT THE CORE OF ARIZONA QB KURT WARNER'S SUCCESS
"If you ever really want to do a story about who I am, God's got to be at the center of it. Every time I hear a piece or read a story that doesn't have that, they're missing the whole lesson of who I am." - Kurt Warner
It has become part of the sports landscape. Athletes congregate on the field after a game to pray or offer a sound bite thanking a higher power
It rarely makes the news.
Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner understands this. The man who led this organization to its first home playoff game since 1947 knows that discussion about resurrections comes only in the context of career revivals and that tape recorders shut off when faith references start up.
During a visit to The Oprah Winfrey Show, Warner "basically had three sentences to say, so, in the middle one, I made sure I mentioned my faith, because how could they cut it out?" he said. "I went to watch the show on replay . . . and they cut it out!"
Warner, 37, is right. There is dishonesty in telling his story if you ignore what drives him, especially if you accept its role in one of the NFL's great success stories. In five years, he went from a 22-year-old stock boy at a Cedar Rapids, Iowa, grocery store to Super Bowl MVP. He has morphed again, from unemployed veteran to record-setting starting quarterback with the Cardinals, who on Saturday in Charlotte, N.C., will try to advance to the NFC Championship Game by beating the Carolina Panthers.
"I wasn't always this way," he said.
During his final season at the University of Northern Iowa in 1993, Warner went to a country-music dance bar called Wild E. Coyotes. He spotted Brenda Carney Meoni and asked her to dance. Her immediate reaction?
"Get away. Get away," she thought.
"Here's this cute guy in a bar with an entourage of females, and I'm the last person that makes sense for him to go to," Brenda said. "I'm a divorced woman with two kids, one with special needs. And Kurt's 21. Twenty-one."
They danced, and the next day, Warner was knocking on her door with a rose.
"Again, I'm screaming in my head, 'Go away!' but I opened the door and said, 'C'mon in,' " she said. "My 2 1/2-year-old grabs him by the hand and shows him every radio we own.
"He fell in love with my kids before he fell in love with me. When we'd have a fight and were going to break up, he'd say, 'Well I get the kids.' I'm like, 'But they're my kids!' "
They stuck together, even when it appeared football wasn't in Warner's future. He signed with the Green Bay Packers as a free agent in 1994 but was cut before the season began. He returned to UNI to work as a graduate assistant football coach and spent nights stocking shelves at the local Hy-Vee grocery store. He moved in with Brenda, who was struggling financially and turned to food stamps for a while. They drove a car that died every time it turned left.
He landed with the Arena Football League's Iowa Barnstormers in 1995 and three years later was signed by the St. Louis Rams, who allocated him to the NFL's developmental league in Europe. His backup with the Amsterdam Admirals was Jake Delhomme, now the Panthers' quarterback.
Around this time, Warner began challenging Brenda about her faith. She had become a devout Christian as a 12-year-old after seeing a fundamentalist Christian film called A Distant Thunder (1978). Warner questioned her, suggesting she was picking and choosing her beliefs from the Bible at her convenience. During this exploration, he closely studied the Bible.
"When I did, it was obvious what the truth was," Warner said.
He committed himself to the Bible's message. That's Warner's way, why he has succeeded in football. He studies, commits, believes.
Before they married, he told Brenda they should follow the Bible faithfully, which meant, among other things, no premarital sex.
"I'm like, 'Dude, we've got so many other things to work on. Why that one?' " Brenda, now 41, said, laughing.
They married in 1997. In 1999, he took over as the Rams' quarterback when starter Trent Green was injured. What followed was two Super Bowls, two MVP titles and a legion of Christian followers.
He was both revered and scorned for his outspokenness about faith. Since Warner's arrival in Arizona in 2005, and the revival of his career, people here treat his religion with more curiosity than debate. Many were amused by Warner giving an invocation one year at Celebrity Fight Night, a popular black-tie fundraiser for Muhammad Ali's Parkinson Research Center. Ali is of the Muslim faith.
"I never feel like, 'Should I say this, or do I not,' but I do try now to strategically figure out (during interviews) how I can get somebody to include it because it's so important to who I am," Warner said.
How does Warner express his faith? He always has the Bible in his hand when he does postgame interviews. He joins players in postgame group-prayer sessions on the field. He loves to engage in spiritual discussions with teammates but says he tries not to be in-your-face about it. He wants the words of the Bible to guide his everyday life.
When he and his family dine on the road, they always buy dinner for another table in the restaurant but keep the purchase anonymous. The children choose the family. Brenda Warner said it's their way of teaching their kids one of the Bible's messages: It's not your circumstances that define you but what you do with those circumstances.
Warner shouldn't be categorized only one way, Delhomme said.
"Football doesn't define Kurt Warner, and I think that's the biggest thing to me. It's not who he is. Kurt Warner is a lot bigger."
Added Cardinals defensive tackle Bertrand Berry: "To limit Kurt as a Super Bowl champion would do a disservice to him. I think his legacy will be that he's just a great human being, and I think that's the highest compliment that you can give anybody."
FINGER LENGTH COULD PREDICT YOU FINANCIAL SUCCESS
WASHINGTON – The length of a man's ring finger may predict his success as a financial trader. Researchers at the University of Cambridge in England report that men with longer ring fingers, compared to their index fingers, tended to be more successful in the frantic high-frequency trading in the London financial district.
Indeed, the impact of biology on success was about equal to years of experience at the job, the team led by physiologist John M. Coates reports in Monday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The same ring-to-index finger ratio has previously been associated with success in competitive sports such as soccer and basketball, the researchers noted.
In the new study, the researchers measured the right hands of 44 male stock traders who were engaged in a type of trade that involved rapid decision-making and quick physical reactions.
Over 20 months those with longer ring fingers compared to their index fingers made 11 times more money than those with the shortest ring fingers. Over the same time the most experienced traders made about 9 times more than the least experienced ones.
Looking only at experienced traders, the long-ring-finger folks earned 5 times more than those with short ring fingers.
One study, which looked at average finger ratios in university departments found that faculty from math, science and engineering exhibited longer index finger ratio, rather than ring finger, they noted.
DELL OFFERING REBATES TO SOME CUSTOMERS
ARE YOU ONE OF THEM?
If you own a Dell computer, you could have some money coming your way.Dell Inc. has just agreed to offer $1.5 million in refunds to consumers who file claims postmarked April 13. The company is also required to pay $1.85 million to 34 states that covered the cost of the investigation.
If you think you are eligible for a refund, call 1-800-915-3355 and have your customer or order number ready. The settlement comes after the computer manufacturer was accused of not honoring some warranty services on computers or some who never got promised rebates. Some consumers tried applying for zero-percent financing, but were charged higher interest rates.As part of its agreement, Dell has agreed to be clearer in its promotional offers, improve warranty service and mail all rebates.
Missouri and Kansas residents qualify for this rebate.
THOUSANDS OF BABY GARMENTS BEING RECALLED
WASHINGTON - The government has issued a second recall for thousands of infant clothes.The garments, called Taggies Sleep 'n Play, were sold at specialty stores such as Babies R Us, Dillards, and Nordstrom for about $20. The recall includes the Butterfly Applique and Fun Dog Print Styles.The problem is the snaps can come off and the snaps are so small that if a child gets hold of one, he or she could choke.The importer, Rashti & Rashti of New York is offering a full refund. You can contact them by calling (888) 594-3730 between 7:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
A 107 YEAR OLD CHINESE WOMAN IS READY TO FIND HER FIRST HUSBAND
A 107-year-old Chinese woman who was afraid to marry when she was young has decided to look for her first husband and hopes to find a fellow centenarian so they will have something to talk about, a Chinese paper reported.
Wang Guiying is worried she is becoming a burden to her aging nieces and nephews since breaking her leg when she was 102 and had to stop doing chores like washing her clothes.
"I'm already 107 and I still haven't got married," the Chongqing Commercial Times quoted her saying. "What will happen if I don't hurry up and find a husband?"
Born in southern Guizhou province the child of a salt merchant, Wang grew up watching her uncles and other men scold and beat their wives and often found her aunt crying in the woodshed after an attack, the paper said.
"All the married people around there lived like that. Getting married was too frightening," she said of an era when Chinese women had few rights and low social standing.
Many also had their feet bound in an excruciating process aimed at making them look more dainty and marriageable.
After Wang's father, mother and older sister died, she still shied away from marriage. Instead she moved to the countryside and survived as a farmer until she was 74 years old and no longer strong enough to work in the fields, the report said.
Her nephew in the booming city of Chongqing then took Wang in, but she is worried he and her other nephews and nieces are too old to take care of her now even the youngest is 60.
"My nephews and nieces are getting older and their children are already tied up with their own families and I am becoming more and more of a burden," she said.
Local officials have said they are happy to help Wang search for a 100-year old groom, and suggested her family get in touch with old people's homes to find candidates, the paper said.
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