Thoughtworthy (Heating Pads, Defense Against the Dark Arts, New Episode & More!)

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:: 1 ::

For my birthday, my husband gave me a far infrared heating pad. Hello, where have you been all my life? I love it already.

His purchase was precipitated by one of my science rants. I made the mistake of **noticing** when someone said my heated car seats are a source of EMFs. I don’t actually use them, but it made me wonder about my heating pad. So I went down that rabbit hole and decided my heating pad was a source of EMF radiation I no longer wished to be exposed to.

Thankfully, these far infrared ones not only exist. I was pretty excited, and I’m happy so far with the effects.

There are all sorts of possibilities for the use of infrared light.

:: 2 ::

Let’s talk about how the news tries to manipulate you using images. I can’t tell you how many times lately I’ve seen articles using dramatic images meant to make a point, but if you know where the images come from, you begin to lose the little remaining faith in media you have.

Learning to do a reverse image search can come in handy. Teaching your children how to do it, is basically giving them a Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

I recommend using this site. It gives you three options. You can download the image yourself, and reupload it to the site. That’s option one. You can use the image URL (which you can usually find using a left mouse click and then clicking “copy image location”). That’s option two. Or you can search by keyword. That’s option three, which I’ve never used.

Once you choose your option and enter the necessary data, scroll down and click “search similar images.” After that, be prepared for the fun. A good example is when Orange County opened their beaches, and the papers accused everyone there of not social distancing using photos from a beach … on the east coast. The accusation may or may not be true, but we rightfully doubted it since friends who were there reported the opposite was true and the paper couldn’t manage any authentic evidence to the contrary.

Warning: if a photo has gone viral, it will look authentic for perhaps the first 10 Google pages (not exaggerating) before you realize that regardless of the popularity, it’s actually from something else, somewhere else, or just stock photo. You will have to dig. And, of course, not all images are deceptive.

I use lots of stock photos, but then again I try not to use images to prove my point. True story: for years I refused to put any images on this site. I wanted this to be a place of words and good thinking rather than impressions. Unfortunately, Google started punishing me, so I gave in and considered it an opportunity to make things prettier.

:: 3 ::

We did our seasonal clothing switch a few weeks ago. I don’t know about you, but it all feels very complicated. Son O. still technically needs shoes (though I gave in and he’s now using his good church shoes to play in — it’s not like the Tyrant will let us go to church anytime soon).

I ordered some things online, which I dislike doing because I never know if it’s going to fit. But pajamas seemed safe. How are you clothing your children? With second-hand stores closed, are you having to adjust your budget?

Of course, some of you were never put under house arrest, and others of you live in places where you are gradually having your freedom returned, so maybe it’s not an issue for you? Tell me about it in the comments; I’m curious.

:: 4 ::

We’ve got a new Scholé Sisters episode out today and Kevin Clark is the featured guest! This conversation was soooo good.

:: 5 ::

This month in 2014:

Even now, when I feel like my homeschool is spiraling into chaos, I realize I’ve allowed the habit of interrupting each other to creep in.

:: 6 ::

Podcast episode of the week:

• The Ben Shapiro Show: Ep. 1004 – The Rewriting Of America
  • I’m sharing this for about the first half of the episode. The rest of it is news on coronavirus, etc. that is probably outdated by now. The part that is unique content is on the 1619 Project and its attempt to reframe the American narrative. Listen and be informed. Also, if you grew up only reading Howard Zinn, start reading other stuff quick. It helps if you look at primary sources.

:: 7 ::

This week’s links collection:

• Molybdenum uptake, absorption and excretion in humans from IMOA
  • This has been a favorite mineral of mine to study. If you want to geek out on it, here’s a good place to start.
• Houston Looking at Dismantling $17M Temp Hospital That Didn’t See a Single Patient from The Western Journal
  • It’s hard to stomach the complete waste of time, energy, money, and resources, but at the end of the day, I think we can all at least rejoice that it didn’t see a single patient. It’s a good thing that it ended up unnecessary.
• Woodstock Occurred in the Middle of a Pandemic from AIER
  • I never knew this! So interesting.
  • The Journal of Infectious Diseases has an interesting piece on this: Multinational Impact of the 1968 Hong Kong Influenza Pandemic: Evidence for a Smoldering Pandemic (published in 2005). I found their note interesting: “it was the second pandemic season of A/H3N2 influenza virus (1969/1970) that caused the majority of deaths in England.”
• Liberty University finishes school year with no new COVID-19 cases from Disrn
  • “[T]he same media that ran nearly 800 stories criticizing his school’s decision to allow students back on campus this spring has fallen silent in the absence of the anticipated outbreak …”
  • I don’t know that this is the call I’d have made if I was running the school, but it’s interesting that it all panned out.

:: 8 ::

Corona reads:

• World-Wide Nutritional Immunity from Orthomolecular Medicine News Service
  • This is more a table of contents than anything. If you want to read about Vitamin C and Covid-19, this links you to studies from all over the world in reverse chronological order.
  • The earliest study on the list is from January of this year.
• Vitamin B12 Deficiency and COVID-19 from B12 Oils
  • Yes, this is an old-fashioned website. Don’t let that deter you from the content.
  • I really appreciate all the work Dr. Greg Russell-Jones has done on B12. This page does not disappoint.
• COVID-19: Melatonin as a potential adjuvant treatment from Life Sciences
  • Tess and I were discussing the merits of using melatonin as an over-the-counter treatment for Covid-19. I had heard someone somewhere mention something (how’s that for specific?) and then dug this up after our chat. It’s interesting.
  • If you scroll down, MTHFR Support has some helpful and interesting links and information on melatonin as well.
  • Apparently, people have been reading this. I found it hard to buy melatonin when I decided I wanted some. I ended up ordering some of the basic lozenges from Life Extension to try on my insomniac. I may report back if I end up impressed.