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The Twist Podcast #255: Soylent Green is Embryos, Professor Mark Talks to Students, and An Interview with Dr. Harvey Abrams
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we tut-tut the Alabama Supreme Court, celebrate Mark’s recent high school writing class talks, and hear Rick’s interview with Dr. Harvey Abrams of the Stonewall National Museum, Archives and Library.
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The Weekly Readlines February 25
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Alabama’s Supreme Court declared embryos are children, complete with biblical justifications. Seeing danger ahead, Trump issued orders to reverse course. We know the GOP is listening, but will God do his bidding as well?
Nonbinary teen Nex Benedict died after being beaten in the girls bathroom of an Oklahoma school. The likelihood of charges being brought is zero.
Sammy “the ferret” Alito issued a virulent screed (does he write any other kind?) insisting marriage equality will all but imprison Christians who refuse to submit to the nefarious queer agenda. On the other side of town, Tennessee passed a law allowing anyone involved in ‘solemnizing’ marriages to refuse to do so as a matter of religious objection, aimed solely at the gays no matter what the language says. Clarence “Pay Up” Thomas and Sammy “the rodent” Alito began salivating immediately.
LGBTQ NEWS
My Little Pony” Convention Raided By Russian Authorities For “LGBT Propaganda”
LGBTQ NationIreland Ranks As One Of The Best Places To Live For Lgbtq+ People
Irish StarThe Alarming Negative Outlook of LGBTQ Youth
Metro Weekly -
Savvy Senior: Easy-to-Use Dental Care Products for Elderly Seniors
By Jim Miller
Dear Savvy Senior,
I have arthritis and hand tremors that affects my grip strength and makes brushing my teeth difficult. I’ve read that electric toothbrushes can help make the job easier. Can you make any recommendations for seniors?
Arthritic Alice
Dear Alice,
For seniors who suffer from arthritis or have other hand weaknesses or tremors, an electric toothbrush is an often turned to solution for keeping your teeth clean. At the push of a button, an electric toothbrush will do everything but shake, rattle and roll to do the cleaning for you, and most come with a wide, slightly weighted handle and rubberized grip that make them easier and more comfortable to hold on to.
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On the Map: Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute Brings Science to Kids of All Ages
On the Map is a feature at LGBTSr highlighting travel, exploration and destinations.
By Mark McNease
We made another two-night trip to Philly, one of our favorite getaways. This time we had a mission: to get out senior SEPTA passes that allow residents of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware to travel free on any SEPTA trains, or public transportation throughout the city. We will now be able to take a train from a station not too far from our house and head in for day trips. But this time we wanted to spend two nights at our favorite hotel: the historic Morris House Hotel. This was our fourth stay there, and we love it a little more each time.
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The Twist Podcast #254: Kansas City Crushes It, Fani Fires Back, and a Loopy Leap Year Listicle
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we salute the Kansas City Chiefs, jaw-drop at Fani Willis’s courtroom fireworks, and offer up a loopy leap year listicle.
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The Weekly Readlines February 15
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Kansas City Chiefs took home the trophy, with the help of Taylor Swift’s witchcraft and Biden’s deal with George Soros and the NFL. Shake it off!
Democrats took back the seat vacated by George Santos, handing it to Tom Suozzi in a closely-watched election that should send shivers up the spine of spineless Republicans everywhere.
And the GOP House impeached Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas by one vote, giving the MAGA base the revenge theater it craves.
LGBTQ NEWS
Annise Parker: LGBTQ+ Elected Leaders Are ‘The Strongest Line Of Defense’
Watermark OnlineBans Of LGBTQ Books Erase Representation For Queer Kids. That’s Why This Podcast Exists
Milwaukee Journal SentinelA Proposed Deal In Congress Could Make Asylum Harder For LGBTQ Migrants To Obtain
NPR -
Cathy’s Wealth of Health: Joy – Food For the Heart
Narration provided by Wondervox.
By Cathy McNease, Dipl CH, RH
What gives you JOY? That can be a difficult question to answer for the overwhelmed, stressed-out person. One way to navigate hard times is to attend to whatever gives you Joy, little things, easy things, meaningful things. What I have found is that acknowledging my Joy from drinking tea, or the sun on my face, or a singing bird, or a sweet smelling breeze, provides me with an alternative to troubles. We all need comfort, but it is too easy to turn to injurious ways of comfort that further our discomfort instead. Then, those behaviors become mindless activities that keep us stuck in suffering.
Camellia sinensis, or tea, as we know it, is a remarkable plant and medicine for our mental health. All of the teas made from this plant contain caffeine, but also tannic acid, which binds some of the caffeine, making it less available than caffeine from coffee. The amount of caffeine varies in teas, with green varieties often the highest and twig tea, kukicha, being the lowest, with only a trace. White tea, the young white leaves, is also low in caffeine. All of the teas activate the movement of Qi to the head, bringing clarity and a brightness to our minds. For the caffeine sensitive, tea should be avoided, but you may find Peppermint tea or Rooibos tea (a tangy African herb) refreshing and uplifting as well.
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Savvy Senior: Keeping Older Drivers Safe on the Road
Narration provided by Wondervox.
By Jim Miller
Dear Savvy Senior,
What safety tips can you recommend for older drivers? My 86-year-old mother, who still drives herself, had a fender bender last month and I worry about her safety.
Back Seat Daughter
Dear Back Seat,
With more and more older Americans driving well into their 70s, 80s and beyond, there are a variety of things your mom can do to help maintain and even improve her driving skills. Here are some recommendations by driving rehabilitation specialists that work with older drivers.
Get an eye exam: Because about 90 percent of the information necessary to drive is received through our eyes, this is a good first step in ensuring your mom’s driving safety. So, get your mom’s eyes checked every year to be sure her vision and eyewear is up to par.
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The Twist Podcast #253: Skittish SCOTUS, Biden’s Brain Debacle, and Horrible Valentine’s Gifts for that Special Someone
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we consider SCOTUS’s sudden humility in the face of promised MAGA mayhem, Biden’s big bad brain day, and America’s favorite manufactured holiday. Be our Valentine!
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Adventures in Gardening: The Pleasures of Raised Bed Gardening
Narration provided by Wondervox.
By Mark McNease
Gardening is good for the soul as well as the soil. There’s something about planting and watching your vegetables or flowers grow that gives you a feeling of accomplishment.
I’m in the process of renovating our vegetable garden. We have a large back lawn, and when we first moved here permanently from New York City, I wanted to create a real vegetable garden, not the sad attempts we’d made when we were only here on weekends. I ordered three wooden raised bed kits, comprised of six 4×4 rectangles. I then immediately made the mistake of putting two of these adjacent to each other, as 8×4 beds, forming one large 8×8 box. That would be all right, if you never needed to weed or prune or in any other way work within the growing area. I had the sense to put the third long box several feet away, so you could walk between them.
Three years passed. The wood rotted. The soil wasn’t producing very well. And this year I decided to redo the whole thing. The rotted wood has all been pulled out, but the mounds of dirt remain. I’m 65, I don’t shovel snow in the winter, having read stories every year about people my age suffering heart attacks while they shovel their walkways. I’m not interested in dying in my garden, like Vito Corleone in The Godfather. If the dirt had to be moved, it would be by someone else.
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The Weekly Readlines February 8
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
The House and Senate GOP took their marching orders from Trump and killed the border bill, to everyone’s shock and no one’s surprise. The border crisis is now theirs.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas lived to be impeached another day.
Taylor Swift set a new record with four Album of the Year Wins. And Tracy Chapman showed the world what serenity looks like, sharing a stage with a deeply respectful Luke Combs to sing her iconic song, Fast Car.
LGBTQ NEWS
FBI: Schools Are The Third Most Popular Location For Hate Crimes
Los Angeles BladeUtah’s First LGBTQ Community Health Center Celebrates Grand Opening
KSL TVUniversity of North Florida Students Protest Closing Of LGBT Center
GO Magazine -
One Thing or Another: Perchance to Sleep
Narration provided by Wondervox.
By Mark McNease
A lighthearted look at life, aging, and the absurdities of it all.
I’m an early riser anyway. I’m at my most alert and creative in the mornings, and if I manage to sleep until 5:00 a.m., I consider it a good night’s rest and I’m ready to go.
Do we sleep less because we’re older, or are we older because we sleep less? It’s a mystery for the ages, pondered at 3:00 a.m. when we’re in bed staring at the ceiling or the wall, wondering if we will go back to sleep. It’s a toss-up: sometimes we do, and many times we don’t. Something trivial or significant catches our mind like a shimmering fishhook snapped up by a grouper, and soon we know we might as well get out of bed.