Blood in the dojo, a little bit is fine, a lot of blood is usually a bad sign.
artwork by bawarner on Pintrest
Dec 26, 2019
Blood in the dojo
Blood in the dojo, a little bit is fine, a lot of blood is usually a bad sign.
artwork by bawarner on Pintrest
Dec 25, 2019
Don't ever vape, part 2
I can easily understand how people get sucked into vaping. It seems cool, it looks cool, and with cool names of products I have almost been sucked in myself.
But don't do it !
Now they have found another frightening health issue attributed to vaping, .....metal in the lungs.
Toxic metal, leached from e-cigarette coil, permanently scars woman's lung
The illness is usually only seen in industrial metal workers.
(nbcnews.com 12-4-19)
Doctors have discovered yet another way that vaping — and vaping THC, in particular — can damage the lungs: when the metal coils of electronic cigarettes heat up to turn e-liquids into aerosols, toxic metals can leach into the liquid, leading to a rare condition usually only seen in industrial metal workers.
A case report published Wednesday in the European Respiratory Journal describes a 49-year-old California woman who had symptoms now known to be associated with the more than 2,000 cases of vaping illnesses nationwide: shortness of breath, coughing and wheezing.
But when pathologists took a close look at the woman's lung tissue, it didn't look like a typical case of EVALI, or e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury. Instead, they saw damaged cells that had engulfed other lung cells, creating giant cells — a pattern that's typically found in an illness called hard-metal lung disease.
"It has a distinctive and unusual appearance that is not observed in other diseases," said case report co-author Dr. Kirk Jones, a professor of pathology at the University of California, San Francisco. "When we diagnose it, we are looking for occupational exposure to metal dust or vapor, usually cobalt, as a cause."
The patient — a dog walker by trade — had no such exposure. What she did have was the ZenPen brand vape pen she'd been using for six months prior to getting sick. ZenPens do not come with pre-filled cartridges, so users must purchase their e-liquid elsewhere.
ZenPen did not respond to NBC News' request for comment.
When the doctors tested the e-liquid left in the device, they found several metals: nickel, aluminum, manganese, lead, cobalt and chromium.
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If you want to be cool don't get involved with this stuff, take care of yourself, and get involved with the martial arts instead.
Real kung fu is much more cool anyway.
Dec 23, 2019
Dec 22, 2019
Cool logo, but don't ever vape !
Why vaping is so dangerous for teens
(cnn.com 1-17-19)
Most of what we know about nicotine addiction in teens, we know from cigarettes. But experts say the technology and chemistry of vaping might pose an entirely different threat.
(cnn.com 1-17-19)
Most of what we know about nicotine addiction in teens, we know from cigarettes. But experts say the technology and chemistry of vaping might pose an entirely different threat.
"It turns out that e-cigarette use by kids doesn't look the same at all," said Dr. Sharon Levy, director of the Adolescent Substance Use and Addiction Program at Boston Children's Hospital. "How you're delivering [nicotine] and how much you're delivering ... everything you change really matters."
Levy said she's seen vape-addicted kids in her program showing what appear to be psychiatric symptoms rarely seen with traditional cigarettes or among adults. Some have anxiety and cannot focus, for example.
Meanwhile, vaping has become ubiquitous in many high schools, prompting the US Food and Drug Administration to tackle "epidemic" levels of use among minors.
On Friday, the agency will hold a public hearing to discuss the role of smoking cessation drugs for kids in order to get them off vapes. There currently are no FDA-approved nicotine cessation products for e-cigarette users under 18.
Despite early fanfare that e-cigarettes might offer a less harmful alternative to adult smokers, experts say youth are being hit hard by a combination of how vapes deliver nicotine, how kids' brains are wired and developing, and the gadgets' unique appeal to kids.
Their long-term health effects are still unclear.
"We let this Frankenstein loose without knowing what was going to happen," Levy said.
(for more of the article, follow the link)
Dec 17, 2019
Dec 15, 2019
Dec 8, 2019
In the Dojo
Beginning students in Japanese martial arts, such as karate, judo, aikido, iaido, kyudo, and kendo, learn that when they are in the dojo (the practice space), they must don their practice garb with ritual precision, address their teacher and senior students in a specific way, and follow certain unwritten but deeply held codes of behavior. But very soon they begin to wonder about the meaning behind the traditions, gear, and relationships in the dojo.
In this collection of lively, detailed essays, Dave Lowry, one of the most well-known and respected swordsmen in the United States, illuminates the history and meaning behind the rituals, training costumes, objects, and relationships that have such profound significance in Japanese martial arts, including
• the dojo space itself
• the teacher-student relationship
• the act of bowing
• what to expect—and what will be expected of you—when you visit a dojo
• the training weapons
• the hakama (ceremonial skirt) and dogi (practice uniform)
• the Shinto shrine
Authoritative, insightful, and packed with fascinating stories from his own experience, In the Dojo provides a wealth of information that beginning students will pore over and advanced students will treasure.