5 Things You Should Know – Part 18

Here are this week’s 5 Things You Should Know.

01. Check if your e-mail address may have been compromised

There is a site that checks if your email may have been compromised by accessing an illegal database containing your login information. Here is Have I Been Pwned? Needless to say, in case your information is at risk, consider changing your passwords for the more sensitive sites you use. There are enough credible sources that this is a legitimate site. PCWorld, Troy Hunt’s blog, etc.

02. Never order a “Black and Tan” in a real Irish Pub

It was the name of British death squads in Ireland that killed thousands and kidnapped and tortured thousands more Irish civilians. Irish Car Bombs are in poor taste as well. My friend once ordered Irish car bombs in Ireland. The bartender came back with two double shots of 151 and lit them on fire. My friend asked him what those were and he replied, “9 eleven.”

03. If you’re experiencing lower back pain from standing up too long….

You can gently clench the muscles in your butt to relieve the pain. By squeezing (contracting, or flexing the muscles of) your butt, you rotate your hips forward out of a position that might have too much anterior pelvic tilt. This will flatten your back, and relieve the uneven pressure on your lumbar vertebrae that is likely causing the pain.

This can also help if you experience non-specific knee pain when sitting down, or climbing up stairs. Clench your butt before beginning to climb, or sit, and concentrate on maintaining the squeeze throughout.

04. What a didgeridoo is if you have sleep apnea

Learning to play a didgeridoo is the closest non-surgical cure we have for sleep apnea. It helps by strengthening the muscles in the upper airway, reducing their tendency to collapse during sleep. Here is the science behind it.

It’s not just standard woodwind breath control with the didgeridoo. Didgeridoos are played using circular breathing, which involves using air stored in the cheeks to sustain playing while inhaling through the nose. This is what allows didgeridoo players to play notes that go on seemingly forever with no pause.

Circular breathing can be and has been used on other instruments like trumpet, tuba, flute or clarinet, but it’s rare. On the other hand, it’s a key part of didgeridoo playing, which makes that instrument a natural fit.

05. Lots of Honey bees are dying. This is bad and there are ways to prevent that

Bees are one of the most important animals in the world and their job is a lot more than gathering honey. They are what scientists refer to as an “indicator species.” This means that when their populations start dwindling and then rapidly dropping, humans need to watch their sh*t because that means that environmental factors are too difficult for THEM to live in, so it might be difficult for us to live in, too. Bees basically act as an indication that humans have a lot to worry about and when they start dying like this it deserves a lot more than a few headlines.

Bees are amazing creatures who are responsible for the comfortable lives we lead in this country and we cannot sustain and feed our population without them. Bees are literally some of the most important creatures on this planet. I am not usually one for valuing certain living things over other living things, but bees are an exception.

You should love and support Bee Keepers. Seeing Bee keepers lose their hives in such masses is absolutely devastating, because in many cases, bee keepers are the only reason hive roosting social bee species are even still in an area. They don’t just harvest honey. They take care of and maintain their bees tirelessly, and are a boon to the environment as a result, because their busy little honey makers are out there pollinating the fields of nearby flowers and farmers, pollinating small gardens and fruit trees. Bee diseases are also largely unregulated by governments and completely controlled by bee keepers. Never, ever turn your back on a bee keeper. For all you know, they are the heroes of the human race, maintaining food production at this very moment.

Also of concern are farmers planting massive fields of plants with beautiful, alluring flowers that attract honeybees to them, but that do not produce suitable honey for the bees to survive on through winter. Honey crystallizes very fast, and becomes inedible to the bees as a result. Honeybees that belong to a bee keeper can be artificially fed through winter if the honey stores are bad… but wild honeybees do not have that luxury and the colony will die.

Recently a monster colony burrowed into the walls of my building. There were, by conservative estimates, infinity bees. So I got some folks from a local apiary to chill them out, put them in a very large bag, and take them to a pleasant place where they can do whatever the hell they do, far away from me. And they did it for dirt cheap because bees are a hot commodity and honey is awesome in tea. So if you have bees you don’t want, don’t call an exterminator. Call a beekeeper. Here are some more things you can do:

· Have beekeeper and bees in mind when choosing what regulations you support. Be loud about the things you are against!

· Plant a variety of fragrant summer blooms in your garden. Attracting bees is both good for your flowers and good for the bees! The more variety they have, the better their honey will be to support them.

· Consider leaving out water for wild bees. Peat moss lightly flooded in a dish, somewhere out of direct sunlight, is a great place for bees to drink. They will appreciate it, especially in developed areas where water sources are few.

· Don’t treat your garden with pesticides!

· Support your local bee keepers! Buy your honey local from farmer’s markets.

· Can’t find local honey? Buying online from a small time beekeeper is your next best option. Actually, buying from many different regions can give you a variety of honey flavors – different ingredients make different honeys, changing color, taste, and thickness.