Entrainment Vs Entertainment

People often ask me, when they first see the word "entrainment" if I meant "entertainment." We all know what entertainment is, and because I am a performing musician, people assume that I have misspelled the word entertainment, but no, entrainment is very, very different!

Think of a time when you went to a concert of any kind and when the music started, the rhythmic nature of it made you start clapping, tapping or moving your whole body in synch with the rhythm! That's entrainment! The phenomenon of entrainment was named in the Journal "Cortex." This was written as the abstract of an article on entrainment:

"Wherever human beings live, and however they may organize their affairs, they gather from time to time to sing and dance together, often in a ritual setting. In doing so they synchronize their voices and bodily movements to a shared, repeating interval of time, the musical pulse, beat or tactus. We take this capacity to "entrain" to an evenly paced stimulus. (isochrony) so much for granted that it may come as a surprise to learn that from a biological point of view such behavior is exceptional. But it is not altogether unique."

So how does this apply to surgery? One of the reasons that music is so powerful during surgery is that the pulse of the music entrains your heartbeat and breathing, even when you're under general anesthesia. Many people believe that when you're under anesthesia you can't actually "hear" the music. That's where the difference between entertainment and entrainment comes in.

The idea began to take shape in my mind that some people in comas had been observed for years, tapping a toe or foot or finger, in rhythm with music being played or sung in the room. Some people would awaken from lengthy comas, reporting that they ha indeed heard and appreciated music that was played or sung to them while in a coma.

After researching similar phenomena during surgery, I found that hundreds of people each year awaken from general anesthesia saying that they heard not only conversations during their surgery, they heard music that was being played through speakers, intended for the doctors. They also heard, during certain surgeries, the sound of drills, hammers and saws!! This is when I began wondering if music that would start the entrainment process, played through super-lightweight headphones, might not be a wonderful thing.

Before I proceeded further, I was advised to get a U.S. Patent, which I did, and we now have the only patented process for choosing the most successful music for starting the entrainment process for the patient. Once the patient's heart-rate, breathing, and emotional state are entrained to the music, the patient stays relaxed during the surgery and less anesthesia and other meds are required to keep the patient asleep and comfortable during whatever procedure they are undergoing.

Today, our Surgical Serenity Solution provides this calm and relaxing process to patients around the country. After researching the very best music for entrainment, I have come up with a playlist that is soothing, comforting, and starts the entrainment process. If you are having surgery in the near future, please consider using music, through lightweight, cordless headphones!

By Dr. Alice Cash

The Father of a King (2006-2012; Updated 2014)

When his first child of his second marriage-a boy, was old enough to attend college, he found him a private college to attend, and sent him to medical school, he was very proud he could do that with the money in which he sold his wife's condo for, to pay for the college tuition, although they had another home, the condo was an investment, which they rented out.

He, the father, felt as if he came from a line of kings. And his son played the game, of course he was. So for nearly two years he just paid the bills, the tuition- giving it to the boy, to pay for the schooling, and watched his investment money dwindle to zero.

Fine, his uncle brought up: how can my brother-in-law's boy, watch so much television in the afternoons, and then just fall to sleep watching it, wake up whenever, rest the rest of the afternoon, and just mosey about the house and cafe, and not have to study to pass those heavy-duty school tests, he must be a genus! I mean this was obvious to the uncle, who ate at their restaurant every day, but evidently not to the Father of a king, or the boy's family per se.

And it was at the end of that second year, the father got a notice that his son was not doing not so well in college, that he should make arrangements to find future schooling elsewhere, and perhaps a different career, in some other area than medical.

Well, this was a blow not only to the father, but the mother as well. But why was he doing so bad, was never made clear. Thus, he went to teller school, to become a bank teller, yes, a bank teller of all things-from a medical career to a bank teller, to a department store teller, to being unemployed, all in the following additional two years. But the kicker is this: he was doing badly because he was giving his tuition money to his girlfriend, he wasn't for the most part, attending college those last several months. Yes, I said girlfriend, who was also working on a professional career, can you beat that. Then when she graduated, she flew the coop, and went to another city, and the father of the king, and his wife, were stultified over the matter, but what can you do. Just go cook some more goulash, or chicken or whatever-get it off your mind it will madden you. Or it would me!

Now I got to backtrack a bit, before all this took place, this other situation took place.

The father of the king, inherited $40,000-dollars. And his daughter of his second family, was coming of age to attend college. But he had two other daughters from a previous marriage, both in their mid-twenties, both having finished college, one married, the other one had a good and steady job, - both like the father, thinking highbrow thoughts.

One wanted their father to put money down on a condo for her, the other wanted to pay up some bills- and they wanted the $40,000-dollars to do it with; the apple doesn't fall far from the cart, as they say, or tree: these two daughters were evidently princess' of a grandfather king.

"I'll look into it right away," he told both of them, and he did by bring the issue up to his present wife, he told her, "They're my children from before you; I'll attend to it myself."

(Now before I go any further, let me point out this: the house they now live in is hers, inherited from her family, the car he drives is hers from her work money, the land he will eventually sell, is the land she has inherited. So you see, what is his, is his, and what is hers is his... if not so it would seem so... )

And the two daughters, played the game, as if he came from a line of kings, and they too.

Then in a week he had signed the papers for the daughter's apartment-she per near hogtied him inside the lawyers office to make sure he signed on the dotted line; and he sent his other daughter the other $20,000-dollars- the very one that was rude to him when he had come visiting for a long spell, and was told often: "Are you still here?"

Nobody could tell him what to do, I mean nobody on either side of the globe, could tell the father of the king what to do.

He had the money, he bought their love.

"All right" said his other youngest daughter, the one from the present marriage, the daughter now ready to attend college: "which college are you expecting me to attend?" she asked the father. I mean all the money was gone.

He had sold some of his wife's land that she had inherited from her family, invested it into a café. He made a little profit from it. It was tight, but he figured he could afford to have her attend the area's National University, -it wasn't all that prestigious- but it would have to do.

It was good thinking, businesslike thinking for once, but she couldn't pass the tests either, so he put her into a private college-I hate to say it but I will, like brother like sister, although she had a little more stamina, and better grades, and fortitude.

And she played the game just like her two older half-sisters played, as if he came from a line of kings, of course he did.

And as the business flourished-the café business, he became boorish, ill-mannered, and he lost customers, he told his family and friends "Keep out of my business," no one on either side of the globe could tell him otherwise.

"All right, if that's the way you feel about it," they all said, complied, then inferred: to your own business. And they stopped eating at his café-wouldn't you?

Well, the kids never helped much-that same old thing: sister like brother, and there were two brothers, one younger one older, the younger one not yet ready for college, and perhaps will never have the chance to get ready, and if given the chance, what then? But that's yet to be seen, they have good godparents, with deep pockets, at least the younger boy does.

By Dennis Siluk Dr.h.c.

Black Chaos (Or, "The Meatpacker's Boy") 1967

A mind trying to recover from a night's drinking, the following morning can and more often than not is, a black chaos-naturally, not everybody understands this. I don't think my mother could. I lived on York Street, on the Eastside of St. Paul, Minnesota, it was 1967, late fall.

I heard the horn honk, it was my mother with her boyfriend, Earnest Brandt, they both worked at Swift's Meats, in South St. Paul, they came to pick me up, this being the 3rd month of my employment, working for them.

No sooner thought than done, I rolled out of my bed, in my studio apartment, flung my clothes off a hanger, in the closet, wiped my feet on a clean rug on an unusually dirty floor, and duplicated my morning a hundred times over, meaning, I would take the ride to work, I worked on the Hog-kill assembly line. My mother was a Meatpacker, she had worked there at Swift's going on twenty-two years, Earnest her boyfriend, thirty-years.

So I took the generously offed ride, in that, I had resolved I'd go to work today, not every day did I come to this decision, I think I missed as much work as I worked, in those days, and in particular at Swift's. I was nineteen at the time, and on the road to becoming a professional drinker, some call it: alcoholic. But I never did give it such a distaining name, back in those days.

Anyhow, it did take me a while to get to the car, I had to search for my apartment keys through a heap of clothes, as Ernie's face blazed with wrath, "Where is that son of yours," he asked my mother, Elsie. And he surely would have used stentorian tones, that vibrated up to my apartment had my mother not been a few feet from him, but he held his cool: not that I blame him.

I kind of new I was doomed today, I had missed a few days this week, it was now Friday, and to be frank and honest, every day I came in late, or not all, and with a handover, well there it is, there was nothing left to do but fire me.

The old man, that's what I called the Manager of our department, would be frustrated as he was always frustrated with me, or nearly always. And the Union, at my Mother's beck and call, and Ernie's at request, always came running to the rescue, and saved my job, three times previously, and this was only the end of the third month, going into the 4th month, god forbid, it be more. But I knew the Union would try to iron things out again, on their behalf, not on mine of course.

I worked hard, when I worked, and it was of course always with a hindered hangover, sometimes my teeth rattled and my head ached and sometimes the manager marveled at that I could keep up with the strong longtime Polish and Irish men on the line: but I was of Irish stock, and Russian stock, and Polish stock myself, hard muscled, strong willed, stubborn, and I could flip the back of those hogs as easily as any other longtime worker, and these hogs weighed 250 to 400 pounds each, and their backs which ended up being bacon, were heavy, perhaps a decent portion of that 400-pounds of hog, and I had to cut the back out of the hog, and flip it over, 180-degrees; and you do that for eight hours see how you feel: you have to lift them up from the iron-belt and turn them about, after four hours no simple task.

This morning the manager had called me into his office. There were several other people in there. I kind of expected it, "I can't take you anymore," said the Old Manager, "you're driving me crazy with your chaotic schedule of work, for the fourth and last time, you're fired, fired, you make me look bad in front of my peers, get out of my office."

I suppose my face was blank, back in those days, I showed little emotion, and I was half under the weather to speak of, recovering from the aftermath of a night's drunk and that so called black chaos inside the head was stirring, what else would you expect. I simple smiled, he was a good man, and I told myself: it's really long overdue. I never said anything but I knew he had a wife whom was bipolar, and once when he was in a daring mood, and asked me to take a minute to listen to him, so he could get me to work harder one day, he told me of all people, about his wife, indicating, I had problems, but so did he. I'm not sure where he was going with this, but I simply agreed to work harder that day, in a different department for him.

Anyhow, back to the manager's office, and ridding of his pest.

With a trembling finger, the old man pointed it at the door, a sign for me to hit the road. As he went "Ha! Ha!" laughing nearly madly.

For me, it was not the same snowstorm, as it was for him. I was young, and he was old. Now writing this out today, I know what it is to be old, and I know what it is to be youth. Like him, he knew both of them, back then. I had another forty-five years to go, but I did understand, I got his goat. And I knew he was putting on a demonstration, perhaps to show his strength, he was lenient with me in the past. And perchance he needed to reinforce to his subordinates, he was in charge.

Now again, my mother and Earnest reached out to come to my rescue, they were going to talk to the Union Representative.

"No," I told both of them, "I don't want the Union's hot-irons trying to fix things for me, I deserve what the old man is doing; matter of fact, he's just doing his job, and I should have been fired long ago."

Well, to be frank, they didn't argue the point.

By Dennis Siluk Dr.h.c.

4 Creative Ways To Save Money On Your Wedding Flowers

Flowers usually beautify a wedding; however, the unfortunate thing is that they tend to be expensive thus unaffordable for many people. The good side is that there are some measures that you can take and save on the flowers. Some of the measures that you can take include:

Picking a gorgeous venue

While there are some benefits that come with hosting a wedding at a hotel, most of the reception and ceremony spaces in these hotels tend to be raw; therefore, you have to bring in a lot of décor and flowers in order to liven up the places.

To avoid buying a lot of flowers, you should choose a venue that has a lot of built-in charm. For example, you can go for a historic church, botanical garden or a quaint country inn. Choosing any of these places means that your guests will have a lot of things to ogle at and they won't even remember that the venue has no flowers.

Buying what is locally available

If you are set to buy a bouquet, you should go for flowers that are in season and can be easily sourced. This way you won't need to pay premium amounts of money. Although, you save money doing this, it's usually hard to get the flowers that you are looking for.

Going for silk flowers

Silk flowers are usually less expensive and look and feel like the real thing. You can either rent or buy the flora. If you choose to buy the silk flora, you don't have to throw them away once the ceremony is over. This is because you can give them as a token of thanks to your guests.

Using non-floral elements

Since the floral elements tend to be expensive, you can try to lower the cost by using non-floral elements. Some of the great elements that you can use are: candles, books and lanterns. These are much cheaper than flowers and as a result you save a lot of money.

If there are fruits in your area, you can use them instead. Some of the great fruits that you can use are: apples, pumpkins, artichokes, grapes, and gourds.

Bottles have also been shown to be very effective in making a visual impact in your wedding décor. Here you need to collect the bottles that fit your theme. For example if you have a rustic theme, you should go for vintage bottles. The good side with using bottles is that they are cheap and easy to find.

By P K Martin

Getting Those Creative Juices Flowing

Some artists can get into the zone whenever they want. They get their equipment ready and can paint just like that. They seem to be able to get their creative juices whenever it suits them. Most people are not as efficient as this. Most people need a little bit of extra help to get the juices flowing and the creativity going. Here are some tips that will help you get in the zone for a really productive period of painting.

Exercise

Scientists have concluded that doing a bit of exercise every now and then is a good way to boost creativity. Whether it's a strenuous gym session or a relaxing walk in the park, all physical activity can be good. Physical activity makes you think more flexibly and creatively. For it to work really effectively, you should be doing physical activity regularly so your body's used to it. If you only exercise once in a while, all the energy will go into the movement, and not to firing up those creative juices. Many artists, writers and other creative people strongly recommend any form of physical activity before starting work.

Brain training

Do a few brain training puzzles before you get started on your painting. The good thing about brain training activities is that they can be quite easy and quick, but they still get your brain going. There are loads of great puzzles to get your brain fired up - sudokus and crosswords are two of the most popular ones. Alternatively, you could try brain training exercises that are more related to the work you're about to do. Challenge yourself to do a quick painting in a limited amount of time or try painting something you've never painted before. The possibilities are endless!

Read

Reading can be a great way to boost creativity. All sorts of books can help you before you get started on your painting, from novels and autobiographies to factual books and reference guides. Think of the sort of book you find mentally stimulating, something that made you feel motivated and creative. Read a chapter or two before every painting session and, if you can, pick up some ideas while you read.

These are just a few ways you can boost your creativity. It's always good to do a warm-up session before you tackle a big creative project. Doing little things to boost your creativity can make your painting session much more interesting, manageable and enjoyable. Do you know of any other ways to boost creativity?

By Joanne Perkins

Front Yard Right of Ways - Who Owns It?

Most subdivisions that create individual lots, also have streets, drainage systems and utility easements that are either dedicated to the local jurisdiction or an easement over your private property. Streets are often designed to certain standards and their overall width as shown on the subdivision plat map often encroaches onto what you may think is your property. A Right of Way or Rights of Way, is typically the section of land between the edge of the street and your actual front property line. This Right of Way allows the city or county to do a number of things including access utility connections, maintain drainage ditches, curb and gutter, sidewalks or even to widen the road if that is in the master plan.

Most homeowners are not aware that this section of land has restrictions on its use. Whether it is an easement across your property or the Right of Way is city or county owned, you may not build or construct anything you want without risking it being removed if access to land is required. Often a Right of Way permit is required to do anything.

So what can you build in your front yard? First, you must determine exactly what you own and what the city or county owns. In a Right of Way, typically you may install a driveway across the ROW to access the street. But building any kind of wall is typically not allowed within a Right of Way or Easement. If the city or county was to grant you a permit to build it, who then would maintain it and if the city had to dig up utility lines and remove the structure, who would pay to replace it? These are the reasons, only minimal improvements are allowed such as driveways and landscape plant material.

You will also find out about your front yard building setback which is different than an easement or a ROW. It is a part of the Zoning District setup by the city to regulate how close buildings can be to their lot lots on all four sides. Front yard setbacks restrict how close to the front yard property line you can build your house or any extension of it including low walls such as for a courtyard.

In planning the design of residential landscape, I check with the city as the first step to determine where the Right of Way, Easements and Setbacks are located. These are all building restrictions that must be followed, especially if what the homeowner wants to do requires a building permit.

Jurisdictions have different regulations and use restrictions as to what can be done and who will maintain it. The city may turn maintenance responsibility over to the homeowners even though they own the underlying property. If a homeowner improves the Right of Way with landscaping for their benefit, then it is in their best interest to continue to maintain it so it looks good. The one thing the city is most concerned about is liability. If the Right of Way is subject to flooding or has excessive weed growth, it may go ahead and perform maintenance because, legally it is the owner of the property.

Restrictions on the use of one's property is part of the due diligence everyone should perform when buying new real estate. Locating the property corners will often reveal that a good portion of the front yard is really not your property, or may have restrictions that may not be acceptable to you. This is often the case with raw land where the actual property lines are not obvious.

I have seen where a person property is actually the center line of the street and also where the property line is about 25 feet away from the edge of pavement. These Right of Ways and Easements can vary widely among jurisdictions. If you have an issue with your Right of Way landscaping, I may be able to help.

By John Stuart Leslie

Star-Crossed Lovers

This beautiful, heart-tugging, mind-stretching Young Adult novel centers hauntingly around cancer-stricken students, especially focusing on Hazel Grace and her cancerous lungs and Augustus (Gus) who befriends her. They meet at a cancer anonymous center in an old church, where Gus, who has beaten cancer but lost a leg in the process, mesmerizes Hazel, who slowly falls in love with him.
Their parents are very supportive.
Hazel has read a book obscurely entitled An Imperial Affliction, by Peter Van Houten, numerous times that ends abruptly without a conclusion. She and her male friend make use of his Cancer Wish to make a trip to the picturesque Netherlands, with her mother, to visit the reclusive author to find out what happened to the characters in the book after the alleged death of a child with cancer.
The meeting is a disaster. Hazel and Gus find the author insulting, somewhat irrational, and unwilling to talk about his book, and he detests Americans, even though he is one. However, the star-crossed lovers' visit is not completely wasted. Thanks to Houten's assistant, they find themselves exposed to the scenic beauty of the city of Amsterdam and romantic dining. The author through his character Hazel treats the reader to a vicarious experience of the delights of the country.
There are numerous thoughts about the meaning of life, youth angst, and related references to various famous authors like Anne Frank and T. S. Eliot. The novel is both sad and emotion-wrenching but also inspiring through the unquenchable spirits of the characters, whom the author John Green has fleshed out well. I was so impressed by the star-crossed lovers that I immediately ordered two more of Green's works: Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns, the latter an unusual mystery, both focusing on troubled, free-spirited girls.
The following passage from the book emphasizes the poignancy and resilience of the story and its characters in an intimate scene between Hazel and Gus:
"The space around us (Hazel narrating) evaporated, and for a weird moment I really liked my body; this cancer-ruined thing I'd spent years dragging around suddenly seemed worth the struggle, worth the chest tubes and the PICC lines and the ceaseless bodily betrayal of the tumors".
In a scene from the Support Group, Hazel underscores the horror of one member's type of cancer to illustrate the pain and anguish he experiences but stoically deals with. This person, named Isaac, has cancer of an eye: "... his eyes were the problem... One eye had been cut out when he was a kid, and now he wore the kind of thick glasses that made his eyes (both the real one and the glass one preternaturally huge, like his whole head was basically just this fake eye and this real eye staring at you... From what I gather on the rare occasions when Isaac shared with the group, a recurrence had placed his remaining eye in mortal peril... "
What is cancer? Gus, when he and Hazel arrive in Amsterdam, reveals shocking news and adds that it is a war between a disease and a person: "... My cancer is me. The tumors are made of me... It is a civil war, Hazel Grace, with a predetermined winner".
Have some tissue handy--you who are prone to tears! I guarantee that the reader will find it almost impossible to lay the novel aside once he or she starts reading it.
A final note: Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort, the brother and sister Tris and Caleb in the film Divergent, by Veronica Roth, co-star in the film version of The Fault in Our Stars that is due out in theaters in June.

Copeland is the author of The Patient Quest, a novella available Print-on-Demand, and four books published electronically through Kindle. The writer is a former journalist, editor, and teacher.

By Harry C Copeland