“The snow goose need not bathe to make itself white. Neither need you do anything but be yourself.” Lao Tzu – Philosopher (604 – 531 BC)
A Kilo Of Iron… …Or A Week Of Your Time
Dr Christiane On The News
Dr Christiane On The News
Change Your Operating Basis
by Julie Fratantoni, PhD who writes on Substack:
Next time you’re waiting in line: do nothing.
Just stand there.
In between meetings: don’t check your phone.
Sit in silence.
Let people think you’re a complete weirdo.
These small margins are important opportunities for your brain to rest, recharge, and consolidate information.
We’ve lost the ability to be bored, and with it, the space your brain needs to stay healthy.
I’m a cognitive neuroscientist and I write about small shifts like this that can make a huge difference for your cognitive health and longevity.
Quote of the Day
“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.” Marcus Aurelius – Roman Emperor (121 -180 AD)
She’ll Be Right Mate
(It is more likely to be right if you plan for contingencies!)
(For my overseas readers:
The phrase “She’ll be right” meaning ‘don’t worry over it’, is widely used and understood in Australia and New Zealand, reflecting the laid-back and optimistic attitude often associated with their cultures.)
I was talking to my daughter on our Father’s Day outing and we had a conversation about promoting her husband’s business, Elscomm. They do computer support for small to medium sized businesses.
We were talking about getting more customers and we discussed direct sales and promoting through other people’s clients, like accountants. She spoke of offering a free service to attract the interest of prospective clients.
I suggested offering a security audit to discover any vulnerabilities to ransomware since it is a growing and expensive problem for even smaller businesses.
She surprised the heck out of me by saying they had already extensively surveyed that and it was a topic of almost total non-interest to business owners and managers.
She figured it was because people were so focused on running their business, so totally immersed in the production area they spent too little time managing their business. I think some people refer to it as the difference between working ON your business rather than working IN it.
I was thinking about it later and it occurred to me that it is probably symptomatic of a fairly common Australian attitude of, “She’ll be right mate.” said with an ever so slight pause after ‘right’ and before ‘mate’. Not enough of a pause to warrant a comma but not grammatically perfect without one.
This is an Australian/New Zealand expression commonly given by one bloke to another to encourage or support him when he is facing a challenging or difficult situation.
A shorter form of the encouragement similarly expressed elsewhere in the world as, “It’ll be all right in the end. If it’s not all right, it’s not the end.” (Aussies and Kiwis have a habit of shortening things.)
It is also used to encourage someone contemplating an act larrikinism or bravado. Sometimes heard in video compilations of blokes doing stupid things, just prior to something breaking or failing. I was reminded of that this week when I saw a meme that said, ‘When someone says, “She’ll be right mate.” It won’t be!’
Not the same as but in a similar vein to one bloke saying something can’t be done and his mate responding with, “Hold my beer!” as he accepts the statement as a challenge.
Like any characteristic, the laid back attitude of ‘she’ll be right’ can be over applied. With disastrous consequences. Merely hoping that things will turn out all right in the end without giving any thought to planning or preparation is a sure way to put yourself in what should have been an avoidable situation if circumstances deteriorate below what is normal or expected.
In fact I once came across a great concept that an emergency only becomes an emergency when it is not predicted and planned for. So spending a little planning time contemplating what could possible go wrong and working out what would keep the fat out of the fire in those situations is potentially a very good use of your time.
“What if interest rates go through the roof? How would I pay my mortgage?”
“What if rents went sky high such that I could not afford to live where I am?
“What if I lost my job. How would I earn a quid?”
In fact, I often use the “What if?” question with myself to query or challenge myself or the story being promoted in the media. As in,
“What if nearly everything we heard on the TV was merely propaganda in support of an agenda?”
“What if they leave out the bits that do not fit their agenda?”
“What if standard medical advice has nothing to do with helping the patient attain optimal health and everything to do with conforming what the higher ups have decided is best for their sponsors?”
And the more I read independent reports of various scenarios in the world that conflict dramatically with those in the main stream media, the more I am of the mind that these are some of the more important questions we should be teaching our kids to ask.
Heroes Have Names. His Is Wesley Autrey
In 2007, chaos struck when a young man suffered a seizure and fell onto the subway tracks. As the train approached, the crowd froze—everyone but Wesley Autrey.
With his two daughters watching, this construction worker made a split-second decision: he leapt onto the tracks, pushed the man into a shallow trough, and shielded him with his own body. Seconds later, the train roared overhead, so close that grease brushed Autrey’s cap.
When silence fell, his voice rose: “We’re okay down here. But I’ve got two daughters up there. Let them know their father’s alright.”
He didn’t seek glory. He just saw someone in danger and acted. That day, an ordinary man became the “Subway Hero”—a living reminder that true courage is often found in the split second between fear and humanity.
How To Sell Potatoes
It’s hard for us to imagine anyone fearing a potato, but in 18th-century France, the distrust was serious. Part of the problem was that potatoes aren’t mentioned anywhere in the Bible, which made people suspicious.
Since they grow underground, some folks associated them with darkness and disease. Parmentier, being a pharmacist and a scientist, knew this was nonsense.
In 18th century France, when the government couldn’t convince people to eat potatoes, one wise man used a bit of reverse psychology to make them desire the very food that could save them. 
His name was Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, a pharmacist who saw the potential of the humble potato while he was a prisoner of war in Prussia. The Prussians fed him potatoes, and he realized they were not only healthy but could fight the famines that plagued his French homeland.
Back in France, however, people were suspicious. They thought potatoes were strange, unfit for humans, and even believed they caused diseases like leprosy.
So Parmentier got creative. He hosted lavish dinners for influential men like Benjamin Franklin, serving nothing but dishes made from potatoes. The guests were amazed.
He even presented a bouquet of potato blossoms to King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette. They liked them so much they started wearing them, which made the flowers a fashion trend at court. Suddenly, the potato was associated with royalty.
His most clever move came in 1787. The king gave him a plot of land to grow potatoes. Parmentier hired armed guards to watch over the field during the day, making it seem like the crop was incredibly valuable.
But at night, the guards would leave. Curious locals, thinking they were getting away with something precious, would sneak in and take the potatoes for themselves to plant in their own gardens.
Through his brilliant efforts, Parmentier changed the nation’s mind. The once-despised tuber became a staple food, saving countless people from starvation and becoming a celebrated part of French cuisine.
His work was so impressive that in 1773, he won a prize from the Academy of Besançon for his research showing how potatoes could prevent the kind of malnutrition that led to diseases during famines.
It just goes to show how wisdom and perseverance can overcome long-held fears, and how even the most humble things can be used for great purpose.
Sources: National Geographic, Farmer’s Almanac
They Told Me I’d Never Have a Career. I Told the Truth Anyway
Standing alone at the University of Michigan to expose the deadly impact of mRNA shots was not easy.
Nicolas Hulscher, MPH
I sat down with Dr. Philip McMillan on Vejon Health, and our conversation wasn’t just about the latest evidence on vaccine harms—it was about survival in an academic world hostile to truth.
At the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health, I faced walls at every turn. Professors ignored internship requests and warned me that investigating vaccine harms would mean I’d “never have a career.”
When I presented our systematic review of autopsy findings at the school’s epidemiology poster session, some of my own professors walked past without even making eye contact. Those who did stop were shocked — as though serious adverse events after genetic injections simply didn’t exist.
I was an outlier—isolated, ridiculed, and told I was finished in public health if I continued this line of work. They were unequivocally wrong.
Despite immense pressure, I didn’t back down. Partnering with Dr. Peter McCullough, I helped publish the world’s first autopsy study linking COVID-19 mRNA shots to death.
From that moment forward, the attacks only intensified: hate campaigns online, cartel-funded “fact checker” defamation, censorship of preprints, and illegal retractions from the Journal Cartel:
The Fall of the Academic Publishing Cartel
Nicolas Hulscher, MPH
Most of the major publishers, including Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, Sage Publications and Taylor & Francis, have formed a cartel under the International Association of Scientific, Technical, and Medical Publishers. The Cartel controls two-thirds of global journal publications, enforces unpaid peer reviews, restricts manuscript submissions, and delays scientific progress—all to protect their multi-billion-dollar profits. This resulted in a recent class action lawsuit against the Cartel for “tremendous damage to science and the public interest.”
The Cartel’s corruption extends to censoring critical genetic injection safety data in accordance with the Biopharmaceutical Complex, likely costing lives. A prime example of this is when Cartel member Elsevier violated COPE guidelines and immediately censored the Hulscher et al autopsy study proving a casual link between COVID-19 vaccines and death after it became the #1 trending research paper worldwide across all subject areas:
Dr. McMillan asked whether it was worth it—whether exposing these harms justified the personal and professional cost. My answer was clear: yes. Because what’s at stake isn’t reputations—it’s human lives.
Despite years of hostility, I remain unshaken. Academic bullying forged resilience, and personal attacks now bounce off me like light off a mirror. It’s clear that telling the truth wasn’t just the right choice—it was the only choice.
Click to read the article:
https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/they-told-me-id-never-have-a-career