Author: TomsWrite

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Solving the Problems of Aging Bodies

Just after I despatched last week’s newsletter I had a chat to a lovely chap, 83 years old, been on my newsletter list for years.

Like most of us as we age, he is being more sedentary means not eating as much as he did when he was younger, so his toilet trips, or lack of them, is problematic.

And of course, being more sedentary also means his circulation is not as good and his energy consumption is lower means he needs to eat even less.

And he can’t start pumping out the pushups as he has just had surgery in one arm.

Then there is the growing problem of short term memory loss and resulting senior moments.

So I figured out what I would do if I needed to increase my circulation and food throughput to solve constipation, ’cos if you are not taking as much in then you there is not as much to push out.

My number one most important principle regarding exercise is gradient. No starting out too hard or too fast and increasing it only a little at a time so no injuries occur. I recall Dr Al Sears saying he got someone to increase their exercise tolerance by starting on them walking 45 seconds at a time.

Applying that principle I told him if I were in his shoes, this is what I would do and then I thought to share it with you so you could pass it on to whomever could benefit from it.

Lowest Gradient Exercise Program

  • 1. Walking – start small and increase it a little each day. None of these 5 mile hikes in the bush to start with!
  • 2. Bouncing/rebounding on a mini-trampoline – in his case, starting with REALLY small bounces, very close to a wall for balance support.
  • 3. Stair steps – step up one step then down the repeat with other foot.
  • 4. While sitting stand every 10 minutes – experts are saying sitting is the new smoking and this negates the adverse effects of sitting.
  • 5. Heel to toe rocking – hold onto a chair or the wall and just rock gently bank and forth from toes to heels and back.
  • 6. NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis [the production of heat, especially in a human or animal body] by activities such as fidgeting with hands or bouncing the foot while sitting). Apparently it is quite remarkable how many calories you can burn this way.

We both agreed that his liking of biscuits wasn’t going to do his contipation any favours so he bought a tub of my no added sugar muesli: https://www.healthelicious.com.au/Muesli.html

For improved general nutrition he grabbed a tub of my NutriBlast Grees Plus: https://www.healthelicious.com.au/Nutri-Blast-Greens-Plus.html

To address the short-term memory loss he is going to start using my Memory and Intelligence Blend: https://www.healthelicious.com.au/Nutri-Blast-Memory-Blend.html

And he will be traveling soon so he wanted to try three of my energy bars while on the road.

Hopefully I will be hearing a glowing success story from him in a week or so!

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Rob Reiner as Vizzini

Rob Reiner as Vizzini

Continue to get up, show up, step up and do your best and sometimes luck will do the rest!

“I was convinced I would be fired at any moment. I had heard that Danny DeVito was the person they wanted, and I thought, how could I possibly compete with him? I spent every day on set thinking I was about to be sent home. That anxiety seeped into everything I did, and oddly enough, it gave Vizzini the manic edge that people now remember. It is one of life’s strangest ironies that my fear of being a failure is the very thing that made the character work.” Wallace Shawn’s words perfectly sum up his state of mind when stepping into the role of Vizzini in Rob Reiner’s 1987 fantasy adventure “The Princess Bride.”
The casting of Shawn was never straightforward. Rob Reiner had initially wanted DeVito for the part of the Sicilian criminal mastermind, a detail that haunted Shawn from the moment he arrived on set. The actor later shared that he would often lie awake in his hotel room, rehearsing lines and convincing himself that producers were already searching for a replacement. Every laugh he delivered carried the weight of his worry, yet that very nervousness translated into Vizzini’s frantic energy. The speed of his speech, the overconfident gestures, and the high-pitched exclamations all stemmed from his internal fear, which turned into comedic brilliance before the camera.
Shawn’s most famous contribution came in the form of a single word. His repeated cry of “Inconceivable!” has since become one of the most quoted lines in movie history. On screen, it was delivered with sharp conviction, yet in reality, it was fueled by the belief that he would not last another day on set. This duality gave Vizzini an authenticity that was both hilarious and oddly endearing. Reiner later praised Shawn for capturing exactly the kind of unpredictable humor the film needed, showing trust in an actor who had very little in himself at the time.
Andre the Giant, who played Fezzik, often recalled how Shawn’s nervous pacing before scenes added an extra layer of camaraderie on set. Cary Elwes wrote in his memoir about watching Shawn psych himself up, looking like a man preparing for his own dismissal, and then turning that raw tension into comedy gold. The cast admired how he never let his insecurity stop him from performing with full force, even if he was convinced he was doing poorly.
Reiner’s decision to keep Shawn was more than a practical choice; it was a recognition of how well the actor’s natural unease fit the character. Vizzini needed to be a man constantly straining for control, trying to appear brilliant while the world unraveled around him. Shawn’s interpretation captured that with precision. What he considered his weakness became the exact quality that made Vizzini unforgettable.
When asked years later about his time on “The Princess Bride,” Shawn spoke with gratitude, tinged with amusement at the irony. He explained that he had never imagined audiences would embrace a performance born out of pure self-doubt. For him, the greatest surprise was that his fear turned into laughter for millions of viewers. That laughter became part of the film’s enduring charm, proof that sometimes the most unlikely circumstances create the most lasting results.
Vizzini’s short time in the film cemented Shawn’s place in cinematic history. Although the character is defeated in the famous battle of wits, his presence lingers because of the unmatched delivery and the nervous spark that made him impossible to forget. Shawn’s own words remind us that insecurity can, at times, be transformed into art: “If you’re terrified enough, sometimes the fear itself does the work for you.”
The role that nearly slipped away instead became the performance of a lifetime, a playful reminder that even overwhelming anxiety can give birth to comedy that endures through generations.
Shawn’s terror, woven into every line, turned into pure delight for audiences, an outcome so perfectly improbable that even Vizzini might have called it inconceivable.
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I’m a retired electrician

Retired Electrician

“My name’s Frank. I’m 64, a retired electrician.
Forty-two years I spent running wires through houses, fixing breakers, making sure people had light in their kitchens and heat in their winters. Never once did anyone ask me where I went to college. Mostly, they just wanted to know if I could get the power back on before their ice cream melted.
Last May, I was at my granddaughter Emily’s school career day. You know the drill — doctors, lawyers, a software guy in a slick suit talking about “scaling startups.” I was the only one there with a tool belt and work boots.
When it was my turn, I told the kids, “I don’t have a degree. I’ve never sat in a lecture hall. But I’ve wired schools, hospitals, and your principal’s house. And when the hospital generator failed during a snowstorm in ’98, I was the one in the basement with a flashlight, keeping the lights on for newborn babies upstairs.”
The kids leaned forward. They had questions — real ones. “How do you fix stuff in the dark?” “Do you make a lot of money?” “Do you ever get zapped?” (Yes, once, and it’ll curl your hair.)
When the bell rang, one boy hung back. Small kid, freckles, hoodie too big for him. He mumbled, “My uncle’s a plumber. People laugh at him ’cause he didn’t finish high school. But… he’s the only one in the family who can fix anything.”
I looked that boy in the eye and said, “Kid, your uncle’s a hero. When your toilet overflows at midnight, Harvard ain’t sending anyone. A plumber is.”
Here’s the thing nobody told me when I was young — the world doesn’t run without tradespeople. You can have all the engineers you want, but if nobody builds the house, wires the power, or lays the pipes, those blueprints just sit in a drawer.
We’ve made it sound like trades are what you do if you can’t go to college, instead of a path you choose because you like working with your hands, solving problems, and seeing your work stand solid for decades.
Four years after high school, some kids walk away with diplomas. Others walk away with zero debt, a union card, and a skill they can take anywhere in the world. And guess what? When your furnace dies in January, it’s not the diploma that saves you.
A few weeks ago, that same freckled kid’s mom stopped me at the grocery store. She said, “You probably don’t remember, but you told my son trades are important. He’s shadowing his uncle this summer. First time I’ve seen him excited about anything in years.”
That’s the part we forget — for some kids, knowing their path is respected changes everything. It’s not about “just” fixing wires or pipes. It’s about pride. Purpose. The kind that sticks with you long after the job’s done.
So next time you meet a teenager, don’t just ask, “Where are you going to college?” Ask, “What’s your plan?” And if they say, “I’m learning to weld,” or “I’m starting an apprenticeship,” smile big and say, “That’s fantastic. We’re going to need you.”
Because we will. More than ever. And when the lights go out, you’ll be glad they showed up.”
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Unlocking Nature’s Healing Potential — The Power of DMSO and Botanical Combinations

Herbs

  • DMSO is an “umbrella remedy” capable of treating a wide range of challenging ailments due to its combination of therapeutic properties (e.g., reducing inflammation, improving circulation, and reviving dying cells). It also rapidly transports substances dissolved in it through the skin and throughout the body
  • These benefits are also seen when DMSO is combined with a variety of natural therapies — in many cases, allowing the mixture to treat challenging conditions neither could treat alone
  • DMSO is commonly combined with natural carrier oils and botanicals such as essential oils and herbal extracts
  • These combinations are commonly used to create natural skin care products which rejuvenate the skin and cure numerous skin conditions such as acne, psoriasis, eczema, and lipomas. They also enhance DMSO’s ability to heal injured tissues, reduce inflammation, and treat acute or chronic pain (e.g., arthritis or migraines)
  • This article will review the basics of botanical DMSO combinations, the literature supporting it, and show how these mixtures can be used to treat many additional challenging medical conditions

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/08/15/power-of-dmso-and-botanical-combinations.aspx

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The Lightsaber Sound

The Lightsaber Sound

A happy accident in the 1970s led to one of the most famous sounds in movie history.

Sound designer Ben Burtt was tasked with creating the unique sounds for a new science fiction film, Star Wars, and needed something special for the laser swords.

While working as a projectionist at the University of Southern California’s cinema department, he found his first ingredient in the constant, musical hum of the old film projectors’ interlock motors.

He recorded this deep hum, which would become the heart of the lightsaber’s sound.

The second, crucial part came from an unexpected discovery. Burtt found that a broken microphone cable would pick up a strange buzzing noise from the back of a television set.
He recorded this accidental buzz and layered it with the projector motor hum. The combination created the distinct, electric crackle of the lightsaber we all know today.

To make the sound feel like it was moving, Burtt then played the completed sound through a speaker and waved a microphone in front of it. This simple technique created a Doppler shift, mimicking the sound of a weapon swinging through the air.

This innovative approach not only brought the lightsaber to life but also helped set a new standard for audio effects in cinema.