Tom's Blog on Life and Livingness
“Optimism is a happiness magnet. If you stay positive, good things and good people will be drawn to you.” – Mary Lou Retton, Gymnast (born 1968)
If you find yourself not being able to stay ‘up’ then have a read of this blog post. There will be something in there that works for you, I’m sure: https://www.tomgrimshaw.com/tomsblog/?p=14412
A Russian biophysicist spent 30 years proving that shining red light on a cell could double its energy, and almost nobody believed her until a tech billionaire named Bryan Johnson made her work the most searched biohack on the internet.
Her name was Tiina Karu.
She worked in a Moscow lab through the 1980s and 1990s, and the discovery she defended for decades sat in journals nobody read while the rest of medicine ignored her.
The whole thing started by accident.
In 1967, a Hungarian doctor named Endre Mester was trying to use a new device called a laser to burn tumors out of mice. His laser was broken. It did not have enough power to burn anything. He used it anyway. The mice grew their hair back faster than the control group. Their wounds healed faster too. He had no idea why.
Tiina Karu picked up his work and asked the question that mattered. Why does this happen.
She ran experiments for 20 years. Different wavelengths. Different doses. Measuring what happens inside the cell when red light hits it. The answer she landed on was almost too specific to be true.
The thing in your body that responds to red light is one enzyme. Cytochrome c oxidase. It sits inside your mitochondria.
Mitochondria are the part of your cell that makes energy. They take oxygen and food and turn it into a molecule called ATP, which is the fuel your cells run on. Your body makes 40 to 70 kilograms of ATP every single day just to keep you alive. If your mitochondria slow down, you age faster, heal slower, lose hair, lose muscle, and get inflamed easier.
Cytochrome c oxidase does most of the work. It contains copper and iron atoms. Those atoms happen to absorb light at very specific colors. Red light at 630 to 670 nanometers. Near-infrared light at 810 to 850 nanometers.
Other colors do almost nothing. Blue does not work. Green does not work. The biology is locked to those two windows because that is what the metal inside the enzyme can physically catch.
When a red photon hits that enzyme, three things happen.
The enzyme runs faster. ATP production jumps 30 to 40% within minutes.
Nitric oxide gets released. Blood vessels widen. More oxygen and nutrients flow in.
A small stress signal goes off inside the cell that tells it to repair itself. The same signal it gets after exercise.
Red light is not adding anything to the cell. It is just unlocking work the cell was already trying to do.
For 30 years almost nobody outside her field cared. Red light therapy lived inside dental clinics for mouth ulcers and physical therapy offices for tendonitis. Medical schools did not teach it. The science sat in obscure journals.
Then the evidence started piling up.
A 2024 review of 18 trials confirmed red light speeds up wound healing.
Another 2024 review found it lowered inflammation markers by 38% over 4 weeks.
Athletes using red light before training had 45% less muscle soreness the next day.
Seven separate trials on hair loss showed visible regrowth in every single one.
A 2024 study found 15 minutes of red light before a meal cut blood sugar spikes by 27.7%.
In March 2026, Nature published a 4,000 word feature on red light therapy. The most respected scientific journal on Earth officially admitted there was real biology under the hype. That was the moment the field crossed from fringe to mainstream.
Bryan Johnson is the reason the average person now knows any of this exists. He uses a red light cap on his scalp for 6 minutes daily and a full-body panel three times a week. He posted his hair regrowth photos and his skin scans, and the algorithm did the rest. Red light masks went from biohacker forums to Sephora shelves in two years.
Tiina Karu died in 2019. She did not live to see Nature validate her. She did not live to see a billionaire turn the enzyme she identified into a billion dollar industry.
Every red light mask, panel, cap, and bed on the planet right now is just a way to deliver the photons she proved mattered.
The wavelengths were always there. The enzyme was always there. The biology was always real.
It just took a Hungarian doctor with a broken laser, a Russian scientist nobody listened to, and one tech billionaire willing to stand in front of a glowing panel for the world to finally pay attention.
Source: https://x.com/codewithimanshu/status/2055242238326882704?s=20
Tomato stems do something most plants can’t — any part of the stem buried underground grows roots. When you plant a tall seedling straight up, only the bottom few inches are in the soil making roots. When you lay it sideways in a shallow trench, the entire buried length roots along its full span.
More roots means more water uptake, more nutrients, and a stronger plant that handles dry stretches without folding. The leggiest seedling in the flat often becomes the strongest plant in the bed.
How to trench-plant a leggy tomato:
– Pinch off the lower leaves, leaving just the top cluster.
– Dig a shallow trench instead of a deep hole — long and horizontal, a few inches deep.
– Lay the stem flat in the trench with the leafy top sticking up at one end.
– Wait a couple of days for the top of the plant to start growing up towards the sun.
– Cover the bare stem with soil.
– Water deeply at planting and the buried stem starts rooting along its length within a week or two.
One thing to watch for:
– If you bought a grafted tomato, keep the graft point above the soil line. Burying it defeats the purpose — the top variety roots on its own and bypasses the rootstock you paid for. This only applies to grafted plants, which are usually labeled.
The leggiest seedling in the tray isn’t the weakest one. It’s the one with the most stem to bury.
The unimaginable has been done!
Each Batch of C19 has a different formula.
The entire dataset of 12,000 Batches has been cross-referenced with the reports of Adverse Events (VAERS).
THE CORRELATION IS ABSOLUTE
•Batch Nos. ending in 20A to 20F =adverse events2 nearly nil= PLACEBO
•Batch Nos. ending in 21K to 21X =moderate adverse events: fatigue, myocarditis, clots ->Hospitalization Rate 300% > than the Norm
•Batch Nos. ending in 22R to 22Z =extremely severe adverse events 2 = Stroke, Cardiac Arrest, brain damage ->Mortality Rate 8,100% > than the statistical Norm for all drugs in History
The DISTRIBUTION is ORGANIZED so that no demographic group receives enough lethal doses to trigger 1 statistically significant signal: the adverse events were diluted to be qualified as RARE adverse events.
THEY ARE NOT RARE THEY WERE TARGETED
The PLACEBO Batches were sent to Politicians, to Media Figures, to TV, to Pharma Executives.
12,000 Batch Nos. recorded on Blockchain, with no Journal accepting to Publish.
The former FDA Head, member of the team, has transmitted the data to the MILITARY TRIBUNAL.
“This is a deployment protocol for weapons disguised as a vaccine.”
The Tribunal has accepted the data as EVIDENCE. Case No. GT-2026-041
CODE: 3 levels of Batch No., targeted by ZIP Code
(Tom: This result mirrors that which was reported during the Covid rollout by various individuals, notably a New Zealand IT person.)
Dr Suzanne Humphries exposes what DTaP, Polio & Hib ‘Vaccines’ do to babies.
The shots cause the activation of 33 allergy genes & 66 asthma genes plus the upregulation of 67 cancer genes & 25 immunological genes.
Click to view the video: https://x.com/thehealthb0t/status/2055226748846194931?s=20
“The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second, is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.”
Marcus Aurelius (121 – 180) Roman Emperor and Philosopher
In the 1990s, if you flew first class from Hong Kong to New York, you might have walked past a rumpled man in coach.
Wrinkled shirt. Plastic watch. Papers stuffed in a grocery bag.
You wouldn’t have guessed he was worth billions.
You definitely wouldn’t have guessed he’d already given most of it away.
Chuck Feeney made his fortune selling what rich people wanted most: status without taxes.
In 1960, he and his Cornell buddy Robert Miller opened the first Duty Free Shoppers location in Honolulu.
The concept was simple: sell luxury goods in airports and ports where travelers didn’t have to pay import duties.
Whiskey. Perfume. Designer handbags. All tax-free.
When Japan lifted travel restrictions in 1966, everything changed overnight.
Millions of newly wealthy Japanese tourists wanted Western luxury goods. DFS was perfectly positioned.
Chuck learned Japanese. He hired translators. He made deals with every tour operator who’d listen.
By the 1980s, Duty Free Shoppers dominated global luxury retail.
Chuck Feeney was a billionaire several times over.
And nobody could figure out why he lived like he was broke.
His business partners started to worry.
Chuck wore the same ratty sweater with holes in it. He owned exactly one sports jacket—no tuxedo, ever.
When DFS executives traveled, they stayed in five-star hotels. Chuck stayed in budget motels.
They flew business class. Chuck flew coach—often on the cheapest ticket he could find, which sometimes meant three connections instead of one.
One colleague offered to upgrade him. Chuck refused.
“Why would I pay more for the same destination?”
He didn’t own a house. He rented. No car—he’d take taxis or the bus.
When he absolutely needed wheels, he’d rent the cheapest vehicle available. Usually a dinged-up Volvo.
His watch cost fifteen dollars. Plastic Casio from a drugstore.
Some partners thought he’d gone crazy. Others whispered he must have gambling debts or a secret family draining his accounts.
The truth was so much stranger.
In 1982, Chuck created something called The Atlantic Philanthropies.
It was registered in Bermuda. The paperwork was dense and deliberately obscure.
In 1984, he transferred his entire stake in DFS—worth over $500 million—into the foundation.
He kept less than $5 million for himself.
Then he started giving the money away.
Hospitals. Universities. Human rights organizations. Medical research.
Millions of dollars flowing out every month.
But here’s the twist: nobody knew where it was coming from.
Cornell University suddenly received massive anonymous donations. Administrators had no idea who their mystery benefactor was.
Universities in Ireland got similar windfalls. So did hospitals in South Africa. AIDS clinics. Research centers in Vietnam.
The recipients would ask: “Who’s funding this?”
Atlantic Philanthropies would respond: “We prefer not to say.”
Chuck had become a philanthropic ghost.
Why the secrecy?
Chuck had two reasons, both practical.
First: “Once people know you have money to give away, they never leave you alone.”
He’d seen it happen to other philanthropists. Every charity on earth sending proposals. Every fundraiser calling. Every gala demanding his attendance.
Chuck didn’t want to spend his life saying no.
Second: He believed anonymity kept the focus on the work, not the donor.
“It’s not about me,” he’d say. “It’s about what gets done.”
So Atlantic Philanthropies operated like a intelligence agency.
Grants went out through intermediaries. Contracts had confidentiality clauses. Even some of Chuck’s own children didn’t know the full extent of what he was doing.
His ex-wife found out during their divorce proceedings. She was stunned.
For 15 years, Chuck ran the largest private charitable operation in the world—and almost nobody knew his name.
The secret broke in 1996.
LVMH—the French luxury conglomerate—bought DFS for $1.63 billion cash.
The sale required public disclosure. Chuck’s name appeared in documents.
Reporters started connecting dots.
A New York Times business writer named Judith Miller began investigating.
Wait—this guy who dresses like a grad student owns half of Duty Free Shoppers?
And he gave it all away?
Fifteen years ago?
The article ran in January 1997, buried on page D4: “He Gave Away $600 Million, and No One Knew.”
Except the number was already wrong. Chuck had given away much more than $600 million.
He just hadn’t told anyone.
Once the secret was out, Chuck didn’t change much.
He still flew coach. Still wore the fifteen-dollar watch. Still carried papers in a plastic bag.
But now people understood.
He wasn’t crazy. He wasn’t broke.
He’d made a choice.
He’d decided that watching his money do good was better than watching his money sit in a bank.
Warren Buffett called him “my hero.”
Bill Gates studied his methods.
In 2011, when Buffett and Gates launched the Giving Pledge—asking billionaires to commit to giving away at least half their wealth—Chuck was one of the first to sign.
Except he’d already given away 99% of his fortune. Thirty years earlier.
“Chuck was showing us the way,” Buffett said, “long before we knew we needed a guide.”
Between 1982 and 2020, Chuck gave away $8 billion.
Let that sink in.
Eight. Billion. Dollars.
Almost a billion went to Cornell alone. The university renamed a street “Feeney Way” in his honor. President Frank Rhodes called him Cornell’s “third founder”—as significant as Ezra Cornell himself.
But Chuck’s giving wasn’t scattered. It was strategic.
He focused on four areas: aging, children and youth, public health, and human rights.
He funded campaigns to abolish the death penalty. He backed the grassroots effort to pass the Affordable Care Act.
He paid for AIDS treatment in South Africa when governments wouldn’t.
He built hospitals in Vietnam. He supported peace negotiations in Northern Ireland—his advocacy helped bring about the Good Friday Agreement that ended the Troubles.
He didn’t just write checks. He got involved. Pushed. Strategized.
“Giving isn’t passive,” he said. “You have to make things happen.”
By 2019, Chuck was 88 years old and in declining health.
The foundation had one mission left: spend every remaining dollar.
Not preserve it. Not create an endowment. Spend it all.
“Dead people don’t give money,” Chuck liked to say. “Live people do.”
On September 14, 2020, Chuck logged into a Zoom call from his tiny rented apartment in San Francisco.
His wife sat beside him. Foundation board members filled the screen.
Chuck signed the papers.
Atlantic Philanthropies officially had zero dollars left.
Mission accomplished.
“We learned a lot,” Chuck said. “We’d do some things differently. But I am very satisfied.”
He paused, smiled slightly.
“To those wondering about Giving While Living: Try it. You’ll like it.”
Chuck Feeney died on October 9, 2023, at age 92.
He died the way he’d lived for the past 40 years: with almost no money to his name.
His estate was modest. No mansion to divide among heirs. No vault of assets. No fortune to fight over.
Just the satisfaction of knowing that $8 billion had already done its work.
Built hospitals. Educated students. Protected rights. Saved lives.
Here’s what makes Chuck Feeney’s story different from every other billionaire story:
He didn’t wait until he was dead to give his money away.
He didn’t create a foundation that would spend 5% per year in perpetuity while the principal grew.
He didn’t put his name on buildings or demand gratitude.
He spent it all. Fast. While he could still see what it accomplished.
And he did it so quietly that for 15 years, the world’s business press thought he might be broke.
His business partner thought he was broke.
His own children didn’t know until they were adults.
For 15 years, Chuck Feeney ran the world’s most successful secret operation.
And the only thing he smuggled was generosity.
Eight billion dollars of it.
All gone.
All exactly where he wanted it to be.
And the ability to recognise duplicated text.
A food forest is a garden designed to work like a forest. Seven layers of food production stacked vertically, mimicking natural ecosystems.
CANOPY – Large nut and fruit trees (walnut, pecan, chestnut). The ceiling of the system.
UNDERSTORY – Smaller fruit trees (apple, pear, plum). Thrive in dappled shade beneath the canopy.
SHRUB – Berry bushes (blueberry, currant, gooseberry). Fill the gaps between trees.
HERBACEOUS – Perennial herbs and vegetables (comfrey, sorrel, rhubarb). The medicine and salad layer.
GROUND COVER – Creeping plants (strawberry, clover, mint). Protect the soil and suppress weeds.
VINE – Climbers (grape, kiwi, hops). Use the trees as natural trellises.
ROOT – Underground crops (Jerusalem artichoke, groundnut, garlic). The hidden harvest.
Once established, a food forest requires no tilling, no fertilizer, no irrigation, and no replanting. It feeds itself. It builds soil. It gets more productive every year.
Forests have operated this way for 400 million years. We just finally stopped to notice.