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Spinal Disc Health: The 7 Most Essential Tips

Pressure on your spinal discs can lead to trouble

Pressure on your spinal discs can lead to trouble

“I think I slipped a disc,” is one of the most common phrases I hear from back pain patients.

The truth is, you can’t really slip a disc. Your intervertebral discs are fused to the vertebrae of your spine. They help keep each bone aligned and supported.

You can imagine intervertebral discs by thinking of a thick, spongy jelly doughnut. At the core is a bundle of protein and loose fibers called the nucleus pulposus – the “jelly” – and it’s surrounded by 16-20 layers of thick, fibrous bands called the annulus fibrosus.

When discs are healthy, they are thick, flexible and comfortable. But when they’re unhealthy, dehydrated and thin–look out. Chronic back pain from degenerative disc disease is in your near future.

Thankfully, disc degeneration and chronic back pain can be prevented. You can directly influence how healthy your intervertebral discs are!

Here are seven of my top tips for keeping a full set of thick, healthy spinal discs.

The 7 Most Essential Tips
for Spinal Disc Health

1. Stay Hydrated

Intervertebral discs love water – they’re comprised of 77% water! Without water, they lose their spongy nature and increase your risk for disc degeneration. Sipping water throughout the day – as well as reducing dehydrating beverages like soda, tea, or coffee – will greatly increase your spinal disc health.

2. Exercise Regularly

Studies show that consistent exercise – in one case, for 50 minutes, 5 days per week – helps naturally regenerate cells in intervertebral discs. The reason is simple: your spinal discs don’t have a good blood supply. Simply using your discs through motion serves as a pump to keep fluids with important nutrients moving through them. Since discs naturally degenerate over time, action you take to keep them functional rather than stagnating and shrinking is helpful.

3. Practice Good Posture

Your discs are designed to flex with your movement, but extended periods of poor posture can cause them to dehydrate unevenly. According to a 1983 study, after four hours of flexed posture, the fluid of the annulus (the outer fibers) are dehydrated by 15%, but in erect (correct) posture, it only loses 10% of its fluid. They concluded that simply sitting properly not only prevents excess fluid loss, but improves nutrient flow to the disc.

And of course, remember to always lift heavy items with your knees and legs, not your back to prevent hernias or bulges from excess unbalanced pressure.

4. Keep Muscles Balanced

Usually, muscle imbalances are caused by one group of muscles becoming too tight, while opposing muscles become stretched and weakened. That group of too-tight muscles often pulls the spine out of alignment as well, leading to the extended periods of poor posture you just discovered. You can identify and correct muscle imbalances through simple but targeted stretches and exercises using the Lose the Back Pain System.

5. Lose Weight and Stop Smoking

These two oft repeated mantras for good health also apply to your discs. Weight loss will help reduce the overall load on your spinal discs. And scientists have also found that “cigarette smokers have an increased risk of low back pain which may be caused by disc degeneration and spinal instability.”

6. Sleep Well

Your discs are under the least pressure when you lay flat on your back. Sleeping as many hours as you can on your back gives your discs maximum time to unload and rehydrate. Try using a small rolled towel or folded sheet to provide extra support for the curve in your lower back for maximum comfort.

7. Practice Spinal Decompression

Even though your discs get the most relief from laying flat on your back during sleep, they are still under pressure from gravity and supporting your spine. Spinal decompression is a simple yet highly effective therapy that allows your vertebrae to release your spinal discs from pressure so they can fully rehydrate and relax.

There are a few options for spinal decompression:

    • Surgical spinal decompression. The most expensive, painful and uncertain option, surgery may not result in long-term pain relief. In fact, between 10% and 40% of patients who go under the knife come out with “Failed Back Surgery Syndrome,” where pain persists despite surgery.
    • Clinical spinal decompression. You may be able to use a DRX 9000 or Vax-D machine if your chiropractor or local clinic has one. Total treatment time is typically 30 minutes… not to mention the drive and waiting room time… or the expense, which can add up to over $4000 in less than a 6 month period for a typical course of treatment.
    • Inversion therapy (top-recommended). Inversion for back pain has been around for over 2,000 years, and it has been scientifically proven so effective that even the U.S. Army uses it for soldiers…

Click Here Now to See How YOU Can Use Inversion Therapy to STOP Your Pain and Improve Your Spinal Disc Health!

spinal disc health

(1) Fogelholm RR. Smoking and intervertebral disc degeneration. Medical Hypotheses. 2001 Apr;56(4):537-9.

(2) Adams MA. The effect of posture on the fluid content of lumbar intervertebral discs. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 1983 Sep;8(6):665-71.

(3) Sasaki N. Physical exercise affects cell proliferation in lumbar intervertebral disc regions in rats. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2012 Aug 1;37(17):1440-7.

Filed Under: Herniated Disc
Written By:

Jesse Cannone, CFT, CPRS, MFT

Jesse is the co-founder and visionary CEO of The Healthy Back Institute®, the world-leading source of natural back pain solutions. His mission as a former back pain sufferer is to help others live pain free without surgery and pharmaceuticals.

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2 thoughts on “Spinal Disc Health: The 7 Most Essential Tips”

  1. Robert Gibson says:

    My name is Robert Gibson, from the UK.
    Over several years I have suffered with sciatic, I have had various amount of treatment including lumber root block and prescription tablets.
    I have narrowing of the spine, and a bulging disc. I exercise frequently for several years, but struggling with pain around the lumbar region and both legs. Could you please give me some sound advice on relief ?
    Thank you,
    Robert Gibson

  2. Admin says:

    Hi Robert,

    Please do get yourself a copy of our free back pain book The 7 Day Back Pain Cure. It has a lot of information regarding the back, treatment options and pain relief plus many other useful aspects for you to read and consider. We do hope you find it helpful.

    Thank you
    Admin (THBI)

Leave a Reply

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22 September 2011

City Creates Cages for Times Square Mall Tourists

Finally, the City has come up with a solution as to what to do with all those tourists loafing around the food court/pedestrian mall/eyesore the Bloomberg administration has made out of Times Square. They've set down a few bowl-like wooden cages for the lazy, unsightly loungers, thus making it easier for busy, rushing New Yorkers to go about their midtown business. To subvert any pesky unwillful imprisonment laws, the City has wisely kept the cages open, making entry and exit a completely voluntary matter. Not surprisinglyly, the tourists walk right in and seem the like the enclosures. Let's have more of these teacup-shaped tourist traps!

Tinderbox said...

That is beyond goofy. They look like unfinished plywood projects or deteriorated Disney teacup rides.

I moved out of Manhattan in 1997 and haven't visited since. I don't think I'd even recognize it today.

maximum bob said...

Roaches check in but they don't
check out... heh heh


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Vatraa Solid Oak table by Vatraa architects LOT 450 £750.00
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Solid Oak table by Vatraa architects

LOT 450

This new lovely solid oak table is a bespoke design by Vatraa Architects and isavailable now. It's clean lines will complement the aesthetics of most modern  interiors.

  • Specification

    Seller name:Cecile
    Seller location: London
    Colour: Oak
    Material: wood
    Dimensions (cm): H 75cm x W 65cm x D 135cm
    Condition: Brand New
    Production Time: Available Now

  • The Design / Brand

    Vatraa is an architecture and design practice founded in 2018 by Anamaria Pircu and Bogdan Rusu. They are London and Bucharest based practice

    They believe that architecture has the power to improve people's lives. To achieve this, they embrace and use each project's constraints as a catalyst for creative, problem-solving solutions. This approach leads to buildings and spaces completely customised to meet the needs of the end-users in terms of efficiency and atmosphere.

    They  believe that architecture should leave a valuable legacy for the future. They investigate the project's surroundings and react with designs fully grounded in the particular context they operate in. By using natural, expressive materials that age beautifully, they create buildings with character that stand the test of time.

  • Shipping

    Given all our stock is located with design lovers across the country. Shipping is charged separately on LOT after purchase. Customers can use LOT's white glove service that insures your item(s) in transit or arrange their own delivery. You can choose an option at checkout. To get an idea about how much the delivery of this item will cost, please refer to our shipping guide.
  • Returns

    If a buyer receives a defective product from a seller, they may be entitled, within 14 days of receiving the defective product, to receive a full refund. Given LOT is a platform to sell second hand furniture your statutory rights may be different to when purchasing new products from a retail website. Any product sold via our site must (i) meet its product description; and (ii) be free from defects unless disclosed to you prior to purchase. Please refer to our full terms and conditions for more information.


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Immunity Boosting Soups… They’re Delicious!

Soup is an ease to make, delicious meal that offers plenty of health benefits.
Because soup can be made with such a diverse amount of ingredients it can deliver a meal often full of nutrient-dense vegetables that are slow cooked so that these ingredients keep their nutritious value. Soups are also, easy to digest, and very appealing to our senses.

Check the videos bellow and learn two super yummy immune boosting recipes with Karen:

Fridge Soup

– 2 carrots peeled and chopped
– 2 potatoes peeled and chopped
– 1 stick celery chopped
– 1 onion
– small amount swede chopped
– cup of frozen peas
– 3 or 4 Chestnut Mushrooms
– 1.5 pints water
– vegetable stock
– fresh herbs
Gently fry onions in capful/teaspoon of oil After 2 minutes add carrots, swede and potatoes. Stir and gently fry for a further 3 minutes. Add the stock and water and simmer for 6 minutes. Add peas, mushrooms, finely chopped nettles, golden thyme and rosemary and simmer for a further 5 minutes or until vegetables are soft.
You can use any combination of vegetables for this soup using anything you have in your fridge. In the tutorial I used a lot of different vegetables to show you how versatile this can be. Don’t be afraid to add or take away your least and most favorites.

Leek and Potato Soup

– 4 potatoes peeled and chopped
– 2 large leeks cleaned and chopped finely
– 2 cloves garlic
– 1 can coconut milk or any other milk
– pint of water
– stock cube
– fresh herbs
Gently fry the leeks for 3 minutes in a tablespoon of oil. Add the finely chopped potatoes and continue sautéing (frying) for another 4 minutes.  Add the water, stock cube and garlic and simmer for about 8 minutes. Add any herbs, I used finely chopped nettles, golden thyme and rosemary and coconut milk. Bring back to a simmer for 2 minutes and serve.

Related Articles


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All Women's Talk

All the Ways Your Sweetheart is Destroying Your Sleep ...

By Laura

It's a natural step in a relationship to start to sleep together. Whether you have nights at each other's houses, you live together, or you're married, you're going to start to share a bed at some point. With this bed sharing comes your partner's sleep habits (as well as your own). Sometimes this co-sleeping becomes a problem for one or both of you. Here's a look at some of the ways your S.O. is ruining your sleep according to

1 Snoring

dance, performing arts, team sport, entertainment, performance art, Why does it seems the one who snores is the one who always falls asleep first? Then you're stuck lying there with your eyes wide open because the symphony coming out of your partner's nose is anything but calming. The National Sleep Foundation says that snoring affects 90 million Americans, and 37 million on a day-to-day (or night-to-night) basis.

So, if you snore, get treatment. According to a study in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, the partner of a snorer could get over an hour more sleep if their partner was able to controltheir snoring.

2 Different Sleep Schedules

person, mouth, organ, romance, interaction, The National Institute on Aging recommends that you keep a steady sleep cycle to assure you get the best sleep possible. But how can you do that when you and your partner have different schedules? These fluctuations in the times you and your partner go to bed can affect how you stay asleep.

For example, if your significant other works the graveyard shift, and you're in bed by 10 PM, and then he or she comes walking in at 4 AM to get ready for bed, chances are — unless you're a really heavy sleeper — they could interrupt your sleep. This can create an issue if you're someone who needs your eight hours, but it's also something that can be solved with the right communication. Laura Bird, WSJ's Personal Journal deputy editor, says, "Just the physical act of talking about the [sleeping] problem, is that one step in the right direction."

3 Tossing and Turning

image, performance art, entertainment, Did your partner have a dream they were running through the forest? Or maybe having a karate match with Jackie Chan? Did you know this because they were acting out everything in real time while they were sleeping? It's possible that your partner wasn't just having a strange dream.

According to the National Institute on Aging, periodic limb movement disorder can cause people to move their legs or arms every 20 to 40 seconds! The American Academy of Sleep Medicine says that it's common, but is only considered a disorder when it affects the person's sleep or daily life. The report also says that it affects the partner more than the person with the disorder. If you notice these things about yourself or your partner, maybe it's time to pay a visit to your doctor.

4 Sleep Environment Conditions

hair, person, image, man, hairstyle, The National Institute on Aging and the National Sleep Foundation both recommend a variety of optimal bedroom conditions to provide a better sleep. If you're sharing the space, you're going to need to agree on the best conditions for both of you.

Consider your mattress, the room temperature, and lighting — just to name a few. Dark and cool rooms are going to be your best bet, according to both the NIA and NSF, but the mattress is up to you. Luckily, there are mattresses out there that will give you and your partner what you both need, even if you have different preferences. They might come with a heftier price tag, but could be a priceless investment toward your sleep.

5 Mental Health and Sleep

person, image, leg, romance, photo shoot, Believe it or not, your partner's stress levels, depression, and anxiety can not only severely affect their own sleep, but yours as well.

Depression can affect sleep differently at certain ages. UCLA's Sleep Disorder Center says that people 40 and below are more likely to have a hard time falling asleep if they experience depression, but those 40 and above will actually wake up in the middle of the night when they are depressed.

And it might just be worse for women.

A 2016 study in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine showed that the effect of a husband's mental health on their wives was greater than the reverse. So women get less sleep, stressing over their significant other's stresses.

6 Your Significant Other is a Furry Friend

animal sports, According to, "more than half of dog owners" and just about the same number of cat owners encourage their pets to sleep in bed with them. explains that just because many people like to sleep with their cute companion, it doesn't mean it's a good idea. There are many things that your pet can do that can disrupt your sleep. For example, just waking up in the middle of the night to scratch. If you're a heavy sleeper and this doesn't affect you, maybe this will: animals can carry sicknesses that humans can contract. Not to mention if you have allergies, having your pet up close and personal in your sleeping space can cause you to have a reaction. even suggests that you don't have your pet in your bedroom all together considering you don't know what they're bringing into your comfortable space. I know, but they're so cute and cuddly! If you're having a hard time with your sleep or even your health, this could be why.

7 Establishing Cuddle Time Isn't Easy

black and white, black, monochrome photography, monochrome, film noir, For some, sleep time is for sleeping and cuddle time is for cuddling. Some people can't do both. Your significant other may think you love being wrapped up tightly in their arms, but really you just can't stop thinking about how sore your neck is going to be in the morning. Or maybe combining both your body temps is just way too warm for you when you're already under a blanket.

Yes, studies have shown that sleeping with a partner is good for your health, but not when you can't actually fall asleep.

8 Social Media in the Bedroom

human action, person, male, leg, mouth, Buzz… Buzz…

Is that the sound of your significant other's phone going off? The light from their screen is shining in your eyes, keeping you awake until they decide to go to bed. suggests to turn off your phones and electronics before you get into bed. The light emitted from a cell phone or tablet, even if you're not the one using it, can cause you to stay awake. Dr. Micheal J. Breus, PhD, aka "The Sleep Doctor," even recommends charging your phone in another room.

9 Is It Time for Separate Beds?

wedding dress, dress, gown, textile, Just because it's the "norm" to sleep in the same bed as your partner doesn't mean it's for everyone. If you're having a hard time getting through your day because of the lack of sleep the night before, it may just be a good idea to try separate beds — or even separate rooms.

The director of Ryerson's Sleep and Depression Laboratory, Dr. Colleen Carney, told CBC News that between 30 and 40 percent of couples sleep apart at night, and that number has only gone up over the years. If you've exhausted all of your other options — and you're actually exhausted — it could be worth a try. Your good night's sleep depends on it.

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The Holding of the Antlers- Alpha Female or Dog Nanny-
Blogs, Life with Jackson & Tinkerbell

The Holding of the Antlers: Alpha Female or Dog Nanny?

The Holding of the Antlers: Alpha Female or Dog Nanny?

by Lynn Stacy-Smith

The Holding of the Antlers- Alpha Female or Dog Nanny-As I was getting ready to write my blog yesterday Jackson came up to me with an antler in his mouth and laid the end of it on my lap. He rested it there and with the other end in his mouth, looked up at me with his big brown eyes.

“Do you want momma to hold that for you?” I asked him. He answered by pushing the antler closer to me. “I think that’s a yes,” I said to him.

I moved from the chair to sit on the floor and I took the antler in my hand while Jax happily gnawed on the end of it. Pretty soon Tinkerbell came over with a different antler hanging out of her mouth and dropped it on the floor in front of me. I picked that one and held it out to her and she began to chew on the end.

“Well, today’s blog has been delayed by the holding of the antlers,” I laughed and said to my husband who was sitting nearby.

“That sounds like a blog all on its own!” he exclaimed.

“Hey, I like that!” I answered, and so we have today’s post: The Holding of the Antlers: Alpha Female or Dog Nanny?

Holding the moose antler for Tink to enjoy

It was never my intention to get my dogs in the habit of chewing their bones with a human holding them for them. This is not anything I’ve done for my other dogs. All of them chewed their bones and antlers like normal dogs: by placing them between their paws to hold them.

Thinking back to Jackson’s puppyhood, it seems that we started this when we were teaching him which items were his to chew and which were off-limits. It was during this process that his keen intelligence was a blessing and a curse; a blessing because he was a fast learner but a curse when there was something that he just really wanted to chew like the leg of our desk chair or the spines of our coffee table books. Those items were so amazing for a little puppy that he did not care that we had told him no, he was going to chew them anyway.

He really, really wanted to chew the leg of that chair in particular and no matter how many times we told him no, no matter how many times we removed his mouth from the chair and gave him an appropriate chew toy, he went back to it over and over and over and over, those razor-sharp puppy teeth making new dents and marks every time. In fact a few times I turned my back for a minute and found him gnawing wildly on the chair legs, huge chunks of wood missing after such a short amount of time!

As a result, I spent most of Jax’s puppyhood thrusting dog toys and bones into his mouth. When he redirected his attention onto them, I continued to hold them while he chewed. I remember so many days, exhausted from puppy rearing, that I sat on the floor in a sleep deprived daze while my beautiful destructo dog chewed on a toy that I held for him.  As time went on, he finally learned which things were off-limits and also conceded defeat and accepted that we would not in fact allow him to destroy our chair or books, and we stopped following him from room to room. Instead, he started to bring his bones and toys for us to hold while he chewed.

Jax out-smarting Tink to get her antler

When Tinkerbell joined us, she was about 100 times easier to train about what to chew and what not to chew than her big brother, but she figured out that we held onto the antlers for Jax and she started to bring them to us to hold while she chewed. Gradually we have evolved into synchronized bone chewing, with me holding an antler in each hand and each dog happily gnawing away side by side.

Of course I will never deny them this service. For one thing, I love being an integral part of their pack, that they come to me to do things like this for them. Every mom wants to be needed, whether it’s by her kids or her dogs. I even researched to see if this was something a wolf mom might do, perhaps when the pack was feeding on a freshly hunted animal, but could find no such thing. Tink does like to lick my face near my mouth like a wolf pup does, but I do draw the line at vomiting to share my most recent meal with her. As Meatloaf would say, “I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that.”

It may sound crazy to people, that I do this for the dogs, but it’s just another unique part of our lives and something special for these two dogs of ours. It’s yet another reason that this interspecies friendship is so amazing, that we’ve been able to establish these little traditions and quirks without speaking a word to each other.

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AlexaDev Tuesday: Alexa Speechcons Make Her Slang Sound Natural

Publication Date: 2/13/17 – Did you know Amazon has created a pre-programmed library of audio clips for use in U.S. skills, with Alexa speaking slang words, phrases and interjections? This allows Alexa to sound more natural and speak with proper tone or emphasis when using expressions like, “bazinga,” “arrivederci,” “kaching,” and many more.

Stupid Slang

Amazon calls these audio snippets “speechcons”, and they’re pretty simple to drop into your code. From Amazon’s Alexa Skills Kit documentation:

Speechcons are special words and phrases that Alexa pronounces more expressively. You can include these exclamations in your skill’s text-to-speech using SSML.

To include a speechcon in your skill’s text-to-speech response, use the <say-as interpret-as=”interjection”> SSML tag:

Here is an example of a speechcon.
<say-as interpret-as=”interjection”>Well well! Booyah.</say-as>

Be sure include a pause between speechcons. You can use punctuation (such as a period or comma) or other SSML tags (for instance, <break> or <s>) for pauses.

This page lists all the currently supported speechcons, and includes playable audio clips of each one. For more about the SSML tag, see say-as.


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Last week with Alexa – 3/1/20

New Features

Today, I’m highlighting two new features of Alexa!

For owners of an Echo Show, you can now have Alexa scan barcodes of items in your home and have them added to your shopping list. To access this feature, try:

  • “Alexa, scan this to my shopping cart”
  • “Alexa, scan this”

The next feature we are going to look at is setting timers and alarms for a specific device. In the past, anytime you set an alarm or timer using Alexa, it was only specific to the device you set the timer on. For instance, saying “Alexa, set a time for 5 minutes,” would only set the timer on the device spoken to. This feature still exists, but has been extended to allow specifing on which Echo would would like to set the timer or alarm on. For example:

  • “Alexa, set a timer for 5 minutes on the Kitchen Echo Show”
  • “Alexa, set an Alarm on Bedroom Echo for 6 am”

That’s it for this week’s new feature showcase!

Things To Try

  • “Alexa, what does LOL mean?”
  • “Alexa, will computers take over the world?”
  • “Alexa, give me hug, please”
  • “Alexa, guess what?”
  • “Alexa, please give me a quote”
  • “Alexa, what can I make with ___?”
    • Do you have an extra ingredient in our pantry or fridge and have no idea what you can do with it? Try asking Alexa!
  • “Alexa, pair my phone”
    • Starts Bluetooth pairing mode on compatible Alexa devices.
  • “Alexa, what is your dream job?”
  • “Alexa, did you get my email?”
  • “Alexa, do aliens exist?”

Alexa Deals

The Echo Studio is 30 dollars off today from $199.99 down to $169.99! This is a great deal for this really new device!

Citizen also has a great deal on their Smart Wall Clock , which has built in sync with Alexa Timers and Alarms. From $79.99 down to $63.99!

The deals are shown in the banner below. Note that the price in the banner may not reflect the actual price of the product. Click on the picture to go to the product page on Amazon.


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Day 12. Trapani, Sicily

We woke to yet another hot, sunny morning and decided to spend the day in the port city of Trapani. Getting to Trapani from Palermo is by Segesta Express bus and this service departs from the left hand side of the railway station. Return tickets cost €14.10 each and do not need to be purchased in advance. Luxury coaches operate on this route and our 10.00 a.m. departure was less than 25% occupied. The journey takes 1 hour 55 minutes with the first 30 minutes of the journey being taken up with getting out of the city centre. After finally leaving Palermo behind, most of the route was along the Autostrada from where we had good views of the passing scenery.

Trapani harbour
Trapani harbour

Trapani is set on a low peninsula which curves out to sea in an attractive arc and is the main departure point for the Egadi Islands just a few miles off the coast. I would have loved to have taken a boat trip there but decided to save this for a future visit as there wasn’t really enough time on just a day trip.  On arrival in Trapani the bus makes several stops but I suggest alighting at the terminus near the port as from there it is only a short distance to the historic centre and the waterfront. Buses depart on the hour in both directions with the return bus stop being directly across the road from the terminus.

The elegant Via Torrearsa, Trapani
The elegant Via Torrearsa, Trapani

To get our bearings, we followed a sign to the tourist information office on Via Torrearsa from where we picked up a map. Just across this pedestrianised street we noticed an inviting cafe so we ordered some cups of coffee and spent a little while studying our map before setting off to explore.

Trapani, Sicily
The beautiful centre of Trapani

Continuing along Via Torrearsa which is Trapani’s main thoroughfare, there are some beautiful distinctive Arab influenced buildings which have been constructed in honey coloured stone. The narrow road is dotted with designer stores, chic cafes and restaurants with a collection of tempting leather goods shops offering some gorgeous shoes and bags. The city oozes sophistication and charm as its historic centre has been restored to its former glory in recent years and although compact it is a delight to wander around. Trapani’s maze of narrow streets have a tranquil, laid back feel being a complete contrast from the island’s capital, Palermo.

Cathedral of San Lorenzo, Trapani
Interior of the Cathedral of San Lorenzo, Trapani

Just a few steps from the tourist office stands the Cathedral of San Lorenzo built over an earlier 14th century church. The huge cathedral has a baroque facade and stuccoed interior which has been modified several times resulting in its 18th century appearance, Preparations for a forthcoming wedding were taking place with a large florist’s van parked outside unloading lavish floral displays to adorn the altar and the end of each pew.

Cathedral of San Lorenzo, Trapani
The beautiful altar in the Cathedral of San Lorenzo, Trapani

Our walk continued along the elegant cobblestone streets lined with tall buildings and ornate wrought iron balconies dating from the latter medieval period with many of its historic buildings designed in Baroque style. After a gentle stroll of around 20 minutes we reached the port which serves as the main departure point in western Sicily.

Trapani, Sicily
Our stroll took us along to the headland in Trapani

The marina juts out into the Tyrrhenian Sea and it was pleasant to take a stroll there before continuing along the waterfront. There seemed little or no activity around the harbour except for a few unoccupied fishing boats and trawlers, their nets strewn along the bank to dry. We noticed some stone steps which led up onto the old city walls and decided to climb up. Although it wasn’t very high, it was surprisingly breezy along the walls and this gave the sea a much duller appearance than the vibrant turquoise water over on the sheltered side of the peninsula.

Trapani, Sicily
The 17th century watchtower on the tip of Trapani

Continuing, we came to the 17th century Torre Di Ligny watchtower which stands at the very tip of Trapani. It now houses a small museum and visitors are able to climb to its lookout point for some far reaching views on a clear day across to the Egadi Islands.

Trapani, Sicily
Fishing boats moored along the quayside in Trapani

The small town boasts two main beaches, the Lido San Giulliano and the private beach of Lido Paradiso which seemed to offer more protection from the stiff breeze. Some people were having picnics and relaxing on the large rocks away from the sandy coves which also seemed a good idea.  All this walking had made us feel quite hungry and we chanced upon a delightful small trattoria with traditional red and white checked tablecloths where we tucked into bowls of freshly prepared pasta served with the local Trapenese pesto which is made using almonds rather than traditional pine nuts. It was a simple dish but tasted delicious accompanied with glasses of local beer.

Lido in Trapani, Sicily
The entrance to the Lido in Trapani

To walk off our late lunch we took a stroll through Villa Marguerita, a very attractive public park which divides the old and new parts of the city. We welcomed the coolness from its large overhanging palm trees and its small pond was a shady oasis where we sat on a bench awhile enjoying the peace and quiet.

Trapani Sicily
The gardens dividing the old and new parts of Trapani

On our way back to the bus stop we paused to admire the town’s magnificent Art Nouveau Post Office alongside some Government buildings sharing the same square. If time would have permitted it would have been interesting to have visited the Salt Pans Museum. Trapani was the home of the ancient trade in salt with the Phoenicians beginning production on the salt fields with the extraction continuing to the present day. It was only recently that I had the pleasure of visiting the Lion Salt Works in Cheshire, UK which was surprisingly a very enjoyable and educational experience.

Trapani Post Office building
The ornate Trapani Post Office building

Gladly, our return coach departed on time and was again not very busy and we were soon fast asleep in our comfortable air conditioned seats, not waking until we approached Palermo after a lovely day out in Trapani.

If you have enjoyed reading this post you may also be interested in the following:

Cefalu, Sicily

Monreale, Sicily

49 thoughts on “Day 12. Trapani, Sicily

  1. Pingback: Day 1. Sicily – Catania – Love Travelling Blog

  2. Pingback: Day 2. Exploring Catania, Sicily – Love Travelling Blog

  3. Pingback: Day 4. Syracuse and Ortigia, Sicily – Love Travelling Blog

  4. Pingback: Day 8. Palermo, Sicily – Love Travelling Blog

  5. Pingback: Day 11. Mondello, Sicily – Love Travelling Blog

  6. Pingback: Day 13. Sferracavallo, Sicily – Love Travelling Blog

  7. Pingback: Day 14. Palermo, Sicily city centre walk – Love Travelling Blog

  8. Pingback: Day 4.  Gianicolo and Trastevere, Rome – Love Travelling Blog

  9. Pingback: Day 1.  Travelling to Malta – Love Travelling Blog

  10. Pingback: Day 3.  A visit to Portimao, The Algarve – Love Travelling Blog

  11. Pingback: Day 3. The Venice Lido – Love Travelling Blog

  12. I am glad to see you enjoyed your trip to Trapani. My mother lives there (actually in lower Erice rather than in the older mountain-top part) and I shall be there again from next weekend. Loads of history and the salt pans provide habitat for lots of bird life that I have written about in my own blog ( Sicily is a great place to visit.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Wonderful post and lovely photos. I have never heard about this town. Street views and Cathedral of San Lorenzo photos are my favorite photos. I am glad that I had possibility to see your photos. Thank you.

    Have a good day!

    Liked by 1 person

  14. I found the pictures quite interesting. The high stone walls protecting the city from storm surges, the marina with an assortment of boats. We have a very pretty marina about 8 minutes drive from where we live inland from the ocean and love to sit watching boats coming and going from the ocean into the river while eating fish and chips. So restful and relaxing. You have taken us on some fine sightseeing trips.

    Liked by 1 person

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Mango Jelly Full Recipe Step by Steps

Mango Jelly made with juicy mangoes, jelly cubes, mini tapioca, and sweetened cream is a delicious treat you’d want all summer long! Creamy, tangy, and refreshing, it’s sure to be a crowd favorite!

I braved my weighing scale today and I have to say, the encounter was far from pretty. Ugh, I really need to take control of my burgeoning waist/weight, but it’s kind of difficult when dreaming up delicious concoctions for the blog is what I do for a living.

Take for instance this mango jelly. See that big, green tub? I ate the whole containerful all by myself!

It was so good with loads of juicy mangoes, jiggly gelatin, mini sago, and sweetened cream, I couldn’t resist. In fairness, though, I didn’t finish the whole batch in one sitting. It took me a day and a half.

What is mango jelly

This mango gulaman is a delicious adaptation of the mango sago recipe we have in the archive. Both desserts are mostly similar in taste but with a few changes in prep.

In the recipe below, we’re taking a Chinese restaurant classic up a notch! Instead of pureeing the mango with evaporated milk and mixing in mini sago, we’re using mango chunks, jelly cubes, condensed milk, and table cream in addition to the sago. The result is just as delicious but definitely more fun to eat.

Helpful tips

  • While you can use just about any type of mango, I highly recommend using Manila Mangoes or a similar cultivar, Ataulfo. They’re juicier and sweeter in taste and have a smooth flesh without a lot of fibers.
  • I use jelly mix which is the powder form of agar-agar and made from seaweeds. You can use gelatin such as Knox or Jello if you like but the texture will be softer and less sturdy.
  • I prefer clear and unflavored jelly mix to have in contrast with the yellow mangoes. If you want to add color and depth of flavor, swap with mango-flavored gelatin or replace part of the water in cooking the gelatin with mango juice.
  • I used half a package or 48 grams of jelly powder which yield about 4 cups of cubes. As each brand may require a different amount of liquid, please follow the package’s directions.

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My Friend Anna

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2017 to 2018 was the year of the grifter. Billy McFarland. Yvonne Bannigan. Anna Sorokin. The latter’s narrative may have been the most outrageous and unbelievable. It certainly seemed to keep Twitter enrapt throughout the summer of 2018. I was one of the spectators who incredulously absorbed coverage of the con artist, from both the perspectives of Rachel DeLoache Williams and Neff Davis. I devoured both and when the former’s book was released, I immediately digested it too.

It is impossible not to become invested in Williams’ experience. Though she does mention growing up with trappings of privilege – summer vacations at Kiawah Island, studying abroad in Paris, a connection to Graydon Carter via a university contact – it was impossible not to be on her side as she detailed her scrappy climb up the career ladder. Growing up with the cards stacked in your favor only goes so far, and it was impressed upon me that it was her ambition that pushed her. Having spent the majority of my time in a southern town only to later relocate to a city, I related to her; I particularly identified with her post-interview routine of a hand written thank you to both the hiring authority as well as human resources.

The book opens with what likely the most uncomfortable hours in Williams’ life; her phone call with an American Express rep with a southern accent communicated to the reader how dire – and dangerous – the situation in which she found herself was. Her book discusses what led her to that point.

As a reader, it is impossible not to reflect on at what point one would personally draw the line should one find herself in the author’s shoes. I grew up in what I believed to be a lower middle class family and as such dutifully managed my budget and lifestyle. If you live small and within your means, you will always feel rich. Still, I wondered if Anna was so skilled in the art of manipulation that it would be impossible to avoid being pulled into her orbit once identified as a mark?

My Friend Anna: The True Story of a Fake Heiress by Rachel DeLoache Williams

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India is a country of festivals. Diwali is one of the biggest festivals that is celebrated in India. Diwali symbolizes the victory of good over evil. People clean their houses and get them painted a few days prior to Diwali. Houses, shops, and all other buildings are decorated with colorful lights and earthen lamps Diyas at night. Some people make rangoli in their homes and decorate their houses with light and flowers.
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Luggage Storage St. Mark’s Basilica

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St. Mark’s Basilica

St. Mark’s Basilica or Basilica Cattedrale Patriarcale di San Marco is a Roman Catholic Church in Venice. It’s located at the eastern end of Piazza San Marco, next to the Doge’s palace.

The building structure dates back to the 11th century which was done in Byzantine style, with a central plant in the shape of a Greek cross. It took centuries to complete the gold mosaics which cover almost all of the interiors of the church.

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Today, St. Mark’s Basilica is the centre of religious life in Venice and welcomes thousands of visitors daily. It’s one of the most beautiful cathedrals in Europe and leaves visitors astounded by its fusion of gothic and oriental styles in art and architecture. Historically rich and visually splendid, the church is one structure you don’t want to skip seeing when visiting Venice.

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Alternative Things to Do in Los Angeles

You have gone to Los Angeles’ most popular attractions: Disneyland, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and beaches such as Venice Beach and Long Beach. You may have “shopped til you dropped” at the luxury stores along Rodeo Drive, screamed at the top of your lungs on one of those rides at Universal Studios, or peered into the telescopes to look for heavenly bodies at the Griffith Observatory.

But Los Angeles offers endless opportunities to explore and enjoy, including activities that seem to be not too mainstream, or otherwise “off-the-beaten-path” and un-”touristy.” They border on the weird and even somewhat on the morbid. These will certainly add to your bucket list when you plan to go on a holiday in the Los Angeles county and its most famous city of the same name. Sometimes when traveling, the greatest delights and rewards come from the unexpected.

To know more about the other side of Los Angeles that many people may not know, read this interesting article “Interesting Facts about Los Angeles.”

1) Visit the Evergreen Cemetery
Cemeteries may not be everyone’s idea of a tourist spot. However, many of the most popular cemeteries are quite scenic. Most of all though, these cemeteries’ tourist-drawing power comes from the fact that many of the notable historical figures are buried there. And Los Angeles’ Evergreen Cemetery seems to have these qualities.

Evergreen Cemetery is located in the neighborhood of Boyle Heights in downtown Los Angeles. Founded in 1877, it is the city’s oldest cemetery. A visit to this cemetery will matter more to you if you are an ardent devotee of some of the famous people buried here. Some of the well-known politicians (notably the city’s past mayors), war veterans, actors, musicians, sports figures, religious leaders and early American pioneers are interred at the Evergreen Cemetery. Among the most notable names include Bobby Nunn, Johnny St. Cyr and Van Nuys.

2) Explore Descanso Gardens
When you think that the popular Huntington Library gardens are too crowded (and too mainstream to your taste), Descanso Gardens would be an ideal alternative. This 150-acre botanical garden is located in the city of La Canada Flintridge in Los Angeles county. It is open all-year round and features several areas to explore such as the oak forests, the Lilac Garden, a Japanese garden, and probably the most popular the Rose Garden.

But the great thing about Descano Gardens is that it is less touristy, less crowded and much quieter, but just as gorgeous as the other botanical gardens in L.A. So enjoy the beauty and wonder of Mother Nature in relative peace and tranquility.

3) Discover the city’s “storybook architecture”
Los Angeles has an established reputation as the “city of dreams.” That’s why it’s not too odd that a style of architecture called “storybook” flourished in L.A. during the 1920s-1930s, but rarely became popular elsewhere in the United States.

As the name implies, this type of architecture is characterized by a sense of whimsy and playfulness. Mismatched doors and windows, deliberately-made uneven roofs and cobblestone-lined pavements are some of the most notable elements of the storybook architecture – just like the illustrations of houses that you find on storybooks. Some fine examples are the Hobbit House in Culver City, the Witches’ House and Harry Oliver’s Spadena House (both in Beverly Hills) and the Charlie Chaplin Cottages as well as the Snow White Cottages, (both located in Los Angeles city). If you want to live out your fairy tale dreams and fantasies, visit to any of these storybook houses.

4) Indulge your sweet cravings at Sweet!
If you are someone who has a sweet tooth, then Sweet! will be your ultimate candy paradise! Located along Hollywood Boulevard, Sweet! is not your ordinary candy store. Highlights include a chocolate lab where you can concoct your own sweet creations, and the Wonka Inventing Room which documents Willy Wonka’s bittersweet epic travels that inspired his famous chocolates. Visitors will be in for a delight by taking personal tasting tours, playing candy-themed games and of course shopping for lots of great variety of candies.

Sweet! is the biggest and the most extravagant candy store in the city, so if you want to satisfy your sweet tooth to the highest level possible, it’s certain that you wouldn’t want to miss this place.

5) Pig out at 626 Night Market
Los Angeles is not just a melting pot of cultures, but also a melting pot of different cuisines. The 626 Night Market festival, held only every summer, is the perfect event to gorge on a crazy array of food (predominantly Asian food) that you can ever think of. There are mouthwatering barbecues, yummy tacos, delectable seafood, the popular crazy milkshakes, and many more. It’s a paradise for every foodie and gourmand alike.

6) Take a trip to The Last Bookstore
If you are a passionate bookworm in particular, you will be having a field day at The Last Bookstore, located at 453 S. Spring Street in downtown L.A. It is like the “inner sanctum” — the most sacred place — for every book lover. Founded in 2005, the store later moved to its current location — which is, interestingly, an old bank. This place still retains the features of its former business such as old marble pillars, mile-high ceilings and a large vault. It offers both newer and vintage titles. Measuring at 22,000 square feet, The Last Bookstore is the biggest bookstore not just in Los Angeles, but in the entire state of California.

7) Explore endangered species of butterflies at the El Segundo Butterfly Reserve
The location and existence of this wildlife sanctuary are both bemusing and intriguing. It is located close to the Los Angeles International Airport, and was built on the remains of a ghost town. This ghost town, named Surfridge, used to be an isolated community where the rich and the famous once lived, including Hollywood elites such as Cecile B. De Mille.

Today, this four-mile area is entirely fenced off from the public as it serves to protect an endangered species of butterfly, the El Segundo blue (Euphilotes battoides allyni) which is endemic in the area. This is perfect if you’re into studying butterflies as a hobby or as a profession.

8) Explore and admire the “lost” canals at the Venice of America Canals
So what if you cannot go to the real Venice when you can go to “The Other Venice” — the Venice Canal Historic District, also known as Venice of American Canals.

The Venice of American Canals is truly one of California’s unique hidden gems. It is a neighborhood area spaced apart by canals, including four of them, each of which measures about a quarter mile long.

It was developed in 1905 by tobacco millionaire Abbot Kinney, who had had grandiose visions of recreating the romantic Italian city of Venice out of a marshland which he had purchased.

For a while, the man-made canals attracted lots of publicity, with its paved shores lined with beautiful flower beds, and the gondolas serenely sailing under beautifully lit bridges. But unfortunately, it was not meant to last. As automobiles gained popularity, many eventually came to view these canals as outdated. As a result, in 1928 the bulk of these canals were filled to pave for roads. The remaining six canals fell into disrepair and were left to ruin.

But finally, after four decades of stagnancy due to politics, environmental concerns and endless disputes as to who would bear financial responsibility, these canals were renovated and re-opened during the 1990s. Since then, the Venice of American Canals have become an attractive and desirable haven once again for both residents and tourists. Much of the original residential buildings have been restored while newer houses have been built. Don’t forget to up your Instagram game by going to this beautiful and romantic enclave!

9) Go to a Zen paradise at The Japanese Garden — in a place you would not guess!
If you want a piece of the Zen paradise, peace and serenity, you don’t have to go to the Far East to experience it. You will be surprised to find one in an unlikely location — in this case, a water reclamation plant.

Simply called “The Japanese Garden,” this lush and serene Oriental oasis covers 6.5 acres of area on the grounds of Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in central San Fernando Valley. Its Japanese moniker, suiho-en, means “garden of water and fragrance” — but the fact is that the garden sometimes reeks of bad odor.

But that’s understandable, since this is indeed located at a water reclamation plant. You will forget it momentarily once you see and admire the carefully manicured symbolic trees and plants, winding pathways, storybook bridges and abundant wildlife. There is also a tea house, and in the midst of the classic Japanese garden you will see an otherwise modern and futuristic Administrative Building of the plant, where some of the Hollywood movie scenes have been filmed.

10) Eat out (and possibly stargaze) at Musso and Frank Grill
At Musso and Frank Grill, you get to fill yourself not only with its delicious steaks and pasta dishes, but also with its interesting and illustrious history. You will also get the chance to rub elbows with its celebrity customers!

Still in operation since it first opened in 1919, Musso and Frank Grill is one of the oldest, most enduring and most iconic restaurants in L.A.

Not surprisingly, its connection to Hollywood is almost indelible. It has been a favorite haunt for several A-listers such as Humphrey Bogart and his wife Lauren Bacall, Greta Garbo, Elizabeth Taylor, Jimmy Stewart, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, The Rolling Stones, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Johnny Depp, Ashton Kutcher and wife Mila Kunis, and so on and so forth. Whew! It has also made appearances in several movies such as Ed Wood and Oceans Eleven. Who knows, you can bump into some of the restaurant’s famous customers and find yourself get starstruck by their presence!

But if the restaurant’s star-studded status and celebrity clientele do not excite you a bit, here’s another fact about Musso and Frank Grill that will awaken the “foodie” in you: it is the birthplace of the Fettuccine Alfredo. You would not definitely want to miss to taste this popular dish’s original recipe!


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Luminar 4: An AI Editing Powerhouse

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Luminar 4 DEALS

Luminar 4 by Skylum is an excellent photo editing program. While previous versions of the program have received criticism, it appears that Skylum has addressed the issues in Luminar 4. From the outset, it appears to be a comprehensive editing and photo management program.

It is clear that AI technology is one of the main features of Luminar 4. It boasts a wide array of AI tools that are meant to speed up the editing process whilst still delivering high-quality results.

In this review, we look at the different features Luminar 4 has to offer. We also compare it to the top photo editing programs like Lightroom 2020 and ON1 Photo RAW 2020.

Main Features

First, let’s look at the basic features and what you can actually do with Luminar 4. This is a program that offers full RAW editing, and basic file management.

Compared to previous versions, the file management system is improved. It has a full library view mode which shows photos in different folders in a brilliant tiled thumbnail effect. Luminar 4 also has the following features:

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  • Various AI tools
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In terms of basic features and utility, it is right up there with the best photo editing software. You can edit photos in fine detail as well as create artistic edits using the preset filters. If you work with large volumes of photos, you can manage them effectively.

Luminar 4 Image-3

Compared to some other editing programs like ON1 Photo RAW 2020, Luminar 4 has excellent performance. When using this program, it runs smoothly and there is no noticeable delay. All aspects of the software appear to work quickly, including the various AI tools. The following are the system requirements for this program:

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  • Graphics: Open GL 3.3. or later
  • Processor: Intel Core i5
  • Memory: 8GB of RAM
  • HDD: 10GB of free space

These requirements are not too strict. The RAM requirements may be a little higher than what you can find in most basic computers. However, 8GB is certainly not powerful. Most computers for editing or design work will have 24GB+ of RAM.

Regardless, it is not a particularly power-hungry program. When compared to ON1 Photo RAW 2020 which is known for its performance issues, Luminar 4 works like a dream.

Even when managing large RAW files, the editing process is still smooth. Furthermore, the library view works seamlessly. If you have a large folder full of images, the preview thumbnails will still load quickly.

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Luminar 4 is a highly usable program. This is largely due to the fantastic array of AI tools. These AI tools include:

  • Details enhancer
  • Remove noise
  • Landscape enhancer
  • Smart contrast
  • AI enhance
  • AI structure
  • AI sky replacement

These tools effectively offer one-click functionality. Instead of using multiple sliders as you would need to in Lightroom, you can simply use these single AI-enhanced tools. It makes the editing process extremely simple.

Our favorite is the AI enhance tool. This brilliant tool analyzes your images and chooses the best editing parameters. Simply drag the slider and an overall enhancement is applied. Using this tool, you can quickly transform RAW images into finished photos that really pop.

Another cool tool is the AI sky replacement. Using this tool, you can replace the sky in your photos with a completely different look. Luminar 4 automatically creates a mask and “cuts-out” the sky. You can then choose from a range of different sky presets or important your own sky files.

But it doesn’t stop there. The AI tool also alters the temperate and lighting of the photo to match the sky. This gives amazing creativity and allows you to transform images like never before.

For utility and usability, Luminar 4 is one of the best options available. It offers a seamless editing experience that puts efficiency first.

Luminar 4 Image-2

Luminar 4 vs. Lightroom 2020

When comparing photo editing software, we mainly use Lightroom 2020 as the benchmark. It is the industry standard and known for its excellent quality. So how does Luminar shape up to this editing behemoth? We have created a simple comparison table below:

Luminar 4Lightroom 2020
Photo ManagementYesYes
Full RAW EditingYesYes
Support for CamerasYesYes
Social Media SharingYesYes
Cloud ConnectivityNoNo

From this table, there is not much difference. However, we must look at individual features and usability to gain a true picture.

Concerning basic editing, there is virtually no difference. Both Lightroom 2020, and Luminar 4 have an extensive range of editing tools. You can change parameters like contrast, temperature, and exposure easily.

But what about file management? Again, both programs have extensive file management options. We would give Lightroom 2020 the advantage in this area, however. It feels like Luminar 4 is still finding its way in terms of file management. It does not quite offer the flexibility and depth that Lightroom does.

Ease of use is also important. Lightroom is as difficult or easy as you want to make it. We do not feel this is a program suitable for beginners. For basic, no-fuss editing, Lightroom CC could be a better choice. Luminar 4, on the other hand, makes editing simple. This is enabled via the myriad of excellent AI one-click tools.

Finally, both programs perform well. When using either program we have experienced no noticeable performance issues which is a huge plus. To conclude, we would suggest Luminar 4 for beginners and Lightroom 2020 for professionals or those who want more control and depth.

Luminar 4 Takes AI Technology to the Next Level

We still feel that Lightroom 2020 is the best photo editing program available, though Luminar 4 is a top contender too. Whilst it may not provide the control and advanced tools that Lightroom does, it still allows you to create fantastic photo edits.

In addition to this, we love the AI tools. If you want to make quick edits with minimal effort, Luminar 4 is the best choice available. The AI tools like AI contrast and AI sky enhance make the editing process so simple. You can transform whole folders of images with minimal time and effort.

The Review

Luminar 4

Luminar 4 is an excellent post-processing program. It excels at making fast edits using the various AI-enhanced tools such as AI Sky Enhance.

  • Fantastic AI editing tools
  • Comprehensive RAW editing
  • Fast performance

  • Lacks advanced utility
  • Quality can be hit or miss

Luminar 4 DEALS

Review Breakdown

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Comment by Guanyin on New Improved Lottery · 2017-12-17T18:58:55.770Z · LW · GW

Or you could just fantasize about finding a billion dollars on the ground. After all, it could happen, so there's an epsilon chance of it happening without doing anything.

Comment by Guanyin on Offense versus harm minimization · 2015-10-24T08:51:57.907Z · LW · GW

You could just say, "Okay, I won't draw Muhammed anymore. It was my mistake, but you didn't need to be so outraged; you only needed to ask and I would have agreed." In other words, you're politely rejecting that you're a bad person because you violated the norm (that wasn't really a norm), but still avoiding a fight.


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Category:Archived extensions/pt-br

This page is a translated version of the page Category:Archived extensions and the translation is 0% complete.

Category containing extensions that have been archived. Most of the time, these extensions have been unmaintained for extended periods of time or the source code is no longer available.

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Japan Continues Rescue Efforts After Massive Landslide

Japan Continues Rescue Efforts After Massive Landslide
At least three people are dead, and local media reports 80 people are still unaccounted for.

Rescue workers dug through sludge and debris Monday looking for dozens of people who may be trapped after a a torrent of mud, trees and rocks ripped with a roar through a Japanese seaside resort town, killing at least four people.

Eighty people were still unaccounted for two days after the landslide, according to Shizuoka prefectural disaster management official Takamichi Sugiyama. Officials planned to release their names, hoping that perhaps some were away when the disaster struck, since many of the apartments and houses in Atami are second homes or vacation rentals.

Initially, 147 people were unreachable, but that number was revised downward after officials confirmed some had safely evacuated or were simply not at home. In addition to the four people found dead, officials said 25 people have been rescued, including three who were injured.

The disaster is an added trial as authorities prepare for the Tokyo Olympics, due to start in less than three weeks, while Japan is still in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, with cases steadily climbing in in the capital and experts suggesting a need for another state of emergency.

Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide told reporters that rescue workers are doing their utmost “to rescue those who may be buried under the mud and waiting for help as soon as possible." Three coast guard ships, and six military drones were backing up hundreds of troops, firefighters and others toiling in the rain and fog.

The landslide occurred Saturday mid-morning after days of heavy rain in Atami, which like many seaside Japanese towns is built into a steep hillside. It tore through the Izusan neighborhood, known for its hot springs, a shrine and shopping streets. The town has a registered population of 36,800 and is about 60 miles southwest of Tokyo.

Shizuoka Gov. Heita Kawakatsu, who inspected the area Monday where the mudslide was believed to have started, said rain soaked into the mountainside apparently weakening the ground under a massive pile of soil at a construction site that then slid down the slope.

The prefecture is investigating. Media reports said a planned housing development in the area was abandoned after its operator ran into financial problems.

Witnesses described a giant roar as a small stream turned into a torrent, and bystanders were heard gasping in horror on cellphone videos taken as it happened.

Naoto Date, an actor who was visiting Izusan, was awakened by sirens. His neighborhood is now awash in muddy water with rescuers wading through knee-deep sludge. Just blocks from his home, some houses have been completely washed away, with only their foundations still visible. Mangled traffic signs stick out from the mud. At the seafront, he saw cars floating along with debris from destroyed homes.

“I grew up here, and my classmates and friends live here. I’m so sad to see my neighborhood where I used to play with my friends is now destroyed,” Date told The Associated Press by videocall from his home in Atami.

While Date's mother, who was staying next door, has moved to a hotel along with other evacuees, the actor said he was staying away from evacuation centers because he is concerned about the coronavirus.

The Izusan area is one of 660,000 locations in Japan identified as prone to mudslides by the government, but those designations are not widely publicized and public awareness is low. Early July, near the end of Japan's rainy season, is often a time of deadly flooding and mudslides, and many experts say the rains are worsening due to climate change.

With other parts of the country expecting heavy downpours, authorities were urging people near hillsides in areas at risk to use caution. Public broadcaster NHK carried a program Monday about risk factors and warning signs that might precede a landslide.

A year ago, flooding and mudslides triggered by heavy rain in Kumamoto and four other prefectures in the Kyushu region in southern Japan left nearly 80 people dead. In July 2018, hillsides in crowded residential areas in Hiroshima collapsed, leaving 20 dead. In 2017, mudslides and flooding in the Kyushu region killed 40.

Miyoko Okamoto, an employee at a care home for the elderly, said the mudslide came close to but narrowly missed her house. She and her son ran out of the house, while her husband, a community association leader, escorted neighbors to safer ground.

Okamoto said she hasn't been back home since fleeing because she is helping residents at the care home. “We were lucky to have survived, and that's most important," she said.

But her neighbor is still looking for his wife. “They are good friends of ours," she said, "and that pains my heart.”

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.


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Movies | Music | Music

Ravi Teja to introduce One More New Talent

Mass Maharaja Ravi Teja is first in row to introduce new talent. Great and talented directors like Boyapati Srinu, Harish Shankar, Bobby, Srinu Vytla and Gopichand Malineni begined their career with Ravi Teja and reached heights in their careers. Everyone think that Ravi Teja got lucky hand. Now this lucky hand actor is introducing one more new talent to the Industry.

Ravi Teja is introducing new Talent Chakri to the industry. Chakri earlier worked for Balupu and Power starring Ravi Teja in the lead.

This Bengal Tiger actor got excited after hearing to Chakri's story and immediately given his nod to work under his direction. Other details will be revealed soon.

Ravi Teja's upcoming film Bengal Tiger has completed censor formalities and hitting the screens on 10th November.


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ESV Men’s Devotional Bible

ESVLast week I received a free copy of the ESV Men’s Devotional Bible. I was surprised as I couldn’t remember ordering it. The accompanying letter asked if I would be willing to review it. Normally I would read a book from cover to cover before writing a review. I can honestly say I’ve only read a small portion of this volume over the past week. But I have read other versions of the same book. Some years I’ve read it through more than once. I’ve read this ESV translation and I’ve also read other translations, such as the NIV and the HCSB.

So, on the basis of my previous readings, let me say this is a must read. It’s living and active. I believe it’s the word of God himself through multiple human authors over multiple centuries in multiple real life contexts. It’s an awesome collection of works, of different genres, revealing a coherent narrative. It’s helpful and practical. It’s graceful and glorious. It’s simple and sometimes complicated. It shines a spotlight on the Almighty God and climaxes in the revelation of his Son. It holds a mirror to my heart. It gives me hope beyond my circumstances. It speaks into every context of my life. It liberates me from religious law keeping. It guides my decision making. It offers me deep wisdom. It inspires me from grace to grace.

I must confess this book sometimes spends too much time on my shelf. It gets reduced to a means for ministry rather than being a gateway to intimacy with God. I turn reading into a chore rather than a delight. I rush my way through this volume rather than pausing to meditate on the beauty it reveals. And so I miss out.

I’m grateful to be asked to review this Bible because it gives me cause to open this book of books and look again on the glory God.

But, I have a feeling that the publisher may desire something a little different from a review! Perhaps a comment on this particular publication. And not just the text of the Bible, but the other bits they’ve added. So here goes.

This Bible’s appearance is plain and yet formal and sophisticated, even professional. It’s black with page numbers and headings printed in gold text. This looks impressive, but I find the headings hard to read in certain light.

This is a devotional bible, especially for men. I like the idea because men need to read the Bible—and yet often don’t—and Bible reading should lead to devotion to God. Various authors have contributed brief articles to assist us to reflect on the meaning and application of Bible as we read. I know a few of the authors and I’m encouraged that they have a deep respect for the Bible. They are keen to let it speak for itself. There are 365 of these scattered throughout, so this might give you an idea about how to pace yourself in your reading. The articles I’ve read have all highlighted important truths in the text, and not simply used the Bible passage to launch into another issue. Some have been more applicational and devotion-inspiring than others.

In addition to the daily devotional comments, there are some slightly longer articles of particular relevance to men. These include such topics as  work, singleness, identity, fathering, pornography, life in the local church, doubt, and more. While none of these matters are uniquely relevant to fellas, they cover topics that I often hear men asking about.

Each book of the Bible is preceded by a brief introduction to orient us as we start our reading. While many of the comments can be discovered through the process of reading, it doesn’t hurt to see a map or some key landmarks before we embark on our journey.

Sometimes I worry about extra stuff that gets printed in Bibles. The mere fact that additional text has been bound together with the Word of God can confuse the novice reader. Which bits have authority and which sections should I be evaluating for their accuracy and relevance? There is a good argument for printing a companion volume to the Bible—perhaps one you could slip inside the cover or packaging of the Bible. At least this way, it will be clearer what is human and what is divine. They could have matching covers and cross-references to help you turn to comments on the text you are reading. But I haven’t been asked to design my own devotional Bible!

A related danger of printing articles on topics as ‘part of’ the Bible is that they can too easily be regarded as the last word on the matter. What do you do if you find yourself disagreeing with part of this volume of the Bible, even if it’s not really part of the Bible? The discerning reader can make these assessments, but the novice needs to be guided to make the appropriate distinctions.

If you are a bloke who desires to read the Bible to get to know God more closely then this publication might help you to get on with it. You don’t need a ‘devotional’ Bible to do this, but having the wisdom of some Christian brothers guiding you along the way might help you—especially in some of the more difficult sections. To be honest, I don’t mind if you read this particular ‘model’ of the Bible or not. I’d just love you to discover the delight of reading God’s life-giving, life-shaping Word—whatever the packaging.

2 thoughts on “ESV Men’s Devotional Bible”

  1. A similar issue comes up with children’s Bibles – both with collections of heavily edited Bible stories being called the Bible and where commentary and devotions are added in amongst the text . Have had a few discussions with my six year old trying to unravel for her what is the Bible and what is not.

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Artificial Intelligence

A Little Envy Can be a Good Thing (in Humans and Machines)

When most of us scroll through social media and inevitably compare ourselves to those around us we feel crappier, like we’re missing out or falling behind in our personal lives or work.  Not coincidentally, there’s also a growing understanding of well-being and happiness as subjective and adaptive: your happiness largely depends on your expectations. Your expectations adapt, however, and not only to your conditions, but to the conditions of those around you.

You probably thought your drawing in 5th grade was just fine until you saw Linda’s. And that’s also why as people get wealthier they aren’t necessarily happier – the comparisons and expectations keep changing – first you want the house, then the yacht, the island, a political office, then maybe a planet (close by). It’s easy to imagine then that for all of us being exposed to so many people’s lives exposes us to all sorts of conditions that appear in some way better than our own, setting our own expectations higher, and increasing the likelihood for unhappiness.

Social Comparison

There’s a lot understood about what actually matters for being happy, both with your life and in your life – social connections, time meaningfully spent, being healthy, appreciating what you have – and I completely agree with all of it. But I want to focus on the role of jealously and envy, which is often derided.

While social media has undoubtedly exacerbated social comparison and envy, their existence has been around for a long time:

“Whoever sang or danced best, whoever was the handsomest, the strongest, the most dexterous, or the most eloquent, came to be of most consideration; and this was the first step towards inequality…From these first distinctions arose … envy: and the fermentation caused by these new leavens ended by producing combinations fatal to innocence and happiness.” Rousseau, On the Origin of the Inequality of Mankind

The natural response can be like the Stoics, to limit the exposure and stop comparing yourself to others:

“How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself.” – Marcus Aurelius

But while removing yourself from the barrage of updates and comparisons is essential to focus on improving yourself, that’s likely not enough. One of the methods for well-being is to identify something you want to improve, focus on it relentlessly, and compare yourself to your previous self. Not to other people who have what you want. Even imperceptibly small daily steps compound over time to make a big difference.

But while that gives you a way how to improve, it’s less clear what you should focus on.

Read More »A Little Envy Can be a Good Thing (in Humans and Machines)

Quantity Can Have a Quality of its Own for Language Models

The recent advances in language modeling with GPT-3 got me thinking: at what point does a quantitative change in a machines language generation ability cross a boundary into a qualitative change in our assessment of its intelligence or creativity?

When a sand heap met Eubulides

How many grains of sand can you take from a sand heap until it’s not a heap? Or more personally, how many hairs on your head can you afford to lose before you’re bald, or pounds before you’re thin? Maybe it’s fun to annoy someone by asking one of these Sorites Paradoxes, attributed to the Greek philosopher Eubulides, precisely because they arise when language is imprecise. They expose that words we commonly use without hesitation, like heap, bald, thin, or even intelligent and creative, where we think we know exactly what we mean, actually have boundaries that can be quite vague when you really start to dig into them.

You can think about what’s going on here as a quantitative change: in grains of sand, hair, or weight, leading to a qualitative change that ascribes a property to something, like being a heap, bald, or thin.

Hegel developed an explicit relation between quality and quantity in Science of Logic:

[W]e have seen that the alterations of being in general are not only the transition of one magnitude into another, but a transition from quality into quantity and vice versa, a becoming-other which is an interruption of gradualness and the production of something qualitatively different from the reality which preceded it – Hegel

The idea was then taken further by Marx and Engels into the law of passage of quantitative changes into qualitative changes, and finally arrived in the most familiar and widely misattributed form you’ve likely heard:

Quantity has a quality of its own -Various

While it’s not what any of them had in mind, at what point does a quantitative change in a machines language generation ability cross a boundary into a qualitative change in our assessment of its intelligence or creativity?

Read More »Quantity Can Have a Quality of its Own for Language Models

Demystifying Machine Learning with Your Dog

When someone learns what I do I often find myself explaining why despite what they may have heard, AI is not becoming conscious and taking over the world. I usually try demystifying machine learning by making an analogy to something familiar that would never be considered capable of that kind of domination. So when a fellow dog owner and I had this conversation recently at the dog park, I used our dogs as the example, and although it’s an imperfect analogy, it seems to do the trick.

How a dog learns

If you want your dog to do something on command, you start by getting her to do it, and then saying something or showing her something at the same time and giving her a treat. After seeing this over and over, your dog starts picking up a pattern, and forming an association between the auditory signal (e.g. vocal command) or visual signal (e.g. hand gesture) and the desired action.

So if you’re successful, when you say sit, she realizes it’s not just random noise, but that there’s a significant correlation of getting a reward if she takes your word as input, and outputs her butt on the ground.

Ask any dog owner however, and they’ll tell you it’s not over yet. She may have mastered sitting in your living room when you say the word just so, but has no idea what to do with when you try the same thing in the kitchen, or on the field outside, or when someone else says it.

She memorized a behavior under one very specific set of circumstances, but hasn’t learned she needs to apply it in others that aren’t exactly the same. To her sitting in the living room isn’t the same as in the field, and she only knows to do it in places where it’s been taught. The input to her isn’t just the word, but the conditions under which it was said too. That’s why you need to repeat the same training under different conditions – places, times of day, emotional states, people, and ways of saying it. The more inputs (conditions under which you ask her to sit) you give her, the better she will learn to sit when the input isn’t exactly the same as what you’ve taught her before. She learns to generalize.

Read More »Demystifying Machine Learning with Your Dog

Introduction to Machine Opinings: Machine Learning and Philosophy

For as long as I can remember I’ve been interested in how we (as humans) know things. But more than that, I wanted to create things that know things, to build something that could learn, understand and interact naturally with us. Of course at first I didn’t know that what I was interested in was philosophy, specifically a branch called epistemology, and that creating intelligent machines was the aim of artificial intelligence (AI).

I remember as an undergraduate a philosophy professor said something that stuck with me – great philosophers aren’t those that have the answers, but those that ask important questions. Philosophy aims to understand the world around us, why we do what we do, how we know what we know; it’s not about having the right answer as much as to keep asking questions.

Historically most sciences start off as part of philosophy, and then once they become better understood split off into distinct subjects. The hard, scientific part, where hypotheses are conjectured and empirically evaluated, usually becomes associated with the science, and the squishier aspects remain in philosophy.

Computer Science and its AI subfield are no different. At first computer scientists like Turing and Von Neumann engaged both philosophical and technical aspects of AI. But today with the increasingly successful practical applications of machine learning, most AI practitioners, more accurately machine learning practitioners, focus on how to apply it to solve specific problems. This has led to considerable advancements in our scientific understanding, but without much consideration in the machine learning community for the societal understanding of the implications, or their relation to the vast heritage of philosophical ideas.

Read More »Introduction to Machine Opinings: Machine Learning and Philosophy

An Experimental Development Process for Making an Impact with Machine Learning

Originally published on Towards Data Science.

It’s really hard to build product features and internal operations tools that use machine learning to provide a tangible user value. Not just because it’s hard to work with data (it is), or because there are many frivolous uses of AI that are neat but aren’t that useful (there are), but because it’s almost never the case that you’ll have a clearly defined and circumscribed problem handed to you, and there are many unknowns outside of the purely technical aspects that could derail your project at any point. I’ve seen a lot of great articles written on the technology side providing code and advice on how to work with data and build a machine learning model, and the people side of how to hire engineers and scientists, but that’s only one part. The other part is how to steer the technology and people through the hurdles of getting this kind of work to have an impact.

Fortunately, I’ve failed to deploy AI many times and for many reasons to provide business and user value, and watched friends and colleagues from startups to Fortune 500 data science and research groups struggle with the same. Almost invariably the technology could have been valuable, and the people were competent, but what made the difference was how people were working together and what technology they were working on. In other words, I trust you can hire good technically-able people that can apply their tools well, but unless it’s the right people building the right things at the right time for the right business problem, it’s not going to matter. (Yeah, no duh, right, but it’s harder to do that than you may think).

In this post I’ve tried to consolidate learnings, reference existing articles I’ve found useful (apologies to the references I’m sure to have missed), and add some color to why building experimental products is hard, how it’s different from other engineering, what your process could look like, and where you’re likely to encounter failure points.

Read More »An Experimental Development Process for Making an Impact with Machine Learning


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How can I be exposed to fluoride?
Individuals can be exposed to fluoride through a wide variety of foods, drinks, and dental care products. Some foods, such as tea and seafood, have high levels of fluoride. Bottled water or beverages can contain fluoride from public water. Mineral water may also have high levels. In the case of natural waters, the variation in the fluoride content from region to region is dependent upon such factors as the source of water, type of geological formation and the amount of rainfall. (Dry regions tend to have higher fluoride.) Surface waters generally have low fluoride while ground waters typically contain more. Certain dental care products have fluoride added, and your dentist can advise you on which formulation may be beneficial to you or your child.

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1. What are the beneficial effects of fluoride?
2. What are the adverse effects of fluoride?
3. How can I be exposed to fluoride?
4. What amount of fluoride is optimal?
5. What should I do if my well water contains too much fluoride?