Some Random Posts From My Bubblews Profile

 

The following are some posts I've had on my Bubblews profile (under LMW 197).  The orange-flower picture is one of two images that I've associated with material on that profile, so I thought it would help posts from there to be better identified here.

 

Eliminate Or At Least Reduce Break-Outs

While severe acne is a condition that goes beyond "big sisterly advice", if you have only mild acne and/or only occasional break-outs you may be able to reduce or eliminate them by being more careful about not irritating your complexion. Many people believe that scratchy face-cloths and/or towels will help scrub the face that much cleaner. Some, too, believe that if one cleansing is good then another cleansing or two is even better. Doing either of these things can irritate the skin and invite break-outs. In fact, even if you're someone who almost never gets a break-out the chance are good that if you do either or both of these things (especially if you use soap) you will discover that you're invited a break-out you otherwise would never have had. When it comes to break-outs and cleansing, less certainly isn't more (so by all means, cleanse your complexion well); but too much, too often, too scratchy and/or too over-zealously can mean inviting one of the very things you're aiming to prevent. 

 

Some Books I Would Really Love To Write

 October 10, 2013        All the books I'd like to write one day:

I'd like to write a book about how nice people aren't nice because they're too stupid not to be nice. Too many people equate "nice" with "stupid".

After I complete that one, I'd like to write a companion book about how nice people are sometimes the most emotionally strong people out there. Too many people think that being kind or nice also always has to mean being a push-over. There's a difference between "aggressive" and "assertive", and there really is such a thing as an assertive nice person. They're just not loud and - well - aggressive about it, because they're nice.

I'd like my third book to be about how being loud and aggressive doesn't equal "being strong". Too many people think that the explanation for loud and/or aggressive behavior is that someone is strong. That's not "strong". That's either lack of self-control, aggressiveness, rudeness or a personality problem. Sorry, but it is. My book will straighten out the world on that - I hope.

After that I'm going to write a book about how short people are not children. Too many (apparently simple-minded in at least some ways) people seem not to be able to grasp that there is such a thing as short adults. In fact, once when I was researching an article about the average height of women around the world, I learned that the average height of women worldwide is between (if I recall correctly) 5' and 5' 3". Some countries, more than others, are known for small women, of course. Unless it's changed more recently, the average height for women in the U.S. has been 5'4". I didn't look a whole lot into it, but I'd assume that the mixed ethnicity of the U.S. may play some role, as compared to, say, Japan (known for small women). There are a few countries known for taller than "worldwide-average-height" women, but that's not the majority of countries. With, in general, a world so full of women who would be considered "short people", there needs to be a book about how short people are not children.

The book after that will address the matter of how some people seem to, on the one hand, believe that some women are children and in need of "guidance" (not to mention that whatever they say is never anything worth believing or listening to); while, on the other hand, those same people seem to expect women to magically solve their problems, figure out a way to miraculously make them happy, and be there so they can be leaned whenever someone is depressed. This book will investigate the peculiar phenomenon of how some people see women as children when that suits their ego and as mothers when that suits their emotional inadequacies and needs.

Finally, if I figure out a way to write all those books I think I may write one final book about how all these decades after The Women's Movement came into full swing so many nice-but-plenty-smart-and-assertive, strong, short-statured women are still seen, and treated, as stupid, passive, weak, children and/or as generally inferior adults.

Yes. Those are the books I'd sure like to write because those are the women who remain invisible all these years after The Women's Movement blossomed for awhile, reached a certain height, and seemed to die on the vine for an awful lot of women.

 

A Major Problem in Interpersonal Relationships 

 May 22, 2013

One of the biggest problems that can exist in interpersonal relationships may be the tendency of people to assume the worst of those whose thinking or behavior they don't understand. What I'm talking about is often highlighted in online interactions when two people do things differently online, and one (or both) will see what is actually pretty innocuous as something very negative about the other person. For example, one person writes an article and someone else writes a very long comment on it. If the author is more the type to write short comments on people's stuff that author may jump to the conclusion that the "longer commenter" wanted to "steal the limelight" or "just likes to see his own words" (or something along those lines). In reality, the person who wrote the long comment may actually be a very sincere, sharing, person who feels that comments should be similar to taking part in a discussion, rather than just "quickie" comments that mean little.

Then again, there may be someone who writes an article, and doesn't add his own response to a comment because he believes it's most polite to let the reader have the last word. To the person who doesn't understand that the writer believes he's being polite, the writer may look rude.

These are, of course, very minor matters in the "scheme of all of life", but you get the point.

In relationships there can be one person who, for example, talks a lot because he feels misunderstood and feels the need to keep explaining himself. Someone who doesn't understand that may interpret all that talking as being self-centered. Also, the person who talks about himself may be someone who is very much against talking about other people, or talking about thing he's doesn't know well; and again, his talking may be misinterpreted. Some people talk a lot because they feel it's the responsibility of people in relationships to try to encourage relating, rather than just remaining silent and assuming the relationship doesn't need that kind of interaction.

A person who has a friend who is going through a rough time may want to find some frame-of-reference from which he can better relate to his friend's experience; so what he may do when his friend brings up his problems might be to scan his own experiences to consider whether he's ever been through something to help him understand how his friend feels better. He may know that his experience was not identical, but it may be the closest thing he has to a frame-of-reference (and sometimes SOME frame-of-reference can be at least a little better than none). The point is, the person who does this can look as if he's "making it all about him" when his friend is the one with the problem. If the "guilty talker" knew enough to explain his own thought process, and his own sincere attempt to find, in his memory, something that might be "relatable" (in order for him to maybe understand his friend better and/or to offer the most appropriate kind of support), he may be better understand. One problem may be that this person may already know he has focused too much on trying to find that frame-of-emotional-reference, so he isn't likely to further "make it about him" by explaining his thought process at a time like this.

And, of course, the friend with the problem will most likely just feel disgusted as he assumed his "guilty talker" friend is just horrendously self-centered.

There are so many of these kinds of differences in ways people think, or approach relating; and when people allow themselves to automatically assume that someone who is different from them is coming from a negative trait, rather than just different; whole relationships can eventually unravel. It would be so much better if everyone just knew how to talk more about this kind of stuff - and these kinds of differences. 

 

 

Some Information and Concerns About The Neural Tube Defect, Spina Bifida - Particularly For Future Parents 

 

 February 26, 2014 Spina bifida is a condition with which babies are born, and for which the cause/causes are not entirely understood. In 95% of cases of children born with Spina bifida the parents have no known family history of the condition.

Of birth defects in the category of "neural tube defects" (NTDs), Spina bifida is the most common. The cause of neural tube defects, including Spina bifida, is believed by scientists to be a combination of environmental and genetic factors that act together.

Two conditions shown to potentially increase risk of having a baby with Spina bifida caught my eye when I was doing a little research, because someone close to me had at least two children with the condition (one whom lived for only eight months in the hospital after birth, and the other who had several surgeries (one as a baby, and a few as an older child), but for whom difficulty walking and other feet-/leg- related issues were, for the most part, the major problems/disabilities.

The two conditions that caught my attention were obesity and poorly controlled diabetes; because while I know that the mother of the children did have/develop diabetes when she was middle-aged, I don't now if she had it when she was having her children. So, even assuming she was like a lot of other overweight people who had (at least in her child-bearing years) not yet developed diabetes; and even though it is believed that a combination of genetic and environmental factors may work together to cause/contribute to neural tube defects (including Spina bifida), it just seems to me that this information would be extremely compelling reason for women to maintain, or get to, as healthy a weight as possible before starting a family.

Here's a link to more information on Spina bifida:

www.marchofdimes.com/baby/spina-bifida.aspx#

For statistics on Spina bifida in the United States here's a link to the CDC's site that offers statistics and more:

www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/spinabifida/data.html

And although the post (my own, here on Bubblews) is certainly little more than a starting point; a number of links related to fathers, habits such as using alcohol, potential for mutations as new sperm are produced, and potential hazards to unborn babies are provided. As I said, the post is just a starting point. The reason I'm including the link to it here, however, is primarily that phrase, "combination of environmental and genetic factors", as it applies to things future fathers (as well as overweight mothers) may want to learn more about before starting a family.

www.bubblews.com/news/2448175-can-alcohol-use-of-the-father-affect-an-unborn-baby