In Pure Spirit

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10 common toxic dangers to your dogs and cats this Christmas

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Christmas and the end of the year can be a wonderful time, and it can be a festive celebration of meeting friends, family, and even turning strangers into friends.

It can be terribly depressing for some people, and it can be a time of anxiety for many more people. If you’re struggling or know someone who is, then there is help from Mind, Anxiety UK and others. Please check them out.

Sometimes, hidden risks can spoil the day and dangers people didn’t know they had to be anxious about. The Christmas tradition of bringing in certain plants is one of them.

Dangerous Holly

As highlighted by a pet insurance campaign from Money.co.uk, highlights the danger from dogs and cats eating toxic plants. Other pet insurance providers, of course, exist such as Waggel and Petplan, and I’m sure they’re equally aware of the risks.

The 10 most toxic winter plants, at least for dogs and cats, that Money.co.uk focuses on follow, and I was surprised by some of them.

#1: Holly

If the berries or spiked-edge leaves from a holly plant are ingested, this can cause irritation of the mouth, drooling, vomiting and other gastrointestinal upsets, as well as diarrhoea. 

Holly may also cause extreme head-shaking if consumed in large quantities.

#2: Mistletoe

Even though varied in types, the mistletoe berries contain chemicals like polysaccharides, alkaloids, and lectins that are harmful to dogs and cats. When ingested in small quantities, it can cause gastrointestinal irritation such as vomiting and abdominal pain. Consumed in large quantities, it may cause abnormal heart rate, low blood pressure and incoordination.

#3: Poinsettia plants

Widely known for their bright red and green foliage, the white sap from the coloured leaves contains a chemical that sometimes causes nausea, vomiting, drooling and diarrhoea, and irritation in the skin, mouth and oesophagus. 

#4: Christmas trees

If the Christmas tree pine needles trees are chewed, any oils released may cause irritations in the mouth and stomach upset. Prickly needles can also be hazardous to the mouth, throat and stomach if ingested.

#5: Ivy (Hedera species)

Ivy can cause severe skin irritation if dogs or cats directly contact this plant. If swallowed, ivy can also cause stomach upsets.

#6: Amaryllis

The whole amaryllis plant contains toxic substances, but higher quantities are found in the bulb, so be careful of pets who like to dig. 

If any part is swallowed, pets may experience severe gastrointestinal upsets (such as vomiting and abdominal pain), loss of appetite, lethargy and tremors.

#7: Lilies

Unsafe for both cats and dogs, if any part of a lily is swallowed (even in small quantities), this could cause severe gastrointestinal injury, leading to kidney failure for cats.

#8: Laurel

Laurel plants, including bay laurels (often used in cooking) and cherry laurel, contain toxins in all parts of the shrub, which cause vomiting, abdominal pain, hypotension, muscle weakness, and seizures.

#9: Snowdrops

These white flowers include toxins in their stems and leaves, with the highest concentration in the bulb. They can cause abdominal pain, vomiting, incoordination, and a fall in heart rate and blood pressure when ingested.

#10: Yew

This plant (leaves and berries, too) is highly poisonous as they contain taxines. When ingested, they can cause vomiting, weakness, breathing difficulties, and life-threatening change in heart rate and blood pressure in critical cases.

In Pure Spirit

What Christmas safety tips for pets do you have?

Photo credit: Tijana Drndarski.

Where are the most haunted houses in the USA?

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MyBaggage, a site about travel and being prepared for it, has some Halloween content.

Tempted to do something spooky for ghost season? MyBaggage have researched the scariest haunted houses in the USA.

RANKHOUSE NAMESTATE
1Creepy Hollow Haunted HouseTEXAS
2Purgatory Scream ParkTEXAS
3New Orleans Nightmare Haunted HouseLOUISIANA
4House of the Occult at Lemp BreweryMISSOURI
5Netherworld Haunted HouseGEORGIA
6Terror on the CoastMISSISSIPPI
7Statesville Haunted PrisonILLINOIS
8Factory of Terror OHOHIO
913th Hour Haunted HouseNEW JERSEY
10Reapers RevengePENNSYLVANIA

Here’s a brief look at the top five haunted houses that you might include in your travels.

1. Creepy Hollow Haunted House 

The ‘Creepy Hollow Haunted House’ in the southern state of Texas takes the top spot. This not-for-profit house highlights three spooky attractions, using realistic special effects and people in costumes to provide a scary experience. 

Creepy Hollow gives proceeds go to good causes.  

2. Purgatory Scream Park 

The ‘Purgatory Scream Park’ comes second, the largest haunted house in Texas if you dare.

It takes 40 minutes for a terrifying walkthrough, and you’re bound to become immersed in the Halloween fun.

3. New Orleans Nightmare Haunted House

At this haunted house, you’ll find clowns, the walking dead, and even the Bogeyman to keep you up at night. There are three core attractions to pick from to maximise the chances of the hairs on the back of your neck standing up before you escape.

4. House of the Occult at Lemp Brewery

Underground, where no one will hear you scream. At the House of the Occult, you may come face to face with demons, mazes, and the pitch-black cavern. 

5. Netherworld Haunted House

One of the two attractions here is the Monster Museum which features rare movie props that you won’t see anywhere else. 

The other is a 3D experience hosted in a secret facility. 

In Pure Spirit

Where do you think the spookiest haunted house in the States is?

Learn the ninja way and meditate like a monk with an official Japanese live stream

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Discover Japan and the iconic Odawara Castle are running two sets of online experiences for visitors around the internet to take part in.

“Japanese Castle and Ninja Culture” and “Mindfulness Meditation with Japanese Monk” start in October and will carry on until March. Neither of the events is free.

Japanese Castle and Ninja Culture

You can find more about this event at the officially run Discover Japan site. That’s also how you can reserve your online spot.

Using Zoom, you’ll meet a ninja scholar and historian for a walk around tour of Odawara Castle. During the session, you’ll learn about the role the castle played in Ninja Culture, the techniques used hundreds of years ago and see some traditional tools.

The session is hosted by Hiroshi Jinkawa, a sensei with years of experience. You can book online.

Mindfulness Experience at Odawara Castle

This 90-minute online meditation takes place with a monk at the top of Odawara Castle, outside of the usual hours, so quiet there.

A chance to forget about your daily burdens, you will spend time together with Tomoni Iwayama, a priest from the Ganshuji Temple. You’ll be with people from different backgrounds and all walks of life, virtually.

With Iwayama’s teachings, you may be able to clear your mind and rediscover human potential. Sign-ups are open at Discover Japan.

In Pure Spirit

What do you think about this use of technology and tours of historic Japanese life? A clever way to support the Castle and its courses through a troubled period, or does it feel wrong?

These are the most alien-obsessed European countries

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Psychic World looked at data on how often people research aliens to work out which countries are the most obsessed about aliens.

The marketing effort is designed to help promote the site and the cost-per-minute phone lines it enables, but, hey, it worked to grab my attention here.

The top twenty European countries for alien searches

Psychic World and their marketing agency looked at only people searching for the word alien to get this data. They noticed that this year there had been more searches than last year, a lot more, 89% more.

The top twenty European countries for alien searches

The UK tops the poll with 624,000 searches every year. That’s about 1,700 people every day turning to Google just to type in [aliens] and see what happens.

France, which has roughly the same number of people as the UK, had 35% fewer searches, about 408,000. But it’s possible, likely even, they were using the word “alien” again rather than “étranger”.

That might be a flaw in the approach.

The site also discovered common questions people had about aliens.

The five top questions people ask about aliens

  1. What would an alien look like? (13,200 searches a year)
  2. How do aliens contact (12,000 searches a year)
  3. What are aliens (8,4000 searches a year)
  4. Where are the aliens (6,000 searches a year)
  5. Why would aliens come to earth (3,000 searches a year)

Interesting? I thought so, but remember many people who understand the tarot or believe themselves to have psychic powers will offer their time for free.

In Pure Spirit

Do you believe that there might be intelligent extraterrestrial life out there?

Seaspiracy: Netflix to tackle the global fishing industry

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Netflix is showing a trailer for their forthcoming seaspiracy, which looks at the need for sustainable fishing and how far we are from that. It’s another reminder that human greed is killing the planet.

In Pure Spirit has not had any advance sight of the documentary but can imagine of it will be unsettling.

Charities and causes in this area include the Marine Conservation Society, the Sea Watch Foundation and the Sea Life Trust.

In Pure Spirit

Is there anything we can do as individuals to help protect the seas, or is it now mainly down to big business? If it’s down to big business, how we do get governments to take action?

This is how to safely fit an anti-COVID-19 (coronavirus) mask

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Right now, the role of masks in preventing the COVID-19 (coronavirus) spread is in question. Two things are known to be accurate; masks help stop infected people from passing the virus on and medical professionals working in the thick of it benefit from masks, as do their patients.

What about the rest of us? Do we cut the risk of infection by wearing a mask? That’s not clear. One of the known problems with members of the general public wearing masks is that, statistically, we’re rubbish at it.

People put their masks down, get them contaminated from the dirty surface and then strap the infection onto their face. Untrained people also take their masks off in such a way as to transfer the virus to their hands and then catch the disease.

How to safely wear a mask

This video is from University of Minnesota Health. It was made a year ago; in other words, this is a purely instructional video that was made and published without anyone trying to make money off the coronavirus scare.

Hindsight is key, isn’t it? Don’t touch the front of the mask and wash your hands afterwards!

In Pure Spirit

Are you wearing masks during the COVID-19 pandemic? Are you planning on buying a stash of masks afterwards to keep in the house?

Little Victories on World Autism Day

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The 2nd of April is World Autism Day. As you’d expect, the NHS has a helpful site on autism where you can read more, in summary, autism isn’t a ‘condition’ that needs to be cured.

Little Victories - Autism Through a Father's Eyes
Little Victories

Autism does mean having a brain that works differently to other people, and some people with autism may need extra help in some areas.

Yvon Roy is a Canadian author and illustrator. His son was diagnosed with autism and the sometimes hilarious, sometimes sad family struggles that followed are retold in Little Victories. Little Victories, which will soon be published in English for the first time, recounts how Roy gradually got his son used to hugs, or that there might be a small amount of dust in the bath and the fact that life does not always follow a routine.

Yvon Roy has worked on several children’s stories, won Best Biography Award from the Disability Fund and Society, received the INSPIREO High School Students Award for most inspiring youth book and the Literary Award for Citizenship from the Maine Teachers’ League.

In Pure Spirit has permission from Titan Comics and Statix Press to share some internal panels from the comic book.

Little Victories

In Pure Spirit

Does autism touch your life?

You can pre-order Little Victories on Amazon.

Stay at home: Tour the world through Magical Mystery Doors

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Magical doors that can transport you to places of wonder have been part of our collective imagination of generations.

Mystery door

Doors have a more significant meaning during the Covid-19 pandemic which currently has much of the world in quarantine and stuck behind closed doors. Those doors are keeping us safe, but they’re also keeping us trapped even if its the invisible virus we should really blame.

Climadoor usually sells real doors. This week, though, given we’re all trapped, the focus is on magical mystery doors.

There’s a virtual tour to experience.

Start the magical mystery door tour!

If you’re brave enough to start the tour, then you might find yourself at the door to King’s Landing in Game of Thrones, outside Monica’s Apartment in Friends or even Star Wars’ Mos Eisely.

There’s the spooky door of Hawkins Middle School from Stranger Things, the iconic Baker Street door from Sherlock and – nature always finds a way – Jurassic Park.

In Pure Spirit

If you could step through any virtual door and tour any virtual land, what would it be?

The easy to understand science of the coronavirus (Covid-19)

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Sadly, there is plenty of false and misleading information on the internet about the coronavirus (Covid-19).

While there is plenty of accurate information too much of it is easier dumbed down too much or written for a medically trained audience.

The good news is that Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell is a trusted channel on YouTube that works hard to explain complex topics with easy to follow, but intelligent videos.

This video explains the science of Covid-19 nicely and clearly, while also treating the audience as an intelligent one.

In Pure Spirit

What tips do you have to make self-isolation and social distancing easier for you?

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This blog discusses ideas and causes. Urban myth, science and faith combine here. So do editorials and technology; In Pure Spirit uses affiliate marketing and some links might earn us money. You can read more about that here.

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