In Pure Spirit

For open minds

You might rub the world’s most expensive bird droppings into your face

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Born in 1962, Tom Cruise is 61, but would you believe it if you’ve seen the latest Mission Impossible film? How does he look so young?

Ten years ago, The Huffington Post wrote up anonymous insider accounts, saying;

Tom doesn’t go in for Botox or surgery, but he does pay close attention to all the new and popular natural treatments. He recently started experimenting with the nightingale poo facial.”

Asami Geisha

Is there Nightingale poo anti-wrinkle cream on Amazon? Not that I could find. I did find Asami Geisha.

That’s a registered trademarked cream which claims to be the only one in the world with extracted enzymes from the excrement of the Japanese nightingale.

  • The good news? Shipping is free.
  • The bad? A small tub costs over £425.

Wikipedia alludes to why the Japanese nightingale might be so expensive. There aren’t many in Japan. Instead, Wikipedia says;

The leiothrix is usually found in India, Bhutan, Nepal, Burma and parts of Tibet. This species is a bird of the hill forests, found in every type of jungle though it prefers pine forests with bushes.

Red-billed leiothrix is the full name of the nightingale. However, it’s worth noting that the bird does come to Japan and likes the forests of Abies and Tsuga while there.

Nightingale droppings are not a new trend. The practice dates back hundreds of years, as Asami Geisha explain.

“Geisha Facial” refers to a beauty treatment that uses nightingale droppings. In Japan, the poop is called Uguisu No Fun. Japanese geishas have used this treatment for centuries.

Geishas used to wear a white makeup called oshiroi, which contained zinc and lead. This makeup could cause skin problems, such as skin diseases.

However, it’s suggested that the Uguisu No Fun could clean and regenerate the damaged skin. This resulted in softer, more radiant, and smoother skin.

The Geisha Facial is still used today, and it is said to have many benefits for the skin, but it is important to find a reputable spa that offers this treatment.

The cream treatment may be uncomfortable, as it can cause some redness and irritation. Finally, you should only have the treatment done a few times a year, as it can dry the skin. Perhaps it is a good thing it’s not Amazon.

In Pure Spirit

If Japanese nightingale poop facials exist, does that mean birds are kept in cages purely for poo farming? If so, then there are likely ethical considerations.

Would you spend £400 a year on Japanese anti-wrinkle cream made from bird boop if it made you look younger?

5 steps to combat climate change and alleviate anxiety

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Are you concerned about climate change and pollution and wondering how you can do your part to implement some effective changes? You can ease your anxiety by taking some concrete steps toward a cleaner planet. Even small actions can make a big impact, so here are five ideas from In Pure Spirit to get you started.    

Climate globe

Start a Green Business

If you have an idea for an eco-friendly product that can help in the fight against climate change, think about starting your own business and launching your product on the market. Once you find a unique name for your company, design a logo using an online logo maker. You’ll get a selection to choose from based on your style and preferences. Simply edit your design and download it onto your computer so you can use it for marketing purposes, on your social media accounts, in your email newsletters, and on all your business correspondence.

Find Investors for Your Green Idea 

If you need to take on investors to launch your eco-friendly business, consider forming a limited company. Established investors are more comfortable putting money into a limited company, and it has some financial advantages for you as well. But the legal requirements are stricter than a sole proprietorship, so make sure that you pay attention to details when setting up your company.

Support Other Green Businesses

If you want to help in the fight against climate change, forgo big-box stores and online shopping; instead, make a conscious effort to buy from local merchants and help your local economy. Leave your car at home, walk to the market, ride your bicycle, or use public transportation. And when you’re out shopping, look for environmentally-conscious companies who adopt sustainable policies and practices to manufacture and package their products, as well as use ethically sourced materials.  

You may want to put together a resource for your audience about companies to support. Creating the document as a PDF is a good idea because the format is versatile and professional, and you can use a tool to merge multiple files, making it easier to stay organised; click here for more info. Having this resource guide available will encourage your audience to interact with it and share it with their friends. This kind of engagement not only promotes green businesses but your channel, too!

Explore the Natural World Around You

Flying off to exotic locales around the world is what many people would consider a dream vacation, but as we try to lower our carbon footprints to combat climate change, we need to avoid adding to the problem and stop travelling by aeroplane. Instead, we should consider exploring national parks and other natural attractions closer to home. Spending time in nature and discovering our biodiverse world will help us relax and reset, whether we’re on a week-long vacation or simply out for a leisurely afternoon.

Add Plants and Trees to Your Surroundings

Bring nature into your home and get rid of indoor pollutants by adding houseplants to your decor. Many plants have air-purifying properties that will keep your house fresher, and their calming colours will also provide peace and serenity to the people in your home. If you own a garden, you can also help fight climate change by planting trees that provide food and shelter to birds, insects, and other wildlife. You’ll be contributing to your neighbourhood’s biodiversity, and you can also save money on your energy bill by strategically planting greenery that will shade your windows during the summer months. You’ll be keeping the inside of your house cooler, and you’ll have shady spots to sit outside and enjoy the fresh air.   

Are you ready to take action against climate change? Then make a few green changes in your home and life, and support eco-friendly companies that strive to make the world cleaner. You’ll feel good about yourself knowing that you’re making a long-lasting impact!

In Pure Spirit

What are your tips to avoid climate anxiety?

About the Author

Betty Vaughan understands that achieving work-life balance has never been harder. She has experienced first-hand how remote work blurs the line separating one’s work from the rest of their life. That’s why she created Nine To Thrive. Through the site, she hopes to help anyone struggling with a work-life imbalance find and sustain that needed balance so that they can live a life where they can fully thrive.

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.

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?

Would mother nature be upset at you?

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A wonderful comic from Goofy God Comics, who can also follow on Instagram.

Gaia and the bees

A guy is calling out for Mother Gaia, and he’s worried because he thinks he cocked up. Gaia reassures him that should never get mad, no matter what he’s done.

The problem? He killed all the bees.

In Pure Spirit

Do you think governments around the world are doing enough to investigate the mysterious and devastating reduction in bee numbers?

LastTissue: Save 2 litres of water each time you blow your nose

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LastTissue is the latest idea from a Danish company trying to save the world. We chop through millions of trees and pollute millions of gallons of water just for yucky disposable tissues.

Is there a better way?

[Back this Campaign]

Every year 8,000,000 trees are felled just for American sneezes alone. That kills of habitat and therefore wildlife. At the same time, trees are no longer there to soak up the carbon emissions that are destroying the atmosphere.

LastObject

The company behind LastTissue is LastObject, and they have a mission.

In Pure Spirit

Is LastTissue a good idea, or is it just a yucky gimmick?

Can you see the Sirens of the waves?

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Trickster god (Norse)

You’ll be able to see Rachael Talibart’s beautiful photography in person at the Sohn Fine Art Gallery in Lenox, Massachusetts in the States from 7th of September through to 11th November.

The English photographer uses fast shutter speeds to freeze the water into shape, creating as a sculpture might clay and in doing so manages to, somehow, reveal faces in the waves.

Talibart is said to be inspired, in part, by Homer’s Odyssey and the stories of sea monsters there. Need to see more? Pop over to her website and check out her thoughtful range.

Primordial sea goddess (Greek)
Sea nymph (Greek)
Underwater panther (Native American)
Snake-haired Gorgon (Greek)
Horse of the sea (Greek)
Giant warrior (Hebrew)

In Pure Spirit

Do you see the faces in the waves too?

Via This is Colossal.

Why is it starting to rain octopus?

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As a freak storm battled the Chinese city of Qingdao social media began to buzz with the term ‘Seafood Rain’. Why?

It was raining octopuses, starfish and molluscs.

The bizarre storm featured winds as fast as 78mph and rain heavy enough to shatter windows. The weather in the Yellow Sea created waterspouts.

This octopus storm isn’t the first time that extreme climate conditions have resulted in sea creatures being sucked out of the sea and blown over land in a storm. Just last year a similar thing happened in the village of Jaffna in Sri Lanka, according to The Mirror who carried the story.

In Pure Spirit

Do you think we’ll start to see even stranger weather as the climate change takes effect?

Image credit: AsiaWire.

The monstrous energy costs of heating Jurrasic World

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When there’s a good movie to look forward to big brands, start thinking creatively about their messaging. Step forward E.ON who worked with PhD Physicists Toby Nonnemacher, Clarence Wret, Wilf Shorrock and the Post-Doctorate Physicist Phill Litchfield at the High Energy Physics Department at Imperial College London to think about dinosaurs and technology.

The team worked out that a dinosaur kingdom island done up as Jurrasic World would have an energy bill in the region of £48million. That’s about 30,000 UK homes.

Scott Somerville at E.ON helped explain why the bill would be so high.

With huge 10,000 volt electric fences and an aviary designed to house pterodactyls to name just two of the Dinosaur Kingdom’s unusual features, we suspected the energy needed to power the whole park would be big – possibly equivalent to powering a whole region within the UK.

“But what our figures show is that it’s actually a massive amount! It’s about the same as powering 30,142 average UK households a year – roughly equivalent to powering half the homes in Harrogate – but by adopting modern solutions, the power requirement and costs could be even less.

“For example, by generating electricity using technology like a biomass fuelled Combined Heat and Power station, park owners could turn dinosaur droppings into electricity. Add on other solutions like solar and battery storage then the park could ultimately benefit from a cheaper, sustainable and more reliable source of electricity instead having to deal with a ‘raptor rampage’ every time the generators that power the electric fences goes down.”

There’s some proper research in this piece. For example, running a dinosaur suitable aviaries was based on the amount of energy to keep the Eden Project in Devon going. That’s about 9,500 MkWh per year or £5,006,500. Ouch! If you want to see more of E.ON’s maths and investigation then pop over to their dinosaur kingdom post and have a gander.

Improving Your Own Energy Use

If you’re thinking about changing energy supplier, there are some handy tools out there you might consider using. Energylinx has some, including a free Meter Point Administration Number Checker so you can examine your MPAN as well as a Gas Meter Point Reference Number (MPRN) tool. Lastly, on EnergyLinks is this comparison tool on suppliers.

Fossil Fuels

Readers of In Pure Spirit will now we care about green issues. While we’re thinking about extinct species and energy we’d have to take a look at fossil fuels.

James Anderson, the joint manager of Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, investors who take a long-term view on companies that might change sees a future in alternative energy generation.

…what seems to us to fall into the category of the well-nigh inevitable is that the age of fossil fuels is drawing to an end

In Pure Spirit

Which would you rather have? An island full of dinosaurs – many species brought back from extinction – or free energy for 30,000 homes for a year?

Disclosure

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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