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Getting past Halloween and into Thanksgiving
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The more we can teach our children about gratitude, both by our example and by our emphasis, the happier adults they will grow up to be. - photo by Linda and Richard Eyre
Halloween is often a favorite holiday among children, but in our minds, it is something to get past so we can get on with what we consider the best holiday of all: Thanksgiving. Halloween is a time to dress up as something you are not; Thanksgiving is a time to think about and be grateful for what you are.

According to the National Park Service website, it has been more than 150 years since President Abraham Lincoln established an annual, national observance of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.

But have you ever thought about the interesting sequence of our four year-ending holidays?

Packed into the final three months of the year, we have Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Eve.

As each year begins to wind down, we enter winter via a strange holiday that celebrates fear and ghoulishness and allows us to escape ourselves with masks and costumes. Next, we get the sweet pause of a long football and feasting weekend to remember our heritage and our blessings. Then, if we can lift above the commercialization of it all, we honor the birth of Christ and the peace and goodwill of men. Finally, we party out the old year and make resolutions for the new.

Another way to look at this sequence is that Thanksgiving lifts us from Halloween to Christmas, and that gratitude and acknowledgment of God sets us up to look optimistically and spiritually toward the new year.

We love to view Thanksgiving as the transition, the transformer and the transfer from the stress and exhaustion of the first 11 months and from the darkness of Halloween to the peace and light of Christmas and the fresh start of another year.

Especially for those who live in four-season climates, Thanksgiving is wonderfully placed. As late autumn begins to yield to winter, it seems to set the stage for a more reflective outlook as we mentally inventory our blessings and set them up as a bulwark against the coming snow and cold. Like walking through dry, fragrant piles of fallen autumn leaves, we can rustle our souls and summon a greater awareness of beauty and a healthier perspective that connects past and future blessings.

But sadly, in our broader society, Thanksgiving is the holiday that is getting lost. It is becoming marginalized into a convenient long weekend that gives us a head start on our holiday shopping. Turkeys and Pilgrims dont even see the light of day as merchandisers pull down the witches and monsters on the same morning they put up Santas, trees and stockings, without even a pause for reflection and receiving.

Thanksgiving has been called the American holiday. It was born out of gratitude in times of deep adversity but boundless opportunity.

The hardships of the hardy souls we call Pilgrims were almost unimaginable, yet the boundless thanks they felt for their newfound freedom and the opportunity and options of a new land along with gratitude for having made it across the ocean prompted them to set aside a special day of thanksgiving.

Today, despite blessings beyond what the Pilgrims could imagine, we are losing the vital, life-sustaining emotion of gratitude. Our tendency to take things for granted is shocking.

As the Thanksgiving holiday itself is being obliterated squeezed down to nothing by the ghouls of Halloween on one side and the ever-earlier commercial interest of Christmas on the other we each need to make a personal commitment to gratitude.

And the more we can teach our children about gratitude, both by our example and by our emphasis, the happier adults they will grow up to be.
Its toxic: New study says blue light from tech devices can speed up blindness
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A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers. - photo by Herb Scribner
It turns out checking Twitter or Facebook before bed is bad for your health.

A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers.

That process can lead to age-related macular degeneration, which is a leading cause of blindness in the United States, according to the researchs extract.

Blue light is a common issue for many modern Americans. Blue light is emitted from screens, most notably at night, causing sleep loss, eye strain and a number of other issues.

Dr. Ajith Karunarathne, assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, said our constant exposure to blue light cant be blocked by the lens or cornea.

"It's no secret that blue light harms our vision by damaging the eye's retina. Our experiments explain how this happens, and we hope this leads to therapies that slow macular degeneration, such as a new kind of eye drop, he said.

Macular degeneration is an incurable eye disease that often affects those in their 50s or 60s. It occurs after the death of photoreceptor cells in the retina. Those cells need retinal to sense light and help signal the brain.

The research team found blue light exposure created poisonous chemical molecules that killed photoreceptor cells

"It's toxic. If you shine blue light on retinal, the retinal kills photoreceptor cells as the signaling molecule on the membrane dissolves," said Kasun Ratnayake, a Ph.D. student researcher working in Karunarathne's cellular photo chemistry group. "Photoreceptor cells do not regenerate in the eye. When they're dead, they're dead for good."

However, the researchers found a molecule called alpha-tocopherol, which comes from Vitamin E, can help prevent cell death, according to Futurism.

The researchers plan to review how light from TVs, cellphones and tablet screens affect the eyes as well.

"If you look at the amount of light coming out of your cellphone, it's not great but it seems tolerable," said Dr. John Payton, visiting assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. "Some cellphone companies are adding blue-light filters to the screens, and I think that is a good idea."

Indeed, Apple released a Night Shift mode two years ago to help quell blue lights strain on the eyes, according to The Verge. The screen will dim into a warmer, orange light that will cause less stress on the eyes.