Doreen's World

What is Chakra Sky Jewelry?

Originally published at catloverdoreen.net.

Swimming with dolphins can be a therapy for people with depression, a new study finds.

Nature lovers or biophiles have long argued that interaction with animals can soothe a troubled mind but this claim has always lacked the scientific data to back it up.

Now UK psychiatrists publish the results of their randomised controlled trial in the British Medical Journal.

Dr Christian Antonioli and Professor Michael Reveley at the University of Leicester recruited 30 people in the US and Honduras who had been diagnosed with mild or moderate depression.

The severity of their symptoms was calculated according to established yardsticks for mental health, the Hamilton and Beck scales, which are based on interviews and questionnaires with the patient.

The volunteers were required to stop taking antidepressant drugs and psychotherapy for four weeks.

Half of the group was then randomly selected to play, snorkel and take care of bottlenose dolphins each day at an institute for marine sciences in Honduras.

The other half was assigned to a program of outdoor activities, also at the institute, that included swimming and snorkelling at a coral reef, but without the dolphins.

Two weeks later, both groups had improved, but especially so the patients who had been swimming with the dolphins.

Measurable symptoms of depression in the dolphin group had fallen by half and by two-thirds according to the two scales, twice as much as in the non-dolphin group.

In addition, a self-rating measurement of anxiety symptoms, the Zung scale, found a fall of more than 20% among the dolphin group, compared with a decline of 11% among the non-dolphin groups.

A first for dolphins

"To the best of our knowledge, this is the first randomised, single blind, controlled trial of animal-facilitated therapy with dolphins," say Antonioli and Reveley.

"The effects exerted by the animals were significantly greater than those of just the natural setting. The echolocation system, the aesthetic value, and the emotions raised by the interaction with dolphins may explain the mammals' healing properties."

Three months after the study, patients from both groups said their symptoms were still improved and did not need treatment.

Is biophilia the answer?

This suggests that in patients with mild or moderate depression, using drugs or conventional psychotherapy may not be necessary when biophilic treatment with animals is used, the scientists include.

Supporters of biophilia say that our affiliation with nature is an innate human tendancy. And disrupting that affiliation means tipping the equilibrium, so damaging our psychological health.

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Originally published at catloverdoreen.net.

The Catacombs of Paris or Catacombes de Paris are a famous underground ossuary in Paris, France. Organized in a renovated section of the city's vast network of subterranean tunnels and caverns towards the end of the 18^th century, it became a tourist attraction on a small scale from the early 19^th century and has been open to the public on a regular basis from 1867. The official name for the catacombs is l'Ossuaire Municipal.

This cemetery covers a portion of Paris's former mines near the Left Bank's Place Denfert-Rochereau, in a location that was just outside the city gates before Paris expanded in 1860. Although this cemetery covers only a small section of underground tunnels comprising "les carrires de Paris" ("the quarries of Paris"), Parisians today popularly refer to the entire network as "the catacombs".

In popular culture

Books

• In Umberto Eco's novel Foucault's Pendulum, the Paris catacombs were the resting place of a parchment concerning the Knights Templar.


• Many scenes in Bad Voltage, a 1980s cyberpunk novel by Jonathan Littell, take place in the catacombs.


• In Barbara Hambly's Those Who Hunt the Night, two characters investigating the murders of London vampires descend into the catacombs. There they find Brother Anthony, a 600-year-old priest-turned-vampire, living among the bones of the dead.


• In Robison Wells's novel The Counterfeit, the catacombs are the location of a fictitious Illuminati meeting place. The main characters, Eric and Rebekah, are guided through the catacombs by three cataphiles.


• In Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Cask of Amontillado" (1846), the main character Montressor walls up another man inside a cavity, deep within some catacombs, which are described as being "lined with human remains, piled to the vault overhead, in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris."


• Max Brooks, in his book World War Z, about a hypothetical zombie epidemic, refers to the catacombs as being used and extended by refugees.


• In Tess Gerritsen's novel Body Double, one of the main characters is lost in the catacombs.


• In Interview with the Vampire, vampires are residents of the catacombs.


• The climax of Marc D. Giller's science fiction novel Hammerjack takes place in a secret facility located deep in the catacombs.


• In Piratica III-The Family Sea, main characters Art Blastside, Ebad Vooms, Wild Mike and Apollo Leoni escape through the catacombs while running from French soldiers.


• William T. Vollmann's Rising Up and Rising Down: Some Thoughts on Violence, Freedom, and Urgent Means begins with a section titled "Three Medititations on Death". The first meditation, entitled "Catacomb Thoughts", is a reflection on the Catacombs of Paris.


• In Kresley Cole's novel A Hunger Like No Other, vampires used the catacombs as a place of torture.


• In Michael Scott's novel The Magician: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, Josh seeks out the war god Mars in the catacombs to awaken the boy's powers.

Films and television

• The cult classic Les Gaspards, known in English as The Holes, was filmed in and revolves around the catacombs. It was made in 1974 and stars a young Grard Depardieu.


• The 2007 film Catacombs is set in the catacombs.


• In the anime television series Noir, the fifth episode takes place in the Parisian catacombs.


• In the Disney film The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the catacombs are used by Captain Pheobus and Quasimodo to find the Court of Miracles.


• The catacombs were featured on ABC Family's Scariest Places On Earth.

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Originally published at Interesting Things.

Wacky World News

Offering screaming headlines about Michael Jackson, aliens, psychic phenomenon, AND practical how to's for everyday living, WWN has it all!!!!

Frogstone

Frogstone is a place of quiet strength surrounded by clamourous joy. Be welcome in it whatever your mood may be.

Unusual Museums on the Internet

The complete collection including descriptions and links to The Mountain Dew Memorabilia Guide, Ronald Dupont Jr.'s Elongated Coins, Dr. Darren's World of Crabs, and more.

Chiff.com

Your guide to the best sites on the web

Originally published at Interesting Things.

I certainly couldn't hang upside down without going crazy

During my lunch break today, I decided to walk up to Wollman Rink in Manhattans Central Park to check out David Blaines latest stunt. I have better things to do with my time, to be sure, but Ive always been curious about David Blaine: Not in that Oh, hes so amazing way, but in that What is this guys deal? way. Apparently, Im not the only cynic around. I overheard a few middle-aged ladies walking ahead of me, saying, Hes just doing a stupid stunt; hes not a magician.

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Originally published at Interesting Things.

this must be why I don't like pigs - imagine a pig that size coming to visit!

SYDNEY (AFP) - A pig the size of a Shetland pony has trapped an Australian woman in her village home, the national broadcaster reported Tuesday.

Caroline Hayes, 63, has tried leave her house in Uki in northern New South Wales to use the outdoor toilet but says the animal has bitten her and shoved her back inside.

"It's a beautiful male pig but he's just so big and so pushy," she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Rangers from the local Murwillumbah Council tried to rescue her but could not capture the huge animal.

"The rangers came out to my house yesterday with a dog cage and this pig is that big, it's like trying to put an elephant in a dog cage," she said.

"They tried for a little while and they couldn't do it. They got him halfway in and he just backed off and went back to my dam, where he was having a lovely time in the water."

Hayes said she and her neighbours began feeding the pig, whom they named Bruce, when it showed up at their homes 10 days ago after its owners could not handle it and let it loose in the rainforest.

But it became aggressive, demanding more food and biting her on the leg when she tried to go to the toilet.

"It started getting very pushy, started pushing me around, so I started to get a bit frightened, until the stage that it started knocking on my door at four o'clock in the morning, actually head-butting my door," she said.

"This morning, I wanted to go to my toilet, which is outside. I opened up the door and the pig pushed me that hard, it pushed me back into my room, where I fell over," she said.

"I picked up a broom and poked him out with it and he snapped it in half with his mouth."

The rangers were due to try to capture the pig again Tuesday, ABC said.

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Originally published at Interesting Things.

my neighbor Norm died just before he turned 101 earlier this year - he was active and still lived at home with his wife.

GREAT FALLS, Mont. - Walter Breuning of Great Falls said the secret to living a long life is staying active. And he should know. The retired Great Northern Railway worker celebrated his 112th birthday on Sunday. Breuning said that if "you keep your mind busy and keep your body busy, you're going to be around a long time."

About 60 people helped Breuning celebrate his birthday at the Rainbow Retirement and Assisted Living Community, where he has lived for 30 years.

Rainbow employee Merry Coats was one of them. She said Breuning has a great attitude and always focuses on the positive.

"He wakes up every morning, puts his feet on the ground, and it's a good day," she said.

As of Monday, Breuning was the 27th oldest person in the world, according to the Gerontology Research Group's Web site. The site lists 115-year-old Edna Parker of Indiana as the oldest.

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Originally published at Interesting Things.

I'd think this lady is comfy with her body! I wouldn't do that myself though - would scare people!

A mysterious blonde paid a visit to a petrol station shop in the small eastern German town

of Doemitz on Sunday -wearing nothing but a pair of golden stilettos and a thin gold bracelet.

The tall, slender woman strolled into the shop in the town of Doemitz on the warm afternoon and bought cigarettes, petrol station employee Ines Swoboda told Reuters on Monday.

"I wasn't surprised because she's come in naked before -- she's a very nice woman," Swoboda said, adding none of the other customers were bothered. The woman could have faced charges of creating a public disturbance if anyone had complained.

A quick-witted customer did, however, snap pictures of the woman believed to be about 30 years old as she walked back to a waiting Ferrari and climbed into the passenger seat. Several of those photos appeared in the German media on Monday.

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Originally published at Interesting Things.

hmmm interesting gift for someone's daughter I guess!

Breast enlargementis now the most common graduation gift for girls who pass their secondary school exams in Italy.

Boob jobs have knocked cars and summer holidays back into second and third places respectively.

Angelica Pesce, 18, from Rome, said she and many of her pals would be going under the knife in a few weeks having just finished school, iol.co.za reports.

She said: "It's a much more useful present than something like a car, which will break down after a few years, or a holiday, which is over within a week. My new breasts will last a lifetime."

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Originally published at Interesting Things.

The Big Draw is an interesting page which allows you to draw pictures and share them with people and stuff. Tthis one Queeky is cool and fun! here's another page which has heaps of drawing tools on it - 20+ Online Drawing Tools. sketchfu is a fun one that I just tried

Originally published at Interesting Things.