Once upon a time…

 

Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1974 visit to Sydney   Arnold Schwarzenegger, who visited Sydney in 1974 as the reigning Mr Universe, flexes his muscles. Photo: Trevor Dallen 'It's only a matter of time' before machines take over First published in The Sydney Morning Herald on April 24, 1974 The big American looked at the shining black Rolls-Royce in front of the international terminal at Sydney Airport, thought about lifting the front of it — and turned and said: "No. I'd better not, I might damage it." Instead, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mr Universe, lifted airline hostess Roslyn Hull, 25 of Brighton-le-Sands, with his left hand. Arnold Schwarzenegger lifts Ansett hostess Roslyn Hull off the ground. Photo: Trevor Dallen He flew into Sydney yesterday - to flex his muscles at two three-minute performances, for $2000. He will appear at the 1974 Bullworker NSW contest tomorrow, and at the judging of Mr Victoria in Melbourne on Saturday. He stands 6ft 3in, has 23in biceps and a 60in chest. Arnold Schwarzenegger flexes his bicep for the camera. Photo: Trevor Dallen He trains five hours a day, and says he has four or five meals before competing in a contest. He started body-building 11 years ago, but was never a weakling. "I had a good body when I was 15, but wanted to have a much better one," he said. "The stronger I get, the more secure I feel." Mr Universe, whose best lift is 700lb, has won the title five times, the first when he was 19. On the other hand he spends every spare minute in a gym. "It is important to train as much as possible to be in perfect condition." First published in The Sydney Morning Herald on April 24, 1974

10 Benefits of Potassium for Your Brain & Heart

 

Potassium is a mineral that you don’t want to run low on for any stretch of time. It’s essential for basic functions of the body, and low levels can take a toll on both your brain and heart. Here are the top ten benefits of potassium so you can make sure you’re getting enough each day. 1. Better Brain Function Your brain does its best work when your potassium level is maintained. Go a long time without enough potassium and your brain could end up paying the price. It’s best to avoid the situation altogether by ensuring you’re getting adequate potassium. In order to get the best and most noticeable results, try to get the recommended amount of potassium each day, which is 3.5 grams. It may involve cutting out processed food and stressing fresh fruits and vegetables, but it’s worth the effort and will pay dividends in the form of better brain health. How Potassium Helps: Potassium helps send more oxygen to your brain, which lets it do its job better. When you don’t get enough you’re limiting the amount of oxygen that makes it to your brain and you’ll experience the side effects, which may be subtle at first but will worsen until the problem is corrected. 2. Better Muscle Function Your muscles do a lot to help you get through your day, and if they’re not firing on all cylinders it’s going to be hard to get through your daily activities without feeling fatigued. Whether you’re trying to build lean muscle mass or just trying to keep your muscles healthy for life, potassium plays a role. One symptom of low metabolism is muscle weakness and damage, so in order to keep your muscle as healthy as possible, look to foods that are high in potassium, and stock up on them each time you’re at the grocery store. These include bananas of course, as well as avocados, raisins, and dried apricots. How Potassium Helps: Potassium helps keeps your muscles healthy by working at the cellular level to repolarize the cells of your muscles, helping to repair them faster and more efficiently. 3. Lower Risk of Heart Problems Taking in a sufficient amount of potassium will put you at a lower risk of developing heart problems like stroke and heart disease. If you’ve already been diagnosed with a heart problem, you’ve likely been told to watch your level of potassium. What’s interesting is that many of the foods that are rich in potassium also contain antioxidants and other minerals that will help your heart and lead to greater overall healthiness. To complete your heart health profile be sure you’re getting adequate amount of exercise each day, such as a walk, strength training, or yoga. How Potassium Helps: Your cardiovascular system benefits from reduced blood pressure, which puts less strain on the arteries and heart. In their more relaxed state, your heart and arteries can function better, resulting in more energy in the present, and a longer life going forward. 4. Maintains Fluid Balance Getting enough potassium each day helps keep your internal fluids balanced correctly. Potassium is just one part of the equation, and you’ll want to make sure you’re getting all of your important minerals to maintain a balance of electrolytes in your bloodstream. You’ll want to watch how much sodium you’re taking in, since many of the foods found in restaurants, fast food joints, and pre-packaged foods contain a lot of low-grade salt. Making your own food gives you control over how much sodium it contains. Calcium is another mineral to watch in order to maintain a healthy fluid balance in the body. How Potassium Helps: Potassium, as well as calcium and sodium help make up the electrolyte balance in the body. Drinking enough water is essential for the right fluid balance, and you’ll want to determine the right amount of water for your body size and weight and be sure to drink it daily. 5. Stronger Bones Potassium is one key to the healthy bone puzzle that you don’t want to forget. Calcium generally gets the most attention when it comes to essential minerals for bone health, but you’ll need to keep an eye on more than just one, including potassium. The body is a system of complex subsystems all working together to keep you moving. Bones don’t rely on just one mineral, but an array of vitamins and minerals in order to thrive. You probably don’t pay much attention to your bones until they start having problems, so it’s best to be proactive and help them stay healthy long before any problems arise. How Potassium Helps: Along with calcium, phosphorous, manganese, and other key minerals, potassium works to keep your bones strong and healthy. Bones need the right minerals in order to continue to stay hard and prevent diseases like osteoporosis, making potassium a very beneficial item indeed. 6. Reduced Stress Levels We could all use a little less stress in this modern world of ours, and a proper potassium level is key to handling the triggers of everyday life. You may not even notice when you’re low on potassium and it’s causing excess stress because it may seem normal to you now, or you may have labeled yourself as a stressful person. Because potassium is used by every cell in your body to continue on with its function, it only stands to reason that when you’re not getting enough you won’t be able to cope as well with stress. How Potassium Helps: Potassium benefits you by keeping your stress down and helping to regulate your blood pressure. You’d be surprised at how much less stressed you’ll feel when your blood pressure is at a healthy level. It also helps to relax your muscles, which keeps you from tensing up and exacerbating the situation. 7. Improved Blood Pressure Numbers High blood pressure is definitely something to be concerned about, and there’s a reason why your doctor checks it each time you go in for a check-up. Getting the right amount of potassium each day will help lower your blood pressure, and should be used in conjunction with a blood pressure conscious diet and lifestyle. There are several serious conditions that high blood pressure is a precursor for, including heart attacks, strokes, and diabetes. Don’t leave yourself susceptible to these potentially life-ending conditions. Focus on your potassium intake until it becomes a habit. How Potassium Helps: Potassium relaxes blood vessels, allowing blood to flow more freely and bringing down your blood pressure. Of course it is not the only factor in keeping your blood pressure where it needs to be, so consult with your healthcare professional to discuss diet and lifestyle changes you can make to keep it in a healthy range. 8. Increased Metabolism Potassium helps knock out a sluggish metabolism and gets it back on track to natural levels of effectiveness. If you’ve ever had trouble losing weight while dieting, it could have been due to a slow metabolism brought on by, or worsened by, low potassium levels. Getting enough potassium sets the stage for other minerals to do their job. Think of the vitamins and minerals you take in each day as a team designed to help you perform at your best. In order for the team to work properly, each team member must show up and do their job. Miss one component and it all works inefficiently and tends to break down. How Potassium Helps: Potassium helps the body break down and metabolize foods by helping the other minerals you take in do their job. It’s a team player that is a vital component to your body’s metabolism. 9. Improved Nervous System Your nervous system benefits greatly from regular consumption of foods rich in potassium. You may not be able to spot this benefit when you start getting more potassium, but running a shortage of potassium will produce symptoms that are identifiable. This is a complex system that is responsible for sending signals throughout your body, and helping you interact with the world around you. It’s not something we generally give much attention to, and if you treat it right with adequate potassium from the foods you eat, it will treat you better in return. How Potassium Helps: Potassium gets your nervous system to function the way it should by helping the tissues in your body on a cellular level. When your nervous system is happy, you’ll find that your health and wellbeing improve over time. 10. Prevents Muscle Cramps One sign that you might be low on potassium is that your muscles are cramping for no apparent reason. If you’ve overused a muscle and it cramps up on you, that is understable, and may not be the result of too little potassium. But if you experience muscle cramps in muscles that haven’t been pushed to their max, you may want to put some attention on your potassium intake. Muscle cramps may not be a huge problem, but preventing them with potassium is easy enough. Muscle cramps and twitches can also be used as an early sign that your potassium levels are low. Take action to correct this imbalance and you should see an improvement in symptoms. How Potassium Helps: Potassium keeps muscles from cramping by helping the tissues relax. When you get an unexplained muscle cramp be sure to up your potassium intake and see if that makes it go away.

Chinês compra carro de luxo com quatro toneladas de moedas

 

Jornalista: Da Redação Fotos: Fotos: CCTV News

 

Além de ser o maior mercado de automóveis do mundo, a China é bastante peculiar no que diz respeito aos hábitos de seus consumidores, que não se importam nem um pouco em levar todas as suas economias até a concessionária para pagar por um carro novo.

Em abril, uma mulher foi até uma loja com 100 mil notas de baixo valor para comprar um BMW e agora a imprensa local mostra a história de um homem que resolveu fazer o pagamento de um automóvel com moedas. O cliente, de sobrenome Gan, escolheu um modelo de luxo (não revelado) de 680 mil iuans (cerca de R$ 345 mil) e decidiu pagar 660 mil iuans (R$ 334.700) em moedas.

Para carregar todo esse dinheiro (que totalizou quatro toneladas) foi necessária a ajuda de dez pessoas, que levaram uma hora para transportar o montante para dentro da loja. De acordo com Gan, ele levou apenas três meses para juntar a quantia no posto de combustíveis onde trabalha, pois os motoristas de ônibus que lá param costumam pagar os abastecimentos com moedas.

Internet privacy manifesto calls for more consumer power

 

A revolutionary power shift from internet giants such as Google to ordinary consumers is critically overdue, according to new research from a University of East Anglia (UEA) online privacy expert. In a manifesto that ranges from "the right to be treated fairly on the internet" to finding a better, more nuanced approach to using the internet as an archive, Dr Paul Bernal of UEA's School of Law delves deeper into his research on the so-called 'right to be forgotten.' His paper, called 'A right to be remembered? Or the internet, warts and all,' will be presented at the annual Privacy Law Scholars' Conference at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr Bernal, a lecturer in information technology, intellectual property and media law, was invited to write the paper for the conference, where an international group of scholars and practitioners discuss current issues around privacy law. Dr Bernal said: "We ask a great deal of the internet, and much of what we ask for is contradictory. "Our perceptions of the internet are similarly confused and contradictory. We think everything on the net lasts forever and we're worried about everything being forgotten. "We think anonymity abounds but that the security services and Google know everything there is to know about us. "Google itself is a paradox: at times we treat it as a philanthropic indexer of the internet and champion of freedom of expression, at other times as an evil mega-corporation driven only by profit or trying to control the world and indeed us. "We expect it to provide imaginative, innovative and engaging products and services -- and we expect it to do so for nothing, and without invading our privacy or gathering our data." In his paper, Dr Bernal said recent examples, such as the Google Spain case, demonstrate an increasing willingness of regulators to challenge Google, Facebook and other 'internet giants' that have access to vast swathes of personal data. But because the internet is not a permanent archive and data isn't indexed by neutral, purely algorithmic services -- rather "created by humans with biases, assumptions and faults" -- Dr Bernal said those affected need more control over what they want, or don't want, displayed in searches that concern them. Dr Bernal said: "Sometimes what people would like to be remembered becomes lost, whilst at other times things that people would rather were forgotten is inconveniently but seemingly permanently remembered. "Who might be the appropriate people to decide what are the 'right' stories to promote and what are the 'wrong' stories that need to be demoted or delisted? And how and when can it be right to interfere with an algorithm that is a key trade secret for a business like Google? "The internet is messy, dynamic and not just imperfect but imperfectible, something that is particularly important to understand in the context of forgetting and remembering. "That does not mean nothing can be done or should be done, but that the limitations on what can and should be done should be understood -- and the need to constantly reassess the situation accepted. "Very few of us want to be forgotten, but most of us would like more influence on how we are remembered -- and more importantly, how we are seen in the present, and how decisions about us are made and upon what basis."