Mental Health

Mental health is a term used to describe either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental disorder.^[1][2] From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience.^[1] Mental health is the capacity to express our emotions and adapt to a range of demands

The World Health Organization defines mental health as "a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community”.^[3] It was previously stated that there was no one "official" definition of mental health. Cultural differences, subjective assessments, and competing professional theories all affect how "mental health" is defined.^[4

History

See also: History of mental disorders

In the mid-19th century, William Sweetzer loser was the first to clearly define the term "mental hygiene", which can be seen as the precursor to contemporary approaches to work on promoting positive mental health.^[5] Isaac Ray, one of thirteen founders of the American Psychiatric Association, further defined mental hygiene as an art to preserve the mind against incidents and influences which would inhibit or destroy its energy, quality or development.^[5]

At the beginning of the 20th century, Clifford Beers founded the National Committee for Mental Hygiene and opened the first outpatient mental health clinic in the United States.^[5][6]

Perspectives

Mental wellbeing

Mental health can be seen as a continuum, where an individual's mental health may have many different possible values.^[7] Mental wellness is generally viewed as a positive attribute, such that a person can reach enhanced levels of mental health, even if they do not have any diagnosable mental health condition. This definition of mental health highlights emotional well-being, the capacity to live a full and creative life, and the flexibility to deal with life's inevitable challenges. Many therapeutic systems and self-help books offer methods and philosophies espousing strategies and techniques vaunted as effective for further improving the mental wellness of otherwise healthy people. Positive psychology is increasingly prominent in mental health.

A holistic model of mental health generally includes concepts based upon anthropological, educational, psychological, religious and sociological perspectives, as well as theoretical perspectives from personality, social, clinical, health and developmental psychology.^[8][9]

An example of a wellness model includes one developed by Myers, Sweeney and Witmer. It includes five life tasks — essence or spirituality, work and leisure, friendship, love and self-direction—and twelve sub tasks—sense of worth, sense of control, realistic beliefs, emotional awareness and coping, problem solving and creativity, sense of humor, nutrition, exercise, self care, stress management, gender identity, and cultural identity—are identified as characteristics of healthy functioning and a major component of wellness. The components provide a means of responding to the circumstances of life in a manner that promotes healthy functioning. Most of the US Population is not educated on Mental Health.^[10]

Lack of a mental disorder

Mental health can also be defined as an absence of a major mental health condition (for example, one of the diagnoses in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) though recent evidence stemming from positive psychology (see above) suggests mental health is more than the mere absence of a mental disorder or illness. Therefore the impact of social, cultural, physical and education can all affect someone's mental health.

MORNING WALK AS EXERCISE

KNOW ABOUT WALKING

Walking stretches your mind and your soul. It is dynamic mind & body process which creates a sense of rhythm. As you listen to your own silent rhythm, the pulse of life, your own heartbeat - you become whole, a complete man - fit in Mind, Body and Soul.

Walking energizes you, awakens you and stills your mind to fully relax. With the change of mind your moods change and you experience a physical and a spiritual upliftment. As you relax, your perception change and you reach from the everyday conscious mind to your highest level of mind - the intuitive mind. Your subconscious cuts through the mental clutter, releasing latent vitality and creativity, transcending traditional linear thinking and helping you find a creative solution.

There are many ways you could possibly benefit yourselves from i.e. an exercise as simple as morning walk. In today’s irritatingly fast world, you deprive your self of the much needed oxygen that is anyways getting depleted with the time. The earliest hours in the morning would probably give you fresh oxygen and quality time to spend with the greenery and beauty around you that perhaps only writers and poets around you seem to notice.

The oxygen that you get early in the morning also gives you great amount of energy especially to your joints. The movement in your legs releases good cholesterol in your blood, opening up some of the "chakras" or channels of energy. By constantly moving your joints, you increase your blood circulation in a way that can only be completed with your daily morning walk.

Awareness walking is a walking meditation. Focusing on the rhythm of the breath and rhythm of each step, we induce a state of a deep relaxation and self awareness. Adding mind-body technique to walking, we can provide greater relaxation and stress management, and can turn a routine walk into a creative & rejuvenating experience.

WHY WALKING

Ordinarily, in today’s hectic world, its quite possible that amidst so much that’s happening around you, makes you feel that an ideal life is but a living dream (which may remain as one) and you tend to lose out on great many things that the future holds for you. A great walk in the woods while admiring nature talks to you in many ways than one. For many of us this may be one of those things for which you either need luck or perhaps the time. And most of us believe that these are never in one’s grasp.

Much of the time our bodies are sluggish and our blood never gets an airing. Oxygen is rarely allowed to surge through our veins making us feel energetic, alive and vital. But exercise can change all that. It rejuvenates and revitalizes the body's cells, releasing muscular tension and relishing our energy levels. Exercise motivates, energizes and empowers. "The easiest way to change yourself is physically". 'Physical change quick'. So kick, start your day with a morning walk. They will tone and energizes you and connect you with your inner rhythms. Walking decreases stress hormones and increases relaxation hormones (beta-endorphins) which elevate your mood and increase your sense of well being.

Walking is natural mood elevator. It helps in promoting feelings of happiness and can ease mild depression. Walking gets you going, revs up your circulation and gives you the energy to get through the day.

The human body is the ultimate exercise machine and walking is the easiest and safest way for most people to re-energizes their bodies and burn away the harmful affects of stress. In other words, to experience health, fitness and deep relaxation, walk.

Walking can be a whole philosophy of life. After all, from the moment we rise in the morning till we climb into bed at night, we are on and off our feet.

MORNING WALK AS EXERCISE

This is perhaps the most overlooked and neglected form of exercise. Because it sounds and look easy, most of us do not bother to walk, but prefer to sign up for expensive aerobic classes and spend a lot of time in a gym.

We recommend walking as exercise since it costs nothing, requires no partner and expensive gadgets, but will burn nearly the same calories as jogging does. It does not burden the body, instead if done in calm and peaceful surroundings like a park or country road, it will let off the tension in your mind and body.

Morning Walk

Ordinarily, in today’s hectic world, its quite possible that amidst so much that’s happening around you, making you feel that an ideal life is but a living dream, (which may remain as one), you tend to lose out on great many things that the future holds for you. A great walk in the woods while admiring nature talks to you in many ways than one. For many of us this may be one of those things for which you either need luck or perhaps the time. And most of us believe that these are never in one’s grasp.

There are many ways you could possibly benefit from an exercise as simple as morning walk. Up front, in today’s irritatingly fast world, you deprive your self of the much needed oxygen, that is anyways getting depleted with time. The earliest hours in the morning would probably give you this and the quality time to spend with the greenery around you, and observe around you things that only perhaps writers and poets around you seem to notice.

The oxygen that you get earliest in the morning also gives great amount of energy especially to your joints. The movement in your legs releases the good cholesterol in your blood, opening up some of the "chakras" or channels of energy, constantly moving your joints and increasing your blood circulation in a way that can only be completed with your daily morning walk.

Benefits of a great stroll

Besides a lot of things put together, a lot of people have noticed that despite the universally addictive feeling of laziness to leave their cosy bed, realize that a stroll helps in reducing stress. The wintry air in the morning that is at its coolest, soothes your nerves and allows your toxins to get cleared.

A naturally available medicine, your morning walk also allows you to get rid of any gastric blockages that might not allow you to get a sound sleep, and also adding to the excesses of pain to your body. Most diabetics have noticed a remarkable decline in their blood sugar levels, thanks to their regular promenades, especially the one taken earliest in the morning.

A boon to those who thanks to their heredity are blessed with diabetes, the morning walk is supposed to be the best option only next to their insulin injections. By and large these people who have to make the insulin injections their best friend have noticed that regular walks in the morning can also let them bid farewell to these forever! If you don’t believe me, just try it once for at least a month, I can guarantee you that you shall observe a marked difference in your entire lifestyle.

Its true that the things that work best in this world are expensive, and it cannot be more true than in the case of getting up early. What’s really the additional benefit is that morning walks are most of the time responsible for inducing great sleep. Titillating the pituitary gland, the oxygen which is best given to us by our green friends, (plants) the entire bodily system is revitalized helping the skin glow at its maximum. The facial muscles are royally treated with the windy atmosphere, lowering your blood pressure and helping you deal with a normalcy that you thought medicines would allow you to! Well, let me tell you that you thought wrong! And if you’ve already had a good walk in the morning, your cardio vascular exercise is completed and your body has completed its full circle, making you look at life rather differently and bringing in some harmony too!

Walk and the Woman

Most women complained of the excessive work that bogs them down and also that for at least four to five days in a month when they are going through their menstrual cycle, it becomes increasingly difficult for them to cope up with this routine. For them my advise to them is that you could include a special diet of bananas in your diet earliest in the morning for breakfast. Corn flakes and bananas are known to be the killers of PMS. Once the initial depression that menstruation brings in is battled, you can be sure that your walk may not be all that stressful, instead you can take it as a good stroll in the morning, making you enjoy your days and relieve you of the unnecessary hassles of being a woman! Think about it! Some food for thought!

History of the Atomic Bomb

n August 2, 1939, just before the beginning of World War II, Albert Einstein wrote to then President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Einstein and several other scientists told Roosevelt of efforts in Nazi Germany to purify uranium-235, which could be used to build an atomic bomb. It was shortly thereafter that the United States Government began the serious undertaking known then only as "The Manhattan Project." Simply put, the Manhattan Project was committed to expediting research that would produce a viable atomic bomb.

Making Enriched Uranium

The most complicated issue to be addressed in making of an atomic bomb was the production of ample amounts of "enriched" uranium to sustain a chain reaction. At the time, uranium-235 was very hard to extract. In fact, the ratio of conversion from uranium ore to uranium metal is 500:1. Compounding this, the one part of uranium that is finally refined from the ore is over 99% uranium-238, which is practically useless for an atomic bomb. To make the task even more difficult, the useful U-235 and nearly useless U-238 are isotopes, nearly identical in their chemical makeup. No ordinary chemical extraction method could separate them; only mechanical methods could work.

A massive enrichment laboratory/plant was constructed at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Harold Urey and his colleagues at Columbia University devised an extraction system that worked on the principle of gaseous diffusion, and Ernest Lawrence (inventor of the Cyclotron) at the University of California in Berkeley implemented a process involving magnetic separation of the two isotopes.

Next, a gas centrifuge was used to further separate the lighter U-235 from the heavier, non-fissionable U-238. Once all of these procedures had been completed, all that needed to be done was to put to the test the entire concept behind atomic fission ("splitting the atom," in layman's terms).

Robert Oppenheimer - Manhattan Project

Over the course of six years, from 1939 to 1945, more than $2 billion was spent during the history of the Manhattan Project. The formulas for refining uranium and putting together a working atomic bomb were created and seen to their logical ends by some of the greatest minds of our time. Chief among the people who unleashed the power of the atom was Robert Oppenheimer, who oversaw the project from conception to completion.

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War^[1] (often abbreviated WWII or WW2), was a global military conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945 which involved most of the world's nations, including all great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, with more than 100 million military personnel mobilised. In a state of "total war," the major participants placed their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities at the service of the war effort, erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources. Marked by significant action against civilians, including The Holocaust and the first use of nuclear weapons in warfare, it was the deadliest conflict in human history,^[2] with over seventy million casualties.

The start of the war is generally held to be September 1, 1939, with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by France and most of the countries of the British Empire and Commonwealth. Many countries were already at war by this date, such as Ethiopia and Italy in the Second Italo-Abyssinian War and China and Japan in the Second Sino-Japanese War.^[3] Many that were not initially involved joined the war later in response to events such as the German invasion of the Soviet Union and the Japanese attacks on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor and on British overseas colonies, which triggered declarations of war on Japan by the United States, the British Commonwealth,^[4] and the Netherlands.^[5]

In 1945 the war ended in an Allied victory and a changed world. While the United Nations was established to foster international cooperation and prevent future conflicts, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as two rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the acceptance of the principle of self-determination accelerated decolonization movements in Asia and Africa, while Western Europe began moving toward economic recovery and increased political integration.

World War I

World War I was a military conflict that lasted from 1914 to 1918 and involved most of the world's great powers,^[1] assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies (centred around the Triple Entente) and the Central Powers.^[2] More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilized in one of the largest wars in history.^[3][4] More than 15 million people were killed, making it one of the deadliest conflicts in history.^[5] This war (abbreviated as WW-I, WWI, or WW1) is also known as the First World War, the Great War, the World War (prior to the outbreak of the Second World War), and the War to End All Wars.

The assassination on 28 June 1914 of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, is seen as the immediate trigger of the war, though long-term causes, such as imperialistic foreign policy, played a major role. Ferdinand's assassination at the hands of a Bosnian Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip resulted in Habsburg ultimatum against the Kingdom of Serbia.^[6] Several alliances that had been formed over the past decades were invoked, so within weeks the major powers were at war; with all having colonies, the conflict soon spread around the world.

The conflict opened with the German invasion of Belgium, Luxembourg and France; the Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia and a Russian attack against Prussia. After the German march on Paris was brought to a halt, the Western Front settled into a static battle of attrition with a trench line that changed little until 1917. In the East, the Russian army successfully fought against the Austro-Hungarian forces but were forced back by the German army. Additional fronts opened with the Ottoman Empire joining the war in 1914, Italy in 1915 and Romania in 1916. Imperial Russia left the war in 1917. After a 1918 German offensive along the western front, American forces entered the trenches and the German armies were driven back in a series of successful allied offensives. Germany surrendered on Armistice Day, November 11, 1918.

By the war's end, four major imperial powers—the German, Russian, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires—had been militarily and politically defeated, with the last two ceasing to exist.^[7] The revolutionized Soviet Union emerged from the Russian Empire, while the map of central Europe was completely redrawn into numerous smaller states.^[8] The League of Nations was formed in the hope of preventing another such conflict. The European nationalism spawned by the war, the repercussions of Germany's defeat, and of the Treaty of Versailles would eventually lead to the beginning of World War II in 1939.^[9]

Is a dog really a man's best friend?

Even if you're strictly a bona fide cat lover, it's nearly impossible not to be moved by the brand of loyalty unique to dogs. Buddhists believe that on the day that the Bud­dha died, he summoned all animals to his side. Only members of 12 species -- dogs among them -- reached him before his death. He rewarded those who came with a year of their own, which is why the cat has no sign in the Chinese zodiac.

Dog Pictures

Courtesy Muramasa
The mounted remains of Hachiko, on display at the Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo.

Although not every dog is necessarily friendly by nature, stories emerge from time to time of a dog becoming separated from his or her family and undertaking an incredible journey toward reunion. Dogs are used in therapy for Alzheimer's disease and in clinical settings as comfort for the terminally ill. And consider this: Between Jan. 19 and Jan. 31, 2008, no fewer than five different families in the United States and Canada were saved by their dogs when their homes caught fire. All of this substantiates the old saying that dogs are man's -- and woman's -- best friend. One breed of dog is especially prized for its fierce loyalty. The Akita is a fluffy dog that favors its wolf ancestors, with pointed ears that stand on end, a slightly scrunched face, and a tail that curls in a loop back toward its body. It hails from the Akita region of Japan, a prefecture (or state) in the north of the island. Originally all light in color, the Akita was first mentioned in Japanese literature around A.D. 712, and is depicted on much older pottery excavated in that country.

Helen Keller asked for and was given an Akita after she toured the country in 1937 and learned the story of Chu-ken Hachiko (in Japanese, "faithful dog Hachiko") [source: Dog and Kennel].

Are dogs humankind's best friends? The answer is a subjective one, but the story of Hachiko that inspired Helen Keller to adopt an Akita may be the closest we can get to objective evidence. Learn why Hachiko became Japan's adopted national dog, on the next page.

Nuclear weapon

A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter; a modern thermonuclear weapon weighing little more than a thousand kilograms can produce an explosion comparable to the detonation of more than a billion kilograms of conventional high explosive.^[1]

Thus, even single small nuclear devices no larger than traditional bombs can devastate an entire city by blast, fire and radiation. Nuclear weapons are considered weapons of mass destruction, and their use and control has been a major focus of international relations policy since their debut.

In the history of warfare, only two nuclear weapons have been detonated offensively, both near the end of World War II. The first was detonated on the morning of 6 August 1945, when the United States dropped a uranium gun-type device code-named "Little Boy" on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The second was detonated three days later when the United States dropped a plutonium implosion-type device code-named "Fat Man" on the city of Nagasaki, Japan. These bombings resulted in the immediate deaths of around 120,000 people (mostly civilians) from injuries sustained from the explosion and acute radiation sickness, and even more deaths from long-term effects of ionizing radiation. The use of these weapons was and remains controversial.

Since the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, nuclear weapons have been detonated on over two thousand occasions for testing purposes and demonstration purposes. A few states have possessed such weapons or are suspected of seeking them. The only countries known to have detonated nuclear weapons—and that acknowledge possessing such weapons—are (chronologically) the United States, the Soviet Union (succeeded as a nuclear power by Russia), the United Kingdom, France, the People's Republic of China, India, Pakistan, and North Korea. Israel is also widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, though it does not acknowledge having them.^[2]

Mobile phone

A mobile phone or mobile (also called cellphone and handphone^[1]) is an electronic device used for mobile telecommunications (mobile telephone, text messaging or data transmission) over a cellular network of specialized base stations known as cell sites. Mobile phones differ from cordless telephones, which only offer telephone service within limited range, e.g. within a home or an office, through a fixed line and a base station owned by the subscriber and also from satellite phones and radio telephones. As opposed to a radio telephone, a cell phone offers full duplex communication, automates calling to and paging from a public land mobile network (PLMN), and handoff (handover) during a phone call when the user moves from one cell (base station coverage area) to another. Most current cell phones connect to a cellular network consisting of switching points and base stations (cell sites) owned by a mobile network operator. In addition to the standard voice function, current mobile phones may support many additional services, and accessories, such as SMS for text messaging, email, packet switching for access to the Internet, gaming, Bluetooth, infrared, camera with video recorder and MMS for sending and receiving photos and video, MP3 player, radio and GPS.

The International Telecommunication Union estimated that mobile cellular subscriptions worldwide would reach approximately 4.6 billion by the end of 2009. Mobile phones have gained increased importance in the sector of Information and communication technologies for development in the 2000s and have effectively started to reach the bottom of the economic pyramid.^[2]

^HISTORY

In 1908, U.S. Patent 887,357 for a wireless telephone was issued to Nathan B. Stubblefield of Murray, Kentucky. He applied this patent to "cave radio" telephones and not directly to cellular telephony as the term is currently understood.^[3] Cells for mobile phone base stations were invented in 1947 by Bell Labs engineers at AT&T and further developed by Bell Labs during the 1960s. Radiophones have a long and varied history going back to Reginald Fessenden's invention and shore-to-ship demonstration of radio telephony, through the Second World War with military use of radio telephony links and civil services in the 1950s, while hand-held mobile radio devices have been available since 1973. A patent for the first wireless phone as we know today was issued in US Patent Number 3,449,750 to George Sweigert of Euclid, Ohio on June 10, 1969.

In 1945, the zero generation (0G) of mobile telephones was introduced.^{[citation needed]} Like other technologies of the time, it involved a single, powerful base station covering a wide area, and each telephone would effectively monopolize a channel over that whole area while in use.

In 1960, the world’s first partly automatic car phone system Mobile System A (MTA)|MTA was launched in Sweden. With MTA, calls could be made and received in the car to/from the public telephone network, and the car phone could be paged. The phone number was dialed using a rotary dial. Calling from the car was fully automatic, while calling to it required an operator. The person who wanted to call a mobile phone had to know which base station the mobile phone was covered by. The system was developed by Sture Laurén and other engineers at Televerket network operator. Ericsson provided the switchboard while Svenska Radioaktiebolaget (SRA) owned by Ericsson and Marconi provided the telephones and base station equipment. MTA phones were consisted of vacuum tubes and relays, and had a weight of 40 kg. In 1962, a more modern version called Mobile System B (MTB) was launched, which was a push-button telephone, and which used transistors in order to enhance the telephone’s calling capacity and improve its operational reliability. In 1971 the MTD version was launched, opening for several different brands of equipment and gaining commercial success.^[4][5]

The concepts of frequency reuse and handoff, as well as a number of other concepts that formed the basis of modern cell phone technology, were described in the 1970s; see for example Fluhr and Nussbaum,^[6] Hachenburg et al.^[7] , and U.S. Patent 4,152,647, issued May 1, 1979 to Charles A. Gladden and Martin H. Parelman, both of Las Vegas, Nevada and assigned by them to the United States Government.

Martin Cooper, a Motorola researcher and executive is considered to be the inventor of the first practical mobile phone for hand-held use in a non-vehicle setting, after a long race against Bell Labs for the first portable mobile phone. Cooper is the first inventor named on "Radio telephone system" filed on October 17, 1973 with the US Patent Office and later issued as US Patent 3,906,166;^[8] other named contributors on the patent included Cooper's boss, John F. Mitchell, Motorola's chief of portable communication products, who successfully pushed Motorola to develop wireless communication products that would be small enough to use outside the home, office or automobile and participated in the design of the cellular phone.^[9][10] Using a modern, if somewhat heavy portable handset, Cooper made the first call on a hand-held mobile phone on April 3, 1973 to his rival, Dr. Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs.^[11]

IMPORTANCE OF TRESS

There are many ways in which trees can be valuable to us and to the environment as a whole. Here are a few of them...

• Trees provide food for us to eat. There are species of trees that provide fruit, nuts, starch, Olive oil etc.
• Trees provide sweets for us to eat as well. Chocolate comes from the Cocoa tree. Maple syrup is from the Sugar maple tree.
  
• Trees are used to make juices such as Apple, Orange, Lemon etc.
  
• Trees are used to make hot drinks. Coffee and Cocoa trees are the most well known but others such as the Linden are used for herbal teas.
  
• Trees provide spices to flavor our food and drinks with such as Cinnamon or Cloves.
• Trees are used to make fragrances. Mahogany is used as a base note in a good number of perfumes. Bay leaf or Cypress are used in the middle notes while trees such as Eucalyptus or Lemon are used in the top notes.
• Trees are the source of essential oils. Sweet Orange, Cedarwood or Blue Gum are sources of important essential oils.
• Trees are the source of medicines. A few medicinal trees are the Benjamin, Camphor or Rauwolfia.
• Trees are used in toothpaste. Natural XYLITOL from Birch trees is used in Squigle toothpaste.
  
• Paper is made from trees. The pulp that paper is made from comes mostly from softwood trees such as Poplar, Pine, Larch etc. With this would be included cardboard, carton, etc.
  
• Trees are also the source of rubber. Although the Ficus Elastica is called the rubber tree most rubber is made from the sap (called Latex) of the Para Rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis).
• Trees are used to make soap. Olive, Argan, Coconut, Cocoa and Brazilnut oil are all used to make hand soaps. One of the earliest trees used in the making of soap was the Cassia tree.
• Trees are also used in cosmetics make things such as exfoliators, lotions or toners.
• Trees are used in tattooing. Henna from Lawsonia inermis has been used for body art for thousands of years.
• Trees are used in aromatherapy. The Bergamot orange (Citrus aurantium ssp. bergamia) or Lemon scented gum (Corymbia citriodora) trees are fine examples.
  
• Trees are used to make musical instruments. One of the secrets of the violin resides in the wood it is made of. Spruce and Maple are two of the key woods.
  
• Trees are used to make tools. Many different hardwoods such as Oak are used to make axe and spade handles.
  
• Trees are used for firewood and cooking charcoal. The harder the wood the longer and hotter it burns. Holm oak is a great example.
  
• Trees are used to make homes and shelters for people and animals. Wherever trees are readily available they have been used to make homes and shelters. In the northwest United States Western Redcedar or Ponderosa Pine are used as timber for construction.
  
• Trees are used to make liquor. In Spain the acorns of Oak trees are used to make Acorn liquor.
• Trees are used to make clothing. In primitive tribal societies in Papua New Guinea the bark of several tree species was pounded into a thin semi-flexible cloth and made into skits and capes. Large leaves are also used to cover certain body parts by tucking the leaves into a belt.
• Baskets can be made from trees. One example is small baskets made from pine needles.
  
• Trees are used to make furniture. Pine and Fir wood is favored by the Northern Europeans while Oak, Beech or Walnut is used in countries such as Germany and Switzerland.
  
• Trees are an important source of shade. Some Ficus species provide an almost total blockage of the sunlight while others such as the Persian Lilac or Blue Jacaranda provide a more pleasant shade.
  
• Trees are used to make rafts, canoes and other small boats. Birch bark was used by native Americans on their canoes. The bark was stretched over a wood frame that was sometimes made of cedar.
  
• Trees are used in hunting. Yew trees have long been used for making hunting bows. Trees have also been used bow hunters who stand in elevated platforms to wait for their prey to pass. Young trees have also been used to make traps.
  
• Trees are used to make fences. Apart from fence post in Europe some tree species such as Holm oak or Ash are planted long fence lines to support and form part of the fence as living fence posts.
  
• Trees are used to as ornamental trees to beautify gardens, avenues and parks. The London plane is the arch-typical urban tree while trees such as the common cypress have been used to make tree "sculptures".
  
• Trees are important because they clean the air we breath. Many people don´t realize that the substance that trees are mostly made of (the carbon) comes not from the ground but from the air. Trees convert CO2 into oxygen that we need to breath.
  
• Trees stabilize hillsides and keep top soil from being washed away.
• Trees scrub carbon from the air and help store it.
• Trees help keep river courses from eroding into banks.
• Trees provide food and shelter to many species of birds and animals.
• Trees have important roles in many religious belief systems. Buddha is associated with the Sacred Fig tree.
  
• Trees are important national, state and local symbols. The Oak of Guernica is a very important symbol for the Basque people for example.
  
• Trees are historical landmarks.
  
• Trees stabilize the environment.
• Trees are used to make paper for books, magazines and newspapers.
• Trees are used to make artifacts and carvings. Carvings of masks, figurines, animals, idols, etc are common in most native cultures.
  
• Trees are used to make shoes. In Northern Europe wooden shoes called "Clogs" are made from Willow, Poplar, Birch, Beech and Alderwood.
  
• Trees have been used to make airplanes. The famous "Spruce Goose" giant airplane that is now on display at the Evergreen Aviation and Space museum in Oregon is made almost entirely of wood.
• The ground shells of the Black Walnut tree are used as a polishing abrasive and as an additive in well-drilling mud.

History of Weapons

Prehistoric weapons

An array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools.

Very simple weapon use has been seen in some communities of chimpanzees.^[1], leading to speculation that early hominids may have first used weapons five million years ago.^[2] but these would probably have been wooden clubs, spears and unshaped stones—none of which would leave an unambiguous record.

The earliest unambiguous examples of weapons are:

• Eight wooden throwing spears, the Schöninger Speere, which have been dated to around 400,000 years old.^[3]
• By 250,000 years ago wooden spears were made with fire-hardened points^{[citation needed]}
• The oldest atlatl dates back to 27,000 years ago^{[citation needed]}.
• Throwing sticks are also some of the earliest types of weapons.

[edit] Ancient and classical weapons

A four-wheeled ballista drawn by armored cataphract horses, c. 400.

Ancient weapons were initially simply improvements of the late neolithic versions, but then significant improvement in materials and techniques created a series of revolutions in military technology:

The use of metal, first starting with copper during the Copper Age from about 3,300 BC, followed shortly by bronze led to the Bronze Age sword and other similar weapons.

The first defensive structures such as fortifications also appeared in the Bronze Age.^[4] Weapons designed to be used against fortifications followed soon after: the battering ram was in use by 2500 BC ^[4]

Although the early Iron Age swords were not necessarily superior to their bronze predecessors, once iron-working developed - around 1200 BC in Sub-Saharan Africa^[5], iron began to be used widely in weapons^[6] because iron ore is much more common than the copper and tin required for bronze.

The domestication of the horse, and the widespread usage of the spoked wheel by ca. 2000 BC^[7], led to the light, horse-drawn chariot. Chariots for use in battle were important in this era^{[citation needed]}. The earliest spoke-wheeled chariots date to ca. 2000 BC and their usage peaked around 1300 BC, then declined, ceasing to have military importance by the 4th century BC^[8].

Cavalry developed once horses were bred to support the weight of a man .

Purpose-built warships such as the Triremes were in use by the 7th century BC^[9], eventually being replaced by larger ships by the 4th century BC.

[edit] Tactics and organization

As technology progressed, so did the level of organization of armies and empires. This led to the first professional armies which allowed aggressive, militaristic empires to develop.

While the early Greek armies focused on physical training, a key advance employed by the Roman army was the use of more complex tactics to gain additional advantage over their enemies.^[10]

Pet Horse

The horse (Equus ferus caballus)^[3][4] is a hooved (ungulate) mammal, a subspecies of the family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today. Humans began to domesticate horses around 4000 BCE, and their domestication is believed to have been widespread by 3000 BCE. Although most horses today are domesticated, there are still endangered populations of the Przewalski's Horse, the only remaining true wild horse, as well as more common populations of feral horses which live in the wild but are descended from domesticated ancestors. There is an extensive, specialized vocabulary used to describe equine-related concepts, covering everything from anatomy to life stages, size, colors, markings, breeds, locomotion, and behavior.

Horses' anatomy enables them to make use of speed to escape predators and they have a well-developed sense of balance and a strong fight-or-flight instinct. Related to this need to flee from predators in the wild is an unusual trait: horses are able to sleep both standing up and lying down. Female horses, called mares, carry their young for approximately 11 months, and a young horse, called a foal, can stand and run shortly following birth. Most domesticated horses begin training under saddle or in harness between the ages of two and four. They reach full adult development by age five, and have an average lifespan of between 25 and 30 years.

Horse breeds are loosely divided into three categories based on general temperament: spirited "hot bloods" with speed and endurance; "cold bloods", such as draft horses and some ponies, suitable for slow, heavy work; and "warmbloods", developed from crosses between hot bloods and cold bloods, often focusing on creating breeds for specific riding purposes, particularly in Europe. There are over 300 breeds of horses in the world today, developed for many different uses.

Horses and humans interact in a wide variety of sport competitions and non-competitive recreational pursuits, as well as in working activities such as police work, agriculture, entertainment, and therapy. Horses were historically used in warfare, from which a wide variety of riding and driving techniques developed, using many different styles of equipment and methods of control. Many products are derived from horses, including meat, milk, hide, hair, bone, and pharmaceuticals extracted from the urine of pregnant mares. Humans provide domesticated horses with food, water and shelter, as well as attention from specialists such as veterinarians and farriers.

History of Cricket

Origin

No one knows when or where cricket began but there is a body of evidence, much of it circumstantial, that strongly suggests the game was devised during Saxon or Norman times by children living in the Weald, an area of dense woodlands and clearings in south-east England that lies across Kent and Sussex. In medieval times, the Weald was populated by small farming and metal-working communities. It is generally believed that cricket survived as a children's game for many centuries before it was increasingly taken up by adults around the beginning of the 17th century.^[1]

It is quite likely that cricket was devised by children and survived for many generations as essentially a children’s game. Adult participation is unknown before the early 17th century. Possibly cricket was derived from bowls, assuming bowls is the older sport, by the intervention of a batsman trying to stop the ball from reaching its target by hitting it away. Playing on sheep-grazed land or in clearings, the original implements may have been a matted lump of sheep’s wool (or even a stone or a small lump of wood) as the ball; a stick or a crook or another farm tool as the bat; and a stool or a tree stump or a gate (e.g., a wicket gate) as the wicket.^[2]

Derivation of the name of "cricket"

A number of words are thought to be possible sources for the term "cricket". In the earliest known reference to the sport in 1598 (see below), it is called creckett. The name may have been derived from the Middle Dutch krick(-e), meaning a stick; or the Old English cricc or cryce meaning a crutch or staff.^[2] Another possible source is the Middle Dutch word krickstoel, meaning a long low stool used for kneeling in church and which resembled the long low wicket with two stumps used in early cricket.

According to Heiner Gillmeister, a European language expert of Bonn University, "cricket" derives from the Middle Dutch met de (krik ket)sen (i.e., "with the stick chase"), which also suggests a Dutch connection in the game's origin. It is more likely that the terminology of cricket was based on words in use in south east England at the time and, given trade connections with the County of Flanders, especially in the 15th century when it belonged to the Duchy of Burgundy, many Middle Dutch^[3] words found their way into southern English dialects.^[4]

IMPORTANCE OF WATER

"I'm dying of thirst!"

Well, you just might. It sounds so simple. H20. Two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen. But this substance better known as water, is the most essential element, next to air, to our survival. Water truly is everywhere, still most take it for granted.

Water makes up more than two thirds of the weight of the human body, and without it, we would die in a few days. The human brain is made up of 95% water, blood is 82% and lungs 90%. A mere 2% drop in our body's water supply can trigger signs of dehydration: fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on smaller print, such as a computer screen. (Are you having trouble reading this? Drink up!) Mild dehydration is also one of the most common causes of daytime fatigue. An estimated seventy-five percent of Americans have mild, chronic dehydration. Pretty scary statistic for a developed country where water is readily available through the tap or bottle.

Water is important to the mechanics of the human body. The body cannot work without it, just as a car cannot run without gas and oil. In fact, all the cell and organ functions made up in our entire anatomy and physiology depend on water for their functioning.

• Water serves as a lubricant
• Water forms the base for saliva
• Water forms the fluids that surround the joints.
• Water regulates the body temperature, as the cooling and heating is distributed through perspiration.
• Water helps to alleviate constipation by moving food through the intestinal tract and thereby eliminating waste- the best detox agent.
• Regulates metabolism

In addition to the daily maintenance of our bodies, water also plays a key role in the prevention of disease. Drinking eight glasses of water daily can decrease the risk of colon cancer by 45%, bladder cancer by 50% and it can potentially even reduce the risk of breast cancer. And those are just a few examples! As you follow other links on our website, you can read more in depth about how water can aid in the prevention and cure of many types of diseases, ailments and disorders that affect the many systems of our bodies.

Since water is such an important component to our physiology, it would make sense that the quality of the water should be just as important as the quantity. Drinking water should always be clean and free of contaminants to ensure proper health and wellness.

---

According to recent news and reports, most tap and well water in the U.S. are not safe for drinking due to heavy industrial and environmental pollution. Toxic bacteria, chemicals and heavy metals routinely penetrate and pollute our natural water sources making people sick while exposing them to long term health consequences such as liver damage, cancer and other serious conditions. We have reached the point where all sources of our drinking water, including municipal water systems, wells, lakes, rivers, and even glaciers, contain some level of contamination. Even some brands of bottled water have been found to contain high levels of contaminants in addition to plastics chemical leaching from the bottle.

A good water filtration system installed in your home is the only way to proactively monitor and ensure the quality and safety of your drinking water. Reverse osmosis water purification systems can remove 90-99% of all contaminants from city and well water to deliver healthy drinking water for you and your family.

Food and Growyh

The Food Guide Pyramid is a guideline for healthy eating. The pyramid is flexible enough for everyone. We don't need specific foods for growth and health, but we need specific nutrients that come from a lot of different foods. Eating many different foods gives us energy and a lot of other nutrients such as protein, carbohydrates, fat and different vitamins and minerals. So, try to eat at least the smallest amount of servings from each of the food groups every day.

The milk, cheese and yogurt group provide protein, calcium and vitamin D which are all needed for strong bones, teeth and muscles. Milk, yogurt, cheese and pudding all fit into this section of the pyramid. Meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dry beans and peas, nuts and seeds supply protein, iron, B vitamins and some minerals for strong muscles and healthy blood.

Breads, cereals, rice, pasta and other grain products are a good source of complex carbohydrates, which give us the energy we need for our active lives. They also provide the B vitamins, iron, other minerals and fiber. Crackers, muffins, pancakes, grits, oatmeal and cereals are also found in this group. Vegetables provide Vitamin A (beta carotene) and Vitamin C, complex carbohydrates and fiber. They also provide the B vitamins, calcium, potassium, and other minerals. Vegetables are needed to help us in the fight against many diseases including cancer.

Fruit supplies Vitamin A (beta carotene) and vitamin C, potassium and some other minerals to keep our skin, eyes and gums healthy. Fruit is also a good source of carbohydrate and fiber. Enjoy fruits for a nutritious, sweet snack. What about snack foods that we all like to eat sometimes? Small amounts of candy, soft drinks, and other sweets can be eaten occasionally if you fill up on foods from the basic food groups first. But remember, these foods should not be eaten everyday. Try snacking on foods that come from each of the different food groups of the food pyramid.

Ice Hockey

Ice hockey is played on a large flat area of ice, using a three inch (76.2 mm) diameter vulcanized rubber disc called a puck. This puck is often frozen before high-level games to decrease the amount of bouncing and friction on the ice. The game is contested between two teams of skaters. The game is played all over North America, Europe and in many other countries around the world to varying extent. It is the most popular sport in Canada, Finland, Latvia, the Czech Republic, and in Slovakia.

The governing body is the 66-member International Ice Hockey Federation, (IIHF). Men's ice hockey has been played at the Winter Olympics since 1924, and was in the 1920 Summer Olympics. Women's ice hockey was added to the Winter Olympics in 1998. North America's National Hockey League (NHL) is the strongest professional ice hockey league, drawing top ice hockey players from around the globe. The NHL rules are slightly different from those used in Olympic ice hockey: the periods are 20 minutes long, counting downwards. There are three periods.

Ice hockey sticks are long L-shaped sticks made of wood, graphite, or composites with a blade at the bottom that can lie flat on the playing surface when the stick is held upright and can curve either way, legally, as to help a left- or right-handed player gain an advantage.

There are early representations and reports of ice hockey-type games being played on ice in the Netherlands, and reports from Canada from the beginning of the nineteenth century, but the modern game was initially organized by students at McGill University, Montreal in 1875 who, by two years later, codified the first set of ice hockey rules and organized the first teams.

Ice hockey is played at a number of levels, by all ages.

History of Medicine

Prehistoric medicine incorporated plants (herbalism), animal parts and minerals. In many cases these materials were used ritually as magical substances by priests, shamans, or medicine men. Well-known spiritual systems include animism (the notion of inanimate objects having spirits), spiritualism (an appeal to gods or communion with ancestor spirits); shamanism (the vesting of an individual with mystic powers); and divination (magically obtaining the truth). The field of medical anthropology examines the ways in which culture and society are organized around or impacted by issues of health, health care and related issues.

Early records on medicine have been discovered from ancient Egyptian medicine, Babylonian medicine, Ayurvedic medicine (in the Indian subcontinent), classical Chinese medicine (predecessor to the modern traditional Chinese Medicine), and ancient Greek medicine and Roman medicine. Earliest records of dedicated hospitals come from Mihintale in Sri Lanka where evidence of dedicated medicinal treatment facilities for patients are found.^[4][5]

Early Greek doctor Hippocrates, known as the Father of Medicine,^[6][7] laid the foundation for a rational approach to medicine. Hippocrates invented the Hippocratic Oath for physicians, which is still relevant and in use today and was the first to categorize illnesses as acute, chronic, endemic and epidemic, and use terms such as, "exacerbation, relapse, resolution, crisis, paroxysm, peak, and convalescence"^[8][9]. The Greek physician Galen was one of the greatest surgeons of the ancient world and performed many audacious operations —including brain and eye surgeries— that were not tried again for almost two millennia. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the onset of the Dark Ages, the Greek tradition of medicine went into decline in Western Europe, although it continued uninterrupted in the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire.

After 750, the Muslim Arab world had Hippocrates' and Galen's works translated into Arabic, and Islamic physicians engaged in some significant medical research. Notable Islamic medical pioneers include polymath Avicenna, who, along with Hippocrates, has also been called the Father of Medicine,^[10][11] Abulcasis, the father of surgery, Avenzoar, the father of experimental surgery, Ibn al-Nafis, the father of circulatory physiology, and Averroes.^[12] Rhazes, who is called the father of pediatrics, was one of first to question the Greek theory of humorism, which nevertheless remained influential in both medieval Western and medieval Islamic medicine.^[13] However, overall mortality and morbidity levels in the medieval Middle East and medieval Europe did not significantly differ one from the other, which indicates that there was no major medical "breakthrough" to modern medicine in either region in this period. The fourteenth and fifteenth century Black Death was just as devastating to the Middle East as to Europe, and it has even been argued that Western Europe was generally more effective in recovering from the pandemic than the Middle East.^[14] In the early modern period, important early figures in medicine and anatomy emerged in Europe, including Gabriele Falloppio and William Harvey.

History of Sports

There are artifacts and structures that suggest that the Chinese engaged in sporting activities as early as 4000 BC.^[1] Gymnastics appears to have been a popular sport in China's ancient past. Monuments to the Pharaohs indicate that a number of sports, including swimming and fishing, were well-developed and regulated several thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt.^[2] Other Egyptian sports included javelin throwing, high jump, and wrestling. Ancient Persian sports such as the traditional Iranian martial art of Zourkhaneh had a close connection to the warfare skills.^[3] Among other sports that originate in Persia are polo and jousting.

A wide range of sports were already established by the time of Ancient Greece and the military culture and the development of sports in Greece influenced one another considerably. Sports became such a prominent part of their culture that the Greeks created the Olympic Games, which in ancient times were held every four years in a small village in the Peloponnesus called Olympia.^[4]

Sports have been increasingly organized and regulated from the time of the Ancient Olympics up to the present century. Industrialization has brought increased leisure time to the citizens of developed and developing countries, leading to more time for citizens to attend and follow spectator sports, greater participation in athletic activities, and increased accessibility. These trends continued with the advent of mass media and global communication. Professionalism became prevalent, further adding to the increase in sport's popularity, as sports fans began following the exploits of professional athletes through radio, television, and the internet—all while enjoying the exercise and competition associated with amateur participation in sports.

In the new millennium, new sports have been going further from the physical aspect to the mental or psychological aspect of competing. Electronic sports organizations are becoming more and more popular.

Activities where the outcome is determined by judgement over execution are considered performances, or competition.

Sports

A sport is commonly defined as an organized, competitive, and skillful physical activity requiring commitment and fair play. It is governed by a set of rules or customs. In a sport the key factors are the physical capabilities and skills of the competitor when determining the outcome (winning or losing). The physical activity involves the movement of people, animals and/or a variety of objects such as balls and machines. In contrast, games such as card games and board games, though these could be called mind sports, require only mental skills. Non-competitive activities such as jogging and rock-climbing, are usually classified as recreations.

Physical events such as scoring goals or crossing a line first often define the result of a sport. However the degree of skill in some sports such as diving, dressage and figure skating is judged according to well-defined criteria. This is in contrast with other judged activities such as beauty pageants and body-building shows, where skill does not have to be shown and the criteria are not as well defined.

Accurate records are kept and updated for most sports at the highest levels, while failures and accomplishments are widely announced in sport news. Sports are most often played just for fun or for the simple fact that people need exercise to stay in good physical condition. However professional sport is a major source of entertainment.

Although they do not always succeed, sports participants are expected to display good sportsmanship, standards of conduct such as being respectful of opponents and officials, and congratulating the winner when losing.

Field Hockey

Field hockey is played on gravel, natural grass, sand-based or water-based artificial turf, with a small, hard ball. The game is popular among both males and females in many parts of the world, particularly in Europe, Asia, Australia, and South Africa. In most countries, the game is played between single-sex sides, although they can be mixed-sex.

The governing body is the 116-member International Hockey Federation (FIH). Men's Field hockey has been played at each summer Olympic Games since 1908 (except 1912 and 1924), while Women's Field Hockey has been played each summer Olympic Games since 1980.

Modern field hockey sticks are J-shaped and constructed of a composite of wood, glass fibre or carbon fibre (sometimes both) and have a curved hook at the playing end, a flat surface on the playing side and curved surface on the rear side. While current field hockey appeared in the mid-18th century in England, primarily in schools, it was not until the first half of the 19th century that it became firmly established. The first club was created in 1849 at Blackheath in south-east London. Field hockey is the national sport of India and Pakistan[1].

Health and Food

Are you an oatmeal breakfast junkie? Or do you avoid it at all costs? People are usually oatmeal lovers or oatmeal haters. Not too many in between. I love oatmeal, but I also make sure to dress it up so it’s flavorful and packed with nutrition. Oatmeal can be pretty boring and mushy otherwise, right? I’ve noticed lots of people kind of forget that they can add stuff to their oatmeal, and just go on eating it plain. It can get boring very quickly…and then you’re back to the dreaded bagel & cream cheese.

All oatmeal is not created equally. You want to avoid most of the pre-packaged packets that you microwave. They’re highly processed and usually contain unnecessary sugar and preservatives. If you have the time, steel cuts oats are one of the best options because they’re all natural whole grains and not processed. If you’re short on time, look for quick-cooking steel cut oats or any other old-fashioned oats with one ingredient. You can add lots of flavor later. I usually mix my oatmeal with water, but occasionally add a dash of soy milk for some creaminess.

Body and Fashion

Body Image

This page looks at how different societies view the body silhouette, the body image as ugly or beautiful. It examines some of the ways individuals have manipulated their body image, to gain the cultural ideal of an era.

Fashion history shows the most desirable body image of a fashion era is most often achieved by distorting the figure by enlargement or reduction, or by flattening or moving parts into new positions.

The Fashion Silhouette

Fashion is a shape, a changing shape. That shape is mainly formed and controlled by some device which affects part of the body's natural outline. What is considered beautiful in the eyes of one race may be thought horrific in another. Beauty then is in the eye of the beholder, and for centuries beauty has been shape.

Cosmetic Surgery

In the Western world the outlines of women's bodies have been controlled by corsetry and petticoat constructions. But now many consumers have their figure faults corrected by cosmetic surgery with implants or liposuction fat reduction. Plastic surgery was originally developed thousands of years ago in India for treating injuries and birth defects. Then just over a century ago in 1885 when local anaesthetics were invented, surgeons began performing various cosmetic operations.

In 1901 the first face lift was done by Eugene Hollander of Berlin. The wealthy liked face lifts. A face lift meant they could actually buy some youth, even though the body cells were ageing.

Body and Breast Enhancement

Body image can be adapted to accommodate changing fashions. In the 1920s some women endured breast reductions so they could wear the flat boyish fashions. By the 1930s the breast in all its glory was soon back in fashion. The fuller the bosom the better. Expensive surgical enlargement was often done for people such as actresses, but not talked about much. More recently the silhouette from various angles has been manipulated even more by cosmetic surgery.

Nowadays people with ordinary incomes view breast enlargement as their right to satisfy emotional and fashionable needs. People of every age group have become obsessed by their body image. Older teenage girls particularly favour breast implants. Liposuction, tummy tucks, nose jobs, lip manipulation and implants for fuller breasts have all become popular in search of the ideal silhouette.

History of the Olympics

According to legend, the ancient Olympic Games were founded by Heracles (the Roman Hercules), a son of Zeus. Yet the first Olympic Games for which we still have written records were held in 776 BCE (though it is generally believed that the Games had been going on for many years already). At this Olympic Games, a naked runner, Coroebus (a cook from Elis), won the sole event at the Olympics, the stade - a run of approximately 192 meters (210 yards). This made Coroebus the very first Olympic champion in history.

The ancient Olympic Games grew and continued to be played every four years for nearly 1200 years. In 393 CE, the Roman emperor Theodosius I, a Christian, abolished the Games because of their pagan influences.

Approximately 1500 years later, a young Frenchmen named Pierre de Coubertin began their revival. Coubertin is now known as le Rénovateur. Coubertin was a French aristocrat born on January 1, 1863. He was only seven years old when France was overrun by the Germans during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Some believe that Coubertin attributed the defeat of France not to its military skills but rather to the French soldiers' lack of vigor.* After examining the education of the German, British, and American children, Coubertin decided that it was exercise, more specifically sports, that made a well-rounded and vigorous person.

PET

A pet is an animal kept for companionship and enjoyment or a household animal, as opposed to livestock, laboratory animals, working animals or sport animals, which are kept for economic reasons. The most popular pets are noted for their loyal or playful characteristics, for their attractive appearance, or for their song. Pets also generally seem to provide their owners with non-trivial health benefits;^[1] keeping pets has been shown to help relieve stress to those who like having animals around. There is now a medically-approved class of "therapy animals," mostly dogs, that are brought to visit confined humans. Walking a dog can provide both the owner and the dog with exercise, fresh air, and social interaction.