THIS Is Why ‘Green Coins’ Are Becoming A Currency In Amsterdam…

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December 18, 2016

THIS Is Why ‘Green Coins’ Are Becoming A Currency In Amsterdam…

Plastic is a huge part of our modern world. However, it’s one of the biggest factors for polluting it too.

Countless piles of plastic are scattered across the beautiful planet we live on. Even more are lost in the seas polluting and killing the sea life. One study suggested that 5 to 14 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year.

Getting people to recycle is hard. But one neighborhood in Amsterdam is going to change that with their brilliant solution to combine recycling with business.

The Noord district sits across the water from the rest of Amsterdam. It used to be pretty industrial. But in the last few decades it has been revived as a cultural and arts center in the city. As of early 2015, it’s also been the center of a world changing recycling experiment.

The neighborhood is turning bags of trash into what are essentially coupons for local shops.

Households that opt in get special rubbish bags for plastic waste. Once full, the bags go outside and someone comes to pick them up. A few days later, the house gets a package full of special green plastic coins.

Want a half-price beer? How about some free chocolate? Or discount yoga lessons? Those can all be paid for with green coins.

The coins can be used to get freebies or discounts from many local businesses and the number of participants is smoothly increasing.

At the Al Ponte cafe, overlooking Amsterdam’s river IJ, a green coin will get customers a – buy one get one free – deal on coffee. Cafe owner Silvia Salani told The Guardian that the program not only boosted her standing but also enticed new customers into her shop.

The project is still small and local, only about 700 households have signed up. However, it had a BIG effect. Since 2015, Wasted has collected roughly 16.5 tons of plastic rubbish.

The project has also changed hearts and minds. About half of the people in this scheme said they improved their habits. About a quarter said they ended up using less plastic altogether.

Imagine what would happen if social networks, app developers, game developers and environmental scientists join forces to make a real change in the world.

We can create apps, social games and businesses that work together to clean the beautiful planet we used to know.

They can use the social pressure and gratification present across social media to promote positive action for recycling and cleaning. You can level up and even make money for every pile of plastic collected.

It can be as fun as playing a game (consider what happened with Pokemon Go) and as gratifying as collecting likes on travel images. But instead of wasting time, we’ll actually make the world a cleaner place for future generations.

Amsterdam with its green coins, if anything, is showing the world that we can make a real difference if we focus our minds towards solving global problems.

Source: Upworthy;

People Will Be Talking About THIS Scene From ‘Planet Earth II’ For A Long Time To Come!

Dejan

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December 16, 2016

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People Will Be Talking About THIS Scene From ‘Planet Earth II’ For A Long Time To Come!

Nature is not all peace and happiness. There is a war amongst animals that has been going on since the beginning of life. It’s a war for survival.

This war has been forcing life to evolve, to produce new species with different features. Some of these features give animals advantage to camouflage, some give them speed, some give them sharp teeth, tough skin, wings to fly… All of these features ensure its species a better survival.

The war between the hunter and the pray is as epic as any war we’ve invented in any story. The greatest battle happens all around us, in the wilderness. And this scene is one of the most EPIC real life footages of the ‘animal war’:

Here Is The Song That Reduces Anxiety by Up to 65 Percent, According To Neuroscientists…

Dejan

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December 15, 2016

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Here Is The Song That Reduces Anxiety by Up to 65 Percent, According To Neuroscientists…

Learning how to manage stress is probably the wisest thing you can do for yourself.

We all hate that crippling feeling of anxiety, especially before a big event or a speech. It can be really negative to our performance and productivity.

Most people go for certain drugs to help them stay relaxed. However, what if you can keep your stress at bay simply by listening to a 5 min song?

That’s drastically healthier than filling yourself with pills. Scientists say creating a playlist of 10 MOST relaxing songs in the whole world is a POWERFUL trick.

But what are the 10 MOST relaxing songs in the world?

Even though most of us have a couple of personally chosen relaxation tunes that work best on ourselves, Neuroscientists have gathered together to sort out the best from the best.

Neuroscientists from UK made a study conducted on participants who attempted to solve difficult puzzles as quickly as possible while connected to sensors.

The puzzles induced a certain level of stress, and participants listened to different songs while researchers measured brain activity as well as physiological states that included heart rate, blood pressure, and rate of breathing.

According to Dr. David Lewis-Hodgson of Mindlab International, which conducted the research, the top song produced a greater state of relaxation than any other music tested to date.

In fact, listening to that one song “Weightless” resulted in a striking 65 percent reduction in participants’ overall anxiety, and a 35 percent reduction in their usual physiological resting rates.

Equally remarkable is the fact the song was actually constructed to do so. The group that created “Weightless”, Marconi Union, did so in collaboration with sound therapists.

Its carefully arranged harmonies, rhythms, and bass lines help slow a listener’s heart rate, reduce blood pressure and lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

Here is the song, enjoy:

Of the top track, Dr. David Lewis-Hodgson said, “‘Weightless’ was so effective, many women became drowsy and I would advise against driving while listening to the song because it could be dangerous.”

Here is the complete playlist of 10 most relaxing and stress releaving songs.

So don’t drive while listening to these, but do take advantage of them:

10. “We Can Fly,” by Rue du Soleil (Café Del Mar)
9. “Canzonetta Sull’aria,” by Mozart
8. “Someone Like You,” by Adele
7. “Pure Shores,” by All Saints
6. “Please Don’t Go,” by Barcelona
5. “Strawberry Swing,” by Coldplay
4. “Watermark,” by Enya
3. “Mellomaniac (Chill Out Mix),” by DJ Shah
2. “Electra,” by Airstream
1. “Weightless,” by Marconi Union

Someone made a public playlist from these songs on Spotify! (Let’s all say thanks!)

Source: INC;

THIS Strange Place Is Called ‘The Center Of The Universe’ Because Of One Unexplainable Phenomenon!

Philosophy

Dejan

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December 15, 2016

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THIS Strange Place Is Called ‘The Center Of The Universe’ Because Of One Unexplainable Phenomenon!

The world is full of mysterious places. Some of them are explainable, some of them are beyond any explanation.

As much as we think we understand the world around us, we must be reminded that there is still A LOT MORE to learn.

The “Center of the Universe” is a little-known mysterious place in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

At first glance it’s just a circle. But if you stand in the middle of the circle and make a noise, the sound is echoed back several times louder than it was made.

Even more strange, no one standing outside of the circle can hear a thing. It’s your own private amplified echo chamber.

The broken concrete is surrounded by a large circle of bricks, but nobody will ever notice it unless they start talking while standing in the middle.

If you talk while standing in the middle, you’ll hear your voice loudly echoing back at you, and nobody outside the circle will hear a thing.

As the legend goes, a foghorn could be going off in the center of the circle and those on the outside wouldn’t hear it.

This may be an exaggeration, but your voice does sound extremely distorted when heard from outside the circle. It’s an incredible effect.

Nobody knows why this happens. It’s a really strange phenomenon!

Source: Atlas Obscura;

Autistic Son Tries To Answer Homework Question, But When Dad Takes A Second Look His Heart Breaks…

Dejan

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December 14, 2016

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Autistic Son Tries To Answer Homework Question, But When Dad Takes A Second Look His Heart Breaks…

How desperately we try to hide the fact that we need each other. We need human connection almost as much as we need food and water. But friendship is more than that!

Friendship is something our soul craves. How beautiful it is to have someone walk beside you in this mystery we are all born into. And have fun along the way!

But not all people walk with someone beside them…

Here is the Facebook post one dad wrote that went viral around the world:

“For those of you who don’t know, my youngest son, Christopher, is on the autistic spectrum. I went to his back to school night on Thursday and took a picture of one of his projects displayed on the wall, one of many cute little cards that all the kids in his class had filled out. It asked him to list his favorite foods, sport, TV shows etc.

I took the picture hurriedly, and didn’t notice all the answers he had filled out at that time. It was only after I got home that something stood out upon closer review.

Do you guys remember, a couple of weeks ago, the massive amount of press that the Florida State Football player got when he sat down at the lunch table with an autistic boy that was eating alone? That player didn’t know the boy was on the autistic spectrum when he sat down with him…he just saw a boy eating lunch all by himself and decided to join him. A teacher snapped a picture of the moment and it went viral. That’s what made the story great….it wasn’t staged…it was just a real moment of human kindness.

The follow up to that story was that the boy no longer ate alone; that the other kids NOW were sitting with him and patting him on the back. That boy now had “friends”,B and everything was right with the world.

Something that wasn’t right was fixed, and tied up neatly with a pretty little bow of kindness and understanding.

But in my head, I asked “Where were those kids prior to this child being thrust into the spotlight? We know where they were: they’re in the picture: sitting at other tables, ignoring him.

If that football player had not sat down next to that child, and if it hadn’t become a national news story, that kid would still be sitting by himself today.

And it’s not their fault…. that’s the saddest part. They were clearly not taught to embrace and accept the differences of others. Not by their teachers, which would have been nice, had they thought to do so, but by their parents. I don’t mean to imply that parents that don’t have this conversation with their kids are bad people, but only that somewhere in between working, soccer practice, and homework, it never occurred to them to have this particular conversation.

I’m sure that if Christopher were typical (that’s the word we use instead of “normal” in our world of ‘Holland’, for our developmentally delayed children), I would have not had this conversation with him either.

Christopher’s brothers have had many, many sleepovers over the years, obviously in front of him, and it has not gone unnoticed.

“Can I have sleepover?” Christopher has asked.

“Sure, buddy….with whom?” As a response, he would flap his arms and stare instead of answering. He didn’t have an answer because he didn’t have a name.

Because he didn’t have a friend.

He’s never had a friend.

Ever.

He just turned eleven.

And because he’s had no friends….there was no one to invite.

And I don’t have a solution. I don’t have an answer. The reality is that I have to rely on the compassion of others to be incredibly understanding in order just to sit next to him, attempt to engage him, and make him feel included.

My son is very smart and has a great sense of humor. Every adult that meets him is drawn to him. However, because he needs the input, he will spontaneously flap his arms and make loud, guttural sounds from time to time.

It draws a lot of attention in public. If you’re not used to it, it’s normal to feel embarrassed, as you will have all the eyes in the room upon you. He will ask the same question fifty times in a short period of time (His latest is “What time do you go to bed?” and “What’s your addtess?”).

I typically have to tell servers in restaurants just to give him the restaurant’s address…as once he has a satisfactory answer, he will usually move on.

Like I said, there’s no easy answer for this…at the end of the day it comes down to compassion, empathy and understanding.

But mostly empathy. Not from you guys, but from your children. As far as I know, (save for one time), Christopher’s classmates have never been overtly cruel to him. What they have done, however, is to exclude him. And frankly, I understand this. His classmates are delayed as well, but most not as much as Christopher.

They are figuring out how to interact socially every day, and because Christopher cannot engage them in a typical way, he gets left behind…excluded.

Until Thursday, I didn’t know how aware he was of this divide, as he does not often talk about his peers. I should not have been surprised as he makes his wants (but not his emotional needs) very clear….but I was. Mostly, I suppose, because I had never seen him put in down on paper. For the first time, it was staring at me in the face.

I guess I’m sharing this because when asked to list his friends he wrote “no one”. Never have five letters cut so deep, and they weren’t even directed at me….it was just an overly simplistic statement that spoke volumes.

And because I know him so well, and because I have pretty good handle on him after raising him for eleven years, I know this disconnect makes him feel lonely, and it makes him sad.

Usually, I have to figure out what Christopher is trying to say, as his manner of speaking is very straightforward; very black and white.

This time I did not.

It’s clear to me that he desperately wants to be part of the group, but his challenges make it difficult for his peers to include him.

The only solution I can come up with is to share this with you and ask that you have a conversation with your kids. Please tell them that children with special needs understand far more than we give them credit for. They notice when others exclude them.

They notice when they are teased behind their back (a lot of times “behind their back” is right in front of them because they think the ‘different’ child doesn’t understand). But mostly they are very much in tune when they are treated differently from everyone else.

Trust me when I tell you this hurts them. Even if it’s not obvious to you and me.

For the first time ever, I’m going to ask for two favor, here, on Facebook.

One: Share this post on your time line. Awareness and empathy are the only solutions I can come up with.

Two: Speak with your children. Show them the video of the Florida State Football player. The Internet is full of feel-good stories about a special needs child being included. Remember the special needs child that was put in the basketball game for the last few minutes of the final game of the season? Very recently, there was the prom king who gave his crown to a special needs classmate.

These stories are newsworthy because they are unusual. We are not used to hearing about kids being kind to those that are different and unique.

I not so naive that I think this post is going to change the world. But, if, by sharing this, I can make you think about having a conversation with your children about empathy, about going out of their way to include those that are different from everybody else, especially if it goes against the group mentality, especially if it’s not socially poplar (I’m not so old that I don’t remember that this takes bravery…bravery to break from the confines of whet your friends think is cool in the middle and high school worlds), then I will feel like Christopher’s voice has been heard.

Because even though he can’t say it, he wants to be included.

He wants a voice, that, at the moment, he doesn’t have.

And he needs help to find his voice.

And the child that will finally reach out to him, that will help him, that will include him, will be the kindest child, the child that does the right thing by going above and beyond.

He will be Charlie Bucket.

And that child will be Christopher’s first true friend.

Thanks for listening.

Sincerely,

Christopher’s Dad”

Bob’s words are a reminder to us all to treat others with respect and dignity even when we don’t understand what they are going through.

Share and spread his message today.

Source: Inspire More;

THIS Is Why Orange Juice Is The BIGGEST Con Of Your Life!

Nutrition

Dejan

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December 13, 2016

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THIS Is Why Orange Juice Is The BIGGEST Con Of Your Life!

Do you remember the good old ‘complete breakfast’ that included eggs, a toast bread and an orange juice? Well I am sorry to tell you, but it was all just a BIG advertising propaganda!

Orange juice is NOT as healthy of a beverage as the media is presenting it to be. In fact, ‘juice isn’t too much better for you than a glass of soda or any other sweetened beverage!’ says Erin Brodwin, a writer at Business Insider.

Sure, it has some vitamins, but research shows the best way to get both of those nutrients is by eating a balanced diet full of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.

Drinking your fruits is kind of a shock to an organism which is naturally made to ingest them bite by bite. It’s a bomb of sugar, calories and vitamins where most do not get absorbed.

More importantly, since juicing fruit tends to remove most of its fiber (the key ingredient that keeps you feeling full and satisfied until your next meal), drinking a tall glass of OJ can leave you feeling pretty hungry rather quickly.

This is one of the reasons calories from sweetened beverages are often referred to as “empty calories” where the mixture is mostly sugar and water, and low in fiber, fats, and protein, and your body processes it relatively quickly.

Consistently indulging in beverages or other foods with a profile like this can increase hunger pangs and mood swings and leave you with low energy levels.

Here’s the nutritional profile for a 12-ounce glass of orange juice:

153 calories
34 grams of carbohydrates
27 grams of sugar
4 grams of protein
7 grams of fiber

That’s the same amount of carbs and just three grams less sugar than in a bag of M&Ms.

THIS Is Why Orange Juice Is The BIGGEST Con Of Your Life! 2 — Image Source: http://www.mms.com/us/nutrition;

So if you want a true healthy diet, instead of juicing your fruits and vegetables, eat them raw as it was intended. There is no need to complicate things.

Sources: Business Insider; IFLScience;

The Whole World Is Going Backwards! THIS Is Why…

Dejan

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December 13, 2016

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The Whole World Is Going Backwards! THIS Is Why…

One of the biggest wisdoms I have ever learned is that there is no straight line in Nature. ‘Straight’ is a concept of the mind; that’s why we perceive time as an arrow and cannot grasp the phenomenon of infinity.

However, in reality there are no perfect cycles, nor perfect straight lines; just like there is no solely male and solely female energy; in every Yin there is a little Yang and in every Yang there is a little Yin; everything is a mix of the 2 elements. Some things containing one element more than the other.

We live inside a Universe of cycles. We measure days, months, years, decades, millennia, bigger cycles like the axial precession and our Solar System orbiting around the Milky Way galaxy. These cycles, by themselves are circular. However, they are entangled with another element that by itself is straight; change, or like we use to call it, time.

Because of their entanglement, everything in The Universe progresses spirally. Everything comes back from where it started, but it’s not the same thing which returned; every day the sun comes up but not one day is the same as another.

The Universe is filled with such waves. Even in astrology there is a term ‘retrograde’ which means a planet is appearing to go backwards. In this period nothing seems to work, communication is disrupted, and even relationships are terminated.

We cannot just go forward in order to grow. We must take few steps backwards from time to time.

THIS is what’s happening with the world right now!

The whole world, the evolution of consciousness is having a retrograde moment.

Since 2012 the majority of the world started awakening. People dived deep into spiritual topics, sacred knowledge, highly conscious information.

The people started looking inward, dealing with their own demons and seeing the beauty that was around them for the first time since childhood.

We started seeing through all of our differences and the respect for one another grew. We created art, music, movies that penetrated deep with higher wisdom.

It felt like we are upgrading as species.

And suddenly, ALL OF THIS progress seem to have stopped!

People started showing their inner monsters, the world started seeming scarier and scarier, the excitement, the love we felt for one another, the higher knowledge… Everything started looking pointless. Annoying even!

Even movies, songs, everything turned backwards. We started recreating old stories. The world lost substance, like everything is all the same just in a different light!

According to astrologists, when Mercury is in retrograde, this period is dedicated to gaining insight about ourselves that we had no idea of. It’s a reality check, a period of attaining powerful wisdom and clarity.

It’s the same with the world today!

The consciousness of humanity is going in retrograde so we can get an insight about a part of ourselves we started neglecting, being blinded by the light of the higher spiritual knowledge.

Countless quotes, articles, videos about what’s right, how to open our eyes, how to awaken.. can blind us. They can make us forget about the people we coexist with. They can make us ignore the shadows inside ourselves. They can make us forget about what really matters!

It’s one thing to know what’s right, it’s another to implement it in the world. Light by itself is just brightness and darkness is its absence. It’s what you do with both that matters.

When something is shining really bright we can be blinded. Sometimes we need darkness to dim the light so we can see what’s shining. Because that’s what REALLY matters in the end. That’s what gives the light. That’s what we really need to study and understand.

All the spiritual knowledge can make you idle, blind to reality. It can make you live in false paradise without sense of what we really need to work on as species.

The TRUTH is: the world needs healing! That’s why our mutual evolution of consciousness arrived at a sudden stop. It’s a self defense mechanism of our psyche, letting us know that we cannot turn our back to the wounds we have caused to each other and pretend everything is alright.

This is why you shouldn’t worry about the world seeming to go backwards.

We needed to take few steps backward so we can understand a little better the knowledge we have acquired. Because the knowledge by itself is not important, it’s the way we’ll use it and what we’ll use it for.

These moments seem like a test because that’s how we perceive them; it seems like you’ve been given lessons, theory, and suddenly you are out on the field, all by yourself, needing to implement in practice what you have learned.

And that’s when we grow!

When you choose to do what’s right even when majority of the world says otherwise. When you choose to go forward even when the wind is blowing against you. That’s when you use the essence of what you have learned!

That’s when the choice is all yours, purely honest. Your intent is not based on being socially accepted, on fear, or on following some new trend. You are not running away from anything! You are driven solely because you believe what you do is right.

In those moments YOU grow more than acquiring all spiritual knowledge in the world.

And now is the time for us to implement all of those quotes in action!

Now is the time to practice what we preach!

Now is the time to invent new things, to bring a new substance of stories in the world!

Now is the time to make that leap of faith!

Now is NOT the time to be the change we want to see in the world, but the time to MAKE THE CHANGE WE WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD!

Now is the time to act!

To grow!

To show who we really are as humans!

To unite!

It’s game time!

New Radical Theory SHATTERS What We Know Of Parallel Universes, Space And Time…

Dejan

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December 4, 2016

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New Radical Theory SHATTERS What We Know Of Parallel Universes, Space And Time…

Howard Wiseman of Griffith University in Australia led a team that has created a new, groundbreaking theory.

The theory suggests that multiple other universes exist in the same space and time as our own, and even interact with one another on the quantum level, says IFL Science.

Quantum Theory can be a very complicated idea to grasp, as on a quantum level matter do not behave following the same physical and universal laws we are familiar with.

This new theory is NOT the same as the “Many Worlds Theory” as it suggests something else which is pretty radical.

The new so called “Many Interacting Worlds Theory” suggests that after an event happens (like asteroid hitting Earth) numerous universes are created with all possible outcomes of that event (ours being the one where dinosaurs were wiped out) and all these universes interact with one another.

The previous theory claimed that these universes are parallel to ours and run in a separate space but at the same time, never interacting.

HOWEVER,

“Many Interacting Worlds Theory” claims these parallel universes depend on one another, interacting and running at the same space and time as ours. It suggests that if we study it better, we can actually invent interdimensional travel to another universe from the one we are at.

Michael Hall is the lead author of the paper, which was published in the journal Physical Review X. To understand their theory they say we can think of a deck of cards where each card is an event.

When you have a full deck of cards, the one you turn over could be any single outcome, until you turn it. When you turn it over it forces one particular outcome to occur.

The parallel universes overlap and take up the same space and time simultaneously, like the deck of cards. They exist in all possible configurations until an observer forces one state to exist.

This could mean that consciousness is the factor which determines the universe it’ll pick from the deck of universes forcing the outcome itself.

“The beauty of our approach is that if there is just one world our theory reduces to Newtonian mechanics, while if there is a gigantic number of worlds it reproduces quantum mechanics. In between it predicts something new that is neither Newton’s theory nor quantum theory,” Wiseman said.

“We also believe that, in providing a new mental picture of quantum effects, it will be useful in planning experiments to test and exploit quantum phenomena.”

The brilliance of this theory is that it unites many groundbreaking discoveries about the quantum world, like quantum entanglement and the one that demonstrated observing influences what is being observed (The Observer Effect). For example, for us to “see” an electron, a photon must first interact with it, and this interaction will change the path of that electron.

The response from the physics community has been mixed, ranging from exhilarating excitement and support to some calling it ‘a huge waste of time’!

However, taking in consideration what we know about the quantum world, nothing is strange. In the past it was hard for us to even imagine leaving this planet and exploring other planets.

Maybe someday we can access parallel universes, have interdimensional travel, which could possibly lead to time travel. And this theory can be one of the foundations that enable us.

Sources:
– https://journals.aps.org/prx/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevX.4.041013;
– IFL Science;