Are You Soakin? It Up?

?And holding it way down inside you like an old sponge? Be careful. Just like an old sponge that's held its liquid a little too long, we may start to get stinky in a day or two. I'm referring to "soaking up" all that wonderful information that comes to us mainly through our televisions, radios and computers. Information that is then refortified and nourished through conversations with our friends or relatives.

It's unfortunately a fact of life. Every minute of every day, the media presents "news" that is frequently disturbing. Coverage of terrorist acts, wars, airline crashes, natural disasters ? all kinds of information that show, sometimes in graphic detail, the tragic events of our world and the how they are impacting the lives of our fellow man. As I write this, the TV is blanketed with video footage, stories, commentary, interviews and speculation related to the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. The devastation is truly mind-boggling.

Here's the problem. Many of us humans have a tendency to become over-focused on these events. For some strange reason, beyond a reasonable desire to be informed, we find ourselves sitting in front of our televisions or our computers viewing, listening to and reading everything we can about the current "terrible event". We are "soakin' it up"!

The unfortunate result is that we soon start to feel the negative emotions associated with our current focus. Don't get me wrong. It's normal ? and good ? to empathize ? to feel compassion toward those people who are experiencing tough times. That's just a nice expression of our love toward our fellow man. It's not good for us personally however, to dwell on the negatives ? to continually shove this stuff into our little brains to ferment into mind sludge. Whether we consciously realize it or not, it won't take long for our bodies to respond to this mental goo. We may find that we're not feeling quite as well as we did a few days ago. We may find it harder to deal with the pressures of our personal lives. We may notice that our patience level has dropped somewhat ? that we're now kind of cranky and out of sorts. Whatever the effect, it's our body's normal reaction to a bombardment of negatives.

So here's a suggestion. If you find that you've been spending a lot of time in front of your TV or computer soaking up negatives - and you are having a tendency to "feel" the emotions associated with this mental input, take a break from it. Switch to the cartoon channel, watch a comedy video, take a walk, bathe the dog, read a book, work on your stamp collection, play with your kids, mow the lawn, go to the mall ? anything that will divert your attention away from the yucky stuff and more toward those things you enjoy doing. Give your mind a healing dose of positives. Trust me ? you'll feel better?

Gene Simmons, through NuPathz.com, provides an easy reading self-help blog, articles, quotations, thoughts and links along with affordable self-help and self improvement books & materials - all designed to help folks find the road to a more enjoyable lifestyle, to pass on some of life's "secrets for survival" in a chaotic world & offer a few smiles along the way. It's a down-to-earth, simple approach to discovering a better life. You can visit Gene at http://www.nupathz.com/

recurring cleaning service Mundelein ...

In The News:

Uber teen accounts now feature live video streaming from the driver's camera, but encrypted recordings stay on Uber's servers for up to 14 days.

Router firewalls and software firewalls serve different roles in protecting your home Wi-Fi from unwanted traffic and suspicious connections.

A Chrome extension with 70,000 users and a 4.7-star rating began injecting fake update warnings after a threat actor acquired and weaponized it.

Amazon's Alexa+ rolls out free to Fire TV devices across the U.S., but hands-free microphones and stored voice data raise key privacy questions.

Meta's new teen accounts settlement sets a default two-hour daily limit on Instagram and Facebook, plus night mode and school mode restrictions.

The CareCloud data breach exposed Social Security numbers, banking information and medical records belonging to more than 3.75 million people.

Waymo reveals its custom 5-nanometer chip and dual computing systems designed to take over instantly if the robotaxi's primary computer fails.

Identity theft now includes account takeover, phone hijacking and payment card exposure. Here's what to look for in identity theft protection services.

Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

The FBI and Justice Department seized domains tied to QScan and QTRouter, tools allegedly used by China-linked hackers to breach NASA and other agencies.

Uber Eats drone delivery launches later this year through a Zipline partnership, starting in Dallas and Houston with a goal of one million daily flights.

Medicare Open Enrollment scams start with data broker targeting months before October. Learn why August is the time to remove your personal info.

The World Humanoid Robot Games' crashes show how far the technology still needs to go to be useful, "Survivor" reality TV star and robotics scientist Christian Hubicki says.

X-Humanoid's TianGong Ultra ran 100 meters in 9.32 seconds at Beijing's World Humanoid Robot Games, beating last year's winner by more than half.

A tap-to-pay charity scam is turning small $15 or $20 donations into charges of nearly $5,000, with victims losing thousands before they notice.

Kurt Knutsson shares seven emergency preparedness lessons from surviving Hurricane Katrina inside a New Orleans hotel as conditions turned desperate.

A contractor stored credentials in a Google Doc set to "Anyone with the link," and Google Search autocomplete eventually surfaced the password string.

New Orleans 911 uses Carbyne AI to triage repeat auto crash calls, but strict limits keep human call-takers in control of all other emergencies.

A single card skimmer can generate $1 million in stolen funds, and Secret Service video shows criminals installing them in under two seconds.

ChatGPT, Meta AI and Google now use memory, connected apps and past chats to personalize ads and responses in ways most users overlook today.

MagicalAuth by Glide.id uses cryptographic SIM credentials to verify bank logins without sending SMS OTP codes that scammers can intercept or phish.

A humanoid robot named Lightning Bolt ran 100 meters in 9.39 seconds at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, edging Usain Bolt's record.

An AI agent using Claude AI canceled another person's gym booking after finding a security flaw in the reservation system's authorization checks.

Trump signed a memorandum allowing vetted private U.S. companies to conduct cyber operations against foreign criminal organizations under oversight.

Your Social Security number appeared in a breach, but exposure and identity theft are not the same. Here's how identity restoration actually works.

Are You Soakin? It Up?

Stress Management