Father’s day fun facts

While many people believe that Father's Day is a holiday invented by the fine folks at Hallmark, it's not so. The celebration of Dad's special day can most likely be credited to Mrs. John B. Dodd, of Washington State, who first suggested the idea of the holiday in 1909.

Mrs. Dodd's father, civil war veteran William Smart, was widowed when his wife died during childbirth with their sixth child. Despite the obvious hardships, Mr. Smart proceeded to raise the newborn along with his five other children, by himself.

It wasn't until Sonora Dodd became an adult that she realized the strength and selflessness her father had shown in raising his children as a single parent. The original date chosen for the holiday was June 5, Mr. Smart's birthday, however the celebration was postponed until June 19, the third Sunday in June, because there was not enough time to prepare.

At about the same time in various towns and cities across America other people were beginning to celebrate a Father's Day. Some accounts credit Mrs. Charles Clayton of West Virginia, as the founder of Father's Day, although most histories give credit to Mrs. Dodd.

In early times, wearing flowers was a traditional way of celebrating Father's Day. Mrs. Dodd favored the red rose to honor a father still living, while a white flower honored a deceased dad. J.H. Berringer, who also held Father's Day celebrations in Washington State as early as 1912, chose a white lilac as the Father's Day Flower.

In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea of a national Father's Day, but it never became official until 1966 when President Lyndon Johnson signed the presidential proclamation that set aside the 3rd Sunday of June as Father's Day

Helpful Hints

                 Pool Safety

Summer time=Pool Time Safety

ü  Assign an adult to supervise children in and around the swimming pool and spa. This is needed whether there is one parent or guardian present or numerous adults present such as during a family event or party.

ü  Remove children from the swimming pool and spa area for any distraction such as a telephone call, use of restroom, etc.

ü  Issue the adult supervisor an item such as a whistle, bracelet, etc. to reinforce which adult is in charge of the safety of the children.

ü  Remove children from the swimming pool and spa area for any distraction such as a telephone call, use of restroom, etc.

ü  Ensure any adult responsible for the children know the emergency services telephone number and also your location address in the event emergency personnel are needed to be called to the scene.

ü  Floaties or other inflatable flotation devices are not life jackets and should never be substituted for adult supervision.

ü  Learn how to perform Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR). 

ü  Have a fence enclosure that isolates your swimming pool and spa from the home, play areas, front and side yards and the neighbor’s yard .

ü  All chairs, tables, large toys or other objects that would allow a child to climb up to reach the gate latch or enable the child to climb over the isolation fence should be removed or kept inside the fenced area.

                 Healthy Habits

High blood pressure (also called hypertension) is a condition when there’s high pressure or tension in the arteries. Having high blood pressure, however, doesn’t mean that someone is suffering from high emotional distress, as we sometimes assume. But doctors and researchers believe stress might contribute to high blood pressure when the stress is excessive and persists for a long period of time. Here are some blood pressure facts:

·         In the United States, one in four adults has high blood pressure.

·         The World Health Organization estimates that high blood pressure causes approximately 62% of strokes and 49% of heart attacks.

·         A higher percentage of men than women have high blood pressure until age 55; from ages 55 to 74, the percentage of women is slightly higher; and from 75 on, a much higher percentage of women than men have high blood pressure.

Blood pressure normally goes up and down with everyday activity. For instance, your blood pressure will change when you’re exercising or sleeping. But as people get older, these changes in blood pressure start to exceed normal levels.

A doctor should check blood pressure rates regularly, during annual physicals or other medical visits. If yosuspectyou’rsuffering from high blood pressure, you should seek a doctor’s advice.

– Adapted from the website of AstraZeneca

Creative Corner

        Coffee Break

Chickens Take Flight

U.S. scientists recently built a device to launch dead chickens at the windshields of airliners and military jets. The idea of launching dead chickens at high speed was to simulate the frequent incidents of collisions with airborne poultry in order to test the strength of the windshields.

British engineers heard about the device and were eager to test it on the windshields of their new high-speed trains. So after the engineers made the proper arrangements, they tested the new apparatus.  But when the engineers fired it, they stood shocked as the chicken hurtled out of the device, blasted into the shatterproof shield, smashed it to smithereens, crashed through the control console, snapped the engineer’s backrest in two, and embedded itself in the back of the cabin.

Horrified, the British engineers sent the scientists the disastrous results of the experiment, along with the designs of the windshield, and begged the U.S. scientists for suggestions.  The scientists’ response was just one sentence:  “Thaw the chicken.”

– Adapted from jokes2go.com

Fascinating Facts

Rx: Willow Bark

The Greek physician Hippocrates prescribed the bark and leaves of the willow tree as a pain reliever and fever breaker more than 2,400 years ago. That’s because they were rich in a substance called salicin, a naturally occurring compound that is similar to the chemical acetylsalicylic acid, now commonly known as aspirin.

According to chemist Sophie Jourdier in Chembytes e-zine, aspirin as we know it today came about through the efforts of many researchers. In 1763, Reverend Edward Stone wrote to the Royal Society of Chemists that he accidentally had tasted willow tree bark and had been surprised by it’s bitterness. He subscribed to the belief that natural maladies often carry with them their cures and because the willow grew in a moist environment where rheumatic complaints often abounded, he tried it for relief and found it effective.

In the 1820s and 1830s, a series of breakthroughs and experiments made extraction from natural ingredients possible. Later the superior chemical components were derived and buffered (made easier on the stomach and mouth). In 1899 the Bayer company made aspirin powder available to physicians to give to patients and a year later introduced the first water soluble tablets that cut costs of the pain reliever by half making it widely available and popular.

– Adapted from www.pineconeresearch.ca