Awkward! Oprah mistaken for whoopi Goldberg at Oscars

Before the 2016 Oscars began, fashion blog Total Beauty made the unfortunate attempt to weigh in on the Oscars went horribly wrong when it confused an image of Whoopi Goldberg for Oprah Winfrey. The website Total Beauty tweeted a photo of Goldberg showing off her massive shoulder tattoo with the caption: "We had no idea Oprah was tatted, and we love it." The website responded,. "We'd like to apologize to Oprah and Whoopi, as well as everyone we've offended. It was our error, and there are no excuses. We're sorry."

The tweet was eventually deleted, but nevertheless made its way to Oprah herself. Best friend Gayle King posted a photo of the media mogul's reaction on Instagram, writing, "@Oprah & favorite daughter watching #Oscars & seeing @totalbeauty snafu! We all love @whoopigoldberg but we don't all look alike Jeeeze!"

Maxy sez : How to Avoid Nerve Damage and Infection When You Have Type 2 Diabetes

By Everyday Health Editors
Over time, the presence of too much glucose in your cells can injure the walls of the tiny blood vessels called capillaries that deliver blood to your nerves, especially in the legs. This can cause tingling, numbness, burning, or pain.

Poorly controlled blood glucose can even cause you to lose all sense of feeling in the affected limbs – and a loss of feeling in your feet makes you more vulnerable to injury and infection. Let’s say you get a blister or small cut on your foot that you don’t feel: Because you don’t know it’s there, you may miss the symptoms of an infection in the wound. It’s imperative for you to check your feet regularly to avoid this and be meticulous in your foot care, because untreated infections can result in gangrene (the death of tissue) and may lead to the amputation of the affected limb or toes.

Diabetes can also make it more difficult for your body to fight infections in general. Various skin conditions are linked to diabetes, and even the most minor cuts or sores can turn serious fast. Any bumps, cuts, or scrapes should be cleaned and treated with an antibiotic cream and monitored carefully.

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Nerve Damage: What to Watch For

If you notice any of these symptoms associated with nerve damage or infection, see your doctor:

Inflammation and tenderness anywhere on your body
Red, itchy rash surrounded by small blisters or scales
Cuts, sores, or blisters on your feet that are slow to heal and are not as painful as you would expect (due to a loss of sensation)
Numbness, tingling, or burning sensations in your hands or feet, including your fingers and toes
Sharp pain that gets worse at night
Muscle weakness that makes walking difficult
Bladder infections and problems with bladder control
Bloating, stomach pain, constipation, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea

Erectile dysfunction in men and vaginal dryness in women
Remember: If you keep your blood-glucose levels on target, you can help prevent or delay nerve damage. If you already have nerve damage, this will help prevent or delay further damage. You should also speak to your doctor about other treatments that can help.
Maxy sez  stay tune for next week  post .

Next step: Protecting Your Kidneys

Obesity linked to 'bad memory'

People who are obese have a worse memory than their thinner friends, a small study shows.

Tests on 150 people showed being overweight was linked to worse "episodic memory" or the ability to remember past experiences.

The study in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology argues that a less vivid memory of recent meals may lead to overeating.

However, other aspects of memory - such as general knowledge - were unaffected.

Tests on rats have previously shown that with burgeoning waistlines come poorer performances in memory tests, but the evidence in humans has been mixed.

The latest experiments looked at episodic memory - the video tape in your mind - that remembers the smell of a cup of coffee or the feel of holding someone's hand.

Of fifty people with a Body Mass Index (BMI) ranging from 18 (healthy) to 51 (very obese) who took part in a memory test - a bit like doing a treasure hunt on your own.

They had to "hide" objects at different times and on different scenes displayed on a computer screen.

They were later asked to recall what they had hidden, when and where. The results showed obese people's scores were 15% lower than thinner people.

 Can't remember what I had for dinner



Dr Lucy Cheke, from the University of Cambridge, said, "The suggestion we're making is that a higher BMI is producing reduction on the vividness of memory, although they're not drawing blanks and having amnesia.

"But if they have a less strong memory of a recent meal, with a less strong impact in the mind, then they may have less ability to regulate how much they eat later on."

Hunger hormones play a huge role in how much we eat, but it is already recognized that our minds have a key role too.

People watching TV while they have their dinner have been shown to eat more or feel hungrier sooner.

And those with amnesia will repeat meals in a short period of time.  Dr Cheke concluded: "It is too early to talk in terms of advice, but we are certainly beginning to observe the mechanisms with which obesity perpetuates itself.

"Concentrating on your food intake has been a recommendation for a long time, but that may be a harder if you're overweight."

The other factor to be aware of is that a high carb intake just creates a craving for more carbs. Combine that with a poor memory of what one has already eaten and you have the recipe for obesity.

"Hopefully knowing what's going on will help us to develop ways of helping people."

Maxy sez : Type 2 Diabetes Is the Leading Cause of Kidney Disease: Here’s How to Avoid It

By Everyday Health Editors
Type 2 diabetes increases your risk of kidney disease, or diabetic nephropathy. This condition develops when the network of tiny blood vessels in your kidneys are damaged to the point that they can no longer filter out waste properly. If kidney problems are left untreated, you may eventually need dialysis (a treatment to filter out waste products from the blood) or even a kidney transplant.

Symptoms of Diabetes-Related Kidney Disease

Typically, you won’t notice symptoms of kidney disease until it has advanced, so it’s important to have your kidney function checked every year.

If you experience any of the following symptoms, tell your doctor as it may indicate kidney trouble:

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Swelling in your ankles and legs
Leg cramps
A need to go to the bathroom more often at night
A reduction in your need for insulin
Nausea and vomiting
Weakness and paleness
Itching
The best way to prevent kidney problems is to have your urine, blood, and blood pressure monitored regularly and to keep your blood-glucose levels and your blood pressure under control.

Hey, wait a minute !

Food for Thought : Potatoes

Do you love potatoes ? Potatoes are definitely America's favotite vegetable . Each year we consume  about  110 pounds  of potatoes  per person . Potatoes are packed  with healthful carbohydrates , vitamins , minerals and fiber . A medium size potato  with the skin gives you nearly 4 grams of fiber .Potatoes are low in fat  an excellent source of calcium . Enjoy  your potatoes  with the following tips  :

When purchasing potatoes  , look for ones  that are fairly clean  and smooth .

Store them in a cool  , dark place  with high humidity , but not the refrigerator . Do not store your potatoes and onions  together . Onions ptoduce gas  that speeds up the decay of potatoes .

Before baking potatoes  , make sure you pierce the skin with a fork  a few times . This allows  steam to escape during  cooking .

Use chicken broth  and milk instead of cream and butter  for mashed potatoes . Chop or slice potatoes  and mix with olive oil , onions  and spices , such as  garlic  for a great side dish .

                                                                                          Peanut Butter Potato Chip Cookies :

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

The following recipe can be doubled if you wish. Do not, however, double the baking soda. Use one and a half teaspoons.

1 cup softened butter (2 sticks, 1⁄2 pound, 8 ounces)
2 cups white (granulated) sugar
3 Tablespoons molasses
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 beaten eggs (just whip them up in a glass with a fork)
2 cups crushed salted potato chips (measure AFTER crushing) (I used regular thin unflavored Lay’s potato chips)

2- 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)

1- 1⁄2 cups peanut butter chips (I used Reese’s, a 10-ounce by weight bag. I know that’s close to 2 cups, but I like lots of peanut butter chips in these cookies)

TIP : The butter in this recipe should be at room temperature unless you have an un-insulated kitchen and it’s winter in Minnesota. In that case, you’d better soften it a little.

TIP : 5 to 6 cups of whole potato chips will crush down into about 2 cups. Crush them by hand in a plastic bag, not with a food processor. They should be the size of coarse gravel when they’re crushed.

Mix the softened butter with the white sugar and the mo lasses. Beat them until the mixture is light and fluffy, and the molasses is completely mixed in.

Add the vanilla and baking soda. Mix them in thoroughly.

Break the eggs into a glass and whip them up with a fork. Add them to your bowl and mix until they’re thoroughly incorporated.

Put your potato chips in a closeable plastic bag. Seal it carefully (you don’t want crumbs all over your counter) and place the bag on a flat surface. Get out your rolling pin and roll it over the bag, crushing the potato chips inside. Do this until the pieces resemble coarse gravel. (If youcrush them too much, you won’t have any crunch—crunch is good in these cookies.)

Measure out 2 cups of crushed potato chips and mix them into the dough in your bowl.

Add one cup of flour and mix it in.

Then add the second cup of flour and mix thoroughly.

Add the final half cup of flour and mix that in.

Measure out a cup and a half of peanut butter chips and add them to your cookie dough. If you’re using an electric mixer, mix them in at the slowest speed. You can also take the bowl out of the mixer and stir in the chips by hand.

Let the dough sit on the counter while you prepare your cookie sheets.

Spray your cookie sheets with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray, or line them with parchment paper, leaving little “ears” at the top and bottom. That way, when your cookies are baked, you can pull the paper, baked cookies and all, over onto a wire rack to cool.

Drop the dough by rounded teaspoons onto your cookie sheets, 12 cookies on each standard-sized sheet.

TIP : I used a 2-teaspoon cookie scoop at The Cookie Jar. It’s faster than doing it with a spoon.

Bake your Peanut Butter Potato Chip Cookies at 350 degrees F. for 10 to 12 minutes or until nicely browned. (Mine took 11 minutes.)

Let the cookies cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet and then remove them with a metal spatula. Transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Yield: Approximately 5 dozen wonderfully chewy, salty and soft cookies that are sure to please everyone who tastes them.

TIP : DO NOT bake these for anyone with a peanut allergy!

TIP : These cookies travel well. If you want to send them to a friend, just stack them, roll them up like coins in foil, and cushion the cookie rolls between layers of Styrofoam peanuts, or bubble wrap.

A proud grand-poppa                        G.

Still Smiling - Indian women fight back from acid attacks

DOLLY

Ritu Saini, Neetu Mahor, Dolly Kumari, Rupa and Gita Mahor pose for a photograph at the Sheroes' Hangout cafe on September 16, 2015 in Agra, India. A GROUP of acid attack survivors are baring their scarred faces to empower other abused women. Sheroes' Hangout is run by Laxmi, Rupa, Chanchal, Ritu and Sonam, who do everything from cooking and cleaning to accounting and designing dresses. The café in Agra, India, was opened by an NGO aiming to encourage society to accept acid survivors - who are often shunned by their community. Rupa, now 22, was attacked when she was just 15-years-old whilst sleeping at home. The acid melted her skin, burned her eyebrows and disfigured her upper lip, leaving her in a coma for six weeks.

A young girl stands in the doorway of the restaurant.“Welcome to our little cafe,” she says above the rumble of the rush hour traffic. Her name is Dolly and she is 15 years old.
“I'm the youngest here and the naughtiest,” she says, and then laughs - it is impossible not to join in. A few customers arrive for a quick cup of masala chai. Agra is submerged in a dense winter fog, so the cafe's colourful murals offer some morning cheer. Dolly takes an order and heads off to the kitchen, flashing another broad grin.

Three years ago someone tried to destroy that winning smile. He didn't succeed but there is no ignoring the thick scar tissue which snakes across most of Dolly's face.
The trouble began when a man from the same neighbourhood - twice Dolly's age - wouldn't leave her alone. He started stalking the 12-year-old schoolgirl, making lewd remarks and suggesting they should sleep together.

Then one day he suddenly turned up at her house while she was playing with other children. I ran away towards my room but he threw acid on my face. It started to burn and I screamed and shouted. Dolly's family immediately doused the raw flesh of her face with water and she was rushed to hospital. Thanks to the quick thinking of a doctor, her eyes were washed out and her sight was saved.

Even so, Dolly is now permanently scarred and she still has trouble breathing because of the damage to her nostrils. She recalls the moment she asked to look in a mirror after returning home from the hospital.
“My mother refused and told me I was still beautiful. She said I could look in the mirror later. Then my little sister accidentally put a mirror in front of me and I saw it. I cried and howled and screamed.”
Dolly didn't want to eat or leave the house. “I even thought it would have been better if I had died,” she says.
Her gut instinct was that she should cover her face with a veil. For a year, she would ignore the gentle encouragement from her mother to try venturing outside the house.

Dolly's life changed when her family heard about Sheroes. Here she met another survivor called Sonia, who changed her view of the attack.
“She told me that I wasn't the one who needed to keep my face covered since I hadn't done anything wrong. The person who has committed this crime should be the one to cover his face.”
Her assailant is now in prison. Dolly recently sent him a letter to tell him that he had failed to break her spirit.  “You burned my face, but not my will to live. You cannot throw acid on that,” she wrote.
She said she had forgiven him but she admitted that it had been a difficult process. “Sometimes, I have wondered how it would be to empty a full bottle of acid on you,” she told him.
In the cafe Dolly dances and sings, but she is wise beyond her years. She is troubled by the fact that some people think the victims of acid attacks bring their misfortune on themselves, by rejecting the assailant's advances. That is why she believes it is so important that survivors like her engage with the world instead of hiding themselves away.
She works hard at the cafe, serving backpackers who pass through town on their way to see the nearby Taj Mahal. She jokes with them in broken English and tries to teach them snippets of Hindi.  Sheroes helped her get her confidence back. I like the fact that my parents feel pride in my work and that I'm standing on my own two feet.”
Dolly hopes one day to return to her studies and perhaps become a doctor.
So what would she say to another woman who was attacked today? “I would tell her that whatever has happened has happened. Look forward. Don't look back.”
“The fear of reprisals inhibits many women from coming forward to report their ordeal,” explains Ashish Shukla, a coordinator at Stop Acid Attacks, a Delhi-based non-profit that has rehabilitated and empowered over 100 acid attack victims since its inception in 2013.

“In India, acid attacks are even worse than rape as the victims, who are usually female, are subjected to humiliation on a daily basis. Most of the women are shunned and ostracized,” explains Shukla.

The activist adds that public and government apathy results in a double victimization of the survivors. “They are forced to repeatedly appear in court, recount their trauma, and [visit] doctors even as they grapple with their personal tragedy of physical disfigurement, loss of employment and social discrimination,” elaborates the activist.

As per the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2013, a person convicted of carrying out an acid attack in India can be sentenced to anything from 10 years to life imprisonment.
The Supreme Court ruled on Jul. 16, 2013, that all states regulate the sale of easily available substances like hydrochloric, sulfuric, or nitric acids – common choices among perpetrators – adding that buyers must provide a photo identity card to any retailer, who in turn should record each customer’s name and address.
However, most retailers interviewed, demonstrated complete ignorance of the law. “This is the first time I’m hearing about this ruling,” Suresh Gupta, owner of Gupta Stores, a small, family-owned outfit in Noida.
Campaigners say that this horrific form of gender-based violence will not end until the government makes it much harder for offenders to procure their weapon of choice; currently, one-litre bottles of acid can be purchased over the counter without a prescription for as little as 33 cents.
The Supreme Court has condemned the government for failing to formulate a strong enough policy to curb acid sales. In early April, the Court directed private hospitals to treat acid attack survivors free of cost, and additionally ruled that states must take action against medical facilities that fail to comply with this directive. Bangladesh has the highest rate of acid assaults, approximately 400 per month.
Why do Indian men do such vicious things ? Because they can. Until now , they got away with it and also rape,without reprisal or punishment. India is a strongly patriarchal society... men rule, their word is law and they hold all the positions of power. Women have little or no value to these guys. They are disposable commodities, only good for sex , child bearing and being household drudges. Many are virtual slaves. Enlightenment comes slow to those who do not wish to change.