Legendary Status (Mamba Day)

Kobe Bryant will forever be remembered as a Hall of Fame legend in the National Association of Basketball (NBA). On April 13, 2016, the "Black Mamba" scored a total of 60 points to leave an exclamation point on his last NBA game against the Utah Jazz. Nike officially labeled April 13 as "Mamba Day." Kobe Bryant is currently the third all-time leading scorer at 33,643 behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the "Ice Man," Karl Malone. Bryant has been my favorite NBA player since my childhood days even when they use to call him a "ball-hog." Now that he has left the league I know I am getting older because he has been around since I was born. What are your opinions?

The NBA May Change All-Star Game From Charlotte, NC Location

So, while commendable, it wasn’t surprising when the NBA came out with a strong statement in the wake of North Carolina’s passing of a discriminatory law against the gay, lesbian and transgender communities, hinting that it could impact whether the league will allow Charlotte to host to the 2017 All-Star Game.

“The NBA is dedicated to creating an inclusive environment for all who attend our games and events,” the league said in the statement. “We are deeply concerned that this discriminatory law runs counter to our guiding principles of equality and mutual respect, and do not yet know what impact it will have on our ability to successfully host the 2017 All-Star Game in Charlotte.”

Do you think the passing of this law should affect the location of the game?

How would you feel if you were apart of the community? 

How did you react when you heard the news?

Rea

d more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nba/charlotte-hornets/article68471677.html#storylink=cpy

Dromedaries

Ever heard of an animal that can carry 80 pounds of water with them? Well, that animal is the Arabian camel (dromedary) it stores up to that amount of fat that can break down to water and energy allowing them to travel up to 100 desert miles when they aren’t able to get any water. Like other camels that have two humps, the dromedary only has one hump. Camels barely sweat due to their body being use to the high temperatures that they live in and also from the little part of hair the camel has allows them not to get overheated. They tend to drink lots of water when they are able to refill up with water, having the ability to drink 30 gallons of water in just 13 minutes. Their tongues soak up water like it’s a sponge. The dromedary has long eyelashes naturally in order to keep the sand from getting in their eyes and also so that the sun wouldn’t be so bright in their eyes when they are trying to look for things in the desert. Their nostrils tend to stay close at certain times so that it will keep out the sand when the wind becomes strong throwing the sand everywhere. Theirs lips are even thickened so that when they’re eating majority of the desert plants it wouldn’t hurt their lips as bad. Their knees and other parts of the body has callouses meaning when they kneel or sit down in the sand it wouldn’t burn the dromedary from the hot sand. Unlike humans having birthing season all year round, the dromedaries birthing months are from January to May (although each region may have a much shorter period). Dromedaries female cycle is about 27 days in length and when they get pregnant they don’t give birth until 12 months later unlike a human giving birth after 9 months. Dromedaries tend to breed every other year. Their life span of a dromedary is about 40 to 50 years. Dromedaries seem to huddle up in big groups when they seem to getting too warm and that reduces the heat reflecting off of the ground allowing them to be able to cool down without having to find some shade. Humans usually sit a distance from each other because with everyone sitting together brings more heat rather than cooling them off. People may think that dromedaries are wild animals, but in actuality they’re not. Dromedaries are some of the friendliest animals that you could think of. All of the true wild dromedaries are extinct, the population of the domestic dromedaries is approximately around 15 million. 

What's Your Language?

As we're wrapping up our freshman year in college, there's not doubt that some of us have been through relationships or at the least interested in someone. Though we're young, within the next five years exclusive relationships may become important to some of us. Occasionally, when dealing with another person, we don't know how to communicate. We don't know what's important to us and what means the most to us. So how do you figure this out? Your love language of course! A love language is a way that you express your love emotionally. Knowing your love language is helpful in communicating your needs from your significant other in ways that are meaningful to you.

Everyone has one, so what is yours?

Listed below are five possible love languages and their descriptions. Read each one, take the quiz linked below, and comment (if comfortable) with your love language(s) or thoughts.

Mine are (in order): Quality time, Physical touch, and Words of Affirmation.

The Five Love Languages

1. Words of Affirmation: the use of words to affirm others
2. Acts of Service: Actions speak louder than words
3. Receiving Gifts: Receiving a gift makes these people feel loved
4. Quality Time: Spending time is all these people need
5. Physical Touch: An appropriate touch means the world for these people

http://www.5lovelanguages.com/profile/

Sports Controversy: Lowering Rims for Women's Hoops

Many sports fans around the U.S. have started a huge debate on rather the rims in women's basketball should be lowered or kept the same. There are two sides to this debate and both feel strongly about their opinions. One side says that by doing this, this is degrading women to say that they can't be as good as men. The other side says this should happen due to the fact that it would make the game for women's basketball more entertaining and more equal since WNBA players are normally shorter then the average height of an NBA player. My opinion is that they shouldn't lower the goal for the simple fact that it would take time for the players to adjust and the taller players of the WNBA such as Brittney Griner would dominate against the rest of the league. Also it would just cause more controversy and diminish women by saying they can't be as good as the men are. I don't see a point in changing this just to make the WNBA more entertaining.

Do you believe they should lower the rim for women basketball?
By doing so is this saying women can't be as good as men in sports?  

Diabetes

In this post I decided to get a little educational with the topic of Diabetes.Diabetes, also called, diabetes mellitus, is a group of diseases that result in too much sugar in the blood, or high blood glucose. Types of diseases of diabetes are Type Two Diabetes, a chronic condition that affects the way the body processes blood sugar ; Gestational Diabetes, a form of high blood sugar affecting pregnant women; Pre diabetes, a condition in which blood sugar is high, but not high enough to be type 2 diabetes; and Type One Diabetes, a chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin, also being the worst stage. However, the most common types of Diabetes are Type One Diabetes and Type Two Diabetes.Its very hard to spot out early signs of Diabetes, especially when having Type 2 Diabetes.  Usual symptoms of Type Two Diabetes might be as little as higher-than-normal levels of glucose, which anyone can easily mistake that for just some fattening food they ate earlier. So how do you know when you have been overtaken by this disease? Well both types of diabetes have some of the same warning signs such as hunger and fatigue. Your body needs to convert the food molecules into glucose used for energy, but in order to do that, your cells need insulin. This explains why you may feel hunger even when eating decent meals throughout the day. As far as feeling fatigue, if your body doesn’t make enough insulin, the glucose can't get into the cells and so you’re left with no energy, making you feel more tired than usual.

Other symptoms of these two types of diabetes is urinating more and dehydration. The average time for a person to urinate during the day is between four to seven times, however a person suffering from either type of diabetes may urinate up to twenty times a day. This is due to your body trying to push your blood sugar up which your body may not be able to bring back in. It will try to get rid of the what it can’t bring back in by large amounts of urine,but more fluids will be needed. What comes along with these changing fluid levels taking place in your body is dry itchy skin as well as blurred vision.Type One diabetes results in unplanned weight loss as well as nausea and vomiting. Not being able to receive proper energy, you start burning unnecessary muscle or fat for energy instead. Therefore your weight will start to decrease. The burning fat creates ketones, which too high levels can become toxic, this condition being named ketoacidosis. Ketones result into vomiting or feeling sick to your stomach. Most children are diagnosed with Type One Diabetes and most adults are diagnosed with Type Two Diabetes.What distinguishes the difference between Type One and Type Two Diabetes, is Type Two Diabetes are known for infections. Whether minor cut infections, yeast infections, to even something as major as amputations. These infections tends to grow in the warm and folds of skin such as between fingers and toes, under breasts, and/or in or around sex organs. The thing about these infections, is it takes a longer than normal time for the, to heal. Over time, high blood sugar affects your blood flow and causes nerve damage, making it harder for your body to heal as well as causing pain or numbness in the feet or legs. Type One Diabetes cannot be prevented whereas Type Two is preventable through living a healthy lifestyle by exercising regularly. Type One is also known for having episodes of low blood sugar levels, where Type Two does not.

Obesity

Obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States, surpassed only by tobacco use. An estimated 300,000 deaths per year are due to the obesity epidemic. It is a condition that is associated with having an excess of body fat. It can be influenced by genetic and environmental factors, both of which are difficult to control when dieting. Obesity is a major risk factor for a plethora of diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. A person’s weight and height calculates a Body Mass Index--also known as BMI--that can identify obesity. Usually, if an adult has a BMI of 30 or higher then they are considered obese.

Obesity used to be more prominent in high-income countries but is now rapidly spreading to middle and low-income countries. Over the past 35 years, obesity rates have more than doubled. The average American is more than 24 pounds heavier today than their counterparts in 1960. As obesity increases, so do chronic health problems like diabetes and high blood pressure. New data has shown that rates of both have risen dramatically over the last two decades.

Obesity is caused by many different factors like an inactive lifestyle, the environment, genes, health conditions, medicines, emotional factors, age, and even lack of sleep. Obesity is a serious problem in many states, cities, and neighborhoods. It is important for change to come in order for the high rates of obesity can diminish. Sleep is one of the factors to help stop obesity but is often times underrated.

People seem to forget that sleep is what recharges the body in order to have energy for both physical and mental activity. When we are young, our particular others tend to instill a bedtime in order to ensure that we get an adequate amount of sleep. As we get older, however, our sleep paradigms begin to change as we reevaluate what is worth our time. Our chronemics systematically shift in accordance with our priorities as we allocate more time for things such as homework and leisure in place of sleep. This decline in sleep is accompanied by decrease in the efficiency of systems responsible for immunity and metabolism, putting us at increased risk for health challenges, especially obesity.

In our youth, we sleep better because our enforced bedtimes allowed for us to enter slow-wave deep sleep, which is the most restorative level of sleeping (Shaw). As we age and the implementation of a bedtime is lost to the past, we fail to reach this deep level of sleep because of shifts in our lifestyle. The solution is for particular others to instill an appreciation for the value of quality sleep. If this chronemic esteem for sleep is emphasized early and often, we will be more equipped to allot more sleep for ourselves, in turn giving us more energy and efficiency in metabolism and immunity. Managing sleep can lead to a manageable weight that will avoid the level of obesity.