Archives November 2016

In an average year, termites cause between $1 and $2 billion in property damage across the United States.

In Georgia, the State Department of Agriculture’s Structural Pest Division, along with the Commissioner of Agriculture Gary W. Black, issued a warning to area residents about the dangers of termites and other pests.

“I would like to encourage property owners affected by the recent storms to check for any potential property damage,” said Black’s statement, “especially subterranean termites.”

According to Insurance Business, many homes were affected by Hurricane Matthew. Even the case of homes that suffered minimal structural damage, just the smallest amount of flooding could result in a swarm of termites.

The Department of Agriculture recommends that residents review their termite control contract and make sure they’re getting the best possible service.

In Hawaii Magazine, researchers might have found a more practical home remedy to these unwanted pests.

Kama’aina Termite and Pest Control is using extracted Orange Oil to target termites and eradicate them from residents’ homes. The Orange Oil consists of D-limonene, which is its primary ingredient.

“Think of fumigation like an atom bomb. It’s non-specific,” said Mike Worden, Kama’aina Termite’s general manager. “Killing everything, and taking upwards of four to five weeks for completion. With Orange Oil, its targeted to where the infestation is occurring. With Orange Oil you don’t have to move out… it’s non-toxic so you can actually be in the home while using it. It’s eco-friendly and really the only thing left behind is a scent of oranges for a few days.”

The first step in ridding homes of termites with this citrusy remedy is to identify the infected area. After using a Termatrac device, which acts like a radar gun for termites, the oil is injected inside the wooden boards and the pest extermination begins.

“Orange Oil kills them quickly because the oil is highly acidic, eating through the outer layer of their skin,” Wood added.

Many people use yoga as a way to stay healthy and fit. But in addition to its physical benefits, yoga is often tied to spiritual practices that stem back to religious Hindu principles. Can Christians practice yoga without compromising their own faith? The answer may depend on how you approach the mat.

“We need to keep in mind that, in the traditional Hindu expression of yoga, the exercises are integral to the higher spiritual goal of attaining union with the god Shiva,” authors Ross Clifford and Philip Johnson of the new book Taboo or To Do?: Is Christianity Complementary with Yoga, Martial Arts, Hallowe’en, Mindfulness and Other Alternative Practices? told Christian Today.

“However,” Clifford and Johnson continued, “it is apparent in the West today that there are many teaching yoga where the physical and mental exercises are clearly divorced from Hindu faith. Many in the West insist that Hatha yoga, which is centered in the bodily postures and exercises, may be practised without all the trappings and teachings of traditional Hindu faith.”

A purely physical yoga practice can help fulfill the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommended 2.5 hours of aerobic or muscle strengthening activity per week for health and body wellness. Yet some Christian yogis see the practice as an extension of their own faith and spiritual wellness, too.

Keleah Anderson, for example, opened her own studio, Beyond Yoga, in Franklin, TN, this year to incorporate more Christ-centered teachings into her classes.

“It occurred to me… [that] we can provide a place where people can come and worship God with their whole totality — their breath, their movement, their mind,” Anderson said. “We read the Bible and we pray and we use praise and worship music and we raise our hands and we fold them and we bow down. It’s difficult, active church.”

So what’s a Christian to do? The important part may be to simply maintain a self-awareness.

“What we are finding is that people want to have a conversation about these things,” Clifford and Johnson said. Talk with your church community leaders or yoga instructors to decide what’s best for you.

A new study suggests that frequent indoor tanners typically do not adequately protect themselves from the sun while outdoors.

Researchers looked at data from the 2015 National Health Interview Survey, which included 10,262 adults between the ages of 18 and 60. All were white and none had any history of skin cancer. Of the participants, 787 (seven percent) reported tanning indoors within the past year.

The results showed that frequent indoor tanners used less sunscreen, wore less protective clothing, and experienced more sunburns than those who did not frequently tan indoors.

Additionally, indoor tanners between the ages of 18 and 34 were more likely to never or rarely wear protective clothing or seek shady areas while outside in the sun.

Researchers alarmingly found these frequent indoor tanners were no more likely than their non-indoor tanning peers to be screened for skin cancer by a medical professional.

“These results demonstrate that many individuals who tan indoors may not acknowledge the long-term risks associated with increased UV exposure,” said study author Alexander Fischer of the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

The researchers wrote in the report:

“Individuals who frequently tan indoors already have a worrisome risk profile for skin cancer, yet they continue to practice poor photoprotection along with increase sun exposure, increasing their risk for skin cancer beyond that associated with the use of indoor tanning alone.”

Over the past 40 years, skin cancer rates have more than tripled. In fact, it is the most common form of cancer in the United States. Researchers estimate that more than 8,500 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with skin cancer each day and that one in five Americans will develop the disease in their lifetime. As many as 40,000 Americans are diagnosed with melanoma every year.

“Taking an active approach to sun protection and skin cancer screening in high-risk populations, such as indoor tanners, may reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with skin cancer,” said the researchers.

As Hurricane Matthew drenched the state of Florida with heavy rain and strong winds, many evacuees flocked north to the Tallahassee area to wait out the storm. Strange places became safe havens for many displaced Floridians, including a local Walmart Super Center parking lot.

One South Florida native, Dean Prisco, said, “Being full time in an RV, I just knew that the potential threat was too dangerous, I didn’t want to be a sitting duck on a peninsula.”

He also told reporters from Tallahassee news station WCTV that he has seen people sleeping in their cars and on the ground in the parking lot because there are no available rooms at the local hotels. However, Prisco was proud to say that people have come together and that the outpouring of support and camaraderie has lifted his spirits.

“Sometimes in these environments, is when the best comes out of people, unfortunately. Hopefully we can just do that all the time and maybe things could change,” he said.

Another Floridian who has taken shelter in the parking lot said that he and his wife are just thankful that Walmart has been so cooperative and supportive to all of the evacuees.

The entire backside of the Walmart parking lot was filled with RVs. The Recreational Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA) estimates that there are as many as 30 million RV enthusiasts nationwide. Most of these RV owners and renters, however, may not ever have imagined that they would be using their recreational vehicle as an emergency shelter.

As of Thursday, Hurricane Matthew has claimed at least 40 lives in the Southeast — 20 in North Carolina, 12 in Florida, three in South Carolina, three in Georgia, and two in Virginia.

Though the hurricane has passed, the crisis is far from over in some parts of the Gulf region. Severe flooding is still causing destruction and threatening lives in North Carolina.

Photo attribution: By Walmart Corporate from Bentonville, USA (Walmart store exterior) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons