Chinese Herbs and Acupuncture LLC

11/16/2025

11/16/2025

Sweden is rethinking how it treats icy winter roads — not just for drivers, but for wildlife too.
For years, researchers at the Swedish Transport Administration have studied how traditional road salt affects ecosystems. Their findings show that salt runoff can alter soil chemistry, harm freshwater habitats, and disrupt bird behavior, especially for species that mistake salt crystals for food.

In response, Swedish municipalities have been gradually shifting toward smarter winter-road strategies: using reduced-salt mixtures, sand-salt blends, and brine (saltwater) pre-treatments that cut total salt use while keeping roads safe. Cities like Stockholm and Gothenburg have already lowered their salt consumption by thousands of tons each winter.

This approach doesn’t eliminate salt completely — but it uses less of it, more efficiently, reducing environmental impact on lakes, birds, and roadside ecosystems. Other European countries are watching closely, adopting similar methods to protect wildlife without compromising road safety.

It’s a simple idea, backed by research: use only what you need, in the smartest possible way. A small shift with a big impact — a reminder that thoughtful engineering can protect more than just our roads.

11/16/2025

11/14/2025

11/14/2025

Temprarose hausken

You think you know the von Trapps because you’ve seen The Sound of Music.
But the real eldest daughter? The one Hollywood renamed “Liesl”? Her name was Agathe von Trapp — and her real story is far more fascinating.

Born in 1913 in Pola, Austria-Hungary, Agathe grew up surrounded by music and privilege. Her father, Georg von Trapp, was a celebrated naval hero. Her mother kept the house filled with singing and harmony. But when illness took their mother, seven children were left grieving — until a young nun-turned-governess named Maria came to help.

That much, Hollywood got right.

What it didn’t show was that Agathe was no naive teenager twirling through the Alps. She was a trained soprano, and her siblings were becoming one of the most skilled vocal ensembles in Europe. Music wasn’t play — it was discipline, craft, and their future.

Then came 1938.

The N***s marched into Austria, and the von Trapps faced a choice:
comfort under a murderous regime, or freedom with nothing.
Captain von Trapp refused to serve Hi**er. So the family walked away from everything — their estate, their wealth, their status — slipping out not over mountains in the night, but by boarding a train to Italy under the pretense of a concert tour.

They left, expecting never to return.

By 1940, the von Trapps reached America as refugees. Aristocrats in Europe — immigrants in the U.S. They survived the only way they knew how: by singing anywhere people would listen. Churches. Community halls. Tiny stages in tiny towns. The glamorous legend was built on years of exhaustion and relentless touring.

By the early 1950s, Agathe had to choose: continue the grind of performance… or finally build a life of her own.
She chose the latter.

She moved to Maryland. She became a kindergarten teacher. She lived a quiet, grounded life — while the world fell in love with a story that claimed to be hers.

Then came 1965.

The Sound of Music exploded into a global phenomenon — romanticizing, simplifying, and in many places, rewriting the truth. Audiences adored Liesl: the flirtatious, carefree teenager who danced in gazebos and sang about being “16 going on 17.”

Agathe was nothing like that girl. But millions assumed she was.

For decades, she stayed silent. She lived modestly. She watched the myths grow.
Until, finally, at age 90, she wrote the real story.

Memories Before and After The Sound of Music (2003) was Agathe’s gentle correction — not bitter, not angry, simply honest. She wanted people to understand:

Maria was more complex than her musical halo.
The “escape” was terrifying, not whimsical.
Life in America was a struggle, not a fairytale.
And the von Trapps succeeded because they worked. Hard.

On December 28, 2010, Agathe von Trapp passed away in Maryland at age 97 — far from movie lights, but close to the truth she spent her life protecting.

She had been a refugee, a world-traveling performer, an educator, a writer, and a witness to history. She earned every chapter of her story.

The movie will always be magic.
But Agathe von Trapp lived a life far braver — and far more real — than Hollywood ever showed.

She corrected the record because she believed that truth matters.
And sometimes, the quietest voices carry the most remarkable stories.

11/14/2025

Love this Finnish word ❤️❤️
(Pinterest)

11/14/2025

07/30/2025

Sometimes Simple Is Better - Randomized Study Finds Acupressure Improves Cognition
Published on 03-24-2023

"ChadD" is an acupuncturist and lives in Minneapolis and has authored 367 other posts.

Chinese Medicine, which encompasses acupuncture, is a broad and complex system of medicine. At face value this is neither a good or a bad thing, but the complexity of the diagnostic systems and treatment methods can limit broad usage due to limited numbers of well trained practitioners.

Acupressure is often touted as a home remedy. Many practitioners, myself included, will recommend certain acupressure points and techniques to patients. But we are also well aware of the limitations when compared with full acupuncture treatments.

As a practitioner, I know all too well how difficult proper acupuncture can be to obtain for many people in the world. For many, some simple acupressure may be all they will ever have access to. Even if it helps a small amount, that is still a very good thing in terms of global health.

The study that I’m exploring today provides a pristine example of the effectiveness of relatively simple acupressure points on a growing, complex and global issue - cognitive disorders in the elderly. The research paper is entitled “Acupressure Improves Cognition and Quality of Life Among Older Adults with Cognitive Disorders in Long-Term Care Settings: A Clustered Randomized Controlled Trial”. The researchers were from a range of institutions in Taiwan (China Medical University) and Australia (The University of Sydney), among others, and the participants were recruited from 18 long term care facilities in Taiwan.

The study itself was somewhat small, 46 participants in the treatment group and 46 in the control group. The participants, however, were from 18 different facilities and was assessor-blinded and randomized.

The treatment involved 3 minutes of acupressure stimulation at each of the 8 treatment points, once daily, five times a week for 12 weeks. Of primary interest were the participants results on the Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument (CASI) as well as other common cognitive screening tools.

For treatment, the following points were stimulated with acupressure:

- GV 20 - “Hundred Convergences” - a widely used point for issues involving the head/brain - headaches, hypertension, anxiety, seizures, etc. Also used for cognitive issues, fatigue and lower body issues such as hemorrhoids.
- Sishencong Extra Point - “God’s Cleverness” - a group of 4 points surrounding GV 20 that are used for a range of cognitive and circulatory issues such as headaches and stroke. Useful with acupressure in adults and children for issues such as ADHD and/or general memory/cognitive functioning issues.
- GV 24 - “Spirit Court” - Important point for psychological issues such as anxiety and add as well as functional issues such as headaches, TMJ, and nosebleeds.
- GB 20 - “Wind Pool” - Broadly used point for a range of issues involving tension and/or circulation through the upper back into the head/brain - headaches, dizziness, eye problems as well as a range of cognitive issues.
- GV 26 - “Water Trough” - A command point with PC 6 for fainting - an important point for the restoration of consciousness but also for a range of anxiety disorders and seizure disorders.
- PC 6 - “Inner Pass” - an important and widely used point for calming anxiety, insomnia and improving memory via limiting the negative effects of stress.
- HT 7 - “Spirit Gate” - similar but broader functionality to PC 6, used with a range of psychological and mental/cognitive issues as well as issues such as angina, palpitations and panic attacks.
- ST 36 - “Leg Three Mile” - arguably one of the most important points within the system of acupuncture, improves energy, cognitive function, circulation and a range of related conditions.

With the exception of Stomach 36, these are all relatively easy to find, reach, and perform acupressure on.

The researchers found that after the 12 week intervention, those in the treatment group had significant increases in their cognitive functions (as shown through improved results on the various screening tools) when compared with those in the control group. They concluded that “acupressure can be integrated into aged care practice to improve cognition and [quality of life] of older residents with cognitive disorders in [long term care] settings”.

All things considered this is a great example of something effective that would be fairly trivial to integrate into these facilities. It can be applied nearly anywhere at anytime by anyone who learns these few basic points. Since many of these points have common functionality, future studies could also be done to find the minimal number of points with the minimum amount of stimulation time required to achieve the same (or possibly better) results. Perhaps just GV 20 and GV 24, for example, one minute a day each would provide the same results. Hopefully we’ll find out one day, but for now we can use these points easily enough…