Amazon’s digital voice assistant, Alexa, has been laughing for no particular reason, and people are sufficiently freaked out. This is not something that has affected all Alexa devices, only a few, making people upload videos of the AI’s laughter online.
So Alexa decided to laugh randomly while I was in the kitchen. Freaked @SnootyJuicer and I out. I thought a kid was laughing behind me. pic.twitter.com/6dblzkiQHp
According to USA Today, people have described Alexa’s laughter as “evil, creepy, bone-chilling, and freaky,” and they’re being nice. Luckily, Amazon figured out the source of the problem and fixed it. The issue? Alexa started giggling because, on rare occasions, she can mistakenly hear the command “Alexa laugh.” That makes no sense, but okay.
Amazon has now changed the command to “Alexa, can you laugh?”, making it harder for the AI to make mistakes.
There was a random female laugh in my apartment… Its only me and my housemate home… He’s a guy. Either Alexa is now self aware or we have a ghost… This might be my last tweet.
Amazon claimed that instead of having Alexa laugh straight out, she’ll say, “Sure, I can laugh,” and then laugh. So even if her laughter is triggered by accident, at least you’ll have a warning and not be attacked by the giggles from hell.
While Meghan Markle and her Prince Harry were in Birmingham for International Women’s Day, some folks noticed a little something extra with the bride-to-be’s usually polished wardrobe.
Meghan was, as usual, stunning in her outfit that primarily included a J. Crew coat cinched at the waist. From the front, she looked amazing. From the back, some noticed that something was out of place. You’d have to look very closely to spot it, and even if you did, you might not even peg it as a wardrobe mistake. (The Daily Express has the pic).
From the back, her coat contained a small white “X” near the bottom — a stitch holding together her coat vent that should have been cut as soon as the coat was purchased (maybe it’s just on loan?). As The Daily Expressnotes:
The error did not stop Meghan from looking her best, and she stunned in the coat which she paired with a white polo neck jumper from All Saints and plain black three-quarter length Alexander Wang trousers.
Prince Harry’s fiancee completed the look with a small navy handbag and black suede court shoes.
But the look did break what is considered a key style rule – that blue and black should never be worn together.
Ironically, the couple was in Birmingham to encourage young women to engage in activities designed to boost their abilities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics — not trivial b.s. like forgetting to cut a stitch.
A guy out of Colorado believes he’s created a product that will disrupt the edibles industry: powdered THC and CBD that’s tasteless and dissolvable in just about anything.
Justin Singer came up with the idea after cutting a pot brownie into a million little pieces so his diabetic grandmother could have some without losing her mind, according to Westword. Now, his company, Stillwater Brands, sells a water-soluble product called Ripple, which can infuse pretty much any food or drink item you can think of, from soup to cookies to water.
In fact, according to Westword, Stillwater now offers infused instant coffee and teas with the same technology, with serving sizes ranging from 2.5 milligrams to 10 milligrams of CBD and THC.
The selling point of Ripple is that it doesn’t need fat to bond with, unlike cannabutter. Singer tells Westword the challenge right now is educating consumers. “It’s tough, because dispensaries don’t have a tea aisle. They’re not a Whole Foods. Right now, marijuana information filters down from heavy users to new consumers. So for a 100-milligram user, this probably isn’t for them.”
“Our product was created for grandmothers and working professionals in mind. Positive effects tend to come in lower doses unless you’re a medical patient. We’ve also seen a little interest in Ripple among active lifestyles — people integrating it into their workouts, adding it to their meals.”
“There’s a helluva lot of math involved in cannabutter.” Singer says. “We don’t expect to be the only ones on the block doing this.”
We have an opioid emergency in the United States. Not all can see this first hand, but it is here, damaging individuals, families and our economy. Although it is not directly seen by all, we have paid as a nation $50 billion annually.
The president’s 2018 fiscal request for drug control efforts was $27.8 billion. Just think about how we could have spent that money differently: improving our schools, highways and infrastructure or even, God forbid, lowering our taxes.
I am appreciative the time and effort spent by our of our politicians and lawmakers working diligently towards a solution. I am more inclined to congratulate ourselves when we have made significant inroads in the successful treatment of a large population of people rather than congratulating ourselves for discussing the problem and making recommendations about how others should do the work in the trenches of treatment. Self-congratulation for showing up for work without completing the task rather reminds me of kids getting trophies for showing up for a team that does not win.
We have had a national drug problem since prior to Richard Nixon declaring a war on drugs. Nixon’s war on drugs included marijuana. Later he created the DEA. Over the decades and generations, our opioid enemy has gained strength and the war has changed. We have newer and stronger drugs and people are more dependent on them. At this time the biggest enemy discussed with a political agenda appears to be the opioids. We also have a serious issue with methamphetamine.
We have many formulated ideas about management of the opioid problem, but it appears that daily it worsens.Our evaluation and treatments include a complete physical and psychological evaluation, access to MAT (medicated-assisted treatment), counseling, and treatment of psychiatric and physical ailments.
Our choices of medications include methadone, buprenorphine/naloxone, and naltrexone. These medications have helped some, but not all people. With the crises as serious as it is, should we consider another medical approach? We should consider any option with the realization that the problem is worsening yearly.
Cannabis has been considered one of the drugs that caused this crisis. For some, it is considered a gateway drug. Maybe we should rethink its role in the management of this national tragedy.
There is evidence that cannabis may be used in the treatment of anxiety, depression and in low doses may improve other psychiatric illnesses. At this time there is an FDA funded study of the use of cannabis for PTSD in our veterans.
Should we now consider the use of cannabis in the treatment of opioid addiction? We have no known deaths attributable to cannabis, which is a marked difference from that we have with opioids. I realize that there are some who will insist that we are just trading one addiction for another. Is this not true when we use methadone as a treatment for heroin?
Methadone has been embraced as a treatment and not a cure for heroin addiction. Is methadone a safer drug than cannabis? Is the expectation that we must cure the physical and psychologic dependence or is the ability to keep patients off the most dangerous drugs the best we can expect?
I, for one, would strongly encourage controlled medical studies of the use of cannabis for opioid addiction. By studying cannabis and opioid addiction we would have scientific information for a potential evidence-based treatment program.
This is our doctor’s take on the Opioid crisis, we can only hope the situation will not get worse.
The Fresh Toast is asking you to Tell Us Your Story about cannabis and your health. We know that there are many of you out there suffering from cancer, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease or other illnesses that can be helped by medical marijuana. We want to share your story.
Today’s story comes from Kathryn Gurley about her son, Ben.
If you told me 20 years ago I would be reminding my son to take his cannabis every night and advocating for cannabis to be available for everyone, I would have laughed in your face.
I was never into pot. But sometimes when you want to do the best for your child, you have to think outside of the box and be creative.
Our son, Ben, suffers from epilepsy and ventricular tachycardia, a heart issue. For the last 17 years, since Ben had his first seizure after seeing the Ringling Brothers Circus, I have been on a quest to prevent seizures.
We moved to Baltimore from Virginia for the Epilepsy Center at Johns Hopkins, went on the ketogenic diet and tried many different drugs for epilepsy. We traveled to Children’s Hospital Boston, Atlanta Children’s Hospital, California and London searching for answers.
At one point Ben was taking 15 to 17 pharma pills a day with horrible side effects and still having seizures. The doctors mentioned taking out a part of Ben’s brain and we walked out. It was at that point I went rouge. First stop was to a naturopath where we started monitoring Ben’s blood work.
Our naturopath Paul Faust, ND, started putting back in all the nutrients, such as taurine, which were very low in Ben’s blood. Taurine levels are low in most epileptics. We changed Ben’s diet to a South Beach diet with no gluten. All of this helped and we started lowering Ben’s pharmaceutical medications.
We saw the light and it was in combining the best of alternative and conventional medicine which today is called functional medicine. Ben has seizures during his sleep which are hard to monitor. We had an Emfit monitor which worked for many years until the seizures changed and the monitor did not pick them up. We are now trying the Embrace Watch by Empatica for seizure detection. When Ben has a seizure, we give him diastat (Valium) and place oxygen on him. The key is NOT to have seizures.
And How Cannabis Ties Into All Of This?
A year ago when I was in Los Angeles visiting with a high school friend, Ben and I experienced a breakthrough. My friend has a daughter with epilepsy, and she was telling me how the consistent use of cannabis had vastly improved the quality of her daughter’s life. She helped me with the dosage and started Ben on CBD oil.
Ben has been using Charlotte’s Web — a high-CBD strain effective for seizures — before bed every evening for a year and has had over three-quarters fewer seizures this year! He is taking even less pharma medication, enjoying sports, life and is a happier guy.
We are currently finishing up a book focused on 21st century health and going outside the box. We are learning more about cannabis and trying to help others have access to CBD and other cannabis products.
When you have a kid who could die in their sleep from a seizure, you have to get creative. Everyone should be able to benefit from cannabis or at least be afforded the chance to try it.
I am grateful to The Fresh Toast for giving families like ours a voice.
Oftentimes, there’s nothing more crushing than being cheated on by someone you loved. But, according to new research, a two-timer might be the best thing for your well-being.
According to a recent study, the real benefit of being at the receiving end of an unfaithful partner is the fact that he or she is no longer in your life. Let the next significant other have them and be glad it’s not you.
The study, by way of Business Insider, relied on data from nearly 6,000 people from 96 countries and found that the worse the subjects rated their break-up, women take the breakup harder, but get over it in a healthier way — cry, dwell, and vent to their inner circle. Conversely, men tend to go into denial mode and move on without dealing with the fallout.
Results also show that the person who was cheated on tends to benefit more from the breakup than if they had never been broken up with in the first place.
That’s because they’re no longer with a dirtbag and will likely have better perspective when entering into their next relationship. After six months, according to the study, women who were cheated on had higher emotional intelligence and higher self-confidence, while men who had been cheated on developed “stronger personalities.”
The study’s authors say be glad it’s the other woman or man and not you that now has to deal with the cheater’s undealt with emotional baggage, adding:
Evolutionarily, sexual promiscuity is often a short-term strategy, for while at that moment a woman may have ‘won the battle’ by accessing additional resources, building future intersexual alliances, or successfully poaching a mate, she could be ‘losing the war’ by engaging in reputation-damaging behavior that will reduce her ability to acquire a long-term mate of high quality in the future.
Think of the person your SO ran off with as doing you a favor. And then go pour yourself a glass of wine.
Elisaldo Luiz de Araujo Carlini is one of the most revered research scientists in the world. His work has led to treatments for epilepsy and multiple sclerosis that are now standard practice around the world. And now the Brazilian scientist is under investigation for alleged “drug apology,” sparking outrage in the academic community.
Dr. Carlini’s career studying the psychological effects of drugs spans more than six decades. The popular scientist helped organize last May’s marijuana symposium in Brazil. Last month, the emeritus professor of pharmacology at the Federal University of São Paulo and director of the Brazilian Centre for Information on Psychotropic Drugs, was questioned by law enforcement officials for his open advocacy of medical marijuana.
According to the Times of Higher Education, the controversy began when Dr. Carlini said he had invited Geraldo Antonio Baptista, the founder of Brazil’s first Rastafarian church and a convicted drug trafficker, to speak at last May’s event. Dr. Carlini had requested Baptista be given temporary leave from prison to attend.
This request prompted the public prosecutor in São Paulo to claim she saw “in theory, strong hints of incitement.”
The government’s action appears to have backfired. A large group of scientists, academics and free speech advocates are protesting what they say is an attack on academic freedom.
The Brazilian Academy of Sciences and the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science defended Dr. Carlini. A joint statement from the two bodies said:
Dr Carlini remains the most respected Brazilian scientist working in the area of drugs. To accuse [him] of apologizing for drugs amounts to criminalizing intelligence and technical scientific knowledge. It is a cruel and empty provocation against a scientist who has dedicated his whole life to the frontier of knowledge.
According to Nature.com, Dr. Carlini, 87, has published several seminal papers on the anticonvulsive properties of cannabinoids. “Carlini is an outstanding scientist,” says Raphael Mechoulam, a researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel, whose lab first isolated marijuana’s hallucinogenic compound, THC, in 1964. “Nearly 40 years ago, his group and my group did the first clinical experiment with cannabidiol, a major cannabis compound, on epileptic patients,” Mechoulam says.
“In more than 60 years of an academic career, I had never been questioned by law agents — until last month,” says Carlini. He says that last year’s meeting was scientific in nature and had nothing to do with inciting people to take drugs. “It’s a Kafkian situation. I wonder what they think an old man can do with marijuana.”
Now that the Winter Olympics are over, it’s time to get ready for the 420 Games. For those of you not familiar with this cannabis-friendly sports event, here is how 420 Games founder Jim McAlpine describes it:
The 420 Games provides a unique opportunity for athletes and health and wellness enthusiasts to come together and participate in a variety of activities, including a 4.2-mile fun run/walk for cannabis respect and awareness. Traditional races tend to be 5K’s, or 3.2 miles. Our race incorporates an additional mile so participants can literally ‘go the extra mile’ for cannabis.
The third annual Los Angeles 420 Games will take place on Saturday, March 31 and Sunday, April 1 at the Santa Monica Pier, bringing famous faces, pro athletes, X-Games and BMX athletes, and over one hundred cannabis brands together for two-days of healthy competition and community.
Highlights of the LA Games to include:
420 yoga lead by Ricky Williams
Venice skate contest with Bucky Lasek & $20K cash purse
3 on 3 basketball tournament
CBD massage chairs
Jiu-Jitsu tournament
BMX Half pipe show with X Games athletes
4.20-mile boardwalk course
Live comedy
Beer garden
Food trucks
After party
NFL players Eben Britton and Ricky Williams speaking
Unlike other cannabis events, the 420 Games ask that participants refrain from smoking on site. The Games are focused on education and advocacy for adults, ages 21 and over, who use cannabis responsibly as part of their health and wellness routine.
“This event was created to help shape the perception of cannabis and those who use it in conjunction with a healthy lifestyle,” said McAlpine. “There are countless athletes and successful American’s who have integrated cannabis into their daily regimen in a responsible manner, yielding positive results and endless gains in terms of health and wellness. The 420 Games continues to spread that positivity and to shed light on the innumerable benefits of this curative plant.”
A portion of the proceeds from the 420 Games will be donated to Athletes for Care, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating a community where athletes can find support, opportunity and purpose in life after a career in sports.
420 Games 2018 Schedule:
March 31-April 1, 2018: Los Angeles | Santa Monica Pier
April 12, 2018: Pittsburgh, PA | See website for details
How are sleep and sex related? I’ll state the obvious: We most commonly sleep and have sex in the same location – the bedroom. Less obvious but more important is that lack of sleep and lack of sex share some common underlying causes, including stress. Especially important, lack of sleep can lead to sexual problems and a lack of sex can lead to sleep problems. Conversely, a good night’s sleep can lead to a greater interest in sex, and orgasmic sex can result in a better night’s sleep.
I am a sex educator and researcher who has published several studies on the effectiveness of self-help books in enhancing sexual functioning. I have also written two sexual self-help books, both based in research findings. My latest book, Becoming Cliterate: Why Orgasm Equality Matters – and How to Get It, is aimed at empowering women to reach orgasm. More pertinent to the connection between sleep and sex, my first book, “A Tired Woman’s Guide to Passionate Sex,” was written to help the countless women who say they are too exhausted to be interested in sex.
Conversely, getting a good night’s sleep can increase desire. A recent study found that the longer women slept, the more interested in sex they were the next day. Just one extra hour of sleep led to a 14 percent increase in the chances of having a sexual encounter the following day. Also, in this same study, more sleep was related to better genital arousal.
While this study was conducted with college women, those in other life stages have even more interrelated sleep and sex problems. Menopause involves a complicated interaction of biological and psychological issues that are associated with both sleep and sex problems. Importantly, a recent study found that among menopausal women, sleep problems were directly linked to sexual problems. In fact, sleep issues were the only menopausal symptom for which such a direct link was found.
Motherhood is great, but the demands of a new baby can exhaust a new mother. Sleep can become more appealing than sex as a result. FamVeld/Shutterstock.com
Interrelated sleep and sexual issues are also prevalent among mothers. Mothers of new babies are the least likely to get a good night’s sleep, mostly because they are caring for their baby during the night. However, ongoing sleep and sexual issues for mothers are often caused by having too much to do and the associated stress. Women, who are married with school aged children and working full time, are the most likely to report insomnia. Still, part-time working moms and moms who don’t work outside the home report problems with sleep as well.
While fathers also struggle with stress, there is evidence that stress and the resulting sleepless nights dampen women’s sexual desire more than they do men’s. Some of this is due to hormones. Both insufficient sleep and stress result in the release of cortisol, and cortisol decreases testosterone. Testosterone plays a major role in the sex drive of women and men. Men have significantly more testosterone than women. So, thinking of testosterone as a tank of gas, the cortisol released by stress and lack of sleep might take a woman’s tank to empty, yet only decrease a man’s tank to half full.
Although lack of sleep and stress seems to affect women’s sexual functioning more than men’s, men still suffer from interrelated problems in these areas. One study found that, among young healthy men, a lack of sleep resulted in decreased levels of testosterone, the hormone responsible for much of our sex drive. Another study found that among men, sleep apnea contributed to erectile dysfunction and an overall decrease in sexual functioning. Clearly, among men, lack of sleep results in diminished sexual functioning.
I could not locate a study to prove this, as it stands to reason that the reverse is also true. That is, it seems logical that, as was found in the previously mentioned study among women, for men a better night’s sleep would also result in better sexual functioning.
The Effect Of Sex On Sleep
While sleep (and stress) have an effect on sex, the reverse is also true. That is, sex affects sleep (and stress). According to sex expert Ian Kerner, too little sex can cause sleeplessness and irritability. Conversely, there is some evidence that the stress hormone cortisol decreases after orgasm. There’s also evidence that oxytocin, the “love hormone” that is released after orgasm, results not only in increased feelings of connection with a partner, but in better sleep.
Additionally, experts claim that sex might have gender-specific effects on sleep. Among women, orgasm increases estrogen, which leads to deeper sleep. Among men, the hormone prolactin that is secreted after orgasm results in sleepiness.
Perhaps, then, it is no surprise that both sleep hygiene suggestions and suggestions for enhanced sexual functioning have some overlap. For example, experts suggest sticking to a schedule, both for sleep and for sexual encounters. They also recommend decreasing smartphone usage, both before bed and when spending time with a partner. The bottom line of these suggestions is to make one’s bedroom an exclusive haven for the joys of both sleep and sex.
Whether you choose celibacy or it chooses you, at some point, our bodies go through a phase of not having any sex. And there are definitely benefits to that, like more time to stalk people on Instagram, fewer UTIs, and think of all the laundry detergent you’ll save not washing your sheets all the time! But there things about a dry spell that aren’t so great for your body.
Here are five physical changes your body undergoes when you stop getting busy:
Change In Libido
“For some people who refrain from sex, they begin to feel more sluggish, with less vitality and hunger for sex,” Sari Cooper, LCSW, certified sex therapist tells Readers’ Digest. “Out of sight out of mind is how some of my clients describe the scenario.” For some, losing sex means a loss of sexual desire, but others get thirstier.
“You might not be thinking about it as much, or you might be thinking about it all the time,” says Lauren Streicher, MD, author of Sex Rx: Hormones, Health, and Your Best Sex Ever. She tells Reader’s Digest, “It’s really variable.”
Worsened Mood
“When people have sex they’re usually having skin-to-skin contact, and this kind of contact is the first primal way we as humans get comforted [as babies with our mothers],” Cooper says. “Sexual connection gives partners loads of skin-to-skin caressing and touch, and can help to regulate one another’s moods,” — through the release of the feel-good hormone oxytocin.
There is a condition called vaginal atrophy that is as bad as it sounds. It occurs when decreased blood flow to the nether regions causes the vaginal wall to thin. Fun! Because the vagina is just like any other muscle, it withers without use. Turns out, having sex on the regular doesn’t just feel good, helps the skin glow and keeps you living longer (up to 8 years!), it keeps your vagina in working order.
According to the Mayo Clinic, “Sexual activity, with or without a partner, increases blood flow and makes your vaginal tissues more elastic.” If this isn’t the best excuse to start giving yourself daily orgasms, nothing is.
Intensified Period Pains
Having regular sex can have a wonderful effect on cramps and other pains associated with menstruation. Losing sex as a (fun) pain relief just means those pains will return, and might even feel intensified if it’s been awhile since you noticed them. Says Dr. Streicher, “The uterus is a muscle and many women will actually have a uterine contraction when they orgasm, which will cause the blood to expel more quickly, which will in turn decrease menstrual cramps. Also, there may be an increase in endorphins, which also will help with menstrual cramps.”
It’s not uncommon to feel more stressed out once you lose your regular sex buddy. “People who are less stressed tend to have more sex, but again it’s an association, not cause and effect,” Dr. Streicher says, adding, “For some women sex is actually stressful for a variety of reasons: It may be painful, or it could be one more thing on their to-do list.”
For even more interesting ways your body changes (for better or worse) when you take up celibacy (intentionally or not), head over to Reader’s Digest.
Perhaps, then, it is no surprise that both sleep hygiene suggestions and suggestions for enhanced sexual functioning have some overlap. For example, 
