Popular culture is loaded with myths and half-truths. Most are harmless. But when doctors start believing medical myths, perhaps it’s time to worry.

In the British Medical Journal this week, researchers looked into several common misconceptions, from the belief that a person should drink eight glasses of water per day to the notion that reading in low light ruins your eyesight.

“We got fired up about this because we knew that physicians accepted these beliefs and were passing this information along to their patients,” said Dr. Aaron Carroll, assistant professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine. “And these beliefs are frequently cited in the popular media.”

And so here they are, so that you can inform your doctor:

Myth: We use only 10 percent of our brains.

Fact: Physicians and comedians alike, including Jerry Seinfeld, love to cite this one. It’s sometimes erroneously credited to Albert Einstein. But MRI scans, PET scans and other imaging studies show no dormant areas of the brain, and even viewing individual neurons or cells reveals no inactive areas, the new paper points out. Metabolic studies of how brain cells process chemicals show no nonfunctioning areas. The myth probably originated with self-improvement hucksters in the early 1900s who wanted to convince people that they had yet not reached their full potential, Carroll figures. It also doesn’t jibe with the fact that our other organs run at full tilt.

Myth: You should drink at least eight glasses of water a day.

Fact: “There is no medical evidence to suggest that you need that much water,” said Dr. Rachel Vreeman, a pediatrics research fellow at the university and co-author of the journal article. Vreeman thinks this myth can be traced back to a 1945 recommendation from the Nutrition Council that a person consume the equivalent of 8 glasses (64 ounces) of fluid a day. Over the years, “fluid” turned to water. But fruits and vegetables, plus coffee and other liquids, count.

Myth: Fingernails and hair grow after death.

Fact: Most physicians queried on this one initially thought it was true. Upon further reflection, they realized it’s impossible. Here’s what happens: “As the body’s skin is drying out, soft tissue, especially skin, is retracting,” Vreeman said. “The nails appear much more prominent as the skin dries out. The same is true, but less obvious, with hair. As the skin is shrinking back, the hair looks more prominent or sticks up a bit.”

Myth: Shaved hair grows back faster, coarser and darker.

Fact: A 1928 clinical trial compared hair growth in shaved patches to growth in non-shaved patches. The hair which replaced the shaved hair was no darker or thicker, and did not grow in faster. More recent studies have confirmed that one. Here’s the deal: When hair first comes in after being shaved, it grows with a blunt edge on top, Carroll and Vreeman explain. Over time, the blunt edge gets worn so it may seem thicker than it actually is. Hair that’s just emerging can be darker too, because it hasn’t been bleached by the sun.

Myth: Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight.

Fact: The researchers found no evidence that reading in dim light causes permanent eye damage. It can cause eye strain and temporarily decreased acuity, which subsides after rest.

Myth: Eating turkey makes you drowsy.

Fact: Even Carroll and Vreeman believed this one until they researched it. The thing is, a chemical in turkey called tryptophan is known to cause drowsiness. But turkey doesn’t contain any more of it than does chicken or beef. This myth is fueled by the fact that turkey is often eaten with a colossal holiday meal, often accompanied by alcohol — both things that will make you sleepy.

Myth: Mobile phones are dangerous in hospitals.

Fact: There are no known cases of death related to this one. Cases of less-serious interference with hospital devices seem to be largely anecdotal, the researchers found. In one real study, mobile phones were found to interfere with 4 percent of devices, but only when the phone was within 3 feet of the device. A more recent study, this year, found no interference in 300 tests in 75 treatment rooms. To the contrary, when doctors use mobile phones, the improved communication means they make fewer mistakes.

“Whenever we talk about this work, doctors at first express disbelief that these things are not true,” said Vreeman said. “But after we carefully lay out medical evidence, they are very willing to accept that these beliefs are actually false.”

5. Plugins

Try and not to get into the habit of getting plugins to perform things for you. There are many plugins out there and they can do some pretty amazing things but the you can do almost all the things that the plugins perform with out them. It is easy to obtain a plugin to achieve the effect you are wanting to achieve but this teaches you nothing and you are just cheating your self. To make the same effect with out a plugin will give you a huge sense of pride that you made it by yourself and you will learn immensely in the process.

4. Actions

Tasks that you do repetitively you can save as a action or “macro” so instead of doing each of the actions all the time one after another you can just click on the saved action and the whole collection of actions will be done automatically. For example if you had to import a lot of photos and you needed to resize, change the brightness, make a border and save to a specific format this would take a long time to do all these actions to each of the photos. With actions you can do the whole process to one of the photos then save what you did as a ‘action’ and then proceed to perform the entire process to rest of the photos with a single click!

3. Save, Save, Save and SAVE!

Saving your work cannot be stressed enough, save when ever you make a major change and make a new version of the file so you can go back to previous versions of the file you are working on if you need to.

2. Tutorials

There are thousands upon thousand of Tutorials on the internet with all types of subjects and skill levels. Tutorials are one of the best ways to learn and they can be heaps of fun. As well as the internet there are many Photoshop books available as well.

1. Experiment/Play around

Don’t be scared of the program! experiment and play around with the tools. As the old adage goes, practice makes perfect. The more you use Photoshop the more comfortable you will become with it’s way of doing things and you will be able to achieve more.

Through out human history, even before the Ancient Egyptians, there has been the idea that mortal death was not the end. All cultures, races, religions and belief systems past and present, have always had some form of ‘afterlife’ to look forward to. The idea that death in this life is not the sudden end of ones existence has been fundamental in shaping humanity and can be broken down into 5 main types; Reincarnation, Transmigration, Judgment Day,  The Paradise Afterlife and the ‘nothing’.

Reincarnation
Reincarnation or Samsara is the cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth as human form on this earth. The cycle of samsara is and only leads to more suffering until one gains enlightenment.

Transmigration
Transmigration is the eternal soul that moves from one form to another according to karmic considerations. The form can be another human being, a animal, plant or even a rock. The Karma or ‘actions’ that one has gained from the past life/s determines what form will be taken in the next life.

Judgment Day
This belief is that there in only one life on this earth and when you die the person is in either limbo or a heaven like state until such day that he or she will be resurrected  for the final judgment day or the final battle on earth.

Paradise Afterlife
When one dies the  person/soul lives in eternal  heaven,  kingdom  of  the dead or some  other form of  higher plane.  As well as the higher planes of  the afterlife there is the lower or hell planes of existance.

Nothing
This is the belief that when you die, that is the end, there is no more, you cease to exist.

Reincarnation and transmigration are the most common forms of belief that consist of different forms of either system, or a mixture of both. One typical view on reincarnation in the west; is that of coming back as an animal, like a tiger or eagle, when really this is transmigration not reincarnation in the pure sense. To wish to be born again as animal is not only going backwards in the level of enlightenment but you cannot decide what you want to come back as at this moment in time. Along with this view the other idea regarding reincarnation is that in a past life the person thinks they were Cleopatra or a famous King for example. These ideas are more of a fantasy rather than any real knowledge of  reincarnation/transmigration or the processes involved.
An interesting difference between western and eastern ideals regarding reincarnation was made very prominently to a doctor who wished to study reincarnation. When the said doctor told his colleges that he wanted to study this belief they all asked him why he wanted to do such a thing as everyone knew that reincarnation was not real. After he traveled to the east and told his colleges there what he was doing they all asked him why he would do such a thing as everyone knew that reincarnation was real!.

If we look back at history as well as how and why the beliefs of Heaven and the final Judgement came about we can gain a better understanding of these concepts. There are many different forms of Heaven and Hell as well as the other types of these realms but one of the main ideas is that these places are eternal. To be stuck in eternal heaven or hell because of our actions in our  very short life on earth not only seems to be ‘unfair’ but not very rational. The concept of eternity goes against one of the fundamental laws of the universe. The only constant is constant change, nothing can be eternal as everything changes.
Who decides where we end up? God is the main Judge in most religions but the only person or entity that can truly judge a person is oneself. You cannot lie or deceive your self and you are the only true judge.

In the Judgment  day or final battle ideal you either stay in heaven until the ‘day’ or you just cease to exist until the ‘day’. As with the concept of eternity  you cannot cease to exist and then just be resurrected,  energy as with everything is constantly changing into different forms, cessation of existence is an invalid idea as there will always be some form or another of energy.
This not only invalidates the ideals of eternity and cessation but also the concept of ‘nothing’ after death. No matter what happens after death or what belief you have there will always be ’something’ left of you as energy cannot be destroyed it just changes form. A simple example of this is a tree that is planted at the site of a person who has been buried.

Beside the want of not wanting to die and the fear of the unknown one of the main driving forces behind the idea of an ‘afterlife’ is consciousness. No one really knows what consciousness is or how it forms but we all have awareness which makes us unique on this earth and the idea that this consciousness cannot be destroyed as it too is energy is a comforting thought for many people.

There are many types and ideas or what happens after ‘death’ and we all should explore these ideas which can help us understand ourselves, humanity and the universe much better.

We are lucky to be living in this time of ‘awakening’ as more and more people are asking the big questions and seeking the truth more than ever before but we still have a long way to go and we need everyone to help.

Most people never really ask the big questions of life and it is only when a big life threatening event happens in peoples lives do they start to think about these questions. Some people never even get to this stage untill they are on their death bed and then they will start to ‘think’, for some people even at this time they still live in the illusion.

Death is one of the facts of life that most people are totally scared of and shy away from. Even  the death of a close loved one rarely has the affect on people to investigate death. I personally do not understand this as it one of the inevitable cycles of existence and should openly be discussed and talked about, like all other aspects of life.
Death is nothing to be afraid of and it does not matter what religion or belief system you have, the simple fact that engery cannot be destroyed should be enough for anyone to accept death as a wonder of life like we do birth. We are all born from energy and we are all made of energy and it is simple as that.  So please, ask questions, investigate and understand what death means and how it impacts on you and your life.

The main goal of western society these days seems to be the pursuit of happiness through material gain. This has to be the most absurbed ideal that we seem to have trapped ourselves into. To be rich does not make you happy and nor does the illusion of having ’stuff’. We are brain washed from a very young age that life is about getting a good education so you can get a great job, have lots of money and have a family……then die. Is that what life is all about? I think not, but many people blindly think it is and it is these people that need help from being mindless robots.
It does not matter if you have millions of dollars or nothing, happiness is made up from the thoughts you have in your head, not what you have in material ’stuff’. A Buddhist monk with nothing but the robe on his back can be filled with absolute joy and a multi billion dollar company owner be suffering from depression. It is not what you have but what you perceive!

We, the human race can no longer live the way we have been and continue to do. Planet Earth is on a path to destruction unseen since the extinction of the Dinosaurs 65million years ago…and we have created it!

Global warming seems to be the ‘hot topic’ at the moment and to solve the problem all we have to do is reduce our carbon emissions, increase renewable energies and the world will be fine, right? Global warming is only the symptoms of the root cause, the relationship of population and energy use is the root of human society as we know it and it’s ultimate downfall.

The video below gives a snippet of the position we find ourselves in, there are many more brilliant documentary’s out there and we all need to share this information to every person we meet. It is up to us!