Good morning! I am singing in the rain today-not sure we are getting enough, but if. This drizzle keeps up all day, It will certainly help. Yes, you all have the answer. Music helps with all the above-named problems. Here is the article: Jessica Hullinger filed under: music, 11, top-story IMAGE CREDIT: REUTERS/PETR JOSEK/LANDOV Music is a splendid thing. It can cheer you up when you're sad, make you dance like a fool, and allow you to drown out the world when you need to. But music has its scientific uses, too. The new documentary Alive Inside details how dementia patients react positively when given iPods filled with their old favorite songs. The music seems to help them "come alive" again. While listening to familiar songs, many of the documentary's patients can sing along, answer questions about their past, and even carry on brief conversations with others. "Music imprints itself on the brain deeper than any other human experience," says neurologist Oliver Sacks, who appears in the film. "Music evokes emotion, and emotion can bring with it memory." The documentary follows recent studies showing that music can improve the memories of dementia patients, and even help them develop new memories. Here, a look at some other things music has been known to "cure": 1. LOW BIRTH WEIGHT Babies born too early often require extended stays in the hospital to help them gain weight and strength. To help facilitate this process, many hospitals turn to music. A team of Canadian researchers found that playing music to preemies reduced their pain levels and encouraged better feeding habits, which in turn helped with weight-gain. Hospitals use musical instruments to mimic the sounds of a mother's heartbeat and womb to lull premature babies to sleep. Researchers also say that playing calming Mozart to premature infants significantly reduces the amount of energy they expend, which allows them gain weight. It "makes you wonder whether neonatal intensive care units should consider music exposure as standard practice for at-risk infants," says Dr. Nestor Lopez-Duran at child-psych.org. 2. DROOPY PLANTS If music helps babies grow, can it do the same thing for plants? Dorothy Retallack says yes. She wrote a book in 1973 called The Sound of Music and Plants, which detailed the effects of music on plant growth. Retallack played rock music to one group of plants and easy listening music to another, identical group. At the end of the study, the 'easy listening' plants were uniform in size, full and green, and were even leaning toward the source of the music. The rock music plants had grown tall, but they were droopy, with faded leaves, and were leaning away from the radio. 3. THE DAMAGING EFFECTS OF BRAIN DAMAGE Of the 1.5 million Americans who sustain brain damage each year, roughly 90,000 of them will be left with a long-term movement or speech disability. As treatment, researchers use music to stimulate the areas of the brain that control these two functions. When given a rhythm to walk or dance to, people with neurological damage caused by stroke or Parkinson's disease can "regain a symmetrical stride and a sense of balance." The beats in music help serve as a footstep cue for the brain. Similarly, rhythm and pitch can help patients sing what words they can't say. A study of autistic children who couldn't speak found that music therapy helped these children articulate words. Some of these kids said their first words ever as a result of the treatment. "We are just starting to understand how powerful music can be. We don't know what the limits are." says Michael De Georgia, director of the Center for Music and Medicine at Case Western Reserve University's University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland. 4. TEEN LOITERING Public libraries, malls, and train stations already know this: Teenagers typically don't like classical music. In fact, they dislike it so much that "it sends them scurrying away like frightened mice," says the LA Times. The theory is that when the brain hears something it dislikes, it suppresses dopamine, "the pleasure chemical." And as teenagers' moods fall, they go elsewhere to find something to bring it back up. So if you want the neighbor kids to get off your lawn, turn up the Tchaikovsky. 5. HEARING LOSS OK, maybe music can't cure hearing loss, but it may help prevent it. A study of 163 adults, 74 of them lifelong musicians, had participants take a series of hearing tests. The lifelong musicians processed sound better than non-musicians, with the gap widening with age. "A 70-year-old musician understood speech in a noisy environment as well as a 50-year-old non-musician," explains Linda Searling at the Washington Post. 6. A BROKEN HEART Not the kind caused by rejection, but the kind caused by a heart attack. Music can help patients who are recovering from heart attacks and heart surgery by lowering blood pressure, slowing the heart rate and reducing anxiety. As a preventative, try listening to "joyful" music, or songs that make you feel good. Research says listening to songs that evoke a sense of joy causes increased circulation and expanded blood vessels, which encourages good vascular health. 7. POOR SPORT PERFORMANCE In 2005, a UK study found that listening to music during sports training can boost athletic performance by up to 20 percent. That's roughly equal to the boost some athletes get from illegal performance-enhancing drugs, except music doesn't show up on a drug test. For best results, try music with a fast tempo during intense training and slower songs during cooldown. 8. GRUMPY TEENS In a 2008 study, researcher Tobias Greitemeyer wanted to study how lyrics impacted teenagers' attitudes and behavior. To do so, he exposed one group of teens to "socially conscious" songs with a positive message, like Michael Jackson's "Heal the World." Another other group listened to songs with a "neutral" message. The researchers then "accidentally" knocked over a cup of pencils. The group listening to positive songs not only rushed to help more quickly, but picked up five times as many pencils as the other group. 9. ILLITERACY A 2009 study comparing two groups of second graders from similar demographics suggests learning music boosts reading abilities. The only major difference between the two groups was that one learned music notation, sight-reading and other skills, while the control group did not. Each group was tested for literacy before and after the school year. The end-of-year scores for the control group improved only slightly from their beginning of the year scores, while the kids with a music education scored "significantly higher," especially on vocabulary tests. 10. SLUGGISH ALCOHOL SALES Are you a wine store owner suffering from an overstock of German vino? Try pumping some German tunes through your store. A 1999 study showed that doing so boosted German wine sales, and similarly, playing French music boosted French wine sales. Customers said they were completely oblivious to what music was being played. 11. WINE SNOBBERY Ever purchased a bottle of wine with recommended listening printed on the bottle? Well, makers of cheap wine may want to consider that tactic. A group of researchers say certain types of music can "enhance" the way wine tastes by up to 60 percent. In a study, wine-drinkers rated white wine as 40 percent more refreshing when it was accompanied by "zingy and refreshing" music ("Just Can't Get Enough" by Nouvelle Vague was their go-to zingy song). The taste of red wine was altered 60 percent by "powerful and heavy music" like Orff's "Carmina Burana." "The tongue is easy to dupe." says Jonah Lehrer at Wired. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some $8 chardonnay that needs a little help from Tina Turner. May 11, 2012 - 10:41am Read the full text here: http://mentalfloss.com/article/30649/11-problems-music-can-solve#ixzz2cKb24mo8 Thanks for playing everyone. I think I should probably watch Groundhog Day! If you like to read quotations, the link below starts out with the one to which Nancy may have been referring. Cynthia Here is a link that might be useful: Quotations

Okay, four stars for the stalwart TM and Nancy. Yes, catgut comes mostly from sheep and goats, although it is occasionally made from the intestines of other farm animals such as cattle, hogs, horses, mules, or donkeys. The origin of the name could be an abbreviation of cattle gut or (and I like this idea better), it may have come from kitgut or kitstring in which the word kit means fiddle. Here is a little more info from wikipedia: "In order to prepare catgut, the intestines are cleaned, freed from fat, and steeped in water. After that, the external membrane is scraped off with a blunt knife. The intestines are then once again steeped for some time in lye (a caustic alkali, usually potassium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide), and then smoothed and equalized by drawing out. It is found that lean animals yield the toughest gut. Next the prepared gut strands are twisted together to make the string. The diameter of the string is determined by the thickness of the individual guts and by the number that are used. For example, a very thin string such as a violin E will use only three or four guts, whereas a very heavy string, such as a double bass string, may use twenty or more. After twisting and drying the strings are polished to the requisite diameter. Before the twentieth century the strings were simply rubbed with an abrasive to smooth them, while today they are generally ground down to the desired diameter used a centerless grinder. After drying and polishing the strings are bleached using the antiseptic action of the fumes of burning sulfur (i.e. sulfur dioxide), dyed if necessary, and sorted into sizes. Before 1900 the best strings for musical instruments were reputedly from Italy. The best were considered to be from Naples, though excellent strings were also produced in Rome and other Italian cities. Today high quality gut strings are produced mostly in Italy, Germany, and the United States, though they are also made in developing countries such as India and Morocco for local use." Have a wonderful day. Off to check Nancy's question. :) Cynthia

Here are your three stars, Laura and TN! Also, yes, Eisenhower signed the name change into law. The U.S. Postal Service is indeed the largest employer of veterans. BTW, California has the greatest number of living vets in the states followed by Florida and Texas. 1. Kris Kristofferson E 2. Drew Carey L 3. Tony Bennett K 4. James Earl Jones B 5. Mel Brooks G 6. Alan Alda D 7. Bill Cosby A 8. MC Hammer C 9. Montel Williams F Julia Child J Steve McQueen-H Thanks for playing everyone. I enjoyed researching this topic and learning stories about the service of these folks. Of course, there are so many more I could have included, but those may have to wait until next year. Promise to find some Canadians next year too!

Four stars for Annette, TM, Bobbie, and Nancy. Yes, the word ballot comes from the Italian word for ball which is palla. Pallotta is little ball. In the mid-16th century, it became ballot (middle French=ballotta-good ear TM) to refer to the small balls used for voting which would be placed in boxes indicating one's choice. Your stars today (and balls) are in response to Nancy's baking. Today would be a perfect day for that here, but I seem to be out of brown sugar. Rats. Have a delightful Sunday all. Thanks for playing. Cynthia