One of the realities of adulthood is that friendships morph and change, even if we don't want them to. As friends who were once close embark on individual life adventures—moving away from home, finding jobs, getting into relationships, starting families—it's inevitable that friendships will shift and some distancing will happen. That's life, but that doesn't mean that we can't make an effort to maintain connection and create ways of keeping in touch with the people we care about. In the olden days, friends would correspond with letters, but technology gives us many more ways to stay in touch. Unfortunately, smartphone use can easily overtake our lives, and figuring out how to utilize technology in a healthy and productive way can be tricky. But a video explaining a "game-changing" weekly tradition that provides a simple, quick way to keep up with our friends' lives has people wanting to create a "Wednesday Waffle" themselves.."As I get older, I'm getting used to the fact that I don't hear from my friends as often as I used to," says Kirx Diaz. "And I understand, life is lifing, and I live 3,000 miles away from a lot of my closest people, but it's something that I've really had to come to terms with.""However," he adds, "about a month and a half ago, we were introduced to this concept called the Wednesday Waffle, and basically what this is is a two-minute video life update talking about what we've been up to that week, how we've been feeling, and kind of everything in between. And I can't lie, it's been game-changing. The group chat's always going off, we know who's going through it, who's doing well, who we need to check up on throughout the week. And for the first time in a long time, I actually feel closer to my friends now than I did when I was living back home." See on Instagram The Wednesday Waffle idea originally went viral from another guy on Instagram, who explained how he and his group of three friends send one another brief video updates every Wednesday. As @nonpractisinggenius explains, "waffling" with friends is "a game changer for maintaining long distance friendships." Some of the benefits he points out include:- It takes just two minutes- Fights feelings of loneliness- Brings joy to the week- Deepens connections- Accommodates different schedules / timezonesWhen Americans hear "Wednesday Waffle," they may assume that it's something like Taco Tuesday, but "waffle" in this case is an Australian slang term for talking. "It’s just Aussie talk for speaking at length about nothing in particular. (think jibber jabber, yammer, natter, babble)" the originator explains. See on Instagram It wasn't until he showed his partner a "waffle" from a friend who had recently had a baby that he realized how impactful it was. "She was really blown away by the fact that we'd been sending these Wednesday Waffles to each other every Wednesday for a couple of years," he said. She just thought it was such a great thing for friends to do to stay connected, and it made me kinda think about it. I've been taking it for granted, but it is such a good thing and I look forward to their video every Wednesday. So maybe this is something other people can introduce to their life." People in the comments have been sharing their experiences starting up a similar habit with their friends. It doesn't have to be on Wednesdays and it doesn't have to be any specific length, but keeping the videos short and sweet help it become a sustainable practice. "Put this vid in a group chat with 5 of my boys… everyone participated and it was a pretty great, and connective experience. I hope we are able to keep it up. Except we waffled on a Thursday.""I sent this video to my 2 best friends in our group chat about a month ago and we have been doing this every week since. It’s been amazing because they both have crazy travel schedules with work and we have been able to see so much from each other in such a short time. Thank you for posting this, I can’t wait to see how we evolve it moving forward. ❤️""Started Wednesday waffles with the boyz this morning. Thanks for the suggestion.""Dude! Me and my mates started this a few weeks ago. The absolute joy it brings us all every week is irreplaceable. Thanks for the inspiration. Legend. ?"Whether you're wanting to keep in touch with one friend or a handful of them, a weekly "waffle" on a specific day of the week might just be the simple solution you've been looking for. Friendships do change over time and life legitimately makes keeping up with friends a challenge, but we don't have to resign ourselves to losing touch with people we care about when we have the technology to stay connected. All it takes is a few minutes and the ability to press record and send.

For those in the military, sleep can mean the difference between life and death. But shut-eye can be very hard to come by, especially during active conflict.The military method regained public attention thanks to a post by writer Sharon Ackman on Medium.com. The U.S. Navy Pre-Flight School developed a scientific method to help its pilots fall asleep. Through this technique, 96% of the pilots were able to fall asleep in two minutes or less.If pilots can fall asleep surrounded by war, you should be able to use it to knock out in the comfort of your bedroom.Here's how to do it:Step 1: Relax in your seatGiven the space restraints of a typical plane, the pilots were taught to sleep in a seated position. They put their feet flat on the ground, while relaxing their hands in their laps.Breathe slow, deep breaths while relaxing every muscle in your face and letting your forehead, cheeks, mouth, tongue, and jaw go limp.Step 2: Relax your upper bodyLet your shoulders drop as low as you can. Allow the muscles in your neck go lifeless.Starting with your dominant side, let your bicep feel like it's falling off your body. Then move to your forearm, hand, and fingers. If a muscle isn't relaxing, tense it first, then let it go loose.Slowly exhale to release tension.Step 3: Relax your lower bodyTell your right thigh muscle to sink, then move down your leg, saying the same thing to your calf, ankle, and foot. Your leg should feel like it has sunk into the ground. Then move on to your left leg.The final step is to clear your mind for ten seconds. You can do this by paying attention to your breath as it moves through your nostrils or holding a static image in your mind.Once your body is relaxed and your mind quiet, you should slip away into darkness.It may sound too good to be true, but this technique is real and effective. Try it out and get ready for refreshing sleep no matter what's happening in your life. This article originally appeared five years ago.

A massive disappointment. The post Why did Simon and Garfunkel initially split after their debut album? first appeared on Far Out Magazine.

When we celebrate the birth of Jesus, we are celebrating one of the most improbable miracles in all of human history.  You see, the truth is that not just anyone could have showed up and claimed to be the Messiah.  According to the Scriptures, the Messiah had to come from a very specific bloodline, the Messiah had to be born at a very specific place, and the Messiah had to be born at a very specific time.  It was exceedingly unlikely that anyone would ever be able to fulfill all of those prophecies, but Jesus did.  The prophecies about the first coming of Christ that we find in the Bible are powerful evidence for the reality of the Christian faith, and yet these prophecies are rarely taught in our churches today. Even though the birth of Christ is most commonly celebrated on December 25th in the western world, scholars openly acknowledge that Jesus was not actually born on December 25th.  According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, people did not start celebrating the birth of Christ on December 25th until hundreds of years after the time of Jesus… In the 3rd century, the Roman Empire, which at the time had not adopted Christianity, celebrated the rebirth of the Unconquered Sun (Sol Invictus) on December 25th. This holiday not only marked the return of longer days after the winter solstice but also followed the popular Roman festival called the Saturnalia (during which people feasted and exchanged gifts). It was also the birthday of the Indo-European deity Mithra, a god of light and loyalty whose cult was at the time growing popular among Roman soldiers. The church in Rome began formally celebrating Christmas on December 25 in 336, during the reign of the emperor Constantine. As Constantine had made Christianity the effective religion of the empire, some have speculated that choosing this date had the political motive of weakening the established pagan celebrations. The date was not widely accepted in the Eastern Empire, where January 6 had been favored, for another half-century, and Christmas did not become a major Christian festival until the 9th century. The Bible does not give us a specific date for the birth of Christ, but based on the chronology that we are given in the gospel of Luke it probably happened during the fall months. And as I noted earlier, the Messiah could not have been just any random person. In my new book entitled “Why”, I explain that the Scriptures mandate that the Messiah must come from an extremely unique bloodline… -He had to be a descendant of Abraham.  (Genesis 12:3) -He had to be a descendant of Isaac.  (Genesis 21:12) -He had to be a descendant of Jacob.  (Numbers 24:17) -He had to be a descendant of Judah.  (Genesis 49:10) -He had to be a descendant of Jesse.  (Isaiah 11:1) -He had to be a descendant of David.  (Isaiah 9:6 and Jeremiah 23:5) -He had to be a descendant of Solomon.  (2 Samuel 7:13) In addition to coming from a very specific bloodline, the Scriptures also require that the Messiah must be born in the town of Bethlehem. This is what Micah 5:2 tells us… But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. The Scriptures also require that the Messiah must be born of a virgin. What are the odds of that happening? I think that Henry Morris was being quite generous when he assigned a probability of one in 40 billion… Consider also the matter of the virgin birth, which was prophesied over 500 years before its fulfillment. “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). The imminent fulfillment of this amazing prophecy was finally announced to Mary’s espoused husband, Joseph, also by Gabriel: “Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 1:20). There has been no other virgin birth recorded in all human history, in comparison to perhaps 40 billion normal births since Adam. However, an evolutionary skeptic might argue that such a thing is theoretically at least possible, especially in view of such modern genetic developments as artificial insemination, cloning, etc., as well as examples of parthenogenesis among animals. So perhaps we could assign a probability of one in 40 billion to a human virgin birth (or better, virgin conception—the actual birth being fully normal in Jesus’ case). On top of everything else, the Scriptures require that the Messiah must be born at a very specific time in human history. Daniel chapter 9 contains some of the most complex prophecies in the entire Bible.  As I explain in my book, that chapter gives us a very specific timeline, and it also gives us a way to check to see if we have interpreted that timeline correctly.  Daniel 9:26 says that the Messiah must die before the city of Jerusalem and the Temple are destroyed, and of course the city of Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed in 70 AD. What this means is that the Messiah had to show up before 70 AD, and that is precisely what happened. At just the right time, and in just the right place, the Messiah came into the world.  I recently came across an editorial that discussed just how unlikely this really was… Some people love math. I barely tolerated it; just enough to get by. Then there are people that have a passion for statistics, and others love to postulate on statistical probabilities, adinfinitum. OK, let’s try this scenario on for size. What are the chances that a virgin teenage girl, say 13 or 14, named Mary, who lived in the village of Nazareth along with her fiance Joseph, would immaculately conceive by the Holy Spirit and later give birth to a little boy, after traveling fully pregnant, on a donkey about 90 miles — a 4-5-day journey on foot — to the birthplace of Joseph’s ancestor, King David? This little baby would grow up to eventually save humanity from their sins. Come on, stat-people and mathematicians, I’ll wait for your answer. Overall, there are over 300 prophecies in the Bible regarding the coming of the Messiah that were fulfilled by Jesus Christ. After He rose from the dead, Jesus explained the importance of fulfilling all of those prophecies to His disciples.  The following is what Luke 24:44 tells us… And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Yes, anyone could theoretically show up and claim to be the Messiah. But there is only one man that fulfilled all of the criteria set forth in the Scriptures. Jesus is the Messiah, and that is definitely something worth celebrating. Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com. About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written eight other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today. Get prepared for what is ahead by visiting some of our sponsors… The Jase Case is more than an emergency medication supply. The right meds the moment you need them: https://shorturl.at/gMpOj Protect your home and vehicle with EMP Shield: https://shorturl.at/Hh2oz Ready Hour Emergency Food: https://shorturl.at/RB6ul My Patriot Supply: https://shorturl.at/GhppY InstaFire: https://shorturl.at/brRN1 AlexaPure: https://shorturl.at/CH23z Operation Blackout: https://eflow.americablackout.com/2964TZB/7XDN2/ Exodus Effect: https://trk.exodusrevealed.com/2964TZB/225JFQ/ Final Famine: https://trk.finaleagainstfamine.com/2964TZB/BP658/ Genesis Code: https://trk.discovergenesiscode.com/2964TZB/M2GJW/ Final Blackout: https://trk.borderdatareport.com/2964TZB/2N721M/ Last Blackout: https://trk.last-blackout.com/2964TZB/2J2CRS/ The post The Extremely Improbable, Exceedingly Unlikely, Exceptionally Amazing Birth Of Christ appeared first on End Of The American Dream.

by Mac Slavo, SHTF Plan: A new study published last week in the academic journal Emerging Microbes & Infections, suggests that pet cats could be just as dangerous as pigs were at the beginning of the bird flu outbreak.  Domestic cats could provide the bridge that allows H5N1 bird flu to mutate and jump to […]

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