Month: September 2022

Posted on

Royal family turns out in flawless fashion for the Queen’s funeral | Queen Elizabeth II

Royal family turns out in flawless fashion for the Queen’s funeral | Queen Elizabeth II

There was not a hair out of location, nor a shoe unpolished. Not one speck of lint on a jacket was to be seen. For the grandest, most attractive of occasions the costume code was resplendent solemnity, in pearls and pillbox hats, significant heels and sharp tailoring.

For the royal family members this was, as the archbishop of Canterbury mentioned, a portrait of grief underneath the brightest highlight. The Queen Consort, the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Sussex identified a little privacy under wide-brimmed hats, or veils, or both equally. And while Britain was wanting at the royal household, the relaxation of the environment was on the lookout at Britain.

Kate in profile
The Princess of Wales in the ceremonial procession. Photograph: Tim Goode/PA

The frilled white collars of the clergy and the rich scarlet and gold navy uniforms contrasted with the simplicity of the black-clad mourners, a reminder that the dying of the Queen has place not just the present Windsors but the entire idea of Britishness under the spotlight.

It has been a busy 10 times for milliner Stephen Jones, who following the dying of the Queen turned his central London retail store about to providing black hats only in anticipation of funeral orders.

“Everyone required to be properly dressed, not fashionably dressed,” stated Jones. “Hats had been a symbol of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, due to the fact she herself normally wore them.” The most well-known types have been discreet black hats, in neutral textures.

The arcane procedures which decreed that as a non-functioning royal Prince Harry could not use armed forces uniform, despite owning witnessed additional lively provider than most of the family members, are the sort of thing that helps make the monarchy glimpse petty and nonsensical in the eyes of its critics.

Anne and Harry
Dapper: Princess Anne and Prince Harry soon after the Queen’s funeral service at Westminster Abbey. Photograph: Hannah McKay/AP

But Harry defused the tension, issuing an advance assertion that he would be in a normal accommodate, and on the day it was Princess Anne, trim in her intelligent white hat and starched gloves, who looked the most dapper in navy regalia.

At Britain’s very last condition funeral, that of Winston Churchill in 1965, mourners came in best hats and mink coats, although Woman Churchill was significantly submerged beneath yards of black lace.

Modernity has completed for the whole-size veil, with a “birdcage” size which covers the top rated 50 {cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of the encounter most well-liked this time by Kate and Camilla. Other fashionable touches involved Carrie Johnson’s nod to sustainability in a rented Karen Millen coat gown.

The Johnsons
Boris and Carrie Johnson, who wore a rented Karen Millen coat dress. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

Kate and Meghan ended up dressed in practically mirror-impression harmony, a silent riposte – or at the very least, no comment – to salacious curiosity in the fissure in between the Sussexes and the new Waleses. Equally females wore saucer formed hats – Kate’s softened with a tiny veil, Meghan’s with a wave in the brim.

Both of those selected clean up-lined, unfussy tailoring by woman British designers, with Meghan in Stella McCartney and Kate rewearing a favorite Alexander McQueen coat dress. Only Kate’s showstopper four-row pearl choker and matching bracelet from the late Queen’s selection, which somewhat overshadowed Meghan’s basic pearl drop earrings, hinted at the discrepancy concerning their positions.

Exterior the circle of close mourners there had been touches of person glamour. Jacinda Ardern wore a kākahu, a regular Māori cloak made from feathers, which is a image of ritual and status in New Zealand.

Ardern
Jacinda Ardern, donning a classic Māori feathered cloak, and her fiance, Clarke Gayford. Photograph: John Sibley/Reuters

Princess Charlotte’s previous-fashioned black hat was reminiscent of the boater worn by Madeline Fogg, the 1940s schoolgirl protaganist of Ludwig Bemelmans’ children’s publications, though the diamond horseshoe brooch on her coat manufactured sweet reference to a enjoy of horses she shared with her wonderful-grandmother.

Posted on

Albany looks to crack down on ‘forever chemicals’ contamination

Albany looks to crack down on ‘forever chemicals’ contamination

Superior early morning and welcome to Monday’s New York Health and fitness Care newsletter, the place we maintain you posted on what is coming up this 7 days in overall health care news, and provide a look back at the critical information from previous week.

New York lawmakers and climate advocates currently will kick off New York City Weather Week by contacting for new statewide action to greater observe and exam for for every- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, identified as PFAS and “for good substances,” which have been linked to a myriad of health circumstances, like hormonal variations, developmental delays in little ones and amplified hazard of most cancers.

Sen. Rachel May possibly (D-Syracuse) and Assemblymember Carrie Woerner (D-Saratoga County) will unveil their “PFAS Surface H2o Discharge Disclosure Act,” at a late-early morning news convention featuring officials from Earthjustice and Seneca Lake Guardian and other lawmakers. The legislation (NY S9525)/(NY A10689), which was formally introduced previous thirty day period, would develop an annual PFAS floor water discharge disclosure prerequisite for all publicly owned treatment method performs and new point out pollutant discharge elimination system allow programs.

Could advised POLITICO that the laws stems from her latest perform as element of an Environmental Protection Agency community federal government advisory council on federal PFAS rulemaking.

“What we realized in New York point out, as properly as [in] a lot of elements of the country, is no one has any details about wherever these chemicals are, where by they are coming from, how significant a problem it is in area regions,”she stated in an interview. “This invoice is built to make certain that regional governments have details that they can use when they are striving to determine out if there’s a trouble, And, if so, how to address it.”

The senator included that this invoice seeks to “catch up” on addressing an issue that has been out there for a whilst — most notably in Hoosick Falls, in which drinking water contaminated with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOAs) sparked a statewide h2o protection crisis.

Jill Witkowski Heaps, a senior lawyer at Earthjustice’s Northeast office, reported substantially of the reaction to PFAS has concentrated on cleaning ingesting drinking water at the utility-stage, not addressing the resource of people contaminants. This bill, she claimed, should respond to critical questions about the scope of PFAS contamination in water that have stalled federal action on the problem.

“The incredibly initially step to really halting this cycle of PFAS contamination is requiring absolutely everyone who is using it or could possibly be utilizing it, or could have it in its discharge, to disclose that so we now know what the sources are, where this stuff is coming from and how it is receiving in our ingesting water,” she reported.

While the evaluate is concentrated on information collection — not mandating any particular response — that is “the reasonable subsequent action,” Might said.

Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You will also acquire each day coverage news and other intelligence you need to have to act on the day’s major stories.

Crisis Around — POLITICO’s Shannon Young: New York’s Covid-19 crisis declaration finished previous week, almost 10 months soon after Gov. Kathy Hochul took the executive motion in an work to control viral transmission as coronavirus circumstances surged at the end of 2021. Hochul instructed reporters right after a New York Town party that she would not extend the executive order when it expired.

The governor experienced routinely renewed the declaration, at occasions with slight modifications, considering the fact that initially issuing it on Nov. 26. The announcement arrived just days right after Hochul lifted the state’s mask mandate for public transit and other congregant settings in an work to “restore some normalcy.” (Masks have to even now be worn in well being care configurations and grownup treatment services, which include nursing households.)

OVERDOSE Avoidance — POLITICO’s Julian Shen-Berro: The metropolis may perhaps soon inventory bars and other nightlife venues with daily life-preserving opioid overdose medication. A invoice handed unanimously by the City Council final week requires the Division of Wellbeing and Mental Cleanliness source free opioid “antagonist kits” — and instruction on how to use them — to area nightlife institutions. Those people kits will contain naloxone and other medicines permitted by New York state and the federal Food items and Drug Administration to negate or neutralize the consequences of an opioid overdose.

The treatment can be sent by means of injection or nasal spray. “It is a public overall health disaster. We are looking at New Yorkers die on a weekly foundation,” monthly bill sponsor Chi Ossé stated of opioids as he solid his vote.

IN OTHER News: 

— The NYU Faculty of World-wide Public Wellness is signing up for the AI4HealthyCities Well being Fairness Network, a worldwide initiative to boost coronary heart overall health fairness in New York Metropolis. The network, created by the Novartis Foundation in partnership with Microsoft AI for Health, appears to be to use data science procedures to offer health and fitness officials with insights and resources to recognize the root triggers of coronary heart overall health inequities, as well as how outcomes can be enhanced.

… The Novartis Basis, Microsoft AI for Wellbeing and NYU GPH will launch AI4HealthyCities at a 5 p.m. function right now, which will be streamed on line.

— Point out Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli on Friday announced two Section of Health and fitness audits that discovered tens of millions in incorrect payments in the Medicaid software.

— The Cannabis Command Board will satisfy Tuesday in New York Metropolis. The in-individual meeting comes just a single 7 days in advance of the application deadline for New Yorkers wanting to open the first marijuana dispensaries in the state.

WE Adore TO Hear FROM YOU: This roundup is for you! Mail news strategies, wellbeing recommendations, tips, criticisms and corrections to [email protected].

NOW WE KNOW — An Adderall shortage and social media stigma is earning it really hard for some individuals with ADHD to entry the drug, BuzzFeed News stories.

TODAY’S Suggestion — Want to adjust someone’s mind? New research implies that a group of persons owning a strong conversation can support realize consensus — as extended as that team doesn’t contain any “blowhards,” in accordance to The New York Occasions.

MAKE Sure TO Abide by Shannon @ShannonYoung413 on Twitter. And for all New Jersey well being news, examine out Daniel Han, @danieljhan_.

Analyze THIS — Via VICE: “The American armed forces is struggling with a recruiting disaster and the Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Courtroom conclusion that overturned federal protection for abortion will make it worse, according to a new analyze from the RAND Company.”

The New York Periods examines “how Russian trolls aided keep the Women’s March out of lock action.”

The Moments Union reports that California paid out less than New York for Covid-19 fast, at-home checks from a “company related with Hochul marketing campaign donors.”

“Intellia Therapeutics Inc. noted encouraging early-stage examine benefits for its Crispr gene-modifying treatment options,” The Wall Street Journal stories.

Kaiser Overall health News breaks down “what back-to-schoolers want to know” about the return of poliovirus in the U.S.

The meth addiction disaster “is worse than at any time,” STAT reports. But new treatment plans are on the horizon.

“In South The us, two decades of shuttered faculties for kids without the need of computers or WiFi finished hopes and dreams for millions,” Victoria Sousa, a journalist presently attending University of Pennsylvania, writes for POLITICO Journal.

POLITICO’s Megan R. Wilson reviews that the increase of profitable Medicare Edge strategies has offered way to a wave of misleading or misleading gross sales practices applied to drive them and a massive spike in problems from seniors who truly feel duped. The issue, which has extended been on the radar of state and federal regulators, is now drawing the consideration of best Democrats on Capitol Hill.

About half of Manhattan office environment workers are back again at their desks on a standard weekday — but far less are returning to places of work five times a week, in accordance to a new study from the Partnership for New York Metropolis, POLITICO’s Janaki Chadha studies.

POLITICO’s Ben Leonard reports that Medicare clients took advantage of pandemic-period policies allowing them to see medical practitioners in other states by way of cellphone or video clip get in touch with, a study revealed Friday in JAMA Wellbeing Forum found.

Posted on

King Charles: How Duchy Originals became a top organic food brand

King Charles: How Duchy Originals became a top organic food brand
Charles — extensive a passionate advocate of environmental leads to — established Duchy Originals in 1990 when he was the Prince of Wales to market place produce from his farm. It’s considering that developed into the greatest natural meals and consume model in the United Kingdom, according to the corporation. In the 12 months by March 2021, Duchy Originals gained virtually £3.6 million ($4.1 million) prior to taxes.

The manufacturer has experienced its ups and downs. But it can be thrived due to the fact coming into into a partnership with Waitrose in 2009. The upmarket grocery chain now has the exclusive proper to provide products and solutions under the Duchy name, and shoppers can uncover salmon, sausages, milk, carrots and blueberries bearing the “Waitrose Duchy Natural and organic” name at its suppliers.

“It truly is turned into a incredibly productive company,” stated Andrew Bloch, a London-based public relations expert. “You can feeling with this brand, it has coronary heart and soul powering it.”

The long run is unsure, however. Management of the Duchy Originals model is up in the air throughout a time period of countrywide mourning culminating in the Queen’s condition funeral on Monday.

“We will liaise with the Royal House on foreseeable future arrangements when the time is suitable to do so,” a spokesperson for Waitrose explained.

Packets of Prince Charles' brand of products line shelves at a Waitrose supermarket in central London.
Ownership of Duchy Originals will most most likely pass to Charles’ eldest son Prince William, who also inherits the independent Duchy of Cornwall estate — really worth about £1 billion ($1.2 billion). And although the prince has researched natural and organic farming, he is probably to be fewer palms-on than his father.

“He’ll be intrigued, but he’ll entrust some others to operate it,” explained Sally Bedell Smith, a biographer and writer of the book “Charles: The Misunderstood Prince.”

A passion task

Charles invested a long time preaching the gains of natural and organic farming and preserving the atmosphere, even in advance of these types of issues became mainstream triggers.

In 1985, he transformed Property Farm, in close proximity to his Highgrove estate in Gloucestershire, into a thoroughly natural system. The Duchy Originals venture emerged 5 several years afterwards.

What can the world expect from King Charles III?
“Due to the fact the starting of the 1980s, when I to start with experienced duty for controlling some land in my possess suitable at Highgrove, I have wanted to concentrate on an solution to foodstuff production that avoids the affect of the predominant, traditional process of industrialized agriculture, which, it is ever more crystal clear to see, is acquiring a disastrous impact on soil fertility, biodiversity and animal and human well being,” Charles told Place Life journal in 2021.

The very first Duchy Originals solution was an oaten biscuit sold in 1992. To begin with, products bearing the brand ended up only observed in substantial-conclude stores these kinds of as Harrods and Fortnum & Mason, though they afterwards expanded into retailers like Waitrose, which caters to wealthier customers but has several extra destinations.

The business enterprise was on rocky floor in its early days, Smith wrote in her ebook. It took on way too significantly financial debt, and Duchy Originals had to glance for new producers and manufacturers at the time it became much too huge to count solely on Highgrove.

Its fortunes later on improved, in accordance to Smith. She noted that when Charles visited the British embassy in Spain in 2004, he burst in with gift-wrapped items, saying, “I’m a self-designed millionaire, you know!”

Waitrose techniques in

An unwell-fated try to develop into the United States, on the other hand, merged with the onset of the world wide economical crisis, pushed the business to the brink of collapse.

Dealing with tens of millions of pounds in losses in 2009, Charles turned to Waitrose, which threw him a lifeline by agreeing to provide as exclusive distributor.

It marked the conclusion of the prince’s ambitions for a big existence in the US market, but the start out of a strong turnaround in the outlook of the small business.

“The Waitrose rescue throughout the money crisis in September 2009 was totally important,” Smith claimed.

By 2017, 25 many years just after the oat biscuit’s debut, the line had expanded to 300 products, which include fruits, greens, meat and beer, and annual product sales achieved £200 million ($231 million). Extra than 30 nations close to the environment, together with the United States, Germany, Japan and Australia, have received exports of select solutions.
Prince Charles and his wife Camilla visit a Waitrose supermarket in central London in 2009.
Charles has accessibility to extensive personal wealth by his portfolio of land and property, but he has never right profited from the Duchy Originals enterprise. All royalties collected from Waitrose have been donated to charitable will cause. In its once-a-year report for 2019, the business claimed it had elevated additional than £30 million ($35 million) because hanging the licensing deal with Waitrose.

“It has furnished a incredibly considerable cash flow stream into his basis and has assisted to fund his charitable function as effectively as to boost natural and organic merchandise,” Smith mentioned.

However, the enterprise has not been without controversy. A vary of herbal solutions, which includes the “Herbals Detox Tincture” mix of artichoke and dandelion, was accused by an professional on alternate medicine as centered on “outright quackery.” A regulatory agency later on claimed on the net ads for two of the line’s herbal medicines have been misleading and instructed Duchy Originals to alter the wording.

William’s new enterprise?

Changes have been underway in recent several years as Charles geared up to take the throne. In 2020, his workforce stated he would not renew the lease on the sprawling Dwelling Farm, but would carry on to farm organically at the late Queen’s Sandringham Estate in Norfolk that he experienced started out running in 2017.

Observers now feel William will take the reins of Duchy Originals and its partnership with Waitrose, component of his new tasks as the Duke of Cornwall.

“I assume there will be a tension in between his new job as King Charles III and what he can and are not able to do,” mentioned Bloch, who also has worked on a voluntary foundation with Charles’ Prince’s Have confidence in charity. “It’s likely that Prince William will choose above.”

Prince Charles looks at produce during a reception in 2013 to celebrate the anniversary of Duchy Originals.
In his to start with tackle to the country as king, Charles acknowledged that his duties will modify.

“It will no for a longer time be feasible for me to give so a great deal of my time and energies to the charities and concerns for which I care so deeply,” he mentioned. “But I know this essential do the job will go on in the reliable palms of other individuals.”

William put in plenty of time on the Highgrove estate increasing up and enrolled in an agricultural administration study course at the College of Cambridge in 2014. Continue to, Smith will not feel he’ll be as concerned in the specifics of the company.

“I would not picture he’ll get into the minutiae of it that Charles did,” she said.

Posted on

Max Homa defends Fortinet Championship in Napa in stunning fashion

Max Homa defends Fortinet Championship in Napa in stunning fashion

Max Homa defended his title at the Fortinet Championship in gorgeous manner.

Trailing by 1 stroke on the last hole, Homa chipped in for birdie and viewed in amazement as chief Danny Willett took a few putts from a lot less than 4 ft.

“I really do not feel what I just noticed,” Golf Channel announcer Terry Gannon claimed.

Neither could Homa, who shut in 4-less than 68 at Silverado Resort’s North Class in Napa, California, and signed for a 72-hole full of 16-underneath 272. It was excellent sufficient for his fifth PGA Tour title and third in the Golden Point out.

“I nonetheless never know definitely know what happened,” Homa claimed. “The past a few minutes are variety of a blur.”

On a great, gusty, wet working day, Willett developed a a few-stroke guide early in the last spherical with birdies at Nos. 1, 4 and 8 but gave a stroke again with a bogey at the ninth. He pulled forward yet again with an amazing birdie at 14, exactly where he hooked his approach from guiding a tree to 15 feet and canned the putt. Homa, a 31-12 months-aged Cal-Berkeley grad, put up a valiant effort to defend his title, building 3 straight birdies beginning at No. 9.

“My coach (Mark Blackburn) explained, ‘Just cling close to, hang all around, cling close to,’ ” Homa recalled.

Homa did just that, and when he chipped in for birdie at 18 it forced Willett to hole from inside 4 toes for the trophy.

“I spun it and the moment it hit the pin, it nearly like spun straight into the floor. It was just a person of those people issues,” Homa mentioned. “Golf’s a unusual recreation, some ridiculous things transpires on the very last gap it appears like and that was extremely mad.”

It was as clutch as clutch will get, and nonetheless it didn’t show up to be plenty of right until Willett strike his putt for the win too firmly and it lipped out. Willett’s miss of the 5-foot comebacker was even much more surprising and gift-wrapped the trophy to Homa.

“This match under no circumstances ceases to amaze me,” said Golfing Channel’s Tom Byrum.

Rookie Taylor Montgomery shot a closing-round 64 and concluded by itself in third. Justin Lessen closed in 73, settling for a tie for fourth but notched his greatest career complete. Rickie Fowler, who tied for sixth, secured just his 3rd prime-10 finish in his past 59 starts off.

Homa’s 2nd shot at the par-5 18th caught the remaining environmentally friendly side bunker, leaving himself an awkward 30-yard shot from the sand.

“I form of experienced to believe he was likely to make it and I type of went for the hero bunker shot and didn’t pretty catch it,” Homa mentioned.

He exploded 33 ft short of the inexperienced prior to holing out for the eventual successful birdie.

“I envisioned him to do it,” Willett claimed, “but then it’s however a bit of a shock when it transpires.”

For the 7 days, the 34-12 months-aged Englishman experienced holed much more than 96 percent of his putts from inside of 10 toes, like a clutch 9-foot par putt at 17 to manage his direct. But his initial putt from 4 feet rimmed out on the left side and he confronted a for a longer time par putt to drive a playoff than his prior try. Willett was trying to win his 1st PGA Tour title due to the fact the 2016 Masters, but it was not to be.

“Just a shame how I finished but that is golf,” Willett claimed. “Yeah, we’ll reside to combat a further working day.”

Homa heads to his initial physical appearance symbolizing the United States on its 12-man team in following week’s Presidents Cup, a biennial team match-participate in competitors in opposition to the world’s greatest 12 non-European gamers, with an extra boost of assurance.

“I’m just delighted to be in sort, to stand for my place, enjoy with those people boys. They’re some great golfers, so I just desired to come in in type,” he reported. “I know this is Twitter, but I have experienced a whole lot of folks explain to me if the LIV guys would not have left, I wouldn’t have created the Presidents Cup staff, so I experienced a little bit of a chip on my shoulder this week.”

Posted on

10,000 steps vs. power walking: Are they equally beneficial?

10,000 steps vs. power walking: Are they equally beneficial?

A close-up of a man checking his fitness tracker on his wristShare on Pinterest
Upping your pace of walking may also have health benefits, even if you don’t reach 10,000 daily steps. BONNINSTUDIO/Stocksy
  • A large new study investigates the health effects of walking 10,000 steps a day or less.
  • The researchers found that the risk of premature death decreases with every 2,000 steps people take.
  • They also found a correlation between the number of daily steps and a reduced risk of developing dementia, heart disease, and cancer.
  • Power-walking also adds additional benefits and can make fewer steps count significantly more.

For maintaining one’s health, experts typically recommend walking 10,000 steps each day. For some, daily schedules and other factors make achieving this goal difficult. A new, large observational study finds that there are also health benefits to taking fewer steps, and that pace also affects walking’s impact on well-being.

“10,000 daily steps is a popular target that has been around for several decades,” Prof. Emmanuel Stamatakis, study senior author and professor at the University of Sydney, told Medical News Today. “However, there has been very little empirical evidence to support its specific health benefits until now.”

Among the study’s findings are that for every 2,000 steps taken, a person lowers their risk of all-cause death by 8{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} to 11{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}.

Professor Paul Arciero of the Human Physiological Sciences Department at Skidmore College, who was not involved in the study, told MNT that the study’s most fascinating conclusion “was how beneficial increasing daily step count is, regardless of the number of steps up to the well-known 10,000 target.”

“In other words, simply increasing the number of steps beyond a minimal starting point, say 1,000 steps [per] day, is beneficial. This is very encouraging and motivational news for the least active individuals,” he said.

The study is published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

“Stepping up the pace during walking may be as important as the total number of steps people do,” pointed out Prof. Stamatakis.

The study found that power-walking offers an additional reduction of risk for the same health conditions that walking helps prevent.

“People who cannot fit 10,000 steps in their daily routine could try 1–2 minute-long bursts of very fast or maximal pace during any normal walk from point A to B. Such bursts, repeated a few times daily, could potentially improve fitness and lower the risk of the long-term health outcomes we examined in our study.”
— Prof. Emmanuel Stamatakis

“This is great news for those with time constraints,” said Prof. Arciero.

The study confirmed that for optimal health benefits, “the ‘sweet spot’ is at or very close to 10,000 steps,” said Prof. Stamatakis.

“Generally speaking, the more daily steps the better, and long term-benefits start from relatively low levels, e.g., around 4,000 steps a day.”

The authors found that while 9,800 daily steps could reduce dementia by 50{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}, just 3,800 steps a day could lower dementia risk by 25{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}.

In addition, the effects of walking were not dependent on age, co-lead author Professor Borja del Pozo Cruz, of the University of Southern Denmark and senior researcher at the University of Cadiz, told Medical News Today:

“We conducted moderation analysis to precisely check this. However, age did not come out as an effect-modifier in our study. Other studies have shown different results for younger and older adults, whereby younger adults needed to do more steps to maximize the benefits associated with steps.”

The authors of the study analyzed UK Biobank data for 78,500 individuals who wore a fitness tracker 24 hours a day for 7 days. Their average age was 61.

“This was the largest population study,” noted Prof. Arciero, “that showed more steps [per] day — up to 10,000 — was associated with reduced risk for certain cancers, heart disease, and mortality among women and men with an average age of 60 years, up to a seven-year follow-up period.”

“This study provides compelling new data supporting increased steps with no minimal threshold for the benefits to occur.”
— Professor Paul Arciero

Being an observational study, definitively identifying causal connections are beyond its scope, as Prof. del Pozo Cruz explained:

“It is a limitation shared by many epidemiological studies. However, based on our hypothesis, previous research linking physical activity with health outcomes, and our causal inference approach taken, we can generate fairly strong hypotheses that steps are associated with health outcomes, including CVD and cancer.”

“We took several measures to minimize the possibility that, e.g., the strong associations we found were due to less healthy people both having higher risk to die prematurely and being less able to walk because of their compromised health,” Prof. Stamatakis added. “Such measures included excluding participants with severe disease at baseline and removing from our analyses participants who had an event in the first two years of follow-up.”

Prof. Arciero agreed and said the study “is convincing evidence that walking more steps [per]day, at any level, is an effective lifestyle strategy to enhance our health.”

“These types of large-scale, well-controlled prospective observational studies illuminate relationships and associations to inform public health policy and future RCTs Health News to identify specific lifestyle strategies with the greatest health impact,” he added.

Prof. del Pozo Cruz suggested “an RCT testing whether the 10,000 steps target is associated with long-term CVD and cancer risk reduction.”

“Other useful research would be to figure out if steps is a feasible target in public health interventions. For example, would older adults uptake better a recommendation based on steps than on physical activity in general?” he said.

“One possible starting point,” said Prof. Arciero, “is to conduct randomized control trials on individuals with increased risk factors and/or early-stage disease onset for each of these disease states.”

He proposed, “targeted steps [per] day over both shorter and longer-term intervention periods while closely monitoring/controlling for nutritional intake and other lifestyle factors to assess the effectiveness of steps [per]day on reducing risk.”

“Ideally,” said Prof. Stamatakis, “the next step in this line of research would be large randomized controlled trials among previously inactive people assigned to different ‘doses’ of daily walking.”

“Such trials — which would ideally last for years — should provide simple and feasible motives to support, empower, and motivate people to meet the prescribed walking dose,” he added.

Prof. Stamatakis said such expensive research is unlikely for now, “Hence, the best available evidence to support daily stepping recommendations currently is large, well-designed observational studies using 24-hour trackers.”

Prof. del Pozo Cruz described monitoring one’s step count and pace without a fitness tracker as “probably hard and inaccurate.”

“[People] can do something simple that can assure some intensity to their steps. They can walk at a pace that makes it difficult to talk. Or they can measure distance and do distance in less time.”
— Prof. Borja del Pozo Cruz

In any event, he added, “It is not a common feature of fitness trackers to give steps [per minute]. Devices with GPS are able to give such metrics, but normally give miles per [minute] or [kilometers] per hour, or even distance per unit of time. With the evidence generated in our study, we are hoping to see more and more steps/minutes metrics incorporated in fitness trackers.”

Prof. del Pozo Cruz concluded that it was “important to stress the idea that every step counts and that benefits of walking start with the very first step.”

“We have provided tangible and practical recommendations that hopefully will give people and doctors tools to promote a healthier lifestyle. Walking is free! And our studies also demonstrate that can get you a long way,” he added.

Posted on

What happened to 2 dollar bills?

What happened to 2 dollar bills?
“If you had a $2 bill, perfect,” said Heather McCabe, a writer and $2 bill evangelist who runs the blog Two Buckaroo chronicling her spending with twos and other people’s reactions. “It’s a very useful thing to pay for a small amount.”

Yet the $2 note is the unloved child of paper currency.

It’s considered a curiosity to some and scorned by others in the United States. The myths around the $2 bill — nicknamed “Tom” by fans because it features Thomas Jefferson’s portrait on the front — are endless. Many Americans think $2 bills are rare, are not printed anymore or have gone out of circulation.

Wrong.

$2 bills are lighter to carry around in our wallets than ones, cleaner and more efficient.
The Treasury Department’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) will print up to 204 million $2 bills this year, based on an annual order from the Federal Reserve System. There were 1.4 billion $2 bills in circulation in 2020, according to the latest data from the Federal Reserve.
But $2 bills account for just 0.001{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of the value of the $2 trillion worth of currency in circulation.

BEP doesn’t have to request new $2 bills each year, like it does for other bills. That’s because $2 bills are used so infrequently and last longer in circulation. The Fed orders them every few years and works down the inventory.

“Many Americans have pretty dubious assumptions about the $2 bill. Nothing happened to the $2 bill. It’s still being made. It’s being circulated,” McCabe said. “Americans misunderstand their own currency to the extent they don’t use it.”

Bad luck

The United States first issued $2 bills beginning in 1862, around the time the federal government first started printing paper money. Alexander Hamilton’s portrait was on the two until a new series was printed in 1869 with Jefferson.

But the deuce was unpopular and never gained a foothold with the public.

A major reason: The the $2 bill was considered bad luck. Superstitious people would rip off the corners of the bill to “reverse the curse,” making the bills unfit to use.

“He who sits in a game of chance with a two-dollar bill in his pocket is thought to be saddled with a jinx,” the New York Times said in a 1925 article. “They have been avoided as ill-starred.”

The two was also known for keeping controversial company. It was associated with gambling, where it was the standard bet at racetracks, and prostitution.

And during the nineteenth century, crony candidates frequently used $2 bills to bribe voters. Someone holding a $2 bill was thought to have sold a vote to a crooked politician.

The Treasury Department during the 1900s tried unsuccessfully several times to popularize the use of the $2 bill. In 1966, it gave up and discontinued printing the bills “because a lack of public demand.”

How Heinz uses a fake number to keep its brand timeless

But a decade later, as the United States approached the bicentennial, the Treasury designed a new $2 bill series with a portrait of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on the back.

The aim was to cut the number of $1 bills in circulation and save the Treasury money on production costs.

But the relaunch in 1976 failed. People viewed the new version as a collector’s item and hoarded them instead of going out and spending them.

The Postal Service offered to stamp them only on April 13, the first day they were issued in honor of Jefferson’s birthday, unintentionally adding to the idea that they were commemorative bills -— a misconception that continues to this day.

“The press and public now tend to link the $2 bill with the Susan B. Anthony dollar under the general heading of ‘fiascos,'” the New York Times said in 1981.

There’s no rational reason why $2 bills aren’t as popular as other bills, said Paolo Pasquariello, a professor of finance at the University of Michigan. But people exhibit a preference for multiples of 1 and 5, he said.

Another reason $2 bills never took off: Cash registers, invented in the late 1800s, were never designed with a place to hold them, so cashiers didn’t know where to stash them.

“There wasn’t an alteration of cash registers for $2 bills,” said Heather McCabe. “The infrastructure of paying for things didn’t change. There was not an adjustment of how people work with that bill.”

If cash registers had a familiar slot for $2 bills, the bill would be more popular, she argued.

$2 subculture

But there are people who swear by $2 bills. In fact, communities and subcultures have developed around them.

US Air Force pilots who fly U-2 spy planes always keep a $2 bill in their flight suits.
Since the 1970s, fans of Clemson University’s Tigers football team have paid and tipped with $2 bills -— “Tiger Twos” — in other cities’ restaurants, bars, shops and hotels. The tradition started as a way to prove to Georgia Tech in Atlanta that it would benefit the city to schedule games against Clemson.
“There is a degree of popularity to them. There is a sense of excitement,” said Jesse Kraft, a curator at the American Numismatic Society. “But as far as putting them back into circulation, that’s the key that’s missing.”

Kraft is a proponent of adopting $2 bills more widely.

Clemson fans mark their "Tiger Two's" with orange paws from a stamp pad and spend them to give businesses on the road the idea of their economic impact.

He notes that it’s about half as expensive for the Treasury to print a $2 bill than higher denominations, which come with costlier security features on the paper. It’s also more efficient to print $2 bills than $1 bills because the Treasury can print twice as much for the same amount of money and requires less storage.

John Bennardo, who made a 2015 film about $2 bills called “The Two Dollar Bill Documentary,” has made it his mission to “educate people and enlighten them and start using $2 bills in their life.”

In short, he concludes, $2 bills are underappreciated in the United States and a way for strangers to meet and engage.

“You will get remembered if you use a $2 bill,” Bennardo said. “It has this ability to connect people in way that other bills don’t. It opens up a dialogue between you and the cashier.”

“It’s a practical bill with inflation. But it’s social currency as well.”

CNN’s Harry Enten contributed to this article.