Life is backwards!

If you ask me, life is all backwards, its all the wrong way around!

You should start out dead and get it out of the way. This means you can claim the money on your life insurance policy so you have a nice lump sum to play with, go buy a sports car.

You get kicked out of the old peoples home you are currently residing for being too healthy. You go and collect your pension so not only do you have the life insurance money but also a monthly pension...nice! Your loaded and getting younger...cool!

You start work with no intense training and no stressful interviews. You simply give them a gold watch on your first day and you're all set.

You work 40 years or so, each arriving with fewer and fewer stressful responsibilities, until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement where you drink alcohol, party, and are generally promiscuous as you get ready for high school.

Then you go to primary school, you become a kid. You play and have loads of fun with no responsibilities,

Finally you become a baby, and then you spend your last 9 months floating peacefully in luxury, in spa-like conditions, central heating, room service on tap, and then you finish off as blissful explosion!

This is how life should be! It is all backwards!

Famous Life Quotes

Live is a precious thing and these quotes from famous people sum it up in a few words.

To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
Oscar Wilde

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
Mahatma Gandhi

You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.
Mae West

A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.
Martin Luther King

Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.
Agatha Christie

Wouldn't it be great if people could get to live suddenly as often as they die suddenly?
Katharine Hepburn

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Why Get Life Insurance?

Surfing the web has made the process of applying for life insurance a lot easier than days gone by. You can now get life insurance application processed in a matter of minutes rather than days.

Life insurance is a tricky subject as nobody wants to think the worst and especially if you are healthy and feel no need for it. However, life is very fragile. You only have to look in your daily newspaper every week to see those who have passed away and they are of all ages, not just the elderly. Life can be taken without a moments notice and leave your loved ones struggling without your financial help, especially if you have a mortgage or other financial commitments. This is why life insurance is so important.

Why Get Life Insurance?
Ignoring life insurance could put your family in a desperate financial position during a time when they are grieving at your passing. The last thing you want is for them to worry about money and paying the bills.

The massive choice of life insurance policies online can be overwhelming so here are some tips on how to decide what is the best life insurance cover for you.

1. Ensure that you know exactly what you want. If you do not define your goals before you go looking for life insurance, you may end up selecting the wrong policy.
   
   
2. Life insurance isn’t restricted to family men and women alone as business partners can also take out life insurance. If you want to ensure that your business stays afloat even after your death, you can take life insurance. As long as you have a beneficiary, life insurance is definitely not a wasted effort.
   
   
3. The beauty about life insurance lies in the fact that the beneficiary will obtain a large amount of cash to continue the lifestyle he or she was living before. The life policy you buy can eventually be used by beneficiaries to pay off a mortgage on the home. Life insurance ensures that your family has the life that they have always been used to.
   

Term Life Insurance
Term life insurance policy encompasses a contractual agreement between you and an insurance company in which you agree to pay a certain amount as premiums for a number of years. If you die before your term life insurance is up in a term life insurance, your recipient will receive the amount that the policy is worth.

Whole Life Insurance
A whole life insurance is one that covers you for the duration of your life. With a whole life insurance, you get to save some cash and use the cash for useful things such as your child’s education in college. Whole life insurance gives you the opportunity to gather more money through compulsory savings.

Shop around online for life insurance using a combination of price comparison sites and independent websites to get the best product at the best price for you.

Live Longer with a Mediterranean Diet

Adopting elements of a Mediterranean-style diet, which is high in fruit and vegetables and low on red meat and dairy produce, can reduce the risk of cancer by almost a quarter, according to a major study of people's eating habits.

It has been thought for some time that making dietary changes such as eating more olive oil and less butter could lead to a significantly lower incidence of heart disease, and now comes detailed evidence of how it can dramatically cut the chances of all types of cancer developing.

The research shows that just two elements of the Mediterranean diet added to daily food intake can cut the possibility of cancer taking hold by 12 per cent. Increase that to six items a day and the prospect of the disease being diagnosed falls by a staggering 22 per cent. Adding two elements to the daily diet could simply be eating more pulses and consuming less red meat.

More than 26,000 Greek men and women were studied over eight years by the scientists who found that consuming high levels of monosaturated fats – the "good" fat found in olive oil – in relation to the "bad" saturated fats found in dairy produce had the single biggest effect in relation to lowering the cancer risk from the diet. More olive oil and less butter reduced the risk by 9 per cent.

"Of the 26,000 people we studied, those who closely followed a traditional Mediterranean diet were overall less likely to develop cancer," said the study leader, Dimitrios Trichopoulos, professor of cancer prevention and epidemiology at Harvard University. "Although eating more of one food group alone didn't significantly change a person's risk of cancer, adjusting one's overall dietary habits towards the traditional Mediterranean pattern had an important effect."

The study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, monitored the prevalence of all types of cancer from stomach and bowel to liver, cervix and brain tumours. They looked at men and women, and took into account other risk factors, such as smoking and lifestyle.

The research is part of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer, a unique and ongoing look at dietary habits and other biological and lifestyle characteristics of more than half a million people across Europe before they were diagnosed with cancer or other chronic illnesses.

The scientists carried out detailed surveys of each person to study the sort of food they regularly ate and in what quantities.

The nine food groups measured were monosaturated and saturated fats, fruits, vegetables, legumes such as peas and lentils, cereals such as wholegrain bread and pasta, meat, dairy food, fish and alcohol.

"The researchers found that people who more closely followed a traditional Mediterranean diet had a lower incidence of cancer. Importantly, lower risk wasn't only seen by completely adopting the traditional Mediterranean diet, closer conformity also reduced cancer risk. And the more changes, the bigger the effect," said a spokeswoman for Cancer Research UK, which helped to fund the work.

Cancer specialists said the best advice for people to avoid getting cancer was not to smoke, to take regular exercise and eat a balanced diet rich in fruit and vegetables and low in red meat and saturated fats. "This is an interesting study but the best advice for cancer prevention remains to eat a healthy diet, to be regularly physically active and to maintain a healthy weight," said Rachel Thompson, science programme manager for the World Cancer Research Fund. "Looking at all the evidence on diet, people looking to reduce their cancer risk should aim to eat plenty of wholegrains and fruits and vegetables and limit their intake of red meat, salt and energy-dense foods."

Sara Hiom, director of health information at Cancer Research UK, said: "This helps us to understand more about the simple changes a person can make to their diet to reduce their risk of cancer and improve overall health. Although we know that unhealthy diets generally and being overweight are important risk factors for a number of cancers, the link between individual foods or food types and cancer has been less clear.

"This research highlights the importance of maintaining a healthy balanced diet to reduce your risk of cancer. It shows there are a number of things you can do, and there is no one 'superfood' that can stop you developing the disease."

Younger generation should be more aware of the benefits of insurance

The younger generation has been advised to take out insurance policies as more people cut back on life insurance as a bid to save money during the financial economic crisis, it has been revealed.

According to a study conducted by Fairinvestment 24% of those who participated admitted to not having life insurance, medical insurance, home insurance, payment protection insurance or do not take out travel insurance when going on holiday.

Spokesperson Rachael Stiles, of the website found the situation quite “concerning.” She said: "As budgets get tighter, I can understand why Brits are cutting back, but insurance should be one area that is sustained.”

The study found that the older generation tend to take out life insurance policies more than the younger generation. Only 10 per cent of those aged 19-21 invested in a life insurance policy while 53 per cent of 51-55 year olds had taken out life insurance policy.

“When it comes to life insurance, young people should be more aware as you never know what is around the corner. And, if you are the main bread-winner and have a mortgage or rent to pay and something happened to you, your partner or loved ones would be left to foot the bill, whereas a life insurance policy could cover such expenses.

A 25 year old male can get a policy for as little as £6 a month, making it an affordable expense," she added.

10 Things Surprisingly Good For You

We are forever being told that this is bad for you, that is bad for you. If you are like me and are sick to death of being told what to eat, drink then you will probably like this! Here are 10 things that people tell you are bad but actually have surprisingly healthy aspects to them.

10. Ice Cream
Ice-cream is a low GI (glycemic-index) food. This means that it is a slow sugar release food that keeps you satisfied for a longer period of time than a high GI food. For that reason, you are less likely to binge after eating ice-cream. 75 grams of Ben and Jerry’s Cookies and Cream ice-cream contains only 114 calories compared to a slice of cheesecake with 511 calories.

Furthermore, ice-cream is made of milk which contains many essential nutrients and vitamins. 1 cup of milk contains up to 30% of a man’s daily recommended intake. Other nutrients in ice-cream are biotin, iodine, potassium, selenium, vitamins a, b12, D, and K. Studies show a possible link between milk consumption and a lowered risk of arterial hypertension, coronary heart disease, colorectal cancer.

Interesting Fact: In the 5th century BC, the ancient Greeks sold snow cones made with fruit and honey in the markets of Athens.

9. Dirt
Throw away the rubber globes! Dirt is back in vogue! Remember the days where kids played in dirt, food was served with bare hands, and straws didn’t come in individual wrappers? It turns out - they were healthier days than our modern sterile ones! Early childhood exposure to bacteria, viruses, and parasites has been found to give a massive boost to our immune systems, making us less likely to get sick when we do come in to contact with various bugs. Research has found that children with a dog in the home are less likely to suffer allergies, and regular social interaction can reduce the risk of leukemia by up to 30%. Those are statistics not to ignore - so throw away the anti-bacterial cleaners and get dirty!

Interesting Fact: There are as many as 10 times more bacterial cells in the human body than human cells! The vast majority of these are harmless.


8. Stress
Stress is universally considered a bad thing - in some cases people have successfully won lawsuits against companies for work-related stress. But, what most people don’t know is that a little stress goes a long way to making us healthier. In short doses, stress can help boost the body’s immune system. In the first stage of stress (the “alarm” stage - often known as the “fight or flight” response) the body produces cortisol - a stress fighting hormone which has many benefits to the body. Stress can give a feeling of fulfillment - when this is the case it is called “eustress” as opposed to “distress”.

Interesting Fact: The term “stress” and the mental properties of it was not known before the 1950s. Until that time it referred simply to hardship or coercion.


7. Caffeine
Not only is coffee tasty, it is a mild stimulant with many medical uses. Caffeine contains a muscle relaxant that is very beneficial to people with bronchial problems - it can alleviate the symptoms of asthma. Additionally, caffeine releases certain fatty acids in to the blood stream that become a useful source of fuel for muscles. It even seems that the only serious side-effect to too much caffeine is a small amount of body-weight loss - a danger if you are anorexic. Caffeine should be avoided by people with fecal incontinence as it loosens the anal and sphincter muscles.

Interesting Fact: Caffeine can be toxic to animals, in particular dogs, horses, and parrots. It also has a much more significant effect on spiders than humans.


6. Red Wine
Red wine contains a group of chemicals called polyphenols (once called Vitamin P) which have been found to be very beneficial for health. They reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer. Wine has also been found to be an effective anti-bacterial agent against strains of Streptococcus (found most often in the human mouth) which can help reduce infections. Some wine varieties have extra health benefits; Cabernet Sauvignon appears to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s Disease. In addition to the benefits already listed, wine is chock full of antioxidants which play a huge role in the health of the human body. The wines found to have the greatest benefits are found in the South of France and the Sardinia region of Italy.

Interesting Fact: Wine originated in the regions of Israel, Georgia, and Iran, around 6000 BC.

5. Chocolate
As a result of recent research into chocolate and health, it appears to be something of a panacea (cure-all) - coupled with the great taste and mood enhancing properties, it might be seen as a wonder drug! Cocoa or dark chocolate improves the overall health of the circulatory system, it stimulates the brain, prevents coughs, prevents diarrhea, and may even be an anti-cancer agent.

Like coffee, chocolate is toxic to many animals. A BBC study indicates that melting chocolate in your mouth increases brain activity and the heart rate more intensely than passionate kissing, with the effect lasting four times longer after the activity ends. Eating regular small quantities of chocolate reduces cholesterol and the chances of a heart attack. Sign me up for some of that medication!

Interesting Fact: Chocolate has been used as a drink since at least 1100 - 1400 BC.


4. Cannabis
Cannabis is said to be beneficial for over 250 conditions. For this reason it is legal on prescription in a number of Western countries. Cannabis is believed to help with arthritis, asthma, depression, glaucoma, and pain. It is also reported to be a good treatment for constipation. Cannabis is also useful in dealing with the sideeffects of treatments for cancer, AIDS, and hepatitis. Cannabis has been used medicinally for over 3,000 years! Strangely, the cultivation and use of cannabis is outlawed in most countries.

Interesting Fact: Evidence of the use of cannabis as a non-medicinal drug exists as charred seeds found in Romania dating back to the 3rd millenium BC.


3. Beer
The moderate consumption of beer has been associated with the lowered risk of head disease, stroke, and mental decline. In addition, brewers yeast (used in the production of beer) contains many nutrients that are carried through to the final drink: magnesium, selenium, potassium, phosphorus, biotin, and B vitamins. For this reason, beer is sometimes referred to as “liquid bread”. In 2005 a Japanese study found that low-alcohol beer may contain strong anti-cancer properties. Contrary to popular belief, a “beer belly” or “beer gut” is not produced by the beer, but rather overeating and lack of exercise.

Interesting Fact: Beer is one of the oldest beverages - dating back to the 6th millennium BC.


2. Smoking
Often referred to as “Smoker’s Paradoxes”, there are a number of therapeutic uses of nicotine or smoking. For example, smokers are less likely to need surgery to provide extra blood to their heart after an angioplasty, the risk of ulcerative colitis is reduced, and it even interferes with the development of Kaposi’s sarcoma (a type of cancer of the lymphatic endothelium). Perhaps most surprisingly, is that there are connections to smoking and a reduction in allergic asthma. There is also a large body of evidence to suggest that smokers have a dramatically reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s Disease. Nicotine is currently being investigated as a treatment for ADHD, and Schizophrenia.

Interesting Fact: Tobacco smoking has been a practice of humans since at least 5000 BC.

1. Pornography
Amidst the loud angry cries against pornography, a few serious scientific studies have been performed on the subject. It seems that men and women who view pornography, have improved sex lives, better sexual knowledge, and an overall better quality of life. Surprisingly, one study found that the more that pornography is viewed, the greater the improvements. In an extensive study performed in Australia, the majority of married respondents stated that they believed that pornography has had a positive effect on their marriage. While clearly not always linked to pornography, studies have found that men who had fewer orgasms were twice as likely to die of any cause as those having two or more orgasms a week.

Interesting Fact: Pornography (and the anti-pornography movement) as it is understood today is a concept of the Victorian era (19th century) which was extremely moralistic. Sexual imagery was not taboo before that time.

Final Note
Of course, moderation is the key! Everything in moderation! So in future when someone whines at you - you can point them in the direction of this webpage and have the last laugh!

Perhaps if you are considering life insurance and to get a cheap quote, do not smoke.

Sources:
1. Alzheimer’s disease is associated with non-smoking by Carol Thompson
2. Impact of Smoking on Clinical and Angiographic Restenosis After Percutaneous Coronary by Cohen, David J.; Michel Doucet, Donald E. Cutlip, Kalon K.L. Ho, Jeffrey J. Popma, Richard E. Kuntz
3. Smoking Cuts Risk of Cancer by United Press International
4. Caffeine: Perspectives from Recent Research by P.B. Dews
5. Using spider-web patterns to determine toxicity by R. Noever, J. Cronise, and R. A. Relwani
6. From psychological stress to the emotions: a history of changing outlooks by R. S. Lazarus
7. Effects of moderate alcohol consumption on cognitive function in women. by Stampfer MJ, Kang JH, Chen J, Cherry R, Grodstein F.
8. Beer as liquid bread: Overlapping science by Bamforth, C. W
9. A dynamic partnership: celebrating our gut flora by C. L. Sears
10. Dairy’s Role in Managing Blood Pressure by the National Dairy Council
11. Ice Cream - What’s in a Scoop? by Pat Kendall
12. The Lost Civilizations of the Stone Age by Richard Rudgely
13. Medical Use of Cannabis in California by Dale Gieringer
14. Dark Chocolate Could Help Hearts by Emma Ross
15. Chocolate can do good things for your heart, skin and brain by Marjorie Ingall
16. Chocolate better than kissing by BBC News
17. Polyphenols and disease risk in epidemiologic studies by Arts, I.C. and P.C. Hollman
18. Antibacterial Activity of Red and White Wine against Oral Streptococci by Daglia, M.; A. Papetti, P. Grisoli, C. Aceti, C. Dacarro, and G. Gazzani
19. For Life Insurance quotes, I recommend you visit the Post Office website at http://www.postoffice.co.uk
20. Cabernet Sauvignon Red Wine Reduces The Risk Of Alzheimer’s Disease by ScienceDaily
21. From red wine to polyphenols and back: A journey through the history of the French Paradox by D. W. de Lange
22. Now that’s what you call a real vintage: professor unearths 8,000-year-old wine by David Keys
23. Vice or Virtue? The Pros of Pornography by Matthew Hutson
24. Study concludes porn can be good for you by Nick Grimm
25. Sex and Death, Are They Related? by the British Medical Journal

The Taboo Subject of Life Insurance

Life insurance is a tough subject to think about. It only takes a coastal walk along a sheer cliff-top, or a near miss on the drive home from work to realize that it probably is something one should consider sooner rather than later, especially in regards to the fact that the younger and healthier you are, the cheaper your premiums will be.

The real problem with life insurance is, well, it’s never fun.

Car insurance is equally dull. But because it is the law to be insured, the majority of drivers get on with it and make sure their policy is up to date. That said, unlike the history of life insurance, the history of car insurance is sprinkled with many humorous stories of stupid people claiming for stupid things. Some claims forms have featured such absurdities as: ‘I had been driving for forty years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident.’ And: ‘On approach to the traffic lights the car in front suddenly broke.’ And my personal favourite: ‘The accident occurred when I was attempting to bring my car out of a skid by steering it into the other vehicle.’

In terms of humorous home insurance claims, there is the famous story (sadly later proved to be fiction) of the man who insured 24 particularly expensive cigars, smoked them, and then attempted to claim his insurance because they had been destroyed by fire. He succeeded in court, but once he’d cashed his cheque, the insurance company sewed him for arson.

Back to reality though, and the claim of Philip Clough. After shoving some washing into his machine before going away for the weekend, he returned to find the machine still spinning on a boil wash. The insurance company subsequently denied payment because they believed their policy didn’t cover steam damage. Luckily for Clough though, the courts saw things differently on grounds that steam is H2O, just as water is.

Although ironic, it seems to me that if the general public were to learn to laugh about life insurance, then maybe people would be able to think about it more seriously. Quite frankly, who wants to contemplate what’s going to happen after you’ve gone?

It is almost a taboo subject for some people, unless it comes up during conversations about fraud or disease, it seems barely interesting at all and thus less at the forefront of our collective imagination. But the really funny thing is that it is the only policy that is pretty much certain to be paid out.

Let’s talk about life insurance

A casual journey from the boring subject of Life Insurance to the fascinating world of Cryogenics.

Life insurance is never a fun topic to discuss. Nevertheless I have recently found that I am developing an interest in when would be the best time for me to take out a policy. As it stands there are two schools of thought on whether someone who falls in the ‘30 and under’ bracket should take out a life insurance policy. Those pro-LI folks argue that it is good to do so now due to the low premiums for people who are young and healthy. Yet, on the other side of the fence, the anti-LI guys are saying that young people will be far smarter if they put their savings into high-interest saving accounts instead.

Both arguments seem fair. However, I have now developed a morbid curiosity into what I would like to happen to me in the end. There are many options, including: church burial (which seems a little boring nowadays), sea burial (but I think I need to be a sailor for this), home burial (too weird?), cremation and burial (too indulgent?), cremation and scattering (ok), cryopreservation?

The latter may seem like a joke too many, but there have been at least 150 recorded cases of cryopreservation to date (Walt Disney isn’t one of them); and the science is still advancing with the use of vitrification as opposed to the classic practice of freezing – as perpetuated by science fiction.

But what does this have to do with life insurance? Ben Best, President of the Cryonics Society of Canada, is confident that cryonics patients are likely to be reanimated in our lifetime (within 50-100 years). Despite this, the cost of being cryopreserved is famously expensive (up to $200,000), but most cryonicists pay for the privilege with life insurance policies. Consequently, if you’ve ever considered being cryopreserved and you’re under 30, not only are you of the most likely generation to witness the technology being a reality, but you should get the necessary funds in order because – as it stands – the likelihood of cryonic reanimation does not yet preclude an insurance payout.

It’s all very interesting. Though, I’m not completely sure I would want to be cryopreserved. However, wouldn’t it be great to see a world of hover-boards, mile-high buildings and no Coldplay in the charts?

Still, even if I’m not entirely convinced with cryo-technology, at least the miserable inevitability of having to deal with life insurance at some point would be much more bearable if I face up to it at a younger and cheaper age. And if I ever need to be cheered up about the subject, I can have the following thought at the back of my mind: one day, I may be just a little closer to living that Hans Solo fantasy of mine...