Blue light Filter for PC (Notebook, desktop) & Android Phone!

Ahoy from Amoy (historic Xiamen, China).

For years, I've used blue light filter software on my Android cell phone to combat the insomnia created by blue light. Even worse than insomnia--AMDF (American Macular Degeneration Foundation) warns that blue light causes retinal damage and can lead to (or worsen) macular degeneration.

So for years, I've wanted an Android-like blue light filter software for my computer--and it only occurred to me today to Google for one. And in seconds I found an amazing little blue light filter program that works on my Windows computer just as well as the blue light filter software on android or apple phones! It's called F.lux--though at first I was afraid to download it....

To avoid malware, I only download android software from Google Play (and even there, folks have had problems). I'm also cautious about downloading Windows applications for my computer from unknown sources. Even software with starred reviews from download.cnet.com have been found to be full of bugs, viruses, trojans, malware, etc. But in September, 2016, PC Magazine reported that Microsoft is finally getting on the blue light bandwagon and testing a blue light filter for Windows 10 (it's about time!), and they mentioned it will be like F.lux, which can be downloaded now for free. If PC Magazine recommends it, I trust they've done their homework.

It look me less than one minute to download and install F.lux--and for the first time since I started using PCs (over 30 years!), my face doesn't glow blue when I huddle over the screen in the dark.

F.lux is totally non-intrusive, doing its work behind the scene automatically. It turns on at night and shuts off by day (and like android or apple blue light filter software, you can adjust the filter level--from dim incandescent light to full day light). After a bit of use, you completely forget it's there!

Amazing app--and amazing it took me until now to figure out to Google blue light filters for Windows computers! Save your eyes and download F.lux today. And by the way, check out Google Play to download F.lux for Android (the device must be rooted, but hopefully they're working on a non-rooted version as well). But no need to wait.

For years, I've used the Android Bluelight Filter for Eye Care software, which has over 300,000 reviews (4 out of 5 stars--the low reviews primarily by people who don't even know how to use the software, or what it is for).

Enjoy Amoy!

Dr. Bill

School of Management, Xiamen University
Academic Director, SMXMU OneMBA
Amazon eBook "Discover Xiamen"

www.amoymagic.com

Bill Brown Xiamen University www.amoymagic.com

Happy Lantern Festival from Amoy (Xiamen) China

Ahoy from Amoy (historic Xiamen, China)--and Happy Lantern Festival!

Lantern Festival (Yuánxiāojié,元宵节  is the 15th day of the Lunar Calendar.  We love the light shows at Xiamen's Zhōngshān (Sun Yat-sen) Park, and when the boys were young we bought them battery-powered plastic lanterns and join the parades of parents and children walking up and down Zhongshan Rd. I had as much fun with the lanterns as the boys did--perhaps more fun! I wish our granddaughter, Katherine Ruth, were closer so I'd have an excuse to buy a lantern (she's in Arkansas; Matt moved to Arkansas because the Bible said to "go to the uttermost parts of the earth"; just joking--we all love N.W. Arkansas, though S.E. Arkansas is.... different).

According to tradition, on Lantern Festival, young lassies prowl the streets at night, hanging around the lanterns or pulling up people’s vegetables--all to boost their chances of getting married.  I don’t see why uprooting veggies will increase their odds at matrimony and domestipation--unless she wants to get her husband a higher celery? (Sorry, I was too puny to resist that punishing opportunity; I hope you don't retaliate with punitive measures).

Girls eligible for marriage cast divining blocks, and then set out to stroll in some auspicious direction until she meets a person--any person at all. She memorizes the first word that they say, and then she seeks out a fortune teller who explains (for a fee, of course) if the word is lucky or unlucky, which determines whether she will marry that year or not.

Whether you're hankering to get married or not, or just getting your kicks from pulling up innocent vegetables (should make a Veggie Tales episode about this1), enjoy Lantern Festival!

Enjoy Amoy!

Dr. Bill

School of Management, Xiamen University
Academic Director, SMXMU OneMBA
Amazon eBook "Discover Xiamen"

www.amoymagic.com

Bill Brown Xiamen University www.amoymagic.com

Cancer survivor's guide to Easy High Fiber Diet with Optifiber (wheat dextrin)

 

Ahoy from Amoy! (historic Xiamen, China).

Since battling colon cancer in 1999, I've kept a high-fiber diet, healthy diet. Although healthy food can be expensive, hospitals are  more expensive than healthy food--and a lot more painful. And thanks to Costco's Optifiber (see below), which I thought was a trademark for a hi-tech fiber-optic firm, an high fiber diet can be inexpensive.

I'm not fanatical about it health food, of course. As a wise man, Redd Fox, once said, "One day the hospitals will be full of a lot of health nuts feeling pretty stupid when they're dying of nothing." I know my days are numbered not matter what eat, but I'd like my remaining days to be healthier than they used to--and I do not miss the junk food.

Health on a Budget Over the years, I've found ways to cut sugar and salt, increase fiber, and eat healthy on a budget. For example, we spend only about $60 a year on breakfast, but it's tasty and nutritious, and packed full of some of the best fiber out there: oatbran and blueberries. Blueberries can be expensive, of course, but each year we buy a 4 pound box of Traverse Bay dried blueberries and Bob's Oat Bran from Amazon, which we rehydrate overnight in a glass of water and add to each day's oatbran (which we spice up with cinnamon, and sometimes add frozen banana slices). a 4 pound box of dried blueberries lasts us an entire year--as does 50 pounds of oat bran.

And Goodbye (almost--see below) Metamucil! Thanks to Optifiber, Costco's Kirkland version of Benefiber, I've almost said goodbye to that monstrous fibre fix, Metamucil. For years, I tried to stomach Metamucil, that slimy, slick concoction made from psyllium seed fiber. It works--but it's gross. And if you don't use enough water, it can actually swell up in your mouth and choke you.  I much prefer Optiber. In spite of it being 100% wheat dextrin, it is has so little gluten that it qualifies, by a long shot, as gluten-free. However....

Does wheat dextrin lower cholesterol? Sadly, dextrin does not lower cholesterol as well as Metamucil and other psyllium seed preparations--and I do have high cholesterol (DNA--it's high regardless of how well I watch my diet). It's the very mucus-like properties of psyllium seed that helps it bind the bad stuff in the intestines. While dextrin may help lower cholesterol (as any fiber might), it does not seem to be as good as Metamucil. But if you don't have a problem with cholesterol--go with Optiber!

Optiber mixes with any liquid--juices, or even coffee and tea--and it dissolves instantly. It is tasteless, odorless and there is absolutely no texture. It really is like nothing there. I simply add 2 teaspoons of it to my coffee or tea and it is the most painless way you can imagine to get a healthy dose of fiber! And believe me, when you take Optifiber, it really does work out well in the end!

Try my inexpensive breakfast of oatbran and Traverse Bay dried blueberries (I've tried many brands, and these are the best), with two teaspoons daily of Obtifiber. You won't regret it!

Enjoy Amoy!

Dr. Bill

School of Management, Xiamen University
Amazon eBook "Discover Xiamen"

www.amoymagic.com

Bill Brown Xiamen University www.amoymagic.com