Happy Piña Colda Day

by Carl Kruse

July 10 is National Piña Colada Day and while the contrived holiday verges on the embarassing, any moment to celebrate the delectable drink is fine by me and so here we go, a tribute to the piña colada. But from whence comes the cocktail?

Supposedly the 19th century Puerto Rican pirate Cofresí gave his crew a drink of coconut, pineapple and white rum to get them going, and this was what later would be the piña colada, though many historians dispute this story.

A recipe for a “pina colada” is included in The Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock, published in 1930. This recipe includes white rum, coconut milk and crushed pineapple blended with ice. But this is a recipe for a “pain killer,” of British Virgin Islands fame not really a piña colada.

In 1950, The New York Times reported that “Drinks in the West Indies range from Martinique’s famous rum punch to Cuba’s piña colada (rum, pineapple and coconut milk),” throwing confusion as to the origin of the drink.

The Caribe Hilton in San Juan claims one of its bartenders, Ramón “Monchito” Marrero created the piña colada in 1954. Supposedly Monchito settled upon the recipe for the piña colada — still used today — which he felt captured the essence of Puerto Rico. The hotel was presented with an official government proclamation in 2004 recognizing it as the actual birthplace of the piña colada.

Not to stay quiet, Barrachina, which is still standing on Fortaleza street in Old San Juan and has served amazing food for years (recommended if ever in the old city), claims that it was actually one of its bartenders, Don Ramon Portas Mingot, who created the piña colada in 1963. If you visit the restaurant today they have erected a plaque proudly proclaiming this. But this would have been nine years after the Caribe Hilton’s drink so the Barrachina claim is unlikely.

In his latest painting artist Carlos Davila Rinaldi celebrates Puerto Rico’s national drink – the Piña Colada, which a generation of Fat Tuesdays and Wet Willies have not been able to tarnish.

No matter who came up with the drink, the government of Puerto Rico declared it the official drink of the island in 1978.

And with all this talk about piña coladas, I could use one right about now.

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This Carl Kruse Blog homepage is at https://krusecarlblog.wordpress.com/
Contact: carl AT carlkruse DOT com
The blog’s last three posts were Three Tips for a Better Listener, Social Media Detox to Boost Mental Health, and Retrofitting Classic Cars with Electricity.
Also find Carl Kruse here.

Three Tips For Being A Better Listener

by Deanna Balestra for the Carl Kruse Blog

Effective and compassionate listing in conversations can improve many a relationship. Often people are more interested in what they are going to say than they are in listening to another person. It’s almost as if our DNA was ego-centric programmed, so that most of us have to work at being active listeners.

Celeste Headlee gave a TED Talk about having better conversations and I’ve distilled a few of her points when coming up with three essential listening tips.

1. Be Fully Present In The Moment

Time is something they aren’t making more of, so when someone gives you their time, respect that. You can’t listen and multitask at the same time. Put your phone down, stop your work, look the person in the eye, and really listen. People I enjoy talking to the most are the ones that make me feel like speaking with me at that moment is the most important thing they could be doing.

2. Not Everything Is About You

It’s inevitable; once someone starts telling you a story, your brain immediately starts making connections to things in your own life. It doesn’t make you a bad person; in fact, it’s just the way our brain works. Your mind is continually making personal connections to help you understand things. What you do have control over is keeping these stories to yourself. Resist the urge to repeatedly turn the conversation back to yourself, especially if the conversation is sensitive or important to the other party. If it’s a friendly chat, you’ll have your turn to speak eventually.

3. Ask Open-Ended Questions

Instead of launching into your own colorful tales that relate in a roundabout way to the experience being shared with you, ask open-ended questions to show you are interested and keep the conversation flowing. Avoid questions that can be answered with a simple yes or no. Instead of, “are you sad,” you could ask, “how do you feel today?” Asking lots of questions about the other person shows you are interested in what they are saying and proves that you’ve been listening and paying attention.

Hopefully, these quick tips will help you have better conversations and be a more active listener, which in turn, will make you a more compassionate, better conversationalist.

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This Carl Kruse Blog’s homepage is here
Contact: carl AT carlkruse DOT com.
Some other interesting reads:
How A 30-Day Social Media Detox Can Boost Your Mental Health
Retrofitting Classic Cars With Electricity
You can also find Carl Kruse over on Vator.

How A 30-Day Social Media Detox Can Boost Your Mental Health

by Kathie Kruse for the Carl Kruse Blog

Social media consumption is similar to addictive responses people get from drugs and alcohol. To illustrate this, take a look at how saturated your life is with social media right now. Most likely, you are on three or more social media platforms that you regularly spend time on. You are either carefully curating your online presence or scrolling through the lives of others. 

The social media sites themselves are specifically designed for endless scrolling and mindless consumption. The more time you spend on their site, the more money they make with ad dollars, so it makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, we spend so much time on social media that our self-worth can become intertwined with it, or we develop an obsessive need to stay connected at all times. 

Setting Up A Digital Detox

Doing a digital detox sounds easy enough; simply delete the apps from your smartphone, and you’re well on your way. No matter if you decided to detox for a week, a month, or a full year, those accounts will be waiting for you when you get back. You can quickly re-install and log in anytime to return to your digital wonderland. 

Staying disconnected takes a little more self-control and determination. You’ll quickly realize just how dependent you were on social media for entertainment, news, and connection. Some people found they had an entire morning routine centered on catching up with social media updates that happened while they were asleep. 

How A Social Media Cleanse Can Help You Feel Better 

The benefits of a prolonged social media detox include spending more time with family and friends, being able to focus on one thing at a time, and having less overall stress and anxiety. Our constant connection to news media and other people’s drama causes a lot of subconscious anxiety that rattles around our brains day in and day out. You’ll also enjoy the freedom of not having to photograph and document every second of your life. 

Social media has its place to bridge gaps, entertain us, and even provides an outlet for our thoughts and ideas. Still, it’s nice to unplug for a bit and remember the real world that’s all around us. 

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Explore more articles in the Carl Kruse Blog’s homepage
Contact : carl AT carlkruse DOT com
Read also:
Carl Kruse “No More Tears”
Action Painting in Art Therapy
Find Carl Kruse on Stage32.

Retrofitting Classic Cars With Electricity

By Vittorio Compagno for the Carl Kruse Blog

Going on a road trip through the English countryside with a ‘60s Volkswagen van sounds fun. What is not fun is the noise of its 60-year-old engine or if it breaks down.

Everyone agrees that classic cars are a beauty to watch and drive.

Some of them are such an important part of our culture that they’re studied in history courses and design schools.

But if they are deemed excellent studies, my guess is the car enthusiast would prefer to have these old timers inside their garages — or better yet on the road — rather than in a museum or in a school.

The solution? Make old cars new.

And if reorganizing the electrical components, changing the tires, revitalizing their color isn’t enough, let’s also put an electric engine in them. At least this is what the good people at “Electric Classic Cars,” based in the U.K. thought when they saw the collection of VW Beetles and Land Rovers in their garage. The owner Richard (also known as Moggy) has owned and restored classics since he was 17. He has also worked in the energy efficiency industry for the past 20 years.

If you want to give your classic car to someone for a conversion he’s the right person.

Retrofitting classic cars at ELECTRIC CLASSIC CARS in the United Kingdom

But still, changing a whole propulsion system is no small job.

Until a few years ago electric motors were not as advanced as they are today, in what we could call the “Tesla era” of cars. The propulsion technology in their motors follows a physical principle discovered by Nikola Tesla himself. At first, it was not really taken into consideration for large-scale manufacturing, but now that everyone has understood that the future might be electric, it is being widely explored.

That’s one of the reasons why car retrofitting, the process of changing all the ageing components in an old car, is getting so much traction these days.

One of the reasons for the resurgence of this hobby is the nostalgia factor. Many of the cars built in the past decades followed unique but commonly agreed beauty standards. The over-engineered aerodynamics, efficiency, plastic interiors and xenon lights are a thing of our days. But in the past, a car was a statement, an extension of oneself, so it had to be beautiful, luxurious, it had to be head turning.

Now those cars are more than half a century old, but their old (polluting) components can be changed for better ones, helping the environment and a boon to people (me included) who think that there are some classics that can never die.

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This Carl Kruse blog homepage is at https://krusecarlblog.wordpress.com
Contact: carl AT carlkruse DOT com
Other articles on electric conversions for classical cars are here and over here.
The last blog post was on art therapy.
The Carl Kruse bio.

Action Painting in Art Therapy

by Deanna Balestra for the Carl Kruse Blog

Art therapy has been used for decades to help people explore their feelings and heal deep emotional conflicts. Therapeutic art can be used to manage depression, addiction, and anxiety. It helps a person relax and find freedom to explore their own emotions. Oven organized by mental health professionals in private practice, hospitals, rehab facilities, nursing homes, schools, and other community settings. 

Action painting is often a part of art therapy because it is spontaneous, unplanned, and involves the whole body. An abstract painting method that requires large, sweeping actions like splashing, slapping, and dribbling paint, action painting is known for tapping into the subconscious. 

Jackson Pollock, who suffered from bipolar disorder, used action painting in his works of abstract expressionism, which became renown, and today often praised as the first truly American art form (though Jazz might take precedence but that is another story). Pollock developed his art while undergoing psychiatric treatment, so it’s perhaps no surprise that its merits as a form of art therapy were later to be explored. Pollock lived from 1912 to 1956. 

Jackson Pollock at work.

Action painting was described by Asia Leonardi in the Carl Kruse Arts Blog as the “expression of a state of mind, the burst of charge or energy, and the explosion of the inner drive.” 

This primal type of spontaneous art is especially good at getting to the core of who we are and setting our minds free to explore themselves. The art itself doesn’t require conscious thought or planning, leaving the resulting work free to be interpreted by the artist themselves by connecting their emotions with the finished work. 

Pollock’s work, and the work of others who came after him, led to an unprecedented amount of research into the connection between art, therapy, and mental health. Action painting will likely remain a staple of art therapy for many years to come. 

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This Carl Kruse Blog homepage is at https://krusecarlblog.wordpress.com
Contact – carl AT carlkruse DOT com
THe blog’s last post was Do We Need To Research UAPs?
Also find Carl Kruse on Medium.

Do We Need To Research UAPs?

Carl Kruse and the Carl Kruse Nonprofits Blog are sponsoring the upcoming online chat held by the SETI Institute, namely “UAPs: Are They Worth Scientific Attention”, which is slated for Wednesday, November 17, 2021 at 7:00PM PST. This event is covered by posts on this blog and this other blog.

The SETI institute has invited Dr. Jacob Haqq Misra, SETI astronomer and senior research investigator at the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, and Dr. Ravi Kopparapu, planetary scientist and an astrophysicist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to discuss and investigate UAPs (namely Unidentified Aerial Phenomena). Often referred to as UFO’s and associated with paranormal or pseudoscientific beliefs, the focus of the discussion will be on whether scientists should focus more on the investigation of these phenomena.

SETI Institute’s Allen Radio Telescope Array in Hat Creek, California, USA

The analysis of recent UAP sightings, as detailed in a recent U.S. Navy report of June 2021, have failed to generate attention in the scientific panorama. This U.S. Department of Defense report mentioned that UAPs were definitively not caused by any U.S. advanced technology programs. But went on to say that there is also no evidence that these objects came from outer space.

sThe question arises: what are they then, and where do they come from? Earthly or other worldly? If we try to discard the taboo surrounding this phenomena, such as paranormal theories and fake news, even discarding their possible extraterrestrial origin hypothesis, the participants of the chat argue that genuine scientific inquiry is needed to understand this phenomena. We actually don’t know much about it, and this is the reason why scientists should care more about studying them and finding a explanatory answer to this inquiry. While Carl Kruse and the Carl Kruse Blog are sponsoring this chat, they make clear that it is their position that UAPs are probably not extraterrestrial in origin.

SETI Talks are presented to the audience at no cost, and are supported by independent contributors. The chat is exclusively online, so make sure to register in order to have access to this event.

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This Carl Kruse Blog homepage is at https://krusecarlblog.wordpress.com
Contact: carl AT carlkruse DOT com
The blog’s last posts were Taking The Genius Route In Princeton and the Benefits of Classical Music.
Carl Kruse is on SETI here.

Taking The Genius Route In Princeton

by Deanna Baelestra

If you’re a lover of math and science, then Princeton, New Jersey, is a wonderful place to visit. You can walk the same streets as Einstein, Gödel, and Zworkyn. You can see where they lived and worked, much of which can be seen on the “genius route.” The genius route is a walking tour map created by Hadas Zeilberger. 

Most of the places on the map are private residences, and tourists are not allowed inside, but you can walk past and revel in the fact that you’re walking in the footsteps of greatness.

 A Few Stops On The Genius Route:

• Institute of Advanced Study 

This is not a private residence but a world famous research institute where Einstien, Gödel, Beurling, and many other famous scientists worked. Albert Einstein worked in Fuld Hall 115. 

• The former home of Arne Beurling, Swedish mathematician

Using only pen and paper, he once deciphered an early German cipher machine in just two weeks with no help. 

• The former home of W. Zworkyn, inventor of the television set

This pioneer of technology was a Russian-American inventor and engineer. 

• The Einstein House, 112 Mercer Street. Einstein famously put in his will that his home never is turned into a museum or memorial.  Check out the Carl Kruse Nonprofit Blog for more details about Einstein’s house and other homes of great minds: Carl Kruse Houses of Great Minds.
  
  

Albert Einstein outside his home in Princeton, New Jersey

• The former home of Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the United States

He was also the president of Princeton University and governor of New Jersey before he became president. 

• Princeton Cemetery, the final resting place of thought leaders Gödel, von Neumann, and many others. 

Unlike some of the other stops on this route, here you can walk the grounds and visit the gravesites of many famous historical figures. 

You’ll find all these stops and more on the walking tour of genius. This is an accessible bucket-list item you can do in the afternoon the next time you’re in the area. The whole area is ripe with the histories of some of our most innovative thinkers. 

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This Carl Kruse Blog homepage is at https://krusecarlblog.wordpress.com/
The blog’s last post was Science Says Classical Music Can Improve Mental Health.
Carl Kruse Princeton profile on Academia.Edu
Also find Carl Kruse on the blogs of Princeton Alumni.
Contact: carl AT carlkruse DOT com

Science says classical Music Can Improve Mental Health

by Deanna Balestra

We’re more than a year deep into a global pandemic that, in addition to many deaths, has caused wide-spread isolation. As social creatures, there is nothing more damaging to our mental health than being alone. So it’s no mystery why we are currently having a significant mental health crisis across the world, with more reports of depression, anxiety, and self-harm than ever before. 

It seems that music, classical music to be exact, may hold an important key to improving mental health in isolation. Backed by the scientific community, classical music works on many levels help heal our broken hearts and minds. 

Classical Music Validates Our Feelings

As Hazal Anna Rogers pointed out in her article, On the Wonders of Classical Music, listening to sad songs actually seems to connect with and heighten our sadness. At first blush, that seems like a bad idea, but not when you understand why that phenomenon happens. Music actually helps you connect to your feelings and process them. Our knee-jerk reaction is to push away sad feelings, but music allows us to use them to grieve and then move on. 

All Music Provides Stress Relief

Neurologists have shown that classical music helps decrease stress and lower cortisol levels in your blood. It also helps lower blood pressure and makes it easier to sleep. These are all wonderful and supportive things for your mental health as well. 

Building Relationships Through Music 

Music can give you social stimulation, even when you are alone. Think about listening to an opera; the music is so powerful that you connect to the characters on an emotional level even if you can’t translate the lyrics. This connection helps mimic the feeling of social interaction and can be a valuable tool to getting through the isolation of quarantining during a pandemic such as COVID-19. 

Try listening to classical music at home, while taking a walk, or when trying to fall asleep at night. You’ll be surprised at the number of physical and mental benefits your body will start to receive. 

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Blog homepage at krusecarlblog.wordpress.com
Contact: carl AT carlkruse DOT com
Last blog post is here.
Also find Carl Kruse at Fstoppers.

7 Reasons Why Most Entrepreneurs Fail in Business

By Vanshul Banta

Starting a business and then it failing to meet the expectations of the owner could be disappointing. And there are a number of reasons why most entrepreneurs fail in business. Here are seven reasons by Carl Kruse that you can follow to reduce your business risk:

 

Lack of Knowledge

Numerous business visionaries comprehend their thought, however not the market that will acknowledge or dismiss the thought. Nor do they see how unplanned, wild, unscheduled advancement really functions. Or, on the other hand, who the genuine contenders are. Frequently business people have too little area profundity: they truly don’t hear what they’re saying.

Not Enough Funding

Business people regularly fizzle since they can’t raise the correct sort of financing at the perfect time at the correct valuation. Business people fizzle since they don’t know how to esteem their organization. Or stage speculations along courses of events intended to upgrade valuations. They neglect to acknowledge how much cash it takes to meet points of reference.

Horrible Soft Skills

Business visionaries regularly fall flat since they’re not “housebroken” or do not have high Emotional Quotient. In light of the fact that they talk their psyches regardless of how improper or untimely the circumstance might be. In the event that a business visionary can’t tune in, is uncertain, irascible and bigoted of contradicting suppositions, he or she will fizzle.

Bad Partners

Business people frequently come up short since they hang out with the wrong individuals. “Wrong” here is an expansive term according to Carl Kruse. It incorporates partners who concur with everything the business visionary says, “Great folks” that others underwrite yet are new to the business person.

Ineffective Sales

Business visionaries regularly come up short since they can’t pitch. To the correct customers at the opportune time at the correct cost. Start-up deals are clearly in a general sense unique in relation to the deals that set up organizations appreciate on a practically programmed pace. Great business people see all structures and kinds of beacon deals forms, logo chasing, how to purchase the privileges, early clients.

Expectations

While it’s occasionally great to have confidence in wonders, it’s no real way to run a start-up. Business people who flop regularly do as such in light of the fact that they trust they will change the world and if the world doesn’t welcome their power, it’s the world’s blame, not theirs.

Market Invisibility

Business visionaries frequently come up short in light of the fact that their organizations are undetectable. To the world since they can’t stand to burn through cash on promoting. This is an immense slip-up that a few business visionaries profit gets tight. Cleaning items and administrations until the point that they sparkle splendidly in the daylight is a misuse of cash. Brilliant business visionaries get the word out ahead of schedule and frequently by means of all accessible media, particularly computerized media.

These are the following 7 Reasons provided by Carl Kruse that why most entrepreneurs fail in business.
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The blog homepage is at https://krusecarlblog.wordpress.com/
Contact:  carl AT carlkruse DOT com
Last blog post was Top Business Challenges for a New Entrepreneur.
Find Carl Kruse on the German business networking site XING here.

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The Top Business Challenges For A New Entrepreneur

If you want to start a new business, there are certain challenges that may arise in your journey of becoming a successful entrepreneur. These challenges are even more rigid if you are a newcomer.

Carl Kruse who himself an entrepreneur and have more than 25 years of experience, pointing some critical challenges that you may face If you’re just getting into the game, or you’re thinking about becoming an entrepreneur.

Choosing The Right Business

If your business doesn’t help people, doesn’t provide a solution, or doesn’t give people something they want then your business is worthless. To do a great business you should own great product or service. If you believe in your products, only then you can make people believe in it.

Funding The Business

It is the most critical challenge as we know the money is the main resource for any kind of business. So here we have two solutions:

• To borrow money from some other people or bank loan.
• Use only a small amount of money and find a creative way to get your business going.

Making Customers

There is a certain type of person who will be your customer. Not everybody in the world is buying what you’re selling, so your job is to simply find the people who are in need of your service. If you have a quality product then people will automatically come to you, no need to spend hundreds or thousands on marketing.

Recruiting Employees

As a small entrepreneur, typically the last thing you’ll do is hire employees. You’ll want to hire employees when your workload is too much to handle yourself and you have the revenue to pay your employee.

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Read more at the Carl Kruse Blog’s homepage
Contact: carl AT carlkruse DOT com
Some related blog posts:
Do We Need To Research UAPs?
Carl Kruse “No More Tears”
Carl Kruse is also on Pinterest!