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Holiday stress is here: How to have a calmer, more peaceful next few months

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The holidays are a time of gathering with loved ones, cooking, baking, gift-giving and upholding family traditions. 

And while this time of year can be enjoyable, the demands on personal resources and energy can lead to stress between Thanksgiving and the New Year. 

But how can people abandon their drive to be superheroes during the holidays and yet still do it all?  

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Lisa Boucher of Kettering, Ohio, a former psychiatric registered nurse and now a best-selling author, has worked with many people over the past 25 years or more to overcome alcohol addictions, depression and anxiety.

Boucher shared important advice for fighting stress this holiday season — including steps that can help people potentially for years to come. 

Holiday gift giving can be a joy — but the holiday season as a whole can be a stressful time for many people. Author Lisa Boucher shared insights and tips about alleviating anxiety at this time of year.

Holiday gift giving can be a joy — but the holiday season as a whole can be a stressful time for many people. Author Lisa Boucher shared insights and tips about alleviating anxiety at this time of year.
(iStock)

“Most of the problem is our expectations, such as certain expectations of how the holiday should go, and how the family should act and react,” Boucher, 62, told Fox News Digital in a recent phone interview. 

“I always tell women and men: Anxiety lives in the future. So if you can bring yourself back to the present moment, there is usually not a lot of anxiety there.” 

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She added, “We have to stop letting other people’s expectations drive our behavior. You don’t have to add 40 different [traditions] in the same year,” she said. 

“Delegate tasks if you have a big family,” she said.

Author Lisa Boucher has a new book out,

Author Lisa Boucher has a new book out, “Pray. Trust. Ride” (Nov. 2022). She said that “overscheduling” — especially at holiday time — “doesn’t work and can lead to burnout.” 
(Lisa Boucher)

“Just because your cousin Sue expects you to have four dozen beautiful cookies — all homemade — doesn’t mean you have to continue to do that.”

She added, “If it’s spinning you out of control, manage expectations.”

‘Keep your peace’

Boucher, the author of “Pray. Trust. Ride” (Nov. 2022) — as well as “Raising the Bottom: Making Mindful Choices in a Drinking Culture” — told Fox News Digital that others need to accept people with different views this holiday season in order to sidestep added stress. 

“The holidays are a time of gratitude and relaxation, not a time to engage in discourse over the dinner table,” she said. 

Regarding the topics of “diverse political and religious beliefs“: “Don’t go there,” she said. “Keep your peace.”

She also said, “Stop thinking you can control other people’s emotions and feelings. Staying in our own lane is key. If there are other people who don’t get along — that’s not your circus. Let them work it out.” 

As Americans celebrate with family and friends this holiday season, one author advises avoiding difficult conversations about

As Americans celebrate with family and friends this holiday season, one author advises avoiding difficult conversations about “diverse political and religious beliefs.” Said Lisa Boucher, “Don’t go there. Keep your peace.”
(iStock)

Set boundaries

Some people have a hard time declining invitations — and they need to be comfortable with the word “No,” Boucher said. 

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“You can’t be in multiple places at once and you can’t attend every holiday festivity,” she said. “Set limits. Set boundaries. Practice saying the word, ‘No.'” 

She also said that “overscheduling doesn’t work and can lead to burnout.” 

Use alcohol in moderation

There are often many more parties during the holidays — and the temptation of imbibing alcohol comes along with that.

It’s easier to grab a drink to calm social anxiety and stress at dinner or during a cocktail party. 

“If you’re already stressed out, drinking alcohol is like throwing an accelerant on a fire,” said Lisa Boucher about holiday time. “Eventually, most of those maladaptive coping skills quit working.”
(iStock)

However, said Boucher, “if you’re already stressed out, drinking alcohol is like throwing an accelerant on a fire. Eventually, most of those maladaptive coping skills quit working.”

When alcohol is served at a gathering, she suggested having club soda with lime or some other nonalcoholic beverage. If do you choose to drink alcohol, put a limit on the amount you’re drinking, she said. 

Try yoga, take a walk, spend time in nature

Another healthy coping method for stress — instead of drinking alcohol — is doing yoga, Boucher said. 

“If you can’t afford to go to a class,” she said, “you can pull a video up on YouTube to do yoga and stretch right there in your office or wherever in your house.” 

Do yoga, stretch, take a walk, get outside — all of these things can help relieve added stress at holiday time, advises one expert.

Do yoga, stretch, take a walk, get outside — all of these things can help relieve added stress at holiday time, advises one expert.
(iStock)

Those who feel stressed, she added, should “consider taking a walk, writing in a journal, spending time in nature or calling a trusted friend instead of turning to alcohol because alcohol is a depressant.”

Advised Boucher, “I say alcohol tends to sneak up on people and grab them by the throat before they realized what hit them.”

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She said she’s worked with many women and men on this issue over the years. “The disease shows up the same whether you’re male or female, it really doesn’t matter.”

Pray and trust God

Pray and trust the Almighty with the details, Boucher said.

“God uses us every day. But if we’re so in our own heads and licking our own wounds, we miss it.”

“We can all use prayer in our lives,” she said, “instead of micromanaging every aspect of our lives and other people’s lives that we have no business managing.”

Boucher suggested finding a passage of Scripture to help build faith during the holiday season and all throughout the year.

"If we allow God into our lives, give him the reins — he does have a plan for all of us," said Boucher. 

“If we allow God into our lives, give him the reins — he does have a plan for all of us,” said Boucher. 
(iStock)

She referenced Jeremiah 29:11. The Scripture reads: “I know, the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you a hope, and a future.”

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Said Boucher, “We’re all on a journey. And sometimes when the journey looks dark, and you don’t know where you’re going, if we allow God into our lives, give him the reins — he does have a plan for all of us,” she said. 

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She also said, “God uses us every day. But if we’re so in our own heads and licking our own wounds, we miss it. These are lasting tools that you can use for any given situation.”

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/holiday-stress-have-calmer-peaceful-months

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Ohio firefighters find 118-year-old time capsule buried in fire station: Here’s what was inside

A team of firefighters has uncovered treasure hidden in their fire department that’s nearly 12 decades old.

Captain Ryan Redmon and a group of six firefighters from the City of Marion Ohio Fire Department were on a mission to retrieve an old department cornerstone from a retired fire station that was about to be demolished, but they ended up finding something truly unexpected.

The Marion Fire Department (MFD) has recently been researching the history of their department, going back to 1848, by digging up some information — both figuratively and literally, Captain Redmon told Fox News Digital.

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On May 25, Redmon and the firefighters went down to the old Marion Fire Department Station No. 2, which was built in 1905, to excavate their department’s cornerstone for preservation purposes before the building was scheduled to be torn down.

MFD cornerstone 2

Captain Ryan Redmon and a team of six firefighters from the Marion Fire Department in Marion, Ohio, discovered a hidden time capsule dating back to 1905. Firefighter Andrew Niles is pictured above removing a brick. (City of Marion Ohio Fire Department)

After spending nearly 30 minutes on the excavation, Redmon and his men quickly realized the cornerstone was deeper into the building than anticipated, so they called in professionals to complete the removal.

As Redmon and his team were about to leave, they pulled out one last brick and saw a copper box fall out of the sandstone, Redmon shared.

Redmon and the other firefighters on the scene took it back to the station excited to show everyone their new discovery.

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“Obviously, everybody wanted us to open it right away, and we wanted to, trust me. It was killing us to see what was in there,” Redmon commented.

copper time capsule

The 118-year-old time capsule was hidden near the cornerstone of the retired fire station building that was set to be demolished. (City of Marion Ohio Fire Department)

The MFD has been working on the written history of their department, but nothing in their prior research led them to believe there would be a time capsule hidden in the 1905 fire station.

“We’ve done so much history work around the station and I feel like we’ve got a pretty good grasp on our past and where we’ve been, and [to] discover something like [this], there’s no written record of it,” Redmon stated.

“We scoured newspapers, we scoured old records [and] there was never any mention of a time capsule in there, so it was very exciting,” he added.

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The time capsule was placed near the cornerstone of the old MFD station on July 20, 1905, according to a letter found in the capsule written by the fire chief at the time, Redmon added.

men opening time capsule

Chief Chuck Deem (left) looks on as Captain Redmon (center) and Andrew Niles (far right) pry open the time capsule during a public ceremony on May 31.   (City of Marion Ohio Fire Department)

“Firemen aren’t exactly known for being gentle, delicate creatures with things,” Redmon joked. “So we took it to the historical society in town.”

The copper box had been soldered shut on the edge and wasn’t easy to pry open, according to Redmon.

On May 31, the MFD invited the residents of Marion to be a part of a public opening of the time capsule.

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Inside the 118-year-old copper box were dozens of well-preserved memorabilia referencing the department including: nine MFD badges from the “turn of the century,” an invitation to the 1878 “Northwestern Ohio Volunteer Fireman’s Association Fireman’s Games” (which is still held today), four newspapers from July 1905 and so much more, according to the City of Marion Ohio Fire Department Facebook page.

Redmon took note of the differences between the “turn of the century era” badges that had been found in the time capsule, detailing the difference in style and size.

“There has been talk about trying to back to that style now that we know that’s our history and that’s kind of where we came from. In the future, maybe we can go back to that,” Redmon commented.

One of Redmon’s favorite discoveries in the box was the letter from Chief McFarland, the department’s fire chief for almost 40 years, he added.

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“He has kind of got his touch on everything. To have an actual letter from him was very [exciting].”

Ohio time capsule split FINAL

Redmon is looking forward to making a new time capsule for the new fire station which will include an item from the newly found 1905 capsule. (City of Marion Ohio Fire Department)

Redmon gave a lot of credit to Andrew Niles, a firefighter on his team, who has been heading up the department’s historical research and was the one to open the time capsule.

One of the biggest takeaways for Redmon is knowing that he now has a tangible place in the history of the MFD.

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“I was becoming a part of history because I was involved in this opening and this finding,” he shared.

The MFD is planning on taking an item from the 1905 time capsule, most likely one of the badges, and placing it in a new time capsule that will be buried in the construction of the new fire station, Redmon added.

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The hope is that another 118 years will pass by before the new capsule is opened and someone will be able to discover a 236-year-old badge, paying homage to the history and legacy of the Marion Fire Department, Redmon said.

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On this day in history, June 7, 1942, Battle of Midway ends in decisive US victory

On this day in history, June 7, 1942, the Battle of Midway — regarded as one of the most decisive U.S. victories in its war against Japan — came to an end.  

The Battle of Midway was an Allied naval victory and a major turning point in World War II. 

The battle was fought between Japanese and American carrier forces near the Midway Atoll, a territory of the United States in the central Pacific, from June 4-7, 1942.

On June 4, 1942, the Battle of Midway began. 

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Midway Island is a fairly isolated atoll, so named because it is midway between North America and Asia in the North Pacific Ocean, according to National Geographic.

Midway’s importance grew for commercial and military planners, says the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 

Battle of Midway

In this June 4, 1942, file photo provided by the U.S. Navy, the USS Astoria (CA-34) steams by USS Yorktown (CV-5), shortly after the carrier had been hit by three Japanese bombs in the Battle of Midway.  (William G. Roy/U.S. Navy via AP, File)

In the 1930s, Midway became a stopover for Pan American Airways’ “flying clippers” — seaplanes crossing the ocean on their five-day transpacific passage, the same source indicates.

Midway was an incredibly strategic location, multiple sources say. 

“The Imperial Japanese Navy planned to use it to secure their sphere of influence in the Pacific theater of the war,” according to National Geographic. 

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“The Japanese had not lost a naval battle in more than 50 years, and had nearly destroyed the American fleet just six months earlier in a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.” 

The American success at Midway was a major victory over the Imperial Japanese Navy. 

Pearl Harbor is about 1,300 miles east of Midway, says the same source.

In preparation, American military and intelligence forces worked together to defeat the Japanese. 

Battle of Midway Island

The Battle of Midway Island, which resulted in a major victory for the U.S. fleet. The USS aircraft carrier ‘Yorktown’ received a direct hit from a Japanese plane, which got through despite the heavy barrage put up by American destroyers.  (Keystone/Getty Images)

Code breakers were able to decipher Japanese naval code, allowing American leaders to anticipate Japanese maneuvers, notes National Geographic. 

Because of this, the U.S. Navy was then able to launch a surprise attack on the larger Japanese fleet in the area and the Battle of Midway turned the tide of the war, says the same source. 

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The American success at Midway was a major victory over the Imperial Japanese Navy as all four Japanese carriers — Akagi, Hiryu, Kaga and Soryu — had participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor, says the National WWII Museum.

The Battle of Midway is often referred to as the turning point of the war in the Pacific.

“Sinking those Japanese carriers represented a resounding defeat over the enemy fleet which had wrought such destruction only six months before,” the same source says.

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The Imperial Japanese Navy would not be capable of overcoming the loss of four carriers and over 100 trained pilots — and with the loss at Midway, the Japanese offensive in the Pacific was overturned and the United States began offensive action in the Pacific, says the National WWII Museum.

The Battle of Midway is widely considered the most decisive U.S. victory of that period.

It is often referred to as the turning point of the war in the Pacific.

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Midway Atoll has since been designated as a National Memorial to the Battle of Midway, says the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

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Invisible AI’s ‘intelligent agent’ cameras can see what autoworkers and machines are doing wrong

Tesla CEO Elon Musk often refers to the automobile factory as “the machine that builds the machine,” but there are plenty of human workers involved in even the most highly automated plants.

They remain a key part of the exceedingly complex process that is automobile assembly but need to operate as efficiently as their mechanical counterparts to keep cars and trucks coming off the line with a combination of quality and speed.

Weeding out issues and making sure everything is running smoothly has traditionally meant sending quality control personnel up and down the lines to get eyes on the action. But now there’s a way to automate that job with better results than ever before.

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Palo Alto-based Invisible AI was founded by veterans of the autonomous car industry who saw an alternative for the artificial intelligence-driven machine vision technology they were working on that could come to market long before the mass acceptance of self-driving cars.

invisible ai

Invisible AI’s cameras have two terabytes of storage, enough to capture two months of data. (Invisible AI)

The company designed a network of cameras that can monitor an assembly line in real time and spot even the smallest things going wrong.

“Productivity, safety and quality are always top of mind in manufacturing, especially auto,” Invisible AI CEO Eric Danzinger told Fox News Digital.

The self-contained units are equipped with stereoscopic vision and onboard processing that allows them to be easily set up in a factory without having to tap into the facility’s own networks.

Invisible AI workers

The cameras use stereoscopic vision that can monitor how workers are moving. (Invisible AI)

“Our AI is not just about watching one workstation but about getting that view across the line about where you’re hitting production bottlenecks, where you’re seeing deviations from how the work is supposed to be done and where you’re seeing issues like bad reaches that can cause physical issues for your workers,” Danzinger said.

The cameras don’t need to be programmed with the assembly process. They only have to scan a single, correct cycle, and then the system can determine if anything deviates from it later.

“Our AI system analyzes the video, from raw pixels, to understand the pattern of work that’s happening and then compares those patterns so we can tell if someone is following a standard,” Danzinger explained. “All of that is being done by an intelligent agent in the cameras so a person doesn’t have to.

“If you have 100 cameras on one section of an assembly, you are actually seeing in 3D the living, breathing line.”

invisible ai paint gif

The system can tell if a worker’s movements are deviating from the ideal process. (Invisible AI)

Pricing varies by application, but Danzinger said the cost is far less than bringing in a consulting team or trying to accomplish the same work manually, which really can’t be done given the scope of what the system is capable of. 

Since they’re self-contained, installing all the cameras can be done in a couple of days between shifts.

“Our system has become the place you can go to help frontline employees understand the work being done,” Danzinger said.

“There are a million things happening. People are sick, bad parts are coming from suppliers, machines are broken down. … To be able to know what’s going on, what’s the most crucial component to fix, how do I meet my numbers? That’s the most important thing.”

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Invisible AI has collected a roster of a dozen automotive parts suppliers and four original equipment manufactures as clients, including Toyota, which uses the system at a factory in Indiana.

Toyota declined to provide comment for this report, but Senior Engineer Jihad Abdul-Rahim said when the project was announced last year that “Invisible AI is not only helping us find opportunities for improvement on the assembly lines, but we’re also constantly finding new use cases for their technology, such as ergonomics analysis to proactively prevent injuries.”

Invisible AI dashboard

Users can use an app to get an overview or check the status at a specific point in the assembly process. (Invisible AI)

Danzinger said details about its other customers and how they are using the system is confidential and that Invisible AI can’t provide details on their behalf.

As far as privacy is concerned, the system doesn’t have facial recognition technology, and it can blur faces captured on video. But the point of it is to offer direct feedback, so it is not an entirely anonymized analytical tool.

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“Most of what we see is helping workers have a voice and raise their hand to say, ‘This is broken. We need help fixing it,’ and actually getting a response,” Danzinger said.

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