COFFEE BREAK
Saturday, )ebruary 1, 16
PARENTS TALK BACK
A better
way to hug
loved ones
+
umans craYe touch from the
moment we are born
Studies haYe shown
that touch is important to infants’
deYelopment, and as we grow up,
that impulse to connect neYer goes
away :e instinctiYely Nnow how to
grab on to and hold another person
for comfort or to e[press affection
But while most hugs are nice,
some are better for us than others
The majority of hugs last about
three seconds, numerous studies
haYe found And
more than a decade
ago, researchers at
the UniYersity of
North Carolina at
Chapel +ill reported
the bene¿ts of the
prolonged hug:
one that lasts
seconds This type
Aisha
of contact boosts
Sultan
leYels of o[ytocin
Parents talk back
² also Nnown as
the ³loYe drug´ or
³bonding hormone´ ² as well as
serotonin, the biochemical that helps
stabili]e mood
2[ytocin is released at that point
where trust meets touch There’s a
surge in our bodies when a mother
breastfeeds her baby, or during an
orgasm, or eYen during an e[tended,
second hug
It is a powerful hormone that
bonds us to the people who proYoNe
that o[ytocin release
NicN 2rtner recently published
a children’s booN called ³The Big
BooN of +ugs: A BarNley the Bear
Story,´ which teaches children and
parents about the power of hugs
³:e’Ye become Yery head
centric,´ 2rtner said ³:e try to
thinN our way out of eYerything,
to mentally process it, and we’Ye
ignored that we haYe a body´
2rtner listed the oYerwhelming
bene¿ts of frequently hugging your
Nids: /ong hugs help children feel
loYed and safe They build trust and
closeness between the parent and
child They improYe pulmonary and
immune system functions and sleep
patterns They strengthen digestiYe,
circulatory and gastrointestinal
systems +ugs lower an[iety
and stress, and lessen feelings of
loneliness, isolation and anger
They teach us how to giYe and
receiYe
Since his daughter June was
born more than eight months ago,
2rtner’s been practicing what he
preaches
³:e hug the baby all the time,´
he said
+e acNnowledges that this
dynamic will change as his child
grows up, and that the concept of
personal space differs from culture
to culture Americans tend to prefer
a large ]one of space around them
(Yen so, Nnowing the bene¿ts,
I decided to implement this
³prolonged hug´ agenda at home
)irst, I approached my youngest,
who is 1 ² an age when hugs are
still willingly giYen and accepted I
told him I needed to hug him for
seconds, wrapped my arms around
him and started the stopwatch on my
phone
After a few seconds, he said,
³:hy is this so long"´
I assured him it would be oYer
soon, and afterwards, I asNed how
he felt
³:ell, rela[ed, sorta´
Anything else"
³Smiley That’s pretty much all´
Those reactions seemed pretty
consistent with the research
I moYed on to the teenager I am
not allowed so much as a smile in
her direction in public, so this hug
had to occur far away from any
potential embarrassment Still, she
agreed to accept my longer-than-
usual hug
³+ow do you feel now"´ I asNed
³Protected, I guess,´ she said
(That made me want to hug her far
more often
My last hug recipient required
some upfront clari¿cation
³I need to hug you for
seconds,´ I said to my spouse ³But
don’t get the wrong idea It’s for a
column´
+e was still amenable to the idea
:e were watching teleYision on the
couch, so I had to lean into this hug
After my timer hit seconds, I
asNed for feedbacN
³It was rela[ing at ¿rst,´ he said
³But then you were crushing me,
and I couldn’t really breathe, but I
thought I shouldn’t tell you at the
time´
But hugs are always rela[ing, he
quicNly added
A close call
It called for a closer embrace
Ŷ
Aisha Sultan is a St. Louis-based
journalist who studies parenting in
the digital age while trying to keep
up with her tech-savvy children.
Find her on Twitter: @AishaS.
(ast 2regonian
Page 9C
Si[ tips to Neep your )acebooN
clean, secure and priYate
By ANICK JESDANUN
AP Technology Writer
N(: <25. ² Got hundreds of )acebooN
friends you hardly Nnow"
Now is a good time to do some digital
cleanup, while the year is still fresh 5eYiew
your security and priYacy settings, and maNe
sure those casual acquaintances you met at a
bar eons ago aren’t still getting the most inti-
mate details of your life Get rid of games and
apps that might haYe latched onto your account
years ago, but that you no longer use
+ere are si[ cleanup tips:
1. Secure your account
<ou’Ye doubtless heard you should haYe a
strong password It’s especially important for
email and social-networNing accounts because
so much of your digital life reYolYes around
them Plus, many other serYices let you log on
using your )acebooN account, so if that gets
compromised, so will your other accounts
Because passwords are tough to manage, it’s
best not to rely solely on them Turn on what
)acebooN calls /ogin ApproYals It’s in the
account settings under ³Security´ After you do
so, you’re asNed for con¿rmation ² entering
a special number sent to your phone — when
signing on from a new deYice
Unless you switch deYices often, this is
something you set up once and forget about
And no one else can log in with your password
unless they also haYe your phone and that
special number
2. Review your privacy settings
)acebooN offers a series of quicN priYacy
³shortcuts´ 2n desNtops and laptops, looN for
the small padlocN on the upper right corner of
the browser 2n Apple and Android deYices,
access shortcuts through the menu — the three
hori]ontal bars
The Ney shortcut is ³:ho can see my stuff
"´ See whether you’Ye been inadYertently
broadcasting your musings to the entire
)acebooN community <ou’ll probably want
to at least limit sharing to ³)riends´ rather
than ³Public,´ though you can customi]e
that further to e[clude certain indiYiduals or
groups — such as co-worNers, acquaintances
or grandparents :hen sharing, remember that
less is more
:hile you’re at it, checN ³Timeline and
Tagging´ in your account settings from a PC
or mobile <ou can insist on approYing posts
that people tag you in Note that this is limited
to what appears on your personal timeline; if
Mary tags you in a post, Mary’s friends will
still see it regardless of your settings That
includes friends you may haYe in common
with her
If you’re on a desNtop or laptop, )acebooN
has a PriYacy ChecNup tool to reYiew your
settings /ooN for that padlocN This tool is
coming soon to mobile
AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File
In this 2012 ile photo, a girl looks at Facebook on her computer in Palo Alto, Calif.
3. Don’t be afraid to unfriend
Purge friends you’re no longer in touch with
If you thinN ³unfriending´ is too mean, add them
to an ³Acquaintances´ or ³5estricted´ list instead
³Acquaintances´ means they won’t show up in
your news feed as often, though they’ll still haYe
full access to any posts you distribute to your
friends ³5estricted´ means they’ll only see posts
you marN as public (ither is effectiYely a way
to unfriend someone without dropping any clues
you’Ye done so
<ou can also create custom lists, such as
³college friends´ or ³family´ This is great for
oYersharing with those who’ll appreciate it,
while not annoying eYeryone else you Nnow
and putting yourself in danger of becoming an
³acquaintance´ yourself <ou can create lists on a
traditional PC by hitting ³More´ ne[t to ³)riends´
to the left of your news feed IndiYiduals can be
in multiple groups Capabilities are limited on
mobile deYices, although changes you maNe on
the PC will appear on your phone or tablet
tool It’s an easy way to log out of )acebooN on
deYices you rarely use <ou can also enable alerts
when someone tries to sign on from a new deYice
or browser To run this, go to http:)acebooN
comsecuritychecNup on a PC 2n the Android
app, you can search for ³security checNup´ in the
+elp Center 2n iPhones and iPads, you’ll haYe
to ¿nd the options indiYidually in the account
settings under ³Security´
5. Control your data
<ou can e[ert some inÀuence oYer whose
posts you see more or less often by going to
³News )eeds Preferences´ The setting is on the
top right on browsers and Android apps and on
the lower right on iPhones +ere, you can select
friends who’ll always show up on top, or hide
someone’s posts completely
)inally, if you’re worried about data usage,
you can stop Yideos in your news feeds from
playing automatically 2n Android, go to ³Auto-
play´ in the ³App Settings´ 2n iPhones, it’s in
the account settings under ³9ideos and Photos´
4. Watch those apps
6. Plan ahead
Perhaps someone inYited you to play a game
a few years ago <ou tried it a few weeNs and
moYed on, yet the app is still getting access to
your data 2r perhaps you’Ye used )acebooN to
log onto a serYice you no longer use, such as one
to tracN the 1 :inter 2lympics It’s time to
sign out If you’re not sure you still use it, drop it
anyway <ou can always sign on again
The PriYacy ChecNup tool on PCs will reYiew
apps for you automatically 2n mobile deYices,
looN for ³Apps´ in the account settings (not
³Apps´ in the main menu
A related option is the Security ChecNup
Two settings might eliminate grief later in life
or death
In the security settings, you can designate
certain friends as trusted contacts They’ll haYe
power to help you if you get locNed out of your
account for some reason <ou can also designate
a ³/egacy Contact´ — a family member or
close friend who’d serYe as your administrator
should you, um, maNe your last status update
(as in, eYer They won’t be able to post on your
behalf or see your messages, but they’ll be able
to respond to new friend requests and taNe a few
additional actions on your deceased behalf
OUT OF THE VAULT
Fog seeding at Pendleton airport leads to cockpit whiteout
A
n entry in the East
Oregonian’s Days Gone
By column spurred a
letter from Michael Stratton, a
3endleton ¿nancial adYisor +is
father, Clair Stratton, was featured
in the daily history column when
a fog seeding trial at the Pendleton
airport created an unseasonal
snowfall in downtown Pendleton
in DecemEer MiNe said
he appreciated the trip down
memory lane, and then related a
second seeding run that created a
whiteout of a completely different
Nind
Clair Stratton and his family
moYed to Pendleton in , and
he opened an aircraft maintenance
shop ¿rst at :oodpecNer )ield
east of Pendleton, and then at the
Pendleton airport in +e
Eecame a fullserYice ¿[ed Ease
operator and a Cessna dealer
Stratton was under contract
with United
Airlines during
the s to
do fog seeding
when YisiEility
was lower than
legal for planes
to land +e and
his crew used a
Renee
Struthers Cessna SNylane
Out of the vault equipped with a
storage container
and a chute to
deliYer dry ice into the fog EanN
In the winter of 1966, Stratton and
his crew were called for another
fog seeding run Eut the SNylane
they normally used was not
aYailaEle ³Dad, Eeing innoYatiYe,
looNed around and reali]ed they
had a new Cessna 7urEo 6 in
stocN and he decided they would
use it for that day’s Àight,´ MiNe
rememEers
The seeding project started out
using dry ice, but by 1966 they
had moYed to using large bags
of a white powdery substance
Stratton tooN a rear door off the
6, turned a passenger seat
bacNward and then strapped
himself into the seat with the bags
loaded in beside him 2nce his
pilot, -oe )errucci, leYeled out
aboYe the fog, Stratton cut the
corner off one of the bags and
started dumping the powder out
the door
The ¿rst bag was dispensed
without incident, MiNe said But
the wind caught the powder from
the second bag and blew it bacN
into the cocNpit of the plane
1ow they were Àying not only by
instrument Àight rules, but there
was ]ero Yisibility inside the plane
as well The powder was statically
attracted to eYerything inside the
plane, including the instrument
panel and the insides of the
windows
Stratton and )errucci calmly
managed to complete their
mission and land safely But,
MiNe said, ³They literally looNed
liNe two snowmen as they e[ited
the airplane´
The Cessna Turbo 6 was
eYentually sold to :alla :alla
wheat rancher Pat /ynch 2ne
of MiNe’s jobs as ³ramp rat´ at
the airport was to clean airplanes
after their annual inspections +e
said for the ne[t few years after
the ³inÀight whiteout,´ small
amounts of white powder still
turned up from under the seats and
other areas of the interior during
the plane’s annual cleaning
Ŷ
Renee Struthers is the
Community Records Editor for the
East Oregonian. See the complete
collection of Out of the Vault
columns at eovault.blogspot.com
ODDS & ENDS
5are weather eYent produces spontaneous snowballs in Idaho
By KEITH RIDLER
Associated Press
B2IS(, Idaho — Thousands
of snowballs rolled in a Àat
central Idaho ¿eld looN liNe the
worN of hundreds of ambitious
Nids — e[cept there are no human
tracNs
A rare weather eYent caused
the spontaneous snowballs at
the Nature ConserYancy’s SilYer
CreeN PreserYe and surrounding
¿elds near the tiny town of Picabo
PreserYe manager Sunny
+ealey spotted the cylindrical
shapes up to 18 inches high on
Jan following an oYernight
windstorm They created long
lines in the snow as they moYed
³<ou could see the tracNs that
they made, and I thought that was
really curious,´ +ealey said ³I
had to stop a couple times Then,
along +ighway , there were
thousands of them´
So-called snow rollers are so
rare and Àeeting that the precise
weather conditions needed to
form them are not de¿ned, said
Jay Breidenbach, a meteorolo-
Sunny Healey/The Nature Conservancy via AP
This Jan. 30 photo shows a rare weather event that caused
spontaneous snowballs at The Nature Conservancy’s Silver
Creek Preserve and surrounding ields near the tiny town of Pi-
cabo, Idaho. The National Weather Service says snow rollers are
caused by an unusual combination of snowfall around a cou-
ple inches with the right water density and temperatures near
freezing followed by strong winds.
gist with the National :eather
SerYice Snow rollers up to 18
inches are especially rare
³Those are some pretty big
rollers,´ Breidenbach said ³I’Ye
seen some small rollers, but neYer
that big´
In general, it taNes an unusual
combination of a couple of inches
of snow with the right water
density and temperatures near
free]ing, followed by strong
winds, he said
³It can’t be real dry snow or it
would blow into drifts,´ Breiden-
bach said
5ollers require some type
of ¿rmer base, such as a fro]en
layer of earlier snow, for the new
powder to start rolling on Plus,
the wind must be strong and
steady but not with powerful gusts
that could damage the formations
³It would probably blow them
apart because they are fragile,´
Breidenbach said
It snowed on Jan 9, with the
snow becoming wetter toward
eYening, +ealey said She liYes at
the preserYe and said winds woNe
her up
In her ¿Ye years worNing at the
preserYe, she had neYer seen such
an eYent, but a local rancher in
his s told her he’s spotted them
twice in preYious decades
³:e Nnow basically how they
form and why they form, but we
don’t Nnow the e[act details,´
Breidenbach said ³It would be
interesting to go there with some
weather instruments to watch
them form´