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Its a fact that many of us dont want to face: with every tick of the clock, every one of us is ageing. It feels scary. But it neednt.

Being human and living our lives is all about change, and thats what ageing is, its change over time, says Professor Julie Byles, a social gerontologist and researcher at Newcastle University.

Ageing is intrinsic to the living species on this planet but how we grow old, and the factors that influence the process, are complex and unpredictable.

Credit:Illustration: Dionne Gain

Ageing is universal but not uniform: its universal because it happens in all cells and all species, but its not uniform in that we dont all go through it in the same way, Professor Byles says.

Australia has one of the highest life expectancies, ranking ninth among OECD countries behind Switzerland, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Japan, Sweden, Israel and Spain.

An Australian born in 2019 can expect to live to about 83, some 34 years longer than people born in the 1880s (in Japan, the average age expectancy is just over 84). Today, about one in seven Australians are 65 or older. By 2057, itll be almost one in four.

As the World Health Organisation says, with good health a longer life brings opportunities: to pursue new activities, a long-neglected passion or even a fresh career.

We may feel more empowered to make those extra years as fulfilling and meaningful as possible if we understand how ageing happens that its a lifelong process, not just some switch that gets flicked in your 60s, says Peter Lange, a University of Melbourne clinical associate professor in geriatrics. There is a lot of nihilism about ageing and a lot of people think that disease is inevitable; that theyll go into a nursing home or develop dementia. Thats not true but, by believing its going to be the case, they end up failing to take action to prevent it, he says.

Can we slow ageing? How does it happen? And how can ageism be a form of self-sabotage?

While most people dont start feeling the effects until at least their 30s, the seeds of ageing start when we do.

Its happening all your life. It starts even before youre born, from the very first cell division, says Byles. Thats because ageing comes down to a gradual accumulation of problems, starting with tiny DNA transcription errors from the very beginning.

Our cognitive processes peak about the time were 20. In fact, most of our bodys systems are thought to peak when we are between 18 and 30, says Leon Flicker, a professor of geriatric medicine at the University of Western Australia. That seems to be when the ageing process ... starts kicking in, and you have a progressive decline, Flicker says.

Ageing is not programmed, though. As we move through the world, we suffer little bits of damage it could be from sunlight, bacteria, a sprained ankle, a shonky DNA copy, bad food that the body then works to repair.

Its happening throughout every second of our existence, says Flicker.

But over time our physiological reserves drop, so were left accumulating damage that our body gradually cant keep up with fixing and this can manifest in all sorts of ways.

The thing about ageing is its affecting every system of the body and different parts get impacted differently. No two 80-year-olds will be the same.

The changes we experience as we age are neither linear nor consistent, and there is an extraordinary level of variability among older people.

The thing about ageing is its affecting every system of the body and different parts get impacted differently. No two 80-year-olds will be the same, says Dr Kate Gregorevic, Royal Melbourne Hospital geriatrician and author of Staying Alive: The Science of Living Healthier, Happier and Longer.

There are certain hallmarks of ageing on a molecular and cellular level. For example, Gregorevic says, we collect damage in our DNA. One way is that each time our cells divide, the little protective caps on the ends of our chromosomes, called telomeres which are often likened to the plastic tips on shoelaces gradually shorten, which affects our ability to copy DNA properly.

When DNA is damaged, over time more cells can die or become cancerous. More cells also become whats called senescent they stop dividing. On the one hand, this defends against cancer but these senescent cells also take up space without contributing, causing inflammation and overstimulating the immune system, which cant keep up with removing them.

Then there are the changes we often notice from our 40s, says Lange: skin loses elasticity; hair turns grey as pigment cells in our follicles slowly die; we become long-sighted as the lenses of our eyes stiffen; in some people, hearing dulls.

Muscle loss, or sarcopenia, is another typical part of ageing. One study observed that muscle mass decreased between about 3 and 8 per cent each decade after age 30 and the rate of decline was higher after 60. We know that with age we can lose muscle strength, Gregorevic says, particularly, we lose fast-twitch muscle fibres theyre the ones you use when sprinting or when you catch your foot on the pavement and need to steady yourself fast.

At the same time, bone density drops while ligaments and joints stiffen, becoming more at risk of injury, and taking longer to heal. Also common are weakening lungs. Our cardiovascular system is impacted, and there are certain hormonal changes, with people exposed to a higher level of cortisol (the stress hormone) as they age.

The pile-up of all these changes gradually increases our vulnerability to disease or insults such as a seemingly minor fall leading to bone fracture and eventually leads to frailty, which is a loss of physical reserve that affects almost everybody by their 90s.

If youre frail, says Gregorevic, your body is already working so hard at the best of times just to get through daily life. So, when you get a cold it takes all your energy.

But its not all bad news.

Credit:Illustration: Dionne Gain

Theres a lot of confusion between the implicit processes of ageing and diseases associated with getting old, says Lange. A good example is our minds. As brain tissue gradually decreases with age, its normal for our memory to shift, to become slower and less efficient.But forgetting entirely and suffering from significant impairment is not universal, its a symptom of dementia (which is itself an umbrella term for many diseases).

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In 201415, almost three-quarters of Australians aged 65 and over reported they had good or very good health, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. But disease is more common in older people: in 2015, cancer and cardiovascular disease were the most prevalent followed by dementia, type 2 diabetes, chronic lung disease and osteoarthritis. Many of these illnesses are also the biggest killers.

Flicker says cancer is more common as people age partly because the bodys surveillance system becomes less likely to spot and destroy bad cells. We are more at risk of diabetes, in part because our body becomes less efficient at converting glucose to energy and requires more insulin.

Still, while everyones reserves decrease with age, we arent all similarly susceptible to disease. Some of us, Lange says, have higher baseline defences. So, even though someone may have pathologies such as hypertension and mini-strokes, both of which are linked to dementia, they wont necessarily develop a form of the disease.

Theres a cheeky saying in gerontology, says Byles: If you want to age well, pick your parents.

Being born with as few DNA errors as possible gives you a good headstart in life; aspects such as a good education, financial security and access to nutritious food in childhood add to your stocks.

You can be already on an un-level playing field, depending on what your early life is like, Byles says. If you get to older age and youre big and strong, with a healthy brain, good education, a strong immune system, they all go into your reserve ... you can maybe cope with having not as strong muscles or a decline in condition because you have all these other things that support you.

A quarter of how we age is determined by genetics, according to the World Health Organisation, and the rest comes down to lifestyle and socioeconomic factors.

More than a third (38 per cent) of the burden of disease in older Australians was preventable in 2015, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Smoking, poor diet, being overweight or obese and high blood pressure were key contributors.

COVID-19 lockdowns, which limited exercise and socialising, have underlined just how important lifestyle is in ageing. Lange says the months in lockdown in Victoria had devastating impacts on physical and cognitive function for older people.

There are other factors outside our control.

Being brought up in poor housing, abject poverty, poor nutrition, a whole range of other things; all of that has contributed to our elders having chronic health conditions today.

Aunty Geraldine Atkinson at the launch of the Yoo-rrook Justice Commission in 2021.Credit:Simon Schluter

Social disadvantage is a big one. A 2020 study of 5000 Britons found that lower socioeconomic status led to an accelerated decline in ageing. The researchers pointed out that the rich tended to have, for example, better access to parks and fitness centres as well as mentally stimulating activities (social clubs, the arts), which all helped bolster physical and mental function. Meanwhile, those living in poverty usually experienced more life stresses, which affected health, and they could also be exposed to more environmental pollution.

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This disparity in ageing is reflected in Australian government policy. Subsidies for aged care services usually kick in at 65, but Indigenous Australians, Torres Strait Islanders and the homeless are at higher risk of health issues and financial inequality so are eligible at 50 (or 45 if they are both Indigenous and homeless).

The life expectancy of Indigenous Australians is about eight years less than for non-Indigenous Australians.

Aunty Geraldine Atkinson, a Bangerang woman and co-chair of the First Peoples Assembly of Victoria, says more must be done to support healthy ageing in Aboriginal communities.

Being brought up in poor housing, abject poverty, poor nutrition, a whole range of other things; all of that has contributed to our elders having chronic health conditions today, she says.

Credit:Illustration: Dionne Gain

Much research is being done to find a magic anti-ageing pill, but there is no strong evidence at the moment that supplements or medications work. Scientists are trying to find treatments that could lengthen telomeres, for example, or remove senescent cells via drugs or gene editing in the hope these could slow ageing.

The medical community is keeping a close eye on clinical trials underway to determine the effects of the drug Metformin, which is normally prescribed to manage blood-sugar in diabetics, but has shown broader age-targeting potential. Research previously suggested diabetic people who took the drug outlived non-diabetics who didnt, and it has been found to delay ageing in mice, although in high quantities it was toxic. The American Federation for Aging Research is examining whether it can also prevent heart disease, cancer and dementia.

Still, any geriatrician will tell you a balanced diet and regular exercise are key to supporting healthy ageing and, in turn, a longer life. Stimulating your mind also helps minimise disease risk, Gregorevic says.

Just like our muscles, use it or lose it our brains are like that as well, she says. One of the best things you can do for healthy ageing is just to keep having a go at things not brain training but staying engaged in life, socialising, learning new skills, learning a language.

Its never too early or too late to start. Byles encourages people to start planning for old age when young. If youre not doing it by your 50s, she says, thats when you must ask yourself, Where do I go from here, what do I want to protect in terms of bodily, social and mental functions?. Make changes that will maintain your wellbeing and keep you pushing your capacity to do things you enjoy.

The aptly named Professor Norman Lazarus laid out why he considered exercise, eating well and mental health a trinity in his book from 2020, The Lazarus Strategy: How to Age Well and Wisely. The Kings College London physician and researcher overhauled his lifestyle in his 50s to become a champion cyclist at 66, an age he said he expected to start having difficulty getting out of a chair or opening jars. At 86, he still cycles, trains at the gym, walks with his wife, watches his diet and works at the university.

At every age, I change my behaviour so that I can do the best I can with the physiological systems I have. And I dont look for immortality.

Norman Lazarus, 86, kickstarted his healthy lifestyle when he was 50.Credit:Liz Seabrook

Lazarus encourages people to first accept they are going to get old, and then change their lifestyle to truly enjoy the journey of ageing and retain their independence.

At every age, I change my behaviour so that I can do the best I can with the physiological systems I have. And I dont look for immortality, he says.

The trick is to prioritise things you love, so you stick to them, he says. While he and his wife now walk on flatter, gentler trails instead of on multi-day hikes, for example, they still relish the time together. He even uses the term exercise deficiency diseases to emphasise how key physical activity is.

A comprehensive study in 2015 found 26 common illnesses could be positively affected by exercise, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, dementia, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and some cancers.

The most effective anti-ageing option we have is exercise, Lange says. It produces beneficial effects for pretty much everything weve ever looked at.

Exercise improves muscle strength, balance, bone density, and the immune, cardiovascular and respiratory systems. It boosts mood and supports brain and spinal health, too. Getting out and being active with people is important for cognitive stimulation; and, by stressing the body, youre also getting it used to dealing with small perturbations.

Lange says just a small amount of activity can make a meaningful difference, and resistance training is particularly important he has seen this transform once-bedbound patients in their 80s and 90s. He encourages people to introduce incidental movement into their day: carry your shopping bags instead of wheeling a trolley, walk instead of drive or tend to your garden.

Even if you have the healthiest exercise, diet and social regimen in the world, though, you could still suffer from disease when older (or younger, for that matter). The harsh reality is that no matter what you do, youre going to die. And you can live the perfect lifestyle and still get cancer. Nothing is certain, Gregorevic says.

Its why we must be careful not to judge people for the condition theyre in when theyre older. Byles points out that people with certain illnesses, such as diabetes or lung disease, often get blamed. Some of it is preventable but not all of it. Some of it is by virtue of the fact youve been around a long time and have had a lot of chances to accumulate a problem, she says.

Part of the reason people dont notice their own ageing is because the changes are far too subtle, Flicker says. And people dont actually think theyre changing with age their vision of self is deeply ingrained.

Byles adds: I have a theory that everyone thinks theyre 30. You have a concept of yourself, so we always think were younger, which is great. But then we can get a shock.

She believes part of this is our own ageism, where we value our youth as more relevant. Indeed, we live in a culture that glorifies youth.

The acceptance of poorer service provision in aged care reflects an undervaluing of the worth of older people.

In Australias 2021 Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, commissioner Lynelle Briggs found that ageism was systemic in Australia. The acceptance of poorer service provision in aged care reflects an undervaluing of the worth of older people, assumptions and stereotypes about older people and their capabilities, and ageism towards them. This must change, she wrote.

And a World Health Organisation global survey of more than 83,000 people found that one in two had ageist attitudes.

One of the great tragedies of ageism is that people internalise it and develop a negative bias against their older selves, Gregorevic says.

One common example of self-sabotage is that while young exercisers crave feeling out of breath, many older people, doubting their capabilities, take it to mean they should avoid being active, Lange says. [But] thats exercise, and its getting you used to those challenging activities, and the next time you get sick and need some extra heart and lung function, itll be there.

Its really important not to categorise everybody older than 65 as old ... Theres nothing magical about this age. It doesnt mean people are all of a sudden decrepit.

The idea that older people are incapable of using technology is another misconception. And Professor Linda Rosenman, board member of the Australian Association of Gerontology, says debates about retirement age generate another myth. I think its really important not to categorise everybody older than 65 as old, Rosenman says. This is just the age that people become eligible for government pensions. Theres nothing magical about this age. It doesnt mean people are all of a sudden decrepit.

Not all Australian communities suffer from ageism.

It seems not right, foreign, kind of, says Aunty Geraldine, explaining that Indigenous communities focus not on whats lost with age but instead on the wisdom thats gained. Its an approach she thinks the rest of the country could learn from.

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In Aboriginal culture, an elder is someone recognised for their knowledge and ongoing contribution to their community, and they are not neglected. They are traditionally referred to as Aunty or Uncle.

We always respect and value our elders, respect their cultural authority, respect the stories they told us ... and that gets passed down, Aunty Geraldine says. You become an Aunty not just to your bloodline, but to other younger people as well.

Its different in other countries, too.

When youre in Beijing and you go for a walk to parks, theyre full of older people doing tai chi, dancing. Theres no sense that, Im too old to do that, Byles says.

Byles, who helped create the anti-ageism Every Age Counts campaign, says people could be enjoying life more as they age.

Ageing is a great individual and societal success. We should be embracing it, she says.

Credit:Illustration: Dionne Gain

The fact is we do typically become happier as we age, with research showing older people tend to have brighter moods and fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety than younger counterparts.

Byles says its possible this is because older people largely do things that bring them satisfaction.You cant do all the things you used to do ... so you are actually focusing on things that are more important to you, she says.

You use your brain to solve problems throughout your life ... [and] each time you learn a new strategy you can apply it to other problems, and thats wisdom.

Plus, she says, we often care less about what other people think, which can be really liberating. And there is a sense of contentedness that comes from understanding, with time, where you and the puzzle pieces of your life fit.

People keep improving their vocabulary well into their 60s and 70s. And while brain speed and working memory peak in early life, this doesnt make 20-year-olds equipped mentally to run the country.

Older people have whats termed crystalline intelligence, Flicker says. You use your brain to solve problems throughout your life ... [and] each time you learn a new strategy you can apply it to other problems, and thats wisdom.

Reflecting on her own life, Rosenman considers herself to have become more patient and tolerant, and she enjoys having more time.

Youre not trying to climb the greasy pole yourself any more, and youre much more ready to mentor and help other people, she says. In many ways, life is a lot more enjoyable than when you were racing off to work and herding the kids ... [and] grandchildren are a big bonus.

Ageing is a great individual and societal success. We should be embracing it.

Professor Julie Byles says we should start planning for getting old at least by our 50s.Credit:Peter Stoop

There is, of course, an existential aspect to ageing. That can be quite difficult, Lange says. Ive met patients who have lived too long, and have outlived their partners and friends and even sometimes their own children, and they have increasing physical disability and sensory limitations.

But, Lange says, most people reach a point where they no longer fear dying.

People usually accept it will come ... which is quite freeing.

Here is the original post:
Ageing: What is the process? And can we reverse it? - Sydney Morning Herald

Dr. Vladimir Zelenko, whom Ive interviewed twice previously, was among the first U.S. physicians to develop an early treatment program for the novel SARS-CoV-2 infection. He popularized the use of hydroxychloroquine and zinc, and when hydroxychloroquine became increasingly difficult to obtain, he was also among the first to identify quercetin as a viable alternative.

When the pandemic started, Zelenko was practicing in New York. He has since moved to Florida, where hes been giving interviews for several hours a day, trying to spread the word about early treatment and prevention. As noted by Zelenko:

Its a very treatable infection or should I say bioweapon? if done within the first few days, because COVID is two diseases. Its the infectious stage of the virus, and then a week later, you have the pathogenic inflammatory reaction that does all the damage to the lungs and causes blood clots.

So, its all about timing. And the data is very clear. There are dozens of peer-reviewed studies that prove if you treat COVID within the first few days, you have an 85% reduction in hospitalization and death. Its a no-brainer. You could have saved 700,000 people from going to the hospital out of 800,000.

While licensed to practice medicine in Florida, Zelenko now spends most of his time educating the public and other doctors. Hes also available via telemedicine, but his passion has become researching and developing simple, natural approaches to complex health problems including his own.

Zelenko has a rare type of cancer called pulmonary artery sarcoma, which is typically fatal. Hes also undergone two open-heart surgeries and three years of chemo and radiation, none of which has resolved his problems.

Almost four years ago, I was diagnosed with pulmonary artery sarcoma. There are only 10 cases on average per year, and theyre all found at autopsy. In my case, they thought it was a blood clot that didnt respond to blood-thinning medication.

So, the decision was made to do an embolectomy, open my chest, go into the pulmonary artery and take out the blood clot. But when they did that, they saw it was a tumor, and it had completely destroyed my right lung. So, I lost my right lung. And they resected a large part of the pulmonary artery and had to reconstruct it because you need that artery to live.

Then I was in chemo I was pretty good for two years, and then it came back and had spread to my hip as well. And so, I had another open-heart surgery. They had to replace one of my heart valves, pulmonic valve. Then I went for radiation to my hip [followed by] really heavy chemo.

After two months on that, I went into congestive heart failure and developed cardiomyopathy I recovered from that, and was put on heart failure medication A month after that I developed COVID pneumonia I was pretty sure I was going to leave in a box, yet I recovered.

A few months later, I went for another CT scan, and they found, again, the tumor was back in the pulmonary artery, but this time, no doctor wanted to operate on me. A third open-heart procedure is very dangerous. They estimated more than 50% likelihood I would die on the table, which I didnt like. So, I ended up having pretty intense radiation to my mediastinum, where the tumor was.

Thats when you came into the picture, in terms of advising me about treatment. I ended up having immunotherapy in Europe for two months with checkpoint inhibitors, but also hyperthermia and mistletoe injections, and alpha lipoic acid, high-dose vitamin C [infusions] and different other modalities. And I feel better than ever.

I had a CT scan last week, and it showed the tumor shrank by one-third. I spoke to the radiation oncologist who told me that a good result wouldve been the same size or smaller. It takes years to resolve. So, time will tell, but its easier for me to walk, and hemodynamically Im more stable, and I feel good. Amen.

Overall, the COVID story has completely changed the way I look at life, Zelenko says. When he saw how natural, effective, over-the-counter solutions for COVID were suppressed, while experimental gene transfer shots were pushed, he realized other treatments might also be suppressed, such as cancer treatments.

Probably, effective approaches were marginalized in lieu of the more expensive pharmaceutical approaches, he says. Ill give you one example. Dr. [William] Coley was an oncological surgeon who lived around 100 years ago, maybe 120 years ago. He noticed that he would operate on his patients, and the tumor would come back and they would die. And then he observed something very interesting.

He had a patient with pancreatic cancer, Stage 4, inoperable. That patient got very sick with an infection and became septic. He almost died, but he recovered and his tumor went away. He noticed that type of phenomenon a few more times, and realized that there must be some immune reaction, immune response to the infection that wakes up the immune system to also attack the tumor.

So basically, in my opinion, that was the birth of immunotherapy. Fever seems to play a role. It seems to have antitumor properties, as well as activating certain parts of your immune system. So, its fascinating. And that information was buried for a good long time 50, 60 years until some doctors rediscovered it and started doing research. And I benefited from that in Europe.

Weve come a long way since the days of Coley, who used toxins to trigger infection and fever. Today, hyperthermic treatment is used instead. Basically, its all about raising your body temperature to about 104 degrees Fahrenheit for four to six hours. Zelenko describes the treatment he underwent:

It was quite an experience, having a temperature around 40 Celsius, lets say 104 degrees Fahrenheit, for five hours. You become a little loopy and a little anxious, but I drank a lot of fluids and had a nurse with me all the time. It was a pretty interesting experience.

There were whole-body hyperthermia machines and localized hyperthermia. Both are basically a fancy sauna. It was like a spa actually. I did enjoy the treatment in most cases.

As an aside, I sincerely believe sauna bathing is one of the most powerful biohacks available. I do it four times a week. I get my temperature up to about 102 degrees F. or so, for 20 minutes. Ive found it to be a profoundly effective health habit to nip infections in the bud, and may also help put the brakes on any potential malignancies. I am currently using a prototype full-spectrum SaunaSpace sauna that is EMF-free, has eight 250 watt bulbs and will likely be available later this year.

Getting back to the issue of COVID, over the past two years, the SARS-CoV-2 infection has gone through a number of changes. Omicron, for example, is far more contagious, but has far less severe symptoms. As noted by Zelenko:

Omicron is unstoppable. Its more infectious than measles. Everyones going to get it. Sorry, but thats the case. However, it seems to attack only the upper airway in most cases, and there are very few deaths. Its very responsive to treatment as well, so theres no reason to be afraid of it.

In fact, we appear to have been gifted a best-case scenario, in which a highly contagious virus will rip through the population, causing only mild cold symptoms, thus producing herd immunity without the risk of mass casualties. When two-thirds of the population gets through it, it essentially shuts down the pandemic, Zelenko says.

In the interview, Zelenko explains how the many variants weve seen have probably been a result of the mass vaccination campaign.

Three respected immunologists, Dr. Luc Montagnier (who won the Nobel Prize in 2008 for his discovery of the HIV virus), Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi, the most published immunologist in history, and Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche, a top immunologist in The Netherlands, have all warned that when you mass vaccinate in the middle of an active outbreak, you cause variants to emerge.

You exert evolutionary pressure and breed more varying viruses, Zelenko says. Now, there are two or three possibilities. One could be that it was unintentional. Good, well-meaning people developed what they thought would help a vaccine. However, giving it to people during a pandemic has been an absolute failure. Oops, were sorry. Thats one possibility.

The other possibility is that whoever has orchestrated this knows exactly what theyre doing, and they are doing it on purpose to maintain the new variants and the consequences of that, which is essentially a psyop [to cause] a global psychosis due to fear, lockdowns and wearing a face diaper.

Theres one more possibility. Theres no dispute; everyone who knows the facts and has studied the issue knows that COVID-19 is a weapon made in a laboratory. Gain-of-function research is nothing more than making a weapon of mass destruction and genocide, and theres a patent trail 20 years long that documents the different stages of development of this weapon.

And heres my supposition. I have no evidence of this, but I could say the following: If I could make the original virus, I could make variants. Its very easy. You just change a few sequences of the code that goes with the spike protein. You change its three-dimensional shape, and if you do it enough, eliminate existing antibodies.

So again, I dont have evidence for that, but I do have evidence that [SARS-CoV-2] is an artificially-made bioweapon. So why wouldnt it be possible to make variants the same way? I think its kind of a combination, multifactorial cause of variants the natural God factor, the evolutionary pressure exerted by vaccinating people during an active pandemic, and then just outright making them.

Zelenko goes on to recount a relatively recent realization. Back in March 2020, he saw a MedCram video, episode 34,1 in which Dr. Roger Seheult explained some of the principles that he then ended up building his COVID protocol on. Seheult specifically quoted a paper that explained the functioning of zinc ionophores.

That mechanism is what Zelenko relied upon when developing his own protocol. However, he didnt realize until December 2021 that the author of that central paper was Dr. Ralph Baric. Why does that matter? Zelenko explains:

In 1999, Ralph Baric, funded by the U.S. government, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, figured out how to take an animal virus and have it be able to infect other species, different animals, in other words, cross-species infection.

In 2015, the same Dr. Ralph Baric, and Dr. Zhengli [at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China], funded by the National Institutes of Health, figured out how to make a corona bat virus infect human beings, and augmented its lethality to human lives. That was in 2015. But in 2010, Baric published that paper that Im referring to.

So, the development of the weapon happened in stages, but before it was unleashed onto the human population, or the development of it being able to infect human beings, an antidote was made. Research paid for by the government was published.

The same people that made the bomb, lets say, also created the antidote to diffuse the bomb. And then, when the pandemic arrived, doctors like myself, out of necessity, came up with creative solutions, based in my case, unknowingly on this work. And immediately, that information was marginalized and suppressed, and doctors were deplatformed for advocating for it.

So, the government who made the bomb also knew about the solution. And the reason why is they didnt want to die. The stakeholders here dont want their families to die. But for you and for me, they have a different agenda. So, they had that information.

I have knowledge that the Google executives are all taking hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin for prophylaxis, as is half of Congress. And so, the people that have orchestrated this knew the answer, and use it for themselves. Even doctors know the answer for themselves.

They prescribe [these drugs] for themselves, or they call me. But when patients come, they say theres no treatment, go home, take Tylenol. So, this is mass murder.

In addition to killing untold numbers of people by denying and suppressing early treatment options, governments around the world are also killing people with the COVID jabs. A year into the aggressive campaign to inject as many people as possible, its likely the shots have killed more people than have died from the infection. Its very difficult to tell, unfortunately, because the data are so seriously manipulated.

In 2015, Bill Gates said that the world population needs to be reduced by 15% through the use of vaccines because of global warming. The same Bill Gates in 2020 said 7 billion people must be vaccinated. Why would I take a vaccine for my health from someone whos advocating the use of vaccines to reduce the world population? ~ Dr. Vladimir Zelenko

Zelenko estimates somewhere between 500,000 to 1 million Americans have been killed by the shots to date. Disturbingly, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was aware that the shots could have serious consequences, yet they pushed them anyway. Whats more, they refuse to address the mindboggling number of adverse events reported to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS). The safety signal couldnt possibly be clearer.

In October, 2020, two months before the vaccine rollout, there was an internal presentation in the FDA to its scientists, and on slide 16 of that presentation, there was a list of side effects: death, heart attack, stroke, blood clots, horrific neurological diseases, myocarditis and many, many more, Zelenko says.

Now keep in mind, this is two months prior to the rollout. After the vaccines were rolled out, and a few months into it, when the VAERS database started showing the side effects that people were experiencing, theres a 100% correlation with what that slide said would happen, and what actually happened to human beings.

That is premeditated mass murder. FDA knew exactly what it was doing. They knew exactly the side effects, and they released it anyway

Why would the FDA behave this way? Why arent they safeguarding public health from a clearly lethal treatment? And on the other hand, why arent they allowing doctors to help people with early treatment? Zelenko explains:

In the mid-90s, it became obvious that the American economy was doomed. The Medicare and Social Security systems would become insolvent, and that would cause a tsunami-like effect nationally and internationally. And it was unstoppable. It was [mathematically inevitable].

Medicare, according to Congressional Budget Office, in 2027 will begin the process towards bankruptcy. So, security as of today [will last until] 2034. Now, the major stakeholders in the world economies saw an existential threat. They understood that their power and wealth was in real jeopardy.

And so a plan was developed, which was beyond the technology at that time, but the technology was being developed. So, for example, the Human Genome Project was mapped and completed.

Then CRISPR technology was developed, which is gene editing or gene splicing in very precise ways. That was sold as a way to cure genetic diseases. Theres a defective gene. You can just cut it out and splice in, cut and paste, basically, a healthy gene.

Thats the upside. The downside is that it creates possibilities to do gene editing for nefarious reasons. In 2015, Bill Gates said that the world population needs to be reduced by 15% through the use of vaccines because of global warming.

The same Bill Gates in 2020 said 7 billion people must be vaccinated. So, the obvious rhetorical question is, Why would I take a vaccine for my health from someone whos advocating the use of vaccines to reduce the world population?

In 2016, Klaus Schwab, in an interview said something very strange. He said that within 10 years, by 2026, every single human being will be tagged with a digital identifier. What does that mean, and why?

Lets go through the sequence of events. A bioweapon is made with an antidote, which is being suppressed and hidden. [The bioweapon] is released. Its extremely easy to treat. However, that information is being suppressed, and access to those medications is being suppressed, and doctors who are advocating for it are being persecuted.

Anything that seems to give people hope, lessen anxiety, encourage reintegration with your loved ones seems to be immediately vilified, even early intervention. If you look at the NIH, they recommend, as of today, not to treat COVID unless theyre in the hospital with lung damage. Dont do that.

And so, I was wondering, what is really going on? And why this incessant push to vaccinate everyone? Why jail doctors for using meds at work? Because it encourages the vaccine hesitancy.

Then I realized something. There were two patents that I became aware of. Theyre separated by a year, but theyre linked in the puzzle, in the concept. One was August 31, 2021, that describes nanotechnology engineering.2 It basically describes the following:

That there is the capability, the technology, already existing, in these vaccines that allows for the measurement of biometric data, meaning your heart rate, your respiratory rate, temperature, and then the transmission of that data with your location to a third party.

That didnt even make sense to me. Like what? But then I realized theres another patent owned by Microsoft. This one I remember by heart. Its an international patent, WO202060606. You cant make this stuff up. That patent describes linkage of biometric data transmission to cryptocurrency.

Then I got it. And by the way, 2026, when everyones supposed to be tagged with a digital ID, lets call it an internal Auschwitz tattoo, is a year before the beginning of the insolvency of Medicare and the beginning of economic collapse. And so, the real agenda has become obvious to me.

Its never been about health. COVID-19 is easy to treat. It was always about using fear and mass psychosis to get 7 billion people to willfully get injected with the technology that would permit them to participate in the new cryptocurrency-based system, the system that the world will use for finance.

Fiat currency and all the traditional ways of transactions will be gone. The only way that you actually will be able to participate in transactions, of buying bread, lets say, is having a transmitting sensor of information with your location. Its the mark of the beast, if you really want to know. With that, you can then buy bread for your family

Gates and Schwab [are] both talking talk about how these vaccines change who you are. What does that mean? They explain it. [With] the gene editing technology, they are making the human better. Thats transhumanism. I call it Human 2.0. Human 1.0 is the version made by God. We are is imprinted [with God] in our genetic code. Were made in the image of God because we have his code in us.

Now, would you give Bill Gates or Klaus Schwab the password to your home security system? Why would we give him access to our genetic code? Human 2.0, in the demented, depraved, deranged minds of these people is the next step up in the evolution of human beings. And Im saying that if you allow that to happen to yourself, youre no longer made in the image of God. Youre made in the image of Bill Gates and Klaus Schwab.

So, in summary, Zelenko believes that everything weve experienced so far the aggressive marketing of the shots, the coercion and threats made to get as many injected as possible has all been a ploy to tag as many people as possible in preparation for the New World Orders cryptocurrency system, which will be managed by a small select group, and used to enslave all of humanity.

As noted by Zelenko, the World Economic Forum has publicly announced that by 2030, the U.S. will no longer be a superpower, and a few countries will be in charge of global governance. Now, how do you destabilize an economic engine like the U.S.?

You create a pandemic, Zelenko says. You lock down middle class businesses, small businesses But you leave Walmart and Home Depot open Its a wealth transfer from the middle class to the people in power. Its a robbery, basically.

This is one big attempt at enslaving humanity. Its a brilliant plan, by the way. Its evil, but its brilliant because slavery has always been the most lucrative industry and asset throughout human history. Now is no different. And so, you have a few sociopaths who believe in their immortality and think that theyll transfer their consciousness to some cyborg, enjoying the whole world as their playground.

Zelenko goes on to discuss the statements inscribed on the Georgia Guidestones, a huge granite monument erected anonymously in a small town in Georgia, which lays out 10 commandments. The first one is that the world population should be reduced to and maintained at 500 million. If the COVID shots continue, its not inconceivable that the human population might be reduced to that size.

A few months ago, Elon Musk debuted his humanoid robots, saying that since these robots will eliminate 90% of the workforce, we therefore need universal basic income. This too is part of The Great Reset plan, which embraces both technocracy and transhumanism.

Keep in mind that in the minds of these people, were not made in the divine [image]. Were cockroaches. And theyre not going to throw endless universal income resources at cockroaches for too long. Theyll do it initially to identify the useless eaters, and then they will be liquidated. This has happened before.

Just 80 years ago you had the Nazi ideology based on eugenics, which created three classes of people. You have the ubermensch, what Nietzsche would call Superman. Then the mensch, which is the human, and then the untermensch, which is the subhuman. In the [Nazi] model, the [Nazis were] Supermen, descendants of Aryan gods. That gave them the power to enslave others.

So, for example, the Anglo-Saxons, basically Europeans, were meant to be slaves to the Aryans. And the subhumans, which I belong to Jews, gypsies, Slavs, handicapped, political prisoners we were meant to be vaporized, become dust.

That ideology did not go away. It resurfaced with the nuance that is not antisemitic right now. In a kind of an abstract way, were all Jews this time, because the hierarchy here is not based on religion or identity, but rather on the deranged belief that theyve evolved, the Superman of this generation, into a higher level of consciousness.

Theyre woke and they understand and are enlightened about the nature of the human condition. Theyre custodians of the planet, and therefore its their responsibility to make sure the planet has solvency, that it continues to exist. And therefore, we have to reduce the world population.

While humanity is in a most precarious situation, Zelenko is optimistic about the future.

Ill tell you what I really think is going on, he says. Theres what we see, and then theres the, lets call it spiritual physics, at play. Karl Jung, the famous psychoanalyst, wrote, The moral degradation of society begins with the degradation of the individual. From that, we can actually learn that moral improvement of society begins with improvement of the individual.

We, as a society, over the last 50, 60 years, have made some very bad choices. For example, weve desanctified or defiled gender roles Marriage has lost its sanctity. The unborn are being massacred. In the Bible, there are two cities that were destroyed, Sodom and Gomorrah, and theres an analysis why that happened. It wasnt because of the immorality, because the whole world was immoral.

It was because they codified immorality into the law of the land. Thats exactly what has happened in [the U.S.] Weve devolved We worship the God of science, the god of technology, the god of money, god of power. Anything but [the true] God. And we are clearly practicing child sacrifice.

Dr. Michael Yeadon, former VP of Pfizer, told me personally, and then he actually publicized it, that for every one child that dies of COVID, 100 die from the vaccine. The [COVID shot] is 100 times more lethal to children than COVID. What do you call that? Thats child sacrifice.

So, I feel that, by way of analogy, were in the generation of flood. The house is going to get cleaned, and each individual is given a choice to get on the ark or not.

Or, to make it simpler, who do you bow down to? Do you bow down to your creator, who makes you in every instant of time? Do you ask [God] for fortitude, endurance, strength, resolve, the ability to deal with the unknown and fear? Or are you going to give in to the fear and bow down to corrupt sociopaths, oligarchs, corrupt governments, and the false promise of the golden calf of these vaccines?

Because at this point, in this country at least, no ones holding you down and putting a needle into your arm. The majority of people, they want to travel by plane. They dont want to lose their job. They want to go to school. Its all these kinds of quality of life decisions. In other words, in a normal society, the parents sacrifice for the well-being of the children. In pagan societies, we sacrifice the children for the purpose of the adults.

So, whats the answer? Can we stop this transhumanist trajectory that threatens the very core of what makes us human? Can we prevent this plan for our enslavement from coming to fruition? Zelenko believes there is a way, as do I.

The answer is we need organized civil disobedience. Do not comply. They cant imprison everyone. They cant fire everyone. They cant expel everyone. They cant lock down everyone. Theres many more of us than them. And actually, let me speak to the military leaders, to the police, to people that are charged to protect society.

You also have children. You also have parents. And we are relying on you to do whats best for the citizens of this country, to protect us from all enemies, foreign and domestic. All we need to do is to coalesce with like-minded people. Take your kids out of school. Homeschool them. You can teach them morality.

The World Health Organization came out with an edict that if your kids go to school, thats implied consent for the vaccine because you could have not sent them. And since you sent them to school, thats implying that youre consenting for them to be vaccinated, even without your knowledge.

Basically, we have to make small pockets, like cities of refuge, in a sense, of like-minded people; create an alternate society; do commerce with ourselves. I know there are forces really working hard to create an alternate cryptocurrency or blockchain system that is decentralized and would allow for people who dont want to be tagged with a digital identifier to transact with each other.

As noted by Zelenko, its becoming more and more obvious that the pandemic measures were never about protecting us from COVID. It was always about creating a new world order. It was about setting the stage for a Great Reset to Build Back Better.

But better for whom? The Build Back Better plan is about building a society run by a few sociopaths and the rest of us enslaved, Zelenko says. The good news is that more and more people are now starting to see this plan, and once that realization reaches a certain threshold of people, countries are going to change and fall like dominoes, he says.

As for when we might get our freedom back, that depends on us. As noted by Zelenko, freedom isnt free. We were free (at least up until 2020) because our forefathers had the courage to confront tyranny. If we want our children to be free, we now have to display that same courage.

Whether or not our children will be free depends on whether or not we are ready to sacrifice, Zelenko says. Are we ready, in this generation, to pay the price to ensure that our children thrive in freedom and have the ability to maintain God consciousness?

Its going to happen. The unknown variable is to body count. I would hope that this interview reaches the consciousness of every single human being. People must choose to say no from this point on.

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The Plan to Tag Us for the New World Order Slave System - newsconcerns

Dave Grohl just cant sit still. Its a bad habit that Grohl admits in his memoir The Storyteller that likely carries over from being a hyperactive child. For most, its a trait that needs to be tapered down once youre an adult, but luckily Grohl found a job where it actually helps to be a little frenzied.

Over the course of his now-four decade career, Grohl has played on hundreds of songs. Hes also worked with some of the greatest figures in music: David Bowie, John Paul Jones, Stevie Nicks, and Paul McCartney, just to name a few. He had the opportunity to join Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers after Nirvanas dissolution but opted to strike out on his own with the Foo Fighters instead.

Oh yeah, he was also in a small band called Nirvana. And Scream. And Queens of the Stone Age. Grohl helped bring to life songs by a wide variety of artists, including Nine Inch Nails, Tenacious D, Killing Joke, and Halsey. Hes the man that everyone wants to jam with, and more importantly, hes the man that everyone just wants to hang out with. Grohls reputation has exceeded his monster musical abilities by virtue of just seeming like a really cool guy.

That would all be fine if he was simply a wandering soul picking up session gigs in between cashing checks from Nevermind. Instead, Grohl decided that he had something to say and formed Foo Fighters in 1994. Originally a true-blue solo project, the band grew into rocks preeminent stadium act, releasing multi-platinum albums and touring around the world at a level few could match. Grohl might seem relatively easygoing, but make no mistake, Foo Fighters is still a benevolent dictatorship, with Grohl at the helm.

Thats probably for the best, as Grohl has cranked out some of the most memorable tracks of the past 30 years. Evolving from the quasi-improvisational style of writing occasionally used by Kurt Cobain, Grohl has come into his own as a songwriter, establishing a signature style and a noted depth in lyrical subject matter. When hes not plumbing the depths of his emotions, hes spitting venom on some of the heaviest tracks this side of punk rock. Here, were looking across his long and storied career to collect Grohls 50 greatest songs.

Some basic measures had to be put in place just to keep the ranking from getting too unwieldy. Extra emphasis is placed on the songs that Grohl has a songwriting credit on, and it takes an all-time performance to boost something that Grohl didnt write himself. Covers have been completely excised, so apologies to Mollys Lips, a good chunk of MTV Unplugged in New York, and The Dee Gees Hail Satin.

But more importantly, Grohl had to make a significant impact on the final product. There are loads of great Nirvana songs that, frankly, Grohl didnt have much of a say in. Whether its the bombshell boom of his drumwork, harried screams of his vocals, or light touch of his lyric writing, emphasis was placed on Grohls unique contributions rather than simply the best songs to feature Grohl somewhere on them.

Here are the 50 greatest songs by Dave Grohl.

The Foo Fighters are in a comfortable place now. Theyre unmatched as the worlds biggest rock band, and they have so much solid material in their back catalogue that they dont really need any more great songs. They can play for four hours of all hits every night, so why keep trying to add to the list?

It all goes back to that restless spirit within Grohl: the best Foo Fighters song may very well not have been written yet. Its also fascinating to hear Grohl when he goes softer, like on Medicine at Midnights standout track Chasing Birds. The Foos actually have quite a bit of acoustic material in their repertoire now, but Chasing Birds is a fantastically mellow addition to their varied setlists.

Never underestimate Grohls ability to go for the laugh. Through various cameos, guest appearances, and now even his own horror-comedy film, Grohl has an untapped career path as a professional jokester. So its only natural that he found a fit with Jack Black and Kyle Gass in their mock-rock outfit Tenacious D.

Grohl has been providing drums for the bands albums since the beginning, but its his appearance as Lucifer himself at the end of The Pick of Destiny that represents one of the heights of his comedic career. Getting in some solid riffs and high octane drum fills, Grohl fights for the right to make Gass his personal sex slave in the bonkers finale to Tenacious Ds quest for immortality (and weed).

Grohl has showed off quite a diverse set of skills within his music. Theres more conventional pop, like on his collaboration with Halsey. Theres electronic industrial rock, like with NIN (more on that in a second). Theres even the lighter acoustic side that the Foos have dipped into. But lets be real: Grohl is at his best when hes screaming his face off.

Who knows where Grohl still finds that volcanic rage, but hes still able to breathe fire with a surprising amount of potency. Just listen to 42-year-old Grohl go ballistic on Wasting Lights White Limo. Its a callback to earlier tracks like Wattershed, where nothing was better than Grohl leaning back and screaming himself raw for a few minutes.

The Nirvana representation on this list was one of the toughest aspects to work through. That is especially true for a song like Rape Me. On one hand, its one of Nirvanas greatest and most important songs. On the other, Grohl doesnt actually get to do all that much, with his contributions limited to drums and, when played live, backing vocals.

But his drum part is one of the most ferocious that he ever played with the band, and it doesnt seem complete to have a list like this without it. Ultimately, Rape Me would be a completely different song without Grohl behind the skins, and his powerful drive is what makes Nirvanas signature quiet-loud dynamic so impactful.

Grohl isnt the most technically gifted guitar player in the world. He cant read music, doesnt really know much about theory, and could probably give a damn whether a progression is going I-iv-V-IV or A-B-C-D. But every once in a while, Grohl stumbles onto something truly unique that most writers beholden to traditional ways of thinking about music would never do.

Skin and Bones is a chromatic song with plenty of odd chord choices and strange progressions. Even still, it has Grohls unmatched ear for melody, just in a more moody setting. As someone who values simplicity over technical proficiency, Grohl can break all the wrong rules in all the right ways.

The Foo Fighters have released upwards of 50 singles throughout their 30 years as a band, so it only stands to reason that some of those tracks tend to get lost to history. If it wasnt for its goofy music video (a Foo Fighters staple), Long Road to Ruin would be in danger of getting lost in the mix.

Thats unfortunate, seeing as how its one of the bands best songs from what is now ostensibly their middle period. Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace is a hit-or-miss kind of record, but Long Road to Ruin proves that Grohls ability to find big rock hooks never wavers.

If ever there was a superhero for Dave Grohl to base himself off of, it was Lemmy Kilmister. The hard rocking, hard partying, surly son of a bitch was actually quite a mellow and friendly character when he wasnt belting sonic holes in the ozone with Motrhead. If you liked a drink, or a smoke, or a good joke, you had a friend in Lemmy, and Grohl was able to forge a close bond with the legendary bass player that lasted years.

In terms of actual collaboration, Grohl and Lemmy only ever recorded two songs together: a cover of Chuck Berrys Run Rudolph Run with Billy Gibbons on guitar, and Shake Your Blood from Grohls heavy metal side project Probot. Even though its a one off, Shake Your Blood makes for one hell of a tribute to two legends, one living and one now sadly passed on.

We all tend to mellow with age. The fire burns out, the thrill goes, and its increasingly difficult to find the energy and strength to really rally against something once you transition into a quieter stage of life. Dave Grohl, somehow, is immune to this natural occurrence.

Even though the Foos are a lot more experimental and low-key these days than they were on their first two albums, Grohl can still fire it up when he needs to, like on the back and forth headbanging riff thats central to Run. In his third decade of rock and roll, Grohl is just as ready to shake the walls as he was as a teenage dirtbag playing punk rock. Lucky for him, hes got a band behind him who are just as eager to match his fury.

Ah, the dreaded greatest hits compilation. I dont know if its still the case in the streaming age, but a greatest hits album was the most surefire way for a band to sell a billion copies of an album without ever having to do much work back when people still regularly bought physical albums. Just to show that they werent completely phoning it in, artists would often include a new song or two that completely went against the concept of a greatest hits compilation. It was strange, but damn near everyone did it.

The Foos were one of the rare bands who actually put a great new song on their greatest hits album. Wheels isnt anything complicated: just a few chords, some solid guitar rock power, and an easy melody. But it remains one of the Foo Fighters greatest uncut gems, hidden in plain sight where it truly belongs: on a collection of the bands best songs.

Its a somewhat unlikely meeting of the 90s best musical minds. In one corner, theres the rock-focused Dave Grohl, who turns his nose up at keyboards and machinery in favour of loud guitars and acoustic drums. In the other, theres industrial god Trent Reznor, who will manipulate any sound or signal to make his warped worldview come to life.

As it turns out, though, these two forces can actually work in harmony, as they do on Nine Inch Nails Every Day Is The Exact Same. Grohl is unmistakable on the drums, pounding away like a mob enforcer collecting debts. But over the top is Reznors electronic buzz, fleshing out the landscape with a modern sheen. It shouldnt be good, at least not on paper. But Every Day Is The Exact Same is a track that fires on all cylinders, bringing out the best in its two collaborators.

Lets all be honest with ourselves for a second: Dave Grohls need to continuously find new angles with which to churn out Foo Fighters albums is admirable, if not always successful. While the bands more recent LPs can have a smattering of good-to-great songs bumping up against forgotten filler tracks, for my money the last great Foos album was probably 2011s Wasting Light.

Sonic Highways is basically a homework assignment stretched out to full album length, and its especially apparent in the clunky shoehorned lyrics made up of references his interview subjects make But when it works, its surprisingly potent. Outside, with its spacious solo from Joe Walsh, is easily one of the albums high points, letting the band hang loose and rock out away from the forced material that is captured on the rest of the album.

Once again pairing it back to the wouldnt it be great if we just screamed our faces off for a little bit style, Sean is the goofiest, loosest, most nonsensically awesome song that the Foos have put out in the last ten-plus years.

Collecting the stories that follow one of the bands guitar techs, Sean is an unstoppable gallop of a track that doesnt let you stop to breathe for a single second. That and it also has some of the raddest cowbell that Taylor Hawkins ever laid down with the band. Cowbells, statistically and objectively, make everything better. Thats just math.

Lets step into Dave Grohls shoes for a second, circa summer 1995. Nirvana has been over for a year, and there are rumblings that youre going to put out new music where you sing and play guitar. The rest of the world is slightly suspicious, and certainly not expecting much. Theres probably a reason why you didnt have a ton of songwriting credits before, right? What are you gonna do, pull a Phil Collins and sing some ballads?

Well, in order to silence all the sceptics, what do you pick as your debut single and first track for your first album? How about an uptempo rock song that gives a high energy wave to all the people who had brought you to the place you are today. This Is a Call is remarkable in that, more than 25 years since that theoretical scenario, the song still sounds just as fresh as it did when it announced a new Dave Grohl to the world.

Nirvana were in danger of getting a little too arena rock-adjacent on Nevermind. The solution? Play as fast and loud as humanly possible. Make the icing on top of the cake an out-of-tune reading of the chorus to The Youngbloods Get Together to make a track straight out of snot-rock heaven.

So thats exactly what they did. Territorial Pissings is pure machine gun fire from Grohl on the drums, giving direction to the mess of distortion and riffage that Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic get themselves entangled in. When it comes to pure shits-and-giggles ferociousness in the Nirvana canon, youd be hard pressed to find a song more fun or frantic than Territorial Pissings.

Nirvana was dead, and it was going to take an unholy resurrection to get them to record together again. Who could possibly step into the massive shoes left behind by Kurt Cobain? Only a truly titanic figure, one who was as important to Cobains musical development as any punk rocker. That figure turned out to be none other than Paul McCartney.

Although its a fairly generic rocker, the sheer weight behind Cut Me Some Slack makes it one of the rarest and most enjoyable tracks that Grohl has ever made. Its Nirvana, fronted by a Beatle. Music doesnt get any more mythical than that. With any luck, had he known about who was taking his place, Cobain would hopefully have let out a little smile and mentioned how he preferred John Lennon.

Think youve heard it all from Foo Fighters? How about a vocal choir intro complete with guitars that dont even pretend to rock in the songs first 30 seconds? Its always a delicate balance for Grohl when it comes to established formula and new horizons to explore with his band, but fascinating decisions still get stumbled upon from time to time.

The Sky is a Neighborhood is sparse in its verse, angular with its riffs, and far more progressive than the Foos had ever allowed themselves to be in the past. It would be nothing without a giant hook at its centre, which is something that Grohl can always be counted on to provide. If nothing else, The Sky is a Neighborhood proved that Grohl was still full of surprises.

The only song to be played by both of Grohls biggest bands actually had its roots in a different project. Grohl wanted to record some of his own songs but was too reticent to introduce them to Nirvana. Instead, he put them on a tape entitled Pocketwatch, produced it under the pseudonym Late!, and sent it off into the ether without any indication that Grohl was the man behind the music.

One of the tracks on that tape was Color Pictures of a Marigold, which Grohl re-recorded with Novoselic during the In Utero sessions. Marigold wound up as one of the B-sides to Heart-Shaped Box, with fans at early Foo Fighters gigs shouting out the song as a request, seeing as it was the only Dave Grohl lead vocal they had ever heard. Eventually, the Foos revived the song for their Skin and Bones acoustic live album, bringing Marigold full circle and landing it a rare place in music history.

Grohl was in a strange place in his life after the release of the first Foo Fighters album. The acceptance of the band as more than just a vanity project was growing, but Grohls personal life was falling apart at the same time. His divorce from his first wife Jennifer Youngblood inspired the material on the bands follow up, The Colour and the Shape, but Grohls need for stability and control also pushed out drummer William Goldsmith when Grohl decided to re-record most of the albums drum part himself.

One of Grohls first forays into more gentle and melodic material, February Stars represented a massive leap forward for Grohl in his songwriting ability. Now unafraid of slowing down and letting his emotions imbue his songs with regret and personal truth, Grohl evolved into a true artist. Even though it sounds different from the rest of their material, February Stars is a crucial building block in the signature sound of the Foo Fighters.

You make me dizzy, running circles in my head / One of these days Ill chase your motherfucking ass down. Thats how Grohl kicks off the Foo Fighters performance of Breakout during their legendary stand at Wembley Stadium. Lets dispense with the pretentiousness for a second: people like the Foo Fighters because theyre a big, loud, awesome rock and roll band.

Breakout, by the transitive property, is one of the best Foo Fighters songs because its one of the bands biggest, loudest, most awesome rock and roll songs. Im no math guy, but that seems like sound mathematics to me. If you dont love Breakout, you dont love the Foo Fighters, and if you love the Foo Fighters, you love Breakout. Its as simple as that.

All Apologies isnt Grohls biggest or baddest drum performance with Nirvana. In fact, barring the possible exceptions of Polly and Something in the Way, it might very well be his most restrained. But thats important too: Grohl made his name as a loud basher, rarely bringing things down below a forte dynamic.

All Apologies proved that Grohl had plenty of light touch and good taste in his drumming. Hes got a simple task: dont get in the way. He gets time to bash away, but never at the insane levels that hes used to. Theres a very delicate melody at the centre of the song, and Grohl does everything he can to help it along without trampling all over it. Its a critically important lesson he learned sometimes softer really is better.

Evidently, my opinion that I Am A River is a graceful and wonderfully stirring finale to Sonic Highways is not an opinion shared by all. I will admit that, if youre not bought into the grandeur of the song or the central metaphor, then the last five minutes of the song can be a bit of an overlong slog. But if youre on board, its as symphonic and cinematic as the Foos ever got.

Thats thanks to Tony Viscontis monster score, the pairing of eerie guitars lines and power chords, and of course Grohls signature scream. Some will say its too long, or that it doesnt make sense, or that its just not very good. I say its borderline profound, and the most successful experiment on Sonic Highways. I Am A River is a song that could be eye-rolling in the wrong state of mind, but completely earth-shattering when youre locked in with it.

Grunges Stairway to Heaven. No, thats not a joke or an exaggeration. What Aneurysm does is solidify Nirvana as a band with ambitions beyond two-chord punk, beyond catchy pop, and beyond their Seattle peers. Its progressive, its aggressive, and its uncompromising. When it comes to pure variety and musicianship, it just might be the finest song Nirvana ever wrote.

More importantly, it was the first song that Grohl had a hand in writing, mainly helping to guide the song through its two distinct sections. The speed demon drum fills are one thing, but the ability to turn tempos on a dime is another. Aneurism solidified Grohls place in Nirvana, not just as a drummer but as an equal contributor to their sound.

Grohls time in Scream is often seen as being akin to a great baseball players time in the minor leagues: pay your dues, get your legs under you, and eventually, youll be promoted. That wasnt true, as Grohl was completely committed to the D.C. hardcore band that he idolised as a young teenager. When Scream suddenly broke up in 1990, Grohl was completely at a loss, believing that his dreams of being a professional musician were over.

Grohls powerful thump is easily heard on the tracks that he contributed to the band, but it was on Gods Look Down that Grohl took his first steps towards his future. Grohl sang lead on the track, and although his voice is noticeably emo-adjacent and slightly off-key, the seeds of his signature shout are still there. It would have been fascinating to hear what Scream would have evolved into had they kept going, and whether Grohl would have gotten additional opportunities to step up to the mic.

Something remarkable about Grohls songwriting is that hes able to take on weighty themes without ever seeming pretentious or overwrought. When it comes to growing up, the Foos did it in style on Wasting Light. Pairing their signature punch with meditations on fatherhood, regret, and death, the band were able to tap into feelings that aged and evolved along with their audience. Sure, theyre dad rock, but there are a lot of dads with a lot of emotions out there.

When faced with the great divide, theres only one way that Grohl is going to go out: screaming. Lines like, One of these days the clocks will stop / And time wont mean a thing show that Grohl can be downright poetic when he wants to be, and These Days is one of a fair number of songs that force you to take Grohl seriously as one of the most talented songwriters of his generation, even on par with one of his former bandmates.

How do I successfully undercut everything serious and thoughtful that I just said? By placing what is undoubtably the Foo Fighters most frivolous and ridiculous song right below a really important Foo Fighters song. But thats the beauty of the band: when things get a little too heavy, its time to stop making sense and just rock out with your sock out.

Named after a fast food restaurant native to Grohls home state of Virginia, Weenie Beenie is the first and best of the Foo Fighters shut up and scream songs. Theres a lineage here White Limo, Sean and Wattershed all are indebted to this slice of punk-metal. Sludgy, ferocious, and completely incomprehensible, Weenie Beenie is the loudest, heaviest, and most inane Foo Fighters song ever written. And its fucking awesome.

Dave Grohl can do it all. In fact, he did do it all on the Foo Fighters first album. Hes stepped in to re-record any and all parts that dont live up to his lofty standards, and no one is exempt from his heavy hand. But in the past decade or so, the Foo Fighters have solidified into a great band of heavy hitters that bring Grohls loud and fast rock music to life.

Bridge Burning is a song that doesnt exist if Grohl had always kept the band to a solo project. Taylor Hawkins massive drums and killer backing harmonies, the dual descending guitar lines between Pat Smear and Chris Shiflett, the rumbling bass line provided by Nate Mendel and the spacey keyboards from Rami Jaffe are all essential to the songs mighty thump. Grohl is at the centre of it all, but songs like Bridge Burning prove just how much of a band Foo Fighters really are.

The loveliest and most Beatles-esque song that Kurt Cobain ever wrote, Dumb is easy proof as to why a band as heavy and punk-focused as Nirvana was actually perfect for the MTV Unplugged sessions. Faced with his biggest challenge yet, Grohl couldnt pound away or blast anything in his signature Animal-from-The Muppets style.

So he gets creative. Knocking on the rims of his drums while leaning hard into the ride cymbal, Grohl conjures up one of his most idiosyncratic drum patterns for one of Nirvanas most idiosyncratic songs. Despite wanting to get more abrasive on In Utero, it was clear that Grohl, Cobain, and Novoselic were actually just as ready to get into a lighter state of mind.

Theres a story that follows Alone + Easy Target: Grohl records a demo of the song with future Foo Fighters producer Barrett Jones and plays it for Cobain while hes sitting in a bathtub. Cobain proceeds to kiss Grohl and express relief that he no longer has to be the sole songwriter in Nirvana.

The irony to the story is that Alone + Easy Target is actually about Cobains criticisms of Grohl and Grohls lack of ability to stand up for himself or contribute to the band beyond simply keeping time: Metronome / I want out. A lack of input and royalty disputes actually sowed quite a bit of discord between Grohl and Cobain during the final two years of the band, but it only ever reached the extent of inspiring one of Grohls best songs from the Foo Fighters debut.

There was no need for Them Crooked Vultures to be anything but a loose and fun supergroup for Dave Grohl and Queens of the Stone Ages Josh Homme to geek out over the fact that they got to be in a group with John Paul Jones. But then the thunderous opening drums to New Fang kick in and it suddenly becomes clear that this isnt just some mindless rock and roll fantasy camp. This is going to be heavy.

Seeing as how Grohl is the modern day John Bonham, it should be no surprise that he and Jones lock in like theyve been playing in the same band for 40 years. Homme throws in one of his most memorable melodies just to keep up, and the trio play with time signatures in a way that is easy to miss, but remain captivating when caught. Hard rock heavyweights dont show off any better than Them Crooked Vultures do on New Fang.

Dave Grohl is human after all. In the wonderful documentary Sound City, which was directed by Grohl himself, Nevermind producer Butch Vig shares a story about Nirvana coming in to the eponymous California studio intent on recording Lithium, but failing to properly get a hold of the track. The process was so frustrating that Cobain launched into Endless, Nameless at the end of a particularly bad take and wound up breaking the studios only left handed guitar, putting a pause on that days recording.

In order to make the song work, Vig convinced Grohl to do something he had never done before: play to a click track. I felt like someone had stabbed me in the fuckin brain. As a drummer, you dont want anyone to ask you to play to a click track. But Grohl relented, and the result is one of the greatest mixes of heavy rock and pop melodies that Nirvana ever produced.

Who is the unconfirmed early villain of the Foo Fighters story? The shadow of Kurt Cobain? The creeping onset of grunge imitators like Creed? Grohl himself, whose control saw everyone from the original incarnation quit at least once? All solid possibilities, but the juiciest and most gossipy options is undoubtably Cobains widow, Hole lead singer Courtney Love.

Of all the (alleged) songs written about Love, Stacked Actors has to be the most vicious. Calling an unnamed blonde an ageing drag queen is about as straight up mean as Grohl has ever been, and even though he denies that Love served as the inspiration, the association has easily made it one of the Foos most fascinating tracks. Come for the drama, stay for the major riffage.

There were certain security blankets that the Foo Fighters liked to hold tight: distortion, screaming, giant drums. These were comfy and familiar, and the band did them well. But gentle singing? Arpeggiated jangly guitars? Soft dynamics? Hows are they going to pull that off? This is the same band who named their heaviest song after a fast food stop. Surely they cant be gentle and genuine at the same time.

For anyone who hasnt heard all of There Is Nothing Left to Lose, the Foo Fighters pull a genius magic trick by front loading the album with heavy rock tracks and ending with some of the most heartfelt and optimistic songs that Grohl ever put to tape. The peak is Aint It the Life, a song completely unlike any other in the Foos catalogue. Grohl hits his marks on lyrics, vocal melodies, and even soft guitars without ever coming off as saccharine or mushy. The real surprise about the Foo Fighters was how multi-dimensional they could be.

Grohl only ever wrote one guitar riff for Nirvana. When youve Kurt Cobain in your band, why bother? But as the band transitioned to a heavier sound with In Utero, Grohls jackhammer riff suddenly fit with what the band were going for, and Cobain eventually came around to the song enough to pen some lyrics.

Scentless Apprentice actually shows what Grohls life could have been post-Nirvana had he not started the Foo Fighters a drummer for hire, contributing elements to other peoples songs. Thankfully he decided to try to be a frontman himself, but Scentless Apprentice very well may be Grohls most significant contribution to Nirvana in terms of composition and arrangement.

Hey, Courtney Love, werent we just talking about you? If Stacked Actors is a thinly veiled reference to the Hole singer, Ill Stick Around constitutes a full-on direct attack. How am I the only one who sees / Your rehearsed insanity is the most commonly cited line, but Ive always been a fan of: Ive been around all the pawns youve gagged and bound / Theyll come back and knock you down and Ill be free in terms of pure impact.

Once again Grohls secret weapon is his love of melody and catchy hooks, which the shouted outro most certainly is. Wrapped in some of the most potent energy that ever came out of Grohl, Ill Stick Around doubles nicely as a kickback at anyone who might have been discounting Grohl simply because of his association with Nirvana. Whether its to Love or the fans who resented him because of his continuation, Grohls message is clear: I dont owe you anything.

Grohl needed a break. After Foo Fighters rose to the top of the post-grunge landscape, internal fractures meant that original drummer William Goldsmith and guitarist Pat Smear left the band during the promotional cycle for The Colour and the Shape. Attempts to gel with Grohls former Scream bandmate Franz Stahl proved fruitless, and Grohl grew tired of the relentless heaviness of Los Angeles.

So for the bands third album, he absconded to his home state of Virginia, bringing a far more relaxed atmosphere to the recordings. The return to his roots led Grohl to think about the places of his past, and a familiar Seattle street, Aurora Avenue, popped into his head. The lyrics that followed were some of Grohls most grand, reflecting on lost time and a past that cant be returned to. Grohl tends to shy away from getting too profound, but Aurora makes the best case for Dave Grohl: The Poet.

2001: all is not well in the world of the Foo Fighters. Attempts to record a follow up to There Is Nothing Left to Lose are hitting difficulties, and a rift is starting to form between Grohl and Taylor Hawkins. Rather than power through and make up, Grohl decides to put Foo Fighters on hold while he joins another band, Queens of the Stone Age. Its as close as the Foos ever came to truly breaking up.

Grohl seems to channel all his pent up rage into his drum performances on Songs for the Deaf, most prominently on the earth-shaking fills of No One Knows. Dave Grohls best drum performance on record is a contentious title, but undoubtably his best appearance outside his two most notable bands comes on his amazing performance from No One Knows.

As much as we loved noise and crazy-ass punk rock shit, we wanted to be a good band. We loved The Beatles. Thats how Grohl described Nirvana while making Nevermind, and when it came to his own material, Grohl wasnt afraid to key into pop sensibilities either. Most of Foo Fighters debut LP is crazy-ass punk rock shit, to use his words, but Big Me is pure Beatles-inspired pop.

For someone so willing to obscure his songs behind nonsense words, vocal effects, and walls of distortion, Grohl is remarkably comfortable with sunny melodies and catchy hooks on Big Me, the best song from Foo Fighters. Theres always plenty of time for big rock and roll music, but Grohl proved that he could excel at earworms at the same time.

The contrast between beauty and ugliness on In Utero is what makes it so fascinating nearly 30 years after its release. Harried vocals and a noticeable lack of studio polish might have made the bands handlers panic, but the melodic foundations of songs like Heart-Shaped Box proved that Cobain wasnt being willfully obscure. Instead, he was angling the band towards a future that balanced the pop with the punk.

Heart-Shaped Box is simply the prettiest, most poetic, and most successful song from In Utero. Thats down to its ability to serve both masters without sacrificing either: gentle heartfelt emotions and aggressive, combative noise. As for Grohl, he brings yet another deceptively simple but powerful drum performance to the track, making even the heaviest beats sound effortless.

As far as high energy, high velocity, ultra-powerful drum tracks go, nothing in the Nirvana canon could compare to the three minute onslaught that Grohl unleashes on Breed. Armed with the heft of someone twice his size, the wiry Grohl is on the constant verge of completely demolishing his drum kit from the second that his walloping snare fills kicks off the performance.

What Breed does better than any other Nirvana song is lead credence to the notion that the band was incomplete without Grohl. Who else could possibly pound out a drum pattern that memorable and that unrelenting? Nuance be damned: this is full-throttle from the first whack. Breed is primal fury directed onto a single poor, unsuspecting drum kit.

Ive never seen a bad Foo Fighters show. I think my current number hovers somewhere around four or five, and each time Ive seen the band live, they always bring the goods. But according to the band, theres a quick antidote if they feel like theyre having an off day: play All My Life.

With its ferocious power chords, focus on pure energy, and scream-along chorus, its no surprise that All My Life is the instant tide-turner to a potentially bad Foo Fighters show. The song especially comes to life in the live setting, when Grohl sacrifices his throat in order to scream the final chorus like hes exorcising evil spirits within him. Even when youre a couple hundred feet away, you can still feel the velocity of Grohls vocals hit you right in the chest.

Theres nothing complicated about the Foo Fighters. Even if you want to dissect the chromatic guitar lines, offbeat lyrics, or time signature changes that the band occasionally throw into their songs, the truth is that immediate impact was always the name of the game. Trim the fat, get to the point, and connect with the audience. If were talking crowd-pleasers, few songs can match the uplifting joy of Learn to Fly.

Grohl is a naturally amicable and goofy guy, which is something that you could easily pick up on if youve seen the bands videos or ever heard the man speak a single sentence. Theres a radiant optimism about him, even when hes at his angriest. He doesnt always lean into it, but when he does, Grohl can be downright inspirational in his assessment that everything is going to be alright.

Real question: should Sesame Street have been given songwriting credits on The Pretender? Just how close is the chorus melody to One of These Things Is Not Like the Other? Grohl had a one year old daughter at the time of the songs recording, so it seems logical that some of that kiddie fare found its way onto the song. The main point here is that no rock star is cool enough to steal from Sesame Street and get away with it. No one except Grohl.

The Pretender is wonderfully dramatic and symphonic for a Foo Fighters track, and Grohl is equally game to deconstruct the unrelenting power of the band in order to sequence the song in a way that primes it for maximum impact. Catchy hooks and huge screams? Sign me up for that episode of Sesame Street.

How does everyone at a Foo Fighters concert know how to play Monkey Wrench? Its a tradition now for Grohl to pull someone out of the front row to sit in on the guitar during the song, but that belies just how difficult the song is. How do they keep finding literal children and guys in Kiss makeup to hit all those notes perfectly?

If I had to chalk it up to something, its probably that when you learn how to play drop D guitar, there are two songs you have to learn first: Everlong and Monkey Wrench. The latter is a relentless rocker that completely obliterates everything in its path and forces you to drop what your doing and just listen to it. Once Grohl goes into the climactic scream, its enough to give you goosebumps every time.

One conundrum about Nevermind is that most of the songs were written prior to Dave Grohls arrival in Nirvana. On demos made with Bleach drummer Chad Channing, the drum parts that would later be credited to Grohl are more or less already in place. The legendary hits on In Bloom were thought up by Channing, and Grohl simply recreated them.

But theres something unique that Grohl brings to the parts. Whether its power or accuracy or attitude, Grohl takes a good drum part and just elevates it to another level. This is also Grohls first appearance as a backing vocalist, meaning that this is one of the earliest appearances we get of Grohl proving he has what it takes to make it on his own.

The most chilling moment Ive ever experienced listening to a Foo Fighters song came when I was watching the bands Wembley Stadium performance in 2008. The rain is absolutely torrential, and the band are at the end of their setlist, completely drained of energy. But Grohl gives every last bit of himself over to the song and the crowd, almost completely losing his voice as the thousands of fans pick him up and sing along. By the end, hes in tears at the sheer magnitude of the reception.

Best of You just has that effect on people. All you could ever want from a Foo Fighters song is to shout along to Grohl when it comes to those massive vocal parts. Best of You is also technically the Foos biggest song commercially, landing them their highest chart position in America. But I dont care about that: I always go back to the Wembley performance. Its absolute magic, and its one of the few live performances that I would do anything to travel back in time to experience.

There was an elephant in the room that faced the Foo Fighters during their first tour. The bands debut wasnt even supposed to be a debut: it was just a way for Grohl to occupy himself while considering options for his future. When Foo Fighters became a full-fledged band, no one was sure whether Grohl could keep cranking out tunes, or whether the band would even survive the dingy clubs that were holding them.

My Hero represents the point of no return: Dave Grohl would keep writing great songs, the band would be able to survive, and there was a future. Even better, small clubs couldnt contain their music anymore. My Hero is made for a stadium sing along, and thats what it swiftly became once the Foos ascended to become one of the biggest rock bands in the world. With a song as anthemic as My Hero, it was impossible to look back.

The rest is here:
Dave Grohl's 50 greatest songs of all time - Far Out Magazine

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Zodiac signs and what gemstones would be good for them in 2022

Gemstones come in every color of the rainbowand are gathered from all corners of the world. Each gemstone is unique and hasspecial powers, birthplace and story. Gemstones are attractive pieces of stone that are prized for their beauty. Apart from their aesthetic value, gemstones have natural energetic properties that can be used in many different ways Gems carry mysterious powers, which can affect your physical health, wealth and emotional well beings. The effect of Gemstones depends on their Aura and their particular planetary rays based on their color, carat, clarity, cutting and the qualities.

Various people born in different zodiac sign are controlled by a particular planet which is guiding them. In Puranas, the uses of the 9 primary Gems have been mentioned. In Vedic astrology different gems are recommended for different zodiac signs as per the planets which rules them. Let's have a look at which gemstone will be best for each zodiac sign in the year 2022.

People born in Aries are ruled by Mars, so they must wear red coral they can also wear its alternative Carnelian Red Coral is a gemstone that has a meaning and properties of vitalizing life energy It is a symbol of modesty, wisdom, happiness and immortality. It is commonly known to remedy spasms of intestines, sleeplessness, and bladder stones.

People born in Taurus are ruled by Venus, so they must wear diamondcheaper alternatives of diamond include white sapphire, danburite, pheenakite, white topaz and white stones wearing a diamond is said to give happiness in the married life as well as magnetism and attractiveness to the wearer.

People born in Gemini are ruled by Mercury, so they must wear Emeraldthey can also wear its alternative Green tourmaline and peridot

Emerald increases intelligence, sharpness and makes the wearer quick witted. Mercury is a patron of Wit, art, creativity and knowledge and Emerald benefits people who want to receive all these qualities.

People born in Cancer are ruled by Moon, so they must wear pearl they can also wear its alternative moonstone. Pearl/Moti helps to attain peace, mental balance and reduces anger. It encourages love and compassion in ones life. It helps to bring harmony and peaceful atmosphere at home.

People born in Leo are ruled by Sun, so they must wear rubythey can also wear its alternative Red spinel , garnet , red tourmaline The Ruby gemstone imbibes most of these qualities from the Sun, making it strong and much-revered gemstone by all. An epitome of undying love, the naturally deep red Ruby stone inculcates the feelings of love, warmth, and compassion in the heart of its wearer.

People born in Virgo are ruled by Mercury, so they must wear Emeraldthey can also wear its alternative Green tourmaline and peridot Emerald is the astrological gemstone of Mercury, which corresponds to intellect, speech, memory, short travel, wisdom, and intuitive power.

People born in Libra are ruled by Venus, so they must wear diamond Cheaper alternatives of diamond include white sapphire, danburite, pheenakite, white topaz and white stones.A diamond is a symbol of enduring love because of their durability and longevity Diamond brings success and love in married life. By wearing diamond, you will find more cooperation from your spouse.

People born in Scorpio are ruled by Mars, so they must wear red coral they can also wear its alternative Carnelian. As per Indian Astrology, Coral also known Moonga is the Gemstone of Mars/ Mangal Mars is the planet of energy, vitality, blood circulation and ambition and the Red Coral is worn to boost the energy of Mars in the horoscope.

People born in Sagittarius are ruled by Jupiter, so they must wear Yellow sapphire.Cheaper alternatives of Yellow sapphire include Yellow topaz, beryl and citrine Yellow sapphirebrings wealth,status respect and prosperity to its wearer it also improves the functioning of mind, person becomes a better thinker and decision maker. It improves the mental power and is a good medicine for loss of Appetite, Indigestion, Leprosy and Piles.

People born in Capricorn are ruled by Saturn, so they must wear blue sapphireCheaper alternatives of Blue sapphireare Tanzanite and amethystBlue Sapphire or Neelam, bestows a strange pull to the wears. One who wears it gains control and influence over the people and gets status and wealth. This Gem gives RajyaSamman and Janta Prem. It is the gem which gives fame, honor, exceptional wealth and all round happiness. Some of the most successful and famous people are seen wearing this gem.

People born in Aquarius are ruled by Saturn, so they must wear blue sapphire Cheaper alternatives of Bluesapphire are Tanzanite and amethyst Blue Sapphire gives its wearer mental clarity and clears confusion and doubts. It also helps in improving focus and concentration.Blue sapphire blesses the wearer with name, fame, fortune, and money.

People born in Pisces are ruled by Jupiter, so they must wear yellow sapphire. Cheaper alternatives of Yellow sapphire include Yellow topaz, beryl and citrine Yellow Sapphire helps to achieve ambition in life in spite of different problems related to life.It gives successful marriages and happiness from marriage. It raises self-esteem and allows the wearer to move forward optimistically.

-With inputs fromMr. Pankaj Khanna, Chairman, Khanna Gems

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Zodiac signs and what gemstones would be good for them in 2022 - India TV News

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Books are the ultimate relaxing escape, whether you have the option to travel or not. If youre looking for a new recommendation to add to your shelf, weve got some info on the top books Aussies were reading in 2021.

Australias biggest online book store, Booktopia, has given us the inside track on what Aussies were searching for in bookland last year.

Lets start off with the top 10 most-searched books on the Booktopia site last year.

The list includes a few favourites, like Harry Potter, as well as some returning classics such as Dune, which no doubt benefitted from its big-screen adaptation.

All synopses are from Booktopia.

Harry Potter (series) by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. Then, on Harrys eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredible adventure is about to begin!

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

Lily hasnt always had it easy, but thats never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. Shes come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lilys life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. Hes also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily, but Ryles complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his no dating rule, she cant help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.

Atomic Habits by James Clear

People think when you want to change your life, you need to think big. But world-renowned habits expert James Clear has discovered another way. He knows that real change comes from the compound effect of hundreds of small decisions doing two push-ups a day, waking up five minutes early, or holding a single short phone call. He calls them atomic habits.

In this ground-breaking book, Clears reveals exactly how these minuscule changes can grow into such life-altering outcomes. He uncovers a handful of simple life hacks (the forgotten art of Habit Stacking, the unexpected power of the Two Minute Rule, or the trick to entering the Goldilocks Zone), and delves into cutting-edge psychology and neuroscience to explain why they matter. Along the way, he tells inspiring stories of Olympic gold medalists, leading CEOs, and distinguished scientists who have used the science of tiny habits to stay productive, motivated, and happy.

Duneby Frank Herbert

Melange, or spice, is the most valuable and rarest element in the universe; a drug that does everything from increasing a persons life-span to making intersteller travel possible. And it can only be found on a single planet: the inhospitable desert world Arrakis.

Whoever controls Arrakis controls the spice. And whoever controls the spice controls the universe. When the Emperor transfers stewardship of Arrakis from the noble House Harkonnen to House Atreides, the Harkonnens fight back, murdering Duke Leto Atreides.

Paul, his son, and Lady Jessica, his concubine, flee into the desert. On the point of death, they are rescued by a band for Fremen, the native people of Arrakis, who control Arrakis second great resource: the giant worms that burrow beneath the burning desert sands. In order to avenge his father and retake Arrakis from the Harkonnens, Paul must earn the trust of the Fremen and lead a tiny army against the innumerable forces aligned against them. And his journey will change the universe.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?

Summoned to Evelyns luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the 80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship and a great forbidden love.

Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyns story nears its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Moniques own in tragic and irreversible ways.

The Song of Achilles by Madeleine Miller

Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. Despite their differences, Achilles befriends the shamed prince, and as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine, their bond blossoms into something deeper despite the displeasure of Achilless mother Thetis, a cruel sea goddess. But when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, Achilles must go to war in distant Troy and fulfill his destiny. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus goes with him, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear.

Demon Slayer (book series) by Koyoharu Gotouge

In Taisho-era Japan, kindhearted Tanjiro Kamado makes a living selling charcoal. But his peaceful life is shattered when a demon slaughters his entire family. His little sister Nezuko is the only survivor, but she has been transformed into a demon herself! Tanjiro sets out on a dangerous journey to find a way to return his sister to normal and destroy the demon who ruined his life.

Shadow and Bone (book series) by Leigh Bardugo

Soldier. Summoner. Saint.

Follow Alina Starkov throughShadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, andRuin and Risingas she discovers her dormant powers and is swept up in a world of luxury and illusion. As Alina struggles to fit into her new life, a threat to the kingdom of Ravka growsone that will test old alliances and challenge the very limits of magic, one that will forge a leader from a frightened girl.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Between life and death there is a library. When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change.

The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things arent always what she imagined theyd be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger.

Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab

When Addie LaRue makes a pact with the devil, she trades her soul for immortality. But theres always a price the devil takes away her place in the world, cursing her to be forgotten by everyone.

Addie flees her tiny hometown in 18th Century France, beginning a journey that takes her across the world, learning to live a life where no one remembers her and everything she owns is lost and broken. Existing only as a muse for artists throughout history, she learns to fall in love anew every single day.

Her only companion on this journey is her dark devil with hypnotic green eyes, who visits her each year on the anniversary of their deal. Alone in the world, Addie has no choice but to confront him, to understand him, maybe to beat him.

Until one day, in a second hand bookshop in Manhattan, Addie meets someone who remembers her. Suddenly thrust back into a real, normal life, Addie realises she cant escape her fate forever.

Alongside those 2021 top books, we also have info on the most-searched authors last year. This is who topped the list:

If youre looking for a novel from a little closer to home, here are Booktopias top five most searched Australian books from 2021:

Did your favourite book make the list? If not you can shout out your top book for 2021 in Booktopias FAB award.

If this wasnt enough to inspire you to find a new read weve also got a list of the top-rated books to come out in 2021.

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These Are the Top Books Aussies Searched for in 2021, According to Booktopia - Lifehacker Australia