Good morning, it’s Monday.
I hope you’re somewhere cool – be it by a lake or riverbank, at the ocean, in the shady woods or mountains, or perhaps simply indoors in the air conditioning, with a tall, icy drink by your side.
It was hot this weekend, but it’s going to get steadily hotter, with temperatures reaching well into the 90s and perhaps even surpassing 100 degrees, depending on where in the state and/or country you’re located.
There’s has perhaps never been a better time than right this moment to celebrate National Hydration Day, which reminds us how important it is to take in enough fluids – preferably water – to ensure your body is able to operate as it should.
Overall, the human body is anywhere from 55 percent to 78 percent water. The high end is where infants land, but by the time they’re about one, that has dropped to 65 percent. Adult men have an H2O percentage of about 60 percent, and women, who tend to have more fat than men, are at about 55 percent.
Some organs have a higher percentage water makeup than others. The heart and brain and lungs, for example, are largely water. Ditto the muscles, skin and kidneys. Even bones, which seem otherwise fairly dry, are 33 percent water.
Water transports food – proteins and carbs, mainly – through the body in the bloodstream, and also helps usher waste materials out through the process of urination. What else is water good for, internally speaking?
- Helps regulate body temperature through breathing and sweating
- Acts as a shock absorber for babies in utero, as well as the brain and spinal cord
- Lubricates joins
- Forms saliva, which enables us to start breaking down the nutrients we consume.
In short, without water, we can’t survive for every long, and the same goes for petty much any other living thing. Even cacti need water – they’re drought-resistant, not drought-proof. A human being can only go for about 3 to 4 days without water, on average, depending on the environmental circumstances. (Extreme heat or cold can reduce survival time considerably; ditto age).
Dehydration, which occurs when the body loses more fluid than it takes in, is not good, as a rule, but also can have varying levels of severity, ranging from mild thirst, fatigue, muscle cramps, and loss of appetite to dizziness, confusion, fainting and eventually loss of consciousness. Being dehydrated can contribute to getting heat stroke, which is also life threatening.
If you’re thirsty, you’re probably already mildly dehydrated. The key is to drink BEFORE you get the urge. So how much should we be drinking on the daily? Well, the answer is: It depends. The “8 cups a day” rule is just a guideline and is not accurate for everyone.
According to the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, men should have about 15.5 cups (3.7 liters) of fluid a day, while it’s about 11.5 cups (2.7 liters) for women. But if it’s really hot out, or you’re exercising, or pregnant and breast feeding, that could change.
Too MUCH water can also be a bad thing, especially if you have heart problems or kidney disease. If you drink too much water, your kidneys have a hard time getting rid of it and the sodium in your blood gets diluted. There’s a technical term for this – hyponatremia – and it is deadly.
A good rule of thumb is to drink until your urine is light to pale yellow. But, I know, who has time to keep checking? Just keep on steadily sipping throughout the day and you should be OK. Drink something upon waking, because it has been a while without fluids while you slept.
Water isn’t the ONLY way to stay hydrated, but it is the gold standard. Even caffeinated drinks count, though they can also be dangerous, as do veggies and fruits with a high water content. Basically, drink what you can and when you can – not too much, and preferably stay away from highly sugared drinks.
Also, sorry, but alcohol doesn’t count. It’s a diuretic, causing you to pee more than normal, and hasten dehydration.
We already dispensed with the weather report, so let’s get down to business.
In the headlines…
President Donald Trump has thrust Iran, the Middle East, the United States and his own presidency across a fateful threshold by attacking Tehran’s nuclear program.
U.S. forces struck three Iranian nuclear sites, and reactions from around the world ranged from Israel lauding Trump’s decision, to the U.N. calling for de-escalation and Iran and some other nations condemning the attacks.
On Truth Social, Trump wrote: “This is an HISTORIC MOMENT FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ISRAEL, AND THE WORLD. IRAN MUST NOW AGREE TO END THIS WAR. THANK YOU!”
A day after U.S. bombers and submarines unleashed heavy strikes on a trio of Iranian nuclear facilities, the actual state of Tehran’s nuclear program remained unclear.
After Trump declared that Iran’s nuclear program had been “completely and totally obliterated” by American bunker-busting bombs and a barrage of missiles, senior officials conceded they did not know the fate of Iran’s stockpile of near-bomb-grade uranium.
When Israel began its assault on Iran, Trump kept his distance. But within days he was on a path that led to an extensive bombing mission aided by political and military ruses.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that it’s “irrelevant’’ whether the US had intelligence that Iran was actively pursuing a nuclear weapon before bombing it.
Moscow warned that several nations are prepared to supply Tehran with nuclear weapons, as Russia and China condemned America’s attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The Department of Homeland Security issued a terrorism alert yesterday, warning of possible Iranian attacks against the US following the American airstrikes against Tehran’s nuclear program.
The bombs dropping on Iran had ripple effect all the way to New York City, where on Saturday the NYPD stepped up security. They are coordinating with Federal partners to monitor intelligence regarding any threats.
“We’re tracking the situation unfolding in Iran,” the NYPD said in a post on X. “Out of an abundance of caution, we’re deploying additional resources to religious, cultural and diplomatic sites across NYC and coordinating with our federal partners.”
“We are not aware of any specific or credible threat to New Yorkers. However, given New York’s distinctive global profile, we are taking this situation extraordinarily seriously,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said. “All State agencies, utilities and other critical infrastructure facilities are on high alert.”
Hochul has done “nothing” to evacuate New Yorkers stranded in Israel as missiles from Iran rain down on the country — while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has helped get hundreds of people to safety, angry families said.
Vice President JD Vance said during a Los Angeles stop that Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass had encouraged protesters to engage in violence. He also criticized Senator Alex Padilla and called him by the wrong name.
A relentless and intensifying heat wave is expanding across the central and eastern United States this week, bringing well-above-average heat to millions of people from the Midwest to the East Coast and prompting health advisories across several states.
Hochul yesterday declared a state of emergency for the Big Apple and much of the rest of New York thanks to a suffocating heatwave set to shatter 125-year-old records.
Hochul has declared a State of Emergency in 32 counties across New York as the state grapples with the aftermath of severe overnight thunderstorms and braces for a multi-day heatwave with dangerously high temperatures.
Three people, including two children, in Central New York died yesterday after severe storms lashed the region with heavy rains and powerful winds that washed out roadways, toppled trees and damaged homes, the authorities said.
Whatever her other efforts to undo New York state’s worst criminal-justice moves of recent years, Hochul doesn’t seem to be trying to clean up the pro-criminal Parole Board.
The New York Independent System Operator, the North Greenbush entity that oversees the state’s wholesale electrical market and high-voltage transmission system, says New York should have enough power to weather the current heat wave.
When the legislative session ended last week, the state Assembly had not voted on any of the signature bills that sought to curtail New Yorkers’ use of fossil fuels and plastics, nor the use of sewage sludge as fertilizer.
Hochul has announced $10 million to expand access to food for all New Yorkers.
After homicides behind bars and strikes by guards at state prisons, Hochul made changes to New York’s budget. That did not satisfy prisoners’ advocates.
The New York State Writers Institute announced Min Jin Lee, author of “Pachinko,” and Kimiko Hahn, the multi-prize-winning poet, will be the next State Author and State Poet, respectively.
Former President Bill Clinton offered a last-minute boost of support for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo by endorsing him in the New York City mayor’s race yesterday, the last day of early voting.
Influential longtime Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) threw his support behind Cuomo ahead of the Democratic primary for New York City mayor, adding another prominent name to the former governor’s list of supporters.
While nearly 350,000 New Yorkers had already cast ballots in early voting, attacks flew on the final weekend of campaigning before Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
The 102 degree scorcher expected for Tuesday’s primaries is likely to help far lefties like Mamdani while hurting Cuomo, the frontrunner to win the Democratic mayoral nomination who is appealing to more moderate voters, political pundits said.
Cuomo said he had planned to vote early but now will cast his ballot tomorrow to encourage more New Yorkers to do the same. “I think it’s more important now to promote ‘vote on Election Day even if it’s 100 degrees,’” he said.
Mamdani once voiced his “love” for the five leaders of a notorious nonprofit convicted of funneling more than $12 million to the terror group Hamas.
Mamdani once pushed to abolish the city’s admissions test for Gotham’s elite public high schools because he thought it was racist.
Whoever wins the primary, both candidates will likely be on the ballot again in November with Mamdani presumably picking up the WFP line or Cuomo continuing to run on his own Fight and Deliver line.
The former governor of New York resigned less than four years ago. Now he’s back, along with many of the same aggressive tactics that almost destroyed him.
Cuomo’s Dodge Charger was caught on camera speeding in school zones in Brooklyn on April 27 and May 2, after being socked with two speeding tickets a minute apart March 28 while flying northbound stretch of the West Side Highway in Lower Manhattan.
On the last Saturday before Democratic voters pick their standard-bearer in the New York City mayor’s race, Cuomo stood with the mother of a teenager murdered with knives and machetes in a 2018 act of violence that shocked the city.
Mamdani blasted the US bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites as an “unconstitutional military action” — as other top primary contenders called Trump reckless for greenlighting the military action.
As his New York City mayoral candidacy surges, Mamdani has come under fire for his defiant stance against Israel, which critics say crosses into antisemitism.
Voters are disappointed by the Cuomo-Mamdani race, but the result will resonate far beyond the Big Apple.
Ahead of the June 24 primary, The New York Times analyzed the closing campaign speeches of the four leading Democrats running for mayor.
The city’s ranked choice voting system has become a key piece of the campaign for mayor, with Mamdani and other candidates building alliances against Cuomo.
New York City mayoral candidate Brad Lander urged Democrats not to elect “sociopathic” Cuomo.
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams once again declined to voice support for a coalition of left-leaning candidates during a Saturday speech at Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network headquarters in Harlem.
Adams, the City Council’s first Black speaker, has rejected pressure to cross-endorse Mamdani, renewing battle lines between some Black Democrats and progressives.
Mayor Adams hosted a kickoff event for his reelection campaign this coming week — and an aide in his office violated city rules by using his government email account to advertise the gathering.
Adams announced his administration will not “at this time” shift the city government’s retired workforce into a cost-cutting Medicare Advantage plan — a move that comes after a recent win that followed years fighting in court to enact the program.
Local lawmakers have criticized the mayor in recent weeks for failing to make good on a promise to install hundreds of secure bike parking lockers across the five boroughs.
Even as most of New York City’s political attention is focused on the Democratic mayoral primary, this year’s races for City Council have also drawn widespread interest and money.
Pro-Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil was released from detention Friday evening, ending more than three months of custody in a test of the executive branch’s power to unilaterally act against legal U.S. residents.
The Palestinian activist arrived in Newark, New Jersey, Saturday afternoon. He was seen embracing his wife and pushing the stroller of his newborn son after reuniting in a private area of the airport.
Khalil said he plans to continue his pro-Palestinian advocacy and bashed the US government upon landing in New Jersey Saturday on his way home to New York City after being held in a Louisiana detention facility for three months.
In his first major public speech since U.S. immigration agents arrested him in March, Khalil thanked his supporters and reminded the public about the ongoing war in Gaza.
“All the ‘Know Your Rights’ information and fliers I read and familiarized myself with were useless,” Khalil said. “There are no rights in such situations…It felt like kidnapping.”
The MTA plans to make life better for A and L train riders later this year by adding service to the busy subway lines, according to documents published Friday.
New York City food banks aren’t sure how they will survive the Trump administration’s funding cuts, which could also affect the programs they turn to for help.
The 43rd annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade — the nation’s largest art parade — welcomed revelers close from the Big Apple to around the world, many donning over-the-top aquatically-themed costumes for the tropical festivities.
The herculean effort to rescue a Canadian hiker in the Adirondacks was impeded because forest rangers were unable to use access roads rendered impassible due to the state DEC wilderness-restoration policies, according to two rangers who led the search.
The Big Apple’s largest municipal union is blasting city officials for sliding 82 firefighter trainees into EMT jobs — blowing past hiring lists and allegedly leaving certified candidates in the dust.
New York marked one year since launching its state Mobile ID (MiD) service on June 16, with state officials touting the app-based identification option as a secure and convenient alternative to hand-held state-issued identification cards.
A more than decade-long grassroots effort to bring more wholesome foods to downtown Schenectady through a community-owned grocery store got a major financial boost last week in the form of a $2.1 million grant from the state.
A proposed ordinance that will prohibit camping “on certain public property” is getting pushback from Saratoga Springs residents who say the move criminalizes the city’s homeless people rather than solving the problem by building them a permanent shelter.
Albany County is on the brink of signing an agreement with the Albany Convention Center Authority that would achieve two goals: expanding the Albany Capital Center and securing more funding for the county’s economic development arm.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
