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Joel Katz

Radon Action Month: 1 in 10 Jersey Homes Has Elevated Levels

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Author Joel Katz
Screen indicating radon level on Airthings View Plus air quality monitor.

January is National Radon Action Month. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the country.

Even though we don’t have a basement, we still have a radon detector. Many think that you can’t have radon if you don’t have a basement. The truth is that any home can have radon, even those without basements.

One of my neighbors posted this scary comment on our neighborhood Facebook page, “Hi neighbors, we just had radon sensor installed in the basement (we have walk out basement) and it is reading high! Would you be kind enough to share companies used for remediation and more importantly if it works?”

Another scary fact is that you can be exposed to radon for years without knowing it until the negative health effects begin. One of those effects is an increased risk of lung cancer.

According to the American Lung Association elevated levels of cancer-causing radon gas are detected in about 1 in 10 of New Jersey homes. 

The ALA says that radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States and the latest American Lung Association “State of Lung Cancer” report reveals that in New Jersey 9.8%% of radon test results equal or exceed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) action level of picocuries per liter (4 pCi/L). This is how radon is measured.

This month the Lung Association in New Jersey strongly urges all residents to test their home for radon and take immediate steps to mitigate the threat if high levels are found.

What is Radon?

Radon is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless naturally occurring radioactive gas emitted from the ground. Radon can enter a home through cracks in floors, basement walls, foundations, and other openings. Radon can be present at high levels inside homes, schools, and other buildings.

Radon is responsible for almost 21,000 lung cancer deaths every year and is the leading cause of lung cancer in people who have never smoked.

Kevin Stewart, Director of Environmental Health at the American Lung Association shared, “Radon levels appear at dangerous levels in too many homes. High levels of radioactive radon gas have been found in every state, but too few proactively work to protect their homes and families from the potentially devastating effects of exposure. Testing is the only way to know if your home is safe. The bright spot is that testing is easy, affordable, and readily available at home improvement stores and through trusted online services.”

I bought my radon detector for less than 100 bucks. I also have carbon monoxide and smoke detectors throughout our house.

Free Radon Test Kits

As a part of a partnership with Protect Environmental, the American Lung Association is offering free radon test kits in select areas.

The only way to detect radon in your home is with a radon test. Do-it-yourself test kits are easy to use.

Radon levels are elevated in as many as 1 in 3 homes. For this reason, you should not only test any home you own but it’s highly recommended that you always test when purchasing a home. 

The goal is to lower the radon level in your home to the lowest possible level. There are certified mitigation professionals throughout the state and country. Some state programs offer financial assistance for radon mitigation. 

To learn more about radon testing and mitigation, visit Lung.org/radon. You can also take the Lung Association’s free Radon Basics course at Lung.org/radon-basics.

Joel Katz is the Morning Show Personality, Assistant Program Director, Podcast Host, Voiceover artist, audio producer, and Digital Content Writer for Magic 98.3. Joel has been working in New Jersey radio since college and started at Magic in 2002 as the Morning Show Host, “I can’t think of another place where I’d fit more perfectly; it’s just a great company with awesome people.” Joel is married to Kathleen, his elementary school sweetheart (they were each other’s first dates at age 9), shares a birthday with his oldest son, Ty, and has twins, Kiera and Liam. Joel runs at least 3.1 miles every day and enjoys playing basketball, doing laundry, saving his turn signal for when he really needs it, kissing dogs through a fence, using coasters, making that cool noise by rubbing his fingers on balloons, and chasing after ping pong balls on a windy cruise ship.

 

 

8 Breakup Songs for When You’re Angry, Sad or Thankful  

Going through a breakup is hard. Not only are you mending a broken heart, but you also have to dodge questions from family and friends about what happened—and chances are, you’ll end up crying (or cussing). If you don’t want to be a blubbering mess when that happens, take some time to pour out your emotions when you’re alone. That way, when you can’t avoid them anymore, you’ll at least be in control of your feelings and able to explain things rationally.  

Why You Should Listen to Breakup Songs  

Aside from helping you process your emotions, there are other different reasons why you should listen to breakup songs when you’re experiencing one.  

1. Emotional validation: Listening to breakup songs validates what you’re feeling. You won’t feel like you’re being too overly dramatic when you hear songs singing about how your pain is real and justified. When your feelings are all over the place, a good sad song that would probably make you “ugly cry” will make you feel like the world (or at least, the singer) gets it.  

2. Music = therapy: If you don’t have the money to get professional help in dealing with your pain, music can also be a sort of therapy. According to Cleveland Clinic, “Music therapy helps people of all ages (children, adolescents and adults) and from all walks of life. It may benefit many different aspects of your well-being, including: Cognitive, Mental, Emotional, Physical, and Social.”

Try listening to and singing along with The All-American Rejects’ “Gives You Hell” chorus: “When you see my face, hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell / When you walk my way, hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell / If you find a man that’s worth a damn and treats you well / Then he’s a fool, you’re just as well, hope it gives you hell / I hope it gives you hell,’ and see if it gives you a cathartic experience afterward.”

 The All-American Rejects – Gives You Hell

3. It helps you get over your hundred what-ifs: With every breakup comes the barrage of what-ifs: “What if they’re just waiting for my DM?” or “What if I stood outside their window with a boom box?” or “What if I made them a mix tape?” Listening to breakup songs will make you realize that you did your best, but maybe the best thing to do now is to move on.   

4. Music is the perfect distraction: Music is a great way to momentarily forget how you need to put their things in a box, burn their letters, and update your Facebook status. As much as you know you need to move on, sometimes you just need a good distraction, and listening to angry breakup songs will make you forget about your ex, who is too cheap to pay for their own Netflix.   

So, if you’re going through a breakup, we have a list of songs for when you’re angry, sad, or, in rare times, grateful for a relationship to end.   

  • For When You're Angry

  • “Before He Cheats” – Carrie Underwood

    Carrie Underwood – Before He Cheats  

    When you’re ready to rage, Underwood’s revenge song is a classic. A song from her debut album, “Before He Cheats,” is her largest-selling single. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Underwood said she was also cheated on before but “wouldn’t recommend doing any property damage.” She added, “I’m a ‘let it go, move on’ kind of person.”  

    It’s the perfect angry breakup song for you if your ex loves their ride so much. Belt out the chorus if you can’t key their car without getting caught. “I dug my key into the side/Of his pretty little souped-up four-wheel drive/Carved my name into his leather seats/I took a Louisville Slugger to both headlights/Slashed a hole in all four tires/Maybe next time, he’ll think before he cheats”  

  • “Irreplaceable” – Beyoncé

    Beyoncé – Irreplaceable  

    When you know (and all your friends know) you are way out of their league. Beyoncé’s “Irreplaceable” should be your phone’s ringtone to remind you how unimportant your ex really is. In an interview with Larry King, Beyoncé said, “We can’t forget our power and our worth. And sometimes you’re so in love, you forget that. And sometimes you feel like you’re not being appreciated. And sometimes they forget that they can be replaced.”  

    The song became the most successful track in Beyoncé’s 2006 B’Day album. Critics have called it “maddeningly hook-y” especially the chorus: “You must not know ’bout me/You must not know ’bout me/I can have another you by tomorrow/So don’t you ever for a second get to thinking/You’re irreplaceable.”  

  • “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” – Taylor Swift

    Taylor Swift – We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together  

     Of course, a list of breakup songs will not be complete without an entry from Taylor Swift. She has numerous breakup songs, but for now, we’ll go with her “good riddance” song, which rumor has it was about Jake Gyllenhaal.   

    Swift, per ABC News, described writing the song as “one of the most hilarious experiences I have ever had in the studio.” A friend of her ex’s came while she was in the studio and asked her if the rumors about them getting back together were true. Her collaborators, Max Martin and Shellback, then asked her about the real score. She told them, “The story of break up, get back together, break up, get back together—just, ugh, the worst” which led to the song’s chorus: “We are never, ever, ever getting back together/We are never, ever, ever getting back together/You go talk to your friends, talk to my friends, talk to me/But we are never, ever, ever, ever getting back together/Like, ever”  

  • “Shoutout to My Ex” - Little Mix

    Little Mix – Shout Out to My Ex  

    “Shoutout to My Ex” is one of Little Mix’s most commercially successful songs. We’re guessing a lot of people felt cathartic after singing, “Shout out to my ex, you’re really quite the man/You made my heart break and that made me who I am/Here’s to my ex, hey, look at me now/Well, I, I’m all the way up, I swear you’ll never bring me down.”  

    The song was co-written by all four members, Jesy Nelson, Jade Thirwall, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Perrie Edwards. However, the song seemed to reference Edwards and Zayn Malik’s breakup, especially when the original NSFW lyrics were released per Teen Vogue: “Heard he been f—ing some model chick/yeah that s— hurt, I’ll admit/but f— that boy, I’m over it,” with the “model chick” about Gigi Hadid, Malik’s girlfriend at the time.  

  • For When You're Sad

  • “Someone Like You” - Adele

    Adele – Someone Like You  

    This one’s for you when you feel your heart has been ripped apart. Adele’s heartache-filled ballad plus her soulful rendition will feel like she specifically wrote the lyrics for you. From her second album, 21, “Someone Like You” became a global success. The song became her first number-one song in the UK, and her second number-one in the US making her the first British female to have two Billboard Hot 100 number-ones from the same album (the other song being “Rolling in the Deep”)  

    Sing with Adele as she pours her out after the end of her relationship with her ex-partner: “Never mind, I’ll find someone like you/I wish nothing but the best for you, too/Don’t forget me, I beg/I remember you said/Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead”  

  • Crying Over You – Honne

    Crying Over You ◐ (feat. RM & BEKA) 

    HONNE is a British duo formed in 2014 consisting of Andy Clutterbuck (singer, producer) and James Hatcher (producer). The song “Crying Over You” was included in their 2018 album, Love Me/Love Me Not. In 2019, they re-released the song with an additional verse featuring RM of BTS: “Now I don’t like a cliché/But I’m reading from the same book all over again/All different covers, all different colors/They’re never the same/But they always make me cry in the end/We thought we gave each other a whole world/But it turns out we that didn’t know such a thing/Guess life’s like this, shit happens/And we look for the magic/But good things always come to an end, an end/Ya know?”  

    The song’s meaning about questioning why the relationship ended didn’t change, even with the addition of RM’s rap verse, so that version is the one we’ll include here. (We love Namjoonie!)  

  • "Let Her Go" – Passenger

    Passenger – Let Her Go (Feat. Ed Sheeran – Anniversary Edition)  

    For when you realize too late what you had, and now the sadness is hitting you like a freight train going at full speed. Passenger’s “Let Her Go” captures the regrets we often feel after ending a relationship, especially when it ended because one person failed to appreciate the other: “Only know you love her when you let her go/Only know you’ve been high when you’re feeling low/Only hate the road when you’re missing home/Only know you love her when you let her go”  

    The song’s verses describe detailed situations we all experience when we miss someone, like seeing them when we close our eyes or staring at the ceiling—or the bottom of a glass. 

    Passenger re-released the song last year featuring Ed Sheeran.  

  • For When You're Thankful (Yes, It's Possible!)

  • “Thank U, Next” – Ariana Grande

    “Thank U, Next” is Ariana Grande’s song to her exes—Big Sean, Ricky Alvarez, Pete Davidson, and the late Mac Miller. Perhaps she could release version 2.0 of the song, adding Dalton Gomez, her ex-husband. She’s currently dating Ethan Slater, her Wicked co-star. The two allegedly started dating while working on the movie, and while still married to other people.   

    Upon release, the song was critically and commercially successful. Critics loved its positive message which is rare for a breakup song: “One taught me love/One taught me patience/And one taught me pain/Now, I’m so amazing/Say I’ve loved, and I’ve lost/But that’s not what I see/So, look what I got/Look what you taught me”  

    Since the song is NSFW, just click here to watch the video.  

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