Speedlinking 10/19/06

Morning image is from National Geographic: a new species of orchid found in Papua New Guinea:

And with that, the linkage begins . . . .

BODY
~ When trying to lose weight, Collegiate Women Prefer Diets; Men Prefer Exercise. Too bad it's not an either/or kind of thing.
~ iVillage offers a bunch of health calculators.
~ Hormone supplements no fountain of youth: DHEA supplements, testosterone patches didn't help older people in study. [I probably don't qualify as older, but I use a bunch of pro-testosterone supplements that definite work -- so maybe they were using the wrong stuff.]
~ A New Look For Older Brains: Special new training methods can enable older adults to operate with the visual processing speed and accuracy of someone decades younger, according to researchers from Posit Science.
~ Personalized Medicine Promises Tailor-Made Diagnoses, Treatments. The future of medicine is based in genomic research and tailor-made treatments based on each person's unique genetics. Strangely enough, Katherine Turner of Dating God has posted her study notes on this very topic.


PSYCHE
~ Positive emotions linked to lower blood pressure.
~ Internet Addiction May Affect One In Eight In USA. Some of the behaviors they looked at as signaling addiction is hiding internet use from one's partner, using the internet to alter mood, and complusive use of the internet.
~ Stuart Davis has been infiltrated by crows. He has decided that this signals a new creative burst -- I could have told him that. I've experienced exactly what he is experiencing -- its spooky and exciting. And I'll be curious to see if he follows up on this -- my own experience suggests that an invasion of crows into one's pysche signals the emergence of a "shadow guide" in the psyche.
~ Kira explores Radical Self-Care at her blog.

CULTURE
~ Social Support Improves Mental Health After A Traumatic Health Care Intervention.
~ Thawing the ‘Frozen Chosen’: Scholar Diana Butler Bass discovers lively, creative churches exploring spirituality in new ways.
~ What makes movie sex dirty? The LA Weekly takes a look at sterotypes of sexual expression in Hollywood movies and what that says about our feelings around sexuality.
~ The current crop of 18-24 year olds, according to the Pew Research center data, is the most Democratic leaning group in the population.
~ Will at thinkBuddha posts on the recent mass conversions of thousands of Dalits – low-caste members – from Hinduism to Buddhism.
~ Michel Bauwens of P2P Foundation posts on The shift towards postmaterial value systems.

HABITATS
~ Sound Transit: Almost any sound you can think of has been recorded by someone and this site is trying to gather them all into one location.
~ Global Positioning Tech Inspires Do-It-Yourself Mapping Project.
~ Edward Berge at Open Integral passes along a VOTER ALERT!!! This is another warning about the flaws in the electronic voting system. If you have the option, vote by mail.

And with that, the lid is on.

Tags: election fraud, DIY mapping, sounds, postmaterial values systems, Buddhist conversions, young democrats, movie sex, Christianity, mental health, crows, internet addiction, positive emotions, Radical Self-Care, genetic medicine, older brains, hormone supplements, health calculators, weight loss, speedlinking