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Thursday, February 01, 2007

Speedlinking 2/1/07

Quote of the day:

"We cannot really love anybody with whom we never laugh."
~ Agnes Repplier

Image of the day:

BODY
~ Most Comprehensive-Ever Survey Of Flavonoids In U. S. Foods -- "The U. S. Department of Agriculture's James M. Harnly and colleagues are unveiling new flavonoid data collected from the first systematic sampling of foods designed specifically to characterize flavonoids."
~ Concorde Grape Juice Has Heart-health Benefits Like Red Wine -- "A laboratory study, just published in the January 2007 issue of Cardiovascular Research, Concord grape juice worked in a similar fashion to red wine to promote healthy arterial function."
~ Exercise Does Not Increase Risk of Knee Osteoarthritis -- This is good news.
~ Major Link In Brain-Obesity Puzzle Found -- "A single protein in brain cells may act as a linchpin in the body's weight-regulating system, playing a key role in the flurry of signals that govern fat storage, sugar use, energy balance and weight, University of Michigan Medical School researchers report."
~ 100 Percent Juices Found As Beneficial To Health As Fruits And Vegetables -- "When it comes to some of today's health issues, 100 percent fruit and vegetable juices do help reduce risk factors related to certain diseases.This conclusion is the result of a European study designed to question traditional thinking that 100 percent juices play a less significant role in reducing risk for both cancer and cardiovascular disease than whole fruits and vegetables."
~ Oils in bath products may enlarge boys' breasts -- "Lavender and tea tree oils found in some shampoos, soaps and lotions can temporarily leave boys with enlarged breasts in rare cases, apparently by disrupting their hormonal balance, a preliminary study suggests."
~ A Virtual Map to the Root of Diabetes and Other Metabolic Disease -- "Researchers have developed a "global human metabolic network" that could pave the way for new treatments aimed at disorders like diabetes and high cholesterol."


PSYCHE
~ Left-handers 'think' more quickly -- "Connections between the left and right hand sides or hemispheres of the brain are faster in left-handed people, a study in Neuropsychology shows."
~ How the brain tells time (without a wrist watch that is) -- "A team of researchers from UCLA has created a model of how the brain could potentially tell time and has also tested a part of the model on human subjects."
~ Top 10 Things You Should Know About Antidepressants -- "Antidepressants are prescription drugs used to treat depression and a variety of other psychological conditions such as anxiety, panic, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Some depression drugs are also used to treat medical conditions (e.g. some tricyclic antidepressants are given for chronic pain).Here is a list of helpful information about antidepressants (not in order of importance)."
~ Why Can't You Tickle Yourself? -- "Scientific American has a "Ask the Expert" series, and someone asked why it was impossible to tickle yourself."
~ New Study Is First To Link Romantic Relationships To Genes -- "New research suggests that choosing a mate may be partially determined by your genes. A study published in Psychological Science has found a link between a set of genes involved with immune function and partner selection in humans.Vertebrate species and humans are inclined to prefer mates who have dissimilar MHC (major histocompatibility complex) genotypes, rather than similar ones." Awww, how romantic!
~ Autism's So-Called Epidemic -- "The rise in cases may be due to better diagnostic skills." Wow, an astute sense of the obvious.
~ New Center for Spirituality and the Mind at University of Pennsylvania.


CULTURE
~ Can The Severely Mentally Ill Thrive Within The Community? -- "With $2.5 million in new support from the National Institute of Mental Health, researchers from the Regenstrief Institute, Inc., Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and Adult and Child Mental Health Center, Inc. are evaluating the effectiveness of Assertive Community Treatment."
~ Biden Unbound: Lays Into Clinton, Obama, Edwards -- "To hear him tell it, Hillary Clinton’s position is calibrated, confusing and “a very bad idea.” John Edwards doesn’t know what he’s talking about and is pushing a recipe for Armageddon in the Middle East. Barack Obama is offering charming but insubstantial fluff."
~ Then there's the whole "racist" statement from Big Joe: Biden says Obama is first 'bright and clean' African-American candidate.
~ Molly Ivins: 1944-2007 -- " Molly Ivins passed away this afternoon at her home. We send our condolences to family and friends, and a whole lot of love to Molly. We had planned on posting this in the morning, as a love note to her, before we learned of her passing, but it seems so appropriate a tribute to her kick ass spirit to post her own feisty words this evening."
~ Democracy-building is failing in Iraq. But it could work in Iran -- "In his book The Persian Puzzle, Kenneth Pollack aptly frames the problem of Iran as a "race between two clocks." One clock counts down the time until Iran enriches enough uranium to build a nuclear weapon. The other ticks off the hours remaining for its corrupt and dysfunctional clerical regime."
~ Is the Terror Threat Overhyped? -- "On Sunday the Los Angeles Times ran a piece by John Hopkins professor and New Republic contributing editor David Bell. It has generated a fair amount of controversy these past few days."
~ 1,500 Volunteers to Build 6 Playgrounds in One Day at New Orleans Schools. Cool.
~ Al Franken Will Run For The Senate -- Good luck with that.


HABITATS
~ Value-Based Insurance Design: Fiscally Responsible, Clinically Sensitive Approach To Making The Most Of Health Dollars -- "Like a one-size-fits-all shirt that doesn't fit anyone very well, American health insurance plans charge every person the same out of pocket cost for medical services - regardless of their effect on a person's health.So, whether your visit to the doctor is for life-threatening cancer, or just the common cold or a sprained ankle, you'll pay the same co-pay or deductible."
~ Air pollution 'raises risk of heart disease' -- "Air pollution might help cause heart disease and strokes in older women, United States researchers reported on Wednesday."
~ An Estimated Quarter Of Uninsured U.S. Residents Are Eligible But Not Enrolled In Public Health Insurance Programs -- "About one-quarter of the approximately 46 million uninsured U.S. residents qualify for government-funded health care programs but are not enrolled, the AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. Some people are unaware that they qualify for public programs, while others might have difficulty with long, complex enrollment forms or face delays in participation approval."
~ Investment in Clean Energy Surged 167% in 2006 -- "Venture capital and private investments in clean energy companies saw a huge leap in 2006, increasing by 167% from $2.7 billion to $7.1 billion."
~ Tales of the Self-Sufficient City -- "Somewhere at the intersection of New Urbanism, DIY culture, and the resurgence of gardening for self-sustenance, an active and growing community of artist-maker-activists is redefining urban survivalism."
~ Jeff Christian and the Zero-Energy House -- "Jeff Christian directs the Buildings Technology Center at the Oak Ridge National Labs. Over the last four years he has conducted research on five prototype houses that cost between 60 cents and one dollar a day in energy costs to operate."


INTEGRAL/BUDDHIST
~ From Sean at Deep Surface: Matrix Revolutions revisited.
~ In case you missed it: Announcement: 2nd Annual Blogisattva Awards Nominees.
~ Nonviolence and the Dharma -- From Al at Pursuit of Mysteries.
~ The Buddhist Geeks are on a roll: The Rise of the Technosattva. Part 1.
~ Even if you don't read the interesting post, go look at the pretty pictures: Second Life, weather magic, and other unlikely things.
~ From ebuddha: 60% of Integral Practice mystery solved!


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