Speedlinking 3/14/07

Quote of the day:

"About the most originality that any writer can hope to achieve honestly is to steal with good judgment."
~ Josh Billings

Image of the day:


BODY
~ Potential Link Between Obesity And Environmental Chemicals -- "A team of researchers at the University of New Hampshire is investigating whether the increasing ubiquity of chemical flame retardants found in foam furniture, carpeting, microwaves and computers might be related to the climbing rate of obesity in the United States." Great -- another thing to worry about.
~ How To Build Strong Bones & Prevent Osteoporosis - American Council On Exercise Offers Three Moves To Care For Your Bones -- "Bone-loading exercise and a balanced diet are essential for preventing osteoporosis. To take care of your bones now so they stay strong enough to carry you through a lifetime of health and activity, the American Council on Exercise (ACE), America's Authority on Fitness, offers three exercises to add to your training regimen to start building stronger bones today."
~ Red Pepper: Hot Stuff For Fighting Fat? -- "Food scientists in Taiwan are reporting new evidence from laboratory experiments that capsaicin - the natural compound that gives red pepper that spicy hot kick - can reduce the growth of fat cells."
~ GMO corn causes liver, kidney problems in rats: study -- "Environmental group Greenpeace launched a fresh attack on genetically modified maize developed by U.S. biotech giant Monsanto, saying on Tuesday that rats fed on one version developed liver and kidney problems."
~ Study: Quick walks may help smokers quit (AP) -- "As little as five minutes of exercise could help smokers quit, says a new study. Research published in the international medical journal Addiction showed that moderate exercise, such as walking, significantly reduced the intensity of smokers' nicotine withdrawal symptoms." Strange -- that walk to the store never helped me when I was quitting.
~ Sports Performance Peaks at 11 PM -- "Swimmers in a controlled trial gave their best times just before midnight." It's hard to perform well when I'm sleeping.
~ Teens’ diets may lead to weight gain -- "Teens who go on diets to drop some pounds are more likely to skip breakfast and binge eat, which may at least partly explain why they put on more weight over time than their peers who don't diet, a new study shows."
~ Eating Chocolate May be More Important to Your Health Than Penicillin -- "Based on the observations of one Harvard scientist, you may be surprised to learn consuming chocolate may be far more important than anyone imagined to human health."


PSYCHE
~ Health Tip: Building Your Child's Self-Esteem (HealthDay) -- "Proper self-esteem can help your children make healthier decisions and avoid negative pressures. Children with good self-esteem also have an easier time dealing with problems and conflicts, the Nemours Foundation says."
~ One-Parent Households Double Risk Of Childhood Sexual Abuse -- "Adult men who grew up in one-parent households are more likely to have been abused as children, according to a study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine."
~ Study Shows That Disappointment Has More Impact Than Unexpected Enjoyment -- "Wonder why half of all marriages end in divorce? According to a new study from the Journal of Consumer Research, we are more likely to pay attention to disappointment than to the ways in which our experiences exceed our expectations."Affective misforecasting" is the difference between the way we think we'll feel and the way we actually do."
~ Omega-3 may be good for your mood -- "Having salmon for dinner is not just good for your heart, it may also improve your disposition, according to a University of Pittsburgh study. It found that omega-3 fatty acids, which are plentiful in fatty fish like salmon, seem to affect areas of the brain associated with emotion."
~ Secondary Post-Traumatic Stress Causes Compassion Fatigue -- "For the men and women who work as care providers to our returning war veterans, workplace stress can be damaging on an entirely different level. According to the current edition of Newsweek, the Department of Veteran's Affairs has been working to combat the problem of what they call "provider fatigue," but others have come to call Compassion Fatigue."
~ Taking the Pressure Off -- "Stress can erupt and overwhelm you -- and it's as much from your own self as from the world around you! Eight ways to reduce stress and enjoy life more."
~ Forgiveness, an empowering gift -- "By making the decision to forgive it helps improve relationships and encourages you to be gentle with yourself."
~ Sleep disorders can impair children's IQs as much as lead exposure -- I should be dumb as a rock.


CULTURE
~ Baby Talk: Silly Sounds That Carry Real Impact -- "If you've ever felt silly cooing "baby talk" to your infant, relax. New research suggests you're giving your child just what he or she needs to begin developing language skills and to bond with you, with every "goo-goo, ga-ga" you utter." Old info, but worth repeating.
~ Venn Diagram: Politics + Stupidity + Religion -- Be sure to read the fine essay that accompanies the graphic.
~ Laughter as a Survival Instinct -- "While people often see their laughter as the proper product of a well-told joke or amusing situation, researchers indicate that the process evolved as a means of affirming communal bonds and ensuring one's survival."
~ How aesthetics inform our everyday judgments -- "Voters do it. Job recruiters do it. Consumers most certainly do it. Conscious or unconscious, our cultural obsession with beauty influences almost every decision we make. From Kant to Elaine Scarry, philosophers have long debated the role of aesthetics in moral judgments. A new study analyzed by Tim Harford for Slate would seem to suggest that beauty might also make people more intelligent and successful in life."
~ The Bible's sexiest laws -- "I know nice Jewish boys like me aren't supposed to have favorite hymns, but I went to an Episcopalian high school, and if there's anything I learned in four years of chapel services, it's that those Christian composers sure could write."
~ Is Newt Gingrich Back? -- "The enthusiastic reception given to a speech by Newt Gingrich at a recent meeting of the Conservative Political Action Committee has revived speculation that he may enter the presidential nomination race."
~ Lying to Congress has become a Republican principle, literally -- "The history of Republican officials lying to Congress is now lengthy and continuous because they view it as a form of legitimate executive power."
~ Gonzales rejects calls for resignation (AP) -- "Attorney General Alberto Gonzales rejected growing calls for his resignation Tuesday as scores of newly released documents detailed a two-year campaign by the Justice Department and White House to purge federal prosecutors."


HABITATS/TECHNOLOGY
~ Commercial brain computer interface on sale -- "Neurophilosopher reports on a commercial brain-computer interface system called g.MOBIlab that has just become available."
~ Viacom Sues YouTube for $1B -- "MTV owner Viacom Inc. said Tuesday it has sued YouTube and its corporate parent Google Inc. in federal court for alleged copyright infringement and is seeking more than $1 billion in damages." What a load of crap -- YouTube helps Viacom by driving viewers to their shows.
~ Canadian tundra is rapidly disappearing -- "Canadian scientists say much of their nation's northern tundra is rapidly disappearing, being replaced by trees and shrubs, forcing wildlife from the region."
~ New form of matter-antimatter transformation observed for first time -- "For the first time, scientists of the BaBar experiment at the Department of Energy's Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) have observed the transition of one type of particle, the neutral D-meson, into its antimatter particle. Mesons, of which there are about 140 types, are made up of fundamental particles called quarks, which can be produced when particles collide at high energy."
~ Cassini Images Seas on Saturn's Moon Titan -- "Instruments on NASA's Cassini spacecraft have found evidence for seas, likely filled with liquid methane or ethane, in the high northern latitudes of Saturn's moon Titan. One such feature is larger than any of the Great Lakes of North America and is about the same size as several seas on Earth."
~ Pig DNA Sheds Light on Human Migration -- "DNA from one of human's oldest meat sources reveals human migration routes."
~ Ayurveda: The Good, the Bad and the Expensive -- "This complex and sometimes insightful regimen for healthy living can also border on the bizarre, for it is deeply rooted in astrology and outdated beliefs."


INTEGRAL/BUDDHIST
~ Seek and You Will Find -- From Joe Perez at Until -- "I knew the inner peace and joy within Mark. But I wondered if he really knew Peace. I sensed more the dissatisfaction and anxiety in his voice. And because I could recognize that voice within Mark (through psychological projection), I knew it was a voice already within my own self. I heard the voice of my inner Seeker."
~ The Myth of the Given - or, is object & subject fiction? -- From Mushin at Love, Truth, Beauty . . .
~ spiritual lit -- From CJ Smith at Indistinct Union.
~ What happened to Open Integral? -- Ed Berge wants answers.

Tags: Open Integral, Spiritual Lit, Myth of the Given, inner seeker, Ayurveda, human migration, Titan, antimatter, Canadian Tundra, Viacom sues YouTube, brain computer interface, Alberto Gonzales, Republican lies, Newt Gingrich, The Bible, aesthetics, laughter, Intelligent Design, baby talk, sleep disorders, forgiveness, stress relief, secondary PTSD, Omega-3 fats, disappointment, child sexual abuse, child self-esteem, chocolate, teen diets, sports performance, quitting smoking, GMO corn, red pepper, osteoporosis, obesity and chemicals, speedlinking