"I finally figured out the only reason to be alive is to enjoy it."
~ Rita Mae Brown
Image of the day:
~ There may be as few as a couple dozen Borneo rhinos left in the world, making it one of the world’s rarest animal species. The first still photograph of a Borneo rhino was taken only last year. Now, a World Wildlife Foundation project has captured the first video footage of the Borneo rhino. Link -via ArbroathBODY
~ Are Strawberry Daiquiris The Extra-Healthy Cocktail? -- "Strawberries are good for you, but serving them in daiquiri form may make them even healthier, scientists show.While exploring ways to help keep strawberries fresh during storage, researchers from Thailand and the US discovered that treating the berries with alcohol led to an increase in antioxidant capacity and free radical scavenging activity within the fruit." Now, that's my kind of news.
~ Eat My Meat -- Dave Tate -- "What you have here is a list of things I've picked up from many different people over the years. As I went back and read this list I also realized that most of these tips came from people I trained or competed with. In short, this was all learned in the gym."
~ Focus On Pros And Cons Of Antioxidants From Fruits And Vegetables -- "Nutrition is not just about the four basic food groups any more.Researcher Dr. Susanne Mertens-Talcott of Texas A&M University is looking into how plant-based phytochemicals, including antioxidants and herbal supplements, can be useful in the promotion of health and prevention of chronic diseases."
~ Exercise May Help Ward Off Parkinson's Disease (HealthDay) -- "New research suggests more evidence of yet another benefit of regular exercise: It could keep Parkinson's disease at bay."
~ Veggies may ward off pancreatic cancer -- "A look at the eating patterns of 183,518 California and Hawaii residents has found evidence that a diet high in flavonols might help ward off pancreatic cancer. Flavonols are found in plant-based foods with onions, apples, berries, kale and broccoli having the highest concentrations."
~ U.S. marijuana stronger than ever -- "The marijuana being sold across the United States is stronger than ever, which could explain a growing number of medical emergencies that involve the drug, government drug experts Wednesday."
~ Drinking Heavily In College May Lead To Heart Disease Later In Life -- "College-age students who drink heavily may increase their risk for future heart disease, researchers reported at the American Heart Association's 8th Annual Conference on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology." Now they tell me.
~ KFC -- Not so finger lickin' good -- "Kentucky Fried Chicken will be displaying warnings on its fried or baked potatoes saying that they can contain a suspected cancer causing chemical, acrylamide."
PSYCHE
~ Obese Children's Appetites Increased By 134 Percent After Watching TV Food Adverts -- "Obese and overweight children increase their food intake by more than 100% after watching food advertisements on television; a study by the University of Liverpool psychologists has shown.A group of 60 children of varying weights, aged between nine and eleven years was shown a series of both food television adverts and toy adverts, followed by a cartoon."
~ Drugs may cause addiction by 'remodelling' brain (AFP) -- "A heroin addict aching for a fix years after kicking the habit is not simply weak-willed but may be tormented by enduring changes in the brain caused by the drug itself, according a groundbreaking study released Wednesday."
~ Older and Musically Wiser? -- "Back in March I asked for your help with some research on music and personality I was carrying out with my colleagues. Although it was restricted to people living in the UK, there was a healthy response to the online questionnaire. Joy of joys, there were also some interesting results, so I thought I would update you with how it turned out."
~ Three Lessons from the 1st Applied Positive Psychology Conference -- "After attending the 1st Applied Positive Psychology Conference last week hosted by the Center for Applied Positive Psychology in the UK (CAPP), I realized that I came away with three strong lessons. The 3-day conference turned out to be a great success, and I learned much more than I expected."
~ Are you conscious? 17 Criteria for Consciousness [Developing Intelligence] -- "A lack of clear definitions for terms like "intelligence" and "consciousness" plagues any serious discussion of those concepts. A recent article by Seth, Baars & Edelman argues for a core set of 17 properties that are characteristic of consciousness, and could be used in the "diagnosis" of consciousness in humans and other animals."
~ Is it Sadness or Clinical Depression? -- "Psychotherapist Gary Greenberg enrolled himself in a study for a new form of treatment for depression thinking that he was a bit down in the dumps, but not clinically depressed. After being diagnosed with depression he suggested that pharmaceutical companies have a vested interest in classifying people as depressed when they are going through normal life adjustments or periods of melancholy."
~ Does Migraine Protect Your Memory? -- "Women with a lifetime history of migraine showed less of a performance decline over time on cognitive tests than women who didn't have migraines. Researchers say medications for migraine, diet and behavior changes may play a role in helping women with migraine protect their memory." Weird.
~ Steven Pinker, Oliver Sacks, and others on how learning about their brains changed the way they live -- "Psychoanalysis may not be in vogue right now, but most of us still believe in one of Freud's central insights: The better we understand our minds, the happier and healthier we'll be."
CULTURE/POLITICS
~ Senator Pushes Bipartisan Plan to Partition Iraq -- "Sen. Sam Brownback, a 2008 GOP presidential candidate, today said that he hopes to move a bipartisan bill calling for the partitioning of Iraq into three states before the Democratic supplemental funding bill for the war goes to the president for his promised veto."
~ Fascist America, in 10 easy steps -- Naomi Wolf -- "As difficult as this is to contemplate, it is clear, if you are willing to look, that each of these 10 steps has already been initiated today in the United States by the Bush administration."
~ How did ginkgo biloba become the top-selling brain enhancer? -- "Remedies designed for the infirm seldomly aid the healthy, too. Donning bifocals won't turn 20/20 eyesight into X-ray vision, and wearing a hearing aid can't endow a nonmusician with the gift of perfect pitch. It's a little baffling, then, that so many consumers assume ginkgo biloba will sharpen their memories."
~ School Food Standards Being Set -- "Millions of children soon could be saying goodbye to regular colas, candy and salty snacks during school hours."
~ Exclusive excerpts from Christopher Hitchens' God Is Not Great -- "There are four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum of servility with the maximum of solipsism, that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking."
~ SCOTT HORTON—Secrecy, Lies, and the Covert War on the Constitution -- "In an interview yesterday Senator Jay Rockefeller discussed one of the great untold truths of the last six years. The Bush Administration has blocked Congressional oversight of its intelligence operations through a series of lies, tricks and misrepresentations. But its principal tool has been simple: it withholds information."
~ The Other Threat to Abortion Rights -- "The anti-abortion movement scored a high-profile victory with the Supreme Court's approval of the national ban on "partial birth" abortions. But lesser-known tactics -- such as pressuring medical schools to drop abortion training and taking over closed abortion clinics -- may pose the greater threat to access to abortions."
~ Free Books and Free Culture Online -- "Hundreds of audiobooks are available on the internet for free, and the "free culture" movement keeps adding more."
HABITATS/TECHNOLOGY
~ The Emerging Fate Of The Neandertals -- "For nearly a century, anthropologists have been debating the relationship of Neandertals to modern humans. Central to the debate is whether Neandertals contributed directly or indirectly to the ancestry of the early modern humans that succeeded them."
~ Tech Industry Boasts Biggest Job Growth Since Bust -- "Though still down 12 percent of its work force since 2000, the high-tech industry has made great strides in the past two years, finds a recent report."
~ Beer Foam Riddle Solved -- "Scientists have labored over lagers to understand the physics of beer foam."
~ Photos, Video Expose Darfur Atrocities in Google Earth -- "Images and survivor stories embedded in the virtual globe bring the violence up close and personal, while real-time spin-offs aim to track and perhaps deter armed militias."
~ The Invisible World: All About Microbes -- "Delve into the realm of bacteria, archaea, amoebas, slime molds, parameciums, and even viruses."
~ Turtles are loyal in feeding as well as in breeding -- "A research team led by the Dr Annette Broderick of the University of Exeter`s School of Biosciences has discovered that, after laying their eggs, sea turtles travel hundreds of miles to feed at exactly the same sites. The research, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), shows for the first time that marine turtles appear to be as loyal to specific foraging sites and migratory routes as they are to nesting sites."
~ A Massive Explosion on the Sun -- "Astronomers are calling the Japanese Hinode spacecraft a "Hubble for the sun." Watch this movie and you'll see why."
INTEGRAL/BUDDHIST
~ Derrida and nonduality by Desilet from Ed Berge at Open Integral.
~ The Heart & the Law -- "This post is by one of our readers, Jake Stetser, who is one of our first guest contributors here on Buddhist Geeks. His bio can be found at the bottom of the post."
~ Being with Discontent -- "I feel the pain and loneliness of discontent, depression and anxiety. It does not belong to Colin, though. I feel it in the people around me recently: friends, family and, sometimes, random people in public. And it stabs my Heart, ripping it open, exposing an awareness of separation everywhere. Separation from Self. Separation from Spirit. Separation from Truth. This is my Bodhisattva Heart. My Christ Consciousness. And I accept the pain with hands open and heart full."
~ This mind, this mind... -- "When I first started out with meditation, it did not take me long to realise that my mind was an unruly and anarchic beast. It was hard to sit for ten, even five minutes. I was assailed by thoughts from all angles. I was bored. I kept opening my eyes and casting around for something else to think about. I could not keep my attention on the breath. But nevertheless, I persisted, imagining that it would only be a year or two and then I would have the whole business taped."
~ Buddhism: Lessons from a great teacher, or "just let go" -- "About five years ago I remember going to an FWBO Sangha night (where Friends of the Western Buddhist Order gather to meditate and talk and drink tea) where Dharmachari Saaramati (aka Professor Alan Sponberg) gave a talk. To begin the talk he asked us all to write down the 'essence of Buddhism' in just a few words. I wrote something like, "Buddha, Dharma, Sangha," others had their own ideas, but that's not important. What is important is that it got us all thinking, "what is the essence of Buddhism?"
~ Dishwasher Mindfulness -- "Upon emerging from my formal sitting meditation I decided to unload the dishwasher with deep concentration and mindfulness. As I slowly began the process of unloading the clean dishes I thought about each cup, each plate and each utensil."
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