"The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them."
~ Albert Einstein
Image of the day:
BODY
~ Things to think about part one... -- Nuggets of wisdom and truth from Alwyn Cosgrove.
~ Calorie Restriction And Increased Longevity Linked To Metabolic Changes -- "In a study of Labrador retriever dogs, those fed a calorie-restricted diet showed different lifelong patterns relating to energy metabolism and the activities of their gut microbes and lived almost two years longer than similar dogs given a slightly higher-calorie diet." I'd rather die two years sooner.
~ New Key to Aging Well: Increase Mitochondria Efficiency -- "The best way to increase the number and size of mitochondria in your cells is to exercise. If you do not have a regular exercise program, you are shortening your life."
~ Taking Pills To Prevent Diabetes Cannot Be Justified, Say Experts -- "Taking prescription drugs to prevent diabetes cannot be justified, say researchers in this week's BMJ. They argue that lifestyle changes, such as modest weight loss and physical activity, are equally effective much safer, and cheaper."
~ Migraines may be tied to brain damage -- "People with migraines also may be suffering from some brain damage as brain cells swell and become starved of oxygen — a finding that may help explain why migraine sufferers have a higher risk of stroke, researchers reported."
~ Changing the Fat in Chocolate -- "New Proposal Urges FDA to Allow Vegetable Oil Instead of Cacao Butter; Health Experts Say This Would Not Make Chocolate Healthier."
~ Scientists Unravel Clue In Cortisol Production -- "When a person's under stress or injured, the adrenal gland releases cortisol to help restore the body's functions to normal. But the hormone's effects are many and varied, lowering the activity of the immune system, helping create memories with short-term exposure, while impairing learning if there's too much for too long. Given the variety of its effects,understanding how cortisol is made is essential to producing medications that can alter its production."
~ Acid Reflux Recovery Diet and Recipes -- "Curing oneself of the condition called acid reflux can be accomplished by using natural, healthy methods."
~ Top 15 Diet Hacks -- "You’ve read and enjoyed the Top 20 Motivation Hacks and Top 10 Productivity Hacks … and now you want hacks to eat healthier and to get a flat tummy. Well, Zen Habits has never been one to hold back on you, so at reader request, here are the best hacks I’ve found for eating healthy."
PSYCHE
~ The Mind's I -- Peter Kramer reviews Douglas Hofstadter's new book on consciousness, I Am a Strange Loop.
~ You are not your brain scan! -- "ABC Radio National's All in the Mind just broadcast some essential listening with a programme that takes a critical look at the reporting of brain scanning studies and discusses what brain scans actually tell us about human nature."
~ Thinking, Feeling and the Cognitive Revolution [The Frontal Cortex] -- "I've got an article in the Boston Globe Ideas section today on the cognitive revolution, and recent research demonstrating the relationship between cognition and emotion."
~ Rolling With the Punches -- "Life throws tragedies at us all the time: unwanted pregnancies, infertility, disease, broken relationships, death, job loss, evil acts, and even zits. Learn how to cope."
~ Sleep Protects Declarative Memories From Interference -- "Declarative memories — memories for facts and events in time — become more resistant to interference during sleep, according to a study that will presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) in Boston, Massachusetts."
~ A Lesson in Relativity -- "Given that Bonnie deeply loves her only son, that her son’s life could end at any time, and that his body is an eerily disproportionate and unanimated extension of clamoring medical devices, how is it possible that this young mom could feel cheerful “most or all of the time?” Why is her disposition as sunny as that of anybody I can think of?"
~ Neurological "Personhood" -- "Ronald Bailey at Reason reviews an interesting article in the American Journal of Bioethics by Martha Farah and Andrea Heberlein and the responses to it. Farah and Heberlein argue that while an innate system for the detection of personhood exists in the human brain, it is so prone to being fooled by clearly non-person objects that it suggests that no reasonable standard for personhood can exist."
~ The Hug Drug -- "Having a friend is effective as antidepressants."
~ Slate special on neuroscience -- "Slate has just released a special series on the brain - taking a critical look at some of the most recent developments in the field and asking researchers how neuroscience has changed their life." Offers links and brief thoughts on the articles.
CULTURE/POLITICS
~ Rice Still Lying About WMDs -- "Condoleezza Rice appeared on CNN's Late Edition, and falsely claimed that “the U.N weapons inspectors [thought] Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.” Think Progress has a transcript and video clip, and datelined news reports (with links) that totally debunk Rice's lie."
~ The Year in Hate -- "For a quarter century, the sharp-eyed folks at the Southern Poverty Law Center have investigated and charted the growth of extremist, racist, and hate-filled groups in America. They've just come out with their annual report, "The Year in Hate," and it makes for a sobering, depressing read. While we're fighting an amorphous foe overseas, here at home, the country's internal demons continue to fester, like an open sore."
~ Is Documentary on Muslim Moderates Too Hot to Handle? -- "Not ready for prime time: That's the verdict of the Public Broadcasting Service on a film that treats moderate Muslims and their struggle against Islamist extremism."
~ New Details on Making of Jessica Lynch Myth -- "Congressional investigators have discovered that at least one U.S. military official provided the media with details about Jessica Lynch’s heroic acts--a tale that was later proven to be untrue."
~ SCOTT HORTON—Swiss Intelligence Confirms CIA Blacksites in Romania, Poland, Ukraine, Kosovo, Macedonia and Bulgaria -- "Swiss intelligence put 23 Iraqi and Afghan citizens at the base and in the custody of the CIA. It states that Romania had made false official statements to European Parliamentary investigators in which the base was denied. It notes the existence of similar “blacksites” at the Szymany Air Base in Poland, in Ukraine, Kosovo, Macedonia and Bulgaria. . . ."
~ Report: Allies offered $854M after Katrina, U.S. accepted only $40M -- "The Washington Post says most of the money that foreign governments pledged to help victims of Hurricane Katrina went unclaimed by Washington because 'of problems that, at times, mystified generous allies and left U.S. representatives at a loss for an explanation.'"
~ Oregon governor tries living on food stamps -- "Could you live on just $3.00 dollar a day for food? One dollar for breakfast, one dollar for lunch, one dollar for dinner. Well, the governor of Oregon, Ted Kulongoski, tried to do so this past week. The goal was to raise awareness of hunger issues."
~ A genuine political sea change? -- Glenn Greenwald at Salon -- "The true radicalism and deceit of the Bush administration are now being revealed, and that has the potential to fundamentally change American political opinion."
~ POISONED BY BAD SITUATIONS -- "Professor behind Stanford Prison Experiment says being in a cruel place can make you act evil." A review of The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, by Philip Zimbardo.
HABITATS/TECHNOLOGY
~ Ceiling Height Can Affect How A Person Thinks, Feels And Acts -- "For years contractors, real estate agents and event planners have said that whether building, buying or planning an event, a higher or vaulted ceiling is always better. Are they right? Until now there has been no real evidence that ceiling height has any influence or advantage with consumers."
~ Will Bioterror Fears Spawn Science Censorship? -- "A federal advisory board is about to recommend new guidelines to limit publication of life-sciences research that could be misused by terrorists. It's treading on dangerous ground."
~ It's a swell time for gels -- "Japanese chemists have devised a gel that swells up to 500 times its size when in contact with solvents, an invention hailed as a breakthrough for absorbing dangerous industrial spills."
~ Demonstration turns methane gas to energy -- "The United States is testing new technology that can convert methane from coal mines into clean energy."
~ Ancient Camel Bones Found in Arizona -- "Workers digging at the future site of a Wal-Mart store in suburban Mesa have unearthed the bones of a prehistoric camel that's estimated to be about 10,000 years old."
~ Mountain Gorillas on the Rebound -- "A new census proves that the mountain gorillas of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest are slowly but surely recovering from habitat loss, disease and poaching."
~ Volcanic Activity Triggered Deadly Prehistoric Warming -- "Ripping Greenland from Europe, the volcanic events also turned oceans fatally acidic, says a new study that finds parallels to global warming today."
~ Schools See Ipod as Cheating Device -- "Schools ban Ipods to prevent students from cheating." That's funny -- I used a Walkman when I was in high school.
~ Dusty Document Reveals First European Voyage up Delaware River -- "The nearly four-century-old document pinpoints the date Europeans first voyaged up the waterway."
INTEGRAL/BUDDHIST
~ Sri Aurobindo on Integral Realisation -- "How then can the relative mind and the surface consciousness, which sees and can be only one thing at a time, arrive at an understanding of the Absolute, which is all things at all times?"
~ Siddhis, scepticism and hard evidence -- "Most of us have heard of the ’siddhis’, the special powers that realised people are supposed to exhibit. But how many of you have actually witnessed a clear and unambiguous example of a reality bending special power? How many of you have witnessed it with other people present who observed the same thing?"
~ ~C4Chaos responds -- "for me, personally, this experience counts as evidence that something really is going on beyond our five senses and conditioned beliefs on what reality is. and it deserves to be explored with open minds and open hearts."
~ The most profound critique of astrology... -- "But the most profound critique of astrology is not that it is bad science or bad psychology. Most profoundly, the human soul has expanded beyond the symbols and myths of the astrologers. The deep connections between the cosmic and the Kosmic have been lost, replaced by superstition and simple-minded psychological stereotyping."
~ Making Peace With Death -- "Death is a tremendously valuable companion. It’s a constant reminder never to take our lives for granted. It’s here to teach us to fully embrace and appreciate each present moment. But its greatest lesson is that the path to joy is to live in such a way that you feel ready to die in each and every moment."
~ Hypersexuality and moral confusion -- "Came across an interesting report whilst researching the effects of Ice (methamphetamine) on sexual urges. It was an unexpected result of my search because it was a discussion of the incidence of hypersexuality in children with bipolar disorder. The link between hypersexuality and forms of mania are well known, but in children?"
~ Reality -- "One of the vows in my daily Buddhist practices contains the following line: "I avoid setting myself against the world." This is something that I find myself returning to again and again over time."
~ Towards an Integral Gnostic Community -- "Having participated in and checked out a number of "integral" forums and on-line communities, I am intrigued by the fact that there is one thing that seems to be missing. Gnosis. By Gnosis I mean an inner certainty and spiritual knowing that goes beyond the endless futile turnings of rational argument."
~ BLOG: Integral Institute Announces the Selection of Robb Smith as Its CEO -- "We are also in the process of creating our Board of Directors. Individuals that I have asked to join us so far, and who have agreed, include Michael Crichton, Tony Robbins, Larry Wachowski, and (unofficially right now) John Mackey. Please stay tuned to this site for further info, as I-I begins phase 3.0 of its existence. And so, Im glad to announce that we have selected Robb Smith as I-Is CEO."
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